Author here, I gotta say thank you first for reading this story and before we jumped in let's check the review section first dear reader and give some reply for your comments and reviews.
Vergo58: Even I surprised because of the possible harem setup, but it's too early to call it harem because only one girl (Chisa) in the roster who actually managed to know the 'real' Aogami, and the rest of the other girls are still trying to figure out who he really was.
Yullgar: Thank you for the warm welcome, I didn't know that the cafe scene will took a good chunk of the previous chapter tbh, but speaking of Rakko, I think she will end up like Frenda who remained alive for the rest of the stories, but if we follwed the track record of girls who associated themselves with Aogami... she set herself up for a tragedy, I mean... just look at Fukiyose and Shutaura.
Visit this story's dedicated artpage 'bitbitbit11' at deviantart for illustrations and extra contents dear reader. I've uploaded the opening and ending video along with voiced short animations for the OCs in this story, search for 'A Certain After School Secret' on youtube dear reader, those videos were such treat to made, plus it will gave the original characters voice to flesh out their character even more.
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black OST – Was.
A/N: Let's start this with a buildup dear reader.
The trio of Pierce, Yuu and Shujin are walking around the city aimlessly as the three of them are still looking around for any sign of leftover operatives that could be purposefully being left behind in the city. The three of them are supposed to be taking a good long rest, but something else has driven them to push them this far.
Their will and resolve to protect the ones that they hold dear.
One of them wanted to create a safer environment for a certain researcher who was scarred by her previous ties to the city's darkside.
Another was trying to protect a girl who he met by chance and became someone that he truly cherished.
And the last one was just trying to protect someone who he had failed before and looking at this bloodsoaked path as his path to redemption.
"We're going dark, Yuu-kun, Shu-kun, grab some light gear and head out." Pierce said.
"What's it about Blue?" Shujin asked about the details of their current mission.
"Aftermath of the strict and excessive force applied by the fake Antiskill has emerged, groups of students are now arming themselves with homemade guns." The blue haired boy said as he tried to explain another growing unrest inside the city.
"What the hell?" One ruffly haired boy replied with an abrasive tone.
Pierce continued to read the information that he got in his message, "They used the casting and milling machines from engineering schools, but…"
"Hmm?" Yuu hummed to voice his curiosity.
"I think this kind of thing has been brewing up for quite some time. There was a certain unease because of how students with esper powers have their ego inflated into ridiculous proportions." The blue haired boy said to add his personal thoughts.
"Misusing their powers basically." Yuu added his own comments.
"So the ones who don't have big and scary ability have turned to the next best things, but how did they get the guide to make these?" Shujin asked as he turned his body towards Pierce.
"For this one debacle... Shu-kun, this thing happened because of you." Pierce said as he put around his tactical rig with a sling already installed on it.
Pierce turned to look at the leather jacket wearing living weapon.
The surprised boy clapped back with, "What did I do to cause an actual uprising here?!"
"You beat up one of the most unstable geniuses in this city until he literally shat his pants and that somehow caused him to share his weapons design because he didn't want anyone else to go through the same thing as he did… probably."
"That scrub who laid his hands on Nunotaba did this?! That garbage needs another wake up call." The wild eyed boy replied as a dangerous flash lit up across his eyes.
"He managed to share a blueprint of an adaptable firearm frame that can turn any used and old handgun into a fully automatic small caliber carbine." Pierce said as he watched the video attachment, he couldn't help but to show an interest towards this flawed idea about defending oneself by harming others.
Yuu also chimed in with his personal views, "And with the recent unrest, the number of students who will download these files could be large."
"Large? It's already happening and from what I see that bastard is the only lead." Shujin almost growled as he voiced out his reply before he continued with, "The damn egghead needs to be scrambled once more, where the fuck is he staying now?!"
Pierce just looked at the 'enthusiastic' boy and gave a hair of a smile before he delivered a good news for the three of them, "I got another message, a small hospital in district 12 that focused on healing patients with extreme cases of traumatic experience, Shu-kun, what the hell did you do to him?"
"I forgot and I don't care, I'm not letting a rogue element like that become a possible problem for Nunotaba." His eyes turned sour as he remembered the carnage he caused when he was still unable to control his own body's action.
He didn't think much about his reaction because Pierce turned to Yuu who's still filling his bag with his preferred equipment set and said, "You have the option to skip out on this one Yuu-kun."
"And leaving you alone to hold the feared 5Counter alone… Heck no, I'm joining you on this one as well." The silky haired esper replied while throwing soft giggles at his colleagues.
"Let's check on the bastard already and hope that we can wrap this one up quickly. both of you are in dire need of a day long rest." Shujin practically growled at Yuu and Pierce.
"I need one, but Yuu-kun already has a nice 'charging' post that he can always go back to."
"What do you mean by that? and what's up with your expression?
Yuu siad as he looked at Shujin and Pierce's sneering and smug expression.
"Nothing, I just couldn't wait to tell the rest of your classmates about this development between you and Wannai-chan." Pierce said.
"It'll be a bloodbath Blue, I like it." Shujin added.
"Once again… Assholes, both of you."
One delicate looking esper said in defeat.
The three of them sneaked towards the reformatory and rehabilitation center within the beautiful and lush with greenery district 12, but they saw two minivans with dark colors parked around an ambulance and it dawned on them that the 'homemade weapons gang' is already coming to break Haruki out from his cell.
It became apparent as Yuu whispered towards Pierce and Shujin who scurried away to the darkened line of trees to hide.
"Someone's already here."
"Mask on, go dark, we can't risk going too rough on them." Pierce said to his friends as he pulled out his old and trusty breaching shotgun.
"We're all charging together or something? What's the plan Blue?" Shujin asked.
"Yuu-kun, take the high ground and snipe their firearms. Shu-kun, you're with me and silently pick them off from the shadows." Pierce said and moments later he could hear the faint flame noises that launched Yuu, to the rooftop of a building with classic European styling.
Shujin also pulled out the customized machine pistol that Motoharu gave him as he asked, "And what about their gears?"
He's also thinking about taking the enemy's gear to be analyzed or being repurposed as a disguise.
"Grab some of them to be analyzed, extra points if you can get their ammunition, we're running low after that last scuffle."
"So, we're moving now?" The ruffly haired boy said as he prepared himself to leap and move along the darkened treeline.
"Let's finish this as quickly as possible." Pierce said as he gave his signal to attack.
And with that the one sided raid on the ones who called themselves the defenders of the city starts, but it was more of a silent takedown fest for the three seasoned operatives as they realized that their armed opponents are basically just kids with guns.
They lacked proper gun discipline and felt way too cocky because they were packing heat. These are the perfect targets to practice their stealthy approach tactics.
"You gotta get away from here leader, the others have rallied up and are waiting for you." said Sakurai Jun, she was once a member of STUDY who decided to join the movement of this 'from students, by students, for students, security initiative' and to break her former leader out from the reformatory.
"I never Thought that STUDY will have the residents backing on this one, but we got the momentum now because of your plans of sharing those blueprints for all to see." Kosaku Shunichi, another member of STUDY, felt like he was on the top of the world as he said that.
He felt ecstatic because it felt like a second chance for STUDY to create another plan to be recognized as an entity above the espers of Academy City.
"Just get me out of here, I don't mean to rile up this much attention." Aritomi Haruki said to his colleagues with a certain look of worry on his face and small tremors on his hands, it seems his previous encounter with Shujin still affected him.
"The ones who made those weapons are banding together to get you out from this facility." Shunichi said with his sharp gaze pointed at the escape vehicles located just outside the reformatory complex.
"That's not it, I was thinking about something else."
"I know you're still worried about that incident happening again, but you're safe with us now." Jun said as she helped the traumatized leader to walk across the hallway with a Victorian style glass roof.
Haruki who showed a mixed emotion of fear and irritation replied to her, "You don't know that, there aren't any reports about him either! It's like he just vanished into thin air."
He was obviously scared that the boy in question would come back to get him.
And boy, he guessed right as a resounding noise of steps started to echo in the hallway.
"That's about to change, Egghead!"
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black OST – Outside.
A/N: And here's the payoff, a rough sounding tune to accompany the beatdown.
One rough sounding voice followed and Haruki immediately slumped down into a ball and yelled.
"WHO'S THAT!"
The scientist still tried to deny that his worst fears had come to get him."
*CRASH!
Suddenly a terrible noise filled the room as one of the window glass of the roof broke and rained down shards of glass in front of the evacuating group.
"GUH! WHERE ARE THE VANGUARDS?!" Shunichi yelled to his communication device and hoped that somebody from the vanguard team would reply with good news.
But all he could hear was the violent noises of something that burned the night air in a violent fashion and with a glance he could see the warm orange hues that accompanied those violent noises.
"The outer perimeter is being overrun! Who the hell is shooting these heat beams at us?!" Shunichi continued to yell before he felt a sudden blunt force being applied to the side of his torso and brutally flung him to the walls with a bone crunching noise.
Moments later the fleeting figure moved like a feral beast to grab Haruki's collar and lifted him up against the wall half a meter away from the downed Shunichi.
"Leader!"
Jun yelled as she was frozen on the spot, the girl was extremely horrified by the boy in leather jacket who showed extreme capability in delivering harm unto others.
And those feral eyes felt like they were the actual eyes of a beast who's going to pounce on her with the slightest provocation.
"Why are you here again?! I didn't do anything wrong! Haruki yelled as he immediately recognized the menacing look of the assailant.
"Look around bastard, those guns! Why did you share them?! Shujin yelled at him with anger dripping from his voice.
"STOP IT! It's because he was scared of you and after the recent attacks he thought about sharing the files as a way for students to defend themselves." Jun yelled at the obvious walking combat situation in front of her.
"And what's the result then?! You got a group of armed students who were quickly turning into criminals!"
"It was because you have hurt him with your violent actions! He was on his way out from reformatory when you came and ruined everything for us!
Shunichi who's still huffing in pain found some strength to speak, "She's right, Aritomi has cut a deal with the city's higher ups to work together on a new security initiative."
That's enough Shu-kun, secure the gears and the escape route… I'm going to ask some important questions about these scrubs.
Aogami Pierce said as he walked through the front door where all the armed students lay unconscious.
The sudden appearance just sent shivers down Haruki, Jun and Shunichi's spine because they thought that their plan was good enough where there will be no possible interference from Antiskill or Judgement.
"Tch! You've gone soft Blue." Shujin said with slight irritation in his voice.
"We're not here for a massive firefight, just call for emergency lines and request for Antiskill to arrest them. Give 5 minutes and I'll be with you on the escape route."
Aogami is just simply explained in a flat sounding tone.
"You better convince them to stop this!" Shujin said as he walked out the front door with Yuu who's keeping a lookout.
"Get away from us!" Jun yelled.
Shunichi also found the strength to add to her remark, "Even if we're going down today, there will be others who will stand up for us tomorrow!"
"Just like those guys who stood up for the students!"
"What are you blabbering about now?!" Pierce said with a slightly surprised tone.
"The ones who stood up against the violent Joint Task Force and others similar to them!"
"You mean this?" The boy replied as he calmly pulled out his damaged helmet with cracked lenses.
This caused Shunichi to yell louder with an amount of anguish in his voice, "Why?! Why are you attacking us then?!"
"You're too dangerous for your own good, arming everyone, even the ones who can't control themselves will only bring tragedy.
"What do you know about power?!"
He continued to vent on the blue haired berserker who seemed so merciful tonight.
"The ones who stood alongside me took care of the Joint Task Force, ain't that enough?!"
"You bastar- !" The sharp gazed boy tried to reach for his gun and Pierce responded by preparing himself to shoot him with his SMG, it was clear that Shunichi was the one who's about to be riddled by bullets.
But before that could happen, Haruki yelled at the two of them with a plea.
"No, let's just stop… I don't have the strength to do all of this again, we're just being tempted into doing this." The researcher explained.
"I already got a feeling that this was not something you come up with on your own, tell the details and I'll leave you alone." Pierce said.
"I only shared the blueprints because they said I could help improve the safety of the city, I didn't think that they would turn it into something like this."
"They?" The boy's voice was laced with curiosity.
"The ones who came and said that they were the representative of the city's security initiative, they said they were the official...!" Haruki started to explain, but the sudden banging noise from behind them just caused him to yell, "Oh no, I took too long to explain!"
Somehow the silent alarm got triggered which caused the Antiskill to send in their suppression unit with riot shield and shock batons.
"The runaway group is here! Get them!" The leading officer yelled.
"Shit!" Pierce just ran from the squad and left his questions unanswered, but can't risk it especially when his condition is still lacking and his gear is a complete mess.
"Split up and catch him! GO!"
The Antiskill gave chase, but they just looked around before they realized that they already lost their targets and only being able to apprehend the group of dangerously armed students who tried to break their comrade from the reformatory.
"What took you so damn long?!" Shujin yelled at his blue haired colleague as they trekked down the hill where the reformatory was located.
Pierce replied in a whispered yell, "They were pushed into doing this Shu-kun!"
"The hell?"
"You mean STUDY is not behind all of this illegal arms manufacturing?" Yuu was surprised by the sudden development.
"They admitted to supplying the necessary manufacturing data, but they're not the one who rallied that much force! I can't say Yuu-kun, but this is leading to something else entirely!" Pierce said before the three of them reached the entrance to their usual escape route, the underground service tunnels.
Somewhere on Academy City a calm housewarming party was being held between two dangerous tactician minds on the residential area on the edge of district 13 which mainly houses smaller yet comfier homes with improved security because the district was packed with kindergarten and elementary schools. Many students decided to move to district 7 because of the more spacious room and to be closer to their peers.
And in this very district Mitsuari Ayu had her housewarming party with her acquaintance.
Kumokawa Seria.
"Thank you for coming, but I can't help feeling awkward about this." She said as she served a cup of black coffee that Seria liked.
Seria acknowledged her as a rival of some sort, the 'beauty senpai' was well aware of her tactical mind that she honed from being active in the darkside of the city, but she was more alarmed by her feelings for Kamijou Touma.
Kumokawa Seria saw her as a threat and as a 'friend' at the same time, but the older girl decided to press on the more important topic.
"You pushed all of your friends in Tokiwadai away, even that boy who you cherished so much. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but I think I'm your only friend left." She said in a rather blunt manner, she was not holding her verbal punches with the chestnut haired girl who has a pair of spectacular legs.
"About that…" Ayu fidgeted as she tried to form up an answer.
Her pause and mannerism caused the senpai to press on even further as she said, "Don't tell me you still went up to that artificial lake each time you had the chance."
"..."
This caused Ayu to glance down in silence because of the things Seria said.
"Mitsuari, you really should start to socialize with others… I can't be the only one who keeps an eye on you." Her voice sounds like a plea.
"Kumokawa, about that… I actually… I met someone." Ayu sheepishly replied.
"What?"
Seria was surprised by the meek and shy answer.
PLAY MUSIC
Ao Haru Ride OST – Yuugure no Maigo.
A/N: Loop the tune for maximum effect dear reader.
After seeing Seria's reaction, Ayu decided to continue further with her honest confession, "I've been seeing someone lately… but I still don't know anything about him and the circumstances around him were complicated."
Seria's jaw practically dropped as the maiden within her broke through the cool older girl persona.
"Him? Wait?! You're seeing a boy?! Okay, I'm going into full on soap opera mode."
"Whatever you imagined in your head, it's not what happened." Ayu said with a slight shade of red on her face.
"It's more, isn't it… because it sounded like you just had a one night fling with that boy." Seria said to turn the conversation into a lusciously scandalous topic.
"I told you it's not like that! It could even be related to the major case you've been working on."
Ayu explained as her face turned into a deeper shade of red because for a moment she remembered about all the things related to the dark haired boy, their disastrous first meeting where she went all hysterical on him to the point where he helped her with the moving process to this cozy apartment and forcing him to eat her favorite treats.
Seria just smiled as she placed one of her hands on her cheek and said.
"Tell me more about it then."
"I noticed that he wore this mask thing with an integrated communication system on it and aesthetically speaking the helmet mask thing had these sharp eyes that looked…"
"Somehow menacing?"
"Correct!" Ayu said as her body slightly jolted up.
"Maybe he's… nevermind come here Mitsuari, I got to show you a dossier that might be related to him." Seria said as she gave the chestnut haired girl her tablet that was filled with files related to her work.
"Garm? The name doesn't sound like the usual Academy City darkside groups."
"The ones who were active in this group are eccentric to say the least, but I think you have to read this yourself." Seria explained to implore Ayu to read further the entirety of the dossier.
"This dossier is all over the place, they really didn't leave much trail for you to work, did they?"
Ayu shared her honest thoughts on the dossier that seemed lacking which surprised the girl with the lush and soft looking hair.
"Keep reading Mitsuari." Seria simply replied.
"Notes about Roach, seriously did they just give him a nickname like that… Fox, Hound, Jackal… What's with the animal motives here… They're a unique group of shunned and rejected individuals… Kumokawa, why are there two empty data logs in this dossier?"
"The two empty logs belonged to their operatives that were really hard to track even when I used the data that has been collected by the city, Antiskill and darkside groups, but from what I can get from your earlier explanation… I think that boy was one of those illusive operatives." Seria said which surprised Ayu, but she was going to get even more surprised as she looked at the fuzzy pictures of this group during their combat operations.
Her eyes went wide as she looked at a picture of the menacing looking helmet that all of them wore as their standard gear.
"Those masks started to look familiar, didn't they?" Seria said as she rested her head on her crossed hands.
"This is the helmet that he wore back then… Kumokawa, who are they?" Ayu said as the gravity of things started to sink in.
After looking at her genuinely worried eyes, Seria rose up and straightened her back before she took a deep breath and said, "The ones who were mad enough to take up on my offer, to investigate and if necessary eliminate the largest underground clique in School Garden."
"WAIT! I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE DUCHESS'S CLIQUE BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM THEM!"
Mitsuari Ayu suddenly lost all of her grace and composure as she yelled at the older girl, moments later Seria could see the apparent distress on Ayu's face. Seria turned to her again, but this time she had this serious look on her face as she said "Are they that dangerous though, I'm still collecting information about them, I still don't know the full scale of their power."
"That clique was the hidden power player within the School Garden. Kumokawa, they're the reason why I moved away from my current dorm to this residential area." Ayu answered. She is looking at the older girl straight in the eye to show her that she was serious.
"I thought you wanted to put some distance between your Tokiwadai schoolmates." Seria added.
"That too! Okay listen here Kumokawa, from what I heard that Shokuhou's clique was the face of School Garden's elite society, but the hands of this elite society was the duchess's clique." Ayu continued to explain
"You lost me here." Seria said in a flat tone.
"Shokuhou's 'queen' clique is the most known clique and the 'duchy' clique used that as a mask so that they could move more subtly and garnered power even outside from School Garden." Ayu said. The girl saw that this is the thing that she could do to help Seria as she was the one who provided the vital information for the boy and his group that had helped her before.
"That's why you moved out?" Seria said to the flustered girl, now she knew that Ayu really had some sort of emotional connection to the mysterious boy.
"They knew my involvement with 5Over operating system and the 5Over Modelcase: Mental Out. They'll try to get me to their side one way or another…"
The girl's voice is covered with a thick layer of melancholy as her tone changes into a somber one.
Seria quickly noticed the change in tone and changed her tone into a softer one as she said, "You're afraid that they'll harm the ones close to you… even him."
"That's why, I don't want him to get involved with me again… with all of this, but you're now telling me that someone else that I know is also getting involved with that clique, I'm not worth all of that trouble! I'm just a villai..." Ayu continued to explain with the same somberful tone
"Did he say that though? Back when Kamijou saved Shokuhou from you and the 5Over device… he never once called you out as a villain, and I'm pretty sure that mysterious boy never treated you as a bad person as well."
"But I don't want anyone to get dragged into this kind of thing." Ayu's voice turned more somber as the air around her turned into one that matches her mood.
"I'm pretty sure the two of them already made up their mind when they rescued you for the first time though?"
"Why are you so sure that they'll do the same thing as Kamijou did?" Ayu asked in a whimpering voice that sounded similar to a maiden who's holding back on her tears.
"why? It was simple, They're a group that was formed indirectly from his actions after all." Seria answered.
"What did you just say?"
"That group was being modeled after that boy you held dear, Mitsuari." The beautiful senior continues with her explanation.
"I don't believe it!"
"Resist all you want, but you know I'm not going to lie about things related to that boy." Seria replied with another soft sounding reply.
"So what I got to do now."
"We'll help them as much as we can from the shadows, just like we did when you met that boy for the first time." Seria said, referencing their experience during the whole 'Biohacker' incident.
"You just want me to interact more with that 'illusive operative' and shun me away from the competition, aren't you hag?" Ayu suddenly turned her head up to look her straight in the eyes.
"Tch!" Seria just clicked her tongue.
That confirms it
Kumokawa Seria really tried to use this emotional moment for her own gain.
"I KNEW IT! YOU BUSTY MANIPULATIVE HAG!" Mitsuari Ayu fumed at the girl as she once again lost all sense of composure which sent the two of them into a fit of petty insults.
PLAY MUSIC
Darker Than Black OST – Was.
There are three masked figures who's hanging around in the alleyways of the School Garden area, this is a rare sight as boys are prohibited from entering this area which was dedicated for girl's schools and dormitories.
And by rare, it meant that any trespassers were usually being punished with excessive force as the maidens of School Garden are incredibly aggressive about protecting their privacy, even Aogami thought twice about sneaking in and only observed the girls through spotter scope from the rooftops of the neighboring buildings.
"It was a good thing that nothing happened while we were installing those wiretaps." Motoharu said.
Atsumu replied in a rare show of humor as he said, "If they found out about this, you'll be skinned alive, handler."
"Why only me?!" The blonde delinquent was shocked.
But the dark haired assassin gaze turned serious and dark before they could have a laugh towards the blonde's antics.
His next line is about to turn the entire situation into a serious one.
"Wait! Hide and put the mask on! Something is coming this way!"
"Hide! spread around damn it…" Motoharu reacted to his warning.
"Atsumu-san you better be right about this!" Mitsuki also voiced his concern.
"I'm sure about this!"
Atsumu replies as he opens the two small pouches on his hip to pull out two dark steel wires that he usually uses to subdue his targets.
And it will become vital as two figures landed just outside the alleyways, one of them has light brown hair fashioned in a bob cut and the other has a tall and slim figure with long lilac hair fashioned in elegant looking ringlets.
"Hokaze-sama, why did you suddenly run here?!" The short haired girl said as her friend let her down from the princess carry.
"I thought I heard people talking, but I guess I was just imagining things."
The ringlet girl replied with a certain alertness as her eyes continued to scan the darkened alleys.
Upon seeing her distress the brunette girl walked to her side and said, "We know you are worried about the queen's whereabouts but you need to rest too, Hokaze-sama. Let the Honey Bee and the Bumble Bee unit carry on with the search."
If only they knew that their queen was in the middle of a fight with a seducing sexy witch with looks that could rival the queen.
But at that moment, Junko just stopped and looked at her friend and replied softly.
"I'll be counting on you Kobayashi-san."
"Let us deal with the search, Hokaze-sama." Kobayashi Satori said as she was concerned by the tired complexion of Junko's face. The lilac haired girl was the second in command of Shokuhou Misaki's clique was viewed as the gentle older sister with an innocent personality and those details caused many other members of the clique and even other students from outside the clique to view her with an amount of affection.
But for others she was also known as the berserker who has the potential of becoming a level 5 esper because of her enhancement type esper power that turned her combat capabilities up and over the charts.
In simpler terms, she was a nightmare of an opponent in close quarters combat.
That was what Motoharu thought when he saw the two girls leaped up to leave the area.
"Shit that was scary, how did she manage to sense our presence?!" He said as he huffed out a sigh of relief.
"Hokaze Junko, the Rampage Dress or one who wore the heavenly garment." Mitsuki said as he looked at the scene in wonder.
The assassin cocked an eyebrow and looked at him with a puzzled look, he was curious to know the reason why he said that.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Atsumu said.
"It was her nickname, her ability to manipulate the bioelectricity in her body can enhance her senses and physical ability on par with the strongest physical type esper." Mitsuki said, but as he delivered his sentence a shadow loomed over the three boys and the three of them glanced up to see something that deeply disturbed them.
Hokaze Junko and Kobayashi Satori didn't leave the area, they just jumped up to the nearby rooftop and waited to confirm their suspicions, Junko's ability also supercharged her senses too after all.
PLAY MUSIC
Owari no Seraph OST – Supernova.
A/N: A tune with an epic feel to herald in and accompany the following clash between magic and science dear reader, and you know that an altercation is about to break between these two sides.
And it became clear as she spoke to the three boys standing in the alleyway, "So you've done some background checks on me. Oh, what should I do... that was an unpleasant surprise."
The three trespassers looked at the model like girl and saw that she had subtly switched from her gentle Ojou-sama persona into a battle ready mode, which prompted Atsumu to yell into his communication device, "Damn it all, it was supposed to be an interception and deception operation…"
"Atsumu-san, get ready for…" Mitsuki tried to say something before his sentence got cut by an abrupt reply.
"A straight up fight and swift escape, handler who's the one that I should be dealing with."
The dark haired assassin was the one who gave the reply as he prepared himself for a fight, and by using the information that he has acquired, Atsumu knew that the fight will be an uphill one.
Because it is a 'defensive' battle not the usual 'eliminate' mission that he had tons of experience with.
"Knowing your abilities… taking on that ringlet girl would be the best for you." Motoharu chimed in.
"That doesn't sound right? Are you hiding something?" Atsumu said, his voice was dripping with suspicion.
"Yeah, for someone who can't hold himself back in battle, she's the one most suited to handle you head on."
Motoharu basically called him out on his tendency to switch into a brutal avenger when he got into battles.
"how about the other one Tsuchimikado, what is she going to… screw this, she's a telepath! She's calling for backup!" Mitsuki raised another alarm.
"We cannot let this pass for the safety of the other students. Kobayashi-san, could you peek into their minds? We need to find out their true intentions." Junko said to Satori as she prepared herself to defend her clique member and apprehend the trespassers.
"Give me a moment Hokaze-sama… Ugh! My head hurts! What is happening?! I can't read anything from all of them." Satori pressed her hands against her head as sharp spikes of pain pierced into her mind.
"Those weird helmets…" Junko grimaced as she looked at the three figures who now revealed themselves underneath the moonlight.
Each of them are wearing a custom made helmet with Atsumu's helmet being the simplest one with sharp looking lenses that glowed red, Motoharu and Mitsuki has a specialized visor unit with two round lenses on the eye area and a single monocle eye design at the middle of their helmet that acts as a camera and tracker for traces of magic residue, this has a side effect where the helmets turned Motoharu and Mitsuki to look like someone who intentionally wore disguise with spider motifs.
"I guess the defensive AIM wave lining works." The delinquent looking boy said as he saw the direct result of his design decision.
Atsumu broke the uneasy silence by a single yell, "Handler! Tactical retreat I'll be the rear guard! Go!"
He implored that his handler could see the danger of their cover being blown if they decided to stick there longer as the situation worsens by each passing moment.
"Unabara, get to the! car I'll give you some cover." Motoharu complied to his request as he turned around and ran along with Mitsuki, but his mind was already setting up emergency plans where the three of them could get run away from this predicament unscathed.
Motoharu really hoped that his emergency plan would go well as he pulled out small canisters that eerily looked like gas grenade canisters with smaller scales.
The boy smirked underneath his mask as a way to motivate himself before he yelled at Atsumu to begin their tactical retreat plan, "Atsu-kun! Held her back for about 2 minutes! This is a shock and awe plan, keep her distracted!"
"Affirmative, moving into combat position." Atsumu said calmly which was a clear contrast to his acrobatic action as he used the wires and built- in reeling device inside his pouches to zip up and scale the building in a break-neck acceleration.
"Eh? What? Where did he go…" Junko was surprised by the sudden disappearance of the approaching intruder before she screamed at the top of her lungs because of a sudden figure with two glowing red eyes that got really close to her face, "EEEEEK!"
By instinct the girl threw a full force punch out of pure shock, her power of rampage dress was veiling around her fist as faint trails of electrical discharge were forming around her hand.
Atsumu reacted by keeping on accelerating upwards and flew up to the sky to dodge her attack and threw another wire to the fixed air conditioner unit on the rooftop ro reel his body down faster. The boy knew that it would be painful to land with such speed, but he could lessen the impact by rolling across the roof as he landed and kept running to preserve the momentum.
Every kinetic energy that propelled his body forward was precious in a fight against a speedster with enhanced physical ability like Hokaze Junko.
It was even more crucial when the goal was only to distract the girl without actually hurting her.
From the unfolding situation, it seems that Atsumu's plan is working as he grabbed Junko's wrist and twisted it into a standard lock position that he often see being performed by police forces, he didn't knew whether the force being applied was too much or not, but he just needs to buy time before his handler could execute his plan.
Hokaze Junko is not going to take this as she used her enhancement ability to forcefully break free from the arm lock and faced her opponent as she said, "We don't need to fight, but you need to stop fighting back like this!"
Junko thought that her sudden show of show would deter the trespassers, but it only resulted in the boy to duck down and dashed forward to engage in a close quarters hand to hand combat much to her surprise, because she never heard that someone would engage into a close combat with her after knowing her esper ability.
Atsumu dove in with a stance that was associated with defensive fighting style that emphasized using the enemy's own strength against them, but he didn't know how it would scale against someone who could literally send armored cars flying like a grocery basket.
The assassin just balled his hands and relaxed them repeatedly before Junko jumped into his combat range with a flying kick.
She steeled her mind and decided to fight.
But such big move will become a problem as soon as the target moved and dodged away from the attack and move in for a counterattack, Which happened in this case where Junko missed her target and left herself open for a counter attack from the boy who moved in from low angle and locked her hands again in a different position.
This repeated move drove the ringlet girl rather upset as she tried to twist her body around to throw Atsumu off from her, but she didn't count on the possibility that the boy just accepted the violent twist and let his body fly off from the rooftop.
This event sends shock to her heart because she thought that Atsumu will somehow counter her attacks or do something to prevent his body from being sent down like that, she already saw how the boy was more than capable to counter the attack.
If only she knew that it was a ploy to shock her into a state of disarray.
It was a play to get her attention away from a small dark colored canister flying towards her and Satori.
Atsumu knew that for someone who has never killed someone, the act of killing would be a traumatizing experience for them even if they somehow accidentally did it.
It was a wicked and sick trick to pull on the unsuspecting girl, but by an assassin's standards it was considered the safest choice to execute against the innocent yet overpowered girl.
'When faced with an overwhelming physical presence, it's mind could be the answer.'
Atsumu remembered one of many pieces of advice that has been beaten into his very core.
Moments later two explosions of thick smoke dusts enveloped Satori and Junko which served as a perfect screen for the boys to run away, and it became even more perfect because Mitsuki already started the engine of his car to get them away.
And the smoke is not getting blown away by the wind and anchored itself around Junko and Satori because the canisters are being used to store a special mix of magic imbued dust and an enchanted paper with a set of spells in it.
"A simple magic assisted tracking smoke bomb?! Handler, your tactical mind kept on surprising me." Atsumu said to Motoharu as he slowly reeled himself down from the side of a multistory building.
"You liked it?" Motoharu replied as he entered Mitsuki's car.
"Make some for the group Handler, they're going to need it" The assassin replied as he ran closer to his bike which was being parked nearby a large tunnel entrance.
And with that, the group managed to get away from the dire encounter with one of the strongest level 4 esper In Academy City, but it won't be the last, because minutes later after the magic smoke bomb wears off Junko just looked at the distance with unease which was noticed by her friend as she said, "Hokaze-sama, are you okay? You don't look so good."
"I am fine Kobayashi-san, I just… felt disturbed by that boy's action." The ringlet girl said as her body started to tremble a bit.
She was still recovering from the shock that she experienced minutes before, the sensation of almost taking another living being's life.
Moments later, Junko breathed in a deep breath and said, "Gather everyone Kobayashi-san, we have an emergency on our hands… We will do thorough research on them, right after we find the queen's whereabouts."
"I will relay it to the other team leaders, Hokaze-sama."
Junko nodded upon hearing her reply as a thought formed inside her mind.
'Someone who's willing to use tactics like that are immoral and detestable… This is not over until I get you.'
Touma: Damn that ringlet girl is looking fine.
Motoharu: A combination of classy and model like aesthetics is a killer combination
Pierce: She's the younger sister with a kind older sister personality kind of girl, she's a rare one.
Misaki: What are you saying about Hokaze?!
Motoharu: We're just being honest here!
Misaki: My prince! Is this true?! Do you prefer girls like her?!
Pierce: Dang she's about to cry.
Motoharu: Alright Kami-yan, you handle this one.
Pierce: Best of luck Kamijou.
Touma: Wait where are you going?! You two are the one who started this!
Motoharu: And you're the only one who could calm her down.
Pierce: It's simple, Kamijou, just hold her hand, pat her head, hug her close and make her feel special, skinship is the key.
Motoharu: Look at her beaming eyes, you're giving her ideas Aogami…
Pierce: I can't help but think that I accidentally set up flags for Kamijou... Well enjoy the moment Kamijou, we're out
Mikoto: GEH! Shokuhou! Get off from him! You idiot, do something about this!
Touma: JUST MY LUCK!