A Certain Missing Esper (Arc 4 Main Story)

The younger girl's facial expression told that she had realized Watabe's true identity.

The girl's question only affirmed her suspicion: "Hey, you are THE Watabe Tsubasa right? The singer?"

'Aaaaand my cover is blown', she thought while sighing.

“The what?”, the boy seemed totally clueless, however.

"... y-yeah, it's as you say, I'm a singer", Tsubasa could only answer in the affirmative, awkwardly.

She would've prefered playing dumb, but at this point it was too late to feint ignorance, since she basically handed them the truth on a plate of gold by bringing them here and showing them her manager.

Tsubasa had a bunch of question to ask the other two as well, but was interrupted when she noticed the gown girl getting anxious.

"Wh-where am I?" Reina asked while clutching the jacket.

Seeing the state she was in, Tsubasa tried reassuring her as best as she could.

"You're safe here, there's nothing to worry about. This isn't a scary place. Look around!", she said, opening her arms and exaggerating her manners.

"We called some pretty strong guys to protect you. Those guys in suits standing over there. They're professionals and they'll make sure no harm is done to you."

"As for this place... you see? you see~? This whooooole studio is for MY training~! Am I not amazing~? Hehehe~", it wasn't really boasting, for she spoke in a playful way.

She didn't want to talk to her about anything serious for a bit, at least until the girl was in her right mental state again. It didn't sit well with Tsubasa to force the girl into talking right now.

So, she simply changed the topics, and this was the first topic that she could come up with, maybe because it was literally the last thing she has discussed with the others. But this playfulness was her attempt to entertain the girl, distract her from her worries and lift the heavy atmosphere looming over them since their encounter.

"So", she added in a more serious tone,  but also smiling affectionately, to show her that she honestly meant what she was about to say, "you can rest here for as long as you want. Tell us your story whenever you feel ready to talk. Meanwhile, we will protect you", she uttered that last sentence boldly, full of confidence.


Would this be the ray of hope that the small girl needed to finally escape the cruel and dark world she was stuck in?

"... y-yeah, it's as you say, I'm a singer"

Aiko celebrated her little victory in the guessing game that she was playing with herself. She wasn't a huge fan of Watabe's music, but she'd seen a few videos online and many of the girls around Tokiwadai were big enough fans that Aiko had picked up a bit of knowledge on her. However, this was not the most pertinent thing happening at the moment as the girl who they had protected and was now laying on the couch had woken up. Aiko made a mental note to get Watabe's number before they left. A famous singer was a good person to know.

"Wh-where am I?" The girl asked, still noticeably concerned.

"You're safe here, there's nothing to worry about. This isn't a scary place. Look around! We called some pretty strong guys to protect you. Those guys in suits standing over there. They're professionals and they'll make sure no harm is done to you. As for this place... you see? you see~? This whooooole studio is for MY training~! Am I not amazing~? Hehehe~So, you can rest here for as long as you want. Tell us your story whenever you feel ready to talk. Meanwhile, we will protect you"

With the impromptu deceleration by Watabe that everything was going to be alright, even Aiko felt safer for a moment. It didn't surprised her that this was someone famous.

At this point, Aiko realized that she didn't even know the name of the girl they were protecting and decided it would probably be a good idea to introduce herself as well. Aiko crouched down next to the girl on the couch and introduced herself.

"Like my friend Tsubasa here said, this place is safe and if you don't want to talk to us right now, that's fine." Aoki wore a warm smile on she face, trying to give off the same calming aura as Watabe. "Although it would be nice to know your name so we know what to call you.  My name is Aiko Aiko, nice to meet you."  

With that, Aiko stood back up and quickly checked her phone for a response from her inquiry to Ichigo Ai. Aiko was hoping that the girl would be willing to tell them what had happened to her and what was going on, but if she couldn't for whatever reason, they'd have to figure it out themselves.

District 7, 18:00

Evening had arrived on this summer day. It was hot, dry and by no means comfortable outside. However, if you had withdrawn behind the walls of a castle that harboured the great treasure known as an air conditioner, the world wasn’t all too bad.

One such castle was the dining hall of Tokiwadai Middle School’s outer dormitory.

Being one of Academy City’s most prestigious schools this dining hall was nowhere out of the ordinary. The long tables were ornamented by the finest quality accessories, while the food serve onto the plates was made by at least three star chefs. This showcased the status of the regular guests. Yes, being a student at this all girl’s school made one closer to a princess than some royals of this world.

The ojous of Tokiwadai Middle School were part of the Science Side’s rarest treasures.

However, even among those there was one even finer category. One that only contained two specimen.

«So their spread ability has reached this extent?»

The one standing lower on the rarity scale but higher on the social one was commonly known as the Queen of Tokiwadai. Academy City’s #5 Esper. The Mental Out. Or, by her real name: Shokuhou Misaki.


«This is about to become truly problematic.»

She was a beautiful girl by all definitions of the word. Long honey blonde hair, golden eyes, a cute face, perfect skin and curves that did not fit her supposed age at all were part of the blessings nature had granted her. Yet, that prestigious school’s uniform and the expensive purse hanging from her shoulder put the cherry on top of the cake.

Surrounded by a small number of her followers, the girl ruling over this castle was supposed to be enjoying a serving of an expensive imported western tea. Instead of relaxing here, however, there was a visible tension written onto her face.

What looked like an ordinary get-together of a high class clique was in fact a briefing where the messenger bees returned information to their queen.

And the news hew been quite bad.

Originally it had been something as small scaled as the disappearance of a girl not directly tied to her. Sometimes she would use her power of the Mental Out to control people. However, instead of simply throwing them away after using, she would keep a close attention on them, guarding them until she was convinced they had settled back into the ordinary life she had taken them from. This girl had been one of them. Yet, for some reason she had disappeared without a trace. At first Shokuhou had assumed it had been connected to her very own problems, but her investigations hadn’t turned out any link to any of that.

No. This was a completely unrelated incident.

However, it had been too late for her to remain seated and watch from the sidelines.

Thus, the queen had set into motion her own assets to investigate the ongoings connected to it. The outcome being the discovery of something that had so easily managed to slip through the gaps of her own network.

Within just a single day she had gained a good overview of the ongoings on the streets. Still, all of that was hardly sufficient. She knew what had happened, that was all. The who and why were still a big mystery.

Therefore, she had to step out of the protective castle walls herself.

«It's about time I demonstrate my rulership ability to snuff out the rats hiding in the dark ☆«

"You're safe here, there's nothing to worry about. This isn't a scary place. Look around! We called some pretty strong guys to protect you. Those guys in suits standing over there. They're professionals and they'll make sure no harm is done to you. As for this place... you see? you see~? This whooooole studio is for MY training~! Am I not amazing~? Hehehe~So, you can rest here for as long as you want. Tell us your story whenever you feel ready to talk. Meanwhile, we will protect you"

Reina's wide-eyed silence made it clear that she was finding it hard to really process the situation she had found herself in, much less the bold and charismatic declaration of the young woman in leathers.

But it seemed to have the desired effect. The tension in her body eased, her shoulders relaxed and the arms that had been pulling the jacket tight to her chest loosened. A small smile turned the corners of her small mouth upwards just a little.

"Like my friend Tsubasa here said, this place is safe and if you don't want to talk to us right now, that's fine. Although it would be nice to know your name so we know what to call you.  My name is Aiko Aiko, nice to meet you."  

"I'm Yamazaki Reina." She bowed her head politely, or at least as well as she could manage from her position. She glanced about between Tsubasa, Aiko and Saito with a slightly flustered flush to her cheeks. "I suppose I should say 'thank you for helping me'." She fiddled with the collar of the jacket in her hands as she searched for the right words. "I'm sorry to have caused you all such a problem." Reina's eyes became unfocused for a second "My story? I... I can't remember. I don't even know what day it is..." She pressed her palms to her forehead and curled up with a low groan. "My head... it hurts..." She muttered.

***

Touko's words pierced Motoharu's heart like a dagger. But Tsuchimikado Motoharu was not the type to recoil in pain at such insults. His answer was much more direct.

"That's not what a friend is supposed to say! You should be cheering on your friends from the sidelines!" He shot back. Clearly his distorted view of reality placed him in the role of a romantic comedy's leading man, complete with a narrative that made his victory inevitable. "And what would a tomboy like you know about real girl's tastes, anyway?" He was getting fired up, and if the past was any indication the argument was on a fast track to getting physical.

***

"So walk me through it again." Guy sat at the arcade cabinet with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. From the tension in his expression, one would have guessed he was about to disarm a live bomb or handle a venomous serpent. It was the same kind of wary distrust seen in a movie when an untrained civilian was being forced to emergency land an aircraft, or when an undercover cop was faced with bluffing their way out of a den of armed criminals.

"This is punch. This one's kick. And this one blocks." Rachel slowly repeated her demonstration of the buttons. The look of bewilderment didn't fade, though and she sighed. "Trust me it's easy." She took her seat beside him. "Since you're at a disadvantage I'll only use one hand too." The blonde girl deliberately folded one arm behind her back.

"The fact that you're so willing to do that makes me even more certain I'm about to get hustled." Guy nevertheless placed his fingers on the buttons that crossed the face of the cabinet.

The match, if it could even be called that, was a total massacre.

Total defeat. A one-sided punishment not even worthy of being called competition. It was so humiliating that it drew a crowd. Though that was at least in part due to Rachel's colorful smack-talk and showboating. The game ended and the other patrons gathered around them avoided Guy's gaze and whispered pitying remarks.

With a stiff face and a distant stare Guy rigidly stood up from the machine. It had been an experience that would leave scars for years to come, that much was clear. "Was that entirely necessary?" Guy asked flatly. Rachel nodded.

As expected, Anko was being vague. Whether it was just the kind of person she was to assume that the person with her understood everything or whether it was her way of keeping her distance, it was hardly ideal.

Even if Anko was right that getting used to this kind of event was far from normal, she was still stuck in the middle of it all and it was something she knew how to act in response to, even if it wasn’t in the most graceful of ways.

Even as the girl listed off names that seemed familiar, but Kohaku couldn’t put her finger on, she remained vague. Though, at least Kohaku could tell she was ruling out possible enemies. Was this girl really in so deep that she had that many enemies?

«Besides, if someone who knows me was truly after me, they would not approach it like this. These people weren’t suited for the approach they chose. Like this only an amateur would have fallen into the trap.»

“Wait. That means they weren’t after you, specifically.”

In other words, whoever had attacked her was ill-prepared. If they had targeted her specifically, she would have never encountered Kohaku and she would not be here, trying to escape.

“It just means that you just so happened to be picked as the unwitting target. They may have been rolling the di—”

Her train of thought was cut off as the girl seemed to have finally taken notice of what she had been referred to as. In any other situation, this would probably be adorable (actually, Kohaku still found it adorable despite the situation), but now was definitely not the time for an outburst like that.

“Is that name not alright with you? Was it too familiar? I could come up with something different. An-chan? Kian-chan? Kisarako-chan?”

At this point, Kohaku was just making numerous different portmanteaus. One could only wonder: was she doing this kind of thing on purpose?

«Is that name not alright with you? Was it too familiar? I could come up with something different. An-chan? Kian-chan? Kisarako-chan?»

«S-stop it right there!»

Flailing with her arms like an elementary school whose diary had been stolen and read out in public, the strong kunoichi struggled in vain to regain her previously held cool.

Fortunately the very next instance a monotone voice from the speaker and gust of wind from the tracks would announce the train’s arrival. An appreciated interruption of that embarrassing scene. After all, boarding the train and picking a pair of good seats could sufficiently distract that vicious nickname giver from her evil deeds…or something like that.

«Anko-chan is fine. Alright?»

However, as she let herself fall into the comfiness of an unoccupied seat, Kisaragi Anko would throw all that away in what was another weak moment disguised as bratty resistance.

Still, while attempting to hide it, she couldn’t deny that she was more than relieved about this opportunity to rest. Her body had felt oddly heavy this last stretch, hadn’t it?

«Excuse me?! While to the outside I might appear a bit crude, this Kamijou-san is in fact a fine lady on the inside! A diamond in the rough!»

Crossing her arms in front of her not really existent chest, that spiky haired idiot failed at underlining her claims. In fact, her current posture made her look even more masculine.

«But I suppose a lower class ruffian who mistakes ode toilette for toilet water is no judge for things like that! What makes a girl isn’t simply long hair, lip stick and breasts! It’s the inner values that matter!»

She may have raised her nose in female arrogance, but that didn’t mean she knew what she was talking about either. Hell, she had used and failed at using the words ‹eau de toilette›, while not having a clue herself about what they actually stood for. And as far as inner values were concerned being the rare breed of a high school student about to fail the school year for reasons such as getting into fights with delinquents on regular occasions or having gained most of their knowledge from shady late night TV documentaries because she cannot even be arsed to at least pick a more culturally sensitive approach did not account for much.

«Besides! Unlike you, I actually have just recently had a man hit on me!»

She’d brag about a true experience. If you counted a two-sided attempt at keeping face when drawn into the most uncomfortable door mix up in history as one.

Watabe Tsubasa, Aoki Aiko, Yamazaki Reina.

Hirashi mentally catalogued the names to the faces around him before speaking.

“Well, I guess I should also share my name. Pleased ta meet ya, I’m Saito Hirashi.”

"My head... it hurts..."

Before Hirashi was able to continue speaking, Reina held her head and groaned in pain.

From Reina’s earlier responses, it was clear that no useful information will come from her, at least not anytime soon. Hirashi was an observer and planner. Frankly, fighting on the defense, where the enemy formulated the plans and Hirashi had to improvise to it, did not suit him.

The most efficient way for me to carry out this investigation will not be by protecting this subject, but rather tracking down the subject’s captors. Thus far my target did not make use of their own assets, save for a certain blitzy shiny esper, but rather employed “local talents”. Is this due to their shortage of such assets? Or was it to reduce the risk of exposure? This meant whatever obstacles I may come across, it will be unlikely to be a subtle affair and will swing more towards an open, direct conflict. The most pressing question currently however, is to what lengths will her captors willing to go to recover her. This will dictate if I should negotiate with my targets or track them via this girl instead.

Hirashi glanced over at Reina

How much are you worth to them?

Kohaku chuckled. Admittedly, she had somehow found a way to get this girl who had until recently been completely stone cold to show some level of vulnerability and she was continuing to snowball downhill with each and every word.

As blunt and tactless as it was, she was able to get her flailing around like a fish out of water, even if that wasn’t her true intention.

Rather than responding immediately, Kohaku smiled as she followed Anko. But rather than taking a seat, she stood in front of her, holding onto one of the grab handles and smiling. It was an innocent smile—one reminiscent of a mischievous child’s.

“Alright then, Anko-chan.”

That simple response was all that she had needed. Anko had opened up to her, somewhat. The least she could so was at least try to not make her too uncomfortable. At least, she hoped that the minimalism and smile was enough for that.

"I'm Yamazaki Reina. I suppose I should say 'thank you for helping me'. I'm sorry to have caused you all such a problem. My story? I... I can't remember. I don't even know what day it is... My head... it hurts..."

"Hey... it's okay. Take it easy, don't force yourself. For now, just rest well."

Tsubasa may have said that, but she was uneasy. The girl seemed in pain and that bothered her. But what disturbed her more was...

'Being tired is one thing but, she can't remember at all? Is she simply confused due to stress? Or is there more to it...? I truly hope it isn't anything deep...'

Meanwhile, during this conversation between the four teenagers, the manager has been observing them from afar, before deciding to finally step in when he judged that Reina wasn't going to be giving them any answers any time soon.

He was sitting in front of a wooden table, and there seemed to be some kind of paper in front of him.

"Watabe-kun, I need to talk to you."

She was surprised by the sudden call, and headed towards Aizawa.

"What is it?"

"I truly think this is too dangerous. You should leave it to the experts now. We can call Anti-skill now and ask them to do an investigation on the girl and they'll take care of her. This is way out of your usual bickering and street quarrels, this reeks of trouble."

"Precisely because of that, I need to see this through. You can call Anti-skill if you want. But I need to be involced in this case. I need to help Reina myself. I mean, we don't even know who we can trust. Can we even trust Anti-skill now? Won't she be kidnapped again, or worse? Please, sir. This isn't for Reina's sake, it's also for mine", she bowed to him.

The manager was took aback. Watabe never called him sir or pleaded to him, let alone bow like that. It showed even more the intensity with which she desired to help Reina. She cast away her pride for once.

He could only sigh in frustration, afraid for her safety. Like a parent worried about their child.

"Alright alright."

He took out something from his bag, an e-pad, and opened some kind of application.

'A map...?'

Clap clap clap

"Play time is over kids. Let the girl get some rest and come over here", he called the rest, "We don't have time to waste chitchatting", he added when they approached him.

He spoke with a relatively low enough voice so that Reina who was several feet away couldn't hear the conversation, because he didn't want to put pressure on her again after Watabe came up with that speech just to calm her down. He didn't want to ruin it:

"Our hideout might get discovered at any time. We need to come up with a plan, a strategy, discuss the most efficient routes for escape, think of alternative places to hide ー so if you know of any it would be appreciated ー and of course, decide on our very next move. We can't keep on the defensive forever. A miracle is not going to happen... unless we make a move, that is. I usually don't like kids doing dangerous stuff. But I'm going to trust Watabe-kun this time. Do you understand? Once we procede any further, it'll be hard to go back. Are you still in?"

His prep talk was even more serious than what Tsubasa was used to. But then again, the situation on hand wasn't exactly ordinary either.

She couldn't help but smirk.

"What are you even saying? We were already in, the moment we stepped in to help Reina-chan."

"I'm Yamazaki Reina. I suppose I should say 'thank you for helping me'. I'm sorry to have caused you all such a problem. My story? I... I can't remember. I don't even know what day it is... My head... it hurts..."

"Hey... it's okay. Take it easy, don't force yourself. For now, just rest well."

While it was certainly a problem that Reina had lost her memories, at least she was awake and relatively stable. Despite trying to act like it a bit, Aiko wasn't much of a comforting type. She was fairly good with people, but in a situation like this, she was a bit at a lose for what to say. Instead she decided to eavesdrop a bit of the conversation Watabe was having with her manager. A short discussion about how dangerous this whole affair was. It was at that point that the manager called them all over.

Clap clap clap

"Play time is over kids. Let the girl get some rest and come over here. We don't have time to waste chitchatting. Our hideout might get discovered at any time. We need to come up with a plan, a strategy, discuss the most efficient routes for escape, think of alternative places to hide ー so if you know of any it would be appreciated ー and of course, decide on our very next move. We can't keep on the defensive forever. A miracle is not going to happen... unless we make a move, that is. I usually don't like kids doing dangerous stuff. But I'm going to trust Watabe-kun this time. Do you understand? Once we proceed any further, it'll be hard to go back. Are you still in?"

"What are you even saying? We were already in, the moment we stepped in to help Reina-chan."

"If we're talking strategy, I may as well put my cards on the table as well. The specifics of how it works are a bit complicated, but I can interfere with electromagnetic waves in an area around me."

In saying that, Aiko started putting on a bit of a light-show, narrowing the band of visible light that could get through her field and bathing her in various colors of light. Red, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange, she jumped from color to color.

"It can also be used to do things like this."

With that Aiko picked up a piece of paper laying on the table, it looked like a concert advert for Watabe's next show. She pulled her laser pointer out of her pocket and clicked it on briefly to set the paper alight before quickly smothering the flame.

"As for other Safe places, I have access to the school garden, and since it looked like we were dealing with skill out thugs, I think it would be very difficult for them to infiltrate there."

While she said this was all of her cards, Aiko decided it would probably be best to leave out some of the details on her ability, as well as anything to do with TASK or the dark side.

District 15, 13:30

Hours had passed. Eventless hours. Nothing more. Nothing less. In the beginning changing trains and prepaid cards may have sounded like an exciting thing to do, but at the end of it it was nothing but monotone routine. However, following exactly that was what had allowed them to make a clean escape. At least that’s how the team’s professional had declared it.

When they had finally left behind the seemingly infinite loop of recharging, boarding and leaving trains, their path led them through District 15. A bustling place, especially now that summer vacation was the prevailing season. After all, just as one would expect from any other shopping district in any other metropolis it was overrun by thousands of people flooding the streets and shops as though there was no other place to be.

What was a nightmarish annoyance for anyone just trying to grab some essentials was the ideal scenario for Kisaragi Anko and the girl named Kohaku.

And yet, all they did was pass through the masses momentarily until they disappeared from the main streets just a bit later.

From there on it went on through the comparably empty side streets, even further into the abandoned back alley kind of streets and ultimately to an area that really did not get that much traffic in the first place. It was the type of area one only passed through when being a resident, a lost tourist or someone who knew exactly what they were looking for. The latter quite fit them here.

Ultimately, the two of them would arrive at a second hand store at the very outer edge of the District. From the outside it looked like any other of its kind. The inside wasn’t much different. There was some odd kind of interior decoration that tried to give it an old 70s flair with both disco and western elements mixed in. However, the jazz music from the 60s echoing in the background entirely crushed that fake image. Still, none of that would distract from the store’s main focus: Countless of racks harbouring exponentially more clothing items. The goods ranged from all kinds of basic shoes, shirts, skirts, pants, scarfs, jackets to more high fashion brand items that came with an appropriate price tag. So to say, the entire place was a huge lucky bag that could satisfy any customer, both the idiot just trying to make a bargain and a true fashionista with an acquired taste.

«Pick whatever you want. Just nothing all too extravagant.»

There was no need to say it, but she still did when they entered. Right now it was mandatory for them to slip out of the disguises of hospital workers and back to something that’d give them an easier means to lay low.

Lastly, though, she had also said it to signal the girl that she would break away from her. Ignoring the seemingly single other presence that was the bored looking but perfectly well dressed store clerk, average girl Kisaragi instead proceeded on to search the racks in the back corner of the store’s single sales hall.

«Oh that one is pretty wild ♡»

Only moments after having started to go through the items presented here, someone would approach her from the side. Naturally that happened when she had just picked up a dress that was a bit too daring for any girl to wear.

«Do you have to sneak up on me like that?!»

«My my my. That coming from you, Anko-chan! I’m shocked ♡»

She sucked up the embarrassment before facing the newcomer. It was a girl. A bit younger than her. Her flashy appearance of a modern rose red tartan lolita dress supported by a pink dyed bob cut made her the kind of ideal customer for this shop.

But what else to expect of the one who had proposed to meet up specifically there.

«What do you have?»

However, given these circumstances, idle chatter had to be cut short.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?" Kurama Kenji raged, striking out with the back of his hand against the contents of the table. Cans and bottles went scattering across the room. "HOW DID YOU USELESS FUCKERS LET HER GET AWAY!?" He stood up abruptly, kicked the chair he had been sitting on. "ONE GIRL WITH A SHITTY ABILITY AND YOU STILL COULDN'T CATCH HER!" His voice was cracking with fury as he gripped the table in front of him and flipped it over. "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" The thin, small-framed boy gripped his closely shorn head and let out a bellowing scream.

"She wasn't the only one. There were other espers there." The boy with blonde hair and red eyes said. He kept his words short and his expression cautiously neutral.

"Is that supposed to be an excuse!?" Kenji's voice had lowered and his trembling had stilled. And somehow this made him more terrifying, because those who knew him well, knew that it was a sign he was about to aim his anger in a very particular direction. "If you knew that then you should have tried even harder. You think we can afford to let witnesses get away?" He marched up to the boy and looked up into his face. Kenji was a little shorter, and not the most physically imposing by a long shot. But everyone in the room knew that he wasn't to be judged on looks alone.

"You talk pretty big for someone who wasn't even there." The large-framed thug who had first threatened Saito and Tsubasa snorted. Kenji turned to him slowly, walked up to the boy as if to speak.

First off, Kenji Kurama possessed a mysterious ability. Even though Academy City's Power Curriculum had judged him Level 0, he had manifested the power to store and unleash kinetic energy from any object he touched. With a mere brush of his fingers, he could turn a pebble into a bullet. Or a car door into a battering ram.

Kenji turned away as if to leave his reprimand unspoken.

But it was not his ability that had earned him the fear and respect necessary to lead a band of ruthless thugs.

Kenji struck out with his foot, grinding the edge of his sole against the bigger youth's shin. The other boy doubled over Kenji grabbed his ear and twisted it sharply, tearing cartilage and skin as he dragged the boy's head into the flat side of the upturned table. The metal surface crashed loudly.

It was Kurama Kenji's savagery that had placed him at the top of the food chain.

His other hand grabbed at one of the bottles at his feet and he smashed it against the back of his victim's skull. When the boy toppled, dazed to the floor, Kenji followed. No one moved to intervene as he drove his fist over and over into the boy's undefended face.

"Useless. Fucking. Assholes." His words were punctuated by the dull thuds of his strikes.

He finally sat back on his knees, panting from the exertion of the beating.

"Anyone else got anything to say?" He cast a fierce glare about the assembled Skill Out. "Then get to work. We're finding that kid. The rest of you, you've got new ones to find. Go get 'em."

***

Reina stood slowly, her body felt weak, as if she hadn't eaten in days. She couldn't recall the last time she'd eaten. She couldn't recall much of anything, in fact. Had they even been feeding her in that place? Or had her life been supported by some other means? She'd been hooked up to so many tubes and machines that she wasn't sure anymore.

Her bare feet padded across the floor to the mirror at one end of the studio. She looked into her reflection. She still recognized herself at least. She looked pale. And thin. She'd always been fairly small, but now she was practically gaunt. Reina looked at the others stood about the table. They were all talking quite intently about something. Her, most likely. They were all involved in this for her sake.

The least she could do was to help. There had to be something useful she could remember. Some clue or hint. She tried to trace back her steps. Grasp any tiny fragment of a memory, no matter how much it burned her brain to recall.

She had been walking.

The shopping mall near her dorm.

A vending machine...

That was as far as she could reach. Any more and she risked losing that image. It wasn't much, but it was a start. A vending machine with a very particular logo.

All they had to do was find it... in a city several kilometers squared...

***

The argument between Kamijou Touko and Tsuchimikado Motoharu had continued to twist and contort until they, as always, forgot the original reason they'd been arguing in the first place. But one consensus had been reached by the time they reached the classroom. And that it was more fun to do the chasing than to be the one who was chased.

There was no such lively debate when they emerged from the day's makeup classes. They were both utterly drained. And Tsuchimikdao wore the harried look of a man wandering the desert in search of an oasis.

"I think I'm done for..." He muttered, and felt his soul leave his body. They were in desperate need of fun. Something to take their minds off of the nightmare of studying and looming failure.

***

"C'mon. It's only 500 Yen. I'll pay it back." Rachel needled Guy with her haggling as they stood by the convenience store magazine counter.

"With what? I don't see you pulling in a paycheque. 500 Yen is a pack of smokes to me, you understand?" He held the coin in his hand over Rachel's begging palms before relinquishing his grip and letting it fall. Rachel hurried over to the cashier with the magazine in one hand and the money in the other.

"Aw, it's good to see a guy taking care of his little sister." A young lady around Guy's age commented. She wore her reddish-brown hair short in a pixie cut that emphasized her round face. Guy glanced over at Rachel and without missing a beat, replied casually.

"Well, it's the least I can do since her father's not around." He wasn't lying, but he certainly wasn't making any effort to correct her.

"Okay. We can go now." Rachel punched Guy lightly in the back as she returned.

"You know, you're lucky to have such a good brother." The older girl smiled and combed her fingers through her hair.

"He's n-" Guy acted quickly to interrupt Rachel.

"I'm not that great, really." He finished her sentence for her. "I'm just doing what I can." He smiled disarmingly and Rachel gave him a wry look and rolled her eyes.

"I suppose he's not all bad. He works hard to pay for us to be here, you know... since mom and dad died..." Her lips trembled convincingly and even her eyes began to water. If Guy hadn't known her better he might have been fooled, too. "I just feel bad. Because he doesn't get a lot of time to make friends and meet girls." She looked down at the floor and fiddled with the carrier bag in her hands awkwardly.

Guy nudged Rachel in the back as a warning. 'You're laying it on too thick.' His quick look told her. 'Rein it in or she'll start to guess something's up.'

"That's so sad." The girl's eyes creased in sympathy. "Well, if it's a friend your brother needs..." She quickly took out a pen an slip of paper, jotting down a number and handing it to Guy. "Call me sometime." She gave Guy a wink as she walked away.

Rachel and Guy stood staring in blank disbelief. Somehow that hastily cobbled together ruse had worked. Still in shock, Guy raised his fist to the side and Rachel tapped it with her own.

Rachel began to wonder what else she might be able to manage with a sob story like that.

As much of a sense of urgency and danger there was, Kohaku was having fun with this. She wasn’t sure whether it was a result of things finally calming down enough that she could relish in the adrenaline rush or whether it was a sense of novelty overwhelming everything else. After all, between being chased and escaping the pursuers, the day had been livened up to an extent that she had never expected.

Perhaps that’s what the gap between the world she lived in and the world Anko lived in truly was. Even after all of this, Kohaku could say she felt some sense of detachment.

In the end, the shop they had come to in District 15 didn’t really help that matter. The dissonance between outfits displayed on the hangers and the ambiance created by the music really only added to that surreal feeling.

But, it was necessary.

«Pick whatever you want. Just nothing all too extravagant.»

“Uh, sure...”

It was disappointing, but Anko seemed to want to split temporarily to find her own new disguise. Kohaku could only sigh as she had to let her new companion go on her own way as she looked for a new outfit.

As she was skimming through outfits, it was fairly obvious that the place ranged from prices reminiscent of a thrift shop to prices at some high-class brand name retailer. It was quite the variance.

Thanks to that, she could pick out exactly what she needed. Sure, she was given the restriction of nothing too arrogant, but thanks to their actions from earlier, she did hemorrhage quite a lot of money. While Level 4s did make a solid amount of money thanks to Academy City’s stipend, she was hardly the type to spend money in large amounts like that.

She clearly had taken a hit.

But, Kohaku was a crafty girl. Fashion could be created with even the cheapest of clothes and she definitely needed something to replace the clothes she had discarded.

A blue t-shirt with a white net like pattern at the bottom. A pair of dark turquoise capris. A necklace made from a few beads. A blue and white tote bag. All of it amounting to less than 5000 yen. It was a solid outfit (and hopefully the last new one she would have to attain in this ordeal).

As she held a few of those things and draped the rest over her arms, she walked over to where she saw Anko.

“You got everything, Anko-chan? I can pay for it all and we can change as soon as you are~”

Imagine going through a day like that without a single piece of food in your stomach. Tsuchimikado Motoharu may have suffered from boredom and exhaustion, but Kamijou Touko could only laugh that off given that she had truly been drained of all energy.

She hadn‘t been given the time to eat breakfast at home. Then at school the vending machine selling the tickets for the meals broke exactly when she had selected her usual choice, robbing her of her strongly desires lunch. Naturally, the teachers didn’t allow for the students to leave school grounds and everybody who had been unfortunate enough to be forced into the summer make up classes didn’t have enough with them to share.

So, the walking corpse that was Kamijou Touko was slowly trudging along the road.

«...food...need...food...food...need...food...»

Her dry breathless voice had been mumbling these words over and over again.

«...cheap...food...»

Yet even a zombie had to watch their budget when they were just a student living in a dorm. After all, no matter how good brains tasted once you couldn‘t afford any for the rest of the month, the short term satisfaction wouldn‘t outweigh the bounce back into the hell of week long starving.

At the very edge of all that despair stood a single oasis, equipped with a chilly air conditioner and the promise of cheap factory made meals.

A newly opened branch of S&T Convenience.

Once again Hirashi was stuck between two bad choices. The Manager, Mad Biker, and Hoodie Girl had made it clear of their intention to defend the subject. Whilst Hirashi valued the support of these people, fighting on the defense places serious limitations on Hirashi, namely his exceeding poor ability to fight an open battle.

Clap clap clap

"Play time is over kids. Let the girl get some rest and come over here. We don't have time to waste chitchatting. Our hideout might get discovered at any time. We need to come up with a plan, a strategy, discuss the most efficient routes for escape, think of alternative places to hide ー so if you know of any it would be appreciated ー and of course, decide on our very next move. We can't keep on the defensive forever. A miracle is not going to happen... unless we make a move, that is. I usually don't like kids doing dangerous stuff. But I'm going to trust Watabe-kun this time. Do you understand? Once we proceed any further, it'll be hard to go back. Are you still in?"

But it seemed Hirashi’s concerns were unwarranted. The Manager seemed to understand the disadvantage staying put will put them at, and more importantly, willing to take the initiative.

“I am fairly certain we have already crossed the point of no return, although the gesture is appreciated.” Hirashi responded.

Hirashi turned back to the subject and glanced at her bare feet and thin limbs. There was no way someone in this state was able to outrun those thugs in vehicles for too long. Her peculiar outfit and shattered nerves ensured any attempts to blend in will be impossible. There was the option of hiding, but a bird’s eye view of the surroundings will easily point out any possible areas.

“Does anyone have a map of the city? If Reina-san was on foot when we found her, wherever she escaped from would not have been far.”

«I used the pictures you sent me to do some digging. Your instincts told you right with using them ♡ It took a while, but when you’re searching in the right places, like conspiracy blogs and other non-main-stream journalism outlets you’re sure to find a lot about groups like that ♡»

Ichigo Ai. She was what Kisaragi Anko would call her superior. While it was obvious that there were other people pulling the strings behind the girl, she was still the one issuing TASK’s orders and providing them with the necessary intel to follow these. In a sense she was a truly scary type. Not simply because her toolkit was an unknown value, but because she sold everything she did as something overly casual. Her innocence of a teenage girl flipping through a life style magazine when talking about bloodshed and murder was a thing to truly behold.

«That man belonged to a group called ‹Odd Wolf›. They are your typical black ops unit. Assassinations, saboutage, raids, drug trafficking, war crimes, mass murder, you name it, they do it ♡»

And yet this casual discussion about the gruesome side of the world was quite two-sided.

«I figured as much. They didn’t strike me as the low profile type.»

«They really aren’t ♡ From what I found they’re the really dangerous type, even among their own peers. Their style is said to be pretty messy, but their success rate comparably high ♡»

«What are they doing in Academy City then? I know there is a lot of ex militaries with Anti-Skill and the Dark Side around, but this doesn’t sound like something you can simply let in like that? And more importantly: What are they after?»

«A few months back Odd Wolf was hired by the Iwakura Corporation, a resident weapons manufacturer, to serve as a weapons testing unit. However, that job didn’t last long ♡ A week ago Iwakura went down in flames over an internal conflict with the company being consumed by Shiokishi. The assets like Odd Wolf were cut loose then. Nobody knows what happened to them afterwards ♡ So no clue about what their goal might be ♡»

Thinking about what she was told for a bit, Kisaragi spotted a parallel she’d rather not seen. Sadly, exactly that parallel helped her understand the situation a bit better.

«They were taken in by someone who found use for them? Who?»

«Again, I have no clue ♡ There is no information about that on the networks or in the bank. And if there is, it is highly classified ♡»

Calling these news bad was an understatement. The meaning of the words ‹highly classified› usually pointed at governmental level interference. Something the average girl had already gotten a taste of when she had been captured originally. However, this time around it seemed even more illusive given that she had to figure out how to deal with it. The enemy could possibly be someone with great political power, meaning they very naturally held the capability of overwhelming her who basically stood alone.

Shrugging all of that off would easily mean she had gotten crazy.

But what good was letting it get to her do?

There had been no other choice but to fight back to begin with.

Not to forget that she had gotten an outsider invol…

«You got everything, Anko-chan? I can pay for it all and we can change as soon as you are~»

«Oh myyyyyyy ♡ And who is that, Anko-chan~?»

«Didn’t I tell you to stay away!?»

The outsider stepping into the world of darkness in a carefree fashion that perfectly well suited a shopping date, the strawberry girl’s eyes sparkling upon setting sights on her weak spot and Kisaragi desperately trying to unlit the fuse became prologue to a symphony of girlish screams and squeaks.

«Thi-this is nobody!»

«Oh my my my ♡ Anko-chan ♡ You didn’t get yourself a sugar mama, did you? ♡ And she’s a real cutie, too ♡ ♡ ♡ Lucky ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡»

«This isn’t at all what this is!!!!!»

Effectively jumping that pink haired bob cut flushed red head Kisaragi tried to salvage what little dignity this escalation left her with.

And it wasn’t the cute kind of those noises.

As much as Kohaku had expected that it was important to pick out a new disguise, she had also expected that there was still some sense of urgency left in this situation. So, she had expected Anko, being as methodical as she seemed to be, to have already chosen something by this point and be ready.

So, she really did not expect to see what was standing before her—another girl talking with Anko. A girl so vibrantly colored that one would probably not be mistaken to wonder if she had walked straight out of a cotton candy factory.

She had heard some words like “sugar mama” come out from the bubble gum girl’s words, but they had honestly bounced off of her.

When she thought about it…

“Ah, is she a friend of yours, Anko-chan?”

She had unwittingly traipsed upon a world she had not been familiar with and when her companion in this situation had attempted to keep her separate from it all, she unwittingly traipsed upon it again.

Am I intruding on something?”

The girl had gained some level of tact for once, but for all the wrong reasons. It was like getting the right answer on a test but with a faulty and wholly incorrect train of logic.

“Should I walk off for a bit?”

"If we're talking strategy, I may as well put my cards on the table as well. The specifics of how it works are a bit complicated, but I can interfere with electromagnetic waves in an area around me."

After her declaration, Aiko started a little demonstration of her powers. Watabe was very impressed. She found it to be an amusing power.

Afterwards, the middle schooler mentioned having access to School Garden, which, to Watabe's knowledge should have been obvious upon seeing her school uniform, of that prestigious Tokiwadai middle school. She wondered if her manager had noticed that already, because he was knowingly nodding to the girl's words, as if his question was meant to draw that answer out of her as confirmation rather than a simple inquiry about information he didn't have. Or was Watabe overestimating her manager? She butted heads a lot with him, but she did indeed think highly of him, and knew him to be quite the cunning man.

It was the guy's turn to speak up now.

“Does anyone have a map of the city? If Reina-san was on foot when we found her, wherever she escaped from would not have been far.”

"Ah yes. Apparently Aizawa - that is the manager - has already thought of that because he already took out a digital map. There it is, on the tabー"

"Before any of that", the manager interrupted "Young man. You forgot something crucial: introductions. Your name and ability. That's the minimum knowledge we need at least for a strategy, just as Aoki-san said earlier. We need it to know each member's future roles, if they are more defense or offense oriented, etc."

"Ah, then, I also should re-introduce myself properlyー!"

"No you're fine. I'm sure they got your name and level already. I know how much you like repeating it and drilling it into people's minds."

"Still, it's only fair that I do so! Guys, I'm Watabe Tsubasa, a Level 0 with no powers at all. But I'm pretty good at street fighting, and I'd like to think that I'm pretty much unmatched in bike riding skills, hehe~", she said enthusiastically while flexing her muscles.

"Before any of that, young man. You forgot something crucial: introductions. Your name and ability. That's the minimum knowledge we need at least for a strategy, just as Aoki-san said earlier. We need it to know each member's future roles, if they are more defense or offense oriented, etc."

This was true, the boy hadn't mentioned his name once yet. It occurred to Aiko that despite this being her second time in a chaotic situation with this boy she didn't know his name. She remembered she had expressed as much while the two of them were in the stolen van, but she hadn't given it much thought do to the situation. From her interactions though, she had a basic understanding of the boy's ability although not in any specific detail. Based on how little information he gave away, she doubted they would get too many details from him.

"Ah, then, I also should re-introduce myself properlyー!"

"No you're fine. I'm sure they got your name and level already. I know how much you like repeating it and drilling it into people's minds."

"Still, it's only fair that I do so! Guys, I'm Watabe Tsubasa, a Level 0 with no powers at all. But I'm pretty good at street fighting, and I'd like to think that I'm pretty much unmatched in bike riding skills, hehe~"

She had told them as much when they were fighting the skill outs, although Aiko had never heard a level 0 announce their status with such vigor. It stood in contrast to what she observed everyday at Tokiwadai. With that thought, Aiko decided to take a look at the map of their surroundings. It was only when considering the logistics of the map that Aiko realized something. She lowered her voice to hushed tones so Reina could not hear. She didn't want her to worry any more than she was already.

"Do you think it's possible that they could be tracking her somehow? When she first ran into you two it looked like she had run out of the alley right? The skill out thugs came from a van down the other side of the street. If they were chasing her directly wouldn't they have come from the alley as well?"

Aiko expanded her shell to cover the room. Each person in the room would feel a slight tingling sensation as the shell expanded to encompass them.

"I've used my ability to block out the radio waves used for GPS." Aiko whispered to those gathered around the table. "I didn't consider tracking so it might be too late and they may already know this location, but if there is anything, it's useless now. Although, if they are using a type of tracking that doesn't use GPS, I may not be able to interfere with it."

One may have treated all this as a luxury given the actual circumstances of this situation, but to Kisaragi Anko that very moment it was the worst case.

«Ah, is she a friend of yours, Anko-chan?»

«You could call it that ♡»

To make it worse, cornered as she was, the usually scary eyed femme fatale was the one to take a backseat while that pink bob cut took over all of the talking. But what else to do in this defenceless state?

«Am I intruding on something? Should I walk off for a bit?»

«My my my! What a strong development ♡ You’re that deep are you? What a meanie you are, Anko-chan ♡»

Each and every word spoken and its twisted interpretation at the hand of that super colourful bubble head transformed into invisible hammers beating down upon the already at the bottom kunoichi. And these hammers were beating so hard that ultimately all restraint would be shattered.  Bringing as consequence an explosion.

«No! No! No! You stay!!!»

Realising that she herself had exploded a bit too much right there, Kisaragi stopped herself mid fallout and returned into a state of more calm than flustered.

«It’s fine. Stay around. You’re part of this as well.»

That was the conclusion she took after everything that had happened. Kohaku hadn’t been here out of her own free will. No, she had been dragged into this by accident and now her life was as much at risk as Kisaragi’s.

«So tell me, no, us: Is there anything else we should know? I don’t think some basic intel is all you can pick up.»

At all that Ichigo Ai chuckled happily. Why exactly was hard to determine, but average girl Kisaragi hoped it wasn’t because of that pitiful display of weakness that had led into her question.

«As expected of you. Seeing right through me ♡ Recently a lot of people have disappeared in this city. While there are some exceptions, especially Espers have gone missing. Word has it that these disappearances are linked to a human trafficking operation ♡ It seems as though someone is collecting valuable samples and trying to sell them for a high price, but nothing has been confirmed yet. I didn’t originally link it to Odd Wolf, but I was told about another situation today, which made me think ♡ You said it didn’t seem like they were after you, didn’t you? What if all that was about Hasagawa Yumemi instead? What if someone with Bank access intentionally picked what they considered a valuable enough target?»

«So it is as I expected. What else?»

«That’s all…unfortunately, I received orders not to dig further into this. Officially, this is not a matter TASK should be involved with…»

As she spoke those words, Ichigo Ai’s usual cheerfulness had faded nearly immediately. It was clear as day that she wasn’t happy about this outcome. However, there was no way for her to disobey any decision from above.

That had been the final verdict.

There was no hoping for any support from TASK and its entire organisation, meaning that Kisaragi was left on her own.

«Please treat everything I told you as a personal favour, will you? I at least owe you that much, Anko-chan ♡»

She hadn’t expected it to, but it pained the girl that’d usually act as a lone wolf.

The odds had shifted against her even more.

The cool air hit Tsuchimiado's face and he almost fell to his knees in relief. He made for the magazine racks where he could enjoy the air-conditioning in peace while he browsed the latest releases.

Almost as soon as the pair had entered, a young blonde girl bounced up to Touko. From the looks of her she couldn't have been older than 10, and her obviously foreign features made her stand out.

"Hey. You're from around here, right?" Rachel asked, brushing a stray strand of golden hair from her face. "I'm here visiting my brother and he's useless with directions, do you think you can show us the way to-"

"Not that one. She's a no-go." Guy gave Rachel a quick chop to the head with his hand.

"Huh?" The small girl rubbed her head through her baseball cap and looked up at Guy with an impish grin. "Why's that? I thought you weren't picky?"

"It's a long story. And what do you mean by not picky? I still have standards, you know?" The quick up and down glance Guy gave Touko might have implied something upsetting if she noticed. "Besides, if you're gonna help me pick up girls you'll need a better story than that. You're an awful liar." He huffed in disappointment. It seemed a strange thing to chide a child for. Wasn't being a bad liar a sign that they were used to telling the truth?

"Before any of that, young man. You forgot something crucial: introductions. Your name and ability. That's the minimum knowledge we need at least for a strategy, just as Aoki-san said earlier. We need it to know each member's future roles, if they are more defense or offense oriented, etc."

Uwahhhhh…

The manager is a sharp one indeed. Hirashi was okay with the Mad Biker, although her approach to problems was chaotic and disordered, she at least seemed to be on the “good” side of the spectrum. Hoodie Girl on the other hand, was definitely involved in something sketchy. Afterall, she was an accomplice of a certain steely-eyed shinobi, and that girl was something to behold.

“Good point, manager-san.” Hirashi put on an easy smile, “Although I’ve mentioned my name to these girls before, I suppose we’ve not been introduced to each other ya?”

Hirashi’s tone was relaxed and friendly, gently pointing out the absence of the Manager’s introduction without being scathing.

“I am Saito Hirashi, and I am able to use telekinesis. Only small things though, doncha be expecting me to lifting cars and stuff.”

Of course his power was not just telekinesis, his earlier display of cutting that thug’s hair was proof of that, as much as Hirashi did not want to delve further into the nature of his power, it is also important to appear as an open and amicable person, so he continued.

“It actually isn’t quite plain ‘ol telekinesis, but now is not the time to be sweating the small details ya? Clocks be tickin now.”

Despite Kohaku’s offer to leave, Anko-chan had vehemently insisted she stay and once again, she was not exactly wrong. Kohaku had gotten pulled into this and as such, she did have as much of a right to know what was going on, at least that’s what she had gathered from Anko’s words to her friend.

“Alright.”

This was hardly the moment for joking around, even if Anko’s friend was taking a lackadaisical tone. Kohaku was the type who consistently failed to read the mood, but even she knew that there was a time and place to at least feign understanding and maybe parse the details until she didn’t need to.

But, it was hardly like she had any way to make any input in this conversation. She could just ask any questions after the girl who she could not help but characterize with strawberries had finished making her spiel to Anko.

She would have her opportunity.

“Hasagawa Yumemi, TASK, Odd Wolf. You’re throwing around a lot of proper nouns here.” And she finally found the opportunity to speak up. “Given what you’re saying, I’ll assume that TASK is going to be a non-factor in this going forward, so I won’t press further on that. Let’s start with Hasegawa Yumemi. Who is she, what is her connection to you, and what is her connection to these abductions?”

As much as she wanted to say something about it, she didn’t. Kohaku remembered the name that was listed on the door Anko had run out from.

‘Hasagawa.’

But she needn’t worry about that. After all, it was likely that Anko would explain that as well.

The presence of food does not saturate hunger. If at all, it can very well increase that heavy toll. However, sometimes a placebo effect can show itself, invoked by the positive outlook of being able to stuff the stomach soon.

After all, the smell of grilled meat being kept warm, the bewitching sight of sweet bread coated by the shiny glitter of translucent plastic and mountain like stacks of bright colourful packages of instant meals visibly lying to the customer by bragging with non-existent realities could embrace any desperate soul, caressing their urges with the promise of inevitable satisfaction.

The promised land of cheap and easy meals.

It was at her feet, inviting her to take.

And she would have taken any of its offerings.

If life was actually fair.

«Hey. You're from around here, right? I'm here visiting my brother and he's useless with directions, do you think you can show us the way to-»

«Not that one. She's a no-go.»

When the small foreigner had intersected her path to fortune, Kamijou Touko had still held some grasp of hope. However, when he had appeared beside her, all that had been smashed like a frail illusion.

And to make matters worse, she was able to understand every word of their conversation they hadn’t even bothered to keep secret from the very victim of their slander.

«Ehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe…»

A dark laughter emitted from the spiky haired girl’s mouth as she was surrounded by an even darker atmosphere. Throw hunger, shattered hope and hurt pride into a mix and what emerges is unforeseeable calamity.

«Guy Li-sensei-san. At it again aren’t we? Going as low as to enslave your little sister? for your fruitless ladies hunts? You poor poor man. All you do is desperately push away the fate of eternal drought, much like the ever growing bald spot on your head.»

All energy there was left in her voice was born from the evil he had invoked.

The evil of a girl beyond the valley and the shadow of the dead.

«What a poor poor man. What a poor poor man. What a poor poor…»

Evil zombie girl Kamijou had at one point been lost in her thoughts and simply trudged on as she kept repeating the same phrase over and over again. Yet, instead of directing it at him, it went into nowhere much like her march that moment.

He had finally done it. He had broken the final remains of Kamijou Touko’s sanity.