Hello, Internet! Back again with another chapter of A Certain Strange Addition. We're going to be keeping the momentum going this time around with the Tree Diagram Arc. A bit of a shorter arc this time around, but a necessary one. Plus, I've some pretty juicy stuff in store for this one.
And now, for the first time in over a year, I'm responding to reviews! It's good to be back!
ahsoei: As you will see, this and the following chapter will be covering the Tree Diagram Arc. However, the chapter afterwards may be a a breather chapter depending on how I decide to write the next chapter. If you've watched Index-tan, you might get an idea of what I'm considering.
DuckBoi: As see your starting to pick up on the seeds I'm sowing. You're absolutely right about my deliberate use of the world "miracle" when talking about Touma's feats. If you go back to previous chapters, you'll notice I've been using the term for a long time now. What exactly this entail will be revealed in good time. Hopefully, assuming I don't get another year's long case of writer's block.
Vein Bloodborne: It certainly was nice to get that arc finished. Thanks for putting up with me.
kamenriderzio218: Always a pleasure to see a happy reader.
SuddenBetrayal: Well, I'm back, and it didn't take a year this time. I see that as an absolute win.
Dbswagking12: Put me in a wedding dress and call me Berserker, because I'm bringing the thunder with this chapter!
Phantom117a: Good to be back! While you've noticed that Touma's powers are currently growing, you may be surprised to know that I've actually laid out multiple hints as to the source and mechanics of this increase in power. As an additional hint, I'll tell you that its rooted in a concept that has been established in canon, but has yet to be explored too greatly outside of the story arc it was introduced in.
Isokage: Good to be back! Looks like someone is excited for the upcoming arcs. Me too, really, since these next few arcs are when I plan to drop my real lore bombs, so look forward to them.
Nemonobody001: Glad you liked it! I'll do my best!
syafielone1359: Good to be back! Hope I exceed your expectations in the future.
Guest (1): Your welcome!
fangs of death: Thank you so much!
Randommach1: Good to be back!
IS6A6E: Yes it has. Not to get back in the swing of things!
guest (Guest): Sorry to keep you all waiting. As you will see, Tree Diagram is the next arc, but there a quite a few things that will shake up canon a bit.
Sarcasm Sage 626: Glad you liked it. Yeah, when working on this story, I make sure to do my research on the powers of each of the combatants since fights in this world are not determined by who is more powerful, but who can use their knowledge of their own powers and those of their opponents the most effectively. I see you've taken notice of Touma's growing powers. However, you're only half right. While there will be a prevalent dragon theme, there's another layer that you may be able to figure out if you pay attention to the language I use regarding Touma's feats and the upcoming arcs. I've been planning to have Kuroko as an addition to this arc for a long time precisely because her power is so suited for the main conflict. Honestly, it almost felt like she fit in TOO nicely. Got to keep that unique brand Kamijou slice-of-life comedy fresh, and writing Shizuri in these scenarios is always a blast. You can bet I'm going to leverage her scariness for as long as I can before I eventually have to make her snap.
And that's all the reviews. Once again special thanks to Marisandini for being the beta.
Also, a reminded that A Certain Strange Addition has a TvTropes page. If there are any Tropers in the audience, why not give it a visit and maybe update it? See the tropes page grow and all your reviews really goes a long way in keeping me motivated, knowing that so many of you are eager to see more.
But for now, you all know the drill.
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 75: Those Left Behind
It was another beautiful morning in Academy City, or at least Last Order thought so while looking out the window of Yoshikawa's car. However, the sentiment was not shared by her primary caretaker, mostly because the littlest of the Sisters had elected to climb over Accelerator to look out the window. Naturally, it did not take long for the Level 5 to get fed up with his young charge's antics, prompting him to deliver discipline that was equal parts stern and standoffish.
"Get back in your seat." Accelerator demanded, lazily pushing the young Sister off him, "If you want to look out the window, do so in a way that doesn't involve you climbing over a guy who just got out of the hospital."
"You're being mean! You're not the only one feeling under the weather! Misaka just got out of the hospital too, says Misaka Misaka as she reprimands you for your behavior unbecoming of a caretaker!"
"Alright, calm down." Yoshikawa called out from the driver's seat, "I'll let you two finish you adorable little squabble when we get to where we'll be staying."
"So, where is this new residence you got lined up for us?" Accelerator asked, passively curious.
"For the foreseeable future, we'll be staying with a friend of mine." Yoshikawa explained, "It should work fine. You are dropping out of your current school."
"All those bastards cared about was the Level 6 experiments. I don't want a damn thing to do with them ever again," Accelerator replied.
"Well, my friend isn't like that at all. She's not the scientific researcher type. In fact, I'm pretty sure she'd take your side on the matter."
"So we're going to be crashing with another know-it-all do-gooder? This will be fun." Accelerator grumbled sarcastically.
"Don't be like that. I think she's going to be a big help in getting your life back on track. She's a teacher who actually cares about her students, so she pulled some strings to get both of us in her school, you as a new transfer student and myself as a teaching assistant."
"You're going to be teaching? Asks Misaka Misaka, ecstatic for her friend's new career path."
"Well, assisting a teacher with her class, not teaching by myself. Have to start somewhere, especially since I lost my researcher job and all my credibility when I helped you."
"That's right, you were a NEET since you were admitted to the hospital. Plus, you did mention wanting to be a teacher at some point." Accelerator mused, "Just don't expect me to give too much of a crap regarding the schoolwork. Whatever school your friend works in, it's curriculum is not going to be nearly worth my time and effort with how far above everyone else my age I am, even with this damn brain injury."
"We'll see about that when you meet your homeroom teacher." Yoshikawa replied, "She has a way of swaying her students to do their absolute best."
"We'll see," Accelerator yawned.
When the trio arrived at a certain high school, Accelerator and Last Order were rather shocked by who they were greeted by.
"Well, here we are. This is the woman who will be looking after you." Yoshikawa announced, introducing the pair to their new caretaker.
"What the hell is this!?" Accelerator demanded while Last Order clutched his arm for comfort.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend, or have you forgotten me already?" Yomikawa joked, unfazed by the Level 5's adverse reaction.
"I'm not talking about you! I'm referring to this thing! This absurdly miniscule creature!" Accelerator clarified, pointing his crutch at the third adult in the group that looked more like the third child.
"Hey, that isn't a very nice thing to say to someone you just met!" Komoe chided, "I may be short, but I'll have you know I'm a teacher!"
"So, they managed to find a way to stop cellular aging entirely." Accelerator mumbled under his breath, "I never would have thought the research would progress this quickly."
"Um, that's not…"
"You poor thing. All those terrible things they must have put you through, leaving you will no time for yourself. Misaka Misaka cries, dabbing her tears with a handkerchief." Last Order whispered to herself.
"Please stop for a moment and listen to what I'm telling you!" Komoe begged in frustration.
"Hahaha! They really got your number, don't they?" Yomikawa laughed at her friend's expense.
"Is this why you brought me here!? To be humiliated!?" the diminutive teacher cried in outrage.
"Of course not." Yomikawa denied unconvincingly, "I just wanted you to meet your latest transfer student before he started his first day tomorrow."
"Wait, this freak of nature is the homeroom teacher you said would get me to give a shit about this school's weak-ass curriculum?" Accelerator asked in disbelief.
Suddenly, the Level 5 felt someone lightly chop him in the back of the head.
"Keep talking about her like that and I'll personally hand you your ass a second time myself." A familiar voice said from behind Accelerator.
"Touma?" Yuri asked, turning around to see his best friend behind him with a school bag in hand. "What are you doing here?"
"Going to school, obviously. This is my high school." Touma shrugged, "Is it true? You're transferring to my school and joining my class?"
"Apparently." Yuri replied, "Although, this seems all a bit too convenient, like bad fanfiction. I mean, I'm supposed to believe that the one decent researcher I know with a moral compass happens to be friends with an Anti-Skill officer who is also a teacher and coworker with your homeroom teacher, allowing them to work together and get me into the same school and class as the one guy in all of Academy City I can actually get along with? This is just too lucky, especially with you involved."
"I mean, they say there are three degrees of separation between any two people. It's not that hard to believe." Touma argued lamely.
"Alright, that's enough banter, you two." Yomikawa interrupted, "I know today is a short day, but you should still get to class, Kamijou. I'll be taking your friend here to the principle to finalize his registration with the school so he can start tomorrow. Afterwards, I'll be showing these two to my apartment. You're welcome to join us if you want, Kamijou."
"I appreciate the offer, Miss Yomikawa." Touma said with a bow.
"Well, now that that's settled, let's get you registered, Accelerator." Yomikawa announced, leading the way to the school.
"You sure about this? About letting me into both your home and work place, I mean." Accelerator inquired in a cutting voice.
"It's not a problem. I've an extra room and plenty of space." Yomikawa said reassuringly, "And as a teacher, it's natural for me to want to provide every student with the opportunity to learn and grow."
"That's not what I'm saying." Accelerator clarified, "Sheltering me can be bad for your health. It's basically taking on the entirety of Academy City's Dark Side. You really want to bring that upon not only yourself, but your entire school by having me enroll here?"
"I'm the best landlord you could have." Yomikawa reasoned, "My line of work puts me in a unique position. I don't think there are too many criminals who would be foolish enough to attack the residence of an Anti-Skill officer, plus I have some great security in the form of one of my neighbors. As for the school, we've got Judgement's own rising star, the Certain Strange Addition, as one of our students. I think we both know he can handle anything Academy City can throw at him."
"Please don't oversell my abilities." Touma begged, "I don't need more targets on my back."
"When they show up to kill you and everyone you know, don't say I didn't warn you." Accelerator said cautiously.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine, as will the school."
"Don't act like this is no big deal!" the Level 5 demanded, "You do this, and you put a massive fucking target on your back!"
"Again, thank you for your concern, but I'm a big girl. I'll be okay." Yomikawa replied nonchalantly, much to Accelerator's annoyance, "I'm prepared for every eventuality. Anyway, I don't think this job is going to be half as difficult as I expected."
"Oh yeah? And why's that!?" Accelerator inquired.
"Think about it from my point of view. My tenant hasn't even moved in yet, and he's already worrying about my safety." Yomikawa reasoned, "Sounds pretty nice. I can think of worse things than someone trying to protect me."
As Yomikawa continued to lead the way to the principal's office, both Touma and Last Order gave Accelerator a knowing smile.
For his part, Yuri just clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Don't you have a class to get to?" Yuri grumbled at his best friend as he limped after Yomikawa.
With the shorter school day in preparation for the Daihasei Festival, Touma was done with classes before lunch and was able to meet with Yuri just as he finished finalizing his transfer to the school. Starting tomorrow, Touma and Yuri would be classmates in Komoe's class.
With the logistics out of the way, Touma accompanied his friend in the backseat of Yomikawa's car as she took the trio of recently released hospital patients to their new residence. However, the three children were all rather baffled when they saw just what building Yomikawa lived in.
"And here we are." Yomikawa announced.
"… How the hell did I never realize we were neighbors for this long!?" Touma asked incredulously as he stared at his own apartment building.
"I leave early for work and live on a lower floor than you do," the teacher replied nonchalantly. "I'm long gone by the time you leave for school, and our respective hectic law enforcement lifestyles means we don't return to the building at a consistent time. On the bright side, you can pick up your friend on your way out in the morning and make sure he actually attends school."
"Now this is really starting to sound like bad fanfiction." Accelerator groaned, putting his face in his palm.
Despite the bizarrely convenient way everything was lining up, Touma, Accelerator, and Last Order followed Yomikawa and Yoshikawa as they lead the trio of children to the former's apartment. Taking the elevator up to the fifth floor, it became all the more apparent to Touma how he managed to never run into his teacher at home, given that they lived on completely different floors. When the quintet reached Yomikawa's apartment, they were greeted with a rather sizable and high quality apartment, complete with a modern aesthetic and an open floorplan.
"Nice digs. Not as nice as Touma's, but still nice." Accelerator complimented, "I thought they were cutting back on the salaries of government employees."
"How did you afford this place?" Touma inquired, knowing how expensive an apartment in this particular building would be.
"Well, this building also serves as a structural engineering field test site." Yomikawa explained. "Luckily for me, that means the university takes some of the burden for paying rent."
"Ah, I see." Accelerator nodded in understanding.
"So pretty! And so clean too! There isn't a speck of dust anyway! Exclaims Misaka Misaka as she tests the sofa!" Last Order cheered, immediately throwing herself on to Yomikawa's coach.
"Well, someone's already making themselves at home." Touma chuckled.
"It is clean. You had to write another apology letter, didn't you?" Yoshikawa deduced, throwing her friend an accusing glance.
"What are you talking about?" Yomikawa laughed lamely.
Knowing Touma had worked with Yomikawa professionally on multiple occasions, Yuri threw his friend a glance to silently ask what the pair of adults were talking about. Touma could only reply with a shrug, not being that heavily invested in his teachers' personal lives.
"It's her coping mechanism." Yoshikawa explained, noticing the duo's silent exchange, "Whenever something goes wrong at work, she obsessively cleans her place. She does it without thinking, and as a result, she often loses her keys and other important items."
"Huh? And I always took you for the super responsible type." Touma mused absentmindedly.
"Hey, is that any way to be treating the person who got you a new job? You should be nicer to me!" Yomikawa protested, "Starting tomorrow, you're Tsukuyomi's teaching assistant! I'm the reason you're starting your path towards your dream job!"
"You have my condolences." Touma said solemnly, knowing full well how much of a handful his class could be.
"As clean as it is, I'm guessing things in the kitchen haven't improved." Yoshikawa replied, not caring for being called out on her rude behavior.
"As I recall, Kikiyo, you're always perfectly happy to eat the food I offer."
"Yeah, as long as I don't know how it's made."
"Wow, you have a lot of rice cookers! Why are there so many? Asks Misaka Misaka as she counts them all." Last Order inquired, having run into the kitchen to further explore her new home.
"Don't tell me you do all your cooking in rice cookers." Touma begged, his inner chef screaming on the inside."
"What's wrong with that?" Yomikawa asked, offended, "The rice cooker is nothing short of a modern day miracle."
"What about the brat?" Accelerator cut in, "If I'm supposed to be going to school and you two are both working at said school during the day, who's going to keep an eye on her?"
"Misaka can take care of herself, thank you very much! Hollers Misaka Misaka as she affirms her maturity."
"Like hell you can. You'll probably accidentally lock yourself out of the apartment when stepping out to get the mail." Accelerator scoffed.
"I already arranged things with the school. Because of her unique circumstances, she will be coming to school and will be under constant supervision by one of us." Yomikawa explained, "And that includes you, Kamijou. I figured you wouldn't mind since you're always so eager to help."
All Touma could do was chuckle and scratch the back of his head, knowing full well he could not deny the claim.
"Misaka gets to go to school? Hooray! Cheers Misaka Misaka at the prospect of experiencing high school life before all other Sisters, including the original!"
"And the cover story?" Accelerator inquired.
"She's a niece I'm taking care of for the time being and can't leave to a babysitter." Yomikawa replied.
"I guess you got everything figured out." Accelerator yawned, finding himself bored with the topic now that everything was sorted out.
Touma was about to make a jab at Yuri's expense regarding how everything was falling into place for him, but he was interrupted when he got a call on his ODD communicator.
"Excuse me." Touma apologized as he took the call, "This is Kamijou. Talk to me."
"Kamijou, it's Uiharu. We got a bit of an emergency at the moment." Uiharu said over the line, "There's been a robbery in School District 23 and our branch has been called in to deal with it."
"They called in Judgement to handle it? Isn't directly confronting robbers more in Anti-Skill's wheelhouse?" Touma inquired.
"I was confused too, but the higher ups wouldn't give me an answer why." Uiharu replied, "Still, orders are orders, so we may as well see what we can do. Shirai is already on her way here."
"Gotcha. I'll be in the office soon." Touma said before hanging up, "Sorry to bounce on you all, but duty calls."
"Always got to be playing the hero, don't you?" Yuri sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.
"You're welcome to join me if you want." Touma offered, "The branch office has become something of a hideout for my friends and I, and I've been meaning to introduce you to everyone."
"Not like I've got anything better to do." Yuri shrugged, "Just don't expect me to sign up too or get all buddy-buddy with them"
"Not with that attitude you won't." The Level 0 jabbed, lightly punching his friend in his funny bone.
"Misaka wants to go too! Declares Misaka Misaka, announcing her demands!" Last Order cried, running up to the pair of high school boys.
"Bad idea." Touma immediately denied, "Everyone I know in that office is familiar with Mikoto, and one of them has photographic memory. If they see you, they're probably going to notice the resemblance, and Mikoto isn't comfortable with revealing the existence of the Sisters yet. I promised I wouldn't say anything unless she was ready to do so herself, and I'm not about to betray her trust like that."
"For fuck's sake, are you really that devoted to her? Just seal the deal and rent a hotel room already!" Accelerator groaned, "The Academy City rumor mill already thinks you've made the Railgun your personal bitch, so just make it official already!"
"Can we not talk about the mess that is my love life right now!?" Touma begged, embarrassed that his genuine concern for his not-quite-girlfriend's privacy was being used against him.
"As funny as your banter is, don't you have somewhere to be?" Yomikawa cut in, snapping the duo from their usual back-and-forth.
"R-right!" Touma stuttered, collecting himself and making a break for the door with Yuri close behind him.
The three remaining occupants of the apartment could not help but giggle and the pair's unique friendship.
Taking Touma's hoverboard as their means of transportation, the pair of high school boys were making good time in their commute from their apartment building to the Judgement branch office that Touma regularly worked at. As they rode through the streets of Academy City, they could not help but notice the blimps flying overhead, all of which were playing a news report on several space-travel-capable countries launching manned rockets into orbit.
"There sure have been a lot of those recently." Touma noted, "Rocket launches I mean."
"Haven't really noticed myself." Yuri admitted, "Don't really watch the news. Has nothing to do with me, so I don't bother paying attention."
"You're going to end up a hermit if you keep up that isolated lifestyle." Touma reprimanded his friend, "Any idea as to why there are so many rocket launches, especially from Academy City?"
"Who knows. Maybe a passing asteroid was discovered to hold a new element with a lot of weird properties like it interacts with Esper Abilities strangely." Yuri proposed half-heartedly, "Could be anything, really."
As the sun approached twilight over Academy City, Touma and Yuri arrived at the 177th Judgement Branch Office. Upon seeing the building, Yuri could not help but think it looked rather plain. Touma had shared stories about some of the more insane cases he had been involved with in the relatively short time he had been in Judgement. The idea that such large scale cases against some mildly notable villains were cracked in such a quant office was almost humorous. At the same time, it also felt appropriate, given how often Touma downplayed his own achievements.
Following Touma's lead, the pair made their way into the building, climbing up a few flights of stairs before arriving at the office that Judgement Branch 177 called home. Upon entering, they were greeted by four of the office's regulars, two officers and two freeloaders.
"Hey, gang!" Touma greeted upon entering.
"Hey, Touma's here!" Index cheered, happy to see her friend and effective big brother.
"Perfect timing. Uiharu was just about to go over the case." Kuroko explained.
"Before we get to that, there's someone I want you all to meet." Touma announced, stepping aside to let Yuri into the room, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my longtime friend, Yuri Suzushina."
"Just call me Accelerator," Accelerator demanded as he walked in, "Only Touma gets to use that name."
"Wait, did you say 'Accelerator'? As in the first ranked Level 5? The one that got injured and lost a substantial amount of his power as a result? That Accelerator?" Uiharu asked in amazement.
"Rub it in, why don't you?" Accelerator growled, "Just don't get any ideas. Even with my damn brain injury, I'm still the first ranked."
"Well, aren't you the rude one." Kuroko grumbled.
"Deal with it, Pigtails." Accelerator snapped.
"Wow, he even has the same habit of giving demeaning nicknames as Touma." Index noted.
"H-hey! My nicknames are affectionate!" Touma cried out, offended, "And I promise, Yuri's normally a lot nicer than this."
"You only think that because you're the only one I'm willing to be that nice with." Accelerator argued.
Quickly losing interest in the conversation, Accelerator let his eyes wander across the room before his vision landed on a certain Level 0 sitting on the couch with Index. They locked gazes, and there was moment when recognition crossed the two of them.
"It's you…" Yuri mused upon seeing Saten.
"Y-yeah." Saten confirmed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
"You two know each other?" Touma asked, surprised.
"Barely." Yuri replied, "We met not too long ago. I was out on a walk as part of my rehab and got lost in a park. My legs gave out a bit when she happened to be nearby and tried to lend me hand." Yuri clicked his tongue, and looked far more irritated than he should be. But just as quickly, he calmed down. "We talked for a bit before going our separate ways. That's all."
"Oh, really? What exactly did you talk about?" Touma asked teasingly.
Yuri simply averted his friend's gaze.
"I was out in the park trying to get my power to work. After the whole Level Upper incident, I figured anything was better than doing nothing if I wanted to eventually gain an Ability." Saten explained, "Unfortunately, nothing came of it at the time, so I was starting to feel sorry for myself again. That's when I saw Yuri—" The Number 1 Esper glared intensely with a promise of death, but Saten ignored him and continued, "— collapse and I helped him out. He gave me some much needed advice about not determining my value based on my Esper Level. Helped to keep me on the right track. Honestly, it was really sweet of him."
"It was nothing." Yuri insisted with grinding teeth, "And I just said to not use that name."
"Well, look at you, ya big softy." Touma had a smug face as he teased, nudging his childhood friend with his elbow, "Really building up that harem, aren't you?"
"I don't want to hear that coming from you." Yuri grumbled as he scanned the office, "So, this is where the magic happens. Quaint."
"Ha! We wish. If any of us Espers use Magic, we'd be chocking on our own blood before we could say 'kadabra'." Touma joked, much to the horror of all the girls.
"Is that so?" Yuri mused with a hand on his chin. Having come to accept Magic was real from personal experience, there was a subtle glint in his eyes of a challenge of taking apart this newfound dimension of study called 'Magic' that pique the curious mind of the Strongest Esper.
Touma, seeing his joke took the wrong turn, did not like the look in Yuri's eyes. "Err… Yuri. I may sound like I'm joking, but I'm serious. You could bleed to death, you know. I'm begging you, don't even think about it!" He tried warning him.
"That's right!" Index interjected now that the subject turns to Magic, "Magic is the power for the non-gifted. So the stronger an Esper is, the stronger the backlash you face…. Not like any of you amateurs can do any magic to the point of concern, but you might pop an eye vessel at the very least."
"I'll keep that in mind." Yuri nodded nonchalantly.
Seeing that everyone else was confused and shocked by his casual discussion regarding the existence of Magic, Touma quickly remember that not everyone was up to date on who was aware of Magic within Academy City.
"Oh, right! Yuri also knows about Magic." Touma quickly added, "He learned during the same incident as Shizuri, and is actually something of a life coach to a Magician we helped during that incident."
"Bitch was way too persistent. Just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer." Accelerator grumbled.
"You really need to be better about updating us when you let someone learn about secrets like this." Kuroko sighed, frustrated by Touma occasional bouts of idiocy.
Touma could only chuckle in embarrassment.
"Speaking of updates. Any of those regarding this robbery?" Touma asked, finally getting to the main reason he came to the office.
Gathering behind Uiharu at her desktop, the members of Judgement watched carefully as their resident tech wiz pulled up some security footage from the scene of the crime. The footage depicted a single car getting cornered by a two other cars, stopping it in its tracks. The passengers of the two cars that stopped the lone care immediately filed out, overpowering the passengers of the lone car and snagging a silver travel case from the trunk. With the case secured, the attackers quickly returned to their cars and fled the scene.
On the surface, the scene looked to be a fairly standard robbery. However, closer inspection of the footage revealed some rather peculiar details. For one, one of the men who were the victim of the robbery had pulled out a radio to contact someone shortly after the robbers fled, suggesting that his party was part of some greater collective, one that would much grander reasons for wanting to securely transport the stolen case. Second was the case itself, which had School District 23's emblem printed on it.
"Okay, so we have a robbery of School District 23 property involving two larger scale parties." Touma summarized, "Do we have any idea what was stolen. If it's School District 23, then it has to be aerospace related, right?"
"Right." Uiharu agreed, "I tracked down the model number of the case, and the case itself is designed to be completely air tight and counter cosmic radiation."
"From the sound of it, it seems this cargo was meant to be brought up into space." Kuroko deduced.
"Either that, or brought back down from it." Uiharu posited.
"There have been a lot of rocket launches recently." Touma mused, recalling his conversation with Yuri on the way to the office. "This could very well be something recovered from one of those missions."
"Either way, the fast way to get to the bottom of this is to track down the robbers and retrieve the case." the Level 4 Teleporter concluded, "What's the route they took?"
"Looks like they abandoned the cars and went underground." Uiharu noted, going over all the relevant security footage. "Maybe they want to avoid satellite surveillance."
"What?" Kuroko asked, bewildered. "Aren't there plenty of cameras underground as well as self-defense robots patrolling?"
"From what I can tell, it's easier to hide underground because of the blind spots and because of the recent traffic signal trouble in that area." Uiharu added, "Quite the coincidence, don't you think?"
'Traffic signal trouble?' Touma thought to himself, narrowing his eyes.
"Hey, Shirai. Do you know where Mikoto is?" Touma asked in a serious voice.
"Fucking hell, you're in the middle of a case and you're worried about the Railgun?" Yuri snarked from his seat on the couch, "You must really have it bad for her."
"It's not that." Touma replied calmly, not bothering to engage in his usual banter with his best friend, something that did not go unnoticed by Yuri.
"I was shopping with Sissy before I came here, and she said she was going back to the dorms to prepare for room inspection." Kuroko explained, "Why do you ask?"
"Do I need a reason to be worried about a friend?" Touma replied, "Anyway, this traffic jam means it will be easier for us to intercept the robbers, right?"
"Good point." Kuroko agreed, "In that case, I'm going to go on ahead. Uiharu, start hunting down the men that got away. And Kamijou, try to keep up."
"Wait, Shirai!" Uiharu tried to protest, but it was already too late.
Before anyone could get a word out, Kuroko had teleported out of the room, already making her way to where the robbers were last seen on the security footage.
"I swear, there are two things that can get that girl moving, it's Mikoto and law enforcement." Touma sighed.
"What? Is she some sort of psycho-lesbian cop that somehow managed to avoid getting arrested for sexual assault on the regular?" Accelerator joked crudely with a smirk on his face, only for the smirk to slowly fade when everyone else grew quiet, "You're kidding!?"
"Let's just leave it at that." Touma insisted, "Headband, can you keep me updated on the locations of the robbers and Pigtails?"
"I'll transmit the camera search area and Shirai's ODD GPS location to your ODD." Uiharu replied, already getting to work on her desktop.
"Great. Come on, Yuri. I'll give you a ride part of the way home while I give chase." Touma said, coming off more as a demand rather than an offer.
"Okay?" Yuri accepted tentatively, recognizing there was something more to Touma's actions.
"Index and I better get going too." Saten added, getting up from her seat, "I still have to make dinner, and tonight's is beef curry!"
"Yay, curry!" Index cheered, excited by the prospect of food.
Parting ways in front of the office building, Saten and Index headed home while Touma and Yuri took off in the other direction on the former's hoverboard. Once he was sure they were out of earshot of Touma's friends, Yuri dropped a question that he had been dying to ask the moment he saw his friend get serious about his work.
"Okay, what's this really about?" Yuri demanded.
"I think Mikoto is in trouble." Touma replied, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Are you sure you're not obsessed with her?"
"I'm being serious here!" Touma snapped, "A series of traffic light issues that happen to interfere with a robbery involving a package important to School District 23? That can't be a coincidence. Zapper causes traffic signal problems on the regular by accident. She definitely had a hand in that."
"Why would she care about some crappy space package?"
"The same reason she had always stuck her neck out to fight Academy City in secret. To protect her sisters."
"What does this have to do with the Sisters?" Yuri asked, baffled by the leap in logic.
"Do you know why Project Level 6 Shift was frozen?"
"Because you knocked me out with a punch to the face?" Yuri snarked.
"That's only half of it." Touma revealed, "The other half is that Tree Diagram had been destroyed for some time. Without it, the researchers could not redo the calculations to account for the would-be outlier that was our fight. But what if they could? This is just a hypothesis, but if that package was a salvaged piece of Tree Diagram, then it could be used to rebuild the machine and reclaim its processing power."
"Which would open the opportunity to restart Project Level 6 Shift again." Accelerator finished the though, his eyes narrowing in anger, "That explains why the Railgun would go through all the trouble, but how can you be so sure?"
"Call it a gut feeling. Besides, I need to investigate this anyway as a member of Judgement." Touma replied, "That doesn't mean I can't conduct a private investigation on the side."
"Then you better step on it!" Accelerator ordered, "And you better let me in on the action! I'm not about to let those shitty researchers get their way!"
"You wouldn't be the first civilian Judgement branch 117 let get involved." Touma smirked under his helmet.
As the pair approached Kuroko's location, Touma got a notification from Uiharu on his ODD.
"This is Kamijou. Got an update, Uiharu?" Touma answered, his eyes focused on the road while his left wrist was brought up to his mouth.
"Yes. Shirai had just secured the stolen package from the robbers, but she subsequently got ambushed by an Esper working with them." Uiharu explained.
"Can you give me any details on this Esper?" Touma inquired? "Their physical description? What their Ability is?"
"I only have the security cameras to work with, so I can only give you details based on those until I can cross reference the footage with the Data Bank." Uiharu relayed, "The perpetrator is a female student of about high school age with twin low ponytails. Her Ability appears to be a type of Teleporter, but unlike Shirai, she doesn't need to make physical contact with an object to apply her Ability on it. She does, however, appear to use a military flashlight to help her focus on what she wants to teleport."
"Copy that. I will take the appropriate precautions. Kamijou out." Touma replied, cutting the line, "You get all that?"
"I'm standing right behind you, aren't I?" Yuri pointed out.
"Good. In that case, can I ask you to keep watch make sure she doesn't get away when I confront her? Teleporters can be pretty slippery, and you have the best movement options between the two of us." Touma requested his best friend.
"Sure, but no promises." Yuri shrugged, "No one can run from me in three dimensions, but it's a different story with eleven."
"Then let's hope my rotten luck isn't actually rubbing off on you."
Just before the pair reached the alley where Kuroko was last spotted, Touma hopped off his hoverboard while Yuri hung back to keep watch. Leaving his hoverboard in the care of his best friend, Touma rushed into alley to see his partner-in-crime-fighting at the mercy of their mysterious enemy Teleporter. The Tokiwodai student looked worse for wear, with a corkscrew lodged in her shoulder and blood stains all across her uniform. The girl opposite her had an aura of complete control, casually sitting on the stolen carrying case like a simple stool. With how relaxed the mystery attacker acted, it was clear to Touma that this whole confrontation was child's play to her.
"Shirai!" Touma called out upon arrival.
Having caught the attention of the two teleporters, Touma found himself in a staring contest with the ponytailed perpetrator.
"Another one?" the mysterious girl scoffed, "You think one more of you is going to be to catch me?"
"Well, I sure as hell not going to let you get away easily." Touma declared, drawing his ODD in his right hand and shifting it into police baton mode.
As much as he wished he could have used one of his ODD's preferred polearm modes, Touma recognized that doing so would be impractical in such a narrow alley way. At least with the foreknowledge that his opponent was a remote Teleporter, he could keep his weapon in his right hand so she could not disarm him and turn his own weapon against him.
With his weapon drawn, Touma took an offensive stance, leading with his left foot and shoulder while he held his ODD at the ready for a wide sweep.
"Bet you think you look tough with that helmet and glorified police baton," the mysterious girl taunted, "Not that they will do you any good."
Ready to prove his opponent wrong, Touma broke into a sprint, charging straight at the mysterious Teleporter. Still confident in her odds, the Teleporter raised her military flashlight and pointed it in Touma's direction. Her plan was to use the pins she had stolen from Kuroko and use them as ammunition for her own teleportation attacks. However, her habit of using her flashlight to help her focus proved to be her undoing.
Registering the movement of the flashlight and its use as a pointer, Touma immediately dove forward into a parkour roll, diving under the teleported pins just before they reached their destination in three dimensional space. Having successfully dodged the teleported pins, Touma leaped forward and swing his ODD to strike. With his weapon in his right hand, his opponent was not able to teleport it away, forcing her to defend against the baton with her flashlight.
Their respective weapons now clashing, Touma took the opportunity to secure his win by flipping his ODD in his hand so that it hooked around his opponent's flashlight, allowing him to slide his hand down the flashlight and grab her wrist, rendering her teleportation useless. Unfortunately, Touma never got to capitalize on this plan, as just before his hand touched her own, the mysterious girl stopped pushing back, allowing her flashlight arm to go limp and causing Touma's makeshift hook to lose its grip.
It was almost as if she had anticipated that he would try to grab her, despite the fact that grabbing a teleporter of a sufficient Level was pointless unless you could stop them from teleporting like Touma could. Despite that, this girl seemed to actively try to avoid making contact with Touma's right hand at all.
Before Touma could ponder about this for too long, he found himself blind-sighted by the mysterious teleporter using the stolen traveling case to bludgeon him away. It was only thanks to his nanomachine helmet that Touma did not suffer a major concussion.
"Normally, I wouldn't resort to using such precious cargo as a weapon, but considering how much of a threat you are, I'll make an exception," the mysterious girl admitted.
"So, you think I'm a threat?" Touma asked, taking a defensive stance as to not get blind-sighted a second time.
"Of course. One does not hear the rumors of Judgement's Certain Strange Addition and not look for the signs that match with the legend." the girl replied, "Did you really think that you could continue to jump people with your negation ability with how famous you've gotten?"
"… Kinda?" Touma shrugged, "Most people don't put too much stock in Academy City's rumor mill."
"A broken clock is right twice a day, and there's always a grain of truth in every legend." the mysterious teleporter countered, "It also helps that those rumors refer to the same individual who put an end to the experiments the Railgun despised so much."
"So the contents of that case do concern her." the Level 0 deduced.
"Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, given your status, you'll understand why I'm pulling all the stops and not taking a chance with a prolonged confrontation with you." the teleporter replied, pointing her military flashlight over Touma's head, "With any luck, this will be the last you see of me."
"Wait!" Touma cried as he charged forward.
Unfortunately, by the time he closed the gap between them, the teleporter had disappeared, along with the stolen carrying case.
"Damnit!" Touma cursed as he ran to the entrance of the alley, "Yuri, did you see the suspect as she fled?"
"Not a trace. Bitch must have one hell of a teleportation range." Accelerator growled.
"Rotten luck. She's more slippery than Pigtails." Touma bemoaned.
While certainly slippery, Touma could not help be notice the delay in the suspect's teleportation of herself. Having seen Kuroko teleport herself plenty of times, Touma could tell that this suspect was much more hesitant about teleporting herself than she was about teleporting other objects.
Putting the thought aside, Touma deactivated his helmet and stowed his ODD before collecting his hoverboard and returning to the still injured Kuroko.
"So, she got away?" Kuroko asked grimly.
"Yeah, but never mind that right now." Touma sighed, helping Kuroko on her feet, "You're injured. We need to get you medical treatment. Let's get you back to the office."
"My dorm is closer. I have first-aid supplies there and I can treat myself." Kuroko insisted, steading herself on her feet.
"Should you really be walking on your own like that?" Touma asked in concern.
"I'll be fine." Kuroko insisted more forcefully.
"You're persistent, I'll give you that much." Accelerator mused as he approached the pair of Judgement officers, "You just have a knack for drawing in stupidly persistent people, don't you Touma?"
"What does that say about you, Yuri?" Touma fired back.
"Could you two save the bromance banter for later? We have a suspect still on the loose!" Kuroko demanded, limping her way out of the alley while nursing her wounds.
"Okay, stop right there." Touma ordered, gripping Kuroko's uninjured shoulder with his right hand, "You are not walking, let alone teleporting, all the way to your dorm with those injuries. Come on, get on the hoverboard. I'll carry you there on it."
Once again deploying his hoverboard low to the ground, Touma gently guided the reluctant Kuroko to sit down on the device. With the lone passenger aboard, Touma led the way to Kuroko's dorm, using his ODD's mental interface system to guide the hoverboard down the path he walked. The trio traveled mostly in silence, but that fragile silence would shatter once Kuroko started mulling over the things their escaped suspect had said.
"Hey, Kamijou?" Kuroko asked from her seat on the hoverboard, "Do you know if Sissy is up to something?"
"Why do you ask?" Touma asked in reply.
"Before you arrived, that suspect was talking about a lot of weird stuff that just didn't make sense." the teleporter explained, "She kept going on about how Tree Diagram was causing a massive nightmare for Sissy and how its destruction freed her from it. On top of that, that case supposedly contains a fragment of the super computer, and that its restoration could mean the continuation of the experiments that she hated so much."
For reasons Kuroko did not understand, Accelerator turned to look away from the conversation in a pointless attempt to filter it out.
"You do know something, don't you?" Kuroko continued, "The suspect mentioned how you were responsible for putting an end to these supposed experiments that Sissy despises. Knowing your luck, you probably did get dragged into something like that."
Touma's lack of a definitive response was all the confirmation Kuroko needed.
"What happened?" Kuroko asked, practically begging, "What did you and Sissy get involved in that caused her much grief?"
"It's… not really my place to say." Touma finally replied with some hesitation, "What happened was very personal for Mikoto. If it's going to come from anyone, it should come from her."
"And how long will that take!?" Kuroko moaned in frustration, "You know how she is with keeping things to herself! She's stubborn like that!"
"I can't say for certain how long it will take. That ultimately depends on Mikoto too." Touma admitted, "However, I do know that when she is ready to let other people in, you'll be the first person she opens up to. After all, she trusts you the most out of everyone."
"After you, you mean." Kuroko corrected with a hint of envy.
"Debatable." Touma replied with a shrug.
By the time the trio arrived at Kuroko's dorm building, night was starting to creep over Academy City. Parting ways at the front gate, Kuroko made her way inside while Touma and Yuri took their leave. However, the pair of high school boys did not go far, simply rounding the corner while Touma opened a new call on his ODD with Kuroko and Uiharu, who was still holed up in the office doing research on their escaped suspect.
"Alright, Headband. What have you found for us?" Touma asked over the call.
"Good news. I found the name of the Esper that attacked Shirai, Awaki Musujime." Uiharu explained, "A Level 4, second year student at Kirigaoka Girl's School. Her Ability is Move Point. As you two reported, she is capable of teleporting objects without making physical contact. More precisely, she is capable of spatial replacement from coordinate A to coordinate B."
"We know all that. Did you find anything else?" Kuroko asked, her frustration palpable.
"Give me a minute." Uiharu replied, "According to the Data Bank, she's not very good at blocking Espers of the same type. She also seems to have hesitations about teleporting herself, likely because of an injury she sustained while doing so two years ago."
"Hm. That tracks with what I saw when she made her escape." Touma mused, "While still as slippery as any Teleporter, she was slightly slower when teleporting herself compared to when she did the same to other objects and when Shirai teleports."
"Hey, Touma." Yuri cut in, nudging his friend's shoulder and nodding around the corner.
Peeking out around the corner, Touma spotted Mikoto making her way inside the dorm building.
'Probably gearing up for war, aren't you, Mikoto?' Touma thought to himself with a grimace.
"One more thing." Uiharu added, "This is unconfirmed, but Musujime is supposedly one of the guides."
"Guides to what?" Kuroko inquired.
"To the building with no windows or doors."
"You mean the Academy City Governing Board Chairman's Office?" Kuroko asked in shock, "How can that be? I thought that was just an urban legend."
"So was a lot of stuff tied to several of our cases over the last couple of months." Touma pointed out, "These things always have a grain of truth to them. It's just that somethings those grains of truth are more like boulders."
"I suppose that's tru-eugh! Kuroko flinched, her wounds getting the better of her.
"Are you okay, Shirai? You sound like you're hurting." Uiharu asked worryingly.
"I'm fine. Just keep reporting."
"If you say so." Uiharu continued, "According to Anti-Skill, the victims of the robbery, the men in suits, are secure now and were couriers hired by School District 23. A Psychometrist was called in to read their memories, but the couriers didn't know anything about what they were carrying."
"So, the contents of the case were on a need-to-know basis and the couriers apparently didn't need to know." Touma deduced, "If what Musujime claimed regarding the contents of that case were true, it would make sense that knowledge of the contents was kept top secret."
"You think we should let Anti-Skill take over from here?" Uiharu suggested, "I'm starting to think the case may be bigger than we can manage on our own."
"Come on, Headband. You're really saying that after everything we dealt with since I joined Judgement a few months ago?" Touma half-joked.
However, before they could discuss the matter further, Kuroko suddenly closed the call, leaving both Touma and Uiharu in the dark.
"Well, so much for that." Touma sighed, shutting down his ODD's communicator feature, "I think we can safely say that this case is going to be a little bit out of Judgement's depth."
"Not to mention the ties to Academy City's Dark Side inherent with something like the theft of a remnant of Tree Diagram." Yuri added, "So, we taking the fight to them ourselves?"
"Not quite yet." Touma replied, rounding the corner and leading the way to the dorm building's front gate.
With impeccable timing, Touma and Yuri intercepted Mikoto as she was taking her leave off the premises.
"What are you two doing here?" Mikoto asked accusingly, "Trying to stop me? Going to tell me to let the authorities handle this?"
Touma simple lifted his left wrist, presenting his ODD's holographic display. With a simple thought, he cut off his ODD from the Disciplinary Committee's communication network, effectively making him a rogue agent.
"So, do you have a lead on where the culprit may be hiding?
To say that things were not going smoothly for the trio would be a gross understatement. While Touma, Mikoto, and Accelerator were able to track down Musujime to a construction site, actually apprehending her proved difficult. While the teleporter was outclassed in terms of sheer power, she had far more resources and manpower than the trio. The men she hired were small fry, but they were numerous and kept the trio from actually closing the distance between them an Musujime. Throw in the fact that all the trio was largely against the notion of killing any of their opponents, and the fight was largely a battle of attrition.
"Well, this is getting us nowhere!" Touma bemoaned from behind a stack of pipes, his helmet equipped for safety and his ODD ready to be thrown at a moment's notice.
"What did you expect with all the small fry!?" Accelerator yelled, firing off a pistol he had swiped from a downed enemy to save on battery.
Up above, Musujime watched the battle unfold from the safety of her makeshift loft in the construction site, the Tree Diagram Remnant securely by her side.
"Come out of hiding already, you coward!" Mikoto demanded, standing front and center, "Or are you planning on sneaking around all night!"
One of Musujime's men attempted to capitalize on Mikoto's distracted state by coming out of hiding and pulling a gun on her. However, Mikoto was faster, firing off a railgun in the gunman's general direction, blowing him and several others away with the shockwave.
"So much taunting. You're in quite a hurry today." Musujime mused, "You must be desperate to prevent the Remnant from being reintegrated. The thought of the experiments resuming must terrify you."
"You should shut up!" Mikoto barked.
"You should forget about them, you know. The experiments are the reason they were created in the first place." Musujime reasoned, referring to the Sisters, "Why not just let them be destroyed as they were intended?"
"Yeah, like we're going to let that happen!" Accelerator yelled, firing several shots at the teleporter, only to find that his aim was not the sharpest.
"I have to admit, I'm curious. Why is the first ranked, the primary beneficiary of the experiments, working so hard to try and prevent them from resuming?" Musujime mused, "The Railgun is doing all this for herself, and the Certain Strange Addition is an anomaly of a human being who just does whatever he wants. What reason could you possibly have for wanting to save couple of mass produced guinea pigs?"
"I'm getting sick and tired of hearing sick bastards like you call them that!" Accelerator roared, unloading the rest of his gun's clip desperately trying to hit Musujime.
"Someone's testy." Musujime taunted, "Must be agonizing to try and fight with your power reduced like that. Even if the experiments started again, you probably wouldn't be able to become a Level 6 even if they double the number of battles you did."
"Let's get one things straight here!" Accelerator growled, "Just because I've gotten weaker doesn't mean you've gotten stronger. Even now, I'm still the first ranked. Once I get my hands on you, I'm sending you flying! No way in hell I'm letting any of the crappy researchers in this city get their hands on that Remnant!"
"So in the end, you're all just here because you're thoroughly pissed off, is that it?" Musujime mused.
"You're right. We're all pissed off." Mikoto admitted, electricity surging around her, "We each have our own reasons, and that's especially true for me. No matter what I seem to do, I can't keep the people I care about from getting her. That idiot, did she really think I wouldn't notice? It tearing at her. I knew something was wrong. She's hurting, and it's all because of me. I'm pissed off, all right. At my sweet, ridiculous roommate, at the scum standing before me, but mostly at myself for letting all of this start in the first place!"
Mikoto roared in agony as if someone has stabbed her in her own chest. The boys didn't flinch at her voice. More than anyone, they understand the feeling she must be going through as they stood side by side.
No longer she would face this nightmare alone.
No more.
"Since the trigger of this incident was that 'Experiment', I have the duty to stop you. If it wasn't for me… my stupid roommate wouldn't get hurt… and YOU WOULDN'T HAVE A REASON TO HURT HER!"
"So self-sacrificing. It's sickening, really." Musujime scoffed, "Why not play the victim like any halfway normal person would in your situation? Regardless, I don't have time you play with you all at the moment. One way or another, I'm leaving, so you may as well give up on catching me."
"If you think we're going to let you walk away from here with that case, you're in for a rude awakening!" Touma declared, "We'll stop you here and now, and shatter that ridiculous illusion!"
With a wave of her military flashlight, Musujime teleported in several people in front of her, creating a barricade of human bodies.
"What, you think I won't attack your friends?" Mikoto challenged, charging up an attack.
"Mikoto wait!" Touma cried out, "There are civilians mixed in there!"
Upon closer inspection, Mikoto quickly realized Touma was telling the truth. Mixed in with the men Musujime had been working with were several individuals in school uniforms. Since there was no telling if the people in civilian attire were actually civilians, Mikoto could not risk attacking.
"Dragging innocent people into this? Talk about a crappy villain move." Accelerator growled.
By the time the human barricade had fallen to the ground and out of the way, Musujime was gone, having evaded capture yet again with the Remnant in tow.
"I'm really getting sick of being of the receiving end of Teleporter tactics." Touma grumbled, stowing away his ODD.
"Damn it, she got away again." Accelerator bemoaned, tossing aside his now empty gun.
"Not for long." Mikoto declared with determination, "Let's find a phonebooth. I can hack into the network and find any reports that can lead us to where she went."
Nodding in agreement, the two high school boys followed Mikoto's lead as the trio left construction site to continue tracking down Musujime. All the while, they failed to notice that their little scuffle had a silent audience, watching just outside the construction site fence.
"Okay. Enough observing from the sidelines. I think it's time for me to get involved." Kuroko told herself as she slipped on her Judgement armband, "Well, I hope you're ready for this, Kuroko. You're heading right into the heart of the battlefield. Once you go in, there will be no turning back."
Special End Card Segment: Animan Shrine
In a dark corner the Animan Shrine, a certain shrine maiden was sulking in fetal position, hiding herself from the world.
"Himegami?" The master of the shrine, Animan von Elysium X, asked his assistant in concern.
"A new transfer student." Himegami whispered to herself, "It hasn't even been a full month into the trimester and I'm already being replaced."
"Now now, don't be like that! You're still the most recent female transfer student!" Animan encouraged in vain.
Himegami only sulked further into her how sorrow.