Mitsuari Ayu fiddled with her smartphone in front of a girl trashing about on the ground in pain.
"That'll teach you not to mess with us!" A girl beside Ayu said.
Another girl beside Ayu forced her foot down against the girl's face with a gleeful smirk.
Those two girls together with Mitsuari Ayu as the leader was a rather influential clique in Tokiwadai Middle School.
As the leader, Ayu found it necessary to punish this foolish girl named Suzuka inside this alley who had offended one of her clique members by being an arrogant brat.
But had she gone too far?
Ayu reluctantly fiddled with more options presented on her smartphone.
She tapped on a button.
Suzuka stopped trashing about, and let out a soft chuckle, grinning. Her eyes widened in excitement and screamed for the two girls belonging to Ayu's clique to keep on inflicting pain towards her as the two girls kicked the masochistic doll Suzuka towards each other like in a ball game.
This was Mitsuari Ayu's ability.
Mental Stinger, the ability to manipulate people's mind in all sort of ways through the use of a smartphone device. However, because she was a Level 3, she was limited in the amount of people she could control at once, and the extent to how far she could manipulate their minds.
Controlling just one person, and manipulating their concept of pleasure was at least doable for a Level 3 like Ayu.
"Ayu, now make her slap herself while crying!"
"And make her do stupid faces as well!"
Ayu navigated towards another option in her smartphone, but she found herself unwilling to press her finger down on the screen.
"Maybe we should stop... right?" Ayu smiled nervously at the two girls who glared at her as soon as she finished what she said.
One of the girls slammed her feet down on Suzuka's head. "Are you fucking kidding me? Stop?!"
The other girl pointed a finger at Ayu. "You're our leader, and it is your job to stand up for us! This is too little for that fucking bitch Suzuka."
Even if that girl Suzuka might be in the wrong for being rude, Ayu felt that she did not deserve to be punished in such a cruel manner by turning her usual, arrogant self into a degenerate masochist.
But as the leader of her clique, it was indeed her responsibility to stand up for her clique members. She had to prove herself worthy of their respect.
Ayu sighed as she put out both hands in an attempt to placate her two clique members. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry."
Her finger found itself back on the same option it was unwilling to press down.
This time, it was no longer about her.
It was about being a good leader to her clique members. About being a person of great value to them.
I don't have a choice! It's not my fault that I have do this to prove my value to th-
"What the fuck do you think you're doing!"
The voice came from a spiky-haired boy from a distance towards the alley exit. He gritted his teeth, expression livid.
The two girls beside Ayu rolled their eyes in disgust upon noticing the spiky-haired boy.
"Ayu, punish this insolent boy as well."
As the maximum number of person Ayu could take control was two, this dangerous looking boy posed no threat to them.
Ayu aimed her smartphone at that boy, looking at him through the camera function before pressing the snapshot button.
The boy was now under her control, and once again Ayu felt her value increase even further as the leader and the most important member in her clique.
A unnatural sound like glass shattering rang out. The spiky-haired boy charged towards them with his right fist raised.
Ayu was wrong.
The two girls who belonged to Ayu's clique ran away in fear of that unstoppable danger.
To protect her clique members from being chased after by the boy, Ayu stayed behind to face him who was somehow immune to her ability.
She kept tapping on her smartphone for a desperate miracle. Ayu's breathing grew more and more frantic as the unnatural glass shattering sound signalling that her ability was nullified refused to stop ringing.
Ayu hurled her smartphone at the boy, and placed her arms out wide like a cross.
The boy swatted the phone away, and his fist appeared to grow larger and larger as her vision narrowed onto the incoming fist.
She had to take that fist to the face.
This self-sacrificing act for her clique members would definitely increase her value as the leader of the clique. No pain no gain.
The fist stopped just mere inches away from her face.
Ayu blinked. What in the world just happened?
The spiky-haired boy dropped his fist, and let out a sigh.
"It's admirable that you're protecting your friends, but I don't think that they're friends worth your efforts if they abandoned you without a word."
"But I'm the leader, I have a responsibility to protect my clique members."
In the end, what truly was Mitsuari Ayu to her clique members? A reliable leader that everyone looked up to, or a mere pushover eager to please everyone placed in the position of 'leader' to be more easily manipulated by her 'members'?
Her limited mind reading ability seemed to suggest that it was more of the latter, but as long as she was useful to them, does it really matter?
The spiky-haired boy placed his right hand on the trembling and laughing Suzuka full of bruises and cuts, and that unnatural glass shattering sound rang out. Suzuka's face contorted into shock before she fell unconscious.
He carried Suzuka with both hands before turning to face Ayu.
"Mitsuari Ayu, I'll be back to correct that fucked up illusion of yours."
It was a sentence that changed Ayu's life forever.
A memory that Ayu would always treasure in her heart.
Ayu could not help but smile whenever she thought about her first meeting with the spiky-haired boy who introduced himself as Kamijou Touma later on.
After a few more encounters, and a final showdown with Touma, he managed to correct her 'fucked up illusions'. The pushover eager to please everyone was now a thing of a past.
Thank you. Because of you, I was able to face the truth about those girls who claimed to be my friends.
"Ayu onee-chan! Ayu onee-chan!"
A young girl named Miki around four years old seated beside Ayu at a park bench tugged on her uniform, snapping Ayu out of her reverie.
Miki was a Child Error belonging to the orphanage Ayu worked in as a volunteer. As Miki wanted to get something secret for a certain someone she refused to reveal, it was up to Ayu to bring her around the district so that she could buy her mystery gift.
"What's the matter?"
"Why are you smiling to yourself? Are you thinking about your boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend!"
Ayu felt her cheeks burning. It wasn't impossible right? Maybe someday they could be holding hands and whisper sweet nothings at a park bench like here at night.
Once again, Ayu found herself being dragged back inside her reverie, fantasizing about all the things they could do together as a couple. Firstly, they could hold hands and kiss on this bench before moving on to their whispering of sweet nothings...
"Hey, Ayu! How have you been?"
Ayu leaped up in shock upon hearing Touma's voice. She looked at him wide-eyed with her face flushing bright red. He just had to randomly appear out of nowhere without any warning.
"I'm f-fine, thank you! How about you?"
"Great. At least I'm still alive."
Although Ayu did not spend a lot of time with Touma, he always seemed to be a guy who attracted a lot of bad luck to himself. It was somewhat of a miracle that he was still alive.
A boy running at the play area behind Touma tripped himself on a rock, and his ice cream cone flew in the air, landing right on Touma's hair upside down like a hat.
Touma sighed before smiling tiredly at Ayu. "And I just got myself a hat. How do you find it?"
"How did you even know that without even confirming what just landed on your head?!"
"You can call it prerecognition..." He swept the ice cream cone away from his hair, "Or you can call it being too experienced enough to know. I'd like to think of it as the former. It makes me feel better."
"I could buy you a hat if you like!"
It was a chance for Ayu to get him a present. The very first step in capturing his heart.
Touma waved her offer away, "It's alright."
He pulled Ayu close to him. Her heartbeat shot up at a dangerously high rate as she almost went into hyperventilation.
What was this sudden development out of nowhere?! Aren't they supposed to be friends first before they hug each other and kiss?!
They both fell back, and Ayu found her lips pressed against Touma's lips.
Before she could even savor the moment just a little while more, an explosion shook the area.
The park descended into chaos as a psychotic male pyromancer shot fire out from his palm in addition to throwing bombs from a bag slung across his shoulders.
Ayu realized that Touma must have did that to protect her from a bomb thrown by that madman.
She rushed to comfort the sobbing four year old Miki by hugging her.
"Everything is going to be okay, alright? Don't cry."
Touma was already gone on his way to stop the madman.
Watching him attempt to take down the madman with his unusual reflexes and skills gave Ayu a strong desire to advance further into a Level 5.
Someday, she would be as strong as Touma. A kind and helpful person worthy to be Touma's girlfriend. If Misaka Mikoto achieved Level 5 through sheer hard work, so can she.
From that time onwards, Ayu was determined to achieve Level 5 no matter how much hard work she had to put in.
It was all just a lie.
Ayu sat by a river at District 21 under the calm afternoon sky as she kept repeating those words in her mind.
Level 5 was not something that could be achieved by hard work.
A chance encounter with the 'darkness' of Academy City from being too much of a hero like Touma taught her that.
Parameter List.
A list that determines which esper has more potential to advance into a higher level with the least amount of resources given to the esper compared to another esper.
However, it was slightly different for Ayu's case.
Both she and a girl named Shokuhou Misaki both equally had the potential to become a Level 5, but Academy City only has enough resources to make one person become a Level 5.
Ayu broke down into tears.
It just wasn't fair.
Why was Shokuhou Misaki chosen over her? They both equally had the potential to become a Level 5, so why couldn't that person be her?
Without even meeting each other in person, Shokuhou Misaki had stolen her future away. There were so many things she could do and change as a Level 5, but that wasn't the most important thing in her mind when she decided that she would reach Level 5.
To become useful to the spiky-haired boy Kamijou Touma who changed her life for the better.
Shokuhou Misaki had stolen that away from her.
There was nothing left for Ayu to live for.
I'll always be a useless Level 3 to him because of that Shokuhou Misaki. He'll never fall in love with such a weak person like me.
Ayu took out her smartphone with trembling hands, tears dripping onto the screen.
It has been three hours since she sent a message to Touma.
Why wasn't he coming?
Kamijou Touma was a boy who would save anyone as long as they needed to be saved.
The message she sent to Touma was clearly a cry for help. So why wasn't he coming?
"Ah, I see."
Mitsuari Ayu was the only exception.
The only person he did not save despite needing to be saved.
Ayu felt the cold water creeping up her ankles towards her legs.
Half of her body was submerged underneath the river.
Silence.
Three quarter of her body was now submerged, leaving only her head above the water.
Silence.
In the end, Kamijou Touma did not arrive to save a crying girl betrayed by the world.
Ayu let herself sink down into the depths of that cold, dark river.
The 'darkness' of Academy City.
That was how far Ayu let herself sank down beyond the depths of that cold, dark river.
A man stood rooted to the spot holding a knife to his neck inside a room facing Ayu.
Eliminating troublesome people like this man was part of her usual job inside the 'darkness'.
Her suicide attempt at District 21 may have failed, but that was fine.
After all, she now had a new reason to live on.
Ayu pressed a button on her smartphone, and the man sliced his neck in one swift motion.
She wiped away the splattered blood on her face.
The man collapsed to the ground, stained with blood and filled with agony.
Eventually, this will be Shokuhou Misaki's fate.
The girl who stole everything from her.
Even her chance to be saved by Kamijou Touma.
And so, her chance to walk beside Kamijou Touma with a smile on her face.
A monster like her who fell into the darkness seeking revenge no longer deserved such a chance. The old Mitsuari Ayu died when she threw herself into the river, betrayed by the world, and failed to be saved by a certain spiky-haired boy named Kamijou Touma.
And when the new Mitsuari Ayu was born again after her failed suicide attempt, there was one thing she decided that must be done.
All of Misaki's precious memories with that boy are unneeded and undeserved.
It should be something that belongs to Mitsuari Ayu, and only Mitsuari Ayu.
Goodbye, memories.
Checkmate.
It was goodbye to Misaki's precious memories indeed.
Ayu stuffed Misaki's unconscious body inside a transparent coffin filled with red liquid that formed the abdomen of the giant scorpion wasp combat machine called the Five_Over ModelCase Mental Out.
With that machine, she would obtain Misaki's Mental Out ability at Level 5 and erase all her precious memories with that boy.
The girl walking beside that boy should have been Mitsuari Ayu instead of Shokuhou Misaki, and now she was going to correct that.
Ayu stuck her hands inside the transparent coffin and started to attach wired medical electrodes onto Misaki's body.
The conducting red fluid prevented her body and mind from resisting and the electrodes would give the specific commands to draw out her power.
Then she would monitor and record exactly how Misaki used her Mental Out to control someone's mind at Level 5 like a recipe. By sending the recipe back to the machine, she would have successfully reproduced Misaki's power.
Ayu took out her hands from the red fluid.
"It's time we end this. You will lose everything, have every last memory altered, and have nothing left to prove those days ever existed. I will rightfully become the girl that you've stolen away from me."
"You really think you've won? If it's that boy, I still have hope." Misaki said.
Ayu let out a soft chuckle. "Are you really that naive? He has completely lost his memories beyond what both of our powers can do to change that. He doesn't remember us anymore."
"Nevertheless, he'll come."
"He's not coming!"
Seeing how convinced Misaki seemed to be angered Ayu. She was once like Misaki. A naive girl who believed that her hero would come in the end to save her.
Misaki smiled. "He will. Even if he doesn't remember anyone of us, he'll come. Because he's my hero who promised me that everything's going to be alright. That's why he'll come. He'll come to make everything alright."
Ayu plunged her hands into the red liquid.
"Fuck you!"
She wrapped her slender hands around Misaki's neck, squeezing with unbelievable strength.
"He could have been my hero too! But because of you, he didn't come for me!"
Ayu wanted to stop Misaki's breathing even if it meant that her entire plan she worked so hard for by sinking into the 'darkness' of Academy City would be in ruins.
Her face twisted into a maniacal smirk as she heard Misaki's desperate struggle to breathe through a constricted windpipe.
"Give up and just fucking die! There's no way he'll appear! The only path left for you is to be destroyed as you long for someone who will never arrive!"
She wanted her to feel the same pain she had felt as she sank into that dark water while still waiting for him to arrive.
No hero would come for that naive Misaki. Just like how no hero came for that naive Mitsuari Ayu who waited and waited for a hero that never came.
Raising an arm to point at something behind Ayu, Misaki forced out what barely counted as a voice.
"Th-Then... who... is... that...?"
Ayu shook her head before letting out a sigh like an adult mocking a child for being too naive. "Is the lack of oxygen to your blood causing hallucinations now?"
"Hey."
It was a familiar voice Ayu had not heard for a long time.
She let go of Misaki's neck, and turned to face the person behind her.
It was Kamijou Touma.
Ayu stared at him in complete shock.
Even though there was no reason that could have led to his appearance in this isolated area in District 21, he was right here standing in front of her.
"Why?" Ayu said in a whimpering voice.
It wasn't fair.
It wasn't fair how he still managed to come for Shokuhou Misaki at the end.
It wasn't fair why a hero came for Misaki, but no hero came for her.
It just wasn't fair that she always gets everything stolen from her!
Ayu let out a shrill scream.
The scenery around her began to distort into something like a surreal art piece.
Ayu's ability technically manipulated people's minds by controlling the moisture in their brains. The changes they caused were normally microscopic and they could not cause any physical phenomena visible with the naked eye.
But she overturned that assumption.
The extreme despair and anger from watching Misaki take something away from her again made it possible.
Any living being within the demonic territory marked by the white magnetic dust storm engulfing the distorted scenery would have all their moisture sucked away from them, and they would crumble into something like dried paper mache.
Touma swung his right arm covered with a cast towards the dust storm.
The storm swallowed up the cast with a loud roar, revealing his right arm which negated the storm, and the whole scenery around them reverted back to normal.
Magnetic dust rained down around the scenery as an octopus-like machine hovered in front of Ayu.
"Just because you appeared doesn't mean she's saved. I will destroy you and deny all the hopes of that girl who you wanted to save."
That was how far Ayu had fallen.
She would go as far as killing the boy who had created precious memories that she would always treasure in her heart.
He winced in agony as the paralyzing repulsive sensation radiating from the alien-like eyes pasted all over the octopus's head took effect.
Even his Imagine Breaker has its limits. If the attack was not supernatural in nature, he cannot negate it.
Five_Over OS, or the octopus-like machine hovering in front of Ayu, was a machine created by science and powered by science.
The machine would keep Touma paralyzed while she would go back and finish Misaki off.
Even if a hero did arrive for Misaki, there was no point if that hero failed to change anything.
This was the end of Shokuhou Misaki.
However...
"I won't allow that to happen."
Touma took a step forward, fighting the paralyzing repulsive sensation that held him rooted in fear.
Once again, Ayu fell into complete shock.
If it's that boy, I still have hope.
That was Misaki said just a short while ago to her.
Yes, if it was Kamijou Touma, maybe that shouldn't come as a surprise to her. After all, that was why she idolized him as a hero.
Anger and despair began to build up inside her.
Why was the hero she wanted to be saved by now someone's else's hero who overcame everything to defeat the enemy in front of her?
And why was she the villain?
Touma raised his right hand clenched into a fist and broke into a sprint towards Ayu.
His fist seemed to be growing larger and larger as her vision narrowed onto the incoming fist.
It was similar to her first encounter with that boy. At that time, his fist stopped mere inches away from her face.
This time would be different.
She was no longer a wimpy pushover influenced by her 'friends' to bully a girl.
She was now a monster attempting to take away a human life by her own hands. A villain that the hero must defeat.
It was all Misaki's fault.
It was all her fault that she ended up in such a pathetic state!
The fist stopped just mere inches away from her face.
Ayu froze in disbelief.
Impossible. How could this be possible? Why? What was going on?
A finger from the fist flicked Ayu's forehead, and the small pain shook her out of her thoughts.
Touma smiled, "I can't possibly punch you. It was my fault that you ended up this way after all."
"No! It was Misaki's fault! She was the one who knocked into you! She was the reason why you didn't arrive in time for me!"
Ayu did not understand how Touma regained his memories when not even the Level 5 Mental Out could change that, but if he did regain his memories, then it would explain why he was here.
"Look." Touma put a hand on Ayu's shoulder to calm her down, "I kn-"
Ayu swept his hand away, and glared at him.
"I'm a monster who fell in the darkest depths of Academy City, and Shokuhou Misaki is the reason why. No matter what you say, I will end her disgustingly unfair life. You came here to save her, so be the hero that she wants you to be and defeat me!"
"I didn't come here to save Misaki."
"What are you talking about?! You clearly came here to save her!"
"No, I came here to save you."
Her glare softened into confusion. "Huh...?"
Ayu did not understand what he meant by that. She was the monster that must be defeated by the hero to save the princess in distress. Why was he saving the monster?
"I came here to save you from sinking further into the darkness as an unforgivable monster. I'm sorry that I didn't make it the last time, but at least I made it this time."
After so long, he finally came for her.
A hero finally came for Mitsuari Ayu.
Her anger and despair dissipated into tears streaming down her face.
Ayu wrapped her arms around Touma.
"It's okay..."
She smiled like a small child who was granted a miracle out of a hopeless situation.
"It's okay... At least you're here now."
Touma stroked her soft, fluffy chocolate colored hair, "Happy Birthday, Ayu."
"But it's not my birthday today."
After a short pause, he chuckled softly, "Sorry, I just wanted to lighten the mood."
Ayu chuckled along, "That was a lousy attempt in my opinion."
Memories are so precious, but yet they can be so fragile, and so painful.
Having an ability that involved manipulating human's mind taught her at least this much.
But it didn't always have to be painful.
Thank you.
Her memories with Touma was proof of that.
I'm glad to have met you.
Goodbye.
Author's Note:
You can thank Hiss13's one-shot about Mitsuari Ayu for being the motivation to come out with this.
It was kind of challenging, given the limited information from NT 11 about Ayu, to think about how exactly did the Parameter List drive Ayu to suicide. I won't comment much about the characterization I gave to Ayu, but if you have any questions and opinions, you can always leave a review or PM me.
As for the previous chapter, thanks so much for reviewing even though it's just a one shot, and glad that you liked the fic :)
Finally, if you're wondering why I ended this one-shot with the word 'Goodbye', the final epilogue from NT 11 should give you enough clues to why.
As usual, slight AU to make things a little more interesting instead of a copy paste from the LNs. By the way, Touma was just pretending to remember everything like in OT1 with Index, actually he doesn't remember a thing about Ayu and Misaki but its just that this one-shot was in third person limited to Ayu's POV, so there's no Touma's POV to show that.
Hope you liked this one-shot as well.