Hello Author here and thanks for all the reviews especially for the suggestions and ideas, Let me reply and answer to them before we dive in to the actual story.
Awron: I want to give the boys a down time first before they delve once more into the darkside of the city dear reader, but don't worry I still have plans for Chifuyu and her clique... and don't forget we still have Kakine who'll surely stir things up.
SermonSelvon: Yes, GARM still haven't crossed paths with Kakine yet, but on the other hand there's a certain being who already met him and have an unsettled score between them, things is about to get interesting dear reader so get ready for a thrill ride.
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
Psycho Pass OST – Psycho hazard.
The city is looking leisurely as the second day of Golden Week rolls in and the absent street is about to become a witness of another kind of chase, not one where the engines are roaring and tires are screeching, but one of commonly played by the ones who conduct themselves in secrecy where flanking and shaking off their chaser is the name of the game. Victoria's manager kicks off the chase as she give her directions for the driver who's already gripping his steering wheel rather tightly, "We're following them, driver-san turn on the dash cam so we can pick up the plates, we're dealing with a possible harassment case at minimum or an abduction and abuse at worst."
"And they said that the city is the prime example of the pinnacle of innovation… hold on everyone, I don't know whether the other driver might step on the gas and smoke us." The driver replied, he switched himself from his usual self to one more akin to a police officer on a pursuit.
"We're not hiring a top of the line driver like you, you're experienced with things like this right?"
"I'm a VIP driver, not a private investigator."
"Well, just follow that car and avoid any chance of detection."
"If he decided to run away, we can't catch up to a car like that…" He reminded the other passengers.
"Damn, students these days have access to that kind of thing." One of two guards who was seated in the backseat voiced out his worry.
"I bet they did nasty things to acquire that car." Victoria said in response, which caused her manager's eyebrow to twitch a bit before she asked, "Why are you so hung up on this Tori?"
"It's personal." the bob haired idol replied in a flat tone.
"You're still bothered by these kinds of things, aren't you?" She asked, but it triggered a sudden change on the idol's behalf as she quickly shot the question down, "Stop… just tell me any possible info on that white haired boy and that blonde."
"Are you going after random boys now? The guardian is trying to be naughty huh?" The other guard in the car jokingly asked while shrugging his shoulders.
"No, I saw those two monsters mangled thugs into a bloody mess right in front of me."
"She's right, those guys are still in intensive care when I check the latest hospital logs." Her manager turns her body to explain her view and she breathes in first because she knew this one is a heavy even for the experienced guards, "But, I do have some information on the white haired one. Tori, you sure have bad luck because that guy is just trouble and the worst kind of trouble…"
"Who is he? You should be able to pull up something on them?" Victoria asked.
"The city database logged him as 'Accelerator' and there aren't any traces of his original name, and before you say it… I know it's weird for having a nickname as a real name, but I can't find out what his real name actually is. I have to say this as well, he's the first ranked esper in this city and that means he's a level 5 esper… A living disaster to say the least."
"Accelerator? What's his deal, is he able to make things go fast or something?" One of the guards asked with a tone that implies that he still looks at the espers as kids who have small party tricks up their sleeves.
"That's just the tip… he can accelerate any object that has a direction and force in it freely, basically he can reflect anything back or multiply the force in his own punches into a devastating attack, I managed to dig deeper and the city has to mobilizes a freaking SWAT team to evacuate crowds of people way from him when he went berserk." The manager continues to explain.
"So, if I punch him, I will be the one who's feeling the impact of my own punch." His tone changed as the grim reality of the white haired monster powers starts to sits in
"He can multiply the forces. If he wants to, he can multiply the force and reflect it back causing your hand to shatter or literally explode."
"Enough of the horrors…" Victoria cuts in as the graphic details puts her in unease.
"But Tori, it's a possibility that Accelerator is just trying to defend himself from those guys."
"I honestly can't believe that, all of you saw the result of that fight first hand." She added as she still can't stomach the white haired boy's action because of how he interacts with the blonde boy right after he did his gruesome actions, this also prompted her to ask, "How about the blonde one then?"
"Here's the thing, there isn't any log on him… I'm sorry."
"You're just kidding around right? that obvious delinquent must have a record on him." She raised her voice slightly.
"I even checked the Antiskill's database, I found nothing." The manager replied as she unknowingly raised her voice slightly as well.
The girl was genuinely surprised by her reply and to drop the issue she decided to turn her attention back to the car that currently they followed, the girl gripped her chest and tightens it before she said "We can't afford to lose sight of that car then, that car is the only lead I have left." Recognizing the car was her only way to dig deeper into the group that by her knowledge is an atrocity that needs to be stopped.
Mitsuki who immediately realized that he's being followed just assumed that the Duchy somehow knew that he is in the middle of moving their key of esper medium experiment into hiding and decided to take several test to make sure that his hunch was right as he swerved from right to left and took sudden turns to see whether the van will follow him or not, the situation became tense as the van continued to follow him until a notification from a certain Idol who was acquainted with his group notified him about who's really inside of the van, the brunette thinks quickly and took a sudden turn to enter a high class apartment building as he currently cruising around in District 3 which is the more luxurious part of the city and prepared himself to drop himself quietly out of the car while setting the car into a cruise and automatic parking mode.
"Why are we stopping here?" Nagisa asked as she was puzzled by his action of taking her into a place that can be easily tracked by the Duchy clique.
"I think it's best for us to stay in this car until the ones in that van show themselves." He replied while he took out several small obsidian arrowheads and put them in between his fingers before he said, "We're being followed. See that van behind us, take the wheel and turn right, the sensors will stop the car from hitting the wall."
"What are you doing, Unabara-san." Nagisa asked again as she saw that the boy opened the driver's side door and dropped himself out quietly and said, "setting up an appropriate welcome, he'll be here too if I guessed it right." Mitsuki explained before the automatic door closed itself with Nagisa holding the steering wheel trying to navigate the car into a vacant parking space.
"Atsumu-san? I thought he'll leave once we're out of Tsuchimikado-san's apartment?" She asked once more right before the door closed along with a swift reply from the orderly dressed boy who said, "That's what he wants you to believe."
Mitsuki only has seconds to hide himself before the van in question comes into view and inside the basement parking floors he has a lot of cover that he could choose, so it was a breeze for him to sit into an advantageous spot for an ambush, the tightly packed parking space however raised some red flags in the guards and the driver's head as their training alerts them to such details, and it only took moments before the driver voiced out his thoughts in worry, "It's a suspicious place, whoever is driving that car is planning something."
"He brought that girl here… if the Antiskill doesn't arrive in time it's up to us to help her. Everyone, get ready." The manager also added her thoughts into the mix as the atmosphere thickens.
"That's one thing, but… The setup just raised all the red flags in my head." The guard said.
"We have no time to talk, look, the car is parked right there."
"It's a right thing to follow that car here after all." Victoria said with a slight smile as she finally can catch them red handed, but a sudden bang on the van's door will brought that thought to an end and it took a sudden grim turn as the van's side door slides open to reveal an orderly fashioned boy who partially hides his face with a tube scarf swoops in.
PLAY MUSIC
Psycho Pass OST – Dominator.
"Tori!" The manager shouted to alert everyone that they just got jumped.
"I'd be more careful if I were you." Mitsuki said calmly as he verifies the passengers of the car really are Victoria and a small group from her agency.
"Eh?!" Victoria shouted in shock as she finally saw the door on her side was already open and exposing her to danger.
"The door!" One of the guards yelled as he pulled the girl to the other side and shouted out another order, "How did he do it?! Shit! Get her to safety!"
"IT'S AN AMBUSH!" His colleague also shouted while he jumped forward to make an attempt to neutralize the boy who just turned the tables on them.
"TORI RUN!" The manager shouted while pushing the idol out from the other side of the van out of fear that she'll share the same fate as the shivering girl that they saw earlier.
To contrast that panicked reaction coming from Victoria and her manager, one of the guards moves quickly to neutralize Mitsuki who just stood outside of the van door calmly and shows no fear at all at the guard's coiling fist because when he springs his arm to hit him a number of wires caught his arm and hoisted it up, "AGH! STEEL WIRES?!" He yelled out loud and he could see that Mitsuki was smirking under his mask when he glanced at the boy, which prompted him to throw another fist at him, "DAMN BRAT! I'M NOT GOING DOWN THAT EASILY!" This time his fist is being caught by another hand that belongs to another masked boy who previously perched up on the van.
Atsumu has been following them for quite some time and quickly joins up with Mitsuki to set up a sting.
'COLD!' That was what crossed the guard's mind when his fist is being caught by the boy who wore dark colored clothes and leather gloves on his hands, in a desperate attempt he tried to clasped Atsumu's hand so he can follow it up with a Judo throw, but it just brushed the assassin the wrong way as his expression turned cold and said "Get your hands off me," before he throws him down with technique that was usually being used by military trained special forces squad.
"GUGH!" The man grunted as a resounding sound of his body being slammed reverberates on the basement parking lot. The other boy wastes no time either as he moves in with his small arrowheads and obsidian dagger inside the van and presses them on the other guard's and the driver's necks before he says. "Calm down, we can talk it over after you've calmed down."
"What the hell?! What are you…" The other guard said as he felt that the boy was not bluffing, his eyes who looked calm and in control of his actions also solidified his thought that the ones who managed to ambush them were not ones to be messed with. Both the driver and the remaining guard are starting to sweat out of worry and fear, but the brunette boy sees this and calmly says, "It's Academy City, get used to it."
With all of their protection and escape plan busted in a few short moments, Victoria manager's shouted out to the girl who just picked herself up after being shoved out from the van, "Tori, just go… I'll hold them back as long as I can."
"How about your phone?!"
"That second boy snatched it when he was dealing with the guards, just go."
"But!" She replied with a choked voice as she realizes that she has to leave them behind.
"Chisa will call for help right? So just save yourself first."
"..."
"Victoria! Just go already!" The manager shouted out amidst the chaotic situation.
Victoria obliges with her wish and turned her body around and started to ran up towards a way that will lead her out of the building where she could shout to the passersby and asked for help or alternatively her fellow group member could appear with a fleet of Antiskill forces who will help her turn the tables around in this hopeless fight. She ran up to the last underground floor and got shocked as she met Chisa who's supposed to be calling the Antiskill in case things went horribly wrong, in response the older girl shouted out in worry to her junior, "CHISA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"Tori, I can explain." Chisa's voice was heavy with guilt.
"We got to get ourselves to safety first! You're here with Antiskill right?" She started to get her hopes up after seeing her.
"Tori, listen to me first."
"What is it!"
"Yes, tell her about the real reason why you decided to show yourself here." Another voice is coming from behind her and when she glanced back she saw the brunette boy from earlier is already standing there, the words that just left his mouth filled her with fear that felt similar when he encountered his blonde colleague and that white haired monster.
"C-Chisa, come on we got to run away from him." She pleads to Chisa who steps closer to her and puts her body like a barrier to prevent her from running away.
"Please listen to what they have to say first, Tori."
"You know them?" She asked with a tone that implies all hope has already left her and continued to ask, "So you're lying to me all this time…"
"Tori, you're delving into something dangerous here, I can't just leave you doing this until something horrible happens to you."
"I'm doing this to keep you… no, to keep us safe in this city! These guys are criminals!" She clapped back at her junior.
"Have you ever stopped to ask them first?"
"I don't have to!"
"Then look behind you first…"
"Why?!" She replied in a frustrated tone, but still follow Chisa's request to turn her head towards the boy and found the girl from earlier who she presumably thought was in distress is standing there alongside him and placing his arm on the boy's side to use as a support because she's still disturbed by the sight of violence that just erupted earlier.
"What is going on here?!" She shouted which surprised Nagisa who just came into the scene.
"Unabara-san, these are not the…" She said as she looked at the idol and did not recognize her as a member of the Duchy clique.
"This is related to something else, but why did you step out of the car?"
"You obviously have the upper hand in this… scuffle, I think it's safe for me to step in." She answered, but the way she hangs on to the boy for support implies that she's still not ready to see these kinds of scenes again, that detail was being highlighted by the boy as he turned his head to look at her and say, "Your shaking legs say otherwise."
"And you're supposed to be a gentleman?" Nagisa protested on how bluntly he commented on how she looks.
"I'm sorry if I don't fit your picture perfect gentleman."
"That's just the general impression of what people have when they first meet you, Tokiwadai's prince." Atsumu added as he appears on the scene and tidying up his clothes and shrugs off some dirt from them.
"You done?"
"All of them are tied to the railings of the car, the guards have military training so I'll make sure that they'll have a hard time breaking free from their restraints."
After hearing their conversation that sounds just like a casual one and how Chisa puts her body to prevent her from getting away, Victoria realizes that she was outright defeated and asked, "Antiskill is not coming, isn't it?"
"Tori, listen! They're not the bad guys." Chisa tried to reason with her once more.
"Then what do they have to say about their actions!" She answered in a manner that says that she still refused to hear her out.
"IF THEY DIDN'T DO WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO…" Chisa shouted back because she can't get through to her fellow idol group member, "I'LL BE DEAD WHEN I ARRIVED INTO THIS CITY!"
"..." Victoria steps back in disbelief at what she just heard, but she chooses to not believe in what she just said and replies with, "You're exaggerating!"
"NO!"
"You're really yelling back at me?!"
"Because I want you to listen to me, hear me out first." The dark haired idol plants her stance on the ground as she resolves on telling her what truly happened inside this city which she kept a secret from Victoria,
"To what?! There's no way these scoundrels are doing something good! What did they do to convince you to take their side?!" Victoria believed that Chisa is not the right mind and said all these things because the boys in said group convinced her to do so through coercion methods and threats, thus she continued to say "What did that blonde punk do to you?! How did that good for nothing delinquent and criminals lulled you into siding with him!"
PLAY MUSIC
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun OST – Kuuhaku.
Her comments can be heard by Nagisa, who took the offensive and rude words personally, she balled and unballed her hands to suppress the anger that slowly boils inside her because of the insults that the idol aimed at the blonde boy who's currently absent. She tried to keep calm, but the last insult to the boy just caused something to snap inside her as she took steps closer to the two idols and said, "I'm sorry to barge in like this."
"What are you!" Victoria said moments before she felt a stinging sensation of sharp pain on her cheeks as Nagisa delivered a quick slap on her face.
SLAP!
"It seems like you mistaken me for a victim here." The freckled girl said as she waved her hands to lessen the sting that she also felt on the palm of her hands, "That blonde boy you just mentioned, he never once did anything to harm me in any way and talking about him in such an unsavory manner honestly struck me the wrong way."
"TORI!" Chisa yelled in shock at Nagisa's action and Victoria responded with a simple yell "Why you!" While lunging her body at her and starting to claw at her and grabbing a portion of her hair, Nagisa responded by doing the same to Victoria which quickly turned their scuffle into a catfight.
"Both of you stop it!" Chisa tried and failed to stop the fight between Nagisa and Victoria, which caused her to turn to the brunette boy for help, "Unabara-san, please do something."
"I can't just step into a catfight… so…" He said while glancing at the dark haired boy who just looked at the scene in a dismissive manner before Mitsuki turned to him and said, "Can't you read the room Church Grim?"
"Fine, I'll stop it…" He replied before he steps closer to the two girls who's still locked in a scuffle, one is fueled by desperation and anger because of how her plans went wrong and even felt bitter by her junior's relation to the group that she tried to expose, the other was angered by the other girl's remark towards someone who lended his hand to help her and listen to her when she have no one to turn to for help.
This is apparent when they started to call out to each other.
"Who are you anyway?! Did he rescue you like a damsel in distress?! Wake up! This is not a cheesy teen drama!" Victoria screamed at the freckled girl who locked her hands on a portion of her bangs and moments later Nagisa yelled back at her with, "So what if he did! Plus, I don't want to hear that kind of rambling coming from you!", while Victoria's one of her hands is pushing her away and the other grips her ponytailed hair.
"Cheeky brat!" Victoria spat out.
"Wench!" Nagisa clapped back.
These are all the things Atsumu heard as he moved in with his wires to tie Victoria's hands and lifted her off from Nagisa before placing his body as a shield to prevent the freckled girl from fighting her any further.
"Aren't you being too rough on them?" Mitsuki asked the Assassin who just hoisted up Victoria in a nonchalant way.
"You asked me to handle the matter and I'm trying my best to deal with them as softly as possible."
"Now it's obvious that you're not having any semblance of a great relationship situation."
"You two are taking things too calmly…" Chisa chimed in with her own comment as she looked at the distressed face of her senior.
"Why don't you take this chance to explain things to your fellow colleague then, it's not fair to keep her in the dark." Mitsuki stepped in with a solution, "I believe it'll be hard for you and the rest of your team to hide things from them any further."
"They'll understand, so tell her the entire story and don't spare her any details." Atsumu added while still holding the bob haired idol. This action caused the other girl who got involved in the fight to protest as Victoria's insults towards them just brushed her the wrong way, and Nagisa is not afraid to voice the displeasure, "Did you hear what she said! She's being rude to your friend."
"I know, but it all happened because of misunderstandings that keep on piling up, this is the breaking point for her." Atsumu answered while glancing down to look at the idol, in which Mitsuki added his own to cents by saying, "And for whatever happens next, let's just hope she can face the dark reality of this forsaken city."
"But still!" Nagisa protested again as she saw Chisa guiding Victoria inside the van to have their talk with the others while Atsumu, Mitsuki and Nagisa waited outside.
Mitsuki realized the reason behind her anger and replied with, "This is what he faced everyday and as far as I know him, he never said anything about it, Mikagami-san." Before Atsumu added his own opinion, "The steep price that we have to pay is to be recognized as the villains along with the rest of all the players within the city's underbelly." Recognizing the work they do can't be seen as something just and more akin to a necessary evil.
"That's… just… too cruel…"
"But to see you're so worked up about this, I believe that clown will have his head above the cloud if he ever finds out about two girls fighting over him." Mitsuki said with small giggles.
"Just like the other clown in this group of misfits."
"Which one?"
"One who's currently stirring up the whole city up in anger because of yesterday's photoshoot." The assassin replied while shrugging his shoulders.
PLAY MUSIC
Oregairu OST – Kokoro Surechigau.
Around ten minutes later the van's side door opened with the bob haired idol plopped out from it and immediately slumped her body to the side of the vehicle while others still have a perplexed look on each of their faces because of the truth that Chisa had told them, everyone has a feeling that something have happened to the first wave of team who arrived first on the city and now they knew the true story behind it.
"I know this is hard to believe, but it really did happen and we're trying to keep all of you in the dark because knowing might expose you into danger, I'm really sorry." Chisa explained as she stepped out from the vehicle to check on Victoria.
"I can't believe it… Espers really do walk a different life from the ordinary students." The manager voiced out her honest thought that contrasts her straight cut look.
"Why are you hiding it from us, I thought you trusted me Chisa." Victoria said in between her heaved breath as she was still trying to process all of the information.
"It's hard to tell something as big as this Tori… I thought you'd let the issue go after some time, but you kept on chasing it."
"So… you trusted them more than your own group members…"
"In this case, yes. You don't know how scary and dangerous life could be here… This is different from what we used to face Tori, stalkers who tried to peek at our private matters or others who tried to force themselves on us are pale in comparison… You faced it first hand when you met these guys on several occasions."
"Then, you're the one refused to call on the Antiskill… and I assume you're the one who told them that we're following them around the city." The girl sent a remark towards Chisa as she tried to prod her for answers.
"..." Chisa's lack of answer is all that the girl needs as an answer.
"Traitor… after all the things I've gone through to keep you safe."
"That was a different matter, this is me trying to protect you from delving any further."
"Just let me walk out of here, I need some time to collect myself."
"Tori! We can't just let you go out on your own." Her manager interjects.
"I need some time to myself! Please…"
The three who watched from the sides started to piece a puzzle as of why the girl has such trust issues, paranoia and overprotectiveness towards her younger member, all of it correlates to her occupation as an idol, and sometimes the best way for people like her who had her life constantly put under the limelight is just a simple private time where she can unwind and process her own thoughts, so the brunette boy stepped forward and said, "Let her go, for the time being it's the best to do so."
"She can leak information about us, we're not completely covered and she can recognize our faces." Nagisa added.
"And what, keep her captive… her status as an idol will raise immediate suspicion and attention."
"L-Let me be the one who keeps an eye on her…" The alluring idol with dark long hair raised her hands as she proposed the idea.
"CHISA!" Victoria practically shouted at her.
"This is for the best Tori." She replied to her in a disheartened voice, one where worry and emotions are mixed in.
"The best outcome only applies to you! I can't believe that you're just the same as those cowards who'd rather keep their head down and do anything to save their face." The older girl replied in a venom laced remark, which also paints subtle notes that can be used by the three who watched from the sidelines to figure out the pattern of her actions.
"I can't believe this! This situation is different! Why won't you listen or understand the situation, this is not just some creep who got too close and left a bad taste on you!" Chisa shouted out in frustration in a fit where her emotions got the better of her.
"You really went there." Victoria's eyes just went wide in shock accompanied with a sudden erratic pace of breath as she held on her chest tightly.
"I'm sorry…" The other girl said as she knew that she went too far.
"Chisa! that was out of line!" Her manager abruptly cuts in and continues to say, "Tori, just breathe deeply in and out slowly…"
The three looked at what happened and one of them decided to whisper out a question to the other two, "Did you catch that? what do you have to say on this topic?" Mitsuki said.
"Observe further. I have a guess, but it's not a pretty one…" Atsumu quickly answered.
"Why do you look so…" The brunette glanced at the grim look that painted itself on the assassin and immediately realized what possibly caused such a reaction from her and a click of a tongue along with a displeased comment, "Damn it, it's one of those kinds of things…"
"Glad I don't have to explain about it further, but you have to dig deeper for any information to find out what really happened."
"You don't have to do it… It'll be cruel to her." Nagisa also adds her thoughts on the matter as she regains her composure.
"What's with the sudden change of tone?"
"Even I know how to read between the lines." Nagisa answered, which prompted the Assassin to chime in and change the topic of their conversation to focus on Nagisa's safety and their brief encounter earlier, "How about the safehouse assigned to her, she's risking herself by simply being here."
"There isn't any camera here, the lower floors of high class buildings like this usually refuse to place any camera for some reason." Atsumu said while glancing around to check for any surveillance device.
"I can sense you actually knew what was really going on here." Nagisa commented
"I just don't want to share the details, you will either be shocked or disgusted by what usually happens inside the vacant room in these kinds of high rise buildings." Mitsuki answered in which Nagisa's face twists in grimace as she knew what was being implied by him and decided to veer back to the most urgent problem, "Enough… I believe that the idol problem comes first and can we find out what happened? Her level of paranoia and willingness to chase us this far is not normal."
"Just follow the clues being said by them both and line them up with existing articles and unpublished ones." Mitsuki said as he opened his phone and started to search for any digital traces.
"Do you have access to those kinds of sites?"
"Free of charge, perks of being a young heir…"
"We have to save it for later though because we have to hide Mikagami as fast as possible." Atsumu cuts in as he glances at the girl who has calmed herself down.
"Use your bike then, I'll tag the safehouse location on your phone."
"Let's get this sorted as quickly as possible. Mikagami, you're coming with me." The assassin said while taking Nagisa's hand and guides her away, Mitsuki who looked puzzled because of the assassin's action just remembered that the reason behind the haste was because it was about time where the boy supposed to go and do his guard duty for Mitsuari Ayu who's still being put under protection by the group.
Suddenly, a banging sound comes from inside the van before the door slides and from within Victoria bursts out and runs away from Chisa who's running after her in hot pursuit. Both of them are panting for some unknown reason. Victoria who's still trying to collect herself can't really run far away because as she tries to run up the upway to the upper level Chisa catches her hand then pleads to her to stay and don't run away all alone to 'collect her thoughts'.
Atsumu, who has his senses tuned to be aware of the surroundings for any semblance of threat, decides to quickly flee from the area with Nagisa in tow as he knew there was a chance that their argument could pull onlookers who got curious. Mitsuki on the other hand just leaned his body on the backside of his car and looked at the guards and Victoria's manager who's still trying to compute the story that Chisa had told them because if her story was true and all of those events really do happened then the orderly fashioned boy who stood in front of them is actually a monster who can disintegrate a giant military tank by using his own weird powers.
Now, even the slightest glance that the boy made caused the guards, driver and manager to shiver and shift their body away, an understandable response given that they don't know whether the boy is cruel enough to get rid of them by using his power to turn them into fine red mist, the boy looked at the grim expressions and released the tension by simply explaining about the truth from his side, as his story and Chisa's own story lined up, the ones who still stayed in the car started to contemplate about the reality of things. But to wrap this on a good note Mitsuki handed over one of his phones to them and called the current team that arrived along with Chisa to share their experiences and their subsequent cooperation alongside a group filled with espers and non-espers.
'Is it enough to persuade the other idol though?' Mitsuki thought to himself as he looked at the two idols who's still arguing with each other because from what he sees, Chisa is not getting through to the older girl, her position as the oldest and the appointed guardian for the other members in her group serves as a barrier, furthermore the bitter taste of being betrayed still lingers on her which explains why she doesn't want to listen to anything her 'sister' wants to say and when the younger girl mentioned about something from her past, all hell just seemingly broke loose in the van.
So he did a move that surely mirror's a spy who embodies the name of backstabbing blade as he browdes into the hidden site that many students of Academy City used to dump and share classified information from outside world, the boy found some discerning articles about the very thing that caused Victoria to have such disturbed reaction, it was a case and article that was buried by a large media conglomerate that conveniently also has an entertainment and a music label filled with actors and artist in which one of them possibly be the 'creep' the two idols mentioned previously. Mitsuki is also a magician who has a prominent cold side to him, but his experience with Kamijou, GROUP and GARM softened him to a point where he felt disturbed when he read the accumulated articles, photographic evidence and hospital records. Mitsuki just packaged them up into a data package and sent it to the group's database where all of them could read the collected intel and his current observation, it was a nudge from him for the group where the mention of such atrocities will surely stir them up, which relieved him a bit because his anger could reach it's breaking point when he saw the two idols who's still in the thick of it.
"Tori, please stay!"
"I can't, I need to get away from you first!"
"Tori!"
"You're hurting me!" Chisa prodded something downright traumatic inside Victoria and it was apparent from her drastic change from the cool and collected older girl to a wreck as her mind was scrambled by her own memories.
"Where do you want to go anyway?!"
"It's none of your concern."
"Chisa-san let her go." Mitsuki cuts in as he had seen enough and deemed the girl being unstable to keep the group's existence as a secret, so he snidely casts a modified spell through one of the arrowblades to vibrate a calming tune which actually a originated from 'people clearing' spell that every magician knew how to cast without any flashy light or phenomena in its wake, it's what the blonde spy preferred to use as means of crowd control in case thing got messy while he's in the middle of an operation.
"AGH!" Victoria jumped back at the sight of the lone brunette boy.
"I'm not going to hurt you in any way whatsoever, I know me and my group are perceived as hostile and downright dangerous in your eyes… so let me and Chisa here to accompany you on your walk, just like the first time you met with our mutual acquaintance."
"..." The girl didn't reply as she still feels afraid at the prospect of being followed by a monster.
"If you need me to stay at a certain distance, I'll be happy to oblige with your wishes."
It took some time for the spell to take effect, but once it worked Victoria immediately asked Mitsuki and Chisa to bring her to her preferred place to unwind, "Do you mind taking me back to that mountainous region, to the roadside stop where I first meet the blonde."
"And I'll be answering any questions that you have to calm you down."
"What did you do to make her calm? Is this your esper power?" Chisa whispered into the brunette boy's ear.
"Not telling, Just hold her hand and stick to her, she needs someone to keep herself calm and someone close like you is the best choice for her right now."
"But she…"
"She is just hurt. Chisa-san, give her some time and stick with her through this hardship of hers."
PLAY MUSIC
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun OST – Tsumetai Yokan.
On the safehouse that was located on the secluded part of a train switchyard, Yuu, Shujin Nora and Eri are just finished with their project for today and they took the chance to check on each of their phone except for Nora who just washed his hands from grease and metal dust before he sticked back into his 'big sister' who's currently checking the operation updates after she saw that Mitsuki just uploaded a collection of files there.
"So Unabara is dropping Mikagami to the new safehouse…" Eri said, which caught the attention of the two espers who walked closer to hear what she had to say.
Yuu just looked surprised and said, "Do we have another one? Well that was surprising." In which Shujin quickly adds his own comment to complement Yuu's sentiment, "I just like to believe that handler actually have a deep pocket and proper connections to acquire these kinds of things." as he's still cleaning up the power tools that they just used earlier.
"Will it be a surprise if I say the safehouse is Yuu's old apartment?" Eri said in a teasing manner because she knew it would surely rile the two brothers up.
"What the heck… the one on the next building, the one that got blown up?!" Shujin asked before he a lightning fast response could be heard coming from Yuu in an irritated tone, "Because of your fight with the fourth ranked…" In which Shujin just shrugged it off and answered with a disinterested tone, "Spare the details matchstick."
"Speaking of details… Unabara also dropped a new data package, let's see… Atsumu-kun is involved in a fight and an ambush? What's happening here?!..." Eri decided to read the compiled data files before she fell silent and engrossed in her reading.
"What is it, Sakai-san?" Yuu asked because the girl just glued her eyes to the screen of her phone.
"It's a heavy read…"
"Pretty sure we all have our fair share of messed up things…" SHujin said in a dismissive tone before he stopped right after he read the attached articles as a grimace appeared on his face, "The fuck is this?"
"It's a collection of buried, dismissed, canceled articles, photographic proofs and hospital records of that girl who took part in yesterday's photoshoot. Victoria if I remember her name right." Eri explained while still reading the entirety of the data package and wondering why Mitsuki uploaded it for everyone to see..
"Glitter girl's acquaintance."
"Right, her fellow idol group member."
"Well her status doesn't mean anything when you're faced with something as fucked up as this… This is downright abuse." The ruffly haired esper voice sounds like an insistent growl of a mad dog, Yuu also shared the same outlook, but he processed it calmly like a slowly simmering fire. The look on his eyes tells one thing, it's like a vengeful schemer who plans the downfall of his target in a spectacular manner as he said, "These expand from light injuries to fractured ribs, and the wounds accumulate over a long period of time… This is supposed to be huge news, they even caught the one who's responsible."
"A male idol, he must've wet his pants and asked for his company to help him out from the hot waters." Shujin just outright barked at this point.
"Coerced the smaller agency into dropping all acquisition, a large media company like that could snuff out any publication of said news or twist the story and paint the victim as the actual perpetrator." Yuu also joins him in voicing his displeasure and continues to say, "even when the medical records could be outright nullified as evidence if they played their cards right." He took a few moments to step back and thought to himself before he breathed down a small breath and said, "Is this the reason why she rarely spoke to us back then, she was downright afraid of…"
"Her attitude is just a facade, that explains why she won't drop the issue between her and handler." Eri interjects quickly.
"They met each other?" Yuu asked in surprise.
"She said she felt something wrong ever since they met, even when it was a brief moment she felt something was awfully wrong about him."
"Make a coherent timeline, when did those two met?" Shujin asked.
"I don't know, but the next time they met she witnessed him in the middle of some sort of a clean-up operation."
"Safe to say it could drive her mind over the edge."
"Well the worst case happened when she saw Unabara in the middle of moving Mikagami into the safehouse and she saw Mikagami as someone who's in the same position as her." The girl continues to explain before she summarizes the next part of the report and says, "According to him, it ended in a brief confrontation where Chisa got involved."
"WHAT?!" The two espers shouted out as their eyes widened.
"It's a mess, read it for yourself." Eri implored them, resulting in a short few minutes where the three just read the details in Mitsuki's report and attached documents, each of them are having their own hard moments as they sifts through their reading materials, but this brings one thing that they all could agree on, there's another person in the group who won't read things like this and takes it lying down. You could say it's something that he learned subconsciously from hanging out too much with a certain spiky haired boy who runs around and punching anyone who needs to have their illusion of power destroyed.
"Blue won't take this well." Shujin said as he glanced up thinking about a possible headline where the Idol responsible for the horrendous act is being hanged in the middle of the buzzling entertainment district with only his pants on after being beaten inches away from his life.
"He's supposed to lay low in this safehouse right? Wait, why didn't I hear any noise coming from the garage?" Eri replied to the remark while having her own thoughts about this will spiral out of control, the absence of noise from the garage feeds her worry even further.
"HE ALREADY READ THE FILES!" Yuu shouted out as he blasts his way inside the garage and finds no one there.
"OI! IDIOT DON'T THINK ABOUT HEADING OUT… SHIT!" Shujin also burst into the room and dropped to the ground as he was infuriated because Pierce was nowhere to be found.
"He already took off, but with what?"
"The spare bike is missing!" Eri said as she lifted the tarp usually used to cover the stealth bike.
"We can't move out to drag him back… you know how Aogami is when things like this happen." Yuu explained with a sighed voice as he thought the blue haired bastard was already on his way on a merciless manhunt.
"It's like dealing with a rabid dog." Shujin added.
"Monitor the airwaves, if things get ugly then we'll stand by as backup." Eri said as she tried to find a rational way to deal with the situation and immediately continued to say, "One thing though, is he going to punch the bastard's head in?"
"Him? I bet my ass he'll bash the poor sod's head right off." A bark-like reply can be heard coming from Shujin.
They continue to ponder their situation until a bike silently enters the garage to reveal Pierce actually just rides out to get some dinner for the whole gang, he looked at the threes perplexed look and said, "What's this? You're leaving me out of the fun?"
PLAY MUSIC
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun OST – Doredake Kibou wo Motta Nokka.
"Blue?!"
"Aogami?! Where have you been?" All of them said with a huge sigh of relief as they found that Pierce just went out to buy some dinner.
"I'm buying dinner? Why are you all worried, especially you Eriri?" He teasingly asked the gray haired girl who just dismissed the unwarranted nickname as she steps closer to ask, "You haven't read Unabara's files, have you?"
"I did when I was waiting to pay for all these meals." He swiftly answered, which caused Eri's eyes to widen in shock at the self control that the boy usually lacks. The silence was an obvious sign that the three of them are completely surprised by this and the blue haired boy decided to elaborate on the matter, "All of you honestly think that I'd ride out of the city and bash the culprit's head in? I probably will if he ever showed up in the city and he got too close to those two. It's unfair for Victoria, but the things that happened between them are the things that we should get involved with… We got involved in the first place because the darkside of the city wants to cause a train crash with Chisa as a way to send a message that teen espers can and will cause harm with no self control."
"Hold on, is this really Aogami who's speaking… that Aogami." Yuu said while pinching his arm to wake him up from this dream-like moment.
"Better believe it princess-kun, all this car maintenance thing is strangely therapeutic."
"Note to self, make Aogami do all the maintenance work… Screw it! I'll just say it now." Shujin said as his hushed voice suddenly changed into a bark like one, "Hey, the damn fighter jet needs some care as well."
"I'll make sure the ejection seat blows you out from the plane Shu-kun."
"To get back on the urgent matters, why do you think Unabara shared that?" Eri asked.
Pierce nods a couple of times before he glanced at the silky haired esper in the room for whatever reason and said, "One, to notify that Victoria and the ones who arrived in this city along with her are aware of us. Two, Victoria's case struck him in the wrong way… Yuu-kun is already familiar with his solo activities, so let him share the details."
"He's going around town destroying many information trafficking rings that are basically just stalker starter kit services for upper society. Sakai-san, even that young girl from the Kongou family had her personal and her daily routine information being put up for sale." The boy stopped his explanation for a brief moment to let Eri take all the information in, especially about the girl that she was supposed to keep an eye for. After Eri seemed to refocus herself on the boy, Yuu continued to say, "And he did all that to protect one particular girl." His voice trails off at the end before Eri continues to say the name of the girl that he desperately tries to protect.
"The Railgun."
"I don't know about you, but Unabara definitely gave off second lead syndrome vibes because he kept it all to himself and didn't even bother to tell the girl in question because he let's Kamijou be the one who keeps her 'smile'... Damn that gives me shivers… give that bastard a girl or something damn, let's just think of the probability of him having a heartbreak over and over because he saw that tsundere chasing Kamijou across town." the blue haired boy blasts off into a voice his inner thoughts out loud.
"You know what? Let's continue this talk while we're eating dinner, since this is just going to end up as a long gossip talk." Eri said before the two espers in the room replied with, "Yeah, a warm meal sounds really good."
PLAY MUSIC
Psycho Pass OST – Sharp Eyes.
That night in a private room inside Shidarezakura Royal Girls Academy one member of Duchy clique's surveillance divisions runs with papers which were being held in her arms as on her side the Duchess herself walks alongside her and asks, "What is it that you want to show me?" Miyagawa Chifuyu looks serious because she notified her about something related to the much dreaded Kami's gang, the girl tries her best to keep up with the Duchess's pace before she managed deliver the information, "My lady, it's related to the files you gave us yesterday, we looked into them and started to track various individuals mentioned in them."
"Which one." Chifuyu glanced at her and stopped because she knew the files from the fallen coalition would help her, but she didn't think it would be this fast.
"It's that idol who just made her debut in the city."
"Do you think she's tied to Kami's gang? Did he already temp his way into her just like Railgun, Meltdowner and Mental Out?" Chifuyu asked as she has been rewatching that interview again and again in worry of the grim implication that Kami's gang could swiftly dispatch her and the whole clique.
"She is, but we can't say for sure for the other female level 5s."
"Good, it'll be a bother if he manages to lure them into his side, continue with your report."
"Chisa's movement is rather erratic and unusual to say the least and judging by the surveillance tapes from the shared system used by Judgement and Antiskill, we can conclude that she's seeing someone outside her schedule rather regularly." The girl explained before she leads her to a room filled with monitors showing the idol's movement that catalogs the patterns of her movement and daily schedule. This also prompted the silver haired beauty to ask further, "Any pictures or footage we can use to identify who was in touch with her?"
"Wait a moment Duchess." The girl said before she moved to the nearest table and asked the one who sat on it to pull some data related to the individual in question and moments later it shows a picture of a boy on the main screen which surprises the Clique leader for a moment before a graceful grin appeared on her face as she recognized the boy in the pictures, even though it was vague and blurry she still picture out the signature looking eye the boy has.
"My My… Isn't this a cruel surprise." Chifuyu said as she lays her eyes on the picture of Aogami Pierce walking together with Chisa which has been pulled from the city's surveillance database.
"My lady?" The other girl shivered a little bit as she saw the change in her expression.
"Call Yumiya Rakko of SCHOOL and tell her to handle this matter, but don't give any details or pictures of this member, just tell her about Chisa's movement."
"But why? Isn't it better if we shared all the information about the Kami's gang members?" The surveillance division member asked in a slight puzzled expression because of her choice of withholding information from the clique's ally.
"I want to see how her story unfolds and it just happens that a tragic love story just happens to be my favorite." The girl replied once more with another graceful yet cold smile, which sends another small succession of shivers down to everyone who's currently inside the room. The fear that they experienced was the only response they could give especially if they could see what their leader had in mind because deep within her this coincidence just sets up an tragic event where she could lure one of Kami's gang member by using one SCHOOL member as bait by using her affection towards the boy and the hatred towards his group to do so.
' I'm sorry Yumiya-san, but think of this as a small payback to your leader for messing with me and my plan.'
That was she thought as she left the room and set up something else to accompany the foreseeable tragic event.
In an undisclosed research facility however, another boy who already has his doubts about the Duchy clique's ability to support him attends a meeting with someone else who recently joins in the clique's research division which was actually a secret facility she inherited from Neu Solution's chairman. Teitoku Kakine walks into the facility in hopes of an alternative way of gaining more power as an offer was being sent to him by the scientist who was in charge of said facility who welcomes him b y saying, "I never thought that Dark Matter himself would come into this facility."
"You said that you have an offer that even Miyagawa can't give, make it quick or I'll be leaving this place with you and your assistant's head." The boy said with a disinterested tone and cold look in his eyes.
"I have several. First, the Power that you wished to obtain in order to become more powerful than the first ranked. Second, my assistant here is experienced with dealing with espers, especially the ones who are active as Kami's entourage or any other anomaly that you wish to know more about." Ricane offered as he stepped out into the dimmed light to make his appearance and see the second strongest esper in Academy City.
"Is that so? Then you can start by sharing with me about this unknown power that originated from outside the city and one bastard in particular." Kakine said with eyes that were filled with intensity that could burn a hole into another man's body.
"May I ask who?" Ricane politely asks, in which Kakine immediately replies with, "A pale boy with blonde hair who thinks that he stands on the same plain of existence as me, he could conjure dark colored blades and shadowy monsters while yelling about contracts like some lunatic."
This explanation caused a little twitch on the old man's brow as he was already acquainted with the boy who lebelled him as a charlatan who greedily seeks power from any place he could get it. He stopped a moment to catch his breath before he said, "Is this boy wearing an ivory coat that looks really weighty for some reason?"
"You know him." Kaikne looked slightly pleased because of his knowledge about the mysterious boy in question.
"He used to belong to a group of very powerful individuals, and the fact that you managed to take him on was a testament on how powerful level 5 espers actually are."
The boy saw through the old man's facade as he said, "Enough with the butter, tell me what I want."
"You, turn on the projectors and show the files I have on 'Beowulf' and make it quick." Ricane ordered his masked assistant to do as he says before a projector lights up and shows various sightings of him which have been recorded through certain points in time, mainly in an event where artifacts tied to certain deities or figures of power were discovered.
"Beowulf, that's an unusual name."
"His power is an anomaly, even for the ones who develop their powers from outside the city… Here, take a look." Ricane said before he hands a file full of artifact pictures, scriptures for rituals and theories related to said foreign power.
"Artifacts… Roman church, legends from various mythology and even fairy tales… Are you messing with me." Kakine was annoyed by what had just been presented to him.
"You already saw one of the Duchy clique members who can summon one, why so surprised?"
"You're telling me that these are real, for an old man you sure love your childhood stories." He said as he clicked his tongue at the scientist's childish belief.
"Then how do you explain this and this and this." Ricane handed over several photographic proofs that he collected throughout his research and points out one picture in particular that shows a figure that was wrapped in thunder except this is not the railgun as the picture was taken in Northern Europe, which took Kakine by surprise before Ricane continues with his explanation, "There's even someone who has the same powers like the railgun out there and called himself as the modern incarnation of Thor the god of thunder."
"Who is the blonde supposed to be then? Is he the modern interpretation of Beowulf?" Kakine brushed the pictures away and shifted the topic back to the figure that he once met.
"As far as I know, he's the real one… Dark Matter you've faced off with a real mythological being." Ricane explained.
"Impossible, he's supposed to be hundreds of years old then? If this is supposed to be a joke, it's not funny."
"It's up to you to believe it or not, but he is a being filled with power of unknown origin which you might want to use to become even stronger than you are now."
"Finding him and bringing him in is the quickest way to do so…"
"It's impossible to do, he likes to hide himself unless he picks up and senses any traces of power being emitted by ones who used powers of outside origin." Ricane said as he switched the projector to show a map of the city that shows live readings of Mana based energy signatures.
"Bait him out then, you said you were already familiar with him and his colleague." Kakine said as he deduced that the old man has his own experiences in dealing with the ones who come from the other side.
"I can't use that power anymore since I lost my previous body." Ricane said while looking at his trembling hands as he remembered that he once lost to a certain shadow magician, but his attention was redirected again at Kakine who asked, "Interesting, you're a clone then?"
"It's a backup body."
The esper shows some amount of interest to the old man as his way of conducting things intrigued the esper, but a sudden alarm and a change on the mana tracing map caused Ricane to shout out to his assistant.
"What was that?!"
"Ricane, the sensors picked up a reading! It's him!" His masked assistant replied as he readied himself to take off from the facility to intercept the illusive being.
"Beowulf?! That fool won't just show up like that! Track him! Track him down now!" The old man gave his orders and continued to say, "You should be able to capture him using the upgrades I've given you and I allow you to set out with the Empress prototype."
The sudden change that Ricane showed once again intrigued the esper as his wings suddenly filled the facility in warm white light, then he said a simple sentence that surely sounded like the choir of angels to Ricane as he said, "I'll be joining you."
"Dark Matter?! I take it that you're taking up my offer?" Ricane said as the roof of his facility opened up while a looming shadow of a large machine rose up from the basement floors with his assistant standing on top of it while tweaking with a wrist mounted control device, the esper however just smirked and flies to stand alongside Ricane's assistant while shouting out, "No, It's a damn rematch."
Jason: I know this leads to something terrible…
Kazari: That man is the one who was also involved in our kidnapping, isn't he?
Jason: He's the worst of the worst Kazari, be sure to tell me if you ever encounter him okay.
Kazari: I will.
Shizuri: Well Well… Dark Matter, let's see how you measure up against someone from the magic society!
Saiai: Mugino got super fired up…
Mikoto: I never meet him in person, but he unsettles me somehow…
Misaki: We're the same then, I guess your sense ability still works Misaka-san.
Kuroko: All of you aren't going to touch the fact that two girls are fighting because of that blonde ape.
Mikoto: The boys did, look… they're ganging up on him right now.