A Certain Cat and Mouse
Prologue: A Slight Crack in a Pillar
Under a cloudless orange sky, on a grassy riverbank in Academy City, sat a young boy, his arms hugging his left leg as his right leg lied outstretched. His short black hair and the ends of his white headband swayed in the crisp breeze. The white uniform top he normally wore around his shoulders was being worn properly and buttoned up, and his matching pants were slightly stained with dirt. The frown on his face as he stared at the sunset was unbecoming of someone who was known to be full of energy.
For once in his life, he was questioning what kind of guts he had right now.
Last night was like a film with a chunk of the reel missing. The last thing he could clearly remember was spotting a person in yellow after following a trail of collapsed Anti-Skill members from one of the city's main gates.
The next thing he knew, it was morning, he was in a hospital gown on a hospital bed, and three members of the Board of Directors were reported murdered:
The city's ambassador,
The founder of Anti-Skill,
And the founder of Judgment.
Three people who have done so much for the city, who considered the city's residents their family, who even treated him like a stubborn son...
According to footage from a surveillance camera that was all over the the city's internet, those three had saved someone from the person in yellow, someone whose identity was apparently blurred for their protection, and had their heads crushed in the process.
By the location shown in the footage, he was closest to that place.
They had sacrificed their lives to save his. That was the truth.
And it made him sick to his stomach.
He was a fool.
A fool whose guts on that day were misplaced.
"Well, this is a rare sight."
He turned to his right, and saw a young girl approach him. Her blonde hair that went slightly past her shoulders gave off a lovely radiance from the sun as it danced in the wind. She had one hand on her black beret and the other in the pocket of her black uniform top.
"Not today, missy. I'm not in the mood."
"Unlike you, I can read the atmosphere. I'm not going to challenge you when you're not in top form; that'd be boring." Brushing her red pleated skirt a bit, she sat at his side and looked at the sunset with him. "Whatever's eating you must be really serious, so I'd guess... it's about the news last night?"
"Yeah..."
"In the end, even the 'preacher of guts' isn't immune to something like this. The entire city's a little shaken up, so I shouldn't be surprised."
"Yeah..."
"I have to admit, the city won't be as fun without Mr. and Mrs. Passant around."
"Yeah..."
"Will you say something other than 'yeah' already?" she groaned, now agitated.
"Yeah- I mean, yes..."
"Geez..."
A moment passed in silence.
"...Josse and Lydia had amazing guts, especially compared to everyone else in Judgment and Anti-Skill," the boy spoke. "Patrolling the city every night, taking care of everyone, listening to everyone's problems... It was almost as if they had infinite energy, you know?"
The girl nodded. "In the end, they never did say how they got their eternal youth and kept their powers all these years..."
"I doubt they would've ever revealed that." Feeling soreness in his left leg, he outstretched it and placed his hands on the ground.
"True. At least they died the way they always wanted to: saving someone."
Hearing that, he shifted his gaze to the river. "The person they saved... was me."
She looked at him. "Huh?"
"They knew I've survived much worse than whatever that woman could throw at me, so why'd they rescue me anyway...? I mean, I'd understand if she was out to capture me, but she had walked past me when I passed out..."
"...That's just how they are, I guess. They'd never leave someone in danger, even if that person were as durable as you."
Contemplating those words, he eventually made a chuckle. "You're right. They're just too kind."
"Yes, they are. And besides..." She brushed the strands of hair on her face aside.
Hearing her trail off, the boy turned to look at her. "Besides wh-?"
The taste of cream interrupted his thoughts as the sun sank into the cityscape.
He believed no amount of guts would ever have prepared him for this.
When the last of the sun's rays were swallowed by the dark, the girl pulled back with a smirk on her face, blue staring deeply into brown. "Besides," she finished, "you shouldn't always bank on your abilities."
Enjoying the look of shock frozen on his face, she stood up, stretched her arms to the sky, and chirped, "I guess in the end, you'll just have to have even more guts to compensate for theirs!"
The fire in his eyes reignited, he leapt to his feet with a slight unsteadiness and clenched his fists. "Yes!"
YYY
The Seventh of the Seven.
The Foreigner of ITEM.
When the paths of these two cross, a unique story begins.
YYY
Yes: I claim the first Gunha story, the first Frenda story, and the first Gunha/Frenda story (you heard that right) on this site! Happy Birthday to myself~
In medias res is a bitch for me to utilize. A sexy bitch, but still a bitch.
On Gunha: Because this is an in medias res prologue, he may seem a tiny bit off-kilter from the gung-ho vigilante he's usually (read: always) portrayed as. Keep this checkpoint in mind while the clock is being rewound.
On Frenda: I have decided her verbal tic to be "in the end" over "basically", as per agreed upon by both a certain translator of the novels and Seven Seas Entertainment's Volume 5 of A Certain Scientifc Railgun.
On the reference to the 0930 Incident: Given Gunha's nature, it is unlikely that he would not act while Vento of the Front is conking out the city's security en masse. Unfortunately, by posting this entry, I have unwittingly revealed the lynchpin to most of the stories I was planning for this section. Have fun piecing together the whole account!