Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Can We Dream? ❯ Bit by Bit ( Chapter 1 )

Prolouge

At the dawn of the second millennium, Japanese scientists were working on anadvancement in human genetics. They were able to create a gene that allowedthe recipient to evolve into the unknown. Their theory was that it wouldboost the subjects intelligence. However, the problem was that the gene hadto be administered to a baby while it is still developing. The Japanesegovernment then selected over 400 parents each year for over 5 years untilthe project was terminated because there were no promising results. Howeveras time went by when most of the kids turned 13, they began to developunique superhuman powers and gained unparallel intellect. The experimentwas a success and they were about to restart everything, until a suddenchange of events. One of the recipients of the gene developed a dangerouspower. He was able create a black hole wherever he wanted. He had no wayof controlling it and accidentally killed his family. He became fueled byanger at the people who gave him this power and by guilt for what he did tohis family. He walked into the scientist lab and killed everyone working onthe project to make sure that no one would ever have to go through what hehad before going into that black hole. The Japanese government wasdetermined to isolate these "special" people and keep them in a secludedarea where they could monitor them. A few were able to escape but most werecaptured. Those considered especially dangerous were taken by thegovernment into a secret laboratory. Those who had become so special werenow all alone and without a purpose anymore. It wasn't long before a few ofthem stood up and did somethingÉ

Chapter 1Ð Bit by Bit


Four months prior...


"Dai, calm down," Arashii said exasperatedly, watching his friend run around in circles.

"NO!" screeched Daisuke, sporadically orbiting an armchair. "We're about to go against the Japanese government! We could be arrested and have our hair cut off and our noses bashed in!" Daisuke stopped for a moment to ponder this unthinkable torture. He shuddered, fondly fingering a lock of his blonde hair. When he was little, he had marched up to his mother and demanded some bleach. The rest was history, and it had stayed that way ever since.

Apart from his unnaturally light hair, Daisuke had a number of unusual traits. Many years ago, he was part of a federal experiment that involved many other children. One strange result of this was an uncanny amount of strength and the ability to motivate anyone with his upbeat personality. Daisuke was extremely hyper and could often be found bouncing around a room to many people's annoyance, mostly Arashii's.

"... They don't do that anymore, Dai," said Arashii with a sweatdrop.

"Really?"

He sighed. "No."

Daisuke stopped circling for a moment. "But won't we get in trouble?"

"Why would we?" he said. "We're gonna have to expose ourselves sometime. And it would be better for society to see us in a positive light rather than a secret that was kept from them. Besides.... they owe us big time."

Daisuke contemplated this. "I.... see!" he said with wide, understanding eyes.

Arashii sighed again, turning away. His shadow swelled and shrank behind him.

"Eh... Arashii... your shadow's doing that weird thing again."

"Sorry."

The "weird thing" that Arashii's shadow was doing, was in fact a result of the federal experiment. About seven years ago, he found he could control his shadow to his liking, although there were times when it seemed to have a life of its own. Apart from shadows, Arashii's control extended to general light-lacking objects. This aspect of him influenced everything from his habit of dressing, to his personality. Arashii was very intelligent and had little patience for those who didn't understand him. Despite this, he knew how to work with people and handled most situations appropriately.

Arashii heard an indigant "Gah!" from behind him and turned around curiously.

Daisuke had slumped over in a chair, his fingers buried in his blonde hair in anxiety. "I still say it's not going to go well," he whined.

"I wouldn't expect it to," smirked Arashii.

**

Arashii glared at the ensuing chaos in front of him. He and his friends Tori, Aozora, Kojiro, and Taro were meeting in a small coffee place. They had been discussing and planning, when Taro's dark hair caught Tori's eye.

"Ohmygosh!" she exclaimed, leaning over the table. "Home come you never do you hair like this? You look so much better this way!"

"Stop it!!" said a panicked Taro, trying to push her off.

"Tori..." Arashii said warningly.

"Wait-- eeee-- quit moving!" she said excitedly.

Taro's hands flew up to his head. "Aghh-- Arashii--!!"

"TORI."

Tori stopped messing with Taro's hair and sat back reluctantly in her seat, glowering at him. "Whaa-at?"

Ever defiant, ever feisty, ever hyper, energetic and, at times, annoying. This described Tori in a nutshell. She was very much the female version of Daisuke, and the two together caused quite a racket, as well as much damage to the ear canals. Arashii fervently thanked his own foresight to leave Daisuke out of this meeting.

He shook his head. "You have to stop messing around. We're in a critical situation. In order for this to work, we have to find as many people like us as possible. The more we have, the better it will be."

"Great," mumbled Kojiro, twiddling a pencil between his fingers. "More troublesome super abilities."

Troublesome, to Kojiro, could be a number of things. From cleaning, to shopping, from Tori, to scouting out fellow humans from the experiment; the list was endless. Kojiro was the type of person who would rather sleep or play a video game than do anything that required more energy than he was willing to give. In short, everything. Kojiro's special ability happened to be, whether by some twisted stroke of fate or mere coincidence, perfect accuracy.

"That'd be so cool!" exclaimed Tori. She leaned forward, placing her chin on her hands with an eager smile on her face. "I want to meet more people like us! Do you think I'll meet another esper?"

"I doubt it," said Aozora, thoughtfully. "Isn't everyone supposed to be unique?"

Aozora was very rational. Her logic and thinking-process were similar to Arashii's, and like him, she was also extremely smart. In addition, Aozora tended to have a sarcastic side that caught most people by surprise. She rarely showed her emotions in her facial expressions and the way she carried herself was inscrutable. But those who were close to her knew she was a calm and easy-going girl with good intentions. Aside from all of this, she could also control wind and air.

Arashii nodded. "Yes."

"But you never know," said Taro.

Apart from being Tori's plaything, Taro was also Kojiro's best friend. While his optimistic outlook was quite a bit different from Kojiro's somewhat negative views, they had managed to develop a relaxed although somewhat strange friendship over the seven years of knowing each other.

"Bah." Kojiro flicked the pencil at Taro. It flew in an uncannily straight line headed for his forehead.

It would have hit him if it had not stopped in midair a mere inch in front of his face. The pencil hovered there, quivering slightly. Taro grinned.

"Show off, Taro!" said Tori, giggling, and swiped the pencil away. "Just because you have telekinesis." She squinted at him. All of a sudden her mouth dropped open and she turned around to gape at the waitress behind them in horror. "You think she's cute?!"

Aozora and Arashii laughed while Taro sat there, mortified. "Where'd you get that from?!"

Tori pointed to her head, winking. "Telepathy. One of the many perks of being an esper."

"Geez," said Kojiro. "What other evil are you capable of?"

"Huh? Just telepathy," Tori said, confused.

"... One too many."

She scowled and smacked him upside the head.

"Ow."

**

"All systems go," said Arashii proudly, surveying the people below him on the ground floor.

"Really," agreed Daisuke enthusiatically. "I think it's great how you managed to get us this base!"

Arashii sighed. "It took me long enough to be able to persuade the government to lend it to us."

"Well, it was worth it," said Daisuke, encouragingly. "Just how many people are there?"

"We've almost reached the two hundred mark." Arashii hesistated, something very few people have seen him do. "Should I go greet them?"

"Be my guest."

"... Maybe I should let you do it."

Daisuke snickered. "Fine by me."

"Shut up."

**

"Oi-- is this thing working??" Daisuke tapped the microphone that was plugged in.

A loud feedback noise caused many people in the vicinity to flinch.

"Ahh! Sorry, guys!" He grinned, pushing his hair out of his stark blue eyes. "First of all, I want to say welcome to all of you. You are all very fortunate to be here because you are about to be given a great oppurtunity!"

"Are we going to save the world?" asked a random guy from the audience. There were several snickers.

Daisuke merely smiled. "And your name is?"

The guy crossed his arms. "Juno."

"Well, Juno," said Daisuke delicately, "What you just suggested is going a bit too far. However, we hope that through our efforts, the world will be able to see just how useful we are."

Arashii couldn't help a smile as he watched Daisuke give his speech. He had been right in letting him talk. The boy had a natural talent for speaking in front of people.

"We also hope," Daisuke continued, "that you will decide to join us in this honorable cause. Thank you, and enjoy your night!"

When the applause died down, Arashii motioned Daisuke over to where Kojiro, Taro, Tori, and Aozora stood waiting.

"That was really good, Daisuke!" said Tori earnestly.

"It was," said Aozora, smiling fondly at him.

"Erm... yes. Well done, Dai," said Arashii, rather put off.

Daisuke beamed.

"Okay," said Arashii. "Tori and Aozora, I want you to see that everyone is settled in comfortably. In the meantime, I would like Taro and Kojiro to track down someone named Akito. Have him collect information on everyone and present it to me tomorrow."

"Okie dokie!"

"... Fine."

"Got it."

"What about you two?" asked Aozora.

"Daisuke and I are going somewhere," said Arashii importantly.

"Where?" said Tori suspiciously. "Can I come?"

"No," said Arashii immediately. "It's better if we don't talk about it now. Just keep everyone busy. We'll be back soon."

**"Where are we going?" asked Daisuke, echoing Tori's earlier question.

Arashii raised an eyebrow. "To the helicopter port."

"Helicopter port?!"

"Yes, the large conspicuous launch pad on the roof," he said sarcastically.

Daisuke's eyes widened. "You really had this all planned out didn't you?"

"Someone's got to."

Daisuke shook his head in disbelief. "A helicopter port..."

They continued the rest of the way in silence. It was only until they were up in the air did Arashii speak again.

"We're going to a secret section of the Japanese government."

Daisuke gave him a curious look. "Secret section?"

"Yes," said Arashii. "It's part of a scientific facility set up to researching our Ôcondition.' A few of our people managed to get into this faction and did tasks for the government." He frowned at the rows of dials in front of him. "But that will end soon."

"Is that them?" asked Daisuke, pointing to the rapidly approaching ground.

Waiting for them below were a number of professional looking people. When Arashii had landed the helicopter and got out, they swarmed around him like flies.

"Nice to see you again, Arashii."

"How's it going?"

"It's been a while, Arashii-san!"

Arashii shook the many outstretched hands, feeling slightly impatient. Daisuke, meanwhile, happily seized the chance to meet as many people as possible.

"Remarkable!" he exclaimed in delight, as a pretty girl brought him a glass of sparkling water. "You have incredible connections!"

Daisuke clinked his glass with Arashii's, grinning. "How long are we staying here for?"

"Not very long," said Arashii, handing his untouched glass back to the confused girl and started to walk away .

Daisuke finished off his drink and hurried along beside him.

"We have to find Haruka," said Arashii.

"Come again?" said Daisuke absently."Haruka," Arashii said, now beginning to feel annoyed with Daisuke's apparent lack of interest. "She's clairvoyant. If we give her a specific time frame she can discern valuable information for us."

"So... she's a fortune teller," Daisuke stated slowly.

"Put simply, yes." Arashii stopped in a long hallway. He turned to a door with a curious sign on it that read:

Dpt. Clairvoyance
Haruka
L-23708

"We're here."

**

"Ouch!" Haruka stuck her finger in her mouth, trying to ease the burning. She eyed the spilt tea on the floor. "Great, now I have to clean this up."

After a few minutes, she settled down with her cup of tea, her fingers curled around the worn edges as she closed her eyes and inhaled the cloud of mint-scented steam. As she was about to take a sip, she heard voices from outside.

"If you plan on coming in, Arashii, do so now," she called irritably.

There was a confused silence from the other side of the door. Then it swung open to confirm her theory as Arashii and another boy walked in.

"How are you?" Haruka smirked, drinking her tea and leaning back in her chair.

Arashii paused, cleared his throat and said, "I'm fine." He had always found himself a bit uncomfortable around Haruka. She was known to be slightly sadistic and at times quite unpredictable.

"Good, good," she mused. Haruka looked over her glasses at the confused, blond boy standing next to him.

"He has a bright future, this one," she said, nodding at him.

Daisuke broke into a smile. "Ah! That's a relief, Haruka-san!" He came over to shake her hand. "My name is Daisuke."

"Enchanting," Haruka said flatly, barely returning his gesture. She picked up a book on her desk and flipped to a marked page. Without looking up, she asked, "Why are you here?"

Arashii hardly flinched. "Why do you think?

Haruka laughed. "I'm not like your hyperactive friend, Arashii. I don't read minds. My specialty lies in the unforeseen."

"...Yes," said Arashii, making a mental note to put Tori to use later.

"Regardless, you came to me for a reason. I won't bother asking you again," she said lightly, still absorbed in her book. "That boy next to you will be your greatest asset."

Arashii turned to Daisuke, puzzled. "Daisuke?"

"Me?" echoed Daisuke. "Ha-Haruka-san, you must be mistaken!" He smiled nervously.

"On the contrary, Daisuke. I am quite positive you will play an active role in whatever chaos lies before you." Haruka finally looked up and gazed straight at him. "You could, potentially, save a lot of lives."

Daisuke stood in a confounded silence. Arashii, however, looked satisfied. "Thank you, Haruka."

"Mmm... you're welcome, Arashii," said Haruka, picking up her book again. "Mind the second elevator on your way out. Its cables are likely to snap."

"... Thanks for the warning," said Arashii, shooing Daisuke out of the room.

"She's strange," mumbled Daisuke as they walked along.

"I know," said Arashii as they got into the first elevator. "But she's all we've got right now."

------

Oh, SQUEE. This is my first upload in a WHILE. Cowritten with my friend, who doesn't have an MM.org acount. Ahaha. I really like the way this turned out.

So.... R&R!! No flames, please (:

- Kami