It had been a long time and no, I'm not dead. What I have been doing, you ask? Wellll, I have drowned myself in drawing, video games(The entirety of Hyperdimension Neptunia and World of Warships to name a few) and have mostly written other stuff besides 'A certain luminescent light'. And with that I mean the first chapters for 3 other fanfics(I really am bad with this prioritizing-stuff...) which I still think aren't ready to be uploaded.
Now, additionally I have finally managed to find me some time to finish the 14th and 15th volume of 'New Testament' and boy oh boy, its freakin' AWESOME. The very idea of Kamisato, someone who is so similar to Touma and at the same time completely different is simply a great idea. And concerning the Kamisato faction: I don't know if I should find them hilarious or downright terrifying. The devotion they have...
But that wasn't the part of it all which I found the most engaging. The thing with Misaka Mikoto was simply delicious if you don't mind me saying. The way she was displayed, the stress and doubts building up over the entirety of the two volumes and then her finally being pushed over the edge and becoming just slightly psychotic... It was just great. And now I realize what a bad person I actually am.
Moving along...
'Author answers or says something probably important'-section:
RPGFanatic: Oh, you have no idea(Kehehehehehehehe). Now, after my slight dip into the dark side I have to agree; The foreshadowing was subtle. In fact it was so subtle that I will never make the foreshadowing this subtle ever again. Maybe. Now, glad that you like CASTLE and let's be honest here: Saluting Ryutaro for his sheer level of homework-forgetfulness is normal for everyone who goes to school. That and doing a facepalm hard enough to crack your neck. Finally, glad you like the development.
Sargent Crash: Glad to have been back myself. I am happy that you like the chapter but I have to ask: What did you take when you have read the chapter and where can I get some? For research purposes only, of course. Now, I am a normal man and I am pretty sure that my ancestry does not include Godzilla or Cthulu as far as I know but glad to be appreciated.
Now, funnily enough I started writing this to improve my English skills. It's my second language and, quite frankly, I sucked at it. Hard. Another funny thing: I learned English by playing video games in English, reading books in English and watching movies in English. Writing in English had become the second step towards improving my language skills and because of that I would really appreciate it if you -and others- could give me concrete examples so I can improve myself. So, if you find weird wordings or stuff like that just point it out.
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!'
"You know, boss; I was actually quite ecstatic when you told me about your plan.", Ryutaro spoke into the room, eyeing the... the thing in front of him with barely concealed disdain. He did speak the truth: He had been quite happy when he was told what exactly their plan entailed. Now, after spending some time with that thing and after thorough rethinking, he wasn't quite so sure about it anymore.
"But thinking back now I believe that I have been too overhasty with that.", in return he received a look of equal, if not even more disdain from one of the other occupants of the room. Her red eyes sent him a piercing stare, as cold as the deepest winter could only be. A slight shiver wandered down his spine, but he didn't shudder; It would only be a sign of weakness. Something she would most definitely use to her advantage.
If you wonder, they were currently in the living room of the apartment CASTLE had rented just for their jobs, stuff like meetings and such. It was fairly medium sized, not quite small but also not a castle itself (A/N: see what I did there?). It consisted out of five rooms. The living room took most of the space and was placed right in the middle with a big window on the farthest side of the room. Around that were the other rooms, two connected to the right and two to the left wall respectively: A storage room, a sleeping room, a rest room and the last contained the kitchen, which was mainly filled with sweets.
The question 'why sweets' was self-explanatory and didn't need to be answered at this point anymore.
The sitting arrangements, being two sofas for three persons each and two armchairs, were placed in a circle around a single glass table and currently housed four of the five current residents of this apartment. The fifth, who was a certain sadistic girl with a sweet tooth like no other, had disappeared three minutes ago in the kitchen. Most surely to get some kind of sweet treat.
"Play nice.", Kureno didn't even try to sound interested in one or the other, to occupied with the newest gaming magazine residing in his hands. He was also the one Ryutaro's current envy was aimed at: Kureno had one of the two armchairs for himself, the two without a doubt most comfortable pieces of furniture in this whole apartment. Now, Ryutaro would have simply seized the other one but there was one thing stopping him from doing so:
The other armchair was Eko's regular seat. No one who had even the smallest sense for self-preservation would voluntarily sit down there; Too costly, the penalty being a slow, painful death.
"But boss, she said that games are a waste of time. I cannot overlook this blasphemy!", the glasses wearing boy whined. He only got three flat stares in return. Well, two stares and a half-stare: Kureno had shifted too much of his attention towards the magazine to be able to do a full one.
"I say it again: play nice."
"HA, you got told off! And to top it off, another one is against your video game policy!", Chizusu, who was seated right next to him, exclaimed in a near ecstasy-like state. Victory will be hers and nothing will stop that!
"Soon, your reign of terror will cease to exist!", this remark was one she should not have made. It ignited a fire in these golden eyes of his unlike any other. He sprung up and took a deep breath.
"Reign of terror? REIGN OF TERROR?! Obviously you try to change facts with fiction! What I want is tolerance! We are a free country, a free nation! We are a proud people, we gamers: We accept others like they are, we form a community with a unity like no other, a community capable of greatness. Under our careful tending the seed of media has prospered and flourished to what it is today. No, we are not united under one will, forcefully: We stand as one, anyone is part of it out of their own free will! It is you people, who cling to old and outdated principles, making up all these lies to justify your actions against us. You twist the truth until it fits with your pitiful worldview, until you terrorize us, forcing your believes and ideologies onto us. Yes, you are the ones who reign with terror! You are the ones who suppress the inventive minds of the new generations! But no longer: Soon, the revolution will begin. And we, who are ready to take up the mantle of a newer and more fairer world, we will liberate anyone who is still brainwashed by your people and bring forth a better future!", during this speech everyone's jaw dropped.
With mouths and eyes wide open they looked incredulously at him, not being able to believe that he really did that. The speech could have just as well come straight out of the mouth of a lunatic. Even Kureno had completely forgotten his magazine in favor of gaping at him.
"...Is he an idiot?", Yuriko spoke up first, the look on her face still remaining. She seriously reevaluated the human race. How was a person like that possible?
"He can only be an idiot."
"More along the lines of highly intelligent nutcase, I'm afraid.", Chizusu answered, rubbing her temples and trying to convince herself that the whole incident was nothing but a dream.
She didn't succeed.
"Which is worse than him simply being an idiot, trust me. Sometimes it's just...", she shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands as if to fight off extreme coldness. Yuriko didn't want to know what the memory which caused this reaction contained.
"Do they not say that there is a fine line between intelligence and insanity?", Kureno asked into the room slowly managing to close his mouth.
"No, the saying is 'there is a fine line between genius and madness'. AND THAT IS BESIDES THE POINT! THAT WAS ALL YOU COULD HAVE SAID, GUYS?! SERIOUSLY?!", Ryutaro cried out in desperation.
"Well, you have wasted a perfectly good speech on something as stupid as that; You left us with no other choice.", Chizusu's explanation left him with his mouth wide open.
"Don't make me sound like some kind of typical comic relief character!"
"Like she said: You leave us no choice. And isn't that exactly what your function in our group is?", Kureno mockingly considered him in a thoughtful manner supporting his chin with his left hand, elbow on his knee. The green haired boy's head hang down in despair as well as bitter resignation. Why did nobody support him? He expected that at least Kureno would be on his side.
"How can you just reduce my existence to something like that?"
"Because you make it hard not to.", Eko spoke up, slouched down in her armchair which had been made her own through totally legal means, read threatening certain others with death via slow and gruesome methods, and nibbled on a sweet roll. Yuriko jumped in her skin eyeing the other girl with a shocked expression on her face. Where the hell had Eko come from?! From what Yuriko could tell she had appeared out of nowhere. How did she manage to do that?
The others didn't even seem fazed by her entrance, as if people appearing out of nowhere were a regular thing in life.
"How...?"
"Her ability.", Kureno didn't think he needed to say more. And that she was also great with infiltrating and knew where she could move without being seen was something Kureno left out of his 'explanation' to have some cards up his sleeve in the future. Just to be sure of their safety.
"That doesn't explain-", Yuriko began to retort, but stopped abruptly midsentence. She was swept into the groups pace slowly but surely; A group that was supposed to keep her save until the experiments began anew. Yuriko knew what they were trying: To give her a false sense of security, to make her drop her guard. But she won't let them succeed; Not as long as she had a say in that matter.
Eko eyed her over her half eaten sweet roll like a cat eyeing a new toy with a lazy smile that said that yes, she was planning to do exactly that and no, she couldn't possible hope to fight against it. With that message Yuriko felt something grew in her. Oh no, it wasn't fear or anything like that: It was complete and utter defiance.
'I will show you!'
"... and besides, she just said that to go on your nerves. She most likely never had a real chance to play videogames before.", but concentrating again on the still ongoing conservation Yuriko couldn't help but doubt her first opinion of them. They simply didn't make the cut with being the scientists' underlings. The group was just to... unique. Yuriko squashed that thought immediately: No. They could be nothing but. But even though she didn't want to, Yuriko found herself doubting their status as Kihara supporters.
Yuriko fingered the little object in her left pocket. No, she wouldn't trust them no matter what. They were definitely people who didn't care if others suffered because of the experiments the Kihara made them go through. Nothing else would explain why the lead scientist would want her to deliver this object to the leader of this group.
"And it's not very surprising, considering her situation."
"But why taking it out on games? THEY NEVER DID ANYTHING TO HER! THEY ARE INNOCENT!"
*GRUMBLE RUMBLE*
All eyes wandered towards Yuriko who tried to make herself as small as possible. Why did her stomach decide to make itself known now? Yes, she hadn't eaten since two days but why, why now out of all times? When there were four others in the same room, enemies to boot?
She couldn't help but blush and boy, was that a blush: Her pale complexion made the red stand out like Christmas decoration. Ryutaro wasn't able to stop himself from letting out a deep and long 'AWWWW'.
He began nodding to himself before announcing something no one would have thought, but could have very much predicted, would come.
"You have my permission to say whatever you want about gaming from now on, effective immediately!", he finished that announcement with a thumps up and a stupid grin adorning his face. In response Chisuzu's right palm slowly wandered towards her face.
"... I can't believe this guy."
"Go die in a hole."
"So disappointing.", Kureno finished the bombardment whilst standing up. He laid his magazine carefully and gently on the glass table as if it was made out of porcelain before he began walking towards the door.
Yuriko didn't know what was going on.
The other members of CASTLE took that as the signal to stand up too, Ryutaro and Chizusu all the while bantering with Eko throwing in a smart remark here and there, and all three of them began to follow him on his way to the door, leaving Yuriko sitting on the couch.
She still didn't know what was going on.
Only after all four had vanished through said door and left it open she managed a weak "What?". Her main thought processes were a mess. What the **** did just happen? Why were they leaving just like that? As if he had read her thoughts Kureno's head popped back through the door.
"Aren't you coming?"
"Where...?", the whole situation became more and more confusing by the minute.
"A family restaurant, obviously.", No, it was not obvious! The answer left her with more questions than answers!
"... Why?"
"You are hungry. And we are. Kind of. And since the only food we have here are the sweet kind which are not proper nourishment no matter how often a certain person is telling us otherwise...", a rather indignant sounding "hey" was coming muffled from outside the room through the open door, " ...as well as the fact that the only one who is currently here and is actually able to cook and not create an explosion and/or a horror show is me...", this time there were three outcries from outside the door, "... leaves normally no other than me to prepare something filling and, most importantly, edible. Now, I don't really want to cook right now and with that the last option would be to go out to eat something fulfilling the criteria food should fulfill, namely 'edible' and 'filling'. Still following me?"
Kureno only got a nod in response. Yuriko's brain wasn't able to something more elaborate in the moment.
"Then hop hop. You don't want to let the bear cup inside your stomach starve, do you?", the blush increased in intensity, something Kureno thought to be impossible. She began to literally glow. In his humble opinion it was one of the cutest sights he had ever seen in his admittedly short life.
The only and rather weak response she managed to get out was a "s-shut up, asshole!" before she jumped up and sprinted past him out the door. Shaking his head in amusement Kureno closed the door and locked it with a swipe of his keycard. One of, you could guess, four.
Finally, it was time.
CASTLE was officially on the job with its first important assignment: To search and destroy food.
Unbeknownst to all of them, a silhouette watched the group from the distance.
Kureno and Chizusu voted for Jakob's while Ryutaro wanted to go to a Julian Restaurant and Eko thought that a certain cake bakery was the perfect place to eat something filling. No one agreed with her.
Since CASTLE was a group of people who decided things pseudo democratic, they ended up sitting in the nearest Jakob's. Pseudo democratic because in the end Kureno had ultimately the last word which always made decision-making a contest of who could convince him more that his/her idea was the best course of action.
All four of them were currently looking through the menu with Eko complaining that there weren't enough sweet things, Ryutaro complaining that the foods quality here at Jakob's is lower than in a Julian Restaurant and Chizusu complaining about the other two complaining. Kureno didn't care either way and tried to decide if he should take the Barbeque Sandwich or Spaghetti Carbonara. Why he chose between the two of them and didn't think about picking more traditional food? Because he wanted something western for a change, damn it!
And Yuriko? She sat with a questioning look right between Eko and Kureno and sported a dazzled expression on her face. She was confused. Completely and utterly confused. She didn't know what the others thought what 'being a prisoner' meant, but sitting with her captors inside a family restaurant awaiting a merry meal was something Yuriko didn't think to be the normal definition. At all.
Outside of her own personal bubble made mainly out of confusion a vivid argument about the best food buyable started to be held. It was something along the lines of Ryutaro trying to make Chizusu understand that only the Curry was the right way to go whilst she had the opinion that omelet was a worthier pick.
But the biggest challenge was soon to come: Trying to get Eko to pick something to eat. Now, most would think that it wouldn't be such a big issue since most if not all restaurants had such a big menu that it was near statistically impossible not to find something for his/her taste. This rule applied even more so for restaurants in Academy City.
"What about pommes?", Kureno proposed diplomatically and hoped that he didn't need all the cognitive prowess he possessed as Lv4 in order to find something, anything, that would please Eko.
"Too salty.", she immediately deflected the idea, proving again that yes, it would be a long day for our favorite little brother and yes, it was going to be quite the challenge.
"mashed potatoes?"
"Too mushy."
"Fish?"
"Too fishy."
"Steak with Barbeque sauce?"
"Too spicy."
"Well then, how about -" "WOULD YOU TWO PLEASE SHUT UP?", Yuriko interrupted the two of them rather loudly, attracting stares from every corner of the restaurant. But at this point she didn't even care about that. Even the Sempai-Kouhai combo stopped dead in their argument to look at her with eyes filled with surprise.
"You two are so noisy! And please, for the love of all that is good and holy, pick something already!"
"... do they have creampuffs?"
"Aaaarrrrrgh!", Yuriko grabbed her head with both of her hands and was only short of slamming her forehead into the table. Repeatedly. Her impression from before turned out to be wrong: All four of them were painfully annoying in equal measure! And why did she need to be between these two?! This seating arrangement made ignoring them literally impossible, Yuriko being exposed fully and unprotected to the nerve-wreck-radiation both Kureno and Eko emitted.
"Eko, I think this is enough.", Kureno finally took pity on Yuriko. Why, you wondered? Because often he would be the one suffering from the idiocy that was bound to be born when Ryutaro and Chizusu were in a near enough vicinity to each other and sometimes made him want to jump out of a high building. They were like the mother and father of insanity.
'DAMN IT! I will not forget this picture anytime soon, will I?', he shuddered at the thought. Up till now, both were always at odds with each other. Kureno feared the day Ryutaro and Chizusu would actually work together. It would cost at least a building, maybe more. Worst-case scenario: The end of Academy City.
He couldn't help but see it with his inner eye: Academy City, laid in ruins, everywhere fire and explosions and in the middle of it all the duo, laughing manically whilst firing rocket launchers at the last remaining defenders to cheesy music. Kureno shuddered again. No, he was going to make sure that this day would never come. Never!
This train of thought caused him to frown: Could it be...? Could it possibly be...? Could it possibly be that he had to deal constantly with two ticking time bombs at the same time?! On the one hand he needed to restrain Ryutaro and Chizusu; On the other hand there was... Eko!
Kureno's eyes widened by a considerable margin. CASTLE has been in business for a little over one year. And the whole time he didn't really put much thought into the question of who exactly he was dealing with on a daily basis, being part of said group. But now, when he did think about it, Kureno noticed something which would, and that he could predict with a fairly high accuracy, only bring wrecked nerves and destruction with it: The group itself. Each one had already proved to be a dangerous thing on his/her own to deal with. All three put together on the other hand...
Kureno grabbed Yuriko's hands with his and locked eyes with her. A Fire of determination burned in them, like the eyes of a hero in the face of the final boss, ready to do anything in the face of destruction and ultimate evil in order to let the world see another day.
"We will survive this! we will manage this! Don't worry, I'm with you!"
Yuriko raised an eyebrow. She couldn't and wouldn't understand what he was saying: In her eyes, all four of them were equally dangerous and shouldn't be left without supervision. For the answer she gave him a look of distaste added to your typical 'rip ones hands out of the hold'. This in return caused a hurt look to wash over his face which was, in Yuriko's opinion, faked. Nobody noticed the sour look appearing on Eko's face but vanishing just as fast.
"I think I know what I want...", Eko said to Kureno over Yuriko's head, leading him to look at her with surprise as well as disbelieve. Just like that? He doubted that it would have been this easy. Some kind of problem was probably just waiting to jump in his way; he simply knew it. But even then, how she had worded it baffled him slightly, enough to make him ask.
"Something you 'think you want'? Eko, how can someone think that they have found something he or she likes?"
"If you're unsure about actually getting it but the idea itself is appealing to you; You never had a moment like that?"
"Actually, no; I was always pretty sure about the things I wanted. Quoting my sister: 'If you need to make a decision anyway, take the one your gut is telling you and stick with it'; Though where the gut-part comes from, no idea."
"At the beginning I thought that always quoting your sister made you kinda cute; But now it's slowly getting annoying.", Eko said it with a deadpan expression. Kureno could only turn his head away and let out a huff of the slightly emotional kind and... did his cheeks become a little red?!
"They are good quotes, so why not?"
"... Siscon.", Kureno's reaction was a rather magnificent spit take and this time there was definitely a blush!
'Where the hell did this come from?!'
But he didn't let himself be caught on the back foot and retorted almost immediately.
"That was uncalled for and couldn't be farther from the truth!"
No one said that the retort had to be a strong one.
"That's what they all say.", Eko gave him the best sardonic smile she had in her arsenal, both being fairly impressive for someone so young. Thankfully Kureno didn't have to reply since the waitress stepped up to their table and asked for their orders. If he had, no one could have guaranteed that the reply would had been something preserving his dignity.
Additionally to that the question of the waitress caused a miracle: Any and all fighting at the table stopped and instead everyone gave quietly, and most importantly, orderly their individual order. As you could probably guess from the content of the previous conversations and thoughts, it was curry for Ryutaro, omelet for Chizusu, and a Barbeque sandwich for Kureno. He also ordered for all five of them ice tea and for Yuriko Spaghetti Bolognese.
You wondered what our lovable midge- I mean normal-sized girl of a sadist chose in the end?
Pancakes...
Yeah, since they were from Kureno's point of view still better than sweets or cakes and he had no interest in dealing with it anymore whatsoever he held back whatever comment he had and didn't say anything. His sixth sense tingled again and instead of eating his next bite he glanced out of the window, something only Ryutaro noticed and followed his example.
Now only Unbeknownst to three of them a silhouette watched the group from the distance.
Gaming halls were something very common in Academy City; No one denied that fact. Since the population in Academy City was mostly made up out of students, it would be weirder if those facilities wouldn't be as abundant as they were.
A peaceful atmosphere filled this particular gaming hall with... well, with peace. In fact it was so peaceful that all the customers and employees could swear they heard birds chirping. Where said birds were? No one knew. The chirps were simply there, no matter how unscientific it seemed.
But this peace wasn't meant to last. Like a typhoon, like the wrath of mother nature given form an unstoppable force slammed the entrance door open. Immediately everyone paused in whatever they were doing on focused their gazes on the entrance. And they saw...
"GUESS WHO'S BACK!", Ryutaro screamed into the room with what could be considered the biggest grin ever seen.
What followed was like the calm before the storm. Everyone became completely silent and didn't move an inch. It was like someone had taken a picture, printed it out, enlarged it and then hung it down in the middle of the room.
The next thing which followed the silence was chaos. Screams erupted, people ran around like headless chickens, crashed into each over and pushed others who had no idea what happened to the ground. The employees hurried to the gaming machines to make sure they all worked correctly.
It was indeed a strange sight for the group who had accompanied the door-slam-open-culprit. But, as they were about to find out, it wouldn't be the strangest.
Yuriko could only gape, her jaw hitting the floor at far above terminal velocity whilst the rest of CASTLE facepalmed, both reactions for what transpired next:
Two rows of boys and girls alike lined up, formed a corridor and saluted all at once. The whole scene looked as if they were welcoming a general or some kind of important figure. There even was a red carpet which got somehow placed in-between of the rows. And at the very end of it someone in a suit, presumably the manager of the gaming hall, stood firmly with his feet shoulder wide apart and wearing a serious expression.
"WELCOME BACK, SHISHOU!", came the welcoming with glass-shaking intensity and volume.
"Glad to be!", Ryutaro gave a salute in return and marched past the line ups like a lord who, after a month of gruesome fighting, returned to his mansion. After he walked through the whole parade he vanished with the manager in tow in the crowd.
"Just wha-... how... why...?", Yuriko was unable to understand the happenings around her. Again. It was as if the moment she thought it could not get any more insane, something even more insane would happen. What was wrong with these people?!
"Trust me when I say this: No one who ever had the (dis)pleasure of meeting Ryutaro was able to understand him completely. No one.", Kureno patted her shoulder once before following the gamemaniac through the welcoming... whatever that was.
"Eko, Chizusu; Show Yuriko-san around. I get the game-brain. We meet up in 15 minutes at the shoot-em-up corner.", he waved at them over his shoulder and vanished, just like Ryutaro before, in the crowd.
Both turned towards Yuriko who just now had attempted to escape from this insanity. Like a deer caught in the headlight she froze the moment their eyes were on her . The smiles the other two girls had were not reassuring. At all.
The next thing Yuriko knew was her being dragged towards the racing games, all the while protesting loudly.
Finding Ryutaro wasn't hard; Kureno only needed to follow the 'trail of insanity' as he liked to call it. Wherever his glasses wearing friend went when inside a game center, he would always leave some sort of... unusual things behind in his path.
Really, it ranged from shell-shocked girls seemingly frozen in time over little boys who somehow had become extremely hyper -too hyper even for their age- to the probably most important and obvious clue that one Omura Ryutaro had been there just recently: Every game machine Kureno passed had a new high score with nearly double the points of the last one.
How exactly Ryutaro managed to achieve such scores in a time frame of maybe twenty seconds per gaming machine was beyond Kureno. Hell, it was likely that this phenomena was beyond even the greatest of minds Academy City had to offer.
After around two minutes of walking he found himself standing inside the heart of the game center. Here, the newest, untested and most innovative machines stood together inside some sort of separate area where only those with a premium membership were allowed to be.
Luckily for Kureno he had a premium membership. One of the upsides of being friends with Ryutaro.
Now, where was said friend?
His question was soon to be answered as Kureno spotted him playing a rather hard looking shooting game where he had to use a gun-formed controller to shoot enemies on the screen. Another controller for a second player was still in its holder.
The enemies in question were your typical zombies, but the sheer amount of them on screen made Kureno stop for a second. Ryutaro most likely played on some sort of self-made difficulty; Normally there wouldn't be that many zombies attacking at the same time.
And it held another shock ready: According to the in-game timer Ryutaro had only played for twenty seconds but his score had already reached ten thousand points and he had a 4x multiplier.
Kureno called hacks.
Ignoring it completely for his mental health's sake he walked up besides the older boy and took the second 'gun'. Immediately a second aiming circle sparked into life on the screen.
[Player 2 joined the battle. Good luck!]
Right after the message had popped up Kureno had already gunned down three zombies in short intervals. The thing he noticed the moment another six zombies pooped up and began running towards him was that these zombies were fast. Even more so then 'president devil' or 'theft for bed 2' fast.
'Which nutcase thinks up these names anyway?', Kureno briefly wondered as he gunned down the six zombies with the ease of an expert marksman. Slowly but surely he caught up with Ryutaro.
Ryutaro didn't like that and redoubled his efforts. As if by his command even bigger waves of zombies harassed them, helping him along with scoring points.
"There is one behind you!", Ryutaro shouted in warning while giving him a meaningful look. Kureno immediately responded with 'turning' around and shooting the offending zombie IN THE FACE.
... Maybe he should stop spending so much time with Ryutaro or he will become a second one. Now that was a scary thought.
"I know!"
"This game is really something, eh? Programmed it myself."
"It's definitely challenging."
"Did you notice the other thing I built into the game?"
"You mean the fact that it's almost as if the game is watching us? Yeah, I noticed!", Kureno gritted out of his teeth as he blasted the head of a zombie off when it came too close for comfort.
"How do you plan to beat it then? Before me, I mean?"
"Well, I will have to come up with something very soon."
"Looking forward to see what you come up with!"
"Well, one thing at the time: Do you see the truck there?", Kureno asked him and pointed towards said truck displayed on the screen with his free hand. Ryutaro saw, liked it and grinned a feral grin.
This day was going to become glorious. He just knew it.
"I have you now! I have you now! I have you now!"
This mumbled chant was repeated over and over in one specific part of the game center as a battle the like never seen before raged across two screens. Side by side the competitors struggled for every little advantage they could get, every little time they could save to become the chosen, the winner, the victorious hero of this epic conflict.
"Dream on, little one."
Teeth crunched together, muscles tensed to the point of snapping and a slight film of sweat on their foreheads showed the utter concentration, the unbreakable wills which clashed and, of course, the pride which was on the line for both of them.
"YES! Now I'm the first! Eat my dust, slowpoke!"
A Crowd surrounded them, loudly cheering and yelling and whistling. The cheer intensity of the atmosphere filling the area brought out all which was good, all which was neutral and all which was bad at the same time.
The spirit of war wavered through the air like near tangible threads, encircling all and inviting insanity into their hearts. The flames of passion burned with the sheer heat of the sun's very core and incited a strength and unity never seen before. Truly, this was the moment of greatness.
And Yuriko wasn't able to understand anything. Anything at all.
Whilst she watched Eko and Chizusu competing in a motorbike racing game with each other Yuriko could not comprehend why both of them were in it with such vigor nor the reason behind the by now massive crowd still forming around them.
She didn't want to have anything to do with that. But it looked like it was so much fun...
'NONONONO! Bad thoughts!', Yuriko shook her head as if she could shake the thoughts themselves into oblivion and out of her head. That wasn't the time for such things!
But it looked so interesting...
"And... And... AND... VICTORY!"
The crowd exploded. Tears were shed. A triumphant Eko was carried by the crowd through the room whilst Chizusu had a slightly sour expression on her face but not for long: It cleared up soon and got replaced by a small smile. A good sportsman/sportswoman(?) by the looks of it.
And someone who apparently had an eye for picking up troubled expressions since she began to walk through the crowd towards Yuriko at a leisure pace. Eko followed her with a somewhat secret gaze from the corner of her eyes.
Chizusu stopped when she was standing right in front of Yuriko and continued to look at her with the same small smile. And there was something strange. Something the white haired girl could not understand: She didn't feel uneasy.
In the past scientists had always looked at her with smiles which were all so innocent but deep down were sinister and she started to be able to spot this facet. Yuriko had developed a certain kind of sense for these things over the years she was shipped from lab to lab.
"You want to try?", Chizusu asked her with a strange calm in her blue eyes. Her voice too was completely calm as if she was talking to a small animal she wanted to calm down.
And it worked. Even though the paranoid part of Yuriko's brain was frantically searching for the signs, the intent in this smile of hers she couldn't find it. Slowly but surely Yuriko found her defenses she had built up around her to fall apart. It was the time where she made a decision:
She was not going to trust them. She simply couldn't. But what she could and would do is to meet them halfway. At least a little. Just to see for herself if they are different from the others or not. Ignoring her own hesitance and one hand grabbing the thing in her pocket she took the first step.
"I want to try it."
And she did. After Chizusu had lead her to the machine she started to explain her the controls, which were pretty close to those of a real motorcycle. Not surprising since the 'controllers' were replicas of motorbikes.
After her explanation which turned out to be surprisingly good in Yuriko's humble opinion she started a race with the current champion: Eko, the destroyer (she herself chose this nickname and everyone else simply overlooked it instead of laughing at her cliché naming sense).
Yuriko lost. horribly.
No matter the fact that she learned driving a motorcycle in a matter of two minutes to the point where it would make a professional racer look bleak, Eko was simply too good for her: After the first round the distance between them didn't shrink anymore, but Eko was simply too far ahead for her to catch. And on the seconds race the distance became even longer for Eko decided she needed to put in extra effort.
But even though she lost the rounds, Yuriko sported a small smile.
Next up was a game of whack-the-mole. The perfect gaming to release the stress she had built up over her lifetime.
"Having fun?", Chizusu stood beside her, both watching Eko hammering down on the game with the soft hammer. Yuriko answered her with a soft hum. But there was one thing she had noticed. One thing she didn't understand.
"Why do you act like that?", she asked the older girl whilst throwing her a questioning glance. The blonde simply answered with a small smile.
"Act how, exactly?"
"Controlled, mature, calm. You're all those things now but before...", that only got a small laugh out of Chizusu which only served to confuse Yuriko more.
"It's Ryutaro.", when she didn't say more Yuriko motioned her to continue, which was exactly what she did after Eko had smashed a really offensive mole she didn't manage to get up till now harder than necessary.
"He pushes my buttons, to put it simply. The moment I have to deal with him all the emotions I have come just boiling up. Ever since I knew him, actually. And what you have seen is actually me having learned to control myself; After the first ten minutes of our first meeting he brought me to the point where I decked him on the nose."
Yuriko would have giggled if she wouldn't have had the pleasure of already knowing the person in question. Instead, she gave her a look of sympathy with a little pity as flavoring.
*Ding Ding Ding*
Both focused back on Eko and the gaming machine in front of her. She had finished the round and the score...
Yuriko outright grinned this time as she had achieved something she didn't really think she could: She managed to get a better score than Eko. The shorter girl wore a scowl on her face before her expression quickly changed to a grin of her own. Throwing the hammer onto the machine and skipping towards Yuriko said girl fought with her desire to flee from the grinning maniac and barely managed to stay in place, although with all her muscles tensed up.
Eko stopped right in front of her, the grin becoming a little wider and wider. Yuriko's breathing stopped, she readied herself to bolt away and...
The smaller girl gave her a hug. Shock and the to her now completely familiar feeling of confusion washed through her like a tidal wave. And they continued to stay there like that: The smaller one wrapping her arms around the taller one who stood there unsure what to do.
"Good job, I guess.", Eko told her with a voice so quiet that only she could hear it. Finally, her mind caught up with the situation and Yuriko decided to do something she had never done before: She motioned to return the hug.
"Hey, we're back."
The moment she heard Kureno's voice Yuriko immediately stopped what she was doing and forced herself away from Eko. Said girl didn't stop her but couldn't help herself to smirk at her reaction in her typical mocking way. It was basically saying 'what, you embarrassed?' which Yuriko decided to ignore.
The change in Chizusu's face was immediate: The smile vanished to be replaced by a neutral expression the moment her eyes met Ryutaro's. But not because it was Ryutaro, even though it might have played a small part in it. No, it was the look in his eyes.
Gone was the playfulness they previously held and replaced by an ice cold intelligence as if he was ready to wipe out anything standing between himself and his goal. It made Yuriko who had noticed it flinch back and Eko's grin diminished, if only for a little bit. It was the face of someone willing and ready to go to war.
In comparison to it Kureno's expression simply was a little harder than before, at least for someone who hadn't known him for a longer period of time. But Eko saw it: The fire burning inside of them. And at this point she knew that the final pieces had come together.
They were finally ready.
All five of them stood in front of the complex CASTLE was supposed to deliver its charge to. The complex in question consisted of a parking lot in front of a skyscraper, obviously the main building and beside it a smaller one formed like a stadium, but obviously smaller. All of that was surrounded by a wall with a gate.
All members of CASTLE wore different expressions: Eko's face showed obvious distaste, Ryutaro's and Chizusu's had a certain seriousness on them which they normally didn't. The only one who didn't show any emotions was the leader of the in the moment not so merry group.
And Yuriko? She couldn't stop fidgeting. She hadn't even noticed that they were heading in this complex's direction before it was too late. Had she been wrong to trust them, even for only a little bit?
"Well, no use standing around in front of it. Come on.", Kureno said with a small, near inaudible sigh and pushed Yuriko slightly on the shoulder to make her move. But she didn't. So he did something rather brutal looking: He pushed her a second time, but this time the push was hard enough to make her ending up sprawled on the pavement. Yuriko didn't move to get up.
Wasting no time he grabbed her right wrist and heaved her up with a surprising amount of strength. In fact, it was so much force that she flew into him and was now leaning on him, his mouth close to her right ear and her right arm covering his mouth, a fact she passed off as not intended.
"Listen up. I'm only going to be able to say it once.", Yuriko heard the soft mumble in her ear and had to fight to suppress her eyes widening due to the surprise. What the...
"No matter what happens inside, you have to trust me. It crucial. So do not make an unusual scene. Do you understand?", she could only answer with a soft 'mhm' to show that she did. During her initial confusion Kureno drew back from her and the next time he spoke he did it in a normal volume again.
"Great that you understand your position now. Let's go."
And group walked through the gate into the complex.
He had told her to trust him. What did he mean with that? Trust him with what? What was going on in this head of his?
Yuriko had to make a choice: Could she trust him and with that entrust him with her life? Or not? Either way, the future she perceived for her was bleak at best. It couldn't possibly change, right? Nonetheless, something told her she had to make a decision. Soon.
And, after taking one look at CASTLE, she did.
That was it for this chapter.
And I really don't know what is up with me but every time Ryutaro is part of the scene I can't help myself but write something ridiculous. I mean, I gave him a silly and admittedly little insane personality but the extents to which some things with him goes... I can't control myself when it comes to him. These things just won't stop flowing out. But well, he makes it entertaining, at least in my eyes, which makes it a good thing.
And now a little treat I have prepared as an apology for the long waiting time you had to endure. Enjoy!
Omake: An unwise decision and a wish for misfortune
Kamijou Touma knew that he was hunted by misfortune wherever he went. A view which most people did not share with him for a reason he didn't know. Those bastards.
He lived his live with it up till now, he had accepted it up till now. But at this moment he wished for something different. Not luck, that was for sure: That was a mere dream for the normal high school boy. He simply wanted no misfortune, a state of neutrality if you will.
Currently he cowered here behind a broken down wall in the middle of the warzone called Tokyo hiding himself from an endlessly seeming barrage of magic strong enough to pulverize a human being into smithereens. Kamijou Touma was completely and absolutely pinned down like a protagonist of an action game.
This style of life could not have been normal for a high school student and he, Kamijou Touma, simply wanted a break from it all. Added to the fact that he had to get to Othinus quickly didn't help the stress he felt in the slightest and prompted him to consider his options to end this fast once more.
There was Misaka, the #3 Lv5 of Academy City using her ability to keep the wall they were hiding behind upright and standing, shifting more and more metal to and on it using magnetism. She was of no help with her hands already so full.
Then there was index, but even now she was redirecting magic away from them and back to its origin. What hit their wall was a tenth of what was launched at them and with Index struggling with her current task that was out of the question, too.
And he couldn't run out there by himself; Imagine Breaker could only be at one place at the time. It would have been suicide. So what options did he have?
A sudden stray thought crossed his mind. An idea so perfect that he had to grin like a maniac when it became more and more clear in his head what he had to do. It was so simple, really. Why didn't he notice this before?
The two girls with him only saw the grin and how Touma pulled his phone out of his pocket. Both were confused by his action and worried by the grin which was threatening to rip his face apart by now. But they couldn't speak up since they had to fully concentrate on their individual tasks.
Ferociously tipping away Touma made the call in a time most pro-mailers would grow green with envy for. Placing the speaker on his hear Touma prayed to every deity there was that the person in question would answer quickly, a person which would be the solution for all of their problems.
"Hello, Touma-san. What do you want? I'm a little busy.", the voice of his soon to be savior was the most wonderful sound he had ever heard in his life. He was so delighted by the fact that there was no immediate misfortune happening like his phone dying or an electrical storm interrupting the connection that he completely disregarded the information Kumiko gave him.
"You have no idea how nice it is to hear your voice right now. I need your help. Right now!", Touma screamed over the sound of battle currently waging across Tokyo. And for the first time he was happy about it; Surely Kumiko would understand the gravity of the situation simply by hearing the explosions and whatever.
"Sorry, but no can do. It may sounds like there is something like a fight on your end and I would love to help you and Tokyo if I had to guess where you are since its what the news do not stop talking about but I have my own priorities."
The grin disappeared from his face as quickly as It came to be and Touma saw the chance of ending the situation quickly fade away into the endless sea of despair.
"Priorities? WHAT PRIORITIES?! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE IMPORTANT IN THE MOMENT THAN TOKYO AND MY AND INDEX'S AND MISAKA-SAN'S LIFE?"
"dinner."
"...what?"
"My little brother will be back home in about... 5 minutes and I have to prepare dinner. But don't worry, I am sure you can handle whatever these aggressors throw at you."
'This damn brocon!', is what Touma thought at the moment but didn't dare to say out loud. There was something more pressing than his instinct to throw out a comment. He had to convince her to come and help.
After the event which was about to transpire next Touma would insist that he did what had to be done and nothing more. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing and only his desperation pressured him to go to such extreme lengths.
"Your brother actually has followed us to Tokyo. He wanted to help us.", Touma had absolutely no idea what made him say that or even why he thought that saying that was a good idea.
"...Come again?"
"Kureno-san was with us up till now."
"...what do you mean, 'up till now'?", holy shit she believed him?!
"He has been captured by the ring leader."
"WHAT?"
"She took away his innocence.", what the hell was he saying?!
"..."
"..."
"...She did what?", Kumiko's voice was colder than zero degrees Kelvin and could probably freeze the sun itself. In every other situation Touma might have stopped there and prostrated himself in front of her begging for Kumiko's forgiveness. But right now he wasn't able to control his mouth before he screamed the next sentence out loud, louder than he had to.
"I said that SHE, THE RING LEADER OF THE ATTACK, TOOK A LIKING TO YOUR LITTLE BROTHER AND MADE HIM HER OWN!"
Everything on the battlefield just stopped. The attacks and every effort to defend against them halted like a picture, a scene frozen in time as every single person looked at Touma with something akin to horror on their faces. Friends and foe alike couldn't, didn't want to believe that he said that just now and were stopped dead in their tracks like a flock of deer caught in the headlights. Hell, Touma couldn't believe that he said it himself.
And then it happened.
Something dark, purple and absolutely terrifying began to come out of the speaker of Touma's phone. He let it go on the spot but incidentally put it on speaker during the process. The entire battlefield watched as the phone slowly fell to the ground. The dark... thing had and was still oozing out of the boy's mobile phone and filled out the entire battlefield. By the time his phone had hit the ground the thing was already reaching up to everyone's knees.
And then Kumiko spoke. Her voice was completely calm. And this made it even more so terrifying.
"Stay where you are. I'll be there shortly.", and the line went dead. The battlefield had been so quiet that everyone could hear her words. Cold sweat rolled down Touma's back in waves, a condition he shared with everyone present. Their eyes were dilated in fear, their breathing was ragged. A red flash came flying towards the battlefield at a tremendous speed.
And Touma, for the first time in his life, regretted not having his damn misfortune.
I somehow have the feeling that Touma and everyone present will be traumatized for life...
Well, that was it for this chapter. Hope to see reviews like always and a good day to you.
And with that:
I'm out, bye!