----9th October 1:55p.m.----
After two broken tables and an explosion, ITEM was separated with only Mugino left with Kakine Teitoku.
The hotel room they were in was already blasted with the bottom of the floor left open.
"Now you're all alone. Really, you spout all this nonsense about keeping peace in the Dark Side of Academy City, yet you're really weak in person." Kakine taunted her with his hands in his pockets.
He was hiding nothing from her, it was just that he was that confident about winning the fight against her without batting an eye.
"Rrrrrgghh...you fucking bastard, what the fuck do you want?!"
"I'm not having the best day right now. I've lost two of my members already, I think after killing you, I'll take your Level 4's. They're pretty good replacements, compared to you."
Three green lasers were blasted his way, but he simply shielded himself.
"Look at that firepower. I wonder how you're even a Level 5 with that pathetic power of yours."
"Tch, you haven't even faced the #1 and you're already talking this much shit? You're even more unbelievable than me." Mugino grinned as she fired another 3 more lasers his way but he simply blocked it with his wings again.
"Enough of this. I'm going to kill you now." Kakine said as he lowered his wings.
A streak of white light shot out towards her and a loud explosion followed by dust was all that was left at the spot where she was standing. A wall had been formed behind the spot.
"Hm..."
Kakine walked over to the open wall and he looked down the 48th story.
"I doubt she'll survive the fall."
There was no body to be seen at the bottom, but he didn't want to waste any time searching for her. He was there for only one thing.
"Time to hunt for the Level 4."
He jumped down the big hole in the hotel room still with swagger. He entered a lobby where Kinuhata was dealing with the subordinates that was working for SCHOOL.
"Ah, how nice of you to wait for me."
Kinuhata turned around as she saw Kakine smiling at her.
"Where's Mugino?"
"Dunno. Could be dead, could be alive."
"..." Beads of sweat dripped down from her forehead as she thought of a way to escape this situation.
"You're a remnant from the Dark May Project, aren't you? That was where they input the Accelerator's brain patterns inside you, wasn't it? What a pain, you got an automatic defense power. Although, it seems you were originally an atmosphere control type. It's just like with Accelerator's reflection, but your limit is automatically opening a defensive field around you with your power. Have you ever thought about how pathetic that is?"
"Not really," quickly responded Kinuhata. "I'm super happy compared to test subjects from Produce. They had their brains chopped up like a Christmas cake in order to figure out where in their brains their Personal Realities lay."
"I see. Anyway, where is the AIM Stalker?" Kakine asked as his white wings slowly sprouted even longer.
"Do you really think I'll just tell you?"
"Geez, this group of yours really are stubborn aren't they? Should I beat it out of you like I did with the Level 0?"
"Hamazura..."
"Was that his name? Haha, I'm sorry I wasn't really interested in some lowly Level 0. But I'll just let you know, your power isn't enough to defeat me." Kakine continued to mock her as he stood there with his hands in his pockets.
She took a nearby bench as she threw at him, but an explosion appeared with Kakine in its center.
The bench was blown away and Kinuhata was blown away with it as well.
Her small body flew through the air ten meters before landing. She broke through the thin wall and into some room.
Kakine walked through the rubble as he stooped over her. Kinuhata weakly got up as she grit her teeth.
"See? I told you. Just tell me where the AIM Stalker is and I'll let you off easy."
She stubbornly picked up some stones from the rubble as she launched it at him like shotgun pellets. But he covered himself with his white wings again.
"How many times do I have to tell you that it's pointless."
However, the moment he placed his wings down, Kinuhata quickly bolted down through the empty hallway.
"Tch, I'm really not a fan of hide and seek."
A single streak of white light flew towards her as it pierced her through her gut.
"Kah...!!" Blood left her mouth as she stopped in place. She grit her teeth as she slowly turned her head towards him.
"If I wanted to, I could melt your intestines right now. But I just want to know where the AIM Stalker is."
"..." Kinuhata didn't even have the strength to fend him off anymore. He slowly retracted his wing back and once it was out of her body, she limply fell to the ground.
"Tch, she's passed out."
-------------------
Accelerator was outside A Certain Hospital, he had just came off his bike with Musujime around his shoulder as they approached the hospital.
As soon as they reached the glass doors of the hospital, the automatic sliding doors opened up for them. But as soon as it opened up, Accelerator was greeted by someone who he never thought would be waiting for him in a hospital.
The fluffy chestnut-haired girl, Mitsuari Ayu got up from one of the seats in the lobby as she quickly ran towards him with tears in her eyes.
"Ac-Accelerator!" She ran to him hurriedly as she almost tripped while running to them.
"Hm? What are you doing here?"
"?!" Musujime's eyes opened wide as she realized the possible situation they were in.
"Y-Yomikawa-san! Sh-She was murdered!" She pulled out her cellphone as she showed him a picture of Kakine Teitoku standing in front of Yomikawa with one of his white wings pierced through her gut. "I-I...I couldn't do anything...I'm so sorry...!! I was too powerless to do anything against him."
Accelerator took her phone from her hand as she leaned into his shirt to wipe away her tears.
"Where..." Accelerator muttered under his breath as his grip around Musujime loosened up.
"Where the fuck was this?" Accelerator couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew something like this would happen, but he never expected it to be him who would do it.
"It was outside...the Virus Isolation Centre..." Snot and tears left her face as she replied him. "I tried to contact you, but I couldn't reach you..."
Accelerator grit his teeth even harder when she said the next thing.
"The house was also destroyed!" She took away her phone as she showed him a different photo, this time it was a picture of massive white wings piercing through the building. "I-I don't know why he's doing this to us! I was outside doing some shopping, but I don't know where Oriana-san is."
"Accelerator...calm down! We don't even know if it's real! Don't you think you should check with Anti-Skill or something?!" Musujime tried to reason with him, but it was pointless. His ears were blocked as his grip around Musujime loosened.
He dropped Musujime to the floor as he pressed the button around his choker. All reason left his mind. Only rage filled his head.
Mitsuari pulled herself away from his shirt as she wiped the remaining tears from her face.
"I heard there have been some disturbances in District 3. Please go there and avenge her, Accelerator."
After a 'beep' he was gone in an instant.
Instead of going back into the hospital for refuge, Mitsuari walked away from Musujime as she pressed a few buttons on her phone before placing it beside her ear.
"Initiate Phase 2." A wide grin formed on her face as she looked up at the sky.
"Y-You...what the fuck are you planning to do?!"
With all her strength, Musujime pushed herself off the floor as she charged towards Mitsuari Ayu with her back turned but she did not expect someone to cut in from the side.
A loud thud was heard as she flew to the side.
"Hm? Oh right, I forgot you were with him. Are you jealous that I stole your precious weapon, hm?"
The person who had punched her stood beside Mitsuari Ayu as if she was her bodyguard.
It was a high school girl who wore a uniform vest without a shirt below and a long skirt with a bold slit up the side, so the overall silhouette resembled a red china dress. Her long black hair was done up in two buns and a braid. She had a metal mask covering the lower part of her face.
"(Th-That punch...What the fuck was that amount of force?)" Musujime glared at the tall high school girl standing beside Mitsuari.
That punch was even harder than what Teshio threw at her.
It was abnormal to say the least.
If she had hit her with one more of that strike, she was sure her head would twist backwards.
"Oh? Did it hurt?" Mitsuari teased as she winked at her.
"Damn you...!"
"Well, let's get going shall we?"
"..." The tall high school girl didn't reply as she turned around with Mitsuari.
Musujime used that opportunity to teleport one of the stone tiles on top of them, but was shocked when they appeared above her instead.
"?!" It was meant to surround the two girls, but it instead surrounded her. "No...way."
She was sure that her calculations were correct, there was no AIM Jammer nor was there anything that was interfering with her calculations. Yet, her attack was used on herself.
The collapsing stone tiles buried her as the two of them continued walking off without a care in the world.
-----------------------
Kakine was still in the hotel room at the 48th story as he stood over Kinuhata, Frenda and Takitsubo. The girl in the pink dress was also right beside him.
The entirety of SCHOOL's organization had the whole place surrounded so Frenda and Takitsubo had no way of escaping as neither of them had a driver's license. While Kinuhata was still lying on the floor, recovering from her stab wound. She was barely conscious and her eyes were still open to some extent.
Kakine looked outside the hole that he had made with Mugino as he admired the daylight of Academy City.
Frenda and Takitsubo were both tied up and forced to kneel on the ground.
"AIM Stalker. The ability to track anyone with an AIM field. But that's not true, is it?" Kakine asked as he faced them. "That's only on paper, but really your true power lies in the manipulation of AIM field instead."
"So what about it?" Takitsubo asked with a gloomy look on her face.
"You see, thanks to your little 'leader', I've lost 2 of my teammates. I was hoping you'd be interested in joining SCHOOL instead. Your power is...unique and dangerous as well."
"That's true, so why are you capturing us if you know how dangerous I am?"
"Ha! If you had that type of power, you wouldn't have ran immediately, am I not wrong? You need time to prepare it but if the girls had bought you that amount of time, you would have won against me, no?"
Afterwards, Kaibi crouched down beside Takitsubo as she asked her a simple question. "What is the trigger to your power?"
"..." Takitsubo didn't want to say anything about her secret. But Kaibi still forced her.
"Come on, I've set our distance to 0. So we're about more than lovers already, we're BFF's aren't we? You'll share it with me, won't you?"
Takitsubo's lips twirled as she tried to stay silent however, before it could progress any further, Frenda headbutted Kaibi.
"Leave her alone!"
The next moment, Kakine stepped in and pressed his foot to Frenda's face and slammed it down on the carpet floor.
"Stay down, you level 0 vermin!"
Kakine continuously pressed his foot down onto her face as she tried to push her head up but to no avail.
"It's Body Crystals. I use Body Crystals in order to activate that part of my power." Takitsubo said without a single pause as she glared at the Dark Matter.
"Ugh, Body Crystals?" Kakine replied in disgust as he took his foot off of Frenda's head. "So, how much have you taken already?"
"In every operation before ITEM initiates, I'll use Body Crystals to track down the location of our target."
"Huh, so you're basically useless now." Kakine took a step back as he reevaluated his actions. "sigh So be it. Oi it's your turn now." Kakine ignorantly said as he turned towards Kaibi.
But before Kaibi could question her, Takitsubo readily stood up as she smiled in the face of the 2nd ranked Level 5.
"What are you smiling for? Feeling confident now? Or are you interested in joining SCHOOL? Sorry but that offer is long gone."
"I'm not smiling about any of that." Takitsubo calmly replied. "I'm smiling for your downfall."
"?!"
In that instant, Kakine felt his head tilting sideways. And it wasn't from the confusion.
He was forcefully pushed.
A hand had gripped onto his face and he was sent flying out the building literally.
His head was then lifted upwards and thrown down the 48th story with immense speed and force that he almost looked like a meteor.
"Couldn't keep your dick in your pants, could you?"
The person who asked that was none other than the 1st ranked Level 5, Accelerator.
Before Kakine could crash into the concrete floor, his white wings sprouted out around him and he flew back up to the level of Accelerator.
"What the fuck do you mean by that?"
"So that's all it was to you huh? Taking her life meant nothing to you?!" Accelerator charged forward and Kakine did the same. The room for negotiations were over, and their clash caused a massive shockwave which shook the entire ground below them as well as the buildings near them.
The first attack caused Kakine to fall backwards into a building. Accelerator flew towards him as Kakine came out wrapped in his white cocoon.
Accelerator charged at him while manipulating the vectors of his legs' power but Kakine simply flew aside as he launched a dozen white knives at him. Accelerator grabbed hold of the air vectors around him as he swung his arm towards the white knives. The air hit 120km/h as it clashed with the white knives and caused another intense explosion.
When Kakine was distracted by the blast, Accelerator had already moved behind him. Ready to lay his hands on him.
"!!"
Kakine moved forward while turning his back as he used one of his wings to block Accelerator's right hand and when he pierced it, Kakine merely broke it into countless feathers to prevent Accelerator from touching him.
"Do you know that my Dark Matter is a whole new existence of its own? Not saying that it hasn't been found yet or that it should theoretically exist. I'm saying that it really doesn't exist."
Kakine launched two of his white wings at Accelerator but he simply dodged it.
"'Kay, I'll just bury you with the rest of the trash."
Kakine continued flying upwards, but Accelerator sped up even more to the point his hand was just inches away from touching Kakine's heart.
But a single wing was all it took to stop him.
An intense bright light flashed over his eyes which stopped his advance.
"You don't get it, do you?"
"?!"
Accelerator felt a pain like he was being roasted so he reflexively moved away from Kakine. It was not his first time being affected by an outside force, so this was no surprise to him.
"That was diffraction. When light waves and electrons pass through a slit, the waves scatter in different directions. It's in high school textbooks. If you make more than one slit, you can make the waves interfere with one another."
"Have you flunked physics or what? Sure go ahead and use diffraction, but you can't kill me with it."
"Not if I obey by this universe's physics."
Kakine flapped his six wings to create a gale as it launched itself towards Accelerator.
Accelerator knew what he was gunning for, so he pushed out his left hand. The gale scattered into the surrounding winds as Kakine had a shocked look over his face.
"...That wasn't your reflection, was it?"
"Nope, this is a power that you have no knowledge of. Your so-called physics, doesn't apply to mine either." Accelerator said with a grin which annoyed Kakine even more. "You think you're much better than me just because you've figured me out? Trust me, you haven't even scratched the surface."
Kakine grit his teeth as he launched himself towards Accelerator.
His wings extended to over 20 meters long as they swung themselves at Accelerator and Accelerator took it head on.
He clenched his right fist as he pushed his left hand outwards. One of the wings that was aiming for his head disappeared from the left.
"OOOOOOHHHH!!!"
Accelerator threw a cross at Kakine's face but he barely avoided it by tilting his head back. Accelerator's fist just barely scratched his nose before he was hit by Kakine's wings.
"Alright, I've reverse-engineered it."
Accelerator flew into one of the nearby buildings as Kakine unleashed his six wings from his back.
Accelerator was quick on his feet as he staggered backwards and out of the other side of the building with a crash. They flew through the traffic at immense speeds that shook the walkway all while trying to hit each other with their own attacks.
Accelerator grabbed the wind as he dashed and shot it backwards while Kakine used his two of his wings to fly, two to chase him, while the other two were shooting out white knives.
"You don't understand how much I've been through just to get the talking rights to Aleister. I've been fucking played but it seems like my plan should have been to kill you all this time when I had the chance!!"
"Cool, I don't care. So you killed her just to find me? Learn to keep other innocent people out of our damn business."
Accelerator stopped as he twisted his entire body around to spit at one of the white knives approaching him.
His saliva reached a max speed of 100km/h as it clashed with one of the white knives and caused an explosion in the center.
"What does she even mean to you? She was just one of the people at Anti-Skill, her life is replaceable."
Kakine charged through the explosion but was cut off by Accelerator once more with his hand close to his head.
"?!" This time he was more or less prepared for it as he slowed down and turned his body sideways to face him. His six wings all directed towards one point at Accelerator's hand.
The continuous sound of glass shattering was heard but his wings still remained in place.
"You took one thing away from me today. That's why I'll pay you back twice the amount in pain!!"
Accelerator grabbed the air with his right palm and swung it towards the wings. An explosion gathered at the middle of the wings as the walkways were blown away followed by a few cars.
The two of them crashed down onto the now empty four-way intersection.
Accelerator slowly got up as he coughed out blood. His left hand which had been in the center was twisted and badly injured that he could see into his bones.
"You probably already realized it, but Aleister has multiple plans set in place and whenever it goes wrong, he'll go for an alternate plan just to set him back onto the original path."
Kakine slowly walked through the dust that had accumulated from the blast.
Everyone around them either had their phones out to record what was happening like a school fight, some had their eyes closed as they watched how bloody the fight got, or some were watching in anticipation to see what would happen next.
Soon, videos and photos of them were going viral around the internet, everyone knew what was happening at one of the districts in Academy City.
"That's why I'll destroy it all! His plans, everything! I'll worm my way into the middle and grab him by the palm of my hands. It's not like I want to destroy Academy City, but I can use it."
Kakine didn't come out of that explosion unscathed as well however, as he had blood stains all over his shirt and his face was roughed up.
Accelerator had an idea of what Kakine wanted, but he couldn't care less as once you've dug your toes into the Dark Side of Academy City, you're bound to find yourself in some tragedies. He probably experienced one which is why he's going to these lengths to settle the score with Aleister.
"Pathetic." Accelerator said as he spat out the last remaining blood left in his mouth. "You're just using that as a reason to get away with whatever wretched shit you did. In the end, it's still shit coming from a filthy mouth."
"You're only saying that because you don't even know how valuable your position is."
"That's all you can say to cover up how much of a cheap knockoff villain you are. You can use tragedies in a bunch of ways, you can carry it with you, tell others about it, or you can use it to define who you are. But just because it happened to you, doesn't give you the rights to go for innocent everyday people living their lives. The moment you think it's okay to kill innocent people, you've cheapened yourself as a villain."
"Right, that's rich coming from you. Look around at the chaos we made, look at the damage we did. How many 'innocent' people do you think we've killed while battling?"
Accelerator lowered his head.
"Heh..."
A grin formed on his face as it teared open into a monstrous laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!! Sorry, but your ignorance is really something. You really are third-rate."
"?" Kakine raised his eyebrow as he looked around them. Although it was true that they destroyed a few buildings left and right, high-rise building windows had been shattered, broken traffic lights strewn about on the road, and roadside trees had been strewn around so rough that they were stuck inside concrete walls.
But something was missing.
The tragedy.
Despite glass fragments falling down like rain, no one was injured. Signboards fell at the perfect place for those late to escape and those in their cars were safe as it wasn't badly damaged. No one was hurt miraculously and he was sure that if he went back, there would have been even more people protected by invisible hands.
"(You...You must be kidding me...)" Kakine's throat dried up as his mouth opened up in shock.
"See the difference? This is what true villainy is. This is what separates us from #1 and #2. Now then..."
Accelerator cracked his neck as he looked at the #2.
"...Shall we end this?"
"Don't get so full of yourself!!! Acceleratooooorrr!!!"
His six wings stretched out of his back as they readied themselves to be aimed at six of his vital points. Their lengths changed as so did their properties.
Accelerator just laughed.
"Come on."
"Don't get complacent. I've already analyzed your reflection's filter and your left hand doesn't seem to be functional anymore. That fraud of a defensive power won't work on these."
"Yeah, maybe this Dark Matter you control doesn't exist in this universe," said Accelerator, beckoning with his index finger.
"Textbook laws don't apply, and light waves and EM waves that touch those elementary particles go off in vectors they're not supposed to. So yeah, I guess trying to use this universe's vector calculations for it ends up putting holes in my armor."
Accelerator stood there without even readying himself in a defensive position. He was probably even more vulnerable than the crowd around them.
"I'll just have to redo my calculations to include them. I'll redefine the universe so that it's constructed of particles including your Dark Matter and once I've unveiled your 'new world', it's checkmate."
"You think you can use your vector control on my Dark Matter?"
"You think I can't?"
"Grrr you think you've got me allll figured out, don't you?"
"Wouldn't be much of an issue."
The six wings shot towards Accelerator and an explosion ripped through the sky.
"Sorry, but I don't need to know everything about you anyway."
They crossed for an instant.
And thus, the match between the #1 and #2 was settled.
----------------------
Hamazura slowly made his way out of the warehouse as he hung on to his shoulder.
"Fuck...I hope the girls are alright...I need to get to them quick."
But before he could take another step, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching in his general direction.
He squinted his eyes to try and see who it was, but he couldn't see anything or anyone.
He initially thought it was a cat or dog that was passing by, but the next thing he knew, his whole body was tilting sideways.
"Huh?"
A sharp pain could be felt at his knee area as his upper body fell flat on the rocky surface.
His body was facing what seemed to be his lower limbs as he saw the bones in his legs.
Then came the infamous line.
"Haaaamaaaazuuuraaaa~~" Instead of the normally vicious tone, she said his name in a very lighthearted tone, like a girl calling out to her lover.
He could feel his spine tingle as he heard that while in pain. However, he could not feel any pain as the adrenaline was rushing to him.
"Mu-Mugino wait!!"
"For what? For you to betray me again?"
"No, I didn't betray you. They forced me to talk!"
As her footsteps got closer, his heart started to beat even faster. It got to the point where he instinctively started to crawl away even if he didn't know where he was going.
He dug his nails into the concrete floor even if his nails were bleeding, he just didn't want to get caught by her.
Because he knew if he did, he would be put to a fate worse than death.
"Heh heh...don't run, Hamazura. I just want to taaaaalllk..."
"I can't trust you when you have that smug on your face!!"
"Come onnnn...let's just have a chat, shall we?"
By that time, he could hear her voice just behind him but he didn't dare turn back.
A piercing sizzling sound was what stopped him from moving once and for all.
The Meltdowner burnt shot down onto his hands and that was when he knew it was over for him.
"I said..." He felt a heavy pressure on his back and although he could breathe, he felt breathless. "Don't run!"
Although she was particular about her own fashion like a princess, she was in reality a brute.
She started to stomp on his back as hard as she could and every thud resounded in the area they were in.
Stomp after stomp sent Hamazura groaning, his vision was fading in and out with every stomp. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't find the will to.
It was like being stepped on by an elephant, that was how much pain he was feeling.
He was limbless now.
His hands were gone and so were his legs.
She flipped him over like a ragdoll and there he saw the demon in disguise, her face twisted like a maniac, her face more sinister than the devil.
"Pl-Please Mugino...we...we were set up..." Hamazura continued begging for his life but his words fell on deaf ears.
"Yeah, set up by you pathetic Level 0! Worthless sack of shit." She spat on his face as she twisted her foot around. "I should have never hired you as a lackey. Was it all about the money huh? Was it the wealth and fame they promised you?!"
She stomped once more.
"If you thought you could play ITEM like that, you are dead wrong. Literally."
Then again.
"To think a Level 0 like you could ruin our plans just like that. After I'm done with you, I'm going after the #5. I'll kill that fucking bitch!"
"No...Mugino...it wath all a thet up...by thomeone elth..."
Even under her foot, he tried to talk to her.
"I'm done listening to your bullshit. Maybe I'll shut you up for real this time, hang you up like a fucking trophy."
Her grin grew even wider as she crouched in front of him. She lifted up her foot as she grabbed his lower jaw and slowly pulled it down.
He couldn't scream.
He couldn't do anything.
He didn't even have the strength to fight back anymore.
His willpower, stripped away from him, his strength gone with it.
The slow tearing of muscles as the tissue surrounding his jaw ripped itself away.
The cracking of bones from his lower jaw.
He could feel his nerves being weakened with every pull.
Finally, she tightened her grip and pulled.
His consciousness faded in and out again.
This time he could really feel the damage she had done to him, but he couldn't say anything or make a single sound anymore.
The only thing he could muster up was...
"...uck...ou..."
And she slowly tore him away.
-----------------------
Accelerator shook his broken left hand for a bit as he clicked his tongue.
He was the victor of the battle.
Kakine was lying on his face in the middle of the intersection, the vectors of the white wings he had created had been predicted, their control wrested from him, and then his body skewered. Red blood spread out in the middle of the intersection.
But he wasn't dead yet.
Accelerator reached out for his gun in his back pocket as he slowly walked towards the unconscious Kakine.
He had killed one of the many people he had to protect. He had taken something precious from him.
It was only fair he get to pay him back for what he did. It was a life-for-life trade.
And even if the onlookers would film him killing Kakine, he didn't mind. So long as he felt Yomikawa was at peace then he would rest too.
"You brought this upon yourself. I hope you suffer in hell." Accelerator pointed his pistol at the unconscious Kakine and he lifted up the hammer.
His index finger rested on the trigger as he adjusted his aim at Kakine's head.
When he was just about to put the nail in the coffin, he heard a voice.
"Accelerator, stop!"
A loud, out-of-sight voice interrupted him. He looked over as a familiar face jumped out from the wall of curious onlookers.
He couldn't believe who it was.
He had to rub his eyes with his broken wrist to double check whether it was really her.
She wore a load bearing vest over her blue uniform. She was a school teacher and a member of the peacekeeping organization Anti-Skill.
Yomikawa Aiho.
She ran straight over to him.
"I don't know where you've been this whole time. I don't even know what any of this is. But I know one thing, give me that gun. You don't need it!"
All of the onlookers probably thought she was an overzealous Anti-Skill member as she approached the esper who had caused mass destruction all across the district unarmed.
They probably thought about that because she didn't even pull out her firearm, she didn't even pull out a baton and she wasn't even holding a shield.
She was just running over to him with her bare hands.
But she knew what she was doing.
"What happened to you?" Accelerator asked with the pistol still pointed at Kakine.
"What do you mean? I was on duty because of the mess that is happening all around Academy City."
"How did you find me?"
"I happened to be passing by this area and saw the mess that was going on, and our house...it was blown up. I immediately knew someone was coming for you that's why I had to run to every danger just to find you."
"That's stupid."
"No, it's not. I'm glad I found you but not in this state. Now, give me the gun, Accelerator. You don't need it." Yomikawa said as she stretched her hand out to him.
"..." Accelerator remained silent as she listened to her for a while.
He was relieved that nothing happened to her, but at the same time he couldn't just let the piece of shit in front of him live knowing that he might come for him again.
"Don't interfere with my affairs. Letting this trash live is basically a death warrant to everyone. He's gone psycho."
"And that's none of your business. Anti-Skill will take it from here."
"He's too dangerous to be kept captive by you guys. He's just going to break out and kill more innocent people."
"That won't happen, I promise." Although Yomikawa couldn't keep that promise, she still had to find a way to convince no matter how many lies she has to tell. As long as it protected him, nothing else mattered.
She took a step forward.
His finger was already itching to pull the trigger.
Then she took another one.
And that was when he turned the pistol to her. He wasn't a good guy to say the least, but he knew where to draw the line for good and evil.
"Accelerator, if you truly want to walk down the path you're going, then do it." Yomikawa stretched her arms out this time. "It doesn't matter whether you're good or evil, I'll be there to stop you. But if you're truly adamant on doing this, then shoot me."
"..."
"Because deep down, I know you're a good person. You've saved a lot of people, whether you know it or not. Oriana-san, Mitsuari-chan and Last Order. You've even taken responsibility for Misaka-chan."
"..."
Accelerator continued staying silent.
Because that was all he could really do at that moment.
He knew he could never redeem himself for what he did. He was lonely and lost at his lowest point but now he had everything he wanted. A family, friends, and even comrades. Things he never had a few months ago.
Before he knew it, the person who reached her hand out to him was right in front of him again. The person he wanted to protect was protecting him now.
"You haven't rotted that much."
Yomikawa slowly pried his fingers off the gun, took out the magazine and placed the gun to safe. Accelerator watched in daze as she finished the job.
"There, all better now--"
Suddenly, a sharp piercing sound was heard. The sound of blood splattering could be heard as Yomikawa's eyes opened with shock. The side of her gut had been pierced by none other than Dark Matter's wings.
"Accelerator...don't...!!" Before she could even finish her sentence, the white wing swung itself forward knocking Accelerator back. With it, came the splattering of Yomikawa's guts.
Accelerator didn't take his eyes off her for a single second even when he was hit by that single white blade.
"...Guess she won't be able to stop you now, eh?"
Accelerator didn't even glance in his direction. He was just focus on what was in front of him.
Kakine didn't kill her because of the 'mission', he didn't even kill her because he hated her. He just killed her because she was stopping Accelerator from completing the deed.
The deed to become evil. It was simply too humiliating to live on knowing that he lost to Accelerator. At least death was something he didn't have to live with once he's dead.
"You dumbass, it would never be that easy!! When you're in the Dark Side, everything is fair game! This is our world!! This is where we pieces of shit belong. Isn't that right, Accelerator?!"
Incoherent words. Anger and malice had taken over Kakine's mind as he flew into a blind rage, however his words never reached Accelerator's ears.
"In the end, you're the same as me! You can't protect shit, you'll lose everyone and everything!! Afterwards, a lot more people will die just like her, killed by people like me. You only got this far because you've killed a lot of people, AM I WRONG?!"
Kakine dragged his bloodied body up as his six wings appeared on his back once again.
But he wasn't aiming for Accelerator this time, he was aiming for the woman responsible for the monster in front of him. He wanted the #1 to come out, not some wuss who stayed loyal to ideals influenced by others.
He wanted the monster that everyone was afraid of.
Accelerator's heart was beating irregularly as his pupils dilated and expanded uncontrollably. He was losing sight of everything. His body and fingers trembling.
But he could still identify a grinding noise. Kakine hadn't touched Yomikawa, but he could tell something invisible trampled all over her.
Her body twitched. The dark red on her, under pressure, started to expand rapidly. Even then, she tilted her head slightly with whatever strength left as she moved her lips to tell him something.
Her final words for him.
"WAKE THE FUCK UP, ACCELERATOR. THIS ISN'T SOME FUCKING FAIRYTALE WHERE HAPPY ENDINGS COME AND GO!!"
Finally, when she dropped her head, he knew what the end result was. This was what he feared the most.
Even as the strongest esper, he still had his fears.
And his fear was losing the people he wanted to protect.
"If you want someone to stop moving, just kill them. If you don't like something break it! That's what it means to be evil! Don't just start wanting to be saved!! There's no way an idiot like you would ever be given that!!"
He had only dropped his guard for a moment and this was the result. If he hadn't hesitated for a second, none of this would have happened. If he had just killed Kakine right then and there, Yomikawa would have still been living.
Therefore...
He had no reason to hold back.
He felt his right and left brain splitting and he felt something had stabbed into his skull and wedged itself into his brain and had swallowed whatever was left of Accelerator. He heard a squish like a fruit being crushed. Something like tears flowed from his eyes. But they weren't tears. The fluid was darker, redder, dirtier, more uncomfortable and smelled like iron. Anything spilling from his lachrymal glands was now only hatred.
And with it, brought a loss of control.
"Oooo..."
He stomped his feet as he bent his back slightly, his eyes turned red as he grits his teeth before unleashing a howl that could be heard all around the world.
"OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
His back burst open. From it burst murky black wings. Black wings like jet sprays. The anger had removed his consciousness, crushed his sense of self, and the pair of wings had exploded out of it. They stretched dozens of meters, parted the asphalt, and scraped against building walls.
As though it was natural, he reached his right hand out to his left arm and tore it off.
He wasn't going to hold back.
------------------------------
Back at the Family Side apartment, on the thirteenth floor, Yomikawa and Oriana were discussing about the many different dishes there were in Italy and in Japan.
"Ehh...Italians really have a complex taste bud..." Yomikawa commented as she leaned against the kitchen counter.
"I think it's just your cooking equipment, Yomikawa-san." Oriana replied in a low tone.
"But cleaning the kitchen is a hassle, is it not?!"
"Well they say good food requires a lot of effort and practice, you could try that, Yomikawa-san!" Oriana mocked her with a smile as she rubbed her hands over the rice cooker in the apartment.
"Wait, I was only suppose to show you how to use the equipment, not get a lecture!"
Oriana chuckled as the both of them moved to the table.
The both of them sat around the table with a brief silence before Yomikawa asked her a question.
"By the way, Oriana-san, you're not really an acquaintance of Accelerator, are you?"
Oriana's eyes opened wide when she heard the question, but soon she heaved a sigh as she replied, "Well you've figured me out."
"...Then how did you guys get to know each other?"
"We were enemies, for a brief period of time. But eventually we came to an agreement. I'll help him and he'll help me accomplish my goal."
"Goal?"
"Mmhmm. He promised to save the world and make it a happier place."
Yomikawa stared at her with her mouth opened but eventually she came to accept it.
"Haha...he's really growing up so quickly. I almost feel old now."
"Don't say that, you still look pretty young for someone your age."
Yomikawa felt like her heart had been stabbed with a knife as she imagined herself vomiting over the table.
"S-someone my age...?!"
"Really! You're very pretty without makeup."
"Thanks..."
Then the silence followed for a brief moment yet again before Yomikawa mustered up the courage to ask her for a favor.
"Listen, I'm really happy that Accelerator is starting to make friends, so may I ask you for a favor?"
"? Sure, ask away."
"You know the dangers that Accelerator puts himself through, one day, I know I might be a target because I'm his guardian, but in the event that I'm notaroundanymore, may I trouble you to take care of him for me?"
"..." Oriana didn't respond as she looked at the wooden table in front of her.
"I-It's okay if you're not ready for it! But..."
"It's fine, Yomikawa-san. I'll take care of him. However, don't think that way. The more you think about it, the more it'll happen and even if we're just getting to know each other, I really appreciate your kindness and help for everything you've done for me. The least I can do is pay you back for it."
"Eh? It's no problem! I'm just doing what I feel is right."
Yomikawa grabbed Oriana's hand as they both made eye contact with each other.
"If he ever walks down the wrong path, please bring him back."
------------------------
Something shot out from his right shoulder with a dull thud. The translucent mass was something other than blood. After grasping the concept of up and down, it audibly took shape. It became a great maw lined with ferocious fangs.
It roared just as loudly as Accelerator did.
On his left arm there, was the head of a dragon.