Hey there guys! Sorry that I couldn't try to get this out sooner, but weekends are always busy for me because of work and stuff. Also, my spring semester is gonna be starting next week and I have signed up for a couple difficult classes…..so I'll be pretty busy because of that too…but I will definitely do my best in keeping up with the updates! I'm hoping I can get another chapter out by the end of the week as well.

But once again thanks for the reviews, and I'm glad I seem to be doing something right, so I hope I don't disappoint! Thanks for keeping up with me on this journey!

Also, I'd like to thank Shuzuka for that super detailed review! I literally just saw it right when I was about to post this chapter lol but thanks a lot! I'm definitely going to try my best to keep you on board here for the story! And trust me, I get what you mean about kuroko-centric stories and straying from the KuroMiko aspect of the story, but writing the interaction between those two is like my favorite thing to do, so I'll definitely make sure to keep it all there :) I hope you like the new chapter! And belated Happy New Years to you too!

Btw, Note: Kuroko's injury has healed enough for her to not be hindered by the wound….yeah.

Well, happy reading!

Chapter 3: Home

Blood covered every inch of the corridor as I made my way through the building. At every turn, I felt the need to vomit. Every innocent child's face stared back at me with blank, lifeless eyes. Their expressions were horrifying enough that I could almost imagine their dying moments. Though the carnage was becoming too much to bear, I pressed on. I had to. There was no way I could turn back. Not now. Not ever. I had to put an end to this madness.

Only a monster could do something like this. No human being could be so evil, yet so completely complacent. Almost poetic. Almost divine. Almost demonic.

Even now, his words plague me.

Every syllable is matched with one of the faces of the fallen. And at the end of it all, I see him smiling. I see him content.

Even now, his words are whispered into my ear.

He stands there, ready for death. Ready to be saved by the one he follows because he has purged so many. Because he is covered in the blood of "innocent sinners".

Even now, Ito Hiroshi stands in front of me, and he repeats:

"With every thought lies a magnificent shade of crimson, and to each his own comes a flame that has arisen."

December 3rd

Kuroko's Apartment, 3:15 AM

Kuroko jolted from her from her spot on the pillow. Beads of sweat rolled down her face and her breaths were growing short. She remained in a frantic state for about a minute before taking in the sight of her surroundings, remembering she was still in her bedroom. At that realization, she took a deep breath and relaxed. She brought her hands to her face and covered her eyes.

"Just…another nightmare…" she whispered to herself.

The teleporter sighed and lowered her hands as she looked at the time, now reading 3:20 AM.

An alley in District 7

Cameras flashed throughout the alley, taking pictures of every trail of blood, every contusion, and every gash. Yellow police strips were being taped across all entrances to the newly found crime scene. Anti-Skill officers littered the alley as they looked for clues.

"Ikeda-san, there isn't much to go off of here. It doesn't seem like there was anything left behind," one of the officers relayed to the gray eyed agent.

"Damn, I just don't believe that," Jiro commented as he stroked his chin. He narrowed his eyes and slowly scanned every inch of the walls and the floors before looking upon the victim. The body was too mangled to accurately identify. The only information they could obtain was that the victim was female, had to be about the age of fourteen…and that she was a Judgement member.

Jiro let out a sigh as he knelt down next to the corpse. He rubbed his temples before checking the time on his watch.

8:30 AM…this bastard works late. This murder occurred recently, probably from just a few hours ago. The smell of blood is still fresh. He glanced at the security cameras around the area. The footage has probably been tampered with, but we'll make sure to take a look at it.

He examined the victim's body for any trace of her murderer. Something that could lead him to the culprit. Just something.

Anything…anything left behind…no one would leave this without a signature. It's too meticulous. This is a statement.

Jiro's thoughts were interrupted when he gazed upon the Judgement armband, which was surprisingly clean. He once again narrowed his eyes and slipped on a pair of gloves before lightly picking up the armband.

"Oi, Arata, come take a look at this," Jiro called out to his rookie partner. The young man, Saito Arata, was around twenty two, had medium length black hair and dark eyes. He wore black slacks, a gray dress shirt, and the familiar Anti-Skill armor.

Arata hastily knelt down next to Jiro in order to look at the object in question.

"What is it, Ikeda-san?"

"Notice anything strange?" Jiro asked as he stared intensely at the armband. Arata had a dumbfounded look on his face as he examined the article.

"Um, it's clean?"

"Exactly. In the middle of a crime scene, near the murdered victim…how could it be this clean?" Jiro looked around and noticed forensics making their way through the yellow tape. He flagged one of the forensic scientists to his position.

"Excuse me," Jiro began before he showcased the armband. "This must be examined as soon as possible. Please let the department know if anything comes up."

"Of course," the scientist replied as he grabbed onto the armband and placed it into a plastic bag. Jiro nodded in response as he stood up, with Arata following suit.

"Well, looks like we have a long road ahead of us here," the gray eyed agent said as the victim's body was being transported into the coroner's vehicle. "Are you sure you're ready to handle a case like this, Arata? I know you're still a rookie."

Arata stared down at the blood splattered concrete, still feeling a bit uneasy. "…Yeah, I mean...it's just—"

"Don't feel bad that a crime scene like this gets to you," he interrupted as he looked firmly at his partner. "In the end, you never get completely used to seeing a corpse." He then planted his hand on Arata's shoulder before adding, "All that can change is our resolve to make things right. All we can do is bring justice to those who can no longer have a place in our world."

Kuroko's Apartment, earlier that morning at 7:45 AM

The smell of breakfast entered the nostrils of the electromaster. Mikoto let a smile creep across her face as she slowly opened her eyes and sat up, though still hunching over. She yawned and ruffled her hair a bit before looking into the kitchen.

"Kuroko?" Mikoto called out as she saw the auburn-haired girl in the kitchen. Kuroko turned when she heard that the older girl had woken up. She smiled innocently and instantly teleported to the vacant seat next to her on the couch.

Mikoto nearly jumped and instantly blushed when she noticed what her kouhai was wearing. Nothing but a white tank top that barely grazed the top of her pink lace panties. The electromaster hastily looked away as Kuroko crossed her legs.

"Well good morning to you too," Kuroko pouted. Mikoto took a quick peek of the other girl, quickly taking note of her firm, yet delicate, cream colored legs.

"It's a lot more conservative than those negligees I used to wear," Kuroko added, trying to defend herself. As she talked, she felt something sticking out of the couch. It was her journal. A shadow of panic was shown on her face for a moment before she took hold of the journal and teleported it to her room. After that, she once again became calm and leaned in closer to Mikoto.

"Well…I made breakfast for you," she said as she tried to look her in the eye.

"Thanks, Kuroko," Mikoto muttered under her breath, still too bashful to turn towards the younger girl. Kuroko then giggled, teleported to the kitchen, returned with a westernized breakfast of pancakes and eggs and set up a personal folding table.

"So I'm gonna go take a shower right now. And after that I'm going to head out to the branch office, ok?" Kuroko asked rhetorically before teleporting out of the room.

After Kuroko left, Mikoto sighed and finally turned her head towards the other side of the couch.

Man, there really is something wrong with me. Like she said, it's more conservative than those negligees I used to see every night in the dorms…wait, Mikoto came to a halt in her thoughts as she noticed that the journal was missing. I guess she moved it. I wonder, does she know I've read it? That name, Ito Hiroshi. I've heard it before. There was a serial killer that went by that name that was "terrorizing the youth". Kids were being abducted and killed. It really was a dark couple of months…but what does that have to do with Kuroko? I want to ask her, but…would she even want to give me an answer? Knowing my kouhai, she'll either tell me to stay out of the matter, or she won't even respond. No, I should do some research before I confront her about it.

Finally, with that somewhat resolved, she turned to her breakfast. Mikoto smiled widely, nearly from ear to ear as she picked up her eating utensils. Though, just as she was about to dig in, the doorbell rang. She stared at the door with an irritated expression on her face.

Well…it's not really my place…so I shouldn't have to answer…

Mikoto once again raised her utensils before being interrupted a second time by another ring of the doorbell. She sighed and hurried over to the door. When she opened up, she was met with a pair of dark blue eyes that belonged to a slightly taller brown haired girl.

"Hey Shir—!" the girl started in a chipper tone before coming upon a realization. "Wait…you're not Shirai."

"Way to state the painstakingly obvious…" Mikoto replied with an annoyed expression clearly printed on her face. "And sorry, but Kuroko's in the shower, so you may want to come back later."

The girl didn't say anything back at first. Instead her eyes fell upon the appearance of the electromaster. She took note of Mikoto's apparent sleeping attire and her uncombed hair. The smell of the pancakes and eggs also seeped out from the apartment. Finally she snapped back into reality and wore a sly smile, though Mikoto was too hungry and annoyed to notice.

"Oh, well I'm sorry to disturb you. I didn't know that Shirai had someone…spend the night," she said, the insinuation practically dripping from her tongue.

"Well, we didn't really plan on it or anything. It was sort of a spur of the moment kind of thing…" Mikoto replied absentmindedly.

"Well, that kind of thing usually is," she said as she winked at the other girl.

Finally, the realization started to spark for the hardheaded electromaster.

"Wait…" she trailed off as her annoyance quickly turned into embarrassment and nervousness. Her face began to light up with the brightest shades of red she had ever seen. "…Wait, hold on! You got it all wrong!"

"No hey! It's fine, I get how it is! I have a cousin who is into girls, so it's totally cool!"

"We didn't do anything like…that!"

"Actually, I'm quite glad! I know how Shirai-san is, and, for the past few months, I've actually been trying to set her up with some nice girls I know! But she always refuses, to go out with anyone…you might be surprised, Shirai's quite the lady killer," she said excitedly as she motioned pulling the trigger of a gun.

"Look, Kuroko's my best friend! She just asked me to stay over because we hadn't seen each other for a while! That's it!" Mikoto yelled defensively, clenching her fists. The other girl then laughed.

"Ok, ok, I see. Well I'm sorry for the assumption. I am Harada Kiyoko, Shirai's neighbor," she said with a smile as she handed a bag of groceries to Mikoto, who accepted with a confused expression on her face. "I went to the market the other day and picked up some things that Shirai had asked for. So if you could give them to her, that'd be great!"

"Yeah, sure, I'll let her know," Mikoto grumbled. She began to back away from the door as she added, "Well, I guess if that's all…"

"Oh! One more thing," Kiyoko began as she smiled innocently at Mikoto. "I think you two would make a really cute couple."

With that last line, Mikoto's blush flared up once again as she slammed the door in Kiyoko's face.

Damn the nerve of that girl! Although…maybe Kuroko and I would make a…what the hell am I saying? She yelled at herself in frustration.

"Who was that?" Kuroko chimed in as she exited the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. She was wearing brown shorts and a white button up shirt.

"It was your annoying neighbor. She left me with some stuff for you," she answered, depositing the bag on a counter as she continued with her previous task: eating her breakfast.

"Oh Harada-san isn't all that bad," Kuroko replied with an awkward smile. Mikoto waved off that comment and fell onto the couch before finally being able to take a bite of her food. Her eyes instantly shined.

"Wow, Kuroko! This is pretty good! I've never really had this before!"

Kuroko just smiled softly as she saw the enjoyment of the older girl. She checked the time on her phone: 8:20 AM. She sighed as she knew that she had to make her way to the Judgement office.

I have too many things to check out right now. As much as I would love to stay right here with you…there's just too much work to be done right now. Ishihara Satomi…I need to do some digging in the database.

"Well, I'm heading out, Mikoto," she announced as she once again teleported to the vacant spot on the couch. She pulled out a silver key and handed it to Mikoto. "Here, it's the spare key to my apartment. You can stay here as long as you want, just make sure to lock up."

"Oh, ok, thanks," she mumbled with her mouth full. Kuroko just laughed on the inside at the older girl's ill manners. Then, she began to think.

Hm, she might be mad and embarrassed, but I'll teleport out of the room right after. It'll happen too fast for her to administer any punishment.

Kuroko clenched her fist in an attempt to calm her nerves as she spoke, "…um, Mikoto?"

"Yeah? What is it?" Mikoto asked as she finished swallowing her food and looked straight at her kouhai.

"Thanks…for staying the night and all…and being here for me," Kuroko dragged out, her blush deepening with each word.

"Of course. I'll always be here for you, Kuroko," the electromaster assured her with a goofy grin.

At that, Kuroko harshly closed her eyes and leaned in closer to Mikoto. The older girl couldn't even register what was going on until she felt Kuroko's delicate lips, mainly upon her cheek but also barely touching the edge of her own lips.

The electromaster's nervousness heightened to new levels as her blush grew furiously. But before she could electrocute the younger girl, Kuroko disappeared. Unfortunately, because Mikoto was unable to channel her feelings into anger, she sat there in complete shock and confusion. She mindlessly brought her hand up to the ruminating warmth of her best friend's kiss.

Once Kuroko safely made it out of the apartment complex, she lightly hovered her hand over her lips, still imagining the surface of Mikoto's skin touching her own. A stray tear ran down the side of her cheek.

Though it was just a kiss on the cheek…though that was probably the only time I'd probably ever get to kiss her…that one kiss alone could carry me through the rest of my life, she thought as she let a smile creep upon her face.

She remained like that for a couple of minutes before returning to reality. Her expression became serious and determination shone through her eyes.

It's time to get to work.

Kuroko instantly began to teleport through the district, but stopped when she came across something odd. Near the entrance of one particular alley was a mix of people and cameras. She cocked an eyebrow as she immediately appeared next to the crowd. Her eyes instantly widened.

"What…the?" was all she could manage to say as she saw Anti-Skill agents littered throughout the alleyway. Some of the officers were forcefully trying to keep the onlookers from prying into the crime. She also noticed that they were making way for the coroner to take away a body and place it into a vehicle. She clenched her fists, her nails dangerously close to breaking skin. She hastily teleported beyond the yellow police tape, only to be stopped by an agent.

"Hey! You can't be here!" He yelled at her harshly. She narrowed her eyes at him as she reached into her pocket and fastened on her Judgement armband.

"I am Shirai Kuroko of Judgement, and I demand to know what's going on," she commanded. The agent looked at her and scoffed.

"This is being handled by Anti-Skill, not Judgement, so leave."

Just as he was about to push her out, a hand appeared on his shoulder.

"That won't be necessary, she can stay," came Jiro's voice from behind the agent.

"But—"

"Ikeda-san?" Kuroko spoke as she instantly recognized Ikeda Jiro.

"Nice to see you again, Shirai-san. Though I wish it was under better circumstances," he said in a serious tone as he glanced back at the splattered blood.

"What happened here?"

"We're still trying to figure that out. We received word from an anonymous source of a body found in this alley. The victim looked to be about fourteen, but…we couldn't accurately identify her," Jiro informed her as a flash of the victim's carved face reappeared in his mind. "We also know that she…was a member of Judgement."

Kuroko abruptly pounded her fist into the concrete wall.

"Dammit…now it's murder," Kuroko muttered, her voice shaky. Her entire body was trembling with anger as she once again hit the wall. "What…what the hell do they want?"

Some discreet building somewhere…

"Oi, Masato-kun! That was a good catch we got with that Judgement girl last night!" Satomi shouted with excitement. She was sprawled out over a couch in her usual discreet attire.

The room was bland and had very poor lighting. It was nearly empty, save for a couch and a desk which were both currently occupied.

"Who carried out that mission? Their work was almost flawless!" she exclaimed in admiration.

"It wasn't anywhere near perfect," Masato scoffed. He was seated behind the desk, though the light didn't reach him. His face was shrouded by darkness. "But it was a step in the right direction."

"So, about this plan of yours…" she trailed off as she hastily sat up. Masato simply smiled.

"In due time, Satomi. Once we're done, Shirai Kuroko will be at our doorstep covered in wrapping paper and tied with a big red bow."

"And what about Railgun?"

"Well, she would most definitely ruin our plans," Masato said venomously.

"So…" Satomi began in anticipation.

"So, we must kill her."

Satomi instantly beamed with a menacing grin as she begged, "Can I kill her? Next time, I won't be caught off guard!"

He laughed slightly. "Well sure, but listen, don't kill her so soon. Why don't we toy with her a bit? Drag her around, and make it known that she is being targeted as well. As a bonus, we'll be able to worry our intended sacrifice. It's one more thing that could just push her off the edge."

Satomi was nearly twitching with excitement when she pushed herself off the couch.

"Can I start now?"

Kuroko's Apartment, 10:30 AM

Mikoto was draped over the couch, her hair wet and wearing her same outfit from the day before.

Man, this place really does feel like…home. I don't know why but it just…does.

She narrowed her eyes at the ceiling.

But, what am I still doing lounging around here? I have to find out more about this Ito Hiroshi guy.

With that resolve, Mikoto stood up from her comfortable spot on the couch and headed out the door, being sure to lock up the apartment behind her. She quickly made her way through the building before beginning her journey to a local library.

As Mikoto walked, she had a feeling that she was being followed. She frequently stopped to look over her shoulder, only to be met with a typical morning crowd making their way to their own destinations. Finally, she stopped and turned into one of the many alleys of Academy City.

This might be a dumb idea, but if someone really is following me, I'll be able to see them here. Plus, whoever it is, I'm pretty sure I can take them on if they try to attack me, she thought confidently.

Suddenly, Mikoto noticed someone appear behind her and place a hand on her shoulder before finding herself twenty five feet in the air. Her eyes widened as she hastily attached herself on the wall, electricity sparking from beneath her feet. She gritted her teeth as she saw who her attacker was: the teleporter who injured Kuroko.

Satomi sported her familiar sly smile from beneath the hood.

"So, Railgun, how about round two?"

Alright! So how'd I do? If you'd let me know, that'd be great, and it'd give me more motivation to slave over my computer endlessly trying to make a good chapter for you beautiful people!

See ya next chapter! Thanks!