Several decades ago, a young Hyōbu who had recently lost his father moves to live with Fujiko and her father in Japan. Some time later, both Fujiko and Hyōbu are asked by Captain Eiji Saotome to join a new Esper special unit created under the Japanese Army. Fujiko declines despite Eiji's claim that the unit's purpose is not to help with Japan's invasion of other nations but to help with the country's defense, in spite of a similar initiative in development by the Third Reich, while Hyōbu was instructed by his late father to refrain from using his powers to avoid being used as a living weapon. However, some time later, both Hyōbu and Fujiko accept the offer and join the Army. Some months later, Hyōbu and Fujiko get themselves involved in an incident with a naval officer and the Army discuss the possibility of having the Esper Unit disbanded, but Eiji proposes a bet instead, with the incident being forgotten should they manage to defeat in combat the Japanese Navy's recently completed state of the art fighter aircraft, the "Zero".