After spending an unhealthy amount of time rolling on her bed, agonizing over her poor choice of wording, Kuroko finally managed to calm herself down. She left her room once she'd made herself presentable again, and attended her afternoon classes not long after. Once those were done, she returned to her room one final time, before leaving the school grounds together with Komaki for Judgment duty.

"Again, I'm really sorry about all of that…" her roommate apologized, an embarrassed smile on her lips.

Kuroko gave her a comforting smile in response, finding it easy to slip that mask back on. "It's fine, it's fine. I don't hold it against you, Makigami. Still, that left quite the impression."

"Y-Yeah…" Komaki sighed, looking even more flustered as she glanced off to the side. "I'm pretty sure Misaki was ready to wrestle Gaouin to the ground, by the end. Thankfully, Junko managed to restrain her, and helped separate the two of them. Honestly, I didn't know Gaouin and Shokuhou had such an intense rivalry going on…"

Kuroko gave a noncommittal hum in response, doing her best not to think too hard about the incident. Doing so would inevitably bring her mind back to what had happened with Mikoto Misaka, and if that occurred, she knew she'd start tearing her hair out.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Misaki said she wanted to make it up to you. The next time you're free, she wants to take you out to eat," Komaki brought up.

Kuroko raised an eyebrow at that; it sure seemed that Misaki Shokuhou was a persistent girl. Then again, she hadn't had a chance to formally turn her down yet. Either way, it at least gave her an excuse to meet up with Shokuhou again, privately at that, if she heard right. That…was an opportunity she ought to take advantage of.

"Alright; you can tell her that we can meet up on Friday after class, I should be free then," she said, after briefly recalling Kuroko Shirai's Judgment schedule.

It was Tuesday now, which gave her an extra two and a half days to prepare herself for that private meeting. That should be more than enough time to come up with a good game plan on how to approach Misaki, as well as give her more time to figure out her plan of action against Harumi Kiyama and Accelerator.

"Alright, I'll let her know!" Komaki declared with a beaming smile.

They separated not long after that, the two of them heading to their respective Judgment Branch Offices.

As she walked, Kuroko decided to take her time, heading down a more scenic path toward the 177th Judgment Branch Office. For the first time since she had awoken, Kuroko took the time to really look at the city around her.

Academy City truly was marvelous and breathtaking; simple animation and drawn images hadn't done it justice. Kuroko could see why it was called the City of the Future. It certainly did feel like she was in a metropolis of the 2020s, if not another decade or two into the future, rather than an average city in 2000s era Japan.

Robotic platforms, both the security machines and cleaning automatons, traveled all over the place. Almost all the civilians she could see carried some sort of smart device, be it a smartphone, smartwatch, or tablet—and hadn't that been a shock, cutting-edge Smart devices in 2004—and so on. From Kuroko Shirai's memories, she also knew that most of the vehicles in Academy City were capable of self-driving, with over half of the city's cars being electric vehicles. She could even spot the occasional drone zooming through the sky, serving one purpose or another.

It wasn't just the technology, either. Almost everything in the city looked so sleek and modern. In this part of the city, at least, she couldn't see a spec of dirt, trash, or litter, or anything else that might sully the natural beauty of the city. It looked and felt alien, in a sense: a city that, on the surface at least, seemed to be cleansed of the troubles and issues that plagued mankind elsewhere. An idyllic little paradise, so long as one chose not to look under the surface.

It really made Kuroko want to look up the city's history, or indeed, the world history at large. She didn't know how far the worldbuilding outside of Academy City and the magic stuff went, but she wanted to find out just how different, and similar, this world was to the Earth of her old memories. In her old life, she'd always been fascinated with history. It had been her favorite subject in school, and even as an adult, she'd always been something of a history buff. Heck, she had even run a few historical election games on an alternate history forum. So, perhaps when she had a calm moment to herself, she would do wider research on the history of this different world. It would be a fun way to pass the time, comparing and contrasting the histories of two different worlds.

It made her wonder if there was a specific point of divergence that had led to this current iteration of the world, or if this reality was just completely, fundamentally different from the one of her other memories. Given that magic was real, the latter seemed more likely, admittedly. Still, it was a fun thing to think about.

Kuroko hummed a half-remembered tune from another life, content to lose herself in her ideal musings as she made her way to work. As she walked along, though, her straying eyes happened upon a sight that made her stop dead in her tracks. Across the street, she could see a group of hoodlums flanking a young schoolgirl with long black hair tied into two pigtails at the top of her head. She couldn't hear what was going on from over here, but Kuroko doubted that anything wholesome was happening.

She frowned at the sight, shaking her head as she glanced at some of the other passersby. Of course, no one moved to go help her. Not that she could entirely blame them, to be fair. Those thugs did look quite intimidating, after all. Still, where was Judgment when you needed it?

Oh, right.

Kuroko sighed to herself, and slipped on her Judgment armband, before taking a moment to steel herself. She'd yet to really engage in any high stakes combat since her awakening; she really hoped she didn't screw this up somehow.

A moment later, she teleported across the street, appearing just behind the brutish thugs.

"This is Judgment! What's going on here?"

The group jumped at her sudden announcement, and whirled around to face her. The apparent leader of the gang, a college-aged young adult with his hair styled in a ridiculous looking afro, was the first to recover as he sneered.

"Hey, we're just trying to have a good time here! We just wanna have some fun with this chick here, got it? Ain't no one getting hurt," he loftily declared, crossing his arms as he stared down at her.

"Is that so?" she folded her arms over her chest, giving him an unimpressed look. "Seems to me like you're just harassing an innocent young girl. Honestly, don't you monkeys have anything better to do?"

"Monkey?! Why, you little…! That's it, you better scram before it's too late, brat. We ain't interested in any grade schoolers like you, but we ain't afraid to teach you a lesson, either!" Afro Man threatened, glaring heatedly at her.

"Yeah!" one of his friends pipped up, smiling malevolently as he cracked his knuckles in what he thought was an intimidating gesture. "Beat it, pipsqueak!"

Kuroko's eye twitched with faint annoyance, and she slowly shook her head as she gave them all a steely-eyed glare. Then, she shifted her gaze over to the young girl, noting how wide her yellow eyes were, and how uncertain she seemed, her gaze darting back and forth between the hoodlums repeatedly.

Huh, she looked familiar, actually. Now why was that…

She dismissed the thought a moment later, and shifted her stance as she mentally prepared herself for what would come next. "Don't say I didn't warn you, then."

Afro Man took that as a challenge, roaring at her as he charged, fist swinging. In a flash, Kuroko disappeared and reappeared behind him, her leg sweeping out to knock his feet out from under him. He fell to the ground in a heap, groaning as he adjusted to the sudden change in altitude.

The rest of the gang paused for a brief moment, taken aback by her display of power. But all too soon they rushed to their boss's defense, fists raised as they all charged at her at once.

Kuroko let a faint smile spread across her lips, feeling a surge of excitement course through her body. She teleported in rapid succession thereafter, dodging their heavy-handed blows as she scored hit after hit on the hoodlums. She sent another thug to the ground as she kicked the side of his knee, while her hands flew under her skirt, grabbing her darts and subsequently teleporting them to nail that same hoodlum to the concrete. She then disappeared, and reappeared as one of his buddies tried to strike at her, appearing behind him as she slammed her foot against his skull, sending him crashing into a wall.

In the span of a few minutes, Kuroko absolutely decimated the gang, knocking them senseless with quick, precision kicks and takedowns. By the time she was done, they were all left groaning in pain, beaten senseless with many of them pinned to the ground or walls with her darts.

Kuroko gave a small sigh afterward, taking a moment to appreciate her handiwork as a victorious smirk spread over her lips.

"Th-thank you!"

Kuroko blinked, brought back to reality at the voice behind her. She turned, seeing that same girl from before now staring at her in awe. She clasped her hands together, a starry-eyed look in her eyes as she continued to speak.

"Thank you so much! I was really getting worried there for a moment. I was afraid something regrettable might have to happen here, and….well, thank you!"

Kuroko let a more natural smile rest on her features, her eyes briefly glancing her over to make sure she wasn't hurt. "You're very welcome, Miss. Now, let me just call Anti-Skill, and we can get these monkeys taken care of."

She brought her phone out, making a quick call as she reported the situation. After that, she hung up, putting her phone away as she leaned against a wall to wait for Anti-Skill to show up.

The other girl, however, wasn't leaving.

"Um…" she spoke up, drawing Kuroko's attention back to her. "Wh-what's your name? If you don't mind me asking…"

"Oh, it's Kuroko. Kuroko Shirai," she casually introduced herself.

She nodded at that, slowly nodding to herself as if committing it to memory. "Okay! Oh, um, I'm Rakko Yumiya. It's really nice to meet you!"

Yumiya…now why did that name sound familiar?

Kuroko furrowed her brow in thought, but dismissed it again when nothing came to mind. She instead murmured a polite acceptance to Yumiya's greeting, and silence descended upon them once more.

She still didn't leave.

"Ah…" she spoke up one more time, looking rather flustered and nervous as she played with her thumbs. "I'd…I'd really like to get to know you better! You seem like a really cool girl. If it's not too much trouble, do you think we could…exchange numbers? Please?"

Kuroko blinked rapidly at that, tilting her head as she considered it. It was an odd request to make at an odd moment, and part of her was ready to turn Rakko down, if in a polite manner. But she stilled her tongue, and instead took the black-haired girl in again, really looking at her this time.

Rakko looked obviously anxious, her eyes darting all over the place as she refused to meet her gaze. A light blush tinged her cheeks, further testifying to how agitated she was feeling. She was clearly stepping out of her comfort zone to a degree, even if she didn't seem to recognize how odd and somewhat inappropriate her request was at this moment.

Kuroko's eyes glazed over somewhat, recalling feelings and memories from another life. He'd been so awkward and socially anxious and…alone as a child. Uncomfortable in his own skin, struggling to make connections, and oblivious and ignorant to a lot of social cues and subtleties.

He'd had friends, yes, but because of his parents' job, he had had to move around every four years or so, growing up. It made it so hard to put down roots, and even harder to make good friends. Almost all of those friendships had come to an end each time he moved, and the one that had persisted over the years, had eventually petered out during high school. Ironic, too, considering he'd moved back just a city over to where Belle had lived. It was one of his biggest regrets of that old life.

Seeing Rakko Yumiya now, Kuroko couldn't help but be reminded of that awkward little boy she'd once been. Always unsure of how to reach out, always shy around others, never knowing what to say or when to say it. Always wanting others to reach out to him, but fearful of that contact all the same.

She could see traces of that little boy in Rakko now. Maybe she was projecting here, but still…

Well, what was the worst that could happen?

"Sure, I'd like that," she finally said, a small flutter going through her heart as she watched Rakko's face light up with excitement.

They exchanged numbers after that, and then Rakko finally departed, saying she was running late for something. Kuroko watched her walk off, a content smile on her lips.

Though after a few moments, that smile faded away into a frown as something continued to nag at her.

"Where do I know her from…?"

It felt like it was on the tip of her tongue, but still, the memory continued to elude her. After a moment though, she shrugged to herself, and let it go. It probably wasn't important.

After Anti-Skill took the hooligans away, Kuroko resumed her march to her branch office, picking up her pace as she was running a little late now. Thankfully she arrived there with no other distractions, and walked through the door into the main office.

"Shirai!"

She heard the welcoming cry of Uiharu, her friend already hard at work at her station. She could also see an older teenage girl sitting at another desk, both of her sets of memories recognizing her as Mii Konori, the manager of this branch of Judgment. Konori had short black hair, blue eyes, and a pair of stylish looking glasses that rested easily on her face.

"Shirai," Konori greeted her with a small smile, glancing her up and down as she continued on. "It's good to see you again. You had us all worried while you were out sick. You're well now, I hope?"

"Yes, much better, now," she confirmed, smiling at the both of them. "It's good to be back."

After that, she exchanged a few more pleasantries, before settling down at her own workstation. She had a week's worth of administrative work to catch up on before anything else, so Kuroko set herself to it.

As she typed at her computer, her eyes couldn't help but stray over to Uiharu. The flower-crowned girl looked rather happy with herself, a content smile on her face as she attended to her own work. Seeing her so happy and carefree like that…

Kuroko felt a stab of fresh guilt in her heart, an uncomfortable grimace now tugging at her lips. Uiharu was relieved to have her friend back, but the poor girl didn't know that her friend was actually dead, and someone else was ghoulishly puppeting her corpse.

Kuroko felt the strongest urge to confess there and then, to drop the entire charade and tell Uiharu the truth. But her better judgment kept her tongue still, even as she continued to grimace. However guilty she felt, she knew the truth would only make things worse. Uiharu wouldn't understand, and wouldn't want to believe her. Worse still, spouting nonsense like that would almost certainly see her taken to the loony bin at best, and she wouldn't be able to help anyone then.

Awful as her situation was, that was the only way Kuroko could see to even begin to make up for the crime of her existence. With her knowledge, she could at least try and make things better, try and save some people. The Sisters, Harumi Kiyama and her students, heck, maybe she could try and even save Frenda while she was at it. The girl was a sociopath, but she'd still become friends with Saten, hadn't she?

Her hands were stained with Kuroko Shirai's blood, but maybe, just maybe, she could wash that sin away by helping others in her place. It was certainly the least she could do.

Still, that feeling of guilt lingered in her heart, even as she got back to her work. Uiharu was her friend, and she hated the idea of lying to her, especially with something as major as this…

Uiharu was 'her' friend, now, was she?

Kuroko paused at that, an uncomfortable pit growing in her stomach. There it was again; those inherited emotions and feelings. First with Mikoto, now with Uiharu. Kuroko had no right to Uiharu's friendship, considering she wasn't that same person now. If anything, Uiharu should be a perfect stranger to her. And yet…

That same part of her that was deeply besotted with Mikoto Misaka truly valued and appreciated Kazari Uiharu, and considered her a close and cherished friend. It wanted nothing but the best for her, and to make sure that Uiharu remained happy…which only made her feelings toward replacing Kuroko Shirai all the more complicated.

Honestly, it left Kuroko feeling a little ill at ease. To have these feelings and sensations of a dead girl lingering in her head, even after consuming her prior existence...it felt wrong. It felt like she was making even more of a mockery of Kuroko Shirai. Pretending to be her, pretending to have her life, pretending to care for her friends. It left her feeling like a complete, utter fraud.

And that didn't even begin to unpack the complicated emotions brought about by her massive crush on Mikoto Misaka. Oh god, she did not want to even begin breaking down that whole mess, not now.

Just how long could she maintain a charade like this, anyway? Uiharu had been close with Kuroko Shirai, so surely she'd notice her 'friend' starting to act differently. Did she really have any hope of keeping her in the dark about the horrible truth?

"Are you okay, Shirai?"

Kuroko blinked, brought back to reality as she was jarred out of her thoughts. The world around her roared back to life, reminding her of its presence all at once. The idle sound of an office fan at work, the sterile scent of her working environment, the soft creaking of the chair she sat upon as she shifted in place…

And, beside her, the presence of Kazari Uiharu, both her best friend in the entire world and a complete stranger.

She blinked again, slowly coming back into herself as she glanced down. Her hands hovered above the keyboard below her, a half written report displayed on her computer screen. About what, she couldn't even remember now. The details all blurred together, becoming hazy in her mind as she tried to focus on it.

"I'm fine," she said (liar), the words leaping to her mouth easily. She offered Uiharu a polite smile, adding, "I was just distracted."

She glanced at Uiharu's face out of the corner of her eye, noting the way her eyebrows creased, a frown pressed upon her lips as she digested her response. For a moment, she was silent. Then:

"If you're still not feeling well, you don't have to push yourself."

She felt another shard of guilt bite into her at that concerned tone. Kuroko pushed past it, though, even as she felt as if the guilt was going to make her throw up.

"I'm fine," she reassured, a fake, plastic smile now stretched wide over her face. "Don't worry about it, Uiharu, really."

Uiharu still seemed doubtful at her words, and even seemed primed to press her on it further. But, she hesitated, and after a few moments, gave an uneasy nod. Kuroko smiled at her one more time, doing her best to ignore the roaring in her ears as the guilt ate away at her like an acid, melting away everything in its path.

Kuroko focused back on her paperwork, and soon enough, she managed to catch up on it entirely. Uiharu finished up not long after, and the two of them stood up from their desks.

"Uiharu and I are going to go out on patrol," she called out to Konori.

Their section chief gave them an acknowledging nod and waved them off, the two of them leaving the office thereafter.

The atmosphere between the two of them was stiff and awkward at first, even Kuroko could tell that much. Uiharu kept glancing over at her, clearly able to tell that something was off. The girl was far too perceptive for her own good.

But as they went along, things started to ease up. Uiharu carefully tested the waters between them, and Kuroko was able to maintain an easygoing facade, chatting along amicably with Kazari. Soon enough all misgivings were forgotten as they continued along their patrol, chatting about this and that the entire time.

It still made her sick to her stomach, pretending like this, but at least it was getting easier.

The rest of their patrol passed by like this, the two of them making idle conversation and chatter as they walked around the District. Aside from having to give directions now and again to some lost tourists, and cleaning up some litter near a park, nothing of note really happened. No other thugs trying to make a move on a frightened schoolgirl, no robberies, no breaking up battles between students. Just a normal, average day out on patrol.

"I guess that's it for the day," Kuroko remarked, glancing over toward the distant skyline. The sun was getting close to setting now, and curfew would be coming up for the students of the city with it.

"I guess so," Uiharu agreed, stretching idly as she took one last look around the area. "Ah, I wish everyday could be just as quiet as this."

Kuroko murmured her own agreement, a faraway look in her eyes as she continued to stare in the distance. Just like that her fourth day in Academy City, and first full day out of the hospital, was coming to an end. She'd woken up mid afternoon on Saturday, spent all of Sunday at the hospital, and had gotten discharged just yesterday. It hardly felt like it had been that long, but, well, time sure seemed to pass rather quickly when one wasn't looking.

It had been a day full of…interesting events, to say the least. Some of those events, well, she'd likely tear her hair out if she thought about them for too long. But all in all, not a bad day, not at all. If anything, it felt incredibly mundane and to a degree, uneventful.

But Kuroko knew that such days would not last. This was the calm before the storm, and it was a storm that threatened to engulf all of Academy City, if not the world over. Even if she did nothing, even if she just tried to keep her head down and stay out of trouble, the world would move on without her. It was up to her to make sure she made herself an active participant in these upcoming events, and not just some outsider looking in.

Whether or not she survived all these upcoming trials and tribulations, well, that was irrelevant. All that mattered was that she did some amount of good here, in the no doubt short amount of time she had left in Academy City.

Kuroko was suddenly brought out of her musings, however, as she felt another body press against her own. She blinked in rapid succession, focusing back on the world around her. She felt a sudden tightness grip her chest, while her mouth hung open, the shock clear on her face as she saw that it was Uiharu that was hugging her.

"What…?"

Uiharu pulled back slightly, a soft smile resting on her lips. "Sorry, but…it just looked like you needed a hug."

Her eyes grew wide, and before she could react, Kuroko felt something shatter deep within her, brought down by that one simple act of kindness. From there, everything happened far too quickly for her to keep up.

She let out a shudder, her eyes now budding with tears as she felt Uiharu against her. Her mask started to fully crack, her face twitching as another shudder rocked her body. She tried to fight back against it, a sense of alarm surging through her as she felt what she knew was her imminent breakdown. She couldn't do that, not here, not now, not in front of Uiharu. She would only ask more questions, she would only grow more concerned and worried. She needed to teleport away, go somewhere else, anywhere else, before it was too late…

But her mask was already weakened, and her grip over her own emotions was tenuous enough as it was. Because of that, Kuroko was brought face to face with an undeniable truth: she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay with Uiharu and to have her close by, no matter what happened next.

After a long, painful moment, she slipped her arms around Uiharu, her body trembling again as a choked sob escaped her lips.

"Shirai?!" Uiharu spoke softly at her side, a note of alarm now present in her voice.

"I'm sorry," she choked out, shaking harder as fresh, hot tears started streaming down her cheeks. She clung to Uiharu harder, burying her face in the crook of her neck as she let out another sob. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

After a few moments, she felt Uiharu hug her tighter, her hand coming up to softly stroking her back as she whispered comfortingly to her. Kuroko continued to shake and shudder against her, her mask utterly broken as the true enormity of her situation now crushed down upon her. At the same time, she felt a fresh, hot wave of grief wash over her, drawing forth even more tears.

Grief, for the lives that had been, both of her nameless past and that of Kurko Shirai. Grief for the life of an innocent young girl she had ended with her birth. Grief for the friends and family of that same girl she had killed, whose lives would never be the same without her.

After a point, it wasn't even just grief that consumed her being and wracked her body with sobs. Rage, at the unfairness of it all, at being stuck in a world and life not her own. Frustration, at being thrust into this situation without warning, without permission. Terror of the future, of what might and might not happen, the countless battles and trials she was sure to face in the months to come. All these emotions, and more, poured out from her as she lost all semblance of control. She cried and cried, letting all those pent up feelings go, until finally her tears had run dry.

She wasn't sure how long they stood there together like that. But, eventually, Kuroko felt herself start to calm down, the outpouring of emotions slowly drawing down to a trickle as nothing was left. A dull numbness filled her body, while a sense of exhaustion tugged at her mind.

She slowly parted from Uiharu, absently wiping away the remnants of her tears with the back of her hand. She could only imagine how awful she must look right now, but Uiharu didn't seem to notice or care. She merely stared deep into her eyes, her brows furrowed while visible distress clung to her features.

"What's wrong, Shirai?" Uiharu pressed, reaching over to grab her hands. "Please…whatever's going on, you can tell me. Did something happen?"

Kuroko swallowed thickly, the words stuck in her throat as she looked away in shame. She knew she should push her away now, to get out of this situation before she made things worse. With as vulnerable as she felt, she couldn't risk staying with Uiharu any longer. She had to leave, now , and figure out some excuse to smooth things over later.

She...

God, she felt so tired right now.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" she spoke quietly, after a long, thoughtful pause.

"What?" Uiharu blinked at that, taken aback. She opened and closed her mouth, clearly not wanting to say no, but seeming unsure all the same. "But…what about your dorm curfew—"

"I'll get Makigami to cover for me," she spoke quickly, still looking away from Uiharu. "Or…if I have to, I'll just…face the consequences. I just…I don't want to be alone, and…"

She trailed off, uncertainty gnawing at her now. But before she could take it back, Uiharu gave her a small, simple nod.

"...Okay," she allowed, a smile returning to her lips. "That's what we'll do, then."

Kuroko felt some small amount of relief fill her body, a sigh escaping her mouth as she nodded at her friend.

Uiharu slipped her hand into hers, the sensation bringing some more comfort to her. Not long after that, the two of them finally left the area, now heading toward Uiharu's apartment. Though as they walked, Kuroko felt doubt and uncertainty start to cloud her mind again. With one look toward Uiharu, though, she banished those feelings away, and instead steeled herself for what was to come.

She couldn't lie to her. She knew that now. The way she was right now, she just wouldn't be able to handle the stress and guilt of lying to Uiharu. Even if it messed things up, even if it all ended horribly…she had to tell her the truth.

She couldn't live with herself, otherwise.

Author's Note:

And here we are! The next chapter already. I really am on a roll here, don't think I've written so much so quickly since I was a teenager.

So, I freely admit, I didn't plan on getting to where we left off. I was stuck for a little while halfway through the patrol part of the second scene, not sure where to take things. But after a little bit I figured out my angle, and it all just started pouring out from there. It should be very interesting to see where the next chapter takes us.

Hope you all enjoy!