「Dooong! Dooonng!!」
As the school bell rang, Ryuusei was deep in thought about the events of the previous night. Helix didn't behave like Kirisaki's did. It just wasn't how things worked in the world. The whole reason that Cores went Helix was that they found their Holders to be too weak. So why? Why would a Helix Core make its way back to its Holder?
After returning from the mission, Kirisaki was sent to containment for observation and when he eventually woke up, interrogation. Ryuusei quickly wrote up the post-mission report and made extra care to emphasise how the barrier repelled physical attacks. That was a completely new ability, not listed in Kirisaki's data profile, meaning that it could have been something to do with his Helix Core's growth post-separation.
He had to make a trip to
"Hey~ Ryuusei-kun!"
The sound of someone calling him snapped Ryuusei out of his thoughts. No one ever called him, he did his best to blend into the class flawlessly.
"You in there? Ryuusei-kun?"
Ah, it was Hikari calling him. Ryuusei had slightly hoped that she would forget about all that, but it was probably too much to ask for, he guessed.
"Stop ignoring me!"
Hikari knitted her eyebrows together and puffed her cheeks in mild irritation.
"Ah, my bad. I was just... thinking about things."
That seemed to calm her down. Her face immediately transitioned back to her upbeat, cheery self.
"Ah, no worries! It happens!"
She flashed a wide smile as she raised her voice a little. Multiple pairs of eyes peered over to look at Ryuusei and Hikari, probably curious at what seemed to be an unlikely interaction in the classroom. They were gaining attention, which could potentially be troublesome. Ryuusei decided to quickly step in for damage control, steering the conversation off and speaking in a normal volume, hoping Hikari would follow suit.
"So, what'd you call me for?"
"Oh! It was just to tell you good morning, so... good morning!"
Luckily, she lowered her volume considerably, though her enthusiasm remained at the same level.
"Ah, I see. In that case, good morning to you too, Hikari-san."
「Clack!」
The classroom door was pushed open and a man walked in. The man was named Aleksander Greystone and he was class 2-C's Battle Mechanics Professor. He kept insisting that the students call him 'Aleks-kun' to—in his exact wording—'transcend the bonds between teacher and student'. He was a good person, though, and was only in his early twenties, making the whole 'Aleks-kun' deal a little less awkward. It helped that he was really eccentric and sociable, making him one of those people that you couldn't help but be amiable with. He had sandy-yellowish hair in a hairstyle resembling a spiky mop being pressed onto the floor. The metaphor just came to Ryuusei, he wasn't being rude. He also had a rather slim but athletic body, being the target of many girls in the academy. Actually, many girls outside of the academy had their eyes set on him, too. It also didn't really help that he was one of the known Rank S Holders, which basically made him famous. By the way, Aleksander was a well-respected staff member in
"Alright, class is in session, everybody! Come on, back to your seats!"
Hikari scrambled back to her seat while waving a quick goodbye when Aleksander announced his presence. It seemed that they sat at opposite ends of the classroom, which explained why he'd never noticed her before. She sat at the front-most row, next to the windows, while Ryuusei sat at the back row, right next to the back door of the classroom. He suddenly didn't feel as guilty for not noticing her before.
"Good morning, everyone! Did you guys finish your homework?"
Many grunts of confusion could be heard in the classroom, some students starting to panic as well. Among the other classes, 2-C had many students that just loved to have perfect grades and records.
"Oh come on, 2-C! It was a joke, haha! There wasn't any homework! At least none that I remember..."
Every student save a few just face-palmed at Aleksander's antics. Sometimes, Ryuusei wondered how a carefree person like Aleksander was even Rank S. It seemed that most, if not all the Rank S Holders he knew had... intriguing personalities.
'Oh well, a thought for another day!'
Ryuusei decided as his mind wandered off. As Aleksander was giving his lecture, Ryuusei's thoughts shifted to those of the previous night's events once again. He hoped that the one Helix Core was just a one-time deal, since it was surprisingly quite strong. Especially with that shield ability it had...
Advanced battle strategies and technique combinations were formulating in Ryuusei's head for any future encounters with anything having the same abilities. All this was processed through Ryuusei's mind while Aleksander taught the class about the more intermediate level of Battle Mechanics.
「Doooong! Dooonng!! Dooong!」
Ryuusei's train of thought was broken as the school bell rang once again, signalling the end of Aleksander's 5-hour lesson and the end of school. All school days were roughly this short, each day consisting solely of one lesson. This was because it was decided by the Academy's Board of Directors that it was more productive to focus on a single concept rather than a mix of many within the same day.
Typically, students who wanted to go the extra mile would enroll for supplementary lessons, which were held after the end of school. Club activities usually started after these supplementary classes' time-slots to cater to the majority. By the way, most students tended to pick supplementary classes by the well-respected professors, and Aleksander was one of them. It was akin to taking an elective class, since majority of the student body picked some kind of classes that helped with their own branch of studies or their type of Cores.
There was rustling all about as students packed up, getting ready to leave for lunch or whatever activities they had. All the students had already left within 5 minutes, leaving just Aleksander, Ryuusei and Hikari in class. As Hikari finished packing up, she walked over to Ryuusei and started talking.
"So, Ryuusei-kun, think I can follow you back today for some tough training?"
Hikari motioned karate chops and punches as she talked. It was pretty amusing, actually. Ryuusei did have something important to do, though.
"Sorry, but maybe tomorrow, I have something important to discuss with Aleks-sensei today."
"About what? We don't have any homework for the week, so what's there to talk about?"
"Errrr, it's a small project I'm working on for Aleks-sensei at the moment."
"Oh, alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then! Bye Ryuusei-kun~ I have go-home-club right now!"
With that, she darted out of the door, disappearing from sight. Wow, she was pretty quick. It wouldn't even have been surprising if she left a dust cloud behind. She was also weirdly really into her 'go-home-club'. Ryuusei could only shake his head in exasperation as he walked over to Aleksander.
"Yo, Ryuusei, how's my favourite student doing! I see you've gone ahead and gotten a girlfriend without letting me know, huh? And here I was about to introduce you to this cute girl, too!"
Ryuusei's left cheek twitched as Aleksander used his elbow to nudge Ryuusei teasingly. Aleksander just continued on with the teasing, trying to egg Ryuusei on further.
"I thought you'd never get a girlfriend at the rate you were going. Good job at snagging a cute one!"
「Paaaak!!」
Ryuusei's cheek twitched again as he gave a well-deserved chop to the side of Aleksander's head.
"Owwww!!"
"That's what you get for making up dumb crap like this all the time. You were pretty much begging for it, so, being the kind soul I am, I gave it to you."
"Alright, alright. So your mission yesterday, it was difficult? I heard from Misaka that it was more of an out-of-the-ordinary case. She even told me to be ready in case you called for backup."
"Well, it was a little disconcerting because his abilities seemed quite strong—stronger than previously recorded in our files."
Ryuusei reported the vague details of the previous night to Aleksander, leaving out information since they were in a semi-public setting. If anyone overheard the conversation, they could still play it off as a small project involving practical testing on Cores and Holders.
Aleksander seemed to be deep in thought, hand placed on his chin.
"Well, I don't have any idea what this could mean either, Ryuusei. You'd better keep on your guard."
"Already doing that."
"By the way… do you still need me to introduce a cute girl to you?"
「Paaak! Paaakkk!! Paaak!!」
"OWWWWW!!"
Ryuusei just grabbed his stuff and left a hurting Aleksander in the classroom. With the bump on Aleksander's head showing very prominently and practically steaming, Ryuusei smirked at his handiwork. That was really a good stress reliever. At this rate, Ryuusei wouldn't mind being a villain if he got to hit Aleksander.
Packing up and leaving school grounds, Ryuusei took a leisurely stroll towards
"Errrr, Q499-YKO8-102G-BM77-3209-2PDZ."
「Tssssssss...」
A soft hissing sound came out of the door as it opened a small panel with a touchscreen interface. Ryuusei placed his right hand onto the screen and just waited for the scanning process to complete.
「Ding!」
A soft beep indicating the scan's completion sounded off. Now for the next step, Ryuusei reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone. He then held his phone onto the panel.
「Ding!」
"What is the super secret password?"
A metallic voice rang out from the panel.
Ryuusei could only sigh dejectedly as the words came out of his mouth.
"Open sesame..."
He was reconsidering his life choices. Who wouldn't be if they were forced to say those words to a door in an alleyway?
「Clack!」
A clicking sound could be heard as the door unlocked and swung open. Ryuusei just trudged into Cross Headquarters, head hung in shame. Thankfully, the alleyway was deserted, or he would probably die of embarrassment. Ryuusei knew, though, that there was only one person to blame, and that was Hasagiri Misaka, the Chief of
"It's so outlandish! No one would ever think that's the final layer of security!"
Those were the exact words of the Chief of an organisation dealing with the region's Core-related security matters, by the way.
「Click!」
The door had automatically closed and locked itself after Ryuusei walked through it.
First stop, the Department of Organisational Matters. It used to be called the Database Department, or the DD for short, but when Ryuusei was 9 years old and Misaka first was promoted to Chief, she renamed it. When she changed it, she claimed it was for 'splitting the Database Department into specialised sections', but everyone in
Sometimes, Ryuusei wondered about the state of the world, where idiots like Aleksander were Rank S and immature people like Misaka were in charge of protecting the region. Some kind of world-ending cataclysm was definitely on its way, and its harbinger went by the name of Hasagiri Misaka.
To snap Ryuusei out of his musings, a moderately raspy voice called out to him.
"Ah, hey Ryuusei-san, what brings you here today?"
"Oh, hi there, Haruto-kun right?"
Ryuusei could vaguely remember giving a tour around the base to him just a few days prior. Ryuusei was normally tasked with showing the newbies who were close to his age the general facilities in the headquarters. It definitely made for a more relaxed mood as compared to an older superior showing them around.
"Right! Kotomi Haruto is the name, Ryuusei-san!"
Haruto stood at half a head shorter than Ryuusei and had short, reddish-brown coloured hair that was styled in a 'neat but not too neat' fashion, being parted mostly to his left. The red-haired boy also sported a pair of silver-grey half-rimmed glasses that fit his look perfectly, which was probably a telltale sign of one of two different things:
First, Haruto was a very fashion-conscientious guy.
Or second, Haruto has a very fashion-conscientious girlfriend.
Ryuusei was more inclined to believe the latter of the two, though, Haruto didn't seem to be very assertive of a person on his own.
"So this was where you were posted to..."
"Yup! Now I'm in charge of the paperwork for... this department!"
Even the newbies hesitated to call the department by its acronym. Not surprising, though, anyone with any sense of pride and shame would hesitate to say such a ridiculous name.
"Alright Haruto-kun, I'll need access to the files on Kirisaki, the target from my mission yesterday."
"Sure! What kind of files do you need?"
"I need the detailed files on his abilities and if possible, his known activities, please."
"Sure thing, give me a bit of time, I'll find what you need!"
Eager to be of use, Haruto started to type away on his keyboard, probably searching for files to do with what Ryuusei had requested for. After a few minutes, he seemed satisfied with his findings and proceeded to hand a mini electronic tablet PC to Ryuusei.
"I've downloaded the info onto this tablet, as per procedure, just fill up the form on the first page and sign at the bottom, please.
Ryuusei groaned at the hassle of it all, but understood that
Before he knew it, Ryuusei was done with the form and signed off at the bottom. He silently thanked his many years of form-filling experience in
Walking over to a chair, Ryuusei swiped across the screen and browsed the information that was temporarily stored on the tablet.
Kirisaki Aogami. Rank A Holder. His known abilities consisted of a Core that enabled high precision wind manipulation. Past jobs accredited to him included assassination of high-profile targets and stealing classified documents pertaining to
Coincidentally, these classified documents probably were how Kirisaki kept eluding capture for many years.
He seemed to prefer utilising his wind manipulation abilities to create invisible air blades, as well as manipulation of the air around him to allow for levitation, bordering on flight. Kirisaki and his Core didn't seem to have any abilities that explained the unnatural aura that coated him the previous night. Moreover, he didn't seem inclined to use his wind manipulation during his fight with Ryuusei, either.
Unless… the aura was another form of his manipulation of the air surrounding his body. If Kirisaki managed to wrap himself in violent winds, it could have acted as a layer of outer armor, providing a preliminary level of defense.
He was going to have a discussion with Misaka about this anyway, so he'd just bring it up then. Perhaps the scientists and researchers had some theories after getting Kirisaki in custody.
With that accomplished, Ryuusei had reached the end of the documents in the tablet. Walking back to Haruto, Ryuusei graciously returned the tablet.
"Thanks Haruto-kun, that's just what I needed."
"Ahhhhh, Ryuusei-san, I see you're done, I hope the data was useful! I'd love to talk more, but I've got a backlog of work to clear up… would you be free for a meal on another day?"
"Sure thing, just let me know whenever. Good luck with… all that."
Ryuusei gave a side-glance to a large stack of papers on Haruto's desk that seemed too thick to humanly process.
Haruto could only nod in appreciation and sighed deeply as he went through the mind-numbing process of scanning and organising the heavy stack of forms. With the clacking of Haruto's computer keyboard in the background, Ryuusei left the poor newbie to his own devices and made his way to the designated meeting room for his discussion with Misaka.
「Paaahhh!! Paaahhh!! Paaahhh!! Paaahhh!! Paaahhh!!」
The sounds of gunshots reverberated in Ryuusei's ears as he walked past the training arena. At this point, Ryuusei was quite tempted to train with his yet-to-be-named pistol. The pistol really saved his hide in that skirmish against Kirisaki. If he hadn't had those few bullets, Ryuusei might have run out of mana during the fight and ended up defenseless. He didn't ever want to be caught flat-footed again, he had to stay alive to take care of Akiko.
Resolving to train with his pistol after the meeting with Misaka, the black-haired Holder continued on his navigation through the maze-like layout of
"Hehe, got you, Ryuusei~"
The childlike provocation came from the mouth of a lady. Her bright crimson hair was held up in a low bun and her long bangs perfectly framed her face, clearly highlighting the mischievous glint in her blue eyes. She stood at half a head shorter than Ryuusei and wore a work shirt and long pants, with a lab coat that reached her knees. This was Hasagiri Misaka, current Chief of
Ryuusei could only sigh at her antics.
"Ahhh Ryuusei, a young boy like you shouldn't sigh, all your happiness will slip away~"
"Whose fault do you think it is, though...?"
"Ahem, ahem! Anyway, let's get the meeting started, shall we?"
The ever-irresponsible lady casually brushed it off and opened the door to the meeting room, which was just a few metres ahead of the duo. As both parties took a seat across each other, Misaka placed a folder onto the table. Clearing her throat gently, the Chief of
"Firstly, regarding Kirisaki... he seems to be comatose. The doctors have no idea if he'll regain consciousness, but he's on life support in containment right now."