"Well," Kuroko walks over to the seats in her Judgment office where Lilian and Rutile were waiting. "There were quite a few witnesses that saw you two in the building. Luckily, the Magneto fried the security cameras, so there's no proof of Miss Sopheria being involved with the incident."

"B-but I-"

"Listen, I know you're new, but the school is very strict about keeping a good public image. Try to cause as little trouble to the school as possible, okay?"

"O-okay..."

"As for you..." Kuroko gives a mean look to Lilian.

"Y-yes?"

"You'll be harder to cover up, you left your power all over the place. Worst case scenario you'll be suspended for a week."

"S-suspended?"

"B-but Miss Sterling-"

"I told you that the school is very, very strict one keeping a good public image, regardless of the circumstances. We will do what we can here, but no promises."

"I-I'm sorry, Lilian, really..."

"It's not your fault," Lilian smiles at her. "Hey, Miss Shirai, can we get out of here now?"

"Miss Sopheria can leave," Kuroko answers. "But you'll have to stay. At least until we can figure out what to do here. With all the departments involved, this could take hours."

"Oh..." Lilian moaned.

"Lilian..."

"I'll be fine Rutile," Lilian smiles. "Do you know your way back to the dorm from here?"

"N-no, but I need some time alone, really..."

"Alright, do you have a phone?" Lilian takes out hers. "Just call me whenever you want to get back and I'll come find you, or try to guide you back."

"There's a bridge a couple miles from here," Kuroko mentions "It's above a train yard. You can hang around the train yard if you want, just don't cause any trouble."

"Thank you," Rutile takes out her phone, which had cat ears, and exchanges numbers with Lilian. "I will call you later when I'm done here, okay?"

"See you," Lilian waves as Rutile leaves the room.

XXX


Rutile leaves the building silently, not noticing that she had walked past another Tokiwadai student. She plays out the recent events from the mall in her head. After walking a couple miles, she finds the bridge that Kuroko was talking about, right above a train yard. Rutile jumped down onto the gravel and stood, thinking.

She enters her fighting pose and moves her arms out in front of her slowly, using side swings like she did to deflect Magneto's attacks.

(When that thief was attacking me, it felt like he didn't want to hit me directly. All those cash registers that I knocked away, I could've just as easily dodged them, really.)

Rutile moves her arms again. (Yeah, I didn't need to swing my arms so far away to knock them aside. They weren't aimed at me, they were aimed around me. Was he trying to force me somewhere, really?)

Rutile turns around and trusts her back and shoulder forward, pretending to hit something. (The refrigerator was aimed kind of low, and flew much slower. Was it because it was heavier? No, he tossed it much faster at Lilian, or rather he threw it at her ice and not Lilian herself. Just what was he doing, really?)

Rutile stands up straight and puts a hand on her chest. (And finally, his eyes. There was... Sadness? Worry? Fear?) Rutile holds her head and ruffles it up a bit. (I can't think straight right now. I need to calm down. Mother, what should I do?)

Rutile breathes hard, then goes into a pose. She moves her limbs and body slowly yet gracefully. A slight breeze compliments her soft dance. Leaves fly past her as she switches poses and forms.

XXX


"Hiii Miss Shirai!" A blonde Tokiwadai student busts into Kuroko's office with a loud greeting.

"Ack!" Kuroko nearly jumped. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Oh?" The blonde smiles mischievously. "What's with that hostile reaction?"

"You know why!" Kuroko face palms. "What is your business here? Actually, why are you here in person?"

"I'm here to pick up Miss Sterling of course!"

"What?" Kuroko and Lilian cry out in unison.

"The school didn't call you yet?"

"What do you mean?" Kuroko interrogates.

"I pulled some strings, shall we say..." The blonde smiles mischievously once more.

Kuroko's office phone rings, as if right on queue. The teleporter walks to it slowly and picks up the phone.

"Hello there Miss Sterling," the blonde leans over Lilian, with a smile on her face.

"H-hi..." Lilian nervously responds.

"I've been wanting to meet with you for some time now, I'm sure you know who I am, right?"

"M-Misaki Shokuhou, the Mental Out, the 5th Level 5 and the other Level 5 of Tokiwadai."

"Thaaat's right! But you really didn't need to go into all that detail."

"W-what brings you here?"

"You too? I came to pick you up personally, so you should feel honored."

Kuroko hangs up the phone, then she lets out a very heavy sigh. "I'm sorry Miss Sterling, her story checks through. You're to... stay with Miss Shokuhou for the time being."

"Thanks for that Miss Shirai, come along Miss Sterling, we've got a lot to talk about."

"D-don't I have a say in this?"

"Unfortunately, no," Kuroko sighs. "Just bear with it and do your best not to let your guard down, especially around her."

"Heh, as if that's possible," Misaki responded out loud.

"She's definitely up to something," Kuroko ponders. "But my hands are tied right here."

XXX


Misaki leads Lilian towards her car."Driver, to the usual cafe please, we have about an hour left."

"An hour before what?" Lilian asks. "What is it that you want from me?"

"Oh it's a very special request that only you can do," Misaki answers cheerfully. "Or rather, it's more suited to Miss Isolde..."

"W-what are you talking about? Ahehehe..."

(There's no point in hiding it from her. Lilian, let me talk.)

Lilian closes her blue eyes, Isolde opens her red ones.

"Out of everyone in the school, why me?"

"It's nice to finally meet with you, Miss Isolde," Misaki give off another playful smile.

Isolde stayed quiet, trying to figure out her options in this situation. There's a Level 5 sitting right next to her, demanding a favor.

"You're wondering about what you can do here, right? I'll let you in on something. There's nothing you can do. I made sure that I have... contingencies."

"..."

"But don't worry, I'm not against you or anything. In fact, my request is very beneficial for you as well."

"How? What's in it for me?"

"Well for one, I'll keep your... secret, secret."

"You knew for a while, why play this card now?"

"I did contemplate saving it for later, but now is the best time to use it. Especially since this is a request that I know you will accept."

"How so?"

"Hold that thought, we're here."

XXX


Misaki takes a sip out of her tea, Isolde drinks her iced tea.

"You will be... retrieving someone for me, and it's someone you know personally."

"I really don't know many people."

"Then it should be easy for you to figure out who it is that I'm talking about."

"... ...!"

"Now you see where I'm getting at."

(I don't get it. Isolde?)

"But couldn't you have done it yourself?"

"They're tricky, and surprisingly smart for a bunch of lowlifes, to the point of having some kind of special radar that can detect when Espers use their powers. They at least seem to have done their research on me. That and they're extremely paranoid. But I'm certain they have very little on you, if anything."

"Then why not mind control me?"

"Mind controlled people will only follow orders in the most direct way possible. It's really boring that way, not to mention too straightforward and very easily detectable. In cases like this, a significant amount of cunning is required. While you are clever, so am I."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you tried... flying with your powers?"

"Flying? With my power? That's impossible."

"Is it? What if I told you I know of a way to make you fly?"

"... And if this idea of yours actually works?"

"Well, because we've already agreed that my request will make us even from freeing you from Judgment. By telling you how to fly, of course I'll want something in return."

"What could I have that you'd want?"

"You're right, I can easily take anything I wanted from you. However, what I can't seem to get to is your past."

"..."

(I-Isolde?)

"It's a very interesting enigma. You claim to have amnesia and there are no records of anything about you before that fire. I'm certain that it's your most closely guarded secrets."

(Fire? What fire?)

"Why are you so interested in my past?"

"I'm not interested, but I have to know how willing you are to gain my trust."

"What?"

"Up until now, I can only read Miss Lilian's mind. The most recent is only a little after your exhibition with Miss Misaka. You, however, are a true mystery. I can't completely trust mysterious people. And besides, I'm going to tell you how to fly, which is something that a whole lot of people, even with powers, can only dream of."

"... Five years ago..."

(I-Isolde?)

"Oh...?"

"Five years ago, I will focus my mind on a single memory at that point in time. Keep your end of the deal to teach me how to fly, and I will accept your request right after that. We should be even right afterwards."

"Is that right?" Misaki takes out a remote from her bag. "Once I read your memory, you cannot take it back, understood?"

"Neither can you."

"Is that a warning? Trust me, I've seen terrible memories, I have terrible memories. Whatever lies in your past cannot be compared."

"You're right, you can't compare it."

*Click*

The remote dropped onto the table. Misaki leans forward hard, her face covered in fear. It takes every bit of will power to keep herself from screaming out as loud as she can, or the fear had completely swallowed her voice. Everyone else in the cafe notices Misaki struggling. Isolde just took another drink of her iced tea.

"That is... my past. My sin. My fate. My... despair..."

(Isolde! What did she see? You... you never lost your memories?! You were lying to me all this time?! Isolde!)

"I'm sorry, Lilian, but it has nothing to do with you..."

(Like hell it does! When were you going to tell me about this?!)

"Not now. If something happens where you need to know about it, I'll tell you. But not now."

(You...! That better be a promise!)

Misaki looks up at Isolde's sharp eyes, a strong will shone through them.

"H-how... can you...? What was...?"

"Do you really want to know more?"

"..." Misaki's fear prevented her voice from coming out again.

"... I'll wait for you to recover. But now we only have half an hour left. You had best tell me how I can fly, and fast."

XXX


"Huh?" Rutile senses something... familiar in the air, it's faint but yet it's nearby. She turns around and faces the bridge. She can't see anything from below, she super jumps forward then upwards, landing on the sidewalk on top of the bridge. There was a small breeze flowing through here. Rutile looks around, there was a girl in a Tokiwadai uniform leaning over the other side.

"Is that...?" Rutile looks both ways, it was completely empty, except for a flying newspaper. She walks slowly towards the other girl, who seemed to be depressed. The wind picks up suddenly, and the newspaper slaps Rutile in the face, startling her and letting out a quick yelp.

Rutile pulls the paper off of her face and lets it fly away in the wind. She turns back to face the other girl on the bridge, who had been alerted to her. But now Rutile recognizes who the Tokiwadai student is.

"You're... Miss Misaka, right?"

The other girl looks at Rutile solemnly for a moment.

"Hello?"

Then the girl's face perks up, "That's right! And you are, Miss Rutile?"

Rutile bows, "My name is K-Katherine Rutile Sopheria, really."

"Oh, sorry, I only heard Lilian call you Rutile a lot, so I thought..."

"But when we met earlier, Lilian didn't call me Rutile, really."

"Ah-ahh... really? I must have remembered it wrong. But I was just talking to her right now."

"Miss Lilian's supposed to call me as soon as she was finished at the Judgment office, really."

"S-she's at the Judgment office?"

"We're supposed to come back to the school together. That's why I'm waiting for her here, really."

"I-is that so?" Misaka drops her head a little and turns to the side.

"Miss Misaka... Is there something wrong?"

"..." Misakia leans back on the bridge wall. "Heh... I'm sorry. I've just been too busy lately, my head's a little messed up."

"Miss Misaka... Are you... the Magneto?"

Mikoto's eyes showed surprise for a moment. Then she closed them and smiled. "Yeah... I am."

XXX


Author: Well, Misaki is surprisingly difficult to write, I don't think I got her right. Also, just who is it that the Mental Out wants the Arctic Mist to retrieve, and why?