A Certain Magical Index - Arc 2

July 20th

Running.

She had been running for so long. The cold air burnt her lungs as she drew sharp, gasping breaths. Her legs ached, threatening to give way beneath her with every step she took. The alleyway turned a tight corner and the girl's momentum carried her into the wall. She didn't stop, pressing off and hurrying down the path, her white habit bright in contrast against the grey concrete.

A dead end.

A high wall stood in Index's path and she spun, searching the alleyway around her for a way past when a nearby fire escape caught her eye. The ladder hung low and she jumped fruitlessly for it several times before managing to catch it with her fingertips.

Footsteps echoed in the darkness behind her. They weren't hurrying.

With a strength born from desperation Index hauled herself up onto the lower rung of the ladder and started to climb. The footsteps were getting closer. Up she climbed, her own footfalls rattling against the grating of the fire escape. Higher and higher until the sky opened up above her and she ran out of places to climb.

The flat roofed building offered little in the way of cover. She had nowhere to hide.

The pale haired girl looked out over the edge of the rooftop into the alley below. The distance to the next building wasn't too great. Steeling herself, Index took a leap of faith.

Her fate was in God's hands now.

Touko awoke to the morning sun on her face and she reached over to her phone to check the time.

With a lengthy groan the girl stood up, stretching her stiff and sleepy limbs. She rubbed her bleary eyes and yawned before gathering the mattress of her futon in her arms. The door slid open and Touko was greeted by the balmy summer heat as she stepped outside onto her small balcony.

"Huh?" She blinked, her eyes struggling to remain open as she looked at the thing draped over her balcony railing. "I must have already put my mattress out..." She uttered to herself in confusion before half turning away. It didn't seem to matter that she was still holding her mattress in her arms. The bundle of cloth moved and Touko stared with dull eyes as it lifted it's 'head'.

"I'm hungry." The bundle spoke. Index's wide eyed face stared up at Touko.

Welcome To The World Far Different From Science
*Opening Music*
In a city filled with Science, a foreign human walks among hometown students of Academy City. He was foreign in the sense that he was half Italian since this land was apart of Tokyo, Japan, but that was only one foreign aspect of this boy in black and purple. Science lives and breaths in Academy City, no thing and no person is untouched by it. It has advanced to the point that scientifically-powered humans have been created, a special type of human known as Espers. They had been blessed with the power of that allowed them to do as they wish according to the laws of science.

But

The laws of science did not apply to this boy and his kind.

Noise filled the air as soon as he got off the bus, and school uniforms were all around. This was a city full of schools, students are everywhere to be found here. The young man with green eyes walked his way through past the crowd full of students that were oblivious to the existence that he was. His everyday clothes stood out but there were students in this city that didn't wear uniforms so he wasn't too out of place. Standing on the pavement he thought to himself,

'This should be far enough'

The young man opened his eyes after thinking of the distance. He rested his back on a nearby poll with one foot on the ground and the other planted on the poll. His hand slipped naturally into his pants pocket, dug past a few objects and pulled out a blue flip-phone. The boy pressed several buttons on the keypad and placed it up to his ear. This scene displayed looks like a boy just stopping to use his cellphone after getting off the bus.

It was a common thing to do but that was only how things appeared. In reality, although the boy had pressed several buttons on the keypad, the phone wasn't on. Despite this, his began to speak

"Yo, this mission that you guys gave me was completed. My bad if it took so long, I was just enjoying myself. I'm sure you guys understand what I'm talking about. Doing those sort of things is my specialty and I take pride and joy in doing. So although we've worked together for a short time I know you've probably gotten a grasp of my character by now. The trash was left at their base, I'll leave it up to you guys to dispose of them how you usually do. Actually I've been meaning to ask how do you guys get rid of them after I'm done? I don't like getting left in the dark you know. Oh by the way, speaking of trash there isn't much of it left, just a big mess if you know what I mean. Sorry about that I really wasn't thinking of you guys. I guess your trash collector will just be cleaning up. Serves him right if you ask me with a position like that. Oh wait do you guys even have people take the 'trash' or do you just let Anti-Skill deal with it and leave them in a maze that they'll never solve? Yeah I think that's what happened last time. Wow, you guys sure don't care if I end up getting caught do you? Dammit, that isn't fresco at all. Anyways, how long do yo-"

His long train of never ending words had been cut off shortly. There wasn't a beeping sound since the phone wasn't on but he could sense it. Despite being hung up on, he didn't seem bothered in the slightest, that was because he was use to this. With a bitter smirk the boy removed himself from the poll and walked along the road filled with the children of Science. The phone wasn't used regularly because of the suspicion that they may be eavesdropped on.

Instead of naturally using the phone that it was supposed to be used, the young man with brown hair hand put in a series of codes that let him into an already open, set up and operating dimension of consciousness that was created by the receiver of the call. Basically, all that the boy had did was enter a password. With this explained, it can be said that this way of communicating does not follow the laws of science. That's because it's not and neither does this boy belong it. The reason is that this was a power completely different from science.

Something that didn't belong to it.

It was a completely different set of laws. It was something known through fairytales, games and TV, but this was reality.

He was a type of human different from an Esper

One that used these set of laws and killed for their own goals.

It was Magic

His name was Vanni

and he was a Magician!

Stiyl lifted his hand to his mouth and took a drag of his cigarette. The red haired mage sighed heavily as he exhaled.

"It's illegal to smoke in public here." The tall young woman informed him from her resting place against the wall. She observed him with a stoic expression. Her arms crossed, she presented a stony façade that was made all the more intimidating for her cold beauty.

"Hmm? Everywhere?" Stiyl raised an eyebrow, a small gesture that was easily missed. Kaori nodded. "Jeez. That's worse than back home." He groaned with distaste. At least in Britain you could smoke outdoors. Stiyl felt something knock against his legs and glanced down to see something resembling a rotating bin that hovered at his feet. "What the hell is this?"

"Smoking violation..." The machine buzzed in a mechanical voice.

"You should put it out." Kaori told Stiyl in no uncertain terms. "We don't want to attract any more attention than we need to."

"Right." Stiyl sounded less than enthusiastic as he dropped the cigarette to his feet and smothered it with his foot. "If we're going to find her we'll need to know the area better. Necessarius has several agents stationed here. We should rendezvous with them before making any bold moves." He reasoned. Kaori said nothing to disagree.

"I'm hungry." The girl repeated.

"..." Touko stared mutely. Was she hearing right? Her English skills were poor to say the least. For a second she thought she'd heard the girl speak Japanese.

"I said, I'm hungry." Touko wasn't hearing wrong at all. The girl really was speaking fluent Japanese.

Touko looked around in a dazed state, eventually noticing a stray packet of food. It was mid summer and the entire area had been suffering from a power outage that had rendered Touko's refridgerator useless. As a result that packet, whatever it had once been, was now no longer fit for human consumption. She picked it up.

Surely the smell alone would do the trick. If the girl didn't run for the hills at least it would clear her head. Touko held the 'food' out for the silver haired girl. The entire thing, along with Touko's hand was swallowed whole.

Touko let out a cry of pain.

Vanni closed the phone yet again, walking down the side walk of Academy City, the Magician had a rather displeased look on his face. He'd just been given another mission from Necessarius. This had not been so exciting as the previous, but he hoped he could make something out. More importantly, this mission felt a bit different, not just because it was an order to kill but because the tension he felt was incredibly odd. Vanni couldn't help feel that this assignment was completely different from others.

The Magician pondered to himself about what's the big deal about this.

It was to help two Magicians search around the City for something. That was all the information he had been given. That alone shows that this assignment was an abnormal....Was Necessarius done with him and had set up two Magicians to deal with him? After all he wasn't a real member, he was still an enemy of that church.

Keeping that in mind, Vanni prepared himself for a possible battle. They know of his type of magic so Necessarius might have sent out Magicians that specialize in killing Luciferian Magicians. That was bad...if that's the case then confront them would be the wrong move so escaping upon seeing the slightest bit of killing intent would be the best move. The meet up point was closing in, sweat dropped from the side of Vanni's forehead. He tried his best to keep his cool.

In the worst case scenario he could use that fact that he is in enemy territory to his advantage. With that bit of reassurance, Vanni turned the final corner. As expected, he had been met with two Magicians...they didn't fit in very well. One was a red-haired man with a ciggaret, barcode under his eye and the rob of a priest. He was obviously a flame Magician, the small bit of heat he gave off and his red-haired signified the type of Magic he was aligned to.

Beside him was a very beautiful and cool-looking woman with long hair, a pair of jeans with one leg missing, revealing her leg and her white shirt revealing her wait and navel. There was also the very long samurai sword to her side. Vanni knows that this is for magical purposes but nevertheless this style of clothing was very sexy-
Before Vanni's mind could enter into to the dark side from this woman's perfect figure, he realized something. The boy's mind froze like ice, all function had been ceased.

"Wait....."

He remembered.....at Necessarius, there is a very dangerous flame Magician at the Archbishop's side. He's not possive if this is the one but...there's something he knows for sure.

A long-haired asian woman with a samurai sword in Necessarius. She is a being that exceeds the regular Magician. She is said to be a Saint!!!

A Saint...they were people that are said to be born with a very small fraction of power from the Son of God. Their power is monstrous like no other. They can be said to be like the same as the Nuclear Missiles that the Science Side posses. That is how strong they are......The idea of Vanni escaping is long gone. He can only hope that their mission isn't to kill him, no....a Saint isn't needed to take him down, that's just overkill.

Just what the hell kind of mission is needed for her!?

".....So is Necessarius really suspicious of Academy City that they need to bring in more Magicians here? I hope I'm not getting kicked out of the job. That wouldn't be very fresco you know?"

The boy spoke despite the hand in his pocket shaking.

"Just joking, so what is it that you're here looking for? Did a Magic God suddenly pop up here?"

Vanni joked,....somewhat

".....So is Necessarius really suspicious of Academy City that they need to bring in more Magicians here? I hope I'm not getting kicked out of the job. That wouldn't be very fresco you know? Just joking, so what is it that you're here looking for? Did a Magic God suddenly pop up here?"

"That's none of your concern." Stiyl eyed the boy warily. He reached into his pocket for another cigarette only to see Kaori's stern look from the corner of his eye. He sighed half heartedly and continued. "What is your concern is how we're going to find it."

He looked down at the boy trying to retain his composure. Vanni's fear, though well masked, didn't escape Stiyl's attention.

"Ugh. They sent a rookie to help us." He looked back at Kaori, assuming that it was nervousness that wracked the teenager as opposed to fear for his life. "What are you so scared of, anyway?" He asked, shifting his head to one side as though to examine Vanni from another angle. No matter how he positioned himself though, his height meant that he was perpetually looking down his nose at the shorter boy.

Vanni winced his eyebrows, thats right, he wasn't an official member of Necessarius so there's no way he would be informed about something that needed a Saint. It's just a small case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Despite getting his question kicked to the curb, Vanni kept a neutral expression.

"Oh it wasnt that I was scared...just that I was nervous about being around such an attracrive woman, especially with all the girls in this city mostly in school uniforms."

He obviously reffered to the long-haired female beside the flame magician. He wasn't great at lyinh but he had hoped that it was enough.

"I'm Vanni, a pleasure to work with you. But the name of a low level member dosent matter right? I hope not to drag you guys down. Although you guys could atleast tell me if this something is human right? It would be very fresco of you two if you could also tell me where you last saw it."

He relaxed just a bit, perhapes he could get something out of this whole affair. The boy finished with a smirk. He looked up at the two Magicians taller than himself.

"Oh it wasnt that I was scared...just that I was nervous about being around such an attracrive woman, especially with all the girls in this city mostly in school uniforms. I'm Vanni, a pleasure to work with you. But the name of a low level member dosent matter right? I hope not to drag you guys down. Although you guys could atleast tell me if this something is human right? It would be very fresco of you two if you could also tell me where you last saw it."

The red haired boy snorted reluctantly.

"You're right in thinking it's human. A young girl to be precise. About this tall, with silver hair and white robes." He held his hand around his waist to illustrate his point. "Last time we saw her we were pursuing her through this area." He looked around as though surveying the area on the off chance their quarry reared her head. "The point is, she'll stand out. So we need to comb the area for any unusual activity."

Stiyl jerked his head towards Kaori.

"And I'd think twice before hitting on her. She's no ordinary schoolgirl." He said, unaware that their reputations had preceded them.

"So let me get this straight..." Touko sat across from the strange foreign girl. "You ended up on my balcony because you tried to jump onto the roof from the building next to this one."

Index nodded.

"Because someone's trying to kill you." Touko continued, sounding ever more sceptical. Her arms folded in front of her gave a clear enough indication of how she felt.

The silver haired girl nodded again in confirmation. Far from how a normal person would react to such knowledge, she seemed perfectly happy despite knowing her life was in danger.

"I got hit before I could make it though." She was smiling innocently still in a way that made Touko wonder if she was entirely there mentally.

"Hit?" The spiky haired teen asked.

"Hmm? Oh. It's nothing." Index waved away any concerns. "This clothing has a defensive boundary effect." She said without clarification.

"Defensive boundary? Is that a kind of body armor?" She asked before considering. Why was she asking questions of someone speaking nonsense anyway? Before Index could answer Touko decided to change the topic. "Anyway. What's this about someone trying to kill you?" She asked.

"I don't know." She didn't sound too bothered either. "Possibly the Golden Dawn or some other magic cabal." She said bluntly.

"Ma-magic?" Touko's expression was frozen in an appeasing smile.

"That's right." Index confirmed. "Magic."

Touko laughed.

"Look. I'm familiar with wierd powers, but magic? I can't believe it." She shook her head with a slight laugh. As though the very idea was ridiculous. "It's just another way people try to explain the world around them. Like 'Fate'." She reasoned. "I can't believe in something without scientific evidence."

Still, that wasn't entirely correct. Touko herself possessed a power that defied explanation.

"We should split up." Kaori said coolly. She spoke with a clipped, harsh tone, like a commanding officer issuing orders to his troops.

Stiyl raised his eyebrow.

"If we are to search this area thoroughly we should take advantage of our numbers." She looked towards Vanni as though gauging his opinion. "Our target is only a girl." The unspoken implication was 'each of us alone should be more than enough to take care of her'. Kaori's fingers closed tightly around the scabbard of her sword. On close inspection it could be seen that her knuckles were whitening.

Stiyl noticed. Though her elegant exterior seemed as tranquil as an icy lake, he could tell that her burden was weighing heavily on her. He nodded in understanding, the gesture carrying a double meaning between the two of them.

"In that case I'll conduct a search of the general area. You two focus on the most likely spots for her to hide." Stiyl turned to leave with only those words.

***

He arrived on the rooftop where he had last seen the girl take flight. Crouched on the edge of the building, Stiyl looked down at the alleyways below.

She could have landed anywhere...

Still, the walking church's defensive boundary would have protected her from the fall. There was still the possibility she had managed to find shelter somewhere in one of these buildings.

The red haired mage took a drag from his cigarette. At least up here those machines couldn't bother him.

Vanni nodded at the flame haired magician's suggestion, it was true that the sword woman didn't seem like the type to fool around. Of course that was only what he could tell. She might actually be extremely cute, but that's just his imagination. She was as Saint afterall

"Well with the three of us working together his should be a piece of cake. I'll contact you immediately If I spot her. You can trust me in keeping her in good condition, I don't particularly like getting rough with girls, but if it's come to having to use you two then she must definitely not be normal. So it would probably be a big mistake if I took her too. I'll keep it as fresco as possible."

The magician finish his overly long comment before walking off. He was more at ease now, the idea of him being killed had passed away. Magicians weren't trained assassin's. These kind of people would just kill him on the spot without playing any games.

With one hand in the pocket of his purple pants, the boy walked nonchalantly near around the next corner. In this city there were many places where one can use for a quick escape, of course Vanni wasn't so skilled with this terrain as a gang of level 0s. What was their name again? Well it didn't matter, the magician had some decent enough knowledge..

His green eyes scanned passed the obvious and ignorant students.

The 'girl' shouldn't be a resident of this city so all Vanni had to do was not think about those certain hiding and escape routes. He just had to remember locations that were obvious ''safe areas' that anyone would go to when it caught their eye.

"Magic really exists!" Index insisted. Touko couldn't wipe the sceptical look from her face no matter how hard she tried.

"Alright! I'll show you."" Index jumped to her feet. Touko leapt back, startled and the small girl marched to the kitchen. She took a knife from the drawer. Touko froze. What did she plan to do with that knife?

"This clothing is the ultimate defensive barrier. A 'Walking Church'." She said proudly.

"Oh. I see." Touko said as though it made sense to her before the words sunk in. "Look, enough of this weird terminology. It's too confusing!" Touko raged. "Explain it in a way I can understand!"

"This clothing involves all the essential elements of a Church, so it can be called 'a Church in the shape of clothes'! The cloth-weaving, the line-stitching, even the embroidery. Everything was carefully planned! A mere kitchen knife can‘t hurt me at all!" Index explained as simply as she could. Touko looked as confused as ever, having given up on understanding a at 'Church in the shape of clothes'.

"You still don't believe me..." Index frowned and began to launch into another rant. Touko interrupted her.

"Enough! If your clothes really are magic then what do you need that knife for?" She asked.

"Stab me." Index insisted, thrusting the handle of the knife at Touko.

"What!? No!" Touko looked appalled at the suggestion. "Look, if your clothes really are magic there's one way of testing it." Index looked at her oddly. "If I touch it with my hand, they'll disappear. Right?" She flexed her fingers.

"Assuming your power is real." Index lifted her nose with a huff.

I'll take that bet! Touko reached out and...

Like grasping at clouds, she felt something pass through her fingers.

Index screamed.

***

A few moments later Index was fiddling under the sheets to repair her robes. She stood up finally. The large safety pins held it intact enough, the loose material draping over her like a sheet.

"Uhh..." Touko was about to think of something to say when her phone beeped with a reminder and she flipped it open. A jolt of adrenaline rushed through her body and she ran for the door.

"I've got to get to class." She explaiend hurriedly on her way to the door. "If you want you can stay here..." She wasn't normally this altruistic. In fact this entire time she'd been thinking of a way to get rid of the strange girl. But now she felt a little responsible for her. She sighed. The first day of Summer and she had to go to remedial classes due to poor performance.

"No need." Index hopped from Touko's bed. "There are still people searching for me." She said.

"Wait! Then that's even more reason for you to hide here!" Touko tried to reason with her. "If someone really is chasing you then how can I let you risk your life?" She asked. But Index had already gone.

July 20th

Clouds of Darkness spawned covering the twinkling stars in the sky.
Figures in the dark surrounded the little boy, leaving no room to escape.

Hands had deliberately grabbed a hold of the boy, restricting his movement capabilities. Struggling to run, he wondered why they had come after him? Was he some kind of target? Being violently thrown and strapped onto some kind of a patient chair you would find at the dentist's, his body numbed slowly. A needle had surged into his right arm, injecting some sort of drug. He shrieked, attempting to call for help but no one would answer. Only the laughter of these heartless figures were heard. A drill was now seen in one of their hands, marking their focus onto the middle of boy's chest cavity. He started yell even louder for someone to rescue him. But still no one would answer.

He still persisted by trying his best to move anyway he could, but that needle injected had already started to take affect. It was too late, his whole body had now become numb. Sweat had dripped down this boy's face. The loudness of the drill was getting closer and closer, approaching his chest. With one big plea at the brink of death, his lungs exploded in fear.

The buzzing sound of an alarm clock was heard.

The boy in bed shot up to grasp a hold of reality. Sweat and heavy breathing seemed to be the result of his awakening. The eyes from his dull looking face shifted to the angered alarm clock beside his bed only to see the blinking numbers of the current time: 7:30 AM. The same time that he set his alarm clock to go off every morning of the week.

"A dream, huh....."

Violently hitting the snooze button, strength has left his body as he fell on his bed once again.

Conserving energy was the biggest factor of his life. If there was something he was asked to do, he would completely ignore it or do it in the least possible effort to conserve whatever energy is at loss. But he wasn't only known as a Energy Conserver, other people would call him an Esper.

Espers are unique individuals who are able to manipulate their minds to perform supernatural abilities whereas a regular human can't. Espers are most commonly found in a science biased city called Academy City. As the name suggests, it's a city comprised of mostly students attending universities, colleges, schools. These students, who underwent the Power Curriculum Program, are ranked from Level 0 to 5 with Level 5 being the group of people who are able to perform the strongest esper abilities by manipulating their own minds without difficulty.

Something had gently touched both sides of the boy's still sleeping face. There at that moment, the boy had broke from his everlasting sleep only to see someone else's face. It was the pure innocent face of a crimson eyed woman with mysterious blonde hair flowing down her bright red cheeks. It was then he finally realized that this person was his own 20 year old sister who had immorally mounted on top of him underneath his blanket. Her sexy black lingerie had sensually rubbed against his t-shirt. Both of her hands had rubbed the sides of the boy's face. Her voluptuous lips came closer and closer to the point where only a wall of air had separated both of them.

In his casual irritated tone, he quietly mumbled,

"Aneki........."

WHACK!

In the next moment, the pissed off boy was wide awake with his sheer cold fist clenched tightly. The pervert woman sat helplessly on his bedroom floor, tightly covering her recently received head bump.

"Getting into my bed naked so early in the morning in my own bed.... Just what the hell kinds of sick and twisted things were you exactly thinking of doing......"

The cold voice spoke out to the woman being 4 years maturer from him. Fake tears formed on her face, while sarcastically pouting as she tried her hardest to look innocent.

"Owwwwww~ That really hurt! You weren't waking up, no matter how many times I called you! So I thought of something more interactive~ But I wasn't kidding you wouldn't wake up, look its 8:20 already. Don't you have to go to school today???"

"Ughhh.... Can't you think of anything less perverted? I'll be down in a bit, just let me get ready...."

She did make a good point. His University level classes were starting at 9:00 am sharp, and it would get quite annoying for him if he turned up late. This boy was expected to attend classes especially for the reason that he was a Level 4 ranked Esper. His older sister stood up to return downstairs to prepare breakfast, while leaving the boy to get ready for his day....

Deep in thought about his reason to continue his daily life, he wondered why he remained alive to this day. Even after all the hardships he's faced with his losses, and the little confidence he acquired from his gains.

"After what I've done in my past.... I don't deserve to live this meaningless life..."



Age 0
"Yulus-san, What do you think we should name him?" - A woman, in her 30's, rest comfortably in a hospital bed while holding a small infant in her arms. She looked up to the man beside her awaiting his answer.

"What we both agreed on, of course." He smiled.

"Ah that's right..... From this day, your name will be Haragi. Haragi Faye." She cuddled the small infant in her arms.


Age 2
"I did it Hanaka!" - The elder man had sprung up in joy.

"That's great, Yulus-san!"

"I know, I'll be able to discover so much being made in charge of the research project between AIM and other forms of energy. If I can dig deep far enough, I can find out the connection hidden beneath them!"

Age 4
"What do you mean he's gone?" - The woman responded to the phone call.

"I'm sorry, Hanaka... But we sent out many search parties to find him. No one found any trace of him." The man had replied through the phone.

"No.... He promised me he would come back.... He said he would be there for Haragi and Kaede's Future!" Tears formed and dripped down the woman's face as she broke apart.


Age 9

"Congratulations, Haragi Faye. You're ranked Level 2 as of today. You seem to be able to manipulate certain molecules in the air and trigger small sparks from them. There isn't many like you who can do that." The Power Curriculum adviser placed his hand over the boy's head.

"Manipulate molecules?" The small boy had asked in confusion.


Age 11

The black mop haired boy had knelt down before a harmless cat. Using his hands to tell the animal to come his way, a mysterious figure from afar smirked and pressed a peculiar button.

"Now, let's see how much you've grown Haragi...."

From that moment, the innocent boy heard a distinct ear shattering screech. His whole body trembled, while trying to pull apart his own face from the pain-staking noise. This feeling that surged through him was unbearable, as though it was ripping him apart inside.

The next thing he knew he woke up in front of utter chaos. There was no explanation to what had happened, only the remnants of blood and destruction before him. The cat he once saw was not present anymore.

3 Days later...

The boy in unbelief, stood in front of what seems to be a corpse with a blanket covered from his view. A group of Academy City's officials approached him.

"Your mother's loss was unfortunate. But however we can offer you to harness and control that hidden power you may have. Help us, help you so that something as horrible as this doesn't ever happen again."

"B-b-but Mom! She can't be gone! She wouldn't leave me like that so soon!!!" The boy's clothes were heavily drenched in blood, struck by denial.

"Haragi Faye, your mother died because of you. Accept that fact. The only thing you can do now is act upon correcting your actions as much as you can."


Age 14

"Haragi Faye, you will now be known as the Level 4 Solid Air. You have reached the extents of your Personal Reality for now and can go back to attending public school. But Academy City's Dark Side requires your assistance. It would be best to cooperate if you know what's best for you and your remaining family. Plus you may gain something out of doing this as well, like the mystery behind that distinct screech 3 years ago."

"Forcing me to go to some shitty institute for 3 years... Now threatening me to join some anonymous organization called the Dark Side, huh?"


Present Day (Age 16)

Arriving at the kitchen table, the black haired teenager set his eyes laid upon the fully prepared breakfast made by none other than his elder sister. Other than being incestually perverted, Kaede Faye had cooking skills matching the expertise of a chef working in a 5 star restuarant. Food made by his siblng was probably one of the only things he looked forward to about her. Kaede was also attending medical college in Academy City, working to become a doctor. Being a Level 2 Esper, her powers were solely relied on bending matter & molecules. So things like healing broken bones or stopping blood loss would be effective by her powers. She had her dreams set on becoming as highly skilled as the one known as the "Heaven Canceler". To be honest, he should be known as the Frog Faced Doctor due to many obvious reasons.

Suspiciously glaring at the moe-esque clothes Kaede was wearing with a cooking apron over it, Haragi pulled beside the chair. Kaede glanced over to her little brother across the table with suggestive eyes.

"Oh~ You woke up pretty late today. Did you dream of anything extra special? Me, perhaps?~"

Biting off a piece of the toast, he scoffed nonchalantly.

"Anything, but you. What about you? Don't you have to go to your classes soon too?"

"Oh me? My classes are canceled today. Sooooo if you want, I can go to school with you and show everyone how much of a 'loving' sister you have?~"

"I'll pass...."

The woman pouted like a innocent little girl in disappointment while folding her arms.

"Fuu~ You're no fun at all."

Without even realizing, Haragi had finished whatever that was left on his platter. He rose from the table, and grabbed his leather bag to head for his classes. It was 8:35 am, and it will take 20 minutes to walk to his school. So he should be able to make his class in just in time if he leaves now.

"I'm leaving.... Don't enter my room without my permission...."

A stroke of unbelief gathered onto the look of Kaede's face. It had seemed as she didn't expect Haragi to notice. The boy sighed in dissatisfaction as he left the front doors to head out into unwanted public. Minding his own business, he didn't want to heed any concern to those around him. This was the best method to conserving his energy, rather than losing it like the average person usually would.

He had spent the last hour combing the streets from the rooftops. It was a foolhardy strategy to remain so out in the open, but necessity had forced his hand. Still, he had managed to deduce that the girl was not on street level. That meant, given the situation she'd likely have taken shelter somewhere around here. She was exhausted and alone in an unknown environment. She wouldn't have gotten far.

Stiyl stepped out onto the street, turning the corner with a powerful stride that put him face to face with the blue haired young man who had just emerged from the apartment block. Stiyl didn't budge an inch, resolutely standing his ground.

"You." He said abruptly. "Have you seen a girl this high, silver hair and white robes?" He asked without a hint of courtesy to his voice.

***

Kanzaki followed quietly behind Vanni, her stern gaze scanning the area like a hawk. While anywhere else her peculiar clothing might attract unwanted attention, here it seemed she almost blended in. At the very least her presence didn't seem to be compromising their mission. Only the katana in her hand attracted the occasional odd stare.

Though she seemed calm, her constant state of alert made her awkward company. She spoke at last when the boy had come to a stop.

"Have you any ideas yet?" She asked. Her neutral tone made it difficult to hide the tension in her voice.

Rays of the burning hot sun shone down onto Haragi, as he consumed the fresh air around him. It was already 8:40 am, and his morning lectures start at 9:00 am sharp. Usually he leaves the house around 8:20 am, but his own laziness convinced him into sleeping more than he should have. If he continued to walk at a regular pace, he would barely make it to class. That's assuming if there's no interference in between ideally.

Suddenly the thought of the events from exactly one month ago appeared in his mind. June 20th: His last assignment given to him by Academy City's Dark Side. The whole purpose of the assignment was to stop a unidentified intruder from getting his hands on sensitive data about Academy City. In the end, Haragi had barely defeated him with the aid of Accelerator thus completing his mission. But one peculiar thing from that event bugged him even today. How does one use enhanced powers without the help of their own Personal Reality? One side of Haragi wanted to explore this possible mystery and another didn't want to bother risking losses of his own if he did find out something. Academy City Dark Side promised the Level 4 Esper one thing, and that was the mystery behind the distinct screech from 3 years ago that ended up causing Haragi to act relentlessly. Though nothing he has done so far for Academy City's Dark Side gotten him close to figuring that the meaning of that screech. If there was a connection with whatever that intruder used to perform his supernatural abilities and that screech, then Haragi wouldn't hesitate to look deeper.

Another thing was that he hasn't been assigned to any sort of mission for a while. Were they finally giving Haragi a break? No, not likely. However looking into this would probably end in further trouble for sure.

Walking along the road, something had stood in the way causing the esper to stop right in his tracks. It was actually a person with a jet black priest gown standing his own ground, expecting something from the esper. His red hair hung from his shoulders, while his face gave a grimacing look. The distinguishing bar code tattoo underneath his right eye along with various ear piercing as well as smoking a cigarette butt caused Haragi to give a feeling of disgust. Not only this sketchy figure blocked Haragi from continuing to class, but he held a photo of a young girl and abruptly spoke,

"You. Have you seen a girl this high, silver hair and white robes?"

Within the boy's mind, he questioned this man's sudden presence. "Who the hell does this guy think he is blocking my way to school..... Now he's asking me if I seen a girl I don't even know about? Judging by his appearance... it looks he's from some kind of circus? No that can't be it, Academy City only gets the circus groups during the yearly Daihasei Festival... Then he's some kind of priest representing a cultist church? Is he one of those perverts looking for some children to 'play' with?"

The slight sigh came from the boy's mouth, as he continued to walk around and past the man with no concern at all. With a blank expression on his face, he coldly said,

"I have no intention of helping a perverted circus freak lolicon find a girl for his own twisted pleasure.... Not only that... you just wasted my fucking time...."

This was Haragi's ideal way of conserving his energy, doing something that takes the least effort as possible if he is forced to do so.

"Huh?" Stiyl looked more confused than anything. With his grasp of Japanese best described as 'adequate', he barely seemed to register the words as an insult. and even then only from the sharp tone of the boy speaking them.

His fingers tightened, the desire to ignite his flames was difficult to ignore, much less quell completely. He only wanted to scare the little brat...

No.

He restrained himself. His hand relaxed.

"Just answer the question." He sounded in no mood to be fooled with.

***

The sun beating down from above was unrelenting. Guy tugged at the collar of his shirt and fanned himself, unbuttoning the shirt slightly.

He sat at his window, watching as a large black cat landed on the sill. It curled it's feet underneath its body, the bushy tail wrapping around its base as it looked up at him with wide green eyes. Since he had moved to the city little over a month ago the peculiar animal had been paying him regular visits each morning.

He had always felt a certain affinity for cats. He laid down a small plate of diced meat. The cat gave the food an appraising stare, as though deciding whether the dish was worth its attention or not. It sniffed at it before looking up at Guy with a look resembling disgruntlement.

"So what's the news today, kitty-cat?" The young man asked, scratching the cat's ears. The cat continued to fix him with a displeased glare.

***

Some time later and Guy stepped out of his apartment door. He smiled. Why wouldn't he? The day was his to do with as he pleased. The first day of Summer meant the first day of holidays for teachers as well. Not only that, but he was getting his first pay-cheque today.

A good thing too, he thought. Komoe and the others were getting impatient for him to pay them back. At this point they were more like mobsters or loan sharks threatening to break his legs than friends offering a helping hand. In the last month alone he'd racked up a considerable debt, a fact not helped by his tendency to gamble on his much famed 'luck'. Luck that seemed to vanish whenever it came to women or money.

Or both in this case.

"Just answer the question."

The serious tone from his voice ringed inside the Esper's ears. It seemed like he would go to the deepest extents of his power to find this girl. Was he that desperate, coming out of nowhere and asking a random teenager the whereabouts of some girl he didn't even know about?

The boy had sighed in annoyance, thinking he would be able to get rid of him by telling him off.

There was something else that Haragi noticed, that was this man's Japanese pronounciation was a bit off. Was he a foreigner? That would explain the awkward getup and the weird face painting he has underneath his eye. Not only that, he didn't even seem to react to Haragi's insult as much as he expected the man would. This man didn't seem like the type to be completely passive. Could it be that he didn't understand Japanese to a certain extent?

If that was the case, then it couldn't be helped. The boy took out his cell phone and opened his International Audio Translator Application. The default language to be translated into was set to English (assuming that this man would understand English being the official International Language after all), all he needed to do was to speak into his phone to get a desired result. He held the phone to his mouth, and quietly mumbled something into it.

He then held the phone high and towards the man behind him, letting out an automated female voice speaking in Fluent English.

"Sorry, let me tell you again in a more convenient way. I don't want anything to do with a perverted pedophilic priest such as you. Please stop wasting my time before I get even more fucking irritated."

Index sat on the park bench, her feet swinging as she looked around at the people who filled the place. Everywhere around her there were people blissfully going about their everyday lives and for a moment she could almost forget that she was being hounded by pursuers. She smiled weakly to herself. It was the kind of day that would make someone want to spend it with their loved ones.

If she'd had any.

The heat was terrible. A fact not helped by the still air that made the fierce heat all the more oppressive. Index tugged at the collar of her robes. White was supposed to be good on hot days, wasn't it? She pouted, wiping her brow with a sigh. If her enemies didn't finish her off this weather surely would. Exhausted and dehydrated, Index slumped back into the bench and stared longingly at the passing children holding ice creams in their hands.

Trystan turned the corner on the path, breathing heavily as he ran. At the moment, he was doing stamina training, using four of his hansha as inhibitors, blocking his forwards momentum at his shoulders and knees, instead of boosting his own speed. Because they were such a drain to use for prolonged periods of time, he had needed to resort to this sort of method to boost his already significant stamina; all those years spent living in the mountains weren't just for show, after all. However, even that stamina wasn't enough to keep him going continuously for any significant period of time when going at full power - he simply didn't have enough stamina and mental focus to keep going at such a pace. After his first serious run-in with Skill-Out as a (volunteer) member of Judgement, he had had to take this simple fact into consideration. Even now, he could only go for about three-quarters of a mile before having to stop to take a rest. This wasn't to say though that he hadn't improved the slightest during this time; he could only go for one-quarter when he had first started.

Still...he must have looked like a total pansy to all the older grandpa's and grandma's slowly jogging around the park. Inhaling deeply, Trystan prepared himself for the final stretch of the day, activating his remaining two hansha and restraining his feet.

Last burst!

Brows furrowing, Trystan's eyes had the obvious glint of a burning fighting spirit. A retired-boxer-recently-turned-trainer who had happened to be sitting nearby noticed this immediately, and fixed his eyes expectantly on this strangely dressed individual in front of him. Who wore Asiatic clothing in the open anyways, in this day and age?! Completely unaware of the individual observing him, Trystan gave a loud kiai, before launching himself forwards, rocketing off at the blazing pace of a snail slipping in it's own mucus. Obviously put off, the trainer had pulled his head back slowly, a weird expression on his face, as Trystan slowly inched forwards. As he walked off, the trainer mumbled to himself about how today's fighters were all trash.

A full 10 meters later, an entirely drained Trystan collapsed onto a bench, which just so happened to have another person sitting on it. His vision was blurred, and his voice would surely slur, so he simply sat down in silence, whipped out his water bottle, and chugged a few mouthfuls of the contents before he could ask the individual if the seat was taken. It was a serious breach of courtesy, but, well, if it was actually reserved the other person would say something, right? After a moment and calming his breathing down enough to speak evenly, Trystan re-composed himself before turned weakly towards the person next to him.

"Excuse this one's insolence in not asking before seating himself, but this one hopes that he has not disturbed the honored -"

...A girl?

"- lady by placing himself here."

He flushed slightly, if that were at all possible to see beneath his already flushed face, as he realized that it probably wasn't for the best for someone so unkempt like him to be seated next to someone who looked like they were from the clergy. He'd get up and move if she objected but...

Pleasedon'tmakemegetupmylegsarelikejellyrightnowpleasepleaseplease

"Sorry, let me tell you again in a more convenient way. I don't want anything to do with a perverted pedophilic priest such as you. Please stop wasting my time before I get even more fucking irritated."

The voice droned. The odd exchange had drawn its fair share of onlookers. Stiyl's stoic exterior cracked unexpectedly. But rather than the bark of anger Haragi may have been expecting his lips spread in a wry grin that looked rather arrogant on his face.

"Huh. I guess I shouldn't have expected any more from the kids in this city." It wasn't really all that different from home in many ways. The priesthood wasn't the respected institution it had once been. He shrugged as he passed the boy, seemingly content to let the insult pass. It wouldn't do to ignite an incident here in front of all these bystanders.

It wasn't long before Haragi would receive a call. The voice on the other end addressed him tersely as they explained the situation. More intruders in Academy City. So far only one identified. They uttered a very distinctive description. A man with red hair and black robes. Haragi was to trail and subdue the target for further questioning.

Stiyl was gone. But he couldn't have gotten far...

"Excuse this one's insolence in not asking before seating himself, but this one hopes that he has not disturbed the honored - lady by placing himself here."

Index could barely manage a response, her head rolling to look at the man who had taken a seat next to her. She stared at his water bottle, fixated on it and the sweet, refreshing water inside. She remembered the taste of water on a hot Summer's day and swallowed hard.

The two of them looked rather pathetic, sitting slumped on a bench with barely enough energy between them to speak properly.

"It's OK..." Index managed to croak out of a parched throat.

"It's OK..."

Trystan started slightly, or rather, started as much as he possibly could given his current physical state, when the girl rolled her head towards him. He could only stare in wonder at how...dehydrated she looked. If she was feeling this uncomfortable, then wouldn't it be best if she got something to drink? Or perhaps not stay out under the sun? As he continued to pant, he noticed that the girl was staring at him as well. To be accurate, she wasn't staring at him - she was staring at the water bottle in his hands.

He turned to look towards the water in his hands as well. There was still well over half of the bottle left. He turned to look back at the girl. He was parched too, but, from the look on her face, he wouldn't be surprised at all if she suddenly passed out from dehydration right here and now in front of him. He couldn't be called a Just Man if he couldn't even suck it up right now and share his water with the poor girl! Taking one last swig from the bottle, he held it out towards her.

"Would the honorable lady like some? Oh but -"

He hurriedly added an addendum to his statement.

" - only if the honorable lady doesn't mind that this one has already drunk from the mouth...This one can go fetch a paper cup from one of the vendors here if it is objectionable..."

A certain brown-haired girl walked out of Green Mart with a look of utmost boredom on her face. The heat in the air was suffocating and the contrast from the air-conditioned store made it even worse. She had spent some of her day there, reading and re-reading certain mangas as an excuse to stay inside. As much as Mikoto enjoyed mangas however, boredom nagged at her after a few hours. The store keeper had kept throwing dirty looks as well, for the Tokiwadai girl had idled around without purchasing anything (as usual). Not that Mikoto really cared what other people thought… Or so she told herself.

Deciding that she needed some kind of relief from the heat, Mikoto headed towards the certain vending machine she visited on an almost daily basis.

The Electromaster looked into the machine, observing the cold cans of drinks inside. As a city of experimentation, there were all sorts of flavours to choose from: black soybean cider, pineapple-grape, sugary peach, pomegranate cola… The options changed every week too, and Mikoto could almost honestly say that she has tried most of these sodas.

The reason?

Mikoto didn’t find the need to pay for the drinks from this vending machine. After all, the faulty machine had eaten her 10,000 yen bill during her first year in Tokiwadai. It was only fair (and very justified in her mind) that it gave her free drinks.

She jogged up and down on the spot in front of the vending machine, loosening her joints. The only problem with her method was that Mikoto couldn’t choose what she wanted, but it only made it more interesting for her.

What will I get today?

With much practice precision and speed, Mikoto suddenly spun on the spot, bringing her leg up to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to the side of the machine. Her skirt lifted slightly to reveal her sports shorts underneath.

“CHASER~!”

Her accompanying cry was followed by a metallic clang as a can fell down. Mikoto crouched down to pick it up, smiling at the coldness of the can’s surface.

Apple cider.

It was a good choice on a hot day like this one: nice and refreshing. It would definitely clear her head.

After opening the can, Mikoto immediately began to gulp down the drink vigorously. After a few loud swallows she let out a loud exclamation of satisfaction. Visiting the vending machine had definitely been a great idea.

Feeling content, Mikoto moved to a bench underneath a large tree. Sitting in the shade, she relaxed and continued to gulp down the cider noisily in a manner that one would consider rather unorthodox for a Tokiwadai lady.

The cell phone made it's way back into the boy's pocket, right after the message was voiced out loud and clear. Others roaming around set their eyes at the two after listening to the automated voice speaking in a foreign language. His cold serious expression broke apart, seeming unexpected to listen to such an insult. However he miraculously managed to keep calm, compared to most people, only to mumble something to himself before turning to leave. The boy was slightly impressed to how he passively took his insults head on. But that wasn't any of his concern for the time now. But it wasn't too long before this man was nowhere to be seen, finally out of Haragi's presence.

Immediately remembering he was about to run late, he swiftly grabbed his cellphone once again from his pocket. The time stated: 8:52 am. The whole unexpected conversation with the red haired man took well over 10 minutes. He was pretty much screwed at this point in terms of making it to class on time.

"Thanks to that retard of a man.... I'm gonna get quite of a nagging from the physics prof..... Grr... What a fucking pain...."

Remaining irritated, the cellphone in his hand vibrated indicating an incoming call.

"More delays?!.. Who the hell is calling me so early in the morning!"

The esper checked the caller ID only to see the 'Unknown' tag appear. Every call Haragi had recieved previously always had a name, be it person or organization. From that, Haragi could tell who was calling him... If Haragi had been a regular esper who attended school and hung out with friends on a daily basis, this particular call would have never existed within his reach. But since Haragi had agreed to join a certain organization for the safety of his sibling as well as determining the cause of what had triggered his regretful actions in the past, he was given a duty to carry out various assignments without question.

This organization had been called Academy City's Dark Side, something Haragi was forced to become apart of. There were other espers who were also apart of this organization, some who had done wrong within Academy City and are in debt of the damages they caused, and others who happened to provide their own esper powers as assets to use in return for something they want. Haragi was somewhere in between the two Initially being forced to join but for Academy City's own gain as well as to determine the truth behind his mother death. The truth behind his abrupt loss of control to cause her death. The truth behind that obscure screech to turn him into a rampaging monster.

His hands tightly gripped the cellphone while clenching his teeth in anger. It's almost been a month since this organization had last contacted him, so seeing them contact him again was inevitable. He truly didn't want to deal with them again since he had barely managed to survive last time only to have Accelerator luckily fight by his side. However in the end, Haragi had no choice, no matter how many times he wanted to resist working under them, he just couldn't bare to lose another member of his family.

Taking a long drawn sigh, his finger traced towards the answer button and held the phone to his ear.

"Uh.... Hello?"

"Haragi Faye?"

The voice of a male spoke out through the communication device, not being the same person from last time. But this was to be expected, Haragi had never spoken to the same person whenever he got assigned to a mission.

"Yes...."

"The Dark Side requires your assistance. Thus you have been chosen to track down several unidenitified individuals within Academy City."

"Intruders... Again??"

"Since you succeeded in your last assignment, it was most appropriate to assign you something similar. More information will be in the contents of a email that will be sent shortly. We expect you to cooperate and your next call regarding the results of the assignment."

"Sorry... But I got school to attend than doing your shitty work..."

"Do not fret, your make up lectures are already prepared. Good luck."

"Wai-"

Before Haragi could finish his sentence, the phone call had abruptly hung up. This had sent anger flowing through his veins, as the cruel desire of eliminating the dark side for his own cause had risen. As he was just about to hurl his phone onto the hard cement, his phone had begun to vibrate again indicating recieved email. That was, the contents of his assignment, giving what seems to be information about one individual so far. Not much was described but blurred image, and the description of his actions and appearance.

By careful observation, this image looks distinctly familiar to someone he had just spoke with before he was assigned to a mission. The blurred photo makes to be a red haired man with a black overgown. His actions were described to be consistently smoking as well as having a distinct barcoded tattoo underneath his left eye. This description and appearance looked strangely familiar.

There was no doubt now, Haragi's target was the man whom he told off moments ago. He recalled his earlier interaction with him, where he had wanted to know if the esper had seen a little girl who was in a nun's outfit. Was that girl wondering Academy City as well? What was his purpose for searching for her? It couldn't be just a simple lost child search if this red haired man was targetted by the higher ups. There was something much more hidden behind the scenes. However, that was not this esper's job to look into. All he was assigned to do was capture this man in for questioning. No such questions beyond that simple request.

However realizing that he had insulted the man for the wrong reasons, a little portion of his heart desired to apologize. But being the case the man was a target overlooks this fact.

"Now... Where did he go?? I spoke with him at least 5 minutes ago before I got the call... He couldn't have gone to far..."

Haragi's search begun, as he wandered back towards the direction he first spoke with him.