Riko was jostled awake by the feeling of the tree she had dozed off in landing upon the ground, mooring itself in the hole it had been pulled loose from. Any confusion as to why she had drifted off in a tree were answered as she looked down at the scorch marks covering its trunk. It seemed like a pretty stalwart tree, so Riko had high hopes for a swift recovery.

Yawning, she started to clamber down. She found Aimi standing nearby. Had she not been asleep for long, or had her beloved Aimi-chan waited patiently for her to wake up? She felt her grip start to loosen, but before she could slip and fall to the ground, a cushion of psychokinetic energy gently set her down upon her feet on the nearby concrete walkway.

“Have you been waiting long, Aimi-chan?”

“Call me Aoki-san.” Aimi was looking away. She still had that cold aura, but she seemed to have calmed some of her quiet anger.

“You don’t need to answer, Aimi-chan. Let’s get you home,” Riko replied. They began to walk.

There were people milling about the streets, expectantly waiting for train services to resume now that the imminent danger had passed. There were also a lot of police cars parked all around the area.

“Um, maybe we should go find a bus stop instead,” Riko said, eyes seeking out a path that didn’t involve a discussion with the authorities. Fortunately, a timely distraction drew enough of the attention of the police officers going around questioning witnesses.

“Hey, let go of me you idiot! I’m your partner! That esper stole my body!” yelled a girl Riko remembered as Blue, as a police officer was attempting to drag her, handcuffed, into a van. Well, how she really didn’t want to have to talk to the cops. At least Blue was their problem now.

Making their way through some alleyways, they eventually found a safer place to emerge onto the street, and found a bus stop that would take Aimi home, or at least, to the next train station on the way home.

Riko filled some of the quiet wait with a call to Nana Ishihara to make sure she was okay. Well, aside from a few superficial burns, and a jacket that needed replacing once she gave Aimi's back, she had made it home safely and with ease, thanks to her ability to instantly transmit her body into her bedroom.

After Riko hung up the phone, she turned to Aimi. She had probably used up all of her bad luck tonight, so this would probably be the last time she got to try and say goodbye properly. Better not waste it being awkward, she decided. Going for the hug, she dove in, arms wide open. Before she could connect, however, she was met by the firm grasp of psychokinetic resistance.

“No physical contact. Your touch does weird things to espers. And touching anyone does weird things to my telepathy.” Riko had to admit she was right on the first count; whenever she touched an esper tonight with her emotions running wild, strange things had happened. ‘Psychic Transmutation’ was the name she had come up with for it. She didn’t know what it was officially called, since nothing like it was described in the Brinsfield Foundation material the parapsychology club had given her.

“C’mon! I’ll be careful,” Riko protested as her feet scooted along the sidewalk, her torso rusing to move, arms reaching ineffectively towards Aimi. “And I’ll think only nice thoughts if your telepathy kicks up. Like about the hot springs, and bikini shopping, and private karaoke booths, and…” A bit of pink spread over Aimi’s face, but otherwise, she never let down her psychokinetic grip.

The bus arrived, and Aimi climbed aboard without further ceremony. “See you tomorrow, Nomura,” she said, flatly.

“See you soon Aimi-chan my love!” shouted Riko as the bus’s doors closed, just in time to get a look of annoyance through the crack.

They had finally parted ways. It was, all things considered, an okay goodbye. No terrorists attacked, at least.

She would be thinking about Aimi all night long. That is, if she hadn’t been bitten by a vampire apparition, harassed by a military drone, possessed by an esper, had to wrestle with that esper to get her body back, and nearly incinerated several times. Plus, using her esper-altering touch took something out of her, too. So really, once she had gotten home, told her parents she didn’t feel like talking, and crashed upon her bed, she thought about Aimi for ten minutes, then fell into a deep sleep.

It was only when she woke up the next morning that she reflected on the fact that her and Aimi may have killed someone. By then, she had so much to do to get ready for her second day of school, that she didn’t think about it too hard. Besides, it was self-defense.

One worry was putting a knot in her stomach on the train ride to school, though; what if Aimi had had enough of going outside after all this? What if she had gone back to being a shut-in? But as she exited the train, she saw her in the crowd milling out of the station. Her tangle-haired angel.

“Aimi-chan! Over here! Let’s walk to school together!” Riko waved her arms in long, enthusiastic sweeps.

“Call me Aoki-san.” Aimi filed into step beside her, trying to look away.

“No can do, Aimi-chan! That’s too formal for lovers!”

Aimi replied with huff and then silence. It wasn’t an outright repudiation, so it was good enough for Riko. As long as she was at her side, Riko was happy to walk quietly with her. Even with her cold aura, she made the massive city sprawl of Tokyo a bit warmer.

Together, they made their way into school and into the new Parapsychology Club room. There, Nana Ishihara was seated, waiting for them. Of course she was. She was always the first one to school, after all. Kyo and Chiyoko arrived around the same time as them. Eagerly, they all sat down at the cheap little table in the center of the cramped room.

“First point of order,” stated Nana boldly, “I am the undisputed Leader of Parapsychology Club. Any objections?”

“Isn’t Kamei-sense technically the supervisor?” Aimi asked.

“I did not ask who the supervisor was. I asked if anyone challenges my position as Leader.”

There was quiet. Chiyoko and Kyo had already come to think of her like that, and she had earned Riko and Aimi’s respect last night. Even wearing an old pink jacket, with bunnies embroidered on it, as a temporary placeholder for a school uniform jacket, she commanded a degree of awe from the others.

“Secondly, Amano-san. Do you believe you can disassemble a laptop, removing anything out of place like a tracking device, physically disable any wi-fi, and then reassemble it exactly as it was before, minus anything you removed?”

“Of course,” Kyo replied. “I may need a toolkit from the computer club, but I shouldn’t have any problems otherwise.”

“Can you do so inside of a Tokyo Station restroom?”

Kyo grimaced slightly, “Um… maybe if there’s a diaper changing table or other dry surface.”

“I believe there is. I borrowed the toolkit for you already,” Nana said, holding a small plastic case in one hand as she stood up. She placed her other hand on Kyo’s shoulder. ”I’ll be back soon.”

They both disappeared from view.

Riko had gotten halfway through explaining to Chiyoko why Nana would have a laptop hidden in Tokyo Station; that they had pilfered it from some terrorists they needed some leverage over the previous night, when there was a knock at the door. Hopping up from her seat, Riko went over and answered it.

It was Daisuke Kawei, the school counselor parapsychology club’s ostensible supervisor, and apparently an old friend of her father's. She was holding a large box, stuffed full of books. It was a good thing Kyo was busy elsewhere, or else she'd probably push them all out of the way and dig in. There was a load of assorted books on psychology, and a few studies and journals bound up in cheap plastic covers.

“Wow, this is generous of you, Kawei-sensei. Are you sure about this? We’re supposed to get school funding for books,” Riko said, beaming a smile.

“Oh, it’s nothing. All these books were taking up too much room in my tiny apartment. I was holding out hope I would have a study when I found a husband and bought a house, but it’s been long enough that I might as well come to terms with reality.”

“Does it have to be a husband?” Riko grinned, then turned to Aimi and gave her and gave her a lewd little wink, earring her a scornful stare back. Daisuke merely coughed in reply. Riko then remembered a more pressing matter. “Kawei-sensei, what does Latent Potential Rating F mean?”

“Ah, I believe there might be a report on that in here somewhere,” Daisuke replied, and fished around inside the box, pulling out one of the cheapy printed and bound texts. The front page read:

Latent Potential Rating & General Psychoactivity
Professor Edgar J. Brinsfield
Cyrus Payne Bible College, Brickport, Winsconsin

It then went into an abstract, containing a bunch of technical jargon in English. Riko could barely pass English class as it was, so she decided to ask Kyo to read it for her later. “Can you give me the kids version of what this is about?”

“Right, well, it’s sort of like an IQ test, but for psychic potential. ‘Psychoactivity’ is a measure of correlation between a given exam and how well it predicts a psychic awakening. And then a Latent Potential Rating is a quotient of all those exams put together.”

“So… um… what does the F mean? Is that for some English word like ‘fantastic’? Or bad, like a letter grade?”

“Letter grade, I’m afraid. An F means three standard deviations below the psychoactivity exhibited by your typical person, who has about a one in one hundred thousand chance of undergoing a psychic awakening. Conversely, an A is three standard deviations above. 'Prodigies', they're sometimes called, since they tend to manifest in early childhood.”

“Standard… deviation…?” Riko tilted her head to the side.

Daisuke rubbed her forehead. “It means very, very different. You know. like how two people considered ‘normal’ people can be very different from each other, while still being normal compared to the population considered at large? Then you have your people who are very different, like geniuses and musical savants.”

“And three standard deviations below normal is like…?”

“Like being a super-genius of not having a psychic ability.” Daisuke looked at Riko’s face and let out a sigh of satisfaction, seemingly haven gotten the point through. “Got it?”

“But it wouldn’t be impossible for an F-rated person to have an ability, right?” Riko’s excitement when asking the question caught Daisuke by surprise, but she quickly managed to answer.

“No, it would be exceedingly improbable, not impossible. That’s not to say that those rated F aren’t unusual, relative to your average person without psychic abilities. Professor Brinsfield, who has an F-rated potential, has some personal beliefs that he has never formalized into a theory, due to his extreme personal bias and lack of samples.”

“Oh?” Riko was growing extremely interested now. She had some idea where this was going.

“He believed the electromagnetic field surrounding himself, and potentially anyone else with an F rating, could be made to harmonize with that of an esper’s. That he could temporarily enhance or modify their abilities by touching them. And done repeatedly over time, permanently aid their development. ‘Esper Entanglement’, I believe he calls it."

There it was, Riko thought. She thought 'Psychic Transmutation' sounded a lot better though. It had a mystical quality to it.

Daisuke finished, "That’s what I remember from when I met him, anyway. From what I saw, the idea seemed credible.”

Riko grinned. “Is Professor Brinsfield married?”

Daisuke needed to take her eyeglasses off and wince for a moment, before putting them back on. “That’s an odd segue but no, I believe he’s too committed to his work for romance.”

“Does Professor Brinsfield ever come to Japan?” Riko’s grin grew even wider. Aimi, who may have already telepathically figured out what Riko was thinking, stopped staring at the two of them, and occupied herself balancing one of Chikyoko’s pencils on its point. Chiyoko herself busied herself making spirit drawings of everyone in the room.

Just then, Nana opened the door, Kyo following inside behind her. With how cramped the club room was, Riko and Daisuke had to move back a bit from the doorway. “Professor Brinsfield will be in Yokohama in two weeks, actually. We’re going to be taking a club excursion to see it.” Nana must have overheard the tail end of the conversation, but if she had picked up on Riko’s notions to play cupid, didn’t let on.

Daisuke adjusted her glasses. “Well, that sounds like an excellent idea. Nomura-san, I suggest you write about Latent Potential Ratings for this week’s club activity report. If you retained any of that, that is. I’m sure you can get help if not. I’ll take my leave and let you girls finish your morning club session.” She turned around and made her way out, as Riko gave her a friendly little bow.

As soon as she left, Kyo had set the laptop Nana had stolen from Blue’s unconscious body upon what little counter space they had. “This laptop is interesting. There’s no operating system installed. After the BIOS screen, it goes blank. The hard drive is full of encrypted data, with no obvious way to interact with it. Did you say this laptop was owned by an esper who psychically interacted with electronics?”

Nana nodded. “Projector. Could send their consciousness into things. And people, after contact with Control Sample-chan."

I might need a new nickname, Riko thought. I certainly feel a lot less normal after last night. Then again, Nana seems to like it.

“Blue-chan said she stole a bunch of data from the military, and that’s why they were all mad and stuff,” Riko added. “I thought Blue-chan sounded kind of cool, until she turned out to be a body-stealing jerk,” she said with a huff, crossing her arms.

“Military encryption. Won’t be easy. There could be something nasty hidden in the RAM too, a trap laid by the esper to wipe the data if someone tries to decrypt it without knowing what they’re doing.”

Nana shook her head. “They were determined to get that data, willing to risk the hammer of the government being brought down upon them. They wouldn’t destroy it out of paranoia. Whatever is on this laptop is incredibly valuable data on espers to them, and by extension, incredibly valuable data to the parapsychology club. That’s not to say there aren’t traps. Be careful."

Kyo nodded in reply, and began tooling around with the laptop, her fingers clacking away rapidly at the keys. With photographic memory applying to muscle memory, Kyo was a considerably fast typist.

“Next point of business,” Nana announced loudly as Kyo worked. “We need to figure out how to assign club funding, once we get it. We’ll need an electroencephalogram machine, a sensory deprivation chamber, an electroconvulsive therapy chair, a…”

Aimi looked up at her quizzically. “How much funding are you expecting to get?”

Nana shrugged. “However much it takes. If we can’t buy it, Kyo can build it.”

Riko decided to let Ishihara-sama and Kyo worry about all of that fancy gear and where to get it. She had more immediate concerns. She had an amazing power in her right hand. A gift that could guide any esper towards greatness. And there was one esper in particular she was concerted with the development of.

One esper she was determined, no matter how much effort it took, to grant the ability to fall in love.

“Hey Aimi-chan! We’re going to a restaurant for lunch today! No arguments, it’s part of your training!”