Mikoto wasn't sure how to react to that sound. Someone had somehow fainted for whatever reason. Is it an enemy? A new ally? Or something else together?
Not wanting to ignore what happened there, and also because of the curiosity, Mikoto entered the alley.
But she didn't expect what's in front of her.
True, someone had pass out. But Mikoto noticed that there was something very different from this someone. According to the mangas she had been reading, a human that had tails from the end of their spine and ears on top of their heads aren't considered very normal. In her current situation, due to the slim figure and the long hair, she had presumed it to be a girl. But the white nine-tails from her back, she thought of the nine-tailed fox from the legends.
"W-What is... this..." She stuttered. There was no denying that this situation is very awkward.
The two protruding ears from the hair twitched, hearing Mikoto's shaky words.
'It moves!?' Mikoto screamed mentally. Even though it was a scary thought, she found it cute otherwise.
'No! I couldn't be distracted by how cute this scene is!' She thought in determination and sharpened her look. 'This person might be a new enemy, so I have to be careful...'
The other groaned and looked up, and saw something blurry. It was someone a year older than her physically. The blur slowly becomes sharp and saw a surprised face looking at her.
"You..." She spoke up weakly.
"...What?" Mikoto asked, her mind still wondering at the figure in front of her.
"You... can see me?" The other asked.
'Now she's asking if I can see her!?' Mikoto screamed yet again in her mind. 'Is this some kind of horror movie? What should I do? Say that I can see her? What if I introduce her to Kyouko, Uiharu-san and Saten-san and tell me I'm introducing someone in thin air? Would Saten-san say that the-'
Her panic thoughts were cut off by a loud growl on the human-fox on the ground.
"I'm hungry..." Was the response, and she looked up at Mikoto. "Feed me."
"F-Feed you?" Mikoto repeated. "What kind of food do you eat?"
"Anything." The other replied. "As long as it's delicious."
That wasn't a definite answer, Mikoto thought. Sighing, she said: "Alright. Just wait for me here, ok?"
The other nodded. Mikoto went out of the alley and went to the nearest convenience store she can find.
Her mind was still dwelling at the girl she found in the alley earlier, especially the first question. What did she mean by "see"? Did she mean if she can see her physically without problems? Calling back to the latest urban legend Saten-san said during their bonding in the restaurant, was it true? Beings that only certain people can see...
She picked up two cans of tuna in the seafood section and went for the drinks and picked up a bottle of water. After checking all the items needed to feed to the one who requested, she went for the counter and gave the items to the cashier and scanned the three items. He showed the total price to Mikoto and she pulled out her wallet from her pocket, giving the exact money to him. He finally put the items in the plastic and gave it to her.
Mikoto exited the convenience store and walked back to the direction where she left the other girl in the alley. She finally reached the destination and saw the other was leaning on the alley wall. The other looked at Mikoto, who only offered the plastic to her. She smiled at the action and fixated herself, sitting properly. The Electromaster knelt down and removed the items from the plastic, and realized something.
"Oops, I forgot to buy a can opener." She said.
"No," The human-fox quickly spoke up and stopped Mikoto from doing anything. "I already caused you trouble, so there's no need to buy a can opener just for this."
"But, how will you open that?" Mikoto wondered, staring at the can of tuna the other is holding.
"With this." The girl only replied as she used the sharp nail on her index finger, effectively cutting through the sealed can without problem.
Of course, Mikoto was amazed on how the other cut through the edge of the can as if it was a paper. There was an eerie silence between the two of them. Mikoto was staring at the other, who was using her hands to pick a piece of tuna and put in her mouth, tasting the said food.
"Hmm..." The girl hummed, chewing on the food and swallowed it. "It's delicious."
"Y-Yeah..." Mikoto responded, agreeing on how delicious tuna is. But, there are a lot of questions she had in mind, and hopes the other could answer all of them.
"Oh yeah, what's your name?" She asked, hoping to not sound impolite.
"Shirai Kuroko." The girl simply answered as she picked up another tuna and ate it. "Destined 11th Heiress of the Kyuubi Kingdom of the youkai world."
'I met a royal spirit!?' Mikoto thought, even more surprised than before, it doesn't help that the other is a nine-tailed fox. "Why were you asking if I can see you?"
Shirai paused and looked at the Electromaster. "When I first arrived here, no one can feel my presence nor see me. I was making sure in case you were looking at me."
No one can feel? No one can see? Mikoto made sure she heard what Shirai said was right in her ears. There's no doubting that this is somehow connected to the urban legends that Saten told to them. After all, Level Upper and the Stripping Woman were real incidents from the urban legends; or even the rumors about certain clones who looked exactly like her. But a rumor about something science can't explain...
"I hope I'm not being a bother, but, why were you here?" She finally asked, carefully choosing her words.
"I was being chased." Shirai replied sadly, after swallowing the final tuna in the first can. "I was being accused of murdering 1,000 of my world's population that I don't even know about. I mean, I was just playing with some children until certain troops appeared and hunted me."
Now Mikoto felt bad for asking. "Oh... Sorry for asking." Was only her response.
Shirai looked at Mikoto. "Now it's my turn to ask." She said, picking up the second can and opened it.
Shirai asked Mikoto some questions to what it felt like interrogation as if Mikoto was charged in a case. The human-fox asked the name of the Electromaster, the city they're living in and what makes this city special... Which Mikoto answered all of it.
"No wonder... I thought it was Raijin who did the discharge." Shirai said.
"Raijin?" Mikoto repeated. During her younger days, she had read and known Japan's mythological creatures. One mythological creature she had her interest was Raijin, the God of lightning, thunder and storms. The reason she had favored Raijin over the others is because of his power being similar to hers - they have powers over lightning, or electricity. As she grew up and finally taken to Academy City, she had considered them as her childhood experience.
"Yes. I thought I could meet with him again after 25 years."
"25 years?" Mikoto was surprised. To her eyes, Shirai only looked like a thirteen year old girl, with looks of a first year middle grade student. "Just how old are you...?"
"95 years old." Shirai simply replied. "We youkais live for a very long time. Our growth is very different from humans. If we reach a certain age, our bodies changes its rhythm. Whether we can stay young or old is our choice."
Mikoto could only stare in awe as Shirai finally finished the second can and picked the bottle of water, opening it and started drinking the contents. Soon Mikoto stood up, prompting for Shirai to stop drinking and look at the other girl.
"Well, it's been a long day and I must get back to my dorm before the Dorm Manager snaps my neck." Mikoto said, and turned around to the direction of the street and started to walk away -
Before a tug on her skirt stopped her.
She turned to Shirai, who only gave her the frown and sad look. "Please don't leave yet..." The human-fox pleaded. "If you're going to leave then please let me go with you. Seeing that you're the only one who can see me and you have the power to protect me..."
The Electromaster wasn't sure how to respond to a plea. She rarely get any pleas from anyone she was with anyone or has battled with. Shirai looked so powerless. The chase she was in must be a way for abduction or in the worst case will get her killed just because of a petty accusation she wasn't even involved of.
Knowing that Mikoto had no choice, she said: "Alright. But promise me to not make any ruckus, even if they can't see you. You need to keep yourself behave while I'm busy, ok? I don't want myself to look like an idiot when I scold you."
To what it seemed like a "yes" to Shirai, she replied with a vigorous "Yes!" and smiled happily, finally found someone who will be her companion to keep her safe from those troops who are still searching for her.
The two stood up and exited the alley in silence. Mikoto walked to Tokiwadai's Dorm's direction while Shirai was only following, with her eyes looking around on the closed stalls and buildings around them.
As soon as they arrived their destination, Mikoto gulped as she walk for the Dorm's door. She could already feel the dreadful presence of the Dorm Manager behind the door. Knowing whatever path she may take, it will always end up her neck being snapped with Kyouko witnessing.
She opened the door, and slowly creaked. She had already expected who is front of her and true to her words - it was the Dorm Manager, giving her the "it's nagging time" look under those shiny glasses and crossed arms combined with foot tapping. Then there was also Kyouko, who was ordered by the Dorm Manager to make her see the usual, more like cruel, punishment to those who disobey the rules.
"What are you doing so late out in the evening, Misaka?" The Dorm Manager asked with a vicious tone that sent shivers to Mikoto's spine.
"Uhh... Well, I was..." Mikoto tried to think up some excuse, but nothing comes up in mind.
"You do very well know the rules in this dorm, right?" The Dorm Manager's hands started to hold on Mikoto's shoulder and head, waiting for the Electromaster's reply.
"Yes..." Mikoto was too scared to even say anything else and -
CRACK
The next day...
"Misaka-san..." Kyouko called as she put her vest on. After the neck snapping incident, the two girls (plus the youkai) quickly retreated to their dorm room - 208 - and massaged the victim's neck in order for her to sleep without the unusual feeling in the hurt spot. "Just what did you do yesterday evening? When I arrived here, you weren't here and I discovered that you were still out."
Mikoto was already done preparing herself for school and only sat on her bed with an unseen Shirai helping her heal the sore neck. "I was just out, that's all. Just as I was about to go back, those usual thugs wanted to hit on me again so I fried them."
Kyouko sighed. "I just wish Misaka-san would follow the rules about the curfew once in a while."
"You're too nice." Mikoto retorted.
Kyouko grabbed her school bag from her desk and walked in front of the Electromaster. "Come on, let's go to school together."
"Ahh, that..." Mikoto paused. "You can go ahead. There's something I need to do. I'll catch up with you later."
"...Okay..." Kyouko slowly replied. Knowing Mikoto, the older girl had her own problems to which she couldn't even tell her kouhai about it. "Please take care of yourself, Misaka-san."
With that, Kyouko left the room quietly, leaving Mikoto and Shirai on their own.
"Is there somewhere else you want to go?" Mikoto asked, looking at the other, who had finished massaging the neck and let go, sitting beside her.
"Not really. I just want to be Misaka-san's companion." Shirai said with a bright smile on her face, while wriggling those fox-ears.
Mikoto couldn't help but to feel melted inside, the expression was too cute for her to handle.
Then she quickly remembered that she has to catch up with Kyouko. She quickly grabbed her school bag and head for the door. "We should get going now, I need to catch up to Kyouko."
Meanwhile, at Sakugawa Middle School, Uiharu was looking at her PDA, checking the weather for today. Lately, the prediction for the weather has been either accurate or inaccurate. She didn't know the reason why it has been happening, since the Tree Diagram couldn't make a simple mistake as predicting the weather forecast for the rest of the month.
Moments later, as she was not paying attention to her surroundings, her skirt was flipped from behind.
"KYAAAA~"
In the classroom, Uiharu sat on her designated seat as she put down her bag on her table, with a happy-go-lucky Saten standing beside her.
"Uiharu!" Saten called the annoyed flower decorated girl.
"Mou, Saten-san," Uiharu spoke up with an annoyed tone. "I always remind you to not flip someone's skirt."
"Come on, Uiharu, you always say that to me." Saten said. "Our friendship will be deeper if I keep doing that." She added as she puffed her fist to her chest and nodded with vigor.
"That's not what I meant..." Uiharu mumbled instead, giving up trying to reason to make the other girl stop flipping her skirt.
Their teacher entered the room, which made students went back to their own seats. The teacher put the book on top of the table and started talking about things related to ability development.
The four girls are once again in the Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant, doing their usual bonding time. Of course, Uiharu and Kyouko have to go to 177th Judgment Branch for their duties.
"By the way, Saten-san," Mikoto spoke up as she looked at Saten. "Any news about that urban legend?" She asked curiously.
As if someone threw a grenade at them, the remaining three looked at the Electromaster with an obvious surprise. "Misaka-san, are you really interested in that kind of nonsense urban legend?" Kyouko asked, as if the world had ended for her.
Mikoto tensed up, she shouldn't have asked about it... "W-Well, anything in the urban legends are true, right? I don't see why that urban legend would be a lie."
"I'd believe the Stripping Woman a real urban legend rather the 'things you can't see'." Kyouko said as the waitress came with their orders and placed them in front of the girls.
To Mikoto, the latest urban legend has been declared real. She looked at the counter, with a happy Shirai roaming the place like a five year old. While they were at school, her first subject was a surprise quiz; they were not allowed to touch their bag. Shirai, being bored she was, had disturbed the Electromaster by making cute faces and wriggling those too cute ears as she looked at the paper her companion was answering from where her bag was located of all places. Mikoto couldn't resist the too damn cute face, wanted to pet her, but got scolded for trying to reach her bag.
The next situation she was in was Shirai making noise in the classroom and even teasing the other by playfully blocking the teacher's writings on the board. She couldn't resist her frustration to beat the youkai up and angrily called her teacher that she wants to go to the washroom. The teacher, being clueless, immediately let her go. Mikoto grabbed the shaking Shirai, who was in front of the class, which she was relieved that she didn't have to go elsewhere to secretly grab and went to the washroom; started scolding and almost electrocuted the youkai before she realized that they were in school.
That was the least of her problems, though. Right now, Shirai went back to their table and was whining loudly that she was very hungry.
'Can she stop acting like a five year old!?' She thought as she grabbed her cup of tea and immediately drank them. She slammed the cup down on the saucer, to which miraculously didn't break from the force and left the table to go to the counter.
The remaining girls were speechless from the anger that Mikoto had. "Ajime-san, is something wrong with Misaka-san?" Uiharu asked.
"That's what I'd like to know too." Kyouko replied with sadness in her tone as she sipped her cup of tea slowly. "Lately, she has been quiet and wanted to be alone. Once I passed by the second years from her class, I keep hearing that she was having fits of anger and they don't even know the reason why."
"Ahh!" Saten exclaimed. "Maybe, she was having this feeling of possession from those 'things you can't see'!"
"Those again, Saten-san." Kyouko said, disappointed. "The first was already weird enough. This is a scientific city, not an occult city."
Saten picked up her phone from the pocket and started typing. "Look at this, Ajime-san. Here's most of the information about the current urban legend." She gave her phone to Kyouko, then started to scroll down to the comments section. A lot of comments were about denying their existence, saying it was full of crap; only few comments said that they had acknowledged their existence. One comment who had believed their existence called them youkai. There was also a comment that the person had been possessed by it and was scared of going out of its house because that certain person could see them.
"Hmm..." Kyouko hummed and thought about the comments. Being an urban legend, she wasn't sure if all those comments were credible. "I'm not sure about it. I won't believe it until I see one."
Mikoto returned to their table. She was holding a paper bag in her right hand. She sat beside Kyouko and placed the bag on her side, swiftly looking at Shirai then at the paper bag before she looked at them with a calm expression.
"Misaka-san, is something wrong?" Kyouko asked with an obvious worry in her voice.
"Eh?" Mikoto piped up as she looked at Kyouko. "Ah, well, it's nothing. It's just because of stress."
"What is that paper bag for?" Saten asked, eyeing the said bag.
"It's for someone." True to Mikoto's words, that someone is now under their table, who had quickly grabbed the paper bag to eat the pastries that Mikoto bought.
"Eeh~" Saten hummed playfully. "Maybe it's for that rumored boyfriend again?"
Mikoto blushed furiously. "N-N-No!" She shrieked. "I won't buy anything for that idiot!"
"It sounds suspicious." Kyouko chipped in. "If it's not for that boy, then who?"
Mikoto froze up upon asking for whom are the pastries for. She couldn't outright say 'It's for the hungry youkai we're with right now. So, yeah'. She can imagine that they're going to tell her - especially Saten-san - that she has been a victim of the urban legend and might even cast something that would sway the spirits away that would make them look like idiots.
Either way, she has experienced situations like this so it became easy for her to think up some excuse. "It's for those children at the playground."
"That's so nice of Misaka-san." Uiharu clasped her hands. "Who knew she's going to give those sweets to those children!"
"That's nothing, Uiharu-san..." Mikoto spoke up as her voice became low, embarrassed.
"Come on, let's give those sweets to those children!" Saten-san said with enthusiasm.
Kyouko and Uiharu nodded to Saten, excited. "Yeah, they'll be happy!"
Now Mikoto is in another trouble again. She knows she can escape to this problem soon. The four girls stood up, and Mikoto reached out for the paper bag but instead grabbed nothing.
"Eh?"
The three looked at the fake perplexed Mikoto. "The paper bag... is not here..."
"Are you sure it's really on your side?" Uiharu asked worriedly.
"There's no doubt about it." Mikoto said. "Oh well, I can just buy another one for them another time."
The three were disappointed. "Are you sure, Misaka-san?" Saten inquired.
Mikoto nodded. "Yeah." Then she looked at the three girls. "By the way, there's some place I want to go." She said as she looked at Kyouko. "I'll probably be back before curfew."
The Sakugawa girls could only nod, while Kyouko sighed. "Please be careful, Misaka-san."
"I will." Mikoto said with a smile and left the restaurant, with Shirai following after.
"Misaka-san seemed so distant today." Uiharu noted.
"So distant that I've started to become suspicious of her." Kyouko said. "This only happened after Saten-san told us about that urban legend. Not that it was her fault anyway."
Saten felt slightly offended. "Well, Misaka-san did ask me if there's something new about it."
"We can look it up later," Kyouko said, now with an authority in her voice. "We must get to 177th Judgment Branch for new cases."
Mikoto kicked the certain vending machine. The said machine let out a random soda. She picked it up and gave to Shirai.
Just before Shirai could puncture through the edge of the topside of the can like she did with the two tuna cans from before, Mikoto quickly held the youkai's hand with her left hand.
"That's not how you open it." She said, using her free hand as she opened the can using the opener provided.
"Oh..." Shirai blushed in embarrassment.
Mikoto sat to the bench just on the left side of the vending machine, then the human-fox followed suit.
"This city sure is beautiful..." Shirai said as she took a sip on the soda.
"Yeah." Mikoto half agreed as she looked down, smiling sadly.
Shirai looked at the downcast Electromaster. "Is something wrong?" She asked.
Mikoto then looked at the other, shaking her head as she looked at the park before her. "It's nothing."
Academy City sure is a nice city to live in, with the Power Curriculum Program and all. But behind that facade is the gruesome experiments to reach Level 6. As far as using Child Errors or cloning a certain Level 5 just to receive the results of their main objective. Not only Level 6 is their main goal, but to keep advancing their research on different cruel experiments.
"By the way," Mikoto spoke up, after minutes of silence. "Is your world... fun to live in?" She asked with curiosity in her voice.
Shirai almost spat out the soda she was drinking upon hearing the question of her companion. "Why do you ask that?"
"I was just wondering."
"Well, aside from the accusation I got myself in, it's a nice world."
Mikoto hummed from the answer she received. "Also," Shirai cut in. "This world is already nice enough, even when I and my family were watching it from my world."
"Your friends are also kind, they express how they are worried about you. I... I feel like I'm alone in this world. But now that I met you, I don't feel that way anymore."
Mikoto blushed, as she didn't get that much gratitude apart from her other three friends. After all, they are all together in the incidents they face (except the other Level 6 experiment, which she started herself) and save each other's backs.
"W-What are you talking about?" She asked in an embarrassed tone. "I can't just ignore someone who is in trouble."
Shirai chuckled at the way how Mikoto's embarrassed. "Misaka-san is so kind."
Mikoto stood up, too embarrassed for the discussion to go further. "A-Anyway, we need to get going."
Kyouko was on her Judgment duty. All the cases she received were just from the troublemakers in the form of delinquents. They were easy to put down, she noted. No big-scale case, no Skill-Outs, no world dominating cases. Along the course of the duty, the 177th Judgment Branch didn't receive any case related to the latest urban legend.
She, along with Uiharu and Saten, were in the said Branch, with her and Uiharu scanning a few of the security cameras around the city and Saten playing some game in her phone.
The two Judgment officers' senpai, Konori Mii, entered the room, looking weary.
The other three girls looked at the new occupant. "Konori-senpai," Kyouko called. "You look so tried. What happened?"
Konori went to her desk and sat, looking at Kyouko. "While I was on a patrol, a young boy was crying in the park because he had lost his pet cat. I had almost looked for the whole of District 7, if it wasn't stolen and I didn't use my ability..."
"Whoa... that sucks." Saten said. "So, you got nothing except for successfully finding the cat?"
"The boy kept apologizing to me and said it was his fault for losing the cat. Of course, I would help him because I'm a Judgment officer." Konori said, as she was taking her time sitting on the chair.
"As expected of Konori-senpai." Uiharu spoke as she walked to her senpai's table with a cup of tea.
"Thank you, Uiharu-san." Konori took the cup and sipped. "So, how's the duty coming?"
"Nothing weird, as always." Kyouko simply replied. "Just delinquents."
"You're right... It's been like that for a week now."
By the time Uiharu went back to her seat, she saw a familiar figure in the sight of one of the security cameras opened in the monitor.
"Misaka-san!?" Uiharu yelled.
Kyouko and Saten quickly went to check the monitor that Uiharu was looking at. Konori, as tired as she was, remained from her seat.
"I see. So Misaka-san was only roaming the city. I thought that there was some place she wanted to go." Kyouko said, eyeing the screen suspiciously.
As seen from the camera, Mikoto was in front of the familiar store, where those magazines and mangas were sold. She went inside, not realizing that she was being watched by the three.
"Oh. She only wanted to read those mangas again."
"I never knew Misaka-san was into those." Saten commented. "But if it's Misaka-san, then it doesn't come up as a surprise, right?"
Mikoto and Shirai were tired from roaming around several parts of District 7. The two went to Seventh Mist, Game Center and finally, the bookstore that Mikoto frequented to check the latest chapter of the manga she was reading.
The sky was colored red-orange, as an effect to the sun setting down. They settled for the day, walking back to the Tokiwadai Dormitory.
"Today is fun." Shirai said as she stretched her arms upward.
Thankfully, there were fewest people to this time, almost to none, this was the right time for Mikoto to talk to Shirai. "I usually had to come to those places alone or with Saten-san, since Kyouko and Uiharu-san had duties in Judgment."
Remembering the events that had occurred today, Shirai felt disappointed. "If there was only a way for me to be visible to everyone so we can play together."
Far away from the two, a golden armored samurai stood tall on top of the building, while it didn't have any human features, the usual flesh was replaced with a blue hue flame.
It observed the youkai - their Heiress - and the human. They seem happy together, talking to each other as if there was no danger involving the Heiress.
"But, your happy days will end, Heiress. Your punishment will be heavier as soon as we return you, bridging to the human world is a taboo...!"
The armored samurai engulfed itself in blue flame as it disappeared, as if it had extinguished itself with the flames.
A/N: Sorry for the incredibly boring chapter, even if it didn't sound like it. Anyway, just like the end part says, the plot will start kicking in. I apologize on how cluttered chapter one was. My mind was in a kind of an unexplainable conflict that prevented me to have a good flow on my writing. Maybe it was the intense heat that affected me, I don't know. The samurai folks finally have a definite description; and that was how I imagined them in the previous chapter and wondered why it didn't spit when I was writing. Again, I apologize, I hope I already made up my writing this chapter. I just hope I didn't make anyone OOC here.
Oh and, don't forget to review~! Constructive criticism is welcome and tell me how my writing went in this chapter.
I would also be grateful to have someone beta my story, I don't mind.
Review Response
- EtherealFox: Ah, thank you for taking the time to review. Yes, I also have huge interest in eastern mythology, specifically Japan. I took my time reading a lot of Japanese-related mythologies; of course, China and Korea wouldn't also go past my eyes since a good deal of the mythologies are counterparts of each other, with the Nine-tail fox as an example. Also, thank you for pointing how some of the parts of the first chapter didn't make sense aka hard to follow. Your review made realize that chapter one was cluttered. Again, thank you and I hope you enjoyed reading chapter two!
