The construction is almost completed, all they have is finishing touches over the next few days and then we have the HQ all to ourselves. At the moment we're all in the training room, working out and chatting. If you're distracted while working out then you aren't focused on the strain of your muscles and you can push yourself farther, which also means putting up with meaningless conversations but what can you do.
"So I'm thinking...The Jet Black Wings!" Kaidou said with sparkle eyes. We were talking about code names since we all agreed that we should keep our identities a secret from the public.
"That's a little long, Kaidou. How about just 'Jet Black' or 'Jet'." Miko grunted, she was really excited about the code names, she was just having a little trouble with the weights. Kaidou stopped sparkling but muttered an 'okay'.
I decided to change the subject, "Okay, well for your name," I gestured to Miko, "It should have something to do with your powers. Normally I wouldn't want to reveal your powers in your name since that would give your opponents an idea of what to expect but in your case, once the public suspects we have powers, it'll only cause confusion since most of them are likely to deny any abilities of foresight. And even if they do believe in your powers, they won't really know what to do about them since they don't know the extent of your abilities."
"Wow! You really thought this through, Kurik- I mean CJ" Miko stuttered. I shrugged and continued lifting my comically sized weights, "Actually, your explanation gave me a great idea for a name!" She smiled, "Mikoto! Code name: Foresight!" She announced.
I was genuinely impressed, it's actually a great name. I gave her a thumbs up to express my arousing excitement.
"So what is your name gonna be?" She asked.
"CJ," I replied simply.
"But I thought we weren't gonna reveal our identities." Kaidou wondered.
"CJ's not my real name." I notified.
"It's not?" He paused for a moment.
"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'. Since he hadn't resumed his workout and his thoughts betrayed that he felt a little hurt that I hadn't entrusted my identity to him. It's not that I didn't trust him, in fact, no one knew my true identity but my parents, not even my sister.
"So, have you guys heard of that overly violent vigilante around town?" I changed the subject again.
"Oh yeah! Do you think we should go after him?" Kaidou asked excitedly.
"Actually," I was a little nervous about how he would react, "I -um- already did." They stared at me for a moment before I cleared my throat, "Toritsuka gave me a tip and I had to check it out. I found him and stopped him from causing permanent damage to the criminals he was after."
'Cool! ✨' Kaidou thought.
"Well," I grunted, yes grunted, it wasn't cheap but Saiko was able to get comically sized workout equipment with weights made of Osmium, the densest chemical element (which is a metal that is). Osmium has a density of around 22 grams per cubic centimeter, about twice the density of lead. Anyway, "I was wondering if you guys were cool with him joining our crew." Silence followed my proposition.
"Well.." Miko said slowly, "As you said, he's overly violent. How can you be sure he won't kill someone?" She asked carefully. I had to admit, the thought had crossed my mind a few times, but that was why he needed to join.
"I will take full responsibility for him." I promised with newfound determination, "The reason he should join is so we can help him learn to control himself and still help people without harming himself or others. (permanently)"
Mikoto was the first to get over her shock, she smiled, I could tell she was still reluctant but she trusted me, which I very much appreciated. "So what should we call him?" She asked, eyes twinkling.
"Well his catchphrase is 'Act like trash in front of me, you get treated like trash' if that helps," I recalled as I took a water break.
"He has a catchphrase?" Miko chuckled. I smirked, it was a little ridiculous.
Kaidou, however, had his thinking face on, "So something like 'Justice'? Or 'Vengeance'!" Kaidou suggested excitedly.
"How about," Mikoto paused dramatically, "Retribution" She made a dramatic gesture with her hands.
"'Rett' for short since I'm not gonna say that every time," I added.
"That's so cool!✨" Kaidou fanboy-d, "Where did you get that word?"
"I saw it on a 'word of the day' thing." She shrugged.
Did he just speak sparkles? Whatever, it doesn't matter.
We went back to working out, chatting now and then and after we finished that we changed into our swimsuits and began laps in the pool. Then we realized that Kaidou was still pretty afraid of the water, (not as afraid as he was at the ocean but still pretty bad) so it took an hour or so to finally coax him into the water but he does know how to swim so we just had to stay really close to him while we did laps, which for me was difficult but I managed.
After another hour of laps (with a water break in the middle) we finally ended our workout session and relaxed our sore muscles in the hot tub where we chatted some more,
"Hey, Miko?" Kaidou blushed when he called her by her preferred nickname, "Are there any other people with powers at our school?"
"Well.." She tapped her finger on her chin, "Teruhashi has persuasive prowess I suppose, though she's much too innocent to use them." Mikoto laughed as if the idea were ridiculous.
I relaxed more deeply into the hot water, closing my eyes, "She isn't."
"Isn't what?" Kaidou tilted his head.
"Innocent." I clarified.
Silence.
"What do you mean?"
"Teruhashi is apparently beautiful, and she's a hardworking girl. She constantly keeps up appearances and never says or does anything just because she wants to, she only acts as other people expect her to." I explained, my eyebrows knit. Normally I wouldn't reveal the deepest darkest secret but Teruhashi would be an excellent candidate for our vigilante crew.
"What do you mean 'apparently' beautiful." Kaidou made quotation marks with his fingers, "Have you not seen her?"
"Of course I've seen her," I sat up in the tub, "While I know for sure that she's hardworking because of my telepathy, I don't know her beauty because of my x-ray vision, I can't look at her for more than a few moments before I see her insides." I explained as they cringed at the last part, "I'm very curious about it actually, how beautiful does she have to be to have complete mind control over almost any man?" I wondered aloud.
"You don't know what you're missing," Kaidou said dreamily, and then blushed when he realized he said that out loud.
"I'm not really one to be affected by beauty," I replied.
"Huh, Saiki was like that too, he just treated her like she was anyone else. Now that I think about it, she probably appreciated that. If what you say is true then she must be beyond lonely.." Kaidou realized.
Mikoto's face held a solemn expression that morphed into a sad smile, "Then we'll just have to be the best friends she's ever had." She announced, "We'll ask her to join right?" She turned to me.
"Now," I paused and looked up at them, "Now is not the time. Yes, she's an excellent candidate but I think we should wait for the right time." I said honestly. They looked down.
"One other person of ability," that got their attention, "Hairo Kineshi."
"What? I'm friends with him! I think he'd tell me if he had powers!" Kaidou denied.
"How do you know he even knows of them?" I countered. That shocked him silent. I continued on, "Hairo is an extremely passionate and perseverant boy, that on its own is a kind of power when it's to his extent. But I also think he has some sort of pyrokinesis."
"Really!?" Kaidou exclaimed, eyes sparkling once again.
"Hairo has emitted large amounts of heat on more than one occasion which, I admit, can be excusable since he was exercising and sweating profusely at the time, but what really caught my attention was last winter when he melted a snowball, an igloo, and all the snow within several yards of himself, not to mention his aura, which is ironically on fire."
"What!? When did he melt all that snow!?" -Miko
"I think it was before you transferred." Kaidou scratched the back of his head.
Mikoto pouted.
"These two pillars of the school will be asked to join our group but the time to ask has not presented itself to us yet, which means you must have patience." I lectured. My two teammates nodded their heads sadly in understanding.