"It's not that. It's nuttin'." Brennan's forehead collided gently with Umeko's, along with a brief affectionate hand that traced fingers through her neat brown hair. "Foiiiine. We can sit down for some coffee."

He stood upright again, ceding Umeko control of the basket without a fight as he made his way to the colder sections of the store, past ice cream, frozen dinners, milk bottles, and the television screens above the refrigeration units that advertised each product.



"When it comes to milk, it's gotta be MUSASHINO!"

"My boyfriend loves it too!"

Umeko bought right into this sort of crap - tie-in flavors and promotions with anime and cute catchphrases she could parrot back at him. Brennan had never trusted the milk here; in a place where everything seemed to be some kind of experiment requiring some kind of volunteer waiver, he found it hard to believe that not a single scruffy, perverted researcher in Academy City had the Category 5 brainstorm to mess with the hormones of female students through their morning cereal. Kawaguchi laughed at him whenever he made his case, sometimes going so far as to label him a conspiracy theorist like the ones in the message boards online. But Brennan was well aware of the strain on both their backs whenever he was shuttling Kawaguchi around somewhere. Something was amiss inside that girl, and it definitely wasn't all the shoujo shit she put on while they worked.



It was one thing to bluff about it to some fucking slag, as he had the night before, but who the hell actually paid with a chequebook? What was he walking into at the bank?

He should've gone alone today.

They met up at the self-checkout, each carrying a mix of fresh dairy, vegetables, fruit, some beef for patties - he had been trying to teach Kawaguchi the art of a European pub burger, a favor Umeko would often repay by taking him to some of the best karaage places in the city. They had both done wonders for the other's food palates, if nothing else; he doubted that teaching her how to season a burger would get him out of the shit pit with her tonight if Judgement or Anti-Skill apprehended him at the bank, however.

Maybe he'd take her to the Dianoid this weekend or something...

They paid cash for their order and, walking home with a couple of bags each, walked down the street to the bank. Brennan didn't feel nervous. He feared nothing, especially not now; after all, he'd done nothing wrong, and nobody could prove otherwise. All he'd done was chase down a criminal who tried to buzz off with a corpse to commit God-knew-what kind of fucked up debauchery with it. He was basically a star witness if anything.

He was more agitated at how this little mystery had been nibbling at him last night. He would rather be at home watching the launches from around the world on TV, seeing how far other governments, entities, or students had progressed with their launches. Umeko was only thinking about students that they knew, other aerospace aficionados in Academy City. Brennan was thinking further ahead, thinking wider than that...

ding

The welcoming noise of automatic doors broke him out of his reverie, followed by their hydraulic hiss as they opened up to the young couple. Brennan took the lead, the cheque in his vest pocket weighing on his chest like a barbell. Nonetheless, he seemed - and felt, honestly - at ease as he sidled up to the first available teller and turned on a winning smile.

"Good morning," he said in Japanese. He didn't like using the language; English was a more natural fit, and he'd taught Umeko to understand him through the syntax and his accent. Having a language you could use to talk to your gal pal while keeping most of the city frozen out of the conversation could get handy. Still, it would help to be as clear as possible on this. "I want to make a deposit, but I kind of have a funny feeling about it."

He produced the check, holding it between two fingers, but didn't offer it up yet.

---

"I'm Shion. I remembered that you were hurt around the same place I saw a boy carrying this thing, so I figured you might know about it. Do you mind if I follow you around for a while? I get the feeling that I'll run into some interesting things if I do." Of course, "interesting" could include the boy being attacked again, but she kept that to herself. "What's your name, anyway?"

---

@NarayanK

"Bang Constantine."

Staring at Shion, Bang glanced behind her, and then at her again.

While the girl seemed curious, her curiosity seemed to be taken in a rather interesting form. Most notably how she seemed to have enough time in her hands to... follow him, of all things.

But he wasn't really responsible if she ended up going away disappointed.

...Or maybe he was, by getting her hopes up by talking to her instead of ignoring her.

She did help me, though, he noted.

So he ended up nodding. "You can follow me if you want to," he said, though he honestly added, "but I can't guarantee it'd be interesting."

And by "interesting," Bang probably meant being attacked again, but he kept that to himself.

It wasn't every day you got your arm almost blown off, let alone survive such an explosion as a normal civilian. Truthfully, though, he hoped that if anything interesting happened, it wouldn't be another explosion or another appearance of a corpse. Unless he was forgetting something important, things should be rather lax if nothing butted into his way.

While he didn't want to waste the girl's time and let it amount to nothing, something about the way she spoke suggested that she wasn't going to leave at the moment- that was, unless nothing eventful actually happens. And not even he knew if anything sudden would happen, really.

He started walking out of his home, his wallet and the borrowed phone in his pockets. He made sure not to swing his cast around wildly.

_@DarkwolfX37

@Plank Sinatra@Krayzikk

Bank

The teller, a bored-looking (his expression immediately transformed into one expected of all customer service representatives around the globe when he caught sight of the duo of lovebirds) young man with curly black hair, took a moment to respond, a result of the decreasing use of cash amongst the youth of developed countries. With the advent of cards, fewer and fewer individuals world have physical currency on hand, with holdouts mostly residing in countries with a propensity for poorer digital security or in a higher age bracket. Given that Academy City was neither lagging behind in conventional data protections (with exception given to the ease with which its large population of Electromasters - 9000+ - could hack into seemingly secure systems) nor full of old geezers and hags, the teller was evidently somebody who was not used to cash, and thus the concept of a "deposit".

Employers just sent the money straight to your accounts anyway.

"Ah," said the teller. "A deposit, right? I can do that."

A quick nod followed the proclamation, as to emphasise that yes, he could overcome the circumstances of his birth to do his job in handling physical currency, even while the product of a cashless society.

"But what seems to be the problem?"

"Uhh, just the person who gave it to me? Something about it seemed a little out of sorts." Brennan ran the fingers of one hand through the hair on the back of his head, seeming to think it over before reluctantly producing the slip of paper. "Bumped right into me while I was getting on a bus the other day. Phone hit the pavement and busted up. She wrote me that for a new one when I pressed her, but..."

Brennan looked a little bemused at the paper, not turning to look at Umeko behind him. His hand went from his head down into his pocket, picking up his cellular device and displaying the back, shattered from a collision.

"She looked a little outta sorts, y'know what I mean?" he asked. "Especially when this is what she gave me. I guess I'd just like to know if I can actually replace the phone or not. And who's buying me a new one."

That's not very justice of you, Brennan.

As creatively as the Irishman was presenting the facts, Umeko still stayed quiet. It wasn't surprising, and it was a way to try not to get lumped in with the villains. Griese... Unscrupulous wasn't quite the word, but it was close. She was accustomed to it, though she'd needle him later. It helped that she knew he'd never do anything to her detriment. A little hypocritical, maybe, but she could live with his little deceptions. If you were going to love someone you had to accept all of them, right?

Besides. It was useful material to get her way later.

She tried not to snicker a little when he mentioned the bus. Very creatively presenting the truth. The Japanese native set the grocery bags on the floor and rested her forearms on the teller's countertop, leaning her weight against them a little. After carrying the bags around for most of the trip, it was nice to take a load off. Her eyes bored into the side of Brennan's head, the faint smile tugging upwards at the corner of her mouth. He'd know she was judging, and that was infinitely more entertaining than anything she could say.

Burennaaaaan.

@Crimmy@HereComesTheSnow
Hazama, Harumi

---

"Yes, I am. That's me." Harumi stared at the huge package, wondering what it was. Did she order anything online and forgot about it in the excitement of her newest, freshest news?

"I assume that thing you're carrying is for me then?"

She took only a momentary glance at the boy, not recognizing him at all. Her head was spinning around doing cartwheels in a panic last night after all; perhaps all she could remember was that terrifying figure rushing after her and then an explosion after one of her colleagues stepped in to save her.

Perhaps she could drop in and buy her a drink after Harumi figured out what the box contained.

@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra

Bank

The teller glanced down at the cheque, taking a second to take hold of the slip as he tried to read what was written on the (slightly damp) financial document.

"Kiara ... Vinke? Vinke Kiara?" There was a slight bit of hesitation to his voice, for it was rather clear that he was not particularly familiar with the ways of foreign names. "A Miss Kiara Vinke gave you this, then?"

He tapped in a few numbers, making sure that the cheque was legitimate, before nodding to himself.

"You can get some of the money," he said. "She doesn't have enough in her checking account ... looks like she made a big transfer earl-" And upon realising he was infringing on the privacy of a customer, immediately paused. "Ah, don't tell anybody I said that. But ah, I can give you some of the money now while I check up on the rest later, is that fine?"

---

@GreenGoat@HereComesTheSnow

Ground Level, In Front of Harumi's Apartment Building - District 7

"That's great," said the teenage girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of 'Hat-chan', her face brightening up at Harumi's confirmation. "We'll need you to sign this off when we get the package up to your apartment."

"That's fine," Brennan agreed. "It should at least get me on a payment plan. Just give me a call whenever the rest gets worked out."

Kiara Vinke.

As if his plans for rocket science weren't going to gobble enough of the day, Brennan had just opened up a long night of research. Maybe Umeko would be willing to help out; they both owned laptops, and he could tell that her curiosity was finally going to get the better of her as soon as they left the bank. They were a team. Whatever rabbit hole Brennan excavated in his quest for answers regarding last night, Kawaguchi would be diving into it head first.

"I appreciate your help," he said cheerfully.

@Plank Sinatra@Krayzikk

Bank

"That's good." The teller was relieved, likely having dealt with more troublesome customers in the past. Not everyone would be so easy to accept such issues regarding their money, after all. "Is that all then? Would you like to make any withdrawals today as well? Or maybe sign up for a loan?"

Though Brennan did take the majority of the money that was on hand from the checking account, most of that was just for rocket parts and food tonight. He could have paid for a new phone with most of the cash he had on hand, of course, but saying he needed a down payment on the newest and techiest made far more sense for a couple that looked as well-off as he and Umeko did. So as they walked out of the bank, Brennan once again effusively thanking the teller for his help as the doors shut behind them, the Irish exchange student's grin grew far more self-satisfied than it had been inside.

"You know what?" he asked playfully, slipping one arm around the mecha otaku. "We'll get coffee first, lass. There is no reason we can't relax for a few minutes."

The thing about justice was, it wasn't always lawful. Riders weren't part of the police force, right? Well, except a couple. Not the point.

The point was that methods weren't one hundred percent on the up-and-up all the time. It wasn't hard to guess where Brennan got the check, not between the lies and the foreign name of its owner. The teller couldn't tell them anything, not without breaking ethical standards for his job. But he seemed new, and Umeko seemed innocent enough. Which was why when she stretched her back, getting up on tip-toes over the counter to work any kinks out of the muscles, he didn't really pay attention. Not that she could get a lot, not at that angle or in that short a time. But a look at the spelling of the name was pretty helpful, if nothing else.

So she smiled sweetly while Brennan thanked the teller and picked up their bags, following him out of the bank without saying so much as a word. Nor did she, until she leaned into his side outside the establishment and rolled her eyes at him a little.

"Suddenly in a good mood, hm? You can explain why over coffee. Troublemaker."

@Crimmy@GreenGoat

Shinjiro Karasawa - In front of Harumi's Apartment Building

"Course he can't. Well, arright—" our plucky hero said with a brief roll of the eyes and shrug. "Lessee how hurt I really am."

Bending down at the knees, the eternally hotblooded young man gripped the package firmly. He'd understood some time ago, during one of his two moves in fact, that big awkward stuff was lifted with legs and not arms or back. Bending over gave dudes a hernia with heavy crap, and he didn't need that on top of last night. As a friend once put it, he was "pretty dumb, but not stupid".

Not that he was all too jazzed on the idea of being called dumb, but, you know, spirit of the sentiment or whatever.

He pressed his feet into the pavement, as though pushing the Earth away—

Hohshit

No dice. No liftoff. Just a tilt.

...

Hey, wait. Curbs were only, what, twelve centimeters high?

"O-kay, think I got a plan here, Hat-chan." he announced, sizing up box, curb, and distance between them simultaneously.

So he did explain.

As they enjoyed their coffee outside, Brennan recounted the events of last night through his own eyes from start to finish. If anything, he undersold his role in the chaos as much as he could - after all, explaining to your girlfriend that you willfully and gleefully hopped into the path of a bus, even when your esper ability revolved around such a sudden jolt, was never going to go over very well. He also appeared slightly sheepish when he admitted that, unlike her, he'd had his target trapped in a corner like a dog, only to let him go for the cheque they'd just cashed.

"But it was a good idea." He had no idea how his self-defense was working, but he refused to budge on his conviction. "If Anti-Skill had taken him in he would have just clammed up and we probably would have never heard a single thing about it again. At least the cheque gives us a name to go off of. Besides, I'm not even really making a profit. Not when I consider expenses."

He beamed cutely and took a long drink of his coffee, eyes never leaving Kawaguchi's.

You won't be making a profit at all, after I've extracted penance.

This is not justice at all.

He did have a point, though. Anti-Skill wouldn't have been able to get anything out of him, especially not anything more than they'd get from the body that they prevented their foes from stealing. Between them, they could probably get pretty far with a name. Find the A-LAWs sympathizers themselves. She would give him grief about jumping in front of a bus (not a difficult inference to make, Burennan) later, but for now she wanted to enjoy her coffee. Umeko took a long sip, staring at her boyfriend judgmentally, then lightly rested her cup on her knee.

"You're a sneak, Griese. You're not wrong, but you're a sneak. Should've told me earlier."

---

Shion quickly copied Bang's pace, careful to stay a few steps behind him, and followed as he went on his way. She took the time as she did so to switch to a more mellow song on her phone. The heat was starting to bother her but that was little problem with her ability. Though a thought wormed its way into her mind as she used it. What was this boy's ability?

"Hey, Bang. What's your esper ability? Anything cool?" She secretly almost hoped that he had accidentally injured himself with it the night before, since explosion generation would be an interesting ability to see in action.

---

@NaraK

The two walked.

The wind blew softly- not enough to get the heat off him, but just enough to feel soft and cool. And today, he wore a hoodie yet again.

Regardless of the weather, he could be frequently seen wearing a hoodie. He matched the thickness of his clothes with the weather, but it was reasonable for one to question whether he only wore hoodies.

It was a matter of simple preference, really.

Of course, that didn't mean he only had the exact same clothes containing minimal variations. Button-downs to simple t-shirts, he actually wore quite the variety when others wanted to meet him, even if that variety itself was simplistic. But he wore hoodies because it reminded him of days he took easily, and the time that followed his childhood, marching together with simple little thoughts.

The bright sun.

A hoodie and training pants.

And a breeze that was neither excessive nor inadequate.

It felt like any other day- a normal day, like many others.

For a moment, Bang wondered if the simplicity could continue. He lived pursuing small dreams that, while he wasn't the best at, he certainly did want to see the finish line for. If those dreams were the only things he should worry about, just as he had only up to a day before, then keeping simplicity would certainly be fine. Because as obvious as his dreams were, he would do quite a lot to protect them.

But simplicity wouldn't cut it if things didn't remain simple. He realized that the moment things got complicated.

As the two walked, "Shion" asked if he had an esper ability. Glancing at her, he grew curious of her own curiosity for a moment, before cutting off that curiosity. She helped him, so he should answer honestly. Making things seem grander on scale through exaggerations or lying would be more of a disappointing thing for Shion rather than giving her low expectations.

He... understood the appeal of making things seem grander, as one who aspires to be an author. He really did!

But the prospect of him bragging about something rather visceral didn't seem to fit him. He wasn't sure about her, though.

"I'm not an Esper," he answered, his tone remaining in the middle ground of being idle and relaxed. "Though, if I were, I probably wouldn't have been hurt as much."

It was true.

He wasn't an Esper- and now that he thought about it, the likelihood of more Espers being at the scene with him rather than people like him seemed more likely than vice versa. He couldn't put his finger on it, though.

What concerned him more was the thought of being an Esper in the first place.

I'm not an Esper, he repeated to himself as he turned back to the road in front of him.

Espers were on an entirely different level from those without Esper abilities. That was a fact, and even he knew not to test fate by even thinking about bothering Espers about their abilities often. He felt it as not a student, but as a person in Academy City.

Quite frankly, he still didn't want to think hard about becoming an Esper. But...

At this point, the fact that he wasn't an Esper resounded in him uncomfortably. He cared very much about his life, and preferred not to end up like the corpse he came across- and that corpse was most definitely the work of an Esper, too.

He wasn't an Esper.

The thought of it made him reconsider his position in the small number of events that could have significantly influenced his life.

As the supermarket that happened to be in the direction of his jogging route between District 7 and District 15 slowly began to appear in their path, Bang glanced at Shion, a curious thought entering him.

"Are you an Esper?" He asked, his idle tone having a bit of curiosity in it.

_@DarkwolfX37

---

"Of course. I thought every student in the city was one. Didn't you go through the power curriculum program? From what I've been told, it seemed like it was a requirement for every child in Academy City, and I thought after that even Level 0s were considered to be an Esper afterwords." She paused for a moment, considering whether or not to reveal her own strange situation. It wasn't like she'd gone through the program either, or at least not the usual kind. Being open about herself may have earned her some strange looks sometimes, but she had already resolved to not be bothered by things like that years ago.

"To be honest, I don't know that I went through it myself. I don't really remember much before I was taken in by the orphanage. I think I started getting my ability when I was about... seven? But if you're really not an Esper at all, you're probably incredibly rare. Plus, if you didn't go through the program, maybe you still can. Or if you did, there's a rumor that there are ways to grow a Level 0's latent ability." Shion was a bit torn. On the one hand, if Bang wasn't an Esper at all then he'd instantly be much more interesting than she assumed. On the other hand, if he was a Level 0 then the mystery of what his ability might be was also enticing.

"Besides, it's not like Espers are inherently tougher or anything. So rest assured, you'd probably be just as injured as you are now even if you had an ability, unless it was something pretty unique. I can't think of anything that would have helped, at least."

---

@NaraK

He didn't think having no powers would be considered rare, but then again, almost everyone he knew of were Espers, now that he thought about it. Sounded a bit weird, when he thought of himself as some kind of rare item- like some kind of Pokemon.

"Didn't take it," he answered her question about whether he underwent the program or not. And he didn't need to at the time.

The two approached the super market as it got closer and closer. He remembered what to buy- some daikon radishes and red chili peppers, along with a few snacks. He already had vegetable oil and salt, along with some other ingredients that he kept in the freezer.

Espers weren't really on his mind most of the time. He had many things to take care of that were more relevant and present to him, such as making sure he was covering expenses properly, keeping his mind clear for both his hobbies and work, and preparing for school during the fall and spring seasons. Though, considering the girl next to him probably had it harder than him.

He didn't know what orphanages were like, truthfully, and he respected her privacy enough to not start blabbering about it. He presumed it wasn't a good feeling. His parents were pretty much the start of everything that made him what he was, and others not having that privilege didn't seem fair.

But he remained quiet about the matter, and instead thought about the thought of him trying the program instead. He glanced at the girl before he looked towards the market's direction.

"What's it like being an Esper?" He asked, his tone honestly curious despite the broadness of the question, though the broadness seemed intentional.

Now that he thought about it, he never actually asked the opinion of an Esper about themselves- particularly their abilities.

Never did he ask his friends or even people he looked up to about it. He always considered it as only a minor difference in social life- but the silent debut of interest he gained about Espers recently kind of made him think twice. Considering she was an Esper herself, and seemed to know that being an Esper wouldn't have exactly guaranteed his safety, she seemed more knowledgeable on that. He wasn't completely unaware of how Espers worked- it was, however, much less known to him on a more up-front level.

Perhaps his question might be the equivalent of asking "What's it like to be a person," considering that she was an Esper for at least a decent portion of her life. He still figured he should ask, though.

_@DarkWolfX37

---

Shion blinked in surprise. "You didn't take it? Wow, you really are special, then. I don't know of any other non-adults who didn't go through it." Suddenly she decided that Bang was unique. It was like finding a Gekota toy with a manufacturing error, he wasn't quite "right," whatever that meant, but even the "flaw" just added to his value. And to think that someone tried to potentially kill such a rare gem. "I wonder what you'd end up with if you did..." She trailed off in thought until Bang asked his question.

"What's it like? I dunno, what's it like not being an Esper?" She paused. "I guess I can give two answers though. The scientific answer is that it's like being in your own little version of the world. Basically, we're all just delusional except that reality around us is delusional too, so it believes us despite our version of reality being 'wrong,' so to speak."

Shion paused again. "That... actually wasn't very scientific, was it? That's the way I break it down in my head, though. We've got 'Personal Realities' that act through our AIM Fields to change the 'normal reality.' I might have a better answer later on once I've gotten through a year at Kirigaoka. I have to assume that they'd explain it better than the basics I've been taught."

She let a small piece of ice form in her hand as she thought. It was an almost existential question to ask. "I guess... I guess I have to go back to what I said at first. It's probably a lot like being delusional. I don't notice that my Personal Reality is different than 'normal,' it's just how the world is for me. But to a non-Esper it probably looks really foreign, like watching an insane person talk like they were sane." She sighed. "It probably doesn't help that I didn't get the normal education that comes with the curriculum program..." She looked at the sky as she let the ice fall from her hand. "Sorry that I can't give much of a good explanation." She stared at the sky for a moment before turning her attention back to Bang.

---

@NaraK