The hivemind is conquering for me?

The first few days other than yesterday’s spar had been pretty mellow. The term proper doesn’t start for another three days, but today was the first club meeting. Janine and I were walking towards The Psionic firearms club.

Orchid had not joined us in this enrollment. We wanted to give off the illusion that we were not co-dependent, even though we very much were. Instead she had taken it upon herself to have an ’outing’ be seen in public on her own for a few hours before returning home. A simple enough plan... Only the creature, commonly known as Orchid, struggled with restraint when I was not present and I was hoping she would not get expelled before taking a single class by doing something... Violent.

The club was off the main college grounds so Janine was wearing gravity gear over her clothes. Over the last few days, she had been wearing only dresses to blend into her role, but today she was wearing one of her bodysuits and other than it showing off her form immaculately, I had to admit, it was good seeing her in clothes she was clearly comfortable and confident in.

As I walked by her side, I could see the excitement of attending this club just bubbling underneath the surface. She tried to look nonchalant, but I knew Janine pretty well at this point.

Janine then realised I was staring and quipped. ”What? See something you like, handsome?” I nodded and replied back. ”Every single day you are by my side.” A blush blossomed upon Janine’s face at the compliment. ”S-Shut up, idiot...”

I laughed loudly at her response, it was very cute after all. After leaving the College compound, a whirring noise came from the gear Janine was wearing as it activated autonomously to standard Spartari gravity levels.

”I can’t tell you how much I hate this gear, it only affects your lower body, my torso feels too light.” Janine said, being the first female in existence to complain about not being heavy... Meanwhile I strode along, resisting the urge to allow myself to levitate again.

”Your back must be feeling good though right? All that weight you carry on your chest being lightened?” I asked, causing Janine to grab her chest cannons for a moment as she walked. ”Mmh, I guess? I never really had any back pain though, they aren’t that big. I bet in this gravity tits stay firmer for much longer though, that would be a benefit.”

Not long after our conversation, we arrived at a small firing range with an open field for miles on end down range. There was a small building surrounded by a small transparent dome. As we passed through the dome, the gravity returned to standard Spartari.

”This place seems nice.” I commented, drawing some looks from the nearby people. I could hear them talking shortly thereafter about the Sepiida by my side. I ignored them and began looking around until I felt a blow to my stomach.

Janine swatted me before pointing towards the other side of the dome. I followed her guidance and spotted a familiar face.

...

Evanthe was reading her book carefree. She was immersed in her literature to the point she didn’t realise she was called out to, until two pairs of feet were standing right in her peripherals.

She was about to get up and move, she didn’t want confrontation, however, when she looked up, her face lit up. It was her friends! ”Apollo! Janine! Hi!” She was so excited. The other day in the bar was the most fun she had had in the last year, her attending gun club being the exception, she loved shooting her guns. She hadn’t seen them in the last few days though, she kept her distance, she didn’t want to seem clingy by knocking on their door. Which was really hard as she felt like she had imprinted onto them.

”Hey Evanthe.” I said as I sat down next to her, leaning my shoulder against hers unconsciously. ”What are you reading?” I started before I saw the comic panels. ”Whoa!” I suddenly exclaimed. There were two guys on the page getting... Explicit

Evanthe had already begun to blush due to the shoulder touch, but her pale complexion gained a red hue as embarrassment washed over her. ”I. ’It’s not what you think! I swear! You have just picked the worst possible time to look at the comic! This is the end of a really long arc, the two have just realised their feelings for one another after years of turmoil. They are finally embracing each other as they have found their true love. It’s beautiful, not smut. I promise!”

I smiled completely understating. ”It’s fine, don’t worry about it, sorry to have gotten you all worked up.” Evanthe seemed surprised by this and gulped before asking Apollo, who was sitting directly next to her and smelled really good.

”Y-you don’t think I am weird?” I frowned. ”Weird? Why would I think you are weird Evanthe? You are reading something you are enjoying. That’s not weird, that’s just being a person. You shouldn’t feel bad about what you are reading if you are enjoying it. Everyone has their preferred genre after all.”

Evanthe was taken aback, she had not expected this. She had it in her head that she was weird. She was an outcast, a loner and thought it was because everyone found her odd. But Apollo, this mega extrovert, found her ’normal?’ Was it all in her head?

Her cheeks suddenly turned flush, but it was covered up by her embarrassment from earlier. ”Oh, I see. Thank you for understanding.”

”No problem.” I said and stood up before extending my hand down towards her and asked comically. ”Now, senior, do you fancy showing your junior around the club room? He is awfully new and could use your guidance. He would be ever so grateful.”

Evanthe began to hear her heart beat in her ears. ’He is like one of the protagonists in my books with how he acts!’ She couldn’t help but think. That line was almost verbatim from the comic ’Starting the new term with my adorable junior. But why is he looking at me like that?’

She gulped back her fiction and returned to reality, before reaching up for the hand extended towards her. She was practically lifted off the ground with no effort, causing her to giggle softly for a second before she became serious.

”Sure no problem. I am only a second year however, I can’t show you much and the teacher doesn’t get here for another twenty minutes, but I can show you the basics. This is a pretty loose club, the only thing you need to learn before you can fire the guns is how to make a Psionic bullet.”

”How long did that take you?” Janine suddenly chimed in. Evanthe jolted at the sudden question, before turning to the Sepiida. She didn’t see herself as above Sepiidans so she was shocked that she forgot she was there.

”Oh, um. Not long. Like two weeks? The first bullet you make is basically a round ball. Hang on, come with me to my locker, I’ll show you.”

Entering the club building, I was shocked to find so few people here. From a rough approximation, I wagered there to be a little under eighty people. My thoughts were apparently evident on my face as Evanthe stated.

”Like I said when you signed up, the club is small and relatively new. The weapons we are using are still experimental at the end of the day and a good portion of people that attend the college have a goal in mind and cannot put themselves too thin with extra activities. Still, to get twenty people this year is really good. Last year, myself included, only seven people signed up.”

Janine couldn’t believe what she was hearing, this place was a paradise. Psionics meets guns? This was like a living wet dream. However, it did make some modicum of sense. This was a club, it was an extra curricular activity. Passing the end of year tests did not count towards your academic status, only within the club. Most here, especially the non combatants, were here to learn as much as they could to control their powers and get out for the lavish life they were now obligated to for simply being Psionic in nature.

Arriving at Evanthe’s club locker, she opened it and rummaged through a pile of books, real ammunition, a few standard issue pistols and loose paper before finding what she needed. ”Aha!” She said and slammed her locker shut.

”Here, being a first year, you would have gotten this anyway, but you can have mine as I passed my last evaluation and will be getting a tailor made Formula for my own bullet.” Evanthe said, holding her paper out towards me. Janine then immediately snatched the formula for the basic Psionic bullet, leaving Evanthe a little stunned.

Meanwhile, I was more intrigued by what Evanthe had just said. ”What do you mean tailor made?” I asked, prompting Evanthe to snap back to reality and reply. ”Oh! Teacher is a master at making Psionic bullets. He can use so many different kinds from different Psionic energies. And since I have Ferrokinesis, he will be making me a formula to best combine with my ability. It’s really ingenious!”

I blinked in surprise. I could only use fire bullets thanks to Sol’s bondage and integration with my Origin, otherwise I would only be using neutral Psionics for my bullets. If I could learn to harness other Psionics into my bullets like this teacher...

’This just got incredibly interesting.’