Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 294 KOWARENAI

We walked up the temple steps slowly. On the outskirts of City Z this was the closest I had gotten to where Saitama lived. I was still tempted to meet him, but I wasn’t sure what I would gain from it. I left it alone for now. 

“This place is freaking me out,” Aiko said. “Who would want to live here rather than the city?”

“Not everyone needs TV to turn off their brain,” Setsuko said. “Sometimes being out in nature can help a poor lost soul.”

“I’m not lost,” Aiko said. “It’s Jun we need to worry about. She’s not gonna have video games for a whole year.”

“What?!” She yelled, very uncharacteristically. “Weston, you said a day or 2.”

“She’s joking,” I assured. “We are simply here to investigate for a bit.”

“That’s what he says now. What happens when the cult brainwashes us? Soon enough we will be walking around naked and practicing free love.”

“We already do that,” Setsuko cut in. 

“Yeah,” I said. Uncomfortable with how close to the mark Tatsumaki was about the whole cult thing. “Almost there. Act very…lost.”

“I am lost. I have no idea where we are;” Aiko mumbled as we crested the stairs. 

At the top was a wide courtyard. The stairs themselves were an old and decrepit stone. As if we were walking on some ancient stairway where we would find a great old sage to guide us. Up top was a little more modern. 2 trailers next to us a few people were in line at one, it appeared to be a food truck. There was an old temple straight ahead, but the mysticism of it was greatly diminished as a construction crew worked on one side of it. 

“Fuck, give me money. I want a taco,” Aiko said, reaching out. I numbly gave her some yen as I looked around. There were a few monks in bright orange robes. But most of the people there appeared to be on their lunch break or something. 

“Excuse me,” I said, grabbing a man’s arm. He was wearing a business suit. “Can you direct me to the…leader?” I asked. 

“Uh yeah. Talk to Ryuk over there,” he said, pointing to one of the monks. 

“Hey Weston, you want a taco?” Setsuko asked as I walked by. 

“Uh no. Just hang out,” I said walking toward Ryuk. The man was in front of the large temple. Talking to a construction worker in a hard hat I guessed he was helping direct the renovations or whatever was going on. 

When he finished I moved next to him. “Hey, um I was told this place had answers to…questions,” I said slowly. Starting to put together that Tatsumaki’s information was crap. 

“Sorry dude. I’m not that kind of monk. We stopped doing that sort of thing a while ago,” he said. To be honest I didn’t know what monks did. I assumed they took a vow of celibacy or something. But that might have been my Americanized glasses on. 

“Uh no. I mean about psychic powers?” I asked. 

“Oh, you’re one of the recruits?” Ryuk asked. “Registration isn’t for a while yet. We are still 2 buildings short. But you can meet Shiori. She’s inside there. Sorry I gotta go, man.” With that he ran off talking to another construction crew working on a building foundation near the tree line. 

“What the shit. How is this worth 3 Weakness Eliminators?” I asked as I headed into the large temple. 

The ancient temple was made out of a stone. Expertly carved pillars lined the front. So old now they appeared almost brown, but I guessed the construction crews were expected to clean them up. The wide wood doors open. I walked in to find that there were no lights. 

“Hello?” I asked as I walked further inside. My voice echoing I felt for Spiritual Energy as I headed deeper into the temple. Walking in nearly a straight line I eventually came to a wide open room with torches lit all around the perimeter. Barely illuminating the area I noticed a figure sitting at the far edge of the room. 

“Hello?” I asked, moving closer. As I got closer I noticed that the person had long black hair, but they were facing the other way. “Are you Shiori?”

I continued to move closer. Amazed by how calm and serene her Spiritual Energy was. Moving around her I looked at her face and noticed her eyes closed. A long line of drool running down her chin I slowly realized why she was so calm. 

“Are you freaking asleep?” I asked, the mystic nature of the temple completely shattering. 

“Huh? What?” She asked as she woke up. Blinking quickly she shook herself as she looked up at me. “Did you say something?”

“Uh yeah. Are you Shiori?” I asked. 

“That’s me,” she said, wiping the drool from her chin. “What’s up?”

“I’m uh, Weston,” I said. “I heard you were recruiting psychics.”

“I am,” she said, yawning widely. With a groan she got up from her pillow. Wearing white robes I noticed that she was far curvier than I originally thought. A large chest and hips swayed as she stretched and cracked her back. 

“That was a good meditation,” she mumbled. 

“Looked like you were sleeping,” I said. 

“To the untrained eye, yes…yes I was,” she said, a wide smile on her face. She appeared to be in her early 30s. Long dark hair down to her back she exuded a lot of Spiritual Energy, but the more I talked to her, the more I was convinced she wasn’t who I was looking for. 

“I’m sorry. Is this not Kowarenai?” I asked. 

“Of course it is,” she said. “Whose asking?”

“I’m uh Weston,” I said. Throwing my original plan out the window as we shook hands. “I killed your brother.” I felt her anger spike. Her spiritual energy shifting she let go of my hand. I felt a wave of power move over my mind and prepared to hit her with my Conqueror’s Haki if she made a move. 

“Which one?” She asked coldly. 

“The empath,” I admitted. 

“Why did you do it?” She asked, articulating each word as she held onto her anger. 

“He kidnapped me. Kept me in a coma. And ran experiments on me for months. I don’t remember killing him, but I did,” I admitted. 

I felt her Spiritual Energy spike, but the psychic energy left my mind. She let out a long sigh, turning away. “Tell me what happened, in detail,” she mumbled. “That fucking idiot.”

I followed her slowly through the temple. Taking a few turns we ended up in a very modern back office. I told her my story as she sat behind a desk. Leaning back in her chair, her legs rested on the desk as I spoke. Asking questions here and there I was pretty open with her. 

“That fucker said that? God dang. Tsukuyomi, he was always so dramatic,” Shiori mumbled. “What then?”

“The feed cut out and I left. I let the other heroes handle the place,” I said. 

Shiori tsked as she thought for a moment. Her hands steepling under her chin I sat in silence. The girls were slowly making their way toward me, but I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to bring them in. 

“What do you want from me?” She asked slowly. 

“Honestly? We heard about this place. I was coming to investigate. My sources said this place was more like a cult. With you on top,” I said. 

“Back in the day, yes,” Shiori said. “But I got sick of that whole thing. Most of the people that came to me were looking for answers. I was tired of making it up as I went along so I kicked them out and decided to make a school.”

“A school where you make it up as you go along?” I asked. 

“Those people before were asking for answers to the biggest questions. Is god real? What happens when you die? That sort of thing. I ate it up for a while, until my old followers started spouting it to the new people and I couldn’t keep track of what was real or not,” she said. Far more truthful than I expected. 

“No, I want to make a school with people that have psychic powers. My brother wasn’t lying. We all set out to try to study our powers. I focused on myself though. And as I met one esper, more followed. Then they demanded answers. Just cus I can make shit blow up doesn’t mean I know more than you do.”

“Surprisingly insightful,” I said. “I uh am sorry about your brother.”

“I haven’t seen that idiot in 20 years,” she said. “Thought he died 10 years ago. But experimenting on people? You reap what you sow.”

“You’re uh, taking this surprisingly well,” I admitted. I’d expected a big fight with the reward on the line. 

“You have a semi-honest mind,” she said. “But I can tell he did something to you. There is a thick psychic line from your mind to behind you.”

“Yeah, I have a psychic link with some of the others he experimented on,” I admitted. “You wouldn’t be able to like sever it, would you?” She squinted her eyes and I felt a psychic fog drape my mind. Ready to act if needed, the fog soon left. 

“Nope. You start ripping apart links and you’re liable to make it worse,” Shiori admitted. “But I am curious, what is with you and water?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. 

“I can feel it all around you. It’s like your mind is always thinking of it. I started out my psychic journey with pyrokinesis. I’ve seen a lot of people that can control the elements. But I don’t think I’ve met anyone with hydrokinesis.”

“Cool,” I said, pushing some water-chakra out of my chest. I made it spin around my hand as I extended it out to her. “I can control water.”

“Amazing,” Shiori said, leaning forward to peer at the water. “I’ve seen people control the elements. But you made it. Did you pull the water out from your blood?”

The door behind us opened to reveal the girls. “There you are,” Setsuko said. 

“Weston, we’ve been looking all over,” Aiko said. “Any luck finding the cult leader?”

“Uh yeah. She’s right here,” I said pointing to Shiori. “Girls meet Shiori. She’s gonna be the principal of this new school for gifted youths or whatever.”

“It’s just Kowarenai,” Shiori said. “But seriously, how’d you do that water thing?”

“I have a skill. It’s not a psychic power,” I assured. I turned back to the trio. “They can do stuff too. Girls, why don’t you show her your chakra element?”

“Oh yeah?” Aiko said. She extended her hand and fire appeared in it. Setsuko frowned but did the same, except a small cyclone of wind appeared. Jun blushed but in her hand little lightning bolts appeared. I was glad to have brought the chakra papers with me. They had been training with chakra for some time and had finally been able to call upon the nature of the chakra. 

“Amazing. You’re right. I didn’t feel any psychic waves from them,” Shiori said. “How did you do that?”

I didn’t see any reason why not to tell her. Her Haki was rather sincere. A mix of wonder and the need to know leaked from her. “I have a special energy. I can awaken it in people. Most everyone has an element they can use. I’ve trained these ladies to use it. Over time you can turn that energy into the element.”

“What the fuck,” she said, leaning back in her seat. “That’s-that’s crazy.”

“What about it?” Setsuko asked, surprised by her reaction.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Shiori said numbly. “Espers learned to come to me by word of mouth alone. 6 out of 10 of them can do minor telekinesis or read a thought now and then. 3 out of 10 were crazies that couldn’t do anything. 1 out of 10 could do something with the elements. And you’re saying you…awoke this in them?”

“Uh yeah,” I said. “I mean there’s a…ritual.”

“He does it with sex,” Aiko said bluntly. 

“Aiko,” Setsuko hissed. 

I shook my head, knowing I couldn’t expect much else from her. I looked up to Shiori, really hoping she didn’t talk to her other brother in Tsukuyomi either. 

“Sex?” Shiori asked, confused. 

“Uh yeah,” I said. “It’s kind of invasive. But it hasn’t failed yet.”

“And you can prove this,” Shiori asked. 

“I mean, it takes a month or so to be able to do what they can, but yeah,” I admitted. 

Shiori bit her lip as she leaned back in her chair. Studying me she went through a wide range of emotions. Disbelief, wonder, confusion, epiphanies. I guessed she read my mind a little as she sat there. 

Resting her elbows on her desk she let out a long sigh. “Would you consider taking up a spot as a professor at my new school?” She asked. 

“Uhhh,” I said slowly. Unsure what to think. “To have sex with your students?”

“If they want,” she admitted. “You just said you can give people superpowers. What if those people that have no talent come to me? I could send them your way. You could create your own branch of a school with that kind of ability. You said they’ve only had that for a few weeks, and they can already manifest elements? It takes years to learn that sort of thing with psychic powers. You, Weston, have a cheat. And I’d very much like to use it to make people stronger. Not study or experiment on them like my brothers did. But give them power so that they can go out in the world and help out.”

I slowly saw the possibilities. Unsure where to go from there I’d only been gifting chakra to those I trusted. But we could really make our own ninja clan. A group of people trained to use chakra to make themselves stronger. And I could be the one to gift them that. I was ashamed to say that it was a very tempting offer. So I opted to not say anything. Thinking it through as the possible future played through my mind.