Chapter 16.5

[Months prior to the first day of middle school]

A odd boy twelve years of age can be seen making a gentle expression on his face as he talks to the person on his phone in the park.

With a head full of red hair with sharp red eyes to match, wearing a black shirt and pants and shiny red boots. Something that stood out was the red capelet hiding half his face and a red bow with blue trimmings on his head.

"Yeah... Yeah... I know, Take care." *Beep*

Ending the call with Chiyo, Kizuki set his gaze back to the park.

It was the calm afternoon on a weekend. There were plenty people enjoying their day and relaxing amidst the gentle shine of the sun. The sight of strangers going about they're day has calmed the irritation of Kizuki somewhat.

It's currently the summer season and Kizuki had decided to go visit Academy City ahead of time in order to look for a school and dorm.

It was his lack of foresight to even consider the possibility that the protagonist of [Toaru] was older than him and thus he wouldn't be in the same school as Touma, it still irked him that he had been so neglectful of such a simple fact.

'But since I'm already here, I might as well look for a school to enroll in next year.' Kizuki sighed in defeat.

'I already convinced Chiyo that I'll be studying here anyway, not to mention that the proper documents have already been prepared beforehand, it's a bit too late for take-backs at this point.' He thought as he acknowledged his blunder.

'Before that, I suppose that I need to get something to eat first, It's almost lunch after all.'

He then took out his wallet to check how much money he still has left, only to find that he only had a little left over.

'I did go too far on the sweets today, didn't I?' He mused to himself. 'Can't be helped. I'll stop by the post office to make a withdrawal.'

Kizuki left the park in search on an ATM. The closest one just so happened to be inside a post office by the intersection so he didn't have to walk far.

Upon entering through the sliding glass doors, Kizuki scanned the interior. The people inside are going about their day and the ATM's only has one or two people in line.

As he went closer and lined up behind someone, he couldn't help but feel that something was off.

For safe measure, he decided to make a secondary scan of the place using his empathetic senses.

With it, he discovered two individuals who harboured ill Intent to everyone in the post office. One is a young man barely past twenty standing in the middle of the place with a sadistic grin plastered across his face, wearing a beanie on his head. The other is a man with tired eyes wearing a windbreaker.

The same man who is currently in front of Kizuki in the line.

Just as he was thinking about which way he was to make of the current predicament, the grinning man took out a gun from his duffel bag and simultaneously dropped it, he fired his gun to the ceiling, gather the attention of everyone. Before the situation could sink to the others, He then points the gun at the middle aged man behind the desk in front of him.

"You better not try anything stupid!" He barks. The regular folk now registered the spectacle in their minds and fear gripped their bodies.

"KYAA...!?" He points the gun to his right and aimed at a highschool girl who is now evidently scared. "Hey. The people here just need to keep quiet, got it?" The man said as his grin turned even more malicious.

The middle aged man behind the desk took the opportunity as the attention wasn't turned to him, in order to stealthily reach for the phone next by his side and call the authorities.

When he picked it up and was about to dial a number, a bullet was shoot next to his head and hit the folders behind him. "I said not to try anything stupid, right?" The criminal said now relieved that he averted the call, his gun now touching the man's forehead.

"Please! Don't..." Scared at the weapon, he begged.

Meanwhile, Kizuki, the former vigilante, doesn't know what to do about this first experience in a hostage situation. It was embarrassing to admit but he has been preoccupied with both paperwork and studies lately that he has gotten plenty rusty. Not to mention that even during his short crime fighting career, the most he dealt with are common thugs and littering delinquents.

'I should definitely restart my training...' Kizuki guiltily thought to himself. The offensive spells he currently knows have yet to be revised to adapt to his body, as he prioritised the healing spells, but those wouldn't help in this situation.

"Maybe I should kill you to make an example, huh? Well?" "Wai..."

Just then, a pigtailed little girl with tawny hair --Shirai Kuroko-- made a move.

She charged --bending her waist to lower her center of gravity-- from behind the gunslinger. As he turned around in confusion, she was already by his side and stomped his left foot with her entire body weight.

"GYI!?" The pain made him subconsciously hurled his fist at her, but she ducked under the attack and slipped behind him once more.

With a hand holding the neck of his jacket, she then kicked him behind his left knee. "KACHK!" As he lost his balance and fell heavily on the floor, he accidentally dropped his gun.

"You brat, I'm gonna k-k-kill-kill you..." He said as he reach for his weapon. Only, the girl wouldn't allow him to. She stomped at his solar plexus and kicked his gun further away from his reach.

As she pants for more air, the adrenaline and excitement of the confrontation has yet to left her. Kizuki, who saw the entire ordeal was suddenly grabbed from behind.

Just when a smile was creeping up Kuroko's face for the job well-done, another voice was heard.

There she was shocked to see another man wearing a windbreaker, holding Kizuki by the right arm, and his other hand was shoving a knife to his face.

Because of the hand, the collar of Kizuki's capelet was crumpled down, exposing his bare neck for all to see.

Perhaps it's because it's the suddenness of the situation, or perhaps it his nature as a Rokurokubi, but Kizuki has found himself dumbfounded and frozen stiff that he has blanked out in both shame and perplexity.

The little girl turned tense with the turn of events, A drop of sweat rolled down her cheek as she stared at the new villain. The other people in the post office are similarly horrified and didn't move- hoping that if they were to lessen their presence, they wouldn't become the next victim.

"You, you're a Judgment?" The man snarls. "If there's any other Judgment people, you better come out! You know what'll happen to this kid if you don't..."

A short haired highschool girl with glasses --Konori Mii-- separates herself from the front desk and and slowly moved closer to the little girl, her bespectacled eyes not leaving the man.

"Only two?" His eyes narrowed and glanced at his unconscious accomplice from the corner of his vision. "Dumbass." He clicked his tongue. "How can you get beaten up by a child?"

Shoving his left hand holding a knife closer to Kizuki's face, he let go of his other hand and pointed to the duffel bag near the pigtailed girl.

"...There's no choice. Inside that bag there should be some tools. You're gonna use it to remove that ATM." He points behind him.

"I knew there wasn't enough money in the post office, so I was aiming for the ATM machine." He then drops his hand heavily on Kizuki's shoulder as his other hand raised slightly so the blade of the knife was pointed at his neck.

The collar on Kizuki's capelet was still crumpled down but it was slowly recovering up. "When you finish that machine, use the wire in the bag and tie the machine to the car outside, you understand, right?"

"A Judgment wouldn't let a kid die, right?" He taunts.

'This is bad. If they take the boy with them as a hostage, the Anti-skill won't be able to capture them.' Kuroko thought to herself. 'I don't know what he'll do to him after they get away... What should I do...' She grits her teeth in frustration.

At the sidelines, one of the people watching was the manager of the post office. The potbellied middle aged man had other thoughts going through his head.

As the tension rises between the criminal and Judgment, he stealthily raised his hand and felt the underside of the table behind him. His fingers grazed a square white button and without hesitation, pressed it.

An alarm sounded out and metal shutters dropped down the glass doors and windows, to the shock of everyone.

'The security system shutters!?' The bespectacled girl thought as she seethed in irritation. 'What is he doing? That makes this situation harder to control! Is he saying the money is more important than the customer's lives!?' She glared daggers at the manager.

*Viiiiiiiii* The sudden noise from behind snapped her out of her anger. A security bot of academy appeared and untucked it's three legs.

[Security signal received. Drop your weapon and lie on the ground.]

'A security robot? It was set to activate at the same time the alarm was set off? You've just made this hostage situation even worse!!!'

"Tch. Everything keeps getting more complicated..." The criminal mumbled as he reached for his right pocket.

The robot went forward and opened up it's middle section. As kuroko bravely rushed just behind it, using the robot as a shield which was seen by her bespectacled partner.

The man threw a small metal marble at the robot and Konori moved in to protect Kuroko. The robot exploded as they tumbled down, fragmented shards of metal and glass scattered, injuring Konori who was in close proximity and waking Kizuki from his stupor.

"Wh... What..." Kuroko said as her partner that protected her from the blast, limply fell to the floor, her eyes then dropped down to see her. "Senpai? Wh... Why?" The little girl gazed in horror at the back of her senpai, now littered with various shards.

"... remember this... If you don't know... What the enemy's doing... You shouldn't charge in."

"Are... Are you alright?" Kuroko asked worriedly.

Kizuki who witnessed all this, felt guilty. If he hadn't freezed up, if he hadn't blanked out, if he- 'I have to do something.' he thought.

Determined to make up for his mistake, Kizuki sent his head quickly flying upwards, hitting the chin the man holding him, causing him to bite his tongue and let go and stumble backwards.

Like an erupting volcano, plume after plume of thick dark smoke violently spewed out of the stump of his neck. It quickly filled blocked all vision of the ATM area, much to the distressed and confused crowd, along with scaring the people near the ATMs.

*Thump* *Thump*

Flickering lights and various dull sounds were heard as the people who were enveloped in the smoke hastily ran out of it.

"Stay back!" The criminal screamed in forced courage. His sight stolen by the smoke has rendered him an easy target. In an act of defiance, he once more reached into his pocket to pull out more marbles--

*ClackClackClackClackClack*

--Only to have all of them slip from his grasp. He dropped to his knees, briefly searching for them, not knowing that they've been swept away by soft material.

He decided to run, but where to? Without anything to throw, the metal shutters has sealed his escape, and no more civilians are within arms reach to turn hostage. Worse still; The floor beneath his feet has temporarily lifted him a few inches higher, only to sink back under.

Kizuki has conjured a small quagmire by his feet. But due to the limitations of his racial affinity, he could only manage a pitiful meager blob. But even so, it was enough to buy time.

Like a hunter who caught his prey in a trap, Kizuki administered the final blow. The criminal was barraged by Danmaku and Heads alike, brief grunts of pain--

*CRACK* *Thud*

--followed by painful crack and the sound of something falling.

The black smoke quickly receded for everyone to see the criminal who was now on the ground, surrounded by his own scattered marbles. Standing over him was the headless body and a floating head, which proved too much to some in the crowd.

The head turned around and spotted the injured girl.

Both head and body quickly knelt next to her and took out a small case from the inner pocket if his capelet. It contained tweezers, scalpels and other small tools, he started carrying one every since his newest mentor advised him to do so.

As Kizuki has the ability to heal, he only needed the tools to remove debris that may hinder regeneration, as well as disinfectants and antibiotics in his other pockets.

Without a word, Kizuki's body swiftly removed the shards embedded on the back of Konori as his head was floating just above to have a better view of the injury.

Kuroko watched in astonishment as she observed the speedy work of the heartless body. The multitude of thoughts in her mind swirled, with none the wiser to know what it entails.

Finishing Konori's treatment --Which were thankfully light, as her uniform took the brunt of the smaller shards-- Kizuki propped her up and turned to Kuroko next to him.

"She'll be fine. Not even a scar will remain after what I did... Though the pain sent her unconscious, she'll wake up in a few minutes... You're fine I hope? No injuries?" Kuroko shook her head. "Good. Anti-skill will probably arrive soon"

Looking around, the other people have started to calm down. Employees came from behind the desk holding zip ties to detain the two criminals.

Frankly, Everything after that had been but a blur to Kuroko. Anti-skill arrived with gusto, only to be met with the situation well handled and the robbers apprehended, the subsequent talks had already finished. By the time she came to; she already arrived at the 177th Judgment branch.

Judgment are students who take care of bad students, but are still inadequate when it comes to crimes involving quirks.

It was nobody's fault that they both fell short, and yet, both Konori and Kuroko couldn't help but reflect on the events that had transpired.

While Konori had been lost in thought, Kuroko had pulled the hem of her sleeve.

"Because of my mistakes, you ended up getting hurt!" She bent her waist a sharp 90 Degrees and gave a deep, sincere bow. "Please forgive me!"

As Konori silently look at her, she continued. "I learned that I need more practice. So, if it's okay with you-" Kuroko stood back upright and look at Konori with a determined gaze. "-I want you to teach me! I'll prove that I can be Judgment who can protect the city!"

Konori held a hand to her chin. "...Yes, that's it. I was worried about a lot of things but that what I'd been trying to teach you."

"?"

Konori walked up to Kuroko and placed a hand on her head, petting her. "Of course I will, there's still a lot of things I want to teach you." She said with a smile.

"Thank you..." Suddenly, the hand on Kuroko's head squeezed hard and Konori voice that used to be gentle, turned low and cold. "Then why don't we start by learning how to write an apology report?"

"!?"

As Kuroko was being trained by Konori, a certain Rokurokubi has missed his lunch entirely.