Superpowers exist

I have always believed that every single phenomenon could be proven with science. It could all be explained with molecular reactions, atomic bonding, protons, neutrons, electrons, and then quarks. Of course there are still some gaps in our theories, but this was the basis of explaining how our universe work.

So, when I saw a guy on the internet controlling water, I thought that he was controlling the loadings of each H2O-molecule, but you wouldn’t be able to control it to the extent of making rain drops stop, splitting a small river in half and holding an orb of water in their hands. My second theory of this was that AI has advanced so much that this looks real. I thought that until I saw it with my own two eyes.

On a sunny day in Tokyo, I was walking from my apartment to the lab I work at, when I saw a crowd. Since I had a little time to spare, I have gone to check it out. There was a guy at the center of it all. He had water flowing around in the air, dancing at the palm of his hand. None of this made any sense. After his performance finished and the crowd reduced, I walked up to him to question him on how he could control water. He simply explained that he one day woke up with this ability. It sounded so stupid, it’s illogical. For the following week, I did research on how this could occur. But there were no results.

Can something so fictional really happen…?

The next time I saw the man performing his little water tricks in front of a crowd, I walked up to him. Pushing myself through the crowd, getting into the eye of the storm. When I finally got to the front of the crowd, I ran towards him and grabbed his hand. He looked confused at me. I inspected his hand for 5 seconds before pulling out a knife from my pockets and jabbing it straight into his palm.

A hurdle of water then formed in front of him and hit my chest like a truck. I got pushed back a couple of meters. The guy was screaming in pain. I was also in pain, but I tried to ignore it and look at him. Water was wrapped around his hand, preventing blood from spurting out.

“What the hell is your problem?!” He shouted out in anger.

I grinned, I laughed, I spoke: “I know I just stabbed you, but… Wanna come to my lab to do some experiments.”

“W-What?” He was still angry.

“Perhaps after we send you to the hospital.”

“Hold it! Why would I just follow you after you attacked me?”

“I did a lot of research, looking for a trick, an illusion, some kind of explanation on how someone can control such a huge volume of water. I got no results. But you got pretty popular on the news because of your ‘superpowers’, so I did a background check on you. I found out that you are a poor and homeless person with nowhere to go. So, if I could adopt you into my lab, I can find out how everything works.”

“And why do you think I would accept?” He interrupted me.

“A little inpatient aren’t you?” I said back. “If I could biologically prove that superpowers are possible, I… No, we could win a lot of awards. One of them being the Nobel Prize for Biology. What do you think? That’s a lot of money you could earn.”

“Tch…” He sounded annoyed. ‘Will all the papers you write also have my name?”

“Pretty much. And since the price is around 1,2 million dollars, divided between us two will be 600.000 USD. What do you think? Big money numbers mean good life.”

He took a deep breath, thinking about whether he should accept this offer or not. “Bring me first to the hospital, I will decide there.”

×××××

“So, when is the Nobel Prize going to happen?” He asked sitting on a hospital bed.

I was sitting on a chair next to him, peeling apples with a knife. “December 10th. The anniversary day of when Alfred Nobel died. It is currently April 23rd, so we have 8 months to find out how your body work, write a paper and publish it. If we miss the deadline then no stress, we have many years afterwards to figure out more.” I then handed a peeled apple towards him.

He grabbed the apple and took a bite. “You won’t put me into a tube to do experiments right?”

“This is no kids movie. You will still have all your human rights. Unless you do evil deeds and I don’t want to kill you, I might have to preserve you in a tube.”

The hospital door then opened and a nurse walked in. “Mr. Tsushima, your hand is fine now. Make sure not to move it too much. And with that, you are free to go.” The nurse said.

“Thank you.” The guy said, standing up from the bed.

“By the way, what was your full name again. I’m bad at remembering names.” I asked.

“It’s Nicolas Tsushima.” He answered.

×××××

“Alright Nicolas, welcome to the lab.” I said dramatically, letting him walk in. “Remember to wear a lab coat, lab glasses and currently also gloves since I didn’t clean up properly since the last time I worked with irritating substances.” I let him wear a coat, put some glasses on his face and gave him rubber gloves.

“Is this much safety really needed.” He then asked.

“Always.” I answered. “You can never know when a scientist wants to throw a liquid on your face for shigs and giggles.”

“W-What…?” He sounded now worried.

“I’m just messing with you. But accidents where irritating liquids end up on your face happen a lot in a lab. That’s why there is always a build in shower and eye shower. Just have to be safe just in case.”

“That’s good to know.” He said slightly relieved.

Suddenly, a liquid splashed onto my face. It made me completely wet. “Kasane you brat!” A high-pitched voice shouted at me. “How dare you let me clean up the lab!”

“What did you throw on me?” I asked covering my face.

“Hmph! It is HCl.” She answered.

“Liar. This is not killing my skin.” I spoke.

She sighed. “It is just distilled water. I don’t want to traumatize some random guy.”

"Oh, so if I were alone here, you would?" I asked. 

"Yes." She simply answered.

I took a towel and wiped my face. “Nicolas, let me introduce the second and only member in this lab beside me. Her name is Chihiro Mizuki. Despite her anger issues, she is a pretty good and helpful scientist.”

"Anger issues?" Mizuki asked angry.

“Nope, I am definitely worried.” Nicolas said.

“So, are you a new guy or something?” Mizuki then asked.

“Well, I still need to sign a contract and stuff, but I am planning to join.” Nicolas answered.

“That’s good.” She said. “I was starting to get sick of Aki.”

“Aki?”

“Have I never introduced myself properly?” I then asked.

“Now that you mention it, you haven’t.”

“Well in that case, my name is Aki Kasane, the scientist that will rule over the world with my discoveries.”

“Am I joining some kind of terrorist group?” Nicolas whispered to Mizuki.

“I suppose so.” Mizuki answered.

“I can hear you guys.” I said.

“Anyways Nicolas.” Mizuki then grabbed a paper. “Let me interview you.”

“S-Sure.” Nicolas answered, stuttering a little by the sudden act.

“What degree do you have?” Mizuki asked.

"Like a school degree?" Nicolas asked back. 

"Yes." Mizuki answered. 

“I don’t.” Nicolas then answered.

“How much science knowledge do you have?” Mizuki asked next.

“Nothing advanced.” Nicolas answered.

“Aki, did you pick up a gosh darn stray dog?!” Mizuki was mad at me again.

“Yes.” I simply answered. “The thing about Nicolas isn’t about his intelligence, more about what he can do.”

“What can he do?” Mizuki asked.

“Nicolas, show her.”

Nicolas then took the bottle of distilled water from the table, opened the lid and made the liquid float up in the air. He stretched it, squeezed it, played around with it like a child playing with clay or slime.

“By stabbing his hand and getting hit by a hurdle of water, I can confirm that this is a superpower.” I started to explain the situation more. “But since believing in superpowers is ridiculous, I took him in to find out how his powers work.”

“I see…” Mizuki said. “And what does Nicolas get out of this?”

“Money and possibly the Nobel Prize.” I answered.

She laughed. “This sounds so stupid, but this is an interesting occurrence. Fine… I’m in with this research.”

“Congrats Nicolas Tsushima. You are now officially a member in our lab. After you sign a couple of contracts.”

“Thank you, I will try my best!” Nicolas answered, pleased to have a proper meaning in life. 

This is where our journey of working together to achieve the Nobel Prize began.