She was tall, incredibly fit, with a long blonde ponytail. She wore a variant of the long white combat dress of St. Ezreal's Esper operatives team. It incorporated a long sleeve button up shirt with padded shoulders and yellow cufflinks. A blue tie, and a hakama accented with blue and yellow. On her chest, an armored plate with an embossed Ezreal's standard, armor extending all the way up around her neck. The look on her face was stern.

"Report to the administration building immediately.", Tsubasa-sensei commanded Marth.

Marth paused a moment to let what just happened sink in. Aldo-sensei wasn't testing Marth after all? A cold sweat broke out on Marth's forehead as he realized he could have just died.

"What the hell, Aldo-bakka? You actually tried to kill me just now?", Marth began. "Nemesis of time? I used HYPER DRAGON EYE. H-Y-P-E-R D-R-A-G-O-N E-Y-E! Read it out!", Marth yelled in his defense.

"Only a little brat like you wold make a childish name for such a dangerous projection. What are you, 12? Are you sure you're in the right place, the kindergarten is down the street.", Aldo snapped back, the two arguing like kids.

"Quiet!", Tsubasa-sensei had had enough as she squinted her eyes in disgust. "What is your intention here?", She inquired.

Marth quit his bickering and stood up straight. "I just came here to take the entrance exam."

"That's a load of horse crap", Aldo responded. "You're obviously a spy, using a petty cheat as cover for stealing St. Ezreal's secrets."

"I am not a spy. Ever since I was little, I've read about St. Ezreal's Academy. Espers, using only science and the power of human consciousness learn and practice to become a force for good. In my grandfather's time, St. Ezreal's operatives defended his village from invading magic users. During the last great flood, St. Ezreal's rescued my village. Becoming an Esper operative is my dream. I just wanted in so bad that I cheated with Hyper Dragon Eye. The test was stupid and everyone else was probably cheating anyway.", Marth passionately told his story.

"I see. report to the administration building immediately." Tsubasa-sensei said as she loosened up a bit.

Marth wasn't having it. "A moment ago, I could have died! I just want to go home."

"No, you cannot leave this campus or I will kill you.", Tsubasa-sensei threatened with angry eyes.

"I can't leave?", Marth was confused.

"That's right, you are under my watch now. Don't think you can escape either. Given what you've told me you know about this school, I have no doubts that you know what I'm capable of as the second pillar of St. Ezreal's. Consider yourself a prisoner of this Academy. Had you passed the exam, you would have earned a different title."

She was right, Marth would be powerless against a second pillar. St. Ezreal's campus had five physical pillars, together forming a pentagon around the academy. These pillars were said to have been created using Esper projections, and powered a field which blocked Esper projections from traversing. A perfect barrier against astral attacks, and a shield to the secrets within. As tradition, five of St. Ezreal's finest were chosen to serve as a namesake pillar of St. Ezreal's. Together, the pillars of St. Ezreal form a council, police force, and commanders to the Esper operatives. Their mission is to serve and protect St. Ezreal's Academy.

Not that Marth wanted to leave. Being here was his dream. Without a fuss, Marth headed to the administration building.

The administration building was smaller than Marth had imagined, and it bore a similar resemblance to the campus's border. Five marble pillars surrounding a circular, domed roof building. As he walked up the staircase and into the building, another peculiarity found him. There was only one room, spanning the entire radius of the circular structure. Shafts of light from outside shone down through several vents in the roof, and a bird could be heard flapping it's wings after taking flight from it's perch above. More pillars cast shadows along the domed walls, reaching several meters higher than the average person. In the center of the room was an elevated stage, with marble ruins of what was once more short pillars. Marth found himself approaching the stage, looking for a clue of what to do next. As he stepped foot on the platform, dust in the air gave way to a booming man's voice.

"Watanabe, Marth?", A strange, monotone voice echoed in Marth's head.

"Who's there?", Marth questioned as he looked around the room. Nobody was there, only the same vacant marble building was seen.

"Watanabe, Marth?", Again the voice lacking in change of tone queried.

This time, a pair of eyes appeared, opening up before Marth. As if made of fire or some kind of Astral energy, these eyes were featureless, lacking pupils, iris, sclera or eyelids. Amber in color, the eyes stared down at startled Marth, who had to stop himself from falling off the stage. This was advanced, but Marth knew a projection when he saw one.

"I am Watanabe.", Marth replied.

The fiery eyes closed, and everything around Marth went dark. Marth stood in complete nothingness.

"Cryptic Isolation again?" Marth wondered as he searched for a bearing in the void. A moment of nothingness passed, before a vegetable garden came into view and the black receding. Carrot, tomatoes and peas neatly in rows, green stems glistening with water droplets from a nearby sprinkler. A cool summer day with nothing but tall plants in sight.

The amber eyes returned and opened above a potato patch, the mysterious voice returning.

"Planar Shift.", The radiant lens pair spoke. "An Esper injection, much like Cryptic Isolation, however your consciousness is not isolated within my own. Instead, we both have displaced to a different plane of existence. Here you are free to do as you please."

Marth was relieved, yet curious why he was standing in a garden.

"So who are you and what's up with the plants?"

"Please forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. I am Kaito-sensei, first pillar of St. Ezreal's Academy. This is my garden.", The eyes gently fluctuated as he spoke, becoming smaller, lower, and comparing in size to a teenager's. A uniform and white pair of gloves faded into existence where a human body would have been to match the eyes. A head of short blue hair came into view above and behind the fire-like eyes, but no skin or body was present. The small stature of the teacher was revealed, but his actual face and body remained invisible.

"Where is your body?", Marth wanted to know.

"Oh, I left that somewhere else.", Kaito's voice became less booming than before, yet monotone as always. Kaito's uniform kneeled gracefully, careful to not dirty his white pant leg. The glove reached over and gently grasped a potato leaf.

"This potato.", Kaito spoke, the amber eyes seemed to relax as they looked down at the plant. "One of the plants in my garden. It's my job as gardener to care for this plant, nurture it so it becomes big and strong."

Marth didn't know if this kid was a creep or a god. Kaito continued.

"Have you ever seen a Leptinotarsa decemlineata?", Kaito asked as he looked up at Marth, still grasping the leaf.

"I don't even know what that is", Marth replied.

"Colorado Potato Bettle. Potato bug. Both the larvae and adult beetle feed on the potato leaves. The damage they cause to the potato severely harm or even kill the potato.", Kaito said, again gently gazing at the root vegetable's leaves.

"So what, you squish the bugs?", Marth was getting a little impatient and crossed his arms.

Kaito's glove let go of the leaf and the figure stood.

"Yes. I murder the beetles and their larvae so the plants have a chance to grow.", The fiery eyes looked at Marth's. "Which one are you, Marth, are you a bug or are you a vegetable?"

Marth had remained in the Planar Shift with Kaito-sensei for some time. Kaito heard Marth's story of cheating on the exam.

"What's the big deal about Hyper Dragon Eye, and why does that idiot Aldo keep calling it Nemsis of Time?", Marth asked Kaito's form.

"Aldo was assigned to monitor the exam for Astral activity. You aren't the first to cheat in that way, you know.", Marth felt a little disappointed as Kaito continued. "Nemesis of Time is an astral projection in which the projector creates a gate to the fourth dimension, peering into another place in time."

"Seeing the future?", Marth had to make sure he was understanding this correctly.

"Yes. As you may know, a result of seeing the future can be completely benign, or it could tear a rift in the time space continuum." For example, a famous occurrence of such a rift was in the Edo period. A passionate man who's name has been dishonorably stripped from history books, saw into the future and witnessed his wife's death. Wanting to save his wife, he changed the conditions that would have led to his wife's demise, thereby saving her for a time."

"For a time?", Marth knew there was a catch.

"For a time. The man in his love for his wife, ultimately changed his wife's destiny that Kami-sama (God) had created for her. This upset Kami-sama greatly, and Kami-sama set out to restore the wife's destiny. Each time the wife was meant to die, the man saved her because he had repeatedly looked into the future. Each time the wife was saved, Kami-sama became more infuriated. Kami-sama, committed to impose his will, became forced to make the conditions of the wife's death even more terrible and hazardous to those around her. The man, passionate about protecting his wife, committed countless acts of heroism in her defense. Kami-sama was forced to resort to wide scale natural disasters resulting in mass destruction in order for the wife's destiny to be reached. Eventually, hundreds of thousands died, including the wife and the man. The authority to see the future is too much power for humans. It's use has been strictly forbidden in the Esper community, and those who use it are executed.

@TODO soon dismissed him to the dormitory where he was to be assigned quarters. The sun was setting and the lamps above the walkways began to illuminate.

"Ahhh, what a day", Marth thought to himself as he walked down the concrete path to the dorms. "I failed a test, almost got killed for failing a test, and now I get a new test to see if I'm worth keeping around long enough to fail the next test. This school sucks.", The bookbag held over his shoulder bounced a little as he walked with frown on face.

As Marth approached the dormitory, his cheeks became rosy as he thought of a silver lining. "Mixed dormitories? Mixed baths? Hmmm, this place is full of eccentric faculty, surely they must have thought that a diverse living situation would result in the best possible rounding of an individual's emotional development!", Marth fantasized, no longer paying attention to what was in front of him.

The only entrance celebration he would receive at St. Ezreal's, was the gong-like resonating sound made when his forehead collided with a hollow metal lightpost.

Marth found the manager's room in the dorm and knocked on the door. Greeting him was [To be continued]