Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Eighty Seven: Battle Royale - The Headliner
After Rui-chan had collapsed, Naru had immediately teleported her to their base's infirmary so she could undergo an examination. This was the first time her blackouts had caused her to actually collapse rather than just freeze up, so no one was willing to take any risks. As before, there did not seem to be anything physically wrong with the Number 3. Something which was at once a relief and deeply frustrating. It was clear the [AIM Sovereign]'s condition was worsening but with even their best equipment and specialists unable to detect what was wrong and only the illogical information from DRAGON to go on, there was nothing they could do to fix things. Thus all they could do was helplessly leave Rui-chan to rest in the infirmary and snap out of the blackout in her own time.
At least she has her side-piece watching her and to keep her company when she wakes up. Kurama offered comfortingly.
Yeah, at least Frenda-chan is there too. Naru replied half-heartedly as she took a seat back in the base's CIC to continue the briefing that Mugino had so rudely interrupted. Just wish she wasn't wheelchair bound at the moment and unable to properly protect Rui-chan if something happens. Or better yet, that Rui-chan wasn't going through whatever the heck she is in the first place.
Agreed. Kurama said with a sigh. But we just have to make the best of the situation that life hands us.
Naru couldn't help the frustrated sigh at that, causing Mikoto-senpai to pause in her preparations to carry out the briefing to look at her worriedly. Seeing how Rui-chan's condition was stressing Naru out, the [Railgun] had graciously offered to look over the material their intelligence had prepared for the briefing and take charge of it. Though she'd, in her typical tsundere fashion, tried to cover up her act of kindness by claiming how it was her way of paying Naru back for not reading all the intel reports she should have before now and because Naru did all the heavy lifting dealing with Mugino.
"You okay there, Naru?" Senpai asked kindly.
Naru just released another sigh. "As good as I can be, I guess."
Senpai nodded in understanding. She wasn't as close to Rui-chan as Naru was, her classmate being her bestie after all, but as a fellow member of the Trinity and after everything that they'd been through together, Senpai was still very close to the Number 3. She was thus almost as rattled by what was happening to their teammate as Naru was.
"Let's just start the briefing, okay? The sooner we get it done, the sooner we can go check in on Ruiko."
Naru nodded her agreement and offering her a comforting smile, Mikoto-senpai began the briefing.
"Alright, since we're all tense right now, let me start off with something that'll hopefully lighten the mood a little." Senpai said with a barely suppressed smirk of amusement. "So apparently when Ruiko teleported Mugino away after her tantrum, she decided to be dramatic about it."
"Where did she drop her?" Naru asked, amusement bubbling to the surface despite her worries. If Rui-chan was being vindictive like Senpai was suggesting then wherever she had teleported Mugino to must have been hilarious.
"It seems Ruiko thought that Mugino needed to go and cool off." The [Railgun] said with a giggle as she used her Electromastery to manipulate the CIC's video wall so that it displayed a video, presumably captured from one of the multitude of cameras that pervaded the City, that showed the Number 6 pulling herself out of one of the City's many canals. And looking like a drowned rat whilst doing so.
Naru and Kurama both chortled, both at Senpai's joke and the image.
"Serves that psycho right!"
"Yeah," Mikoto-senpai agreed with a smile, though it quickly dimmed as behind her the video playing on the video wall changed to show one of Mugino stalking Takitsubo and some blonde guy that Naru vaguely recognized but could not name. "Sadly, Ruiko's kind intentions didn't work out. 'Cos shortly after [Meltdowner] fished herself out of the canal, she went and began hunting [AIM Stalker]."
"She hunted down Takitsubo? Why? Aren't they teammates?" Naru asked, blinking in confusion.
"They are," Senpai agreed with a nod. "But it seems she was looking for her to force Takitsubo, who was by all accounts already near death from overexerting her ability, to push herself even further and track down SCHOOL. Apparently, she wanted to launch a counterattack."
I think that woman has lost her mind. Kurama commented even as Naru just shook her head in disbelief. Didn't she already get trounced by [Dark Matter]? And that was with her full team backing her up, what does she think she's going to manage facing him alone?
Get herself killed that's what. Naru returned uncharitably. Sure, Mugino had blown past her limits in their last fight, but that was nowhere near enough to let her beat Kakine. Having faced them both in battle in the past, Naru could say that with certainty.
"Thankfully for her, though I doubt she sees it that way, Mugino never got the chance to face SCHOOL for a rematch." Mikoto-senpai continued, breathing a sigh of relief. "ITEM's runner, a former Skill-Out by the name of Hamazura Shiage, objected to what she intended to do with Takitsubo-san and took it upon himself to protect her. We were unable to get the details but we do know that in the process of doing so, he badly injured Mugino."
"Wait! I remember reading about this Hamazura guy. He's a Level 0 and his only claim to any notoriety is that he was the leader of some Skill-Out gang. How by Science did he manage to not only take out Mugino but 'badly injure' her!?"
Senpai shrugged. "Like I said, we don't know the details. ITEM's subordinate organizations did a pretty good job keeping the details secret. All we know is that it involved him dropping a building on her at some point."
Naru nodded. "Yeah, I see how that might work."
If Mugino was too distracted to blast any debris falling on her to bits with her lasers, that might be able to take her down.
Overwhelming her with the sheer mass of a whole building collapsing on her would work too.
"We can try and figure out how that Hamazura person managed it later." Mikoto-senpai said with a roll of her eyes, clearly annoyed with the tangent that they had taken. "For now, what we need to take away from this is that ITEM is effectively defunct."
With Mugino injured and likely out of action at least for a while, Takitsubo on the run, and Frenda-chan both injured and defected, the only remaining active member of ITEM was Kinuhata. And as powerful as her Offense Armor made her, Kinuhata wasn't good enough to go solo.
Sucks to be them. Naru thought with a nod and frown. I feel bad for Frenda-chan though. She might have defected and after what Mugino did, she probably hates her, but as far as I know she likes Takitsubo and Kinuhata. Hearing their team just broke apart like this, and that she was partially responsible for it, is definitely gonna hurt her when she finds out.
Probably. Kurama agreed. But she's a seasoned Dark Sider. She'll manage. Besides, I'm sure her crush will be more than happy to take her mind off it. The Saten girl could use the distraction too.
That gives me an idea!
"Senpai! Speaking of ITEM, why don't we check on Frenda-chan?" Naru suggested mischievously.
Mikoto-senpai just rolled her eyes. "If you wanted to check up on Ruiko, then you should just say so. You don't need an excuse. I'm just as worried about her as you are."
Clicking away at the keyboard of the nearest console, Naru shrugged. "That's totally not why I suggested it."
Liar.
Ignoring her partner, Naru continued her denial. "All the talk about ITEM really just reminded me that we should check on Frenda-chan. That tapping the video feed from the infirmary would let us see how Rui-chan is doing too is just a bonus."
Senpai shot her a disbelieving look but did not comment as the surveillance feed from the base's infirmary came up on the CIC's video wall.
Unaware of her audience, and frankly not caring if it existed or not, Frenda Seivelun sat leaned up against the pillows of the propped up bed she occupied in the infirmary of the Trinity's base and rested. After the injuries she'd sustained in the fight with SCHOOL earlier in the day and the emotionally draining confrontation with Mugino less than an hour ago, she was exhausted. She should be sleeping but found that she couldn't bring herself to surrender to unconsciousness.
Not when in the bed next to her own her crush laid unconscious. Not when worry consumed her about why Ruiko-sama had suddenly just fainted. With how panicked Naru-sama had been about the whole thing, Frenda hadn't dared ask her. And when she'd plucked up the courage to ask the [Railgun] instead, all the Number 5 had been willing to tell her was to wait and ask Ruiko-sama herself. So Frenda had no idea what was plaguing the invincible Number 3 and that filled her with worry.
But even as she was overcome with anxiety, she couldn't help but take the opportunity to ogle her crush as she slept.
She's so beautiful. The Norwegian thought involuntarily. It was an objective fact after all. That Ruiko-sama was beautiful was undeniable. And Frenda was unable to stop herself from admiring that fact. She's like a real life Sleeping Beauty.
Ruiko-sama's long raven black hair - Which Frenda would bet good money on being silky smooth too! - was cut in a style that framed her perfect face in a truly enchanting way. She was tall for her age, something that Frenda found quite attractive. And she had just the right amount of muscle to give her a physique that indicated she was in good physical shape without crossing over into the realm of the excessive, at least by Frenda's tastes, like say that of a bodybuilder. Then there was her figure. Oh Science, her figure! It was seriously to die for, in the Level 0's opinion. That it was hourglass was a given considering how fit she was, but she was also wonderfully endowed in the rear department too! With butt cheeks that Frenda was tempted to squeeze every time she saw them! And her breasts! They literally were marvels of Science! Ruiko-sama's Bust Upper enhanced bosoms matched and likely surpassed even Frenda's own impressive, if often hidden, rack. Unlike her however, whose petite frame made her breasts seem out of place - Hence, why she hid them under layers of clothing and compression sports bras. -, her crush's bosom fit perfectly into her body type. They, in Frenda's totally unbiased opinion, served to perfect Ruiko-sama's already stellar beauty.
So enthralled by the younger girl's beauty was Frenda that for a moment she forgot her worries about said Sleeping Beauty's health. But as Ruiko-sama's eyes fluttered open and she let out a tired sigh, they all came rushing back. Thus even as the Number 3 began to push herself up, with what Frenda noted were stilted and almost robotic movements, the Level 0 couldn't help herself as she called out to the other girl worriedly.
"Ruiko-sama, are you alright?"
Letting out a large, frustrated breath, Ruiko-sama gave up on her effort to push herself out of her bed, and settled for a sitting position. Which disconcertingly seemed to already be quite a struggle for the other girl to manage!
What the hell happened to her!? Frenda thought worriedly even as the younger girl's sigh had Frenda biting her lips nervously as she worried that it was directed at her because she'd interrupted the other girl's effort. She was 90% sure that wasn't the case, but she was still worried. She didn't know what she'd do if she was the one who upset her crush.
"I'm fine, Frenda-chan." The [AIM Sovereign] reassured unconvincingly considering that she had just failed to push herself out of her bed.
"You don't look fine." Frenda observed cautiously.
"I know," Ruiko-sama admitted tiredly. "But I really am fine. I'm just having a little problem with my Angel Mode lately. I'm working on a solution. You don't need to worry about it."
"You're my friend, Ruiko-sama. I'd worry regardless. It's what friends do."
And because I want to be more than friends with you.
"I appreciate the sentiment, Frenda-chan." The Number 3 said, offering Frenda a happy but still tired looking smile. "But I don't you to worry needle-"
"Ruiko-sama?" Frenda asked, her worry growing as she realized that the Level 5 hadn't just suddenly cut herself off mid word but had literally frozen. She looked like a living statue! It was unnerving as heck! And caused Frenda's worries to spike towards panic.
Thankfully before she could panic, Ruiko-sama snapped out of it.
Blinking as she recovered from whatever it was, the younger girl looked confused for a fraction of a second before offering Frenda an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, Frenda-chan. What was I saying?"
"You were telling me not to worry." Frenda told her with a frown. "But that's bullshit! You just blacked out on me!"
The raven haired beauty pouted at that. It was a rare and incredibly adorable look that had Frenda's heartbeat accelerating at the sight of it. One that was almost, but not quite, enough to distract her from her mounting concern for Ruiko-sama.
"I guess I'm not going to be able to convince you not to worry about me, huh?"
Gulping to regain her bearings after the other girl's mind meltingly entrancing pout, Frenda nodded. "No, not a chance. Not when you're suddenly blacking out in the middle of conversations."
Ruiko-sama sighed, looking insanely beautiful, in Frenda's mind, as she did so.
Pushing aside her lust to be processed later, the Level 0 pressed her crush for answers. "What exactly is wrong with your Angel Mode that is causing you to have black outs?"
"I don't want to talk about it," the other girl said with a tired shake of her head. "It's practically been the only thing on my mind lately and I just- I just want to talk about something else. Please."
Frenda frowned. She wanted answers. Whatever was affecting the [AIM Sovereign] was a massive deal! She was one of the most powerful persons in the City! Whatever could affect her this much was something everyone should be worried about! And most importantly, she didn't want to see the other girl suffering like this.
But since Ruiko-sama had asked…
"Okay, if you want." Frenda said, acquiescing to the Level 5's request. "But can I ask around about it?"
The Number 3 nodded, looking resigned. "Go ahead. Naru-chan will probably be happy to tell you. Heck, when I'm in a better mood, I might explain it to you myself."
Frenda nodded. She was satisfied with that. At least Ruiko-sama wasn't forbidding her from finding out. She was just feeling too exhausted by whatever it was to talk to her about it at the moment. The Norwegian could sympathize. If it had been weighing on the other girl as heavily as she said then it was totally understandable why she wanted to avoid even thinking about it if she could.
"So, what should we talk about instead?"
"How about you, Frenda? How are your injuries?" Ruiko-sama asked immediately, her tone overflowing with concern.
"Just a few cuts and bruises. The worst of them are a twisted ankle and a minor concussion. Nothing to worry about." Frenda lied. They were the worst injuries she'd ever sustained throughout her entire Dark Side career and she was fairly sure that she was pretty close to death. If Naru-sama hadn't shown up to rescue her from [Measure Heart] when she did…
"That sounds like plenty to worry about to me." Ruiko-sama said hypocritically.
Frenda shot her an unimpressed look. "If I don't get to worry about your black outs then you can't worry about my injuries. Besides, all I need is time to heal and maybe a visit with Heaven Canceler and I'll be right as rain, but your situation isn't that simple is it?"
Ruiko-sama sighed, once again looking amazingly beautiful, before replying. "Yes, it's more complicated than that. But we agreed not to talk about my black outs."
Frenda winced. "Sorry."
"It's alright." The Japanese beauty said with a smile. "But let's talk about something else instead. Please."
"Sure. Uh…" Frenda said hastily as she floundered for a new topic and came up blank, instead just sputtering out the first thing that came to mind. "So! I've seen photos of you in plenty of fancy outfits on the Level 5 fansites lately. You're looking good, Ruiko-sama."
Fortunately, Frenda managed to catch herself before she admitted that the only reason she'd started reading the Level 5 fansites in the first place was because she had wanted to find good pictures of Ruiko-sama. Yes, she was crushing on the [AIM Sovereign] hard, but the other girl didn't need to know that!
"Thank you." Frenda's aforementioned crush replied, blushing at the compliment. "Since I became an actual ojou-sama with the launch of Eden Corp, I've been trying to live up to the aesthetic."
"You've been doing a great job at it. Honestly, you're the epitome of the ojou-sama in my opinion. I especially like how you look when you dress up in ball gowns. Dressing up all fancy suits you. It makes you look beautiful."
More beautiful than you already are normally that is.
Adorably, Ruiko-sama's blush deepened at Frenda's watered down observation. "Thank you. I'm flattered that someone as pretty as you are, Frenda-chan, thinks I'm beautiful."
It was Frenda's turn to blush. And oh, did her cheeks burn! She must've looked like a tomato as she stammered out a reply to her crush's compliment. "T-Th-Thank y-you! B-But I-I think yo-you're the one fla-flattering me."
"No, I'm just being honest." Ruiko-sama said earnestly, smiling at Frenda shyly. "I do think you're pretty. Your natural blonde hair and blue eyes are rare in Academy City and that makes you exotic."
"Naru-sama has blonde hair and blue eyes too." Frenda reminded the Level 5, having recovered some of her wits.
"And Janie-chan and Febrie-chan are blondes too." Ruiko-sama added with a roll of her eyes. "But that doesn't change that for the City it's rare and exotic."
"True," Frenda said, conceding the point before calling on all her acting ability to adopt a playful tone as she pressed for answers. "So my appearance being exotic is why you think I'm pretty, Ruiko-sama?"
"Well, I like how petite you are too. I think it's attractive."
She finds me attractive! Frenda thought, barely managing to avoid swooning. She could not however stop herself from blushing even harder at the revelation.
"S-So, um, why do you, uh, like petite things?"
"Well, uh, it's because, um, it makes you cute. Like, uh, a small animal. You know, like, um, a-a, a kitten! And, well, everyone likes kittens, right?" Ruiko-sama admitted with a blush.
In most other situations, Frenda would have been offended by being compared to a kitten, but when Ruiko-sama was making the comparison… She just felt flattered and blushed harder still.
"So, I'm like a kitten, huh?" She said, trying to play it cool despite her burning cheeks.
Ruiko-sama, her face also atomic red, nodded sheepishly.
"If that's the case then when we're both better, why don't we cuddle a bit and see how much like a real kitten I can be, huh?" Frenda suggested boldly.
She knew it was an immensely risky thing to say, but Science damnit! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. It was clear to Frenda that she wanted Ruiko-sama. And come what may, she wasn't going to give up on what she wanted without at least giving things a try!
"W-Wha-What!?" Ruiko-sama sputtered, caught off guard by Frenda's suggestion.
"You've done a lot for me, Ruiko-sama. If cuddling with you helps pay you back for it even a little, then it's a small price to pay." Frenda said, continuing to play it cool. She might be willing to give making the Number 3 hers a shot, but there was no reason to be stupid about it. In fact, with the other girl's boyfriend being Accelerator, being stupid was a death sentence.
"Oh. That's what you meant, huh?" Ruiko-sama said with an adorable pout and sounding disappointed.
Frenda's hopes of a romantic relationship with the younger girl climbed at that response but she knew when to back off, so instead of pushing harder and potentially ruining everything, she scrambled to change the subject.
"So, uh, is there anything else about me that you like besides my looks, Ruiko-sama?" Frenda asked.
Way to go, Frenda! How is this a safe subject change!?
Fortunately, despite the close nature to the sensitive topic of her feelings towards Frenda, Ruiko-sam rolled with the new topic without comment. She, in fact, hummed in thought at the question.
"I honestly hadn't really thought about it before." She admitted after a moment. "I just like you. But if I had to put it into words… Hmm… I guess I would have to say that one of the big things is your spunky personality."
"Spunky?" Frenda repeated, bewildered.
Ruiko-sama shrugged. "Naru-chan described you as that once and I think it really fits. You're a Level 0 who routinely fights high Level Espers and not only are you not intimidated by them, you even banter with them as you fight. That's plenty courageous in my book. And just being able to keep up with high Level Espers means you would have plenty of skill. Skill that would need lots of determination to acquire. And you do all of that just so you can get the resources to take care of your little sister? That's a sign of great determination too, isn't it? And since the definition of spunky is being courageous and determined, it fits."
Oh, I'm blushing again. Frenda observed as heat suffused her cheeks once more.
"Thank you for the compliment, Ruiko-sama."
"I'm just being honest." The Level 5 said with a smile.
And if you shower me with more of your honesty I might just spontaneously combust from blushing too hard! Frenda thought with a mental whine. Gotta change the subject!
"Ruiko-sama! Did you read the latest issue of Cutie!?" Frenda asked desperately, referring to the popular fashion magazine marketed towards young women. "There were some pretty outfits showcased in it, right?"
The younger girl giggled at Frenda's deflection but didn't otherwise call her out on it, instead she accepted it with a smile and replied. "I did read the issue and I must agree with you, there were quite a few outfits that I liked in it."
"Which one did you like best?" Frenda asked, partly out of curiosity and partly out of a desire to find out so she could buy it to offer to her crush as a present at a later date.
"Hmm… I guess I liked the outfit in the centerfold best. It was-"
-really pretty and I think it would fit in quite nicely with the rest of my wardrobe."
"Okay, that's enough." Mikoto said with a shake of her head as she used her Electromastery to remotely cut off the feed from the infirmary and it was replaced on the video wall with the profiles of ITEM's members, Hamazura and SCHOOL's agents. They didn't need to watch Ruiko and Frenda-san chat about fashion like a pair of longtime girlfriends.
"Yeah," Naru whined in disappointment. "Why couldn't they have flirted some more? They were so cute when they did that!"
"Don't be a voyeur, Naru." The [Railgun] chided her kohai.
"Hey! Not fair! You were right there watching them too!"
"And I would've cut it once Ruiko woke up if someone didn't insist we keep watching." Mikoto lied. She was just as interested in watching Ruiko and Frenda-san flirt as Naru had been.
To protect her kohai of course! She was not well and she had to make sure she wasn't taken advantage of when she was vulnerable! It totally wasn't because she found Ruiko and Frenda's flirting adorable! Nor was it because she was taking mental notes about things she wanted to try on Kamijou-san the next time she ran into him! Really! It wasn't!
Unaware of her thoughts, Naru just pouted at being scolded.
Mikoto smiled at that. The Chibi looked adorable with that look on her face.
"So, are you ready for me to continue the briefing?" Mikoto asked after a moment of watching her kohai pout.
The blonde just nodded and made a vaguely condescending "go on" motion with her hands.
Mikoto knew the Number 2 had done it on purpose to get a rise out of her, but despite that she couldn't suppress the surge of irritation that bubbled up at the slight. Nor could she stop the sparks that danced around her head in irritation. She did however manage to mostly bottle it up. Blowing up over this was exactly what the Chibi wanted. Her kohai probably thought she was repressing her rage of Remy LeBeau's escape and needed an outlet so was antagonizing her so she'd let it all out. It was thoughtful of her, but Mikoto had more self-control than that
With that thought in mind, Mikoto continued her briefing on the current state of things.
"Okay, where did I leave off?" Mikoto asked as she tried to recall the answer to her own question. "Oh, right! ITEM being defunct. Okay, so after defeating Mugino, Hamazura Shiage took [AIM Stalker] and escaped the City. The analysts suspect they are headed to the border between Russia and the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations with the intention to use the brewing tension between the two countries to hide their movements."
"Do we need to go hunt them down?"
"No." Mikoto said with a shake of her head. "Elements of the City military are in pursuit. But things might change. The City is investing a surprising amount of resources to hunt the two down, so it's possible we might be mobilized in some capacity to assist."
"Yeah, I imagine we might." Naru said with a nod. "AIM manipulators like Rui-chan and [AIM Stalker] are super rare. I think I can count the number of them off my fingers and still have most of them leftover. And high Levels like them are even rarer. So I can totally understand the City pulling out all the stops to get Takitsubo-san back."
Mikoto nodded. The notes on the situation had helpfully spelled out as much. She suspected whichever analyst prepared it realized Mikoto wouldn't understand the City's seeming obsession with recovering the Level 4 and had preemptively added it to answer her inevitable questions.
"So besides the hunt for [AIM Stalker], what else is going on?"
"No need to be impatient, Naru." Mikoto chided. "I was getting to it."
Naru had the grace to look apologetic and was on the verge of opening her mouth to do so verbally but Mikoto just waved her effort away and continued.
"Our primary concern right now is SCHOOL. Since they effectively wiped out ITEM, they seemed to have gone silent. But that likely won't last. It seems their motive is to strike out against your boss, the General Superintendent, and now that they have the Tweezers and have access to UNDER_LINE-"
"They have access to its information." Naru cut in. "Argh! With it, they are spoiled for choice on targets that they can attack to undermine him."
"Unfortunately," Mikoto agreed with a sigh. "Which is why we need to be on alert so we can intercept SCHOOL once they make their choice."
Naru groaned. "I hate being reactive like this. It's so much better to be on the offensive."
"I feel you. Sadly, we have no idea where SCHOOL is hiding at the moment so we can't go on the offensive."
"We could go after their subordinate organizations and try to flush Kakine out?"
"Do you honestly think he would fall for that?" Mikoto asked skeptically.
"Nah. He's too smart for that." Naru said with another groan. "Damn! This is-"
Whatever complaint the blonde was about to make was cut off when the base was suddenly rocked by an explosion.
"Wha-" Mikoto began as she tried to reach out to the base's electronic systems with her Electromastery in a bid to determine the explosion's source. She was saved the effort by Naru's superhuman senses.
"That came from the infirmary." Naru said in a horrified whisper.
Mikoto's eyes widened in alarm at the revelation even as she grabbed the Number 2's shoulder.
That was all the prompting [Maniforce] needed to teleport them to the infirmary and to a sight that had Mikoto's anxiety spiking dangerously. As directly over the currently empty bed where they had put Ruiko earlier was a massive hole in the roof.
"Naru-sama, Mikoto-sama! Thank goodness you're here!" Frenda-san cried out to them from her own bed, a tinge of relief coloring her otherwise worry filled voice. "Something happened with Ruiko-sama! You've gotta go help her!"
"We will." Naru assured her fellow blonde. "But can you tell us what happened first?"
Frenda-san took a deep breath to calm herself down before nodding. Though by the way her hands trembled as she gripped the bedcovers of her bed, Mikoto had doubts as to just how successful her efforts to soothe her anxiety had been.
"Ruiko-sama and I were just chatting when she suddenly froze, screamed a name, grew wings and a halo before she used some kinda disintegrating power to make a hole in the roof and flew off. She was in such a rush she didn't even care that her disintegration trick set off something on the roof that exploded."
"Do you know what was the name she cried out?"
Frenda-san frowned, searching her mind for the answer. Mikoto wasn't surprised. Things must've happened extremely quickly. It probably wasn't easy trying to recall the small details.
"I-I think it was Kazari." The Norwegian said finally, her eyes widening in alarm as she realized what that meant.
After the Jailbreaker Incident, no one on the Dark Side was unaware of who Kazari-san was and how important she was to Ruiko and the rest of the Trinity. If she was in danger, they would move mountains, literally if need be, to make sure she was alright.
"Senpai," Naru said worriedly, turning to Mikoto questioningly.
Mikoto on her part was already pulling her phone out of her skirt pocket. "I'm calling our intelligence teams. We need to find where Kazari-san is right now and get there ASAP."
Naru nodded, her professionalism returning to her now that the initial bout of worry about Kazari-san had faded.
"Naru-sama, Mikoto-sama-"
"Don't worry, Frenda-chan." The Number 3 said as she looked at her fellow blonde reassuringly. "We'll find where Rui-chan went soon. And once we do, we'll make sure she and Kazari-chan are both safe. We won't let any of our friends get hurt. Believe it!"
As her call finally connected, Mikoto just nodded. No one hurt their friends. Absolutely no one!
Far from the Trinity's base, in one of Academy City's many parks, one of the friends that the group had sworn to protect coughed up blood as she clutched her dislocated left shoulder and staggered away from her attacker.
Uiharu Kazari had just split up with Janie-chan, Febrie-chan and Order-chan after Yomikawa-san had come to pick them up. With the Trinity, and their mother in particular, and even their father busy with some classified mission, Ruiko-san had asked her to check in with her daughters whenever she could. Something that Kazari was more than happy to do. Not only because her best friend had asked her to, which was reason enough for her, but also because she genuinely enjoyed spending them with the adorable little girls. Especially introducing them to the wonders of all things cake. Unfortunately, just as she was on her way to the Judgment 177 Branch Office for her afternoon shift after spending lunch, and furthering their education in the love of cake, she was viciously attacked.
"I-I won't tell you anything." Kazari spat defiantly at the young man with shoulder-length dirty blond hair that she recognized as Kakine Teitoku, [Dark Matter], the Number 4 Level 5. A Level 5 that was armed with a strange looking glove with long blades attached to its index and middle fingers.
"Oh, I think you will tell me everything I want to know." Kakine-san said cockily as he used his ability to conjure a baseball sized sphere that flew directly at Kazari. The Judgment agent had seen Dark Matter being used countless times. It was one of Ruiko-san's favorite abilities to emulate. But she had never seen her best friend's conjurations just appear out of nowhere with preexisting velocity before. At best, Ruiko-san needed to use another ability, like Telekinesis, to move what conjuration she'd created how she wanted. Thus surprised by this break from her expectations, Kazari was unable to react in time to avoid the heavy metal ball slamming into her.
The blow was hard enough to knock her onto her back and if the pain in her chest was anything to go by, break one of her already bruised ribs. The latter injury had been the result of the volleyball sized metal ball that the Number 4 that had shot at her when he made his appearance. A ball that in hindsight he had probably not so much tossed at her but conjured with the trajectory and force necessary to injure her. An attack that had, thankfully for their safety, scared the few other people present in the park into fleeing.
"Where are Accelerator and [Multi-Skill]'s daughters?" The psycho Level 5 asked as he loomed over Kazari, brandishing his bladed glove threateningly. "Thanks to UNDER_LINE, I know they were just with you."
Kazari couldn't have answered the man even if she wanted to. The pain of being slammed into the ground was too much. Especially when the madman was keeping her prone by planting one of his feet on her chest.
"Ah, let me give you a minute to regain the ability to speak." The Level 5 said with a bloodthirsty smirk. "In the meantime, maybe I should explain something you might want to know. After all, everyone deserves to know why, whenever it is possible, they will die."
Even through her pain, Kazari glared at him. She wouldn't die today. Her friends would save her! She was sure of that.
"Well, let me show you that kindness then." Kakine-san said with a surprisingly believable kind smile. "You see, despite all the top secret information available in the UNDER_LINE, in the end I'm still forced to go after the most obvious of my potential targets. Sadly, the other options were all just too well protected. I would rather not have to deal with the abominable thing the General Superintendent calls the Anti-Art Attachment, thank you very much!"
"G-Go t-to he-hell!" Kazari shouted defiantly despite the blood filling her mouth from her likely punctured lung.
"Tch!" [Dark Matter] tsked. "This would be so much easier on you if you would just oblige me by answering my question."
"I-I am no-not t-telling you anything!"
The Level 5 rolled his eyes at her defiance. "Well, let's see if you can still say that after I break your right arm, shall we?"
Lifting one of his legs and preparing to stomp it down on Kazari's currently still uninjured right arm, [Dark Matter] smirked in anticipation like the sadist that he clearly was. Fortunately, he never got the chance to carry out his intentions. Just as he was about to bring his foot down, tendrils of familiar rainbow energy wrapped themselves around his body and picked him up. And before he could react, they slammed him into a nearby building with enough force to create a crater in the wall.
At the same time, energy flooded into Kazari's body and somehow, in defiance of what she understood of what Esper abilities were capable of, caused her body to heal. But as impossible as that was, it barely registered to the Judgment agent. Instead, her full attention was on Ruiko-san who was floating in mid-air a short distance away with her rainbow wings trailing familiar tendrils from the the edge of her feathers that were fluttering menacingly behind her, her whole body was enshrouded by her aura, a halo floated over her head and there was a furious expression on her face.
"Ruiko-san~!" Kazari cried out in relief at her best friend's arrival.
A laugh from the direction that her best friend had tossed Kakine-san had Kazari spinning towards the man, who whilst cackling like a madman unleashed a storm of blades that cut the tendrils that Ruiko-san had wrapped around him, freeing him. Somehow uninjured from his violent meeting with the side of a building, he jumped down from the crater he'd been embedded in and landed back on the ground. All with a disturbing casual ease.
"Oh! My plan went even better than I expected." Kakine-san said with a deranged laugh. "I'd hoped to hook Accelerator but Crowley's Angel might be an even bigger fish."
In response to his taunt, Ruiko-san shot a barrage of particle beams at him but [Dark Matter] simply conjured several large metal sheets that served as barriers which easily protected him from the attack. At the same time, he counterattacked by conjuring a spear that, considering everything that Kazari had seen of his ability, in an act of pure theater he held it in his hands and prepared to throw it at Ruiko-san. He never got a chance to throw it though as out of nowhere, an ATM (Automated Teller Machine), of all things, crashed into [Dark Matter]'s side.
Turning to where the ATM came from, Kazari saw Accelerator arriving by flying towards them with a pair of wings that looked like tornadoes made of spiraling black winds.
"You're pathetic, [Dark Matter]. Picking on girls? Is that what you've been reduced to, Kakine Teitoku?" Accelerator said, glaring at his fellow male Level 5. "Why don't you try picking on someone your own size instead?"
With Kakine pinned under the ATM that he had thrown at him for the moment, Accelerator chanced a look at Ruiko and her friend. The Level 1 looked like she had been through the wringer with her uniform all scruffed up and covered in a worrying amount of blood, but she looked mostly okay. Even that plastic flower crown she seemed to wear everywhere was still on her head, even if it was a little askew. Now normally Accelerator couldn't give a damn about anyone besides his loved ones in a fight, but the Judgment girl was Ruiko's best friend and if anything happened to her, she'd throw a fit. So naturally, like the good boyfriend he was, it behooved him to make sure her friend was okay too. But his primary concern here was Ruiko, who despite showing up to fight Kakine in her Angel Mode to defend her friend had suddenly frozen up.
Is she having one of those black outs that she's been having lately? Accelerator thought worriedly as he began to drift towards her. And he wasn't the only one who thought so either.
"Ruiko-san?" Her friend - Uiharu Kazari, was it? - called out to Ruiko worriedly as she staggered to her feet. "Are you alright? Why aren't you saying anything?"
Her friend's voice seemed to finally reach her and Ruiko turned to face the other girl with a reassuring smile. A sight that had Accelerator breathing a sigh of relief.
It did not last though as just as Ruiko seemed to snap out of her black out, the sound of something heavy being tossed had him spinning back towards where he'd buried [Dark Matter]. And much to his annoyance, the Number 4 had not only freed himself but grown six feathered wings. Wings whose feathers glowed brilliantly white and made him look very much like an Angel.
"Compensating for something?" Accelerator taunted the other man, gesturing at Kakine's three pairs of wings versus his and Ruiko's single pairs.
"Accelerator too? It's my lucky da-"
Much to Accelerator's satisfaction, Kakine's rant was cut short when Ruiko used some Telekinesis and Electromastery to launch some random metallic items from the park around them at railgun speeds at the asshole. This forced [Dark Matter] to give up on monologuing to instead shoot up into the air to avoid being reduced to a bloody smear. All without Ruiko even looking away from comforting her worried friend.
"Kazari, go find somewhere safe." Ruiko said as she looked away from her friend and turned her attention to Accelerator. "Accel and I will wvzo drgs [Dzip Mzggvi] (deal with [Dark Matter])."
"R-Right!" The flower crown wearing girl said, looking hesitant, clearly unwilling to just leave Ruiko alone. Thankfully, her reason caught up to her and she realized how much of a liability she would be in this fight, so though still obviously unhappy about it, she started to dash away as fast as she could. "Kick his b-butt!"
Ruiko has good friends. Accelerator concluded as he exchanged a nod with Ruiko.
She gave a near mechanical one back as her wings brightened even further, bleeding colors.
She wasn't the only one amping up for the fight however and even as the Uiharu girl fled, Kakine shot a rain of Dark Matter conjured spears down at them with a flap of his wings. A majority of which, Accelerator noted with disdain, weren't targeting them at all but rather the defenseless Level 1.
Ruiko spread her wings wide at that, releasing something - whatever it was, Accelerator couldn't make sense of it - that spread out from her like a shockwave and disintegrated the incoming spears. - No, not disintegrated. She had somehow displaced them somewhere that Accelerator couldn't detect. - At the same time, Accelerator, curious though he was about what his girlfriend had just pulled off, shot up into the sky and tried to tackle [Dark Matter].
The bastard evaded his charge and smirked at him cockily. Though Accelerator wiped that look off his face almost immediately as he slammed one of his wings into the jerk. Just to be safe, he had the tornado of black winds extend to push him away from the park, and the vulnerable Uiharu girl, as much as possible. At the same time, the spiraling winds tried to drill through the piece of shit and cut him in half, but sadly he was able to snap his own wings in front of him just in time to create a makeshift shield that prevented his bisection. Fortunately, he couldn't do anything about being blasted away though. At least, not until he was more than a block away and found enough strength to, with a forceful jerk, use his wings to scatter the tip of Accelerator's dark twister and give him the room he needed to escape from its grasp.
The Number 1 tsked at his prey escaping but was willing to let the jackass get away. Ruiko though was of a different opinion.
"After him!" She shouted as she shot off into the air after the Number 4. "Hv'h gzitvgrmt fh. Iu dv wlm'g gzpv srn lfg mld, sv'oo qfhg tl zugvi lfi olevw lmvh. Wv xzm'g ovg gszg szkkvm! Hv wrvh glwzb! (He's targeting us. If we don't take him out now, he'll just go after our loved ones. We can't let that happen! He dies today!)"
"He's targeting us!? Since when?" Accelerator asked, understanding Ruiko despite whatever weird language she was slipping in and out of. All whilst he shot into the air after her, launching his wings ahead of them at Kakine, trying to catch the bastard again. [Dark Matter] was wise to the trick though and danced around Accelerator's wings, letting them tear up the frontages of the skyscrapers they flew past as the three of them began an aerial chase through the City's skyline.
"Srmxv mld zkkzivmgob (Since now apparently)!" Ruiko shot back even as beams of light shot out from the wings, as if they were firing from each feather and curved past them and at the Number 4. Yet, for some reason they hit Kakine with the force of mere softballs. Some of the beams even bounced off altogether, striking things around the area of the Number 4 and reducing them to slag but otherwise leaving their actual target unharmed. "Weren't you listening to what he was ranting about earlier!? He's attacking us to get back at Crowley!"
"You can't hurt the monster in the Windowless Building so you decided to come after us instead? Coward's move, Number 4!" Accelerator shouted angrily at their opponent as with a sweep of his wings, he shot a barrage of vacuum blades at Kakine.
"Considering how vital you two are to his plans, it is a totally valid move." [Dark Matter] countered as he conjured a skyscraper sized slab of metal that shielded him from the vacuum blades and darted out from behind the thing before it collapsed onto him due to the force of the blades' impact.
Ruiko tried to skewer him with a spiraling lance of rainbow energy that she threw at him as he did and the Number 4's eyes widened in horror as it closed with him, knowing that it was moving too fast for him to evade it. Fortunately for him, the energy lance ran out of steam and petered out of existence mere inches from killing the prick.
What the heck!? Ruiko would never make a mistake like that! Is whatever is making her black out affecting her attacks now too!?
"Having performance issues, Saten? You might want to trade up for a better girl, Accelerator!" Kakine mocked as he wove his hand through the air, an action that conjured spears the size of lamp posts, each of which were sparking with electricity that they had seemingly been imbued with upon their creation and which were already shooting at them at high speed.
"Nah, I think I'm good." Accelerator replied back honestly as Ruiko conjured a Sphere of Annihilation straight out of Dungeons and Dragons - Her house had plenty of modules and they'd played a campaign or two when they hung out at her place. - that sucked the spears in and like she did to the earlier batch of them displaced them to somewhere that he couldn't sense.
Kakine's brow furrowed at the display. His face was unreadable, but Accelerator would bet good money he was flummoxed by what Ruiko had done - Accelerator knew he was. - and was scrambling to come up with some kind of counter. The Number 1 wasn't about to let him and using one of his wings, he picked up a number of abandoned cars from the road they were fighting their running aerial battle over and tossed them at him at railgun speeds.
To his annoyance, Kakine just snapped a couple of his wings in the direction of the incoming attack and conjured a set of his own railgun speed projectiles that perfectly intercepted it. He had just dealt with Accelerator's impromptu railguns when Ruiko's Sphere of Annihilation finished fading away and gave Kakine the chance for his counterattack.
"I wonder if those wings melt!" Kakine howled as he fired a storm of needles, of all things, at Ruiko's wings. The inky black abnormal material that the needles were made of allowed them to puncture the feathered appendages easily but instead of hurting his girlfriend, she just looked at [Dark Matter] like he was an idiot as the holes just closed up like nothing had ever happened.
The furious look on his face would be hilarious if he didn't look like he was up to something. "Those wings… They aren't even made of matter… What are they!?"
"Tsv rmgzmtryov vhhvmxv lu gsv Crgb'h ehkvih trevm ulin (The intangible essence of the City's Espers given form)." Ruiko explained with a shrug. "I zn zm Amtvo lu Sxrvmxv (I am an Angel of Science)."
"Ruiko, what the hell does that mean? Does it have anything to do with your black outs?" Accelerator couldn't help but yell out.
Ruiko winced, it seemed she had said something she hadn't wanted him to know, and nodded hesitantly.
Kakine, the douchebag, couldn't let them have a moment of peace to discuss things though and used their distraction to spread his wings wide and with a powerful flap, launch hundreds of metallic balls at them that exploded like grenades, creating tons of shrapnel that also proceeded to explode. In total, this created a wall of explosions that threatened to consume both Ruiko and Accelerator.
"You're interrupting something important, you dickhead!" The Number 1 snapped at the other man as he moved in front of his girlfriend, using his Redirection to easily deflect any explosion or shrapnel that got close to them.
"And you two shouldn't be having important discussions in the middle of a fight." The scumbag shouted back.
"He's right. We'll discuss this later." Ruiko said with a relieved sigh as she shot past Accelerator and just as Kakine was preparing himself to take her on head on, she instead teleported right behind him.
[Dark Matter] tried to turn around but Ruiko was too fast for him. Using moves that Accelerator presumed she had learned from her various martial arts classes, Ruiko unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks on Kakine that had the Number 4 reeling. It was a pummeling that his girlfriend topped off by grabbing the by then disorientated dirty blonde asswipe by an arm and judo throwing him towards the ground. And just to make sure he didn't recover before he hit the ground, she used her own emulation of the shithead's ability to conjure a massive anvil that slammed into his chest. Thus weighed down, he smashed into the earth, leaving a massive crater as they impacted hard.
She wasn't satisfied with that and displacing her conjured anvil, Ruiko shot down towards the crater intent to continue pummeling [Dark Matter]. Teleporting the last few feet and once again confusing their opponent as he staggered back to his feet, Ruiko once more opened a can of whoopass on the shitbag that left him shaking like a leaf.
Serves the pig right! This is what you get for coming after us and our family! Accelerator thought triumphantly as he flew down towards the beatdown slowly and watched on in amusement.
It seemed however, he had counted his chickens before they hatched and mid punch, Ruiko suddenly froze. And as if she was glitching, her limbs jerked back and forth as if stuck in a loop.
The Number 4 grinned viciously at the reprieve this gave him and without a moment of hesitation, he conjured a wave of unnatural black liquid that washed over the Number 3 like a tsunami. Not only did it send Ruiko slamming into a building with the force of the wave, the freezing liquid, which had to be well below freezing, froze almost immediately upon contact with the air, trapping Accelerator's Angel in an icy prison.
"Dammit!" Accelerator snarled as he launched himself at the ice, intent on freeing his girlfriend.
The predictable move was exactly what Kakine was waiting for however and spreading his wings wide, he used his ability to change their makeup, making them glow unnaturally. The light from which shot towards Accelerator like the beam from a spotlight. If the light had been natural, it wouldn't have been an issue. Heck, if it was some kind of laser, it wouldn't either. His Redirection would've handled that just fine. But whatever the light that [Dark Matter] had created, it was something new. A strange wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum that Accelerator had not encountered before, that quite possibly could not exist naturally. His Redirection did not react to it, just like it did not react to most light. And Accelerator himself didn't realize the threat until it was too late.
The moment the light touched his skin, Accelerator screamed. The light burned with an intensity that was unnatural. It quickly burned through his skin and began cooking his muscle and flesh. He was literally being burned alive. By light!
He wasn't going to take it laying down though and his wings lashed out at Kakine but the slimeball just danced around his attempts whilst laughing like he'd won the bloody lottery.
Unfortunately for the wanker, like Accelerator had a moment ago, he had counted his chickens before they hatched. Upon hearing Accelerator's screams of pain, Ruiko reacted.
"ACCELERATOR! Ylf urvmw, blf droo mlg sfig nb yvolevw (You fiend, you will not hurt my beloved)!" She roared, her voice booming with superhuman intensity. One that reached down to his very bones. At the same time, with an explosion of prismatic light, everything within a hundred feet of where she stood was abruptly displaced to wherever she sent the things she 'disintegrated', including a sizable chunk of the building she had been pinned against. A building that began to collapse.
She did not let it collapse naturally however and instead, picking it up with what Accelerator assumed was Telekinesis, she compacted it into a narrow sheet and threw it down between him and Kakine's light. She then disappeared, even as her familiar energy filled his body and he felt his injuries heal.
Impossible! There aren't any known Esper abilities that can heal like this! Even the highest Level biokinetics can only manage to manipulate their own bodies to this extent! Regeneration is one thing, but healing others!? That shouldn't be possible!
But it seemed like Ruiko was doing the impossible on the regular right now, something which brought a proud grin to Accelerator's face. A grin that only grew wider as Kakine smashed through the makeshift barrier that Ruiko had created, all that remained of his wings naught but bloody stumps. And stalking through the opening [Dark Matter] had made and looking like an avenging Angel was Ruiko.
"Trnv gl wrv (Time to die), Kakine Teitoku!" Ruiko said menacingly as she advanced on their bloody opponent, tossing away the wings she'd ripped from the man's back as she did.
"You can't kill me," the Number 4 said, sounding surprisingly calm despite what awaited him. "You might've defeated me here today but I have fail-safes that will keep me alive."
Ruiko laughed at that. A full on villain's laugh that had Accelerator smirking and made his pants feel a little tight.
"Do you think spreading your consciousness through multiple bodies you created via Dark Matter will save you, Kakine?" Ruiko said, startling Accelerator a little. The Number 4 had done that!? "Did you perhaps forget that your consciousness is carried by your AIM Field? And that my ability is AIM Sovereign? That I can use it to scramble your AIM as you die, so your consciousness won't jump to a new host like you intended?"
The way that Kakine's eyes widened in horror was so amusing that it prompted Accelerator to take his turn to laugh like a villain. The Number 4 had screwed up. Badly. And now he was going to die due to his mistake.
"Accelerator, nb olev, dlfow blf wl gsv slmlih (my love, would you do the honors)?"
"Glady," Accelerator nodded with a grin even as he pulled out his gun from the holster he wore at his back and advanced on Kakine, who was scrambling away from them in horror. "I could end you with my powers, but vermin like you don't deserve it. Instead, I'm going to end you the old fashioned way. Time to die, Kakine Teitoku!"
"Time to die, Kakine Teitoku!"
That was what Naru heard Accelerator scream as he leveled a gun to the defeated Number 4's head as she and Mikoto-senpai teleported onto the scene. Naru honestly didn't know what was going on but if Accelerator was about to put a bullet in [Dark Matter]'s brain and Rui-chan, who was watching on from nearby, wasn't doing anything, then she was sure that killing the other Level 5 was the right thing to do.
Next to her Mikoto-senpai startled at Accelerator's declaration but beyond that she too seemed to understand that if Rui-chan was condoning this then they must have a very good reason. After all, killing another Level 5, even one who was actively being their enemy, was not something to be done lightly. If at all. The amount of heat they'd get for doing this from the Board and her boss would be insane!
And the Saten girl knows that. Kurama mused with a frown. There is only one reason why she would risk it.
Yeah. Kakine threatened her family.
Speaking of Rui-chan's family, just as Accelerator was moving to pull the trigger, they arrived on the scene.
"Papa, don't do it!" Janie-chan shouted frantically as she, Febrie-chan and Order-chan raced towards him with Yomikawa-san and Kazari-chan running after them.
"What?" Accelerator said, startled, as he turned to face his daughters. "What are you three doing here!?"
"Stopping Papa and Mama from doing something stupid, that's what!" Febrie-chan shouted indignantly as she and Janie-chan threw themselves at Accelerator, forcing him to drop his gun to catch them. A weapon that Order-chan promptly kicked as far away from him as she could.
While it was certainly a good choice to bring in the Number 1's moral compasses, what the fuck was Yomikawa-san doing! There was an enemy Level 5 here! Bringing them into danger like this was stupid!
"Girls, answer your Papa! What are you doing here?" Ruiko, in all her Angelic glory, demanded as she floated over to her daughters.
And now they had an angry Angel to deal with. Great.
"We heard from Uiharu-nee when she caught up to us that Papa and Mama were in a big fight with [Dark Matter], so we came to see if we could help. Misaka Misaka dutifully explains. But what do we find when we do? Misaka Misaka asks rhetorically. Papa and Mama about to kill the Number 4!? Mama! You know that if you do that the higher ups will get very, very angry. Misaka Misaka reminds Mama. We can't afford that! Misaka Misaka adds. We are in enough trouble already. Misaka Misaka said, gesturing at the trail of destruction that Papa and Mama's battle with the Number 4 had left behind."
Ah, good old reason, logic and a touch of blackmail. Would that work with a highly emotional Angel?
I certainly hope so. Because that trail of destruction really is impressive.
Naru took a moment to look away from the tense confrontation between Rui-chan, Accelerator and their daughters to admire the sight. Kurama was right. It was bloody impressive. It looked like some, dare she say it, angry god had smited the City by cutting a deep gash into its landscape, so extensive was the damage they had left in their wake.
And this was with them holding back. Naru thought with a mental whistle of appreciation. Sure, she could probably do the same. Heck, all the Level 5s could if given sufficient motivation. But it was still impressive. Especially since Rui-chan had teleported everyone that might've been caught in the crossfire to safety, a large group of which she and Senpai had passed by on their way here.
"He wants to hunt you three down and hurt you!" Rui-chan shouted, unwilling to listen to Order-chan. "He can't be allowed to live!"
"And we can't kill him, Mama! Misaka Misaka insists." Order-chan shouted back, throwing herself at Rui-chan and trying to restrain her like the twins were doing to Accelerator. "We need to find another way! Misaka Misaka urges."
"Ruiko-san, listen to Order-chan! You can't do this!" Kazari-chan urged, adding her voice to the calls for restraint.
"Yeah, Ruiko, surely you can come up with some other way to handle this?" Senpai tried.
"No! The only option is to kill him!" Rui-chan insisted as her wings, which due to her height Order-chan couldn't wrap her arms around, spread wide and began glowing with a prismatic light.
"Namikaze-san, Misaka-san, stop her!" Yomikawa-san shouted, her cry echoed by Kazari-chan, Febrie-chan and Order-chan.
"Rui-chan, calm your fabulous tits for five seconds!" Naru couldn't help but shout out. She wanted to restrain her, but a part of her agreed that Kakine's madness needed to be snuffed out. They could always clone the fucker anyway.
Unlike her though, Mikoto-senpai - Thank Science! - didn't limit herself to just words.
"Calm down, Ruiko!" The [Railgun] shouted as she wrapped thick tendrils of iron sand around Rui-chan's wings and forced them back down. It probably wouldn't do anything to actually stop whatever attack that the [AIM Sovereign] was prepping, but it was just the kind of physical reminder of restraint that was just what it seemed to be needed to get Rui-chan to snap out of her murderous mood.
"Fine~! We won't kill him." Rui-chan spat unhappily. "But then how are we going to deal-"
Naru had a moment to feel disappointed at not getting a chance to end [Dark Matter] at last, but just like Rui-chan's sentence, the feeling was cut short when a sudden scream from Yomikawa-san had everyone turning in her direction in alarm.
Standing behind the Anti-Skill agent and with a hand on her bleeding shoulder that was surrounded by a haze of particles which were literally sawing into the woman's flesh was none other than Kakine Teitoku. The bastard had made use of the distraction caused by everyone attempting to talk down Rui-chan to get a drop on the woman.
"I think the best thing for you all to do is to let me go," the Number 4 said cockily. "Or this woman dies. Painfully."
As if to emphasize his point, he had the particles cutting into her shoulder intensify their efforts, pulling a pained scream from Yomikawa-san.
"Stop! Stop! Don't hurt Yomikawa-san! Misaka Misaka pleads!" Order-chan cried out desperately.
A desperation echoed by Accelerator as he spat out defiantly. "Let her go, dirtbag. Or so help me, I'll make sure you die the most painful death imaginable."
"I think you have the mistaken impression that you have any leverage over me at the moment," Kakine taunted with a laugh, even as he intensified his attack on Yomikawa-san, pulling another scream from the woman.
"Shit! Those particles aren't ferrous. I can't manipulate them." Mikoto-senpai hissed, sparks flying from her even as she looked on helplessly.
Can we use Move Point to teleport Yomikawa-san out of his grasp? Naru asked Kurama as she began running the calculations.
Won't help. He's using those particles for a reason. He's already implanted them into her bloodstream. If we teleport her, he's just gonna have them burst out of her body from the inside and kill her. Kurama pointed out with an angry growl. And we aren't precise enough with Move Point to just teleport her without those particles already inside her body. Not when he's also made them out of anti-chakra material and thus making it almost impossible for us to sense.
Stupid anti-chakra material! He just had to go and create that. I want to break him.
Ignoring her, Kurama continued with his analysis of the situation. The only one here who might be able to manage a teleport like that is the Saten girl, but she's…
Unfortunately for everyone, it seemed the stress of the situation had gotten to Rui-chan and as soon as Yomikawa-san's first scream had ripped through the air, Naru's bestie had become a living statue as she blacked out.
"Mama! Snap out of it! Do something!"
"Mama, please! Help Yomikawa-san!"
"Mama, please, please! Save Yomikawa-san! Misaka Misaka begs."
Rui-chan was trying to respond. Naru could see her fingers twitching but whatever was keeping her frozen was too strong and she remained unresponsive. Not even as Kazari-chan whispered encouragement into her ears and her daughters crowded around her and pleaded with her.
Something that seemed to amuse Kakine if his laugh was any indication.
"Pathetic! The [Laughing Joker] and [Army Slayer] I can understand, they went soft ever since they joined up with the [Railgun] to form the Trinity. But you too, Accelerator?" [Dark Matter] mocked. "If you were anything like you used to be, you'd have sacrificed this woman and killed me already. You've become soft."
Accelerator howled. He arched his back and the wings growing from his back transformed. As his scream turned into garbled static that could make one's ears bleed, the spiraling tornadoes of dark wind were replaced with a pair of feathered wings. The feathers of which were so black that they seemed to suck in the light from their surroundings.
"Look at that! Finally had a wake up call? Good! Now I can prove I'm the greatest! That I should be the one sitting at the top like the king I am!" Kakine laughed sadistically. "Time to die, Accelerator!"
With that pompous declaration, six wings with brilliant white feathers materialized behind Kakine and growing to grotesque lengths lunged forward to stab at Accelerator. In response, the Number 1 let out another inhuman, staticy roar and stabbed his own wings towards Kakine. If this was some shounen manga, things would have probably devolved into a stalemate as the two opposing sets of wings met each other.
This wasn't a manga however and the two foes were not evenly matched. The instant that Accelerator's wings met Kakine's, the Number 4's appendages were torn apart in showers of gore. It was like listening to glass shatter, rocks crumble and meat tearing grotesquely all at once. And Accelerator did not stop with just ripping Kakine's wings to shreds, instead he stabbed his wings right into the man himself. The result was like watching a soap bubble burst, except instead of being showered in bubbles, they were instead greeted with a rain of blood, flesh, bone and viscera.
Naru had to admit it, the display tickled her sadistic side.
But even as she enjoyed the sight, Naru didn't forget about Yomikawa-san and the moment that Kakine was dealt with, she used Move Point and teleported her to safety.
"Kazari-chan! You know First Aid better than any of us, check her over!" Naru ordered.
"Right!" Kazari-chan replied immediately, running over to the Anti-Skill officer's side. "Senpai, call Heaven Canceller's hospital. We have an emergency case!"
"I think we have another problem to handle first." Senpai said grimly, pointing behind Naru.
Naru didn't want to see what she meant. She knew whatever it was, she wouldn't like it. But she was a professional. So despite her wishes, she did turn to face their latest problem.
She really wished she hadn't.
As standing amidst the bloody remains of Kakine Teitoku was Accelerator. That was alright. She would want to gloat over having ended that creep too. What wasn't alright was the feral look on the Number 1's face.
I think that activating those new wings of his doesn't agree with him. Kurama noted dryly as arching his back like some beast, Accelerator let out yet another monstrous, staticy howl.
The inhuman cry unleashed a shockwave of raw force that shattered everything it touched. Though it seemed that even in his crazed state, Accelerator was still somewhat capable of distinguishing friend from foe as, impossibly, the wave of energy he unleashed bent around their little group even as it leveled everything else around them for a whole block. It should have killed thousands, but Naru's superhuman senses caught the faint glimmer of prismatic light from inside the buildings. Between that and how her empathy picked up the people inside disappearing just ahead of the destructive wave, Naru was relieved that Rui-chan still had enough awareness to teleport those people out of the way.
Good. That means she's fighting through her black out. Naru thought with relief. And is helping us, which is a lot better than what I can say for you, Kurama! Stop stating the obvious and help me restrain him!
Even as Naru scolded her partner, she crafted bands of earth out of the ground with her chakra and had them attempt to form a cage around Accelerator. An effort that Senpai helped with by adding her own iron sand tendrils to the mix. The Number 1's Redirection might prevent them from binding him directly but its range was limited, so if they could just create a cage outside of it, that could work.
Yeah, that's not gonna be enough. Kurama noted dryly seconds before with another roar, minus the shockwave thankfully, and a flex of his light absorbing wings, Accelerator easily smashed his way out of the half formed spherical prison they were building to contain him and shot into the air. Use your Hexe Frame and try to lock him in a short time loop with your Recursive Temporal State. That might work.
Gotcha! Naru sent back to the Bijuu even as she turned to address Mikoto-senpai whilst simultaneously drawing out large amounts of her and Kurama's chakra and forming it into her Hexe Demon Frame. "He's too strong for us to halfass it, Senpai. I'm going all out. You should too."
"Got it," Mikoto-senpai nodded even as she called down massive bolts of lightning from the sky to try and shock Accelerator, only for them to be effortlessly deflected. His Redirection was such a bloody annoying technique to deal with!
But the lightning did manage to gain Accelerator's attention so that instead of flying off and potentially causing harm elsewhere, not that he seemed inclined to do so but it was a possibility, he turned to glare at the [Railgun]. With his face twisted into a rictus of rage and his eyes transformed into pits of the same light absorbing darkness as his wings, the Number 1 really looked like a monster as he snarled at them. A monster that was diving at them from on high with his arms outstretched and his hands shaped like claws that he was ready to use to rip them to shreds.
He barely made it ten feet though before Naru caught him in her Micro Phase. Her Recursive Temporal State trapping him in a one second time loop and effectively trapping him in place. Well, mostly. He was moving so fast in his dive that he actually covered quite a distance in that one second, so he found himself traveling through that same space over and over again whilst in the time loop. This created an effect that made him look like something out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon. Except…
"Naru, is it just me or is your Micro Phase glitching?" Mikoto-senpai asked with a frown.
It's not just her. Kurama noted with a frown that Naru shared as they both noted how with each time loop, Accelerator's appearance seemed to grow more and more grayscale.
Kurama?
By Father! I think he might be literally tearing apart your Micro Phase from within with his raw power!
He can do that!? Naru gasped just as with the sound of shattering glass, one that was disturbingly similar to the sound that Kamijou's Imagine Breaker made when it negated something, Naru's Recursive Temporal State shattered.
"Bullshit! I call bullshit!" Naru shouted in dismay as she shot out of the way of Accelerator's renewed dive seconds before the Number 1 crashed into where she and Senpai had been standing like a meteor. And like a meteor strike, the impact created threw up a massive cloud of dust, out of which jumped the [Railgun] with a Electomastery assisted leap.
Though the Number 5 was soon forced to use more of her Electromastery to assist her in performing some Olympics worthy gymnastics as she evaded the spears of raw darkness, there was no other way to describe it, that Accelerator shot out of the dust cloud after her. Naru would have shouted a warning to her Senpai about them, but with the feral Number 1 shooting a brace of the damned things at her as well, she was a little too busy performing evasive maneuvers of her own to manage.
Kurama, if I let you out, do you think you can take him? Or at least pin him down long enough for him to calm down? Naru thought seriously as she switched Frames. If this was going to devolve into a fight with Accelerator and her Micro Phases weren't gonna work against him, then her Hexe Frame was useless.
Honestly? I have no idea. Kurama admitted with a frown as the sleek Jager Frame settled around Naru's body. Since this fight wasn't about beating the Number 1, not that Naru was sure she could even manage that, but simply keeping him occupied long enough for him to regain his senses, she opted for the speediest of her Frames. If she could keep Accelerator's attention on her whilst evading his attacks, she could theoretically keep him preoccupied indefinitely.
It was a wise choice too as the Frame had barely finished forming around her when she was forced to push its speed enhancing properties to the max just to evade the beam of darkness that Accelerator breathed at her as he floated up into the air from the bottom of the crater his landing had created. Yes, breathed at her. Like he was a bloody dragon! A breath weapon that only cut off when Naru's evasion brought her in front of where Janie-chan, Febrie-chan and Order-chan were still clustered around the frozen Rui-chan and begging her to do something.
"Mama! Do something!"
"Please Mama! Help Papa!"
"I beg you, Mama! Save Papa! Misaka Misaka implores with all her heart!"
"Hey Accelerator! Over here!" Mikoto-senpai shouted from her perch on the side of a building she was holding onto with the help of her Electromastery and its inner metal supports whilst she shot a railgun right at him. It was deflected by his Redirection of course, but it still managed to catch his attention and he turned his attention away from Naru and more importantly, his family.
Said family's attention was still firmly on him though and it seemed that the one member that had been unresponsive throughout his rampage so far was finally taking action.
"A-Accel." Rui-chan said as she staggered out from the huddle her daughters had formed around her and towards her berserk boyfriend. The effort was taking an immense toll on her however as evidenced by the blood that began pouring from her eyes, noses, ears and pores.
"Rui-chan!" "Mama!" "Ruiko!" "Ruiko-san!" Everyone cried out in alarm at the sight, but the [AIM Sovereign] ignored them all. She only had eyes on Accelerator.
For his part, Accelerator had also noticed Rui-chan and reacted. It was not how Naru expected though as still focused on trying to shoot Mikoto-senpai with the beams of darkness he was capable of conjuring in this state, he distractedly had one of his wings extend towards the Number 3 with its tip shaped like a lance intent to impale her.
Shit! He doesn't recognize her!
Naru didn't bother dignifying her partner's statement of the obvious with a reply and instead rushed through the computations she needed to teleport in front of the attack. She knew she would be too slow, the damned thing was closing with Rui-chan far too fast, but she'd be damned if she didn't at least try!
Not that she needed to as mere inches before the wing made contact, it just stopped.
"Bvolevw, blf mvvw gl xzon wldm (Beloved, you need to calm down)." Rui-chan said in some incomprehensible language as heedless of the danger, she reached out and gently caressed the wing that seconds earlier was about to stab her.
"R-Ruiko? Ylf'iv zoirtsg (You're alright)?" A confused sounding Accelerator replied in the same strange language as he spun around to face his girlfriend.
"Yvh, i'n urmv. Wv'iv zoo urmv. Mv, gsv trioh, Naru-chan, Mikoto-senpai, Kazari, Yomikawa-san, dv'iv zoo urmv. (Yes, I'm fine. We're all fine. Me, the girls, Naru-chan, Mikoto-senpai, Kazari, Yomikawa-san, we're all fine.)" Rui-chan said as she allowed Accelerator's wing to wrap itself around her and pull her to his side.
"Ylf'iv yovvwrmt (You're bleeding)." Accelerator said, sounding worried as he pulled his girlfriend into a tender embrace.
"Ig'h mlgsrmt. Mb ivtvmvizgrlm zoivzwb gllp xziv lu gsv rmqfirvh. (It's nothing. My regeneration already took care of the injuries.)" Rui-chan said in a reassuring tone as she cupped her boyfriend's face.
Whatever she said didn't seem to calm his worries and he frowned, but she wiped that off his face by pulling him into a kiss. It started as a chaste peck on the lips, but as she pulled away, Accelerator let loose a growl and placing a hand on the back of her neck, pulled her close again. Rui-chan giggled at this, a sound sweeter than anything Naru remembered hearing, and didn't resist as her boyfriend pulled her into a passionate kiss.
"Awww~!" The couple's three daughters cooed from behind Naru even as she smiled at the sight, dismissing her Jager Frame as she did.
"Seriously, this is how he calms down? With a kiss? Is this some kind of twisted fairy tale?" Mikoto-senpai commented in her typical tsundere fashion as she landed next to Naru with a Electromastery assisted leap.
"I think it's romantic." Kazari-chan noted with a smile as she looked up from where she was bandaging up an unconscious Yomikawa-san's shoulder. "By the way, I called Heaven Canceler's hospital. An ambulance is on the way."
"Thank you, Kazari-san." Mikoto-senpai said, offering the Judgment agent a grateful smile.
Naru herself just nodded as she kept her eyes on the two lovebird Angels who were still kissing. Someone had to watch them in case they did something insane again. They had done too much of that today as is! And no, their fawning daughters didn't count! It's not like the three of them could do anything if their parents decided to once more go off the deep end.
And Naru was glad she was paying attention to the couple because otherwise she'd have missed it when suddenly, even as they were still shamelessly kissing, both of their Angel Modes just deactivated and they passed out. Whilst they were still hovering over the pit that Accelerator had created when he'd been berserk no less, which meant the two began falling towards its bottom.
"Aw, geez! You guys are so nuts, you know that? It's like you're lovers in some crazy action flick!" Naru whined as she caught the two in a swirl of wind, cushioning their landing.
Nah. I think they're more like Mothra and Godzilla personally.
Naru just sent her partner a burst of incredulity and ignored his desperate attempts to explain himself. Instead, she just jumped down into the pit to go check on the couple.
Seriously! Why were all her friends, her partner included, all insane!?
In an empty void of a Phase of the world, a mysterious female entity watched the events that had transpired in Academy City with satisfaction and her perfect lips peeled back into the facsimile of a smile.
"Oh, Babalon." Aiwass, the Holy Guardian Angel, greeted as he made his presence known within the space. "It seems like your little plan is going well."
Babalon, the female entity, just continued to smile.
Aiwass rolled his eyes at her, an oddly human gesture for a being such as him.
"I hate it when you get like this. I know your plans are coming together, but must you be so smug about it?"
Babalon's only answer was to shoot him her satisfied smile once more.
Aiwass just sighed.
Omake: Shinobu Gets a Training Arc (Such Misfortune!)
"This… is a bad idea." Nunotaba Shinobu commented warily to the newest recruit of the Trinity's growing organization, Frenda Seivelun, as they sat across from each other in the cafeteria of the Maniple base. Shinobu had brought Febrie-chan over to spend time in the gun range and whilst the Chemicaloid was happily practicing her shooting, she'd come to the cafeteria to grab a coffee and had run into the blonde.
Looking at the pretty, petite blonde girl, who was offering her a disarming smile, the violet haired, lanky, exhausted older girl was not calmed at all. Instead, she was filled with a sense of dread.
"Oh, come on!" The veteran Dark Sider said with a pleading look. "You're the twins' nanny and you have, like, no combat training at all! What are you going to do if some crazy shows up to kidnap them or something?"
"I'm not supposed to fight. I exercise to run away." Shiobu said factually. "And I do weight training. I am confident in being able to carry the twins and Order-chan for at least ten minutes while running."
She'd run the calculations. If she had to run more than ten minutes before being rescued then the City was in a right mess and nothing she could do would be enough to keep her charges safe.
"That sounds like minimum effort."
"No it's not." The nanny did not pout. She had put in a lot of work! There were only so many hours in the day.
"I think it is." Frenda-san - the blonde had insisted on being addressed by her first name - said with a shake of her head. "I mean, sure, running away with the kids is a good option. But sometimes it's not the best one. A lot of the time, just taking the attacker down is easier."
"I disagree."
"Do you now?" The blonde said with a predatory grin, like the cat that had caught the canary. "Let me sketch you a hypothetical scenario and see if you still agree that you're prepared enough to protect Ruiko-sama's girls, shall we?"
Shinobu frowned but nodded.
"So say you're walking them home and suddenly a car pulls up beside you. A window is lowered and a gun barrel is pushed out. What would you do? If you pick up the girls and run, they'd shoot. And there's no guarantee that none of the girls will be hurt, no?"
"Using my sentimentality against me. Yeah, you are a Dark Sider alright." The scientist sighed, shoulders slumped in surrender. She knew where this was going.
"Sentimentality? Nah. I was going for practicality actually." Frenda-san said with a shake of her head. "I mean, if you knew, let's say, how to use a gun and were trained enough to be quick on the draw, you'd have the time to pull it on the kidnapper and pop his head before he can do anything."
"And if it was an assassin?"
"Then you'd be screwed. The whole schtick of an assassin is to strike when a person is unaware. The amount of training you'd need to be constantly aware of your surroundings to give you a chance against an assassin would take time you don't have. Not that you actually need to worry about that. No one is stupid enough to attempt to assassinate the girls. They'd bring half the City's big players down on them if they did. But kidnap them to try and force the same big players to do something for them? Yeah, I can see some idiots being stupid enough for that."
Shinobu nodded. She could see it too. Heck it already happened with the Biggest Idiots of Academy City as Namikaze-sama dubbed the fools who made the attempt. She legit had them classified as such in their Bank profiles too. The blonde was vindictive like that.
"So you see, you totally need some training to deal with potential kidnappers." Frenda-san insisted.
Shinobu sighed. She wasn't getting out of this. Even if she managed to wiggle out of it this time, she had little doubt that Frenda-san would raise the matter with Saten-sama. And with how overprotective the Number 3 was about her daughters, she had little doubt she would heartily approve of the Norwegian's suggestion. And even if strictly speaking Shinobu's employer was Kiyama-sensei, she was under no illusions that the older scientist would agree to anything her daughter said. She was a pushover like that.
"Okay." Shinobu conceded. "What do we do first?"
The first part of training anyone was figuring out what exactly they already knew. So before she did anything with Nunotaba-san's training, Frenda had decided to test out just what combat ability the scientist had. According to what she knew about her, whilst she was no fighter, she wasn't exactly completely useless in a scuffle either. Which is why after she'd got the violet haired girl to agree to the need to be trained, she'd dragged her to one of Maniple's combat training grounds for a spar.
One that had seen Frenda disappearing into the shadows the moment it began so she could stalk the other girl as she cautiously made her way through the training area.
She's got pretty good situational awareness for a civilian. She's looking all around her at all times. Even tries her best to keep an eye on her blindspots as much as possible.
It wasn't anywhere near the level of a professional. Not even by the relative low standards of a Dark Sider. Sadly, most of Frenda's colleagues were one trick ponies that relied on whatever superhuman power that earned them a spot in the business in the first place. But even they, or at least those who survived long enough to actually be called a Dark Sider, quickly developed a sense of awareness that surpassed those of a civilian. Constant exposure to deadly combat was a very effective teacher by the simple virtue that failing to learn left you dead.
But Nunotuba-san wasn't a professional in the first place so her lacking skill was to be expected. Heck, Frenda had been counting on it. It was how she'd managed to avoid being spotted as she trailed after the other girl for the past few minutes after all.
But I think I've gotten enough data on her awareness of her surroundings by now. Time to test something else. Frenda decided as she pulled out three of her doll bombs from their sealed containers under her skirt.
She waited as the custom stuffing in the dolls expanded like it was designed to once released from their containers, transforming the compressed lumps of fabric she'd first pulled out into the ugly, but otherwise inconspicuous stuffed dolls that hid her high yield bombs. And once her bombs were ready, she stepped out from the pillar behind the scientist where she'd been hiding.
"Nunotaba-san, catch!" She called out to the violet haired girl as she tossed the three bombs at her.
The nanny's eyes widened at the sight of them, clearly recognizing what they were. Good. It seemed she kept up with the intelligence reports. She knew her profile, including her favored weapons, were included in the latest report sent out to the Trinity and their affiliates.
Nunotaba-san didn't let surprise faze her for long though and milliseconds after recognizing the dolls for what they were, she had burst into a desperate sprint away from them.
Wow! She wasn't kidding when she said she was good at running. Frenda observed with a blink of surprise as she saw the scientist race away, safely making it well clear of the blast radius before the bombs detonated. She's definitely faster than I am at least.
Which meant that there was no way Frenda would be catching up to her.
Oh well, that just means I get to hunt her down. The blonde thought with a predatory grin. Oh, how she loved hunting her prey! This is going to be fun!
Damn! Where did she go? Frenda couldn't help but lament ten minutes later as she found no sign of her target. It was like Nunotaba-san had disappeared. She's as hard to track as that bitch, Yumiya Rakko. May she rot in hell. Does she have the same Out-Of-System Skill?
It was a distinct possibility all things considered. Whilst Out-Of-System Skills were rare, with the exception of the Imagine Breaker, they weren't strictly superhuman abilities. So it was entirely possible for someone to pick them up or develop them independently. That was their one big advantage over Esper abilities after all. In most cases, Ruiko-sama being the big exception, an Esper couldn't utilize the abilities of other Espers unless they shared the same ability and they couldn't teach another Esper how to use a ability that the other person didn't have, but the same could not be said for the users of most Out-Of-System Skills.
But even if Nunotaba-san has Yumiya Rakko's Skill and I can't track her, there are ways around that. Frenda thought with a smirk.
"Wow! Nunotaba-san, you sure are sneaky you know that? I'm genuinely impressed." Frenda shouted, giving away her position and making herself a target. This test would only end if either Frenda or the scientist yielded, and the violet haired girl was probably smart enough to know that Frenda was too prideful to give up just because she couldn't find her. Which meant if she wanted to end this, she only had one option.
"Thank you for the compliment, Frenda-san." The nanny said as she fell for Frenda's bait and revealed herself by stepping out of the shadows right behind her. There was a crackle of electricity too and the Dark Sider knew the other girl was lunging at her with the electroshock baton that the reports about her said was her favorite weapon.
Despite being surprised and attacked from behind, Frenda smiled victoriously. And she had good reason to as she effortlessly spun out of the way of Nunotaba-san's lunge. Her spin took her behind the violet haired girl and Frenda promptly exploited her position to lash out with a kick that landed squarely on her opponent's back. A blow that sent the scientist crashing to the ground with a painful grunt.
Not done, Frenda pulled a combat knife out from the sheath she strapped to her back under her jacket. Blade drawn, she knelt down on the downed nanny's back to restrain her before pressing the knife against the other girl's neck.
"Yield." Frenda-san demanded in a tone that was as cold and unnerving as she could manage.
Seemingly unfazed, the scientist just slumped in disappointment.
"I give." She conceded with a sigh and Frenda released her.
The perky blonde stepped back, sheathed her blade and crossing her arms behind her back, she offered Nunotaba-san an impish grin. "Now do you see why you need additional training?"
Nunotaba-san only nodded, acknowledging the need to do so.
Frenda's smug grin grew and she nodded right back. "Good! Then tomorrow we'll start with some training at the shooting range. We have to get you armed and ready."
"Must we? I'm not sure about using a gun." The lanky girl asked with a frown.
The beret wearing girl shrugged, "I don't really like using guns either, but they are called the great equalizer for a reason. Using one, even girls like us with our limited muscle mass can take on guys many times our size after all."
"Understood. I'll check my schedule and let you know when I can make it tomorrow."
Frenda-san smiled and nodded, hands on her hips. "Now that that's settled, we can go clean up. I heard Ruiko-sama is cooking dinner tonight and I don't want to miss the chance to enjoy her home cooking!"
"Yes, let's go get cleaned up." Nunotaba-san said, offering Frenda a knowing smirk that the petite girl refused to acknowledge as she marched off towards the exit of the training area.
So what if everyone seemed to know about her crush on Ruiko-sama? So long as neither Ruiko-sama or Accelerator said anything about it, she didn't care! Besides them, it was no one else's business! And it was not like she wouldn't tell those two about it either, she just needed-
A little time. I just need a little time to figure out how to confess my feelings without getting killed by Accelerator for lusting after his girlfriend.
And when she did? She was sure she'd score herself a Level 5 for a girlfriend!
I can't wait!
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And there we go! Kakine is 'dead'. Ruiko is stabilizing bit by bit. Accel has Awakened. And besides that, there's action happening all around. This was a tough chapter, but overall a lot of fun. I had some struggles with Kakine's power. It's really busted in some ways, even more than Accelerator's in some regard. At least his ability is more straightforward haha.
Nameless: Yeah, Kakine's power is broken AF. Sadly, those of his opponents are even more so. Sucks to be him. Then again OG Kakine is a POS, so he deserved what he got. Fortunately, Beetle 05 is a much better person.
At least Frenda and Ruiko got their cute moment together with some flirting. Frenda is a pouncing kitten who is planning to snag her chance. It's really cute and it seems Naru super ships it. Even Mikoto does, but the tsundere wouldn't say it XD At least Naru is more honest and demands more flirting! She's a romantic maiden after all~
Nameless: I did the flirting bit. Hope it was good. Do let me know what you guys thought so I can improve in any future scenes of this type I write. Any help is appreciated.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!