Of Beetles And Beatles
Dark_Matter_Deviance
The number 1 esper in Academy City: Accelerator, the man that had once called himself the End of the Century Emperor: Hamazura Shiage, and their loved ones have a chance meeting at an intersection. There can't be any mistaking this encounter for good fortune with Kakine Teitoku and Fraulein Kreuteune in the shadows as they wait for the right time to eviscerate their prey for their own reasons. Of which felt to Kumagawa Misogi like it was going to happen any second now.
This wasn't the most volatile situation he had ever encountered. Wouldn't be the last as long as he had breath in him. But still, he can't quite remember any time more full of bloodlust off the top of his head. And all of it not for him for once as well. Now THAT was something of a first for him.
Another while not a first exactly as much as it was just simply new, being that he didn't get the usual impulse to make things worse for everyone in general, not to exclude himself. Rather, he was frozen in place as he tries to think of the best way to handle this without everyone getting brutally massacred. Unfortunately, all the options that he can imagine with him being thrown into the mix led to messy ends for all involved.
It was...rather difficult for him to say the least.
"What should we do, boss?"
The voice was crystal clear but he knew from who it was that nobody other himself and the other Skill Out members could hear it. That was Somebody Else's Problem, the Skill of the Minus named Matoi Tsunetsuki. At first he had bugged her incessantly over her name, asking if she was particularly good at decoding stuff or if he could be her Zetsubou-sensei. But unfortunately she had none of the qualities that her hyper-stalking namesake had. Which resulted in Kumagawa whipping his head about dramatically before proclaiming that he was in despair over the matter.
Her Skill, like her name, was also close to being reminiscent of someone else but the stores were all out of cigars. Kuudou Hinokage's Abnormality, Unknown Hero, was a Skill that caused people to subconsciously block his existence from their minds due to his intimidating presence that overwhelmed their minds.
If Kuudou's Skill came from a blanketed block, Matoi's came from a selective block. She could force some to have no choice but to acknowledge her existence while the rest of the world be completely unaware of her. Which meant that no matter where they were, whomever she selects would be able to hear her voice from anywhere on the planet as though she were right there beside them. No matter how hard they may try, the ones she chose would never be able to shake her from their thoughts and all of their senses. At least she lived that much up to her name.
[Weeeell, I guess this is about to be a bloodbath with or without me so it may as well be with me! Oh. Don't jump in with me though. Wait until that half-painted, life-sized, living figma jumps in. Be sure to tell the others. We need this surprise party to have a little bit of coordination after all!]
After a brief affirmation from Matoi, he walks right over to his friends. He didn't dare look over in the direction of the murderous intent, it would defeat the purpose if he acted so provocatively, but he could sense that his arrival was a surprise to all of the parties involved here.
"Nyaah! Hamazura, in the first place a wild pervert has appeared!"
"Hey! It's Kumagawa! shouts Misaka as Misaka points out her friend amicably!"
Everyone turns to look over at him. Accelerator with silent rage and Hamazura with nervous hesitation.
[Geeze, is it really only little girls in this city that have these silly verbal ticks? Ah but Enshuu-chan doesn't really have that I guess. Must make the two of you oddballs then.]
"The last person anyone needs to hear that from is you!"
[Oh? So you drop it when you're angry enough huh? Very interesting.]
While Fremea fumes and Last Order laughs, Accelerator steps forward.
"Oi. What the fuck do you want you clown? I'd be halfway tempted to kill you if not for the shitty brats around us."
[Oh. Uh well…]
As he scratches his head in honest hesitation over the situation, he realizes that he hadn't really thought so far ahead. Despite however he may feel about his level of intelligence, Kumagawa is magnificent at improvisation. Which is why, when the other two hadn't swooped in, he felt very out of sorts. Can't exactly put on a performance without props. So he decides to improvise his improvisation.
[Yeah. I give up. It's going to take way too much effort to explain so I'll just beat those other two to the punch.]
"The hell are- guh!"
Accelerator gazes down at the screw in his chest. As he looks up, he sees that everyone else other than Kumagawa had been impaled with far too many screws to count. He would get angry but finds that the energy for the act is impossible.
Kumagawa swoops the currently unconscious albino and vanishes as though he had never been there.
Several minutes pass by as the previously living party lays on the ground and soaks in their mingled blood. The area has since been virtually emptied of the people that had been meandering about there.
Well, it was entirely devoid of regular human beings at any rate.
An eerily white boy emerges from an alleyway as he walks toward the corpses.
"I thought you people had said that guy was dead? Not like she can really answer I suppose but still...just how incompetent are the people in charge? Doesn't matter either way. All that changes is the direction and distance to the one I want to kill. It's a shame that I can't use these ones as bait though."
He kicks the torso of the brown-haired girl on the floor, rolling her onto her side. Her face was full of the confusion she experienced in her final moments but otherwise her eyes, once irate with life, have become dulled by death's embrace. As he moves the black voids in his face at the others around him, he saw that the same story could be told for each of them.
"Kumagawa Misogi. They told me he had abilities that were beyond the comprehension of the curriculum but I never thought it'd go to this extent. It still doesn't matter. At this point, I've reached the point where not even the #1 can ever kill me. That other one is no more than a background character, even if he did beat Accelerator."
He cranes his head back towards a nearby, empty alleyway.
"...That creature is their problem. Not mine. Now, I think I'll make some more preparations now that I've been so graciously been given the time to do so."
With that, he leaps over buildings and out of sight, leaving the corpses where they were.
Though, it isn't really accurate to be calling them corpses at this point.
"GAAAAAAAA- oh. I-I'm alive? Wait, Takitsubou! Fremea!"
Hamazura whips his head toward his loved ones to find that they were both in a similar state of disbelief.
"I'm fine too. In case anyone was wondering."
He turns to the woman that was with Accelerator and Last Order, Yoshikawa Kikyou.
"Oh! A-are-"
"It was just a joke, relax. Are you alright, Last Order?"
She had been sitting upright with a blank stare on her face but on being addressed, life returns to her.
"Ah! W-what just happened? asks Misaka as Misaka nervously pats herself down."
"Good question," she turns now to Hamazura, "I remember being impaled with...it's a bit ridiculous to say but with a giant screw. I should have died."
Hamazura cracks a wry smile.
"I can guess but, no it's fact at this point that Kumagawa had used whatever power he has to bring us back from being dead. He probably did it to help us. Yeah. Definitely."
To Yoshikawa it sounded less like he was trying to explain that guy's actions as much as he was trying to rationalize the motives of the one that had resurrected them to himself. But she didn't feel like it was an appropriate time to point this out.
"Leaving why he had done it, just how did this Kumagawa manage to do that? Such an ability is well beyond what an esper can do."
"It's not really something I understand myself. All I know is he can somehow make things into nothing. At least, that's how he described it. I had watched Accelerator murder him too many times to count but somehow he just never really died."
"Oh? Well, can't say I can really get it either but he must have done that to protect us from whoever got us with those screws right?"
"That...would have been him too."
"Huh? Ah, we're not going to get anywhere like this. Let's get out of here. Somehow, I doubt that was the end of things."
"Yeah. Takitsubou, take Fremea and the others to the apartment. They'll be safer there."
Takitsubou upon being asked, slightly furrows her brows.
"And you? You aren't thinking of chasing them down are you?"
"I need to. I have no idea of what Kumagawa is thinking but-"
"Hamazura. You can't do anything in that kind of a fight by yourself."
"I know that but-"
"No. We're all going back. We need to think of something as a group."
Hamazura almost balks at the indirect pun but realizes that Takitsubou isn't really capable of making jokes, especially in a situation like this.
"...Was that not funny? I just wanted to lighten the mood a bit."
His face twists into many expressions before settling on exhaustion.
"Fine. Fine. Let's all go back and try to figure out what the hell is going on before jumping right into the situation. Do you have a place to go miss…?"
Yoshikawa almost misses this indirect question.
"It's Yoshikawa Kikyou. Yoshikawa is fine. Though, given that we've all experienced death together, you can call me whatever. I do have a place but this may be easier if we're all together on this. I hope you don't mind but I'm going to bring a friend of mine in on this. She'll be a great help here."
"What can this person do? Who is she?"
"Yomikawa Aiho. She's a member of Anti-Skill."
Kumagawa had lept from rooftop to rooftop for over an hour before he decided that he had lost Kakine.
Inside the warehouse, he places Accelerator on top of a stack of pallets and collapses right then and there onto the floor, gasping for air.
[Even if...I can nullify the distance, I'm still...carrying another person on my shoulder. I...really am weak, huh?]
Accelerator can only offer a meek groan in reply.
[Crap. Forgot about Bookmaker.]
He stumbles to his feet and half-drags his worn out body over to the albino boy. As soon as the screw comes out, Kumagawa hits the floor. Though this wasn't from exhaustion this time.
[A-accel-kun. When you're this close, you kinda make my heart flutter a bit.]
Given that Accelerator had reached in through Kumagawa's stomach and forced his hand through the majority of his internal organs to grip onto his heart with an iron claw, this comment may have been too on the nose for it to have been funny. Accelerator wasn't laughing at least but he has as much humor in him as a funeral, especially now.
"...I'm going to ask this once so no bullshit, why did you kill them all?"
[...You mean why I killed LO-Aah!]
There was no gentleness in the way his literal heartstrings had been pulled.
[They didn't really die tho-]
This time, the scream became something otherworldly. He didn't bother to mention as much, anger was barring his sadism for relishing the pain of others, but he was manipulating the nerves in Kumagawa's body to bring out the most from him. However, the victim of post-medieval torture still smiled.
[Can't complain if it's for free but are you not going to charge me for this level of play?]
Accelerator couldn't help but feel powerless here. It wasn't like the damage simply couldn't reach his opponent or that he didn't feel it at all but rather no matter what he did and to whatever extent, he couldn't break Kumagawa with pain, even with his abilities as the strongest level 5.
"...Just tell me why."
He spat out those words as though he were the one getting his heart torn out.
[It was...necessary so that they could all live. Same as last time. If I hadn't gored them all like that, then the other two would have ganked all of you. I'm sure you could handle them on your own but you're not as much of a solo player anymore are you? One of them would've gotten through and it would be all over for them. Reverse April Fiction should have kicked in a while after we left. They'll be alive by now and able to go run on home before curfew kicks in. Don't want anyone to get grounded here.]
Accelerator thought on this before removing his arm from Kumagawa, All Fiction removing the evidence of the earlier scene. They both sit on the floor across from one another.
"...Reverse April Fiction. You told me about those powers and the stupid nicknames you give them but what the hell is that even supposed to be?"
[April Fiction unmakes an existence for three minutes, the reverse only has the effect kick in after three minutes. But we REAAAAALLY don't have time here. Because I also kinda doubt that the act I pulled will last long, if at all.]
"Who is it?"
[It's that Kakine guy. The one that can use Dark Matter like it's cosmic playdough. Except now he IS the playdough. Is that irony? I feel like that's irony.]
"...What does he want? A fight with me?"
[Yeah? Maybe? I don't know that much. I just saw him standing across the street as he stared you down with some rather lustful eyes. Gotta say, I was spot on when I knew that the sailor uniform would look good on-]
"Cut the bullshit, Kumagawa!"
A fist slamming onto the ground interrupts. Accelerator had turned his choker off since he pulled his arm out so the effect wasn't anywhere near as powerful but for someone like Kumagawa to see someone so weak that they can't live without a collar on their neck lash out like that, it gave him pause.
"...You saved the brat's life. That may not be a certainty but even so, I appreciate it. Honestly. But when you do so by impaling all of those guys, and myself, without a word and then just joke about it like it's some silly fucking mistake is plain disrespect. I know that I have no business talking about something like that but I can't stand that goddamn smirk anymore."
Kumagawa was taken aback by this and lowered his head. He scratched at his scalp for a very long time before he met Accelerator's eyes again. No longer was he wearing his never ending smile.
"...This may make you angrier but please bear with me. This attitude I have isn't really something natural for me. At least, I think I wasn't always this way. I want to believe that. I...honestly do. It's a lot like something of a bad habit. Like chewing on fingernails past childhood except for me it'd be closer to going beyond simple chewing and using knives or some other random sharp object to carve away what little nail is left until my fingertips are mere nubs. This persona of mine loves to press all the wrong buttons. I'm...trying though. I want to change that loser side of me so I can finally stop being a loser. It may not seem like because...I'm not doing much of a good job of it. I've never been good at anything really."
He averts his eyes from Accelerator's as he realizes how flimsy his reasons were.
"...Actually I don't have much of a followup for that. Or any for that matter. I'm not trying to guilt trip you or throw a pity parade or whatever. I just...don't know….sorry."
Their silence resumes in full force, Kumagawa's head lowered once more. In return to the shame and guilt that the one across from him felt, Accelerator could only feel amazed and bewildered.
At first, he thought he would get angry. He thought that all he'd get was some stupid joke at the end of it to mock him for wasting his time. He was fully prepared to leave Kumagawa here, bloodied and torn even if that would be a futile measure, if he had done so.
Instead of anger, Accelerator finds not just the not-so-odd bit of surprise but also has something far odder than he's ever had the experience of dealing with. Empathy.
The situations, problems, and methods are obviously different but the main theme of their goals was markedly similar to each other. Accelerator in his being a villain. Kumagawa in his being a loser. If anyone else had taken this at face value, they may have scoffed at Kumagawa. How would being someone that has so vast an inferiority complex even equate to a boy that has killed more people with his own two hands than any other in history? Even Accelerator felt that way to an extent himself.
However, the sincere anguish when he spoke of being a loser is what convinced Accelerator. Anguish that Accelerator felt whenever the memory of those girls came up. The authenticity of Kumagawa's words were true, he was sure about that much.
What he couldn't figure out was what had happened to make him feel that way? Just what had he lost and by how much? Such things aren't so easily asked.
Especially from those that understand the sentiments of not wanting to be asked.
"...As long as you don't keep acting like a jackass whenever something involves the two of us then I won't give much of a damn about it. So stop looking like I shot your dog."
Kumagawa meets Accelerator's gaze again, blinking in surprise.
"...I'll probably still slip up you know? Definitely will whenever we run into the playdough boy."
"I don't give a shit about anyone else unless they exist on my contacts list so go fucking crazy on that 2nd rate reject. I know I will at the very least."
Something with mild relation to a smile shakily formed on his face at this.
It seemed incredibly bizarre to Accelerator. Kumagawa's typical grin was one that others could only say as being lying or evil. This one however was, albeit rather fragile in how careful it was to reveal itself, far truer to what a smile ought to be than anything Accelerator had seen from him. All he could do on seeing it was laugh.
"What? I thought what you said earlier about setting your heart a flutter was just some shitty joke but maybe you really do have the hots for me. Do you really swing that way, you fucking fetishistic freak?"
[Is that an invitation?]
In less than an instant, Kumagawa had gone from shyly peeking his face past the mask he wears to right back into perfect form.
"Haaah, whatever. Let's move past that melodramatic shit and get to business."
[I haven't heard a no. Does that mean I have a shot?]
"Fuck no."
[Not even a date?]
"What the fuck did we just get done talking about?"
[...Your phone number?]
"...Haggling now? Whatever. If you fucking call me for anything other than an emergency, I'll block you."
[Ehhh?! The strongest esper's threat is being blocked from your phone?! Ah. Excuse my verbal diarrhea. Heheheheh.]
After they had managed to get each others numbers, they move their conversation back to what brought them there to begin with.
"You mentioned before that there was two. Kakine is one, who the hell is the other?"
[Somebody by the name of Fraulein Kreuteune. She's got the same doesn't-die-when-they-are-killed constitution that I have. Except her version is a lot more literal than my abstractions. She wants to eat LO-chan's brains.]
"I not laughing asshole."
Kumagawa clears his throat.
"Well, I really wasn't kidding. From the calculations that one of my guys did, if she eats LO-chan's brain then she will evolve into some new form. Must be one hell of a rare candy. Dammit. Slipped out. Anyway, she's the least of our problems for the moment since she's of a very single-minded sort."
"She won't go after the brat anymore because she was functionally dead before you fucked with the laws of causation."
[Causawhatnow? Never mind that crap, but yes. Though it may not last long. That woman might somehow sense her returning to life or will meet up somehow. Her difficulty rating is pretty damn high but, like I said, we probably don't have to worry as much about her as we do that Kakine guy.]
Accelerator raises an eyebrow.
"Why's that? I pulverized him before. Best he could do was burn my shirt last time."
[Well thing about that is he is ALSO in that doesn't-die-when-they-are-killed category now. More or less. His leftover organs were apparently put in the fridge next to the previous night's dinner after you turned him into ground beef. Since then he has regained sentience and can now replace his organs with Dark Matter. Which is part of the reason why I brought you with me, so I can figure out what to do about him. The other part being to have your sunny disposition to keep me company!]
"What are you babbling about? Can't you just use All Fiction or that combo you fucked me up with the last time we fought?"
[He's made up of Dark Matter currently. He's basically synonymizing himself with what Dark Matter is. So if I were to use All Fiction, wouldn't the possibility of making the concept of Dark Matter into nothing as well as him, thus screwing with the laws of reality, be really high? Even if I were to use it again to bring back the concept of Dark Matter, it may also be possible that I would bring him back with it. Hell, Bookmaker is probably just as bad to use. If not, by definition, infinitely worse. I have no idea of what making it into nothing would mean to the rest of reality but wouldn't it be bad?]
"It might. I have the basic calculations for the vectors concerning it but as far as how it relates to the rest of the universe, I haven't a clue. But really, I can't tell if you're stupidly smart or smartly stupid."
[Eh?]
"I figured you would just attack him regardless of whatever was going on. Hell, I could see you unmaking the existence of color if you thought it would get you a win."
[...It's kinda scary how accurate that last statement just was. But yeah, I used to be the sort to screw first and ask questions later but that was mostly in cases where I had at least a vague understanding of what was going on and how far I could go. This sciencey stuff is too much of a bother for me to seriously think about so I was hoping that you'd do the thinking for me!]
"Fucking lazy. Anyway, if he's just after me then I guess we'll just give him what he wants. What about you?"
[Think I'll go after Kraut-chan. She'll be a slightly easier target and she's the most likely to go after LO-chan and the others. There's some other reasons but still as long as we both preoccupy our targets, they shouldn't do anything to them. Well, at least that'll be true for the zombie woman but Kakine has those weird bugs that he can summon-]
"He can do that now?"
[Apparently. I only caught a brief look at them but they all look like beetles. Does he have some kind of fetish for bugs? Ever talk about cute maid bugs or something? Cause that might actually be sorta cute.]
"...Can you handle that?"
[All of them? Probably not. Some will slip through and they might get to LO-chan. But that's what my guys are for.]
"You mentioned that before but who the hell was dumb enough to be recruited by you?"
[Just some Skill Out guys that I gave powers to using Bookmaker to induce a high enough level of stress to let them gain Skills.]
"What? That doesn't even make sense. If Bookmaker could do that, then why didn't it give me a Skill or whatever?"
Kumagawa had been in the process of standing up but stopped halfway on hearing his question and stood up fully before answering.
[Huh. That's a good question actually. Maybe due to how high your calculation ability is, you were already recognized as having a Skill. Or maybe having a level 5 esper power does. I don't really know right now but we don't have time to dwell on it. I'll join back up with you in the event that you haven't beaten the pretty boy with entomophilia after I've gotten Kraut-chan. Oh. The best advice I could give you right now is to not take him seriously. If you do, you might just lose to him.]
"You really think that shit could beat me?"
[Physically, maybe not. But your emotions are pretty easy to attack after all. If you doubt that, then just think back on how you were after I had shown that beat up illusion of LO-chan to you. That should help keep that kind of arrogance in check.]
He smiled in an aggressively smug manner at his own words.
Normally, most people would be filled with an inconsolable rage and would likely attack Kumagawa with everything they had.
But all that Accelerator did was throw a small rock next to him at his face. Granted this was without the aid of his vector manipulation but taking his superior calculation abilities, he was able to strike squarely on the bridge of his nose. As Kumagawa writhes in mock pain, Accelerator uses the pallets behind him to stand.
[Owowowow! Wha-]
"Didn't you just say that you were trying to stop being such a jackass? If I'm too serious then I'd say you play way too fucking much."
Kumagawa laughs a little.
[Well that's not entirely true. It's also not entirely untrue. I can easily go from cracking a joke or two to strangling someone for laughing at the joke. I might just be bipolar. Or not. I'm not the rapist.]
"...You mean therapist."
A look of complete and utter shock flashes over Kumagawa's frivolous face.
[What?! That's how it's pronounced! Jeez I feel sorry for all those old guys that the schools kept trying to send me to. I was under the honest impression that they were trying to do something pretty devious to me for being the class clown. Oh, suppose I should apologize to that Freud guy for drawing so many warning signs around his pictures in all the school textbooks that I had seen him in.]
"You should be apologizing to the school but for a guy that kept insisting on not wasting time, you sure waste a lot of fucking time."
[Eh, yeah. I guess. I just haven't really been able to talk to someone like this for a little bit. At any rate, thanks for that light chat! It was fun but we've both got some people to meet. Try not to do anything I wouldn't do!]
With that, he was gone. Accelerator remains where he had been leaning, ruminating on what had just transpired.
"He's such a fucking weirdo. Whatever. Guess I'll just go and smash that shitty second rater in the face again."
After he mutters this, he picks up the cane that Kumagawa had left against a crate and makes his way to the battlefield.
A couple of hours after this exchange and in another place with a tension so separated from earlier that it may as well have been in a different tier altogether, Hamazura continues his long running cold sweat.
It had been fine at first. They had all arrived at the apartment where the rest of ITEM had been waiting on Hamazura to come back with Fremea. They were a bit surprised at the addition of Last Order and Yoshikawa but that much hadn't taken much to convince the others to let them stay. But what had the entire living room in such a state of hostility was the introduction of the third member of the new group. Yomikawa Aiho.
It may not have been as bad if she had just not shown up in full Anti-Skill gear but Hamazura realizes that that is just wishful thinking on his part. Even if they had stopped working for the city's dark side, just by mentioning those law enforcers would have been enough to set off the girls of the former ITEM. It was the same situation for the other side as well.
"So this is where the infamous group that kept an eye on the Board of Directors has been calling home huh? Though it's good to see that you all seem to have calmed down somewhat from those days, I have half a mind to bring you in for the embers of that life you led that seem to be smoldering in your eyes. But I'll be lenient enough to see to it that your schools give you all a month's worth of detention."
Mugino Shizuri and Kinuhata Saiai ignore that source of their hostility in favor of the other target.
"Saaaay Haaamazuraaa, care to explain why there's a cop in full riot gear in our apartment with no warrant to show for it? Why does it seem like those two over there know her? You wouldn't really be so stupid as to bring Anti-Skill here would you?"
"I don't know about that. Hamazura is super stupid. He did bring a friend of that other super idiot after all."
Actually, he reasons, if it was just that crazed enforcer of justice, it may not have been as bad as it is. Well let's not downplay this, it'd still be on the level of a bloodbath but not even a minute after Yomikawa came in, Saiai had let in one that brought it close to being a massacre.
"Kumagawa really is an idiot if he hadn't at least told the people that he sexually harassed that one of his people was coming. Man, why did it have to be a guy like him? Why was it that it was him that gave me these powers? I'd say I had rotten luck but he might curb stomp me for that. So I'll just apologize on his behalf as one of his Abnormals."
Berta Steiber bowed her head slightly at this apology. She had explained with her hoarse voice that she was one of the Skill Out members under Kumagawa's control which, of course, had just exacerbated matters further. She was dressed in a pair of loose sweat pants and a thin hoodie. Attached to her belt was a folding knife with a serrated edge toward the hilt. But she hadn't pulled it out even in the face of all the hate being directed at her.
She hadn't done or said anything that could have earned such treatment but it comes with the attribute of knowing Kumagawa, unfortunately. Thankfully, much to Hamazura's relief, the others had calmed down a bit at her behavior. She may be on the side of the man that had molested all of them but Berta had nothing to do with that. Her politeness also helped immensely in smoothing things over.
"Well?"
Mugino's head whips her head over at Hamazura, forcing him to immediately tense up again.
"Ah, I'm not really sure of what's going on exactly but-"
"I can explain."
Berta raises her hand apathetically.
"From what Matoi told me, there's some kind of monster woman hunting down the little girl over there-"
"Who're you calling little?! screams Misaka as-"
Steamrolling right over her grievances, Berta continues without mercy.
"-so she can eat the brain of that girl and evolve or something. Don't ask me what the hell that means. There's also the newly revived number 2 coming after everyone else in this room. From what I've been told, he also has been given the objective to take out that other monster but since he's just doing whatever he wants, I wouldn't count on him doing anything. It's still something to keep in mind though."
"What kind of power does this super monster have anyway?"
"All that's been relayed to me is that she is hard to kill so take that that as you will."
They all fall deep into thought until Yomikawa speaks up.
"Can I take that as to mean that the rest of Anti-Skill won't respond to reports of violence from here?"
"Since the orders come from on high, probably not."
"Hm, guess that means I might catch some heat for this one."
At her sigh, Hamazura hurriedly apologizes but she stops him midway.
"Hey now. It's my job to protect kids like you from situations like these. Besides, the most I'll get is an ass chewing or two. I'm plenty used to those so don't worry. Anyway, what do you all plan on doing here? We can go back to my office. Higher ups might not like that but since I'm in charge, the others will just be able to blame it on me later and we can hole up there."
Berta shakes her head.
"Not an option. Both our enemies are on the move. The woman probably just senses that Last Order came back but Kakine is definitely aware of the previous deception by now. We try to leave and we'll get ambushed. It's much safer for us all to barricade ourselves inside here."
"I guess that's super fine for most of us here but what about the super useless ones here?"
"I'd say we have time to have them make an exit but the woman is still hunting Last Order. We'd have to divvy up the forces here to protect that group going with her. I'm confident enough with staying or going by myself but Kakine is sure to be watching that monster's movements to see where her prey is going. Odds are, Last Order will be the primary target in this."
"So there's no use running? Suits me perfectly but I can't really promise the safety of everyone else here. Oh well. That suits me too. Hamaaaazuraaaa."
"Yeah?"
"You, Kinuhata, and that idiot's friend handle the protection of the invalids while I and the Anti-Skill woman go on the offense. Have any problems with that?"
Yomikawa sighs as she shrugs her shoulders.
"I do. I can't accept a situation where I have to let children fight like this but I don't really have a choice here. Just know that I'll probably butt in if you go too far."
"Fine. Don't get in my way when you do unless you feel like being made into Swiss cheese. Associate of the idiot. What can you do?"
"Goddamn it. I'll never rid myself of his reputation. Whatever. I can lock or unlock anything I touch."
Mugino raises an eyebrow.
"What? That sounds stupid. Why'd you even bother coming along with that?"
"I realize how it sounds but honestly, I could beat even the likes of Kumagawa and Accelerator with this power. Well, that is if I can get close enough. My power works on literally anything I touch. Containers, electronics, even people. If I were to use my ability on you, you'd never be able to move. I can also use it on this whole room but if a part of it is out of my sight, it won't work. My spatial awareness isn't great but everything else in this room would become difficult to break into."
Saiai frowns as she adds her 2.24 yen to the conversation.
"That's better but I doubt they'll be super polite enough to not go into a locked room."
"Doesn't matter how hard they knock or if they even blow the walls apart, once the whole room is under my lock it makes it so even the matter that makes up the walls, floor, and ceiling get stuck in place. Kakine might be able to work around that but the monster can't as far as I'm aware. It'll buy us some time at least."
"How long do we have?"
"Any time now actua-"
Her sentence was left unfinished as everyone's attentions go immediately for the loud sound at the window. A large, white beetle had just latched itself to the window of the building and began to bash it's head against the glass. From all around them, the sounds of giant thuds could be heard.
"That's some good timing. Everyone that can't fight, hide behind the kitchen counter. I don't know long it'll take for that thing to work around my power but it won't last. If they make it in, run away and don't look back.
As soon as the others had hid behind cover, Mugino turns to Berta with a raised eyebrow.
"I thought that you said running wasn't an option."
"It wasn't when we didn't know where the enemy was. If you two are able to hold them off for long enough to let us get away, it could work."
"Heh, we'll it won't be much of a problem if they surround us. At least then I won't have to worry about where I'm aiming."
Yomikawa gives the psychopathic cyborg a wry smile.
"Oi. I'll still be here you know."
"Which is why I had already warned you. It's not my fault if you happen to be too incompetent to dodge my Meltdowner. Aren't you supposed to be trained to deal for that sort of thing?"
"Our training involved some pretty outlandish scenarios but unfortunately dodging lasers while fighting off giant beetles made from Dark Matter wasn't included in it. But still, can they really even break in? If it's like you said, then it should be physically impossible for anything to get in here with everything down to the atom being locked in place. Frankly if it wasn't for these things banging around, I wouldn't have believed that kind of power at your level could exist in the curriculum."
"It doesn't but that can be something to talk about later. Kakine has revived himself from near death and created these things with his Dark Matter so it must operate on laws that we are unaware of. It wouldn't be surprising if he managed to do something about it himself. Ah. We may be in luck on that front."
The other two look on at Berta gazing off to the distance all of a sudden with confusion.
"Accelerator has just gone off to fight Kakine. Even if he has complete control of those bugs and they aren't just automatic, his awareness ought to be dulled if he has to concentrate on fighting the number 1. Also, you may not like this part, Kumagawa is on his way here to take care of that monster woman."
"That pervert is coming here? Great. More motivation to finish this quickly."
Yomikawa nudges Mugino with her elbow.
"Oh? What's this? Someone that the great Meltdowner can't deal with? I figure that you'd just fire on anyone that annoys you but since this guy is still alive, could it be love I smell?"
To her surprise, Mugino only gives her an exhausted look without moving her head.
"I did. 67 times. Trust me. If there was any way to kill him, I'd jump at the chance. But since even that overachieving albino can't do it either, I've lost hope in that."
"...What the hell is that guy?"
As the three people trusted with the offense in this final stand chat idly, Hamazura grimaces from his position.
"Can they really not feel the mood here? We all might die here and they're just acting like they're at some cafe somewhere enjoying the sun while they eat snacks and drink tea. I expect as much out of Mugino but the others I hoped more from. I'm not the only one that feels that way right?"
He turns back to see if he has any comrades that he can share his concerns with but finds none.
Yoshikawa had seemed to have pillaged the cabinets around them to create a pile of snacks for Last Order, Fremea, and herself to pick at while they play card games. Takitsubou, meanwhile, has chosen this moment to take a nap.
"What!? Seriously!? We're getting attacked and you lot are just going to play old maid!? Fremea didn't we JUST take you to the dentist because you had eaten too many damn sweets!?"
"In the first place, be quiet Hamazura! You'll ruin my focus."
"Hehe! Can you really figure out which one is the right card with this poker face of mine? asks Misaka as Misaka secretly hopes you pick the third card from the end."
"Hamazura. Be quiet when others are sleeping."
At the others utter lack of awareness, he turns to Yoshikawa.
"Well, I'd say it's fine isn't it? If it helps get our minds off the situation, it should be a good thing. After all, we have you and that girl in the sweater to count on for our safety if those other guys fail."
"She's super right Hamazura. Let's just keep an eye on the situation over there and leave them to themselves."
Hamazura releases a pent out sigh of defeat.
"Yeah, yeah. Fine. Oh, where's Umidori?"
"Her? Who knows. She always goes super wandering off by herself. I sent her a message to not bother coming back for awhile since you super know about her other health issues too."
"Hmm? What other issues? We already got the cavities taken care of."
"Yeah. That's the point. It was a lie but since she may not be super aware of anything else, she's afraid you've super seen something that she hasn't. That catgirl will keep away in the fear that we'll just gum up the ports to her arms again and super haul her off somewhere."
"You...really like messing with her don't you?"
"Who doesn't? There's something super satisfying about belittling someone that treats themselves as serious as she does."
Saiai smiles sadistically as Hamazura comes to a realization.
"Kumagawa may be onto something with little girls having verbal ticks."
"What? Is that something you two talked about at your super secret lolicon meeting?"
He was about to refute that statement when the front door came flying over their heads. Hamazura peeks over in the direction of the entrance and freezes right there and then.
"Found you."
It wasn't human. Despite looking in every way to a female homo sapien, it simply wasn't possible to see that face and believe it as belonging to the same species as the other occupants. Her smile splits her face in half as she dashes through and nearly reaches the kitchen when a beam of green light hits her right in her grinning maw. Voices scream from where the beam was fired.
"I thought you said she couldn't get in!"
"I said as far as I know!"
But there was no more time for arguments in the presence of a monster like that. Fraulein Kreutune had only bent her back at an odd angle when she was hit. As she rose back up, they saw that her face, so full of hunger, hadn't even been scratched.
Saiai is the first to react as she grabs the fallen door and smashes the monster's body with little effect. She doesn't stop there however. She lets go of the door and kicks out Kreutune's legs as she lands a punch square in the jaw, sending the monster careening into the wall. Before it can get up, Berta runs up and plants her knife right into her head as she straddles her back.
"Run! All of you!"
Hamazura hesitates for a moment but rushes everyone out the front.
Below Berta the monster mumbles to itself as it's wide, bug eyes follow every movement the little brunette makes when she flees, licking her lips as her prey leaves her sight. Although, for a split second, her ravenous eyes drift in another direction altogether.
Hamazura and the others had escaped the building unmolested. Neither the beetles nor the woman had followed them. In fact, as they left they saw the giant bugs still pounding away at the outer walls. They were afraid when it appeared that the one by the window had finally broke the window but their fears, as well as the beetle, were blown away by the multitude of green blasts from within.
They had been running for some time in search of a good place to hide but with no one pursuing, it made any place they saw look suspect. For now, they catch their breath in a wide alleyway.
"Nyah. Hamazura, how far do we have to go?"
He gives no reply, only a strained look as an answer.
"Is...is this my fault? nervously asks Misaka as she starts to feel guilty..."
Yoshikawa ruffles her hair roughly.
"It's not your fault at all. You are quite the troublemaker but you didn't do anything to make this situation what it is. So stop worrying about it."
She smiles a bit but it's obvious that she's forcing it. Hamazura can only grimace at the sight, being unable to do anything else to fix the problems that were being fired point blank at them.
"Hamazura, lets talk out from where the others can super hear."
Being torn from his self-pitying introspection, he follows Saiai and Takitsubou out behind a large dumpster.
"You're super not going to like what we've been thinking about but...we should ditch those other two and take Fremea out of here."
"What!?"
"Look, we don't know them. It's the other girl that's being chased after. We'll be super safe as long as we distance ourselves from her."
"We can't just-"
The previously silent Takitsubou speaks.
"What's more important? Fremea or that Last Order girl? You can't save everyone, Hamazura. You don't have the power to. We can only save the ones we care about."
"...She's not just some random girl. That's Fremea's friend we're talking about. How do you think she'll feel when she learns that we intend to abandon her friend to that monster?"
The two girls have nothing to say to that.
"I know how this is. I say all that but I have no way of making that a reality. But I'm sure Kumagawa didn't take her with him because he was sure that I could keep her safe so-"
"Geeze, quit the super guilt trip already. We already get your point. Also, I'm super sure that pervert just forgot to grab her."
"...That's not entirely impossible."
"At any rate, what can we do now? It's only a matter of time before those beetles find us."
"The woman too."
"Yeah, I know. We could try what Yomikawa said but I feel like that would just make more needless deaths. Any hideout would be just as bad since the beetles would just follow the woman over to us, that's not good either. The only thing I feel we can do is wait for Accelerator to take care of Kakine and then just have everyone gang up on that other monster for long enough to allow us to come up with a plan."
"But that's just as bad. For how super long do we wait? How super many of those beetles are there? Can that super number 1 even beat him as he is now? We need to think of how to end one matter or another ourselves."
"...We could try-"
"No. No, no, no, no. Super no."
"I'm starting to think that use of super is really just a replacement for something worse but he really might be able to help us."
"I super don't care. I would rather have to take on that woman and all the beetles the number 2 can make than to have to deal with being indebted to that pervert."
Takitsubou tilts her head in confusion at her refusal.
"I think he's alright."
"That's because you were sleeping when he super molested all of us! I laughed at him doing it to the cyborg and the catgirl, I admit, but then he noticed me after he was done with them and decided to super move onto me! He smelled like a heavily used portapotty had a child with his breath! What use use is that power of his if he doesn't use it to freshen himself up before he tries crashing in someone else's home!? Do you know how disgusting it was to feel his oily unwashed face on my super thighs!? Do you know how hard I had to scrub them after that!? They still hurt from back then!"
"O-ok! We get it Kinuhata! We do but we need all the help we can get here!"
"I super get it now. You super just wanted to join in on that fun so now you want him to super provide backup from for when you do."
"What!? Dammit, this isn't the time for this! I'm calling him, ok?"
"Fine. I super bet that it's just some elaborate voicemail prank anyway."
It rings for awhile before he hears the familiar amicability of a certain joker.
[Hey, hey! What's up bud!]
"Thank god you picked up! Didn't think you would-"
[How dare you! I would never let a friend in need down. Even if there's a fast selling issue of Jump that just came out and I might not get it, even if a girl were to offer her virginity to me right at this moment, even if I was given the ability to control the color and type of underwear that every girl in the world wears for a day, even if I'm at death's door, I will always help my friends when they need it!]
The contrast to how he knew him to be as well as how Saiai had just said he was to how reliable he sounds now had Hamazura in tears.
[Hey now! There's no need to cry hombre. Now, tell me what has you so troubled so I can screw it up.]
"Well we've managed to get away but-"
[Oh. Sorry but I feel somewhat obligated to say this. My voice is just a recording. Speak your woes at the sound of the beep and I will get to them as soon-]
"God fucking damn it!"
At the electronic sound, Hamazura throws his phone into the wall with all his might.
"...I super told you."
"It's not good to break your stuff in anger Hamazura."
He sighs at their total lack of sympathy but the time for relaxing like this was over. A beetle crashes into the alley from their right and another goes through the wall of a building to their right to block that side. Before anyone can react, two things happened simultaneously. The first being that the beetle on the right goes charging for them quicker than they can blink. The second, that a pitch black hole had opened to swallow Hamazura and everyone else, including a very confused giant beetle, into it's void.
On the other side, they find themselves inside a warehouse by the water from the sounds of the waves outside. On top a crate with several others was Kumagawa.
[Hey, I was still there you know! I just wanted to lighten the mood a bit anyway. Well, guess Accel-kun had that right about me but what's done is done! Oh, you guys got a new pet?]
The previously flailing beetle, due to being on it's back, had just rolled over and began to assess the situation. It's wings beat at a high frequency. Within the great noise, the vibrations from the air produced a voice.
"Checking physical condition. All functions running optimally. Checking situational condition. Separated from other units, communications jammed, surrounded by enemies including Kumagawa Misogi. Target for removing Fraulein Kreutune's reason for her rampage in sight. Prioritizing mission over self."
It lowers it's horned cannon at the girl as everyone else takes a stance to fight the bug.
Well. Not everyone.
[Whoa! Whoa! Whoaaaaaaaaaaa!]
Kumagawa runs in between the two sides as he flails his arms. The beetle regards the movements but does nothing to stop him otherwise.
[We're all civilized peop- things? Living things? At any rate there's no need to resort to violence here! Look, what's your name big dude?]
"...Beetle 05."
[Hmm. Then, ah, how about I call you Ringo-san?]
It tilts it's head in something akin to confusion.
"Ringo...san?"
[Yeah because you're a beetle and all. I mean, I can't really call you John since you don't seem to be in charge. Well that and you don't seem like that popular of a guy. But that definitely means you and I can be friends in that case Ringo-san!]
"Y-yeah! In the first place, there shouldn't be any reason to fight!"
"I think so too! yells Misaka as Misaka shakily stands by Kumagawa."
The two girls had slipped from their caretakers and ran up to the negotiator's side. At this, the ones behind them started to get anxious but Kumagawa began to shout at them.
[Don't worry! Everything's fine! It's ok so don't do anything or else Ringo-san might think we really don't want to talk this one out!]
"But I don't-"
[So Ringo-san, isn't it your dream to be a drummer? Let's form a band!]
"...What?"
[Yeah! Accel-kun can be on vocals, I can be on bass, Zura-chan can be on the keytar, and I'll be on the tambourine! It'll be loads of fun!]
"I don't quite get it but you seem to be messing with me."
[Ah, yeah! You caught me! But you do seem to get humor. Maybe we can team up and be a comedy duo!]
"...Um, Kumagawa? Do you really know what you're doing up there?"
[Of course I do Zura-chan! At least 65% of the time, I'm always able to win the hearts of people!]
The beetle tilts it's head again.
"First, that doesn't make any sense statistically speaking. Second, that's not a very confidence filling percentage."
[Aha! See! You'd make for the perfect straight man, Ringo-san! But I can see appealing to your suppressed dreams of being an artistic beetle isn't working out. We can explore that later I suppose. Why don't you tell us what your objectives are so we can work something out?]
"And why should I do that? My target is in front of me. There's no need for talk."
[Oho? But there could be something there. Do you really think that there's no reason to keep her alive?]
"Very well. I'll humor you. The objective of the current mission is to defeat Fräulein Kreutune and eliminate the objective behind her actions, eliminate anyone who would obstruct the battle between Academy City's #1 and #2, secure the battlefield, eliminate the recent continuing threat to Academy City by defeating all dangerous elements and..."
The beetle twitches a bit before it utters it's next words.
"...And to protect the residents of Academy City from all currently anticipated dangerous elements."
[You noticed it yourself, right? How can you protect the residents when you are trying to kill one of them?]
"But it is the most optimal manner of removing Fraulein Kreutune's motivations."
[But not so when it comes to protecting her. Hell, why not just do that?]
It's wings remain silent.
[What better way to control our beautiful Frau's intentions is there than to protect that girl? You could easily lead her back to her cage in the tower that way.]
"That...may be true. But allowing you to live would for sure be against the second, fourth, and fifth objectives."
[Oh yeah. But killing me would also mean making an enemy out of these guys here who are all residents of this city. Can you really protect them when they're trying to kill you? That and I doubt that you can give me a permanent death anyway. It would just turn into a bloodbath here. No matter what you do, violence isn't the answer.]
"Nyah! Peace! Peace!"
[Yes, yes. You're peace signs are very cute little squirt but let the adults do the talking here. Oh but you probably aren't quite an adult are you Ringo-san?]
"...And what of the other beetles? They might not see it that way."
[Then that would put them in the place of 'dangerous elements' now wouldn't it?]
Kumagawa ignores Fremea's protests as he looks the giant in the eyes. Several times it opens it's wings before shutting them again. But after awhile, it speaks once again with it's horn still pointed at Kumagawa and the girls.
"...Activating order wizard. Validity of oral order 'destroy any and all elements that obstruct our mission' in question. No threat detected in two of the three designated individuals. Adding special factors considering the third...no threat detected. Protecting system and setting up new position from a different angle. Rhinoceros Beetle 05 will now protect those two in order to optimize the oral order from Kakine Teitoku."
[Whoohoo! Told you I could do it! Just call me the Hacker of Hearts!]
Saiai sighs.
"More like one of the two Jokers that super never gets used for anything normal anyways. So what now? We've got a talking Dark Matter beetle to protect them too but there's super more to it than that."
[You guys should be safe here. This is one of the hideouts that a Skill Out faction uses. All of the rest of my guys have gathered here outside of some recon forces being led by Matoi-chan so even if they come here, you'd know well enough in advance to blow this taco stand. Just stay here for the time being and relax a bit. I'll go and see if Accel-kun needs any help with that playboy. Ah, but is that alright with you, Ringo-san?]
"It does go against my objectives to let you go but the safety of these two comes first."
[Cool! Then catch you guys later!]
Kumagawa turns to leave. But Hamazura can't let him.
"Kumagawa!"
He stops in his tracks and speaks with his back still turned.
[What's up Zura-chan? You seem anxious about something. Did anything good happen lately?]
"...Is this all why you asked about Skill Out? So you could gather an army for yourself?"
[Yeah. I mean, you gotta have a posse for when someone asks-]
"Why do you need all that to fight Kamijou Touma!? Actually, fuck that, why do you feel the need to fight him in the first place!?"
Muted hesitation radiates from Kumagawa's background
[...Well, that wasn't the question I had in mind but I guess I can't win there either.]
He looks down before actually replying.
[Because I have to. I just can't accept a guy like him acting all self-righteous and believing that he's so unfortunate. It's just...something I have to do. There's no way for me to get you to understand so...just stay here.]
Hamazura's knuckles turn white and his next words come through clenched teeth.
"Just stay out of your way, you mean?"
[Yeah. I don't want to have to use you to defeat him.]
"Use me?"
[I don't know how you see me but I'm not a good person. I can't fight fair with people so I have to do everything I can to win. I would definitely use you to that end so please stay here until everything is done. There's no other way to keep you and the others safe than to keep you from me.]
"Are you serious? Do you really think you can use that emo shit as an excuse? Oh nobody understands me! I'll just hurt you! Boohoo! Who fucking cares about any of that!? You're my friend and so is he! I'm not going to let the two of you fight over something so stupid!"
Kumagawa's shoulders drop in resignation.
"...You really are a good friend Zura-chan. I think it's one of the only times that I can say I'm lucky to have someone like you worry about me."
Hamazura begins to smile as he sees that he's gotten through to him.
But Kumagawa's next words destroy that illusion.
"But that friendship can't stop me here. This isn't Jump, Zura-chan. I'm offended by Kamijou Touma's existence on a fundamental level. I can't say that I'll abandon everything for this fight but I need to put him in his place. Sorry but...goodbye, Zura-chan."
With that, he was gone. Hamazura could only stare at the ground as he curses himself for his inability to stop him. The others try comforting him, telling him there's no way he could've prevented it, but it doesn't work. Even if it makes sense logically, that sort of reasoning can never appeal to one's emotions.
Holy crap it's been too long! I feel kinda shitty that I have to keep telling what sounds like excuses to you all, especially when I keep getting the reviews I've been getting, but I really have been busy lately. I mainly haven't updated with any of this since it didn't seem like there was anything I could really break on and think it was fine. Don't really like where I ended this either but I need to update or else I'll just feel like I've abandoned the whole thing. Moving away from my pity party, some of Kumagawa's Skill users have been shown! Don't know how many I'll keep around or for how long I'll have them popping in and out but I hope you thought they were alright. I'm a bit worried about making the powers too broken but plenty of Skills in Medaka Box were broken as fuck anyway. He's also making plenty of friends in high and low places but worming into other people's hearts is what he does best. I really wanted the Touma vs Kumagawa fight for this update but the next one will for sure have it. Kinda has to since I've only got the end of the Ichihanaran Festival Arc to do left for this one. My hope is that by the end of this month, I'll have the next update done and put up since next month I'll be out in an area without internet. Seriously though, thanks for the reviews, for reading, and for putting up with a near perpetually on hiatus author like me. Here's to hoping for another update before the month ends!