Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter One Hundred Twelve: Ichihanaransai - The Chaos Begins
The day before the Ichihanaran festival, a City-wide cultural festival, Hamazura Shiage and his team had gotten a truly nerve wrecking mission: taking care of Frenda's little sister, Fremea, for the day, Well, saying all of ITEM was involved was perhaps a stretch considering as only him and Rikou really had the patience to deal with the rambunctious little girl. This was what left him and his girlfriend walking away with the girl from Hero's Cave, a dentist clinic located in School District 7, after having escorted the blonde for an appointment.
"Not that we didn't enjoy spending the day with you, Fremea-chan. But something's been bugging me. I'm honestly surprised that you wanted to spend a day with us a day before the Ichihanaransai." Shiage said as they walked towards the bus stop where the little blonde would be able to catch the bus to get home. "Don't you want to spend time with Frenda-san? I mean the festival is a great chance to have fun with her, right?"
"Yeah, but essentially like you said, the festival is tomorrow. Nyah~!" Fremea-chan retorted with a cheeky grin.
"Well, why didn't you want to spend time with her today getting ready for the festival?" Rikou countered, shooting Fremea-chan a disapproving frown.
"I would've loved to." Fremea-chan said with a nod. "In the first place, I am doing it for a good cause."
"And what cause is that?"
"Simple, Rikou-nee, essentiallyI want to give Onee-sama a chance to spend with her boyfriend and girlfriend. I want nieces and nephews nyah~!"
"Okay~!" Shiage said with an exasperated shake of his head. Trust Fremea-chan to be motivated by such a silly reason. Did she really think Frenda-san, Accelerator-sama, and Saten-sama couldn't find time to spend time together if they really wanted to, whether she was there or not? Did she even know whether Frenda-san was having a date today? "Why choose to spend time with us over anyone else?"
"That's easy! Essentially, you and your team are my heroes nyah~!" Fremea-chan said with genuine excitement. "Plus, I genuinely wanted to spend time with you. And you all lived up to my expectations!"
"We just took you to the amusement park in School District 7 for the morning and then escorted you to your afternoon dental appointment." Rikou pointed out in a deadpan. "Nothing special."
"Essentially, it was still great! And sorry for the appointment, it was the only day that my dentist was free for months. He is super popular nyah~!"
Shiage exchanged an exasperated look with Rikou. Truly, Fremea-chan was simply inscrutable. She was cute and good company so spending time with her wasn't an issue. But only in small doses. She could just get so annoying at times. And he was inching close to an overdose.
Thankfully, their exposure to her was coming to an end. "Look, we're here at the bus stop."
"And that's your bus." Rikou said, pointing at a bus pulling into the stop. "Are you sure you don't want us to follow you home?"
"Nope." Fremea-chan confirmed with a determined shake of her head. "In the first place, I'm old enough to go home on my own. I don't need anyone to escort me."
"Alright then." Shiage said with a nod. "Then see you soon, Fremea-chan."
"Bye, Fremea-chan." Rikou said, offering the little blonde a wave as the younger girl made her way towards the bus which had just come to a stop and was opening its doors.
"Bye, Shiage-nii, Rikou-nee! Nyah~!" Fremea-chan said, as she waved over her shoulder and climbed onto the bus.
Shiage stood beside Rikou waving at Fremea-chan as she took a seat on her bus and it drove away. They kept it up for a good few minutes before Shiage turned to his girlfriend with what he hoped was a suggestive look. "So Rikou, do you want to do anything before we head home?"
"We need to buy some laundry detergent." Rikou replied with a shrug. "The safehouse we're staying in ran out."
Shiage shook his head in amusement. "Your attitude has no sex appeal, you know that, Rikou?"
"Maybe but I have plenty of sex appeal in other ways. We wouldn't have as much sex as we do if that was not the case." Rikou retorted without missing a beat as she began walking away from the bus stop, presumably in the direction of a store where they could buy the detergent she mentioned they needed earlier.
"T-That's t-true." Shiage replied stutteringly, a crimson blush gracing his cheeks as he followed after her.
Rikou smirked smugly at his response. A self-satisfied air that she maintained throughout the comfortable silence that they shared as they continued their walk towards the store. A mood that suddenly disappeared when she abruptly froze and turned to the road with a frown.
"What's going on?" Shiage asked with a concerned frown.
"According to the AIM tracking of my AIM Stalker, Fremea-chan just missed her bus stop."
Hearing that, Shiage immediately pulled out his phone to call Fremea-chan. His nerves grew ever more tense as the phone rang and rang without a sign of connecting. Anxiety that peaked when the call finally connected but not because his young blonde friend had accepted the call. Instead, the call connected to an automated message for her voicemail.
"Hello! Nyah~! You've reached the phone of Fremea Seivelun. Essentially, I can't take your call right now. So just leave your name, number, and a message. I'll get back to you as soon as I'm available. Nyah~!"
Hissing in frustration, Shiage cut the call and put his phone away before addressing Rikou. "She's not answering her phone."
Rikou frowned. "Maybe she just missed her stop because she fell asleep and her phone is on silent and failed to wake her up?"
"Maybe…"
"Either way, we need to hunt down Fremea-chan and make sure she gets home."
"Yeah." Shiage-chan nodded in agreement. They needed to do so before Frenda-san, and by extension the Trinity, found out and he and his team got smited for losing her in the first place. They needed to return her safely and then ask for forgiveness. There was a better chance for their survival that way.
Whilst Fremea-chan was sparking a minor panic among ITEM, Mikoto was chilling out with the rest of the Trinity alongside Kuroko, Kongou-san, Awatsuki-san, Wannai-san and Frenda-san. All of them had spent the whole day helping Tokiwadai prepare for the Ichihanaransai and were now relaxing by enjoying some cakes and drinks at the Italian pastry shop and cafe, Pasticceria Manicagni, in the School Garden.
"Namikaze-san, weren't you helping your Faction prepare for your contribution to the festival?" Awatsuki-san asked as they settled down around the table they'd secured for themselves. "You mentioned you would be this morning."
"Well, I was working with them the whole day so now that I'm done, I've decided to hang out with my other friends instead." Naru said with a shrug as she answered her roommate.
"Huh? Your Faction is allowed to set up something for the festival, Namikaze-sama?" Frenda-san asked as she pulled away from the sundae that she was sharing with Ruiko. "Isn't it usually limited to classes and, at best, clubs?"
"It's simple really, Frenda-san." Naru said with a smile as she took a sip from her frappé coffee. "Factions are basically Tokiwadai's clubs and besides! At Chao-chan's suggestion and with Headmistress-sama's permission, we were allowed to set up our own event for the festival."
"And what exactly is your Faction preparing for the festival, Namikaze-sama?" Kongou-san asked, taking a bite out of her chocolate cake as she looked at Naru curiously.
"Yeah, Naru, what are you and your Faction doing?" Mikoto asked as well whilst taking a sip of her tea.
The two of them weren't the only ones who were curious. All of them were. Well, almost all of them. Ruiko didn't seem to care. She just pouted at the fact that Frenda-san had let her curiosity get the better of her and had stopped sharing the extra large sundae they'd purchased.
"Nothing special." Naru said as she practically preened at all the attention directed towards her. "We just took a page out of Takeshi's Castle."
"What do you mean by that exactly, Namikaze-sama?" Wannai-san asked as she paused in her consumption of her cream cheese cake and blinked in confusion.
Offering them a mysterious smirk, Naru offered them a noncommittal response. "Just wait and see."
"You're no fun, Namikaze-sama." Frenda-san said with a pout before turning to her girlfriend whilst scooping out a spoonful of their shared sundae. "What about you, Ruiko? You were helping out your class weren't you?"
Smiling beautifully at gaining her girlfriend's attention, Ruiko replied. "Well, my and Naru's class are opening a display of various handicrafts produced by our various classmates that we will be selling at the auctions at the end of the day."
"Oh? And what did you make for this sale?" Kuroko asked the Number 3 as she finished taking a dainty bite from the seasonal fruit tart she'd ordered.
"Something grand I am sure." Kongou-san said, offering Ruiko a smile. "I cannot imagine Saten-sama would produce anything less for such a public event."
In response to these questions, Ruiko blushed. Something that prompted Naru to address her teasingly, "Hah! Tell me about it! Rui-chan went super overboard! She created dozens of various elaborate sculptures with Dark Matter."
"Ruiko, honestly, can you be less of an overachiever once in a while?" Mikoto asked, shaking her head in exasperation. A feeling that was shared with the rest of their friends as well as seen by the looks they sent the [AIM Sovereign].
Ruiko ignored them all except for Frenda-san giggling at her expense. This caused her to blush and pout. A sight that had everyone giggling at her behavior.
"Maybe but it was worth it." Ruiko tells them. "Our class decided that since I provided so much of the stock for the sale, I had done enough and thus I'm free for the day of the festival. But enough about my class! What about the rest of you? What are your classes doing for the festival?"
"My class," Kuroko began, volunteering to go first. "Is putting up abridged versions of Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream. We plan to hold a number of performances during the festival."
"That sounds interesting." Wannai-chan said, turning to Kuroko with her eyes veritably sparkling with curiosity. "What role are you playing?"
"None," Kuroko confessed and blushed at the question. "I didn't do well in the auditions, so I failed to secure a role. I ended up serving as a member of the backstage crew."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Shirai-san." Kongou-san said, offering Kuroko a consoling smile.
"Oh, no! There's nothing to be upset about. I am completely fine with my role." Kuroko told them. "In hindsight it's a good thing that I did. Backstage crews only have half day duties so after I am finished in the morning, I'm free to enjoy the rest of the festival."
"That's good to hear."
"Awatsuki-chan is right about that." Naru said with a nod in agreement with her roommate. "But what about the performers?"
"We've taken that into account." Kuroko assured them. "There are only so many performances and they get long breaks between them. In contrast, the backstage crew are expected to support all performances within their duty period so it all balances out."
"That does sound fair." Ruiko said as she fed a spoon of their shared sundae to Frenda-san, much to Mikoto's amusement.
"It does." Naru agreed as she took a bite of her slice of strawberry costrata.
"It definitely does." Mikoto said as she finished off her slice of monte bianco and gestured at Awatsuki-san, Wannai-san and Kongou-san. "What about you girls?"
"I'm sure it's not a surprise." Awatsuki-san said with a shrug as she finished a forkful of her blueberry cake. "We are supporting the Swim Club for the festival."
"We're part of an artistic swimming performance."
"But aren't you competitive swimmers?" Mikoto asked, blinking in confusion.
"We are." Awatsuki-san confirmed.
"But we trained to perform a simple artistic swimming performance for the Ichihanaransai."
"And our class along with a class of each of the upper years are supporting the Swim Club by organizing food stands around the Tokiwadai pool complex." Kongou-san added. "For my part, I will be supporting our class' dessert stall as part of that effort."
"That sounds wonderful." Mikoto said, offering the two school swimmers and Kongou-san a smile.
And that's all of them. Guess it's my turn. Mikoto thought as everyone turned to look at her expectantly.
Chuckling at everyone putting her on the spot, she took a sip of her tea before addressing her friends. "I suppose I should share too, huh?"
"Well, everyone else did. So you should too." Naru told her with a teasing grin.
"Frenda-san didn't though."
"And I don't go to school." Frenda-san pointed out. "I'm basically a high school dropout."
"A very cute dropout." Ruiko corrected.
"You're biased, Ruiko-chan." The petite Norwegian said as she shut down any response that her girlfriend might have made by feeding her a spoonful of sundae.
As everyone giggled at the girlfriends' exchange, Mikoto decided to help her friend by shifting the attention back onto her by properly answering Naru's question. "My class did some research on what the other classes, clubs and Factions were preparing for the festival and realized that no one was actually doing carnival games. The closest was your Faction's Takeshi's Castle ripoff."
"It's not a ripoff!" Naru whined but no one paid attention to her.
Ignoring her, Mikoto continued. "So my class decided to set up a few stalls for a variety of carnival games."
"And what's your role in that, Senpai?" Ruiko asked as she swallowed the ice cream that Frenda-san had fed her.
"I'm part of the logistics team. It was why I spent the whole day helping to set up our game stands and I'll also be helping dismantle them the morning after the festival."
"Huh? So all three of us are free on the day of the festival itself?" Naru asked, gesturing between the various members of the Trinity. "That sure is convenient!"
"You'll be free too, Naru-san?"
"That's right, Kuro-chan." Naru confirmed with a nod. "Since I provided all the prizes for my Faction's event, I wasn't given any duties on the festival day and am able to enjoy it without worry."
"Argh! It's so unfair that all three of you got the day of the festival off." Kuroko whined.
"I wouldn't call it unfair." Kongou-san said with a frown. "But I do have to say it's remarkably lucky."
"Almost a little too much." Wannai-san said with a frown.
"Not that we think you set things up like this, but maybe the higher-ups?" Awatsuki-san suggested.
The Trinity exchanged looks and shrugged.
"I guess that's possible." Naru said with a nod.
"But as far as we know, that's not the case." Mikoto said, glancing at Ruiko. "Right?"
"As far as I know, yes that's true." Ruiko nodded before continuing with a smirk. "Life is just unfair. Deal with it."
As Naru snickered and Mikoto shook her head in exasperation at the Number 3's bluntness, Kuroko-san, Kongou-san, Awatsuk-sani and Wannai-san shot her the stink eye. All whilst Frenda-san rolled her eyes at her girlfriend.
"Changing the topic," Kuroko said, cutting into the tension. "Frenda-san, I saw you helping out with Ruiko-san's class in setting up their event. Why is that? You're not a Tokiwadai student, much less a member of Ruiko-san and Naru-san's class."
The Norwegian just smirked and shrugged. "Well, I just wanted to help."
"Yes, and someone snuck into the school to do that." Ruiko said with a bemused shake of her head.
"And the teachers just let her?" Mikoto asked in surprise.
"I have very good puppy dog eyes."
Discounting Frenda-san's ridiculous explanation, everyone turned to look at Ruiko for confirmation.
"She's mostly telling the truth." Ruiko told them with an amused smile. "She charmed the teachers into agreeing but I ultimately had to call in a favor from Headmistress-sama."
Everyone nodded in understanding. That made a lot more sense.
"Okay, enough talking about the Ichihanaransai! Anyone else have anything interesting to talk about?"
"I do." Ruiko said, smiling teasingly at Mikoto. "I have some interesting news that might interest you, Senpai."
"Interesting news?" Mikoto asked warily. "What is it?"
"Oh? You want to know? What can you offer in exchange?"
"Can't you just tell us, Ruiko-san?" Kuroko pleaded.
"Hmm… Let me think about it." Ruiko said, tapping her chin in mock thoughtfulness as Frenda-san giggled at her antics.
"Don't be like that, Saten-sama. Just tell us." Kongou-san said with Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san nodding in agreement.
"And where would be the fun in that?" Naru said, adding fuel to the fire.
"What do you think, Frenda-chan? Should I be generous and just tell Senpai?"
"Why not, my oh so generous girlfriend?" Frenda-san said with a sultry smirk. "If you do, I can make it worth your while."
"Deal!" Ruiko said with a victorious smirk. "I'll hold you to that promise, Frenda-chan."
"Happy to fulfill it." The blonde Level 0 said, batting her eyelids seductively.
"Ahem!" Mikoto cleared her throat loudly. "Please remember we're in public, Ruiko, Frenda-san."
"We do remember." Frenda-san said unabashedly.
"If we didn't, we'd have been making out already." Ruiko added without a hint of embarrassment.
"I guess we can add exhibitionism to Saten-sama's list of her kinks?" Kongou-san asked with a blush.
"Unfortunately." Kuroko said with a sigh.
"Only when Rui-chan forgets she is a ojou-sama now. Which, Rui-chan, you are!"
Ruiko pouted. "You're all no fun."
"No, you're just easy to tease, Ruiko." Frenda-san said with a giggle that caused her girlfriend to huff and pout.
They all giggled at Ruiko's behavior or in Frenda-san's case, laughed harder. It seems her relationship with Frenda-san was really making her open up and start acting her age. It was seriously heartwarming! She had come so far from being the [Robot] that she was almost unrecognisable from what she was like just months ago.
"Saten-sama, why don't you just tell us what news you found so interesting?" Wannai-chan, the first of them to stop giggling, said with an amused grin.
"Okay." Ruiko said at last. "I received some news from my intelligence agents a while ago that after getting caught in a brawl, Kamijou Touma-san was arrested by Anti-Skill."
"What!?" Mikoto shouted in shock as she jumped to her feet. "Arrested by Anti-Skill!? Where is he!? I need to find him and ask him what, by Science, is he doing!?"
"I expect you do." Ruiko said with an amused, knowing smirk as with a burst of Electromastery, she sent a message to Mikoto's phone. "I've sent you the latest intel on his last known location. Good hunting, Senpai!"
Ignoring how her friends were either giggling at her or sharing in Kuroko's disappointed exasperation, Mikoto ran off. She had to find Kamijou.
What, by Science, is going on!? Is it an Incident!?
After leaving Pasticceria Manicagni and the School Garden, Mikoto had followed the directions that Ruiko had provided and finally spotted Kamijou as the [Imagine Breaker] was seemingly aimlessly wandering around Academy City.
"Kamijou!" She called out to him. "What, by Science, are you doing? Why aren't you helping your school for the Ichihanaransai and instead getting into a brawl bad enough to get arrested by Anti-Skill!?"
Rather than replying, Kamijou just shot her an unimpressed look. "Stop joking around, Thor. You tried this trick already."
What by Science is he talking about? Mikoto thought with a confused frown as she marched right up to Kamijou. She intended to get right into his face and demand answers.
However, in a totally unexpected move for the usually downright shy Kamijou, he suddenly reached out and grabbed her chest. Even more daringly, he started squeezing her left breast!
"Eek~!" Mikoto squeaked in surprise.
T-This is- What is going on!?
"Just how far did you go for your disguise, Thor?" Kamijou asked with a frown. "Not that I have touched many girls' breasts or anything but this feels remarkably real."
If her crush wasn't currently massaging her left boob and making her mind practically short circuit, she might've latched on to the mention of a disguise and figured out what was going on. However, her brain was indeed short circuiting and so she could only stutter out a response that in hindsight she would come to judge as less than stellar.
"W-Well, I-I'm not we-wearing p-pads." She managed to say through her confusion and the unexpected pleasure that Kamijou was eliciting from her body through his actions. Oh! She knew kneading her boobs could be pleasurable, she had touched them when she masturbated sometimes but having them massaged like this by Kamijou… The pleasure shooting through her body from his touch was unlike anything she'd ever been able to manage by doing the same when singing soprano.
Kamijou snorted at this and stopped kneading Mikoto's left boob. Instead, he smacked it instead before stepping away.
"Owww~! What was that for!?"
"Stop joking around Thor and go do what you need to." Kamijou said with a roll of his eyes and turned away before walking away. "I'll see you at the rendezvous point we agreed upon at the agreed time."
Mikoto wanted to call out to him, to try to get answers about their whole confusing interaction. However, she was so thrown by the encounter that all she could do was look after him in bewilderment. She just stood there staring in the direction that Kamijou had walked off and touching her boob that her crush had massaged just moments ago. It took her no less than five minutes before her brain rebooted enough for her to snap back to her senses.
"W-What j-just happened!?" She stuttered out as she slapped her cheeks. "Wait! If there's anyone who can tell me what happened it's Ruiko!"
With that thought in mind, Mikoto quickly fished her phone out of her skirt pocket and called her friend and teammate. Almost as if she was expecting her, the phone hadn't even finished ringing once before her friend picked up.
"Hello, Senpai. It seems your latest meeting with Kamijou was quite a pleasant experience for you." The Number 3 said in a teasing lilt.
"Yeah, it was." Mikoto agreed unashamedly. She had long become used to the fact that her friend was almost always spying on her. It was always best to expect that she knew everything that she did. Ruiko was just that much of a voyeur. "But more importantly, what was that about?"
"I don't think I need to spell this out to you but it seems that Kamijou got himself involved in some kind of Incident." Ruiko replied. "However, as of this moment, I sadly do not know the details."
"Can you get the details?"
"Not at the moment. As I said, I don't currently have them." Ruiko said with a hint of annoyance leaking into her tone. She hated having to repeat himself. "Considering my intelligence network, that this is the case means that whoever Kamijou is working with must be very powerful or capable. And with the Ichihanaransai coming up, I frankly don't want to get involved in something that involves either. I will pass on the information that something is going on to you and the higher ups but unless we are deployed to intervene, I'm staying out of this."
Mikoto rolled her eyes. "You just don't want anything to get in the way of your date with your boyfriend and girlfriend during the festival."
Ruiko did not deign to even respond to that statement. Instead, she simply said, "To that end, I'll limit my involvement to setting my network to work to figure out what Kamijou has got caught up in this time and inform you about it."
Having repeated herself again, Ruiko's tone was now downright caustic. So much so that Mikoto hissed warily. Whilst her friend regaining the full range of her emotions was an undeniably good thing, sometimes it was also a pain. And that the Number 3 could now get angry with them at the smallest things that she found triggering was one such pain.
"Um… That's fine." Mikoto said carefully. "Thank you."
Ruiko took a deep breath, calming down. "No problem, Senpai. I'll call you when I have the details you want. Till then, bye."
"Right. Hope to hear from you soon. Bye!"
As she promised Mikoto-senpai, as soon as she ended her call with the [Railgun], she had immediately set about tasking her intelligence network to figure out what on Earth Kamijou Touma-san had gotten himself involved in this time. Showing their diligence, they immediately sent her dozens of relevant reports.
Using Electromastery to review said reports remotely, Ruiko was simultaneously trying to decide what she was going to wear for her date with her partners tomorrow where they planned to spend the day enjoying the festival together. Yes, the Tokiwadai dress code was still in effect but as far as she was concerned, it could go hang. She was going to look her best for Accel and Frenda-chan tomorrow come hell or high water!
"Yes, yes, this will work nicely." Ruiko concluded as she used a full length mirror to admire her look as she modeled the outfit she'd picked out for the date. An outfit that consisted of a black, high neck knit dress with white long shirt sleeves, black stockings, and thigh high, high heeled, leather boots.
"All I need is to pair it with a coat." Ruiko mused as she used some Telekinesis to float a number of her coats from her wardrobe over for her consideration.
"Hmm… How about this one?" Ruiko thought as she put on a black wool double breasted, long sleeve pea coat and admired the look it gave her. "Oh! This will work alright. I look good."
Of course, even as she finished her selection for her outfit tomorrow, Ruiko had also been reviewing what her intel network had gathered about the Incident that Kamijou-san had gotten himself dragged into this time. Frankly, what she learned was almost enough to get her to frown even despite the pleasure she felt at having picked out the perfect outfit for her upcoming date. There was practically no reliable intelligence on what was going on whatsoever!
The last clear bead on him was when he had set off with Academy City forces to put down Baggage City, the rival city of schools that had been set up by the 27 former Cooperative Institutions that had broken from the City's side following the Hawaii Incident. A course of action that he felt responsible for. A sense of guilt which when combined with the need to stop Gremlin's operations there had proven enough to convince him to tag along for the suppression operation.
"Argh! Kamijou-san is so easily manipulated." Ruiko said with an exasperated sigh as she used her Telekinesis to float the coats she hadn't picked for tomorrow back into her wardrobe.
Though I suppose that's a good thing at times. Ruiko had to reluctantly admit as she began to strip off her chosen outfit for tomorrow and hang it up in preparation for the big day. It was his presence there that allowed Baggage City to be saved from Gremlin. Without his Imagine Breaker, I suspect there would be no way to save all the poor people transformed into objects by the Gremlin member, Marian Slingeneyer, during the battle.
Help that he offered even after being defeated by Othinus, the leader of Gremlin, and was left an injured wreck.
His hero complex really is incredibly severe if he pushes himself like that. Ruiko thought with a shake of her head as she stripped down to her underwear, a simple gray wireless lace bra and panty set, and hung her outfit for tomorrow up.
As she began changing back into the cream long sleeved, ribbed sweater with a lapel collar and a zip closure at the neck and black textured miniskirt that made up the loungewear she'd been wearing before she had started picking outfits for tomorrow, the Number 3 sighed. But setting that aside, my network doesn't even know how Kamijou-san made it back to the City.
She had full details on the movements of the City's forces, including various Kihara operatives, during the suppression of Baggage City. All except for Kamijou-san! At least, not after the fighting entered its final phase. By that point, her tracking of his movements became spotty before she outright lost track of him.
On another note, the City, as always, is extremely possessive over its title as the capital of the Science Side. Ruiko thought with a frown as she finished changing.
The whole Baggage City Incident was nothing more than the City attempting to prevent a competitor from creating a new global standard on supernatural powers that might replace Academy City's Espers. Or more accurately, to deny them even a chance to find or discover the existence of a superior power that could go against Academy City.
"This is hardly the first time they've done something like this." Ruiko whispered to herself bitterly. She had plenty of experience helping the City put down upstarts trying to duplicate or create alternatives to its Espers as the [Army Slayer]. None of those fools had gotten anywhere close, but Academy City tolerated no competition and they were brutally crushed regardless.
Shaking her head to dismiss the dark tangent that her thoughts had taken, Ruiko walked over to her study table and her school laptop that she had placed on it and took a seat. She had an essay to write for one of her classes that was due in a week's time and she might as well work on it now that she had some time. However, being the super multi-tasker that she was, even as she booted up her machine and began typing out her essay on string theory, she finished reviewing what information her intel network had gathered on the latest Incident.
Which is nothing at all. At least nothing worth mentioning. She realized with an annoyed huff.
All her network had been able to guess was that it seemed that Kamijou-san was currently working with someone who could take on the appearance of other people and had confronted him as Mikoto-senpai.
And we mainly know that because of what he said during his meeting with Senpai earlier.
They hadn't even confirmed the accuracy of that assumption yet! There were certainly other tidbits of intelligence here or there, including that one of the mysterious entities locked away by the Superintendent in the Windowless Building had escaped and Kamijou-san was involved but there was no proof!
I better task more resources to- Ruiko began to think before her phone began to ring.
Using some emulated Electromastery, she checked her Caller ID and smiled when she realized the call was from Accel. Was he so excited about the date tomorrow that he couldn't wait to hear her voice and decided to call to satisfy his craving? Or perhaps he was in a more raunchy mood and wanted to have some phone sex? Or, less excitedly, the more logical and less romantic and lustful portions of her mind thought, was he calling to ask her to help with the potential problem her surveillance of his apartment flagged?
"Hello, Accel." Ruiko greeted her boyfriend as she answered the call.
"Hey Ruiko, no time for fun and games. This is serious." Accel replied, sounding deeply anxious.
So it's the last option after all. Ruiko thought as she suppressed a disappointed sigh.
"What's the problem?"
"The brat is missing, that's what's the problem!"
Whilst her friends were one by one dragged into the growing chaos brewing, Naru was still blissfully unaware of the situation and was just chilling in her room with her roommate, Awatsuki-chan, in their dorm.
"Ah! Pasticceria Manicagni's cakes really are the best!" Naru declared as she rubbed her stomach in satisfaction after the hearty meal she'd had during tea at the cafe with her friends.
"I wholeheartedly agree." Awatsuki-chan said with a nod as she dried her dark purple hair that she'd washed during the shower she had finished not long ago whilst seated on the bed across from Naru's own. "But not enough to eat twelve of them like you did, Namikaze-sama."
Hah! See, even Float Girl recognizes how much of a glutton you were being, Naru!
Shut up, Kurama!
"You know I have a heightened metabolism." Naru reminded the Level 3.
"Even then twelve cakes in one sitting is excessive." Awatsuki-chan insisted. "Were you trying to make up for the fact that Uiharu-san wasn't able to join us or something?"
Darn it! She took my excuse right out of my mouth! Naru thought unhappily even as Kurama laughed at her expense.
"So what if I did? You know how much Kazari-chan likes her cakes. I had to eat her share for her since she was too busy helping out with her school's preparation for the Ichihanaransai to join us. I'm just that amazing of a friend!"
Awatsuki-chan shot her an unimpressed look. "You do know that I was being sarcastic, right?"
Naru was about to retort when her phone suddenly rang. The ring tone wasn't her ordinary one though. No, it was one reserved for emergency calls from the City's High Command.
Sighing at this interruption to her precious banter with her friend, Naru hopped off her bed and picked up her phone from its wireless charging cradle. "Sorry about this Awatsuki-chan, but I need to take this. It's important."
"I understand, Namikaze-sama." Awatsuki-chan said with a smile.
"Thanks. I'll just be a minute." Naru assured her roommate as she slipped into their dorm room's ensuite bathroom.
She locked the door and threw up a muffling wind barrier around the whole room. Only then did she finally answer the call. OpSec was important after all.
"What is it?" She asked bluntly. She wasn't exactly friendly with High Command and so wasn't inclined to treat them with anything resembling politeness.
A feeling that was reciprocated as the man on the other line replied with just as much bluntness as he got straight to the point. "A dangerous entity codenamed Fräulein Kreutune has escaped from the Windowless Building after destroying the Building's Calculate Fortress defense system and the Four Wings unmanned attack helicopters deployed in the initial response to the breakout. She is also suspected of targeting the Chairman, Aleister Crowley."
"An entity sealed in the Windowless Building broke free? And broke Calculate Fortress in the process?" Naru gasped. Anything sealed in the Windowless Building had to be dangerous. For better or worse, Crowley liked to keep the things he considered most dangerous and useful to him close, so for something to be sealed in the very building he resided in to escape… It must be exceedingly dangerous. A fact proven by how it had destroyed the Windowless Building's defense system. Naru didn't know how Calculate Fortress worked, she suspected it was magic, but she did know it was insanely powerful and could withstand anything up to and including a direct hit from a high-yield nuclear weapon! For this Fräulein Kreutune entity to break it…
Shit! This is serious! Kurama grumbled, voicing Naru's own thoughts on the matter.
"Is the Trinity being mobilized?"
"Not yet. We will be letting Anti-Skill and other assets handle it for now. But you and your team are to be on standby."
Anti-Skill? Against such a serious threat!? Are they stupid!?
No. They just intend to use them as cannon fodder to slow down the threat until whatever "other assets" they are deploying can neutralize it.
You think those assets are specifically tailored to take this Fräulein Kreutune out?
Perhaps. At the very least, the City is confident that it will be able to do so.
Naru sent her partner a thoughtful hum of agreement.
"Understood." Naru told the man on the other end of the call whilst giving no hint of the conclusions she'd drawn after her conversation with Kurama.
The man didn't even bother to acknowledge her reply before hanging up. Naru huffed in indignation at the slight but shoved her annoyance aside to set up a conference call with Rui-chan and Mikoto-senpai to discuss things.
As always her bestie, who was practically linked to her phone twenty-four seven via emulated Electromastery, answered immediately. She was followed mere seconds later by Senpai. Both of them knew the need for urgency if one of them was making a conference call all of a sudden.
"Naru, I know what is happening, but I'm busy right now so I can't discuss what is going on with the escape of Fräulein Kreutune." Rui-chan said as soon as Mikoto-senpai finished connecting.
"What are you so busy with that you don't have time to discuss whatever emergency Naru called us about?"
"I'll tell you but you have to promise me not to panic and hear me out first. I have the situation under control and you panicking will just make things more difficult."
And isn't that just ominous?
Shove it, Kurama. You know Rui-chan. She won't say she's got things handled if she didn't.
Yes, but her idea of what she can handle isn't exactly normal. The world could be ending and she can save it by killing herself and she'd still say she has things under control even if help would mean she didn't need to die.
You're exaggerating.
Maybe. But not by much and you know it.
Naru really wished to deny it but… Yeah, she couldn't. Her bestie really did tend to refuse to call for help until it was too late. It came with her almost obsessive need to keep secrets.
"Okay, I promise. Now out with it, Ruiko! What are you busy with?"
"Order-chan ran away from home." Rui-chan said in a calm tone that did not befit the fact she had just told them that her eldest daughter had just become a runaway. "Well, more accurately, she left the house without anyone accompanying her or telling anyone where she was going. Not to worry though. I've already located her position and am tracking her."
"You're not dragging her home?" Naru mused with a frown, ignoring Senpai gasping in indignant surprise.
"Why should I? Order-chan is ten. That's more than old enough to take care of herself a little. I'll keep an eye on her of course but unless she's in danger, I will let her make her way home on her own and then scold her for not telling anyone where she was going."
"You sure that's a good idea, Ruiko?"
"I'm sure, Senpai. Trust me."
"Yeah. Senpai, trust Rui-chan. She's Order-chan's Mama, she knows her best. If she's sure that she's ready to be allowed to go out on her own a little, then I say we let her."
Senpai let out a resigned sigh. "Alright then. Like Naru said, you're Order-chan's Mama. But if you're just watching her, why don't you brief us on this whole thing with Fräulein Kreutune, whoever that is, that Naru called us about. You should have the bandwidth for it, right?"
"I suppose I do." Rui-chan conceded. "Very well. Here's what I know…"
Flying around the City, Accelerator let the twisting winds move him as fast as possible as he searched for Last Order. Tch, the damn brat was going to get it for sneaking off!
Things had been looking pretty good today before that too! He had been productively making plans for what he and his girlfriends could enjoy during the Ichihanaransai tomorrow - Considering it was an event that involved every school in the City opening their campuses and setting up stalls, it was a massive event. So if they wanted to go to all the best stalls, they needed an organized plan, not just wandering about like a trio of chuckleheads. So it fell to him to plan the most optimal route. - when to his utter annoyance, his planning session was interrupted when Yoshikawa came into his room and informed him that Last Order, the little troublemaker, had snuck out of the apartment he shared with the two of them and Yomikawa.
His handsfree rang and he flicked it and answered the call with an irate growl. "Yeah?"
"Accel! It's me." Ruiko told him, her tone sounding amused. "You can head back home. Order-chan has made it back and is currently gorging herself on Yomikawa-san's secret stash of chocolate."
"That brat's ruining her appetite this early?! She is so grounded." He instinctively said in a menacing tone.
"She's also safely back home." His girlfriend reminded him.
"Yeah, but now I'm not worried about that! No, now I'm angry that she's being Namikaze two point oh!"
Ignoring his very accurate description of their miscreant daughter, Ruiko just continued. "I'm informing Yoshikawa-san right now so she can head back too so you don't need to go find and inform her. So like I said, you can head on back."
"Damn right I am! Grrr!" He growled, ready to thoroughly discipline that bratty Sister! He turned around right away, heading back to his apartment. "You with the Brat?"
"I teleported here once I spotted Order-chan making it home."
Good, that was good. "Right, I'll be back shortly."
"See you soon, love you!"
"Love you too." He replied as he hung up with a tap of his finger.
As he made to return to his apartment at top speed, his mind filled with a number of punishments he'd be slapping his eldest girl with.
No internet except for her schoolwork, no sweets… oh! And no play dates or calls with Anno-san or her sisters either. For a week! Accelerator nodded to himself as he came up with all the punishments that Last Order would have for scaring him and Yoshikawa.
He touched down in front of his door and opened it up.
"Oi! I'm back! Where is she?!" He snapped, fuming at the nerve of his dumb kid.
"Over here, Misaka Misaka calls out to Papa. Misaka is telling Mama about Misaka's epic tale! Misaka Misaka informs her Papa excitedly!" The chirpy voice of the brat in question calmed his heart for a moment, before he remembered that she still needed to be punished so he kept his irritated face on.
He made his way to the living room and saw Last Order sitting on Ruiko's lap as her head was being head patted by his girlfriend.
"And thus, Misaka Misaka pauses for dramatic effect, after dealing with the corruption of cheating cheaters that cheat that is the rest of the Council of Misakas, Misaka set off to go confront them about their villainy!" Last Order said as she waved her arms up and down, making little punches. "Sadly, Misaka was interrupted in Misaka's righteous anger and ran into Fremea-chan and since both her and Misaka were so hungry, we decided to have an eating competition! Misaka Misaka said, continuing her epic tale. We were a little lost after that but this strange but helpful lady called Fräulein Kreutune-"
Ruiko's eyes narrowed at the mention of the name and Accel shot her an inquiring look, but she just whispered into his ear via audiokinesis. "I'll tell you about it later. For now, let's finish hearing what Order-chan has to say."
"-helped us find our way back to somewhere we knew in School District 7 where we split up and Misaka headed home. Misaka Misaka continues."
Accelerator felt his blood boil at the silly reason to not only leave the apartment but also spoil her dinner!
He was about to open his mouth to scold her, but Ruiko interrupted him by asking. "And, where was Fremea-chan after you split up?"
Accelerator paused and kept his trap shut for now as he finished processing what Last Order had told them and realized something important. Something that it was clear Ruiko had already picked up on. Why was Fremea with Last Order!? She should've been home with Frenda!
Because of course another one went missing at the same time! We need to chip these kids. He grumbled as Last Order spoke up.
"She went home! Misaka Misaka informed Mama dutifully."
"Did she make it home though? Did you check?"
"No. Misaka Misaka confessed. Should I? Misaka Misaka asked."
"It is always best to make sure your friends get home safe." Ruiko told their brat even as she once more whispered into his ears via audiokinesis.
"Accel, go into the kitchen and call Frenda-chan. I called her to let her know that Last Order was safe already and she's already almost back home. Ask her to check if Fremea-chan is back. I lost track of her location shortly after she and Order-chan went their separate ways."
Nodding, Accel walked into the kitchen. Last Order glanced at him curiously as he did but Ruiko quickly distracted her by asking her for more details about her 'epic tale'. Details that the brat was only all too happy to provide.
Shaking his head at how easily manipulated the brat was, the Number 1 finished escaping the living room and made it into the kitchen where he proceeded to pull out his phone and call his girlfriend.
"Yo," he greeted Fenda as the line connected.
"Yo yourself, Accelerator." The blonde returned with a smile he could practically hear across the call. "What's up? Need my help with scolding Last Order? Or maybe you want to let out all that pent up emotion you must be feeling before you speak to her and want to have some phone sex?"
She is a damned minx. Accel couldn't help but think despite the situation.
"Neither. Frenda, I need to check, is Fremea home yet?"
"Fremea-chan? Nope." Frenda asked, a hint of wary concern seeping into her voice. "There's no need to worry though, she's decided to spend the night with ITEM. Hamazura called a little while ago to tell me she suddenly wanted a sleepover."
"Do sleepovers allow her to wander around the City on their own?"
"What are you talking about?" Frenda asked, all semblance of teasing gone and replaced with worry hidden beneath a layer of cold professionalism.
"Last Order just told us that she ran into her during her own little gallivant and when Ruiko tried to track her, she couldn't."
"What!?"
"You can't be serious!" Shizuri Mugino, Number 6 Level 5 and leader of ITEM, hissed into her phone as she paced the living room of the apartment safehouse that her team was currently using as their residence.
"I wish I wasn't but I am." Hamazura replied, sounding tired. "But Fremea-chan is missing. By the time we caught up with the bus she fell asleep on, she had alighted. And her phone's battery must be flat because when we tried calling her, we just got shunted to voicemail."
"Argh! Just our luck." Mugino cursed. "Do we know the rough idea of where she is and where she is headed?"
"Thanks to Rikou we have a general idea but as you know, her AIM Stalker is at best a compass. And without a Teleporter we're struggling to catch up with Fremea-chan."
"You can't catch up with a little girl!? It's not like she's a Teleporter!"
"No, but she's got one hell of a head start. The bus took her halfway across the City before she alighted."
"Fine! I get it! Pick a rendezvous point and send me the coordinates, I'll meet up with you and join the search."
"Thanks. I'll send it to you as soon as we end the call."
Mugino just grunted and hung up. She was too pissed off for pleasantries. She didn't want to even imagine what would happen to her and her team if Frenda ever told her girlfriend and the rest of the Trinity that they'd lost her sister! And Hamazura and Rikou just had to be a pair of idiots and do exactly that!? Of course she was furious!
The two of them were probably letting their libidos do the thinking for them! That's the only way they made such a mess out of looking after a single little girl!
"Whatever! I can punish them for being a pair of lust-addled fools later." Mugino reasoned as she received an email from Hamazura with the coordinates for the rendezvous site like he promised. "Right now we need to locate Fremea-chan first!"
With that thought in mind, she moved to head out of the apartment but just as she opened the door, she found herself almost running straight into Saiai who was just about to head in.
"What are you doing back? Didn't Hamazura or Rikou call you to let you know we need to go find Fremea-chan?"
"Yeah, Rikou did. But I needed to drop these off first." Saiai said as she lifted the dozens of shopping bags she was carrying.
"You're prioritizing your shopping over finding Fremea-chan?"
Saiai shrugged. "I was almost back when I got Rikou's call, so it just made super sense to drop my things off first."
Mugino could see the sense in that but she didn't agree with it. Considering what was at stake, she'd have abandoned her shopping and rushed off to join the search. She however decided that arguing over this would be a waste of time so she stepped aside.
"Just hurry up and drop your things inside the door. We should join the search ASAP." Mugino said as she took a moment to send off an order to ITEM's subordinate organizations.
"Yeah, I know." The Level 4 agreed as she walked into the apartment. As she dropped her bags, she froze and surveyed the wrecked living room. "Uh, Mugino, did someone super attack you in the apartment or something?"
"No. I was just doing some cooking to acclimate to my prosthetics."
Stepping out of the door and locking it, Saiai shook her head in disbelief. "Why cooking?"
Mugino shrugged as she began heading to the apartment building's lobby. She'd called for a transport to come pick them up and one of their subordinate organizations would drive one over shortly. "My doctors said to use menial tasks to acclimate them and since I was done cleaning the apartment, I decided to move on to cooking."
Saiai nodded. "And how did that lead to you super wrecking the place?"
"We didn't really have anything to cook except some mysterious package, that though I knew I did not order, I went along with the instructions to cook anyway."
"You're serious?" Saiai said, shooting her an incredulous look.
Mugino shrugged as they piled into the elevator to get down to the first floor. They were only on the third floor but if there was a perfectly functional elevator for her to use, she was damned sure wasn't about to use the stairs instead. "It was what was on hand, okay?"
Saiai just giggled. "Yeah. Yeah, if you super say so."
"Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?"
"Oh! I super do. Please continue." Saiai said, radiating amusement at Mugino's expense.
Rolling her eyes, Mugino obliged. "Apparently, the instructions were to literally cook up Cendrillon."
"From Gremlin?" Saiai asked, looking slightly alarmed as they reached the first floor.
Mugino nodded. "I recognized her as soon as her body reformed from whatever magical nonsense turned her into a bunch of unrecognizable ingredients and promptly tried to introduce the Magician to one of my Particle-Function Waveform High Speed Cannons. I didn't manage to catch her though and she escaped with only a towel and a page of the instructions that I'd used to cook her up."
"Damn! Magic sure allows for some super weird abilities." Saiai said with a flabbergasted shake of her head.
Mikoto just nodded as they exited their building lobby and strode out onto the front porch to wait for their transport. They had just done so when suddenly the familiar voice of Fremea-chan called out to them.
"Mugino-nee! Kinuhata-nee! Nyah~!"
Mugino and Saiai both immediately turned towards the source of the voice and saw someone who appeared to be Fremea-chan making their way towards them from a nearby alley.
"Oh! That's super lucky." Saiai said with a sigh of relief. "Looks like we won't have to hunt her down after all."
She made to approach the younger girl but Mugino raised a hand to block her even as, at the same time, she fired off a Particle-Function Waveform High Speed Cannon to blow away the girl's right arm.
"Mugino! What are you super doing!?" Saiai gasped.
"My artificial eye can see more of the electromagnetic spectrum than the naked eye." Mugino explained. "Between that and my electromagnetic sense as a Electromaster, I can see through that guy's little lie."
"Lie?" Saiai asked, blinking in surprise.
Mugino just nodded towards the injured person that had tried to impersonate Fremea-chan, a person whose appearance was flickering. "I assume that the person is also using a voice changer since I couldn't tell the difference from Fremea-chan's."
Saiai nodded and stepped around Mugino's raised arms. "Neither did I."
Reaching the man, she kicked the impersonator. A blow that caused their flickering disguise to fail entirely. This revealed that the impersonator was a middle aged man using a hard light projector to make him appear like Fremea-chan. A revelation that had Saiai making a disgusted sound.
A feeling that Mugino shared as she spat, "A middle-aged man!?"
"Super disgusting." Saiai added with a grimace.
"The guy's disgusting choice of appearance aside he's a fool, he could at least have some comrades of his appear and attack us whilst we were distracted by his trick."
"Super true." Saiai agreed. "Then when we saw through his little trick, at least he'd have someone to try and help him."
"W-Why?" The man said as he clutched his ruined shoulder. "Y-You're su-supposed to have g-gone soft!"
Mugino sighed. "Whoever told you that is an idiot and you're an even bigger fool to believe it. I'm the same as ever. I will get into trouble and into fights, kill people, and even destroy things, but no matter what, it will be fine and everything will be resolved in a happy ending, because as long as I have Hamazura, it will be fine. He will forgive me in the end. I am an oddity, but that's fine because there is another oddity in Academy City that will allow me to live despite what has happened to my body."
"You know it's good that you've found someone that accepts you for who you are, Mugino, but is it a good idea for that person to be another girl's boyfriend?" That damnable Number 3 asked with a teasing smirk as she teleported in.
Determined to not give the other Level 5 the satisfaction of riling her up, Mugino just snorted before replying. "I don't want to hear that from you of all possible people, [Multi Skill]. Aren't you in a throuple?"
Saten blushed at that retort. "I agree that I'm not the best person to deliver that message but it does have merit. Unless you're trying to somehow join Hamazura-san and Takitsubo-san's relationship?"
Mugino was unable to manage a reply but a blushing Saiai spoke for them instead. "We're super trying."
Recovering her wits, Mugino decided she had enough of the [AIM Sovereign]'s teasing, so changed the subject. "What are you doing here?"
"I learned that Fremea-chan is missing and spotted the impersonator via my surveillance network. I thought that he might know where she is."
Mugino and Saiai exchanged a nervous look, both worried about the fact that Frenda's girlfriend knew that Fremea-chan was missing. Would she smite them for Hamazura and Rikou losing the girl?
"You needn't worry about us blaming your team for Fremea-chan getting lost. I've reviewed the footage of what happened in the lead up to Fremea-chan going missing and it's not Hamazura-san and Takitsubo-san's fault."
"Can you stop going around reading people's minds?"
Shrugging unrepentantly, the blasted cheater with all the Esper abilities just smiled cheekily. "Maybe Kinuhata-san shouldn't think so loud."
Saiai prepared to make a rebuttal but the Number 3 just turned away from them and focused on the defeated impersonator. A man who started to scream in agony as the [AIM Sovereign] subjected his mind to her nonexistent mercy.
"Saten-sama, mind telling us why you can't find Fremea-chan and need to get the information from this guy?"
"A good chunk of my surveillance network is down after being purposefully shut down as part of the City's attempt to control information on the escape of a dangerous entity from containment in the Windowless Building. Fremea-chan must be in one of the areas where my network is down. Areas that cover a good chunk of the City. Furthermore, considering the location of the tracker in her panic button seems to both be in the same areas that where my surveillance was down and are in places that it is highly doubtful Fremea-chan would ever go, it is likely she has misplaced it, making the process of tracking her even more difficult."
"You can't track her AIM Field?"
"When it comes to precise tracking, Takitsubo-san's AIM Stalker surpasses my own capabilities. At best, I have her rough location. Whatever her latent Esper ability is, it makes her AIM Field exceptionally diffuse. The level of precision of my AIM tracking is not enough to get a bead on her precise location. Whilst it narrows things down, there's still a rather large area to cover." Saten said with a shrug.
"Which is why you are trying to narrow it down further."
[Multi-Skill] nodded.
"So have you learned anything about where Fremea-chan might be?" Mugino asked as the impersonator passed out.
"He doesn't know anything." The younger Level 5 said with a shake of her head. "He was just targeting ITEM after being paid to do so."
"Scum," Mugino said with a snort. Sure ITEM worked for money too. They were mercenaries after all. But they were discerning with their jobs and would never stoop so low as to play on their opponents' heartstrings by impersonating one of their loved ones just to get close to them.
Saten nodded and picked him up with some Telekinesis. "I'll deliver him to Anti-Skill. Could you continue the search for Fremea-chan? I've just sent you the zones where my surveillance network is down and thus where she might be via mail. You can start looking for her in the location indicated by her tracker. Hopefully Takitsubo-san will have better luck tracking her down than I am."
"Leave it to us." Mugino assured her even as Saiai nodded.
"Thank you." The Number 3 said as both Mugino and Saiai's phones beeped signaling that they'd received the mail that the Tokiwadai girl said she'd be sending. "I'll leave things with Fremea-chan in your hands for now."
With that, the [AIM Sovereign] teleported away with the foolish attacker in tow.
As she did, Mugino turned to Saiai, who was checking her phone for the information on where they needed to look. "She gave us what she said she would?"
"Super yes." The Level 4 said as their transport finally pulled into the driveway.
"Good. Then let's go! We have a little girl to bring home."
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And of course, can't have any peace in this damnable City, huh? Lolis in peril are a staple for us it seems! And thus the Ichihanaran Festival Arc has begun! Some things are no doubt going to have changed because we have the Trinity around but to how that's case will have to be seen next chapter. Or some small parts here at least.
Nameless: This is a nice little opening chapter for the TOT version of the Ichihanaran Festival Arc. As you might be able to tell from this chapter, seeing as we've skipped a good chunk of the important events, we do not really intend to cover much, if any, of the events as covered in the canon version of the arc. Instead, we will focus exclusively on events important to the Trinity either by insertion (usually because it is logical due to the relationships they have in this verse e.g. Ruiko's relationship with both Last Order (her daughter) and Fremea (her sister-in-law)) or because they were already involved in them in canon (e.g. everything that Mikoto got up to) but of course with our own twist on things. At the same time, we will try to fill in the gaps through various means (e.g. character dialogue, etc.) but if you want a full understanding of the arc, you will have to refer to canon. Hope that clarifies our approach to the arc.
And of course, Last Order is showing her 'rebellious' side to her parents. Or at least that's what Accel would probably call it while Ruiko is more of the chill mom as long as she has the situation under control. Just that she has a chip on her kids or something so she will always know where they are after the school bombings from a past arc.
Nameless: Less chips and more she has a constant bead on them, and her other loved ones, thanks to her AIM sense and surveillance network. Though neither are infallible as proven both in previous chapters and in this arc. Beyond that, I hope you guys noticed the very different parenting strategies we had Ruiko and Accel employ this chapter. Ruiko chooses a more nurturing approach whereby she lets Order-chan be a little independent whilst Accel just wants to keep her under his protection always. We didn't initially set out to do things this way but in hindsight, I think it was a good choice. Setting aside how mothers are typically more nurturing whilst fathers are more protective, Ruiko can spy on her kids using her surveillance network so she is comfortable to allow them to take risks because she thinks she'll spot any dangers they might be exposed to and intervene in time to protect them. In contrast, Accel just sees them constantly getting targeted by this or that enemy and is hellbent on keeping them safe.
A quick summary of the conversation with the reviewer going by R'ley on FFN: Antagonists that get character development can be interesting however that's not the approach we chose. Instead we decided to keep our development minimal such as how the LeBeaus get more depraved and more obsessed with messing with the Trinity each time they make an appearance. We simply feel that their development is simply not as important as our main characters'. Besides that, sometimes one dimensional or minimally developed characters have their own allure. Having a character that had no redeeming qualities and everyone just hates had its own purposes. I have previously addressed his statement that "seeing Villains suffer is just plain fun as is disrespecting them." It simply has already been addressed and like I said, I will paraphrase my reply in the AN in "Chapter One Hundred Eleven: The Third Season Problem" where I state "we are applying the logic that there's nothing we can write that will trump your imagination." We basically hint at the terrible suffering that the antagonists go through and let readers use their imagination to do the rest. Frankly, we think this is a lot more satisfying to leave things in this way until the antagonists meet their final fates. We are not writing Fist of the North Star, as they used as their comparison, after all. As always, if this is not any given reader's cup of tea and its a dealbreaker for them, they might be best served seeking a story more to their tastes. If not, we happily welcome you to continue reading.
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!