Welcome back to chapter 9. Sorry, that it took so long, but I had some trouble writing this chapter, as I always struggle to write scenes in which characters are told a recap of previous events. So when I struggle too write it for too long, I decide to have it happen off screen. If you really want to see proper reactions, I can recommend the fic: "Misfortune No One Sees, Until Now", by WwEpsilonwW.

jayasimha: Well, Mikoto and Misaki were attacked by AC students who were using magic, as R&C occultics spread magic manuals on the internet. And then the whole population of LA disappeared, so I would find it weird if magic wouldn't be widely known by now.

calvinhobbesliker: He didn't sneak a look at the rings, he just remembered that name and searched it on the internet. And yeah, it is nice to write some wholesome moments, but I am also looking forward to soon be able to introduce a lot more action, when all the buildup is done.

Blankow: I think that Mikoto could easily win a fight against Touma in canon if she really wants to. She just doesn't want to kill him. If she would accelerate a lot of iron sand from all directions towards him, he would be pretty defenseless.

Stryper88: Yeah, Kuroko can be kind of annoying, especially with her transformation in GT. I actually try to counteract it a bit in this chapter to transform her into a more likeable character.

SaSaltyDog: I am glad that you like it. I enjoy your stories as well.

n1a2m3e4: Well, magic is known already, so telling them about it wouldn't really mean that they get involved, unless Mikoto asks them for help explicitly.

fencer29: Well, still, a nun that eats more than a competitive eating champion and a tiny speaking goddess are quite weird. But so is everyone else in that city. And Touma prepared a big batch of breakfast, so Index just had to take some when she decides to head downstairs, so no head gnawing because of that.

Rekuta: Mhh, it would be quite hard to bring the memory loss up, especially as Mikoto knew Touma only a bit before it happened. And Touma asked her to keep it to herself, and I think that he would keep that promise.

Hunterkage Joestar: Glad that you liked that chapters so far, and thank you for pointing out some spelling errors. I really have to go through the earlier chapters again and correct them, but I keep on procrastinating it.

"So as I said before …, I planned on dying to save my sisters. But that idiot met one of them that evening I had planned on doing it, and also found the mangled corpse of another in an alley. Through that, he learned a bit about the experiment and wanted to speak with me about it."

Touma interrupted Mikoto.

"Well, maybe I should explain that part."

The Electromaster nodded.

"So yeah, I then went to her dorm, but Misaka wasn't there. Luckily Shirai-san let me in, which allowed me to find some papers about the experiment. And as I was scared for her wellbeing, I went out to search."

With a smile on his lips, he continued.

"I found her alone on a bridge, about to head off to fight Accelerator. Luckily I got through to her and apparently made a convincing enough statement that she shouldn't die that night. Then I just defeated the first ranked and everything turned out fine."

(So that ape was the one who saved her, not the seventh ranked. Which probably explains her stupid small crush on him.)

"So you 'just' defeated Accelerator, huh? I remember you being on the verge of death, and without you, everything would have gone differently."

"Ah, don't listen to Misaka, she is just exaggerating. I only did my own small part in the end there. Like in the Daihasei as well. Without Saten-san for example I might have not been in time, after all."

Saten looked perplexed.

"W-were you the one that stopped that terrorist from destroying the city?"

Touma looked a bit confused.

"Well, I wouldn't call Misaka a terrorist, but I helped a bit in the end to turn her back to normal."

Kuroko got confused.

"WAIT WHAT? Why would you think that onee-sama had been the terrorist? She had a stomach bug after all, which made her 'unavailable' the whole day."

Touma just began to chuckle, which in turn annoyed Mikoto, who flung a metal ladle from the kitchen towards his shoulder.

"Ow, such misfortune."

He rubbed his sore spot and got quiet. Instead of him, Mikoto began to speak.

"So Shokuhou tampered with your memories of that day, so let me give you a recap."

Kuroko couldn't quite believe what she had heard next. Them forgetting that they were friends with Mikoto, her being forcefully shifted to a Level 6, with Touma and Gunha being the ones to revert her back. But what shocked her the most was that her former roommate never told her friends anything about it afterwards. Her acting so grateful towards the boy during the folk dance suddenly made a lot more sense, as she was saved by him again.

(Grrr, why is he the one to always save her? Stupid troglodyte with his good luck.)

Unexpectedly, a small figurine crawled out from underneath the couch, walked over to the boy and climbed up on his shoulder.

"Okay esper, now that your science side kerfuffles are out of the way, you can finally tell them about the time you were allowed to fight against an almighty goddess."

Kuroko, Saten und Uiharu were just confused. Mikoto on the other hand acted more annoyed than anything.

"Come on Othinus, I wanted to ease them into it at least."

"Wait a minute onee-sama. Why are you calling the doll with the name of that terrorist from some months ago?"

"Because that IS the terrorist from some months ago."

The mouths of Kuroko, Uiharu and Saten fell open.

Mikoto, Touma and Othinus spend the next hour just telling the other three about the most important events they were involved in. World War 3, Gremlin, the Magic gods and how they indirectly tied into the heatwave. Right when they were told about the great demon Coronzon, Index came down as well, but after she had eaten, she just stocked up on some sweets and went upstairs again.

(Wow, that will take some time to digest.)

Uiharu leaned back and took a deep breath. They had just been told about R&C Occultics and Anna's attack during Christmas.

(So this is the reason why Misaka-san is living up here in the mountains with the others. I wish she would have been more honest with us, but I can kind of see her reasoning. The people they got tangled up with seem like quite the monsters.)

It felt a bit to her like she didn't really know the real Mikoto at all. But Touma seemingly did. They helped each other and seemed to have grown closer because of it. Saten, who was sitting right next to Uiharu, straightened her back. She could have sworn that she spotted a quick glimpse of a mischievous grin.

"So, Kamijou-san, if you were actually the one who helped Misaka-san to save her sisters, then you must have also been the recipient of the homemade cookies she baked at my dorm room. Can you still remember if you liked them? She really put a lot of effort into them."

Uiharu saw a sudden jolt going through Mikoto's body, whose head suddenly turned bright red.

"Huh, I can remember that she bought me some cookies, but no homemade ones."

"W-well, you see, I wanted to bring them to you, but I-I dropped them by accident into the river. Y-yes, that was it."

(Oh god, why is she so awkward around him. She should honestly just confess and get it over with. I mean, she lives in the same house as him now, how much easier does fate want to make it for her?)

Suddenly, the croaking of a frog could be heard. Mikoto took out her phone and had a quick glance at it. After apparently reading through a text, she at first leaned over towards Touma, but had a quick look around at the others as well. She seemingly made up her mind up about something and straightened her back again.

"So, that was Accelerator. I asked him to spread a fake story about me actually only being a Level 3 which was implanted with some new ability enhancing technology or something, so that my sisters would be left in peace, as the value of their DNA map would decrease significantly. He talked about it with some of his advisors, but it seemed like too many scientists would have had to be involved with it, so that such a cover story would not even last a week. But luckily, he had another idea, which was just set in motion."

A smile appeared on her face.

"So hopefully, I can visit the city again quite soon, I would just have to pretend to be a sister."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful onee-sama, I have so many plans ..."

Suddenly, Uiharus phone began to vibrate. As did Saten's and Kuroko's. Uiharu looked at the screen and saw that she received multiple texts from classmates and friends.

(Huh, why are they all writing me at the same time? And why do the others get messages as well?)

The first text she looked at told her to have a look at an official academy city website. The second as well. The third asked if she really knew Mikoto like she claimed, while also containing that link. Being curious, she clicked it.

Esper development in Academy City had not been fair in the past. Upon enrollment, every student's affinity for the power curriculum gets determined. As the funds of Academy City are limited, all these results are taken into consideration, and every students gets assigned a level at which, when it is reached, the power development will get stopped. This final level is not only determined by their ability for development, but also by the ability which will manifest. A very rare but useful power might mean that more funds are used. This was for example the case with Shokouhou Misaki, the fifth ranked Level 5, who would plateau at Level 3, and took a lot of additional funds to be increased to Level 5. As Electromasters are very common, on the other hand, Misaka Mikoto, the third ranked, was just chosen as she was the most economical choice of the group. There were a lot of other individuals with the same abilities as her who could have reached Level 5 with just an insignificant higher amount of funding than her. In addition to exposing this practice to the students of this city, this letter is also meant to show to outside organizations that abducting any of the clones of the third ranked is quite pointless, as a the added overhead of cloning would mean that it is more economical to use people from the outside of this city, which consent into being turned into espers. In addition to this statement, the whole list will be made public, so that each student can see for themselves what the city thought of their potential.

Going forward, changes will be made to the power curriculum, which will mean that every student will get allocated the same amount of funding. According to the Parameter List, this will result in the percentage of Level 0s decreasing significantly, but will also mean that Level 4 swill be the highest level which only a few students might reach.

Sincerely,

Accelerator, Chairman of Academy City

Link: Explore the Parameter List

The group was sitting there in silence, staring onto their screens. Apparently, Touma and Mikoto had received the link as well soon afterwards. Othinus, while sitting on the boys shoulder, was reading the text as well. Uiharu was keeping quiet as well, but not really because of shock.

(I should probably keep quiet about me knowing about it already. It seems like everyone will make a very big deal out of it, so feigning ignorance is probably my best bet right now.)

Saten, who was sitting next to her, began to sob quietly.

"(So all of my effort has been meaningless?")

Uiharu saw how Saten suddenly looked up towards Mikoto, who was currently staring out of a window, with a blank expression in her eyes.

"Misaka-san, did you know about that? You must have as a Level 5. How could you have lied to us all the time? TO ME? You said that hard work would pay off. But it just wasn't true. Did you say that to make your achievement seem better than it was? To make it seem like you actually worked, and not that you were just able to sit back and relax? Were you secretly laughing behind my back whenever I told you about my struggles? ANSWER ME, …, PLEASE!"

Uiharu saw that tears began to pool in Mikoto's eyes, who seemed to be struggling to hold them back. The Electromaster opened her mouth multiple times, but no sound came out. Instead, small sparks started to appear around her forehead, as the tears finally started to roll down her face. She jumped up from the couch, shook her head, and ran outside into the garden. Kuroko, as well as Touma got up at the same time.

"Saten-san, how dare you to insult onee-sama like that. And you, ape, what are you planning to do? Do you want to rush to onee-sama's side so that she can cuddle up to you in her sorrow? I, Shirai Kuroko, onee-sama's one and only herald, will not allow that. So stand back. I will take her into my warm embrace and …"

Othinus, who must have jumped off from Touma's shoulder and onto the table, cleared her throat.

"Shut up, esper."

She turned towards Touma.

"You go ahead human. Try to cheer her up a bit, she needs it."

Touma nodded, and followed Mikoto.

"B-but, why should I listen to you. Aren't I, as another high level esper, the best one of us all to be there for her? Aren't I the only one who could possibly understand?"

"Tsk, you are a Level 4 teleporter, right?"

"Y-yes."

"Well, I would say that you are one of the most privileged ones in this whole city."

Even Saten looked up in shock at that statement, tears still visible in her eyes.

"Huh, what do you mean? You know that us Level 4s are still way less powerful than the Level 5s, right? It is an exponential scale."

"Yes, yes, I know that. But look at it this way: You are blessed with a useful power which can be used a lot in a normal life. But you are still so weak that you don't feel responsible for the world. When you turn on the news and see that some bad guy is killing innocents, you might feel bad for the victims, but you won't think of going there to stop these atrocities. You play 'little miss law enforcement' in this city. And while there are probably dangerous situations where you might even have to save the whole city, you never have to worry about the fate of the entire world. How do you think you would feel if one wrong move on your part means that humanity ceases to exist?"

Kuroko averted her gaze and looked down towards the floor. Othinus on the other hand looked at Saten.

"And you, the human with the long black hair. Did I see it correctly that you got mad because this city fucked you over by not making you into an esper, while it apparently gave all of their resources to the Level 5s?"

Saten apparently tried to calm herself down by taking some deep breaths, before she started to speak.

"Y-yes. I am mad because of that. Why wouldn't I be? Misaka-san has a superhuman ability, which earns her lots of money and fame. I have seen how most of the rich girls at her school adore her. And I thought so far that it was all hard earned by her. And I was happy for her. But now I see that some computer just made the decision to prioritize her over almost anybody else. I just had a quick look at all of our names on the list, and do you know what I have seen? Compared to Shirai-san' classmate, Kongou-san, it would have been cheaper for me to reach Level 4 than her. But there was a small note at her entry, which just noted that giving her the highest level of all wind manipulators would be for the best, as it would lead her rich parents to look even more favorable upon Academy City. And that also meant that no one with a similar ability should stand above her, or even near her level."

Big tears ran down her face.

"So every time my parents looked at me with disappointment when I told them that I didn't increase my power again, it was actually not my fault. It was the fault of this corrupt city and the privilege of the rich."

Uiharu reached out and hugged Saten.

"Oh god, Saten-san, that's horrible."

(If only I would have known her earlier, I could have maybe changed the list in her favor. But that would have meant to take development away from someone else. It really is unfair.)

Uiharu had never really been bothered by her Level 1 ability. She was already one of the most proficient computer expert in the city, so she never really felt inferior to the high Level espers. But she knew that for Saten, who lived more or less the life of a normal teenager, this was different."

The tiny goddess, who listened to Saten attentively so far, finally began to speak again.

"Mhh, I can see your point. But still, be angry at the higher ups of this city then, and not at the students who didn't know about it. And see, you wished for a Level 4 ability. Probably to feel a bit more humble, and not too demanding. But as I said before, being a Level 5 sucks for all of the ones I know of, except maybe number 6 and 7. The first ranked was tricked into killing more than 10,000 human beings, and then he got a bullet to the head. The second one might have been turned into a volleyball by me, the fourth ranked killed one of her few friends and was turned into a cyborg, the fifth ranked lost parts of her brain, went through serious trauma, and lost multiple people who are dear to her."

Othinus looked Saten directly into the eyes, which were a lot less teary by now.

"And your friend, the third ranked, in addition to feeling guilty about the death of her sisters, is currently chasing after the person she loves, in hope of protecting him. Just a few days ago she wanted to sacrifice herself again to save him. She has seen multiple times by now how he is used by powerful people in this world to stop a threat. And she know how he is okay with it, which just worries her even more. When you humans wish for a strong esper ability, you probably see yourself saving the weak and living a life of adventure and fun. But you don't see the sacrifices you would have to make. Your friend desires more power as well, even on her level. But that is not because she thinks that it will give her a more exiting life or anything. She just wants to protect the people that are close to her, as well as the rest of the world. I can guess with a pretty high certainty that she would gladly give up all of her powers in exchange for a happy life for her and everyone else. But she knows that it doesn't work like that, so she struggles and struggles to advance even further, all in the hope that one day she can save the world."

Othinus let her gaze wander outside of a window.

"So please, now that you know about her secret life, could you be there for her by just being her friends? I ask you to not hold a grudge for her being the one with power. I know few people who would use it as responsible as her, so please just trust in her judgement."

Uiharu, Kuroko, and Saten nodded. After a few seconds of silence, Uiharu saw a sudden jerky movement next to her.

"Wa-wa-wa-wait. You misspoke previously, right? You said that onee-sama chases after the person she loves, but isn't it the other way around? I mean, I can't deny that she is a bit infatuated with that ape, but it is the other way around, with him constantly hitting on her, as he is just that hopelessly in love? I mean, who wouldn't be? And his behavior is after all also the reason for my increasingly desperate and depraved attempts to win her over. It just feels like I will lose if I don't give it my all."

Saten's mood seemed to have improved a bit, as a small chuckle could be heard from her.

"Oh Shirai-san, it is quite obvious that Misaka-san is into him for a longer time. But why do you think they aren't a couple yet?"

Kuroko rubbed her head while tilting it a bit.

"Mhhh."

"Tsk, the reason is that my understander is dense as a brick wall. He has quite a few of girls chasing after him, but he is oblivious to every one of them. But I think the third ranked has good chances, if she some day would find the guts to confess."

Kuroko slumped down.

"I-I-I lost against someone who didn't even know he was playing."

Touma walked out into the garden. Because of a bit of wind which was blowing the whole morning already, all of the previous footsteps had almost disappeared. This luckily just made it easier to follow the one fresh trail, which lead straight into the forest. When he stepped through the tree line, he was able to hear some quiet sobbing, mixed with the crackle of electric discharges. Around 5 meters ahead of him, he saw Mikoto sitting on a large rock, with the legs pulled up towards her torso, and her head resting on her knees. She seemed to have noticed him as well, as she looked up at him, with tears in her eyes.

"Please, just leave me alone. I already know that I should leave, as I am nothing more than a phony."

She started to shake her head slightly, and started to mumble to herself.

"(Now I am all alone again.)"

Touma closed the distance between them and sat down on the left next to her. Some sparks came dangerously close to his face, so he wrapped his right arm around Mikoto's waist. This disabled her ability and also caused her to look up at him.

"What are you saying there Misaka? I doubt anybody here would want you to leave."

"But Touma, you saw how Saten reacted. The city used me to show how everyone could become a Level 5 if they just worked hard enough. And I repeated it myself so many times as well. How many people were lured into this city because of me? How many joined Skill-Out or the dark side because their power development hit a dead end?"

Tears began to pool up in her eyes again.

(D-did she just use my name. And the given one at that? Okay, something must be seriously broken inside of her.)

"And how many of them died because of it? Were my sisters just the tip of the iceberg? For how many more deaths am I responsible?"

Touma slid his hand up towards her head, and started to ruffle her hair a bit.

"Why would you take that responsibility onto yourself? You were deceived, just like the rest of us. And if you feel guilty about that, then how do you think Mr. 'Reason for Academy City existing', who is sitting right next to you, should feel?"

"Oh, right, it is a bit similar for you."

"Not only a bit I would say."

He looked up, where the dark, bare crown of a tree stood in stark contrast to the white of the cloudy sky.

"You know, when we came back from the UK, I struggled quite a bit with that knowledge. Isn't everything bad that happened here in this city, and all over the world, kind of my fault? You told me in Denmark that I shouldn't put the suffering of the whole world onto my shoulders. But what if the suffering was all directly caused by me?"

Mikoto shook her head, which caused Touma's hand to turn her hair into quite a mess.

"But that is just stupid. You are not some kind of supervillain that aims to make the world a worse place. Quite the opposite I would say. People with hidden agendas just drag you into their stuff. That is not your fault."

A smile formed on Touma's lips.

"Exactly. I came to the same conclusion with the help of Othinus. And as long as you don't blame me for what happened to your sisters, I won't allow you to blame yourself for what happened to people because of lies you were told."

Mikoto smiled back for a short moment, before she lowered her head again, this time seemingly more in shame than in sorrow.

"But you know, I haven't been completely fair to others in the past. Whenever I got hit on by a group of delinquents, I told myself that it is okay to punish them, as they could defend themselves against me if they would have just put more effort into their studies. But I see now that this was quite the wrong thing to do."

A small scoff escaped from Touma's mouth.

"Ahh, so that's why you chased after me, as you saw me as a super genius with a perfect work ethic. I see, I see. You were scared that the teachers would like me more or what."

He started to laugh, until a he felt a punch to his shoulder.

"Ow, okay, okay, no teasing for a while, I get it."

"You better do, you idiot. But still, your power is at least yours, and not only given by some adults in suits who see you as a good return of investment."

"Well, I was born with this ability, so it is the same as you who was born with the right parameters to reach Level 5 easily. No one blames a university for having requirements you have to fulfill to attend. You can criticize the social injustice of some people having easier access to higher education, but you shouldn't discredit the hard work most of the people at the top do as well.

Touma lowered his head again.

"And come on, stop being so hung up on that. It is not like your parents paid for you to become the third ranked. You were chosen because you have a high aptitude for it. I mean, they probably used your stubbornness to make you work even harder. And you know, even if all the work you did to reach Level 5 was not needed, you should never think that it was given to you for free. Look at all the shit you had to go through because of you Level 5 status. The sisters, the attempt to shift you to Level 6, and the disasters of getting involved in my misfortune."

Degrading himself seemed to have the desired effect, as Mikoto seemed to cheer up a bit again.

"You are right, not everything has been bad."

(Huh, that is not what I said. Well, as long as she feels better.)

Touma retracted his hand which had been in her hair up to this point and stood up. Mikoto seemed only now have realized that his hand had been in her hair, as she quickly went and straightened it out again. When she seemed to be done, Touma extended his hand towards her.

"Let's go back inside Misaka. I bet that your friends have calmed down as well. And if they are still mad at you, then I will help you to make up. I promise."

Mikoto smiled at him, and grabbed his hand.

"Thank you!"

"And one last thing. I am glad that you were the one to get your power. Using it to help others is the best thing about being powerful, so I am glad that you use your powers for that as well."

Mikoto blushed slightly. Together, they walked back towards the house.

The reunion went very well in Touma's opinion. Right when they walked inside, Saten jumped up and ran towards Mikoto, embracing her in a tight hug. Both girls apologized and soon after walked over to the couch to sit down with the others.

(Mhh, they probably have a lot to talk about, so I should give them some space.)

An idea formed in his head, so he walked over to the group as well.

"Hey, I was thinking. Would you want to spend the day here? I mean, you probably can't stay until midnight because of your curfew, but if you want to, you could stick around until the evening? I was planning on getting some shopping done beforehand anyways, so I could bring back some ingredients for a hotpot, if you would like."

Mikoto, Saten and Uiharu all nodded. Kuroko let out a small growl, but looked around the group and nodded reluctantly as well.

(Well, the least I can do is to try to save Mikoto's New Year's at least.)

He quickly gathered some wishes for ingredients and sat down at the kitchen table to write a shopping list. It was weird to not have to worry about the price of food anymore, but it gave him quite a bit more possibilities what he could prepare. When he was done, he ordered a taxi and walked upstairs to get changed out of his slightly damp clothes into fresh ones. Afterwards, he stepped back into the hallway, only to see that Mikoto's door was slightly ajar. From inside, he could hear a quiet meow.

(Did Sphynx break out of Index's room or what? Mhh, Mikoto shouldn't be allergic to cat hair, as her sister is doing fine with her cat.)

The noise of a quiet crash from behind the door brought him out of his thoughts. The cat seemed to have knocked something over, so Touma decided to quickly chase it out of there.

(Oh no, what if he scratches up one of her frog dolls. I wonder if she could fire animals by railgun.)

After he heard Mikoto's laughter from downstairs, he was quite certain that he wouldn't walk into something inappropriate. A bit more at ease with this information, he opened the door. On the other side, he saw Sphynx sitting on the bed, dangerously close to a large pile of plush figures. Him entering seemed to have startled the cat, as it jumped up and began a mad dash towards the door. Its way lead it across Mikoto's nightstand, across the floor, and out of the door. After a few moments, he heard some dull noises, followed by an excited squeal coming from downstairs.

(So he makes a mess for me to clean up, only to go downstairs to get pampered by some girls. But that's just my misfortune.)

He walked over and bent down. The victims of Sphynx's rampage were luckily not too numerous. A small lamp was laying next to a knocked down Gekota figurine. He placed these objects, as well as numerous arcade coins, which were laying next to a knocked over dispenser, back onto their previous spots. Just as he was about to stand up again, he spotted a familiar black box underneath the bed. He reached underneath and pulled it out. The force of the impact must have opened it, as the velvet covered inside was visible, with one colorful ring was wedged inside of it, but with another gap ominously empty.

(Did she already give the other one away. But why wouldn't she wear hers then in that case.)

He took out his phone and activated its flashlight to have a deeper look under the bed. After a few moments of shining it around, a wide range of colors were reflected into his eyes.

(So she hasn't given it away. Knowing her, she probably is too prideful to even admit that she likes someone in that way, so why am I even surprised.)

He pushed his arm further under the bed and grabbed the ring. After he had pulled his arm back out, he was about to put it back into its box, when a sudden thought entered his mind.

(I should better wipe away my fingerprints, or I myself will find out if she can railgun living beings.)

He grabbed his shirt and started cleaning the ring. When he started working on the inside, he felt a slight resistance compared to the smooth outside he had already polished.

(Huh, probably an engraving.)

Touma felt internally conflicted. On one hand, it would be wrong to invade Mikoto's privacy by finding out who that mysterious person would be. On the other hand, finding it out would give him the chance to play Cupid. He felt that she deserved at least some more positive things happening in her life, so helping her to overcome her tsundereness would probably be a good start. Before he really had made a decision in his head, his hands and eyes already moved.

(Oh.)

His mouth fell open and his breathing stopped. Inside of the rainbow colored interior, he saw thin silver lines, which formed two names, with a symbol in between. No matter how he turned it around, he could only think of one possible interpretation what the inside of the ring wanted to convey to whoever read it.

Mikoto loves Touma

Before he could form any cohesive thought, he felt his phone vibrate. Startled by the sudden noise, he quickly put the ring back in, closed the box, placed it onto the nightstand, and left the room. Only after he carefully closed the door to Mikoto's room did he feel like he could breath again. He checked his phone and saw that his taxi had arrived. After hurrying down, he was about to head out of the door, when Mikoto called out to him. He flinched slightly, but thought that he kept his cool quite well.

"Hey, we heard some noises from upstairs? Is everything okay?"

"O-oh, yeah, I just fell down while changing. Such misfortune, you know, the usual. Anyways, my ride is here, so I will see you later."

He turned around and headed out into the foyer, closing the door behind him. He took some deep breaths to calm down. Just as he was about to open the front door, did he heard the door behind him open again.

"Hey idiot, you almost forgot your shopping list."

Mikoto grinned at him with a wide smile. Meeting her friends again was probably one of the best things that had happened to her in the last couple of days, so not even the reveal of the Parameter List could keep her spirits down for too long. A warm feeling engulfed his heart, as he tried to show a casual smile back to her.

"T-thanks for looking out for me. Anyways, see you soon Misaka."

He opened the front door and stepped onto the snow covered path. On the street he could see the taxi he ordered idling.

The car was currently driving over some tree lined streets which led down the mountain and into the city. A small dusting of snow on top of the trees gave the whole area a fairy tale feeling, but Touma couldn't appreciate it right now, as he was deep in thought.

(Huh, I didn't expect that Mikoto would like me like THAT.)

Touma had briefly considered that the girl knew multiple people with his name. And while that might explain why she only ever called him 'idiot' (until earlier today at least), it didn't hold up to scrutiny. Looking back at her past behavior towards him, with that extra piece of information he had gathered today in mind, made it quite obvious that the girl liked him. How often she got flustered around him, how she got annoyed when he made jokes about never finding anybody who would love him, how her crazy ex-roomate always attacked him when they were together.

(Thinking of which, she already danced with me during that folk dance. And she dragged me out on multiple dates without me even realizing it. But to be fair, she was quite subtle with her behavior, so I shouldn't feel to bad that I didn't see it. But still, this brings me to the real problem.)

While Touma often spoke openly about his bad luck in regards to love, he was still not that desperate that he would get together with just anyone. In Mikoto's case it was not a matter of missing attraction or an aversion of being close to her. Even only thinking back to the smile she showed him some minutes ago made his heart flutter, so he was quite sure that, while he was not sure if it was love already, he at least felt some attraction towards her as well. No, the real problem was that Touma was unsure about the reason Mikoto felt so drawn towards him.

(What if she only likes me because I saved her and her sisters? Maybe she feels some weird obligation towards me which she misinterprets as love.)

Even though Touma acted quite confident a lot of times, he was still very self conscious about the reason why others liked him. He feared that most of the people he knew didn't really like the normal high school boy that he is, but a persona that they put upon him as their savior.

(But Mikoto at least always tries to help me, so she doesn't see me as an invincible hero at least.)

The taxi arrived at the supermarket Touma had given as the destination. He asked the driver to wait and got out. He had some more thinking to do.

It was now evening. After the initial shock about the reveal of the Parameter List had settled down, Mikoto felt like the rest of the day had gone very well. Her friends and her had talked more about the events she and Touma had been involved in, as well as other, more mundane stuff. Touma had returned after a while with a lot of bags filled with groceries. In a surprise to Mikoto, Kuroko had volunteered to help him by teleporting bag after bag inside either the kitchen or the basement. After Touma had stored the fresh produce in the fridge, he had left them alone again and went upstairs to his room, stating that he would give the group some privacy. Othinus had apparently noticed something she announced that she would have to talk to him.

The next hours went by in the blink of an eye. They had talked some more while eating snacks, Touma had come down to prepare the hotpot, and everyone ate to their heart's content. The girls, especially Saten, had even taken a liking to Index, who they at first saw as a mysterious magician. That image of awe held as long as it took for the small nun to eat a whole kilogram of meat, so only around a minute. But that display only seemed to intrigue Saten even more, as she started to talk about the urban legend of a the 'devouring foreigner'. Which brought them to the current time. The last bus would drive soon, so the three visitors had to get going soon to catch it.

"Have a good trip home. I hope that you can visit me up her some time again. And with the board chairman's plan hopefully deterring others from going after my sisters, I might be able to go down into the city as well."

Mikoto was currently standing inside of the opened front door. An icy wind was blowing in her face, but she didn't mind. Saten, Uiharu and Kuroko were standing just outside. They smiled and nodded about the prospect of seeing Mikoto again in the future.

"Well, onee-sama, try to behave yourself. Even though you left Tokiwadai, you are still a fine lady after all."

Saten and Uiharu, apparently knowing something that Mikoto didn't, giggled a bit. After giving a small wave, Kuroko placed one hand on Saten's, and the other on Uiharu's shoulder. After all four wished a good bye and a happy New Year, they disappeared. The Electromaster looked up into the night sky.

"(I hope that the new year will actually be a happy one.)"

She went inside. Index was sitting on the couch, watching an anime Mikoto didn't really know anything about. Othinus was sitting on the table, watching as well, with a finger on the switch of her backpack. The cat had already made several attempts on the tiny goddess' life. Luckily for her, every one of them had been successfully prevented by virtue of the EM backpack, which had discouraged the small feline apparently enough for today, as it was laying on the ground, curled up and sleeping.

(Mhh, it seems like it gets a bit closer with each try. If it continues like that I might be able to pet it in a month or so.)

Touma on the other hand was currently loading the large amount of dishes that had piled up inside of the dishwasher. Not wanting him to suffer for her friends coming over, Mikoto went over to help. As she was approaching, she already gather up all the metal utensils using her magnetism and floated them into the dishwasher. Touma seemed like he wanted to say something, but Mikoto was quicker.

"You better watch what you say, idiot. If you say anything about ways of applying my ability in the domestic setting again, some of the cutlery might end up in your face rather than the dishwasher!"

Touma seemingly bit his tongue, but then a small smirk appeared on his face.

(Oh no, what is he going to do now.)

"Oh, by the way Misaka-sama, this small Kamijou-san still has to thank you for blessing his ears with the sound of his name from your lips."

"Wha-wha-what do you mean with that, I use your name all the time?"

"Oh, is that so. Then you must talk about me a lot with others, as I can't really recall you ever using my name."

Mikoto got flustered. She knew herself that she didn't really use Touma's name to talk to him, but she had tried to get better with it by using it at least without him being there. But that had apparently backfired, as she used it in a moment of high mental stress.

(Now he will forever associate me calling him by his name with me sitting in a forest with tears in my eyes. His misfortune seems to rub off onto me. Okay Mikoto, time to weasel your way out of this clusterfuck you brought upon yourself.)

"W-well, your idiotic brain might just not remember whenever I use your name. I mean, why wouldn't I?"

The speed in which Touma came up with a response made Mikoto only more nervous.

"Mhh, you might have a point. Could you maybe use it right now, to help my mind remember all the other times."

(Damn, he is playing me like a fiddle. Okay Mikoto, you trained for this moment. Just say his name. There is nothing special about it.)

"Well, i-i-if you insist, T-T-T-Tou-m-m-ma"

A small giggle could be heard. But it didn't come from the boy in front of her, but from a certain fairysized someone..

(Oh there will be punishment. For her sake, she better checks the functionality of the EM generator daily.)

Touma's voice brought the plotting of her revenge to a halt.

"Yeah Misaka, now I remember. I think I just forgot because I searched my brain for you using the family name, while westernized Mikoto uses my given one."

(SHIT SHIT SHIT. Why do you never work properly around this guy, brain?)

"But if that is the way you want to use names, then I will of course oblige and call you Mi-ko-to from now on."

Hearing Touma to stress each of her name's syllables send her heart into a spin. The female esper's head turned red in an instant.

(AHHH, what should I do. But if I think about it, it has its advantages. It will make talking about and with my sisters easier for him. And he won't have to change the name he uses to call me when we get married. Wait, what. BRAIN, why? Why?)

She could only stutter out some incomprehensible words. Touma seemed to grow a bit concerned, as he mumbled something to himself.

"(I might have overdone it a bit. I should let her cool down for a while.")

After about a minute, Mikoto had calmed herself down enough to give an answer.

"W-well, if you want to, you can call me that. Not that I would care or anything."

Touma just chucled.

"Of course, of course."

(Phew, at least you stuck the landing, Mikoto.)

"And by the way, Mikoto, while shopping I remember the story about you dropping the cookies you made for me into the river. So I wanted to ask if you would like to bake some with me right now? There are still some hours left until the new year, so it would be nice to have some homemade snacks we could eat until then. All depending, of course, if you still remember the recipe."

Mikoto didn't notice it, but Touma knew how to push her buttons quite well. Ending the request to bake together with a challenge to her intellect had been the right way, as she had no time to turn into an embarrassed stuttering mess. She was just too busy commanding Touma to gather all of the ingredients.

The preparations progressed nicely. The idea of baking together with Mikoto had come to Touma while he was out buying groceries. He knew that he would like to spend more time with Mikoto, and this gave him the perfect opportunity to get to work with her together in a (mostly) peaceful setting, instead of the usual fights they got tangled up in all the time. After he had come home, he went upstairs to think more about the information of Mikoto's love for him. Othinus had joined soon after, and as she was his understander as well, he asked her for some advice. While the tiny goddess had ridiculed him for some time about his inability to spot the obvious, she had calmed down after a while and had given him some advice. She apparently understood Touma's wish to know more about the reason for the love. But she also told him that it would take some pretty deep talks to get to know about the reasons and to determine if he really would want to be in a relationship with her. But doing these things would be difficult if the girl would turn into a stuttering mess whenever the topic of romance came up. So Othinus had suggested that he should try to throw Mikoto into the cold water by being way bolder than usual. This would hopefully result in her warming up to being a bit more honest with Touma as well.

(Huh, Othinus seemed to have been right. She was quite normal the whole time we were baking.)

Right from the start, Touma had decided for himself that, even though Mikoto confessed indirectly and unknowingly to him through the rings already, she should be the one to confess using her words if they would ever want to become a couple. The reason for that was simple: There was the real possibility of a city wide power outage if he would confess to an unsuspecting Mikoto. So giving her hints that he might like her as well was the most Touma dared to do.

(But that is all for later. I first have to find out what she sees in me. I don't want her to love some hero that doesn't exist, only to then project that love onto me.)

Mikoto had just put the cookies into the oven, so Touma went for it.

"Hey Mikoto, I noticed that your friend Uiharu talked a lot about knights in shining armor. But I always wonder if girls really like to be saved that much."

The girl didn't seem to notice the intent behind the question and just answered honestly.

"Well, some are probably like that, but I can't really see the appeal of seeing someone getting into danger to protect you."

"Oh ho, so what does it for you, Mikoto? Good looks? Intellect? Athleticism?"

She looked Touma deep into the eyes.

"Tsk, I have enough of that already."

(Ouch, that will leave a mark on my confidence.)

"N-not that it would hurt, of course. But to be honest, I want someone who sees me as a normal person. There are so many who see me as a perfect rich girl. Or they did, before the sisters were revealed. I don't want to stand on a pedestal, or want to constantly think about my behavior around a partner. I just want to be the real Mikoto, and it just so happens that she sometimes acts a bit like a delinquent."

"Hehe, a bit, sure, sure."

She lightly punched his right shoulder.

"Yeah yeah, you are one to talk, T-T-Touma."

(She is kind of cute when she get embarrassed. And her liking me, because she can be her true self when she is with me is kind of heartwarming.)

"And what about you. What idiotic preferences do you have? Big boobs?"

(Heh, so she wants to gather some information herself.)

"Don't misrepresent this poor Kamijou-san like that. I have many preferences. But most importantly, I want someone who can take care of me. And maybe someone who sets me straight when I leave the proper path."

(Huh, she already fits the stereotype of a caring onee-sama a lot already. And she is probably the person with the most little sisters in existence in the whole world, given that she has almost 10,000 of them.)

"Well, maybe you will find someone like that in the future."

"Hahah, yeah."

Mikoto took a peak inside of the oven.

"Okay, I think they are ready. Get ready to have your mind blown by my fantastic cookies."

Othinus was currently riding on top of Touma's should up the nearest mountain. They had spend the evening playing board games and eating cookies, which turned out surprisingly delicious, while watching television. When the clock had gotten closer to midnight, Mikoto proposed that they should try to get the best view of the fireworks which were about to go off in Academy City as well as in some parts of Tokyo. Next to Touma, Mikoto was walking with only little distance between them. The tiny goddess was quite content with the work she had done today.

(Well, it seems that these two are getting a bit closer already.)

When Touma asked her for advice, she purposefully left out the information Mikoto had given her directly, as she didn't want to betray her trust. But as she also wanted a bit more entertainment in her life, she directed Touma to make Mikoto squirm from embaressment a bit more than what would probably be necessary.

(Heh, I might have given up any romantic hope on my understander, but that doesn't mean that I won't make others work for it.)

They reached the top two minutes before midnight. In front of them, a gigantic sea of lights stretched up to the horizon. Touma was standing on a small rock, with Index to his left, and Mikoto to his right. He apparently wanted to take the opportunity of having a bit of time left to hold a small speech.

"It has been an interesting year. I fought a lot of enemies, but also made some very good friends and allies. And having you three around me fills me with tremendous joy, so I wanted to say thank you for being there for me."

Right as he finished, fireworks erupted in front of them. Othinus saw a smile forming on Touma's face.

"Happy New Year everyone! Let's try to make the best out of it!"

This chapter is the end of the first arc. I tried to tie up a lot of loose plot points that Kamachi has still left hanging. Looking back, it could be said that I rushed some of the plots a bit, but I wanted to take the events of GT4 as a big catalyst for change, so I just went with it.

So Touma and Mikoto aren't school students anymore and have more backing from the city. Mikoto's friends know now about all the fights that have happened for the last couple of months, and Touma's former classmates will also probably find out, when the school year starts again, and they are suddenly missing two of the three idiots.

And of course I advanced the Kamikoto plot, as I tagged the story with that for a reason. I don't want to rush any development between them, but by having Touma know about Mikoto's love, I can hopefully get some nice development out of it. Especially with a Touma who is getting bolder and bolder to try to get Mikoto to confess already, while she is the dense one who doesn't even acknowledge the possibility at all.

My life is a bit busy right now, so I can't promise when the next chapter will come out, but I will try my best. And I promise that I won't abandon the story.