Author's Note:

It's been awhile, but I managed to find more time nowadays so I'm back for now.

This is technically a complete rewrite of "A Mirage To Keep You Safe" because the original is just... pretty silly, and I was a pretty new writer back then so there were a lot of flaws in that story. I'm still glad that people liked that story despite its flaws but I really can't bring myself to continue updating an obviously flawed story (in my opinion). I think Shikaku Zetsumei said it best when he said that "it almost seems like people's personalities are changing every few scenes" and that the "plot seem to be jumping all over the place" so hopefully this rewrite won't make that same mistake again.

Anyway, I hope you like the new story :)

Mikoto wrinkled her nose at the putrid smell emitted by the simmering corpses around her in District 10.

"I'm a monster."

The only crime those people committed was getting on the wrong side of influential people within the underbelly of Academy City, the world's most technologically advanced city ahead of everyone else by 30 years.

"I'm sick of this."

Mikoto stabbed her temple with the muzzle of her portable railgun.

She had enough of this life where killing was part of her daily routine as a ruthless assassin for hire. Being a monster was too much for her.

"Maybe I should just disappear from this world."

Mikoto closed her eyes with a smile, ready to end her misery when a wet sensation on her face interrupted her. It was an idiotic-looking boy who threw a… cream cake at her.

"It's still too early for you to die!" The boy said.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

A lightning bolt struck the asphalt in front of him.

The boy nonchalantly brushed off dust from his jacket and his black spiky hair.

"This is my life. I'll do what I want with it. It's none of your fucking business. Go away before I get serious. No one has ever returned alive when I get serious." Mikoto said. What exactly does this busybody hero wannabe have up in his sleeves for him to be so calm and confident? Some variant of an anti-electromagnetism ability or armor?

"Your life doesn't only belong to you. What about your family? Your friends? They'll be upset if you died just like that."

Family?

Broken.

Friends?

Gone.

Ever since she got involved in the Dark Side, a term given to the underbelly of Academy City, such things no longer existed in her world.

Deep down inside, she did wish for somebody to be by her side.

Somebody who could tell her that there is no need to kill anymore.

Somebody who would not view her as a freak because of her position in this city.

Mikoto hurled an electric spear at the boy. "Shut up! You know nothing about me!"

The boy waved it away with his right hand as if it was only a play thing that she hurled at him in a childish fit.

Electricity poured out from Mikoto's body and she redirected all of this towards the boy like a roaring electric tsunami. The boy raised his right hand towards Mikoto and clenched it into a fist.

An unnatural sound of shattering glass reverberated through the air. All of the electricity vanished like it was a mere illusion.

"That's a first." Mikoto said.

She fired an orange beam from her portable railgun through his chest. The boy collapsed amongst the pile of charred corpses.

What an idiot. Immunity to her electromagnetic abilities doesn't mean immunity to the force and heat generated by speeding up a metal projectile three times the speed of sound. There were too many idiots who thought that was enough to handle her. She was still a trained assassin without her powers.

Mikoto flipped open her phone to see a message from her mysterious handler.

Do you still want your mother alive? If not, go ahead and kill yourself.

That idiotic-looking boy actually had a point. Her life doesn't only belong to herself. If she killed herself, the monsters from the Dark Side might just kill her mother out of spite anyway. Her mother was only alive because of the value she provided to those monsters.

She slipped her portable railgun back into her pocket in tears. There was no escaping from this hell.

Mikoto laid on her bed inside her school dorm.

It's been six years since that day she met that idiotic-looking boy.

Right now, Misaka Mikoto was a talented Level 5 student in Tokiwadai Middle School. Her days of an assassin for hire was a thing of the past. Her mother was also doing fine studying part-time in an university outside of Academy City without the Dark Side threatening to kill her mother anymore.

A lot happened in between, but if it wasn't for that idiot who somehow survived a railgun shot to his chest, none of this would have been possible.

"Onee-sama~"

A girl with auburn hair tied in two curly pigtails appeared out of thin air and pounced upon Mikoto.

"Kuroko!"

Mikoto couldn't shake off Kuroko who was hugging her like a desperate koala bear so she zapped Kuroko with her lightning.

"Onee-sama, I was only trying to cheer you up." Kuroko sighed. "It's already been a week since you've reached Level 5, but instead of being happy, you seem upset."

Mikoto got up from her bed and reached for the door.

"Where are you going? Curfew time is almost over." Kuroko said.

Mikoto smiled, "I have something urgent to handle, so... I'll be counting on you again to hide my absence from the dorm manager!"

A glowing green orb beside Mugino Shizuri lifted the shadowy mist surrounding the bridge.

"Kamijou Touma, you're pretty pathetic for a legend who managed to dissolve ITEM by bankrupting all its backer." Shizuri said.

A boy with black spiky hair darted about the bridge before turning behind to face Shizuri. "Who are you? Do I know you?"

Shizuri eyed him suspiciously before she flashed a smile, "I'm Mugino Shizuri, the #4 Level 5 esper and the new leader of ITEM."

"And what has it got to do with me? Yes, you're a Level 5 but I'm just a Level 0, what business would you have with me?"

"You really don't remember me?"

"I think you got the wrong person."

"I don't really care actually."

A green beam flew past Touma's shoulder, only missing his face by mere inches.

"How is it? My Meltdowner is equally as good as the Railgun, no?"

"Railgun? Misaka Mikoto?"

"You don't remember her as well?"

"I... seriously have no idea what you're talking about. And don't fire that thing at me, it's dangerous!"

Shizuri's lips curled into a sadistic smile before she fired a green beam from her palm towards Touma.

The impact of the blast shook the bridge as smoke filled the area.

Touma waved the smoke away with not a single scratch on him.

"Were you lying when you said that you're a Level 0?" Shizuri said.

Her Meltdowner involved manipulating electrons into an unstable state stuck between wave and particle before firing it at her opponent for a sure kill. There was nothing in the world she could not tear apart with her Meltdowner… except for a stupid looking boy's right hand.

Touma briefly glanced at his right hand, "It's just only a small mistake that the SYSTEM scan made. I may be a Level 0, but that right hand of mine can negate any supernatural phenomenon that comes into contact with it."

"Like I give a fuck."

Shizuri fired a few more beams from her palm.

Touma negated one of the beam before dodging the rest by tumbling sideways.

That boy was not lying at all. He could negate at least her Meltdowner with his right hand. However, it was painfully obvious that the range of his ability did not extend to the rest of his body.

She fired more and more beams from her palm at Touma who frantically swept it away with his right hand much to her amusement.

"You're so cute when you do that."

"Let me go! I'm just an innocent Level 0!"

Shizuri picked up her ringing phone with an annoyed sigh. "What is it?"

"You're super late Mugino! Hurry up, we still have a job to do!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Shizuri snapped her phone shut, "I hope that you'll prove to be more challenging when we meet again. If you don't, I'm afraid you won't make it out alive. I still remember our promise, Kamijou Touma."

Touma smiled knowingly, "I don't know what promise you're talking about."

Mugino chuckled as she left the bridge. He was still the same idiot as always.

In an alley, a group of thugs cornered Mikoto against the wall.

"Hey little girl, wanna play with us?" A thug said.

Mikoto rested against a wall with hands crossed behind her head, "You'd know better than to mess with me."

Another thug snickered as he placed his grimy fingers onto her chest, "Aww, but it'd be so much fun..."

Mikoto shocked the entire group of thugs with her electricity. "When will you scums ever start thinking with your brain? Perverts."

She had planned to loiter around the alley so that she would somehow get into trouble with thugs like them.

Maybe this would lure that idiot out of his hiding. Not to save her, but to save those thugs from being electrocuted by her. However naive and stupid this plan sounded, she would try anything just to meet him once again.

After all, he promised that he'd be back when she reached Level 5.

"You don't have to be so hard on them."

Mikoto turned behind to see a boy with black, spiky hair. Her face flushed crimson red as her heart thumped wildly.

It was him! He remembered after all.

"Hmph. I'm not going to forgive you for being a week late."

Although her legs wanted to bring her close to him so as to hug him and feel the warmth of his chest once again, but she did not want to make things so easy for the jerk who abandoned her for 6 whole years.

Touma looked at the girl baffled. "Huh?"

"You don't remember? You promised you'd definitely be back once I reached Level 5. There was a city-wide public announcement just a week ago so don't say you didn't know."

"Excuse me, but I think that this is the first time that we've met. Err, do you happen to be Misaka Mikoto then? I'm sorry but I don't think I know any Misaka Mikoto."

Mikoto laughed, "What are you saying? Has it been so long that you forgotten me already?"

Touma scratched his head in confusion, "I'm very sure that this is the first time we met."

Mikoto's laughter grew nervous, "It's not funny, you know. Stop it."

"I'm not being funny. This is the first time that we met. I'm sure."

His words sent chills throughout her body. What was going on? Why doesn't he remember anything?

Mikoto took out a phone from the pocket in her skirt. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she held the Gekota keychain strapped onto the phone up close enough for him to see.

All she wanted now was for Touma to tell her that it was all just a prank even though she'd probably hate him forever for playing such a cruel joke. The last thing Mikoto wanted was for him to forget her completely.

"Look. You gave me this before you left. You really don't remember?"

"It's a cute frog but don't you think you're a bit too old for that?" Touma said.

"I.. I'm too old for that?"

Mikoto dropped her phone onto the ground.

The strength of her body melted away as the thought of him forgetting her completely became more of a reality.

A sudden rage from within jerked her back to life.

"You idiot!"

She slapped him before running away in tears.

Touma picked the phone up from the ground. "I suppose I should return this to her before she regrets it."

He should not have appeared to Mikoto, but a promise is a promise.