So due to father's day last weekend, I didn't have any plans to keep me busy outside the house and I got a lot of work done on this chapter Saturday and part of Sunday. I still hung out with my Dad most of Sunday. Hope everyone had a good Father's Day.
I like to take a moment to thank everyone who has commented, I look forward to all reviews. I really enjoy ready about the things people like, didn't like, look forward too, and all of their interesting ideas and suggestions. I notice some of you seem to find hints of what is going to happen later on, good for you. It also seems many of you are looking forward to the tournament. Good news, it will start next chapter.
However, I am looking for ideas for some interesting powers to round out the tournament matches besides the normal ones like elemental or telekinesis. Any ideas feel free to leave in a review or send me a private message, which ever you prefer. Thanks for the help.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.
Touma woke up early in the morning feeling guilty, but wasn't quite sure why. He felt as if it had something to do with his dream last night, but he never remembered them when he woke up. Touma stretched while yawning, yesterday really tired him out. Keeping up with Last Order is not an easy task. Like most kids, she was virtually a little ball of energy. He got up, showered, brushed his teeth, and left the bathroom to see how Index was doing. She was curled up into a little ball on the bed and was clutching her head. He realized he didn't know how much alcohol Index managed to get a hold of last night, so she might have a pretty serious hangover. He went to the kitchen and brought her a glass of water.
"How are you feeling Index," he asked concern. Only a grunt from the bed was her answer. "Here's some water to help you feel better. Not so fast," he quickly said as Index tried to get up, "Slowly." He handed her the water and she gulped it down gratefully.
"What happened," Index asked groggily. "I feel sick."
"You got your hands on alcohol," Touma said shaking his head. "It's not really good for you."
"Why do adults drink it then?" she asked.
"Well," Touma said but he didn't have a really good answer. "It's not bad in small amounts for them but too much of a good thing causes problems you know."
"That's not true," Index said indignantly. "You can never have too much cake."
"Ok, you got me there" Touma said smiling humoring her. "But still, some stuff you shouldn't have."
"I will never have alcohol again," Index said slumping back in bed. "I don't want to do anything today."
"That's fine," Touma said. "I'll make you some food before I head out. You can just rest for today and call me if anything comes up."
"Thank you Touma," Index said sounding more cheerful. "You're the best. I promise not to bite you for leaving me yesterday." He grimaced slightly at the thought of her biting strength.
Touma made her some breakfast and, after she gulped it down, Index went back to sleep. He also prepared some lunch for her to microwave but that might have been a pointless endeavor. Index was not technologically savvy at all. It took Touma a long time to teach her how to use a cell phone. After Index was taken care of, Touma left the dorm. He wasn't sure what he was going to do for a couple hours before meeting Ruiko, but he figured his luck would probably ruin anything he planned to do anyways. Maybe I'll get her something as thanks for the museum tickets.
Touma's Law, when anything bad can happen, it probably will. Touma found himself trapped in an ally at a dead end and coming towards him were ten thugs. He had been in plenty of street brawls before, taking one to two guys at once was doable, sometimes three to four, but ten, there was no way he would win. If they were ability users who relied only on their power he might have a small shot, but judging by the fact most of them were muscular guys, they probably weren't.
It's not like Touma purposely got in these kinds of situations. He was simply walking down the street looking at shops and debating what would be a good gift for Ruiko. He didn't want to get anything elaborate because it was only their second date, but rather, something different she might like. I don't know a lot about her interests but maybe I'll see something. He didn't know if it was his fault for not watching where he was going, or if it was the person who bumped into him, but the bump from some random stranger knocked Touma into a girl who was walking next to him. His bump caused her to spill her drink all over herself. Touma was a nice guy and he immediately apologized, but the girl's boyfriend next to her wasn't very forgiving. It turns out the girl's boyfriend was the head of a gang and within about 30 seconds, Touma was backing away as ten guys started to surround him.
"Get him honey," the girl said maliciously. 'Teach that loser his place."
"Anything for you babe," the big muscular shaved head leader said.
Touma turned and bolted as fast as he could while calling over his shoulder, "I'm sorry." He heard the thug's footsteps right behind him as he dashed through the crowds. "SUCH MISFORTUNE!"
That is how Touma ended up in this dangerous situation stuck between a dead end street and several thugs who just wanted to pummel him into paste. He took up a fighting stance with his fists held up but realized, even if he could take out a couple of them, he would eventually be overwhelmed by numbers. Dang it, but I guess this is what I get for having a day of fun.
"Hold it right there," a female voice called out from the entrance to the ally. "Judgment, stop what you are doing." Everyone in the ally turned to see a female, probably in high school, with short black hair and glasses. "We had report some hooligans were chasing a civilian." She looked familiar to Touma but he didn't really have time to spare about where he met her before.
The leader of the thugs laughed. "Come on girl," he said. "Let us take care of business here first then we can play with you if you like." He looked her up and down. "Not a bad body on this one. You three go get her."
Three of the guys moved forward to take care of the Judgment girl but it didn't go as they hoped. Judgment may be formed from only students, but as these thugs forget a lot, they are trained in self defense and many of them are ability users. One of the thugs tried to grab her and she rotated out of the way, grabbed his arm, and threw him over her shoulder and he landed on his back. The second guy yelled and threw a punch at her. She side stepped the blow and tripped him causing him to fall the ground. The third guy actually might have been able to jump her if another smaller girl didn't dive around the corner tripping him too and causing him to fall on the second guy. Touma saw this girl had a lot of flowers in her hair.
"Uiharu-san?" he asked bewildered.
"Kamijou-san," she said eyes widening. "You're the civilian?"
"What the hell is this?" the main thug roared. "You lot are being taken down by girls. "You two, kill that guy. Rest of you with me and get those two girls." They may have been a street gang but they clearly had a chain of command. Two guys were beginning to move to Touma and the remaining five guys started to move to Judgment when the leader suddenly found him being hoisted into the air by his foot. Everyone stopped and looked up at their leader who screamed. Touma saw a black tendril wrapped around the leader's ankle and followed the line to the guy who stepped into view behind Kazari and the other judgment girl.
"Sup Touma," Jason said grinning. "I thought I heard your battle cry."
"I don't see why I have to apologize to that ape," Kuroko said crossing her arms. She, Mikoto, and Ruiko were all sitting down at Joseph's waiting for Touma to arrive. "I rather not think about that event, and besides, why should such a brute be worthy of an apology from me." This caused her to get hit by Mikoto.
"Because," she said through gritted teeth. "You decided to make a scene and cause trouble for him. He did nothing to you. You also gave all of us a heart attack when we saw what happened."
"Come on Shirai-san," Ruiko added. "Can't you try to be nice to him?"
"I can't understand Uiharu's and your taste in boys," Kuroko said shaking her head. "I don't know what you see in them. They don't compare at all to the beauty and grace of my onee-sama. Even a minute without her is a lifetime of loneliness." She teleports into the lap of Mikoto and snuggles against her chest. The moment doesn't last as a spark of electricity and Kuroko falls off smoking slightly.
"He's really nice," Ruiko said. "He also is willing to help anyone in trouble."
"Tell me about it," Mikoto said snickering. She stopped when she saw Kuroko and Ruiko watching her closely.
"Misaka-san," Ruiko said covering her grinning mouth with her hand. "It sounds like you know Touma quite well. But I suppose since you said you were always getting into fights with him, I guess that's natural."
Kuroko's head snapped back and forth as she looked between them. "Onee-sama, please tell me you aren't chasing after that troglodyte. Is that why you always have those weird dreams and sleep talk when you get back late?"
"I-I have no idea what you are talking about Kuroko," Mikoto sputtered trying to deny it but her face turning bright red did not go unnoticed by Ruiko and Kuroko. She, in fact, usually dreamt about Touma after those long nights of chasing him while trying to get him to duel her.
Kuroko face paled and head fell onto the table. "It can't be. Onee-sama rejects my pure and honest love…..for an ape. How could this happen?"
"By pure and honest do you mean jumping her when she lets her guard down?" Ruiko asked.
"I demonstrate my boundless love through intimate physical contact," Kuroko replies looking up and puffing out her chest. "I also keep all of our special moments forever immortalized."
"If you are talking about the picture binder where you have all those pictures of me in personal places," Mikoto said through gritted teeth. "I burned it weeks ago."
"Onee-sama," Kuroko cried while jumping on Mikoto. "How could you be so cruel? I worked so hard on that album for us." She started to rub her head into Mikoto's chest which just led to another shock. She fell back into the booth. "I guess we just have to make new memories then," she said still smoking and grinning while staring into space. "The bathroom is such a great place." A line of drool came out of her mouth.
"Leave me out of your perverted delusions," Mikoto groaned while Ruiko grinned.
"You two are such great friends," Ruiko said. "Ah, I see Touma, and it seems Uiharu and Kagere-san are also with him. Hang on." She gets up and heads over to them.
"Be nice and make sure to apologize to Touma," Mikoto warns Kuroko. She sighs and nods reluctantly.
Outside of Joseph's, Jason, Touma and Kazari were talking. Touma still had fifteen minutes before he was supposed to meet with Ruiko. They had just started to talk about Touma's involvement in the unfortunate event earlier that day when suddenly….
"UI-HA-RU." Kazari found her skirt being flipped by Ruiko from behind. "Blue stripes today eh, thought for sure you would where those new ones.
"SATEN-SAN!" Kazari cried loudly turning red and started lightly pounding on Ruiko with his fists. "How could you in front of boys? Don't talk about my underwear." She quickly turned around and saw Touma looking away red faced from her and Jason pretended to not see anything but was grinning. Kazari's face turned crimson and she almost passed out but was caught my Jason.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't do that in public," Jason commented as he helped Kazari into the diner. "New ones?" Kazari shook her head really fast and looked at the ground.
"But it relaxes me, and I figured you would enjoy the show," she said grinning looking at Jason. "I wanted to check something too."
"I never said I didn't like it," Jason grinned. "Touma enjoyed it too didn't you?" He nudged Touma in the side.
"Don't drag me into your situation," Touma said. "I have enough bad luck as it is."
"Liked getting chase across town by gangs?"
"Touma, you got into problems with a gang?" Ruiko asked astonished.
"It was pretty funny," Jason commented.
Everyone took their seats together with Mikoto and Kuroko. Touma noticed Kuroko seemed to be smoking slightly and he had a pretty good idea why. Kazari regained consciousness but was still bright red and couldn't look Jason in the eye. Mikoto kept nudging Kuroko but Touma didn't know why, usually it was Kuroko who bothered Mikoto. He turned to Ruiko.
"What do you want to do today?" he asked her.
"Hmm," Ruiko said sipping her drink. "I figure we get lunch then visit the mall. Maybe visit the batting cages, the actual ones, not the virtual ones."
"Sounds fun," Touma said. "You like playing sports?" Ruiko nodded.
"Fine onee-sama," Kuroko said out of nowhere but looking like she was being forced to eat something unpleasant. "Hey ape," Mikoto jabbed her in the side with her elbow again, "Eh, Kamijou-san, I want to apologize for that scene earlier at your school. I shouldn't have caused you problems."
Touma looked at her and he thought she wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for Mikoto. "It is fine Shirai-san," he said at last. "We all know whose fault it was." Everyone turned to Jason.
"Hey, I apologized to Shirai." Jason said raising his hands in front of him in surrender.
"Don't address me so casually," Kuroko snapped at Jason.
"Did Uiharu make you?" Ruiko asked interested.
Jason's expression changed dramatically. He crossed his arms, fear etched over his face, and he started shaking. Everyone stared at him. Touma saw his eyes dart quickly to Kazari. "She didn't…..make me," he said slowly, as if he was weighing his words. "We talked and agreed I should apologize. She did not threaten me with anything horrible should I refuse." Everyone turned and looked at Kazari in shock.
I thought she was the quiet gentle one, Touma thought to himself.
"W-what," Kazari gasped. "Nothing like that happened. Jason, don't say things like that."
"Ha," Jason said finally laughing as his face broke into a grin. "I finally got you to call me by my first name. I knew it was my fault. We just talked a bit but nothing else happened." He put his arm around Kazari and pulled her close which just made her turn red again. Everyone else relaxed. "I couldn't resist teasing you all a little bit."
"I really can't believe anything you say anymore," Touma said shaking his head. "Your acting was really good though."
"He always lies," Kuroko muttered. "He's probably use to it."
"So Touma," Ruiko interjected before any arguing could start. "What happened with that gang?" Both Mikoto and Kuroko's ears perked up at this news.
"Ah," Touma said rubbing his head. "An unfortunate accident spiraled out of control and some guys wanted to fight and cornered me in an ally. Uiharu-san, Jason, and Konori-san jumped in and helped me." Mii Konori was Kazari's and Kuroko's senpai in their Judgment branch. Mikoto and Ruiko had met her before since they sometimes hang out in the Judgment branch office. "Well, we captured those guys and Anti-Skill took them away."
"What kind of accident?" Mikoto asked grinning.
"Nothing worth mentioning," Touma shrugged. "Just bumped into someone and they didn't like it."
"Some people over react to everything," Mikoto sighed shaking her head. Touma raised an eyebrow at her. She did not over look his gesture and glared back at him as if she dared him to say something else.
"It turns out Konori-senpai and Kamijou-san actually met before," Kazari said. "He helped her a couple days ago fighting some criminals, including a level 3 ability user. She almost didn't recognize him."
"Always rescuing girls right Touma," Jason said grinning.
"Shut up, I did rescue you," Touma shot back grinning.
"Well played. But how come she turned red when she recognized you?"
"No idea," Touma lied. He knew exactly why she turned red but he wasn't going to tell Jason about it, especially in front of all these girls. He noticed Mikoto and Kuroko seemed to be interested in his answer too.
"Well," Kazari continued. "She said Kamijou-san took out the ability user's Solidification in one punch. It should have been like punching a steel wall."
"Eh," Touma said sheepishly trying to think of an excuse. "I was probably lucky and he hadn't activated his ability."
"Maybe you negated it," Ruiko said her eyes sparkling.
Touma coughed on his drink, "What?" He looked around, only Jason appeared confused, everyone else was staring at him intently. Do they know? If they do, how did they find out? It doesn't look like Jason told them. "I'm just a level 0," he said thinking fast. "How could I negate anything?"
"Well," Ruiko said offhandedly. "If your power couldn't be detected you would be labeled a level 0, even with an ability."
Touma stared at her. She obviously knows, but how did she find out. He looked at everyone, Mikoto was smirking, Kuroko was staring at him intently, Ruiko was staring at him with her eyes still sparkling, Kazari looked embarrassed but still focused on him, and Jason was mouthing, 'They know.' Touma sighed. "How did you find out?"
"Uiharu," Ruiko said boldly. Kazari turned red and looked at the ground.
"Should have guessed that," Jason said as realization took hold. "Elite hacker, finding confidential information on students, good news is she can't get mad at me for bending a few rules now." He looked at Kazari and she turned even redder.
"We looked up you too," Kuroko said. "All about your head researcher position and LOCK-DOWN."
"Hmm," Jason said thoughtfully. "Going to have to make some head rolls tonight. They said their system was secure."
"So Touma," Ruiko continued focusing on him. "Tell us about your Imagine Breaker."
Touma sighed. "It's not that impressive."
"It was able to block my electricity like it was nothing and you defeated Accelerator," Mikoto snapped. "We promise not to spread it around so tell us." She looked around and everyone nodded including Jason.
Damn it Jason, Touma thought. He's pretending not to know anything. Guess I can use some of the explanation he gave. Well, as much as I remember. "Well, the Imagine Breaker was something I was born with. It negates any supernatural abilities it comes in contact with, levels don't seem to matter. I don't know exactly how it works but it seems to interfere with individual's reality."
"You were born with it so does that make you a gemstone?" Ruiko asked.
"I don't think so," Touma said. "I don't emit an AIM field so it might not be a scientific ability. I just recently started going in for some testing to start figuring out how it works."
"Is the effect permanent?" Kazari asks.
"No," Touma replied shaking his head. "It only negates the ability currently hitting me. If I make direct contact though, the ability can't be used until the contact is broken.
"That explains why I can't teleport you," Kuroko says as Touma's words reminded her. Touma nods.
"How does it interfere with someone's reality?" Mikoto asked generally interested.
"It somehow jams the AIM field ability users emit," Touma said. "I don't really know anything beyond that. As I said, they just started researching it."
"So all those rumors about a boy negating powers, was you?" Ruiko asked hopefully.
"Yea," Touma said nodding. "Most people get confused when they see it the first time and think they messed up in the heat of battle. It's probably why it has just remained a rumor."
"I can't believe this troglodyte manage to beat onee-sama," Kuroko fumed biting a napkin and looking daggers at Touma.
"I wouldn't say beat," Touma said laughing. "I mostly ran for my life in the other direction while keeping her lightning bolts from turning me into a scorch mark on the ground."
"Pssh," Mikoto said waving her hand dismissively. "I never struck at you seriously."
"Those iron sand blades said otherwise." Mikoto blushed in response.
"I take it you two would spend all night playing tag then?" asked Ruiko a huge grin appearing on her face. Both Touma and Mikoto turned red.
"Onee-sama?" Kuroko said in shock. "Tell me this troglodyte hasn't forcefully conquered you and taken your innocence. Please tell me you are still untouched for me." Everyone started at her in shock and wide eyed amazement.
Mikoto opened her mouth then closed her eyes, shook with enough rage she couldn't speak, and several sparks started appearing around her and the lights in the restaurant started flicking. Everyone started backing away from her and Kuroko realized she might have gone too far. Touma, on instinct, quickly lunged across the table and grabbed Mikoto's wrist and all the electricity stopped and the lights went back to normal.
"Shirai-san," Kazari said nervously. "You went too far."
"Onee-sama," Kuroko whispered hesitantly. "I'm sorry."
Mikoto opened her eyes. "I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have overreacted." She looked down and saw Touma grabbing her wrist and she turned crimson.
"Wow," Ruiko said amazed. "It's true. His hand completely stopped her ability."
"We should probably head out," Touma said looking around. "The manager doesn't look to happy with us." Everyone threw down some money on the table for their drinks and rushed out of there before the manager freaked out and called Anti-Skill.
Since they had to leave before ordering food, they just grabbed some sandwiches and ate in the park. It was unusually quiet because Kuroko wasn't trying to show her "pure and honest love" to Mikoto. She was letting Mikoto cool down before trying anything else. Eventually they decided to go to the batting cages as Ruiko suggested since it was further away then the mall and they could stop on the way back to do shopping. On the way there, Ruiko and Mikoto were constantly questioning Touma on his Imagine Breaker.
At the batting cages, everyone started acting normal again and had fun. Ruiko, since she loves baseball and comes to the cages often, was doing great. She hit nearly every ball she swung at. Mikoto was in the same league, after all, she was very athletic and spots came easy to her. Kuroko and Touma were doing about average because both of them did a lot of physical activities, Judgment and saving people, but neither of them played baseball except occasionally in school. No one expected Kazari to be good at sports because she spent most of her time on computers. She at least tried to hit a couple balls before giving up and stopping. Touma however, expected Jason to be good, but to his surprise, Jason was horrible. He managed to hit about one out of ten pitches by pure luck. Touma could tell he did not play baseball. Jason eventually gave up and hung out with Kazari while everyone else alternated between batting and talking.
"Ruiko," Touma said. "You are pretty good at this."
"I came here often," she said smiling. "Great way to let off some steam and relax after a tough day of school. You aren't too bad either."
"I tend to get involved in a lot of things so it keeps me pretty active."
"That's an understatement," Jason called out laughing.
"I don't see why you come way out here Saten-san instead of the virtual ones near the schools." Kuroko said looking around. The batting cages weren't exactly new but they were still relatively well maintained.
"It's not the same," Ruiko said as if stating the obvious. "The feel of the bat in your hand as you hit a real ball can't be compared to hitting a virtual one."
Crack, Mikoto had just hit another ball. "I can see truth in that Saten-san. It's definitely more fun than the virtual ones." She exited the cages and took off her helmet. "Who's next?"
"I think Uiharu needs another turn," Ruiko says smirking. 'She gave up to easily."
"No no I'm fine," Kazari replied quickly shaking her head.
"I agree with Saten-san," Jason said smirking. "Little exercise won't kill you." He takes the laptop she always carries and pushes her to the cages. Mikoto hands her the helmet and the bat.
"Good luck," Kuroko says trying not to laugh as everyone forces Kazari into the cages again.
"You'll be fine," Touma said to her noticing how nervous she was. Everyone else also shouted encouragement but Kazari was not the most sports oriented among them. Well, Touma thought. She's definitely trying. No one could deny that. She swung at every ball even if she wasn't anywhere close to hitting one. Finally, her bat made a solid crack as it hit a ball and everyone cheered. She left the cages slightly embarrassed but still happy she manage to hit at least one.
"Hey Jason," Touma asked. "Why are you so bad at baseball? I thought you were good at spots."
"I'm a soccer player," Jason replied dismissively. "I don't play baseball."
"I finally beat you at something," Touma said.
"Don't get cocky," Jason warned. 'The universe will make sure your luck goes against you." Mikoto laughed at this.
"I've been wondering," Kuroko said. "You three seem to have this inside joke about the ape's luck. What is with that? Onee-sama, why do you keep secrets from me?"
"I don't keep secrets," Mikoto said while Touma rolled his eyes behind her, "It's just not my explanation to give."
"Well," Touma said. "I suppose I can tell you, most of my class knows about it but not about my ability. Someone told me once my Imagine Breaker is actually nullifying my luck as a side effect. That's why a lot of bad things happen to me."
"I think I've noticed that," Jason said thoughtfully. "That's interesting."
"Oh come on," Kuroko said dismissively. "There's no way that's true. Luck is just a set of probabilities."
"He does have an unusual amount of bad luck for just being a probability," Mikoto said.
"Everyone in class say's he acts as a lightning rod for their bad luck," Jason added.
"What kind of bad luck?" Ruiko asked curiously. She loved strange rumors.
'Well," Touma started to say when a bird flying over him decided to drop a number two on his head and everyone took a step back in response. "That was a great example of my luck," he sighed. Everyone else was trying to hold in a laugh except Kuroko who openly laughed loudly. They decided to head out after that and hang out at the mall because several of the girls wanted to go shopping. Of course, Touma had to get cleaned up first.
At the underground mall, Mikoto, Kuroko, Kazari, and Ruiko were checking out summer clothes while Touma and Jason just hung back outside of the stores. These were not stores high school boys wanted to be caught in by people they knew. They were not the only ones there either, it seemed like a lot of other guys were waiting outside these clothes stores. This was Touma's first real experience waiting for girls with other guys and he actually wasn't being dragged around to pretend to be a boyfriend. He actually was hanging out with girls as friends. The rest of Delta Force would hate him if they saw him now.
"Are you nervous about the tournament tomorrow?" Jason asked.
"I hadn't really thought about it," Touma said then sighed. "Thanks for bringing it up."
Jason grinned. "Well, I think Accelerator will probably steal the stage from you."
"I'm surprised he even agreed to be our representative," Touma stated still amazed. "I figured he didn't care about those things."
"Maybe he has an alternative motive." Jason said thoughtfully.
"I doubt it. He seems to be the kind of person who says what he thinks."
"Hey what are you two talking about?" Ruiko asked as all the girls returned.
"Just talking about the tournament next week," Jason replied.
"Our school isn't going to be participating," Ruiko sighed.
"Why," Touma asked.
"We don't have many high level ability users," Kazari said. "There are a couple level threes but they didn't want to join."
"Our class felt that way till they got Accelerator to agree," Touma said understanding their reasoning.
Kuroko's, Kazari's, and Ruiko's jaw dropped. "Accelerator is your representative?"
"Ah yea," Touma said rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "He joined our class a while ago and he sort of got pressured into it."
"Onee-sama will still win," Kuroko said determinedly as if stating the obvious. "But if she had me as a partner we would definitely win with the power of love."
"Oh yea, you are in different classes," Touma said and Kuroko glared at him.
"She cried for days after that," Mikoto sighed still remembering the incident. "She tried everything to allow her to team up with me."
"Onee-sama," Kuroko cried lunging at her. "I was sure our love could override the silly rules to keep us apart." Mikoto quickly kicked her and sent her spinning across the floor.
"So luckily another level four in my class volunteered," continued Mikoto as if nothing happened. "She's pretty skilled so we shouldn't have any problems with the class matches. By the way I didn't ask yesterday, whose Accelerator's teammate?"
"Let me guess, Kagere-san?" Ruiko asked looking at him. Jason shook his head.
"Nah," he said unable to contain his glee as he smiled, "We got someone else much better than me."
"Who?" everyone asked him and Jason's eyes shifted to look at Touma.
"Touma?" Mikoto said eyes growing wide in shock.
"Do they all know about your ability," Ruiko asked. "I thought most people saw you as a level 0."
"No," Touma said. "They don't."
"Why would they send a level 0 to represent them then," asked Kazari curiously.
"Because they are all crazy, so I kind of got forced to join," Touma said depressed. "They wouldn't take no for an answer. Even the teacher was willing to give me extra credit for participating."
"Your class sounds like so much fun," Ruiko said eyes sparkling. "My teachers are so boring."
"You will definitely be defeated by onee-sama," Kuroko said loudly. "There is no way she will lose to you ape."
"Hah," Jason laughed. "Touma will obviously win. No one can beat him." He and Kuroko glared at each other and Touma could swear sparks flew between their eyes. Well, as long as Shirai-san has someone else to take her anger out on I guess it's ok.
"Wait," Kuroko said thinking hard. "Onee-sama, when did you talk to this ape yesterday?"
"Ah," Mikoto said avoiding eye contact. "We have the same acquaintance and sort of met up with them."
"Oh really," Kuroko eyed her suspiciously. "You wouldn't have happened to meet him and spent the entire day with him while I was in Judgment?"
"Well," Mikoto said still avoiding direct eye contact. She could not tell Kuroko about spending a day with Touma at an amusement park, even if it was someone's birthday. Her eyes darted to Touma for a second asking for help.
"Shirai-san," Touma said exasperatedly. "We ran into each other and met a friend of ours. Nothing else happened." Except for the one ride, but she doesn't need to know about that. "Besides, there's no way we could be together. She's way out of my league." Mikoto wanted to yell at him right there but she felt a sharp pain through her heart at his words. He sometimes said really insensitive things sometimes without realizing it. Jason raised an eyebrow and Kazari and Ruiko looked at each other.
"Humph," Kuroko said. "At least you know your place." She turned and walked away to the next store with Ruiko and Kazari following her. Jason looked like he wanted to say something but, being uncharacteristically quiet, he too followed Kuroko. Mikoto looked at Touma and her face got really red, but she wasn't entirely sure if it was anger or embarrassment.
"Should we get going too?" Touma asked her because Mikoto didn't seem to be moving. He turned to leave but felt a hand grab his sleeve. He looked and saw Mikoto had a hold of him. "What is it Mikoto?"
"I have something important to tell you," she said her face turning bright red.
"Ah," Touma replied slightly nervous. "Is it about what I said before?"
"No you idiot," Mikoto said angrily then took a deep breath, her face was still bright red and she wasn't looking directly at him. "I wanted to tell you it today but I think I am going to wait till after the tournament so neither of us get's distracted."
"If it's important…" Touma began.
"It is," Mikoto said interrupting him. "But I don't want it to be a distraction for the tournament. So I will tell you right afterwards, regardless of the outcome. So make sure you do your best. I won't forgive you if you lose before facing me." She looked at him and he saw a strong resolution in her eyes.
"Ok," Touma nods. "I promise and I'll meet with you after the tournament." He saw her smile and he felt his heart leap. He watched her turn and head after their friends. After a moment hesitation, thinking about what she possibly wanted to tell him, Touma followed her.
A short distance away from them, a pair of teens was hiding behind a pillar. Jason and Ruiko had separated from Kuroko and Kazari and were spying on Mikoto and Touma. Only after Mikoto and Touma finished their conversation and went off in the direction of Kuroko and Kazari did they step out from behind the pillar. They both were interested in what was going to happen.
"Ah I thought she would finally confess," Ruiko said putting her hands behind her head and looking at the ceiling. "It sounds like something good happened yesterday and after what Kuroko said, it would have been good timing."
Jason looked at her in silence, his face passive and unreadable. "You might be right," he said. "But are you ok with this?"
"Huh?" Ruiko asked surprised. "They make a cute couple and I know Mikoto has liked Touma for awhile. She is just really shy with the truth around him."
"That's not what I asked." Ruiko opened her mouth to respond with something but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and looked at the floor her face turning a slight red. "I thought so. I think you need to be more honest with yourself too." He smirked slightly and walked away looking for Kazari leaving Ruiko to think about her choices.
Well, all the main characters except Accelerator know about the Imagine Breaker now. I could have just summarized the explanation but those are so boring. Also, now Mikoto knows Touma is in the tournament, I wonder what would happen if they face off? Could Ruiko really like Touma too? Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave any comment, review, ideas, or suggestions.