*Disclaimer; I do not own "A Certain Scientific Railgun" and/or "Kotoura-san". All rights reserved to their respective owners. Haruka Kotoura has finally arrived at Academy City, a city housing many different schools, and is ready to take on the first day at Tokiwadai Middle School. She just has a small problem...*
"What do you mean 'attend Middle School'? I'm in high school!" Kotoura-san exclaimed, trying to keep her temper in check. It was one thing for the Esper's previous school to lose her paperwork during her transfer, it was another for them to get lost. Heck, she hated to think it, but she'd rather hear that Daichi Muroto, her old friend from the ESP Research Club, was being sent back to middle school, only because he could actually pull off the part. Sadly, this wasn't the case, as the man in charge of the Academy she was going to be attending was apologizing for the mix-up. Until he could fix the issue, he had told her, Kotoura-san would have to attend middle school until they retrieve the correct paperwork.
"Look, miss Kotoura." The Dean, Mr. Mazer said, concern on his face. "Until we can correct the problem we are facing, i'm afraid you'll have to attend Tokiwadai Middle. Thankfully, this is a very prestigious all girl school, so you'll make lots of friends." 'I really hope I'm helping here.' Kotoura-san heard the Dean think. 'I really hate to see this girl go through a rough patch such as this in her youth'.
'If only he knew.' Kotoura-san thought to herself, sighing slightly. "Okay." She considered. "How long will it be until i can get my paperwork?"
"Between now and later?" The Dean paused, thinking thoroughly. "I'd say give one to three weeks, tops."
Kotoura-san smiled to herself. At least, there was that. "Thank you, sir." Kotoura-san bowed. "Let me know as soon as possible, if it's not too much trouble, when you receive my papers."
"Of course." Dean Mazer said, visibly sighing. It was obvious to the mind reader that the man was tired, and had a long day. So, after receiving the instructions on how to get to the school, and who to ask to speak to, she began to make her exit.
"Have a nice day, sir!" She called, as she exited the office.
The wind being swept through Academy City was generous today, as a certain girl with short, brown hair made her way across a busy intersection, keeping her eye out for anything suspicious. Looking at her phone, she found the time to be the mid-afternoo. This girl was on a mission, though: a young male in his teens was seen stalking young girls.
Although, this one was different. Instead of hurting them in any way, he would follow them for awhile, and run off before they could confront him. He was described as tall, a little handsome, and with short, black hair. But, that was it. The only person that the Railgun could think of was that idiot that she'd seen running around Academy City, but he was nowhere near fitting that description. As Misaka Mikoto continued to think of any possible person of interest that fit that description, she noticed what seemed to be a young girl with colorful hair.
She seemed lost, as she was struggling a bit to read a map. But, what had caught the Railgun's attention was the shady figure following the unsuspecting girl closely. This was him? While he did seem to fit the description, he didn't seem at all stalker-ish. To top all of that, he was fastly approaching her with a smile on his- oh. Well, his smile didn't exactly come across as friendly. More like, the same smile she'd seen on creeps and predators. 'Right.' Misaka thought, blandly. 'These kind of people bug me so much.' Walking forward, she began to charge her electricity.
Kotoura-san was lost, she hated to admit. She had followed the instructions exactly on the map, yet she couldn't find the right street, due to all the confusion of the hustle and bustle around her. To top it all off, she kept trying to shake this sense of a nearby presence that kept thinking rather lewd thoughts of her. Only one person could think those thoughts of her, but he was back in Japan, studying in school with her other friends. 'Manaba-kun couldn't be here.' She thought to herself. 'But, if he is, then he probably just misses me.'
And that's when things escalated. Little did the Esper know, someone was gaining on her fast. Thankfully, a surge of electricity and a manly-girlish scream later, and she turned around to find a young boy on the ground, electricity surrounding his body. Standing on top of him with one foot, was a young girl, that seemed to be around her age.
"You okay?" The girl standing on top of the boy asked, keeping her eye on the boy beneath her sneaker.
"What?" Was all Kotoura-san could ask at that moment. "What's going on?"
"This young man was stalking you," the girl explained. "And, had almost grabbed you. Thankfully I, Misaka Mikoto of Judgement, stepped in on time to save you. Now," She said, lowering her body to interrogate her suspect. "Who are you, and why were you following this young girl?!"
"M-my name is," The boy stuttered, still feeling electricity surge through his body. Really, it felt like he got slapped by a Transformer, and not the Hasbro kind. "Yoshihisa M-Manaba. I w-was just trying to speak to my girlfriend...!"
"M-Manaba-kun?!" Kotoura-san finally said, gasping as she finally registered her boyfriend had just got beat up by a perfect stranger. Running up to his side, she checked to see if he was okay. "Are you okay?"
"I-I'll live." Manaba-kun said, giving the Esper a weak thumbs-up.
"Hey!" Kotoura-san practically scolded the girl. "Who do you think you are, zapping others like that?"
"ME?!" The brunette stated, taken aback by the turn of events. "He was stalking you! What else is a member of Judgement supposed to do? Wait until he kidnaps you, and you go missing or something?"
"What do you mean by 'stalking'?" Now, it was Kotoura-san's turn to be confused, looking to her boyfriend. "What did you do, Manaba-kun?"
"Well..." Manaba-kun hesitated. "After I had heard you were transferred, and will be attending an Academy here, I thought to myself, 'why not tag along and keep an eye on her?', you know? I've been looking for you ever since this morning."
"What about all those girls you were stalking, hmm?" Misaka said. "My department had gotten word that a boy matching your description was last seen stalking young girls. The only connection they had was their hair color similar to hers." She said, pointing to Kotoura-san.
"Seriously, Manaba-kun?" Kotoura-san said, standing upright. "Honestly. Look," Kotoura-San sighed, covering one hand over face in mild embarrassment. "I'm really sorry if my boyfriend caused you any trouble miss Mikoto. He's always been wierd ever since the day we met."
"B-boyfriend?!" Misaka said, flustered. "W-well, tell him to be careful doing stuff like that next time. Otherwise, i won't go easy on him." As she said this, a string of electricity danced around her forehead, catching Kotoura-san's attention.
"You're an Esper, too?" Kotoura-San asked, surprised.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to be attending a school this year, temporarily, called Tokiwadai Middle School. Have you ever heard of it?"
"Actually, yes." Misaka said, a grin appearing on her face. "I'm actually attending there, myself."
"Really?" Kotoura-san said, a sign of relief appearing on her face. "Perhaps you can take me there? I'm... a little lost."
"Of course." Misaka said, walking away from the still downed Manaba-kun, and leading Kotoura-san to the school. "By the way, your boyfriend can't come into the building. So he'll have to wait inside." She cast him a stern look, but he was too dazed to even see it. Still, she felt a little bad for the misunderstanding, and will have to call it in to the department as such.
"Why is that?" Kotoura-san pondered.
"Because, Tokiwadai Middle School is an all-girl's school. As in, no boys allowed."
"Oh." Kotoura-san said, understanding. "Well, he'll be fine. See?" She said, pointing back at the direction they had came. As Misaka looked back, sure enough, that boy had gotten right back up and was now catching up to the pair. "I wouldn't worry, though. Manaba-kun's 100% harmless. He can't even hurt a fly."
"If you say so." Misaka said, shooting the boy a tiny string of electricity as a warning. The boy took notice, and kept his distance.
Waiting outside, Manaba-kun sat on a nearby bench, waving his girlfriend good luck, as the ESP pair entered the building.
Kotoura-san was indeed amazed at the interior design of the building, as well as the size. It was a large lobby, with a stairwell that split two ways, leading to an upper floor. Upon entering, a small voice called out to them from the nearby reception desk.
"Ah, Misaka!" A young girl called out, approaching the two with a small smile. Kotoura-san first took notice of the array of flowers sitting upon the young girl's hair, almost as if she were a walking garden. The uniform she adorned consisted of a small logo on the right chest, and a skirt to match. There was also a small band on one of the sleeves of her uniform. It seemed to match Misaka's outfit. "I trust your mission went well if you returned?"
"Not really." Misaka said, sighing. "Turns out the 'stalker' was just an idiot, who just so happened to be this young girl's boyfriend. The boyfriend, as he stated, said he was wondering around Academy City, looking for her, specifically. Little did he know, it seemed to other women that he came off as a stalker."
"Ah, i see." The flower girl said, quickly jotting down some notes on her clipboard. "Do you know where he is now? I'd like to ask his side of the story."
"Outside." Misaka said, plainly. Before the flower girl took off, Misaka had just suddenly remembered something important. "Oh, Uiharu!"
"Hai?" The girl, now dubbed Uiharu, asked, turning back to face the Railgun.
"By the way, this girl is a new transfer student, who will be attending our school for a little while. Her name is Haruka Kotoura. Kotoura-san, meet Uiharu Kazari. She's this schools receptionist, and works in Judgement with me."
"It's nice to meet you." Kotoura-san said, bowing.
"Likewise!" Uiharu said, curtsying before walking outside. Confused by the random showing of gratitude, Kotoura-san turned to look at Misaka.
"We do things differently than what you may be used to, don't worry. Let me show you where you'll be staying." Misaka then led Kotoura-san up the right-side stairwell, that then led down a long hallway with a vast amount of doorways, obviously leading to rooms.
"Oh, Misaka? Before I forget." Kotoura-san asked, looking back at a few things on her instruction sheet.
"Hmm?" Misaka asked, looking over her shoulder at Kotoura-san, still walking.
"I was wondering. Who is this 'Housemaster' that I need to speak to? Is she in charge here?" As Kotoura-san looked up at her new friend, she saw Misaka immediately freeze and stiffen. Now, being the new girl, the young Esper couldn't have known of the Housemaster's reputation. But, Kotoura-San picked up on Misaka's thoughts at the moment, getting a mental picture of a rather demonic-looking woman.
And, as Misaka turned, she saw what she had feared since entering the building. "Welp, look at the time, i really must be going- good luck Kotoura-san!" And, with that, Misaka had taken off faster than a Roadrunner from a Coyote.
"What was..." Before Kotoura-san could finish her question, someone had cleared their throat from behind the mind reader. Or, rather, right above her head. Looking up, she immediattely came eye to eye with an older-looking woman. Her glasses giving her a rather dark expression. Taken by surprise, Kotoura-san immediattely backed away from the personal space intruder, and turned to correctly face the woman.
"You must be Haruka Kotoura, yes? The transfer student?"" The woman asked, her tone saying there will be no room for argument.
"Y-yes, mam?" Kotoura asked, more than replied. Honestly, if the reaction from saying 'Housemaster' to Misaka caused the girl to stiffen in fear, then obviously this woman must have had to have done something to build up a fearful reputation.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Housemaster of Tokiwadai Middle School. Shall we head down to my office? We have much to discuss, young lady."