POV: Ikehara Mirai
Timeline: *past*
I kept following Kenta's back blindly till he suddenly stopped running in front of me.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I stopped as well beside him.
Kenta eyes which were glaring while staring at a distance came in my view, he gritted his teeth and grumbled with an angry frown appearing on his face and he cursed, "these bastards are going at it again!" before quickly running away from the building leaving me behind.
"Where are you going? Why are you heading in the opposite direction!?" I yelled asking, Kenta stopped his running and turned around with an annoyed expression he ordered, "just head on first," then he left without giving any sort of explanation.
I looked at what he was looking at, to see bunch of boys playing, I got annoyed at how he left to play with others while we were about to do something serious.
I started heading inside, looking for Yasahiro, but as I didn't find him in my room, I headed toward the cafeteria.
As I entered, I looked around trying to find where Yasahiro is, but with no luck I couldn't see him anywhere.
"Chizuru?" Akira said as he approached me, I scolded him by reflex, "you idiot! They already found out that you didn't get rid of that stupid mouse!"
"I was going to ask you if you know how they knew about it!" he exclaimed surprised by how I knew about it, "there is no way Junzo said anything! So, it's either you or that jerk, Kenta!" he explained.
"Are you crazy!? Why would I tell anyone about that stupid mouse!?" I yelled taken back by his remark.
He frowned and crossed his arms and wondered, "then is it Kenta?"
"Moving on," I interrupted, "do you know where Yasahiro might be?" I asked him.
"Yasahiro?" Akira wondered then asked, "who is that?"
As I heard that, my hands started trembling with my eyes widening at Akira's question, "don't tell me, they got Yasahiro as well…" I mumbled to myself.
"Were you trying to kill them!!!?" a loud voice scolded cutting my panic attack, as I turn toward it to see father scolding a bunch of kids.
"I wonder what's going on? Never seen father this mad before," Akira asked, as he turned toward the voice as well.
I shifted my eye sight toward the kids getting scolded to see that between them were two familiar faces, Kenta's and Izumi's.
"That idiot, what did he do now!?" I grumbled annoyed by how fast it took Kenta to get in trouble.
"It seems Kenta fought someone again, huh, they look pretty bad," Akira said glaring at Kenta.
I looked at the other kids, to see them all with blue spots all over their bodies and blood covering their faces, I asked Akira shocked by what I'm seeing, "what do you mean by 'again'?"
Akira looked at me and came closer and whispered, "that Kenta guy is bad news, he always gets in fights and the ones he fights always end up with serious injuries. He does it without any reason too!"
"No way," I objected then told him, "you were hanging around him before, how could you say that? To me, he didn't seem like a person to do such a thing."
Akira smiled and replied, "although he is a fun guy, he is definitely not someone you want to be close to, and he is absolutely not someone to have as an enemy."
I relooked again at Kenta and remembered the innocent smiles he showed me before, and mumbled unable to believe what Akira said, "he must have had a reason."
"You should value the life of others more!" father continued to scold Kenta, Kenta got angry and yelled, "I don't want to hear that from someone like you!"
As I heard Kenta's response a chill ran down my spine as I realized that if he keeps talking like that, he'll be like announcing to father that he knows what they're doing to us.
I quickly started to approach them, wanting to prevent Kenta from spewing more nonsense that might get us found out, but then a voice yelled, "Kenta! Apologize to father!"
I paused as I heard the yell and looked toward the source to see it was from Izumi, who was also covered in bruises.
Kenta moved his hand on Izumi's neck and squeezed it, with a scary face he threatened, "you're merely an Izumi, how dare you tell me what to do?"
"Kenta!" father called his name in scolding tone, Kenta hand twitched and he let go of Izumi's neck and started heading out of the cafeteria and said in an angry voice, "whatever."
As Kenta exited, I went toward Izumi, "are you alright, Izumi?" I asked.
"You're that cola girl!" Izumi exclaimed thrilled, I smiled and nodded.
I asked trying to know what happened, "Kenta is terrible; acting this way toward you, huh? What happened?"
"Shut up!" Izumi screamed, he glared at me and said in a loud voice, "Kenta is a nice guy!"
"I didn't say he's bad," I corrected him but without giving what I said any regard he ran away while yelling, "You idiot!"
"the hell was that?" I mumbled feeling speechless about the reaction I got.
"Chizuru?" Yasahiro asked from behind me, I turned around and with a surprised face, I asked, "Yasahiro!? How come you're still here!?"
"What do you mean?" he asked me confused by my question, I explained, "I asked Akira about you, but he told me he doesn't know who you were, I thought you were forgotten as well!"
"Akira?" Yasahiro asked me in a confused tone, which made me realize that I might have forgot about the possibility of Akira and Yasahiro simply not knowing each other.
"Never mind, I just misunderstood something," I retraced my earlier remark.
"Did you guys find out anything?" Yasahiro asked me curious about the findings of my little mission with Kenta.
I excitedly announced to him, "we found a lot of stuff about the abilities, as well as an important piece of information! Shinobo is still alive!"
Yasahiro was relieved and with a smile mile wide on his face, he asked, "where is he then?"
I patted his shoulder and told him, "that's what I had hoped you would find out for us, can't you like read minds of researchers and tell us where Shinobo is!?"
He looked puzzled and stated, "even if I read their thoughts, how can you get someone to think of Shinobo without letting them know you remember him?"
I grinned and reassured him, "don't worry, even if they don't think of it, with your mind-reading ability, you can dig as much information from a person's head as you want! I already read your profile and it is possible!"
"profile?" he asked confused, I pulled his hand and dragged him out of cafeteria while telling him, "it's a long story, I'll tell you on the way, let's go find Kenta."
Yasahiro grabbed my hand back and pulled me to a wall, "this is bad," Yasahiro mumbled as he peeked on the other side of the wall.
My eyes followed his eyesight and peeked over as well, to see Izumi and Kenta.
"There he is!" I remarked and started moving my body out to go toward them, but Yasahiro pulled me back and warned me, "I don't think it's a good idea for us to go there now."
Confused by his reaction, I wanted to ask for the reason but his hand that extended to pull mine was shivering which made me hesitate.
I carefully peeked again, this time to overhear their conversation hoping to see why Yasahiro thought it wasn't good for us to be there.
"I'm sorry for raising my voice back there," Izumi apologized while looking at the floor avoiding Kenta's piercing eyes.
Kenta quickly raised his fist in response, which made me unconsciously move forward to try to stop it, but Yasahiro stopped me again.
He swayed his fist and landed it on Izumi's face which made Izumi fall on the ground helplessly.
"That bastard, what does he think he's doing to someone way weaker than him!?" I mumbled with anger boiling up inside of me at the scene of Izumi being hit.
"Being an idiot and crybaby is one thing!" Kenta yelled at Izumi, then continued scolding, "but to dare to actually go against me to defend a scum like that is unforgivable!"
His irrationality made me frown, his anger was misplaced, but what was more obvious was how he is looking down on Izumi.
"I'm sorry, I won't do that anymore," Izumi pleaded while wiping his teary eyes, "I just didn't want you to say bad things about father," Izumi justified.
Kenta grabbed Izumi's collar and pulled him upward, "who do you think you are to determine what I should say or what I should do? I don't want you to forget your position, remember that you're only an Izumi, you can't go against me," Kenta threatened.
Izumi kept crying and mumbling between his sobs, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Kenta let go of Izumi dropping him on the floor yet again then got closer to Izumi and threatened, "listen, Izumi, remember the reason I'm keeping you around me, if you don't want me to throw you away, you better be careful of your actions and words toward me from now on."
"That bastard, Kenta, does he think he'll get away with treating Izumi like that!?" I grumbled with anger taking over my emotions.
"I don't think anyone should meddle with these two," Yasahiro told me with his voice shaking, he continued, "Kenta is a person that categorize everything into two groups; fun and dull. He keeps the fun things close to him and throws away the dull stuff."
I interrupted and asked him, "we all do that, we like doing what fits our interest rather than something boring."
Yasahiro shook his head and continued talking, "Kenta is a bit more extreme in that, the more I spent time with him, the more I was sure of it, Kenta categorize people as well."
He peeked toward Kenta and continued in a scarred tone, "it was usually him discarding and leaving people he labeled as boring that wasn't so bad in the beginning, but it got even worse with time, he started thinking that boring people could turn fun if put in an interesting situation, and he started manipulating people to get the fun he sought. And he was very good at using other people's weakness against them then distancing himself from them, he had his fun at the cost of other people's despair, I don't even want to imagine what he would do if he got an ability like mine."
"Aren't you overreacting a bit?" I asked trying to lighten up the heavy mood.
Yasahiro turned around me and continued explaining, "but even then, he managed to change one day, he changed drastically after meeting Izumi."
"Changed, you say, is what we witnessed a moment ago the changed version? If so, it doesn't seem to be a good version either," I remarked sarcastically at his statement.
He sighed and responded, "I don't know the details, nor put my hands directly on the change, but ever since he met Izumi, Kenta's interest in other people decreased."
"His interest shifted toward Izumi? Did he find something more fun in Izumi than he found in the people he used to manipulate? If so, what is it?" I asked Yasahiro urging him for answers.
Yasahiro frowned and corrected me, "Kenta didn't find something that pricked his interest, he had found a slave that would never go against him."
"A slave!?" I remarked feeling confused about why he used that term.
Yasahiro continued, "I don't know what happened between them, but Izumi will always follow Kenta, Izumi will always agree to everything he says, and he would never do something that will harm Kenta, he is Kenta's most loyal slave."
"If Kenta is as bad as you are saying, then why would Izumi stay loyal to him after being treated this way!?" I asked doubtful of his words.
"Because to Izumi, Kenta is," Yasahiro answered then continued while looking at them with pity, "Kenta is his light. Izumi needs Kenta to survive, and Kenta is using that against him, amused by the result he got."
He turned back at me and explained in more details, "you saw earlier in the cafeteria, that was because Kenta fought the kids that were bullying Izumi, he will protect Izumi and always be there when Izumi needs him, to Izumi, Kenta is his savior and shield. His need for Kenta binds him and his respect for him gnaw his own confident making him lose all faith in his own power. Izumi believes if Kenta is not around him anymore, he will just be no one."
"That's insane," I remarked then scolded, "if you know all of this, why aren't you doing anything about it?"
"Because this situation is better than any solution, even if by any chance we succeed in separating them, Kenta will just return to manipulating others at the tip of his hands, and Izumi will continue to crawl in darkness and despair unable to get a clear vision of himself. In short, Izumi will break, and Kenta will become worse. This situation, for good or worse, is the best option for both of them," Yasahiro stated.
"A slave and a shield, huh?" I mumbled, although I refuse to think that this is the best option, but if this is what they both want then no one can do anything about it, not even me.
"Yasahiro," I called out, "if you know all of this, how could you still hang out with them?" I asked.
"Because I know better than anyone that no one is truly perfect," he answered, "with my ability, I know, that everyone has broken pieces, you and I are no exception either, we're all broken and try to find a glue that can stick our pieces together. So, who are we to judge these two? Who are we to tell them what's right? Do we really know what's best for them to stick our noses in?"
As I heard Yasahiro's words, I was overwhelmed. This boy who is barely 9 years old seemed too mature but what surprised me more was that his words made sense to me, and I couldn't help but agree with his point of view.
Wanting to fit in, I know better than anyone how hard that is, for Izumi to fit in means to be accepted by Kenta, that is why, I have no right to say anything.
I had no right.
The only thing that I can do was, to watch them from afar and support them if they ever break.
The only thing I can do is … to be their friend.
"Let's go," I said as I pulled Yasahiro's hand and started moving toward them, "Kenta! Izumi!" I yelled as I waved my hand in air.
"Chizuru and Yasahiro? What are you doing here?" Kenta wondered when he saw us, "it's the cola girl!" Izumi exclaimed.
"Did you already forget!?" I asked Kenta while letting out a sigh, "we're going to find Shinobo, right?" I reminded.
Kenta's frown was wiped away and a huge smile surfaced, he laughed, "that's right."
As I watch his smile, the words people had spoke rushed inside my head,
'Kenta is nice guy!'
'He's bad news!'
'He's a fun guy!'
'He manipulated others to have his fun.'
'He is absolutely not someone to have as an enemy.'
All I had in my head, was a single question, just who the hell are you, Kenta? Not being able to know which was the real him drove me into confusion.
"I have a plan to get the information out of them, but it's going to be a bit risky," Kenta said while grinning at us, "let us hear it out," Yasahiro rushed him.
"For it to succeed we need three major roles; bait, memory and thoughts-reading," he stated.
"I'm guessing the third role is for me, but how does this plan exactly go?" Yasahiro asked.
Kenta started explaining excitedly, "firstly, the bait will go and ask that father-guy a question about Shinobo, making father think that the memory erasing failed on the bait, then he will unconditionally think about Shinobo for a moment! That is when the thoughts-reading role comes in and snatch the information, but the risk in it is that they will attempt to re-erase the memory from the bait again, resulting in the bait forgetting about Shinobo completely, that is when the memory role comes in, they will just have to remind the bait again of Shinobo and retell them the plan and make them rejoin us."
"You're really amazing! You came up with a plan in such a short time and even included the risk and backup in it," I stated impressed.
"Then there are two major decisions we have to make," Yasahiro added, "what to ask father? It must be something that he will absolutely need to think of Shinobo's place with. The second thing is, who is going to be the bait? It should be someone that will believe us even after forgetting about everything."
I interrupted and asked, "about that, can't the bait and memory roles become one? With my ability, I won't forget even if they erased it again like what happened before."
Kenta crossed his arms and said, "I did consider your ability, but it resurfaced recently, so I was unsure if you're completely able to handle it yet."
I laughed and proudly announced, "don't worry, my inability to forget will always activate regardless if I'm using my ability or not."
"Then Chizuru will be the bait and memory, that only leaves us with the question we're going to ask," Yasahiro stated.
Kenta reassured us, "don't worry, I just came up with one! How about 'where is Shinobo?' as a question? That guy will have to think of the place, Shinobo is in, and it's not a strange question to ask when your memory didn't get erased!"
"Let's go with that then," Yasahiro agreed, I interrupted and asked, "but when will we do it?"
"The sooner the better!" Kenta said while smiling excitedly.
"But are you sure, about talking about all of this in front of this guy?" Yasahiro asked Kenta while pointing at Izumi.
"I totally forgot he was here," I mumbled.
"It's fine, Izumi won't tell anyone," Kenta reassured us while patting Izumi's head.
"If you say so," Yasahiro said seeming doubtful.
Suddenly, footsteps came closer to us, and we all looked toward the source to see Azami.
Azami had a surprised expression when she saw the four of us together, she said, "what an unusual group," she looked toward Izumi and remarked, "a crybaby," then moved her sight toward Yasahiro, "a loner," then Kenta, "a troublemaker," and then she focused them on me, "and an honor student, all are unusual combos, what are you doing?"
"It's none of your business," Kenta challenged.
"Is that so," Azami said while pointing her palm toward Izumi then closed her palm forming a fist, she asked, "what about now?"
"What did she do!?" Kenta asked confused about her actions, I looked at Izumi whom she pointed at to see nothing out of ordinary.
Did she do something?
"Are you alright?" Yasahiro asked as he patted Izumi's shoulder but then his movement stopped as soon as he touched Izumi.
"They're both not moving!? I see, I think I know what Azami's ability is!" I stated surprised by what I saw.
"Are they alright!?" Kenta asked worryingly as he started to approach them, I stopped him and warned him, "don't touch Izumi nor Yasahiro! Or you'll be frozen in time as well!"
"Just what is her ability!?" Kenta angrily yelled feeling ignited by not knowing details.
"I suspect that Azami's ability is time-freezing, she is able of freezing the time of an object as long as her fist is closed," I explained.
"So, if we make her open her fist, they'll return to normal?" Kenta asked, and I nodded and added, "and she can only freeze one object at a time, so we'll be safe even if we approach her."
"One object? But she froze both of them," Kenta confusedly asked.
"By the time Yasahiro touched Izumi, they were considered one object, that is why if we touch either of them we'll be the same object and freeze as well, so be careful," I warned him.
Kenta started running toward Azami and extended his hand toward hers, but she quickly pulled it away and countered by grabbing his hand with her other hand and twisted it before spinning him and throwing him toward me.
Kenta clashed with me making both of us fall to the ground.
"Who the hell is she!? How can she be this strong when she's only using one hand!?" Kenta said while glaring at her, gritting his teeth.
"Azami was always the top in martial art class, no wonder," I said while standing up again.
"I underestimated you because you were a girl but not anymore, I'll come at you seriously now," Kenta declared while getting up from the floor.
Kenta started speeding up toward her again, this time faster than before, "take this!" Kenta yelled as he threw a punch at Azami's face.
Azami caught his punch with her palm and started squeezing his hand, "ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Kenta yelled in pain.
"Let go of my hand!" Kenta yelled as he raised his leg aiming his knee in her stomach.
Before reaching her stomach, Kenta's leg stopped.
"What happened?" Yasahiro asked confusedly as he approached me.
"Yasahiro? Weren't you frozen!?" I asked confused by his sudden movement.
"What?" Yasahiro asked confusedly.
"Wait a minute, if you're not frozen, then … don't tell me, she froze Kenta!?" I said while returning my sight toward Azami again.
And as I suspected Kenta had stopped moving.
"I was only asking questions, yet this guy quickly rushed into a fight, so troublesome," Azami complained before heading toward the direction of the cafeteria.
"W-wait!" I stopped her, "what about Kenta? Unfreeze him."
"Chizuru," Azami said while frowning, "you've been acting weird lately, was that because you're hanging out with these guys?" she asked me while inspecting my reaction.
"What do you mean weird?" I asked confused by her sudden statement.
"Talking about people that don't exist, picking fights randomly with your friends, if that isn't weird what is? I don't understand you lately," Azami explained.
As I heard her words, anger rushed through my head, who is she to talk like she knew me, who does she think she is…
"I guess you won't ever understand me," I said angrily, "a person whom you always labeled as a person with no ability, a person that was always left out when you guys went to AT as group, a person like you who have always had everything from the very start would never be able to understand! But now, I'm special too! I too can fit with other people, so who are you to call me weird!? What's wrong with being with people that I can fit in with?!" I yelled.
Azami closed her eyes and turned around making me face her back, "I'm sorry, I always thought of you as my friend, I didn't know it was only me who thought of us like that. Let me apologize for making you feel left out and for calling you weird just because I didn't understand what you're going through. But I can reassure you of this-"
She tiled her head showing me her smile and said, "none of us have ever felt like you didn't belong with us, we never even thought of that, not even once."
Then she started heading off away from us.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Kenta yelled then started looking sideways and asked, "eh? w-where did she go!?"
I let out a sigh and told him, "you got frozen by her ability, idiot."
What Azami said bugged me a bit, maybe I just wasted my chance at finally fitting in with them, maybe I overreacted and said hurtful stuff to her.
"Well, whatever that was," Kenta said trying to reclaim his calm, "we got interrupted but we'll go ahead with the plan! Let's go!"
But, I'll make it up to her and the others by helping them maintain their memories, that is my role from now on, I'll be the one who will protect them.
Azami, Hi-Chan, Akira, Junzo and Shinobo, I'll protect you no matter what, so forgive this selfish request of mine.
Right now, being with this group makes me feel more at ease.