Not a Mob: Psycho

Rising early the following day, specifically at 5:30 AM, Ohta did his usual, or, more accurately, his past self's morning routine.
One of the most important aspects of combat readiness was a fit and healthy body, so the first thing Ohta did every morning was half an hour of cardio, half an hour of weight training, and forty minutes of hitting a sandbag. That gave him a little more than an hour to get showered, eat breakfast, and make his way to school, taking a random route every day to avoid the fatal flaw of falling into an easily predictable routine.
("Man, I'm too old for this shit...") thought Ohta, sitting at his desk and resting his cheek against his knuckles with half-lidded eyes and a bored countenance. Unfortunately, skipping High School would have cost him 50,000 Karma, meaning he wouldn't have been able to acquire perks like an AB blood type, making him a universal recipient. Such things might not matter to most people, but if you ever found yourself in a situation where they had to transport blood from another hospital, you would understand how integral blood type was to your survival in an emergency...
Briefly earning Ohta's attention, Tatsuki arrived alongside Orihime. The two had been friends for a long time, but they became much closer after Orihime lost her only family member a few years back, an older brother whose name Ohta couldn't recall as they had never actually met.
Noticing Ohta in his seat, Tatsuki temporarily ceased her conversation with Orihime, raising her hand as she said, "Hey, Ohta. Get plenty of rest last night?"
Adopting a faint smile, Ohta replied, "Yeah. And thanks for your concern. I appreciate it."
As expected of a tomboy, Tatsuki visibly cringed when thanked by Ohta, crossing her arms and averting her eyes as she muttered, "You're being weird..."
"I get that," replied Ohta, exhaling a light chuckle. He didn't consider himself particularly close to anyone, as he was always prepared to vanish at a moment's notice, but Tatsuki's family had been good to him. She was also the closest thing he had to a childhood friend, so it was important to show a bit of gratitude now and then to maintain their relationship...
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With homeroom and three periods passing, Ohta, once again, found himself on the roof. This time, however, there were a few third-year students present, presumably delinquents, judging by their ridiculous hairstyles, facial piercings, and unkempt uniforms. A few were even smoking.
Though it had been nearly a month since he began attending Karakura High as a first year, none of the group immediately recognized Ohta, compelling the leader of the group to say, "Beat it, kid. This is our turf."
Adopting a faint smile, Ohta replied, "Sure, have fun," before turning and attempting to leave. Before he could, however, the same student, built like an amateur wrestler, said, "Hye, hold up, aren't you forgetting something? Did you think you could just enter our turf and leave as you please? Empty your pockets."
Turning around to reveal an even bigger grin, Ohta sent shivers up the spines of nearly everyone present as he mused, "No, I don't think I will." in an almost melodic, sing-song tone.
"Hey, Boss...I don't think we should mess with this kid..." said one of the goons, a skinny man with short bleached hair, buck teeth, and a decently attuned survival instinct.
Though he felt the same way as his goon, the stocky delinquent grit his teeth and growled, "Fuck that..." before rising to his full 188cm height and shouting, "You lookin' for a fight, punk!?"
"Sure," replied Ohta, adopting his 'friendliest' smile as he asked, "Know anyone capable? Maybe the Senpai that used to bully you?"
"You...!"
As Ohta wasn't that far away, the stocky youth lunged at him, throwing the most telegraphed haymaker the former had ever seen. The former could have easily dodged it, but one of the nicknames he had picked up in Middle School was Ohta, the Immovable.
Surprising everyone, none more than the stocky youth, Ohta caught his fist as if he were catching a softball tossed by a child. At the same time, the smile on his face grew to the point that his eyes squinted slightly, his grip tightening around the much larger boy's fingers as he mused, "Wow, you're pretty strong~."
Feeling an intense pain from his hand, the larger boy tried to pull away, but Ohta was like an anchor, keeping him in place as the pressure of his grip slowly and deliberately increased.
"Ow, ow, ow, fuck...!" exclaimed the burly youth, kicking toward Ohta in the hope of getting him to let go. Instead, the moment raised his foot, Ohta struck with his own, kicking the inside of his knee with enough force to turn him sideways. In the same motion, he made a hooking motion with the larger youth's fist, pushing his would-be assailant to the ground and forcing his hand to the center of his back with a loud 'pop.'
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I won't do it again..!" screamed the stocky youth, sweating bullets and crying like a child at the pain of having his shoulder forcibly dislocated.
"Yes, I intend to make sure of that," said Ohta, pushing the youth's hand even further up his back. He knew from experience that people like this only understood pain, so if he didn't leave him with a 'sufficient' trauma, it wouldn't be long before the wannabe thug returned with a posse.
While the larger boy screamed bloody murder on the ground, Ohta raised his gaze to the other delinquents, narrowing his eyes into an amused smile as he asked, "What are you waiting for? Don't you want to help your friend~?"
As he could also hear Ohta's words, the larger boy reached out with his free hand and screamed, "Guys, please help me...!" with tears and snot cascading down his face.
Terrified by the sight, the other delinquents instinctually stepped back, their bodies breaking out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, just as Ohta was about to give the leader of the group permanent nerve damage, a familiar voice echoed from behind him, asking, "Don't you think that's enough...?"
Releasing the delinquent's arm, Ohta raised his hands in mock surrender, his smile losing its malice as he replied, "You're probably right." before rising to his feet and turning around to find a boy with spiky orange hair and brown eyes staring at him with a conflicted, judgmental expression on his face.
Stepping past Ohta, the orange-haired youth, Kurosaki Ichigo, looked down at the beaten and sobbing delinquent, remarking, "You nearly tore his arm off..."
Shrugging his shoulders, Ohta replied, "Eh, give him two to three months, and he'll be back to bullying those weaker than him with a smile." Then, before Ichigo could respond, he looked over to the other delinquents, saying, "Hey, cowards, get this guy to the nurse's office before someone else needs to carry you there on a stretcher."
Reacting to Ohta's words, the remaining five boys picked up their former leader and hurried from the roof as fast as their fumbling feet could. As a result, Ohta found himself alone with Ichigo, the latter staring back at him and scratching his head, clearly not knowing what to say. After all, he also had a reputation for sending delinquents to the hospital.
"Relax," said Ohta. "You know those types. Give them an inch, and they'll take a mile. If I were weaker than them, I would have been the one on the ground, robbed of my money and dignity. They needed a lesson like that before they pissed off the wrong person and got themselves killed."
Exhaling a sigh, Ichigo dropped his hand and responded with a tired, "Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Still, you didn't have to go 'that' far. If you had told them who you were, they probably would have run away from the start."
Shrugging his shoulders, Ohta admitted, "Probably. But we can't know that for certain. Besides, I did try to leave when they asked me to. It's their fault for viewing that as a sign of weakness."
"Yeah, man, whatever..." said Ichigo, looking around at the empty roof before asking, "So, is this where you're planning to spend your lunches from now on?"
"Maybe," responded Ohta. "The Sun's a bit overbearing, but there's a nice breeze."
"Right..."
Not really sure what else to say, Ichigo scratched his head a second time, an awkward silence permeating the air before he said, "Well, I'll leave you to it. If those guys try to seek revenge, let me know. I doubt you'll need it, but I can lend you a hand..."
"Same old Ichigo," mused Ohta, slipping his hands into his pockets and adopting a faint smile as he added, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
"I doubt it..." replied Ichigo, having extended similar offers to Ohta in the past. Then, as neither of them was very social, he turned around and left, leaving Ohta to enjoy the remainder of the lunch period in relative peace...
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Sitting on the roof of Karakura Town's tallest building, this time wearing a green hoodie and a black facemask, Ohta remarked, "Something feels off tonight..." while staring listlessly at the moon. He couldn't really explain it, but he felt like there was some kind of 'interference' in the air, giving him a similar feeling to being stuck in a low-service area, searching for a signal on his cell phone.
Rising to his feet, Ohta was about to fly into the sky for a better vantage when a sound similar to a car crash reached his ears, echoing through the night from several kilometers away.
"Well, got nothing better to do," muttered Ohta, taking off in the direction of the presumed accident. He wasn't really the 'heroic' type, but now that he knew things like karma and an afterlife existed, he figured it didn't hurt to lend a hand to those in need. Not like it cost him anything.
"Hmmm? Isn't this the neighborhood Ichigo lives in?" noted Ohta, having covered nearly 3km in just under twenty seconds.
As if in response to Ohta's comment, another explosion echoed through the otherwise silent night, drawing his attention to a familiar clinic and, more importantly, a large, bipedal creature with fish-like features and a white mask.
"Well, that's convenient," remarked Ohta, descending toward the creature intending to crush it like the rest. As he got closer, however, he noticed the creature was holding a somewhat familiar young girl with black hair framing her face...
"Let go of Karin, you bastard!" screamed a familiar voice, drawing Ohta's attention to Ichigo, charging recklessly toward the masked creature with a splintered baseball bat.
("He can see it...") noted Ohta, marginally surprised. At the same time, he made a pulling gesture with his right hand, sparing Ichigo the fate of being sent flying by the much larger creature.
Presumably having similar intentions, an inordinately petite girl with raven black hair and black robes reminiscent of a samurai's garb appeared out of nowhere, slicing halfway through the creature's muscular forearm with a katana. This forced the monster to drop Karin, nearly causing her to kiss the pavement before Ohta caught her in his telekinetic grasp.
Outwardly displaying the confusion that Ohta was concealing, the petite, raven-haired girl exclaimed, "Huh!? Who goes there!?" while leaping back to create some distance between herself and the creature.
Instead of responding to the girl's words, Ohta took advantage of the fact the monster no longer had a hostage, thrusting forward with his hand as if it held an invisible spear. He preferred to crush the masked creatures, but that was far from his only method of dealing with them.
Earning shocked looks from both Ichigo and the raven-haired girl, Ohta's thrusting motion caused the upper half of the monster's body, particularly its head, to disappear, replaced by a circular void. What remained of its colossal frame began to dissolve, prompting the raven-haired woman to look where Ohta had been moments before, only to find he had vanished completely...
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Observing the incident from afar, a man with messy, ashen-blonde hair, a somewhat tattered, green-and-white, striped fisherman's hat, dark circles under his eyes, and an overall unkempt appearance remarked, "Well, that complicates things..."
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After fleeing the scene and making a long detour around the outskirt of the city, Ohta returned to his apartment, moving aside his rug to reveal a floorboard he had pulled up shortly after moving in. Inside was a journal, thick stacks of native and foreign currency, gold coins, six passports, and a fairly modern map of Karakura Town.
"So, Ichigo can see the same things as me..." muttered Ohta, making a tiny red x over the location of Ichigo's home, marking it as the kill site of one of the masked creatures. Green circles designated emergence points, but as he hadn't been around when the creature appeared, he couldn't be certain it had materialized in the area.
Folding up the map, Ohta returned it to the compartment before carefully opening the journal and confirming there were five grains of shaved rice in a flower pattern behind the cover and several more stored along the spine joint.
Though he was always fairly cautious, Ohta, or, more accurately, his past self, suspected that someone had been entering his apartment while he was away. Thus, whenever he was done with the journal, he created a unique, non-repeating pattern with shaved and marked rice grains behind the cover. It was possible that one of Japan's periodic earthquakes would disturb it, but as they were held in place by the journal's cover and further weighted down by gold coins, it was a fairly reliable security measure.
Flipping to a blank page within the journal, Ohta uncapped a ballpoint pen and created a fairly accurate sketch of the monster he had slain. He didn't know if it was because of his psychic abilities, but his short-term memory was nearly photographic. Thus, on the opposite page, he drew a sketch of the black-haired girl, complete with her antiquated outfit and the peculiar, thick clump of hair that parted the center of her face...
"That would get on my nerves..." remarked Ohta, wrapping things up by adding some finishing touches to the girl's eyes. She looked fairly young at a glance, but the more he looked at her eyes, both on his page and in his mind, the older she appeared.
"She could also see the monsters..." noted Ohta. "Rather, she seemed to be there to fight it..."
As his past self had tried killing one of the monsters with his bare hands, Ohta knew how tough the masked bastards were. Conventional weapons were completely useless against them, so the simplest explanation was that the girl's sword was special in some way. More importantly, she was supernaturally fast. So much so he hadn't even noticed her approaching the monster before she was slicing into its forearm with an attack that left a visible trail of bluish-white light...
"How would I deal with such speed...?" pondered Ohta aloud, his brows creasing in serious contemplation. His past self had researched all kinds of kinetic abilities on the internet, including neurokinesis. However, as he had determined that messing around with his neurons was a good way to end up braindead, he had never actively tried to mess with his processing speed and reaction time...
"Well, she can't be that powerful if she only managed to slice through half of that monster's arm..." concluded Ohta. Speed might be king in martial arts, especially when weapons were involved, but it didn't matter if his opponent couldn't break his psychic barrier. More notably, as he could sense the woman's aura, nothing prevented him from outright crushing her if push came to shove...
Convinced of his assessment, Ohta carefully arranged eight pieces of rice into an S, memorizing the arrangement of the ink markings before closing the cover and carefully returning it to the secret floor compartment. Once everything else was in place, he replaced the floorboard, covered it with a rug, and began his meticulous preparations for bed...
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Around the same time Ohta was preparing for a cold shower, the cat he had dubbed 'Susu' remarked, "That boy would make an excellent member of the Onmitsukidō." in a deep, manly voice.
"Yeah, it's almost uncanny. If I didn't look into his background, I would think he was a wayward soul that had possessed a human..." remarked the man with a green and white fisherman's hat, staring into a crystal ball that displayed the interior of Ohta's apartment while Susu perched lazily atop his head.
"He could be a reincarnated soul," postulated the black cat. "They're rare but not unheard of."
"His soul 'is' a lot more powerful than normal..." remarked the man. "But in all other instances of reincarnation, the reincarnated spirit had enormous spiritual energy. Our little psychic friend has next to none. The energy he possesses is almost entirely mental..."
"Then he's an anomaly," remarked the cat. "We should just get rid of him before he becomes a threat or interferes with our plans further. We don't need any extra variables..."
"Wow, someone's feeling feisty," mused the haggard man. "Are you that annoyed by the name he gave you?"
Clicking its tongue, the cat descended from the man's head, departing the traditional Japanese room they were seated in as it said, "Whatever. Just don't come crying to me if things go South..."
"Be safe out there, Yoruichi-san~" mused the man, unperturbed by the cat's parting remark. He was already gambling the fate of the world on one fifteen-year-old. It shouldn't matter if he formed a contingency plan using another...
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Feeling uncharacteristically tired, Ohta only needed to consider skipping his usual routine before doing precisely that. Changing things up included 'not' doing anything at times, so he took an extra long bath and spent the morning checking over his homework and reading his textbook.
Though he knew college degrees were pretty much pointless unless you had an 'in' into the industry you were shooting for, Ohta intended to finish High School near the top of his class and go on to a prestigious university. It was important for the profile he was trying to build, something that may or may not become incredibly useful further down the line.
Hearing his watch alarm go off, Ohta stretched his body and performed a protracted yawn. Afterward, he packed his textbook and prepared to set out, biting into an apple as he walked with his handbag over his shoulder, enjoying the cool Spring air.
"Hmmm...?"
Spotting a familiar black cat, this time perched atop a vending machine, Ohta remarked, "Well, hello there. It's unusual to see you so soon after a previous encounter. Should I consider this good or bad luck?"
Though his expression didn't change in the slightest, Ohta was more than a little surprised when the black cat, Susu, replied, "Things are starting to get serious. If you want to keep attending school and maintain the illusion of an ordinary person, I advise you to stop playing Vigilante and meddling in the supernatural."
"That would be a lot simpler," admitted Ohta. "Unfortunately, I was born into a world with ghosts, giant monsters that most people can't see, and talking cats. Pretending things are normal when they aren't is a good way to lose your mind."
"You could die," warned the cat. "The living and the dead aren't meant to mingle with one another. The further you delve into this world, the closer you get to your end."
"Every day we live brings us closer to death," mused Ohta. "I'd rather live and make the most of my time than die in obscurity like a coward. Running away is a reliable tactic, but living on the run is just dying slower."
Raising its brows, the black cat remarked, "That's an interesting way of viewing things," before leaping down from its perch and adding, "My name is Yoruichi, by the way. The next time you call me Susu, I'll claw your eyes out."
Seemingly finished with what he had to say, the black cat, Yoruichi, began to turn around. Before he could leap away, however, Ohta asked, "Is that it? No expositional dump or an explanation about what's going on? I don't mind being truant if it will provide answers."
"Too much trouble," replied Yoruichi, shrugging its feline shoulders. "If you want answers, wait a few days without going out. Everything will become clear once that girl you saw last night appears at your school..."
"Hoooo? Did I interrupt something last night?" asked Ohta, adopting an amused smile as he added, "I thought something was up with how hazy my senses were."
"We'll talk again later," said Yoruichi, disappearing into thin air as if he had teleported.
("Fast little bugger...") thought Ohta, immediately continuing on his way as if nothing strange had occurred. He had a lot of questions, but so long as he 'waited' a few days, he should be able to receive some answers. If not, it didn't actually matter. He just wouldn't trust anything the cat had to say from that point on...
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While the rest of the class was abuzz with the news that a 'truck' had run through Ichigo's house, Ohta had a bored look on his face as he sketched a picture of Yoruichi in his notebook. Before he became a mercenary in his previous life, he was an art student at the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the most prestigious art schools in the United States. He ultimately failed to break into the industry due to being drafted into the Army during the third World War, but he had graduated with honors.
("Such a waste...") thought Ohta, creating a far more 'realistic' version of Yoruichi than the comparably simplistic cat he had encountered earlier that morning. Now that he apparently lived in a cartoon universe, all the effort he had put into being able to create photorealistic drawings made his artwork appear strange and uncanny to others...
Disrupting the 'serenity' of Ohta's art process, Tatsuki approached him to ask, "Hey, Ohta. Did you hear about what happened to Ichigo? They say a truck ran through his living room."
"So they say..." muttered Ohta, setting down his pencil and turning to face Tatsuki, adopting a teasing smile as he asked, "Is this your way of asking me to go check on him after school?"
Though she furrowed her brows slightly, Tatsuki ultimately asked, "Can you?"
"Sure, why not?" replied Ohta. "It's only a few stops from my place, and I owe Ichigo's dad for treating me when I was younger."
"Yeah, you used to get messed up pretty badly, huh?" remarked Tatsuki. "It's insane that people came all the way from Hokkaido to challenge you when you were just a middle schooler..."
"Age is important, but if it were the ultimate determiner of strength, the centenarians on Okinawa would be unstoppable..." remarked Ohta. "Those who willfully choose to become delinquents have a lot to prove, so if they hear about some 'monster' from another school, they can't help picking a fight..."
"Speaking of which...I heard an upperclassman had his arm dislocated and his tendons severely damaged. Didn't you promise my mom and the caretakers at the orphanage that you wouldn't get into any more fights?" asked Tatsuki, concern evident in her expression and tone.
"They attacked and attempted to extort me," argued Ohta. "It was self-defense, not a real fight..."
Having heard similar excuses, Tatsuki exhaled an exasperated sigh before whispering, "Just be careful you don't take things too far, okay? You nearly ended up in a Detention Center after you paralyzed those three guys from Kōryō High..."
("Ah, yes, the rapists...") thought Ohta, recalling the incident where his past self had discovered three high school boys attempting to strip and take advantage of a middle school girl near an arcade he frequented. The girl he had saved was too frightened to provide a statement, so he nearly ended up in a correctional facility for three years. If not for the caretakers at the orphanage vouching for him, the result of carefully building rapport over several years, he would have been fucked over pretty hard...
"I'll be careful," replied Ohta, adopting a faint smile as he added, "Also, tell your mother I'll be coming over tomorrow. I'll bring over some premium meat, and we can have a barbecue. You know, to thank her for everything she's done."
Regaining her smile, Tatsuki replied, "Sure, I'll tell her. But isn't this a little sudden?
"I like being spontaneous," replied Ohta. "Just make sure you're home, or we'll eat everything without you."
As he had done so in the past, Tatsuki frowned as she held up her fist and threatened, "You better not...". Then, as their teacher had just arrived, she returned to her seat, leaving Ohta to resume his drawing...
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After three periods covering English, Math, and History, it was time for lunch. Ohta was planning to use that time to go up to the roof, but before he could leave the classroom, he was stopped by a short girl with boyish looks, short black hair that spiked outward at the sides, brown eyes, and a lean, athletic frame.
"Hey, you good?" asked the girl, registering within Ohta's mind as Arisawa Tatsuki, a girl he had known since elementary school.
"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Ohta. "I just overworked myself at the docks and overslept."
Crossing her arms, Tatsuki adopted a slight frown, but her eyes expressed concern as she asked, "Are you having trouble with money? I thought you saved up a bit over Winter and Spring Breaks?"
Shaking his head, Ohta replied, "Not really. It's just better to have more than depend on my savings to get by. College isn't going to pay for itself."
Exhaling an exasperated sigh, Tatsuki's frown deepened as she remarked, "That's what I don't get about you, Ohta. You have the skills to be the ace of the karate team, but you spend most of your time doing odd jobs. What gives?"
"Never underestimate the value of hard work," replied Ohta, adopting a faint smile as he added, "Besides, I already told you. I didn't learn martial arts to compete against brats."
Snorting through her nose, Tatsuki groaned, "Whatever..." before walking off in a huff, reuniting with a comparably curvaceous girl with big tits and bright orange hair.
Seeing Ohta looking over, the orange-haired girl, Inoue Orihime, adopted a somewhat awkward smile as she raised her hand and waved. Ohta was an outcast among the other students, regarded as a monster by local and neighboring delinquents, so most people gave him a very wide berth.
Exhaling a faint sigh through his nose, Ohta rose to his feet, departing the classroom without reciprocating Orihime's greeting. He had inherited the memories of the time he had skipped, so he knew the true reason he was a pariah. It wasn't because he could take on a group of delinquents alone. Rather, he had a secret that imperiled the lives of everyone around him...
Upon reaching the roof, usually locked and off-limits to students, Ohta took a moment to ensure he was alone before staring down at his hands. As he did so, blue energy began to gather around them, quickly gaining shades of pink and amethyst as a pattern reminiscent of a kaleidoscope formed around the edges.
Flexing his fingers with some effort, Ohta caused the 'space' around his digits to warp, followed by a distinctive black 'void' appearing in his palm. At the same time, the blue, pink, and purple aura spread across his body, protecting him and causing his hair to flutter as tiny fragments of stone and debris rose from the floor of the roof, drawn to the void as if it were a powerful magnet.
Crushing the void by closing his fist, a frown marred Ohta's face as he internally groaned, ("That damned Auditor. Why did she throw me into a world with invisible monsters and grant me psychic powers? How the hell am I supposed to live in peace?")
Recalling numerous instances of him encountering spirits and battling mask-wearing monsters with gaping holes in their chests, Ohta couldn't help exhaling a tired sigh. Even the previous night, while returning from one of his part-time jobs, a spider-like monster had materialized from the shadows to try and slice him in half with its mantis-like limbs...
Sitting in the shadows of the roof's parapet, Ohta did what he always did when faced with a strange, fucked up, or generally dangerous situation, forcibly calming himself as he organized his thoughts in order of priority. His psychic powers had manifested when he was a child, but the mask-wearing creatures had only started to appear fairly recently. There had to be a reason, and his past self had already started looking into it, marking his encounters with the creatures on a city map and periodically going on patrols to try and lure them out...
"Then that's what I'll do..." muttered Ohta, choosing to follow the path his past self had set for him. Possessing psychic powers wasn't an inherently bad thing. Rather, in a world filled with spirits and invisible monsters that could level buildings and toss cars around like toys, possessing powerful psychokinetic abilities was pretty handy...
Picking up a stone fragment with his mind, Ohta caused it to spin rapidly until the friction with the air caused it to heat up and melt. Then, with a simple thought, he shaped the molten stone into a fairly accurate figure of himself, grasping it with his bare hand but feeling no heat thanks to a thin but exceptionally powerful membrane of psychic energy.
"I can work with this..." muttered Ohta, adopting a faint smile. He already had the power, so rather than lamenting the fact he had been tricked, he decided to make the most of his second chance at life. If nothing else, he could at least go out with a bang by pulling an Akira...
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After three more periods of class, Ohta made his way to the apartment he had leased with the help of Tatsuki's mom, Fubuki. He originally lived in an orphanage, but after exhibiting his independence and willingness to work, he was allowed to move into an apartment in the months leading up to his first year in High School.
"I should stop by and say hi sometime..." muttered Ohta, recalling that it had been at least six weeks since his last visit to the Arisawa household. Fubuki had co-signed his lease, affording him much greater freedom, so he owed her that much.
As that thought crossed his mind, Ohta turned down an alleyway that served as a shortcut to his apartment, finding a familiar black cat staring at him from atop an eye-level fence.
Recalling the name he had given the cat in the past, Ohta adopted a smile and asked, "Enjoying a sunbath, Susu?" He was more of a dog person, but this particular cat had seemingly been stalking him since he was in middle school. He wasn't absolutely sure it was the same cat, but no other feline gave him the same, almost foreboding impression.
Instead of responding to Ohta's words, the distinctive black cap leaped away, disappearing on the opposite side of the fence. Ohta had tried to catch and lure it a few times in the past, but the moment it vanished from view, it disappeared entirely. It also didn't have the same aura as a spirit or living creature, so Ohta presumed it to be some kind of Yokai.
("And that's why I hate cats...") thought Ohta. It was clear that Susu had taken an interest in him, yet, even after two years, it wouldn't let him get anywhere near it. He even bought some high-quality Chura cat treats to try and get it to open up to him, but it just ran off like it had no interest in what he had to say or offer. The most annoying part was that the treats had disappeared from his schoolbag when he went to remove them at his apartment...
Unfortunately, as he couldn't 'sense' the strange black cat, Ohta couldn't use his telekinetic abilities to grab it. His intuition also warned him that trying wasn't a good idea, so his past self had avoided antagonizing Susu as a matter of course. With mask-wearing monsters running about and causing chaos, the last thing he needed was an angry Yokai or vengeful spirit haunting him...
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"I could get used to this..." muttered Ohta, standing in the air high above downtown Karakura while wearing a winter jacket, tinted goggles, and a beanie. It was currently mid-Spring, so it got pretty cold in the evenings, especially when you didn't have anything to protect against the frigid wind blowing in from the sea.
Though he could shield himself from the cold with his psychic energy, Ohta knew it was a finite resource. Using it to give him a better vantage was one thing, but expending it to keep himself warm was a waste. The cold also helped him stay focused and fight off fatigue, so he enjoyed the feeling of the evening air as he looked down at the streets below like the pathways of an ant terrarium...
Breaking Ohta from his thoughts, a wispy, reverberating 'scream' reached his ears, echoing like a bone flute formed from a predatory animal's skull. It was enough to cause a chill to permeate the body of a normal person, compelling them to stay away, but Ohta charged toward it, descending to the streets like a meteor just as a two-meter tall, goblin-like creature with a wiry body, inordinately long arms, and a bone-white mask attempted to devour a spirit resembling a small girl.
Landing in front of the girl, Ohta raised his hand, stopping the masked creature just as it lunged forward with its three-clawed, scimitar-like fingers. The same tri-colored aura surrounding his body prevented the masked monstrosity from moving so much as a centimeter, but that was just the beginning.
"Sorry, big fella, but this is going to hurt..." said Ohta, cracking a relaxed smile as he slowly closed his hand. As he did so, the body of the masked beast began to compress in on itself, pressurized black blood discharging from cracks that formed in its carapace-like body. A few seconds later, all that remained of the beast was a shadowy mass of gore forming a sphere no larger than a medicine ball. Ohta could compress it even further, but it would be a waste of energy.
Turning toward the pigtailed spirit, identifiable by the distinctive chain dangling from the center of her chest, the somewhat cruel smile faded from Ohta's face, replaced by a gentle expression as he said, "It's about time you moved on..."
Shrinking in on herself, the young girl fearfully replied, "I...I don't know how...I'm scared..."
Taking a knee, bringing himself to eye-level with the girl, Ohta gave her a gentle pat on the head as he said, "There's nothing to be afraid of. Death is just another part of life. I can't say for certain what's waiting for you on the other side, but dwelling here will only make you sad and lonely. Now, do you want me to escort you to a shrine, or do you think you can be a big girl and pass on properly...?"
"I'm still afraid..." replied the girl, tears building in the corners of her eyes. Seeing her caused Ohta to exhale internally, but he maintained his smile as he rose to his feet, extending his hand to the girl as he said, "Then let's get you someplace safe..."
Though she was initially hesitant, the pigtailed spirit eventually accepted Ohta's hand, accompanying him to one of the more famous shrines in the region. His past self had guided several spirits to the same location. There was no enshrined god or deities present, at least not that Ohta was aware of, but when spirits passed through the Tori gate at the base of the shrine, they abruptly vanished into motes of bluish-white light. He didn't know if this was the correct course of action, but he believed it was better than leaving them to mourn and suffer in obscurity, crying out to people and family members that could neither see nor hear them...
...
..
.
Several hours after Ohta had already retired for the night, an inordinately petite woman with raven black hair and a peculiar, samurai-esque black outfit appeared atop a telephone poll, the moon appearing overlarge behind her as she stared in the direction of Karakura Town and muttered, "I sense a strong Spirit Energy..."
...
..
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Chapter 3: Sadistic Murmurs