II

Chapter 7: Traces of Conflict

Remaining_Ashes

Part 1

The trigger was squeezed twice, but no loud gunshot rang. Instead, a ridiculous quiet noise could be heard only by the shooter himself. If he didn't knew it was because of the silencer, he would have guessed it was a toy and not a real gun. Though a toy wouldn't be able to dig through the bodies of the two men in front of him like it just happened, even if it was made in Academy City.

The bullets struck the most critical point of their chests perfectly, making the two wearing business suits to fall dead on the floor. A third person could be seen carrying a leather suitcase, dashing towards the exit of the facility. Quickly reloading his weapon, the shooter pursued, turning right in the corner and shoot a third time.

"Gyah!"

This time it hit the leg instead of the chest, allowing the victim to leak a high pitched shriek. Due to the shock, she fell on the ground letting go the suitcase that landed a few meters away. She tried to drag herself towards it but the pain on her leg was too much for her to endure. And also…

"Sorry sorry. I didn't want to make you suffer so much. My bad~!"

Slowly, the pursuer closed in step by step. Even though his appearance was rather casual, his presence meant death. In this city, whoever tried to cross a certain boundary would be targeted by this boy and would be disposed off without fail - which is why he was known as the Grim Reaper. His actual name was Motoharu Tsuchimikado.

The blond boy approached, pointing his gun at the short haired woman that seemed to be on her early twenties. She stared back at him with fear, but did not beg for her life like he was expecting her to do. As if accepting her fate, she clenched her eyes.

But then...

"!"

Something came flying at Tsuchimikado from further inside the hallway. No, "flying" wasn't exactly the word to describe it. Three viscous objects that looked like slimes of about 15cm of diameter were bouncing on the floor and walls at high speed trying to hit him. Surprised, he crouched and jumped to the right, avoiding the attack by a hair's breadth. Hot! And it smells awful… Just what is this thing!?

Looking behind, the bouncing projectiles had lost their shape and were scattered all over the place. The almost liquid material was actually…

"This one surprised me, I'll give you that. But really, molten plastic? You can't underestimate the Esper Development Curriculum nowadays. Even bubble gums could be a weapon in the hands of the right person..."

"G-got a problem with that?!" The voice didn't belong to the female - actually, even she looked surprised. It came from further behind her. There was someone coming this way. "You! G-get away from her!"

"No… No! Run away!" The woman yelled at the male trying to rescue her. "He's going to kill you too!"

"Sorry… I just can't leave you behind after all…"

Tsuchimikado stopped listening at this point. This kind of job already left a bad taste on his mouth. If he payed attention to every wishy washy moment that developed in front of him at times like this, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night. "Okay, okay, time's up! Please respect the feelings of the singles in the room."

"The only respect you deserve is the one we give to the dead." The other male retorted filled with rage and picked a small plastic bottle from the bag on his back. "Prepare yourself!"

The blond boy was ready to face his enemy's attack- but it never came. Instead, he dropped the bottle and collapsed on the floor.

"...Yuji? Hey… Yuji! Answer me! Yuji!" The woman tried to crawl towards him, but the pain stopped her once again. All she could do was cry for her dear life. Tsuchimikado walked past her and checked on the limp body.

Oh, so that's what happened. Inside the male's pocket, there was a small old music player with a single song on its memory. The Level Upper… I can't tell if this is supposed to be comic or tragic. Well, at least I don't have to fight him anymore. Indeed, all he had to do was shoot him in the head and call it a day. It was an easy task, especially when the target was passed out. But before he had chance to do it…

"!... My phone?" He picked it from his pocket and looked at the message displayed on the screen:

From: Maika

Subject: Pls reply!

I heard there was a fire on the dorm. Are you okay?

"So it really happened, huh..." Tsuchimikado knew that this was one of the possible outcomes ever since he confirmed that the nun had met his best friend this morning, so he had told Maika to stay in her dorm this night because he was coming home late. Though he secretly hoped that it hadn't come to that. "Kami-yan…"

After sending a quick reply to his sister, the blond boy turned his attention back to the 2 floored people in front of him. "*Sigh*… Screw that… I'm not in the mood anymore." He grabbed the suitcase from the floor and knocked the woman out with a kick on her gut. "The cleanup team can deal with them."

…

"Ehehehehehe~*! This went better than I was expecting!"

Laughing outside the facility in District 17 without a care in the world was Frenda, holding a suitcase that looked too much alike the one Tsuchimikado was after.

"You sure look super happy." Besides her was her not so pleased friend in crime, Kinuhata "But you know that Mugino is super going to kill us if she finds out, right?"

"Don't worry, I told Takitsubo to cover up for us in case Mugino suspected anything."

"... Maybe I shouldn't have come after all."

"Why? This was basically your plan."

"No, it super wasn't."

"It was! You were the one drooling over the secret of our last mission and playing detective all over the place!"

"This and that are super different things. I just wanted to watch what was happening, not to barge in and steal the suitcase."

"Hmpf! How ungrateful!" The blond girl pouted and started to walk away. "Fine. If you're not interested, I'll see what's inside it by myself!"

"Okay, I got it, you won..." Giving in, Kinuhata catched up to Frenda without trying to hide her curiosity anymore. "I also super want to know what is going on."

With nimble movements, Frenda quickly opened the suitcase.

Part 2

July 21, 9:11 am

Frenda and Kinuhata were taking a walk at the residential area of District 7. No, it looked like they were just friends having a morning walk, but they actually had another goal in mind.

"You know, we're super lucky that the summer break already begun. It would be troublesome to get uniforms from a nearby school just to blend in the crowd without Mugino noticing." Kinuhata voice sounded nonchalantly, but she was actually 100% aware of her surroundings, trying to spot anyone that could possibly be tailing them.

"But it would be nice to try some regular uniforms for a change..." Frenda replied while she fanned herself with her beret.

After yesterday night unofficial operation, they tried to figure out the meaning of the contents of the suitcase. All they found inside it was a bunch of money. More specifically, it was fake money. Even an amateur could tell that those Yen bills were worth nothing. However, upon closer inspection, Takitsubo noticed that the importance of these bills were actually their serial codes. By mashing together the characters of the first bill of each pile into a single line, the result was a password to access a specific Rank S terminal for Academy City Network.

Obviously, they couldn't just go and use it, even though they had the password. Rank S terminals are those that only the Board of Directors are allowed to access, they couldn't simply go there do whatever they wanted. And without the necessary hacking skills it would be impossible to try a remote access (if they tried to use ITEM's resources to do it, then it would become possible, but Mugino would find out in a second). All they could do is run a nasty log search to find when the password was last used and the path the data traveled during that connection, which led them to their current destination.

After several minutes walking under the scorching sun, the finally arrived. "So, this is it?" Asked Kinuhata when the blond girl suddenly stopped.

"Yup. Basically all the cameras around this area can be subjected to have their recordings protected by that password at any given moment."

"I'm actually super impressed that you could find what the password was being used for on your own. I didn't knew you were super skilled with computers."

"Tehehehe, actually..." Frenda reaction spoke for itself.

"If it wasn't you, who was it?"

"Well... I have my personal sources. Lots of them~*!"

Suspicious. Super suspicious. Kinuhata glared at Frenda, hoping to make her break under the pressure and spill out what she was hiding with no success. Mugino makes it looks super easy... Sighing, she finally gave up. "I'll let this one slide for now. Anyway, what are we looking for here?"

"Hmm... I don't know yet." She announced while placing a finger on her lower lip, thinking about the matter.

"What?" The level 4 didn't try to hide her frustration. "You dragged me all the way here without a plan?!"

"We basically have no idea of why they would try to hide the recordings. I thought that maybe we could find some clues around here. If we don't, this is a dead end and we will have to give up."

"Or ask Mugino..."

"You mean, ask to die!"

"Yeah, that's a super bad idea... huh?" She suddenly trailed off mid sentence. Frenda followed her eyes and...

"What's going on there?" Less than 50 meters ahead of them, there was a building surrounded by yellow "keep out" tapes and two Anti-Skill vehicles were parked nearby.

"Hey, Frenda... wasn't somewhere close by that we lost track of the intruders?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it… yeah, it was… Wait, don't tell me you're thinking…"

"It seems your super slacky tactic worked for once." Smiling, the hoodie girl rushed forward, followed by her blonde teammate.

...

"... huh- Hey! You two! This area is off limits!" The person calling out for them was a female Anti-skill officer with her long hair tied in a ponytail. Taking advantage of the situation, Frenda turned towards her innocently to try to get some information. "Sorry, but what's happening here?"

The woman fell for it and lowered her tone a bit. "There was a fire in this dorm last evening. We are currently investigating the cause of it and inspecting the damages to the structure. That means it's dangerous there, so you can't get in. What are you two girls doing here anyway? This is the boys dorm. What school are you from?"

Kinuhata quickly thought up an excuse and took the lead. "We don't study in that school, but my older sister does. The three of us live together in an apartment nearby." Without giving a chance for the officer to inquire any further, she forced out her most innocent look possible and continued. "We came to meet one of her classmates that lives here. We all were going to the museum today. I wonder if he's alright..."

"Oh, I see…" The woman's expression softened and she hurriedly tried to cleanse the girl's worries. "Nobody got hurt, so he's probably fine. If you tell me his name I can find out where he..."

"Hey, Yomikawa! Can you come here for a second?"

The woman waved to her co-worker and left saying "Give me a moment, I'll be right back." Kinuaha and Frenda looked at each other with a slight grin. They were probably thinking the same thing.

"Basically, there was a fire where no one got hurt just besides the cameras with inaccessible data. Heheh, as if! There's no mistake, something big happened here!"

"At least, it can't just be a super coincidence." Taking a last look at the surroundings to confirm that no one was paying attention to them, she turned to her blond friend one last time. "Let's super break in before that woman gets back. We're gonna find out what this is all about."

Nimbly, they passed under the tapes and dashed inside the building.

Part 3

Betraying their expectations, there were no officers inside. This feels wrong... weren't they inspecting the building? They were already at the second floor and there were no signs of other people, but they had finally found signs of the fire. Unnatural signs, that is...

"Amazing... I have seen something super similar in a movie before, but I never expected to see it in real life." What laid before her eyes was a regular wall with burnt marks on it. No, not regular burnt marks. It had the shape of a cross slightly shifted to the right, as if someone had used an object with such shape, set it on fire and hit the wall with all their strength. "No... I don't think an Esper would be able to do that. Hey Frenda, what do you... huh?"

Turning around, Kinuhata noticed that Frenda was not there anymore. What the... wasn't she following me this whole time? When did I super lost her? She tried to go back to the previous floor, but Frenda was nowhere to be seen. "Unbelievable... what she's doing?" Sighing heavily, she gave up on that for the time being and went back to the burnt wall.

On the floor, right beside the mark, there was a trail of the same coal like black and ashes that went upstairs. Kinuhata followed it, but soon she regretted doing so.

"..."

Silence. She was all alone in that place with eerie marks all over the place. The more she climbed, the weirder it became. The handrail and knobs were distorted as if the metal had molten, pieces of paper with unrecognizable scribbles were all over the place, and there were more cross marks on the walls, floor and ceiling. But that wasn't the worst part of it.

"What's... what's wrong... with me?" Her head was pulsing, her legs shaking, and her hands were sweating like a waterfall. She felt as if all the blood vessels inside her body were being compressed, getting thinner and thinner until the blood had no way to keep flowing. And still, her heartbeat just got faster.

One more staircase. How many of them had she climbed already? She had lost count at 30. Or was it 3? 13 perhaps? Her memory started fail her. She couldn't even remember what she was doing there anymore. Nor how had she got there. Nor that she could actually leave. She was all alone...

Wait... am I? Cold sweat covered her whole body once she realized. There was someone else... right there... right beside her...

Was there? She couldn't see it, but her subconscious knew for a fact that there was. It was just like when you faced a wall, closed your eyes and walked towards it. Your brain would feel the danger of hitting it and make your body stop. Just like that, Kinuhata was unable to reach out for this strange presence and confirm its existence. Surrounded by burn marks, fear had finally filled her whole body. This thing... is super going to kill me. It'll tie me to a cross and set it on fire.

Driven by this fear, she ran for her life, reaching the next floor in a flash. But what she found there was...

"!"

There, lying in front of a certain door...

"Wha...wha..."

Blood. It was dried, but that certainly was blood. She was used to seeing this kind of thing, but the problem was... just above it...

It was a silhouette. Floating, surrounded by flames, holding a huge cross...

"...aahh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Without thinking, she ran towards the opposite direction. However, her sense of distance was in disorder. She reached the end of the corridor, hit the wall and collapsed towards outside the building.

...

When Kinuhata finally came to her senses, she was lying on her back in a back alley, beside the building she and Frenda were investigating. "Ugh... That's right... I fell from there, didn't I?"

If it wasn't for her offence armor, she would be dead by now. The asphalt underneath her was completely crushed and there were cracks of at least two meters long. Just from which height did I...?

She couldn't quite remember. With her mind fuzzy She tried her best to recall the events that had just transpired. "Just what in the world was that? Some kind of Telepathy?" Her eyes saw things, her body had felt things, but they felt... not real, now that she thought about it calmly. "Ah... they probably had sprayed some super hallucinogen chemistry in the air to keep people away. No wonder there weren't any officers inside... Wait, what about Frenda?!"

If she had fallen victim of the same trap as Kinuhata, that would explain her sudden disappearance earlier. Since Kinuhata was surrounded by nitrogen all the time, it would take longer for the substance to reach her lungs, thus Frenda must have been affected right when the first stepped inside.

The girl picked her phone from her pocket and dialed Frenda's number.

"... she's not picking it up." Only then she noticed... it was already almost three in the afternoon. Maybe she had broken free from the super hallucination before me and left me behind... It was useless to insist on that, so she tried something different.

...

"Hello."

"Hi, Takitsubo-san. I super need your help."

Part 4

July 21, 3:36 PM - South half of District 5.

Kinuhata had just met up with Takitsubo near the station. "Let's get this over with super fast. I don't like being surrounded by university students... they aren't much different from those super crazy researchers we have to eliminate every now and then."

"Hm... I feel the same." Answered the other girl. Though they weren't going to get rid of them while they were in this district, which was filled with universities of all sorts. "I already know where she is. We just need to go that direction."

"Did you super used "THAT" inside the train?" Asked Kinuhata. She was referring to the special item Takitsubo had that allowed her to track down any Esper she ever came in contact with, no matter where in the solar system they were.

"No." She answered emotionlessly. "I found out where her phone is using a signal tracker". Indeed, there was a weird device attached to her phone. By calling any number with that plugged in, you could pinpoint the location of the receiving phone.

"That's super clever of you... but won't Mugino notice that this is missing?"

"That's why we have to be fast before she notices that even I am missing." The hoodie girl could only swallow dry and run as fast as she could.

However, they would soon give up all hope of finishing their business quickly.

The place where Frenda was supposed to be was filled with several Espers that seemed to be wildly brawling against each other, and the lost friend was nowhere to be seen. In a matter of seconds, the two girls got surrounded by people and were forced into the battle against their will. The street was a mess, attacks coming from all directions. Kinuhata had to protect Takitsubo while attacking back every now and then. Soon enough, she found out what was happening.

"Are all of them are actually attacking that single girl of Judgement... and are super losing to her?" Few minutes later, there were several bodies collapsed all around the place. Only three girls were left standing on that battlefield.

"Haah haaah... You two are the last ones... I suggest you surrender." Said the twin pigtailed girl wearing a Tokiwadai uniform.

"At your condition, you should be the one retreating. If I were to super attack you now, the battle would be over in less than ten seconds. You're all out of breath." Kinuhata pointed out. "Still, you managed to defeat most of them on your own... I think I super underestimated Judgement."

"Why, thank you. But don't worry about me, I could still take on another dozen of them. Do you really think you can defeat me when all of them at once couldn't?"

"... By the way, you're super mistaken. We never had any intention to fight. Everything was already super chaotic when we got here."

The judgment girl studied their frames once more and relaxed her stance. "Well, you two are way younger than the rest."

Takitsubo, which had stayed quiet since they had arrived, finally spoke up holding a cellphone in her hands. "Kinuhata… this was lying down on the ground right there."

Kinuhata checked it up close. The screen displayed several not answered calls. "This is Frenda's without a doubt. Just what happened to her?"

"Excuse me, but I'm not done with you two yet." The twin pigtailed girl seemed annoyed to be left out of the loop, with one hand on her hip and the other pointing to the cellphone on Takitsubo's hand "Also, this is under my custody. It was with me until a while ago, it must have fell from my pocket during the battle. Do you know whose it is?"

"Yes, it super belongs to our friend. We were super looking for her when we got here."

"I see… Unfortunately I can't just give it to you without any proof." Handling the scroll-like touch screen of her earphone device, the Tokiwadai girl opened up a small note and showed it to them. "Besides, Anti-Skill will have to check the memory of the device for any suspicious file. On that matter, do any of you know what this means? I found it written on the screen when I found it. It seems like the owner was trying to send it in a message to someone."

Kinuhata flinched for a mere tenth of a second. On the screen was written down the code they had found yesterday. This is super bad. Who was Frenda trying to send it to? This sounds like… No, wait, this might be a super clue she left behind! She might have found something in that building after all! Still, Kinuhata didn't quite knew how to handle the girl in front of her.

"I'll take your silence as a no." Kinuhata considered killing the girl when she took Frenda's phone from Takitsubo's hand, but then decided against it from the time begin. After all, she would have to give some explanations later if she did so. Meanwhile, the girl received a call and answered it without placing the device back on her ear. It was hard to tell if she was using the speaker mode to keep handling the screen or if it was to let the other two hear it as well.

"Hi Uiharu. I have completed my patrols on district 5, there were just three distribution points around here. Have you found anything about the code I sent you earlier?"

"Yes, and I have really bad news, Shirai-san!" The panic in her voice made everyone frown at the same time. "I don't have time to explain, so I'll send it directly to you. The code was a Rank S classified information password that gave me access to these pictures taken by the satellite Hitoboshi-II yesterday close to midnight!"

Huh? Weren't this just to super unlock the recordings from those cameras? Interested, Kinuhata got closer to take a look on the pictures, followed by Takitsubo. What appeared on the screen was…

"WHAT?!"

"WHAT?!"

"THIS… IS… !"

Kuroko, Kinuhata and Takitsubo couldn't help but shout at the same time. Shaking, the former forced out a question. "U-Uiharu… isn't he…?"

"Yes, it's Hishiro-san!" Uiharu shouted desperately over the line. It felt as if she was trying not to cry.

"Unbelievable..." Even Kinuhata was at a loss of words. She was used to seeing gruesome images (and causing some herself) but seeing someone who had fought at her side just two days ago like this was a bit of a shock. Specially him, who had fought against ITEM alone and survived with just a burn on his back. What kind of monster could get him into this state, when not even a level 5 like Mugino managed to?

"H-huh? Is there someone with you right now, Shirai-san?"

"Yes- wait, do you two know him?" She turned her head to the side in surprise, swinging her pigtails.

"Yeah, we super knew him."

"Knew?"

"He is obviously super dead." Kinuhata voice was as cold as always, but her expression was not calm at all.

"D-Don't say such a thing, whoever you are!" Protested Uiharu with a shout that was out of character for her.

Takitsubo leaned forward and spoke her logic "Do you really believe that a human being could survive after this? Not to mention that these people probably didn't gave him the proper treatment. Most likely, they..." Finished the job. Though she didn't want to say it out loud.

Kuroko studied the picture for a few more seconds. The boy's body was a mess. There were cuts all over the place - possibly one or more of his members got completely severed. What was left of his clothes was completely drenched in blood, to the point it was impossible to recognize its original color. But the worst was just what Takitsubo pointed out. Men in black suits and several other suspicious people were scattered around him, some carrying him as if he was a dead body already. Letting out a heavy sigh, she made up her mind. "The level upper users can wait, I'm going after him. Uiharu, please make sure that Onee-sama, don't find out about this."

"Huh? Why? Misa-"

"Just don't tell her yet. The way she's hot headed and stubborn, she might..."

"... okay, I understand. I'll gather up more information to help you out."

"Thanks." Turning it off, she turned around and faced the other two, just to find their determination matched hers. "Sorry, I guess I won't be helping you with your missing friend."

"That's alright. It's her fault for getting super lost like this." Said Kinuhata, cracking her knuckles. "And if she found out what we just did, then going after him might super lead to her as well."

"I cannot take you with me. It's dangerous."

"We are going by ourselves regardless. Like I said, our friend might be super involved in this whole thing. And at your state, you could use some fighting power don't you?"

Kuroko was about to protest, but then she remembered all the unconscious bodies around her. I hate to admit it, but it's true. I've been fighting nonstop against the level upper users since this morning. And they did manage to hold their own against all of them too… Annoyed at her own lack of power, she just turned around and walked away. Accepting it as an acknowledgement, Kinuhata and Takitsubo went after her.

Between the Lines

Inside the spacious and dimly lit room, two people faced each other. One of them was the blond agent Tsuchimikado Motoharu. The other was the inhabitant of the cylindrical life support machine while floating upside down, the Chairman of Academy City: Aleister Crowley.

The latter was the first one to break the silence. "What's wrong? It's unusual for you to wear such a displeased face."

"You called me all of a sudden in the middle of the morning during my break. This can't be good news."

Aleister closed his eyes and made a slight motion that resembled a shrug. "They aren't bad news either... not yet, at least."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just something that's bothering me about yesterday's incident."

"Yesterday... Don't tell me you got mad because I left those people alive."

"Don't worry about that. They were properly dealt with."

You mean, properly disposed of. Tsuchimikado remembered the faces of the ones he didn't killed. There was no remorse nor regret in his mind, but he didn't felt pride of leaving them for the dead either. Before he could give it more thought, Aleister continued.

"The issue is the recovery of the stolen info. Namely, the suitcase you brought back."

"I checked the contents before sending it and didn't find anything wrong."

"Indeed, the contents were intact. The problem is the suitcase itself." Several holographic screens appeared around the room, displaying multiple images of the object in question, plus recordings of the insides of the facility where the robbers were hiding. "After a close inspection, we confirmed that the suitcase you bought isn't the one they were carrying inside the facility 5 minutes before you got your hands on it."

"Huh? This can't be right..." Tsuchimikado narrowed his eyes hidden behind the sunglasses. "Because, if it was the wrong one, then..."

"The contents should be wrong as well." The boy started to think of a few possibilities that could have resulted in that scenario, but as if reading his mind, Aleister shot them down on the spot. "Of course, the possibility of they trying to fool us with a fake one is already discarded. An Esper had gone through the memories of the two you mentioned earlier and it seems that not even them were aware that the case was swapped."

"Then... this can only mean... there is a third party involved?"

"Correct."

"But, if that's the case... what would they want to accomplish by taking away the container and leaving the important pieces behind?"

"Unfortunately, not even I have the answer for that. And that's the reason I called you here."

Well… it's been a while. A little more than a month since the last update. I got really busy lately and didn't had enough time to focus on writing. And when I write in a rush, the story just don't turn out as good. I literally had to rewrite this chapter from the start because of that. I hope I didn't scared anyone, thinking that I had abandoned the fic! As I said before, I love doing this and I won't turn my back to it anytime soon. Fortunately, things are starting to get calmer now, so the next update shouldn't take more than 2 weeks, which is my usual peace (or not… I need to read the new volume of New Testament that just came out, after all… XP).

Now that these explanations are out of the way… Yup, Hishiro is out of the play for now (obviously… poor guy), so someone else had to fill the MC slot. Since Frenda got a special spotlight last time, I decided it was Kinuhata's turn to shine. At first, I was intending to leave Hishiro unmentioned for quite some chapters but when I thought about Kuroko and Kinuhata fighting together, I just had to grab the chance, and Hishiro was the only thing they have in common.

And the Between the Lines is back. This time, giving a few hints of what's about to come instead of what had happened in the past. I'm thinking to use a different theme for this section each Arc, but I'm not sure I will follow this rule until the end. For now: the first arc was about Pointer. Can you figure out already what is the theme now?

As always, leave your reviews. And a special thanks to the guest(s) that always find typos that I somehow miss. In the end, they are helping making the fic better!