Episode 1: Miracle
Flashwolf96
Lurker Extraordinaire
"Oh no, I'm laaaaa~ate!"
The footfalls of a high school student pounded against the concrete sidewalk in a hurried rush. People were dodged, obstacles were avoided, and the piece of toast hanging from her lips flopped about with her movements.
All in all, it was a typical day for Senai Koroko.
Being late for school, appointments, or anything was as natural for Koroko as breathing. Her lack of punctuality was so apparent to the people around her that she came to be quite popular in her neighborhood. As such, she exchanged greetings with her various neighbors and acquaintances that she came across in her sprint for school.
As per her daily routine, she headed for the crosswalk at a popular intersection, but cursed her poor luck at the realization that the pedestrian light had just turned red. There was no time to wait, she thought to herself. She absolutely had to get to school as soon as possible, and so she made a rather bold decision to simply rush across the crosswalk and hope to dodge any vehicles that might collide with her.
However, fate was no so kind to Senai Koroko.
Within her first three steps, the normally cheerful high school girl was suddenly faced with a rather peculiar situation. A large semi-truck had unfortunately been speeding on that particular day at that particular time on that particular street, and it was currently positioned in a path that would lead it to slam right into Koroko's side. And as if sensing that her already-horrible morning was about to get even worse, Koroko turned just in time to see the towering face of the truck moments before it hit her. With only seconds to react, the rather air-headed girl could only wonder one thing.
Why didn't the driver even try to slow down? Was she being targeted in some sort of hit-and-run murder?
And just as she thought she caught a ghost of a smile on the driver's face, Senai Koroko's world turned upside-down.
"Oh my god!"
"I-Is she dead?!"
"Someone call an ambulance! A girl was hit by a truck!"
Many voices shouted in the distance, and Koroko realized that she must have been thrown pretty far by the truck. All she could feel was a dull ache in her chest, and she remained still from her position on the ground. Her arms were spread out on her sides, and she was staring straight up at the sky with a neutral expression. Many people began to crowd around her, worriedly attempting to asses her health and keep her conscious until an ambulance could arrive. They seemed particularly distressed at the fact that she wasn't moving at all, so everyone was naturally surprised when the girl abruptly sat up with an oddly serious look on her face. In response to their appalled stares, she opened her mouth and...
Suddenly, Senai Koroko began to cry.
It was a loud, childish wail. The kind one would hear from a guilty infant that had been scolded. For minutes, she sobbed amidst the now crowded street before someone finally had enough sense of mind to approach her.
"U-Um... Are you alright, Miss?"
Koroko stopped crying to address the man who'd spoken to her. Her big, wet eyes looked over his profile, and those of the people surrounding her, and slowly shifted her position until she was on her hands and knees. But instead of getting to her feet as most had assumed, her head suddenly dipped down until it pressed against the cobblestone road.
"I'M SORRY!!!~"
As the girl began to ramble on and on about inconveniencing everyone and possibly damaging the truck of her assailant, any sense of rationality to the situation had been completely thrown out the window. But slowly, one thing and one thing only was becoming clear to the pedestrians surrounding the hapless youth.
Senai Koroko had lived. Not only that, but she had not sustained a single injury from the incident.
As if suddenly remembering something, Koroko's head shot up from the ground as she let out an 'Ah!'. Her head whipped around, scanning for her various belongings that had been strewn about from the crash. With the kind of coordination that someone who'd been recently struck by a fast-moving vehicle should not posses, she set about collecting her schoolbag, shoes, cellphone, one of her hair ties that had come undone, and finally the partially eaten piece of toast that now lay haphazardly on the sidewalk.
After picking it up, Koroko consumed it without care for its dirtied state, shocking and horrifying the crowd far more than the collision had. But the girl who always moved through life at her own pace paid no mind and simply bowed twice in apology to everyone who'd shown concern for her as well as the truck that was suspiciously nowhere to be seen after hitting her, and resumed her panicked dash for school.
-----
Finally, she arrived at Nōryoku Academy, the school she'd already completed a full year at. Though she'd already garnered something of a reputation with the school's populace, it was not one so kind.
You see, Senai Koroko is special.
Because of circumstances she couldn't quite understand, Koroko had suddenly found herself with the strange ability to be immune to any kind of damage, effectively making her invincible. In her sixteen years of life, she had found herself in over three hundred situations where one would normally lose their life. And yet, she would walk away from each one with no wounds whatsoever. She had never experienced the sensation known as "pain" for as long as she could remember, and also found that she could even survive underwater and without things such as oxygen or sustenance indefinitely. It truly seemed that old age was the only way she could perish.
Naturally, she became curious as to who, or what she really was. A quick internet search had brought her to a particular word that would come to be her anchor for maintaining a sense of rationality over herself for the rest of her life.
Esper.
A person that has manifested or can manifest supernatural abilities, known as ESP. After studying the topic extensively for hours on end every day, Koroko came to a single, gratifying conclusion.
Senai Koroko was an esper.
The thought of finally being able to comprehend her own existence even in such a small way gave her a sense of relief she hadn't known she'd been seeking up until that moment. From there, she'd been able to live her life relatively normally, deciding that being invincible did not need to change the fact that she was a human being who could strive for a happy life like any other person.
However one day, a strange thought suddenly came to her.
Is there anyone else like me?
Surely if she herself was an esper, then the idea that others could exist certainly wasn't outside the realm of possibility, right? Koroko did not waste any time in jumping onto the idea. The idea of not just finding others like her, but espers themselves fascinated her so much that before she knew it, she'd already submitted a Club Appeal Request to the student council. The president, surprised to see the normally drifty Senai Koroko suddenly so motivated, did not give much thought to accepting the request on the condition that she dutifully perform her club activities and find more members.
The reason why she was in such a rush to get to school is directly related to the latter.
You see, Koroko hit a roadblock almost immediately after her club was approved: How was she supposed to find more espers to join her? It wasn't as if they were common, since she hadn't seen them on the news or really heard of any certain proof of their existence before. In fact, what were the chances that there even were more espers at Nōryoku anyway? Granted, she'd only spent a single year there, but it isn't as if she'd heard of any supernatural goings on aside from the usual ghost stories and myths. It was a serious issue that needed careful consideration.
So after mulling over it in homeroom, Senai Koroko came to a sudden epiphany.
Why waste time searching for espers that may not exist, when she can just have the espers come to her instead? It was so genius that she couldn't help but pat herself on the back. During the lunch period, she set about creating an ad poster to put up on the school bulletin board, and by the end of the day she'd finished it with pride.
That was two weeks ago. Today, the crudely-drawn images and childishly-scribbled message still sit there, awaiting the day someone would read its contents and abide by the instructions provided, in order to secretly meet with Koroko, discuss their esper abilities, and possibly even join the ESP Club officially.
So, like every other day for the past two weeks, Koroko immediately dashed inside the school, hurriedly changed into her indoor shoes, and beelined for her designated club room on the second floor of the school. She threw open the door with reckless abandon and stuck her head in, her eyes sparkling with hope that today the room would not be empty.
But, like all of the other times she'd done this, her efforts bore no fruit. Shoulders sagging slightly, Koroko turned and left the room, only later realizing that classes had already started and even if someone had followed the request, they would have long left the moment the bell rang.
-----
During the lunch period, Koroko went to check on the ad poster in order to confirm that it hadn't been tampered with or destroyed again by students who found the idea ridiculous. However, that day had proved stranger than any other thus far.
After all, the ad poster was not defaced, but missing in its entirety.
Someone who wanted to pull a prank on her or simply found the idea of poking fun at her adorable doodles a good use of their time would never remove the poster completely, as it defeated the purpose. And she couldn't think of anyone that would be so malicious toward her that they would get rid of the poster, especially after two weeks had already passed without issue. No, there was only one conclusion she could make of the situation.
Someone saw the poster...and must have decided to pick it up!
Koroko was ecstatic. The only kind of person that would take an interest in the poster enough to take it with them would have to be an esper, right? Then maybe someone had gone to the club room in the morning, and her tardiness had simply prevented them from meeting.
There was no reason to get discouraged at that. After all, her instructions had accounted for such a thing, and asked anyone interested to wait in the club room both before and after school. In other words, if her line of thinking was correct, she would get to meet an esper very, very soon! Or at least whomever took the poster...
A wonderful blend of emotions passed through her as she anticipated how the meeting would go. Who were they? Were they nice? What would their ESP be? Would they be interested in joining her club? It was all very exciting, and Koroko found herself unable to stop thinking about it until the hour of destiny finally arrived.
She performed the class-ending ritual with as much gusto as she usually did, bowing her head to her teacher far lower than her peers, and bolted out of the room as soon as they were dismissed. Her target was her club room, and she would not let anything get in the way of her arrival.
Like she'd done that morning, she flung the door open with a big smile on her face as she prepared to greet her fellow esper and potential new club member. "Hello! I'm Senai Koroko from class B, and the president of the ESP Club! Are you the one who-"
It was then that she noticed the state of the room. Just as it had been that morning, just as it had been for the past two weeks, the room was undisturbed. The decorations she'd put up were still there, the manga she'd brought from home were still tucked away on the bookshelf, and the window that she'd forgotten to close the previous day was still sitting open.
No one had come into the room. No one was waiting for her. Just like always, she'd gotten her hopes up only to be disappointed in the end.
Koroko slowly stepped inside and closed the door to the room. Her bag was tossed carelessly onto the table as she took a seat and began to wonder where she went wrong. The only responses she'd gotten so far for her ad were pranks. Despite her best effort, she couldn't find a single member interested in joining her club, let alone another esper. Perhaps this whole idea was ridiculous in the first place. Sure she was invincible, but what if it had nothing to do with espers, and she was just some sort of anomaly of the human race? What if she truly was alone in her extraordinary nature? The school already had her pegged as some sort of lunatic for her stalwart dedication to locating and researching espers, so perhaps it was time for her to simply accept the reality that she would never truly understand why she was the way she was, and would never find anyone that could relate to her plight.
For the second time that day, Senai Koroko began to cry.
She didn't want it. She didn't want to go back to the days of fear, of isolation, of hiding herself away from others in order to protect an identity she knew nothing about. Though she tried so hard to convince herself that she could be like everyone else, that she could live a normal life like any other human, deep down she knew that she was only ignoring her own slowly-growing separation from the rest of the world. She didn't know what "pain" felt like, or what it meant to fear your own death. She could run into oncoming traffic without a care in the world, and the idea of being physically assaulted had never even crossed her mind. The very earth itself could be destroyed, and she knew that she would turn out just fine.
Her tears of despair echoed throughout the empty room as she prayed that someone, anyone would walk through that door. Even if she knew it was pointless in the end, even she believed in miracles. If someone appeared, then she wouldn't have to shut down the club. She wouldn't have to feel helpless and alone again. If someone would only walk through that door, all of her efforts would not be in vain. And so, she prayed. She prayed with every fiber of her being that someone would come; that someone would hear her plight and come to set her heart at ease.
Looking back, it was perhaps at that moment that Koroko had manifested a second ESP. The ability that would allow her to create bonds, to bring hope to herself and others, and to even change the world itself.
Though she would never come to realize it, Senai Koroko had the ability to create miracles.
The door slid open slowly, hesitantly, and a figure stepped inside. Clutching the very same ad poster that had gone missing that day in their hand, the person gazed at the hunched form of Senai Koroko and said...
The footfalls of a high school student pounded against the concrete sidewalk in a hurried rush. People were dodged, obstacles were avoided, and the piece of toast hanging from her lips flopped about with her movements.
All in all, it was a typical day for Senai Koroko.
Being late for school, appointments, or anything was as natural for Koroko as breathing. Her lack of punctuality was so apparent to the people around her that she came to be quite popular in her neighborhood. As such, she exchanged greetings with her various neighbors and acquaintances that she came across in her sprint for school.
As per her daily routine, she headed for the crosswalk at a popular intersection, but cursed her poor luck at the realization that the pedestrian light had just turned red. There was no time to wait, she thought to herself. She absolutely had to get to school as soon as possible, and so she made a rather bold decision to simply rush across the crosswalk and hope to dodge any vehicles that might collide with her.
However, fate was no so kind to Senai Koroko.
Within her first three steps, the normally cheerful high school girl was suddenly faced with a rather peculiar situation. A large semi-truck had unfortunately been speeding on that particular day at that particular time on that particular street, and it was currently positioned in a path that would lead it to slam right into Koroko's side. And as if sensing that her already-horrible morning was about to get even worse, Koroko turned just in time to see the towering face of the truck moments before it hit her. With only seconds to react, the rather air-headed girl could only wonder one thing.
Why didn't the driver even try to slow down? Was she being targeted in some sort of hit-and-run murder?
And just as she thought she caught a ghost of a smile on the driver's face, Senai Koroko's world turned upside-down.
"Oh my god!"
"I-Is she dead?!"
"Someone call an ambulance! A girl was hit by a truck!"
Many voices shouted in the distance, and Koroko realized that she must have been thrown pretty far by the truck. All she could feel was a dull ache in her chest, and she remained still from her position on the ground. Her arms were spread out on her sides, and she was staring straight up at the sky with a neutral expression. Many people began to crowd around her, worriedly attempting to asses her health and keep her conscious until an ambulance could arrive. They seemed particularly distressed at the fact that she wasn't moving at all, so everyone was naturally surprised when the girl abruptly sat up with an oddly serious look on her face. In response to their appalled stares, she opened her mouth and...
Suddenly, Senai Koroko began to cry.
It was a loud, childish wail. The kind one would hear from a guilty infant that had been scolded. For minutes, she sobbed amidst the now crowded street before someone finally had enough sense of mind to approach her.
"U-Um... Are you alright, Miss?"
Koroko stopped crying to address the man who'd spoken to her. Her big, wet eyes looked over his profile, and those of the people surrounding her, and slowly shifted her position until she was on her hands and knees. But instead of getting to her feet as most had assumed, her head suddenly dipped down until it pressed against the cobblestone road.
"I'M SORRY!!!~"
As the girl began to ramble on and on about inconveniencing everyone and possibly damaging the truck of her assailant, any sense of rationality to the situation had been completely thrown out the window. But slowly, one thing and one thing only was becoming clear to the pedestrians surrounding the hapless youth.
Senai Koroko had lived. Not only that, but she had not sustained a single injury from the incident.
As if suddenly remembering something, Koroko's head shot up from the ground as she let out an 'Ah!'. Her head whipped around, scanning for her various belongings that had been strewn about from the crash. With the kind of coordination that someone who'd been recently struck by a fast-moving vehicle should not posses, she set about collecting her schoolbag, shoes, cellphone, one of her hair ties that had come undone, and finally the partially eaten piece of toast that now lay haphazardly on the sidewalk.
After picking it up, Koroko consumed it without care for its dirtied state, shocking and horrifying the crowd far more than the collision had. But the girl who always moved through life at her own pace paid no mind and simply bowed twice in apology to everyone who'd shown concern for her as well as the truck that was suspiciously nowhere to be seen after hitting her, and resumed her panicked dash for school.
-----
Finally, she arrived at Nōryoku Academy, the school she'd already completed a full year at. Though she'd already garnered something of a reputation with the school's populace, it was not one so kind.
You see, Senai Koroko is special.
Because of circumstances she couldn't quite understand, Koroko had suddenly found herself with the strange ability to be immune to any kind of damage, effectively making her invincible. In her sixteen years of life, she had found herself in over three hundred situations where one would normally lose their life. And yet, she would walk away from each one with no wounds whatsoever. She had never experienced the sensation known as "pain" for as long as she could remember, and also found that she could even survive underwater and without things such as oxygen or sustenance indefinitely. It truly seemed that old age was the only way she could perish.
Naturally, she became curious as to who, or what she really was. A quick internet search had brought her to a particular word that would come to be her anchor for maintaining a sense of rationality over herself for the rest of her life.
Esper.
A person that has manifested or can manifest supernatural abilities, known as ESP. After studying the topic extensively for hours on end every day, Koroko came to a single, gratifying conclusion.
Senai Koroko was an esper.
The thought of finally being able to comprehend her own existence even in such a small way gave her a sense of relief she hadn't known she'd been seeking up until that moment. From there, she'd been able to live her life relatively normally, deciding that being invincible did not need to change the fact that she was a human being who could strive for a happy life like any other person.
However one day, a strange thought suddenly came to her.
Is there anyone else like me?
Surely if she herself was an esper, then the idea that others could exist certainly wasn't outside the realm of possibility, right? Koroko did not waste any time in jumping onto the idea. The idea of not just finding others like her, but espers themselves fascinated her so much that before she knew it, she'd already submitted a Club Appeal Request to the student council. The president, surprised to see the normally drifty Senai Koroko suddenly so motivated, did not give much thought to accepting the request on the condition that she dutifully perform her club activities and find more members.
The reason why she was in such a rush to get to school is directly related to the latter.
You see, Koroko hit a roadblock almost immediately after her club was approved: How was she supposed to find more espers to join her? It wasn't as if they were common, since she hadn't seen them on the news or really heard of any certain proof of their existence before. In fact, what were the chances that there even were more espers at Nōryoku anyway? Granted, she'd only spent a single year there, but it isn't as if she'd heard of any supernatural goings on aside from the usual ghost stories and myths. It was a serious issue that needed careful consideration.
So after mulling over it in homeroom, Senai Koroko came to a sudden epiphany.
Why waste time searching for espers that may not exist, when she can just have the espers come to her instead? It was so genius that she couldn't help but pat herself on the back. During the lunch period, she set about creating an ad poster to put up on the school bulletin board, and by the end of the day she'd finished it with pride.
That was two weeks ago. Today, the crudely-drawn images and childishly-scribbled message still sit there, awaiting the day someone would read its contents and abide by the instructions provided, in order to secretly meet with Koroko, discuss their esper abilities, and possibly even join the ESP Club officially.
So, like every other day for the past two weeks, Koroko immediately dashed inside the school, hurriedly changed into her indoor shoes, and beelined for her designated club room on the second floor of the school. She threw open the door with reckless abandon and stuck her head in, her eyes sparkling with hope that today the room would not be empty.
But, like all of the other times she'd done this, her efforts bore no fruit. Shoulders sagging slightly, Koroko turned and left the room, only later realizing that classes had already started and even if someone had followed the request, they would have long left the moment the bell rang.
-----
During the lunch period, Koroko went to check on the ad poster in order to confirm that it hadn't been tampered with or destroyed again by students who found the idea ridiculous. However, that day had proved stranger than any other thus far.
After all, the ad poster was not defaced, but missing in its entirety.
Someone who wanted to pull a prank on her or simply found the idea of poking fun at her adorable doodles a good use of their time would never remove the poster completely, as it defeated the purpose. And she couldn't think of anyone that would be so malicious toward her that they would get rid of the poster, especially after two weeks had already passed without issue. No, there was only one conclusion she could make of the situation.
Someone saw the poster...and must have decided to pick it up!
Koroko was ecstatic. The only kind of person that would take an interest in the poster enough to take it with them would have to be an esper, right? Then maybe someone had gone to the club room in the morning, and her tardiness had simply prevented them from meeting.
There was no reason to get discouraged at that. After all, her instructions had accounted for such a thing, and asked anyone interested to wait in the club room both before and after school. In other words, if her line of thinking was correct, she would get to meet an esper very, very soon! Or at least whomever took the poster...
A wonderful blend of emotions passed through her as she anticipated how the meeting would go. Who were they? Were they nice? What would their ESP be? Would they be interested in joining her club? It was all very exciting, and Koroko found herself unable to stop thinking about it until the hour of destiny finally arrived.
She performed the class-ending ritual with as much gusto as she usually did, bowing her head to her teacher far lower than her peers, and bolted out of the room as soon as they were dismissed. Her target was her club room, and she would not let anything get in the way of her arrival.
Like she'd done that morning, she flung the door open with a big smile on her face as she prepared to greet her fellow esper and potential new club member. "Hello! I'm Senai Koroko from class B, and the president of the ESP Club! Are you the one who-"
It was then that she noticed the state of the room. Just as it had been that morning, just as it had been for the past two weeks, the room was undisturbed. The decorations she'd put up were still there, the manga she'd brought from home were still tucked away on the bookshelf, and the window that she'd forgotten to close the previous day was still sitting open.
No one had come into the room. No one was waiting for her. Just like always, she'd gotten her hopes up only to be disappointed in the end.
Koroko slowly stepped inside and closed the door to the room. Her bag was tossed carelessly onto the table as she took a seat and began to wonder where she went wrong. The only responses she'd gotten so far for her ad were pranks. Despite her best effort, she couldn't find a single member interested in joining her club, let alone another esper. Perhaps this whole idea was ridiculous in the first place. Sure she was invincible, but what if it had nothing to do with espers, and she was just some sort of anomaly of the human race? What if she truly was alone in her extraordinary nature? The school already had her pegged as some sort of lunatic for her stalwart dedication to locating and researching espers, so perhaps it was time for her to simply accept the reality that she would never truly understand why she was the way she was, and would never find anyone that could relate to her plight.
For the second time that day, Senai Koroko began to cry.
She didn't want it. She didn't want to go back to the days of fear, of isolation, of hiding herself away from others in order to protect an identity she knew nothing about. Though she tried so hard to convince herself that she could be like everyone else, that she could live a normal life like any other human, deep down she knew that she was only ignoring her own slowly-growing separation from the rest of the world. She didn't know what "pain" felt like, or what it meant to fear your own death. She could run into oncoming traffic without a care in the world, and the idea of being physically assaulted had never even crossed her mind. The very earth itself could be destroyed, and she knew that she would turn out just fine.
Her tears of despair echoed throughout the empty room as she prayed that someone, anyone would walk through that door. Even if she knew it was pointless in the end, even she believed in miracles. If someone appeared, then she wouldn't have to shut down the club. She wouldn't have to feel helpless and alone again. If someone would only walk through that door, all of her efforts would not be in vain. And so, she prayed. She prayed with every fiber of her being that someone would come; that someone would hear her plight and come to set her heart at ease.
Looking back, it was perhaps at that moment that Koroko had manifested a second ESP. The ability that would allow her to create bonds, to bring hope to herself and others, and to even change the world itself.
Though she would never come to realize it, Senai Koroko had the ability to create miracles.
The door slid open slowly, hesitantly, and a figure stepped inside. Clutching the very same ad poster that had gone missing that day in their hand, the person gazed at the hunched form of Senai Koroko and said...
Last edited:
