“But, Honey-kun, don’t you think you’re overreacting? Discrimination nowadays might actually be a problem.”
Maiko was right: since the 2020s, the world had been drifting toward a thoroughgoing elimination of discrimination.
Issues such as liberalism, political connections, LGBT, etc. had been actively addressed, and discrimination itself, whether it be discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, appearance, or any other possible reason, had been rejected.
But.
“The issue of discrimination is what overturns that.” The idea of equality has existed in all ages and cultures. But discrimination has been rampant in the world. The reason is simple, it has been justified.”
I knew this kind of story from the many explanatory videos I have seen.
Ordinary people would not be interested in this kind of story.
However, as a child who was bullied in elementary and junior high school, it was natural for me to be attracted to such titled videos.
“In the West, there have been principles of racial equality for hundreds of years, and yet they enslaved blacks and Asians. The founding principles change with time and region.
Human beings are only Westerners and do not include people of color.
People of color are born to be used, so that is the proper way to treat them.
The biblical sinner Cain migrated south. Therefore, people living on the African continent in the south are the sons of sinners, so they can be enslaved.
The Mongolian spots on the buttocks of Asians are the remnants of apes and proof that Asians are close to monkeys.
This is part of education because by making savages into slaves of civilized Westerners, they are teaching them civilization.
These rationalizations have been used to justify slavery. Distinction, not discrimination, is the appropriate response. Saying so, we can legitimately discriminate.”
Maiko turned pale as she shuddered at the mention of my story.
“But, Honey-kun and the others, you saved Japan, didn’t you? Even if we are treated as heroes, we can’t be called bad, can we?”
“The opposite is true. The supremacy of a people starts when they are in a weak position. If our success makes ‘psychics amazing’, many non-superpowered people will have a sense of inferiority. Then, in order to protect their own pride, they say, “Sure, psychics are great, but they are dangerous, and we need to be careful.” They want to think that non-psychics are intelligent, peaceful, and civilized people.”
Maiko was staring at me, and I felt a little sorry for that.
“I’m sorry, I was mean. That was just a worst-case scenario. It doesn’t always happen that way. It’s possible, of course, that we’ll be treated like stars and abolitionism will soon go down.”
It is not good to stir up undue anxiety.
Even so, I really wanted to say something.
“But the trigger is always trivial. A single murder can turn into an ethnic conflict that kills tens of thousands of people, or a single fake book can become a human rights issue that engulfs the entire world. As the saying goes, ‘the mountains shall go into labor, and shall give birth to a ridiculous mouse,’ but the opposite is true: a single mouse can cause a mountain to rumble.”
I was too anxious to stir up anxiety, so I put a lot of effort into my voice to reassure everyone.
“Sorry for the long ramble. But I want to address it before it gets too important for my fellow psychics. If we are going to continue to work in the Extraordinary Ability Bureau, I don’t think we should cause anxiety to the public. That should be the future of everyone here, or even all the students at Inou Gakuen.”
With those last words, the color of everyone’s face changed.
Everyone here, not just those with combat abilities, could misuse their abilities.
Miina’s [Rebuilding] would be able to secretly destroy buildings.
Shisae’s [Operation] would allow animals to attack people.
Maiko’s [Psychometry] could steal personal information.
Maria’s [Thoughtography] would be able to post voyeuristic videos on video sites.
Matsumi’s [Healing] would be able to destroy evidence of an assault and violence case.
Of course, my [Apport] too, would be able to steal all kinds of things.
If abolitionism was left optimistically unchecked and the tide of psychic equals dangerous spread throughout the world, it would be irreversible.
It would take more than half a century to extinguish the tide once it had spread.
“I guess I agree with you, Honey-kun.”
Miina spoke to everyone in a serious voice.
“It’s not easy to overturn values once they have taken root in a country, just as national character is passed down from parents to children. If we don’t change the tide of public opinion now, we will regret this day someday.”
“I agree with Honey-san, the difference between 0 and 1 is huge, but 1 can easily become 5 or 10. Beyond the discrimination against combat psychics is the persecution of us psychics ourselves.”
Following Maria, Matsumi expressed her approval.
“I agree too. I don’t think psychics are special like the idiots Bando and Ijuin, but I also don’t want them to be considered dangerous. But what are you actually going to do about it? I can’t even imagine what it would take to improve the image of a combat psychic, can you?”
“You’re right…”
I was ashamed of my ineptitude, saying a lot of great things.
But it was not so easy to improve the image of a particular group.
That was why it took thousands of years for the human race to realize an equal society.
“The reason why the focus is not on combat-oriented psychics is that no one is active in the field. And if you ask why they are not active, Director Sayuri is right, the actual people with combat abilities are useless.”
“Not everyone can make honey and royal jelly like me.”
She said and dropped a drip of honey from her fingertip into the seekers’ juice.
“Reality isn’t like an anime.”
Shisae was distressed as she pressed her left and right fists against her forehead.
That was right.
The protagonist of a battle anime could just use his or her abilities to blow away the enemies in front of him or her.
But in reality, there was no such easy-to-understand villain, unless it was a war.
Criminals were cunning, and what was needed to apprehend them was not combat power but investigative skills like Maria’s.
Even if we were dealing with people like bank robbers or terrorists, we would still have to consider the safety of citizens, and cooperation with the police would be important.
It would be difficult to make heroes out of people with combat-related abilities.
Everyone racked their brains, but no good ideas came up right away.
Then Kiriha exhaled happily.
“Thanks, everyone. But I think we should dismiss for today. We can talk to Director Sayuri tomorrow.”
“But…”
When I tried to argue with her, she put the tip of Kiriha’s thin fingertip on my lips and held my mouth.
“I’m glad you feel that way, but we’re still in high school. But, we should not try to do everything by ourselves, we should rely on adults once in a while. Honey taught us that we need friends to survive.”
When Kiriha told me, I was surprised even by myself.
Earlier, I had said something out of character like, “I’m doing this for the good of everyone at the school.”
A self-proclaimed loner could change if they changed their mind.
But it was the same for Kiriha.
She also told me that she didn’t need friends when we first met, but on the contrary, she had been explaining to me the necessity of relying on a friend.
I was so happy to see her grow up, and I felt fulfilled.
I guess everyone else felt the same way.
There was a friendly atmosphere.
In the midst of this air, Shisae went behind Matsumi with fluid movements and rubbed her breasts.
“Haa!? Matsumi-chan disappeared! And this sensation of being taken from away the belly button!?”
“German suplex!”
“Giyaaaahhh!”
As Matsumi got up from her beautifully arched inverted ebi zori, Shisae threw her arms and legs to the floor and peeled off her white eyes.
“I-I have one piece of regret in my li…fe.”
Maya crouched down and pinched Shisae’s cheek with her finger. It was like something out of a gag manga.
Why didn’t Shisae just start streaming videos of her daily life? Why not go the comedian route?
But the next moment.
Matsumi’s wrestling moves gave me a flash of inspiration.
“That’s right, wrestling!”
『What?』
“We don’t need to fight real villains, we just need to fight people with abilities. We can have an entertaining battle like wrestling.”
Kiriha’s expression brightened at my suggestion.
“I see… entertainment doesn’t require complicated training like the police or the Self-Defense Forces.”
“Also wouldn’t it be nice to have a healer like me to heal people who are injured?”
Miina was also impressed, stroking her mouth.
“If it succeeds, it will be a good place for people with combat abilities to work, and it will eliminate the disparity between students.”
Everyone was getting on board, and I was starting to feel somewhat more self-assured.
“Okay, then we’ll talk to Director Sayuri tomorrow!”
Thus began our strategy to improve the image of our abilities.