Well, this is my first Toaru fanfiction. Actually, not only that, it's my first ever fanfiction I've ever wrote so I hope you guys will enjoy it.
I really like the Touma/Misaki ship a lot so I thought I'd make a fic of their possible encounters together during that summer they met in NT11. I think I might make future chapters of them together in present time as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index and any of it's characters.
It was summer in Academy City. Many students bustling around and freely roaming around the city. Summer was a time where the schools were out and it signaled a vacation for the students as they took time off from their studies. As these students took in their newfound freedom, they looked for things to do with the free amount of time they had now. There were many activities that students could find to do in this large city.
In the heat of summer, one of the most common popular activities to do was to go swimming in order to ward off the warm energy bearing down from the sun. The public pools were filled with the residents of Academy City hoping to cool off.
At one certain public pool located in District 7, there was a certain girl with long blonde hair and what appeared to be stars in her eyes located where the pupils would normally be. She was one of Academy City's famed level 5 Espers, the #5 strongest level 5 known as Mental Out, Shokuhou Misaki. She was off to the side of the pool staring down at the water with a nervous smile on her face.
"What am I even doing here?" She asked herself in her head in a weary tone.
She dipped her foot in the water for a second before pulling it back a split second as soon as she came into contact with it, wincing at the feeling of the cold water.
Looking around at the other inhabitants in the pool, Misaki saw people of all ages swimming in the pool including kids. Misaki had a look of envy on her face as she watched them happily wade and swim through the water. The back of her mind knew exactly why she was here but it wasn't something she was easily willing to admit.
"It's all because of THAT boy." Misaki mumbled to herself. Ever since her encounter with a certain black spiky-haired boy in the Underground Mall where she showed him her shortcomings with swimming, she had been feeling kind of inadequate about her inability and so she was determined that she'd be ready the next time they meet. She had no idea why she was going to these lengths for that boy but a part of her wanted to do this.
She started walking and headed towards the shallow end of the pool. There were some stairs at that end that one could walk down to submerge themselves in the pool without needing to jump in. She stopped and stood in front of the pool. "Alright Misaki, we can do this." She said to herself as she took a deep breath and blew it back out.
She put her left foot on the first step. "Alright here we go."
She put her right foot on the second step, submerging her body even further. "So far, so good."
Misaki then poised to move her left foot on the third step. But true to her clumsy nature in water, as she was moving her foot forward, her body leaned over a bit too much and she lost her balance and started to fall forward into the pool. "Ahhhhh!" She screamed as she waved her arms in futility as she fell in.
Her vision changed and she found herself submerged underwater. That realization along with her inability to swim had started causing panic within her. Her arms started flailing everywhere and she felt disorientated and couldn't tell which way the surface was. The amount of air in her lungs were starting to decrease as well.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed one of her flailing arms and started pulling her back up out of the water. She broke the surface and Misaki could feel the sweet relief of air coming back into her lungs. *Cough!* *Cough!* She then clung to the arm of the person that just pulled her up.
A voice called out to her. "Hey, are you okay?!" A voice asked worriedly. "Wait a minute, it's you again!"
Misaki still hadn't had a chance to see who saved her yet as she rubbed her eyes of the water but she felt that that voice was familiar.
As she opened her eyes, Misaki saw a patch of black, spiky hair sitting on that person's head. "Y-you again?!" Misaki exclaimed.
"That's what I said!" exclaimed the boy as he came into full view of her. The boy was indeed revealed to be Kamijou Touma.
"I'm feeling a sense of deja vu. Just like last time, why do I find you drowning in shallow water again? Was I right where you're the type of person to drown in a kiddie pool?"
"S-shut up!" Misaki retorted but she couldn't find much else to say as an excuse for her inability to swim.
She had been caught by the one person that she did not want to see her like this. The one person that she was even there in the first place for. The reason why she was doing this whole thing.
"What are you even doing here at a pool? I thought someone like you didn't like swimming." Touma questioned. "Another question, why are you out here in a public pool unbefitting of an ojou-sama? Doesn't Tokiwadai have their own fancy pools?"
"That is precisely the reason why I'm out here instead of Tokiwadai! I can't let anyone from Tokiwadai see that I'm incapable of swimming! I have an image to maintain!" Misaki retorted. While Misaki did say that, she couldn't have cared less whether or not people at Tokiwadai knew about her inability to swim. She had the ability use her Mental Out at any time to rewrite their memories about it with easily very little effort.
"What about you? Why are you here?" Misaki directed a question back at him as she tried to figure out the odds of why she conveniently met him again.
"Well it is summer and it is very hot this time of year." Touma answered. "This Kamijou-san wanted to cool off from the heat because the air conditioner in my room just so happened to break down!" Touma exclaimed lamenting his misfortune. "Fukou da" He silently added to the end.
"More importantly Shokuhou-san, are you going to let go of my arm anytime soon? I can feel your breasts pressing up against my arm! No matter how small they may be, it still feels immodest for a girl to press them up against a guy!" Touma exclaimed similarly to the situation from the Underground Mall.
"You PERVERT!" Misaki exclaims and looked at the boy with a glare but didn't do anything as she was still clinging on to his arm as if it were her lifeline.
"You can let go you know! We're at the shallowest end and you can literally stand up here!" Touma says in order to try to get the girl off of him.
Misaki made a whining noise as she still clung on to his arm.
*Sigh* Touma realized at how bad her inability to swim really was. "If you don't like swimming, why did you even come here?"
Misaki blushed a little as she recalled her earlier thought. Her real reason for coming here was so that she could impress him the next time they bit. It seemed that reason became a bit null now that she had run into the person she was doing this for and he had witnessed her inadequacies at swimming yet again.
"I... wanted to get better at swimming." Misaki admitted in a quiet voice
Touma stared at her. "Is that all there is to it?" He asked questioningly.
"Of course it is!"
Touma stared at her again. He recalled the earlier incident at the Underground Mall and felt inclined to believe her. After all, it didn't seem like would push herself to do something she didn't like and come to a public pool by herself for no reason.
"If that's true, then maybe I could help teach you how to swim." Touma said while scratching his cheek. True to his nature, he offered help to those when they looked like they needed it.
"R-really!?" Misaki exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes, I'll help you. But only if you let go of me first!"
After getting Misaki off of him, he got her to hold on to the edge of the pool even though they were still in the shallow end.
"Alright the first thing I'm going to teach you is free-style swimming." Touma said standing in front of her.
"You've seen how people do it right? It's like the most common form of swimming that people learn."
Misaki nodded as confirmation.
"I'll do a quick demonstration for you just in case."
Touma turned around and began swimming to the other side of the pool with seemingly ease before returning back to where he started with Misaki observing the whole time.
Touma swam right back up to her and popped back up out of the water. "Gah! Easy right?" He said as he took a breath as soon as he popped up.
"Errr..."
"*Sigh* I thought as much." Touma said as he put out his hand forward to her.
"Since you're hopeless when it comes to being in water, I'll help you out. Give me your hands."
She shyly moved her hands and blushed as she put the palm of her own hands into his.
"Alright here's the plan, I'll start moving backwards and hold on to your hands while you just try to swim and kick while I pull you, okay?"
Misaki nodded nervously.
"I know you can do it, just let your body float by itself when I pull." Touma assured her.
"Here we go." Touma said as he started moving.
"Ah!" Misaki yelped as soon as she started getting dragged.
Not one second later, her whole body sank down and became submerged underwater with only her hands being held by Touma still above water.
"Shokuhou-san! Get your head above water!" Touma said as he tried to pull her back up to the surface.
"Ah! *pant* *pant* pant*" Misaki finally got her head out of the water and started panting heavily to get air back into her lungs. As she stood up, she on impulse started hugging Touma's arm again.
"Alright well that didn't work out well." Touma said as he sweatdropped with Misaki clinging to his arm. He wanted to comment about how he could feel Misaki's chest was against him but decided it wasn't the best time to say that now.
"Why don't we try it again." Touma suggested as he pulled her back towards the edge of the pool. He pulled Misaki off him and took her hands again as he asked her if she was ready to try it again. Misaki nodded.
They repeated the process a bunch of times.
And each time it turned out the same way again.
And again...
And agaaainnn...
Touma started wondering how someone could be this bad at swimming.
"Come on! How do you start drowning every time when I'm the one that's holding you up. You'd think that flat body of yours would be able to float much easier without anything to drag it down!" Touma insensitively said without a thought given.
Unfortunately that comment earned him a slap to the face. "How dare you make rude comments about a woman's body!" Misaki said with red on her face.
Touma looked at Misaki with a serious expression.
"Woman's body my foot! That comment is an insult to all woman out there that have the curves and assets that distinguishes them from girls! If there was no standard in the size of one's breasts, then there would be no line that tells the difference between a girl and a woman! Unfortunately, you have not crossed that line."
That rant unfortunately warranted another slap to the other side of Touma's face.
"Alright we'll put off swimming for later. How about we try floating and treading water." Touma said sitting at the edge of the pool while nursing his face.
They had moved over to the deep end of the pool now to move on to the next practice he had in mind. If she couldn't swim with technique, maybe just throwing her into water would help her naturally learn was Touma's train of thought.
Misaki who was also sitting at the edge was looking down at the water in fear.
"I can't even swim and you're expecting me to throw myself in there?!"
"That's why I got this for you, Ta-da!"
Touma pulled out the object that he was holding behind him. It was one of those blow-up inner tubes that were meant to be used for a person to grasp to float. The tube was green-colored and shaped like a dinosaur and looked liked a very childish design.
"With this there's no possible way you could drown." Touma exclaimed.
"I can't possibly use those! Only kids use that kind of thing!" Misaki protested.
"Your stature is pretty much like one, it fits you perfectly."
"How dare you! I am a young woman!"
"I feel like we've gone through this gag routine already! Just accept the fact that you're lacking in some areas quit complaining and put them on."
"I will not tarnish my image by using such a device." Misaki crossed her arms and looked away.
"Well it seems like there's no other way we'd be able to get you to survive in water without doing something like this." Touma sighed.
"How about this, if you can manage to get in the water with this and not instantly drown, I'll buy you some ice cream or something." Touma offered in an effort to prod her.
Misaki turned her head towards him as she pondered the offer. She was never really able to resist her sweets and Touma was here offering to give her some.
"Alright fine. I'll do it." Misaki said as she gave in to her weakness.
"Great! Let's get this on you and see how you do." Touma said as he put the tube around her.
Misaki had the tube around her now but she still looked down at the water nervously. She took a deep breath before lowering herself down to the water. And by lowering herself, it actually meant she almost fell in again.
She splashed into the water, but thanks to the tube she had managed to keep above water.
"There you go! See easy... ara?"
When it looked like Misaki had the hang of well...floating there while tightly grasping the inner tube. It seemed like her fear of water kicked in again and she was starting to panic. She was looking around with her body shaking in panic over what to do next and started leaning out of the inner tube. When she had reached too far over the inner tube, the whole thing had flipped over. The inner tube turned upside down along with Misaki's body into the water as her legs were now sticking up out of the water as she still grasped onto it.
"I can't believe this, she must have even worse luck than me when it comes to swimming." Touma sighed and dived in the pool for her.
He swam underwater up to the form of the inner tube and Misaki whose head was underwater. He moved in close to her and their eyes connected while his face was right across hers that was upside down. He intended to try and flip the tube and Misaki back upright out of the water but Misaki was still panicking. In her panic, she instead grabbed Touma's head and held him close to her chest.
"Is she trying to drown me?!" Touma felt some of his breath got knocked out of him after the sudden action. Misaki was holding him down with some insane strength he didn't know she had.
Suddenly, he heard some air hissing right next to his ear. He looked up as best as he could from his current position and saw something that shouldn't have been physically possible. His spiky hair had popped the inner tube and now it was deflating.
He realized that without the inner tube, Misaki would start drowning again. He had to flip her back upright and carry her back to safety but her constraint of his head was making it difficult for him.
The tube had all but deflated and he could feel Misaki sinking as well as himself since she was still holding his head to his chest. "I had always wanted to be in a situation with a girl where I could tuck myself in her breasts, but I never expected it to be like this!"
That was one of his last thoughts as he he felt himself black from lack of air out as him and Misaki sank to the bottom of the pool.
"I seriously can't believe this..." Misaki said as she and Touma were sitting down dripping wet on some of the pool chairs nearby.
After they had dropped to the bottom of the pool, the lifeguard of the pool eventually noticed that their were forms sitting lifelessly at the bottom of the pool. The lifeguard was a water esper and he had manipulated the water and had grabbed and encompassed their forms in a water bubble. He lifted them out of the water and everyone at the public pool saw them in a compromising position. Some of the guys at the pool had some scorn and admiration at the same time for Touma.
"Hehehe, well that was something." Touma scratched the back of his head nervously. "Tell you what, how about I go get us that ice cream?" Touma said trying to repair the situation.
He stood up andwalked off to the snack food stand near the pool and ordered 2 cones for him and Misaki.
When he walked back over to her he said "I guess we should probably give up on trying to get you to swim. Your luck with the water is the same with the misfortune I face every day." as he handed her her ice cream cone and sat down right beside her.
Misaki took a lick from her ice cream "I guess..." she said kind of downcast.
"Still though, I think it's pretty admirable that you were willing to face your fear of swimming." Touma said while licking his own ice cream. "Not many people usually challenge themselves to take on something they normally don't like to do. So I'd at least be proud that you tried"
Misaki blushed at his words. "It's not as if the whole reason I was doing this was for you or anything. God I sound like a tsundere." Misaki shook her head. "*Sigh* Well, this whole thing failed from the beginning anyway since the whole reason I came here was to make sure the next time we'd meet I wouldn't look so pathetic in front of him. But I guess it was pretty nice we spent some time together and that he went out of his way to help me. In a way it was kind of fun." She finished her ice cream cone as she finished her thoughts.
She looked over at Touma because there had been some silence for a while after what Touma said. She saw that his ice cream was starting to melt and that he wasn't payed it much attention. Misaki looked up at his face which gave off a blank expression.
It seemed that his eyes were staring off at a distance. Misaki wondered what he was looking at and followed his line of sight to see what he was looking at. She saw that he was looking out at a group of girls hanging around that looked like they were in high school. The most notable feature of these girls that she noticed were that they had huge breasts. Being that it is summer and it was a public pool, one shouldn't be surprised to find people like that here. She could see that his mouth started to hang open and drool was starting to come out.
She started getting ticked off. Misaki frowned and looked down and put her hands on her own breasts. She turned her head to the side in a haughty manner. "Hmmph, what a perverted boy you are gawking at girls laid bare in swimsuits."
Touma snapped out from his staring at the sound of her voice. "Uhhh what are you talking about? I wasn't doing anything of the sort hehehe." Touma said while scratching the back of his head.
He could see that she was pouting and felt kind of a dark aura emitting from her.
"...It's all right Shokuhou-san, I'm sure you'll get there someday."
"Was that supposed to reassure me?!"