A Certain Scientist's Granddaughter

[LilyWitch]

Huh ya that would be an excellent jump off for actually Reaching Level 5 for Mitori wouldn't it and also part of why it wouldn't end up happening officially in Canon

Click to shrink...

Yep. Something I tried to hit there is that Level 5 isn't just about raw power of versitility, though it is somewhat about those, but also what you can bring to esper development, reaching SYSTEM and/or Aleister's real goals. For example, even Mugino Shizuri the Level 5 with the most "basic" power in canon (other than Gunha who I'm not counting due to being a gemstone) could use her ability to edit gene expression to do amazing things in medical science and in esper development. She just want's to be a homeless assassin for hire instead.

If Mitori can master this new aplication of her powers properly then she could do similar gene editing. Its what inspired me to take this route for Leveling her up.

This bit is super cute and answers something I was wondering about Misaki.

Part of the whole deal with Shokuhou not getting into Judgement and so forth in canon is that, well, going through official channels doesn't actually work very well to actually dole out justice or prevent injustice in Academy City. A lot of it really is a waste of time, especially when lives aren't in the balance. So while the rest of the family are in on the Judgement kick, and Mitori is just ready to jump at any chance to correct injustice, I was wondering where Shokuhou would fall on the spectrum in this new dynamic.

But yeah, her being reluctant to do so and dragged in by Mikoto via bribery and so forth makes perfect sense.

Click to shrink...

Thanks! yeah I'm trying to stick to canon's characterisation of Misaki as a 'nice' person but not someone who will stick her neck out a long way to help strangers. In the canon event this is based on she chooses not to help in large part because she doesn't think anyone would be lieve her anyway for example.

To be fair and clear only Mikoto is in Judgement. Tina's Multi Active Rescue is a seperate orginisation from judgment and anti-skill. More like a fire service mixed with a paramilitary as opposed to being kiddy cops or a cop/military hybrid. Dolly and Minori aren't interested in Judgement work either. You're right that Mitori is the type to set in with injustices but more like canon Mikoto. She doesn't want to do anything under Judgement's official umbrella.

 

[Shaseyu]

Name: Kihara Lifeline Mitori

Click to shrink...

Interesting that Mitori took 'Kihara', which Tina hates, as a part of her new family name.
I read it as a declaration of war. "We are the real Kiharas, not you. We're heroes and we'll stop your evil."

"Would it be possible for any electromaster to learn that technique!" Miss Hokaze asks, looking extremely excited at the idea.

Click to shrink...

The Dark Side of Academy City is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural...

 

[LilyWitch]

AN: Trigger Warning for Mentions of Child Death
Thursday, 1st of May 2003, One Year and 1 month before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
I rub my forehead to stave off the headache that looking at Shiokishi's latest set of revision demands for Project: Tarantula is threatening to cause. Normally I'd be able to bull through his mecha obsession and force him to accept something more practical for a single operator urban combat vehicle. However, with my support on the board shakier than ever before Shiokishi is aware that I need his good graces right now to maintain my own position. Unabara might be happy with me for putting an additional Level 5 in her school but we are both aware of how precarious Mitori's level is. If she gets caught underperforming then Unabara will drop me like a hot potato and blame everything on me. I can't rely on her until I solidify Mitori's standing somehow. There are a few potential avenues for her power development we are working on but I can't risk everything on Mitori's shoulders. Not even if she would thank me for it out of a desire to feel wanted and needed. I have to be better than that. Besides, I've already spent most of my remaining political capital on my apology to Miss Tatsuki.

So for now I have to entertain Shiokishi's ridiculous boondoggle of a tactical walker. If I ever find out what sycophant convinced Shiokishi that turrets are an outdated technology I will use them as experimental fodder for Mitori's theoretical ability to edit genetics. Honestly, the sheer ridiculousness of needing to spin the entire vehicle on 6 tiny points of contact to aim at anything outside a 90 degree arc. To say nothing of the requirement for a drone bay capable of carrying and launching drones I wasn't cleared to know the details of. Well. I can at least make some notes of my own before sending this down to the engineering lab for them to update their mock up design for testing. These legs are far too large and clunky. We need to shrink those down, move them mostly under the main chassis so that the gatling gun will have a wider range of fire. Then compensate for the added strain by giving it 8 legs instead of 6. Shiokishi will probably like making it look more like its namesake. He had loved the Type: Mantis afterall, even asked me to use it as a base for the FIVE_Over Railgun. Hmm. On that note. If we enlarge the drone bay, make it more bulbous… Like a spider abdomen. Then move the cockpit to the new abdomen. If Ghost in the Shell was a thing in this world they would probably sue me. Huh. That was a strange memory association. I wonder what Ghost in the Shell was? The name isn't quite right for a first life science project so probably an anime. No matter. My proposed redesign is still a boondoggle without a use case but at least it is more aesthetically pleasing.

I'm distracted from my sketching by the intercom from my new secretary. Miss Kaneko, cleared by Misaki's Mental Out at random intervals along with tracking bots programmed by Mikoto and I following her every online action just like all my personal staff following Byouri, is so far proving an able substitute for Mr Hamada after I dropped him in the District 21 reservoir with a pair of concrete shoes. She is much less dedicated to my vision, she sees this as just another job, but as Hamada demonstrated, zealousness is not always an asset.

"Dr. Lifeline, Security Director Nokleben is here with the Rehabilitation Serf from the Adult Correctional Facility."

I must have run over my time making revisions to Project: Tarantula if my next appointment is here. I press the intercom button on my desk connected to my waiting area.

"Thank you Miss Kaneko. Please send Dr. Nokleben and his companion right in."

I tune out Miss Kaneko's affirmative and focus on examining Dr. Tatsuki as Dr. Nokleben escorts her into my office and handcuffs her to the chair across my desk. It is easy to see her relation to Dolly and Minori's friend. They have the same dark straight hair, though the mother keeps her's in a sensible bob, and the same colour eyes. Miss Tatsuki obviously gets her fighting spirit from her mother. The woman is full of wiry strength and tense corded muscle even after a month in prison. She moves like a predator even when cuffed by her wrists and ankles. Her legs look like they could take a normal person's head off with a single kick.

On the other hand the young Miss Tatsuki seems to have taken most of her face from her father, now out of the hospital and fully recovered. He is working as the new head mortician with MAR following his being let go by Tatsuki General and Dr. Hishigata, the previous holder of that and several other job titles at MAR, fleeing my vengeance to Nakimoto's protection. So far he is settling in well, he seems to enjoy the variety of ways the dead bodies we bring him die. I let Mrs Tatsuki stew for a bit longer as I make a show of looking over her file from the Adult Correctional Facility which Dr. Nokleben hands me before he goes to stand unobtrusively in the corner.

Keitz Nokleben truly was a wonderful find during this restructuring. Misaki had picked him out of the applicants for the newly created job of heading MAR Research Lab's Internal Security, which coincidentally happened to also provide internal security to MAR proper. A doctorate in cybersecurity and experimental programming along with experience as a mercenary with Black Water. Normally the latter would have been a massive red flag but Misaki was able to confirm that he truly was repentant and wanted to do 'respectable' work now. He was a true believer in the promise of Academy City as an independent centre of learning and science while not being blind to its faults. An incredibly rare sight. Apparently the other project looking to poach him was Level 6 Shift so I count myself doubly fortunate to have snatched him up first.

Mrs Tatsuki is keeping an admirable hold on her emotions and her urge to speak despite her obvious nerves. That is good. If I am going to make use of her then I need to know she won't break unexpectedly. Her file from the ACF shows no remarkable incidents or unexpected visits. Though it could be doctored by Gensei or one of my other enemies, the lack of anything public is a good sign and I hope I would notice Gensei using his influence to do that. I put the file down and rest my chin on my hands. A frivolous exertion of Gravity Shift draws the light to my glasses in just the right way to make them flare ominously.

"Dr. Tatsuki. A pleasure to make your acquaintance properly. Do you understand why you are here?"

She clenches the armrests of her chair and grits her teeth.

"You purchased my community service contract from the City. So now I work for you until my sentence is up. Anywhere from 2 to 10 years depending on my parole hearings and your own reports of my work ethic."

Tiresome.

"That is the how Dr. Tatsuki, not the why. Please don't insult us both by pretending I saved you from trial before the International Court of Human Rights for something as pedestrian as to employ you."

"... My work on Radio Noise. It is common knowledge that you oppose the project and have some kind of distorted rivalry with your grandfather over it. You want to know the details of what my lab worked on after my subordinates burned the evidence. You must know that I don't know anything Dr. Kihara wants to keep hidden from you if I lived long enough to get here. You hired my husband and took over as my daughter's companion organisation to secure leverage over me."

Well that isn't entirely wrong. I suppose, 'I feel bad about messing up and putting you in this situation' and 'our daughters might start dating soon so I'm trying to make nice' are rare reasons to help someone in this city so I can't blame her for failing to account for them.

"Partially correct. Based on what I could save from the fire my understanding is that your team worked on fixing the sisters' immune systems?"

"Yes. Clone Dolly's and your own work with the prototypes gave us direction but I was in charge of bringing the cost down for the mass production units."

Bitch.

"Just so there are no misunderstandings Dr. Tatsuki. Their names are Dolly and Minori. They are my beloved daughters. If I ever catch you referring to them as 'the prototypes' again then I will send you back to the ACF and make sure you stay there until your full sentence is over. Understood?"

She gulps and I can see beads of sweat start to drip from her forehead.

"Loud and clear, Dr. Lifeline. I had heard that the fi- that the older clone had died in Clone Dolly's care. Was that not the case?"

"I'm surprised your daughter hasn't told you about this yet. Dolly's body did die under their, and I use the term as loosely as possible, care. However, she and Minori were more than test cases for the cloning but also the network. The memory backup function worked better than anyone expected. Doly's mind persists in her younger sister's AIM field."

I probably enjoy Mrs Tatsuki's momentary confusion before her realisation too much.

"They are Tatsuki's new plural friends. The ones she- Oh no the ones she said she had talked about her father's work with. They called you. Then. Then you! You didn't even know about my lab did you?" she descends into hysterical laughter for a moment when I nod, "You were just overreacting to Mirei's lack of verbal filter and worried we were doing something like Projects Progress or Dark May where she could see. Hahahahahahahahaha. Oh well they say if you want to make the kami laugh then tell them your plans right?" she says through tears. I wave at Dr. Nokleben and he steps forward with a handkerchief to gently wipe her face clean of the tears, sweat and snot.

"So. ehehehe. So I might actually walk out of this room alive?" she asks once her face is clean again.

Honestly, what horror stories has this woman heard about me?

"Regardless of how the rest of this meeting goes, you will walk out of this room alive Dr. Tatsuki. Though I am afraid not as a free woman."

"I'm under no illusions about that. You own me completely Dr. Lifeline. Not just legally. Even if my penal contract ended right now you would still hold the health and happiness of my family in your hands. I'm not foolish enough to believe that my daughter's friendship with your children would prevent you from killing her to get to me."

So she does care about them. The stories that Miss Tatsuki and Mr Tatsuki have told me made it look like that was the case but it's good to have confirmation from the woman herself.

"You aren't important enough to make me kill your daughter to get at you Dr. Tatsuki." I interject.

"Even so," she continues, "I am sure that my husband has no such protections." I incline my head in acknowledgement. "So. What do you want from me? Other than details on how to immunise mass produced clones on a budget."

"A few things," I pick up the files I have on Dr. Hishigata's old project on the source of Esper powers and its interaction with body size and self perception. "Obviously I want all the information you can give about the other Radio Noise cells but I understand that most of that will be compartmentalised. However, I would also like you to consider heading up a new team here at MAR looking into the effects of surgery on esper abilities." I say laying out the papers in front of her. She leans over in her chair to read them. "The previous team I had working on this went rogue during my confrontation with my cousin Byouri you see."

She nods absentmindedly as she reads Hishigata's notes.

"Yes I heard about that in the ACF. Apparently none of the moles in MAR lived long enough to make it to join me in prison."

Ah. Yes that is probably why she worried for her life today. Dr. Tatsuki looks up from the notes.

"Looking at these notes I can understand why you'd want someone with my skills to head the new team. How much of the equipment and data survived?"

"All of it, thankfully. Dr. Hishigata was more concerned with escaping with his sister and team than with denying me my own assets."

She nods, pleased.

"And you said 'consider'. So what are my other options?"

"A pathologist of your skills would be wasted there but I could find a place for you in my medical ward under Dr. Shimizu. Some of my other research teams could fit you as well but none of them have leadership positions open. Finally, if you truly can't stand the thought of working for the woman who has destroyed your life and holds your fate in her hand, you can go back to the ACF to serve out your sentence. Out of kindness to your daughter I'll keep paying for your work contract so no one else buys you up and makes you disappear. You will be unlikely to pass parole hearings with that black mark on your record though."

"Controlling all the variables to present me with a choice that is no choice at all. You are as fearsome as your reputation suggests Dr. Lifeline." she says with a good natured chuckle, "Alright. I'll work for you and I'll head up your new team."

"Excellent! Dr. Nokleben, would you be kind enough to undo the prisoner's hand cuffs? There is no need for us to be so uncivilised now that we are all friends is there?" Once he has done so I steeple my hands again. "Before we get down to the details of your new job Dr. Tatsuki, I wish to assure you that you will not be returning to the ACF or held here unless you betray me. Instead I have arranged for you to be held under house arrest with your family." She looks shocked at that. As she should, most Rehabilitation Serfs are kept on site for information security. "Your time in transit and here at work will be closely monitored by Dr. Nokleben's Internal Security team but your time with your family will only have minimally invasive security measures."

Mrs Tatsuki furrows her brow in thought at my absurdly lenient treatment of my carceral slave.

"You really aren't doing this for my information on Radio Noise are you? No information I have could be worth all these accommodations. Please forgive the presumption but why? Why are you treating me so kindly rather than leaving me to rot?"

I lean back in my chair and stare at the ceiling for a moment before answering.

"I am aware you probably won't believe me when I say this. So please wait until I finish. I really do want the information you have on Radio Noise and you really are a convenient replacement for Dr. Hishigata. However, the more important reasons are first: That my raid on your family's hospital was a rush job. I didn't anticipate that your family would disown you to save face. I should have taken my time and done things properly. I probably wouldn't have caught your lab if I had done that but I would have avoided the dangerous fire and your husband ending up in the emergency ward. In part this is an apology for that. The second is, as you have noted, our daughters are friends. Close friends already if you catch my meaning. I don't know if things will work out between them long term. They haven't even started dating. However, I don't want to deny Miss Tatsuki her mother or be the reason that they fall apart. So that's your answer Dr. Tatsuki. I'm helping you out of a mix of shame and compassion. Rare traits to find in this city I know. Rarer still among my family."

"... you are right. If you had said that at the beginning of the meeting I wouldn't have believed you. I'm still not sure that I do. I would be a fool to reject your mercy however. I look forward to working with you Dr. Lifeline. As one mother to another."

She reaches out her hand and we shake on it. The rest of the meeting is fairly short and perfunctory before Dr. Nokleben escorts Mrs Tatsuki to see her family in person for the first time in a month.
================================================================
Friday, 16th of May 2003, One Year and 1 month before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
Even after a month of re-solidifying my position following my confrontation with Byouri, stepping into Heaven Canceller's domain is uncomfortable. The cloying hypocrisy is almost a physical presence in the air. To say nothing of the happy faces of people who don't understand just how lucky they are and the careful eyes of the Chairman's spies keeping a close eye on his personal physician. Still, I owe it to these kids after I left them to Gensei's tender mercies. So I bull through the happy smiling crowds in the reception and make my way to the long term care ward. Kiyama isn't going to be happy with the news that I have for her but it's the best I could manage.

I knock on the door to the shared ward all the children we have been able to secure so far are in before letting myself in. Kiyama is standing over Edasaki Banri's bed shaking.

"Dr. Kiyama?" I say gently.

She starts and wipes at her eyes before turning around. Her eyes are red from crying unsurprisingly but more than that, her cheeks are even more hollow than they were the first time we met and her lips are chapped. She must have had bad news from Heaven Canceller, she had been improving when I last saw her a week ago.

"Oh. Dr. Lifeline. My apologies. I didn't hear you come in. Have you been waiting long?"

"No. I just arrived."

"Were you able to find any more of their Body Crystals? Heaven Canceller and myself haven't had any luck."

I can't stop the frown which twists my features at jumping right to business. I can understand not wanting to stand on small talk or ceremony but normally Kiyama is more personable than this.

"I was able to find and acquire 1 partial crystal that we are sure came from your kids. I won't know for sure until we run more tests but I suspect it is Miss Edasaki's. Supposedly it was used to create a telepathy boosting mixture."

I take the protective case out of my pocket and show it to her. The crystal has obviously been cut from its raw form, its facets too regular and its size about half of what a fresh crystal should be. Though considering matters Kiyama may not be able to tell that from a glance like I can. She reaches out to touch it but I have to draw it back and close it before she can touch it. At her hurt look I hasten to clarify.

"We need to avoid as many contaminants as possible. Even skin oil."

"Oh. Yes, of course." She seems to become re-energised, manic even, having been given another source of hope. This can't be healthy going back and forth on emotional extremes like this. Where the fuck is Heaven Canceller anyway? Doesn't he have a whole complex about keeping people healthy? Kiyama looks pretty fucking unhealthy right now!

"Come on. Let's take this across to my lab and work out if this really is Banri's crystal." she says as she snatches the crystal box from me and strides towards the door with purpose.

"You look half asleep, Dr. Kiyama. Have you even eaten today? Maybe we should have lunch fir-"

"We don't have time!" she shouts in my face. "I can rest once I've saved them."

Before Kiyama can walk out the door I catch her wrist and use Gravity Shift to double my own weight. Kiyama is less athletic than I am even when she is well fed and caught up on her sleep. Tired and hungry as she is, her whole body jerks to a halt instantly.

"No. Dr. Kiyama, I have been where you are a-"

"Bullsh-"
"I have! I have burned the candle at both ends out of fear and a belief that only I can save, that only I want to save, need to save young children this city has harmed. All that got me was dead friends and cloned legs. I am not letting you do this to yourself anymore!" I snatch the crystal back from her and start dragging her towards the nearest breakroom. "We have enough crystals to begin our tests. We have the children. We have three of the smartest people in Academy City working on this. We have Time, Kiyama. Time for you to eat food and really rest before trying to analyse this. If you push yourself like this all you will do is burn yourself out and that is the best case scenario. I have seen people work themselves to death before and I won't let a friend do that again!"

She keeps yelling at me and struggling as I drag her down the corridor. Thankfully we are in a section of the hospital that is mostly empty right now.

"Let the fuck go of me you monster! You are half the reason they were hurt in the first place! If you had just cared enough to think about them as people and not lab rats they wouldn't be dying! I hate you! Murderer! Child killer!"

At this point she has stopped trying to escape my grasp and instead climbed on me and started clawing at my face. I close my eyes to protect them as she pries my glasses off and tosses them aside. Letting my gravitational senses and my memory of the hospital layout guide me. I'm trying really hard to remember that Kiyama is just stressed right now and probably doesn't mean what she is saying.

"Bitch! Cunt! Why didn't you kill Gensei! Why does your daughter get to live her life and mine doesn't! Fucking leave me alone! Go back to your happy life and piss off! Stop trying to help me! I don't want it! I don't need it! I don't deserve it! I DID THIS TO THEM! LET! GO! OF! ME! LEt! G-go of! L-let go. Pl-please."

Thankfully, we have just reached the staff break room. I carefully carry the weakly protesting Kiyama through the door and set her down on one of the couches. There are a couple of nurses in here on break and one other doctor who looks like he is about to head out for a smoke. They look at us with a mix of pity and understanding. I wish we could have gotten an empty room for this but there aren't any empty break rooms in the hospital to my senses. As I stand up to get Kiyama some matcha she feebly grabs at my sleeve.

"Please don't leave me alone." She whispers.

"I'm just getting you some matcha." I respond. She just groans in response and tightens her grip. She must be even more hungry and tired than I thought. I ideally notice that blood is dripping from my forehead and left cheek.

"Let me get that for you, dear." One of the nurses says as the other approaches me with a first aid kit. I nod thankfully to them and kneel down in front of the couch Kiyama is sprawled across. As the nurse starts to disinfect and seal the cuts on my face I take Kiyama's hands and start to clean them. She broke some nails while clawing at me and it looks like she has been gnawing at them anyway. Once she's calmer I'll offer to help trim them.

"Ikill'dem"

"No you didn't Kiyama. Yo-"

"Idtho"

"No. You. Didn't. Kiyama. Listen to me please. You have not killed them. Yes they are in comas. Yes that is going to be hard on their bodies but because of you they are receiving top quality care. You are saving them when no one else would. You are those kids' hero. All 10 of them." The nurse from before slips a hot cup of matcha into Kiyama's free hand and then her, her fellow and the doctor leave us alone. Kiyama sips her tea for a while before eventually mumbling.

"..."

"I'm sorry Kiyama, I can't make out what you are saying."

"9"

What.

"Gensei killed little Toshiro before Heaven Canceller could rescue him."

That isn't right.

"He was a brat. Rude, tried to pretend I was his girlfriend instead of his teacher. But. He didn't deserve to die."

Wasn't Kiyama meant to save all 10 kids? I-Do I remember that? Or did I just hope? Why would I remember that? Was that something I used to know in my first life?

"Gensei sent his head to me in a box."

My head snaps up at that.

"He did what!"

That doesn't make sense. Even if Gensei cared enough to do that he isn't sadistic in that particular way.

"Sent his head to me in a box."

"Kiyama think very carefully. I need you to remember. Describe the box to me."

She blinks at me blearily.

"It was the normal box that I get frozen microwave meals delivered in. From my normal supplier as well. Misotasty."

That doesn't make sense.

"Are you sure it was Gensei who sent Toshiro to you?"

"Who else could it be? They sawed his head off with a high powered particle beam according to Anti-Skill. Who else would have that kind of tech and use it for an execution?"

I bite my lip. I doubt Kiyama wants to hear this but it is the truth.

"That doesn't fit Gensei's MO. It sounds more like you stumbled across another dark side organisation or annoyed another power block leader into sending you a warning to stay out of their way. Have you been doing anything involving criminal activity or the government other than your work with Heaven Canceller and myself?"

She shakes her head slowly.

"The only thing I can think of is my spending on buying up Ability Crystals to check them for matches to the kids."

I take both her hands in mine and look her in the eye.

"Kiyama, I promise you. I will help you get vengeance for Toshiro. I don't know who did this but I'll put my own teams on the case alongside Anti-Skill. If it is Gensei then I will do everything I can to bring him down with you. No matter how mad it makes the chairman and directors. If it really was someone else? Then we will track them down and end them. Please, don't let this destroy you. Eat, then get some sleep and we will work to save your remaining kids. Who are all safe here. No one would be stupid enough to attack this hospital but in case they are I will talk to Heaven Canceller about setting up my own rotation of guards on the kids. But please, for the kids. For Banri. Take a break today and come back to this tomorrow with a fresh outlook. In the meantime. We've scoured the entire city of Ability Crystals between the three of us. I'm sorry but we won't find any more if we haven't found them by now. I think we need to stop following that line of evidence and focus on the treatment plan."

She nods, obviously depressed and exhausted, and lets me lead her down to the staff cafeteria.

After she finishes her meal, and I organise a security detachment from MAR for the kids with the Hospital management, I try to convince her to head home and sleep but she shakes her head.

"I can't go back there. I. I just see Toshiro's head everytime I approach the front door. I've been sleeping in the staff rooms here the last few days."

Seriously Heaven Canceller what the shit!

"Heaven Canceller hasn't done anything to help you since it happened?"

"I haven't seen him since the last time all three of us met a week ago."

Oh. That isn't good. No one in the know is stupid enough to mess with the frog faced bastard, and if someone unaware had hurt him I'd have heard about it by now from the Chairman's reaction. He must be busy in the Windowless Building.

"I see… I have a spare room? Sorry if I'm being presumptuous but I really do think a night's proper rest on a real bed would do you the world of good."

"Really, I couldn't impose."

"It wouldn't be an imposition. In truth, the apartment has been feeling empty since Dolly and Minori left for school."

"Well… If you are sure." she says with a yawn.

"I am. By the way, you have some sauce on your lapel."

She looks down and blinks at it.

"Ah. I really must be tired. I'll just get rid of that."

I am half way through offering her my napkin when she starts taking her shirt off!

"Ki-Kiyama! What are you doing! We are in public, people can see your bra!" I say the last part in a harsh whisper.

"Well the top is dirty isn't it? So I shouldn't wear it. It isn't like anyone would be attracted to this body of mine anyway."

"I am!" I clap my hands over my mouth as soon as I've said the words but Kiyama barely seems to notice them.

"It's nice of you to lie but you don't need to make me feel better about my ugly body."

Okay who hurt her so bad? Kiyama is frankly an 8 even when sleep deprived and half starved from overwork. What asshole hurt her self esteem so much?

"Look. Just. Here, take my outer jacket to cover up. Let's get you over to my place. I can have some of my people get a fresh change of clothes from your house." I say as I bustle her out of the hospital and into my car.
================================================================
AN: Again, this is not a depiction of healthy coping mechanisms. Do not treat people having a stress breakdown like this. It will not end this well. No one in Academy City is well adjusted and they are all muddling through in a system where "therapy" is a dirty word.

 

[Anafabula]

and they are all muddling through in a system where "therapy" is a dirty word

Click to shrink...

I wonder if there are studies showing lowered personal reality strength due to therapy, just based on how its basically directed insanity.

 

[Suseiseki]

Ahh the dark side of academy city, when you think you found everyone you find there is another level of dark, so many projects that are so dark only Alesteir know about them and so many groups with weird names you can shake a bush and you will probably get 1 operative dropping out of it. What a funny place.

 

[LilyWitch]

Sunday, 1st of June 2003, One Year before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
I close the door to my apartment behind me and finally let my exhaustion show after a long week spent dealing with dorm fires, school laboratory fires, actual laboratory fires, warehouse fires, summer festival fires and car fires.

"Ahh! Fire!"

And now I come home to Harumi starting a kitchen fire. Wonderful.

Thankfully House activates as soon as it detects the fire in the kitchen starting to spread and douses the fire, and Harumi, in retardant foam before I can even make it to the kitchen.

"The fire has been safely doused, Dr. Lifeline, Dr. Kiyama." House's artificial voice sounds from the intercom speakers placed around the open plan apartment.

"Thank you House." I say as I turn the corner from my entryway into the kitchen area to see Harumi already stripping out of her foam soaked clothes. Of course she is.

"Harumi. What have we talked about stripping in the kitchen?"

She sighs and stops before following me out of the kitchen area towards the bathroom while House's cleaning robots head into the kitchen to fix her mess.

"Don't do it. It is unhygienic." she grumbles, "This foam is itchy though. And now I'm dragging it all over the floor."

"House will clean it up. It is what I built it for." I reply as I start to run her a bath for after her shower. "I appreciate you trying to make me food for when I get back from work though. Thank you, Harumi."

She blushes and refuses to meet my eyes as she finishes disrobing and starts to shower. I on the other hand try my hardest to only look at her eyes. 2 weeks of good food and restful nights have only made her more attractive and I'm trying my best to avoid taking advantage of her lack of shame about stripping.

"Well you won't let me pay rent."

I click my tongue as I take off my own suit jacket and start helping her clean the foam out of her silky chestnut hair while she scrubs. Though it is only silky now because she keeps stealing borrowing my shampoo and conditioners.

"You are my guest, Harumi. Not my tenant. Speaking of. How is the flat hunting going?"

She groans as I massage her scalp and leans into my touch.

"I don't want to talk about that."

I sigh.

"I understand that you don't feel safe on your own after what happened with poor Toshiro but you can't live on my charity forever, Harumi. You can certainly afford your pick of apartments. I've seen that European sports car you drive. It is an even fancier car than mine and I have to drive a fancy car to keep up appearances."

She opens one eye to give me a gimlet glare.

"It is a brand new 03 Lamborghini Gallardo Coupe with an E-Gear system. One of the first 200 to roll off the factory floor. Not just some 'European sports car'. Don't insult it by comparing it to that amerishit '97 Corvette you drive."

I chuckle at her car mania and just finish washing her hair. Once I am done I stand up and go to leave the bathroom as she continues to clean the rest of her body herself.

"Alright. You can do the rest yourself, you layabout~. I'll go order takeaway and get changed. Please don't forget to get dressed after your bath this time? At least wear a yukata."

"I really don't get the big deal. If I was wearing a bikini instead of underwear no one would care." She mutters to herself as I close the bathroom door and get changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt before walking to the phone. Even after knowing her for a month I can never quite tell if she is serious or pulling a very extended prank on the world when she talks about her compulsive stripping. Hmm? Should we eat Ramen or hamburg tonight? Or maybe Italian? Since Harumi is so enamoured with her Lamborghini.

The Carbonara and Chicken Alfreado arrive just as Harumi is stepping out of the bathroom, thankfully she remembers to wear a yukata this time so she doesn't give this delivery girl an eyeful and the wrong idea like the first one. That had been embarrassing. The kitchen island we normally eat at is still in the process of being cleaned by House's robots so I lay out our meals on the kotatsu instead. Carbonara for myself and Alfredo for Harumi.

We eat mostly in silence apart from a little awkward small talk. Harumi seems distracted by something but I don't have the energy to push today. She's gotten much better since I first let her crash at my place. However, she is still struggling to sleep and prone to overworking herself if I don't step in. None of the other staff at Heaven Canceller's hospital seem willing to stand up to her and the man himself is being as useless as always. Apparently, 'Dr. Kiyama is doing much better after you started your treatment plan. Keep up the good work Dr. Kihara.' was the extent of the help he was willing to offer. Frog-faced Bastard. I'm not a medical doctor damnit! Just because I'm a Kihara and an omnidisciplinary scientist doesn't actually make me equally good at everything. At least Harumi is eating healthily again and hasn't had another breakdown like the day I first took her in.

Aside from my offering of a safe space and a shoulder to cry on, I think the most helpful thing for her has been the good progress we have been making on waking her students up. We confirmed the crystal I brought in that day is Banri's. Combined with the other crystals we managed to recover before that and my own First Sample we should be ready to try waking them up next week. I have a vague sense of unease about it but Kiyama and Heaven Canceller are both set on going ahead so I'm letting myself be outvoted. It isn't as if my intuition is infallible and I don't have any clue what it is that is making me worry about things going wrong.

After we have finished our meal, let House take away the dishes to be washed and cracked open the Sapporo, Harumi finally musters up the courage to ask her question.

"That picture next to the new one with you and your four daughters. The one with a young you, two other kids, a dog and an older man. The older man is Gensei isn't it?"

I take a long pull from my beer to avoid answering right away.

"... yes."

"Why? You hate him at least as much as me. Why keep a picture of him and so close to your family at that?"

I stare at my beer for a second.

"That." I say solemnly, "Is a nihonshu conversation. Not a beer conversation. You sure you want to know?"

"Yes."

I nod and put my beer down on the kotatsu as I use gravity shift to retrieve the chilled summer sake jug from the fridge and two shot glasses.

"So here is how we are going to do this. Every time you ask me a question, I take a shot and then answer it. No matter what. Then I get to ask you a question, you take a shot and answer it. No matter what. Then back and forth. Is that okay with you?" I need the emotional distance of the game if I'm going to talk in detail about the family I have killed and plan to kill. But given I suspect that it was my enemies that killed Toshiro, Harumi deserves answers.

"You really think you can outdrink me? I graduated from UTokyo." Harumi says with a stupidly kissable smirk and a deadpan voice, "I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself trying to keep up." I don't know if she understands why I'm making it a game but I'm thankful she's not pushing me on it regardless.

"There is no party," I say with fake seriousness, "Like an Academy City Grad Student party." and down my first shot of nihonshu.

"My mother died in childbirth. My biological father died when I was 2 in a lab accident. Gensei and Noukan were the only father figures I ever really knew. I do hate him. He was just as if not more of an abusive shit to me as he is to the child errors of the city. I know I should cut him out of my life. I. I just can't. Not completely. I don't talk to him. I don't see him. But I can't make myself destroy or hide the memories of my childhood under him like that photo. In his own twisted way he really does care about me. I know that is what all abuse survivors say but it's true."

We are silent for a moment.

"Who is Noukan?" Harumi asks eventually.

"Ah. ah. Ah!" I wag my finger. "It's my turn, remember? Hmm. Did you ever have any pets growing up?"

Harumi scoffs and takes her shot.

"Why the soft ball? No. I always hated the idea of looking after another living being until I got my class to look after. Now. Who is Noukan?"

I take another shot.

"Kihara Noukan is the dog in that photograph."

"..."

"Really."

"Bullshit."

"It's true."

"Your other father figure was a dog?"

"Stop breaking the rules Harumi~!" Despite my teasing I just take another shot and answer her, "Yes. He's still alive actually. He's the Chairman's personal enforcer and assassin within the city."

"..."

"Also he can talk."

Harumi just downs her second shot and grumbles.

"Ask your damn question already."

"Why did you come to Academy City?"

"Another soft ball? I came for the same reason any bright eyed young scientist from outside comes. I wanted to be on the forefront of scientific discovery. I wanted to know all I could about espers. I wanted to write my name in the stars as the one who would finally reach SYSTEM."

She stares at the picture again.

"Who are the other kids in the picture?"

I smile wistfully as I take my fourth shot.

"Kihara Byouri and Kihara Kagun. My blood cousins technically. Byouri by my uncle and Kagun by my aunt. Their parents also died in infancy so really we were raised more like siblings by Gensei and Noukan. That is the last picture I have of all of us smiling together, we were just about to leave Matsuume Elementary for Middle School. Byouri and I went to Tokiwadai and Kagun to Nagatenjouki. It's a bigger reason I keep it out than my complicated feelings about Gensei. What about you, Harurin~? Any family?"

Harurin takes her third shot.

"No. My father jumped in front of a train when I was 12. Overwork at his office supposedly. My mother never recovered. She drank herself to death when I was at university. I'm an only child. No cousins."

I look at the nihonsu on the table.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. For all my bad habits I've never been an alcoholic and I drink socially just fine. Byouri… The same Byouri you killed the day I first asked you for help?"

I nod and take my fifth shot.

"She was my best friend as a kid. We pinned insects into books together. She was the only one happy for me when my esper power changed after the first crystalised esper essence experiment. She didn't mind that the first Therestina died. She had always been attached to the concept of Giving Up. She thought that having given up one sister for another one was the best thing ever. Even after everything. I still miss her. She was my first friend and she could be such a dork. Completely obsessed with cryptozooology." Harurin looks shocked, "I know right? Who would expect a Kihara to love something so unscientific? Gensei tried so hard to break her of it. Disproving the field, electroshocks, aversion therapy, the works. For all her talk of Giving Up though, Byouri really loved the idea of mysterious animals hidden out there in the world who she would be the first one to discover. We used to talk about going on expeditions to the Amazon or the Canadian deep forests to find Bigfoot. Until she lost the use of her legs. She was a fellow subject of the early ability body crystal research. It destroyed the section of her brain that moved her lower limbs. She just smiled and said she was happy to give up something so precious as her dreams." I reach out and down the rest of my Sapporo rather than take another shot and wipe my eyes. I'm not sure when I started crying.

Harurin reaches out to take my hand, "I'm sorry for as-"

I jerk my hand away and shake my head, "Nothing to feel bad about Harurin. It's how the game works. Why the stripping?" I ask her to distract myself.

Harurin takes her fourth shot.

"I told you the first time you asked. No one would be attracted to this ugly body of mine. My mum made sure I knew that. Whenever I tried to dress up or style my hair she'd destroy the clothes or chop my hair off. Call me a slut for trying to entice men with my body. She hated that I went into the sciences. It wasn't 'proper' apparently." Harurin snorts indelicately, "She would probably have had a heart attack if she knew I was bi. All she wanted was for me to stay home and marry the man she chose for me. Then pop out kids and support her with his income. That was the real reason I dedicated myself to coming here I think. I do love science, don't get me wrong, but I chose to come to Academy City and naturalise as a citizen years before I grew to love my field. I've never wanted to leave Japan but here is an independent city-state that speaks Japanese as its primary language and full gender equality. Right next door to home in Tokyo. All I had to do was be the best I could be in my field and I could be free to live my life how I wanted. Of course, then she died before I even had my undergrad degree. Fucking bitch wouldn't even give me the satisfaction of escaping her on my own merits." She throws the bottle cap of her Sapporo across the room, "What do you mean by 'the first Therestina'?"

I slam back my sixth shot.

"Gah. Well you're an expert on AIM fields and personal realities right? How else do you explain a level 0 clairvoyant becoming a Level 1 Gravity Hand after an experimentally induced coma that messed with her brain and wiped her memories? I am categorically a different person with a different personal reality and a different AIM field. I can show you the readings if you like. 6 year old Therestina died on that bed and I woke up in her body."

Harurin takes two more shots after I say that before she responds.

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"... Do you really think I'm attractive?"

I take my seventh shot and look Harurin in her pretty brown eyes.

"Harurin. You are so hot. Your legs go on forever and they are so fucking slender. Your hair is like a waterfall of chocolate. Sure you've lost some weight since we first met but your boobs are still amazing. I envy your hourglass figure and how you keep it without any exercise at all or eating well. I just want to kiss you and not stop. Do you have any idea the torture of living with a compulsive stripper like you who I want to fuck so bad? I have to take cold showers every day."

I pause and Harurin can't meet my eyes. What the hell. I'm too drunk to feel embarrassed about this.

"Do you find me attractive, Harurin?"

Harurin doesn't bother with the shot glass this time, she just takes a swig of the bottle straight up before passing it to me.

"I do. You're exotic ya'know? I'd never seen blonde hair and blue eyes outside of anime and foreign news before I moved here. Never on someone who otherwise looked Japanese before I met you. You have such amazing hair. I have no idea how you manage to keep it so well maintained when it's so long. You can lift and carry me without even using your powers. You give the best massages and you are such a painfully good person. You help people every day while I'm just selfish. Why do you do it?"

I take a swig of my own. The middle school girl in me who read shojou manga and wanted the heroines to hook up is excited about the indirect kiss. The adult woman is busy realising she might get more than just that tonight if she is lucky.

"From when I first woke up, 6 years old lying in hospital, I knew that how my family acted was wrong. You already know Byouri and Gensei, Kagun was just as bad in his own way. He loved to kill things and resuscitate them, just to see how difficult he could make it for himself. He never left any permanent harm on anything or anyone but he toyed with life so many times. More than any of the rest of us. However," I stare at the jug for a moment before taking another swig, "for the longest time I tried my best to ignore that and be a 'good' Kihara. I was a good little child soldier of Academy City's dark side all through my teenage years. I ran experiments with Byouri and Kagun. Please don't ask me about them. I don't want to think about what I did. I knew all of that was wrong. I did it anyway. It wasn't even fear for my life that kept me in line. I just. I suppose I wanted to be loved and I thought that what we had was love."

Harurin reaches across the table and boops my nose.

"That's interesting and sad but it didn't answer my question."

"Okay okay!" I chuckle, "This still requires even more backstory so bare with me. The original Therestina was a level 0 clairvoyant, remember? Well when I woke up I had these ridiculous memories. Impossible ones. About a future where the first Therestina grew up as a perfect Kihara. I wrote them off as just a symptom of her power going haywire in her final moments. Precognition is notoriously unreliable now and was even sketchier then. Until I actually met someone she would have had no way of knowing about. When I was 13 I was given command of Judgement branch 000, ah that is the extrajudicial assassination squad that judgement has." Harurin spit takes her Sapporo all over my kotatsu at that. I just nod, "Really. Anyway when I was given command I met Misaka Tabigake."

"Dolly and Minori's biological father."

"The same. He was part of the team before I joined and stayed under my command for a few years until he aged out of Judgment. That was when I understood that Therestina's final vision had been accurate. When I knew that Gensei planned to industrially grow 20,000 clones of Tabigake's daughter and then have Accelerator murder them 1 by 1 until he eventually reached Level 6." That stuns Harurin into silence. She just stares into the distance for a while. "That was when I realised that I couldn't sit back and settle for being a Kihara anymore. I had to do something, be better. Even the industrial production of body crystals pales in comparison to the monstrosity of project Level 6 Shift. All the other altruistic things I do? In service to that goal. Stopping Level 6 Shift. My turn to ask a question. Why do you call yourself selfish?"

"Because it's what I am." she says as she swipes the bottle back and takes another pull. I am momentarily distracted by a drop which escapes the corner of her mouth and trails down her throat and collar bone before disappearing beneath her yukata. "I willfully ignored all the warning signs until it was my kids who suffered. Even now I'm only working to save them and to hell with the rest of the city."

I snort and take another pull from the bottle, moving closer to her so we don't have to pass it back and forth across the table.

"Do you think that makes you special? I'm the same. The first thing I tried was to infiltrate Gensei's operations and gain his trust but like you I couldn't stand it. When I was 21 his lab security gunned down an escaping victim. I had the same crisis of conscience as you did with your students. Then I threw myself into a foolish attempt to kill Accelerator. All that got me was more nightmares and an even guiltier conscience. Then I just fell back into a holding pattern and hoped that some miracle would give me an opportunity. The first Therestina predicted that she, I , we would command MAR when we grew up. So I took it over from the inside. However, I didn't actually have a plan for how to leverage that into saving the sisters or getting revenge on Gensei. It wasn't until I saved Dolly, and through her met Misaki, Mitori, Tabigake, Misuzu and Mikoto that I finally could see a path to accomplishing my goals. Along the way, raising them and finally having friends aside from Ruri. I let myself start living again. If you are selfish I am too, because I'm not doing this out of pure altruism to save the sisters. Not really. Before I wanted to redeem myself for my years as a Kihara. Now I also don't want to let my daughters down. They think I'm a hero. So I want to be one for them."

Harurin drops the bottle, spilling expensive sake all over my carpet, as she goes to drink again. She picks it up and hands it to me.

"It's is really 20,000 clones?"

"Really," I say and take a long draw from the jug.

She starts giggling and I can't help but join her. It's so stupid and monstrous and pointless I can't help but laugh.

"Th-the worst part is that I think the back of the napkin maths works out." she slurs out between drunken giggles, "I would probably have proposed it myself before Banri made me connect with someone outside high minded esper studies for the first time. I wouldn't have even considered the clones as people. Or the first ranked for that matter."

"But. You. Wouldn't. Now." I tell Harurin, punctuating my words by tapping her nose, or close to her nose anyway. In my drunkenness I miss and end up poking her eyes and lips mostly, "You didn't know better and now you do. You're a good person Harurin. Gensei isn't. He knows it's wrong and that they are people and he is going to do it anyway." I rest my head on her shoulder and hold her hand in mine. We just sit there enjoying each other's presence. Eventually we fall asleep on the spot.

=============================================================
Monday, 9th of June 2003, One Year before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
I open the door to the lab where we tried to wake up Harumi's students. Harumi and Heaven Canceller are furiously looking over the data from the failed attempt trying to see what went wrong.

"-ook here. You see how their AIM fields and brainwaves synchronise? I think they entered RSPK Syndrome." Harumi says.

"But if that is the case why didn't we see any Poltergeist incidents?" the frog-faced doctor replies.

"I can answer that." I interject. "There was a Poltergeist incident, just not here. It was in School District 13."

Harumi frowns in that cute way she does when she's about to figure out the answer on her own.

"Even with all 9 of them synchronising they shouldn't have been able to reach that far. You're absolutely sure it is connected?"

"The earthquake was recorded as starting at the exact same time as the awakening attempt. Down to the centisecond." I don't know why I am so sure of my next statement. It is just my Kihara intuition I suppose, "The most likely cause is that there is a child or children of an age with your students that is synchronising with them for some reason."

"Well it is a bit of a logical leap but I've learned that a Kihara's logical leaps are usually correct." I resist the urge to flip Heaven Canceller the bird over insisting on calling me a Kihara and look at Harumi.

"Did any of your students ever mention an old friend or sibling to you, Harumi?"

She bites her lip and shakes her head.

"If we repeat the process now that we know what to look for we can probably track your hypothetical persons down Dr. Kihara." I've asked you not to call me that frog-faced bastard.

"You cannot be serious." I reply, "That would almost certainly cause another earthquake. It is a miracle that there were no fatalities this time, half of an elementary school collapsed and dozens of students and teachers were hospitalised. Yes that was because it wasn't up to building code standards and I will be raking the contractors involved over the coals but it is still an unacceptable risk."

"We can just make sure we do it outside of school hours."

This rat bastard.

"Absolutely no-"

"Can we track down the person they are synchronising with any other way Tina?"

Harumi looks desperate. She is refusing to meet my eyes and gripping the table so hard I'm worried that she might hurt herself. I should lie and say yes. Before she does something she will regret.

"Maybe," I stick with the truth instead. She deserves my trust. I meant what I said last Sunday about trusting her to be a good person, "We can localise the region based on the Poltergeist incident. I can't promise that it will be quick or that it will work. We'd need to bring all the people who were in that region of the District at the time in and run scans to match their AIM fields with your students. It is possible that the connection is with an undocumented or missing person however."

"Whereas if we simply run the procedure again we can find them right away now we know what to look for. I'm sure Commander Kihara can prevent any fatalities if she has pre-warning to put MAR on alert."

"That's not how rescue work works you old hypoc-" I start to yell at him.

"TINA!" Harumi shouts me down. Please don't side with him, Harumi. She walks over to banri's bed while Heaven Canceller and I glare at each other. Please make the right choice, Harumi. She takes Banri's hand and whispers something to her but I can't make it out. Eventually she turns back to us.

"We will go with Tina's idea. If we can't find anything that way then we will work on another way to wake them up. Banri wouldn't want me to kill other kids to save her. None of them would." Harumi says, refusing to look either of us in the eye.

Over Heaven Canceller's grumbling we set ourselves to organising bringing in the uninjured victims to be tested. It will take most of a week to test everyone in the most likely cohort, the better part of a month to exhaust all of our potential synchronisers. Just sorting the paper work out takes the rest of the day so testing will have to wait until tomorrow. As we are walking home Harumi reaches out and takes my hand, pulling us to a stop about half way back to our my apartment.

"Thank you." she says.

"You're welcome. Though I'm not sure what for."

"For all your help with this. You didn't have to do anything." I open my mouth to assure her I did but she puts her finger to my lips to silence me, "Let me finish please." I nod, "Also thank you for our talk last week. About selfishness. It was because of that talk that I have been thinking about the difference between waking my kids up just to make me feel better and doing it to save them. If we had tried to wake them up a week ago I would have gone with Heaven Canceller's idea. Waking them up would have been more important to me than ensuring they were happy and healthy. I'm still selfish, I don't care about those other kids in District 13 really, but Banri and the others would. The victims of my rushing might have been their friends. I want those kids to keep looking up to me, like you do with your daughters. So thank you, Tina. For helping me." she finishes and withdraws her finger keeping me silent.

I smile at her and take her free hand in mine.

"You are very welcome, Harumi."

We both stand there in the middle of the street for a while, too scared to take the next step. When Harumi starts to pull away I blurt out.

"Can I kiss you?"

Oh no I came on too strong I should have asked her to dinner first what is wrong with me she's going to think I'm a creep

Oh.

Harumi is kissing me.

I should kiss back.

My arms wrap around her waist as hers wrap around the back of my neck. We get some wolfwhistles as we come up for air but we ignore them. They aren't important. We rest our foreheads against each other and my tongue flicks out to taste my own lips. Chocolate.

"You stole my lip gloss." I accuse jokingly.

"Borrowed." Harumi reposites.

We keep giggling in between stealing kisses all the way to our apartment. We probably look ridiculous, two grown women acting like schoolgirls, but I don't care. I haven't been this happy since I was a schoolgirl. It isn't really a magical evening or anything like that. We are both out of practice and our initial attempts to please each other are clumsy. Our giddiness and enthusiasm keeps us going long enough to find a good rhythm though. After a long and satisfying shower, interrupted half way through by more sex, we settle into bed. Just cuddling and enjoying each other's presence as we plan out our first official date. Maybe we did this all out of order, certainly this isn't like when I dated in highschool or at university, but this feels nice. We drift off to sleep in each other's arms. This hasn't been the fairytale romance I read about as a girl but in its own way, it is even better.
==================================================================
AN: Repeating the warning from last chapter that neither Tina or Harumi make use of healthy coping mechanisms this chapter. Please do not copy them.

That said this is my first time writing a serious adult romance so I'd appreciate any feedback! Was it too fast? Was there actually any chemistry there? etc.

 

[Suseiseki]

For a Kihara she is doing pretty fine, for a normal human, Damm her problems have their own problems and let's not go into the I am probably an external abomination that hijacked the body and is trying really hard to avoid All of Index story.

 

[LilyWitch]

Wednesday, 2nd of July 2003, One Year before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
"Oh you poor thing! Who could ever hurt such a magnificent creature as you! Don't you worry. Mama Tina is going to take good care of you! Yes she is! Yes she is!" I coo as I stroke the muzzle of the three story tall dragon chimaera MAR picked up when we got called in for routine shop fire.

[Calculate Relative Space-Time Position of Object "Pet Dragon". Save Reference Point "Pet Dragon".]

Well technically a dark side cover up team was called in but I abused my authority to have MAR do the cover up instead when my monitoring programs told me that someone had finally be stupid enough to let a dragon loose in Academy City. Obviously there was a deeper story there, the L.S.S. contractor that Anti-Skill arrested and the sports bow with scent marked arrows found nearby pointed to a pretty obvious conclusion, but I probably didn't need to stick my nose in. If L.S.S. was stupid enough to let one of their Chimaera loose and get caught that was on them, there weren't any casualties so this had probably been a dark side turf war. Besides, I have more important things to worry about!

"Make sure that they are comfy now! The poor thing was driven into torpor by that ice. We need to avoid thermal shock while we take it back to MAR HQ for processing." I tell the troopers loading my new pet into the refrigerated MAR truck that would take them back to their new home. Oh! I wonder what I should call them? I know Mikoto talked about wanting a cute pet, maybe she would like to help me care for them? I'm so excited! I've always wanted a pet dragon and now I don't have to break any laws to have one!

"Commander Lifeline? This is Captain Hinata. Are you free to talk? Over." Ruri's voice comes over my HsPS-14's comms system. Darn. Back to actual serious work.

"Confirm Captain Hinata. We are just finishing up here. Over." I reply as my troopers finish installing the fake gas tanks requested for the cover up. I climb into the HsPS carrier truck alongside my troopers and listen to Ruri as the truck bed closes. I can feel the vehicle starting to move, following the truck taking my new dragon back to HQ.

"The forensics lab has gotten back to me about the damage that convoy under the freeway took yesterday, along with the damage to the Dark May Lab that Anti-Skill raided the day before. The findings confirm that it was the same type of particle-wave beam that sliced off Yamaguchi Toshiro's head. Over."

I frown, that means that we are reduced to the two worst case scenarios for Toshiro's killer. Either someone with the connections to the Elementary Particle Engineering Laboratory needed to copy Meltdowner's power with technology like Byouri had. Or worse, Meltdowner herself. Harumi will probably be pleased we are closer to finding them but I worry for her safety if it really does turn out to be Meltdowner. The problem is I still can't think of a sensible motive. There haven't been any repeat attacks or warnings. Unfortunately so many variables changed that day when she moved in with me that it is impossible to say with certainty why they stopped. Either way such a target would be very dangerous for Harumi to seek revenge on…

"Thank you for the update Captain Hinata. Have you informed Dr. Kiyama? Over? "

Ruri scoffs and I hear the click of her switching from an open channel to a closed one, "No Tina, I haven't saved you from an awkward talk with your new girlfriend and I'm not going to. Tell her yourself. Don't forget to set up a time for me to meet her in person either!"

"I wasn't trying to avoid talking to her about it! I just wanted to know if you already had." I whine defensively, "I'm happy for you to meet her but you don't get to vet my girlfriends anymore Ruri. We haven't dated in a decade. I'm an adult who can choose my own partners."

"This isn't about me being your ex or vetting her you dunce. It is about me being your best friend and wanting to meet her. You stopped smiling for a month when Dolly and Minori left for school but you started again once you two began dating. I just want to meet the woman who is making my bestie so happy."

"Ugh." I throw my head back inside my helmet, "Fine. I'll sort something out for next week. Do you want to meet her one on one, with me or should we make it a double date with Keitz?"

I hear a squawk of outrage, "I'm not dating Keitz!"

"So that wasn't your lipstick I saw on his hickey during the monday security briefing?"

"Of course it was! We just aren't dating! It's only casual office hookups." She whines in embarrassment, "I'll just meet her one on one. Book us a nice cafe or something."

Huh.

"Good for you, Ruri. I'll sort out the reservations with Harumi. By the way, do you have any good ideas for names for a pet dragon?"

There is a long pause.

"... Didn't the directors deny you permission to biohack yourself a dragon?"

"They did. But they said nothing about confiscating someone else's illegal dragon as contraband and keeping it for myself."

"Biohazard laws require that we destroy things like that."

"They do. However! They do not specify a timescale for doing so."

"How long have you been planning this?" she says with a long-suffering tone. Rude.

"I thought I would get to use that loophole years ago." I admit, "But for once the scientists in this city were frustratingly sensible. But not tonight~! Oh they are beautiful Ruri! Glorious green scales, a wing span exceeding 20 metres! They even breathe fire!"

I hear her sigh over the line, "There is nothing I can say to get you to kill it is there?"

"Nope~!" I say, with an exaggerated pop on the p and a giggle. If there was room I would be kicking my legs back and forth in excitement. "I have a dragon~! I have a dragon~!"

I can practically hear Ruri rolling her eyes, "Just call your girlfriend, Tina. Over and out."

I spend some time fidgeting before I work up the courage to call Harumi after Ruri hangs up. It takes her a few rings before she answers, she should be off work and back home right now so presumably she is busy with something.

"Hello, Tina. Sorry I took so long to pick up. I got caught up on a project for work."

I frown, Harumi still has a problem with working too hard.

"Are you at least getting paid overtime, Dear?"

"Ah. No. It isn't official or anything. I got bored without anything interesting to do and had a brainwave regarding the problems my lab has been having with machine assisted learning devices. If it will help you stop worrying I'll print a timesheet and fill it in. What did you want to talk about? I doubt you called just to check if I was overworking myself."

"Maybe I should?" I tease, "Your tired eyes are part of your cuteness factor but we don't want them getting any bigger." I shift back to a serious tone of voice, "I trust you not to hurt yourself Harumi but I do care. Would you like me to call on evenings when I'm out to check you aren't overworking?"

"No thank you, Dear." Harumi's voice is her normal deadpan but I've gotten familiar enough with her tells to pick up that she is smiling. I hate to take that smile away so soon but I should be direct.

"Anyway," I continue rather than drag things out, "I'm calling because we managed to narrow down the possibilities for Toshiro's killer."

Harumi lets out a sharp inhale, "Tell me everything."

"The forensic lab at MAR found similar particle-wave beam damage on some car wreckage yesterday," though strangely none of the private security contractors had been hurt by anything except their seatbelts. It was an impressive show of control for someone with a reputation for gratuitous destruction. "Along with previous incidents going back at least a year in the crime records. Comparing it with Toshiro's autopsy report we've confirmed that the killer used an ability similar to Meltdowner. We don't know for sure if it was Meltdowner herself or someone able to mimic her powers however."

She sighs and I can hear her start to type in the background, "So, we need to look into her Companion Organisation, anyone associated with the Elementary Particle Engineering Laboratory or people connected with FIVE_Over. If we rule out all of them then the killer was almost certainly Meltdowner herself." Just like I was worried about. She is already preparing herself for a fight.

"Yes," I agree, "I can take care of looking into FIVE_Over. Shiokishi gets territorial about people uninvolved in the project poking their nose in. As long as I don't look at the Mental Out projects I still have clearance and access to all of the extant prototypes even though I'm currently assigned to Railgun."

"Meanwhile I can look into the EPE Lab." Harumi picks up where I left off, "You are primarily known as a biologist and engineer to the public rather than your work on gravity and AIM fields. It would be less out of place for me to contact them officially via my AIM field lab with my background in neurophysics and theoretical physics. What about the third lead? Her Companion Organisation."

"I could ask the girls to look into them? Level 5s scoping out the competition isn't unusual and only mildly illegal. The most they or I would get for it is a fine."

"Are you sure it would be safe for your girls? I don't want to put them in danger."

I hum in thought, "It shouldn't be more dangerous than anything I was doing at that age."

"... Dear, you were a professional assassin who regularly had to fight for your life against other child assassins at their age."

Well. She isn't wrong.

"Okay. We won't involve the girls then. In that case we can probably leave her CO until last and then handle it together. Maybe make a date out of it?" It has been a while since I did an infiltration op as a date. Besides, that will be the riskiest investigation so I would like to be with Harumi to keep her safe.

"Industrial espionage as a third date?"

"... Is that not a normal third date activity?"

"No."

"Oh." Bugger. I need to change the subject, "On the subject of our relationship. Ruri is still bugging me about meeting you. She promises it isn't about vetting or intimidating you." Harumi has been very understanding about me still working and being friends with one of my exes. She isn't particularly interested in knowing Ruri but that is more about 'not normally getting along with muscleheads' in her own words. Personally I think she is just being shy but I'm not going to push matters.

"Your ex is very persistent." I hum in agreement as Harumi sighs, "I guess I've put it off long enough. I'm taking it she wants us to meet one-on-one?"

"Yes. She requested a cafe. Do you have any preferences?"

"I have one I like with good air conditioning. I'll book a table for two and send you the details to pass on. Anything else?"

"No, that is pretty much everything. I'm just about done with work tonight, would you like me to get anything for supper for you?"

"I'm full already. Thank you though. However," her voice takes on a subtly teasing tone, "I think the AC might be broken. It is so~ hot here. You should hurry back before House fixes it and it gets so cold I have to put my clothes back on."

I gulp with a suddenly dry throat.

"Yes Ma'am."

============================================================
Thursday, 3rd of July 2003, One Year before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
I gently touch down from my Gravity Shift fall as the Anti-Skill first responders are arresting two blonde girls, sisters by the looks of things, and take a moment to stare at the blazing parking garage and review the chain of events so far. I was called out of an important meeting at HQ by the girls all activating their panic buttons at once. I rushed to Tokiwadai by falling with Gravity Shift but by the time I got there the perpetrators had already left. Apparently someone was stupid enough to attack a Tokiwadai student at Tokiwadai itself, thankfully not any of the girls. After making sure no one had been hurt by the Fucking Gatling Gun some maniac used on the school grounds the staff told me that only one student was missing, one Miss Mitsuari Ayu. The name seemed familiar, a quick check confirmed that she had been a member of Clone Dolly: Ideal and had a similar mental ability to Misaki but at Level 3. Mitori's friend Miss Hokaze and Misaki both confirmed that as well. Unfortunately, before I could put out a missing person's alert for her, one of the parking garages near Tokiwadai but outside of the School Garden had gone up in flames. I wanted to stay and look after the girls but my sense of responsibility as Commander of MAR made me rush over here.

I had been annoyed to be dragged away from checking on Tokiwadai for this but now that I am here I can sense a minigun, just like the one supposedly fired at Tokiwadai, on the 4th floor. So assuming she wasn't captured and then escaped, Miss Mitsuari seems to have led her attackers away from Tokiwadai to an isolated place? Noble, if foolish. A pity that I seem to have arrived too late to help her. I'm not sure if the two girls that Anti-Skill is arresting are people who tried to help her or her assailants but they are out of my hands for now. The three figures hiding in the woods however…

After I assure Anti-Skill that MAR is on its way to deal with the fire and get them to leave me alone by pointing out that we can cover more ground looking for survivors if we split up I approach the three hiding in the woods. They had already started to run by the time I freed myself to follow them but they weren't moving quickly enough to escape my esp.

"Hello there. Do you kids need help?" I ask as I jog into sight of them. One is a first year middle school girl in a Tokiwadai gym uniform, probably Miss Mitsuari Ayu, and one is an unremarkable third year middle school boy. The last one however… Miss Kumokara Seria. The Infamous Brain of Director Kaizumi Tsugutoshi. Not an ally of mine on the board, but not an enemy either. I will need to be careful. Miss Mitsuari doesn't look like these two are kidnapping her and such blunt use of force doesn't fit Miss Kumokawa's profile. So this probably isn't an attack on Unabara from Kaizumi but I can't rule that out either. I have no interest in getting in the middle of that kind of fight.

"Oh. Hello Ma'am. We are quite alright. Thankfully we all escaped from that fire with no more than a scratch. Are you with Anti-Skill?" Miss Kurokawa says. Miss Mitsuari and the young man look at her as if she is talking nonsense. So they were definitely more involved then she wanted it to seem. Though it is strange that she would work with such obvious amateurs as Miss Mitsuari and the boy.

"No," I say with the carefully crafted gentle smile I use for comforting victims, it calms down Miss Mitsuari and the boy right away but Miss Kurokawa, while her body language suggests she is calmed by it as well, has a mote of caution still in her eyes, "I am actually the Commander of Multi Active Rescue. I am not on duty right now but I am Officer Lifeline Tina." I inform them as I pull out my badge to prove my credentials. "I can see that the young man and lady here have some scrapes. As a licensed first aid provider, please, allow me to help."

Miss Mitsuari and the young man agree before Miss Kurokawa can make the objections she is no doubt planning on. Her faction obviously has their eyes on these two for some reason if she came herself to rescue Miss Mitsuari. Trying to make a play for the young lady might start a fight I'm not ready for but I can at least offer her a friendly face while I dig for more information. However, after we find a bench for the two to sit on while I treat them, Miss Kumokawa is quick to question me before I can start asking my own questions.

"If you don't mind me asking Commander Lifeline, why were you in the area? I hope your car wasn't caught in the blaze."

"Don't worry young Miss. My car is safe elsewhere. I was actually visiting Tokiwadai Middle School," Miss Mitsuari tenses up at that, did she think the attack came from inside somehow? "I was there for a parent-teacher issue but I heard about someone attacking one of the students who then went missing. Everyone is very worried. I volunteered to help out in the search and was lucky enough to find you three. Would I be correct in assuming that you are Miss Mitsuari Ayu?" I ask the girl in a Tokiwadai gym uniform as I clean one of her scrapes and apply a plaster over it.

[Calculate Relative Space-Time Position of Object "Mitsuari Ayu". Save Reference Point "Mitsuari Ayu".]

"Ah!" the poor thing is very nervous, like a scared cat, "Yes. That is me. I am very sorry for running away! I. I just didn't want anyone to get hurt because of me! I don't understand why those girls attacked me!"

Almost certainly for your Mental Stinger ability I'm afraid Miss Matsuari. Your family is rich but not that rich, while you are at the exact right middle ground between powerful and powerless to be an attractive target for someone wanting their own pet mind controller.

"That was very brave of you Miss Mitsuari." I say as I try to soothe the frightened child, "I'll make sure that your teachers know that you didn't do anything wrong. Though next time, please don't be afraid to ask for help from the Tokiwadai staff. Particularly the Dorm Mistress. She is highly trained and very capable of defending any students who are in danger." Judging from her fiddling with her fingers, I doubt that a single pep talk will get Miss Mitsuari to trust adults. Frankly that is probably for the best in this city.

I finish treating Miss Mitsuari's cuts and bruises and move on to treating the young man who is with her and Miss Kumokawa. He hasn't managed to move his gaze up to look me in the eye once since I knelt down but I suppose he is at that age. If he hadn't just been through a traumatic fight to the death with esper assassins I would still have called him out on it and told him to be better but now isn't the time.

"How clumsy of me. I don't think we have been introduced, Mr and Miss?"

"Kumokawa Seria," Miss Brain introduces herself, her face remaining a frustrating cypher like it has the entire conversation. "The boy who can't stop looking at your thighs in that pencil skirt is Mr Kamijou Touma." Huh. So this is what he looks like. After being called out so publicly the boy is blushing and looking everywhere but my legs now. I just chuckle and pat his head.

[Calculate Relative Space-Time Position of Object "Kamijou Touma". Save Reference Point "Kamijou Touma".]

"That is quite impolite of you Mr Kamijou but since you have just been through a trying ordeal I won't press charges for sexual harassment this time." I tease. From the tenor of his grumbling I don't think Mr Kamijou picked up that I was joking but oh well. Meanwhile, Miss Mitsuari seems to have quite the crush on him if her jealous glare at me is any indication. Mr Kamijou has more wounds then Miss Mitsuari but is obviously more used to receiving treatment without squirming so I finish treating him much quicker than I did her.

"Well thank you for your help Commander Lifeline but I'm afraid the three of us have somewhere to be." Miss Kumokawa says as she starts to drag Mr Kamijou and Miss Mitsuari away by the hand. Miss Mitsuari acts like you saved her Miss Kumokawa but I think part of you just wants her and Kamijou for your own faction right? As long as you don't get them hurt, and your history suggests that you won't, I suppose I have no reason to stand in your way.

"Well I would hate to keep the three of you and I am not a truant officer. Though I would recommend finding some new clothes. All of you are filthy and soaked with sweat." I say as I wave them goodbye.

"Uwah. Thank you Commander Lifeline!" Miss Mitsuari says as she is nearly dragged off her feet.

"Yeah. Thanks Commander." Mr Kamijou says with a wave before touching his head with his right hand.

-snap-

Oh my. I've never felt one of my Reference Points be severed before. So that was the power that would let him defeat Accelerator. Yes. I remember now. Concentrated in just his right hand. How fascinating. A pity that the chairman would never let me step in as his companion organisation. I would love to figure out how that works. Hopefully he doesn't touch Miss Mitsuari with his right hand before whatever trouble they are running from finds them again. I take out my phone to text the girls that Miss Mitsuari is unharmed but playing truant with some trustworthy friends for the day as the attack has left her feeling unsafe at Tokiwadai. Along with a note not to tell the teachers. Now. Time to get back to MAR HQ and the meeting on how we are going to keep my new pet dragon Linda in all the comfort a lady of her baring deserves! Putting thoughts to action I fall upwards and then towards District 2.

============================================================
Friday, 4th of July 2003, One Year before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
When the side of the mountain which makes up District 21 suddenly turns into a volcano, before putting itself out with a sudden flash flood, Multi Active Rescue is naturally the first agency called to fight the ensuing forest fire.

Unless, apparently, your name is Aleister Fucking Crowley. In which case your first impulse is to try to shoot the mountain with your satellite laser! I just count my blessings that the Board of Directors includes marginally more sensible people who blocked him from following that whim. Given that I had eyes I had already started mobilising MAR to deal with the unfolding crisis when Director Kaizumi contacted me and filled me in on what little information Miss Kumokawa had passed on to him last night. I left the rest of the preparations to evacuate District 21 and shield the rest of the city from the oncoming land slides and wild fires to Captain Hinata while I fell at my best survivable speed to hopefully save the director's brain. I would have rushed there to save Miss Mitsuari, who I can still sense close to the disaster, anyway but if I can do so while also making Kaizumi owe me a favour then all the better.

Nothing before has made me feel all 27 of my years than to arrive too late and find a plucky gang of teenagers had solved the problem while I dithered. I used to be one of those plucky teenagers annoyed at the useless and late adults. When did I get old? Thankfully Miss Kumokawa, Mr Kamijou and the Gokusai sisters, the assassins who set the parking garage ablaze yesterday apparently, didn't waste too much time being angry at me for being late and accepted my help to try to find the still missing Miss Mitsuari. My ability to save reference points is still a secret from the city so I didn't point out her direction right away, she feels as if she is in good health so I have maintained the ruse that my esp only reaches 20 metres. Miss Kumokawa filled me in on the details of L.S.S.'s plot as we began to search.

The Beginning Child, to think that all of this is L.S.S.'s foolish attempt to awaken her. How did she even fall into their hands? Why did they try to scare her awake instead of any other more sensible method? What did they hope to accomplish by awakening her? Certainly her ability is versatile and powerful, a Level 5 by the modern ranking system, but she is hardly unbeatable with modern technology or even very powerful for a Level 5. I can't see her being ranked higher than Misaki. Her use for esper development is practically zero after the breakthroughs from the failed rebel Level 5 and Gensei's Crystalised Esper Essence research. Sadly I am unlikely to ever know if they actually had a sensible plan or if the L.S.S. executives were all just stupid. Even as we speak the chairman and the board are liquidating the company's assets and either arresting or assassinating its higher ups. While the Beginning Child apparently killed its CEO as soon as she woke up.

I took the unconscious Beginning Child back to Tokiwadai before I began my part of the search for Miss Mitsuari. I had no intention of letting her fall into the hands of Kaizumi, Heaven Canceller or the Chairman to disappear or freeze again. Equally, Miss Kumokawa would not permit me to gather another Level 5 under my wing. To say nothing of how the board or chairman would react to my attempting that. Being publicly at Tokiwadai under Unabara was our compromise that no one was happy with. Other than Unabara I suppose. Whose hologram looked like the cat who ate the canary when I dropped yet another Level 5 off at her school. This one a girl she didn't need to share with me and could keep all to herself. I'm not 100% sure about the Beginning Child's age but I suspect she will be enrolling at Tokiwadai in the next academic year as that old hag's newest granddaughter.

Now that I have dropped off the Beginning Child at Tokiwadai, where Misaki is keeping her calm and asleep under the close supervision of Unabara's robots, I am making my way back up the slopes of District 21. Taking my time and searching empty space systematically as I work my way towards the Ground Geo plant where Miss Mitsuari is currently hiding. When I finally make it there I can see that Miss Mitsuari is on the phone with someone while sitting on the edge of the reservoir. I do my best to avoid startling her as I approach silently. From what I can make out from her side of the phone conversation she is talking to Mr Kamijou. That is good. Once I am close enough to catch her if startling her makes her fall I allow my footsteps to make sound again.

"Uwah! Commander Lifeline! Oh-Sorry Touma. Yes, Commander Lifeline just found me. O-oh. Okay. I'll talk to you later then? Thank you. Let me give you my number. Wha! S-sure we can meet to-tomorrow. It. It's a d-d-d-date! Illseeyousoonyougoodbye!" Miss Mitsuari is blushing up a storm as she ends her call. Daw. Young puppy love. They will probably break up in a month but it will be a good learning experience for them.

"Hello Miss Mitsuari. I am glad to see you are alright. We were all quite worried when you disappeared." I say in my practised rescue worker tone. I can see it is having the desired physiological effect of calming her down but judging from her narrowed eyes she doesn't appreciate my manipulating her. Hmm I wonder if she recognised the trick on her own or if Miss Kumokawa clued her in?

"Were you really worried about me? Or were you just worried about your backup for Mental Out!"

What?

"I'm afraid I don't follow, Miss Mitsuari."

"Miss Kumokawa told me about you being that little Bee Sting's mother! You probably pulled strings to get her made a Level 5 instead of me! If. If I had been a Level 5 then I would have been able to wake up the Beginning Child without her going berserk! L.S.S. only went for me, the spare because they couldn't get past you to Bee Sting." Bee Sting? Oh! Misaki's last name has the character for bee in it! I do not miss the body based insults from middle school.

How dare she insult Misaki! I should crush her flat!

I try to control my facial expressions. I don't want to scare the girl while she is so close to a ledge. Was that why she came here? Fuck. I should have hurried here sooner rather than taking my time. That is the second time today that my dithering has almost led to disaster.

"Misaki was already level 5 when I adopted her, Miss Mitsuari. In-"

"So you took her in because of her Level! You still don't care about me! I'm just a spare!"

This entitled little bitch.

"Let me finish, Miss Mits-"

"No! You let me finish! I'm sick of adults controlling me and setting me aside in favour of Bee Sting! I'm just as good as her! If not better! I could have been Level 5 if they just hadn't moved the funding over to her! I should have been Level 5!"

How does she know about the funding? What fucking idiot spilled information on the Parametre List to her! How is she still alive?

"Miss Mitsuari!" I yell over her continued ranting against Misaki and Clone Dolly: Ideal, "That is an extremely serious accusation to make!" I quiet down a bit to make it clear I am not angry at her, "Talking like that could anger some very powerful people, Miss Mitsuari. People even more powerful and ruthless than myself or L.S.S. I can't protect you if you go around shouting that kind of thing."

She just smiles bitterly at me.

"I know. I've known about being replaced for years but never told anyone. I'm not stupid."

She moves away from the ledge. Small mercies.

"I don't need you or any other adults anymore. I have people who want me for me! Not as the fall back option for Bee Sting. Not just for my Ability! Touma likes me! Just as a girl not as an esper. Not Shokuhou! So don't even think about trying to steal him away!"

I cautiously circle around her to try and put myself between the ledge and herself.

"In that case I am happy for you Miss Mitsuari. I understand you probably don't believe me but I wish you nothing but the best and have absolutely no designs on Mr Kamijou." Ew. Blegh. Disgusting.

She clearly doesn't believe me. That is fine. As long as she doesn't hurt herself I really couldn't care less about her relationship drama.

"I'm going home now. Then I am going on a date with Touma tomorrow. Don't even think of getting in my way or following me! I will use my Mental Stinger on you if I have to!" she yells pointing her camera at me.

I hold my hands up in surrender.

"I really have no intention of doing so Miss Mitsuari. You are of course free to go."

She keeps pointing her phone at me but seems to think better of it and runs away down the mountain. I'll need to ask Misaki to check my head soon but at least a young woman didn't try to drown herself on my watch. Small victories.

"What a shit show."
=============================================================
AN: Not super pleased with this one but I needed to cover Biohacker to set up some dominoes down the road. Still, stuff like this happens every day in AC and Tina can't, physically and emotionally, give every incident her full attention.

 

[Suseiseki]

She is sadly right, she had the bad luck of being a little harder to use for lvl 5 shift, she is never going to reach lvl 5 or be useful for anyone in the city, always the spare. But honestly she is better that way, being a lv 5 is a fate worse than death sometimes.

 

[LilyWitch]

Monday, 7th of July 2003, One Year before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
"Ah~. I haven't been on off work during tanabata in years. Thank you for convincing me to take the day off with you Harumi. This is really nice." I say as I let her lead me by the hand through the crowds of people out in District 7 to enjoy the fireworks. Both of us are eating mixed takoyaki skewers, in the dizzying variety of flavours that only Academy City would dream up. Harumi is wearing a conservatively cut yukata for the occasion. I think she got it at Moe Bells given its patterning, cars from the street racing anime Inertial F. She looks more comfortable in that than any of the more professional clothes I have seen her in. Maybe I should get her some home clothes with the same material or pattern? She has her hair flowing loose like normal but I think she used a new conditioner for our date.

"I've never experienced an Academy City tanabata before. I wanted my first one to be with you and to celebrate finding Miss Haruue." Harumi says with a small smile and a glance at my chest. For her that might as well be a blinding grin and a lecherous blush. The objects drawing her eye of course being the exposed tops of my breasts. I decided to abandon subtlety today. My own yukata, patterned with lilies and orchids, is bearing my shoulders in the oiran style and I have my hair pinned up in an elaborate construct of ribbons and clips. I could never get away with wearing something so provocative like this at work but it is nice for Harumi to be the one struggling to keep her eyes off of me in public for a change.

Yesterday we finally found the girl who caused the Poltergeist incident when trying to wake up Harumi's kids after a month of searching. It turns out that she was an old classmate of Banri's who had an unusual telepathic connection with her. She had been shocked and upset to find out that Banri is in a coma but eager to help however she could. Miss Haruue is lucky that Harumi and I are such nice people and didn't take advantage of her naivete. Our next attempt to wake up everyone was going to go ahead this weekend. We want to make sure we have prepared for every eventuality before trying again.

"Would you like me to show you to one of the off the beaten path spots? There is meant to be a charming little temporary grey market hidden in some alleys nearby this year." I ask.

Normally I didn't keep a close enough eye on the underground to notice stuff like that but, against my wishes, Mitori has stayed in contact with her dark side contacts from before I took her in and they told her about it. They are a bad influence on her and her sisters but at least I can be reasonably sure they aren't a direct threat to their lives. Unless that changes I won't put my foot down and stop Mitori from making contact with them. The girls had visited the dark side back alley market earlier today with their friends and texted me about it before I got off work and joined Harumi for our date. Supposedly it only stocked grey market stuff, contraband electronics, out of production sweets etc. nothing so illegal or immoral that I need to be worried about them. Still, if Harumi is willing I would like to inspect it myself to make sure.

Harumi does agree and we spend about half an hour looking through the grey market stalls and eating overpriced street food of dubious providence. Honestly Mitori and the other girls had made this market seem much more dangerous in their excited messaging than it ended up being. I shouldn't have been worried at all. Still, I found a few hidden gems, like some stolen prototype Quick Iris smart contact lenses Misaki might be able to use with Mental Out. Those aren't meant to come out on the market for another year. If she doesn't like them I can send them to Lifeline Technologies smart phone department and see if we can't get a leg up on the competition. While at the second hand bookstore Harumi was able to get a rare out of print book on historical sports cars. One of the stalls also had some excellent moon cakes that Harumi and I both enjoyed so the trip wasn't a total waste. As we are walking away from the bookstore stall, a commotion from someone splitting from their group to buy a book there catches our attention.

"I don't believe it! Is that Umisuna Seiru's makeup guide? Ha ha. But that was banned from all the stores – physical and digital – after she was arrested!"

The short adult woman in a middle school uniform and de-aging makeup is quickly dragged back to her group by a younger highschool girl in a pink tracksuit but neither of them are who truly captures our attention. The group is being led by another highschool girl who I would recognise anywhere. The 3rd ranked Level 5. For now at least, as someone privy to the Bank data before it goes public I know that she is about to be bumped down to 5th place behind Mikoto and Misaki. The one who first drew our attention really has a very good disguise as a middle schooler, if I couldn't feel the difference in her body structure from being past puberty I would have been fooled. I wonder if her teammates know or if she is tricking them as well?

"Meltdowner…" Harumi mumbles, thankfully quietly enough that neither Mugino Shizuri or her little gang of assassins seem to notice. She goes to follow them but I pull her back towards me. She turns on me with a hurt look but I interrupt her before she can ask why.

"I'm not saying don't follow them. We just don't need to expose ourselves by staying in sight. I can sense them from 20 metres away with my esp." After hearing my explanation she relaxes and nods. I lean into her as we amble after the quintet of young women so that we can easily whisper to each other without being overheard.

"Five potential hostiles. One woman and four teenagers. The woman is about the same age as us while the girls are split between two highschoolers, one of whom is Meltdowner, and two younger girls. I'm not sure if the latter are in middle or elementary school."

"You can tell all that just from their gravity?"

"Even human bodies that have the same mass feel different at different age ranges due to their changing body structure. Bones are different shapes while muscle and fat hang off them in different ways." I explain as we turn a corner onto an empty street. "They are one street over. Based on their own movement patterns I think they are also tailing someone."

"Their next victim?"

I frown.

"We still don't know for su-"

"I understand you are trying to protect me but stop. We both know it was Meltdowner who murdered Toshiro. Don't worry. I'm not stupid enough to confront her today. I'm just hoping to see her in action and gather some data." Harumi pauses and considers what she just said, "And try to save their potential victim this time of course."

I smile fondly. Harumi is quite a good liar when she tries so it is nice she isn't trying to hide her priorities from me.

"If I think it's needed I'll step in. Most of the city's underground violence is directed at itself so their target is probably deserving." Like me.

Harumi doesn't seem to pick up on the self hating direction of my thoughts but I try to distract myself from them anyway. Heaven Canceller and my new therapist insist that focusing on them has just been sending me down depressive and anxious spirals leading to my overreliance on antipsychotics and cannabis to regulate my moods.

"They are climbing a fire escape. Let's hurry to catch up." I say changing the subject.

They are climbing… the library of astrology? Why? That building is meant to be closed for renovations to its fire safety systems today. I signed off on the approval forms myself. What dark side business could be going on in there? As we get closer I can make out a large crowd surrounding what seems like an empty ring with my gravity senses. For once it is Harumi that knows about a dark side event that I don't. After I fill her in on what I sense she nods and points to some graffiti nearby of an anchor and chain.

"I think this is the latest site of the Colosseum." she explains, "It is a esper MMA ring that usually fights to the death. It moves around to stay ahead of Anti-Skill."

"I never pegged you for the type to watch death matches."

She shakes her head, "I'm not. I came across it on the dark web while I was verifying what you told me about Ability Body Crystals in our second meeting. I never paid much attention to it. Do you think Meltdowner is here to compete or to shut it down?"

"Shut it down." I say confidently, "If she was a competitor she wouldn't be sneaking in like she is and trying to spy on what looks like the control room. Speaking of which, I should shut this down before anyone gets hurt today. My esp and your testimony about the graffiti gives me probable cause. That should give you the data you are looking for right?" I say with a grin.

"I don't want you to get hurt for me."

"I know," I say with a smaller, more earnest smile, "If I go in there as an officer of the law the groups are more likely to run than fight me to the death. If the worst comes to worst you and I will run away ourselves. Don't worry. I have no intention of dying today. Stay close to me. I'll protect you from any stray Meltdowner blasts."

With Harumi's go ahead I smash a hole through the outer wall just as Meltdowner falls through the ceiling where she was spying on someone. Harumi and I step through the hole and stand arm in arm. Looking for all the world like a couple still out on our Tanabata date rather than anything dangerous.

"This is Commander Lifeline of Multi Active Rescue!" I shout, "You are all under arrest for public endangerment, falsifying building records," "My defensive calculations deflect a particle-wave beam and two air blasts, "resisting arrest and attempted murder." I continue without breaking my stride, "Stand down with your hands behind your heads."

No one listens to me of course. The spectators all scatter and run while the girl fighting a tiger in the ring freezes up and almost gets herself disembowelled for her trouble. I pull her and the tiger towards me before slingshotting them at safe speeds to opposite corners of the room. Meltdowner's crew of five and the four girls who seem to be the ringmasters are all glaring at me. Though the adult in meltdowner's group seems the most angry. The others are all just annoyed but she looks like she wants me dead.

Meltdowner looks towards the girl who must be the leader of the Colosseum. She was stupid enough to wear her school uniform to this so I know she's a Tokiwadai student. If she lives I'll have to have the girls look into her. I wonder if this is one of Unabara's side projects?

"Truce?" Meltdowner offers.

"Truce." Tokiwadai agrees.

Oh! Now that really got the older woman playing pretend on meltdowner's team angry based on her heartbeat. Before they can start to coordinate I interrupt them by slingshotting a few bookcases at them, it hurts to destroy books like this but all the materials in this library have electronic back ups off site. The two groups easily intercept them of course. Particle-wave beams, rockets and air blasts from Meltdowner's team while Tokiwadai's team relies on her own air blasts as they either cringe back or get ready to hit the projectiles physically. So her three subordinates don't have long ranged attacks. Good to know. While only two of Meltdowner's team don't seem to have ranged attacks. The girl who was fighting and the tiger both ran off in the confusion. Thankfully Harumi has her phone out and is phoning MAR's animal control division before I have to say anything.

"Oi oi oi!" I complain with an exaggerated swagger, it has been a while since I was in a dark side brawl. This should be fun. "Don't think you can just ignore the law like that."

Meltdowner scoffs, "You expect me to believe that you're with whatever it is rescue? You're a pair of old hags out for Tanabata. You're in yukata for fucks sake. Who would be stupid enough to pick a fight wearing something like that."

Tokiwadai shakes her head vigorously, her blonde hair swaying back and forth. "No. I saw her around school last week. She is who she says she is."

"She's right." I say as I pull out my badge from my purse and flash it at them. "Commander Lifeline Tina, 6th Ranked Level 5 at your service."

"You must be pretty arrogant to tell us your name but still lie about being an Ability user like that old hag." Meltdowner says as multiple green orbs start floating around her shoulders, "No one your age is an esper. It doesn't matter what kind of tech you are using to deflect my Meltdowner. I'll overpower it and blow you away!"

The original's beams are more powerful than Byouri's knock off but with how much warning she gives me they are actually easier to deflect safely. All four of her beams shoot up into the sky, cutting ragged holes into the ceiling but otherwise not doing any damage. I yawn theatrically.

"Is this the best the Rank 3 can do? No wonder my daughters are set to overtake you in the rankings." I taunt her.

Just as planned, that makes her so angry that she blasts me non-stop for about half a minute. Accomplishing absolutely nothing except tiring herself out. Tokiwadai and the physical brawler on her team, a young girl probably not even in middle school, are attempting to flank us on the left while the air manipulator and the rocket user on Meltdowner's team are trying to flank us on the right.

This bitch hurt Harumi! I should hurt her right back!

I could just kill them with redirected Meltdowner beams but I'd rather not kill any kids today if I don't have to. The tanned girl on Tokiwadai's team has run off to some sort of vehicle in the next building over. Meltdowner's pink tracksuit girl is snorting some powdered ability body crystal. So that must have been why little Toshiro died. What a fucking waste. Killed in a turf war over drugs. The last two members of the allied teams, an unremarkable middle school girl and the adult woman, seem to be non-combatants and are staying back. The middle school girl is clutching a briefcase to her chest. That must be their pay day. Interesting that they didn't send it to the girl with the vehicle. She must be intending to come back and join the fight.

"Now Frenda!" Meltdowner yells. Rockets and an air blast come from my right while another air blast comes from my left. Redirecting them all so that they pass Harumi and I by and strike at the opposing team is childsplay.

"Hey! Watch what you are doing, fake Item!" both groups yell at each other. Oh! Oh that is what is going on. That's hilarious and gives me an opportunity to give Harumi and myself an opportunity to escape with the information she needs without killing any kids today.

I let out my full Kihara cackle, I only remember that Harumi hasn't heard it before when she flinches next to me. I'll have to apologise later.

"Really? This old chestnut? Are they still doing that play? This was an old trick when I was doing your jobs." Oh yes. That is definitely Miss Pretending To Be A Schoolgirl's play. She is freaking out and trying to sidle up to the briefcase girl while no one is looking. Probably hoping to start the fight up again if I stop it by killing her.

The barrage of green beams dies down. Foolish of you Meltdowner, if I was lying you stopping like this would be the perfect time for me to counter attack. Tokiwadai's brawler takes the opportunity to jump me but as soon as she makes contact with me I knock her out by subjecting her to 13 Gs. A risky amount but she seems to survive it once I kick her loose back to her boss and set her gravity back to normal. I save her as one of my reference points and keep her under my ability's influence of course. If she wakes up and tries to do anything again I can send her right back to sleep.

"What do you mean?" Meltdowner asks. Before I can answer, Tokiwadai laughs.

"You really don't know? This will be easier than I thought. We've both been built up by the voice on the phone and now whoever wins the death match gets to keep their name as ITEM." ugh. I do not miss the silly insistence on capitalisation.

"Oh yeah? I can sort that out easily number 8." Meltdowner says as she charges up a green light in the palm of her hand aimed at Tokiwadai.

I clap to bring everyone's attention back to me before things can degenerate again and drag Miss Fake Schoolgirl and Briefcase girl into my orbit as hostages, keeping them well away from each other of course. Meltdowner and Tokiwadai yell their teammates names as I kidnap them. Miss Fake Schoolgirl is going by Miss Hanano while the briefcase girl is Miss Inoue apparently.

"Now girls. Miss Tokiwadai isn't quite right in her explanation. I can also confirm that she is not the real number 8. That is a bluff on her part." Meltdowner scoffs and claims she knew that all along while Tokiwadai looks like she swallowed a lemon. Tokiwadai's tanned girl has arrived at the door with her… is that a kick scooter with a jet engine strapped to the back? Regardless she is pausing and listening with the rest so that is enough for now. "While it is correct that the contest for a capitalised team name is the public reason for the death match. In truth," Miss Hanano starts struggling more and looking panicked so I make sure to gag her with a gravity field in her mouth keeping her jaws shut before she can try to start something, "the city isn't so wasteful that it pits powerful espers and useful operatives against each other like that. Don't get me wrong, to the Board of Directors you are all disposable, but you have enough financial value that killing you just to see who got a team name would be a waste. No. One of your teams pissed off a Director or maybe even the Chairman himself. The other team is being sent to silence that one in a deniable way that draws all the survivors deeper into the Dark Side." Though whichever team it was that pissed the Board of Directors off obviously hasn't pissed them off a lot. Probably only a bet gone wrong at the Colosseum or something else low stakes like that. If they had really rocked the boat Amata or Noukan would have been sent in. Or maybe MEMBER if they were weak in direct combat.

"And how does an old hag like you know all this huh?" Meltdowner grits out.

"Do you think you are the first kids the city has done this too? I've lived through this. I'm speaking from personal experience. Then, once I grew up and entered the adult world, I've helped set it up before." I pat Miss Hanano and Miss Inoue on their heads, saving them as reference points as I do so. "Miss Hanano knows all about this, don't you Miss Hanano? After all, you are the adult manipulating the two teams into conflict." I let her mouth go from my gravity shift so she can talk.

"She's lying! I'd never betray Item, Mugino! Please! Please believe me!" She starts crying, she's really a very good actress. Though as her stress rises more tells of her performance are coming through. I grab the briefcase from Miss Inoue as Miss Mugino and Miss Hanano argue, the rest of their team chiming in at points. Oh wow. 80 Billion Yen in pre-paid cards. Yeah it was definitely the Colosseum Item that rocked the boat. They got too close to financial independence. I idly block an empowered kick from Meltdowner's air manipulator aimed at Harumi by increasing my own weight and interposing my arm. Hmm she has some kind of barrier preventing me from touching her. Smart given what I did to Tokiwadai's brawler. I kick her away and elbow Meltdowner's rocket user in the nose with the same motion as she tries to sneak up and rescue Miss Hanano while she thinks I am distracted. I save her as a reference point as well but don't alter her gravity for now. Tch. That got blood on my yukata sleeve.

"Tell you what." I interject after slingshotting my two current assailants away towards meltdowner and her tracksuit girl. "How about a compromise? Each team walks away with half of this 80 Billion Yen. The Colosseum shuts down and doesn't start back up, that is very obviously what has upset the higher ups, and both teams go back to their everyday lives. Everybody lives! How does that sound to everyone?"

"Oh yeah?" Tokiwadai sneers, "Why would I let anyone walk away with half of our money huh? Or put a stop to my Colosseum?"

"Well for a start Miss Ibotanokikouji Kaede," Harumi says as she puts her cellphone away, "Now the Commander of MAR knows your face and your name. Congratulations. You've graduated out of the kiddie pool into the big leagues. You can't go back into hiding now. Your days of slipping under the radar are over." I have such a smart girlfriend! While I was distracting everyone by hamming it up she's been busy identifying all the girls, taking notes on their powers and liaising with MAR HQ. "This Colosseum is what brought the hand of the Chairman down on you. Aside from you getting too independently rich, and therefore uncontrollable, off of it you are also wasting high level espers in deathmatches with no research value and crashing insurance companies, making the city a less attractive place for investment." I knew Harumi would be able to figure it all out without me needing to give her hints. It is so nice to be dating an intellectual equal for once. Sorry Ruri.

"And," I add, "As the last few minutes of combat have shown, even working together you can't beat me today. If you want a chance you'll both need to retreat to lick your wounds, plan and probably work together to stand a chance." That is a bluff of course. Meltdowner is being disappointingly straightforward but if she started fighting smart now that she has had time to calm down and analyse my ability she could absolutely kill me. Depending on how their powers work the two air manipulators might be able to as well. "Besides, neither I nor the other Item is either of your teams' real enemy. It's the people who set you up to kill each other to begin with. Isn't that right Miss Hanano?" Yes. Judging from their body language, Miss Mugino and Miss Ibotanokikouji are coming around to my idea.

Miss Hanano must be able to tell because she drops her act, her voice and mannerisms shifting upwards 10 years in the blink of an eye. "Do you really think you have that choice? You are all idiots. You most of all Tina Lifeline. Do you really think that you can get away with messing with the Chairman's plans like this? All this will do is bring down people far more terrifying than me on your heads." she spits in my face but I deflect it back into her own eye in an act of pettiness. "Gah! Bitch! Mugino! Kill this hypocrite and her girlfriend along with Ibotanokikouji's little harem. I'm trying to protect you here! If you don't kill them then you'll just share their fate when the Chairman sends his actual executioners to kill yo-" Miss Hanano's head is vaporised by a particle-wave cannon in the middle of her threat. I let the corpse drop out of my orbit onto the ground.

"If that was true this old hag wouldn't have got as far as she has, Traitor." Oh my. I do believe that Miss Mugino is actually hurt by this betrayal. She is putting on a brave face but she looks far more sad than angry. She turns her attention to myself and Miss Ibotanokikouji. "Half the money and you stop fucking around with our accounts posh girl." …That is hilariously hypocritical coming from a Mugino. "Don't think I didn't notice that you were expecting us. That traitor or her handlers pre-warned you about this competition between us, didn't they? So you started early, attacking us first by going for our money to restrict our options. Just another part of her plan to force us to kill each other." She turns to me before Miss Ibotanokikouji can answer, "As for you, old hag, Get the fuck out of my sight and I might not kill you. I saw that you couldn't apply your ability to Kinuhata or Frenda. You needed skin contact to pull that trick on the wrestling kid right? All I need to do to kill you is get in close so you can't bend my Meltdowner away." Good guess Miss Mugnio but not completely correct I'm afraid. However, I would say that Harumi got all the data she needs so there is no point in sticking around for a fight. I nod to Miss Mugino and Miss Ibotanokikouji as I set Miss Inoue down by her leader and the briefcase of money, already separated into two equal piles, down between the two teams before falling upwards and away with Harumi. Whether today ends in violence or not is up to them now.

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Sunday, 13th of July 2003, One Year before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
In the end the two teams seem to have gone their separate ways without fighting to the death. Ibotanokikouji Kaede has kept attending Tokiwadai, though she has been called into private meetings with Unabara a few times in the past week. I've asked the girls to keep an eye on her and make sure she isn't getting up to anything too outside of the bounds of the system again. Which they apparently understood as an instruction to friendship bomb her. She seems to have accepted being a member of their clique and Unabara's newest dog as part of her 'parole'. Her team also seems to have lost the fight for the ITEM name, instead going by Courier as Unabara's personal wetwork squad. Their personal project of the Colosseum is fully shut down, I've had the cyber disaster relief team combing the dark web for any rumours of it resurfacing and nothing has popped up. Of course, if they are sensible they will never need to work again with how much money they saved up. I've caught Miss Waniguchi picking fights with Skill-Out in The Strange with my esp regardless. I guess she enjoys fighting for its own sake, but otherwise everyone involved seems happy to wash their hands of the matter in exchange for their lives and relative freedom.

Miss Mugino's team on the other hand has kept the ITEM name and their position as part of the Voice on the Phone's mercenary network. Funnily enough after we left both teams seem to have retreated back to the same highrise in District 15 as their home base. Thanks to my gravity senses I can even tell that Miss Seivelun, Miss Waniguchi and Miss Inoue are spending time together on the shopping floor so I think they might have made friends despite the rocky start. It is a pity I wasn't able to tag the other half of either team. Being able to track and incapacitate two dark side teams at will would have been a useful trump card but part of both isn't a bad result at all. It more than makes up for Miss Mitsuari destroying her reference point, presumably by touching Mr Kamijou's right hand during their date, the day after we last met. According to Misaki Miss Mitsuari did read my mind that day, but after a thorough check over my mind she didn't find any hidden programming or evidence of mental editing. The girls all know to watch out for her at school but for now she hasn't done anything other than be rude to Misaki in the corridor.

"Are all the preparations ready on your end Dr. Kihara?" Heaven Canceller asks me, pulling me from my internal reflection on events as I make my final checks on our equipment. He is never going to stop calling me that is he?

I take a moment to make doubly sure before nodding. "Yes. All systems are green."

Harumi is standing by the window overlooking the operating theatre containing her kids and Miss Haruue biting her lip. I walk over and hold her hand.

"It will work this time, Harumi. We've accounted for every variable."

"I know. I'm sure this will work. It's just. What if they still hate me? They should after everything I've done."

I hum comfortingly and lean my head on her shoulder.

"Ultimately you can't control other peoples' internal lives. If your kids hate you for the initial experiment after all you have done to try and help them that is their right. No one is owed forgiveness from their victims. I can't promise that they will validate your need to be forgiven or your need to be punished. That choice is up to them. What I do know is that you are not the same person who would put them into a coma anymore. You wouldn't do something like that again. You can't live your life hoping for validation from the world around you. You have to validate your own reality and be true to yourself."

"... even if that means not seeking justice for Toshiro?"

"Do you mean justice or vengeance? I'm still happy to help you kill Miss Mugnio if you want. If we strike fast then she wouldn't have any opportunity to strike back at your kids."

"Would that change anything? If it hadn't been Meltdowner and Miss Takitsubo it would have been another addict who I denied their fix when I bought up most of the supply of Body Crystal. She's a bad person, even if she does care for her team. It shouldn't matter now that I know she's a person instead of just a target. Just because she was hurt by that woman's lies doesn't make her killing Toshiro okay!" I hum and nod, letting Harumi work through her thoughts aloud. "It isn't just the Body Crystals either. If it wasn't those it would have been some other drug! It isn't even just this city. I came here to escape an outside world that is just as bad. It's just! The world is so full of shit! I ignored that for my entire life and thought I could escape it by pretending it wasn't there until it was thrust in my face. How can I make sure that what happened to Toshiro, what happened to all of them, won't happen to anyone else?"

"You can't. You can try your best to improve the bits of the world you can touch but no one can fix the entire world. We just make it a little bit less shit one day at a time. Your kids are going to wake up and be safe because of you, Harumi. I know that doesn't feel like much but it is a victory. Today the darkness doesn't win. We just keep doing our best day after day, taking mental health breaks if we need to, and we leave the world a better place than we found it. We can't be everywhere and stop everything. But we can stop what we see. Like with the Colosseum. That didn't turn out perfect and bloodless but thanks to us no more kids are being roped into illegal death matches."

"Maybe, though we let the people running it go without punishment."

"Did we? It's not the conventional reformatory but I would wager that Miss Ibotanokikouji and Miss Wanaguchi find being Unabara's hunting dogs even more constricting. Should I have been killed or imprisoned at 13 for my crimes? Would that of actually made me a better person or society any safer? Maybe I should have been but I can't judge those girls, either team, for doing what I was at their age. All I can do is offer my advice to try and help them avoid the pitfalls I stumbled into blind. Like I told Mitori when I got her her christmas present, 'Killing them won't undo what they did'. I would never be such a hypocrite as to try and deny you your revenge, Harumi. But you should be sure that revenge is what you want. Nothing can bring Toshiro back or undo the hurt his death caused to you. To kill for revenge in his name or to try to reform the system so that kids like him are no longer killed are two equally valid ways to move forward. But they won't change the past."

Harumi hums in thought and hugs me back but doesn't say anything. I hope this helped her make her choice. No matter what it is, I will support her.

In the end the actual procedure is a bit of an anticlimax. Edasaki Banri and the rest wake up without any problems. Harumi's worries about them hating her prove to be unfounded as her kids are overjoyed to see her again. Apparently they could hear what happened nearby to them while they were in their comas as if in a dream. They know that she has done everything she could to help them. Everyone is sad to hear of Toshiro's death, though Harumi spares them the details or reasons. They quickly switch to being overjoyed when she presents the offer to adopt them to her class and Erii however. By the end of the day Kiyama Harumi is the proud mother of 10 former child errors. They aren't able to get out of bed yet, all the kids will need physiotherapy before they can walk again, but we push the beds together and make sure to take a picture of the whole family smiling and crying with joy. Harumi in the centre with the newly renamed Kiyama Banri and Kiyama Erii on either side surrounded by the rest of their siblings. Another family picture for our mantle.
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AN: Given we know absolutely nothing about Harumi's class other than Banri in canon, I'm opening the floor to reader submissions of names, personalities and abilities (max Level 2 currently but you can explain how you think it would grow in power if they reach levels 3 or 4. No level 5s.) of the 8 remaining kids! I can't promise that I will use all or even any of the applications but I am excited to see peoples ideas.