Touma Kamijou was quite grateful for this quiet, quiet afternoon.
It almost felt like a lifetime ago, when his powers first developed. Now a mere month has passed by, and he found himself get involved in so many situations.
He was no stranger to trouble; even before the Bite (it was perhaps coincidental but he can't think of anything else as to how) he found himself in several situations most adults would think were unrealistic, and were something out of a low-budget crappy action movie.
But this time, things were different.
Trouble wasn't looking for him, he was out here looking for it.
How many times has he went and helped out some random student, or couple out of a bad situation by just appearing out of nowhere? Or solving it with his webs, or fists? Too many to count, actually; it was useless to try and count.
Kamijou felt his Instinct blare to the side. Getting up from the ledge he leaped off, and swung away to where trouble brewed.
Landing at a nearby building, he saw a man running away from the left, carrying a purple bag no dude would get caught with without implications. Seeing how no one had bothered to stop the thief, and seeing the purse's owner, a middle-aged woman chase after him, Kamijou decided he should do something about it.
The whole thing was over in a second; all he had to do was to stop in front of the thief, give him the other end of his webline, convince him to give him the purse, and stick him to the line, seeing as the thief bounced up and down the side of tue building, screaming for help. How ironic.
Kamijou watched the woman stop quickly as she made her way towards him.
"Here miss, your purse. No thanks are needed-"
"Damn bastard could've broken the strap. Thanks for the waste of my time, asshole, you nearly ruined my day." She said to the currently-in-midair thief, who only glared at her.
She turned to Kamijou, with a questioning, almost disgusted look on her face. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"
"Just a guy helping around."
"Doesn't Judgement do that kind of stuff?"
"Have you called them before chasing after the thief?"
"No, because my phone was in my purse which this lowlife," jabbing her thumb at the thief, "tried to part away with. That said, if it weren't for you it'd take me a long while to buy a new purse. And wallet, and phone, and jewellry, and-"
"TMI over there ma'am. But I'm glad to help out. Now I'll be off and what are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" The woman said, taking out her wallet and pulling out a couple thousand yen out of it.
"Oh no no no, please don't. Just keep it okay, I don't do it for the money."
"I insist," the woman said as she slapped the money down on his left hand, closing it with her hands. "Consider it as a professional sign of gratitude."
With a bow and a smile, she walked off, purse beside her, leaving Kamijou and the thief alone.
"Alright then, for now just stay there, stick around for a bit. I think somebody's gonna cut you down there in a while. And don't bother trying to break free, because you might fall on your head accidentally," Kamijou said as he pocketed the cash on his back pocket before swinging away.
The thief could only sigh in frustated acceptance.
"Another bust again."
XxX
Ruiko Saten was not having a great day.
This morning, she found herself screwing up her morning routine in the worst way possible; smashing her alarm clock into pieces; breaking the sink faucet, the knob of the bathroom door and several of her toothbrushes; squirting out every inch of her toothpaste then having to scrape it off the mirror; squeezing out the entire shampoo bottle in one go; tore apart her school uniform as she put it on, requiring her to use a backup one (something she didn't even want to get but Uiharu convinced her).
But that was all over. It was over. She had no clue as to what was happening to her. But she can handle it. As long as she can get through the entire morning without !!! anything to-
She clapped her hands to the side, causing a loud noise to echo throughout the restaurant. Saten felt all eyes on her, and she slowly opened her hands to see a squashed fly onto her right hand.
"Well, I didn't expect to be so lucky today, squashing this annoying bastard," Saten nervously chuckled as she patted her hands together, before wiping the gross parts of the dead fly on her skirt.
"You doing good Saten? You look a little... skittish," Akemi piped in, worry in her face. The other two, Mako and Muu, felt the same way.
"Oh don't worry, it's fine! Been having one hell of a sugar rush, let me tell you that much. Never mix strong coffee with 3 teaspoons of sugar." Saten lied.
"I doubt that'd do anything to increase your energy levels Saten," the dual braided girl said.
"My dad went and added 3 tablespoons onto his coffee. It took him a week to wind down," Saten recalled her family. It had been a while since she talked about them.
"Oh that was nothing. One time, my older brother poured 2 sugar packets into his coffee. And I tell you girls, easiest paycheck of his life. Just stand around in the night and hope none gets to cause shit."
"What was your brother's job?"
"Security guard. He got promoted, and now runs the security firm he works at."
"Wow, that's pretty cool Mako! So does he handle some very important people in his line of work, and all that?"
"Oh, nothing too risky like that Muu. He told me they offer their services to a wide array of clients, not just the very important ones. Shopping malls, convenience stores, schools, those types of stuff."
"A bit limited in opportunities don't you think? Like the richer clients are very risky but there's a lotta money in it."
"He said they were restructuring the company after their old manager spent their money away on gambling."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, but he's been doing good as of late."
"So you guys talked about... you know, the thing with the... MP3?"
"No. He never asked me about it, then again it's probably for the best. It'd be awkward."
"Yeah I agree. The last thing I'd want is for my folks to worry, and my mail to be bombarded with letters from them."
"Yes. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet."
"How about you Saten? You talk to your folks already?"
"..."
"Saten?"
"..."
"Earth to Saten-chan, Earth to Saten-chan, do you copy?" Mako clapped near Saten's ears, causing the latter to jump.
"What? What were you saying?"
"Akemi just asked, have you gotten into contact with your family back home lately?"
"Oh. Uh, a couple days ago. We went and talked about, you know, life in general. Things are still the same apparently in Hokkaido, it seems. Though they were kinda confused on why I wrote them a letter after many years. I just went, "Because I wanna know how you guys were doing"."
"I think I speak for all of us when we say, as messed up as it was, it gave us a new perspective on a lot of things. Especially on our struggle as Level 0s."
"Oh boy, here we go."
"Let me finish Akemi-kun." All of a sudden Mako stood up, a glass of iced tea on her hand. "To us Zeroes, and our never-ending desire for a better life. And to hopefully, just maybe, getting the chance to see our efforts crystallize into existence.
Kampai!"
Akemi, Ruiko and Muu can't help but join in.
Apparently Mako still hasn't been brought down by her experiences. If anything, it made her resolve stronger.
"""Kampai!"""
And honestly, for these girls a little optimism goes a long way.
After leaving the restaurant Saten and her friends stood around, talking about their plan for today.
"So ladies, what say we go around the mall, see what new games there are at the arcade?"
"Maybe get to buy some sunscreen for the summer? I heard it was gonna be scorching hot tomorrow." Mako opined.
"Ooh, there is a new novel I've been wanting to read for a while. I want to go get it before it gets sold out."
"You've been catching up on that romance series I told you about? Didn't expect you to be so passionate about it Muu-chan."
"I'm not being passionate about it! I just wanna know what happens in the next book after Satoshi and Yumiko go on their separate ways, as well as the mystery figure at the end! Oh, my heart's pounding so much, I barely breathe!"
"Okay okay now Muu-chan, we'll see if there's any of that book on the shelves, don't worry about it.
Hey Saten, what're your plans for today?"
"..."
"Saten-san?"
"Uh, you guys go ahead. I'll uh, take a rain check on that. Don't have to wait for me, just go have a good time at the mall without me, OK!?"
The 3 girls watched as Saten ran off into an alley at the other side of the street.
"...Think we better call someone after her?"
"She'll be alright."
"Yeah, how would you know?"
"Apart from us 3, Uiharu's another one she's got on her contacts."
"Oh right. Yeah that makes sense."
"Honestly it's still surreal knowing she and Uiharu go way back before we even met her, knowing Uiharu's job as Judgement." Muu said.
"Well, Fate has a funny way of making things fall into place."
Mako and Muu can't help but agree with Akemi there.
XxX
Saten ran as hard as she could, feeling the danger grow nearer and nearer as she kept on her path.
She stopped at the last second at the end of the alley, only to hide back into the corner, where she watched the scene unfold.
"It's an easy thing to understand, k? You give us money, and in exchange we let you go. Simple as that right? So, don't make this hard on yourself and give us your wallet."
"And I'm telling you I have nothing on me, my allowance isn't up until tomorrow so maybe I can come back after you let me go-OOF!"
Saten steadied her breath, hearing them beat the poor guy into the ground.
"You think you're slick with your words huh? You think you can fool me and my dear old pals out of a simple transaction?"
"Please, let me go. I've no money on me, you gotta believe me..."
"Alright now, run up his pockets."
Saten quickly grabbed her phone to dial Uiharu, but as she took out her phone it slipped out of her hands, crashing to the ground with a loud clack.
"Who's there?"
Saten clamped her mouth with her hands, freezing in place. She looked around, looking for a place to hide. The garbage can to her right can serve as a good one. She quickly grabbed the phone on the ground and moved to where the bin was, sitting next to it. She resisted the urge to vomit, pinching her nose. She didn't dare to make a noise, not wanting them to know where she was.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the alley, while sounds of flesh struck with leather and plastic were heard in tue background. Saten's heart beat quickened as said footsteps drew closer to her location.
The boy couldn't be less than a couple centimeters taller than her PE teacher, yet the white tanktop he wore made his muscular physique look menacing. His passive yet ruthless expression was predatory in its gaze, his eyes scanning the alley. He towered over her, a part of his full visage blocked by the smelly bin. She made sure not to make any noise whatsoever, hoping that he won't be able to see her. Saten looked as the man looked around him, and walked forward to where the bin was.
Then, his gaze landed down on her.
Saten's mind froze, panic and terror locking her muscles in a futile attempt to prevent her from making any sudden movements, in the hopes the large boy would just look away from her, and ignore her.
But reality wasn't so kind. Saten thought, this was it.
Saten watched as the boy turned his head from her and continued looking around.
Terror was replaced with relief, and confusion.
'He... just looked away from me. Like... he didn't see at all,' Saten thought to herself. She then realized the sounds of violence just stopped suddenly. Despite her better judgement she decided to go over and see what was going on.
As she peered around the corner, she saw a red-clad man kneel in front of the bruised student. She looked up, and saw 2 of the 3 thugs strung up in cocoons, unconscious.
Saten watched as the man grabbed the student's bag, and take a phone out of it before pressing a button in it. Dropping the phone near him she saw the Red Man assure the battered student, and that he will be alright.
Saten jumped as the Red Man turn his head to her general !!! direction-
Saten unconsciously turned to the right, and saw a large hand meters away from her face.
"GET AWAY!!!" She swiped her hand onto his arm, in a vain attempt to defend herself.
In that moment, a splash of bluish-yellow light brightened up the alleyway.
Saten stared at the alleyway, where the large thug had flown into. She ignored the puddle forming from their crotch region, and looked beside her, the Red Man's white wide eyes seemingly growing wider.
"What. The. Hell. Was that?"
"I... I don't know."
"This is Judgement, surrender now or-" the phrase was cut off suddenly, and both looked to the other end of the alleyway, seeing a familiar pair of tied hair.
"Why is it always you two?"
Everything after Kuroko showed up was kind of a blur for the young woman. She remembered answering her questions, then her inquiry into Spiderman's appearance, only for the red-clad vigilante to explain his version of events without telling the pigtailed teleporter Saten's involvement, something which Saten was thankful for. Then the paramedics arrived, strapped the young student in their van before taking off.
"Saten, haven't I told you to be careful around alleyways? Not just me, but Uiharu as well."
"Oh well, you know me. I thought this was a shortcut back home, I guess."
"Uh-huh. And you, Spiderman."
"Is that really what everyone's been calling me nowadays?"
"Do you prefer 'Red Man' or 'Spiderman'?"
"I don't care really."
"...Whatever. Just, make sure to clean up after yourself when you do... your usual OK?"
"I can only try, Miss Kuroko."
Kuroko snorted a chuckle. "Alright now, you two can go."
The red vigilante only saluted them both before leaping off and swinging away.
"That... was surreal."
"Tell me about it. A month ago we had thugs and delinquents and small time drug dealers to deal with, now we got some vigilante going around-"
"Yeah not that, you, with him. I thought what I saw in the forums was all hogwash, but... this is rather unexpected coming from you-"
"You say a single word of this, and I'll convince Uiharu to wear shorts underneath her skirt."
"A. I'm pretty sure everyone and their grandma knows about you two as much as they do about you and Misaka.
B. How dare you?"
"Well, A. It's my business to take care of. And B. Tread lightly," Kuroko said the last line with a smirk, which Saten couldn't help but chuckle from.
"I should probably get going now."
"Stay clear of trouble next time OK? We can't always be around to save you."
"I know," Saten waved back to Kuroko.
Saten held out her hands, with what happened earlier still fresh in her mind.
"But you don't have to."
Unbeknownst to her, a red-wearing figure watched over her as she walked across the street.
"That was weird." Kamijou said to himself.
The last times his Instinct went crazy like that was back in the mall before the Bombing, and that whole fiasco with that giant baby monster thing.
So what felt different with her?
XxX
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Sincerely,
Komigakuo.