CH 1

If someone asked me whether I was a loner or a riajuu, I would have answered that I was a satisfied solo person.

(TN: For those of you who don’t know what is riajuu. Riajuu = normies)

I didn't have a girlfriend.

I didn't have any friends either.

But that didn't mean my real life wasn't fulfilling.

Since elementary school, I had been playing my favorite game for more than two hours every day, eating my favorite snacks, getting excited about new releases of my favorite contents, singing karaoke by myself, and ordering and eating whatever I wanted at restaurants and cafes.

I spent time, effort, and money for myself without worrying about others, and I had been enjoying my life.

Instead, I was wondering what those people were fighting for when I saw them wasting their time, effort, and money on things they didn't like, like competing with each other for position, trying to avoid being a botch, or trying to earn likes on Instagram, as if they were elementary or junior high school students with no social status.

So I thought I was a solo person and a winner because my life was fulfilling even if I was alone.

But, I was bullied by them.

Each time I tried to fight back, I thought I was strong enough to do it.

However, in the autumn of my third year of junior high school, the people who had been witnessing the incident spoke the truth, and my homeroom teacher told me that if I did not apologize, he would not write a letter of recommendation for high school.

When I was forced to bow my head in the innocence of the charges, I realized that I was a loner.

* * *

One week after entering high school.

Thursday, April 12, 2040.

I was in fourth period math, and my attention was not on the blackboard or the math teacher, but on the MR screen in front of me.

The device I wore behind my ear was connected to the campus local network at all times.

The device displayed the same mathematical formulas as the MR blackboard.

When the math teacher operated the MR screen displayed on his hand, the MR image displayed overlaid on the blackboard was updated, and the MR screen displayed in front of each student's eyes was also updated.

In today's world of AR and MR technology, where wearable devices attached to the skin send electrical signals directly to the brain to compensate for the five senses, students no longer had to see the teacher's face or the blackboard.

And yet.......

“Well then, Okui, try to solve the next problem.”

“Yes.”

Pointed by a male math teacher in his 30s, I stood up and read the problem.

Even with all these advances in science, schools would still not be remote, gathering students into the school building, making them take oral lessons in the same room as the teacher, and making them got up all the way to solve a problems.

It was a vice of adults to forget why it was necessary, to not think about it, to be delusional, and to try to cover and preserve something that was meaningless, with the two words [tradition] (伝統).

It would be a good thing if something changes 40 years from now, after all the adults in the current MEXT had retired.

“So X equals to—“

Just as I was about to give my answer, I felt a cold shock on my neck.

It was as if a block of ice had been inserted into my back through the collar of my shirt.

I screamed in a panic and arched my back instantly.

--No. I wasn't just feeling like that. This is real ice.

As everyone in the classroom laughed, I flapped my shirt and hurriedly pulled my shirt off my pants and grabbed the ice.

The surface of the ice had melted, and my wet shirt felt unpleasant against my skin.

There was only one idiot who would be stupid enough to do such a lowly thing.

I turned around vigorously, my brow furrowing vertically with anger.

“Bando!”

The tall guy sitting in the back seat snickered, grinning coyly and smiling disgustingly.

“Ah? What is it, Okui? Why did you make a funny noise in class?”

“It's your fault!”

Bando didn't lose his composure when I opened my palm and pointed it out to him. Rather, he was stifling an amused laugh in the back of his throat, as if it was just as planned.

“Hey, hey, not again, Okui. Don't always make me out to be the bad guy like that. Where's the proof that I put the ice in?”

“In all likelihood, it's your superpower, [Ice Kinesis].”

I raised my voice in protest, but Bando kept a cool face.

“Like-I-said, do you have any proof?”

Bando stood up, raising his voice in a mocking and rotten manner.

“You might have acted on your own by putting ice cubes you brought from home in your back during class. Use your head a little more, hmm~?”

“Ugh”

Bando was right, the ice in my back was of a shape and size that could have been made in a freezer ice case.

There was no evidence that Bando had used his ice kinesis to create it, and even as I was doing this, the only piece of evidence, the ice, was rapidly melting away, and was about to be automatically destroyed.

“You are so stupid that you treat people as if they are bad people without any proof. You shouldn't make assumptions like that, Okui-cha~n.”

With a slightly threatening voice, Bando looked down at me from his tall stature.

It was quite intimidating to be looked down on by Bando, who was a tall, athletic, and versatile man.

Even though I wasn't short, the height difference between me and Bando seemed to be widening every year.

“Why should Ryogo Bando, the Ice Emperor, be bothered with a lowlife like you? Look at the person you're talking to and talk to them, you b***ard!”

“Since the first grade, the only time this happened to me was when you were around!”

“Sensei, Okui is making false accusations against me again. I don't think this is right.”

This time, Bando made his voice fall flat and threw his judgment at the math teacher.

The math teacher furrowed his brow in annoyance and glared at me from behind his glasses.

“Okui, don't make a fuss in class.”

“But...”

“There's no proof that Bando did it, is there? Besides, personal matters like that should be done during the break. Enough about you. Yoshimoto, solve the rest of the problems.”

As the other students stood up, Bando sat down with a victorious look on his face.

I, too, sat down, stifling my indignation at the unreasonable situation. But I was no longer in the mood to take the class seriously.

* * *

When fourth period was over and it was time for lunch, I bought a croquette bread on the second floor store shelf and headed for the eating area on the terrace.

I thought about packing a lunch when I entered high school, but I didn't know what Bando and his friends would do if I kept such a thing in my bag.

For some reason, Ryogo Bando, that bad guy, and I had been in the same class for 10 years in a row since we were in the first grade of elementary school.

At the same time, it meant that this trashy school life had entered its tenth year.

And the teachers' only response was to consistently hold my head down.

To begin with, a teacher graduated from a college of education and worked at a school without going out into the world, and at the young age of 22, was addressed as [Sensei] by parents and guardians as old as their parents and children, and held a position of control over dozens of children under his/her supervision. Moreover, he/she was a stable government employee with no demotion or pay cut.

As a result, the students, who were not familiar with society, became idiotic lords with a pretense of authority.

For teachers, any trouble between students was a hassle that increases their workload, and they did nothing more than silence students who were in a weak position, with an emphasis on cost performance.

Incidentally, those who became teachers because they admire passionate teacher dramas might be troublesome in another sense. Because their brains were made up of drama-related.

‘Bando-kun is just clumsy and really wants to be your friend!’

‘Can't you trust your fellow classmates!?’

‘All right! Then play with Bando! Then perhaps you will understand each other better!’

and so on. My head hurts.

The terrace seats overlooking the large courtyard were crowded again today.

I weaved my way between the white round tables lined up on the wooden floor to find an empty seat and managed to find an empty table in the back.

Today is my lucky day.

But I couldn't eat the croquette bread in a good mood after the incident with Bando.

My head was full of boiling anger, my throat was full of pent-up frustration, and I couldn't even taste the croquette bread.

---I'm going to spend the next three years in the same school as that idiot.

Just thinking about it made my head feel heavy and uncomfortable, as if my brain were petrified.

Ryogo Bando was the worst human being I could think of.

He was arrogant, sarcastic, and loved to harass others. His personality was twisted like a jungle gym, and he forced [me] and [others] to follow his script and thought as though he had the authority to do so.

He was a man who lives up to his “self-centered, ptolemaic theory,” not the “earth-centered, geocentric theory".

--Furthermore, how could a man like him be born with [supernatural power]?

As of 2040. It was said that one in every 100 people in the world will be born with supernatural abilities.

More than a decade ago, young children with supernatural powers were found all over the world, they became popular among the general public, and a huge supernatural power boom took place.

However, as more and more supernatural people were found, the extraordinary became the ordinary, the popularity of supernatural people disappeared, and supernatural ability became a kind of individuality, just like left-handed people and people with natural perms.

In some countries and regions, supernatural persons were persecuted or worshipped, but in Japan, it depended on the person themselves.

In fact, some people were bullied, but Bando maintained his position as the leader of the men's group since his elementary school days.

---Is he like that because of his supernatural ability, or is his originally distorted personality exacerbated by his supernatural ability? …No, I'm sure it's the latter. Because…

Naturally, my gaze drifted to the side.

Among the large group using two tables, the one being treated like a soothing idol was a dazzling beauty with long black hair in a half up.

Calm and mature. Her voice was soft, and her large, flirty eyes were so friendly that one could almost be forgiven for being taken in by her.

There was no one who could look at her and not catch her eye.

Even some girls with a strong desire for self-expression, who felt they had to be the best, would be left with a sense of defeat.

Miina Uchimine.

She was a first-year student in the same class as me.

She was the most beautiful girl in the school, and all the boys were longing to date her.

She too had supernatural powers, but she had no air of pretension. She was sociable, good-natured, and kind to everyone, the kind of girl who walked around dressed with compassion.

--Even if they both have supernatural powers, the difference is like the moon and a  soft-shell turtle.

And the soft-shelled turtle appeared with a clique.

I heard wild footsteps thudding onto the terrace, and when I turned around, Bando had just brought his cronies, the other boys, with him.

As it was, when our eyes met, he smiled ferociously like a hyena that has found its prey.

Bando walked toward me in a broad, straight line, and shouted at the top of his voice, aware of his surroundings.

“Hey, hey, hey, you can't do that, Okui. Occupying a table all by yourself, you should think a little bit about the trouble you're causing everyone.”

I wouldn't want to be told by someone who didn't think about the inconvenience any more than anyone else.

But I guess it was all right for Bando as long as he could harass me.

Bando's character was already blurred as he was always trying to take a position to harass me.

While I was thinking about how to deal with this idiot, even his cronies started to make a fuss.

As if to finish me off, Bando raised his voice.

“Stop being such a nuisance. Get out of the way. Mind your manners, manners!”

It was annoying to be involved with an idiot who had already lost his sense of where he stood, so I silently got up and left the place.

Bando and the others sat down at the table I had left.

--You said it was a nuisance to the people around us, but you just wanted to sit down yourselves.

I spat out in my mind.

Through my back, I could hear the cronies making silly noises.

“Okui is really annoying, isn't he?”

“Well, I can't leave a guy with bad manners like that alone.”

“Ryogo has a strong sense of justice.”

“Does Ryogo-san have a girlfriend?”

“Ryogo-san is a [Supernatural person]. No girl out there can match him!”

Obviously, the statement was intended with Uchimine in mind.

Looking back, every one of them was praising Bando with a glancing awareness toward Uchimine, and Bando was also putting on the face of a friend of justice.

However, Uchimine was conversing only with the people at her table, as if she didn’t hear them.

Bando was no exception in liking Uchimine.

In addition, he seemed to think that it was only natural for two people who have supernatural powers to go out with each other.

But the reality was as you see it.

The sight of it made me feel a little better.

On the other hand, it was a bit heavy to think that the blame for my broken heart would be directed at me.

* * *

With a heavy mood dragging me down, fifth period ended, and I welcomed after-school hours.

The old male homeroom teacher solemnly led the homeroom class, verbally informing the students of the matters to be discussed and sending a message file with the same contents to our devices.

Once school was over, I had nothing to do with Bando and the others.

When I was in elementary and junior high school, I would happily return home after school with a sense of release.

But now, all I could think about was how to get rid of Bando.

The reason why they were targeting me was obvious.

Because I was out of place.

Ever since I was a child, while everyone praised Bando's supernatural abilities, I was indifferent.

In addition, I was the only one in my class who was not on SNS, and I was also indifferent to the various contents that were popular among everyone else.

This seemed to have caught the attention of Bando and the others.

They said,

“Don't be such a smart-ass!”

“I don't know why you think you're so cool and different from everyone else, but it's really getting on my nerves!”

Like that.

I remembered that the bullying started the day after Bando asked me to follow and "like" his social networking site, to which I replied, "I don't have a SNS, so I can't." I think the bullying started the day after that.

But it was probably too late to make a new SNS account.

---I'm screwed, my life….

Numbers were strength. The minority was always trampled by the violence of the majority.

I would never be able to beat Bando.

In the spring of my fifteenth year, when I was depressed with the bitter reality of my situation, I was struck by the following message from someone I had never met before.

“That's all I have to say. But please wait a while before you go home today.”

I looked up at the sound of my homeroom teacher's voice.

Everyone was fussing with their neighbors.

The classroom door slid open with a loud bang, and a second later everyone else turned their heads to see what was going on.

“Hello, everyone and thank you for your patience.”

The woman who entered the room with a heroic voice and strong footsteps was a beautiful woman in a black suit and tight skirt, full of high spirits.

Her face was solemn and dignified, and she looked as if she should have been able to unite an army with a single cleaver and rule the world with supremacy.

Her physique was as tall as a man's, and her back muscles were as straight as steel, not to be outdone by the weight of her bust, which was as intimidating as a fortress.

Spinning her hips beside the teaching table, she shot us a dignified look.

“I'm Sayuri Ryuzaki, 24 years old, the director of the Extraordinary Ability Department under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Today, I'm here to gather people with supernatural abilities for a national project!”

All eyes in the class were on Bando.

Bando raised the corners of his mouth and smiled as if he had been waiting for them.

It was as if he were a successful actor who had been offered the lead role in a Hollywood movie.

However, Ryuzaki-san did not even take a glance at Bando, but continued her speech as if she was addressing the entire class.

“A number of individuals with supernatural abilities have already been enlisted by the Extraordinary Ability Department, and with the help of telepathic, detection, and psychometric abilities, we have identified and summoned supernatural persons from all over Japan.”

Ryuzaki-san looked out into the hallway, and Miina Uchimine, the only first-year supernatural person other than Bando, entered with a soft step, her beautiful black hair swinging.

Behind her walked an unfamiliar beautiful girl.

She was a rather petite, pretty girl with a short chestnut hair cut up one side.

She had the same gentle, drooped eyes as Uchimine, but she didn't have the mature look of Uchimine. Rather, she still had the innocent look of a first-year junior high school student.

--Is she also a supernatural person from this school? If so, is she a senior?

The world's first supernatural person was born eighteen years ago, so the calculation fits.

The boys in the class were all in high spirits at the appearance of two beautiful girls and a beautiful woman, and all of them were making mysterious, cool faces. What a shameful scene.

“She is Koimai Maiko. She has been helping us since last school year, and she has psychometry ability.”

Apparently, she was not a student from our school.

As I recalled, psychometry was the ability to read information about the objects you touch and what had happened to them in the past.

“She's a very talented person. She can tell if someone has an ability without touching them, just by letting them in her field of vision. Koimai Maiko, I heard from the preliminary psychokinesis survey that there is a supernatural person in this class, do you know who it is?”

“There's no need for that.”

Interrupting her talk, Bando leisurely stood up.

Brushing his bangs back with a pretentious smile and looking as cool as he could, Bando said in a dramatic tone.

“I am Ryogo Bando, the strongest supernatural person in this school. Everyone calls me the Ice Emperor, though.”

--nobody has called you that. It's always just you calling yourself that.

I was laughing in my heart.

“Well, I'm just a student, but I'm willing to help out for the good of the country. Uchimine, from now on, let's represent this school and work together.”

With a deliberate smile like a playboy, Bando started to flirt with Uchimine immediately.

Uchimine was not averse and returned an affectionate smile with her usual gentle expression, saying, “Yeah, let's do our best.”

The sight of it made me feel uncomfortable.

It wasn't that I liked Uchimine and felt like she was stolen from me.

Unlike the other boys, I didn't have romantic feelings for Uchimine.

I did think she was an attractive girl.

Unlike other girls who seemed to be light-headed, Uchimine was mature, intelligent, and classy.

But that was all.

I didn't know much about Uchimine.

My liking for Uchimine was no different than when I saw an idol girl and said, 'Hmmm, she's beautiful.’

I didn't have any feelings of wanting to go out with her and have a date with her or anything like that.

What I didn't like was the way the world was spinning in Bando's favor.

I knew that the world was unfair.

I wasn't a child to complain about such things now.

But I still felt bad when good luck rolled in for the wrong person.

“Ah, Ryuzaki-san, that man has Ices Kinesis ability…”

A girl with chestnut hair styled one-sided up, called Koimai, walked hesitantly toward him.

Bando, standing in the seat behind me, waited with a look of anticipation on his face.

Then Koimai walked past me….and turned back on her heel.

“Hmm?”

Her eyes met mine as she looked down at me.

When I looked at her up close, she seemed even cuter.

She looked harmless, the kind of girl that made you want to protect her.

Even though I had never met her before, I couldn't help but imagine that she tended to be family-oriented, or that she would be liked by children, and so on.

“This man, too, has supernatural ability. He is a teleporter.”

“Huh?”

That would be the only question mark that came out of my mouth and the mouths of the entire classroom.

Bando broke the silence, where even the sound of insect footsteps could be heard.

Author note:

It says teachers don't get a pay cut.

This means that there is no pay cut that lasts forever. It seems that even teachers can take a temporary pay cut after a violent incident or other incidents.

I am sorry if I have misled you.

Also, the source of this information is from a TV show I saw some time ago, so I am sorry if the system has changed now.

TLN:

Hello everyone. Nice to meet you! The first thing that I would like to say is, this is an MTL. Sorry if you find any confusing words/sentences. I’ll try my best to minimalize the error. Please be gentle with me.

Anyways, this is my first project and translation. Hope everyone likes and enjoys it.

Oh also, this chapter has 4k words btw ;)