Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, but I had a lot of stuff to take care of this past week. I will also have to announce that the updates are gonna take longer just because of the classes I'm taking….damn papers after papers, books to read, statistics…yeah it sucks. Don't worry, I will still update and everything, it just might take some time… :(
Also sorry that this chapter is slightly shorter than the others, but I was writing most of this while I was suffering from an intense, throbbing headache (that being said, sorry if you see some errors and whatnot)
Another thing! So combat scenes are REALLY not my strong point. Also, as I stated before, I have really only seen/read through Railgun, not Index, so I don't know an extensive list of Misaka's powers or a teleporter's powers….so if you read this fight scene and you are just so disappointed, give me some suggestions on how to make it better and I'll update it. But even if you thought the fight was tolerable, if you could give me a list of some cool aspects of these powers, I'd greatly appreciate it! That way I could make future fights more interesting!
And thanks for the reviews/follows/favs as usual! You guys are super awesome!
Happy reading!
Chapter 4: To Awaken The Child's Slumber
December 3rd, 10:50 AM
"So, Railgun, how about round two?"
Mikoto gritted her teeth as she stared down at her assailant.
"It's you," she began as she lowered herself from her spot on the wall. Mikoto was trembling with anger as sparks began to dangerously crackle around her bangs.
"You're the one who tried to torture my kouhai…"
"Well, I'm glad you remember me," Satomi responded, unsheathing two small daggers. She instantly teleported next to Mikoto and swung her blades, but the electromaster easily dodged the attack. She countered with a jolt of her electricity and managed to shock Satomi.
At the burning sensation, Satomi teleported a few meters back. She shook off the pain and gripped tightly onto her weapons. She attempted to focus on Mikoto's position, but her concentration was quickly broken as her opponent hastily glided through the alley to her position.
As Mikoto reached Satomi, she coated her fist with electricity and punched her square on the cheek, leaving a nasty burn. Before she fell backwards, she disappeared and reappeared on the other side of Mikoto. Satomi hastily teleported her dagger, aiming for the electromaster's torso but only succeeded in penetrating her left bicep. Blood instantly began to drip down her arm.
Mikoto winced at the pain as she gripped tightly onto her arm. Satomi instantly took the opportunity to appear in front of her victim and kick her in the stomach. Mikoto then snapped back into the battle and dodged another swing of her assailant's remaining blade.
Satomi finally began to show her frustration as she teleported and reappeared above Mikoto in an attempt to land a kick. But the electromaster sensed Satomi above her and threw her hand behind her and sent electricity in Satomi's direction. The teleporter flew back about ten feet.
Mikoto gritted her teeth when she noticed a metal pipe lying further down the alley. She used her electromagnetism to move the pipe and send it flying towards the back of Satomi's head. Her attacker violently grasped her head as she felt blood begin to seep through the hood.
Mikoto quickly retrieved a coin from her pocket and shot her Railgun straight at her opponent. After the light of the beam dissipated, she spotted the dagger on the ground and Satomi leaning against the wall. She was holding on to the space between her neck and left shoulder. The skin beneath her clenching hand suffered a horrific electrical burn. Also, Mikoto noticed that the girl's hood had been torn off, though she still couldn't get a glimpse of her face.
Satomi was breathing heavily and staring at the ground. Mikoto still kept her guard, not wanting to be pierced by some hidden weapon. She kept a cautious eye on Satomi, wondering if she should shoot another Railgun. Suddenly, the girl began to laugh slightly, surprising the electromaster.
Satomi gripped tighter to her new wound, ignoring the pain of the intimate contact, and picked her head up to look straight at her target with her bright blue…right eye. Mikoto was taken aback by the black bandage that covered Satomi's left eye.
"Well…" Satomi choked out, having lost her enthusiasm though still smiling subtly. "That was…fun."
Mikoto shifted her feet, still grasping onto one of her arcade coins.
"If only…you could see…the light," Satomi muttered under her breath.
"Huh? The light?" Mikoto questioned as she cocked her eyebrow.
Satomi now raised her left hand to clutch the area that was covered by the bandage. Both hands that were currently holding onto parts of her body began to tremble.
"Yes…the light…the light!" she shouted, her anger quickly rising. "The light that leads you to him! If you could only see the light, you could be saved! If only…if only he was still here…if only the light was…"
The nonsense Satomi was spouting greatly confused Mikoto.
"What the hell…are you even talking about?"
"Our god…our savior…once we…once we kill…once we sacrifice her…we can see him once more."
With those final words, Satomi disappeared and was nowhere to be found. Mikoto could no longer sense her in the vicinity. She narrowed her eyes and sighed as she moved her hand over her wound once more. The dagger was still plunged inside her arm.
Damn, if I pull this thing out, I'll probably lose a good chunk of blood. Unless…
Mikoto ambled to the spot where the other dagger was laying and picked it up, only touching it with her right sleeve. She then cut off the entire left sleeve of her jacket and shirt and bit down on the cloth as she pulled out the blade. She cringed at the pain before quickly wrapping the sleeve tightly around her arm, making sure there was enough pressure to slow the bleeding.
After she created her makeshift bandage, she looked down at the two blades on the floor.
I should take these with me. Maybe they can lead us to her. Hm, I know there's a convenient store up the street…
Mikoto left the alley for a few minutes and returned with a green backpack, a first aid kit, and two different color plastic bags. She also bought a new maroon colored hoodie. She placed the dagger that she had touched into the red bag, and used a glove to pick up the dagger that had only been touched by Satomi.
She must have left some fingerprints or something on here, she thought to herself as she placed it into the yellow bag. Mikoto then deposited both bags into the backpack, properly patched up her arm, replaced her torn hoodie with the new one, and threw away all of the remains of her bloody clothing.
Before walking out of the alley, she looked at one of the security cameras and sighed.
Too bad the cameras in this area have been broken for the past couple of days.
With that thought, she headed off to a nearby Anti-Skill branch to drop off the weapons.
A certain restaurant, 11:30 AM
"So, Shirai-san…how have you…been?" Jiro asked hesitantly after the waitress took the orders of Kuroko, Arata, and himself. The teleporter swirled the water in her cup with a straw.
"I've been alright," she responded half-heartedly. She tried to smile at the gray eyed agent, but he could see right through it. Jiro lowered his eyes, not sure what else to talk about. They weren't necessarily great friends or anything. They met a few times during the investigation of Ito Hiroshi, which was obviously a sore spot for both of them.
Arata was the one who had tried to lighten the mood, seeing as he was the only one that wasn't involved in the case.
"So um, you really are the Shirai Kuroko of Judgement, huh? I would never have guessed," he said, rubbing the back of his head. His comment was meant to be a compliment, but it seemed to strike a nerve for Kuroko.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kuroko inquired, her eyebrow twitching. What? I look too much like a kid? Go on, say it…I dare you…
"I just meant that you seem young, that's all," Arata said with a smile. Still, it seemed to bother the auburn haired girl.
"Well, I'll have you know that I am eighteen years old and already classified as an adult, you know…"
"Of course, but you certainly had a powerful reputation before you turned eighteen."
Kuroko calmed down at that statement and cocked an eyebrow. "…Really?"
Now Jiro decided to jump into the conversation. "Yup. You've been quite the role model for our new recruits recently. Even for our Saito Arata here," he said, slapping Arata's back. The dark eyed rookie seemed to be embarrassed by the accusation.
"I just admired the fact that someone so young had accomplished so much. I mean, I'm twenty two, and I haven't really done much with my life," he said, lightly scratching his cheek and gazing to the side.
Kuroko sighed before looking at Arata. "You make it sound like you're old or something."
"I don't mean to sound old, but I just feel like I've missed out on something, ya know? Like my time to do anything really important has already passed me up," Arata said, somberly. Kuroko narrowed her eyes as she stared at the agent.
"It's never too late to make an impact on the world. Everyone has some reason for being here right?" Kuroko said before smiling. "Don't make it sound like you've given up, Saito-san. You've got plenty of time."
"She's definitely got a point there, Arata," Jiro commented with a thumbs up before lowering his hand and putting on a serious face. "And you could start by making a difference with this case we have on our hands."
This statement brought along apparent still air. The table remained silent for a minute or so before Kuroko spoke up, "So…are there any leads on the person behind this?"
Jiro just shook his head. "None as of yet. We're still waiting on word from our forensics team."
"Have they identified the victim yet?"
"Yes," Arata confirmed. "Her name is Shibata Midori. She was still…pretty new to Judgement."
Kuroko clenched her fists. Dammit…this monster has to be stopped soon…wait, that name.
"Shibata? How come that name sounds familiar?"
"Their one of the extremely wealthy families here in Academy City," Arata said matter-of-factly.
"You probably know the name because of their father. Religion isn't that big here in a scientific city, but Shibata-san went out of his way in order to speak against it."
"Could that make some connection?"
"We're not so sure yet, but it could be a clue," Jiro answered as the waitress finally brought the food to their table. Just as he was about to take a bite, his cell phone rang.
"This is Ikeda," Jiro answered.
"Ikeda-san, it's about that armband…"
Library, 12:25 AM
After anonymously dropping off the evidence at a nearby Anti-Skill branch, the electromaster had headed off to her original location. Mikoto typed away at a computer in a local library. For the past hour, she had been researching about Ito Hiroshi. Many links gave way to the name: murderer, terrorist, demon…god.
Damn, this Ito guy really was a monster, and by the looks of all the articles and the followers he apparently had…it seems he was part of a cult. Or I guess, leading the cult would be better to say. People saw him as a "god" of some sort, and dedicated their lives to him. They made sacrifices to him as well: like slaughtering animals and sometimes mutilating part of their own bodies to show their loyalty. He was always trying to "convert children to see the light" of his so called "religion", though no one really knew what his teachings were.
Mikoto gritted her teeth as she read one of the articles. He abducted kids ranging from 7-17, and tried to convert them. He would kidnap them, brainwash them, and once he felt they were ready, he would give them a final task. He would convince these children that the thoughts they should have are thoughts of red, and that they should hold a deep desire to "save" their family. Of course, "save", meant murder. Though, most children didn't pass this test. This is when the child would normally break from this madman's grasp and refuse to kill.
The electromaster now exited out of the web browser and sighed. After they refused, he would then murder them, and leave a message along with the body:
"With every thought lies a magnificent shade of crimson, and to each his own comes a flame that has arisen."
This went on for a couple of months (as far as we know) before he really lost it. His followers all managed to infiltrate an elementary school three months ago: teachers, janitors, cooks, visitors, and even some students themselves. A lot of innocent children died that day…but they never released the details of how that actually ended up happening.
Now the girl ruffled her hair furiously. But what the hell does this guy have to do with Kuroko? Was she involved or something?
"Hey, Misaka-san."
Mikoto was instantly broken from her thoughts as she laid her eyes upon a girl around her same age.
"Oi, Takaki-san, how are you?"
"Oh I'm fine. The real question is how are you? I haven't seen you on campus at all this semester," the girl said with concern. Mikoto tensed at that comment, though she tried to play it off.
"Sorry, yeah, I've just had a lot of stuff going on and…" she trailed off, looking away from her classmate.
"Wait, did you…" the girl stopped for a second and lowered her voice. "…drop out, Misaka-san?"
"No, of course not," Mikoto replied at the same volume. "I just…decided to take off a semester, that's all."
"Oh, ok. Well I have class starting soon, so I'm going to head off. I hope you get whatever you need to get done finished soon. I'll see you later," she said as she waved her hand and left. Mikoto waved back until she could no longer see the other girl. Once she was out of sight, she sighed and rose from her seat, slinging her green, now empty backpack over her shoulder.
Man, I was hoping to avoid anyone from school. She looked at the time on her watch and gripped onto the strap of her backpack before leaving the building. The electromaster walked for about twenty minutes before arriving at her studio apartment.
Upon entering, Mikoto stared at her messy surroundings. Plates, glasses, clothes, papers, books all littered the floor. The window was covered with dark curtains, keeping any light from penetrating the apartment. She sighed as she ambled over to her bed and fell face down into the mattress.
The electromaster remained like that for a few minutes before turning over and staring at the ceiling. Darkness seemed to engulf her, though it was still early in the day. She clenched her fists at the heaviness that was building in her chest. Then, the heaviness lifted and left an incredible emptiness almost instantly. She raised her hand to cover her eyes as she felt a tear trail down her cheeks.
"No…" Mikoto whispered to herself. "I'm not…I'm not anymore."
Wiping her cheek, the brown haired girl stood up and sluggishly walked into her bathroom and glared at herself in the mirror.
"I just…don't feel the same," she said as she opened up the cabinet behind the mirror. The electromaster then gazed at the bottle of anti-depressant medication. Narrowing her eyes, she reached for the bottle and took out a pill before closing the cabinet.
Anti-Skill Branch, Forensics Lab 12:30 PM
"What have you found?" Jiro asked firmly as he practically barged into the laboratory, Arata and Kuroko following right behind. The scientist looked at the auburn haired girl strangely at first before Jiro added, "She's with us. She's a member of Judgement."
The scientist nodded in response and motioned for them to follow him to the article in question.
"While we were beginning to examine the armband, we noticed a different shade of green on the inside of the armband. After further analysis, we were able to make something out of it. We rewrote the message here," he explained as he handed a piece of paper to Jiro.
It read: "With every thought lies a magnificent shade of crimson, and to each his own comes a flame that has arisen."
His gray eyes instantly widened at the familiar message before he continued to read on:
"They will increase greatly in number as we show the light to awaken the child's slumber."
So I know there wasn't too much action other than the beginning, but I'm still trying to set up the background of the characters, how they've been the past few months, adding some depth to the OCs, that kinda stuff. Oh yeah! And finally having you guys learn some stuff about Ito Hiroshi! He's not that great of a guy….
Also I thought it'd be interesting to add Arata's I'm-too-old-to-do-anything-important conversation just because I'm sure some of us have to have that feeling sometimes when we're watching anime, especially if you're already in college like me. Sometimes I'm like "damn, I should have saved the world like four times by now…." But yeah lol
Anyways thanks for reading! And review and let me know how I did! I apologize if it was boring, but I was still trying to create a setting and basis for the investigation and stuff/how Mikoto's been doing the past few months.
See ya next chapter! (Whenever that comes….sorry, school sucks)
