BREAKING: Psycho Dust NEXT to be placed on Hiatus!

I figured it'd be best to say it right here before everyone gets excited but...

Yeah, I know. It sucks, I'm sorry ;_;. But there's a reason for this.

The first part is, well, everything I typed for it at the moment (15K words!) went kaput due to a file corruption and trying to remember it for NaNo is a pain. But there's another reason that's more relevant.

It's the sequel to Psycho Dust. Psycho Dust, my baby that I worked on for two years and am still editing for your enjoyment. To force out a 30 day sequel that I may or may not finish would seem cruel to you, the reader. So, PD Next will have to be put on hold until NaNoWriMo is over and the Cocytus Visual Novel project is complete.

Sorry guys, I'm so sorry! Oh so sorry! Please enjoy this introduction for now.

1/ “Allow me to reintroduce myself.”

Hey. Me again. It's been a while, wouldn't you say?

When we last ran into each other, I was questioning my reason for existing or something. I vaguely remember it being some kind of angsty teenage thing that was pretty much overdue for me and all that. However, while I'd like to chalk it up to hormones or a testosterone imbalance or some other BS excuse, I'm going to tell it to you straight: A year ago, this time, I was a mess.

Then, well, some things happened and now I'm better now.

Come on, you don't remember me? Really? I always thought I had a memorable face or something. You don't even recognize my voice? Fine, whatever. Lets go back through the motions again then.

My name is Atsuko Daisuke. I'm sure you forgot, but I'm an ESPer.

I know what you're thinking. What's an ESPer? Right, thats exactly what any sane, normal person would think and that's okay. I remember you being a normal person, so this is quite the breath of fresh air compared to what I'm used to. It's good to remember there are other people in the world who aren't some kind of super powered being.

But, time for a refresher. Lets go back to last year, when this all started.

Back then, I was normal. A normal guy. A normal guy with a few hang ups on about his normality at the time, funny enough. In hindsight, I was fine then, not knowing some of the stuff about the world that I know now. I would have never known the exact volume of blood within the human body, for example. Something like knowing what it would be like to encounter a real alien in a face to face could have remained a nightmare brought on by a horror movie. I'd have never known what burning flesh smells like.

And I would have never, ever met Yaotome Arisu. Excuse me, Alyssia Von Hausen – I almost forgot she was a completely different person than the one I got to know for a year.

In a way, that young woman saved and ruined my life. Well, okay – she did save my life, seeing as I was dying in the street when she decided to save my life out of the kindness of her heart. Sometimes though, I can't help but think dying would have been the easier thing to do by a long, long mile.

Anyway, you were wondering what an ESPer is. Well, my technojargon isn't as good as I'd like, so I'll sum it up as simply as I can in so many words: An ESPer is a psychic, only made artificially using some kind of concoction that shoots a million tiny little robots into your bloodstream. These robots in their infinite tininess then latch on to your skin, you muscles, your nerves, and rebuild your body over the course of a few minutes, rewriting your body so you can use one of hundreds of powers.

Me, I'm a firestarter. Pyrotechnic – no wait – Pyrokinetic. I wish I knew the mechanics of it, but I'm 100% fireproof and can start fires with my mind that happen to localize themselves around my hands. So yeah, there you go.

Meanwhile, there's Psychics. They're born that way and are stronger. Some of them even have multiple powers. A friend of mine is one of them, though her twin brother is an ESPer. Don't ask me how it works, I assume there's some kind of psycho-gene that I'm not aware of.

In fact, my innermost circle of friends are all ESPers, with the exception of my Psychic. Contrary to how this sounds, ESPers and Psychics are supposed to be really rare, but when you hang out with a group of these people so long, you sometimes forget not everyone knows that things like psychic powers are real.

Likewise, they don't know about the aliens – the Extra Terrestrial Organisms, or ETO. Personally, I'd have prefered to not know about them either. But this is getting a bit long winded, so lets talk about something that isn't so background heavy.

For example, I love cookies.

And thus, it was my love of cookies that led to the break up of the group six months ago, during summer break. It all started in an ice cream shop on a normal hot day.

Summer vacation had just begun and our wonderful leader Arisu decided, on a whim, to call us all to one spot where we could, in her words, hang out and stuff. The call came at an interval in time that I simply refuse to be awake, so the conversation between us wasn't exactly a friendly one.

“Hey Daisuke,” She says in a voice that was too eager for the morning. “What're you doing right now?”

My initial idea for a response was somewhere between an insult and a complaint, probably pointing out exactly what time it was and how calling me if I haven't have a recommended 12 hours of sleep is an awful idea. This likely would've wind out becoming a horrible argument and I'd have hung up to roll back over and sleep.

What came out instead was this:

“Ugh?”

“Ugh? What kind of answer is that,” comes the amused reply. “I bet you were still sleeping, huh? Lazy... what if something important was happening, hm?”

Well, I wanted to say, then you should say something important was happening. Given the circumstances, you would have told me Get up, we have work to do instead asking me something what am I doing. In fact, the fact that you asked means this is something not important and as such I can return to my peaceful sleep and slumber and lullabies.

But the only thing I could muster was another “Ugh”.

“Well, get dressed. We're all going out today,” Arisu says in a curt voice. “If you're good, we could go for ice cream.”

What do I look like, a kid? If I'm good, huh? If I'm smart, I'd tell you know – any and all incidents with Yaotome Arisu involve me being in danger or maybe insulted. Last I remember, those were two things I wasn't exactly a fan of and besides, I had a full days worth of sleeping and slacking and other stuff ahead of me that you were simply encroaching upon.

“Ugh...”

“Fine. I'll pay,” She sighs. “How's that? Now get up and meet up with us at the park.”

Those were the words that had me sitting up in my bed.

“I'll be there in ten minutes.”

“Cheapskate.”

“No, just someone who's good at waiting for the pot to be sweetened,” I reply with a yawn, swinging out of bed and stretching. “You shouldn't be so stingy when it comes to waking people up so early in the morning.”

The phone snaps shut and is quickly tossed aside into a pile of clothes that lay in a pile near my door. Its only then that I remember how long its been since I've actually left this room and done anything with the people I like to refer to as friends – it has to have been a week, maybe two since the last time we got together. If I were on the outside looking in, I'd have to say that I was avoiding them.

Which I wasn't. Mostly.

I mean, I love those guys. They're better friends than the friends I actually had before them. But any time the five of us gather up in a group, it always ends awfully. Sometimes it's evil monsters, some times its insane Canadians with god complexes.

God, I hate Canadians. Never did I think I'd say that before that particular incident happened.

“...Wait a minute, its seven. I haven't heard from mom...”

Thats right, my mother. Where was that crazy woman at again?

Ah, right. She recently left to go try out for some martial arts tournament. My mother, the kung-fu instructor in this house of ours, thought she could go recapture her glory days upon seeing an application for a world martial arts tournament. Being the irresponsible parent that she is, she simply left me behind with the promise of a daily phone call to remind me that she's alive and all that.

Lets see, she's in Europe right now...so it's probably the middle of the night. I should get a call later, then...

“My life is a mess,” I sigh, pulling a light jacket over my shoulders. “Why can't things just be organized?”

Oh wait, thats not how life works. Silly me, wanting simplicity.

•

The park is completely empty when I arrive, save for two. These two, of course, are two of the largest instigators of Daisuke-related stress that there could ever possibly be in the world.

This is slightly in part of them being my two loudest critics and also being at permanent odds with each other like a seventy foot anaconda would have with a giant squid of equal size and strength.

“Oh good, Daisuke's here,” The first one to see me is the small girl with bright red hair, so red it could be mistaken as being painted that way. “Finally, someone I can talk to intelligently.”

“Pfft,” A girl with faded brown-blond hair makes a face at the red head. “You, an intelligent conversation? You have the intelligence and maturity of a twelve year old.”

“And you have the sense of humor of a hag,” The red head replies, sticking out her tongue. “If you keep acting so prim and proper all the time, you're going to wind up with a face full of wrinkles and a head full of gray hairs. You'll have to dye it then, wanna be Blondie!”

The small red girl is, without a doubt in the world, Satsumi Rei. Satsumi Rei, who is both the feistiest and strongest girl in the world, without a doubt in my mind and a worry in my heart.

Yes, that hair of hers is completely natural. All three feet of it in all its brilliant crimson glory. Yes, those glowing, lunatic-green eyes of her are hers and not the result of any alterations. No, this is not very rare for Japan, where black hair and black eyes are the norm – but the fact that its all her and all natural simply is enough to make her stand out of a crowd.

The fact that she's barely under five feet doesn't help her much for blending in either. But the tiny, abnormally colorful girl is – as she'll be sure to tell you – the result of American engineering and design. But I'm sure a little red haired, green eyed Japanese girl attracts attention no matter where she goes in the world.

That, and she can bench press a ton. A literal ton. I've seen it, I can confirm it. The girl could break me in half over her little knees if she wanted.

By contrast, there's the second feistiest person in the world she's glaring it, Akiyama Karin. The half Russian/Half Japanese who could probably make you wet yourself in fear if she ever fixed her eyes on you and could stop your heart with a single insult.

No, she's not a blond. Well, even now she's not a blond – it appears she's been neglecting the dye so long that its returning back to her natural brown, I can even see her roots from here. But, if I remember right, she said it was a conscious decision in order to divert herself from her twin brother, who isn't quite here at the moment.

Likewise, she can worm her way into your brain and throw you with her mind. I made the mistake of angering her once and she proceeded to sing the song that never ends in my head for three hours.

—Yeah, she's the one I mentioned earlier. The Psychic. That's her, and she's scary.

“Daisuke,” Rei shouts suddenly as she runs towards me. She grabs my hand with a huge, cherry flavored smile on her face. “You'd go see the Afro Da Pump movie, right?”

“What? There's a movie?”

“Yeah! Karin was over here saying that only kids watch the show,” She thumbs in the girl's direction with a snort. “But shows what she knows. Afro Da Pump has so many fans that I bet there's people of all ages in the theater right now!”

“Well,” She replies very loudly, her voice backed up by the echo of her thoughts in our head. “Shame on those people then. For an adult to take entertainment out of a program for children... its nonsense, it just shows where their maturity level is!”

“Really?” Rei props a hand on her hip and whips her head around, sending long red hair flying everywhere. “You've never enjoyed anything for kids? I think someone is lying out of her ass!”

“Ly—listen, I don't have to justify my thoughts to you,” Karin swells. Clearly Rei struck a nerve, but for someone who attempts to maintain a upright and ladylike presence, a well justified outburst at the girl would be insulting. “If I think seeing something like a movie for Afro Da Pump of all things is stupid, then so be it! You're taking it like some sort of grievous offense!”

“Listen to you,” Rei laughs. “Grievous offense? Who talks like that? What decade were you born in? Right Daisuke?”

“Uh—“

“Don't you dare side with her,” Comes the shout that fills my head and the glare that freezes my blood in my veins. I choke back whatever words I was thinking of saying and quickly direct my attention to the sky.

“Don't bring me in this,” I say flatly. “I'm Switzerland. Neutral.”

“Wha? You can't be neutral! Come on, help me out,” Rei complains, tugging at my jacket. “Tell her Daisuke! She's wrong, right? Afro Da Pump is a show for all ages and only someone with a black heart like Karin's would hate it, right?”

“Switzerland.”

“Well,” Karin smiles. “Clearly he's not saying anything because he knows I'm right. Agreeing to something so stupid as your argument is beyond anything Daisuke could do, right?”

“Switzerland.”

“Look, if Switzerland doesn't agree, then I'll have to invade,” Rei crosses her arms with a frown. Karin's mouth forms a small upside down v in response as she glares in my direction.

A sudden sensation of something wriggling around fills the back of my head, as if Karin is trying to influence me. But she's done that so much to me that I've already prepared a back up in mental images that would throw her out.

Karin in a swimsuit.

Karin in a swimsuit eating ice cream.

Karin in a white swimsuit eating ice cream.

Karin in a white swimsuit eating ice cream that drips on her chest.

Karin in a white, wet, transparent swimsuit eating ice cream that drips on her chest as she licks at it seductively—

“Oh you .,” She growls. “You've been practicing.”

“No, I figured anyone would back off once they see something like themselves,” I smile. “Speaking of which, we should go to the beach.”

“Huh, the beach?” Rei looks from the two of us with a confused look. “Oh no, I packed up my swimsuits...”

Packed up?

“Why'd you do that? Are you going somewhere?”

“Well, its the summer, so—“

“There you all are.”

A tall girl with cropped black hair approaches us from the other side of the park, dressed in a furry pink ensemble that throws the three of us off at first glance. The second glance, however, confirms the woman who's approaching us to be, in fact, our commander and chief Yaotome Arisu.

“Whoa, she's dressed like a person today,” Rei whispers to me excitedly. “I've never seen Arisu outside of a school uniform or that dress thing she wears.”

“Yeah...” Karin nods in agreement. “It's...quite the change. Wait, are those earrings?”

“Well,” I point out. “They're hanging from her ears. So I'll go with—“

“Fur boots?!” Rei jabs her finger at the Arisu's feet. “Fur boots! Where did she get fur boots in pink?! Why does she have fur boots?!”

To understand the full bizarreness, I should give some background.

Yaotome Arisu is an agent from an organization of ESPers dedicated to hunting down creatures of an Extraterrestrial origin. So, while she has her silly moments from time to time, she's usually the serious type when it comes to her business, and business is in all the time around here.

Well, excluding a certain period she was hospitalized, this is the only time we've ever seen her not in serious business mode. Given that she goes so far to give off a look that one would call Secret Agent Gothic, seeing her pinks and whites and other happy colors is something that none of us could have possibly predicted. Especially Rei, who seems to be taking the fur boots pretty hard.

“...Why is everyone looking at me like that,” Arisu asks when she finally reaches us. “Is there a stain on my shirt or something?”

“Fur boots...”

“Don't mind her,” I tap my knuckles on the top of the girl's skull. “She's stuck in a loop. We're just surprised to see you looking so...”

“Vibrant,” Karin suggests. “I was expecting a gothloli dress and parasol, honestly. You look good today, Arisu.”

“Fur boots...”

The taller-than-your-average-woman that is Yaotome Arisu – who towers over even me at an impressive 74 inches – simply stoops down to Rei's 67 inch eye sight and flashes her a smile. Deep purple eyes meet with bright green ones.

“You don't like them? You're the one who suggested I buy them,” She teases. “Remember? Oh Arisu, you really should get those, they'll look really good on you? Don't tell me you're mad because I actually followed you advice?”

“...I suggested those?” Rei bites her thumb as she thinks, her two front teeth pressed on her skin like a rabbit's. “Maaaan, what was I thinking? I should've got them for myself. See what looking out for other people does?”

The remark is followed by a huge grin spreading across Rei's face as Arisu rights herself. “So, we're all here, right? Lets go, its time to do stuff that's fun and exciting as a group! I know this cool store just down in Ikeburo that has these cute little—“

“Hold on,” I cough in my hand as an impromptu interruption. “As nice as it is to know that we have a long day of store browsing and stuff ahead of us, someone's not here.”

“What? Seriously?” Rei tilts her head as she looks around. “Me, You, Arisu, Karin the hag...who're we missing?”

“Hag? I should—!”

“Keiji. Where's Keiji?”

Akiyama Keiji, the younger twin brother of Akiyama Karin who was, through some strange timing, born the day after she was by three minutes. Of all people to be missing, how did he wind up being the one?

After all, the whole group consist of myself, Rei, Arisu, and both twins. So, when Arisu did the phone call telling us all to meet up here, I assumed she alerted both twins to come here at the same time. Not only that, Karin should have brought him along since they both live in the same house.

“Oh, about that,” Karin shrugs. “Keiji was already gone when I was getting dressed. From the looks of it, he was out somewhere last night and never came home. I bet he's with one of those distasteful women he's so fond of or something.”

“Wow Karin,” Rei scratches the back of her head with a sly smile on her face. “Your brother is a slut. How does your family feel about that?”

“They don't particularly care,” She sighs and shrugs. “Keiji's his own man, there's no point beating any learning into him. He'll likely go on to be some washed up gigolo while I follow in my father's foot steps and join the police,” she clears her throat. “I do love my brother, before you ask. I just don't have much faith in him, that's all.”

“Man, you sure do know how to make a guy feel loved.”

The group turns at the sound of Keiji's voice, who stands right behind Karin with an exaggeratedly disappointed look on his face.

“Really Karin, you're so high and mighty. Guy's don't find that attractive in a woman, ya know,” He sighs so deeply that I swear he sinks into the ground. “And if you keep spreading slander like you do, then you're going to die and go to hell.”

He takes a step back, brushing stray hairs back down on his head – it seems he had to run here with a bit of electrical assistance on his side in an attempt to not be late.

There's also the issue of a slowly spreading purple blotch under his eye that looks as if it were poorly covered with some make up he cobbled together...

“What happened there,” I ask, only to find myself flinching under Karin's glare once again. But Keiji simply smiles wildly and points to it with the look of a madman.

“This? You mean this? The big ass bruise on my face? Why, whatever did happen here, I wonder?”

He paces back and forth, tapping the spot with his index finger.

“Oh yes, that's right. KARIN decided it would be great to PUNCH ME IN THE FACE for waking her up. Man, you have no idea how dangerous it is to wake someone like her so early in the morning, seeing as her first reaction is to lash out violently at everything and anything around her!”

A long silence. Rei's face looks like its going to explode with the laughter she's trying to hold on while Arisu muffles her laughter behind her hand. I turn my head to Karin, who's cheeks are flushed bright red.

“...Uh...is that true?”

“It was a perfectly normal reaction!” The girl screams. “He shocked me! Who shocks someone awake?!”

“Well,” Keiji snaps his finger. “You were dead to the world. I shook you, shouted, even sprinkled a bit of water on your face. A small burst of static isn't anything to black eyes over!”

“Yes the hell it is,” Karin screams back, dropping her ladylike manner in a heartbeat. “How would you like it if I threw your bed out of a second story window, huh? Oh wait, you wouldn't like that one bit, because you'd be dead!”

“Well, next time I'll—“

“You shock me again next time and I'm drowning you in the toilet!” Karin snaps. “This is not a joke, its not a promise, its a declaration of intent! Test me Keiji, I dare you!”

“Children! Please.”

Arisu steps between the raging siblings, who both continues to glare past her at each other. Then, with a flick of her fingers, both receive a quick shiny burn on their noses, which they quickly redirect their attention to with a shout.

“Honestly, its like dealing with dogs. You have to punish them before they learn,” She sighs, shaking her head and putting out the now burning black flames on her finger tips – flames courtesy of yours truly by the way. Who knew blood transfusions transfer powers? I sure didn't.

But, like I said, another story for different time and different place. Seeing as I've introduced you to everyone, lets hurry along to the brass tax.

As I previously mentioned, it was my love of cookies that eventually came to the break up of the group. Well, it wasn't the cause, by no means. No, we just happened to be finally at that ice cream shop, eating frozen treats and chatting like a group of friends would usually do when Arisu made an announcement.

“So I called you all out,” She says matter of factly. “So we could enjoy my last day in Japan.”

At this point, I choked on the huge chunk of chocolate chip cookie that I swallowed with my ice cream. Meanwhile, Rei stopped mid spoonful and stared at Arisu as if she had just said she were pregnant with an alien baby.

“...Nu-uh,” The red head finally decides, shoveling the spoonful of banana split in her mouth. “You're pulling our leg. You've got to stay here, you're assigned to this place. We're not dumb, Alice.”

“Yeah,” Keiji nods. “Besides, if you left, we'd be stuck dealing with all kinds of stuff on our own. You're like the team leader, babe.”

“She is the team leader,” Karin remarks. “And don't call her babe, its rude.”

Those three return to their ice cream, but Arisu shakes her head. Meanwhile, I'm still choking.

“Unfortunately, I'm not joking,” Comes a sad tone in Arisu's voice. “As of tomorrow, I'll be returning to Germany to be reassigned to another sector. The four of you will have to deal with the ETO on your own.”

“Wha—Germany?” Keiji drops his spoon. “You're from Germany?”

“Well,” Rei rolls a cherry on her tongue as she thinks. “Arisu's clearly not Japanese. At least, not wholely. Hell, I'm under the impression that the only one here at the table who is is Daisuke over there. But German? Man, I'd have never guessed! Wait, is the secret organization you work for there?”

Excuse me people, I'm still choking over here.

“Yes,” Arisu nods. “Wunderkist is based in Germany. Thats where the Psycho Dust project began, after all. And I was born there. In fact, I wasn't entirely truthful with you all about who I am—“

“Excuse me,” Keiji interrupts. “But we never really did believe you were just a high school student with super powers at any point.”

“We're not stupid,” Karin adds. “We just didn't think you told us for whatever reason. Maybe your name is top secret.”

“No,” Arisu shakes her head. “I can tell you that much.”

“Oh oh, so what is it?” Rei swallows the cherry whole. “Is it Anastasia? Or Natasha?”

“Those are Russian names, you twit,” Karin hisses.

“Nu-uh! Those're as German as bratwurst and beer!”

“I am Russian! I'd know!”

“Oh yeah...”

Arisu simply giggles as the two banter back and forth. At the same time, I'm clutching my throat and trying to massage the piece of cookie back up my throat.

Yes, nobody pay any attention to me. I'll just die painfully of asphyxiation while you guys discuss the country that certain names originate from. Nothing to see here, nothing to worry about at all. Oh, I can already see stars, how great!

“Alyssia Von Hausen,” Arisu says. “Yaotome was my mother's maiden name, so it's not really a fake name.”

“Oh, how pretty,” Rei claps. “Man, I wish I had a name like that. Mine isn't exotic at all. Well, unless I'm in the state—Oh crap!”

She smacks herself in the forehead with her spoon.

“I completely forgot,” She moans. “I was going to tell you guys...I'm leaving too for the summer.”

“Wha,” Keiji leans forward. “This is the first I've heard that.”

“Yes, you really should share such great news sooner Rei,” Karin's voice drips so heavily with sarcasm that there's probably a puddle on the floor underneath her. “I'm so happy for you.”

“Of course you are, hag,” Rei slips the spoon back in her mouth, finishing the last of her banana split. “You don't ever want to see anyone happy. How does it feel to have a heart made entirely out of coal and ice?”

“Quite fine,” Karin waves the comment away with a dismissive motion. “At least a heart of coal and ice operates well enough to let me develop into a full grown woman, you twelve year old.”

Someone bumps into me from behind, causing me to lean forward and cough the chunk of cookie dough under the table. I sit up immediately, taking a deep breath of air as everyone stops to look at me like a third had sprung open in the middle of my forehead.

“Daisuke, what are you doing?” Rei sighs, propping her hand on her chin and talking out of the side of her mouth. “Jeez, you're like a little kid. This is why we never take you anywhere.”

Right, so sorry. I'll try not to nearly die again.

“Weren't you saying something,” I croak. I massage my throat out of reflex, even though there's nothing lodged inside anymore. “Something about your leaving too? For the summer right?”

She frowns at the sudden change of subject but clears her throat in an overblown dramatic style.

“Well, since everyone wants to know,” Rei states slowly, her nose turned upwards. “I'll be taking a trip back to the US with my mom so we can visit some family. We should be back before the school year starts back up, but...”

Well, you can see where this was going.

Soon after we departed and the date changed, our group of five found itself cut down to three. Arisu – or Alyssia – was gone by morning, Rei gone by the end of the month.

School soon restarted. Arisu was still nowhere to be found, while Rei called us to say that she would be staying in the US for a few semesters. By the end of the year, it had come down to just me and the Akiyama twins.

But that's just the build up for the story to follow. Now that you've got the skinny on the details, lets get to brass tax.

Come with me, a year past our last encounter with the entire group, and into the summer vacation of that following year...