Chapter 1 – A Marbled World and a Candied Resistance

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“Close your eyes. Now, imagine something perfectly lovely,” the teacher instructed.

The young girl had great respect and affection for her teacher, so she obediently closed her eyes and tried imagining something lovely. What came to mind was a small, colorful sphere that fit in her palm and sparkled in the light.

Her teacher continued, “What you imagined is what makes you lovely. Deep inside of you, there is something incredibly lovely and pure.”

The girl believed her. She could see it there.

“When you open your eyes, you won’t see it anymore.”

That made sense. Her eyes still closed, the girl nodded, her little chin bobbing up and down.

“But the world is full of lovely things, just like what’s inside of you.”

It was? Really? If her teacher said so, it must have been true.

“Where are they?” the girl asked. But just afterwards, her head was swayed and pulled by some mysterious force.

Her eyes opened in shock. She had expected to see her smiling teacher standing before her with candy held out in her hands. But instead, all that filled her vision was filthy asphalt.

That girl, now several years older, rubbed her eyes. She wasn’t certain if she had been asleep, or simply reminiscing an old memory. With how sleepy she was, either seemed equally possible. She very well could have fallen asleep at a bus stop bench, or simply caught herself up in a vivid daydream.

She hadn’t slept much the previous night, but that kind of behavior was typical for her on the day before important events. She felt a yawn coming on and pushed it back by glancing up at the sky. A bright, clear blue filled her still-blurry vision.

The rain that had fallen for two days straight had finally calmed down, but left the unfortunate aftereffect of stripping the sakura blossoms from their trees. As she glanced down at her feet, she saw the many sakura petals sticking to the asphalt, their edges browning. The melancholy filling her chest in response served to fuel her persecution complex as she convinced herself that she, too, had nobody looking out for her.

Guess I’m a high schooler now, she mumbled in her head.

The transition was supposed to be normal, and happened to everyone, but she still couldn’t quite believe it. It had been a month since her graduation from junior high, and even then, she still hadn’t felt like a graduate. But she knew that the same thing happened when she graduated elementary school. Eventually, she just got used to being in junior high, whether she felt like a graduate or not.

The girl waited patiently for the bus, clutching her new commuter pass as she carefully kept her new school uniform clean. She had always walked to elementary and middle school, so it was the first time she needed to commute in a vehicle. A part of her couldn’t help but be excited about her new commuter pass.

Of course, in a month or so, it’s just gonna be normal, she mumbled in her mind.

A new uniform, a new pass, a new high schooler. She’d just get used to it all eventually. She’d be the same person that she was in middle school, but now she’d be taking the bus. She’d be called the same nickname, and live the same life.

But not if I can help it.

The girl reached into her pocket, her fingertips tapping onto something hard. The strawberry-flavored treat she had placed in there earlier.

It was a simple sweet made by mixing sugar, starch syrup, and flavoring, but it carried a new and unknown power. That one piece of candy was capable of destroying her entire world.

She was no longer the elementary schooler who believed whatever her teacher told her. She would make herself like everyone else, clever and more rational.

Her thoughts went back to that memory.

Something perfectly lovely. That sparkling sphere. It was like candy, yet even more lovely. But it was only inside of her, and when she opened her eyes, it would be gone.

But the world is full of lovely things, just like what’s inside of you, her teacher had said.

In reality, they weren’t anywhere. Or if they were, they were nowhere near her.

Hearing the sound of an engine, the girl turned her head. She was expecting to see the bus, but it was just a shipping company’s truck. She lowered her head, looking back towards the petals on the asphalt. That was when she saw it. Across the street, under a concrete railway, something glittered in the light. It was like a shard of light, or a sparkling sphere.

She stood up from the bench and walked over to it. She quickly discovered what it was. A small, bluish marble was stuck on the sidewalk. A kid from the neighborhood must have dropped it.

It certainly wasn’t the loveliest thing in the world. But it filled her with nostalgia, and she smiled.

She bent down and picked up the marble. She saw the surrounding scenery, reflected upside-down on the marble’s surface. An opposite world, slightly blurred and distorted. It relieved her. She looked across the sky, the street, and the bus stop within the marble.

A bus passed through the upside down world.

The girl let out a slight, “Ah.”

1

Ashiharabashi Senior High held its opening ceremony on Wednesday, April 10th. On that day, Asai Kei, now a high schooler, sat in a school room on a sofa. The room was roughly half the size of a classroom, and Kei was alone in it. He had been instructed to head to the room after homeroom by his homeroom teacher, yet he found himself all alone.

Kei stared at the clock on the wall and daydreamed about eating pancakes for lunch. He couldn’t help being hungry. It was already past 1 PM, and he had been so sleepy in the morning that he didn’t eat a proper breakfast. Just as he was imagining pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and topped with whipped cream, a knock came from the door. Two short, expressionless knocks later, the door opened, and a girl stepped in.

She carried an impassive face that lent a sense of maturity, but her restless shuffling made her appear quite childish. Her name was Haruki Misora. Kei hadn’t been waiting in the room specifically for Haruki, but he had expected her arrival. They were both told to come to the room, after all. However, as Kei was stepping out of his classroom, he noticed Haruki was talking with her parents, who had attended the opening ceremony. Kei had decided to go to the room ahead of her.

Haruki walked straight towards Kei, holding a printed sheet of paper. “I finished my application for the club.”

“Oh, good. Thanks.” Kei was pretty sure the form was supposed to go to the school guidance counselor or the club’s advisor, but now he had it. He didn’t want to shove it back at her, so he took out his own application from his bag and placed both forms on the table.

Haruki looked at the two completed applications, nodded in satisfaction, then sat down beside Kei.

Both forms were applying for the same club.

Ashiharabashi High Service Club.

The room they currently sat in was its club room.

Kei pulled his legs up, resting his chin on his knees. “Heck of a rush job for this one, wanting applications directly after the opening ceremony.” He figured there had to be a reason, but he didn’t know what.

Haruki looked at him. “Why did you join the Service Club, Kei?”

“Several reasons. Primarily because not joining would cause even more problems.”

“But were it not for my ability, the Service Club would have no need for you.” Her voice was flat, just as usual, yet Kei detected her emotional undertones. If he had to put it into words, it sounded like guilt.

He shook his head. “That’s true the other way around, too.”

In their town, Sakurada, roughly half of the population carried some sort of special ability. The types of abilities were vast and varied, and most of them broke the established laws of observable sciences.

Abilities were managed by a public organization called the Administration Bureau. One of the Bureau’s standards was to place any students with abilities deemed to be dangerous under a somewhat compulsory membership to their school’s Service Club. Students in the Service Club would perform various tasks suited to their particular abilities.

Kei’s ability was fairly modest in nature. At least, it was nothing that would normally require Service Club membership. Haruki’s ability was quite powerful, but she couldn’t use it herself to any great effect when the drawbacks were considered. However, when their abilities were combined together, Kei’s ability worked in tandem with Haruki’s to become exceedingly powerful. As a result, they were both instructed to join the Service Club together.

Kei continued, “At the end of the day, I wanted to join the Service Club anyway.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“The Service Club gives me lots of opportunities to gain information on abilities. I want to learn more about abilities in general.” Each ability could accomplish specific tasks, but learning about a variety of abilities could help him break out of the mold. The more skills he had at his disposal, the more problems he could face without giving up.

Haruki nodded efficiently. Kei had a hard time telling what was running through her head. The idea that she was thinking of the girl that died two years ago flashed in his mind, so he changed the topic. “That aside, I really want to get closer with our club advisor.”

“Our… advisor?”

“Mhm. As soon as I found out who it was, I knew I had to join.”

Every teacher who served as the Service Club advisor was also the Administration Bureau’s representative among the faculty. Each school was given one Bureau employee with a teaching license, and their club’s current advisor had taken on the post last spring, having previously worked at the city hall as a general administrative officer.

Haruki tilted her head. “Have you met them before?” Her expressionless face read, I don’t really care, but thought it was worth asking just in case.

“Yeah, and you have, too.” They first met two years prior. It was during a particular incident, and Haruki had actually met them before Kei. Kei almost went to explain it all in depth, but decided not to. The teacher would show up soon enough, and Haruki would definitely remember them at a glance.

Instead, he lightly smiled, asking, “Would you rather not be in the club?”

Haruki shook her head. “If it is where you will be, then I will join the Service Club.”

It was her typical, unchanging response, and though Kei was still smiling on the outside, he sighed internally.

The club room door didn’t open again until about 1:30 PM. The man who entered it had rebelliously curly hair and a slight shade of stubble on his face. His name was Tsushima Shintarou, and he had evidently been put in charge of a mathematics class.

Tsushima entered the room and closed the door behind him, glancing over at Kei and Haruki. “My bad. Sorry for the wait.”

“It’s okay.” They really had been waiting, but there wasn’t any other suitable answer.

Looking entirely annoyed by the situation he was in, Tsushima sat down on the sofa across from Kei, pushing his weight into the backrest. “‘Grats on making it in.” His voice was tinged with a sleepiness that made his praise sound entirely not congratulatory.

With a smile, Kei responded, “Thank you very much. I’m very glad for the opportunity to meet you again.”

Tsushima dug his nails into his hair, scratching fiercely. “Everything you say sounds so sarcastic.”

“That’s very unfortunate to hear. I am entirely genuine.”

Tsushima picked up the two admission forms on the table, scanning through them. “Your name is written in katakana characters. Is it your real name?”

“Yes. That’s how I’ve taken to writing it.”

“Taken to?”

“Technically speaking, it does have a kanji notation.” Whenever Kei wrote his name in the more complex kanji characters, it constantly got misread, even to the point of some people confusing his gender. It was annoying to keep correcting people, so he had taken to writing it out in the phonetic katakana in the last four years or so.¹

“Eh, whatever. These’ll do.” Tsushima put the two forms back on the table before lifting his mouth up in a smile. “Kei, Haruki, welcome to the Ashiharabashi High Service Club.”

“It is our honor to receive your welcome.”

“Well, yeah. With your abilities, it seems you could get away with anything you wanted.”

“Perhaps you think we’re some sort of troublemakers?”

“Ah, it’ll be fine. Trouble is only caused by people who want to start it.”

It had been quite some time since Kei last saw Tsushima, but the man seemed quite a bit happier than he had been prior to his teaching role. Perhaps being a teacher was just the right place for him. Then again, perhaps it was just circumstance. They hadn’t exactly been meeting under friendly pretenses last time.

“So, Tsushima-sensei, why did you have us submit our applications right after the entrance ceremony?”

Tsushima shrugged, responding, “Obviously so you could become members as fast as possible.”

“Do you already have Service Club work for us?”

“Yep.” Tsushima pulled out what seemed to be a small, bluish marble from his pocket. “This should be just perfect for you two.” He closed one eye, peering into the marble. “Just about two hours ago, right around 11:30, a female student collapsed in front of the school gates.”

“So, near the end of the entrance ceremony.”

“One of the parents attending the ceremony found her and rushed her to the nurse’s office. She was lined up to start her freshman year here, just like you two, but she hadn’t attended the entrance ceremony.” He held out the marble. “This was found lying next to her. Have a look.”

Kei took the marble and peered into it. Tsushima was still in front of him, but all the scenery was mirrored. In the marble’s world, up was down and left was right, everything opposite of what it should have been.

Tucked away in that strange scenery, a lone girl stood next to Tsushima. She appeared around the same age as Kei, with long hair flowing behind her Ashiharabashi High school uniform.

“She’s the one who collapsed at the school gates.”

As Tsushima finished his introduction, the girl in the marble bowed her head. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”

The girl’s strange, slightly lisped voice echoed from some unknown location.

1. Up to this point, Kei’s name has always been written phonetically in katakana, so even we as the readers do not know its kanji notation yet. ↩︎