とある恋人たちの別れ
Toaru Koibito-tachi no Wakare
A Certain Goodbye of Lovers
September 30th, 6:58PM
Somewhere in Academy City
Kuroko was literally growling as she swung her axe through the neck of Vento of the Front as the heavily pierced woman walked past the numerous unconscious people who littered the streets. She watched and waited for her attack to take effect so that Vento would join them.
However the badly dressed woman kept on walking as if nothing happened.
"Dammit," Kuroko yelled as she swung her fist at her woman's face only for her arm to phase through as if the woman or Kuroko herself was merely a hologram. She clenched her fist and got out her phone, dialing a number and waiting.
"Yes child?" Aleister's calm voice said from the other end of the line.
"I found the intruder but none of my attacks seem to have any effect. She doesn't even seem to realize I'm attacking her. It's like I don't exist." She explained. He hadn't assigned her this mission but when Prometheus had explained that Uiharu's sudden inexplicable unconsciousness was caused by this woman, she had immediately gone after her.
Prometheus was stilling speaking on her shoulder, explaining exactly what the woman's abilities were and how they worked.
"You see, angels have a hierarchy within themselves and angels themselves fit into a hierarchy within all of existence. They are, unsurprisingly, right at the top, far above things like humans. Angels have the ability to utilize this hierarchy in a few different ways. Humans are not usually able to, however this woman and her associates with God's Right Seat are not only able to utilize it, but they can assume the place on the hierarchy of the angel to which they are assigned."
"However she and her colleagues can each use only one of the four different methods angels can use to use the hierarchy. The four ways are Silence, Protect, Defy, and Destroy. This woman has the ability of Silence. She's able to render catatonic any being, lower than her on the hierarchy who opposes her. Then there is Protect where you can ensure that an object or person cannot be harmed by anything which is lower than the angel on the hierarchy. Defy allows a being to ignore any limitations not associated with the ranking of the hierarchy. Destroy is quite self explanatory I believe."
Ignoring the raven Kuroko continued her rant, "why can't I defeat her?"
"Because you are correct, child, in saying that you do not exist to her. For a while now you have been under the effect of an S.E. field."
"What the heck is an S.E. field?"
"It stands for Selective Existence. The angelic record of perception determines exactly what each and every person sees, hears, or perceives. An S.E. field is where a person is wiped from a certain person or group of people's record of perception, meaning they cannot be seen by that person or group of people, and because the record of perception and existence feed into each other causing that person to literally not exist to that other person. This means that no action you take will effect her or, I'm guessing, any members of God's Right Seat. Furthermore any indirect action will also be ineffective. If your presence or intervention causes someone to attack her at a time or place where they otherwise would not have attacked her, the attacks would pass through her much like your own." Both Prometheus and Aleister told her at once.
"So in other words..."
"In other words it is pointless trying to defeat her. I have already organized for Touma to defeat her. In the meantime you have another job to do."
"My friend is unconscious because of her, not to mention who knows how many other people throughout the city. You really expect me to just let her rampage?"
"I expect you to follow my orders child," he said, his words harsher than usual. He had been getting more distant and uncaring as of late and she did not know why. She hoped it would be sorted out soon, "Vento is currently after high ranking officials. She will not bother with normal people. I have taken precautions to ensure that nobody is injured by their own or other people's sudden unconsciousness. Your friend is not in danger from her, she is in danger from another source which you would have already been on the way to defeating had you not attempted to argue.
Kuroko bit back any more protests and nodded, "yes Aleister-sama, I apologize. Please tell me what I must do."
"Vento is only here to defeat higher ranking officials, the task of attacking the city has been assigned to 13 knights of the Roman Catholic Church and their backup force of Swiss guards. They have been sent to destroy the major buildings and annihilate our military and police force, Anti-Skill and even Judgment. Stop them and then wait for further orders" Aleister half lied. The internal invasion group was more to deal with areas that the external group could not reach with its Wooden Stake magic. Areas like the underground shopping mall. But making it personal would motivate her to fight far more than the truth would, not only that but it kept the external invasion force from her. It's best if she didn't know about them and try to fight them. Even if she won it would take a long enough amount of time that the angel might trigger and annihilate her by accident as well.
"Yes Aleister-sama," she sighed as she closed her phone and went off to where he had told her.
Aleister's reverie was soon interrupted yet again by another phone call.
"Yes Vyers? Have you completed the task I set for you?" He said as he answered the phone with the usual tiny gesture.
"Yeah, we got those eight Board of Director guys. six were asleep the other two are encased in my stasis field. Have you located the other four yet?"
"No not yet," Aleister lied. In truth he knew exactly where the rest of them were, but he did not care about their survival. One was Marshall who could look after himself, the others were people who abused their power and harbored thoughts of domination. They were the owners of the teams ITEM, SCHOOL, and BLOCK and had been making several moves recently that suggested a betrayal greater than their usual deceit was imminent. They would be sacrifices to Vento, to appease God's Right Seat. After all, if they suffered too great a defeat here then one of the more dangerous ones might come.
Aleister needed to feign desperation. He needed to suffer enough losses that activating FUZE would be seen as a last ditch attempt. He needed to put on a good fight before crushing his opponents, let their pieces take a few pawns to lure them out and make him seem vulnerable before springing the trap.
What did he care about a few lives when compared to his plan? He would sacrifice anyone, anything to achieve his goal and he would not do something as silly and pointless as to feel regret over any of it.
"Ok," Vyers said, not hearing the inner monologue at all for some strange reason, "We'll take these guys to Heaven Canceler. His hospital is one of the safest places in the city after all.'
"Indeed, after that I'll need you on standby to intercept any long range bombardment spell they might try to throw at us."
"Roger," He said as he entered the Bentley and turned the key, Lammington sitting beside him looking out the window at all the unconscious people that were strewn about.
"People fall so easily to feelings of hostility don't they?" the ancient magician said to him as he began driving to their destination.
"I suppose after a couple centuries something like hostility becomes pointless doesn't it? What's the point of anger or aggression? What's the point of hurting others? They'll die anyway, what's the point in making them die sooner?" Vyers agreed, understanding his friend's feelings on the matter. It was why they didn't mind working for Aleister... he did not ask too much of them. He did not ask that they hurt people unnecessarily. Neither of them liked hurting people. Their abilities were that of protection, not of aggression. That was why they were immune to Vento's power... that and Vyer's stasis field prevented external phenomenon, including Vento's ability, from affecting him and anyone else enclosed in a layer of it, like Lammington constantly was. This was probably a good thing because, truth be told, Vyers was not quite as enlightened as Lammington and did feel a twinge of anger at this person who had done this to so many others.
In another part of the city two more people were placed strategically inside a building near Vento. Rather than interrupting Aleister with a phone call it was Aleister who called them.
"Yes Aleister?" Avon said softly as she stroked the hair of the Queen who laid down.
"Vento is approaching your location. I shall assume that you have done as I asked and kept number 5 in the dark about this entire thing. You may tell her what she has to do but keep all other information to yourself. She does not need to know the purpose or her target, just what she needs to do."
"I know..." Avon agreed. Unlike Vyers, Lammington, Kuroko and Aleister, the Queen did not have a shield against Vento's power should she feel any aggression towards her. So they had kept her in the dark to ward against the risk of her finding out and feeling any aggression towards Vento. She was even blindfolded to make sure she did not see what was going on and Avon had been stroking and relaxing her for the past hour to put her in a state of zen deep enough that she could fulfill her task.
Her task was to go through Vento's mind and figure out exactly what the Right Seat were planning in order to stay one step ahead of them. They already had some pretty good information from Aleister's other surveillance methods, but nothing beat hearing it straight from the horses mouth, and the Queen was the best one for that job.
Normally Avon wouldn't take such a big risk with the Queen, but the worst that could happen would be a brief unconsciousness until Aleister's pawn managed to defeat Vento.
So Avon told the Queen what to do and hoped that things would turn out all right.
When Kuroko arrived at the correct place she saw the Swiss Guard and 13 knights entering the city through the place where Vento had penetrated the defenses. There were no people, conscious or otherwise, nearby, all the unconscious bodies had been moved away by some of Marshall's men prior to the arrival of these people.
In total there were about 30 of them. The 13 knights decked in freshly polished full plate armor with well crafted, impressive looking swords and finely tailored silk capes, looking very much the part of the noble knight. The others were far less impressive, wearing silly yellow and blue striped uniforms that resembled a clown's outfit with only a breastplate and helmet to protect them. They carried poleaxes.
Kuroko conjured a deck of cards into her hand as she began to speak. "Greetings," she said politely as she bowed to the warriors arranged in front of her, "I am the black knight, protector of Academy City and all of its inhabitants. You are not supposed to be here. Please leave immediately or I will have to use force to hasten your departure."
The knights reached for their weapons and attempted to draw them from their sheaths but found themselves unable to, Kuroko had thoroughly nailed the blades inside their scabbards before engaging, as she usually did. With the deck of cards she began slicing through the poleaxes, rendering them useless.
"Bladed weapons are not allowed to be drawn or owned in city limits without the proper permits, please keep them within their sheaths," she mocked. The anger raging within her always awoke her inner sadist, and that sadist was enjoying the looks on the faces of the panicking soldiers in front of her.
"We do not need weapons," one particular brave one said fiercely, trying to rally his men, "all we need is our faith in god and he shall grant us strength."
"Yes... go on... pray. You pray and I'll punch you until you fall into as deep a coma as your ally has caused this city to fall into." she threatened as she cracked her knuckles.
The knights charged forward only to trip up after taking a couple of steps.
"Another quick tip," she said as she disappeared only to reappear behind the lines of the Swiss Guard, a fact that was undiscovered for only a second before the scream that one of them let loose as she "cut through" his legs with her axe alerted the rest of them, "Capes are a really bad thing to wear into combat." She finished, sparing a momentary glance at the edges of their capes which were pinned to the ground using needles. Had they been any material other than silk they might have ripped and not rooted them to the spot, but such was the price of luxury.
With their escape route cut off by the black knight and their weapons destroyed by the same, the Swiss Guard were understandably panicked. Many tried to use the broken halves of their weapons while others just ran.
Kuroko took care of the ones who fled first. Teleporting her axe into the leg of one before yanking the chain to the side to cut through another one. She swung it with the chain in a broad sweeping arc making the axe build up incredible speed and momentum as it sunk into the helmet and head of another.
Taking advantage of her distraction, one of the guards took a swing at her. However she disappeared before the blow landed, to be replaced by a small cylindrical thing.
It took a second for the man to understand exactly what it was and by that time it was too late as the concussion grenade exploded and sent him to the ground.
As much as it was Kuro's policy to finish fights quickly she would never hold a candle to Shiro's ability to do just that. With pins and fists and grenades and axe she had defeated the entire group of Swiss guards in less than ten seconds. The thirteen knights had just enough time to slice through their cloaks with the backup knives they kept in their boots before the black knight had completely destroyed their backup.
But if that puny knight thought that they, the Thirteen Knights of the Roman Catholic Church, would go down as easily as the others had then he had another thing coming. After all... they had magic. The black knight might mock prayer, but the magic that prayer awakened would be the undoing of Academy City's warrior.
They didn't have much time so they unleashed their quickest spell, a simple blast of holy energy that alone might not be enough to kill but with 13 of them it would be plenty enough to destroy her completely, then they could complete their mission.
Kuroko almost yawned at the tedium as she summoned her papal staff. In addition to its ability to focus and draw magic from the practitioners of the religion it had a secondary ability to manipulate magic already cast by those of the church. It could suppress the power of duplicate holy artifacts, desanctify a church, and absorb or reflect the weaker of the offensive spells.
This last ability was the one she used, striking at the oncoming waves of destructive energy and reflecting them back to their casters. She dialed down the power just a bit to ensure that they were not too seriously injured. She was amazed just how instinctive it all was, as if the staff knew exactly what she wanted and did it without her having to command it at all.
When that was finished she once again stored the staff, cuffed the people and waited for her next orders.
September 30th 7:10PM
Somewhere Else in Academy City
Her next orders came promptly, along with Oneeni's arrival in Throne, one of the experimental super-planes closely related to Seraphim but more geared towards transport. She was told to load up all of these people and deliver them back to Vatican City.
"So after what they planned to do we're just going to let them go?" Kuroko protested through the phone, still angry at everything.
"At the moment we must balance hostility with the Roman Catholic Church. The current pope is simply a puppet of God's Right Seat so the Roman Catholic Church will continue to be hostile because God's Right Seat are hostile."
"Why are they hostile to begin with?"
"The primary reason is that they feel that Academy City is becoming too powerful. They feel that we will soon tip the balance of the scales towards the science side. This is partially due to your efforts in aiding our growth. But mostly it is the fault of Touma, whose ability they fear greatly."
"So if we let him die then things will go back to normal..." she said slowly, calmly, coldly.
"He is necessary to the plan so we cannot allow that," Aleister told her.
She sighed in disappointment, "yes Aleister-sama..."
"So then, as I was saying. The reason you are going to return the knights to the Vatican is because we must keep the Pope not hostile towards us so that when God's Right Seat betray him and are subsequently defeated we will have the Roman Catholic Church as an ally rather than an enemy."
"Understood Aleister-sama," she sighed as she boarded the plane and hung up.
Kuroko traced out the flight course on the navigation computer then turned to Oneeni, who was sitting in the co-pilot's chair. "I have to do something somewhere else. I've programed the plane to fly near where I am. I'll need you to stop it for a second when you're overhead. Fly low and stop for as short a time as possible." She instructed the clone who nodded in response. Then Kuroko went down to Willow's room where she told her the coordinates for her desired location and downloaded them onto the chip. This would allow her plenty of time to complete her business there without delaying enough to make the behavior suspicious.
So without further ado, she left.
September 30th, 4:53PM (7:53PM Japan time)
Somewhere in Siberia
"Mother Russia sure is harsh with her children isn't she Prizrak?" Dr. Burgasov said to the main beside him, at least he was pretty sure he was still beside him. The blizzard was thick enough that even determining such a simple thing was extremely difficult.
Some people might think it odd that another blizzard had hit to cover their second meeting, but those people clearly did not know much about the weather in this part of the world. Words for summer or spring or fall were unnecessary and the weather was pretty much either, snowy or really snowy.
Prizrak wasn't bothered by it though. He didn't particularly care about anything other than the job at hand, even if that job was just to stand here and wait for that girl to show up. She had sent a message telling them of her arrival which would be significantly sooner than they had expected but they had managed to slip away in a discreet manner despite it being several hours too early.
She soon showed only a few seconds earlier than her established meeting time. She showed up as abruptly as ever almost causing Prizrak to shoot her on reflex. She tuned into the radio without needing to be told to and said, "I have the things you asked for."
"Good good, thanks, this will be a big help," Burgasov said.
"I looked into what these creatures are," Kuroko interrupted, "and I learned something quite interesting about them. They are a relatively new and very rare species of leech originating in France. They have the interesting ability of being able to feed off of mana either from natural ley lines or from humans. This led me to wonder what use exactly you had for them..."
Prizrak sighed and looked at her. "The reason that Russia and Academy City are about to go to war is not because the leader of Russia wishes it. In fact he is so opposed to it that he commanded me to actively sabotage the war effort, giving intelligence to the enemy and such. The reason we are going to war is because as of tonight the Russian Orthodox Church has joined forces with the Roman Catholic Church to take Academy City down. As much as we try to disguise otherwise Russia is as much a theocracy as it can be. We are tired of being oppressed by the church but it is difficult to fight magicians. There is no way to tell who they are until they've struck and since their ability comes from within even jailing magicians is hardly guaranteed to stop them. Killing them works but Stalin demonstrated just how poorly that method goes over. So we decided to use these to stop magicians from being able to cast spells. It is a way to subdue magicians, even powerful ones, without killing them. France has used it successfully to similar effect before."
"I see..."
"For this reason Soldier, the president of Russia, has told me to ask you to avoid striking at the churches and members of the Orthodox Church within Russia. The war might involve you and your country, but our freedom should be ours to take."
"I can not promise that I will either avoid or target those people. My duty is to ensure the safety of my city and its citizens, if they threaten either of those things I will be forced to take action against them." Kuroko told him.
"That is understandable but the request stands regardless."
"So where exactly are the leeches?" Dr. Borgasov asked, suddenly realizing that there seemed to be no vehicle nearby in which they could be carried and the girl clearly did not have them with her. For a second he worried that they had been set up and tricked into revealing their plans when a large crate meant for transporting biological specimens appeared in front of him. He opened it up briefly to check and was pleased to see that there were indeed a large number of leeches as he had requested.
"I bid you goodbye then," Kuroko said as her helmet beeped to warn her that her ride was currently hovering above her. She teleported into the cabin and the plane took off again.
As she sat down in the pilot's seat she took her helmet off and sighed.
"Something the matter?" the clone beside her signed after autopilot had taken over again, "you don't seem very happy."
"I'm not happy,' the auburn haired girl admitted, "it's just... things seem so... precarious right now. I feel a bit like I'm on a cliff and the slightest pull will yank me off. And I feel like so many people are pulling in all different directions."
A raised eyebrow was all Oneeni needed to convey her confusion.
"When I became the Black Knight I went on important missions, missions that saved lives. I was helping so many people and Aleister-sama was helping me do that. Now it feels more like I'm a spy than a knight," the teleporter began to clarify her sentiments, "Right now there is a madwoman rampaging around the city knocking almost the entire population unconscious including my friend Uiharu and who knows how many other people who are important to me. And I can't do a thing to stop her. Sure I managed to take out these guys but its not like they're the ones who caused so much damage. The last missions I did that I feel were important Aleister didn't even send me on. And the thing I just went and did, that's against his knowledge too. I feel like I'm deceiving so many people. I mean what kind of knight lies and deceives people like I do... The only people I'm honest to are figments of my delusional imagination."
Another sigh from Kuroko before she continued, "Actually.. I'm nothing like a knight. No matter who desperately I yearn to be one I am a pawn. That is my destiny and it always will be..."
Helplessness, guilt, anger, and a hint of dread rolled around within Kuroko like a storm. 'Sometimes I really envy Kuro's numbness to feelings like this. Perhaps if I didn't feel then i wouldn't hurt so much..."
But no matter how much she envied Kuro's numb existence it didn't change the fact that Shiro still felt things, emotions strong enough to hurt as they did now.
September 30th, 1:47PM (8:47PM Japan time)
Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
"It seems that Vento was defeated by that Imagine Breaker," Fiamma remarked as he sensed the fall of one of their number almost instantly despite the distance between them.
"Not too bad a run though eh?" Terra remarked, "she got three of the Board of Directors and forced ol' Aleister back into a corner enough for him to activate that super weapon of his."
"Who would have thought that Academy City had access to an angel..." the pope, who was with his close advisers and supposed friends on God's Right Seat.
"It was not a true angel. It was a mere facsimile. It would be no problem for my ability to utterly destroy it if he attempts to use it again against me," Fiamma claimed. It was not so much a boast as, to his mind, a statement of fact.
"So you are going to venture there next and finish the job?" The Pope asked, "or perhaps Acqua. He is there correct?"
"He is only there to retrieve Vento. This mission's purpose was not to defeat Academy City in a single night. If it was we all would have gone at once. The purpose was to ensure that the Imagine Breaker was not strong enough to become a major roadblock to our plan with the war and to force Aleister to reveal his full hand. In both of these regards the mission was a success. It took Imagine Breaker a long time to defeat Vento and he was weak enough that I very much doubt he will stand any chance against myself. And it revealed Academy City's trump card as well... that angel. Now that we know their ultimate weapon we can begin the next phase of the plan," Fiamma explained.
"Wait... if Vento was defeated then what about the invasion force? The external group were magicians under your command but I lent my personal troops to you for the internal invasion force." The pope asked.
"We lost contact with them almost immediately. Even before the external force was wiped out by that angel. But oh well... Acceptable losses," Terra shrugged, "sometimes you just gotta make sacrifices."
"I can accept that but if it was nothing but a reconnaissance mission then it seems to me that their sacrifice would be completely meaningless. If they had given their lives to protect something valuable or make a dent in the enemy's forces that would allow us to take the day then I could understand their sacrifice," the pope protested, "had you told me that their only purpose was to find out what the other forces would already find out regardless of their then I wouldn't have allowed you to take them."
"As if you have a choice in the matter," The pope barely heard Terra whisper under his breath.
"Do you not trust our judgment perhaps Your Holiness? I can assure you that they gave their lives for a noble, necessary cause and that their deaths did help."
His Holiness was about to further argue when a massive racket sounded out in the courtyard. He went to the balcony and looked down to find out what it was only to see the very forces they were talking about heaped in a pile outside. They all seemed to be alive as well.
A voice sounded from behind him, he turned around to see the black knight standing in the middle of the room, next to Fiamma and Terra. "It says something about who you think are your allies when your supposed enemies care more for the well being of your people than they do."
He opened his mouth to speak when Fiamma asked, "what is it? what is going on outside?" He didn't seem to notice the small person in the suit of armor standing only a few feet in front of him.
As if to confirm his suspicions the knight stepped back and passed his hands straight through Fiamma's head, as if he were a ghost. "You are the only one who can see or hear me so you need not do anything other than listen."
The pope hesitated. The Black Knight was a warrior for Academy City, the people who God's Right Seat, his church's most powerful soldiers of god, had told him again and again were his most bitter and hated enemies. Academy City who harbored the Enemy of God, the Imagine Breaker that had consistently foiled their plans. Academy City whose power and influence was growing, threatening the balance between Science and Magic.
And yet... when he thought of crimes against God that the person in front of him had committed all he could think of was the knight's retrieval of a valuable lost artifact as well as countless other missing treasures. Whereas his "friends" had been willing to watch his loyal soldiers die for no purpose this knight had returned them safe and sound despite being on the opposite side.
The pope sighed, making a decision. He turned around, "it is a miracle from god it seems, nothing more." He tilted his head a bit to the side, indicating his desire to listen to her.
So Kuroko began the speech Aleister had prepared. "Academy City is not the enemy of the Roman Catholic Church. Were you to cease hostilities we would not attempt to resume them. But we understand that this is impossible at the moment while God's Right Seat still hold such high station."
"As long as hostilities continue we will continue to fight back to the necessary degree in order to protect ourselves but we do not plan to counter attack unless forced to. I hope that you will understand everything soon so that these pointless hostilities may cease," the knight finished.
His holiness looked at Fiamma and asked, "The next step of the plan is the document correct?" He asked, knowing that the knight would overhear their plans.
"Indeed, you are to use it to set Academy City as enemies of the church. We should do that immediately in fact.." Fiamma said.
"We can't, we need the approval of all the other cardinals," The pope protested.
"Such bureaucracy is unnecessary," Fiamma decreed.
"Exactly, who needs to follow red tape when you're as powerful as we are. Who's going to stop us huh?" Terra concurred.
"Wait..." The pope's mind raced, he looked to the knight. Suddenly the idea hit him, "Avignon... there's a ley line that connects the Vatican and Avignon, that is why the anti pope was based there during the schism. The laws regarding artifact usage there are not the same. We can use it without violating any church guidelines."
"Perhaps... but it will be significantly less defensible than if it were to remain here." Fiamma pointed out.
"If Academy City is as weak and vulnerable as you make out and you are as strong as you have lead me to believe then there will be no issue if one of you were to remain to protect it," the pope said.
"I guess I could do it," Terra offered, "it gives me a front row seat for the riots as well. That ought to be entertaining enough."
"I suppose, but it will take quite a bit of time to set up if we plan to use it there."
"Academy City will probably be far too busy recovering from the attack to do anything for a while. We have time."
Fiamma considered, "very well. It's your call to make after all, we are but humble advisers," he acceded , needing to give the pope some illusion of control over these proceedings.
His Holiness saw the knight nod in understanding before disappearing.
September 30th, 10:28PM
Windowless Building, Academy City
Kuroko arrived back at the massive white spire and began to debrief Aleister, telling him what she had overheard.
"Well done child," he praised the girl despite the result being exactly what he had expected, "I shall send Lammington and Vyers immediately to begin preparations to mitigate the effects. However he was right in saying that we do need to recover. It was not as destructive an attack as I had expected but we did lose some very important people. 3 of the Board of Directors died in the attack and another was severely injured. I will need to find replacements and I would like you to be one of them."
The offer took Kuroko aback, "me? Why?"
"Because I know that you will not betray me. You will act in my best interest as well as the best interest of the city. You are just what the Board needs," Aleister said, mentally adding, 'a board always needs more pawns after all, and you are such an easily controlled one.'
Kuroko had a feeling she couldn't refuse the offer so she bowed and accepted it graciously.
"Because of the attack there is no need to worry about your duties for quite some time. The Board of Directors' regular meetings have been indefinitely postponed due to the attacks. Once they resume Marshall will help walk you through what you need to know about it."
"Thank you Aleister-sama," she repeated gratefully.
"I will send for you when I need you again," he said.
She nodded and left, soon arriving back home to her dorm.
Kuroko sighed as she sat on Misaka's bed, looking at the sleeping girl. It had been a long, long day. One of the worst in a long time and Kuroko needed a bit of vitamin Misaka right now. She smiled as she looked at the sleeping girl. She leaned down and tucked a stray strand of hair behind the ear of her one true love and waited for the reaction she was so used to.
The girl exhaled and sighed a name.
As it turns out, a heart breaking into a million pieces did have a sound and that sound was a single whispered word.
"Touma..."
Author's Note: There is a song that is perfect to listen to right after you're done reading this, and which is where I got the chapter's name: "Goodbye My Lover," by James Blunt. Listen to it and you'll see what I mean.
This chapter was a lot harder to write than I thought so I couldn't get the next chapter out simultaneously.