Chapter Text
“Shirai, time to go,” Konori Mii said kindly. “You have put in more than enough hours today at the 177th and you will barely make curfew at Kirigaoka if you do not hurry!”
“But Sempai you will be late too!” Shirai protested.
“High school students have a later curfew, Shirai-chan, you know that,” Konori said kindly. “As your sempai and your Branch Chief I have a duty to take care of you. Now hurry so you do not miss the bus.”
Shirai sighed, shut down her work station, grabbed her briefcase, and got up to leave. “Good night and I will see you tomorrow, Sempai.”
Shirai made her way down the stairs, wishing she could teleport herself but as a Level 3, she was only able to teleport other people and objects. Her instructors kept assuring her that she was very close to becoming a Level 4 and being able to teleport herself.
She kicked a pebble on the sidewalk. “Soon,” she muttered to herself. “Close.”
Shirai stopped for a moment and glared at her reflection in a shop window. “Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons,” she growled to herself.
Climbing on the bus that would take her to Kirigaoka Girl’s Academy Shirai sighed to herself, resigned to another lonely night followed by another day of classes, including her powers training with the High School girl, Masujime Awaki. She and Masujime were different in that Shirai could teleport things she touched and Masujime could teleport things she had not touched.
Neither of them could teleport themselves and the instructors were hoping that by working together they could each learn the other’s skill and both learn self-teleportation. They were both considered Level 3s despite their age difference; Shirai being twelve and Masujime being fifteen.
Shirai also despised Masujime’s superior attitude.
The bus sighed to a halt at the school gates, so Shirai got off, used her pass card to enter the campus, and made her way to her room. As one of only two teleporters in the whole school, Shirai rated her own dorm room, which was nice, she guessed. Apparently all the ‘rare’ talents rated singles.
Entering the room, Shirai carefully hung her jacket on a hanger on her door, tossed her briefcase on her bed, then sat at her desk to login to her computer. Quickly checking her email and schedule and seeing nothing new or important she shut that down. Her mobile and palmtop went into their chargers before she stripped off to go into her shower to wash up for bed.
Having put on her boring cotton nightgown, Shirai crawled into her bed, doused the lights, and asked herself for the thousandth time why she came to Academy City? She was bored, she had no friends, she missed her hometown.
She was so lonely.
The next morning was Shirai’s usual routine: she got up, put on a clean uniform, checked her briefcase had everything she needed for the morning, then went down to the dining hall for breakfast. As always the food was fresh and good, but Shirai had no one she could sit with. She had tried to chat with girls in her classes but just could not seem to connect with any of them. She saw Konori-sempai sitting with some other High School girls in the distance, but Shirai was too shy to try to sit with the Upper-Class students. So she sighed and just sat by herself at a table and began to slowly eat her breakfast.
Then something changed.
“May I sit with you, please?” a shy voice asked.
Shirai glanced up and a small girl with twin-tails similar to her own, except the hair was black, was standing next to her tray in hand.
“Please do,” Shirai responded politely. SHe looked the girl over: she was as petite as Shirai herself was, down to the flat chest and short stature, she had pretty blue-grey eyes, and looked very nervous.
“Thank you for letting me sit with you. I do not really know anyone here, they all seem to have their own friend groups, you were by yourself, and looked friendly… oh gods, I am rambling!” the girl said, blushing. She stood up again and bowed. “My name is Aoki Ichika, (1) please take care of me.”
Shirai looked around, blushing at the girl’s formality, then stood and bowed back. “My name is Shirai Kuroko and I am happy to meet you. Please take care of me as well.”
Both girls then sat back down, quietly embarrassed, and started eating.
“Are you new here, Aoki-san?” Shirai asked politely. “How is it we have never met?”
“No, Shirai-san, I have been here all term but usually hide at the table in the corner since I have no one to share with,” Aoki responded. “Today my usual table was taken by Sempais. I saw you here and took a chance to try to sit with you.”
“It will be a pleasant change to have someone to talk to for once,” Shirai said with a smile. “May I ask what your ability is?”
“Wow, you are the first person to ask me, other than a teacher!” Aoki was surprised. “I have earth powers, which are not very interesting I guess. I can make pillars, move dirt around…that sort of thing. I am a Level 3.”
“That actually sounds like a very interesting power with practical applications for the future,” Shirai said with admiration. “I am also a Level 3 and my ability is Teleportation. I can transport objects or people I touch about eighty meters.”
“Wow! Can you teleport yourself?” Aoki asked.
Shirai sighed. “No, not yet,” she replied. “They keep saying I am ‘close’ and will make ‘my breakthrough’ soon.”
Aoki giggled. “I think *all* the Instructors are trained to say that because they keep telling me the same thing!”
Shirai smiled and asked, “Is your ability considered ‘rare’ as well?”
“It must be as I am the only one here at the school with this ability,” Aoki replied. “The teachers do not really know how to teach me.”
“There is only one other teleporter here, but her power works differently than mine, so I have the same problem,” Shirai said.
The two girls chatted through the rest of breakfast and compared their classes, only to find they did not share any so they made plans to meet for lunch and dinner.
Shirai felt a little better now that she actually had someone to talk to at her school.
Another long day at school was made better by having someone to actually speak with at lunch and dinner. Aoki did not really have a lot in common with Shirai other than just wanting someone to share a table with while eating, but that was at least something. Aoki was a little disappointed when Shirai told her that she would be working at Judgement the next two nights, but appeared to understand that Judgment work was important to Shirai.
When Shirai entered the 177th the next night, she was greeted cheerfully by Konori who said, “Shirai, I have a little surprise for you!”
“Am I being put on cleaning detail supervision again?” Shirai grumbled as she walked over to Konori’s desk.
“No,” laughed Konori. “Look who got transferred to our branch! She said she was your friend from training: Uiharu Kazari!”
Uiharu popped out from a cubicle where she had apparently been working on a computer and came up to Shirai and Konori, bowing low. “Shirai-san,” she said in her soft, cheerful voice. “I am so happy and honored to be working with you! I would not have passed the training without your help and motivation! Please take care of me!”
Shirai was a little stunned; she thought she had been a little mean and, frankly, bullying to Uiharu. Uiharu could not even do a pushup! Shirai shook herself slightly, then tried to smile as she said, “Welcome, Uiharu, it is nice to see you again. Welcome to the 177th!”
“Shirai, as it turns out, little Uiharu here has hidden depths and is a computer ace, sure to be a great help to our branch,” Konori enthused. “For the next few days, however, I would like you to take her out on patrol with you and familiarize her with our area, please.”
Smiling on the outside while grimacing on the inside Shirai replied, “I would be happy to, Sempai!” She then turned to Uiharu and asked, “Do you have your armband and anything else you need to take with you ready to go?”
Uiharu replied, “I have everything in my little purse. Will we be coming back here because I need to finish up a report for Konori-sempai before we leave for the night?”
“Thank you for telling me, I will make sure we are back thirty minutes before the end of our shift, Uiharu-san.”
With that the two girls set out and Shirai began conducting the tour, beginning first with an overview of the major locations: parks, stores, restaurants, and schools.
“That is Tokiwadai Middle School,” Shirai said with a sniff. “Home to two Level 5 trouble-making girls that think they are better than everyone else, Uiharu-san.”
Uiharu’s eyes were wide. “So they are high society?”
“Stuck up, mean, use their powers indiscriminately, and put on airs, Uiharu,” Shirai replied with disdain. “One is a telepath, Mental Out, who likes to play with other’s minds; the second is Railgun, an Electromaster who thrives on electrocuting people and causing wanton destruction around the city.”
“Why have they not been detained, Shirai-san?”
“Mental Out rarely leaves Tokiwadai’s campus and everyone is afraid to approach Railgun, although if I ever catch her I will take her in,” Shirai replied. “No one is above the law.”
“You are so brave, Shirai-san.”
“Not brave, Uiharu-san, just dedicated.”
As promised the two girls returned to the office after grabbing something to eat from a food cart in plenty of time for Uiharu to finish what she needed to do for Konori-sempai. At the same time Shirai cleaned up her routine reports so they were caught up. While they worked, Shirai and Uiharu chatted some more so Shirai found out that Uiharu was attending Sakugawa Middle School and already specializing in computers.
Shirai also learned that Uiharu was stalled at Level 1, which made the other little girl a bit depressed. Before Shirai could say anything, Konori gently told Uiharu her own story of how she was a Level 2 until about two years ago when she finally achieved Level 3. “You are still both still very young, Uiharu-chan and Shirai-chan. Your bodies are still growing and changing so you will almost certainly achieve higher levels.”
Both of the younger girls looked at Konori’s much more developed body with a small amount of jealousy. Konori caught them and laughed.
“Uiharu-chan, I have already mentioned this once or twice to Shirai, but the secret is to drink Musashino Milk, the best milk, to help develop your bodies,” Konori said with a grin. She gave both girls a small box of the milk from the fridge and they all three drank up.
Teleportation class at school was…annoying. Annoying was a good word. Her instructors may be geniuses…geniusi…really smart at N-space, 11-dimensional math calculations and AIM Diffusion Field studies, but as they were not teleporters, they were *terrible* at helping Shirai and Musujime *apply* any of that theory when they tried to use their powers.
No matter that the two girls were fiercely competitive with each other, they both agreed privately that the teaching methods…sucked. After another exhausting, and futile, day of trying to teleport themselves without success the two girls met up in the locker room to commiserate before showering.
“If you can make the math work to move a block, Shirai-san, you should be able to make it work to move yourself,” Shirai said, imitating the nasally voice of one of the instructors.
“Musujime-san, you have had four more years than Shirai-san and you still cannot teleport yourself,” Musujime imitated the whiney voice of their female instructor. “I just want to shout at them: ‘if it is so easy why don’t you do it’!”
“Plus, for my first self-teleport, it would be nice if I did not end up as part of a building or pavement!” Shirai snarled. “I am not going to rush myself or my calculations just so the instructors can brag about raising another teleporter to Level 4!”
“Same,” Musujime said, nodding. “You are pretty smart for a little squirt.”
Shirai bristled and glared, her red pigtails flaring around her head.
“Calm your tits, girl,” Musujime said with a laugh. “Oh, wait!” She stared pointedly at Shirai’s flat chest.
“That’s a low blow to make to a twelve-year-old girl who, I might add, is the same Level as a fifteen-year-old with four more years of training,” Shirai replied with an evil grin. She got up to walk away, but turned back and said, “I had hoped to work with you and help us both succeed at teleporting ourselves, but I will not put up with being belittled.”
Shirai then turned her back on Musujime, walked to her locker, undressed, then went and took her shower. After that Shirai was polite to Musujime but no longer conversed with her other than what was required for their mutual training sessions. After a couple more weeks of no results Shirai met privately with the instructors and ‘suggested’ that perhaps that since the two girls’ powers were so different they might be better served training separately. After a brief discussion the instructors agreed to try separate training for six months to see if it made a difference.
After that a brief, undeclared, war occurred between the two teleporters, instigated by Musujime using her Move Point to cause Shirai’s Miso soup bowl to end up over her head. Musujime did not have to wait long for retaliation; the next morning as she walked to class there was an apparent malfunction of a fountain in a decorative pool. How else could one explain one hundred cubic cm of water suddenly drenching her and her possessions as she walked by the pool?
After a few days things finally escalated to a point that their respective Dorm Mothers had to step in to bring it to an end. Whether it was Musujime teleporting a large snake into Shirai’s bed in the middle of the night or Shirai teleporting a statue of the killer from the movie ‘Scream’ holding a knife standing over Musujime’s bed in the middle of the night, it was enough for the Dorm Mothers.
A ‘Come to Buddah’ meeting was held with both girls and it was explained that certain shenanigans were fine, but the two of them had reached suspension/expulsion level if they did not cease immediately. To their credit, neither girl blamed the other, both apologized unreservedly to the Dorm Mothers, and promised to stop immediately.
They stopped short of apologizing to each other.
At the 177th that night, things were a little uncomfortable as well…
“Shirai. What is this rather disturbing email I received from your Dorm Mother?” Konori asked when Shirai arrived at the office. Konori had taken Shirai into the small conference room so they could speak in private.
Shirai blushed, not realizing that her Dorm Mother would notify Judgement about what she had done. She hung her head in shame.
“Konori-sempai, any explanation I could attempt to give you would sound petty, shameful, and trivial. All I will say is that I lost my sense of reason for a while and made foolish decisions that I truly regret. If you wish I, I will resign.”
Konori let out a sigh. “Sit down, Shirai-chan,” she said, pulling out a chair for both of them. Konori looked closely at Shirai who looked like she was going to cry. “Shirai-chan, I am not angry with you! I may scold you a little,” Konori laughed, “but I once was your age too you know!”
Shirai kept her head bent. “I am such a disappointment to you again, Konori-sempai! I could not keep my temper! And with an Upperclassman too!” Shirai said, barely holding back her tears.
“Well, I will not deny I am slightly disappointed with you, Shirai-chan, that you let the situation deteriorate so much, but you are young and allowed to make some mistakes,” Konori replied softly. “I will tell you a secret that I will deny to my grave.”
Shirai looked up at Konori with red eyes.
Konori smiled gently at Shirai. “I laughed so hard when I read about you putting the statue of the knife killer next to that girl’s bed!” Konori said with a laugh. “Apparently her screams woke up half the dorm and set off a security alert!”
Shirai smiled a little. “She had teleported a big snake into my bed, so I woke up to something slithering between my legs and on my chest, Sempai. So I panic teleported my pajamas, blankets, and the snake sixty meters in a random direction, which happened to be the Level 2 Electromaster’s room next to mine.”
“Oh, no!” laughed Konori.
“She blew up half her room,” Shirai whispered.
“Stop! You are killing me!” Konori kept laughing.
Shirai looked betrayed; her pigtails went limp.
Konori saw Shirai’s face and slowed her laughter. She pulled the little girl into a hug and said, “Not soon, but one day you will look back at this and laugh, Shirai-chan.”
“Sempai, do not laugh, but I thought someone was…assaulting me…when I felt it moving…there…” Shirai said softly. “I think that is why I was so scared at first.”
Konori immediately got serious. “Oh Shirai-chan, I am sorry. That is a serious thing and I would never make fun of your feelings like that!”
“I know, Sempai. I just wanted to explain,” Shirai said. “I like to think I am tough, but I was so scared.”
Konori hugged her close again and this time Shirai shyly hugged her back. “It is alright to be scared like that, Shirai-chan. It is normal,” Konori reassured her. “Now listen to your Sempai; you have my personal number. Anytime, day or night, you need to talk I fully expect you to call me, understand? You are my cherished Kouhai and I am here to help you with anything, Shirai-chan.”
“Thank you, Sempai,” Shirai mumbled.
“Now, consider yourself scolded thoroughly and go out on patrol,” Konori said with a grin. She opened the door to the office. “Be sure to take Uiharu with you, Shirai, she sits behind that desk too much!”
“Sempai!” Uiharu cried out in embarrassment.
“Come along, Uiharu-san,” Shirai said with a smile. “We will jog the first couple of kilometers to be sure you are still fighting fit!”
“Shirai-san!” Uiharu wailed as Shirai dragged her out of the office.
Shirai and Uiharu had been on patrol for a little over two hours without any significant action to report. Then they noticed a disturbance a block ahead of them: it looked like sparks flying out of an alley.
“We need to check that out, Uiharu-san,” Shirai said as she started to move faster down the sidewalk. “It could be the start of an electrical fire or short circuit; get ready to call it in.”
“Roger!”
As the two girls closed in on the alley they heard what sounded like glass breaking, then a boy shouting, “Why are you bothering me, Biribiri? What have I done to you? Leave me alone!”
A girl’s voice responded, “Stand still and fight me like a man, you coward!”
Another blast of electricity came out of the alley, followed by the broken glass sound. Then a spikey-haired came running out of the alley shouting, “Crazy Level 5 ojousama stop attacking me!” He booked it down the sidewalk.
A moment later a brown-haired girl in a Tokiwadai uniform came tearing out of the alley shouting, “Coward!”
Shirai and Uiharu caught up to the girl and showed their armbands with Shirai shouting, “Judgement desu no! Freeze! You are under arrest!”
The girl turned and looked at Shirai and Uiharu asking, “Do you know who I am?”
Shirai replied, “Yes, the girl we are arresting for assault. Hold out your hands please.”
The girl held out her hands and Uiharu timidly put on the power damping cuffs. “What is your name, so I call it in?” Uiharu asked.
“Misaka Mikoto.”