Chapter 10
A Fractured Heart and an Incomplete Girl.
Mother's_Promise_(Reach_For_Hope/Heaven).
1
While this was all going on, a girl the size of a human palm sat on the shoulder of the nun in white, narrowing her sole uncovered eye as she listened to Kizuna's accusation. She couldn't say what it was, but she felt a sting in her mind as those accusations passed into her ears and towards her brain.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Did I stutter?"
Despite Othinus's terse reply, Kizuna bit back without hesitation.
"If you want, I'll repeat it for you. I wonder how much of a role each of you played in that boy's fractured heart."
That was really all she had to say.
Not a single person there replied once. While some like Kuroyoru Umidori and Kumokawa Maria were less intimately familiar with Touma, the girls who were closer to him were likely feeling something akin to a paralysis of their throats—a self-induced one meant to prevent them from incriminating themselves.
"What does that matter to you? If that's some attempt at controlling the conversation, it's not going to work. You're the one that kidnapped him and hooked him up to a machine. No matter how much flowery language you use, you can't change the fact that that is what you have done."
And yet, Othinus's words failed to make a single dent.
"You are right about that. I did. And yet, those actions are probably better for him in the long run than keeping him around people like you who will only serve to hurt him. When I met him, do you know how much my heart ached at his penchant for self-sacrifice?" Kanon held her hands to her heart as she gave a somber gaze to the girls. "Something that was not only enabled and exacerbated by you girls."
The girls in question all stood in stunned silence as the blame was once again shifted on them in terms that were far from subtle. "Now that I've confessed my sins, why don't you confess yours, little one?"
No matter how much they would try, Kizuna would effortlessly focus the blame for the problem that mattered the most. That was the kind of person she was. That was the kind of person who could raise as many Child Errors as she did without breaking down.
"And I was being facetious about asking what you did to make him so fractured. Each of you three are at the core to some extent. Though, if it was freshest, the answer would obviously be..." After blinking, a change came upon her. Much like her diversion, it was far from subtle. One needed only to look in her right eye to see the change of her iris and pupil into a bizarre multicolored state—an appearance that mimicked the concentric rings of a tree, each colored a different aspect of the spectrum of visual light.
Among that crowd, there was only one entity in that room who could say she was intimately familiar with that appearance.
The girl with the glasses and large breasts found herself stepping back and gasping as soon as she saw that rainbow-colored right eye.
"You, little one. For all your acrid words, you are the most recent wound on that boy's soul. And it's pretty fresh, all things considered."
But as soon as she finished saying that, Kanon scrunched the right side of her face, wincing in pain as she closed her eye. With one hand, she grabbed at her head on that side, but with her left, she reached out to the side, out of the view of the camera, produced a few distinct clacking sounds followed by one large one that sounded like she was sending some command. Within a few seconds, she took a deep breath before letting go of her face and opening her eyes back up to reveal her usual pink eyes.
After taking a solitary sigh, she found herself speaking under her breath. "Still not fully stable, huh?"
Taking a moment to press her head and grit her teeth for a second, Kizuna took a few deep breaths. After finding a moment to fully relax, she focused her attention back onto the girls she had been chiding. She rested her chin back onto her hand and looked back to the girls.
"You are the most recent problem, standing among other problems whose wounds have, to some extent and for better or for worse, scarred over. But, I am talking to you simply because you act as if you have some right to chastise me for my actions, you who carved some of the most hideous scars in that poor boy's psyche."
Othinus grit her teeth. The self-proclaimed understander found herself cast to the edge of a cliff as she realized that she would only find her actions, the ones broadcast ever so broadly to the larger world, to be under fire.
"Even so, that doesn't give you any right, child. No matter what scars I placed, there's a reason why I'm still by his side despite it all."
"Are you going to keep us arguing in circles? Because I'm sure you realize as well as I do that wasting more time like this is only worse for you. I don't need to give or field any apology or defense from someone so enraptured by Lima Syndrome or who snared a teenage boy through Stockholm Syndrome. You can keep your justifications to yourself, because if you actually felt no guilt, you wouldn't be trying to bite back as much as you are doing. You're far worse than the girls around you."
"Wait...how did you...there's no way for you to be privy to that..."
It was true that the mental scars she had left in Kamijou Touma were deep and still fresh. But the details of those scars were still something that should only be known to the two who were at the center of them.
The small girl found herself unable to utter a single word as she came to realize exactly what the young woman before her was saying. Despite their differences in age, it was as if their stations had completely reversed.
The god who had persisted for many centuries had been put under pressure and rebuked by a concept that had held weight since the dawn of humanity. No matter how aged Othinus was, she was simply pressed down as the woman simply chided her.
"Admittedly, his memories are a patchwork missing many pieces and it was a third person perspective, but it was enough. A high school boy like him should not have been running around doing things worth world-wide accolades. But, each of you still took that away from him in one way or another to the point where he believes it's his only path forward."
And where did that begin?
While living through infinity with Othinus produced that burden to some extent, it was hardly the origin.
While saving Index in World War III and in July produced that burden to some extent, it was hardly the origin.
While failing to save Mitsuari Ayu one year ago produced that burden to some extent, it was hardly the origin.
In reality, they were merely wedges that drove apart already existing cracks.
They were symptoms rather than causes.
And the source of those existing cracks was far more murky. Was it a singular incident or was it a series of incidents? With his memories eternally sealed away, the answer that would merely remain hedged for that eternity.
And yet, they still bore responsibility.
While their actions didn't create those cracks, they did serve to widen and extend them.
That was the reality of the unrealistic burdens the boy who could not handle tragedy had placed upon himself time and time again.
"For a supposed god, you're far more insecure than you try and let on. Then again, that's a theme in older polytheistic faiths, isn't it?" Despite the sardonic words, there was not a single hint of that tone in her voice. If anything, Kizuna sounded more exasperated. "Mitsuari-chan and Index-chan are all in better places than you are, Miss Othinus. After all, they're the ones who are silently accepting their own roles. They're not the ones trying to deny their guilt by pushing another's actions as worse than their own. Though, it's not like I owe them any apologies either."
Her eyes, however, did turn to Kazakiri Hyouka after glazing over the other girls.
"W-Why? Why do you have that eye?"
The girl found herself stuttering, but she could not find any way to suppress her confusion and anger. The timid girl found herself standing firm and directed eye contact towards Kizuna.
"Yes, you are the one I owe my deepest apologies to."
Yet, despite standing her ground, those words were not what Kazakiri Hyouka had expected to hear. It was like bracing for an incoming collision only for it to gently fall against her hands. She had braced to be chided like the others.
"While you were also one who had become a burden to him, you were one who fought to whatever end you could and even protected him yourself, so chiding you like I had the others would be beyond what's appropriate. I just want to focus on the apology."
It made no sense. After talking everyone standing there down, she had taken the exact opposite action to one she should not have been beholden to. At least, that's what it had first seemed.
"Because while the others bear their own sins, you are not at fault for any of this. We have trespassed into your own home. And now, we're about to run amok in it and possibly change it beyond recognition. From the very start, the victim in all of this is you, Miss Kazakiri Hyouka, and so, from the bottom of my heart, I must apologize."
Her heart dropped, but even she could not fathom what Kizuna was saying. After all, she was being incredibly vague about her plans and the aftershocks. But, she was able to connect some of the dots.
"Then that eye was your attempted connection to the ith District…?"
There were no smiles. There were no jeers. There were no laughs.
All that was left from Kizuna was a somber, yet apologetic, nod.
"Do you know what an epsilon-delta definition is?" The young woman asked before taking a moment. "Actually, I guess since none of you are in high school, that concept is beyond your capacity."
"It's a concept used to define a limit of a function and prove the function's limit. It takes an infinitesimal value epsilon and uses it to extrapolate a delta value for which the the value the function tends to can fall between, I think." However, the one to answer was the (previously) silent Mitsuari Ayu. Given that Tokiwadai students had touched upon college level material, it was probably apt for her to be the one to have some idea.
"That is half correct, but for the sake of our discussion, that will be fine. The concept is a bit more detailed than that. The proofs are a bit more involved, and the concept expands beyond a mere two dimensions into the realm of neighborhoods, intervals, and closeness, but the finer aspects of the mathematics are something that can be discussed another time."
The girl lifted her hands and showed it in front of herself as if she were holding a basketball between them.
"I'm going to take three existences and bring that epsilon interval to zero." Her hands clapped together at the center. "All with a single, unequivocal link, we'll shatter everything Academy City hides away and bring our happiness to the forefront."
Though few in Academy City knew it, the ith District was a phase, much like Heaven or Yomi. The concept of smashing them together seemed absurd. And yet, there was not even a hint of doubt in the girl's mind as she said every word she did with a straight face.
And the one who was most intimately familiar with the intricate workings of phases narrowed her sole eye. "That shouldn't work. If the ith District is what I think it is, then how would you—"
"September 30th."
Though it may have felt like a mountain of time ago given the passage of a global war and a crusade against a god, there was a day two months ago when incredibly strange phenomena, even by the standards of Academy City, had taken root within the city.
The angel and it's countless wings.
The oppressive feeling of people collapsing in the street.
The distortion that seemed to center around the angel as many layers were blown away.
Though it wasn't identical to what Kizuna was talking about, something that was close enough had been demonstrated on that one fateful, rainy night.
"On that day, it was like the ith District had overlaid itself upon the city. That's why it will be possible. Acting as the anchor, I can shatter reality and imprint our own."
In a way, one could say it was taking the concept of personal reality to its extreme end.
By smashing three existences together, they would force their reality onto the world.
"How is that supposed to work? And what even is this third existence you're talking about?" Kuroyoru brought a simple point that the rest had overlooked. Kizuna had been talking about reality and the ith District but the third one remained a complete unknown.
After separating her hands, she took her right and tapped at her temple a couple of times with her index finger.
"That's all I will tell you. The rest is for you to find out for yourself."
No matter what, the correct option was to keep her cards to her chest. Too much revealed would be her undoing.
"And what about the people? Reality. The ith District. This third existence. What about all the people left behind in them?! If you do what you say, what about all the pain you're going to cause? Is there nobody that you want to protect?"
Kizuna Kanon looked down to the girl who was the one she felt most beholden to, the one who was reasonably questioning just how far she was going.
"That is why I wanted to apologize to you. I will be hurting people close to you in the process, but I am doing this precisely for those people I wanted to protect. For those like them and I who had nobody to protect us, with nobody who even batted an eye for us, this is our answer. We have no place left in the world, and so I will force the world to create a place for us, even if it means someone else gets hurt in the process. That is the happiness we were so unfairly deprived of. For that, I am deeply sorry, Kazakiri Hyouka."
She bowed before the camera. She let it linger as the sudden action had beckoned an almost deafening silence. Not a single girl could say a word as many of them had taken a step back in response to the sudden act of apology.
And after a few seconds, she stood back up, shooting an unwavering gaze at the girls.
"But from now on..." Kizuna's display quaked as whatever was filming her ended up shifting. The apparatus had, however, caught a gaze of whatever had caused the tremors. To a few of them, the face beyond the fresh hole in the wall was all too familiar.
Her somber eyes sparked, flickering in and out of the rainbow color that she had displayed beforehand. Her resolve was set, so she merely stood up to face the new entrant.
He was someone who had saved Index from an unsavory group of special operatives.
He was someone who had fought Kamijou Touma in Denmark.
He was someone who had formed the basis for Kuroyoru Umidori's thought patterns.
And yet, the young woman stood up to face that unparalleled monster.
As she did, she finished her declaration.
"The world will change. And the world will accept us. That is something we cannot and that will never stop."
With those last words, without even a single inch for reply, the display shut down, bringing the conversation to an abrupt end. It wasn't just the display. The lights that had surrounded them before once again shut down, leaving everything covered by a curtain of darkness.
In only a few seconds, the lights once again returned.
However, the oppressive atmosphere that had enveloped everyone the first time had not receded. Perhaps, they had crossed the point of no return on that front. The moment Kizuna Kanon had made herself known to the girls, there was no turning back.
In that sense, there was only one thing left to do.
"We can't keep sitting here like this. Mitsuari, is the file still inaccessible?"
Once again taking command was Kuroyoru.
As if she were pulled from a trance, Mitsuari's shoulder shook as she looked up to see the user interface she had opened up before they were so unceremoniously interrupted. After clicking on it again, another prompt window came up. However, it was not the one they had intended.
"Error. The file you are trying to open has been corrupted."
Despite all attempts to open it, the result came back the same. Whatever was hidden behind the files under Mater Familias, there was no way to ever retrieve it again.
"What about the transmission? Can you trace it?"
"No, the trackers were all encrypted. It's not letting me find the original location."
Mitsuari Ayu was still just a middle school girl. Despite her background, there was no way for her to know how to break through the kind of encryption that was left behind. The brick wall that they thought that they had passed had reared its ugly head again.
"Kurumi, return to me and join your brothers and sisters."
A voice not belonging to any of the girls spoke up slowly. The girl with the bunny-themed outfit lifted her head ever so slightly to look at the others.
"Those were the words she left behind and the words she told me would be the 'key' to everything being complete." She never lifted her head any further than that. The girl seemed to be struggling to keep herself conscious, yet she spoke, refusing to let herself be blotted out. "At first I didn't know what that meant, but now that I think about it, it was pretty obvious."
She weakly pointed to the entry prompt for the encryption key. "That was her contingency to bring me back to her." The girl smiled as tears began to stream from her eyes. "From the very start, she was looking out for all of us, that was why she could not leave me behind."
The girls all stood speechless as she continued to speak. "If you put that encryption key in, it will bring you to both her location and to Kamijou Touma."
After taking a moment to be dumbfounded by what she heard, Mitsuari Ayu typed the exact words into the prompt. After hitting the 'enter' button, what popped up was a map with specific coordinates within District 7.
"Then she erased all of our information on her and forced us into the palm of her hand?" Kuroyoru sneered.
"I told you, it was all for us. From the very beginning, everything she did was for the family she created. That's why she would never leave me behind."
Because risking even one of them would be far more of a detriment than leading people chasing after her directly to her. If her plan was already in motion, then she felt there was nothing anybody could do to prevent the snowball from continuing its descent.
That was the kind of person Kizuna Kanon was.
To risk the unfurling of everything she had in order to keep close to those who were dear to her. To some, such an action could even be denoted with a sense of romance.
"That's all well and good, but how are we supposed to even get there? I would've suggested using the FIVE_Overs, but..." Kumokawa Maria looked towardss the empty hangars and sighed. "Well, it's not like we have any access to that."
But, despite that, Kurumi grinned in a manner that could only be called smug as she slowly stood back up. "Actually, she planned for that too. Just another contingency."
She pulled a phone out of her pocket, unlocked it and tapped a few icons and alphanumeric buttons. "Just give it a second...any second aaaaaand…NOW."
After a snap of her fingers, a large thud and a small quake resonated throughout the warehouse. After having regained their bearings and letting go of whatever surface they had grabbed onto in response, the girls ran outside to see what had made that sound.
Underneath the canopy of rain and before them lay a hexagonal container that had opened by letting all of its walls fall to the side.
Within the container were…
"It's amazing how much mileage you can get from leftover technology."
"Oi, oi! Is flinging containers around the city like this safe?" Kumokawa Maria found herself breaking into a cold sweat.
"Relatively so. I think."
"The bigger issue is that you realize we could use these to destroy whatever you have in your facility. You do realize that." Kuroyoru Umidori gave the most obvious warning possible.
"You could. Well, at least you could." The young rabbit-themed girl, improvising every word she had said, smiled. "But I don't think the rest of you would ever be willing to live with all of the blood on your hands if you tried that. Especially when you find out what you'd be trying to destroy."
Kurumi smiled and chuckled as she gazed upon the pair of FIVE_Over Modelcase_"RAILGUN"s that lay within that container.
2
All that was left was an invisible trail of wreckage. However, at this point the trail was no longer necessary.
"This Misaka didn't think we would strike gold so easily."
After reading through some information on her screen, Misaka Worst found herself smiling, realizing that their first strike was not only a hit, but a strike. She could hardly believe how fortunate they were that they did not have to waste so much effort.
"Here she is. The bitch who has been playing everyone."
With a quick few touches, she showed him a display of a pink-haired young woman in an overly loose hoodie sitting before a camera and a screen, calmly talking to someone on the other side.
Despite what she had been lurking behind, she almost seemed to look like a civilian, given her demeanor and the seeming lack of caution behind how little security detail she seemed to have. And yet, it was obvious that even if she let that on, she had something laying in the background, ready to spring upon them.
"If we were to go straight to her from here..."
"There aren't any traps in the path. At least electronic ones."
"So, she's inviting us." Accelerator sneered as he placed his hand on the wall.
"Is dear papa sounding a bit unnerved there? This Misaka will be happy to gesture at you and make sounds reminiscent of a chicken if you are."
But the white-haired boy uttered not even a single word to her.
From this point forward, only actions mattered and the course of action here was clear. No matter how much these self-righteous punks tried to sugar-coat it, they were inordinately the ones that were a threat to what he called home.
One who could not be monstrous was merely powerless. A monster who could sheathe his fangs and claws was one who could be called virtuous. But none of those lofty concepts mattered here.
Virtue and villainy be damned, Accelerator had long since proved that he was willing to bare his fangs and claws towards anyone who dared to tread upon the tiny world he called home—the small world that was encompassed by the tiny list of phone numbers in his contacts list.
There was no need for more. That was the simple reason why he could raise his fist with no qualms for what may come. As it collided with the wall, the masonry that composed it broke and separated with the push from the fist of the boy who could manipulate vectors.
As it did, a long path was blown away, leading through two more walls.
"Short and sweet, eh?"
With the laughing Misaka Worst in tow, he walked towards the end of the three holes and found what he was looking for.
It was a simple office room. An entrance, a chrome-colored sheen, a wall with an array of screens that were all displaying a different visual, varying from camera footage to schematics.
Before the myriad screens stood the pink-haired young woman who was now standing to face the intruders who had so rudely entered her abode.
"But from now on..." The girl reached her hand to one of the buttons on the panel she had previously been sitting in front of. "The world will change. And the world will accept us. That is something we cannot and that will never stop."
That was the last thing she said before pressing the button she had reached for, causing one of the screens to turn dark.
"So, you really showed up here in the end, Accelerator." As Kizuna Kanon turned her focus to Accelerator (and Misaka Worst), she didn't seem to be either angry or exasperated. She did not sigh or rage. "You really ignored every request and warning we set out for you."
Her mouth half-curved downwards as she could feel nothing but disappointment that the person who had broken their shackles to an extent had still found himself shackled to the dark side enough to chase after her regardless.
"You should have realized it from the start. The moment I got involved, things weren't going to go that smoothly for you."
"No...no, they weren't." Kizuna lightly ran her fingers through her hair as she took a moment to look down. And after taking a moment to blink, she looked back up at Accelerator. "But, if I didn't consider this possibility, it would mean my resolve was only ever a half-hearted one."
There was not a single word that needed to be said. In the past, Accelerator may have spouted some superfluous words about the aesthetics of a villain or called her worthless scum. But there was no point in any of that. She, too, was likely fighting for some tiny world she called home. That was why he could not hesitate to absolutely crush her.
That was why he had already closed half of the ten meter gap between them within a second. There was no point in speaking further. He would reverse her bioelectricity with a single touch and shut her down. In the end, there was nobody in Academy City be it Esper or scientist who could ultimately surpass the wall that was created by the Number 1.
That confidence in this fact was enough to propel him forward.
That confidence in this fact was enough to prevent him from realizing…
First it was the sudden sense of vertigo, and then…
His body fell unceremoniously to the ground. Despite his movements his limbs had straightened out while he was still pivoting off of his foot. It was as if his ability to fight gravity had shut off as his chest and the left side of his face slammed into the ground.
"What..."
It had happened before he could even make contact.
"...the hell?"
"You know, sometimes it makes people vomit, but so far, the mess rate has been zero since I've enacted all of the final steps of this plan." Kizuna Kanon walked up before him and looked down at him from above. As much as Accelerator wanted to move himself, he could not move his head from the position of half face down that was starting to hurt his neck.
"WORST!"
"This Misaka would apologize but she's not that type. She's kinda preoccupied trying to get off the ground at the moment."
"Dammit!" Accelerator cursed as he realized that what had hit him had also incapacitated his current partner in crime.
"And how lucky for me too..." Kizuna said as she slowly approached the locked Accelerator and crouched down. "Your hands fell to your side and the side of you that I wanted the most access to is facing up."
Kizuna Kanon lightly tapped at the right side of her neck before she crouched down in front of Accelerator. Accelerator's eyes widened as he realized exactly what she meant.
"Before you say anything about your AIM Diffusion Field, you should realize..." From the sleeve of her hoodie slid out a knife that she caught at the handle. "That when you're suppressed like this, your AIM Diffusion Field just requires some experimentation to get past. It's much like prodding someone with a stick. As long as I don't touch it myself, I am safe."
With the blade of the knife, she slowly moved until she could feel resistance, aiming towards the button on the protruding box of his choker. "I just need to keep slowly moving until I feel that resistance."
The young man grit his teeth as the point of the knife inched its way closer and closer to him until…
"There we go." The knife finally stopped moving, as if it had hit an invisible wall. As she moved the knife side to side, it became more and more obvious how far from his body Accelerator's Reflect was able to reach.
"And now for the part that actually requires some good fine motor control. I would apologize for possibly being about to accidentally hit your neck, but only because it would just prolong the whole process and frankly, the thought's kinda sickening."
With her first push, the knife ended up bouncing back before it could hit the button on the choker. Quickly pulling back, she felt a dull ache permeating throughout her wrist. After looking at her hand and then back at Accelerator's neck, she began to re-aim the knife. "You know with how many people tried this against you, they make the whole Kihara Counter look really easy. You would think that—"
"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Despite being flat on the ground, Accelerator let out a high pitched scream. As he did, the ground in front of him rumbled, fractured even. Kizuna found herself losing balance as she clumsily fell to the side with knife in hand.
Was it the cry that had been the initial vector or perhaps did he store and circulate the initial thrusts from the knife and magnify them?
Either way…
"Well, regardless of how, you really are the Number 1. Even when you're chained down like this to the point where vertigo has overwhelmed you, you still managed to throw an attack my way." Kizuna wiped her sweat as she got onto her knees and placed laser focus onto the switch on the electrode. "That's even more of a reason to get rid of you quickly."
She couldn't lollygag anymore. Even if he was laying on the ground, panting after that attempt, she couldn't assume that she would retain any advantage in this attrition. She needed to thrust in and pull back at just the right moment. If she didn't, he would toss another attack her way.
Despite placing Accelerator into check, it had only served to place her into mutual check with him.
Once she had closed the distance to the edge of his reflection barrier, all it would take was just one.
Just one thrust.
With a simple flick of her wrist, she aimed once again for the choker's switch and pulled back.
A simple click.
Within that silent room that was distanced from the pitter-patter of the rain outside, that was all that resounded. Yet despite its small, innocuous seeming nature, it encompassed the entire room, drowning everything out and playing the role of a knell.
It took a second, but Kizuna, having seen success on her second attempt and wresting her way out of check, breathed a sigh of relief, pulling the free hand of her hoodie back to wipe the multitude of sweat beads forming atop her head.
Even though she couldn't let her guard down, she had removed Accelerator's advantage.
The Number 1 Esper lay before her as a mere teenager who couldn't even stand straight without assistance.
"It's over."
After breathing that quick sigh of relief, she placed her free hand upon Accelerator's neck. As she felt up the neck, she looked for a specific spot.
T1, C7, C6, C5…
After counting up the spine, she finally found her way to the base of the occiput of the skull—at the atlantooccipital joint.
Right here. This is the best path.
She would drive that blade straight into his brainstem. It would be quick and simple murder.
Once she was done with that, she would deal with the other threat who lay not too many feet away.
"Farewell, Accelerator. And thank you."
There was no need for any further words. She would not pay any further heed as the young man glared daggers at her. As if she had finished her last rites, she aimed the knife to his brainstem and much like with the collar, she aimed for a quick thrust to end it all.
And the knife ran its course down the straight line to its brainstem.
And small flecks of blood flew out.
3
While the brainstem and by extension the spinal cord were highly vascularized areas, if someone attempted to stab it correctly, they could minimize blood splatters quite easily. It would be impossible to prevent any blood loss, but the right technique would be more than enough to create a situation where only a few flecks of blood would fly out.
However, that was not what had happened.
Despite the straight course of the blade, it never found itself sinking into the soft white and gray matter inside Accelerator's calvarium that made up his brainstem.
The knife had gone off its path.
However, the cause was not Accelerator himself.
Kizuna Kanon winced and gritted her teeth as she found her hand letting go of the knife. A searing pain penetrated her shoulder to her back, throwing her a few feet.
Though it had been clearly meant for her heart, the purple streak of lightning instead careened straight into the shoulder of her dominant hand, leaving behind a burn and throwing her off-balance.
As she fell back, to the side, she directed her eyes at the source of the lightning.
The girl with the negative aura who had been following Accelerator was not fully on the ground.
"This Misaka realized it was pretty obvious if you took a second to think about it."
Sparks flew around her body and she winced as she was forcing herself off the ground.
"You're forcibly shocking your neurons to move your body?!"
And despite all the shocks, Misaka Worst had a hand pointing straight towards Kizuna Kanon. Her face was contorted into a triumphant grin as she pushed herself up with three out of four limbs.
What was even more terrifying were the shocks around her head, particularly around the brainstem.
Not taking a moment to let the situation get worse, Kizuna jumped off the ground and aimed for the knife she had unwillingly thrown aside.
"Vertigo followed by an inability to counter gravity and a rigid extension of the muscles."
Despite how many people Kizuna Kanon had used her esper ability on, few were able to ever truly understand what happened. When Kuroyoru Umidori, Kamijou Touma, and Kumokawa Maria were hit by it, for example, not a single one of them could comprehend the phenomenon that had just taken place.
But the malevolent girl before her had completely understood it after experiencing it once.
"Tch."
But before she spoke up, she found something flying to her. A metal slab that had been lying elsewhere in the building had come flying to her before she could reach the knife. Rather than letting the thin edge smash into her and split her, she pushed herself away in the opposite direction of the knife.
But once the sheet had gotten in front of her, it ground to a complete halt.
"Realistically, when you break it down systematically, there's only one possible answer. This Misaka doesn't know the exact mechanism, but you directly interfere with your targets' vestiblospinal tracts. Even if this Misaka is unsure if it's at the vestibular nucleus or further down the tract's periphery, once you figure out the cause, it's easy to work around it."
It was like working a diagnosis for any direct neurological injury. By lateralizing the symptoms, one could easily pinpoint the source of the insult with enough understanding of neuroanatomy. Where was the patient feeling weak? Where does the lack of sensation lateralize to and what type?
Once one could do that, any ability that attacked the brain was child's play. Of course, few had that capability and Kizuna had the misfortune of dealing with someone like that right at this moment.
She could not rest or get complacent.
The metal slab immediately flew at her, pushing her into the litany of screens she had been sitting in front of earlier. Her chest felt the pressure of the rigid metal pushing into her and squeezing at her. It was like the air in her lungs was slowly being squeezed out as her rubs creaked from the strain.
However, for just a second, she felt enough of a release to slip out, falling down as the slab that had been pressing against her lost its force and fell to the ground. After gasping for air, she looked at Misaka Worst, who had, for a moment, seemed to let go of the metal.
And as she paid attention to the clone's neck, she saw further sparks flying from the base of her skull.
"Muscle and deep brain stimulation."
Kizuna grit her teeth as she realized exactly how this madwoman was trying to deal with the problem. One of the last resort treatments for Parkinson's disease was the insertion of an electrode into parts of the brain to directly stimulate certain pathways or clusters of neurons. In reality, it was a very controlled treatment that required incredible precision.
Yet, here she was, performing it with brute force.
That was why she hadn't fully stood up. That was why her focus had dropped enough for Kizuna to be released from the metal vice.
That was why despite Misaka Worst's moderate success at breaking free of her restraint, Accelerator still lay on the ground.
In other words…
I still have a chance!
While still on the ground, she lifted her hand to the keyboard on the desk and simultaneously hit multiple buttons. Though she couldn't see what she had hit, she knew exactly what she had done. Within a few seconds, parts of the ceiling came falling apart, leaving multiple slabs of concrete raining down.
"YOU BITCH!"
That was right, even if Misaka Worst had overcome it to some extent, Accelerator was an entirely different story after he had been left in that vulnerable state. Even though his capability lay in the manipulation of vectors, it was not like he could create new charges out of nowhere and do the same thing Worst had done.
Underneath that rain of falling rubble, it was obvious what the first priority was. If Accelerator was killed here, it would all be for nothing. And yet, solely protecting him would garner nothing further than a standstill.
As both Misaka Worst winced and struggled to her feet, she saw Kizuna Kanon getting back to her feet and facing the keyboard on her workstation.
"It doesn't matter if it's not stable enough yet. It's time to move into the penultimate phase."
As Misaka Worst lunged to Accelerator, she attempted to use her lightning to break through the rain of rubble, only to create more shrapnel.
And yet, as she saw Kizuna getting ready to slam her hand down upon the console, Misaka Worst, while standing above Accelerator and keeping her focus on the falling rubble, aimed one last shot towards Kizuna.
Despite her view being obscured by clouds of concrete dust, she aimed without any reservations straight to the heart.
And yet…
What rang out as a result of that searing streak from within that rain of rubble was the sound of an explosion and of glass shattering.
Despite what she had aimed, that should not have been the sound Misaka Worst had heard. No, she should have heard a thud as her target collapsed to the floor and convulsed.
It was perhaps only a second after she heard that unexpected sound that she saw through a break in the dust and rubble.
Multiple shattered screens.
Sparks flying.
Glass pieces lying all over a console that had burst from within.
A pink-haired girl with a burn on her shoulder and some small pieces of glass surrounding her and piercing her chest.
It was over. Even if Misaka Worst hadn't killed Kizuna, she had inadvertently destroyed the console that seemed to be a centerpiece to activating the next step of her plan and she had injured Kizuna. She just needed one more shot to kill her and end this utter joke of a plan for good.
It was a shame that Accelerator was not the one to do it, given his vulnerable position, but that made it all the more sweet. What could be more fun than kill stealing from him?
But something was off.
Despite the clear checkmate in Worst's and Accelerator's favor, Kizuna Kanon was still smiling. It was not a smile of one who was going crazy or of one who had resigned herself to defeat. Blood dripped from her forehead, likely from a stray shot of shrapnel hitting her. Her console had been totaled. Yet, she still stood like she hadn't even been dealing with a minor inconvenience.
It was only one kind of smile.
The soft smile of a young woman who had overcome immeasurable obstacles.
From her right hand, a click sounded out.
"Check, Accelerator."
From the pink-haired young woman who had declared her advantage, a searing light flooded out, erasing all sight and sound before...
A Junctional Escape
"GET THE IM HALOPERIDOL!"
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
Come to think of it, it all started here, didn't it.
Numerous men and women in sterile outfits came out to hold down the unruly pink-haired girl that lay on the operating table. Despite her young age and slender form, she would not let up. It was said that a rat was its most dangerous after it had been backed into a corner and the young girl proved to be no different in that regard.
I wonder if God had some sense of sick irony when forcing me to relive this again.
In the background, a female nurse drew up medication from a vial into a syringe before passing it to one of the men who were holding her down.
"STOP. DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE DON'T!"
Despite her resistance and tears, she could feel a needle plunge into her shoulder along with a liquid sensation. As they pulled the needle out, she found her mind starting to cloud. The world still remained clear. But, she no longer seemed to feel revulsion. Her desire to lash out seemed to be repressed as she stopped thrashing and let her limbs drop back down.
"There we go, Kanon. That's better, isn't it?"
She could hear the man who would be playing the role of her surgeon make a facetious attempt to calm her down.
Almost makes me want to keep screaming, though I guess I couldn't at that point.
"Shall we intubate her without sedating her? I got the rocuronium ready."
"Come on, Saiga. We're scientists. Not monsters. Follow the proper procedure and make sure the propofol's ready."
If she were actually able to move the body she was experiencing the world through, she would have found herself sneering at that set of statements.
A milky-white liquid began to flow through the tube connected to the IV in her arm as she felt an oxygen mask being placed onto her face.
"Now count backwards from 10."
That was all that was left as her memory began to grow cloudy and eventually black out.
The girl raised her hand while she lay flat on her back.
Her abdomen ached. It felt like a volcano had erupted within her, searing everything within and pressing on her. Her throat ached and she found herself coughing as she came to, worsening that pressure on her belly.
She had only just woken up, but her eyes were damp with so many tears that they had already began streaming down the side of her head as she refused to lift it any further.
Kizuna Kanon looked down upon the girl who lay in that stretcher crying—a girl who was obviously all too familiar to her.
So, now I'm looking on from outside.
Kizuna frowned as she looked down upon her past self, laying there, writhing in pain post-operation. She had seemed to have been granted some reprieve post-operation as she had a drip of hydromorphone connected to her, but that wasn't enough.
That could never be enough. Not after what had just happened to her.
She could only watch as the young girl before her placed her hand on her abdomen, feeling the irregularities on the surface—the multiple cuts surrounding her belly button that were all sutured up and covered in gauze, remnants of the entry from the robot. The feeling of pain surrounding something that was clearly missing from her belly.
Though she was unaware of what had transpired while she was operated on, she could not help but feel revulsion and fear at the reality that she had been cut open and a part of her had been taken out.
She cried.
And yet, no matter how much she cried, the fact that it happened could never be redacted.
"So, is that rebellious streak of yours finally over?"
Yet, despite the fear, violation, and pain, the young girl who could be no more than thirteen glared at the source of the voice—a young man, maybe a decade older than her with black hair and glasses. He was wearing everything that came with a suit except for the blazer. He even had his vest on as he held up a tablet, jotting down notes and taking occasional glances at her.
"Clearly not."
He let the hand holding the tablet hang back at his side as he walked towards the young Kanon.
With each step, Kanon's glare grew deeper and more intense. Moreover, it wasn't just the Kanon laying in bed who was glaring daggers at him. The present-day Kanon who stood at the bedside did the same, doubling the intensity of the glares placed on the man, even if he would never notice one of them.
"You need to listen here." The man stood at the stretcher on the opposite side of where Kanon stood and looked at the young Kanon from above. "Resign yourself to this. A Child Error like yourself has no place to be so defiant. You were left here, forgotten, and eaten up for a reason. So, give up and accept it. The sooner you do, the sooner you can start mitigating the pain in here..."
The young man pointed to her abdomen. In that instant, the current Kizuna heard the sound of something cracking. As she did, she looked down to the source of the sound. Pulling up her shirt slightly, she saw black cracks with sparkling flecks spreading between the surgical scars that remained ever visible on her belly.
"As well as here," he said before pointing to her chest—more specifically her heart.
As if a call-and-response was happening, another cracking sound reverberated. This time, she pulled her shirt and hoodie forward only to see the same type of cracks spreading across her chest.
"Screw that." Both Kanons gritted their teeth as they focused their glares onto the scientist.
"This entire thing was still your fault. Resignation? You're just trying to shift the blame away from yourself." The older Kanon spoke what the younger Kanon who could barely speak over the pain could not. The older one gritted her teeth as she spoke to him.
Yet despite the fact that he should not have been able to hear her, he still looked directly into the eyes of the older Kanon.
"The only one who should be resigned to their fate—" Without a second to let him intervene, Kanon simply slashed. She had flicked her hand in front of her. Straight across the chest and neck of the man. And the knife that had suddenly materialized in her hand cut through him. "Is you."
Blood spurted and flew.
The cracks extended from her chest to her neck.
The world of the post-operative recovery room began to fade away, much like a reel of film melting apart, with the openings being replaced by a familiar-looking office—one with numerous screens, a console, an office chair within a familiar District 7 building.
The thick red liquid flew onto everything around them.
Onto the numerous glowing screens.
Onto Kizuna herself, covering half her face and chest in his blood.
"You stole my, no, our futures from us."
The man bled from the deep gash in his chest and his neck, mimicking the cracks that had formed on Kizuna. As he gasped for breath and slowly grew further pale, a pair of hands with cracks propagating across them had grabbed the collar of his shirt and held him up.
"It doesn't matter that we were Child Errors. You pulled the trigger."
With each and every word and action she took, those cracks spread further. Her mind seared as she focused upon that scum who had led every tragedy behind her life.
Yet, despite his position, his tenuous grasp of remaining life, he still smiled.
"That's why...I told you...to be resigned." He never dropped it once, even as he struggled to gather enough oxygen to speak. "You could've avoided this. These feelings…but because you couldn't…it's clear that you already…died all those years ago…on that operating table."
"DAMN YOU!" The girl tossed him back into the wall. She got up and grabbed and grabbed a nearby pipe that had been sitting there. Tears streamed down her eyes as she cursed the man. It didn't matter what he said.
She may have been a dead girl walking.
She may have lost so much over the years.
She may have been someone who was tossed about by the whims of fate.
But she could not let it end with him having the last laugh.
So, she roared. She screamed. She cried.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
With all of her strength, she swung the pipe into his head, like a baseball player would, straight into the man's temple.
And as she made contact and crushed his skull, the numerous cracks that had propagated throughout her body connected and led her to shatter.
All across the bloody floor.
All across the lines of the past.
All across…
She didn't know how long she had been laying like this. The world had seemed to freeze over. Ever since she had crushed that scum's skull nothing moved. Not the corpse in front of her. Nor the clock on the wall. Nor the flashing lights of the blood-covered screens.
Is this what you were talking about, you bastard?
But, despite having no form, no brain, and no time, Kanon's thoughts flowed like a river.
Resignation?
As she thought back to the day that she had murdered him and even as she re-enacted his murder, she could not help but find herself remembering a certain thing that it all left behind.
She had once said that she took in Kamijou Touma and Kihara Enshuu because of their fractured hearts. But, she only did it for a simple reason.
She was the same.
Sinners preferred to gather to maintain support as they licked each others' wounds. Sure, some of them likely didn't perpetrate the same sin of murder as she did, but but they all felt their souls fracture for some reason.
Those reasons left behind that feeling of hollowness that made living heavy.
At times like that, it felt okay to just stop. To let the world leave her behind as she could no longer say she had the right to move forward.
She had been violated. She, herself, had sinned.
What right did she have left to keep on pressing forward?
The more she had thought of it, as she stayed fractured, the more she wondered if that scum's words had actually held some meaning.
Just resign yourself and you will never have to feel that pain.
Just let yourself get caught in the flow of fate and accept it.
She could do that and end it all. It was painful to keep on going.
Yes, she could do that.
She could just remain in this room. The others were within that peaceful dream. So, as long as she…
The others?
Come to think of it, who else had been around this room?
A pair of eyes quickly shot back open as the young woman who lay, covered in blood, on the floor slammed her palms down.
As quickly as she shattered, she had reformed.
It was painful. But, living was just like that. Even beyond that sense of hollowness and that sense of pain, there was still something left.
"Yeah, I promised."
What was it that had finally spurred her to murder in the first place? What was it that was still driving her even now?
The more she placed her focus on that, the more she found the strength to push herself off the ground and stand.
After shooting a cursory glance at the corpse before her, she turned and walked to the main door to that room. As she opened it, she looked down to see two pairs of feet taking steps back.
"Ayumu...Kurumi..."
Who could blame them? A person who they had loved was standing before them, blood-covered with eyes slightly glazed over and exuding tears. She must have looked like a monster to those children a few years younger than her.
So, she knelt. They were hardly toddlers, but it would be unbecoming of her to tower over them like that.
As she did, her hands reached and wrapped around the two children, all while she continued to let the tears fall from her eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I promise…"
What had driven her to dye her own hands in blood? The answer was simple.
What reason was there to fault that promise? After all, humans had killed for less throughout the course of history.
And as she recounted that promise, the world around seemed to melt away like a piece of overheated film, leaving behind a world of pure white.
But the three of them weren't alone. Surrounding them were numerous children of different ages and shapes.
There was a small boy with curly hair. There was a girl with a red ponytail. There was a girl with a plethora of screened devices dangling from her neck. There was a spiky-haired boy.
There was…
There was…
There was…
Letting go of Ayumu and Kurumi, she stood up. As she did, the blood that had covered various parts of her upper body dried up and flaked off until there was nothing left.
"I promise I'll take back the futures stolen from us."
Laying bare that promise and declaration, she held her fist up to the sky.
"So, let's go and reclaim it all. No matter what may try to block our path forward."
They would advance. Even if the path was cut off from them, they would forge a new one at the expense of the world.
That was the origin of it all.
A single promise.
Point (ρ, θ, φ)
"What is that?" From within the body of the FIVE_Over Modelcase_"RAILGUN", Mitsuari muttered a simple question as she saw through the display the phenomenon that seemed to be spreading from where they were heading.
In the cockpit with her was Index and Othinus who had somehow managed to squeeze in.
"I guess this is what she meant by September 30th," Othinus muttered.
Each of the girls had been doing some combination of squeezing into a cockpit or riding on the surface in one of the more palatable areas. After all, they had split into two different FIVE_Overs.
Index, Mitsuari, and Othinus stayed within the cockpit of one as Kazakiri Hyouka remained on the outside due to her durability.
On the other, Kuroyoru Umidori and Kurumi squeezed into the other with Kuroyoru at the helm and with Maria clinging to the outside.
While none of them were experienced enough to control these powered suits at their fullest capacity, that worked to their advantage as they could not utilize top speed and were able to keep a fine balance of allowing people to hitch on the outside.
But the cramping and discomfort of the two cockpits seemed to all become insignificant in the face of what they were seeing.
Unlike the shock of the others, Kazakiri Hyouka narrowed her eyes and glared towards it.
It had originally started with what felt like a quake in the air. From that center they were witnessing, multiple shockwaves spread out.
And then they rose. They snaked ever upwards. They collided and repelled.
Those things that Kazakiri Hyouka was intimately familiar with.
A rainbow spectrum of wings climbed up towards the heavens.
Interlude
It wasn't just him.
It wasn't just Enshuu.
The world around him had seemed to be burned away, leaving behind a white world like he had initially seen, littered with a myriad of children.
At the center of it all, he could see the woman who had taken him. Part of her had been covered in blood, but she was on her knees, hugging a pair of the children, and crying.
Kizuna Kanon was right there.
Yet, he could not step forward.
He remained cuffed to Kihara Enshuu, but it was not even that which prevented any further advance.
No matter how much he tried to lift his feet, it felt like there was a metric ton of weight in his legs, far beyond his capability to lift or move. He could only stand there, gawking and helpless as he watched her.
As he watched her stand up.
As he watched the blood flake off.
"I promise I'll take back the futures stolen from us. So, let's go and reclaim it all. No matter what may try to block our path forward."
It was in that moment that the world once again shifted.
However, it was not the color of the world or the scenery of props that surrounded him.
No, the change was far more fundamental.
It was like watching numerous tuning forks resonate.
It had started with the two who stood next to her.
Soon it was the first row of children.
Followed by the second.
Followed by the third.
Onward and onward, a grand rancor seemed to effuse from every single child only to be replaced with something else entirely.
Every single child, including Kihara Enshuu at his side, was consumed by that feeling.
As this spread each row of children began to raise their fists up and cheer.
Some would hug the person next to them. Some would embrace themselves as they shivered. Some would silently cross their arms and gaze. Some like Enshuu would repeatedly pump up their hands and cry out.
Each reaction was different, yet they all held that same ever present feeling.
But as Kamijou stood alone and gazed at Kizuna Kanon, he could not figure it out.
Determination?
No, this raucous reverberation came from something far more deep and far more primal—something that had taken a quick 180 from that initial burst of bitterness.
If he had to put a single word to it, there was only one thing the boy without a right hand could think of.
It was…
A/N: And the tale begins to unravel. The road to the end continues. I did say we were going into a rush of insanity, but I wonder how many of you predicted the route this is going. But, we'll bring all that up after responding to reviews.
[craythelay: To be fair, the rage of a god can only do so much when she is tiny and when her rage would be in the wrong from the start. The concept of the understander may hold some significance to Touma and Othinus, but it's questionable how well that can reach out and play a role in the world where anyone can easily deny it with the proper groundwork, as we saw here.]
[DarkMatter69: Thanks, man.]
[WHWSMS: Well, things are about to escalate into further and further bizarreness.]
[Mad Random Writer: Thank you.]
[Guest: Eh...I guess I may have put that across wrong. Kanon is not a magician herself. In fact, the only magician antagonist we've had so far is Ayumu, a rare case.]
[SuddenBetrayal: Thank you for those words. It means a whole lot to me, especially considering that's what it turned into the moment I thought of bringing Ayu into this. Whether you call it an NT11.5 or an NT11 epilogue, I appreciate the thoughts.]
[Atgo: Well, we already talked. But thanks again for the long-form review, man.]
The more I look back onto this chapter, the more I realize how much Kanon basically took the center stage for the chapter. So, let's try and break this down bit by bit.
The first scene saw the unraveling of certain characters who had always held a strong disposition, specifically Othinus. In retrospect, Othinus had been a superfluous presence throughout a good chunk of the story, but this chapter saw her finding some sort of place in it, even if it meant she would be torn apart for her own form of insolence. But the villain of the story kept control of the flow and dominated the entire conversation. That same course held true, even as she lost and regained the advantage from Accelerator.
Kizuna has experienced quite a literal build-up to breakdown to reformation throughout this story, but the core of her remains the same. In an aspect, she parallels many characters that have appeared. This weird sense of dissonant yet contiguous parallels was something I hoped would build her into her own person and endear her as a character to you as the reader. That was the path of the mother I had hoped to create. I wonder how much I was able to succeed with that.
Unfortunately, that is where I will leave my discussion. As much of a mindscrew A Junctional Escape was, I do find that there is some wonderful value in letting the reader come to their own conclusions.
I estimate another 4 chapters left until the end of this fic, so let's make this all a fantastic finish.
So, with that, I'll lay my pen down until the time comes to progress to the next mindscrew.
When I think about it, that was some of the darkest stuff I've put to paper thus far.