Wow you guys reviewed last chapter! Keep it up! Sorry for the long wait too, I had exams and only finished them recently.
Enjoy!
Misaki wished she could ignore her phone ringing, but it wouldn't stop. She knew it had only been a little bit since she'd tried to sleep, and the guilt kept her awake. While it began to ring for the fourth time, she grumbled and ran her hand across the other half of her bed, searching for it. When her hand finally touched the vibrating device, she lifted it up to her ear with a yawn.
"Hello?" She asked weakly, trying to act peppy.
"Shokuhou." Misaki's eyes widened at the voice, but she didn't say a word.
"My my," She said, waking up a little more. "Is that who I think it is?"
"You damn well know who it is."
"Oh Shirai, calm down. It's not like Misaka-san can hear us." Misaki grinned at the growling noise the middle school girl emitted. "Too what do I owe the pleasure?"
"You know why I called."
"I really don't. Say, how did you get my number?"
"Irrelevant. However, I called to warn you."
"Oh? Of what?"
"Stay away from Onee-sama." Misaki rolled her eyes at the threat.
"Do you know who you're threatening?" Misaki asked, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"Of course I do, I'm not stupid."
"Never would have guessed."
"Listen up! You ever pull what you pulled last night and I swear to God I'll..."
"You'll what?" Misaki interrupted, yawning. "Hurt me? I hate to remind you Shirai, but I can destroy your feeble mind in an instant if I so choose. Not only that, but what if Misaka-san were to, oh I don't know, hear about this conversation?" Shirai remained silent, and Misaki continued, "I'm sure she'll be happy to learn you've been threatening me after the stunt you pulled last night."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Please Shirai, do not insult my intelligence." Misaki replied, her brow furrowing. "Misaka-san and I both know you spilled that wine on me completely on purpose."
"So what if I did? And what if I do keep threatening you? What will you do?"
"I'll do so many things to your head you'll wish you were never born."
"If you so much as lay a mental finger on me to hurt me, I'm sure Onee-sama will have something to say about that." Misaki rolled her eyes at the giggling that came over the line. "So, as I said, keep your distance from her. I can't change your closeness to her right now, but I swear if you try anything..."
"With how I was acting, I probably didn't convey the message well enough last night, so allow me reiterate." Misaki interrupted. "I'm straight, I'm not a lesbian. I have zero interest in any of the perverted things you do involving Misaka-san. I will, however, continue to be as kind as possible. And do you know why, Shirai?"
"Why?"
"Because the nicer I act to all of her friends and her, and the ruder you act to me as a result, guess who gets labelled as the bad guy?" Shirai made a low gasping sound, and Misaki giggled. "Yep! Little old you. So next time we see each other with Misaka-san in the vicinity, I sincerely hope you get your act together, or I just might replace you after all."
"How did you...!"
"I've been reading your mind since we started the call, I know that's what you're worried about." Misaki yawned. "Now, anything else before I go back to sleep, Shirai?"
"...This isn't over, Shokuhou."
"It would be no fun if it was. Bye-bye!" Misaki hung up and put the device on silent, rolling over to get more comfortable.
At least she didn't feel guilty anymore.
Mikoto was troubled. Why, you might ask? Shokuhou had, recently anyway, done a complete one-eighty in her attitude. She was nicer, more thoughtful, and just overall a better person.
Mikoto didn't get it. Sure, that Friday night she'd been nice and everything, but only because Mikoto had asked her too. However, it seemed like the attitude from that had seeped into everyday life, and it was almost too weird sometimes.
Of course she could dream up as many possibilities as possible in her morning classes, Itagaki wasn't looking. He droned on and on about equations and everything, but Mikoto wasn't focusing in the slightest. She doodled absentmindedly around her page, listening to Accelerator tap his phone screen behind her. She vaguely wondered what he was doing before the phone in the class rang. Itagaki stopped teaching and went to answer it, talking lowly.
"...Yes, right away." he hung up the phone, cleared his throat, and looked out over the class. "Misaka-san! Shokuhou-san!" Both girls jumped and looked like deer in headlights as they gave their teacher their full attention. "The Headmaster wishes to see you both in his office, right away." A low whisper of 'ooohhhs' and' they're in trouble.' came from their classmates, but both girls ignored it as they left the classroom. As soon as they were out of earshot, Mikoto got poked by Shokuhou.
"What?" She asked.
"We didn't do anything, did we?" Shokuhou asked. "I honestly don't know." Mikoto thought for a moment before she shrugged. Other than occasionally getting reprimanded for not paying attention in class or something, they hadn't done anything major.
"I don't know." She said. "Maybe it's something else entirely." Both girls remained silent as they walked down a flight of stairs towards the office, and when they got inside, the secretary told them to sit and wait. Both did so, waiting impatiently as their Headmaster finished a conversation on the phone. As soon as he did, he opened the door and made eye contact with them.
"Ah, there you girls are." he said, gesturing for them to follow him into his office. They both got up and did so, sitting down in the two seats opposite his desk as he sat down as well. "Before we get down to business, how is your living arrangements?" Mikoto was about to respond when Shokuhou wrapped her in a one armed hug.
"Awesome!" She answered for her. "We're doing amazingly!" Mikoto could do nothing but nod and smile, which allowed a thin smile to pass the Headmasters face.
"Good, see?" He asked. "I told you you could get along."
"...Right..." Mikoto agreed, freeing herself from Shokuhou's grasp. "What was it you wanted to talk to us about?"
"Well, I'm sure you two have noticed since you started school here that we have very high standards." Both girls nodded, they were more than well aware of this. "And, as such, our power development programs are some of the best around." Mikoto had no idea where this was going, neither of them had any reason for power development. "We're having a little presentation for it next week, and I'd like you two too open it."
Both girls stared blankly at their Headmaster for a minute before Mikoto chuckled weakly.
"Why?" She asked.
"You're both two of three Level 5's in the school." He replied. "There are no better people to do it then you two."
"Have you asked Accelerator?" Shokuhou asked. The Headmaster flinched.
"Uh, yes." He said, fidgeting. "He said no."
"Can we then?" Mikoto asked hopefully. She really had no interest in doing this.
"Well...no." Both girls groaned began to object, but he was having none of it. "It won't be that hard, girls. Just go out on stage, introduce yourselves, let the video we've prepared do it's thing, and explain it a little. If all else fails, Shokuhou-san can brainwash everyone. Simple." Mikoto had no points to reasonably object, so she remained silent. "Good, glad we sorted that out."
"Yeah..." After being excused, both walked out of the office in a slump.
"I can't believe he said we couldn't say no!" Shokuhou said angrily. "It's insane."
"He did say you could just brainwash everyone." Mikoto pointed out. "So I guess it doesn't really matter all that much."
"Ugh, whatever." Shokuhou said, ending the talk about the subject.
"What're you working on?" Shokuhou asked. Mikoto sighed as she rested her head on her hand. The two of them were currently in Joseph's, as school had ended for the day.
"Homework." She replied. "Don't sweat it, you can copy it when we get home."
"Thanks." Mikoto nodded in acknowledgement to the thanks and continued writing her paper. "Don't worry, I'll change some stuff so it doesn't look like we did it together or anything."
"Suit yourself." Mikoto replied, stretching. Mikoto saw the girl lean back against the seat and close her eyes out of the corner of her eye, but payed it no mind. Shokuhou had talked about being exhausted from class, or their teacher. Probably a combination of both, she realized.
"Misaka-san, Shokuhou-san!" Mikoto looked up and Shokuhou cracked her eyes open a bit to see Saten, Uiharu, and Kuroko walking up to them. Two thirds of the group seemed upbeat, but Kuroko almost seemed sad.
"Hey guys." Mikoto greeted as they all squeezed into the opposite side of the booth. "What's going on?"
"Just came to hangout." Saten replied. "What're you doing?"
"Homework." Mikoto replied easily enough. "Cause, you know, Itagaki-sensei will flay me alive if I don't do it."
"Then what about Shokuhou?" Kuroko asked, leaning on the table.
"What about me?" Shokuhou asked, eyes still closed.
"You two are in the same class, yes?" Kuroko demanded, earning a nod from both. "Then why is Onee-sama the only one working?"
"I'm letting her copy it when we get home." Mikoto answered. No one except Kuroko seemed to have any problem with this, who acted as if she'd been shot.
"Onee-sama!" She exclaimed. "You're doing her homework for her?!"
"I'm doing my homework." Mikoto corrected. She elbowed Shokuhou as part of the joke. "I just may lose it for a little bit when we go back to the dorms."
"That would suck, huh?" Shokuhou asked slyly. "It may fall into the wrong hands." Both giggled and smiled at each other, which only seemed to irritate Kuroko even more.
"Besides that," Uiharu said, eyes gleaming. "What are you planning to do for your birthday, Misaka-san?"
"E-Eh?" Mikoto asked weakly.
"Oh yeah, your birthday's really soon, right?" Saten asked, and Mikoto did a mental count. It was April 29th, only three days until her birthday.
She hadn't completely forgot or anything.
"Y-Yeah, May 2nd." She replied with a laugh.
"You have to do something huge!" Saten said. "I'm sure we could come up with something awesome!"
"It's okay guys..."
"No it isn't Onee-sama!" Kuroko said dramatically. "It's your sixteenth! We have to make it extra special!"
"Um..."
"We have to start getting everything ready!" Uiharu added, "We only have a few days!"
"Guys, hold up!" Mikoto said, speaking up to grab their attention. "I don't want to do anything extravagant! It's just a day!"
"Not any day, Onee-sama." Kuroko said. "It's the day you finally decided to grace our dark world with your presence. To light up the darkness in the world!" Kuroko continued into nonsensical fawning, which everyone was accustomed to ignoring.
"Besides for Shirai-sans... whatever that is." Saten said, gesturing to the drooling Kuroko. "We have to do something!"
"I'm good, really." Mikoto replied. "I'd rather not be treated like a princess just because the day I was born is passing by."
"Always so modest, eh Misaka-san?" Uiharu asked, Mikoto shrugged.
"I just don't want you guys doing something huge for no reason." Mikoto told them. "I don't mind."
Birthday huh?" Everyone looked over as Shokuhou spoke for the first time in a while. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"H-Huh?" Mikoto asked.
"Hm, maybe because you already said you don't care." Shokuhou shrugged. "Fine, we won't do anything crazy."
"We're you planning on it."
"...No." Shokuhou replied, obviously making a joke or denying the truth.
"Well, nothing huge." Mikoto replied. "Get me, like, a cupcake or something."
"So be it!" Everyone jumped as Kuroko shouted, standing tall. "I must find Onee-sama the best possible cupcake for her birthday!" Kuroko jumped on the table and pointed directly at Shokuhou, who pressed herself into the seat to back away. "Shokuhou! I will triumph against you! I will have Onee-sama!" With that, Kuroko sprinted from the diner and out into the street, screaming more random things.
"What just happened?" Shokuhou asked weakly.
"Couldn't tell you." Mikoto replied. "She's in her own little world when it comes to stuff like this."
"Like always." Uiharu said weakly.
"Anyway, we won't do anything huge." Saten replied, sitting back and crossing her arms with a frown. "I just don't get why you don't want to do anything."
"I just don't." Mikoto replied.
Misaki was no fool, she started to formulate a plan as soon as she learned how close Misaka's birthday had been. To maximize happiness in her roommate and irritation in Shirai, Misaki had to do something. Of course, it would be nothing special, just something small like Misaka had suggested. Of course, just because they'd been living together for almost a month didn't mean Misaki had any more of an idea what Misaka was into. Despite being kind and friendly with each other when possible, They usually kept personal interests and such...well, personal. Misaki had no idea what Misaka would like for her birthday, and that was essential to the plan.
"Shokuhou-san." Misaki looked over the back of the couch as Misaka called to her. "Do you need the bathroom?"
"No, why?"
"Okay, I was just going to take a shower." The girl replied.
"Alright, go ahead." Misaki said, returning her attention to the TV. She heard her roommate walk down the hall, shut and lock the door, and the water began to run. This, however, didn't give Misaki any breakthroughs in her plan. Shirai definitely had the advantage in his ballgame, which she didn't like. Looking back on it, the only reason Misaki had chosen to be so nice to Misaka all the time was to piss Shirai off. However, she did appreciate how little effort it took. Misaki frowned and grabbed at her head, attempting to think even harder for something to do. Suddenly, a light bulb turned on inside of Misaki's head.
Misaka's room was empty.
Misaki could go into Misaka's room and snoop around for anything she could do and nobody would ever know. Acting quickly to get as much time as possible, Misaki half walked half jogged towards Misaka's room and slowly opened the door, peering inside. Of course the room was identical to hers, but with the bed hugging the left wall inside of the right. Tip toeing inside, she stood in the center of the room and looked around curiously.
"Now, if I were Misaka-san's secrets, where would I be?" She asked herself aloud. Starting with the obvious, Misaki bent down and looked under the bed, finding nothing there whatsoever. Standing back up, Misaki walked over to the closet and peered inside, moving around some of Misaka's clothes to see if there was anything there. Doing her best to peek at the top shelf, she could still find nothing except a few closed boxes. She reached for them and peeked inside, and covered her mouth to prevent a scream of shock.
At least a million different Gekota collectibles stared back at her, and she nearly had a heart attack.
"So this is where you keep all this crap." Misaki hissed, slowly pushing the box back on the shelf. "I can never unsee the amount of frogs that just stared at me." Trying to shake the terrified feeling from her head, Misaki walked over to the laptop that was closed on the desk, opening it. This revealed a lock screen of Misaka-san and her friends, but that wasn't what Misaki was looking for. Pressing a key revealed the device was indeed locked, and she frowned.
"If I where Misaka-san, what would my password be?" She asked. She tried several things, such as I love Touma, Kuroko is creepy, and various other quirks about the Railgun's life before giving up and closing the laptop again, leaving it as she saw it. The only thing she had left was the stand next to the bed, and she approached it slowly, opening the first drawer. At first she saw nothing, which disheartened her. Maybe I should just get her some Gekota thing...
That was until she spotted what appeared to be an advertisement at the bottom. Reaching past the miscellaneous items in the drawer, Misaki lifted out the slip of paper and quickly read it.
What is this, some sort of fighting game?
Misaki knew her roommate was a tomboy, but she didn't know she liked video games.
"This is probably my best bet." Misaki said aloud. "I'll have to look into it tomorrow." Just as she replaced the ad where she'd found it, she heard the water shut off. Panicking, Misaki sprinted from her roommates room and down the hall, throwing herself over the back of the couch and onto it, just barely not missing. She heard Misaka leave the bathroom and into her room, and she waited with baited breath as she listened to her walk around. After a while, Misaka left her room completely dressed, and went into the kitchen.
"Want a drink?" The girl asked, peeking her head over the counter.
"Uh, y-yeah sure." Misaki replied, trying to not act suspicious. Misaka came back and tossed her her can of soda, cracking open her own.
"What're you watching?" She asked. Misaki looked back at the screen it find what she'd been watching previously had ended, and some reality show had started.
"Something stupid." She replied, tossing the remote into Misaka's lap. She didn't pay the least bit of attention as Misaka flipped between channels, she was too busy trying to act innocent, even though whatever remained of her innocence had been lost when she opened that box filled of Gekota stuff. She sighed.
The things I do to mess with Shirai, I swear...
Again, really sorry for the long wait! Updates will come faster from now on, I promise! I hope you enjoyed, leave a review!
