Shizuka stood in front of Hybrid Academy with a mix of excitement and apprehension.  Her invitation to this school was unusual at best.  A few months ago, she was caught dabbling with Level Upper.  Level Upper usage is handled by the authorities in a way that resembles a cross between drug possession, illegal music downloading and copyright infringement.  Shizuka thought she was busted, that she would go the way of her brother and be forced to leave Academy City forever.  Instead, after being detained for a few days, she had been given an acceptance letter and permission to continue doing what she was doing, with some discretion.

She took an extra long time filling out her paperwork.  Most people tend to skim past the fine print, but Shizuka always read everything twice over just to make sure she understood what she was signing for.  This was more out of a nervousness and paranoia rather than actually being a stickler.  As she headed towards the hall where the ceremony would take place, she noticed the crowd get thicker, and the sound of conversation and shuffling feet overwhelmed her.  She put on her headphones and listened to the static, white noise that comprised her current version of Level Upper.  She could feel it synesthetically hypnotizing her brain to operate on a higher level.  She wasn't sure where to take it from here; either she could modify it so that it creates an actual increase in power, or she could mimic the original and create an AIM dispersion field synchronization network and borrow the processing power of other Espers using the system.  The latter would be easier to do but she would need other users; and to get other users, she would need permission from the school.

As the seats were filling up, Shizuka found an open seat in the middle of one of the rows and sandwiched herself down uncomfortably between two other students and waited for the ceremony to begin.