During the night a few days after she last saw Touma, Mikoto was lying in bed, deep in thought. She'd just come across a startling revelation by accident, and hadn't been able to completely digest it yet. Earlier that night, the boy had called her from Avignon, France, asking if the news in Academy City was covering the religious protests there. However, after she answered his question, the boy had gotten into some sort of fight and had dropped his phone. Mikoto had stayed on the phone and listened to the fight between Touma and some girl named Itsuwa on one side and some man named Terra on the other side.

Mikoto hadn't been able to understand much of what was going on, though she had heard the man say the words "precedence," "higher," and "lower," over and over again. More importantly, she had also overheard him claim that Touma had lost his memory, and the boy had basically confirmed it with his silence. Ever since then, the girl had been trying to figure out when exactly it happened. "Ever since he fought Accelerator to save my sisters, it didn't seem like anything was off. Except for that first time by the vending machine, he never looked surprised when he saw any of my sisters, so he probably lost his memory before then. But how far back from then? Was it a few months before that, before we first met, or was it later?"

The girl then frowned and wondered, "Has he told anyone about his amnesia? Why didn't he tell me?" After a moment, she sighed, "Well, it's not like we're close friends, even if we have been getting closer lately. I bet he didn't want to tell anyone about it, since he doesn't like accepting help from others." Mikoto wished that Touma would have told her about his memory loss, but if it had happened before or barely after they first met, it might not have been that relevant anyway.

In any case, Mikoto resolved to confront the boy about his amnesia and to get the details from him. At the very least, she felt that she needed to let him know that she'd found out about a big secret of his. The girl was a bit nervous about telling him, but she hoped that it might get him to open up a bit more to her. "If I can get him to talk to me about it, maybe I can help him out by being someone he can confide in."

She was also curious about why Touma was fighting all the way over in France. "Did it have something to do with those religious protests? There was also that invasion back on September 30 by Roman Catholic forces, so maybe these are all connected? I'm not sure about them having their own psychic powers, but if Touma was involved, his ability must work on them, right?" It seemed that something big was happening on an international scale, and it was potentially threatening Academy City as well.

A couple of days later, Mikoto was at the usual vending machine, and had just finished a drink that she'd procured. She then glanced at the nearby path and saw that Touma was walking along it. She clenched her fist and smirked, "All right, here's my chance!" She quickly ran towards him and exclaimed, "Hey, Touma!"

Touma smiled at the girl, "Hey, Biri-Biri, what's up?" He was happy to see her again, but he noticed that she looked pretty serious about something.

Mikoto explained, "There's something really important I need to talk to you about!" She hoped he was free at the moment, since this discussion would probably take quite some time.

The boy hesitantly replied, "Um, okay, what is it?" He wasn't quite sure what the girl was referring to. "Is it about that phone call that got interrupted by our fight with Terra? Why would she be so concerned about that?" Touma thought that the call was cut as soon as his phone was knocked to the ground, so he didn't think there was much to explain.

Mikoto quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him towards a nearby bench, where they sat down right next to each other. After a few moments to gather her thoughts, she began, "So, do you remember when you called me a couple days ago from Avignon?"

Touma nodded, "Yeah, sorry about that, I accidentally dropped my phone when I got into a fight, so that's why the call was cut."

The girl shook her head, "No, that's the thing, the call actually wasn't cut. I was able to overhear your entire fight against that guy." She then paused for a moment before adding, "Including the part about you losing your memory." She figured it was best to get straight to the point, so she brought it up immediately.

The boy was absolutely shocked, "She overheard all of that? This is really bad, I've been trying to avoid telling anyone." He nervously rubbed his head and said, "Oh, you found out about that, huh?"

Mikoto was glad that he didn't try to deny it, but she was a bit unsure of how to continue. She remained silent for a few seconds and then gently asked, "So, when did it happen?"

Touma replied, "The first thing I remember is waking up in a hospital bed on the morning of July 28. I was told that somehow my brain cells had been physically destroyed, so there was no chance of me getting my memories back, even with the help of mental espers."

Thinking about that date, Mikoto determined, "So it happened after we first met, but before he got involved with saving my sisters." Putting aside that information for the moment, the girl wondered, "Your brain cells were physically destroyed? How on earth did that even happen?"

The boy frowned, "Well, that's the thing, I literally don't remember what happened before that day. What I do know is that I was previously fighting to save Index, so I guess it somehow happened as a result of that fight." Touma wanted to avoid mentioning magic, and it helped that he really didn't remember what had happened during his fight to save Index.

Mikoto mused, "So, he lost his memories while saving that nun, huh? Well, he'd definitely take that trade any day." Ever since she'd first met Index during that incident in the underground mall, the girl had wondered what her relationship to Touma was. Seeing a chance to learn more about a potential rival, she asked, "Is that how you first got involved with that nun? I see you two together pretty often."

Touma was a bit worried about revealing the truth of his relationship with Index, but Mikoto seemed to be in a relatively good mood, so he answered, "Yeah, her church decided that I should be her guardian, so she's kind of staying with me now."

The girl was stunned by this revelation, "Wait, she lives with you?" This was such an unbelievable piece of information, so Mikoto wanted to make absolutely sure she understood him correctly.

The boy nervously replied, "Yeah, she does. She's a pretty troublesome roommate, you wouldn't believe how much she eats, and I have to pay for all of it!"

Mikoto barely comprehended anything after his first three words. "Have I lost without even having a chance?" If Touma and Index had been living together since July 28, for over two months, the girl figured that they might be pretty close. However, she then remembered her previous conversation with him, "Hold on, the other day he was sure that no girl would ever fall for him, so he can't be dating that nun, right? But if they're sharing a room, then things could happen by accident."

Her eyes widened as she realized that Touma's dorm, being a single dorm, should only have one bed. She then nervously asked, "You two don't sh-share a bed or anything, right?"

The boy's eyes widened, and he waved his hands in front of him, "No, no, absolutely not! She does sleep in my bed, but I sleep in the bathtub! Why on earth would you think that?" Touma had expected her to be skeptical of him living with a girl, but that question completely surprised him.

Mikoto blushed, "Oh boy, why did I ask that embarrassing question? Of course they don't share a bed!" She stammered, "S-sorry, it's just that you living with a girl is very suspicious."

Touma sighed, "Yeah, you have a point there. Please don't ever say something like that in front of her, or she'll bite my head even more than she does already!"

The girl replied, "Yeah, sure." She guessed, "Okay, I'm pretty sure that nun likes him, but she obviously hasn't told him. She does have a big advantage, though, since she gets to be with him every day." Mikoto realized that if she waited too long, Index might finally confess to him, and she couldn't completely rule out the possibility of him accepting it, even if it seemed unlikely.

She then asked the boy, "Does that nun or anyone else know about your memory loss?"

Touma nervously rubbed his head and answered, "As far as I know, the only ones who know about it are you and my doctor, Heaven Canceller. He told Index about me losing my memories, but when she came to see me, I told her that my Imagine Breaker negated the damage to my brain."

Mikoto raised her eyebrows and replied, "Wait, so you lied to her?"

The boy hastily defended himself, "She looked like she was about to cry! I didn't want her to think that I had forgotten about her after everything that happened!"

The girl groaned, "You really are an idiot, aren't you. She's probably going to find out one day, you know And that's if she hasn't figured it out already." With them spending so much time together, Mikoto would be surprised if he had actually managed to keep it a secret. A part of her wanted to berate him further for deceiving Index, but Mikoto knew she hadn't been completely honest with her friends either, so it would be a bit hypocritical.

Touma chuckled, "Yeah, maybe. I guess I'll just deal with the fallout when it happens." After a pause, he frowned and revealed, "You know, for a while, I felt like an imposter. The previous Kamijou Touma had saved Index and died that night, and it was like I was stealing her gratitude from him. I've mostly come to terms with it by now, but it still crosses my mind from time to time."

Mikoto wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Is this what he had to deal with all this time?" She wanted to try comforting him, so she gently grabbed his right hand and started stroking circles with her thumb. She smiled at him and softly said, "You're not a different person, you know. Take it from someone who knew you before then, you're still the same idiot who'll recklessly meddle in a situation to save someone."

Touma smiled upon hearing her comforting words, and said, "Oh yeah, we did know each other before I lost my memories, didn't we? I'm really sorry Mikoto, but I don't remember how we first met." He felt really bad about forgetting their first meeting.

The girl shrugged, "It's okay, don't worry about it." She was really sad that he didn't remember meeting her, but at least he did remember their most significant times together.

The boy turned to her and requested, "Could you tell me about how we met? Did we know each other well before I lost my memories?" Touma was curious about their prior relationship, and hoped to get a better idea of his past.

Mikoto grinned, "Sure! I think it was sometime in the middle of June when we first met. It was dark outside and I was surrounded by thugs who were hitting on me. I watched a bunch of people walk by pretending not to notice, and I remember thinking that only an idiot would try to intervene to help a stranger. Of course, that's when you show up!"

Touma replied, "Oh, so that's how we met? I guess that's not too unusual for me. So what happened after that?"

The girl continued, "You tried pretending to be my friend to get me out of there, but I didn't really need your help, so I didn't go along with your plan. You then told the thugs that they shouldn't be hitting on me because I was just a kid, and I got pissed off and shocked everyone. But somehow, you didn't have a single scratch on you!"

The boy sighed, "So, I tried to help you out, and you went all biri-biri on me. Why am I not surprised?"

Mikoto countered, "I wasn't mad about you trying to help me, it was the completely unnecessary insult!"

Touma replied, "Okay, I probably shouldn't have done that, but it still seems like an overreaction."

The girl rolled her eyes, "Whatever, it didn't matter, since you didn't end up getting hurt at all. Anyway, I was really confused why my attack didn't work on you, so I kept trying, and you kept blocking them. I then chased you for a while, but you got away from me."

The boy chuckled, "Wow, that was some first meeting! But why did you keep chasing me? Were you that annoyed that I was able to block your attacks?"

Mikoto blushed and looked down, feeling pretty embarrassed. She answered, "Well, I felt like my pride as a Level 5 was on the line, especially since you were claiming to be a Level 0. I worked really hard to develop my powers since I was a little girl, so you negating it so easily got under my skin."

Touma took a moment before replying, "I guess I can see where you're coming from. You said I got away after that, right? Did we run into each other after that?"

The girl chuckled and answered, "Yeah, I tried to get you to fight me every time I ran into you, but you usually negated everything I tried and ran away. There was one time you agreed to fight me, but you pretended to lose, which really pissed me off. You never seemed to take me seriously." Mikoto was never able to beat him in a fight, though now that she knew he could even beat Accelerator, she'd come to accept how strong he really was.

The boy wondered, "Exactly how many times did she try to fight me? It seems like she was pretty determined. Did it mean that much to her?" He smiled at her and replied, "Well, I was probably just trying not to get hurt. And I'm relieved that I wasn't the one starting fights with a middle school girl."

Mikoto sighed and replied, "Yeah, I know you weren't deliberately trying to mock me or anything. Oh yeah, there was that time in mid-July when you saved me, Uiharu-san, and a little girl from a graviton explosion when I was unable to fire my railgun in time." That had been a pretty scary moment, since she had accidentally dropped her coin right as the blast was going off. It had only been Touma's intervention that had saved them all.

Touma said, "Graviton explosion? I think I remember hearing about them in the news."

The girl nodded, "Yeah, there was this guy who used gravitons to make bombs and target Judgement officers. Thankfully, I was able to catch him after that. Everyone thought it was me who saved them, and when I asked if you wanted to take credit as a hero, you said it didn't matter as long as everyone was safe."

The boy replied, "Well, it doesn't matter, right? It was nice of you to try to give the proper credit, but I don't really care about being praised as a hero. I guess the past me really wasn't that different."

Mikoto squeezed his hand and said, "That's right, I didn't know you that well back then, but I can still tell that you're still fundamentally the same at heart." After a moment of comfortable silence, she added, "So I guess that time at the vending machine where you first met one of my sisters was also when you first remember meeting me?"

Touma laughed and replied, "Yeah, I suspected that we knew each other when you talked to me so casually, but I was fully convinced when I realized I had the muscle memory to block your electric shock."

The girl replied, "Yeah, I thought you were still the same as always, and I didn't notice that you'd forgotten about me." After a pause, she continued, "You know, I was actually really happy to see you that day."

The boy questioned, "You were?"

Mikoto nodded, "Yeah, I thought I had shut down the experiment after destroying the last facilities, so it felt nice to shoot the breeze with you after I went days barely eating or sleeping. But then that sister showed up and told me the experiments were still happening, and I just completely broke down." That was Misaka 10031, the last sister who was murdered by Accelerator. She regretfully recalled, "And I told her to go away when she was concerned about me. The next time I saw her was on a camera feed as she died."

Touma frowned, "I see, that's why you seemed angry when she appeared. I ended up finding her body that night, and it was a horrifying scene. I called Anti-Skill, but all the evidence was cleaned up when they arrived. I thought maybe I'd hallucinated it, but 10032-chan and like a hundred other Misakas showed up and confirmed that Misaka 10031 was dead. After that, I went to your dorm to talk to you, found the documents, and found you on the bridge."

The girl replied, "I see, so that's how you got involved. Around that time, I was trying to destroy Tree Diagram, but it was apparently shot down in the early hours of July 28, and then I watched on a surveillance camera as Accelerator killed her." Mikoto wondered if they could have saved Misaka 10031 if Touma had somehow gotten involved a bit earlier, but there wasn't much point in agonizing about that anymore. Instead, she asked, "Since it was on the same date, do you know if whatever caused your memory loss is the reason Tree Diagram was shot down?"

Touma recalled what Stiyl and Kanzaki had said about what had happened that night. They didn't know about his memory loss, so he hadn't asked for a complete explanation, but they did say that Index's John's Pen Mode had shot a spell called Dragon's Breath, which broke his teacher's roof and shot up into space. It had produced feathers, one of which had landed on his head and erased his memories. Not wanting to go into detail about magic, he replied, "I think so, some of Index's friends who were also involved said there was some sort of beam of light that shot up into space, so that could've destroyed the satellite."

Mikoto smirked, "Well, if that's true, then it randomly ended up having a good side effect." Without the Tree Diagram, there was a much lower chance of the researchers trying to restart the experiment after Accelerator's defeat, especially since it was planned to fail eventually.

The boy chuckled, "Yeah, I guess so." He was glad that something good was able to come out of the event that had destroyed his memories, in addition to saving Index.

After a few moments, Mikoto smiled at him and said, "So, even though, in your view, you just met me that day, you still decided to go out of your way to help me out. I should've said this a while ago, but thank you for saving me and my sisters!"

Touma blushed a little at her earnest words. After a pause, he squeezed her hand and replied, "Of course! Even if I didn't remember you, I could tell that we were mostly friendly acquaintances, even if you were sometimes a little rude. After I found that body and they told me they were doing the experiment, I wondered whether you were willingly participating in it. I was so relieved when it turned out that the smiling girl I met for the first time again was trying her hardest to stop the experiment instead."

Mikoto's cheeks reddened as well. She looked down and softly said, "I'm surprised you had such a good first impression of me. The previous you probably thought I was just an annoying pest."

The boy frowned, not wanting her to feel so down on herself. But since his past self was gone, he couldn't really refute her impression. Instead, he brought up his free left hand and started stroking her hair, replying, "Maybe I did, but I probably didn't consider your feelings back then. And no matter what happened between us back then, I still met someone who's now a close friend, so I have no regrets. So don't be too hard on yourself, okay Biri-Biri?"

The girl closed her eyes, enjoying his comforting touch, and shyly replied, "O-okay." After a while, she opened her eyes and asked him, "So, are you really okay with forgetting everything before July 28? That's a huge part of your identity."

Touma answered, "Well, I've slowly come to terms with it. And even if the previous Kamijou Touma is gone from my mind, if you're right about me still having the same ideals, then

I think a part of him still lives on in my heart, guiding me." As he said this, he removed his left hand from her hair and placed it over his heart.

Mikoto grinned, "That's right! You're not the type of guy who'll let something like this stop you from helping people!"

The boy smiled back at her, "Thanks for talking to me about this, Mikoto! I'm actually relieved to finally get this off my chest!"

Mikoto squeezed his hand and nodded, "Of course! And I'll be there if you ever need some help or someone to talk to. You don't have to handle everything on your own." She knew that, just like her, Touma liked to deal with problems on his own without involving his friends, but the girl hoped that Touma would turn to her more often.

Touma replied, "All right, you've got a deal!" When Mikoto had suddenly revealed that she had found out about his memory loss, Touma had somewhat dreading the upcoming conversation. But in the end, he was glad to be able to confide in the girl, and felt that they had just formed a closer bond.