Welcome back. Sorry for the delay, but I had some problems with this chapter which led me to start it from scratch multiple times. I hope that you will enjoy it, even when it gave me quite some pain. I am not quite happy with it, so if you have any suggestions, I am happy about any feedback.
The last chapter ended with Touma finding the box from 'Cupid Arrow'. Will he do something with that, or will the evil author just tease with them for a future chapter? Read on to find out.
Stryper88: Yeah, I messed up in my first version. I didn't want her to say his name just yet, as I have quite the nice scene planned out for that already. It almost happened to me again this chapter. It seems that I have to take better care. And sorry to disappoint you, but the rings will have to stay in the back of his head for a while. He wouldn't want to confess to Mikoto that he spilled her suitcases contents all over the sidewalk. Nice that you like the story, and yes, I reread a chapter some days ago and already found a spelling error. I think that maybe every 5 chapters I should just do a reread of the previous five to see what I can correct. So next chapter should come with corrected previous chapters. And yes, calvinhobbesliker's speed is truly amazing. I am also always looking forward to his new chapters. And yes, I am planning on adding chapter names. I am also thinking about changing the name and description of the whole fic. But that would all come with the next chapter and the small changes I would make in previous chapters along with it.
Blankow: Yes, you should sleep more than 5 hours, or else you end up looking like an old hag. And yes, I just hope that Kamachi makes the characters just talk. I have high hopes for GT5, but I am also ready to just get disappointed if Touma has to go away to fight the next big bad. Writing this story made it clear to me what implications GT2-4 should have on AC. So I hope that Kamachi has planned out a lot for it.
Vegitta: Nice, that you like the story. I hope that I can show some nice development in their relationship. But I want to make it seem a bit realistic in relation to the novels, so I want to gradually develop them.
Calvinhobbesliker: Nice that you liked the chapter. As said above, the rings won't get talked about yet again. Touma respects her privacy too much to have a look inside. And he won't ask for the meaning of the box in fear of getting shocked for having that accident.
LordChorizoCosmico: Yeah, embarrassed Mikoto is always nice. And nice that you like it. And I hope that you will like what I will do with the rings in some future chapter. I already have a plan for them, so they are not forgotten.
Hey1121: This chapter was a bit short on Touma and Mikoto interactions, but I think that this setup gives the possibility for a lot more of them.
HarmonwAtts: Yeah, I read GT4 and couldn't wait for a resolution to all the plot points. So I tried to come up with some on my own. And of course I know 'A certain Holiday Season'. I just reread it some weeks ago. I plan to take the story in a bit more adventure focused direction when all the new world building is complete. I am looking forward to write some fight scenes I have to say.
It was around 10 o'clock of the 29th of December. Shokuhou Misaki was laying on a couch in her clique's room. As she was not nearly as fast in healing herself as Mikoto, she was only able to leave the hospital this morning, while still being heavily bruised from the previous fight. Even walking hurt her, which led to Junko carrying her part of the way. She also learned more about what happened during the time she spend in the hospital. Wanting to revisit that information, Misaki took out a remote from her handbag, and pressed it against her head, to replay a news broadcast she saw yesterday evening.
"Academy city continues to face major backlash from around the world. The reveal of the clone program which replicated the third ranked Level 5, Misaka Mikoto…"
A picture of Mikoto was shown, which then quickly switched to a photograph of the clones in LA.
"…, and, according to some sources, then spread nearly 10,000 of them around the world, worries a lot of people that Academy City might want to take over other countries with such immense power. Statements from Academy City that the clones only possess a small fraction of the power of the original one are still met with doubt. Luckily, as their first appearance on the world stage turned out to be a rescue mission for a still unknown Japanese boy in Los Angeles, public sympathy has gathered for these clones. According to some experts, the next weeks will be crucial in determining how the world will ultimately react towards this revelation."
The camera switched to another anchorman who had a picture depicting multiple magical artifacts behind him. A bit unsure of what he was about to read out loud, he started with a little fragility in his voice.
"We also received a statement from the board of directors just half an hour ago, informing students that Magic is apparently real. They wanted to apologize for misleading the public earlier this year by claiming that it was something the roman catholic church called the esper power program they developed. It apparently dates back way further into the past than AC has existed."
The anchorman gulped but continued on.
"The change in attitude towards its existence stems from the fact that R&C Occultics published manuals on how to cast magic during the Christmas holidays. The dangerous part with this is that the power curriculum renders an esper's body, even if they are a Level 0, incompatible with magic, which shows itself in rupturing blood vessels throughout their body. Because of that reason, the board of directors asks every person that spots a magic manual online to report it immediately to Anti-Skill and to not attempt anything which is described in it."
The camera switched again to the first anchorman.
"Teachers are apparently already getting briefed about all necessary information, so that they can answer the students' questions after the winter holidays. … And now for … ."
Misaki took the remote away from her head and let out a sigh.
(So the whole world now knows about magic. And that explains what happened with the espers that attacked Misaka-san and me during our fight. And it also means that, unless we can find a way to turn the blood rupturing off, this avenue of giving her more fighting ability seems not like the right one.)
Additionally, AC was not only facing international problems. With the failure that was Operation Handcuffs, students, teachers and parents alike were enraged. While many poorer families still saw Academy City as a way for their children to get ahead in life, richer parents mostly chose to send their children there for the prestige it gave them to brag that they had a little super hero as a child. And having such a strong individual as the one next in line to take over the company instilled confidence, which had a nice effect on the stock price. But the revelations of the last days turned that assumption around. But it was not Operation Handcuffs which had that effect. As the richer students already had access to more money than they could reasonably spend, the attraction of the dark side was way lower than for those of lower income families. Of course, some became criminals anyways, be it because of their drive for scientific progress, or only because they were bored. But as these students were in such a small minority and had so good connections most were able to escape the city unharmed and uncaught. So the parents of rich students considered the death and destruction Operation Handcuffs brought over the city as a positive thing, as they saw it more like a 'cleansing ritual' than a tragedy.
(But you had to throw all the assumptions of these rich parents out of the window, didn't you Misaka-san. I bet that the head mistress told you that it would have been better if they all had been killed. Which might explain why you have left the school, which sadly you didn't inform me about. I really have to have a talk with you.)
It was in fact the reveal of the clones which enraged the parents of the higher class students. An experiment which went against international treaties lowered the credibility of Academy City, and in turn of its students. And that the student which stood in the middle of the whole cloning debacle was a student of Tokiwadai made it a lot worse. If it couldn't even be expected from this city to not do unethical experiments on their wealthy students, what trust could investors have in the next generation of company leaders which were brought up in Academy City. What reason would they have to believe that they weren't brainwashed through the power curriculum to sell a majority stake of their companies to some scientist who developed the curriculum, when they finally would take over? If the stock markets would have been open over the holidays, many companies would have lost a lot of market value already.
(And now 60% of my clique members have been pulled out of Tokiwadai, or are on an indefinite leave. And more will probably follow in the near future. I really don't like the 'screw up' ability the new board chairman shows.)
Right as she thought that, the third in command of her clique, Kobayashi Satori, entered the room and walked towards her.
"My queen, one member of our clique had a last gift she wanted to give to to you before she had to move out."
Saying that, she handed over a coin to Misaki who inspected it, and saw a glowing ring around its edge.
"Huh, a coin? What kind of gift is that supposed to be?"
"Apparently it is one of the magical artifacts that got spread through the city on Christmas day. Its apparently called a 'Coin of Nicholas' and is grants the users wish. As she knew about your desire for a miracle, she researched it during the day, and found out some things which were not written in the manual that one was able to find online for it."
"Oh, the coins of Nicholas. I heard a bit about them while in the hospital. They apparently try to grant you a wish, don't they?"
"Yeah, and according to the manual, they will only work on Christmas day, and after every usage, you have to let them recover for an hour. According to her research, it seems like they just give you a 100% success rate on whatever you want to accomplish, as long is it is not totally impossible. But she also found out through a rather unfortunate accident which turned her afternoon cake into stone, that you have to be careful how you word your wish."
Misaki looked a bit puzzled for a moment, before she spoke up.
"Let me guess. She wished that the cake would last forever?"
"Exactly, so you have to be clever about how you word things. And according to news from other people, all coins stopped "recharging" right at midnight. But she used hers the last time at 22:45, which means that the one you are currently holding should be all charged up. But the next morning, she was unable to use it. That is what was probably meant by the restriction to Christmas day."
"Mhh, so I might have to wait a full year to have a shot at this miracle."
Misaki beamed brightly nonetheless. She finally saw a way to repair Touma's memory problem. And even though she said that she would probably have to wait a year, another thought already formed inside of her head.
(With what I have seen from magic so far, I suspect that the restriction that it only works on Christmas is just a quick mental check for the date, which I can probably just circumvent. And as this coin is charged up already, I can maybe fix my princes' memory today if I can get a hold of him. But I have to think about the wish I want. As the coins seem to be quite fickle in their wish fulfillment, me wishing for his memories to get restored will probably just lead to him remembering the me from the summer last year, while still being unable to form any new connection with me. So I think I have to give up on that and just wish for the connections to his memories regarding me to be repaired.)
"Thank you Kobayashi-san, and please direct my thanks also to the member who did this work, if you can reach her. And could you also ask my driver to come the gate of the school garden in 2 hours. I have to go on a small trip."
"Yes my queen, do you want Hokaze-san or me to accompany you?"
"No, this one I have to do alone."
"Ok, I will get it done immediately my queen."
With that, she left behind a smiling Misaki, who whispered something quietly to herself.
"I hope you also look forward towards our important talk, my prince."
Mikoto just made a last turn towards Touma's dorm and saw him standing by the street, her suitcase next to him. She drove up to him and parked the motorcycle. She stood up from the bike and took off her helmet.
"Hey, did everything work out?"
"B-but of course Misaka-san, I took the utmost care of your suitcase. What do you expect from me?"
"Hmh, nice. Now let's hurry and get to your room."
Touma nodded, and then gestured towards the helmet he wore previously that was dangling from the bike.
"Can you hand me that by the way? I have a plan which I want to try out."
Mikoto was a bit puzzled, but handed it to him.
(Is this dorm in such a sorry state that rubble falls down so you need a helmet? Well, it doesn't matter, I don't need one.)
Thinking that, she focused on her magnetic senses and found a small piece of iron laying around. She floated it towards her and made it vibrate against itself, which cause a small layer of iron sand to form on the hood of her hoodie.
(Now I can just cut away whatever this building throws at me.)
Touma, who didn't seem to have noticed anything as he just put on the helmet, turned towards Mikoto and pointed towards one of the uppermost floors of this eight story dormitory. With a bit of a muffled voice, Mikoto heard him speak.
"I live in the seventh floor, but we shouldn't trust the elevator with my luck. So lets get going!"
They went up the stairs in silence. Mikoto, who was carrying her suitcase, found it a bit awkward to start a conversation while Touma was wearing a helmet, so she rather looked a bit closer at the dorm. Compared to her previous Tokiwadai one, it looked quite simple. Some of the doors she saw looked scratched or dented, and trash was laying around. This indicated to her that it didn't receive the proper amount of funding it needed to be run properly.
(Is there really such a big difference between our schools? I always thought that Tokiwadai was just a bit nicer than the average one, but it seems like the difference is way more pronounced than I thought.)
They arrived on the seventh floor, and after a little while Touma stopped in front of a door. He turned around to Mikoto.
"You wait here for a while. I might have to prepare them a bit about the news that we will move."
She nodded.
"Okay, just tell me when I can come in."
Touma nodded while still wearing the helmet, took out his keys and opened his door.
(Mhh, why is he still wearing the helmet? The dorm doesn't look like it is about to crumble. But he is an idiot after all, so how would I ever understand what goes on inside of his mind?)
Touma stepped into the dimly lit room, leaving the door open. Mikoto, who stood bit to the side could only make out a small part of his room. She heard him take two steps, before he started talking:
"Hello you two, I am …."
Halfway through the sentence, Mikoto was able to hear some rumbling, which was quickly followed by a blunt impact.
"AAAAAH, Touma, what is that? I wanted to give you the punishment you deserve, but you are wearing a helmet now? Do you want to kill me twice in 12 hours now?"
"Twice? And it is your own fault if you pounce at me like a wild beast."
"Yes twice, Touma. First you left me to starve to death yesterday evening, and now you probably caused me a concussion."
"But I left you with enough food to last until even this evening. What happened?"
Mikoto could hear a smaller voice speak up.
"I am sorry human, but your diversion backfired. While I was running away from that beast, she went straight for the fridge and emptied it out. And the she just sniffed out all the snacks you hid around the apartment, even though they were packed in plastic. Only 15 minutes after you were gone, so was all of the food."
"So Index cleaned out everything? Nothing is left?"
Touma's voice sounded clearer than before, which led Mikoto to the conclusion that he had taken of the helmet by now. It really seemed like his only reason for wearing it was to protect himself from getting bitten by that silver haired nun.
"Yes, that's right!"
"What are you going to about it Touma? You have to leave straight away again and buy ingredients!"
Mikoto could hear Touma sigh.
"Sorry Index, but that won't happen, and it won't be necessary. You see, we are going to move to a new place, right now."
"A new place? But why? Will there be better food?"
"There will be at least SOME food, which is more than there is here. And for the reason why: That was what my trip yesterday was about. The new board chairman asked me to come to an address in district 21."
"21, isn't that the mountainous one, human?"
"Yes, it was quite the remote house he send me to. And that remoteness was the whole reason. With Anna Sprengel being so interested in me, it seemed too dangerous for him to let me keep living in this dorm, where any attack would endanger hundreds of other people."
Mikoto was able to hear a growling sound from the inside.
"So Touma, just because you don't know how to behave yourself, we have to move away from all the friends I have here?"
"What friends do you have here Index? If you are talking about Maika, then I have to remind you, the one with the perfect memory, that she moved away. And my teacher Komoe is an adult, even if she doesn't look like one."
"That is so mean of you Touma, but even if I have no friends here right now, how will I ever find one while living with just the two of you on top of a mountain?"
"H-heh, w-well, you see Index, it won't be JUST us three living there."
"Who else have you dragged into your mess now human?"
"Misaka, you can come in now."
Hearing her name, Mikoto walked around the corner of the still open door and entered the room, while closing the door behind her. She had a quick look around and saw a single bed, a small table and a kitchen. It didn't look fancy, but it looked like Touma kept it in a good condition. She waved awkwardly.
"H-hi."
"ANOTHER GIRL, TOUMA."
Mikoto saw Index jump towards Touma's now unprotected head. When she reached it, she bit down, hard.
"ARRGH, such misfortune."
Othinus was sitting on a shelf and observed the situation that unfolded in front of her. Index was currently standing in front of Touma, who was sitting on the ground, rubbing his head. Right behind him stood the third ranked Level 5. Index's gaze switched repeatedly between these two, until after a while, she finally found the ability to speak again.
"Touma, why is short-hair moving in with us? And why is she even here right now? Does she want to steal my food?"
Touma rubbed his head a last time, stood up and glanced at Othinus before looking directly at Index.
"Index, her name is not 'short-hair' if we are living together. Just call her Mikoto from now on please. And she will move in with us as as Anna seems to hate her quite a bit as well, so she has the same problem."
In the corner of her eyes, Othinus spotted something quickly switching through multiple shades of red.
"M-M-Mikoto? Why are you using my given name?"
(Mhh, she gets quite flustered just by this small gesture. There are more and more clues pointing towards her having a crush on that boy too.)
"Oh, sorry Misaka, but Index and Othinus are both from Europe, where they call each other by their given names. But you shouldn't expect anything from that small goddess. Even after we spend what felt like an eternity together, she still only calls me 'human' or 'understander'."
"O-oh, okay, that makes sense. But you still never have told me the story on how a Magic God that threatened the world turned into a 15cm tall talking doll that lives with you."
(Compared to how feisty she normally behaves, she seems a bit like a docile kitten now. But I have to intervene now, or else my understander will just make that girl kill me.)
"Don't you dare to tell her our secrets, human!"
Touma turned to Othinus.
"I am sorry, but between Index teeth, Mikotos lightning bolts and your weak punching and biting, you are by far the least threatening of them all."
He then turned back to Mikoto.
"And I will tell you the story sooner or later Misaka-san, I promise. But for now, lets start with cleaning out this apartment before the moving truck arrives. Oh, and by the way, where is Sphynx?"
Othinus just scoffed.
"The grimoire library put that beast away in its transport box, as it seemed especially intend on using me as a chew toy last night."
"But you also must not forget that you promised me two nice meals in a restaurant if I would do that, right Othinus?"
(She really is too trusting. The only way I am going to get money is by 'borrowing' it from my understander. But well, it worked out this time.)
"Yeah, of course I won't forget. But now I would suggest to you humans that you start working. I want to see if the new house is more worthy of a goddess.
Touma looked back at her.
"And what are you going to do to help Othinus?"
"I am of course going to give all of you directions on what to do."
"And why would we need such help?"
"Well, wouldn't it be unfortunate if someone would find a specific box."
"T-t-these are Tsuchimikado's, he just left so I couldn't give them back."
Mikoto and Index just looked puzzled at each other.
"Of course. And human."
Touma looked nervously up towards her shelf.
"Never think again that I can't be threatening!"
"O-o-of course, Othinus."
After that conversation was done, Othinus quickly thought of a plan on how to work the most efficiently and set the three others to their specific tasks. Even Index helped as best as she could, as it was made clear to her that the faster they were done, the faster she would get food again.
The work went by mostly in silence, aside from some small talk. Index called Mikoto 'short-hair' repeatedly in the beginning, which led to her getting scolded by Touma each time. He told her that they should just use actual names from now on, if they were supposed to live together. He even tried the same on Othinus, but she seemed to be already set in her ways. After about an hour, Mikoto noticed that she had received a message from the moving company, which informed her that the truck containing her belongings would arrive in around two hours. As she noticed that they were almost done arranging everything, she turned towards Touma.
"Hey you, the shops should have opened by now. Could you please go and buy some boxes we can pack your stuff into?"
Touma looked up from the drawer he was currently pulling stuff out from.
"I would love to, but I am pretty low on cash right now, as SOMEONE took the stash I had hidden away for this time the ATMs don't work."
"Remember, we have that card Accelerator gave us. No auditor should question some cardboard boxes."
She heard Othinus speaking up from the shelf she was still sitting on.
"We got a money card from the #1? Human, now you can finally buy me the doll house I wanted."
"And way more food for me, Touma!"
Touma just shook his head.
"We have to seem like a normal unit of 3 adults living together according to our expenses. A dollhouse and food for 20 people would seem suspicious."
Touma smiled while looking over towards Mikoto.
"But you can probably barter with Mikoto here if you really want something. As she has a higher level than me, she has access to way more money."
(I still can't get used to T-Touma calling me Mikoto. It is just in front of the other two, as they are used to it. But now that we are living together, maybe I should just ask him to address me like that too. Of course only to not force him to overuse his idiotic brain by keeping the names separated.)
Touma stood up and put on his shoes and jacket."
"But okay Misaka, I will get going then. You three behave yourself."
With that, he left through the door and closed it behind himself. Mikoto let her gaze linger for a few more seconds on the door, and looked back into the room. She saw Index staring at her.
"Say, short-h … Mikoto. What exactly is your relationship with Touma? You seem to cling on him whenever I see you?"
(Oh shit, better think of a good cover story.)
"R-relationship? H-he is obviously just an idiot who needs help sometimes."
She heart Othinus scoff.
"Is that so? Then tell us at least. How did you two meet?"
"W-well, he tried to rescue me from some creepy men, and while doing that, he insulted me. So I chased him around town to teach him a lesson. That continued for a while, until he helped me out with a few problems of mine. And by getting to know him like that, I just learned how idiotic that idiot really is. So I just thought that I at least had to help him out from time to time. A-as a form of charity. Nothing more."
(Heh, I bet I fooled them with that one.)
"Oh, so he is just at most a friend for you, right, #3?"
"Y-yeah, nothing more, Othinus."
"Then I have just one question: Why have you never called him by his name? You just used mine, and we are way less familiar than you two. To me it seems like you don't use his name on purpose, as you probably couldn't hold yourself back if it ever left your lips in front on him."
"Pfff, I use his name constantly. Tell her Index."
Index tilted her head, as if she searched her memories.
"Nope, I can't think of a single time you called Touma 'Kamijou' or 'Touma'."
"You really are a foolish human. Trying to use the one with a photographic memory as an alibi by suggesting her something is quite foolish. You could have at least tried to bribe her with food."
(Wait, that idiot told me about her photographic memory just yesterday. And didn't she even just copy the moves while playing darts. Why did I forget something like that in such a crucial moment.)
"Heh, oops. B-b-ut shouldn't we continue with packing up the stuff."
"No dodging the question. I have thousands of years of experience watching your puny human squabbles. And your feelings are clear as day. If my understander wouldn't be so bad in understanding women in general, he could have gotten himself quite the large harem I would say."
"H-harem? How many girls are interested in him?"
Both Index and Othinus looked at each other while letting out a sigh. They both spoke in unison.
"Too many!"
Mikoto frowned.
"So more than that blonde bimbo and apparently a large part of my sisters?"
Index nodded.
"And let me guess. Both of you, too?"
Mikoto looked first at Index, and then at Othinus. The tiny goddess was the first one to speak.
"Well, I can't say that I hate my understander. But I am a thousand year old 15cm tall goddess. As long as I can help him while sitting on his shoulder, I am content."
Index looked deep in thought for a moment, before she shook her head slightly, as if to force something out.
"Did Touma ever tell you how I ended up with him, Mikoto?"
Mikoto thought back to the last evening. A warm feeling rose inside of her, as she remembered the time they spend together.
"Yes, he gave me a quick rundown. Your memory got erased every year, and he stopped it, correct?"
Index nodded.
"Yeah, that is correct. He saved me after only knowing me for such a short amount of time. And I was just so happy afterwards. I found someone who liked me. So when I saw him in the hospital afterwards, I confessed to him. But he just ignored it and made a stupid joke."
Mikoto looked a bit shocked. So someone already confessed to Touma. Luckily for her, it didn't seem to have resulted in them getting into a relationship. But that was apparently right after he lost his memories, so what if Index would do it again right now? Would he accept? Had Mikoto lost without even trying anything? Not wanting to seem coldhearted, Mikoto forced out some kind words.
"He rejected you. I am sorry Index, that must have felt terrible."
"It did. But you know what? I am happy about it. I had about a year of life experience at that point. And it is not like I got that much more life experience even in between the memory wipes which could have stayed somewhere inside of me. I don't even know what it feels like to have a family. How would I be able to understand romantic love. But I know that I felt and still feel love towards Touma. But with the time I realized more and more that he turned into the family I never had. He became my big brother that has to cook for me, clean up after me, and do all other kind of stuff. But he still puts up with it. And that is because I think that he feels kind of the same towards me. He lost his family too that night when his mind got wiped, you know. All the memories that make a family to a family are gone for him. So we are both some screwed up orphans who are there for each other. To make it clear again, I love Touma. But if you want to have a relationship with him Mikoto, then I won't be your adversary. As long as you promise to be kind towards him, and let me keep my big brother around me, I might even support you. Depending on if the food you will spoil me with is nice, of course."
Mikoto just gulped. What should she say now? Should she just deny everything again, or could she open her heart here at least a bit in front of others.
"Come on human, now tell us how you feel about my understander. The grimoire library poured her heart out, so try to at least be a bit more honest with your feelings."
(They were both honest. And I will be living together with them now, so if I can't trust them with this, how would I ever be able to trust them if we fight against someone again.)
Mikoto took a deep breath.
"I love that idiot, I did for some quite some time now."
It felt nice saying that. Some kind of floodgates seemed to have opened up inside of her. She just continued speaking out what her heart told her.
"I love how he is always there for others. I love how he stays so down to earth while being one of the most powerful beings on this planet. And I love our banter, how he pulls my strings, and still comes to my aid when I need him."
Othinus and Index looked pleased with the result they achieved. But sadly, Mikoto was not finished.
"But I can't confess to him yet. I feel like such a burden to him. He thanked me for helping him, but no matter how hard I try, I can't protect him. Some would say that me being there to help him when he returns from a battle would be enough, but that just isn't me. I know how heroic that idiot is, and he will get himself killed if one day he has to face a strong enemy on his own. The fight against Anna showed me that again. How will I ever be able to sit back and just let him do his thing. So as long as I can't stand by his side, I won't confess. That is something I promised to myself, and I will stand by that promise."
Both Othinus and Index seemed like they wanted to say something against that, but right at that moment, the door opened and Touma entered the room, carrying a large stack of folded up boxes.
"Hey guys, I told you to behave, not to do nothing while I was gone. Everything looks exactly like before. Come on, let's finish this up."
Mikoto was happy about the interruption. Even though she was unable to look at Touma at all right now, she felt that she said everything that needed to be said, and that whatever the other two might have objected to, would not have made a difference.
(But one day, I will tell him how I feel. That is another promise I am making to myself right now!)
The rest of the packing went by relatively quickly, so the four of them were done by the time the moving truck arrived. Othinus quickly hid herself inside one of Touma's pockets, and the boxes were carried downstairs and loaded onto the truck. After the apartment was completely empty, all of them headed out, and Touma went to his dorm manager to hand in his keys. With that out of the way, Index, who was holding Sphynx's transport box and Touma, who was hiding Othinus, entered the truck, which would drive them up to the new house. Touma saw Mikoto head towards their motorbike, put on her helmet and drive off. He heard the engine start and looked out through the windscreen, with a smile on his face.
Misaki arrived at Touma's old dorm at around midday.
(I know that it would pay off one day to copy Misaka-san's stalking ability.)
She went on the elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor. Even though it seemed like it would stop working multiple times during her short ride, it reached it after a while. She searched for his room number, fidgeting with her 'Coin of Nicholas' the whole time. When she finally spotted it, she was confused by his name plate missing on the door. She knocked nonetheless, but got no response after even waiting a few minutes. Quickly making up her mind, she turned around and headed straight for the dorm manager's office. A short elevator ride later, she knocked on his door and entered.
"Oh hello, what does a nice Tokiwadai lady want here in my dorm? Do you want to switch schools after the scandal with your 'Ace' was discovered?"
Misaki just smiled and ignored any subtext.
"No, I was just wondering in which room your resident, 'Kamijou Touma' is living right now? I knocked on his door but got no response."
The dorm manager wrinkled his brow slightly.
"I don't know what you would want form that troublesome boy, but you just missed him. He moved out about an hour ago."
"What? He moved out? Do you know his new address"
"No, he didn't give me a new address, sorry. And if I would have to guess why, I would say that it has something to do with these clones. I wonder if maybe he was involved in their creation. He never seemed like that scientifically inclined, but maybe I was wrong."
"Involved with the clones? Why would you think that?"
"Well, one of them was here and helped him move out."
(A clone helped him move. Or was it maybe someone who just looked like one?)
Misaki took out one of her remotes, aimed it at the dorm manager's head and pressed a button. Images of the previous hour flooded through mind.
Through the man's eyes, she looked out of his window. There, she spotted a group loading boxes into a moving truck. One employee of the company, a silver haired nun which didn't seem to help at all, a spiky haired boy, and another girl. But she could tell that this one was not a clone.
(I could spot that specific flat-chest ability out of all 10,000 of them. What did you do now, Misaka-san?)
Even though she didn't have his new address, she had a good lead: the name of the moving company.
(It seems like this time, the princess has to search for the place where her prince has been hidden.)