The three of them leaned in after I mentioned the other metas. Denki initially knew what I was talking about, but the other two figured it out quickly. I described their powers and their faces showed their mixed reactions.

  Denki's face boiled with anger, they were thieves after all, one of the few types of people that could make him genuinely angry. Rito's face showed his envy of their powers and fury that someone had touched his friends. Hiro, however, sank into anxiety. After dealing with his bullies, he loathed confrontation.

  "There isn't much we can do with there being so many people here," I said. "Their powers can quickly get others involved and make dealing with them almost impossible."

  "Why are we dealing with them?" Hiro asked. "They have powers too, we should take the girls and leave. This shouldn't be something we fight. We can tell the authorities about them."

  "Yeah, they'll believe some teenagers saying that two others have superpowers and are using them for evil," Denki replied. "We need to isolate them, take them down, and take them in. They probably stole a lot of stuff at the shopping district, and they're probably planning to do it again here."

  "They already hurt someone here. They don't care about others." Rito seemed determined. They're strong, but we have you three. We can take them and get justice for Yamada."

  "I think you're right, guys," I said. "I can get them alone, we can talk to them, try to get them to leave. If they turn violent, we can take them."

  "Let's do it!" Denki and Rito were almost in unison.

  "I don't like any of this," Hiro muttered.

  We planned to stay together and watch everything around us for the next time they struck. We left the locker room, and our plans changed in a heartbeat. Across the walkway, just outside the women's locker room stood the two delinquent metas.

  "You girls are really cute," the guy said. "You should come hang out with us."

  "Not interested," said Ino firmly.

  "Aw, come on. You never know until you try it."

  "She said we're not going," Chika joined her against him.

  "Why are you being so difficult? We're just trying to show you the park, have a good time."

  He moved his hand in his pocket, and I saw it come out over Yamada's shoulder. Before I did anything, the girl pulled his arm, and his hand went back into the portal.

  "Come on, bro. They're not interested. You're bothering them."

  Siblings? I guess I can see the resemblance. It explains why she was so quick to run away and why he was so intent on defending her.

  "Nina, these types of days are best spent with a large group," he said back to her.

  She turned to try to pull him away, and our eyes met. Her face was instantly covered in terror. I slowed time down to a crawl, and she tried to take off with him. He was blocking the girls' view of me, so it was safe to use my powers without them finding out. I walked up to the speedster and put my hand on her shoulder to stop her.

  "You two aren't going anywhere," I said in a threatening voice.

  "How are you faster than me?! How can you do things that even I don't see?!" Her terror was growing.

  "You're not the only ones with powers. Now, what happened to leaving me alone?"

  "We didn't know you'd be here, I swear! When I saw you at the gate, I tried to get my brother to leave, but he said he wouldn't go no matter what. Please believe me and let us go!"

  "You have one chance to get him away from us and leave once I walk back."

  She nodded, still terrified, and I walked back to the boys. She stopped hard, and the guy turned around. He gave us a look of someone trying to be a lot more scary than they are.

  "What do you want, huh?" he asked.

  "Bro, we need to leave now, please!"

  "And skip out on a chance to impress this cutie by beating the crap out of these guys? Not in a million years."

  Denki boldly walked forward and got in his face. His own face made a menacing grimace unlike anything I'd ever seen from him.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "You should listen to your sister, bud."

  "Or what, hot stuff?"

  The aggression coming from both of them was so intense that I felt it in my bones. It almost seemed like high voltage arcs shot between their eyes.

  "Bro, come on! Please!"

  "Denki, Kazu, let's go. I don't like this," Chika joined Nina in trying to break up the two.

  I turned to walk away. Hiro followed without hesitation, and Rito slowly went along, looking back often to call Denki. Ino, Hojo, and Yamada were already waiting for us away from the locker rooms. Nina finally got her brother pulled away from Denki who walked back after a minute or two making sure they left.

  Not even five minutes passed before Denki was back to his normal self. We stood in line for The Plunge and kept our eyes out for any more trouble. After another half hour or so, we reached the top of the giant slide.

  One by one, we plummeted down it and skipped across the water at the bottom. The drop itself was an incredible rush of adrenaline, and I couldn't help but want to do it again. I chose against it, however. At the top, I looked all around for Nina and her brother with no sign of them.

  We went to the next ride, Duo Racer. It was a four slide ride that pitted teams of two against each other to get to the bottom first. We all played rock, paper, scissors to determine the teams. Rito's luck came in handy, and he paired with Ino. Yamada went with Chika, and Denki went with Hiro. Hojo lost stupendously and was paired with me. We grabbed our tube and got in line. The sun climbed to its peak, and so did the temperature.

  "I'm sorry you had to get paired with me, Hojo," I said scratching the back of my head.

  "It's no biggie," she replied with a smile. "I've just never been good at that game."

  "Yeah? Me either."

  If I wanted to, slowing time and changing my play at the last second would be too easy, but there's no real enjoyment in that.

  "I'm glad everyone could come today," Hojo continued. "It's good to have the group together; it'll be sad to not go to the same school."

  "Definitely, but we can always skip class and go see Ino," I said jokingly.

  She gave me a funny look. "You'd skip class just to go see your friend? Of all the things kids our age do when they skip class, you choose that. You're funny, Ishigami." She chuckled to herself.

  Well, the joke itself was missed, but the comedic effect was achieved. I guess that's not too bad. I've hardly talked with Hojo, so I'm just trying to keep a conversation going to avoid awkwardness.

  "You know, you were really cool back there when you stood off against those two."

  "You think so? I kind of just stood there and walked away. Denki was the one who intimidated them, I'm sure."

  "No, you were definitely in the spotlight, just like when you saved me and Ino that day in the shopping district."

  She messed with her hair a bit, probably just getting it off her face. The heat was hardly going away in the afternoon.

  "What can I say? I'll protect those close to me."

  "Oh? Everyone close to you?"

  "Without hesitation."

  The line continued to move, and the two of us carried on our small talk. Random tidbits of favorite foods, hobbies, aspirations for next school year. After a little while, we reached the top of the tower and waited a bit longer to get all four slides to ourselves. We all took our marks, and the worker gave us the signal to take off.

  The open chute was vastly different from the dark tunnel of The Plunge and the Funnel Drop. The water below our tube rushed us along, and the wind in our face seemed to brush past us. Her hair flicked back and forth, touching my face every so often. The winding turns of the slide were made to maximize the thrill and almost made it seem like we could tip over at any time.

  The slides came close to each other and crossed over one another as they made their way to the bottom. The race was tight from the very beginning. There were moments when it seemed like one team would win over another, but in the end, it was too close for the soaked worker to decide. We landed at the bottom with a tremendous splash. The cool water covered us and cooled us off as we made our way to the stairs to get out of the tube.

  "I don't care what she said, Hiro and I definitely won that one!" exclaimed Denki. "Bow before the kings of speed!"

  "Yeah yeah, whatever will help you sleep at night," Chika brushed it off. "We all know Yamada and I won, but you can keep lying to yourself, your highness."

  "Did anyone else get a massive wedgie from that ride?" Ino was adjusting her swimsuit while Rito tried to avert his gaze.

  "We should definitely go again. That was so much fun!" Yamada was clearly enjoying herself.

  "I say we do it again after the Castaway," I suggested.

  Everyone agreed, and we made our way to the last big ride in the park. The Castaway was shorter than The Plunge, but just as winding as the Duo Racer. The rafts sat four people, so our group split again. The same game decided the groups with similar results. This time, I went with Rito, Yamada, and Hojo.

  "Looks like you got stuck with me again, huh?"

  "I don't mind," replied Hojo. "You're easy to talk to. I just wish Ino had been in my group this time."

  She's probably hoping that Ino spends more time with Rito. I just hope he can be decisive. Yamada might be interested in him, but Ino is full on in love with him. The poor kid. I can't ask someone else to switch, but I can do something.

  "Hey, Ino."

  "What's up, Kazuma?"

  "I'll buy your lunch if you switch places with me. I'm going to dunk Denki once the ride's over," I whispered.

  She smiled and agreed. I looked back to see that smile remain even if it became slightly shy. Rito looked at me with something resembling betrayal. I gave him a subtle thumbs up.

  I believe in you, buddy.

  We got to the top, took our positions, and the worker spun us around and pushed us down the second to last slide. We continued to spin and sway the whole way down, almost tipping from time to time. After we got out, I did as I said and took Denki down. He put up a fight, but we both laughed about it when we came up. Rito's group came down with a similar result to what I expected: him landing face first between Yamada and Ino with his hands landing elsewhere and then getting stomped out.

  Well, I'm not sure what end that brought about.