Young Writers Society

Hikaru felt good walking the streets of Old Town again with their reddish-brown round paving stones and white spaces between the stones.

The whole neighborhood felt like an entirely different place than the rest of Deckstoru.

Away from the tall, modern and mostly identical buildings lied the two- and three-floor houses, the first floor of which was always thinner than the second and/or the third, painted in different colors, with smaller windows and small- or middle-sized yards. The wide boulevards that were always full of traffic were replaced here with quiet narrow winding streets that had ruins dating back to the Middle Ages and the Antiquity around every corner.

The most prominent of those ruins was the old fortress located almost at the centre of the neighborhood and not far from the Summerbolt residence, left there from the time this city had been the capital of Barilia.

Even when surrounded by the peculiar-looking houses of the rest of Old Town, the home Yuki was going to inhabit for the time being still stood out.

It actually consisted of five smaller one-floor houses brought together into one.

There was the third central floor which was the biggest one, having a rectangular shape when seen from the front, with two smaller square-looking floors above and below it with diagonal positioning. Apart from the five minihouses in the front, which were all painted in light blue, there was a middle-sized house attached to them at the back, which was painted in a silver color. When looking at the house from a distance, it looked like a light blue lightning bolt on a silver background – the summer bolts’ insignia.

(Hikaru) ‘-Welcome home, Yuki! What do you think?’

(Yuki) ‘-It’s … um … well, it definitely stands out.’

(Saya) ‘-Ha-ha! So do we! Rather fitting, wouldn’t you say?’

(Graid) ‘-You done admiring it? She won’t be leaving soon and will have many more chances to look at the house, so let’s get inside to eat and sleep some.’

(Iziya) ‘-That’s all you care about, isn’t it?’

(Graid) ‘-Cuz there’s nothing more important!’

(Rose) ‘-He made a good point, though. It’s Saturday, so all of us should get some rest. Don’t forget that everything will be back to normal for us starting Monday and we have to be ready.’

(Yuki) ‘-Speaking of normal … Mrs. Rose … you still haven’t explained why you look younger than Hikaru although you’re his grandmother.’

Rose chuckled upon hearing that.

(Rose) ‘-You don’t trust me because of my unusual appearance? I can’t say I blame you. To put it simply, Yuki, I’m not from around here.’

(Yuki) ‘-You’re an alien?’

(Rose) ‘-No, no. I just meant I come from a part of Saiten where the conditions are very different from those in Barilia and Deckstoru. Those conditions affect the people living there and so all who hail from that region look a bit younger than their real age and when they do become older in years, they start reverting to their childish form rather than age like normal people. My kids inherited that gene as well, which is why they look a bit younger than they actually are.’

(Yuki) ‘-That makes sense. I was thinking Mrs. Saya looked too young to have a son in his late teens and Iziya and Graid didn’t look that much older than Hikaru …’

(Saya) ‘-As you can see, Yuki, we’re freaks even on a genetic level. And drop the honorifics. There’s no need for such things with the members of our family.’

The six went inside, where the spiky-haired teenager’s mom treated his wounds properly, applying a special ointment to ensure they were going to heal faster than usual, pointing out no such ointment was going to be necessary for the cut on Iceflame’s shoulder as she healed a lot faster than any normal human.

Saya performed a detailed examination on the white-haired beauty, confirming she was a deviant but was something else as well and precisely that was one of the main topics of discussion during dinner in the family kitchen on the third floor that Saturday night.

(Yuki) ‘-What was that?’

(Saya) ‘-The superstrength and superspeed you possess … they’re not deva-based abilities.’

(Yuki) ‘-What are they, then?’

(Graid) ‘-You may not have noticed, Yuki, but my two devas are precisely superstrength and superspeed. In order for anyone in the universe to use either of those abilities, they need to possess a Reloid or Daroid deva.’

(Yuki) ‘-And the Reloid and Daroid are?’

(Hikaru) ‘-Two of the eight energy compounds in our universe, each of which is an energy with a certain color that grants a certain type of ability. Reloid is green and gives its users superstrength while Daroid is red and grants those who have it superspeed.’

(Iziya) ‘-And so far you haven’t used either type of energy while using superstrength or superspeed.’

That reveal came as no small surprise to Yuki, made evident by her expression.

(Saya) ‘-Your body’s been modified with some technology I’ve never seen before to increase your speed, strength, agility, stamina and regenerative abilities.’

(Rose) ‘-Could that be the reason she’s lost her memory? Because of the experiments performed on her to perfect her body?’

(Saya) ‘-Can’t say for sure.’

(Hikaru) ‘-Any chance she’ll get her memories back?’

(Saya) ‘-There is a possibility. The bruises and scratches she had on her, though, weren’t the cause of her memory loss. Something else was done to her brain in particular to erase all memories from it. Or rather not all, but those related with where she comes from and all the things that have happened between ordinari and deviants throughout history. Whoever’s responsible did their job really well and used technology beyond anything we have here so we can’t reverse the process for now.’

Yuki looked down with a very sad expression, Graid not even waiting for her to become fully depressed to pat her on the back hard enough to shake her whole body with a very loud laugh.

(Graid) ‘-It’s okay, Yu! You’ve been a given a chance to start over with the craziest bastards in town and Deckstoru’s not such a bad place to live, so it could be worse! Try focusing on that for the time being and things ought to get better.’

Yuki sighed and looked at Hikaru’s uncle and then at all the other family members, a small smile forming on her face.

(Yuki) ‘-I don’t know how to repay any of you for all of this. I just keep saying ‘thank you’ and keep feeling it’s not enough. I’ll get a job to help with the expenses and will help around the house with whatever I can.’

(Rose) ‘-Hold it, young lady! Saya said that although the police analysis on you didn’t get a match in any database on the planet, it’s been verified that genetically you’re 17 years old! That means you should be going to school! Focus on your education for the time being! Helping around the house is something I welcome, of course.’

(Iziya) ‘-We’ve already set up a place for you in the house as well. The spare room next to the kitchen. I’ve put some of my clothes there for you to wear. Not to worry, though, we’ll buy enough new stuff to fill your wardrobe soon enough. I hope that’s okay.’

At that point the baby doll just started bawling with the full force of her heart and soul, Hikaru working on calming her down as he pat her head.

(Yuki) ‘-You’re just … the best family ever!!!’

Graid crossed his arms with a proud smile.

(Graid) ‘-That’s the damn truth right there!’

Yuki calmed down eventually and looked at the Summerbolts with confusion.

(Yuki) ‘-Wait. You said I’ll be going to school. I’m a deviant, though, so does that mean I’ll be going to the same school as Hikaru?’

(Saya) ‘-Don’t worry about that, kid. If we get everything right, you’ll start going to Sunbird with Hikaru from next week!’

(Yuki) ‘-Where?’

The full answer to the amnesiac’s question was Sunbird High School – the place where Hikaru and all deviants from Deckstoru and the vicinity between the age of 15 and 18 studied.

She found herself in the spiky-haired teenager’s classroom at the beginning of the next week, wearing the school uniform in black and electric yellow and standing in front of the blackboard where she had written her name, holding her skirt while looking at the floor with a very shy expression.

The homeroom teacher, Tenji Line – a tall slim man in his thirties with glasses, freckles, average complexion, pale red well-combed short hair and purplish eyes – stood next to Iceflame with an encouraging smile while she introduced herself. The whole class’ attention was focused on her, including Hikaru’s, who looked rather worried.

(Yuki) ‘-It’s a pleasure to meet you, everyone … I-I’m Yuki Iceflame … and I look forward to working with all of you, so please, take good care of me!’

Many of the young lady’s classmates welcomed her with greeting words and shouts of encouragement as her homeroom teacher showed her where she will be sitting.

Moments after she took her seat the girls from the class, who were an overwhelming majority over the boys, started asking Yuki a number of questions, which flustered Hikaru and Seiren’s friend even further, Line-sensei intervening before the rivals could.

(Tenji) ‘-Can everyone keep calm for at least a second? We need to create a proper atmosphere for Yuki, so she can get used to things around here faster, and so far we’re not doing so well on that front. (he coughed to clear his throat) Now, I don’t deny that she along with Hikaru and Seiren have become something like the local celebrities after recent events. However fame in the outside world doesn’t matter in Sunbird at all. What matters here are a person’s abilities and their commitment.

It’s already clear that Miss Iceflame possesses all the abilities necessary, so the next thing she needs to do is prove she can commit to upholding the rules in this high school – something a number of students, including many from this class – are unable to do. A good start in order to do that would be choosing the right school club to join. I would recommend the ones Hikaru and Exo from this class are a part of. Avoid … the rest of the boys, if possible.’

(Seiren) ‘-Playing favorites all of a sudden, sensei?! Not cool at all! I proved my worth as much as Summerbolt out there, so how is he or Exo better than me or the others?! Don’t think I won’t speak up about this because …’

Before he was able to finish his sentence, Line-sensei’s right arm had extended several times in length, its palm smashing against the pervert’s chest as he was sent to the wall behind him and crushed in a mini-crater there, the homeroom teacher’s dead angry expression being revealed now.

(Tenji) ‘-You may have got ahead of yourself after that stunt at the precinct, boy, but I’m still in charge here, so don’t interrupt me again!!! I’d hate to inflict more injuries on you as the old ones are not fully healed yet!!’

Yuki turned to Hikaru after she saw this scene with a terrified expression to which he only responded with a shrug.

(Yuki) ‘-Your homeroom teacher has anger issues as well?’

(Hikaru) ‘-Just doesn’t like being interrupted. You’re new, so he’ll go easy on you but try not to get on his bad side just in case. His elastic whip deva is faster than even you and he’s not afraid to use it on us.’

Yuki had faced the dangers of the world where ordinari and deviants clash over all kinds of things but she was stepping on another battlefield today – that of the most destructive high school in Barilia. Could Hikaru protect her here as well?