italics - thoughts
Bold - Emphasis
Italics Bold - Magic names or titles
"normal" - speech
" underlined bold " - Mental transmissions
Underlined - Flashback
{Bold}- Magic spells or abilities
Disclaimer:I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index nor its characters. All rights belong to Kazuma Kamachi. Except for my own characters that I create
Chapter 19: The hits and misses of life
It was a hot day. A very hot day. Compared to the day before, it was a much more hotter environment. Usually, one would try to cool off by spending time at a beach, or a place with air-conditioning.
"Soo…hot…"
"I…feel like my body is melting…"
But for two certain ladies of Tokiwadai Middle School, this already hot day was made even worse by their current predicament.
"My body is soo tired." Misaki practically collapsed onto the chair behind her. Taking out an electric fan from her bag, she sighed in relief as the cool winds eased the almost torturous heat that her body was being forced to endure.
"You barely did anything." Mikoto was surprised by how elegantly Misaki managed to flop onto the chair behind her.
"But I'm exhausted." Misaki pouted. "And this heat is making it worse." She pouted. "Can't I use my ability to get us out of this faster?"
"No." Mikoto deadpanned. "Since I'm here, you can't use your ability to worm your way out of trouble. Even more so since the Dorm manager is here."
"But~ My feet are killing me~" Misaki pouted even more, placing her hands together.
"How are your feet killing you? You barely walked!" Mikoto said, exasperated.
"My my Misaka-san" Misaki her mouth(or rather, her grin) behind her hand as she looked at the brown-haired level 5 beside her. "Some of us have more...assets to carry around compared to others, you know? And, since I am not as tomboyish as you, my strength is not as barbaric as yours, you know?"
*Grk*
More tick marks appeared on Misaka's face, with several more appearing when she saw the blonde mental esper push up her rather enormous chest. To make it even more painfully obvious to her how less developed she was compared to her mother, the uniform that they were both wearing perfectly accentuated all the right curves. Especially on Misaki's body.
Yet, Mikoto smirked, even though her face twitched from her anger. "That just means less heat for me."
"…Pardon?" Misaki's smile faltered slightly, showing that she had not expected that response from Mikoto.
"I mean," Mikoto began. "Since I am tomboyish, I keep my hair short. And, since I am tomboyish, my chest is not as well-developed as yours…since I keep burning the fats meant for it…" A dark cloud hung over Misaka as she dealt damage to herself. "But!" Mikoto persevered, enduring the pain she dealt herself. "This also means I would have to deal with less heat!" Mikoto grinned. "After all, studies have shown that with more fats, you retain more heat. Add the fact your long hair would also trap heat behind your back," Mikoto paused, before she delivered her ultimatum. "You are dealing with even MORE heat compared to me. And, as such, you are suffering a much crueller fate than mine!"
"Urgh…" Misaki froze. Misaka-san is right…studies have shown that humans with more fats retain more heat compared to humans with less fats. This is what enables humans with a higher fat content in their body to survive longer in colder climates. As breasts are mainly fats, and since they cover a large amount of my chest, my heat retention ability would be much higher as compared to Misaka-san!
Reaching this conclusion, Misaki groaned in defeat. Had she had enough energy in her body, she would have bit onto a handkerchief in frustration instead, just like in an anime.
Just then, a small group of children walked up to them.
"Onee-chans!" The head of the group, a small boy, gave them a bowl. "Can we have seconds?"
"Sure thing." Smiling, Mikoto took the ladle-
"Not you Onee-chan." Mikoto froze. "That Onee-chan sitting there."
"… …" Misaka did not know how to respond to that favourisim right off the bat. Coming from a kid half her age, no less!
"…ara ara." Smiling, Misaki stood. "If that is the case, sure thing little boy."
"Thank you very much!" The boy smiled brightly at the busty level 5, before his ear was pulled severely by the girl next to him. "Ow ow ow ow~"
"You…" The girl growled, before she faced Mikoto. "I'm sorry about Kaito. He is rather particular about who serves him."
"…I see…" Mikoto laughed awkwardly. This kid is already perverted? Or was he just conditioned to prefer females with a bigger chest to serve him? "Out of curiosity, what type of person does he prefer serve him?"
"Someone like that Onee-chan." The girl unhesitatingly pointed at Misaki. "By the way Onee-chan, how do you get your chest to be so big?"
"Urk!" Mikoto felt like an arrow had stabbed her straight into her guts. Kid…why…?
"Mm…drink lots of milk, okay?" Misaki bent down to pat the girl on the head. "If you drink a lot of it, your chest would grow ve~ry big. Then, you would have to be careful of the other Onii-sans. They would go after you. Okay?"
"Got it~" The girl cheerfully stated. "Ah, Onee-san, could you fill up me and my friend's bowl too?"
"Sure thing." With practised ease, Mikoto took the two bowls and laded the food into them. "Here."
"Thank you very much!" Bowing her head slightly, the girl took the bowls of food into her hands, before she turned away, leaving the two espers behind.
This is too much torture… Mikoto wiped the sweat that formed on her brow yet again. Not only do we have to serve this, we have to stand in this heat? How is this a fair punishment?
..
Turning back the clock a bit…
After Mikoto, Misaki and Ayu left Percival's formerly beautiful home, they had to rush Ayu back into her home, before they rushed back to their dorms. They could have just left the poor girl, but due to the circumstances Misaki had accidentally placed her in, as well as the action of the two level 5 espers, they did not have the heart to leave her alone, exposed to the dark side of the city.
So, after many twists and turns, they somehow managed to get Ayu into the Dianoid, before they both rushed back to the dorms via the Railgun express. But, despite their best efforts, they were unable to escape the all-knowing gaze of the Dorm manager. Especially since she was on the look-out for the third-ranked esper.
Of course, they could have escaped that predicament rather easily, had they chosen not to do so. As the second-in-command of Misaki's group had once noted before, when the two worked together, they could commit the perfect crime. Manipulation of human memories, and the alteration of digital archives from cctv cameras. With these two bases covered, they would have nothing to fear about something they did being exposed.
But…they chose not to escape instead.
After all, the boy they loved(one being his girlfriend) did not like people to abuse their powers for no good reason.
Thus, they took the punishment that was given to them with some grace. And said punishment?
Serving a group of children food at a certain orphanage. With said servings being mostly cold. This added to the already brutal punishment of them having to serve dozens of bowls of food to the ravenous children for a few hours straight, wearing their school outfit and an apron over it, in the blistering summer heat.
At least we can eat up the remaining cold after-lunch deserts. Mikoto sighed in her mind when she thought back to the Dorm manager's instructions to them. "Well, this is better for me, I guess."
"How so?" Misaki sat down on the chair heavily. "This is absolute torture! I would rather clean the pool then serve food to these children for hours on end!"
"And end up being swamped with people asking questions about Kamijou?" Misaki kept silent at Mikoto's response. "I admit, this is not ideal, but it is much better than having our whereabouts being broadcasted to the rest of the Tokiwadai students."
"…I guess you are right." Misaki sighed.
Mikoto smirked. Then, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Putting a smile on her face, she turned to look at the next kid-
*clang*
-only for it to slip out of sweaty grasp
The ladle she was holding dropped into the pot, the handle making a loud noise when it hit the sides of the half-empty pot.
"Ah!" Mikoto panicked, using her powers to catch the ladle before it hit the ground
"Misaka-san, did you drop the ladle because of your butterfingers?" Misaki, oblivious to the newest observer, giggled at Misaka's actions at first. Then, she turned to the newcomer. "So, what do you want, little boy?"
"…" The boy kept quiet, choosing instead to stare at the two girls. This also allowed the two to observe him a little closer.
Black hair framed his face, along with a few faded scars here and there. Thick spectacles were set upon his nose, giving the impression of a geeky kid. But, the faint bruises and muscles on his hands and upper arms said otherwise.
"Come one Seisen!" The girl called back to the black-haired kid. He looked at the two girls one more time, before he ran off, quickly disappearing in the sea of kids.
"…he looked too similar to someone…" Mikoto frowned. "Do you remember?"
"Not really." Misaki looked up, a finger on her cheek. "He looked very similar to someone, but I can't put my finger on it."
"We're here." Light flooded into the dark van she was in, forcing her to over her eyes, lest she be blinded.
"Where are we?" Mie asked as she blinked rapidly, trying to clear the stars that had appeared in her vision.
"Another safe house." Sequenzia appeared from behind the open door. "This place is somewhere within District 2 of Academy City. So, it is very hard for anyone to enter inside."
"…where are my parents?" Mie rubbed her eyes. Finally, those stars are gone.
"In a hospital near District 7." Came the short reply. IB had appeared from behind Sequenzia, stretching his arms as he did so. "The doctor there is the best. He is, and I quote, 'As long as my patient is still breathing when he arrives, he would be out of the hospital within a week.' "
That sounds like a scam. "Are you sure he is not just fibbing?"
"Trust me, I know. I had to get my arm reattached, and it's working fine." For emphasis, he swung his arms about vigorously.
What on earth did he do that made him have to reattach his arm to his body?! Mie swallowed down those words, as well as her saliva, to parch the sudden dryness her mouth experienced. "…okay then."
"Right!" A man appeared behind her, clad in a skintight black suit with grey paddings all over his body. He patted her on the back lightly, but to the thin girl, it felt more like a hard thump. "Get off the van, will you? The longer we are out in the open, the more likely those group of people that came after you would appear."
"Aren't we in one of the more heavily guarded areas in Academy city?" Mie asked, confused. If we are inside District 2, wouldn't we be safe? The weapons that Academy city develops are more advanced than the rest of the world after all.
"Hah!" The man snorted. "If that were the case, then some Anti-skill members would have just escorted you here. They are more suited to deal with espers after all. But not us." His gaze hardened. "We deal with outside threats that enter Academy City. And this group after you fits that bill perfectly. And, it looks like espers are with them too. Whether our employers had something to do with these espers joining this group," he shrugged. "we have no clue–"
"That's enough Crow 7." Sequenzia barked. "You loose lips have caused us quite a bit of trouble before."
"Hey!" He grumbled. "It is just chatting."
"Which is what caused some of our targets to slip by us and make us work an extra day, you nitwit!" A female soldier, similarly attired as the man behind Mie, slapped him on the head.
"And, with those loose lips, combined with IB's luck, we are more likely to end up in some sort of trouble. Especially for IB." Sequenzia sighed.
"I may not be a high level esper, but luck is just a set of probabilities." Mie frowned. Getting off the van, she tuned to face the leader of the unit protecting her. "So, you can't blame luck for whatever happens to your team, Sequenzia-san."
"You talking 'bout IB?" A gruff looking man jumped out of the passenger seat. "He ain't a part of our team. He is more of a…mercenary. Right, Beansprout?"
"Don't call me that." The female from earlier scowled heavily at the gruff man. "…but yeah, IB is not part our unit. Captain knows him from a previous job we had. She worked with him briefly, and it seems that she liked him."
"Liked him?" Mie openly stared at the two mentioned people. Right now, they were discussing something not too far away. Another person was approaching them, but they had not noticed them yet. "What do you mean? Like, as in love?"
"Most likely." The sole female in the group surrounding her shrugged. "After that job, she started to be more feminine, and she was more caring about us. It took us for a loop, but we already cared about her quite a bit, so her changing was something we welcomed. Rather gratefully too."
"Why?"
"Well, before we met IB, she was pretty strict on the training. Especially on herself." The first man sighed. "Every day, she would devote herself to training and polishing her skills. She gave us a few breaks, but she herself never took them. In fact, she hated to stay idle."
"…that sounds tiring." Mie thought back to when her parents would work. Whenever they were working on a especially-tough project, the two of them would stay up late at night, fingers tapping and pens scratching paper the only sounds in the dead of the night instead of light breathing.
"It was." The first man nodded. "Even still, she forced herself to work, never taking a break."
"Then, that guy came and went after a job we did." The female nodded to the spiky haired individual, the only one besides her to wear clothes that were not coloured black. "Chief became more girlish, not as uptight as before. Although…sometimes she would be pissed off for no reas- Gyah!"
This time, Mie and the female kicked him in the shin and the gut respectively. "You are too insensitive, you know that?"
..
"So, how long do you think we have?" Touma asked.
"…about less than a day." Shutaura replied after a moment's hesitation. "If what you said was true, they would be able to track Akikawa-san no matter where she went. And, with enough time, they would be able to scout this place and infiltrate the facility, and obtain the data they want."
"Well, then we should best protect Akikawa-san as best as we can." Touma took a peek at the aforementioned girl. As it was, she was talking to the small group that had came along with them. "Where are the rest?"
"They would come along in a short while." Shutaura took out a hologram projector. Turning it on, it displayed a simple map of the entirety of Academy City. "Right now, this is where we are." She pointed to a blinking dot on the holographic map. "And, these dots are the rest of the unit." She indicated to other, different coloured dots. All of them were moving at a relatively smooth pace. "Hopefully, we can buy ourselves a bit more time with this method."
"…I hope so." Touma sighed. "That robot seemed to know about me, so it would be easy to think that they would be able to see through the method you are using with some magic."
"…don't you know a lot about magic?" When he looked up, he could see Shutaura's deadpan gaze. "You live with a former Magic god, a nun with the knowledge of a 103,000 magic grimories in her head, and have frequent interactions with that side as well."
"Cut the guy some slack." A male voice interrupted the two. "He has enough on his plate trying to absorb everything in Academy city." Turning, Touma was surprised to see someone he knew.
"Informant-san?!" Touma let out a shocked voice, only to find his mouth suddenly covered by the newly-appeared individual before him.
"Shhhh" He shushed the spiky-haired boy. "Technically I am not here."
"Why?" Shutaura folded her arms. "Because you broke in?"
"…not…exactly…"
Seeing Informant turn away from the two, Touma instantly became suspicious. "…what did you do?"
"Oh, me? Nothing. Heh heh." Informant gave an awkward chuckle. "It's just that, technically, I am one of the people who are working here…but the because of Percival, I can't exactly work at the level I want to."
"So, you broke in?"
"Do I actually have to simplify things to that extent?" Informant looked like he was going to cry as he sighed. "…I was demoted from being an active agent, to being a janitor. My name here is Saito, not Informant. That's a fake name, by the way."
Almost immediately, Shutaura held up a hand to her mouth as she looked away, a sound escaping the confines of her hand. "…pft…"
"Don't laugh!" Informant(or Saito) nearly wailed in despair. "Being a janitor is useful, but I hate having to do my job!"
"…because you scrub scum away with a toilet brush?" Shutaura's giggles were more audible now. Her shoulders were also shaking from the effort of trying to not laugh out loud.
"What, that?" Informant blinked. "Nope. That's fine. I can use magic to clean it up pretty easily."
"…What?" Shutaura stopped giggling. She had a shocked look on her face. Touma was feeling the same. "Then, what are you complaining about?"
"I keep walking in on Anti-skill members either talking about the latest take downs they had, them bragging about their wives or girlfriends, or two members of the opposite sex doing the deed." Shutaura and Touma stiffened. "More often than not, its not them making out, but-"
"Alright, alright, we get the idea!" Touma hurriedly covered Informant's mouth with his hand, a heavy blush on his face. Say what you will about him, but he was still a 16-year old hormonal teenager. Any more information, and he had a feeling that his willpower would collapse, which was the only thing that was stopping him from punching the guy in-front of him outright. "No need to elaborate, I get the idea already! Actually, it's a miracle that you were not fired from that job of yours!"
"It's something, right?" Informant's voice came out muffled, so Touma drew away his hand to allow the guy to speak clearer. "Some tried to do so, but I managed to convince them otherwise."
"…I want to ask how you managed to get people to not fire a person who is obviously younger than them by half their age, but I can already imagine the general idea of how you did it." Touma sighed. Informant's homemade spices are too powerful!
"Not my fault you guys can't hold your spice." Informant pouted a little, before he dug into the backpack slung across his back. "Oh, before I forget, here."
Hmm? Touma blinked when he saw the bundle in Informant's hand. "Is that-"
"Yep." Informant nodded. "This is the armour that Percival gave you. Daybreaker."
"...why the chuni-like name?"
"Well, the name comes from its history." Informant gave a small smile. "I can see why you would think its a chunnibyou name though. It's called Daybreaker because the first time it was used, the person who wore it fended off enemy hordes until day broke the horizon. Pretty lame reason for its name, right?"
"...Pretty much." Touma agreed.
"Well, I'll be guiding you to your safehouse, I'll tell you about its functions later on when I'm off the clock." Informant's eyes turned towards Mie's figure. "...so, that the asset?"
"Yeah." Shutaura cleared her throat. "That's the asset. I assume you would be leading us to our safe house?"
"That's right." Informant nodded. "I'll also be hanging around for a little bit before I leave. But, since time is of the essence, shall we walk?"
..
..
"So, all of you would have full access to certain areas." Informant explained to Shutaura as they walked. "The asset, Akikawa Mie, would be confined to these areas, and there must be at least one of your unit members with her at all times. This is to prevent her from accidentally accessing areas she is not allowed in." Opening a small pouch, he passed Shutaura a paper map. "This map shows the areas you can use, which are highlighted a light yellow. The place you would be staying in would be a bright red square."
"Thank you." Shutaura took the paper. "Then-" Shutaura did not manage to complete her sentence.
"Hey, janitor-san!" A female voice prompted the small group to pause. Turning around, Informant faced the Anti-skill officer who had called out to him, his face becoming expressionless in an instant. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for helping us." The officer smiled at Informant. "Are you sure you won't help more often?"
"Yeah." Informant's face remained stoic. "I don't have the confidence I would be able to do what I have to in that line of work."
"I see." The officer giggled. "Well, take care. Don't peep in on others, now." Waving at the small group, she retreated, heading elsewhere.
"…" Informant only looked at the female's retreating back, before he sighed, continuing to walk forwards. "As I was saying-"
That person…likes Informant? Touma deduced in his mind. Turning his head slightly, he looked at Shutaura. He wanted to talk to her more about what he had just witnessed, but she just stared ahead, eyes not meeting Touma's. …I guess she is not interested?
Fortunately for Touma, someone had the same line of thought as him. "Did that person have some feelings for you, mister…" Mie asked from the middle of the group.
"Ah, no. She did not of course." Informant barely glanced at the girl that had asked the question when he replied. "I just helped her cover something up, and we both stumbled across rather…" He trailed off, a small blush on his face, before he coughed. "Anyway, we are just friends. Closer to drinking buddies, really, if you were to be more specific."
"Can you even drink legally?" Touma could not help but ask. After all, the person leading them right now seemed to be around his age.
"Mentally." Came the answer. "Physically, my body is closer to a 18 year old, but mentally, my mind is 20. Welp, my birthday has not passed yet, so technically, I am 19."
"…so, you are a minor drinking alcohol." Shutaura sighed. "I can't even report you, since you are working in the law enforcement sector. You would just find my report, burn it, and probably drink it down with alcohol to mess with me."
"Probably." Informant shrugged, a faint smile on his face. "I like to tease people, especially those who are very uptight or are in the same sector as me."
"Including Yurei-san?" Touma asked.
"Especially him." Informant stopped outside a large building. "Here we are." Turning about to face the small group, he raised his hand, as if he were showing off a building that could be bought by potential buyers. "This is the place you would be staying in."
"…the entire building?" Eyes wide, Mie looked up and down, slowly taking in the 4 levels worth of living area. Touma felt the same. After all, he lives in a one-room apartment, with the largest place he had ever stayed in being a regular house.
"Yep." Informant nodded. "It's actually smaller on the inside. The building's walls are actually pretty thick, even though it was made from materials in Academy City. Inside is just enough room for a group of 20, a small kitchen and dining area, and a digital space which can replicate any sort of environment. It's basically a luxury bunker brough above ground."
"…I want to ask why is there the equivalent of a bunker in the middle of the military district of Academy City, but I'm afraid to find out why." Touma gulped.
"Good choice." Informant patted Touma on the back. "Well, you guys should make yourselves at home. I need to go do some work. If you need to talk, buzz me with this." Informant dug into his pouch, taking out a small rectangular remote with a button in the middle. "Once you press that, I'll arrive within a few minutes."
"Ah, Informant-san." Touma called out to the boy in-front of him just as he was opening the door.
"Yeah?" Informant stopped and turned to face him, leaving the door half-ajar.
"Why did Yurei-san choose for you to be a janitor?"
"Oh, you were curious about that?" Informant smiled lightly. "Well, it's not really a big deal. Percival and I agreed that we need more information, including live information on the movements of law enforcement to reduce the chances of them meeting with a certain group we met sometime back. I had a few options to choose from when infiltrating this place, and I chose this job. It is pretty easy, since all I have to do is just use magic to scrub away the toilets."
"…how is being a janitor helping in your work?"
"Like I said, I'm supposed to be janitor. Well, trained operative currently working as janitor but a janitor nonetheless." Informant pulled on his jersey, revealing a light blue jumpsuit underneath. "Me being a janitor helps with undercover work, since no one would question a janitor in certain areas, but I can only worm my way out of restricted areas with my janitor status." He sighed. "So, when they asked for help, I volunteered. Being a former military personal turned janitor would help raise my level, so I would be able to access some more areas."
"Why not be a security guard?" Touma asked, curiosity plainly showing on his face.
"Too much work." Informant answered curtly. "Plus, most of that line of work is being done by robots. Less manpower needed there, unless you are an engineer. It sounds like there is a less of a hassle, but I'm sure that there will be more eyes on a security guard then a formerly-trained army janitor who wants to relax through his OCD cleaning habits"
"…I see." Touma nodded thoughtfully. I thought that being a janitor was not that great…maybe he has a point? But, I still want to tsukkomi that being a janitor is more suspicious.
"Well, I'm going to go now." Informant waved, before he stepped out. "Bye."
With a sharp sound, the door closed. Leaving the two people who were at the door alone.
"So…" Touma cleared his throat. "Akikawa-san is looking around, right?"
"Yeah." Shutaura checked her watch. "The rest of my unit should be coming soon. Could I trouble you to prepare food for them as well?"
"I have to see if there are enough ingredients first." Nevertheless, Touma headed towards the kitchen, a small frown on his face. Let's see…since I would have to cook for 15 plus people, I should probably prepare quite a large assortment of dishes. But, I don't have the time to cook so much food, so I would most likely go for something like a hotpot. In that case, I have to ensure we have enough vegetables and meat for them to eat. And as for the soup base…
So deep in thought was he, that Touma missed the call that Shutaura had picked up, and the frown that had adorned her face.
As well as the third individual which had stumbled into the room.
Timeskip
"That was a nice meal!" The woman she spoke to earlier let out a satisfied sigh. "I always thought that hotpots were very bland. Who knew IB could make them so delicious, so filled with umami!"
"Right?" The first male she encountered shovelled some more rice into his mouth with some vegetables, before he spoke, swallowing the contents in his mouth. "Especially these vegetables…I know that they are pretty sweet on their own, but with this sauce he made, it really brings out that natural sweetness!"
"Indeed." A new man Mie had never seen before, one with a large scar running down his face, slowly nodded his face. "The meat has flavour, even though it was boiled in this broth. And the broth itself is very delicious too. It pairs very well with the greens we have. What is in this? Miso? Or pork?"
"It is a pork-based broth, with some chicken fats and miso. And thank you for the praise, but I think this is just below par for me." Slowly chewing some boiled pork, the man(or rather, boy) of the hour swallowed the meat before he continued. "If I had more time, I would have made some eggs and prepped some more different meats that would have gone well."
"""This is below par!?""" Many voices shouted out the same thing at once, causing Mie to cover her ears from the deafening tone.
It also caused an unfortunate accident to happen with IB's food. "Gyah!" Surprised by the sudden shout, he tossed his bowl of soup into the air, which spilled its contents onto his lap. His movements also upstted the plate of food onto his lap…
"HYARGHHH!" …Which was filled with both cold ingredients meant for the hotpot and ice to keep said ingredients cold. That, combined with the hot soup from his bowl, created a rather unique and painful experience for the high schooler to experience.
"Hot! Cold! Hooooot! Coooolld!" IB leapt into the air, the raw and cooked ingredients mixing as it fell to the floor. Hopping from one foot to another, he further forced himself to feel pain as hot soup came into contact with his bare feet.
"Jeez." Sighing, Sequenzia took tossed a towel over to IB, allowing it to land on his head. "Here, use that clean the mess on yourself and the floor. There's also a set of clean clothes for you in the toilet. I thought your misfortune might act up, so I took the liberty of preparing it early for you."
"Thank you for you consideration!" Bowing to Sequenia, IB quickly left the room, leaving behind the rest of the Black Crow Unit and Mie to finish up.
..
..
One by one, everyone left, having had their fill. All of them had different things to attend to. Some had to patrol the area. Others went to sleep, still recovering from injuries they had been inflicted by the crazed teen they had captured earlier that day, A few left the 'house', wanting to have some training competitions with one another.
This left two females remaining, both of them looking at each other in the eyes.
"Thanks for the food." Sequenzia placed her hands together in-front of her empty bowl, before she took a cup of water. Mie eyed the black-haired agent warily.
Gulping down half it's contents, Sequenzia did not even glance at her when she spoke. "You wanted to talk to me." Sequeniza's tone made it sound like a statement, not a question. This surprised Mie at first. "How did you–"
"Your eyes." Sequenzia swirled the water in her cup, looking disinterested in the conversation. "They have not left my body ever since we started eating. Even when Tou-, I mean, IB spilled the food, you only glanced at him for a few seconds, before you resumed your staring at me." She sighed lightly. "If you had stared any harder, it might have bored a hole through me. Next time, don't make it so obvious."
"…thank you for the advice." Despite the timid voice she let out, Mie had numerous feelings raging inside of her like a whirlwind.
Mainly anger.
"So," Sequenzia looked up from her cup. "What did you want to talk about?"
"…I heard overheard your call earlier." Mie's words made Sequenzia freeze slightly. Internally, Mie was a little happy at the response she made. Feeling guilty? Good.
"That was a private call." Her voice came out slightly tense.
"I overheard you accidently. And, even if I did not, were you going to tell me you found my mother, severely injured in an alley?" Silence met her words. "…thought so."
"…" Sequenzia kept quiet, looking down at the table.
"I heard it you know." Mie decided to let it all out. The feelings she had kept hidden when she saw her father being sent to the hospital. "They said that you guys got information my mom and dad were most likely being targeted, and yet you did nothing until dad was in the hospital."
"…"
"Why didn't you help us earlier?"
"..." Sequenzia kept quiet, looking down at the ground. When Mie saw that, tears gathered at the edges of her eyes.
"...why?" Mie begged. "Why did you only appear when father and mom were severely injured? You could have saved them if you had known they were targeted! Even if you could not have saved father, you could have saved mom!"
"...It was not up to us." Sequenzia finally responded.
"Why?" Mie demanded. "Because you work for the Board of Directors?"
"It is exactly because we work under them that we cannot move carelessly. And above them is the General Superintendent." Sequenzia's words made Mie look at her in shock, her anger momentarily forgotten. … …The Board of Directors control her? And the General Superintendent is real?! I thought he was a myth!
"The Board was split on the decision to protect you, Akikawa-san." Sequenzia stood up and walked towards the girl, taking a seat next to her. "On one side, they believed that you should be protected. You had the data that this group wanted, and said data was obtained via Academy City's technology. On the other side, the Board was fine with letting the data slip out of their hands."
"...what..." Mie's mouth felt very dry. They wanted to...let me get attacked...and allow mom's data to be leaked?
"Their thought process for that was that even if they managed to obtain the data, what would happen? All they would get is research data. Nothing more, nothing less. If they could understand it's contents, that was a very small loss." Sequeniza took a breath before she continued. "After all, the production of the liquid diamonds was from specialised technology in Academy City. Should they wish to use this data, or even sell it, they would first need to obtain this technology. And since the best technology Academy City produces is not released to the public until at least 5 generations, each with increasing efficiency and cost effectiveness, as well as it being needed to be approved by the Board to be released to the public, they would have little to no chance of replicating the results, unless they managed to meet the minimum requirements to make the liquid diamond."
"And then, there was the project itself. Liquid diamond." Sequenzia stressed the words that made up her mother's project. "This project is under Academy City's watch, yes. But, if it is compared to other scientists, your mother's project would be considered negligible at best. Liquid diamond is a theoretical impossibility. Diamond can't be melted into a liquid. And the product tour mother made? It is, in her own words, glorified seawater. The only thing that makes it so valuable would be the millions and millions of minute precious metals inside the glorified seawater. And then, there is its uses. What are there?"
"...little to none…" Mie answered in a quiet voice. She had also realised that her mother's research was practically useless in Academy City. Unless they found a way to use this liquid for some purpose, there is no use for them to save this research. She had known this in her heart, but her mind refused to accept the possibility that the Board would shut down her mother's project. "…does that mean–"
"That said," Sequenzia interrupted Mie's words, giving a small smile as she did so. "What I just said was but a small fraction of the Board. The rest did not feel the same. To them, profits matter as much as the other member, but they would put their own interest first as well. In this case, it would be reducing the chances of data being leaked from a project under Academy city's supervision. Another reason would be that the product is worth millions, but the process to make it is worth at least billions. After all, with this liquid diamond, they would be able to obtain the materials to create objects that would be detrimental to their objectives. Mainly, the creation and possible reengineering of one of Academy city's not-yet-to-be-released-to-the-world products. To make things simple, they classified this project as being under the same category as the latest tech that Academy City produces, and as such, it has to be protected."
"…then, why were you picked to protect me?" Mie asked. "Why not Anti-skill?"
"First, Anti-skill is to mainly protect the students and scientists here. If they had the resources to protect you, you would have most likely been protected by them. Even if Academy City a technologically advanced city that is ahead of the world by 30 years, it has the same problems as every other city or nation around the world. One of them being a shortage in staff." Sequenzia folded her arms. "That is part of the reason we were chosen to protect you."
"…and the other?" Mie sensed that there was more to the explanation, so she held off on asking more questions then necessary.
She might find them answered by the person in question after all.
"This group after you…it has espers."
"!"
"We have no clue if one of the directors hired a group of thugs and performed the process on them to turn them into loyal espers for him to use, or if they come from a different organisation. But one thing is for sure. This situation falls under threats outside of Academy city. And this unit," She indicated to a small symbol on her upper arm, something that she had not noticed before. "means that we are the Black Crow Unit. A unit solely creates to act under the protection of Academy City from threats outside of Academy city, or to protect individuals at the behest of the Board."
"Now, this information I am telling you is strictly confidential, so most likely they would get the fifth ranked level 5 esper, Mental out, to wipe your memories pertaining to this information I am telling you." Shutaura paused, picking up a fork. "IB, if you don't come out, I'm throwing this at your most sensitive area as a man."
"Please leave this Kam-, I mean, IB-san's most precious place alone!" The boy in question quickly slid into a dogeza, jumping out from his previous hiding spot.
Sighing, Sequenzia placed down the fork. "Honestly, did you have to listen in on this private conversation between ladies?"
"It was but an accident!" IB spoke with his head still down. Somehow, Mie could hear IB clearly, even though his mouth was basically pressed against the floor, what with how close he was too it. "This IB was just coming back after washing his clothes and body to continue eating and wash up when he chanced upon the lady's conversation."
"…" Sequenzia stared at IB for a few moments longer, before she let out a breath. "…you know what? Screw it."
Eh? Mie blinked in confusion as she saw the black-haired leader of the unit protecting her run a hand through her hair. As she did so, she saw a small streak of pink appear. …what is that? Did Academy city make a new hair dye that can change colours like a chameleon?
"Akikawa-san, I'll be blunt." Sequenzia stood up, walking past the still-in-a-dogeza IB. She peeked out of the door, checking the hallway, before she shut it firmly, locking it and activating a device she took out of her pocket for good measure. "What I am about to say, you would most likely have your memories of it wiped. But, because it will be wiped by her, I will just come out with a few things."
"… …okay?" Mie leaned back a bit, unsure of where this was all going.
"IB's real name is Kamijjou Touma." Sequenzia poured herself some liquid out of a ceramic bottle. Like any Japanese, she instantly recognised it to be a container of sake. By the smell…it's quite weak. Does Sequenzia-san like the taste of alcohol? Or rather, should she even be drinking on the job? Since she has to protect me?
Seeing her stare, Sequenzia took a swing of her cup's contents, before she started to explain. "I'm not supposed to be drinking right now, but this is to make my lips looser. Otherwise, I would just end up being too uptight. Now, where was I…" Sequenzia frowned, before she snapped her fingers. "Ah, right. Kamijou's name. Well, IB is Kamijou Touma. That's his real name, like I said earlier. Anyway, one of the reasons I call him the codename IB is to prevent his life from getting even more out of hand. By all rights, he should not even be here, helping me with protecting you. But life is unfair." She paused, taking the time to refill her cup, before she continued. "You saw his misfortune act up earlier, yeah?" Not waiting for a response, she took a sip from her cup before she continued. "Most people would say that luck is just a set of probabilities. You being 'unlucky' is just superstition. The 'right' answer is that you got the probability of being hit by falling bird poop." She made some air quotes around the words 'right' and 'unlucky'.
"Normally, a person from this place would be correct. That unfortunate person rolled the wrong number, and hit the probabilities which caused him to end up in this predicament." Rolling her eyes, Sequenzia nudged the boy in question with her free hand. "Well, anything and everything related to luck and the natural laws get turned upside down with this idiot right here."
"Please, don't call me that." IB(I mean, Kamijou) moaned. "I already have a bad attendance, I know that! But, it's not as if I can choose when trouble and misfortune strikes meeee!"
"You can get up now, you know." Ignoring Kamijou's small cheer, Sequenzia took another sip from her cup. "Somehow, his luck is so bad, it's become a law taken form. You know," she glanced into the air, thinking. "Mathew's…no, is it Maxis? Ah right. Murphy's Law. Yep, his life is basically the personification of that law." She nodded. "Whatever ca go wrong, will go wrong."
"I highly doubt that is true." Mie found those words leaving her mouth faster than she could blink. Yet, as she thought more about it, every time she met with Kamijou-san, he ended up in some sort of bad situation.
The first time they met, he had fallen on his face. She vaguely remembered something about a banana peel cliché there.
Then, the next time was when she was woken up. She recalled Kamijou-san saying he got hit with ice-cold water, combined with still-solid ice cubes.
And now, not but a quarter hour ago, when he was having a nice dinner, the cold, raw ingredients and hot soup he had prepared for himself ended up being spilled on his lap.
If one were to look at all of these situations together…..
Yeah, Kamijou-san seems to be the personification of Murphy's Law, multiplied by a hundred. Mie thought that that was all, but Sequenzia ploughed on.
"And that is not even the worst part!" Sequenzia cried out. "Somehow, his luck is so horrible, he ends up in so many misunderstandings. Especially with the female populace. You would not believe how many times he ended up in the hospital because of a girl. I think…the last count was 10. And all of them caused him to be in the intensive care unit for a few hours."
"H-how did you know that?" Said patient stuttered, but the girl who had mercilessly spilled his medical history continued on.
"And then don't even get me started on the last World War and its aftermath." Sighing, Sequenzia took one last sip from her cup, before she pushed it away. "He was in the middle of the entire fiasco. And what did he get in return? An all-expense trip to Death's doorstep, at least 7 times! Some of them from Aacdemy city, where he studies!"
"…I'm confused." Indeed, Akikawa Mie was very confused. About many things. The captain of the unit protecting her…when drunk, had very, very loose lips. And, from the looks of it, her personality changed to a very loud one as well.
"This person right here," Sequenzia massaged the bridge of her nose as she spoke. "was once a target that Academy City designated."
"Eh?" Mie's eyes swam. Wait wait wait, this person working with Sequenzia-san was an enemy once?
"But he managed to clear the charges levelled against him. After the equivalent of a tactical missile , two level 5s, the American government, and various other organisations, including the terrorist organisation Gremlin, was sent after him. And, this was all because he was thought to be working for the organisation, despite not having any contact with them because he lives in Academy City, which was one of Gremlin's targets."
"Eh?...Eh?..." Mie's eyes swam so much, they became nothing more than in circles. A tactical missile? He faced wo level 5s and lived? And he worked with Gremlin?! What is with this sudden information dump on me! I'm just a highschool girl! I should not have to face this sort of thing unless I work in government, and even then, it should not be information so sensitive it can be declared as a national secret!
Ironically, this was what Touma was thinking at the same time, as did the other resident in Shutaura's head.
It took a few more minutes of Sequeniza's rambling before Mie finally left the room.
"Haaaah…" Shutaura sighed heavily once more, before she peered down at the cup. She could see a small glimmer of the remaining sake.
"You know, you should stop drinking so much you know." A small image of a pinkette appeared in her mind's eye. "This is becoming a bad habit of yours. Drinking, even if it is a little, makes you more open minded, yes, but it also makes you weak in…certain areas."
Let me enjoy this, Arisa. Shutaura blearily gazed around the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Touma's form clearing up the remains of the hot pot, putting the unused food into container to be stored away. Plus, it's not as if my actions would dull in the slightest.
"Your mind might not dull," Arisa pouted cutely. "but your body's actions would become slower."
One of the benefits of having two mind's in one body I guess? Shutaura briefly thought about her ability to take in alcohol once again.
It was actually something that was an accident at first. During a party she had to attend while on a mission, she accidentally ingested some strong liquor. It was so strong, it was known to have felled men who drank three cups of the stuff. It got the name 'Cerberus' as a result of the '3-cup, sure KO' rule that had popped up around the drink.
And yet, Shutaura downed 5 cups of the stuff no problem. Her body's movements were sluggish, and her actions became unrestrained. Yet, her mind was as clear as before she had even begun drinking.
So, Shutaura experimented. Asking for the members of her unit who could hold their liquor, they hosted a drinking contest of free flow alcohol. Of course, this was after ensuring they would not have an missions for the coming days to ensure that they would be completely sober, thoughts clear when they had to go for a mission.
The results…were completely in her win. Entirely. She managed to drink twice the amount of alcohol that her men and women competitors had drunk, combined. And her mind was still coherent enough for her to precisely answer the questions thrown at her. Although her movements did not respond exactly to her commands.
"Don't try to abuse it!" Arisa stomped her foot in her mind, before she disappeared from her sight. But her voice remained. "Why are you still drinking anyway?"
Can't a girl enjoy a drink every now and then? Feeling a little grumpy, Shutaura took another sip from her cup, before she refilled it, watching the last of the watered-down sake drop into her cup.
"Anoh…" Touma called out to the girl hesitantly. "Shutaura-san, are you okay? You have been drinking an awful lot of alcohol ever since I came back…"
"I am, hic, fine." Shutaura was surprised her voice was slightly slurred, and that she had hiccupped. Did I take too much?
"Shutaura-san, you don't look fine!" Touma hurriedly moved from his place to rush towards her side, but Shutaura waved him off.
"I am fine." She said, this time in a firmer tone. "My mind is clear, so even if I look like, hic, this, every action I make is under my coherent thoughts."
"If you say so…" Despite his disbelieving gaze, Touma indeed stopped moving towards the girl.
"Good." With some effort, Shutaura shifted into a much more comfortable sitting position. "How about we talk about the three who were after Akikawa Mie."
AN
Well, this is another chapter. Hope you are all enjoying this series!
Apologies for the late update. When I tired to update it, my file could not be opened. Turns out, my thumbdrive that I'm keeping my documents in got corrupted. Well, at least I have two other back ups, so I had to just redo my editing again.
But first off, I want to talk about Informant. And Percival.
Informant's job might be a little iffy for some people, but that explanation was a little forced, if I have to break it down. It made some sense, but it was forced. Cause, let's be real. Being a janitor allows you to go to many places, including restricted areas if they are lucky. Most of the time, a person would not bat an eye at a janitor in your military installation/police station scrubbing away at the toilets. That being said, they would raise an eyebrow if they go into an area full of confidential info, hence my 'forced' bit.
And from a military point of view, being a trained Janitor is definitely suspicious, but if they are surrounded by robots which are hard to hack that can shoot them down in a moment's notice, as well as trained personnel who use the latest killing machines, then this is more of an acceptable risk than letting a trained security guard enter the armoury and edit security footage at a whim.
As for Percival…I re-read some of my chapters, and thought 'yeah, he is too OP'. Then again, I have a few other restrictions I have not disclosed yet. He has time limit and ability limit revealed, so that's two out of the five restrictions I have on him. If I were to not reveal too much…he is a glass cannon compared to Touma, who is like a weapon with two stages.
I ended this chapter on a small cliffy. Thought it was a nice place to end.
Anime is Life, and please review!