5hadowhand: I'm not entirely sure on my endgame regarding the dragons yet. As for whether the new girl will get Kami-yan disease, only time will tell...

lovecrazyhedgehog: Oh wait, I made a typo there...thanks for mentioning it, I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise, that's my bad.

VLPURN: Thanks! And Tsuchimikado's attacker is an OC.

surya25addanki: No worries, there'll be plenty of both in the story.

PheonixX09: We'll have to see about that, won't we? O.o

deegeetal: Thanks for the praise, I appreciate it!

Also, I normally leave my A/N's for the end of the chapter...

BUT GODDAMN DID Y'ALL SEE THE NEW IMAGINARY FEST OP?! SOOOOO FUUUUCKIIIIIING HYPEEEEE TO SEE OHTINUS ANIMATED!

I do not own the masterpiece that is Toaru Majutsu no Index.


ARC 1: High School Breakdown

Chapter 5: The Unforeseen(Veteran_of_Shadows.)

Near the entrance to the School Garden of District 7 was a recently-opened wide open restaurant that was quite popular among the residents of that location. It sold food that was always prepared with care by the staff, had kind and professional staff, good service, and made it's dishes with natural ingredients.

The last detail in particular attracted a specific Level 5 of Tokiwadai Middle School to pay it a visit, and it since become one of her favorite restaurants in the district.

And as such, the girl also saw fit to set up camp in that very restaurant on the day of the Capture the Point game.

"Category 23-Have the indicated individual forget catching sight of me."

Shokuhou Misaki was about to lower her remote, but with a little "Oh!" sound, she quickly raised it again.

"Category 71-Have the indicated individual think he has stomach issues and leave him in the bathroom of another establishment for the rest of the event."

As she then lowered the remote and pressed one of the buttons, the boy of which she was currently controlling then came out of his trance. He seemed to be quite disoriented, and after a few moments he was clutching his stomach.

"OH LORD, I SHOULDN'T HAVE EATEN THOSE BEANS BEFORE WE CAME OUT!" He frantically screamed as he ran out of the restaurant.

He hadn't had beans at all that day, but he didn't need to know that.

Shokuhou Misaki's esper ability, Mental Out, while a very menacing and dangerous ability, could also be used for the smallest, most insignificant of purposes. It wasn't like she needed to control some out of control criminal with it to bring him to justice, redirect some corrupt governmental system, or anything as grand as that. If she wanted to, she could use it to simply just get herself some free snack, cut through a line, or in this case, make some random boy think he had eaten beans in the morning and gotten a bad stomachache.

When you held the most powerful psychological esper power in a city full of super-powered students, you had the luxury to do small and petty things like that.

"Honestly, everyone's competitive ability is so riled up right now...is such a silly game like this really worth all of the fuss?" She muttered irritably.

The girl was extremely bored. She had no interest in an event that was physically-oriented, as it was far out of her comfort zone. As such, the girl did not hesitate to control groups of people from other schools on her team to put in the dirty work for her. Her distaste with physical activity also carried over to what she ordered of her clique, and she decided to just have them guard her while she sent others to do the actual capturing. One of the greatest kindnesses she could grant, in her eyes.

The blonde-haired girl let out a sigh as she rose from the chair she was sitting on.

"Keep holding this vantage point, girls. I want to go get a drink~"

"Of course, Queen!" Was the almost instant and simultaneous response from every member of her clique which was currently within earshot of her.

With that, Shokuhou then made her way to the kitchen.

"Well, hopefully Misaka-san is taking care of all this fuss so we can return to normal soon..." She murmured under her breath as she entered the white-tiled kitchen.

"...do I feel a bit bad for lying about taking one of the points and leaving the capturing business of both to Misaka-san's Amazon-like fighting ability?..."

A moment's silence.

"No, not really~"

Humming, she made her way over to one of the drink coolers at the other side of the kitchen.

"But honestly, thank goodness all these establishments in the district have been emptied of their staff for the event. It's so much less of a hassle to get the food and drinks you want," she said in a joyful, honeyed voice.

While she had been taking food out of the fridges and was now anxious for a drink after eating, she was leaving the appropriate amount of payment inside the cash register. She wasn't so heartless so as to not leave any compen-

"WAHHH!? THERE'S NO DRINKS IN THE COOLER?! MAYBE I SHOULDN'T LEAVE ANY CASH AFTER ALL!"

-Unless that happened.

"Did they not restock the cooler with drinks yesterday?! Well, I suppose that given the event was happening today, that was a reasonable decision..."

Frantic muttering began...

"But I wanted driiiiiiinksssss!"

A tantrum was ensuing, one that was unbecoming of the normally composed and elegant Queen of Tokiwadai. While this was, to the average person, something very silly to have such a reaction to, Shokuhou Misaki seemed to regard it as a terrible tragedy.

"Where will I go to get a drink now?...There's a public water fountain nearby, but I think it's best to not trust their sanitary ability..."

Many things that were communal in any settlement or point of civilization would always be quite unsanitary in hindsight given the amount of people who would use them. Shokuhou had, as such, never trusted them and would always make sure that anything that she indulged in was hers and hers alone. As such, given that option was out of the question, only one remained.

Giving a sigh and walking back into the dining room, She proceeded to make her way towards the door, where a slim girl with a purple-ringlet haircut and a bright smile was standing guard.

"Hokaze, I'm going to step out to get a drink-look over the place while I'm gone, if you please."

The girl gave a happy nod. "Of course, Queen! Would you like any of us to accompany you?"

Shokuhou shook her head. "No need to bother with that. I'll only be gone for a few minutes."

With a nod of acknowledgement from Hokaze, the Level 5 then walked off, clutching her phone as she gazed at the map of the city. There was a convenience store nearby-that would have to do in order to quench her thirst. She'd have to get another drink from one of the stores inside the School Garden that had high quality drinks once the event was over, but it would still take several hours to reach that point.

She wandered down the street on the left hand sidewalk. Turning the corner at the upcoming intersection and then going straight would bring her to another intersection at which one of the entrances of the underground mall were situated on the other side of the street, with the convenience store right next to it. The street was relatively quiet, due to her clique having cleared out most of the area of people in her quest to spend the timeframe of the event within a peaceful sanctuary.

Reaching the corner and taking a left, she made her way down the street at a leisurely pace towards the store-she wasn't really in a rush, all she wanted was a simple drink and she would be off. Luckily, since this restaurant was relatively far from the designated points of both teams, there wasn't really anyone around this point. It was quiet, which was oddly uncharacteristic of the area given that it was normally bustling with people.

She hummed a tune as she reached the intersection, with the convenience store right across from her.

And in that instant, something completely out of the girl's expectations happened.

She could not have staged it, imagined it, or think it would happen at any point. After all, the connection between her and that boy had been severed long ago.

But at that moment, a spiky-haired boy came frantically barreling out of the entrance to the underground mall which was right next to that convenience store.

The blonde-haired girl had frozen.

She had no idea what she should do, say, or if she should just walk away. The last one would've likely been the most sensible option.

But she couldn't make that split second decision with all the thoughts swimming in her head.

Then, the boy cried out.

"ARE YOU REALLY STILL FOLLOWING ME? WHAT IS WITH THIS CRAZY DEDICATION?!"

"Following him?"

Kamijou seemed so frantic to get away from his pursuer that he did not even seem to notice her standing on the sidewalk, dumbfounded, as he raced down the street.

Looking back at the entrance to the mall, she now caught sight of about a dozen people, all of which seemed to be following the misfortune magnet. At the group's head was a girl with short black hair, brown eyes and a Judgement armband wrapped around her right arm. Several others seemed to be following behind.

"Huh? What on Earth is going on here?" Shokuhou furrowed her eyebrows. "Should I just gloss over her memories to get a gist?...No, this is Kamijou-san they're chasing...I'd say a deeper investigation is warranted~"

After a moment's consideration, the Level 5 reached into her purse and pulled out one of the remotes that funneled the city's most powerful psychological ability.

"Category 52-Have all indicated individuals stop their chase and come over to me, regardless of urgency."

As soon as she clicked the remote, the entire group came to an immediate halt-and slowly began walking towards Shokuhou. Golden stars covered their pupils.

"Category 81-Set Shokuhou Misaki as the best friend of the indicated individuals."

Click.

Shokuhou then winked. "So, what's all the fuss with this chase?" She sang in a honey-blonde voice which carried the air of familiarity.

Suddenly, the Judgement girl came forward with a pouting face. "Some jerk's friend took my phone, and I really wanna get it back! But he runs so damn fast, it's been like 20 minutes and he still hasn't slowed down at all..."

"And who might that "friend" be?"

"Some douche with spiky blonde hair and sunglasses," she huffed.

Misaki hummed. "How come you're chasing him and not the blonde, then? Do you think you'll get his location out of him?"

The black-haired girl nodded vigorously. "Friends always keep themselves posted on where each other are. I'll get that answer out of him, even if I have to punch him unconscious for i-"

"Category 114-The indicated individual will forget about her anxiousness to recover her phone, and will leave it as a matter to deal with another time. She will also not pursue Kamijou Touma again."

Click!

The girl then seemed to stir a bit. "Whew, I'm really tired...I spent so much time running...maybe I'll just try something else tomorrow, or he'll return it to an Anti-Skill station or something...I kinda just wanna lie down now..."

It seemed the girl had been running mainly on adrenaline. She proceeded to walk away a little wobbly, but she was no longer of concern to the Level 5.

"Category 114-All individuals shall forget about this talk and cease their pursuit as well, and will no longer know Shokuhou Misaki."

Click!

With that, the rest of the crowd had also cleared away and began going in different directions.

Shokuhou then made her way across the street towards the convenience street, as if she had not just conducted an interrogation of a group of people.

"Well...still, in good conscience, I can't just let someone's precious possession be taken by someone else without it being returned because I stopped the chase...I suppose I'll just have to look for this blonde boy in sunglasses and get it back with my exceptional persuasion ability," she said yawning a little.


"You're really nonsensical, you know that?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Sogiita Gunha just looked confused.

"You, just...your ability doesn't make sense, what you say doesn't make sense-you just don't make sense," was what Misaka Mikoto blurted out in response.

She was aware that what she said sounded a little rude, but she didn't know how else to approach this issue. Sogiita Gunha was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a comprehensible person. He had no clear motivation behind anything he did, nor a clear explanation behind his ability, or why he attributed everything to guts in some way or another-he might as well have been considered a lunatic. When she had first been designated as a Level 5 in one of the system scans, she remembered all the excitement that the researchers and conductors of the scan had exhibited, as well as her teachers-and in the midst of all that, she had also heard vague mutterings about the other Level 5's. Primarily Shokuhou Misaki, mainly because the honey-blonde girl also went to that exact school, but she had also heard a few off-comments about the number seven.

"I'm so glad that this time, it's an ability that we can make sense of..."

"Hm? Oh, are you referencing the number seven?"

"Exactly! All he says is just guts this and guts that, how is anyone supposed to work with such a person?"

"Even his AIM field is odd...so it's not him just simply choosing to not explain it properly..."

These notes that the researchers had made on him reverberated through her head.

Just what exactly was the seventh-ranked esper?

During the Daihasei Festival, when Kihara Gensei had instigated the attempt to turn her into a Level 6, her mind was convoluted and corrupted, and as such she couldn't accurately recall what had happened while she was in that state-but she vaguely remembered that Sogiita had been there, fighting alongside a certain spiky-haired boy at the time. She was grateful for that, as one of the other Level 5's would've been an optimal choice to combat her when she was out-of-control, but that also raised some more questions.

For what reason had he stepped in? Why did he choose to take part in that fight of which no esper had an obligation to stop? While one could attempt to apply the same question to Kamijou Touma, she already knew that he would step in when it wasn't needed-his discovery of the Sisters and his subsequent fight with Accelerator was more then enough proof of that. But her fellow Level 5 was different-they had essentially no connection to each other and knew almost nothing about the other. There was no reason for him to step in, much less endure the pain and struggle of that battle.

Was he driven like how Kamijou Touma was? Was he another one of those people who would step into a dangerous situation even if they didn't have to? Did he also operate and take all his actions based on a personal sense of morals or justice? Was that the principle that he regarded as "guts?"

She had no idea, and she was sure that she wouldn't get a straight answer from the boy himself wither.

These questions would continue to swirl inside her head, like an itch on her back that would be hard to reach, and incredibly annoying. She couldn't wrap her head around the boy in front of her at all.

So in what way could she release these frustrations? It was simple.

A fight against that very same boy, no holds barred. Based on what she had seen of his abilities, she could at least determine that he was powerful enough to put up a fight with her on that level.

Misaka reached into her pocket and pulled out an arcade coin, proceeding to flip it into the air.

At that moment, at 1:16 PM, that specific intersection in District 7 became a battlefield.


Shirai Kuroko was not happy.

Being put at the opposite point from her beloved Onee-sama to recieve instructions and be deployed, she was naturally quite annoyed and moody. Her Judgement work partner and close friend, Uiharu Kazari, chose to keep quiet while Shirai was this riled up-and given the growling and seemingly feral anger of the girl starting from the beginning of the game, she deemed that the correct course of action.

"Shirai-san, are you in range yet?"

"I'm about 200 meters out. What's the status on Red Point B?"

"Approximately 40 are on guard in the vicinity, and 30 standing guard inside."

Shirai snorted. "They really went all out on the offense, didn't they? They didn't even leave 5% of their forces here to stand guard. Although, I won't complain if it allows us to finish the game faster so I can reunite with Onee-sa-"

"You're inner pervert is surfacing, Shirai-san."

"YOU HNMMM-SHUSH! I MUST CHANNEL MY ANGER INTO FIGHTING THE ENEMIES AND NOT YELLING AT YOU!"

Uiharu just gave a sheepish chuckle from the other end of the line as Shirai gave a suspicious look at the Red team's Point B, which was a bookstore with a surface area of around 225 meters squared. "But really, only leaving around 70 people here to defend all by themselves? What fool would build a strategy on that idea?"

The pigtailed girl then patched into the line once again. "Uiharu, have the rest of the attackers arrived?"

"Yes, they should be infiltrating the area right now," was the response.

Giving a nod and then disconnecting the line, she turned her attention to the point, which she was now much closer to then moments before-she was around 80 meters away, approaching in small spurts so as to keep a profile on the area as she came closer. She could vaguely see the commotion inside the building, but given that she was currently airborne, it was impossible to determine how the battle was going.

That had been 4 minutes ago.

Shirai had been instructed to keep watch of the area surrounding the point and report if any backup or additional forces of the blue team were going to converge on them. It made perfect sense, given her ability and the mobility it provided, but it still somewhat miffed her that she would not be able to directly participate in battle from the get-go, given that she was one of Judgement's more notable combatants. Nevertheless, she stuck with her designated role and did not head into combat until she was instructed to over her earpiece.

It only took 2 seconds for Shirai to close the distance from 80 meters to around 5, as she teleported directly in front of the bookstore atop a street lamp.

Immediately, she noticed something wrong. Something that did not make sense.

Out of pure coincidence, many Judgement members had been placed on the blue team-and as such, most of them had agreed to work together for the event. They had plenty of experience with teamwork and cooperation, after all, in addition to ways to contact each other. It was a perfect setup to stomp the event with no competition. Part of the planning for the event, which had been put into motion as soon as the event had been announced a few days prior, was to send in numerous groups of Judgement members in on a coordinated assault on one of the enemies points. Given that each team had several thousand students on their roster, there was absolutely no way that any of them would be organized enough on the day to defend or attack as a unified force. This was what the Judgement members of team blue had planned on, and after the first point was taken, they would collapse on the other point with the rest of the attack force of the team.

However, they had obviously not accounted for something.

70 people-the Judgement force that had been pre-arranged for attack had consisted of around 250 espers and around 3 others who were doing surveillance like her, so logically there should be no way for the blue team to repel their attack. Even if their numbers had been larger, Judgement was filled with trained-fighters, and as such even a 2:1 ratio would've been manageable.

Looking around from her vantage point atop the street lamp, there was not a single conscious Judgement member. All had been knocked out, with scratches on them and some dust here and there. This only confused her.

"Was this the work of some ability with a wide range of effect? Maybe some aero or friction manipulator, or an esper with high enough speed to wipe them out quickly?" She spoke absentmindedly into the air, rattling off possibilities.

However, she dismissed this thought almost immediately. There had been a variety of different esper powers among the Judgement assault force, those that could do things such as alter the mass of their bodies, abilities that could enhance their senses or reflexes, among many others. A wide range of ability users had been selected on purpose to make sure that any such trump card that the enemy had would not be able to take down everyone, as there would at least be a handful who could oppose it in some way.

So why on Earth was there not a single one standing?

"Another one? Cut me some slack here-my arm's reallllly getting tired!-"

Shirai's instincts switched to full alert upon hearing the voice. However, it carried not the harsh or tired tone of someone who had participated in a battle that was around 3.5:1, but instead had the air of someone who was looking at the overhead menu of a coffee shop deciding what to get before he reached the front of the line.

Turning to face the source of the voice, an odd boy came into view. Short blue hair covered his head and fell to his shoulders, average height, and shut eyes that seemed so natural and relaxed that one might think they were perpetually closed.

The unidentified boy then, in a sudden movement, instantly got on his knees and...bowed to her?...

"Eh?" Shirai's face was full of bewilderment-she was so confused, she almost lost focus and fell off the street lamp.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT TO SEE A FULLY-FLEDGED CLOSET PERVERT WITH PIGTAILS IN MY LIFE! THIS IS FANTASY NUMBER 683! WHAT A MILESTONE! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR BLESSINGS!"

A blink.

A second.

And a third.

Then, the dam broke.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE CALLING A CLOSET PERVERT?!"

That murderous battle cry could be heard ring throughout several blocks of District 7.


Misaka Mikoto was, to put it simply, incredibly disgruntled.

"He blocked a 30% strength Railgun by just catching it in his teeth before, so I wasn't particularly expecting much success with a 70% strength one..."

"...BUT THIS IS JUST RIDICULOUS!"

She kept close to buildings that had metal pillars or tiles in the walls, as that greatly extended her mobility by being able to magnetize herself to those portions. However, that had been just part of the plan, as she had planned on throwing out plenty of attacks of her own...

"BUT THIS HAS JUST BEEN DODGING!"

Misaka's irritation prior to the match had not decreased at all-rather, it had amplified. The boy that was across the street threw punch after punch into the air-although, truth be told, she wasn't even sure if they were punches. Well, whatever they were, the blew up in massive bursts of some kind of energy that billowed out in front of her in an explosion of oddly beautiful colors-it was reminiscent of Sogiita's little stunt in front of the cameras during the athlete's pledge of the Daihasei festival.

"AAAAANNNNNNDDDD TAKE SOME MORE GUTS!"

Another blast echoed throughout the street, forcing her to jump back again to a further part of the building she was currently latched to. She could barely tell with all the ruckus that the boy's attacks were causing, but she could vaguely deduce that he was getting closer based on how close his voice was now compared to a minute ago. She grit her teeth.

A second later, numerous spears of lightning fell from the air towards the rough area of where the other Level 5 had been shouting from, peppering the area like it a very vivid hailstorm, lighting up the street in a combination of white and blue.

"Sorry, but a widespread attack like that won't work either!"

Misaka just shook her head. It was an odd response to an attack-the words themselves sounded like a mockery of her and her capabilities, but the boy's tone implied no hint of disrespect or taunting-more so like he was just making a statement, further solidifying the two's positions in this battle.

The tea-haired girl leaped off the building entirely in the direction of the buildings on the opposite side of the block, generating a blot of electricity in her right hand as she did-throwing it towards the big sign of a mall with it's name etched in massive metal letters, of which the electricity latched onto. Swinging as if she was using a grappling hook, she soared through the air towards the sign, and using her currently free left hand, fired a couple more bolts of electricity at the guts-loving fanatic on the ground. She did not expect these to do any lasting damage to him, but the boy was at least forced to block them, slowing his approach slightly.

WHOOSH!

"?!"

Misaka widened her eyes a little as something happened in an instant. She had managed to get on top of one of those massive metal letters, but the second she had, a sudden rush of color cut through her vision that trailed from the ground and came to a halt in front of her face-and that previously indistinguishable rush of color then materialized into Sogiita Gunha, who was right in front of her, fist reared back.

BZZZTTT!

However, her reactions were quite sharp, and the second she caught sight of the now impending threat she had blasted the ground with a bolt and in turn, using that massive force as she jumped, catapulted herself into the air-in a single graceful movement, she did a cartwheel through the air over the boy's head, and slammed a bolt of electricity down directly on top of him as she landed on the opposite side of which she had been previously.

She did not, however, notice that the boy had followed her motion's direction with his fist and fired a blast towards her landing spot-a burst of some unknown energy crashed past her, grazing her shoulder. But the girl just grit her teeth a little and did not budge.

Clutching his head, Sogiita Gunha surprisingly gave a laugh-not one of mockery or sinister intent, but just a genuine, good-hearted laugh, like he had just heard a funny joke. "Jeez, that kinda hurts...I've got a little headache after that! You're definitely as strong as everyone says you are!"

Nothing but an air of pure sportsmanship emanated off the boy. However, Misaka was too preoccupied to let it take her focus.

"And on the contrary, no one talks about how strong you are," she called out. "There's stories that go around, in which people say that some guy in a white jacket worn as a cape, a headband of the same color and a big smile on his face goes from place to place taking out random people while screaming something about "guts." But no one has a single clue why you do that, what "guts" are, or how far it can take you. What on earth even are you?"

She by no means meant it in a rude way-she was just so confused on what made up the boy known as Sogiita Gunha. Such a broad question was the only way to ask for such a thing.

"Well..."

The boy seemed monetarily halted from the question.

"I've been asked that question before, you know? My answer isn't gonna change; there are some suuuuuper un-gutsy things that people do, like gangs attacking innocent people, robbing stores, cornering people in the streets, that sorta thing-those are the sorts of guts I can't respect, and I'll steamroll em' with no competition or hesitation!"

Misaka couldn't fully wrap her head around the words that Sogiita had spoken. And she knew, as the Level 5 seemed to rush at her with renewed energy, that she wouldn't have the time to at that moment.


Another gunshot rang throughout the department store.

It had sailed about a ruler's length away from Tsuchimikado Motoharu's head, embedding itself into a pillar. The blonde himself wasted no time as he jumped off the last few steps off the escalator he had been descending, off and to the left. He was making a beeline for somewhere.

The assailant, Taka Yubi, a teenage girl with short brown hair, a lip piercing, and blue eyes, shakily walked towards that very same escalator.

This was a confrontation between two people who were a part of Academy City's darkness-both knew of the shady deals, corruption, murders and fights for survival that went on in the shadows of the city. However, one was clearly not cut out for the terror.

"I...I...shot it...I shot a gun...I shot a gun at another living, breathing human being...there's no going back now, is there?..."

This was not an action the girl was comfortable with.

Nonetheless, she continued to take steps towards the escalator. While insignificant to any average person, to her, stepping down it with the intent to pull the trigger on the pistol she held and empty a bullet into another person's brain or heart was the equivalent of descending the steps to hell, and embracing the blood that would stain her hands to do so.

Even so, Taka Yubi descended the steps to the devil. This was merely part of the path that once took once they dove into the devil's hell that was the dark side of Academy City.

It was a painstaking trip down-she did not want to move quickly and was not anxious to commit the act of no return, and as such she did not bother herself with hurrying down the steps in pursuit of her target. However, it was almost equally painful to descend slowly-it only made the prospect of her mission upon reaching the bottom even scarier.

When she had stepped off at the bottom, she almost felt the urge to vomit. She did not want to speak to whatever agent was on the earpiece, who had been the one to shoot at the blonde boy from the opposite building-she had a feeling that strategizing further about how she was going to kill him was going to make that urge become reality.

She numbly held the pistol in both hands, like a scared child clutching a knife for the first time. She forced herself to turn towards the left and back, in the direction of which Tsuchimikado Motoharu had gone.

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

She jumped. What on earth was that? She couldn't really make out the noise-her head was far too preoccupied for her to comprehend what exactly she had heard-all she could try and deduce was that it was some sort of wood, based on the slightly dull tone to the noises. That, and it was also very, very, close.

Looking straight ahead, she saw a restaurant-one that had an open wall of glass and two entrances, similar to the clothes store that she had initially seen Tsuchimikado in. And, in a daze, she eventually realized that the boy was running through the opposite entrance.

What exactly he had done, she did not know. But she had been informed that Tsuchimikado was not armed-and therefore, she didn't dwell on it. Loud noises were a stimulant for fear for many humans-Taka Yubi was no different. Even though her opponent was unarmed, she now felt a slight sense of foreboding-and her fear was now increasing. However, this oddly enough also gave her previously non-existent encouragement to continue-if she could kill him, then all the stress of her first assassination job would be over.

And so, she followed the direction in which Tsuchimikado had ran, albeit shakily. Her vision was getting a little blurry-whether that was her being disoriented, or if she was now crying slightly, she didn't know-and she didn't feel like finding out either. Squinting slightly, she focused in on where the blonde had ran to...

...a security office.

"...But why?..." It was at the back of her head, but she could vaguely remember that most security offices and checkpoints within buildings had been vacated for the event, and most of the personnel were focused on the streets and popular locations of the district, as that was where most of the fighting was. There would be no one there to help him.

She drove the confusion to the back of her mind as she raised her pistol at the door to the office, which for some reason was open-though she did not question why.

Her approach became slower and slower the closer she got. She needed to, in order to maintain a steady hand and good aim-that was what she had been instructed to do, given that she was a rookie. She took a deep breath as she got closer-

And, in the next instant, a sharp sound rang out throughout the department store.

A dull pain could be felt in her right shoulder.

"H...Huh? Why am I...falling..."

Yubi landed with a dull thud on the floor. However, the pain was not excruciating. She had been shot-she could deduce that much. But given the lack of blood and immense pain, as well as what now felt her limbs well and truly feeling numb, it was safe to assume it had been a tranquilizing bullet that she had been hit with.

She could vaguely see a pair of legs in her line of sight. But although she couldn't see the face, she knew who it was.

"How...they said you were unarmed..."

"It's a security office, remember? Of course it has weaponry inside," said the blonde like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And to be fair, it sort of was.

"But...the lock...how?..."

"You'd be surprised at how much you can do with a wooden chopstick that's been hammered by a butcher's knife. The amount of makeshift lockpicks I've had to make to break into security offices like this is so massive I could probably fill up a closet with them."

This was the difference between a rookie to the dark side and a veteran of it.

Tsuchimikado Motoharu's face entered her vision. However, rather then just a face, to her it was an emotionless mask hidden behind sunglasses-like some alternate version of a grim reaper.

"Now, I've got a few questions for you, as I'm sure you can guess. This "Capture the Point Game..." has nothing to do with promoting teamwork between students or anything of the sort, does it?..."


And there goes Chapter 5!

I hope I did the fight scene between Misaka and Gunha well...that'll weigh on my conscience if I look back on it later and realize I did it bad...

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! If you've got the time and wouldn't mind, feel free to leave a review expressing any praise, suggestions, or criticism you have of the story-all feedback is welcome and helps me write the next chapter better! If you've got a question about the story, feel free to leave it in the reviews and they'll be addressed next chapter.

Have an awesome day and stay safe!

-Cloak