A/N: I do not own any of these characters or intellectual properties. Also note there will be spoilers ahead for both Blue Archive and Raildex content.

A/N 2: I've edited the previous chapters and will be making edits to this chapter so if you think you're going crazy and think that there are some things that weren't there before in the coming days, then it was probably me.

A/N 3: I have also crossposted this fanfic onto Spacebattles and AO3.

Volume 0 Chapter 1 Episode 3

The Fox that Brings Destruction and Flames.

Unwelcome_Calamity.

Part 1:

If there was anything that the boy known as Kamijou Touma was used to, it was seeing how rotten his luck could get at times.

As he got to know the names of the girls that would accompany them to the Schale building, Rin had broke the news to them and said that they would arrive at the scene by helicopter. And since she was the highest authority figure present, she got her way regardless of anybody's complaints or objections.

That was fine by him, he didn't want to walk 30 kilometers by foot, but as the helicopter took off, the way his stomach lurched reminded the spiky-haired boy that he hadn't eaten anything since… he didn't know how long he had been unconscious for, to be honest. But the sound his stomach made afterwards made him look away in embarrassment. Even if he were to wear a nun's habit, the sound of hunger was still incomparable to Index's own, but the fact that it was so loud to make him think of such a thing was not something he particularly delighted in.

Thankfully, with a sigh, Yuuka, who sat in front of him began digging into her belt's pouches, eventually handing him a wrapped energy bar upon finding it.

"If it'll make your stomach stop grumbling, then here. Take it," she held it out towards him. Despite the rough exterior that reminded him of several female figures in his life, the fact it was such a swift response made it seem that she cared about others quite a fair bit despite essentially being strangers to one another. While he didn't want to be seen as a pity party of a person, he was starving, and now was not the time to refute her generosity.

Unfortunately, eating food while riding in a helicopter was a horrible idea. Due to some air turbulence or whatever the pilot was shouting, the metal body of the flying death contraption shook and swayed too much for anybody's liking for a brief moment. And in that brief moment, Touma ended up choking on the pieces of granola, his right hand pounding at his chest, while the other held onto his throat, to no avail.

"Suzumi, unbuckle his seat belt! Hasumi, Yuuka, please move away from him! I'll need to perform a Heimlich maneuver!" Chinatsu shouted, as she unbuckled her own seatbelt and tried to make her way to the other side of the helicopter.

"Maintain altitude and stability! We can't let him die!" Rin shouted to the pilot beside her, who did her best to follow her superior's instructions.

Much to everyone's dismay, another shake in the hull had caused him to fall onto Yuuka this time, as his hands were flailing wildly to avoid such an event to occur, even in his disorientated state. However, it was too late as the sound of glass shattered and everybody tried to gather their bearings. Looking around to see what had caused such a sound to occur, the rest of the group found nothing as there was no trace of broken glass in the helicopter.

Though that would shortly be forgotten as while Touma managed to luckily swallow the food that was previously lodged into his throat, the person who he was currently on top was blushing like a cherry in embarrassment and anger, especially at where his hands had landed.

Perhaps it was his eyes playing tricks on him but the last thing he thought he saw before falling unconscious from the swift kick delivered by the Treasurer of Seminar, was the sight of her halo phasing back into existence from the empty air it had disappeared from. He wasn't too sure if it was even gone to begin with, since everything was going too fast for him, but regardless, he had one thing to say to all this.

"Such misfortune." He whimpered out as he closed his eyes while the shouting got louder.

Part 2:

Hinomiya Chinatsu couldn't help but worry about her friends back at Gehenna. As even with Head Prefect Hina's presence, the current wave of chaos and mayhem had caused the Pandemonium Society to reach out to the Prefect Team in a suggestion to join hands and heads together the previous day, something that was nearly unprecedented, which came from Makoto of all people. Hanuma Makoto, the very same Makoto who tried to uproot the Prefect Team, but really it was just Hina; nearly every single day since she came into office and became the President of the Pandemonium Society. As such, it was in her best interests to assist the GSC in their operations to recover operations of the Sanctum Tower, regardless of the gripes she had carried.

She had the pleasure of informing the spiky-haired teacher who was knocked unconscious from Yuuka's outburst, that the group had almost arrived at their destination upon stirring from his impromptu slumber. But due to the explosions and destruction in the distance, the pilot refused to go any further, since going any further would be tantamount to crashing into the pavement below from enemy fire.

Thus, the GSC Vice President would stay behind to coordinate their assisting forces to cut off any external calvary the troublemakers could call upon, and direct the flow of information about the culprit behind this situation to them. Meanwhile, Chinatsu overheard Yuuka muttering complaints about how the group of four were the ones being forced to fight on the frontlines, but spoke nothing of it.

Though… she was worried when the supposed teacher said he was going to come along, but seeing how Rin accepted his decision, she only hoped that it was the right call to make given their situation. However, upon arriving at the outskirts of the battlefield by foot, they were promptly greeted by a hail of bullets.

Bang! Bang! Ratatatatatata! BOOM! Craaaaassh!

"GAHHH! WHAT THE HECK?!" Touma screamed as a bullet whizzed past his head, grazing his cheek before he was pulled back by Chinatsu, with the group of five taking cover. It looked like Momoka wasn't joking about the situation, as the students wearing black mouth masks with a white x-shape logo, unloaded shot after shot in their direction.

Why them? Well, perhaps it wasn't as wise of an idea to arrive in a GSC-affiliated vehicle for everyone to see. The fact that it was painted white with blue lettering made it stand out like a sore thumb in the sky didn't help either. Chinatsu could only grunt in irritation as she returned fire from her position.

"Ack! Why do we have to be the ones to fight them?!" Yuuka shouted her complaints once again, hoping that their cover would last until their assailants had to reload. Swiftly ducking back into cover, Chinatsu took in the sight of the ammunition being used against them when one bullet had missed her head and ricocheted to her feet.

"These are JHP rounds…" The pink-haired girl muttered in realization that their assailants weren't playing around. Yuuka chimed in too, questioning aloud the legality of students carrying hollow-point bullets on hand, though Hasumi noted that it wasn't illegal for anybody to use. Chinatsu could see the gears of Yuuka's mental thought process spin and turn, as the purple-haired girl only clicked her tongue in response, no doubt mentally noting of enforcing a ban on the aforementioned type of ammunition on Millennium's premises.

If only such a thing were possible in Gehenna, the Prefect Team's worries would most definitely decrease by a small bit. The only thing that could make the Pandemonium Society's leader enforce a ban in a similar vein would be if Ibuki was shot at with hollow-rounds, though, who in their right mind would harm Ibuki? But now wasn't the time to ponder about such things, as she shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Besides, the Vice President said-" Chinatsu tried to quell Yuuka's complaints, but the sound of the purple-haired girl unloading a full clip from her SMG drowned it out, as Yuuka took another chance to shoot from her cover. It was a game of area advantage, and they were desperately losing.

"I know the situation already, but I belong to Seminar, not the GSC! If it's paramount for them to regain control of the Sanctum Tower, then why aren't they risking their neck out here like we are?!" No one could respond to such claims, with the ensuing silence from them was a damning fact. While nobody could deny that Rin was trying to do her best from afar… the reminder that Momoka essentially bounced the moment she was called upon was what sealed the coffin.

"...we can air our grievances another time, as we must remember that-" Hasumi broke the noise, as Chinatsu turned to look at Touma, to check up on his current status, though what happened next shocked her. The rest did so too, turning their heads towards the gunless fellow, as they thought he would be scared shitless after realizing he was placed in a life or death situation like this. The fact that blood dribbled down his face from being grazed by a bullet would only serve as a reminder, that one wrong move and he would be put into fatal danger, or worse, die. Having a civilian on hand following them into an active battlefield was utterly insane, even to Kivotos' standard, none of them truly knew what Rin was thinking into letting Touma accompany them.

However…

"Do any of you have a way to distract them?" Touma interrupted and asked the group, his grimacing face filled with resolve. Despite how his hands were shaking seeing that they were balled into a fist, to which Chinatsu didn't know if it was in fear or something else; he was resolved to fight. Instead of running away in the face of the mortal danger that the situation brought, the person who seemed to be but an utter joke at this point, was nowhere to be seen. She almost couldn't recognize him if not for that spiky mop of hair.

"Yes," Suzumi was the first to respond as she took one of her custom M84 stun grenades out. Chinatsu mentally noted that Suzumi might have forgotten about such detail, now realizing the white-haired girl carried around several of them. But due to the sudden confusion and panic to find cover and retaliate with gunfire, it must have slipped Suzumi's mind in the heat of the moment.

"That could work, but…" Hasumi, who was the most experienced of them in terms of battle due to her time and position as Vice-Captain of the Justice Task Force, seemed to find herself doubting if a flash bang could even work in such a situation however. After all, the group of masked delinquents would be ready for them to launch their counterattack when they had to reload. They were stupid, but not that stupid… maybe.

But the fact that Touma looked like he was about to fling himself into the line of fire when he asked the group his question, caused Chinatsu to speak her mind.

"Wait a second Sensei. You aren't from Kivotos, so unlike us, a single bullet will kill you. We can take the risk of being shot at, but not you." Chinatsu raised her concern, solemn in her tone, and Yuuka soon followed.

"Yeah! Knowing that, I can't let you join us on the battlefield in good faith, so just stay here while we handle this!" The purple-haired girl nodded at Chinatsu, but Touma interrupted them once again as he shook his head.

"Just trust me on this. I may be a normal guy, but I can't sit by and do nothing." It seemed no matter what, he wouldn't back down on his decision. They paused, taking a second to contemplate his words, and by then she had already made her decision.

"...understood." Suzumi was the first to respond, giving him a curt nod.

"Well... alright then. You are supposed to be a teacher, but if you want to take command of the situation… Hasumi?" Yuuka sighed and turned her head to the tallest and most capable person in the group.

"...I shall place my trust in you and follow your lead." Hasumi nodded, as she complied to hear Touma's suggestion. Chinatsu chuckled, as her mouth turned into a small smile at hearing the older girl's words.

"A student must listen to their teacher. So, we'll be counting on you, if you do not mind." Her glasses bobbed as she nodded her head, her gloved hand pushing it back up a bit to the bridge of her nose.

"Thanks… Now then, Hanekawa, how strong is your throw?" He asked Hasumi, making all of them raise an eyebrow.

Part 3:

A-chan, which was what her friends called her, tried to see through the clouds of dust and smoke from the wreckage as the whir of machine guns died down and useless clicking of triggers from emptied firearms from her sisters-in-arms filled the air.

She kind of wanted things to be done here already. After all, the newest episode of her favorite drama "Stars P.D." came out an hour ago, and she needed to know if the uptight yet emotional Officer Brand would rat out the cool yet caring freedom fighter known as Seal to the higher ups at the aforementioned Stars Police Department! Or would the romantic tension between them finally bloom into something more, making Officer Brand stay silent about Seal or even switch sides? Last week's episode ended on that major cliffhanger and she had been waiting for it to come out in eager anticipation, only to get dragged into all of this.

At least, from the look of things, the GSC Goons were at their wits end. They even stopped shooting too!

Thunk.

That was what she thought, until a rock was thrown in their direction. It missed, not even hitting any of them. It was so pitiful that someone started to laugh, as the rest followed along.

"...pfft! Hahahaha!"

"They've run out of bullets and resorted to throwing stones at us?!"

"Did they go back to the stone age?"

Thunk.

Another rock was thrown at them, this time it made more headway than the last, but still it fell short of hitting any target.

"Kyahahaha! That's what they get for messing with us!"

"Hey, that was pretty pathetic! Try doing that again! And don't miss this time!"

Fwoosh!

They would regret that, as in the next moment, a car door spun towards them, as while it missed A-chan, the girls to her left weren't so lucky. She whipped her head to the left, only to watch them get knocked over like bowling pins. How dare they!

"Shit!" She cursed at them, turning her head back and reaching for a gun in her holster, her eyes widened, her mouth dropping a bit behind her mask.

Oh. That was a flashbang coming their-

BANG!

"GAAAHHH! MY EYES!" A chorus of screams rang out, as she groaned while rubbing her eyes.

Their vision? Gone.

Their hearing? Gone.

Panic? Beginning to set in.

Sure, it was temporary but they were now fully defenseless. She expected a hail of gunfire to rain down upon them, but when her eyes began to start seeing the world again with some semblance of clarity, all she saw was an incoming fist.

'I should have stayed in bed today.' Was the last thought that went through A-chan's head before the fist made contact with her face, as the sound of glass shattering filled the air.

Not that anyone could hear it.

Part 4:

Hayase Yuuka had to hand it to the supposed teacher and adult known as Kamijou Touma. Even if he looked way younger than he was supposed to be, he had begun to prove himself in a matter of minutes.

After all, it was weird when he asked how good Hasumi's throw was, as when he heard the winged girl's response, he then picked up a rock beside him and began explaining his course of action.

It was a stupid idea to say they were going to trick the delinquents with a distraction and then throw the stun grenade.

It was an acceptable idea to say he was going to throw rocks once the gunfire died down, to lure the enemy into a false sense of security and superiority, as he told Chinatsu to pick one up too.

It was a novel and brilliant idea to have Hasumi pick up the detached car door lying near, and on his signal, have her throw it towards the group of thugs, to which Suzumi would follow it up with the stun grenade upon the door's first human contact, as it would leave them unprepared to handle the ensuing explosion.

And it worked.

Through his shrewd orders, he had just given them the edge they needed to overcome this obstacle without the need to throw themselves into the line of fire. However, instead of ordering them to unload and fire at the now-disabled group of delinquents from their safe position…

"Cover for me if you can!" Touma shouted, as he bolted from their cover and ran down the street.

"You idiot!" She muttered as she ran after him, while Hasumi, Suzumi and Chinatsu followed too. She didn't know how in the Seven Koans he was this fast, or perhaps it was the fact that P.E. was probably her worst subject, but by the time she had got to him, from the dust and smoke, she realized a number of delinquents were all on the floor unconscious. She didn't know what kind of black magic was casted, not that she really believed in such things; because a seemingly unarmed, normal person was able to take down a number of students with his bare hands alone. Or he could've just used them as human shields. She couldn't tell with all the spent shells littering the floor.

But the sound of bullets going off and glass shattering broke her from her thoughts, as there was no doubt a delinquent trying to shoot at Touma in a blind bid to put him down, only to miss and shoot up some random shop or car. Thankfully, she could make out his figure within the cloud of dust, his figure showing that he was unharmed as he turned to her. The downside was that she could also make out a delinquent near him, equipped with a sawed-off shotgun.

"Tch! Watch out!" Activating her hard-light barrier from the touch of her belt, she slid into the line of fire in time to soak up the spray of bullets for the spiky-haired teacher. She swiftly retaliated with a calculated headshot after doing some number crunching in her head on where she needed to aim to pull it off with her SMGs.

"Woah! Hayase!" Touma yelped, and was about to ask if she was okay, but noticed the disappearing barrier of light in front of the girl. "You had that this entire time? Why didn't you use it earlier?"

"I-I mean, yes, I did, but that's besides the point! What were you thinking running in like that?!" She asked in concern, pointing at him with her index finger.

BANG!

"Whoa!"

"Huh?!"

"Indeed, that was quite reckless of you," Hasumi responded, as a thug that was about to ambush the two, was shot between the eyes by the winged girl's bolt action rifle, knocking the delinquent out; with Yuuka and Touma jumping back in shock at the sudden save. They turned their heads towards Hasumi, with Hasumi looking at Yuuka now.

"Though, I do hope you subscribe to your own medicine, Yuuka. And it would have been especially wonderful to reveal that you had one on you." The older girl gently chuckled, as the smoke finally cleared, revealing their opposition had finally been subdued, with Suzumi and Chinatsu moving towards them now that they finished picking off any stragglers.

"I-You're supposed to be on my side, Hasumi!" Yuuka blushed and retorted, upset that she was the one being lectured as well, while the spiky-haired man just nervously chuckled, scratching his cheek with his left hand.

"That battle was… much easier than I expected it to be." Suzumi spoke up, the most mute of the bunch, though amazement was painted on her face, to which Yuuka could only nod in agreement.

"I know, right? I mean… I guess this is the reason why Rin held him in such high regard, and why the GSC President chose him for a reason, but still…" Yuuka felt that while the recklessness he showed was still inexcusable and far from ideal compared to what the others thought, they all seemed to share that sentiment that he was the real deal.

"Indeed, we were able to fight much more efficiently thanks to your guidance," Hasumi nodded, giving praise to the spiky-haired man, as Chinatsu began digging into her large bag for some medical supplies to treat his wounds.

"I mean I didn't do much but-ouch!" His sentence was cut off by Chinatsu, who rubbed a disinfectant wipe on the wounded cheek, causing Touma to flinch, as Chinatsu placed a bandaid on it and took a step back with a small giggle.

"In any other case, I wouldn't mind sharing a battlefield with you again sometime, but we should hurry on to our destination." Hasumi spoke up once again, as they all nodded in agreement.

"We should, but I don't think I'd want to be near a battlefield again or anytime soon to be honest." He sighed and bemoaned, as the group picked up their pace and ran down the street.

Part 5:

"Huff! Huff!"

Hanekawa Hasumi didn't like running. No, that was wrong. Rather, she was used to running for short intervals, but she found it pretty hard to run for extended periods of time. Even if she wasn't as physically able as someone like Tsurugi, she was still plenty strong. But what she didn't like was sprinting like her life was dependent on it.

"Bzt-can you-bzt-" Rin tried to patch herself in with a hologram to talk with them, but failed as the group were on the move, and thus moved to basic radio communication.

"I think I finally figured out who's responsible for this riot. Her name is Wakamo, the Fox of Calamity. A fugitive that escaped the Corrections Bureau after being suspended from Allied Hyakkiyako Academy. She's a repeat offender, so I'd advise that you all proceed with caution." On the other end, Rin found it was odd that nobody seemed to be interrupting her speech, that is until Yuuka broke the news.

"Yeah that's great to hear! Except Sensei is about to crash into said criminal right now! He went ahead on his own!" Yuuka screamed between needy gasps of air into her earpiece, as Rin went dead silent.

"I see-wait what?! Wh-what do you mean by that!?" Rin bounced back, as it seemed she began to try and receive any answer from the spiky-haired teacher, though all Hasumi could think was that she could really use a jumbo parfait right now, especially one from Cafe Mille-Feuille, though if she did, she really hoped that she wouldn't put any more weight on as a result. Meanwhile Yuuka tried her best to recount the circumstances that preceded this odd chain of events.

"He-"

Part 6:

Kamijou Touma was not perfect, in fact he had made plenty of mistakes and if they were to manifest as holes on his body, he would end up looking like Swiss Cheese. To say he didn't make mistakes would be an utter lie. As he felt gravity press against his body and the howling scream of the wind in his ears, his newest mistake was thinking that the bike he found, that had the English words "MACHBIKE" slapped onto it; was anything like Academy City's Acrobike, despite how similar the two looked.

But how did it lead up to all of this? Well, the moment the group of five got onto the road that would lead them to the Schale building directly, he asked if it was a straight line towards their destination after noticing that one of the more pristine cars still had its keys in the ignition. Upon receiving an answer from Chinatsu, he took a piece of debris he found lying around, and once he positioned and rigged the car to go as straight as possible, he dumped the rubble onto the gas pedal as the engine roared to life. The car charged forward, becoming a mobile battering ram and ignoring whatever obstacles that were prepared in preparation for the group's arrival.

Though, finding the Machbike was his downfall, as the near, perfectly new bicycle was lying around the group and since he was feeling weak from the lack of sustenance in his stomach, he thought what better way to get to Schale as fast as possible without much effort by riding an electronic bicycle.

He heard Yuuka say something but the moment he his foot had completed it's first pedal, he had signed his own death warrant; as once he did, it only started to pick up speed. The Machbike was probably twice as fast if not more than the Acrobike, and while able to make impressively sharp turns and go over any potholes or missing chunks of pavement, it was not a trick bike nor did it have any form of Cycle Arts. There was also another problem: the breaks were broken. Just his rotten luck. No wonder it was abandoned. Or perhaps he had broken it. He wasn't too sure anymore since he was trying his best to not crash into anything at the moment.

He heard Rin say something in his ear piece though. Something about Wakamo. Was that the person behind all this? He didn't quite know but at least he had a name to call the culprit. Unfortunately, he was sure to catch flies if he were to open his mouth and respond, though, not like she would hear him with all this wind going by.

All he could do was hope he would land safely.

Part 7:

"Hmm…. They didn't bother to show up in person after all. Not that it matters…" Kosaka Wakamo yawned silently behind her mask as she waited for the GSC troops to show up and crash her party, despite that, she half expected them to send out delegates to handle the matter, after all, they were pencil pushers. Though, at this rate, with how she arrived early for a change, perhaps going forward with her plans instead of greeting them and then running off to plant the explosives would have been a better idea but her sadistic tendencies got the better of her this time. "I've no idea what's inside that building, but if it's that important to the General Student Council… I'll just have to destroy it with my own two hands from bottom up~"

Ah, she could picture it now, telling whoever came before her that they would have to watch in futility as she would run on ahead and blow up the building. She was somewhat grateful to that annoying blonde midget for freeing her from captivity, but she could have done it herself. But the fact that she mentioned that the FOX Squad was compromised… and that the GSC had lost control of the Sanctum Tower…

She didn't care for what the midget had to say or planned for, but if it was true, then she would have a field day with it. And it truly had been a field day so far.

After some planning, she had everything ready. And nobody could actually stop her, none of the so-called "Strongest" were in the area as they would be handling the upcurrent of crime for their own districts and schools. Meanwhile the FOX Squad and the rest of SRT was compromised due to not being able to mobilize without permission. She didn't even have to worry about Valkyrie and their pitiful forces, the Mad Hound herself was tenacious but couldn't hold a candle to her. Though she did wonder if that bothersome lot of foxes would end up breaking protocol and confront her; but regardless she would have the upperhand no matter how prepared they came at her.

Once she blew up that building…

"I can't wait for what's going to come next. Ufufufu~" Oh, what fun she would have. The sights she would share with them all…

VRRRRRMMMMM!

However the ears on her head picked up a distinct sound. Distinct from the sound of the machinery within a tank. No, rather, it was the roar of a car engine. Her eyes widened in realization. While she did have some of the fodder set up charges and roadtraps, the car still managed to break past it, having knocked down rows of them before it got flung into the air, at her direction.

WOOOSH!

"Tsk!" She was a cut above the rest, and thus was able to dodge the wreckage from colliding with her, but even then, it had managed to make contact with the tank, causing a small explosion that flipped the tank over. In a matter of seconds all her plans had gone up in smoke. She took note that there was no driver in the seat at all, and thus, wondered if it was a surprise present from another gang, as while the tactic wasn't uncommon, the brain cells that a common delinquent had was usually one, and that was shared between them. But regardless, she was quite miffed.

She was broken from her thoughts as from the fire and smoke, something else had broken through, or rather it had followed the car's path, and was now flying into the air. What caught her attention first was the mop of spiky hair. Then his face, but she could not see his face, as the front of the bicycle had obscured it. Thankfully, gravity would grace him soon.

Ka-thunk! SCREEEEEECCCHHHH!

"Haa… haa…" Through the sheer skin of his teeth, the man? Boy? Regardless, the man had managed to land safely, the bicycle slid to the side as he braked with his foot upon the bike's contact with the floor. Smoke bellowed him, as he gasped for air, panting heavily.

Ah, was that a GSC Headset in his ear? How sad. Guess she would have to treat him as an enemy then. But who was he? He didn't seem like the other residents in Kivotos or a student but regardless he-

"You…" He raised his head up, a shadow lifted from his face as she finally got a good look at his face.

Badump.

The spiky-haired man wasn't particularly handsome. Rather, he was quite average. However, despite that fact, the Fox of Calamity felt her heart skip a beat. Her face started to feel hot, was it perhaps the heat of the fire? Or was it perhaps how the glaring man arrived in an admittedly cool entrance, which impressed her? Normally, she would have been outraged with how her plans had been utterly dismantled by someone involved, no doubt working for the GSC but right now, the butterflies in her stomach made her clam up.

She wanted to simply bounce and leave from the way her heart was about to jump out of her chest, but with how the rabble that followed her around was watching them, she didn't really have a choice but to confront him now or lose face. She didn't want to kill him per se, maybe scare him off now that they were in this kind of situation. Perhaps a simple warning shot at his shoulder, wait no, maybe near his head would do it. He seemed like a noncombatant seeing as he wasn't a student or citizen of Kivotos, nor did he have a halo; so she could just make the excuse of not finding it as exciting to pick him off like she usually did.

Fwoosh!

Bang!

But what he did next honestly threw her off, as she honestly didn't expect him to throw the bike at her. Instinctively, she already had her finger on the trigger of Crimson Calamity, her trusty modded Type 99, and thus fired in return once she ducked under the incoming object. The bullet which was supposed to hit him dead square between his eyes had missed as he twisted his body, his head lowering down, but not his gaze, and in doing so as he raised and cocked his right arm back.

Oh.

She blinked.

Oh.

Her eyes narrowed.

Oh.

And smiled under her mask.

Now this was more her language.

"Ufufufu~" Wakamo laughed as she blocked the punch, making contact with the black body of her rifle instead. It wouldn't break that easily as the man flinched in slight pain, clicking his tongue. The force of the punch pushed her back, though she recovered with a swift spin which seamlessly turned into a kneeling position as she unloaded the next bullet the moment her knee touched the floor.

Bang!

It missed as the spiky-haired man ran to the side, almost as if he knew where it would be, though it accidentally ended up causing her bullet to hit one of the gazing onlookers. They gawked at her, shouting in complaints about friendly fire. Though, she couldn't care less about them as this was much, much more interesting than two-bit thugs like them. She had already begun fantasizing about how she would sway him into ditching those nosy pencil pushers and instead assist her in her endeavors to usher in a new age of chaos and anarchy in Kivotos.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He was skilled, very skilled, but so was she. She couldn't get one good shot in, while he couldn't get one good punch in. Even as her bayonet that was attached to Crimson Calamity cleaved the air where he once stood, she found that his reflexes were on a whole different level, as the spiky-haired man managed to take a step back in the nick of time. It was like a game of cat and mouse. However there were those that would dare interrupt it.

Kachack.

With grace and brevity, she reloaded in one go, she made sure to pick off any other thing that would get in the way as she saw a number of insignificant gnats trying to intrude.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

One after another, they fell like sakura petals in bloom as this dance of bullets and flesh was meant for them and them alone.

"Ahahaha~"

Even as she took minute opportunities to snipe at the fodder, the battle raged on as an incoming punch had missed her, and was met with a swift kick in retaliation. Wakamo held back though as she didn't want to roughen him up too badly, shooting the last of the rabble that was about to interrupt their fight.

Bang!

Now it only left the two of them. She gave the spiky-haired man this chance to stand up and as he wiped some dirt near his mouth with his left arm. For some odd reason, he looked fairly more upset than he was before, she assumed it was because none of his attacks were landing, but what he had to say was quite surprising.

"Hey, your fight is with me, not them!" The man spoke, she blinked, she did hear him mutter some words during their battle, but the euphoria and gunfire drowned him out. Regardless, she chuckled in response at his outcry. Was he perhaps upset that she wasn't taking him seriously?

"Isn't this what you wanted? I simply removed all the obstacles for our stage. Now then-" She asked, she hoped he was pleased with the results like she was, gesturing at the scenery as she tried to parley with him. But instead, the spiky-haired man came running at her.

"Like hell I do!" His voice rang aloud through the battlefield. His response had taken her aback, Wakamo found herself in shock at his proclamation. He seemed to notice this as he took this chance to continue to press her, her dodging became noticeably more frantic. Another kick pushed the man back, but he did not give up.

"I don't want any of this at all! I don't know what you plan to achieve with all this destruction and chaos, but right now, the daily life of everyone here is being disrupted," his words rang true in the burning battlefield. The heroic, preachy type she did not pin him as, nor did she like, but regardless she hung onto every word he spoke, as his speed seemed to pick up too. "Everybody's trying their best to get by already but now they're dealing with a city that's about to collapse on itself and you're dragging others into all this nonsense and hurting them!"

"Tch!" She clicked her tongue in frustration as the spiky-haired man ducked and slid under the hail of hazy gunfire, eventually his momentum carried him to right to her, as he flawlessly and smoothly transitioned into readying a right hook.

"So I'll shatter that illusion of yours and return normalcy to this city no matter what!" He roared as he set his fist upon her, intent given form.

Her mind blanked out for a second, as his fist dug into her mask, shattering the bottom half as the sound of glass shattered. She hadn't felt anything like this in a long time, and it hurt badly. The pain and strike rang true through her body like electrical currents as it flew back until it landed on the hard asphalt pavement.

Thump.

"..." As she laid there, lying on the floor for a brief moment, her brain was going a million thoughts a minute. She had mistaken him, truly she did. She didn't understand him at all, and worst of all, her favorite mask was broken in half, even if the top half still held on. She was hurt, upset, confused, and angry, but worst, she felt lost. She thought she found a kindred spirit but now she wasn't so sure. But what she did know was that she could wash all these feelings away by just following her plans to the end: destroying that blasted building the GSC felt so desperate to reach.

Thus, her fingers scratched at the floor as she got up, and ran off towards the building in a hurry, the spiky-haired man giving chase. Wakamo wanted to curse at him, to spite and scorn him…

And yet, why was her heart still beating as fast as it did?

Between the Lines 1:

...

Ah.

How interesting.

A new player had arrived in this land of Sublime.

And a unique one at that.

Next Episode Preview:

"Wakamo, that's the name of the girl who was causing all that trouble, an infamous criminal known as the Fox of Calamity. I've stopped her rampage for now, but she escaped towards Schale. Now it's a race against time to see who gets there first. Next time, "That Which Was Hidden — The_HeartChest", when magic and science cross paths, a story is born."

IF Episode 2

An Unannounced Visit.

To_WHOM-Is_Forgotten.

She found it odd that whenever she interacted with Sensei, he would always go and greet her friends first, then flip through a notebook he carried around, then would greet her last.

Sometimes he didn't do it, but even then, he had to pause for a second, as if someone was talking into his ear, yet her trained ears caught nothing. But still she noticed.

She chalked it up to him being forgetful, she told herself that she didn't really care too much about it.

Except when she came across her spiky-haired teacher, trying to fix a broken fan in the hangar of Schale's office building by herself without notice…

"Haaa… Thanks for the help! That would've taken me another hour to fix it up myself!" He chuckled before he looked at her, pausing. A phantom look of unfamiliarity on his face. Present for the briefest of moments.

"Um… but who are you?" She paused at his question. Was he being serious right now? The dread in her heart, an emotion which she thought she could not feel anymore, clawed its way in and grasped it tightly.

"...you're joking right?"

"...yeah, of course!" He tried to play it off, but too many little things piled up after all they had gone through together. And now, the way he used vague words or questions that he could deduce from her appearance and mannerisms, it pointed to one thing.

"...then tell me Sensei, what is my name?"

"Your name? I mean, it's-" She grabbed his hand that was reaching into his pocket.

"No."

"W-w-hey! What are you-"

"No looking at your tablet, no looking at your notebook. Tell me my name right now." Her tone was bitter, as her face scrunched up in desperate hope…

And yet… he could not respond. The look on his face, his body language, he did not know her. He did not remember who she was and what her name was.

"...why did I ever bother?" She let go of his hand and walked away, as he tried to stop her.

"Wait a sec-" He got pushed back with a rough shove, falling onto his butt as he groaned in pain.

"...you jerk. You can't be bothered to remember my name, my face, anything about me. You can remember everybody else but me. I-I-" He tried to respond but she ran away without saying another word, as droplets fell to floor, eventually mixing in with the downpour of rain, becoming inextinguishable between one another.

That night, Imashino Misaki cried her heart out to Atsuko and Hiyori, as they hugged her tightly. Misaki could only wish that Saori was here to help comfort her broken heart as those dark thoughts clouded her mind once again.