Prologue
"Wait right there!" The burglar stumbled over a rubbish bag as he heard the voice. It was much closer to him than he thought could be possible, he had quite a lead on his pursuer and there was no way she could have caught up on him so quickly, not at her age. However, he made one big miscalculation.
The man collapsed forwards as a weight suddenly pushed down on his back and forced him to the ground. His hands were forced behind his back before he could respond and he felt metal clasps snapped around his wrists.
"Judgement here! I'm arresting you for breaking and entering and attempted robbery!" The girl who had caught him declared. She was young; probably not even a teenager, with her red hair divided into two ponytails on either side of her head. The girl spoke with a very stiff upper class accent, her words precise and pronounced.
The man's body slackened as he gave in, knowing he had been caught. Only moments men and women in riot gear rushed into the alleyway after the girl had spoken into a hi-tech headphone. They pulled the man to his feet and led him out of the alleyway, watching carefully.
In a city fully of humans with ESP you had to be on the look out for surprises when it came to criminals. The girl who had caught the man followed them out of the alleyway, her mission complete. She took off her headpiece and slid into a pocket and did the same with the armband that she had put on to signify her affiliation with the city's policing force.
The would-be robbers were being shepherded into an armoured van before the doors were closed behind them and they were taken away by Anti-Skill, the riot police and support of Judgement, the standard policing force.
In Academy City there were 2.3 million inhabitants, 80% were students who studied, in short, how to become espers. Espers in this case being humans granted 'supernatural powers' through science. The girl who had just captured the criminal was a Teleporter, a level 4. There were six levels, Level 0, the powerless, up to Level 5, of which there were only seven in the city.
"Kuroko! Over here!" The Teleporter looked to where another girl, a few years her senior, was waving.
"Onee-sama!" Kuroko walked across the closed off road to where her senior was waiting. This girl was Misaka Mikoto, the strongest Electro Master in Academy City, ranked third among the Level 5's, although one would not think so from her attitude.
"You should have let me take them out at the beginning." Mikoto said with a frown as the armoured van pulled away, sirens wailing.
"Really, Onee-sama. You should know by now. It's my job as part of Judgement whereas you are simply a civilian bystander. You mustn't get involved, even if you are Tokiwadai's Ace." Kuroko admonished; but Mikoto once again just tuned out her words.
"The others are waiting, come on." Mikoto turned away and Kuroko had to hurry to catch up with her. Mikoto and Kuroko were with their friends, Kazari Uiharu, who was a member of Judgement and Kuroko's support; and Ruiko Saten, Uiharu's best friend and a Level 0. While Kuroko and Mikoto were above Level 3, therefore eligible to attend Tokiwadai, Uiharu and Ruiko were both below Level 3 and so were students of a less reputable school.
"Ah, Shirai-san. Did you apprehend them?" Uiharu asked in her polite, mild tones.
"Yes, they were just lowly thugs. I'm not entirely sure if they were Level 1's." Uiharu glanced at Saten to see if her friend was taking offence at this jab at Level 0's but the powerless girl didn't seem to mind, she had learnt to deal with it after recent experience.
"Let's go then, now that it's over." Mikoto said and they continued on their outing to the Seventh Mist, one of the larger malls in Academy City, also a student's favourite. Much of the upper building was still closed for repairs after a bombing attack aimed at Uiharu but the lower section still operated fully and it was here that the girls went.
As they walked towards the automatic doors Mikoto stopped as she spotted a familiar boy talking to an elderly lady. He was nodding his head and pointing somewhere but the woman seemed not to understand. The boy looked around, seeking help, and spotted Mikoto.
"Hey, could you help this lady?" He called out to her. Mikoto's temper instantly snapped, remembering the last time the boy had asked her to do a similar thing.
"Why don't you do it yourself, for once?" She demanded. The boy looked taken aback by her anger but instead laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well there's someone waiting for me at home and they'll get annoyed if I don't bring them food anytime soon…." He trailed off as he noticed the sparks flying around Mikoto and held a hand out towards her and tried to calm her down but she wasn't listening. The boy saw it was helpless and turned away, sprinting down an alleyway next to the mall. The other three girls watched as Mikoto chased after the boy and shared confused glances before continuing inside. Mikoto was somewhat a strange person, it was better not to question her actions.
*****
Mikoto turned left, heading after the sound of pounding footfalls which could only be the mystery boy fleeing. She burst out onto another street, colliding solidly with someone who felt rock hard. She fell backwards, as did whoever she had collided with, onto the hard pavement. Mikoto sat up; rubbing the back of her head and wincing at the headache she could feel forming already. Her target had already disappeared and she scowled at her failure to get some answers out of him once again.
"I'm sorry; I didn't expect anyone to be coming out of there. I guess people use the alleyways more here than elsewhere." The voice belonged to the person she had bumped into and to her surprise it was a blond boy, her own age. He was quite short, possibly only just taller than her, with icy blue eyes and a pale complexion. He was already up and offered a hand to her. Mikoto took it and let him pull her to her feet. She was surprised at his strength, the boy was skinny to the point one might suspect he was anorexic.
"Tch, he got away." Mikoto fumed, picking up her bag.
"I'm sorry, were you chasing someone? They're not a criminal, are they?" The blond boy looked concerned; and slightly taken aback by her anger. Mikoto realised she was taking out her frustration on this person who she had bumped into and forced herself to calm down.
"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." She mumbled the apology. The boy relaxed as he realised her anger had passed.
"I understand, I suppose. Oh, could I ask for some directions? I'm trying to find my way to Hakurai Academy but I don't know my way around this city, I only just arrived here today." Mikoto bit back the anger resurfacing; the boy's request a reminder of the fugitive's earlier favour.
"Yeah, if you follow this road you'll get to the city centre. There are signposts there, just find the one pointing to the Academy District and follow the path." Mikoto pointed down the pedestrian road towards the city centre and she turned to go.
"Thank you very much. I'd have been wandering around for hours otherwise." The boy made a strange gesture, as if he were pulling down a top hat in the old fashioned Western style, despite him not wearing any form of headwear.
"Just try and avoid some of the back alleys. Sometimes thugs hide in them." Mikoto warned and the boy looked worried.
"Thugs? I thought the security system here was meant to be top notch?" He inquired. Mikoto laughed contemptuously.
"Hardly. Judgement and Anti-Skill often arrive too late, there aren't enough of them to cope with it all and the robots often arrive too late or are too stupid to do anything. Anyways, I'm going this way." Mikoto disappeared into the alleyway. The boy called thanks again before continuing on.
Mikoto rejoined the others at the Seventh Mist only ten minutes after she had left. Kuroko teased her about chasing a boy and was promptly shocked by Mikoto's high voltage power as punishment. Saten and Uiharu laughed and the girls continued their shopping spree, although in the end they bought nothing.
*****
"Thanks for earlier." The boy who had run from Mikoto earlier had doubled back, found his rescuer by chance and had called out to him.
"You didn't look like a criminal so it seemed like the thing to do." The blond boy responded with an easy smile.
"So you're another esper, huh?" The boy, Touma, asked. The blond boy replied with a nod of his head. "What's your power?" Touma asked but the blond boy just winked at him.
"That's a secret."