Andy and Hyoubu were both put in solitary confinement with nothing but a small glass of water and a stale piece of bread, and all Andy could see were walls and mice.
"..."
"This sucks," he groaned.
"Ahh! Honestly, why did I get wrapped up in this?"
It looked like he was talking to himself but on the other side of the wall Hyoubu was quietly listening to his rant.
"All I did was cover for a weird kid in a school uniform... And I get a slice of bread and water for dinner? What a joke."
In the middle of his rant, Andy was suddenly interrupted by the weird kid he was just ranting about.
"Your name was Hinomiya, right?"
"Yes. What about it?" he grumbled.
"I was trying to think. Could you keep it down? If you don't, I'll just kill you."
Andy just sighed at the empty threat Hyoubu had just thrown at him. His psychic powers were blocked by the EMCs. And he was still thinking of breaking through the thick prison walls?
"Ahh... Fine. Please don't kill me."
The two sat, each with their backs aimed at the wall right in between them, just staring to the other side of the cell.
After what felt like an eternity, Hyoubu suddenly called out to Andy.
"Hey, Ninomiya!"
Andy couldn't help but roll his eyes; he had tried to save this ungrateful bastard? Next time he vowed to himself to just mind his own damn business.
"It's Hinomiya," he casually replied.
"Do you know where that injured prisoner went?" Hyoubu inquired, trying to gather useful intel to accomplish his goal.
"What? Of course I know that much; I've been here for a good while. They get taken to the hospital."
"The hospital? There's a hospital here?"
"When someone's badly injured or really sick, they're taken to a hospital outside this island." He started explaining.
"It seems they reluctantly added the system due to the protests from an esper human rights organization. The prisoners are treated better in the hospital than here. And the food's probably better too." he added, looking at the sad excuse of a dinner that stood in front of him.
Of which more than half had already been eaten by the countless mice that were running around.
"Are the guards and EMCs laxer there?" Hyoubu asked, snapping Andy out of his sad thoughts.
"Not sure, but I think so. That means the only chance for a jailbreak might be the hospital."
"..."
"So why are you imprisoned in this country? You're part Japanese, right?" Hyoubu asked, trying to change the subject and get more information about this interesting young man.
"... I have my reasons."
"So it's a secret, huh?"
With a smile, Hyoubo decided to just drop the subject altogether.
But then Andy asked him an interesting question.
"W-Well, why are you here? You aren't someone the cops or the military could capture." Now it was his turn to try and get some information on this extremely powerful esper.
"Heh, no, I'm not. But I'm here to take care of some business."
"What kind of business?" Andy continued, trying to pry any information out of him.
"Hehehe. I am a high-level esper with multiple psychic abilities. And one of those is telepathy, which I'm quite good with, even if I say so myself."
"But you know what's odd? I can't read your mind at all. What sort of secret are you hiding?"
Suddenly Andy's expression shifted from his earlier relaxed expression into a deep frown. While Hyoubu, on the other hand, still had that same smile plastered on his face.
"Hehe. It's been a while since I felt this way. You truly are interesting!"
Hyoubu declared while staring at the ceiling, which at some point had started leaking.
"Hinomiya. Why did you step in back there? You know you could have gotten yourself killed, right?"
Andy clutched his fists tightly.
"I hate espers."
After Hyoubu heard that, his smile vanished instantly, and he listened intently to what Andy was about to say.
"But... I hate pigs who harass defenseless kids even more."
"Hehe."
"Hahaha. You're a modern, hot-blooded kind of guy."
"You know I was protecting you, right?!" Andy shot back.
"But aren't you an esper?"
Alarmed at Hyoubu's statement, Andy glanced at the wall that separated them, wondering what kind of expression he must be making.
"You shouldn't go on about hating them while pretending you're somehow different."
"Sh-shut up! You're a member of some dangerous organization despite being a kid!" He retorted.
"I'm not just a member, you know. I'm the boss."
"Haah, that's amazing."
"Then if I ever get out of here. Maybe I should join your organization. Um..."
"It's Hyoubu. Hyoubu Kyousuke—that's my name. Make sure to remember it. Oh, and don't forget those words, Andy."
After a short pause trying to remember his last name, he blurted one out that he thought was right.
"Uh, Pinomiya?"
"No, it's Hinomiya. You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?"
***
Meanwhile, in the director's office.
"Hahaha, who would think an esper could use his powers in my prison?" Kan muttered while lighting a fat cigar in his office.
"Hyoubu Kyousuke. He truly is interesting."
While looking out of the window, he enjoyed his cigar when he suddenly heard his right-hand man, the one who had sent Hyoubu and Andy to solitary confinement, ask him a question.
"Should I send him to the hospital?"
"'The method is up to you." Kan replied with an evil smirk.
"Understood."
***
The next day Hyoubu and Andy were let out of solitary confinement and could finally eat a proper meal at the cafeteria.
After waiting a while in line, Andy had finally grabbed his plate filled with actual food. He grinned like an idiot, eyes glued to the plate.
"Hehe. Finally, some proper food," he exclaimed.
"Itadakimasu!" He shouted while holding his hands together in front of his face.
Hyoubu watched him curiously from the chef's counter that was preparing his own plate.
"Oh? This is quite the luxurious breakfast."
"..."
The chef didn't say anything, just glanced at Hyoubu and secretly dropped some extra "salt" in his food.
"Here you go. Sorry about the wait."
Hyoubu just grinned and accepted the plate.
"Excellent work."
"Uh, sure."
Then the chef glanced at the man who had given him those orders. The skinny man who was observing everything from a distance.
Hyoubu, unbothered by all of it, made his way to the table where Andy was already done devouring everything on his plate.
"Mind if I sit with you?"
"Of course I do, you God of pestilence! Go sit somewhere else." Andy stated, not even sparing him a glance.
"Hahaha, don't be like that. We're solitary confinement buddies."
"Like hell we're solitary confinement buddies! Thanks to you I've been starving!" Andy angrily retorted.
"I see, so you're starving."
After he said that, an evil grin appeared on Hyoubu's face as a genius idea formed in his mind.
"Then take this as my apology," he innocently said, sliding his plate toward Andy.
"Eh? Really?"
"Yes. Eat up."
And with an enormous smile, Hyoubu looked at Andy, who didn't suspect a thing.
"In that case, I will! On second thought, you're actually a pretty nice guy, huh?"
Hyoubu just shrugged. "I hear that a lot."