At the office, late at night.
After a successful infiltration and data extraction, we returned back to the 177th branch and gave the info to Uiharu and Konori-senpai.
We gave them a general rundown of what we uncovered and their reactions were just as expected: horror and disgust.
"That's horrible! Doing something like that-" "Isn't uncommon." Konori-senpai cut off Uiharu's exclamation.
"Senpai?..." Uiharu said in disbelief. Kuroko eyes only widened slightly but she said nothing as she waited what else is about to be said.
Konori-senpai took a deep breath as she sat down on her chair. Even Nebi --The unofficial mascot cat of 177th branch-- sensed the mood and stayed quiet.
"Something like that- Quirk stimulants or enhancers or whatever, plenty of corporations do the same thing." She said, Sighing. "I'm sure Shuzenji-san probably heard about them at some point. Since you currently apprentice under the 'Heaven Cancellor' maybe you even came across some files on it..."
Uiharu was shocked at the revelation and Kuroko only glanced at me, their thoughts probably running wild but I stayed silent on the matter while my eyes didn't avert their gaze from her.
Konori-senpai continued to slowly tell her story. "When I was a kid, my quirk didn't manifest even after turning 8 years old. They were worried that I'd be quirkless so we visited hospitals one after another... When they were getting desperate, one of the doctors recommended this experimental drug and only asked for the data in return."
"And it worked..." Muttered Uiharu.
"Yes... Or it could've been a coincidence and my quirk awakened at the same time. Maybe the stress from the heavy expectations my parents had on me was part of the reason... In any case, I was just lucky..." She trailed off. "I used to have a friend in the same situation. She was optimistic and gentle, she was always there with a smile and cheer everyone up. My parents also suggested to her parents the exact same thing that was used on me... Sadly, It didn't work." Konori-senpai's expression fell as I sensed a deep melancholy coming from her.
"Did she...?" Uiharu pressed on, unable to contain her curiosity and still trying to remain tactful.
"Most likely." She nods. "I never saw her again after her visit to the hospital. Her parents just said that it failed and refused to elaborate further."
"...What do we do with the data?" Uiharu asked after a brief period of silence.
"Nothing, probably." I said dismissively.
"Are you really suggesting we just turn a blind eye to this?!" Kuroko huffed.
I calmly replied to her. "Send the data to the press, announce it to the public, destroy the company... Even if we did do something along those lines, whoever's behind this whole thing is just gonna hole up somewhere deeper and continue like usual. Same thing for copycats."
"Don't be so pessimistic, Shuzenji-san." Uiharu turned to me. "Even if that's the case, we still have to try. Isn't that right, Konori-senpai?"
"That's right." Konori-senpai said, determination practically seeping from her being. "If no one is brave enough to take the first step, then who will?"
"Fail as we might, we should still strive to do the right thing." Said Kuroko.
Uiharu, who was too kind for her own good at times, Konori-senpai, who's most likely blaming herself for the fate of her friend and didn't want anyone to go through the same pain, and lastly Kuroko, who has a strong sense of justice.The three of them look back at me, expecting my next answer.
I sat down and drag out a long sigh. "This is vigilantism, you know?... It's illegal, yea?..." I let out a small chuckle. "I thought I retired from that, but I guess it was just a hiatus, huh? Chiyo is gonna kill me for this... count me in."
They smiled at my response.
Perhaps it was all in my head, but I think I felt that we all got closer than night.
~~~~~~~~~~~
After all that happened this night, I felt like going for a walk while staring at the stars. It was already pretty late so losing a bit more sleep isn't that bad for me --Not that I needed much sleep anyway. Rokurokubi and other youkai operate more at night in the first place.-- Although, I did feel sorry for the other three, there's still school tomorrow, or later. It's way past midnight.
As for curfew... We already broke in some company and stole important data, what about measley curfew?
Though what I didn't expect was that I suddenly bumped into something, or someone... When I looked around, there was nothing.
No person, no robot, nothing.
When I checked my pockets just to make sure, I lost some of my money. I was dumfounded.
Not only did was it INSIDE the pockets of my pants, I was also wearing my capelet. The most surprising thing was that I didn't even feel any emotions nearby.
Fortunately, I didn't bring my wallet carrying my ID's, otherwise it would have been troublesome getting them reissued. What was stolen was only a bit of money, I usually have a few bills scattered in different hidden pockets located all over my clothes. A little life advice that Sekibanki taught me when I was younger.
'Wait, that's not the point! Someone stole from me without my knowing! Don't tell me it's the invisible robber everyone was talking about!'
I immediately sent out my heads to scour the nearby perimeter. Even after triple checking with both eyes and senses, the search turned up with nothing.
Someone who can deliberately evade my search like this was a first for me.
It wasn't a space crack or a portal, I clearly felt someone bump into me so they had to have some physical form.
'Problems keep piling up one after another...' I sigh. 'Searching for clues about the quirk stimulants, the invisible thief, miasma catalyst, my apprenticeship session is tomorrow too. Not to mention I still have to study for both school and magic... What else? Right, Reiko-nee said something about a miasma catalyst in Tokiwadai so I need to check that out too...'
Sending out my heads to cover the entire city to deal those problems is not only impractical, but it's also severely energy inefficient. Controlling them is one thing, but what would I do if they suddenly get attacked or explode? --In addition to it being illegal in so many different ways.--
I am aware that Hii-chan's group isn't the only doing the clean-up for the miasma catalyst. The other groups a fine doing their own thing but it isn't as efficient as Hii-chan's group.
'Hm?... If I recall correctly, wasn't the invisible thief only targeting highschool girls?' When I thought of this question, I recalled the words of Reiko-nee during our last conversation. [You look cute enough as is, I'm sure you'll blend in fine.]
'I don't look that much different from Sekibanki, but even then, at most I look androgynous, right? I don't even have a Tokiwadai uniform.' Looking at my reflection at the glass wall of a convenience store, I coincidentally saw someone else inside that caught my eye.
'I suppose that it couldn't be helped... But the very core of my being is screaming at me to run away...' I thought, while my face is as blank as usual, my body was like a deer caught in headlights. 'Even when I was facing AFO back then, I didn't feel this much fear.'
A highschool boy with average appearance. One thing that stood out was his spiky black hair. He's wearing an unbuttoned school uniform with an orange shirt underneath that would make people easily think that's he's a delinquent. Currently, the boy is looking over at the half-off bento while muttering to himself.
'Kamijou Touma...' Without a second thought, I turned tail and ran.
Even if he wasn't hostile against me, I still ran away. The humiliation I felt at that moment was overpowered by my will to live.
'He touches me once with his right hand and I'll die.' That thought kept repeating on my mind. The chances of that genuinely happening was high. After all, he was eventually given the epithet [The One Who Purifies Gods and Slays Demons], a mere youkai like me... A Youkai like me...
I didn't know how far I ran, but thinking about Touma's [Imagine Breaker], I couldn't help but slow down. 'We can't all be winners... Some are just born to stand at the top.' I thought.
'Tonight's been a rollercoaster of mood swings... Pull yourself together. Be stable.' I tried giving myself a pep talk. 'You wanted to change, didn't you?! You're not useless like before... That's right! Kuroko should still be tired from the tonight's event so isn't this the perfect chance to clean up the miasma catalyst at Tokiwadai?'
Starting to get desperate to not letting myself wallow in negative thoughts, I immediately hitched a ride on my heads to district 7.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tokiwadai, It is one of the five most prestigious schools of Academy City and is said to be the most renowned girls' school in the world. It is also mentioned that it had once sparked an international incident for refusing to admit a girl from a royal family because she wasn't good enough. Tokiwadai teaches its students more than the average middle school and gives lectures on a university level, as they want their students to stand on the front lines of their field when they graduate.
It is located in the School Garden, an area inside Academy City's Southern end of District 7, consisting of Tokiwadai and four other girl's schools, with a shopping area dedicated to the rich young girls.
The school is fairly large, other than the main building which probably holds its classrooms and a library, it also holds a track and field area and also a large swimming pool. The school also contains a large showering area.
Tokiwadai has two dormitories, one of them is outside of the School Garden and where Kuroko resides in, and the other one which is in the School Garden.
In addition, this place also has the 003th Judgement branch. Kuroko is also a part of this branch and helps out occasionally as both a student of Tokiwadai and an official member of Judgment.
'Kinda like how I work as both Judgment and a Doctor's apprentice.' I mused. 'Then again, most of Judgment work is just boring paperwork.'
Flying overhead while blending into the darkness, I fly around while expanding my senses to locate any spiritual fluctuations.
'This place practically exudes elegance...' I thought while looking around a the famous school before suddenly getting a feedback from my senses. 'Hm? That way...'
My senses lead me to a building called The Returning Bath Facility. Upon entering, I notice that it is as large as five classrooms, It has advanced shower controls, lockers, tables for glasses and drinks, cabinets for various bathing implements, as well as ornamental plants, and seats for students to sit on.
There are close to 90 showerheads. Each of them is separated by white partition boards and a sliding door. The doors aren't as big as the boards, which only hide the chest down to the thigh of an averaged sized middle school student from Tokiwadai.
My senses are picking up two signals.
One from inside the showers and the other is standing in front of one of the lockers. From the sounds, it seemed to be trying to open it.
Quietly stepping closer, I see that the miasma catalyst's signal was coming from this suspect. From sight alone, I can confer that it is a ghost who coincidentally took it.
The halfway greasy mop-like head of hair, scrawny limbs and an extremely long and sticky-looking tongue, it is an Akaname. A filth-eater Youkai who resides in abandoned buildings --Primarily bathhouses-- and quite literally licks out and eats filth, or it should have been, if it weren't for whomever's ghost was dumb enough to directly eat a miasma catalyst.
I felt my eye twitch in disgust. These creatures are annoying pests, the equivalent of bigger and more grotesque cockroaches on the otherside. Their intelligence is normally at the level of a toddler but now I had to deal with one that's actually smarter because some dunce was greedy for a miniscule power boost.
'I had one too many mood swings today.' I sigh. 'Lets just get this over with.'