This marks the finale of the struggle. A single girl's fate lies in the hands of multiple conflicts. Enjoy!

Re-updated: 6/10/2015 - small


Chapter 7 - Déjà_vu_pt.2


"…. so what you're saying is that your Precognition ability called Déjà vu lets you pass your memories to your past self? Is that some kind of time travelling ability?" Kamijou Touma furrowed his eyebrows after hearing the young girl's complicated explanation.

"Well…. I guess it's sort of like that." Tsuyuri Aki made a nervous smile.

Despite not knowing anything about the situation, the spiky-haired high school boy willingly involved himself in someone else's conflict.

"I feel bad for getting you involved in this, Touma-san... I'm such a hopeless person..."

"No! Not at all! You said you used your powers to find out what actually happened to your friends regardless how painful it was right? I think it takes a lot of courage to do something like that!" Kamijou Touma frantically tried to cheer the girl up.

Aki stared downcast at her feet. She had just used her ability named Deja vu to send her memories back in time in order to figure out a way to save her friends from a collapsing building caused by a fight between Skill-Outs and an unknown esper, but decided not to stop her two friends from saving her best friend.

It was dusk now in Academy City.

The taxi they were riding in passed by several apartment buildings and complexes while heading towards District 10. Students, teachers and salarymen were already retiring to their homes and getting ready for dinner.

"Anyway, about that esper you mentioned, he was fighting the Skill-Outs, right? Maybe we can negotiate with him in order to prevent the building from getting destroyed?"

"Really? Do you think so Touma-san?" Aki's eyes filled with conviction despite being partially covered by her long bangs.

"If not then I'll at least try to delay him as much as I can so your friends can look for umm... Tatemiya Haruka-san was it?"

"Then I'll help you negotiate with that esper, Touma-san!"

"Ehh? But it might get dangerous if that esper turns on us."

That esper the two were talking about was Kakine Teitoku, the second in rank among all the Level 5's in Academy City. His ability lets him create and manipulate matter that does not exist in this world. He was also involved in Academy City's dark side as part of a secret organization known as SCHOOL however both Kamijou Touma and Tsuyuri Aki were unaware of all these facts.

"I will help! I will not just sit idly in the sidelines! Even if it was just a little bit, I got to see one of that esper's abilities." Aki declared with great determination.

"Th-Then what can that esper do? Hearing it from you, he sounds really strong to be able to hold his own against a group of people equipped large weapons."

"Well... a pair of wings came out of his back and uhmm... he blew people away with them.. something like that..." The girl smiled sheepishly showing how she did not understand the power herself.

"Hahh? Is that really some kind of esper power?" Touma scratched his head trying to figure out how a person could grow wings.

"Is it somehow related to Magic? Maybe it's some kind of spell that utilizes myths about Angels." Touma muttered under his breath.

"Shouldn't you be helping your friends in that building though?"

"Well Tomoya-kun's Clairvoyance is already enough for searching through the entire building and for avoiding people so I doubt I could be of any help there..."

The landscaped changed as the taxi arrived at District 10. There were fewer buildings, and even less people around than District 7. There were no cleaning robots that were always busy roaming around and cleaning the streets.

Aki stopped the taxi near the small building where the blonde haired esper will arrive in front of.

"I think we should hide here and wait for that car to arrive, Touma-san." Aki pointed at the small building's entrance.

The door to the small building creaked as the two high school students opened it. The interior was dark and a lot of dusts covered the floors and furniture. The first floor of the building had a typical structure of a diner. There was a dust covered counter near the entrance and several circular tables surrounded by four chairs scattered across middle of the floor. Another door was in the farthest corner of the diner which opens up to an alley on the other side of the street.

There were lots of abandoned buildings in this area of District 10 so it was a perfect place to hide anything suspicious from the authorities. It was one of the blind spots in Academy City where Anti-Skill's jurisdiction was thinned out because of its workforce's distribution was more focused on guarding key parts of the city, disaster mitigation and response.

"Kyaaaaa!"

A girly scream echoed within the diner.

"What's wro- Owwww!"

Aki tremblingly pointed at an incredibly small spider on top of a table a few inches away from her as she pinched the upper part of the misfortunate Kamijou Touma's sleeve, along with his bicep.

Noticing the spider, the boy squinted his eyes at it before shooing it away.

Aki had a big fear of insects especially really small ones. The smaller they were the more incredible and painful Aki's reactions were.

The two moved close to a window that showed the street in front of the diner in order to keep an eye out for the car.

Meanwhile, a few blocks from where they were hiding,

"Your lagging behind, four-eyes!" Takayama Akito peered over at the older high school boy behind him who was dropping quite a bit of sweat.

"I'll catch up so don't slow down for me..." Tomoya panted as he tried to keep up with his younger classmate.

The delivery truck they were following was carrying parts for the assembly of weapons mixed with toys as a camouflage. Also, the truck might lead to the location of their friend, Tatemiya Haruka who they suspected was kidnapped by a special group of Skill-Outs known as REBEL.

"Come to think of it, Akito-kun... How did you find out that we might find clues here in District 10? You said the people who messed with you were paid by thugs but how were they connected to District 10?" The glasses wearing boy asked the delinquent in front of him.

"To be honest, I just picked this area because it was the closest."

Tomoya almost stumbled after hearing that unexpected revelation but Akito continued.

"But if you consider all the news regarding the raids against the Skill-Outs and plot them out in a map, you will see that almost every area of Academy City has been involved apart from District 10 and maybe 3 other districts, excluding of course ones which have a dense number of Anti-Skill or Judgment stations."

Tomoya thought for a bit before finally understanding Akito's train of thought.

"You really are something else Akito-kun! I still wonder why you are stuck as a Level 0."

"Can we stop talking about that Level crap already?" The blonde haired delinquent's mood turned sour at the mention of his predicament.

"Anyway, that truck has entered that gate towards that building over there. Let's head towards that vacant lot over next to the fence so you can use your Clairvoyance." Akito pointed out the area around the bush beside a fence.

The two boys proceeded with their plan.

"I think it's almost time, Touma-san. Any minute now..."

Inside the abandoned diner, the two strengthened their focus as they peered through the window.

A sound of an engine can be heard from the distance.

A minute later, the black car which Aki saw in the previous cycle of her Deja vu experience arrived in the exact same spot and in the exact same time as before. A young man with long blonde hair and wearing a dark maroon suit came out of the black car's passenger seat.

Touma and Aki came out of the diner as soon as they saw the young man.

"U-umm are you here perhaps to take down the Skill-Outs in this area? Can you please wait a little bit until our friends come out?" Aki pleaded to the boy with her soft and gentle voice.

The young man looked at the two slightly confused for a second before giving a sharp glare.

"You two... You're not related to this side, aren't you? Who are you?"

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly, Kakine Teitoku, one of the strongest espers in Academy City, the Number Two Level 5, swung his right arm diagonally upwards. An invisible force from the young man's right side grinded along the diner's walls towards the two, breaking the windows and the ground along its path.

Touma gritted his teeth as he pushed Aki down before falling himself. The force brushed over their heads before disappearing.

"Hoh~ You have nice reactions." Kakine gave a delighted smile full of arrogance. He cracked his knuckles before continuing his attack.

Touma and Aki instantly got up and rushed towards the diner to their left, avoiding a sudden impact from some unknown force which hit the ground where they were previously on.

"Looks like negotiations won't work!" Touma looked behind him as he ran towards the exit at the opposite side of the building.

The Level 5 scowled, looking rather pissed now as he walked inside the dust covered abandoned diner after the two.

"Then we must keep him busy until Tomoya-kun and Akito-kun make it out of the building!"

Suddenly, tiny particles like white sand floated above the young man before gathering and compressing together to form a gigantic pair of white angelic wings which spread out and destroyed part of the ground and upper floor of the diner along with its walls. The wings spanned with great length, even outdoing the size of the building it had just crushed.

"No! I'll hold him off over here. You monitor your friends' situations!"

Small piles of hard concrete fell around them as they opened the door to the back alley.

"B-but!"

"I can handle myself!" After escaping from the collapsing diner, Touma shouted as he stood now on the back alley. "Just get your friends out of there as soon as possible!" He turned around towards the tall figure standing in the middle of the small building which was now reduced to almost nothing thanks to the destructive power of the Dark Matter wings.

Dust clouds floated above them, rising towards the night sky.

Aki grimaced at the thought of abandoning someone, but reluctantly shook it off in the end. She was aware that she could not dodge that esper's attacks unlike Touma. If she stayed there, he would have to look out for her, but if she were to leave him alone against that mysterious esper, at least he would be able focus on protecting himself from those attacks.

"Then I'll contact you as soon as we get out of the building!" The young girl headed towards the back of the Skill-Out hideout.

Noticing this, Kakine Teitoku turned his attention towards the girl on his left side, who was now fleeing from the area. "Who said you can leave?!" The wing on his left side changed shape, elongating into a spear and shot forward straight towards the girl. The distance it covered increased at an absurd amount of speed.

The girl was unaware that a long, deadly spear shot forward, ripping through the air as it plunged straight towards her, directed towards the back of her small, fragile head, and will likely skewer it with ease just like a pig skewered with a metal steak when, suddenly, the spiky-haired boy got in the middle of them, bringing out his right hand towards the white spear made of Dark Matter just in time.

With a loud crash, the spear gradually disappeared as soon as it made contact with Touma's right hand, despite its large scale and destructive force.

This was the power residing within the boy's right arm, Imagine Breaker, the power which negates any supernatural ability.

Wasting no time, Touma charged forward unhesitatingly.

Kakine furrowed his brow, confused of what just happened. Despite the unexpected phenomenon he had not anticipated, he made another large pair of Dark Matter wings sprout behind him and charged forward. The wings changed shape again into a pair of scythes which fell down side-by-side on the spiky haired boy.

As the pair of scythes dropped down on him like a guillotine, bringing down death and despair, the boy moved his right hand to the left and swept it across the pair of blades as they swung down above him.

The blades made out of Dark Matter consecutively disintegrated yet again.

"?!"

The Level 5 Dark Matter made a disgruntled expression after seeing his attack get nullified again. Truly, what just happened? He asked himself. He went into deep thought as he evaluated all these odd occurrences with his Dark Matter and that boy. His attacks somehow did not work every time it made contact with that boy's right hand. But, he wasn't sure if it's just that boy's right hand, or his entire body, that could interfere with his ability. Ideally, an ability that could interfere with his Dark Matter shouldn't exist. The reason for this was that his power was outside the realm of physics. The matter he creates does not exist in this world, and therefore, there shouldn't be anything that exists that could nullify it, much less counteract it.

He took a step forward, eyeing that spiky haired boy in front of him. This should not be his downfall. This unknown boy should not be a problem to him. The only one who should be able to stand with him side-by-side was that monster. That monster known as Academy City's strongest, Accelerator. His venomous eyes met with this unknown boy. This nuisance has gone far enough, he decided. It was time for this little speck of dust to disappear from his sight. Not letting himself falter from all these questions and doubts anymore, he made another pair large of wings sprout from his back.

This time, one of the wings turned into a blade which then slashed the air horizontally towards Touma's body.

The Level 0 jumped backwards abruptly, evading the tip of the blade by a hair's breadth, however, another wing transformed into a a spear which shot downwards from above his head. In reaction to this, he brought out his right hand again to block. The spear gradually turned into white sand and dissipated.

"That's some interesting power you got." Kakine smiled a bit before continuing, still not completely understanding the phenomenon behind destruction of his Dark Matter. He raised his large white wings which looked like it could envelope the entire night sky of Academy City and swiftly swung it downwards with great speed. The destructive force hit the ground, causing it to erupt and sending rocks and concrete of different sizes flying towards the Level 0.

"But you can't block against indirect attacks can you?"

Gritting his teeth, Touma moved sideways, trying to evade as best as he could however a few rocks gashed through his school uniform. A stinging sensation ran across his skin.

His attack range is too big!


"I don't think Tatemiya-san is around here. We should go up a floor to the middle so I can see all around this building– Eh? What are you doing?" Tomoya noticed the young boy disassemble the handgun which he showed earlier, and modifying it using the tools inside a cardboard box.

"Can't you tell? I'm upgrading this baby~" the younger, and more juvenile, high school boy made a sinister smile as he continued his work.

The two boys were in a dark, messy hallway inside the building that was being occupied by REBEL. The walls were painted with white and grey paint, however, there were random black smudges here and there, as well as dirt all over the walls. Boxes, chairs and broken glass scattered across the floor. The rooms around them had transparent glass panels where one can see the interior of the room. The building was most likely used for manufacturing computer parts before being left its company.

"U-umm Takayama Akito-san, don't forget we're here to save our friend!" Tomoya smiled wryly.

"I know, I know. It's just that, we might encounter a situation where we have to fight back." Akito continued to tinker with the gun. "I'll be quick so you can go on ahead if you want."

"No! We are in a hideout full of Skill-Outs! Someone might come here any second!"

Suddenly, Tomoya's cellphone vibrated inside his right pocket. He reached for it after a second and checked the caller's ID.

He brought the brough the phone to his ear amd answered, "Aki-chan? What's wrong?" Tomoya noticed the girl's raspy voice.

"..."

Akito glanced over to his classmate, who was talking over the phone. The latter grew nervous after hearing each word from the phone.

With a desperate expression, Tomoya turned towards the delinquent before returning his phone to his pocket. "This is bad, Aki-chan and her friend are trying to delay a powerful esper who will be coming here to fight with the Skill-Outs. She says that the aftermath will cause this building to collapse!"

"Huh? How does she know that?" Puzzled over what the glasses-wearing boy had said, the Level 0 raised a brow in confusion.

"She has an ability called Deja vu which lets her predict the future in some way like Precognition." Tomoya who was a classmate and a close friend of Aki knew of her power for a long time.

"Then we really should hurry!" Akito placed the gun in his pocket.

"The stairs are further along this hallway, close to the center of this building." Tomoya pointed ahead of them.

The two ran through the empty hallway before turning to their left towards a wooden staircase which lead to the second floor.

"The people guarding the front entrance seems to be heading towards a certain direction." Tomoya took a brief look at the direction of the front entrance with his Clairvoyance ability.

"Maybe they noticed the esper that girl talked about."

After reaching the second floor, they noticed that the stairs which lead to the third floor had been cut off so they had to find another way.

Noticing this, Akito looked at Tomoya and asked, "Can you use your ability again to scout around the building?"

"Wait! there's someone approaching us from around that corner." Tomoya brought out a hand to stop his friend and pointed at the corner to their left which lead to another hallway.

Akito thought for a bit before,

"Then can you hold this for a while." Akito took off his uniform's navy blue blazer and handed it to the other boy, leaving him with his white hoodie.

"What are you going to do?"

"Just watch." Akito put on his hood before approaching the man beyond the corner.

"OI! What are you still doing here?! The guys at the front are having trouble fighting an esper. Go help them!' Akito appeared in front of the Skill-Out suddenly. His hood partially hid his face in the dark hallway.

The man was startled for a second before getting caught up in Akito's pace.

"Eh? We've been discovered?!" The man hurriedly passed through the poorly disguised boy before the latter pulled out his phone and struck the back of the man's neck using it.

"Ughh!' The man suddenly fell unconscious.

"Here." Akito tossed over a green beanie which he took off from the man to Tomoya. The latter caught it mid-air to his surprise.

"It'd be bad if these guys find out anything about us so we should take off our uniforms." Akito retrieved his coat and put it in his bag.

The class representative agreed that if suspicious people were able to find out their identities, it would complicates things in the near future.

"This hat smells kind of odd...nghh." Tomoya reluctantly put on the beanie and took off his uniform's coat as well. After doing so, he looked around the building again with his Clairvoyance. "I see some people on the first floor in some of the rooms... there's no one here in the immediate vicinity and... I think I see Tatemiya-san and someone else a few meters above us."

Akito hid the unconscious body of the Skill-Out inside the nearest room before following Tomoya.

"Hello, Aki-chan? Yes. We found Tatemiya-san so please wait for us and stay where you are." Tomoya briefly called his classmate.

The two headed for the stairs near the end of the hallway to the right.


Kamijou Touma was facing against one of Academy City's strongest espers, the Number 2 Level 5 Kakine Teitoku. The latter now had three pairs of arching wings sprouting from his back as he floated a few dozens of meters from the ground.

"Are you part of the Magic-side?! Why are you here in Academy City?" Kamijou Touma shouted, sounding unsure of the other's allegiance. There was a completely different world outside of Academy City, and he was one of the few in Academy City who knew its existence. But because of this, he also knew that that other world must not interfere with the world of science.

However, in response to this, Kakine Teitoku only looked at the Level 0 as if he were saying something in an unfamiliar language. "What nonsense are you spouting? Can't you see an esper power when it's right in front you?' The Level 5 spat out, mocking the boy's cluelessness. "Well, I don't blame you since my Dark Matter is special. With it, I'm practically a god."

So it really was an esper power? Then I don't have to worry about some secret spell triggering when he uses his wings. Alright, this will simplify things, and I won't have to rely on Index's knowledge!

Before the spiky haired boy could think of anything else, he saw Kakine's large wings made of Dark Matter blew a gust of wind towards him.

Touma ran towards the side to avoid the attack, however, the remains of the small building took the brunt of it all in his place. A loud crash could be heard, and the small debris flew upwards and hit Touma, but he was able to evade most of them just in time. He put his hand over his mouth in order to prevent himself from breathing in the dust.

This is bad. I can't reach him when he is flying so high up.

They were in the area a few distance away from the building Akito and Tomoya were in, while the small building he had previously been in turned into ruins thanks to the fearsome power of Dark Matter. If that destructive power were to reach them, it would be game over.

But suddenly, multiple gun shots rang out from the other side of the battlefield. The bullets hit the Level 5, however, he was unfazed. The six wings protected his entire backside.

"Tsk... how annoying."

Touma saw a group of men from across the ruins of the diner. From the way their clothes looked, they were most likely delinquents. And from the way they were carrying those deadly handguns and assault rifles, they were no regular delinquents but Skill-Outs.

"Is that some kind of monster?"

"Whatever it is, it's going to be a threat. Kill it!"

The REBEL members released a barrage of bullets on Kakine who was flying several meters above using his wings made of Dark Matter. The esper guarded himself from the barrage, waiting for their ammo to be depleted.

Kamijou Touma hid behind a partition of a wall a distance away, trying to avoid getting hit by a stray bullet. His only mission was to delay Kakine Teitoku from wrecking the Skill-out building until Tsuyuri Aki's friends finish their mission.

He quickly dialed Aki's number on his phone to confirm their situation but suddenly got interrupted by a large explosion coming from above where the flying esper was.

The Skill-Outs brought out their rocket launchers and aimed them at the Level 5. The latter continued to shield himself and threw quick strikes with his wings at them whenever he got the chance.

There was nothing Touma could do anymore in this situation. His Imagine Breaker was only useful against supernatural abilities like psychic powers or magic, not ordinary weapons.

The fight escalated to the point where he will get killed instantly if he tries to get in between them.

All the boy could do now was to wait and hope that Aki's friends make it out of the building before the fight reaches them.


"Akito-kun, here's someone up ahead where Tatemiya-san is." Tomoya pointed at the room up ahead across the hallway of the third floor while using his Clairvoyance. The door was open and a light leaked out of the room.

"Does he have any weapons?"

"I think he only has one handgun with him. He was the person with you during that night when I returned you your notebook. The lanky one with short black hair with an intimidating smile..." Tomoya recalled the night when he bumped into the two seniors.

"So they really were up to something... I just didn't realize that it would be something like this..." Akito recalled the two boys he hung out with. Although he had fun just following them around, he always felt that there was a secret that they were hiding.

Shin especially was mysterious, never showing any vulnerabilities or anything about himself. He was the first to approach Akito when he had just begun losing interest in school and Academy City.

"I'll take care of that guy. You get the girl out of here."

"Are you sure?"

"We have no other choice but this..." Right after saying that, Akito quickly entered the room and pointed his handgun, which had more black-colored parts than white, at the familiar young man with orange cat-like eyes sitting on the office chair across the room.

"Yo~ you sure took you're time. Did you enjoy that little excursion in District 15?" With a cheerful grin, Shin turned his chair towards the young boy whom was pointing a gun at him.

Akito scowled at the man's easygoing voice.

"You really piss me off the most."

"Oyah? Is that any way to talk to your senpai, my beloved kouhai?" Shin made a sly grin as he stood up from his black office chair before pointing his gun that was completely made up of white parts at the hooded young boy with blonde hair. He wasn't wearing a high school uniform, instead he was wearing a black jacket on top of a red shirt. A chain hang from his belt to the inside of his pocket.

The room they were in had several desks and chairs lined up like a meeting room. A single light bulb was turned on at the center of the room.

"Take the girl and leave!"

As soon as he said that, Atuschi Tomoya, who was behind him at the time, hurriedly ran towards the girl laying on the floor on the right side of the room.

Shin's eyes followed the boy wearing glasses but as soon as he did, Akito pulled the trigger of his gun, exploiting the brief moment of unawareness of his opponent.

A dull sound rang out however the bullet did not hit Shin, but the wall behind him.

Shin had leaned forward, completely avoiding the bullet before rushing towards Akito with incredible speed.

Akito was startled as soon as Shin got in front of him. The speed was almost inhuman. He stumbled backwards after losing his footing, but thanks to that, he avoided Shin's uppercut but a blow eventually hit his right hand. The impact disarmed the gun in his hand and landed a few meters away. He had modified that gun to shoot non-lethal bullets using his knowledge in machinery, but all that was pointless now.

"Oi, oi, is this all you can do? How disappointing. And that bullet just now wasn't even a real, it was just a rubber one. Did the thought of firing a gun at a human being frighten you?" Wagging his finger at the boy, who was now collapsed on the floor after stumbling backwards, in a mocking fashion, Shin stood with little damage after that short exchange.

The situation had gone dire all of a sudden.

This was Akito's first time in a serious fight. He was not one to participate in the front lines, and instead, used his brain to resolve the situation. He had been involved in small street fights in the past, but he was not always alone in those fights thanks to his two seniors, and those he always fought were a far cry compared to the opponent he was facing now. The young man with a sly grin whom was standing right in front of him clearly had experience in these sort of battles, not to mention he was drastically taller and had a longer reach than himself. The boy could not fathom how many battles he had fought in order to be so good in fist fights. No mere delinquent could be this good.

"Shut the hell up you bastard."

Before his opponent could react, Akito quickly charged forward, throwing a punch towards Shin's upper body.

"Urghh!"

The young man stumbled backwards a bit but regained his composure instantly.

While all that was going on, Tomoya checked up on Tatemiya Haruka who was unconscious on the floor. Both her hands and legs were tied up.

She's still breathing. Perhaps a sleeping drug?

He brought her up and hurriedly carried her over to the other door of the room. He took a glance at Akito but,

"Just go already!" Akito shouted without turning to look at his classmate.

Tomoya then got out of the room, taking the unconscious girl with him.

"How admirable of you, playing the role of the noble hero. What made you so friendly with espers so suddenly?" Shin let out a sly grin as he enjoyed watching the situation in front of him.

"Pfft! Don't get me wrong. Espers are still annoying as hell but people like you who just kidnap innocent people are on a whole different level of annoyance." Akito stood on guard. He pulled out his widescreen phone, theorizing that it will increase the strength of his punch.

Shin rushed forward with great speed. His right fist aimed towards the young boy's head.

Akito evaded the attack by a hair's breadth before Shin pulled out his left fist. The blonde haired boy used his phone to block. The phone broke in half at the fierce impact of the punch. His long time partner was now broken, however, if he had taken that blow directly, it would have definitely caused severe damage to his body is what Akito thought however,

Shin twisted his body and landed a kick to Akito's side.

"Gahhh!" The impact knocked the air out of the young boy. A punch soon followed that hit him in the face. The young boy got sent flying backwards. His back hit the wall with a disturbing sound. Finally losing strength, he collapsed on the floor.

"Sigh.. I don't get you people. Even those from the dark side have something they want to protect. Don't they realize how fun they're situation is? The excitement of the world hidden in the shadows? No laws or any of those disgusting errants." Shin let out a grin full of contempt as he look down on Akito. "To tell you the truth, I was asked by the higher ups to infiltrate REBEL in order to find out who their foreign investor was but I found out that they were just plain fools who know nothing but fighting so I suggested all these weird stuff to keep things interesting."

The difference in their power was clear.

Akito had no way of winning this fight. He had already noticed that one trivial fact in this situation, that Shin had never once used his gun in the fight. The gun that he slipped into his own pocket in the beginning.

He was toying with him.

The power gap between them was big.

There were no other options left for for the young boy.

"So what?" He spat out some blood as he sat on the floor. "Those two already got out. I have already accomplished what I had came here to do."

Hearing those words which were like annoying noise to him, Shin finally pointed his gun down towards the boy, feeling disgusted by his achievement.

"Don't give me that boring crap. Stop playing the hero and say that you just came here because you felt hatred, that you were pissed and came to get revenge. Say that all these 'friend' stuff are just a load of bull. You're no hero. You're just a tiny bug, a worthless corckroach." A wicked smile grew across the man's face. In a smooth and almost singing voice he said, "You're no different from any of us. Haven't you also hurt other people, or specifically, espers because of your hatred?"

"I-I... so what?!" The boy grimaced. He could not deny it. He did in fact, attacked espers out of hate.

"'People like you who just kidnap innocent people are on a whole different level of annoyance'? How exactly are you any different? Do you think you're newly found friends will accept you like that?".

"SHUT UP!" Takayama shouted with his voice at its highest peak.

Suddenly, Shin felt an unpleasant sensation all around his body, like being exposed to a scorching heat in the middle of the dessert.

But the sensation only lasted for a few seconds.

"Pheww... was that the Flare Cloak just now? Is she still around here?" Shin pointed the gun at the nearest door.

The boy tilted his head slightly in confusion.

No one came out. There was only silence.

"Must've been my imagination." Shin shrugged, showing a carefree smile again. "Now then, things got boring so let's make it a little bit more exciting."

The young man pointed his gun towards the boy's leg but...

"Shin! This is bad! An esper with monster-like powers is attacking us!" A man wearing a green bandana over his mouth appeared suddenly from the door near them.

"Oyah? This is bad. Guess this is where we'll part ways." In a swift motion, the barrel of the gun Shin was holding pointed upwards from the boy to the REBEL member.

"?"

Without any hesitation, the gun let out a sudden burst. A loud sound echoed within the room.

*Thud*

The man dropped dead on the floor. His face maintaining that confused expression he had, unaware of his own sudden death.

"Another organization from the dark side must've finally decided to do a sweep. I've already made contact with a proxy of the foreign investor during the negotiations thanks to that girl so I don't need REBEL anymore."

The young man said that before firing a quick shot at the boy's leg.

"Gaaaahhh!" Akito yelled in pain.

"Be sure not to follow me." Shin casually walked out of the room. His job here was done so he left in order to not get wrapped up in the battle between the esper attacking the Skill-Outs.

REBEL will now soon be eliminated completely from the to-do list of Academy's dark side.

The boy now sat upright against the wall amidst the silence.

The area of the floor around his leg was soaked in his crimson red blood.

What was he going to do now?

His two friends must have been safely out of the building by now, however, what about him?

The esper whom was said to destroy this building might come any second so he had to escape as fast as he can but he could barely move. The feeling in his leg was now disappearing. There were also bruises all around his body.

"..."

Now, several minutes have already past. When the esper arrives, there will be nothing left of the building, including him. However, for him, there was no more need to worry for he has already accomplished his mission.

Realizing that there was no hope, he remained where he was and patiently waited for the inevitable demise of the building.

But suddenly, a voice called out to him.

"Takayama-san!" A girl with short black hair stood by the door, seemingly exhausted.

The boy woke up from his trance and slowly shifted his gaze towards the girl. "... Are you Tsuyuri Aki-san? Why are you here? This building could get attacked any minute now."

Aki rushed towards him and spoke with great conviction in her words despite her exhaustion."I can't just abandon my friends so hurry up and grab my hand." She reached out a hand towards the wounded boy.

"..."

With a bit of hesitation, he slowly took the hand and tried to stand up but lost his balance eventually. He stumbled sideways towards the girl before wrapping his arm around the girl's shoulder to support himself.

"T-T-T-T-T-Takayama-san?!" The girl blushed furiously at the sudden body contact.

"Sorry... Please endure my burden for now..."

"I-It's fine! Now let's get out of here."

The two moved down, passing by each floor of the building in a slow pace before reuniting with their friends outside the door which Akito and Tomoya originally entered in.

"Are you alright Akito-kun?! We should get you to a hospital as soon as possible!" Tomoya stood beside an unconscious Haruka. The long pony-tailed girl was fixed up in a sitting position with her back against the fence.

"There's a broken gate at the back of the building- Ah! There's Touma-san now!" Aki pointed towards her friend who was approaching them from the open gate.

"Are you guys alright? The Skill-Outs are still fighting that esper." Kamijou Touma looked around before noticing Akito's injury. "Woahh! We should get that wrapped up immediately!"

Touma gestured for Aki to let him support the young boy.

"Don't worry. I know a good doctor in District 7." Touma put the young boy's arm around his shoulder followed by Aki wrapping Akito's wound with her handkerchief.

"Sorry... and thank you..."

Aki let out a gentle smile as she heard words which were completely different from what the boy would usually say.

Before Akito knew it, people had slowly gathered around him, people who were completely different than those who he hanged around with in the past. He was surrounded by warmth for the first time.

Perhaps this place isn't too bad after all.


END AN:

I appreciate any and all forms of feedback!

If you guys still have problems imagining what Akito looks like then imagine Yukine from Noragami but a bit taller.

Tomoya would look like Yukio from Blue Exorcist.

And Haruka would most likely look like a younger Kanzaki.

Not sure about Aki though so just leave it to your imagination :P

EOF