…What?

Kuuya stared blankly at the screens, before a familiar voice beckons him out of his shock.

“Kuuya, you ready up there?”

“Ah, sh- yeah sis’ I’ll be down there in a moment!”

“As long as you get it, we don’t want to be late for this yeah?”

“I’m coming, jeez!”

The boy thought for a brief moment, before deciding to leave the phone under his pillow.

A relic of the past was dangerous.

As hectic as his morning thoughts were, Kuuya decided against bringing it to his first day of high school. The door closed, as the phone continued to chime softly.

The Fukusei household consists of the mother, a little brother and his older sister.

Of course, there was a time when there was another member. However, that was a long time ago. Kuuya and Mei had never seen their father’s face before, and so to them, it had always been a family of three.

The Fukusei’s were black-haired like any ordinary oriental person. If anything set them apart from others, it was that they had objectively above average appearances. About the level where a passer-by would take a second glance at them. A small detail in their otherwise ordinary lifestyles.

“Are you kids ready? You’re not missing anything, right?” A warm voice asked.

Kuuya smiles.

“Naturally. I’ve packed and unpacked hundreds of times just in anticipation of this day!”

“Oi. Less talking, more breakfast.” Someone poked him on his cheek.

Kuuya and Mei could be said to be the typical siblings, just a year apart from each other. They were never too distant, never too close to each other. They bickered over little things, but they sought company whenever one was down. Ever since the world-turning incident, the Impalement a year ago, perhaps they’ve gotten a little more close to each other over one or two happenings. After all, Kuuya was the only man in the house. Had he appeared more dependent ever since then?

Finishing his breakfast quickly, the two left the house. They boarded the nearby bus which went straight to their high school. As it approached Yuujin High, more students wearing the same attire began to board. It became livelier with each stop.

“It’s really been a long time huh.”

“Yeah… I thought we’d never go to school again.” Mei spoke frankly.

There seemed to be a lot of freshmen aboard. Which made sense. Take Mei, who also had the freshman-colored tie. Mei being a year older than her brother would normally mean that she was a second-year. But as school and many public facilities were halted until only recently, would-be sophomores had to repeat a grade. It did seem like not all schools did it this way much to the chagrin of some, but for lesser known institutes like Yuujin, they had likely adopted this in order to reinvigorate the numbers for the new school year. After all, there were studies showing an expected increase of shut-ins due to the trauma caused by the Impalement, physically or mentally. 

“Kuuya, we’re here. Let’s go.”

“Ou.”

The two alighted with the crowd, and stared into the distance. The towering building before them, with a large banner welcoming the students.

“...A year...”

<Welcome back to school!>

Suddenly, Kuuya’s footsteps stopped. Mei who was walking side-by-side, called out.

“Ei, why did you stop so suddenly?”

Kuuya, having regained a bit of his senses, laughed awkwardly and continued walking with her.

As they passed the gates being greeted by the school faculty and some older students, a pair of men wearing black suits were also inconspicuously positioned by the entrance. In their hands were a strange device that Kuuya recognized.

It was something the government had distributed to officials to detect the unique frequencies of superpowered devices; one of the earlier methods to control the masses who had their hands on strange abilities.

One of the officials noticed the boy’s stare, to which Kuuya looked away as naturally as possible. In his head was the thought of the old phone he had left behind.