Chapter 37: Post-Festival Discussions
Hello, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the battle scenes of the previous chapter. In this chapter, we'll see some of the aftermath of the festival.
By the way, I'm going on a trip this weekend, from Friday to Money. I probably won't get much writing done, if any, during the trip, so the next chapter may take a bit longer than usual to come out.
ToMyMaster: I've written battle scenes for the Acqua arc, the WW3 arc, and the Hawaii arc, but the previous chapter definitely had the most intense fight scenes I've written so far! Mikoto was already pretty badass in her canon fight against Brunhild, but I wanted to have her do even better, which I think I did in a realistic way. Birdway got a well-deserved punch from Touma as well. This chapter and the next will have some slice-of-life scenes before we get into NT7.
LordChorizoCosmico: Yeah, it was definitely a battle-heavy chapter, but there are some quieter chapters coming up. I'm glad you enjoyed Mikoto's fight against Brunhild, I was definitely trying to show off her strategic thinking, which she excels at in Railgun. I chose to mostly omit the Thos vs Silvia fight because it would've been pretty much the same as in canon, and that chapter was already really long. Touma's speech to Birdway was very moving, as are most of his battle speeches. It is strange that Birdway thought she could defeat the things inside Touma's right arm, which she did seem to be aware of. But that happened in canon too, so perhaps she was just overconfident. Touma was able to run towards the gun with less fear because he knew Mikoto was backing him up, and he was able to negate the stone pillar that Birdway conjured up from the ground, so that's how Mikoto's warning helped. It is strange that Birdway brought such an inefficient weapon to battle, but maybe she figured that one bullet was enough in a one-on-one fight, not taking Mikoto into account. It is disappointing when Touma downplays his own achievements, but that's the kind of person he is. And yeah, Touma would still rather martyr himself than have other people harmed. He is indeed good at finding the weaknesses of his opponents' magic. I'm also glad you enjoyed the post-battle kiss, and Thor was definitely feeling a little jealous.
Vetin221: Thanks, I'm glad you liked my version of Mikoto vs Brunhild, as well as my incorporation of the rings. I thought it would be a good way to enhance Mikoto's role in the battles.
GG Vegito: The previous couple of chapters covered NT6, so the next novel to be covered will be NT7, the Agitate Halation arc. That arc will definitely have some funny moments, with Touma in the School Garden.
Stryper88: I'm really happy you enjoyed the battle scenes, and that they were easy to follow. It was a bit tricky figuring out how to break the scenes, since Mikoto directly affected Touma's battle at multiple points, but I decided to just split them like I did and have Mikoto's interventions be referenced twice, once from each point of view. The next couple of chapters will indeed be slice-of-life. The bikini-shopping scene with Mikoto, Lessar, and Birdway in NT8 will definitely be funny to write about. Shokuhou will finally appear in my adaptation of NT7. She may have that sort of frustrated reaction when she first finds out that Touma and Mikoto are a couple, even if Mikoto didn't really do anything to her. What GT2 speech by Shokuhou do you mean?
Blankow: Thanks, it was definitely my favorite fight scene among the ones I've written so far. I'm looking forward to writing more fights involving Mikoto in the future.
xellos540: Mikoto fought Acqua in this fic, but not in canon. That fight and make up phrasing is weird, but Touma didn't mean it in that way. I guess the water in the daggers is kist held together by magic. I'm not sure why Birdway thinks she could defeat the things beneath his right arm, but she did in canon. I don't know if the Dawn-Colored Sunlight wants to use science, but the flintlock gun was an idiotic idea. For "go this far," Touma was referring to Birdway's plan to use Fraulein to lure out and defeat GREMLIN. He is definitely a hypocrite about that. I guess Birdway heard about Touma's confrontation with Othinus from Ollerus, who is her ally. I think Birdway means the same precognition that Accelerator noted. Thor and Mikoto actually did pretty well against the Saints, even in canon, though the Saints still have super strength. Junko definitely wants Mikoto and Shokuhou to get along. Mikoto can definitely bring down lightning from the sky, but she can do it just as well from her own hands. A lightning bolt probably wouldn't do much damage, just like Mikoto's lightning spears. Brunhild doesn't have Imagine Breaker, and her sword was stuck in the ground, so she couldn't use it to deflect the railgun projectiles. I guess Birdway is an ordinary strength magician, who just practiced a lot to earn the respect of her cabal. She's probably stronger than Lessar, but Lessar hasn't been shown in battle much. Touma's hand definitely could destroy Birdway's wand, but I guess the brief contact with its wind sword form wasn't enough to do it. That's an interesting way to put it, but Birdway is using herself as a symbol, though I don't think she made herself a cult leader. Indeed, it is a magician's ideal to surpass the talented Gemstones. I'm glad you enjoyed the fights.
The following morning, Touma groggily opened his eyes, quickly realizing that he was once again in his usual hospital room. He took a few seconds to remember his fight against Thor the previous night, which was probably why he felt even worse than when he'd only had the gunshot wound. He then looked up and saw his girlfriend standing next to the bed, with her arms crossed and a worried expression on her face. He thought to himself, "Oh boy, I'm in for it now."
Once Mikoto saw him start to wake up, she narrowed her eyes and said, "Good morning, Touma. Would you like to explain how you became even more injured than you were at the end of yesterday's battle?" After she and Touma had congratulated each other at the end of the battles on the overpass, the two of them had gone their separate ways. Mikoto had gone back home, and Touma was supposed to have gone straight back to the hospital, since his wound had still needed treatment. But after coming to the hospital in the morning, Mikoto now saw that the boy had even more injuries on his body.
Touma nervously scratched his head and replied, "Good morning, Biri-Biri. Well, after you left, I actually was going back to the hospital, I swear! But Thor caught up to me and asked me to see him off. I thought it would be the polite thing to do, plus I wanted to make sure he actually left the city. He took me to District 11, but then he suddenly challenged me to a fight!"
Mikoto rolled her eyes and told him, "What did you expect to happen, you idiot? Didn't he even say he would betray you later? He's still part of GREMLIN, after all." She felt annoyed that Thor had deliberately waited until she was gone before ambushing her boyfriend, but she was also a little annoyed at Touma for falling for that trap so easily.
The boy shook his head and said, "That's the thing, he didn't want to fight me for any reason related to GREMLIN. He was just looking to level up and get stronger by fighting me. He even shot himself with a handgun so we would be on even terms!" He then let out an exasperated sigh, thinking, "What a stupid reason to fight."
The girl groaned and facepalmed when she heard Touma's response. She then said, "Are you serious? Are all boys such morons?" Even though Mikoto wasn't as sheltered as most Tokiwadai girls, she still didn't know that many boys. But the ones she did know weren't always that smart.
Touma smirked at her and immediately fired back, "You know, based on what you told me about constantly chasing me around for battles when we first met, I should be asking if all electricity users are battle-thirsty!" Now that he thought about it, Mikoto and Thor were both pretty similar in that way.
Mikoto's face became slightly tinged in embarrassment, and she replied, "Touche. So how did the fight go? Were you able to deal with the arc fusion blades, and did he use any other electric attacks?" She was actually quite curious, since she might just get some inspiration on improving her own abilities.
The boy recounted, "The fusion blades were the only electric attack he used. Actually, you were right about them, they were completely rigid when I blocked them with my right hand. Because of that, I was able to break his wrists by pushing back on them hard enough."
Mikoto raised her eyebrows and said in an impressed tone, "Wow, I never thought something like that could've been a weakness for him. So you won the fight?"
She asked that question thinking she knew the answer, but she was surprised when her boyfriend frowned and replied, "No, I lost. He said something about Thor not just being a lightning god, and then I just got knocked to the ground. He told me that I defeated him as a lightning god, but lost to Almighty Thor. That's when I passed out, so I guess he brought me to the hospital."
The girl frowned and said, "Huh, I didn't know that Thor had other aspects in Norse mythology besides being a god of lightning." She felt envious that magicians could have different types of powers as long as they were from the same mythology. But she noted, "Though from certain points of view, electricity and magnetism are two different types of phenomena, so maybe I shouldn't complain."
Touma shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Me neither. Anyway, he was nice enough to not let me die on the ground, I guess. We still managed to save Fraulein and Last Order together, so I'd say it was a success overall." They'd even seen Last Order and Fraulein hugging each other, with Last Order affirming their friendship.
In response to this, Mikoto smiled and sat down next to him on the hospital bed. She gently ran her fingers through his hair and said, "It was all thanks to your idea of making a fake brain. You really are quick-witted during the important moments."
The boy blushed a little at her praise and reminded her, "You were a big help too, Mikoto. You came up with that great idea to use my ring for signaling. And you did really well against that Saint!" Touma had cleverly used his Imagine Breaker to deal with Birdway throwing multiple attacks at him. However, he knew that Mikoto had needed to analyze the situation mid-battle to figure out how to use her many different abilities, so he was really impressed with her results.
Mikoto felt touched by his praise, and replied, "Thanks, Touma." She instinctively scooted a little closer to him on the bed as she said this.
Feeling quite tempted by having her sitting right next to his head, Touma then got a certain urge. He proceeded to wrap his arm around her waist and started caressing her smooth thigh.
Mikoto became flustered by his actions and asked, "W-what are you doing? We're in a hospital room!" She was enjoying his touch, but she felt it was a little dangerous for him to be doing that in a non-private place.
Touma grinned and said, "Come on, Biri-Biri, there's no one here, right?" A part of him was worried about his misfortune striking in this situation, but he was willing to take that chance to get some intimate time with his girlfriend.
The girl couldn't help but smile back at him. She figured that he deserved a reward after fighting so hard over the past few days, so she nodded, "All right." Since Touma still had to lie down, she got under the blanket and laid her head on the same pillow. Mikoto then placed her hands on his shoulders and pressed her lips to his. Touma quickly kissed back, bringing up his hand to cradle her head.
The two of them made out for a while, with their tongues battling for dominance. When they broke their kiss, they took some time to catch their breaths, and Touma said, "You know, if this happens whenever I'm in the hospital, I wouldn't mind it so much." After all, being in this hospital gave him access to a bed in a private room, so he actually had more privacy here than in his own dorm room.
Mikoto lightly punched his shoulder and said, "Don't joke about that, you idiot. Don't you know how worried I get every single time you get involved in a fight, which by the way seems to be about every other day?"
Touma chuckled and rubbed her head, telling her, "I know, and I appreciate you looking out for me. It's because of you that I'm still alive in the first place." He then leaned in and began kissing the girl again.
Before they could get too into it, the door to the room opened, and Heaven Canceller walked in, along with Mikoto's friends. As the couple looked at them with stunned and flustered expressions, Saten grinned and said to both of them, "Ooh, sorry for interrupting, we didn't know you were so busy right now."
The frog-faced doctor gave the couple a teasing smile and said, "Technically, what you're doing isn't against the rules, but I hope you are using proper protection."
Touma could only sigh and mutter, "Just my rotten luck." Nevertheless, he looked at the bright side of things, noting that he at least got to fool around with his girlfriend a little before getting interrupted.
Mikoto immediately sat up and pulled the blanket aside, protesting, "W-wait, we weren't going that far! We were just kissing! What are you guys doing here anyway?" She was mortified that her friends had seen her literally in bed with Touma. Even though they knew that she and Touma had already had sex, it was still very embarassing.
Uiharu answered, with a blush on her face, "Y-you told us that you were visiting Kamijou-san in the hospital, so we wanted to come and see how he was doing." Seeing Mikoto and her boyfriend in bed together made her feel very flustered but also a little intrigued.
Kuroko crossed her arms and let out an exasperated sigh, saying, "Really, onee-sama, I can't believe you're behaving like such a degenerate."
In response to Kuroko's comment, Uiharu smirked and teased, "And Shirai-san is an expert in being a degenerate!"
Touma saw that his girlfriend was feeling a little overwhelmed, so he grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Mikoto glanced over at him and smiled upon seeing his warm gaze. Touma then turned to the doctor and asked, "So will I be able to get out soon?"
The doctor told him, "Despite your injuries, your body is healing quickly, so you should be able to leave by the end of the day."
The boy let out a relieved sigh, "Thank goodness." Every day he stayed in the hospital cost him money, which put an immense strain on his Level 0 stipend, especially with a gluttonous roommate to feed.
The doctor then began walking out of the room, saying, "I'll let you talk to your visitors now."
Once the man left, Saten looked at Mikoto with a grin and said, "Misaka-san, should we leave so you two can finish what you were doing before?"
Mikoto rolled her eyes and replied, "Saten-san, I already said we weren't going that far."
Touma then changed the subject, hoping to relieve the pressure off Mikoto, "How did the festival go for you guys?" Since he and Mikoto had been forced to get involved in battles, Touma at least hoped that her friends had been able to have fun during the Ichihanaran Festival.
Saten answered, "It was really fun, I tried a bunch of food and visited a few schools. I wish I didn't have to be alone, though." Both Kuroko and Uiharu had been preoccupied with Judgement duties during the festival, and Mikoto had been with Touma, so Saten hadn't been able to share her festival experience with anyone.
Uiharu then said, "Sorry, Saten-san, but we had to do our duty as members of Judgement!" After this proud statement, she then sheepishly admitted, "I mostly took care of lost kids, who all pestered me to say the Judgement motto, and some of them even asked me how teleportation works." She winced at the thought of having to explain the complex calculations behind Kuroko's power as a normal middle-schooler.
Kuroko then chimed in, "I also had a similar experience during the festival. But I just learned something very troubling." Narrowing her eyes at Mikoto and Touma, she continued, "A certain multilevel overpass in District 7 was severely damaged yesterday. Do you have anything to do with that, onee-sama?" She strongly suspected that they had been involved in whatever incident had taken place there, but only Mikoto was capable of causing that much damage.
Mikoto held out her hands, trying to placate the other girl. She figured that denying it would be unconvincing, so she said, "Hold on Kuroko, we were involved in a battle there, but I only took out parts of the structure with my magnetism to defend myself. It was our opponents who caused most of the damage!"
Kuroko just groaned and asked, "Who were you even fighting in the first place, and why?"
Touma decided to answer, "We were fighting to save a girl from people who wanted to harm her." He didn't really think that Kuroko would be fully satisfied with that, but he didn't want to go into the full details at the moment.
Kuroko frowned, holding back her usual spiel to her onee-sama about not getting involved in matters that should be left for Judgement. Now knowing some of the major incidents Mikoto had been involved in, Kuroko wondered if another one had occurred during the festival. She eventually said, "That's an admirable goal, but I just hope you know what you're doing."
Saten then decided to bring up something she'd recently learned, "Oh, speaking of the festival, there's this hot new urban legend that popped up yesterday! It's said that if you ever run across a scary person, all you have to do is shout out to the rhinoceros beetle for help, and then someone named Kakine Teitoku who uses dark matter will come to save you!"
Uiharu flinched at the mention of that name, remembering how he had stepped on her arm. She asked, "Are you sure about that, Saten-san?" It was possible that he had changed, like Accelerator, but she was still a little skeptical.
Kuroko scolded her friend, "Come on, you're still going on about those urban legends? And a rhinoceros beetle, really?"
Saten waved her off and replied, "Come on, lots of them ended up being true! Even if this one isn't completely accurate, it must be based on something. Hey, maybe he was also involved in whatever happened at that overpass."
Mikoto and Touma silently looked at each other. They knew that Kakine had previously battled against Accelerator, and it was very possible that it had happened again. But it did seem far-fetched for him to turn into a rhinoceros beetle, of all things, even if he could do so with his dark matter. Mikoto said, "Maybe he was, but I never saw him, either as a human or a beetle."
Touma nodded and said, "I didn't see him either." The multilevel overpass was large enough that it was easily possible to miss another entire battle, though.
A part of Kuroko wanted to question them further, but after noting the time, she looked at Mikoto and told her, "Onee-sama, we should probably get going now." In any case, she would still be able to question Mikoto later.
Mikoto was a little reluctant to leave her boyfriend's side, but he squeezed her hand and said in a soft tone, "It's okay, Biri-Biri, I'll see you later."
Mikoto smiled at him and sighed, "All right." She stood up from the bed, still holding onto his hand, and gave him a quick kiss. As she finally pulled her hand away, she said, "Bye, Touma. I love you."
Touma gazed at her face and replied, "I love you too, Mikoto." He watched her as she walked over to join her friends and then left the room along with them. Once she was gone, he lay back down and thought to himself, "What a hectic festival that was. I wonder how long it'll be until the next incident." He was glad to have settled things with Birdway, but GREMLIN was still at large, so he knew he wouldn't get much of a break.
Later that afternoon, Mikoto was back in her dorm room. Kuroko was still working at the Judgement office, so she was currently alone. Lying on her bed, she thought to herself, "Boy, a lot of crazy things happened at the festival." Two powerful groups of magicians had converged on Academy City to capture a girl who'd been trapped in the Windowless Building. Fraulein Kreutune was now free, but the city itself hadn't escaped damage.
Mikoto wondered how sensible it really was to keep her friends in the dark about magic. Kuroko had already been suspicious about the damage to the multilevel overpass, and if these magic-related incidents continued, her friends could be in more danger not knowing what was going on. After all, GREMLIN was almost certain to strike again, and though it could be somewhere else in the world, there was a good chance that it would occur in Academy City.
The girl raised her left hand and looked up at it, focusing on the colorful titanium ring. She smiled, thinking about Touma and how she'd actually used his ring as part of a battle strategy. In hindsight, Mikoto found it a bit silly, but also a little romantic. In any case, she was glad that her ad hoc idea had actually worked out, or else her boyfriend might have been severely injured or even worse.
Mikoto then thought about her own battle against Brunhild, and how she'd struggled so hard to get a clean hit that had inflicted only moderate damage to the Saint. She hadn't had much time to look at the battle between Thor and Silvia, but Mikoto could tell that both of those magicians were even stronger than her and Brunhild. She frowned and wondered to herself, "Am I stepping out of my league here?" If she continued on the same path as her boyfriend, she might soon run into an enemy that was too strong for her.
However, after a moment of considering this, the girl rapidly shook her head and chided herself, "What am I thinking? What kind of partner would I be if I cowered away for a silly reason like that?" If she would continue having to battle against stronger and stronger opponents, then Mikoto resolved to just get stronger and smarter herself. After all, she'd fought pretty well against Brunhild, who was one of less than 20 Saints in the entire world, so it wasn't really an insurmountable task.
As Mikoto continued thinking about her battle performance, she suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her skirt pocket. When she pulled it out and opened it up, she saw that it was an unknown number calling her. She answered the phone, saying, "Hello?"
A voice familiar to her replied, "Hey, third-rate, is that you?"
Mikoto's eyes widened, and she tensed up a little. She immediately sat up on her bed and questioned him, "Accelerator, is that you? Why are you calling me, and how do you even have my number?" She hadn't really talked to him since their conversation at the amusement park. They had both gone to Hawaii to fight against GREMLIN, but they hadn't interacted with each other that much. The girl was still somewhat wary of him, but she was mostly confused by him calling her.
Accelerator answered in an annoyed tone, "I got it from the brat. She's been pestering me all day about seeing you again. Could you babysit her so she can stop annoying me?" He hoped to get this phone call over with as quickly as possible, so he went straight to the point.
The girl was a bit taken aback by his request. She questioned, "Last Order wants to hang out with me?" She recalled how Last Order had just been in danger the previous day, so Mikoto was a little surprised that her little sister suddenly wanted to see her again so soon afterwards.
Accelerator gritted his teeth and snapped, "Yes, are you deaf or something? Will you do it or not?"
Mikoto scowled at the bad attitude he was displaying, but she thought to herself, "I guess it would be nice to see her again, even if I have to deal with this bastard." She thus replied, "All right, all right, but I'm not doing this as a favor to you."
Accelerator rolled his eyes and sharply fired back, "Whatever, I don't fucking care about that."
The girl sighed, not too fazed by his words. She then asked him, "By the way, what exactly happened to Last Order yesterday? I heard that someone was trying to eat her brain." She already knew most of the information about Fraulein, but she wanted to see if Accelerator had any additional information.
Accelerator's eyes widened as he learned that Mikoto knew something about what had happened during the festival. He replied, "So, you were involved too, and I bet that hero was too, wasn't he? Some crazy girl did try to eat the brat's brain, but that compulsion of hers was stopped, and the brat decided to become friends with her." He didn't really understand why Last Order would befriend someone who had tried to kill her, but she had already befriended the person who had murdered over ten thousand of her sisters, so it wasn't uncharacteristic of her.
Mikoto chuckled and noted, "Well, Last Order is very friendly, isn't she?" The little girl usually did have a childish demeanor, but Mikoto knew she could be surprisingly mature about certain things. She then remembered the urban legend that Saten had mentioned earlier, and asked Accelerator, "Hey, did you see any sign of the 2nd Ranked yesterday?" She figured that if Kakine Teitoku had really appeared, then there was a good chance that he'd gone after Accelerator for revenge, despite the urban legend saying he was a savior.
In response to her question, Accelerator stiffened. He recalled his battle against Kakine under the multilevel overpass, where he had created dark matter clones of himself and had also created facsimiles of the Misaka sisters Accelerator had killed. Accelerator had been stuck in a mental bind, and it was only thanks to the encouragement of Mugino Shizuri, the 4th Ranked Level 5, that he'd even been able to fight back. And even then, Kakine had only been defeated when one of his rhinoceros beetle clones had rebelled against him and become the new Kakine Teitoku, which had caused the original Kakine to crumble into dust. Eventually, Accelerator snapped at Mikoto, "That's none of your damn business, third-rate."
The girl flinched at his tone, wondering if she'd somehow triggered a sensitive spot for him. She briefly wondered if she could ask Last Order about that instead, but before she could say anything, she heard a little girl's voice exclaim through the phone. "Hey! Is that Big Sister you're calling, asks Misaka as Misaka jumps up and down to snatch the phone away."
Accelerator shouted, "Hey, what are you doing, you brat?" Mikoto then heard the sounds of a struggle, as he and Last Order fought over the phone.
After a few seconds, the scuffle ended with Last Order grabbing the phone, and Mikoto heard Last Order talking to her directly. "Hello, Big Sister, says Misaka as Misaka greets you."
Mikoto softly smiled and replied, "Hey, Last Order. How are you doing? You want to come visit me tomorrow?" Talking to the little girl was much more pleasant than talking to Accelerator, so Mikoto's body relaxed a little.
"Misaka is doing great, she even made two new friends during the festival, exclaims Misaka as Misaka updates you on her social life. She would love to see you tomorrow, and she would also like to meet your friends and that boy again, adds Misaka as Misaka feels envious of the other Misakas."
Mikoto chuckled and replied, "All right, I'll check if they're free so we can all hang out together." She realized that Last Order hadn't met her friends yet, and it wasn't a surprise that she also wanted to see Touma again.
"Yay, thank you, Big Sister, shouts Misaka as Misaka twirls around in excitement. She will see you tomorrow then, adds Misaka as Misaka prepares to end the call."
Mikoto then replied, "All right, bye Last Order! I'll see you tomorrow." She then hung up the phone, knowing that the next day would be even better than she'd expected.
A couple of hours later, Kuroko had finally returned home from the Judgement office. Both she and Mikoto were now sitting on their respective beds, looking at each other. Mikoto said to her, "Hey Kuroko, Last Order is coming to hang out with me tomorrow. Do you want to come and meet her?"
Kuroko immediately showed an excited expression on her face, exclaiming, "Your cute little sister? I would love to finally meet her!" Her eyes sparkled as she said this.
Mikoto was a bit worried about the other girl's tone. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes, saying, "Kuroko, I thought you've reined in your perverted behavior. You're going to behave yourself, right?"
In response to her piercing gaze, Kuroko nervously gulped and repeatedly nodded her head, "Yes, onee-sama, I promise I'll behave myself around Last Order."
The other girl sighed in relief. She felt a little bad for Kuroko, so she smiled and said, "Last Order is very friendly, so I'm sure you'll be able to get along with her."
Kuroko let out a relieved sigh, and replied, "That's good to hear." Maybe if she was lucky, she would be able to give Last Order a headpat or a hug. But in any case, there was something else she wanted to talk to her best friend about, so she continued, "So what exactly happened on that multilevel overpass? I don't think you and Kamijou-san told us the full story."
Mikoto winced a bit. She had kind of been expecting Kuroko to interrogate her further, but she hadn't fully decided how much to tell the other girl. She nervously scratched her head and began, "Well, basically, there was a group of people who were trying to capture the girl that Touma mentioned. He and I each fought against someone from that group."
Kuroko nodded in understanding, replying, "I see, so how did your fights go? They must have been really destructive to do so much damage to the roads."
Recalling those two fights, Mikoto folded her hands in her lap and smiled, saying, "Touma did really well! His opponent threw all kinds of attacks at him, over and over again, but he dealt with all of them with just his right hand! I had to neutralize a gun she pulled out, but other than that, he was able to beat her on his own."
Kuroko sighed at Mikoto's modesty and assured her, "You're downplaying your efforts, onee-sama. Being able to do that while also fighting your own battle is nothing short of amazing!"
Mikoto chuckled, feeling a little better from her praise. She recounted, "I guess you're right. My fight was a lot tougher. My opponent could move so fast that I needed to use iron sand to keep track of her movements. I was mostly on the defensive the whole time. I did get a clean hit on her with my railgun, but she was strong enough to stand back up, and the only reason the fight didn't continue was because Touma had already knocked out her ally, who was the leader of their group."
Kuroko raised her eyebrows and mused, "Someone who can move that fast and shrug off your signature move? She must be quite a strong esper." From how Mikoto had described her opponent, Kuroko figured that she hadn't been a Level 5. But while there were lower-level espers who could do those sorts of things, Kuroko hadn't heard of one who could hold their own against a Level 5 like Mikoto. She then continued, "But you should really leave matters like that to Judgement and Anti-Skill."
Mikoto bit her lip, feeling conflicted about not telling her friends about the Magic Side. But she couldn't yet bring herself to tell the truth, so instead, she said, "Well, it was sort of a special situation."
From her reply, Kuroko guessed that there was something bigger behind the scenes, like the previous incidents involving Mikoto's sisters and her being forcibly shifted to Level 6. Kuroko frowned as she realized that Mikoto was still keeping things from her, replying, "I see. Well, if you have to keep it a secret for now, that's fine, but I hope you can tell me someday."
Mikoto smiled at her and replied, "I hope so too. But honestly, this incident was more related to Touma, and I was only there to help out." As she finished saying this, her tone became a bit more melancholic.
Kuroko picked up on this, gently asking the other girl, "Do you feel troubled because you think you only played a supporting role?"
Mikoto's eyes widened at her best friend's correct guess. She sighed and admitted, "You're pretty perceptive. I mean, I'm proud of how well I did in my fight, since my opponent was really strong. But he was the one who won the main battle."
Kuroko laughed and told her, "You know, onee-sama, I felt the same way with you. When you were disappearing every night, I knew you were dealing with some problem, and I wished I could be strong enough for you to ask me for help." She thought about how worried she'd been each night, wondering what Mikoto had been dealing with. And when it was all over, Kuroko had been relieved enough to see Mikoto smiling again that she hadn't felt the need to pry about what she had gone through.
Mikoto felt bad on hearing the anguish in Kuroko's tone. She said, "I'm sorry I made you feel that way, Kuroko. But it wasn't because you weren't strong enough, I just stupidly wanted to solve the problem I created on my own, even if it meant giving up my own life." She then turned back to more current events, adding, "Sometimes I do feel like I'm not strong enough to fight by Touma's side. I want to help him when I can, but I also don't want to force myself into his battles if he has a reason to fight them by himself. He always thanks me for my help, even if it wasn't that much, so I guess I'll keep going for now, and I'll try to keep you guys in the loop when I can."
Kuroko grinned and replied, "It sounds like you have a good plan. And of course, I'm happy to help you out whenever you need it, and I'm sure Uiharu-san and Saten-san feel the same way."
Mikoto grinned back and said, "I'll keep that in mind." She got up from her bed and walked over towards the other girl. She then pulled Kuroko into a hug and said, "Thanks for being such a great friend, Kuroko."
Kuroko blushed at the sudden physical contact, but she wrapped her arms around Mikoto's back and replied, "You're welcome, onee-sama. You're the best friend a girl could ask for." Even if Mikoto still had to keep a few secrets from her, Kuroko was nevertheless content to be Mikoto's best friend.