Chapter 8: Judgement
"Fukiyose! I have to get Otohime to her dorm!"
"You can go there after you attend school!"
"I need to get to the library right now! There's this play I have to do research on!"
"You can do that after school!"
A very cross high school girl, tall with flowing black hair and well-endowed in her chest area, was Oni-chan through the streets. I trotted along behind them, trying to keep up with her without actually running. My little pull-up followed me like a well-heeled dog rolling, along noisily on the concrete sidewalk. It was a little after ten, so everybody was there watching our sad little parade.
The girl couldn't care less. Despite the winter weather, she had left her jacket unfastened, and her standard school uniform could be seen: a navy blue blazer with yellow ascot, regulation skirt, and white knee socks. everything about her just screamed "ordinary school girl", except for the fact that she was dragging Oni-chan across town. We were already at the train station before Oni-chan could stop her and make a final plea for freedom.
"Please Fukiyose! Let me go! There is so much stuff I have to get done today, can't we do this another—"
"Kamijou Touma!"
The girl spun around in front of the turnstiles so violently that Oni-chan was yanked forwards and nearly crashed into her. She stopped him with a palm to his chest, making him wince in pain.
She glared at him. "Is high school not important enough for you?"
"Huh? That's not—"
"I come back after two weeks and what do I find out? That you're quitting school to go play with some friends?"
"That isn't—"
"Komoe-sensei was crying over your photograph this morning, did you know that? Have you no shame, letting sensei down like this? Why are you being so selfish?"
Oni-chan pulled his hand away. "You don't understand."
"The heck I don't!" Fukiyose-san snapped, her hands firmly planted on her hips "I saw you hanging out with that Skill-Out member yesterday! You're planning on joining a Skill-Out member, aren't you?"
Oni-chan blinked. "Skill-Out member? You mean Hamazura?"
"Hamazura? Who is that? No! I saw you yesterday! You were with that punk with black leather and black knit cap!"
"You've got it all wrong! I wasn't—"
She cut him off again. "Just because you hate school doesn't mean you should turn to delinquency! I'm here for you and so are your classmates. There's no need to throw your life away!"
There was silence as Fukiyose-san continued to glare at Oni-chan, but he just sighed.
"This is why I didn't want to talk to you about this. You make assumptions and then judge me on those assumptions! You've never even bothered to understand me."
Fukiyose-san tried to make a rebuttal, but Oni-chan cut her off.
"What do you even know about me? That I am a special needs student who needs babysitting to get through high school? You don't know a single thing about me! Delinquency? Skill-Out? Throwing my life away? I am not doing any of those things! However, my grades are in the trash, and even if I locked myself in my room like a hermit and slaved away on a year's worth of makeup work, I still wouldn't scrape by with a decent score. It's much better if I stop and reevaluate my current situation."
"Your current situation," Fukiyose-san growled, "Is going to school like a normal high school boy! You need to know your place and stop with all of this nonsense!"
Oni-chan snorted. "Nonsense? Just because you don't know what I do doesn't make it nonsense! My place? I don't need you dictating who I am and what I want to be. As for being a normal high school boy, I haven't had such a luxury since October. My place is in this world is my own business. Not since I came back from World War III did have anything resembling normalcy!"
"What are you talking about?" Fukiyose-san looked genuinely confused. "World War III? Is that some kind of MMORPG?"
But Oni-chan shook his head. "You wouldn't know. You have never been privy to anything I've done, though I don't blame you," He said, "World war III, Hawaiian invasion, the Fraulein Kreutun incident Most of it was hidden from you, anyway, so I don't expect you to understand everything I do."
He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for making Komoe-sensei feel so bad about me, and I do want to make amends, with her. Maybe I can arrange a tutor with her or something. That way, I won't get too behind on everything. Rest assured, Kamijou Touma always fights back even when the odds are stacked against him."
"So, you see? Nothing bad will happen to me. I'll keep up with my studies and do all the things I have to do will get done! Everyone will be happy!" He looked up at Fukiyose and smiled, "So, do we understand each other? Can I go now?"
He held out a hand to her, hoping for some sort of peaceful agreement.
Fukiyose-san just glared at him. "Honestly," she said, "I knew you were going to be difficult, but I didn't think you would be impossible! I can barely understand what you're talking about, and only half that sounded like anything believable. All I can see is that you are finding excuses for not going to school, so you leave me no choice."
she snapped her fingers, and at once, three high school boys burst out from the foliage. Oni-chan's face darkened as he watched them surround us. He glared at one of them, a blue-haired boy with piercings.
"Aogami," he growled. Then he glanced at each of our attackers. "You're all making a mistake."
"I think not!" The blue-haired boy sneered, "Prepare yourself, Kamijou Touma! You shall pay for making Komoe-sensei cry!"
the boys converged on Oni-chan, intent on tackling him to the ground, but Oni-chan dropped to a low crouch and rolled back in a reverse summersault. Two of the boys collided with each other, but the blue-haired one lunged towards Oni-chan, who twisted to one side. Then, Oni-chan reached for my hand, and suddenly, we were running for our lives while the high school students, including Fukiyose-san chased after us.
We ducked into an alley way and weaved our way through the narrow brick-lined passageway. My little pull-up stayed with me through the entire ordeal, but its rubber-coated casters, rolling along the uneven pavement, loudly broadcasted our route.
Fukiyose-san and Aogami-san came in after us, while the other pursuers ran around to cut us off.
My lungs were already burning with exhaustion, and I struggled to keep up. We were both covered with sweat, but Oni-chan kept up the pace without a problem. I marveled at his athleticism and wished that I was just as fast as him.
Oni-chan led the way, confidently navigating the mazelike passageway. It was obvious that he had gone through this alleyway many times in the past, and I wondered what kind of life he had before I came and how he came to possess such an intricate knowledge of the less trodden areas.
After another turn around the corner, I could see light appearing ahead. We could even hear an automatic bus pulling up to a stop in the distance. Yet, before we could even reach the open end, two red-faced high school boys came charging in.
"Fukuda!" Oni-chan swore, "As expected Fukiyose would bring two track team members to come after me."
Then, two things happened at the same time. Fukiyose and the Aogami guy emerged from the corner behind us and charged after us, just as Shirai Kuroko appeared with loud crack.
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you! I need to talk to you about last night's attack!"
Oni-chan hesitated. "Can this wait? I'm kind of in a middle of something—"
It was already too late, as we were boxed in on both sides. Yet, everyone had stopped less than a meter away, and their eyes were glued on Shirai-san's green armband. I had only seen it the night before, when she was fighting that wolf-man thing.
She gave them a courteous nod, then turned back to Oni-chan
"Unfortunately, this cannot wait," She said, "Our intruder from last night is awake, and we need someone to keep him under control while we interrogate him. Additionally, Otohime-chan here was a witness to the incident in the underground shopping center, so we wanted her testimony about what went down."
"Do we have to go now?" Oni-chan said, "I am kind of busy right, what with Otohime's dorm registration, and this case I have to research on."
Shirai-san thought for a moment. "I'm sure something can be arranged," she said, "I may take Otohime-chan to Branch 177 office for a remote interview while you attend to your business, and you may come later. Besides, your desk is always open in case you need anything."
"I see." He said, "Actually, this is perfect timing. Otohime, give me your bags."
I gave him my trusty little pull-up, and he walked towards the two students blocking his path. At first, it looked as though they were going to push him back. But he gave them a look, as if to say, "Stop me if you want to get hurt."
"What's going on?" Fukiyose's voice made me jump. I had forgotten that she was still there. "Why are you after Kamijou-chan? Is he involved some kind of trouble?"
"I am sorry, but that is classified information," Shirai-san said, "I assure you that Kamijou-san is not in any danger. However, we are requesting his assistant in certain Judgement cases."
Aogami-san snorted. "Seriously? What does Kami-yan do anyway?"
"Already we are straying into sensitive information regarding an ongoing investigation," she said, "Unfortunately, I have not the clearance to tell you about all past incidents that Kamijou-san has assisted us in."
"But I can say this." She placed her hand on my shoulder and smirked at the others. "I trust him with my life."
With that, the brick-lined alley dissolved away.
I found myself in front of an ordinary yellow brick building with black window sills. The black placard bolted next to the stairs was the only indication that this the office for Judgement Branch 177. Shirai-san ushered me into a cramped office space with four desks, and a large sitting area. Two of the desks on one side were already occupied. The girls working their stood up as soon as I came in.
One was a tall high school student with short black hair and rimless glasses, who wore the same school uniform as Fukiyose-san. She came up to me and held out a hand. "You must be Tatsugami Otohime, right? I am Konori Mii. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking their hand, "Please call me Otohime-chan."
The other girls was a middle schooler like Shirai-san with a large headband full of flowers. She had on a navy blue sailor fuku with red ascot. She beamed and shook my hand.
"I'm Uiharu Kazari. It's a pleasure meeting Kamijou-senpai's favorite cousin."
I blinked. "Favorite?"
"Hai," she said, "You would think so too by the way he gushed about you yesterday. He couldn't stop talking about how he wasn't the lone ranger anymore and how he was finally getting someone to talk to."
I felt my cheeks heating up. Did I really mean that much to Oni-chan?
Meanwhile, Shirai-san was at her desk, leaning over her computer. "Konori-senpai," she said, "Has Yomikawa-sensei contacted us yet?"
"Not yet," Konori-san replied, "But she will be soon, so we should prepare."
"Otohime-chan, come here," Shirai-san pulled out the chair and gestured me to sit. She raised the chair so I could properly look at the monitor. She was setting up the connection when my attention turned to the only unoccupied workspace. The desk in front of me seemed newer than all the rest. There were a collection of binders, some pens, and a closed laptop tethered to the desk itself. There were also a couple of pictures all showing Oni-chan with various groups of people.
Intrigued, I got out of my seat and went for a better look. The first photo showed him standing with Index-san, Tsuchimikado-san, a tall man in flaming red hair and a woman with long and messy black hair. Another picture showed that beach vacation I had with Oni-chan in the summer. I picked up the last photo, which depicted Oni-chan and Misaka in a heated argument with Shirai-san, Uiharu-san, and another girl with black hair looking on. This picture was taken recently, I realized, since all of them were dressed for the cold. My fingers traced his jawline and then followed his arm down to his gloved hands. His fingers were wrapped around Misaka's, and their faces were so close together.
That sinking feeling I had when I saw them together was back. I felt a like throwing up a little. I looked back at the summer vacation photo of me, Oni-chan, Touya Oji-san, and Shiina Oba-san. Back then, he hadcalled me "Mini-Misaka"… but why? Did it start back then?
My mouth was bone dry, though I could speak with some effort. "So this Oni-chan's desk." I put down the picture. Shirai-san nodded.
"Sou-desu-wa!" she said, "He comes in from time to time to help out."
"So he's part of Judgement now?" I said as I walked back to her desk.
She hesitated. "Not exactly."
"It's a special arrangement between Judgement and Anti-skill," Konori-san chimed in as I sat down, "Though it's highly unorthodox, especially since he's now a Ronin."
She sighed and turned back to her computer. "It's not fair. Kamijou-kun should be going to school like a normal boy," she grumbled, "We would've been in the same class together. It would have been nice."
"We're ready!"
Shirai-san opened a video chat window and gave me a headset. A woman with long black hair tied to a ponytail appeared on the screen. She was wearing a blue vest with an emblem shaped like the mountain character.
"Good morning," She said, "This is Aiho Yomikawa. Am I speaking with Otohime Tatsugami?"
"Uh-huh."
"Very good," she smiled. "This interview relates to the events that transpired at the Underground shopping center in District 7 on the night of 26 of December. Let's begin. Please tell me what happened."
