Ken finally decided to come to the outdoor sports field behind the main school building. When he was just about to going down the stairs, Ken could already hear the noise from the field. Ken thinks the activity—which Kimura calls a tradition between the baseball and the football team—only involves second-year team members. But when he saw for himself how many people filled the field, Ken corrected that this was maybe a small festival they were organizing.
Still overwhelmed by the number of people around the field, he suddenly flinched when someone nudged his arm. Beside him, Kimura grinned as if enjoying the surprised expression on Ken's face.
"Follow me!" Kimura said as he pulled Ken away. "This is a place for those who want to watch. Our place is over there."
Ken followed Kimura's finger, which pointed towards the centre of the field, right in front of the football goal. Kimura's baseball teammates and a football team that Ken doesn't know too well are getting ready like athletes who want to compete for an international gold medal.
Kimura and one of his friends gave a briefing regarding the procedures for implementing this activity, which more or less turned out to be similar to sports training for elementary school children. It's just that because they already have their own elemental abilities, they take turns doing the exercises of these elementary school children at the same time as releasing their elemental power.
There is no measure of win or loss here. This activity is purely an exercise to train, familiarize, and control themselves with the new abilities they each have; as well as a show-off to be admired by people watching on the edge of the field.
Since Ken is the only participant who is not part of a baseball or football team, Ken gets a very last turn. He doesn't matter anyway. Rather than that, Ken actually hopes that he will not be allowed to participate because he is not part of any team and is only invited. But because the invitee is Kimura—which is his position as student president as well as baseball captain—Ken is somehow forced to accept the decision he has made to come here, even though it is not what he expected.
While watching the first participant enter the field, Ken sits behind the football goal, next to Kimura, who adds information to him that the third-year senior will supervise this activity and make sure nothing untoward happens.
Even though Kimura had said so, Ken was still worried. The power in his body could not be compared with others, and probably to those third-year seniors too. He still doesn't even know how to control his own power so that it doesn't explode immediately when it is expelled. The exercise he did with Grandpa the other day is still homework that he hasn't finished doing.
"Record me!"
Ken almost dropped the smartphone Kimura gave him so suddenly when it was his turn. While closing the jacket he was wearing, Kimura caught a baseball bat that his friend gave him in the other corner of the field, then got ready to take place. His expression instantly became serious. Ken focused the camera's phone so that he could clearly capture Kimura from head to toe.
When Kimura managed to hit the ball, suddenly a snowy wind covered his surroundings. There was a faint sound of objects falling in the distance before his body was finally visible after the wind that suddenly appeared earlier left so suddenly as well. In his place, Kimura was already posing with a baseball bat on his shoulders while his eyes narrowed, looking around for where the ball he had hit was about to land.
"How is it? Do I look cool?"
Kimura sat next to Ken while snatching his phone and rewatching the footage of himself. Ken just silently looked at his friend who was already busy staring at his phone.
"That's ... a good diversion," Ken said. For some reason, he became confused by his own sentence after he had previously thought about using the right word.
"Diverting?" Kimura laughed. "No, no. I didn't cover myself deliberately so as not to be seen. The field is snowing so the snow is also blown by the wind when I swing the baseball bat. When I was in the arena, the wind blew my hair uncontrollably."
"Oh?" Ken responded with a half-smile. "If I had seen you at that time ...."
Kimura returned Ken's smile with the sympathetic gaze. "By the way, I saw you from home while you were in the arena."
"Is that so?" Ken stared blankly at the person who had just stood in the middle of the field. "I don't know what kind of dramatic visual effects they put on TV when my face appears there, but for you know, it's not something you wanna try."
Kimura's face hardened. He understood that Ken wasn't joking, especially in this matter. The shocked and scared expression he saw on TV and the gloomy look he saw in Ken now were solid evidence. Although Kimura wants to convince Ken that his ability looks very cool, especially if he is used to it. But he feels that at this time that kind of praise will be useless.
"It seems—"
Ken hadn't even finished his word when he heard the roar of students around the field cheering his name. When he raised his head, he saw that all eyes were already looking at him. At that moment, Ken felt so nervous. He didn't even remember ever feeling this pressure when so many eyes were glaring at him.
Somehow, Ken was already standing next to a third-year senior who questioned him about taking baseball or football. But before his consciousness moved without him knowing it again, Ken quickly told the senior about his condition.
"What is your energy form?" the senior asked with a serious expression.
"Fire."
Although the senior didn't seem too impressed, Ken was sure that the pair of eyes staring at him had widened. He understands that this can be very dangerous if no one can cover his power.
The senior thought for a while, then called his friends. The other three seniors approached them, then began to think quickly for a solution.
"Let's put it this way. Imai, release your energy as little as possible. And then, Fujii and I will immediately extinguish the fire if it is too big," said one of the seniors. "Okadai, make Imai a stone ball!"
After finalizing the plan, Ken stood unconfidently in front of the goal, staring at the stone ball in his fist. The four seniors were on standby on the edge of the court, not far from where he was. They start telling Ken to do whatever he can so that the show can continue.
While exhaling slowly, Ken began to swing his hands and threw the stone ball in his hand on the ground without expending much force. As a result, the stone ball fell not far from where he was standing. However, it is no longer a stone ball that can be seen falling into the field. It has turned into charcoal and the fire that burned it seems to be burning in the field. It's not that big, thankfully, but it can't be said to be small either.
Ken immediately returned to his place after the seniors gave him a pat on the shoulder and immediately extinguished the fire of his actions. He realized that the eyes of the audience around the field were still observing his movements, but Ken was no longer concerned and was more busy staring at his own palms. There was a black spot there, but he didn't know what it was or where it came from.
"Ken, I think that's a good progress!" Kimura's voice rang in his ears, making him raise his gaze. With both hands holding his phone, Kimura looked at Ken enthusiastically.
Ken did not reply to Kimura's words. He was still busy struggling with his own thoughts, ascertaining whether it was indeed a progress or not.
***
"Ken!"
In the midst of his reverie, Ken managed to dodge a stone thrown from inside the fence of Shimada family house. With a glance, Ken saw Chikara who was crouching on the front porch while arranging something on the ground with some pebbles. Ken walks up to the fence that is wide open.
"Saturday, wanna go together?"
Ken frowned. Having known Chikara for many years, he rarely invited him to go somewhere together. They never go to school together even though their house is close to each other, unless they happen to meet on the road. After all, Ken didn't understand why Chikara asked him, where they would go, and for what reason they should go together.
"Where?"
Chikara throws a confused look back at Ken. He stood up and walked up to Ken who was leaning against the fence. "To Higami HQ, where else? You weren't told about our regular training schedule? Every Saturday afternoon."
Hearing that, Ken reached into his phone and tried to check if there were any incoming messages or calls that he did not respond to from Higami's higher-ups. But there are none. There wasn't a single notification from them or from anyone other than them telling him about the schedule or anything else.
"They didn't tell me anything," Ken told Chikara, looking at his friend with a deep frown. "Maybe they forgot."
Inwardly, Chikara refutes Ken's positive thoughts. He thought it was impossible for no one to tell Ken about this kind of thing. What's more, Ken is not an ordinary member. He—although still a greeny—is The Chosen One in Higami.
Even so, he still followed the positive thoughts in Ken's head while shrugging his shoulders. "So? Instead, you wanna be held by the security guard again, right?"
Ken thought for a while, stared at the scratches on the ground in the yard, and then nodded. "What time?"
"It starts at 1 pm," Chikara told the schedule that Ken didn't know. "How about if I come at 11 to your house?"
Ken nodded immediately. Chikara nodded back while turning his body to return to his original position on the porch. However, Ken still stood there. He seemed hesitant for a moment until Chikara reprimanded him again.
"You think ...," Ken muttered as he stared at his open palm. "How much damage from the power can I take out?"
Chikara sees for himself how messed up he is when Ken realizes that he is one of the four chosen elementors who are the strongest in each group. It's the same with Yasuhiro. It's just that Ken's element is something that can be very dangerous if he releases it without control.
"Am I the villain they told me about, which was the first thing about the four of us being something that should be destroyed?"