A few hours before Kamijou saved a bunch of thugs from a murderous orange girl...

"It's... an ability..." Saten muttered to herself. After using the Level Upper, and giving it to her Akemi, Mako and Muu, they began ton develop powers themselves.

Akemi apparently developed telekinesis; before she could barely lift up a small paper cup to a few inches, but now she could lift Muu off the ground.

Saten ignored that and looked at her fingers.

Small sparks of yellow electricity danced around her fingers, with one small spark bursting to life before fading, and a larger, seemingly stronger bolt erupting from her palm and striking a nearby pole.

The discharge of the bolt caused the pole to instantly light up before it powered down.

"Woah, Saten-san, you can shoot lightning out your fingers? That's so cool," Mako, her braid pig-tailed friend went over to check out her power.

"That's pretty cool Saten, you could probably give the Railgun a run for her money," Akemi jested.

Saten only giggled. "I highly doubt that, although... something like this ... is just enough. Yeah, it's just enough."

Akemi smiled at her friend's glee, unaware that an angry single-fanged demon went up behind her and started placing her in a chokehold, with Mako taking her eyes off Saten and going over to help the helpless Akemi take Demon King Muu off her.

'At last, finally,' Saten was filled with so much joy.

'I finally became an Esper!"

-

Present Time, 2 days after Kamijou saved Kuroko...

"Oh god I'm so tired... Ow!" Kuroko Shirai groaned, fatigued by the battle which had taken place only a few minutes ago. Three days had passed since her battle with the dealers back in District 7's Rundowns, strips of abandoned, dilapidated buildings which were popular spots for ne'er-do-wells to continue their illegal activities. Had it not for the Red Man appearing as he had things would've been a lot worse.

On a particular afternoon in July 24th she had went to a supposed meeting spot of Level Upper deals, and encountered a gang of them within 20 minutes of investigation. Unluckily for her, one of the espers within said group alerted the others to her presence, which had resulted in an all-out brawl.

It seemed that, as she continued her Level Upper buybusts the last remaining groups have increased their numbers, bolstered their forces, in the hopes of making sure Judgement wouldn't go snoop around in their business.

And that was their mistake, as Kuroko wasn't one to crack under danger.

As expected the young officer engaged in combat against the gang, a battle which had taken much of Kuroko's stamina, and caused her to take a couple hits in from the rest. But eventually with some help she managed to defeat the entire gang.

"Every day you've been taking in a lot of scrapes from every battle."

"It's a necessity Uiharu. More and more people are using Level Upper. And because their powers aren't shown in the Bank they use them to commit crimes. The more people use it the greater the panic this'll ensue when the side effects get revealed to the public."

"There's no telling with how far this is spreading. Considering how Level Upper's effects are similar to Testament but on a greater scale... just what's going on here?"

"Well. Wondering and making guesses about everything won't get anything done. We must make sure to get every single piece of information about the Level Upper, find out a way to save those comatose from it, and arrest the creator of this twisted device."

"But first, let's patch you up first before you injure yourself again."

Wrapping the final bandages around Kuroko's upper torso Uiharu wondered about something. It should have been obvious, but Kuroko hadn't played that card in a while.

"That reminds me, how come you haven't asked Misaka-san for help? Her power and skills might come in handy regarding this case."

"I'd rather not let her see me like this. I wouldn't want her to worry. Besides I have somebody to help me out whenever I'm in trouble."

"Oh, the Red Man, was it? I wonder why you've haven't taken him in for a while. I thought guys like him shouldn't be going around, exacting their brand of justice, as you put it."

"As of now I'm currently in the process of resolving this inch by inch. This vigilante can wait."

"Oh wow, the great Kuroko Shirai, had thought a measly guy in red is unimportant to take notice. I wonder what Misaka-san would think if she heard you.

'Oh Kuroko, and i thought I was the only one who breaks the law, it's rather hilariou-"

That line had Uiharu being mercilessly shaken around by an angry Kuroko.

"Hey guys, is there something I can do to hel--" Mikoto Misaka opened the door hoping to offer her aid to both junior officer only to get cut off by a falling Uiharu on top of her hitting her head.

"O-Oh hey there Onee-sama, what brings you here this afternoon?"

"..."

"...ehhhhhhhhhhh..."

-

"Got any breakthrough with this case, guys?"

"Well, Uiharu called Kiyama earlier and asked what type of device might be used to develop it, to help with the case. She said that a Testament might be a good bet, because of how Testament uses the individual's 5 senses to input large amounts of data."

"But Level Uppers are MP3 files. Not much to use except the ears."

"Yes," Uiharu opined. "We searched the rooms of the users under coma, but we came out dry with the alternative data. Only the Level Upper."

As the girls talked around in the office the whistle of boiling water brought Uiharu to fetch for it.

"That being said, is there any possibility that the song on its own can activate all senses without resorting to external equipment?"

"How do you mean by that?"

"Remember what we had talked about when we ate that shaved ice a while back?"

"..." Kuroko was rather confused by her senior's talk about something unimportant that had happened almost 2 weeks ago. "...Strawveery flavor? Or something?"

"Other than that Kuroko. Think more."

"...um..." Kuroko tried to remember more about that day, then light shone upon her mind as everything clicked with Mikoto's suggestion.

" "Synthenesia!""

"???" went Uiharu's oblivious mind.

-

"Synthenesia..."

"Yes, by only applying syn... that thing with the senses, is it capable of making the same effect as Testament does while only using a music player?"

"Yes. I missed that possibility."

"I sent the music score of Level Upper, which has been divided into certain patterns. Do keep me updated."

"Yes, I will have get permission to use Tree Diagram for the score and patterns, plus it'll save us enough time and energy to meticulously organize and engineer a counter-virus for the victims."

"It sounds like a good plan Harumi-sensei. I'm on my way there now." Uiharu said to the professor before hanging up. Seeing the nearest bus within her vision she pressed the call button in the bus sign, calling the automated vehicle in her spot.

As the door opened to the young officer she got on the bus, and looking around the vehicle she went to the nearest seat she could when suddenly,

RiiiiNNNGG!!! went her phone, almost completely making her lose her sense of calm determination she had felt earlier from the near-victory she had felt.

Taking the phone within her pocket, in her panic she fumbled with the small gadget within her grasp, the loud noise of the pink-red phone startling some of the passengers within the bus.

She looked at the backscreen of the phone, to see who had called her for today.

A familiar name was shown within said screen. Without a moment of waiting she answered the call.

"Saten-san where have you been!? You've never called, or answered any of our calls for the past 3 days!? I was worried sick about you!!!" Uiharu scolded Saten for the silence that she had given the rest of the group. Shirai had noted that Mikoto felt rather down after the meeting, although the older girl apparently never explained fully what she was so down about.

"...went limp... unconscious..."

"What? What are you-"

"Akemi fainted and fell unconscious a few hours ago."

-

3 hours ago

"This is so cool! I think I've gotten the hang of this after 3 days! I don't even feel any effort with lifting this heavy thing up!"

"Try doing this for a change, then we'll see who's doing less effort," Muu, the fanged girl said towards the older Akemi, who was lifting a cleaning robot several meters off the ground with her Telekinesis. Muu was lifting 5 cans and a crate of empty cans alongside.

Mako watched their challenge battle from the sidelines, amused by their banter.

Behind her was Ruiko Saten, who was having an inner battle stir up her gut.

'I should've probably told Uiharu about this, but knowing her she'll likely tear my ear off for using it,' Saten thought to herself.

She didn't like to keep secrets to her close friend, and especially to the girls currently in the park playing around with their powers. But seeing now that they had all used the song to gain their abilities the truth would've come out.

But still, Saten felt her gut sink with guilt over her next action.

A thud, then later a horrible sound of metal crashing into the ground shook her thoughts back in reality. Looking up she found Akemi, limp on the ground, and Muu and Mako going in to check on the older girl.

Within a moment, reality seemed to darken out. Her senses numb, the crys of concern and worry left her ears as the reality of her decision had settled in.

She didn't even notice the boy rushing in, or their rather distinctive haircut.

Never before, had the phone within her hand felt any heavier.