Third Side of the Esper Hero Triangle

Prologue

7 Years Old. That was the first time I realized my biggest fear. I realized that I had an uncontrollable urge to make everyone like me. If anyone ridiculed or insulted me, I just wanted to run away and hide in my room for days. I soon learned I had what was called Catagelophobia, the fear of being ridiculed or put down. It didn't help that I was trying to hide my hidden abilities. I hadn't used them in a year and a half.

The last time I used it was when a person was bullying another kid, and I lost control and lashed out at the bully. I remember a red aura surrounding me and the bully's right hand turned a full three-hundred and sixty degrees. I still remember the wails and cried of the older bully. I still remember seeing the skin tear at his wrist and blood pouring down his arm and hand down to the hard gravel under his foot.

No one ever found out about me, but guilt eventually overtook me, and I told the principal that it was me. He scolded me and gave me a two week out-of-school suspension, but it would've been longer if I hadn't admitted to doing it. The scolding session nearly caused me to collapse out of panic. Every second he yelled at me, my heart rate increased with every sentence. I did everything to suppress the tears in my eyes. My eyes actually began hurting, as though the tears were building up around my eyes and began crushing them. After about ten minutes of scolding and a call to my mother, I left the office. I asked if I could go to the restroom. He reluctantly agreed, but he told me to come back in less than ten minutes.

I ran out of the office and towards the nearest restroom. Tears began leaking out of my eyes. I reached the restroom. Luckily it was class time, so there were very few students roaming the halls. I closed the restroom door. I put my hands on the sink and leaned on it. I looked at my reflection. My oil, black hair draped over my red eyes. I rolled up my long-sleeved, dark red shirt. I screamed as loud as I could. The tears poured down my face faster than I thought possible. My nose ran and my voice became hoarse. Sweat began dripping down my forehead. I knew that I couldn't stay for much longer without the principal getting even angrier. I grabbed a handful of paper towels and wiped my face off. I sniffled a few times before throwing away the paper towels. My eyes were outlined in red. There were still faint lines of tears on my freckled cheeks. I pushed my sleeves back around my wrists. I opened the door and saw the empty hallway to my right and left. I let go of the door, and it closed on its own. I put my hands in the deep pockets of my gray sweatpants and walked back to the office.

I reached the office and pulled open the glass door. He was typing on his computer.

"Sit down, please." He said, politely in his deep voice. I took a seat at one of the leather chairs up against the glass surrounding his office. He tapped a few more keys before turning his chair towards home. He interlocked his hand and laid them on his desk. "Are you okay?" He noticed the tear streams on my cheeks.

"Y-yeah." I managed to croak out. My voice was almost gone from the blood-curdling scream from earlier. I'm lucky that the walls were thick and the door let little sound out. "Just really guilty. I'm s-sorry, sir." He sighed and said,

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier." He leaned back in his chair and put his hands in his pockets. "I was just angry and couldn't cope with it very well. I'm sorry for making you cry. However, I will admit that you should be sorry. The kid's going to have to go through some major treatment." He then leaned forward and asked, "What kind of strength do you have that could allow you to do that?" I put my head down and began sweating as I didn't want him to know I was an esper. I just wanted to fit in. I began frantically thinking of a lie. "Kazan, are you listening to me?" I looked up at him and came up with the best thing I could.

"I w-was just angry at him f-for hurting someone, and I wanted to protect the person being bullied." I began quickly thinking of the next sentence. "I felt a surge of energy and wanted him to stop p-punching the kid, so I decided to m-make sure he couldn't hurt him an-anymore. I didn't th-think I had so much strength." I hoped he bought it. A few voice cracks littered my lie. He looked down and sighed. He heard my sniffling and grabbed his tissue box. He stood up and began walking towards me. He was a tall, lanky man. He had round glasses with dark blond hair. He handed me the box while looking down at me.