2. The one without powers
The second chapter.
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April 2140.
This is j.a.pan. A place that was once called as Hokkaido.
Force Academy, Sapporo"s special superpower high schoollocated in one of the six major cities of j.a.pan, Hokkaido. In Cla.s.s 1-3.
A plain boy with black curled hair and gla.s.ses named NagumoIwato, reaches the cla.s.sroom in the last minute before the chime rang.
At the same time, Iwato attracts glances all at once.
But the glances dispersed in an instant and the cla.s.s lookslike have returned like how it was before homeroom. However, the cla.s.s made acommotion secretly due to Iwato"s entrance.
And Iwato who doesn"t get agitated by that at all.
--Well, I thought I would be late.
He move to his seat while thinking about that in his mindand wiping the inexistent sweat.
Originally, you might think that why would I be given thelook like he"s an eyesore, but unfortunately, Iwato knew it.
That it is all his fault.
When he sits on his seat while not trying to mind about themas much as possible, his back is tapped from the seat behind him at the sametime.
Iwato turns around while recalling who"s the person sittingbehind him, and as expected, it was a boy with a gray hair and black eyeswearing the school uniform.
[Yo, you have a nice smell today as well. As expected of the[Black King]!]
The surroundings reacted to that t.i.tle or perhaps the firsthalf of it, but Iwato has gotten used to it. He grins and tells the boy.
[Oh, Kota. Today I tried the rose smell]
When Iwato said so to the boy named Hiragishi Kota(平岸衛太), hereplied [You sure have a weird preference] with a wry smile. It is really thetruth.
After all, Iwato"s self-introduction on the first day ofschool was
[Nice to meet you. I am Nagumo Iwato. My hobby is shampooand I like shampoo. I know everything about shampoo, so you can ask me anythingabout it]
--Of course, not a single person approach him after that.
Fortunately, Kota approached him, but there"s no one whowould approach Nagumo Iwato who talked only about shampoo during hisself-introduction.
When they are talking about such thing, the chime rang andthe cla.s.s teacher enters the cla.s.s.
[Uushi, all of you, get on your seat!]
If I were to express about the teacher in words, she wouldbe a [Ex-delinquent teacher who had her hair dyed red]. She is a scary lady whowears a black jersey with a bamboo sword at her back and she could yell anytimesoon. By the way, her name is Nakajima-sensei.
It"s a matter of course to be afraid of her on the first dayof school, but still one week has past since then.
Of course, I would get used to it after being together inthis one week.
[Ushi, I got nothing to say in the homeroom, so proceedwithout it. Today, we will be having a Status Check. All of you, go allout, okay?]
The students replied to that unmotivated voice and moved tothe changing room.
☆☆☆
Although it has been 100 years since the Year of Disaster,the world has changed a lot in these 100 years.
One of them is this, Status Check.
The status decides what superpower will appear and it willshow the seven personal information which are the rank of the superpower (異能), rankof taijutsu, the total strength [Battle Rank (闘級)], the name, age, gender, jobprogress.
Comparing it to the past, something like [Strength] and etc.might be considered as uncivilized, but unfortunately, in this era, thesenumbers are essential.
Although I say so, the Status Check itself measures thesuperpower"s ability, and after that, the taijutsu and Battle Rank will be measuredwith special devices. From the view of the students, they can go back early ifthey finished the Status Check. That"s how the students recognize this.
Among those students, Iwato and Kota looks at the otherstudents who are warming up without a reason. After the Status Check, thestudents look at the notice board to check their numbers" standard.
[Hmm... superpower and taijutsu are ranked from G, F, E, D,C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. Regarding superpowers, it won"t improve commonly buttaijutsu improves through training. With this only, it"s hard to cla.s.s it]
[....How did you manage to get into this school?]
--It"s really a doubt.
The ranks have been taught during elementary school, andit"s a disgrace to not know about it after learning English during the juniorhigh school. To say something like [I don"t understand] is already too late.
Then, the person himself, Kota puts his thumbs up with arefreshing face and says
[Somehow, my superpower seems to be strong, so I got arecommendation!]
I never thought that this school would be that stupid. Iwatowas convinced and felt a little sympathy to the school.
But Kota quickly opened his eyes and suddenly bow to Iwato.
[S-Sorry! I didn"t mean that!]
Many students who were surprised by that voice turned around.
But the students saw Kota who was apologizing to Iwato. Tobe precise, they looked at Iwato"s hair color and guessed the situationcompletely.
In this era, black hair does not exist.
To be precise, there were people with black hair in the pastbefore superpowers appeared, but it is nonexistent in the present.
That is because the superpowers have some sort of effect onthe body, and the stronger the superpower, the greater the effect on the haircolor.
In short, black hair should not exist in this era.
The only irregular in this world, Iwato, was given the nameBlack King--the one who lacks the power called superpower.
Therefore, Kota regrets that he said [I entered with just mysuperpower] to Iwato.
[....Huh? Um, why are you apologizing?]
Kota became stunned by Iwato who don"t understand it.
[Well, it might be an excuse for a person without powers tosay this, but superpower is just a tool, isn"t it? It"s the same as a scissorsfrom the 100 yen shop. For example, a.s.suming there"s a cardboard in front ofyou and everyone are born with different scissors, something like a cardboardis just made of paper, so it can be teared with hands]
An outrageous theory spoken fluently.
But still, Iwato thinks that way and he did not held anyfeelings like envy because he admired such convenient superpower.
Kota guessed that those words are Iwato"s true feelings andrespects him honestly. If he was to the only one who can"t use superpower inthe world, will he be able to say something like that?
He thought of something like that--
[If you seriously want to apologize, then buy me a shampoo]
Breaking everything at the end.
☆☆☆
[Fuhehe! How"s this, Iwato!? There"s no point in tellingyou, but look at this! My Battle Rank!]
On the way back, after buying the promised shampoo at thepharmacy, Kota sticks out his arm and said so suddenly.
A watch-type status application that has other functionsshines on his arm. It can make calls, send mails, search for stuffs and maymore. Above all, it can check the latest updated status.
That"s why, the every citizens are obliged to wear thisstatus application, and it can even be used as an identification as long as theperson has the status.
Although Kota shows his identification which consists of hispersonal information easily, Iwato opened his eyes wide when he saw the status.
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Name: Hiragishi Kota
Age: 16
s.e.x: Male
Job: Student(HighSchool Student)
Battle Rank: 16
Superpower: SatsurikuBaddo (殺戮罰怒さつりくばっど)[S]
Taijustu: D
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[Oh... Isn"t this quite amazing?]
Right, Kota"s status is considerably high for a student.
At first, his taijutsu is ranked 7th from the top as a highschool student. Regarding his superpower, it is ranked 3rd from the top.Talented in taijutsu and also a prodigy in superpower.
--Furthermore, this Battle Rank.
Regarding his Battle Rank, it is often compared with theUnknown.
The Unknown is divided into four cla.s.ses in an ascendingorder which are Monster cla.s.s, Mythical Beast cla.s.s, Sacred Beast cla.s.s andDivine Beast cla.s.s. As of how dangerous these Unknowns are, the standard is 1district (Monster), 1 town(Mythical Beast), 1 nation(Sacred Beast) and theworld(Divine Beast).
By the way, the minimum Battle Rank for Monster cla.s.s is 10,Mythical Beast is 30, Sacred Beast is 50 and Divine Beast is 100. With Kota"sBattle Rank, he has the power to destroy a district.
That"s why, Iwato said so, but Kota who was just praised,wrinkle up his eyebrows with a sullen face.
Iwato who sees that ask him [What"s wrong?] but--
>His words were denied by the warning that sounds at the sametime.
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Third person is hard.