XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next few years went by rather slowly.
By agreeing to Kihara's proposition, I'd condemned myself to years and years of suffering. Time spent screaming, as my body was riddled with drugs and cocktails, needles and scars. Time spent in suffering, as I forced my body to move step by step, forcing it to work against the restraints and constraints designed by Kihara and his team.
All this time, and I was still no closer to saving the lives of my fellow Child Errors than I'd been at the start.
The experiments were useful in a certain way, however. I definitely grew stronger, as I subjected my body and power to greater and greater strains, trying desperately to gain the power I needed to save the kids. I'd started the experiments as a solid Level 4 - the 'Level', in my case, being determined by 'scope of change', 'scale of change', and 'form of change'. It wasn't long before I'd advanced further - first, to the very limits of what a Level 4 could achieve ...
... And finally, to Level 5. The elite of the elite.
My training didn't just consist of experiments, of course. The strongest espers are also often the smartest - as our esper abilities grow, our mind grows sharper and more powerful as well. There were rumors that the strongest Level 5, Accelerator, could accurately map out the magnitudes and directions of all the vectors governing cellular motion in the human body, and their vector sum, with just his mind. I don't know if it was true, but just the fact that people were willing to accept it as being possible said something.
What was my point with this little tangent? Well, 'Body Change', my ability, had very few actual limits to it - when not restricted by being dependent on a creature of flesh and blood, that is. As such, I was rigorously tutored in math, science and various other subjects - but primarily, in chemistry and biology. I learnt about matter, from it's basic building blocks to it's many varied forms. Elements, compounds and mixtures were basic stuff that I'd already learnt in detail before the experiments had started - the experiments took it a step further, seeing if 'Body Change' could expand to the sub-atomic level.
As it turned out? It could. Even if it was extremely difficult trying to calculate the various specifics involved in most situations, I could manage advanced calculations on the fly. Well, maybe. Would you believe a little? No? Well, you'd be wrong then, because I definitely could manage those calculations!
A little.
In any case, I learnt to alter my body on a more fundamental level over the two years I was experimented on. From my individual cells, to the various organelles comprising each individual cell, right down to the atomic structure of any object I touched, including myself - I could change them all. My whole body had already been altered by me. I took inspiration from a lot of things - bees, beetles, birds, etc. All sorts of fauna, and flora as well. I learnt about exotic materials, such as carbon nanotubes and medigel, and learnt to integrate them into my body. More than that, I learnt about what, precisely, allows such materials to possess the properties they do - and this allowed me to surpass what was naturally possible in changing my body.
I could move several times faster than sound. I could strike with the force of a small nuke. I could lift buildings and toss them miles. I could shrug off artillery strikes!
I was also a goddamn bitch when compared to Accelerator, who took every chance he had to gleefully put me in my place. Just in case I developed any ideas.
Still, as might be expected, my abilities weren't going to be allowed to go to waste. And since Academy City was often the target of espionage and assault ... well, it would have been a waste not to use my abilities.
Or so they tell me. I'm not sure if they thought it would make me feel better about being a murderer, or if they were just that socially retarded. I like to think it was the latter - god knows it made more sense that way.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"G-Gah!"
A scream resounded throughout the area, as one of the soldiers of the team was sent flying. His flight - and life - was abruptly terminated when he collided with the wall of a building at full force, shattering his spine and skewering his lungs and heart with bone.
Gunfire erupted from the remaining soldiers, all of them targeting the figure slowly walking towards them, his hands in his pockets. None of the gunfire even penetrated the clothes the person was wearing, however - all of it bouncing off what seemed to be simple cotton and fabric.
The person in question pointed his hand at them, and his fingers expanded in a moment. Like bullets, they shot forward, invisible to the eye, and penetrated the foreheads of all the soldiers, instantly killing them. A few surviving soldiers, looking on from the rooftops, immediately fired at the person's position with missile launchers - only to hit a rapidly formed dome of flesh and metal, delivering their payload harmlessly. The next moment, the person beneath them was among them, his hands elongating to several meter wide scythes which flashed about, decapitating and dismembering the soldiers in a moment.
The latest insurgence into Academy City by hostile forces had been thwarted, more or less. All that was left was to clean up the few tanks they'd also managed to get through the blockade, and things would be back to normal.
Normal. As though anything would ever be normal. The person who'd just conducted this gruesome slaughter looked at his scythe-like hands with disgust, flicking the blood of them and then shifting them into a more normal form.
That done, he blurred, shattering the ground around him and the windows of the buildings near him as he went supersonic, moving in the direction of the tanks and striking them before they could turn in his direction. In the next few moments, the entirety of the assault force had been dismantled, the tanks little more than wrecks.
He'd done it. Another little test passed. Another little murder session completed. He couldn't help the bitterness that overtook him in these moments, couldn't stop his thoughts from turning dark.
A wonderful job, Kihara would say. He'd praise him, his pet project, and then continue the debasing and painful experiments like nothing had happened. His mother, Kiyama Harumi, would welcome him home, expecting he'd simply gone out with his friends, rather than conduct a massacre of helpless soldiers. She didn't know, after all - he'd taken great pains not to let her know. She didn't need the added guilt she'd no doubt feel - not when she already felt guilty enough for the Child Errors she still hadn't saved. Not when she'd given him so much - given him stability, and love, and a place to belong. He couldn't do that to her.
He trudged back to the lab, spirits as damp as ever. So. This was what it meant to be 'strong', he thought. To be a Level 5.
Apparently, it felt and was little different from being a murderer.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"... I'm sorry, what?"
Immediately after completing his assigned mission, Satoshi had returned to the lab, expecting more experiments and testing.
He hadn't quite been expecting this, however.
"We're done. For now, we've extracted all the data we could possibly get from you. While we expect you to still come here for adjustment and enhancement, the more invasive tests would serve no purpose anymore. You're free to leave."
With these words, Kihara Gensei turned around and began walking out of the lab, followed shortly after by his assistants.
Well. That was unexpected.
Usually, immediately after he completed one of the tasks he'd be assigned to, he'd be subjected to a battery of tests. It was where most of the time he spent in the Institute went, after all. To be free of that was ...
... actually rather scary, come to think of it. He had nothing much to do besides these tests, and Ki- ... mother, wouldn't expect him to be back soon.
If he had nothing to do, though ... well, why not simply explore Academy City? Hadn't he always been interested in the technological advances that had been made possible in Academy City, compared to those in his reality? It seemed like the thing to do.
Mind made up, Satoshi headed in the direction of Nagatenjouki Academy, already planning on exploring the area around his school more thoroughly this time around. If nothing else, this evening promised to be illuminating.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Shirai Kuroko was having a bad day.
It wasn't anything particular that made this a bad day. It was a lot of little things, niggling little details that were typically missed or glossed over that were making this day unbearable. From the torn clothes in the morning, to the spilled drink in the afternoon - things really weren't going her way.
It was thus probably to be expected that the moment she put on her Judgement armband, her day got even worse.
First, there had been the debacle involving the robber and her inability to help. She would have stopped him in an instant with her powers, if her senpai Konori Mii hadn't held her back and told her not to. It wasn't their jurisdiction, she'd argued. They'd called Anti-Skill, and the robber had been captured in short order, but Kuroko was incensed that she couldn't help protect the peace the way she'd dreamed of doing, that day when she'd first put on her Judgement armband. It had been her first interaction with the criminal element of the city, and she'd been incensed that she still wasn't given the opportunity to directly help a year after joining Judgement. She hated being treated like a child!
And now ... now she was in even greater trouble.
The first robber, the one who'd been caught by Anti-Skill, was little more than a particularly enterprising Level 0 who'd been running a purse-snatching business. Nothing particularly dangerous, or threatening.
That wasn't the case with this pair of robbers. While she'd successfully disabled the first robber quite easily, the second one ...
"What an idiot ... what's he doing getting beat up by a kid?"
She stared, mortified, as he took Uiharu hostage, a knife flashing out to be held under her neck. As tears escaped Uiharu's eyes at her situation, he seemed to only get more and more amused.
Despite herself, Kuroko couldn't help but let out a shout, horrified at how the situation had turned out.
"Uiharu!"
"Oh, so you know this girl? Well, that makes things even easier, doesn't it?" The robber smirked, finding even greater amusement at the situation and how things were going.
"Right then. You're with Judgement, aren't you? From what I've heard, Judgement don't abandon hostages, particularly people they know. Is there anyone else with you? Now's the time to come out!"
While he was taunting and making his demands, one of the post office workers at the post office being robbed managed to press the panic button. Alarms started ringing throughout the building and the shutters came down, locking everyone inside.
It was the wrong choice to make. It put the customers' lives in jeopardy, all for money. Still, in the heat of the moment, the worker had panicked and done as his training dictated. It was a mistake anyone could make.
But it wasn't making the lives of those caught inside any easier.
"Who was it?! Who did that?! Come on, tell me - or this chick here gets it!"
While the customers in the post office started to panic at the threat, a cool voice emerged from the ground.
"Lockdown activated. Beginning security procedures to deal with intruders. Non-lethal force authorized."
A security robot. She chanced a glance at the robber, where he was holding Uiharu hostage. This had the chance to be really bad, but maybe it could work in their favor.
The robot began to move rapidly in the direction of the robber, and Kuroko ran with it. If she could get close - if she could just reach something to teleport into the man once she got close enough-
It would work out just fine.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It didn't work out well.
The robot lay smashed, the top of its body sheared away by knives. Konori Mii lay unconscious on the ground, her head smashed against the wall and bleeding, her body stabbed with knives. Kuroko ... Kuroko lay on the ground, her foot broken from when the robber had brutally smashed her heel in with his own foot. The bones in her right hand were also broken, from when the robber had stepped on it with his foot. Her whole body was a bruised mess, and she was in a lot of pain.
But she'd managed to get Uiharu out, so there was something at least.
The robber took another step forward, amusement shining out of his eyes.
"Let me guess what you're thinking. 'If I keep him occupied, he won't be able to take any hostages. Since he's trapped in here, when Anti-Skill comes, he'll definitely be caught. I just have to wait it out'. Right? Well, let me just crush that delusion for you."
He removed a steel ball from his pocket, and idly tossed it at the gates. The ball, contrary to all logical expectations, held its speed until the end, where it slammed into the thick steel shutter ...
... and burst straight through it.
"Equal speed. Whatever I throw, maintains it's speed until I stop it or it breaks. Interesting ability, no?"
He smirked, laughing happily at the despondent face Kuroko made at finding out that he wasn't really trapped in here at all.
Unseen, a fly buzzed into the post office.
"So, as you can see, I'm not really trapped here.
... Tch. There's hardly any time left. Oi, use your power to remove all the cash from the ATMs. If you help me, I'll let everyone go. Actually, how about you joined up with me? If we worked together, we'd be invincible! How about it?"
Kuroko stood up, her face shaded and form silent. She staggered for a moment, as though from the pain, before standing straight up.
"I ..."
The man leaned in, listening to her words.
"... absolutely refuse! What, join up? Sorry, pathetic cowards who'd attack a post office aren't really my type. Besides, my heart is already set. My justice ... will never waver!"
The man sighed, seemingly annoyed at her answer.
"That so? Too bad."
Kuroko tensed, expecting an attack at any moment, before she rushed forward. The man took that as his cue, and immediately ... released a dozen metal balls in her direction, all under the influence of his ability.
He laughed. "I never said I could only use my ability with one ball at a time, did I?"
They were moving too fast, and they wouldn't slow down if she tried to teleport them. She couldn't dodge-!
A form blurred into existence, and all the metal balls seemed to spontaneously shatter.
"Right then, thanks for opening the door, retard-!"
Kuroko was having a very bad day.
It was the only way she could explain her mysterious rescuer suddenly being washed away in a burst of superheated plasma and metal.
And this was how Kiyama Satoshi met Misaka Mikoto - the Railgun.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Misaka Mikoto froze.
She'd been convinced by the crying girl outside to help, and hence had prepared her Railgun accordingly. She knew the robber's power with the demonstration he'd just given, and knew what she had to do to counter it. It had seemed so simple, before.
It didn't seem that simple now.
The moment he'd tossed those metal balls at the girl, she'd flipped up a coin and prepared to fire her Railgun. Her thumb had already been moving when the balls had just shattered, as though something had destroyed them too fast for her to see. She'd been unable to halt her shot when the image of a man had resolved in front of her eyes, unable to stop herself from firing the railgun as he'd started talking. As a consequence, he'd taken her Railgun head-on.
Head-on. There was ... no way a human could have survived after being hit like that. She'd ... she'd just killed someone. Someone who, by all accounts, had just been trying to help.
She trembled, horror, disgust and self-loathing flaring throughout her body, vying for control. She felt dizzy, nauseous. Her hand shook, as she fully took in what had just happened.
Her legs folded under her, as she collapsed, unable to bear what she'd just done. Lying on her knees, she tried to come to terms with what had just happened, and failed.
Which was about when a voice resounded from inside the post office.
"O-Ow. What the hell?! What just happened?!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Kuroko stared.
It had all happened so quickly. One moment she'd been blindsided by the numerous simultaneous attacks the robber had deployed, the next all of the attacks had been nullified. Her savior, the one who'd destroyed the attacks, had been about to say something when he'd been washed away in a blaze of light.
Was ... was he dead? It had happened too quickly for her to keep up, and she couldn't help the shock and disorientation that spread over her.
"O-Ow. What the hell?! What just happened?!"
Apparently not.
She turned in his direction, observing the spiderweb of cracks that seemed to have formed over the top left side of his face from the shot. His eye ... his left eye was gone. As the bile inside her rose at the sight, she stared in wonder as his face seemed to twist and bend, reconstructing itself.
What on earth ...
There was nothing else she could say. She'd never seen an esper ability like that before, nor even heard of it.
The robber took this time to return to his senses, and immediately brought out another group of metal balls, which he flung at Kuroko and the would-be savior. Then, turning around, he started to run out-
-Only to hit a fist that popped out of nowhere to block his path. He crumpled, and as he fell, he was able to see the shattered remains of his attacks lying on the floor, destroyed in an instant.
For a moment, there was only silence in the post office. Then-
"Ah, forget it. I'll deal with the bastard that shot me later. Hey, girl, was anyone wounded by those robbers? Anyone I can help?"
Still reeling from the speed at which everything had happened, Kuroko could only point at Konori Mii, her senior who'd been stabbed and badly hurt in the head during the earlier altercation.
"Alright, I'll handle her. But first, let me tend to you. Fair warning, this is going to hurt."
His hand reached forwards, and touched her forehead. For a moment, she wondered what he was trying to do, only to get her answer in the next moment.
With a brutal snap, her broken bones seemed to fuse in place and reset themselves, her torn skin fixed itself, and the bruises that had formed disappeared. She held back a scream at the sudden healing, and in moments it was done.
Eyes wide, she stared at herself, amazed at how the grievous wounds she'd suffered had just vanished. It was as though she'd never been hurt in the first place.
"Why were you trying so hard to save everyone, anyway? You might be a capable esper, but you're still a kid."
Kuroko bristled at that.
"I may be a 'kid', but I'm still a member of Judgement. There's no way I would have stood around doing nothing when a crime was being committed!"
A strange expression seemed to cross Satoshi's face at that.
"Judgement, huh? Isn't that the organization of students responsible for maintaining inter-campus order? Why would Judgement be tasked with handling adult criminals?"
Kuroko frowned. While that was technically true ...
"Judgement's MO has long since been unofficially expanded from that. In those cases where the threat is deemed minimal, Judgement can interfere by themselves to stop criminals and help people. Even beyond that, Judgement is authorized to assist Anti-Skill in evacuation and civilian management in emergencies, so it's not like we're just meant to help students. Judgement's role is to help all the law-abiding people of Academy City, and to help curb crime!"
"... Help people, huh?"
Those words. They resonated with him.
He was just a murderer, a criminal that should be caught and dealt with. But ... he didn't want to be just a murderer.
In that case ... wasn't the choice to make rather simple?
"... Eh, whatever. Come on kid, let's heal your senior."
"Don't call me kid!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After handling the rest of the injuries and waiting for Anti-Skill to arrive, Satoshi left to go home. He'd done enough exploring for the day.
The girl he'd been talking to, Shirai Kuroko, had met up with her friend Uiharu afterwards. He'd been a little surprised - Uiharu had been the person who'd been screaming outside the post office for help. He hadn't known she was connected to one of the primary participants involved in that mess.
Whatever they had been talking about, it had seemed important, so he'd made to leave. Before that, however, Kuroko had talked him into giving her his name and contact details - 'just in case', she'd said. That said, she'd seemed quite interested in his power, and he'd seen her hypothesizing with her senior about it just before he'd left.
She'd also seemed to look up to him. It had been nice, that. Even if he didn't deserve that kind of respect, it warmed his heart to know that someone besides his mother thought of him as more than another cog in the machine. As more than just a murderer.
He hadn't been able to get very far, before being stopped again. This time by a girl dressed in the middle school uniform for Tokiwadai Middle School.
"I'm sorry!"
The girl bowed after she said this, all of it just meriting a raised eyebrow from Satoshi. He had no idea what she was apologizing for in the first place, so he could hardly be blamed for being a bit weirded out by the strange girl.
"... Do I know you?"
The girl flinched, and took a deep breath before replying.
"The ... well, the railgun shot that hit you. That was me. I'm ... I'm really sorry! I was aiming for the metal balls that robber was tossing, not you! It really was an accident!"
"... Oi. You know that if it had been anyone else, they'd have died, right?"
He was incredulous. Not only at what she'd done, but at how she was brave enough to open up to the man she'd almost killed.
The girl in front of him took a deep breath.
"Yeah. Yeah, I know. I'm ... I'm willing to accept whatever punishment you'd find acceptable, to make up for what I did. I ... I really am sorry. I just ... I couldn't stand the thought of just walking away after nearly killing someone due to my fault."
She was trembling, he noticed. She was likely very aware that the punishment he could demand from her could be very harsh, and she was still adamant about making amends.
This girl. He smiled again, in realization. This girl was brave. And honorable. He hadn't thought he'd meet two people like that in his little outing, but he was now glad he'd made the trip. It would have been worthwhile just for this.
"Alright. So any punishment I can think off, yeah?"
The girl nodded, still shaking. Out of fear, and possibly resignation.
But she was still willing to go through with this. That was ... admirable.
"Alright, then ..."
His hand extended, his finger reaching out slowly towards her. The girl closed her eyes, no doubt imagining the worst, when his finger reached her forehead-
-and flicked her.
"... Eh?"
"I don't believe in disproportionate retribution, you know? Your little attack did about that much damage to me, so I'll do the same amount of damage to you. Now we're even. That's fine, isn't it?"
The girl blinked ... before scowling.
"Like hell it did! I know it did a lot more damage than that!"
Oi, oi, learn to read the mood a little, would you?
"Then do you want me to punish you harshly?"
The girl twitched for a bit, still trembling, before nodding.
"I'll do whatever's fair. Just ... just letting me go like this would be insulting. Though, you know, thanks for trying to let me just go like that ..." she muttered, mumbling.
"Alright, alright. So you want a proper punishment, huh?"
He looked around, trying to think of something suitable.
"Alright - to make up for the momentary and negligible damage you managed to do to me, I hereby charge you with treating me to a place of my choosing for a week. Is that fine with you?"
To be honest, he was a little embarrassed with even asking. His allowance as a student of Nagatenjouki meant that he definitely wasn't strapped for cash, but this girl seemed interesting to know. He figured it'd be killing two birds with one stone - a chance to make a new friend, and also a chance to try out new dishes on someone else's pay. That was always fun, in this life or the one before.
The girl sighed.
"You're really not treating this seriously, are you?"
Her lips twitched after a moment, and a smile broke out on her face.
"It's alright, though. I don't mind treating you - it's the least I can do after all."
Well, with that settled, there was only one thing to ask.
"Right. I'll meet you in front of that post office at four in the afternoon tomorrow. That fine with you, ...?"
"Mikoto. Misaka Mikoto. And yeah, that's fine."
That name. Why did it seem familiar?
Well, either way, there was nothing else for it.
He returned her bow, and left, heading back home.
Or, rather, somewhere else. There was something he wanted to do ...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The procedure for joining Judgement wasn't all that complicated.
Yes, there was a period of preparation and training involved before the person in question could be accepted as a member of Judgement. Yes, there was continuous on-the-job training, which would further cut into the little free time he had left after the experiments. And yes, most Judgement duties involved boring patrol work or rather more simple jobs than crime fighting, which made becoming a Judgement member something of a chore ...
But the procedure to join itself wasn't all that complicated. You just needed signed permission from your guardian, absolving the city from any injury sustained while on duty, and providing tacit permission for their ward to participate in such activities. After that, it was just a matter of filling in a form with some basic information about the applicant, and you were good to go.
Well, that at least meant he couldn't keep his involvement in Judgement secret from his mother. Unless he planned to forge her signature, which was entirely too much trouble to be taken for so little benefit.
He figured it was best to get it out of the way right now.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Dinner that night was the usual somber affair.
Kiyama Harumi tried, certainly, to be a good mother to her adopted child. And for the most part, she succeeded. She really did love him like a mother should, after all, and he wasn't a particularly difficult child to please. But she was a researcher before she was a mother, and there was always this part of her that felt awkward around children, as though she didn't know quite how to behave.
As such, 'family gatherings' were usually less warm and more ... cold. Logical. Rational. It was less like a family gathering, and more like two colleagues from work getting together to discuss their latest projects.
It was probably why the discussion started the way it did.
"I'm joining Judgement." Satoshi commented, out of the blue, in the middle of eating dinner.
Harumi seemed surprised at the sudden declaration, but didn't seem displeased.
"I'm glad," she said, a small smile forming over her face, "that you decided to do something so productive and helpful with your extra time. I really am proud of you."
Sometimes, Harumi would throw in these sentences, words designed to reinforce a child's self-esteem or mood. It was very much a mechanical and dry line, and she had undoubtedly gotten the idea from a book of some kind. Usually, it was awkward more than anything.
Not this time. Unbidden, a smile formed over Satoshi's face as well, mirroring the one on Harumi's.
Some part of him, it seemed, would always be that orphaned child craving acceptance that had been taken in by the city.
"Well? If I remember correctly, there should be some forms I need to sign for your acceptance, right?"
"Er, yeah. Just ... hold on, I'll show them to you after dinner."
"That's fine. Hopefully, you'll make some more friends in working as a member of Judgement. You always seem so ... distant from people."
Satoshi grimaced. She'd noticed.
Well, if it was friends she wanted him to have ...
"It's not like I don't have any friends, you know. I'm meeting a girl tomorrow, getting a small bite to eat."
"Oh? And who is this girl?"
That tone. That tone should have sent warning signs throughout his body.
It didn't. Sometimes, he could be really dense.
"Her name's Misaka Mikoto. I met her at the post office in the 7th district today."
"... Wasn't that post office robbed today?"
"Ah. Yeah. We ... met under interesting circumstances, you could say."
Dodge the question, dodge the question. She probably won't be so amenable to the idea of me meeting her if she knew my first impression of Mikoto was of her railgun impacting the side of my face at lethal velocities.
"Interesting circumstances, you say?"
She smiled wistfully for a moment at that.
"Ah, young love."
Wait, what?
He idly retraced the conversation, seeing where she'd have gotten such an impression. Oh. Well, maybe he should have phrased things better ...
"Ah, no. No. There's no 'love' there, she's 13 years old, for crying out loud-"
"Why should her being 13 be a barrier to your dating?"
And there was the problem with having this talk with Harumi. She never really concerned herself with the societal or cultural problems involved in a problem, only the physical ones. It led to a rather skewed perspective on life.
"It's a social thing."
"Ah. So it's not just a matter of simply waiting for her to complete going through puberty, but also something societally unacceptable about dating a thirteen year old girl."
Yes, yes that was exactly it.
"And more importantly, we've just met. Neither of us would feel that way about the other right now, anyway, and it's unlikely for it to ever develop further. She's just a friend. Well, hopefully she's at least a friend, by now, but I'm not even too sure about that ..."
"Oh? Why's that?"
Because our only interaction so far has been with her blasting me with superheated plasma and me shanghaiing her into treating me for a week.
"No reason."
Dinner passed quietly after that.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A/N: Well, that's chapter 3 over and done with. Tell me what you guys think, yeah? One review seems a little too little, you know?
Constructive criticism is appreciated. I know I've screwed up - I'll just try to be better when I'm told what to fix.