Five minutes in the men's restroom were enough to erase Zidane Agato from existence. When I stepped out, the limegreen hair that made me instantly recognizable was gone, replaced by a plain jetblack. I gave my reflection a thin smile. "Yosh. Like this, I can hunt in peace."
I'd gotten this Potential from Seno when I "borrowed" his cake. It was a trivial ability called Color Change, originally limited to nonliving objects. But in my hands—after an Evolve process that burned a sliver of Mana—it had improved. Now I could alter organic fibers, including hair. A perfect disguise, even if the reason was a little embarrassing:
dodging the stares of upperclassmen.
Wearing this new identity, I strode confidently toward the trinket stand I'd seen earlier. I had to buy that mask. It was the key to my plan. But just as my fingers were about to touch a rare Kurogane Naoto action figure, a cheerful voice pierced straight through my disguise.
"Welcome! Please—eh? Zidane!?"
I froze. "You've got the wrong person, Miss," I replied in a puton voice.
"Oh, come on, how could you forget me? It's Karin!" she said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. Crap. Karin—my cousin on my uncle's side. I'd completely forgotten she said she would open a booth at the festival.
"How did you know?" I groaned, dropping the act.
"Your haircut and eyes didn't change, idiot," she laughed. "Next time you want to play spy, change your hairstyle too." Karin was a college student on break who decided to earn some cash by selling anime trinkets after her dad refused to fund her onlinegaming habit.
My gaze drifted back to the figure. Two hundred thousand—way beyond my wallet, which held only a few crumpled bills. "All right then, I'll just give it to you," Karin said out of nowhere. "Huh!? Seriously!?" "Of course. But…" A mischievous grin bloomed on her face. "…there's a condition."
The "condition" turned out to be posing as a sudden model for her cosplay collection. From a dashing military uniform and an awkward kabedon pose to my worst nightmare: a maroon maid dress complete with a ribboned headband. With a heavy heart and my dignity in shreds, I endured the photo session to secure my dream figure.
"Done, right? I've got to go watch the sack race," I said, hurriedly changing back into my school uniform.
"Since when do you care about the festival? Must be a girlfriend, huh?" she teased. "No," I answered flatly, my hair already back to its original green. "It's about Yuriko.
You remember her, right? Our neighbor." "Oh, the bluehaired girl? What about her?"
"There's something off about her aura," I explained. "I can feel traces of a foreign
Potential on her. A curse."
Karin's eyes widened. "A curse? Does that even exist?" "Hightier Spell type. Most likely a slowly acting Mind Control," I said. "The motive's probably just bullying—humiliate her in public. But left alone, it could become permanent."
"In that case, you can borrow my flight Potential," Karin offered. "No need, Sis. I already took it when you hugged me," I said with a grin, flashing the action figure in my hand. "And thanks for this!"
I sprinted to the middleschool field where Yuriko was already at the starting line. From the top row of the stands, I scanned the crowd, searching for the source of that cursed aura. In this sea of people, the trace was too faint. I needed another angle.
That's when my ears caught a conversation between two girls walking past. "...turns out my Potential isn't a Healer, it's a Neutralizer!" "Whoa, seriously, Kay!?"
Bingo.
That was exactly what I needed: a Potential that could neutralize other Potentials. I shadowed them, waiting for the right moment to "accidentally" bump into the one called Kayle. Whether it was nerves or fate playing a prank, my foot slipped on a puddle. I toppled straight into her, spectacularly awkward.
"I—I'm so sorry!" I blurted, scrambling up and bolting, ignoring the weird look from her friend. It didn't matter. I'd already taken the Neutralizer.
I headed for a hidden spot—the school's rooftop—to Evolve it. I needed to extend its reach from a single target to an area.
"Potential… Evolve… Area Neutralizer!"
A turquoise magic circle detonated outward from my body, washing across the festival grounds in a single breath. Every active Potential within the radius would shut down for five minutes. The price was brutal. My entire Mana reserve evaporated in an instant. My vision swam; my body felt hollow, as if every bone had been pulled out.
'Damn… I should go to the infirmary… but I promised Yuriko…'
Down on the field, the curse on Yuriko vanished. The nausea that had crushed her lifted, replaced by bright, competitive focus. The race began.
At the same moment, in a corner of the stands, a bespectacled student glared at Yuriko.
"Why isn't my curse working!? Damn it!"
Up on the roof, just as I forced myself to stand, a cold click froze my blood—the sound of a sniper magazine being seated. I peeked around the wall. A man in all black was on the phone, the rifle already leveled at the crowd below. A hired killer.
"Fine. No specific target. I'll fire randomly to create chaos," he said, calm and terrifying.
I didn't think. I lunged, shoving him off the rifle. He reeled, but his reaction time was lightning. He pivoted, slipped my punch, and drove an elbow into my gut. Blood bubbled into my mouth.
"Heroic little brat," he hissed. "Leave now and I'll let you keep your life."
"Drop dead," I rasped.
He smirked. "Bad choice." From his palm, a black pistol condensed from crackling particles. A Toolstype Potential. "There will be bonus casualties."
As he leveled it at me, I laughed—hopeless, wet with blood. "Try… understanding… your situation… idiot."
I burned the dregs of my Area Neutralizer a second time. The gun in his hand blinked out. He tried to manifest another—but failed. "That all you've got?" he sneered, then balled his fist and beat me mercilessly. Every blow was a sledgehammer. I was out of Mana, my body numb.
"Give up and die," he said.
"Heh… hehheh… AHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed again, bordering on delirium.
I staggered upright. From my own hand, a pistol identical to his began to take shape.
During our scuffle—when his hand hit my chest—I'd stolen his ability.
"Hhow…?"
"I've heard that question a thousand times," I said, raising the gun with a trembling grip. "There's only one answer—one word… Divergent."
Fear finally cracked his eyes. "Nonsense! Divergents are just a myth!"
"Die!" He charged, choosing a barehanded finish.
BANG!
I pulled the trigger. Time seemed to slow as the bullet tore through his head. He crumpled, blood pooling around him. I stared at the gun in my hand, then at the corpse. I… had killed someone. A violent wave of nausea hit. I vomited blood, then collapsed as consciousness unraveled.
The gunshot detonated mass panic below. The festival dissolved into hell. In the chaos, Yuriko—fresh off her win—ran blindly and ended up in a deadend alley behind the school. There, Dimas, the bespectacled student who'd cursed her, cornered her.
"My curse might've failed, but this is way better," he said, flicking open a box cutter.
"Now, take off your clothes."
He slapped her and lunged. Something inside the girl broke. A savage frost aura exploded out, freezing everything in reach. It was her latent Potential—a feral Morph type—uncontrolled, triggered by extreme emotion, and paid for by draining her emotions to empty.
Just as the holloweyed, icy Yuriko moved to finish Dimas, I arrived. With the last scraps of strength, I tapped her head and neutralized the surge. She fainted into my arms.
"Get away from her, bastard!" Dimas shrieked.
"So you're the one," I growled. I laid Yuriko on a bench. When Dimas rushed me, I triggered the one Potential I still had left—an illusion I'd acquired from a friend by accident. In Dimas's eyes, I became a terrifying green dragon. He screamed and bolted headlong into the night.
I slumped beside Yuriko. Luck, for once, took my side. Aura—my gradeschool friend who, apparently, attended this school too—found me. With her Healer Potential, she stabilized my shredded vitals.
"You're insane, Zidane! You could've died!" she scolded through tears. "Sorry," was all I could manage.
In the tender silence after she finished, I found a sliver of courage. "Aura… tomorrow… want to go to that new park?" Her face flushed. "A—a date!?" "Nno! Just… a thankyou," I stammered.
After she left—promising to meet at eight—I took out the ID card I'd pulled from the hitman's pocket. Charles Josuo. Member of an organization called the Genesis Guild.
'They're targeting this school… but why?' I thought, looking at Yuriko sleeping peacefully. I hoisted her onto my back and walked home through the wreckage of a ruined festival. Today, I saved a life—and I took one. And I knew this was only the beginning.
[TO BE CONTINUED]