A/N: Dear Mouse: Function properly. That is all.

Chapter 21:

The earth roared for the longest time. It wouldn't stop its uproar. This tumultuous sound made Rei wince, but her concentration to amplify her applied force to the ground trumped her concern for her hearing. The impact of her foot had sent shattered earth flying into her face and all about her. By this point the earth buckled constantly as if there was an earthquake. The world shook, shaking Rei's vision as well. But she could hear girls screaming in the distance and wondered why.

Once the earth hushed and the ground became still, Rei could see how devastating the damage actually was.

The force affected the ground violently. It was like all the times before, the earth broken and jagged-especially so near Rei's feet. There were small crevices in places, small enough that the area could be repaired but deep enough that, in combination with the uneven ground, would probably require Rei to use her ability to jump high into the air to get back to school safely. Unlike previous attempts, the cracks spread so far she couldn't see the true end of it.

But, what she could see, was that the kids testing near the track and baseball fields were slowly stepping back.

It couldn't be…The force went out that far?!

She looked back to see if the speaker would announce anything. It was very un-protocol like for it to do so, but this time was an exception above all the rest.

The speaker pole had crashed on the earth, the speaker smashed. The force's radius was huge this time that even the speaker fell to it.

Rei smiled a little, still in shock but mostly happy at the damage. It's strange, I should be concerned that I kind of destroyed a great portion of my school's land, but hey, they must have been okay with it to put me here…And…this damage must be worthy of a level 5…Did Accelerator's really make me improve that much?

She turned and jumped in the air. With the force she put on the ground came and equal force from the ground on her. She strengthened this vector, launching herself in the air. She continued this trend, trying her level best to not land in a crevice.

She approached the baseball field and the small track area that only had small rectangular strips for running and teleportation testing near the school; she saw that the damage had in fact reached that far. Both girls and guys were looking shocked at the cracks vining up to them. A small part of the track-specifically one track had been completely covered with the cracks. A girl was on the ground with one hand massaging her foot and the other rubbing her forehead. Did she trip on the cracks or something? Rei had concerned for her, but soon became enveloped in her own problem.

As she walked up to the people on the track strips, they regarded her wide eyes, awestruck, respectful, and somewhat hesitant to walk up to her. A crowd began to form around her. She regarded those on her left and right with a glance and continued to walk to the school. The crowd parted, letting her getting through. The silence transitioned into small whispers which climaxed to full blown, loud conversations and speculations of wonder. None were actually to her but rather about her.

"She did all of this."

"Sugoiiii!"

"Wow, that's strength…!"

"If that's not a level 5, I don't know what the hell is."

"Iwato-san…she's gotten way stronger."

"Y-yeah."

"Rei-chan, Rei-chan!" Somebody grabbed her left arm. Rei looked to her left to see a smiling Haruhi and a wide-eyed Reika and Kiri. "That was so impressive! I'm happy I had the time to see it!"

"Oi, I have to admit Rei, I wouldn't want to be close to you if you ever do something like that. Nothing personal, I just feel like that's a suicidal thing to do. You're turbine testing will still be in school though, right? I think we'll see you from the outside. I don't think that area of the school is a safe place to be, even if the principal said they remodeled it to be stronger." Kiri said as she crossed her arms. "Congrats on that improvement, you're a thousand steps closer to obtaining the level 5 ranking than us." Kiri gave a curt nod and walked away. Reika, slightly shocked, looked to Rei and back to Kiri repeatedly.

"Good job, Rei. We'll be waiting outside for you once you blow up the school." She gave a nod-less stiffly than Kiri- and ran to her side.

Rei looked to Haruhi. Haruhi patiently smiled. "We're all still level 3s, huh? It's okay, don't mind that. Just do your best. I'll be with them. Don't take what Kiri said personally, that's just her personality, you know? All ambition, but she tries. Think of it, like, 'You're so strong that I don't want to be in the blast radius!' kind of thing." She hugged her. "I'll always be rooting for you." She ran off and waved at her. "Good luck!"

Rei looked off to where her three friends once were. "Congrats on that improvement, you're a thousand steps closer to obtaining the level 5 ranking than us." Now that became another statement that was etched into her mind. I'm sorry Kiri if you're disappointed. Your passive-aggression is warranted. She tried to lower her head to get through the crowd of stares and excitement. I'm not trying to show off. But…should I be focused on how far apart our ESPer aptitudes are…or should I be focusing on the large gap between mine and Accelerator's? There's always going to be someone better, we both should accept that, huh? She started climbing the ten steps to get inside. As she climbed, she realized that there was a girl dressed in black looking away from her. She wasn't budging from her position, but before Rei could even ask her to move, the girl turned around.

Rei was facing a mirror image of herself, it had to be Dark Rei. She had her arms crossed and an evil sneer on her face. "Congratulations. I'm proud of you, Rei-chan."

"Can I please get to the second part of my test without the hallucinations?" Rei thought out-loud, bringing her hand to her mouth as she realized that the "fans" surrounding her were regarding her with confusion.

Dark Rei batted a hand and descended the stairs. "Fine, fine. I was just congratulating you. You're practically a cinch in for level 5 now, though. That's great. Your goal has almost been achieved!"

人

"Ryuuzaki Rei, you are about to begin the second and final stage of your ability testing. Once you are ready, please step into the center of the room and wait for further instructions."

There was an abnormally large crowd outside. Like usual, all were frantically chatting with each other, more anxious than Rei was to see the near-future events unfold. If this was a manga, I would have teardropped by now. Ever since I turned level 4 I would never have suggested anyone to come see my testing, especially now after what I did to the grounds outside. Do they really think they're shielded by the renovations? I thought the students in my school were smarter than this.

Rei listened to the instructions of the speaker. I wonder if I'll break this one too? I wonder if that's a sign that I'm sure to get level 5 this time? She fantasized a little.

You will now direct the winds. Your body should not be blown by the winds. The test will end when you have been moved outside of the box in some form. The winds may or may not start slowly. The winds will begin in…" The fan started humming, first softly than near-deafening. "3…2…1".

The winds, just as all the other times as before, started strong and only got stronger. Rei tried counting the seconds to see just how long she would last overall. Of course, my counting system is not very good, but I'm not even tired and I've been here for 5 minutes. I wonder…they said I could never get out of this box. What if I redirected the winds?

As she thought that thought, her mind calculated the redirection that Accelerator was able to do automatically.

And, in that instant, the turbine blew up. In reality, the whole room broke- glass and concrete- as the turbine broke and spit out flames. Rei shielded herself instinctively even though she had redirection in effect on all her sides.

Now people were screaming. Rei could feel the room tilt as it fully hit her that she didn't just break the room, she broke the entire section of the school.

The school was groaning and the walls were grumbling as the floor was giving way. Not wanting to stay any longer, Rei dashed to the wall that didn't have students on the other side, kicked some jagged bricks off, and jumped out.

Rei landed in grass next to another group of students. They were all excited. Some went off running for help. Everybody noticed her jump down, but no one paid her mind as their next task was to get everybody out.

Rei sensed Haruhi's presence before she even got out of the crowd. "Rei!" Instead of smiling, Haruhi looked concerned again. "You're okay, you're okay, right?" Haruhi stiffly held Rei's shoulders. Kiri and Reika followed, eying the building. That section had fallen apart by now, all the debris plummeting to the ground. No one fell down with the debris.

Rei observed the damage and felt very guilty. Well, chances are the side winds that would have resulted from my reflection would've caused the room to be destroyed…but if people are hurt because I decided to do that… "No, Haruhi, I did that. I redirected and amplified the winds back when I didn't have to. We should be helping in some way!"

"Teleporters, force shielders! Work together to bring people down here!" Kiri was already on that task, repeating rousing calls. Nearly the entire school had evacuated to that position by now. Many people followed Kiri's call and repeated it. Then, once some teleporters and force shielders found each other, paired up and tried to get into the school. Some kids were eventually brought out, many coughing and covered in dust. Some with cuts. Rei's heart lurched.

"Rei, it's not entirely your fault." Haruhi tried to comfort Rei, but this time the "entirely" prevented much comfort.

Well, that was the wrong time to try something fun out of boredom, eh? Well, you're a level 5 now, congrats. There's no way they can tell you you're not. I'm so proud of you Rei. You've achieved what I've always wanted.This time Dark Rei did not appear as a hallucination.

"Okay, just bother me later!" She exclaimed.

"Rei, are you okay!? Who are you talking to?" Haruhi tried to pull Rei down. "Sit down. Just stay like this until something happens."

Something did happen 10 later. Rei wasn't sure how many people were watching her outside to begin with, but she did know that the amount of people being rescued was a small percent of those that were there. Her heart sank even further. "Rei, we have some of the best medics in Academy City? Remember all those times your spine got damaged from previous turbine tests? If they could fix your spine as good as new, and if people are actually hurt, they'll recover fast. Now, stop worrying."

Rei shrugged off Haruhi. "No, I should go back." She ran towards the wreckage, her redirection "turned on".

"Wai-" Before she could hear the rest of Haruhi's refusal she had taken off, jumping into the debris. Nothing could come in contact with her, and she made sure to give tiny air boosts to her feet to places she had to walk over that had no more flooring. But, as she scavenged the place, singed and almost crushed inwards, she couldn't find a single person.

Did anyone burn in this? Oh god, if anyone got burned in this, I'd be a murderer. She looked around even more, trying to go into the ground floor to look some more. She lost track of time, but the fire alarms were still on and she could hear that assistance from the city had arrived outside. She walked through the rubble, some of which was still burning on the ground floor into the undamaged parts of school. Here she saw some stragglers.

She saw five stragglers. All of them were limping. She helped one boy who was just about to collapse. As she bent down to catch the boy, four firefighters appeared into to view to help the remaining four. A fifth took the boy into his arms and ran toward the entrance. Rei followed suit, hoping these were the last people.

人

Yoshi was watching TV. She had fixed herself a cup of tea. Having drunk all of it, she just sat on the one-seater and placidly watched TV. Last Order had fallen asleep on the three-seater. Accelerator was out for the nearest convenience store. There was breaking news, and it wouldn't stop repeating.

Yomi unlocked the door and entered, finished with her AntiSkill duties for the day. She held a plastic bag filled with something. "Hey, have you seen the news today?"

"Yeah, the TV has been on all day. It's been showing only that the whole day." Yoshi took the remote and increased the volume.

"Breaking News, a new level 5 ESPer has been produced. Ryuuzaki Rei, a student at Toshiko Middle School, one of the most prestigious co-ed, private schools in Academy City, has achieved level 5 status with her ability, vector change. Just today she had achieved a blast radius of more than 300 meters just by stomping her foot and deflected winds that challenged the speed of sound three times over. The first part of her test was to stomp her foot, how much damage she could send throughout the dense earth would be shown thrown the radius that energy has traveled. However, the school did not anticipate making the ground denser outside of the 120m radius circle it already had- 20m more than the last system scan. She achieved a 371m radius. This is still very impressive, but her skills passed into the deadly range when she deflected winds going at more than three times the speed of sound. This test was poorly chosen to be held in the school with students allowed to watch from outside the room. Ryuuzaki's objective was to stay in a small red box despite winds pushing her back. However, when Ryuuzaki deflected winds of more than 1020.87 meters per second the turbine exploded and the entire wing began to collapse on itself. Several dozen students were injured. Thankfully there have been no serious injuries, all are being seen at Seijuu Hospital, a mere three minutes from Toshiko, and no deaths have been reported. We congratulate Ms. Ryuuzaki Rei for obtaining this position, now held by 8 ESPers out of Academy City's population of over 1.8 million. Her position among these 7 others has yet to be determined. There will be another test for her to see her full potential- this time in a safer environment for both her and others- to determine this position, but let's now turn to the panel of scientists that pose some opinions on where she ranks. Ms. Ryuuzaki Rei has politely declined commenting."

Pictures of Toshiko's destroyed wing and Rei transitioned into three scientists discussing the recent development of an 8th level 5.

"I feel she will either get placed as 8th or somewhere near the top, maybe rivaling the Railgun for third place…" One balding scientist began. "She's new, so she might have to work from the ground up in the rankings. However, she has the same ability as our strongest ESPer, so chances are she will be placed near the top…"

"How do you think Accelerator would have reacted? Surely they're playing this footage and report everywhere, even in the convenience store." Yomi asked, taking off her shoes and putting the bag on the table. She lied down on the loveseat, looking content from not having her job at the present moment.

"He probably would've said, 'Wow, it's about damn time. I almost think you'd have never made it. But keep in mind, I'm Academy City's number 1 ESPer'." Yoshi tried to mimic his voice.

"That actually might happen." Yomi laughed.

人

Everything going on in the convenience store was either at a standstill or moving slowly. Even the female cashier's eyes were trained on the small hanging TV in the corner.

"Oi, are you going to ring me up or what?" A tall, thin boy with white hair spoke rudely.

"A-ah, sorry mister, excuse me." She hastily began scanning his drinks. As she did such, Accelerator looked up to the screen. A burning school was onscreen with a female newscaster talking.

"Breaking News, a new level 5 ESPer has been produced. Ryuuzaki Rei…"

Goddamn, that brat did it…

人

"Today was a bad day to post the midterm results, huh?" Haruhi said. She nervously chuckled. The group, along with the rest of the students and staff, were told that school was canceled until the building would be repaired. Haruhi, Kiri, Reika, and Rei were all at a café, eating away the events of the day. It took them some time to find an okay café- even though Rei told the reporters and staff that questioned her if she was okay that she did deflected the winds back, they skirted around that slightly in their news broadcast. Rei found it unbearable to sit in a restaurant with a TV or radio going on about the recent development, and eventually had to settle for a table the farthest away from a radio. Rei could feel stares and whispers directed at her- even though she had her back to them. She was happy, yes, but the joy of fame was shortlived. Now she felt like everyone would gossip and conspire against here.

"We checked them while you were out destroying the baseball field. You got first in physics and made the top 10 in everything else. So I guess you've been having a good day." Reika smiled.

Rei put her hands in her face. "Those midterms were a nightmare…I had to try so hard no to break my pencils or float."

"Did you say float?" Kiri looked at her quizzically.

"Nevermind that."

"So, what are you going to do now that you're a level 5?" Kiri said. It was the same question that reporters asked her, but she felt too guilty to bask in her fame.

"I don't know, school will be over in a couple of months. I guess I won't study tonight in celebration? I mean, nothing's really changed. Except how people view me, I guess. What do level 5s do once they become level 5s?"

"Thank god, she's stopped study-binging." Kiri muttered.

"I don't know, their actions remain pretty underground." Reika responded.

"Does this mean you won't be seeing your tutor anymore, Rei?" Haruhi posed the question.

"….I'll probably go a couple more times. But I don't really have to anymore, right?" She put her head down in thought.

That's right, I only requested Accelerator to teach me until I reached level 5 status. Now that I've done it, I should cut off visiting them every weekend? Her heart panged at the thought. I'll never have a reason to visit them, and I'll just go back to studying and my old friends. I wonder if Mi-chan would miss me? I wonder if Ac- She stopped herself in thought. No, probably not, and I'm still mad at him for not fighting with…wait, I'm fighting with him for not fighting with me…Please, Accelerator, let me try ability in battle with yours, even if I lose. Small injuries don't matter to me. My life's pretty bland, but it got a little less bland with you all. I'll leaving you all soon enough, so just grant me this.

人

"That brat actually got to level 5." Accelerator was putting his cans away. "So she won't be coming here anymore, probably."

"Ah ah ah, you're forgetting the part where you're fighting her." Yomi crossed her arms and leaned against the sink. "Don't think she hasn't forgotten about that."

"Fuck that. I never made that kind of condition where if she became level 5 I'd fight her. And, anyway, she'll always be seen as a scrawny, pathetic level 4 to me."

"You're like a very rude parent reflecting on his child who's actually becoming an adult." Yomi said. "You have nothing to fear…Oh. I just realized something. Now that Rei's a level 5…"

"Now that Rei's a level 5, won't she have no reason to come here anymore? She'll stop coming, won't you want to grant her the parting gift of a fight, as odd as that sounds?" Yoshi questioned.

Accelerator sighed with drab. He sat down on a coach. "You know, when I first met her, the brat thought she was a level 5 judging by her AIM field. The other brat said it was because she was so close to becoming level 5, but it makes you wonder…" His mouth twitched. "If she fights for an extensive period, would she let her guard down and reveal something else? If so, I just might fight her. So will you stop persuading me?"

There was a knock at the door.

"Oh, it's probably her." Yoshi got up.

"Ryuuzaki Rei, who are you? Should you be existing?" Accelerator began to smile to himself. "This is our last chance to find out…"