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 !
"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 child, he is born with a supernatural ability which, once activated, allows him to pry into the future!
This game is a survival 4v1 game where one player must hunt down the other faction. In tournament form each team will have four survivor players and a hunter player representing them. The win condition in this round is for your faction's hunter to eliminate the other team's survivors more than the other team eliminates yours. Of course, Satoru's role in his team is the hunter.
In this game, the key to winning each matches isn't to aim perfectly or managing perfect combos, it is actually mind games! To predict your opponent's move and performing the perfect maneuvers against it! There is a rare interaction in the game where the moment the hunter strikes the rescuer while they are rescuing s teammate it performs an interaction called a "Terror strike" which instantly incapacitates the survivor instead of usually being hit twice. This plays directly into Satoru's supernatural ability.
Ever since he joined the professional scene, he has always used his foresight ability to cheat in a bunch of mind games. At first using it to strike the same moment the opponent rescues to perform terror strikes. Gradually, he has adapted his ability to respond to even more scenarios. His win rate within this entire tournament is at a staggering 100%.
At several corners of the stadium next to the fire exit, a small group of people dressed in formal suits looked at the competitors on the stage from every angle. These men in black tacitly look towards the audience's seat where a middle aged man was discussing something with a girl besides him.
"So which one is our target?" Asked the girl. "The second person from the right." The middle aged 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 curiously asked. "What type of ability is he suspected of using?"
"I'm not sure, his reaction time is too fast for mind reading but his maneuvers are too precise for someone with just a fast reaction speed."
"So you're telling me his pow…"
The girl was cut off mid sentence as the crowd erupted in cheers.
They looked up to see a survivor getting knocked down after failing to rescue their teammate. Apparently Satoru has accurately predicted the moment the rescue will happen and struct the survivor during their rescuing animation.
"I know what you are thinking but it is best that we don't jump to conclusions. Right now, proceed as usual." The man said before walking off towards the fire exit.
"Understood." The girl replied.
The current score is 2-0 with the previous round team Cosmos managed to let one survivor escape. Since this is a best of five, if Satoru eliminates every survivor his team would win the entire championship.
The game that seemed to be in the survivor's favor, after a single decisive play the odds instantly shifted into Satoru's favor.
"Incredible! A decisive hit to prevent the rescue the escaping progress is too far behind, the pressure is on team Neko as they must rescue the survivor and escort them until the exit is ready in order to have a chance at winning. Let's se if- Oh my!" The commentator was cut off mid sentence as Satoru decisively landed a second terror strike solidifying this game as a four survivor elimination match.
With the objectives far from finished and none of the survivors in shape for a rescue, team Neko surrendered.
The three commentators announced in unison. "Congratulations team Cosmos for winning the 2306 global finals!!!"
The crowd erupted in cheers with confetti flying all over the stage.
The members of team Cosmos in the waiting room rushed to the stage with triumphant look on their faces.
Manager Tachibana patted Satoru on the shoulder."You're new to the professional scene so you wouldn't know about this. The awards ceremony isn't actually the end."
"What do you mean?" Asked a confused Satoru.
30 minutes later in the hall of the stadium.
"Congratulations team Cosmos!" "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.
Satoru, overwhelmed by the attention he is receiving, spoke up with a stupid smile. "Ladies no need to rush I can sign for everybody."
Despite wearing a professional look, Satoru was secretly thinking. Adults keep blabbering that they studied hard and get into a good school in order to be popular with games, now look who's laughing.
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 slim build and pure white skin. A definition of a Japanese beauty. Grabbing the attention of the boys at the meeting table.
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.
So 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 has been so incredible as if…" She stares right into Satoru's eyes.
"You are playing with a superpower"
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. She is probably just joking.
Playing it off as a compliment would be the best option. Satoru thought before replying with an awkward smile. "You're 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 MVP." 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.
Yuro continued teasing. "You're no fun Satoru, you keep too many secrets! By the way I saw you holding a girl's hand during the fan meeting what kind of talk did you have?" Hoshina nearly choker on his drink after hearing that comment.
Upon hearing Yuto's remarks the members of team cosmos erupted into a wild discussion.
"You got to touch a girl's hands? I'm so jealous!"
"Could it be… Hoshina has a girlfriend?"
"Tell me~~~ Hoshina"
Satoru quickly denied "It's a misunderstanding I swear! I just met her today the fact that our hands touched is just an accident."
His teammates laughed after seeing his embarrassed state.
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?" A 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 dropped out of school in April of last year."
"You are a contracted player in team Cosmos playing as their hunter faction, you are well known for your unique play style and suspiciously high terror strike rates…whatever that is." The man flipped the paper document in his hands and continued in a monotone voice as if reading of a script.
"The committee has put you through multiple tests which could guarantee no chance of cheating, however your abnormal performance still remain the same. Which clears the cheating allegations but opens a new discussion."
"You are a supernatural ability wielder aren't you?"
How could this person know 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, Tokyo Supernatural Management Department."
"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. "You've got it wrong I really don't have this foresight ability you are talking about."
The middle aged man sighed. "There is no use lying now. We have already asked 'Your true self'."
"My true self?"
A sweet voice sounded from a nearby alley. " 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."