"Web of Lies"
August 24, 2020
The sound of an alarm clock is never one associated with joy. So, it goes without saying that after the 10th time it has gone off you aren't very particular with getting up. This young boy certainly wasn't. He had encountered triplets carrying a body bag in the early hours of the previous morning - it isn't something you forget easily. It also happens to be something to scare a young kid such as this one into bed all day.
"Oh, Kami, still nappin', eh? Or were you planning on skipping the entire day? Just my luck I got here then, right?" announced a voice along with the distinct sound of drywall breaking as a young lad with blonde hair and out of style sunglasses made his presence heard.
"Ah… I'll be a bit late today. I stayed up all night so it's probably for the best…" groaned "Kami", or at least that was the intended message. Whether or not it made it through the pillow, the sheets and the mattress to its recipient is another story.
"A'right, a'right. I'll tell Teach' then that you're gonna be a bit late. That midget is gonna bite my head off, ya' know. You're her favourite." responded the presence from the doorway in a terribly colloquial fashion of speaking. One would have to be fluent in several street languages to comprehend him.
With that, the linguistically challenged lad left "Kami's" room, creating as much noise as he did entering with the exception of not breaking anything. Reefing his head from underneath the mountain of manchester accumulated on his bed, he slowly adjusted to the light before once again taking a horizontal position on his bed.
However, the rest and relaxation he was neglecting half of his day for eluded him. Images of the events he partook in the night before plagued him, so vivid they were that he reached out to stop one of the girls only to find his hand collide with the wall to which his bed was positioned next too.
As time elapsed and his efforts to sleep remained in vain, he decided that what the rest he wanted was far beyond his reach. Within 5 minutes of rolling out of his thought catacomb he had laid in for the past 3 hours, he was dressed and prepared for school.
"Wallet, check. Bag, check. Phone, check." He began to list off objects he'd need for the day ahead, or what remained of it. Satisfied with the preparations, he left the small room. Ignoring the gaping hole in the dry wall he's early hours visitor left as well as the thought of how to explain it too his dorm supervisor, a feint 'click' of the lock on the door resounded and he began to walk in the school's direction.
The most important things are almost always the ones forgotten when leaving a house alone. Is the oven still on? The dryer? The stove? However, for a student living alone without any knowledge as how to operate those apparatuses the most important thing would be eating. The time told 2:15, very much past lunch. The boy had neglected breakfast, so this only intensified his need for sustenance.
There was an outdoor café students from around the district attended, it was fairly popular and "hip" as it sold all its food in the shape of animals. However, that came with an increased price tag. But when one has little to no other options in front of them, a price tag is no barrier.
Arriving at the destination, he moved towards the queue and examined the prices. Further inspection showed that he had just enough money on his person to buy the least expensive item on the menu, so choice was not a luxury he could afford. After confirming what he was going to buy he noticed that the queue had halted and a dispute between customer and management could be heard. Well, dispute is perhaps too lenient of a word - "uproar" would be more suited to the volume of noise being produced. Curiosity was about to kill the cat. "Kami" was a now prime and proper gentleman, yet he gave in to take a peep of the disgruntled customer. He almost jumped out of his skin to see who it was.
It was one of the teenage girls he met yesterday, no doubt about it. She had short brown hair, a floral hair pin and styled a beige vest, white shirt and tan skirt. He took note that she didn't wear any goggles and her long socks, which most probably associated with her school uniform clumped near her shoes. Obviously she didn't take much pride in her appearance
"I. Am. Telling. You. I have gotten enough points for that damned Frog-o strap! Now hand it over chump!" roared the pip-squeak, slamming her foot on the ground to every word and having what looked to be a tantrum over a phone strap.
The shop had a point system. Every time you bought something in-store it had a certain amount of points, and if you collected enough you could claim some of the prizes. The boy didn't have the kind of money to continuously eat there and owning a prize from the store showed you had in your possession a healthy wealth.
From these little titbits of info just examining her behaviour and appearance, he deduced that she was a wealthy, spoiled brat that was probably accepted no matter how she appeared in front of her audience, most likely because of name rather than any of her "amazing" personality traits.
The girl's determined effort seemed to be in vain as she snatched what food she had ordered and stormed off to a bench alone and began to viciously devour one of the items she had purchased. "Kami" had all but forgotten about his appetitive and moved to question the girl about last night's events. Taking a seat next to her without asking permission earned him a sideway glance but little more. He thought about how to approach the subject.
"Hey, howdy, how'sit? The names Touma Kamijou. I saw you had a bit of trouble getting your food earlier…" he introduced, unconvincingly and unnaturally. It hurt to watch and was excruciating to say. She turned to him with a dysfunctional reaction, she possessed puppy dog eyes and a pleading face.
"It's wasn't the food! It was the phone strap! They wouldn't give it to me, even though I had the points for it!" she was crying crocodile tears. He knew something was wrong with her story and attitude.
"Oh, so you gave them the points and they wouldn't give it to you?"
"Well… I lost the card last night… But I swear I had enough! They probably even know my face!" Here was the perfect chance to question her about the events of last night. It was as if she asked him to question her about it.
"So, what were you doing last night to have lost your card?" he inquired. Her body language spoke a thousand words as she turned away from him and began eating again, ignoring him and his previous question.
"I'll be a little more forward - what were you doing in 7th district early hours in the morning?" the boy pressed to the girl. She turned to him with a mouth half full of whatever processed animal that was shelled with wheat crumbs in a cute chicken shape. Or what was left from it after a couple of her voracious bites.
"Huh? Wh-who the hell do you think you're talking too? And what kind of question is that for someone you just met? Can't you see I'm a little ticked at the moment?" she retorted, spitting crumbs over her blazer, to which she remedied by brushing them onto him. She acted as if the conversation they had earlier hadn't happened. Touma glared at her to which was returned by what could be described as a death stare.
"Well, I'm talking to one of the girls I saw last night near a factory." To this comment, she raised a defensive stance and checked to see if any glares had come her way. She searched the crowd for invasive eyes as he continued to talk.
"Well, if you lost your card doing something shady, then I just want to know what happened. I'm not a cop, you know. It just kept me up last night, you see. So… where are your sisters, then? They don't wag? You guys were wearing the same uniform, right?" She continued to tense until the word "sisters" occurred. This triggered a calming response, lowering her guard. Sighing and showing a somewhat relieved smile, she continued with her meal, or what was left of it as it was butchered from her stressing.
"Ah, yeah we weren't doing anything shady. They… they go to a special school… I never see them during the day so we spend our time together at night." She seemed reluctant - she was defiantly holding something back and was blatantly lying about a "special school".
"But… at that hour of the morning…? Where are your goggles, what was with the body ba-" before he could finish, she slammed her hand over his mouth. Her eyes darkened when he started the noun "body bag". People around began to stare at their actions. She lent in close and with her other hand grabbed one of his and held it to her chest. Playing the quarrelling couple card released the invasive eyes of the people around them. After realising this, she violently threw Touma's hand away, still covering his mouth and began to whisper in his ear.
"I don't know who you are, why you are talking to me or what you think you saw, but I'll tell you now… Don't get involved. This city is dark beyond your wildest imagination. And if you find out what is at its core – Well, I guess this monster will just have to find room in her heart for one more crime."
She pulled away, slapping her hand to her face and dragging it down as some minute sparks generated from the friction of the surfaces colliding. The sparks covered the pitch black darkness in her eyes. After signalling a throat slitting gesture in his direction she pulled her bag over the right shoulder and moved on her way. Left in shock, Touma remained on the bench as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.
'A dark side no one can see? A monster… that girl?' he questioned himself extensively. As he came out of his thought bubble he realized the people who were staring at them earlier were whispering things too one another.
"Wasn't that the Level 5 girl? Doesn't she go to a prestigious school or something? She was acting like such a child!"
"Yeah you bet. What was her name again…? Something like Mishka, Motoka..?"
"Mikoto Misaka, the "Railgun". It's crazy! I mean, what is she doing with someone from such a lowly school?"
Academy City was not by any sense of the word "normal". Its technologies were 20 years ahead of the rest of the world and had a special school program which had no equivalent in the world - it trains its students to identify their inner abilities and strengthen them. They were known as "Psychics". Regular school curriculum was almost non-existent, bar to those without an ability to harness. Touma was one such person, he had no psychic abilities. He was a "CHILD ERROR".
If one would discover that their entire existence in an area was invalid, it would not be foolish to leave and never return. However, this option was not available to Touma. There was an unwritten rule upon entering Academy City - Once you enter, you can never leave. You were never told outright that you may not leave, but incidents such as your application for leave was lost in transmission or you were withheld at the city's boundaries even though your documentation was valid. Punishment for leaving without permission was death. Whether it was shot at the boarder by the city's police, the "ANTI-SKILL" or pursued by a bounty hunter - death was insured for you and in rare cases, the escapee's family.
Thus Touma was stranded within the city. Social isolation was a prominent issue in Academy City. One's psychic power limit or "level" determined the school you attended and your class in society. For those reasons Touma was at the bottom of the food chain, he had no ability and attended a school that catered to the special educational requirements of CHILD ERRORs. He was the plankton of the sea, the lowest of the low.
And she was at the top.
So it was only natural that the rumours he heard swirling around about the girl he had just met came to him as a shock. He had heard of the name "Railgun" but never thought that it would be a teenage girl with a very delicate emotional balance. He pondered for moments, if he let her get away now, the previous conversation along with the early morning encounter would only plague his thoughts and he'd never find an answer. Academy City is huge - he would probably never see her again, especially after the dummy spit that probably ended her business relationship with the café she just attended.
But how would he restart a conversation with her? The ending of the last one wasn't too pleasant, but then again a death threat never is. 'What was the reason she was so agitated, before he pushed the envelope?' he thought to himself, standing up from the seat he had been seated in since the brown haired "monster" left him wallowing in his inner thoughts. His stomach then interrupted the incredibly slow, an easily distractible train of thought he was in possession of.
Turning his attention from pursuing the power-packet child to obtaining the energy required in which to pursue her with, he noticed the strap she had gotten so worked up about earlier. Touma was then faced with two issues in acquiring it however - he didn't have a card to acquire the points for the strap nor the funds to gain said points.
Normally, those would be obstacles for any law-abiding citizen, something of which Touma was now. Previous to his life however, he grew up in a rough part of town and knew how to throw and take a punch, so surely petty theft wasn't something new to him. However, the extent it went against his newfound morals troubled him.
Approaching the counter, he slyly greets the cashier with a sliding glance. The cashier smiles and tilts her head giving a "What'll have?" look. Her cute smile unnerved him - he would most likely cost this young girl her job and judging by her attitude she probably just started.
He hesitated to answer her and his lips moved to fit the phrase "just my luck" instead. He closed his eyes and slammed his right fist into the glass barrier, shattering the glass and snatching at the phone strap. He pulled it out and cut his arm and hand in the process. The cashier stood in shock as Touma ran off in the direction Mikoto had.
"What's this commotion, Maika?" hastily questioned the manager of the store, running towards the poor girl in tears.
"He-He stole one of the prizes! He slammed his fist through the guard and took it!" She wept, trying to dry her tears and remain professional.
"That's not possible! You insolent little -…! The guard was created by our resident psychic's barrier ability! There is no way anyone can pierce it, right Shizuri?" he responded. A girl in her early twenties with long, brown hair responded with a nod. The cashier sniffed and looked up at the manager. Customers in the queue spoke out in defence of what she had said to be fact.
"I'm not going to be fired, am I? I can't have the maid school find out about this…" she continued to cry. The tears that had momentarily stopped began to flow again. The manager responded to her plea with a softened face and a reassuring pat on the back. The child smiled to the man's change of heart.
If you questioned anyone about what kind of person Touma was, anyone who knew him well would tell you he was a strong, kind person that never quite thinks things through. Well, for the moment he has lived up to one of those traits, not thinking anything through properly. Some time had passed since Mikoto had left so what little chances of tailing her vanished fairly rapidly. Or so it seemed, until coming across a member of "JUDGEMENT" with an identical uniform as to hers.
JUDGEMENT is something very similar to an organized neighbourhood watch. They wear a specially designed armband to distinguish themselves from civilians as they have no other uniform. Operatives are generally volunteer psychics who use their abilities to buff out crime in the city. They can arrest and detain potential suspects for ANTI-SKILL to imprison. Many adult CHILD ERRORs join ANTI-SKILL as they have access to weapons to inhibiting abilities, something very attractive to jealous "errors", so the relationship between the two organisations is one of necessity but not entirely pleasant.
Touma went about approaching the JUDGEMENT operative. As he took strides closer he noticed her more delicate features – Very childish, dyed pink, straggly hair held up in two pigtails and her socks being worn in similar fashion to Mikoto. 'Perhaps that is the right way to wear them' he thought to himself. She was at least one and a half feet shorter than he was which only added to her childlike appearance.
"Uhh, excuse me miss" Touma politely interrupted her silence. She turned to him with a friendly smile and a childlike gleam in her eye.
"Well yes, good sir. Do have a need for my assistance?" she responded with incredibly good manners and a high society way speaking. It somewhat unnerved him in the same fashion as the cashier earlier.
"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me what your school your uniform belongs to?"
"Why, good sir, do you not know of the Tokiwadai All-Girls School? It may perhaps be most famous for the standard of excellence it produces continuously and rather steep cost to enter… or maybe for our most famous student, the "Railgun", perhaps?"
"Oh, isn't that Mikoto Misaka, the one that makes the 'buzz' noise when she gets angry, yeah? So you must know her, huh?" her face began to screw up, her lips twitched and eyes squinted. Maybe bringing her name and attitude up so casually was not a good idea.
"How… how dare you, you insolent swine! You know NOTHING about the mistress and have NO right to speak, nor refer to her in such a familiar tone!" her tone turned aggressive yet remained refined. Her disposition reminded Touma of an image he saw in a comic of a large, ugly dog with rabies wearing a top hat and monocle greeting other dogs with a muffled "Good day to you, sir". However, he didn't find the current situation as humourous.
"Well, you see… I need to have a word to her about last night and her sisters…" the childlike JUDGEMENT member turned to stone. She was temporarily petrified at his comment before returning to her aggressive stance.
"Th-The mistress is seeing a man! And one of such low quality! I shall have no part in this! The mistress is to be mine and mine allow, you insufficient pig-dog!" the impression of this young lady was quickly becoming one of high nobility too one of jealous brat. She remained this way as she processed the information he had just said. "But the mistress has no sisters, she is an only child. How odd of a choice for a lie…"
"…That's not what she said earlier… Look "little missy", I just need you to help me ask her some questio-" he was interrupted by the enraged child
"ARGH! Its Miss Shirai to you, ape-man. And NO I won't help you. Such a low quality human being is no threat to our relationship, but one must nip all competition in the bud before it receives a chance to blossom into trouble." As she finished her rant, her body began to vibrate rapidly before disappearing in front of his eyes. He stared in amazement - she must be a "Teleporter", one that can move objects instantaneously, but to move her entire body means she would be a very high level.
"Oh, I can't move you it seems… That's incredibly odd…much like your lies." a voice from behind Touma rang. It was the child he was just speaking to with a quiet and intrigued tone. "I'll let you off for now, silver-tongued gorilla. But be sure to find trouble if I find you with the mistress."
She began shuddering again and within the space of a blink she disappeared. Releasing a sigh at the mere thought of recollecting the previous conversation, Touma checked his phone to find that school had finished. It was now 3:45, he had lost at least an hour and a half between meeting Mikoto at the café and having a rather heated discussion with Miss Shirai.
Concluding that all hope of finding her at her school was lost, he conceded to use his future free days to search the area around the school for her. Miss Shirai seemed awfully close to Mikoto, so perhaps investigating her at the local JUDGEMENT branch would also lead him closer. Regardless, it was far too late to attempt anything of that caliber today.
Due to Academy City being a schooling city, very strong curfews are in place, often requesting all students to be inside their designated quarters if they have no adult supervision before nightfall. The TREE DIAGRAM had predicted that sunset was to be at 5:30 and thus so was the curfew.
The TREE DIAGRAM was a satellite owned by meteorologist in Academy City to accurately predict weather, sea swells and daylight. Some insidious rumours surround it, but most are just pure conjecture.
Feeling he had made some sort of breakthrough in the mystery that had only been recently presented to him, Touma felt that it was worth taking the day off in the long run. He had discovered the surname of the girls he saw and the school they attended. Only a few, darker questions remained unanswered. Returning to the entrance of his dormitory, the badly spoken fellow from this morning was waiting at the door.
"Nahh, Kami, you sly dog you. If you were having the day off to meet a girl, that's all you need to say. I, Motoharu Tsuchimikado, am forever your bro' and will endlessly help your endeavour to obtain a woman!" spouted the badly dressed teen. 'Was he spying on me all day…' Touma thought to himself.
"Uh… ha, ha. No problem, Motoharu. Your help is appreciated at any time." Slurred Touma, nervous to what he actually meant, or his intentions behind it.
"Well, it looks like it'll be you helping me more like it, haha! That girl waiting at your door is a pretty fine catch if you ask me. Rich too, she has an expensive looking guitar case and a rich girls uniform. You got'ta tell me your secrets one day." He grinned, waving him off and giving him a "go get her" thumbs up.
Touma still didn't quite understand what Motoharu meant, until he came to the floor with his room on it. There stood one of the three girls he saw last night with a guitar case in hand. She had goggles on her head and a Tokiwadain All-Girls uniform. However, Mikoto said her sisters went to another school, yet Miss Shirai said Mikoto had no sisters.
This whole situation didn't add up.
" "Touma Kamijou, correct?" asks MISAKA as she confirms the identity of the person in front of her." spoke the girl with a stone cold expression on her face and in third person. Upon closer inspection to her facial features, her hair was styled minutely different to Mikoto and had seemingly dead, dull and unnatural eyes. Yet the resemblance the two girls shared was frightening.
"Y-Yeah, I guess so. You would be Mikoto's sister then, right?" he fumbled his words, for reasons unknown.
" "Sister?" rhetorically asks MISAKA as she ponders and prepares an answer. "I suppose that is a good presumption of our relationship" confirms MISAKA as she smiles in appreciation to thought you have given her." Her manner of speaking was even more annoying than that of Miss Shirai.
The conversation died for moments until Touma picked the initiative up again. He might be able to obtain more reliable information from this one apparently.
"So, would you like to come inside? I want to ask you some questions." The girl nodded firmly and he opened the door and led her inside. The second she stepped inside and when he closed the door - a certain uneasiness crept up on him. Thinking of it to be the thought of the broken wall, he pushed away thoughts of the bad omens.
She stood in the middle of the room, turning like clockwork to examine the remainder of the space inside. Touma could only watch her in pure amazement as to what she was doing. When satisfied with her analysis of the room, she placed her guitar case down on the tea table and sat on a pillow on the floor.
"So, Misaka what school do you go to? You're wearing a Tokiwadain All-Girls uniform."
" "MISAKA enjoys mimicking "Big Sis", it makes her feel more human." lies MISAKA as she carefully constructs a web of lies." She was lying directly to Touma and telling him that she is. This might be a little bit more difficult than previously thought.
"Then… Misaka, what were you doing last night at 7th district?" anxiously quizzed Touma. He wasn't sure if she would lie to him again.
" "MISAKA was killing a target for RADIO NOISE" responds MISAKA with a stern look on her face and whole-hearted honesty."
This girl in front of him just admitted to murder without being pressed. She flipped from lying about her relationship with Mikoto to admitting to murder. This was looking bad.
"S-So Mikoto actually killed someone…"
" "No. Big Sis has not directly talked to MISAKA. MISAKA has never seen Big Sis" Declares MISAKA, correcting your poorly constructed logic." So Mikoto wasn't with them… so then what was she doing last night? Who were the other two girls? This was looking to be something he truly did not want anything to do with.
"W-Well then I think it is about time for you to go, I'm a bit sleepy. I stayed up late last night as you know." He nervously laughed - the bad omen he ignored earlier was slowly revealing itself.
" "Unfortunately, I cannot allow that" announces MISAKA in a melancholy tone. "You are a target for project RADIO NOISE and thus must be dealt with in accordance to MISAKA's supervisors' instructions." "
The girl removed the buckles of her guitar case and prepared to remove its contents. With no possibility to escape and nowhere to hide, all Touma can do is watch as the girl in front of him unveils her case contents and wait to be "dealt with".
"Web of Lies"
END