[1] Introduction
In the year 2130, the world descends into anarchy as 25% of the global population begins to develop extraordinary abilities. The term "Astral" and the title "Astral User" were widely used to describe this power and those who possess it.
With these newfound abilities, stability across the world began to plummet in an instant. Many accidents and catastrophes occur; people lose control of their abilities and numerous unusual crimes employing astral ability start to emerge globally.
Discrimination and persecution of Astral Users are inevitable. With the tension rising and the conflict heating up, a tipping point was eventually reached and the world was plunged into a catastrophic long civil war. The war started in the year 2145 and only ended by the end of the year 2200 by a group of Astral Users who managed to rally the sympathy of both Astral Users and the general populace.
Through the establishment of the Astral Global Association (or AGA for short), they hope to put an end to the discrimination towards Astral Users. Working with government officials from throughout the globe, they opened branches in a wide variety of countries. They closely cooperated with the local government as they started to establish their own "Agents" throughout the world. This new agent not only handles astral-related problems more effectively but also serves as a way to monitor Astral Users.
A stunning young woman with shoulder-length silver hair and a black sailor uniform could be seen reading a book titled "The Whole Debacle of Astral" while seated at a desk in a deserted classroom in the year 2196. The young lady, who can't be more than 15 at most, is usually seen toting around a stylish walking cane.
"This is interesting..." The girl muttered.
The girl's name is Eva Lawrence. She is a half-English and half-Japanese girl currently studying in Japan due to where her father currently works.
Eva appears flawless on the surface. If you merely look at her behaviors and demeanor, she comes across as clever, attractive, and appears to be friendly and kind. Unfortunately though, that is only visible from the outside. She is, as you would say, "Not right in the head." Eva lacks empathy and has little attachment to anything including herself; she gets bored easily and shows little to no regret when she makes a mistake, and her tone of voice is always cold and empty.
She was born prematurely due to her extremely high Astral power capability. She has trouble walking without help and is prone to illness because her body had trouble developing normally when she was a child. Her parents took her to the best doctor in the country but with no hope for recovery.
Due to a combination of this, during her childhood, she is avoided by most of her peers. She just can't fit into a normal society; she is not normal. Her actions caused her parents to become reasonably concerned. When she was 10 years old, they took her to see Dr. Kenzo Katsuragi, their go-to psychologist, in an effort to determine what was causing her peculiar behavior. Nevertheless, the doctor informed her parents that she was perfectly normal. What is even more unexpected is that Eva's behavior completely changed after the checkup; she is now expressing herself more frequently and also gained a sudden strong moral conviction and was usually seen lending a helping hand to people in need.
Despite Eva's protests, her parents became even more concerned and insisted that she visit the same psychologist for a checkup routinely.
"Good day to you, Doctor." Eva said, smiling at her 'favorite' psychologist. But for some reason, the doctor seems anxious and can be seen sweating at the sight of Eva.
"Ah, Ms. Eva. Welcome..." The doctor's voice almost sounds cracking.
Dr. Katsuragi is a man in his forties. He has received numerous accolades and has successfully treated even the trickiest and most difficult patients. But during his entire years of working, nothing can make him want to quit this line of work other than the girl in front of him. She appears to be a kind, delicate, and caring girl—until she wasn't.
The first time they met, he knew the girl in front of him was not right in the head. All of her behavior leads toward a psychopathic tendency. She innocently begs him to talk in private just before he is about to share his findings with her parents. She claimed that she needed to confess something but was embarrassed to do so in front of her parents. To his amazement, when he accepted, the ten-year-old girl threatened him with a photo of him having an extramarital affair with his wife and evidence of his involvement in a criminal data exchange. She also offered him a massive bribe as compensation as long he told her parents there was nothing wrong with her. Thinking about it still gives him a shudder. Who knows where she gets all that information from, but sure as hell, he doesn't want to mess with her when she can easily read people's minds.
"So... are you done writing my "Checkup" doctor?" Eva asks while taking a seat opposite him. Walking is tiring for her, so she happily sits and puts her cane beside her.
"Here is the report... You can give it to your parents." Dr. Katsuragi carefully placed the forged report on the table. The report's first page shows that Eva's therapy progress is going well and there is no need for more treatment. A while ago, they both agreed to make up some mental illness for Eva because her parents didn't believe anything at one point and insisted that she get a second opinion, which she barely managed to avoid by pleading that she was feeling a lot better when talking to Dr. Katsuragi.
"Well, that was fast. I barely sit for a minute, whatever. Thank you for your cooperation, doctor. I hope we can work together again." Eva stands up and grabs her walking cane. She offers her best smile to Dr. Katsuragi. Her smile can smith any man that looks, but for him, it was the devil smiling.
"I hope not..."
"Well, aren't you honest? But I think we will meet again if my calculation is correct. Well, good day to you, doctor." Eva walked out of his office room, and the sound of a cane tapping the floor gradually became silent after a few seconds. Dr. Katsuragi can finally breathe in relief. He can finally stop worrying about her threat of making him disappear, but her last words still give him the chill.
Eva leaves the hospital and waits for someone to come collect her on the bench near the parking lot. She is incredibly bored. Eva has already achieved a perfect academy score and even makes an effort to appear like a good person. She always offers help to everyone she encounters just to reduce her boredom. For her, there is only a never-ending tedium of existence. The whole charade with Dr. Katsuragi also ends; she needs something to fill in the blanks again.
"Miss Eva, my apologies for making you wait. Here is the drink." A young boy in a formal suit who acted like a servant came to Eva with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Thank you for the trouble Ryuji." Eva takes the cup of coffee and slowly enjoys the taste of the caffeine, taking her time feeling every sip of it.
"It's my greatest joy, but if I may ask, does something happen? You appear a little sad, miss." Ryuji asks her, perceptive as always when it comes to her.
"Nothing, let's just go home. I want to walk home with my own foot today. Call off the cab." Eva just shrugs off the concern of her butler.
"I must disagree with that, miss. The madam insists that you must stop overexerting yourself unnecessarily."
"Whatever." She was not in the mood to argue, so she begrudgingly agreed.
After a few minutes of waiting, the taxi arrived and they both entered the car. The journey to home was uneventful, and she almost fell asleep because of it. However, a radio broadcast in the car piqued her interest. 'A group of Astral agents has successfully apprehended a large number of a terrorist group. The group of terrorists who were known as 'the Initiator' proclaimed themselves as liberators of Astral Users and blatantly promoted their radical goals to take down the AGA and the peace the AGA brought with it.'
"They always have something to do, huh... how nice of them." Eva has always dreamed of becoming an Astral Agent ever since she read a book about superheroes in her boredom. Still, that dream is nigh impossible with her current health and Astral power records.
When a child reaches six years old, they must undergo an Astral power measurement test to determent what kind of power and how strong that power is for the government record. Eva's Astral power level is incredibly high, scoring about 187 when they measure it with a machine. They thought it was a mistake since it was impossible to go above 100. They measure it over and over again but with the same results. They don't know what the cause of it is but just shrug it off as a one-in-a-time error since Eva's ability, while it seems very powerful, was not out of the picture. When experts manually analyze and theorize the scale, it should be only around 87. Ultimately, they just settled with that ranking her in the A tier.
Eva's current recorded Astral ability is called 'Minds Links' She can connect her mind to any person she wants and basically has "access" to that person's brain. She can transmit words directly to the person's brain, acting like telepathy, stunning a person's brain or accessing any memory the person has or what they are thinking at the current moment. She can link to multiple people simultaneously with little to no side effects other than confusing her own brain when she tries to read the minds of thirty people simultaneously. While very powerful, this has little to no use in active combat. Suppose she tries to enter an Astral Agents' school with her current records; she will definitely be put as an Intelligence Agent. Compared to being a Field Agent, which is heavily packed with action, that is boring for her.
That is what was written on the record... But Eva is an irregularity amongst irregularity. The Astral powers measurement is not wrong; her Astral power score managed to reach 187 because she had two different abilities, which had never been recorded before or even known was even possible. Eva never told anyone about her second ability due to fear of her mask of "normality" being destroyed. People in her past already considered her not normal. If people know she has a second ability, she might be isolated by society or, even worse, gather some unwanted attention from AGA, which might be exciting or straight up a bother in her life.
Eva's unrecorded Astral ability is called Amplifier. This is one of the rarest natural Astral power a person can have. At the same time, her Minds Links is a heritable Astral ability that comes from her father; nobody really knows what cause an Astral power to become inheritable, but it is a very rare occurrence and valuable when it comes to happen.
With Amplifier, she can strengthen her body strength, perception, reflect speed, and many others. Since her Astral power level on Amplifier is 100, she can amplify her body to a ridiculous degree, transforming her from a crippled girl to a superhuman in an instant. How she wishes she could openly use this ability and stop having difficulty walking using her stupid walking cane.
'If only there was a way to make my life far more interesting, packed with action like an Astral Agent while also retaining my normal everyday life. If only I could just be a different pers- Oh wait.' Eva's thoughts were interrupted by her own idea; she even forgot that she was in the car and suddenly tried to stand up, resulting in her head bumping into the car roof.
"Miss Eva?" Ryuji is starting to get confused by his young lady's mood today. At one moment, she looks like a lost person, and the next thing he knows, she grins happily like a child.
"Ouch, that hurts... It's nothing, Ryuji. I just thought of something fun, fufufu~."
'That's it! Why didn't I think of this idea sooner? I'll just create a second identity and act like a hidden vigilante or villain. This is the best plot ever, straight out of a manga! The enemies... Eh, I'll just make one along the way.'
That day the biggest enemy of the world was born; conspiracy will unfold, hidden history will be revealed, and blood will be shed by her crusade for "Truth."
Author Note: This is my very first time writing, so I need full HONESTY on the review. I'll continue this or maybe scrap it and find new ideas or decide to improve how I write... who knows. Anyway, I need feedback. So take this as a little experiment of your own.