The Mind-Reader Appears!

POV: Hoga Yasahiro

Timeline: *Present*

"No one remembered him except for you?" Izumi asked Mirai with his expression filled with disbelief, Mirai remarked, "no matter what I said, no matter what I did, no one seemed to have a recollection of Shinobo ever existing."

We were sitting in Mirai's office, both me and Izumi as well as Junzo were present since he called us to let Mirai tell us about the past that we supposedly have forgotten.

Izumi scratched the back of his head and asked, "why would they lie about knowing that someone existed?"

I corrected him, "in a normal case scenario, rather than them, I would doubt the only person that differ from the rest. It's hard to believe that many people supposedly forgot a person, it's easier to think that it was all an imagination of that person."

Izumi stood up and opposed, "what are you talking about? It is possible, just like how we all forgot about the past, they might have all forgot about that Shinobo guy as well!"

I repeated myself again, "that's why I said, in a normal case scenario, but since nothing is normal about that fishy story I guess everything is possible."

Mirai started laughing and continued talking, "that's right, back then it was easier to believe that Shinobo's existence might have been only my imagination, did he really exist? Was he really there? I began doubting myself more and more by the second, but as I was about to accept the fact that he never existed, someone came and proved that Shinobo did in fact exist."

Izumi asked, "someone?" Mirai nodded and looked at me with a smile on her face, "it was you, Yasahiro."

—–

POV: Ikehara Mirai

Timeline: *Past*

"Did you calm down now?" Hi-Chan asked me while handing me a glass of water, I took it and started sipping from it without replying to her question.

No one remembers Shinobo, did something happen that made them forget? If so, why am I the only one who can remember him? Everything is so weird, I can't comprehend the whole situation.

"Junzo, you're taking the makeup exam tomorrow, right? Do you want to come study in my room?" Akira offered.

Junzo nodded and they both started heading off, watching them leave Hi-Chan remarked, "Junzo is really hopeless, being the eldest between us yet his marks are always the lowest."

Azami got up after tidying up her plate and responded to Hi-Chan's remark, "but he's the kindest, and that is what matters the most, more than marks or age."

Hi-Chan smiled and agreed, "you're right, he's always healing others despite the pain he feels whenever he uses his ability, he's really admirable!"

Azami smiled back at Hi-Chan before leaving the table as well, Hi-Chan wore her gloves and held my hands and excitedly asked, "how about we go to Akira's room and help them as well!?"

I quickly refused, "no way, I'm not in the mood to go to anyone's room nor in a mood to help- eh…" but an idea came over and rang strongly in my head.

"Shinobo's room, you might have forgot about him, but maybe if you see his room you'll remember him!" I excitedly said as I pulled Hi-Chan by her hands and quickly ran up the stairs to the third floor, fourth room, Shinobo's room.

"This room," Hi-Chan hesitatingly remarked, I smiled and asked, "do you remember now!? This is Shinobo's room, we used to come over so many times!"

Hi-Chan face turned pale and looked at the floor without saying a word, I figured she can't clearly remember, so I opened the door to show her the inside hoping she would remember something, but as I opened instead of the usual room of Shinobo's I saw a room full of empty boxes that reeked of dust.

"No way, what is all of this?" I said in disbelief as the room wasn't what I expected, Hi-Chan said from behind me, "did you forget, Chizuru? This is the haunted room we all used to avoid, I get that you're still half-asleep but how could you forget about this room? You can be so silly sometimes, Chizuru."

"Haunted room!? What are you talking about!!? It might look different now, but it's still in the same place!!! Shinobo lived here, he slept and studied here! How can you say it's a haunted room!!?" I yelled at her, but Hi-Chan backed away and with scared expression looked at me.

"I-I'm … sorry…" Hi-Chan apologized with tears in her eyes, what am I doing, making her cry… I'm the worst.

Maybe … Maybe Shinobo never existed… I misremembered, no, it was all in my head, Shinobo was just a part of my imagination.

"I'm sorry, Hi-Chan, I was just tired and took it out on you, I'll just go rest in my room," I apologized and started heading away from Hi-Chan, blaming others for forgetting something that never existed is unforgivable, I must pull myself together, I'm the worst.

As I reached my room, I saw Kenta waiting in front of the door, he said as he caught a glimpse of me, "hey, I heard you caused quite the scene in the cafeteria today."

I frowned and pushed him away from the door and opened it, "if you're here to pick a fight, or to make fun of me, I already had my share of that for today, so drop it," I told him as I headed inside.

He followed me inside and closed the door behind him, I got mad, "what are you doing? Get out."

He started approaching me with a serious expression on his face and asked me, "why do you still remember Shinobo?"

I couldn't hide my surprise by his question as a shocked expression surfaced on my face, I didn't know if I should act like I remember or if I'll be treated like someone crazy again.

"What are you talking about… Shinobo… doesn't exist…" I denied without admitting remembering Shinobo.

He pulled the chair from the desk and sat on it, "don't worry, I won't accuse you of being crazy or daydreaming, it's fine to tell me what you know or ask me what you're curious about without being so cautious of me," he said then crossed his legs and assured me, "I might provide the answers you seek."

I should tell him, I should ask him, what happened? What was real and what was fake? Was Shinobo my imagination? No, in the first place, is Kenta really in front of me? What if this was also in my imagination? But he seems so real, no, Shinobo seemed so real too, I can't…I can't trust myself anymore, but if there is only a tiny bit of chance that could throw my doubts away and reassure me that I am still sane then… then I want to take that chance.

I hide my trembling hands behind my back and asked him with a shaky voice, "was Shinobo … real?"

Kenta stood up and headed toward me and pat my shoulders with both of his hands with a smile on his face he responded, "you don't have to doubt yourself anymore, he, Shinobo, is real."

The whole strength in my body disappeared and I couldn't stay standing, as I crotched down, my lips started trembling with my vision blurring, I said while tears rushed out of my eyes, "nothing is scarier than not being able to trust yourself, it was so scary…so scary."

Kenta got down and continued to pat my back till I stopped crying, tears of relief kept pouring out of my eyes without stopping.

As I calmed down, I stood up from the floor and asked Kenta after my mind cleared up, "what happened to Shinobo?"

Kenta smirked and responded, "before I explain that, let me first introduce someone," and he headed toward the door and opened it letting a boy who was squeezing his head inside the room.

"Who is that? I don't remember seeing him here before," I asked as I inspected the unfamiliar face he had on.

His lips moved sideways forming a smile and said with a cheerful tone, "nice to meet you, I'm Yasahiro."

Somehow, I was overwhelmed as I saw his smile, as I never had seen someone that was so noticeably and genuinely happy before, there is no way I would have forgot seeing someone like him, how come I never met him?

Kenta slammed his palm on Yasahiro's back and laughed saying, "this guy here barely has any presence, no wonder you never noticed him before, also, he's … what do you call it?"

Yasahiro excitedly exclaimed, "invisible?" Kenta shook his head and denied, "no, it's for someone who is always alone," Yasahiro's smile was wiped and a depressed expression surfaced, he asked, "aloof?" Kenta smiled brightly and nodded, "that's it!"

"How is this guy related to this?" I asked confused why Kenta is introducing us in the first place, Kenta proudly bragged, "thanks to him, I still remember that Shinobo guy."

I confusedly looked at Yasahiro again, but didn't quite get what Kenta meant, Yasahiro poked Kenta and told him, "she's confused, I don't think she really understand where you're coming from."

"In first place, why didn't he enter the room earlier? Isn't it creepy that he was waiting all this time outside till you let him inside!?" I asked wanting more explanation to what really is going on.

Yasahiro frowned and scolded, "that's not really my fault, if it's anyone's it's your fault for having a mental breakdown."

I exclaimed shocked by his analysis, "mental breakdown!!? H-how is that even related!?"

Kenta cut between us and interrupted explaining, "it's not Yasahiro's fault, his ability is really hard to handle when he's in front of someone who was as confused as how you were before."

As I heard Kenta's words, I stared again at Yasahiro then part of me was envying that he had already a surfaced ability.

"What is his ability?" I asked while glaring at him, Kenta excitedly responded, "mind reading!"

Yasahiro sat on the chair Kenta pulled before and complained, "since Kenta is this bad at explaining, I'll explain it instead."

I sat on the bed and nodded, "please do."

Yasahiro warned me, "let me warn you that everything we say here might be life risking, knowing the truth might not exactly be a positive thing, after you know everything you might not be able to trust anyone anymore. And even if you knew, the things you can do about it are really limited, and will make you realize how powerless you really are, do you still wish to know?"

I gulped and nodded responding, "rather than doubting my insanity, if knowing the truth will help me figure out what happened, then I want to know it."

Yasahiro stared at me with a worried expression on his face, I could see that he was genuinely advising me wanting the best for me.

Yasahiro looked at the floor and started talking, "like you already know, till an ability surface, we all were required to go to the workshop once a week, then when an ability surfaced we had to go to AT; Ability Testing, every single day at a set hour, do you have any idea why that is?"

I answered, "we go to the workshop, to know if we have an ability yet or not, and about the AT, isn't it to know the side-effects to each ability and try to avoid them?"

Kenta slammed his hand on the desk and yelled, "bullshit! They don't bother telling us the side-effects, they hide it and keep ordering us to keep using the ability till we all break and when we become useless to them they will throw us all away, like how they did with Shinobo!"

"What are you talking about? Who do you mean by they?" I asked taken back by Kenta's fit, Yasahiro let out a sigh after glaring at Kenta for interrupting him and continued his explanation, "the researchers, the men in white lab coats in the workshop, as well as…" he looked at me and hesitantly continued, "as well as… father."

"No way, a guy as kind as father would never let us do something to risk our lives! He always tended our injuries, told people with high-risk abilities to not use them without permission!" I denied what he said.

Kenta corrected, "of course he will do that, he didn't want us to use our abilities in a place they can't see us in. In the first place who do you think is deleting everyone's memories!? It's him!"

Yasahiro continued, "they will keep doing AT, and if something goes wrong with any of the users, they just wipe them from the memories of others and get rid of them without leaving any trace of what they did."

Kenta slammed his fist against the wall, "no one would blame them for doing something to someone they can't remember."

As I heard his words, the things I told Shinobo last night rang in my head, 'why don't you talk to father about it? He might help you find a solution to the problem.'

I looked at my hand as it started trembling again, it was my fault… it was my fault…. I told him to go, I told Shinobo to go to father, I … I helped them get rid of Shinobo…

Suddenly, Yasahiro screamed with both of his hands on his head, Kenta quickly went to him and while glaring at me, he yelled, "control your thoughts, Chizuru!"

I yelled back, "how could I!? I … it was my fault, I told Shinobo to go talk to father about his memory, if I didn't then Shinobo … he would still be here…"

Yasahiro continued to groan with pain, Kenta yelled at me again, "you told him that because you wanted to help him! You were worried about him! You didn't do anything wrong, you didn't know!"

I covered my face and denied, "you're wrong, it's my fault…"

Yasahiro continued to scream with pain with his yells growing louder, Kenta quickly ran toward me and held me up by my collar, "if you don't do something about your thoughts, I'll freaking kill you!"

Kenta's eyes were full of hatred that was pointed at me, that shook me to my bones and made my trembling worse, I'm scared, scared of him, scared of being killed, who is this person? Is it really the same Kenta?

"I'm…fine…" Yasahiro mumbled while groaning on the floor, Kenta quickly threw me back and rushed toward him, "are you really alright?" he asked him and Yasahiro nodded.

As I started to catch my breath, the throbbing of my heart continued to race, I was genuinely scared for my life, I stared at the back of Kenta as I come to realize that people can be scary when trying to protect something.

"I'm sorry, Yasahiro," I apologized as I went over to Yasahiro, I looked over at Kenta and told him, "thank you for stopping me from hurting him."

Kenta looked at the ground and told me again, "it's really not your fault… I knew all about what was going on, and I could have stopped it, but I didn't."

Yasahiro closed his eyes and with tired voice he said, "it's neither of your faults, they used my ability to know which kids know Shinobo, so they would erase their memories, if not for me they wouldn't have known and wouldn't have erased anyone's memories. It was my fault."

"Why you two don't have your memories erased?" I asked confused about what both of them had said.

Yasahiro said with low voice, "after something goes wrong with someone's ability, they order me to read everyone's mind, then if that someone's existence was in anyone's mind, then they'll erase it."

Kenta continued, "But when it was my turn, Yasahiro lied and told them I didn't know Shinobo, that's why they didn't erase my memory."

"That's insane, both of you knew all of this but didn't do anything about it!?" I yelled at them as I realized that they could have saved Shinobo.

Kenta defended, "if we did anything they would erase our memories! We can't act careless about it! You saw how scary it is to have your memory messed up with!"

I gritted my teeth as I realized that this is what Yasahiro probably meant when he warned me that the things I can do were limited, even when we know all of this… is there really nothing we can do about it?

Yasahiro interrupted the silence and asked me, "but I don't understand, how come you remember? I told them I saw Shinobo's existence inside your mind, and they erased it in front of me, but how come you still remember?"

I shook my head sideways not knowing the reason, Kenta exclaimed, "maybe her ability surfaced?! And it made her remember everything!?"

Yasahiro looked deep in thoughts then agreed, "yeah, that does seem like the most logical reasoning, you're amazing, Chizuru!"

"Me? I have an ability?" I confusedly asked, Kenta excitedly bragged, "it's like you are our unlimited weapon against memory erasing!"

I have an ability too now, I too… have an ability! Realizing that had made me unbearably happy that I couldn't keep myself from grinning.

Yasahiro mumbled, "if only we knew exactly what each ability side-effect beforehand then we might be able to warn ability users in danger before it becomes a hopeless situation."

Kenta responded, "that would be an ideal situation, but with researchers conscious of your ability it might be a hard task to get that information out of their mind using your ability."

Yasahiro grumbled, "if only there was a cheat paper or something that we can use!"

Knowing beforehand? Cheat paper?

I said thinking out loud, "there might actually be a cheat paper."

Kenta and Yasahiro looked confusedly at me and I explained, "last time when I went to the workshop, I read a document that was about Junzo, it had his ability details, and also the side-effects. There were more documents that seemed similar to it as well, don't you think that maybe every single one of us have a document about his or her ability?"

Yasahiro showed a shocked expression and mumbled, "I never knew of such documents."

"They were keeping track of us all? Didn't you feel it was weird that they kept records when you read it?" Kenta asked me.

I avoided his eyes and answered, "I thought they were just proud of us that they wrote it to brag…"

Both, Kenta and Yasahiro, mumbled, "idiot…"

"Shut up," I yelled at both of them.

Kenta then got up and said with a smile on his face, "let's go then, Chizuru, we'll sneak in the workshop and get the documents."

I nodded and got up, but when I noticed Yasahiro not getting up with us, I asked, "you're not coming?"

"It will just be you and me," Kenta repeated as he started dragging me out of the room.

And that was the beginning to our resistance against the fate that we had encountered.