Review system reworked, details at the end of the chapter.
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Chapter 7: Distrust and Theft
"So are you going to explain?" Kuroko questioned, brushing the curls out of her hair as she did every night before bed. It was one of the only times you could catch the girl without her hair up her signature pigtails.
However, Shirai's roommate was the polar opposite of her. Misaka's short hair required little to no attention, and her pajamas held multiple icons of her favorite frog in the world… Gekota. Currently the electromaster was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Something she only did when she was deep in thought.
"I saw something. Something I… something I don't think I was supposed to see." Misaka explained, her thoughts drifting back to the town of Snowden. Things didn't add up about that place. It didn't show up on her searches online, and even worse the name Frisk was the name of a child who died almost a year ago. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she knew nothing about Sans.
"Like what?" Kuroko asked in a teasing voice, "Sounds to me like you may have seen something a little inappropriate on our little friend…" she finished, eyeing the electromaster with lustful eyes. She gained a large portion of amusement seeing the Level 5's face grow red hot and begin to squirm at the assumption.
"W-w-what?! I w-woul-d-d never! I s-saw.. I saw something that makes me think Sans might not actually be who he says he is…" she sputtered out, the redness fading from her face as she got out the serious idea she had been dwelling on.
Shirai put down her brush on the wardrobe and narrowed her eyes to look at the carpeted floor. Why would Sissy think of something like that? Just what exactly did she see? Kuroko looked up again, and made her choice. She picked up her chair and moved it to her Sissy's bedside. Sitting down she crossed her arms and waited.
"Well? I'm waiting?" Shirai said sarcastically, motioning to her friend to begin telling the story.
Misaka sat up and put her back up against the wall, "I.. It started when I touched him. It must have started an electric current between me and him. It caused me to see into his memories… At least that's what I think." She explained, Kuroko nodding in understanding.
"So you're telling me you saw into his memories, and you think you saw something that might happen to us?" Shirai asked with intrigue, resulting in Misaka giving a nod. She continued her story.
"I woke up in the snow, and after wandering for a bit I found a town. The town was quaint and small, but it had.. I don't know. It had this feel to it. I can't describe it." At this point Misaka pulled the blanket on her bed up past her feet and began to fiddle with the material at the end of the woven fabric. "It was strange."
Kuroko rubbed her chin as if she were deep in thought, her legs crossed. She looked quite different from her normal self given her posture and her hair being down, almost making her seem like a different person overall, "Like the feeling you get when you've been somewhere and it looks familiar? Or the feeling you get when you're totally lost?"
"The first one." she replied, staring off into the distance, "After I entered this kid took me into the town and took me to Sans house. I looked inside and he was with a kid."
The Level 4 put her eyebrow up to show her peak in curiosity, "A kid? What's so special about that? He could have been babysitting.. Unless he did something weird with them…"
Misaka rapidly shook her head at the suggestion that Ariel could have harmed the child in some way, though the possibility was still there. "No no, but he did say their name. A-and I looked up the name on your laptop…"
Suddenly everything came together. Shirai had seen the page open and read it herself. The name of the child was Frisk. A kid who ventured off and went missing only to be pronounced formally dead a year later. Had they been a bit older, they may have had search parties out a bit longer. For a kid as young as that though… they had no other choice but to presume them dead.
"You think Sans had a hand in killing or even kidnapping Frisk, and the possibility that he may do the same to us." Kuroko concluded, gaining a nod from the Level 5 electromaster. Had they known more about their pale friend maybe it wouldn't have been so easy to jump to conclusions… but after they thought about it they didn't even know where he came from.
Shirai stood up and brought the chair back over to her wardrobe, sliding into the bottom where it belonged. She then shut the lid on her laptop and stored the brush she had laid aside in one of the drawers. "How about this. How about we go up to Judgement tomorrow and we look through the database to see what we know about him? All of those tests they did on him had to be for some good right?"
Misaka perked up from her somber state at hearing that. In fact it was the first time she had showed anything but deep thought today. "Really? You think they'll know anything?"
She nodded, "Mhhm, they've got stuff on everybody in Academy City, and after we get done there we can go out for dinner in our finest clothes… and eat a romantic meal out on the balcony… then when we go home you'll proclaim your lo-"
"SNAP OUT OF IT YOU PERVERT!" the electromaster yelled, delivering a shock to her roommate. Shirai snapped out of her dream, but the hearts in her eyes still stayed prominent. She was still thinking those dirty thoughts….
ZAAAAP!
Another shock made a direct hit on the Level 4, yet she still stayed persistent, "Yes sissy I love you too! I've been waiting so long!" she exclaimed, still dreaming of her beloved sissy in some twisted fashion. It wasn't rare for this kind of thing to happen, in fact it occured way too often for Misaka's liking.
The back and forth went on for another moment or so before the duo began to settle down and retired for the day. They were able to forget the stresses of the day as they fell back onto their respective beds. The lights turned off and the room was silent spare the breathing of the two. In this environment it wasn't long before Shirai fell into a trance-like sleep, yet Misaka could only lay on her side and ponder the same thing than ran through her head over and over and over again.
Just who exactly was Sans?
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Morning came a lot faster than she had anticipated. It felt like she hadn't slept more than an hour, and the only thing there was to prove her wrong was the clock and the sun peering through the window.
Throwing the blankets away from her body, she swung her feet over the side of the bed. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stood to her full height and gazed out the window towards the see of industrialization and commercialism that was Academy City. It truly was a beautiful day outside.
The sun was just rising over the horizon and it filled the dorm with a crisp yellow light. Saten stretched her arms out and basked in the positive energy the morning always gave her.
Feeling good about today, she began searching the room for her clothes from the night prior. She was so tired from the party last night she hadn't even bothered to put her clothes into the hamper, even now she stood only clothed in her undergarments.
Bending over, she grabbed at the frilly shirt and silky skirt she had worn the night before. They had yet to obtain an odor to them, but was disappointed in herself for not dealing with them sooner. However, when she picked up her purse off of the floor a certain item fell out of the side.
It was a small music player, about the size of a pack of gum. She had found it as Sans place the night before and had taken it in hopes of discovering what music he liked. He may seem like a tough guy, but she knew if she tried enough she could break him from the shell he kept himself inside of all the time.
That's what made it so much worse when she discovered what was on it.
She had discovered the contents of the music device on the walk home back to her one person dorm. It caused confusion at first as to why the song had the same name as the enormously expensive item, but then again she knew very little about how the actual Level Upper worked.
The moment she had gotten home last night she was in such a rush to discover the contents of the music player, she tossed all of her clothes to the floor and spent over an hour researching anything she could about the Level Upper being a music file.
Surprisingly enough, even a girl who was too lazy to put on her pajamas was able to find a response given she looked deep enough into the web. It did help that she was already extremely well educated in the matter. After all, even the possibility of an item existing sent chills of excitement down her spine.
Snapping back to reality she placed the Level Upper on the bed and made her way across the room to get her clothes from one of the pull out drawers. A simple pair of jeans and a cute navy blue sleeveless shirt. Oh, and how could she forget? A cute matching blue and pink pair of panties to show off to Uiharu. Content with her selection, she made her way to the bathroom to take her morning shower.
As she entered she gently placed her clothes on the counter and shut the door behind her. The tan walls of the small room a deep contrast to the liveliness of the room she had been in. Reaching into the shower she turned the shower head on and let the water begin to heat up. While that was working, she proceeded to remove the rest of her clothes per usual.
Stepping in the water was just the right temperature, and she began to think of what she could do on her Sunday before school started back. Maybe she could go shopping? That wasn't a bad idea, they had just opened up the new section to the shopping mega mall downtown. Maybe she could see if the others wanted to go? Perhaps even Sans would go as well?
A good idea indeed! After seeing Sans so happy the day before there was a much better chance he would accept to come today. It would be the first time they had all been shopping together anyways. Now that she thought about it.. Was it ever weird for Ariel to constantly be surrounded by girls? Did he even have any guy friends?
The water cascaded down her body as she continued to search her mind, only to continuously draw blanks when it came to what she really knew about Sans. They'd been friends for a little over a month now and she couldn't tell you anything past his last name. Did she even know his Level? Level Zero right?
Ending her quick shower early, she turned the water off and stepped out carefully as to not slip. She grabbed a towel and began scrubbing away the leftover water, curious as to what kind of mischief and adventure she could get into today. Suddenly she heard her phone go off, the ringtone loud enough to hear from the bathroom.
Saten made her way out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her body and fished around her purse for the object she was looking for. Ah, yes there it was, "Hello?" she asked, answering the phone call.
"Hey Saten, you think it's possible you could get Sans to go shopping with us this afternoon? Sissy.. Uh.. feels bad about last night." Shirai asked from the other side of the line, causing a big smile to dawn on Saten's face. This was perfect, she was wanting to ask her the same thing!
"Yeah! I'l definitely ask him! Meet up at the cafe at three?" Saten asked, looking at the clock on the opposite side of the room to make sure that was enough time.
A brief pause could be heard as Kuroko was talking to someone, most likely Misaka, before she gave her reply, "Sure sounds great. See you there!" and she hung up.
Saten let a little happy giggle escape as she practically skipped back to the bathroom to put on her clothes. After dressing she looked in the mirror to see her hair was a mess, but that could be easily fixed. Opening one of the various drawers on the cabinet she pulled out a brush and the tangled hair disappeared on contact.
Applying a little chapstick, Saten looked in the mirror and felt content with how she looked. Wait, scratch that, something felt like it was missing. She looked around for the flower she always put in her hair, only to find it on the floor where it must have fallen off. She picked it up, being careful not to knock over the trashcan, and wiped any signs of dirt off of the pristine white flower.
Gently applying the flower to her hair, she nodded to herself in approval. Today was going to be a great day!
She left the bathroom, phone in hand, was happy to see the sun still peering through her dorm window. It still shone just as beautiful. However, a sense of excitement washed over her as she glanced at the Level Upper lying on her bed. She could show it off to the oth..er..s. No she couldn't, what was she thinking? Sans had no idea she had this and he might get angry at her if he found out. She'd be keeping it to herself.
Speaking of Sans, she pulled out her cell phone and sent a text to him asking of he was interested in going to the mall. She was nothing less than ecstatic when his reply came in his signature, "yep." This eliminated any sour feeling she had over the stolen Level Upper as she began to anticipate an eventful day.
Saten grabbed her bag off of the floor and pulled it over her shoulder, smiling happy with glee. Today was going to be a great day.
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Sans sat at the cafe they had been meeting at, early as usual. His typical waiting area of choice being in the corner of the room where he wouldn't be in people's way. Normally he'd be all for making friends with people, cracking jokes and just becoming a well known dude in the community, but ever since he arrived here he couldn't help but remember Grilbys.
Grillbys… the place where any monster could go to enjoy a warm meal and a friendly game of poker. He had put so much time into getting to know everyone there, all of the different characters that wandered through on occasion. It made the fact that they were all dead hurt so much more.
It was for that reason that Sans couldn't bring himself to be the same person he was then. Not yet anyways. He needed time to get used to life outside of the loop again. He knew it wouldn't stay like this forever. After all, it wasn't his first time being thrown into a new town.
"Hello Sans!" the teen with flowers all in her hair called out to Sans, making her way towards him. Sans smiled and waited for Uiharu to take her seat on the opposite side of the table. Approaching the table, she slid into the booth and wore a puzzled face to her, "How are you always here before me? I tried to be here super early so I could see you come in, but you were already here…"
Sans shrugged, "Eh, I always get here early. It's not that far of a walk, and we're not that early anyways…" he said, motioning to the clock on the wall. The two continued the small talk, cracking a few jokes now and then as time passed. Eventually the other three could be seen walking into the cafe.
Watching the three walk towards them, Sans watched with interest. It was obvious the three had something on their minds by the look on their faces, as the usual shine wasn't as prominent on their faces. They seemed more.. serious.
As they approached, Misaka was the first to speak and justify his feelings that something was off, "Sans, we need to talk."
Sans raised an eyebrow, a new feature he was very much enjoying, "What's up?" he asked, sliding over to the window side of the booth to allow the three girls to sit down. This seemed to help the mood a little bit as all of the girls sat down.
"Why didn't you tell us you were a Level 5?" Saten said this time, giving Sans a surprise for a moment before he fell relaxed again per usual. Saten however seemed quite distressed at the new knowledge, and since Sans had already looked inside of her.. He knew exactly why she felt this way.
"Eh." he shrugged, "The lab guys react to much. All I did was show em` I could shoot a little lazer and they flipped their junk." he explained casually, making sure not to make is a big deal. The girls however went wide eyed at the information. Misaka especially.
"You shoot beams of light, Sans. Not lazers. We read over your file. They called you a Level 5 because the strength of the one you showed was on par with my own, and that's… something." Misaka told him, comparing his mysterious beam to her own famous Railgun, "How long have you been able to shoot it? How big is it?" she questioned, not wanting to be outdone by the boy.
Sans let out a chuckle, "No no, you've got it all wrong electro girl. It takes a lot of time and energy to make one appear. It took me two years to make my first one, and all it did was take the end off of a pencil." he explained to her, technically not lying. The girls either silent in anticipation or squirming with excitement over the new electrifying development. Who would have guessed the lazy boy who slept all of the time was a Level 5 just like their beloved Misaka?
"No, that can't be true. They don't give Level 5 like that unless there's a good reason." Saten said before Misaka could reply to the rather calm boy. Then again, of course she would know how hard it is to level up, being unable to escape Level Zero herself. It made Sans feel bad for her.
"Kuroko knows." Sans said motioning to the Level 4, "She was there when they picked me up, they gave me Level 5 because of my esper field thingy I put out. I haven't gotten to study up on the science behind it much, but they thought I was holding back and gave me the Level 5 status. If you think I'm lying, explain why they would put me in a Level 0-2 class?" Sans defended himself, explaining his Level to the girls in hopes they would understand his situation.
Kuroko nodded at the other girls to approve his statement, but that still left one fact on the table. One that Misaka and herself had decided to keep to themselves until they thought it would be a better time to ask about it. The fact of Frisk.
For now, it was just time to hang out at the cafe until they went to the mall. On the bright side of thing, at least for now the girls had no idea of the true power Sans held.
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All underlined text will now be the most important stuff. I'll try and be short and blunt. To get faster updates, instead of reviewing milestones you can earn them in Gaster Games. More details on that story. Reviews will be... noted? Next week on the Sunday upload.
Another shortish chapter. I know, but given I had to write this entire chapter in 24 hours for the Sunday upload I promised it's actually quite lengthy. Onto other things, the girls are suspicious of Sans! They have realized how little they actually know of the skeleton and have begun to question how he weaseled his way inside the group so easily. Some of you may see where I'm going with this…. But you might be wrong.
Saten has her hands on the Level Upper! As for if she will use it or not.. You might not know. Introduction of the aluminum bomber in the next chapter as well, as he is one of the characters we see to use the Level Upper that tells our cast the side effects of using one…
4/2 ratio is all I will say to those currently doing a Gaster Game. If that will help or mislead you is how you choose to interpret it though.
Sans did not show his full ability of a Gaster Blaster to the scientists. They know he's holding back, or at least suspect it. However all physical evidence shows it takes at least 15 seconds to charge and fire a Gaster Blaster. Perhaps if he made a smaller one and put a bit more effort into it, the Gaster Blaster could be much more powerful?
*This chapter will likely be edited and revised later this week. Once again, just grammar fixed nothing major.
Thank you all for reading! Have a nice day!
Catalog of Discovered Abilities: *UPDATED*
Gaster Blaster (Ability): Summons a skull imbued with magical ability. The jaws can be seen popping apart as they prepare to discharge the magic within. Powerful enough to cut through even the thickest of steels. Point of origin unknown. Further research required.
Judgement (Passive): The ability to read a person's LOVE and EXP.
Judgement Eye (Ability): By focusing on a person's mind the user can see shards of a person's past. Not enough to know their past, but useful when needing small bits of information or threatening. You can tell when this skill is used when the user's speech seems to… lower. That's typically the case.
Shadow Eye (Ability): They say the eyes are the window to the SOUL. The user knows differently, as they can make theirs disappear on command. No side effects or physical effects, good for threatening. DeveLopeD bY ERRoR/? Gaster?
Shortcut (Ability): Sans is able to teleport up to 500 Miles away if the known X and Y coordinates are present. However, without a picture of the location he cannot choose the altitude of his teleport. Without a picture he will ALWAYS land upon the highest land mass he can physically enter. (Ex. Rooftop) MUST be created in a shadow.
Voice Distortion (Ability): Much like the Shadow Eye ability, this is a way to intimidate your opponent. It gives Sans the ability to make his voice gain an echo and produce a hollow sound. Perfect for declaring the state of the world from a hallway.
