CH 2

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

“Huh?”

That would be the question 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.

“Hey, hey, what are you talking about? He is not a supernatural person. He's just an ordinary person, a lowlife.”

“Yeah. Um, Ikuo Okui-kun, right? Perhaps you don't know you had a supernatural ability?"

Easily denying Bando, Koimai turned to me and said so.

--I wonder if she knows my name because she has psychometry ability?

“You are right, I have never used supernatural powers, but is there anyone out there who has used their powers without knowing?”

“There is, me. A person with supernatural powers does not awaken to his or her abilities after receiving a manual. They suddenly realize that they can use it one day in their daily lives. Okui-kun, in your life, have you ever had a strong desire to go somewhere?”

“...... If you ask me, I don't."

Since I was diligent, I never worried about being late, and I had no interest in traveling.

I strongly [I want to warp to somewhere!] I had never thought about that.

“I guess that's why. But Okui-kun is definitely a person with supernatural power just like me and Uchimine-san. Will you come to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications with me now?”

When Koimai gained her understanding, she put her hands together and asked for a favor.

Her friendly attitude moved me, even though we had never met before.

I couldn't believe that I had supernatural ability, but I thought it wouldn't be a problem to at least follow along and listen to what they had to say.

“Okay.”

“Really, thank you.”

With a thankfulness that strengthened her words, Koimai smiled with relief. She seemed genuinely happy, and I felt like I had done something good.

I got up to go to Ryuzaki-san, as did Uchimine.

In this day and age of device-based classes and the widespread use of electronic money, there was no need for notebooks, textbooks, writing utensils, or wallets.

So, just like in the old school stories, the number of people carrying student bags had decreased drastically.

I, too, went to and from school empty-handed, so I went straight to the front of the classroom with Koimai.

Immediately after, I felt a chill of anger on my back.

I thought I was getting ice on my back again, but I was wrong.

I turned around to look over my shoulder and saw Bando glaring at me with wrinkles gathered in his nose.

It was a look I had never seen before, as if he had a grudge against his parents, or against the enemy who had stolen his entire future.

Then, as if trying to suppress his anger, he said, "Okui has the same ability as me?" I sensed clear hostility in his voice.

“Well, then, the rest is up to the senior students with abilities. Ikuo Okui, Ryogo Bando, and you, too, come with me.”

Ryuzaki-san nodded in satisfaction and strode out of the classroom. Uchimine followed suit.

I followed behind Ryuzaki-san, wanting to keep my distance from Bando behind me, rather than being surprised by me having a supernatural ability.

* * *

15 minutes later.

We were sitting in the seats of a black official car that drove automatically.

Koimai was sitting next to me on my left, Uchimine further to my left, and Ryuzaki was sitting in front of me. Bando was seated firmly in front of Uchimine.

The upperclassmen with abilities were in a different car.

“So, Koimai, uh, you're in the same school year, right?”

“Yes, I'm a freshman in high school this year, so you can talk to me as if I were your friend.”

“Earlier you mentioned I'm a teleporter, what exactly can I do?”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know the details of your abilities without touching you.”

Koimai apologetically shrugged her shoulders.

I guessed what she meant and waved my hand apologetically to the side, too.

“No, no, I don't like touching boys I've never met before. It's my fault.”

Suddenly asking a girl to "touch me" would sound like a pervert.

But Koimai was even more flustered and waved her hands even harder than I did.

“N-n-n-no, Okui-kun! No, I mean, if I touch someone, I can read their personal information, memories, and really anything else. That's why it's dangerous to be touched by me.”

Well, I understood, and I regained my composure.

“Ah, so that's how it is. Then, please don't read those things.”

“Eh?”

When I put out my hand, Koimai blinked.

“Um, so, you know, when I touch you, I really do know everything, you know?”

“Oh. But if you're going to go out of your way to tell me, you're not going to do that, are you, Koimai?”

If she wanted to, she would have touched it from the beginning.

“If you know what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do, that's fine. If you're willing to do it, then you should have done it from the very beginning.　Or do you live your life on the lookout for things like every passerby might be a street rat?”

“............”

Silently, Koimai froze, looking sincerely surprised and puzzled.

--Did I do something that made her act like that?

Uchimine breathed in admiration, Ryuzaki-san glanced at us with interest, and Bando clicked his tongue hatefully.

That "don't be a smart-ass" look again.

“Well then, let me take a look.”

Koimai hesitantly took my hand and held it in hers.

I waited for her to finish her psychometry, trying not to be flustered by the softness and warmth of a girl's hand, which I was touching for the first time, and being conscious of my composure.

“Yes, I understand.”

Koimai removed her hand.

I think it was actually two or three seconds, but it felt like tens of seconds to me.

As I was putting up my mental defenses, ready to be told that I was not a supernatural person after all, Koimai began to explain in a slightly teacher-like manner.

“Okui-kun, your ability is the ability to warp yourself and other nearby objects to a desired location via another dimension.”

“Where is the destination? I mean, in comic books and stuff, it's kind of standard that you can only go where you've been once, right?”

“It seems that a map or some other data is all that is needed to determine the location. It is not good if it is vague, for example, "the nearest parking lot from here". Even if you have never been to the parking lot, you have to remember it like "the parking lot on Third Street".”

Koimai answered smoothly, no longer feeling the same hesitation she had felt before.

“Also, it seems you have to train this ability to use it, but it seems you can teleport distant objects to your hand. Technically, it's called "Apport," but in a broader sense, it's a form of teleportation.”

“Wow, that's very convenient. But how do you use a supernatural ability? It's not like a magic spell where you say it with your mouth and it activates, right?”

“Eh!?”

Koimai's expression became cloudy.

It was as if the teacher's face that was full of herself just a moment ago was a lie.

“Hmmm, what should I say? It's just a feeling thing.......”

At the same time, Bando's gaze flickered hesitantly.

On the one hand, he wanted to show Uchimine a good point by teaching me a trick here, but on the other hand, he didn't want to do anything that would benefit me. I guess that would be the case.

Then Uchimine leaned forward as if to offer a helping hand to Koimai, who looked troubled.

“You know, Okui-kun. What is important to use supernatural ability is to be aware of the switch in your heart.”

“In my heart?”

“Yes. See, even in Japanese words such as [heart beating], [heart aching], [chest sighing], [heart thumping], [heart heated], you feel mental things with your chest rather than your head, don't you?”

“I guess that's true when you put it that way.”

In fact, until the development of medicine, people were apparently thought to think with their hearts.

“Supernatural powers are mental powers. So, by being aware of the inner heart, which is easily affected mentally, we can control it.”

“Hee~, so that's how supernatural powers are used.”

As expected of Uchimine. Unlike the calculative Bando, she taught me the tricks in a straightforward and clear manner. Bando looked terribly uninterested.

“Well, let's give it a try. Let's see, then I want to teleport to the empty seat next to Ryuzaki-san, I want to, I want to.” (TLN: Sorry to interrupt, he really did say that)

Just as when I felt sad, I thought of teleporting with a feeling of turning on something deep in my chest, as if it were a painful feeling in my heart.

Just then, Bando interrupted.

“Hey, hey, Okui. No matter how deep in the chest she said, don't just look at Uchimine's big breasts. It's rude.”

“What?”

Suddenly, I didn't know what he was talking about, and while I couldn't follow him, Bando started rambling on.

“You should realize that the girls don't like it when you always talk dirty jokes in the classroom. I hate guys like you who only look at girls by the size of their breasts. If we are going to work together from now on, you need to follow that kind of etiquette. Now, go apologize to Uchimine and Koimai.”

--I see, so that's his plan.

The so-called straw man argument.

There was no fact that my eyes were looking at Uchimine's chest.

However, by shouting the lie loudly, he would make the public believe as if it were true, and by accusing me of falsehood, he would drive his opponent to a disadvantage.

This was exactly what he was doing: ignoring me, and making himself look like the winner by defeating the straw man (the falsehood about me) that he had made himself.

Arguments that appeal to the public (I am right because everyone supports me).

Arguments that appeal to ignorance (you are right because there is no evidence you are wrong).

Probatio diabolica (forcing someone to prove something that is unprovable).

Double standard (changing the standard of value for one's own convenience).

Preemption of argument (making assumptions in your favor before proceeding).

Countervailing law (you caused the damage in another case, so you can't complain about the damage).

etc. This had always been a common technique used by Bando for a long time.

The list of technical terms might make Bando seem like an expert in the art of eloquence, but that was not the case.

Rather, these technical terms were given names to make it easier to understand the tactics of people like Bando, who were inferior and childish.

Ever since I was a child, Bando and his group had used these sophistries on me, and I had always been treated as a bad guy.

It seemed that Bando intended to continue using these childish quibbles and sophistries even after we reached high school age.

No matter how much I tried to talk back, Bando was bound to attack me again with his sophistry.

As I was flooded with disgust and my ability to think slowed down, Ryuzaki-san crossed her arms under her chest.

“What, so you are a breast person? That's easy then. Teleport yourself to my cleavage. This will motivate you, won't it?”

“Don't be fooled! Bando is a man who tells nothing but lies!”

“What, you'd rather have Miina's big breasts than mine?”

-- For a moment, I imagined Uchimine's ample breasts, and I exclaimed, trying to shake off my desire.

“That's not what I meant—“

Before I could finish, my vision disappeared. No, it changed.

Uchimine's big breasts loomed right in front of me.

I thought my imagination was running wild, but it wasn't.

It seemed I had teleported onto Uchimine.

“Whoa.”

“Kyaa!”

My face was in a deep cleavage and my hands landed over the apex of her breasts.

With my face tucked into the collar opening of her blazer, I could feel Uchimine's boobs all over my face, through her shirt and bra.

Uchimine's boobs were so soft and bottomless, as if they were molded into the shape of my face, that I felt like my brain was going to explode from the unexplainable pleasure.

The thick softness and low resilience spread over my hands, even through her uniform, and the tag of reason instantly loosened.

Because of that, I couldn't move away immediately, which delayed my reaction to Bando's hostility.

“Youu!!”

I turned around to see Bando gripping a short ice cudgel and about to swing it down with all his might.

--Oh, no, that's not good!

It brought back the pain I had tasted from being hit so many times since elementary school.

When my body stiffened and I braced myself for the pain, the three of them moved.

“”No!””

Uchimine twisted around and hugged me protectively with her back.

Koimai intervened in front of me and Bando to shield me.

Ryuzaki-san's fist broke the ice of Bando's, and her forearm was catching Bando's fist.

“Ryogo Bando. A very skilled move, but do you routinely assault people with your abilities?”

Under Ryuzaki-san's sharp gaze, Bando shrugged as he cooled down.

"Well, no, I mean, it was just a coincidence. I just wanted to protect Uchimine….”

--You say that a lot. You just couldn't forgive me for touching your beloved Uchimine.

“Are you okay? Okui-kun.”

“Are you injured?”

Along with Uchimine, Koimai also looked into my face with a worried expression.

“Ah, thank you, both of you. And sorry Uchimine.”

"Yeah, don't worry. You didn't do it on purpose.”

"Thanks. Also, Koimai, can you psychometry what I'm thinking?”

As I pulled myself away from Uchimine and sat down in my seat, I put my hand out to Koimai.

“Eh? Uh, yeah, I can.”

Koimai touched my hand a little curiously.

Instantly, she dropped her eyebrows in a figure eight and bit her lip in her mouth.

Pouring a sideways glance at Bando, Koimai let out a serious sound.

“...... Awful.”

With a clenched fist, Koimai backed away from Bando, as if to distance herself from him.

“Hah, you, What did you just tell to Koimai, Okui?”

Even so, Bando's voice was filled with a strong sense of hostility, as he desperately tried to maintain his wording in front of Ryuzaki and Uchimine.

“If you're concerned, why don't you have Koimai do psychometry on you too?”

“T-that's….”

Bando gulped, then turned pale and straightened his posture.

“I don't care. I'm not a child like you. I'm not going to snicker and try to prove myself right. If you want to make me look bad like that, go ahead. But remember, the truly righteous will be recognized one day. It will come naturally.”

“Yes.”

Although it was a little tricky to be on Ryuzaki-san's lap, I nodded my head.

“Do your best, Okui-kun.”

“Don't panic and stay calm.”

In the current situation where two beautiful girls and one beautiful woman were speaking to me, Bando had a blue streak on his forehead as he remained in a position where he leaned his weight on the backrest.

The sight was neither pleasant nor painful, and only fueled my anxiety about whether or not he would take it out on me later.