Chapter 5

Karna walked into a hospital room. Lucia was looking outside the window until she saw him. "How've you been." Lucia pointed to her foot, which was wrapped in bandages. "Horrible, as you can see. The nails have been removed, but it'll take a week before I could walk again."

"How about your memory?" Karna asked. "Is it still blurry?" Lucia nodded. "Yeah, I don't really remember anything. I can't even remember the fight with your girlfriend. It's the same with the other students my brother hypnotized. It's the reason none of us are getting punished, right?" Karna nodded. "Only Flux was taken into custody. Anyways, when are you leaving from here?" Lucia shrugged. "I don't know. I think the doctors said somewhere around next month. Why?" Karna told her he'll come to celebrate her discharge. "You don't have to do all that for me, but thank you for caring," Lucia smiled. "I'll see you later then." Karna left the room.

Karna and Arisu were eating their lunch in the student council room, with Nia, Rafe, Alex, and Emily. " Karna, you know what the Victory Festival is, don't you?" Rafe asked. Karna nodded. " It's a competition held in every state. Schools in the same state compete against each other in sport-based events." Nia nodded. "The fifty schools who rank first in each state qualify for the National School Competition, or NSC. Our goal will be to win the NSC like last year." Karna bit on a sandwich. "Have you finished making the teams?" Rafe sighed. "No, we're still short on players." Nia raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say you finished selecting the roster yesterday?" Rafe scratched his head. "Well, you see, there were some issues, and..."

Nia sighed. "You mean you just couldn't be bothered to do it?" Rafe put his head down in shame. "That too," he said. "Who exactly do you need?" Arisu asked. Nia thought about it. " Oh, we just need a few more people. Although we're short on talent this year since all our best espers graduated last year."

"There's a lot of talented freshmen this year," Karna said. "I'm sure you can pick some of them." Nia shook her head. "A freshman has never been on the roster before. The ones on the team probably would complain if it happened, especially if said freshman was more talented than they were."

"That doesn't mean they can't be on the team, right?" Alex nodded. "They certainly can be on the team, and honestly, we should pick them. There aren't any standout espers among the upperclassmen except for a few. However, there's plenty among the freshmen. Lucia, Arisu, Diego, and Yuri have already agreed to join. We just need one more person."

" What's the problem?" Karna asked. "The issue is, we want an exceptional esper, and it seems that we just don't have one right now. Even though our current team is top-notch, it's nowhere as near as good as last year's. The teams that competed in last year's NSC look even tougher now." Nia nodded. "If we're going to have a chance at beating them, we need a very talented esper. The problem is, it doesn't seem that anyone at our school is that talented."

Karna got up from his seat. "Well, I'm done eating, so I'll leave now." He walked towards the door when Emily suddenly blurted out, "Wait, why don't you ask Karna to join the team? Isn't he the reason our school managed to take down Scorpio?" Everyone in the room stared at him, shocked they hadn't considered it before. "She's totally right!" Nia exclaimed. "How did I miss that?" Alex nodded. "It totally slipped my mind." Karna sighed. Damm it, he thought. I was so close to getting out unnoticed. "Can I not be on the team?" Alex cocked his head to the left. "You don't want to be on the team?" Karna nodded. "I don't think I'm a good fit, and besides, most of the players are upperclassmen. They probably won't accept me."

"But Arisu's competing, and she's a freshman. Not everyone on the team is biased, although I do see your point. If we want the players to trust you, we need to prove that your abilities are top-notch." Nia nodded. "You can have a mock battle from someone on the team. It's most likely the best way to gain trust. Meet me in room 400 after school. We'll have the whole team watch." Rafe nodded. "Excellent idea. Just what we'd expect from our amazing secretary." Nia nodded. "Yes, and nothing from you. Our president is still useless." Rafe put his head down again.

"Karna, why'd you decline the offer?" Arisu asked. "I didn't decline it. I'm going to room 400 later." Arisu shook her head. "That's not what I meant. You didn't want to be on the team, and gave a stupid reason why."

"I told you this already, I don't want people to find out that I'm a class S esper. The Victory Festival is a big event, with a lot of famous people that range from politicians to military commanders watching it. It won't be easy to win and hide my abilities. It's going to be even harder to do at the NSC." Arisu sighed. "Karna, the fact that you're in the military is classified information. You don't have to hide from the world, although I suppose this time I won't lecture you for it."

Lucia was waiting for Karna and Arisu at the hospital. "Karna!" "Arisu!" Lucia waved towards them. A man intercepted Karna as he was walking towards Lucia and asked if he could speak with him.

"I'm Lucia's father, Oliver Garcia. I just wanted to say my thanks to you for helping my daughter." Karna shook his head. "I didn't really do anything. All I did was talk to her for a bit."

"Yes, but you talked to her. I wasn't aware of how much Lucia was affected by the discrimination she received as a class B esper." He clenched his fist as anger showed on his face. "I was also unaware of the fact my own son became Flux, hypnotized his own sister for his own gain. I failed as a father."

"Well, you still care about them. Some fathers a lot worse." Lucia's father chuckled. "Perhaps. I have to say, I'm surprised that you're the class S esper Mustang holds in high regard. Karna's eyes widened. "You know Colonel Mustang?" Lucia's father nodded. " We were friends at college and in the military, although I'm retired now. Needless to say, I won't tell anyone about you. I just wanted to say thank you for helping my daughter." He walked out of the hospital.

Karna walked over to Lucia and Arisu. "What were you and my father talking about?" Lucia asked. "A friend of your father's happened to be someone I know. Congrats on getting out of the hospital, by the way." Lucia smiled. "Thanks. I never thought you two would be friendly with me after what I did."

"Well, I didn't really do anything. It was Arisu who spent a lot of time talking to you." Arisu shook her head. "You spent a lot of time with her as well." So much so that I'm jealous, she thought. You haven't spent that much time with me. "Anyways, we'll be going now. We'll see you at the Victory Festival. Take care, Lucia." Arisu waved goodbye to her as she left the hospital with Karna.

A group of five men walked out of a door and into a van. " Did we get it?" one man asked the other. "Yes, the ability stones are in the trunk, as well as the booster crystals. Whyos's power will increase significantly with this. Our boss will be very pleased."

The men were shocked to see a tan, brown-haired boy sitting on the hood of the van. "Oh, and who's your boss?" The men tried to shake him off, but the van was no longer moving. The men got out of the car. Two tried to hit the boy but were electrocuted by the boy instead. One of them took out a gun and pointed it at the boy, but was electrocuted before he could shoot. A tall, dark-haired woman appeared and electrocuted the two men left standing. "Thank you for your help, Karna," the woman said to the boy. Karna walked over to her. "Yeah, well, I don't see why you needed me for this, Mrs. Kobayashi." The woman shrugged. "It was an order from the colonel. How's my daughter doing?"

"Yuri's fine. She and Arisu are still best friends and love to make fun of me." Mrs. Kobayashi smiled. "That's good to hear. Would you like a ride home?" Karna nodded and followed Mrs. Kobayashi to her car.

Karna turned on his TV. A man showed up on the screen in a live chat, and the two began to talk. "Good work out there, Corporal." Karna saluted the man. "Thank you, Colonel. But it wasn't really that big of a deal." The man chuckled. " Yes, well, considering what the men you stopped had, it was wise to send you with lieutenant Kobayashi. Anyways, I'll let you know more once the investigation is done. Again, good work." Karna turned off the TV and sat on a sofa.

Arisu sat next to him. "It looks like you had a busy day." Karna nodded. "Yeah, it took more time to get home than it did taking down those Whyos members. Then there was the mock battle I had. My opponent was pretty good, and it took a while before I managed to win." Arisu smiled. She rested her head on Karna's shoulder. "Yeah, that sounds like another day in your life." She sat on his lap and frowned. "You know, you haven't spent much time with me at all. I was so lonely as you happily spent time with Lucia." Karna blushed. "That wasn't what I was trying to do." Arisu crossed her arms. "Hmph. I don't believe you." Karna avoided her eyes, and his hands fidgeted as he tried to explain. "I just felt bad for her, I mean she was hypnotized by her brother, and..."Karna saw Arisu stifling her laughter as he realized she was teasing him. "I would appreciate it if you didn't make fun of me." Arisu laughed. "Sorry. Your face was just so red, and it was funny watching you apologizing like that. I do accept it, though. She cupped his face in her hands. "Here's my apology." She kissed him. Karna felt her soft and wet lips brush against his. He curled his arms around her as their tounges touched.

Six men sat around a table. "Vex, it looks like Whyos failed to obtain the ability stones," said the overweight man on the left. Vex nodded. "I am aware of that. But I sent another group to get another ability stone. Was it successful?" The bald man on the right nodded. "Yes, we've just received word from them. They've already returned to base." Vex nodded. "How about that investigation?"

"We're still looking into it, but we have found some information," said the man decked in jewels who sat across from Vex. "Whyos has informed us that the military does indeed have an unregistered class S esper. Although we don't know his name or his appearance, we do have enough evidence to say that he was involved in that experiment you mentioned." Vex nodded. "That's all I need. You can call off the investigation. That concludes today's meeting." Vex remained at the table as the other five left the room. Wait for me, Karna. We'll be reunited soon, he thought.