AN: (Parentheses and underline): (Author's point of view as if he was a reader)
Underline: Actual author's speech
Italics: English in both dialogue and exposition
Normal text: Japanese and exposition
Alert codes:
Code White – destruction of the whole planet Earth is imminent
Code Grey-Yellow - destruction of any other country than Japan is imminent
Code Grey – destruction of Japan is imminent.
Code Black - imminent destruction of the city possible. The threat is likely to destroy the city in 5 seconds.
Code Crimson – imminent destruction of the city possible. The threat is likely to destroy the city in 5 minutes. Everyone with some fighting capacity is mobilized to fight off the threat.
Code Red - Academy City's highest common alert status, which indicates that a terrorist have been confirmed to have invaded Academy City. Here, the city blocks traffic flow between the inside and the outside, as well as traffic between the districts are restricted. Checkpoints are also set up on the roads, and Judgment members can request leave to help locate the terrorist and help crowd control and evacuate civilians while Anti-Skill handle the situation.
Code Orange - Academy City's second highest common alert status, indicating the potential of an incoming terrorist threat on the city. All traffic between the inside and outside of the city is blocked.
Code Yellow - Unknown, but the city was under Code Yellow after the invasion of Vento of the Front. Presumably, the code is up when the city is under the presumption that attacks can still be possible.
Chapter 2: One night, two fights.
"Mikoto-chan, let's be friends!" says Misaka's 'inner voice' in the most sincere and innocent tone possible.
Misaka pauses for a good minute to collect her thoughts and to think of a reply to the rumoured person and fellow Level 5, who appears to want to befriend her out of the blue.
"Why?" was the 'simple inner question' asked by the Ace of Tokiwadai
"People don't ask why others want to be friends, friend… But the logical reason for friendship is to have a nice person that you can connect with and share your troubles with. Also, you would act an awful lot like rank 5 if you thought about most things as risk vs reward. I hope you're not like that." was a long, complicated but a textbook answer to that question.
"I'm not like Shokuhou!" a flustered scream could be heard in the depths of A Certain Electromaster's produced by that very same Electromaster.
"I'm hanging up. Stay safe!" was Aoi's cheery response to the flustered state of her very friend.
Misaka got to the dorm in one piece that night. Both her and Kuroko were still rather tired but after about an hour Kuroko's usual perversion and Mikoto's flustered attempts to fight it with her Academy City grid shattering shocks resumed. Later that night, before going off to sleep, Mikoto had some time to reflect on her day.
"I wonder how my newest 'friend' is doing…" Mikoto thought, while still unsure if two Level 5s can ever truly become friends "I hope she doesn't mess up. She probably can, given her naivety when it comes to her powers…" Mikoto paused to think on that last thought "No way! She's hidden herself for so many years. I don't think anything can happen to the strongest esper, who has successfully hidden herself for many years." Mikoto calmed herself and realized that Aoi is that last person to need any kind of support. She promptly went to sleep while hugging the Kill Bear.
Meanwhile, Aoi was not done after hanging up.
"Heh, even if you, gullible fool, are not one to 'be like Shokuhou' I think I'm probably worse than her even though I don't directly mind control people." Aoi thought to herself with tears starting to form.
"Still… how long didn't I have a friend for? Oh… right… 4 years… I guess I really was a wreck until last year then, wasn't I? That's a whole 3 years' worth of 'interesting experiences'" Aoi was about to continue her trail of thought but she realized she couldn't let it or THAT DAMNED SCENARIO that had her release her power for the first time weigh her down. Not now. Not until true peacetime. Not until something…
Aoi went to the facility that usually works with her, it was somewhat isolated from Academy City as it was about 10 km away from its border. She had tutors, cooks and other staff set up just for her. It was both her prison and her fortress. Something that she negotiated for with the Superintendent. That time he (because despite the appearance, no way someone named Aleister Crowley can be anything other than a grown (that part still ticked Aoi off, she really wanted to be right on this prediction) man, who has some sort of connection with this city's founder) had asked her to come up with some ways to adjust his near-perfect plan to increase its success to test her. And at the time, the genius girl came up with 2 and had 2 in reserve which she never told anyone and even refused to think about them herself as she didn't want any chance of her being considered a more major threat that she already is if someone were to read her mind and she didn't want the idea to linger in her mind and to end up forcing her already frail mind onto a road which will lead to doom both for her and for everyone else on planet Earth. As she walked inside the gates of the yard that connects to the rather big and wide 6-story building, which houses her someone called out to her.
"Aoi-san!" a friendly researcher who was the one tasked to deal with Aoi most of the time called out.
"You sure brought us a haul today… To think that you would expose herself and deal with a threat that could wipe out the entire City if not more is absolutely remarkable!" the researcher had starry eyes. "Yuck, I hope rank 5 is not messing with me" hoped Suzuki as her prayers were answered.
The researcher's face shifted to 'very serious' mode "Your suggestions on dealing with the info breach?" he said in a cold tone that made him seem like a completely different person.
"Release all Rank A info you have on me to trusted members of Anti-Skill and Level 5s. Make sure you explain or have someone explain to them that it IS a state secret and what the ramifications of publicizing such info are. The public only needs to know the name, the ability's name and its effects, not limits in layman's terms and that I'm rank 0 for a reason. If you have to give an indication of power, say I'm roughly 20% more capable in all tasks than Accelerator." says Aoi in an equally dead serious tone.
"Understood. Anything else?" he said.
"Level 5 rank 3, Railgun, Misaka Mikoto and Anti-Skill officer Yomikawa Aiho HAVE to be on the list for Rank A info. I won't have them getting killed for me personally telling them said info." she said and paused for her most trusted aide to confirm.
"Understood." was his confirmation.
"Kamino Takashi-san," she started towards the to which Kamino jolted as she never addresses him by his full name unless it's an emergency "get this damn piece of junk examined." she pointed at the robot in question "All reports go directly to me and then Superintendent with an exact 30-minute delay. Today was code Black, tomorrow can be code Grey, the day after we can see a bunch of 'Grey-Yellows' and in the coming week, we can see code White being called in. You are to perform your best to negate such a scenario by gathering all you can as fast as you can from this 'Metaloid'. Is that clear?" her calm and dangerous tone sent a chill down Takashi's spine.
"Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am!" the researcher saluted.
Aoi went inside and had an unusually heavy and dark aura around her. She spoke to no one and no one spoke to her that evening. She was lying in bed when she also had some thoughts regarding the current scenario.
"Thank god I've got you guys!" she thought as she swallowed some sleeping pills. She knew very well that sleep was necessary, and no amount of inner turmoil can change that simple fact.
The next day (that is July 17th, 2005) was rather peaceful. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. On days like these (DO NOT REFERENCE UNDERTALE, DON'T YOU DARE!) everything was rather peaceful. Albeit, Japan had more luck with Cicadas singing rather than birds. The birds were still present mind you.
That day something rather interesting happened. Our rank 0 apparently overdosed herself and didn't wake up until MUCH later, 16:48 to be exact. The rank 3 though had a lot of fun that day. She got some experience working in Judgement and realized how rosy her expectations of the job were. Judgment mostly dealt with things other than criminals and the job itself required a lot of patience to do, when about 95% all you're doing is paperwork, saving cats and helping old people. Kuroko successfully managed to fluster her Onee-sama after she learned of Mikoto's predicament with the armband. She was also dragged into the rumour about the 'Stripper Woman', which turned out to be true and she had to help the person in question. Mikoto was stuck dealing with a person that thinks underwear is the same as swimwear, so taking off clothes in hot weather was okay…
Aoi, meanwhile, had just woken up from her slumber. It was already near evening and curfew, which didn't stop the girl from taking a shower. Showers were important since sometimes you may have time to take them every half an hour, while other times you'd have to spend days, weeks, months running away from someone or something and during those times you'd rather smell like an ape, but keep your life. Suzuki realized that there probably isn't much to do. Supposedly there's this nice guy going around and saving girls from all sorts of situations. Sadly, 'supposedly' was a word that has long been collecting dust when it comes to Aoi's knowledge of things. Given the nature of her power and position, she had to know all sorts of things and people. Kamijou Touma, Imagine Breaker and "Ultimate ladies' man" (the nickname she prematurely gave him based on his description) was still a person and while personal information is usually highly accurate, meeting people in real life is different. It offers interactions it's fun…
"No time to get distracted by the past Aoi, push on until the world is truly at peace." she thought to herself.
Aoi dressed herself differently today though. She wore some casual clothes that she didn't use to blend in. Those clothes included a black skirt (about 1.5 times the length of actual Tokiwadai skirts, since she did like short skirts, but not to the madness levels of the students and teachers that wore and issued that uniform respectively), her favourite and only choice of underwear were the grey coloured boyshorts (since she didn't like when anyone looked under her skirt. Her skirt was neither too short nor was she that tomboyish, hence she didn't wear actual shorts underneath) (unlike A Certain Someone), she wore a plain white T-shirt, some thigh-high black opaque glossy stockings and her now seemingly signature black running shoes. Considering the weird sense of fashion that many people in Academy City have, Aoi looked more than normal in comparison.
Aoi went outside of her safe haven, which never actually got a proper name. It's usually referred to as 'the rank 0's base' but that's not really a name for a place now, is it?
"Welp, looks like the bus will arrive soon." she said as she stood at a bus stop, which should take her into Academy City. She had waited for a whole 15 minutes for the thing. Man, was transportation outside of Academy City underdeveloped in comparison. She had already exited her complex and checked on the progress of Takashi, he was working hard on managing the team that was disassembling the robot… "Shouldn't it be called an autopsy though?" Suzuki thought to herself.
A couple more minutes later she got on the bus, which thankfully was an express one and would manage to reach the place where she'd drop off in 20 minutes.
After the 20 minutes passed, Aoi found herself on the edge of District 7. She figured that'd be the best place to start looking for the guy.
"Fukou da!" exclaimed an annoyed, male, young and rather distinct voice.
"Lucky, Lucky!" whispered our well-dressed older female protagonist as she hid behind a wall and peaked so that she could see the guy, while remaining unseen. She saw that his groceries were splattered all over the pavement. The scene was rather depressing. He had to live on basic allowances and being a Level 0 was tough. "Ooof, yeah I'd remember this sort of thing if I were in his shoes" pondered Aoi.
"*Aargh!*" the scream of the spiky haired boy was heard.
"It's a massacre… My vital source of protein… After all this… After lining up for two hours…" Aoi instinctively clutched her chest at that as such an experience is unpleasant at best and heartbreaking (which seems to be the case here) when you're not actually rich…
"Wait is that Misaka?!" Aoi thought as she was about to say "Ah" with the two of them.
"You had some nerve running off on me earlier! You left me the troublesome job to me and went shopping! This wasn't even the first troublesome job I've had today!" said Misaka. "Yeppp… that sure is my disrespectful kouhai-colleague. Props to her for being herself and not being as shocked as she was yesterday, I guess." thought Suzuki.
"Whether or not you make the special sale is a matter of life and death for a poor student! A rich girl from Tokiwadai wouldn't understand!" retorted Kamijou.
"Aaand, he's right you know~" Aoi narrated inside her own head.
"It was a huge hassle for me too! Not only was this the second time you've NOT helped me today but I had to wash her dirty skirt for her! And then she went and called me a tsun-" Mikoto was berating Touma before she suddenly stopped and was visibly flustered.
"Tsun?" the guy most oblivious to his own harem asked in the most oblivious way.
"N-Nevermind, we're going to have a battle me and you!" replied the VERY flustered girl.
"You say battle me and all, but… you've lost every single time we've done it, haven't you?" – "replied 'the unfortunate shopper'" thought Aoi as she narrated that part and noted another interesting nickname to tease the guy once she gets to know him.
"If he's anything like the rumours or his description, he'll make a great friend! I'll try to be a great friend for someone like him too! He might even end up saving me somehow from something some day!" Aoi thought in excitement. Kamijou Touma was probably the nicest guy around and she really wanted to meet him.
"That might even be Aleister's plan on limiting what I can do in Academy City…" Aoi pondered for a moment before continuing her excited thinking "No way! I like having friends…" she clutched her chest with her right arm and covered her mouth with her left as her various PTSDs let themselves be known.
Someone might have heard or seen her but the two were busy with their own things and paid no attention to nearby alleyways and the sounds made in them.
"Shut up! You haven't actually landed a blow on me yet, so I haven't lost." replied a less flustered and more feisty Mikoto.
"When's this going to end then?" calmly asked Touma.
"Heh? Well… Obviously… When I win!" said Mikoto while huffing slightly.
Touma let out a deep sigh.
Meanwhile, Aoi caught her breath and let go of her chest and mouth. "Ha-ha-ha-ha," Aoi nervously laughed inside her head "that was close… Now, what's those guys' development there?"
"Hey! Don't sigh at me like that!" exclaimed an annoyed-looking Misaka.
"I got it! If that's going to make you happy, I'll take you on." said Touma with a determined look on his face.
Misaka gulped twice, pausing between each gulp before saying her final piece.
"So you're finally taking this seriously." Was what Mikoto said before they headed off to fight somewhere.
Aoi followed the two closely while maintaining cover. She could probably not bother and use her abilities to make up for the inconvenience, but she doesn't believe in that. "What if someone takes them away for a day? Will I be a helpless person like Accelerator would be?" Aoi thought and came to the conclusion that she always comes to. That is abusing a power is not good for the person in question, it hinders development.
She looked at the dust now on her white T-Shirt. She should have used her usual outfit she thought since white T-Shirts are unsuited for such action after all. "Alright show me what you can do in a real battle, both of you!" Aoi smirked as she thought that.
The sun was already down, and the moon was visible. The two contestants for the battle were finally ready to settle whatever bothered them on this battleground near a bridge and a river. Aoi created a pair of binoculars and was looking at them from the top of the nearby bridge.
"We won't bother anyone else out here. I'm ready whenever you are. Bring it on." Touma stated the rather obvious.
"You don't need to tell me that. I'm the one who's been… Waiting for this!" said the smug Electromaster as she fired off some electricity at the Level 0.
"Not bad but she definitely has headroom in terms of improvement." thought the battle's observer/self-proclaimed referee from atop of the bridge. The electricity bolt was blocked by the Level 0.
"Electric shocks don't work after all, huh… In that case!" pondered the Electromaster for a second before using her abilities to control iron sand and make a sword out of it.
"What's that?... Hey! You're- Isn't using a weapon a bit unfair?!" Kamijou was pretty surprised to see such an item.
Aoi whistled "Not bad. I guess I'll take note that you can use electricity like that. Like I said, GREAT potential Mikoto-chan!" mumbled our observer.
"This was created using my powers…" Misaka started as a nearby falling leaf was cut very cleanly in half by the iron sand blade. Aoi could not hold back another whistle, she definitely liked creative uses of powers. Touma was dumbfounded by the object that he was supposed to stop from killing him.
"I can make it like a chainsaw by vibrating the iron sand. You might bleed a little if it touches you!" said Misaka as she started running towards Kamijou.
""A LITTLE IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT! YOU BATTLE MANIAC!"" both Touma and Aoi thought in sync as the world slowed down even if neither of them noticed that they did. Touma was wondering how he should escape at this point, while Aoi wondered if she should step in and remind Mikoto that she promised her not to do unnecessarily dangerous things for the heck of it or the rank 0 will negate her powers for a while. The last part about duration was an unknown to everyone. Aoi herself didn't know if she could be won over by the pouting of her kouhai if it came to that. Suzuki would probably have to submit.
"I somehow doubt I'd get away with just a little bleeding!" Touma voiced the concern, while he started dodging Mikoto's sword strikes. He dodged a couple before falling down and starting to run away.
"If you're just going to keep running around, I'll just make it do this!" Mikoto shouted as she turned it into a dangerous whip.
"The sword lengthened!" said a surprised Kamijou as time slowed down for the two combatants. "Oh, boy Mikoto-chan might even be the most dangerous Level 5. No way is anyone else going for the kill on an acquaintance they just want to battle." thought Aoi, who is not sure if that's the truest Mikoto's personality and if their friendship might have a rocky start as a result.
"Will I make it?" Mikoto thought with a smug face "There's no way he had time to dodge-"
Touma blocked the sand with his right hand.
"He turned the sand back into its original form!" thought the surprised Mikoto.
"See? He can negate your abilities!" Aoi inadvertently had a conversation with Mikoto even though the 'mind call was disengaged.
"But I also expected this." thought Mikoto, while moving unto the next stage of her plan.
"L-looks like I win…" said Touma, who looked relieved that the situation he was facing moments ago was now over.
"Oh, I wonder about that!" exclaimed the Ace with an ace up her sleeve. The iron sand in the wind started forming circles around Touma as it was being controlled by Mikoto.
"Wow, can she beat Accelerator with this? I swear he does something similar sometimes… Nah, his reflection's only match is probably that Imagine Breaker" Aoi thinks while looking over at Touma "and my own passive disintegration."
"You can even manipulate the iron in the wind?" Touma asked his rhetorical question.
"Even with this… no matter how many times you try, in the end it'll be the same!" exclaimed the spiky haired boy as he shoved the mass of iron sand away with his right arm. Mikoto took that moment to sneak up on him and grabbed him by the right hand.
"*ahhh*" sighed Aoi as she started mumbling "That's not going to work, Mikoto-chan."
"Got you! Even if you can block electricity transmitted through air…" Mikoto started her smug speech as she was about to electrocute Touma… but nothing happened. Mikoto looked surprised. Touma noticed her holding his right hand and he held up his right arm to punch the loser combatant. Mikoto was just about to cry and held up her arm near her head protectively as she was scared, even though the sobs could not be heard.
"Um…" Touma said as he realized the best course of action. He wasn't going to punch a girl for no reason, so he decided to 'lose' and pretend that whatever she tried to do worked on him.
"*Gwaaargh*" Touma made a fake cry of pain and collapsed.
"God… can you be any more obvious with your faking?" thought Aoi, now seated on the railings closer to the pair, who still didn't pay enough attention to their surroundings.
"Y-you got me." said the nice guy and 'dozed off'
"OH… MY GOD." Aoi thought as she sighed heavily, not heard by the two as she wasn't THAT close "That crazy bastard did it! He one upped his terrible faking!"
"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" Misaka exploded with electricity, unconvinced by the acting.
"Fight me seriously!" she demanded.
"But you're scared!" Touma pointed out the obvious.
"No, I'm not!" Mikoto denied with a tsundere prowess and a visible blush
"Liar!" Touma pointed out before showing Misaka an impression of her face… that's not going to sit well with her.
"You were like this, just about crying, and when I raised my fist, you-" Touma did his impression in an innocent way only for it to be seen as an act of mocking.
"Yep, those two will now on a wild goose chase. I'm in Judgement… gotta do my job… Sometimes at the very least." thought Aoi as she put her armband on. Luckily the skirt had pockets. She wondered if she should appear above them but that would be too much of an inconvenience.
Mikoto was about to start electrocuting Touma and he was about to start running from her… but someone appeared to their side.
The newcomer yawned loudly before starting to talk. This immediately caught the attention of the two as they were very worried if that was a member of Judge-
"Judgement-des…" said the newcomer girl in a sleepy tone while pointing at her armband. She stood in the shade so her face could not be clearly seen.
Both Touma and Mikoto knew they're in trouble, so they nodded at each other and came up with the perfect cover up story.
""We've just come here to gaze at the stars!"" they did their to get them out of this mess.
"We've come here separately, but who knew that starry nights were so wonderful?" Mikoto said as she nudged Touma who was right beside her now.
"R-Right! Star gazing and nothing more!" Touma said what he needed to.
""A-ha-ha-ha-ha"" the pair gave out a nervous laugh.
The 'judgment girl' was not actually tired though so she continued in her normal tone.
"Yeah, so you're telling me the Imagine Breaker battling the Railgun after curfew, while pushing each other to the limit is called star gazing nowadays?" said the girl as she 'teleported' behind them. Mikoto turned around to take a quick look at who the teleporter girl was. While turning Misaka thought to herself "She's good, better than Kuroko. That range was quite large for a single leap-" Mikoto saw the person's face and she was very relieved.
Meanwhile, Touma saw the whole ordeal happen and also looked at the newcomer. He wondered who the person was, she seemed a pro at whatever she does since she was unnoticed by them for a while.
"Aoi-san!" Misaka was very relieved by the person that was with judgment. She wanted to say hi before she confirmed the type of smile that was on Aoi's face. That was one of those 'Hey friend! You deeply messed up! Prepare for PUNISHMENT!' type of smiles. Mikoto felt a shiver.
"Hey, Mikoto-chan I specifically remember telling you YESTERDAY" she spelled the word 'yesterday' out for Mikoto "to NOT" and did it again "do something dangerous or impulsive…" Aoi pauses and walks over to Touma, while holding Mikoto by the wrist. Aoi takes out a pair of handcuffs and handcuffs them both of their hands to each other so that they are also facing each other
Misaka starts to beg Aoi to not end her life (which she can do in too many ways to count). Touma is not interfering in Mikoto's business for now even if he is cuffed to her, her friend still gives him the creeps.
"Oh," a sadistic grin forms on Aoi's face "did you know that I know more 'techniques' than your infamous Dorm Mistress?"
Mikoto was not expecting that. She was about to start crying again before she got a slap on the cheek from Aoi. Touma was kind of envious of this 'Aoi', she managed to reign in Biri-Biri.
"Pathetic. You go out of your way to chase a guy and then start crying because you failed to cut him in half with an iron sand sword?!" Aoi scoffs.
"Seriously, we've had 'THE TALK' yesterday and you still…" Aoi says and sighs.
"Alright, my kouhais. Here's what will happen. I'm going to leave you here for 30 minutes or so and since Kamijou-san's right arm is touching Mikoto-chan's body, you won't be getting out without my permission." she pauses and looks at Mikoto "Mikoto-chan you get three 'get of jail free' cards as my friend. You've used one. You still have two, use them wisely." she says as she head pats the almost sobbing girl and starts going to a nearby bench, leaving the two seated on the grass, tied to each other.
"My! My!" exclaims a rough voice that came from the tree above the grassy meadow "Thank you, dear judgment officer. I will gladly accept your help in capturing the two 'valuable targets' that we have been eyeing for a while…"
"Who are you?!" demands the judgment girl.
"Oh, where are my manners?" says the now visible human-sized robot, who had a humanoid appearance (170 cm tall, male looking, nothing visible in the abdomen and some sort of muscle showing on his chest (similar to Roman chest plates) and arms), albeit with his skin being metal and hair not being there "I am the great Quazimo of the Metaloid race! We believe that we can seize this world! These two 'espers' will prove use-"
"I don't believe you!" protested the Judgement girl.
"I'm sorry, what?" the robot appeared to be baffled by this.
"From the intel we've got, the Piccario guy was a LOT bigger than you. Stop lying." the girl deadpanned.
Mikoto and Touma watched on, unsure of what to do. Misaka knew what is likely coming and she slightly smirked. She believed in her friend.
"I'm not!" the bombastic robot appeared flustered "We have different sizes of our people and each one has different strength!" he exclaimed.
"So… are you stronger or weaker than the bigger guy?" the judgment officer asked genuinely.
"*Pfhahahahaha*" the robot burst out laughing "Does that mean that you wish to challenge me? Don't worry I'm stronger than the pathetic Level 5 rank 1 esper of your world! You can do nothing to stop me!" he declared.
"We'll see." Aoi said with a determined and evil look on her face.
*SLASH*
Aoi materialized a sword and a sheathe, 'teleported' to take a swing, which cut the Metaloid in half horizontally in the middle, and fluctuated back to the two others. She promptly stood straight and sheathed her newly created toy.
Kamijou was aghast. He didn't know what to think. Wasn't killing bad? But then again… he and Biri-Biri would GET killed if this robot took them. Misaka was also surprised but not to that extent. She remembers what happened yesterday and she kind of agrees that it's better to kill those robots rather than lose many lives.
Aoi dusted herself, looked over at Quazimo and addressed him.
"That was a sword made out of steel-314. It took a whole 6 years to get to this compound. Pretty much cuts through anything, since we haven't encountered anything other than some esper powers that can block it. Though the powers affect it mostly through indirect means."
"Name yourself…" Quazimo chokes on his own 'blue substance' (whatever it is) as he orders Aoi to do something.
"Welp, here goes my plan of only telling my identity to the first one of you…" Suzuki and continued.
"The name's Suzuki Aoi. I'm the rank 0 Level 5."
This time Misaka did not gasp but both the Robot and Touma did.
"Material."
Today's chapter was a bit shorter since it's difficult to find time during the week even amidst the C-Virus (I hope you know what I mean) crisis that we have now.
As you saw in this chapter, Aoi is not absolutely OP. I've recently checked the definition for a Mary Sue and that is: "A character, who is unnaturally strong or smart when compared 'in universe' to the other characters present". I suppose she is a Mary Sue for all intents and purposes, not that this fact will actually change anything about the characters or me.
You did see glimpses of her inner turmoil, which is the thing she's battling most of the time (at this point at least) even more so than the aliens, since they are fodder right now but not in terms of power, in terms of readiness and intelligence.
I did rip the lower codes' definitions from the wikia as well as the retelling of the Railgun manga chapter 3 mixed in with the Railgun anime episode 4. Aoi kind of acts as a surrogate for the audience, but hey she's not THAT much of a Mary Sue that she would get to know that regardless, even if she didn't do that is because she believes that abusing one's power is bad and also bad for growth.
Anyway, I really hope you liked this chapter! Any and all suggestions are welcome! Have a nice and safe day!
One more thing: A message to all the talented fan artists out there. If you liked the story and want to share your 'crappy' -everyone shuns themselves a bit, right? I do it too- fanart, please feel free to PM me and send it to me. I can even pay you for it if you like but only if you can link me some sort of proof of your ability and that it's actually you and someone else. We'd probably have to discuss the amount I pay and where I pay through PMs.