章節 3: such misfortune

After my little chase after Tsuchimikado I eventually got my 500 yen after he borrowed some from Haruto.Seriously though,don't make promises you can't keep.

I was now making my way to the supermarket because there was a sale on eggs I couldn't miss even if the world ended.Before I entered I grabbed my wallet and turned it upside down only to see it was almost empty[I really should get a part time job shouldn't I].

Here in E.S.P.E.R city the minimum to apply for a part time job was 14.School curriculum starts at April 1st and ends March 31st just like japan and we were only 3 weeks into the school year.My birthday was on July 7th so I still need to wait a few months whereas Tsuchimikado was already 14 as his birthday was on the 14th of April,but even if he did apply for a part time job he would probably get fired for his incompetence,well none of that concerns me.

I entered the supermarket and I was surprised to see that the queue wasn't long,because of my chase with Tsuchimikado I lost some valuable shopping time and expected the queue to be longer.

I hopped into the queue with my beautiful half price eggs and after buying my eggs I walked out the super market.As I was walking on the usual route to my apartment which was government provided since I was an orphan with no knowledge of my parents, I heard a few shouts behind me and as I turned to look something raced past my face,with no time to react I raised my arms in defence but...Nothing happened?after gathering my bearings I was ready to go home but I noticed something awful.

My eggs were gone."tsk,such misfortune"

I could not go home without my daily source of protein so I decided to chase,luckily I saw that they turned a right before they stole my precious eggs.

At this pace I wouldn't catch up so I decided to make a little trade, I saw a young boy with a worn out skate board on the sidewalk I threw 500 yen at his face and grabbed the skate board and screamed."Sorry kid I need my eggs!!"as I skated away.The kid just stood there baffled at what just happened but at least he made a profit.

I was racing down the street with the skate board and was slowly catching up to the motor bike as they had to dodge the cars on the road while I was just cruising on the side walk.

* * * * * *

Thiefs pov

[ I can't believe I actually stole a bunch of eggs.The boss won't be happy]

[What kind of kids carries a bunch of eggs any way.I wonder how long it will take till retribution tries to arrest me,they really are a pain in the ass but not long till I escape.I'll look to see if anyone's chasing]and as I turn my head[Wait what the fuck?How can a kid on a skate board catch up to me I'm on a goddamn motorcycle,What a freak.I need to speed up.]

* * * * *

Kuro's pov

[The guys speeding up huh,he might injure a few civilians at that speed but the direction he's going is a dead end with one alley way out which is a right turn] I reach the other side of the alleyway[he should come here any second now.]

*skrrr*

[There It is]

As I hear the thief enter the alleyway on his bike I show my self but he doesn't slow down,which is actually to my advantage because now I can end this much quicker.As he approaches I jump and perform a perfect and flawless 360 crescent kick,one of taekwandos most iconic moves.I hit him directly on his head and he flew backwards off his bike.He was knocked out cold.

"Finally I can have my eggs".I approach the unconscious body and grabbed my shopping bag and as I'm ready to leave I hear a shout.

"Stop in the name of law,you will now be arrested under the name of retribution".

I turn to see a girl,she had brown hair which went down to her shoulders and brown eyes ,on her arm was an arm band which has the words retribution written in bold but what surprised me most was that she had the uniform of the famous inagakuen advanced academy which was a middle school built for the purpose of producing espers.

"Sorry but I think your mistaken here,that guy on the floor is the thief,I just took back my eggs"she looked down at the unconscious man and back at me "if that's true what is your rank."The question was perfectly sensible in this situation but I feel like my answer could cause trouble."I'm only a rank 1 and although I don't know much about my ability,I do know that I am 1.2x stronger than the average person my age and minor injuries heal quicker".She was shocked at what I said which wasn't a surprise because i was very weak compared to other espers and their abilities.

"Sorry,but I fail to see how you can defeat this man who is registered as a rank 4,his ability is able to reduce friction on anything he touches and can be used indirectly as long as something he touches is on that surface.. and why would he steal eggs?".[So that's why he was able to ride so fast]I thought. she continued"I will have to take you in for questioning".I really thought this was a drag but to make things easier I would willingly turn my self in,"ok but don't take too lon-Watch out!"I screamed at her but it was already to too late the now conscious criminal was now holding a knife to her throat.

"If you don't want her to die back away" I raised my hands and slowly walked backwards,in this situation I can only 3 possible outcomes that favour me. 1:I stall for time so that the police or retribution come, 2:hope that the girl can fend for herself or 3:Distract him for a second because that's all I need to close the distance and land a blow.

Outcome 2 came into play as sparks started to come off her as she muttured"if you don't want to be fried alive by electricity I suggest you get away from I'll count from 5".The criminal replied with"your just bluffing!" but she ignored him carried on the countdown.At that distance being zapped could possibly kill him,I didn't really care if he died or not because I believed in the phrase"If your prepared to kill,be prepared to be killed"but I didn't want more trouble and i started to piece together the sequence of events and realized something dangerous.[If this man had a knife ready and was stealing it meant he was in need of money so he was either a victim of debt and killing him could trigger the rage of loan sharks or even worse,he is the lackey of some gang or organization and killing him would certainly cause more trouble.My suspicions were confirmed when I saw the logo on his motor bike jacket.

"hey,I think you need to calm down as he could actually die at that distance "i said to her in a calm tone but she carried on the countdown 3,2,1,0.I dashed at her and tried to reach her but her electricity would expand and fry everything in a 10 metre radius.There was no way I could leave this unscathed but as I reached my right arm out I felt something travel down it,I couldn't describe it was as if some energy appeared out of nowhere and was ready to discharge through my right arm, As her electricity expanded it definitely hit the thief but as soon as it reached my right arm it just disappeared.

I was bewildered at what just happened I checked my right arm but it was normal.The girl was also shocked as this was the first time for her that someone could stop her attack.Unfortunately she now saw me as an accomplice"hey you!what do you think you're doing!".I replied with "Sorry I just thought that killing him would be a bad idea becau-"as I was trying to explain she cut me off"You are now under arrest as an accomplice of this criminal!".[tsk,such misfortune]I said to myself.

I decided that the best course of action was to run using the skate board as there was no doubt that I would be arrested as an accomplice as thats what anyone who saw this altercation would believe.

I turned and picked up the skate board and raced away as fast as I possibly could ."Hey wait right there I am going to arre-"but her cries were cut out because I had now travelled a sufficient amount of distance for her voice to not reach me.Lucky for me I was wearing a typical black face mask because I don't like attention but thinking about it,it probably draws more attention.I just hope I'm not a wanted criminal the next day.As I looked back at the events the only thing I could say was "god damnit why am i cursed with misfortune where ever i go?"