"Moto-sensei isn't here?" Misaka stared blankly at the woman in front of her. Her muscles were burning with exhaustion, and she desperately needed sleep. Which was why she had hoped to get the appointment with Moto over with as soon as possible, despite him being the only person she could tolerate.

"No, he isn't. I have no idea where he disappeared to, for Pete's sake." The woman let out a sigh before flashing Misaka a bright, fake smile. "Why don't you head on home, for some rest? There's no experiments tonight, after all." Misaka stiffened at the mention of the 'experiment'.

In a fit of anger, she had completely torn apart one of the clones, specifically 'Misaka 8643', leaving the body a gory mess, with internal organs spilled everywhere. She hadn't lasted more than a moment. That specific experiment was probably the most brutal death the clones had experienced.

Could she say that she regretted ending the experiment in such a brutal fashion? No, not really. After all, that would be like saying she actually killed someone, and admitting that those things were people. Which they clearly proved her wrong, on multiple occasions.

And no, she would never admit that that specific scene would haunt her dreams (or in her case, nightmares) for years to come, if the other clones hadn't already.

Her eyes skimmed over the woman in-front of her, and just for a mere moment, a mere moment, imagined how her body would've looked, if she was the one that Misaka had taken her anger out upon.

But in her imagination, there was no difference, between the clone's 'death' and the woman's death. After all, the clone was mutilated beyond recognition, with blood and gore covering the parts that would even barely pass as human skin.

At least visually. Mentally, there was a whole world of difference. The woman in-front of her was human, a person. The clone was something more of a robot, disguised as a human.

"But you should try to be nicer to your sister… she was quite sad when I met her yesterday." Misaka let out an audible scoff, almost unaware of the researcher that was still there. Sad? Don't be ridiculous. Those things don't have emotions, they're not people.

She turned around and started to walk out of the facility, there's no way.

No way.

"So, then. Moto-sensei~ Care to explain yourself?" Shokuhou smiled deviously at the researcher in front of her. He doesn't need to explain himself, Shokuhou could easily scour his mind for the needed information.

But she was intrigued by how he would try to defend his actions. Shokuhou had controlled him to come here 'of his own accord' without searching his memories, but she had freed him once he entered the room.

Of course, she was currently in Tokiwadai's interior dorms, which meant that she was in the exclusive 'Garden of Learning' that didn't allow males. But that can easily be bypassed when you're the 5th ranked Mental Out. Plus, it might've been harder if she lived within the exterior dorms because that meant she had to deal with the demon of a Dorm Supervisor.

One might question why Shokuhou had gone through all the trouble when she could've just read his mind and gotten over it, but she was a Level 5, and precisely 'Mental Out'. Not only does she have control over all things mental, she specializes in things like psychology and manipulation, even without her powers. Plus, with the man in-front of her specializing in the same things (of course, not nearly as good as her), she wanted him to have a taste of his own poison.

She was being a little hypocritical but then again, who isn't?

He blinked at her in surprise, confused to as why she was there or why he was in such a luxurious dorm room. However, in an instant, he recovered and flashed her a bright smile. "Whatever do you mean?" It seems that he had not recognized the 5th ranked Level 5, despite being involved in a project with another Level 5. That might be due to the fact that Shokuhou was just as elusive as the officials of Academy or even the Board of Directors. Of course, with her ability, she would be able to erase all memories of her even existing, if she so wished. That's not counting the digital evidence, though.

Shokuhou returned the smile, bring her leg on top of the of the other leg, to exude a superior presence. Not that she needed to, she always does. "You know what I'm talking about, Moto-sensei~" She singed playfully.

Moto stared back at her, truly not understanding what she was talking about. Of course, if he had known she was a Level 5, it might've been easier to tell, but that had not occurred to him as a possibility yet. He saw her as a rich, high-class girl that had gotten everything she ever wanted in life. While he has connections to the rich himself, he has never mingled with them too much.

He let out a sigh, "Whatever you are talking about, I am not involved in it. Now, I have an appointment to be at now." He turned around and started for the door, but her sweet voice cut through his actions.

"With Misaka-san, I presume?" He whipped around at lightning speed to stare at the blonde girl who had not moved from her position that exuded a 'superior' atmosphere. She was playing with a remote, her starry eyes were not focused on him, but on the remote. She was still smiling, but it screamed dangerous to Moto now, and the eyes that once were playful were as hard as rock.

He tried to regain his composure, "Who is this Misaka-san you're talking about?" His smile was clearly forced now, and the sweat from his sweat glands did not go unnoticed.

"Hmm? Surely you've heard of her name at least. Even if you didn't have an appointment with her, it's impossible to not know her name when your power development researcher." Moto had lied, which was what Shokuhou had wanted. She had played him like a flute. And now he had to go through with his lie and try to make it sound believable.

"I truly don't know who you are talking about. Is she some sort of celebrity, or the sort? And I truly do need to get going, I'm going to be late at this rate." He glanced at his watch and turned around again.

Beep.

I… can't move?! He tried to turn around again, to face the girl but his muscles wouldn't obey. "Oh? How did you know that Misaka-san was a girl?" If he could move, he would be trembling non-stop. All his senses now screamed danger; it was as if the girl was a wolf in sheep's clothing. She had only let a bit of her dangerous 'aura' seep out, but now, it was oozing out like a dam was broken.

W-who… is she?

"I'm surprised you haven't pieced it together yet. Perhaps you're not as sharp as I thought?" A jab that was supposed to lower his mental state. And immediately, he tried to figure out who she was, or more accurately, what her power is.

I can't move… and I can't speak… control over the body? She knows Mikoto-san, who's a Level 5. She knew that I had an appointment with Mikoto-san today… some information gathering skill? Or did she hire someone?

"You still haven't figured it out? You are supposed to be someone who specializes in manipulation, right? Or did I get the wrong person?" Another jab.

Wait… how did I get here? I… can't remember?! There's such a huge gap in my memory now that I think about it… how the hell did I not notice this before?! Is she some sort of psychokinesis? She was reading my mind earlier?

"Finally~ I thought I was talking to someone with the intelligence of a rock at this point." She giggled, "Well, now that you've figured that out, can you figure out who I am?" While Moto couldn't see her, she most definitely had the expression of a devil that was torturing an innocent soul. Although Moto definitely wasn't innocent.

A psychokinesis… who knows Mikoto-san… Mikoto-san is a Level 5… wait, there's a Level 5 psychokinesis, isn't there?!

He heard steps echo behind him, sending shivers down his spine.

The Level 5 psychokinesis is the 5th ranked… Mental Out…!

Beep.

Everything went black.

"Hmmm~" Shokuhou hummed, twirling her remote with her fingers as she spared a glance at the researcher unconscious at her feet before moving her gaze to an expensive portrait on wall. "Well, I suppose I got everything I needed out of that." She huffed, "He seriously is despicable, though. Manipulating Misaka-san like that."

Was it mentioned that she was a little hypocritical? (Good thing I'm the author, otherwise I would be mind-raped right now)

"Although, it's her own fault for falling for something as easy as that. She should really read up on classic manipulation tricks that people use to get others to do their thing. To think that she's the one who has the resistance ability against my Mental Out."

Shokuhou let out a sigh, "This troublesome ability is getting higher, isn't it? I just hope he took my advice."

Tap, tap.

A middle school girl's fingers skimmed across the keyboard quicker than most professionals, a spoon dangling from her mouth. "Okay…" A smile appeared on her face as she stopped typing and took the spoon out, "Access gained. Are you sure about this, Shirai-san?" She looked over to Shirai, who was filling out some documents.

"Well, what choice do we have? Anti-Skill isn't allowed to do anything." She stopped writing to look up at Uiharu. "I can't believe the higher-ups aren't allowing a formal investigation."

Uiharu sighed, "Right?" She paused for a second, "Aren't you breaking curfew without permission?" A toothy grin formed, "I heard there was an extremely scary Dorm Supervisor at your dorms."

Shirai stiffened, sweat rolling down her face. "Crap… I forgot to fill out the forms…"

Uiharu smirked, "Maybe you'll get lucky this time, and only have to clean the entire pool." She said it so politely as if it was a compliment, yet it clearly wasn't.

"Uiharu. Do you want to do the paperwork?" Shirai stared at Uiharu, who immediately lost her smugness and shrunk back.

"Kidding, kidding." Uiharu let out a sigh. "It's amazing that there was no evidence left behind. Whoever committed the crime must've been incredibly skilled." She scanned over the video footage, "On top of that, they took out the electrical appliances beforehand. Could it be an esper?"

Shirai raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps. We do live in Academy City, after all. Can you… pull up the picture again?" Uiharu paused, losing all the playfulness she had.

"Hai…" She trailed off, pulling up an image on the computer. To say the picture wasn't kid friendly was a huge understatement.

It was a closeup of a barely made-out body. Could it even be called a body anymore? The picture was lit with a blue hue, making it so that you could clearly see dark-colored blood, and the remnants of the dismembered limbs. Some parts of limbs were missing, particularly those closer to the torso. Other parts were chopped up into little pieces, spilled all across the picture. Some internal organs were visible in the picture, while others were completely missing.

Needless to say, it almost made Uiharu puke out the food she had earlier. When she first saw it, she had immediately turned away, not wanting to look at it a moment longer. It seemed as if Shirai had more of a resistance to the gory scene, perhaps due to the fact that she engages in combat.

"…Whoever did this is messed up." Shirai finally spoke after a moment, closing her eyes as she said it. "Do you know who took the picture, Uiharu?" Neither of them had the opportunity to closely observe the image, and neither of them wanted to either. But it was what they had to do, to bring the victim to justice.

Uiharu shook her head, "Saten-san gave it to me, and she said she found it on an urban legend site. She hadn't expected to scroll onto something so… realistic and she thought it would be best to hand it over to me."

"Saten-san is your friend, right? Can you call her?" Shirai asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

Uiharu nodded, taking out her phone. She quickly dialed a number and brought her phone to her ear. "Saten-san?"

"Uiharu? What's up?" Shirai heard a chirpy voice answer on the phone, "You know, I foun-"

She was cut off by Uiharu, "Right, Saten-san. I'm calling about the… image you found yesterday."

There was an obvious pause on the other side, "…That one? The one with you know… the body?" It was clearly a touchy subject, no one wanted to talk about a murder.

"Yeah, we're currently running an investigation."

"You are?" There was disbelief in her voice, "Shouldn't this be turned over to Anti-Skill?! This is dangerous, Uiharu!"

Uiharu let out an audible sigh, "I know. But Anti-Skill isn't allowed to move. There was no evidence, so they played it off as a prank." She tapped her finger, "Do you know who took the photo?"

Another pause. "No, I don't. But I took a photo of the post. Are you sure though? Whoever did that… was…" Saten didn't finish, she couldn't. Who could explain a murderer? Revolting? Disgusting? Devil? Monster? Insane? But such words were used to describe simple things. Humans are much more complex than that. Perhaps in a couple of essays, you would be able explain what a murderer is, but never in a single word. And you can't generalize everything into a single category.

That's like saying because one human did a bad thing, all humans must be evil.

"I know, Saten-san. But we have to do something. Letting whoever did this run free is just… not right."

Shirai heard a sigh from the other side, "…I know. Then, I'll send you a photo of the post, okay? Just be careful." The click that signaled the call had ended echoed throughout the silent room.

"..."

An awkward blanket of silence had settled over them. But they both appreciated the silence, as neither of them knew what to say.

The phone vibrated, and Uiharu opened it again. A new notification appeared, an email from Saten.

Uiharu was somewhat nervous.

Perhaps she was scared? Or simply anxious?

Either way, her finger trembled ever so slightly as it clicked on the notification. It opened to reveal the email sent from Saten, which contained an attachment.

And that attachment was evidence, evidence for the most brutal and horrifying murder (although it was the first murder they've ever encountered) they've ever saw.

Click.

Unknown User:

[Image]

I managed to catch this on camera! I wasn't able to catch the face of the killer before my phone suddenly stopped working, but I was able to salvage this!

I wasn't able to work up the courage until it was apparently over, but the thunderstorm tonight was extremely loud. Does this even count as an urban legend, since it is confirmed that there is a killer? Or is it the ghost story that everyone's been talking about?

Since this might be turned over to Anti-Skill, I figured I might as well try to help them find the killer (since I might be in danger myself). I wasn't able to see much clearly, but when I looked out, there was blue wisps that looked like electricity. There were also gunshots, but by the time I looked out, it was silent.

The power in my apartment also went out before I suddenly heard a loud clap of thunder, along with several gunshots. The whole thing lasted a few seconds, at most.

I hope this is going to help. Please catch the killer soon!

[Comments: 3,012]

Apple129: God... is this real?

LuckyPlayer108: Yo, wtf?

Gekota_01: That is utterly disgusting, and I need eye bleach. [Gekota Eyebleach]

Dog-Cat_10032: Is anyone going to send this Anti-Skill?

Starry-Eyes_Shoujo Manga: I bet that flat-chest brute did it!

Tou-Man: Dog-Cat_10032 Dog-cat? What kind of name is that? Also, who the hell did this?

[Click to Read More]

AN Notes:

No, the last part was not a joke... sort of. I mean, I wanted to have fun with the usernames, references as such. Except for the first one. No, apple129 is not a reference. I was originally going to be serious, and now im just too lazy to change it.
Also, none of the usernames actually correspond with the person they are suppose to be referencing. just so you know.

I have no idea if I got Uiharu, Saten or Shirai correctly. Especially regarding murder, since I have no idea how they would react with actual murder.

And now im just rushing again.

I guess I found something about myself: I get random bursts of motivation out of nowhere and then suddenly lose it again. So, if I suddenly disappear for like 2 months, you know that I'm just unmotivated again, lol