Fictions Mentioned:

Episode 7

OP Song:

Spy | "Who Can You Trust" Ivy Levan Music Video [HD] | 20th Century FOX

Insert Song: Start

Max Payne 2 - Main Theme

Flashback...

Sometime before meeting up with Mikoto Misaka again and encountering Kuroko Shirai, Kazari Uiharu, and Ruiko Saten, there was this late afternoon time. The breeze was present and the leaves of the nearby trees were waving ominously. There were only a few people that were seen walking around. Some were a boyfriend and girlfriend holding hands. Some were just students passing by. Overall, a relatively minor crowd.

Someone was waiting on the bench. It was a young woman with short hair and an average-looking build, making her appear quite weak when it was far from the case. She was wearing a school uniform that consisted of a white shirt and blue dress, with a black ribbon with white lines. She was also wearing a scientist lab coat.

Her name was Shinobu Nunotaba.

And she was waiting for someone. And that someone was a young man with spiky hair who was coming towards her and sitting down. Ah, she thought. She knew this person who was quite famous...or rather shall we say infamous among the Dark Side of this city. There were many countless stories about this character. He was the dread of Skill-Out. He was the bane of the infamous Kihara Family. He was the constant thorn in the criminal element and scum of this pathetic excuse of a city whose dark side shrouded and penetrated through even the innocent with fear and desperation.

"How was your day?" she would ask this person, Touma Kamijou, who was sitting right beside her. Unlike her, he was wearing regular clothing consisting of a yellow shirt with white, black, and red lines, and blue jeans. There were also a pair of shoes that were used for a sport that caught her mind based on her mind. Basketball, she thought.

"Fine. Well, if you count my distant travels that is, so that's the same typical answer you'd get from me," Kamijou replied in a serious, accommodating tone.

"Ah, I see," she smiled a bit in sadness before turning serious. "A few casual travels. How I wished I could have that kind of delicacy."

"You could join me if you want to," Kamijou offered kindly.

"No," Shinobu shakes her head. "At least...At least until I am absolutely sure that all of those girls are safe and secure. As soon as that experiment stops, then...I could reconsider such trivialities and take my rest."

"And on that, I can relate at least," Kamijou grimly agreed. "I want them to be safe as well, which is why I'm doing everything in my power to keep Yuri's eyes on me."

"Yuri..." Shinobu raised her eyebrow a bit. "You know...out of all people, I have never quite imagined the most ruthless among the Level 5s, the one with the power to control vectors with sheer ease...would be someone you'd be acquainted with...and only found out what he was up too because of that...sister of yours that's also a ghost." She made a look that made it clear that she was still a little disbelieving, not by the nature of such supernatural things but by what chaos and madness had been wrought during those specific events that were still on a hush-hush by both Judgment and Anti-Skill. Not that Kamijou could blame her for it. The Corpse Party Incident had been one particularly close call that it was a miracle that it wasn't made into a public-wide awareness.

"And speaking of my day, how's your work for STUDY so far?" Kamijou asked.

"It was...quite interesting," Shinobu would answer with a curious face. "It was...a bit more than what I could have imagined. Who would have thought that 'aliens living among us' were quite literal in this case."

"You're still not getting over the Undertown Districts...even though you've probably seen them plenty of times," Kamijou smiled a bit with humor.

"I should be asking you the same, Officer Kamijou," Shinobu made a deadpanned remark.

"Touche," Kamijou smiled.

"But enough about that," Shinobu begins to take something from the bag and slowly raise her hand, opening her palm to reveal a USB type of device, green-white in color. She handed it over to Kamijou who in turn took it with care and place it in one of the pockets of his black duty belt. "I've managed to do it. I've downloaded the specific emotion program into those girls through the use of a control panel from one of the laboratories in use that I have managed to infiltrate. Of course, I cannot take all the credit as a certain agent, his partner, and his ITEM girls did all the heavy-duty work to distract the scientists and the AIM soldiers that were there. From there, I've not only managed to download the emotion program, but I've also set it to a specific level among the girls, just as it is planned. Your job is now to keep watch over #9982. She's the one whose emotive function would trigger, and at the right moment, would have the necessary push that would provide the ceasing of the experiment. And the rest among the Sisters would also have this particular emotive function. As for those before 9982..."

Shinobu's expression made a hesitant expression. Kamijou managed to pick up on this as he spoke to her with care. "They're safe, Shinobu-san."

"I know..." Shinobu replied. "I know...I know the plan, but..." She smiled sadly.

"At the very least, if it forms a bit of comfort, from what I've been told and can verify, they wouldn't suffer any needless pain as their minds get sent as far away from her as possible," Kamijou spoke softly, but he too was grimacing due to thinking of something else.

"You're worried," Shinobu noticed his expression.

"...Yeah," Kamijou nodded. "Since I found out about it, there's that constant temptation for me to just simply step in and call the experiment off personally. But...I know that me just charging in there without thinking would just make things worse. I know what happens if I do, I'd fall into their trap, dance to their preferred tune, making my deeds out into something that can be useful to their agenda and inspire others to form a brand new cycle of hatred, starting from the inverted order of a Level 0. The Reformations helped at least in minimizing the boundaries between Levels and there's been progress before that, but..."

Kamijou stopped talking for a moment as he looked into the afternoon sun.

"I can feel it. There's this foreboding sense in the air. A conspiracy that is out to watch my every move. Every single move that I can make will define the history of this world forever in ways that I may not imagine. I'm not a perfect person. I know my limits better than most. If I can just charge right through that damn experiment, then I would. But I can't. The only way to save every single one of them at this point is for us to stick to the Plan that we and everyone else had planned out. This fight...isn't about me. This is more than about me. This fight is one that everyone contributed to, in their own specific way. I, no, we are going to do everything in our power to save every single one of them. For this is our fight."

"Quite a speech," Shinobu humorously remarked. "You just can't help yourself to make one."

"I am merely speaking by my heart at this point. I just lead it to lead me on to what I should do," Kamijou humbly stated.

"One of these days, that heart of yours might make a name out of yourself at this point. It's only a matter of time after all before everyone else would be aware of what you've been doing throughout this city. With accomplishments that you've made, someone's gonna blow the whistle on you, and it may be anyone that you and I may or may not be familiar with," Shinobu cautioned.

"And...I can honestly think of a few people that could do that," Kamijou sadly spoke.

This conversation was in fact a foreshadowing. Because Kamijou would never know what hit him when this very truth of his secret being exposed would be in relation to an incident surrounding Extremis.

Present Day...

It was sometime late at night. Somewhere in a bedroom in Othinus' apartment building on the second floor, Touma Kamijou was sitting on the bed thinking over everything that Sister Seraphim had told him. He couldn't sleep. Not at this time at least. Not when the entire world was literally talking about him 24/7.

That's right, the news channels and interviews still haven't waned in talking about him.

And since then, he had received a call from a couple of people. An example would be from both his father and his mother, with Otohime Tatsugami and Yukiko Kudo along with her, and made a few conversations with them. Then he received a call from fellow Judgment Officer Takashi Namikaze, a colleague of Chief Superintendent Mii Konori in command of all SDU Teams and overall gun nut who was conversing with him about the recent events that had taken place. Then he received a call from Gunha Sogiita and also conversed with him about what had taken place, plus him speaking about how much guts did he have, to which he chuckled with a smile.

Same old Sogiita Gunha, Kamijou thought in bewilderment. He guesses that this one energetic aspect is what Junko Hokaze liked about the guy he supposed. Actually, he recalled a lot of people, Shokuhou included, as being surprised that the two of these headstrong and dense characters when it comes to the subject of romance started dating. Like, it just suddenly happened without most people knowing. Shokuhou has since then kept a close eye on Sogiita if only because she wants what's best for her friend.

And then there were a bunch of other calls from a bunch of people that he knew. Misaki Shokuhou, Seria Kumokawa, Ayu Mitsuari, Fremea Seivelun and her younger sister Fremea, a Judgment Officer named Naoyuki Nagakubo, and others.

And then...there was this specific call.

Kamijou notices the name on his phone. He'd recognized it as belonging to a very old friend. He smiled a bit before turning serious as he pressed the button, allowing the line of the call to be connected.

"Commissioner," he said respectfully.

"Kamijou," there was the serious, firm voice of a young man on the line speaking fluent Japanese.

He was a young man of black hair and brown eyes, wearing the summer Judgment Officer uniform for Judgment consisting of a short-sleeved olive-green tunic-style tropical field shirt, and olive-green trousers worn with a black Sam Browne belt with shoulder strap, all with white lines from the sides of the arms to the legs, and the insignia rank of Commissioner from his shoulders. He also wears the Judgment armband on his right shoulder.

He was of Kamijou's age and a student of A Certain High School, an old friend of his that he met when he was in elementary. It made Kamijou remember that back in the day, this young man was merely a simple member of Judgment, for most people that is. But in reality, at some point in his life, he became an SCP Foundation MIB Division Agent, same as his father before him, whose main task is to blend in with his surroundings, gather information of variable degrees, and keep an eye out for Kamijou. Judgment just so happens to provide a great opportunity to accomplish his mission and through the connections he built up would serve him well in the present time.

He was a Filipino by birth and nationality. Unlike the rest of the Academy City's inhabitants at the time who more or less don't believe in the unexplainable non-scientific supernatural phenomena, he has kept his traditions and cultural values from his country intact, shaking his head sometimes at the blatant atheism and inherent bias that ran this admittedly corruptible city that might as well just be Gotham City with a science lab coat and a dummy hat that says "FOR SCIENCE!" to justify even the most heinous of war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially considering that in his line of work and experience, he's met plenty of gods, supernatural creatures, and other anomalous beings and entities before. He found atheism itself as a concept to be rather stupid if only because of such experiences.

Nowadays in the present time, since the Reformations took place in light of the Corpse Party Incident, he got picked by a majority vote, meaning a lot of people really wanted him to be in charge considering his hard-working etiquette, his incorruptible personage, his Bayanihan spirit, his great respect for women, his firm stance for all life (and in this case, he's even firmly against the idea of abortion and euthanization, controversial issues in their own right to whomever you may asked), his overall responsible and accommodating nature while at the same time maintains a proper strict demeanor, and other positive traits of his character, would now rise to the ranks to become the eventual Commissioner in charge of Judgment, and it was one big responsibility that was placed on his shoulders.

As Commissioner, it was his job to ensure the effective day-to-day operation of the department, to appoint the board of Commissioners, the Assistant Commissioner of the Department, and all subordinate officers, to ensure the safety and protection of Academy City and its population (this one was easier said than done), and to ensure the department enforces the newly updated constitutional laws of the state that formed a great part of the Reformations.

His name?

Commissioner Gabriel dela Cruz.

"I don't think I would need to remind you of what had happened more than a few hours ago considering people that you and I know probably called you before I did," the Commissioner replied.

"And I highly doubt that you'd call me just for that, Commissioner," Kamijou said.

"No, I wouldn't. That would have been rather redundant. I'm calling because I want to tell you what Hamazura had told me a while ago," the Commissioner said.

"Did he find something out about something?" Kamijou asked.

"Yes," the Commissioner confirmed. "You remember that new guy, the one that Konori used to know back in the day before joining Judgment."

"Kurozuma Wataru," Kamijou pronounced the name. "What about him?"

"Well, after what he, Hamazura, and Haoyi had found out from their side of things, we finally have the necessary evidence that we need to crack down upon Big Spider. We found and mark their specific locations on District 10. It's going to be one hell of an op from here on out," the Commissioner explained.

"When will the op take place from now?" Kamijou asked.

"About a few days from now. Until then, it was about time that we need to introduce you into the public limelight and get the rookies to be acquainted with you, and also in order to prepare you to be one of the few that I would assign to lead this op," the Commissioner said.

"..." Kamijou became a bit hesitant.

"I know that you're rather hesitant in showing yourself now in public considering that fight that you've had with that armored felon, but in consideration of the circumstances, you being well known in the entirety of the department is bound to happen eventually, whether by this or other circumstances. In fact, this provides a great opportunity for you at least," the Commissioner said.

"Hm? What opportunity?" Kamijou asked.

"A new partner," the Commissioner explained which made Kamijou slightly widen his eyes a bit. "Konori would probably tell you in the official ceremony that would be planned somewhere in your school in just the day after the next, sometime in the afternoon, but I figured that you need a little heads up."

"And...just who to be my new partner?" Kamijou hesitantly inquired, curious and concerned.

"The same girl you've met with the Railgun, I'd reckon," the Commissioner answered.

"Hm? Shirai-san?" Kamijou answered.

"If I wanted to pick you a partner, I would choose the best of the best among the force that could keep up with you, knowing what you usually stumble into. Chief Inspector Shirai Kuroko has managed to pass many of her exams, including the APT, making her one of our finest AFOs. She's also quite skilled in detective and forensics work, one that our old pal Night Baron would probably tip his hat over with approval."

"And he approved of her, didn't he?" Kamijou said with a subtle smile, thinking of the best friend from another world who had also viewed the official records of every Judgment Officer and assessed them in his free time. One of these days, he thought, his old friend could use a break. Well, he thought, there were a few people that he knew back in his old friend's world that is making him do just that so he wouldn't have to worry.

"He did," the Commissioner confirmed. "He even remarked on how she could be a person to keep an eye out for you in the field and keep you out of trouble when he's not around."

"I feel like you're referencing my track record of misfortune when you say that," Kamijou noted with a respectful tone.

"There's that and then there's also the fact that the young Major needs her accumulated wealth of experiences after all. Even with all of her grades and training that are remarkable no doubt about that, being out there in the field is a far more different place and world. You should know that better than anyone same as I have. You and I both seen are fair load of shit in this city at this point, Kamijou, and we both know what lays out there whenever night time comes along and the criminals think they can lord it over the city streets while it's still dark," the Commissioner said.

"And I would agree on that heavily, Commissioner," Kamijou smiled grimly.

"So I want her to be by your side so that she can access and make use of her potential far more than what the tests gave her considering how easy she makes them out to be. I know that she can do better than that, especially with an ability such as teleportation which provides her with plenty to work with. God bless us considering that she's on the side of the angels and of the law," the Commissioner said.

"Well said, if only because teleportation can be quite a pain to deal with if you don't have experience fighting it," Kamijou said.

"And I suppose I should thank the Lord as well for the X-Men to provide us with ample opportunity at least to prepare our rookies for such trivialities. Speaking of the X-Men, Professor X and Magneto have already stationed themselves in Tokiwadai where they handle the girls' esper training in secret. From the rumors that I heard which I could verify with the Dorm Manager herself, it appears that Magneto now has his eyes interested in A Certain Scientific Railgun. Not that I can blame him because she might as well be a female Magneto, but an esper instead of a mutant, considering her track record," the Commissioner said.

"The same can be said for Misaki being called a female Professor X," Kamijou said.

"Americans and their side comments, all's well the fun, I'd say," the Commissioner said. Even if it sounded like a joke, there was still a hint of seriousness. Kamijou thought the Commissioner should at least lighten up, but then stopped himself from thinking such a thing considering his heavy burdens. At least he has a secretary that helps him out with most of everything.

Ah yes, Kamijou thought. The secretary that basically became one of the things that the men of the department cursed the Commissioner behind his back on considering how beautiful and well endowed said secretary was, being a first year high school student like the Commissioner and Kamijou, so she's a first year of the brand new Tokiwadai High School. The fact that she's from Tokiwadai is also quite the bonus. He recalls how both Aogami and Tsuchimikado were one of those young men that were part of cursing the Commissioner...only for the Commissioner to have those two somehow get punished by Komoe as an example and get them to clean the Judgment vehicles sent to A Certain High School's parking lot, specifically somewhere on the parking lanes where the 73rd Branch park their vehicles.

Ah, good times, Kamijou thought. He recorded all of that on the camera of his phone and made sure to post it on social media so that everyone in Academy City can see the dynamic duo playing Delta, in this case, washing the cars. And somehow, somebody decided to pull a prank on those two when they weren't looking because apparently, the hose somehow burst open a bunch of water that managed to make both of them wet and one of them, Aogami in this case, slipped on the soap for good measure and manage to land a pile of buckets of water to his face. From the video that Kamijou posted, he can tell that he got more than a thousand likes so he can guess that there were a lot of emoticons and laughter spread all around. He supposed that having a channel on the net was advantageous in several ways.

Needless to say, that is one major example that can be drawn based on one simple lesson.

Don't mess with the Commissioner of Judgment. Or the young woman secretary that he was close to.

And on the brighter side, this incident actually manages to pull the two idiots to become members of Judgment to add insult to injury, assigned to the 73rd Branch for the purpose of educating them about good behavior. Kamijou would say good luck with that as he can recall something that happened a while back, and one that he can testify to as a witness.

In truth, one of them, Pierce Aogami, had once gone to District 12 on an ascetic journey to rid himself of all worldly thoughts, but instead found the shrine maiden so cute that professional warrior monks from the neighboring temple had to be called in as reinforcements and the boy was thrown out and banned from ever entering the district again. Then when the idiot had wanted to recover the contents of the hard drive he had wiped in his short-lived zeal, he had ended up writhing in pain in a back-alley junk shop where a villainous professor had nearly digitized his brain and DNA. The story made Kamijou suspect that such heavily concentrated desire was like a dark crystal carrying a form of power all its own.

By that record, the Commissioner had once privately told Kamijou that this was one of the reasons for Aogami to be a part of the Vice Squad, the Obscene Publications Unit, aka the ones who handle the quote-on-quote dirty laundry among other things, finding the man with many tastes to be useful in the field when it comes to specific trouble makers. Although, Kamijou thought that maybe it may not be such a good idea sometimes, if only because Aogami was somehow getting mistaken for a child molester that got arrested by more than three times in a row in just the first week on the job. Now the guys in every department, including Tsuchimikado, joke about that at every single chance that they'd get.

"So what exactly should I do in the meantime tomorrow while I wait for the next upcoming announcement and the official ceremony to be held in my school?" Kamijou asked the Commissioner.

"Well, I don't want you to be bored as you get cooked up in your room like an introvert that has yet to find a job and get a life, so I thought of giving you some side missions at least for you to do," the Commissioner said.

"Side missions?" Kamijou said.

"You know, the usual routine that you kept doing since going undercover, and before that, doing your vigilante work. You have the one thing most of us don't have the beneficiary of. The fact that you don't need to actually sleep like the rest of us and can keep yourself awake for several days to weeks, if not more so. The guys in District 10 could at least be lent a helping hand downstairs," the Commissioner said.

"True, but with respect, Commissioner, I don't really get bored that easily," Kamijou said.

"I know, but your boring is a bit different, don't you think?" the Commissioner grimly asked.

"...Yeah, it is," Kamijou simply left it at that with a grim thin line on his face, knowing what the Commissioner means without needing to directly reference it.

"And since it's getting late, I would need to hang up this call for now since I've got plenty of more work that needs to be done. I'll send you a text message about the side missions that I'll give you in the meantime sometimes right after this call," the Commissioner said.

"Right, goodnight, Commissioner," Kamijou said before hanging up his phone, put it on silent mode, and put it back to his pocket.

Right afterward, he begins to lie down on his bed, with his futon placed behind the back of his head, thinking of something. Kamijou would begin to grab something from his pocket. It was an old photo, one that showed what appeared to be a grown-up version of himself, a young woman beside him with blue hair, and a young girl of ten years old all smiling on the camera. The photo was one depicting a happy family of three, and it was one that made Kamijou's face turn into a deep sadness.

It wasn't easy to find this photo. It took a lot of work for him and for his wife (yes, he has a wife, long story short) to find this photo. They found it with the help of a few connections and managed to repair the blurred old photo, making it more high definition, and duplicate it in two. One of those was with his wife while the other was with Kamijou who was holding it right now.

"You miss her too as I suspect."

There was the sound of a female voice that was laced with slight sadness. But it wasn't just the voice that soothed Kamijou's senses. It was the embrace that came from the gentle arms that with it. He glanced to find a young woman wearing a white blouse, with a red bowtie, a yellow apron sporting red lines, a long light brown skirt that touches the knees, and white socks. Her black shoes were somewhere on the floor. Her head lay down on his chest, hearing his heartbeat.

He knew who this woman was. His wife. Rika Kamijou (née Furude).

"You came early," Kamijou simply said.

"I took an early leave. I will leave once again I'm afraid so I want to at least stop by this world and savor this moment. May I?" Rika said, closing her eyes.

"...Anything for my special lady," Kamijou smiled sadly.

And so, they both silently close their eyes. Both of them never needed to sleep. And yet, they couldn't help but close their eyes, content with embracing each other, as they imagine a missing other in their lives. A young girl that they had lost a long time ago and can never get her back from. A scar that they still carried even after all these years.

"("...Good night, Yukina, wherever you are.")" both of them thought in sync, saying good night to the daughter that was no longer here.

Insert Song: End

ED Song:

Thunderball (Main Title) · Tom Jones · John Barry

Main Companion Protagonists:

Touma Kamijou - VA: Atsushi Abe

Main Love Interests:

Rika Kamijou (née Furude) - VA: Yukari Tamura

New Characters:

Shinobu Nunotaba - VA: Ikumi Hayama

Commissioner Gabriel dela Cruz (Judgment)

Acronyms:

Armed Police Training - APT.