A golden armored samurai calmly walked into the palace, shrouded in darkness. There was a sitting figure in the middle of it, illuminated by two lightened candles at its sides.
The said samurai, his hands and face burning in yellow flame, knelt before the figure. "My lord." He said as he bowed.
"Ah, what brings you here?" The figure spoke in a deep calm tone.
"My partner has finally found the Heiress, sir." The samurai looked up to who he calls his "lord".
"Proceed to things, as usual. Pursue, subdue and bring her to me."
"Yes."
The samurai bowed as it disappeared in yellow flame.
Kyouko was troubled during her Judgment duty. There had been more than 5 cases about people who saw animals coming to them, but there were people who saw nothing. She and Uiharu were investigating in the matter at hand, typing in their laptops as various windows pop up and close at random intervals.
"Do you think that this is related to the urban legends?" Uiharu suggested.
"I'm starting to think it is." Kyouko said. "There is no other explanation for this. Some people can, and some cannot..."
"By the way, Ajime-san," Uiharu stopped typing as she looked at the other Jugment member. "Have you seen Konori-senpai?"
Kyouko stopped typing, looking around for their senpai. "Konori-senpai?"
This day was the worst, Mikoto thought. There had been news and rumors floating around about animals approaching people. There were people saying they could see them or even talk to them, but the remaining people said that they did not see such animals. News and rumors said that those who can see them have been asked if they saw a human with nine-tails.
"It's them." Shirai said bitterly.
They were currently walking in the sidewalks, it was natural for the Electromaster to ignore the youkai she's accompanying with. She told the other if they were in the streets, she can only listen to what the human-fox was saying, until they can find a way to talk to each other without the human look like an idiot to a lot of people.
"They finally made their way here."
Mikoto tightened the grip on the school bag she slung on her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. There was no doubt that a lot of them had came here just for Shirai. The youkai also mentioned that there were 80,000 of them. She could just go and hunt them all down, but their sheer number was too much. Even with her Level 5 ability, she's not a one-man army.
"Onee-chan!"
Cutting her trance of thoughts, a young boy, in 9 years of age approached her.
"Have you seen a big eagle?" He asked, gesturing his arms as he try to measure the height comparable to an adult eagle.
"No..." Mikoto replied slowly. 'What kind of child is having a pet eagle?'
The boy gave a sad look as he looked downwards. "Is that so..." Then he cheered up and looked at the older girl. "Thanks for it, though!"
He ran past Mikoto, who only looked at his running figure disappearing from her sight.
"Why is that kid having a pet eagle?" She muttered as she and Shirai continued walking.
Minutes later, the Electromaster began to hear growls from the youkai. She looked at the other to see her spacing out and giving out the angry expression, something was bothering her.
"What's wrong?" Mikoto asked in the lowest possible tone.
"Here... He's here... that eagle..." Shirai replied slowly behind her gritting teeth.
Before Mikoto asked anything else, the human-fox suddenly sprinted forward, leaving the confused Electromaster in the street.
Of course, she wouldn't ignore the act the youkai was showing. She also sprinted in the direction the youkai disappeared into, and hoped to find the fox before something happened to her.
In the 177th Judgment Branch, Konori Mii entered the room and found Kyouko and Uiharu busying themselves in their work.
"Did something happen?" She asked curiosly as she closed the door and approached Kyouko, looking at the latter's activity.
"There has been over 10 cases of people who can see these animals, but the others don't." Kyouko replied without looking away from the screen.
"Is it the work of an esper?" Konori suggested.
"I don't think so." Uiharu replied, while still typing. "We already checked and confirmed that all espers who can turn objects or themselves invisible have alibis. Some of them were a victim of this case."
"Besides, they couldn't be seen or detected by the security cameras around the city." She added.
"Can't be detected?" Konori repeated. "There's no way an esper could have an ability like that."
"That's why we're in a dead end." Kyouko stated. "We don't have any clue as to why is the culprit doing this or what is that culprit's ability."
Konori can only sit on her designated chair and opened her laptop, investigating on the same case. True to the other two members, there was no such esper with an Invisibility ability type who can get themselves unnoticed by the security cameras. She read the latest report about the current case, and the victims rose up to 15 recently, as opposed to have only few. Continuous reports said it was wild animals looking for a human with nine-tails. The animals the victims described ranged from tiger, eagle, lion, dog or even a cat.
According to the data collected, Invisibility ability type works by having themselves or objects invisible or visible to certain people. But the downside is that the security cameras can still see the invisible user or the object no matter how well the user made it invisible. If this isn't caused by an esper, then what?
"Eh!?"
Uiharu yelled in surprise as she stopped whatever she's doing and stared at the PC, with the security cameras opened all over the screen. Kyouko and Konori also stopped and looked at her.
"Why is Misaka-san running?"
Kyouko and Konori looked at each other in curious gaze and approached Uiharu. The latter kept tracking their Electromaster friend, and according to the cameras, she wasn't chasing or being chased.
"What is Misaka-san plotting now?" Kyouko asked in a curious tone.
Uiharu glanced at Kyouko. "Eh? Ajime-san, you don't know about this?"
"No." Kyouko shook her head. "Misaka-san isn't talking about certain things to me. I might have grown suspicious of her actions, but I'm very worried."
They looked back at the screen, observing the Electromaster's running figure.
Mikoto kept running in the streets of District 7. The students around her were slowing her progress of chasing the youkai. Although, she caught a glimpse on one of the tails and a flying eagle. She also noticed that no one seemed to care or notice it.
'That eagle... is a youkai?' She thought as she ran through a crowd of students.
After a few minutes of running, Mikoto finally found the two youkais in the artifical riverbank, two animals facing each other. One was a white nine-tailed fox - which she assumed to be Shirai in her real form - and the other an eagle.
"There's no way for you to run." The eagle taunted. "You should give up, everyone's waiting for you."
But the fox wasn't born yesterday. Shirai knew the eagle was only tricking her to get back and get punished for something she didn't do. "I won't fall for something obvious."
"Oh? Aren't you worried of the people waiting for your return, you traitor? You had a nerve crossing here, knowing it's forbidden in the first place!"
The eagle flapped its wings forward with force, unleashing sharp feathers at Shirai. The latter was calm at the attack and only opened up her nine-tails, conjuring violet flames at the tip of each tails and attacked back. The feathers and flames met each other, only to be burned in contact.
"If we're given the power to cross to the human world, why was it forbidden in the first place?" Shirai asked, in the tone of a statement. "If we're given a power, we have to use it, even if we like it or not!"
"Humans." The eagle simply stated. "They keep peeking to our world. Knowing them, they are always curious. Curious about all things. They are also using us for their own gain! So the higher ups in our world banned us for using the power to cross the human world. With that power or not, we are forbidden to be here, at all cost!"
The sky soaring animal charged at the fox. The latter jumped away from the eagle's brute attack.
"Not all humans are like that! Yes, there may be dark heartened humans, but, there are bound to be kind!" Shirai stated.
"You're just delusional." The eagle spat bitterly.
"Washi!"
The two youkais and Mikoto looked at the source of the voice, and found the same boy that Mikoto had met running to them.
"Tch, that human."
Shirai put up a sly smile at the eagle. "Ara, so you're accompanying that boy? I pity you."
Washi looked at the fox angrily, irritated at the untimely tease. "Shut up!" He looked at the approaching boy, who finally found his 'pet eagle'. 'Perfect. Now I can initiate my plans.'
The eagle flew to the boy, the latter raising his arm on chest level and the animal perched on it. "Where were you, Washi? I was looking all over for you."
Washi didn't say anything and only used his beak and scratched his body.
The boy looked at Mikoto. "Thank you for looking for my eagle, Onee-chan!"
"Eh?" Was only the older girl's response. "How did you know I was here?"
The boy smiled brightly at the question. "I followed you here!"
"Uh..."
Shirai instantly grew suspicious of the boy's actions and narrowed her eyes at him. 'Something's wrong... If this boy can see Washi, then...'
"Waah!" The boy looked amazed at the fox. "What a cute fox!" He said as he tried petting the said fox's head. But she pulled away and growled at him.
"Eh? What's wrong?"
Mikoto quickly took notice of the growling. She made a note that everytime Shirai was growling at something, there was something the youkai is sensing that she couldn't, after all, she is only a mere human being with five senses.
Washi opened his wings and flew to the back of the boy's head. He engulfed himself in a blue flame. He then used his ability and engulfed the boy in blue flame. The boy was screaming as the panic conquered his mind, thought that he was burning himself alive. 'I'll borrow you for a while, boy. According to your age, you are too obedient to lie. I pity how you don't notice who I really am. Oh well, tricking a human is always fun...'
The eagle transformed himself into flame, leaving only his outline, like a shadow in the dark. The boy kept screaming for help as the now flaming outline of the eagle flew into the flame. The blue flame finally joined the flames that kept tormenting the boy, absorbing it into his body. Mikoto could only watch in horror, but at the same time preparing herself in case the eagle will do something. Shirai can only look calm at what was happening before them.
The 'boy' only slumped forward after 'absorbing' the flame. He finally straightened up and looked at Mikoto. She noticed that his expression changed. The boy from before looked so happy, but now, he looked like one of those villians in a manga - his eyes were sharp and displayed a big smirk on his face.
"How do I look, Heiress?" He asked, spreading his arms upward, which he looked like he was preaching. "Would you still attack me, now I possess a human body, hmm? Oh, you wouldn't! You can only harm us youkais! Then how about," He gave the Electromaster an evil glance. "Hurting this girl instead!"
Washi raised his arm and conjured a blue flame to his hand. "Let's see how you will fare with this!" He yelled as he threw it at the human girl.
Mikoto only took a step back, still flabbergasted on what was currently happening. There was an unknown fear implanted inside her. Thankfully, Shirai sprint in front of her companion just in time, quickly dispersing the flame with one of her tails. "I won't let you hurt Misaka-san." She said, ready to protect the other girl.
"Shirai-san..." Mikoto muttered. This was the first time she heard that someone was going to protect her. In her ordinary life in Academy City, she always ends up protecting or saving someone. She's a Level 5, Tokiwadai's Ace, a pride of the school and the city. After her encounter with Shirai, a nine-tailed fox, an Heiress to her kingdom and a youkai. A lot of different things happened to her, and saying the youkai will protect her is one.
"What's this determination, Heiress?" Washi asked. "You're risking your life to protect a human, knowing that someday they're going to use you for their own ends? Don't make me laugh!"
"That's true..." Shirai said under her breath. "Humans are maybe manipulative apes, but Misaka-san doesn't fit that category!"
Washi didn't say anything else and attacked using the same attack he did to attack Mikoto, but Shirai only countered it with her own flame.
Seeing the exchange, Mikoto didn't want to look powerless at the two youkais and looked at Shirai. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yes." Shirai nodded without looking to the other girl. "Knock him out using your power. I'll extract that arrogant eagle from the body and restore the boy's memories to normal."
"Eh? That boy's memories... had been altered?" Mikoto asked. Shirai had explained to her that youkais can alter the memories of a human, mostly creating fake ones in place of their real ones, creating an illusion that they have that memory. To the Electromaster, this can be explained by a very powerful Telepathy type esper who can look through the memories of a person or sometimes mess with it. She knew exactly someone with that type of ability and that someone is the Queen of Tokiwadai.
Sparks flew out from her forehead and body, looking at Washi, now prepared to save the innocent boy from his clutches. "If this is the only way, then it can't be helped..."
"Misaka-san!"
The three heard a voice from afar. Shirai recognized it as Kyouko, who was using her ability, Cryokinesis, to make an ice floor and slid to it, stopping in front of the two youkais.
"What are you doing, letting out your ability at a young boy?" Kyouko asked.
"But- that- boy-" Mikoto couldn't find the right words. She knew that her roommate couldn't see youkais and explaining it to her may identify her as crazy, or even mentioning that urban legend.
"Tch, another pest." Washi muttered under his breath. "Alright, I'll stop this for now." Then he looked to Mikoto. "Remember this, this is not yet over. I may appear tomorrow, or even later. Keep your heads up." He gave the Electromaster a final smirk and left the boy's body, leaving him unconscious as he fell forward.
Kyouko noticed this and quickly caught the boy's body to her arms. She looked at the unconscious boy and saw that he was sleeping soundly.
Shirai transformed into her human form and walked to the two. She put her hand to the sleeping boy to his forehead and smiled, looking to Mikoto. "He's fine. His real memories are restored after Washi left, so there's nothing to worry. But the eagle will sure come back with a different body to use."
With Kyouko in the presence, Mikoto only returned the smile and nodded.
The Cryokinesis user looked at Mikoto and noticed the calm smile. "Misaka-san, why are you smiling like that? Come on, we need to get to back to the branch and you'll explain things."
Kyouko's words returned the Electromaster back in reality.
"Eh!?"
Mikoto, Shirai and Kyouko, who was holding the snoring boy, went to the 177th Judgment Branch to interrogate the Electromaster. Uiharu told them that Konori-senpai was out, patrolling around the district.
"And... who's that boy?" Uiharu asked while Kyouko put the said person on the couch, lying straight.
"That's what we'll know right know." Kyouko said sternly as she gave Mikoto a glare.
"M-Me?" Mikoto said as she pointed herself nervously. "I didn't mean to use my ability on that boy, but-"
"No buts." Kyouko stated. "You should know what your ability can do to people. So, explain yourself."
The Electromaster was distraught. 'As if it was easy to explain some things...' Neither Kyouko or Uiharu would believe her if she chose to tell the boy was possessed by a youkai. It was very difficult for her to keep them out of being involved with it, especially with the urban legends and news floating around related to it.
"I had to chase that boy because he was causing mischief." She finally spoke up after thinking up words she could say as an excuse.
"That's a nice excuse, Misaka-san, but you're obviously lying." Kyouko stated. "We were doing our work until Uiharu-san saw you running. You weren't chasing someone or being chased."
"You were watching!?" Mikoto exclaimed, surprised that they were watching her chasing the two youkais.
"Sorry, Misaka-san," Uiharu apologized. "It was an accident."
Before the Electromaster could say anything, Shirai merely walked in front of Kyouko. She gave the youkai a surprise look, even if the other couldn't see it.
"Hmm?" Kyouko cocked her head to the left. "Misaka-san, is something wrong?" She asked curiously.
"W-well, you see..." Mikoto said, her voice trembling as she thought up something to buy time. "You see, there's a mosquito on your cheek."
'That was laaame!'
She noticed that Shirai placed her hand on Kyouko's forehead, already doing something that she hoped it will escape her from the interrogation situation.
Kyouko slowly placed her right hand to her right cheek, when she almost touched it, "Ahh, not there! The other one!" Mikoto exclaimed, almost scaring the Cryokinesis user. The latter instinctively slapped the other side of her cheek with the other hand. While that happened, Shirai's hand on her forehead flamed in purple and absorbed into Kyouko's head. The youkai removed her hand and walked beside the Electromaster.
"Ahh..." Kyouko was silent. There was something in her head that she couldn't process, it was unclear and fast. But soon, she 'remembered' what that unclear memory was. "I see."
"What is it, Ajime-san?" Uiharu asked, eyeing her Judgment partner weirdly.
"Misaka-san said that the boy she encountered back in the riverbank annoyed her, so she thought she could teach him a lesson but the boy fainted in heatstroke and fear." Kyouko said with confidence.
"Ehh... Really?" Uiharu inquired, not really following what Kyouko told her. "Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
Kyouko shook her head at Uiharu's question and smiled brightly. "No. It justified her reason so there's nothing to worry."
With nothing to press the issue further, Uiharu looked at Mikoto, who was giving the two a forced smile. "Is that true, Misaka-san?"
The question quickly snapped her out of the inner thoughts she had. "Ah, yeah, Uiharu-san!" Mikoto said almost quickly. "I forgot I already told Kyouko about it so I made her slap her cheek!"
"Uwaah!" Uiharu yelled, suddenly getting an idea. "So you made Ajime-san remember it by slapping her cheek? No wonder, in the movies, it serves as a Eureka moment!"
Mikoto felt how awkward their current exchange was, but she had to go along with it. "Yes! They have to slap themselves so hard they remember it!"
The creaking sound of the door behind them abruptly stopped their conversation and looked at the person standing at the doorway. It was Saten Ruiko. She quickly took notice of the awkward atmosphere and the looks that her three friends gave her. "Did I miss something?"
On top of one of the buildings in Academy City, the two armored samurais watched the ground below, observing the humans and the moving vehicles. One had a blue flame, Washi, and the other yellow.
"So, how did it go?" The samurai with the yellow flame asked in a gentle voice.
Washi could only cross his arms in disappointment. "I thought I could already capture the Heiress, but some humans just want to involve themselves in unnecessary situations."
"I thought you said you'd do all just to capture her?"
"It wouldn't be fair if I involve outsiders. I am a bird of prey, I only target whoever becomes my prey."
"What about the girl the Heiress is accompanying with?"
"She is being protected by the Heiress."
"Oh, really?" The yellow flamed samurai inquired, suddenly piqued with interest. "That's interesting."
"For you." Washi grunted. "They will be angry if they know about this! Our lord only asked permission from them to cross the human world to retrieve something important!"
"Going as far as to keep our lord's mouth shut that the Heiress escape from our world. They didn't even question his motives."
"For a wild animal like you, you sure are too noble for this."
"Speak for yourself, Washi. I'm only here as your back up and partner. I don't plan on acting other than from the orders we've received."
The yellow flamed samurai ignited himself and disappeared.
"That nerve...!" Washi yelled angrily.
Saten Ruiko grabbed a cup of coffee that Kyouko and Uiharu had prepared for them and sipped to it. Kyouko and Mikoto had told her what happened a while ago, with Uiharu only listening, standing beside Saten. There was something weird with Kyouko's actions after she returned. She had been too happy for her own personality and kept waving off the fact that their Electromaster friend was punishing a young boy with her ability.
"Oh yeah, Uiharu." Saten spoke up and looked at her classmate, putting down the cup to the desk nearest to her. "There's something I forgot."
She bent down, her hands reaching for one of the most common thing she occasionally grabs-
and flipped Uiharu's skirt without any shame.
"Today is pink with strawberry print!"
"KYAAA~"
The young boy opened his eyes due to the poor Uiharu's scream of her skirt being flipped. The moment he opened his eyes, he raised his arm and shielded it from the sheer brightness of the room. He stayed in his current position for a while before he sat up, looking at his surroundings.
Saten noticed this and looked at the awakened boy. "Look, Uiharu, you made him wake up from your scream."
"I-If only Saten-san would stop flipping my skirt!" Uiharu retorted in her flustered look.
"Where am I...?" The boy asked, his tone sounded like he was lost in an unfamiliar city.
"177th Judgment Branch." Kyouko replied with a smile, approaching the boy.
After hearing the word "Judgment", the boy squeaked in surprise. "W-what did I do wrong!?"
"Nothing." Kyouko simply replied. "We saw you fainted from heatstroke so we took you here for a while."
The boy sighed in relief, trying to pry in his memories in the recollection of events that happened to him before he "fainted". He looked up at the girls and recognized one of them.
"Oh! The Onee-chan from before!" He yelled as he pointed his index finger at Mikoto.
"Ah, yes, it's me." Mikoto chuckled nervously and walked in front of the boy. "How are you?"
The boy smiled brightly. "I'm fine! Thank you for - huh?"
Kyouko, Uiharu and Saten looked at the boy with a curious look, but Mikoto only kept a poker face, knowing the spell that Washi whatever used was gone and his memories related to Washi were erased.
"I don't know... But I did meet you and asked something. I was running around and everything went blank." The boy explained slowly, still trying hard to remember the unusual gap in his memory. "The last thing I remembered was trying to pet a white fox."
The three curious girls were confused. "White fox?" They chorused as they looked at each other. Mikoto only clenched her fist tightly. There was no doubt this boy could see youkais besides her. She also noticed that Shirai was hiding out of the boy's sight. Telling him that it was a dream will cause suspicion from her friends and get into interrogation again.
"Well, what matters is that you're safe now, right?" She assured to the boy, hoping that the boy wouldn't press for his memory issues further.
True, his health is more than anything else. He was grateful that he was fine after losing his consciousness, even if he didn't know the reason behind it. Whatever that was, he hoped it wouldn't be worse than having fun with his schoolmates or friends he knew.
"Thank you, Onee-chan!" The boy thanked the Electromaster and gave her the brightest smile he could give.
"So, it was an illusion memory?"
Mikoto went to a convenience store and bought a pair of juices and triangular sandwiches with vegetable stuffing. The flavor of the juice that the Electromaster and the youkai picked were melon and orange flavors, respectively. They also had the same order of triangular sandwich. Shirai had explained to her what a youkai can do to a human while walking in the streets under the setting sun.
Shirai nodded at Mikoto's question. "However, their illusion abilities are weak; they can only influence other people temporarily. Whereas a higher tier have broader means of using their illusion abilities."
"What about Kyouko? Is the illusion memory you gave her only temporary?" Mikoto asked.
"It should be." Shirai replied. "The illusion memory will turn off automatically should she forget what happened earlier or stopped thinking about it." She sipped on the orange juice she was holding.
Thankfully, whatever Shirai touches or holds disappears from the human sight, something that Mikoto was glad. She wanted to avoid curious gazes and ask her why was an object floating beside her.
"Oh yeah... " Mikoto spoke up, her mind wondering about something. "How does it feel like to possess a human body?"
Shirai wasn't sure how to reply to her companion's question. She looked up at the orange sky; an indication that evening was soon to come. She hadn't tried possessing a human body, thinking she would bother someone else and cause a confusion to the victim due to the missing gap.
"That's what I like to know..." Was all she said, looking back at her bottle of juice.
In front of them, a High School student passed by them, which gained the attention of Shirai. She stared at his back for a moment, but she only shrugged and continued walking alongside Mikoto, who was asking her why she wanted to know how it felt.
A/N: Argh. I'm very pissed. I'm very very pissed. Problems after problems two or three weeks after I upgraded to Windows 8. Well, it only happened after I installed SD Gundam Capsule Fighters, Korean Server. I was interested in playing it again because of the absence of RPS (Rock-Paper-Scissors) System, but killed my Windows 8 in the process after I wanted to restart due to MS Office having its own problems because it freaking stopped working. I shouldn't have been interested with SDGO KR and install so I would be still using Windows 8. GGGRRRR. Right now, I'm in my other HDD and OS, which had Windows 7. I uninstalled most of the programs there since I moved to the other one. But since my main HDD/OS was having its own problem, I had to move back to the other one so I can (maybe) reinstall it. I don't know if I should reinstall Windows 8 (clean install) or install a Linux OS.
Ranting aside, please review, folks! It's the only thing that keeps me motivated. Oh and, please tell me how my writing went so I can keep improving. (though I would be glad to someone beta me...) I must be getting rusty for not writing in. freaking. MONTHS. I felt so ashamed since I've been focusing on essays.
I apologize if Mikoto looked useless in this chapter. How would you react if a spirit possess someone really younger than you but you wouldn't want to hurt the person? I guess it's something of that sort in her situation.
/Review Response/ (might be the last one since I don't want things to get longer)
- KainUltima: Now you got your answer regarding the visibility of the objects that Kuroko is holding :P
- EtherealFox: Who knows~ *whistles* Just kidding. I'll reveal Kuroko's abilities slowly.
- CrossFaded: Thank you for an honest review about regarding my English/grammar/narration. It makes me realize that my writing was average or good or bad. Yes, I do notice how some parts of the chapter(s) are described clumsily or without clear understanding. I guess that alone made me feel my writing skills got rusty. I also forgot to mention that English isn't my native language so... yeah. Although, I don't take this as an excuse to my writing skills. I have to keep improving so I can be better.