Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Fifty Five: Tallying the [Sovereign]'s Debts
Beta:
"Saten-san, come here." Kazari said with a kind smile from her hospital bed in the private room she'd been assigned in Heaven Canceler's Hospital where she would be spending at least the night to recover from the injuries she'd sustained during her kidnapping.
Nervously, her best friend made her way over from the corner she'd been trying to hide in since she had arrived with the rest of her friends to check on Kazari. When she was within reach, Kazari pulled the Level 5 down into a fierce hug.
"None of what happened was your fault," Kazari told the other girl comfortingly. "None of it."
"That's not true," Saten-san said with a shake of her head. "Gruber only targeted you, only ever carried out his scheme and hurt all those people, because he was aiming to hurt me."
"Maybe," Kazari allowed, as she pulled back so she could look her best friend firmly in the eyes. "But even if that's the case, what he did is his fault. Not yours. You can't be blamed for what a madman does."
"But-"
"No buts," Kazari insisted.
"Gotta agree with Uiharu there, Rui-chan." Namikaze-san said as she came over to give Saten-san's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm sure plenty more people have a grudge against you but it was all Gruber's decision to get innocents involved when choosing to get his revenge."
"You can't blame yourself for what crazy people do," Misaka-san agreed, shooting Saten-san a reassuring look.
"Yes, nothing you did was ille- I mean, wrong." Shirai-san added, hastily correcting her law obsessed observation into something more comforting. "Nothing at all."
Saten-san looked unconvinced but Kazari and the others continued insisting until finally she conceded.
"Alright," the Number 3 whispered, sounding tired. "I still think it's my fault. But I'll try not to."
Everyone shared a disappointed look at that.
"If that's the best we're going to get-"
"I think it is," Saten-san affirmed.
"Then we'll just have to live with it," Misaka-san said with a sigh. "You're a stubborn ass, you know that Ruiko?"
"Hai Sempai," Saten-san replied with the smallest of amused smiles.
Kazari counted it as a win nonetheless. At least her best friend wasn't wallowing in abject guilt anymore.
Ruiko teleported outside the safehouse where her mother and siblings were temporarily housed after having been discharged. She knew she should have come here first, not visited Uiharu. This was her family. But honestly she was too much of a coward to do so. Uiharu knew at least something of her situation and understood, more so than her siblings. And then there was Haruue-san's death to factor in.
I don't know how to face Banri-chan. Ruiko admitted to herself as she continued to stare at the house in front of her warily. Maybe I can put this off until I can?
She was already halfway through the calculations for teleporting away when she dismissed the notion.
No, that's just cowardly. And I don't want to set a bad example for the girls. Ruiko concluded as the thought of her daughters allowed her to muster up the courage to begin walking towards the door of the mansionette that was the safehouse. Even before she'd gone to visit Uiharu she'd spent hours comforting and being comforted by her girls and Accel, regaining an even keel thanks to their support. She didn't want to disappoint them.
She was about to press the mansionette's doorbell when the door opened to reveal Kaa-san leaning against the frame and looking at her expectantly.
"Ruiko," her mad scientist mother greeted. "You okay?"
Ruiko seriously considered the question for a moment and was unable to come up with a good answer so just shrugged.
Kaa-san frowned and in a show of rather uncharacteristic open affection pulled her into a hug.
"It's fine to not be okay," Kaa-san assured her. "It's alright to cry. Kaa-san will always be there for you."
"I know Kaa-san," Ruiko said, her eyes suspiciously wet as she returned the hug. "Thank you."
They stood there hugging each other for a long moment before at last Kaa-san pulled away to look her up and down carefully, searching for any signs of injuries even though logically the older woman knew that with her regenerative powers there would be none. Then again a mother's worry wasn't logical, was it?
"How is everyone?" Ruiko asked, as the miserable pit in her stomach that had plagued her since she'd heard about her family's circumstances made itself known once more.
"Managing as best we can." Kaa-san smiled weakly. "Come in. They've been expecting you for some time now."
"They have?" Ruiko blinked in confusion.
Oh right. They probably want to shout at me for putting them in danger.
"Rui-nee!" A sudden cry from inside the apartment had Ruiko turning to its source to see her younger sister Park-chan racing towards her.
She barely had a chance to brace herself before the smaller girl threw herself into her arms.
"You're alright? When you didn't come find us after you finished killing the terrorists I was so, so worried. We all were! So you're alright, right? Like really alright? Not your usual 'I'm fine' and you're not kinda alright?" The Korean girl asked so quickly that Ruiko couldn't get anything in edgewise.
"She was worried," Kaa-san told Ruiko as she gently tried and failed to pry Park-chan from her side. "Park-chan, give Ruiko some space would you?"
"No!" Park-chan cried defiantly, tightening her hold on Ruiko. "I want to know Rui-nee is alright."
"I'm fine, Park-chan," Ruiko said, patting her little sister's hair. "Mostly."
"And what exactly does 'mostly' mean?" Ai-nee asked as she led the majority of the rest of their siblings as they poured out into the entryway.
"What happened to waiting till she came in?" Kaa-san asked with a sigh.
"Ruiko-chan was taking too long." Khulan-chan said with a shrug.
"We got too anxious to keep waiting," Shengxi-nii added as he stepped forward and pulled Ruiko into a hug even with Park-chan still attached to her waist like a limpet. "Ruiko, how are you feeling?"
"Numb mostly," Ruiko admitted to her big brother. "What happened hasn't fully set in yet, I think. But I think I'll be alright. I've been through worse."
This was met with frowns from the entire family.
"That's not a good thing, Rui-chan." Maki-chan said as she pulled Ruiko, and her limpet, out of their older brother's arms and into her own. "You sure that you are going to be okay?"
"I'm coping?" Ruiko offered, honestly lost on how to reassure her family.
"You need anything, just say it okay, Rui-nee?" Kenta-kun offered, biting his lip worriedly.
"Sure?" Ruiko replied uncertainly. "But why are you all worried about me? I was the one who got all of you dragged into this."
Everyone's frowns deepened at this.
"What happened was not your fault," Ryo-kun insisted. "It's all the crazy terrorists' fault."
Knowing from experience with Uiharu and her friends where disputing that would lead to, Ruiko just nodded.
"She doesn't believe us," Akihiko-kun said with a shake of his head.
"Your stubbornness can be such a pain you know that, Ruiko?" Takeshi said as he palmed his face in frustration.
"Sorry?" Ruiko tried.
"If you're sorry then listen to us for once," Ai-nee said as she took her turn hugging Ruiko. "This wasn't your fault."
Ruiko just nodded. From the disbelief that radiated from everyone though, she convinced no one.
"Why don't we move this to the living room?" Kaa-san suggested. "It's cramped here in the entryway."
"Yeah," Park-chan agreed as she began dragging Ruiko into the house.
"Uh, before that, where's Banri-chan?" The brunette asked, noting her Telepath sister's noticeable absence.
"They had to put her on sedatives at first, but she's resting in one of the rooms. She's awake last I checked. Go see her." Kaa-san told her softly.
The thought made Ruiko stand stockstill in fright.
"O-Okay." She nodded woodenly. "B-Before anything, I think I want to talk with her."
"But Rui-nee-" Park-chan began but Ruiko shook her head and gently pried herself free of her little sister.
"She deserves it," Ruiko insisted as she began walking towards the room where she could feel Banri-chan's AIM Field.
Behind her she heard her siblings move to protest but Kaa-san shushed them, something for which Ruiko was thankful.
She couldn't keep putting this off. Time to rip the bandaid off.
Looking at the door to Banri-chan's room, Ruiko couldn't help but see it as the greatest barrier she had ever faced. Her hand moved for the knob while the other weakly knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" The soft yet flat tone of her sister made the Level 5's heart twist like a pretzel. Mustering her courage, Ruiko could only answer.
"It's me. Ruiko."
There was no reply for a solid minute, making the girl's palm feel sweaty on the knob due to her nerves.
"Come in."
Doing so, she entered the room to find Banri-chan sitting on the bed, a dead look in her eyes as she just stared at the far wall.
Closing the door behind her, Ruiko walked closer, but winced as Banri-chan finally looked at her.
It made her throat dry in a heartbeat. Her sister's eyes were bloodshot and raw from scrubbing and her cheeks were stained from shed tears. Then there were the physical injuries. Considering what had happened, it was perhaps not a surprise but Banri-chan was the most injured of her siblings. Her broken arm was in a sling and her face was covered in bandages.
The sight caused Ruiko to freeze long enough for an oppressive silence to fill the room. One that was awkwardly broken when Banri-chan finally spoke.
"I know you didn't want it to happen, but Erii's death was still your fault!"
The raw ache and emotion in that one accusatory sentence hit Ruiko's wilting heart like a freight train.
"I get it, terrorists were targeting you, bu-but what the hell did you do that they'd go this far?! WHY?!" The heartbroken girl demanded, fists knotting up the blanket laying over her knees.
"I...I did a lot of things." Ruiko said, mustering her courage to at least speak the harm she had done. "I killed people for the City. Hundreds, thousands, of people. I lost count after the eight hundred seventy sixth death. They were holding you all hostage. I had no choice."
Ruiko looked away, unable to continue facing the look of horror dawning in her sister's eyes.
"You're the first person I told this, not even Kaa-san knows the details." Ruiko confessed as she continued staring at a blank wall, seeing none of it as her vision was instead filled with a highlights reel of the atrocities she'd been forced to commit. "Men, women, children? The innocent? The guilty? I killed them all, because I was weak. Because I couldn't lose my family, I obeyed the City as they ordered me to become a reaper of lives, to become their infamous [Army Slayer]. So I took other people's family instead. Those terrorists? They were my victims' friends and family."
"Ruiko-" Banri-chan said, her voice breaking but Ruiko wasn't done so turning back to her crying sister she barreled on, ignoring the other girl as she tried to speak.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry about Haruue-san. I'll accept any kind of punishment, Banri-chan. Even if it means being disowned from our family." Ruiko said, her eyes swelling with tears, the thought of such a thing terrifying her more than anything.
Banri-chan threw off her blanket, stomping unsteadily to Ruiko. The Level 5 lowered her defenses, willing to be struck if her sister wished it, but was utterly shocked when a pair of arms wormed around her back and pulled her close.
"You baka!" The brown haired girl chided, scowling at her. "Shut up, I'd never do that! We're family!"
Ruiko floundered on how to reply, but her sister was on a roll.
"Erii didn't blame you either! Before she d-died," Banri-chan stopped for a moment, stifling a sniffle but quickly recovered to keep going. "She told me to tell you it wasn't your fault. So stop blaming yourself!"
"That's not exactly correct, it-"
"Shut up, it is! If you tell me otherwise, I'm going to tease you in front of your girls!"
Ruiko winced. If the twins or Last Order saw that, she'd never hear the end of it. Her impressionable daughters would grab onto whatever teasing their Aunt used and never let their Mama forget it.
"Besides, you did everything you did for us." Banri-chan added. "That means if I blame you then that's as good as blaming myself. You only ever did those things for my sake and those of Sensei and our siblings. For our family. I can't fault you for that."
"Who's to blame doesn't matter," Ruiko said, finally letting the tears fall. "Haruue-san is still dead."
"I know," Banri-chan said with a sob. "Assigning blame won't change that fact. But that doesn't mean that you should let your guilt consume you, Ruiko! Stop blaming yourself! No one, not Erii, not me, not our family, blames you! So stop!"
"I'll try my best." Ruiko admitted, but still struggled internally to do so.
Banri-chan nodded, looking somewhat satisfied. "Good! Then I agree to try not to blame you either. I love you, Imouto-chan."
"I love you too," Ruiko replied instinctively before pausing as she realized something. "I-Imouto-chan!?"
"Yup, you're two months younger than me remember?"
"B-But we're the same age!" Ruiko sputtered. "Ai-nee insisted-"
"Call it payback for being a stubborn ass and not listening when we tell you to stop blaming yourself." Banri-chan said with a hint of a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I'm calling you Imouto-chan from now on!"
In any other situation, Ruiko would've protested. But if this was what Banri-chan wanted in exchange for not blaming her for Haruue-san's death then…
"Hai, Banri-nee."
Ruiko exhaled from her nose. Her eyes trailed down the lane of the gun range she was occupying. With ear protection and safety lenses on, her footing and handling of her new handgun textbook perfect, she opened fire. Her finger pressed the trigger in rapid succession, her focus entirely on the target down the range as she aimed for every vital area she could.
The brunette kept firing until the clip ran out of bullets. As she heard the distinctive click of an empty magazine, she grunted in frustration and promptly slid out the magazine and moved to reload.
"I must ask, why are you using a gun dear?" A loud voice asked her. Turning, she saw Oyafune-sama walking towards her, limping slightly and relying on her cane for support. She had her own set of ear protection and lenses on too.
"...It's to counter the biggest threat in the City." The Level 5 explained as she continued to reload her gun.
"Oh? Is [Imagine Breaker] your enemy now?" She asked, her wrinkled brow furrowed.
"No… This is just a precaution." Ruiko refuted as she took aim once more.
The elderly director walked closer, resting a hand on Ruiko's shoulder, causing the girl to sigh and flip the gun's safety on before placing it on the counter in front of her.
"No, it's overkill. I understand that you feel the need to cover your bases after being completely outmaneuvered by those terrorists but this is a foolish way of going about it. Killing that boy will make Aleister your enemy. I cannot protect you from that. Do you wish for Namikaze-chan to pick sides? Aleister raised that girl, nurtured her to be his personal killer in the City and against its threats. Can you fight her? Can you bring yourself to drag your loved ones into that fight as well?"
"I have no intention of killing Kamijou-san." Ruiko retorted and passed one of the bullets she was using over to the elderly woman to examine. "I'm using electroshock bullets. If the need ever arises for me to ever use them against him, they will just disable rather than kill."
"And the live ammo over there?" The elderly Director asked nodding towards a case of hollow point bullets next to the electroshock bullets Ruiko was currently shooting.
"Just in case," Ruiko replied easily. "I will try to avoid it, but should the worst happen I want to be prepared."
"I disapprove," Oyafune-sama said with a frown. "But I also understand where you are coming from and accept that I will not be able to convince you to change your mind."
"Thank you," Ruiko replied with a grateful nod before changing the subject. "I'm surprised that I wasn't arrested by Anti-Skill or at least called in for questioning after what I did at that hotel. Was that your doing Oyafune-sama?"
"Aleister's actually." The Director revealed, much to Ruiko's surprise. "He declared that you were acting on his orders throughout. Even drafted all the fake documentation for it. He's framed everything as you being recruited to eliminate this group of terrorists because they were targeting you. He's spinning it as him doing you a great personal favor."
"The public is buying it?"
"When haven't they?" Oyafune-sama asked with a shrug. "You know what he is capable of. Besides, considering how you went out of the way to keep innocents from getting injured as you took the terrorists down, it's believable. Well done on that front, by the way."
Ruiko just nodded. Involving them at all was a failing on her part. She would do well to avoid doing so in the future. More importantly…
"So I owe the Superintendent now?"
"Yes," Oyafune-sama confirmed. "Not just for all this PR spin. Don't forget that he also helped in saving your loved ones. He could have easily attacked them or just done nothing if he wanted to but instead he stepped in to keep them safe from the terrorists."
"I'll need to fix this," Ruiko decided. Owing Aleister Crowley anything was a terrible situation to be in. Full stop.
"And the gun is part of that." The Level 5 decided, her mind already formulating the beginnings of a plan. "Despite how great [Imagine Breaker]'s power is, he's still human and has no super durability. Even if he's ignorant of being the Superintendent's best pawn... I just need some insurance if things go south."
"You are still under my protection, Ruiko-chan. Do not act recklessly and give him the leverage to do so and you have my word that I will not let that man boss you around." Oyafune-sama told her with a scolding tone.
"Thank you," Ruiko said with a nod. "And I will try to be more restrained in the future."
"See that you do," the older woman said with a tired sigh and looked at her with sad eyes. "On another note, even with the save from Aleister, your reputation has taken a big hit. You are increasingly being seen as an even greater danger than Accelerator, as least in the eyes of the public. Your boyfriend might have notoriety for all the fools that he's roughed up over the years but he's never made primetime news for bloodily dismantling a terrorist operation."
"I see," Ruiko said, shaken a little by this as she quickly realized what this could mean for her.
"It's not too bad," Oyafune-sama reassured her. "Your actions were justified both morally and legally. None of what happened is your fault."
"My friends have told me the same and I'm working on accepting it."
Of all of them though, Naru-chan and Accel's assurances had made the most impact on her because like her they were also killers of thousands and lived with the weight that brought with it. They understood.
But even with their words, she still wasn't convinced.
"You should listen to them," Oyafune-sama told her sternly.
"I'm trying."
"It's Saten-sama!" One of Ruiko's schoolmates, an upperclassman if she was recognizing the other girl right, cried out in alarm as she spotted her and practically fled with her friends following after her.
Her reaction was extreme, but it was hardly the only negative one. Harsh whispers echoed through the long halls of Tokiwadai ever since Ruiko returned to school after dealing with Gruber and his minions. It wasn't anything that Ruiko wasn't used to from her time as [The Robot], but a part of her stung from how it so easily returned.
Some of Naru-chan's Rabbit Faction at least tried to be polite, but even they looked somewhat frightened of her now.
"Just ignore them," Wannai-san told Ruiko as she, Awatsuki-san and Kongou-san walked over. "They are just being idiots."
Ruiko blinked, usually the Hydro Hand user was not so rude.
"They've been whispering about you all day, Saten-sama." Awatsuki-san explained for her best friend. "Even Wannai-chan only has so much patience."
The Level 5 just nodded in understanding.
"Where are the rest of the Trinity?" Kongou-san asked, looking around curiously whilst clutching her fan in a white knuckled grip like doing so was the only thing keeping her from using her Aero Hand to send the girls speaking badly of Ruiko flying.
"Misaka-sempai got called to see the Headmistress," Ruiko explained. "She shocked one of her classmates for saying something nasty about me. Last I saw of Naru-chan, she was holding a meeting with her Faction to explain things to them."
"And Shirai-san?" Kongou-san asked, with a satisfied nod.
"I haven't seen her," Ruiko noted as she used her AIM sense to pinpoint the Teleporter. "Ah. It looks like she's skulking outside the Headmistress' office, probably waiting for Misaka-sempai."
"Or she got in trouble for defending you too," Wannai-san offered with a sigh. "She has a temper."
"True," Ruiko agreed distractedly as she sensed a group of people who very much shouldn't be on the Tokiwadai campus closing in on her position through her AIM sense.
"Mama~!" Three angelic voices cried out as Last Order, Janie and Febries ran around a corner and threw themselves at Ruiko.
It was only through long practice and the help of a few emulated powers that the Level 5 caught her daughters without falling on her ass.
"Hello girls," Ruiko greeted her children with headpats even as she looked up at the person who brought them with a raised eyebrow. "Accel, please explain what they are doing here."
"We're taking you to the amusement park in District 6." He declared firmly. "It's the brats' idea."
"But-"
"School's over for the day ain't it?" Her boyfriend asked and Ruiko nodded automatically. "Then you're free. Let's go. Brats, drag her."
"Yes, Papa!" The three little girls chorused as they began pulling Ruiko towards their Papa.
"Accel, what-"
"You have no choice in this," he told her as he grabbed her arm and pulled her close, their daughters moving to hug them both even as winds began to pick up around them. "We're going there as a family and you'll enjoy it!"
"Mama will love it!" Febrile chirped as they began to rise into the air.
"Yup. We'll have loads of fun." Janie added.
"And Mama will stop being so sad. Misaka Misaka says with determination."
"Wait! At least-"
"No waiting!" Accel declared, dismissing her compliant as he used his conjured winds to shoot them down the corridor and out into the open air.
"This is insane!" The Number 3 told her boyfriend as she clutched their daughters tightly to her side. She knew he would never, but the risk of his dropping them was something she wasn't about to take.
"Like you aren't?" Accel retorted with a playful smirk. "Just shut up and get with the program already!"
Realizing that she wasn't going to win this one, Ruiko relented with a soft smile on her face.
Things wouldn't be the same, not after what had happened. But with the love and support of her family things would still be okay.
It will be okay.
She was sure of it.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
Ah, that was tense? Fulfilling? Heartbreaking? Maybe a little of each. At least Saten and Banri are semi-made up.
Nameless: Can you be semi-made up? I honestly dunno. But I guess the term fits as much as any other. They're both working to forgive at the moment. Banri's little joke at the end about calling Ruiko "Imoto-chan" from now onwards isn't just fluff either. Keep in mind what that means and what it reaffirms. It's Banri saying that no matter what has happened, Ruiko is her sister.
Though Saten's new measures for Touma is quite the shock! Still, if Al lets him loose on her, she'll hopefully be ready. Even if Touma's dimwitted enough to be played like the pawn he can be for Al's needs.
Nameless: So I gave Ruiko a gun. Why? Well, like I said it's to counter a certain spiky haired boy. Will it see use? Yes, yes it will. We have already planned that bit out. It'll be a while though. For the moment, it's presence on Ruiko's person is more symbolic than anything. It's a sign of her becoming even more paranoid. Expect Big Sister to keep an even closer eye on her loved ones from now onwards.
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!