Dream seeker 4

Chapter 4: Something in the way

'Maybe I can convince Misaki to pick up some new hobbies.'

Touma found himself having this thought for a perfectly good reason. He was currently carrying Misaki's shopping bags. Usually, this would have been a relatively minor affair, but given the sheer amount of shopping he had been dragged along for recently, it was little wonder his interests began to wave. Well, interest is, a strong word; will to carry on would be more accurate.

Despite very promising advances in their recreation habits based on yesterday, it seemed Touma was back at square one. Maybe he could convince her to do something besides shopping and eating out. Even if Touma did enjoy spending time with Misaki; that much time spend doing one thing does get to a person, maybe if he phrased it the right way, he could make some progress. Touma attempted to voice his thoughts.

"Say haven't you been a little overzealous with your spending recently?" he sincerely hoped that would work, should he not watch his words he could find himself in the proverbial doghouse. In response to that, Misaki turned to look at Touma with an incredulous look painted across her face.

"How so, Touma? One should think my budget ability is perfectly acceptable, given my allowance." Looking directly at him, she was somehow able to ignore her frankly impressive purchase when addressing him.

"Err well…" he trailed off while nodding his head loosely to bring her attention to his two arms laden with bags and the litany of purchases within them.

"Oh, don't be like that; you are a perfectly healthy young man with a physical ability more than capable of this type of conduct." Given how she had changed the topic of the conversation from her spending to Touma's reaction to it appeared that Touma had, in fact, not chosen his words carefully.

"That is hardly the point; the issue is that this Kamijou is carrying so much in the first place." He sounded exasperated. He had lost control of this conversation.

"While that may be true, I think it fair I raise a counter-point." She looked at him a smile dancing across her visage. Touma merely looked at her with tired eyes. "It's not like I keep you around for your brains." She had a spring in her step as she turned from looking at him and headed off to another store. Touma shuffling after her, struggling to keep hold of the load he was stuck in possession of.

"Such Misfortune."

While the idea of quantity having a quality of its own was a common one, it did not apply to Shokuhou Misaki. Given her status as a level 5, she had the means and the will to strive not only for quantity but also quality. In effect, this led to Touma Kamijou sitting in yet another boutique today. He really should have been used to the action at this point. He was a young man sitting down in a women's clothing store, however, and that brought with it a variety of reactions that kept him on edge.

Some of the looks he got were pitying; these types either understood his circumstance or mistook him for Misaki's significant other, regardless of the look of pity and the weak smiles were welcome. Other times the disgust or perhaps disdain he saw in the eyes of the clients of the establishment he was brought to judging him with suspicious eyes was common. These types seemed to take him as some teenage pervert sitting around trying to leer at the changing rooms and its users, which in some respect he did, it was not like Misaki let him go elsewhere. Sometimes they left with their poor impression and others an appearance from Misaki would change their perspective; either way, Touma was not fond of those looks. What was undoubtedly his least favorite however were the pleased looks he got from some of the fairer sex. They saw what appeared to be a young man waiting patiently and supporting his girlfriend in her endeavors, despite the obvious pain it brought him. If the jealousy was deserved and not the effect of a misinterpretation than he would have felt some guilt in the pleasure the attention brought him. He was a hormonal teen after all, and positive female attention was always appreciated.

All of that was one thing. However, something much more important was taking up Touma's attention. No, it wasn't a 'stunning' outfit that Misaki would not even be able to wear. It was the dog that was seated in the seat across from him. While it wasn't uncommon to see pets in the city seeing a dog in a chair in a place like this was; the odd situation of the dog itself only paled in comparison to the dog itself. See this was no ordinary doggo. This animal appeared to be a cyborg. That may have been an exaggeration to many, and an unreliable claim for most but the evidence spoke for itself. Stretching out of a backpack on the back of the golden retriever was two mechanical arms, like what one may find in some hospitals or attached to lab equipment, and with these metal appendages, the dog was reading a newspaper. Should that not be enough, the glasses set across the canine's face (muzzle? Touma was not sure) only moved the dog further into the uncanny valley.

Touma had pinched himself a few times after sitting down. Not 5 minutes after seating himself on the uncomfortable bench passed before noticing the dog. After seeing the dog equip gasses and begin to read, on top of a female researcher coming out of the changing rooms and asking for approval on a blouse; the strangest part of the interaction being the thumbs-down motion of the mechanical arms judging the quality of the article of clothing. There were undoubtedly more bizarre forces at work in the city. The Superhumans that made up the population being the most poignant example. Years of being immersed in the uncanny however desensitize someone; this process, while making someone expecting of teens bending reality to their whims, did not account for hyper-intelligent, much less fashion savvy, golden retrievers.

Misaki came out of the changing rooms shortly after. Approaching from the left and seeking her closest friend's (although that was not saying much) opinion on the pants and shirt she had tried on. At first, she assumed his ignoring of her query was only from shock over her beauty, but his continued gaze across and away from her proved otherwise. She moved in front of him with arms crossed under her nonexistent bust and posed a much more pointed question now with his partial attention.

"Why is your distraction ability so high Kamijou; a beautiful young lady is trying on clothes before your eyes, and you aren't even paying attention! What could possibly be so important?" She growled the majority of that statement; it wasn't ladylike, but she was not feeling as such at that moment. After all of this and that he wasn't even giving her the time of day, it actually hurt her pride to an extent. 'He had better not be looking at some other girl.' Her thoughts were hostile but so was she. Her foot began to tap impatiently while her hands rested on her hips while she waited for her answer.

In response, Touma merely maintained the bewildered gaze on his face and pointed at the sight before him. Her eyes followed the direction of his hand and upon seeing what was perhaps even stranger than the giant brain that empowered her, turned to look at Touma, any anger now gone from the girl. A thought came from her in an attempt to maintain her anchor to reality.

"We are both seeing the dog, right? Our Sanity ability is not gone is it?" She could only feel an immense relief flood her being as Touma began to nod frantically and motion for her to sit with him and observe for a moment more of what was a once in a lifetime experience.

So, do you think that robot dog had a smaller robot inside the backpack or was the backpack a coverup for like some sort of arm plugin?

Misaki had to chuckle at that. As shocking as that incident had been, it wasn't like she had not seen sights stranger. It seemed Touma had not, however; at least based on his reaction to the whole ordeal. It had been a day, and he was still going on about it. She supposed that there might be some history that Touma had with either dogs or robots that she wasn't aware of. If that was the case, then just how many advanced machines were running around in this city? That was an uncomfortable thought.

The sun was shining in through the high Tokiwadai windows in the library. Her clique was sitting around one of the tables on the far side of the large building. It had been nice. Her life had been on the up and up. A month or so ago, she could not imagine lounging around in her time off. She found herself in the library after Junko told her the clique was planning to have a "study hall," in effect they came to talk about what teenage girls would speak of; in effect what was supposed to be a time for academics had become time for socializing. Not that Misaki had any issues with this; in fact, she had foreseen it happening and still came. Unlike the excitable girls around her, she found herself being much more reserved; she chose to sit back and watch the antics of her clique play out. It was unlikely that she would have taken part, much less while in a friendly chat with Junko.

Said girl was enthusiastically speaking about her plans for their faction's free time. Junko was seemingly lost in thought, moving between loosely connected concepts and had stopped paying much attention to Misaki. For all her professionalism and diligence, she was quite the airhead. Being talked at rather than to was not something Misaki was used to, being a 5th level did come with a particular type of limelight, but found it oddly pleasant. Merely taking part in interactions with others, without the need for control or suspicion or anything except her time and presence; the communication was new found, and already she liked the atmosphere. She should have been doing this earlier.

Back in the Clone Dolly labs, it was constantly her time to shine. She was always the focal point of research. Her position as the strongest girl and most successful child error had made her into something of a figurehead; regardless if, she wanted to be one or not. The other girls were impressive, and the Clone Dolly project was one of the most successful Esper programs in the city. Growing up a leading figure for children struggling when she herself had been one was not something she should have been taking on at her young age. It did, however, shape her social positions in 3 ways. She still occupied a queen bee position, be it by her own self-conscious need to surround herself with subordinates or social conditioning turning her into a charismatic figure, girls drew themselves to Misaki and she encouraged them to do so. In a difference and defiance to her up bring, her freedom expressed itself in ways that she was not much of an overseer; she had had more than her fill of that role growing up. Most importantly, however, despite the years gone by and her struggles, she still had the sweet girl with braids in her life.

'If only the other girl from the labs was still here.' The thought brought about unhappy memories and her focused shifted back to the violet-haired girl.

'Whatever did I do to deserve Junko?' in a way the girl had been her rock. For much of their childhood, she had been by her side. When Clone Dolly labs went under, she stayed with her. They lived together for a year, and Junko tried her best to help Misaki in any way that she could. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, that wasn't enough. Hard as it was to admit Misaki had been ready to make a final choice, one that would have likely hurt Junko far more than it would have harmed Misaki. In some way, it was good to see that even in her darkest hour, when she felt so alone, such was not the case.

In an apt comparison that was much the same way, Junko felt about Misaki. From their youth, Junko felt that Misaki was the only person she could reach out toward. They were the strongest two child errors, though Misaki was far beyond her. In effect, she was the only person Junko couldn't harm, and so they connected. During her time with Misaki, she had learned to control her power and began to interact with the other children in those labs. When Misaki helped her control her powers by removing the mental barriers, she opened the world for her. Even if she did not have the heart to tell Misaki that it did not completely heal her, it was for these ties that Junko stuck with Misaki through thick and thin. Years spent together for each other only solidified these bonds. Junko loved Misaki like a sister; a cruel, haughty and uncontrollable sister but one all the same.

"I just can't decide how we should do this. Should appeal for pool use or for one of the dining halls; there is just so much we can do with either!" Junko had not stopped speaking for a good few minutes at this point. In part, it was her building enthusiasm and in another the subconscious increasing in intensity to fit the slowly rising levels of noise from the table as a whole.

Shokuhou Misaki merely nodded along; she had her mind on other matters at this point, mainly those that in some way the clique reminded her of. When Junko and herself had been admitted into Tokiwadai, it had been shortly after the end of Dolly, both the lab and the girl. It had been a hard time for Misaki. She coped in the ways she knew how. She collected girls to surrounded herself with, created a persona of the detached and lofty queen, apart from the world of Tokiwadai. It was unhealthy, but at the time she wanted to grieve and to take her life back for what was effectively the first time. And so, she reigned, she excelled in all she set her mind to. It was, for this reason, she was sure she was not athletically gifted, she merely didn't care, not out of her own weak spot and slothfulness, any who said otherwise were doomsayers. Her depressive nature during this time not being conductive to physical health was the real root cause. The heavy thoughts still came, her guilt and powerlessness haunted her even in her new life, the merits of which she rejected in favor of fixation on the past.

These heavy thoughts were no longer with her. Yes, she still was scarred from her upbringing and the events that occurred, but now she could truly live her life, stop and smell the roses if you will. The Spikey haired boy was a good influence in her life. She was learning to move on while still remembering. To live for herself and what she cared for. It was that which was Misaki was doing right now. If the spikey haired boy was unavailable there were no place, she would have rather been than with Junko and the girls.

"My queen, did you hear me?" Junko looked at her with a straight face, but she could tell the questioner already had her answer.

"Ahh, sorry, my listening ability must be negatively affected by the chatter." Misaki hoped that was convincing. It wasn't.

Junko merely shook her head lightly and repeated herself to her oldest and dearest friend.

"The Tokiwadai Summer festival is coming up; do you think it would be a good idea for our clique to take part? Maybe we could run a fundraiser or a booth of some kind." That was not the original thought, but she elaborated now that she had the 5th level's full attention.

"Why your creative ability is astounding; both of those ideas are great, you should get the clique's opinion, conveniently, they are right here," Misaki said. While Junko's eyes lit up and she moved further down the table to maximize the number of ears Misaki just sat back and thought. She was aware of what the Festival entailed. The school would be open to the outside, and they would put on their best face. Other schools would be impressed, sponsors and support wooed and their talents put on display. More importantly, however, the school was open to guests. At that thought, her heart began to beat a little faster. Excitement, just like Junko moment ago, started to well up within her.

'I can finally dress up. That will show Touma all this shopping was not for naught.' What was left to her subconscious was her excitement to have him with her at Tokiwadai, to show him off in a way.

'We have to look nice; we'll go out and find something presentable for him to wear.' She had another little thought. 'Maybe the clique and I can get makeovers, Junko would look so pretty with ringlets.' So started her frantic planning, for when the Queen of Tokiwadai set her mind on something, it was done.

Touma spun around in his swivel chair one more time. He stopped himself with a firm foot planted into the side of his desk. Looking down, Touma saw what was troubling him. He had recently received his scores from the city mock entrance exams. While many a middle schooler was worrying over their grades, over what schools to send them to and which ones they could be accepted into after another real entrance exam, he did not have that problem. Instead, he was faced with a dilemma.

"Top marks, huh, well I suppose I did do a fair bit of studying," Touma muttered to himself. He had been a good student from the day he started his schooling in academy city, but this was something else. While Touma had by no means aced the test, they were not meant for that purpose, well unless you were a level 5, but Touma was far from that. Be it from help from someone who certainly understood the material, his own education accolades or a flute he found himself with a grade sheet that was best described as a skeleton key. With this transcript, he could probably even get into one of the top schools if he applied himself. In that lay the problem; should he? He had attended good schools before, back in elementary and middle school, before SCHOOL. He could get proper schooling, better grades, and an easier time in the city, so why was he hesitant? A few reasons he knew for sure, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to being the worst of his doubts. Sure, he could do all this, but what was the point? His grades were up to scratch; the system scan told him that Touma was unlikely to see any improvements, and he did not care for the status it would bring. Besides, he liked his school, teachers, and classmates.

He had to move; however, middle school was over. He almost felt jealous of Misaki; she wouldn't have to worry about moving schools and applications for a long while. They only had about a year's difference in age but thanks to Touma being born very late in the year he was young for his class. Misaki, being born right after the school year cut off, was old for her grade. This leads to the circumstance where they lacked much of an age gap, but the two were separated substantially. She could be stress-free for a damn long time while he was stuck debating where he wanted to go in life. This circumstance, of course, being made all the harder in that his options were near limitless - an issue for someone who had a hard time deciding what he wanted for dinner.

Still, though, he thought something more prestigious might be helpful. If for nothing else, then the idea of an enclosed campus and dorm living. Given Touma's habit of getting involved with petty crime and hostile visits, something more mundane would be a nice change of pace, certainly one that is in order.

'Misaki gets to live at her fancy school; she probably has never even seen a mugging.' He thought to himself. At that thought his choice became harder. For all his ideas of more comfort wouldn't it be wrong if someone like himself who helped out in that type of situation was to go elsewhere? What of all the assault and harassments he put an end to, would they continue and have more unfortunate consequences if he didn't stay? His head fell on his desk, and he exhaled a long slow breath. He had been at this for hours at this point, and no progress had been made.

"You know what; this Kamijou has good grades I'm shooting for the stars" he snapped upright and started going through school catalogs. He had picked up enough of them. If he was frank part of this motivation came for a desire to wear a saccharine smile and tell Misaki he went to a better school than Tokiwadai. That, of course, narrowed the list by a considerable margin. Ignoring the schools to far away from himself and more importantly, his friends and acquaintances he was only left with one valid choice: Nagatenjouki Academy. Sure, it was hard to get into, but he could do it. His studying with Misaki had gotten him this far, maybe he could ask for some more help and see if he could go all the way. Hell, it wasn't too far from where he lived, and if worst came to worst, he would only have to move over a branch or two for judgment and could likely still patrol the same area. It checked all the boxes really.

With a sense of conviction set in his belly, he went straight into his research, and by the hour's end would be ready to send his transcript. There was only one thing he needs to do at this point.

"Hmm, I'm impressed by the amount of effort you are willing to put into this decision, but I'm going to have to say no." the crushing remark came from his boss Yomikawa Aiho. She took one look at the school at the top before sliding it back to him.

"W-what? Why not? If anything, should you not be encouraging me to apply myself." Touma was dumbfounded; this was not the reaction he was expecting.

"That right there "applying yourself," we both know full well how that turned out last time." She fixed him with a mild look, and he winced. "After the last time, you were at a High-level school you and that level 5 created one of the most dangerous paramilitaries in the city! That is quite the accomplishment of all things considered." Miss Yomikawa was, of course, referring to his and Kakine's pet program gone out of hand-SCHOOL. He paused for a moment before opening his mouth in an attempt to plead, before he was cut off again.

"After the last time I don't care how much you've improved, I wouldn't trust you around impressionable superpowered teens to save my life. I know you are a good kid, but the last thing you and by extension, the last thing judgment needs right now is some sort of Kamijou faction of vigilantes running around." Her words crushed Touma, for once he had a plan, he was going to follow through and keep moving on, yet here he was being stopped. The dejected look on his face must have caught the attention of Yomikawa, given that she continued.

"Look, I got stuck keeping my eye on you. I'll send your transcript to the school I work at, its right next to the one you're going to right now." Again, she saw his pained expression. She sighed and kept speaking.

"Tell you what, I'm supposed to make sure you don't get in trouble and if you keep out of it as you have I'll see what I can do about you taking courses from this school you want to attend alright?" her inflection made it seems like a question but he understood it was a command. He nodded. Still extremely disappointed with this turn of events, and left her office.

Yomikawa Aiho just stared after him. He was a good kid, she liked him, and he was a skilled judgment officer. Aiho wished she hadn't had to do that. It was out of her hands, however, part of the judgment reform he started on required oversight. Aiho couldn't imagine that allowing the exact circumstance that created the first incident to repeat themselves constituted a wise oversight. She was still unhappy with how it tuned out. However, Touma would probably resent her, at least for a while, and as his superior knew how much less effective he was at his job when he had something on the mind. No, this hadn't been ideal in the slightest.

"So, then she just tells me no, like she's my mother or something! This is academy city; how am I being forced into a less academic life?" Touma had planned to call Misaki anyway, to inform her of his school choice, but after the last few minutes, his motivation turned into more a vent than anything.

On the other side of the call, Misaki was both understanding and surprised. She understood and was sympathetic to his concerns, after all just because she was supposed to "observe" Touma hardly meant she could just kill his ambitions like that; secondly, she was surprised because he was trying to get into one of 5 best schools in the city.

"This whole situation just blows, this Kamijou tried, I honestly did, but I might as well just tank some test and go back to being an average student if this is what happens." Touma continued his complaints. Typically, his venting was more lighthearted, hardly completely serious but it seemed this hit a sore spot. Misaki was sure there was some other part of the story she was missing that caused Touma to be so reactive. She should change the subject; she knew it was a sour spot for Touma and moving on may be the best she could do for him at the time being.

"Speaking of blows Turns out the school is making me take part in its Summer festival, not even with a group, but as some trophy to parade about." While the abrupt change may be jarring, she was sure he would appreciate the change in subject, plus she had been wanting to talk to him about this.

"They just called me in and went: Misaki you are this schools pride you have to represent us," she said, mimicking the voice of a cranky old woman best she could, the impression was terrible, and it drew a short chuckle out of Touma. "I'm not sure if I can even take part in the photos booth that my cliq-friends are running" It was good for the both of them to air their problem, it was even better to have someone who wanted to listen.

They had changed quite a lot in these weeks, both of them were very pleased with the drastic new direction, Misaki especially. Nowadays Misaki was much more personable, involved with her community at Tokiwadai and generally happier. But it wasn't just that, she knew he was more than a friend to her at this point, the feeling of butterflies she got so often more quashed any doubts on that subject, but Misaki was unaware of the nature, much less extent of his feelings and doubted she could accurately describe, much less confront her own.

In Touma's camp much was awry, or rather not awry. These past weeks were probably the most content he had been in a long while. The comparison was not precisely fitting, and Touma knew that, but he could not help comparing this August to his time with SCHOOL. He was busy, had plans, spent time doing recreation, and most importantly, interacted with people he liked daily. Much as it hurt to admit Touma had become something of a recluse after joining judgment. He hadn't tried, but the results spoke for themselves. He was isolated, lacked a support structure, and ended up devoting himself to something our protagonist did not feel strongly about for the sake of keeping his thoughts occupied. His work was good, he was at least proud and motivated in going what good he could, his coworkers liked him, but the separation between them was not something he was able to overcome. But when one of his hikes lead to an unforeseen event, a new norm took form.

Touma now had something to look forward to when waking up, a passion to go along with his purpose. The feeling of loneliness and boredom, giving way to a genuine enthusiasm for his life. It had become more than just the experience, once again it was a life with at the least a semblance of meaning. Oddly enough, it seemed to produce a side effect of him becoming much more domestic. He had spent much less time in the hospital from judgment elated incidents and as a whole was more focused on the aspects of life not related to his work. He spent more time for his sake. His heroism was not gone by any means; they manifest in schooling and slightly safer judgment practices rather than what he would define as laziness.

"Can your school just do that? What would they have done if you said no, or had other plans?" his voice rang clear through the call, the judgment branch did have superior reception than that of his dormitory.

"Well, my resurgence in participation ability is recent in the scheme of things. If anything, that administration probably assumes I'm a detached loner with a god complex and unhealthy coping mechanisms." She may as well be frank with Touma, the idea that he was unaware of her attempted suicide was nonsense at this point.

"I can see the idea behind that line of thought, but don't you think it's a little harsh. What your saying is that your school was willing to put you in a position to do something you potentially had no desire to do on the assumption you were in a place to deny then." With that phrasing, Misaki winced. It sounded worse when spoken aloud like that. She made a noncommittal hum to let Touma know she acknowledged his point without anything to add.

"This Kamijou is not one to speak about self-destructive tendencies put should you maybe just say no?" His voice was a curious mix of worry and trepidation at what may have been an over applying of his train of thought.

"I have already told them I would, and I'm a woman of my word. It isn't like I'm in a bad place now either. The Fair will be an inconvenience, but it's no end of the world. I get that the motivation is suspect, but you don't have to be so princely over this; I can handle a little disappointment now and then." She sounded both earnest and condescending in a way he knew that only Misaki could pull off.

They both knew where the other was coming from. Touma had some idea that Misaki in the past as she was currently, was the kind of person who could handle a burden and could handle something she didn't want to do, her main concern was the loss of her agency in the decision, not the result. Misaki was well aware of his hero complex by now. Sure, it was slightly irksome he could not place his faith in her to handle herself but the jolt of happiness running through her at his viewing her of worthy of deliberate protection out shadowed the negative. In a sense, they had begun to see what truly made the other tick.

Musing on that Touma pushed off from his seat, rolling away from the paperwork he was ignoring and towards the water dispense and its half full jug of water. Misaki hadn't said anything at the end of that, and while filling up a Dixie cup form the dispenser under the blue handle, he spoke.

"I'm just worried about you is all." He signed, not at his confession of intent but rather as an outlet of his frustrations that had been mounting all day.

"I can see that." She then chuckled at his little sigh, luckily, he could see her blushing on the other line at the sentiment. "W-well this means my tolerance ability is greater than yours, you broke into complaints about something you wish didn't happen and your workload before I did. Not very heroic behavior now, is it?" She had become progressively more teasing as she went on, never mind the stutter from the slight embarrassment Misaki was turning on Touma. Her talent for seriousness was beginning to wane. She felt something more light-hearted was in order. There was not much point in complaining over something already set in stone after all.

"You know it seems I'm much more responsible than you Kamijou; I've already finished what I was doing for my clique. But you? Using our little chat to ignore your work, aren't you?" The last consonant was deliberately drawn out to highlight her point. Touma could only choke on his water.

It appeared the sound carried over as she began to laugh.

"Should I just head over there? No reason to stay on the phone. Unless you are worried about your boss, that is." Referring to the woman he had mild beef with was probably underhanded but judging from his reply she found herself smirking.

"Well, I see no reason why not. I'll have another chair when you get here." Touma said as such without any pause. It seemed her tactic had worked. She could not help smiling to herself before moving off her couch and telling Junko where she was going. If she had anything to say to Misaki, she didn't hear it as she left quite quickly.

"Hey, Touma, you just spilled over those documents," Misaki said while putting some noodle into her mouth. On her way over to the 164th branch, Touma had called and asked if she had eaten yet. It being around 5 and Misaki not being one of advanced age had not and told Touma as such. To that, he asked if she wanted to take out and they decided to meet halfway at a Thai joint. In any case, while she was able to keep a hold of her meal, Touma lacked such an ability.

"Such misfortune." Was the grumbled response from Touma to her prompt. He reached toward the pile of napkins they took and began dabbing at the spill.

"That was less Misfortune and more your lack of eating ability, I've seen children with better dining habits." He certainly didn't take that laying down.

"This Kamijou is a young man perfectly capable of eating; a small accident is not indicative of a wider trend at all!"

"Really, now? Then how is it that I recall you knocking your water on the waitress not three days ago? If this trend doesn't show your lack of ability, I don't know that does." She replied coolly, slowly rotating in her chair to see the look of trepidation on Touma's face.

"Oh, heh, you remember that do you?" he sounded coy at being caught and began to starch the back of his head in embarrassment. Luckily, he used his left hand, which was absent of any chopsticks or their residual sauce.

"How could I have forgotten something about my dear friend so quickly, do you doubt my friendship ability." She continued with the coy confrontation with both faux pained speech and a clearly faked pout.

"For a level 5, you are hardly the image of professionalism that one conjures up, harassing those beneath you so." This time he managed to take a bite of his Pad Thai without a spill.

"With peons like these who can blame me." She chuckled at the look of surprise at her quick retort. She had caught on to his manner of speech a while ago, at this point, he should have been expecting it and if not then shame on him.

"That is awfully harsh Misaki." He backed down from this conversation; once again, we had gotten the upper hand. He picked up his pen as she wore a mirthful smile. The two of them sat in comfortable silence as he chugged away at the ever-diminishing pile of parking violations and noise complaints.

She looked over his collection of paperwork picking up one and reading over it.

"For all the time you spend in the hospital, your work seems rather bland." She fixed him with one of her squinted looks. "You wouldn't happen to be avoiding me in there, have you?" That was not what he was expecting.

"Hardly, I have to do the grunt work half the time, and since I'm the only level 4 here, they keep sending me out when Espers get rowdy." She looked pleased with his explanation. Odd she was worried about that though, right?

"It would be more because of your ability; then your level would it not?"

"Well, the ability is tied to the ability. But yeah, I am particularly good at raining on the parades of grandeur some Espers work themselves into."

"That common? The girls at Tokiwadai are high level, and they seem tame to me, at least I can't see them going rogue."

"Well, it would have been the first time a level 3 or 4 got to full of themselves." He looked like he remembered something. "There was this one geomancer acted out after I stopped an illegal duel of his. He started chucking asphalt me. If I was anything else, but specialized in messing with other Espers he could have hurt someone. It seems for every high level you get an egotistical child to balance out. It's pretty damn irritating."

While Misaki did not fully understand the context as she lacked the experience, he had, she could still appreciate the point. Superpowered teenagers were a dangerous trend.

"What's it like being a high level?" Misaki asked him after taking in his story. He looked perplexed.

"You would know that much better than I would, you know being the 5th most powerful person on the planet and all." He really did not get what Misaki was trying to get across.

"Well yes, but at Tokiwadai, everyone is a high-level, so it just feels normal. But you have been around in normal society; you get what it is like to be high-level to the rest of the city because you aren't cooped up around high-powered girls all day."

"There is a high-powered girl around me all day, though." He lightly joked before continuing. "It feels like everyone is one edge. Like I'm dangerous. Either I'm put on a pedestal for being part of the cream of the crop or something to be scared and jealous of. Honestly, the power is nice, but I don't think the status is worth it in the slightest."

She expected he would say something like this; her…friend was humble to the core. It looked like he had reached the end of his work, looking over another paper and signing off while he spoke.

"I had no idea. The lab I grew up at had girls around the general ability as myself, then Tokiwadai and well, I guess I haven't exactly been part of the populous, have I?" she felt comfortable taking to Touma about this. All things considered, he was her best friend and the only other person who knew was Junko and she was particularly her sister. It felt good to talk about it, not having to bear the heavy thoughts by herself.

"Well, I surrounded myself with Espers myself. I used to be a level one, you know? At first, the only thing I could so was detect AIM waves. I couldn't understand the ability, sense potential actions, or have clairvoyance. I could still mess with AIM waves, but 8-year olds don't get involved with street violence very often, so that aspect of my power never came up." "Once myself and my friends got stronger though we only really spent time with each other and Kakine was way stronger than I was even back then." He sounded remorseful about that last part.

"Did something happening?" she asked. Something in the back of her mind recognized the odd name put she couldn't for the life of her place it.

"Yeah, we had this group you see. We started it as some kind of school club with our friends. It started as us two and two other classmates of ours — two levels fours and two-level threes when we formed. A bit like your clique really and we did what we pleased for the most part. Not my proudest moment, but we were all so happy then." He paused and swallowed his spit and looked at her. A quiet followed. 'She told me about her past, it's only fair if she gets the same treatment' he decided before continuing.

"We got involved in some seedy activity, something bad, just not what we should have been doing. We were involved with some shady research types and what we did keep getting less and less expectable. It was hard you know, seeing your best friends become something else, to feel you and someone who had known for years drift apart. I felt like they betrayed me and they felt the same the wasn't unfounded all things considered, when we went too far, I couldn't keep going, our group was so much different-worse and so were they. I lost my best friend, we known each other for near seven years, lived together for most of it. Now it's gone." He sounded so conflicted to Misaki. He clearly missed them but didn't regret his choice. While Touma had drawn into himself while telling the story, he drew stiff in his chair, and his hands clenched around his pen, straining the object.

"Shh, don't worry, alright." The voice came startling close to him. He wasn't ready for Misaki settling into his lap and drawing his head to her shoulder, but she did so anyway. The position was compromising, but he didn't care, letting the moment take place, shifting his position to allow Misaki better access. She was mortified to do this but wasn't being stopped, part of the reason she moved his head was to hide her bright cherry face.

"Being a level 5 is not the idyllic thing so many imagine. I've done things I'm not proud of too Touma. Hell, there was a research group who created a giant brain for me to use my powers with, and you better believe they made me use that power." She spoke softly, holding onto his head and leaning further against him. He was there for her and her heavy thoughts; this was the least she could do. Touma was too distracted to properly absorb the series of events. Misaki on the other hand had no such mercy; her face was growing hotter by the second and her break threatening to break out of her chest. He spoke against her shoulder after a long moment of silence.

"That was when I joined judgment. I did so much I shouldn't have, I hated it. This way, I could give back, redeem myself. That's why they keep an eye on me, worried if I might try something like that again." That sounded terrible to Misaki; her clique was so precious to her; she couldn't imagine losing them. The way Touma spoke of this Kakine came across like her and Junko, and the thought of them growing apart broke her heart. While it was reminiscent of Dolly the blood wasn't on his hands.

They sat in Touma's chair for a long time. Fortunately for them, there was not anything else they needed to do so they could spend all the time they needed on the topic. The silence was comfortable but tense in a way the both of them recognized as being unaware of how to properly handle the information. Touma just sat taking it in, especially the little things. Where Misaki had smelt like honey the proximity between the two was overpowering, but in a comforting and pleasant manner for Touma. They may have sat together on that chair for 20 minutes before Misaki had spoken up to the person she trusted so and vice-versa.

"Tokiwadai lets us bring a plus one to events. The summer fair is no exception, plus the campus is open all day. I'm expected to dance, and well." She let his head move to come face to face with him, barely inches between the two.

"Would you like to be my prince?"

Author's note:

So first off I'd like to apologize for being like a week late, had real life stuff that was pretty pressing, sister graduated college and I have finals. For the most part though I just didn't write for a bit, blame game of thrones for ruining a near decade of story.

This chapter is still part of my going off the books section of my retelling so I hope the characters seemed realistic and my witting wasn't off putting to anyone. Next time around I'll be able to keep up on my update schedule given that classes are out in like a week, so expect more frequent uploads. Nothing especially ground breaking happened this chapter and for the most part I will just be filling in the time until the conclusion of the arc. The whole point of this part of the story being a more character oriented piece so slice of life will still be at the forefront for a bit.

Anyway review time

Fortitude501: Glad you liked the direction I went with the backstory, and your postulate is certainly feasible. As for a certain senpai she certainly represents something threatening to Misaki.

Bit of both actually, a little worried about my execution of that but we see when we get there. That is something very much worth considering.

Scriptura: Glad to see you are enjoying it. The issue is less spell checking but more my utter lack of proof reader talent. Some funky stuff slipped through and on re-readings it is pretty rough. I hope that this chapter is better on that front and I'm sorry if I broke any immersion. In the future working on the small things is definitely on the agenda and when this arc is finished I'll be going through and editing out and fixing the mistakes I can catch.

cainabel201:I'm just tickled to hear you say that. I have intend to keep up on writing this and there is plenty more to come. I'm really jazzed that my writing is acceptable. Fights will be a ways away but I'll try not to let you down. Lucky for you only had to wait one more :)

Anyhow see y'all in a week or so and hope you have enjoyed this story so far. Read Review and all that jazz.