I'm back! And now, finally: Here is the next chapter! What can I say about it? It was rather fun to write and contains a surprise. A surprise that will bring forth even more fun for me in future chapters(Seriously, it's gonna be awesome!).
'Author answers or says something probably important'-section:
Guest: First of all, thanks for the review! Now, dark energy is actually a scientific term. Just look it up or something along those lines! And no, the esper in question is not a gemstone.
RPGFanatic: Again, thanks for the review beforehand! I'm happy that you liked the change to the little brother. Regarding Eko knowing Touma, she actually had her pseudo début in the very first chapter(But since it was such a long time between the last and the first chapter I kind of expected that question). She was the person on the phone and yes, the other members do indeed know of Touma. Now to the Kihara family: I actually have OCs since I needed the Kihara to have my personal touch in order to make the story really work.
With that my section ends and all that is left is: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: 'I do not own To Aru Majutsu no Index', only my OCs!'
Chapter 14
A boy was sitting in a Julian restaurant. There was absolutely nothing unusual about something like that. This particular young man was currently working onsomething that most of his age group were accustomed to: homework. Lots of it. Two huge stakes were piled up in front of him which were causing the others customers wonder: How did this particular boy manage to pile up this much homework?
The question was easy, though no one knew the answer: Fact was that this boy, who carried the name of Omura Ryutaro, had somehow managed to pile up two months' worth of homework. And considering that he was a student attending Nagatenjouki, which told us his uniform, this workload was, on top of being en masse, also rather difficult.
A sigh escaped the boys lips, followed by him ruffling his hair; Currently having to motivation, no spark and instead a husk of what had been said motivation, Ryutaro leaned back until the back of his head rested on top of his chair's backrest. Pushing up the glasses resting on his nose he rubbed his nose bridge, letting out another sigh.
How did he land here? He remembered clearly how his morning had been: I was awesome.
With a hop in his step he woke up, took an extremely nice feeling shower and ate a fulfilling breakfast. On his walk to school the birds were singing, the sun was shining and everything just seemed perfect. He should have known that this state wouldn't last.
"Oi, no slacking off!"
And this was the sole reason why he was even sitting in this restaurant, forced to do his homework; Letting his head fall frontwards, he locked eyes with his current bane, his golden eyes against her blue ones: A girl, around 16 years old and of average height and proportion. The only thing that was different about her was that gold-blonde hair of hers: The only thing that marked her as half-foreign.
"Please stop rushing me, sempai; This little kouhai of yours is not build for straining tasks like homework.", Ryutaro retorted and tried his best to look at her with puppy dog-eyes. It didn't work.
"It's your fault alone why you are even in this position, idiot. Stop complaining about it.", crossing her arms in front of her, his sempai's eyes were blazing with what could only be described as blood lust. Or at least, that was what he saw.
"How is it my fault?!",he asked in indignation and pushed up his glasses but the only answer Ryutaro got in response was the blankest stare humanly possible. She really had that one down to the A.
"Really? You mean, despite your completely irresponsible habit of playing video games all day long? Discarding homework or learning with this behavior of yours?"
"It's justified and you know it! As the veteran of gaming in our group, it's is my duty to be better in videogames than our boss! And trust me, that is a hard task! NO, what am I saying? It's a bone breaking one with my honor at stake! It's something someone like you could never understand!", during his speech which caused the other students in their vicinity who also were gamers to get swayed away, Ryutaro has stood up and was making a pose whilst standing on top of his chair. Lone tears flowed down the cheeks.
"You're right, I can't understand it! How can someone as intelligent as you waste his time with something as mundane as this?!", now standing up too, the girl slammed her hands on the table with a loud crack.
"Mundane? Mundane?! HOW DARE YOU SAYING THAT GAMING IS MUNDANE?! APOLOGIZE TO EVERY GAMER OF THE WORLD RIGHT NOW!", an accusing finger was pointed at her. Both didn't even realize that at this point they were watched by the entire establishment staff plus customers.
"NO, I will not! As a representative of the hard workers of this world, I, Seki Chisuzu, cannot oversee this lack of putting in effort!", the girl exclaimed with a conviction similar to the one a certain unfortunate boy had when faced with certain situations.
They had this argument many times before; And like every time before, it ended with both giving the other the evil eye. Well, until their stare down was interrupted by a third party.
"Ano,..."
Both turned their heads to the source who turned out to be a waitress. She tried to give them a apologetic smile, but what came out was actually a little terrifying. Or more than a little. It appeared as if this specific waitress had a rather hard day of work behind her and was nearly at the point of exploding, only being hold back by the fact that she was currently working.
"Could you two please stop causing such a commotion? You are disturbing the other costumers."
And this by no means definitely, absolutely and totally not threatening sentence had an both, Chisuzu and Ryotaro be intimated by her. In fact, they were so intimidated that they sat down immediately and nodded repeatedly, sweat pouring down their faces.
"Thank you for your understanding.", and with this sentence she walked away. Both watched her until she disappeared through the kitchen door before they dared to resume their conversation.
"Now that the appearance of the scary waitress is over, let's continue shall we?", Ryutaro said to his companion with false cheer, cold sweat still clinging to his face. Lifting up the pen in his right hand dramatically, spun it once, twice around his fingers and brought it down.
And with this pencil on paper he brought the paper justice; He fulfilled the right of the paper to be written on.
*SLAM*
That was the sound of Chizusu's forehead meeting the table plate.
"Why do you need to do a commentary like one of those only happening in anime?"
"... I said that out loud, didn't I?"
"Jop.", she popped the 'p', lifting her head again and rewarded him with a flabbergasted stare. Chizusu couldn't explain herself why all this was happening to her. The only reaction she got was a sheepish smile. But even though they didn't cause a commotion anymore, and even though Ryutaro had finally began to do his part, the peace didn't last.
"Oi, what is a cute girl like yourself doing her all alone?", a rather rough sounding voice echoed over to their table. Ryutaro, who was in the middle of his working phase, didn't look up to see what this new commotion was all about.
"Would you like to hang out with us a little, huh?"
His companion was a different matter entirely: Turning her head towards the source, Chizusu watched as a group of teenagers, all male and looking like your stereotypical delinquents, surrounded a girl with chestnut brown hair wearing a Tokiwadai school uniform. Said girl looked rather annoyed by the group of males.
They had, apparently, no idea of what self-preservation meant; They were likely to be Lv0, Lv2 at most. The girl on the other hand was at least as Lv3 or she wouldn't wear this uniform. Should a fight between them occur, the reason being anger a 'no' would ignite in the group of male teenagers, no matter if they had the numerical advantage, the fight wouldn't be fair.
This same reasoning was also Ryutaro's answer to her question if they shouldn't help the girl. Huffing in sullenness, the blonde decided to take it into her own hands. Standing up and walking towards the group, she made herself ready to 'ask' them and, if they wouldn't listen, to unleash a verbal hell unto them. Unseen by anyone, she had grabbed a fork which she was holding out of sight.
"Hey, could I have some of your time please?", Chizusu said, while taping the nearest one lightly on the shoulder, in a placidly tone and with a serene smile on her face, trying her best to be nice to them. An act that was, considering her mood, something worthy of an Oscar.
"Oh, what have we here? ", the now official thug turned around and leered at her, his eyes wandering all over her. If this was an anime, a giant tick mark would have formed on her forehead right about now. But even though in the moment she wished for nothing more than to hammer this thug into the ground, she still tried to believe in humanity and gave him a chance.
"Could you please leave this girl alone? It is obvious that in the moment she does not wish to spend time with either of you."
The reaction she got for Chizusu trying to be civil about it shattered her believe in mankind. Seemingly pissed of the thug grabbed her collar and pulled slightly upwards.
"Huh?! What is with you, bitch?!", he shouted into her face, a little bit of spit even landing on her nose. The kiddy gloves were off! Grabbing his wrist she slammed the fork into his arm freeing her collar. Twisting on the spot and with it his arm she ducked and maneuvered underneath his arm, got behind him and kicked into the hollow of his knee, making the loudmouth fall on his knees.
All the while the stakes of work sheets in front of Ryutaro has been decreased down to 4, number falling steadily.
"You really shouldn't have grabbed me.", Chizusu told the one she was holding down all the while wearing the same serene smile, pressing her left foot into his back. The thug could only groan in pain at this point. But She had one mistake in her calculation: The fact that the delinquents were actually in a group.
Now, normally she wouldn't have made that mistake. Normally Chizusu would have perfectly calculated how the enemies positioning would be and how to counter it. But this situation was a little different than before.
She was used to be the operator, the one giving tactical input from the distance. Now that she actually needed to use what she leaned in self-defense, she was so unused to being close to the targets that she overlooked it.
Another one grabbed her left wrist and she yelped in surprise. Opening her hand and pulling the blonde off his friend, he continued with twisting Chizusu's arm behind her back.
"You will pay for that, bitch!"
The Tokiwadai girl had apparently seen enough; jumping up she began to emit sparks and was ready to unleash a storm on any moments notice.
*STAB*
"AAHHHHHH", the thug let the blonde's arm go, instead holding his own hand previously grabbing Chizusu's arm. The whole population of the restaurant was looking astonished as a pencil of all things was sticking out of his hand, having penetrated both flesh and bone. It looked rather nasty.
"One really shouldn't resort to violence but in the last instance.", Ryutaro's voice echoed through the -besides the painful screaming- silent restaurant, walking up towards the group all the while pushing up his glasses with two fingers. They reflected the light in such a way that it was impossible to see his eyes.
"If you really want to continue, please; Be my guest. But I must warn you: I do not play nicely if you threaten my sempai."
During his little speech, something that, under normal circumstances, would make said sempai really flustered, the delinquent had pulled out the pencil. The tip of it had become a crystal, a diamante.
"What the?"
"Listen up now. Maybe you learn something.", Ryutaro began in a condescending tone which was most likely fake and only used to get some reaction out of them. Pulling out a sealed ampoule with his left hand, they noticed that some black powder was in it. The glasses wearing boy opened it and, as if driven by something invisible, it began to float out like water.
"This is carbon. It is the sixth most abundant element in the universe. But even though it is such a common thing, it definitely is one of the most interesting.", it began to form something akin to a small snake which curled itself around his left wrist.
"You see, the way you arrange these atoms drastically changes the overall attributes carbon has. Making a diamante is just one of them, which, as you probably now, is the hardest natural thing on this planet.", as if commanded by his words, the powder began to whirl around forming a little tornado. It compressed itself more and more, began to glow which increased in intensity until, finally, a perfectly shaped diamante was laying in his open palm.
But it didn't end here: The diamante began to split up, forming fingernail-sized shards which began to float midair around Ryutaro's head, turning lazily on their axis. During the commotion Chizusu has been able to sneak away, now standing beside him. She rubbed her arm and sent the dirtiest look towards the one who had previously held her.
"Now, after this little excurse, I repeat Chizusu-senpai's kind question again: Do you want to continue, or not?"
Now, the thugs were in a rather bad situation: Them against an esper who seemed to have a rather nasty ability. So they did the only thing possible: One of them took the Tokiwadai girl hostage. That was, judging by the happenings that unfolded afterwards, the stupidest action they could have taken.
"STOP, OR I WILL SERIOUSLY HURT THIS GIRL!"
*zap zap*
And again, sparks came off the girl in cascades. A clear sign that an electromaster is about to get really pissed. At the last moment, he did realize that what he was holding was basically an over-the-top buffed up human stun gun, but too late.
*ZAP*
He and his companions were fried, ironically in a restaurant, by no other than the 3# Lv5, Misaka Mikoto aka 'The Railgun'.
Misaka Mikoto was, at this point in time, not really in a good mood; she had lost her only source of information about Kumiko. And she still couldn't think of a reason why Kureno suddenly bailed out. It just didn't make sense to her.
But needing to accept it, she went into this restaurant since she was a little hungry after the whole tirade. But even though she was now here, Mikoto hadn't had time to rest; 10 minutes. That was the time frame it took for her to be pestered by a group of thugs.
But before she could politely 'ask' them to leave her alone, this teenage girl walked up to them to tell them off. From there on it escalated quickly, the end result being her taken hostage and the thugs ending up fried and twitching on the ground. It really didn't took long for Judgment to arrive on scene who immediately captured the delinquents.
But right now, she had an entirely different problem.
Said problem was currently standing in front of her whilst she was sitting seiza-style on the ground. To her left and right respectively were the other two, who had previously tried to help her, even though she really didn't need any help. They, too, were sitting in the same way on the ground.
And the person standing in front of them and was currently scolding the hell out of the three was no other than the stressed out waitress from before.
"TWO TIMES! You caused an commotion two times in a row! Who do you think you are, huh?", she rambled on and on, all the while walking up and down in front of them. Wild gesticulations as well as a face red from anger accompanied it, the first making the three wary of a possible strike in their direction.
"It's all your fault!", the blonde haired girl hissed at the only male out of the three, being careful not to raise her voice; To loud and, so she feared, the waitress would zero in on her.
"How is it my fault?!"
"If you would do your homework like a normal student would, we wouldn't be in this situation!", she answered in a tone that suggested that there would be repercussions. That in return lead to the boy making a sound of indignation.
"I have already told you that gaming is-"
"That's no reason not to do your homework! And don't you dare to argue with 'that it would take up too much of your time'; You could do the homework in ten minutes if you would do it the same day you receive it!"
"These ten minutes are fundamental!"
"No, they are not! How can you not see it?"
"Because it's your illusion; It's not matching with reality!"
"Says an esper who uses a personal reality!"
Misaka could only sweatdrop as the other two bickered over her head. Could they not read the mood? Why would they cause ANOTHER commotion right in front of the pissed off waitress?!
Suddenly the atmosphere shifted; it somehow became even colder. Moving her eyes slowly towards the waitress, Misaka could only gulp;
"Am I that uninteresting to listen to, mhm?", a sickly sweet smile greeted them and was it only her or was there something dark behind her?! Both shut up and instead eyed the waitress with newly enkindled fear.
But they were saved; The manager of the restaurant approached and tapped the waitress lightly on the shoulder before she could say anything more.
"Shoka-chan, couldn't you let them be with that? They are children, so it's just natural for them. Okay?", he said to the enraged female and making himself, at least out of the eyes of the three espers, look like a saint. All three thought similar thoughts in perfect sync which could be roughly translated into 'Thank you, savior!'.
"Haaaa... if you say so, manager, I suppose I could let them off this time.", she receded, but not without giving them a last look; A look that would, if it would be possible, kill them five times over.
"But if you cause a commotion again, there WILL be consequences. Did I make myself clear?", they could only nod at that hectically. A last sigh of annoyance, and she walked away. Taking the chance, all three bowed to the manager as a sign of gratitude before bolting out of the restaurant.
Ryutaro, realizing that he forgot his homework, came after twenty steps to an abrupt halt. He won't leave homework, something he had actually worked for, behind. Done work is only done when you get a result out of it. If there was no result, there was no meaning behind actually doing it.
Sighing in resignation and accepting his fate, the boy walked into the restaurant again, going straight to the stacks without making eye contact with the waitress now dubbed as Shoka.
He felt her eyes drilling themselves into his back nevertheless.
"I... uhm... I-I kinda forgot my work sheets so... I came back and... uhmm..."
"..."
"I-I should go."
After the difficult task that was the grabbing and lifting up all the stacks was done, he, once again, walked out of the store but this time slowly; Ryutaro didn't want to let them drop or fly away. Catching up to Chizusu he saw something he had many times before; Something that was just 'Chizusu' so to speak; She was talking to the brunette, trying to get her to agree with her point of view.
It appeared that Chizusu wasn't going down without a fight.
The brunette on the other hand had no real interest whatsoever, and tried to get the older girl of her case with indirect answers. It didn't really work. Noticing that he was again in her near vicinity, Chizusu whirled around and made an victory pose.
"HA, take that you sloth! She agrees with me! You are officially outnumbered! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"It's obvious that she doesn't want to get dragged into this argument! And she does not agree with you, the answers were obviously saying nothing! Nothing at all!"
"That's not for you to decide!"
"I DID NOT DECIDE IT!"
"DO NOT START YELLING AT ME, MISTER!", at this point they were in an staring contest with their foreheads pressed together, trying to let the other combust into flames with their sheer willpower. The Tokiwadai student could do nothing besides sweat dropping at their behavior.
"I think that is enough, okay?", she decided to intervene before this ruckus could grew even more out of proportion. What she didn't want to happen today was some kind of war happening in her near vicinity.
With both giving off a huff, they both turned away from each other, prompting a tired sigh from the Railgun. What did she do to deserve this? Deciding it wasn't worth to say on this line of conversation, Misaka asked the boy instead what the sheets in his hands were supposed to be.
"My now officially finished homework of two months.", was his answer, prompting both girls to look at him in astonishment.
"Two months?", Chizusu voiced out the question swirling through both girl's heads.
"Jep.", it appeared that this answer was by no means the correct one.
"TWO MONTHS? HOW, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, DID YOU MANAGE TO PILE UP HOMEWORK WORTH OF TWO MONTHS?!"
"Did you not listen to anything I have said?", the only thing he got in response was a murderous stare, intense enough to level a building. Letting out a totally manly yelp he navigated behind the Level five of the group, making said Level 5 suddenly aware that being in the glares line of fire was not a nice situation to find yourself in.
"And to think that you got permission to use Tree Diagram once...", Chizusu muttered under her breath and dropped her stare. At that Misaka perked up, both because the stare wasn't aimed in her direction anymore and because of the new bit of information.
"He had?"
"Yep. Though he didn't tell me for what he actually used it.", at that both girls turned with questioning eyes towards the lone boy who found himself getting unwanted attention. His eyes began to nervously jump from place to place, not once meeting Chizusu's.
"Well, I used Three Diagram to calculate... 42."
"...What?"
"You know, 42."
"..."
"Answer to everything, the universe and the meaning of life?"
"..."
"The Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Never read the book or seen the movie before? Seriously?"
"...You used the one time opportunity of using Tree Diagram, something that 99% of the Academy city citizens could only dream of... for something like that?", her voice appeared to be the epitome of calmness. Nothing, really nothing besides complete and utter indifference. And it was this exact tone that send shivers down the boy's as well as Mikoto's spine.
"Y-Yes?!"
"... Run."
"Excuse me?", the green haired boy all but squeaked out, at this point completely and utterly and downright terrified. And that for a good reason.
"Run. And that fast. Because when I'm done with you..."
He didn't even wait for her to finish what she was saying; Deciding it would be the best decision to take his legs into his hands he was already 29 meters away before she finished her sentence.
"YOU WILL WISH YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BORN!", and with this battle cry the blonde girl was hot on his tracks, all the while screaming things after him that were definitely not meant for the ears of children.
Mikoto could only watch as the odd pair vanished behind the next building corner.
His sixth sense tickled. That, Kureno could say for sure.
That would mean one of two things were about to happen: Either something was completely wrong or something pretty amusing was approaching his position. Either way, something interesting was bound to happen.
Coming to a halt his current companion named Eko, in all her glory, stopped too before looking at him with something very akin to interest. She had seen it happen many times before: A little more than natural dilated pupils, the twitch in his left hand and of course the sudden stop.
Why exactly his eyes dilated, she didn't know. Well, Eko didn't even know for certain why he had such a 'intuition' in the first place. She and the duo of idiots had the theory saying that Kureno had a side effect from the one time treatment every esper received, something along the lines of precognition. But there was no real proof supporting this theory. In the end, it was something they couldn't really explain.
But in the moment Eko didn't care about it. What she did care for was the approaching situation, simply because it could prove to be very entertaining, no matter which way it went. Something funny or something bad with fighting involved, Eko would welcome both with open arms and an 'angelic' smile on her face.
And it didn't let her wait for long.
A first they and the other bystanders heard a cream. Not one of fear, not one of joy but one of rage. Like a animals primal rage it echoed through the street, informing all and everything of the fate bestowed upon a certain individual.
"RYUUUUTAAAAROOOOO!"
Both knew this voice very well. They also knew the kind of tone it possessed, something oh so familiar to them that it became a daily occurrence. The tone was just between 'I promise you a slow, painful death 'and 'THE WORLD IS GOING TO BURN, MOTHER*****'.
A sigh, signaling more amusement than anything else escaped Kureno's mouth before he turned around to the source of what sounded suspiciously like a war cry. Eko, mimicking his action, pulled out a choco bar and began to lazily rip off the wrapping.
'Might as well eat something while enjoying the show.', was her thought as she excitedly waited for it to come into her view. Taking one bite, Eko was finally able to spot something on the horizon or more like the furthest corner of the street.
Two figures approaching quickly at a breathtaking speed have been the first thing everybody could make out. One of them, the first to be precise, was holding onto something that suspiciously looked like a big stake of paper. The second was furiously swinging arms around, the rather... expressive language emitting from the person caused multiple adults to cover little children's ears.
"WAIT 'TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU; I WILL **** AND **** YOU BEFORE TAKING OUT YOUR GUTS AND **** YOU WITH THEM!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
All of this was oh so familiar to them, already having to deal with it for a good year.
"Sooo, what do you think happened that managed to make her this angry? The usual?", Eko asked her companion, having finished the bar and pulling out the next one. It was done so in such a nonchalant manner as if it was the most normal thing in the world that someone spits out such promises of doom and destruction in the middle of the road in broad daylight.
"Probably. I would say something along the lines of 'He did something stupid and/or completely ridiculous' in the past that went against her rule book and he blurted it out.", Kureno didn't know how close to the truth he was.
"But why do they always need to make such a fuss?"
"Sempai-Kouhai dynamic, maybe?", the raven haired boy made a mock thinking pose, ending the sentence with a overly dramatic sigh.
"Nah, I know some others in middle and high school who are also sempai and kouhai, and they still don't act like that.", she waved the idea off and, at the same time, stepped to the side just in time to not get run over by the scared boy running for his life.
Said boy came to a sudden stop, cowering behind the smaller and younger one who could only sigh in resignation.
"Protect me, boss!", Ryutaro pleaded to him, peaking over his shoulder at the older female who seemed to prepare herself to pounce. It looked like she considered a trampled over Kureno as nothing more than collateral damage.
"I advise you not to do so.", was Chizusu's answer to his plea, trying to get Kureno on her side. Why their routine included him now, Kureno wasn't aware of. Did he raise some kind of flag this morning or something?
"Do not listen to her, boss! She is pure evil and doing so would be the same as making a contract with a demon! And you know from video games that making a contract with demons is never a good thing!"
Another sigh escaped the younger Kurokami's lips. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he focused an exaggerated stare at the older girl.
"Do tell me: Why do I, even though I'm only thirteen years old and, with that, the youngest of this group, need to be the one playing the adult?"
"Because you are awesome and benevolent and would never abandon a close comrade of yours to a she-demon, oh great and mighty boss!?", Ryutaro answered in Chizusu's stead, going even as far as slightly massaging Kureno's shoulders. By the word 'she-demon' something that could only described as 'dark ooze' formed itself around Chizusu and HAD HER EYES ALWAYS BEEN GLOWING RED AND IN SUCH A SINISTER WAY?!
"Chizusu", in the end Kureno decided to solve this problem without a possible bloodshed.
"Yes?"
"Stop it already, please."
"But taichou-", she tried to rebut but got stopped before she could bring forth any argument. In hindsight it was rather uncommon when one thought about it: She listened to someone who was three years younger than her and followed what he said with something akin to respect in her voice, no matter how winy said voice sounded.
"No but. We have a new job and no time to waste on little games like catch. And stop calling me taichou, already.", Kureno scolded her all the while slamming an elbow into Ryutaro's guts; His massaging of Kureno's shoulders got slowly on his nerves. The receiver of the attack held his stomach, wheezing a little from the loss of air.
"I expect you to pull yourself together. Both of you."
Both could only hang their heads down in shame; Getting scolded by him could even bring a Lv5 to avoid eye contact, or so they believed. Blinking they only realized now that they sat in front of him seiza-style. Kureno was satisfied with the result; He had tried to emulate his sister with the tone he used, to a great affect it seemed.
"Hai.", they dejectedly answered before only now realizing what he had said.
"So we accepted the job?"
"You didn't look at your phones, did you?", Eko was grinning at them like a Cheshire cat. It had a great resemblance with the one she gave her 'play things' at her good days. Cue for Kureno's eyes to narrow slightly.
"We may or may not have... tehe~", Ryutaro tried a cute expression with his left hand bonked against his head and his tongue sticking out. He didn't succeed; it just looked wrong. Another sigh coming from the youngest male in the group indicated how drained he actually was. Dealing with a duo like that was simply taxing.
"Let's just go and get it over with. I will explain on the way"
Taking the lead, Kureno began to walk in the direction leading towards their destination. Eko was the first to follow, having a hop in her step. Ryutaro and Chizusu followed suit after standing up with light hesitation, needing to sprint for a short distance to catch up.
"Uhm, could we go to my apartment first? You know, because of homework?"
A flat stare, a sigh and a somehow sinister gleaming smile were his answers(one could guess who gave what).
They had already waited for 15 minutes. 15 minutes and no one was in sight who could remotely be their client.
After the slight detour CASTLE had to take because of a certain individual sporting green hair, they had made haste to get to the meeting point in time. It turned out to be a abandoned warehouse in a even more abandoned block of the city.
Apparently the other party was not so keen to be punctual. To say that Kureno was not amused would be an understatement.
The others didn't share his mood.
Ryutaro was busy playing a game on his phone, his face near literally radiating from glee. Which game it was Kureno couldn't see due to the fact that he wasn't able to look at the screen from his position.
Chizusu was reading a book in silence. She always had a pouch attached to her belt which she used to store the book she was currently reading. The title was '101 ways to deal with idiots'. A title he could only sweatdrop at after reading it.
Eko, who was listening to some music, was sitting on a metal support near the ceiling with her legs dangling down. Swinging her legs and happily humming in time with the music, she obviously had, in the moment, no problem whatsoever.
All in all his team had made themselves comfortable. All besides him. This fact didn't sit right with him. Luckily, for whom was arguable, the sound of a truck came nearer ad nearer. This meant show time.
Ryutaro paused his game and stuck his handy back in his pocket, Chizusu marked the page and the book, was placed back into the pouch. The only one who didn't react was Eko. One could argue that she simply didn't hear it, but Kureno knew that it didn't matter; Her ability as well as the fact that she saw them stopping what they were doing indicated that she simply ignored it.
Kureno shot her a displeased look which she simply replied with a beatific smile and a two-finger-salute.
The truck stopped in their view right in front of the warehouse's entrance. The passenger immediately stepped out of the car and walked with a confident smirk on his face towards him.
'Brown hair, brown eyes, more on the lean site, average height. Holding himself in a confident way and eyes tell of an above average intelligence. Wearing a lab coat; Possibly a Kihara.', Kureno analyzed him on the spot. After a near unnoticeable delay he, too, walked towards the deliverer.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm here to deliver the package.", the man said in a overly friendly tone. CASTLE was on guard immediately; Never trust someone who was too friendly. This was, in their line of work, the number one rule.
"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you.", Kureno replied with what could be considered the most faked smile in Academy City's history. And even though the older man could easily see through it, it didn't matter. The smile was just a nicety after all.
"And the... 'package'?", he needed all of his willpower not to spat the description into the opposing face. How can people say 'package' when talking about a human being? Kureno was disgusted by the idea. The other CASTLE members shared his opinion, not that either of them grimaced at it; Too much was at stake here.
"In the back of the truck. Please wait, I will get 'it'."
Four pairs of eyes watched him as he walked back to the track. Throwing a careful look at Eko, Kureno made sure that she wouldn't do anything stupid. By the looks of it, she had herself under control at the moment, having closed her eyes to shut out her surroundings.
'So that was the reason why she continued to listen to music.', he thought at the same time the deliverer opened the cargo bay door of the truck. He stepped into the truck. They heard a little scuffle coming from the inside before he stepped out again, holding a girl's wrist who he also pulled with him.
The girl... She was someone peculiar, alright: More on the lean, petite site, around 15 years old. But what stood out the most were her eyes and hair: Hair as white as snow and eyes comparable to a pair of rubies, together with a face that would make most girls die from jealousy. Kureno even heard Ryutaro behind him giving off a whistle before getting silenced by Chizusu.
Something all four immediately noticed was the wristband around her left wrist; An Esper Suppression Device, or short ESD. it was based on the same principle as Capacity down, just a lot more refined. The wavelength was sent directly through the targets body, making it the perfect method to contain an esper's ability. A plus was that it simulated something similar to an overload; The esper, though not able to use his or her ability, wouldn't feel the pain Capacity Down would have caused, just a slight lightheadedness. The disadvantage was that one needed to get close to the esper and attach it to his/her wrist before activating it, making it near unusable for capturing rogue esper.
Getting dragged towards them, she wore a constant frown on her face which was completely understandable and even admirable; Understandable because she was, no matter how one tried to paraphrase it, a prisoner and a future lab rat. Admirable because a normal person wouldn't have this kind of self controlled aura around them in this kind of situation.
Kureno smoothed out his facial expression, making it impossible for anyone to read him. That was going to be the hardest part.
When the deliver stood before him he pushed the girl forward. Immediately Kureno grabbed her wrist, holding her in place before looking the older male directly in the eyes. The answer he got was another smirk.
"Regarding the payment, it will be transferred to your account."
"Thank you very much. Was that all?"
"For the meantime, yes it was.", the deliverer ended the conversation as abruptly as it began, if you could call it that, before sending him a last smirk. Turning around he walked towards the truck but stopped midway. He turned his head 90 degrees to the right, looking at them with one eye.
"before I forget: Did you receive the instructions?", the Kihara asked.
"Yes, we did.", after the younger Kurokami said that, the deliverer walked further towards the truck, got in and drove off. Kureno couldn't help but blink in wonder and confusion; What the hell was that? It should have been a lot harder to get her and to get him to drive away. A mind game or something like that would have been the 'normal' occurrence. So why...?
The moment the track couldn't be heard anymore CASTLE visibly relaxed and turned towards the girl. Kureno also stored his previous line of thought in the back of his mind. It went like something along the lines of 'All had its time and place', didn't it?
'Now, what to do with her?'
Deciding it would be the best course of action, Kureno let her wrist go with an -for Eko - amusing result: The very moment he did so, the girl struck out and tried to slap him. But before her palm met the side of his face, he caught her by the wrist. Again, he had her wrist in a hold.
"Would you please be so kind and not try that again? Just now I actually wanted to stop guiding you but if you are a small child in need of holding hands in this big, bad city please, be my guest."
At that she was flustered, alright. On the bright side, she didn't try anything else after he let go for the second time.
"What is your name?", Eko asked, having finally decided to stop listening to music, after hoping of the support, somehow sailing slower than for a human usual towards the ground, and landing on said ground safely and softly. 20 meters wasn't really something a human should normally be able to jump down without any injury, but then again: It was Academy City.
At first, she didn't get an answer besides a poisonous stare but after sending the girl a encouraging smile she reluctantly complied.
"Yuriko. Suzushina Yuriko."
Kureno could only hope that not anyone would fall so easily for that smile: It would mean that whole planet would be doomed.
BAM, surprise! Now, who of you would have thought that Suzushina Yuriko would make an appearance? No one, am I right? And if you don't know who that is than you have a direct order from your Asdor2000 truly: Search it! NOW!
But yeah, the next arc is going to be fun...
With that, hope for a review or something along those lines.
I'm out, Bye!