She dropped the large bags in her grasp onto the wood floor unceremoniously; she hadn't been told what was in them nor whether they had any sort of importance, so carefulness wasn't necessary.
Her head turned to stare at Yoshikawa, who had brought a significantly lesser load. "Is that all?" She mouthed.
Yoshikawa nodded. "Yep, that's everything, Satomi."
It took a few seconds for her to properly register what she said. She nearly thought Yoshikawa was referring to someone else entirely, but no one in the room had that name.
No one besides her.
MISAKA LEVEL-UP was her official designation.
However, that was not what she was to go by for the future to come.
Instead, she was given a name. It consisted of a first name and last name, as was standard.
Satomi Mikako.
She was somehow oblivious to the fact that the name was but a somewhat clever rearrangement of the name of her original.
"Well, Satomi, how do you like the place?" Yoshikawa asked, unpacking the small bag she had.
Satomi, after a second, answered. "This apartment, while small, has all of the conveniences of a proper home, such as windows, a television, running water, beds and a kitchen. It is fair to conclude that this apartment is adequate."
"That's good. Considering this'll be your new home from now on, you should feel comfortable living here." Yoshikawa said, pulling out a few items from the bag.
A few hours after having been detached from the Testament, she was told that she had a mission separate from the rest of the Misaka Sisters. While they would be participants in the Level 6 Shift Project, Satomi was to move into Academy City. For what reason, she did not know yet.
"I don't see how this apartment's status as my new home and my comfort correlate." Satomi remarked without a bit of sarcasm. Yoshikawa gave a tired smile.
"Don't worry about it. Anyways, before we get to assigning your mission, I am to tour you around Academy City. To make sure you have a general idea of what it looks like, where you can go, et cetera et cetera." Yoshikawa explained.
Satomi nodded in understanding. In fact, she was just about to head towards the door, Yoshikawa stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Not right away." Yoshikawa admonished Satomi with a shake of her head. "We'll need to do something about your appearance."
Satomi was wearing nothing but a black hospital gown, with absolutely nothing underneath. Even ignoring the lack of proper clothing, seeing as Satomi was a Misaka Sister, her face and hair color were the exact same as the original Mikoto Misaka, though the length of her hair was much longer. Clones were born with hair that went past the knee, while the original's hair barely went past her shoulder. Clones also usually had their hair cut to match the original, but this wasn't yet the case for Satomi.
Her appearance wasn't an issue when initially coming to this apartment, seeing as she was securely and secretly transported in a truck loaned by the ones behind her creation. Now that she and Yoshikawa were to travel by conventional means, it had to be addressed.
"What is wrong with my appearance?" Of course, Satomi was unaware of the many issues concerning her current hair and outfit, though more so the former than the latter.
"A lot. We'd need to ask someone with actual experience for help on reducing your resemblance to the Railgun, but until then a temporary solution should work just fine."
Yoshikawa searched through the bags Satomi had brought in, pulling out a set of clothes, and threw them at her.
"Change into these."
Minutes later, Satomi was wearing much more appropriate clothing, though because of her still-evident likeness to Mikoto Misaka, they couldn't draw any sort of attention. That's why Yoshikawa opted to have Satomi wear a hoodie; so that her face, which was the biggest similarity she shared with Mikoto Misaka, would be hidden.
Yoshikawa opened the door, motioning Satomi to follow. "Keep that hood up while we're outside." She mentioned.
"Yoshikawa?" Satomi suddenly asked.
"Hm?"
"Isn't it also strange to wear a lab coat as normal clothing?" Satomi questioned. Yoshikawa was taken aback slightly by what she said.
"W-well, I'm a scientist. Scientists wear lab coats, right?" Before Satomi could respond, Yoshikawa had already walked through the door, knowing full well that she didn't have a real answer for Satomi's question.
Academy City was the world's most advanced city in the world, having almost 30 years worth of technological progress over any other nation on Earth. It was the home of approximately 2.3 million people, with 80% of that being the student population, yet the city was still stable, functioning and thriving.
Needless to say, it was a very impressive sight to behold.
"Academy City's made up of 23 seperate districts, all serving a different purpose. You don't need to remember every one of them, so long as you know where you should and shouldn't go. I'll hand you a map later of all of the districts." Yoshikawa explained to Satomi. She was currently driving through the city to give Satomi a general idea of how the city looked like, while supplying additional information if it crossed her mind.
Speaking of Satomi, she seemed absorbed in the world outside the car's window. From what Yoshikawa could tell, her facial expression didn't change much, but there was definitely a hint of wonder in her eyes as she gazed at Academy City.
"You seem very engrossed in this place, huh?" Yoshikawa said rhetorically with a smile. Satomi's eyes caught a nearby cleaning robot on the move.
"I've never seen the outside before." Satomi stated simply, as the cleaning robot quickly passed out of view. "There are many things I've seen through this window that I've never seen within the labs of the Level 6 Shift Project."
"Such as?"
"The windmills and the cleaning robots are the most common sight thus far. The blue sky, too." Satomi summarized. "I am enjoying looking at these things."
"That's interesting." Yoshikawa said to herself. Satomi faced her, marking the first time she broke sight with the window since they had entered the car.
"What's interesting?" She asked.
"Your reaction to the outside. You are the first Sister to have left the lab, so seeing how you think about Academy City is certainly fascinating to say the least."
"I am the first?" Satomi questioned.
"Yeah. Outside experiments aren't due to happen until 9802 is killed, and at this time Accelerator should've killed 6887 about an hour ago. So it'll take a while until we even send out Sisters for surveillance or training." Yoshikawa said.
"I see."
After a few moments of silence, Satomi went back to looking outside.
"Well, this is it. Seventh Mist." Yoshikawa announced as the two looked at the shopping mall. Though, looked up at was more accurate, seeing as it was several stories tall. "This is the main hub for shopping for most students. Luckily, most of them should still have classes, so we don't have to worry about you getting recognized."
"... It's big." Was all Satomi said, garnering a light chuckle from Yoshikawa as they both walked in.
Standard for a shopping mall, there were dozens of different shops and stalls, most of them vying for customer attention with large flashy signs and posters advertising their newest deal. Satomi found interest in many of the stores, which was amplified by Yoshikawa giving explanations on the wares and services they each provided.
However, even that interest couldn't compare to Satomi's reaction when she first crossed paths with another person, specifically a teenage boy with black spiky hair, wearing what seemed to be a white shirt and a pair of navy blue pants. When she saw him, Satomi froze in place, prompting Yoshikawa to stop as well. Despite Satomi's halted movement, her eyes followed the boy walking keenly, almost like a stalker. The boy did notice her prolonged observation of him eventually and was a little startled by it.
The speed at which he left the area could be considered quite impressive.
"Any reason for that?" Yoshikawa asked, having seen the sequence of events take place. Satomi kept looking in the direction that the boy had gone in.
"That was the first person I've seen up close that was not wearing a lab coat." Satomi stated, in a sort of awe. "He was wearing white , but it wasn't a lab coat."
"Most people don't wear lab coats." Yoshikawa commented, ignoring the irony stemming from her own choice in apparel. "Though, I'm pretty sure that's the uniform of a high school. He doesn't look like the delinquent type; wonder why he's not in class."
"Is it possible for him to have a good reason to not be in school?" Satomi pondered, as the two continued their stroll through Seventh Mist.
"Of course. There's a plethora of reasons why you'd want or need to leave school or work. Why are you asking?"
"... I do not know."
After a little less than half an hour of touring, they had finally entered a store. Or rather, a salon. A hair salon.
Coming here was the primary reason Yoshikawa had brought Satomi to Seventh Mist in the first place. Satomi's resemblance to Mikoto Misaka couldn't be bandaged by hiding her face with a hood forever; all it would take a single particularly strong gust of wind and it would all possibly be for naught.
Thus, changing her appearance was key. And who better to do it then a professional.
The hairdresser of the salon was a rather old woman, white hair and wrinkles and all, though her age more so spoke to her experience than detracted from it. Her elderly status could also hopefully mean she wouldn't know of Mikoto Misaka or any physical resemblance Satomi may have with her.
"Hey there, I know we haven't booked an appointment or anything, but if you're free, do you mind taking care of this girl's hair? Her name's Satomi." Yoshikawa said. She nudged Satomi forward and pulled down her hood so that her face would be visible.
The old woman nodded. "It doesn't look like I'm busy, does it? My shop's always empty at this time." She looked at Satomi. "What exactly are you looking for?"
"..."
Satomi did not answer.
"Erm," Yoshikawa brought the attention back to herself. "Can you dye her hair?"
The old woman did not speak for a few moments. "I can, yes. To what color?"
"Black, preferably," Yoshikawa voiced. She had previously researched black to be the most common hair color in Academy City. Keeping Satomi's hair color basic would lead her to not being noticed as much.
"Anything else?"
"Cut her hair to the length of her waist." Satomi's current hair length, the one all clones were born with, was definitely different from the short hair of Mikoto Misaka, but it was a little too long, to the point of being rather cumbersome. Waist-level was a good middle-ground, almost literally so.
"That's fine too." The old woman stated. Yoshikawa walked up to her and handed her the money.
"Great. I'm going to go pick up some stuff. I'll be back in an hour or so once you're done." And before another word could be uttered, Yoshikawa had left the salon.
The old woman sighed, and then looked at Satomi. She was combing through ideas on how best to cut and dye Satomi's hair, just like a master artist trying to find the perfect color for their painting. In this in-depth analysis of Satomi's physique, however, the woman realized something.
"Hold on… you look exactly like that Level 5!" The old woman remarked, with Satomi stiffening up at the words. "Her name was… Mikasa? And she's nicknamed The Railgun of Tokiwadai. My granddaughter looks up to that kid; talks about her all the time."
"I always did have a resemblance to her." Satomi explained, trying to rationalize the situation so that the old woman didn't get suspicious. She absolutely could not be discovered as Mikoto Misaka's clone.
Luckily, the old woman did not try to jump to such a conclusion. In fact, she seemed to pity Satomi.
"Ah, poor you. Looking so similar to a popular girl must be hard on you, huh?" She mused. "You may not believe me, but back in my days, I used to look like a popular movie actress. At first, I thought it was amazing, but it quickly became more of a burden." The old woman smiled despite the bad memory, just happy to reminiscence. "Is that why you came here? To get a fresh start?"
"Y-Yes." Satomi went along with the story because it was the one that would get rid of any suspicion that may have been cast on her.
"I'm happy to help, then." The woman's expression shifted to a frown. "That said, are you okay with what that woman told me to change regarding your hair? I'd rather hear what you want from your mouth rather than someone else's. And truth be told, that woman's the type that I trust the least."
This was much more of a difficult question than Satomi thought.
"... It does not matter. I am fine with any decision, so long as I do not look like Mikoto Misaka afterwards."
A moment passed. "I see." The old woman smiled warmly. "How about this; I'll do what that woman asked. But if you want a different look, you can always come back here and ask."
Satomi paused.
"... Okay."
"Wonderful. Now, please sit down so I can prepare your hair for the cutting and dyeing process."
"... Thank you. I am in your care."