It was nighttime.
It was a refreshing change, being at the hospital as a visitor instead of as a patient. He was waiting outside the treatment room, awaiting the news of the flayed victim.
He had made some acquaintances during his prior visits to the hospital—people traveled across the hallway, some waving at him, and receiving a wave in return.
The door to the emergency room opened and out came Heaven Canceller. Standing up, Haru walked up to the doctor, expecting some update.
"He is fine, and there won't be any lasting damage." he shuffled some papers within his hands. "Although, this is one of more stranger cases I have seen. The patient has told us that he was kidnapped a week ago and held within an abandoned building since. However, his wounds are fresh."
Haru frowned as he processed this information.
"It seems as though this patient has the ability to petrify every single particle within his body in order to enter some form of stasis. He was unable to move, but no further damage was able to be dealt to him." Heaven Canceller looked behind Haru. "Ah, Unabara-san. I have been expecting you."
Haru turned around to see an elderly lady walking toward them. She was dressed well in expensive looking clothes and had an air of austere dignity; not unlike the feeling he received while observing the victim.
"Heaven Canceller-san," the old lady walked up to them, "How is my grandson? Is he hurt? What had happened?"
"He has suffered no lasting damage, and will be perfectly fine after some rest. This is the young man who rescued your grandchild." Heaven Canceller gently pushed Haru toward her.
"So you are the one who found my Unabara!" the old lady bowed, and Haru bowed awkwardly in return. "How can I ever express my gratitude?"
"Ah, well, I was too slow, really," Haru desperately tried to imitate typical shounen manga hero modesty. "I should have found him sooner, to be honest."
"Nonsense!" the grandmother replied. "Being rescued is many times better than being lost. Why, if you were a girl instead of a boy, I would have full-heartedly recommended you for the Tokiwadai Middle School!"
Sensing the topic slowly crawling toward a weird territory, Haru changed the subject. "Ah, well, most of the credit goes to your son. After all, he was the one who managed cleverly to enter himself into cryogenic stasis using his own abilities, making it so that he would receive zero damage! Even I wouldn't have been able to think of that one."
Heaven Canceller silently remarked the way Haru simultaneously complimented the victim, humbled himself, and somehow yet elevated himself within the terms of intelligence.
Unabara Mitsuki.
He was the grandson of the director of the Tokiwadai Middle School. Pretty privileged fellow, with a level 4 power to boot.
Haru was sitting within a chair, located directly next to the patient's bed. His hands behind his head, he was stretched back, relaxing.
"That ability of yours, it is very fascinating. How did you pull yourself out from the stasis?" Haru took a swig from the cup of water nearby.
"When I petrified cells within my body, I left the brain part intact." Mitsuki replied. "So, whenever I wished to, I would be able to unfreeze myself. But I was still tied and gagged, unable to do anything to pull myself free, until you came along."
"Clever..." Haru mumbled, while toying with his phone. "I could use some help from a person like you. Say, how about you join my group?"
Mitsuki shifted his position within the bed to face Haru. "Group?" he echoed, giving a questioning look.
"Group." Haru repeated. "I didn't exactly think of a name yet, but it will be a group of, say, superheroes." he shrugged. "I'm trying to gather multiple ability users and form them into a special response team; earth's mightiest heroes, or something like that. Still working on the general concept." pulling out an index card from his inner coat pocket, he scribbled some notes using his mechanical pencil. "Think about it and call me back. Once I gather adequate people, we will begin." Standing up, Haru approached the door. "For now, just rest. It's still in the beginning phase, at any rate."
He pretty much had a good idea of the identity of the person who attacked Unabara. For ten minutes he went into a deep thought, intensely trying to logically decide the phone number he needed to use.
Dialing a certain number into his device, Haru held it near his head, waiting.
"..."
"Etzali." Haru talked into the phone.
"Who is this?" a confused voice replied.
"Try to guess." Haru smirked. "I am the same person who infiltrated your organization's oh so fortified Templo Mayor, back in, what, December few years ago, I believe?"
"Ah," recognition entered into his tone, as well as some suspicion and bitterness. "It's you."
"Me," Haru lightly replied. "Really, what were you thinking, going waist deep into the Academy City? I thought the whole point of camouflaging as someone else involved actually disposing the victim properly—not that I would want anyone to die that painfully—but you didn't even manage to do that right. Have you been slacking off? The Return of the Winged One does not take failures kindly."
The voice on the other side of the line was briefly silent. Then, he spoke:
"I was originally sent to the Academy City to measure the growing power of the Kamijou Faction, and if they proved to be dangerous, to dispose of them. After a month of surveillance, I have observed the faction gathering very powerful allies from both spectrum, including you, who created a tornado of fear within the Magic Side by entering the Academy City. But I failed to assassinate Kamijou Touma."
"Not with that halfhearted effort, you won't." Haru replied. "Really, whats with you? You could have been way more effective with your infiltration had you actually thought carefully about this mission. Your obsidian dagger, or should I say, SCP-034, should have been given you an edge over your battle with Kamijou. Don't tell me it got destroyed?"
The magician did not reply.
"I'll take that as a yes." Haru continued. "But, why are you telling me all this top secret classified mission information in the first place?"
It seemed as though the voice on the other side of the line was contemplating on his choice of words.
"I have defected from the Return of the Winged One." He replied.
Stunned, Haru fell silent.
Thinking logically, he began to slowly connect the pieces.
Instead of picking a far more suitable victim, he purposely chose someone with high level esper ability.
Instead of immediately disposing of his victim in order to fully eliminate the possibility of them being discovered, he merely locked his victim up within an abandoned building when faced with no other choice.
The victim himself cared more about the safety of Misaka Mikoto rather than himself for some reason. That logically meant that the attacker himself displayed actions that would point toward that conclusion...
"Heh-heh-heh..." Haru began to chuckle in a low voice. "HahahahaHAHAHAHA! Man, this is hilarious! Hahahaha!"
Haru laughter rang out loud within the dark sky.
"What is so amusing about this?" Anger began to seep into the words of the Aztec magician.
"What is this, shounen manga?" Haru clutched his stomach. "Betraying the organization you dedicated your entire life for a silly crush? Someone who you have very little chance with, especially with someone else on her side? This, this is the reason why you don't entrust missions to teenagers with hormonal issues. Human emotions rules us all in the end, it seems."
"A cold villain like you wouldn't understand!" The voice on the other side roared. "Because the Kamijou Faction proved to be too dangerous, I had to give up on my dreams and attack the world I came to love! Someone like you, who ruins the lives of those around him, would not be able to understand how I feel!"
"Cool your jets," Haru interrupted him. "You judge me too harshly. I only eliminated those who threatened my existence, and believe me, many have tried to kill me since my birth for the arbitrary reason of destroying anyone with powers similar to what I have. Otherwise, I have stayed pretty neutral. As for your teenage angst, didn't you fail your mission? Didn't you defect from your organization? Is this not your chance?"
Etzali stayed silent.
"Misaka Mikoto..." Haru snickered. "Yeah, I get what you mean. She's pretty cute. She is, how should I say this, charming." he smiled. "You like Academy City? Well guess what, I have taken a liking to this city also. I guess this makes our relationship mutualistic, in a way?"
"Are you suggesting an alliance?"
"Not really." Haru replied. "But, when the situation calls for it, you help me protect this city, and I will help in return. Think about that. In the meanwhile, try not to be too conspicuous. This city is blissfully unaware of magic, and you will want things to stay that way. Oh, and one more thing—no one finds the prospect of getting their skins flayed out amusing."
Chuckling at his own dry humor, Haru flipped the phone shut. Stretching, he headed back toward the buildings.
It wasn't a total loss, the time he spent trying to find the handbag. Maybe he'll actually try to retrieve it.