Shinku

There's a distance in Shinku's politeness. As a new CSU member transferred to the BAC's HQ at Hethereau, Shinku didn't exactly make a great first impression on colleagues. Shinku maintained a deliberate distance and kept people at their "right places"with the exception of that star employee who is known for lacking common sense.

It's not just at work, Shinku practices the same thing in her daily life too. She'll show up in the crowd rushing towards DSD to grab the latest Mystery Box or sit in the packed stands at the finals of the anomaly trading card championship, chatting with fellow fans about her collection. But once the crowds clear out, it's always Shinku going home by herself. Living in a bustling city, she's never refused to contact anyone, but she's also never let anyone into her "territory" either.

Shinku's definitely sparked some criticism and caused misunderstandings, but she firmly believes she's making the right calls. Ever since that heavy rain, she's grown used to being on her own.

There was a time when Shinku believed she wasn't different from kids her age, until that heavy rain made her understand what the power she'd been born with actually implied. Since then, her life has been completely different.

When Shinku first left Hethereau to train under her mentor at CSU-9, she wondered what would've happened if the incident had never ever occurred. But soon, she set that unanswerable question aside and found what she thought was the best way to keep the same tragedy from happening again, she just kept everyone at a distance.

And so, the determined dragonling began to grow.

She started bearing every burden on her own. With the help of her senior colleagues, she grew capable enough to handle things solo and even protect others. Her lone-wolf style meant that even if she lost control, the impact could be kept to a minimum. Everything seemed to be falling into place, until the day her mentor handed her the transfer papers, and the chance to see whether she'd truly moved past that rainy night finally arrived.

The past is the sharpest hunter, striking its killing blow the moment its prey lets its guard down.

But apparently, a maturing dragon isn't that kind of prey.

Shinku's powers boost her reaction speed and physical strength. In the early days at the Bureau, her combat prowess helped her quickly adapt to her responsibilities. But her lack of control meant she'd often go berserk, and that was something she urgently needed to fix. It wasn't uncommon to see Shinku fall into a dark mood right after coming to, staring at the mess she made. Still, biased to action, she was quick to find a solution. After a safety officer kicked her off a construction site for not wearing a hard hat for the third time, she made herself a helmet with holes on both sides for her horns.

"Do you really have to… go to the construction site?"

"Mhm."

"And you have to wear this… pointless helmet?"

"That's a requirement. I can't enter the site if I don't wear one."

At least the helmet hasn't been needed for a while.

Tempus, who used to frown and call her a rude brat, would later happily bring her out for ice cream during field assignments; Ray, who'd look for her and crack jokes when Shinku was holed up in the room blaming herself for losing control; her senior sister, who always kept a straight face during training and never held back her anger when Shinku messed up, but would nevertheless stand before her on missions; and her mentor, who usually kept quiet about her birthdays but never forgot to celebrate… without them, Shinku probably would've been stuck in her room feeling sorry for herself forever.

As for how she should respond to their concerns and goodwill, Shinku couldn't think of any other answer aside from becoming someone who could stand on her own.

Her mentor must be worried only because she's still not independent and strong enough.

Walking alone along the beach, kicking away pebbles that got in her way now and then. Even as her vision started to blur, she held back the tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's just a cake. It's not like I care about it!"

No, that's not what was on her mind.

The more often she started waking up at night with a pain from the top of her head, the more often she'd say things in class that she'd end up regretting. Deep down, she really didn't mean those things, but by the time she came to her senses, she'd either made her classmates angry or made them cry.

She didn't like that.

The truth is, she wanted to play dodgeball with them, wanted to help prepare the school festival performance, wanted to eat cake, blow out the candles, and sing happy birthday at her classmates' birthday parties. But somehow, she always ended up ruining everything…

"Shinku!"

"Found ya! I knew you'd be here!"

"Look what I found! Tada! Here! Doesn't this remind you of someone who's curled up into a ball crying?"

"That's… not true."

"It is! Anyway, take it."

"Huh…？"

"Doesn't every evil dragon in a story have their own stash of treasures? That dragon who loves picking fights with everyone should have some too! So from now on, every time you get into a fight with someone, collect something fun. That way, once you finally defeat the evil dragon, you can share its stash with everyone!"

Starting with that shell with the sad little face on it, Shinku began her "treasure hunt."

For Shinku, the challenge of transferring to CSU-2 was more about getting along with the two new teammates than about getting used to a new place.

Mint. A one-of-a-kind character who somehow invalidates Shinku's tricks to keep her distance. Whether Shinku puts on a resting drake face or makes up an excuse, Mint just brushes it off and keeps approaching her. "Resting drake face? Aww, why so grumpy, who made Taya angry this time? Or did you fail an exam?" "Busy? Sure, let's do it another time then! How about after work tomorrow?"

Mint does not know when to back off. She's just there because she wants to be. It's a hassle, really… but Shinku doesn't hate it, who hates a friendly kitty anyway?

As for the other teammate…

Oneiroi. After Shinku's first mission with her, she understood exactly why she'd been transferred to Unit 2. This one had the ability to prevent her from going berserk. This should have been good news for Shinku, because she'd finally stop worrying about hurting teammates. But she couldn't bring herself to accept Oneiroi the way she accepted Mint.

Iroi was hiding herself. She wasn't showing her true self…

And that was what Shinku was exactly doing.

Even now, Shinku still finds herself thinking back to that rainy night.

The world turned upside down, figures in black suits rising up out of puddles, and her friend's terrified cries for help. After that, her memory becomes a blur. She managed to fight off those anomalies, but the rampage that followed caused no small amount of damage, and even swept up the friend she was trying to protect.

"At least that's better than being stuck with regret over doing nothing."

Though she'd never quite made it out of that rain, Shinku had never once doubted the choice she made that night. There had been plenty of times she'd wished she didn't have her Esper Abilities, but never in a moment like that one.

"Alright, I'm heading home!"

"Bye, Teana! I didn't think Taya would invite us to play! Call us next time, bye!"

She's not exactly good at this, but they probably had a good time, didn't they? With that thought, Shinku pulled out her phone and typed in the number she worked so hard to find but couldn't bring herself to call.

She made up her mind to do this after that gaming session Mint had put together, so why was she hesitating now?

Wanting to protect a friend but ending up hurting them, deciding on her own that they must hate her and ghosting them, then using "this is for the best" as an excuse to make herself better…

That's not who she is, and it's not who she can ever let herself become.

Taking a deep breath, Shinku pressed the call button.

*Phone rings*

What should she even say? That thought just hit her. Shinku's breathing shortened as she became nervous.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end was both familiar and unfamiliar. Shinku still held her breath.

It's okay, because we're friends.

"…Hello…? Yeah, it's me."

"I'm back."

The girl who had been trapped in that rainy night for so long finally saw the bright, warm sunlight of the day.