AN: To those already following me - this chapter doesn't mean I'm abandoning my other fics. I got this out of my system so that I can focus better on the other stories I have.
x( "I don't want a new Papa!" cried a little girl for about the fifth time. She had short hazelnut hair and matching eyes. As she cried out, sparks literally flew from her bangs.
Her mother sighed, trying to find a way to convince her stubborn daughter. 'I swear, Tabigake-san, she may have my looks, but that's your stubborn attitude she's got.'
"Alright, fine. You don't want a new Papa, Mikoto-chan," remembering something she talked with the stepfather-to-be in question, she found a new angle of attack, and smirked.
"How about an Onii-chan?"
._.? "Eh?" The girl, Mikoto, looked at her mother, confused by the change in subject, thus prompting the woman to continue.
"You see, this man Mama is seeing," she ignored her daughter's frown, "he has a son. Apparently, that boy is a little older than Mikoto-chan." She saw that she had Mikoto's attention and turned to her with a mischievous smile.
"So if Mama marries this man, then Mikoto-chan gets an Onii-chan all to herself!" she declared.
:s "An... Onii-chan..." Mikoto imagined an older boy with looks suspiciously similar to a certain super-human shounen manga hero. Shaking the image out, she made up her mind.
-_- "Fine, I'll come see him. But he'd better be amazing!"
"Onee-sama!" With a jolt, pun intended, Mikoto woke up from her day-dream, seeing her school-junior and roommate Shirai Kuroko starring at her with a dissatisfied expression.
._.' "Ah, sorry Kuroko. You were saying?"
"Dear me, you really shouldn't blank out like that," said the teleporter, missing the fact that Mikoto noticed the note book in her hand, remembering that her friend had written out her plans for their outing.
Feeling rightfully suspicious, she snatched the book away and read it aloud, using her other hand to keep the panicked level 4 from getting it back.
:| "Oh, what's this? 'Operation: 'Date with Onee-sama' Step 1: Use Uiharu as an excuse to go out with Onee-sama.'" She gave the sweating Kuroko an extra shove.
}:[ "Uh huh. 'Step 2: At the first opportunity, ditch Uiharu.'" Her hand on Kuroko's forehead began to grip more tightly.
-_- "Hm. 'Step 3: Find a love hotel to spend the night with Onee-sama in'(?)" The change in her tone elected a nervous laugh, which came to a dreadful end at the next line.
x| "... 'Note to self: Prepare'... Ape-traps..." Kuroko gulped, expecting a literally shocking punishment.
Instead, the #3 level 5 decided to forego shocking the girl, since they were in a certain family diner, in favor of quietly pulling her cheeks apart with a neutral face. You could still see the proverbial tick-mark on her head.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Onee-shama, I'm showwy, shay shomeding, pwease, ow! Doing dis shiwently wid dat fash ish mutch cweepier dan it should be, ow!"
Contrary to her public image, Kamijou Mikoto was very childish at times, especially about two things: Gekota the Frog, and her step-brother, the aforementioned 'ape', Kamijou Touma.
"What's wrong Touma? Nervous?" That question was directed at a young boy with dark blue eyes and black hair which he was still cleaning a bird's 'present' out of with a tissue, doing his best to ignore the stares and whispering around him.
:| "Obviously. I've never done this sort of thing before, Pops." The boy, Touma, was going to meet his stepmother-to-be, so he was understandably anxious. Especially once you factor in his unnatural bad luck.
"Neither have I. Not with children around, at least." His dad was hoping that his son would get along well with this woman and her daughter, whom he himself hadn't met yet, but his girlfriend tended to gush about.
._.? "Eh? Children? It's not just me?" Father and son looked at each other in surprised confusion.
"Hm? Didn't I tell you? This woman has a girl of her own. So you'll be getting a sister as well as a mother." Touma's eyes lit up.
*o*! "An Onee-chan?!"
"No, an Imouto." 'So he's into older girls?' thought the father curiously, taking a sip of water. He was also trying his best to ignore the whispering, but it was harder when the subject was you own child.
._. "Oh...an Imouto...huh..." In his mind, Touma saw a small girl with pigtails jumping his way for a hug screaming 'Onii-chan.' He then shook his head free of the day-dream.
'Nah, no way my luck is that good. She's probably a little monster to go with the evil stepmother. Haha.'
Feeling the call of nature, he went away from the table.
"Touma? Where are you going?"
-_- "Bathroom."
"Ah, okay. Don't take too long."
It was a pleasant surprise that Kuroko's friend from work, Uiharu Kazari, had brought her classmate Saten Ruiko with her. Though Mikoto noticed that the latter seemed to have a problem with her own power level, seeing as how she introduced herself as a level 0.
Not that Mikoto cared. Her stepbrother was a level 0, with no prospects of getting out of there unless the scientists develop a method to gauge that weird power in his hand. She has seen firsthand how hard life was for them since Touma stubbornly refused any financial help beyond emergency funding.
"Sheesh, Uiharu, how could you make us wait so long."
°_°# "I don't think she needs to hear that from someone devious enough to use her friend as a stepping stone to try and seduce me!"
"Owowow, Onee-shama, nod de cheeks, nod de cheeks!"
"So, Kamijou-san –" started Ruiko.
:) "Ah, please, call me Mikoto."
"Eh? Ah, okay, Mikoto-san..."
Exiting the bathroom, Touma made his way back to his father, without watching where he was going.
°o° "Uff!"
°.°"Wah!"
Colliding with something small, he landed on his back, with a smaller person landing on top of him. Looking up, he found that this person was a cute, younger girl with short, brown hair and an Ahoge. Behind her, he could see a woman who looked similar to the girl, probably her mother.
"Ah, Mikoto-chan, are you alright?"
XI "Un..."
Only then did Touma notice their rather precarious position: the girl, Mikoto, was straddling him with her hands on his chest. When she noticed this too, her face turned bright red as she glared at the boy beneath her.
o_o "L-look I'm sor-"
She didn't let him finish, as sparks literally came out of her bangs at him. Reflexively, he held up his right hand, fully expecting to get shocked anyways.
*Bzzt-bzzt – crash*
Confused, they both stared at his hand as Touma's father came to see what the commotion was.
"Oh, Misuzu, you're here. Hm?" In response, the girl's mother, Misuzu, looked at him and exclaimed: "Ah, Touya!" Looking around, Touya found his son with a girl that greatly resembled Misuzu and smiled.
"Oh, I see you've met my Touma already. And you must be Mikoto-chan."
Mikoto looked between the two males and her mother, piecing together the situation, as Touma just looked lost.
The way her Mama talked with that man, he was likely supposed to be her 'new Papa'. That man had referred to the boy as 'his Touma', ergo, this was his son. Which meant...
Mikoto felt her image from earlier crash headlong into reality as she realized that she was sitting on the Onii-chan that Mama promised her.
The girls were originally going go head to an arcade, but then they came across a crêpe stand that was giving away Gekota straps to the first 100 customers of the day, so Mikoto was rather adamant about getting crêpes. (She tried and failed to hide the true reason she was going.)
Since they didn't want to stand in line as a group, it was decided that she and Ruiko would get the crêpes.
"Here you go. It's the last one," said the seller, handing Ruiko the strap.
"Huh? The last one?" The girl heard a sound behind herself, and upon looking, found the famous level 5 down on her hands and knees, looking like her teacher just told her she failed a test when she thought she aced it. (AN: I'm sure at least one of you readers knows this feeling. Ruiko probably does, too.)
-_- "Mikoto? What are you doing on the ground?" Hearing that, both girls turned to see a certain Imagine Breaker standing there with a half-finished crêpe, looking at the Electric Princess.
._.? "You drop something?" The girl wasn't paying attention to him, however, as she discovered something small and green swinging from the pinky holding the crêpe.
*-*! "Gekota!" Pouncing like a tiger, she snatched the strap from his hand, landing right where she started, to Ruiko's amazement. To Touma's own lack of amazement, he dropped his remaining crêpe because of her.
-_-' "Geh, you could've asked, you know," he reprimanded the girl, "what a waste of a good crêpe. Fukou da."
xP "Shut up. You were going to give it to me anyways." She was right, he was going to give it to her, when she came to visit later, but she ended up coming here as well.
-_-" "Even so, there's something called etiquette, you ever heard of it, Ojou-chan?" Mikoto stood up and turned to him, fully prepared to counter his sarcasm.
"Um, excuse me, are you going to buy?" The three of them turned the lady in the stand. "If not, could you please make way for the other costumers?"
._.' "He's paying."
T-T "Fukou da." He didn't even bother to ask why. It would only get him shocked.
Ruiko couldn't help but stare at the display.
'Who is this guy?' she thought.
"So, once more. I'm Kamijou Touya, and this is my son, Touma." The parents sat at the window facing each other while the children each sat next to their parent.
._.' "Hi there," said the boy nervously, glancing at the girl opposite himself, who refused to meet his eyes.
"I'm Misaka Misuzu, and this is my cute Mikoto-chan."
X( "Mama!"
A waitress came over and took their orders.
"So, Touma," Touya turned to his son, "why don't you tell the ladies about yourself?"
._. "Ah, erm, let's see, I'm Kamijou Touma, I'm in 6th grade, I'm a student in Academy City –"
"Oh, you too?" interrupted Mizusu, as Mikoto finally showed an interest in the conversation.
Indicating the girl, the mother said: "Mikoto-chan here also goes to Academy City, though she's just in the 4th grade."
:| "You," said the girl, looking at Touma, "what level are you? And what's your ability?"
._.' "Level 0. No powers."
x| "Liar." She pointed to his hand. "What about that?"
"That?" Touya was clueless about the subject, while Misuzu remembered how that hand blocked Mikoto's electricity earlier and told him about it.
"You can do that, Touma?" wondered the father.
._.' "I didn't even know about it, honestly." Touma's mind then came to a certain conclusion about that hand, whereupon he fell silent and stared at it.
"Looks like those white-coats should tune their machines better, Mikoto-chan's already about to become a level 2," bragged her mother.
Meanwhile, the whispering was getting denser, to the point where even the girls couldn't help but notice them.
"Who's that woman?"
"Apparently, she's Kamijou's girlfriend."
"Eh? Is she okay?"
"Leave it."
"If they decide to live with that little monster-"
"-it's their funeral."
"Just like Shiina-san, huh?"
Not able to bear it any longer, Touma got up from the table and ran off.
"! Touma!" "Touma-kun!?" Both adults called after the boy, one worried, the other worried and confused.
A second later, Mikoto ran after him, having caught the look of pain on his face.
"Onee-sama, what took you so – geh!" Kuroko recoiled in shock at the sight of Touma.
"Wha-wha-wha-what are you doing here, you ape?!"
-_-' "Nice to see you too, Shirai-san."
XI "Behave, Kuroko. He even paid for our part."
-_- "You forced me to."
"Um, excuse me. Who might you be?" asked Kazari, feeling left out.
"I was kind of wondering that too," added Ruiko.
._.! "Oh, sorry. I'm Kamijou Touma. Nice to meet you." He stretched out his free hand for a greeting.
"Nice to meet – wait. Kamijou?" They both looked at Mikoto. "Is he related to you, Mikoto-san?"
._.? "Yeah, he's my older stepbrother."
""EH!? Onii-san?!"" Both girls looked back and forth, not seeing the resemblance.
._.' "Step-brother, okay?"
-_-' "Do you really have to emphasize that, Mikoto?" said brother looked as the little sister dubiously.
°_° "Absolutely, no prisoners," came the reply, with conviction.
-_-? "What's that even mean?" The young man blessed with misfortune had no idea what she was on about.
'They definitely behave like it,' thought Ruiko, an experienced sibling, narrowing her eyes at them, 'But there's something else in their synergy.'
Oh dear, Saten Ruiko's curiosity has found a new victim.
"There you are." Touma looked up to see the girl from earlier, Mikoto. Seems she found him first. Or she followed him, seeing as how she arrived a few seconds after him. They were in a public playground in his hometown, where he ran off to after leaving the diner.
"What was that all about?" He looked away, not wanting to think about it.
MIkoto felt like pressuring him, but figured she should do that after one more question: "Who's 'Shiina-san'?"
"My mother..." was the sad reply, which stopped Mikoto's questioning in its tracks. She remembered how she felt when people back home asked her about her Papa for the past two years, so she decided not to press the matter.
"I'm unlucky." Mikoto looked at him, wondering what got into him.
"It's not just the occasional slip-up, every day, several things happen to me, like tripping on soda cans, getting bird poo on my head, dropping my stuff, running into someone, stuff like that, all of it at least once per day, or some of it several times every day. Ever since I was born."
Mikoto saw that he was getting this off his chest and listened diligently. Though quite frankly, she wouldn't wish some of that stuff on anybody, even the bullies at school.
"It wouldn't be so bad if it was just me though-"
"Damn straight it wouldn't."
Both kids whirled around to see a man in a ruined business suit, clutching a knife in his hand. The man looked vaguely familiar to Touma, and Mikoto didn't like the way he was eyeing the boy.
"Hm?" Kazari looked behind herself at the other side of the street.
"Is something wrong, Uiharu?" Ruiko turned to see what her friend was looking at, ignoring Kuroko's ridiculous attempt at sharing her crêpe with Mikoto, who had gotten the same flavor, though Touma was hiding his amusement.
"That bank, why are its shutters closed?"
Touma, hearing this, eyed the building. His gut had been telling him something unfortunate was going to happen, and now he had an idea what.
"Shirai-san, you might want to call for backup," he told to the member of Judgment.
"Eh?"
*Boom*
A hole was blasted through the shutter, revealing three young men with ski-masks in black biker outfits, each of them carrying a bag that undoubtedly held a lot of cash in them.
"Uiharu."
"Yes!" The girl in question pulled her phone to contact Anti-Skill.
"Me too-" started Mikoto.
"Onee-sama," interrupted Kuroko, as she and Kazari put on their armbands, "This is a job for Judgment, civilians should stay out of it."
"But-" Again, Mikoto was interrupted, but this time by Touma's hand on her shoulder, holding her back. Looking back, she saw his serious face, and understood what he wanted to say. Kuroko and Kazari could handle this.
"Okay. You be careful." She knew, however, that if things went south, they'd both jump in.
While miffed that the boy was better at keeping the level 5 in line, Kuroko appreciated his action and replied: "Of course, Onee-sama."
She promptly teleported in front of the thugs. "This is Judgment! You are under arrest! Please come quietly!"
"Think you're hot stuff, eh girly? Well get a load of this!" A rotund thug swung his fist at her, only to be flipped onto his back and getting iron nails teleported into the hems of his clothes, pinning him to the ground.
"The only thing I've gotten a load of is an arrogant criminal," replied Kuroko.
"A teleporter!?"
"Don't matter. You go around," instructed the robber who seemed to be the leader, "Check this out, little girl!"
He conjured a fireball the size of his own head, ready to throw it at Kuroko while his last partner made his way around the level 4.
Touma, Mikoto and Ruiko were distracted from the battle when Kazari stopped a tour guide from going out to search for a missing boy. The three of them volunteered to do it instead, with Touma and Mikoto searching the bus while Ruiko and Kazari searched the surrounding area.
"Com'ere, you brat!" Ruiko suddenly heard this and saw that the last thug was trying to take the missing boy, who'd been hiding in a bush, with him. She looked around for the others, but saw that she was the closest person to the scene.
"Sorry, but, who are you?" asked Touma, eyeing the man warily. Mikoto tensed up, not sure what to expect.
"You don't remember me? Of course not, I'm probably just another victim for you."
"A victim? Of what?" Mikoto had no idea what the man was going on about, though Touma had a feeling he knew.
Pointing at the boy, the adult exclaimed: "That shit's damn luck, that's what!"
A baffled Mikoto watched as the man kept ranting with Touma giving the occasional comment as the adult crept closer to the boy, who slowly began to back away. None of them noticed the crowd starting to gather around them.
"Just six years ago, I was a grandstanding CEO of my own company! Of the verge of a breakthrough!"
"CEO? Wait..."
"A friend of mine, one Kamijou Touya, came to congratulate me, and introduced me to his son – you!"
"That's right, we-"
"Shook hands! I shook your damned hand and that's all it took!"
"No, wait..."
"I lost my company! My marriage! My inheritance! My home!"
"Wait, please..."
"And I would've gotten back at you then if that stupid bitch hadn't interfered!"
"What...?"
"Oh?" the man stopped, realizing the importance of his next words.
"You didn't know? Then I'll tell you."
Breathing in deeply, he bellowed: "I WOULD'VE RUN YOUR PLAGUE ASS OVER IF YOUR THRICE-DAMNED MOTHER HADN'T PUSHED YOU AWAY!"
Mikoto's mind refused to comprehend what was just said. Until Touma put it into perspective.
"You...killed...my mom...?"
"Oh, don't you worry..." The knife was raised.
"You'll be seeing her reeaal soon."
Mikoto's mind caught up with what was said. This man tried to make Touma disappear. Just like that disease in Africa made her Papa go away.
But Touma's Mama, Shiina-san, went instead. She left so Touma could stay. And now the man who took Shiina-san away was trying to take him too.
She'd seen how sad her Mama was when her Papa couldn't come back any more. Touma's Papa must've been just as sad when Shiina-san went for Touma.
How sad would he be if Touma left, too?
"Get away from him!"
Screaming that, Mikoto latched onto the man like a koala to a tree.
"Wha- Damned brat, let go!"
She wouldn't have that, this man made Touma the same kind of sad she felt when her Papa couldn't come home again, and she wouldn't forgive that. So she focused on her ability: Electromaster.
*Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt – Zap!*
"Grargh!"
In pain, the man fell to his knees as Mikoto let go of him and ran over to Touma, who had fallen onto his hind-side in shock, pun intended.
"Mikoto, you find him?"
"No, you?"
"No. We should probably check with-"
"Let him go!"
They turned to see Ruiko trying to wrestle a little boy away from the robber that Kuroko hadn't gotten yet.
"Damnit, let go, girl!"
"No! Go away!"
"Fine!" saying that, the thug kicked Ruiko in the face and let them both go.
Kuroko made to intercept him, but a large blur sped past Kazari towards the target.
*Bam*
A right hook sent the robber sprawling to the ground next to a car which presumably belonged to them.
Touma stayed there with his arm stretched out, watching the thug lift his face up and face him.
"Gh, don't interfere!"
He pulled out a gun from his jacket as Touma rushed in on him, and took aim.
"Watch out-!" shouted Ruiko, who saw this, when-
*Bzzt-bzzt*
Sparks flew from the gun as it was wrenched to the side, it's muzzle facing away from the incoming level 0.
"What the-" *Bam*
With a left uppercut, Touma knocked that thug out.
Ruiko turned around and looked at Mikoto, whose left arm was stretched out, her fingers in a position that suggested they'd been flicked to the side away from herself.
'She used electric magnetism to move the gun away,' she realized.
Looking at the girl who saved him, Touma cracked a smile.
^u^ "You're rather biri-biri (jap. sound word for electric zapping), aren't you?" And a joke.
-x- "Sheesh, you almost got hurt, why're you laughing?"
"Well – look out!" Touma threw himself onto the girl, who then got some red liquid on her face.
"Eh?" She looked up and saw the crazed man with his knife in Touma's shoulder above them.
"Hah! Trying to be like mommy? Go ahead, we're better off without yo-"
*Bam!*
A fist silenced the man, sending him sprawling to the ground. That fist belonged to a very angry father.
"Leave those two alone!" yelled Touya. He then glared around, daring any of the onlookers, whom Mikoto just noticed, to object.
"Mikoto-chan! Oh my god, Touma-kun!"
Misuzu ran over to them and gently lifted Touma so Mikoto could wriggle out from underneath him.
"Misuzu!" called Touya as he made to restrain then other man, "The ambulance! And the police!" He'd found the bastard who killed his Shiina, and almost took Touma too. No matter how sorry Touya felt for his old friend, he would be happy that this man would serve time for assault and murder on his family.
"You two again?" sighed Yomikawa Aiho as she beheld the five children, looking specifically at a certain pair of siblings.
o_o' "Now wait a moment-!" Began Mikoto.
°_°' "We didn't join in until the last second!" Finished Touma.
"This time," interjected the teacher, causing both Kamijous to laugh nervously.
"Actually, you shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place," she continued.
"That guy hurt our friend." Yomikawa and Ruiko both looked at Touma, who said this.
"That made this fight personal," added Mikoto, equally serious.
Rukio couldn't believe what she was hearing. They thought of her as a friend? They only just met! Kazari, who was listening, was also amazed.
Meanwhile, Kuroko talked with the pyrokinetic espser she fought, complimenting him on his power but reprimanding him softly for how he used it, asking that he reflect on his actions.
As the ambulance and Anti-Skill cars drove off, Ruiko turned to Touma grinning.
"Thanks for that back there."
^-^ "No problem."
"By the way, I'm just curious here, but what level are you?"
The siblings looked at each other before smiling wryly at her as Touma held up his thumb and finger to form a certain number.
The Sakugawa Middle School girls stared at his hand before looking over at Mikoto, who nodded in confirmation, and Kuroko, who looked away without denying it.
"That's crazy," said Ruiko.
^_^' "But true," said the other level 0.
'Well, guess that makes it all the more amazing,' thought the girl with a blush, which Mikoto and Kazari noticed. Kuroko was busy being indignant about Touma having the privilege of being Mikoto's brother and Touma... 'nuff said.
'^'# "Yoouuu!"
*Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt*
Noticing this, the elder Kamijou began to initiate a tactical retreat.
o_o' "Wha- Mikoto? Wait, what did I do now? Could you please explain before trying to-"
°.°# "Quiet!"
*Zap-Crash*
A quick bolt of lightning was negated by his hand, much to their new friends' surprise.
OoO" "Wait wait wait, can't we talk about-"
-.-*"Shut up!"
*Zap-Crash*
Giving up on negotiations, Touma grabbed his bag and made his retreat.
'o'* "GET BACK HERE YOU BAKA-ANI!"
*Zap-Crash*
°o° "GAH! FUKOUU DAAA!"
Yomikawa snorted: "Amusing as always too, I see."
Meanwhile, Ruiko grinned triumphantly. "So that's how it is."
"Huh?" Kazari turned to her friend from school.
Ruiko indicated the direction in which their new friends disappeared to: "Mikoto-san's a Bro-con."
"Hwe!?" Kazari's face turned red, as Kuroko sputtered indignantly, horrified at the thought.
As it turns out, the parents went looking for the children after Touya took Misuzu aside to tell her about Touma's luck and Shiina's fate.
The increasingly loud raving of the former CEO helped them find the children, but the revelation that that man was responsible for Shiina's death shocked them until they saw him stab Touma.
Touma was sent to a certain hospital in Academy City, due to the city's tendency for secrecy. His frog-faced doctor had to stitch the wound, and said it would leave a scar. The next day, Mikoto was there to visit, as well as their parents as a special occasion with Heaven Canceller pulling the strings for them.
Mikoto was not happy to see the condition he was in. Especially since she felt it only happened because she didn't help him properly.
Ü "What are you saying?" he rebuffed her as she said that, "You wanting to help me helped me more than anything." He certainly couldn't imagine any of his fellow townspeople helping him from that, sadly enough.
X( "But still! You even got hurt..."
:) "We're family now. That's more than enough for me." Mikoto stared at him, trying to comprehend what he just said. She was family? He accepted her, even though she'd acted that way when they met? He accepted her Mama, even though the wound in his heart had been reopened?
ToT "O-onii-chan!"
Crying that out, Mikoto threw herself onto the baffled boy, hugging him tightly and repeating the word a few times. Their respective parent was also surprised, but then they relaxed, smiling at their children. Though while Touya was simply glad that Touma now had someone he could call family, even within Academy City, Misuzu was picturing them as the flower girl and ring boy of their upcoming wedding, trying to think of what outfits would both match each other and make the kids look cute.
AN: The formatting here doesn't accomodate the lesser than and greater than symbols, so I had to get creative with the smileys.
Read & Review, please!