It was one normal Friday morning in the streets of Shimokitazawa, the wonderful land of Tokyo. You can see people walking through the streets, minding their business. It just feels like an ordinary day in Japan.
You can even see two tweens walking to school together. One was a blond girl with long hair with a side ponytail. You can even see a triangular ahoge on the top that floats independently. She has vermilion eyes and an energetic aura surrounding her that would make people feel happy whenever they are near her.
She is also wearing a school uniform for pre-teens
"Sekinin-kun! Are you excited for the field trip? I cannot believe that our school is letting us go to a research facility of… What was it about again?"
She put a thinking pose, indicating that she is awaiting an answer from the boy beside her. He too wore a school uniform, but it was for males, boys with long pants, while girls wore skirts. He has black hair, blue eyes, nerdy glasses, and the expression of a geek. His name is Sekinin Parker, the professional wallflower.
"Nijika… Dorito-chan, I'm pretty sure I said this before we left, even yesterday we're going to Ozukōpu Industries. We're not just going to a place where they do genetic experiments, cross-species, but also enhancement! And honestly, I'm excited too!"
Sekinin said as Nijika laughed before grabbing Sekinin's arm as she quickly picked up the pace, with Sekinin trying to keep up. He was just glad that she didn't hear him whispering the nickname he gave her which usually ends up with her ahoge being flung towards him.
"If we don't hurry, then we'll be late, and if we're late, then we won't go on the field trip."
Sekinin just smiled at his best friend's excitement. He and Nijika became friends when they were little, the two met when their parents decided to live in Japan and be closer to Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Sekinin was only four years old when he moved to Tokyo along with his parents.
Nijika and her family, the Ijichi, were the first people who greeted the Parkers, welcoming them to the neighborhood. Nijika and Sekinin became fast friends, even if their interests were different, they enjoyed what they wanted to do.
Like Nijika playing music, mainly the drums, as she wanted to be like her big sister Seika, who is in a rock band, and Sekinin, who likes reading and is good at solving questions. But hey, they are friends, and it's going to stay like that no matter what anyone says.
Sekinin even got along with Seika even if she didn't get along with him the most a few years back, as well as the huge age difference. He did enjoy hearing her play a song when she was in the band.
It happened one day that he went with her to a live house after he wanted to make her repent for making Nijika cry as it happened when the two weren't close as they are to this day. But he ended up understanding why Seika enjoys playing the guitar.
The two soon arrived at school, where they barely reached the gate as it was about to close. With a close call, the two quickly took off their casual shoes and put on their school shoes as they both quickly went to their classroom. They reach just in time as their teacher just enters the classroom.
And throughout the first hour of class, it was just attendance, turning in homework, and a few things such as preparing for the field trip. Once everything was set, the students, led by their teacher, walked out of school, made their way to the railway train, and set off to Ozukōpu Industries. Sekinin and Nijika sat together as both of them watched the sights of Shimokitazawa, it was an amazing view.
"Do you think the train is the only way we can see this kind of view?"
"Unless you count Tokyo Tower then maybe."
The two gaze at the window for as long as they could, before the sound of jeering can be heard. Neither one turned as one of their classmates made a rude remark about Sekinin, about him being the wallflower. It causes nearby classmates to laugh as Nijika only glares at them.
"I can't believe they are still making rude comments about you. Just because you're different from them doesn't mean they can talk badly about you."
As long as the two can remember, Sekinin was taunted and mocked by others because of his shy personality when being around others, and was a huge bookworm. It didn't help that Nijika was his only friend he befriended, which his classmates always commented on.
Sekinin honestly wouldn't care less about what they say, he did want to befriend them once upon a time, but after how they treated him, he wouldn't want to even socialize with any of them. Nijika did her best to help Sekinin, but it was like fate wanted him to be picked on.
But Sekinin did have another friend, but he figured that she had just missed the field trip of a lifetime.
"It's alright, Nijika, I'll just ignore them as I usually do. Besides, you remember what happened last week, that jerk wouldn't admit that I, the wallflower, pulled a fast one on him."
This caused Nijika to chuckle, realizing what he was talking about, how he managed to get the jerk into getting in trouble by setting off a prank he planned for Sekinin only to hit the teacher. Sekinin was able to misinform the jerk into believing he was going to be where the prank would happen only for him to sneak away.
And because the jerk was the only one that the teacher saw when he activated the prank, he got detentions, which were to remove all the glitter in the classroom. Yep, the prank was to cover the classroom with glitter.
Nijika does admit that the day after the prank happened the classroom never felt more sparkly. She looked around as she realized someone was missing. A certain bunhead.
"I just realized, Usagi-chan isn't here… She didn't sleep in again did she?"
"If that was the case, then she probably had arrived late again and realized we already left."
Sekinin said as the moment their teacher did the attendance, he noticed Usagi Tsukino, the girl who always shows up late, wasn't here, which made the teacher sigh as he got used to her late attendance. Which was why it took a few more minutes before leaving, to see if she managed to show up.
And right now, maybe she is in another classroom, sad that she couldn't join him and Nijika, but at least she got to join with her other friends who were in the other classroom.
Soon they arrived at Ozukōpu Industries as it looked just as the news had shown when it was finished building. A huge glass tower that was a bit far from the Southeast. Everyone watched in amazement as the teacher led the students to the entrance, and Sekinin took out his camera from his shoulder bag as he took pictures.
He can still recall that he got it from a yard sale before moving to Japan.
"Does your camera have enough film Sekinin-kun?"
"I think I should, I just put in a new one last night. The teacher did say that I'm allowed to use flash so it will just be simple pictures."
Nijika just smiles as they both follow the teacher inside with the rest of the students following. The teacher spoke with the man behind a desk, confirming that his class is here for the tour.
The man nodded as he spoke with someone to request the tour guide as a female scientist in a lab coat arrived. She smiled as she saw the group of students.
"Welcome everyone! We are happy that you all came here to see everything Ozukōpu Industries has made and will be used for the future. If you please follow me we'll be going to visit a few sections that will be very interesting to you all."
The tour took a few hours, learning the history of its foundation, and what they are doing for the future. To be ready for what the future has in store. To help people, depending on whether they have a disability, a disease, or have lost body parts like arms or legs.
It was very interesting that they got to see a few work progress, like a strange glider hanging above with strings holding it from falling. The scientist spoke when she noticed the students were looking at the glider.
"This is the hover glider, it can fly as well as having a storage container that can hold round objects. It is still in progress as we are still working on its durability and the weight it can carry a person."
Everyone looked at it with amazement, some didn't like how it looked as they noticed a few sharp edges. Sekinin took a few pictures as Nijika wrote down notes as the teacher said they all have to write an essay about what they learned here once the tour is over.
"We have other models of different designs, but like the glider, they are still a work in progress. But we have something that we have been researching for three years."
Sekinin looked at the glider with curiosity, not aware of his surroundings. Which got him to bump into someone else as Sekinin looked at the person, who looked like a young teen or maybe a man as he quickly bowed.
"I'm so sorry for bumping into you! I was distracted by that glider up there! But I should have been more careful!"
He noticed that the man was good-looking with blond hair, and… Strange blue and purple eyes. Just making eye contact just made Sekinin feel very uneasy. He could even feel a part of his hair going up. What made it more uneasy was that Sekinin swore he saw faint black stars.
The man smiled as he patted Sekinin's back.
"It's alright, I can understand what you mean. An object that can make people fly, it is hard to take your eyes off of it. Shouldn't you be with your class?"
Sekinin looked at him with confusion before noticing his class was already ahead. He gasps, not before apologizing to the man again, before quickly catching up with everyone.
The scientist guided the students to the next section, and the moment they entered, a few girls let out a few shouts. The whole area had pictures, projectors, and TV screens of spiders. Even Nijika was a bit startled at the sight of spiders.
"Here is the spider section, we have been experimenting on different kinds of spiders to see if we can enhance their abilities. We made so many discoveries and progress with these spiders."
She led the students towards a glass case with 15 red and blue spiders in each glass case. Everyone was amazed by the sight of these special spiders.
"During the first few testings, we combined three different spiders into one genetic spider, all processing unique abilities relating to spiders. Jumping ability, powerful webbing, and unique sensors that we call spider-sense."
There was a screen that Sekinin saw as the woman spoke about the abilities: web tensile strength, spider strength, jumping speed, spider-sense, pre-cognition, and other speed. A real new species of spiders.
Sekinin took a few pictures of the spiders before showing them to Nijika, as she said the pictures looked great.
The scientist soon led the students to a different glass case with different spiders that looked silver.
"These ones are like the genetics spiders but these spiders are modified, cross-species. These spiders process venom that is very dangerous if anyone is bitten by these spiders. We had an accident which resulted in… Upsetting results when being bitten."
Sekinin saw another screen which said the webbing from these spiders is biocable, stronger webs, and can connect electricity from one end to the other. It made Sekinin wonder if regular cables are going to be replaced with webbing cables in the future.
The scientist once again led them to another glass case, but there was only one spider before them, which looked like a regular common spider.
"And lastly, here the enhanced spider, this spider is very unique as it has a special ability to make the same version of itself and acts like it can be in two places at once. You wouldn't know which one is the real spider. But you can figure out which one is the real spider if you provoke it to the point that the fake vanishes. We're still learning about it as we believe it can do more."
Suddenly, the spider made a twin version of itself as one stayed on the bottom while its twin went off to the top; it was like you're seeing actual spider twins in two spots.
"Not to mention, these spiders possess the same abilities as the other spiders, all into one special spider. This is the only spider we manage to enhance with as not every spider can have all the abilities that each spider has."
Words of amazement echoed as Sekinin took a few more pictures.
"And I believe this is the end of the tour. I hope you all enjoy this experience, we will continue to build the future for Japan and for the world. I believe your teacher has something to say to you all."
The teacher looked at his students as he spoke.
"Everything you write down and see will be your essay. Make the essay two pages and have good details and examples of the history and what Ozukōpu Industries does. The essay will be due next Monday in the morning. If you don't have enough notes or pictures, then you can stay a bit longer under supervision; if you're fine with what you have, then you can leave as you wish."
The students mutter to themselves before splitting into groups. A few boys and girls decided to head home to enjoy their weekend. While the rest stayed just to either write down more notes or wanted to see more of the sections they had seen.
Sekinin and Nijika look back at the spiders as Nijika just watches the spiders behind Sekinin. He could only look at his best friend with amusement.
"It's not like one of them can bite you Nijika. Or crawl over you."
"I know, but you don't know if it can try to jump into you like those videos of realistic spiders going through your screen and latch onto you."
Sekinin shook his head as he took a few more pictures. After doing so, he asks Nijika if she has enough notes to make the essay as she replies that she does. And it seems that she would rather leave the spider section than remain here.
But before they could leave, the sound of glass shattering was heard by everyone as everyone turned to see the glass case that had that one spider on the ground with glass pieces all over. As well as a small group of boys and girls, one of the boys had his hands on his mouth and had just realized what he had done.
With no hesitation of any kind, people with lab coats gather with protective gear to search for the spider that was in that glass case. But they weren't having any luck finding the spider. Meanwhile, the teacher was yelling at the boy for his behavior.
It turns out he was trying to see which spider was the real version as he kept poking the glass case until he accidentally slammed his hand which caused the glass case to fall to the ground. Sekinin tightly held Nijika's hand as he led her to the exit of the spider section.
"We should go!"
Nijika didn't need to be told twice, as both of them left the spider section, which was soon cleared out and locked to ensure the spider didn't leave. The other scientists soon caught the spider as it was put into another glass case.
But what nobody knew was that a spider similar to the spider they caught had quickly made its way to Sekinin's left shoe, and it was soon crawling inside the school uniform. And was outside of Ozukōpu Industries.