Part 5: New Problems

Kuroko and Mikoto both stared at the scene in front of them. Neither of them could believe it.

"What?" Ruiko's voice held just a tiny amount of panic. Looking from Mikoto and Kuroko to stare at Kazari, her eyes wide, she said; "Uiharu, what… is something…?"

"S-Saten-san…"

It was as if cosmic gamma rays of another dimension had erupted right at this very plot of land and ditched all the laws of nature to form its own reality – if that had been the case, they would have been able to explain it.

But just like this morning, they couldn't explain it. There was no way this could happen.

Blue sparks of electricity were erupting into the air in front of their eyes. However the blue sparks weren't originating from Mikoto – but from Ruiko.

It was impossible.

"How is – how is…" Kuroko muttered breathlessly.

"Eh?" Ruiko looked down at her hand, and saw the tiny blue charges leaping across her skin. A tremor travelled up her spine as she suddenly realized what the strange noise she could hear was. It was the bzzt's of electricity leaving her body. "E-EEEEEH?"

Did Saten-san just develop an ability which happened to involve electricity? Mikoto felt her hands tremble. No way… that's just…

"What is – what is this?" Ruiko asked, looking at her hand as if it was an alien being. The air around her felt awkward, and more and more strange sensations pressed onto her mind. Her skin crawled, and there was an unpleasant prickly feeling behind her ears. "Ahaha… that's real funny… Misaka-san, are you...?" She looked up at the other girl, and realized there were waves – waves, in the air. Like light, only dimmed down, floating in front of her eyes. And they were everywhere.

"Wha – what –" she stammered, her face paling rapidly and her breath accelerating. "What the – what the heck is going on!" In a sudden stroke of panic, electricity suddenly erupted from her in a storm of lightning – Kazari cried out and stumbled backwards, tripping over her own legs and just barely avoiding a strike that hit the ground before her.

"Uiharu!" Kuroko prepared to teleport over and get her out of harm's way – but that wasn't what happened. Kazari cried out; a horrible sensation settled in her gut all of a sudden, as if she'd just dropped down a ninety degree fall in a rollercoaster. That may very well be true, since instead of Kuroko appearing beside her, Kazari was suddenly sent two meters up in the air, only to crash back down.

Kuroko could hardly breathe from shock."What…? Even though we're back to normal… but why…?"

"What's happening?" Ruiko shouted; it felt like her mind was twirling like a spinning top, and lightning struck into the air all around her, though she had no idea why. "What's going on?" She grabbed her head with both hands as if to squeeze everything inside back in place.

Kazari, who was now sitting on the ground, raised her arms to shield her face when the lightning strikes started hitting the grass in front of her. The effect was much like a hair dresser cutting the edges of your hair with their scissors. "Uwaah, Saten-san, don't fry us!"

"I have no idea what's going on!" Ruiko shouted back, panicking. "How do I stop it?"

This couldn't be…? Having seen the result of Kuroko trying to use her ability, Mikoto had a strange idea. It was just too much to believe, but… She gritted her teeth. It's our only call! "Saten-san, you need to restrain it!"

"Wah – h-how?" She cried, and jumped as a lightning strike struck the ground right beside her.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko cried, turning towards her roommate in despair.

Mikoto swallowed slowly. If it's really like that… then perhaps… Throwing all sense of logic away, she closed her eyes and imagined herself restraining her ability. In a sense, she tried to… mentally reach out or something (that was what it felt like).

"Ah—?" All of a sudden, Ruiko felt like something cold filled the inside of her head – it was a sensation unlike any other she had ever felt, as if someone had just spilled a can of ice cubes in there. The electricity abruptly cut off, the last few sparks disappearing in the air. While the strength in her legs seemed to give out and she sank down to her knees, she somehow felt calmer at the same time, as if the alien feeling in her head was soothing her nerves.

She sat on the ground, heaving for breath.

"Saten-san, are you all right?" Kazari asked hesitantly; Kuroko came running over, nearly tripping over her own legs in the process.

"What in the world happened?" She asked.

Ruiko couldn't talk; she was still too shocked to move a muscle.

Kuroko turned towards Mikoto, who came up beside her. "Onee-sama, did you lose control over your ability?"

Mikoto huffed and put her hands on her waist. "Who do you think I am? In the first place, there's no way I could do anything like that." She gazed soberly down at the long-haired girl that was staring at her hands as if she'd seen a ghost. "Rather…"

"It's… it's like… my brain is bursting…" Ruiko gasped, raising one hand to cradle her head. "There's so much… so many weird… things."

Kuroko and Kazari looked like they feared she was having a tumor, but Mikoto gave a deep sigh. "Jeez, one problem solved and then a new one pops up right after. What is this, April Fool's Day?"

"Eh?" Kuroko gave her a quizzical look. It seemed like she understood more than Kuroko of what was going on.

Mikoto looked at Ruiko with a sober expression on her face. "That feeling probably comes from the input received from the electromagnetic waves emitting from your body, Saten-san. I guess it can be unsettling when you're not used to it."

"EEH?" Both Kuroko and Kazari blanched.

"Electromagnetic…?" Ruiko looked at the older girl; there was a chaotic swirl of shiny waves emitting from her.

Mikoto smiled. "Don't worry; it's not dangerous."

"Onee-sama, what you are suggesting…" Kuroko stared at her roommate with a dreadful expression on her face.

Mikoto put a hand on her chin thoughtfully. "I can't really explain it, but it seems like my ability was somehow transferred to Saten-san."

"EH? You mean, S-S-Saten-san is an esper?" Kazari's eyes were huge.

Kuroko was gaping in shock. "…yes… of course, that makes sense…"

"Not really." Mikoto said. "But this day is already so weird it doesn't really surprise me, you know? At least there seems to have been left a small connection, so I was able to help restrain it."

"Well, there's one good thing… but still…" Kuroko looked down at Ruiko, feeling incredulous. "How is something like this possible…?"

Mikoto huffed. "First trading bodies, now abilities? I don't even know what to think anymore."

"You can have it back!" Ruiko cried, clamping her hands onto her head again. "Please take it back! I don't want Misaka-san's ability!"

"Saten-san, it's all right!" Kazari crawled over to her friend and enveloped her in a tight hug.

Mikoto looked over at Kuroko. "For that matter, don't you think the same happened with you and Uiharu-san?"

Kuroko looked up at her again. "Eh? With Uiharu…?" She gazed over at her Judgment partner, who immediately got a slightly panicked look on her face.

"Eh? Me?"

"Aaah…" Ruiko drew a deep breath, trying to sort out the thoughts in her head in-between a myriad of impressions she didn't know how to read. "Anyway… I guess that means… Misaka-san, you can't…?"

"Ah, yeah, it seems like I'm unable to use my power again…" Mikoto looked down at her hand, and concentrated as if trying to make a spark. At once a strange feeling ran through Ruiko's body, and a blue crackle erupted from her bangs.

"Aah!" The longhaired girl clenched her eyes shut in alarm.

"Ahaha, sorry, sorry." Mikoto laughed. "I guess I can still influence it after all." It was weird, but she felt strangely at ease with it being like this. The feeling of emptiness was somehow subdued; while she couldn't sense her surroundings, just the fact that there was still a sort of connection made it much easier compared to earlier this day.

"Then, what – what do we do?" Kazari asked intently, feeling pent-up as well. "Saten-san – Saten-san isn't used to even have an ability, and now she's suddenly got Misaka-san's…?" She stared at her friend worriedly.

"Hmm, I wonder if we could reverse it somehow?" Mikoto said thoughtfully, observing Ruiko's tired face.

Kuroko felt a stab of concern in her chest. "Onee-sama, please don't tell me you're considering trying to shock us back to normal again…"

"Of course not. I wouldn't want to hurt Uiharu-san and Saten-san."

"…Somehow I feel both relieved and insulted at once…"

Ruiko was still having a hard time thinking straight, and gasped: "Ah, Misaka-san… please help me turn off this electromagnetic radar thing…" The prickling on her skin was really starting to get on her nerves, and her head was bursting with information she didn't know how to interpret. It was as if a hundred foreigners were speaking to her in different languages at once.

"Ah, that's not possible." Mikoto said, instantly destroying her every hope. "My ability makes me emit electromagnetic waves non-stop, so there's nothing I can do about that. Oh, by the way; you shouldn't try to pet any cats. They'll be scared off or scratch you."

Kuroko's expression fell. "That is her biggest worry…"

"Uggh… then do I have to keep seeing these… waves of light…?"

"Waves of light?" Kazari asked, puzzled. She was still on her knees on the ground, looking at Ruiko.

"Hai… they are everywhere, like floating through the air, some long and slow, other small and quick… and there are a whole lot of them around you guys."

"R-really…?" Kazari looked downwards, as if expecting to see them herself.

"Oh, you mean our magnetic fields." Mikoto realized. "You can see wavelengths thanks to electromagnetic perception. That's an active ability, so it should be possible to stop it."

"I don't get all of that, but please…" Ruiko hung her head and gave a deep sigh. It felt like her brain was about to crack from alien sensations, and there was a prickly sensation on the inside of her scalp.

Mikoto closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to remember how she controlled that particular ability. I never even think about it anymore…to her it was a natural instinct when to use it. It was like a second sight, somehow.

Kuroko pursed her lips. "Still, Onee-sama, you seem awfully calm about this ordeal…" She would have imagined the older girl to make a huge deal of it like this morning.

Mikoto opened her eyes again; Ruiko gave a deep sigh as the waves disappeared from her sight. "Well, there's no use panicking, is there?" Mikoto said. "I still have a connection to my ability, so it's better than having none. Also, I'm not forced to be you anymore." She added dryly.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko gasped. "Was it so horrible to don my timid being for only a few hours –!"

"It was notonly a few hours, and it was awful."

Kuroko's expression was crestfallen.

"U-um, Misaka-san!" Kazari said, holding onto Ruiko's shoulders to support her. "How do you think this happened?"

Mikoto gazed at the longhaired girl that was leaning heavily into her flowery friend. "How, neh…" She sighed and put her hands on her waist. "Well, I know that idiot couldn't have done it, so..." She looked off in the direction Touma had run off; of course, there was no sign of neither him nor that man in the purple suit.

Kuroko frowned. "The man in the purple suit…"

"Eeeh, you think that man did this?" Kazari asked.

"It has got to be…" Ruiko forced out. "There's no… other explanation, is there?"

Kuroko put one hand on her chin as she thought. "Even though I find it hard to believe a single human being could cause something like this, there is no doubt it has happened. What an impossible scenario…"

"As if switching bodies wasn't?" Mikoto commented.

"Even Academy City itself has not yet found a way of transferring abilities – if that was the case, they'd have started using it already." Kuroko continued. "There are espers out there who is not fit for their ability, and many Level 0's that would gladly take them."

"I think I'd start with – something a bit easier…" Ruiko breathed, hanging onto Kazari for support. After only a few minutes of possessing the ability of a Level 5, she was already feeling drained.

"In any case, while we are back to normal, our abilities are now in a strange condition. It may be hard for us to confront him like this." Kuroko reasoned. "However if this has happened to more of the students in the city, we need to stop this before everyone wakes up tomorrow morning and chaos unfolds."

"That boy was chasing him, right?" Kazari looked just a little bit worried. "Will he be okay, facing that man all alone?"

Mikoto frowned, feeling her insides coil up. He's rushing headlong into trouble again, that idiot…

"So, to reverse this we have to look for that man in the purple suit?" Ruiko asked, breathing a bit easier now. She was doing her best to ignore the constant itching and strange sensations. "What do we do, then? Try to track him down?"

"Aaah, I'm certain another kiss is the only thing needed to –" Kuroko's romantic utterance met an abrupt end when Mikoto's fist hit her upside her head, and she tumbled to the ground.

"Aah, that felt good." Mikoto beamed, already feeling her stress levels decrease. "My nose is still hurting from earlier too, so consider it as payback."

"Onee-sama, it was you who drove my elbow into your own face…" Kuroko muttered, crouching on the ground with her hands clamped onto her head.

"What was that? I can't hear you, muttering doormat."

"Nothing…"

Kazari smiled uncertainly. "Eeeh, so, should we go back to 177th branch?"

"Indeed, that may be the wisest choice." Kuroko said, rubbing her sore head. "We can work more efficiently from there. Once we have more information on that man's position, we can go on a chase."

"Aah, we'll be breaking curfew, won't we…" Ruiko reached into her pocket to pull out her phone and check the time.

"It can't be helped." Kazari said intently. "We have to figure out how to stop this or Saten-san will collapse!"

"Indeed." Kuroko sighed. "There's no way we can let you wander about with Onee-sama's ability for long – there may be accidents, especially if –"

"AAAH!" Ruiko's shout interrupted her. The longhaired girl was staring in despair at her cell phone, which was totally blank. "M-my phone…"

"Huh?" Kazari said, looking at the device as well. "Did it short-circuit?"

"That appears to be the situation." Kuroko said dryly, seeing the lack of a response from the phone when Ruiko desperately tried to push a few buttons.

"But why? Misaka-san's phone never dies, does it?" Ruiko looked up at Mikoto with grief written over her entire face.

"Aah, well, that's because you have to control it, I guess..." Mikoto smiled awkwardly.

"We can worry about that later." Kuroko said mercilessly, while Ruiko's face fell. "Right now time is of the essence. If we can find that man before he causes more trouble, all will be for the better."

"Hm, you're right. Let's go to 177th Branch then." Mikoto started walking, and Kuroko followed.

"Man, having an ability like this sucks…" Ruiko sighed, as she and Kazari got to their feet.

Kazari smiled brightly at her. "I'm sure it's just a matter of getting used to it! In the meantime, just think of it as a power-boost!"

"I'm not sure that helps…"

A gust of wind blew from the river below them and flapped their skirts about.

"Ah, it's getting chilly…" Kuroko said, "Let us hurry back to the office, lest we catch cold… Onee-sama?" She noticed her roommate's still form in front of her.

"Kuroko…" Mikoto's voice was low and neutral, and at once, the younger girl's face stiffened. "I don't remember giving you permission –" a sudden crack of electricity escaped Ruiko's fringe; Kazari pulled away with a surprised whine, "–to change my clothes!" Mikoto turned around and yelled, and lightning struck from Ruiko wildly.

"Aaah, Misaka-san, calm down, calm down, please!"

XXX

"Honestly!" Mikoto huffed as they entered Judgment 177th office. It was already late in the evening, and no-one else was present. Mikoto went right over to the sofa near the wall and deposited herself into it, crossing her arms and legs. "Kuroko, you moron…"

The other three girls followed; Ruiko and Kazari warily, yet relieved that she had calmed down at last, ending the electric storm that Ruiko had no idea how to control. Lastly came Kuroko, sighing;

"Onee-sama, please act with a bit more self-restraint…"

"Shut up." Mikoto bit back. "You have some nerve, forcing me into wearing your perverted underwear…"

"It is merely an erotic, yet delicate way of expressing your womanhood –!"

"I'm not interested! No teenage girl should be wearing something unnatural like it's natural!"

"Eheh…" Kazari made a nervous laugh.

Ruiko plumped down into a chair with a deep sigh. "Man, I'm beat! Who knew having an ability was this exhausting!"

"It's not that being an esper is so exhausting," Kazari said, smiling cheerfully, "it's that trying to control the powers of a Level 5 while actually being Level 0 is just too much for you to handle."

"Jeez, that makes me feel important…" Ruiko sighed.

"Well, since we have some time right now, I think we should try to calm down a bit with a cup of tea." Kazari twittered and went over to their small kitchen corner.

"I don't like the thought of that man wandering around causing trouble while I sit in here waiting for tea…" Mikoto huffed, while Kuroko sat down at her desk and turned on her laptop.

"Onee-sama, even if you went out there you would just be running around blindly in your current state. We should at least know where to start looking."

"I know that, jeez. But I still don't like it."

Ruiko looked at the two of them, and then down at her hand. "If I didn't have Misaka-san's ability…" It was a strange thought. It felt like she was somehow restricting the other's freedom.

"Don't worry about that." Mikoto smiled at her. "More importantly, are you alright?"

"Ah, well… there's a strange feeling in my body, like a constant itch… I feel like if I had to live with this every single day, I'd…" Ruiko shuddered, and then wrapped her arms around herself, "I'd go mad!"

"Eeh, really?" Mikoto said. "I never noticed."

"Not that I doubt your senses, but how can you not notice?"

"As it is Onee-sama's ability, you might react differently to it than she does." Kuroko said all-knowingly, browsing her laptop. "After all, to Onee-sama it's natural."

"Just like how being a pervert is completely natural for Kuroko, yet was impossible to me." Mikoto added helpfully, making Kuroko twitch.

"So you're always feeling itchy…?" Ruiko said, gazing at her hand again with a dreadful expression on her face. "What a horrible fate…"

"Err, no, that's not what…"

"In that case, how about we get a back scratcher for Misaka-san's birthday?" Kazari suggested cheerfully while rummaging for cups in their cupboard. The water boiler was already working on heating the water for their tea.

"Oh, great idea!" Ruiko exclaimed. "And also one of those things you use to massage your head – there's this super annoying, prickly feeling on the inside of my scalp!" She gripped her head tightly and groaned. "Aaah, it's so annoying, I feel like I want to put a tooth stick in my ear or something!"

Mikoto sweat-dropped, while Kazari hummed away as she put the teacups in a stack on the bench and then chose a tea from their extensive stock.

"Aaah, so…" Mikoto looked over at Kuroko. "Kuroko, you still don't have your ability back, right?"

Kuroko gazed into the air thoughtfully, and then picked up a pencil that lay beside her laptop. "There's an odd feeling, like a tingling sensation in my body…"

Ruiko gave a wry grin. "Are you sure that's not just because you're hor—"

"Ah, now that you mention it, me too –!" Kazari interrupted rudely, pulling her head out of the cupboard to look at her co-worker with a disturbed expression on her face. "Shirai-san, you don't think what happened back there really was—?"

"Hmm. At this moment, nothing can be said for sure." Kuroko said, glaring at the pencil as if it was a criminal to be questioned. She felt like she wanted to try and teleport it, but if something like that happened again...

"Could that strange feeling be a sign that you're currently sporting abilities that is not yours?" Mikoto suggested.

"Well, that is a possibility… it would certainly explain why Onee-sama is the only one not bothered…"

"Ah –" Ruiko started, "because I'm a Level 0…" Her stomach clenched suddenly.

"Saying I'm not bothered is stretching it a bit far." Mikoto huffed. "At this rate I can't hunt down that guy and finish him for good! Still, I guess it's better than a constant itch…"

"Heeh, that's true; if Misaka-san wasn't able to concentrate properly, we might have you spitting electricity all over the place, Saten-san!" Kazari added cheerfully, coming over with teacups for them all.

"Don't say it like you'd do any better!" Ruiko protested. "It's just this weird, ticklish feeling all over – it would make anyone jumpy!" As if to elaborate, she ran her hands over her head in an exaggerated scratching motion.

"Aaah well…" Mikoto didn't know what to say; apparently their experiences regarding this were quite different. "…as long as you're okay, I guess it's good."

"Ooh, that's right!" Kazari sounded like she'd just remembered something exciting, turning around after putting down the tea cups. "Saten-san, can you tell where my cell phone is?"

"Eh?" Ruiko looked up at her. Making a weird face, she said: "Err, I dunno if it's your cell phone, but it feels like something is emitting this really weird, prickling feeling from your right pocket…" It was unknown to her how the sensation behind her left ear could tell her such, but that was the impression she got.

"Ah, you're right!" Kazari exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Wow, that's really impressive!"

"Haaah, I guess I'm not half bad after all…" Ruiko laughed awkwardly, scratching her cheek. "But this is Misaka-san's ability, so…" It felt like she was taking credit for someone else's work. But looking over at Misaka-san, it didn't look like she minded.

"Oh don't be so shy now." Kazari smiled. The water boiler pinged, and she went over to pick it up.

"Hrrm," Kuroko suddenly said, "this makes no sense..." She was frowning into the computer screen.

"Hm, did you find anything?" Mikoto asked, looking over at her.

"Did you find the man in the purple suit?" Ruiko asked, turning towards the pigtailed Judgment member as well. She was perfectly ready to find that man and go back to normal as soon as possible.

Mikoto sighed, folding her arms. "Honestly, I don't get what's up with that guy, but if he's really causing all this…" She gritted her teeth, "…I'll punch him good!"

"Is Anti-Skill still chasing him, Shirai-san?" Kazari asked, looking over at the other girl as she came back with the hot tea water.

Kuroko was frowning deeply. "According to Anti-Skill's report, they arrested him last night."

"EH?" Kazari poured a dash of boiling water to the floor in surprise, and Ruiko hastily pulled her legs out of the way.

Mikoto frowned. "If they arrested him, why was he attacking us at the bridge?"

"Like I said, this makes no sense." Kuroko sighed. "He definitely disappeared without a trace when I fought him. Yet it says here Anti-Skill arrived on the scene to find him subdued, and arrested him."

"That's impossible!" Kazari said. "I told them he'd gotten away…"

"It must be a Clone Bug!" Ruiko excitedly exclaimed.

"Isn't it more likely to be an error in their report?" Mikoto said. "There's no saying one of the officers didn't write that report firmly believing it was the truth. I mean, he did make us change bodies. Though how is…" She looked like it was a strain to try and make sense out of it.

"Hmm…" Kuroko grumbled deeply, one hand on her chin. "It certainly is impossible to guess when dealing with someone who can make these ridiculous things happen…"

"Then, what do we do now?" Ruiko asked, while Mikoto gave a thankful smile to Kazari when the flowery girl poured tea into her cup. "Do you think Anti-Skill knows anything else?"

"With how their report looks, no. Even if they did however, it's past curfew time, and they would just send us off to bed were we to ask."

"Even with such an important case-?"

"In any case, there's no use wasting time on contacting them if they already believe the case to be finished." Kuroko dismissed the entire idea.

"That means we have no choice but to try and track him, I guess." Mikoto sighed and looked over at Kazari, who just finished pouring tea into Ruiko's cup. "If he's using his abilities, the satellite readings would give him away just like last night, right?"

"Aah…" Kazari looked up, seeming troubled. "That may be, but…"

Kuroko sighed. "Gaining entrance to the satellite databases at this time…"

"Oh. It's not that easy, is it?" Mikoto had somehow thought it was just a matter of a few strokes on the keyboard for the Judgment members, but even Judgment must have their restrictions to reduce the risk for security breaches.

Ruiko looked up at them. "Ah, I don't really get it, but… if it's something like needing the correct passwords, couldn't we just hack inside?"

"Don't say that like it's a valid solution," Kazari said in a lecturing tone. "Besides, it's not 'just' hacking. The security around Academy City's satellite data's is very strong, and if we're caught…"

"Ah! But with this –" Ruiko looked at her hand, and suddenly stood up from the chair, feeling fired up. "Misaka-san's ability can take care of that for us, right? You can hack into anything, right?" She directed her question at Mikoto, who felt slightly troubled at this sudden interest.

"Um, well, it's not like I ever tried… hahaa…" she glanced away very naturally.

"You know that's not going to fool anyone, Onee-sama." Kuroko commented dryly. "You are the sole reason Anti-Skill's computer department sit up at night wracking their brains."

"I'm not the sole reason…"

"Well then, let's try it!" Ruiko jumped in front of Kazari and put a hand onto Kuroko's laptop – and unleashed a crackling lightning strike that struck into the ceiling and shattered two of their lamps; the laptop gave a loud snap and short-circuited.

"Gah!" Kazari threw herself out of the way, and Mikoto gaped.

The electricity died off on its own this time; Ruiko stared at the destroyed computer with a slightly disturbed expression on her face. "Aaah… that wasn't supposed to…"

"Saten-san!" Kazari wailed, ignoring Kuroko's aghast expression. "You can't just – don't just do that! You could have killed us!"

Ruiko pulled back and rubbed the back of her head with a stupid grin on her face. "Ahaha, sorry about that – I just thought… then, how the heck do you do it?" She turned to look at Mikoto, who smiled back uncertainly.

"Asking that afterwards is…"

"It's about micromanagement!" Kazari lectured, red-faced. "M-i-c-r-o-management! That was like MegaUltraBlast – don't you pay attention to anything in class?"

"Ah, but I'm a Level 0, so…" Ruiko vaguely tried to excuse herself, but Kazari was still glaring at her with an angry expression.

"Being high level means more than just a lot of power! If Misaka-san did nothing but fire her railgun all over the place she'd be nothing more than a bully! B-U-L-L-Y!"

"You don't have to spell out those easy words…"

"It's because she's a responsible citizen that we still have a city to live in!" Kazari continued.

Mikoto discreetly took a sip of her tea at that point, but Kuroko suddenly twitched out of her shocked state, and turned a surprised gaze at her companion.

"Onee-sama, a responsible citizen?" She imagined scorched back alleys, unconscious delinquents, traffic light problems and countless reports of short-circuited vending machines and electrical apparatuses. Her mouth twitched, and then she gave a really creepy 'heh-heh-heh' laugh that made them all sweat-drop.

XXX

They tried again. Leaving Kuroko's charred laptop behind (Mikoto wasn't exactly sad that the disturbing collection she'd discovered earlier was now beyond recovery), they moved over to Kazari's stationary server. Since it seemed to be their best shot at finding the purple-clad man, gaining access to the satellite data's was still the first thing they'd want to do. Giving up on the idea of having Ruiko hack into the databases for them however – especially since Mikoto was unable to give a comprehensive explanation of how to do it; "You need to analyze the proxies and the data passing through the firewall – well before that you'd need to know how the electricity runs along the components, I guess… aah… in any case, there's a lot of anti-esper defenses as well, so you'd need to do some manual work…"

– they decided to put their faith into Kazari's computer skills instead. Kazari sat down to work on the task, while Kuroko observed from behind her shoulder. Since it was going to take some time to bypass all the security (and Kazari was not even sure it was possible), Mikoto and Ruiko started to dig into 177th branch's supply of snacks while waiting.

Ruiko picked up a chocolate bar ('SUPER-ULTRA HONEY-CUCUMBER TASTE! ONE BITE AND YOU'RE DESTINED TO GREATNESS!') with a thoughtful expression on her face. She had been just as shocked as the others when she suddenly unleashed that lightning strike. Somehow, it just came to her naturally, as if just thinking about trying to hack the computer had brought it forth – though she hadn't exactly imagined something like that would happen. Now that she had consciously used the ability however, it felt like she could recognize the feeling in her head, and she would probably be able to reproduce it. It was strange, yet comforting, somehow.

Is this what it's like to be a proper ability user? She sighed into the chocolate.

Mikoto looked over at her. "Saten-san, is everything all right?"

"Hah?" Ruiko looked up. "Ah, there's nothing really… just… this whole situation is kind of… it feels weird to suddenly wield someone else's ability…" – and not just anyone's either. It would be entirely different if it was Uiharu's…

Mikoto smiled. "No worries. I'm sure Uiharu-san will get us through to the data we need in no time. Once we find that guy we'll make him undo whatever he's done to us."

"Heeh. Well, yeah…" Ruiko smiled back. Since Mikoto seemed so at ease with the situation, it was hard to be feeling down. We'll just have to make the best out of it, I guess… She bit into her chocolate again.

Meanwhile, Kuroko followed Kazari's proceedings on the computer screens with a serious expression on her face.

"Shirai-san, don't you think it'd be easier to contact Anti-Skill after all…?" Kazari hesitantly popped the question, feeling the attention above her shoulder as a stressful factor when trying to do something that was in common sense, impossible. While her job as the Gate Keeper for most of Academy City's databases were significant, not even she had direct entrance to all kinds of information – let alone after curfew. All the passwords and security settings were switched to night mode at this time, limiting the entrance even more than usual. Giving any one person unlimited entrance to all databases was too much of a security risk; for example, if an esper managed to collect the passwords from that person's mind…

"Hrrm…" Kuroko made a thoughtful sound that sounded more like a groan. "I doubt Anti-Skill will be of much help at this time, and we need to find this guy as fast as possible…"

Yet another reason to just call, Kazari thought. "Even if we do find him though, what should we do?" She asked, while starting yet another program that would anonymously scan for security holes in Anti-Skill's firewalls. Even with custom-designed programs however, it would take a while. While she knew the firewall systems like the back of her hand, she couldn't just deactivate them; that would be like walking right into the police station fully armed and announce your plan to rob the bank. To leave no trails meant biding your time.

"We'd have to confront him, obviously."

"Eeh?" Kazari looked up at her partner. "With how we are now, is that such a good idea? You two can't even fight like this, can you?"

Kuroko frowned and looked over at her Onee-sama, who was talking cheerfully with Saten-san. "Indeed, though it seems like Onee-sama has a certain level of influence over her ability still, it might not be enough to properly wield it. In any case, it is Saten-san who'd need to do the hard work." As long as Mikoto stayed calm, at least they didn't need to worry about being electrified all of the sudden – probably… And even so, relying on her to stay calm is… She felt sweaty. Nevertheless, it is our only choice...

Kazari continued to think out loud while watching the progress on her screen: "If there's a fight, we'd have no means of escape with you unable to teleport, do we… it would be bad if someone was hurt."

Kuroko looked back at her. "That is why I was hoping you would be able to act in my place."

"Eeeh?" Kazari's eyes grew huge. Then she looked down at her hand, holding onto the computer mouse. "You really think I have your…?"

"Well, with this situation being as it is, that is the only conclusion to draw." Kuroko said. "We just need to test it out –" KRAZSSSH – the smashing noise erupted from in front of her and startled everyone in the room; Kazari sat still, staring at the monitor in front of her eyes feeling quite scared and stupid and amazed at once. Her right hand twitched emptily; the computer mouse was currently protruding from the shattered monitor. She had done nothing more than imagining the mouse disappear; she never even considered where'd it end up reappearing. She hadn't really thought anything would happen at all.

"Eh…" She slowly looked up at Kuroko, who was staring in solid shock at the result of her experiment. "I guess I really do have it… eheh…" Kazari laughed stupidly.

"Woah, Uiharu, did you do that?" Ruiko asked, coming over.

"Haha, yes…"

"Eeh, I guess you need some practice too, eh?" She leaned forward and studied the damage closely. "Still, it's right in the middle – quite impressive!"

Kuroko stared at the blank screen, and felt her brain twitch. "Uiharu…" she said, and despite their numerous predicaments, she still sounded calm.

"Yes?" Kazari said, feeling slightly nervous.

"…let's call Anti-Skill."

"…yes."

XXX

The four girls were all on their way down the dark streets of District 18.

"I can't believe Anti-Skill allowed us to get access that easily!" Ruiko said, running just behind Kuroko, who was briskly keeping up with Mikoto at the front. "Wasn't it supposed to be super-top-secret data?"

"It was more like they – asked us to do the – job for them!" Kazari gasped; she was still keeping up, barely, but was heaving for breath after running for five whole minutes since they entered District 18. At this time of night few buses were about, and none that fit their time slot. Luckily 177th Branch wasn't based that far from the border of District 18.

"The data in their report was wrong after all," Mikoto said thoughtfully. "Still, for the entire Anti-Skill to suddenly fall asleep like that – you think that's his doing too?" There was no reason to ask who 'he' was of course.

"Whatever the reason, Anti-Skill won't be able to back us up just yet." Kuroko said. "The officer woke up from the phone calling right by her ear. She'd have to wake up everyone else and update them before they can do anything at all."

"Damn, nothing makes sense anymore. I guess this just helps to prove it…" Mikoto trailed off, looking upwards. The others did the same, seeing the strange sight that had greeted them once they entered District 18. The sky was entirely yellow. It was rather intriguing that once you looked right or left, it was bluish-black just like normal; it seemed like it was yellow only when one looked directly upwards.

"The satellites picked up a strange force field in District 18 seven minutes ago. Coupled with the fact that the man was spotted on a surveillance camera in the area, there is no doubt we're on the right track." Kuroko moved her gaze from the strange sky to look at the buildings they passed by. District 18 was much like District 7 in terms of layout, with several schools and dormitories within its confines. This particular area however was mostly accommodating stores and office buildings of various kinds, and they were all closed at this time of night. Naturally, the lack of any student homes in the proximity meant there was little chance to run into any civilians. Hopefully most of them were already sleeping at home at this time.

"According to - the coordinates," Kazari said; gasping it out more like, "it should be – close to the storage houses in area B!"

"Really? In that case, going through here is quicker!" Mikoto diverged off the main street into an alleyway, and Kuroko uttered an undignified "Onee-sama!" before following inside.

"Onee-sama, are you sure this is the right way?" Kuroko asked, looking pointedly at the back head of her upperclassman. The alleyway was dark and rather narrow, but that didn't slow them at all. While she knew the entirety of District 7 in and out due to her work in Judgment, other districts weren't that familiar.

"A lot of gangs usually face off there when fighting over some thing or the other." Mikoto said, not really answering her question, and yet still did, in a way.

"I'm not sure I want to ask how you know that." Kuroko said dryly.

They followed the alleyway for another few minutes, Mikoto and Kuroko at the front, Ruiko right behind them, and Kazari lagging further and further behind, legs feeling like jelly. Then Mikoto suddenly stopped. Kuroko collided into her and nearly knocked them both over, and Ruiko and Kazari stopped too, gasping for air. Kazari had to lean on the wall beside her to not fall right over. It felt like she had just taken the Judgment tests all over again.

"Huh, that's strange, I don't remember there being a fence." Mikoto looked up at the obstacle barring their path. It was a fairly normal chain fence, complete with a gate and a padlock.

"This looks like something a store owner might have put up." Kuroko said, stepping closer to take a look.

"Man, that's a bother. We could climb it, but there's barbed wire…" Mikoto looked up and sighed.

"No need to worry, Onee-sama…" Kuroko sported a confident look all of the sudden, and touched the padlock. The next instant, Kazari gave a surprised whine, as she found herself half a meter above the ground before falling down with a thump. Both Mikoto and Ruiko looked at her and sweat-dropped, but it didn't seem like she was badly hurt.

"Huh?" Kuroko looked at the padlock with a scrutinizing look. Then it dawned on her. "Oh, that's right; Uiharu, you would have to do this." She looked over at the other Judgment member, who was lying on the ground feeling rather beaten down. "What are you lying down for? Don't tell me you're exhausted already?"

XXX

"Jeez, Shirai-san, please be a bit more careful." Kazari huffed, finally on her feet again, and facing the chain fence.

"I am sorry about that." Kuroko offered her apologies politely without sounding sincere at all, before cutting to the chase. "In any case, please teleport this lock away."

"You make it sound so easy…" Kazari huffed again, before eying the lock hesitantly. It looked like a rather sturdy lock, and it glared back at her as if saying 'yeah, right; just you try'. She gulped.

"If I can, I will assist you." Kuroko said assuredly. It seemed like she had some sort of influence over her ability just like her Onee-sama, but it also seemed like that influence was very variable and unstable.

"Just be careful you don't split her with the fence or something…" Mikoto said, thinking the same thing, and feeling like it would be rather risky to have Kuroko experimenting with her ability through Uiharu.

"Mou, Onee-sama, there has been quite some time since I last split anything during practice." Kuroko said with a proud sigh.

"W-what is this 'split' you're talking about?" Kazari asked nervously, apprehensive of touching anything all of the sudden.

Kuroko smiled easily. "Nothing to worry about, Uiharu. Please, concentrate on the task at hand." She pushed Kazari closer to the fence with a friendly hand on the shoulder.

Kazari looked back at the glaring padlock and gulped slowly. Then she bit her teeth together. It's not dangerous. Trying to convince herself, she gingerly reached her hand out and touched the lock as if it was a bomb that would explode upon pressure.

"Now, remember what you did when you had the computer mouse move? Try imaging the same thing with the lock, only make sure to put it somewhere away from us." Kuroko explained.

"Err, are you sure this is safe?" Ruiko asked, eyeing both Kazari and the padlock warily. She didn't feel like having that thing appear inside her brain or something.

"It is either this or finding another route." Kuroko sighed. "We have already wasted too much time."

"Well, we could always unlock it with a bit of magnetism." Mikoto suggested, looking over at Ruiko, who immediately felt nailed to the spot.

"Eh? M-magnetism?" It sounded like she was trying to pronounce a complicated foreign word.

"Onee-sama, with what happened back in the office, do you really feel that Saten-san is ready to take on that complicated aspect of your ability?" Kuroko asked, giving her a meaningful look

"Ah… I guess you have a point. Though I think Saten-san is doing great." Mikoto smiled, and Ruiko reddened.

Kuroko gave a small sigh. "That aside, if there is a confrontation, it would be best if Uiharu is able to control my ability to some extent."

"Hm, you're right. Though I'd rather we'll be able to stop him before it comes to that point, it doesn't hurt to be on the safe side." Mikoto shot a thoughtful look over at Kazari, who smiled nervously.

Ruiko looked at them all, and then down at her hand. While she could probably spit electricity all over at free will now, she felt far from ready to try and control all the power inside her. She felt a bit useless all of the sudden. Despite her having a Level 5's ability at hand, she had no idea how to use it properly.

"Don't worry, Saten-san!" Kazari said intently, and smiled at her when she looked up. "I'll master Shirai-san's ability in no time, so don't worry about it!"

"Who said you'd be able to master my ability in no time?" Kuroko harshly grinded a fist into the other girl's head. "Even if you do move this lock a few meters, that's equivalent to Level 1. Please don't get cocky just yet."

"Owowow, Shirai-san, the flowers!"

Kuroko put her hands on her hips and sighed. "In any case, we are losing valuable time here. Please get on with it."

"R-right…" Kazari looked at the padlock beneath her right hand again, and tried to focus. Staring at the lock as if it would burst into flames if she watched it intently enough, her entire body strained in the concentration. Move the lock… have it reappear… She didn't know how to do it; she had no idea how Shirai-san could teleport with such ease throughout Academy City, or wield those metal spikes of hers with such grace. She did not understand half of what the other girl could tell her about the 11 dimensions and spatial movement between those. Still, right now I definitely have her ability… She'd already used it once; it should be possible to repeat that, right?

She closed her eyes tightly. I want the lock to appear… over there! Snapping her eyes open, she concentrated on a spot further behind the metal fence – and in the next moment, a strange sensation floated through her body, and the heavy padlock appeared in the empty air a few meters ahead and fell to the ground with a clatter.

"You did it, Uiharu!" Ruiko cheered, and Kuroko gave a pleased smile, like a proud parent. Kazari stared at the fallen padlock with a disbelieving expression on her face. I did it? A wave of excitement passed through her body.

"I - I did it! I really did it!" She beamed happily at the others.

"Great!" Mikoto pushed open the gate and passed on through it; Ruiko followed, and Kuroko came after them, but not before placing an acknowledging hand on Kazari's shoulder.

"Good job, Uiharu. Let's go."

"H-hai!" Kazari answered, feeling like she could fly off any moment. I did it! It felt right out incredible. Even if Shirai-san might have helped her with her influence, it still felt like she had managed it all on her own.

XXX

Touma's day had started out pretty much as normal.

That is to say, he was already busy from the moment he woke up.

Earlier this week, he got a phone call from Tsuchimikado in the middle of the night. All he said at that time was: "We have a problem."

Touma had silently escaped his room to meet up with Tsuchimikado at the designated point. There, the other boy had told him how a magician had snuck into Academy City. This man was powerful and destructive. They knew his objective, and were prepared to counter-act him. However, they might need Touma's help to reduce the damage to the city once the magician started his destructive spree.

For three nights Touma had been hunting the magician while he searched his targeted jewelry stores. Touma confronted him, but the man quickly realized who he was and avoided him thereafter, seemingly treating it like a game. It was all Touma could do to get to his locations before he disappeared, and last night he hadn't shown up until it was too late and nobody was left on the scene.

Last night, someone else had encountered Constantine in Touma's place. The result was that the magician finally turned to his favorite way of causing a riot; the chaos spell. For the entire night and on through the day, Touma had been running around town trying to cancel any effects of this randomized spell. However, it seemed like whenever one occurrence was canceled, another popped right up; and in some cases, he couldn't even cancel it, suggesting its source lay elsewhere. It seemed like the only way to stop the mayhem was to get to the heart of the chaos; to stop Constantine himself.

And so, right now Touma was heading through District 18 on the chase of his trail.

"The cross is safely in the hands of someone we can trust," Tsuchimikado said through the cell phone. "Anti-Skill will not attempt to encounter him in a while due to their fake report; they'll need to clear out their priorities, not to mention wake up first. All we need to do now is to stop this guy from destroying the town."

"That's exactly what I've been trying to do!" Touma breathed back, running down a side street. "Where is he now?"

"According to the results of the tracing spell, you're right on his tail." Tsuchimikado said, his breath sounding a bit heavy. "Our only hope is he's willing to stop and engage you in a fight. We'll be starting a restrictive counter spell as soon as that happens, so he should be unable to teleport out of the area. Still, if he notices this and starts counter-acting us, he may break through."

"Damn!" Touma turned a corner and cursed as his fist connected with a flaming bird that came screeching from above. The creature exploded in harmless fire and its screech cut off. It wasn't a hallucination or projection; it was a familiar summoned from the chaos spell. To any other human, something like that may be highly dangerous. They had to stop this mayhem before morning came and the streets filled with people once more.

"Did you find out any more about his spell?" Touma asked, running off again.

"Ah, yes. It seems like it's a combined chant that uses the concept of human soul adaption to create ten different effects every time."

"What does that mean?"

"Basically, it's random."

"You explained the most obvious thing…" Touma sighed. He looked up when more screeches broke the sky. A whole flock of flaming birds was soaring through the air, leaving trails of embers in behind. They were too far away for him to reach.

"The spell takes a wide variety of spells and combines them with a single chant. Depending on how many magicians are casting it, the number of different spells unleashed varies. But there is a lower minimum requirement of ten magicians."

"That makes sense… but Constantine is only one magician." Touma noted. "Are you saying he's as powerful as ten magicians combined?"

"Not necessarily. He has most likely found a way to simplify the casting process of the spell."

"If he's using an item or something, I just need to destroy it!"

"Kami-yan always makes it sound so easy." Tsuchimikado sounded like he was grinning. "His cards are what you want to target. Constantine is said to have been studying a particularly dark branch of magic in his youth. It is said he had a mentor who had mastered the art of capturing a human's soul, a dangerous and difficult form of magic which share ties with necromancy. To say it simply, the human soul is a source of energy which can be used in a number of different ways.

"There are accounts of magicians suddenly disappearing without a trace. While most of such cases is due to a conflict or a ritual gone wrong, not all of the disappearing's can be explained as such. It is possible that Constantine has been using his knowledge of the capture of the human soul in order to gain his level of power. In other words, Constantine has found a way to be able to use the chaos spell freely. By capturing other magician's souls into flash cards, he collected their power for himself to use. It should be sufficient for him to have nine cards. With himself, that's ten. Though it's impossible to know whether he has more."

"So he's able to bypass the rule by using those cards in place of an actual magician?" Touma felt like that was the act of a truly deceiving being. That Glorious Prince of Sparkles was quite the bastard. No wonder he didn't belong to a faction. 'Stray' magicians were not that rare; Tsuchimikado had already told him there were at least fifteen of them around the world at this very moment. Whether they based their magic on sources other than religion or had a fight with their faction and were thrown out, most of them acted as freelancers and would do any job as long as it was well paid.

Apparently, the Catholic Church of Protestants wanted the Exterminating Cross so badly they resorted to relying on such an unstable individual to reach their goals.

Touma wouldn't have cared if it wasn't for the fact that Constantine was currently messing up Academy City pretty damn well. And he even involved other people in their confrontations.

"In any case, it seems like he's on his way to the bridge connecting area B and C of District 18. If you keep going in that direction, you should be able to encounter him."

"Aah, got it! Call me again if something comes up!" He hung up his phone and continued running down the street in a hurry. He had no time to run around the entire city to cancel the effects of the spell. He had already been doing so since midnight, and it had seemed like a hopeless approach already before he stumbled across Misaka and the other girls. That encounter only made it more obvious that in order to stop the spell, the source itself would have to be destroyed.

Hoping that everyone was still safe, Touma tried to up his speed as he ran down the streets of District 18.

XXX

They had been running for another few minutes when the alleyway abruptly ended, opening up to a spacious area lined by storage houses on the far end.

"We're here." Kazari breathed, looking over the place. It was dark, but the moonlight made it easy to see anyway.

"Indeed, these are the coordinates." Kuroko said, checking the GPS on her phone. "Looks like Onee-sama got it right…"

"So…" Mikoto said, looking around. "…that guy in the purple suit – you think he's still around?"

"I would doubt that; it is more than 15 minutes since the signal was received…"

"There were a lot of readings in the area too." Kazari said, wiping her brow. "We can't really be certain where he is, using those. I guess hoping he'd stay around was asking too much…"

"We can't let him roam around and do what he wants." Mikoto said. "Do we have another way of tracking him down?"

"Ah, well…" Kazari hesitated.

"Hey, guys?" Ruiko called over; she was looking around the corner of a building, and throwing them a strained look back. "Maybe these guys will be able to tell us something…"

Behind the corner lay five young men, all seemingly knocked right out. The ground around them was full of craters, as if something had exploded into it.

Mikoto stood above the guys with her hands on her waist, huffing. "Well, leaving such a mess behind, that's one giant lead."

"Onee-sama, you are not the right person to say that…"

"Huh?"

"…never mind…"

"Well, this guy seems like he's still barely conscious." Ruiko bent down over one of the guys, investigating his face. He was groaning slightly, and his eyes were moving beneath the eyelids. "Hey, you still with us?" She poked his cheek with a finger.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open, and Ruiko pulled back in surprise; before she knew it, the man grabbed her wrist and stood up holding her close, a knife pointed squarely at her throat.

"D-don't move!" He barked, gazing at the other three girls nervously. "I-I swear, I'll, I'll kill her!"

Before anyone could do anything else;

"Saten-san!" Suddenly, Kazari called out; when they looked at her however, she was already gone.

"Eh?" Looking back over at Ruiko and the man, Kazari suddenly stumbled to the ground right behind them, eyes huge as she realized she had somehow ended up teleporting right over.

"E-EEEH?" She blanched.

The man turned around; "What the – I said not to move!" He raised his fist to punch, and Kazari shrunk together; "Ieeeh, please don't hurt me!"

"Uiharu-san!" Mikoto and Kuroko was about to move in when –

"Don't you touch my friends, you creep!" Ruiko suddenly cried out, and a crackling ray of lightning erupted from her, striking his hand and knocking the knife right out of it.

"Guah!" He immediately backed off and grimaced in pain, but it didn't seem to be strong enough to knock him out. Even so, now he was weaponless and even more frightened than before. "What the – what the fuck?" He may be more surprised that they attacked him at all rather than the fact that they were espers. Frankly, the two of them didn't exactly radiate threat.

"Ah –!" Ruiko seemed just as perplexed as everyone else at the sudden attack. "Aaah, sorry, I didn't mean to…!" For some reason she started apologizing.

"S-S-Saten-san…" Kazari could hardly breathe from relief and surprise. She had been completely frozen there for a second. "Thank goodness that went well…" She sighed.

"Heeh, that's really something." Mikoto said, impressed. "You guys are getting the hang of it!"

"Heheh…" Kazari blushed, smiling sheepishly.

Ruiko scratched her cheek with an uncertain smile. "Well… it kind of happened on its own, really…" Her gaze narrowed, and she looked back at the man with a stern expression. "But if you try doing something else, I'll fry you properly next!" As if it was perfectly natural, more crackles left her bangs to compliment the threat. It didn't look as elegant as Mikoto's small threatening charges, but it was just as effective.

"T-that's right!" Kazari added, pulling herself up to glare at him – though she really just looked cute with her cheeks puffed out like that. In the first place, the flowers on her head made it hard to look anything but harmless. "We're from Judgment, and we will arrest you!"

The man realized his defeat, and fell to his knees. "I'm sorry!" He cried. "I'm sorry!" He put his face and arms down in front, as if he was praying to some sacred saint. "Please don't hurt me; this guy suddenly showed up and knocked us all out – I thought you were with him – please, I'm sorry!" He was shivering, as if expecting to be struck down any second.

"This is too much." Kuroko muttered. Sighing, she put back the spikes she had drawn from her belt and looked over at the remaining guys, seeing their disheveled clothes and ruffled looks. "In any case, how did you end up like this?"

The man sniveled. "We were on our way home after following a little girl back to her dormitory when we suddenly saw this guy standing here, so we approached him and asked whether he was lost… but he just laughed and suddenly started flaunting his ability around… knocked us all right down…" He was sobbing while talking, making his words hard to pick up in places. Ruiko suddenly felt a bit sorry for him.

"Delinquents being Good Samaritans?" Kuroko sounded skeptical.

"Uh, hai… I don't know the details, but I heard a really powerful girl came around here a while ago and beat up all the gang leaders and made them promise to only do good deeds from then on…"

"Do you have any idea what happened after that man attacked you?" Mikoto asked of the man, while Kuroko scratched her cheek cluelessly.

"Aaah – suddenly, someone called out – I don't know who it was, but I think he chased the man off. I probably passed out around that time, since I can't remember… Aah, the shame!" He started sobbing into his hands. "How can I face the boss after being humiliated by a homeless bum and a group of girls? Aaaah!"

Leaving him to cry, Mikoto, Kuroko and the other girls and looked at each other.

"Do you think that other person is…?" Kuroko envisioned a certain spiky-haired guy in her mind, complete with an evil grin and a foul aura.

"It's got to be." Mikoto huffed. "He's always getting himself into trouble like that. Jeez, that moron!" A sudden fizzle of electricity left Ruiko's bangs.

"Aaah, Misaka-san!"

"Ah, sorry…"

"Then maybe our biggest chance to find them is by following his trail?" Kazari suggested, pulling her PDA out from the inside of her uniform. "We can try tracking his cell phone via the Central Cell Phone Position System."

Everyone stared at the small computer in her hand with huge eyes.

Kazari blinked at the lack of response. "…what?"

"…did you just pull that thing out of your bra?" Ruiko couldn't believe her eyes.

Kazari reddened and spluttered: "Aaah, there's an inner pocket in our uniform, Saten-san! With you flipping my skirt all the time, it may fall out of the skirt pocket, so I keep it in the inner pocket instead!"

"Still… that's pretty bold…"

"It's kept in a pocket!"

Mikoto sweat-dropped; Kuroko on the other hand, seemed totally flabbergasted as she muttered to herself: "Uiharu wears a bra…?"

"Anyway…" Mikoto said, deciding she'd rather not indulge in her roommate's thoughts on the subject, "can you track him with your computer, Uiharu-san?"

"As long as his phone is switched on there shouldn't be a problem!" Kazari readied her PDA while Kuroko kept studying her closely. "What's his number?" The flowery girl looked up at them with a smile.

"Eh?" Mikoto stared at her incredulously.

"I need his phone number to track him…" Kazari trailed off, seeing her blank face. "Ah, but no worries. We can find it easily with a search in the database." She pushed a few buttons, and then looked up. "So what's his name?"

"Dumbass."

"Bra Grabber."

"Street-wise Preacher!"

"…I don't think any of those are valid Japanese names…"

XXX

Everything had been carefully planned out. The Catholic Church of Protestants had been planning this ever since they first discovered the scroll in their ancient library containing information about a most valuable object.

The Exterminating Cross – a golden cross necklace with power rivaling even those of the Saints. It was powerful enough to wipe out a city the size of New York or twist time itself with a single chant (no guarantee both won't happen at once). Needless to say, anyone who got their hands on that cross would gain a huge boost in their significance, and every respected church society in the world was on the hunt for this item. Of course, the Catholic Church of Protestants wanted in on that.

However, since their own members were useless for anything beyond drinking altar wine and praying for better hands in online poker games, they hired one of the most reputable magicians around to do the job for them. Constantine, the Glorious Prince of Sparkles, was a feared and respected magician of the neutral circle – the ones that belonged to no society, but lent their powers to those would pay. It was not cheap, but for such a valuable object, any price was worth it. And the Catholic Church of Protestants happened to have a lot of money, as winning in poker do tend to give a certain profit.

Besides, the task was not something just anyone could pull off. The cross had been travelling across the world in the hands of people not knowing its properties – and it had recently ended up in a jewelry store inside Academy City. The city of espers, forbidden ground to any magician who valued their life or limbs.

Thanks to his powers Constantine was easily able to enter the city, but the search had turned out to be different than what was anticipated. The targeted jewelry store did not have the necklace – and neither did any of the others he'd checked. Constantine was not known for leaving no traces, as was one of his trademarks, and one of the reasons why he was feared even amongst other magicians. He quickly grew bored with a job that did not provide enough entertainment, and that was when the havoc began – playing around with his surroundings was way more amusing than going on a wild goose chase.

After the first few nights proved fruitless, it was obvious someone had beaten them to it. His priorities therefore changed from completing his hired job to do something entirely else – mainly producing himself some entertainment.

What had gone wrong? Was the plan of the Catholic Church of Protestants faulty? Would Academy City declare war upon the church once they found out they were behind this seeming assault?

He didn't care.

What Constantine cared for, was having fun. And right now, he was definitely enjoying himself.

Currently, the magician-for-hire was waiting on a desolate location of District 18. Waiting for his opponent to show up.

"I wonder what kind of fun I can expect from him~" He sang it out like a child, small glitters floating in the air around him, sparkling as if mirroring his enjoyment. "Such an opponent as him is rare indeed! I must make sure to use this situation for all it's worth! Haha!" His laugh was joyful.

It had been quite amusing to observe the city's adults desperately trying to keep everything under control while his favorite spell ran amok. Even more entertaining however, was watching the bothersome kid with the spiky black hair running around in a frenzy trying to cancel every single occurrence until he realized it was futile, and started chasing the source instead.

Constantine was surprised to meet someone who could even hope to fight back, but he didn't exactly mind. Rather, the fact that someone like that boy had showed up, was more than enough reason to stay a little longer. He would make sure to enjoy this last show before departing for the outside world once more.

"This city is way too much fun!"


Even though I'm being as slow as something that's REALLY slow, I haven't stopped writing the story! Hope this was enjoyable enough to make up for it.

Someone mentioned "sudden powers awakening"! I agree that would be cool, but this is a cliché switchover. So instead you get Saten Ruiko, the Level 5 Electromaster. Take it or leave it! (And Kazari the Teleporter of course… you know, the sidekick.)

My favorite part of this part is definitely the last part. That said, I suddenly found it a great idea to rearrange the chapter using parts of part 6 - so now I've got to mend part 6 and come up with something new and exciting for that chapter. Well, what else is new? Watching Fate/Zero gives me lots of inspiration for fight scenes at least! (And obviously, this story is placed before Mikoto got Touma's number, so have a go at placing it in a time-line (as if it would fit anywhere).)

Words and terms:
The Good Samaritan:
The story of the Good Samaritan comes from the Bible, where a Samaritan was the only person who helped a traveler lying beaten on the road. The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant (~Western Asia).

(I learned something new again.)

Next time: Sparks and sparkles