Executing God's Will (Arc 3 Magic Side)

Yanda kicked at the dirt as he walked. A sense of unease dogged his every step. The nagging feeling that he was being watched. This deep into enemy territory and only now was he beginning to realise how dangerous a situation he was in.

The tall young man nervously scratched at his bearded chin and glanced about under the brim of his cap. He stood out too much, he decided. But there was no hiding in the crowd in this place. With his dark skin and facial hair he already looked out of place amidst the fresh faced Japanese students that made up the majority of Academy City's population. Heritage be damned, he didn't fit in here. His hands continued to adjust his clothing as he considered this. He smoothed out his cream waist-coat and straightened his tie before drawing the flat cap down over his brow and hurried his steps.

Honestly, what kind of lunatic sends an agent of the Catholic Church into Academy City of all places?

Kamijou Touko stared down at her phone screen, thumbs twitching in rapid succession as she walked on heedless of her surroundings.

"Hey! Watch out!" A young man's voice called out to her. Touko looked up in time to see the face of the boy just before they collided. He fared better than she did, barely stumbling even as the slight-framed girl was sent sprawling backwards.

Touko opened her mouth to apologise, but Yanda showed no signs of stopping. Fear struck her and she looked to and fro for her phone. Her face lit up at the sight of the phone undamaged on the pavement in front of her. She stretched her hand out to grasp it.

A heavy boot fell on the screen, shattering it into pieces which were themselves trampled by a horde of Skill Out stampeding towards her. Touko let out a croak of dismay and sat, unmoving as the thugs passed her by.

"Such misfortune..."

"W-Wahh!"

Natsume jumped, or rather stumbled, out of the way at the sight of a horde of Skill-Out rushing her way and landed on a building's wall, silently sliding down as the horde passed her by.

Confused, she looked around to see if the path was now clear, but only the sight of a young girl near shattered glass and a destroyed phone appeared. She got up and dusted herself off, cautiously approaching the girl.

"A-Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." The dejected looking girl grumbled unconvincingly. Touko pressed off her knee and brushed down her trousers and shirt, the effort only serving to smear the dirt deeper into her clothes.
She looked behind her in the direction the boy and his would-be attackers had raced.

"Though I can't say the same for him." She cocked her head towards Natsume and slid the cracked remnants of her phone into her pocket. "You might want to call for help or something." She said, taking off after the gang and their victim.

"Help? Ah, yes... H-hey!" She called out to the girl who ran off, but didn't pursue her.

After calling Judgement and explaining the situation, as well as mentioning their location, she hesitated for a minute. It looked like things could get dangerous and while she was worried for the safety of the boy and the girl, she was unsure of what to do.

Two choices were available to her right now: The first and safest one, to not get involved and let Judgement take care of this matter. The second and reckless one, to run after the girl...

***

Hoping to quickly catch up with the girl, Natsume ran at full-speed, only giving enough attention to anyone on her way to not run straight into them.

The scene in front of Natsume resembled a war zone with the amount of fallen and injured bodies that littered the river embankment. Only two remained standing, looking ragged and exhausted from what had been a short but furious fight.

"Ha. I owe you one, missy." Shinichiro rose up from where he sat, crouched by the concrete pillar of the overpass.

"Don't mention it." Touko rocked her weight to one side and shouldered her bag. "That many Skill Out would be trouble for anyone to handle on their own."

"Skill Out, huh?" Shinichiro prodded one of the unconscious boys with his foot. "You people sure have strange names for things here." He chuckled. Touko shrugged with an awkward smile.

Neither of them had noticed the other girl arrive.

"..."

The scene in front of her was rather... unbelievable. Had the girl really fought against Skill-Out with this boy? It didn't even seem like they knew each other, so why? Was she that reckless? How could they even smile and chuckle after that? A shadow grew on her face as more and more questions popped up concerning the two.

"Y-you..." Her voice had traces of slight anger and worry. "Idiots! That was unbelievably reckless! What if things had taken a much worse turn!? Are you two okay?!"

She sighed, fully looked at both of them in search of any injury she could take care of and then grabbed both of them by the wrists, forcibly pulling them to get out of this place,

Touko and Shinichiro blinked in surprise at the unexpected outburst. The spiky haired girl started to protest before the Shinichiro interjected with a hearty laugh.

"But they didn't!" He opened his arms wide in an exaggerated shrug. "All's well that ends well, right?" He patted Natsume and Touko on the back and strolled away from the embankment. "I'll see you around, Chicas. I've got business to attend to." He waved in a mock salute and took off, leaving the two girls alone. After a moment of awkwardness, Touko started in the same direction, trying to look nonchalant.

"Well, I don't want to be around when they wake up so..." She trailed offas she wandered away.

Awkward moment or not, Natsume ran up to Touko, deciding to follow her for a bit.

"That was way too reckless, I'm not going to let you head back to your apartment alone!" She sighed, letting her tension escape enough to calm down. "What if something like this happens again?"

Despite her forceful attitude, she was genuinely worried for Touko and Shinichirou. But now that she had calmed down for the most part, she introduced herself in a more friendly manner.

"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Natsume."

Koyoko walked slowly down the sidewalk, a tired sigh leaving his lips as he stuffed a crinkled piece of paper into his jacket pocket. He was done with work earlier than he'd normally expected. His boss had told him to leave early since he was going to have his buddy's come to the stand and unsurprisingly share drinks. The idea of him giving them all their food for free stuck in his mind.

"I swear. I'll be out of a job before I get a chance to say 'I quit' to 'em...Tch. Whatever. I'll find something to do be-" Koyoko suddenly stopped speaking, as he realized just up ahead was a group of Skill-out thugs, all beaten and battered to the point where they were put to sleep. He raised an eyebrow as he continued to approach, examining the surrounding area. (Well...this is shocking to say the least...)

Thoughts immediately popped up in his head. Who could've possibly taken down all these grunts? Even he had some difficulty dealing with five or so, but this was a rather large group, at least three times the size of what Koyoko encountered in his history. Did judgment get involved somehow with these guys? If so why haven't they arrested them?

"That was way too reckless, I'm not going to let you head back to your apartment alone!"

His attention turned when he heard faint yelling of a female. Seeing two figures walking away, in the opposite direction of the scene. Koyoko squinted his eyes slightly in suspicion. Could those two have possibly taken all these down by themselves? He grabbed a bang in between his eyes thinking, taking into account that they might possibly be espers, but the damage on them looked as if they were beaten with either blunt objects, or actually beaten by hand.

(They're not wearing judgement bands...I don't buy it...Something ain't right with those two.)

His curiosity and suspicion driving him, Koyoko turned on his heels and jogged away from the scene to decrease distance from the two girls, before going to a walking pace, a good distance away. He was able to get close enough to see what they look like more clearly.

(...I don't recall the girl with the ugly hair...But her...I've seen her somewhere before...)

Koyoko moved his gaze toward the brown haired girl in a slight daze of thought, as they continued their conversation. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and tried to look casual as possible, checking his phone every now and then to feign a text, or curious about the time.

Hujisaka Natsumi wrote:
"That was way too reckless, I'm not going to let you head back to your apartment alone! What if something like this happens again?"

Touko couldn't hep but look at Natsume as though she were insane. She wanted to say something like 'I can handle myself'. After all, the evidence was all around them. Touko was far from a push over when it came to a fight.

Hujisaka Natsumi wrote:
"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Natsume."

"Kamijou Touko." She extended her hand in greeting to the other girl. "You really don't need to worry about me. I can make my own way back from here."

As she said those words, Touko felt a chill run down her spine. It was almost as if...

She looked about.

...It was almost as if someone was following her.

"Pleased to meet you, Kamijou-san." She kindly smiled as she shook hands with Touko, and made it clear she had no intention of leaving her alone. "I think you'd say the same thing to anyone who'd worry about you, so I'll have to decline your offer... Is something wrong?"

Then it hit her, and she slightly frowned while looking around as well. There was the possibility that another Skill-Out was pursuing them.

While still keeping a tight grip on Touko's hand, she suddenly ran and pulled her along. If someone was really following them then she could try and figure it out by focusing on her surroundings. Even though she wasn't fond of using her powers, she didn't want to mess with safety.

Koyoko couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he continued to tail the two suspicious girls. They suddenly had gotten quieter than expected, and were even glancing around with distorted faces. His eyes widen with a slight gasp from his mouth, as the brown haired girl suddenly grabbing the ugly haired one and began running at a fast pace.

(What the..?) Koyoko hesitated to pick up speed, going through his thought process. (Did they notice me that quickly?...No. I'm sure they didn't. Did they see someone other than me?) Koyoko glanced around seeing nothing out of the ordinary as the two started going out of site, he cursed to himself slightly for being a bit careless. (How annoying...)

Koyoko would quickly start to run faster when he see's they've gotten a bit too far to put him to ease. With his speed he could catch up, but he hangs back about 25 meters away from them.

(If I can keep them this close, I'll just have to use my air displacement sense to track them.) He squinted his eyes slightly in determination, as he focused his power to his sixth sense, maintaining his current distance.

Hujisaka Natsumi wrote:"Pleased to meet you, Kamijou-san. I think you'd say the same thing to anyone who'd worry about you, so I'll have to decline your offer... Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" Touko blinked at Natsume, unsure of her own answer. "No. It's just-" She was cut off by the sudden whiplash of being dragged behind Natsume. "Wait!" She stumbled over her own feet to keep up. "What's the rush?"

And in Kamijou Touko's head her most uttered phrase echoed.

Such misfortune...

As Koyoko continued to pursue the two, he heard some yelling behind him, and as his concentration breaks, turning off his six sense, he notices two judgement officers running several meters away in his direction, their eyes were directly on Koyoko.

"This is Judgement! Stay where you are!" One of them yelled.

(Where did these jokers come from...Tch, I don't have time for thi-) His train of thought breaks, when he realizes he had been distracted him from his goal, and with his six sense off, he didn't know where the two girls went. He slowed down his pace, and brought himself to a stop at the closest intersection, looking around slowly.

"...Damnit...Lost 'em." He gripped his fist tight, as he lightly panted to catch his breath. The Judgement officers had caught up at that point, and approached him.

"Excuse us, but we're going to have to ask you to come with us for questioning." One of the two demanded, as Koyoko turned around, stuffing his hands into his pockets, looking between the two.

"Why am I being asked something so annoying?" He muttered back.

"We got a call that a bunch of skill-out members were attacking some citizens, and we're hoping you could shed some light on what happened, being that you were the last person at the scene." They explained to him.

(So they suspect me...Wonderful...) He glanced around, trying to hold on to the hope that they might still be around, but they were no where in his line of sight. (I can't chase them now. I have no idea where they went...And if I bother leaving these two It'd be more annoying in the future...)


"Tch...Whatever, but don't take up too much of my time..." He growled as the two officers gestured for him to follow him.

"Thank you for your cooperation, it won't be long...We'd also like to know who you were chasing as well." They added, which brought a bigger annoyance to Koyoko as he walked in between the two. He brought a hand to his eyes, as if frustrated, not being careful enough to consider the idea of being seen from a third party. He would look like a criminal, or even a stalker, which would go very bad if judgement was called on it.

(...Crap.)

"This is Judgement! Stay where you are!"

Natsume vaguely heard a shout behind her, and looked behind her. It looked like a boy had been stopped by Judgement members while running, though she wasn't sure if it was actually the case since they were gradually getting further away from the Judgement members and the boy.

She took her chance run even faster and pull Touko along, almost bumping into multiple persons as she did so, and went through an alley or two as shortcuts. After a while of running, she finally came to a halt in a street, though right now she wouldn't be able to tell where, that had a fair amount of persons passing by and turned towards Touko, visibly exhausted by the run.

"Haa... haa... S-Sorry for dragging you along like that out of nowhere... It... haa... just looked like... we were being followed..."

"Followed by who?" Touko raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She doubted that any of the Skill Out she and Shinichiro had dealt with would be rising too soon, much less in any state to give chase or put up a fight. "I think it's just your imagination..." Convinced of Natsume's paranoia she gave the girl a sidelong look. "Unless someone was following you?" She suggested the possibility whilst affecting a 'spooky' voice.

Koyoko continued to walked along with the two judgement officers, who were relatively younger than him, feeling slightly embarrassed. Considering that he's being arrested by a pair of middle schoolers. Skilled or not, it bothered him. He stared down at his feet blankly as they trudged through the streets until they turned the corner. Suddenly, as the intersection light switched, a speeding car, trying to beat it, zoomed through, however ramming into the side of another car, ultimately crushing the hood entirely, while the victim was flipped to the side, the doors popping out from the impact. As it had happened, the Judgement officers backed up slightly in horror, until the chaos settled.

"U-uh...I-I'll go check on the drivers! Call an ambulance!" One of them nervously took action, running over to the wreckage as the other ran with, dialing their phone.

(...What a mess...Should I be doing something?) Koyoko pondered. No doubt that these two Judgement officers can handle it, let alone there could be more nearby. In addition, it probably won't take long for someone with actual medical training to arrive to tend to the anyone hurt. Koyoko soon realized though, that the two judgement officers were no completely distracted from him. A perfect opportunity to leave.

He didn't know how long exactly he was standing there, all he knew is that the drivers were just dragged out of their cars. Obviously the one ramming into the other had it worse. He must not be breathing either, because it seemed that the Judgement officer had started CPR already. Shouldn't be a problem.

"...Guess I'll take my leave..." He turned around and started walking off, as if none of it was his business. As he got several meters away and a crowd started to form, he heard some yelling that caught his ear.

"H-he's not breathing! I-I-I keep trying CPR but-" The yells and concerned citizens gathering cut out the last bits of the sentence, but Koyoko heard the main concern.

Koyoko bit his lip, trying to argue with himself about the situation, but ultimately came to a decision. He didn't want to use someones death to his advantage, even if it was some drunk scumbag who just had try and beat the light. He turned back around and ran back toward the wreckage.

"Move brat." He pushed the judgement officer away, and crouched down. He grew seeing the man, slightly bloody from cuts and scrapes. His nose must be broken as well. Koyoko hovered his hand over his mouth, and started manually circulating air through his lungs.

"W-what are yo-"

"Shut up! Make yourself useful and go help crowd control or something! I can take care of this!" Koyoko yelled, not wanting anyone to get in his way. The Judgement officer flinched at the yelling, and just nodded quickly out of fear.

(I'll leave when this guy gets in an ambulance...) He reassured himself.

"Followed by who?"

"Haa... I don't know..."

It didn't seem like she'd manage to convince Touko that they were being followed. Though to be fair, she was still doubtful herself.

"I think it's just your imagination... Unless someone was following you?"

"You know..." She replied in the sweetest tone she could make with a huge smile on her face. "If you always act this reckless towards Skill-out members, I wouldn't be surprised if they were people following you with the intent of killing you."

She stretched and took a deep breath. Now that she had recovered from the sudden sprint, she felt a whole lot better. With that same smile, she confirmed to Touko that she wasn't going to let her go back home alone today.

"Well then, I forgot to ask, but where do you live?"

Touko couldn't decide if this girl was merely an over enthusiastic do-gooder or just strange. Maybe the excitement had gone to her head?

"Actually I've got to be heading to class." She felt her heart sink as she said those words. Once again Kamijou Touko found herself lamenting the disappointing reality of Summer make up classes. She trudged in the direction of the school with a feeling of inevitability.

About 10 minutes later, Koyoko soon heard the distant sirens come closer, as a small group of Anti-skill arrived with an ambulance and approached him. He knew he had played his part and backed off as the paramedics took over and put the injured man into a stretcher.

He would glance around to see the situation was now well under control. In addition, it seems the judgement who had taken him has their hands full entirely.

"...I'll be taking my leave then." He muttered to himself, walking toward the caution tape, stepping under and pushing through the gathering citizens, walking off in no particular direction. His mind pondered back to the two girls he had been following earlier.

(...So. What do I do now?) Undoubtedly he had lost them. All that he can do now was try to figure out where they might be going. It was plainly obvious he'd get no where with that method.

(...What am I even doing? Who care's about two random girls?...Ugh, I must be turning into the creep I portray myself as.) Koyoko recalled one time when two girls came to the ramen stand, they started talking about his hair and whether or not he was old or just dyed it like that. He immediately said he had a maid complex, anime complex, and basically anything to get them to leave. He scolded himself for doing something stupid without actually putting thought on how it had anything to do with him and opened his phone and turned on the GPS, setting it to take him home.

"Maybe I'll get something at a convenience store while i'm at it." He marked the nearest store on the route and started pacing slowly away.

"Actually I've got to be heading to class."

"In summer vacations? Make-up classes?"

As Touko walked off, Natsume quickly caught up and stopped in front of her, blocking her path. She wasn't going to follow her to her school, but she did want to make sure Touko would avoid getting in such trouble again.

"Then I guess we part here, but." She put her finger in front of Touko and looked at her with an unusual serious face. "Please don't do something so reckless again, it's dangerous."

"Well then." Her serious expression gradually turned into a smile as she moved away from Touko, waving her hand while leaving in the opposite direction.

"Right." Touko waved back to the odd girl as they parted ways.

I'm not sure I can keep that promise. It's not like I've got much of a say in these things most of the time.

***

Touko sat with her head buried in her textbook in an attempt to appear studious. She was determined that, regardless of whatever other misfortune might befall her she would not give Komoe a reason to worry over her today. She risked a look upwards. The diminutive teacher was currently tending to another student.

That boy looked familiar, Touko continued to watch him from the corner of her eye whilst maintaining the appearance of intense concentration.

Narrow, fox-like eyes and a broad smile that could only be called insincere. A mop of neatly styled brown hair and a posture that was as stiff as the expression on his face.

Koizumi Itsuki. The boy from Misawa Cram School. Touko would have questioned the circumstances that had led to the peculiar boy sharing her make-up classes, but she had long ago stopped trying to unravel the quirks of fate that occurred around her. Perhaps it was just coincidence that he and Himegami Aisa had been placed in Komoe's class.

She knew in her heart however that where she and Imagine Breaker was involved there were no such thing as a coincidence.

***

Shinichiro tapped his feet irritably. So far his search had turned up little in the way of results. He had assumed that in a city full of Japanese that he would have little trouble finding an albino. Surely someone like that would stand out almost as much as Shinichiro himself? But he had failed to take into account the sheer size of Academy City. The map had made it look so small!

And yet here he was, at his wits end after countless hours searching for his target. Though in truth it had been scarcely half a day since he stepped off the plane from Rio it felt far longer to the young man.

It was time for a change in tactics. He needed someone who knew the city. Someone who might know where the one called Accelerator could be found. Or at the very least could tell him the likely places he could find out that information. None of the fresh faced students about him fit the bill. Such a person would have to be dangerous, he decided. They would no doubt carry an air of criminality about them. The kind of person who would know of Accelerator would have to be a truly frightening individual.

While he stood considering his next step, Shinichiro's keen eyes caught sight of something.

Silver hair.

That must be him! Without a second thought Shinichiro approached the individual who emerged from the convenience store and made his declaration at the top of his lungs.

"I've found you at last!" He stood before Koyoko with a self satisfied smirk on his lips.

A few minutes after they had gone their separate ways, Natsume looked back in the direction where Touko left, fully feeling her surroundings this time. Why hadn't she been able to feel anything while they were running? Never mind the fact that someone might have tried to follow them, she couldn't feel her surroundings at all,

Was it because she was too focused on running, or that she just lacked experience to be able to feel her surroundings in situations where she felt danger? It didn't sound right, she never had problems with it before. Then, was it because of Touko? She couldn't tell.

But that issue aside, returning to her dorm would require a great detour than what she originally planned, as she didn't want to head back to where they originally were when she felt like they was being followed.

"Aah..." She sighed as she walked. "I wonder if I'm just being paranoid..."

Koyoko sighed, as he slowly exited the convenience store. He had bought a couple cans of coffee and a some consumable foods to make into a meal. Basically consisting of chips and a beef filled bun. He flipped open his phone to check the time, before turning on the GPS to prepare his walk home.

"Haaa...I still got rent to pay...Wish I could actually buy real food." He grumbled to himself, as he turned to walk home. But then-

"I've found you at last!" A peculiar looking man yelled out, a confident smirk on his face. Koyoko turned to the side, blinking at him a couple times with his mouth slightly agape. The man was no doubt a foreigner, with different skin tone, and his Japanese sounded somewhat pronounced differently, slightly surprised he spoke fluently. However the main concern was why he was looking for him. Perhaps he was confused or is referring to someone else? After observing his surroundings a bit, he unfortunately was the one the odd man was referring to. The only possible thing he could be referring to right now in the convenience store.

"...Me?" Koyoko wanted to confirm, still a bit bewildered on what the man could possibly want from him, as the plastic bag in his hand still hanged from his fingers.