*7 Years Ago*

"Why is background work, odd jobs, and accompanying you on patrol, all I can do?!" blurted out an annoyed, 7 year old, Shirai Kuroko.

She had reached her boiling point one day while on patrol with her supervisor. Hearing this outburst the supervisor turned around to see that Kuroko's face was red, she had yelled it a bit too loud. Her supervisor, Konori Mii, smiled and calmly replied.

"You are wondering why, as an honor student, you aren't being treated as a full-fledged officer?

Kuroko looked down, "W-Well I wouldn't say that exactly… but I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I am in elementary school."

She felt a hand on her head after she finished.

"Your age isn't your only issue…"

Kuroko looked up, curiosity on her face.

"... In your case, you always try to solve problems by yourself. You have to learn to rely on others more, or you may end up in trouble."

Konori saw the look of disappointment on Kuroko's face, and tried to cheer her up.

"Come on, don't make that face. As a reward for all your hard work I'll buy you something sweet to cheer you up. Let me go get some money real quick."

Konori walked into a bank that was near them, to withdraw some cash. Kurko had an angry look on her face.

"She is still treating me like a child…"

…..

Inside the bank, Kuroko was observing her surroundings. There weren't many people in the bank at this point in the day. Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice of a person who came through the front doors of the bank.

"Ah, Miss Shirai! What a coincidence!"

Kuroko turned to see her friend from Judgement training camp, Uiharu Kazari, walking towards her.

Uiharu? What are you doing in the 7th school district?"

Uiharu put a smile on her face, "Middle school is almost here, so I came to take a look at some of the schools and dorms! Have you decided what middle school you are going to, Miss Shirai?

"Y-Yes, it's a place called Tokiwadai Middle School."

There was a silence between them. Kuroko looked back at Uiharu to see a look of awe on her face.

"T-That is one of the top five most prestigious schools in Academy City. The academy life must be so elegant-"

"It's actually not as glamorous as you might think, all the people there are level 3 and above. They all think they are something special, I understand this also includes a certain level 5 that they call "railgun". Obviously, she must be a stuck up, unlikable harpy."

(Elsewhere in Academy City, a certain electromaster felt a shiver down her spine.)

"I'm surprised that you can say that about someone you haven't met, Miss Shirai."

Kuroko was about to ask Uiharu what she was doing at the bank, when she noticed that her mentor was staring at something. She walked over to her.

"What are you looking at, Miss Konori?"

Konori Mii put a finger over her lips and shushed her. She bent down and whispered in her ear, "Look at that man, he is focusing on where the workers are and what they are looking at. I usually feel uncomfortable looking at others possessions without their consent, but…"

Konori started using her esper power to look at what he had on him.

"He doesn't seem to have anything out of the ordinary…" Her eyes widened, in his front pocket, concealed from everyone, was a gun.

She turned her head to Kuroko, "In his front right pocket, he has a gun."

Kuroko's eyes widened as she whispered back, "This is a robbery?!"

Konori didn't answer her question, "I'm going to tell the staff to start evacuating the customers, just in case anything happens."

"You aren't going to arrest him?!"

"Don't think anything so absurd. Let AntiSkill deal with catching the criminals."

While Konori was talking with the manager, Kuroko felt a pang of annoyance.

"This is so passive…!"

…..

"That's right, contact AntiSkill immediately-" Konori's talk with the manager was interrupted by a gunshot that echoed through the bank.

"Nobody moves, just give me the money and nobody gets hurt." The robber was pointing the gun around threatening the people in the bank.

"Damn it, he made his move first." Konori was thinking of ways to solve this, when all of a sudden she saw a blur in the corner of her eye. It was Kuroko, rushing at the criminal.

"I'll just do like I've been trained." Kuroko feinted away from the shocked criminal, then came in and stepped on his foot, causing him to drop his gun. She then swept out his legs from under him, making him drop to the ground. Then, she put her foot on his chest and kept him down on the ground.

Kuroko had a smirk on her face, "What do you know? That was easy, was it not?" The smirk quickly leaves her face when she hears shriek to her side. She turns to see Uiharu being held at knifepoint by another robber that she hadn't seen.

"What are you, dense? How could you let a kid take you down?" The robber said to the unconscious robber on the floor. The bank manager had seen enough. He secretly pressed the alarm button and the building locked down. Shutters went over the doors and windows, and a security bot was activated.

"Drop weapons and get on the ground." The robber smirked at the security bot. "Warning administered, preparing for confrontation." The robber put his hand in his pocket. Konori was watching the situation unfold.

"He has something in his pocket…"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the security bot charging at the robber, weapons activated. She observed closely, hoping to find out what he had in his pocket. Her eyes widened when she saw that Kuroko was charging at the robber from behind the robot. She quickly ran to Kuroko.

"Kuroko! No-" She dived at Kuroko just as the robot blew up, sending them both flying back. Kuroko opened her eyes and saw that she was against the wall. On her lap she saw an unconscious Konori Mii, who had taken most of the blast.

"M-Miss Konori!"

Before Koroko could check on her mentor she felt an intense kick strike her face, she went airborne and hit the ground hard.

"Did you really think you could take me, like you did that idiot?!" The robber yelled, a smile on his face. He walked over to where Kuroko was laying on the ground, and stepped on her ankle. Kuroko screamed in pain, Uiharu was screaming at the robber to stop hurting her friend.

"...This is all my fault…"

"...because of my rash decision…"

"...Uiharu…and Miss Konori…"

She remembered her mentor's words from before they came into the bank.

"...You have to learn to rely on others more…"

Kuroko looked up with tears in her eyes.

"Why hadn't I listened?"

…..

"Alright it's time to finish this." The robber said with a smile on his face. He threw Uiharu to the ground and grabbed Kuroko by the neck, her legs dangling feet about the ground. He raised his arm with the knife in it and got ready to stab her, when all of a sudden a sound of rushing footsteps were heard. Before the robber could turn around, a little, black-haired boy had punched him in the back. It wasn't a hard punch, but it caught the robber off guard causing him to drop Kuroko. She fell to the ground gasping for air. The robber turned to face the little boy and Kuroko got a better look at who just saved her.

He was a boy who looked about her age, wearing a white dress shirt and jeans. He had his fists up ready to fight. Kuroko saw a terrified couple in the back, who were trying to get him to come back to them, but he wasn't budging. The robber had gotten over his initial shock and now a smile was on his face.

"Oh, what do we have here? A hero?" He said, laughing at the boy's size. He wicked up the knife he dropped and charged the boy, "Guess I will have to take care of you too."

The boy was clearly inexperienced at fighting, but he was able to dodge the first attack. On the second strike the robber slashed the boy's arm. The boy winced in pain but stood his ground. Kuroko was amazed at the bravery of this boy, he didn't even know her, and yet he was trying to save her.

"I have to help him…"

Using her remaining strength, she stood up and charged at the robber, whose back was turned to her. She got the element of surprise on him and swept his legs out. He fell to the ground and she repeatedly punched his face until he was unconscious. Breathing heavily, she stood up and rushed to her fallen mentor's side. The boy stared at her, then started to head back to his family.

Then he saw it.

The robber, with a smile on his face, had gotten up, fast.

He had faked being unconscious and now he had his knife and was heading towards…her!

On instinct he ran towards the girl, she never saw him coming. The robber jabbed his knife at where the girl was, but he instead found the chest of the boy that was pushing her out of the way. There was a loud yell then he fell to the ground, silent.

All Kuroko could do was stare... stare at the lifeless body of the boy. Her feeling of shock quickly turned to anger. She glared at the robber, who had fooled her and tried to kill her. She quickly used her power to teleport at the robber and put him in a choke hold. He immediately started to struggle but she held on. He fell to the ground, his face changing color. He was going to die, Koroko didn't care if she killed him, he was a criminal.

Just as he was about to take his last breath, Koroko was knocked off him. She looked up to see an angry Konori Mii.

"Why do you think that you are justice! People could have been killed because of you!"

Kuroko looked up in tears, "H-He was hurting people."

"Only because you aggravated the situation."

"What are we supposed to do?! Let them rob the bank?!"

"Yes, AntiSkill's job is to bring them down, our job is to keep the people safe."

Kuroko looked at the floor, just as she was about to say something, AntiSkill units burst through the shuttered door. They quickly identified the criminals and put handcuffs on them. Kuroko was angry at herself.

"This is all my fault…"

"We need a medic over here!" Her thoughts were interrupted by a yell. She turned to see the couple from earlier on their knees next to the boy. Kuroko's eyes widened, she quickly ran over to the boy, tears brimming her eyes. She looked at the boy, he was spasming and spitting up blood, an AntiSkill officer was applying pressure to where the stab wound was, just below his heart.

Kuroko was starting to cry now.

"W-Why…"

"Why did he save me…"

"Why did he sacrifice himself…"

The medic's had arrived and the spasming boy was loaded onto the stretcher. She wanted to stay with him, but one look from his angry parents stopped her in her tracks. The boy was loaded into the ambulance and was driven to the hospital.

…..

After giving their statements to AntiSkill, Kuroko and Konori started heading back to the dorms.

"M-Miss Konori, do you think that boy is going to be alright…?

Konori Mii's silence answered the question for her. Koroko broke down in tears and hugged Monori.

"I-I killed him, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings."

Konori let Kuroko get it all out. They stayed hugging for a while, before continuing their walk home. Kuroko felt terrible.

"I'm never going to see that boy again and get to thank him…"

Little did Kuroko know, the boy miraculously lived through his injuries… and she was going to meet him again.