hey there again! Missed you guys! Well glad it's late Monday night and/or early Tuesday morning! Cause you know what that means! Another chapter! :)
So once again, I just REALLY, REALLY have to thank you guys for all the support! I really do appreciate those reviews/favorites/followers! You guys are just so amazing!
Though I will point out a three in particular
To ReaperLuca and Phantomhive07: it is always a super awesome feeling to know that other writers (in particular ones where I really like their stories and actively wait for the updates!) are enjoying a story of my own. So I am super excited to get some recognition from you guys :)
Also, to Kurokanako: you don't know how amazing it made me feel to read your review! Truly, I am honored that you feel that way about the story, and I really hope that I can keep you on board til the end!
I hope I can keep up to the expectations that you guys have! (and if not, I will write a two and a half page apology letter)
So here goes! Happy reading guys!
Chapter 7: The Blood of "Innocent Sinners"
December 3rd
Kuroko's Apartment, 6:10 PM
Kuroko's heart began to flutter with excitement. How many times had she imagined a moment such as this? A moment that she didn't wake up from? A moment so vivid. A moment where the girl she has loved for the past six years was now pressed against her lips. She moved her hands to behind Mikoto's head and entwined her fingers in her hair, attempting to deepen the kiss. The electromaster instinctively placed her arms around the younger girl and held her tight. The teleporter parted for a second to breathe before smashing against her mouth once again, reveling in the taste of her beloved's lips. She gently brushed her tongue along the surface, pleading for entrance.
The sudden wetness of Kuroko's tongue caused Mikoto to part her lips slightly from surprise. The electromaster's face lit up a bright shade of red as the younger girl slipped her tongue into her mouth, instantly exploring every inch she possibly could. The auburn haired girl was too lost in pleasure to notice the slight moan that escaped her own lips or how the older girl had become stiff.
"…K-Kuroko…" Mikoto tried to say, though her voice was obviously muffled. The movement Kuroko felt from the older girl's tongue as she spoke only plunged the teleporter further into ecstasy. After another few seconds, the electromaster was finally freed from her frozen state. She grabbed onto her kouhai's shoulders and pried the girl off of her, allowing for both girls to finally take a full, deep breath.
"Onee-sama…" the younger girl whispered huskily as she leaned in to kiss her once again. Mikoto half-heartedly kept the teleporter at bay, their lips a few inches from colliding once more. The older girl couldn't deny the beating of her heart, or the excitement, or the warmth, or the light. But still, she was confused. She was so confused it almost made her angry. The electromaster gritted her teeth as she cupped Kuroko's face and touched her forehead against hers.
"What…w-what the hell am I doing…?" Mikoto muttered under her breath. The teleporter could feel the older girl's hands tremble against her cheeks. She could hear the shakiness of her voice. Tears began to well in Kuroko's eyes as she moved her hands to mirror the other girl's actions.
"I-isn't it obvious?" Kuroko answered her, almost reciprocating the same tone: somehow unsure but certain nonetheless.
"…but…you're…you're my…" the older girl trailed off before lowering her hands to her kouhai's shoulders and raising her voice. "You're my best friend, Kuroko! I mean, you're a girl for god's sake!"
The auburn haired girl kept her hands planted on Mikoto's cheeks as a few tears finally began to fall freely. "So? Why does that matter?"
"I shouldn't feel like this!"
"But you do, don't you?!"
"I-I don't know what I feel, dammit!" Mikoto snapped at her as she pulled herself out of Kuroko's grasp and shoved her to the side. She clenched her fists and ambled towards the door, tears beginning to stain her cheeks.
"Does it hurt that much to accept me into your life?!" the younger girl yelled, the hurt dripping from her voice. "Does it really hurt that much?!"
"I-I…I don't know…But I-I should leave…I gotta clear my head…I just have to—" Mikoto was interrupted when she felt arms wrap around her stomach. Warm tears seeped through the back of her clothes and she could hear sniffling coming from the younger girl. Her arms were trembling as she tightened her grip on the electromaster.
"…don't…please don't…don't go," Kuroko pleaded. "…please…don't leave me…don't leave me alone, Onee-sama…"
At that comment, all the anger and confusion that was coursing through Mikoto's veins disappeared in an instant.
"…why can't we just…w-why can't we talk about this?" the teleporter muttered as she loosened her grip and fell to her knees. Slowly, the electromaster was able to calm herself and took a deep breath. After a short moment, Mikoto turned to look at her kouhai, who was currently staring at the ground. The older girl lowered her eyes, immediately feeling wrecked with guilt,
Dammit…what the hell is my problem? The electromaster thought as she ran her hands through her hair. I obviously feel something for her…there's this growing warmth that fills me whenever I see her…and no matter how much I don't understand it, I can't deny that…that being so close to her just now just felt, I don't know, like I'm where I'm supposed to be. Kuroko's pulling me out of this dark world, and I just yelled at her for that…I'm such an idiot!
Once she wrapped up her rants, she took another deep breath and sat down on the floor to be leveled with the teleporter. The electromaster picked up the younger girl's chin so she could stare into her ruby eyes, which were stained red from her tears. Though still in despair from the previous conversation, the contact caused the auburn haired girl to blush as she gazed into her beloved's chestnut eyes. The older girl flashed her a subtle, guilty smile.
"…I'm sorry…Kuroko, It's just…I've never felt this way before…" Mikoto trailed off, her cheeks beginning to redden. "I—"
The older girl was cut off by a firm knocking at the door.
"Shirai-san? Shirai-san, are you in there?" the voice belonged to Harada Kiyoko, Kuroko's neighbor. Both girls stared at each other with puzzled looks on their faces. "Shirai-san, please open up!"
With that, Kuroko quickly wiped away her tears and teleported to the door, with Mikoto following behind her. Upon opening the door, the teleporter was met with worried blue eyes.
"What's wrong Harada-san?" Kuroko asked firmly.
"It's Akane…"
"You're roommate?"
"Y-yeah. She hasn't returned home yet, and she's not answering her cell phone. She always gets out of class at around three but…" Kiyoko began to tremble slightly. "…she's a member of Judgement like you…"
At that statement, Mikoto and Kuroko glanced at each other subtly, immediately not liking the circumstances.
"I mean I've heard the news…and lately it's not so safe out there for a Judgement member," the blue eyed girl continued, starting to shake a little more as she thought of the possibility that something bad had happened to her friend. "I mean, you don't…you don't think…?"
The auburn haired girl immediately moved her hand to her neighbor's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Harada-san, please try to stay calm."
Mikoto leaned her head closer in the door frame and asked, "How does your roommate look?"
"She has…" Kiyoko began, trying to overcome the lump forming in her throat as she described the girl, "…she has medium length blonde hair…hazel eyes…light skin….an amazing smile…she's almost seventeen…"
The electromaster narrowed her eyes and slid through the doorway into the hall and said in a dead serious tone, "Ok, I'll go look—"
Mikoto instantly stopped when she felt Kuroko's small hand grab onto hers.
"And where exactly do you plan to look, Mikoto?" the younger girl spat out. The brown haired girl turned her head to glare at her kouhai. Kuroko ignored her gaze and turned back towards Kiyoko.
"What branch is Akane-san from? We did have an emergency meeting at four, and we just got out recently, so I can talk with her chief to see if she checked in for the assembly," the teleporter stated.
Kiyoko took a deep breath before answering, "She's from the 174th branch."
Kuroko nodded with determination before teleporting away.
"Dammit, Kuroko!" the older girl shouted in frustration. She clenched her fists and looked firmly at her kouhai's neighbor. "Where's the 174th branch?"
"Oh! U-um it's not too far from here," Kiyoko replied nervously before giving the electromaster the directions.
"Thanks," Mikoto mumbled as she locked up the apartment and quickly ran after Kuroko.
Anti-Skill Branch, File Room 6:40 PM
Jiro and Arata had finally received the approval to look into the Ishihara Murder case files. The room they resided in was full of bookcases, each of the shelves occupied by different case boxes. It took the agents a while to even locate their intended files. After they successfully found the files they were looking for, they sat at a table in the room and spread out all of the papers and photographs taken from the crime scene. They have been scanning every paper, every photo for some type of clue for the past half hour.
"So, Ikeda-san, I know you said you saw this Ishihara girl six years ago during the night of the murder, but something's been bothering me about that," Arata said, taking a quick break from his research. Jiro didn't look up from the reports that he was reading but still managed to seem almost interested in his partner's statement by giving a small 'hm' under his breath.
"Well…did you see her while you were investigating the crime scene?"
"Yeah," was Jiro's simple response.
"Did you know she was the missing daughter?"
"I had a hunch she was," the gray eyed agent responded as he closed his eyes and imagined the ten year old Satomi.
She was watching us as we investigated her house, as we questioned the neighbors, as we carried out the lifeless bodies of her mother, father, and brother. She watched from across the street. The night seemed extremely dark, and the only thing I could make out was the blood dripping from her clothes and her bright shining blue eyes.
Arata narrowed his eyes at his senior officer. "If you had a hunch that she was Ishihara Satomi, then why didn't you inform your commanding officer, Ikeda-san?"
At that question, Jiro slammed the papers on the table, causing Arata to flinch. He looked upon the agent, expecting to see an expression of anger, but was met with a saddened look. The room remained silent for a minute before the older officer let out a slight chuckle.
"She just…she just looked so…relieved. She seemed so…I don't know, happy…"
The dark eyed young man just stared at him, not knowing what else to say. Jiro seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, gazing at the ceiling. Arata decided to leave it alone, knowing that his partner must have had his reasons. He went ahead and started to look through the reports again before speaking once more.
"Say, Ikeda-san…did they ever find the murderer?"
Jiro ignored his question and stood up from his spot on the chair. "I'm actually pretty tired. I think I'm gonna head home. I've got a beautiful wife and daughter waiting for me to eat dinner," the gray eyed agent stated as he headed toward the exit. "Do you mind cleaning up, Arata?"
The senior officer didn't wait for an answer to walk out of the room. Arata held a dumbfounded look on his face as he looked at all of the scattered files that littered the table. He sighed as he rose from his seat and began to carefully gather all of the reports and photographs, returning each to their respective cases.
"Damn, I know I'm a rookie, but still, you could have stayed to help out a little at least…what's next? Memorizing how much sugar and cream you put in your coffee?" Arata muttered as he placed the box onto the shelf. He sighed and stretched his arms before coming across another series of boxes, all labeled with the same name: Ito Hiroshi.
"It's a little more…detailed than that. How could you not know exactly what happened?"
Kuroko's words echoed in his head as he stared upon that name. Though he knew he was alone in the room, he still looked side to side, making sure no one was watching him, before narrowing his eyes at the boxes.
If no one will talk about this, I guess I'll have to find out on my own.
Some discreet building somewhere…
"Satomi, you don't look anything better than disgraceful," Masato scoffed as he examined his subordinate. Satomi was lying on the couch, curled up in a ball, gripping onto the bandage covering her left eye. After patching up her wounds, she took on this position, muttering under her breath about the "light", and has remained that way for the past few hours.
"My, what would our dear Ito-sama say to you in this state?" he said as he stood up from his desk. He walked until the dim light of the room graced just above his mouth. He wore black slacks, a brown dress shirt, with its sleeves rolled up to the middle of his forearm, and a beige vest. Masato now gritted his teeth. "You lost against Railgun, and you've been curled up on this couch all day long…he would see you as a disappointment!"
Hearing what Ito must think of her caused her to tremble and widen her eyes.
"He can see you right now, don't you know that! He is everywhere! He is everything! And right now he can see that you're wasting my time!"
Satomi now sat up and hunched over, covering her ears so intensely that her nails dug into the skin behind them. "I'm sorry Ito-sama, Masato-kun!" After that, she continued to murmur 'I'm sorry' under her breath over and over again.
Masato scowled at the girl. "Sorry doesn't make up for anything. Only action does. Now get up and get ready to take on your next target."
The bright blue eyed girl immediately removed her hands from her ears, blood trickling from behind her ears. "But, what about Railgun?"
"We'll figure out what to do with her soon enough. After what you did three months ago, you're not exactly as good as you once were, Satomi," Masato said as he retreated back to his desk and pulled out a picture from the drawer. He motioned for Satomi to meet him at the desk. Once she reached him, he handed her the picture. "Yamada Taichi. He's fifteen and a level three telekineticist."
"Should I kidnap him, first?"
"No, I actually don't want you to be discreet. I want you to fight him wherever you may find him."
"Understood," Satomi complied in an uncharacteristically cold tone before leaving the room.
Masato watched her teleport out before taking a seat behind his desk once again. I know they must be setting up countermeasures against us. That much is certain. I have more than just Satomi under my command, though she is one of my two espers, and I'm having them go all out on their targets, right there in the open. I want this city to fear us, I want them to see the carnage. I want them to know why they're beloved children are being murdered, one by one. I want them to hate Shirai Kuroko because she is the reason we are doing what we are doing…though I must thank that girl. I know her death won't bring Ito Hiroshi back. There is so much more that her death can bring for me. But for now, those pawns of mine can't know that…
Anti-Skill Branch, File Room, 7:15 PM
Arata stared wide eyed at the reports and photographs displayed on the table.
W-what the hell? How does no one talk about this?! What, do they think if they keep quiet, that this will be erased?
One report in particular stuck out to him: the report written by Ikeda Jiro. His eyes darted left and right, taking in every detailed description, every emotion that worked its way through his writing. It's as if he could see exactly what happened.
Matsuda Elementary School, Three Months Ago
The claims of terrorist activity is what brought Anti-Skill to the scene. By the time they arrived at the school, the attack was already underway. The "followers" of Ito Hiroshi were barricading every entrance to the school, all armed with weapons. All Anti-Skill officers soon found themselves taking cover behind walls, their vehicles, etc. to avoid being shot. Near the back entrance is where Ikeda Jiro's squad was stationed.
"Dammit, where the hell did these guys get these weapons?" Jiro shouted as he stopped from shooting and ducked below cover. Jiro's small regiment had been in this same position for the past thirty minutes. A few of his officers had been injured and were trying to patch themselves up right then and there before being whisked away by the medics.
"Ikeda-san, we're starting to get outnumbered here," one of his men mentioned to him.
"Looks like you guys could use a hand," came a female voice, the girl seemingly coming out of nowhere. She looked to be about eighteen, with long auburn hair and ruby eyes. She wore two belts in an X shape across her torso, each holding metal spikes, along with black straps that wrapped around her thighs, which were also covered in metal spikes. In addition, she had a backpack slung on her shoulder, which they could only guess to be housing similar small projectiles.
"What the hell are you doing here, kid?" Jiro shouted at the girl. "This is a warzone right now! You could get killed!"
"Look I'm not just some adolescent! We've seen each other a couple of times already, I am Shirai Kuroko of Judgement!" Kuroko yelled back at him.
"Dammit, Shirai-san, this isn't a matter to be handled by Judgement, only Anti-Skill! We aren't going to let more kids get involved in this!"
"Just watch me," she said as she teleported away. A few moments went by before they heard no more gunfire from the opposite side. Jiro immediately ordered his officers to stop firing to reassure him that the bullets have stopped flying. Soon after, Kuroko reappeared before the gray eyed agent. "Ok, well it's clear at this entrance, but I'm not sure for how long, so we better hurry."
Jiro narrowed his eyes at the younger girl as he called for backup to assist him and his regiment to the back entrance. Jiro reluctantly followed Kuroko's lead towards the building, coming across exploded bits of guns and the assailants pinned to the ground with the girl's spikes. Right before they were able to make it inside the building, they were countered by yet another barricade, though this time there were even more opponents.
"Dammit!" Jiro shouted as he once again took cover to avoid being shot. He looked upon the teleporter and noticed her clenched, trembling hands. Her demeanor immediately turned into one of pure hatred.
"Ikeda-san…do you hear that?" she asked softly, though the gunfire made it hard to make out what she was saying. Kuroko then repeated in a raised voce, "Do you hear them?!"
Jiro quickly tried to focus his hearing on what the younger girl was talking about. After drowning out the shouting and gunfire, he did hear them. Blood curling screams, seemingly belonging to children.
"We have to get in there! If we don't make it soon, we'll be too late!"
"Shirai-san, don't go in there—" Jiro was cut off by the disappearance of Kuroko. "Shit!" he yelled out as he barely dodged a bullet.
Back up soon came, and little by little, Anti-Skill began to penetrate the school. They came across mangled bodies of young children, teachers, faculty, etc. The smell of blood was so overwhelming that it took all of Jiro's will to not vomit. As they continued their battle into the school, they heard an explosion go off from one of the classrooms. The explosion was also packed with more blood curling screams, and an intense amount of crimson liquid followed the debris, along with skewed amounts of body parts.
The sight brought Jiro to his knees as he stared wide eyed at the carnage. Time felt as if it had slowed right there at that moment.
W-what the…hell…just happened?
Jiro was brought back to the cruel reality when he heard a scream coming from one of the rooms next to them. This time, the scream came from the teleporter. The gray eyed agent forced himself up and managed to glimpse into the room where the younger girl was. All he saw was Kuroko release all of the metal spikes she held within the backpack and teleported each falling spike into the body of Ito Hiroshi: about ten or fifteen on each limb, about twenty to thirty into his torso, a couple on his neck, one on each eye, and a few on his cheeks. His body was instantly engulfed in his own blood and splattered the wall that he was now pinned to.
Now it was Kuroko who fell to her knees, her face expressing utter horror at the act that she had just committed. She stared at her frantic, trembling hands before she pulled on the back of her hair and hunched over until her forehead met the ground, screaming so loud.
Anti-Skill Branch, File Room
Arata stopped reading after that, feeling a growing biliousness in the pit of his stomach. He quickly closed the report and laid it on the table and took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. He didn't even notice the sweat that was starting to form on his forehead. After a few minutes, the feeling started to dissipate and he was able to stand himself up. He took a quick glance at the pictures and reports once again before returning the files into the cases.
"Damn…" he spoke softly, still in disbelief that what he read was indeed real, not just a work of fiction. "This…this Ito Hiroshi really was some sort of demon…"
He slowly walked over to the shelves and deposited the boxes onto their respective spots. He stared at the labels with the devil's name on it for a moment before walking towards the door.
"I just…don't get it…why would someone willingly choose to follow that monster?"
With that, he turned out the lights and shut the door.
So, how was it? Was it any good? If it wasn't, I will totally get to writing that apology letter…..
But ok, so the elementary school incident was obviously told from Jiro's side, and Kuroko's insight will come around at some point to fill in those gaps. I know…it was a bit bloody/gorey eh? (at least I kinda feel it was), so if that offended anyone in any particular way, I am sorry for that.
So personally I can see Mikoto having this anger at what she feels because she feels like it's wrong (which it's obviously not), but don't worry, that anger is already dissipating. Also, I kinda see that when Kuroko calls Mikoto "Onee-sama", it's kind of like she loses that bit of self-control or feels vulnerable, which is why when she is taken out of that situation (like being interrupted by Kiyoko), she reverts back to calling her Mikoto.
And lets see, Masato not all that upstanding of a guy is he? Lying to Satomi and his other acquired followers and seemingly looking for some personal gain? Hmmm, not so good.
Anyways, enough of my rambling! (well one more rant, it's still totally December 3rd…a lot can happen in a day huh?) Thanks a lot for you guys that lasted through to the end of the chapter! Please review, review, review! I really do love hearing from you guys! Compliments, Criticisms, Suggestions, etc. are all welcome!
See ya next chapter everyone! :)
