Hello Everyone, Reader Here! Next chapter of A Certain Unfortunate Criminal! Before we get into the story, let me respond to some of your reviews!

Bluejack222, mervinr170 and Sergio644: Thanks for the kind words! I hope this story lives up to your expectations!

Guest: Thanks for the pointers, I didn't realize some of those details before I looked at the wiki, much appreciated! To your question of whether I'll make it a lemon with Yuki and Mika, that is most likely a no. If I do, it will most likely be released as a separate story. Thanks for your understanding!

I should also note that these first chapters are taking place way before Touma's first encounter with Index, so keep that in mind while reading! Thanks, and Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TOARU MAJUSTO NO INDEX!

Dawn's Shadow I

Crouched over his desk in the back of the classroom, a certain spiky-haired individual pressed his face into the comfort of his arms while waiting for the end of this seemingly endless school day. Although he was able to sleep for few hours after his nightly outing, the many instances involvinj his misforune during the day siphoned away his energy like a leech sucking blood.

When he woke up late, he realized he forgot to set up an alarm, and so he had realized he had only 10 minutes before he needed to be in homeroom. After hastily putting on his uniform, he rushed from his dorm and through District 7, nearly being killed or maimed from every source imaginable before reaching his school. Receiving a pummeling from Fukiyose Seiri after failing to convince her of his innocence, he remained in the back of the room for the rest of the day, taking the test he was reminded about the evening before and most likely failing.

He sighed loudly along with the other students at the ringing of the bell and began to raise his head from the desk when he met the disapproving look from a familiar, well endowed and violent classmate.

"You seem extra tired today Touma, what's up? Stayed up too long studying? I do assume you got that text I sent last night." she said while sitting herself down opposite from him. Contrary to her facial expression, her tone was more caring and casual than her usual aggressive personality. "Y-Yeah, Math is hard for me, even if its just for studying so I was up late..." he said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck and giving an awkward smile.

She just merely sighed while shaking her head, unconsciously swaying her large bosom, to which a flustered Touma turned his head away in a mix of embarrassment and fear. He would very much want to avoid another pounding from the athletic girl.

"Are you sure your okay? You loom flustered, are you sure you don't have a cold?" she asked while reaching towards his face. He fluttered his arms around wildly and pressed his back against the back of his chair. "N-No, I'm fine! I swear, I just need some sleep!" he said while trying not to sound offensive. She looked at him with a questioning look before returning to the topic at hand.

"Well, we'll see when we get our tests back," she said while he slightly gulped. At least the unfortunate boy had a running start before he would have to deal with her fury. "Y-Yeah, Well if that's it, I got to go..." he said while grabbing his bag and swinging it over his shoulder, pulling himself up from the chair, He began to leave the room when he noticed something peculiar out of the corner of his eye. The dark haired girl appeared as if she wanted to say something, but hesitated and sighed to herself before she left in the opposite direction. He merely shrugged his shoulder before continuing on his way out of the school and into the greater District along with the hordes of other students.

Crowds were certainly high on the list of things he preferred to avoid. Although it was easy for you to hide in them, it was also easy for anyone who was trailing you as well. At any moment, your life could be ended and the assailant could vanish without a trace. The chance for you valuables being successfully stolen were drastically increased under such circumstances as well. Both of which he understood well.

A strange feeling fell over him as he quickly looked around the mixed crowd of high school students and few business people. Somewhere, he could swear the eyes of someone were shooting straight through him like an arrow. Not noting anyone of suspicion, he made a quick right turn into an alley nearby to try and corner the possible follower. "I guess I'll get groceries tomorrow..." he spoke mentally while maintaining his focus around him. In a stray piece of dirty broken glass, he saw a person in a dark cloak following him, the shine of what appeared to be a knife or a gun glistening from their pockets.

The boy swiftly turned to confront his stalker, his brow furrowed and confusion was set upon his features with what he saw. Despite what he had seen in the glass, there was no one other than himself currently in cramped space.

At least not to the naked eye.

In the backdrop of the setting sun, he spotted very faint lines that gave the silhouette of a human being that was slowly approaching him. The attacker likely realized that he had sensed their presence and decided to try and get a drop on him.

The person dashed towards the boy with an engraved dagger and tried to stab him. Using his instincts and his brief visage of the person, he rolled to the left of them and swept under them with his leg. Touma knocked them off their feet and they fell to the ground, and before they could retaliate, he tried to remove whatever was making this person invisible. He took his right hand and pressed it against the person as the familiar sound of Imagine Breaker, his special ability, ring out across the alleyway. What followed was quite a peculiar scene if looked upon by an onlooker. Touma felt a soft sensation in his hands as he looked towards the person and gawked.

"Eh?" he said aloud. The person was a beautiful girl, probably around his age, who looked at him with blush filled cheeks. Currently, he was positioned above her with his hand on her breast, adding insult to injury was his flushed face as well and the close proximity of their faces. His own dark blue stared into the girls amethyst.

"G-Get off me!" she tried to struggle, but Touma regained his composure and in turn put all his body weight on her. Clear that she wasn't going to get loose anytime soon, she stopped tried to break free and spread herself across the ground and turned her head to the side.

"So tell me, that cloak you had there, that obviously wasn't made with technology. And just going off a hunch that wasn't an esper power, that leads me to believe that was the work of magic."

When he said that, the girl's eyes widened in shock.

"H-How do y-you known about magic?!" she nearly yelled. But instead of answering her he increased his pressure on her body.

"That doesn't matter at the moment. What matters is why did you try to stab me?!" he yelled. The boy had a very rudimentary knowledge on the topic of magic. He knew that it at least existed, as he had fought a few magicians in prior encounters during his work as an assassin, and a knew a few of the factions such as the English Puritan, Catholic and Amakusa churches along with the various magical cabals. Also that it was quite difficult for them to get past the security checkpoints as a magician in Academy City.

"I won't tell you anything, s-so if your going to kill me, just get it over with!" she hesitantly said with a hardened look. Touma looked at the girl and frowned, sighing as he shook his head and grabbed the discarded knife with his left hand. He raised the blade into the air, appearing as if he was going to end her life. She flinched as she closed her eyes, showing that she was ready to die by his hands, also noticing her curse someones name under her breath.

Touma smirked and twirled the blade in his hand to show the blunt end of the knife. She opened her eyes to see him briefly before he sent the metal slab against her head and knocked her out cold. Her entire body went limp, but the rising and falling motion of her chest afterword showed that she was indeed alive.

"Sorry, I stopped killing a long time ago..." he said quietly while he stood up and dragged the girl to a nearby wall. He propped her up against the concrete while he quickly patted her down to look for anything that could point him in the right direction of what caused her to attack him.

Yuki Niijima groaned as a fresh headache assaulted her head while she pressed a small ice pack against her forehead. The snow-haired girl sat at a small desk near an open window that gave a nice view of the district. On the screen of her computer was the page of a chat forum talking about some urban legends that existed in Academy City. She was currently on the lookout for any piece of information of a certain individual that had inflicted the wounds on her. Although she was supposed to be at her teaching post at A Certain High School, she was asked to help in the instigation into the robbery of the convenience store.

"When I find that asshole I'm going to give him a piece of my mind..." she growled as she drank from her coffee mug. That punk from the other night certainly had done a number on her. Just from a single punch to her head no less.

It pained her to admit it, but whoever pulled off that robbery from the night before was not your average thug. They had managed to disable the security cameras and even the security drone without raising any alarms, while also having the ability to hack into the cash register and safe as well. His combat abilities were also noteworthy, but there was one thing that puzzled her and the other officers at Office #16.

His ability to nullify other Esper powers.

When she had gone back through her memory, other details that she had missed in her hazy attempt to catch the suspect had returned to her, adding to the validity to the idea that the suspect could nullify esper powers. Before she came upon the suspect, she clearly felt her esper power of Sight Break stop working, but didn't think anything of it at the time. That, combined with how the other officer's wind ability was canceled out, certified it in her mind that there was at least a connection. Though it mattered little if they didn't have him in handcuffs.

She placed the coffee mug on the desk and resumed her scouting of the website when a certain comment caught her eye.

User90212"ALEX982": Did you guys hear about that person who can cancel out any Esper power?

User81172"PRESCII0": You mean about that criminal who robbed the convenience store last night? Yeah, pretty scary stuff if you ask me. Apparently, he managed to knock out an Anti-Skill officer in a single punch!

Yuki nearly crushed the coffee mug into pieces as she gritted her teeth. Other officers currently in the same room could just feel the anger radiating from her and slightly cowered in fear. They knew just how destructive she could get when she was pissed off. She herself decided to join the conversation and began typing on her keyboard, trying to cool herself down by taking deep breaths.

User30098"SNOW52": Do you know anything else about him? Like any other things they've been involved in?

She knew it was a long shot chance of getting something. But she had to try!

User90212"ALEX982": I heard some stories on how he was involved in the Crystal Towers and #210 Municipal incidents a few years ago. Also he apparently has had scuffles with many gangsters and thugs around academy city.

"Crystal Towers?" she whispered to herself in a shocked voice.

That was a surprise for the young officer. That event was the one that showcased how bad Academy City's dark side could be when it surfaced. When she was a member of Judgement just a year ago, when she was still in high school, they and Anti-Skill were deployed to stop an attack on a hotel in District #3 that was known as the luxurious Crystal Towers. It was a mess of terrorist organizations, criminals and assassins killing anything that moved inside the hotel, with the number of foreigners being either wounded or killed going over a hundred.

To this day no one knew why such a large scale attack composing of multiple groups and people of completely different backgrounds occurred, but it certainly put a dark stain on Academy City's, Anti-Skills and Judgments reputations. The things and images she herself remembered from that night still haunted her to this day.

The #210 Municipal Incident was something the girl was also familiar with as well. Though she was not involved personally, it was an attack on Academy Cities data storage center at the #210 Municipal building in District 1, where a lone gunman managed to infiltrate the building and destroy many records and documents stored there by the cities administration.

"But why would a skilled assassin be working as a common street thug?" she said mentally. Yuki thanked the user for the info and logged off from the computer, putting on her signature black jacket and exiting the Anti-Skill station. She had much to do at her apartment and her work at A Certain High School due to her recent overnight stay at the hospital. She truly wanted to beat that piece of shit when she got her hands on him for causing such inconveniences in her life.

Touma sat on a bench in District 3 with his arms spread out and his legs wobbling. After his run-in with the strange magician, his luck had brought him into a fight with some random punks when he accidentally stepped on their leader's foot. Then after he had beat them all up, he had to sprint all the way through District's 1 and 7 to avoid confrontation with Judgement.

"Such Misfortune," he said while sighing loudly. He pulled out his phone and pulled up the photo app and then pulled up an image from the dagger he had taken from the girl a few hours prior.

The runes and symbols appeared as a combination of both western and eastern designs, ranging from what looked like English, Germanic, Arabic and Japanese imagery. Looking at a separate photo of the hilt, he noticed what appeared to be the symbol of the organization the girl belonged to. He knew the only person who could tell him what this organization was. It was a triangle surrounded by a wreath and a few circles.

"Ah, Kamy-yan, having a bad day, are we-nya?" spoke the overtly happy voice of Tsuchimikado Motoharu. Although on the outside he appeared to be nothing but an idiot, as he was a member of A Certain High Schools trio of idiots, he was actually a spy for multiple organizations across the world as well as keeping the magic and science sides from conflict within Academy City. Touma had learned about this when he had ran into him on a job where he had fought magicians and got a the basic rundown of magic from him.

"I'm guessing you know about the incident from earlier then?" responded the boy.

"Of course! It's my job to know everything about the magic side, you know? You're going up against a real something here-nya! Apparently, this magic cabal, known as the Dawn's Shadow, is after an important magical artifact that is currently somewhere in Academy City." spoke the spy. "But what the hell do they want with me?" Touma responded.

"According to my sources, there is some sort of protective shield guarding the device, one that would require more mages than they could sneak into Academy City to destroy, so they want your right hand to dispel it. Before you ask, I don't know where they are holed up, so I'll leave it up to you to find them-nya!" responded Motoharu before he cut the call. Touma stared at the phone with a blank expression before sighing yet again.

"Why do I attract all the weirdos?" he said dejectedly. He would have to look into the 'Dawn's Shadow' when he returned to his dorm, along with going through the cash he had heisted the night prior. Just because he was going clean, didn't mean that the former thief would just waste the fruits of his labor. He closed the phone and shoved it into his pocket before returning to his dorm in district 7. While walking through the agricultural district, however, he failed to notice the pair of eyes staring at him form afar.

On a rooftop nearby, two well dressed men stood side by side, the one with blonde hair holding a pair of binoculars while the other had his hands in his pockets and a lit cigar in his mouth. People would describe them as handsome, but each appeared to have sinister features that would drive most away in fear. The man with the cigar had annoyance plastered on his face, eyeing the silhouette of their target exit beyond where they could see.

"Are you sure that's him boss?", spoke the blonde man while lowering the old binoculars, "He doesn't seem any more special than the other level zeroes in this fucking city."

"I wouldn't judge a book by its cover, Mr. Morrison. Especially that kid. I've seen first hand what that idiot can do, and I can assure you, it certainly wasn't pleasant in the slightest. He may appear as any old troublemaker, but he has killed before, also combine him with that pesky little arm of his and you get one nasty fighter. Just look what he did to Akari." he spoke monotonously while pulling the cigar from his lips.

At one time, the boy had been hired through an intermediary as an assassin during the Crystal Towers incident, along with four other hired guns and a few manipulated terrorist groups to attack the hotel. The hotel was hosting a technology conference for a few international companies, but that had been a simple front for a meeting between multiple magic cabal bosses looking to strike a deal with Academy City. Or more specifically, Academy Cities creator and current overlord.

Aleister Crowley.

A name detested by most mages who knew of his existence, he was a traitor to the former glorious Golden Dawn, which had been the worlds largest and most powerful magic cabal at the height of its power, to where the current Dawn's Shadow had spawned from. They were originally the black ops wing of the Golden Dawn, formed and trained by one of the organization's founders, Samuel Mathers. He had been regarded as the leader of the groups fanatical faction, which opposed the old traditions of the Westcott faction, in favor of using any method to obtain the groups overarching goal. To create a "magical kit" that would grant magicians endless possibilities to use their powers.

But one day, one of the organizations most promising agents, a young man by the name of the Aleister Crowley, had caused the group to collapse into a civil war between the two factions. The secret conflict tore the group apart until the survivors had agreed to stop the fighting. And so, the one proud cabal was shattered into multiple fragment groups known as the Golden Style cabals. Adding insult to injury, was Aleister's pursuit into advancing science, the arch-enemy of magic.

To prevent a possible alliance between the magic cabals and Academy City, the Dawn's Shadow organized the Crystal Towers massacre to create distrust between the two groups and to also test the waters on provoking the person thought to be one of the greatest magicians in history. That was also before he had learned that boy was the bearer of the Imagine Breaker, something that was also caused by the traitor as well.

"Well, why don't we grab him now? He obviously looks tired out, and I sure th-" the blonde said before being cut off with the black haired man raising his hand. Morrison instantly shut his mouth at the mans gesture.

"Attacking him right now, in broad daylight, will attract too much attention to us. Must I remind that we are currently in the heart of the science world? Every little thing we do will draw the suspicion of that man. We simply don't have the manpower to fight the beast head on, so for now, we just need to wait for the perfect time to strike. Let's return to base to plan out our strategy with the others. Also, we need to prepare the necessary tools and weapons for the upcoming battles." he spoke coldly.

The blonde man readily nodded and the two were enveloped in darkness before disappearing into thin air. Before they fully disappeared, the black-haired man spoke an ominous sentence as he was about to vanish.

"Just you wait Imagine Breaker, you will be returned to your rightful owner as the true descendants of the Golden Dawn!"

(Unknown Place - Unknown P.O.V)

A figure stealthily moved down a hallway that was painted in blood and filled with bleeding corpses and the survivors wreathing in pain on the ground. The person, appearing to be a male and was holding a medium sized pistol that was outfitted with a long silencer on the end in his left hand. Trying to avoid the bodies with every step, the feeling of disgust rose within him at the sight of such carnage. Although some would say that he would be a hypocrite at having such thoughts due to him being a killer as well, he would argue that he only killed his target and those whom would get in his way of said target, not just shooting innocent bystanders.

Reaching the end of the hall, he heard the sounds of people yelling, along with gunshots and explosions in the next corridor. He slowly peeked around the corner to see a sight that shook him to his core.

There were stacks of dead bodies that were charred like burnt meat. He could see their pained expressions in their lifeless face, all while a man stood in the center with a maniacal look. The assassin recognized that man as one of the five targets he was hired to kill at the assembly being held at the Crystal Towers. But then, when the gunshots started ringing out and everything went to hell in the conference room, all of his targets had dispersed and forced the assassin to hunt them down one by one. All that was left was this man, then he could escape this hell and get his pay.

Of all his targets, this one seemed... different... than the others. Something about his insane eyes or his oppressive aura caused the boy to question the intents of his job. He was supposed to be killing corporate heads, not fucking going against high ranking espers!

The boy shook his head and rounded the corner as slowly as possible. The person appeared to not have noticed him yet, so he inched closer and closer, hugging the wall to avoid detection.

"Well, Well, look what the cat dragged in! Another idiot looking to kill me! ME! AHAHAHA! TIME TO TURN UP THE HEAT!" screamed the man as flames began circling around him. The boy cursed while he aimed his shot directly at the man. Wanting to test the flames, he pulled the trigger and the bullet fired silently due to the attached suppressor. The bullet flew to its targets until it was engulfed into the flames and was disintegrated into ash.

"YOU THOUGHT THAT WOULD ACTUALLY WORK?! YOUR JUST LIKE THOSE FOOLS THAT CAME BEFORE. TIME TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO MESS WITH ME!" he spoke as the fire surrounding him began to shoot out in a long flaming tendril.

The person simply raised his right hand and when it came into contact with the limb, the strand of flame dissipated as the sound of shattered glass rang out. The man stood in complete shock, absolutely stunned that his attack was repelled by a simple flick of a hand. Seeing that his target was distracted, the boy fired the pistol again, this time the bullet hit its mark. It tore through the mans chest, the crazed man coughing out a large amount of blood in response. He fired another shot, but it was stopped by the fire before it could hit him. The wounded flame user quickly dug into the wound with his bare hands and pulled out the bullet and cauterized it with his fire.

"DAMN IT, H-HOW DID... YOU... DO... THAT? NOTHING CAN STOP MY FLAMES... *cough* nothing..." he spoke weakly while more blood presumably filled his lungs. The man sent out another attack but met the same result. Then he did it again. And Again. And Again. Every time the mage tried a new direction of attacking or using another type of attack, it all ended with it being dispelled by the persons right hand. Over the course of the next two minutes, each side attacked, with a new bullet hitting the fire wielder in a new spot with every bout.

"H-How c-can t-that stop my... magic...?" he said while kneeling. The toll of the battle had obviously been too much to handle for him. His flame no longer surrounded him, and he grew weaker with every breath. The boy's eyes rose when he had heard the man refer to his power as magic rather than an esper power.

"He's probably just delusional..." spoke the boy as he approached the downed man. When he was at arm's length, he lowered the pistol to the man head and the two locked eyes for a brief second.

"B-Before you k-kill me, tell me... one thing...", he said faintly, "...what ...what is that power in your right arm?"

"The Imagine Breaker." he swiftly responded before pulling the trigger...

Touma nearly screamed as he awoke while covered in sweat and heavily panting. He looked around his dorm with his dazed eyes before he tried to calm himself.

"It's just a nightmare... It's in the past... I need to calm down..." he said while rubbing the sweat off his face with his hands.

His traumatic past was something that was hard for him to forget. It was a past he greatly regretted and certainly something he wasn't proud of. But he would be the first to admit that he brought this onto himself. His own greed had caused him to fall into the darkest pits of Academy City. That's why he had stopped killing and slowly put an end to his thieving ways, while trying to atone for his killings by helping other in need. By fighting thugs and protecting the innocents, he thought he would be able to wipe away the blood on his hand.

His consciousness had other plans though.

He would have to live the rest of his life knowing he was a murderer.

He would have to relive those horrible memories almost every time when he fell asleep.

He will always remember the faces of those he killed.

Never would he be able to live the life of a normal teenager.

Touma sighed loudly before pulling himself up from the bed. He knew that any attempt at trying to fall asleep after his nightmares would be a futile attempt. He would spend the hours before going to school reading the latest edition of his favorite manga, watching T.V, even going out on his balcony to breath in the fresh air. But in the back of his mind, his dream would plague to his thoughts for the rest of his day.

There you go folks! Hope you enjoyed it! To be honest with ya'll, I actually didn't know where I was going with this story after the first chapter. But this idea popped into my head after some serious brainstorming and a multitude of revisions (And also exuberant amounts of time scouring the wiki!). With this, however, I know have a more general idea on how I want this story to progress. If you have any ideas or feedback, post a review or send me a PM! As always, thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Next Chapter: Dawn's Shadow II