Chapter 1 : System Scan
"Remember big bro, try not to overdo it. We don't want to draw too much attention right now." Ritsu explained to his brother.
Mob nodded; the stress palpable on his face.
The two boys had just arrived in The Academic City and were due to start their new school this week.
But before that.
A group of overexcited schoolgirls passed in front of them.
"Do you think I'll be able to reach level 3?" One of them asked.
"That's likely... I, on the other hand, will be happy if I get level 1, I'm still incapable of the slightest power!"
They moved forward, heading for a large concrete building.
Mob stared at them for a moment, pensive.
This city was truly special, a world of espers!
He wasn't sure what to make of this; he'd always considered his own powers more of a burden than a gift, but here everyone seemed obsessed with getting them. Was it that important?
"Ritsu... do you think we'll be able to fit in here... everything looks so different!"
Ritsu Kageyama seemed to understand his brother's concern perfectly... after all, they were about to change their lives completely.
"I'm sure we'll like it here, after all powers are the norm in this city."
Shigeo was still lost in thought.
Would he succeed in integrating into this new city?
Was this the world for him?
The boy's heart was overwhelmed by a mixture of apprehension, doubt and stress, creating an intense cocktail of negative emotions.
Progress towards Mob explosion: 5%.
Today was a decisive day for the two brothers.
For the first time in their lives, they were going to be assessed on their level.
An assertion of their skills through a series of tests that all students in this city had to take to determine their esper level.
This series of tests and exercises was called System Scan, and is part of the power curriculum: the academic program of all the city's schools and universities enabling espers to obtain and develop their powers.
This moment was considered very important for all espers present in the city, as it was a crucial event of the year, allowing students to obtain their Level evaluation, ranging from 0: no power or extremely limited effect to 5: power so considerable that the espers could take on an entire army.
As a general rule, in these tests, each person gave his or her best to reach the highest possible level.
But for the Kageyama brothers, they had opted for the opposite approach.
To avoid drawing too much attention to themselves, he had decided not to give their all during these tests.
Ritsu had opted for level 2 or 3, but no higher.
For Mob, it was more complicated.
His powers were so strong that he doubted he could aim any lower than 4.
Level 5 was the one Mob absolutely had to avoid. There were only 7 students with this level in the whole city, and adding his name to this short list was bound to cause trouble.
Ritsu looked worried, staring at his brother and gauging the boy's anxiety knew that he tended to lose control a little under the influence of stress, and the change of town and school had put a lot of pressure on the teenager's shoulders.
Mob had to stay in control and everything would work out, their plans depended on it.
"As long as you don't panic, we should be fine, just remember not to get too overwhelmed ."
"I know..." replied Mob, a little worried...
Progress towards Mob explosion: 7%.
"I'll do my best!"
Ritsu smiled at his brother and nodded.
Attention students! Level assessments are about to begin!
Announced a voice over the megaphones.
"We should go, bro!"
Testing was about to begin.
Shigeo could feel his heart speeding up, he was slightly anxious, it was the first time he'd had to perform such tests with his powers.
Mob and his brother headed for the assessment room.
But as he approached the building, a sudden jolt shook the entire structure.
A powerful shockwave spread across the ground, vibrating all around the area.
Behind the barriers, a huge volume of water from the pool was suddenly projected several meters into the air, the deflagrations repeating themselves several times in a deafening din.
It sounded like a powerful explosion, like the detonation of a bomb.
The other students, though impressed, didn't seem to be fleeing, so it wasn't an attack.
Ritsu wore a worried expression that Mob didn't fail to notice; he must have been shocked by such a demonstration.
Apparently, some espers were so powerful that it was necessary to test their power in a large volume of water to cushion the shock of their attack.
It was terrifying! Such devastating firepower! It had to be a level 5, no doubt about it...
The two espers had faced powerful adversaries in the past, and had had to deal with psychics with very dangerous powers, but such a demonstration was still chilling, and although Mob wasn't particularly as impressed as his brother, his expression remaining neutral, he was no less worried.
"Ritsu..." Mob draw his brother's attention, and moments later he understood why.
An artificial rain began to fall on the various students, caused by the deflagration and the volume of liquid expelled from the pool by the force of the impact.
Mob and Ritsu had no trouble avoiding getting wet by using their psychic barriers, but the other students weren't so lucky, most were soaked to the bone.
A mixture of stupor and admiration gripped the crowd, impressed by this phenomenon's indirect show of strength.
This city really did contain such powerful espers...
Ritsu took the liberty of glancing at his brother.
A dark thought seemed to cross his mind suddenly.
"No pool in the world could contain the powers that big bro unleashes when he gets really serious..." Ritsu mumbled almost to himself.
"Ritsu?" Mob asked, not quite hearing his brother's reflection.
Ritsu smiled nervously.
"Ahaha, sorry, just thinking out loud... nothing important don't worry!"
He looked embarrassed.
Mob nodded and the two brothers headed for their test.
Result: initial velocity of 1030 metres per second
Continuous discharge rate: 8/min
Deviation from target: 18.9 millimetres
Final assessment: level 5!
Following the deflagration caused by her railgun, an artificial rain now fell on Misaka like a light drizzle, moistening his skin and soaking his white sports outfit.
The young girl was moderately satisfied; surely she could have done better.
The electromaster, Ace of Tokiwadai, was perhaps one of the city's most powerful espers.
She'd had to work hard, but had finally reached the ultimate level.
Despite this, Misaka didn't feel she'd given her all today.
She tucked the last of her special coins into the pockets of her shorts and set off for the hall, where Kuroko should also have finished her tests.
"Onee-sama!" shouted a familiar, shrill voice, piercing the silence that had fallen after the explosion.
Speak of the devil.
A young girl suddenly teleported into the open air, right above Misaka.
She fell gently onto her comrade, arms wide open in the hope of embracing her idol.
Misaka had other plans in mind, however; she quickly shifted a few centimetres to avoid being groped by her classmate. The latter fell next to her target, getting up with disappointment visible on her face.
"Kuroko! I've told you before not to teleport on me like that!" Scolded the teenager, sparks flickering from her chestnut hair.
Kuroko was repelled by the imminent threat of an electric shock.
"I just can't hold back Onee-sama!I'm too happy to be able to be so close to you, it makes my heart all warm!" declared the excited teleporter.
All the time, Misaka found it hard to bear the obsessive behavior her comrade was expressing towards her.
"So Onee-sama?" the young girl asked suddenly, more seriously.
"Same as last year, Level 5... I wasn't in my best shape today though..."
Kuroko smiled admiringly.
"That's the Tokiwadai Ace for you! Nobody in this school comes close to you!"
Misaka sighed.
"I find your teleportation power much more useful Kuroko...my railgun ,although powerful, it's not very practical in everyday life."
Kuroko cast a questioning glance at her comrade.
"I admit your firepower isn't something ordinary, but it has its merits."
Misaka smiled at her friend.
She had started at level 1, after all. She'd had to train hard over and over again to finally reach her current level, and she was proud of it.
"On the other hand ,Onee-sama have you heard the rumor?"
Misaka's face flashed with ignorance.
"I've heard that, exceptionally, our school will be testing two new students... boys... apparently the other centers are all full or don't have the necessary infrastructure. "Kuroko continued.
"Really? It's rather strange, isn't it?" replied the electromaster.
"There's something even stranger Onee-sama..."
Misaka questioned her friend with her eyes, waiting for her to continue her explanation, intrigued.
"I hear the two newbies are... natural espers!"
"Natural? "What do you mean by that?" asked the young girl.
Kuroko paused before continuing.
"A rare case of an esper who were born with their abilities fully developed. Without going through the power curriculum! Something extremely rare for the Academic City! And what's more, they'd be two... two brothers!"
Misaka was speechless, her face expressing astonishment, it was hard to believe!
"Really? How can that be possible?" She asked, dumbfounded.
Kuroko shrugged.
"No idea. But the whole city seems to want to study this phenomenon, It even seems that other cases exist!
Misaka was pensive.
"Espers since birth, eh?"
Misaka must have obtained her power through sweat and hard work, and it had taken her years to achieve even the slightest result.
The idea that someone had been born with such a gift made her slightly jealous.
"It must be easy to have that kind of gift from birth. I wonder who these natural espers are."
Kuroko sighed, clearly not optimistic.
"I imagine someone with such powers without having had to make the slightest effort must be pretty full of himself... the kind who thinks he's superior to others or something..."
It's true that such circumstances were bound to give someone a big head.
But Misaka wasn't one to judge someone before meeting them.
"You never know Kuroko, maybe they're good people!" Misaka replied.
The teleporter didn't seem to share the optimism of her senior.
"At least, I suppose if it's an innate power, it must be something rather weak. Maybe level 1 or 2, it would really surprise me if we had anything close to level 4, and let's not even talk about 5... We'll see anyway... "
Misaka nodded.
The young girl wondered what natural espers must look like and what powers they might possess.
The two friends would probably soon find out.
They continued their speculative discussions as they headed for the school showers.
Mob was sweating.
All eyes were on him, every student, every teacher. And they were all girls!
Progress towards Mob explosion: 10%.
The young psychic stood in the large room where the bulk of the tests took place, he and his brother had been separated into different areas.
Everyone looked at him.
Everyone was talking about him, the newcomer, one of the famous natural esper... what pressure!
Kageyama Shigeo wasn't what you'd call extroverted, and had a lot of problems with social situations.
Worse, he was very shy with people of the opposite sex, and this school was an all-girls school!
Why did he have to test his powers in a place like this?
After so many months training with the body improvement club, after so much work at his old school to overcome his shyness, the teenager didn't feel he'd made much progress.
It depressed him a little.
Despite this, he had no choice but to face up to his fear and pass his assessment while flying under the radar.
Mob tried to motivate himself as best he could.
"For Ritsu! For master Reigen!" he whispered to himself to give himself courage.
With some trepidation, the teenager moved towards the first tests, and began the process.
Most of the exercises were simple, easy enough tasks for Mob, such as moving a metal bar accurately without touching it, recognizing patterns without seeing them, and other such tests.
For a psychic like him, these tests were really easy.
Mob found it hard not to take them seriously, especially with all this attention on him.
But so far the tests were going well, or so he thought.
Progress towards Mob explosion: 12%.
After a long series of basic exercises, it was time for the young boy to test his telekinetic abilities with a series of specific exercises.
Shigeo was led into a vast outdoor courtyard, with a long corridor for measuring the throws of objects using esper powers
The boy's presence in this courtyard caused an increase in the attention he was attracting!
There were more and more student who, intrigued, came to watch the psychic perform his tests.
Mob could hear their thoughts, their comments.
"Hey..is that him?"
"He looks super weak!"
"My God, this boy is so plain looking. Is he the natural esper?"
Progress towards Mob explosion: 14%.
"He's really not that attractive."
"Someone like him must feel superior to others."
"Is he really an esper... him?"
Progress towards Mob explosion: 17%.
All these negative thoughts and comments formed a whirlwind of emotion in Mob's heart.
The esper drifted alone in an ocean of judgment and hostility.
He was terrified of looking ridiculous in front of so many girls.
Mob's cheeks flushed bright red, amplifying the comments he was receiving even further.
Progress towards Mob explosion: 20%.
Mob was invited to stand on a marker and instructed to use his powers to project a ball as far as possible and as close to the target as possible.
Gathering all his courage, the teenager took his seat and began to accumulate his powers.
Suddenly, the murmurs and comments ceased, and silence fell over the courtyard as an unnatural wind suddenly picked up.
A flood of energy began to overflow Mob, a tide of pure psychic force.
The Tokiwadai students were now all mesmerized by the change in atmosphere.
For a very brief moment Mob's placid face took on an expression of total seriousness, like a beast about to pounce on its prey, The change happened so quickly and so suddenly...
Since arriving here, Mob had accumulated frustrations, worries and doubts, and the world seemed to be watching him intently.
He could feel the pressure... so heavy and oppressive.
Suddenly, the crowd exclaimed, as if something unexpected had just happened.
It took Mob a moment to realize.
Not only had the psychic just floated the ball he was to throw at the target, but all the other balls had also suddenly begun to float - in fact, most of the similar-sized objects in the whole yard had just begun to levitate.
Mob panicked and suddenly everything fell to the ground.
"Ah.. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to bring it all up like that." Mob expressed in total panic to the examiner, who looked as shocked as all the other students.
Progress towards Mob explosion: 24%.
She told him to continue with the test, and Mob had to force himself to regain control.
He floated the ball back in front of him and tried to remain calm. But after his mistake, it had become almost impossible. Everyone was watching him so intently. It was absolutely terrifying for him!
He wasn't used to using his powers in this way.
Mob tried to apply slight force to the projectile.
But the psychic let his emotions get the better of him.
The bullet was suddenly projected by a wave of green energy. It sped along at incredible speed, reaching the end of the corridor in a fraction of a second, striking the target with such force that it shattered on impact.
Mob was in shock. Once again, he had let his emotions control him!
The teenager had tried to contain his worries and his lack of self-confidence, but it hadn't been enough...
"Let's get on with the tests!" announced the examiner, whose voice could hardly contain the surprise at Mob's demonstration.
Progress towards Mob explosion: 27%.
The tests continued, but Mob found it difficult not to let his emotions influence his powers and seemed to release too much power each time. This wasn't good...
After a while, the assessments had come to an end, and Mob was waiting for his results, unable to hide his concern.
Suddenly, the megaphone rang out in the room that served as a waiting area for test results.
Kageyama Shigeo: final assessment: level 5!
The mechanical voice had the effect of a cannonball on Mob. It was as if he'd just been struck by lightning.
Level 5 !?
The teenager was devastated, how could he have messed up so much!
Well, from his point of view... Everyone else seemed extremely impressed by Mob's results.
Nevertheless, he had completely let his emotions get the better of him, and the result was rather frightening: he had just obtained the highest possible level in the entire Academic City!
The reaction of the girls around him contrasted with that of the psychic, a mixture of surprise, excitement and admiration that Mob found hard to appreciate. He was attracting even more attention than before, now that his level had been revealed to the light of day.
The crowd around him seemed really excited. Being Level 5 was really something exceptional, apparently, judging by the reactions of the various students.
He could hear them discussing and commenting on the events that had just taken place, and rumors would spread quickly here...
He tried in vain to protest, but was told that there had been no mistake.
The results were final!
Mob had just been placed eighth on the list of the city's most powerful espers.
How was he going to explain this to Ritsu?
Mob headed dejectedly for the exit, to the utter bewilderment of all the espers present... he could guess their thoughts: why was he so disappointed to get level 5?
Shigeo didn't like being the center of attention and getting level 5 was perhaps the worst thing for him.
He was beginning to wonder if it had been a good idea to come to this City.
Progress towards Mob explosion: 33%.