Uiharu Kazari and Last Order were sitting inside an open-air café.
Last Order, who had come out looking for a lost child, had walked so much that her legs were sore and was currently half-lying on a table. Uiharu had sat down next to her and challenged the shop's specialty: the large sweet parfait.
"So, have you found the person you're looking for? Did your ahoge finally stop with that *biribiri* reaction?"
"'…This thing that Misaka has isn't an ahoge!' says Misaka as Misaka has a tired voice."
But this child who was around ten years old had a cluster of hair that stood up, and it was waving in the autumn wind. That was, without question, the ultimate ahoge!
"'Uu… I'm sure I felt him around here somewhere, but he suddenly went off somewhere,' says Misaka as Misaka is feeling down due to doing all that work for nothing."
Last Order, who was like a deflated balloon, suddenly raised her head.
Did she find that person? Uiharu thought, but that wasn't the case.
A few girls walked past, and Last Order stared at a free gift key chain that was from a nearby fast food chain outlet.
"'Mi-Misaka really wants that!' says Misaka as Misaka has no wallet on her and thus can only look at Uiharu nee-san with her puppy dog eyes!"
"Ah, geez. Didn't you go out to look for someone?"
"'Yeah, and he's in that fast food shop,' says Misaka as Misaka can feel—"
"It's not alright to lie, you know! Besides, I just finished ordering that large sweet parfait, and I've only just started; I can't leave now. "
"'How can you be this relaxed!?' says Misaka as Misaka bangs on the table repeatedly and mutters."
"Ah, don't you have the leftover change from the taxi?"
"'Ah! You're right!' says Misaka as Misaka takes out the paper note and charges towards the fast food shop!"
Before her voice finished echoing, Last Order had already left the café. Uiharu could only wave a handkerchief and say loudly, "Remember to come back!"
As Uiharu was about to start her attack on the ice cream section, a voice spoke from beside her.
"Sorry to bother you, ojou-san."
Uiharu hurriedly put down her spoon and turned towards the voice. Standing there was a teenager who gave off a vulgar sense of style. On his right hand was some kind of mechanical claw.
On this teenager's face was a warm smile that didn't suit his appearance.
"Um… may I ask who you are?"
"Kakine Teitoku. I'm looking for someone."
While he was talking, this teenager who called himself Kakine brought out a photo.
"Do you know where this child is now? Her name is Last Order."
"…"
Uiharu stared at the photo for a few seconds. She then looked back and forth between Kakine and the photo before finally shaking her head.
"Sorry, I haven't seen her."
"Is that so?"
"If you're in a hurry, I suggest you should go to the nearest Anti-Skill booth and ask there."
"You have a point. But before that, maybe I'll keep looking by myself for a while."
Kakine said as he turned to leave.
Uiharu lowered her head, and was about to start her attack on her ice cream once more.
"Ah, right. I have something I forgot to mention."
"?"
Without waiting for Uiharu to raise her head, the next sentence came with a blow to her head.
"I knew you were with Last Order! You idiot!"
*Bang*, the impact spread from her temple.
Before she realized she had been hit, Uiharu was already falling from her seat. She reflexively kicked the table over and upended her chair. The barely eaten large sweet parfait scattered across the road like a crushed fruit.
Around them, people passing by screamed.
Uiharu, who still didn't know what has happened, first thought of standing back up.
But Kakine's foot stepped viciously on her right shoulder and pinned her back down.
"That's why I didn't ask 'Do you know her', but instead 'Where did she go'!"
Kakine put all of his weight onto his foot.
*Crack*, as she felt the heavy weight, the pain of bones rubbing against each other spread through her body. Then, her shoulder became dislocated.
Uiharu unconsciously tried to roll over in her pain, but Kakine's leg was like an unmoving steel beam.
At this point, Uiharu was screaming rather than merely whimpering, but it didn't move Kakine at all.
"You discovered me and told Last Order to escape; I understand that you aren't all that capable. Even though I'm a scumbag, I prefer not to involve normal people. If you had cooperated with me in the first place, I wouldn't have had to use violence."
It was a holiday afternoon, and there were a lot of people around in the open-air café- but they only looked on from afar and didn't try to help.
But they couldn't really be blamed for that.
Uiharu was wearing a Judgment armband. Although Judgment members only dealt with incidents on school grounds, some students believed that they were people who protected the peace like the police or the army. Even if the organization did have its elites, there were also weaklings. It was a shame, though, because the people who didn't understand these limitations thought that if someone in Judgment could be easily defeated, they wouldn't stand a chance either.
There was no help for Uiharu here.
Kakine put more strength into his leg, forcing his shoe deeper into Uiharu's shoulder.
"…But! I have no mercy for my enemies. If you didn't know anything and were only around Last Order by chance, then I wouldn't have to do this. However, the instant you decided to protect her by your own will, it became another matter entirely. So please, ojou-san: don't force me to kill you right here."
*Gacha kara kara*, the dislocated bones were forcibly moved, and pain flooded her body.
By the time she finally reacted to her pain and tried to withstand it, Uiharu's eyes were already filled with tears. The complaints of why she had to go through this, the fear of facing overwhelming and unstoppable violence, and the regret for not being able to resolve this situation: these negative feelings mixed together and weighed down Uiharu's mind from within.
There was only one possible way for her to be released from this.
"Where is Last Order?"
In her hazy mind that was filled with pain, there was only Kakine's voice.
"Tell me, and I'll let you go."
In the maze that had no exit, someone had finally pointed the way out. For Uiharu who was engulfed by the darkness known as violence, she desired the finish line so much. Her sense of responsibility as a member of Judgment and her personality as "Uiharu Kazari" were being shattered by that one thought of "being released from this pain".
Her lips finally moved.
With tears running down her cheeks, she slowly opened her mouth.
She knew she should stay silent, but she could not even accomplish that.
And so, while hating her own uselessness, she declared her final intention.
"…? What?"
Kakine furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't seem to understand the other side's intention.
With trembling lips, Uiharu said once more,
"Can you… not… hear me?"
Using what energy she had left.
"I said… that child is at a place you will never see. I'm not… lying."
She said this while poking her tongue out, as if she was using all her energy to toy with her foe.
Kakine Teitoku went silent.
"…Very well."
As he said that, he lifted his leg off Uiharu's shoulder.
But his foot did not go back onto the ground. Instead, it was aimed at Uiharu Kazari's head.
"I told you before: though I don't attack normal people, I have no mercy towards my enemies. If you understand that and still refuse to cooperate, then there's nothing I can do."
Kakine Teitoku put all his strength into his foot that was hanging above her.
The foot was as if it was about to crush an empty can.
"Farewell."
*Boom*, a large gust of wind made Uiharu unconsciously closed her tear-filled eyes; this was all she could do now.
But Kakine's foot did not crush Uiharu's head.
Another explosion rang out across Academy City.
A gale swept through them like a blast wave. Uiharu opened her eyes and saw an ATM and shards of its glass and walls. A twister made of these shards smashed against Kakine Teitoku at an incredible speed. Taking this blow head-on, Kakine stumbled, and the foot that was going to crush Uiharu ended up stomping the floor a few millimeters away from her head.
From inside the completely destroyed ATM, pure-white paper notes flew in all directions like an angel's wings.
In the middle of all that, Uiharu heard a voice.
"…Seriously. Is that all it takes to satisfy you, scumbag?"
Passionate, white, insane.
That was the voice of the demon-like strongest Level 5 in Academy City! "Let's raise the stakes some more. While we're at it, I'll teach you what it means to be a villain."