Kazari Uiharu stood in silence, deep in thought. She had no idea what to do in this situation.
Granted she has been normally like this since the beginning, but now she was more conflicted more than ever.
After all how could a single chocolate cake cost 50 yen? It didn't make any sense. She could've bought 25 muffins for that price. And she would've however she refrained from doing so.
Because today was a very special day: Saten was finally released from the hospital. After 5 days of recovery and rehabilitation Saten alongside Muu, Mako, Akemi and the other victims were able to leave the hospital and go on with their lives. Granted some of them were also involved in some criminal activities and they were swiftly taken into custody, but so far everyone's able to recover without problems.
Saten disclosed to her also that she and the others will take a sort of special class. What that class' lesson contained they both weren't sure but Saten didn't show any sort of nervousness. None whatsoever.
Perhaps she was hiding it as sort of assurance to her and her friends, maybe mostly to herself. Uiharu couldn't help but like that part of her despite her concern for her; she only hoped that Saten wouldn't get into trouble while on that class.
"Uh miss, have you decided what to take out then? There's a line forming behind," the woman in the counter interrupted Uiharu's thoughts. She instantly jumped in surprise and embarrassment. Uiharu was still in a loss to choose which cake to buy.
"The Ultra-Triple Choco Cake looks and tastes probably good but you're probably better off taking the cheaper ones. They might not look flashy or tasty comparatively but they're pretty popular around here."
"But I don't want to take just something like that so easily. It has to be very special. I can't just take one simple cake and be done with it," Uiharu was frustrated by her indecision, turning to talk with the person who had suggested her about the cake.
He was a high school boy, with kind, blue eyes contrasted with jet-black spiky hair. He was tall, tall enough to make her strain her neck as she looked up to his face.
"Why the need for that? Just take one of those cheaper cakes, like that one." He pointed at one particular cake; Uiharu turned to see a chocolate cake filled with a simple yet elegant design and body. Uiharu's eyes widened in glee. And she saw that the cake was reasonably priced.
"So, will that be the one miss?" The receptionist asked the young girl.
"I'll take it! One on the go please!" Uiharu cried in joy, unaware of the line behind her groaning "Finally"'s and "Oh God"'s. The boy behind her merely smiled politely.
-
"Thank you for your help mister. I was really busting my mind on which cake to pick." Uiharu said to the older boy.
"Don't mention it. I reckon it's for a celebration isn't it?"
"Oh... uh yeah it is."
"Well then, I'll leave you to it." The boy merely walked away, waving goodbye to the young girl. Uiharu nodded back in return, looking down at the boy's bag of breads at his side.
Uiharu felt like things are looking up to her right now.
Until they didn't.
-
Uiharu felt like the universe was very cruel at times.
A call from Kuroko had sent her quickly to the 177th Office, where a couple of officers she had occasionally see in and out move around the small space at a frantic pace.
Normally Uiharu would be rather freaked out by the activity in the office but thanks to her partner Kuroko she was able to have a clue-in on what was going on; a series of gang-related scuffles had been going on lately around Districts 5, 6, 7, and 19, with numerous Judgement officers around those Districts stepping in to handle the situation. Kuroko was called in to handle a scuffle District 7.
Getting on her computer and switching it on, the Goalkeeper went to business.
-
Kuroko shifted out of normal reality and back in as she hovered across the air towards the disturbance.
Out of nowhere gangfights had increased over 2 days, a week after the highway incident. She hasn't a clue if it was related but she would eventually get her answers soon enough once she got there.
And when she did, everything screamed havoc.
Objects were thrown. Fists were exchanged. Blood was spilled. Things had already escalated to a point she had rarely seen in her line of work.
It wasn't as bad as the District 19 fiasco that had happened a couple years ago, long before she and Uiharu had joined, but it was close.
She had to handle the situation before things got even worse.
"What's happening over there Shirai-san?"
"Lots of kicks and punches happening, that's for sure. Reinforcements coming in right now?"
"Yeah but it'll take a while for them to get there even with the short distance. Traffic has been slowed to a crawl this time of the hour."
"Of all the times to happen it had to be rush hour. How long until they get here Uiharu?"
"More or less, 10 minutes."
"Not enough time. If they get in here quickly we'd never be able to take in all the suspects in here."
"Shirai, don't be rash! Stay put and wait for backup to come in!"
Kuroko looked on at the carnage below her. Perhaps she might be able to take out a couple of them out. But the numbers below exceeded her capabilities. Only someone as strong as Onee-sama would be able to blow them all away.
"Okay then. Tell me if they get there in time yeah?"
"...O-Ok. I'll keep you updated." Kuroko ignored her partner's stutter at the end and cut the call.
Things were about to get hectic soon enough. And if it came to that...
Then she might have to step in.
-
"What?"
"I said. I'm not too keen on that magical girl show they just released. I know it might be good but I'm not quite sure if it'll stay that way." Touma said.
"C'mon man, you won't know unless you try! Besides R₩&¥'s got some real cool action scenes doesn't it!?" Aogami conversed.
"I'm more of a traditionalist, I prefer hand-drawn to 3D animation. But I'll agree, the fights are pretty solid. This Dennis Zeta guy really knows how to make a good fight scene." Tsuchimikado added in to the conversation.
"And apparently Volume 3 is getting released a month after Zeta's surgery, and he's gonna work more on it than ever before! I'm so excited!"
"You're just excited because you get to see more of that blonde chick you instantly called bae."
"Don't make yourself out to be the boke in this hypothetical routine Kami-yan, I saw your eyes widen when she appeared." Aogami recalled.
"True. But one hot girl doesn't a good story make." Touma retorted back.
"What kind of nonsense are you three talking about again?"
The Delta Force, the unofficial designation for the trio of troublemakers that resided in a certain class from A Certain Highschool, had talked about R₩&¥, a relatively recent show posted by the studio Poultry Dentures.
Kamijou has heard good things about it. And while he hasn't the faintest interest in watching it the fights he has watched are pretty good.
And then he had to tell these two bozos he had no interest. And they swarmed to him like flies to garbage.
5 minutes of conversations about this show until Fukiyose went in and interrupted their talk.
Aogami turned to her. "Our fellow otaku here-"
"Fuck off."
"-has not watched R₩&¥, perhaps the greatest show ever conceived in the history of conception."
"You mean that flashy anime stuff you morons are into? Why do I even bother with yoy three?" Fukiyose sighed in disappointment.
"Hey, why are you dragging me into this!? I was just minding my business until these two jumped me and forced me into their conversation!"
"But you could've left haven't you?"
"Fukiyose-sama we both know it's impossible," Aogami said. "As fellow friends we are obligated to share our attention towards each other's topics. We can't just, y'know get up and simply leave just to avoid conversations like this, it's a dishonor to the brotherhood of culture." Tsuchimikado nodded in agreement to the bluehaired delinquent's words while Kamijou rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. I'm leaving here anyway." Fukiyose walked away from the three.
Kamijou felt so tired having to listen to these two rant about that show. He had better things to do.
After Aogami and Tsuchimikado left the room Kamijou took out the tupperware box containing the breads he bought earlier this morning from his bag. Opening the box he took one bread out and-
-just as he is about to eat it and savor its taste shoved it into his mouth, threw the box into his bag and ran out of the room at full speeds.
'Dammit,' Kamijou cursed. 'Can't even relax in my spare time it seems. Rotten luck.'
-
"That was a lot longer than 10 minutes."
Kuroko found herself say as she quickly dealt with the thug in front of her. His face hit the ground as the boy fell from Kuroko's quick tele-attack.
Kuroko failed to notice the thug behind her raise his bat intended to strike her while unaware but fortunately another hulking mass of muscle slammed into the thug, knocking him out. The same armband she wore on her sleeve was seen, albeit wider and bigger.
"What took you guys so long?"
"Traffic jam. Supposed to be a rush-hour sort of deal but things got heated. I'll tell you all about it later afterwards."
"I'll take you up on it kouhai."
"I'm older than you remember Shirai-san." The old boy deadpanned.
"You recently joined us so it counts," Kuroko said.
12 minutes. It took 12 minutes for them to get here and since then they haven't been able to effectively deal with the chaos that had happened.
The backup officers 177th just brought in, as strong as they are are still being pinned down by the menacing crowd of thugs.
Kuroko and the rest had to finish this quick before afternoon comes in. AntiSkill's already got their hands busy, and she's got a feeling theu wouldn't appreciate more paperwork.
A haymaker was thrown towards Kuroko which she succinctly dodged. She ducked towards the thug's left side, and grabbing a hold of his shirt she kicked the boy in the knee, and performed a takedown upon the thug sending him to crash on the ground on his back. Another one charged at her, his knifehand brandished.
Kuroko placed her fingers upon the small belts on her thighs and teleported a single nail towards the thug's knifehand, blunt end facing. While it didn't pierce the impact was enough for the boy to drop the knife in surprised pain which gave Kuroko's partner enough time to knock him out with a right straight.
"There's no end to this. They're coming in at all directions!" The larger teen leaned from a haymaker thrown at his face, and he countered with a kick to his foe's solar plexus.
"This can't get any worse can it?"
Kuroko was about to bite her words as a thug from behind swung his weapon, a lead pipe towards the unaware teleporter.
Kuroko felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand as she turned around too late to see the lead blunt weapon enter her field of vision. She couldn't quickly teleport out of the way. Not without injuring herself.
She instinctively blinked. Braced for impact.
And what she saw after wasn't darkness but the same thug, on the ground covered bt a large net of faux webbing.
"Are you ok?" She turned again, to see familiar white buglike eyes look at her in concern.
"Never better. Hell of a timing you got, if it weren't for you I might be out for the count," Kuroko joked.
"Please don't joke around like that," the red man said.
"Holy-! Is that-?" Both turned to look at the large teen who was Kuroko's partner. He was currently placing someone in a headlock under his armpits, before he knocks the thug out. "You're him. Didn't expect you to be acquainted with him of all people."
"Yeah? What did the others say?" Kuroko asked.
"They said the guy's a myth. I didn't believe that he's real."
"Well here he is, and he's gonna help us out," Kuroko said. "Great timing as usual Redhead. There's others with us fighting them off. I'd appreciate if you help out."
The red man nodded at her words and ran towards a nearby thug before knocking him out with a lariat.
"I think I've seen everything at this point." Her partner said. Kuroko only shook her head.
"You've been around for only a week. Things are gonna get stranger at this point, even more so."
-
Kamijou was glad he got there in the nick of time. If he was a second late that girl would've been in a lot of trouble.
An understatement of the century, that would be.
But Kamijou can't focus on the what-if's, he has to help out.
Ducking over 2 plank swings and throwing a thug over his head later he found two students with the same armband as Kuroko's fighting off a group. The smaller one, a brunette with green eyes, emitted some sort of light from her hands before multiple paper projectiles shot from her bag, sending them flying from the force of the attack.
The other larger one, with a bald head and a muscular physique, knocked one thug out with a single punch before blocking a haymaker with left, and grappled the blocked limb to send him towards another group of thugs on the side. He had bruises on his left cheek and right eye, light cuts forming around his nose and lips.
They must've been at it for awhile now. Kamijou noticed the large boy panting, perhaps about to collapse at any minute. Muscular bodies, as useful in strength as they are, are pretty useless when you lack stamina. Kamijou could tell he hadn't built it up yet. He might've just started.
Kamijoy jumped over a dozen or so thugs, and with a flick of his wrists fired a massive blast of web towards the thugs, quickly trapping and safely placing them down for the count. He then swung his right foot onto the next thug along the way, slamming his shin into the respective thug's. His hardened hide meant that for the regular thug, it was like a street pole slamming into his shin. He cried in pain, grabbing the pained leg in shock and fell over the ground in a partial fetal position, which made it easy for Kamijou to web him up.
Going over the duo from a couple meters he gave the large one a warning to duck. To his surprise he complied, and Kamijou flicked his wrist, shooting a glob of webbing towards the thug's face blinding him. Kamijou casually moved his head to the side, avoiding the bat heading straight towards his head then firing a powerful hook towards the attacking thug, sending him back a few meters away, all in the same breath.
The brunette to his back turned to look at him, her eyes widening in shock and awe. Kamijou only nodded back. She then continued fighting, waving her fingers around to command the flock of paper birds swarming some unlucky delinquents.
Kamijou went and fired another net of webbing towards another group. As he saw the crowd seemed to be thinning.
Kamijou decided not to jinx his luck and continued fighting.
More than 20 minutes passed, but Kamijou's webbing managed to even the odds in Judgement's favor. The last remaining delinquents quickly surrendered after seeing the rest of them, friend and foe, either covered head to toe with webbing, knocked out pr both.
Some ran away. Kuroko will have to deal with them. She and the rest will have to focus on taking in the captured suspects.
-
"Thanks for the help Redhead," Kamijou turned to see Kuroko walk over to him. "You somehow manage to flip the odds in our favor when you come in."
"Thank you for that I guess. And also, Redhead?" Kamijou asked with the last line.
"Thought I'd give you something to call you by. I can't just refer you as 'You', or 'Somebody' now can I?"
"No. I don't think so. But isn't that too sudden? I mean it's only been a day since our last meeting."
"Does it really matter? I'll admit, I don't agree to your methods but I will give gratitude where gratitude is due," Kuroko said.
Kamijou felt rather weird. Here he was, a vigilante by all means, working together with someone from Judgement, who would ideally try to arrest him for "wrecking shit up by playing hero". And he had already some mixed feelings with vigilantism.
"Uh..." he turned his head from the voice. He went and looked behind him to see the same brunette from earlier. She was shorter than he remembered her to be. Not as short as Kuroko but still. "T-Thank you for helping us."
"No need to thank me miss. It's what I do." Kamijou said to the girl.
"So that's it? We're not just gonna," one of the officers said, and Kamijou recognized him as the guy he helped out from 2 large guys duking out with him between them. "You know."
"He saved us from getting overrun. The last thing we can do is immediately arrest him." Another one said. Kamijou saved him from being dogpiled by 20 thugs.
"I'm just saying, it's bad enough as it is that we've needed help from a guy like him. It's bad for our image."
"Enough! Please, for your sake just leave," Kuroko whispered the last line after turning away from the other officers. Kamijou followed suit.
"What the-? Hey aren't we gonna-"
"The last thing we can be right now, is being ungrateful. We can focus on getting him next time, but for right now gather up all the captured thugs and await AntiSkill."
"Yes ma'am."
As the rest of the officers went to do their duties Kuroko was left by herself.
"This is rather unlike you Shirai-san." A voice in her earphone spoke.
"What do you mean by that Uiharu?" Kuroko asked.
"You would usually be the one to go and lecture anyone who goes and play hero not to. You've changed a lot since then. What happened?"
Kuroko listened to her other partner speak. And honestly, Kuroko felt rather surprised as well.
How much has changed since her initial encounter with the scarlet Vigilante?
Kuroko could only sigh.
"He can be a valuable asset to Judgement. Someday, I'll make him join us. If not, then I guess bygones'll be bygones." Kuroko lied.
Uiharu was silent on the other side. "If you say so," she finally said before cutting. Kuroko noticed she didn't sound particularly convinced.
Well, that made two of them.
-
If you guys enjoyed it so far let me know in the comments. Vote and share, as always. Criticism is much appreciated, and do please point out some typos and whatnot, your help will make this amateur a happy man.
Sincerely,
Komigakuo.