Hey, Soluxy here back with another chapter of: A Certain Dark Railgun and Imagine Breaker.
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The world is growing a bit colder now. This chapter is despair-inducing and a bit grim-dark. It digs into the characters quite a lot.
I hope you enjoy.
X❖X
Intermission — Child Error
X❖X
Did you know that in Academy City there were no funerary companies?
X❖X
"I've finally got permission to investigate the site. They said some terroristic cell stole a weapon and made out with it. Anti-Skill was able to track them. However the chase was all over the place two days ago. We had a lot of loud noises complaints."
The one saying this was a busty high-schooler with a dark-blue vest, grey miniskirt, and a yellow ribbon. Konori Mii wore glasses and had short black hair. Her bosoms were immense pressing against her clothing. The secret to her massive tits was a Musashi milk brand that she drank on the daily.
Shirai Kuroko nodded to her senior's words. Konori Mii was somewhat worried about the incident and Kuroko's instincts also told there was more to the story.
"With the death of the #1. Well I don't want to imagine it." Mii left the question open.
"Do you think he died here. Chief?"
The one responding came from the comms on their ears. It was Uiharu, the gentle hacker tracking the information back on branch 177th of Judgement. Shirai Kuroko adjusted the camera on her ear to better facilitate the view for Uiharu. They walked in the forbidden trainyard where the source of troubles was seated. A massive cave in of land towards the river. It was a deep fissure and crater that water had rushed through from the river. The containers around were all dented and their cargo burned down. Some of the metal around as well as the gravel on the ground melted and cooled into surfaces.
"This is where the supposed stolen weapon blew up, some reports say the explosion turned the sky red and stayed that way for over five minutes. The river below is still bubbling. Some of the surface beneath the water is still hot." Konori Mii spoke.
"What kind of explosion could do such a thing?" Kuroko asked.
Uiharu from the comms responded with a varied list of hotness in temperatures that could achieve such a phenomenon. Kuroko investigated other places where some signs of combat was made.
"Anti-Skill has already retrieved the bullet casings from the trainyard yesterday, as well as any piece of evidence." Mii said.
"But there are some craters that couldn't be made by bullets alone." Kuroko saw them and pointed them out.
"It seems that the weapon is what caused those small craters. The terrorists lost control of the experimental weapon, and the fireball blasted their bodies across the yard. Anti-Skill has already retrieved the bodies and notified the parents." Mii explained to them.
"Can we see the ID of the parents?" Uiharu asked Mii over the comms.
"No, Anti-Skill has us blocked on that front. The identities of the terrorists and their families are protected by law. They were minors, you see. And don't try to hack into it, Uiharu. This time Anti-Skill is serious, you could lose your license and even incur some sort of punishment."
"How about psychometry?" Kuroko asked.
Psychometry was an Esper power that a lot of children had in this city. It allowed them to extract information from objects. Some Level 4 psychometrists could even extract memories from a location even going back a few days or weeks depending on the power output of the given Esper.
There was even a rumor that Shokuhou Misaki, the #5… No.
Shokuhou Misaki, now the #4 Level 5 Esper in Academy City could gather information from a whole location back a thousand years or more with her mental powers instantaneously. That blond girl had all known and unknown mental powers multiplied by one billion times, packaged into one massive umbrella named Mental Out.
The Level 5s were completely out of this world. Concepts of the universe adorning human skin.
Psychometrists were specialists that Law and Enforcement used to identify suspects of a given crime if they had a murder scene. Because psychometrists could literally see what happened in the past with a specific object like a bloody knife. Or a given location for example a murder scene. Judgment had a lot of them in their roster. Konori Mii as well as other Judgment chiefs wanted to know what happened here but Anti-Skill was stonewalling them with convenient half-truths. If Anti-Skill wasn't going to cooperate with Judgment, then using loopholes Judgment could still gather info about what happened here with the help of a powerful psychometrist.
"We used our roster of Level 4 Psychometrists but to no avail. They could not get a reading of this place. Anti-Skill had informed us earlier they had used a large experimental AIM Jammer here when they fought the Espers so it might have disrupted the needed ingredients for Psychometry to work."
That made sense. However there was another option that Kuroko dreaded to say to Konori-senpai. Onee-sama was in a class of power of her own. Her EM Waves that she naturally produced were so strong that it disrupted mental powers from working on her. Onee-sama had the potential to generate and control 95% of the entire universe. She could control electronic sensors of all kinds to not show anything. Even if you pointed a smartphone with a camera to Onee-sama's face she would not appear if she didn't want to. As if she was a vampire.
Onee-sama was the most famous Level 5 so she usually had a lot of attention given as she wandered the city. She was one of the easiest Level 5s to spot using your naked eyes.
However if you wanted to find her through surveillance, good luck.
She was the most difficult Level 5 to track by those means, not even satellites could do it. She could literally be walking in daylight and authorities wouldn't know a peep of it. If Onee-sama ever where to commit a crime the only thing that authorities would have would be eyewitnesses accounts.
And both Judgment and Anti-Skill could not apprehend a person, even if they knew that that person was the only one that could have done it. They needed proof. Eyewitnesses were unreliable and their smartphones, the most powerful surveillance tool a normal person had, could not record Onee-sama committing a crime.
And there were no eyewitnesses for this trainyard incident.
Of course this was all in Kuroko's mind as she deduced what was happening. And everything passing her head were worst-case scenarios concocted by weeks of stress and worry as well as a few ominous words from Onee-sama and that shabby gentleman back then. It was entirely possible that Onee-sama was completely unrelated to this incident and it was just a worst timing coincidence. Konori and the others were just interested because they thought that this was the site where he #1 Level 5 lost his life and Anti-Skill was conspiring to pull everything under the rug. And leaving Judgment out of the equation entirely.
However Kuroko's insides were gnawing at her and she felt an ever sinking feeling. Her mind wanted to forget this weird unsubstantiated connection that her heart had made. There were no leads here, Kuroko did not want to think about this anymore. Kuroko did not want to think about unproven gut feelings about Onee-sama being involved, not her bright Onee-sama.
Kuroko closed her eyes painfully and walked away from the truth.
With Konori following and sighing, Konori was just angry that Anti-Skill had stonewalled this incident so perfectly.
She did not know of Kuroko's inner turmoil and that made Kuroko slightly angry.
Someone close to them could have been involved and Konori Mii was just frustrated that her authority when going up against Anti-Skill was being diminished. The hidden tensions between Judgment and Anti-Skill was a matter of silly pride between Law and Enforcement and so small when compared to what really might have happened here.
Kuroko could not help but irrationally resent Konori Mii, her own boss.
X❖X
Uiharu took time off her duties to have lunch with her friends. Since it was summer break, she was wearing a light dress and a summer bag. Her best friend Saten was by her side wearing tiny shorts and a pink vest over her shirt. Saten was her usual pretty self with her glossy black hair and white lily adorning her left bang. Uiharu usually had her crown of flowers like always.
"Oh. Yes, okay! Talk to you later then Shirai-san."
Uiharu usually had an extremely cute and soft voice and she was speaking to her friend who just got her break. They were investigating the site of the incident this morning as a special assignment. Shirai-san usually had elective classes in summer break like Misaka-san had but Judgment work came first instead of optional classes. Shirai-san was unusually serious and mature and self-responsible because of her work in law and enforcement.
And for that Shirai-san often came up as high-strung and too serious, unless she was in Misaka-san's presence, then she mellowed out considerably. Her high-strung serious nature was because Shirai-san was a workaholic and was involved in many arrests and confrontations day in and out. Shirai-san's moral compass was complete unshakable, and she was somewhat stubborn even when Konori-senpai, their chief, was more lenient.
"I just spoke to her; we're meeting on the usual family restaurant."
"Sounds good." Her friend Saten-san winked at her.
Saten-san was really pretty and very charismatic, one could say that she and Misaka-san were leaders in their little group of friends and usually dragged them into trouble. Saten-san and Misaka-san had an unusual charisma that both her and Shirai-san did not have. It was hard to say which of the two taller girls were more attractive, Saten-san or Misaka-san but Uiharu felty like Saten-san edged out in beauty. One would think that these two strong and extroverted personalities would clash, but unexpectedly Misaka-san and Saten-san had a lot of chemistry with each other and became amazingly fast friends. Saten-san was unusually resistant when Uiharu wanted to introduce Misaka-san, but after that it was Saten-san pushing for them to meet Misaka-san more and more. Perhaps even with the overwhelming difference in Esper Level, the two taller girls felt more in synch than anyone else in their friend group.
They opened the door to the diner and found Shirai-san looking at her water glass with a gloomy atmosphere surrounding her.
"W—What's the matter?"
Her friend Saten-san had already rushed in and was asking Shirai-san about was what happening to her. These two weeks have been hard on Shirai-san for some reason.
After they were seated, and drinks had been orders was well as their lunch. They got a bit more information out of Shirai Kuroko.
"So in other words Misaka-san was struggling with something, but she wouldn't open up about it. She skipped curfew and slept outside and did not even go to her elective summer classes?"
Uiharu summarized what Kuroko had said.
"Exactly, and her pain was so obvious. I felt pathetic that I couldn't even help her. I knew she was dealing with something so important and that I couldn't do anything to help, but still…" Kuroko was sighing as she looked to her lunch, the appetite wasn't even surging anymore.
"So she's been skipping everything and was outside Tokiwadai for two weeks on summer break. And then she stays overnight in another place and doesn't come to classes in the morning. She won't tell anyone, not even Shirai-san about anything she's doing."
Saten Ruiko put her dainty finger on her chin as she thought about it like a detective. "It seems a pretty open and shut case to me."
"It's definitely a man. Think about it."
Shirai Kuroko's eyes were bugged as she saw her friend conjuring up a completely stupid proposition. It could not. It could never be the truth. But… But that shabby gentleman.
No. No. No. No.
"She's probably lovesick. A very heated summer romance."
Saten had a smile as she told her friend Uiharu.
"I—If Misaka-san is in a love romance. Then we need to get advice from her."
It was not weird. Misaka-san was two years older than them, making her fourteen. Well Saten-san was thirteen but Uiharu and Shirai were still twelve. It was not weird for Misaka-san to engage in the embers of her first love.
"Wow, Misaka-san's lover. I'm sure he's a prince of a man!"
Uiharu blushed even thinking about as she closed her eyes and though on a fairy tale like fantasy. Misaka-san was the most distinguished person Uiharu ever met so her love interest must be someone amazing indeed.
"You're so innocent Uiharu. Misaka-san likes bad boys. She's such a tomboy she wants to be treated like a normal girl despite her power. I think she's searching for someone who can handle her." Saten-san said.
Shirai went into a screeching halt.
Someone who could even handle Onee-sama's power, yes that gentleman was powerful enough that Shirai was knocked out without even realizing it.
And a bad boy. That fit the shabby gentleman to a tee. He was a delinquent and a punk. With unkempt clothing and unbuttoned shirt, his shoes were dirty, old and cheap as well. He was a complete caveman and Saten said that this was the kind of man her Onee-sama was searching for?
"He's probably really tall too. My intuition says Misaka-san likes those types."
Saten-san continued with her accurate divination.
The shabby gentleman was very tall indeed for his age, he was built like a wrestler and was only fifteen.
"Don't tell Misaka-san of this, but I think she has a fetish for large hands and long fingers."
Saten dealt the finishing blow with her accurate forecast with a big smile on her gorgeous face.
Shirai Kuroko looked at her with accusing eyes. Even Kuroko did not know her Onee-sama's fetishes despite sharing a room for over a month now. And Saten Ruiko knew all of this by intuition alone?
All the sex toys, smut and naughty clothing in their room was Kuroko's belongings.
Her Onee-sama seemed pure… but large hands and long fingers?
Kuroko looked at her own tiny hand and small fingers and perished. Her soul left her body to never return.
The shabby gentleman did have very large hands and very long and thick fingers. She distinctly remembered his hand making a chop to her neck and knocking her out cold. His hand was definitely heavy.
While Kuroko laid on the table dying, Uiharu was already blushing a bit.
"But large hands, that's a strange thing to fantasi— Wait, Misaka-san didn't return and spent her nights outside during these two weeks that means! That means she's—"
If Misaka-san was sleeping outside the Tokiwadai dorms, then that meant that she was sleeping with her lover. Then he used his large hands to scoop Misaka-san and make sweet love every night to her.
"She's what, Uiharu ?"
Saten blew Uiharu's ears with her pink lips and giggled slightly.
Uiharu felt a shiver down to her bones.
Uiharu crashed to the table with a large blush overheating her face and ears. From Saten-san's blowing air in her ears to her imagination going wild she completely malfunctioned.
Saten Ruiko looked over the two dead girls, completely victorious in the battlefield of teasing.
"It can't be, not my Onee-sama…"
"Misaka-san is experienced, Tokiwadai ladies are~."
One was with a face full of dread, the other was blushing.
Both Shirai-san and Uiharu were suffering for different reasons.
Ruiko smiled. Just imagining Misaka-san having a tender love every night. Having a man's body pressed against her lovingly, his large hands—
Ruiko put a hand on her lips as she blushed a bit. Not even her, the master of teasing, was immune to wild fantasies.
The summer sun was bright and was illuminating the streets outside the window. The girls continued their discussion as they ate lunch. They belonged in the world of light. They exuded a brightness of their own as they enjoyed the summer. Mikoto once upon a time, also belonged in the world of light and happiness, but now she was drenched in the darkest pits of humanity's evils. And her friends who supported her had no idea about what she had gone through.
People change and never stay the same.
Mikoto just went in the wrong direction in life, never to return.
Sometimes life was simple, sometimes life was complex.
To the girls who lived in a bright world, what would they think about Mikoto's crimes?
Mikoto had already conjured up a prediction. Saten Ruiko would probably somewhat sympathize if explained enough. Uiharu Kazari would outright deny her words and deny reality. Shirai Kuroko was the most predictable, she would immediately apprehend Mikoto and throw her in a reformatory.
And so, Mikoto would never reveal what she did. Her sins were her own to keep.
X❖X
It was so obvious Onee-sama was shouldering a great burden.
"He saved me… He saved me… He saved me..."
Her Onee-sama said that on her sleep on repeat, over and over, with the happiest, most relived expression. Not Onee-sama, not even that shabby gentleman had asked Kuroko for her help.
Was she so unreliable?
Was she so weak?
Kuroko trained so hard so she could eventually become a Level 5 just like her Onee-sama. Kuroko took her Judgment work seriously and had an unwavering moral compass, and for that she had accumulated a lot of experience in her two years of service.
And yet, that was not enough.
Kuroko was now back at the office, with Uiharu and Saten-san, they back at work and Saten-san was just hanging around. It seems Uiharu had bought a seasonal snack that was limited off the streets and Saten-san was unusually hyper about it. Konori Mii, their branch chief had arrived, quite angry about the trainyard incident. Her pride and authority had been undermined by Anti-Skill and her superiors. Kuroko betted on that. However when Konori-senpai looked at the snacks her frustrations had puffed out of existence ad she was gorging the snack together with Uiharu and Saten-san.
"Shirai-san, come eat with us."
"No, that's quite alright. I'll pass."
Kuroko had denied the invitation to eat the snacks in the sofas and continued typing away. With the trainyard case going nowhere. Kuroko focused her attention back on the money card case that had been prevalent for the month of Augusts. There were many open-ended mysteries and a lot of questions still up in the air regarding that case, its culprit still wasn't found, and rumors were still pervasive over the net about such things.
"I'll be going on patrol now." Kuroko fixed her green armband. "With the death of a Level 5 there might be an increase in incidents all around the city. In any case, we need to increase our patrols from now on"
Kuroko missed the worried looks Saten-san was giving her. And that worry was transmitted to the other two. Kuroko walked outside into the hot summer air. With a bright sun raining down its rays on her skin. It was a day so bright it was hard to even look up for a bit.
Kuroko started her patrol, with her mind caught up in too many things.
"Nothing unusual here in this area either."
Kuroko looked at the map, but then was distracted by two girls on a café, a junior and her senior, with a close bond of friendship. Every day, ever since Kuroko arrived on Tokiwadai it was like this with her and her Onee-sama, days of discussing things and having fun together. Of course, her Onee-sama was a bit of a delinquent and liked to run around town where Kuroko couldn't see her presence. Her Onee-sama had friends even outside Tokiwadai and Kuroko had accepted that. Kuroko even dealt with her Onee-sama sometimes leaving the room at night and sometimes skipping curfew and returning later than usual.
However in this month of August something was definitely out of place. Two straight weeks of radio silence. No returning to the dorms, not even coming to electric summer classes that her Onee-sama had specifically chosen. Kuroko got extremely worried, however a few calls late at night from her Onee-sama eased her worries. If it weren't for those calls Kuroko would have already reported her Onee-sama as a missing person.
Those calls were hurtful, full of deflection and vague answers.
And after she returned late at night two days ago. Kuroko thought that everything would turn back to normal. However the demonstration in Russia had once again ripped away her Onee-sama from her for another week.
Kuroko's spirits were frankly battered at this point.
All Kuroko wanted was a return to normalcy.
"I need to fix this lack of focus." Kuroko shook her head with a self-deprecating comment. She was in the middle of her job, she needed to do better or else her hard work wouldn't allow her to catch up with her Onee-sama.
Kuroko continued her patrol.
"Oh, isn't this the one?"
"Wow, Minori-chan! You found one."
"Should go, find more."
Of all things Kuroko did not expect cute voices coming out of a dark alley but here we were.
Three tiny grade-school girls of different races. The middle one was Japanese, the second one had dark skin and was African. The other one was European.
Academy City was accepting and multiculturalist when it came to selecting students. And with Onee-sama making these international demonstrations it brought even more children of different races. Onee-sama's hand in bringing them here was more prevalent when you looked at the younger grade-schooler and even preschooler population of Academy City because her Onee-sama has only been doing these demonstrations for the past three years or so.
Kuroko was happy that her Onee-sama's hard work and presence had such a positive effect on Academy City. Kuroko only hoped to emulate her level of brilliance and someday make a tangible difference in the world.
"What's the number?"
"Umm, let's see." The one named Minori-chan had her eyes on the money card.
"You three, why are you doing walking in such a place like this?"
The three looked skeptical, but then talked about the story. The rumor started about these lucky cards and if you could get it, your friends wishes would be granted and you could spend the rest of your life with them, having fun. However you needed to get the specific number combination. The rumors about the money card had evolved in different ways for different age groups. Young children like them had little concept of money and needed more meaningful rewards to go after the cards, unlike older age groups where the premise of free money attracted them like flies.
"But this one is not the one." The black girl looked over the shoulder of her friend Minori-chan as she spoke. The other girl of European decent stayed quieter, or spoke in broken Japanese, perhaps she was made fun of by older students?
Academy City forced children coming from other countries to learn Japanese. The black girl had some problems speaking but she spoke very well for her age, almost fluently, but the European small girl could not speak very well. It was fine in Kuroko's opinion; everyone had a rate of learning that differed from the others. What Kuroko couldn't abide by were the older high-school students making fun of children hailing from other countries.
How can you be so pathetic as to feel threated by children under the age of 9? Even when those children had no access to their parents and were alone in this big city in a foreign country?
These people undermined the bright work her Onee-sama did and Kuroko felt angry about it.
"I shall be collecting your card since it's a missing item, don't go searching for them again. Alleys are usually dangerous even in a city full of cameras and security robots."
Even after so many days has passed since the first incident. Incidents like these still were occurring. Even in the final two weeks the Judgement was still receiving a few dozen cases daily. And there was still no possible lead to the suspect.
Inconclusive, like much of Kuroko's current problems. Frustrations piling up on frustrations and no signs of ending.
Minori-chan, Cynda-chan and Julia-chan. The three were quite irritated with Kuroko for forbidding them to look for these cards. However leaving them wanting was a bad idea. However Kuroko did not know what to do. Her Onee-sama was extremely well-liked by young children and could spend days and weeks with them, however Kuroko was much more mature and found children to be a bit grating on the nerves. Thankfully she had another person who was as good with children as Onee-sama was.
X❖X
"Finding item that bring luck and can grant wishes huh? That's highly specific Shirai-san."
"Please help me, Saten-san."
Kuroko said with bugged eyes and slouched back as she was led all day by these children. Kuroko had no clue of how Onee-sama could get lost with children and play around with them all day while looking all loving and having fun. One would think the most violent and brash of the group would be pretty bad dealing with children but that wasn't the case. To reiterate, Onee-sama was universally well-liked by children.
"But lucky cards as an urban legend? That's quite cute in a childish way." Uiharu arrived, accompanying them. However Saten Ruiko had already looked underneath Uiharu's skirt.
"It's funny hearing you call others childish when wearing cute teddy bear prints."
Ruiko just laughed teasingly while Uiharu kept using her dainty fists over and over on Ruiko's chest that caused zero damage, while sounds of dying otter came from her mouth.
Just by arriving the children were already close to Saten Ruiko, she was also unusually great with children. Both Minori-chan, Cynda-chan and Julia-chan were already animatedly telling how their day went to Saten Ruiko. To Kuroko it was an interesting phenomenon to see, as expected Saten-san was very charismatic.
"But lucky cards huh? If I'd found one, I'd… Wait I'd have too many wishes and wouldn't be able to choose one!"
Both the children and Uiharu laughed at Saten's panicked face. As always, Saten-san's skill of making friends with whomever she finds was beautiful to see.
"That's just like you. What would you do then, Shirai-san, what would you ask for?" Uiharu asked her.
Both her friends and the children were looking at Kuroko, waiting for an answer.
"Hmph, I don't believe in wish-granting devices and neither should you. Don't forget this is a City of Science. There is no way such a convenient tool exists in real life…"
That answer made her friends sweat-drop, it was an answer befitting of the girl who tries too hard to be an adult and be treated as an adult by the people around her. It was the perfect answer for someone as high-strung as Kuroko was. However, even a girl such as a Kuroko who tries to hide things underneath the guise of a mature young lady, hidden feelings still surge and the desire for a wish was still made in her mind.
It's obvious, I just want to help Onee-sama. I—I wish I could become her strength.
X❖X
It seems that little Minori-chan wanted to give some farewell presents to her friends.
Cynda-chan was of African descent and was a Child Error. Meaning that she was an orphan who had no parents and was safeguarded by Academy City. Minori-chan was of Japanese descent and was also without parents. Julia-chan was of European decent and spoke broken Japanese and like the other two was also a Child Error. Their numbers surged these past three years.
It seems like Cynda-chan was a bit of a prodigy, showing a lot of promise, and would be staying in her current institute and dorm, while the other two would be relocated to other districts. It was one problem that Kuroko did not see coming, there was a lot of reshuffling that occurred while young and especially if you were a Child Error. Cynda-chan would be staying due to her talent, Minori-chan and Julia-chan would be leaving for other institutes and go live in different dorms.
Research institutes.
What is less talked about is those.
Every student is assigned to different institutes to develop their powers. Dorms, Schools, Institutes. These three core names made part of a student's life in Academy City. Even people like Saten-san who were Level 0s were still assigned an institute to research as to why Level 0s actually occurred.
Kuroko faced a lot of reshuffling while she was in elementary school. However, she caught a breath of fresh air when she entered the School Gardens. Tokiwadai offered an in-house research institute, specialized for Level 3s and above. So Kuroko never had to go far away from her school for them to research and utilize her power.
Students of Academy City had a radically different lifestyle than those outside.
Dorms, Schools, Institutes.
There were so many things, so many responsibilities and duties that a person like Kuroko was far more mature than her age indicated.
These three Child Errors too, they would be going their separate way and wanted to find something for all three to remember them by. They had already chosen a metal bracelet as a present and were already wearing them. This was in the hopes where if they could not contact each other, they would be able to recognize the other years down the line if they ever met again.
It was a cute metal bracelet with a heart shape already attached to their small wrists.
However they also wanted a lucky item. Something that would bring good fortune, even if they were far away from the other.
Kuroko looked at them with sad eyes. Separation. That's what she was feeling for two whole weeks. Distance. There was a distance that made Kuroko have a sinking feeling.
Kuroko could empathize with these three children.
Onee-sama was far away and Kuroko could do nothing but watch as Onee-sama walked away without even giving a look back.
"It has already been decided. But we've been friends since forever. They're so kind. We've always been together. So that's why I wanted to."
"I know, I know. We'll find the best lucky item for you. Just trust me." Saten was there to console the crying Minori-chan.
"We've really been always together ever since we arrived. It's no fair they want to separate us."
Cynda-chan cried next to Saten as the older girl consoled them. Julia-chan nodded, not trusting her words and being shy to speak in a foreign language she was just learning. Uiharu was also tearing up as she tenderly helped Saten with the three.
Kuroko just watched from a distance as she saw Saten-san work her charisma. However Kuroko, by no means, was indifferent.
Why do loved ones need to be separated like that?
It wasn't fair.
X❖X
"Concerning reports coming from south of Japan had arrived. A tropical storm has suddenly and without warning surrounded the Nansei Islands. As you know they are the islands south of Japan more famously known as where the Okinawa prefecture is located. It's total population is 4 million inhabitants and has seen explosive growth since 1981. Okinawa also boast of many American military bases. There has been no contact from Okinawa since yesterday."
"There were no communications coming from the islands. The Japanese Government has asked for Academy City's help, but its satellites are being blocked by the freak storm. Any attempts by boat and submarine are being blocked by the storm as well."
"The United States has also joined Academy City in investigative efforts since there are many American military bases inside Okinawa."
"Okinawa is a tropical island and has historically been very affected by summer storms and hurricanes. However this is completely unprecedented. We lost contact with more than 4 million people overnight!"
"Reports say that 4 million people might be stranded by the effects of this harsh summer storm and without communications we really have no clue as to what's happening in Okinawa right now. Emergency forecasts using predictive technology have stated that this storm might stay in place until the end of August. That's more than 9 days!"
"Could this be an effect of global warming? Accelerated production of carbon emissions worldwide have been the main driving factor in increasing the lethality of natural disasters and now this happened! Academy City has been the global leader and exporter of clean energy. And it has repeatedly pressured other countries and even Japan to adopt stricter measures against carbon emissions, but the threat that we have spoken against was not taken seriously!"
Experts had stated there were no predictive outcomes for the casualties of this freak storm. Without help from outside they may be looking at medical shortages, flash floods, higher sea levels, dangerous erosions and many more problems.
The two Academy City newscasters blared their mouths as another freak incident happened in but a few short days. The #1 Level 5 dies and now 4 million people were stranded without connections.
This really was a bizarro world.
X❖X
Saten-san turned on her dog instincts and led them to a riverbank.
Kuroko looked at the bridge there and It was still closed off, something had melted off the steel in the bridge and some of the asphalt was completely destroyed. Another one of the freak incidents happening lately. Firstly fires in laboratories. Then this bridge. Then the trainyard and now the #1 Level 5 dead and now a disaster was happening on a Japanese prefecture. This month of august was really filled with a lot of bad stuff.
"If you want a lucky item, then nothing beasts the original. The four-leaf clover!"
Saten-san announced with all of her glory as she looked into the field in the riverbank.
The three children were all excited and by Saten's lead they started searching there. Uiharu was dragged along with Saten-san's unreasonable requests as always. Saten went on all fours and started sniffing the grass instead of actually looking for one. Uiharu followed her by also crouching around and looking. Kuroko looked at the scene with forlorn eyes, until Julia-chan, the girl who could barely speak Japanese tugged at her and pointed at the field. Kuroko smiled and went after them to also look for clovers.
"Will we really find one by sniffing, Saten-san?" Uiharu asked.
"Sniff Sniff… Those who believe will be saved. Don't forget that something so simple as that!"
"Those who believe will be saved?" Minori-chan repeated Saten-san's words.
"Ah, that's just a lame phrase I came up with, don't take it so seriously."
"No, that was cool. Ruiko-oneechan."
"O—Oneechan, huh? I'm not that great, either. You should meet Misaka-san. She radiates so much motherly energy when she tries."
"Misaka? Do you mean that famous Tokiwadai?" Minori-chan asked while the other two Child Errors were also interested.
"Yes, she's really cool~. She's so amazing it's hard to put into words." Saten was a bit hyper when commenting on Misaka.
The three children obviously had heard the rumors and were also very hyper like her. However the true expert in Misaka-ology here was Shirai-san. The Teleporter went on a whole spiel about her Onee-sama and her achievements.
The sun was already red in the horizon, soon it would be dusk. The sun rays were cool enough when hitting their skin and there was a pleasant breeze. The enjoyable climate was ideal for searching.
"I found one…"
And after that the children all looked to see Shirai-san crouched to the ground with her arms on her knees looking at a green clover with four different sides. And right before her was a field with more than nine of them sticking out from twenty. Shirai-san looked pensive as the other two girls praised her for finding this. The three Child Errors all had their fun collecting more than three lucky items. Shirai gave them each a handkerchief to keep them. Unlike the bracelets this was not a permanent gift. There were tactics to preserve it and Uiharu had pulled up her thin laptop to search for them. There were ways of framing them on the wall but Shirai doubted they would actually find the time to do it.
This was just a lucky goodbye between three childhood friends, the last moment to make good memories. Minori-chan was surprisingly mature to come up with something like this.
Cynda-chan and Julia-chan surrounded Minori-chan with hugs and smiles. They all looked to the river and started playing around, and in their pockets a lea clover was there, to symbolize a lucky farewell.
Kuroko was still crouching to the ground when both Uiharu and Saten crouched in front of her and with their faces and smiles they started speaking to her.
"Just like those two recognize the efforts Minori-chan went through for them. Misaka-san is also glad that you are there for her."
Saten Ruiko said in a surprising moment of emotional maturity. To Kuroko it felt like her deepest fears were being dug up by her charismatic friend.
"And appreciate it as well, we know how hard you work for us, Shirai-san." Uiharu said with an emotional tone. "So don't try to shoulder it all by yourself. We're here for you too."
Kuroko was emotionally mature. She had a hard working job at law enforcement and had apprehended many criminals before in highly dangerous situations when people could get hurt. She was high strung and very professional. But now her face was completely red, and she felt her eyes moisten a bit from her friend's supportive talk.
The three Child Errors were playing around with white butterflies and this would be the last 10 days they would be together.
Starting September, they would be separated by the cold hands of the public machine.
Kuroko and her friends watched them, feeling a bit sympathetic because Misaka-san, one of the core lynchpins of their friend group, was now far away. They wanted Misaka Mikoto back, even if she was a Level 5, even if she lived in a completely different world then them in terms of prestige and power, they still wanted their friend back.
The sky was turning pink and dark blue, night was arriving. Kuroko was about to get up when somebody fell to the grass.
Somebody fell face first to the grass.
Somebody had fallen as if strings were suddenly cut.
That someone, that someone was Minori-chan.
The little girl's friends suddenly cried out and Kuroko had already teleported herself to the place where Minori-chan had fallen.
Kuroko had crouched and supported the young girl's body on her leg as she measured breathing and pulse. All were there and normal. Kuroko had some specialized training in first aid; however it did not help here. Since the girl looked healthy, it was just that she suddenly copplased and was put to sleep.
Kuroko suddenly took to looking around to see if it was an attack, however her instincts were calm, there was only a summer breeze and a beautiful dusk. Uiharu was also intelligent and had already went in to cover and hacked nearby cameras in any vantage points. However there was no sniper with any tranquilizer gun nearby. Saten was hugging the two other girls while Kuroko stood protectively over the fallen girl.
The standoff continued for more than ten minutes.
Yet nothing.
No sniper.
Then perhaps Minori-chan was affected by something else. But the plants here were not poisonous in the least. And as Kuroko again took to analyzing the girl, she could not find any injury that was used to inject tranquilizer.
No wound and no poison.
The girl just suddenly dropped to the ground and went to sleep.
Perhaps she had some sort of sleep disorder?
Then the previous standoff was a mistake on their part. Courtesy of being in law and enforcement. Sometimes Kuroko suspected the worst case scenario instead of suspecting that the girl was tired.
"Here, come on, wake up, your friends are worried."
Kuroko lightly tapped the sleeping girl on her cheeks. Did not work. Kuroko tried to caress her head. Did not work. Kuroko lightly slapped the girl. Did not work.
Did not work. Did not work. Did not work. Did not work. Did not work.
Kuroko gasped.
Something was wrong here.
There was no attacker, and there was no poison and yet Kuroko's efforts to wake her up did not work.
"Uiharu, I'm taking her to the hospital on District 7. Meet me there with Saten-san and the other two children there!"
Kuroko picked up Minori-chan and teleported to the sky. Taking care of the small body she was carrying. Kuroko could save lives just like this, her powers could be used for this. She rushed the girl to the hospital, and she saw the doctor. A man who had the face of a frog give the current rundown.
"Strange, she is completely fine. However she is not waking up. Her medical history doesn't have any sleep disorders that could have caused this. We'll monitor her for now, we'll be alerting her dorm manager, so you don't have to."
Kuroko Relate the information the doctor gave her to her friends. the two children that were there were crying but were quickly warmed up by Saten-san. This night ended up with very bad incident, they were just collecting some clovers on a bank River when suddenly Minori-chan had collapsed without any given reason.
X❖X
The days continued on and on and on, and there was no sign of Minori-chan waking up she was designated as a coma patient. There was literally no single reason as to why she was comatose. No foreign substance was on her bloodstream. No Esper powers were used. Her personal reality was not acting up and her AIM field was normal.
As if the strings on her body was cut, Minori-chan was not waking up. Kuroko and her friends were always visiting her room as the days went by. Always accompanied by the two little Child Errors. They became really close to Saten-san as the days went by.
Finally, on the fifth day, they saw her on the room. Minori-chan was with an IV drip and was being monitored carefully.
Kuroko and the others watched her sleep silently on the bed, with a cover over her.
And then, her body melted.
The child's jaws sunk deeply into the girl's face and opened. Her eyes opened and rolled back, before starting to decay. The smell was horrid.
As if watching a person becoming putrid live.
As if watching a dead corpse rot on a video time-lapse.
That was the kind of event happening here.
Minori-chan's skin had splotches of pink and purple, wrinkled and was ripping. Her eyes sunk and were becoming yellow then green. Worst of all was her mouth, her jaws were opened and then part of it fell on the clean mattress as blood spurted from the wound caused by the rot. Half her upper teeth came off with her gums melting off her face. The white cover was being stained black, underneath it were blood pooling on the bed. It dripped from the sides of the bed as most of it was absorbed by the sheets.
Kuroko was completely still as the only sounds she heard were of doctors and nurses rushing in as the flatline sounds were loud on her ears. In fact she wasn't the only one frozen as if time had stopped for her. Uiharu and Saten next to her were also catatonic. The two small children were immediately taken off the room.
And nurses were pushing Kuroko and Uiharu and Saten off the room.
Uiharu and Saten couldn't hold their stomachs and vomited on the floor of the corridor as the gravity of it all reached them.
"What happened? Why can't we see Minori!" Cynda-chan was the more desperate of them all. She was knocking on the door they just left. Knocking over and over again and receiving no response.
Julia-chan, the shy European child was leaning on the corridor just catatonic. Children of their age have little idea of what happened and how gruesome what they saw just was. However something was clear even to children their age, they would never see their friend Minori-chan ever again.
How could you cope when something like that happened?
Kuroko had not vomited like her two friends did but was sick due to the gruesome nature and the filthy nauseating smell. The hours into the night continued after that, Kuroko chose to remain in the hospital in hopes to learn of the truth. Saten had as well. However Uiharu needed to go back to her dorms due to her roommate encountering a problem, or maybe it was just a white lie, an excuse to get out of the dreadful situation.
The dorm manager of the Child Errors had arrived called by the nurse and they went home to their dorms, they were kicking and screaming to stay in the hospital but they were dragged by their dorm manager.
"W—Why do you think this happened, Shirai-san, we were so happy collecting clovers and something so unexplained happens and now s—she's dead. Why? Why? Why? Why did this happen to Minori-chan?!" Saten Ruiko raised her voice in the hall.
"I don't know. I frankly don't know." Kuroko answered robotically.
The doctor with a frog face stopped by with a grim expression.
"You two were with patient Minori-chan, right? I am afraid she has passed away. Her previous symptoms were of a coma and her cause of death is currently unknown. Her body looks to be in a state of decomposition for about a few months, which is nothing like I've seen before. There was four more patients who suddenly had her coma symptoms here in Academy City for the past two days. I swear to you, I won't allow them to die like Minori-chan did."
The doctor made them a promise to save others in the same condition Minori-chan had died.
But what did it matter? What did that courageous statement and promise had to do with either of them?
Minori-chan had already died and was not saved. Kuroko used her abilities and all her resources just to deliver her to a good hospital room despite her being a Child Error. Kuroko had diligently visited every day and again and again forced the medical staff to promise to treat Minori-chan and see what was wrong with her. Kuroko and the others had visited her room every day to wish her well despite her sleeping for the last five days.
In one moment she was sleeping.
In another moment she was dead, the monitor flatlined and as if her body had forgotten how to work and started decaying rapidly as if it were in a time-lapse video with all the horrible sights and pungent smells.
What was this irrationality?
What was this cruelty?
"Normally we send a student's body to their guardians outside of the city. But since she's a Child Error, she will be buried in the city. She will be autopsied so we can hopefully learn what happened. Then her body cremated, and her ashes stored in District 10. Come after tomorrow after we iron out the details."
X❖X
Kuroko arrived on the dorms. She was alone in her bed and Onee-sama wasn't there. She was in the fifth day of the demonstration. Saten would probably be sleeping with Uiharu tonight,
So Kuroko would be alone tonight to replay the thoughts of the gruesome death of a child in front of her. Over and Over. Without any human warmth. The dorm manager wasn't even there to scold her or open the door for a surprise check. Kuroko wished it had happened, instead of the unbearable silence that prevailed the dark room.
There was nothing that could be done.
Kuroko had dutifully done first aid, hadn't she?
Kuroko had expertly acted as if there was an attack and protected everyone, hadn't she?
Kuroko had teleported Minori-chan to the hospital in a few moments and without delay, hadn't she?
Kuroko made the frog-faced doctor promise her to save Minori-chan, hadn't she?
Then why did she still die after days in coma?
There were no enemies, there were no toxins, there was no bad medical history, there wasn't even a single disease that could do such a thing!
There was no virus, there was no bacteria.
There was nothing.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
And yet, she still died?
Kuroko was used to dealing with enemies, injuries and people needing to be rescued, she was used to things that she could deal with. And yet she witnessed an unexplainable death in front of her, while being completely useless as she watched it happen. The frog-faced doctor who promised her that he would save Minori-chan was a fat liar who only said words so he could be cool.
He hadn't saved her and broke his promise!
And now he had the gall to say that he would save four others who had similar symptoms of coma?
To their faces after their little friend had died?
While still looking heroic and cool?
Who did he think he was?
That was no consolation at all.
It was an insult for those who had already suffered. It was like a doctor saying sorry that your mother died of cancer while he goes on to discover the cure the next day. At least, at the very least don't rub it in the people's faces. Don't say it with a heroic tone to their faces thinking it will relieve people of their pain!
It was no consolation at all, it was salt rubbed and seared on their open wounds.
Just treat people where I cannot see or hear. If you save people with the same symptoms as her like that, I will delude myself in thinking there was something YOU could have done to save Minori-chan.
Kuroko wasted her night, with her Onee-sama's pillow next to her, hugging it fiercely. Kuroko opened her phone and hovered over Onee-sama's contact. She opened the call and was immediately answered.
"Hey Kuroko!"
"Hello Onee-sama."
"Russia and Elizalina are very interesting places. Oh I have bought some souvenirs for you all. I'm pretty excited to come back. I'm feeling a little homesick."
"Oh, I see…"
"Hmm? Are you alright? You seem quite dejected, want to talk about it?" Onee-sama asked her.
"Oh, no its nothing, I just had a terrible day at Judgement."
Onee-sama had bought the half-truth Kuroko was spewing and started blabbering about the exotic places she's been, the important people she met and all the other touristic stuff she's been doing.
Her tone of voice was quite happy, and Kuroko felt a bit peeved.
Irritated that Onee-sama seemed to be over the moon on her vacation while her friends were suffering here back home. Even if Kuroko explained her pain surely Onee-sama never felt something like it. Onee-sama was the Ace of Tokiwadai, the brightest star.
That trouble she had over the week must have been pretty minor if she was this chirpy already.
Sometimes Kuroko wished Onee-sama would feel a little bit of what she was feeling right now.
Kuroko wished Onee-sama understood her pain for once.
While feeling this way, the night waned.
What a disconnect. Shirai Kuroko had met and interacted with a child and that child had died. And now Shirai Kuroko wanted Mikoto to feel her pain? What pain?
Shirai Kuroko had watched an acquaintance of hers die.
Mikoto watched her sisters being systematically killed again and again and again and again.
Her sisters, her beloved sisters, the people she loved more than anything else in the world.
And Mikoto did not feel the need to be irritated because of others who did not know of her pain.
Mikoto did not criticize the friends that were living in the brightness of Academy City while she toiled and worked on the darkest pits of the city to save her sisters.
Shirai Kuroko wanting to criticize and be annoyed at others who weren't aware of the situation was incredibly childish and immature.
A sign of her age. She was just twelve-years-old.
Even with all the sex toys and lingerie, even with her mature and formal way of speaking. Even with the high-strung manner she acted on her job and the clear-cut moral code she employed.
Kuroko was still a child.
And perhaps she needed to grow as well.
X❖X
Next day it was just Shirai and Saten who went to the hospital to get the documentation necessary from the receptionists, such as the exact place where Minori-chan would be buried and what it would entail for them. Uiharu said that she was swamped from work and did not want to visit this place. Perhaps she was just lying so that she would not have to face the truth that a child had died in front of her, a child she was very fond of despite meeting for just a day.
The two kids that were with Minori-chan were not here. Most likely because children of their age can't be allowed to do stuff like this. Perhaps even their dorm manager had blocked them despite protests.
The autopsy was already done this morning. And the ashes that were a product of Minori-chan's cremation, had already been transported to District 10. The only district in Academy City that had graveyards.
Kuroko and Saten Ruiko left the hospital with dejected eyes.
Not even meeting the frog-faced doctor, and just being forced to deal with a receptionist instead of the man in charge, who had promised he would save Minori-chan from her coma, only to fail half-way when she died a gruesome death.
Perhaps these two had also closed their eyes.
Because they only focused on Minori-chan.
Leaving the two Child Errors they met behind.
One was Julia-chan, a girl of European descent. She had quite the problem speaking Japanese as she was only learning. She was an orphan. A Child Error. Someone who had been sold to Academy City through legal and ethical orphan programs that were signed by other countries. She cried a lot in her room when Minori-chan died. Still holding to the lucky clover and the band of friendship they had. She promised to learn Japanese, she promised to do better in classes, she just wanted to be reunited with her friends and not feel alone anymore.
Julia-chan was transferring to an Institute in District 4, where she met her end by late September. She was another unfortunate experiment, where she was not the only victim, eleven more children all around her died because of drug overdose. They were testing a revolutionary boosting drug that was supposed to make it easy for children to skip Levels entirely and have more Level 4s in bulk.
It had failed.
And Julia-chan had paid the ultimate price. Dying in the deep darkness of the city.
One was Cynda-chan, a dark-skinned girl of African descent. She was quite the prodigy and stayed on her Institute, where she was being tested for her power of Telekinesis. One day she would become a Level 4. If only she hadn't met an unfortunate accident where she was being tested against a combat robot and its blade sliced cleanly through her sternum and left side. Child Errors did not have the safety nets and security when going about combat practice, if she died then it was all well and good.
She could be replaced.
The researchers even had good data on how strong a mech needs to be to overpower a Level 3 Telekinesis Esper.
Cynda-chan paid the ultimate price. Dying in the deep darkness of the city.
Saten Ruiko would not visit their graves. She wouldn't even know they had died.
Shirai Kuroko would not visit their graves. She had no idea they even died.
These two paragons closed their eyes and chose to ignore the problem.
There was no one there for Child Errors. There was no one willing to face the deep seated problems around Child Errors, everyone conveniently looked away. The two bright girls who always lived in the light took the easy way out and just visited a grave. The frog-faced doctor called Heaven Canceller always protested about Child Errors but did nothing of significance, only content on complaining about it and doing nothing.
Child Errors were orphans given to Academy City by programs developed by Academy City with other Countries. Countries who were unwilling to support the young who had no parents or who were abandoned by parents. These 'neoliberal paradises' thought it was too costly to maintain many orphanages. The people of those countries thought that it was sucking money from their taxes on a non-existent problem.
There was a City-state willing to pay top cash for these brats, so who cares? Give them away and go use the money saved on something else.
And so a legal trafficking of children was born in this world. Academy City gladly accepted these children and the city never overloaded with population because it just kept killing and killing those children in secret.
They had no parents to care for. They had no one in the world who actually gave a crap about their lives.
So even if they died in dark corners, where nobody could see, in places nobody could reach.
The world of brightness continued as usual.
Not seeing the stained walls of forgotten children. Of children they didn't even know existed.
Child Errors, what a great name. It really is on the nose.
They are mistakes that are cleaned away.
Male chicks on a treadmill towards slaughter with nobody to press the stop button.
With nobody to go the extra length of these bright young lives who were innocent about the world, who trusted the kind researchers and dorm managers who were like fathers and mothers to them. And their peers who were their only friends, not knowing that they too would die.
No one was willing to stand up for these children.
Not the justice-seeking Shirai Kuroko, not the shy but kind Uiharu Kazari, not the beautiful and charismatic Saten Ruiko.
Not the doctor who saved lives, Heaven Canceller, who knew of this and just thought that stern words were enough to change anything.
No one was there for them.
Because no one cared about Child Errors.
X❖X
Everyone just closed their eyes.
If Kuroko was replaced with Kamijou Touma at that moment, and had rushed to the hospital, most likely seeing Minori-chan die.
Would he also close his eyes and choose the easy path?
Or would he at least visit Julia-chan and Cynda-chan and learn of this City's darkness concerning Child Errors and save them?
Willing to go the extra mile to save all orphan children around Academy City?
Kamijou Touma would have saved them if he learned of this.
However, the world's evil is often practiced behind closed doors. Kamijou Touma was not a genius, nor a super hacker, nor had super hearing. He was just a boy wandering around life. Looking for signs of tragedy.
If he could not see the victims, the victims could not be saved.
If he could not see the villains, the villains would not be defeated.
That was the difference between chasing justice and embodying justice.
That was the difference of doing just enough and going the extra mile in the harshness of reality.
That was the difference between Shirai Kuroko and Kamijou Touma.
Both practiced good in their lives.
Kuroko blindly chased after the ideal absolute justice.
Kamijou Touma embodied his own humble sense of justice.
But soon that sense of justice that Touma embodied would be thrown in the trash as well.
Poor Kamijou Touma.
He was truly unfortunate.
If only he closed his eyes.
X❖X
In late August more than two million people worldwide suddenly and without warning entered a coma. It wasn't widely reported because it was spread out entirely.
It was a roulette of fate that decided if you would enter a coma or not. There was literally no single control humans could ever do that prevented these normal people to enter a coma. It did not matter the age; it did not matter the country. Two million people were randomly selected out of 7 billion people.
The two million became coma patients.
It was so spread out there were few cases in every country. In Academy City for example, it was only 5 cases.
In the United States there were only 17 cases.
In places like China and India where the bulk of the po0l;uation of the world was, the cases had grown massively out of proportion. Howeveri t was the truth that every country had at least a case.
All summing up to more than 2 million people.
From those two million people. More than 300,000 people suddenly died.
The ones present described their deaths as 'They had decomposed before my eyes… they decomposed so fast as if it was in a time lapse.'
The bodies were in bad conditions, as if they had been in decomposition for over a month. The smell was terrible and putrid.
However there was an incident that shocked the public even more by the end of August.
More than 1.6 million people had died in Okinawa. The great cities and resorts were destroyed, and the urban landscape ravaged, as if it had passed through a catastrophe. There were floods, however the damage could not be attributed to the water and the long typhon that encircled the islands.
When asked. The survivors rambled maniacally.
They rambled something that nobody wanted to hear.
That they have passed through something so common in American television.
They had faced a zombie apocalypse.
They had toiled through a zombie apocalypse and had survived with their lives, the nightmare was over, the apocalypse that had plagued the Ryukyu islands was over. They had survived with their lives and they were crying maniacally. The American military bases were raided, and their equipment stolen by locals to protect themselves. There were grotesque mutated cadavers scattered across the place. Rotting bodies and mass graves. It was an all-out disaster.
But still more than 2.5 million residents and more than 140,000 tourists were saved. They were alive.
As American and Academy City rescue efforts started the survivors said that a boy with a dragon tattoo and a blond woman with a beige robe were their saviors.
Some said the boy lost his entire family save for his own mother, but he was the one who put an end to the apocalyptic event. And yet he still smiled for them.
Curiously if you counted those that died outside in the whole wide world and those that died in Okinawa, you got more than 2 million. The same number of cases that were hospitalized by being in a coma. But that was overlooked. Only a select few knew what really happened at the end of August and those people would never reveal what happened, not in their life.
This incident was completely unrelated to the struggles Mikoto was going through at the end of August. However its aftereffects were certainly felt by her closest friends who lost Minori-chan and the boy she liked who braved the dark incident.
But that's how life goes.
And the five cases in Academy City?
After the death of Minori-chan, Heaven Canceler had heroically told Kuroko and Saten that her death was not in vain. That he would cure the other four coma patients before 'decaying death' took place.
However his heroic promise was crushed by reality.
Three of the coma patients had died just like Minori-chan. Without anything that Heaven Canceller could have done to save them. No matter how hard he tried they still died.
The fourth patient had woken up on August 27th without any bad symptoms other than being in bed for a week. The fourth patient was not saved due to Heaven Canceller's skills, he just woke up, miraculously. Without any intervention or help. Without any treatment or drug, he was fine.
Heaven Canceller thanked whatever it was that let the fourth patient lived. But it was not his own skills that did so.
His promise was broken.
Minori-chan had died in vain.
Heaven Canceller did not learn what the disease was and how to counteract it. He learned nothing. The man with the face of a frog always thought that the battlefield where he shined was the hospital, that he could make any patient live if they were in his operating table, but this was a major blow. He had no control over the five patients with this strange disease, they lived and die without his control over the situation.
A disease that rolls the roulette, selecting people worldwide without rhyme or reason. Those that survived and those that died were also selected without rhyme or reason.
All he could do was informally name the disease: 'decaying death'.
The promise he had with those two girls was irreparably broken and the good doctor named Heaven Canceller suffered in silence.
Alone, as always.
X❖X
In Academy City there were no funerary companies.
The hospitals did all the work, and so would this hospital do the work of autopsy, documenting, cremating and then burying the ashes in a high-rise skyscraper used just for a graveyard. Normally in other countries and in other places you would find graveyards that spanned in large green lands, with monuments and tombstones.
Here in Academy City people were buried in skyscrapers or underground buildings, just to save space.
It was unreasonably cold-hearted.
Have you ever thought about it, being buried in a building?
Where you have just a small tombstone framed by all sides by acrylic?
Where every other name is a Child Error just like you?
Where a cool air conditioner ran daily on the clean corridors?
Empty halls that will never be visited by others.
The only things that roam these halls are cleaner robots. They are the only visitors you will ever have. Cold unfeeling machines roaming around, they pass your tombstone once a day.
No flesh and blood human would visit you.
Because Child Errors have no one.
Your dorm manager was kind to you? Well you were transferred to a research institute and died two years later. That man or woman who fed you, cared for you while in the dorms won't remember you. Perhaps he or she doesn't even know you died and was buried.
That was the cursed life of a Child Error.
This was not Minori-chan's immediate fate after she died.
She was as little more blessed than other peers who died and were buried next to her.
She had two visitors. They made the motions to do what was fair. Saten Ruiko and Shirai Kuroko.
They visited her for a month.
And after that.
Nobody ever visited Minori-chan's grave ever again.
Just a cleaning robot passing over the halls, where it would pass over her tiny little tombstone without a family name.
Even after the memory of the robot's camera would be erased month after month. That little pre-programmed robot would still pass by her tombstone covered in acrylic. A robot with an unfeeling pre-programmed mind gave her grave more respect than flesh-and blood humans who didn't even know who she was or had forgotten her.
The robot with an unfeeling mind would stop.
That robot would focus its camera on the grave.
And from that robot, a voice belonging to neither a man nor woman would pay its respects to the child that died.
And then a voice belonging to a woman would also pay her sympathetic respects.
That voice belonging to neither a man nor a woman, and that voice belonging to a woman would always pay their respect to every tombstone.
Every day.
These two were the 'father' and 'mother' of Academy City.
A human named Aleister Crowley.
A thing named Mina Mathers.
Even when the three girls who were on the side of good and on the side of light had abandoned those who have suffered. The two beings that made the situation where Child Errors had a bad life still paid their respects daily.
The three girls, Uiharu , Saten and Kuroko had been great friends and brought happiness and light. And yet when despair and unreasonable tragedy had hit them, they chose to cover their eyes.
Kuroko stopped visiting the dead girl after a month. And Saten, she had—
Heaven Canceller had touted himself as a doctor who saved lives and openly opposed Aleister with stern words, protesting about the situation of Child Errors, and yet those words were empty with no actions.
How ironic where the good people had closed their eyes, the bad ones were the ones who faced the music and never forgot what their actions led to.
The dead children of Academy City were visited by no one.
Except unfeeling robots.
And the 'father' and 'mother' of this glorious Academy City.
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Review Corner
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Fortitude501
Pre-memory Touma is remarkably interesting, but this Touma here is quite different from canon, not just physically. And yes, he has a lot of scars that I will only add by killing most of his family in his debut arc in Angel Fall. That's the arc I solely focus on him instead of Mikoto and he will pay, oh he's going to suffer.
Misaka Phenex
This Touma has no control over IT yet, and the dragons are very different than they were from canon. You'll see in Daihasei Festival Arc. As for Jailbreak Arc, forget it, it will never happen in this fic, as it literally isn't possible to happen here. The ingredients for that Arc to happen in the manga will not be here. Not the Angel Dragon neither— I will stop for now.
GlassyHades
The internet is a place of many wonders indeed. Thank you for that, my friend.
Aminadab Brulle
Artyom and Erica, two different underlings for different powerful men. They were quite fun to write. Vladimir the Great will have staying power in this novel due to on character in particular that I will reveal in the Epilogue for this Russian Arc.
I can't wait for MisaMisa I will write so much Yuri sexual tension my readers will literally explode. Mikoto is going to be very forceful with Misaki indeed. I knew Misaki was a sadomasochist, however she is so bulliable that I will lean more into the masochist side with Mikoto.
Mikoto is not going to have full sexual relationships with Yomikawa or Yoshikawa but there will be a lot of skinship and ecchi scenes. And since neither Accelerator or Hamazura are here, Mikoto will be Yomikawa's favorite student in Academy City, taking both Accel and Hamazura's place in Yomikawa's heart.
7eddy
I hope you'll do with a child decomposing here live. This chapter explores some grimdark aspects of the city. The next one I have put all my frustrations into it.
CodeTalker69
Yes, I made some allusions to it but her Bioelectricity has made her superhuman, the next chapter will explore that more deeply. She needs to tackle powerful Saints later on.
Don't forget to leave your review on the latest chapter if you want questions answered or engagement with the author on the next chapter.
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Author's notes
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I hope you guys don't shy away from reading these intermission chapters.
Each will be particularly important to the overall story. Kuroko and friends suffered quite a lot this chapter. Minori-chan is a canon character in episode 7 of the second season and I just straight up murdered her to advance the plot and bring on some suffering. Cynda-chan and Julia-chan are A.U characters of different origins as to match what Mikoto's influence is over the Child Error program. A lot of orphans of different ethnicities coming to Academy City just to die, with Academy City facing no accountability for its actions.
Most Child Errors die. Some go missing. The few promising ones go to school and become Espers and live their lives. The rare lucky ones get good institutes that still have ethics.
Anyways I wanted to write about the concept of Child Errors ever since they were introduced in the city. Abandoned children in the City of Science, what could go wrong?
This chapter also outlines the events and aftermath of the catastrophic Angel Fall arc that I've prepared. I was mulling over Otohime getting out of it alive, but I've decided on a better path for the purpose of torturing Touma even more. Poor Touma is going to be mentally tortured. At least he has Kanzaki and a blond woman wearing beige robes to keep him sane and grounded during that arc. Gee, I wonder who it is…?
As you can already guess its not only Gabriel making an appearance, an A.U antagonist will be the cause of the apocalypse. Oh this new antagonist is going to be especially great in mentally torturing Touma.
Intermission over, next chapter back on the action in Russia. This time with seas of blood and heads flying like I promised.
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