Sunday March 25, 2306
The usually busy city Tokyo is even more crowded this Sunday.
Gamers all across the world gathered here to witness the global championship finals of the famous mobile game.
"Excuse me!" A young man hurriedly rushes through the thick crowd as if his life depended on it.
Well, his life may really depend on if he made it or not. Why? Because he was a competitor in this tournament, and the match starts in less than five minutes!
"Over here Hoshina!" Manager Tachibana shouted from the back stage helping the boy navigate through the dense crowd.
With his last bit of strength the boy dashed to the waiting room tumbling on the floor as his legs gave out.
Seeing his disheveled look his teammate, Yuto teased. "Nice save Satoru! Team Neko just got called up for their introduction."
Satoru was too tired to reply. He quickly took out a bottle of water from his backpack before gulping down half the bottle.
Pant…Pant…
I made it in time… Satoru gave a self deprecating smile.
Before he could properly catch his breath the intercom sounded. "Team Cosmos please step on the stage."
"Do you need help getting on the stage?"
"No I'm fine Yuto."
Manager Tachibana bid them good luck as the five boys stepped out of the waiting room.
"Now let's welcome team Cosmos!"
Cheers erupted as the five members of team cosmos stepped onto the stage.
"We actually made it to the finals." Noticing the disbelief in his teammate's voice Satoru confidently replied. "And we are going to take home the championship."
Of course, his confidence isn't baseless. This high school drop out, Hoshina Satoru, isn't a regular kid. He is born with a supernatural ability.
In this era, some people can be born with powers that cannot be replicated by other humans.
In Satoru's case, his supernatural ability allows him to pry five seconds into the future.
Back when he was young, Satoru never realized how useful this ability was. Five seconds in too few to make meaningful decisions in life. While it could be useful in combat scenarios, Satoru was never one that often entered fights, let alone go outside. The most he could do with his foresight is guaranteeing that he would win every game rock paper scissors.
His life took a turn last year when a friend introduced him to strategic games.
At first, Satoru wanted nothing to do with strategic games. He always thought: Aren't they just glorified chess?
Little did he know that a big part of strategic games is mind games, to predict what the opponent would do and making a counterplay against it.
As luck would have it, one of the most trending games which is an online horror strategic game just happened to involve multiple short duration mind games rather than a long-drawn out ones. Which directly plays into Satoru's foresight ability.
Thanks to that, Satoru managed to secure himself a professional contract to enter the competitive scene and made his name as the "undefeated rookie".
And today he is here to bring the global championship trophy home.
In a row closest to the competitors, a middle aged man with a thick beard chatted with a black haired girl who seems about the same age as Satoru. One of them is visibly more eager to watch the games than the other.
"Oh! The match is starting!" The bearded man, with a bucket of popcorn in hand, said to the girl beside him
"You know, we could just observe from the monitor room. There's crowd at the arena would only make it more difficult for us to discuss the mission." The girl beside him replied.
"But what about the game?"
"Goro-san we are here to investigate a potential awakened one, not watch a mobile game tournament."
"The higher-ups didn't say we can't do both at the same time. This is your first time so you wouldn't know: There aren't many missions where you get to sit in an air conditioned room watching mobile games. So let me enjoy myself while it lasted."
The girl's expression remained ice cold, she asked "Which one is our target?"
"The second person from the right, the one who patted his teammate on the back earlier." The bearded man looked at the file in his hands before adding. "This case is pretty tricky. Let's observe first, confirm his ability before confronting him."
The girl asked. "What type of ability is he suspected of using?"
"Traditionally speaking, it is either perception enhancement or something from the mind domain like yours."
"What do you mean by traditionally speaking?"
"That's if he actually has mind related abilities because according to-"
As the man tried to speak, the entire stadium erupted in cheers which completely drowning out his voice.
"Dang it, I told you we should've find a quieter place."
"…"
"As I was saying, According to my observations in his behavior, I don't think he has a mind related ability. His eyes are glued to the screen during his ability's activation instead of being focused on the players. A mind related ability shouldn't work on something that doesn't have a mind."
"Then should we interrogate him directly?"
"Normally it is impossible to identify a mind domain awakened one but this time we have you. Can you monitor the competitors' emotions from our original seat?"
"I can't. I would need to be at least at the backstage to have a good grasp of their emotions."
"Then let's go there, I'll provide cover for you."
"Received." The girl replied.
Before departing, the bearded man made a gesture to several people wearing sunglasses and trench coats stationed on various parts of the stadium, who all made a thumbs up gesture towards him.
The man murmured to himself. "Well at least the ticket cost reimbursed."
With that, his figure and the girl's became distorted and slowly vanished in thin air.
"Congratulations team Cosmos on their first global championship victory!!!"
All 3 commentators announced the results in unison.
The crowd erupted in cheers with confetti flying all over the stage.
Satoru had just finished taking off his headphones when the members waiting in the back stage ran up.
"We did it Satoru!"
His teammates tackled him from all sides. To most people this may seem excessive but to them, it was just natural.
They have been supporting each other since the very beginning. Thanks to the team's efforts, Satoru received the perfect training relative to the opponent's play style and thanks to Satoru's talent, their dreams of winning finally came true.
Watching his teammates' joyful expressions brought a certain warmth to Satoru's heart.
Although Satoru knew he would win the next year's championship and stand here once again and also the years after that, he knew that
30 minutes later in the hall of the stadium.
"Congratulations!" "Can I have an autograph?"
A crowd of team Cosmos supporters surrounded the table. Which overwhelmed the players.
The crowd became so chaotic the security guards had to put up a queue barrier.
This is a new very sensation for Satoru. Even if he is used to walking through tough crowds, he still hadn't had the experience of being the center of a crowd before. Still, he welcomed the attention with open arms.
Suddenly a girl wearing a purple jacket approaches the fan meeting table. She has pitch black eyes, smooth long black hair wrapped with white ribbon, a tall yet slim build and pure white skin. Her face is the definition of a Japanese beauty. Grabbing the attention of both the boys at the meeting table as well as the others in the crowd.
Yuto bent over to whisper into Satoru's here. "I never knew such a pretty girl would be interested in mobile games."
The girl approaches Satoru, bowed elegantly and spoke with a polite smile.
"Congratulations on winning Hoshina san. You performed incredibly today too."
Like the others that are in line before her, she handed Satoru a small notebook.
As expected she's my fan. Satoru thought before replying with a bright smile. "We are really grateful for your support."
He meticulously signed the notebook before handing it back to the girl. To his surprise, the girl reaches out her hand to gently touch his hand while saying in a low voice.
"You know… your performance this entire tournament has been so incredible as if…" She stares right into Satoru's eyes.
"As if you are playing with supernatural powers."
Does she know about my foresight? Satoru's heart skipped a beat. He quickly averted her gaze before calming himself down. There's no way this girl knows about my foresight. It is probably her way of praising others or a joke.
Playing it off as a compliment would be the best option. Satoru thought before replying with an awkward smile. "You are complementing me too much."
Seeing Satoru's awkward state the girl waved goodbye and left as if nothing has happened.
The fan meeting proceeded as usual.
In a small but lively oden shop outside the busy shopping district the sound of clinking glass could be heard.
"To commemorate our victory. Kanpai!"
After the exhausting fan meeting during the afternoon, manager Tachibana decided to throw a party for his triumphant team.
"It's been five years since I started becoming a coach I never thought that this day would come…" Manager Tachibana could barely hold back his tears of joy. "Good job everyone! I am so proud of you all!"
Tachibana san is drunk… The members looked at each other with tacit understanding.
Seeing the happy smile on the middle aged man a member remarked."Let him drink today he is probably very tired after all the practice and match analysis he has done for us."
Satoru commented while taking a sip of his lemon soda. "It's all thanks to him that we won."
Hearing Satoru's remarks his teammates commented energetically.
"You are amazing too Hoshina. Your role is basically as important. No… even more important than manager Tachibana's."
Facing his teammate's praise, the smile on Satoru's face widened with pride. "It's actually nothing."
"Don't be so humble Mr. FMVP." Said Yuto while patting Satoru on the back.
"That's right how do you train yourself to react like that?"
"It's just something I am born with." Satoru dodged the question.
Well… born with an ability to see the future. Satoru sighed inwardly.
Yuto continued asking. "You're no fun Satoru, you keep too many secrets! By the way that girl you shook hands with during the fan meeting whispered something to you. What kind of talk did you have?"
"I remembered her too. She walked straight to Hoshina without talking to anyone else and I also remember that you looked really flustered when talking to her too." Another team member added.
"I was just startled by the distance that's all." Satoru brushed it off.
"Did she give you her number?"
"I wish she did."
Amidst the banter, a senior member of the team spoke up. "In all seriousness, Hoshina, make sure to watch out for fans that get too close to you. Now that you're starting to become famous, you have to be very careful of stalkers. The consequences of one following you home is unimaginable."
"Thanks, I'll make sure to watch out."
After the party ended everyone went home in their separate ways.
Satoru bids farewell to his coach teammates at the train station. His house is just a 20 minute walk from the restaurant. Satoru chose to take the alleyway to minimize the travel time.
Strange… Satoru has been walking for a while without reaching the other end of this alleyway. Satoru looked up from his phone to see a big path filled with darkness with no signs of any roads or streetlights in front of him.
As a typical teenager Satoru has a habit of walking while watching videos on his phone. It isn't uncommon for him to get distracted and take the wrong turns. He hurriedly turned back to the way he came just to find out that the path he had walked earlier was similarly seemed unending.
"Hoshina Satoru, right?" As Satoru was in a state of confusion, deep male voice sounded from behind.
Satoru jumped in fright after hearing his name being called in the middle of the night. He looked towards the source of the voice and found a middle age man wearing a black suit approaching him while taking off his sunglasses.
Who in their right mind would wear sunglasses in the middle of the night..? Unless they are hiding their identity. Satoru, alarmed by the man approaching him, activates his foresight and then gets into a running position ready to take off the moment this suspicious individual lunges at him. Unexpectedly the man pulls out a thick folder full of documents and starts reading it out loud.
"Hoshina Satoru, age 15, male you dropped out of you school in April of last year."
"You are a contracted player in team Cosmos and are well known for your quick reaction time and suspiciously high win rates." The bearded man flipped the paper document in his hands and continued reading the script.
"The organizing committee has put you through multiple supervised tests yet your abnormal reaction speeds remain the same even without any traditional cheats detected."
He put down the paper. "Well, traditional means naturally can only detect traditional tricks. It is very easy for non-traditional cheats to slip past the detection."
His gaze turned sharp locking on to Satoru
"Non-traditional cheats like the super natural ability to see the future."
This person knows my secret? Satoru's face turned pale, his mind racing.
Sensing the boy's discomfort, the middle aged man pulled out his police ID to de-escalate the situation.
"Let me introduce myself, inspector Watanabe Goro from Japan's Department of Superhuman Management."
"Rest assured we won't do anything to you. On the contrary, we are here with a proposal."
My best bet right now is not admitting to anything. Having considered his options Satoru shakily replied. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."
The middle aged man chuckled. "I also couldn't believe it at first but we have already confirmed it with your inner self directly."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
A girl's voice came from a direction behind him. "We meet again"
Satoru turned to the direction of the voice to see a figure walking out of the alleyway. The figure has pitch black eyes, long black hair with two ribbons tying her hair.
"You are…" Satoru's eyes widen as he recognizes the girl. She was the one who held his hand during the fan meeting.
"It hasn't been long since the last time we met."
"Mister prophet."