Apologizes at the bottom.
Warning: Probably the worst chapter so far
Chapter 14: Difficulties - Queen_and_Cards
"Would you be willing to provide us with a map of your DNA?"
The small girl looked up at the doctor with wide and innocent eyes.
The question was a simple one. It was also a question she thought she could answer wholeheartedly with the intent to help others.
The big girl watched this happen. She already knew what would happen. So she yelled.
"Don't do it! They won't use it to treat Muscular Dystrophy! All they want is to make clones! And put them through horrible experiments...! Don't give it to them!"
No matter how loud she screamed, the little girl and the doctor couldn't hear her.
"Sure!"
That answer was where it began.
The little girl and the doctor shook hands. They both had a smile on their faces. One was smiling from thinking she was helping people. The other was smiling because he could use that DNA map for a different reason.
"Wait! Stop!"
The big girl reached out to the two. She tried to get to them and put a stop to it all. But the closer she got to them the father they seemed to be.
"Misaka understands."
The big girl felt something grab her wrist. That feeling was also felt on her legs. Then her other arm.
Arms reached out and grabbed her.
"Onee-sama was the reason behind this all."
Multiple girls that were identical to the big girl grabbed her. They were bloody and their eyes were dead.
"Why Misaka was created... And why Misaka is killed. Everything."
Misaka Mikoto slowly opened her eyes.
"Mmh..."
She could hear two small birds chirping a few feet away from her, as well as feeling the rays of sunlight hit her.
Instead of waking up in the nice soft bed provided for her at the dorms belonging to Tokiwadai Middle School she woke up on a bench, knees to chest and arms wrapped around her legs.
'Oh... I must've fallen asleep like this.'
After a traumatic night she didn't see pumped up or energetic at all.
"It's been some time."
From her position of looking down, Misaka could see a pair of feet appear in front of her.
She looked up with dull eyes to see a girl dressed in the female uniform of Nagatenjouki Academy.
"You're-"
"I thought you were a delinquent at first, spending the night on a bench. You found out about the project. That is (regrettable). I warned you not to get involved, since you have no means of stopping it."
"You definitely did not."
"(Oh dear.) Did I not?"
"How..."
As Nunotaba continued to be rather nonchalant about all if this, Misaka tightened her grip on her legs.
"How could anyone do something like that? Level 6 or whatever... Is it really worth killing all those people? Everyone involved in that project is totally messed up."
"You're not...entirely correct. I won't deny that, to some extent, yes, they are 'messed up.' But in terms of good and evil, the situation is more complicated. For example. If there was the possibility of curing cancer... But the research would require data from 20,000 guinea pigs. You would consider that regrettable but understandable, yes?"
"... That's not the same thing."
"Even though we're both talking about living things?"
Misaka didn't make a sound.
"I'm trying to explain the feelings of those researchers. Those girls ate nothing but artificially created guinea pigs. To them, essential for attaining Level 6. Yes, some researchers are doing this for personal gain, and there are certainly a few bizarre ethics... But most simply don't acknowledge that what they're doing is murder."
Misaka didn't move at all.
"I was like that once."
Misaka finally looked up.
"You've been spreading those cash cards around the city to interfere with the experiments, right?"
"You could say that."
"But... You were part of the project before that. Why would you suddenly because to protect test subjects you don't consider human?"
Nunotaba looked as if she remembered something.
It took a few seconds but she spoke up again.
"After the original project was frozen, I temporarily left the team."
She went on to explain the reason for her actions. Why she had bothered to help out these clones in the first place. It wasn't because if anything extravagant or noble.
It was because she saw that these clones truly were alive.
They tasted flavors like a normal person. They smelled thing like a normal person. They saw things like a normal person. They heard things like a normal person. They felt things like a normal person.
They weren't born like a normal person. But that didn't matter to her at that point.
"I'll admit... It was a rather simple reason. But ever since that moment, I haven't been able to see those girls as created objects. Unlike me, who only saw the world as a distorted, ugly place... They suddenly felt more human than I ever was."
Nunotaba turned from the morning sky and chirping birds back to the miserable girl on the bench.
"And you... How do you view them?"
It didn't take more than a minute for Misaka to say her answer.
She already knew how she felt about this whole situation. It wasn't something difficult for her to understand what was going on.
"I... I don't see clones as human beings in the slightest. I wouldn't save a bunch of idiots who didn't even complain about dying. But..."
Misaka looked up with dark eyes that she couldn't possibly have just two days ago.
"I can't stand the fact that a bunch of bustards are using my DNA for their worthless experiments."
Misaka quickly jumped off the bench and started to walk away.
As she passed by Nunotaba she patted the girl on the shoulder while saying,
"These are seeds that I sowed. So I'll clean it up myself."
Nunotaba couldn't help but be reminded of a certain Level 4 idiot she was friends with. Someone like this wouldn't listen to reason and would just continue on until they were satisfied with the end result.
If people like this weren't satisfied by the ending then they would continue on until they reached an ending that they liked.
"Not very honest with yourself, are you? There are twenty facilities across the city affiliated with the project. Do you really believe you can take them all out?"
Misaka simply turned her head with the same dark look.
"Do you have an idea who I am?"
Toaru Enshin let out a sigh as he fell onto his bed.
The night before had been something crazy for him. He had decided to go along with an agreement he had made with Academy City's #5 Level 5. That agreement had sent him into a short battle with Academy City's #1 Level 5.
Enshin turned his head to look at his bloody left arm.
'This is now seriously starting to hurt. I was able to keep the pain low with my ability, but I'll need to go see a doctor about this... I hate to do so, but I'll probably need to ask Rusty to use his ability so that I'll actually be able to make it to the hospital.'
Enshin could have asked his new kitsune friend for some assistance by using some sort of charm or spell to heal him, but the fox spirit was no longer in Academy City, for the time being. Where he went to was something Enshin did not know.
When Zurui had left, he had said something things under his breath, but nothing more than that.
'Damn. He certainly deserves the title of #1 though. My ability managed to work on him for only a few seconds before he fixed his calculations. His use of vectors is also crazy.'
Enshin, who was a Level 4, really stood no chance against the #1 Level 5. That had been proven in the short amount of time that the two had fought.
As Enshin continued thinking to himself, a knock on his dorm room's door could be heard.
Enshin waited for a few seconds to see if the person would go away.
"..."
A vibration could be felt coming from his pocket. He pulled his phone out to see he had a new messaged from Mental Out.
Hey, open the door already. I've been waiting too long already.
Letting out a sigh, Enshin stood up and walked towards the door, not bothering to hide his bloody arm.
When he opened the door he saw that a boy a few inches shorter than Enshin and was wearing a Nagatenjouki uniform stood there. It was obvious that he wasn't the one in control of his body since there were stars in his eyes.
"Alright. Hurry up then. I need to fix myself."
The boy who was a few inches short Enshin walked in the room and started looking around.
"My, my~ So this is what a boy's dorm room looks like~ It's rather tidy in here. More so than I thought it would be."
"Not all guys are pigs, you know. As a matter of fact, that's just a stereotype most go with since we are suppose to be more rough than girls. It's all idiotic and pointless, but I guess it's best to leave things like that."
"Whatever you say."
Through the eyes of the boy, Shokuhou Misaki watched as Enshin came back into the room with bandages.
Enshin let out a sigh as he took a seat and started to strip off his jacket and shirt.
"You do realize that this is a male's body and not my own, right? Even if I was in your room, I wouldn't be doing something so obscene with someone like you."
"I'm as straight as an arrow. That being said, I've already told you that I'm not into middle school girls. As you have clearly proven time and time again, they seem rather immature."
Enshin started wrapping the bandages around his arm as they spoke. It wasn't much since his arm was still messed up, but it helped him keep focuse on the conversation.
"Anyways. Because of all this I now have to go to the hospital. But I'll do that after we're finished talking."
"You're really determined to do this if you're putting of going to the hospital. Won't that end badly the longer you wait?"
"If I have to cut off my arm to get to my goal then so be it."
Shokuhou continued to be amazed by Enshin's determination. Most would rather make sure they were all healed up and prepared when they wanted to do something big, but Enshin wasn't like that. He was ready to give up an arm for something the Level 5 was rather trivial.
"Well then, let's get down to it. How did everything go? Minus the arm of course."
"I will admit that being connected to Exterior did help me out. My own ability worked on him for a while, but he started to get over it in one way or another. I had used Mental Out to see what he was doing, but I ended up having to get away before he could bury me in all kinds of things."
"I see. So almost the instant he knows that Mental Out is being used on him he will try and kill me. If I use it on him that is."
"Pretty much. It was thanks to my own ability that I got away with only my arm being hurt. You, who probably has no physical ability, probably won't be able to do much. If Mental Out and Exterior is all you have then there's no point in even trying."
The room fell quiet for a minute or two.
Enshin winced as he put his shirt and jacket back on.
"Alright," the boy sighed. "A deal is a deal. You held up your end, so I need to hold up mine. Let's meet up tomorrow so I can give you the information you want."
The boy who was a few inches shorter than Enshin stood up and started making his way towards the door.
Enshin didn't bother to follow since he needed to change clothes before going to the hospital.
"Oh yeah."
Before the boy left he turned back to Enshin with a sly smile on his face.
"You're friends with Misaka-san, correct? Well, I know something you might to know."
Enshin raised an eyebrow.
"And that would be?"
Enshin tried his best not to move his arm as he walked around Academy City.
He had gone to the hospital and gotten a checkup from a doctor that looked a bit too mic like a frog. He had been told that he would be fine and don't need to stay in the hospital, but also that he shouldn't move his arm aroun too much.
Knowing that a doctor knew much more than him, Enshin did as he was told. Although that was rather difficult when he had been searching for someone the whole day so far. It was getting rather late, but he continued to search for this person.
"Such misfortune~!"
Hearing the familiar voice say a familiar line, Enshin looked over to see a spiky haired boy that looked like a normal high schooler you could find anywhere. The spiky haired boy's face couldn't been seen from inside the bucket that was now on his head. Water could be seen drinking from the bucket.
Enshin, feeling sorry for the unlucky underclassman, walked over and removed the bucket from the spiky haired boy's head.
"Your luck is something of wonder, you know? I mean, really, the odd of this bucket falling on you here of all places is rather slim."
"That's just how things are for me. Man, I was having a relatively nice day too."
Kamijou Touma was certainly the most unlucky person that Enshin had ever seen. He did idiotic things of his own accord, but Kamijou seemed to have idiotic things done to him out of pure chance. It was both amusing and pitiful at the same time.
Deciding to take the pitiful side of things this time, Enshin removed his jacket and put it on Kamijou's wet hair. He put his hands on Kamijou's head and started drying his hair.
"Well, don't want your luck to get worse by having you get a cold."
"Uh..."
"Sorry if this seems weird. I'm just trying to be a good senpai and make sure you don't get a cold. Although that isn't saying much when I'm a year or so older than you."
"Still better than another senpai I have who seems to like teasing me. She's definitely something different from you. I guess that should be expected though. We go to a simple high school while you're in Nagatenjouki."
"Me being in Nagatenjouki really doesn't mean much. Whether it's you or some beautiful girl in a sailor uniform who has see-through underwear, I would still be nice enough to do this. It's all about whether you're an underclassman or not."
"..."
"Don't give me that look. I don't have some complex that makes me horny for underclassmen. It's called being a good senpai. Jeez."
"Right..."
Enshin gave a rather hard smack to Kamijou's head as he took away his jacket.
He really did just care about those younger than himself. Of he could help the, in any way then he would. Although there certainly was a line he wouldn't cross. What's more was that he always did more for the people he knew better.
That still wasn't much of an excuse for Kamijou to look at him like he should be on a list of predictors that go around elementary schools.
"Anyways. I'm looking for Mikobiri-chan. You wouldn't happen to have seen her, would you?"
"No. Although, I try and stay away from her and her tendency to ask for a fight every time we meet up. I would like to keep my body in tact rather than have it burned to a crisp by a lightning bolt."
"Then what are you doing walking outside without a protective bubble?"
"That probably wouldn't help me anyways."
Enshin could only nod his head in agreement.
It seemed that no matter what Kamijou did he would still end up having to deal with something or other thanks to his terrible luck.
This left Enshin to just let out his own sigh and scratch his head with his unwrapped arm.
"Alright then... I guess I just have to keep looking then." He gave a wave as he turned around and out his jacket over his shoulder. "Well, I'm off. Try not to get run over by a steamroller."
Even if Enshin was only joking, Kamijou quickly became alert, looking around to see if there were any steamrollers around.
This was the more amusing part of Kamijou's luck.
"Crap."
Misaka looked down at her device. Instead if her usual nice appearance that made quite a number if girls jealous, she looked a bit too much like a sick person. Her skin was pale, sweat could be seen all over her face and she started to get black circles around her eyes.
This was all due to everything she had learned recently as well as using her ability to destroy multiple research facilities through their computers. She had already gone through most of the facilities that had been taking part in the project to clone her and use those clones to get the #1 Level 5 to Level 6.
"Oh, well. I still crushed a good 70% of their crap. Looks like I'll need to get my hands dirty from now on."
Misaka closed her device and exited the small booth she had been standing in.
"So this is where you were. I had asked that crazy girl as well as Shino-chan. I even asked that poor unlucky guy, but he didn't know either. I was thinking I would need to put a missing person's repot to Judgement and Anti-Skill just to find you."
Misaka looked up with tired eyes. She saw Enshin standing there, hands in his pockets.
He had said he was looking for her, but she doubted her knew of the experiments going on. That meant he wasn't there to try and stop her. But just to be sure...
"What do you want? And what's with the bandages?"
"Hm? Oh. I go in a fight with someone too strong for me. The same thing happened to you, right?"
'So he does know!'
"Hold up. Don't go shooting me with those shocks of yours. My reason for fighting him was far different from yours. And to tell you the truth, I only know about those experiments from an off-hand source. I really don't care about them."
"Then why are you here...?"
Misaka didn't want to use up more of her ability if she didn't have to.
If Enshin tried to stop her then she would knock him out. If he let her go then she would be fine with that, although a little suspicious.
The two may have been friends, but Misaka wasn't letting even Kuroko and Uiharu know about what was going on. There was absolutely no way she would let Enshin stop her.
"I'm here to help you out. I'm sure you don't want to get anyone else involved, so I won't. What I'll do isn't something that concerns that experiment. It's concerning you."
Enshin pulled out a slip of paper.
Sparks bounced off of Misaka's head.
"Hold up. It's just something that'll help you gain a bit more energy to use your ability. I'm sure you're crazy tired, so think of this like energy drinks. Although not consuming anything."
Misaka hesitantly took the slip of paper and looked down at it.
She felt herself get more and more tired as she continued to stare at the paper. Although she also felt herself get more energy back as she continued to stare at the paper.
This was because of the strange ability that Enshin had known as Sense Distortion. The ability was a hard one that even Enshin had trouble explaining. That being said, it was a one-of-a-kind ability that only he seemed to have. There may have been different ones like it, but his was his alone.
Due to this rare ability he is one of the few people in Academy City who has the potential of being a Level 5. Like the others though, something was keeping him from reaching that spot. Whether it was just him refusing or something with his calculations, no one really knew.
Thanks to this ability, Misaka was now getting more energy, although also getting more tired.
Enshin could have easily used his ability to stop Misaka with the way she currently is. But he didn't. He may have had a real reason, he may not have had one.
"I thought you would have wanted to stop me from doing this. I'm going against Academy City and their experiment. Someone like you-"
"Someone like me? Don't forget... I'm a support character. As such, it is my role to support others on what they do. Whether they be noble or disgusting, good or bad, for the people or for a single person, I will support those who I deem a main character. You are one if those people. I don't care about the exact reason behind what you're doing, I'll still help out."
This was the type of person Toaru Enshin was. Someone who didn't like the spotlight being on him.
People like Misaka more often than not had the spotlight on them for a long time.
Enshin was the opposite. He made sure that he would never be in the spotlight. He would have small parts in the lives of others, but otherwise did nothing to "further the plot", as he would say.
"Alright... Thank you then."
"Yeah. Think of me as a healing spot. Just ask and I'll make sure you're ready to take on whoever."
"... Sorry. I'm not into-"
"Gah!"
Enshin wasn't someone who got excited easily, but now he was getting rather irritated.
"Seriously!? Does my kindness seem like I just go around, trying to ask others out!? That damn woman keeps teasing me about the things I do while that unlucky idiot thinks I'm gay for him! Even you think I'm trying to hit on you!?"
Misaka gave a bland look at Enshin and started to walk away.
Enshin clicked his tongue and turned around.
"Forget it. I need to really watch what I say and do."
Something Enshin could never figure out the reason for a school that trains maids to be in Academy City. Maybe it was for researchers who had no time for such things as cooking and cleaning. Maybe it was because someone had a maid fetish and built a school upon it.
Regardless of the reason, one of these strange maids was currently sitting across from Enshin. She has long black hair in ringlet curls and a moderate chest size. Her outfit reminded Enshin a bit of a bee with black and yellow making up most, if not all, of it.
Although there was something else that was weird about her.
"What do you want now? I thought we were done with this. You got what you wanted and I got what I wanted."
She had stars in her eyes.
"Don't be like that~ I even decided to use someone you know~"
"It's not like we're friends. We are acquaintances that hardly speak to each other. Even when we pass by each other on the street all we do is nod our heads."
"Fine, fine. I get it."
The body belonged to Kumokawa Maria, but Shokuhou Misaki was the one currently in control. It was weird for Enshin to hear Maria's voice speak in such a way. But then again she was always a bit weird herself.
"So? What do you want?"
"I just thought we could continue this partnership a bit longer~ True, we got what we wanted. But I think that helping each other whenever we need it could be beneficial for the both of us. Both if our thinking abilities as well and general knowledge and skill gathering abilities could be useful to each other."
"You will backstab me at some point. When I'm no longer any use to you I'll end up in the middle of Tokyo Bay in nothing but my socks. And that's if I'm lucky."
"Oh~? So you have that kind of kink, huh? I'm learning so much about senpai in such a short amount of time~"
Enshin's eyes was visibly twitching at this point. Between the two Level 5s and the Level 0 he wasn't sure how much clearer he could make it.
"So, what do you say? You are already in a rather strange partnership with Misaka-san and #7. Why not have three Level 5s on your side?"
"I'm not in some 'strange partnership' with those two. I'm friends with them. I'm sure that's something you wouldn't understand. You use anyone you can to get what you want. Friendship isn't something I expect you to know about. But that's fine. We each live our lives the way we want."
"Is that so?"
The body of Kumokawa Maria took out a piece of paper and a one before writing something down.
Enshin was a bit skeptical as to what it was, but said nothing and let her continue writing.
While he did say and mean that he was friends with the two Level 5s, he couldn't say it was a particularly strong friendship. He hadn't seen Gunha in a while and he was helping out Misaka in something both stupid and dangerous.
Adding the Shokuhou Misaki, user of Mental Out, into the mix didn't seem like a wise thing to do.
"Here. Go to this place tomorrow and then you can give me an answer. I will personally be there."
Enshin eyes the paper warily. He knew that trusting her was something he shouldn't do, but he was curious as to whether or not she really would show up as herself and not use anyone else.
That brought a new thought up though.
Why was she so intent on keeping this agreement between them?
It didn't make much sense to Enshin.
True, she had given reasons behind why she wanted to continue this, but they seemed rather forced and quickly thought of. They didn't seem like reasons Shokuhou had properly thought out. They were so basic.
Deciding to just see how things turned out, Enshin took the slip of paper and put it in his pocket.
"Good. Now then... Do you want to see this girl in a state of undress~?"
Enshin stopped himself from ripping up the paper in his pocket.
Now then...
I apologize for taking so long to update. I apologize for this terrible chapter. I was writing it parallel to another fic I had to update. I apologize for the fact that this was suppose to be longer. I apologize for the terrible way it was written. I apologize for...something else I'm sure.
As a person who likes to entertain the readers I feel ashamed about this poor chapter. Even after pulling an all-nighter. But I still hope you enjoyed.
Until next time... See ya.