Aimi awoke to the same sensation she always woke up to. It wasn’t a sight, sound, smell, or tactile stimulus, but a din of thoughts that echoed through her apartment building. People waking up, the dread of having to go to work at their soul-crushing jobs, the soothing feeling of warm water hitting their body during a morning shower, and the dopamine rush of their first sip of tea or coffee. When the chorus reached a crescendo, it became impossible to sleep. Luckily this pattern left her awake in time with about as much time to get ready for school as she needed.

Aimi’s room was spartan, with a plain futon draped in enough sheets to stay warm, a dresser to keep her clean clothes in, a hamper for the dirty, and an aging PC with CRT monitor sitting in the corner, its case almost as old as Aimi was. Some accoutrements of her shut-in life were still distributed around the place, like a supply of instant noodle cups with electric water boiler for eating without going to the kitchen, and a box of plastic trash bags. Aimi kept them around for the look of things, even though she was no longer a NEET.

Her body floated gently out of bed, dangling over the floor, limbs dangling and her head slumped forward as she let the psychokinesis do the work of moving around in the morning, while she waited for her conscious mind to become more active. Thankfully, she was in command of her psychic abilities to some degree even in this state, and so her futon began to make itself as she bobbed away from it.

Aimi’s underwear slid itself off of her body, and deposited itself in her hamper. A bathrobe flew up quickly in defense of Aimi’s modesty, cloaking her intimate areas as she drifted out of her bedroom and towards the bathing area. She didn’t spend long in there, allowing the handheld showerhead and bar of soap to work over her grimiest areas as best they could without being directly controlled by her hands. With her limbs unoccupied, she took in some of the random thoughts that came her way.

“Ugh, I better hurry up, I don’t want to arrive at work after the boss again.”

“Today is going to be the day I confess my feelings to Naoko. Wait, no, better do it tomorrow. I feel like crap today.”

“Aimi’s been going to school for over a week now. Maybe I should make her something special.”

The last one was close. Her grandmother must be busy in the kitchen. Aimi wasn’t much of a breakfast person, if she was honest. She liked the slice of toast hanging from the teeth, especially since she didn’t need hands to get it the rest of the way into her mouth. She could eat it while walking to the train station. Still, probably best to humor her and at least try what she made.

Floating out of the shower, a towel flapped its way over and dried her body, while a toothbrush and comb busied themselves with her mouth and hair. Despite the comb’s best efforts, Aimi’s hair tended to end up messy once dry. Maybe it was her abilities twisting it up, or generating an electric field, or maybe it was just because she just lacked the patience for hot air dryers and barbers. Her body, once again covered in her bathrobe, drifted back into her room, where her school uniform attached itself to her piece by piece.

This was possibly Aimi’s favorite part of the school day. Being able to make showy use of her abilities, before she went outside and made an effort to be discreet.

Wandering out into the combined kitchen and dining area, Aimi began to make herself a cup of coffee, whereupon she saw the book Riko had bought her to give to Kyo as a gift. It had been wrapped, in festive red paper intended for Christmas, with cutesy Santa faces all over it. It was currently April. She looked over towards her grandmother, who was finishing breakfast; it looked to be eggs, miso soup, and plum rice balls. “You wrapped the book, grandma?”

“Yes, you did mention it was a gift for a friend? I bought some wrapping paper during the holiday season when you moved in three years ago, but you insist I never get you anything for Christmas or your birthday, so I never got around to using it.”

The tag even said ‘To: Kyo, From: Aimi’. Grandma remembered the names. “She won’t believe I did this, you know,” Aimi replied. She released the book into the air, and it rotated gently around by itself, allowing her to examine how it was wrapped and taped up. Grandma must have put some effort into this. Was this how she wrapped presents for dad back in the day? A cursory search of her memory told Aimi, yes, it hit upon a nostalgic beat for her.

“It’s okay to tell her I helped. Send your friend my regards as well.” Grandma turned off the stove, and brought out two plates containing meals for the both of them. “I was a bit worried when you came home late the first day, but now you’ve been going to school for over a week, and things are going smoothly, and you’re even getting gifts for your friends. I’m really proud of you, Aimi-chan.”

At least there was only one person calling her that now.

Aimi gave her grandma an affable smile, and sat down to eat. She had no complaints about her grandmother’s cooking, although she wasn’t quite used to having this much food in her stomach in the morning. Aimi liked to travel light.

Thanking her grandmother for the meal, it was time for Aimi to make her way to the train station, the lovingly wrapped gift deposited inside of her backpack.

The stroll through Ogikubo tended to be a pleasant one, the old buildings creating a familiar series of sights. But then came the train ride, which Aimi didn’t really enjoy. Crowded together like sardines in a car meant Aimi’s head was full of noisy thoughts, everyone contemplating different things as they all mentally prepared for their work or school day, or thought about whatever they were doing on their phones, reading pads, or gaming devices.

To occupy her own mind, Aimi reflected on what had, whether she wanted it or not, became a pillar of her daily life. Riko Nomura, the girl with a dogged determination to win her heart, whose refusal to be ignored was backed with a strange gift for twisting the abilities of the psychically awakened. Aimi’s feelings towards Riko were… confused, to put it simply.

Aimi couldn’t say she had never had anyone interested in her before. Before her telepathic abilities started to manifest, she assumed she was just the ‘weird girl’ that no one wanted to talk to. But once she could hear the thoughts of the boys surrounding her at her co-ed school, she got the truth: while they didn’t think she was attractive, they certainly were weighing her as a potential way to lose their virginities, or otherwise use her as an outlet for their raging teenage hormones. An utterly unpleasant discovery for someone whose self-worth was already fragile. To top it off, the shy guys were even worse in their thoughts about her, putting her in all sorts of deranged fantasies.

Aimi feared what she might do if one of them did work up the gall to talk to her. Her telekinetic abilities were even even harder to control back then.

Riko was… different, and yet comparable. As a girl, she certainly wasn’t at the behest of her reproductive instincts when taking an interest in Aimi. More unusually, she considered her attractive, ranking her alongside the cool and athletic Nana, the stylishly spectacled, strangely ladylike genius Kyo, and the adorable Chiyoko. She wasn’t just settling for, but pursuing Aimi. Yet, the fantasies Riko could conjure up about her in her head when she thought Aimi was looking in her head were as lewd as what any guy could conjure up.

One time, she had Aimi looking all sweaty, wearing a tight little sports bra that showed off what was otherwise a very modest chest, and a pair of gym shorts that were way too small. How would Riko even ever see her in such a ridiculous scenario? Well, there was one difference there between Riko and the guys. The guys would inflate her chest, or her hips, or give her a down payment on a house’s worth of plastic surgery.

Riko was weird, but there was a certain wholesomeness in her approach. Was she what Aimi wanted, though? Did she want anyone?

Aimi stopped thinking about it for a moment, only to be hit by the sensation of someone playing an incredibly monotonous phone game. They were doing the same battle, over and over again, hoping that this time, some rare item would drop. There was no logical reason why the item rarely dropped, except to stretch out a small amount of actual content with repetition. Thinking about Riko was worlds better than this.

She was pretty, courageous, and seemed to care about everyone. Even terrorists; Aimi could sense no bloodlust towards the ones they encountered that fateful night. As a suitor, you could certainly do worse.

Aimi, on the other hand, wanted to hurt them, and enjoyed every opportunity to do so. For no real reason other than that they delayed her getting home. She had way more fun inflicting pain than she should have.

Aimi wondered what would happen if Riko convinced her to lower her inhibitions. Would she relish in hurting Riko too? Riko would probably say she liked a little pain if Aimi asked, but probably not like what Aimi sometimes had nightmares about. Aimi wasn’t sure anyone should trust her, much less want to share a bed with her.

Speaking of Riko, Aimi’s idle thoughts of her seemed to have killed enough time that the train had pulled into Roppongi station, where Aimi could already feel Riko’s optimistic mind buzzing about. Her thoughts were easy to filter out of the mental noise of a crowd. First of all, they were often about Aimi, and thoughts about a telepath stuck out to the telepath in question. Secondly, her personality was rare, and were visible in a crowd like stains on white clothing.

Well, no point in delaying it. Riko would probably stake her out at the entrance anyway. Might as well just go towards her, since she shines like a fog lamp anyway. 

Besides, they were friends after all. Aimi would give her that, and nothing more. Anything else would be dangerous, for Riko.

“Nomura-san,” Aimi said, loudly and clearly, as she exited the crowd to approach her.

“Aoki-san! You called out to me! You do love me after all! I’m so happy!” Oh no, it’s happening again, Aimi thought. Maybe if I flipped her upside down for a few seconds she’ll cool off…

“You brought the book, right?” Riko said, adopting a down-to-earth tone that stopped Aimi before she sent her flying. Aimi opened up her bookbag, showing the festively-wrapped book to Riko, parked snugly between her other things.

“Wow, Christmas paper! So cute~! How-”

“My grandmother helped. Wasn’t my idea,” Aimi said as Riko peered in for a closer look.

“She sounds so great. Please let me meet her some time. We could study together, and I could bring something to help her cook for dinner.” Aimi peered deeper into her mind. Yes, Riko was imagining them being given a lot of privacy to study, and not being particularly focused on their books… but she also had an honest, heartfelt interest in meeting Aimi’s grandmother.

Well, all she had to do was leave her bedroom door open. “I’ll consider it.”

Riko squealed, “Yay! I can’t wait!” And before Aimi could stop her, Riko grabbed her hand, the skins of their warm palms pressing together. Time slowed down—and not metaphorically. People around the two of them were moving very slowly, and Aimi could feel the tingle of psychokinetic energy running through her amygdala. Her reaction speed was, for a brief moment, pumped up to superhuman levels.

Then Riko let go, and the flow of time reverted to normal.

“Um… did you do that, Nomura?” Aimi asked. She was too taken aback to be confrontational. The two of them continued walking their way to school.

“I think so? I knew you’d flip me upside down if I held on any longer, but I wanted to enjoy the moment for as long as possible, and then that happened.”

‘How much of my mind did she read?’ thought Aimi, a blush spreading across her face when she realized she didn’t hate holding hands, and Riko might have learned that from her mind too. Best to change the subject before either of them dwell on things any longer, Aimi decided.

“You talked to your father, yes? How did it go?” Aimi could see she didn’t have much. The name and location of a scientist he worked with, and a whole lot of skillful maneuvering around any other sensitive subject. But, to her own surprise, Aimi found herself curious to hear how Riko felt about the exchange, in Riko’s own words.

“I got what I could out of him without revealing the laptop, or you telepathically reading him. I… I don’t think he’s bad, he was happy to talk to me and all, but… maybe he worked with some bad people in the past. He’s paranoid about his political enemy digging up dirt on him right now too. I think the timing is bad for discussing questionable stuff he may have been involved with.”

Aimi could see two halves of Riko colliding, one containing her admiration and affection for her father, and the other, her natural teenage instinct to rebel against authority, whether it be her parents, or various facets of the state power apparatus such as the military. People like Riko loved unconditionally, and her bond to her father was an nigh-unassailable chain.

“What next, then?” asked Aimi.

“Now, I focus on school! I don’t have all day to go around playing detective, you know. I was thinking maybe you could find out something when we visit Yokohama National University. That’s where the scientist dad knew works. Or maybe you could come over to dinner sometime and talk to dad…”

Aimi declined to comment, considering her options. Technically speaking, there was no upper limit to her range, and if she didn’t consciously filter out the distant ones, she could hear thoughts from anywhere on the planet. Practically speaking, however, it was exceedingly difficult to pick out a desired mind out of the noise any further than a city block or two apart from herself. Some day, perhaps, she could get at someone like Dr. Nomura from twenty kilometers away. Biding her time, and learning to control her abilities better, was certainly an option.

Though, if she wasn’t careful, AImi knew she might well end up persuaded into having dinner with Riko’s parents long before then.

Arriving at the club room, they found Kyo, Chiyoko, and Nana there busying themselves with their individual projects, as well as a girl neither Riko or Aimi initially recognized. A brief analysis of her psyche told Aimi she was Toshiko Takano, a computer science club member there to furnish Kyo with a loaner laptop for the purpose of digital publishing. She also seemed to have a little crush on the parapsychology club’s walking library, a fact which Chiyoko seemed blissfully unaware of.

“Hiya Toshi,” said Riko with a smile. Sometimes you didn’t need telepathy if you made a habit of getting to know people, it seemed.

Aimi interrupted Toshiko’s brief demonstration of the nDesign software suite as she approached Kyo and the two looked up towards her. “Amano-san?”

“Yes, Aoki-san?”

Aimi wasn’t sure what to say, but luckily, Riko was watching, so she could just fall back on picking the words out of her head, as long as Aimi didn’t mind the images of herself in a school swimsuit, with dripping wet hair plastered to her shoulders, that accompanied them.

“I wish to apologize for my behavior yesterday, it was the wrong way to treat a friend. I brought you a present as a token of my remorse.”

“That’s not necessary, I was…” Kyo started, but trailed off as she saw the bright red wrapping covering the large book. It was hard not to have your heart warmed by the sight, or refuse such an offering, even if it was clear it wasn’t Aimi’s idea. Kyo gently took the book from Aimi’s grasp. She was reluctant to destroy the work that someone had put into wrapping it, but as curiosity overtook her, she gently began to peel off the tape so she could unfold the festive covering.

“Nomura-san helped pick it out, and my grandmother helped with the presentation,” Aimi offered as an explanation. That seemed to clear up the big mystery surrounding the gift, and with a nod, Kyo turned to examining the book itself: Genetics & Cloning—An Untold History.

Riko jumped forward, relieving Aimi from having to discuss it further. “If there’s any truth to this cloning business, we probably have to look somewhere other than our school books or mainstream websites, right? And the conspiracy boards are full of nonsense and spam, so you could spend all day on them and not learn anything! This is much better, right?”

Toshiko looked over to the book. “You guys get each other presents? Should I bring something next time?” She was looking at Kyo with a slight blush to her face, which made Chiyoko glance dubiously at her.

“Ah, no, the laptop is more than generous enough. Please pass my thanks on to the computer science club for the loaner,” Kyo said, caught between the enamoured gaze of the two shorter girls sitting at either side of her. Aimi wasn’t sure if her situation was better or worse than her own. Riko was only one person, but thrice as determined.

“See if there’s something in there about a Dr. Kohaku Sawa, Kyo,” Riko asked. “She worked with my father around the time my blood was drawn by the military researchers.”

Kyo nodded, and began to flip through the book.