Tea in the Park
There are many reasons to have tea in the most secluded reaches of a park with your friends. For one you can enjoy pleasant sounds of nature, perhaps even accidently (on purpose) fall into your Emotionally Awkward Boyfriend's arms after seeing a bird swoop out of tree. Another is taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere to inch closer and closer to said Emotionally Awkward Boyfriend, till your sitting so close you can hear his breathing and your perfectly positioned to see his blushing face when he eventually realises how close he is to you.
However for a certain floral headband loving Judgement Officer, it was mostly to reduce the likelihood of some random person overhearing her E.A.B. (Yup he's been abbreviated to E.A.B. already, are you surprised with a name as lengthy as 'Emotionally Awkward Boyfriend'?) and her Tsundere electromaster friend (who shall henceforth be know as the Thundere…because that's cool sounding and stuff) screaming threats and insults at each other.
"You're dating him?!" Was the female Thundere first reaction to the news of her friend's previously very well hidden boyfriend's identity and taking it about as badly as you expect.
"I knew this was a mistake…" Was the muttered reply of said uncovered E.A.B..
Now you may be wondering how a sweet natured Level One Esper who was known more for her choice in hair ornamentation than her seduction skills had somehow managed land Academy City's Number One for a boyfriend…and you wouldn't be alone.
"How the hell did that even -start-?!" The Thundere screamed aggressively.
"I was having a bad day, she stopped it getting worse." The E.A.B. badly (if honestly) explained.
"And what's that's supposed to even mean?" The Thundere asked with an agitated air.
In truth it was fairly straight forwards. During the course of her Judgement work she had befriended a certain young clone girl with an ahoge hair style and ended up trying to defend her from an out of control Level Five with a rather fancy ability called Dark Matter. Course she had been completely outmatched, but her sense of justice was hardly going to let her sacrifice a small child just to protect her own skin.
"Number Two was after Last Order to get at Accelerator, so I protected her." The Judgement Officer casually and humbly explained (You know, like this was the sort of thing members of Judgement did everyday).
"Wait a minute…. " The Thundere replied thoughtfully, before going with the most unflattering piece of negative information in that sentence and screaming in rage. "You endangered Last Order?!"
Now it's like worth saying at this point that both of the Level Fives rose to there feet with killing intent in their eyes and hands going to collar and coins respectfully. Of course the Judgement Officer had half expected this to happen, and so had took certain precautions…
It was at this point a A4 picture of small three coloured cat was thrown on the cloth in the middle of the group. In said picture the cat was playing with a ball of wool, and it was captioned 'I haz a ball of wool… woot!'
"Sphinx is growing into such a cute cat isn't he?" Said a 'Ordinary' Highschool Student. " I mean it's easy for a kitten to be cute, but he's maintaining that cute image even as he grows!"
It was hard for the two Level Fives to go (straight) back into a argument after that.
"I always make Last Order's safety my highest priority." The E.A.B. explained in a tone that was not full of killer intent. "Because plenty of people want to hurt and abuse her for plenty of reasons. I apologise that on that occasion I was the reason somebody was trying to hurt her."
The Thundere blinked and The Judgement Officer herself was slightly surprised that her E.A.B. had apologized without being subtly pushed (she normally had to a lot of that you see).
"Anyway." He continued gruffly. "If you want to know why I'm… why I'm Kazari's, She's good with Last Order and… and touchy feely stuff…."
The E.A.B. was struggling with his feelings (his cheeks were also struggling to keep within the range of hues that could be called 'pink' too), but the Judgement Officer could tell he was trying to be braver and more honest than he would be usually with emotional matters.
"You've been touching and feeling up Uiharu?" Boomed the voice of a Pigtailed Teleporter (who's mind tendered to towards rather perverted assumptions and up to this point had been quietly sitting next to her roommate silently). "Despite the fact she's still in Middleschool!?"
The E.A.B. went as red as his eyes… and so did the Judgement Officer for that matter.
"Seriously." The Thundere said with angry expression as she went with whatever let her return to the 'hostile route' "Even the Spiky Haired Fool shows some restraint around Birdway."
Yes that was the Thundere stating the legendry savoir of fair maidens had in fact recently started a relationship with the Dawn-colored Sunlight's Miniboss (Who at the humble age of thirteen could put 'seduced the most desired man on the planet' to her already impressive list of deeds... proving hard work and playing on the 'little sister' angle can be surprising effective).
"I have to." The 'Ordinary' Highschool Student explained. "Mark Space and Index have me watched like a hawk night and day, I'm banned on pain of horrors beyond human imagination from going any further than kissing her on the cheek!"
It was true too. Between the (jealous) nun and the (rabid with fury) magic cabal, the 'Ordinary' Highschool Student relationship with the Miniboss was a rather restrained affair that mostly included him being used as a piece of furniture.
"Anyway Accelerator not a pervert, he's a perfect gentlemen" The Judgement Officer explained as she attempted to get the conversation back on track and defend her boyfriend's honour. "He might have a crude exterior, but deep inside…"
"He's a homicidal manic who enjoys butchering innocent girls?" The Thundere rudely butted in. "Because a mountain of corpses is a small price to pay if it lets you become Level Six isn't it?"
Course the E.A.B. reacted to that.
"You really enjoy bringing that up don't you?!" He screamed as he stood up. "You don't think that I don't regret what I did to those poor girls? You don't think I would reverse what I did if I could? You don't think I don't toss and turn at night about how the hell I'm suppose to ever remotely put right the wrongs I inflicted? Course not, because you don't think!"
The E.A.B. fuming and shaking in rage, the Thundere was clearly getting ready to reply with harsh words of her own when….
"Cosplaying cat!" The 'Ordinary' Highschool Student shouted at he threw a picture of Sphinx dressed as Magical Powered Super Android Girl Kanamin with the caption 'I iz Magical Gurl'.
"Er?" Was the Thundere's stunned reaction to the image.
"Well that's stupid." The E.A.B. stated before going into full on parent mode. "I know Sphinx is a cat, but he's a young male cat. Brats need clearly defined gender roles. Grey areas and smudging things can screw them the fucking up."
This time the Thundere looked at him with a surprised expression.
"What?" He replied with a somewhat annoyed expression. "Someone got to ensure the Brat doesn't turn into a emotional mess like you with strange childish hobbies and a tendency to try and electrocute her romantic interests."
"Hahahaha!" The Thundere replied with a extremely nervous and embarrassed expression. "Your acting like you've took on the role of a father for Last Order and I'm the screwed up older sister you don't want her to take after!"
"Well I was thinking more screwed up mother." The E.A.B. explained bluntly. "But I doubt you've ever considered that from a technical point of view, your the clone mother of the Sisters anyway."
"Mother?!" the Thundere screamed from the top of lungs (The Judgement Officer couldn't help but noting that the highly secluded location had –really- been a good idea) before she dropped to her knees and covered her crimson face with both hands.
The E.A.B. of course just rolled his eyes at this. But the Pigtailed Teleporter in one of her rare acts of offering comfort to the Thundere (without perverted undertones) put her arm around her shoulders (and amazingly didn't try to grab anything) before saying in a soft and gentle tone.
"You're a great mother and all the Sisters look up to you Onee-sama."
Course this calmed down the Thundere (who rather enjoyed this side of her friend and sometimes had confusing dreams about it…) but off course this calming effect didn't last long.
"You can tell that by your frequent appearances when crap hits the fan." The E.A.B. snidely commented. "It's not I have to deal with all the abduction attempts on Last Order all by myself."
With animalist like growl the Thundere stood up and pretty much threw her face in front of the E.A.B.'s before yelling.
"Well maybe you should keep me in the loop then, It's hard for me to protect Last Order and the others if I have no idea they're even in trouble!"
"Well why would I even bother…" The E.A.B. started before the Judgement Officer gave him a highly meaningful glare.
Now while he was still pretty new to the whole 'boyfriend' thing (he hadn't kissed her yet, even if she had a habit of getting so deep inside his personal space he could feel the heat from her skin) but his brain was processing the signals with a worrying translation… he had crossed a line with that remark he shouldn't have.
"Sorry." Was the E.A.B.'s quick solution to the issue, even if he wasn't exactly 100% clear on the why he should be. He just hoped the Judgement Officer would clean things up for him and step in.
The Thundere was also hoping someone else would step into the conversation between the pair. She had been getting ready to tear into the E.A.B. for that previous comment, but then he had said sorry and put her into awkward position of not wanting to look like a bitch in front of her friends, even if she wanted to tear into him.
So it was rather easy for the 'Ordinary' Highschool Student to make a point.
"You know Leivinia can be a very difficult person to deal with sometimes." He casually remarked. "She's really smart, strong and has earned everything she has the hard way. She's ranked as one of the strongest magicians in the world, has the most powerful British magical cabal under her leadership and her most potent spells are her own creations….but because of that talent she tended to want to deal with everything all by herself. Other people became nothing but gears in her plans, never partners to be listened too."
Both Level Fives looked at him seriously. Both of them knew about the isolating effects of power.
"Thing is, no matter how strong you are, someone else is always stronger. No matter how smart you are, someone else is always smarter." The 'Ordinary' Highschool Student explained. "Stand alone and you will hit your own impossible scenario sooner or latter. Fortunately for Leivinia I was around for hers and just shattered that screwed up illusion that people are tools to be used... then after that I showed her it's ok to trust other people to help you with your problems and responsibilities."
This time the Level Fives looked at each other.
"Uiharu and me both think you two love the Sisters with all your hearts." The 'Ordinary' Highschool Student explained seriously. "So why don't you try and make common ground on that before you meet your own impossible scenarios?"
The Thundere raised her hand awkwardly and pushed it slowly towards the E.A.B., who bit his own lip in unease as she did so.
"I wouldn't want to get the Brat hurt because of my own dam ego…" He explained in a rare gentle tone as he nervously took her hand.
"I think I get it." She replied back in a rather small voice as she shook it. "You don't want to run away, if you ran away you be the monster for sure… but if you stay and pay the price. Then maybe one day, one distant day…"
It's funny how the world turns sometimes. Their was no emotional outpour past that little subdued one. Neither made lengthy speeches to equal their mediators, nor did they swear any promises. Instead they finished the handshake and then the Thundere walked over to the Pigtailed Teleporter and simply said 'Home' and a moment latter the pair where gone.
The E.A.B. stood there a bit longer, staring into space. Somehow he was no longer the enemy of the girl with some of the best reasons on the planet to want him dead, it was surreal.
"Well I best get going too." The 'Ordinary' Highschool Student explained before adding. "The girls and Sphinx will be hungry."
And with that he walked off (teleportation was never a option for him unless it involved the planet being teleported under him you see), leaving the Judgement Officer and the E.A.B. all alone.
Of course the E.A.B. was far too lost in his thoughts to realise that the Judgement Officer had walked right into his personal space (under his chin to be precise… the slight age gap was currently a fairly large height gap).
"Hey." She said as she pressed her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. "That wasn't too bad was it?"
"It was mostly shouting." He replied with a grumpy air. "I still don't get why she change her mind on me."
The Judgement Officer giggled.
"She understands you better now." She explained. "Something I've learned from my Judgement work is that it's really easy to hate in a vacuum, but hate starts to break down as understanding grows."
"She scarred of being weak." He noted. "It really fuck's her up when she can't do anything about a bad situation."
"She has a bad habit of trying to carry all the burdens of the world by herself." The Judgement Officer agreed. "I'm glad a certain someone else I know, who share's that habit, is slowly breaking it as well."
The E.A.B. softly ran his left hand up her back and enjoying her proximity before replying.
"You know it's funny…you might be pretty weak in a traditional fight Kazari, but when it come to all this emotional and social conflict crap, you're my best ally bar none."
The Judgement Officer grinned at that.
"And you look so fragile, but you got to be one of the gutsiest people I know." He further explained as he faltered her. "I know you won't break under pressure… and my life full of pressures."
"I know." The Judgement Officer replied as she stood up on her tip toes. "But no one can be strong all of the time, we all need someone to hide behind sometimes… especially someone as strong as you."
The Judgement Officer's words were tender and her face close to his.
"And open that heart more." She told him (inches from his face by the way). "You think locking it away behind that prideful mask all the time makes you strong... but your wrong. I seen how strong your are when you drop that mask and fight with all you heart, and it make me really proud to call you mine at those times. But it's so annoying when you slip it back on in these peaceful times…"
She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips for the first time.
"You reached a understanding with Misaka today because you let your mask slip a little." She explained with a warm smile and eyes full of affection to the red faced and surprised boy. "I hope one day you find the strength to truly throw it away, and I plan to be by your side when you do."
He didn't reply at first (least not in words), he simply held her close and kissed her softly on the forehead. But in his heart, the Flame of Hope leapt up in size. It was theses moments, these reassurances when the path was hard, that made him love her with all his heart.
"Lets have that tea in the park now Kazari." The E.A.B. said with a warm and unmasked smile.