59 A Start

"The Battle Royale incident. An incident so tragic it left over 2000 people dead." A voice on a chair said as the person flipped the pen around her fingers.

She was laid back as she sat in a dark empty room with only a pen and a clipboard. However, she was a very busy woman. She had been stuck in that room for 4 days already without taking a single shower and only got 2 hours of sleep each day.

On the clipboard in her hands, there were pages of details over everything that happened during the Battle Royale incident.

From the cause and effect, to developments in some people, and a dive into their powers and abilities. And at the end of the list, were 'Goals achieved'.

"It wasn't as messy as how I would have liked it, but probably because of Accelerator's uncalculated actions as well as a few surprising entrances. Namely, the Mental Out, Shokuhou Misaki."

Misaki's name was circled in the list of events that had occurred during the Battle Royale incident. Her name had only appeared two or three times but she was still the most prominent figure in the whole incident in her eyes.

"To look out for..." The woman wrote as she placed the clipboard on her lap. "Hm...would she interfere in our advances unexpectedly?"

She tapped the pen against her chin as she thought about it. But ultimately, she just left it as it was.

"Next on the agenda, let's see..."

As she flipped through the papers on the clipboard, her phone started ringing. Her eyes glanced down into her pockets as she slid the pen between the metal bars on the clipboard.

Her face lit up as she read the caller ID. She didn't hesitate to answer the phone despite being a busy woman.

"Hihi did you need anything? Kihara Noukan?"

This person was none other than Kihara Yuiitsu.

-----------------------

"It seems like your body is fine now. Your therapy and treatment is already over and after looking at your X-Ray results and CT scans, it seems like you're fit to go home."

"..."

It was the hospital in District 7 and the frog-faced doctor was tending to his patients as usual. It seems like this person was about to be discharged today. The time was 2 p.m., so it was still sunny outside.

Heaven Canceller placed 5 white bottles with the labeling from the brand itself. On each of them, there was a sticker that probably had the instructions for the medication.

"Just take these calcium supplements whenever you feel the need to or when you sustain an injury. Taking too much may cause kidney stones to form in your kidney, so take one pill every 8 hours."

"..."

But the patient said nothing at all. The patient was not at all happy when being told about being discharged today. Instead, the patient's face showed no emotions at all.

The door slid open and a fluffy haired girl popped her head out. That was the signal for him to walk out of the room.

"Stay here for a while, the nurses will be here to discharge you. Do you have any other questions?"

"..."

"Well, I'll take that silence as a no then."

Although that patient was fit to go home, that patient still had restrainers on. The restrainers reached half way up the elbows with strings that were tied to keep it tight.

The fluffy haired girl bowed to the doctor as a sign of thanks as he slid the door close. The moment they were alone, the fluffy chestnut haired girl walked towards her friend.

"They put you on restrainers again? Did you cut yourself again?"

The girl removed the restrainers around the patient's hands to reveal a large number of fresh and old cuts around the wrists of the patient.

The hospital didn't have sharp knives anywhere. The most they had were scissors but those were always kept far away from the patients. But what they did have were forks and spoons when serving meals.

"Did you depreciate yourself again?" The fluffy haired girl moved her head lower to greet that patient's face whose head had been down the whole time. That was not because they had a broken neck.

It was simply because that patient was not in the mood to talk to anyone.

In fact, that patient had been like this since admission.

Despite that, that patient had mumbled something under her breath.

"...myself."

"Sorry?"

This time that patient had said it out loud.

"I HATE THIS BODY!! END ME PLEASE!! I...I can't live like this..."

Heavy tears flowed through the patient's eyes as they tried to cover them up with their hands.

But just as the patient was about to hit themselves, the fluffy haired girl hugged her as she moved beside the patient's head.

"It's okay. I know how it feels, but don't worry, I'm here for you now."

Silence followed as the fluffy chestnut haired girl's Tokiwadai uniform was soaked in tears.

-----6th October 9:30p.m.------

The Voice on the Phone.

An irreplaceable figure within the Dark Side. They are the ones who controls the groups in the Dark Side of Academy City. The one who provides missions and intel for them in order to maintain peace within the Dark Side.

When talking about peace for the Dark Side, they made sure that other group's weren't overextending their cause to the whole of Academy City. Mainly those in the light.

They are regulated and kept in their place by the one at the very top, the Board Chairman.

However, this one person in particular did not contact the group that he's in charge of that often.

Mainly because the group that he was in charge of rarely listens to whatever he says. You could say they were a rebel group and there was nothing he could do about them. He had no way of restricting their actions. He only issues out a mission and prays that they accept it.

"God...SCHOOL is despicable. That idiot Kakine Teitoku is just doing whatever he pleases and ordering whatever he wants."

The Voice on the Phone for SCHOOL lived in a rundown apartment in District 10. Of course for someone of his status, you would expect a luxurious home for himself but he was meant to be in the dark. In an untraceable place. His house was poorly furnished with a couch that had squeaking noises coming out of it. A TV that only produced static whenever he turns it on, and lights that don't even work. However, his workspace had top-notch equipment that assisted in his work for SCHOOL.

6 Screens on the wall that showed SCHOOL's hideouts, a mini screen that showed where every member is, and their actions on the phone and a PC that was worth a million yen. His smooth wooden desk also increased the feel of whatever luxury he had left for him. However, because of how invasive his actions were, he had to install a defense for himself as well.

Which would explain the multiple EM-defusing machines around his home. He knew the boy with goggles could trace his location and kill him if SCHOOL ever felt annoyed with him, so he had those in place just in case. Though, he did not know if it actually works or not. But judging from the green lights on those handheld-size machines, he had to guess they were working.

"Come to think about it, he placed an order with Management didn't he? Goddamnit I feel like if shit gets out of hand, I'm gonna get hunted down and die in an instant." The Voice on the Phone went to his microwave to take out the 400 yen bento box in there after hearing the beep from the microwave.

"But I guess that wouldn't be so bad."

His life was pure hell to say the least.

Being put in charge of a dangerous group that doesn't even listen to him and living in a poor space really decreased his motivation to continue in the Dark Side.

He walked over to his smooth wooden desk as he placed down the bento box. But before he could even sit down, he heard a knock on his door.

His eyebrows twitched as he stood straight behind his desk.

"Now what? Are the neighbors going to complain about my loud ass voice again?"

His neighbors didn't make his life any better. He had an old lady who would always keep knocking on his door to complain about the shouting and screaming he always caused when SCHOOL made a terrible decision. And he had another neighbor who would fill the walking space with junk that seemed to be made in the 1900's.

The moment he reached the door, his hand stretched for the doorknob, his lungs ready to scream at the old lady. But before he even touched it, his personal phone received a notification. It made a small buzzing noise, but before he could even look down to see who it was that had contacted him, a cracking noise could be heard, followed by soft squishing noises.

The next thing he knew, he could smell the scent of iron.

His leg where the phone had been in his pocket was shot. Blood oozed out before slowly creeping down his legs.

Before he could even scream, another crack was heard as he felt a sharp pain on his neck.

"Gh!!"

Another bullet entered his windpipe as he fell down. The next thing he knew, his whole body was filled with lead.

And his neighbors didn't hear a single thing.

-----9th October 9:00a.m.-----

There were blind spots.

For example, the cleaning room of a large department store.

The store's employees thought a contract crew used the room, while the contractors believed the employees utilized it. Visitors to the store wouldn't enter a place like that, so there weren't any surveillance cameras inside. Nobody paid any attention to it. As a result, you were left with a room everyone knew about but nobody had ever entered, let alone known where to find its key.

Normally, its iron door was kept locked at all times.

But today was different.

Using a key he'd received in advance, Tsuchimikado Motoharu opened the door in the back of the store. The room was stylishly decorated, resembling a bar. Before him was a sofa large enough to seat at least ten people, with an incongruously small table beside it.

At the back of the room, there was a counter. This was clearly a different world than the one outside the door.

A man noticed Tsuchimikado enter and cheerfully said, "Come on in."

A college-aged man, who was shorter than Tsuchimikado, stood behind the bar. He appeared somewhat comical, wearing a brand-name suit but no necktie, and he had a few shirt buttons undone to show off his chest.

The man, with four or five cell phones hanging from his neck, had a nickname: Management.

As he put an elbow on the counter, he said, "Ah, my bad. I do things casually because this is the service industry. Makes it easier for people to talk to me, y'know? I can stop if you like."

"No, you're good."

Tsuchimikado threw his key to Management, and he caught it with one hand. Despite what he'd said, once this job was over, the man would take all the furniture and move somewhere else.

"Now then, what might you be after today? I've got a great deal on lock pickers, 'sensor breakers' cream of the crop, I might add. If you're here for something a little more risqué, I have a few money launderers. We're running low, though, after the new regulations from that September 30 incident. Other than that, it's what you'd expect."

Some robberies and larcenies took more than one person. When they did, they'd assign roles such as driver, lock picker, burglar, and money launderer, but some ran into a problem where they didn't have enough people. Management would supply the people and profit off the finder's fee.

"I have to say," remarked the man, "I mostly get emails and texts these days. Don't have many coming here personally like you."

"Should I not have come?"

"Oh, no, you're fine. It's not much risk. Oh, right—do you want something to drink?"

Tsuchimikado glanced at the shelves behind the counter, saw the thick cans lined up on them, and smiled.

"No thanks."

"You misunderstand. Those are cleaners for getting rid of oil-based ink. Gotta have 'em in a business like this. The alcohol's over there, in the fridge. Some good stuff in there, have to say."

Tsuchimikado turned his head to the fridge and got up from his seat as he walked to the fridge.

"I'll have this."

Tsuchimikado took out a bottle of John Daniel's from the fridge and walked back over to Management who was grinning at him.

"Ah, starting off strong for the day ay? Can't be helped, especially with everything happenin' outside and inside of Academy City."

"Yeah, it's unfortunate really..."

Tsuchimikado didn't go back to his seat however. Instead, he pulled a handgun out of his belt and aimed it for his shoulders. Management didn't have time to react as the bullet pierced his shoulder.

"For you at least."

The moment he was shot, he fell back into his shelf of thinners as Tsuchimikado dove straight to his side.

"W-Wait! I surrender!"

He pleas weren't heard as dry gunshots rang out.

Multiple holes formed in his sides as he slowly looked down at the color red pouring out of his body before finally lying down.

Tsuchimikado, expression mostly unchanged, made sure Management was at least breathing, then took out his cell phone.

He dialed a number in his contacts, and when someone picked up, he said simply, "Collection."

The voice on the other end of the phone said something.

Tsuchimikado continued, "Look for where this guy lives. We've got a lot to investigate. Notify our ancillary. Actually, wait. We don't need an ambulance, just a patrol wagon. I'll snoop around using his registered address, I want Unabara to investigate his home. Musujime will stay on backup. Keep Accelerator on standby."

He hung up before slipping his phone back into his pocket.

GROUP consisted of Tsuchimikado Motoharu, Unabara Mitsuki, Musujime Awaki and Accelerator.

A small team who protected the city's light in the darkness.

-----9th October 9:10a.m.-----

Unabara Mitsuki was in a room inside a certain District 7 building.

It was the second of a multi-dwelling apartment complex called Family Side. The room was designed for a family to use; it was fairly spacious 4DLK, meaning four bedrooms and an open area that served as a living room, dining room, and kitchen. Judging by the furniture, though, only one person probably lived here. All it took was a quick look around the other empty rooms to figure that much out. Maybe it was the same for the rest of the apartments.

He poked around as he talked with Tsuchimikado over his phone.

"...Anyway, I've arrived at Management's apartment. I'll start searching now. As for things that he could have stored information in...There's a computer, an HD recorder, and a few game consoles that probably have storage media in them."

"If there's even the slightest possibility, grab it. We could potentially find bits of information stored inside rice cookers or washing machines if we took them apart to get their AI configuration memory cards out."

"It sounds like this will be a pain," muttered Unabara. "I do still wonder what sort of jobs Management was helping with."

"I'm looking into that now," answered Tsuchimikado wearily. "A new criminal organization just formed a day or two ago, thanks to him. He filled their gaps, provided the personnel they needed. And they paid good money for fighting strength to use right away. They're sure to pull something very soon. It's our job to figure out what—and to stop it before it happens."

"Will it be bad enough that Group needs to make an official outing?"

"Look, just get to work. I want to complain about all this just as much as you, but these are the only jobs Group ever gets: piles of shit and nothing else."

"All right," answered Unabara.

He walked through the big apartment, sticking little tags on the computer, the HD recorder, and the rest. He didn't plan on dragging everything, refrigerator and washing machine included, out by himself. For now, he was marking them so that their ancillary organization could carry them out later.

"(Well, that about does it.)"

Just as Unabara had finished his run-through, he noticed something odd: Bills.

There were several paper bills on a waist-high shelf.

Nothing about that was unnatural, but they felt strangely isolated from any wallets.

Unabara prodded about the room, finding a credit card and a passbook. The placement of objects in a room said a lot about a person's daily routine. But by Unabara's analysis, the way these bills were sitting on this shelf seemed abnormal. Putting them this far away from a wallet made it seem like the resident was making sure they wouldn't get mixed up with any others.

"Tsuchimikado, do we have anything that can read IC chip information?"

"What?"

"I found five paper bills here. If I remember correctly, Japanese yen minted and circulated in Academy City come with microchips in them. We should probably investigate these as well."

"Right. I'll get something ready...I didn't find any notable info here. I'm gonna give up on the department store's cleaning room and head over your way—"

Before Tsuchimikado could finish his sentence, a rocket suddenly came through the window and exploded right in the middle of the room.

-----7th October 12:05p.m.-----

It was the noon of a Saturday, students were running all around Academy City in their sailor uniforms, however to a certain group in the Dark Side, it was still a day for business. Their first ordeal of business came in the form of a call from the Voice on the Phone.

As they all gathered around the small computer which they used to connect with the Voice on the Phone, they all took different positions as their webcam turned on.

The leader looked out the window instead of facing the computer, while one of them did their manicure, and the last one sat silently as he looked at the screen.

They didn't have to wait for the call to connect, as the Voice was already connected to the call, but their webcam wasn't turned on.

The voice on the other side said two words, and it immediately caught all of their attention.

It wasn't what the voice said that caught their attention, it was the tone of the voice.

A deep male's voice greeted them on the computer. It was a different person.

"Hello SCHOOL." Were the only words he had to say to catch their attention.

-----9th October 9:25a.m.------

"Alright, communications to Anti-Skill has been blocked off." Tsuchimikado said as he hung up the call.

Musujime Awaki and Tsuchimikado Motoharu went inside the Family Side's second building. Accelerator was still on standby at their hideout because they needed him to interrogate Management for information.

The best weapon he had other than his ability was his ability to instill fear into others just because he was the 'unstoppable monster' in Academy City. However, getting him to talk might prove to be difficult so they had to scout out Management's apartment for assurance.

The apartments had been built for families, but most of its residents apparently lived alone. Plus, far more teachers and faculty used apartments than students. After Academy City had sent out Anti-Skill to prepare for "war," the strain of making papers and other teaching materials had fallen to the rest of the faculty, so even on a holiday like this they'd be out at work.

"This the place?"

It probably used to be a high-class apartment with four bedrooms plus an open area serving as a kitchen, living room, and dining room, but it was like an explosion had gone off right in the middle of it. Furniture and wallboard had come apart and was scattered everywhere, reducing the unit to only a couple of rooms. They could see the bathroom right after stepping through the front door.

"They cleaned up all the evidence. Even a mind-reading esper might not be able to get anything out of this," muttered Musujime as she gazed at the charred floor.

"Now that we've caught Management, we finally have a lead on who we're dealing. But of course, that depends on Accelerator." Tsuchimikado said as they continued scouting the apartment. His tone grew weary. "While he was here, he came under attack by a third party. We don't know whether they were after Unabara in particular or just anyone who wanted information on Management, but it's looking like the latter. From his initial report, we knew there was a computer, an HD recorder, and a few other things, but they're all totally gone. Any appliances with AI in them are gone, too—the whole lot of 'em."

"It does seem like there are a few appliances left, though...," said Musujime, using her foot to point at a scorched microwave oven. "They're probably all products without onboard AI. They left behind the stuff you can't put info into."

Musujime opened up the door to the broken microwave and that was when a smile formed on her face.

"Bingo." She took out the 5 bills as she waved them around. "I think I found what Unabara was looking for. There should be microchips in these bills to prevent counterfeiting. Maybe something's written on them. Putting them in the microwave would shut out electromagnetic waves and stuff. This might have been enough to fool the attackers even if they had a way to detect the chips."

A short distance away, Tsuchimikado seemed to also have made a new discovery of his own. He opened a closet and found what came out was surprising to Musujime, but not to Tsuchimikado.

It was a human corpse that had his skin on the right calf removed. "This is Unabara's doing."

"What's with the foot? Hobby of his?" replied Musujime, put off.

Her foot had once been injured in an accident during class. The trauma from the incident hadn't completely left her. It was so bad she had to use a low-frequency oscillation treatment instrument to alleviate the stress whenever she used her ability.

Tsuchimikado shook his head.

"He uses human skin to make a certain kind of tag. I'll cut out the explanation, since you two don't know anything about magic, but...Basically, he's got a skill where he can switch places with someone."

While looking at the scar on the corpse's foot, Tsuchimikado continued.

"He probably looks just like this guy at the moment. I bet he's waiting among the people who attacked this place, biding his time. In other words," he said, pausing, "that chameleon is still alive and smiling. Don't know where, though."

-----7th October 12:10p.m.-----

This time, Kakine Teitoku had his full attention on the Voice on the Phone.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kakine asked as he glared at the webcam. He knew that person was watching them. And if they had access to the Voice on the Phone, they probably also knew where they were at all times as well as their activity.

This was no joking matter.

This person could have very well sabotaged them and their plan.

He was dangerous.

"Calm down. Kakine-kun. I didn't come here to antagonize you." However, the Voice on the Phone retained his composure as he answered.

"Whatever you're trying to do, we don't need it. And you can't make us."

However, as intimidating as Kakine sounded, he could tell the Voice on the Phone was smiling on the other side despite having his webcam turned off.

"Oh, but I think you'll like what I have to offer."

-----9th October 9:45a.m.-----

Despite having been gone for more than 30 minutes, they were in no rush to get Unabara back. Instead they just kicked their feet back as they waited for further updates from Unabara. Their fundamental policy was that if any of them were to mess up, they were to clean up their own mess alone.

That was how GROUP worked. 

"Got a call from Ancillary. The escort car with Management on board has been attacked but seems like they were only aiming for Management. They kept the others alive but unconscious. Either way, one of our leads has been cut."

"How nice of them. I didn't know the Dark Side of Academy City was so kind." Accelerator said as he threw his feet on the table.

"Do you think they left a clue as to who did it?" Musujime added.

"Again, it's probably in these bills."

For now, they had the five paper bills. After leaving the Family Side II apartment complex, Musujime and Tsuchimikado had decided to return to their hideout and investigate the electronic information contained on the bills' IC chips.

He put a device for reading the bills on the floor. It was connected to a laptop via cables.

"...What is that?" asked Musujime, surprised.

Tsuchimikado gave a small smile. It was a cell phone wallet sensor, the kind next to cash registers in convenience stores.

"Ugh...It was gonna be a pain in the ass, so I asked someone in the industry and just brought the whole reader here."

"Just get on with it." Accelerator said as he threw his feet back down to allow Tsuchimikado to set up the device.

"Right," answered Tsuchimikado simply, picking one bill from the stack of five and holding it up to the device.

No discernible language came up on the display. Only a jumble of numbers. Tsuchimikado fiddled with the screen, eventually starting to change them into sentences that made sense.

"That didn't take long. We got a hit." He followed the lines of characters on the screen with his eyes. "...It looks like Management's product listing. There was a deal on a professional sniper. He was handling the sniper's weapons, too, apparently."

He ran the second bill over the sensor.

"The sniper's name is Sunazara Chimitsu...though we can't confirm its validity. It has his history and abilities here, too, but we can't trust that, either. But the introduction fee was seven hundred thousand yen, which makes him one of the best 'products' on Management's lineup."

He ran a third bill over the sensor.

"This one has his weapons on it. He's got...an MSR-001, a magnetic sniper rifle," he finished with a foreboding hum.

"Magnetic?" Musujime asked.

"Just what it sounds like. It uses an electromagnet to launch a steel bullet. Made by Academy City, of course. It's simpler than a railgun on the inside. The bullet's initial speed is 290m/s—not quite supersonic."

"...Does that mean something?" she asked. "It sounds to me like a normal sniper rifle would be better."

But Tsuchimikado grinned and said, "In terms of pure force, sure. But this one doesn't use gunpowder, so it has no recoil. It doesn't have the 'sway' sniper rifles tend to have, so you can attach a delicate, super-precise sighting device to it—if you used gunpowder, you'd need the whole thing to be sturdy enough to handle the recoil from firing."

Tsuchimikado continued, holding a fourth bill up to the sensor.

But this one only put up an error on the screen.

They couldn't read the all-important data.

"Damn. The chip must have gotten hit by the heat or the impact...Just based on the fragments of the header, this one has concrete details on the other end of the deal, the guys who employed him."

He ran the bill over the sensor a couple more times until he gave up and went on with the last one.

A rough map of somewhere came up on the screen.

It was a simplified map that cut out everything except what was important. A red dot was displayed in the center, with numbers written next to the buildings nearby. But as to what story, or how many meters in length—all of that was unreadable from a top-down map.

"It's a sniper plan." Tsuchimikado frowned as he realized something about the map. "Seems like it's much closer than we'd like it to be."

He looked at the ceiling as he pointed upwards with his index finger.

"It's just at the plaza right above us. The plaza's been rented out by someone on the Board of Directors for a speech. They must be after the VIP. Name is Oyafune Monaka. Don't know why they're trying to put a hole in her head, but they must have a grand plan in mind if they're trying to assassinate Oyafune. If we stop him, our job's done."

"Tch, I don't want to waste my battery looking for a sniper that's hidden somewhere. Let's just stop the event."

Tsuchimikado shook his head. "Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to, we can't."

"Why?"

"Simple—the speech has already started."

"Then let's get going."

Accelerator was the first to stand up with his newly made cane, followed by Tsuchimikado. Accelerator's new cane was about 10kg in weight and it had a slightly bulkier look. With the stand being almost the size of his leg.

"I'll meet you outside the exit. Since Musujime Awaki here can't teleport you."

"It still ticks me off to know that." Musujime said as she spun her military flashlight around her fingers.

"No, you just start without me. Analyze the surroundings and try to find something useful. Contact me when you've found something we can exploit."

Tsuchimikado nodded his head before he disappeared into thin air.

------------------

Before Tsuchimikado could even take one step forward, he felt a vibration in his pocket.

It was his phone.

He glanced at the caller ID before picking up.

"Yo Accelerator, calling me to tell me you'll be late because the escalator is broken?" Tsuchimikado jokingly said, but Accelerator didn't deny it as he answered back.

"Tsuchimikado, tell me, the lava on Avignon. Do you think we were set up for failure?"

Tsuchimikado frowned. "What do you mean?"

"When Oyafune sent us to Avignon. Do you think she knowingly sent us there when the powered suits were also going to be deployed?"

Tsuchimikado immediately knew what Accelerator was going to do and not do at the same time.

"Whatever you're implying, I don't like it. Oyafune may be a member of the Board of Directors, but that doesn't mean she's rotten to the core."

"But it can't be a coincidence right?"

"Accelerator! I know that you have a grudge against the Board Of Directors, but not all of them are terrible. There are those that deserve to die because they're truly fucked up, and those who work diligently but are seen as trash. Oyafune Monaka isn't a bad person."

"And how do you know?" Accelerator was quick to ask another question as the clock ticked down towards the inevitable.

"Accelerator, I don't know what the fuck has gotten you so worked up all of a sudden, but you need to snap the fuck out of it. The speech that she's giving is about giving children the rights to vote! Think about it, if she was truly such a terrible person, would she really go through all that trouble just to give some speech about democratic rights?!"

However, Accelerator stayed quiet on the line.

"Accelerator!"

Cold beads of sweat were starting to form on his forehead.

"..."

It could very well be a failed mission if Accelerator slowed him down for even another second.

"ACCELERATOR!!!"

He probably shouted so loud that people around him were starting to stare in his direction. However, the moment he did, the ground started shaking.

"It's an earthquake!"

"NO! We have to get out of here!"

"Protect the VIP!"

The crowd started scattering away as the bodyguards doubled up against Oyafune Monaka. The shaking ground soon started to break the floor's surface as the stage was slowly tearing apart. Oyafune was quickly evacuated from the stage as she entered her private car.

Tsuchimikado was still standing on the ground as his body shook from side to side as if he was dancing with a hula hoop.

Tsuchmikado dropped his phone on the ground as he fell to his knees, his sunglasses also dropping in the process.

The moment the magnitude 4 earthquake had stopped, everyone in the crowd looked at each other in surprise that no one was hurt in the process. Tsuchimikado picked his phone back up, but found the call had ended.

"(And people ask me if I enjoy working with him...of course not. He's a fucking psychopath!)" Tsuchimikado cursed in his head.

However, because of the commotion that he had made, the guards who were all wearing black suits and sunglasses started to approach him.

"Well fuck."

-------------------

"What the hell were you thinking by doing that, Accelerator?! And in the first place, why were you holding back?!"

The Voice on the Phone was screaming at Accelerator through the phone that it didn't matter whether he was in speaker mode or not. His voice was exploding through the phone

"Tch there's nothing wrong with that, right? Anyway we stopped the assassination attempt." Accelerator said as he continued to ascend the flight of dead escalators.

His cane slammed against the metallic escalators with a metal thunk after each step he took.

"Well done Accelerator, you just had him arrested for attempted assassination."

"Calm down, what kind of evidence do they even have against him? For all they know, it could have just been a coincidence." Accelerator said with a smug grin on his face. 

"No...wait." The Voice on the Phone spoke softly.

"What? Don't tell me he managed to save himself from that."

There was a brief silence on the line as the air grew tense between them.

"Tsuchimikado..."

Accelerator's eyes grew wide the moment the Voice on the Phone finished his sentence.

"He's dead."