Executing God's Will (Arc 3 Magic Side)

Milo lunged for Shinichiro but a deft twist of the other boy's wrist sent the albino student upwards towards the canopy of trees overhanging the path. Milo felt something snake around his neck and it drew tight, choking the words from his mouth as he spat in frothing fury at the foreign boy.

"You..." He hissed through gritted teeth as he clutched at his throat.

In Shinichiro's hand the small doll dangled by its neck from Milo's pendant chain and he watched impassively as the boy hung in the air as though suspended by an invisible noose.

To Touko the entire implausible scenario had occurred within the span of a few seconds. Far too quickly to make sense of.

Why was he here? Why target her mild mannered classmate? And what kind of ability was he using? Some kind of telekinesis?

With nothing but instinct to guide her she ran for the foreign boy whose attention had been consumed with thoughts of killing Milo. Reaching out, Kamijou seized the chain and doll in her right hand.

"Another magician...!"

Before she had time to parse what had been said Touko's head snapped to face the one who had spoken. Despite the obvious chaos and confusion of the scene about him the blonde man stood with the indifference of a bystander. That alone would be worthy of mention. But stranger still was the atmosphere around him. The feeling that surrounded that man reminded her of the sword wielding Magician, Kanzaki Kaori.

A magician?

In the short moment that she had been distracted by Jack's presence the fingers of her right hand closed around the doll with the sound of breaking glass.

Milo fell to the ground, coughing and hacking as the pressure around his throat released.

"Hmm?" Shinichiro looked on with surprise as his victim was released, recoiling from Touko's sudden movement. "How did you?"

Touko however was still staring at the blonde observer. She felt a knot of worry growing in her stomach with every passing moment.

Meat or fish, that was the question lingering with the two bento boxes Natsume held in her hands as her shopping bag rested peacefully on her left arm.

Nowadays, compared to how many students bought pre-made food as the expense of quality and/or health, students that actually took time to cook between hanging out with friends and getting stressed over homework were somewhat rare.

Unfortunately, Natsume wasn't one to cook for herself. Having never really been blessed with the skill of cooking unlike some members of her extended family, she had never really thought of getting better at it, especially since she had no one to cook for.

Though the choice should have been easy for her as she didn't particularly enjoy meat, but she thought that she should give new things a try once in a while. She was so focused on this 'dilemma' of hers that she had failed to notice the person approaching her.

"Hey, you.."

"Uwaa!" Surprised, she accidentally dropped both of the bentos, but quickly picked them back up and put back the meat bento while the fish one went in her bag. She then looked at what seemed to be a stalker of her, confused. "A-ah, yes, what is it?"

"...Care to explain what happened between you, your friend and over a dozen Skill-Out goons earlier today?"

"...Ah! Um, I don't know, I just saw the end result when I got there..." Her expression gradually turned to one of suspicion as she slightly backed away, ready to call Judgement if needed. "On the other hand, have you been following me since then?"

"Uwaa!" The girl cried out as Koyoko had startled her on accident. He opened his mouth slightly and lifted his hand a bit seeing her arms panic and dropped pre-packed bentos. He felt the urge to help, but relaxed himself slightly with a sigh, as the girl hurriedly picked them up and looked at him slightly wide eyed. Things were going to a great start, he can tell already. He simply asked her the question that was on his mind, and she paused for a moment before answering. "...Ah! Um, I don't know, I just saw the end result when I got there..." Koyoko blinked a couple times before putting his hand to his lips in thought.

(So that other girl is the one I should be talking to, huh? Tch...Back to square one without a real lead.) He began processing the new information. What he can conclude now though is that she wasn't actually in the fight, leading the the idea that the ugly haired girl was the only one participating. But why was she with him in the first place, she doesn't seem to know the other much, judging by the reaction he was giving. (Wonder what kind of power that girl has...Guess I can think on it later. I should he-)

Koyoko stopped thinking, realizing the girl was eyeing him in a rather odd way, and backed away a step or two. Her hands seem to be tight and anxious. Was she perhaps sensing of something off? Did his question trigger something after all? "Uhhh...You okay?"

"On the other hand, have you been following me since then?" She questioned. Koyoko's eyes furrowed slightly, being that this was the one thing he was hoping to avoid. Now that she was suspicious, should he take the that as a good time to just run off? Or should he try to convince her otherwise. After a slight pause, he simply sighed. Running would make him look much worse, and extremely guilty most of all. He should at least try to persuade her so her suspicions would falter. Judgement is not going to ruin the rest of his day. So all he could do now is give a half honest answer and sound as confident as possible.

"First of all, I only followed you a couple blocks until you rudely started running away. Second, I only wanted to ask you and your acquaintance, more or less, what had happened. I mean, you don't just leave a potential crime scene you know. Especially if Judgement wants witnesses such as you two, to explain what happened." Koyoko began explaining, his arms slightly crossed. His tone implied that the two of them were the blame of the chain of events that occurred through out the day. Though, he can't say they provoked the fight in the first place. "So yes, I was following you." He realized he went a bit off topic and answered her question directly, stuffing his hands into his pockets and eyeing her, waiting for her reaction. If she tries to call them, he'll have no choice but to run or waste his precious time. If she doesn't...Well then that would be that hopefully.

For a brief moment, believing the secret of his presence to be safely hidden by his rune magic, Jack put his aside his surprise at the presence of a fellow magician, and continued to watch the situation unfold. The magician proceeded to use what appeared to function as a voodoo doll to hang Milo by the neck in mid-air, with obvious killing intent. The boy frothed in fury, unable to speak due to the pressure on his neck. In response, the girl Milo had been walking with ran up to the magician and lunged for the doll. However, as she did so, that brief instant, and it truly was just an instant, in which he believed he was safe, ended. The girl whipped her head around and looked straight at him.

Jack flinched, obviously surprised that his presence was noticed by the girl despite his judicious use of rune magic. The girl, however, had not yet stopped moving, and the magician had yet to notice either of their presences, as he had focused the whole of his attention upon Milo. The girl's hand closed around the doll, and accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, Milo fell to the ground, coughing. "Hmm?" said the magician, his expression mirroring the surprise Jack still felt, as his magic, too, was rendered ineffective. "How did you?" His questions, however, went ignored. The spiky-haired girl was staring straight at Jack, eliminating any possibility that her turning around to look at him was just a fluke.

Now that the spiky-haired girl had noticed him, it was only matter of time before Milo and the magician took note of him as well. It wasn't like he was invisible, after all. The rune magic he was using just masked his presence, making it so that to other people, he was like a pebble on the side of the road, hardly worth taking note of. In a way, when it comes going unnoticed by others, it's even better than being invisible. However, if he did something that attracted obvious attention to himself, then the magic would quickly lose all effect. Something like, say, having someone stare straight at him, could lead to other people following their line of sight, and realizing that there's someone there. And they would notice, he was the only other person there, after all.

Taking that into account, he had two choices. Let the other party notice him, and make his move based on their reactions. While that would allow him to make more educated decisions, depending on what their reactions were, it could end very badly. The other option is to make the first move himself. With that, he could carefully choose his reactions, and use them to influence the other party. If he chose poorly, however, it could also end badly. Either way, he'd be noticed soon. He could either choose an option, or let time choose for him. With that in mind, he decided to make first contact. With that, he'd have more freedom to choose how this encounter went.

So he put on his most friendly smile, and with a cheery voice, though he tried not to make it sound obnoxiously so, said in fluent English, "Amazing! That boy just flew into the air! How'd you do that? Was that one of those esper powers?" His aim was to pass himself off as an oblivious foreigner. Even though the girl had already heard him speak in Japanese, he'd decided to take a gamble anyway, as it seemed like the other two hadn't heard him. And even if Milo and the magician didn't believe his act, which was likely as the two of them were both magicians, and from their perspective, he'd just appeared out of thin air, they would be wary enough that they'd think very carefully before taking an further actions. And with that, he'd more or less be able guide how the interaction unfolded from that point on, working under the assumption that they didn't just resort to wanton violence, anyway.

"So yes, I was following you."

Natsume stared intensely at Koyoko for another minute as the information processed. Yet she couldn't comprehend his way of thinking, it wasn't reasonable in the slightest and Natsume wouldn't found herself surprised if this boy was often arrested by Judgement.

It seemed like today was a "meeting reckless people" day.

"...Umm... Wouldn't one usually call out to another if they wanted to learn more about something? How far did you plan on stalking us just to get answers?" Thank goodness she had lost him while running, and ended up making a detour for this convenience store before heading back home. Who knows what could've happened had he followed he back home...

"Also, how does one "rudely run away"? Wouldn't that make you the rude one for following us in the first place without any explanations? You don't seem to be a Judgement member, so it is rather odd that you'd go out of your way to follow us for something like that, especially since you do not seem to know those Skill-Out persons."

After stating what seemed to be common logic for herself, something clicked inside her and she backed away a step or two. Could it be that he was actually a real freak and was merely using the Skill-Outs as excuses to do something to her?

Koyoko's just gave her a blank look as she countered his logic rather easily. This was expected since he acted quickly and radically instead of taking the time to think of a good reply. He can feel himself, however, getting into a deeper and more unfortunate situation, which he'd prefer to avoid. He was just ready to leave and let this girl have a sleepless night or so. Although, it seems the girl was very skeptical, given the situation and drawing her own conclusions of his intent. She used the word 'stalking' which slightly aggravated him, and she took another step back as if he had done something revolting. Now that he was annoyed, he felt like he couldn't just let this alone. But since he logically talking this out was practically out of the question, he decided to try something. Perhaps this will help calm him down a bit.

(Litle Busters OST - Tick Tock Routine)

"...Alright you caught me. I actually followed you to capture you and force you to wear all kinds of cosplay outfits, then proceeding to take lewd pictures of you and posting them for a blog." He started off, in a tired monotone voice as he took out his phone and started fiddling with the GPS. The way he was talking and almost ignoring her and turning to his phone, it was as if he was mocking her fearful imagination. "I was going to make you wear outfits such as French Maid, Shrine Maiden, Nurse, School girl, Love Idol, Nun, Magical Girl, and a bunch of anime cosplay found off the internet." Letting her process all that, he suddenly raised his phone and turned the flash on. "Cheeeese...." Suddenly the phone would flash and, being unexpected, blind her eyes for a couple of seconds. "Huh...Not a very good photo...Oh well." He has decided to stop mocking her at this point and dug the phone in his pocket. "If you don't have any answers, I'm wasting my time." He turned on his heel and attempted to walk away from the store, hoping he can just head home at this point.

As soon as Jack had spoken Shinichiro's eyes shot up to look at the new interloper. An ambush? He should have expected as much. Surrounded on all sides by enemies. He steeled himself for retaliation.

"Get out of here!" Touko waved to Jack. "This guy's dangerous!" She tried to warn him before he was caught up in the violence. To that girl Jack Nightingale was nothing more than an unlucky soul who had wandered into a life or death situation. It had never even crossed her mind that he may be another would-be assassin.

Shinichiro took a pause. This girl didn't seem to know the new man. Could he really be just a bystander? It didn't matter. He would have to kill all three of them.

Milo coughed, rubbing his neck where Shinchiro's magic had left its mark.

"Wha-?" He seemed confused, perhaps being strangled had dazed him. He looked at Jack, Touko and Shinichiro in turn before his eyes started to water. "What's going on?" He whispered in the hushed panic of a fearful child. A dormant personality of his. An unfortunate symptom of his multiple personality disorder. He sniffed back tears.

Shinichiro hesitated. Damn. He knew he stood no chance against the Science Side's supposed 'strongest' in a straight up fight. He was a person whose skills were far better suited to assassination. Now some unknown force was neutralising his magic and he was outnumbered at least two to one. With that in mind Shinichiro knew he could only wait and see how his fortune unfolded.

Had it been Natsumi, Koyoko would have cursed himself for ever coming up with the prank he had come up with while his trousers were burning. However, that prank had not been pulled on Natsumi but on Natsume, of a less-aggressive nature than her twin sister.

"Uuu.... uuu..." As she imagined in genuine fear what would happen to this picture, Natsume's eyes swelled up with tears, but her following course of action wasn't calling Judgement even if she knew the perpetrator's face, or calling other customers to help.

Not being aggressive didn't necessarily mean being rational, and in this case, Natsume lost all sense of rationality as she ran at full speed towards Koyoko. But it wasn't Koyoko himself who was going to suffer from the irrationality, but rather his phone.

"Uuuuuuu!!"

Natsume quickly dug her hand in Koyoko's pockets, pulling out his phone whilst pushing him with unnatural strength aside. The phone found itself smashed against the ground and jumped on multiple times as if it were a miserable cockroach.

The screen didn't take long to become many small shards of glass scattered across the floor and one could see from afar that the phone could no longer be salvaged in any way, even if bought to a repair shop.

With this, Natsume wanted to make sure that he couldn't retrieve any data in his phone.

When Jack saw the steely expression on the foreign boy's face, decidedly different from the wary one he'd wished to produce, he could tell that if he didn't do something, and quick, then the worst result would occur. An all out brawl. However, before he could take action, an angel descended. Or at least, that's what it looked like to Jack, what with his recent streak of misfortune.

"Get out of here!" yelled the spiky-haired girl, as she waved over in Jack's direction. "This guy's dangerous!" For a moment, he just stared in shock. She had just heard him speak fluent Japanese, but she believed that he was actually an innocent bystander anyway. Was this girl incredibly naive, or did the stress of the situation cause her to forget it momentarily? Regardless, it would serve to reinforce his bluff.

Forcibly derailing that train of thought for the time being, he observed the foreign boy's reaction. He seemed to have paused, thinking. He was actually considering the situation, as opposed to simply lashing out! However, the seed of hope that had begun to sprout in Jack's heart was then mercilessly trampled upon as the boy's expression reverted to what it was before, except with even more steel, and a pinch of killing intent.

However, fate had one more miracle left for Jack. "Wha-?" said Milo. As he was too focused on the other two, Jack had actually almost forgotten about Milo. He was rubbing his neck, coughing, and obviously confused. He seemed different compared to just a few moments earlier, but Jack didn't have the luxury to think about something like that in this bomb-like situation. As Milo looked at the people around him, his eyes began to fill with tears. "What's going on?" he said in a hushed tone of voice. It was vaguely reminiscent of the voice of small, frightened child.

And so, being struck by an angel and a miracle one after the other, the foreign boy had no choice but to show an opening! At least, that's how Jack would rationalize this outcome when he looked back on it later. The opening was shown in the form of hesitation. With Milo's recovery(?) the foreign boy seemed to be re-assessing the situation once again. And judging by the slight signs of apprehension he was showing, it didn't seem like he thought too highly of his chances. Jack wasn't sure what exactly had caused the foreign boy to change his thoughts on his chances from earlier, but he wasn't going to complain.

Well, now that an opening had been shown, there was only one thing left to do. Exploit it. "Ah, I'm terribly sorry, but I don't speak Japanese." he said to the girl with the spiky hair, still in perfect English. He then proceeded to look from the spiky-haired girl, to Milo, to the foreign boy. "I'm sorry, but do any of you understood what I just said?" he asked, with an obviously questioning tone that one could recognize even if one didn't understand the language he was speaking. The hesitation the foreign boy showed was an expression of doubt. He didn't know what had caused the formation of that doubt, but breaking character now could trigger the rebirth of that steel he'd displayed earlier, and that would not end well.

Koyoko, unaware of Natsume's actions himself, slowly kept walking back down the isle. During the whole interaction, he had noticed two pairs of judgement officers stationing across the street of the store. Usually he'd think of it as nothing, but the camera in the store kept following and zooming in on his actions, trying act a bit subtle, but he managed to pick it up.

I overstayed my welcome I guess...Lets see. In an instant, Koyoko's eyes glowed a brighter blue, using his six sense to examine any other possible exits. There was a back door located in another room behind the register's counter. However, he managed to make out that the lock had been set so the door would not be open able without a key. He could certainly try to use his power a bit on the lock, but how long would that take?

Before Koyoko, about to become the victim of his own prank, could contemplate this idea, he heard a the quick tapping of feet behind him, following a high pitched whine of sorts. His eyes widened when he found a pair of hands in his pockets. "O-Oi! What the hell are you doing?!" He twisted and turned in a slight panic, having no idea what was going on, almost elbowing the weeping Natsume in the face. Through out his panic, his phone was taken and he ultimately tripped on his own ankle, falling on his back, with a soaring pain. The store customers, and the owners themselves noticed the demise of Koyoko's only treasure...His phone. The phone had been stomped and crushed to the point that it might as well be a fine powder. By the time Koyoko had gotten up and grabbed the girl's shoulders, pulling her away from what used to be his phone, it was already over.

Koyoko practically went to his knees in a sudden wave of depression, and got on all fours. All the data, along with contact information and his GPS system, his main guide of getting around this maze of a city, were all gone. "...Someone just kill me already." He let out an exaggerated mumble. "So this is what absolute loss feels like...I hate this feeling." After the mumbling and whispering of confused customers and such, Koyoko had a sudden realization. "...Wasn't my data cloud enabled?" As most modern cellphone services would expect to have, was a digital cloud of sorts that would save all your data ahead of time, and would often be used to back up files and contact information. All he'd really need to do is recover it either on a website or the cellphone service provider themselves. "Haaaaa...I'm saved. I can get it all back later..." He pushed himself to his feet, feeling a wave of relief. All he really need was to buy a new phone, and that shouldn't be too hard since his was acquired for cheap anyway, but getting the money may be a problem. Unlike the fancy touch screened phones everyone's hyped up about.

"...What the hell was that for?! If you were going to get mad you could've at least spared my phone, ya know! I don't have a budget to get a new phone!" Koyoko yelled, clearly frustrated with the girl, who appeared to still be saddened. From what he can make out, she deliberately went for the phone, instead of a direct violent intent. He wondered if she believed in everything he said about what he was going to do, since he wasn't exactly sure why she'd just snap like that.

"Ah, I'm terribly sorry, but I don't speak Japanese. I'm sorry, but do any of you understood what I just said?"

Touko was about to repeat her warning but to her surprise Shinichiro's arm rested carelessly on her shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"I understand a little English, my friend." The foreign boy smiled disarmingly. Touko looked up at him curiously. "Follow my lead. Neither of us wants any more blood spilt today, right?" He whispered through his false smile.

Touko felt helpless as she acquiesced reluctantly and slipped an uneasy smile onto her face that matched Shinichiro's.

"I'm afraid there's been an accident." Shinichiro gestured to Milo, who was bawling loudly nearby. "My friend here was saying it's not safe to stay here." He patted Touko heavily on the back and she glared at him before nodding along semi-enthusiastically. All the while she kept her grip on the doll. It didn't take a genius or a Magician to realise that it was the key to his ability. Whatever that was...

"It's nothing serious, but you might get hurt if you hang around."

At the same time Milo's crying became more pronounced as he worked himself up.

"I'm scared... I'm scared. I'm scared!" He repeated, growing louder with each utterance until he was howling in a terrified frenzy. "Get away!" He screamed and the ground around him was torn up as though trying to escape from his presence. The trees about them bent and creaked as if in stormy winds, straining then scattering away from the epicentre. Touko wheeled to face the blast and instinctively lifted Imagine Breaker to shield herself. She felt her heels digging into the floor as she was pushed back by the immense pressure that Milo had unleashed.

At the same moment Touko had released her hold on Shinichiro's voodoo doll and the boy went flying backwards, knocked away by Milo's spell. He tumbled across the ground and, though dazed and in pain he scrabbled to his feet and darted into the park's trees to make good on his escape.

It was a really busy day for Judgement members around the city. A lot had happened today, causing a lot of work for the most of the active agents. Most of those problems, however, had one thing in common. Most of those incidents had something in common: The involvement of a blue eyed boy with long grey hair. To make it even worse, he had committed the crime of escaping from two Judgement member when he was about to be questioned, which caused him to become a major suspect.
Even though they had lost sight of him, he had reappeared once again, seemingly outing himself as an exhibitionist.

All in all, it was a rather stressing chain of events leading to a lot of investigative work, requiring some back-up personnel.


One of the extra people sent to help out was Furuhashi Gou. He was (from the Japanese perspective) a rather tall boy with grey hair and grey eyes, wearing a school uniform made of black dress pants and a white short sleeved shirt that was buttoned up until its very top, granting him a rather stiff appearance.
Unlike most of the time, Gou was paired up with an agent from a different branch, simply due to the lack of personnel caused by this day’s big commotion. And unlike his temporary partner he was still as motivated as if it was his first day at work, especially due to the great pile of work that would await him for the rest of the day.

For now both Gou and the brown haired middle school boy wearing glasses were both positioned on the opposite side of the street in front of that certain convenience store. They were the ones called to investigate the case an exhibitionist that dropped his pants in front of a group of people, who also turned out to be the fugitive Judgement had been looking for ever since he had escaped.
And of course they already had his position confirmed by the security cameras inside the convenience store the duo was keeping an eye on. For now they had decided to wait for further orders, before taking action.

The wait wasn’t enjoyable; however the two armband wearing boys were using the time left to have a short strategy meeting, preparing for the worst case situations. After all they already knew that the fugitive wasn’t someone all too cooperative and had a pair of quick feet. Even though there wouldn’t be an easy way to escape from such a small store, there was still the possibility of the suspicious boy running away in some way or another. Another failure leading to his escape was something Judgement had to prevent at all cost.
And Furuhashi Gou would not allow it that was what he had decided for himself. So he as focused as he could be, checking as thoroughly on the things he could make out through the store’s sliding doors from the distance. It was peaceful for now.

However that short peaceful moment was destroyed by sudden action. Gou couldn’t tell exactly what was going on, however something obviously did happen, involving their suspect. So of course a trigger was pushed inside the older Judgement agent’s mind. ”Something’s wrong in there. Time to move.” Right after those words were spoken, Gou headed straight towards the store, leaving the other agent behind, following the pattern they had decided to follow. While one would approach the wanted person, the other would simply wait outside to be prepared to block the escape path. Easy, but effective in most cases.

And that was everything that led to a grey haired Judgement agent entering through convenience store’s sliding doors, approaching the two people at the centre of everything, spitting out the standard phrases: ”Excuse me. I’m from Judgement and I’m curious about what exactly is going on in here.” There was no need to talk around everything – at least Gou felt no urge to do that – so he decided to go straight for the core of the issue. After all he would also need some time to get an overview of the situation.

From what he could tell, though, he felt as if this story would add another point to the crime list of the grey haired blue eyed boy…

”Excuse me. I’m from Judgement and I’m curious about what exactly is going on in here.”

Unfortunately, the Judgement member's words had fallen on the deaf ears of the girl too pre-occupied by Koyoko's actions to even start acknowledging that someone had talked to them.

"I can't believe it, you've been trying to stalk me all day, and then you just go ahead and take a picture for your own hidden motives! You're really the worst!"

So, it got fairly problematic (as far as Koyoko's luck went) when Natsume blurted out the entire story from her side, not realising someone else was listening carefully.

There are things Gou can’t stand. There are things that will most definitely annoy him. One of those things was being ignored when he was about to act in the name of Judgement. But this situation was far worse…

"I can't believe it, you've been trying to stalk me all day, and then you just go ahead and take a picture for your own hidden motives! You're really the worst!"

When girl spoke out, paying no heed to his presence, the Judgement boy was dumbfounded at first. He could only stare at her, while listening to her words. It was as if his own speech was simply cut off and he himself ignored. Ignorance towards the protectors of peace was something he hated. It angered him, usually leading to him starting to speak in a much harsher tone. However the words the younger girl had spoken were interesting, very interesting.
The moment he had realised it again, he turned his gaze towards the initial criminal, the other grey haired boy on the floor. He paid no attention to his miserable situation, ignored the remains of some electronic device, probably a cell phone, so that only his strict slightly angry gaze would pierce right into his heart. ”I guess listening to your version of this story would be a waste of time, huh?” He was implying that the other guy would – as usual criminal would do – simply make up some lies to get him out of the accusations.

Why was it always like that? Why would he always run into the worst kinds of criminals? Gou sighed, while still focusing his piercing gaze at the suspect. ”Looking at the huge pile of reports and breaches from today alone, you need a really good explanation to get out of this. At least you will get a chance to talk. The rules have it that way.” After adding these words, Furuhashi crossed both of his arms in front of his body, waiting for the full explanation. He didn’t seem like he would buy anything the suspect would tell him, only pressuring him some more, a classic interrogation method.

Hopefully this wouldn’t turn out to become the second coming of a certain incident.

Koyoko, who was still rather irritated, took a couple deep breaths and started to feel the eyes of the rest of the store on him. Let alone judgement has locked down his position and would probably walk in any minute now. After taking what time he had to calm himself down. He'd admit, everything up to this point was his own series of mistakes and questionable actions. And he just had to make the situation worst for himself with this particular middleschooler. What a drag...

"...Oi, look I'm-" Just as Koyoko forced himself to udder words he'd fluster over trying to say, Judgement came in right at that point, stopping him.

”Excuse me. I’m from Judgement and I’m curious about what exactly is going on in here.” A grey haired boy explained, soon catching his eyes on him.

Couldn't you morons wait thirty seconds or something?! He scowled in his head, as he placed a hand to his face in frustration.

"I can't believe it,-" The girl started, which grabbed Koyoko's attention. -you've been trying to stalk me all day, and then you just go ahead and take a picture for your own hidden motives! You're really the worst!" She yelled out, obviously very angry with him, which actually kinda hurt in a way. Sure, he's made people angry before, but not exactly like this, and under record time none the less. But that's not what worried Koyoko, as an intimidating judgement member approached, looking at him like some low-life criminal.

”I guess listening to your version of this story would be a waste of time, huh?” The grey haired one, obviously the leader of the pair, glared at him with his matching colored eyes. ”Looking at the huge pile of reports and breaches from today alone, you need a really good explanation to get out of this. At least you will get a chance to talk. The rules have it that way.”

...This guy's annoying...Alright what bad idea am I going to use next? Koyoko didn't respond at first, but guessing that both the girl and the judgement officer are on short fuses he needed to do something fast.

"Haaaaaaa, my name's Damion Koyoko first of all, I'm sure you got a report of about an aftermath of a skillout brawl, right? Or are you guys slower than usual...? I saw two girls walk away from the brawl and I tried following them. Don't ask why I didn't bother calling you guys because I simply didn't want to deal with you. Anyway, some Judgement kids showed up and grabbed me instead of the two girls and lost them. One car accident later, I left them and... He stopped himself, hesitating a bit since the whole pants dropping incident wouldn't be easy to explain. "...I'll explain what happened in front of the store later..." He made sure he still had his old belt somewhere, since it's the only piece of evidence that can help him with that incident.

"Anyway, I simply mistaken the girl for those who I was following...She got startled, called me a couple things, and I did something unnecessary involving my phone being beaten to dust..." He rubbed the back of his head, knowing he'd need to get a new phone at least within three days without some sort of hell popping up. "Simply put, the girl had no useful information. All I know is that there was some black spikey haired school girl who was actually in the fight." This is just about all he could do to say sorry to the girl. Keep himself from ruining the rest of her day. No doubt if this was the case, she'd be taken for questioning, only to find out she knows very little. "Sorry about my behavior..." He bowed his head slightly toward the girl before turning to the judgement officers with a sigh.

"Haaaaaa....Konori is going to have my case for this..." Koyoko muttered slightly, roughing his hair a bit.

Surprisingly this boy was a lot more cooperative than most of the suspects Gou had to face up until today. Once the boy started to speak, Gou had decided to listen to his words carefully. After all it could always be an attempt to actually trick a Judgement officer by telling a story with enough depth and logic backing it up that one would immediately believe every word spoken.
It was long story, one that would make Furuhashi Gou jump between emotions of calmness and anger, which even happened slightly visible, as he was clenching his right fist whenever he tried to hold himself back not to interrupt the talking suspect. The whole story was interesting after all and a lot of the words spoken would really need further investigation. The case of that large scale outbreak of violence involving the many beaten skill-out members was one such thing for example. Even though it was quite common for such things to happen within the city, it still felt somewhat fishy.
Last but not least the boy explained about how the accusations made when Gou had entered the store. So it was only a case of mixing someone up, leading to such an outcome? Possible, probably. Even though it troubled him a little bit, Furuhashi decided not to dig deeper into it for now. There was something that would have to come first.

”Alright. This is quite an interesting story”, he opened up leaving the other side at least a hint of hope. ”But don’t think that I will buy everything you are telling me without any evidence and further confirmation. I’m not someone that will take everything someone else tells me as the truth and I believe most of our agents, won’t. And if I will find out that you were lying about something or trying to hide details, I will ensure that you would never dare to do something like that again.” It was an outright attempt to demonstrate his own authority and skill in such situations, backing it with his usual emotionless stare. Pressure was a good method after all. Even though it would sometimes be found out to be a bluff, it was something rather promising when dealing with ordinary students and the like.
”Also, what was that about not wanting to deal with Judgement? We are the ones responsible for this cities peace, not you. We are the ones that are trained to handle such situations, not you. And your role is to call us and not to jump into such situations. After all it is out task to handle things like that. We are well trained and we’ve got better means to investigate cases like this one.
Don’t even try to say that we lack the ability to act, because we are bound by rules or because we are too slow to act.
Listen: The rules are there to support society and to allow it to work the best. Why they don’t work then? Simple: It is because of shitheads that believe they can do better, guys that think their way of handling things is more effective, guys that think they are some idiotic hero from a comic book or TV show. That kind of idiot is what makes everything go wrong in the end. They don’t know a shit about what is right and what is wrong. They simply act using methods that break the rules, not considering the aftermath. I’ve seen a bunch of those people already.
So yeah, next time you will witness such an incident, please report it to Judgement immediately, let them handle it and stay out of the danger. That’s the best for everyone involved.” Once again Furuhashi Gou had presented one of his legendary lectures, letting out all the frustration caused by that other grey haired boy. He couldn’t stand that kind of reckless idiot that would jump in like some hero from a Shounen manga. ”If you really want to step into things like that, I’d suggest you to join Judgement. However, if I find out that you will continue acting as reckless as today, I will make sure for you to learn your lesson.” Now that he had added some more words of good will, he finally let that topic go. It wasn’t good to go on and on about that thing any longer.

Gou sighed, then he turned towards the middle school girl, he had left out of the conversation for a while now. ”I’m sorry for the inconvenience. We will make sure to find out if that boy really is speaking the truth; however we may believe his words for now, so you may go for now.” Even though those words sounded like they were spoken by someone with a friendly smile on their face, Furuhashi Gou’s face was as stiff and cold as ever, just like a true pro. ”Oh and I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Furuhashi Gou. If there is anything more about this incident you need to tell me, please call the 177th branch and ask for me. I will have an open ear for your words,” he spoke with the intention of luring out some more information to confirm if the suspicious boy was lying or not. Maybe the girl wouldn’t talk immediately, maybe it would take some days or weeks, yet he believed that he would gain some information.

Noticing the words the boy spoke, a slight bit of curiosity showed itself in Gou’s grey eyes. ”Ko-konori-san…?”, he muttered in surprise. It wasn’t uncommon for her to handle cases like that, yet he always grew a little bit jealous when faced with someone involved with her, even if it was a criminal. His mind quickly made a jump forward. They still were inside the shop and would need to head for the branch office to start the thorough interrogation soon.  ”Just to make sure. It would be best if you wore those.” He was referring two the pair of modern handcuffs he had pulled out from his pocket. It was the accessory fitting the most to a criminal like him.

In the end there was something else that had caught his attention for a short moment. A spiky haired girl, huh? The next moment however, it was already forgotten. There were things of greater importance for now…

After realising a Judgement member was standing right next to them, Natsume finally calmed down and listened to the exchange between the so-called criminal and the Judgement member. But she hadn't expected Koyoko to take her defence to avoid her being taken in for interrogation, and being the considerate person she is, at that time she regretted blurting out the entire story in the way she did.

Was he just someone who was incredibly clumsy about doing things to help? Either way, crying over spilt milk wasn't going to help so Natsume just walked up to the Judgement member when he showed handcuffs and whispered to him.

"I'm not going to tell you how to do your job but maybe you should go a little softer on him? It mostly sounds like he has issues when it comes to properly dealing with problems. Judgement isn't only about arresting 'criminals' but also helping them in the right direction, isn't it?"

Remembering a problem with the photo incident, Natsume made a near-silent request to avoid having Koyoko eavesdrop.

"Oh and, by the way..."

Finally the girl showed some reaction herself. It seemed as if she had only realised Gou’s presence just now. He didn’t particularly care, though. Considering the situation she was in, it wasn’t all too surprising that her attention was caught by different things than a new presence appearing.
Once she did, however, she started talking to Gou. She didn’t react on his offer, she didn’t even mention it. Her only concern seemed to be that the suspicious boy was treated in a wrong way. ”I don’t have any bad intentions, though. He ran away before, when we tried to be friendly, so he lost our trust. In his case it seems that not treating him like a criminal would only lead to him not respecting us.” The presence of the other boy didn’t concern Gou at this moment. He would probably even hear the words he spoke, but why care? It was actually even directed at him, in some way. ”Sometimes there are troublemakers that won’t ever show any sort of appreciation for the way they are treated, as well as for our intentions. So the best way dealing with them, is going a little bit more rough on them, to show that Judgement is not only a bunch of ‘idiotic pacifists’.”

After finishing his mini-speech, he sighed for a moment and then looked at the girl he was talking to for a moment. Long brown hair, pretty young, a face to remember and that’s what he did. For once it was the best idea to remember people you get involved with during work, especially in such a big city. Maybe someday it would be useful, or support investigations. Whatever use it may bring to him in the end, Furuhashi was sure that it was something useful. So he simply remembered her face.

However, before he was fully able to turn back towards the other face he would remember until the end of his life, there was another request directed at him. Unlike their talk from before it was something meant to be hidden from the ears of others. He listened and then thought about it for a second, before he gave his simple answer. ”Sure. The rules don’t say anything against that”, was everything he said to finish up that issue. Simple and short, that’s what he was like after all. That’s how you could work the best in the end.

It seemed like the girl was about to say something, but before she could, the foreign boy laid his arm on her shoulder, interrupting her. It was a friendly gesture, and stood in stark contrast to the steel he displayed just a moment earlier. "I understand a little English, my friend." he said, now sporting a smile that matched his body language. In response, the girl looked up at him, an understandably curious expression on her face, which prompted the boy to whisper something to her that Jack couldn't quite catch. Whatever he said, it seemed to convince the girl to play along with whatever he was doing, judging from their matching smiles.

"I'm afraid there's been an accident." the foreign boy continued, gesturing to Milo. His current appearance, which was reminiscent of a child who had tripped and fell, did indeed bring to mind the word 'accident'. "My friend here was saying it's not safe to stay here. It's nothing serious, but you might get hurt if you hang around." he said, pretending to translate, even though he was almost certainly aware that Jack was not a tourist. That was a good sign. It would be a pain to continue investigating Milo after having his presence revealed like this, but at least he could a conflict with this fellow foreigner.

Now that he had a little leeway to think, Jack examined the situation. Milo had been attacked by the foreign boy, who appeared to be a magician under the impression that Milo was an esper. In response, the spiky-haired girl had grabbed at what appeared to be a voodoo doll, and presumably the source of the foreigner's magic, somehow cancelling out the spell. Judging from the fact the the girl had yet to remove her hand, perhaps whatever she was doing to cancel the magic required skin contact? Just as he finished that thought, he noticed that Milo's crying had begun to escalate.

"I'm scared... I'm scared. I'm scared!" Milo kept on repeating those words, with each iteration being louder and louder, until he was screaming. Then finally, it reached a climax. "Get away!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, and as he did so, several strange phenomena occurred in tandem. The ground around started to get torn up, and the trees in the vicinity started to bend, as if they were being assaulted by gale-force winds. "Tch, what kind of magic is he using?" Jack asked, not speaking to anyone in particular. Those were the last words that left his mouth before he was knocked off his feet and blown into a nearby wall. Though he had the breath knocked out of him, he was still able to witness the girl blocking the blast with her hand, and the foreign boy using the blast as a chance to escape. It seemed like he was the only one who had been rendered helpless by Milo's magic. At this point, his options had been whittled down to cutting Milo down with Tyrfing, and waiting for the situation to change. Well, since it didn't seem like Milo actually had any malicious intent, it would be best to just wait the situation out.

Touko felt the thundering force against her right hand give for a moment before it flung her arm backwards over her head. She staggered, recovering her balance to catch the sight of the foreign boy sprinting away from the scene.

Milo too was fleeing. She started after him, pausing to offer Jack a slight bow by way of apology before giving chase.

"I'm sorry. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." She hurriedly stated and disappeared.

Milo's panicked retreat had seen him burst wailing into the convenience store and he collapsed to his hands and knees in front of the first person he saw, panting and gasping.

"They want- to- kill me!" Milo managed between heavy breaths.

Koyoko listened halfheartedly to the Judgement officer, as he waved his finger and smiled confidently to his own words. Koyoko yawned silently into his hand, getting the vibe that this officer was especially prideful of his job, which can easily bring about unnecessary situations he doesn't want to deal with. But he couldn't help but yawn. He was supposed to be at home, taking the rest of his day off by relaxing his eyes for a good 8 hours. Just thinking about it made him feel even more exhausted. In all honestly though, this Judgement officer was also a bit overconfident in his words. Being labeled 'criminal' and 'troublemaker'. He even went out of his way of accusing him of being a bit of a vigilante.

As if I wanted more work on my hands. The only one who looks like an 'idiotic hero' right now is you, I hope you realize that... He kept himself from saying these words out loud.

Koyoko, in someway, found it humorous when he pulled out standard handcuffs. He's been in those plenty of times to know how to pick them using his powers. First it took nearly and hour, but by the time he had gotten used to seeing Konori in her office, they were off almost under a minute.

Seems this guy wasn't informed. This should be entertaining... He thought to himself, as he leaned against the wall. To his surprise the middle school girl who just minutes ago called him 'the worst' was now trying to lighten his punishment a bit. Koyoko felt a bit uneasy for some reason. Her kindness felt a bit foreign, not having been treated like this in a while, even if it's nothing to her. However, as he suspected, this guy just bat's her words out of the way gently instead of actually taking them into account. That pride of his might as well be a riot shield. Koyoko raised an eyebrow slightly as the girl glanced at him for a second and started whispering to Gou purposely for him not to hear.

So she may not be helping me after all...Well it'll probably for the best. At least then I won't have to feel like I owe her anything...

As the two seemed started to finish up whatever they were discussing, Koyoko turned his head to the door quickly as shoes clattered against the ground quickly. The automatic doors opened as the sound grew louder, and appeared Milo, collapsing a couple feet away from him. Of course, he had no idea who Milo was. To him, he's just some albino kid in a school outfit. A mental image of a certain esper's crooked smile came to his head, but he quickly shook it off. Koyoko kicked off the wall and turned to the panicked figure. Before he can ask, the boy said mere pieces of his sentence.

"They want- to- kill me!"

Koyoko eyes widened slightly, a dire situation appearing before him once again, which seemed to be occurring too often on this particular day. Koyoko didn't want to get involved instinctively, just wanting to end the day already. But this time his conscience isn't what really pushed him this time. It was an odd vibe instead. Koyoko, to check if the boy's been followed, walked a bit toward the automatic screen door and looked outside, turning on his sixth sense. With a 25 meter radius to his ability, he didn't sense any approaching figures, but the wind itself seem to have been unnaturally shifted not too long ago. This boy was obviously from nearby since he ran here, but far enough to make him exhausted. With Koyoko's eyes glowing slightly brighter, almost in plain sight for Gou and Natsumi, he moved back and crouched in front of the boy. He's getting himself involved in something that shouldn't have anything to do with him again.

"First of all, I need you to calm down. No one followed you here, so you can relax, alright?" Koyoko started out, turning off his six sense, trying not to scare the boy himself. Something was definitely not right. The unnatural shift in the wind may have been caused by an esper, who just might be after this boy for some reason. Although, Koyoko didn't have much to back it up. And honestly, he didn't trust the 'oh-so-efficient' Judgement he's come to know, to be able to deal with this quickly. Koyoko snapped his fingers a couple times at the boy, seeing that he wasn't calming down yet. "Hey hey! Look at me, Look at me. You're fine. Just relax. Where'd you come from? And who's after you?"

Why didn’t he take it from his experience that dealing with people like that boy would never stop growing even more troublesome? It was probably because Furuhashi Gou was too much of a blockhead that he didn’t give up on it. He would turn that grey haired trouble maker around, even if it was the last thing he’d do. After all that was something that could make Konori happy!

Just when he was about to use the handcuffs he had pulled from his pants, the electric door suddenly shot open, opening the path for a person caught in deep despair. It was boy, probably Gou’s age, white hair, red eyes, even an idiot would be able to tell it was an albino. The most distinguishable feature from Gou’s perspective however was the school uniform, the white short sleeved shirt and the black dress pants that resembled his own.
He may not have known the boy yet, however there was still something linking them.

"They want- to- kill me!"

All his thoughts were cut off in an instant. You heard that kind of sentence everyday in videogames, in movies, everywhere, yet once it was spoken in the real world filled with emotion that strong it would always hit you hard. The boy was frightened; he was on the ground, seemingly close to breaking apart. It wasn’t your typical child’s game. This was real, there was no doubt about it. The emotions were just too overflowing for it to be only an act. Once again the Judgement boy was a little slow at accepting that reality. He may have been trained to handle those situations, however this time it didn’t seem to be like any simple delinquent trouble they usually had to deal with. It was that high level of seriousness a normal highschool boy could hardly get used to dealing with so that it resulted in him to be easily taken aback by anything of that kind. It was still too unusual.
How should he deal with that again…?

Then again something happened. That delinquent boy cut in, taking action in Gou's stead. Didn’t I tell that idiot to stay out of stuff like that…!?” Angry at the sudden, yet reckless action the other boy took, Gou was about to push him to the side and take over himself, however he never did. He stood there for a moment to listen to the criminals attempt to calm down the albino boy, better than Gou could have ever done. It angered him even more. He decided not to interfere, out of respect for the victim.
Once his composure had returned, the Judgement boy decided to make his move, taking a step towards his panicked schoolmate he had never met before. ”Breathe. Breathe!” Kneeling down right next to the albino he tried to support the other boy’s attempt to calm the panicked one down. It was the best for now. They couldn’t just stab him with questions, even if the situation may deem it necessary. Furuhashi was sure that panicked boy wouldn’t benefit of any quick actions, so he wouldn’t force him to give them more information, until he was sure the boy had calmed down.
Even now someone attempting to kill a person wasn’t of an as high priority as the victim itself. However, there was still something Gou could do. By pressing a few buttons on his phone, he made a connection to his so called “partner for one day”, wo was still positioned on the opposite side of the street. ”Listen. The boy that entered the store just now seems to be followed by someone with bad intentions. So please keep an eye on what is going on outside! Once you see anyone suspicious pass by, report it to me ASAP!" He couldn’t just run out to check himself. But if there really was someone running around who was targetting that albino boy, measurements had to be taken. Judgement couldn’t just stand by idly.

The spiky-haired girl appeared to be caught in a stalemate against whatever magic Milo was invoking. This lasted for a few beats until the force seemed to overpower her, flinging her arm over her head, and knocking her off balance. As she staggered, Milo took the chance to flee, taking the wind with him. As Jack regained his bearings, having been freed from the wall he was pinned to, the girl prepared to pursue Milo. Before she made chase, however, she made sure to apologize. "I'm sorry. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." she said. What a polite girl. At any rate, it appeared he'd made the right decision in waiting for the situation to change, as the current situation proved that there was never a need to go as far as killing.

On top of being polite, however, she was also a fast runner, and quickly vanished off into the distance. Ah, this was bad. At this rate, he was going to lose them. He'd put in so much effort into tracking Milo down, and if he ends not returning to that high school, then he'd have to start the search over again from scratch! He screamed at the top of his lungs, not caring if anyone heard him, for the sake of venting his frustration, and then proceeded to run like a madman in the direction the Milo had ran off. After running for a bit, his expression got worse and worse, as the longer it took for him to catch up, the more likely the chances that he would lose them. Fortunately, he soon chanced upon a convenience store, and glimpsed Milo's figure from within. But even as he slowed his pace down to a jog, his expression didn't get any better...

"First of all, I need you to calm down. No one followed you here, so you can relax, alright? Hey hey! Look at me, Look at me. You're fine. Just relax. Where'd you come from? And who's after you?"

Though Koyoko tried his best to reason with the panicked Milo, he would have little chance of calming the terrified child that now occupied his mind.

"I- I- I-" He hiccuped in fear.

Touko came skidding to a halt inside the doors of the convenience store and let out a despairing utterance when she saw the scene that surrounded her classmate. She had hoped she'd be able to catch up to Milo in time to avoid anyone else getting involved but as ever her misfortune conspired against her.

She couldn't just leave now. But explaining the truth about what had happened would only lead to more misunderstandings. Gritting her teeth and putting on her best 'confident face' she entered the conversation.

"Milo." She placed a hand on his shoulder and the albino boy jolted at her touch.

Once the phone connection was cut, the door opened again and another person entered. Gou felt like smacking his palm against his forehead. ”Did that idiot even listen…?” So this became another example to prove the point of that delinquent that Judgement was branded by incompetence. Was that really all that Judgement had to offer?

However looking at the person that had entered just now, gave Gou goose bumps of surpirise. ”You? Here?” As he spoke, surprise was to be seen all over his rough face.
He knew her. Memory of her name, though, was weak. They knew each other, had run into each other in the purest sense of the word and that was all. But meeting her again in especially that situation left an even greater impression on him, had he already sensed something weird about her. And indeed, she proved herself as an acquaintance of that foreign albino boy, who was at the centre of everyone’s attention for the moment. So how far was spiky hairs involved?

Gou would have loved to ask a question, if his phone didn’t start ringing all of a sudden. ”Don’t you think you’re kind of late calling me AFTER someone has entered!?”, he simply spat into his phone, giving off the full extent of his frustration. The answer he received, however, turned out to at least bring something new. ”Another person…?” Now this was interesting.
Immediately after receiving that information, Gou turned his head towards the entrance to take check the outside through the glass door and his glance met with another person’s. Sparks flew.

”That can’t be…”

Everything else didn’t matter.
It was as if a switch was turned around in the grey haired boy’s mind, he rose up from his kneeling position and began to walk towards the glass door slowly. No doubt…I remember that face… There was a blonde man with green eyes, not really tall, which was unusual considering he was an obvious foreigner, jogging outside the store watching them – or rather that scared boy – rather intensely.
For some reason the way he was acting and especially watching the scene from outside was very suspicious. However that wasn’t what caught Gou’s attention. The thing striking him the most was a simple memory he couldn’t get rid off. After all what happened back then had never left him...he had grown quite obsessed with it, to be honest.

So there was a simple action he took. He left the store and by that all of his responsibility, just to dart straight at that strange foreign man, once he was outside. Work? Responsibility? That albino boy? All that was forgotten within the glimpse of an eye it had taken to see that blonde man.
Now it was about time to settle the thing he wasn’t able to settle back then. He finally had to find out everything. ”It’s you from back then, right? Do you remember me?
Would you please be so kind to answer a few of my question!?”

A rather aggressive voice was enough to express how urgent he felt about all of those questions he had to wait so long for to ask. Really, Gou was growing very frightening all of a sudden.