Knee-length black velvet strap dress.

That was the outfit that beautiful girl, Suzushina Yuriko, wore at that moment.

Though, upon some reflection, she felt that her pale marble shoulders were too revealed by that outfit... so in addition, she also wore a white blouse underneath that dress.

Without that white blouse, she would've fit perfectly within a Michelin star restaurant.

But, with that additional white blouse underneath, she gave up points on appearing to have Refined Tastes, but gained points on looking like a Sensible, Well-rounded young lady.

Well, not that she was all that focused on her current outfit, at that moment.

At that moment, she was rather more preoccupied with this... curious sight in front of her.

...

"CHASER!"

Crash!

From half a block away, she witnessed that High Class Ojou-sama perform that merciless roundhouse kick to that poor vending machine.

The said machine subsequently spit out couple of drinks.

"..."

"Strawberry Oden... you've gotta be kidding me," that Ojou-sama gave that petulant complaint as she walked away.

"..."

"Theft in broad daylight..!" Yuriko mumbled with disconcerted gaze.

Well... anywho.

It was just a juice or two at the end of the day.

At that moment, she was rather more preoccupied with other thoughts.

...

As agreed upon by the conversation she had with him the day they met, that average boy, Kamijou Touma, continued to intervene for her whenever the occasion arose.

His timing was rather too accurate to not arouse suspicion... but she highly doubted that he was a sort of a person to put a GPS tracker on her. Who knew? Maybe finding Damsel in Distress was his – yet Level Zero – Esper ability.

But as time went on, as she met him again for a number of times in the streets for some time, she saw that she was not the only one.

She was not the special case. He seemingly appeared to do that to pretty much any girl residing in this city.

(What made it all the more, how should she say, vexing, was that, despite him rescuing any girl he came across, he didn't even seem to view them in terms of gender...

...Most likely, rather, he viewed people in another binary terms: to punch, or not to punch?)

She gave a small laugh, in spite of herself.

What happened to her, what he did for her, was nothing special. He truly did that for everyone.

Was that... good or bad?

Was she bothered by that?

"..."

That half-grimace continued to grace her lips.

Maybe, a little? She thinned her lips as she aimlessly kicked some leaves on the ground this way and that while marching onward. But, why? He has every right to talk to anyone else.

...

For better or for worse, her mind continued to roam around that subject.

And, before she knew it, she found herself paused on a certain point on the sidewalk, her gaze aimed at the top of the building she stood in front of.

"–Ah."

This was–

"Yo."

She turned her head to see that boy, Touma, walking up toward her, lugging his narrow black randoseru behind his back. "What's up?"

"–Nothing..." she responded in a small voice, feeling her body temperature slightly raising.

Kamijou in turn faced the top of the building she idly gazed upon earlier. "Waiting for someone to come down?"

"–No." She averted her gaze elsewhere. "In fact, I'm not even sure if anyone lives there anymore."

"Oh."

...

"So," he continued, "you know this building?"

"–I guess you could say that."

...

Should she tell him?

That backstory... it was not really a story she shared with anyone else.

To be more precise, she never really had anyone else to casually shoot the breeze with in the first place, but regardless...

Teitoku, Tsuchimikado... such acquaintances she only really knew because of how deeply she was involved in the Dark Side of the Academy City in her youth. As for anyone else, no one could even get near her, never-mind get to talk to her, to get to know her...

Really, she didn't even take time to think about just how much of a loner she was until she met this average boy.

But, even still, was this story something she felt comfortable enough telling? Was it a story she was prepared to bring up at this moment?

...

To be honest, it felt like she was making a lot of exceptions and allowances for this average boy. As to why she did that, well, who knew.

In any case...

"This was an apartment building I used to live in."

Raising his eyebrows, Touma turned his attention back to that building. "I see."

"I live somewhere else now, in another side of the district," Yuriko continued, "but this place... even now it means a lot to me."

Touma maintained his silence, listening.

He wasn't sure if she was going to continue speaking though. It sure took quite some time until she spoke again. She seemed to be in a daze of reminiscence.

But, in the end, she found the words to speak.

"I am a Child Error."

Touma's eyes narrowed in response; he was not particularly comfortable as to the direction this story was going. It was always difficult to determine what sort of attitude he needed to display in response to such revelation of such details.

"I'm gonna be honest with you; I don't even know if my parents are alive or not. I might've been abandoned; who knows."

Was there a hint of bitterness right in the end of that sentence? He couldn't tell.

Neither could she.

"My name, Suzushina Yuriko... that's all I ever got from them." She gave a small shrug. "Didn't really have any parent figures to rely on, I guess. I didn't really feel that I needed anything such, though. But then... I met this man."

She paused, her gaze still upon that apartment building, focused on a certain room within it.

"Kihara Amata. That was... well, is, his name."

...

Touma wasn't really sure as to how to respond to that point of the story. It suddenly became all too personal for him. So she was an orphan... alright. And then she seemed to have found a parental figure... good. So...

...

"So," Touma spoke up. "Where is he now?"

It was then where Yuriko lowered her gaze onto the ground. "I don't know. I'm not even sure if he's alive, to be honest; he just dropped off of the face of the earth."

...

"–Sorry to hear that," Touma scratched the back of his head.

"Being sorry is useless," Yuriko grimaced. "Being sorry is for those without power."

...

Okay then.

Kamijou Touma fixed a forced smile on his face as he attempted to choose his next words with some care.

As for Yuriko... her mind roamed through her memories until it settled on a particular one:

"Getting such a bleached white hair at such young age of yours..." It was Kihara Amata, sitting behind her, tugging her hair this way and that with his fingers. "What a pitiful young brat you are."

"I'll make sure you go bald someday..." Yuriko spat out, with a dull look on her face.

(Stop tugging on my hair already.)

The thin briefcase Yuriko held in her hand just before now collided against the ground. Stooping down, Yuriko sat on the sidewalk, her arms curled around her knees which were now pressing against her chest.

Her beautiful face was now twisted and mired in misery.

Touma's concern now increased twofold. He wasn't prepared for this turn of events.

"Just... leave me like this for now..." Yuriko mumbled, her eyes glazed. "I'll be fine."

"..."

Nothing else to it, huh.

After a moment of pause, Kamijou Touma set his own briefcase down on the ground, and sat on the sidewalk also, right next to Yuriko.

And she and he, both, sat next to each other for quite some time, just gazing at that building.

He didn't say anything, because he knew that words were not something she needed right now.

...

An hour or two passed before Yuriko spoke again.

"It was a real pain, trying to get him to take me in." Yuriko gave a faint smile. "He could be a real jackass at times."

Touma, unsure of what response he ought to give at that moment, kept his silence.

"When I first saw him, he went the extra mile to ignore me at first. I guess he caved in the end because he was interested in my powers.

"Back then, no researcher lasted two months with me... they were all unnerved by my powers, or something along those lines. I guess I felt he wouldn't be as gutless like the other researchers, though I don't think research purposes was the main reason as to why I followed him around so much.

"After several weeks passed with him performing his research with me as his subject, I went ahead and asked if I can stay with him... and that was when he was living in this apartment." Yuriko raised her chin toward the building in question they both were sitting in front of. "My excuse was that I felt lonely, with practically all people who knew me avoiding me because of the nature of my powers... well, was I really lonely? I guess so, but it didn't bother me all that much. At least, not back then. 'No' was all he said, and he pretty much meant that. 'No' was his final answer."

"So... how did you persuade him?" Touma asked, in spite of himself.

"I went on a hunger strike."

"..."

"It's pretty hard to continue conducting research with a subject who refuses all food and water." An obstinate light filled her eyes while a faint smile graced her lips.

Why am I not surprised... Here, Touma gave his own half smile, half grimace.

"Then, after that, I asked him if I could call him 'Dad'."

"Bghh!" Touma choked on his non-existent drink.

Yuriko laughed.

It was a light, airy laugh, a laugh that truly suited that beautiful girl.

"He almost crashed the car we were in when that happened. He never really gave his permission... not that it stopped me." She still felt sadness within herself. But, at the very least, her expression of misery was now replaced with a small smile. "The thing about with men like him was that, once you break into that hard exterior of theirs', it becomes progressively easier to bond with them."

But...

"But as to the question of why I liked him so much..." Yuriko went on, almost as if sensing Touma's question, "I don't know. I'm not sure. I guess... it was because he looked pretty tough. He had face tattoo. He wouldn't look out of place among the Yakuza. I wanted to be as tough as he was... to be strong as he seemed to be, to learn power from him." Yuriko paused for a bit before continuing. "He could be a real jerk at times though, though I do suppose that such a personality aspect comes in package with being a tough person as he was. Once, while driving, I asked if we could get something at WcDonalds..."

That was when she saw it.

The Golden Arch, symbolizing those junk food that her young mind craved so much.

"Dad," Yuriko turned to Amata, "could we get WcDonalds?"

"–We have food at home," Amata grunted.

"But food at home isn't WcDonalds," Yuriko pointed out this obvious fact with supreme gravity.

Amata was about to shut down her request, but then a devilish idea entered his head. Suddenly he swerved his car, dangerously cutting across the road and entering the drive-thru.

Yuriko, stunned by this unexpected development, watched in amazement as Amata ordered... a single espresso, took the drink, and sped away from the restaurant.

Silence reigned in the vehicle.

To Amata, this was merely yet another opportunity to test Yuriko's personality... with his mind constantly set toward science, Amata took this opportunity to experiment with Yuriko's character. How would she react now to this sort of unexpected screwball?

But she was silent. She displayed no anger on her face; her mood appeared to be the same as before this had occurred. When they got home, she made no fuss when told to get off the car; she took no rebellious action.

Amata, suffice to say, was nonplussed by this. Such lack of reaction was not what he was expecting.

But, as couple of days went by, he felt that he made some sort of error in his calculations, perhaps. Yuriko made absolute zero change in her mood, attitude, expression, or all else for days on end beginning from that day. Not hot, not cold, just... frigid, like a princess made of ice.

This went on for days on end.

It definitely was not every day for Amata to be actually unnerved by someone... but this little girl was definitely something else, he concluded.

"He eventually bought me a happy meal sometime after that," Yuriko announced with a triumphant smile on her face.

...Yep, sounds like her, alright, Touma gave an awkward smile in response.

...

Yuriko, having Touma to talk to, seemed almost back to her normal mood.

However, there still was one piece of information missing from this story.

Kamijou Touma personally had no wish to learn of her past in the first place. But he still respected her decision to tell him about it nevertheless. And he could see it in her face that she was still gathering her thoughts on that last part of her story, on as to why she was not with that scientist anymore. If she needed someone to share her past with, he didn't have it in him to prematurely free himself from this conversation just yet.

And, to be honest, he was a bit curious himself, as well.

"I don't know why it all ended, to be honest," Yuriko shrugged, a hint of disdain on her face. "Just... one day, out of the blue, he told me to leave, that he and I are not to see each other again." Yuriko grimaced. "And that was that. I never saw him again."

"..."

They both continued to sit there, gazing upon that apartment.

Until nightfall.

postimg(period)cc(slash)KkPt2J7g