Hello everyone and welcome to Intertwined! This is a new long-running, slow burn fanfic of mine, set in a Alternate Universe a few years after the events of Railgun T. I've been inspired by a lot of fanfics on here, having followed To Aru since 2010 and reading since 2013. I've been wanting to write a To Aru fic for years and I've finally felt the incentive to do so. Before reading, please be aware that there are some dark themes in the story.
Other than that, I hope you all enjoy the story! I'll try and keep these little notes and footnotes to a minimum, but please feel free to leave a review with a question, critique or just your thoughts in general. The first eleven chapters have been completed off-sight, so expect new preambles and footnotes from chapter 12. Thanks for reading!
Night-time once again settled upon the vibrant and luminous Academy City, its bright lights shining from street lamps, office buildings and apartments providing a dazzling contrast to the dark and ominous sky above.
Passing from street to street would provide a fresh visual eruption of yellow and white light, tinged with reds, greens and blues from the various stores and restaurants that had set up shop in the city. Some streets provided some solace from the blasting light of night-life. Others would be brighter than the last, somehow being even more active and bustling.
But for one person, the fluctuations in light would make her wince.
This lone young woman was conducting her standard patrols, and the fluctuations in light, dipping between persons and diving into the gaps between buildings, attacked her throbbing forehead. Her bright-brown eyes were constantly assaulted by her shuttering eye-lids, intensifying the effects of the lights, and it only added to the aching feeling in the sides of her head as she failed to control her sight.
"Ugh, Uiharu-san." The teenager placed a hand on her chest, pushing down onto her dark blue university blazer to speak into a touch-activated electronic speaker. "I... think I should call it a night." She hesitated, grimacing at the failure to uphold her personal standards, regardless of whatever was troubling her.
"Mm, it's an optional patrol anyway, Kuroko." Said the sweet and light voice in her right earplug, lacking the professionalism of Kuroko Shirai. She could not help but roll her eyes, despite the straining ache of the action, and allow a small smile to lift a side of her lips.
"I know Kazari." She started. "But someone has to do it." Kuroko sighed again, turning on her heel to go back the way she came. Her long tea-coloured hair flowed and followed behind her, tied up in a single, off-centre red ribbon. "Besides, you're also working tonight."
"But that's because I'm on the night shift, I'm meant to be working." Kazari countered, though her little giggle near the end told Kuroko that she was not being too serious about it. Kuroko could only really concede on the matter.
"Yes... you're right. I'll loop round towards my Uni flat and-"
"But you need to rest Kuroko!" Kazari interrupted the Judgement officer, her worry now tinged with annoyance. She knew how stubborn Kuroko could be.
"-and I will once I'm home, I forgot to take my prescription this morning anyway so I got to make up for it." Kuroko admitted, trying to reassure her friend and colleague with some honesty which she did not need to reveal. It had the opposite effect however as she heard a concerned grumble rumble down her ear plug.
"For the headaches?"
"Eh, no, the usual."
Now they were both grimacing.
Kazari fiddled with one of the flowers that was decorated around her short-black hair.
"You really can't afford to forget those pills, Kuroko..." Kazari's scolding sounded more like a whine than a telling off, but Kuroko knew that Kazari was at her limit. She sighed.
"I know, sorry, no excuses... even though I have some." She forced a chuckle to try and lighten the mood, but she could feel Kazari shake her head even from here.
"Just make sure to take your bedtime ones before you sleep alright?" Kuroko could only nod at her friend's reasonable request, humming in agreement before Kazari continued. "But I'll leave you to it, contact me if you happen to stumble into anything on your way home, okay?"
"And contact me if any emergency comes up." Kuroko was sure to add, already beginning her vigilant walk home.
"Yes, yes, if there are no other options."
"No no, if any-"
"Ah sorry sorry, gotta run, issue with the microwave haha, bye!" The communicator of the office quickly disconnected, not wanting to give any excuse for Kuroko to overburden herself as always. The Teleporter sighed at the obviously fake disaster occurring at the office, pausing on the busy street to massage her forehead. As she eased her pains, she quickly remembered the route back home, thinking of any alleyways on the way to quickly check up on – either again or for the first time that night.
District 15 – which contained the city's main shopping district – was directly adjacent to District 7 – home of her old academy of Tokiwadai Middle School and its associated high school – and often had various hidden and obscure routes for budding criminals to steal and practice their Esper powers. While she was now living within District 5 – home to the University that she had been specially enrolled into – Kuroko always liked to check the routes she knew, hoping to deter those seeking a more dubious life or help the ones forced into it through their desperation or questioning resolve.
At this point in her life she had practically memorised every single nook and cranny in between District 2, 7 and 15, and not even a headache could suppress that.
If she wasn't feeling so ill, with a pinch of sleepiness sprinkled atop her head, she would have taken a route through the District 2 checkpoint into the law enforcement zone to check for any more... professional criminals.
But alas, even the ever determined and professional Kuroko Shirai could not bring herself to go beyond the call of duty.
At least it was a rare occurrence for her. She consoled herself with that fact.
'Nor do I want to injure myself while I'm off my peak.' She thought to herself, justifying her rare wane in dedication.
The brush on her shoulder of another roaming human being brought her back from her strained thoughts, and she resumed her semi-professional walk in earnest, adjusting her green and white striped armband.
Her lonely walk was quick in allowing her mind to wonder. She tried to repress the nagging thoughts in her head and the burdens that were slowly piling on top of her. While she was able to rely on her parents to take care of her flat bills, and with Judgement funding her University enrolment, she could not divert the duties of an officer of her rank, nor offload the slow building difficulty and amount of her educational tasks and duties. More and more of her time was being consumed, such was one of the curses of growing up. Less and less time for friends, more and more time for physical and mental coursework. Sleep was becoming a luxury, and time was dedicated to those younger and lower in the Judgement pecking order.
As she checked another side street, she could not help but feel that this was directly correlated to her chronic headaches and other bodily aches and pains.
She did not want to be all doom and gloom though. Kuroko was incredibly proud of her rise in the ranks of Judgement in the past few years, and was so deeply grateful for their sponsorship of an early entry into one of the premium universities of the super scientific city-state. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined her academic and professional rise in stature. It brought a smile to her lips as she paced through the city she called her home.
However, of course, this leads to the aforementioned burdens. She could handle the work from all angles, be it the paperwork, Esper tests or vetting and training new applicants to the special, Esper-focused law enforcement agency.
She was not expecting to be taking in another member of her team or to be conducting multiple kinds of educational tests per day however.
But alas, such was her role now.
These patrols of hers became almost a kind of recreation now. It harkened back to the more innocent days of her journey in Academy City and filled her with a healthy dose of pleasant nostalgia.
Even if it teemed with an undercurrent of pain and sorrow.
Kuroko shook her head in an attempt to shake away her thoughts and the remnants of her fading headache. While finding solace in the sudden lull in pain, breathing out a pleased sigh and rounding another street corner, she would not let it distract her. Pushing on, she performed some simple, low-demand teleportations through the upcoming streets. Some of them only had a few people walking along, and others none at all. She also knew which streets she could afford to skip from one end to the other, knowing that there was nothing that could be hidden on the sides; either through material obstruction or the glimmer of lights illuminating the walls thoroughly and blasting away any attempts at secrecy.
That foreknowledge made it easier for Kuroko to pick out discrepancies.
As she glided through another quiet street, pushing deeper into the more obscure parts of the district crossings and footpaths like a train through a tunnel, her sharp eyes begin to pick up on the tell-tale signs of a disturbance. Even as she began to pick up some altitude, using the momentum of gravity to speed herself up without the physical exertion of jogging and running, her uncanny perception laser-scanned the concrete walls and the man-made floor of the city.
"Just my luck..." She commented to herself in a grumble, noticing an odd mark on the wall she passed. She noted that it had not been there three days ago on her last patrol through this certain street. While she did not pause, her quick mind used the memory from her sight to deduce that it appeared akin to a scorch mark.
That meant that Kuroko could immediately narrow down the kind of Esper she may be about to deal with. Pyrokinetic? An Electro? Maybe it was blast frozen and she could ask for some ice from the miscreant once she arrested them, using it for whenever her headache flared up again.
The teleporter could not help but let a smirk form upon her lips. Her hesitancy over being out-of-shape and the fatigue of the day was being overtaken by the adrenaline that began to flow into her veins.
So she sped up, increasing her calculations to something less lax than before, increasing her teleportation distance and decreasing her jump times. All the while her near-red eyes were darting from one corner to the other or making absurdly fast perfect circles, allowing her reflexes to take over when something shone just a little too bright or dimmed too much to be from a normal passer-by walking in front of a light source. Her ears tuned in to anything sharp or scratching, the signs of the rubber on a pair of shoes being strained to their adhesive limits. She even used her sensation of touch, feeling on her cheeks or strands of loose hair if a blast of air did not come directly from her own body disturbing the currents as she teleported.
Flinging herself through a crossroads, she swore she saw something appear in the corner of her vision. Her mind made it out to be some kind of puff of grey, acrid smoke. At this point, any other person chasing down a disturbance would have to turn on their heels, losing momentum and precious time.
But for Kuroko? Kuroko simply made her 11-dimension mental calculations.
Maintaining her pace through the air, she jumped over to the street she had just passed, confirming – just – the smoke trail she knew she had seen in her peripheral vision. So advanced had her mind become that she could superimpose the grid she formed in her mind onto her vision, ever increasing her accuracy. She allowed herself to make a touchdown on the surface below, her special shoes screeching in agony as they attempted to grip onto the concrete and slow down the Judgement officer.
Reaching the seeming origin of the smoky trial, she saw nothing but the remnants of some kind of battle. Peering down the alleyway she could see more scorch marks, but fresher than the first one she had seen a few minutes ago. Smoke wafted from the centre of this sooty, burnt chunks of concrete, indicating to Kuroko that she had just missed whoever or whomever was causing the disturbances.
Frowning, the teleporter pushed through a sharp tingle of pain on her forehead to teleport herself into the sky, placing herself above the relatively short building for a birds-eye view. It provided a far better advantage for her, as she could whip out her phone from her knee-length skirt's pocket and zoom into any odd movements.
It did not matter how low-key or blatant they were, any weird movement, sound or light source would immediately catch her attention.
She seemingly hovered in the air, looking and looking for anything that might catch her eye. Whenever she found herself drifting too far down, Kuroko would jump back up to her vantage point, shifting a few metres every time. The frown on her brow was due to a mixture of determination and frustration; she just could not find where all of this trouble was coming from.
Almost all hope was lost for Kuroko now.
'Have I just missed them?' She thought, disappointment seeping into her frustration.
But then she heard a scream, but it was more like a wail in retrospect.
"Sounds like a man." Kuroko said to herself, immediately jumping towards the noise relative to her position in the sky. She pressed the speaker hidden beneath her shirt, signalling in. "This is Shirai, I have activity at the District 5 to 7 border. One male, potentially under assault from an Esper, type unknown." She listed off as fast as she could without it sounding like a mumbling blur. One of her first lessons as a Judgement trainee was to speak clearly, loudly, but quickly, and she had nailed that very quickly indeed, never forgetting the lesson.
"Gah, sorry, Uiharu is away!" It was the new girl, and Kuroko could not help but let out a tut of annoyance.
"Yoshika?"
"Yes, sorry, I only got half of that! Please repeat!" The usually gentle voice, like a mirror to Kazari's, was slightly panicked. Kuroko thought it best to lay off any kind of berating until tomorrow, though it did not stop her from rolling her eyes.
"District 5 to 7 border, male, under assault-"
A loud, blinding explosion cut her off.
Kuroko could not help but cover her eyes as something akin to a supernova erupted from an alleyway just two streets across from her right. The light, wind blast and shock wave rattled within her bones like she was being tortured with a powerful bass speaker. Forcing down the arm that hid her vision, she saw the fiery reds and yellows slowly shrink and settle, while a billowing cloud of thick, black smoke rose past the peaks of the office buildings. Bright flashes of blue lightning sporadically erupted from within and around the blast site as electric cables flayed, and the lights within buildings surrounding the zone flickered and waned. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Shirai?!" Shouted a static-riddled voice down her right ear.
'I can't deal with this right now!' She screamed in her mind, beyond annoyed at this rookie, even if a part of her knew she was being far too harsh.
"I'm re-activating my tracker while I deal with this. Get Uiharu back now and she will sort out the rest." Her raised voice gave little room for the new recruit to question Kuroko's strategy, so she merely hummed and spoke an affirmation.
"I'm disconnecting communications." Kuroko stated simply, hardly giving time for Yoshika to reply. She tapped on her chest again, and the comm signal was dead. At the end of the day all Uiharu needed was that tracker. With it she would get her exact coordinates and quickly log into the local camera network, as well as signal to the regular law-enforcement and Anti-Skill for any backup or crime scene analysis.
With the line disconnected, Kuroko pushed those thoughts away, teleporting above the sight before allowing herself to dive down onto the scene. Activating her esper powers again she halted her rapid fall, using its flaw of having zero velocity upon jumping to her advantage. Using the black soot and smoke to her advantage she lay low, swinging her neck and twisting her body for a quick preliminary analysis. Taking out her phone she set it to a thermal imaging, using the same movements as before and sliding around on her heels.
While one end of the alleyway was a mess of bright, vibrant heat spots, dominated by the explosion and seasoned with the dash of electric static, the other end appeared cool and thus empty. Any readings she got were blue in nature, and would likely have been the cool concrete and paint of the surrounding buildings. While the earlier thoughts of the criminal being some kind of cold temperature Esper lingered in her mind, she knew that it could not be that type. The explosion was far too fiery and potent.
It was not a good sign.
'Damn, how have they vanished already?!' Kuroko bemoaned internally, her furrowed brow now etched in confusion, as well the frustration and annoyance from earlier, and the build up of soot from wreckage behind her.
Speaking of which, she made the motion to turn back around, dashing towards the epicentre of the scene. Kuroko had absolutely no idea if the victim would still exist, completely discarding the possibility of him being alive. Very few people could survive an explosion like that if it hit them directly, and by the sounds of panic in the man's scream, he certainly did not sound capable of defending against whatever was attacking him.
Sticking to the floor, Kuroko opted against teleporting. Her vision being so obscured by the slowly clearing smoke meant teleporting was a dubious option at best. Her thinking was: Unless she wanted to go skyward, it was best to stay on her feet.
Her quick jog slowly became a brisk walk as she instinctively covered her face. Using the phone as cover as well allowed her to maintain a vision of what was ahead of her, and she could now feel the heat that radiated from molton remnants of the explosion. Again she thought that it would be a miracle if a body was still present, and not the charred and mangled remains of whatever was left of the poor man.
She felt a persistent vibration above her heart and nearly panicked, but remembered that communicator that lived in between her clothing. She tapped and pressed onto the device.
"You're not allowed to do that Shirai-san!" Said the panicking voice of Kazari Uiharu, apparently now back at her station. Kuroko allowed herself a quick, one beat chuckle.
"Well, I'm not on duty, am I?" She retorted teasingly despite the situation, wincing at a fresh wave of hot air that tingled her forearm.
"That's not funny! I can't get any signal from the cameras so I can't play watchman for you."
Kuroko frowned.
"No signal? None at all?" She asked, confused and concerned. The heat of the ruins grew stronger as she got ever closer.
"None! The entire local cluster is down, it's not something I can fix since it's on the physical end."
'That's bizarre… ' Kuroko was baffled and concerned. It helped to narrow down the potential users, but at the same time anyone could destroy a camera. "By physical, do you mean the camera's being destroyed?" She asked for clarity, hoping Kazari already had the answer. Fortunately, she did.
"No. Yoshika has pulled the data from the control center, they all shut down at once with no shutdown signal sent to them." Kazari turned to look at Yoshika working on her end of the Judgement branch's computer system, rewatching a set of cameras suddenly shut down with not a single person captured by their curious lenses. The blonde, short-haired girl with black eyes hidden behind red-framed glasses was desperately trying to find any trace of the victim or attacker before the visuals were cut.
"Ah, glad she's being useful." Kuroko commented flippantly with a mumble. She was not meaning to be cruel or disparaging, but she had not yet had a pleasant or redeeming interaction with the newbie as of yet. Kazari made a disapproving noise but said nothing, not wanting to distract from the issue at hand.
Kuroko, pushing through the final barriers of burning heat and acrid fumes, reached the site of devastation.
It was not a pleasant sight.
Besides the standard, blackened rubble that dotted the scene, as well as the massive crater spiced between the concrete wall and floor, what remained of the poor man was a sorry mess. Charred bits of flesh circled the half-blasted body, hardly a fresh pigment of skin remained nor the vibrancy of flesh blood among those parts. What had not been vaporised by whatever had hit him was burned as well. Flesh and clothing melted and blended into one another like a solvent in water, and in parts it was impossible to tell when the man's skin began and his shirt ended. Kuroko could just barely tell what the last expression of the victim was above the stench of a cooked, overdone human making her eyes water...
That of pure terror.
Her training and experience had prepared her for sights like this. Hell, she had taken a knife straight through her hand once and didn't even blink when the surgeons began patching it up. Even still, Kuroko could not help but wretch as she turned away. The adrenaline now mixing in with the overwhelming sights and smells created a chemical concoction that threatened to spill out onto the floor, but Kuroko had more than enough willpower to keep it down and push the horror of the sight to the back of her mind.
She had a job to do.
"Kuroko?!" Kazari said down the radio, full of worry and concern. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine." Kuroko responded as quickly as she could, swallowing the overload of saliva in her mouth. "The victim is deceased, impossible to identify visually." She walked around the body, crouching down besides the side which had not been blasted to bits. Her grip on her phone tightened as she brought it up from her side, dipping in and out of menus to perform the only task she really could.
"I'm taking fingerprints, we need to know who this guy is." Kuroko spoke to Kazari down the line, grabbing the sooty, blood splattered wrist of the victim. She noticed the mixture of sensations on her fingertips as she held the dead man's wrist, the roughness of the soot and debris combined with the specks of red liquid to create a bizarre and uncomfortable feeling on her palm.
"I've notified Anti-Skill since this is clearly an Esper related crime, they should be here in a few minutes." Kazari noted Kuroko, the latter woman able to pick up on the tapping of keyboards in the background. She fiddled with the deceased's palm and outstretched his fingers.
"Good job. I will collect what evidence I can before they shoo me away." Kuroko brought her phone upon the victim's fingertips. "You know what they are like."
"Mhmm." Kazari hummed, thinking of the various other times Anti-Skill decided to keep Judgement in the dark over matters, no matter how high up the pecking order they were in the organisation. "Double and triple copies, as per usual." She began to set up the folders with various types of encryption and opened a secure connection port between her computer and Kuroko's cellular device.
"Okay, the first data streams should be sending soon…" Kuroko commented, almost talking to herself as she heard the sirens scream strongly in the nearby distance. "Pictures and sensor data next…" The teleporter once more began tapping on her phone, activating the necessary functions for the task.
Obviously, a normal phone would not be able to do this. So when Kuroko was promoted to the higher ranks, and after a little bit of pushing and prodding, she was able to obtain a device similar to the ones that Anti-Skill had at their disposal. Advanced cameras, encryptions, sensors to analyze the physical environment… It was an older model for sure, but more than enough for a skilled and dedicated officer in Kuroko.
It had become second nature for Kuroko to tab in and out of the various applications on offer, with each piece of the puzzle quickly put together in a manner that was still filled with detail and precision. Kazari had become used to the speed, owing to the amount of high-level investigation that the pair had been involved in in the past five or so years. It was a setup so in sync and efficient that the observing Yoshika could only sit and stare with a mesmerised expression on her face, as well as a hint that she was trying to take it all in. She wanted to learn from all this, to know what made the two click and to become as useful and valued as possible.
It would also be nice to get ahold of one of those scientific wonders produced by the scientific city-state, but Yoshika was resigned to the standard 'one step at a time' approach.
Another minute went by before Kuroko felt that she had collected and sampled all she could. With the last picture taken, an air sample collected and soot stains grazed over one of the delicate pads on the phone's back, Kuroko could now exhale a breath that she felt she held for an eternity.
"Done." She stated simply, bending and stretching her neck from side to side. "Did everything come through clearly, Uiharu?" She then asked, placing the phone back into her pocket as the first echoes of running boots hit her ears.
"Seems so, the computer is doing its thing now, gathering and compiling. I'll have the backups safe and secure in no time." Kazari finished with a satisfied hum and nod, happy with her own important contribution to the task. She turned to Yoshika and smiled, giving her a thumbs up. The blonde smiled back, though it was a more awkward one. Yoshika knew that she was having trouble fitting in, and so did Kazari. One was grateful for the attempt to help out, and the other more than happy to make them feel welcome.
"Good stuff Uiharu-san." Kuroko managed to say before a firm voice sounded from down the street.
"Kuroko Shirai, Judgement?" Said the tall man, complete with shades and boring, black short hair. Another man of similar stature and a woman with shoulder length white hair stood directly behind him. Kuroko nodded.
"Indeed. I presume this is in your hands now?" The teleporter went straight to the point, approaching the trio while a set of other personnel rushed down the street besides them. Now it was the man who nodded.
"Yes, but thank you as always for performing your duties." Anti-Skill had become increasingly more diplomatic over the past few years, though Kuroko would chalk that up to her rank ever increasing in that timespan. Still, it was welcome and far less aggravating than their formally dismissive and even hostile tone of the past during her younger years. "Were you able to catch sight of the attacker?" He then asked while the teams around them set up their perimeters and evidence gathering devices and machines. Kuroko shook her head.
"Unfortunately not. My best guess is that the Esper that did this uses pyrokinetics or electricity; the damage to the victim is far too sophisticated to be a bomb or explosive shell." Kuroko shared her fair and measured conclusions to the leading officer, who hummed an affirmation and nodded.
"I see." He signalled to the woman directly to her rear-left, presumably to take charge or some element of the investigation. "I request you vacate the premises now, Shirai-san, your work here is done." He said plainly, but not without a professional nod and curl of the lips to subtly express his gratitude. Kuroko returned it in kind, and teleported herself away, landing on a nearby rooftop to reassess her bearings, location, and the quickest route home.
But first…
"Kazari?"
"Yes, Kuroko?" It caught the skilled computer operator off guard when Kuroko returned to a first name basis.
"Let me know what you find tomorrow, this reminds me of another incident a week ago…" She sighed, not wanting to reminisce on the other mess she had encountered that time. "I really should get some rest." But Kuroko was a little reluctant to say that. She was always one who liked to be in the know constantly, even at the expense of her sleeping pattern. Things were not adding up in her mind.
"I'm glad you're taking my advice, hehe." Kazari giggled, her tone almost sounding sarcastic. But she was grateful. "Please rest, I'll call you at midday unless you happen to be in the office by then."
"Mhm. No I, I might use that day off after all." Kazari caught the uncertainty in Kuroko's voice. She knew that this was not something that the teleporter tended to do, and an eyebrow arched.
"You are just tired right? Nothing else on your mind?" Kazari asked cautiously. "I can only imagine the sight you saw…" The younger girl felt a tiny little shudder run up her back. She was lucky enough to avoid most of the more gruesome aspects of the task, but she still had her imagination to fill in the censored blanks.
"Eh, no… it was not pleasant but.. I don't know, this is becoming far too common now." Kuroko grimaced and frowned. Even she wasn't too sure what the matter was. If anything she was feeling fine at the moment, just tired and fatigued from a long day or managing her sudden illness and the standard tasks of a Judgement officer. Something bothered her though, and for a moment her forehead tensed.
"It's probably nothing." She said with a little finality in her tone, shaking her head a little and relaxing her brow. Kazari hummed.
"Okie. I'm here to chat if you need it!" Kazari offered to her close and dear friend with a smile on her lips and joyful pitch in her voice.
"Of course, Kazari. I'll leave you to handle the data now." Kuroko said softly, and she could practically sense Kazari nodding her head.
"Yup yup, have a good night Kuroko! Oh, Yoshika says the same!" Kuroko could just about hear that in the background, and an amused, single note of a chuckle escaped her throat. As cold as felt towards the new girl, she could not help but appreciate the endearment.
"Of course, good night to you both."
With a sigh she turned off her communicator for a final time before reaching for her ear, taking out the earplug and placing it in the same pocket as her Judgement phone. She stretched and enjoyed the moment, moving her arms above her head and pulling at them. Above the sounds of sirens and the occasional raised voice and shout from below, she took in the image of the city she helped to protect.
Glistening and flickering towers of light and metal reflected off of each other as if nothing illicit had just happened, and in the distance she could still hear the faint bustle of night life, even if it was starting to settle down as student curfews began to kick in. An airplane took off in the distance, departing with visiting civilians and homesick espers, while the windmills continued to turn briskly despite the relative lull of wind in the air.
The windmills caught her eye. They tended to blend into the city around them. Modern, coated in white paint, a symbol of technological progression and self-sufficiency. While the solar panels that dotted the cityscape stuck out, the windmills could hide themselves through sheer abundance and normality, making friends with the skyscrapers, office buildings and academies surrounding them.
She thought-
No.
She didn't.
Kuroko jumped off the building, revelling once more in the feeling of the air resisting her. Then she jumped, and jumped and jumped, each teleportation reaching a new height and distance, almost carefree.
Almost.
In the back of her mind, her head troubles kept her from being completely lax and instinctive. She did not want to catch herself out and find herself stuck in the ground or spliced into a double-glazed window. It had been the case before she took medication for her other problem, but she had very little reason to worry about that now.
Her journey continued, and soon it would be over. She was only a minute or so away from her University and the dorms she was staying in. It was a complex, housing various dormitories which differed in luxury and practicality. They were all to a high standard, but Kuroko was lucky enough to have been designated the highest tier. Partly thanks to Judgement, but also fuelled by her volunteer work, Esper level and grades, Kuroko was more than happy to accept the place she was given.
Another teleportation and she was above the University, another and she would be inside her dormitory section. It was appropriately called '1A'.
Despite not having the corridor in sight, she was able to teleport into it with ease. She had grown increasingly better at her teleportation over the years, in all manners. It was just second nature to her now. In her younger years, Kuroko had to commit precious seconds to calculations, but now it was just a matter of wanting to be in a place that was within her distance limits and somewhere within her memory.
The corridor was wide and well-lit once it detected the presence of a human being. The colours were warm and reminded Kuroko of autumn, and the carpets were of the highest quality. The distance between the dorms added extra privacy for the occupants, and Kuroko could remember some students remarking that they felt more like homes than simply a convenient and cosy place to stay for a few years.
Kuroko breathed in and out at a steady pace, and revelled at the warmth that slowly rose through her cheeks and up her body. While the cool, rushing air she experienced while teleporting was exhilarating, the comfy ambiance of the dorm complex was a comfort in itself.
She reached her door, reading the shining silver nameplate which spelled out her name. She could see a warped reflection of herself, but it lacked the details that a proper mirror could provide. She saw some of the darkness of the soot that settled on her face, but figured she could just wash it off once she was inside. The teleporter rummaged through her blazer and shirt collar, reaching down for the lanyard which held her student ID and key. Successfully pulling it out from underneath her clothing, she pulled the lanyard forward, unlocking the plastic lock which kept it in place around her neck with force.
She placed the key within the lock, and turned.
As Kuroko opened the door to her home, her headache flared up, returning with a large thud and uncomfortable heat that travelled around her skull. It rippled like a pebble dropped into a small pond, and the comfy air and familiar scent of her home hitting her added to the sensory disruption.
Rubbing her head, she entered her dorm, closing the door behind her with her free hand. The smell of herbal tea made a faint appearance, and she could hear the sound of her kettle boiling. A gentle hum sounded as well as the clinging and clanging of a metal spoon upon a ceramic mug.
Removing her shoes, she walked from the entrance way into the one suite kitchen and living room.
"I'm home." Kuroko spoke out in a tired tone, turning towards the other woman at the kitchen counter, her long, vibrant blonde hair arching down her dressing gown. The woman turned, and gold, starry eyes greeted her partner.
Her lips curled into a teasing smile, so close to a smirk, but not quite.
"Welcome home, Kuroko-san~✨" Misaki Shokuhou greeted warmly.
