Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait. Life has gotten pretty busy for me as of late. I know you're all eager to read this next chapter, so I won't keep you long. Just need to respond to a few reviews that were left over the last month or so.
... Yeah, this may take a while.
SolanaLeonhart: Glad you liked it. I wanted to give some side characters a little spotlight, and this just felt like an appropriate time. I've always been a fan of STUDY as a concept, so it makes me really happy to do the concept justice here. I wanted to present Yuri as rough around the edges and tough to get along with, but kind in his own way with those he's comfortable with. Don't forget, Touma and Yuri go way back; he's experienced Touma's rotten luck first hand a long time ago.
GG Vegito: That's not talk-no-jutsu. That's just classic Touma Kamijou charm.
Isokage: Glad I handled the introduction of Magic well enough. If you like the helmet now, just wait until you see it in action here. I'd say the lose of everyone she's ever loved could potentially push Last Order to hijack Academy City's satellite network and bombard the planet with particle cannons.
DuckBoi: Keep in mind, that tech is still far from being perfect. Also, remember that this tech is being developed by the Disciplinary Committee's R&D Department, which means Touma won't be the only one with access to this stuff, give or take a few years. Given my current plan for the story, let's just say Scavenger might just react to Mikoto with a bit more fear and trauma than in canon.
Stryper88: Glad you liked the chapter. Sorry about the grammar. I proofread all my own stuff several times over, but I always manage to miss a few things.
Jam-Man265: No pandemic in the universe is going to stop me!
Guest10032: Come on, AP Physics 2 isn't that bad. It's just the physics of fluids, thermodynamic, electricity, magnetism, physical objects, and a little bit of nuclear. ...Okay yeah, that's actually a lot in hindsight. Glad you liked the chapter. Last chapter was where I really wanted to flex my writing skills and create a lot of original content, so I'm glad I delivered. I really wanted last chapter to showcase the characters in my new characterizations, especially those of STUDY who were practically nameless in the anime. The introduction of Yuri to magic was something I wanted to feel especially natural given Touma's slightly smarter characterization, with him deducing Esther's status as a Magician and showing Yuri the truth by outlining all the evidence that was already there. I love shipping, and Accelerator/Saten has always been an interesting one for me. Coming out of his shell is pretty much a half of Yuri's character arc. You can expect a lot of guy talk between Touma, Yuri, and others in the future. Hey, with a cast this big, I need to do something to cut it down occasionally to make it manageable. Besides, Liberal Arts City was pretty stand-alone all things considered, so there wasn't much I could do with it to warrant adapting it. Unfortunately, with how the Necromancer Arc is structured, there's not going to be a lot of interaction between Touma and Index. That's not to say Index won't be doing anything, but her part of the story will be mostly separated from Touma's. I'll have to look into the timeline again and see if anything of significance happens in the Nectar Arc to warrant adapting it. Some are have to be cut, unfortunately, and Index Arcs get priority since they're the base story.
Clearwing Yuta: Glad you liked it.
Vein Bloodborne: I think you'll be in for a ride.
mohamadstar94: Glad you liked the chapter.
MarauderPrime12: Glad you liked it.
MrQuestionMark: I find that more casual fans (if you can even call them casual considering what the barriar to entry is for this fandom) appriciate the spin-offs more because of the higher focus on Sci-Fi. You could say that my focus on the tech side of Academy City is indicative of my appreciation for what STUDY and the Silent Party Arc were all about. At this early stage of the story (yes chapter 66 is still in the early stages, I've got plans for the long run), not too much changes from canon, but there's going to be some massive bombs dropped that change the foundation. I know I say that every time, but I'm being totally serious here.
TheHakd: I know of the Jailbreak Arc, still working on how I'm going to fit it in.
Xian0451: I do have plans for Esther to stick around. I just love her character too much to let her just disappear from the story at large.
fencer29: Remember, Shizuri is in big sister mode at the moment. She wants to keep her personal life and her Dark Side life separated for as long as she can. Kosuko and Madarame are just weird like that. Knowing Touma, it's not going to take him long to come up with an additional use for that helmet. While Accelerator's theory was feasible, it's flawed in that it only works by rejecting other possibilities with more evidence. The fact Esther could pull off supernatural feats that don't make sense under any scientific laws while being from outside Academy City should have tipped off anyone who does not outright reject the existence of something outside of Esper Abilities. Thankfully, Accelerator had someone to show him the way, Touma.
Guest H17 (Guest): Hey, I'm just following the pauses provided by the anime adaptations. I can't help it if they're perfectly valid break points. You'll get to see just how resilient that helmet is this chapter. Yeah, Shizuri isn't going to be very happy when she finds out who Yuri is in the present day, I'll tell you that much. Really, all the clues for Magic were there in canon. The only reason no one from the Science Side ever finds out its Magic is because they dismiss the idea of it existing in the first place. Luckily, Touma is around to open the possibility to Yuri, letting him discover the truth. I plan on given Yuri his own harem, chief among them are Esther and Saten. That's right, Esther is sticking around past the Necromancer Arc. feel free to rejoice.
Yuuji Akira: I should be thanking you and all of my other readers. It's your constant support that spurs me to keep this story going. Now I've got so many ideas for the story that I don't think I could put it down even if I wanted to. Don't blame me for the cliffhanger. I'm just using the anime as a basis for where to place breaks. ...Okay yeah, blame me. You call the first half filler, I call it character building. A big part of the chapter was looking at Touma and Yuri's relationship in a low tension scenario. This story isn't 100% action, after all. It's all about the characters and their relationships. Kami-yan Disease only affects girls who don't already have strong feelings for someone. I'd say Esther is safely in the clear. Don't you worry about Index and Shizuri. They have their own roles in this arc.
5had0wHand: Checkov's Gun, meet Bakuya's Helmet. If Touma was never going to face sufficient danger to warrant a helmet, I wouldn't have given him one.
WwEpsilonwW: Glad you liked it. If you've noticed, he clues for the existence of Magic have always been present in canon for Science Side characters to figure out. The only thing keeping them form discovering the truth was their dismissal of the idea of Magic being a thing in the first place. Once someone like Touma shows up who can be trusted to not lie about the topic, the truth gets out and characters like Yuri can put the pieces together themselves.
HunterX097: While I am aware of the OVA, the story is well past the point in time in which that OVA took place. Plus, it wouldn't really serve to add much to the story since the events are very self contained and the character's relationships are so far developed at this point that there's really no point in adapting it. Besides, if I adapted every bit of Toaru media into this story, I'd never make progress.
azlil7: Hey, being mindful with your money is a good thing. Index and Shizuri are definitely going to get involved, in a very relevant but separate manner. Grudges don't go away that easily. The situation between Mikoto and Yuri will be pretty similar to that between Mikoto and Shizuri, lots of tension but tolerence for Touma's sake. Basically, if Touma, Shizuri, Mikoto, and Yuri are all in the same room, Touma's the only thing keeping them from killing each other. Speaking of which, I have plans for that exact scenario in the future. And no, Shizuri does not know that the meek little boy that was her little brother's best friend grew up to be the foul mouthed top ranked Level 5, which will make the later encounter all the funnier.
EricGreater76: While Touma being a hidden genius does sound interesting, it just doesn't sound like 'him'. What Touma lacks in book smarts from missed classes he makes up for in street smarts which he got from experiences he had that resulted in him missing classes. Besides, doesn't an IQ of 180 seem a bit high? An IQ of 145 puts you in the upper 0.1% of people on the planet. I'd put Touma at the lowball estimate of 110. Smarter than average, but not so smart that he can't be outwitted.
Yeah, that took longer than expected. You all know the drill from here.
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 66: What is Justice?
Whatever Touma was expecting to deal with today, it certainly was not this. What was originally supposed to be a lunch meet with his best friend had suddenly turned into an off-the-books investigation of a conspiracy within Anti-Skill regarding an underground organization and the involvement of Magic within Academy City. Now Touma found himself standing in the middle of a morgue alongside his best friend, the Level 5 Accelerator, facing off against a pair of Anti-Skill fakers known as DA while the Necromancer Esther Rosenthal stood behind the students. Given everything that was happening, the unfortunate high school boy was a bit concerned by the fact that the glowing corpse rising up from the morgue bed behind the DA agents was what he considered to be the most normal thing about the situation.
Naturally, that sentiment was not shared by the other occupants of the room, as DA agent Manabe was quick to voice out upon noticing the corpse of Hasumi Hitokawa stand behind him.
"What the-!?" Manabe yelled, shock evident in his voice.
"Rosenthal, third number, Houtou, activated." the corpse of Hasumi Hitokawa recited, not unlike how a computer would relay messages on a command line, "Danger detected to Adonai. Action to purge the threat commencing."
Having declared her intention to engage, Houtou immediately rushed at the most dangerous target, the heavily armed Takumi. Although clearly frighted by the reanimated corpse, Takumi acted on instinct and attempted to strike at his attacker, only to be met with a swift axe kick which shattered to tip of his mechanical tentacle and created a sizable crater in the floor.
"How are you moving around!? You're supposed to be dead!" Manabe demanded, cautiously stepping away from the machine-like Houtou, "Stay away from me! Get back you monster!"
Fear guiding him more than anything else, Manabe opened fire with his pistol on Houtou. Being nothing more than a golem using a human body, Houtou took a defense stance to protect the charm located in her chest, permitting the rest of the body to come to harm from the gun fire. However, such defenses were rendered redundant as Accelerator rushed in the way, reflecting the bullets before they could reach their target.
"You're really starting to piss me off! Who the hell do you think you are, labeling people as monsters? It's a disservice to real monsters." Accelerator growled, a manic grin on his face, "You want to see what one actually looks like!?"
"Yuri, take it easy!" Touma called out, jumping into the fray with his Judgement gear equipped, "Don't go overboard! If we want answers, we need these two to be in the condition to give them!"
"Don't worry! I'm not going to kill them! I'm just going to teach them a lesson about respecting the dead!" Accelerator declared.
Looking at the angry Esper in front of him, Manabe could not help but quiver in fear. The face Anti-Skill tried to raise his gun to put of a strong front, but that quickly fell apart when his quivering made him drop his weapon on the floor. The way Accelerator carried himself exerted a pressure to the atmosphere that made Manabe want to keep as much distance between the Esper and himself as possible. As the Level 5 slowly approached, the now defenseless officer stumbled backwards.
"After all, only a monster would think to desecrate a corpse and make it unrecognizable." Accelerator continued, "And since I'm a monster too, that makes me more than qualified to teach this bastard that lesson!"
In a single Esper Ability enhanced bound, Accelerator leaped at Manabe and slammed him into the wall, leaving a noticeable dent. Now in direct contact with his target's body, the Level 5 toyed around with his victim's internal vectors. As his blood and bioelectricity were twisted around in ways that would normally be impossible, Manabe screamed and writhed in pain, unable to do anything to make the seasoned killer stop. The pain only halted when the unfortunate officer passed out from the experience, at which point Accelerator dropped him to the ground, seeing no reason to further torment someone who would not even feel it.
"He lost consciousness from that? What an insult to evil." Accelerator muttered in disgust, "Oh well. Guess we'll have to interrogate you instead!"
Realizing that he was not the focus of the Level 5's attention, Takumi attempted to flee from the scene, only to have his path cut off by a Certain Strange Addition.
"Where do you think you're going?" Touma asked, taking a defensive spear stance in front of the door to block the exit.
With Touma blocking his exit and Accelerator and Houtou behind him, Takumi appeared to be surrounded. However, a stoke of good fortune came his way when Accelerator suddenly collapsed where he stood, much to the surprise of the Esper's allies. As it turns out, all the excitement had accidentally opened Accelerator's wound again, causing him a considerable amount of blood loss and impaired brain functionality. Not one to let an opportunity slip past him, Takumi immediately took advantage of the situation.
Enhancing the striking force of his right arm with his mechanical third arm, Takumi quickly backhanded the high school boy blocking the exit. Distracted by the sudden collapse of his best friend, Touma was barely able to block the attack with his ODD and got thrown to the corner of the room opposite Accelerator and Esther, the latter of whom rushed to his side upon his collapse. As for Houtou, Takumi was easily able to distract her himself by throwing his weapon at the ceiling. Enhanced by the strength of his third arm, the thrown weapon caused part of the ceiling to give way on top of Esther and Accelerator. As protecting her master was her top priority, Houtou immediately abandoned the chase in favor of shielding Esther from the rubble, allowing the DA agent to get away.
"Rotten luck!" Touma growled, picking himself up and rushing towards the pile of rubble his friends were buried under, "Yuri! Esther! Are you okay!"
Touma's answer came in the form of the pile exploding, courtesy of Houtou's supernatural golem strength. With the rubble clear, it was evident that Esther and Yuri were no worse for ware, aside from the stream of blood flowing from his opened wound.
"Hey, are you two okay?" Touma asked, retracting his nanomachine helmet and rushing to the pair's side.
"I'm fine, but I'm not sure about Accelerator." Esther replied, cradling the now unconscious Yuri in her arms.
"Adonai." Houtou interrupted, "Rest assured his injuries are not serious enough to terminate his life functions. If we take appropriate measures, he should fully recover. I estimate rescue teams will be arriving shortly. Should we pursue?"
"I think that'd be a good idea." Touma agreed, "I'll keep an eye on Yuri until help arrives while you two go after that DA guy. Then, I can catch up with you once Yuri gets proper medical attention."
"No. I can't leave him here like this." Esther answered, wiping away some of the blood with a handkerchief, "After all, he is my essential."
"Essential?" Houtou asked.
"You know, like a teacher." the Necromancer replied, creating more questions than she solved.
"Teacher?" Touma inquired, not seeing his friend to be the mentoring type.
"Yeah." Esther confirmed. "I still have a lot to learn from him."
Desperate to flee from his pursuers, Takumi ran through the hospital courtyard with reckless abandon. Contrary to the uniform he wore, he was not the slightest bit concerned with the safety of anyone else present. He pushed and shoved pedestrians to further his own escape, going as far as to knock over a helpless little girl in a wheelchair. At least, that is what would have happened had the DA officer not been struck in the side of the head with a cardboard box overflowing with Gekota merchandise.
"This type of violence will not be tolerated, ever." a girl with a set of military goggles declared, "Says Misaka, issuing a warning."
One of ten Sisters still residing within Academy City, Misaka 10046 stood defiantly against the manic DA officer.
"If you would, flee this area, now! Requests Misaka, intending to keep the villain distracted."
Heeding the Sisters words, all other civilians present quickly vacated the area, a nurse quickly collected the wheelchair bound girl and wheeling her to safety. With no one present to get caught in the crossfire, the lone Sister engaged in combat with the fake Anti-Skill.
Not appreciating having a box of children's merchandise thrown at his head, Takumi threw a punch straight at his physically weaker opponent. Thankfully, having the memories and experiences of 10032 lost combat scenarios made all the Sisters very adept at reading combat and reacting accordingly, allowing Misaka 10046 to easily dodge the attack and get behind her opponent. While she was in no way as strong an Electromaster as her big sister, 10046 was more than capable dealing some serious damage with electric shocks. Unfortunately, Takumi was well prepared to fight a wide variety of Espers, and Electromasters were among the easiest to defend against, only needing a single layer of insolation to render their attacks useless.
Taking the opportunity from his opponent's failed attack, Takumi extended his robot arm and hoisted the Sister high into the air. Now rendered unable to directly retaliate, Misaka 10046 attempted the only option left to her, manipulating the electrical impulses in her opponent's equipment to hack and disable it. Unfortunately, there were defensive measures in place in the software, so hacking may take longer than what the situation would allow her. Thankfully, she did not have to face the threat alone.
"Adonai, I have located the target" a robotic female voice called out from up above.
Looking up, Takumi was shocked to see Houtou jump down from the roof of the hospital with Esther in her arms. The reanimated corpse now wore her master's cloak to maintain a small semblance of decency now that they were out in public.
"What the hell do you think you're doing with Misaka!?" an outraged male voice called out from behind the captured girl.
Looking past his hostage, Takumi saw a thoroughly pissed off Touma glaring at him with his ODD out and engaged. The sudden deployment of the high school boy's nanomachine helmet and tinted visor only made him look even more enraged than before.
Unfortunately for the trio of pursuers, an unmarked truck carrying a trio of supposed Anti-Skill swerved onto the scene behind Takumi. His getaway drivers had arrived.
"Hurry up and get in!" one of the DA officers ordered, opening the door for his comrade.
"Sure thing! Hope you don't mind if I bring a hostage!" Takumi replied.
Retracking his mechanical arm fast, the DA officer smacked the Sister in the face with the back of his fist, knocking her out cold and shaking her goggles off her head.
"Misaka!" Touma cried as Takumi boarded the truck with the Sister in tow.
Touma could only watch in horror and anger as the truck left the hospital's grounds, leaving behind only skid marks in its wake.
"Chase." Houtou declared, locking her eyes on the fleeing truck.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Esther asked, stopping her servant from taking any immediate action.
"While I am unsure of how you define, 'alright,' I estimate I should be able to catch up to the target within 180 seconds by sacrificing 70% of my leg's muscle fibers."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go after them!" Touma demanded, sounding far more panicked than he normally would be.
"…You can't." Esther declared, placing a hand on Houtou's shoulder, "We'll prepare first. The last thing I want is to cause you any more unhappiness. Hasumi Hitokawa has suffered enough. I won't allow her body to suffer any unnecessary harm."
"If you won't give chase, then I will!" Touma announced, running past the two girls, his hoverboard in hand.
Throwing the hoverboard in front of him, Touma jumped on and took off after the fleeing vehicle. As much as he would have appreciated some extra muscle to catch these kidnappers, Touma understood where Esther was coming from. Like Yuri said, they had to respect the dead, and letting a victim's body suffer any unnecessary harm would not do that victim justice.
For now, Touma would have to make do with his own resources. No matter what it took, he was going to bring that Sister home. He made a promise to protect Mikoto and her world, and he was not about to break that promise, not now, not ever.
"Man, that was cutting it close!" Takumi sighed, relaxing in his seat.
"What happened to the mission? Why isn't Manabe with you?" the agent sitting in the passenger seat inquired.
"I don't even know what happened." Takumi admitted, shaking his head in confusion, "When we went into the morgue to dispose of the evidence, a couple of those demon children were hanging out there for some reason. When we tried to shoo them away, the worst of them snagged the canister of solution from us and started making demands. Next thing we knew, the body sprung back to live and started fighting back on a superhuman level that didn't line up with her Ability. Before I knew it, Manabe had been knocked out and I was just barely able to get away with this hostage as cover."
"Damn those brats! Give them these Abilities and they all turn into demons! Why can't they just behave!" the agent sitting next to Manabe in the back growled.
"Better look alive, boys. We've got ourselves a tailgater." the driver announced, noticing someone in the rear-view mirror.
Peaking back over his seat, Takumi was shocked to see a certain figure he had sworn he had seen the last of. Not far behind them on his trusty prototype hoverboard, bobbing and weaving through traffic to catch up to their vehicle, was Touma Kamijou. If his helmet did not have a tinted visor, Takumi would have seen the high school boy give him one hell of a determined death glare.
"Damn it! It's the brat from the hospital!" Takumi growled.
"The one that put down Manabe?" the diver asked.
"No, that was some other kid. From what I did see, he isn't anything special. Just carries around that new Judgement weapon. Don't think he's an Esper." Takumi replied.
"Why is he chasing after us anyway?" the agent in the passenger seat pondered.
"Doesn't matter. If he's carrying around a Judgement weapon, that must mean he's a member of Judgement." the agent in the back with Takumi deduced, loading his pistol, "If that's the case, he must be the kind of kid that thinks he can carry out justice. I say we just get rid of him. After all, there's no justice Judgement can deliver that DA can't outdo!"
With no objections from his compatriots, the DA agent stuck his upper body out the window and fired his gun at the unsuspecting Judgement officer. The sound of the gun echoed through the streets, drawing in the attention of several pedestrians, and panicking all the neighboring drivers. The bullet hit its mark flawlessly, striking Touma right in the forehead. However, the misfortunate high school boy was not harmed.
While the bullet did hit its mark and made Touma jerk his head back, it did not bury itself into his skull. Instead, the bullet ricocheted off Touma's nanomachine helmet, leaving a dent that was quickly repaired by the helmet's self-repair function.
"What the hell!? What kind of helmet is that!? He's supposed to be dead!" the backseat officer howled.
"Who cares!? Just shoot him somewhere else if you can't penetrate the helmet!" Takumi demanded.
Following his compatriot's advice, the gunman fired several more rounds at the misfortunate high school boy, this time aiming for vital parts of the chest. However, none of the shots hit their mark. While he had not had the hoverboard for too long, Touma had grown quite proficient with it over the week that he did. Thanks to the superior speed and maneuverability the hoverboard gave him, combined with his subconscious precognition, Touma was able to weave through traffic to avoid getting shot without endangering any of the other drivers, all while keeping pace with his target. Before long, the gunman's clip had run empty, at which point he decided it was not worth wasting another clip on someone he was not going to hit.
"Who is this kid!? And what's with all the gear he's packing!?" the gunman demanded, utterly frustrated with being unable to take down this one kid.
"Hang on, I think I've heard a rumor about this brat from one of my students before I was dismissed from Anti-Skill." the driver mused, subconsciously applying more pressure on the gas as he recalled the story.
"Really?" Takumi asked.
"They say Judgement recently recruited a new member at the start of the summer, a high school boy who can take on Level 5s with nothing but his right hand despite being a Level 0." the driver recounted, "They call him A Certain Strange Addition, Judgement's Rising Star. He's apparently so proficient that he caught the eye of Disciplinary Committee's R&D department and gets access to their prototype tech for field testing."
"So, you're saying that all the gear he has on him are prototypes provided by Doctor Roku Bakuya." Takumi mused, having heard about the good doctor's impressive track record before he was dismissed from Anti-Skill.
"There's more." the driver quivered, "According to the rumors, he beat the first ranked Level 5 in a one-on-one fight and made the third ranked his personal bitch."
"Wait, isn't the third ranked an Electromaster from Tokiwadai?" the agent in the passenger seat asked offhandedly.
All eyes not focused on the road in front of them looked down at the girl currently knocked out on the floor of the truck.
"You dumbass! Of all the hostages you could have taken, why'd you have to grab the worst one possible!?" the gunman screamed, shaking Takumi back and forth.
"Lay off! How was I supposed to know this brat was that monster's personal bitch!" Takumi yelled, completely unaware that their deduction was completely off the mark and they had the wrong girl.
"Get us away from that monster! He's gaining on us!" the agent in the passenger seat demanded in a panic.
"Hold on to your butts!" the driver hollered, flooring it.
As the vehicle accelerated, Touma found himself starting to lag. As powerful as his hoverboard was, it could not compare to the horsepower of a full-sized vehicle, especially if that vehicle were pushed to its limits. No one to give up so easily, Touma pushed his hoverboard to the limit, hoping to at least plant his ODD on the vehicle.
Over the course of the summer, Touma and his friends had made extensive use of third-party tracking devices. Given how often the need for such devices showed up, the high school boy and consulted Doctor Bakuya on adding such a feature to ODD's arsenal. Unfortunately, the good doctor had yet to come up with a method to include such a feature without rendering the rest of the device's features completely inaccessible while in use. Still, the feature had its uses, and thus was implemented into the first mass production model of the ODD.
Since the tracking featured used the ODD itself as the beacon, Touma would have to plant the device on DA's vehicle and carry on without it until he could track them down and retrieve it. Still, if it meant he had a trail to follow when he inevitably lost them, parting with his trusty weapon would be all worth it.
As the vehicle sped up, it also got wilder with its movements. Taking out his ODD and switching it to tracker mode, Touma did whatever he could to maintain speed and stay on his target's tail. As he got barely in reach of the back of the truck, Touma noticed that they were heading straight for a red light, with DA not showing any signs of slowing down. Coming down to the wire, Touma managed to secure his ODD to the bottom of the vehicle's bumper. With his tracker secured, he pulled back on his hoverboard, allowing his target to escape through a split-second gap in the oncoming traffic.
Having given up on the chase for now, Touma pulled over his hoverboard to the side of the road and sat down at the curb to unwind. Deactivating his helmet and pulling out his phone, he made a quick call to a certain Level 5 who was going to want to know why he wasn't going to be coming home on time.
"Hey, Sis. I'm going to be late coming home tonight. Anti-Skill has a bit of an imposter problem they need help investigating."
Deep below the surface of Academy City was a network of subway tunnels. While most of the trains that ran through the network were no different from any other subway trains, there were a handful of them that were quite out of the ordinary. One of those subway trains in particular was rumored to constantly be in motion at all times, never stopping at a station of any kind. This train was the personal transport, office, and home of Rizou Nakimoto, a member of Academy City's Board of Directors.
As a man of high class and refined taste, Nakimoto was making preparations for dinner when his secretary informed him of a call from the one and only Hishigata. Taking a pause form his meal, the accepted the phone from his secretary and spared a moment of his time for his high-ranking subordinate.
"Sorry to cut into your dinner, Mister Breeder, but I believe you're passing under District 7 right about now, correct?" Hishigata said over the phone, "Curious how one of Academy City's top officials rides a train that never stops. It's almost as if you're afraid of anyone finding out your true location."
"No point keeping secrets from each other. Call me Nakimoto," the director replied, seeing as there was no need for code names. "Likewise, I will refer to you as Hishigata instead of Dachshund."
"There's something I need to speak to you about." Hishigata explained.
"Let's hear it."
"I don't want my plans being interrupted by small-timers." Hishigata explained with a twinge of disappointment, "They've already prevented me from obtaining a valuable asset, and I'd hate for any more of my activities from being obstructed."
"I see. Then you're saying DA has gone too far." Nakimoto deduced.
"I see we're on the same page."
"Indeed. We cannot afford to have another full-blown event in the public view. The incident at the hospital was unacceptable, and the open aggression against a member of Judgement out in the open earlier today was beyond reprehensible. In any event, as one of the members of this city's governing board, I apricate your perspective on these recent events."
"I take it that I can look forward to the situation improving?"
"Goodbye." Nakimoto said as he hung up.
Given recent events, it was clear that it was about time to cut DA loose. While the group was meant to be disbanded long ago, the director kept them around as an underground organization, seeing potential in their skills. However, it was now apparent that they were out of control and the risks far outweighed the rewards. Thus, it was decided that a special unit be dispatched to eliminate DA, and that unit was Scavenger.
As the sun set over Academy City, Accelerator woke up in his hospital room bed with quite a start. With a new set of bandages covering his gunshot wound and several bits of medical equipment strapped on to him, he was rather pissed to see that nothing appeared out of the ordinary with the hospital. It wasn't that he wasn't glad that there were no unnecessary damages, rather he was pissed off by the fact that the fake Anti-Skill opted to run instead of fight after he had collapsed from his blood loss. To not take an opportunity like that was an insult to villainy.
Upon further inspection of the room, Accelerator noticed that Esther's clothes were still hanging on a rack across from his bed, suggesting that she had given chase at the earliest opportunity, not bothering to reclaim her now dry outfit. Not only that, Touma appeared to be long gone as well. Given his personality, it was a sure bet that he was getting directly involved as well. Once he caught wind of something, nothing would stop him from getting involved and playing the hero. Yuri knew that much from experience.
Looking down at his bed, Accelerator saw a sleeping Last Order sitting at his bedside. She was stirring, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes to see him awake and well.
"You're awake…" Last Order sighed in relief before suddenly screaming in anger at herself, "I was so worried, I swore I'd stay up, but it turns out I fell asleep when it really counted! Says Misaka Misaka, crying out, utterly disappointed in herself!"
As the youngest Sister flailed her arms and legs in frustration on the bed, she inadvertently kicked on of her sandals of, nailing the bedridden Level 5 on the head with it. For his part, Accelerator was more annoyed than anything. While he appreciated the concern, the little girl's desire to play out the stereotypical scene of every manga with a hospital and subsequent tantrum of failing to do so was beyond irritating.
Thankfully, the tantrum did not last long, and Last Order quickly turned her focus to the Level 5's medical condition.
"You're okay, aren't you?" Last Order asked with pleading eyes, gripping his hand.
"I'm still hear." Accelerator replied with the most dismissive tone he could muster.
"Are you hungry?" Last Order asked jubilantly before quickly away bashfully, "Misaka Misaka asks, slightly fearful that you'll ask for an apple, since she hasn't quite figured out how to peal one of those yet."
"Not hungry." the Level 5 replied, noticing someone standing in his room behind the corner, "Actually, go fetch me a can of coffee. I take it black. There should be some in the vending machine on the first floor."
"The doctor said you shouldn't have any stimulants, but in your case, it should be just like medicine. Misaka Misaka remarks, justifying running off to buy you some." Last Order announced as she slipped on her discarded sandal and ran for the door.
However, she stopped in her tracks when she remembered a crucial detail that would derail her mission.
"Oh, come to think of it, I don't actually have any money, Misaka Misaka suddenly remembers, staring you down and hoping you'll give in and lend her your money card."
Although irritated by the shameless plea for cash, Accelerator begrudgingly handed over his money card, which Last Order gratefully took before leaving the room.
"Well, what do you want?" Accelerator asked once he was sure that Last Order was out of hearing range.
Walking out from behind the corner was Misaka 10032, looking as expressionless as ever.
"You come all the way here to laugh at my sorry state?" Accelerator accused, fully expecting to be bombarded with ridicule after everything that had happened between the Sisters and himself.
"Given your current condition, it would be impossible to laugh." Misaka 10032 replied, sympathy evident even in her monotone voice, "Says Misaka, assessing all the damage you sustained saving the host individual."
"If you think I did it for you guys, you're dead wrong." Accelerator denied, "I did it because I wanted to. That's all."
"Misaka is denying shared memory access so the host individual doesn't find out, but it's only a matter of time." the Sister explained, handing the Level 5 a note from her pocket. "Here."
"What's this?"
"Misaka is in possession of a letter for you from the blond, foreign lady."
A civilian has been abducted. Going to retrieve her.
The note was short, containing only two sentences to convey a single thought. However, what perplexed Accelerator was not the details omitted by the vague letter. Rather, he was perplexed by the cutesy handwriting.
"What's with his cutesy writing? She sure didn't look like a kid." Accelerator grumbled.
"Misaka wrote it down for her, says Misaka, somewhat flummoxed by the appraisal of her handwriting." Misaka 10032 replied with a bashful smile, "Because Misaka's handwriting has been deemed cute, this will make writing love letters far more effective, according to Misaka's study of shoujo manga."
'Yeah, good luck with that.' Yuri thought to himself, 'That guys is as dense as a brick and surrounded by more girls than there are of you Sisters.'
"So, they took off with a civilian, huh?" Accelerator mused.
"While the individual mentioned has been abducted, they remain unharmed." the Sister explained rather somberly.
"How do you know that?" Accelerator inquired.
"Because the kidnapped civilian is number 10046." Misaka 10032 revealed, "Says Misaka, revealing the information she declined to share with Last Order."
"What did you say?" Accelerator gasped, not sure if he heard her right.
Before Accelerator could get any more answers out of the Sister, his phone began to ring on his bedside. Checking the caller ID, he saw that it was Yoshikawa calling him. Figuring the call had to be important if she was bothering to reach out to him, Accelerator answered the phone.
As it turns out, Yoshikawa had come up on some information regarding the fake Anti-Skill he had been encountering lately. As it turns out, the fake Anti-Skill are a secret society know as Disciplinary Action, or DA for short. They claim to be a cooperative organization within Anti-Skill, when in actuality they are a splinter cell of extremist whose founders and members all have a history of taking their peacekeeping too far.
In addition, a VIP who had been supporting the group had recently turned on them and was taking action to have DA eliminated. As such, Yoshikawa advised caution if Accelerator were going to get involved, as the atmosphere surrounding the group had become far more violent that than it would be otherwise. However, Accelerator did not care for that. All he cared about in that moment was crushing the group who had drawn his ire. That was all there was to it.
As night fell over Academy City, Esther and Houtou busying tracking down the vehicle that had abducted Misaka 10046. Unfortunately, their method of tracking was not the most subtle, especially considering Houtou was sill dressed in nothing but underwear and Esther's cloak. With fine tuned control over her body's functions, Houtou was able to allocate her brain's processing power to different tasks more freely than what would normally be possible. In this case, 60% of her brains total capacity was being allocated to the sense of smell, effectively turning Houtou into a bloodhound. Thankfully, their less than subtle methods also drew the attention of some much-needed help.
"I take it you two are trying to track down the kidnappers." Touma announced himself, approaching the pair.
"Oh! Kamijou!" Esther replied, "Yes. Houtou is currently attempting to track down their scent by enhancing her sense of smell."
"I think I might have a more reliable method of tracking them." Touma said, holding his left arm in front of him.
Tapping the screen on his ODD bracelet, Touma brought up a holographic display big enough for all three of them to see. The display depicted a map of Academy City, with a green node depicted Touma's current location and a red node depicting the location of his ODD.
"I managed to plant a tracker on their vehicle while I was chasing them." Touma explained, "According to this map, the truck is in the Sukunabikona Foods Supplement Factory in District 14."
"The science of Academy City really is amazing!" Esther gasped in awe.
"Adonai, I can conform that the target's scent leads in the general direction of the location on the map." Houtou added, much to Touma and Esther's relief.
"Guess that settles it." Touma said as he deactivated the display.
"We don't have much time. Let's move." Esther cheered as she led the trio's charge.
With Nakimoto turning on the group, it did not take long of DA to catch wind of the news. Since the organization was unaware of his part in Nakimoto's decision, Hishigata was left to listen in as the rest of DA's top officials discussed what to do about the situation. To be perfectly blunt, he did not care for what any of them had to say as he just wanted them gone at this point. However, his mood perked up a bit when he noticed a report form Takumi regarding his recent mission's failure and the hostage he brought along with him. Recognizing who, and more importantly what, the hostage was, Hishigata immediately made a call to Nikimoto over a private line.
"That reminds me, the idiot who ran out during the mission brought back a hostage with him. I want her. Think I can have her?" Hishigata asked as politely as he could muster, which is to say not very.
"Very well. I'll have her sent to you."
"Thank you."
"If you tell me why this individual interests you."
"To aid DA's cause, naturally." Hishigata replied mockingly, "After all, nothing brings me greater pleasure than helping spread justice."
Across town in School District 3, a warehouse that used to serve as one of DA's bases of operations was reduced to a flaming pile of rubble. Standing at the top of that pile were four individuals, three girls and one crossdressing boy. The first was Taroumaru Seiki, a boy with long black hair who wore a girl's sailor school uniform and short skirt, giving him a convincing appearance of a girl. The second was Itsuki Yakamura, a girl sporting a large brown newsboy's cap and a utility belt with several vials. The third was a girl named Naruha Sakuragi, a girl with short purple hair and wore what could best be described as a bunny maid outfit. Last but certainly not least was Rika Iizumi, nickname Leader, a redheaded girl with a flu mask depicting two dark crossed hands. As the nickname implied, she was the leader of the group, who were collectively known as Scavanger.
By order of Nikimoto, the group was awakened from stasis to eliminate DA, as well as retrieve Misaka 10046 for Hishigata. Thus, they were currently systematically leveling all of DA's bases to the ground.
"So, are we done earning our spare change?" Naru asked.
"Did you do a final head count?" Leader asked in response.
"Aw! Look around! We wiped this place off the face of the Earth!" Naru whined, "Can't we just assume everyone was taken out?"
"First off, this isn't our only location. Secondly, we need to make sure." Seiki reasoned, "I didn't see anyone carrying a bag big enough to carry around a girl stuffed inside it."
"What did I say?" Leader said, her point proven.
"No way!" Naru continued to whine.
"Listen up. Don't take this lightly." Yakamura cut in, "We've been hired to completely eradicate this DA organization. If we fail to kill all of our targets, no matter their rank, it will be a breach of contract."
"Huh!? So, what do we do?" Naru asked, not liking the idea of not getting paid.
"We stay calm and complete the mission." Leader answered confidently, "This is my Predator we're talking about. Do you think a mere human could escape its sight?"
Covering her right eyes, Leader focused on the use of her Level 3 Ability Predator. In response to her Ability, the night sky was filled with the image of hundreds of eyes. Predator was a Ability that allowed the user to track a target regardless of distance. While it was less effective during the day, very few could hope to escape its sight.
"Every time you use your Ability, it reminds me of some sweaty pervert trying to take a peek." Naru giggled as she took in the show.
Suddenly, all the eyes in the sky shifted, all looking in the same direction. For those who were able to witness the Ability in action, it was confirmation that the user's target had been located.
"There you are." Leader mused, pleased.
Special End Card Segment: Animan Temple
"Greetings, one and all!" the master of the temple shouted at the top of his lungs, "Welcome back to the Animan Temple! I am your host, Animan von Elysium X! With me as always is my faithful assistant, Priestess Number 1: Aisa Himegami!"
"A pleasure as always." Himegami said with a bow.
"So, Himegami. Thoughts on this chapter in our lives?"
"Kamijou's display was certainly impressive." Himegami nodded, "Not too sure what to think about the rumors being spread about him, though?"
"Well, they're all true, aren't they?" Animan argued.
"I wouldn't exactly say Misaka is 'his personal bitch'." Himegami deadpanned.
"Eh, debatable." Animan shrugged.
"Honestly, master, you're impossible." Himegami sighed.
"Well, that's all the time we have for today!" Animan announced, "Tune in next time for the next chapter, 'Good Students, Bad Students'."
"Until then." Himegami said with a bow.