Misaka Mikoto lay in her bed, lost in thought. It had been a really long and somewhat frustrating day. Her penalty game with that idiot had gone completely awry, and afterwards they had gotten involved in some trouble that was brewing in Academy City. She had helped him and that nun out in saving their friend, but Mikoto still didn't know many of the details, especially since the nun had hung up on her instead of explaining what was going on.

Having mentally revisited the scenes in Seventh Mist over and over again, Mikoto sighed, "I really lost my temper again when I saw him hanging out with my sister. Why can't I ever keep my cool around him? I always get either angry or flustered." She recalled the sequence of events, "I was gone for a while looking at Gekota merchandise, so of course he would help her find her goggles when she asked. And I chose to ditch him soon after that, so I guess it's my fault we didn't spend more time together."

That last thought prompted her to question herself, "Wait, why do I want to spend so much time with that idiot anyway?" She suddenly started recalling the scene where they tried to take a photo of them as a couple for the pair contract, and Mikoto blushed while remembering how nice their partial hug had felt. Too bad Kuroko had been as annoying as usual and interrupted their moment. "I might need to have a serious talk with her about ruining our times together. She even interrupted us during the folk dance! He definitely doesn't deserve to get drop kicked just because of Kuroko's perverted crush on me."

Mikoto concluded, "I guess it's not too bad being with him. He got on my nerves a lot, but he did go along with the pair contract, and he didn't complain about taking that picture together." Recalling what her sister said to her, she wondered, "What did she mean when she said I wasn't being honest with him? I wasn't lying about dragging him around to a bunch of shops for the penalty game." Mikoto had instantly denied it at the time, but now that she had more time to think about it, she wondered if there wasn't some truth to her sister's jab.

The girl buried her face in her pillow as she came to a realization, "Ahh, who am I kidding. She obviously meant that I have feelings for that idiot. I mean, I've been interested in him ever since I met him and found out he could negate my ability. But ever since he saved me and my sisters, I always get nervous and flustered when thinking about him or being around him. Of course, he definitely hasn't noticed or anything."

Her sister had then taken a "more direct approach" and grabbed onto the boy's arm, showing off the heart-shaped necklace he bought her. "I guess my sister likes him too. No surprise, he did save her too, after all."

She continued thinking of her sister with that boy, "I should ask him why he bought her that necklace. Does he like her too? He always seems annoyed whenever he's around me, but he didn't have any problems being with her. Maybe he does prefer the little sister type."

Mikoto sighed, "He probably doesn't even see me as a friend. But I guess we've never gotten the chance to see each other outside of dangerous situations. The only times we've hung out together were during that fake date and the penalty game." In both of those cases, she had a pretext for them to be together, but she hadn't ever tried to ask him to hang out with her. "What if I were to be more direct, like my sister? Could I just go up to that idiot the next time I see him and ask him to hang out?"

The girl's face became almost entirely red as she imagined herself doing that, and she was unsure if she could actually go through with it for real. "But if I manage to ask him honestly, and tell him that I have no ulterior motive, maybe he'll see me differently? He thought I was really looking forward to making him suffer during the penalty game, but I really just wanted to spend some time with him."

Mikoto hated that the boy only seemed to see her as an annoyance. "I guess it doesn't help that I try to shock him almost every time we see each other. I'm not really trying to hurt him, since he always blocks my attacks, but I can't blame him for being wary of me. Okay then, I just need to make sure to keep my temper in check the next time I see him! Hopefully then he won't just run away from me again, and maybe I can apologize to him for acting childish today."

Due to the pair contract, they had gotten each other's phone numbers. Mikoto wasn't sure if he would respond to any texts or calls, since he always seemed to be busy, but she was sure she would run into him in person before long. Then, he wouldn't be able to ignore her as easily. Mikoto smiled now that she had come up with a solid plan for the next time she ran into that boy. She soon began to fall asleep, imagining what they could do together the next time they hung out.

Meanwhile, Kuroko had been silently observing her roommate from her own bed. She knew that her onee-sama and that troglodyte had done their penalty game earlier today, but Kuroko couldn't understand why she had been looking so forward to it. Kuroko had run into them earlier at the underground mall, and she had been furious when she saw them embracing each other for a photo. Fortunately, she was able to dispatch him before he did anything more to her onee-sama, but she was still concerned about his bad influence on her roommate.

Once they had both returned home, Kuroko saw that Mikoto seemed frustrated, and figured that the boy had done something to hurt her. "I don't like seeing onee-sama look like that, but maybe now she'll finally realize that that troglodyte is not worthy of her!" She still seemed frustrated when she went to bed, and as Kuroko watched her, she could tell that Mikoto was a bit sad and thinking hard about something. Eventually, however, seemed to come to a resolution and smiled again. Kuroko smiled as well, "I'm glad to see you're feeling better, onee-sama! Maybe you've finally realized that I'm the only one for you!"

After fantasizing about her roommate and for a bit, Kuroko recalled something odd she had seen earlier that day. While walking around in Seventh Mist, she thought she saw her onee-sama running as if she was chasing someone. That in itself was not too unusual, but she had also been carrying a submachine gun! Kuroko had only seen a glimpse of the girl and had called out to her, but she quickly disappeared. She couldn't think of any reason for Mikoto to carry a gun, since her powers were more than enough. "It must have been someone that just looked like onee-sama. But she was definitely wearing a Tokiwadai uniform, and I've never seen her around the school before. As a member of Judgement, I'll have to look into this further." With that resolved, Kuroko soon fell asleep as well.

The next day, Mikoto made her regular trip to the vending machine after school. As usual, she delivered a strong kick to the machine, forcing it to dispense a drink. While enjoying her drink, the girl began observing her surroundings. "I usually run into him around here, but what are the odds he'd show up today, of all days? There's no way I'd be that lucky." She took out her phone and brought up Kamijou Touma's contact, wondering if she should send him a text. But before Mikoto could do so, she caught a glimpse of spiky black hair, and looked up to see the boy in question.

Touma was walking along the path past the vending machine, tired from yet another long day of school. Looking forward to heading straight home, he made the mistake of turning his head to the right. He immediately saw the girl and, before he could think of any way to escape, Mikoto looked up and made eye contact with him. Her eyes widened in surprise, but the girl quickly shouted, "Hey, you!" and started approaching the boy, causing him to panic. "Just my rotten luck! Of course I would run into her! And there's no way I can get away from her now."

The girl was soon in front of him, and Touma could tell that she was determined to talk to him about something. "Misaka got pretty mad at me yesterday for some reason, but then we had to deal with the trouble caused by Vento. Is she still angry?" Bracing himself, the boy smiled and greeted her, "Hey Biri-Biri, what's up?"

"Ugh, there's that annoying nickname again!" Mikoto usually became really annoyed whenever he called her that, but she let it slide this time so her plan could work. Instead of yelling at him for using that nickname, the girl asked the boy, "Are you free this weekend?"

Touma was a bit surprised she didn't comment on the nickname, but she still had a slightly irritated expression on her face. He hesitantly replied, "I don't have any plans or anything, but with my luck I might get caught up in trouble. Why?" The boy was a bit worried about what the girl was planning. It didn't seem like she was still angry about the penalty game, but he could never be certain with her.

Mikoto's face reddened as she gathered her courage, but she soon managed to ask, "Okay, do you want to hang out then? Since we got interrupted yesterday, I mean?" The girl looked down and played with her fingers as she made this request. "Oh man, why is this so embarrassing? It's not like I'm asking him out on a date or anything."

The boy was confused and a bit suspicious, "Huh? Was yesterday not enough for you? You're extending the penalty game even longer?"

The girl shook her head, "No, no, that's not it, I just meant that we could hang out normally. The penalty game only lasts for a day anyway."

Touma sighed in relief, "Oh okay, then sure. I was afraid you were still mad and wanted to make me suffer some more." The boy wondered, "But why does she want to meet up if not for the penalty game? It's not something we usually do."

Mikoto thought she would be irritated, but his comment just made her feel depressed. She muttered, "I guess that's what you really think of me, huh?" The girl clenched her fists and added, "Look, about that, I'm sorry for losing my temper at you yesterday. I know you didn't really do anything wrong."

The boy was a bit confused by her apology, but tentatively replied, "Oh, that's all right. But why were you so mad anyway? Was it something I said or did?" Mikoto never really explained what was bothering her, and the only thing he could guess is that it had something to do with her sister.

The girl sighed, "He's really making me say it out loud, isn't he? Well, I told myself I'd be more honest with him, so here goes." Mikoto explained, "You know, I was actually looking forward to spending the afternoon with you, and not just because of the penalty game. We've known each other for a while and run into each other a lot, but we've never really hung out together at all. I thought we were just going to have some fun hanging out together, just with me ordering you around a bit. But you were complaining the entire time, even though you were the one to propose the bet in the first place. It was frustrating enough when Kuroko interrupted the photo, but then I came out and saw you with my sister, and I was mad you ditched me to spend time with her instead. I'd been waiting for that day since the end of the Daihasei Festival, and it felt like everything had gone wrong, so that's why I felt really mad and frustrated. But none of that was really your fault, so I'm sorry for being childish and taking it out on you." The girl's face reddened as she admitted this, and her voice became softer with each sentence, but she did manage to say everything she wanted to.

Touma was pretty surprised, "Wow, I didn't know she felt that way. I did tease her about treasuring meeting me during the folk dance, but maybe I was right about that, though she has a weird way of showing it. I should apologize too, it looks like I misunderstood her feelings." He replied, "I see, I didn't know you were looking forward to it so much. But, you're right, I wasn't really great company for you, was I? Your penalty game wasn't really that bad anyway. I'm sorry, Misaka. I didn't realize you just wanted to spend time with me. I guess that's why you showed up early?"

She meekly nodded, "Yeah, I guess so." Mikoto was a bit surprised that he apologized too, but remembered, "He may be an idiot, but at least he always knows exactly what to say to make me feel better."

The girl continued, "Anyway, how about we get lunch on Saturday?" Now that they had both apologized, she moved on to the main part of her plan.

The boy answered, "Sure, that sounds good. I guess we can text each other now, so we can figure out the details later." Seeing her nod in confirmation, Touma waved at her, "Cool, see you around, Biri-Biri!"

The nickname instantly annoyed Mikoto, who angrily pointed at the boy, "You better not be late again, you idiot! And stop calling me that!"

Touma grinned, "Yes, of course, Misaka-san, I'll do my best." His misfortune would probably delay him again, but the boy didn't want to upset her any more.

Both of them then parted ways and began heading home, not wanting to miss curfew. As soon as Mikoto was far enough away, she pumped her fists with a grin, "Yes! I got that idiot to agree!" Realizing that people had noticed her outburst, she blushed and kept her thoughts to herself. "That wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. I was expecting him to question me a bit more, but he is the kind of guy who wouldn't think too much about something like this."

Mikoto started daydreaming about what could happen with Touma on Saturday. Maybe they would feed each other during lunch. And afterwards they could take a walk while holding hands, and maybe she could hug him when they said goodbye.

These fantasies caused Mikoto to blush heavily, and she shook her head to clear out her thoughts. "Wait, why am I thinking of this like a date? I mean, it wouldn't be so bad to do those sorts of things with him, but he's definitely just going to see this as lunch between friends. Well, whatever, that's still more progress than I've made so far." She was glad that her plan was going well so far, "Being more honest actually helped a lot! Maybe I should thank my sister the next time I see her."

Meanwhile, Touma also reflected on the conversation with Mikoto as he walked home. "Man, I never expected Misaka to actually admit something like that to me out loud. She was looking forward to yesterday and I just had to ruin it by acting like a jerk. She didn't even make me do anything that bad, just sign up for a phone contract and take a picture together. I better make it up to her on Saturday."

The boy then recalled what happened later that evening, "And even though she was still mad, Misaka helped us a lot in saving Kazakiri." She saved him and Index from those men with guns, and according to Index, Mikoto's scientific explanations were crucial in curing the girl who was the core of the power that had been responsible for Kazakiri's actions. "I still need to thank her for that. It helped a lot to have her on our side."

In any case, it seemed like Mikoto wanted to go from being good acquaintances to being friends. "Come to think of it, other than yesterday, the only other time we hung out was that fake date. It was annoying that she pulled me away from my friends, but she was pretty nice to me afterward. She bought me food and even helped me with my homework! Though it was embarrassing to get help from a middle schooler. Anyway, hopefully Saturday will be better than yesterday."

Mikoto and Touma continued their trips home, both of them a bit anxious but also cautiously optimistic for their next meeting.