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When two shady dudes in suits showed up outside his house one morning when he was in middle school, Denki made the assumption that it probably wasn't a good thing.
Seeing his parents happily shake their hands and exchange a suspicious envelope and having an identification bracelet permanently attached to his wrist just further cemented it.
Being told to sit still while they implanted a chip of some kind into his arm really drove it home.
Needless to say, Denki watches the clock ticking over — marking his sixteenth birthday with minimal fanfare — rather apathetically. Hooked up to a steady stream of electricity, he can't exactly sleep right now. The hands of the clock are the only thing he gets to entertain himself within his concrete box of a 'bedroom'. He learnt early on that talking with his three roommates would just lead to a punishment.
An alarm sounds when it slips over into the early morning, and Denki just about hears the clunking of the door locks deactivating. A tiny click lets him know that the electricity he's charging on has been shut off, and he takes it as a sign to get up and go.
The sound of socked feet shuffling along the floor is the only sound coming from their little group until they get to the training hall. Along the way two of them had split to get a meagre breakfast, but since Denki and his bunkmate didn't technically need food if they kept up their charge they weren't allowed to follow.
Kubota-sensei's heels click as she struts into the room, the two others trailing behind her like ducklings. The long cylindrical pipe hanging off of her belt glints under the bright LEDs hidden in the ceiling and walls.
Great, today’s an endurance day.
When all three of Denki's roommates are standing in line with him Kubota-sensei nods and unhooks the 'training device' — known more commonly as a cattle prod or even just a torture device — with little fanfare.
She's clinical in how she approaches each of them, the thick rubber gloves protecting her hands from any kick-back as she stabs the pronged end of the prod into various body parts and jots down the various reactions.
Kubota-sensei doesn't speak directly to them anymore, and the only reason any of them still remember her voice is because of how she whispers results and judgements to herself.
Denki is second in the line, as per usual. Kubota-sensei ticks the voltage of the prod up several times before she uses it on him, pressing it into the paper-thin cloth of his 'uniform' shirt and activating it against his abdomen. It stings obviously, but Denki doesn't make a noise until it becomes truly unbearable and he's crumpling to the floor, again.
His head rushes with the excess electricity, but he can't expel it until given the command to.
That won't come until much later though, so he grits his teeth harshly and accepts the helping hand from beside him shakily.