Kuroko barely got any sleep that night. Why did my heart beat so fast when Kamijo was on top of me? She had stayed up most of the night thinking about Touma. He's just a lousy man. Besides, I already have Onee-sama. That's enough… right? She buried her face in her pillow, mumbling. Oh yeah. I should go out with Onee-sama today to get him off of my mind. It'll be like a date!
She got up out of bed and opened the curtains. Morning light flooded in through the open window. There was no school today, so they could do as they pleased until curfew. "Onee-sama!" She said as she nudged Mikoto. "Wake up, Onee-sama!"
Mikoto slowly opened her eyes. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, than took a look around. "Kuroko?" She asked, looking in her direction. "Oh? It's morning already?" She stood up and stretched. She walked over to her dresser and started to put on her uniform. Kuroko did the same.
Kuroko glanced to Mikoto as they were changing. I wonder if Onee-sama has feelings for Kamijo? Wait, what am I thinking!? I'm supposed to go out today to forget about him for now. Until I can talk to him alone and find out what that power of his is.
Mikoto looked over to Kuroko. "Something wrong, Kuroko?" She asked, noticing her blank look. "You look like you're spacing out or something."
"No, no. It's nothing Onee-sama." Kuroko said, putting on her best smile. "Oh, I know. We have the day off of school today, so how about we go out?" She asked innocently.
"Sounds good to me." Mikoto said, putting her shoes on. "It's bad to waste a day off anyways." She said. She walked over to the mirror and brushed her hair. After she was done, Kuroko did the same.
They walked down the streets in a different part of the city. Their first hour was spent looking through a few different clothing stores, with Kuroko recommending many mature outfits for Mikoto. Eventually, they settled on the clothes they both wanted and walked out of the store, both holding a bag.
"Man, that was nice." Mikoto said, smiling. "Should we check out another store? Or maybe get something to eat next? What do you think, Kuroko?" Mikoto asked, looking over to the girl. She seemed to be spacing out again.
"Hm?" Kuroko looked at Mikoto. "Oh. How about we get something to eat? I've built up an appetite from walking around." She said politely. Damn. I was thinking about Kamijo again. I've really got to stop that. The whole reason I'm out with Onee-sama right now is to forget about him.
They settled on a small ramen sit-in ramen shop. Misaka chose a table for two and Kuroko sat across from her. Their conversation slipped to a few different topics. From school, to Kuroko's Judgment duties. Their food arrived, two large bowls of ramen. They clapped their hands together. "Idatakimasu." They said together, before starting to eat.
"Ah! That was good!" Mikoto said as they left the shop. They started walking down the street again.
"Yes, it was quite filling." Kuroko said, walking close to Mikoto. She glanced back at the shop.
"Hm? Shirai?" A voice said from behind them.
They both turned. Touma was standing there, holding a bag in his left hand. "Ah. I knew it was you, Shirai." He glanced to Mikoto. "You're with her, Misaka?" Well, I guess I do get to see Shirai again. Maybe my misfortune is starting to lessen.
Kuroko stared at him for a second. She smiled and waved at him. "Oh. What a coincidence meeting you here, Kamijo." She said. Her heartbeat picked up. There it is again. Why is he here? I'm supposed to not be thinking about him right now. I guess if I was alone, I could ask him about his power. But… She looked at Mikoto. That's not possible right now. Oh, I know! "Well, we should really be on our way now, right Onee-sama?" She asked, smiling at Mikoto.
"Huh? Oh yeah." They turned to walk away. When Misaka had turned around, Kuroko took out a piece of paper and a pen. She scribbled something on the piece of paper and shoved it into Touma's hands. Touma looked at it them back up to Kuroko. But she was already back by Mikoto's side.
Touma unfolded to the piece of paper. It read: "Meet me at Izuki's Coffee Shop in two hours. It's right down the street from here." He looked up and, sure enough, saw the sign for the shop. "Well, I guess I have nothing to do anyways. Might as well wait there." He walked into the coffee shop , got a coffee and sat down at a table in the back.
Kuroko looked at the time on her phone. It was ten minutes before she was supposed to meet with Touma. "Onee-sama. I just remembered I had some Judgment work to take care of."
"Oh, really? That's a shame. It was fun walking around shopping." She took a few steps forward and looked back. "See you back home, Kuroko." She said waving at her.
Kuroko waved back. "Yes, see you Onee-sama." When Misaka turned around, Kuroko teleported away. She was on the roof of a building. If I teleport my way over there, I should be able to make it in time. After about twenty teleports, she stood in front of the coffee shop. She walked in and looked around. She spotted Touma sitting at a table in the back, reading a book.
Touma looked up as Kuroko took a seat across from him. "Oh, Shirai. Nice to see you again."
"Yes, quite nice." Kuroko said, her heart pounding again. Calm down, Kuroko.
"So," Touma started. Kuroko looked back up at him. "what did you want to talk about?" he asked, taking a sip from the coffee sitting in front of him.
"Oh, right." Kuroko said, remembering the reason she called him out here. "I wanted to ask you about your ability."
"Ability? I'm a level zero." Touma said, holding out his hands.
"Don't give me that." Kuroko said impatiently. "Back when you were in my room, I couldn't teleport you out. Onee-sama's electricity doesn't work on you. You obviously have some strange ability." She stared at him, waiting for an answer.
"Oh, that." Touma said, as if it had slipped his mind that he even had the Imagine Breaker. "That would be my right hand. It's called the Ima-" He was cut off by Kuroko's phone ringing.
Kuroko took out her phone and looked at the number. "Excuse me a second." She said as she answered her phone. "Uiharu?" She sat there for a minute, listening. "Fine, I got it. She said, hanging up the phone. "Sorry, Kamijo. Some Judgment Business came up. We'll continue this another time. For now, though, let's trade cellphone numbers."
"Okay." Touma said, taking out his phone. They exchanged numbers, than Kuroko waved goodbye and teleported out. "Oh yeah, I forgot that she was a teleporter." He stood up. "Well, might as well go home now."
Kuroko teleported into an alleyway. She started to walk down it, turning a few times. "I believe Uiharu said that the troublemakers were around here." She rounded a corner and saw three guys sitting there.
One of them had a shaved head and ear piercings. He was wearing a black, sleeveless shirt and jeans. The one who sat next to him had on a blue jacket, with the left sleeve ripped off, revealing a long tattoo on his arm of a dragon. He wore black pants. He had long, greasy hair. The third had short red hair and a cigarette in his mouth. He had brown pants on with a white shirt. They all looked up as she approached. "Oh," the one with the red hair started. "What do we have here? You lost little girl? I bet we can help you." They all stood up.
Kuroko pulled out the green armband with white stripes and the shield on it that identified her as a member of judgment and put it on her arm. "I'm from Judgment. I guess you three are the troublemakers around here who have been harassing girls." She spoke calmly.
"So what if we are?" The greasy-haired guy asked. "Do you really think you can do anything about it?" He held out his hand towards her and shot a green wave of energy from it. Kuroko simply teleported into the air. "A teleporter?" He said. "First time seeing one." She teleported behind the one with the shaved head. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.
"You three are under arrest. If you try to resist, I'll have to use force." She looked around at them. The greasy-haired guy seemed to be the only one who wasn't a level zero.
The guy with red hair smiled. He pulled a sheet off of something. Underneath it, there was a large stereo. He flipped the switch on it. The speaker started to emanate a high pitched sound. Kuroko grabbed her head and fell to her knees. The sound made her head throb. "That is… Capacity Down? How?"
Capacity Down was made by Skillout. To level zeroes, it was just a high pitched sound. But it messed with espers brainwaves and made their abilities hard to control. She looked up at the other esper who was just smiling at her. "How are you…?" She started holding onto her head.
"What was that?" He asked. He pointed to his ears. Kuroko could barely see to black things in them. "Earplugs. I put them in right before he turned it on. Now I can be near Capacity Down and still use my powers."
Damn. What am I going to do?
Touma walked down the street, thinking. How do I feel about Shirai? When it was just the two of us talking, my heart beat picked up. I wonder if she's going out with anybody? I doubt it, considering how attached she seems to be to Misaka. But if she's like that towards her, does that mean I don't have a chance?
He stopped in front of any alleyway, looking around. "What's that?" He asked out loud. There was nobody else around, but he could hear a faint, high pitched noise coming from somewhere. He looked down the alleyway. "Here?" He started to walk down it.
The red-haired man grabbed Kuroko and held her up. "What are you going to do?" Kuroko asked, strained.
The guy with the shaved head looked over to the greasy-haired guy. "What do you think, Saito?"
"I don't know, Jun. Maybe we should have a little fun with her. Right, Isao?" Saito asked the red-haired man.
"Yeah, why not?" He replied, bringing her over to them. Saito lifted up the sweater vest that she wore.
"Don't…" Kuroko tried to resist, but with Capacity Down on, it was impossible. They started laughing.
Saito looked over to the guy with the shaved head. "Ichiro, you want first or what?"
"Don't mind if do." Ichiro replied. He started to lift up Kuroko's shirt.
"Shirai!" A voice yelled, followed by running footsteps. The three guys and Kuroko looked up just as Touma reached them. He punched Ichiro, sending him stumbling back. His head hit a piece of metal on the wall and knocked him unconscious.
"What the...?" Saito said, swinging at Touma. He jumped back, avoiding the punch. Isao threw Kuroko to the ground, where she struggled to sit up.
Isao punched Touma in the stomach, doubling him over. He quickly recovered and sent a fast right hook to Isao's face. He backed up from the blow. Touma picked up a part of a pipe that was lying on the ground and threw it at Isao. The piece of metal struck him in the side of the head, rendering him unconscious.
"Damn you!" Saito yelled, holding out his hand. He shot the green blast from his hand again. It sped towards Touma. He stuck out his right hand, negating the blast. "What the hell?" Saito yelled as Touma rushed him. "If you're an esper, than why isn't Capacity Down working?" Touma sent a hard punch to his temple. Saito backed up, struggling to stand. He shook a little, than collapsed on the ground.
Touma looked at the speaker. "Capacity Down?" He ran over and flipped the switch on the side. The sound stopped. He rushed to Kuroko's side. "Shirai! Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?" He asked, worriedly.
Kuroko just stared at him in wonder. "I'm fine." She said slowly. "Thank you for saving me." She tried to stand up, but fell back down, holding her ankle. She looked at it. There a purple bruise on it. "It hurts." She said. Touma sighed.
"Fine. Then…" He picked up Kuroko, carrying her princess-style. "There we go." He said. He started the walk back to the Tokiwadai dorms.
Kuroko just stared at him, a deep blush on her face. Do I really feel that way about Kamijo?
Touma looked at her and smiled, which only caused her to blush more and look away. Man, carrying Shirai like this is nice, but it's kind of embarrassing.
