Woah did I actually update right in a row? Something must be wrong here.

Enjoy!

"Shokuhou!" Coach Hashi shouted, running through Misaki's head like a knife as she panted heavy. Of course she had to have PE, even though she tried to get rid of it off her her schedule. "You going to compete in the festival with that kinda speed?!"

"I wasn't planning on running the marathon, sir!" Misaki replied, as snarky as she could get away with. Finally reaching the finish line pf their warm up run around Nagatenjouki's sports ground, Misaki felt like she was dying. All she wanted to do was bend down and die, but she wasn't going to be given that option. With the Daihaseisai only a week away, the PE classes were kicking into overdrive to keep students ready for the festival. Misaki thought it was only a festival, so why exactly did it matter?

"Here," someone said. Misaki looked up to find Misaka offering her a sip of her water bottle. "Drink this, you sloth." Ignoring the insult, Misaki happily took and swigged more than half of on her own. Too most it was water, but for her, it was nectar from the God's themselves.

"Ah, you're a lifesaver Misaka." she said as she dropped the bottle away from her lips and tossed it back to her roommate, who shook it. She seemed displeased by the amount of water left.

"I didn't say you could have the whole thing," she said unhappily. Misaki only shrugged at this. She was thirsty, what did she expect to happen?

"Sorry," she said, not really feeling sorry at all. "You might want to refill that thing, it might get a little empty if I need a drink again."

"You know full well I can't just leave to refill." Misaka replied as she downed whatever was left. "Looks like you're going to suffer."

"As if that's news to anyone." Misaki replied with a frown. She'd been suffering since class started a whole fifteen minutes ago, so it was only going to get worse from here. Misaki was obviously the last person to complete the run, so she wasn't really going to get any time to rest up. Once she gave the all clear that she could keep going, Coach Hashi cleared his throat to silence any students talking.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, the Daihaseisai is coming up next week," he said. "So for today, I'm going to let all of you work on your own weaknesses. I don't really care what you do, just make sure I don't catch you doing nothing." As if too prove his point, Hashi looked at Misaki pointedly. "That includes you, Shokuhou."

"Yes sir," Misaki drawled, making her classmates giggle. Left to their own devices for another forty minutes, Misaki turned to her roommate for guidance. Also a way to get out of being in trouble, but mostly the other thing.

"You want me to help you train, am I right?" Misaka asked at Misaki's glance. She nodded happily, making her roommate sigh. "What could I possibly have for you to do?"

"I don't know, but everyone else is pairing up!" Misaki said, childishly pulling on the side of her roommates navy blue gym uniform. "Help me practice a bit!"

"You just want out of Hashi's sights, don't you?" She demanded. Misaki nodded happily, making Mikoto sigh.

"Alright, well, I have an idea. Kinda."

"Lay it on me!"


"I didn't mean that literally!" Misaki cried out in anguish, Misaka sitting pretty on her back as she attempted push ups.

"I said drop and gimme fifty, Shokuhou!" Misaka replied like a drill sergeant in the army. Except she wasn't one, just an aggressively annoying sixteen year old with enough power to level said army. Shokuhou had never felt so much pain in her life as she lazily lifted herself off of the ground.

"How many was that?" She asked weakly, looking over her shoulder. Misaka only frowned at her.

"Eight," she replied simply, causing Misaki to collapse to the ground in defeat. "Only forty-two more to go!"

"I quit!" Misaki shouted, flailing around under Misaka. "I tap out! I submit!"

"No tapping out!" Misaka snapped. "You wanted me to help you got out of Coach's sights, now help yourself!" Misaki glowered at the ground at this. She knew full well she'd requested help, but this wasn't help! It was torture!

"Sergeant Shokuhou formerly requests a swap in positions!" She said angrily. Misaka sighed at this, and Misaki felt the weight on her back lifting.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood today," Misaka said, smirking as she got down to the ground.

Misaki was going to enjoy this.

Once Misaka was ready, she sat herself down with some force, crossing her arms and legs as the girl nearly buckled from the sudden impact.

"Jeez..." Misaka hissed as she used her arms to force herself upwards. "We need to ween you off of sweets."

"I don't weigh nearly as much as you, darling." Misaki replied frankly, pretending not to notice her seat was her roommate. Misaka only let out a laugh as she did her push ups.

"Your chest begs to differ, Beanbag-san." She said under her breath, but not low enough for Misaki to not notice. The girl forced downwards a bit at the insult, making Misaka buckle a bit again. Misaki took a moment to reflect on the friendly banter from a moment before, not sure where it came from. She didn't find herself irritated by Misaka, she actually found a smile on her face. When had that become a normal thing?

"We both know I'm not doing any heavy lifting for the festival," Misaki said as she checked her nails. "So we need to focus more on you then me. Even though all eyes will be on me, as usual."

"And other funny lies you tell yourself," Misaka said, as if finishing her sentence for her. "You really think the class is gonna let you get out of helping?"

"I never claimed that," Misaki replied. "I just won't do anything too strenuous. You're only at six, by the way." Ignoring her roommates grumbles, Misaki cast a lazy gaze over her classmates, looking for something fun to stare at. Most of them were lifting, running over training their abilities for use in the festival, which wasn't very surprising. After all, any event not endangering the public did not restrict ability usage by the espers of the school.

Glancing to her left, Misaki watched as Omori Ayame, the outspoken girl from homeroom, finished another lap around the field, panting heavily. The girls black hair was still in its ponytail, but Misaki could see some of it sticking too her face due to how much she was sweating. After a few moments the girl seemed to cool off, surprisingly quickly at that. She went up to speak to a blonde classmates of theirs holding a stopwatch, and asked something. The girl replied, and Omori looked unhappy. After a quick conversation, Omori continued to run around the track. Misaki had to admit, the stoic girl was fascinating to watch. Where their other classmates were ready to call it quits, Omori was still practising. Misaki didn't know how she did it, but it was kinda cool.

"What do you think Omori's problem is?" she asked Misaka. "She didn't seem to be a fan of ours." Misaka shrugged, or at least it felt like she did from atop her back.

"Any numbers of reason, probably." she replied. "Our Level's, our privileges, anything. Hell, maybe she was involved in an experiment and grew to hate us through external means." Misaki supposed any number of those made sense. Still, the level to which Omori spoke out against their special treatment stuck in her mind.

"Imma look and see later," Misaki said pointedly.

"No you aren't," Misaka replied. "No chance in hell am I letting you invade her privacy."

"...I'll still take a peak." Misaki replied simply.

"No, you won't." Misaka replied.

"What, you gonna stop me?" Misaki demanded.

"I'll hid your sweets." Misaki genuinely took this into consideration and finally decided that it wasn't worth it. Who really cared if Omori hated them? She was used to it from the person below her.

After what felt like forever, Misaka finally collapsed and didn't get back up again.

"You done?" Misaki demanded. Misaka only made an affirmative grunt, clearly done her round of push ups. "I wasn't counting, so I'm going to assume I beat you."

"Yeah, like hell you did." Misaka replied as she stood and stretched her back. "I did way more than you."

"Yeah yeah, cry me a river." Misaki replied as Coach Hashi blew his whistle.

"Alright everyone!" He called. "That's all for today! Go change and get ready for lunch!" Misaki never thought she'd be so happy to be free of her classes. She bounded ahead of Misaka towards the school, wanting to get out of her sweaty gym clothes as soon as possible. As she did, she looked over towards Omori, causing their gazes to meet. Misaki didn't dwell long enough to stare, but she knew Omori was boring a hole into her back. Deciding it was best to ignore the girls stare. She really didn't know what the girls problem was, but she had to admit she was curious. But what could she do? After all, Misaka had just told her she wouldn't let her break into Omori's privacy.

After a few minutes of thinking, Misaki smiled.

Who said I needed to do the prodding?


Misaki knew that she was coming, so all she really had to do was wait. She'd done what she wanted to do, so it was really up to fate now. It wasn't normal for her to come out herself to see to something like this. Usually she'd just take control of someone and send them as her representative, but she figured coming herself for this might have been a better idea. Besides, Misaka had made her much more comfortable in her own skin in public. Jeez, what was zappy doing to her?

Soon, however, she saw that her actions had born fruit.

Misaki watched as Omori walked into the restaurant, quickly catching her gaze. Misaki gave a a wave with a smile, something she'd never have done before. Hell, before she'd had sent some random person to do the questions. So why was she here herself? She felt like something was wrong with her.

"Shokuhou Misaki," Omori said as she reached the table Misaki was seated at. Misaki smiled at her.

"Omori Ayame," she replied. "How are you?" Omori did not reply to this. Instead, she dug into her pocket and took out the cutely written note Misaki had ditched in the girls gym shoes as she left the locker room.

"Why did you want me to come here?" she asked, blue eyes piercing into Misaki. Thankfully, she'd been in worse situations and felt no fear from the girl. "Especially alone?" Misaki shrugged and leaned back, taking a sip of her drink as she did so.

"I wanted to talk to you, is that such a bad thing?" Misaki asked. Omori only narrowed her eyes at this.

"We've never spoken before," she said. "Not only that, and if you must know I'm not a fan of yours. So why am I here?" Misaki only grinned at this.

"Why Omori my girl, that's why I called you here," she replied as she leaned forward. "I'm curious about you. You know, most people in Academy City look up to Level 5's. But you, you don't. In fact, you don't seem to like me very much at all. And I gotta say, I'm very curious. Care to tell me why you feel this way?"

"Seriously?" Omori asked, looking unimpressed. "That's why I'm here? Ugh. And here I expected some sort of better reasoning, but it's as childish as I've heard you were. Unbelievable." Misaki frowned at this.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, playing innocent. Omori only frowned back at her.

"You're a Level 5," she said. "Don't you have better things to do than spend all day worrying about why I don't like you?"

"Surprisingly not," Misaki replied, thinking about it. "I mean I sometimes have some stuff to do, but mostly things are quiet for me."Omori just watched her for a moment, before she sighed and looked at her feet.

"What's to ask?" She said. "It's simple really. "I don't like not just you, but any of the Level 5's. Misaka, you, any of them. Why? It's simple."

"Then explain it to me," Misaki replied, still curious. Omori rolled her eyes.

"Because you're all the same," she said. "None of you deserve what you have. All of you are selfish, arrogant, undeserving pricks. You have all the power, all the fame, all anyone could ever want. And yet, are any of you grateful? No. You're all treated like Gods. There are people who worship the ground that you walk on. And for what? An arbitrary number that says your better than everyone else?"

"So what you're getting at is you're attention starved?" Misaki asked, purposefully prodding Omori. Everyone knew the best way to keep someone talking was too prod their belief system. Attack it, even.

"I never said that," Omori replied. "Do you know what it's like growing up a nobody? Such a strange question, but of course you don't. Shokuhou Misaki, born with a gift. Just like the rest of them. You're no better than me, Shokuhou. You're worse than most people I know." Misaki didn't really understand what Omori was getting at. From the sounds of it, it was basic resentment. She had a few theories, most stemmed from something that happened during her childhood. If Omori had a bad experience in the past involving a Level 5 or at least mentioning one, that could be the case. Or perhaps she was a narcissistic know-it-all who couldn't stand being a peg below others?

However, the biggest problem Misaki saw was the self-fulfilling nature of Omori's beliefs. She believed that all of the Level 5's were arrogant, horrible people. Granted she wasn't exactly wrong, but she wasn't right either. However, because she perceived them that way, that was the way she saw them.

All in all, it made Misaki giggle to herself.

"What's so funny?" Omori demanded. Misaki shrugged as she leaned back.

"Not much," she said. "It's just, you called me out for having a childish reason to talk to you, and yet your reason for hating me and the other Level 5's is based on what, exactly? Your own opinion is really what I hear."

"I didn't come here to make you believe my side of the argument," Omori replied, gaining control over herself again. Now that Misaki really thought about it, she was kinda cold. Was there a draft in here? "I came to see what you wanted, hoping maybe I could be proven wrong. And yet, here we are."

"And I didn't come here to try and persuade you," Misaki replied. "I sometimes get a little too curious. Sometimes it gets me into some trouble. Oh, I wonder how Misaka will ream me for this one?" As Misaki got up to walk past Omori and leave, she caught sight of something she hadn't seen in the area before. Entering Joseph's was a group of five people, dressed in students uniforms. She didn't recognise them, but the uniform consisted of a maroon coloured sweater vest with a school emblem emblazoned over the left side of the was over a white dress shirt, and black dress pants. The students absolutely reeked of upper class, and Misaki didn't like the way the head boy caught her eye. Omori looked over her shoulder and winced visibly.

"Damn it," she hissed. "Hisakawa Prep."

"Bless you," Misaki replied. Omori only shot her a look of irritation.

"Shut up," she said, "Hisakawa Prep is another high school in the city, arguably one of the best. They consistently rank below Nagatenjouki in the Daihaseisai too. School is across the district too, so if they came all the way here..."

"My my, is that a Nagatenjouki Academy uniform?" Misaki winced as the group of students made their way over to them, all looking as though they were trying to keep up an air of confidence. "Imagine, seeing two students of the top school in such a pedestrian place."

"Didn't you come in here too?" Misaki asked. "Or did you just come to start some trouble with a rival school? Jeez, you sound like an antagonist of some bad story arc. Gotta introduce some sort of enemy for the main characters, am I right?" Misaki's jab seemed to have silenced the group temporarily, but the blonde leader quickly recovered.

"You're a quick witted on, aren't you?" He asked. "You must be Shokuhou Misaki, the fifth strongest Level 5."

"And you must be..." Misaki replied, trailing off. "...Sorry, don't know you."

"I don't expect you too." He said. "After all, why would you? Just someone who goes to another school. That being said, it is the best school in the city. Or, it should be. This year, we're going to make sure we win the Daihaseisai."

"That so?" Omori asked, piping up. "So you came in here to start a fight over it?" Misaki once again noticed the temperature in the room begin to lower, which caused her to shutter. What was going on?

"They've got you there, Araya." The black haired girl behind him said. "I told you this was a bad idea." The boy, Araya, rolled his eyes.

"Please," he said. "I don't intend to lower myself to your level and start a fight in such a place. Just be wary. This year, Nagatenjouki will place second. Of that, I'm sure."

"I'm certain you'll do great." Misaki replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, this excursion has thoroughly waned my social skills for today. I'll be going now." With this, Misaki walked past the group and left the restaurant, Omori taking her leave soon after. Misaki wasn't very impressed by the Araya boy, but it was always good to fight for something, right?

It's just too bad he'll fail horribly.


"You what?!" Mikoto demanded as Shokuhou tossed herself down on the couch next to her. Her roommate had disappeared after school, and had returned to tell her she'd confronted Omori and run into some trouble. "What happened?"

"Don't worry about it, Mom," Shokuhou replied with a teasing smile. "I told you I was curious. It's nothing to worry about, really. Her reasons for being so cold are half-truths and self fulfilling prophecies. I'm not worried." When she put it that way, it did seem non-important. Then again, Shokuhou probably described burning a building down as 'lighting a fire to warm her arms up'

"Any more trouble you got into?" Mikoto demanded. Shokuhou shrugged as she stretched on the couch.

"No, no." she said. "Just got into a confrontation with morons from some other high school. Hasidiwa or something."

"Hisakawa?"

"That's the one." Shokuhou said. "Bunch of fired up dummies who think they'll beat us at the festival. Nothing to worry about." As the pair grew silent the TV program resumed, leaving Mikoto with her thoughts about what Shokuhou had been up too. She was concerned about Omori, but at the same time it wasn't that big of a deal. But Mikoto couldn't help but feel like there was more to this than Shokuhou had discovered.

The Daihaseisai was only a week away.

Trust me there's more to Omori. Also, gotta jab at myself for such a cliche intro for some form of antagonist. Who cares, this story is just for fun, right? I hope you enjoyed, leave a review!