Chapter 13 «Aftermath»

"Tch"

Ken, as soon as he jumped out of the alley, with the last ounce of strength he had, he made it to a couple of more distant buildings. He's in no rush to make his way back to the station. Ken clearly knows Arima won't chase him, at least for the moment, so he has no reason to run away.

After stopping on top of a building, Ken immediately removed Accelerator transformation, what he needs to do now is rest, he can't afford to go back without being in the top form first.

At the same time, however, this situation is 'convenient' to reflect on what has happened in the last few minutes.

There is a lot to think about, and Ken knows about this. First of all, this fight between him and Arima made him realize further that his physical strength really sucks.

So the first thing he did was to make a mental point in his head so that he remembers that he has to train. He can't keep going with this damn body; he can't exploit all the power of the various characters he has obtained after all.

Ken will never reach the level of some high ranking ghouls, including Arima and those of SSS and SS levels. These three categories are out of his reach; that's right, Ken considers Arima a whole category superior to the other two.

He is a normal human; he cannot reach the strength of some characters. This is still a world with basic strength, but if he were to end up in some other specific worlds, this would become his grave. For this reason, he has to find a solution as soon as possible. If it is not in this world, it will be in the next one, even asking [Sora] about this situation can work according to Ken, she will have for sure a solution about this problem.

Another point is that the investigator's fighting skills have left him amazed, now he understands where he failed aside from his physical strength, and are precisely the fighting techniques.

Accelerator is the strongest esper in the world. Still, this strength has removed his ability to train in some particular scenarios, such as being able to use only a certain amount of his total skills as his exact situation.

Accelerator possesses combat techniques, but they are not suitable for him, at least for the moment as he does not have the stamina necessary to fight as Accelerator himself.

Also, his stamina blocks him from using most of Accelerator techniques, which is a total failure for Ken.

Crying for not training isn't even good. Ken has time, and he is sure of this, after all, he only arrived in this world a week ago, even if he had started training he would not have been able to achieve any particular and noteworthy results.

In a week of training, the result of this fight would not have changed for any reason. No matter what kind of training he does, hasty training is useless, the only training that brings benefits is a long-lasting training in which the person persists for a long time.

Then, showing a serious expression, Ken thought about what he saw earlier.

"Why was the Clowns group in this area?" Ken thought after putting a hand on his chin.

This amazed him enough; he can't really understand the motivation for that ghouls group to be here. Ken knows that if the Clowns are present, something will happen, their mere presence causes problems, moreover, their every action always has a specific reason why they act.

"What frustration!"

"Not being able to understand what they wanted to do is frustrating!" Ken yelled as he scratched his head for not being able to understand this thing.

The Clowns are a real threat, and if Ken wants to eliminate them, he clearly knows where to start, after all the leader of the Clowns works as a spy in a familiar place.

But even if he does act, this will be in a long time. For now, he has to focus on a few goals; too many goals would only send him into confusion.

After almost two hours Ken finally got up, and after transforming himself again, he went in the direction of the station where he took a train home.

...

While Ken was thinking about the next goals, the group led by Kishou Arima reached the top of a building where a helicopter was parked.

Taking it, they arrived at the CCG headquarters located in the 1st district.

"Kishou!"

As soon as he got off the helicopter, Arima heard a very familiar voice calling himself. So, looking in that direction, Arima showed a small, almost imperceptible smile.

"Hairu ..." Arima murmured. His eyes were watching that figure coming towards him with pink bob hair and a big smile printed on the almost childish face.

Hairu Ihei, as well as the person who had always admired him since she was little when both were part of the Sunlit Garden. Arima, for this girl, has always been like an older brother, supporting her at all times.

But Ihei's smile slowly faded as she looked at the wound on Arima's thigh. Her eyes were no longer smiling as they were in the beginning; now, there was only an indescribable coldness.

"Kishou, who hurt you?" she asked Arima in a confused tone.

Ihei clearly knows that if the enemy has managed to injure Arima, she will fail to do anything against this so-called enemy, the leagues between the two are too far apart.

But it is this distance that scares her. For this reason, she works harder and harder than the previous day, and all this only to earn that single praise from Arima.

Arima was silent for a second and then 'answered' Ihei's question.

"I called a meeting on my way here in the helicopter. Now you should get a message about that," Arima replied without mentioning who injured him. The only thing he can do now is to give all the data he collected to the other investigators so that next time there won't be this same situation.

Thinking about the fight, however, Arima showed a rather 'lost' expression.

At first, he believed that his strength was undisputed. Precisely for this thought, Arima thought that he would be able to fulfil his wish before death welcomed him with open arms.

Yet, this clash made him realize that there is someone stronger than him, probably not just that boy he faced today, probably others, even dozens it is possible. This was the moment when Arima decided to train as he did before; this sense of urgency is urging him to improve as he once did.

It's like his spirit is telling him to get better, or something important will be taken away from him. Arima doesn't know what this important thing is but despite this he confirmed the idea of ​​improving, he doesn't want to lose.

Arima at that moment was 'awakened' by a sound, like a ring, for this reason, moving his eyes, he looked at Ihei now with a phone in her hand.

Ihei looked at the phone in her hand, and after fiddling with it for a few seconds, she said in the direction of Arima, "Kishou, there really is a meeting!"

Ihei clearly knows that Arima would never lie. Not to mention that she supports it without questioning what Arima says, yet she didn't expect this urgency.

This did nothing but intensify the 'desire' to know this mysterious person who managed to hurt Arima. She wants to know him because she hasn't seen Arima hurt for years, no, maybe she hasn't seen him hurt since the beginning.

She knows that the message regarding the meeting has come to all the investigators present at the GCC headquarters located in the 1st district.

"I told you, now let's hurry," Arima said indifferently, putting aside what he thought now.

Passing through the corridors, the group led by Arima arrived at a huge room. In several chairs, there were several investigators scattered with a serious look. At the back of the room, there were chairs raised above the others on which was a single person, an elderly with grey-white hair.

The whole body of this man emanated authority, an absolute authority that cannot be contradicted; he is the absolute leader of the CCG, Tsuneyoshi Washuu.

After a few minutes, seeing that everyone who had to arrive has arrived, Tsuneyoshi Washuu got up from his seat and said in an authoritative tone of voice.

"Today, you have been summoned here for a special meeting regarding a particular event encountered by the Special Investigator Kishou Arima during his mission in the 22nd district. I ask the investigator to come forward and tell everything he has encountered without leaving out any important detail."