I'm gonna go on ahead!
Wait a minute! You're forgetting something!
Your lunch!
What's the menu today?
It's omelet rice!
That again?
T-Thanks... now, don't you be late, either!
Yes, I understand!
Now, please excuse me.
Welcome to our academy.
So in this place, every single student has some special ability?
Episode 2 Melody of Despair
No, some have the possibility of having one,
some show signs of developing one... there are many students of such pending nature.
But transferring just for that..?
Long ago, those who had special abilities like us
became guinea pigs for neuroscientists without fail!
If you get caught even once, your life is basically over.
Hah... such a hyperbole...
I'm actually talking about my big brother..
To protect those with abilities, a certain individual created the current system.
Though it wasn't in time to save my big brother.
But you were the one that got me into this student council, and to use my powers.
The student council is the only group that is entrusted with a special mission.
The mission is to get a hold of those with abilities out on the loose, like you were, before others...
and either protect them or threaten them to never use their powers.
Why do I need to do such a thing?
In return, you are paid appropriately.
Isn't Ayumi doing her best to make
meals every day because you can't even afford proper food?
Well... I'm Yu Otosaka.
I came here from Hinomori High School. Nice to meet you.
So handsome!
Hey, she's a first year, but she's the student council president?
Right. In this academy, the student council president is not determined by grade.
The highest priority goes to someone with an ability, and how active they are.
Congratulations
This is exactly the same thing as last night's dinner!
Otosaka, what are you going to do about lunch?
Well, I don't have anything...
Then, let's go to the cafeteria together. I'll guide you there.
That would be a big help.
You're not going to invite her?
If you don't mind, I can invite her as well?
Nah... no thanks.
There doesn't seem to be any open seats at the tables...
Then how about we buy some sandwiches and go back to the classroom?
Well, it's pretty crowded over there, too.
Leave that part to me. It's where I can show off my own ability.
Is it okay for you to use it?
It's fine. I'll go in from the blind spot on the camera.
Though, since it will go by too quickly, what kind of bread I grab all depends on luck.
What was that?
An explosion?
Sorry to make you wait.
Oh, today I have a marvelous result. A cutlet sandwich.
You call that a success? With so many wounds all over you?
I do wear armor under my uniform so the wounds are not that deep, you know?
But you're bleeding from your head!
You're... a pretty dangerous guy, despite how you look.
What do you mean by that?
More like, you have nothing but cutlet sandwiches.
It's teleportation, you know?
Did you think I had time to pick and choose what I wanted?
And every single one is smushed...
It's teleportation, you know?
You think I can fine-tune how forcefully I grab the merchandise?
So it's an imperfect ability!?
She doesn't even have any female friends, though she's the student council president?
Her ability is to become invisible to one person she chooses.
Which means, everyone other than that one person can see her.
Such imperfection is what caused the situation she is currently in.
Even though she had valid reason to...
What would people around her think after seeing her use her ability
to take violent actions?
And on top of it, the surveillance cameras show nothing more than an ordinary fight.
If she kept doing something like that,
it's pretty obvious that people would come to hate her.
But her personality apparently wasn't like that until she got into middle school.
Oh, she's coming towards us.
A comrade will show up soon.
What the hell?
That means, everyone gather at the student council room.
You figured it out with just that?
What in the world is going to begin..?
What is this guy?
The ability... is thoughtography..
What was that just now?
A comrade that tells us the location and power of someone who possesses a special ability.
Nanba High School... I guess we'll do a stakeout. Let's go, we're going to leave school early.
To do what?
To do some investigation, of course.
Even though we're not the police?
If the police you mention finds this person before us,
that person's life is completely done for.
Seriously..?
Start asking around!
Okay!
We should begin as well.
What should I be doing?
Basically, ask whether or not something strange has been going on lately.
Also, since the ability has been determined as thoughtography,
it might be good to ask about any rumors that involve photographs.
See ya!
Like I have time for this... they're nothing more than lunatics.
There was someone acting suspiciously.
I want you to take over his body with your ability, and look through his belongings.
For what purpose?
To protect the one who has the special ability!
....Fine! Which guy is it?
Dammit, don't make me spend so much time! I lost sight of him!
Found him! That's the guy!
Hurry!
Dammit, why do I have to do something like this...
H-Hold on...
I wonder what this is!
Hey, what are you doing?
Photographs of a female student attending this school?
She's rather pretty.
Next up... well... a girl in her lingerie.
So this is thoughtography? You sure use it for something stupid.
Did you take these pictures?
N-No, I bought them...
Who did you buy them from?
I don't intend of leaking any of this to a third party. Please tell me just the truth.
If you don't tell us, I'll tell the girl in this photograph that this was in your possession..
Udoh... in class 2-E.
Thank you very much.
We're going in!
We're out to capture Udoh from 2-E!
Okay!
Has Udoh gone home yet?
Udoh is...
Captain, I'm going to excuse myself before you.
Yeah, good work.
Well, if this isn't a surprise.
Who are you? Where did you come from?
Who'd have though that the culprit that takes lewd photographs
like this with his thoughtography ability, and selling them off...
...was the captain of the archery team?
Photograph? Thoughtography? I don't know what you're talking about.
One of your customers spilled the beans.
Oh, and we did look through your locker, too.
A ton of photos came out,
so I recorded them all on this video camera as evidence.
I can easily open something like a locker inside a clubhouse.
Why did you do such a thing?
Of course it's because I can make money with it...
Is it something involving your family's finances?
Your parents wouldn't be happy receiving money made in such a way.
They're sick! There's nothing else I can do!
I projected you in your lingerie here. The image includes your face.
If you don't want this photo distributed everywhere,
pretend like none of this ever happened!
That's all you have to do for a thoughtography? That sure is something!
But, nobody would ever need something like that.
No matter who looks at you, you're an attractive one.
Seriously?
I got a compliment! All right!
Yeah, so hurry up and get lost.
Nice!
The photo is... gone?
It's right here.
How did you—
Sheesh.
Checkmate. Just give up.
Pretend like none of this ever happened!
You're the worst kind of person to point an arrow at someone else.
So how much martial arts spirit you possess...
...is nothing at all!
We really don't plan on tossing you over to the police or anything.
However, if you keep using those powers, your life will be completely ruined.
Do you want to be an experimental sample to be dissected by scientists or something?
Dissected!?
So this is a warning. Those powers will be gone once your adolescence has passed by.
As for money, please earn some by working legitimate part-time jobs.
We took care of that successfully.
Yes.
Hey, do you guys always do things like this?
Yes, so that no one with special abilities end up facing what my big brother has faced.
Well... so, what actually happened to your big brother after he got caught by the scientist?
It's nothing worth hiding in the end. Would you like to visit tomorrow?
Where?
To where my big brother is.
Then, let's go.
Yeah. What about you?
I'll have to pass. Take care.
You haven't eaten lunch yet, right?
Right.
Then, let's buy station-specific lunches at the kiosk!
Beef Tongue Lunch Box
This one! This one!
The beef tongue bento box lunch that warms up when you pull a string!
Isn't this just amazing?
Yeah, I know about that.
I didn't think it would be an express train...
How can she eat in a situation like this...
It's totally ill-mannered to do so.
What? You're not going to eat your sandwich?
My big brother was the first to have a special ability.
It was back when I passed the middle school entrance exams
for a magnet school of a national university.
I did it! Mom, I did it! I got accepted!
You really did do your best, Nao! That truly means you'll end up an expert doctor!
Yup!
Big Brother, look at this! I got accepted!
Seriously? You're so amazing, unlike me!
No, no, you're more amazing than me, Big Brother.
I heard that the record companies are taking note of your band!
Since we're poor,
I want to hurry up and debut from a major record label and live on my own.
Hey, did you listen to the CD I lent you before?
It would get in the way of my studies so I didn't listen to it at all!
Your entrance exams are over now, so listen to it. I want to create sounds just like it.
I'm not that interested in rock music and stuff...
It's different! ZHIEND is not rock music! It's post-rock!
You boasted that before, too. Like, I don't understand what you mean at all...
But, I wasn't able to enter that school.
I have something important to talk about.
I decided I'd have both of you enter a boarding school to further develop your talents.
I'm just about to sign with a record label, you know?
Can't you put that off for a little while?
I don't get this at all!
If I can live on my own,
you should be grateful of that because of our family's financial situation!
It's actually the reverse... we'll be better off financially if you both go to this school.
What do you mean, the reverse?
Nao is good at studying,
but I'm an idiot that only knows how to play a guitar!
I think that's exactly what they acknowledged you for.
Then, is that place a specialized school for music?
What's up with both of us going together?
That day, we saw my mother grovel on the ground and beg for the first time in our lives.
My mother, who raised us for the longest time by herself...
That place looked like a school on the outside, and I immediately made a few friends.
However, every day after classes were over, I was forced to take something like a physical exam.
We were supposedly in the same school, but I couldn't see my brother at all.
Every time I tried to look for my brother, my friends would always stop me from doing so.
Meanwhile, my brother had been turned into an experimental subject the entire time.
My brother's ability was to make air vibrate to his will.
He used that ability during a live performance
to change the sound of his guitar into all sorts of sounds.
That's how they found him.
Scientists believed that the ability can be used
to jam communications, or even jack the airwaves.
I finally was able to meet my brother a year later.
By then, he was no longer the big brother I remembered...
He couldn't even recognize that I was his little sister.
The friends that were trying to distance me from my brother
were all fake friends prepared by the scientists.
The reason why they were examining me every day...
...was because if one sibling has an ability, chances are high that the other sibling will too.
That was the only reason.
I swore in my heart that I won't trust anyone ever again.
I snuck out of that school.
What happened after that?
I have met the one person I can put my trust in, and that's how I'm here now.
That person is—
We're getting off at the next stop.
I'm Nao Tomori. I'm here to see my big brother.
So her first name is Nao.
He's in room 12. Go ahead.
Can I take him outside?
As long as it's within our grounds, there are no issues.
Thank you so much.
This way.
He's here.
The painkillers have worn off again...
This guy... what in the world is he trying to do?
He's composing.
This is my big brother thinking he is playing a guitar.
The grunts you hear is the main melody line.
Oh man, he ruined another futon.
Would you like to go outside? This time of day is when you see the best scenery.
So amazing...
Isn't it amazing?
Yeah...
But this special an environment... how in the world did you...?
It's all thanks to the one person I can trust.
He transferred my brother to the hospital in the most beautiful location free of charge.
There is someone out there that will go this far...?
He shows no interest after all...
But, perhaps there will be a drug soon that can cure this.
Nobody is researching how to save patients like this.
Why?
For the scientists, people with abilities are like batteries.
If it runs out of power, they can just experiment with another person who has an ability.
There is no merit for them to help previous holders of abilities that end up like this.
That can't be...
We don't know whether or not something will happen to us tomorrow, either.
Don't say scary stuff like that...
How about you choose your words a bit?
Sorry.
Well then, let's go back.
You really have a hard time, don't you...
Are you sympathizing? Stop that. You're nothing but a cheater.
Indeed... this is so unlike me.
I'm home!
I didn't think the student council was something that keeps me this busy...
I can't do anything about it.
Big Brother Yu, you're part of the student council?
Didn't I tell you!
This is the first I'm hearing of it!
Then, please eat Ayu's special Rolling Vegetable Curry
to refresh yourself and rid today's fatigue!
If I have a special ability, there is the possibility that Ayumi has an ability as well...
If I were to be captured... Ayumi will end up just like Tomori...
It's done!
I'll have some.
I'll have some!
So sweet!
Well, um... this curry... can it be that the secret ingredient...
It's the secret recipe of the Otosaka household - the pizza sauce!
At this point, I can't think this tastes any different from the omelet rice...
I don't know if it's part of your daily routine or not, but hurry up and go to sleep.
I was able to see a comet today, so I am deeply moved, and go to sleep in excitement!
That's pretty skillful of you.
But, the comet I really want to see is a different one!
I see...
It's a comet with a long orbit!
What's that?
It's a comet that swings by only once every few centuries!
They have comets like that, huh...