NTS: ADD MORE environmental descriptions and the characters expressions!

Touma misinterpreting Emilia's voice is a reference to A certain magical Index, in the angel fall arc. Sorry if it confused you. ;_;

A quick note, I actually was publishing a lot slowly lately because my teachers decided to bomb me and my peers with homework. I swear, I bet they are coordinating with each other or something. It was a serious rough time. I should be catching up soon enough though. This story is not going to die just yet.

Yet another quick note, I realized that ITEM probably didn't exist when Emilia's childhood school was blown up (considering that Emilia and Frenda are almost the same age).

...Let's pretend that didn't happen.

"Tch!"

A mature woman with tea colored hair was sitting in the back of a van, alongside her teammates. They recently yet again, thrashed a horde of unmanned robots. Her mood was only getting worse and worse.

"Oh, is Miss 5th rank upset about something?" A voice teased from A TV screen. The screen was labeled 'VOICE ONLY'. Mugino clicked in anger.

"Don't be so down about it, Mugino! It's without a doubt you can beat this other esper." A blond girl said.

"I super agree!" A petite girl with a knitted sweater jumped in. "Plus, I heard that this esper's ability is abnormally super evenly matched against the 3rd ranked."

"It's okay, even though there's another esper stronger than you, I'm with you all the way." A girl in a tracksuit said.

"Takitsubo! Don't piss her off more!" The two girls blurted out.

It was then, when Mugino lost it.

"A little girl?" Emilia echoed. "Can't you just turn her into judgement?"

"Well, yeah. But there's something about this girl. She knew my name."

Emilia and Mikoto both stayed silent for an uncomfortable moment.

"That's it?" Emilia finally asked dryly.

"What do you mean, 'that's it'?" Mikoto protested.

"You're a level 5, right? I wouldn't find it a surprise if a little kid knows your name."

"If that were true, she'd probably address me as the Railgun!"

"Whatever. Me and Saten will be headed there right now."

As soon as Emilia ended the call, Ruiko leaned over with curiosity. "What is it about?" She asked.

"Something stupid." Emilia muttered as they exited the hospital.

"Hello, I'm Ruiko. What's your name?" Ruiko said, leaning over the young girl. The friends finally met up, with the little girl sitting peacefully on a bench, sucking on a candy. Emilia kept her distance. She felt unusual heat patterns coming from the girl, and was very wary. They were still heat waves within the girl, but her waves were a bit different.

Not for the right reason, but she understood why Mikoto made such a big deal of this.

The girl pulled out her sucker. "Febri." She bluntly said.

"Febri, is it?" Ruiko cheerfully replied. "Okay Febri, anything goes, so you can tell us whatever you know, okay?" She's quite good with kids. Emilia thought.

"Todoroki Emilia." The girl said aloud, with no context.

"She knows your name too!?" Mikoto cried in shock.

Emilia stayed unfazed, but she was just as shocked as the rest of her friends. I thought she knew Mikoto's name because she was supposed to be famous and all, but my name is already known too? Did I really get known by others that quickly, or did this girl find out herself? I really doubt it would be the former.

"Do you think she is a fan of level 5s or something?" Ruiko asked, turning around.

"I'd expect a different reaction if she truly was a fan. What really beats me is why she would know me of all people." Emilia replied calmly. "Come to think of it, she does know you too, right Misaka?"

"Yes, she called out my name out of the blue when we met her." Mikoto followed up her reply by approaching Febri. "So, how is it that you know Todoroki and I?"

Febri immediately hid behind Ruiko, as if a little child seeking protection from the closest person. She was strangely timid towards the Railgun, completely countering her blunt personality with Ruiko.

"Well, so much for that." Emilia finally said. "We should leave her to Anti-Skill or Judgement."

Unrelated to Emilia's comment, Kazari chuckled. "Looks like the girl can tell who's dangerous and safe." She teased.

Even by personality alone. Emilia thought.

Mikoto, clearly determined to prove Kazari wrong, reveals her trump card. "I still have this!" Her hand reveals a pink finger puppet, in the shape of her favourite mascot.

"I would have moved on already." Emilia said monotonically.

"He-J-just you wait!" Mikoto protested, almost fumbling to find her words.

Despite Emilia's words, Febri was enticed. Her eyes gleamed in awe, looking at the finger puppet that was supposed to be rare, according to Mikoto. Febri snatched it, and proceeded to run in a random direction. Mikoto screamed in panic. "Ah! My pink Gekota!"

Emilia watched the scene unfold. Febri seemed to like the puppet so much that she wanted to keep it herself. Naturally, she predicted that Mikoto's personality and childish nature wouldn't like that.

"H-hey, please give it back?" Mikoto said nervously, approaching Febri once more.

Febri silently refused, shaking her head.

"Hey! You can't be just taking other people's things like that!" Mikoto aggressively shouted. With her hand still outstretched, demanding the toy back.

As any kid would, Febri began to burst into tears.

Emilia shook her head with a sigh.

Eventually, Ruiko managed to calm the girl down, but in the process, the sun was already going down.

"Looks like it's too late to call Anti-Skill." Kuroko said, holding onto her phone.

"Because someone decided to try to win her over rather than just letting her go to Anti-Skill." Emilia said.

"Well, well, let's calm down." Ruiko said. "I can keep her over at my place. Azusa isn't coming over to my dorm just yet, so it should be fine.

"Who's Azusa?" Kazari asked in response to the name drop. Kuroko's expression turned confused too.

"She's an old friend of mine. She's going to be Saten's roommate soon." Emilia responded, choosing her words carefully.

"Why didn't you tell us about her? I'd love to meet one of your old friends." Kuroko inquired.

Emilia faked a shrug. "It just didn't seem like the right time." She said.

"Well anyways, I'm going to take her in now. Uiharu, could you help me?" Ruiko asked.

"Of course."

"Well, I should be going too." Emilia said. "I wasted so much time." She groaned as she began to walk back to the dorm. "Misaka, shouldn't you be coming too?"

"M-my Gekota…" Mikoto muttered.

"I'm going to teleport the both of you back." Kuroko said with a sigh.

The very next day, Emilia tossed her bag onto a couch. She was in the judgement branch office early in the morning, prepared to find more about Febri.

As she borrowed Kuroko's office, she opened up the computer to search through the database. As she continued her work, she remembered the time when she returned to judgement for the first time in a while.

"What are you doing here?" Kuroko asked at the time.

"Work. I'm a judgement member, aren't I?" Emilia replied back.

"But… you're a level 5, aren't you? You're not going to quit after we discovered your secret?"

"Of course not. I found this job to be quite amusing to be honest. It kind of gives me a purpose."

Kuroko smiled. "I see… thanks a lot."

"Don't thank me."

Emilia's thoughts were interrupted by a few people entering the office.

"I see you're up early, Todoroki-san." A voice said.

"Just Emilia. You're older than me after all." She replied back.

"Right." Mii said.

Behind the chief was Ruiko, who cheerfully handed Emilia a lollipop. Emilia just sat on her chair, staring at Ruiko. "What's this all about?"

"Just try it." Ruiko said.

Emilia reluctantly took what appears to be a green apple sucker, and licked it. The sour taste overwhelmed her, the feeling of the acidic taste burning into her tongue. She snatched her bottle of water and took a gulp. "What are you, trying to kill me?" Emilia said, still not feeling her tongue.

"That's actually the sucker Febri was eating. Pretty Impressive, huh?"

Emilia panted like a dog. She was especially sensitive to sour tastes. She felt a little drool roll down her tongue, and struggled to keep a straight face.

"So, how is Febri?" Mikoto asked as she entered the room with Kuroko.

"Just fine. Here, try this sucker." Ruiko asked out of the blue.

Mikoto silently knew that Ruiko was up to something. She looked behind her, and noticed Emilia who was still experiencing the burn on her tongue.

"What happened to Emilia?" Mikoto asked.

"She's just fine. Try it!" Ruiko said, with a cheerful, yet scary voice.

Mii licked the sucker very lightly, and began to sweat a little. "It's... very intense." She commented.

"How does she even keep that in her mouth?" Mikoto said, panting on a table.

"You're so mean, Saten-san. You somehow got everyone in the room to try it." Kazari said, on the computer.

"I said I'm sorry!"

"Well Uiharu, can you find any information about the girl? I couldn't." Emilia asked.

"Unfortunately, no. I can't seem to find any information in the database. I even added her to the missing persons list too."

"Which means she's probably a child error then." Kuroko concluded.

"Hello!" A new voice sounded. Everyone turned around, and found that it belonged to Erii.

"Haruue-san!" Kazari called.

"I just came here to say hi." She said with a smile.

After a while, Ruiko and Kuroko explained the situation about Febri, and how they were struggling for information.

"I suppose we just have to wait until someone picks her up." Kuroko concluded.

"I hope she goes to a nice one." Erii said.

"There are bad ones too?" Mikoto echoed.

"There sure are. Horrible ones." Emilia answered with her eyes closed, out of the blue.

An eerie silence entered the room for several seconds.

"W-well, Uiharu, do you think there are some reviews or ratings onto faculties?" Ruiko asked, breaking the ice.

"I don't think so." Kazari responded.

"O-oh! I have an idea!" Mikoto said. She pulled out her green phone and called someone. After a little talking, Mikoto made an announcement. "Cypress will take her in!"

Everyone in the room felt relief. Even Emilia. She didn't exactly know what the place was like, but she has heard good things from her friends. No one deserves to be in the faculties Emilia has known.

"It'll take 5 days for them to prepare it though." Mikoto said.

"That's okay! She can stay with me until then." Ruiko said with confidence

"I'll help too!" Kazari jumped in.

"Me too." Mikoto said to the phone.

"I suppose I'll help too." Kuroko halfheartedly said.

"I'm not entirely sure if I could be of use, but let me know if I can." Emilia said.

Ruiko walked up to Febri, who was slowly waking up from a nap. "Hey Febri, would you like to stay with us for a little while?"

"With you?" She echoed.

"Yeah! All of us!"

"Uiha too?"

"Yep!"

"Kuro too?"

"Yes."

"What about Emilia?"

"Uh-"

Febri stared at Emilia with baby doll eyes. Emilia shifted uncomfortably, and replied. "S-sure."

Febri squealed with glee, clearly happy. I hardly even talked to her, and she prefers me over Misaka?"

"5 days, huh?" Kuroko thought.

"That means we'll have her until the academic assembly." Kazari said.

"That reminds me, Isn't it almost time for the security meeting for the venue?" Kuroko asked.

Eventually, everyone decided to visit a venue that's going to be the place for the assembly. Waving goodbye to Erii, and taking a train.

They arrived in one of the participating faculties, having a look around.

"So this is the venue?" Ruiko said.

"Yes."

"It's very… empty."

"The academic assembly is for presenting research progress, not just Esper powers." Mii pointed out. "So it isn't exactly rowdy."

Everyone kept walking, having a look around.

"You seem disappointed." Kuroko pointed out to Ruiko.

"W-well, I thought it'd be a place with barbecues and sleepovers. Ruiko said with a chuckle. "I thought it would be fun for Febri here."

"My! Is that Misaka-san?"

"The friend with her must be Todoroki-san!"

The group encountered 3 tokiwadai students, Kongou Mitsuko, along with Awatsuki Maaya and Wannai Kinuho.

"Are these girls friends of yours?" Emilia whispered.

"More like acquaintances." Mikto whispered back.

"So one of your seniors is presenting at the assembly?" Mikoto asked.

Mikoto, and Emilia were talking with Kongou and Winnai, while Awatsuki introduced herself to Febri somewhere else.

"Yes." Kongou confirmed. "We're here to help with preparations."

"That's nice of you. You must be pretty close with your seniors." Emilia said.

"It's actually the contrary." Winnai said. "Kongou-san doesn't really know her, but she's offered to help out." Kongou blushed at the statement.

"D-don't mention it!" Kongou said proudly. She began to let out a very refined chuckle. "By the way…"

"Yes?"

"Is that girl your little sister?" Kongou asked, pointing at Febri.

Emilia jumped in. "Well, Misaka does have a twin sister, but Febri is actually a lost girl we met."

"A twin sister? You mean as in identical twins?" Kongou asked.

Mikoto gave Emilia a 'what are you doing' look. Emilia glared back. She was only giving their future stories more credibility, and more believable.

"Y-yeah, they really look the same, but their personalities are quite different." Emilia said.

"Wow! I'd like to meet her someday." Kongou replied. "Well, now if you'll excuse us…"

The three girls took their leave, with Febri waving goodbye to each and every one of the girls.

"Well, let's go to the meeting." Kuroko said.

"I need to go to the bathroom too." Ruiko said, with a plan in mind. As she began to leave, Febri grabbed her by the shirt. Ruiko placed Febri's hand onto Mikotos. "Don't worry, I'll be back in a bit."

Emilia watched the separation unfold. It was clear that Ruiko was trying to close the bond between Mikoto and Febri.

I hope they get along well. Emilia secretly thought.

It was a dark room, blue lights dimmed from the ceiling. Within the dark room, was 5 figures.

"There are now only 8 level 5 espers in Academy city. Not only do we get to experiment on the former 4th ranked, but we have a chance to experiment on the 3rd and 4th as well? This is a gift from god." Said one.

"Well, as usual, let's take a vote." The same voice said.

"Those in favor of experimenting on the Railgun, raise their hands."

All 5 hands were raised.

"Those in favor of experimenting on Zero, raise their hands.

Once again, all 5 hands were raised.