I lay there dazed for a few seconds, eyes half-open, flat on my back in bed wearing nothing but my underwear.
I quickly reached for my phone to check the time.
9:02.
…
Fuck my life.
I shot upright, kicking the sheets aside.
I threw on my uniform as fast as I could, grabbed my backpack, ran a hand through my hair, and rushed out of the house, ignoring a note from my mother that read:
There’s miso in the fridge.
Heat it up.
No time.
Although that didn’t stop me from eating a piece of toast on the way.
Outside the house, next to the small garage, were several of my things.
I could’ve gotten to class earlier if I’d taken my bike, like I normally do.
Too bad I got a flat tire the other day, right when I’m actually in a hurry.
By the time I reached school, classes had already been going for over an hour.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I stopped in front of the door to Class B, first year of upper secondary school at Hinode High.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.”
The entire class turned toward the door, thirty pairs of eyes fixed on me.
“Sorry I’m late, I couldn’t—”
“Sit down, Shirokawa.
Don’t interrupt the class.
We’ll talk later.”
Later that afternoon, in the teachers’ lounge…
“Nagi Shirokawa,” she read aloud.
“Late arrivals, counting the last semester of the previous school year and this one that just started: twenty-seven.
Of those, three were justified by a parent or medical excuse.”
She looked up from the spreadsheet on her computer and stared at me over the bridge of her glasses.
I sat across from her desk, slightly uncomfortable.
My reflection in one of the room’s mirrors showed a fairly tall Japanese teenager—1.86 meters—with pale skin.
My hair was an unusually whitish color, messy and medium-length, while dark circles framed my equally dark eyes.
“And this time, you’re telling me you forgot to set your alarm.”
“I’m a disaster, sensei.
Forgive me,” I muttered, fiddling with the drawstring of my hoodie.
Hira looked tired.
She adjusted her glasses and moved to the next part of the report with a tap on the keyboard.
“You can’t keep doing this, Nagi.
Do you think being late this many times is normal?
What are you going to do when you have to face the real world?
Do you think a job is going to put up with this?”
“So far, you’ve been passing your exams,” she continued, “although not exactly with flying colors.
You do understand the material, I’ll give you that.”
“We haven’t taken any serious measures so far because, as you know, the principal and the school board think highly of you.
After all, you were a big reason why the youth football team won both the regional and national championships last year.”
She switched to another tab.
“I understand that you aren’t as dedicated to your studies because of your athletic ability, but, if you’ll allow me to give you some advice, you shouldn’t ignore the fact that a lot of things can go wrong in sports.”
“I think you’re perfectly capable of doing well in football without skipping classes or showing up late.
Especially now, when, if I’m not mistaken, there are only a few weeks left until the league starts again.”
“Mmmmmm…” she sighed.
“We’ll wipe the slate clean.
All right?
Please, show us some respect and show yourself some respect too.
We trust you, Nagi.”
I nodded, agreeing with her.
After saying that, she started looking at me with some concern.
As she turned around, she accidentally knocked her coffee mug with her elbow, sending it flying toward the edge of the desk, ready to soak me in hot coffee.
And, purely out of reflex and instinct, I activated my super-eyes.
The mug didn’t spill a single drop.
I caught it in midair and, with a flick of my wrist, placed it back on the desk with its contents intact.
Hira quickly stood up to make sure I was all right.
“I’m sorry.
Seriously, I’m sorry.
Thank God you caught it.
Damn, I’m clumsy.
Really, I’m sorry.”
For a few seconds, the mirror in the room reflected a change in my eyes, one that Hira Nogai didn’t notice.
I don’t know how or why, but for the past few years, I’ve been able to do supernatural things.
It started a few months after I turned ten.
Around that time, I began occasionally noticing monsters in the streets.
Yeah, I’m not kidding.
MONSTERS.
Or at least that’s what I call them.
Creatures of all different shapes and sizes that look like mixtures of worms, bugs, or animals straight out of horror movies.
Back then, I told my parents about them.
I was just a kid, and those things scared the hell out of me whenever I saw them.
They didn’t believe me, which, looking back, is understandable.
After a while, I stopped telling my parents anything about it.
I wasn’t stupid.
I hadn’t made enough of a fuss for them to take me to a doctor or have me checked for some kind of psychological disorder, so I kept my mouth shut.
I’m not crazy.
That’s the truth.
I know because this supernatural stuff doesn’t stop at seeing strange creatures.
If that were all there was to it, then sure, maybe it could just be my imagination or some kind of schizophrenia or paranoia.
But at the same time, I started feeling something strange inside my body.
It’s difficult to describe, but I’d say it’s some kind of energy accumulated throughout my entire body that I can make expand and contract.
I always keep it dormant, but I can activate it…
or something like that.
Eventually, I realized that this energy is identical to the energy given off by the monsters.
When I bring it out and make it circulate through my body, I become stronger, faster, and more durable, beyond the limits of a normal human.
When I do, a thin layer of bluish energy surrounds the parts of my body I’m reinforcing, like an aura clinging to my skin.
Over the years, I’ve studied my abilities.
For example, the fastest I’ve ever managed to run is around 56 km/h, roughly the speed of a hare and far beyond the world record pace for the 100-meter sprint.
I don’t think that’s anywhere close to my actual limit.
I feel like, if I learn how to use this energy better, I could probably become even faster.
Of course, whenever I’ve tested myself, I’ve tried to do it as far away from other people as possible.
My entire life plan depends on no one ever finding out that I’m basically superhuman, so I rarely use my powers in everyday life.
And whenever I do, I hold back as much as possible.
However, the most interesting part came later…
“Can I go now?” I asked, stretching a little after forty-five minutes of being lectured.
Hira held my gaze.
“Go.”
I made my way through the now-empty school hallways.
By three in the afternoon, there aren’t any classes left, except for the elementary school kids, of course, but they’re in another building.
A few clubs were still around, doing who knows what.
Speaking of clubs, mine is the school’s football team, which competes in the Japanese youth football system.
The Kyoto youth league and regional tournaments wouldn’t start for another few weeks, so for now, I had nothing to do.
Finally Friday.
The whole weekend free.
I shrugged and shoved my hands into the pockets of my hoodie.
“What a pain…
Now I have to walk all the way home.”
Early October, 2017.
Kyoto, Japan.
One month after the start of the new school term.
I live in a pretty normal neighborhood, a decent Japanese middle-class area.
When I got close to home, I turned the corner and walked into a repair shop that handled a bit of everything.
I went straight there to drop off my electric bike.
Now that I actually had some free time, I decided to finally get it fixed.
“The front tire’s flat.
Recharge the motor and check that everything else is working properly.”
A while later…
“I patched the tire.
Nice bike, by the way.
This thing flies.
Yamaha makes some good bikes.
I recharged the motor and lubed the chain too, so that’ll be 2,800 yen.”
I pulled the money out of my wallet, paid what I owed, and took my now-shiny motorized bike home.
I still remember when Dad gave it to me.
I was so damn excited…
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