The vibrant orange evening hues had enveloped Academy City, and Kuroko was sitting on the wall and resting her back onto the chain fence. The air was mostly still, only interrupted by the calming breeze that heralded the approach of night. Her shoulder wound had been patched up, and everyone back at the branch was informed of her success, including a very grateful and praising Misaki Shokuhou.
However, she was not in the best of moods.
Firstly, she should not be in a position to be leaning on the chain fencing of a supposedly high security facility. The wall was there to give protection against anyone accidentally attempting to lean onto the fencing, as it was meant to be electrified.
Secondly, because it was not actually electrified, the man that Kuroko had knocked out in the facility had somehow escaped.
"We tried to chase him down the moment we saw him, but he disappeared into the shadows so quickly."
Thirdly was the incompetence of her colleagues. Kuroko rolled her eyes and sighed. All that effort was partially negated by a critical member of this raiding gang escaping. Maybe a part of her was being harsh, but her straightforward perception of the issue felt just to her; a serious criminal had escaped despite putting her trust in her support to secure the perimeter and prevent such an occurrence.
All Kuroko could do was sigh, really.
She ended up dismissing her colleagues after that, wanting to take some time to recoup her energy. A half eaten sandwich rested beside her on the wall, one she got from a shop she needed to visit to use the restroom. Two bottles of water accompanied her too, though one of them was completely empty while the other was getting dangerously close to the same situation.
She had also asked around for some painkillers, but to no avail. It was quite an unfortunate circumstance. Kuroko would have asked Kazari if she did not feel like it would kick up a fuss with Misaki still present, but even with her now heading to the dormitories, the teleporter figured it was best to just wait until she got home at this point.
Speaking of home, a buzz from her phone came through.
Misaki had sent her another text. The first messages came not too long after the fight when Kuroko had regained consciousness, making Kuroko assume that she was being watched by her branch even as she went inside the building. A few requests for rest were smothered by praise and tender loving care, while Kazari sent a picture of Ruiko and herself doing a thumbs up. It was a nice reward, but the attention could be quite draining at times such as these.
Kuroko picked up her phone, tapping on the notification. It brought up the messaging app.
Misaki: "Kuroooooo when will you be hoooooome?"
The teleport smiled a little, a little puff of air escaping from her nose in amusement. It was unnecessarily childlike of her girlfriend, but not at all unexpected. She began to type out her reply, the tipper tapping of her fingers as well as the corresponding vibrations of her phone filling her senses.
Kuroko: "Soon. I'm overseeing the clear up." She typed, glancing upwards from her phone. She looked around the area again as she waited for a reply that she knew would come. It seemed like everyone would be departing soon with nearly everything having been cleaned up as well as everyone in the area being questioned. The suspects - bar the one which escaped - had been interrogated on the scene with Kuroko's oversight, and were taken to the detainment facilities one by one.
Then her tea coloured eyes stumbled upon two people staring at her.
Kuroko could only assume that given that they were wearing sunglasses, but they were clearly looking in her direction. They stuck out even further with their attire; plain white shirts and black trousers. They were probably the most formally dressed people here outside of those in police uniform. One appeared to be talking on a phone as they looked at her, before they both cast their gazes away from the teleporter.
It was strange, unnerving even. Kuroko kept a blank face and continued to look around with her neck guiding her head from one side to the other, keen on not giving her game away. While she acted normal, as if nothing had happened, her eyebrows threatened to display a frown.
Her phone once more vibrating switched her focus away from the strange fellows.
Misaki: "You better! I have a few rewards in mind for my oh so brave teleporter~ ✨"
Kuroko could not help but laugh a little, a grin on her face and her cheeks feeling slightly hot. Her stomach felt a little warmer and tighter.
Kuroko: "?¬タワ
Kuroko: "Noted."
The more… intimate nature of their relationship was a very welcome distraction for Kuroko. It was a way to get away from the more serious and draining aspects of her life, be it the past, present or the upcoming future.
Misaki: "Hehe, see you soooooon~"
Misaki complemented that side of Kuroko well. While the teleporter had matured a lot from her younger years, often finding herself cringing at her behaviour, it did not mean she was suddenly averse to sex. If anything, in the world she lived and took apart in, she needed it, and Misaki was very attuned to that.
Whether being a mind reader helped or not, Kuroko could only guess.
With a smile on her lips and some red around her nose, she put her phone back into her jean pocket.
Kuroko leapt from the wall, grabbing her half eaten sandwich and stuffing it into her mouth as she ate quickly and greedily. She was famished, ultimately, and seriously needed the food. The remaining bottle of water would help wash it down anyway, and perhaps play a part in preventing some hiccups.
As she finished up her ham and cheese sandwich, she looked around again, noticing that the two people keeping an eye on her had vanished. Now that she could do so freely she frowned, and wondered who exactly those people were.
'Anti-Skill assessing me maybe..?' She pondered in her mind, though that begged another question: Why be so secretive about it? Of course, that had its own answer in that an awareness of being evaluated could influence the results.
But still…
That did not quite fit either.
Kuroko shrugged it off for the time being and shifted her attention to what remained of her small meal.
She threw the last bite of the sandwich into her mouth as she thought about the matter, devouring the food with ease. Kuroko then unscrewed the bottle of water, bringing it to her lips and allowing the refreshing liquid to wet her mouth and throat. She found herself enjoying the plain drink more than usual. She felt that, perhaps, it was because she was still dehydrated from her fight and the walk from earlier, but she was never averse to the simple refreshment that some cold, crisp water could provide.
She finished her second bottle of water with a gasp, her lungs desperately intaking air as they sought their own hydration in the form of oxygen. The teleporter felt refreshed and well, and even though her head felt a little heavy, she felt better than she had been for weeks.
Kuroko teleported the empty bottle into a trashcan nearby before brushing a hand through her auburn, almost pink hair, landing at the red band that tied a portion of her hair.
Kuroko could not remember when she decided to only have one off-centre pigtail. She remembered the odd one or two comments in the past when she either purposefully or accidentally tried the look, but she could not pinpoint the exact date. The Level 4 knew that Misaki liked it though, and her own maturing mind preferred it too.
After her reminiscing she pulled and tugged at the knot, making sure that it had not become loose or drifted away from her head. Everything seemed fine and, after a quick stroke of her wavy pigtail, she turned her attention to the woman approaching her. She strode quickly to Kuroko, adjusting her collar as she did so, brushing away a few strands of loose brown hair.
"Shirai-san, everything's all done. The final Anti-Skill van is about to depart and the two men behind me…" She gestured to the men in question, both wearing their Anti-Skill attire and some armour, with one holding some kind of assault rifle. "...will keep the premises under guard."
"Are two guards enough?" Kuroko said, questioning how two people would be enough to guard an entire facility.
"A protection squad is on the way, and the security inside has been granted permission to beef themselves up." The woman reassured as the two guards walked past them. Kuroko hummed a little 'ah' before extending her arm. The black eyed woman took it, and with a quick handshake the woman departed, turning away and jogging to the police van.
Kuroko watched on, stretching her arms as she readied herself for a fresh bout of teleportations.
But then she felt a buzz in her pocket.
She was about to ignore it, thinking it was a text from a very impatient Misaki, until she realised that the vibration on her outer thigh was persisting. Frowning, she dug up the phone from its shelter and looked at the screen. Kuroko found it to be an unknown number, which was a little concerning to say the least.
Still, she accepted the call, and-
"Shirai-san!" Said the voice of Yoshika, her tone hurried and serious. Kuroko remembered that she had not added the new girl's number yet.
"Is something wrong, Kohaku-san?" Kuroko asked with some curiosity and concern. It was odd that Kazari or Ruiko were not the ones calling, and Kuroko concluded that they must be quite busy to have the newbie ring her.
"That guy who escaped, we found him!"
Now that would explain it.
"Where?" Kuroko said promptly as she began to pace forward. She would not let the error of the day remain unfixed.
"Uiharu-san is tracking him in District 11 of all places, he's sneaking around cargo containers and the like." Yoshika began, and Kuroko could hear the tipper-tapping of fingers on keyboards. "We last saw him in Loading Area 12, close to the crossover point to District 18."
"He's looking for a quiet way into the academies there." Kuroko concluded, and Yoshika hummed in agreement.
"Uiharu-san is sending over a few low-key spots that he might be slipping through." The new recruit informed, looking over to Kazari who had just reestablished her connection to Kuroko's phone. The owner of said phone felt the fresh buzzing in her hand and on the tip of her ear, signifying the arrival of new data.
"Got it, good work you two, I'll head over."
But before Kuroko could end the call, beginning her first teleportation into the open air, Yoshika spoke up again, suppressing the smile that threatened to form from the rare praise.
"The camera network is being disturbed again too!"
If Kuroko could stumble in the middle of the air, she would have done so. Her tea-coloured eyes widened in shock at the implication, and the warm feeling in her stomach morphed into something cold and twisting.
Her heart twitched.
"When?"
"Just now, it's happening near the target." Yoshika answered instantly, just as Kazari shouted from her chair towards the blonde's phone. Kuroko could faintly hear the computer genius warning her to be careful and to not get herself into an unnecessary situation.
But the words would fall on deaf ears.
"I'm on my way." Kuroko said in a voice that gave away no emotion, and hung up the call just as Kazari wrestled control of the phone on the other end. When the dark haired girl finally took it from Yoshika's grasp, her young face contorted in annoyance, she found the call screen to be disconnected. She quickly handed the phone back to Yoshika, who snatched it away quickly with a frown and shoved it into her pocket.
Kazari thought about calling Kuroko herself now, given how desperate she was to try and ensure some sense was in the teleporter, but the continued flashing and blackening of the camera's she was connected to brought her back in focus. There was little she could do now that communication with Kuroko was severed, but she still needed to log what was going on and to try and find a pattern.
The dread and anxiety in Kazari's stomach made her shake, and her tummy vibrated as her nerves ran rampant. She hoped that her assumption on who the prime suspect was had been wrong.
For Kuroko's sake.
Meanwhile the teleporter was jumping away, dashing through the sky in a mixture of falls and dimensional skips. She pushed herself harder and harder, determined to intercept the escaped raider before the other suspect got to him first. Her eyes focused on the path ahead, ignoring the bright orange glares of the sun as it began to set, heralding the dark mystique of night.
Kuroko's hair whipped around wildly as she moved as fast as her calculations would allow her. The air resistance whooshed around her body as her teleportations warped the air around her, pushing it outwards and inwards as she materialised and vanished every second. Her eyes began to sting a little as the air currents washed over her face, gliding around her cheeks and into the corners of her slightly bloodshot eyes.
A few minutes passed before Kuroko entered the district, and she could already see a large, white number designating a loading zone. It read the number '8', and by quickly looking around by twisting and turning her body mid-air she saw that Zone 7 was to her rear left, while Zone 9 was to her front. It was a little illogical, and Kuroko cursed the seemingly weird layout. She was forced to take out her phone mid-flight.
It was aggravating for her as every second counted, her teeth gritted in frustration. But as she reached for her jean pocket, she saw a flicker of light in her peripheral vision. It came from her front right, away from the academies of the neighbouring district.
'He's being chased!' Kuroko quickly concluded before phasing in and out of the third dimension once more. She was not sure whether the lights were coming from lamp fixtures or from a certain electrical Esper, but the way they waned and brightened indicated both. Regardless, something was happening.
As Kuroko drew closer and closer, agonisingly so, she heard a terrified scream and saw a blinding fork of lightning erupt from between some cargo containers. The creaking and aching of metal contorting and absorbing energy echoed through the dimming evening sky, and Kuroko bit at her teeth again.
'I can't be too late! Not again!' Kuroko cursed her luck. 'I need to move faster, farther!' She screamed in her mind, an aggravated noise rumbling in her throat as her annoyance disturbed her psyche. Pushing through the increasing fatigue of using her power, having used it so much today already, she drew closer and closer to the scene
The rush of air picked up and the details of the containers could be seen more clearly. The smell of ozone wafted in the air, and the hairs on her arms began to stand up from all of the static discharge in the surrounding atmosphere.
It felt uncomfortably familiar.
Finally, she landed atop of a cargo container that was directly hit by the electrical discharge from a few moments ago. Any excess energy was absorbed into the rubber of her trainers, and she began to scan the scene below. At first she saw nothing, but then she noticed the marks on the containers. They were not just black char marks but scratches, as if something had clawed at it or glanced off of it; metal against metal.
She dropped down onto the concrete paving below and, turning to her side, she saw what was left of the man who had escaped her earlier.
His visible skin was darkened, tanned and warped, almost melted by the power of the electrical bolts that had struck him. Smoke rose from it and his clothes, and upon closer inspection, Kuroko could see dots and splashes of an all too familiar red, viscous liquid.
Kuroko approached the mangled body in a hurry, looking over the twisted and unnaturally contorted limbs. She grimaced at the stench that radiated from the fresh, charred corpse, but was more angry than aghast. Once more, someone was dead because she could not get to them in time. The closer she got the more details she saw.
Analysing the body and the floor around it, she noted the bolts and nails that were strewn around the dead man.
They were also impaled within him.
He was tortured before being killed, just like the others. Just like the other victims they had been used as a plaything before having their lives ended, given false hopes, forced into dead ends, challenged to complete an impossible escape.
And Kuroko despised that.
"Damn her …" She uttered under her breath, her voice strained and airey. Her hands clenched into tight fists, shaking from the force of her grip, and she closed her eyes as she tried to restrain the fury that was ripping through her. How could she be the one to do this?
How could-
"Damn me? Harsh…"
Not too far away came a raised, sarcastic but calm voice, a voice that Kuroko had long not heard. It was ever so slightly deeper, a tiny bit hoarser, but distinctly from the same person that she had loved oh so long ago. Kuroko's hands loosened and her auburn eyes opened wide and shocked. Her mouth was agape and her teeth no longer felt the pressure of being ground together. She finally breathed in and turned around.
Standing on the opposite end of the corridor of containers, perhaps twenty or so metres away, was the woman that Kuroko thought she would never meet again.
"Onee-" She stopped herself, her whisper catching in her throat. No, this was not the 'Onee-sama' that she knew.
She wore a grey, plain hoodie with the hood down, showing off her shoulder length, spikey and messy chestnut hair. Her deep blue jean shorts did not match the baggy aesthetic of the hoodie, but the lopsided grin on her face complemented the imbalance.
"Mikoto Misaka." Kuroko spoke simply with a hint of disappointment, though even uttering the name made her feel sick and queasy. A swirlpool of memories and rumours festered inside her, and looking at this new and distant Railgun only fuelled it.
"Not even an 'Onee-sama' for old times sake?" Mikoto asked teasingly, grinning without a hint of malice. It perturbed Kuroko, utterly the opposite of their very last time together. Kuroko shook her head and said nothing. It prompted Mikoto to continue talking with an unwelcome familiarity.
"Ah, well, it has been a while hasn't it, Kuroko?"
She began to approach Kuroko slowly, closing the distance with tiny, innocent steps. As she drew closer a light beaming from a lamp installed on the edge of a container illuminated her face, highlighting the specks of blood that painted one of her cheeks. Kuroko stepped back, dropping into a tighter and more controlled stance. Mikoto paused, sensing the untrusting and unwelcoming aura.
"Oh, him…" Mikoto said with an uncaring voice, rolling her eyes. "I wanted to save you the trouble." She spoke as if it were nothing to kill a man, as if she was doing Kuroko a favour. Kuroko could feel herself shatter as the remaining, innocent images of her long lost best friend crumbed into ashes.
"You..!" She stopped herself from becoming too emotional, and focused on something more pressing and immediate. "...how did you know I was chasing him?"
"Do you think that I don't keep with ya life?"
Mikoto talked as if she were conversing with a friend she had met last week, not someone whom she left after an awful fight several years ago. Her grin was still there and she was still presenting a friendly gaze, but the revelation disturbed Kuroko, and the oxymoronic display confused and worried her.
Mikoto had been… watching her? Or was she just keeping up with the news? But that would not explain her knowing about her intervention on a raid that had only happened a few hours ago.
Then Mikoto began to approach her again. Kuroko's readied stance was no longer deterring her, though Mikoto's hands in her hoodie's pockets seemed to signal that there was no hostile intent. At least not yet.
"I admit, some of my methods have been illegal but… I always liked bending the rules, eh?" The Railgun said, trying to banter with Kuroko as she drew closer to her old friend. But Kuroko would not have it.
"Illegal? You are murdering people." Kuroko said in a judging voice, angered by the casual nature of Mikoto's chatting. The Electromaster blew air from her mouth and rolled her eyes again, shaking her head at Kuroko's comment.
"People? Hah…" Mikoto commented darkly, pausing again, only around ten metres away from Kuroko. "...like they deserve to be treated like ' people '." She looked away from the teleporter, her eyes glancing to the side to look at nothing in particular, hinting at the nature of those she killed.
"You have no right to kill them!" Kuroko shouted, aghast at the lack of morality that Mikoto was showing. Was she even the same Mikoto at this point? Kuroko could not believe the words that were coming out of the Railgun's mouth. Surely this was some kind of joke, some sort of trick?
"Heh, of course Judgement's Angel would suddenly be against vigilante justice." Mikoto teased with a hint of mockery, and a strangled sound escaped Kuroko's lips. "You never liked my interference anyway…" The Railgun said under her breath, the words not intended to be added to the conversation. Kuroko ignored them regardless.
"How do you know of that moniker?"
"Oh come on, I'm not deaf." Mikoto said dismissively. "Like I said, I keep up with your work… I like to keep up with your work and your life." She said cryptically with a smile on her lips, her expression lightning up and seemingly caring. Kuroko thought it to be a facade, to be a veil for something else, and the implication of Mikoto's admission frightened her further.
"They call me Judgement's Devil , ya know?" Before Kuroko could speak, Mikoto spoke up again, her caring smile morphing into another devious grin. "Imagine that? I'm your Devil… and you're my Angel." Mikoto moved a single step, a little giggle escaping her, and Kuroko backed away by two.
This was too much. Too much was happening. She was even forgetting about the smoking corpse behind her. A hand of hers flew to the side of her head as the strain of the moment began to affect her. Mikoto frowned curiously at the display.
"Headache huh? Maybe I can help with that."
"Stay away!" Kuroko denied the suggestion with a threatening scream, hiding the fear that burned in her stomach like acid. Mikoto's head tilted to the side, acting as if she was unsure as to why Kuroko was so unwilling for her touch.
"That's not the Kuroko I remember."
"As if you are the Mikoto I remember." Kuroko said with spite spitting from her mouth, her teeth gritting in a display of anger and disgust. Whatever Mikoto was really doing did not matter to Kuroko, she felt that she had to keep up her own facade. She wore the mask she always did in times like this, burying the fear and nerves to bring out her strengths.
"Mm, that is true…" Mikoto said to no-one in particular, her head briefly tilting as she looked away again. Kuroko frowned before she felt a searing pain course through her entire body, her eyes closing on instinct as a blast of light and a burst of agony ripped through her vision and body.
Kuroko felt herself lifted up from her feet and tossed to the side. The brief trip through the air was interrupted when her back crashed into one of the containers that was beside her, and the clang and rustle of the impact rang out like a bell being chimed. The teleporter stifled a groan and a pained shout as the electricity disturbed her body. Her fortitude for electric attacks was still there, but her fragile heart and pounding skull threatened to undermine her tough-girl act.
The voltage of the electric charge lessened slowly, almost teasingly so. Kuroko, with her eyes closed, could still see that blasted grin as Mikoto now played with her latest victim. The teleporter cursed herself for dropping her guard like this, leaving herself captive and useless. Kuroko could sense that Mikoto was just inches from her, having just barely heard the footsteps that signalled her proximity.
As the power of the Railgun's electrical output lessened, Kuroko forced open a single eye. She could not move as the electricity continued to debilitate and numb her nervous system, but she could still process the sight before her.
Kuroko could see the bags under her eyes and the sharpness of Mikoto's irises. There was a glint to them which uneased the teleporter, a hint that something had changed within her former best friend. Kuroko then noticed the missing flower pin that had adorned Mikoto ever since she could remember, seemingly discarded for this new, messy and unkempt hairstyle.
Yet, there was a lingering peppermint scent that invaded Kuroko… that reminded her of times gone by.
"I am curious…" Mikoto spoke quietly, speaking away from Kuroko's face and into the crevice between her neck and shoulder. Kuroko caught the air that whispered onto her exposed skin, and she concluded that her shirt must have been ruffled during her teleportations or the attack. She forced open her other eye, though they both remained skwinted and strained.
"H-huh?" Kuroko forced out, prompting Mikoto to look directly within her tea coloured eyes.
She smiled.
"Do you think Misaki has changed you?"
"Don't you dare talk about- GAH!" Kuroko's exclamation of sheer aggrievement was cut off by a fresh and powerful blast of electrical energy. The teleporter struggled against the strain that Mikoto was placing onto her, growling in pain and distress. The Railgun continued to speak after a few moments, slowly reducing the output of her power into the Level 4.
"Sure, she's reverted your memories of the Level 6 Shift attempt back, but… I wonder if she has changed anything else…" Mikoto presumed and accused and pushed at Kuroko's emotions, poking and prodding with her words and with tiny spikes of electrical charge. Kuroko struggled with the pain, both mental and physical, as well as the onslaught of the entire moment. So much was happening, and it was happening ever so quickly. It was tearing down her foundations.
But she would not allow herself to crumble.
"I know… what you're… trying-."
"Remember her little whisper in your ear?" Mikoto interrupted Kuroko's strained attempts at a retort. "How she wanted to take you away from me?" She was referring to those last few months of 'normality', before Mikoto had changed and then left, and before Misaki became a more permanent fixture in her life.
"What if she did, hmm? I mean, she has, hasn't she?" Mikoto continued, her voice low, curious and slightly menacing. She drew impossibly close to Kuroko now, and their breaths mingled.
"You… left us. You left me..."
"Mm…" Kuroko bit back a tear as Mikoto hummed. The teleporter could not quite tell what kind of emotion Mikoto betrayed in her hum, nor what her half-lidded eyes were telling her. Then Mikoto moved even closer, agonisingly closer.
Then she kissed her.
It was a slow, thoughtful kiss on her lips. It was gentle, but implanted a whirlpool within Kuroko's agonised heart. In days gone by this would have been a moment reserved for her wildest dreams and fantasies, something that would have changed her life for the better. Their lips were dry, and Mikoto's were slightly cracked, but it was an experience like no other. Kuroko had once desired this kind of intimacy from Mikoto back in Tokiwadai, but now..?
Now, as Mikoto pulled away after what seemed like a lifetime, Kuroko felt numb.
"Think on it… for me?" Mikoto whispered onto Kuroko's lips, her voice soft and hopeful, her electrical charge waning. "You were never too keen on her… but now you're with her? How strange…" Then the Railgun pulled away further, giving Kuroko some breathing room as she commented like an inquisitive student.
It felt almost mocking, like Kuroko was being toyed with, and the continued implications brought forth onto Misaki sparked a fresh fury within her. It overwhelmed what was left of Mikoto's electricity coursing through her body, and she found that she once more had strength in her right arm.
Quickly, she clenched her right hand and brought upwards her fist into Mikoto's stomach, slamming into her with as much force as she could muster in her frazzled state. A shocked groan emanated from the Railgun as the air rushed out of her stomach and lungs, and she found herself stumbling backwards and away from her prized captive.
Sensing her opportunity, Kuroko forced herself to calculate through the pain that lingered and buzzed through her abused being. It was delayed but, within a few seconds, she had teleported to a safer distance, one where she could be vigilant of any sudden attacks and given the time needed to phase out of the third dimension.
Both fought to regain their breath and bearings, the unique moment still fresh in their minds, and past moments returning to the forefront. Both women gritted their teeth, and both returned their gazes to each other, anger dancing on their brows. Kuroko was still shaking from the electricity that had played havoc in her body, while Mikoto held onto her stomach with one of her hands, and the other one free and ready to strike an accurate blast towards Kuroko. They were both hunched over as the moment washed over them in pain and adrenaline.
And in the light of the lamps that cast down upon them like actors in a play, Kuroko noticed something curious and strange.
She swore that the hand holding Mikoto's stomach was… different.
"I see you're-" Mikoto coughed as she tried to speak her fighting words. "-still resistant to my powers." She spoke with a strained grin, almost as if she was enjoying it. Kuroko grimaced at the display as she straightened her back, achieving a small victory over the Railgun.
"If you kill again, Railgun, I will not hold back." She stammered out in a few breaths, her warning true and her tone determined. She wanted to get her message across, she needed to let Mikoto know she was serious.
The Railgun could tell.
Mikoto straightened herself as well, ignoring the pangs of pain in her stomach. Her face turned blank, almost emotionless.
"Even if I tell you why?" Mikoto then asked, though Kuroko would not take what she thought to be bait.
"Why would I care?" Kuroko said in a bitter, disappointed tone. She even turned away and was about to depart, but not before she looked over her shoulder at the stranger that used to be her best friend, suppressing the tears that threatened to spill from her bloodshot eyes.
"Why would you tell me now?"
Then she vanished.
This time Kuroko Shirai would be the one to leave, not Mikoto Misaka.
