Judgement Branch 177, August 4, mid-morning
"What do I do..? Miss Kuroko is going to be very mad!"
"What's the problem, kid?"
"I don't know what to do with these documents, Miss Uiharu!"
"Ah, you poor boy! Here, Shulk, I can help you! You just put this one here, and that one there. Done!"
"Oh, thank you, Miss Uiharu! I'm so glad that you are here to help me!"
"Heheheh," Uiharu is distantly giggling to herself, much to the chagrin of Kuroko.
"Uh, Kuroko?" Shulk asks, looking to Kuroko for some sort of reasonable explanation. "What's wrong with Miss Kazari?"
Within her reverie, Uiharu hears her name being called.
"He called me 'miss', Shirai-san! Heheheh..."
"Just ignore her," Kuroko says, irked.
Shulk looks around the office, which has multiple boxes neatly placed on racks. There is a potted plant sitting in the corner of the office, and upon one of the walls, there are sets of photos. Uiharu sits at a desk in front of a computer, still looking a bit too happy. One could barely hear her murmuring "I'm a senpai" to herself.
Kuroko claps her hands together with a smile. "Shulk-kun, I welcome you to Judgement. You should actually consider yourself lucky when it comes to getting in." She rustles about a small box filled with papers.
"I am?" Shulk steps up to the group of photos and inspects them. They all have people he doesn't recognize, but they all seem to know each other.
"You'd usually have to go through months of training. Considering your ability and physical competence, however, all you have to do is sign a few contracts. Here." Kuroko hands Shulk a thin stack of papers. "Just sign all of these, and you'll be officially an official Judgement Officer."
"Alright," Shulk chuckles to himself. He talks to Kuroko as he signs away. "You know, you seem way more mature when you're not around Mikoto."
"Obviously. I am required to be mature and always attentive when I'm on duty (which is always), but I can't resist myself sometimes." Kuroko clears her throat. "Pardon me."
Shulk sets the papers down on a desk and takes a pencil he set on his ear. While signing the papers, he and Kuroko continue their conversation.
"Is being in Judgement especially dangerous?"
"Depending on how much trouble you get yourself into, it can be fatal."
"Judgement officers have died?" Though curious, Shulk doesn't seem very surprised.
"We haven't had any Judgement members die in some time, but the ones that don't check their limits often can get themselves in deep trouble. We have protocols to get ourselves out of danger, though. As long as you follow them and recognize when you should run away, you'll go untouched."
A bit ironic, isn't it? Kuroko felt like muttering the phrase to herself, but Shulk was quite the attentive listener.
"I noticed a lot of Judgement members aren't especially strong espers, like Uiharu. If Judgement officers can't handle a threat, then who does?"
"That would be the job of Anti-Skill. They're essentially Academy City's SWAT team."
"What's a 'SWAT' team?"
"...Forget I said that. Essentially, Anti-Skill are armed forces tasked to defend Academy City in much more dangerous situations." Kuroko takes the signed papers from Shulk. "Well then, Shulk-kun!" She shakes his hand. "You are now an official Judgement officer. Take this armband. You'll be wearing it from now on unless the situation calls for you not to."
Kuroko opens her hand, and in it is a green armband with parallel white stripes, bearing a white shield-like symbol.
"I'm glad to be here," Shulk nods. He clips the armband on and takes a brief look around the room. "So, what happens now?"
Kuroko checks the clock on the office's wall. "I'd say it's around time for a patrol. It's a common thing you'll be doing a lot while on-duty."
"Patrolling?" Shulk attempts to visualize the activity in his head. "So we walk around the city and make sure everything's okay?"
"As long as Judgement's around, everything will be okay. That's our duty. Uiharu, Shulk, let's go!"
The three boldly walk outside and away from the building. As they march along the sidewalk, keenly watching the roads, Kuroko hands Shulk a pair of handcuffs. Shulk holds them in his hand, lifting the weighted cuffs.
"You should focus on restraining a perpetrator rather than outright beating them in a fight. Any way of preventing them from moving or attacking will make things way easier," Kuroko lectures, pointing a finger at Shulk. "I trust you are capable of doing this, even without your sword."
"We'll just have to see. I'll be doing my best." Shulk puts the cuffs away. All of a sudden, a shrill shriek alerts the patrol. "Kuroko, what's the protocol for random screams?"
"We begin investigating. Uiharu, do we have any esper readings right now?"
Uiharu's eyes study a fancy interface on her phone. "None other than us."
Even though the patrol isn't moving, the weeping is getting louder. A young girl with dark-blue hair is flailing about and crying her eyes out.
"A kid!" Uiharu shouts.
"Hey! Come over here!" Shulk begins to yell out. He is quickly cut off by Kuroko.
"We're supposed to help her, not scare her off," Kuroko huffs.
"You're right," Shulk acknowledges. "But, she looks lost," he points out. The child does seem to be looking around as if to find someone.
"Indeed she does. First, we have to approach so we look like the sweetest souls in this city. You get that?" Kuroko asks mockingly.
"I do. Alright, lead the way."
Kuroko nods and advances towards the young girl. The crying abruptly boosts in volume again, and the girl dashes away from the sidewalk into the street. The patrol hears the girl wailing "Mommy!" while covering her eyes and stepping onto the asphalt.
"Shulk?" Uiharu says in a panic.
"I don't need visions to see that she's in danger." A car turns the nearby corner and is on a collision course with the little girl. Though it would be easy to grab the girl and pull her away from up close, Shulk is meters away from the action. It would take time to get there; time he didn't have.
"No! We won't make it in time!" An idea hits Uiharu in the head. "Hey, Kuroko!"
Looking over to the spot where Kuroko was previously standing, it seems she was already one step ahead. The roaring honk of a car rings out followed by the familiar sound of Kuroko's teleport ability in quick succession.
"Good grief," Kuroko sighs as she reappears with her hand wrapped around the girl. Then, she kneels down so her eyes meet the little girl's. "Are you okay?" she asks gently.
"I c-can't find my mommy," the girl sobs, wiping her eyes with her arms. Kuroko wasn't expecting to get a mature answer from a crying child anyways. "I got lost..."
"We'll help you find your mom," Kuroko responds sweetly. "Don't worry. Uiharu?"
"Already on it," Uiharu answers on the double. Her phone is already swiping through several missing child alerts. "Nothing? She must've gotten lost recently. There doesn't seem to be any relevant reports yet."
Shulk gets his own idea and approaches the kid. Her strident crying from only a moment ago has settled down somewhat, but her bloodshot and stuffy eyes are complemented by a frown.
"Kuroko, can I try something?" Shulk asks politely. Kuroko gives a nod in return and backs away. "Hello! What's your name?" he asks the girl with a warm smile. He tilts his head endearingly while kneeling.
The kind greeting seems to soften the girl up as a smile slowly forms on her face. "Miyuki Arisato!"
"Miyuki? That's a nice name," Shulk compliments. "Do you know where you are?"
"I'm in Academy City! There're superheroes everywhere!" she sang, throwing her hands in the air. "I wanna be a superhero someday!"
"That's a good dream, Miyuki," Shulk chuckles. "We have superpowers, too," he says, motioning to himself, Kuroko, and Uiharu.
"Woah!" Miyuki beams with her eyes sparkling with joy. "Really?!"
"Yeah! I can use my power to help us find your mom. Hold out your hand, okay?"
Miyuki nods her head eagerly and shoots her hand in front of Shulk, who gently grabs the tiny hand in response.
Sure enough, a vision triggers inside Shulk. His eyes flash blue, much to the excitement of Miyuki.
A brown-haired woman is walking around Academy City. Her outfit consists of a pink top and rolled-up jeans. Two children flank her left and right, and she holds one of both kid's hands with one of her own. Shulk is able to identify one of them as Miyuki.
The vision ends.
"Thank you, Miyuki!"
"That was so cool!" Miyuki bubbles. "Did you find my mommy?"
"We'll be able to find her soon, don't worry. Now I know what she looks like."
"You do?" Kuroko asks incredulously. "Ah, your visions. What did she look like?"
"For starters, she has short brown hair and bangs, and she's wearing some pink."
Kuroko takes a glance around and points at someone. "You mean her?" she asks. The woman's appearance matches Shulk's vision to a T. Holding both Kuroko's and Shulk's hands, Miyuki glows with joy. The woman also begins smiling brightly as she rushes to her found daughter along with another child.
"Mommy!" Miyuki exclaims, breaking away from the patrol.
"My goodness, sweetie! Where have you been?" the woman cries out. She lowers herself and tightly hugs her two kids. Both have the same hair color, so Shulk assumes that they're twins.
"You found my daughter?" the woman asks.
"Yes, we found her wandering around and looking for her mom, ma'am," Kuroko responds.
"Oh, thank you so much! I started panicking when I noticed she was gone, and I..." The woman catches herself and takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry for. This is a part of our jobs, ma'am. Stay safe on your way, okay?"
"Thank you again!"
The kids wave at the patrol while Shulk and Uiharu wave back.
"So, how much of the work is this?" Shulk inquires.
"It's about fifteen percent of the incidents that we handle, this one went more smoothly than usual," Kuroko explains. "We'd better keep going."
The trio continues patrolling and approaches a small park. Walking by, Shulk notices a person close to an ATM. Shulk whispers in Kuroko's ear.
"They're acting oddly." Shulk subtly points at the person.
"Well, they could just be withdrawing money," Uiharu suggests. From the angle the group is standing at, the theory is plausible.
Kuroko closely observes as well. "That is not likely the case. Look."
Around the person, there are visible heat waves. Shulk and Uiharu take notice.
"It's an AIM field," Kuroko notes.
"AIM field?" Shulk wonders. "They were starting to teach that in my classes."
"An Involuntary Movement. Every esper produces one," Kuroko begins. "Normal human senses can't completely observe them, but some espers' powers produce certain effects spanning a radius around themselves. These effects can especially occur when they use their abilities."
"If an AIM field depends on the esper's power, then this one must be pyrokinetic," Shulk concludes.
Kuroko smirks. "You're quite sharp when it comes to espers, rookie."
Shulk smiles responsively. "I just pay a lot of attention in class."
The patrol slowly approaches the rogue esper.
Kuroko approaches the person. "Hello, I am from Judgement. I see you are quite heavily using your ability on this ATM. I'd like you to step away for a second, and then I'll be off your back."
Shulk's eyes glow blue.
The person lights their fist on fire and strikes Kuroko.
Shulk's vision returns to normal.
"Kuroko!" he warns confidently.
She reacts dexterously and teleports a foot back. Dusting off her skirt, she silently thanks Shulk.
There's that special precognition he has, again. That would have been dangerous if Shulk hadn't warned me, Kuroko assesses.
The person whiffs their punch, as Shulk quickly shoots a Monado shockwave at them.
The flame on their hand quickly dissipates, rendering her powers sealed. Kuroko detains the hooded figure with her cuffs, andUiharu approaches the ATM and inspects it.
"Sure enough, they were getting the money in the ATM." There are burn marks on some of the screws.
"I'm afraid you'll be detained for vandalism," Kuroko pulls the hoodie down to reveal a spry girl's face.
The girl looks at Shulk. Looking at his necklace, she remarks.
"Ey, aren't you the new 8th ranked Level Five? The Wielder of the Monado?"
"Um," Shulk hesitates. "Yes. That's me."
"So, that's your Level 5 nickname?" Kuroko snickers. Shulk was a powerful fighter in his own right, but he got the short end of the stick on this front.
"A lot of espers have been calling you that, so I guess," the girl says. "Just my luck, I had to run into a Level Five, and they're in Judgement, no less. Woe is me, I guess."
Shulk's eyes glow blue again.
The girl smirks, as two figures attack Shulk from behind. Shulk quickly turns around, but is too slow, and gets incapacitated. The girl then breaks free from the cuffs, then quickly defeats Kuroko and Uiharu.
Shulk's vision ends.
The girl smirks, as Shulk quickly turns around and forms the Monado in his hand. He dashes back, barely avoiding a focused blast of wind from one of the espers. He blocks a slash from the other esper and then pushes them back.
"Kuroko! Miss Kazari! You two handle the detained! I'll stop these two!" Kuroko responds by nailing the girl's clothes to the floor, preventing any escape.
Looking at Shulk, Kuroko studies Shulk's movements. He always dodges attacks, but is never overly aggressive in his counters.
One of the thugs has a bat, and swings from above at Shulk. He responds by pushing the bat to his side using the Monado, and then uses his own blade to disable the wind esper's power.
Unexpectedly, Shulk then puts away the Monado, and prepares for the two aggressors.
The thug's kicks and punches fail to hit, with Shulk's movement smooth and swift.
The wind esper shoots their fist, as Shulk ducks, countering by sweeping at their feet.
As the esper rolls away, the other thug tries slashing with their broken bat, as Shulk strikes their arm, then punching their chest.
Each attack seems to slide off his arms, as perfect parrys.
He fights so passively, always reading his enemies and countering their moves. It must be that precognition of his. No, it's not just his precognition. He'd probably fight like this even without seeing the future.
Kuroko steps in to help detain the thugs. A quick sweep at their feet drops them on the ground, and cuffs their hands.
As the three thugs are hauled away by a cop car, Kuroko acknowledges Shulk's skills.
"I'm surprised you can fight with more than that big red hunk," Kuroko says, impressed. "Did someone teach you to fight with your fists instead your brain?"
"It's sort of a long story. I can tell you once we get back to the branch."
As they walk back to the 177th branch, Kuroko's mind wanders.
This guy seems to be such an idiot, but smart at the same time. He reminds me of the troglodyte, but much more reasonable. And cooler. Much cooler.
He worries about others, even the opponents he fights. Granted, the troglodyte sometimes worries about people, too.
Whatever powers he has been given, he uses them to protect, not to attack. Granted, he does fight, but even then, he always pulls his punches.
Even when he fought those large creatures weeks ago, his face had regret on them every time one was killed. Granted, I only noticed because I teleported myself back into the action to watch Onee-sama and make sure she was okay.
But, I then ask, why did Shulk decide to join Judgement? Was it to find out more about the city? Study espers? Or simple justice? I basically surprised him with the invitation, and yet he still accepted.
I personally recommended him to my superiors and fought to get him approved, which I still don't understand myself. I told myself that having someone as strong as him, a new Level Five, would motivate other espers to join Judgement, but he hangs out with Onee-sama a lot. Maybe that's why I invited him. However, that still doesn't explain why he joined Judgement. I guess it's a question only he can answer...
Back at the 177th Judgement Branch
It's late in the afternoon. The three Judgement officers arrive at the office, and they all walk inside. Uiharu takes her bag and says goodbye to Kuroko and Shulk while the two sit down with cups of tea. As Shulk carefully puts some honey in his cup, Kuroko suddenly speaks.
"Why did you join Judgement?" she asks quietly. Shulk slowly sips his tea. As he puts the cup back on the tiny plate, he smiles.
"I'm not really sure. I guess I've always had a knack for helping with people's problems."
"Really? Like what?"
"Back in my town, people always had problems, from rogue monsters that needed handling to finding lost keys. My friends and I always did our best in helping out. Even when I went off on a journey, fighting to protect and help was my priority."
He's the type I've always looked up to. The champion of justice, who uses their strength to save people.
"But you decided to keep helping in this city? There wasn't the need to join me and Uiharu specifically."
"Touma told me that there's a story about a red string of fate. It binds people together, and you'll create unbreakable bonds with the person on the other end of the string. Let's say that you were on the end of one of many red strings."
Kuroko chuckles.
"And this had nothing to do with your precognition? The Monado didn't tell you I'd ask you to join Judgement?"
"Nope."
Kuroko sighs. She lifts her hand up, facing the palm to Shulk.
"Punch it."
Confused as to what Kuroko's plan is, Shulk talks. "Kuroko, I don't think now is the time for a high-five."
"No, give me a full-strength punch. I want to see how strong you are."
"...Are you sure?"
"Trust me, it won't get you in trouble. I promise."
"Alright, Here we go."
Shulk punches Kuroko's fist with painful strength. Kuroko pulls her hand away and winces as she touches it.
"Hey, you okay Kuroko? I can heal your hand if it hurts—"
Kuroko puts her non-punched hand up to Shulk.
"It's okay, I'll be fine. Where did you learn to punch?"
"Well, I never really learned. Y'know, this sort of reminded me of my friend."
"Care to elaborate?"
"My best friend, his name is Reyn, asked me to punch him. I nagged him on and asked why, and he just said to do it. I eventually gave in, and he took the punch. He crouched over, but then he said something about being proud of how I grew so strong." Shulk looks away, the smile on his face turning melancholic.
"The way you're talking makes it sound like you were weak at some point. The way you fight certainly says otherwise," Kuroko observes.
"When I was younger, I was a pretty scrawny kid. Everyone I knew said that, and even I knew. Reyn was always protecting me back then. He was always strong. I eventually became more capable of handling myself with the Monado, and Reyn felt like he was falling behind. He told me that even though he won't be the one protecting me, he'll always have my back."
This "Reyn" seems to be a really smart person, and he seems sweet, too.
Kuroko's eyes wander to the Monado, resting on Shulk's neck. Visions of the future? The thought suddenly reminded her of someone. "So, these visions of yours. You can use them to change the future?"
"Anyone is capable of changing the future. The visions I see aren't set, and they can be changed as long as someone can disrupt them. Going against what a vision foretells can change the future for the better."
"Well, then I have someone who I want you to help me with. They have an ability similar to yours. Come in, let's say next Saturday at ten, and I'll bring him here."
"Alright. I'll be there." Shulk takes his pencil from earlier off a desk and sets it on his ear. "I'm going home now, I'll see you then, Kuroko."
"Bye." Shulk closes the door, and Kuroko sighs.
For a boy from another world, he's surprisingly comfortable with his situation. His manners are different, too. He calls strangers like Uiharu Kazari and even dares to call Onee-sama Mikoto. He could walk up to a princess and talk to them like they were childhood friends. Is he just endearing to everyone he meets? Is it how he was raised in his world? I'm definitely overthinking...
Kuroko grabs her bag and begins her walk back to the Tokiwadai dormitory.
Speaking of how he treats people, I wonder how he'll treat him. Precognition is a strong ability, but it's useless if you can't use it to your advantage.
Kuroko arrives at her dorm, as Misaka is in deep sleep (despite it being five in the afternoon). Even so, Kuroko doesn't even attempt to advance on Misaka. She simply undresses and gets in the bath.
Will Shulk help him realize the potential of his abilities? Shulk...he's been at the center of attention in my mind lately, even Onee-sama is taking less space. I wonder...
Kuroko gets in her pajamas.
That sword. It's what got him to be Level Five. But, what is the sword? Did he create it so he could protect others? Or did it choose him, so that his hope to help others could be granted? A champion of justice. I remember talking about looking up to those types...
Kuroko falls asleep, gently cuddled in bed.
End of Chapter 9.