60 To A Bloody War
-----9th October 11:30a.m.------
Accelerator entered a hotel room 700 meters from the where the attempted assassination occurred. There was nothing there except a square section of a glass that had been cut.
He took out his phone as he dialed Musujime's number and placed it at his ear.
"Whoever it was, they ran away." Accelerator said as he scowled at the hotel room.
"Tsk, so in the end we couldn't get the sniper." Musujime cursed. "But anyway, I scanned the bill that we could not access earlier. Seems like the group who hired the sniper is SCHOOL."
"SCHOOL? Any other information on their members?" Accelerator asked as if Tsuchimikado's death did not linger in their minds.
"No, it only shows their organization."
"Hah! What kind of name is that anyway? I bet it's a team full of former Anti-Skill members." Accelerator said as he slowly started to make his way down the hotel through the elevator. For a while, her voice started to cut in between sentences, but he could make out the words, "We're not one to judge."
"At least we know who we're dealing with." Musujime added. "Anyway, why did you hold off from the attack?"
"It's none of your business. Anyway what's the plan now?" Accelerator walked past the sliding doors as he felt the humidity hit him.
"For now, we'll just wait for any further updates."
"Alright."
When the call ended, Accelerator slid his phone back into his pocket as he slowly made his way to the hideout.
-----9th October 12:00p.m.------
It was noon and with two members gone, it was just Accelerator and Musujime Awaki left in the group. However, despite the disadvantages they had, they were still eating whatever they wanted.
They were inside an RV that one of their underlings brought around for them. Accelerator had a spicy fried chicken as his meal while Musujime bought a fancy salad that was delivered from the Mediterranean.
"That will shave off years of your life." Musujime pointed the plastic fork in her hands as Accelerator took a bite of his spicy fried chicken.
"Heh, I'd rather die eating meat than to live a boring life." Accelerator said as he chewed on the chicken.
"I understand the wonders of eating meat, but I'd rather keep my body healthy." Musujime said as she chewed on the salad.
"You should totally try some." Accelerator put up his fried chicken in her face as she side eyed him. The next moment, he found his mouth stuffed with fried chicken.
"Shut up, you need it more than me. You're as skinny as a stick." Musujime mocked him as she continued to eat her salad. The next thing she knew, it was her who was on the other end of a stuffing. Accelerator took out the 3 fried chickens in his mouth as he stuffed one of them into hers just as she opened her mouth.
"Mmmmff...!!!??!?!"
"Payback's a bitch, ain't it?" Accelerator shrugged his shoulders as he looked away.
Soon, a loud thud was heard followed by another as Accelerator was being beaten down by her flashlight and fried chicken at the same time.
"Yeah! Payback is a bitch, ain't it?!" Musujime jumped on top of him as they wrestled it out with grease and violence.
However, Accelerator was saved by an electronic alarm in the RV they were in. The flustered voice of the person behind the phone came over the vehicle's speakers.
"E-Emergency!! Stop fighting and focus. I'm sending you guys the data now!!"
Accelerator and Musujime got up from the floor as they looked towards the speaker the voice was coming from.
A map of Academy City appeared on the screen that was on the wall separating the back living area from the driver's seat.
"District 5's Virus Isolation Center?"
"A facility where they analyze and create antiviruses, seems like someone's trying to crack it open." Accelerator answered Musujime as he chewed on whatever fried chicken he had left while he read the words that were continuously appearing on the screen.
"Stop eating!! This is serious! The External Connection Terminals on the north, east and south are down. The only one that's still around is the west located at District 13, but it's not responding at all!" The Voice on the Phone explained.
Academy City had technology 20 to 30 years ahead of the world outside, and if someone were to crack open the viruses, it could lead to an all out war outside of Academy City.
"Tch, how troublesome. Can't we just leave it to the other groups in the Dark Side?" Accelerator said as he threw the chicken bone away before rubbing his fingers around a tissue paper.
"We can't guarantee that a group will go there to stop it. And besides, thanks to a certain someone, we're down by one man, which leaves only the two of you."
"..."
"Fortunately, that certain someone, is the strongest esper, so we won't be losing out on much."
Accelerator clicked his tongue again as he answered, "Fine fine!! Let's just get this over with."
The rumbling of the engine's on the RV sounded as the vehicle began to move.
------------------------
Unabara Mitsuki was in a multi-tenant building in District 10.
The building had a lot of empty space and he was in one of the rooms that no one was renting. It may have had to do with the fact that the Academy City's only juvenile hall was right outside the window.
There were a few dozen armed men in the small room and there were four boss class figures standing in a line. A business desk that had been left there by someone had their guns, laptops, disguise tools, and hand cream on it.
"(...This certainly didn't go as planned.)"
Currently, he was not Unabara Mitsuki.
He had fought back one of the attackers and "borrowed" his face.
"(He was pretty weak, so I never thought he would be one of the central figures of the organization...)"
His plan had been to disguise himself as some small fry, find a good time to go run an errand or something, and then sneak away from the group, but it seemed the person he had defeated was one of the boss class members.
That meant sneaking away was going to be difficult. Everything he did stood out and the group moved with him wherever he went.
Because of this, he hadn't found a good opportunity to escape and had been forced to move from District 7 to District 10.
"What is it, Yamate?" asked a voice coming from next to him.
A tall woman was standing there. She was slender, but her body was covered in hard muscles. She looked less like she was tense and more like she had been carved from stone. At first glance, you could tell she worked in some kind of underworld business, but, from what he had heard, she had gone undercover into Anti-Skill's headquarters.
After thinking about all that, Unabara thought back on what the muscular woman had said to him.
Yamate.
Apparently, that was his current name.
"It's nothing."
"Pull yourself together. The success of the plan depends on your power."
Everything she said was very polite. It could sound like she was being kind or that she was looking down on him.
"School has begun moving," said a large bear-like man. "We're the ones that sent them the info on Management, but...Tch. Couldn't they have waited just a bit longer to take action?"
"It looks like this isn't going to be easy. Outwitting Academy City is hard. But that's also why we can't give up now."
Unabara sorted out the information he had while listening to the woman.
It seemed this organization was called Block.
It seemed this organization had the same level of secrecy and authority as Group.
It seemed they were planning something, but another organization, School, had taken action on the same day before they could and that happened to get in their way. In order to correct for that as much as possible, Block had covered for School with that explosion. That was how Unabara had gotten wrapped up in it all.
"(And...)"
Block had given up on dealing with the effects of what School had done and were now switching over to carrying out their plan.
Unabara had to be careful with his words and movements here as triggering a wrong command from them could lead him to expose his true identity. If they baited out any traitors or spies using an inside command and he fell for it, his whole plan would be ruined and he would inevitably be dead.
Unabara glanced to the side as a few dozen men lined up beside him. Fighting a few people on his own would have been difficult, but manageable to say the least. However, a dozen men against his ability would prove to be extremely difficult. Close to 1% chance of success.
"Okay," the large bear-like man said as if he had gotten over something. "I won't let anyone delay this any longer. Let's get started. Enough with Block. I'm not going to keep working under those higher ups like this."
He didn't start moving after saying that. Instead, he surveyed the area.
Unabara asked a question.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. I just want to do the usual safety check first." The large bear-like man smacked his large hands together as he spoke. At that signal, a gloomy girl calmly stepped forward.
"Tetsumou. ...We need to use your Skill Polygraph. We need to make sure there isn't a traitor amongst us."
"Will do. Reading people's minds is all I'm good at."
"(...!?)" Unabara Mitsuki thought the surprise was going to come out on his face.
He pretended to casually grab a bottle of hand cream that was on the business desk and looked around the area.
"Oh, and let me say one thing. The second you refuse to be 'read', I'll assume you're a traitor. I like transparency."
After the large man's announcement, the girl called Tetsumou started grabbing the hands of her colleagues one by one. An inhuman, mechanical voice came from her mouth as she did.
"Saku Tatsuhiko. Age: 28. The leader of Block. His primary duty is to keep an eye on the level of cooperation from friendly institutions outside of Academy City." After the large bear-like man was the muscular woman.
"Teshio Megumi. Age: 25. A formal member of Block. As a member of Anti-Skill, she...!?" Tetsumou's expression suddenly became distorted. For an instant, a menacing atmosphere came over the area, but Teshio herself didn't seem worried.
"...You don't have to read that far. Why that kid has no parents and can't speak isn't an enjoyable past to see." Tetsumou shook her head and turned her gaze in Unabara's direction.
That was when the bottle of hand cream Unabara was holding slipped.
"...Ah, sorry."
The bottle rolled over towards a member of the subordinate organization. When Unabara reached out for it, the young man approached and handed over the bottle.
"While you're up here, you can go ahead," Unabara invited. The young man had happened to step right in front of Tetsumou, so he interrupted the order and held his hand out towards her. It seemed he wanted to get his check over with.
It happened when the two of them held hands.
"Gaaaaaaahhhhh!?"
The young man and Tetsumou's hands burst into red flames. With a boom, blood flew through the air. A few fingers did as well. Tetsumou held her right hand, but the pain and blood loss was too much for her causing her to collapse onto the ground and stop moving.
The young man hurriedly reached over for the first aid kit, but the large bear-like man stopped him.
"What did you just do?"
"I don't know. I have no idea what just happened!"
"What the hell did you do!?"
"I was a victim here, too!!"
Saku didn't say anything more. He pulled his handgun from its holster, pressed the barrel between the young man's eyes, and pulled the trigger.
"Wait. I didn't do anyth-...!?"
The young man was completely dumbfounded, but a gunshot rang out.
The blood-covered young man fell to the ground.
Saku stared down at the red-stained corpse and spoke.
"...Well, at least we found him before we got started. What did he even do?"
"What do we do now? Do we continue?"
Saku shook his head at Unabara's question. It didn't look like Tetsumou was going to be of any more use.
"There's no time to find a replacement. We'll prepare a confirmation device later."
He didn't seem interested in Tetsumou and ordered some subordinate members to take care of the body.
Before the young man had held hands with Tetsumou, he had handed the bottle of hand cream to Unabara. When he had, Unabara had gotten the cream on his palm on the young man's hand. And a small amount of liquid explosive had been mixed into the cream.
Unabara rubbed some hand cream into his palm. This time, it had a chemical mixed in that would eliminate the liquid explosive.
With some tactical planning, Unabara had managed to escape out of that situation in one piece. Fortunately, it was all over as the members of Block faced a laptop on a table.
"Now then, shall we get started?"
-----9th October 12:10p.m.-----
The drive to District 13, where the west side terminal was located, was a quiet ride. Musujime was just scrolling through her phone while Accelerator slept on the wide couch they had inside the RV.
However, just before they made it any further, the electronic beeping came again.
"E-Emergency again! Cracking in District 23 confirmed! A satellite control center belonging to an aerospace engineering laboratory is undergoing an electronic attack!!"
Musujime looked up at the speakers yet again as another map was displayed on the screen yet again.
"Wake that idiot up, Musujime!"
"Tch, I'm listening, I'm listening." Accelerator got up from the couch before the beating had begun, but Musujime still took a cheap shot at him using her flashlight.
The only satellite launched by Academy City up there was a spy satellite officially referred to as a weather satellite. Using that, one could observe Academy City and the surrounding area in excellent detail, but it was actually a weapon that could launch a laser that could burn the ground.
It was named the 'Hikoboshi II'.
"This is bad, the cracking on the Virus Isolation Center is still ongoing, isn't it?" Musujime asked.
"W-What should we do?!" The voice asked as he continued to panic through the phone.
"Heh, this just keeps getting interesting. If SCHOOL is behind all this, that must mean they want us to split up just to deal with these small shit."
After a single beeping noise within the RV, Accelerator kicked the RV's side door with the bottom of his foot. The metal door flew out onto the street as Accelerator looked back at Musujime.
"If you sense or see trouble, abandon mission. I don't want to be left with collecting bodies."
"W-Wait, Accelerator are you really falling for their trap right now?!"
"Tsk, fine go then. I'll handle the Virus Isolation Center myself." Musujime replied without looking at him.
"Heh, I'm not falling for their trap. I'm merely destroying their plans." Accelerator jumped out of the car without hesitation.
His jump took him in an unnatural trajectory. He passed over the center divider and landed just right on top of a vehicle.
But his misfortune would get to him as the car swerved to the right as it sped off. This left him standing in the middle of the road as he slowly descended with the help of his vectors.
"..."
Accelerator looked around as the cars swerved past him while they honked their horns at him.
He was lucky enough for once to catch a biker who wanted to taste the rush of almost killing someone. Accelerator pressed his hand in front of the bike and lifted it up effortlessly as the biker screamed his lungs out inside the helmet.
"Sorry, but you were caught speeding. I'll have to confiscate this now." Accelerator grinned as he slowly placed the bike down the moment the wheels stopped moving.
When Accelerator placed the bike down, the biker immediately got down as he went for the storage behind the bike. He seemed to be going for his driver's license and registry forms. But the moment he took them out, Accelerator sat on the bike as he dashed off onto the road, leaving the poor biker stranded in the middle of the road.
------------
Hamazura was a very unfortunate guy. Despite being in a group with four other girls, it wasn't as lucky as anyone would think.
In that group, they have a bomber maniac, a girl with a part of the strongest Level 5 brain implanted inside her, the 4th ranked Level 5. The only thing he could call heaven was the girl who wore a pink tracksuit. She seemed to be the only normal one there.
He was just assigned as the driver for ITEM. Anytime they needed a ride, he would be there for them. That was his only role.
"(How did I end up in this situation...)"
I repeat, Hamazura was an unfortunate guy.
It was noon and they were at a family restaurant in District 7, but the girl known as Mugino Shizuri was sitting at one of the tables eating a convenience store bento she had bought elsewhere and she wasn't even trying to hide it. He felt sorry for the short waitress that was nervously standing nearby.
"Huh? This salmon bento seems different from the one from yesterday. Huh?"
Even inside the restaurant, she was wearing a bright autumny short sleeved coat. She crossed her stocking-covered legs as she sat next to the window and muttered those words of puzzlement.
Hamazura responded silently in his heart with, "It's the same damn thing as yesterday."
Everyone at that table was rather eccentric.
"In the end, I'm getting kind of tired of canned mackerel. Now curry. Curry would be awesome."
The blonde-haired blue-eyed high school girl known as Frenda sitting next to Mugino said this while poking at the contents of a can, but she must not have been good at using a can opener because there was something that looked like PVC tape stuck around the can and the top had been burned off by an explosive with an electrical fuse stuck in it.
Hamazura thought it was a tool usually used for blowing the locks off of doors.
Kinuhata Saiai, the girl sitting across from Frenda, was an obedient-looking girl of about twelve wearing a fluffy knit dress. She was paying no heed to the actions of the other eccentric girls and looking through some movie pamphlets.
"An ultra-problematic C-movie by the Hong Kong Red Dragon Film Company... It sounds like you'll be on the edge of your seat for more reasons than one. I'm super interested. I have to check that one out. What do you think, Takitsubo-san?"
Kinuhata was speaking to a lethargic girl sitting next to her named Takitsubo Rikou. She wasn't touching her food and was sluggishly sitting in the sofa-style seat with her arms and legs sprawled out limply while her gaze aimlessly wandered around.
"...A signal is coming from south-southwest..."
Hamazura was standing beside their table as he looked at every single one of them enjoying their time around the table. They made him look like one of the waiters and waitresses in the restaurant.
It was just pure sadness.
"(So I was put on drink bar duty huh?)"
"So, before noon, someone attempted to snipe Oyafune Monaka, one of the Board Of Directors. They want us to take action in regard to that case." Mugino said after having finished eating her usual salmon bento.
ITEM was a group with the same level of secrecy and power as GROUP and SCHOOL. However, they were there to preserve the peace in the Dark Side of Academy City and make sure no one goes out of hand in the upper classes of Academy City.
"Hamazura, send the details of the incident to everyone's cell phones." Mugino said as she lightly waved her hand around.
The reason they entrusted Hamazura, a random thug in their group to hold that type of information was simple.
They just didn't want their phones to have that 'unnecessary storage space'.
Although they were a group in the Dark Side, they still had their own standards as women and girls.
"Okay, okay." was Hamazura's halfhearted response. He couldn't complain about what he was instructed to do. This was his job.
He took out his cellphone and sent the data saved there to the members of ITEM other than Mugino.
"Hmm."
The girls checked the information on their phones and they immediately shut their phones off and looked at him with scornful eyes.
It was simple.
He had sent a porn video which he had downloaded from the internet.
"Hamazura..."
"In the end, you're disgusting, Hamazura."
"So bunny girls are a super hit with you, Hamazura?"
"Don't worry, Hamazura. I'm rooting for you."
Hamazura trembled as he looked towards the floor while grabbing his hair.
"No, wait!! Let me redo that!! Erase that from your minds immediately!!" Hamazura quickly sent the information on the attempted sniping of Oyafune Monaka to them but this time he made sure it was the right video before pressing the 'send' button.
"There there!! Now forget about it!!" Hamazura proudly stood up as he looked over at their phones to make sure they received the right one this time.
"Oh, this is that super plan of SCHOOL's. Seems like their sniper from 4 days ago is still alive."
"Tch, and I wonder who lost to her."
"Mugiiiinooo...please spare me from that shame! It wasn't my fault, she was almost invisible!!"
"But if we think about it, Oyafune Monaka doesn't really have much value despite being on the Board Of Directors. Yet they still went for her."
Mugino nodded casually as she hummed a small tune.
"There's no value in killing Oyafune Monaka, and yet SCHOOL forced themselves to snipe her on schedule knowing full well we had our eyes on them. Why would they do that? Hamazura!"
Hamazura jumped in surprise at her words.
"U-Um well! Wait a second!! It's on the tip of my tongue, just give me a bit and I'll have it!!" Hamazura gave an energetic response, but didn't actually say anything.
And the four members responded by...
"C'mon, Hamazura..."
"In the end, it really disgusts me how flustered you are."
"There are a super lot of different types of disgusting, but you're the worst kind, Hamazura."
"Don't worry Hamazura, even though you're a disgusting creep, I'm still rooting for you, you creepy pervert."
"(That's not making me feel any better damnit...!!)" Hamazura cursed as he kneeled on the ground.
"Well, as we said, there's no value in assassinating Oyafune Monaka. There's no denying that. Yet, SCHOOL still chose her as a target. So maybe they chose her because there is no value in killing her." Mugino sounded amused as she continued analyzing the situation. "So what if they were never meant to kill her, but instead were focused on causing such a disturbance to a VIP just to lure out her security. And if I'm right, that means they're aiming for a facility where the security will be down be it whether they killed her or not."
Mugino drank finish her cup of tea as she lifted it up to signal Hamazura for a refill.
"We need to see what facilities have insufficient security due to the attempted assassination of Oyafune Monaka. That's most likely where SCHOOL will show up next."
The moment Hamazura grabbed the tea cup and turned around, Mugino forcefully stood up from her seat and shouted without looking at him.
"Hamazura, go find a car for us. We're heading out now."
It pissed Hamazura off how self-importantly she said that, but he couldn't object. He was just there for subordinate work.
"Damn it, I swear I'm gonna push her to the ground and stuff her ass up with her own pride..."
Those words accidentally leaked out.
"Hamazura, is that a death wish?"
"(Damn it.)"
The next thing he knew, he was sent crashing through multiple tables.
-----9th October 12:30p.m.-----
Accelerator stopped the bike near the terminal in District 23.
He got down his bike as he pressed the number for Anti-Skill before placing the phone next to his ear.
In the next second, he heard the voice on the phone who gave instructions to GROUP.
"What are you trying to do?"
"I assumed you would cut in if I called that number. If you don't like that, stop being so predictable. Anyway, give me the information on the satellite being cracked, Hikoboshi II. What's the output of the military laser equipped on it?"
"Oh, that's all you want to ask? You could always ask a more relevant question."
"I don't trust what you say enough to risk my life on it."
"What a cruel thing to say," the man's voice responded. "Strictly speaking, the laser on Hikoboshi II is an optical bombing weapon that uses white light waves. It's currently experimental though. It heats up to about four thousand degrees, but white light waves have the power to destroy cell nuclei just like ultraviolet rays, so it can cause cancer quite quickly."
"Seriously? It's a cancer ray?" Accelerator responded amusingly before asking, "What's the range of exposure?"
"Anywhere from a five meter radius to a three kilometer radius. Also it cannot fire in quick succession. It can barely manage one shot in an hour, and the atmosphere randomly refracts the white light waves, so there might be a slight margin of error in its accuracy."
Accelerator hung up without saying another word.
"(So the thing that I should be focusing on is the laser, but I can't fly into space without an oxygen tank. So I have to destroy the thing that controls it, which would be an antennae.)" Accelerator thought as he moved around the circumference of the station. He was walking through the container storage area that was off limits to unauthorized people.
"(The antenna for the satellite is a few kilometers from here, but a normal vehicle can't go any further than this.)" Accelerator thought as he looked at the electrode around his neck.
He had about 25 minutes of battery left, but with that distance he thought it might be faster to "run" using his vector transformation power.
Accelerator moved his hand to the switch on the back of his neck. But...
"Oh, I can't have you do that."
He heard a soft male voice come from directly behind him.
"!!"
Accelerator quickly pulled out the FNX-Tactical in his belt and turned around, but no one was there.
His body swayed slightly as he stood there with his 10kg cane.
He moved to push the electrode switch with the tip of the gun in his left hand, but...
"That's your weakness, isn't it?"
Someone grabbed his hand from behind.
"No matter how strong your power is, you can't activate it without pressing that switch, hm?"
Before Accelerator could get his hand free, a heavy blow came to the side of his head. It wasn't the feeling of being punched by a fist. It was a dull feeling that felt like he was being hit with a metal pipe or hammer.
He felt a liquid oozing from the side of his head.
"Tch, you from SCHOOL?"
"No, no. I'm from Member, not SCHOOL."
A voice from behind.
Member.
One of the organizations similar to GROUP, ITEM, and SCHOOL.
"Anyway, it's not SCHOOL who wants to destroy the antenna. But Block instead. I'm only here to prevent it from being destroyed."
Accelerator turned his head and looked back while swaying on his feet, but there was still no one there. But he did not hesitate.
While still looking in the same direction, he swung his own leg backwards and hit the attacker with his foot. The shock freed his left hand, and without turning around, he shot two or three shots backwards.
"?!? Tch!!"
Sensing he had hit, Accelerator quickly flipped the switch for the electrode around his neck.
Then he forcefully turned around.
As before, there was no one there.
But as he looked around, he saw a man standing behind a railroad worker who had approached after hearing the gunshots.
The man had shallow bleeding injuries on his side and thighs. He was wearing a down jacket and the down was soaked red. He looked high-school aged and was pressing a Western-style saw against the railroad worker's neck from behind.
"Hah! So you're a teleportation esper who can only move behind other people. What a letdown. You can't even be Level 4. I know of some people who can use their teleportation much better than you do."
"You bitch! You don't even have any rights to say that for someone who has to rely on a device around their neck!"
"Ya fuckin' loser, ya can't even do the theoretical eleventh dimensional calculations on your own, so you compensate by basing it around the location of others. What an absolute fucking letdown. And a hostage? Come on now, stop fucking playing with me. I'm after the antenna, anyone else would be extra."
"You won't abandon the hostage. If you would, I doubt you would have come here to stop Hikoboshi II. I can stop you with this guy's life. But if that isn't enough, I can create an even greater sea of blood."
Accelerator still had his grin plastered on his face as he slowly walked up to him.
The man pressed the saw against the young railroad worker's neck and the worker gave a slight yelp.
"No no no...that's wrong. You have it all wrong!" Accelerator said as he looked up in disappointment.
"Hah! If you're planning to beg for forgiveness, it's too late now you fucker! Turn off that switch before I murder this guy!"
However, Accelerator disappeared from his sight in an instant. The only thing that remained there was a crack on the surface of the railroad.
The next thing he knew, a heavy pressure fell on the arm which he was holding the saw. Cracking noises followed as his arm bent in an unusual way. The saw flew out of his hands but Accelerator caught it in time.
"Looks like you dropped this."
"Kh..."
A small groan escaped his mouth before Accelerator flung him to a nearby container by the head.
The railroad worker quickly ran for it before he was caught again and by the time the attacker could recover, Accelerator was already right in front of his face squatting down.
"What was it again? Hmm..."
Accelerator pressed the saw against his chin as he thought about his words.
The attacker tried to get away by teleporting behind him, but with his 10kg cane, Accelerator swiped him off his feet as he destroyed the bones in his legs.
"Ah that's right! If you're planning to beg for forgiveness, you still have the chance you lowly scum." Accelerator laughed scornfully as he pressed his cane against the attacker's body.
"Your first mistake was not killing me when I hadn't turned on my switch. Your second mistake was trying to threaten me. Your third mistake was even having the brain to face me..."
Accelerator then forcefully pulled one leg from the attacker as it made a tearing sound. It ripped off as the blood splattered everywhere except the Accelerator.
"Your last mistake was thinking of using a hostage."
Then Accelerator tore his other leg off as even more blood spilled out while the attacker screamed in agony.
"A-AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
"Good, good. Scream little piggy. You can still run, but I'll still pulverize you. Let the fear of death overwhelm you." Accelerator said in a low voice as he pressed on one finger from the attacker.
"Now, I want answers before I tear your other limbs off... slowly. I'll start with the fingers."
Accelerator menacingly faced him as he randomly tore off a finger.
"And if you faint for even a second, I'll cut you open until you wake up. Don't worry, I'm quite skillful at CPR. GYAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!"
This was true villainy and Accelerator was about to give him a private lesson on it.
-----9th October 12:45p.m.------
Hamazura was waiting outside a particle engineering lab that SCHOOL was supposedly attacking while SCHOOL intercepted them. It was near Kirigaoka Girls Academy in District 18 and Hamazura groaned as he looked at the building.
"Damn that fucking Level 5...She's an absolute fucking monster. I can't believe she managed to smash me through five different tables with her brute strength."
Yes, Hamazura was still on about what happened at the restaurant. By the end of his beating, the waitress made sure to send them off properly. She made sure her uniform was as neat as possible while maintaining a perfect posture and a perfectly polite tone.
ITEM returned her service with a bow and a 500,000 yen tip, but it could probably be compensation for the damage that they caused.
Either way, Kinuhata lifted Hamazura up on her shoulders as they walked out like nothing ever happened.
"Wow...about half the building's been destroyed and there's some kind of beam shooting out. That must be Mugino Shizuri. She's going all out with her Level 5 powers as usual."
--------------------
Yobou Banka, the boy in goggles, was staring down Mugino Shizuri and Takitsubo Rikou as Kinuhata Saiai and Frenda Seivelun ran past him.
"Haha, you're not here to stall for time, are you?"
The boy in goggles simply frowned at her as he moved his hand horizontally.
Out of instinct, Mugino Shizuri merely crouched down as a sharp wind sliced past the top of her head.
He followed it up with a slice down the middle.
"Mugino step aside."
That was Takitsubou Rikou calmly giving Mugino instructions on where she should be placing herself. She was the navigator for ITEM but she is constantly watching their backs against any sort of unwarranted attacks.
The floor beside her was sliced in half as a line formed in the ground.
"Heh, interesting power. You must be Level 4 I presume?"
"Tch, that's why I hate the Level 5's."
"Oh, don't cry now little boy. If you're not going to attack, then I will!"
A glowing green ball appeared in her palms as she put both of her arms out.
In an instant, a green light fired from her palms and the boy in goggles sliced the air horizontally in response. But Takitsubou intervened yet again.
"Mugino, crouch."
Mugino did as she said and a sharp wind sliced the tip of her hair before crashing into the wall beside her.
In the next moment, his arms were pulverized.
"Heh, is that all you got?"
"...Fuck...you..."
The green ray of light flashed before his eyes yet again and this time he had been permanently silenced.
------------------
Frenda and Kinuhata arrived at the center of the particle engineering lab.
When they entered, there was something that looked like a futuristic trophy case with all the heavy machinery around it and a translucent blue sheet that covered whatever was behind it.
The researchers and scientists who were there had all been knocked out, but none of them were dead.
Kinuhata kicked one of them lightly and in turn, they made a small groan in response.
"They're still not super dead."
"I don't think that's our main issue here."
A flight of stairs by the side would have led them to the translucent blue screen, but there would be no point.
Whatever the 'trophy case' was holding was now gone and was just an empty husk.
"Oh...Mugino isn't gonna like this." Frenda commented as they made their way down the flight of stairs.
"Yeah, she's gonna be super pissed."
When they reached the bottom, they found an emergency exit all the way at the end. Probably for a situation if there was a fire outbreak on whatever they were experimenting on or a break in were to occur.
"What's the situation?"
That voice came from the flight of stairs that led up to the hallway they came from.
Mugino and Takitsubou was standing at the end as they looked at the aftermath.
"Seems like they took off already."
There was a stand below the 'trophy case' that had the name of the item that was being stored inside.
It was called 'The Tweezers', an attachment-type manipulator for microscopic object interference.
"Seems like they super took something called 'The Tweezers'."
Mugino's eyes widened as she clicked her tongue in annoyance. She wasn't annoyed by what they took, but what they were going to do with it.
It reminded her of an incident a year back.
"Then what are we standing around here for? Chase them now!" Mugino grabbed Takitsubou with one hand as she jumped over the barrier. She landed gracefully on her feet while ensuring Takitsubou had a soft landing. In her other hand, she had a piece of mechanical headgear that could wrap 360 degrees around someone's head like the rings of Saturn and had a number of plugs on it.
That was Mugino's prize for killing the boy in goggles.
Frenda and Kinuhata were glad that they weren't up against someone as cruel as her.
The four of them ran for the emergency exit. Well technically, three as Mugino was dragging Takitsubou around.
The emergency exit was a spiral staircase downwards and they kept running and running until they opened a door which lead them to a carpark.
A station wagon could be seen exiting the carpark at a rapid speed as it disappeared from Mugino's line of sight.
"Tch! Where's Hamazura?!"
-------------------
"(Damn! That car nearly bashed into me!)" Hamazura stood outside the carpark as a station wagon drove past him.
Not even a minute passed before Mugino came running out as she dragged Takitsubou by the nape of her neck followed by the other two.
Kinuhata picked Hamazura up as the four of them jumped into the backseat of the four-door car that Hamazura had been in before, while Kinuhata threw him to the wheel.
"Hamazura chase that station wagon before I blow your fucking head off!"
"Alright alright!!" Hamazura didn't hesitate to step on the gas as he felt that one second longer and one of those green beams that Mugino had fired would blast his head next.
She didn't sound like she was in the mood for jokes. She sounded dead serious. As in someone was definitely going to die if they didn't listen to her.
The engines and tires emitted an uncanny screech and the family car roared off.
Hamazura wanted to question Mugino about the things that happened in that lab, but he was afraid one wrong question might tick her off so he kept quiet instead.
"Takitsubou, can you trace the AIM field of the people in that station wagon?" Mugino asked as she looked at Takitsubou who was sitting in the backseat with her arms and legs sprawled out.
"Unfortunately, we didn't manage to catch a glimpse of them."
"Tch, SCHOOL huh? What the fuck could they be after?"
----------------------
A jersey-wearing woman was outside the particle engineering lab as she had to do a bit of reconnaissance for Anti-Skill. Anti-Skill's forces had been spread out all across Academy City because of the multiple crisis's that is happening around Academy City. She was called in on her off day to do this mission.
"sigh In the end, I was assigned to do this mission...What should I even be looking out for?"
This person was the caregiver of Accelerator and Last Order. But currently, she has a dropout from Tokiwadai, the Railgun, and a foreigner living in her household. To say it was chaotic would be an understatement.
Her life has been rough since she brought Accelerator and Last Order in.
It meant she had to cook more, and do more household chores. Thankfully for her, the foreigner in her house was more than willing to pay her back by helping around the household as well so they shared equal responsibilities around the house.
She was Yomikawa Aiho.
As she looked at the smoke billowing from the lab, she felt a small tap on her shoulders.
"Hello, I'm looking for a woman."
"Huh? Who are you?"
When she turned back, she saw a teenager of about 16 years old who was around her height. He had an unbuttoned white shirt below a maroon colored blazer, and beneath all that was another maroon V-neck shirt. With the combination of his trousers, he looked like a proper dropout with his shoulder-length hair.
"My name is Kakine Teitoku, but that doesn't really matter now, does it?"
"What do you--"
Before Yomikawa could finish her sentence, a soft squishing sound could be heard and she slowly looked down to see a white blade piercing through her stomach.
"Y-You..." Yomikawa tried to get the words out of her mouth but she couldn't. Five more white wings appeared on his back as she groaned in pain.
"Ah, this is nothing personal. I'll be burning your intestines with my Dark Matter. If you're lucky enough to find a donor, they may save you." Kakine sarcastically commented as he slowly took the white blade out of her body.
She dropped to her knees as Kakine turned back while taking his phone out of his pocket. He dialed a few numbers before putting it right next to his ear.
The moment he did, Yomikawa's body fell with a thump as a deep voice answered him.
"Well done." The Voice on the Phone cheerfully spoke.
