School Trip (Zamoreus)

A Friday, possibly, one of the greatest days for the school kids, as once this day ends, they get to do nothing for two days, and then the cycle begins again, but they don't have the brains to think ahead, they just stay in the present, and think in the present. And today, they were on a field trip, which was basically a day off of school, no one knew where they were going, and frankly, nobody cared they were just happy, they weren't stuck inside, although, the hot sweaty smell of the bus they were on wasn't much better than being stuck in the classroom, Yukio, and three of his friends took the back seats in this journey; the back seats on a bus are a special place, as however sits on the back seats, are coolest on the bus, a brutal system in the world of teens, but this was true. The journey wasn't that long, a total of twenty minutes, give or take a few, and it flew by, as they had a large scale paper ball fight the majority of the way, and when the teachers told them to stop, they would simply attempt to tip the bus, on every bend, sadly they didn't succeed.

The building they were at was incredibly huge, you could barely even see the top of it, the teacher quickly checked who was here, and then they went in, Yukio couldn't imagine why a company such as this would let 28, teens running around the place, but he wasn't complaining, Tora, one of Yukio's closest friends, and five other he was quite fond of, proposed sneaking off, and checking out the building themselves, and naturally, he said yes, so once the tour began, they all took their own detour. This wasn't the smartest plan, after five minutes of running up stairs, and taking a lot of turns, they were completely lost, but they all found the funny side of it. "Hey guys, wait up, i'm gonna take a leak" he entered a bathroom, and he was actually surprised, they were so unbelievably clean, it didn't seem possible, but he wasn't one to admire toilets, so he done his business, and made his way out. He looked left and right, as he left the bathroom, he let out a slight chuckle "assholes..." it seemed like they would find it funny to ditch him.

Yukio took out the flavourless piece of gum, he had been chewing on for a good hour now, and stuck it, under the door handle of the bathroom door, he quickly made sure no one was looking and walked off, as he stuck a new piece in his mouth, he would have his own tour of the place.

Rarely was it that Zamoreus allowed his business to force him out on trips that actually involved doing business, he preferred doing that through communication networks rather then through meeting people but this one demanded it. The Japanese, a people that had from the very moment he had taken over after his fathers death left him both annoyed and full of admiration, at the moment he felt far more of the latter. How a people that from the popular culture delivered from the Internet appeared so amusing could be so incredibly dull to deal with in business he could not imagine and now once again their culture had forced him to make sacrifices for the sake of the company.

For six hours he had been bound to meetings with the same dull Japanese businessmen, bowing and greeting and delivering the same bullshit over and over simply to ensure a loyal market but finally he was free from that torment. Now however he was left dealing with whatever leftovers he had in the country from his office in the massive building, his headache finally lifted as he got to deal with computers again rather then people. His misfortune would finally lift however as he could sense a presence inside the structure, different from any he had sensed before yet still so familiar.

Drawn by the promise of a spiritual encounter he left the desk, heading out the office and heading downwards for it. Luckily he could sense that just as he was heading downwards so was the presence going up, probing through the hallways as one who was in unfamiliar territory would. Was he here for Zamoreus? A spiritual amateur assassin, perhaps? Had the shinigami he had encountered hired someone to deal with him after their last encounter? Was he simply paranoid? Zamoreus needed to know and so now went far faster then before.

Sensing that the target had stayed in one place for quite some time he finally was able to reach him, staying hidden as the presence left the bathroom and having trouble not having his face cave in because of his palm. A kid, a teenager, that was what he had rushed down here for? Gotten so excited over? Zamoreus rolled his eyes as he stepped out of his hiding place. "Ey kid, the hell're you doing here?" He spoke in pretty fluent Japanese, although of course with a rather peculiar accent.

He should of guessed that one of the security would find him, this was going to look ten times worse, being escorted down to his teacher on his own, if he were still with Tora and the others, that wouldn't of been so bad. But he certainly wasn't looking forward to the lecture he was going to get from the teacher, he blew a bubble with his gum, and let it pop, this helped him relax somewhat, he rubbed the back of his head and smiled at the man, this guy didn't seem 'security guard' material, sure he wasn't in bad shape, but he didn't look like a man who could demand authority when need be, the unnatural pale skin, this man had, made him look rather ill, "oh hey, I'm...Tora, i got lost from the group, can you give them a call or something?" The plan was simple, get Tora to take the heat for him, serves the bastard right for ditching him.

Yukio still didn't know what he was going to do though, maybe just make a run for it, but then he would probably just hit a dead end, and then he would be in even deeper shit, what to do, what to do? he blew up the bubble once again, and let it pop, "heheh, well I’m just going too..." He quickly ran off in the other direction, a very immature thing to do, but then again, he was immature, so it was understandable.

The kid obviously wasn't too happy to see him, he'd probably sneaked in and now thought Zamoreus was security or something along those lines, he was nervous he could tell yet still having that nonchalant carelessness of youth. A nuisance to deal with yet the energies he detected from him forced the issue, he had to investigate it. What group was he referring to however? Had they authorized some damn visit from a local school or something? After this he would have to talk to the local administrator. Just as Zamoreus was about to address the young fool he sped off, giving further proof as to just how much of a nuisance he would be to deal with. Luckily he of course had means to deal with this.

Along the sides of the corridor that the kid ran down were numerous objects ranging from large plants to water coolers. Collectively grabbing hold of these with his mind Zamoreus made them all speed down the hall faster then the boy and forming a wall of random debris to block his passing. "We're quite prepared for people running around here." For the moment he would give the image of nothing spiritual having occurred, he had no idea how much the kid knew and pressing it would not be the best approach. As he now had him cornered Zamoreus began to walk towards Yukio.

Yukio was stunned, he had absolutely no clue what just happened, did these objects have a mind of their own, was there a large magnet hidden somewhere, or was it that guy. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that what he was seeing, was real, and sure enough it was, he glanced around once again, maybe there were strings attached to these objects, but if there were, Yukio couldn't see them, he broke out in a cold sweat, this was just not possible, he slowly turned around, as the man was walking towards him, it was clear that he wouldn't be running away from this, so instead, he stood up straight, swallowed the gum that he was chewing, which didn't really go down well, as the gum slivered down his throat, it made him pull the least intimidating face he could, which was regrettable, as he was trying to act confident.

He took a deep breath, and his eyes lit up "that...was amazing! You've gotta show me how you did that, he you could pull so much funny shit with that, damn, I’m so jealous, so I take it you’re not the average security guard then, man, i bet no one escapes from you. When they run, you just use that star wars magic, and they come flying back. No wonder you look weak as hell, you don't need to have muscles to do that!" he tried to catch his breath, he still had many questions, but he felt the most important ones, had already been asked, "sorry about before, my names Yukio, nice to meet you" he whipped his dirty, sweaty hand on his pants, and extended his arm out, to shake the other man’s hand.

The kid was obviously oblivious to what had just happened, making it all the more plausible that he was either unaware of spiritual powers in others or simply very good at hiding it. Zamoreus thought about whether it was possible that the boy didn't know he had any powers at all himself either, but quickly figured that to be ridiculous based on how he himself had discovered his powers; he couldn't imagine someone not realizing it by this age. His eyebrow raised however as the kid approached him and pretty much exploded enthusiasm all over him, a clever ruse or genuine curiosity? 'Weak as hell? Maybe I'd show him just how weak I am and he wouldn't be so damn cocky.'

He took the kid's hand in his own covered by the nano-enhanced fibre suit that was for the most part hidden under his clothing, trying to assess how best to answer the barrage of questions. "I could tell you about it for a million years and you still would not be able to do it. It is not something I learned. I am Zamoreus Nebulous. Head of Nebulous. You know, the company who owns the building we're in." His face formed a smirk at his last comment, looking forward to see just how he would react.

This only added to Yukio's excitement, he managed to meet the richest man on the planet, or one of them anyway, he wasn't too sure about that sort of stuff. "I get it, a magician never reveals his tricks, right" he gave a wink to the man, "but wow, who would of guessed I would meet someone like you, and that you’re a magician to boot" Yukio laughed at the ridiculousness of what he just said, a millionaire that is also a magician, how dense would someone be, to believe that. Apparently Yukio, who was still amazed by it all. This opened the door to more questions, maybe this was, like a giveaway, meet the boss, and then he gives you a small fortune, Yukio licked his lips at the thought.

He quickly composed himself, maybe he wouldn't get the prize, if he figured it out, so he would simply play along, "so, what does someone like you want, with someone with me?" he, was now eagerly awaiting the answer, barely able to contain his excitement.

Zamoreus simply let out a loud laugh at the next wave of excited chatter from Yukio, he thought he was a magician? Was he truly that oblivious to what this actually was and if so what other parts of the spiritual world was he unaware of? "Heh yeah, I'm a real modern day wizard.." He simply gestured with his hand to make the kid follow him as he walked over to one of the windows looking down on the city below them. He then opened the large window and simply took a step out, first letting himself fall out of view before lifting up his body back into the window. "I like to think I'm a little better then most, however."

The nonchalant look and the smirk on his face as he was floating outside the window would certainly give quite the out of the ordinary sight for anyone who would appear into the corridor, but for the moment there was only the two of them there as Zamoreus finally went to the matter that he had been waiting for. "Tell me, do you believe in ghosts?"

Yukio walked over to the window with the man, as they both looked down at the earth below, the man asked a peculiar question, two things rushed into his head. One was, we are really high up, and the other, yes, but it was more complicated than that, he had seen something strange, a few weeks ago, something that only he could see, so he simply shrugged it off, he does have an over active imagination at times, so he just dismissed it as that. But he couldn't tell this man about that, or could he? The man didn't seem like one to joke around, even if he was a modern day wizard, although, Yukio did detect a hint of sarcasm in his voice however.

Ah well, what's the worst that could happen, its normal for some people to believe in ghosts right? He sighed, "well, I did see someone the other week, but he didn't look like a ghost, he was wearing a black robe, and carried a sword, and I was the only one that could see him" he then laughed nervously "but then again, I don't know what a ghost looks like" his nervous laugh then stopped, and he looked at the man, "so, do you? And why are you asking me such a question anyway?"

So he had encountered a shinigami, or at the very least seen one. So recently however, had his powers only materialized now? Zamoreus remembered first being able to lift things at around twelve but it was of course possible that different people would have their powers appear at different times just as all other things that came when the body matured. But how would he best approach this now once he knew this much? Perhaps he should just find a hollow and show it to him, or find a roaming spirit. "Well, naturally. The things I've seen sort of make it mandatory... It's good that you'll get to hear this from another human rather then one of the many spirits that roam the world.."

"That robed person you saw, is called a soul reaper. Basically spiritual meddlers who take care of dead souls but also interfere in human lives if they decide they're doing things they don't like." He simply looked at the kid to see how he'd react now, tapping his covered hand on his head slightly.

Yukio took a sigh of relief, so, I'm not crazy. That's good. Honestly, Yukio wasn't that shocked from what the man said, he had been going over countless scenarios in his head, before this day, and some were much worse, than what the man said, so he wasn't that surprised, but still, he stayed silent for a moment to let it sink in, and then turned to the man, with an enthusiastic face, "so these soul reapers are like they bad guys right? Well of course they are, soul reapers isn’t a very friendly name. And if I can see them what does that make me? Am I like a superhuman or something, maybe I can use some sort of special power like you. Man that would be cool, maybe I have super strength or super speed, hey you don't know what it is do you? Maybe you could teach me, and then we can take these reaper bastards out." He caught his breath once again, and looked at the man, maybe he was a bit too enthusiastic, he didn't want to scare him off.

But what did this mean, what happens if someone found out, he would be experimented on, over and over, until his brain turned to mush, maybe he should think of wearing a costume. Or maybe, he just watched too many movies.

Zamoreus' original enthusiasm over finding this potential tool was taking hit after hit the longer he was in contact with this kid, his chatter was really starting to grate on his nerves but he knew that it would be a waste to take that as a reason to abandon this potential project. He simply sighed slightly and inaudibly before returning his attention back to the curious youth, however he did not really know how to respond. Were the shinigami necessarily their enemy? He had encountered so few and only one had really made a direct effort against him but it really did seem that way. The fact that it might have been his actual fault was something he would of course not mention.

"Heh.. While I definitely admire your enthusiasm, I would suggest caution." He was having trouble coming up with the best way to explain it all as it was of course a rather sensitive matter. "I've been trying to coin the phrase meta-human, but since I'm the only one I've met until now it just rang rather hollow. It is likely a power would develop, since I doubt you have quincy blood, it's how I was able to detect your presence. Unfortunately I have no idea what it might be however, that will have to appear on its own."

As expected the man didn't share Yukio's enthusiasm on the matter, but at least he was telling him some exciting things, which Yukio didn't even think of before then, should he keep pestering the man for answers, or simply leave him. But Yukio couldn't just leave now, a whole new world had been opened up to him, he was entitled to ask a few questions, but a few was probably all he was going to get, so he would have to think before he asked, he wouldn't want to piss off the only person he knew, who was similar in a way, so useless questions such as 'can I fly now?' or 'should I keep it a secret' would have to be asked, on another day.

Yukio nodded, and tutted, to try and pretend he understood everything. "So, what happens when I discover these powers of mine? What do I do with them? And how did you discover your powers? Is there a certain way to find them out, or have you just got to be lucky?" After telling himself not to ask a lot of questions, he sure was asking quite a lot.

He had no real knowledge of how it would work for this guy, in his own case Zamoreus had simply found himself with his powers some day to the horror of whatever help he had been left with by his father and having seen his first spiritual thing besides ghosts only once he had enough of a handle on his powers to at least escape. Despite not having any proper answer he decided to at the very least try to give some measure of facts for the boy to go from. "Well. When you do, you will have to train them, master them in order to properly be able to use them. What you do with them is up to you, I suppose."

"How I discovered my powers, however... I was twelve, the help my father had hired to take care of me was really driving me mad.. I ended up dropping the ceiling on top of her, although she managed. You see though why it's necessary to learn control over it..." He readjusted himself slightly, now leaning against the wall and no longer looking out the window, he wasn't really sure how to deal with this situation just yet, this was obviously another advanced human like himself but not yet evolved to his true potential, he had no idea how to help him unlock it. "It really is up to luck, I have no insight into any possible mechanisms required to unlock the power."

Yukio should have known that the man couldn't help him, how would he know what his powers were, Yukio started doubting whether he had powers or not, if he hadn't figured them out by now, he would probably not have powers at all, maybe he could just see ghosts; maybe that was his one and only power. It wouldn't matter anyway, Yukio was getting ahead of himself, now that he thought about it, it was probably for the best that he didn't have any powers, nothing would change, he was just a dreamer like that. But after getting his hopes up, and then to be brought down to earth like that, he was visibly upset.

He whipped the thrown off of his face and smiled instead, to cover it up. "Well, maybe I’ll get lucky, and find my powers" he laughed at the statement, considering he had already ruled out the possibility of him having any powers. He sighed "well, everybody's probably wondering, were I ran off too, so I need to go. Thanks for your help and everything, see ya" and then without waiting for the man to respond, he ran off; he still had no idea where he was going, but he would eventually find his way, he hoped.

He wasn't truly prepared to seeing the kid leave just then and now felt like he had completely wasted his time, spending all that time to explain the basics of all this and being rewarded by simply being left. Feigned concern and overstrained patience just tossed away like nothing in return for absolutely nothing. 'Great... My worst investment of the year, that damn kid better show up again so I can gain something out of this...' Heading back up to his office after this disappointing development in order to prepare for his future development as well as continue dealing with his recuperation efforts. 'But I suppose it might turn out well enough, it seems likely enough that I might meet him again, seems probable considering how rare our kind truly is.'