Hisoka.

“What’s up man?!” the one called Hisoka jumped out of the desk and came to greet Masuyo.

“Masuyo… Hirano…” Sute murmured his name.

“Thanks for bringing him!” Hisoka grinned at Yoko and gave her his ice cream, “Finish this for me, okay?”

“I can throw it in the trash for you.” she said while frowning at him.

“That’s good enough for me!” he turned his attention to Masuyo: “So, you are the new recruit, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“Nice. I’m sure you'll be a great Diver since you were recruited by Kisho” Hisoka gave the boy a thumbs-up.

“Huh…”

“But I’m getting ahead of myself.” he folded his hands, “My name is Hisoka Kubo, it’s a pleasure to meet you, man!” Hisoka Kubo gave a soft laugh and looked at Masuyo with his dark eyes.

“I’m Masuyo Hirano.”

“Great! So why don’t you talk to Sute-chan over there...” he indicated the back of the room with his head, “...and then we can start class?”

“Class?” “Okay.” Masuyo strolled towards the girl wearing a sweatshirt.

“Masuyo.” mused Sute.

“That’s my name.” he said faintly while stopping before her.

“Masuyo ni-nice to meet you, I’m Sute…” she stared at the ground without any emotion visible in her eyes. “So, you are Masuyo Hirano.”

“Yes.”

“Kisho was your u… hmm... he recruited you, right?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm, that’s nice...have a nice class.” Sute put her hands in the sweatshirt's pockets and headed to the door.

“Okay…” Masuyo followed the girl with his eyes. She left the room with Yoko, leaving Masuyo and Hisoka alone.

“Alright, alright, alright!” Hisoka said after a few seconds of hush, “Now let’s start this class! I bet you have tons of questions about what we do here and what you will do here, right?”

“Well, it's not like someone explained what I'll be doing here for an entire year. I don't have anything special going on for me.”

“And that’s where you're wrong, Masuyo. Being here now proves that you have what it takes to be a Diver! As expected of someone recruited by Kisho.”

“Hmm, is that so? So, what do I have?”

Hisoka paused for a bit and then uttered “MR.” slowly so that Masuyo couldn’t hear it wrong.

“Saying two letters like that doesn’t make me understand what it means right away.” “MR?”

“Yep, MR: Mental Resistance. I’m sorry we didn’t come up with a better name for it.”

“Okay, and what does it mean?”

“Hehe.” Hisoka smiled, “We actually have a video to explain all that stuff, but I, as the leader of the team, prefer to talk about it myself...” he looked at Masuyo as if expecting his permission to start a speech.

“Go on.” the boy nodded.

“Then grab a seat and prepare to hear me ramble a bit, okay?”

Masuyo answered him by taking a seat in the first row.

“If you have any questions, just interrupt me, it’s fine.”

“Uhum.”

“Okay, so where do I start? Oh yeah, MR. MR is Mental Resistance. It basically means you can endure some things on your head... well, it's more like endure someone elses’ problem to be honest.” he paused for a moment and then continued: “I bet Yoko ‘took a picture’ of you before you signed the contract, right? In reality, it wasn’t a picture, she was seeing if you had this MR.”

“Yeah, it was pretty weird. A red shine, a weird smell, and a weird sound.” Masuyo commented.

“Exactly! To common folk, that would erase their memory to anything related to the A.M.A. and other stuff the “photographer” desired, but for you, someone with MR, nothing happens! Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah, I think so. But how does it erase someone's memories?”

“Well, since I’m not the one who created it, I don’t know the details, but I can tell you that a normal person, when affected by that device, starts to feel sleepy and then loses his or her memories after sleeping, although sometimes the results can be immediate.”

“So, technology really evolved that much... well, after that supersonic car, I don’t think I can doubt anything anymore.”

“‘So, technology really evolved that much?’.” Hisoka held his chin as he read Masuyo's mind, “This is what you’re probably thinking, but don’t forget about the supersonic car from Adda-san!”

“Okay…”

“Okay! Continuing: when you have this mental resistance you not only can endure those erasing devices, but you can also make sense of someone else’s mind.”

“Hmm...”

“To explain this properly.” he paused for a moment, and his face made a serious expression for the first time since he met Masuyo, “I have to say that almost everyone has their scars, afflictions, and problems, even the smaller ones. As it turns out, those problems inside our heads and hearts can, sometimes, change us completely and take us to a dark path...” a shadow was cast on his face, it looked like he had seen a ghost.

“That was kind of weird.”

“So, that’s what the Divers are for!” Hisoka recovered his cheerful tone, “We basically go into people’s minds and help out.”

“Okay, but what about that mental resistance?” Masuyo asked.

“Well, the MR is necessary to Dive into someone else’s mind. You see, people’s minds aren’t simple things! And that means people without the MR can’t comprehend what is happening there.” he explained. “But the likes of you can simplify it and make sense of it.”

“So, it is the difference between wearing 3D glasses or not” Masuyo concluded.

“No, it’s more like the difference between being able to hear and see versus a blind and deaf person.” Hisoka corrected him “Someone without MR could 'Dive’ and nothing would happen, whereas someone like you, with this MR, would see some form of representation to a problem, since that’s what we’re aiming for.”

“Hmm.” Masuyo mused at Hisoka for a bit, “I don’t think I get that representation part.”

“You’ll see when the time comes, but it’d be like: the mind of a little girl might be a world filled with rainbows, while the mind of a war veteran could be filled with his war traumas, you know, people dying and stuff!”

“Wow, you managed to say that with a smile?”

“I’m sorry.” Hisoka gave an awkward little laugh, “But I practiced it a lot, and it’s the best example I could come up with so you could see the discrepancy between two minds.”

“Huh, you’re right, I think I get it after this...”

“Great! I hope you understood everything until here.”

“Sure.”

“Nice! So, continuing with the lecture… actually, what do you think about talking while walking through the garden? It must be a bit uncomfortable staying here all the time if we’re not going to use the board.”

“I don’t mind. I’ll go if you want.”

“Okay! You’re such a nice guy, Masuyo, come with me.” Hisoka said while walking to the door. Masuyo followed him until they stopped at a vending machine near the backdoor of the small building. Hisoka picked two grape sodas and offered one to Masuyo: “Here.”

“Hmm.” Masuyo considered what to do for a moment, “Thanks.” he decided to take the can.

“Okay.” Hisoka went ahead and opened the door leading to a part of the garden, “Continuing with what I was saying… what was it again?”

“You said something awful with a smile.” the boy remarked while opening his can.

“Yeah, you’re right! So, continuing: as Divers we theoretically have the purpose of preventing the others from going astray, but this isn’t easy, you know?” Hisoka stopped to sip out of the soda and then continued: “A lot of the time we’re just helping people with small problems.”

“And how do we do that?” Masuyo asked, between sips of the grape soda.

“I’m glad you asked.” the young man smiled, “I don’t want to brag about it, but the best part is on me.”

“Huh?”

“Well, we can go see the person face to face and talk to them to see what’s going on, but a large portion of the people don’t know what’s wrong, don’t want to talk about it, or just can't put everything together. And that’s why…” he stopped and looked at a peony near them, “... we have to use one little thing that I created.”

“And what is it?”

“It’s an attachment to your ID chip, an app if you prefer to call it that. It’s what makes the Dives possible. It allows connection between the ID chips.”

“Wait, so the ID chips have more functions than just… you know… identification?”

“Huh?” Hisoka tilted his head and then laughed a bit, “Of course they have!”

“I was probably kind of dumb for thinking like that, but now I wonder if there is more it can do.” “He…”

“If you’re wondering about what more it can do, I’ll tell you right away that, if there is more to it, you’ll find in the future.” he then turned to Masuyo: “For now there are some more things I have to tell you, and then you’ll be dispatched from this class, so listen carefully.”

“Okay.”

“Someone will guide you to your apartment, where you’ll receive information about your training schedule and the rules around here…” Hisoka stopped.

“Huh? That’s all of it?”

“Yeah… I thought I had something else to say, but it might just be ‘good luck!’ and ‘see you tomorrow!’”

“So, that means I can go back?”

“Yep, I’ll stay here admiring these flowers some more, but you can go. I bet someone is already waiting for you.”

"Okay..." Masuyo nodded and started walking back their path.

“Hey, Masuyo!” Hisoka shouted his name.

“What?” the boy turned around.

Hisoka took his eyes off of the peonies for a moment, grinned, and then uttered: “Good luck, see you tomorrow, and welcome to the A.M.A.!”