False Error (Arc 3 Science Side)

«Medical support is on the way, they will arrive shortly.»

After a brief pause, and a few hurried key taps, the phone pressed against the side of his head echoed his aunt's words, subsequently filling him with a sense of relief. Medical support, armed with Academy City's technology. The victims were going to be alright.

The reprieve did not last long, however. He was jolted back into the still grim reality of the situation by a great barrage of questions.

«Is the situation under control?»

«Were you able to calm the culprit?»

«Is there anyone heavily injured?»

«Saito-kun, please make sure to tell me all you know.»

"By the time I arrived, the incident had already concluded, and I do not know whether the culprit is among the unconscious or if they have already the area. At the moment, Kerri is questioning a witness while I try and patch up the victims with more obvious injuries. I cannot say anything about internal damage, but at the very least there are no open wounds or heavy bleeding."

Though he forced himself to speak in a neutral, professional tone throughout the report, attempting to convey the information in a clear and concise manner, it was just too much. Though it was just a bit, his voice cracked at the end.


Even as he finished speaking, the sirens of the ambulances could already be heard in the distance.

"Disarm her!" the shout rang out too quickly for a natural voice, as if the scene was an internet video that someone had cranked up the playback speed on. Fuuka paused for a moment, which ended up being a huge mistake. The moment to her was much slower than it appeared to be for her targets. Everything was moving faster. A ball of fire appeared as if in an instant under the control of the first girl Fuuka had approached. Fuuka tried to jump away, but the ball was fired at a speed that she could not avoid. Her reflexes managed to offset the intended target however, as the ball grazed her arm as she leapt to the side.

Pain shot through her arm as the fire passed, made more intense by the sensitive scar tissue left from her own previous burns. Fuuka dropped her knife as her hand flinched from the pain. Though her first surprise move had been robbed from her, this would show the enemy they couldn't carelessly harm her. Fuuka's own voice let out a muffled shriek from the arrival of her arm's pain, but immediately after gave a large insane smile as the burning excited her. She decided to regroup and think of a new strategy, backing away several steps from the three others. After a few, she was surprised to find the sounds and things around her moving at a normal speed again. Had the one who used that power on her turned it off? Fuuka stayed back and reached for the pouch she wore around her waist for a more appropriate tool to continue the torture. Even if it was two against one, she wasn't about to retreat just yet.

Despite the attention paid to his injured colleague, Kerri listened carefully to every detail the young girl gave out, processing it as best as he could. He took a few cautionary glances at the young esper next to Gou who had apparently been responsible for most of the damage.

He couldn't be too careful about him waking up, even if it were a kid.

As the girl went on, Kerri made sure to pay special attention to the details that she gave regarding the blast that had charred the earth.

A young girl causing an explosion... that can't be good.

Kerri immediately connected that with the bus incident from earlier-a huge explosion, with someone similar not being anywhere to be found.

Before he could question her further, Kerri turned to the faint ringing of ambulance sirens closing in. Saito was still in the phone, and was looking a bit shaken about the whole ordeal. Nothing too severe, but kerri decided he'd try talking to him later on, to be safe.

He turned his attention to the girl, thinking out his next move.

Okay, I need to be polite here. Then I'll ask a bit more.

"Okay, thanks for all of that." Kerri stood up, confirming that Gou's life wasn't in danger (much) "Well, you'd better get to the ambulance to rest-I MEAN!" Kerri stopped himself, "You should-I should help you there... unless you want to go on your own... wait, no, can you walk Miss... um... I mean... ugh..."

With a normal polite statement ruined, Kerri decided to just take a breathe, and ask "Can I help you over there to get patched up?" Kerri asked, reaching his hand towards the girl, trying to cover up his own awkwardness.

"Also, there's one thing I kind of need to confirm. The girl you saw... was she about ten years old? Small? Violet hair? And could you describe the man you saw? Any details will be useful." Kerri stated, trying to avoid sounding stern. His negative attitude about the conclusions he had drawn was kicking in.

Please just give us something. With what I know, we're most likely dealing with a walking, talking bomb wandering around the city.

After she gave her explanation of what occurred, Iori realized just how exhausted she was. She wasn't terribly injured--only covered with some cuts and scrapes--but after running around and calming down from that experience, she felt her energy drained and soreness seep into her muscles. She was incredibly thankful for the Judgement--

She couldn't look at what happened to him from the fight anymore. Iori almost felt responsible for his current condition, even though she knew there was nothing much she could have done to help his fight.

Kerri seemed to have taken a moment to reflect on what she told him, before his attention was caught by the sound of ambulance sirens, which was growing in volume. When he turned back to her, he started to say, "Okay, thanks for all of that. Well, you'd better get to the ambulance to rest-I MEAN!"

Iori looked at him strangely when he stopped himself. "You should-I should help you there... unless you want to go on your own... wait, no, can you walk Miss... um... I mean... ugh..." He continued. The red-haired girl wasn't sure how to react, until he took a breath and gave it another try. "Can I help you over there to get patched up?"

Iori smiled and took his hand, giving him the go ahead. "I'd love some help over there. She said; her voice sounding sweet yet exhausted.

Kerri then asked about the girl she mentioned. She tried to answer all his questions, confirming his description of her. When asked about the man carrying her, she replied with, "Ah, it was... I mean I didn't get a great look at him or the girl, because they ran in through a cloud of dust and then this orb appeared that caused the explosion, but he was tall; I think taller than the officer that fought the kid... He was wearing a red shirt..."

Iori tried to recall the man's appearance, but since she only saw him a short amount of time, it was like trying to recall the face of someone you passed in the street. "Umm, the only other thing I can say is he jumped through that window over there to get away from the explosion." She said, pointing out where the man from earlier had escaped through.

Kerri smiled back as he took the girl's hand, thankful that she dismissed the awkwardness. As he helped her keep her balance, he listened carefully at the girl's description.

Okay, the girl's identity is confirmed, from that kids mumbling her name seems to be Iresia, meaning he has some sort of connection to her. I also have a half-decent description of the man she was with. Could be good for an APB if we need it, but it'll definitely help with finding them... Kerri looked back at the window the girl mentioned, anxiously.

No, stay calm, just keep walking. I can't risk causing alarm. Measured breathes, cautious steps, remain natural. Just got to keep her calm.

"Thanks a lot, Ma'am, that helped a lot." Kerri stated, as the ambulance cars parked in front of the scene.

"Okay, no need to worry about my partner over there. I checked him out, and he'll be fine. He's just too good at doing his job, hehe." Kerri stated, referring to Gou, trying to add a bit of levity to the situation.

A few technicians arrived, and Kerri felt himself grow tense as they moved at the scene. Despite this, he tried to maintain his cool, as another one offered to drive Iori to the local hospital.

"Um, Miss... if you want, you can wait here for a bit for Anti-Skill to arrive since, you seem to be doing okay. They'll probably want to interview you, so you may want to get it over with." Kerri stated, before smiling-and stopping before showing his sharp teeth. "And don't worry, there's only a thirty percent chance of any random spazz-attacks with them, heh." Kerri stated in a carefree manner, earning a glare from the hospital worker.

"Anyway, um... take care." Kerri stated as he quickly walked to Saito, and barely stopped himself from snatching the phone out of his hand.

"Saito, I need you to look at something over there!" Kerri pointed to the window the pink-haired girl referred to. "Now. Carefully and quietly. And if you see the girl from the bus security footage, don't do anything. Don't even let her see you, just... get back to me, okay?!" Kerri stated in a no-nonsense attitude.

"Also, give me the phone. I need to report something important......... please?"

Saito awkwardly handed the phone to Kerri as he walked off, sifting through a few ambulance workers as they carried the unconscious off.

As he did, Kerri spoke on the phone to the person on the other end, quietly giving the information he had put together, including the esper-boy's probably relation to 'Iresia'.

"I need advice. Do I inform people of the danger and risk panic? Or stay silent and risk injury. I had Saito check it out, but if they're not there, do we return to our investigation, or assist the medics? I... need advice, sir."

Back at his old job, the obvious choice would be to pursue the target without worry of others. But Kerri was trying to save lives now and had no idea what to do.

Glad I don't need to make a decision here, I'd probably just get more people hurt...

---

I wonder what's up with Kerri? Saito stated as he walked through the ground, stepping around the unconscious crowd. He felt a bit guilty for not giving the paramedics a hand, but he decided that he should follow Kerri's orders.

He was way to anxious for it to be something minor

I still can't believe that all of this destruction happened while we were exploring. What could have caused it? Saito looked sadly at an injured Judgement member, with a young boy passed out net to him at the center of where some sort of explosion happened.

Remembering what he needd to do, Saito shook his head and brought himself back to reality

No, I need to focus, and get my job done. Then I can help these people! Saito fast-walked to the window that Kerri pointed out, and cautiously looked around it. After not seeing anyone, Saito walked in, and explored the area. There was a bit of blood, and signs that someone had jumped through, but it seemed that whoever it was had left already.

With that, Saito hurriedly walked back to kerri to give his report.

"Kerri-I mean-Sir!" Saito stated, with a disciplined salute. "Nothing of significance was found in the building. There were signs that someone had jumped through the window, but I was unable to find any evidence to suggest where."

Kerri nodded, relaxing a bit, and relaying the info to the officer he was communicating with.

"Um... Kerri, what was I looking for?" Saito asked, accidentally breaking his earlier tone

Even though he was just a new guy, Saito would need to know this kind of thing to be fully effective in the future. And if this mission was as dangerous as Kerri thought, then they'd both need all of the info they could get.

Yomikawa Aiho listened closely to the answers she received, taking in and processing all information with deep care. Each detail was of great importance after all. While it wasn’t as much as she had expected it still was extremely worrisome to say the least. Intensifying her grasp around the steering wheel, she was trying her most to arrive as quickly as possible. But even a fast sports car like hers was to abide to something as basic as traffic law.

Just when she was about to give a reply someone else had taken the phone from her nephew’s hands surprising her with a storm of words containing all important information on the incident. Listening to those words in shock she couldn’t help but bite her lip, remaining silent for the time the other party was talking.

«Relax, McKinley, relax», she finally answered in a calm voice. Yomikawa knew the person she was talking to, maybe not as well as a proper colleague but they had met not too long ago and therefore she had known about the difficulties he was facing in his current environment.

«First of all you shouldn’t always assume that the one you’re talking to is a man.» She had gone for an humoristic advice to lighten the mood just a little before going back to being all serious.

«Think about it like this, Kerri: What do you think would happen if we spread such bad news causing panic among the population, especially the students? How would they react? What would they do? And what would happen to that girl in return? How would they approach her and how would she feel about it?
Don’t you think she would be pressured from all sides? Don’t you think she would notice the hostility directed at her? Imagine yourself being in her shoes? How would you feel? Would you be able to endure it?»

She paused allowing for him to reach a conclusion himself.

«It’s our job to protect everyone in this city, especially the children no matter what kind of things they do. We must never differentiate between any of them, nor can we ever allow for any of them to fall into misery. That’s why we are here.
So what is the best course of action to take in order to protect all of them?»

Panic was a merciless thing. Once it began to spread it was a sure thing for many to get drawn into it and for many to get hurt in the process. While many would wish for transparency, it would remain a hopelessly childish idea forged by people that were unable to understand society.
And judging from what Yomikawa had heard it was highly likely that those children were in some kind of condition where any negative stimulus from the outside would result in them breaking. Yes, they were frail and in need of protection themselves.

«So let’s get the search for Iresia-chan started.» No matter how problematic the overall situation, she would still crack a smile full of hope and trust. That was the kind of teacher Yomikawa Aiho was.

An unexpected backlash occurred; Natsumi felt burning pain in her arm and gritted her teeth to withstand it.

Thankfully, her ability gave her some form of resistance to fire, even though it wasn't particularly strong and didn't protect her from its wrath. Not only that but she had had her few mishaps when learning how to control it, even up to today, so she was well-acquainted with burning pain.

(This shit still hurts, though...!) She cringed on the inside. But what was going on? The mishaps she had gone through felt different, here she could only feel the pain and she felt by habit that her skin wasn't actually burnt. (Must be her ability...)

“Interesting ability you've got there, that's for sure.” Natsumi mustered a smirk whilst bringing forth two new fireballs. “Would you indulge me on its details?” She asked.

Keima internally cursed, even though he sent Kisue that text there was no reason for her to believe him. Miyako still had her back to him, so Keima carefully positioned herself so that Fuuka could see him and made a hand movement to catch her attention.

“That girl is our best chance to find the man who ran off with the kid. I've got this under control, so stay out of this.” He said, though he didn't do so much as mutter the words. Instead, he prayed that Fuuka had some degree of lip-reading as he soundlessly moved his lips to form the message he wanted to give.

Kerri listened to Yomikawa's response carefully, taking in every word.

Alright, I know what I need to do. The people's safety is the main focus, and with the paramedics, and lack of fatal injuries, things seem to be under control in this area.

"Alright, thank you Ma'am." Kerri stated. He was sure that he recognized the name, but that wasn't important at the moment. For now, he needed to go with Saito to address this situation.

"I'll be searching the immediate area for the girl, and do everything in my power to find her, very quietly... with Hiroshi Saito from Anti-Skill, of course." Kerri stated, putting down the phone, before quickly bringing it back to his ear, "A-a-also... um... good luck taking care of everything! I'm sure things are... um... in reliable hands!" Kerri stated, hanging up after receiving a response.

He turned to Saito, who was still a bit confused about Kerri's behavior. Kerri ushered him away from the scene as Anti-Skill started to file in.

Naturally, his reaction was not very good.

---

"Wh-what?!"

"Shhhhhh!" Kerri quickly quieted Saito down, "Quiet. This needs to be kept on the down low..."

Saito quickly closed his mouth, but his mind raced.

That little girl was what caused the explosion? And I had to go find her, when I could have... oh man, I'm lucky that I didn't...

Saito gave Kerri an annoyed glare, but it softened when he spoke,

"So, were you trying to keep me safe, too?" Saito said, trying to be understanding. Kerri looked nervous for a second, before responding,

"I honestly wasn't sure what to do because of how dangerous this girl is. You saw the bus-this explosion isn't as powerful, and we don't know how strong her power is, why she did that, and so many other factors that we-sorry, getting off track. And about not telling you." Kerri stated, looking genuinely apologetic.

Saito sighed, before responding, "It's alright, you warned me to be extra careful, and I knew I was looking for something-rather someone- dangerous. But," Saito stated, "Don't do that again. The first thing a rookie like me knows is that teamwork is essential, and that requires communication... oh, I'm getting lecture-y, aren't I?" Saito scratched the back of his head embarrassingly, while Kerri just smiled back,

"A little... but you're right. It won't happen again, because I know what we need to do for sure."

Saito nodded in response.

"Find that little girl Iresia, and the person she's with... but... what then?" Saito stated, and Kerri just shrugged his shoulders,

"Not 100% sure on that one Saito. Probably call Anti-Skill, since we're not equipped for a living bomb." Kerri stated,

"That's probably best. Hopefully they can help."

"Whatever happens, we'll worry about that later. For now, we'll focus on the task at hand."

"Alright. We'll start with asking about those two by their descriptions, and go from there. Sound good, Kerri?"

"Yep. Lead the way Saito." And they both ran off, hoping to find some answers to where Iresia and her caretaker was.

Fuuka's insane smirk grew wider as her ability was addressed by her opponent. Though she wasn't the type to do others favors or indulge their requests, she felt nothing was wrong with sharing a few horrifying details of her power to make the others shiver in fear.

"Heh...interesting only scratches the surface of what my curse can do to you." Fuuka drew a thick metal needle from her pouch as she spoke and lightly scratched its point down her arm to demonstrate. The pain was light, like the feeling of being scratched by a cat, but it'd be obvious to the other two girls just where the feeling in their own arms was coming from as they watched the act. "Pain is the most stimulating feeling in the natural world. It alerts creatures when they are injured or have something wrong with them, as well as a warning of danger. So feeling this pain..." Fuuka took the needle and stuck it deep into her left arm, between her ulna and radius bones. The spike of pain this time was expected and prepared for. Fuuka's own reaction was merely a twitch of the stabbed arm and a crazier smile as the pain excited her. "...you should recognize just how much danger you two are in."

But something happened to kill Fuuka's insane buzz. Keima's motion got her attention, as sloppy as it was. What happened next made her internally seethe. She was no expert, having no real reason to practice at it except when it fancied her, but Fuuka had picked up on some ability to read lips while studying human anatomy. She didn't get the whole message, but it was obvious that he was telling her to back off. That jerk! Where did he get off telling her to leave when things were just getting fun?! And after all the running around she'd had to do to catch up with him. Her mind raced as she weighed the options. If he was telling her to leave, it was likely in the best interest of the assignment. Her good feeling returned slightly as she pieced this together. She couldn't just leave right now without reason. That'd look suspicious. Instead, she could play around for a bit longer, then make a "tactical retreat."

With Kerri's help, she was led to be patched up. On the way, it looked like he was deep in thought over the description she gave him. It was pretty obvious he was anxious, but he was trying to hide it.

"Thanks a lot, Ma'am, that helped a lot," he had stated as they approached the ambulance vehicles. "Okay, no need to worry about my partner over there. I checked him out, and he'll be fine. He's just too good at doing his job, hehe." He then continued.

"Ah, thank you! I just wish I could've done something to help him more.." She sighed. The joke he had tried to make only helped make her feel more miserable over not being able to do much for him. She tried to brush it off; somewhat succesfully.

A small number of tecnicians approached the scene of the fight, one of which coming to Iori. He began to ask Iori if she needed a ride to the hospital, however Kerri quickly interrupted, "Um, Miss... if you want, you can wait here for a bit for Anti-Skill to arrive since, you seem to be doing okay. They'll probably want to interview you, so you may want to get it over with." He said, flashing a smile. Those teeth...

"And don't worry, there's only a thirty percent chance of any random spazz-attacks with them, heh." He said lightheartedly, "Anyway, um... take care."

"Oh, see you.." Iori watched as Kerri left, rushing off to join another officer. His leave felt a bit sudden, but he likely had a lot to do and a lot on his mind. Oh well... She thought, she might as well wait for Anti-Skill like he suggested. She didn't feel seriously injured, even though she was sure any doctor would disagree. She didn't see any reason to leave yet.

Looks like she was to wait to be questioned...

Shortly after her conversation with Kerri McKinley had ended Yomikawa Aiho arrived at the scene of the incident. She had left her sports car at the closest parking lot nearby, something that wasn’t really a thing of miraculous luck considering the lack of cars often seen on Academy City’s streets.

However she wasn’t the only member of Anti-Skill to arrive around that time, so that she would soon mix in with her colleagues; all wearing the same kind of gear. And as Anti-Skill was a group rather adept at team working, the first phase for the arriving members was to begin sharing all details on the prior events with each other, making sure that everyone had the same share of knowledge on what had happened, only to then split the work properly. Some were directed to support the technicians, some were sent out to investigate the scene of the incident a little further and the rest was sent out to interview the bystanders once more.
That was the usual procedure.

Hence Yomikawa approached a girl with red hair and glasses, the one that had reported the incident before and probably the most important of all witnesses; well important in the sense of having seen the most of it all.  

«You must be Kobayashi Iori!» Greeting her in a friendly voice the teacher clad into the typical Anti-Skill gear approached giving the girl one of her whole hearted warm smiles.

«Thank you for what you did. Without you we wouldn’t have made it in time.» Even though she was trying to only let her feel warmth, there was still a slight hint of frustration to be found in her voice. «I’m really sorry that you and all those people had to go through all this. Children like you shouldn’t have been hurt to begin with…» She still couldn’t stand Anti-Skill’s inability to have interfered in time; no the thing she couldn’t stand the most was her own inability. If she just had been there at that time she would have done all to prevent anyone from being hurt, the bystanders that didn’t even have an idea of what was happening to them, Furuhashi Gou who had fought to protect them and that girl that had saved many lives by making just as simple call…

«Please forgive us!!!» Speaking those words in a strong voice she bowed in front of the girl in the typical Japanese manner. It was not just an apology directed at a single person, but at every student she would serve as a representative for; just like Yomikawa was the one representing the adults that had been unable to watch over them.

This time, terrible pain that Natsumi wasn't accustomed to shot up her entire arm as she screeched in sudden affliction, finding herself incapable to move her arm from the pain. Yet grabbing the source of her pain showed that there was still no obvious injury. Natsumi slightly moved backwards as she attempted to analyse Fuuka's ability.

“Are you transmitting the pain you inflict yourself to indirectly harm your enemies? Indeed, interesting just barely covers it.” She muttered through gritted teeth. Although she couldn't figure out precisely how Fuuka was doing it. Natsumi had a vague idea thanks to Miyako, but unfortunately no way to remedy that troublesome ability.

(What should I do...? This looks like a rather nasty ability.) Natsumi internally growled, seemingly confused as to how to counter the mysteriously executed ability.

Thinking hardly got her anywhere; the only thing she could do and was indeed doing was summoning many fireballs using her other hand as she threw them towards Fuuka's bag with the full intent to render any further dangerous content to ashes.

Miyako though had noticed Fuuka's glance at Keima and turned towards him, only to find Keima glaring deeply at Fuuka. (Are they enemies?) She wondered, though she felt that wasn't exactly it.

As disappointing this outcome was, as joyful it was still bound to become. Not even for a second did that insane blood lusting smile leave Eto Fuuka’s lips upon facing those three standing in front of her. Right, that comrade among them had decided that these opponents were still of some use, however that didn’t mean for her to pass on the fun.  

Fun. There was still a lot of it left for them.

“Are you transmitting the pain you inflict yourself to indirectly harm your enemies? Indeed, interesting just barely covers it.”

Even though any Esper should have felt a slight hint of pressure at noticing hints of someone being at an advanced state of an ability analysis, the bloody smile on that scared girl’s face hadn’t faded in the slightest. She was as high as ever, aware of her ability’s rather simple nature. «Ain’t that obvious!?»

Smiling even at the second wave of fireballs, Fuuka didn’t even bother to remove the needle still stuck in her arm, while applying quick action. It was still the same with those fireballs. They came fast, yet not unexpected anymore. Fireballs, was that all there was to that missy’s ability?
Immediately rushing and then leaping to the side she managed to avoid the bombardment of flames with easy finesse, carefully guarding the bag she had determined as the attack’s initial target. Of course it was. A good fighter always went for the most valuable asset.

This is getting annoying! I must get that flamethrower bitch to at least fucking drop her rate!

While dodging by rushing and jumping appeared sufficient at first it would lose its worth over the long term. One little mistake or exhausting oneself would truly break her neck here. So instead of simply keeping up that awkward defence, Fuuka quickly brought forth and buried two needles in her left arm’s sensitive spots. More pain. Stronger pain. Pain that at some point would shatter all concentration, drowning every bit of focus in the stormy ocean of sensual sufferings.

«Scatter!!»

The pain that suddenly assaulted Natsumi's arm felt absolutely horrible, and her fireballs lost their precise aim as a result. This wasn't good, especially since the girl seemed quite agile to begin with.

(She's a pain in the ass, this freaking hurts!!) Natsumi mentally screamed, even though it wasn't like she was unaccustomed to pain. She needed to end this and fast, so she came up with a plan; the pace and accuracy of her fireballs were affected, but she could still pull something on Fuuka.

This time, only two of her fireballs appeared in front of her in succession after the others were thrown. The third ones had appeared behind Fuuka, in an attempt for a surprise attack. And gradually, the second fireballs appeared to either Fuuka's left or right side.

They had considerably slowed down; it was related to the pain, but also to her plan. When fireballs would strike close enough to her; Natsumi would ignite the bag instead, pretending one of the fireballs had actually hit regardless as Fuuka would be able to dodge the fireballs even more easily now that she had slowed Natsumi down... At least, that was the plan.

(Maybe she'll be sharp enough to catch that I actually can also ignite objects from a distance, but hopefully she won't..!)

The strategy was working. This flame throwing bitch was showing obvious signs of being affected by Fuuka's pain. She wondered how long she could last before snapping completely. The look on a victim's face when she pushed them to that point was the ultimate pleasure. Fuuka glanced at Keima and the other woman again for a split second as she continued to move about and evade the fireballs. Regrettably, the flame thrower had been difficult enough to make her break her concentration on that bitch guarding Keima. So she's shared none of Fuuka's torment. That was the biggest weakness of Fuuka's when dealing with multiple targets. She wasn't skilled enough to make a lasting connection with anyone out of her direct concentration. So multiple victims in a high pressure situation like a battle was a major chore.

Fuuka decided to go for a more direct approach now. The pain of the needles in her arm had slowed down the flame thrower quite a bit. It was the opportunity to move in. She darted forward, dodging two more slow attacks from the fireballs. She was about to reach for another needle when she felt heat from something behind her suddenly. Throwing herself into a roll, Fuuka managed to avoid the surprise attack with only a singe to her back. It did more damage to her outfit than her, but the audacity of the attack pissed her off. This bitch could make fireballs further away from her too? This reveal made her pause again, reassessing the situation before moving in.

It seemed Natsumi was managing to catch Fuuka off-guard. Despite the pain that was still lingering in her arm, Natsumi mustered a triumphant smirk.

“I hope you enjoy bullet hells.” Her smirk gradually grew to a shit-eating grin as fireballs spawned from many directions in an attempt to throw off Fuuka from her agile dodging. Hopefully, the moment Fuuka would dodge a nearby fireball resulting in it being used as a cover for Natsumi's ignition of the bag itself would come soon, before she starts growing tired of the repeating fiery bullet hell.

Iori didn't wait long to be approached by Anti-Skill. It was only a short amount of time later that she saw the group arrive. They all split off into their own groups, each doing his or her own job; all except for one who started approaching Iori.

«You must be Kobayashi Iori!» Said the tall woman dressed in anti-skill armor and equipment. She looked friendly and warm, but slightly sounded frustrated; presumabely over something related with that stone-manipulating esper kid. «Thank you for what you did. Without you we wouldn’t have made it in time. I’m really sorry that you and all those people had to go through all this. Children like you shouldn’t have been hurt to begin with…» She continued.

"Ah, n-no. It's alright." She replied. However it was interpreted, it could've meant she was accepting the gratitude, or that she was accepting the apology. Truthfully it was both, but she didn't see why the anti-skill member was apologising to her for something that couldn't be avoided.

«Please forgive us!!!»

Then she did something completely unexpected. The anti-skill member took to the floor and bowed in front of Iori as if she were begging for her forgiveness. It was so sudden, Iori was bewildered as to how to act.

"Um, e-er..." She stammered as she stared at the woman bowing before her.

Not only a second after delivering this message of greatest importance Yomikawa had already returned back into an upright position, mustering a smile truly coming from the heart. «Now Kobayashi, let’s head to the office, shall we?» With her usual friendly attitude back the woman clad in the typical Anti-Skill garments simply decided to take the lead, already turning into the direction where the office lay. However the way she had done so still appeared somewhat more inviting than the methods you’d find with your average police man.

«The office isn’t too far from here. Just a few hundred metres’ walk. Can you handle that in your condition?» While the girl’s wounds weren’t that heavy Yomikawa just couldn’t keep herself from expressing worry. After all she’s been through a lot today, so a short break would surely have served her better than the interrogation the protocols had forced her into.
«Once we’re done with the interview I’ll drive you to the hospital for check-ups», she then added continuing on in her naturally friendly voice, adding some more warmth into the overall conversation.
Of all people Yomikawa Aiho knew best that she was dealing with a student right now, thus it was an unwritten law for her to keep sticking to a tone that’d make her sound less like a police woman and more like everyone’s favourite guidance counsellor.

Without any further interruptions the two of them then went on, headed straight for the next Anti-Skill station to get all the necessary formalities over with. And then once the check-ups would be behind her as well, Kobayashi Iori would finally be able to return to her sheltered and safe home…

…with today’s struggles finally behind her.

[OOC: Day’s Over.]

Fuuka was getting beyond irritated. This bitch wouldn't stop throwing those balls, despite all the pain she was obviously feeling from Fuuka's ability. Dodging around like this was getting tiring. But one thing really agitated her. The grin on the other girl's face. She dared to show a face like that as if she was superior here?! Fuuka slid out of the path of yet another fireball and prepared to launch an all out attack. But a new light stopped her.

Somehow unknown to Fuuka, her pouch was suddenly ablaze. Undoing the buckle around her waist, she smacked the cloth accessory repeatedly to extinguish the flames. Her mind raced as she locked vision back on the flame thrower. Had Fuuka misread the distance of one of the balls? Or was this bitch capable of more fire tricks than just throwing flame? Unfortunately she didn't have any more time to play with her and find out. The heat from the flames on the bag had caused harm to Fuuka's most potent weapon in her bag that she'd have to return home and restock if she wanted to have all her tricks available. There was also the retreat request from Keima to consider.

Visibly pissed off, Fuuka backed away a few steps slowly before turning around and making a full dash retreat down the street, cutting into an alleyway about a block away. Her progress was anything but silent as she loudly vented her frustration. "Shit...Shit...Shit...DAMMIT ALL!!!" This humiliation was not something she'd forget. The flame throwing girl would pay for this.

Monday, July 26th.

It was a busy day at the office of Judgement's 177 Branch as Konori ran around with many papers; only the sounds of keyboard keys being pressed by Uiharu Kazari keeping her company. About half of the papers were related to yesterday's case that she still racked her brain over to try and understand, especially when including Kerri's freshly written reports.

The other papers concerned the transfer of some recruits to other branches. Apparently, there would be new recruits joining this specific branch further down the line and as a result it had been decided that some of the recruits would be transferring elsewhere to avoid having too many people in the same branch. Dubious at best, Konori thought, but nothing she felt the need to argue against.

Speaking of, it seemed a new recruit nearly done with their training would be passing by today to get genuine experience of the job.

“I can't wait to see who this new recruit is!” Uiharu chirped happily in anticipation of yet another brand new face in the office. “It's a shame they won't get to meet the relocated members, though...”

“Yeah.” Konori replied. “And seemingly none of our current officers either. Furuhashi-san is in the hospital right now, McKinley-san has already headed off to the crime scene to acquire hints on our two escapees' identities and Shirai-san just left for the hospital to interrogate the young boy along with Furuhashi-san. So it seems we'll be the only ones welcoming them.”

“What a shame.” Uiharu repeated dejectedly as she typed away on her keyboard, waiting for the arrival of the new recruit.

The much anticipated moment of the door finally opening to reveal their new officer had arrived, and in turn both Konori and Uiharu turned towards the boy whose eyes gave an aura of delinquency. “Hello!” Konori exclaimed regardless of his appearance, putting down the documents to approach the boy with a handshake. “I'm Konori Mii, this branch's Chief. You are Tsuneo Takashi-san, right?”

Following suit, Uiharu rose as well from her desk chair to shake hands with Takashi whilst introducing herself. “I'm Uiharu Kazari, pleased to meet you!” She exclaimed energetically, though a little afraid of the boy's overall aura.

***

Unfortunately for Takashi though, there wasn't much he could do currently as a mere recruit, yet to be full-fledged officer. So it had been a few minutes since Konori and Uiharu had started to explain many things to Takashi and show him around the office. “Ask away if you have any other questions” Konori mentioned kindly near the end of the... visit.

When it was finally over however, Konori sat back down to read over Kerri's reports of yesterday's incident once more. “I hope Shirai-san's interrogation will bear fruits...” She muttered, somewhat depressed by the fact that they still had gotten nowhere in terms of clues as the girl had disappeared once again.

Konori merely nodded at Takashi's suggestion and commented that it had already been done and they were currently waiting on the camera footage themselves, hoping that it'd at least serve some purpose.

Conveniently enough though, “Ah, they arrived!” Uiharu exclaimed suddenly and Konori rose immediately from her seat to watch the videos. However, what they saw left them speechless. “Isn't that... Li-sensei...?” Uiharu commented being clearly disturbed by the unexpected discovery, though Konori only sighed wearily.

“It seems some specific people have a knack for getting in trouble repeatedly.” Konori sighed as she re-adjusted her glasses, recalling her first meeting with the man who unfortunately didn't leave anything close to a positive first impression with his previous arrest while watching the rest of the many security footage they were sent.

After finishing the security footages Konori proceeded to pick up a nearby phone and dialled Kerri's phone number. “We've got a lead,” She said as soon as Kerri picked up. “our mysterious man is called Guy Li and has already been arrested in the past." Whilst discussing the details of the footage with Kerri, a thought quickly came to mind when she quickly glanced at Takashi.

"You're at the crime scene from yesterday, right? How about having our visiting recruit join you since you're currently without a partner?" Konori hung up upon receiving her answer, and smiled at Takashi as she explained that originally he would've been sent with Kuroko to gain experience with interrogations if he was interested, but that she then figured sending him on the field with Kerri might be just as interesting, if not more.

"What do you say?"

When he woke up, he found himself in a pure white room. It had the bare minimum in the way of furniture, with nothing but the bed he was lying in, a few simplistic chairs leaning against the wall, and some machinery. Outside the windows, he saw thousands of bright lights, some artificially emanating from the ground below, and still others shining down from the sky above. Absentmindedly, his eyes traced the paths of the cords connected to the machine and saw that they led to several sensors plastered onto his body. Wondering what they were doing there, he reached over to remove them.

Within minutes, a woman, perhaps a nurse, rushed into the room with a dire expression on her face. The moment she laid eyes upon him, however, it melted into relief, and she rushed back out of the room. Some time later, an old, frog faced man walked in the door. The man, who Kin could reasonably assume to be some sort of doctor, judging from his attire, appeared to be speaking to him, but all Kin did in response was return a blank stare.

After a time, the doctor left, and Kin went back to sleep. When he next woke up, there was the bright shine of the sun cutting through the curtains, and the muted noise of activity echoing throughout the halls of the hospital. The most striking change from his last awakening, however, was centered within, rather than without. Though he had been awake in name only the previous night, he was now completely lucid.

I'm... In a hospital? The last thing he could remember was being struck down by the white haired boy and... Iresia. Iresia. Iresia had been there!

His blood began pumping, his thoughts were replaced by a red-hot haze that obscured all logical thought, and the steady beeping of the machinery accelerated to an alarming speed in no time at all. But before Kin had a chance to leap out of his bed and begin his search anew, the frog faced doctor in white entered the room.

Wearing a white lab coat, she entered the room. A cold fear washed over him, and the next thing he knew he was lying on the bed once more, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hm, you're awake? Good, good. Your symptoms don't seem to be caused by any physical afflictions, so they're most probably psychological."

A frog faced doctor. Before, he'd only focused on the pure, sterile white of his clothes, but now that he was calmer he was able to take note of other details. An old man with a serious, but unworried expression adorning a face remarkably similar to that of a frog's stood before him.

There was no doubt. The man before him was not her.

"...Where am I?" He spoke calmly, and cautiosly. Even now, the memories were returning. First an uncontrollable rampage, then death-like stillness, and just before, he'd almost relapsed into the first state. It was likely, no, it couldn't be anything else other than the effects of what that woman had done to him. He had to stay calm. If he didn't, and he lost control again, then Iresia... Any salvation he brought her while under the effects of that woman's medicine would be a shallow one.

"The hospital, of course. You don't have any serious injuries, just a few scrapes and bruises here and there, fortunately. I do have some bad news for you, however. Since you may not have been fully cognizant of what you were doing, judging from the reports I've heard of the incident, you may not be aware, but you caused quite a ruckus, you know. You're lucky nobody was seriously hurt. If someone had died, you wouldn't have gotten away with just being arrested."

The hospital? If he was there, then perhaps... Perhaps he was out of that woman's reach. A hospital... A hospital wasn't like that place. Though both were almost painfully sterile, that place had had an aura of hopelessness and despair, while this place was more of a healing calm.

And if he'd been arrested... Then that meant he was now within the hands of the surface of the city. Away from that hell.

"Ah, I almost forgot. Now that you're awake, I'd really like to do some extra tests just to make sure I didn't miss anything, but Judgement will be coming by to question you soon, so there isn't any time. They've been waiting in the lobby for you regain consciousness, so I imagine they'll be here momentarily."

And with that, he left Kin to his thoughts and exited the room. No time to ask about Iresia, no opportunity to slip out and search for her. He'd simply have to bide his time and wait for opportunity.

---

Bright and early in the morning, Kerri was walking around town, searching for any kind of hint. But he had no leads. He was searching for a small girl and a man in a red shirt in a city that housed thousands of people. And on top of that, his partner Saito had left, so he had to work on his own. Such conditions were not exactly conducive to progress.

He just hoped the others were having better luck.