Chapter 48

"I had fun today-" She leaned closer and gave me a kiss. "-But I should get going. See you tomorrow." Kuroko gave a small wave before teleporting away with a smile as she no doubt enjoyed seeing me blush.

We just finished our third date so far and I'm only just began wrapping my head around the fact that she's my girlfriend now. We didn't tell anyone just yet, one part being that Tokiwadai students aren't allowed to be in relationships --Not that rules stopped horny teenagers. Especially horny teenagers with plenty of money. Kuroko gossiped about the suppressed scandals of a few senpais.-- and the other part being that we wanted to see how long until our friends figured it out. Mugi-chan doesn't count because she saw us by accident. --She snuck into my room in the middle of the night just to gloat about it and grill for details.--

We've already set up and marked our schedules to plan our dates properly. We've also gotten to know each other better than before. And we've even briefly discussed certain things about our situations, like what it means to be an interracial couple of human and Youkai or cultural differences.

I decided to open up a little bit more and tell her even more stories of my home before the bug cities. And she told me some of hers too!granted, both of what we told each other have barely scratched the surface but that's alright since we just started dating.

"Excuse me."

Dating... Didn't think that it would actually happen. It's so surreal that it kinda feels like I'm in a dream.

"Hey, redhead."

I feel giddy about it though. Now I understand why Onee-chan stares off into space and giggles to herself from time to time.

"The one with the ribbon, I'm talking to you!"

"Hm?" I turned around and saw a thin, almost skeletal man. Someone who's appearance suspiciously match what Misaka-san and Touma fought some time ago.

The man came forward a few more steps until he was only a meter away from me. I had to look up because he was tall, probably a little more than 210cm(7ft). "Tell me, truthfully... What colour are you?"

"Ah, Hm..." I brought some time by pretending to think about his question. When I extended my senses around me, we are in the middle of a plaza and there wasn't a single ward set up so if a battle came to be then the consequences can be dire. The other thing I noticed with my extended senses when I scanned the emaciated man was that he exuded an aura of... How do I put it, wrongness?

"Well?..." He droned. The man hunched over to meet me at my eye level and I got a closer view of his face. Describing him as skeletal was accurate. Sunken cheeks, bloodless pallor and deep dark bags but what took it away was his eyes. "...I'm waiting."

It's a known metaphor on both sides that the eyes are the window to the soul. But this guy in front of me looks empty.

"What colour. Are. You?" My senses picked up something smokey that was rising from him in wisps and I prepared myself to run away, or at least lead the fight to somewhere isolated. It's disappointing that he ruined the afterglow of a date and I couldn't help but curse how he has such disregard to the public in broad daylight, especially without the wards! "It's a simple question. Answer me."

"After giving it some thought..." I connected to my spiritual roots and channelled gratitude in my body. "...I say that I have no clue." I didn't bother waiting for a response and immediately flew away.

I flew for a good few seconds, there was no commotion or noise following me. Hesitantly, I gave a second look behind me and noticed that the man disappeared from his prior position. It was like he never existed to begin with.

Despite being baffled by the situation, I still grit my teeth and made a thorough search of the area. I combed through both sky, buildings and dark alleys and found no clue. Of where he could be.

When I got back to the dorms, I wondered if it was a hallucination from all the blood rushing to my head from all the blushing or someone I know pulled an illusion spell as a prank.

Nothing happened. Even after triple searching my dormitory building from the ground up, nothing happened.

Finally figuring that I'm safe after numerous more checks, I finally did my night routine and tucked into bed.

~~~~~~~~~~

A hazy grey fog came unto being inside a space of nothingness. It's kept a rough, wispy form, only vaguely resembling a thin humanoid in shape as it waited for the dreams to manifest. Doing so would enable it to access the deeper reaches of the boy's existence using a method he developed from his gift.

When the boy has slowly begun to enter REM sleep, the humanoid lazily reached out hand. "Now... Let's see what your true colour is, you false shade." The grey fog said to itself.

But as it was about to do something within the just-developing mindscape, everything was suddenly enveloped in a flood of pink.

The fog never even had a chance to comprehend what had happened before he was erased. The only thing left in the mindscape was pink and the sound of an echoing giggle.

~~~~~~~~~

*Siiiiiiiiip*

'I don't normally drink coffee but I guess exceptions had to be made for now.' I thought as I leaned back on the bench to take another long sip. 'I felt like I had a weird dream last night but I can't recall anything.'

I closed my eyes and let myself relax on the park bench. It's the same park that's frequented by Misaka-san but this is one of the better parks nearby so I just relented and took the risk of using a bench further away from her usual route. Since the railgun is the type of person that can hold a grudge, I'll let future me handle the situation if I get electrocuted.

The wind feels nice here and I was tempted to fall asleep. My body continued to relax as my mind kept wandering and bouncing off increasingly odd topics and scenarios. It wasn't until I felt someone sit on the same bench that I only slightly cracked open a single eyelid to see who it was that couldn't notice the social cue that I wanted to be alone, only to see a familiar bright red trenchcoat.

Using the same single eye, I briefly gazed at the sky before closing it again. "Odd to see you here, Reiko-nee. The sun is still out."

I felt her lean back on the bench as she heaved a heavy sigh. "...Had to turn another one down. Wasn't as pretty or calm this time." She sounded like she aged a few years, which is funny since she's been around for literal centuries and I doubt her voice changed much.

"For a supposed legendary serial killer, you sure save a lot of maidens in your free time."

"It just happens sometimes." She grunts as I heard her scratch her head in frustration. "It's not like I saved them from a villain on anything."

"...Sometimes, being there to listen and lean on is enough to be a hero. It's why you're everyone's big sis." I chuckled as I felt her glare on me. "Just be glad it isn't a yandere this time."

"I'm not anyone's sister." I don't need to use my senses to recognize the amount of denial on that one. "Besides, enough about me and tell me what you've been up to lately."

"Not so subtle with that change of topics, there."

"I know. Now spill."

I reluctantly opened my eyes and gave her a deadpanned stare. "Didn't Mugi-chan blabbed about it by now?"

"She did." She met my own stare with a straight gaze of her own. "But if you're gonna embarrass me with my predicament then it's only right that I do the same."

"Jokes on you then, since I'm not embarrassed about it."

"Stop blushing and I'll consider believing you, then."

The silent stare continued until both of us blinked, it was then that we shared a laughed a bit at the playful banter before I proceeded to tell her about recent events. From connecting to my roots, being able to fly, Me and Kuroko, until finally, I told her about yesterday.

"Oh, them huh." She muttered under her breath --and mask--.

"Something wrong?" I couldn't help but inquire. "You know them or something?"

Reiko-nee shook her head. "Not at all, no. I know just as much as anyone else. What those twigs probably are, are the Chasers of Colour. Think of it as some cult full of deranged people." She said seriously. "Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people out there that are crazy, sure. But the beanstalks from the Chasers of Colour are actually deranged and unpredictable. I'm talking about genuine unpredictable madness with no reason or pattern to their actions rather than the type of crazy you see on schemers or geniuses. No one knows exactly what they're about or what sort of things they preach. Unlike the other cults, the thin maniacs don't actually go out to advertise or recruit people. It's like new members just pop out of nowhere and I'm honestly surprised that such a scattered group is still around to this day."

"Have they been around for that long?"

Reiko-nee hummed in thought. "Don't know. I couldn't put an exact year or timeframe because I am not sure if that group disbanded and reformed multiple times or if they just repeatedly went into hiding before resurfacing for one reason or another. What I do know is that the y have definitely been around for at least a century by now. And the only reason I could say that last part with confidence is because those guys always used the exact same name."

"Sounds weird."

"Everything is weird if you look at it at the wrong angle." Reiko-nee shrugged as she gazed at the blue sky. "It's just a matter of perspective. From their point of view, we're the crazy ones, much like how pretty much anyone from either side see them as deranged." She turned her gaze back at me. "Are you alright? You did mention you encountered one yesterday."

"I'm pretty sure I did but he just kinda disappeared. He was asking about what colour I am. We were in a public space and there wasn't any ward set up so I had to retreat and pull him somewhere else but he didn't follow. I checked multiple times but it was like he was never there to begin with."

She hummed. "Keep you guard up just in case. Can't be too sure when it comes to lunatics."

"Sure." I said while standing up and stretching a bit. "Guess I'll see you around then. I still have a shift to attend to."

"Alright. Take care."

I waved her goodbye before leaving. I came here to think for a bit and left with even more questions than answers. A sigh escaped my lips as I dragged myself to the hospital, wondering about different things.