"This power will one day make the world itself its enemy...
It may really destroy everything in this world one day...
However,
If you evolve beyond the mere concept of 'The Strongest', things may change.
In order to do so, you will need to go through with this experiment."
"You have nothing to lose."
"Marmots.
Dolls.
Clones.
If power breeds conflict,
Then you just need to attain Absolute Power that will deter any will to fight."
...
...
...
"But, I refuse."
That was that beautiful girl's declaration of challenge toward the utter darkness deep within the city.
"–What!?"
"There isn't anything I, Suzushina Yuriko, love more than telling someone who thinks they're the top dog and saying 'No' straight to their face."
That was that beautiful girl's 'Ultimate Refusal'.
But, let us take a step back in time to see where it all began.
It was May, a year before the clash of Science and Magic would take place.
They were both in Third Year of Middle School.
Suzushina Yuriko.
A beautiful girl, with white hair and red eyes.
She wore a white blouse with a vest dyed in a shade of gentle violet. That vest had the emblem of Nagatenjouki Academy on its left side. Her pleated skirt was a shade of wonderful green olive. She carried a thin briefcase for her schoolbag.
And,
The same event that occurred before occurred again and again,
And occurred even right then and there.
"Hey, Accelerator."
"Hey, Accelerator."
"Hey, Accelerator."
...
...
...
She was surrounded.
There were about a couple of dozen or two men around her.
They weren't there to court her, as one may think. For one, it was past curfew in nighttime. For another, they held all sorts of assault weapons, from crowbars to bats to guns.
This is the part where she should flick her hair and spit out a line about how utterly dull this turn of events were for her at this point.
But, to be really honest... she still felt cold sweat break out from back of her head.
Not because they had any hope of touching her at all, not really. Her Reflection worked then and worked now. Her safety was not really a concern.
But beneath her weary countenance, she still felt unease. Her safety was too assured for her to consider that emotion she felt to be a form of fear, no... perhaps, it was a form of odious distaste. Or a form of revulsion. Or a form of repungnance. Toward whom? Toward them, and toward this unease within her.
She liked going outside.
She liked the wind gracefully touching her cheeks with a cool breeze. She liked the gentle warm rays of the sun, warming her body. She liked the pale glow of the moon, delighting her mind.
But she dreaded going outside precisely because this event occurred every single time.
She dreaded going outside and unavoidably being seen, and unavoidably being confronted by them. She dreaded being attacked by them, and them inevitably harming themselves to near point of fatality.
The first time it occurred, the first time she was attacked by a large group all at once, it resulted in them collapsing all around her with their bodies utterly broken. And she knelt right in the middle of them, clutching her chest, because it felt as if her heart would positively burst from how strong it beat. Sure, anyone could readily assure her that that would not occur to someone as young and relatively healthy as her. But could she really rely on that assumption when her heart beat to the point where she felt like lava was being poured through her rib-cage? And all that from mere shock at being wrapped up in such a situation.
It got better as such events occurred again and again.
That should mean she would get used to it sooner or later, right?
She hoped so. As time went on the pain she felt – from her heart beating like a wild mare from panic – gradually lessened.
Her body got used to it, but not her mind, apparently, because she still felt relatively same amount of dread – at the thought of encountering such a group of people – right now as she did back then.
All because they wished to take her title, her position.
She was not a damsel in distress.
She was the most powerful Esper in the Academy City.
Her rank was One. Not Two, not Three, One.
A bitter smile graced her lips. She was trapped. Trapped. She couldn't purposefully job her encounters; the weapons and Esper abilities they approached her with were purposefully geared up to the most lethal level possible. 'If it is strong enough, it will break through her Reflection...' they hoped.
Her Reflection was designed to be binary from the beginning. It was not like she could dial it down a degree or two to let little slip by and injure her and throw the battle that way.
So the only recourse was to run away.
And so she ran away time and time again, at first. But they never stopped; indeed, it became worse. Maybe their hunting instinct became even more active at the sight of their target actively retreating from them. It was a waste of time and energy; last time, they shot homing missiles after her.
So it came down to this: she let them strike her, but redirected the vectors away from them both. Not in opposite direction, for example, but downward direction. If it avoided them both, they were left relatively unharmed. That seemed to be the most efficient solution.
But they all attacked her in all degrees of direction simultaneously... there were always one or two she couldn't actively protect against when they all attacked at once. A ricochet there, a shrapnel there; someone, at least one or two, came out injured from that encounter.
But surely better than all of them getting hurt! Ah, but there lied the rub; when they were unharmed, they pushed on their attack recklessly. Holding out only prolonged the struggle. And, y'know, it was getting way past curfew; she wanted to go home. She needed her beauty sleep.
So in each encounter, it went on until every single one of them got injured enough to conclude that they should probably retreat for the time being.
It really made her feel useless.
She was not a damsel in distress.
She was the most powerful Esper in the Academy City.
But she was still a third year Middle Schooler. She was still human. When– well, let's take this current encounter, for example.
A man in a green beanie hat wearing sunglasses affirmed his grip on his metal bat and swung it at Yuriko's forehead.
Right when that cold steel of that metal bat went all the way up to her eyes, she felt her breath hitch; she felt her heart jump – that felt painful. That felt unhealthy.
Well, not as painful or unhealthy as to how that man's arms looked like after she redirected the vector of that swing downward.
I hate this.
I really, really hate this.
Day in, day out. If she ran, they would follow her. If she stood still, they would hurt themselves.
She couldn't step a single foot outside without this happening.
When will this stop?
–Probably never.
That thought was a mistake. At the mere thought of her going through this over and over again for an uncertain period of time, with no end in sight, deep nausea flowed up from her stomach and traveled up to her throat, like an acidic oil. She felt like throwing up.
She felt miserable.
She continued to fix that bitter, bitter smile on her face as she braced herself for this encounter—
"—HEY!"
That voice still reached all of them despite the din of the massive struggle that only just began. Startled, they all turned toward that stranger who made such a shout–
–and their eyes landed on a young man with a spiky hair.
"You oughtta be all ashamed of yourselves."
"What?" The men shouted back.
"Who the heck even are you!?"
"A whole group of guys just encircling a girl and attacking her like that. It's unforgivable. You guys are lower than dirt; you all disgust me."
...
...
...
What.
Now, hold on a minute here. Obviously, this boy was some sort of heroic type... but what was that rough edge to that attitude of his?
Two things surprised Yuriko at that moment. One, the fact that guys like him still existed, that someone was bold enough to interrupt this scene.
She never saw anyone actually intervene for her before.
Two, such guys, if they existed, were heroic, preaching type. Up until the first half of that sentence he yelled, it was fitting. 'A whole group of guys just encircling a girl and attacking her like that. It's unforgivable.' Sure, fine, fitting. But that second half... 'You guys are lower than dirt; you all disgust me.' What? That seemed off from the character he was possibly trying to emulate!
"If you're gonna assault someone, pick the right target!"
"Oh, like you, you twerp!?"
"Yeah! Bring it on!"
They all charged toward him.
Then,
He turned and ran.
"HEY! COME BACK HERE!"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"
...
...
...
She was alone.
All alone. Finally, alone. Peacefully, quietly, alone.
That never happened before.
Her eyes were still widened with shock. Her mouth was agape.
"..."
This was the first time she was actually left alone.
...
Maybe she should chase them and help him out.
...
"—Eh, he seems capable." That pale beauty, Suzushina Yuriko, gave a half grimace, half smile. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
That was the first time they met.
From then on, things changed.
Every single time she was ambushed as thus, again and again did he inevitably appear to intervene, and again and again did he oddly piss off the mob enough for them to completely forget about her and end up chasing him instead.
"COME BACK HERE YOU SPINELESS COWARD!"
"IT'S SWING DAY!"
"MMMMMM BOY YOU'RE 'BOUT TO CATCH THESE HANDS-!"
"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'M DROPPING YOU LIKE A 52 PICKUP, AIIGHT!?"
...
"AHHHHHHHHHHH! SUCH MISFORTUNE!"
...
How many times did this happen now? Fourth time?
You know, Yuriko absentmindedly thought as – yet again – she saw the retreating backs of the mob chasing that certain unlucky boy, maybe I should visit him with a gift, or something...
Huff,
Wheeze,
Cough,
Such were the noises extruding from that Unfortunate Middle Schooler's mouth as he approached the door to his dorm room.
He somehow lost that mob again tonight. His heart and lungs felt like 18-Wheeler Engine Pistols.
"At this rate of exercise, I'll live until hundred-and-twenty..."
It was indeed odd though, Kamijou Touma thought to himself. This was like the fourth time he stuck up for that particular girl. Not that he minded doing that all that much, but it did sort of concern him as to just how many times she was being attacked. Was she a high level Esper or something?
Oh well, as long as she was unhurt...
As he opened the door he sighed in sweet anticipation of long-awaited rest from yet another weary day filled with misfortune.
Time to eat dinner, do homework, and go to sleep.
But it wasn't even five minutes since he entered his dorm room when he heard a knock on the door.
He broke out in cold sweat. Had the thugs finally tail him to his dorm room? But he was so sure that he escaped their sight–!"
That knock rang again.
"—Who is it?" Touma asked in trepidation.
"Just visiting," a feminine voice responded.
Touma frowned. A girl? When he opened the door, he found–
A beautiful, pale girl with red eyes, in what appeared to be a prestigious school's uniform, holding an eco-friendly shopping bag.
That same girl he intervened for multiple times now.
For a moment they both stared at each other, examining each other. They never were this close up in front of each other before.
He really, really looks just... normal, Yuriko thought. And yet...
"Good evening," she greeted, with an awkward smile fixed on her face. She wasn't used to human interaction, all that much.
"Hey," Touma replied, still caught off guard. "You're that girl they kept on mobbing."
"Yeah. Saw you go into this building, so I decided to follow and give you a visit." She peered into his dorm room. "Can I get in, or..."
"-Oh. Sure."
As she went in she examined the entire dorm room
Average home, average dorm, average... everything. Yuriko thought. Not sure what I expected, but still...
"I hope you like coffee," Yuriko stated as she plopped the eco-friendly shopping back down on the floor. Sitting down, she pulled out two of her favorite: BLACK NON-SUGAR COFFEE.
"How do you have that?" Touma replied in amazement. "When I went to conbini yesterday to get some, they ran out of that brand!"
"They did?" Yuriko paused. "Ah, must've been because I bought every single one of them yesterday... sorry about that. Didn't know you liked these."
"Yeah, my favorite, actually," Touma smiled as he sat down also and popped one open.
"Is that so..."
As she drank, she continued to peer in mild-fascination at this unfortunate young man sitting before her. She didn't know why, but despite appearing painfully average, there was something about his countenance that continued to hold her interest.
...
"Why do you do that?" She finally asked, lowering the coffee can from her lips. "No one ever intervenes for me. No one is idiotic enough to. So why do you? You don't even know me."
He paused at that question.
...
"Because that's the right thing to do," he replied.
"Is that so..." she half-grimaced. "Well, your funeral, I suppose..."
They drank in silence some more.
"You can keep the rest," Yuriko announced as she dusted herself off and stood up. "My gift to you..." she paused. Then continued: "I can take more than good enough care for myself, you know; they never touched me."
"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Touma replied as he also stood up. "I've never seen a display of violence to that level before. Are you famous or something?"
...
Should I tell him? Yuriko wondered.
Well, she supposed it couldn't hurt. Maybe it would convince him not to waste his time trying to protect her so much.
"My name is Suzushina Yuriko," she announced, "otherwise known as the Accelerator. I am the Number One Esper of this City."
...
"Hoh, really now?" Touma chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "I guess that does explain all that."
"That is why there's no need to try to intervene for me again. They threw everything they had against me since I was a little girl. I've never been touched."
"I suppose so,' Touma replied, smiling. "But, you know, I don't protect someone only because they need protection. I don't fight villains because they're bad. I fight them because it's the right thing to do."
...
This guy...
Yuriko, yet again, half-grimaced.
"What level are you?" She asked.
"Oh, I guess I should properly introduce myself. My bad." Touma grinned. "My name is Kamijou Touma. I'm a Level 0."
Zero.
"Zero," Yuriko repeated.
"Zero," Touma nodded.
"With that sort of guts, I would've expected you to be at least Level Three or something..." Yuriko gave an unimpressed look.
"You don't need power to fight for something you believe in."
"No, you do." Yuriko flatly retorted. "Without power, you can do nothing."
"..."
"I'm going to have to ask you not to intervene for me again," Yuriko continued. "It'd be rather pointless if you were to get hurt yourself."
"Sorry," Touma smiled. "But, I refuse."
"..."
"As long I see someone living their life incorrectly in front of me, no other choice remains for me but to clench my fists and drive it into their face repeatedly until they correct themselves."
This... was much more serious than she thought.
At this rate, he really would follow her around and intervene Every. Single. Time whenever she got ambushed.
Well, she tried to use words and reason first, too, when she was young. She made desperate pleas to those who attacked her to not bother, to simply leave her be.
Not that it was of much use. Force did the talking when words failed.
And, perhaps, force was necessary here, also.
"Touch me."
"What?"
"Touch me." Yuriko raised her arms up, her hands fully open. "Touch me, anywhere, my face, my chest, my arms, my hands, wherever. If you can touch me, then you'll be proving to me that you are strong enough to intervene for me, that you'd be too strong for me to tell you what to do and not do. So go ahead and touch me."
So, what'll it be, Hero? Yuriko thought to herself. My right hand? My left hand? What'll it be?
There was no hesitation in his movement.
That Average Middle School Boy anyone can find anywhere raised his right hand and touched her left hand.
He grabbed it, and held it.
...
...
...
Did I... subconsciously... turn off my Reflection?
Proportionate to the level of force used, his right hand should've been repelled from any part of her arm, leg, chest, entire body. If lightly approached, then lightly repelled. If forcefully approached... than that's when bones began to fracture.
If I did... then it's just the matter of turning it on again.
But nothing happened.
His hand felt warm.
So warm.
She felt a blush creep up on her pale cheeks.
Touma, for his part, felt nothing out of norm. "So... I did it," he declared.
...
"You lied." Yuriko frowned.
"..."
"You said you had no powers."
"No," Touma gave a determined look. "What I said was, I am a Level 0. That is what they labeled me as in the System Scan. I didn't say I had no powers. I said, You don't need power to fight for something you believe in."
...
"Then, what is your power?"
"My right hand... it can destroy any illusions, any supernatural ability. And, I suppose even the highest ranked Esper in this city is not immune to it."
...
...
...
Just like that, her Reflection was broken. Just like that, he made null and void that very power that made her so miserable like it was some sort of bad joke.
...
"I see." Yuriko, yet again, gave a half-grimace. She looked toward their hand, still linked together. "...You can let go now."
"Oh, sorry."
A silence fell between them.
"Well..." Yuriko, with effort, mustered an unimpressed look. "Bye for now." She turned to leave.
"I'll see you next time," he replied.
"I suppose I can't stop you."
She opened the door, and left.
She looked calm on the outside.
But on the inside, her head was a whirlwind of emotions and questions.