There was once a girl inside a research facility. She was on the 9th floor of the facility. Her background was all white. No hint of creativity was done to the walls. Just pure clad white with occasional shades of blue from the outline of the edges of the automatic sliding doors.
Her violet hair glistened under the UV light of the facility, with a desultory streak of black showing from underneath.
The hair coloring was done to distinguish her from other subjects.
She wore a hospital gown.
She went with a group, a mix of boys and girls of the same age.
"Don't lose your footing!"
"Look where you're heading!"
Beside the group, they were accompanied by people wearing reinforced black helmets with a one-way mirror, so they could see and that other people could not. They wore very thick black vests along with hefty gray boots.
"Now… now is my time to shine!" she thought.
They were walking in the hallways. They reached a dead end. They were temporarily blocked by two white clunks of metal that fit each other like a puzzle, one from the ground and the other from the ceiling.
These opened and made way for them to pass, and they continued walking like normal.
"All this time training… all this time being honed… all these 11 years of continuous education! Ever since I was 3! I can feel excited about something for once!" she thought.
Finally, they entered the end of the hallway, which was only obstructed by two transparent glass doors.
There was a label that read as 'Esper Conceptualization Room'
There were CCTVs on the top left.
The guardian from the left of the group pressed a very small button inside the helmet, he uttered, "The new subjects are here. Prepared to be tested. All 9 are here. None are hostile. You may proceed with the experiments."
A few seconds of waiting and the doors finally opened for them.
Inside was a wide and clear, air-conditioned white room. There were fluorescent lamps on the ceiling that illuminated the place.
There were a lot of sections that were separated by turquoise curtains. She saw people like her being tested.
The girl went all giddy-giddy.
"Once I find out what kind of power I have, I can finally focus on the concept my power follows alone. To hell with Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Ecology, and the many other sciences!" she thought.
The guardians who were beside them left. She turned around and saw that they closed the doors.
A young black-haired female scientist approached them. She held thick sheets of paper, compiled by a paper clip.
She turned the pages and took out a black sign pen from a pocket in her laboratory coat.
"Attendance check," she declared with a dull tone and expression.
She did not once bat an eye on the patients.
"076523."
A male patient with blonde hair raised his hand and said, "Present."
She marked the paper she was holding with a check.
"098456."
"Present," a little girl with black hair from the back replied.
"100639."
"Present," a guy with red-dyed hair answered.
"114720."
"Present," a guy with black hair answered.
"006972."
"Present," a girl with brown hair responded.
"154002."
"Present!" the girl we are viewing right now, one with the violet-dyed hair answered.
"547767."
"Present!"
"112448."
"Present!"
"391047."
"Present!"
The female scientist finished checking all of them and now she made eye contact with them.
"Alright, our first test would be to see if you retained your original esper powers, that would be telekinesis and mind-reading. The first test is called Stagnation. Come with me."
She walked across the hallway. Despite most of the experiments being done to patients was covered by curtains, they could often hear screams, electric shocks, and crashing objects. Fellow scientists would seldom try to assist those.
"Woah," 154002 was amazed.
The rest were mostly stoic and unflinching.
They passed through some normal doors with long D-pull handles.
They opened the doors, and they were presented with a wide hallway with many doors.
They turned left to enter the first room with the same type of handles. It was labeled as 'Test Room 1A – Stagnation Process'."
The room was a completely white room. There were 3 round tables with a baseball in the middle of it.
"076523, 098456, 100639. You three go first."
The three patients stepped forward.
"Go to the tables with baseballs."
They did what they were told.
"Exciting!" 154002 thought.
"Listen to what I have to say. For the first test of the Stagnation Process, we will see if you still retain the telekinesis ability, or, in other words, the ability to influence a physical system without physical interaction. I want you three to try and influence that ball in front of you. If possible, for this test, only try to move it."
She took a stopwatch from another pocket.
"You shall all be given 5 minutes. In 3… 2… 1… BEGIN!"
Click.
The stopwatch started counting.
The patients closed their eyes to try to do something to the object before them. They raised their hands and spread their fingers.
"I wonder if I still have that ability. Apparently, espers, like me, started out as people who could use both telekinesis and mind-reading simultaneously. However, the scientists of this place, New District, they say, have found a way to go beyond such things. They found a way to control our unstable minds. We sacrifice such abilities to be able to control scientific concepts. I wonder what we call to those who only retained their normal esper powers. Failed espers? Or simply, just espers? How about us? Are we the normal espers? Or would we be called modified espers? I should try asking that lady after the tests," 154002 surmised.
Click.
The stopwatch stopped at exactly 5 minutes.
"Time is up!" the female scientist announced.
None of the patients were able to move the ball.
She wrote something on her paper.
"You three may come back to the group now!"
They did what they were told.
"Next! 114720, 006972, and 154002! Please step forward!"
They stepped forward.
"Go in front of those tables."
And so they did.
"I will repeat the instructions if none of you were listening. I want you three to try and influence that ball in front of you. Please, for this test, only try to move it. Got that clear?"
They all nodded.
"Alright, on the count of 3," she raised her hand holding the stopwatch up high, "2, 1…"
Click.
The timer started running.
"Please… I want something more powerful. So I can finally get out of this place," 154002 wished dearly.
She closed her eyes along with those beside her. She visualized the ball.
"Move. Move. Move!" she thought.
She kept saying this until…
Click.
"Time's up. All three of you, come back to my side."
She announced, "For the last test, we will see if any of you retained the ability to read minds. Everyone find a pair, he or she who does not have a pair will try to read mine."
Everyone has paired up aside from 154002. She looked everywhere.
"Huh? Why didn't anyone choose me?" she pondered.
"You!" the female scientist pointed her out.
She turned in her direction.
"Me?"
"Yes, you will stick with me."
"Okay!"
She approached her.
"Right, now everyone, listen to me! Maintain a distance of 1 meter."
They spaced each other according to their estimates.
"After that think of an object, a number, anything! Your partner will try to interpret what the other thinks."
They closed their eyes and imagined.
"Same as earlier, there shall only be 5 minutes. We shall begin in 3… 2… 1…"
Click.
The timer started running.
…
..
.
Click.
5 minutes have passed.
"Okay, everyone ask each other what the other thought."
The patients asked each other.
"Hey, hey, what did you think? Did you think about an elephant? I imagined a garden."
"No, I thought about the sun. I couldn't go through your mind."
"I thought about a sphere. Your thoughts didn't really come through mine."
"Me neither, so that just about covers it."
The female scientist asked 154002, "Were you able to guess what I was thinking?"
"Hmm… was it a tree?"
"No, I was thinking about protons."
"Oh."
The female scientist faced the patients.
"Okay, what about the rest of you?"
"Nope!" they answered in unison.
"Alright, that just about covers it."
154002 was overjoyed. She once had the powers of a normal esper, but evidently, now that she could not even influence a mere ball or read the mind of a normal person were signs that she may have been able to evolve into something far greater… or something far worse. Who could know? That's why these tests were being conducted in the first place.
"Yes," she muttered to herself.
The rest of the tests continued normally where no one in the room exhibited the symptoms of retaining the powers of a normal esper.
"On to the next stage," the female scientist declared, "This is where things get tricky. The second test is actually determining the concepts you harbor. We call it the Diagnostic Process. Follow me."
They went outside the room, and the patients followed. They left the hallway by returning to the wider room.
The female scientist discussed as they walked back to the front.
"As all of you have been taught by now, there are three main branches of science, we have formal sciences, natural sciences, and lastly, social sciences. However, the sciences we will explore will not deal with formal or social sciences. It should be obvious as to why."
Formal sciences are the study of formal systems, such as those under the branches of logic and mathematics.
Social sciences are the study of human behavior in its social and cultural aspects.
Natural sciences are the study of natural phenomena. These are types of sciences espers are able to acquire.
"To begin, we shall check physical sciences, one of the two main branches."
They entered another door to the right. Another hallway was in sight. Many doors were there, similar to the one shown earlier.
The female scientist peeked at the first door to the right, and it was occupied. She went to the one on the left and saw that it was vacant, so she entered the room labeled '2A – Physics' and so did the patients.
There were many different kinds of balls inside the room. There were cushions in the wall to lessen impact as much as possible in case of a violent rampage.
"Everyone, grab a ball of your choice. It shouldn't matter what kind."
They followed her instructions.
154002 grabbed a basketball.
"This is the biggest!" she muttered to herself.
"Okay, listen up! You will play with each other. That is it. As much as possible, involve other people. The only catch is that you need to think about the concepts I say as you try to interact with the ball, be it with your mind or physical interaction. Understood?"
"Yeah!" they all answered.
"There shouldn't be any exact time limit for this one. I will stop the activity once I deem it to be fruitful or fruitless. Start passing the ball to each other."
Everyone was hesitant to just start playing like normal. They were prohibited from playing while in activity in the facility.
"I-Is this a test? Are they testing us if we would disobey?" 154002 wondered.
Similar thoughts floated above everyone else's mind. They had trauma from its extreme disciplinary demands. While it was psychologically proven that authoritarian figures would cause a child to be rather discreet and secretive, they paid no care. All they wanted was for the scientific experiments to succeed and for children and teens of all ages to focus solely on the curriculum set for them.
"Are we… going to get punished if we play?" she pondered.
The female scientist noticed their worried faces.
"This is part of the experiment. No need to be concerned. As long as you follow my instructions, you shouldn't be punished. You have my word," she reassured.
They looked at each other and the activity started by 076523 passing a volley ball to 114720.
114720 let go of the ball he held and caught the ball.
He stared at 076253 and then passed it back.
The rest observed what they did and decided to follow the example of the two.
They decided to pass on the balls to one another, including 154002.
They were still nervous and had these serious and straight faces, like they were taking an exam.
After a minute or two, the atmosphere lightened, and they began to smile. They were playing like children, chuckling when someone gets hit in the face and makes a funny face.
Despite being teens, they acted like children who discovered the meaning of fun for the very first time.
"Okay, this is the first thing I want you all to think about the word... 'Direction'!"
Once the word was stated aloud, the children passed the balls in longer intervals, occasionally closing their eyes to imagine the direction these objects took.
"Direction. Direction. Direction," 154002 thought as the basketball was passed back to her from 100639."
But when she received the ball, nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
5 minutes passed by and no considerable progress was being made.
"Nothing, eh?" the female scientist surmised.
"Okay, next up! Think of the word, 'Magnitude'!"
The same result happened.
"Got to make it a bit more specific," the female scientist devised.
"Okay, for the next word, I want you to think of the word… 'Force'!"
The patients, dismayed by the lack of something abnormal to happen, decided to concentrate more and the passing of balls became infrequent.
"I want you all to imagine the forces acting upon the object! The forces acting upon yourselves… the forces acting in your environment! Drag force, gravity, friction, applied force, normal force, tension force, anything! Visualize! Calculate!"
Given a stricter order, the patients focused on the ball more keenly.
Nothing occurred for the past 5 minutes.
006972 was about to pass back the basketball to 154002.
She calculated the forces.
"Around 12.826 N for applied force, 9.8 N for gravitational force, 3.124 N for drag force…" she calculated in her mind.
The ball grew closer and closer.
It was then that she felt something.
The ball landed in her arms.
"Hm? That was a rather gentle landing. I recall her throwing it a bit harder, so why did it land like it just popped out of thin air just near me? Is it just my imagination?" she pondered, "I must be imagining it. The mind loves to play tricks after all… perhaps I left out some forces in my calculations?"
"Alright!" the female scientist yelled.
Clap. Clap.
"Now think about the concept of heat!" she announced.
"On to the next word," 154002 thought.
END OF EPISODE 1