The Life of a Normal High School Student [Open]

[fantasykiller]

Who: Everybody!
What: Double Prompts
When: July 15 - 16
Where: See Prompts
Warnings: Unnecessary studying and possible violence

Library - July 15

Completely dejected, Touma laid his head on the table in defeat. He stared at one of the books piled on the table next to his head. The title read 'In Search of Schrödinger's Cat'. It was one of many books about quantum mechanics he managed to find within the library. His goal was simple; he was planning on capitalizing on his free time to study and prevent himself falling even further behind in school. Back home, his responsibilities and general misfortune made doing any schoolwork impossible. This was not the case here. Since coming here, his free time has skyrocketed. It would be waste to let such a golden opportunity slip by.

Or at least, that was what he thought when he first began. Unfortunately, quantum mechanics was not the easiest subject to learn. It has only been about ten minutes and his brain has already burned itself out trying to comprehend what he was reading. Not even the notes he wrote seemed to help. It was like trying to read a foreign language. Touma rubbed his head in frustration.

“... Maybe I should give up for now.”

 

Fight Club - July 16

“Man, this place sure has gathered up a lot of monsters.”

Out of curiosity, he decided to give the 'Fight Club' a visit. Touma himself had no desire to participate in any of the mock battles taking place. He was perfectly content with spectating from the safety of the refreshment table. It felt misleading to label the fights going on as simple spar matches. The amount of flashy magic and impossible physical feats on display made him feel he was watching an action movie with way too much CGI. He found it both amazing and utterly terrifying how powerful everybody seemed to be. If he were to actually challenge anyone here, he doubted he would last very long.

 

Touma calmly nursed his completely non-alcoholic drink as the sparring matches begin to intensify. The spiky-haired teen didn't plan on staying long. He just wanted to see what his fellow peers were capable of. Knowing his luck, it was only matter of time before some hot-blooded guy tries to drag him off to a sparring match with them.

 

Misfortune, however, decided to subvert his expectations by bring the fight to him. A stray shot from one of the matches managed to miss its intended target and flew on a collation course towards the refreshment table. Touma started moving before he could comprehend what he was doing. He scrambled on top of the table, knocking over cups and spilling soda on anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby, to counter the incoming projectile. With a single horizontal swipe, his right hand smashed into the projectile mid-flight. The sound of shattering glass filled the air as the projectile exploded into a shower of harmless sparkles.

 

Touma stood onto of the table for a couple of seconds before realizing what he had done and awkwardly lowing himself back on the ground.

 

 

“That was pretty dangerous. Is everybody here alright?”

 

Comments

library

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai looks up from the magical theory textbook she took from Incendia.]

Studying?

[fantasykiller]

[Touma slowly lifts his head from the table to address Mai. He almost looks like he was about to bust into tears.]

"...I'm doing my best."

[nojohnyouare]

...[Mai shakes her head.] A bad subject?

[fantasykiller]

I just can't make any headway! What am I going to do once at return back home?! Am I destined to watch all my classmates move forward while I'm stuck repeating another year?! Ahh... I can already see my bright future slipping away. It's all hopeless.

[Touma slumps back down.]

[nojohnyouare]

...Is that even on a high school curriculum.

[fantasykiller]

It is for mine. My school is unique in my world due to its location so the material we have to cover is far more advanced than anywhere else. If you're interested, you can try giving this a read.

[He picks a book at random and shows it to her. The title reads 'Quantum Mechanics: Concepts and Applications'.]

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai blinks, sets down her book, and takes his to crack open.]

And it's difficult?

[fantasykiller]

Is this the part you tell me you're secretly a genius and you're going to devout yourself to saving my future school life?

[He looks at her with hope in his eyes.]

[nojohnyouare]

...............................I don't know what this is.

[Sorry.]

[fantasykiller]

No... my future. It's slipping away. Everyone, please don't leave me behind!

[He slumps down into his chair.]

[nojohnyouare]

...[Pat. Pat.]

Work hard. With dedication.

[fantasykiller]

...Thanks. I appreciate the support.

[He tries to smile at her, but it just comes off as awkward and forced.]

library 7/15

[thecompletionofthings]

Harriet plops down at the table next to Touma's, carrying a half-dozen books on magic, all at the introductory level, and one extraordinarily serious-looking tome, plus notebook and pen. She glances over at the other student as he headdesks, sees the title of his light reading.

No one's savior, Harriet. Don't intervene. Don't get involved.

"…you a physics major?"

Harriet, you dope…

[fantasykiller]

Touma twisted his head to the side and eyed the newcomer from between the gap of the stacked books surrounding him. He looked exhausted as if he had pulled an all-nighter.

"No, I'm just a high school student."

[thecompletionofthings]

"Good gods, at what school? I don't think they cover some of that stuff until like third year university, where I'm from."

[fantasykiller]

"Does Academy City mean anything to you?"

He doubted it existed where she came from, but it didn't hurt to ask.

[thecompletionofthings]

"Nope," Harriet says, "but it sounds pretty grim."

[fantasykiller]

"Well, I can't deny it has its problems, but Academy City is my home." Touma said as disappointment creeped into his voice.

"In my world, it's the most technologically advanced city on the planet. Most of the city is made up of schools and institutions created with the purpose of single-mindedly pursuing research. You could say science was practically worshiped there as its own religion. This made it pretty famous in my world, but what they're most recognized for is their research and creation of Espers. The vast majority of students that live in Academy City are Espers thanks to the Power Curriculum Program and part of the curriculum involves learning about stupidly hard subjects like quantum mechanics since they serve as the basis for how Esper abilities work."

[thecompletionofthings]

"Huh. Sounds about as weird as where I live, but different... So you're trying to get ahead while we're stuck here?" She pats her pile of books. "A sound plan, I approve, but don't kill yourself over it."

[fantasykiller]

"Yeah. Getting ahead..."

In reality, Touma was so laughably far behind in his studies that he was in serious danger of being held back. It was more appropriate to say he was desperately trying to catch up after missing so many days at school. He didn't have to courage to tell her the truth and ruin the studious image she apparently had of him.

"So, what's weird about your world?" He said in an effort to shift the conversation away from studying. "Do Espers exist where you come from?"

[thecompletionofthings]

"I don't know precisely what you mean by 'Esper'?" Harriet says. "But yeah, probably. They'd be considered supers. Which, you know, anywhere else in the world would be incredible, but I live in Halcyon City. Capes are sort of…the local industry. Or maybe the specialité de la maison."

[fantasykiller]

Touma lifted his head up from its resting place. His eyes, dulled from his intense studying, seemed to have regained their luster. Harriet now had his undivided attention.

"Supers? As in superheroes? Like the kind that appear in western comics wearing colorful spandex?"

[thecompletionofthings]

Harriet sighs. The fact that most people at the station consider capes to be fictional--and not just fictional, but greasy kid stuff--started out as mind-boggling, quickly turned amusing, but at this point is mostly exasperating.

"Yes. Harriet Miller, AEGIS registered hero number 948063719, last registered working name Nirvahara but I'm gonna change it when I get home, at your service. Forgive me for not demonstrating my costume."

FIGHT CLUB

[class_struggle]

[It was an accident, and a bad one. Alex is visibly horrified by his firebolt going wide into the crowd -

- but then the spell gets parried, unwoven in flight, harmlessly sparking. And Alex's eyes go wide.]

Far less so, thanks to you. I - I'm sorry you had to intervene.

...but thank every loving god you did. Without your counterspells it might have gotten ugly.

[fantasykiller]

"It's fine," Touma stated nonchalantly. "All that matters is that nobody got hurt."

[He doesn't bother correcting the guy about his 'counterspells'. As far as he was concerned, there wasn't any point in clarifying that he wasn't a magician or the exact nature of what he did.]

"Just be a little more careful in the future, alright?"