Author's note: As mentioned earlier, this chapter is entirely OC based. That being said, please read it anyway. It's important to the story and sets up a lot of things.

Chapter 6: Manhunt

A man sat at his computer desk, quietly observing the contents of the screen in front of him. He had spiky green hair, glasses, wore a lab coat, and was sucking on a lollipop.

He was Kihara Akihito, and he was looking at the scans of a certain high school boy's brain.

In truth, it hadn't been as interesting as he had hyped it up to be. Just as he predicted, Touma's brain was fully rigged to produce AIM and an esper ability, but was incapable of doing so due to Imagine Breaker's nullification. What that ability was, he could not figure out, and likely wouldn't be able to unless he cut off that boy's arm.

(Well, I was hoping I could give him some information about his suppressed esper power, but at least I was honest about it being unlikely.)

Still, he did not regret paying that boy. That brain was still an anomaly, and documenting said anomaly was worth the price. Those scans of a brain incapable of producing AIM even after going through the esper development program could be useful in future research related to esper development.

His lollipop had been reduced to a stick, which he tossed into the trash. He reached towards a cup on the side of his desk containing more, when…

(Hm?)

… Something on the screen caught his eye.

It was completely unrelated to what he had been looking for. His machine had scanned every cell of Touma's brain, analyzed it, and listed out any anomalies or issues it found in different sections. As this was not the section he had been looking at, and had almost been hidden beneath something larger in the same section, he had almost missed it entirely. But now that he had noticed it, it piqued his interest.

(What the hell…?)

He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at. No, that wasn't right, he knew exactly what he was looking at. It was the how that confused him.

(How the hell does that even happen? What could have caused that?)

He silently stared at the screen.

This had nothing to do with what he had scanned that boy's brain for. He had every right to ignore it and not involve himself.

However, he was a Kihara. And when something piqued a Kihara's interest, "ignoring it" was simply not an option.

Akihito sighed.

(Guess I gotta go through the kid's medical records now, huh?)

It was not Academy City.

In fact, it was about as far away from Academy City as you could get.

But it was still a city nevertheless.

Tall building reached up towards the night sky as if trying to grasp the stars. The edge of the city sat on a waterfront, where boats of all sizes sat docked. There were numerous cars parked on both sides of every road.

There was just one issue.

Quiet.

The city streets were silent, as if the hundreds of thousands of people who lived there had all collectively decided the nightlife simply wasn't for them and went to sleep.

But there was a single noise echoing out through the night. An object zipping through the dark sky.

When one heard the words "powered suit," they would likely think of the ones used by Academy City during World War III. But those were large, chunky, more like walking tanks than suits.

This one was slim and sleek, like someone had simply wrapped themselves in a thin layer of metal and then slapped some thin armor plating on top of it, making sure not a single inch of skin was showing. The entire suit was grey, with the only color being an orange visor around the user's eyes, and a bright, circular, glowing orange core at the center of its chest. If someone compared the two suits based on appearance, they would likely assume this was a smaller, cheaper, less advanced version of the Academy City powered suits.

They could not be more wrong.

A jetpack on its back propelled it through the night sky, to the top of the tallest building in the center of the cityscape. As it landed on the roof, the entire jetpack seemed to simply vanish from existence. No, it was more like it had been absorbed into the suit itself.

From the top of that building, looking all the way to the docks would be impossible. It was simply too far from the city's edge.

But through that orange visor, the person in the suit could see it as clear as if he were standing right there on the waterfront himself.

Numerous different vehicles pulled up to the docks. SUVs, gun-mounted pickup trucks, vans, even a semi truck carrying a large trailer. They were all painted black.

Men began to get out of these vehicles. Heavily armed men, donning full body armor and carrying fully automatic rifles. Overall, they looked exactly like soldiers from a nation's military.

There was just one noticeable difference.

They did not have a nation's flag displayed on their outfits. Instead, they each had a shoulder pad, bearing a symbol - the image of a fanged dragon.

One man stepped out of a black SUV. He appeared to be middle aged, with tanned skin and short grey hair.

He was Colonel Leonard Conners, and he was in charge of these men.

But even he answered to someone.

He pulled an earpiece out of his pocket, put it on, and spoke.

"Oi, Inventor, Its Conners. I'm on point with Dragon's Fang. Where are you?"

"I'm on top of the tallest building in the city. I see you just fine. Let's not waste time here, start setting up the rune cards."

"Gotcha."

Conners opened the back of one of the black vans. Inside were a stack of rune cards, and numerous small drones. He would take a rune card, attach it to a drone, and then let the drone fly off into the dark city.

"So, what's the deal with these anyways? What exactly are we setting up here?"

"Your target is Oswald, formerly of the Council. He is a magician who specializes in a spinoff of golem magic. Normally, golem magic works by creating a self sustaining, self regenerating golem out of materials such as stone or clay. But he put his own twist on it. Rather than making it self sufficient, he builds his golems around his own body and controls them manually."

"So, we are effectively fighting a giant, rocky, regenerating mech?"

"Essentially, yes."

"So what are the runes for?"

"The runes operate much like the people clearing field we set up earlier, in conjunction with a sleeping spell, to keep the city quiet and uninvolved. They create a large magic field around a specific area that has a specific effect. In this case, the effect is to interfere with Oswald's magic. Specifically, his self regeneration. So long as he remains within the area of the runes, any mass his golem loses will remain permanently lost. This will make him vulnerable to conventional weaponry."

"Yknow, you seem to know a lot more about magic than you let on."

"I've worked both with and against talented magicians for over a decade. It isn't exactly my forte, but as a scientist, it is still my job to study and understand all aspects of the world to the best of my ability."

"Is that so?"

For a brief moment, Connors stopped talking to the Inventor through his earpiece, and motioned over to the men by the semi.

"Oi! Get our CloudBuster in the air!"

As if on cue, the trailer attached to the semi began to open. Except, the back did not open downwards like a normal trailer. Instead, the entire trailer opened up like it had been split in half.

Inside was an aircraft. It somewhat resembled a normal tilt rotor aircraft, but there were some very noticeable differences. First, it was small, around the size of an SUV rather than an aircraft. Second, there were all kinds of weapons attached - Guns, missile launchers, and a spotlight. The third major difference was not noticeable at first, as the wings had folded back in order to fit into the trailer. But once they folded out, it became incredibly obvious that the aircraft lacked propellers. In their place at the end of each wing was a strange, cylindrical device.

The aircraft had a label on its side:

'CB-15'

Once the wings had fully folded out, the cylinders on the end of each wing activated, and the strange vehicle rose into the air.

As Connors watched the aircraft hover over the water, he spoke into his earpiece.

"Yknow, we're at the docks. There is a lot of water here. Wouldn't this be more of Neptune's domain?"

"Yeah, and that's why he's not there right now. He's a talented young magician, but his ego has proven to be an issue in the past. He would have an easy time taking out Oswald, but then he wouldn't shut up about it for weeks. If you ask me, it was a hasty decision putting him on the Council in the first place. If we can get this done without stroking him off, that's preferable. He's out dealing with the stragglers, while you get the big guy. Look at it this way, this is your chance to make up for letting Oswald escape in the first place."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I fucked up, yadda yadda. Gotta love how we have a guy who specialises in water, and we can't even use him because it might boost his ego too much. Goddamn arrogant magicians. He'd probably brag about this to Nova for weeks."

" ..."

"Right, right, sorry. 'Daughter you never had' and all that, kinda forgot about it. I guess he must really get on your nerves."

"That's not something for you to worry about. The final drone has just reached its destination. Your target is hiding in the center smokestack of that ship the CB-15 is shining a light on. You may engage."

Connors cracked his neck, and picked up a rifle.

"Alright boys, we're moving out!"

A middle aged man was entirely encased in stone. If you showed someone a picture, they would probably assume he was trapped in some claustrophobia-inducing cave, slowly dying.

They would not be entirely wrong.

The stone encasing him was not the walls of an underground cavern, but instead the inside of a large stone golem. There were no openings to see out of, but his senses were intertwined with the golem, allowing him to see what the golem saw.

However, this golem was currently trapped inside the claustrophobia-inducing smokestack of an old ship.

This middle aged man was Oswald. He was the person who betrayed a certain organization led by a certain man, and was being hunted like an animal for it.

(There's been no chatter over the communication spell for a while. It's possible they somehow jammed it, but it's more likely that everyone else is dead.)

He took a deep breath, and listened quietly.

(That noise…they've launched a CloudBuster. Probably the 15 model, seeing as it's the newest. Though, who are they sending after me? Neptune would be the obvious choice, but the water sounds too calm. I would hear that damn suit flying around if the Inventor was here himself, so it's not him. Sending a pyrokinetic out by water would be a stupid move, so I doubt it's Nova. Ghost is into stealth, he would never have a CB-15 for support. Bruce wouldn't need air support in the first place, so it definitely isn't him. I suppose it COULD be Isaiah, though that's more because I can't rule out someone so unpredictable with such nonsensical powers rather than actually having anything that points to him, so it's unlikely. I know the big man himself didn't show up, otherwise I'd already be dead. Meaning…they didn't send a member of the Council after me????)

His thinking was cut off by the sounds of footsteps beneath him, on the lower levels of the ship.

(Wait…did they send Dragon's Fang after me? What the hell?)

Dragon's Fang was ultimately just the magicless footsoldier division of that man's organization. They were incredibly dangerous soldiers trained to be lethal weapons, but they were still just people with guns. Against Oswald's magic, they would be useless.

And that meant…

(Either he's sent Connors on a suicide mission, or they've somehow rigged this in their favor.)

Either way, an uncomfortable feeling bubbled up inside of his chest. Something was wrong.

Connors and his men arrived at the top of the ship. He held his hand up, and the armed men following him stopped moving. He turned to face them, and put his index finger to his lips, signaling to be quiet. He then slowly walked across the top of the ship, speaking loudly.

"I guess age is finally starting to get to the old egghead. Or maybe it's stress, I don't think he's that old. Fuck, he might even be younger than me…"

As he came to the middle smokestack, he quietly took something out of his pocket and gently placed it on said smokestack, before slowly backing away.

"...But either way, he definitely fucked this one up. There's not a damn soul up here, nevermind a goddamn golem. What a waste of time. Let's go, maybe he's on the next ship."

But Connors did not lead his men off the ship.

Instead, he took a small button out of his pocket, and pressed it.

BOOM

The smokestack was blown up completely.

Oswald spun through the air before landing on the deck in a less-than-graceful manner. The instant he did, the CB-15's spotlight locked onto him, and gunfire erupted. Normally, being shot at would mean nothing to him. However, he quickly realized that each bullet chipped off just a little bit of stone.

Stone that stayed off.

(I'm…not regenerating???)

The moment Oswald realized this, his next action became obvious.

Run.

Suddenly, the stone that made up his golem's large body began to shift and change, until the humanoid golem had transformed into a giant boulder.

A boulder that then proceeded to roll right off the edge of the ship, and onto the docks below, before fleeing down the street.

Of course, there was more to this than simply being a giant boulder. Specifically, it contained two separate layers - an outer layer to roll around, and an inner layer to remain stable, which kept Oswald's body upright even as he fled at high speeds inside a rolling boulder.

"He's on the run! Move!"

Immediately, two gun-mounted pickup trucks pursued, firing openly onto the boulder. It was a sight that most would probably consider silly without context. But those two trucks were the least of his worries. As Oswald fled down the street parallel to the water, the CB-15 chased him down, its spotlight still locked firmly onto its target.

(They must have set up some sort of magic field that interferes with my regeneration. I just gotta keep running until I reach whatever boundary this field has.)

And then, the aircraft launched a flurry of missiles.

One by one, each missile plunged into the ground. A long stream of explosions erupted down the long road, each one closer to him than the last. But he managed to stay just far enough ahead that he remained unaffected.

Oswald had hoped that the pursuing trucks would be stopped by the incoming projectiles, but the continued gunfire behind him suggested he was wrong. The missiles fired by the CB-15 simply weren't large or powerful enough. As if it were an action movie, the trucks maneuvered around the destruction and continued their pursuit.

(What the hell did the Inventor do to those things?)

And then, disaster struck. A missile struck too close, launching him into the air.

Had Oswald remained calm, he may have stayed in the form of a boulder and continued rolling away once he hit the ground.

But instead, he panicked, and shifted back into a humanoid form. He still rolled down the street, but a humanoid rolling on its side after being launched into the air is much slower than a ball. In other words, he lost a lot of momentum. He quickly got to his feet and continued to run, but the running speed of a giant golem was still slower than that of a giant boulder. The gap between him and his pursuers was quickly being closed.

(I need to deal with that damn aircraft!)

The stone making up one of his forearms began to shift and change, until it vaguely resembled the barrel of a gun.

This "gun" launched small stone projectiles like bullets. Normally, he would be able to fire it at speeds comparable to a machine gun, and would simply regenerate any lost mass on the spot. But, without the ability to regenerate, any "bullets" he fired would take away from his golem's mass, which was already being quickly depleted by the actual bullets being fired into him.

In other words, he only had one shot.

Oswald pointed that "gun " at the CB-15 as he continued running down the street.

He was a magician, and by no means a scientist. He had little idea how that mass of metal stayed in the air, but he had fought alongside enough of them to know a single fact: The two cylindrical devices at the end of its wings were incredibly sensitive in certain areas, and a hit in the right spot could send the entire vehicle off-balance. It wouldn't fall out of the sky, but he only needed a moment without that spotlight shining down on him to duck into the city streets and escape under the cover of darkness.

And so, while still moving at high speeds, and bullets still being fired into his back, he took aim, and fired.

Bullseye.

With a satisfying dink, the entire aircraft started spinning out of control, desperately trying to stabilize itself. And as it did, the spotlight that had stayed locked onto Oswald the entire time was now putting on a grand light show, unable to track its target while spinning rapidly.

This was Oswald's chance to slip away into the darkness and escape his pursuers.

Or at least, it should have been. There had just been one, small issue.

As Oswald had fired his stone "gun," the pursuing aircraft had fired a missile back.

It gracefully soared through the air like a paper airplane that had been tossed just right, leaving a thin, smoky trail tracing its path all the way to its destination. That destination just so happened to be Oswald's right leg.

It did not take a genius to figure out what happened next.

The stone leg of Oswald's golem was completely destroyed.

Oswald was spent spinning through the air a third time that night, before landing in a nearby parking lot.

He could no longer run.

He could barely even stand.

And his pursuers had caught up to him.

There was only one thing he could do.

He scrawled back up on one foot, and threw his arms up in surrender.

"Wait! Wait! Hold your fire! My leg is gone, I can't run anymore! Look, I'm a member of Omega, just like you!"

Incredibly, it worked. The incoming bullets stopped, even though every gun in the area remained pointed at him as soldiers began entering the lot. Still, this moment of ceasefire gave him a chance to talk.

However, someone else talked first.

"Well, why ya running then?"

Connors, who had hitched a ride there, walked up to the large mass of stone. More and more black vehicles arrived on the scene, with more and more armed men stepping out and pointing their guns at the golem.

"Look, you have to understand. He's lied to us. He's lied to all of us."

"How so?"

"He has this… computer. I don't know how it works, but it can see the future. I don't know what he's using it for, but it can't be good. Not even the Council knows about this."

Connors paused for a moment before responding.

"Alright, let's say you're telling the truth. So what? What about that matters to me? Why should I defy my orders over it?"

"Don't you get it? If he lied about something that big, what else could he be lying about? We can't trust anything he's ever said anymore! He probably even lied about his true goal! He lied to you, Colonel, and now he's using you for his own benefit. Are you just going to sit there and let him? Hunt me down like an animal for him, because I know too much about the things he would never tell you?"

It seemed Oswald's words had reached Connors in some capacity, as he appeared to take a moment to contemplate what he had been told. And then he spoke.

"You remember Clampearl base?"

"..."

"Most advanced research facility we have. The egghead's masterpiece of engineering, located at the bottom of the ocean. Put under your charge. And what do you do? You swap out the entire staff for no reason, and the entire building goes under because they don't know what they're doing. Greatest loss Omega has ever faced as an organization. I had friends you put on that base. I lost them because of your incompetence. You'll get no sympathy for me, you goddamn magic freak."

The Inventor was not entirely sure what was being discussed. He could still see them from his perch, but he could only hear what Connors was saying over his comms. He couldn't make out what Oswald was saying back.

He was growing impatient. This was taking too long.

He held out his arms like he was aiming a sniper rifle. As he did so, one started to simply appear. A futuristic rife seemed to just materialize into his hands from seemingly nothing. But one look at the strange, thick barrel of this thing was enough to tell that, whatever it used as ammo, it wasn't normal bullets.

The Inventor carefully took aim…

And fired.

Oswald wasn't entirely sure what the strange attack was. He wasn't entirely sure where it came from either. All he knew is that, out of nowhere, something came from the distance that struck him in the torso, causing a large blast, and knocking him on his back over ten meters away from where he had been standing on one leg.

As if on cue, the dozens of soldiers all began firing on him.

"What is wrong with you people? Don't you see what you're doing? You're helping a madman!"

Oswald desperately crawled over to a red semi truck that had been parked in the lot. Using it for balance, he propped himself back up. His left arm transformed back into that rocky "gun," and began firing back on the soldiers.

BOOM!

Another strange attack had come from that same direction, this time hitting the truck he was leaning on. In something straight out of a Michael Bay film, the entire truck exploded in a giant mass of smoke and flames, with enough force to uproot even a giant stone golem.

For the fourth time, Oswald was sent spinning through the air, before landing on his back.

He could not get himself up anymore. He continued firing while lying on the ground, but it was a desperate, futile effort. Each bullet fired from the dozens of automatic rifles pointed at him chipped off just a little bit more of his golem's rocky shell, and even the stone bullets he fired back took from his golem's body.

The outcome was inevitable.

The sound of gunfire continued to pierce through the dark night for a few more moments.

And then…

Silence.

Oswald was no longer encased in stone. He now lay on top of the pile of rubble his golem had been reduced to. He could not move. Was it fatigue, or something else holding him down? He wasn't sure. At this point, it didn't matter anyways.

And yet…

(They didn't kill me…?)

Sure enough, the moment his golem had been destroyed, the soldiers had stopped firing on him, despite him still clearly breathing.

(But why…?)

He turned his head, and found his answer.

Two men had walked into the parking lot.

One was the eccentric man Isaiah, in his bright green suit and black cloak, with a tophat on his head, and a brown leather book in his hand.

The other was a man in a dark green robe.

Oswald looked at him.

He looked that man straight in the eye…

…And he spoke a single name.

"Hello, Salvatore."

Salvatore did not seem to care about Oswald's greeting. In fact, he completely ignored it, and instead spoke to the tanned, grey-haired soldier.

"You did well, Colonel, but I'll take it from here. Take your men and head back. He's mine now."

"Understood. Alright boys, pack it up!"

In a matter of seconds, only three people remained in that parking lot.

Finally, Salvatore began to walk up to Oswald, and spoke as he did so.

"The 'Science side', the 'Magic side'...Trying to view the world through these lenses is such an ignorant perspective. And yet, people still do. And like little children, they're always fighting, making a mess out of the world in the process. And now I have to be the one who cleans it up. There is one way you survive: Tell me where you've hidden that drive."

"Never."

Salvatore's expression remained unchanged.

"Such misplaced passion, so annoyingly stubborn…all for what? Tell me, what justification do you have for all of this? What led you down such a path?"

"The Vision Archive. I've seen it, even though you tried your best to hide it from us. I don't know what your goal really is, but I won't let you accomplish it."

"...Really? That's it? Honestly, I expected more, but if it's the truth you're so caught up on, then I'll give you the truth. I once had a vision of the future. A future that did not satisfy me. I used magic to extract that vision from my memories, and archive it. Hence, the name. And yes, I did lie about it. How could I not? Knowledge of the future is not something you can trust people with so easily."

Salvatore kneeled down next to Oswald.

"But I never lied about my goal. What I promised to achieve was the truth. The cause you swore an oath to, the cause you spilled blood for, is still alive. You can still do the right thing. The contents of that drive are dangerous. Give it to me, it's not too late."

"I did the right thing the moment I turned my back on you. Justify it however you want, you still lied to us. And lies never stop at just one. It doesn't matter if you were telling the truth about your goal. If you can't be trusted to be honest, then you can't be trusted to bring in a new world."

"...You really do believe that, don't you? But, are you sure you're content with those being your last words?"

"After all the shit I did for you, I was never going to have a good or pleasant end. But it's okay. I've already played my part. You're going to lose, Salvatore. I've made sure of it. You can't stop what's coming."

"... Fine. Be like that."

Salvatore stood up.

"You know Oswald, I once considered you a friend. I suppose it's my fault for not realizing you were a fool after you fucked up Clampearl Base. However, you can rest assured that when I'm done , you too will still be saved. But, for now, you've created dissent in my ranks. Order must be restored. Punishment dealt out."

He turned his back to the man lying in rubble.

"Goodbye, Oswald."

He began to walk away. As he passed Isaiah, he said two words.

"Do it."

Isaiah took several steps toward Oswald. He took his book, and held it open in his palm. The pages began to flip rapidly on their own. They were going too fast to see what was written on them, but the structure of the text alone was enough to tell that it wasn't normal writing.

Isaiah spoke a number.

"32,645."

And then, he closed the book, turned around, and followed Salvatore out of the parking lot.

(...That's it…?)

Oswald wasn't sure what to think. He never did understand how Isaiah's magic worked - hell, nobody did to his knowledge - but he had still expected more. And then, he noticed something.

A single mosquito on his arm.

He used his hand to slap the small insect, killing it. Except, another mosquito had landed on that arm too.

And then another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

By the time he realized what was happening, it was already too late. Bugs were swarming in on all sides, landing on his skin, and biting down into it. Little by little, every visible inch of Oswald was covered by a ravenous insect, and more kept coming. It was the type of thing too disturbing for even someone's worst nightmare.

It was difficult to say what was more disturbing, the shrill screams of pain, or just how long they lasted.

Or maybe it was the fact that, once they had finally stopped, not even bone remained on that pile of rubble.

He had watched it all.

He had watched Oswald die, and now he was watching those two men as they walked down the street from the parking lot.

He looked no older than 17. He had dark brown hair that matched his brown eyes. He wore a grey jumpsuit, with thin, black plates of armor stitched into the jumpsuit throughout his torso and legs. A scabbard was on his back, with a sword sheathed inside. His right hand wore a black, fingerless glove, but his left hand was covered by a grey, metal gauntlet that went up to his elbow, with an upside-down Ankh hastily painted on. That Egyptian symbol was usually used in relation to life and death, but there was another, much more niche thing that could be associated with that symbol if one knew where to look.

He had been ordered to run. To not look back.

But he couldn't do it.

He had stayed behind, watching the whole thing from the shadows. And now, he hid behind a building as he stalked Oswald's killers.

Isaiah and Salvatore.

They were both members of the Council. Consisting of only seven members, including Salvatore himself, it was the highest level of Omega, a shadowy organization pulling from both the magic and science sides of the world.

The same organization that had raised this boy to be a living weapon.

No…

Organization was not the right word for it.

It was more like a cult. A large, militarized cult , with hundreds of soldiers at their disposal equipped with the most advanced technology in the world, and magicians who were taught that magic is more than just referencing a few myths.

And like any cult, they all worshipped a single figure.

A figure currently walking down the street in a dark green robe.

(Salvatore….)

The boy made a fist with his left hand, and pointed it at the two men. Suddenly, a futuristic looking cannon seemed to materialize out of nothing on top of that metal gauntlet, much like the Inventor's rifle.

He had one shot.

He could do it. He could take those two men by surprise, and end all of this right here.

If he missed, it would be all over for him. He would die alongside Oswald and his cause. But it was worth that risk.

The boy took aim, and…

And…

And…

"..."

'Find Kamijou Touma. He is the key to everything. He is the only one who will be able to tear that man down from his place of power.'

With his left hand still aiming at Salvatore, he reached his right hand into his pocket and pulled something out.

It was a standard USB flash drive.

He looked at that drive, then back at the two men, and then back at the drive.

And…

He took a deep breath, and put his arm down. The cannon was absorbed back into his gauntlet.

He turned around, and vanished into the shadows.

Far away from where a man had just died, there was a place known as the School Garden.

It was an area that contained some of the best, most prestigious schools in all of Academy City, a place known for its top-tier education. There was just one catch.

Men were not allowed in the School Garden.

Every school was an all-girls school, and only girls were allowed to roam around and congregate on the grounds. Even if there was an emergency, only female Antiskill officers were allowed to operate in the area.

There had been attempts in the past to challenge this policy on the grounds of sexual discrimination, but the people pushing for it would often be exposed as perverts who just wanted to creep on wealthy girls, and as such, no attempts ever got far. (1)

A certain girl was currently located in this area of feminine exclusivity. She had honey blonde hair and starry, yellow eyes. She wore the standard winter uniform of Tokiwadai middle school, but stood out with her gloved hands, white stockings, and her unusually large assets that looked out of place on someone who was supposed to be in middle school.

She was Shokuhou Misaki, Academy City's #5 level 5, and she was currently sipping on some tea with several of her classmates.

If she were to describe her day so far, it would simply be "normal." Her classes had gone as normal, her conversations with her clique members had gone as normal, and nothing particularly interesting had happened all day.

At least, not yet.

Shokuhou Misaki heard a noise. A notification on her phone.

(Hm? What's this? A text from an unknown number?)

Normally, such a thing would be nothing more than a spam message, warranting immediate deletion and none of her attention.

But the contents of this message piqued her interest.

As she read through the text on her screen, her free hand unconsciously moved to her chest, and clutched something hanging there like a necklace.

It was a cheap, plastic whistle.

As Shokuhou finished reading, she took a moment to consider what she had just read.

"Well, isn't that interesting."

Next Chapter: An Impossible Game of Memory

Footnotes:

(1): My source for this is that I made it the fuck up. I felt this sounded like something that would realistically happen in Academy City, and it added a little extra lore to the School Garden. But, AFAIK, there has never been any mention of the "girls only" policy being challenged in canon.

Author's notes, end of chapter edition: I hope that wasn't too bad. I promise that this will be the last "OCs only" chapter for a long time. But if you're gonna write interesting characters, you gotta set them up. And I do want these characters to be at least somewhat interesting.

I also want to emphasize the importance of leaving a review. I don't have a beta reader, outside a couple people on discord I MIGHT ask to read the chapter beforehand, but nothing official. So feedback is incredibly important to me, even if it's just to say the chapter was good or bad.