False Error (Arc 3 Science Side)

“You don't get into elite middle schools if you're not somewhat resourceful.” Natsumi stated in boredom, having never really been interested in what people thought of her ability or standing. The fact that she was a Level 4 in Tokiwadai was only something that had happened in her eyes, not some kind of fate or great achievement.

“So.” She started as she walked like a cat, making no noise whatsoever from balancing her weight before stepping. “Can I know what's going on, now? I'd assume it's not exactly nifty if you want assistance from a stranger.”

Natsumi didn't really know whether she truly wanted to be aware of what was going on, but in either case she felt she'd be slowly dragged into the matter, there was even a chance people would try to dispose of her, so it was best if she got involved first and took the bull by its horns.

"What is going on indeed..." Renavin's smiled lowered slightly, a bit smaller than before. He was conflicted to say since his superiors would be seriously angry if he let too much out at one moment. He looked down toward her with a slightly saddened look. Renavin did promise information to make things clear, though some or his information will have to be tweaked. "Those children are test subjects...This city is despicable yet beautiful...using children to further their technology and advancements in ruthless experiments..."

Renavin would gesture her up the stairs to the metro station. He was certainly polite for someone who was goofing off and talking about french fries a while a go. He would have a seat on one of the wait benches as the two wolves joined in, sitting right up front. Thankfully no one was around but there's no guarantee the next train that'll stop soon isn't. "Would you like to close your eyes to ten seconds I just need to take care of these two~? We can talk when they're gone." He didn't want to show her his magic right in front of her eyes, but if she presses him, he will have no choice.

“So an experiment happened and, whatever the outcome was, the kid's an escapee that's being sought after...” Natsumi deducted on her own, quite used to that pattern by now.

Though one of his comment earned him a confused glance as she walked up the stairs to the platform. “Human experimentation is the reason science has gotten this far, even without Academy City. This city is only slightly more despicable for experimenting on children. When you think about it, the entire world is despicable if we go by that alone.” She then set herself on a bench and pulled her phone out, browsing on it while waiting for the train.

"Would you like to close your eyes to ten seconds I just need to take care of these two~? We can talk when they're gone."

“That's an odd request for someone trying to gain mutual trust. No can do, I'm afraid.” She pointed out with a closed eye as she stared straight at the rails and yawned. And as such, she close her eyes or even turned around, she only looked straight on at whatever boring thing was in front of her. As much as she didn't enjoy meddling in “privacy”, a proper Dark Side agent wouldn't just obey that kind of request; it could mean death in most cases.

She hadn't confirmed whether Renavin was trustworthy either, it could be he'd use a trick to run away.

Renavin watched her as she explained and just smiled brightly, looking forward for no reason in particular as he petted his wolves. "Hahaha! Y-yes I suppose so! Humans aren't exactly pure and innocent, or rather they never were to begin with. Adam and Eve are examples of this in their own right." He found her fairly entertaining to listen to ad she called the whole world despicable by his logic.

Upon his request regarding his wolves, she blatantly refused and he just gave a slight huff, keeping that smile of his, not wanting to looked heavily bothered. Sadly, as he stared at her for a brief minute, he decided that if he asked anything further she'd either refuse or stay silent altogether. She still didn't trust him, and for obvious reasons. Whoever she was, she's fairly experienced in several ways. "You are a smart girl, I find you so fascinating every minute~. I still find it a shame we don't get to fight eachother, even for fun." He gave a wink as he looked back to the wolves and decided there was no use of trying to be sneaky about it. If they go out of sight, he'd have to get up and pick up the paper, which will obviously make her suspicious of him three fold, moving away from her. "I got no choice huh..."

Renavin suddenly turned to her a put a finger her mouth, the universal sign of being quiet. He also wanted to make sure she pays attention to that in paticular considering what exactly his power is. After getting her attention he brought his finger back to his lips to keep up that sign. "Not a word of this to anyone, Okay~?" He smiled as he brought the finger down and snapped two of them together. "Nap time~!" With that small sound the wolves suddenly disappeared into a big puff of white fog, completely gone, except leaving behind two pieces of paper with some odd symbols written on them. Natsumi wouldn't be able to understand them at all. "There we are...ah and I can see the train over there! Good timing~." He put his hand over his eyes as he looked into the distance, moving lights coming closer and closer.

“...Adam and Eve? That's an outdated comparison.” Did people in Academy City really use religious figures nowadays? Natsumi had figured religion almost completely disappeared within this world of science...

That said... She internally growled and vowed to kick Renavin's ass if he touched her again, as she stared at him. But soon enough her stare was replaced by a confused frown. Natsumi could come up with a few reasons of how the wolves disappeared, but the smoke, that she couldn't figure out.

“Dimensional storing with item triggering...?” The frown on her face spoke of consideration as she brainstormed abilities she knew, to her a piece of paper was just assistance to the ability, no ability could work with an item alone.

“That's nothing I know, heck, can you even store living beings with dimentional storing properly...?” The girl muttered to herself as she brought a hand to her chin, not even thinking about the possibility of other types of powers in the world. After all, Espers were brought up told that Academy City is the only place for Espers "I've never seen abilities with fancy side-effects, though...” She noted with a nod.

"Oi." She called out when she realised a possibility. "You're not doing animal abuse, are you?"

Well, forget about it for now she thought as she received Renavin's answer. The train had finally arrived though Natsumi didn't move until people had mostly gotten out of the train; there was no use in doing headbutting competitions between those who wanted to enter vs those who wanted to leave the train. When most people finally left a clear entrance to a wagon, Natsumi moved quickly and sat down in a seat near the end of the wagon that was virtually empty besides herself.

“Putting science aside, is that girl a hazard, or are so many people after her for no reason?” She then asked with a whisper, remembering the fact that this part of the wagon being currently empty didn't necessarily mean it was wise to just yell supposedly private conversations.

After listening to the answer to her question from the boy, which made her feel sad she remained calm being in the position she was in and glanced over at Gou's interaction afterwards, before turning her head towards the girl in the room the moment she spoke.

"Um, if it's not too much trouble, I would like to help you look for that little girl, and help find whoever's responsible." Iori said as Kuroko looked at her with suspicious eyes, she didn't feel any animosity from this girl. She didn't feel like a bad guy, if you can tell that from feelings alone. "Your cooperation is appreciated and we would like to hear what you going to say about yourself in a second. Since there is still a few things I want to ask Kin-Kun. For example Kin-Kin what do you know about those who took you hostage? The more we know about them the better we can help solve this situation?" Kuroko said who continued her questioning.

Renavin only chuckled as the train arrived, with only a few people actually on it. He'd gesture her to follow and they'd both simply enter and sit down. He wasn't surprised that she found the reference old and oddly religious of him. This was a child raised in science after all, so she wouldn't know how significant such things really were.

As expected she started to ponder about the disappearing wolves. Renavin only smiled at her as she tried to guess, and shook his head each time she made an assumption about his power. "I can't really tell you what my power is, since it'll probably cause the end of the world as we know it...but I can tell you this. You can't explain it by scientific means.~" Though maybe that was too big of a hint, but he was just having too much fun.

"Animal abuse huh...Can't say it really is, but I don't know what it feels like being...well..can't really explain that either. But let me say that they are content with me being their master." He relaxed into his chair as the lights of the city go by very quickly, but also slowly if they can glance at a building far enough away. There was feint music coming from the speakers as the train started to near it's destination with in 15 minutes.

That's when Natsumi would ask more about the girl rather than his ability. He looked to her as she asked for how significant this particular girl is. He went into deep thought for a moment before turning back to her. "The girl may have the location of the laboratory the many other tests subjects are being used...Their is another child but he's in the hospital right now, out of my reach as well. If these two were to stay as they are, the experiment would be compromised, hence why they hired a clean up crew to either silence them, or take them back. I need the location of the lab so I can take care of destroying it personally...Or perhaps judgement and Anti-skill will do it. Either way is fine. But the reason we're all in a hurry...There was a bombing incident on a public bus, in which Iresia was currently resting in. She may be mentally unstable, and there's reason to believe her ability caused the bus to explode in the first place. Imagine what would happen if she was in the middle of a mall~." The train came to a stop as they reached their destination and Renavin got up with silence, gesturing her politely toward the door.

“...!” Natsumi was shocked, though not surprised, to hear that the girl was currently a bomb hazard. This meant that, if her “mental instability” were the cause of the explosions, then anything anyone did could cause a royal disaster.

Realising that, her urge to find the two of them grew stronger as she only cynically looked throughout the train's window for the sake of distracting herself. “Reminds me.” She started, not taking her eyes off the landscape. “Do you know anything about memory loss concerning a specific period of time?”

Natsumi rose to leave the wagon as well as the train station, mostly dragging her feet at this point in impatience to know when they'd arrive at Guy and Iresia's location.

"Memory loss...I'm not quite sure. All we can deduce is that her memory had been altered or damaged during the explosion. Letitia can confirm this, bit let us focus on the pair of wanderers for now." Renavin suggested as he dug into his pocket for sunglasses, and began walking a good length toward their location. Renavin was always looking at the sky during this time, his eyes abnormally glowing, though hidden from everyone with his sunglasses on. Though noticeable to Natsumi from her angle.

"I have to ask myself, are you familiar with either of those two? I thought you'd be more uncooperative about this deal, but after I mentioned her and the man, Guy-sensei, you seemed to accept it rather easily. Of course I could be wrong on my hunch and you can just ignore me~ but I'll get lonely though." Renavin was way too layed back in this situation, that much is clear. Why was he so confident everything would be okay? Or was he just enjoying all this chaos himself that he personally didn't care, despite the reasons he gave? "They are around here somewhere." He would suddenly speak, pointing at a sparrow flying above head, going in circles rather. Was it another 'pet' of his? Though crows circling could be the universal sign or someone being dead.

"It's fine just this once, but this isn't a daycare centre!" Tsukiyomi berated Guy as he ushered Iresia out of the door.

"Thanks, boss! I really appreciate it." He flippantly ignored her obvious concern. She hadn't asked any questions when he'd turned up on her doorstep with a small child in tow and had even taken care of Iresia (albeit reluctantly) while he left to find out more about his mysterious tag-along.

It hadn't been safe to leave her at his apartment. And taking her along with him was equally dangerous. So he took her to one place he thought no one would look. Or at the very least it would be low down on the list.

But in the end he hadn't been able to find out anything about the girl, Iresia. Tsukiyomi hadn't been able to track down the girl's origins either, even with her contacts and access to the student databases.

"You're a real mystery." Guy said, stopping at the ice cream stand and handing Iresia a small cone. He sat down on the park bench and lapped at his own with a weary expression.

Iresia returned a thanks with an empty nodding smile as she silently ate her ice cream. However, she suddenly cowered in fear from hearing footsteps approaching them until the person spoke up to them, causing her to raise her head and observe the person.

***

"Just an acquaintance." Natsumi dead-panned with a completely blank expression result of her exasperation attaining the ultimate levels.

As they walked and Renavin pointed out they were getting closer, Natsumi only rose her head to observe the crow. That wasn't a common bird within the city, leading Natsumi to wonder if he was particularly good with animals or if something else was up.

This reminded her she was still reluctant to follow this living mystery around in suspicion of a trap.

***

But soon enough, she found the target of her search and hurried her pace to approach the two seated on a bench.

"You're a real mystery."

"Ahahaha, coming from you~?" Natsumi laughed at Guy with a grin reflecting anger as veins made themselves visible on her temples. "I left you alone for one hour, and you became the target of God knows who, so I'd say that's pretty mysterious as well."

But as she saw Iresia and her empty eyes that still somehow conveyed fear, Natsumi sat on her legs and decided to speak a little more gently... as much as she could, anyway.

"What happened?"

"So they do know eachother...ufufufu...this got quite interesting indeed. Let's just hope everything goes to plan~." The foreign crow that hovered above the humans down below, continued it's flight path as normal, as Renavin pulled out his phone to make a call. More specifically to his little blonde helper with a knack for water. She should have retrieved the target and may have taken them to the safe house by now. While keeping a look out for any approaching strangers, he began to speak.

"Hey Hydro-chan~, did you get our new friends?" The conversation began after some reluctance was made clear by the young girl, who was forced to move the target somewhere more suitable for what they had in store for him. "What do you mean? Of course he's going to crack....Ah...well I'd he doesn't have any information we need, then we'll have to come up with a back up plan won't we." He smiled to himself at he looked up to his familiar in sky, watching over the perimeter.

"Ahahaha, coming from you~? I left you alone for one hour, and you became the target of God knows who, so I'd say that's pretty mysterious as well."

His features fell to a look of unimpressed, dead eyed resignation at the sound of Natsumi's voice.

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened." He started, quite obviously revving himself up to go on a rant. "First you made me responsible for a kid without my consent..." Guy avoided thinking about the irony of that statement and his use of Tsukiyomi's 'daycare centre'. "...A child who, as it turns out, is on every creepy weirdo's 'must-have' list for this season." He continued. "Long story short, I saved your little friend. You're welcome by the way. There were explosions and now we're on the run from a couple of child abductors and possibly Judgement." He shrugged, brushing the outlandish events off easily enough that one had to wonder if it was just another day for him.

Natsumi felt like plugging her ears at the incoming rant that might result in necessary (admittedly unnecessary) violence, but resisted the urge as she listened on and frowned.

(An explosion...?) Natsumi mentally repeated, thrown off by the weirdness of the situation. Wouldn't the Dark Side just silently dispose of him at any off-guard time rather than do something so catchy as an explosion? Or was someone specific targeting them without caring about the usual way of disposal?

"......................................" Chewing her lip as he finished his rant, Natsumi breathed in her obvious dislike of what she was about to do. "I'm sorry." She said as she bowed her head. Yes, she was brought up well enough to apologise, but no, it didn't mean she enjoyed apologising to someone who'd have gotten in another trouble anyway.

As she lifted her head back up, Natsumi only stared at Iresia as she asked. "But how are you two unharmed if there was an explosion? Heck, what caused it?"

"I'm sorry..." It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. He looked smug.

"You're looking at the cause." He answered in response to the cause of the explosion, gesturing to Iresia. "At least I think so. It was kind of hard to tell on account of the bright lights and noise that comes with an explosion." He added sarcastically. "As for how we're still here... you're welcome." His smug look only broadened. "But unharmed is a bit of an exaggeration. My ears are still ringing." He patted his ear to see if it made any difference. The droning ring of tinnitus was unmistakable. Perhaps even a little nostalgic.

"In any case. Did you at least find out who she belongs to?"

“...” She wanted to punch him really, really, really hard. The only thing that bastard could do in face of her apology was mocking her? As an answer she leaned in a bit closer to Guy as she smiled sweetly. “As an apology, I'll clean your ears if you want. Don't worry, I'll make sure you never have an issue with them again.” Q-tips could very well be used as weapons if one was creative enough; when did sweetly not equal deadly with this girl?

"In any case. Did you at least find out who she belongs to?"

“Hmpf.” She said as she stood up and turned her back to him, clearly vexed. “Who knows.”

“I... think she's really angry at you.” Iresia commented in a near inaudible tone of voice, but then suddenly had tears appearing in her eyes. “...and I don't belong to anyone, bully...” The young child whimpered.

Anyone seeing this scene without context would glare at the boy for bullying girls younger than him, and anyone seeing this scene with context would most likely just thumbs up to how badly he'd screwed up.

He placed a comforting hand on Iresia's head.

"Well in that case, the most responsible thing to do would be to hand her over to the authorities." He said, looking to Natsumi and reading her expression. "But we're not going to do that, are we?" He sighed. "I assume you have a better plan?"

Iresia pouted as Guy rubbed her head around while she was eating, taking a few timid glances at Natsumi who clicked her tongue at Guy's words and finally decided to turn around after a full minute with a heavy sigh. “You know, there's going to be a moment – sooner or later – where karma gets back at you for how much of a jerk you are.” Natsumi commented before uncrossing her arms and taking a glance around; the odd cloaked person was still there so she returned her glance towards Guy and Iresia while scratching her head.

Regardless of how much he annoyed her though, Natsumi slightly nodded her head as she extended her hand in a request to hand Iresia back over. “I guess; for whatever it's worth considering our situation. Though I'd assume you want to bail out now?" She ended with a smirk as she shifted her eyes towards Iresia, who had finished her ice cream and was staring sternly at Natsumi; it was quite obvious there was no trust from the child towards the elder girl, for somewhat understandable reasons.

The Flaming Brunette was very persuasive when it came to this individual. Although Renavin was informed before hand those two were affiliated, judging by how they interact with each other, seemed more natural. Perhaps they've been through a handful of situations, whether for better or worse. "What an odd pair..." The blood joker muttered as he remained in the shadows, leaning against a building, shadowing over the alley way. For whatever the reason they interact so naturally was none of his concern, nor was it significant enough to peak his interests, but rather something else did.

Many feet above the sky, there was a his familiar, flying around the two for their protection more or less. It's job was to keep everything around them under Renavin's eyes for safety reasons. Though fun fact about familiars, or at least Renavin's, they are still for the most part animals. They breathe, they eat if given food, and their bodies, although more supernaturally reconstructed, maintain body functions as normal. So when, the bird felt the urge to release the waste that is built up over the allotted time frame, it didn't hesitate to let it all go.

Renavin watched as the airdropped projectile plummeted through what little atmosphere it had to breach through, in order to reach it's destination. The impact area was small, but where it was going to land was the true question that made Renavin want to snicker. The crow's feces soon found it's target, right on top of the unfortunate teacher's head. Like an egg smashed over his head, it slowly covered the entire top of his head, drooping down as it gave off an odor most foul. From this miraculous event, horrifying fits of muffled giggles can hardly be heard in the alleyways, as Renavin has completely lost his breath from the dive bombing impact.


2:30 PM

The warehouse in which Keima was being kept in was rather stuffy and humid. There was no proper air circulation other than the holes in the ceiling and the cracks in the walls. The air conditioning for it was all, but maintained. Keima had to endure the heat building warehouse as the summer sun heated everything around it. The only thing keeping him ever so slightly cool was the fact that it was so dark. The intense shade and shadows definitely kept direct sunlight from making him sweat anymore, though there was enough light reflecting in to see nearly everything in the room.


Laetitia Flourentine opened the warehouse doors, and immediately after, two pair of glowing eyes opened up from the darkest of shadows, and growled lowly. The guards however minded their tongue, and lowered their paws back down to lay, as they realized that it was the young girl they were ordered to keep safe. The wolves laid back down as they were confident their prey would not leave, as Laetitia sat on one of several empty boxes, throughout the warehouse. "Haaaa you're problematic as ever...hardly any useful information. Now I'm stuck with these dogs on guard duty...Who does he think he is?"

Whether Keima could hear her or not from the pressure and exhaustion put on him, it seems that Laetitia doesn't exactly trust her wonderful partner, or even knows anything about him in the first place. The man in the cloak, with spiky red hair and somehow is able to control animals. The one who seems to be controlling everything to be exact. What was his plan? What did he want from him? What's his end goal? Answers Keima may never receive. The metal bonds strapped his limbs to it, making him one with the plastic furniture. His weapons stripped and gone, he has no way out. That is, without any help that is.

Laetitia and the nearby familiar's suddenly glanced at the door, as the front doors opened right up. This actually caught her off guard as she didn't think whoever would come after their prisoner would just walk through the front door. On top of that, it was another girl, a bit older than Keima, but still pretty young. Her elegance and beauty probably would've made her falter in her determination, that is if she was a man with a naive heart. Though the young princess seemed rather bothered by the sanitation problem this abandoned warehouse has.

"...Who are you?" The young blonde repeated as she double checked to see if Keima was still unconscious. For the best chance of success, according to Renavin, Keima must be knocked out for his escape. She wasn't sure why. but she couldn't question his orders. "No one should be here, so don't tell me you're on a stroll or that you work here...you don't even look like someone who would want to be here. Laetitia still had the water bottles on her person thankfully, so she can use them at any given moment, as the wolves slowly revealed their eyes, growling lowly at the intruder.

Laetitia felt this eerie presence known as Ishida Gina to be quite troublesome. The entire time her expression stayed in that of a friendly tone, and also one in which did not falter even at the sight of the wolves. This worried her because she was too calm about this. It gave Laetitia a paranoid estimations of the princess. She wasn't a level 4 was she? God forbid another Level 5. Was she even an esper at all? The way she stood in the room, it was as if she had the situation at hand.

"Ishida Gina...I will remember that name.." Laetitia needed to stay focused, as she can feel the water bottles in her bag. Those were her only lines of defense other than the wolves, but even they were ordered not to go as far as to capture or kill the girl. Though Renavin did say if it did come to that, he will make do. "While under different circumstances, I would return your introduction, but I'll have to skip that. I think you know very well that I'm not going to let him go just because you asked..."

The nearby wolves bared their fangs as they stepped out of the shadows and took a protective stance before Laetitia. Certainly a bite from them could lead to great blood loss as well as being excruciatingly painful. Not to mention how many germs they might hold!! A delicate maiden such as Ishida Gina would have to thoroughly wash herself clean if they ever get their paws on her.

What an unfortunate turn of events.

Ishida Gina was the kind of person that would always seek the most effortless and peaceful outcome available. Sadly most often that outcome would be rendered unavailable by those she was faced with.

«Will people ever learn that the queen’s demands are absolute…?», she muttered to herself before taking a few steps forwards.

The threat those growling wolves posed was nothing to her, so was the threat level of the one soiled in this city’s darkness. That crazy girl’s majestic presence didn’t waver in the slightest. There was no reason to after all. Ishida Gina, the Silver Queen of Nagatenjouki Academy, belonged to an entirely different league.

A simple movement of both her arms; she stretched them out and directed them towards the rough concrete floor.

«You see, blondie-chan, I am a merciful queen~! And since I am, I will give you another chance. Now bow down in front of me and allow me to acquire what lead me to step down into this disgusting lower class shack~»

The next instance a tremendous force would come pressing down upon the two animals and the guardian girl, truly forcing them to bow down on all fours without leaving much of a chance for even struggling in a desperate attempt of resistance; that is if they didn’t wish for their necks to break.

There was no way for Laetitia to predict what happened next, even though she was prepared for some sort of attack. Ishida Gina kept referring to herself as a queen, and in which all orders are absolute. In short, she wasn't going anywhere and will get what she wants even if it means force. Laetitia at this point nearly forgot about the plan, as Ishida's arms moved rather oddly, and she quickly grabbed a water bottle from her purse.

"Merciful Queen? Get off your high horse already, it r-NNGGGHH?!" Suddenly, she felt the water bottle slip from her hand and harshly slam to the ground. An intense pressure came from above, but she couldn't see anything. If anything, it felt as if she were on a ride at an amusement park, spinning so fast she can't even move her body with the sense of inertia. That was it wasn't it? It's the only explanation she can reach without her ideas falling apart. "Y-you..can...?" She couldn't finish her sentence as her back ached and forced her to her knees, her palms planted on the ground to keep her from slamming into the concrete. "Ghhh...!!"

The wolves were also affected by the sudden change in gravity, as they would kneel slightly, before falling on their sides, flat on the ground barking and whining in retaliation and helplessness. Their paws would move slightly as if trying to get themselves to stand up, but to no avail. The opponent they were facing had outmatched them from the very beginning. She was so collected because as Laetitia thought, she already had the situation in the palm of her hands.

She struggled to get up, as she gritted her teeth, unable to even keep her head up as she was forced into a submissive position, before collapsing to the ground like the other wolves. "Y-you-!!" Laetitia was frustrated, although this may be part of the plan, she hated to feel so helpless in this situation. Did Renavin know she was going to lose either way, whether part of the plan or not? She couldn't help but think that, having no real way to tell what that man is thinking, as she laid against the filthy floor, groaning and glaring up toward the Queen.