A/N: I want to thank everyone who reading my story so far, and a bigger thank you to those who took the time to leave a review. This is my first time writing fanfiction, but I'm definitely having a fun time so far. I'm learning to write as I go! Also, I'm sorry for not being able to upload this chapter earlier. Something about Three Days Grace prevents me from being productive.
Part 29
Masami watches on as the intimate couple lose their self-control to their primal instincts and engage in the forbidden acts of lust.
At least, that's what Masami is wishing for right now.
Geez... They've been at this for about five minutes now.
Touma Kamijou was holding Mikoto Misaka within his arms.
When he found her, Mikoto was leaning against the steel fencing in front of Tokiwadai Middle School. She was in the verge of tears and was shivering uncontrollably.
As he held her, her cold skin slowly warmed up and her body started to relax. Touma ran his right hand up her back and caressed the back of her head.
"It's okay, Mikoto. Relax, I'm here. What happened to you?"
"Well..."
Ugh! This is boring!
Masami's blue eyes turned purple and glistened as she stared directly at the short hair girl.
Mikoto Misaka. Two years younger than me. Reckless, hot-tempered, and incredibly fucking cute. Totally has feelings for Touma. Wears shorts under her skirt and childish underwear. Take note of that. So-called "Ace of Tokiwadai", huh? Possesses some powerful electric-type abilities, as well. The third rank... Level 5? What's that? Wait... oh, she likes these?
Once Masami finished examining Mikoto, her eyes went back to their blue state. She walked up to the enamoured students and pulled out a strap from her pocket.
"Hey, cutie~ Are you interested in this thing?"
She waved the strap with a cartoon frog that was wearing a Hawaiian skirt while playing a ukelele.
Mikoto wiped her tears and her face quickly brightened, a dramatic change from her sorrowful look just seconds ago.
"Ge... Ge... Gekotaaaa~!"
Anything that has some resemblance to the popular frog mascot will set Mikoto off.
In a blink of an eye, the overexcited Electromaster dashed towards Masami to take an even closer look. She was so fast it almost appeared as if she teleported, catching Touma and her off guard.
"It's the ultra-rare Gekota-on-Vacation strap! There's only a one in ten thousand chance to find one in the Season 9-13 'Happy Gekota Fun Park' DVD box collection!"
Mikoto's eyes were filled with stars and sparkles.
"She's... so... adorable! Hey, Touma! Can I keep her?"
"No."
Masami sticks her tongue out in retaliation to Touma's quick response.
She wraps her arm around Mikoto's waist and pulls the Railgun's body to her while hanging the strap over their heads. Mikoto doesn't react, still staring at full attention to the frog above her.
"Look! Gekota is swinging! Swing, Gekota, swing!"
Wow, she's totally into it!
Mikoto's mind is completely gone from the real world.
"Masami, I really think you should stop that! She might have a mental overload or something!"
"Sorry I'm late, Sissy! I had to distract the Dorm Supervisor, but everything is in order. You can come- what are you doing here, you troglodyte!?"
"Oh, ah, hey Shirai..."
Kuroko Shirai appeared out of thin air right next to Touma. As a teleporter, she was able to enter and leave the Tokiwadai campus without being detected.
"Don't 'hey' me! Sissy, don't tell me you were with this buffoon while I wa- Sissy!?"
Kuroko noticed a new girl that she has never seen before who, in her eyes, was forcefully seducing Mikoto by luring her with a cheap cartoon frog.
Masami gave her a conceited smile, showing off her won trophy.
"Oh, does she belong to you?"
Part 30
Under the night sky, Masami treks along through the empty streets of District 7.
That girl was absolutely cute! Ahh I just want to eat her!
With her heart fluttering, Masami skips along while singing to herself until she hears an intimidating voice coming from one of the dark alleyways.
"Should a girl like you really be out here at night?"
Masami stops in her tracks and turns towards the open alleyway. A dozen of large thugs slowly came out of the shadows attempting their manly and intimidating poses.
"Maybe this bitch is lookin' for some action tonight, right boys?"
Cheers and whistles came from the rest of the lowly group of people.
"You must be new here. Let's go boys! Let's show this bitch why women love Academy City!"
Masami still hasn't reacted to the life threatening situation that she is in. Instead, she stares at the incoming thugs wondering who they were.
Some action, huh?
Masami's eyes begin to glow purple, causing the thugs to stop where they were at.
"Look out boys. She's one of those ESpers."
"Don't worry boss! She can't take all of us out! Once we get a hold of her, she won't be able to do anything but beg!"
An annoyed look appears on Masami's face.
"Only half of you are well endowed..."
"What!?"
Masami sighs, running her fingers through her hair, annoyed at the fact that they are making her explain.
"There's twelve of you, yet only six have what it takes to pleasure a girl. Just six. Boring."
"Why, this bitch!"
One of the angry thugs came up running to Masami with a pipe in his hand. Just when he was about to swing his weapon, he struck an electrical field around her causing him to fly back to the shadows of the alleyway.
All the thugs step back away from the brunette. Fear was running through all their heads after witnessing one of their own unable to get close to her.
"Well, I guess I can't get mad at all of you. Just half. However, tonight's not the night. I'm pretty tired, I want to sleep, so I guess I'll take up on your offer next time."
With a grin across her face, Masami holds up her hand revealing a small silver coin with a star on it.
"See this?"
One of the thugs panicked, warning his fellow buddies about what's going to happen next.
"My name is Mikoto Misaka. Electromaster. The third ranking... ah... Level 5!"
An orange line of light shot out of Masami's hand aimed directly at the group of thugs.
The light trail misses and shoots straight into the alley way. There was enough light to brighten up the whole alleyway and that small section of the city.
Despite completely missing the thugs, the huge force from the beam lifted the thugs in the air and flew them backwards into the alleyway.
After the debris from the attack slowly dispersed, Masami stepped into the shadows of the alleyway. The light from her purple eyes illuminate the darkness. She continued walking until she found the bodies of the lowly thugs from earlier.
The amethyst socketed into the earring on her right ear starts to glimmer. At the same time, six bodies belonging to the group of thugs disappear in a blinding purple light.
One of the thugs who happen to still be awake witnessed half of his gang disappear. He panicked and screamed when Masami walked up to him.
"D-don't kill me! Please! Don't kill me!"
Masami snickered, kicking the thug between the legs as hard as she could. The thug screamed in agony as he coughed up blood.
"You're not even worth it."
The thug looked up to lay his eyes on the girl one last time before she instantly disappeared.
Part 31
Mikoto Misaka is hiding stealthily behind a large tree while taking a bite out of her crepe.
She was on the look out for a certain someone standing in line for the crepe stand in District 7, one of her usual hangout spots.
There he is... what is he doing here?
Mikoto was keeping a careful eye on a certain boy wearing blue. The boy was casually standing in line to order one of their special crepes, but Mikoto carefully observed for any suspicious activity.
As the boy came up next in line, he order one of their special crepes of the day: strawberry with lemon-lime creme, a very luxurious combination compared to the experimental flavours infesting Academy City, especially in soda machines.
Mikoto noticed the boy having a confused face as he received his crepe.
"I'm sorry, but we're all out. We only have enough to give away 100 Gekota straps per day."
That's right. If I can't get one, then you can't.
Mikoto got to the crepe stand much earlier than the boy, and even she didn't come in time to be one of the first to get a new Gekota strap. She winced when she reminded herself that she didn't get one, but she reveled in the fact that the boy failed as well, as some sort of victory in her book.
"Oh, wait a minute! You're a lucky one, young man. I just found an extra laying right here!"
While the boy continued walking while eating his crepe, Mikoto looked on dumbfounded at the boy's incredible luck as she dropped her crepe on the ground.
Gekota... you wouldn't... betray me... would you?
What is he up to?
Mikoto followed the boy into a large shopping mall.
She hid within one of the aisles stocked with children toys as the boy went up to a wall that was showcasing an enormous collection of comic books and manga. Mikoto was also overwhelmed by the amount of items this mall had in stock. She sighed disappointingly when she did the calculations in her head and figured the mall was too far to walk to every day after class.
From where she's at, she noticed the covers of the books the boy picked up. One looked liked a mature action shounen, another seemed to be a romantic comedy, and one had a cover with small cartoon creatures all over it.
He's been reading for a pretty long time...
The boy had been standing there reading for almost an hour.
Right when Mikoto was about to fall asleep on the spot, the boy finally placed the book back on the rack and walked away satisfied.
Once the boy was far enough, Mikoto quickly ran up to the wall he was at and picked up the books he was reading.
Huh!? The latest volume for Bizzaro Adventure with Koko, ESper Time, and Gekomon!? But these aren't supposed to come out until Christmas!
Holding each book in her hands, she examined them to make sure they were actually real. She then looked back up at the wall and saw hundreds of comics and mangas that weren't supposed to be out yet. Her body started to shake violently from the suddenly revelation that hit her.
Heaven is real.
You don't need lunch, Mikoto. You just need comic books. It will only take an hour here and back. No one will notice. Not even Kuroko. No matter what it takes.
Taking the time for herself, she flipped through the pages of one of the comics the boy read and noticed something odd.
Huh? The pages are ridiculously hard to flip.
As she does with every comic book that she reads through, she bends the cover back behind the book and proceeds on reading until a loud voice caught her by surprise.
"HEY! DON'T DAMAGE THE MERCHANDISE, DUMB KID! THOSE ARE BRAND NEW!"
"Wah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Mikoto went back to her original plan and continued following the boy through the mall.
Knowing that he's ahead of me on all my favourite series really hurts my heart for some reason.
Keeping her eyes on the target, Mikoto slides and slips past the large amount of incoming shoppers that seem to be endless. After a while of trying to avoid accidently pushing random people, Mikoto comes across a large section of shoppers that have completely separated her from the boy.
Scanning her environment, she finds herself in the middle of a crowd spectating a showcase of new Academy City technology. Words such as "virtual" and "reality" caught Mikoto's attention. Something about a device that lets you do anything you want in a world you make for yourself without any consequences in the real world.
This new device piqued her interest until she remembered what she was here for.
Taking a deep breath, Mikoto dash through the crowd while apologizing to everyone complaining about her rude behaviour.
Once she found herself free from the sea of shoppers, what grabbed her heart was a large pyramid made out of merchandise of a popular cartoon character.
"Ge...Gekotaaaa~!"
Boxes of toys, figurines, dvd box sets, clothes, accessories, and countless of other products based on the green mascot were stacked and organized in a way that made a large pyramid two or three times the height of Mikoto's.
After gazing upon the eighth Wonder of the World, what truly captivated Mikoto was a full-bodied figurine of Gekota standing in full glory.
Mikoto picked it up and examined the statuette of the cartoon frog. It wasn't too small like a miniature, or too large like a bust. It was only a little bit bigger than her hand. She started imagining this little frog standing on top of the desk in her dorm room greeting her every morning whenever she wakes up.
Of course, it was either that or Kuroko making fun of her.
While she contemplated, she noticed a stimulating aroma in the air. Following the scent, she circled around the Great Pyramid of Gekota and spotted the boy in blue getting assistance from a female employee who was too beautiful to be real.
There were large signs with foreign names above them that Mikoto didn't quite understand. There was also no end to the amount of glass bottles with colourful juices stacked on top of the nearby stand and on the surrounding shelves.
Is that perfume?
Seeing the boy walk away with a bag in his hand, Mikoto looks back and forth at the perfume stand and the Gekota in her hands. After thinking whether she'll have enough time or not to chase after the boy, she placed the frog statuette back on the pedestal where she found it.
Wait for me, Gekota!
Almost regretting her actions, she quickly ran towards the perfume stand.
Her nose was invaded by more and more scents the closer she got to the section. Some scents made her heart flutter while some made her dizzy and gave her a migraine.
A female employee noticed her looking around and tapped her shoulder.
"Excuse me, are you trying to find one for your boyfriend?"
"W-what!? B-boyfriend?"
The employee couldn't help but giggle at her nervous reaction.
"Mhm! These over here are some of our most popular fragrances for men. I figured you were trying to find a gift for someone you like?"
"N-no! That's not it! I was just... looking around."
"Aw, that's too bad. In the meantime, would you like to try out our products?"
"Umm, no thank you. I think I'm fi-"
A strong scent assaulted Mikoto's nostrils and her mind turned blank.
Mikoto Misaka opened her eyes and found herself sitting in a lone boat in the middle of an ocean. The cold breeze from the sea tickles her skin while the nuances of the warm sun hugs her whole body. As a strong wave comes by every minute, the boat rocks and splashes of water finds its way inside. The scent of wetness on the wooden boat and the salty seawater intensifies, putting Mikoto further in a dreamlike state. Exotic citrus fruits bathing in the sea surround the boat, providing their share of sweet notes into Mikoto's nose.
"Ma'am, are you feeling alright?"
The female voice snaps Mikoto out of her trance. She shakes her head and finds herself in the middle of the mall, trying to remember what she was doing.
The employee giggles, poking the Railgun's cheek.
"That's so cute! I take it you never tried smelling fragrances before?"
"Not really..."
"A young man came by and was overjoyed to find out we still have these in stock. The popularity of lighter scents dwindle during the colder seasons. Most would prefer heavier scents this time of the year, but it looks like there's still women out there who still fall for this!"
Mikoto blushed once she figured out what the female employee was trying to say.
"Here, how about this? Try it, it's a sample."
The employee handed Mikoto a half-empty bottle with orange juice inside. She aims at one of her wrists and presses the head of the bottle down, feeling the spray tickle her skin. She brings her wrist up to her nose and examines the smell.
Her head was filled with scenes of walking through a forest during the peak of fall. There were different varieties of trees, each presenting their own unique fragrances mixing together to form a kind of smell like no other.
"It's called Wood of Wonders. It's one of our newer products."
Mikoto's face was flushed after experiencing this unique fragrance. She wondered if any place in the world would be able to reproduce the same smell.
I wonder if he will like this...
"Mawmmy! I wan it! Vuy it fo me, peas!"
A kid's voice broke Mikoto's train of thought. She turned around to see a giddy child holding a green frog in his hands.
"Okay dear. Careful, don't break it. We need to take it to the front for mommy to pay!"
"O'ay! Mawmmy!"
Witnessing the scene broke something inside of Mikoto. Her arms were shaking, gripping the small glass bottle in her hands tightly to the point that it might break.
Gekota... why... why did you betray me...?
"Wait, ma'am! Don't spray too much or you-!"
"Ah! My eyes!"
Broken, beaten, and smelling like a walking forest of magic, Mikoto strolled through District 7. She couldn't help but attract attention from passerbys noticing the unique smell, including other girls who seem to melt from the scent coming from the tomboy.
She continued ignoring them.
"I'm exhausted... I wasn't able to read any comics, Gekota cheated on me, my eyes hurt, and people are staring..."
She held her stomach as it started to rumble.
"That's right... I also never finished that crepe..."
Thinking it as the worst day of her life, she remembered one thing she got out of it that made her feel better. She opened her school bag and pulled out a small black box sealed airtight with plastic.
If he likes this, it would make the whole day worth it!
She headed towards a park. She figured she could take a break from all the walking around and possibly get something to eat.
As she walked by the large bushes surrounding the perimeter of the park, he noticed a table being occupied by a boy wearing a blue shirt.
Leave me alone...!
Ironic.
She crouched low enough to have her head below the top of the bushes. She peeked to make sure the boy wasn't looking at her direction. At a glance, she noticed a whole hotdog still wrapped in foil sitting on the table. The thought of food made her stomach growl even more.
Shit!
"Electric-type ability users sure have wonky heat signatures."
"!"
Part 32
Mikoto sat across the boy while hiding behind her school bag. She took small peeks over her bag to make sure he wasn't looking or doing something suspicious.
Of course, the boy couldn't help but continue staring at the nervous girl, partly amazed. With his elbow on the table, he rested his head on his knuckles. He was for sure that this girl was gonna stay like this for the rest of her life if he didn't do something about it.
"You're cute."
Mikoto quickly ducked her head behind her bag from the sudden compliment.
"Just kidding."
"What!?"
She accidently knocked her bag down, looking at the boy in anger.
"Oh, you're cute again."
Blushing, she clenched her fist and bit her teeth. Taking a deep breath, she started interrogating the boy.
"What do you want with me, okay? Are you trying to get revenge? You want to fight? If you do, then I'm ready! We can settle it and fight right now! And if you're trying to find out where Kuroko is, forget it! I will kill you before you lay your hands on her! You got that? I will-"
Her stomach started to growl during her intimidating speech.
She immediately sat down and held her stomach, leaning over to hide her face.
Hearing the sound of paper scraping against wood, she looked up to find a hotdog wrapped in foil in front of her face.
She looked at the boy who was looking away, looking uninterested.
"...What's this?"
"You dropped your crepe earlier today, didn't you? I bought it because I figured you'd be hungry from following me around."
Mikoto was shocked to find out that the boy knew she was following him the whole time.
"Like I said, I can sense your body heat. Yours is pretty erratic so it was obvious. I guess it's 'cause you're an electric user."
"'Electromaster'."
"Sure."
Mikoto bit her tongue from the boy's ignorant response. She ignored it, unwrapping the hotdog from the table and taking a bite out of it. She was caught off guard when she noticed the boy looking back at her.
"W-what?"
"Just so you know, your clone sisters attacked me first."
Mikoto was confused at his sudden statement. She thought back to when he found the boy threatening one of the Misaka Sisters. He's probably lying, but if he's not, she thought she made a terrible mistake. Still, she didn't get the chance to ask any of the Sisters on their side of the story. There was still no reason to believe what the boy was saying.
However, it doesn't seem like he's trying to pick a fight right now. Looking back to when she followed him around, he was very well a normal person with his own life.
"Even if that's true... I can't just let anyone put a hand on my sisters, for any reason."
The boy looked at girl's face and smiled.
"That so? Fair enough."
Mikoto continued taking small bites from the hotdog. Despite finding the situation she's in to be perfectly safe, she couldn't find but feel uncomfortable from the boy's gaze constantly on her.
"Is there something on my face?"
"It really suits you."
"What does?"
Mikoto touched her face trying to find out what the boy was talking about.
"That scent. Really woodsy. It suits you. I think you overdid it, though."
"W-what? No, no! I didn't mean to put so much... Plus, it's for men. I was only testing it out."
The boy chuckled, trying to find out how one could accidently put so much perfume to make a scent so strong like the one radiating from Mikoto's body.
"It doesn't matter if it was designed for men. If they can make it work, women can wear it too. It suits your tomboyish side."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Good. Although, it really clashes with those frogs you have there. When did you get a fourth?"
From Mikoto's school bag are four straps with cartoon frogs on them. One was a pink frog while the rest were the same green frog character.
"Oh, I got this one last night. Some girl gave it to me as a gift. I don't exactly remember her name, though. Ma... sa... Masaki?"
Probably confusing her name with someone else's, Mikoto shrugs and decides to give up on remembering for now.
"I'll remember it later. Besides, she probably hangs out with Touma a lot so I'll likely meet her again. Wait..."
Another... girl!?
Realizing the situation, she looks down and places her hand on her chest, measuring something in her head.
Damnit! What is up with him!?
The boy watches as she curses to herself.
"Is something the matter?"
"Everything is fine!"
Mikoto slams the table with her fist. Taking deep breaths, she slowly calms down. At this point, she's planning on taking revenge on that spiky hair boy when she finds him.
"Oh, thank you again, by the way."
"For what?"
"For the strap you gave me yesterday. I never got the chance to say thank you."
Mikoto holds the Chef Gekota from her school bag, twiddling it with her fingers.
"But you did thank me?"
"I know, but it was really kind of you. I didn't get one yesterday, so when you gave me yours, it made me really happy."
He continued staring at the girl's face. She was really sincere about what happened yesterday.
"I was late again today, so I wasn't able to get another Gekota."
"It's no problem, right?"
Mikoto looked up to see what he was talking about.
A Gekota wearing a chef's hat was hanging from the boy's finger.
"It's the same thing from yesterday, so you didn't miss anything."
Mikoto rejoiced, smiling in relief knowing that she didn't miss out on anything.
Although, I wouldn't mind having more of the same.
After taking the last bite from the hotdog, she crumpled up the foil into a ball and tossed it in a nearby waste disposal.
"Thank you for the food."
"Anything."
"Huh?"
Mikoto expected a "you're welcome", "no problem", or at least an informal "uh huh". Maybe it was just his way of saying it, but lots of people would take him up on that offer.
"'Anything'?"
The boy scratched the back of his head, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
"I just thought that I owe you for what I did yesterday. Ya know, so you don't keep on hating me or whatever. That thing you said earlier about fighting was pretty serious."
"Oh, I, uh, I just thought you were up to something. I just wanted to protect myself."
Mikoto was feeling just as embarrassed about the whole thing.
"Well, if you mean it, I do... um..."
"Mawmmy! Look! Gekeka is fying!"
An invisible force stabs Mikoto in her heart.
The boy turns around to see what made her upset and sees a little kid playing around with a small statuette that resembled Gekota.
"Ah."
The boy sighs in boredom, but laughs seeing how depressed Mikoto is.
"Don't worry. Close your eyes."
Mikoto looks at the boy suspiciously. He flicks his finger at her forehead, knocking her back a bit. Annoyed, she complies and closes her eyes.
"I don't know what's the big deal..."
"Open your eyes now."
Mikoto opens her eyes. What she saw made her heart beat to the point it would leave her chest.
In front of her is an exact replica of the Gekota statuette she saw in the mall. It was unbelievable at how exact the size and dimensions it has compared to the original. The only difference is that it was not green, but crystallized ice.
Mikoto couldn't believe her eyes.
"No way..."
"Go on, it's yours."
The boy smiled wholeheartedly as he offered the ice frog to Mikoto.
Mikoto slowly reached for the frog. She half expected the frog to be a joke and would break the moment she touched it. She thought that this would all be a dream and she would wake up in her dormitory. Her face turned redder than before when she picked it up in her hands.
It was unbelievably smooth, like glass. It's as if a gifted craftsman created this masterpiece using a fabled tool from the gods in a manga that Mikoto read.
After what Gekota did to mess with her emotions earlier that day, Mikoto felt like she was on an endless roller coaster.
"Gekota...!"
Mikoto gave in to her feelings and hugged the ice figurine with all her heart.
"Aha~! Thank you~!"
"Anything. Don't worry, it's made out of compressed air molecules, so it won't melt."
The boy couldn't let his eyes off her. Mikoto was still occupied with her own Gekota figurine. It was like a child hugging their first ever plush toy their parents gave them for Christmas.
His smile, however, quickly turned to dread. Something about Mikoto's happiness triggered an unwanted memory from the boy's past.
"Listen, Mikoto..."
Before the boy could finish his sentence, a loud roar from a crowd across the street tuned out their conversation.
Mikoto finally snapped out of it and looked over to see what the commotion was all about.
"Oh, that's an arcade shop. I wonder what's getting people so excited?"
"Want to go check it out?"
Something inside Mikoto convinced her that this boy does deserve to be friends with her, and that she knew that she would be safe being around him.
She agreed, picking up her school bag while holding Gekota to her chest.
As the two crossed the street, Mikoto remembered something that she forgot to ask.
"Oh, that's right. You never told me your name."
The boy stopped in the middle of the crosswalk. Mikoto looked back at him.
"Is something wrong?"
What the boy saw was a very familiar face in the crowd.
"Fan-fucking-tastic."
