And now the moment you've all been waiting for. The introduction of the Sister themselves. It's been a long time coming, but the Sisters Arc is starting to pick up, slowly but surely. This chapter is going to be a bit on the short side, but not too short. It's also our first chapter told from Mikoto's perspective in a while. Lot's of big stuff is going to be going down, so how about we get some Q&A done to kick things off?

icedshadows: ... thanks...

RedSS: I hate sin counters. Always bring down creators. Still, glad you liked the direction I took with compressing several episodes together into one chapter told from Touma's perspective. Since a lot of the equivalent episodes were Mikoto doing espionage and personal investigations, it just felt right to condense them and see the other side of the coin.

OnePunchPlayer: Glad you're excited. Going to be one heck of a ride, that's for sure. Probably my most ambitious undertaking yet.

ahsoei: To be fair, Touma's has always been pretty open about Imagine Breaker. It's just a matter of whether or not someone asks. Plus, let's not forget that this whole thing started because Mikoto took a bit more initiative to get Touma properly recognized for his heroics with the Graviton Bomb. The little girl saved from from the bomb was the last person that needed the record set straight. You can also think of this a revenge for humiliating her just a few minutes ago.

fencer29: So true. Tsuchimikado truly is the master of set-ups. Plus, lots of people suffer from insomnia because of weird chills up their spines.

Anonymous Noob the 2nd: What can I say? I like cute.

linkjames24: Index's plot has been happening. There's just a lot of Railgun material inter-spliced. Index is present and I've already covered the Index and Deep Blood Arcs.

RareSilver: Glad to know my efforts are appreciated. Accelerator's reveal is something I really really want to get right. I hope this chapter is a good start. Much more of his character and past are planned to be explored in future chapters.

RPGPersona: Nice to see all your reviews! Man, you must of binge read to catch up. With how much you write when you review, I can't possibly cover everything. I'm just glad to have such a consistent reader. I will comment on your question of whether or not ODD, a metal rod, had a vibrate function, to which I say, "Phrasing." Also, the bracelet has a vibrate function for receiving communications, but not the main body of ODD itself.

mohamadstar94: ... Wow, that was barely comprehensible. No plans for Touma to meet any Sisters early. Just starting his investigation early.

I.D. -KamikotoMisaka: Not sure if any of the scenes in the chapter count, but I'm sure you'll still enjoy them.

Generation Zero: Well, with how many people from his past in involved in the Sisters Arc in some way, you would expect Touma to become more involved himself. Since he's closer to Mikoto, his own investigation starts earlier, so he isn't thrown completely for a loop when he finds Misaka 10031. Also, Judgement work makes Touma a much more efficient detective, having him seek out clues after raising suspicion rather than stumbling upon a case.

Guest (1): Well, Touma does has a Sixth Sense, but it made for detecting attacks. He's just really good at reading people in topics outside of love this time around. Great, now all I can think about is a big Mikoto and at tiny Mikoto fighting over Gekota merchendise.

Guest (2): If you're hoping for a recreation of the scene in the opening, that's not going to happen. Mikoto covers her tracks too well for Touma to follow her into a facility. Plus, Touma wouldn't just go along with sabotaging a facility like that given his Judgement position. The sibiling reunion will be a much more friendly and overall positive scenario compared to the Yuri scenario.

Okay, you all know the drill. Disclaimer!

Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.


Chapter 28: The Same Face

It was past nine o'clock at night when it happened. After only meeting this person a few hours before hand, Mikoto had seen this person die, crushed under a train car. This person wasn't just some unfortunate soul Mikoto had just happened to stubble upon. She was someone she recognized all to well. Someone whose image she saw every time she looked in the mirror. She had just watch one of her now confirmed multitude of clones, her "Sisters", get killed.

The sight of such a brutal and heinous act launched her into a fit of uncontrollable rage. She couldn't think about anything other than the person that committed the crime. This albino boy dressed in black and white, lazily talked to himself about how easily he took a life and how unengaging it was. All of her anger was directed at him as Mikoto fired a blast of electricity at him.

The initial attack did nothing, harmlessly bouncing off the boy and striking the metal shipping containers next to him. The most it did was catch his attention. Mikoto didn't care about that at all. All that mattered was making him pay, no matter what it took. Charging in screaming like a mad woman, Mikoto stopped a mere ten meters away from the boy. Summoning a large portion of her power, she collected all of the iron sand in the surrounding area and created a hurricane around her opponent. She then condensed all of the iron sand until it had formed into hundreds of iron sand chainsaw swords. This storm of swords surrounded the boy, trapping him in a dome of deadly blades.

"Interesting," the boy mused, "This is quite the armory you've made here. Did one of you take up sword making?"

Mikoto didn't respond, not even listening to a word he was saying. She simply aimed all of her blades at him and fired them in unison. In an instant, the dome shrank in size, seemingly crushing and piercing its unlucky victim into a pincushion. However, just as quickly as the swords rushed in, the iron sand constructing them was dispersed, leaving the boy at the epicenter of the attack completely unharmed.

"Nice trick you've got there, making swords out of iron sand through magnetism," the boy mock complimented, "But once you understand how it's done, it's not that special."

'How?' Mikoto thought to herself in disbelief, 'I threw hundreds of swords at him, yet he's not even hurt a little bit. Not even that idiot could take that attack head on, even with the ultimate weapon against the supernatural powers, Imagine Breaker. What the-'

Mikoto never got to finish her thought as something caught her eye in her peripheral vision. Off to the left of her, laying just next to the train car that crushed her clone was a left leg. A bloody, human left leg with the same type of shoe and sock that she normally wore during the summer. It didn't take a genius to know whose leg it was after seeing what Mikoto had witnessed moments before.

The sight of the dismembered limb made her sick. She hugged herself, desperately trying do deny whatever possible scenario had occurred before she arrived to see the death itself. However, it was too much to deny, and she snapped. Mikoto let out a shrill, ear-piercing shriek, as well as a surge of high voltage electricity. Generating a powerful magnetic field, Mikoto picked up every railing and girder she could get her power on, ripping the rails of the trainyard out of the ground. They all hung suspended in the air above her, just waiting to be dropped.

"That a lot of power," the boy noted, "Are you…?"

Mikoto didn't bother listening to him. Instead, pointed every single piece of iron at him, dropping all of them in a wave of metal. The bars planted themselves into the ground, carving a path right towards the boy. However, the boy didn't show a hint of worry, only smirking as the last three iron bars dropped on him. Rather than crush or impale him, the bars simply bounced off and were hurled at Mikoto instead. Mikoto barely had time to dodge as her attack was reflected and the remaining iron bars plated themselves into the ground behind her.

'That's… impossible,' Mikoto denied in her head, 'How can I not know about an Esper who can shrug off my attacks like that. Sure, there's that idiot, but he could only negate my power itself, never the after affects of it. If I threw a railing at him, he couldn't do anything but dodge.'

"Oh, I get it now," the boy laughed, "I was wondering what this was since it wasn't on the schedule. You. You're the original."

The boy took a step forward, followed by another, and another. Slowing, he closed the distance between himself and Mikoto.

"The clones are supposed to take the original's place, but if I fight you, that would considerably reduce the number of lame combat scenarios I have to go through, right? I'm really starting to get tired of doing this. What do you say, original?"

Mikoto gritted her teeth as the boy approached closer. Her only response was to take out an arcade token, her primary source of ammunition, and hold it out in front of her. The boy stopped in his tracks, utterly confused by the metal coin.

"Tell me why," Mikoto demanded, "Why are you going along with this project?"

"Uh, can we just fight?" the boy asked, bored.

"Answer me!" Mikoto yelled, "You've got some serious power! There's no way they could force you to do anything! So, what's your reason for participating in this insanity? What could she have done to deserve this?!"

"Reason? What's my reason?" the boy replied with a twisted laugh, holding his fist in the air as if grabbing the moon, "My goal is to acquire absolute power. Not the power of a Level 5 or Academy City's top dog. Nothing that insignificant. I'm taking about the kind of power that will stop people from even thinking about challenging me. I want invincibility. You get that right, being a Level 5?"

"You're nuts, aren't you?" Mikoto deduced, starting to spark, "So you want to be invincible. Is that you're excuse? Seriously? Power's not enough, you need absolute power? That's the reason you're giving me?! The reason you agreed to kill her?!"

Her anger finally reaching the tipping point, Mikoto didn't hesitate to use her ultimate attack on him. Normally, she would never even consider using her railgun on someone so vulnerable. In most cases, her targets were inanimate objects or people protected by extremely durable protection vehicles or powered suits. Even them, she never used her railgun at its fullest capacity. But right now, she didn't care. This boy was willing to kill her clone for a reason as petty as gaining absolute power. He deserved to die in just as brutal of a way. As far as she was concerned, there was no way a human could take a hit from something moving at Mach 3.

Oh, how wrong Mikoto was. Much to her shock, her railgun was completely reflected off of her target. By a pure miracle, her reflected blast flew past her head by centimeters, piercing through the iron rails planted in the ground behind her. Meanwhile, the boy wasn't even phased.

"You make it sound so dirty," the boy mused with a relax smirked, "Stop talking like I'm a murderer. I'm fighting things, not real people. They're manufactured with the push of a button."

The smirk was quickly replaced with a look of mild confusion upon seeing Mikoto's own expression. She was completely still and looked even paler than himself.

"What are you all worked up about?" the boy asked, more out of annoyance than concern,

His tone then switched to one of amusement as the realization of what happened clicked.

"Oh, I get it now. I stole your thunder, huh?" the boy punned, "That move was your ace in the hole, and I just annihilated it! Oh, wow! Man, I knew you were ranked lower than me, but I still thought you'd have more to bring to the table than a little electricity!"

After quickly composing himself, the boy once again began to close the distance between himself and the Railgun.

"Alright, now it's my turn to play," the boy said as he approached, "You're in pretty bad shape, so I don't expect too much out of you, but at least try to keep me entertained, okay? Third String?"

"One moment please," a familiar voice said behind Mikoto.

Mikoto knew the sound of that voice all too well. After all, it was the same voice she heard every time she spoke.

"'Combat outside of the project may introduce errors into the computational predictions, so' says Misaka, 'this should stop now.'"

Mikoto turned around to see a sight she almost wished she could un-see. Standing behind her were dozens of clones of herself. Each one of them wore the Tokiwodai Summer uniform and a pair of Electron Goggles. They all had their goggles lowered in front of their eyes, as if to vocalize how they were not human, blocking off their eyes and windows to their souls.

"'Especially since big sister is a Level 5…'"

"'the skew from such combat would be considerable.'"

"'Rather than shortening the scheduled time…'"

"'… the very project itself…'"

"'… would be at risk of being ruined.'"

"Furthermore, Misaka has…'"

"'… in anticipation of experiments yet to come… '"

"'… received specific programming… '"

"'… and any alterations to the project would be very difficult,' explains Misaka simply."

"Tsk, yeah, yeah, alright, I get it. I was just messing around, anyway," the boy reluctantly complied, "And stop talking like that, it's creepy."

Once again, the boy began to walk towards Mikoto, this time with no intention of doing her any physical harm. After all, he was just told doing so would ruin his chances of getting the invincibility he so desperately craved. Still, it did nothing for Mikoto's nerves as she turned around immediately to face the boy as he took his first step forward. Now that the two of them were so close together, Mikoto was finally able to get a good look at the boy's face. Taking in every singe detail, she found what she saw disturbing, in some ways even more than the sight of the Sisters.

"Sorry about that. I guess I never introduced myself, did I," the boy said as he approached.

'Not satisfied with being the strongest,' Mikoto thought to herself.

"You probably figured it out by now, but I'm the one looking after your clones."

'A Level 5 that wants to become something even greater.'

"They're helping me achieve invincibility."

'But his facial features. I've seen them all before in that photo. His hair, his eyes, the structure of his face. Even his smile, twisted as it is now, was the same smile I saw in that idiot's journal.'

"I really should be thanking you," the boy said in a faux politeness, his face now centimeters of Mikoto's own face.

'There's no doubt that he's the controller of vectors, the number one ranked Esper in Academy City. But that's not all. The face matches too perfectly.'

"Hello there, I'm…"

'He's…'

"… Accelerator."

'… Yuri Suzushina…'

"It's a pleasure."

'… the long-lost childhood friend of Touma Kamijou.'

His piece said, the boy now identified as Accelerator, AKA Yuri Suzushina, walked away, leaving the site as if nothing of note had happened. Meanwhile, Mikoto collapsed on her feet, unable to bare the weight of the revelations brought upon her tonight. Her clones were real. They were being killed in a project to create a Level 6. Touma Kamijou's lost friend was the person doing the killing. The Sisters all accepted this fate. It was just too much to take.

"'Numbers 9951 through 10007, clear the rails…'"

"'… Numbers 10008-'"

"What's wrong with you," Mikoto cut in, cutting off the Sister's from their synchronized speech, "It's so screwed up. Why are you going along with this project? You're going to be killed. I don't get it. Why would you do this? Why? You're breathing, aren't you?! You have life, don't you?! Isn't that enough?! Who are you? Just who the hell are you?"

Mikoto could barely hold back the tears welling up in her eyes. It was just all too much.

"What, not who. Misaka is a product, created for this project. Artificial bodies with artificial minds. Laboratory animals with a unit price of 180000," the front most Sister explained plainly, not showing any emotion behind her words.

Mikoto just sat there, barely holding back the emotions welling inside her after everything that had happened.

"Goodbye then, big sister," the same Sister said as she went to help the rest of the Sisters clean up the fight.

Mikoto was left on the ground to pick herself up. There was no one there to help her.


It was ten thirty at night, and Touma still couldn't fall asleep. For some reason, he just couldn't shake off the strange feeling he had early that night. Something just felt off. His insomnia wasn't helped by the surprise phone call he got, either.

Looking at the caller ID, Touma saw that it was Kuroko calling him. Reluctantly, Touma picked up the phone, not bothering to hide how tired he was.

"What is it, Pigtail?" Touma grumbled, "I've got remedial classes tomorrow and I'm trying to get some sleep. I have enough things keeping me up as it is."

"What?! How can this be happening?!" Kuroko cried on the other end of the line, "I never would have thought Saten's prediction was true! How could you and Sissy do such things alone so late at night, and how can you do them without me?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Touma asked in confusion, "I haven't seen Zapper since this afternoon. Shouldn't she be at your dorm at this hour."

"Wait, so she's not there? Huh, sorry about that?" Kuroko apologized, "It's just that Sissy hasn't come home yet and you were the last person I called. I called Saten a little earlier and she said you and Sissy might have been having some private time."

"What do you take this Kamijou for, a pervert?" Touma asked in indignation.

"I've heard some of your Delta Force debates. Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Okay, fine, dropping it," Touma resigned, "Listen, I'll talk to you tomorrow morning. Tell me if Zapper is alright then, okay?"

"Okay them. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Goodnight," Touma replied, hanging up the phone.

Putting down the phone, Touma lied back down on his bed, starring at the ceiling.

"Misaka, what is going on?" Touma asked himself.


As the sun began to rise, Mikoto opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. She was sitting on a bench in District 7, curled up in fetal position. She recognized this bench. It was the same bench Touma had taken an injured Index to after escaping his burning dorm building. It was also, as far as she was aware, the place where she had first encountered someone from the Magic Side. The bench was starting to become a stop where people go during their lowest points.

"Oh wow, I've been here all night," Mikoto observed.

As she sat there, she noticed the sound of footsteps approaching her. Looking up, Mikoto saw the perpetrator of the spread of money cards and the very person that led to her discovery of the Project Level 6 Shift in the first place. It was the genius third year at Nagatenjouki Academy and the developer of Testament, Shinobu Nunotaba.

"Long time no see," the older girl greeted, "I thought I spotted a delinquent camping here all night on this bench. I know why you're here. You found out about the project, didn't you? There's no way you can put a stop to it. That's why I told you not to get involved."

"No, you didn't," Mikoto said plainly.

"Oh dear. Is that right?" Nunotaba mused, "My mistake."

"It's wrong. How could they get away with this?" Mikoto asked, "I might not no too much about Level 6 or whatever, but is it something they want so badly, they'll kill so many? Everyone involved with experiment must be completely insane."

"It's not quite like that," Nunotaba explained, "I won't deny that there's something crazy about it all. But in terms of morality, that's a completely different matter. Suppose a cure for cancer could be created through a miracle drug, but development of it required the experimental data from 20000 Guinee pigs. What would you do? You would say we don't have any other choice."

"That's not the same," Mikoto denied.

"Is it? They're both alive," Nunotaba argued, "And from a researcher's perspective, they are essentially the same thing. The Sisters are artificially produced Guinee pigs made for the sake of reaching Level 6. Of course, there are those that are in it for their own personal gain. And there are a few that genuinely have a screw loose. But across the board, none of them recognize this a being murder, and neither, in fact, did I."

"Wasn't that why you were spreading those money cards across the city?" Mikoto accused, "Interfere with the experiments?"

"That's correct," Nunotaba confirmed.

"But why?" Mikoto asked again, "They're not even human. Why would you want to protect them? Why?"

Nunotaba closed her eyes in thought, remanicing on the her days spent on both Project Radio Noise and Project Level 6 Shift.

"As you know, Project Radio Noise was designed in order to mass produce Level 5 Espers. When the project was frozen, I left the project team. But then, when the Sisters were taken over by Project Level 6 Shift, I was called back in," Nunotaba explained, "On day, I accompanied a Sister as she was taken out for external training. We saw the same world that day, but she saw it in a much more wonderous way than I ever could. I hate to sound trite, but it was that simple. Something changed in that moment. From then on, I could no longer just see them as products. All because she seemed so much more human than me. She saw the beauty in the world, while I could only ever see it as such an ugly thing. What about you? What do you think of them?"

"I'm not sure," Mikoto replied after a moment of silence, "It's difficult to think of clones as human. And why should I help them when they seem so ready to die?"

For a moment, Mikoto had to quickly compose herself. She wasn't about to start crying again.

"However, there are still the people that stole my DNA map and used it for their sick experiment," Mikoto continued, looking up with a determined glare, "They I intend to deal with."

"Well, aren't you the defiant one," Nunotaba mused as Mikoto stood up a walked away from the bench, "It isn't just one facility. There are more than twenty. Are you planning to do this alone?"

Mikoto stopped in her tracks upon hearing the question. Did she plan to do this alone? Her friends always said that she could count on them to help her. Most of her friends were Judgement Officers and have the goal of helping anyone they can. In the case of Touma, this was especially true. Helping others, especially those close to him, was essentially his only purpose in life. It was all he really knew after his incident. Knowing him, he would jump in to help the moment he got wind that something was wrong.

However, Mikoto couldn't let that happen. Not with this situation.

"Yes, I am. No one else needs to be involved in this," Mikoto replied, "Especially not that guy."

"Oh, so there's a boy you particularly don't want involved?" Nunotoba asked, "A crush? Maybe even a boyfriend? Someone you know cares an awful lot about you, for sure."

"The nature of our relationship has nothing to do with it," Mikoto denied, "Out of everyone I know, he's the last person I would want involved and the first to jump in if he figured in out. Plain and simple."

"But you like him, right?" the older girl deduced, seeing right through the Level 5, "That's why you don't want him to worry."

"Whether or not I like him in that way has nothing to do with it," Mikoto stated, "He knew Accelerator as a child and the two of them were the best of friends. He constantly told stories about how close they were and has been looking for him for years after they were separated. After seeing what that friend has become, I don't want that guy to see it as well. He's riddled with enough misfortune as it is. He doesn't need the knowledge that his best friend became a murderer added to that list."

"You really do intend to do this alone, aren't you?" Nunotaba mused.

"Of course," Mikoto replied, "I'm the one who made this mess. I will be the one to clean it up."


And there we have the introduction of Yuri Suzushina and the Sisters. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of this one.

I will admit, I had a bit of difficulty determining how to write the Sister's dialogue. Since they speak in the third person, I can't decide whether to use single quotation marks for their self-narrated dialogue or just treat their dialogue like normal. I'd like all of your honest opinion on that front. There is a poll on my profile where you can vote on how the Sister's dialogue is written from now on, so go check it out.

Also, any of you see what I did with the title? Same face as in clones and just like in a photo graph? Huh? Hint, hint, nudge, nudge, right hook to the face. Ah, you got it.

Anyway, see you all next time. We'll be switching back to Touma for a little bit of his personal investigation.