So, it is my take on the Female Touma train that's hooked me up for some time since u/Atlas310 invited me to found r/OneTrueKamijou. Inspired by most of the fanfics recommended in my list (under the handle u/JeroLionheart) in aforementioned subreddit.
It is not a completely genderswapped AU, in which every single character is changed into a different sex (if they have a sex, that's it.) It is built solely upon the premise that Touma is born a girl and nothing else. It is not to say Touma is the only genderswapped one, per se.
It is my first time writing a story this long in English, so it may have a lot of grammatical errors and typos. Feel free to send me constructive reviews and complaints, fellow readers and reviewers!
Now I welcome you to A Certain Unfortunate Girl.
This story is format-free friendly.
Disclaimer: I don't own A Certain Magical Index, its spinoffs and other derived works.
Chapter 1: Her, Jinnai, a Farewell, and Uiharu
In a certain classroom in Sakugawa Middle School…
A girl was looking outside from her class windows. She was currently wearing the sailor uniform of her school, a short-sleeved white blouse, with the dark blue flap collar with two white stripes each side going with a red necker chief under the collar, and a dark blue pleated skirt. Her long hair was black in colour, decorated with a white flower hairpin on the left side. Her blue-green eyes were gazing at nowhere in the school ground, unable to focus on anything.
Her name was Saten Ruiko, and she was a first year in Sakugawa Middle School.
'It is getting a bit boring nowadays…'
Ruiko sighed at the lack of interesting happenings in her school life. Yet, middle school was more fun than her primary school, both back home and here in Academy City, she would admit, wondering how she could have survived her primary school time. Sure, weeks into the first semester in the first year now, she had done fun things with her friends, new and old, but she still felt something was amiss.
'Primary school, huh? Now I wonder when I can find Touki-san and have fun with her like old times.'
In the back of her mind, she recalled the sweet times she had spent with a certain friend back home in Toyohashi, long before that friend had been transferred to a school in Academy City.
That old friend was part of the reason why Ruiko was here in Academy City, actually, but it was not the whole reason. Another part was that Ruiko had a dream to become an ability user here. Okay, a high level ability user. Sometimes called an esper. But that dream of hers crashed into oblivion when her level had been determined as 0, and it did not change at all after four years.
It did not matter anymore, she tried to convince herself.
But obviously, it did matter to her. Especially when she knew that her classmate, the timid Uiharu Kazari who was always wearing her out-of-place flowers headband on her short black hair, was a Level 1.
From what she had heard from her old friend's parents, her former senior in Mikawa Primary School, back in Toyohashi, was also a Level 0 as her. For some less-than-proud reasons, Ruiko found herself somewhat happy with that news. And she reprimanded herself soon after that.
She felt so awful.
'You should be ashamed of yourself, Ruiko! I am sorry, Touki-san. I miss you…'
Six years had passed, but for Ruiko, the first meeting with Kamijou Touki was still fresh on her mind.
Somewhere in Toyohashi, Aichi…
Six years before…
Saten Ruiko was six that year. She was going to the elementary school in the neighbourhood, Mikawa Primary School. And it was her first day.
It was a nice day. The sky looked so clear, and the birds were singing happily on the trees. On her path to school, the young girl with black hair done in low braided twin tails was skipping on her feet. She was excited about the new school, which gave her the chance to wear a cute sailor uniform like this, a white shirt with blue stripes and a blue pleated skirt. Her family had gone to this neighbourhood since she had been born, so most of her young life was spent here. When she had first learnt about the word "primary school" in kindergarten, she had thought of many cool things about new classmates and new seniors she would have a chance to share the school life with.
She never knew that her first school day would greet her by a panty flash, much to the young girl's surprise.
So, what exactly happened?
It all started too fast, which Ruiko may have not realized first.
Let's wind back the clock a bit.
As it was already told, Saten Ruiko was excited about her first school day. She was sorted into a class with many of her old friends and also with some new kids.
One of the new kids, a small girl wearing a pair of oversized round glasses with black hair, also done in braided twin tails similar to hers, went by the name Jinnai Saki. She was very shy and hardly talkative. Ruiko tried to talk with her thrice, but every single time the other girl just freaked out, letting a small "eep" and then ran for her life out of the classroom.
Weirdo.
Ruiko, postponing her quest to befriend the glasses kid for later, got back to her small circle of close friends.
And the day went fast. School would end soon.
Ruiko organized her books and notes, and left the class with her three friends, Acchan, Eiko-tan and Kurumin. When they were about to leave the dark-red large school gate, Ruiko suddenly realized that she had left her math note in the classroom, so she left her three friends to retrieve it.
There were no problems on her way back to the class, but when she had already retrieved the notebook which by some reason had miraculously been left there despite thoroughly checking her stuff, she heard some yelling and sobs coming from the playing ground. Heading to the window and looking outside, she noticed a group of three older boys in uniform, perhaps from 4th or 5th year, surrounding a petite girl wearing glasses not fit for her size.
'Jinnai!? Is she bullied?'
Worries came to her mind, but she hoped that she was wrong. As she leaned more outside, trying to determine what was happening down there, she still couldn't hear a single word clearly, aside from some angry shouts.
"I can't hear them from here! Should I come down? Or should I call Sensei?"
Ruiko wondered out loud.
She took her backpack and left the classroom quickly, and almost ran to the stairs and down the ground floor. She took a right turn out of the school building to reach the playing ground. Just before she thought about where the four were, she heard the familiar angry voices at her right side, so she ran to the direction.
Finally, she could see them clearly.
The three boys were still surrounding the girl she thought to be Jinnai Saki, now their features were apparent to her eyes. One of the boys was almost bald, the second donning a spiky style on part of his hair, making him look like a rooster, and the third keeping his hair messy, giving the impression of a bird nest. Bald was closing to Jinnai, his hands forming fists, looking angry and ready to punch the poor petite girl. Rooster was relaxing and… chewing something, hands in his pants' pockets. Bird-nest was… counting cash!
'Is this what Papa called… extortion!? They are forcing her to give them money?'
Before she could even finish her thoughts, she heard Bird-nest saying.
"Tsk. Only 1,000 in your pack? What, do you think we Falcons are beggars or something, kid?"
Hey, he said the same line as Ruiko's mother's favourite drama smallfry muggers!
'Not the time!'
Quickly hiding in a nearby bush, Ruiko silently reprimanded herself. She now knew that she could not in any way solve this problem by herself. Which left a question. Who would she ask for help this time? She immediately thought of her mother, but her mother was not here.
'Should I call Sensei?'
Her teacher had told her and the class to call adults whenever they had a problem, but the problem Ruiko had right now was that she had nothing to call Sensei! A cell phone would be good, but her parents did not buy her one. Not that she had needed it, but right now she did wish that she had a phone in her person.
'Should I get back to the school building and get to the teacher's room? Sensei may—'
BAHMP!
'— be there… Wait, what just happened?!'
Ruiko immediately looked up, and a white color greeted her eyes.
She saw another uniform in front of her eyes. The female version, different from these three's, similar to her own's. And the skirt was flying in the wind, giving her a full view of the person's white legs. And her panties.
'WHITE WITH A PINK RIBBON!? No, seriously, what just happened?! Who is this person?'
The new addition to the scene was, indeed, a school girl. Perhaps two or three years older than Ruiko. Blue eyes. Black shoulder-long hair. With an average face, lovely yet not exceptional.
"Asada! Bitch, do you know who you just kicked?!"
Rooster shouted out loud when Bald was down to the ground, and Bird-nest just dropped his small stack of cash, letting it follow the wind and land on the earth.
Now Ruiko looked carefully, it seemed like that new school girl just kicked Bald in some way.
'Is she trying to help Jinnai? Too bad, she is a girl, too! I should run to the school office to ask for Sensei's help!—'
Whatever Ruiko was thinking was stopped by the new girl's voice.
"I heard you for the first time. Birdies or something right?"
Ruiko snorted, but remembered to cover her mouth. If that girl was joking, her face never showed it! But the next sentence was definitely not intended to be humorous.
"Be you birds or cats or chimpanzees, what do you think gives you the right to mug another person like that, brats!?"
The cute face of the new girl twisted in anger, which made Ruiko's heart miss a beat. She looked very scary at that moment.
Bald, Ruiko refused to add his name to her memory, recovering himself and got back to his one foot and his knee, growling. Bird-nest did not bother to collect the notes on the dirt, his face twisting in anger, while Rooster looked a bit scared seeing the new girl's output.
"Don't you dare mess with us Falcons, bitch!"
Bird-nest stepped up, his fist forming, throwing a punch to the new girl. She quickly dodged, kneeing his stomach. The boy quickly fell, hugging his pained stomach.
Then Rooster, the lone boy still standing, dropped to his butt, trying to move away from the new girl. Bird-nest, however, tried to catch her leg while he was still on the ground. She effortlessly jumped away, raising her foot, preparing another kick.
"You are just a bunch of bullies targeting lone students, Flies. If you think forming a group and threatening them to enrich yourselves is your right, now let me…"
The kick was, however, never thrown, as she quickly withdrew it, then formed a fist with her right hand and turned her body around to punch the body behind her who was preparing to catch her with his arms.
"Destroy that messed-up illusion of yours!"
The punch went straight to Bald's stomach, knocking him down almost immediately.
'I never realized Bald was up! This girl is awesome!'
And she kicked the hand of Bird-nest that tried to grab her leg with a much weaker force. Still hurting a lot, if one was to see Bird-nest's face expression.
"Now, you, mohawk boy. Please collect your friends and leave that girl alone now, okay?"
She turned to Rooster and flashed a shining smile, as if the exchange before had never occurred.
"If you appear in front of this girl again… Well, you don't want to know that, right?"
The girl smirked. A smirk so beautiful yet so terrifying. For Ruiko, it was both. And for the mohawk boy, Ruiko noted the word for his hairstyle, it was more of the latter. He only knew to rapidly nod like a robot and struggled to drag, quite literally, two of his friends out of there and left the scene immediately.
The brave girl left out a sigh and turned to the other girl in the scene. Right, Jinnai. Ruiko almost forgot about her.
"Here, let me help you collect the notes. These brats must leave you scared."
Jinnai shyly nodded and crawled on the dirt to take the notes in front of her. The brave girl also helped Jinnai as promised. She gave back the cash she picked up from the dirt to Jinnai.
Jinnai received her notes, stood there for 3 or 4 seconds and suddenly raised her voice, almost a shout.
"Um… Thank you very much! See you soon!"
And she ran away.
The remaining girl stood there, stunned. And Ruiko took that chance, ran out of the bush where she hid to the brave girl. She almost freaked the other girl when the latter turned her head and suddenly saw a new face. The brave girl's face right now was not brave any more, just jolted.
"I- I saw your fight with these three bullies, Sempai! It was awesome!"
The awesome girl in question raised an eyebrow and let out a small squeak.
"Ah! I… see?"
Ruiko immediately remembered her reason for being here and quickly added.
"Oh, I am sorry. I saw my classmate was bullied and ran down here, hoping to help her by myself or to call my teacher, but I was distracted by the fight and forgot about that! Thanks for helping Jinnai, Sempai! Oh, and my name is Saten Ruiko, first year! What may I call you, Sempai?"
The senior let down her defense and gave out a smile, and Ruiko swore that it was the most beautiful expression that she had ever seen.
"I see, Saten Ruiko, is it? I am Kamijou Touki, fourth year. Say, do you mind if I call you Ruiko-chan?"
Ruiko's eyes had to be shining like the stars right now. She only knew to nod immediately.
"Obviously not, Touki-sempai!"
And Ruiko suddenly felt her heart was bursting out of her chest when a gentle hand touched her head.
She felt very happy when the senior patted her head. She did not know why at the moment, but this feeling was so good.
Now, leaving her hand from Ruiko's head, Touki asked her a surprising question.
"Say, Ruiko-chan? That glasses girl before, Jinnai-san is it, was targeted by those Flies, so I thought she was alone the whole day or something. You two are not friends?"
Ruiko shook her head.
"I'm afraid no. I only met her today. I did try to befriend her but, as you see, she just ran. At least she said something coherent with you, Sempai, in my case it was just, 'eep,' 'eeeek' or 'aaaaah.' I am sad."
Ruiko's palm was placed on her face, another hand just swinging to the side. Almost doing a squat, Ruiko was trying to imitate a pose from a character in her mother's favourite drama when she stressed the word 'sad,' which earned her a snort from Touki.
"Haha, what's that? You're funny, Ruiko-chan."
Now Ruiko pushed on, she threw a mock bow like a butler.
"My pleasure, Ma'am."
Which earned her another pat on the head from the senior. She could get addicted to this.
Wait, now she thought about it, why was Touki-sempai here anyway?
"Why are you here, Sempai? Why do you help Jinnai-san?"
Ruiko looked up to see Touki's face. The younger girl half-expected the answer would be "she reminds me of my little cousin" or "our families are friends," something like that. Though the senior had already implied that they were just strangers, Ruiko noted herself. Touki only let out a surprised look and then smiled.
"Do I need one reason though?"
This smile was so genuine and so beautiful, and at that moment, Ruiko thought she just saw the star of her life.
'I want to be her friend.'
And she did not know at the moment, this encounter would change both of their lives, but this would be another story.
Never had she thought one of her seniors would greet her with a panty shot.
Nor had she thought she would befriend such a brave person as this senior.
She still did it anyway.
Two weeks after that unforgettable first meeting…
Saki opened up to them and often hung out with Touki and Ruiko more. Ruiko also introduced Touki to her close friends, Acchan, Eiko-tan and Kurumin. Kurumin even developed a serious case of hero worship for Touki, which made Ruiko somewhat proud of her new friend and senior.
Another two weeks passed…
She knew of Touki's misfortune. She had seen the older girl strip from nothing at all. She had seen Touki being troubled with gang members from other schools, usually older than her senior. She had seen some parents keep their children far away from the Kamijou girl, yet it still did not prevent Ruiko and friends keep coming to Touki.
But never had she thought it would be that serious when she saw Saki's father, a man in his 40s, ran to her senior with a knife in his hands, bringing both surprise and fear to Touki's family and hers.
If only her father and Touki's father had reacted fast enough, but the mad man already slashed his knife down Touki's fragile back. Only after that, Mr. Kamijou had punched Jinnai out of his daughter's small body and Ruiko's father pinned the man down the dirt, practically incapacitating the perpetrator.
The mothers already called the ambulance, but the inactive surrounding people made Ruiko sick.
Why did they not do anything to protect Touki?
Her brother was too young to act, but even he was scared for Touki's well-being.
She was still young at that time, but she remembered that was the first time she ever hated other people that much. She did not become a human-hating sociopath or something, actually. She still loved her own family, Touki, Touki's family, and some of her friends.
She was not sure about Jinnai Saki now.
The day after Touki was hospitalized…
The Satens were allowed to visit their neighbours' daughter now.
Jinnai Eiji was arrested by the local police and was going to be sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Jinnai Saki and her mother were going to leave Aichi and settle somewhere far from here, but Ruiko knew Saki had already gone to visit Touki once. She had been just outside when the glasses girl had come. The rational Mr. and Mrs. Kamijou had let her in.
Ruiko still remembered Touki's smile when talking with Saki. The older girl even requested Ruiko, privately, not to hate Saki for what her father had done. Ruiko could only nod.
Two days later…
Ruiko visited Touki, this time as per the older girl's call. The older girl could be discharged from the hospital in a week, but Ruiko felt that Touki wanted to say something to her before that day.
She befriended Tatsugami Otohime, Touki's cousin, on this visit. That grey-haired girl was just one year younger than Ruiko, and both of them became fast friends.
When the three of them were eating in a cafeteria, Touki told them she would transfer into a school at Academy City, apparently a district of sorts within Tokyo.
"Otou-san and Okaa-san applied for me a place there, so I will live in that place within Academy City and study there."
"But Onee-chan, why so far? Oji-san and Oba-san could just have moved to another town nearby, why Tokyo?"
The young Tatsugami's question was also Ruiko's own. The Saten girl added.
"Is it involved with this incident, Sempai?"
Touki nodded.
"Okaa-san thought I would be safer there. A city of science, free of superstitions. Though I would be sad if I cannot meet you anymore, Ruiko-chan. And of course, you too, Otohime! Please don't make this face."
Both younger girls hugged the oldest one in the room.
Otohime tried to say something more in her teary voice.
For Ruiko, she already knew that she could not change any of this happening, so she just settled with spending as much time with Touki for the time being.
She was not that mature, honestly. She did cry a lot. She was just too used to Touki's situation to know which decision was the best for her senior. The Kamijou parents loved their daughter and while Ruiko also loved their daughter, she knew whose voice was the final say.
"Touki…-san. I guess you cannot be my Sempai anymore. But, I always wanted to spend more time in school with you. Promise me, if I could visit you in Academy City, would you spend time with me like we are doing now?"
Touki, also on the verge of tears, wiped her eyes with her patient gown, answered her in a tearful voice.
"You don't even need to ask that, I am always available for you and Otohime, Ruiko."
Touki patted Otohime's head when the youngest girl pulled the former into another hug. Ruiko also joined them.
"And… visit me sometimes."
Ruiko muttered. She was not sure if either Touki or Otohime heard that, but she felt a bigger hand patting her head, and the hug grew stronger.
The younger black-haired girl just uttered another stutter while hugging two other girls.
Three days after Ruiko met Otohime…
The Kamijou family and their daughter bid their farewell to the Saten family, leaving their kids in tearful goodbyes.
Jinnai Saki must have watched them from afar. Her family, as in her mother and she, also planned to leave the region later that day.
Saten Ruiko waved to the vehicle taking the Kamijous away, inside her small heart hoping she would meet a certain older girl soon.
Years later…
It was already six years after the day she bid goodbye to the Kamijous, and four years after the day she transferred to another primary school inside Academy City.
She could maintain the Kamijou parents' contacts, but being a kid, she was not allowed to travel inside Academy City's boundaries with much freedom, sometimes with a lot of permission from the teachers and the dorm managers.
For her luck, or the lack thereof, Ruiko could not find Touki's whereabouts, and the latter's parents were too busy to help her. Some months later, she had to delay her search.
Her education went more or less smoothly, but her status as a Level 0 saddened her a bit. She and three of her friends here, Muu-chan, Akemi, and Mako-chin, were all Level 0s. It seemed like they sorted the level-similar kids into one place.
The rest of her primary study went fast, and now she was about to become a first year in middle school. Upon this event, she also changed into the current straight hairstyle, her hair, now longer than Touki's shoulder length back there, hanging down half of her back and wore a white flower hairpin on the left side of her hair.
Her new school was known as Sakugawa Middle School. Which got back to the present day when she was sitting lazily on her desk.
Back to the present day…
Letting out a sigh after recalling the past, Ruiko looked around her classroom one more time. She could still remember that on her first day in this semester, Ruiko had befriended almost all kids in her class, one of them being a timid kid named Uiharu Kazari, who was now quite close to her. She also had became friends with students from other classes and seniors from other grades. Which had been like another day of the friendly girl.
She had plans with Uiharu today. Plans that she was not particularly fond of.
Uiharu told her about their meeting,— did she ever agree actually, Ruiko wondered,— with a Judgment friend, someone named Shirai Kuroko from the high-class Middle School called Tokiwadai, and said friend's roommate. Ruiko had twisted her brows a bit when she first heard the name.
Misaka Mikoto, a Level 5.
Everyone in Academy City knew about the power ranking of the City. The ranking was divided into six Levels: Level 0, the powerless, Level 1 and Level 2, the useful, Level 3 and Level 4, the powerful, and Level 5, the legendary powerhouse. There were some rumours about research to reach Level 6, but that was another story.
Absurdly powerful as they were, the Level 5s were very rare. In fact, there were only seven of them: Accelerator, Dark Matter, Railgun, Meltdowner, Mental Out, an unknown Number 6, and Attack Crash; six were known to the public while the unknown Number 6 was still a mystery.
There was a rumour about the Level 5s' mentality. Which said that all of them were mentally unstable. Mad. Crazy. Insane. Lunatic. Manic. Bananas. Nutsy. Wacko.
And if not for that, Ruiko still had unfavourable exchanges with the high level espers. Most Level 3s she had met or heard about were arrogant, and that was only speaking about the Level 3s outside of the School Garden. She had never met anyone from it, admittedly, but many rumours about them being brats were spreading quite far. And whatever above them knew, Ruiko was a girl hunting for rumours. She never investigated nor met a Level 4, but she already believed they were even worse. And a Level 5? She did not dare to imagine how bad they could be.
Upon reaching the school gate, she could see Uiharu waiting for her there. It seemed like she could not just escape and return to her dorm soon, she decided to humour the short-haired girl a bit.
Now Uiharu was practically dragging her to a meeting point with such an esper who she was sure would have a much worse attitude than that of a typical Level 3. If only Touki had also been here, Ruiko thought. She would have been more calm with her older friend around here.
'I should really find Touki-san's dorm this week. Two years have passed and I never received any news from either her or her parents.'
Ruiko sighed, and that startled Uiharu a bit.
"Um, hey, Saten-san… If you hate meeting her so much, I could- um…"
The girl beside her murmured, and Ruiko almost felt pity for the headband wearing girl. Almost. Because she noticed that Uiharu's head hung out and the rest of the latter's body was left undefended. Muahaha.
Whoosh.
And Ruiko acted.
She lifted Uiharu's skirt with both her hands and threw the tips she had held into the air, which resulted in a loud…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
… from Uiharu. Ruiko grinned, despite feeling a tad pity for her friend's lung. The long-haired girl then said in a funny voice.
"Good, good. Uiharu-kun remembers to wear panties today. A bear, huh? I can't really complain! Freebies, freebies!"
Ruiko imitated a character from a TV show whose name she had already forgotten, but it was still effective for irritating Uiharu. The short-haired girl yelled back at her friend.
"SAAA-TEEEN-SAAAN!"
And then Uiharu cutely hit Ruiko's shoulders with her weak fists which did not cause any pressure at all. The long-haired girl could only laugh at her friend's acts. It could not even count as a massage, but funny still.
The pair continued their antics, with Uiharu mumbling something about "it's not freebies" and "I never forget wearing it," until they reached the cafe which was the meeting point.
Ruiko gulped. She kind of forgot that she would meet the 3rd ranked Level 5 with Uiharu's friend here. Teasing the petite Judgment member distracted her from remembering that. But they were already here, and she did not have any excuse, that she could think of now, to miss that meeting once and for all.
'Here goes nothing.'
Ruiko steeled herself while Uiharu was opening the door to JonaGarden's interior. But then, an unpredictable thing happened.
ZAAAAAP.
Sparks of electricity flew over Ruiko's head, missing her only by centimeters. Instinctively, she threw herself on the floor and curled herself up to defend her own body.
More 'zap' sounds followed and a feminine(?) maniacal laughter (or moan?) was heard.
"Ah… ah… ah… O-Onee-sama's… l-love is s-so i-intense! Ah… ah… ah… M-More… m-more…!"
Too intense, Ruiko silently commented, grasping a bit of what was going on with that moan(?).
"Damn it, Kuroko. Give me a break!"
Another feminine voice shouted angrily, but without more "zap" sounds. Ruiko guessed that it was the one that the perverted "Kuroko" called "onee-sama."
Tap. Tap.
Some small steps were heard. Feeling a bit more safe with less electric attacks, Ruiko slowly lifted her head up to look. It was Uiharu who stepped in front of the girl, brown short hair reaching her shoulders and a two-white-flower clip on her head, whom Ruiko assumed to be the "onee-sama." She wore a tan vest outside of a white blouse and a gray skirt, on her right chest was an emblem of her school. That emblem looked a bit familiar, Ruiko thought.
"Judge-Judgment here! Please stop this violence! I have already contacted Anti-Skill!"
Uiharu had pulled up her Judgment band on her right arm, standing trembling strongly(?) and pulling a courageous farce before the assaulting girl.
The brown-haired girl just sighed, her eyes never glancing on Uiharu but still gluing to the "Kuroko" girl on the floor. Wait, Kuroko? What was that Judgment girl friend of Uiharu called again? Shirai… Kuroko? Was that… her? That perverted "Kuroko" who loved to be electrically abused… Shirai Kuroko? Ruiko let out a silent gasp. What did she get herself into!?
A gentle(?) kick from Shirai Kuroko's(?) "onee-sama" landed on the lying girl's skirt-covering butt, which made the perverted girl yelp in ecstasy.
"Hey, come on, Kuroko. Get up and explain to your Judgment friend. I don't want to get into trouble dealing with your pervertedness."
"Kuroko" just let out a discouraged "yeah" and recovered herself. Now Ruiko took a look at "Kuroko," she noticed the supposedly pervert was a girl with noticeably fragile frame, donning the same uniform as the "oneesama" girl. She did her reddish brown hair on cute twintails, and her face could be considered lovely if you disregarded her creepy smile on it.
"Oh, hey, Uiharu."
Twintails just greeted Uiharu as if everything was a normal occurrence in her mind. Ruiko could not help but feel sorry for Uiharu and the "Oneesama" girl if it was true.
"Shirai-san? You are a perverted masochist all this time!? Against electrocution of all things!? I always suspected that you have been a pervert, but I never expect to see you demonstrate that unsightly side out of the light- Eep!"
A small shining needle specifically landed just millimeters away from Uiharu's small feet. The now confirmed Shirai Kuroko apparently was the one who just made the attack. She seemed pissed off from Uiharu's outburst.
But before Shirai could make any more moves, verbal threats or non-verbal alike, a blueish shining electric spear found itself on the top of her head, shaking her greatly, her mouth shouting some disturbing sounds that Ruiko dared not, or did not care enough, to reiterate.
"Kuroko, no violence against your friend!"
"As if you can even say that!"
Ruiko suddenly found herself retorting the "Oneesama" girl's reproach.
She found herself stammering immediately.
"Eh… I meant… Uhm, Uiharu is my friend here… Oh, ah… I was trying to say…"
But before she could say anything else, a coldness was felt through her backbone. She slowly turned her head to that direction out of fear, finding Uiharu, the "Oneesama" girl and Twintails also doing the same thing.
A brown-eyed young woman, long black hair reaching half of her back, in the store's white uniform and beret, her name tag on her left breast pocket reading 'Fukiyose,' was standing just behind the "Oneesama" girl with darkness and killing aura circling around her. Her presence alone was dominating, and she was the ruler of this dominion. They were the invaders in her dominion and she was letting them know it, waiting for them to give up their lives for the offense they dared to have done.
It… was just like a Kishin, one of the evil gods who punished the bad souls, which Ruiko's mother always told stories about.
And, the Kishin opened her mouth.
"So… you two, Judgment girl and tsukkomi girl, knew that other Judgment pervert and her dominatrix who are disturbing our business here?"
She was not tsukkomi-ing anyone, Ruiko almost wanted to yell that to the Kishin. But the dominating presence which made the question made her think twice. Nope, no way. She might be brave sometimes but a mere tsukkomi comment was not enough to make her risk her life. Not a stupid reason like that. The thought that the words "tsukkomi-ing others to her death, Saten Ruiko" were carved in her grave half made her want to smile, but she exiled that thought as soon as it appeared.
Not the time.
"I- I am not a dominatrix! It was, just, umm… I am… sorry for causing troubles here…"
Surprisingly, the dominatrix girl was the one who said that. Hey, Ruiko needed her name, referring to that girl as such hurt her mind a lot! Ruiko angrily thought. But then she remembered her reason for being here.
Shirai Kuroko, Judgment, Uiharu's acquaintance. Checked.
The infamous Railgun, Shirai Kuroko's roommate, Level 5 Third Rank, known for using electricity. Reluctantly… checked.
'Whaaat!? That Dominatrix girl is Misaka Mikoto!?'
Ruiko almost yelled that aloud, but somehow still too terrified by the Kishin known as Fukiyose to do that. Lucky for her.
"Uh… Um, if… it is not too much, can we leave now? I hope they didn't cause much of an uproar here."
It was Uiharu who said that, trying to rescue the two troublemakers there. Surprisingly, the Kishin just sighed and nodded.
"Okay. At least today the electric missy here does not destroy our equipment, so no complaints will be sent to Judgment."
Her voice showed a bit of irritation but she was still calm enough to say it coherently. Thankfully, Her Ladyship Fukiyose the Angry Kishin had spared her and her puny fellows their own deaths, Ruiko sighed in relief, but hearing the part about "destroying our equipment" made her gulp a bit. But then, what happened next surprised her.
"I am sorry! I overreacted!"
And… what? The one who just bowed and said that was the dominatrix girl, who was supposedly Misaka Mikoto.
She seemed… docile. She knew her mistakes, and while her temper needed a lot of work, she still knew to say sorry.
Perhaps she was not as bad as Ruiko expected?
A girl with twin braids sitting on a table far from the electric torture field saw all that happened. She seemed to be startled by the appearance of the tsukkomi girl (as per the Kishin lady's description.)
"Sa… ten… -san…?"
The girl mumbled under her breath.
24 August Update: As you may already notice, the chapter got an update. I actually did an overhaul with this chapter, changing the sequence of the paragraphs quite a bit with some small details added, but the general plot is still there. If you already read the previous version, don't worry, no major changes have been made. You still have the general idea of what happens in this chapter, just a different flow of sequence.
Now, this concludes Chapter 1: Her, Jinnai, a Farewell, and Uiharu. I guess that suffices for an introduction of Saten Ruiko in this Touki-verse, no?
If there is any error or weird thing that irks you, let me know through your reviews! I'll appreciate it!
As for Saten's low twintails, I take this hairstyle from Railgun Episode 9, when she was given a charm by Mrs. Saten.
Mikawa as a name is just a place I like, Tokugawa Ieyasu's base in his lordship period and all, and Toyohashi and Aichi just follow it. We won't return there soon so let's leave it at that.
Kishin, also read as Kijin or Onigami, using the characters for Ogre 鬼 and God 神, can be translated as Demon God or Evil God, but mostly interpreted as Wrathful God, a Buddhist term. Think of the Wind God and the Thunder God in Shinto.
Acchan, Eiko-tan and Kurumin are practically original characters, but if they return, I will make sure to notify you, dear readers. Asada? Is it a name Ruiko mentioned somewhere in her memory? No? Then I am afraid I know no more than she.
And Jinnai Saki. Oh, Jinnai Saki. More of her as her role and as a character will be revealed when she reappears, officially.