Chapter 4: I'm Not a Good Person
[The Devil System is currently idle]
[Waiting for conditions to fully activate...]
[...]
...
As I sat on my bed, I received a notification on my phone:
Meet me in my office, I need to talk to you.
It was addressed by the headmaster of the school. I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk with anyone however, it wasn't like I really had a choice. Once again, I lifted myself up and made my way out of the main dorm building. It was pretty late in the afternoon at this point and definitely past the 6:00 pm curfew, I guess I'd just tell any supervising teachers about the message, and they'd probably just let me go.
I walked out into the crisp, chilly air. The sky was a rich dark blueish colour, and most of the place was lit up by street lights. I walked towards the administration, where I made my way to the front door of a very ominously labelled headmaster's office.
As I peered through the slim glass pane into the office, I was met by an almost apathetic glance from the headmaster.
"Come in."
I entered the room with a little bit of hesitation.
"You're probably wondering why I called you here all of a sudden."
"I am indeed wondering that."
"Well, take a seat."
I took a seat on a dark leather couch by the side of her desk. The black colouring really fit with the eerie atmosphere of the room.
"So what is it?"
"That's not how you speak to your headmaster."
"Then how am I meant to speak to my headmaster?"
"Don't get cocky now. I'm not your friend. You're just here because I need you."
"Okay, okay, what can I do for you—headmaster?"
Despite her way of speech, her attitude was still extremely aloof while she spoke to me.
"I want you to join Spectrum-Judgement." She said
"Where is this coming from?"
She pulled out a clean, unwrinkled sheet of paper from a stack she had lying on the corner of her desk. After quickly scanning through it, she pushed it towards me and pointed at a specific point on it.
"I'm going to need you to become a part of the 21st regiment, which is the most renown regiment in Spectrum-Judgement."
"Why exactly do you need me to do that? Are they low on staff or something?"
"No, I actually couldn't care less about whether they have staff or not. All I need is for you to keep an eye out for one girl in particular."
"Who is this girl?"
"Someone named Aiko Chamillon. All I know about her is that she's an A-ranked Esper with the ability to manipulate gravity."
"Okay? But what exactly do you want me to do, and who says they'll even let me in?"
"Don't worry. I'll make sure they let you in. As for what exactly you should do... how do I phrase this? I'm going to need you to get in her way as much as possible."
"I'm not following...?"
"Her presence is a problem for the delicate balance of power between Spectrum-Judgement and the National Police Organisation. I'm going to need you to stall her as much as possible so she doesn't resolve the incident with Rework before the NPO can take action."
"That sounds like a lot of effort..."
"Don't forget who managed to get you a position at Yokusuka Academy."
"Uh... I suppose I'll do it."
"Good, I'll send you more of the details tomorrow. Now go back to your dorm."
"Alright."
Not only did she give me a position at Yokusuka Academy, but I also heard from the doctor that she was the one who got me out of the Ideal Human Project and that, because of her, I was able to protect 'that girl'.
My memories of that time continue to stay foggy.
However, I wanted to find out the truth about what happened all those years ago. And if I wanted to do so, I'd likely have to stay close to the headmaster.
Anyways, the dorm is quite nice, and the cafeteria gives me good food. She's also the one who provides me with all of my spending money.
**
What a pain...
I stared up at the white plastered ceiling as I thought about what I had just heard. I had just been given quite an annoying mission. Sadly, I still could not disobey the headmaster so I had no choice but to agree to what she designated me.
A gravity manipulator, was it? She was supposedly A-ranked, so it would be quite difficult to analyse her to a point where I could effectively use my Interceptor. I guess I'd figure it out when I got there. It was Saturday tomorrow, so I didn't need to worry about classes for the day.
I closed my eyes and attempted to get as much sleep as I could.
*
I was abruptly awoken by the sound of my phone ringing.
I reached my arm over the bedside table and grabbed the phone, sliding my thumb over the answer button.
"Yes...?"
"Alright, head over to the Spectrum-Judgement branch closest to the school. I've sent you the address, so just follow that. You're expected there within twenty minutes, don't let me down."
"What..."
After that, she hung up.
My eyes were still adjusting to the vicious amount of light that was penetrating my retinas. Twenty minutes? It would take at least fifteen minutes to walk over to the address she sent, I ripped myself out of bed and hurriedly put on whatever clothes I could find.
At this rate, I wouldn't even have time to get breakfast.
I equipped my sword and began making my way out of the dorms. I walked as fast as I could without looking like a maniac running down the halls. I probably felt the longest thirty seconds of my life when I waited for the elevator to reach my floor.
Hurry up, goddammit.
As soon as I left the main dormitory building, I began sprinting towards the Spectrum-Judgement branch. My sword clattered on my hip, and people looked at me like I was some weirdo—which I was. Eventually, without around two minutes to spare, I managed to make my way into the cool air-conditioned building that was the office for Spectrum-Judgement.
"Welcome. How may I help you?" I was greeted by a receptionist standing behind a wildly decorated counter.
"I'm here to join, uh, the 21st regiment."
"The 21st regiment, are you sure? Let me just check here..." She looked at the large wide-screen computer, "oh my goodness, you're Oliver, right? You're actually here to join the 21st regiment!"
"That's what I said."
"Well, come on through then!" She got up out of her seat and led me towards the back of the facility.
I did not realise that being in the 21st regiment was such a big deal. I guess the headmaster wasn't lying when she said that it was the most renowned regiment.
I was led into a large conference room where several people were waiting for me.
"We managed to recruit someone from Yokusuka Academy; that's brilliant!" one of them announced. He had short black hair and a very odd get-up.
"Yay, more friends!" another one of them exclaimed.
There were five people in total, two boys and two girls. Well, I made it three and three. I noticed that all of them were high-school-aged, which I felt was rather weird, but I didn't question it—I guess most Espers these days are around my age anyways.
I took a seat at the table and waited to see what they were planning to do.
"Alright, well, since we've got a new recruit today, how about we take him around for our usual patrol?" they looked at me, "I'm Chinami Sato. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too; I'm Oliver."
"Ooh, is that a foreign name?"
Well, it was a name that was derived from my lab number during the Future-Generations ESP Program, so I guess you could technically call it foreign.
"I suppose."
"Well, I think you should meet our team leader," She pointed towards a short girl with her brown hair tied up in two pigtails.
"I'll introduce myself then. I'm Aiko Chamillon." She seemed a lot less enthusiastic than the others. "Anyways, I think we've had enough chit-chat. Chinami, Yamada and Abraham, you guys patrol area B11 to B23. Notify me if you locate anything suspicious. Mana, Oliver and I will make our way towards Central Plaza and meet up with the 7th regiment."
"As expected of Aiko, always keeping order."
Well, it looked like my day was all planned out for me. I followed Mana and Aiko towards Central Plaza as we had decided prior. They were actively glancing around, observing everything that was going on around them. However, I just simply walked behind them without much care for my surroundings.
"Oliver, you have to be more proactive."
"Sorry, I'll do that."
I pretended to also look around. However, I didn't really know what to be looking at. After a few minutes of walking, we met up with another group of students who were part of the 7th regiment.
"Have you guys noticed anything suspicious in regards to REWORK?" Asked Aiko.
"Nothing, really. We are currently tailing a few men who we believe are involved, but we don't have any major discoveries."
"That's fine. Just stay on the lookout. We're trying to find out if they have the main base somewhere."
After sharing a few notes, our two regiments split up once again and began making our way back the way we came. Aiko turned and looked at me.
"I don't really have much more for you to do. We only need three people on patrol anyways, so we are going back to have a break. You're free to leave if you have somewhere else to be," she told me.
It was pretty boring anyways, so I decided to take the opportunity to leave and return to my dorm.
"Today is mostly covered by the NPO since there is a pretty big meeting happening in the main hall. We'll call for you in about a few days' time when we begin our major advancement against Rework."
"Alright, bye for now."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone