I know a lot of people are going to be sad to see this arc end but just remember. All new adventures will begin. I do love reading all the comments people have left behind and to be honest, it's one of my favorite things to do. But, people seem to not be all too happy with Mikoto right now. Killing Touma and all does make some people not like you.
Speaking of comments, I saw a lot of people who want Misaki to wear a nurse outfit. You all should know better. You have to wait till Touma gets hospitalized and she would visit him as a nurse. But of course Mikoto and Ruiko wouldn't let her do it unless they were dressed up too… Well, that is now being archived for future use. You all happy now?
Anyways, back to the main story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.
Last Order was not very happy. She had thought she would get to spend the entire weekend with Accelerator. Friday night started off that way, until they met two strange people in the street, and then she lost some of her memory. Several minutes passed and it was only thanks to the Misaka network she even knew something happened. She had woken up to found Accelerator lying on the wet street telling her to reconnect him. After she connected him, he did something to completely surprise her. He came up and hugged her passionately. Last Order knew Accelerator acted tough but he was a good person deep down. He occasionally showed her obvious displays of affection, but they were few and far between.
Afterwards, he immediately dragged her back to Aiho's apartment and made her promise to stay here while he went out to find those two. She knew something big was going on and promised to stay put, but it was so boring sitting here all alone. What made matters worse was she didn't even have Worst to play video games against. Shortly after Accelerator left, Worst left too saying she had things to do while ignoring all of Last Order's protests. So now, she was all alone in an apartment, waiting for her guardians to get back. Aiho and Kikyou were both out drinking and she knew they wouldn't be back till late. Friday turned out to be a really boring day for her after she left school.
Saturday was not much better. Aiho was called away for Anti-Skill business. It seemed something happened late Friday night involving a Judgment member and a lot of cleanup still needed to get done. Kikyou disappeared shortly after waking up. She said it was for a job interview but Last Order was skeptical. Accelerator had also disappeared after waking up about two in the afternoon. He had returned late Friday and fell asleep immediately. He didn't even budge when Last Order crawled into his bed. Worst was still asleep, getting back later then even Accelerator, and now refused to get up. So with no one else around, Last Order was virtually alone and she was hungry. She now had to face her greatest challenge.
Cooking.
Last Order was never good at cooking but she was determined to succeed this time. Last time she tried, Accelerator told her "if you was going to cook something, make it fit for human consumption." She was going to practice and be more self sufficient. Maybe he will praise MISAKA, MISAKA thinks to herself while MISAKA smiles widely. She rummages through the refrigerator and pulls out all sorts of leftovers. If she remembered what she saw Aiho do before, she mixed several ingredients and stuck it into the oven. Last Order wanted to make a casserole and she knew she needed pasta, meat, and vegetables. Luckily the leftovers had all the ingredients, along with other stuff, so she mixed them all together in a big pan. She then put the pan in the oven and turned it on. She smiled and was incredible proud of herself. In hindsight, she probably should have used the Misaka network to make sure she was doing everything correctly, but she wanted to do this herself.
Afterwards, she went back to the living room to play video games while she waited for the food to cook. Little did she know, she forgot to set a timer. As a young kid, she was also very easily distracted. After a couple hours of playing a game, the apartment was soon filled with black smoke. Worst woke up and came dashing out of her room. She did not appear to be grateful to Last Order for making dinner.
"Then what happened?" Misaki asked. She was walking next to Touma along the beach back to the hotel. Touma was currently carrying Mikoto on his back and he was still smoking slightly. He had just finished giving Misaki an explanation on what happened at the beach. Misaki had just arrived at the beginning of the path that led up to the cliff when the lightning storm struck. It was pure luck she was just out of range or she could have been seriously hurt.
"Well," Touma said. "When the lightning came down I thought we were going to be in a lot of trouble. Though, I don't blame her for acting the way she did. I suppose she could have found it out in a worse way, but still. Most girls would have tried to kill me in an instance if they found this out. If I was anyone else besides me, and you found out Shokuhou-san, would you have acted any difference?"
"I suppose not," Misaki conceded. "I would have erased his memories of the event at the very least. I suppose your hand protected you, but what about your friend from the church, Kanzaki-san," I am going to have to research information on her too now. She is older than him and he was always into those types. "And how did you knock her out? Did she just use up all her power with that storm?"
"No," Touma said shaking his head. "Kanzaki-san is more than capable of protecting herself with magic, but you were right about my hand protecting me. Though, I could not block all of it and got a little shocked from the surrounding electricity. That's when something weird happened."
"Weird? Can you be more specific? A lot of stuff happens around you."
"I heard a voice in the back of my mind," Touma said frowning. "It told me to use the mark." He and Misaki looked at the Mark of Sloth on his arm. "I felt like I instinctively knew how to use it," Touma added. "I knew what to say and how to channel the magic. Even though, because of my hand, I never had any experience with using magic or abilities."
Misaki frowned too. "That doesn't sound safe."
Touma laughed nervously. "I agree completely, but at this point I was running out of options. Mikoto was temporarily out of her mind from shock and I was afraid Kanzaki might have hurt her to stop the lightning. I tried to talk to her and she might have calmed down but I didn't know how long it would take. I said, 'My curse sends you into the endless abyss,' and as I said before, I just instinctively knew those words, and the electricity stopped and Mikoto fell asleep."
Misaki eyes widened. "You were able to use the same sleep spell Sloth used on you?"
Touma nodded. "I panicked and realized I shouldn't have used it because I didn't know of all the possible side effects or how it was going to affect Mikoto. But it just swam to the front of my mind blocking everything else out. However, I also know now how to release her from the sleep so we might be able to pass this off as a dream."
"Hmm," Misaki said thoughtfully. "That would probably be the best. If she remembers everything, she might try to blame me too."
"I wonder why," Touma said rolling his eyes. Misaki looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and grudgingly smiled.
"But if she thinks it is a dream, we could all get off," Misaki continues as if she wasn't interrupted. "I can't modify her mind but I can make sure we sneak back into the hotel without problems."
"Thanks," Touma said. He didn't tell Misaki about the other effect of the sleep spell. If he focused, he could actually see Mikoto's dream and, if he wanted to, he could manipulate it to various degrees. He began to understand why Sloth made him have a dream he wouldn't want to wake up from. It would be easier to keep people under if they weren't trying to wake up from a nightmare. He deliberately tried to avoid looking at her dream, but he continued to see flashes of it when he got distracted. Mikoto seemed to be happy with a dream about her and all her friends, including him. He still wanted to protect that dream and make it into a reality, but he began to realize he had feelings for Mikoto that went beyond that. "I have to remember to thank Kanzaki-san next time I see here," he added as an afterthought. "She volunteered to use her magic to fix the landscape instead of leaving it burnt."
"Hmm," Misaki said halfheartedly. Touma missed it, but she was obviously jealous that he was talking about another girl. She barely put up with talking about Mikoto. Together then snuck back into the hotel. Well, sneaking was a strong word as they really just walked in to main door closest to the beach. They were seen by several hotel staff and a couple Tokiwadai girls but Misaki just pulled out a remote and they just stood still and let Touma and Misaki pass. Touma was glad to have Misaki's ability. It would be incredibly hard to explain why he was carrying an unconscious Mikoto into the hotel late at night. When they entered their room they found Ruiko and Kuroko both awake and waiting for their return.
"Where have you all been?" Ruiko asked immediately when the door opened and she gasped when she saw Touma carrying Mikoto.
"Onee-sama!" Kuroko cried and ran forward. "What happened to…" She suddenly stopped in mid sentence and just stood there in silence. Touma noticed Ruiko just stood there in silence too. Both of them had stars in their eyes.
"Whew," Misaki said holding her remote out in front of her. "That was close. Shirai-san could have woken up the entire hotel if we let her get carried away."
"Are they ok?" Touma asked as he set Mikoto down on the bed. He wasn't very use to seeing Misaki's power. He waved his hand in front of Ruiko's face.
"Oh yes," she said. "Just don't touch their head or they will wake up. I simply commanded them to stand still and ignore everything. Before we finish, I will modify their memories so they believe Misaka-san was never missing. Ah, that reminds me." She pointed her remote at Kuroko's room. "I'm not sure if they know Misaka-san was missing so better safe than sorry." Touma raised his eyebrow impressed at Misaki's planning ability and foresight. "Sigh, I need to change. My clothes have so much sand on them." She started to walk toward the bathroom before she stopped and turned. "Unless of course, you want to come in and wash up with me?" She winked boldly at Touma.
"No you go ahead," Touma said turning red and shaking his head frantically. Misaki giggled and went into the bathroom. He sighed and sat down on the bed next to Mikoto. After he saw Mikoto's reaction to finding out who he really was, he felt extremely guilty. He still did not blame her for her reaction. It was about what he expected. Instead, he was mad at himself for making her feel that way. He was about to stand back up when he felt a hand grab his shirt. For a wild moment, he thought Mikoto had woken up but when he looked at her she was still deep asleep.
"Touma, don't leave me behind," she muttered. He felt another ping of guilt as soon as he heard this from her. He knew now she had feelings for him and didn't want to intrude on her privacy in her dreams, but he focused on making the dream better for her. He saw a smile on her face and he felt a little better. Then he got up and grabbed his sleep ware as Misaki came out of the bathroom.
"Your turn," she said. "I suppose we have to get Misaka-san into her pajamas or it would look suspicious." She got a wide grin and looked at Touma. "I am going to need your help." Touma looked at her wide eyed but stopped when she laughed. "Just kidding, I can take care of this." Touma let out a sigh of relief. Misaki may be a good person but she liked to joke with him a lot like Jason did. At some point he should try to joke back at her to throw her off guard. He quickly went into the bathroom when he saw Misaki pull out Mikoto's pajamas.
He quickly cleaned himself from all the dirt and burnt clothes and changed. He cracked the bathroom door opened slightly and called out, "Is everything decent?"
"All done," Misaki replied. "It's a good thing her clothes weren't burnt, just dirty." He entered the room and saw Mikoto in her Gekota pajamas sleeping on the bed. Misaki looked down at Mikoto and shook her head while looking disappointed. "I still can't believe her choice in clothes. It's just like a little kid."
"I don't know," Touma shrugged. "It's kind of cute." This got him a sharp glare from Misaki but he wasn't sure why. He still didn't get girls.
"Well," she said a little snippily. "I suppose we should send Shirai-san and Saten-san back to their beds now." She pulled out a remote and twirled it but stopped. Then her eyes lit up and she walked towards Touma. "Of course, we can always mess around a little bit first if you want." She walked up and put her arms around Touma's neck and looked him in the eyes. "I hope you don't mind they are in the room, it is not like they see anything."
Touma just stared at her unable to think with her so close. "I, umm, we shouldn't?" Misaki smiled and leaned in before he could react and kissed him passionately on the lips. It was only a second but to both of them it felt like ages. She finally pulled back and their lips broke apart and she looked up at him in the eyes. She was blushing madly and Touma knew he probably looked the same. He now couldn't make any sounds with his mouth as his mind was no longer working properly. Misaki slowly let go of him and stepped back still blushing wildly.
"Sorry," she said. "If that made you uncomfortable. I really love you and, even if you do not feel the same way about me now, I will do everything I can to get you to feel the same way about me," Touma still had no words for her right now and Misaki took his silence as her answer. She used her remote and Kuroko went back to her room while Ruiko went to sleep back into her bed next to Mikoto. Misaki didn't say anything else and went to sleep on her side of the bed. Touma stood there for a few minutes trying to get his brain working. Eventually, he too went to bed but laid awake most of the night thinking. With the lack of his bedmate snuggling up to him, he wasn't the only one lying awake.
Mikoto woke up the next morning, to the sound of the alarm they set, and the sun was shining brightly through the balcony door. She was not a morning person but today was especially bad. Her head hurt and the sun just made it worse. For some reason last night was kind of blurry to her. Maybe I am exhausted from yesterday. I did a lot more sports then usual thanks to Kamiko-san. Her mind switched gears when she thought of Touya. Why do I feel like I am forgetting something really important about her? She got up and stretched feeling that when she woke up completely she would remember. She looked around the apartment and it seemed like Touya and Misaki were already up. Touya had just exited the bathroom and Misaki just entered it. Mikoto sighed. Now the bathroom is going to be filled up with hair products. She discovered yesterday Misaki had a lot of hair care products she used and always left a mess behind her. Mikoto was hoping she would beat Misaki to the bathroom today. Touya just appeared to be an early riser.
"Did anything happen yesterday night?" Mikoto asked Ruiko. "I feel like I forgot something important."
Ruiko yawned and turn to her. "I think you and Kamiko-san were talking then went to bed early. I know Uiharu and I did. We were exhausted."
That sounds plausible, she thought. She glanced over at Touya who was packing away stuff in her bag and she immediately knew there was something else she was missing. It had something to do with Touma. She had admitted to Touya she liked Touma on Friday so that didn't happen yesterday. The more she thought about it something happened after her discussion with Touya. It is possible Misaki did something to everyone else's memory if something did happen. But she shouldn't have been able to affect me. This could get complicated. Think Mikoto, think. She caught Touya's eye for a second and Touya immediately looked away. Ha, I knew something happened. I will find out what.
Mikoto was careful to observe Touya and Misaki throughout the morning. They didn't seem to be any different than usual, except Touya seemed to be avoiding Mikoto. Touya still answered her questions normally but Touya didn't purposely go out of her way to talk to her. Part of her was upset about this because she thought Touya was her friend, and now Touya stopped talking to her. She didn't want to interrogate Touya about yesterday but she still wanted to talk to her alone. If Misaki was there, she would definitely get in the way.
Back in the room everyone was packing up. They were going to leave in two hours and somehow it felt like all their stuff was spread out everywhere. "Ahh," Ruiko complained. "It was only a weekend. How did all of my stuff get all over the place?"
Mikoto laughed at Ruiko's reaction. "This happens every year. This is the reason nothing is planned this morning except packing. Most of us sleep late because of exhaustion from yesterday. And some of us," she looked at Misaki. "Bring way to much hair products."
"Oh my Misaka-san," Misaki said laughing slightly. "Some of us enjoy looking like proper young ladies. We can't all pull off the tomboy look as well as you."
"Oh really," Mikoto said forcing a smile but a vein throbbed on her forehead. "Are you jealous some of us can look good without a million products? Maybe if you ate fewer sweets and instead had something healthier to help you keep your skin clear."
Touma moved between them. "Come on you two. Let's not argue on the last day. I'll make you both play some more volleyball before we leave." He, Ruiko and Mikoto all laughed and even Misaki gave a grudging smile. Misaki then went to the bathroom to pack her supplies. Touma continued to pack what was left of his stuff, though most of it would get thrown away as soon as he got back to Academy City. He turned around and saw Mikoto had walked over to him and sat on his bed. "Hey Misaka-san," he said nervously. "Did you need something?"
Mikoto looked at him seriously. "Yes, what happened last night? I know something did but when I think back to it everything is fuzzy. I know you were involved." She knew she was right when the girl in front of her looked away. She knows.
"I don't know what you mean," Touma said nervously. He didn't know how much she remembered.
"Quit lying to me," Mikoto said a little forcefully. "I thought we were friends?" Touma could see the pleading in her eyes and felt immensely guilty. He opened his mouth and decided she needed to know. He hoped he could explain it without it leading to more violence though he wouldn't blame her if she did.
"Misaka-san," Misaki said emerging room the bathroom. "You seem to be harassing my friend. That's not very nice."
Mikoto froze. She had the nagging feeling Misaki was involved in this too and she also knew Misaki would never tell her this information willingly. Mikoto took a step away from Touma. "I'm just talking to her. It's not harassing."
"I see," Misaki said her eyes narrowing. "Well then, Kamiko-san, I need to meet with a couple friends. Would you please accompany me?" Touma nodded and followed. However, Touma turned around and mouthed to Mikoto.
I'll explain everything later.
Mikoto nodded slightly glad her friend was willing to talk to her. She waited a minute then left the room and rushed to the beach. The last thing she clearly remembered last night was heading to the cliff near the hotel. She ran as fast as she could to the cliff and it only took a couple minutes. When she got to the top she looked around and thought it was strange. She heard last night a huge lighting storm passed through and struck this area several times, but nothing looked out of place, then she saw something white. She walked over to it and picked up a small piece of white cloth from a bush. It looked like a piece of a T-shirt. She suddenly remembered fighting Wrath along with a female holding a sword who was wearing a white shirt. What is going on? When did I fall asleep? Who saved me? She remembered a wave of fire coming at her and someone saved her. She thought that was part of her dream last night but the more she thought about it, the more she was sure it was Touma. She pulled out her phone and called him but his phone was turned off and it went to voice mail. She cussed silently then called the only other number she knew that might be able to tell her where Touma was.
"Hey Misaka-san, what's up?"
"Kagere-san, do you know where Touma is? His phone is turned off and I need to talk to him."
"Ah," Jason said hesitantly. "He is currently indisposed outside the city."
Mikoto opened her mouth when she suddenly remembered. The person who saved her last night was Touya, but she used the same power Touma did. If Jason wasn't lying and Touma was out of the city, then it was possible they were the same person. "Did he go to the beach?"
There was a noticeable pause which confirmed her suspicion. "I can't discuss that right now," Jason replied. "We had to get him out of the city in disguise in order to make sure no one else from that organization found him. Accelerator actually ran into two of them Friday but no one was hurt. I didn't find that out till Saturday or I would have helped."
"No one was hurt?" she asked. "That doesn't sound like him."
"Well," Jason said. "They researched all of us and know our weaknesses. You need to be careful since you are around Touma a lot too."
"Thank you," Mikoto said then hung up. Once she heard the information from Jason, it triggered her memory and everything that happened last night came back to her. She walked back to the hotel thinking. Jason could use magic and knew about the Imagine Breaker so it is possible he was able to disguise Touma as Touya. Misaki obviously was willing to bring him along with her, but Mikoto knew by now Misaki would do anything for Touma. If he was indeed moved out of the city for his protection, the disguise would be needed. She was still upset about how he snuck into a beach full of girls but she also regretted the way she acted last night to him without at least giving him a chance to explain. She could have hurt him, along with the other girl. He had even told her he was forced but was still willing to take responsibility. She sighed. He makes everything so complicated. She remembered that Touya, well Touma, always ran into the bathroom when they were changing. He was still a gentleman. Any other guy would have watched us. Ah, I have to apologize for last night and I think I will forgive him, this time. Next time he better tell me if something like this happens.
When she got back to the hotel, a lot of people were outside enjoying the last bit of sun before they headed back to Academy City. She saw all her friends out back and made a beeline towards them. When she got close she heard Ruiko and Kazari laughing at something Kuroko was doing. When she got closer, it seemed that Kuroko had jumped on Touma's back and was groping him while yelling at him to tell her where Mikoto was. She couldn't take it and burst out laughing. Kuroko, the person who hated Touma's guts, had developed feelings for him while he was disguised as a girl. This had to be one of the funniest things she ever saw. Any lasting bits of anger she felt toward Touma about deceiving her were gone as she headed toward this hilarious sight. She quickly got annoyed when Kuroko teleported on her and started groping her. It was only funny when she did it to Touma. A quick spark flared and Kuroko fell on the ground crispy and smoking.
"Hello," Mikoto said and looked around. "Where is Shokuhou-san?"
"She said she needed to talk with a couple of her friends," Touma said rubbing his neck where Kuroko had been clinging to him. "Where did you go?"
"I just had to make a phone call and decided to walk on the beach while doing it," Mikoto said.
"Oh," Ruiko said. "Was it to Touma?" Kazari and Touma both glanced at her and then back to Mikoto.
"Ah no," Mikoto said which was technically true. "I needed to ask Kagere-san a couple things." She shrugged. "He was pretty helpful."
"What did he help you with?" Kazari asked interested.
"Secret," Mikoto said laughing slightly. Kazari raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Mikoto then turned to Touma, "I need to talk to you in private."
Touma looked at the ground for a second then resigned himself. "Sure," he said and followed a good distance away from the others to avoid being heard even if they shouted. He figured she remembered last night and he was prepared for it. At best he was hoping for just a shock, the worst, he was going to lose a friend. He swallowed and looked at her and got a surprise. She was leaning against a tree and looking at him straight in the eye and smirking slightly. "Eh, I suppose you remember then?"
"Yes."
Touma sighed. "I'm sorry…" he started to say but Mikoto put her hand to his mouth.
"I remembered what happened and I had Kagere-san verify some information for me. You got forced to look like this by him and then Shokuhou-san brought you here. He also mentioned it was to hide you from the organization that infiltrated the city Friday. Did I miss anything important and how did you put me to sleep?"
"Pretty much," Touma said then took a minute to explain about using the mark to her. "I know I shouldn't have used it but it sort of happened accidently."
"You can say that again," she said frowning. "Index said not to use it."
"She did… wait, you said they attacked Friday? I didn't know about that."
"I heard they met Accelerator but got away. They seemed to have researched all of us who are near you and know our weaknesses."
"Dang it," Touma said looking at the ocean. "I didn't want to drag everyone into my problems."
SMACK!
Touma recoiled as Mikoto slapped him across the face. "What was that for?!" he demanded.
"YOU IDIOT!" Mikoto yelled at him. "We are your friends. Do you think any of us would be happy if you get hurt or went missing? Do you know what I go through when you disappear and I find out you are stuck in the hospital? I have faced them twice and I will do it again in a minute if it meant helping you or any of my friends. Why don't you understand that I want to help you?"
"I do know," he said. "But if you get hurt…"
"I don't care," Mikoto said stomping her foot and her eyes started watering. "Do you think I would feel any better if you died and I might have had a chance to save you but didn't get the chance to try? I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
Touma opened his mouth but was speechless. He knew she didn't like him leaving her behind but he wanted to protect her. Then he saw the tears in her eyes and knew he made a big mistake. She cared about him and couldn't live with the thought of being unable to save a friend. It was one of the things he really liked about her. He realized, if he was in her place, he couldn't stand being protected and left behind if one of his friends was in danger. "You are right," he admitted. "I was being selfish."
Mikoto smiled at him. "I am glad you know now. If you ever need help let me know. I will do the same for you." Touma's heart started beating wildly when he saw her smile. Then she turned her back to him and looked at the ocean. "You remember everything Friday right?"
"Yes," he said nervously afraid of what was about to happen.
"T-t-that makes everything easier," she said stuttering quite a bit. "I really do l-lo…like you a lot." She then said something he couldn't quite make out.
"Sorry, I couldn't hear the last part," Touma said.
"I said," she started and turned around her face a brilliant crimson color. "Please go out with me next weekend!" She closed her eyes and yelled out the last bit.
"EH!" He was expecting a vast number of reactions but not for her to ask him out. She is asking me out right? For an actual date? Not a punishment game or anything? He gaped at her for a minute. "Are you sure?"
"YOU IDIOT!" she yelled and it took all of her resolve not to shock him. "I finally get the courage to ask and that's your response? Do you not like me that much?"
"I do like you," Touma said and Mikoto's heart started to beat wildly. He smiled at her and was finally able to realize her true feelings. "Sure, how about this Saturday?"
Mikoto looked at him and her heart felt like it was going into overdrive. Her face stayed bright red and she looked up into Touma's eyes. She didn't say any hesitation or cowardice. She saw only him smiling down at her and resolution behind his eyes. This was completely and undisputedly the happiest moment of her life and nothing could ruin it, except for one person.
"Ah Misaka-san," a girl's voice said from behind them and they both turned around. Misaki was looking at them with a slightly angry glare. "I turn my back for one moment and you are trying to steal him away from me?"
"He's not yours," Mikoto said back gritting her teeth. "I can go out with him if I want."
"But you are lagging behind," Misaki said grinning. "We already kissed."
"I bet you forced it on him," Mikoto said turning red with anger. "He was probably shocked and just let you."
"Oh my, you can see everything," Misaki said stepping up right in front of Mikoto. Both girls were glaring daggers at each other. "Even so, I will not lose him to you." She turned and walked back to the hotel calling over her shoulder. "Kamijou-san, I hope you won't let her take advantage of you. I will definitely make you fall for me over her."
Mikoto watched her leave and finally sighed. "She makes me so mad sometimes." She thought it was weird Misaki left so easily but Mikoto realized Misaki was probably planning something bad for later. Then she turned to Touma who was deliberately looking away from her. His face was red too, he was obviously embarrassed. "Awe," she said teasing him. "Are you embarrassed to see two girls fight?"
"Well," he said. "A normal fight wouldn't be bad...but…" He trailed off not able to complete his sentence.
"Don't let it go to your head," she said smiling. Even after her argument with Misaki, she was still extremely happy Touma was going to go on a date with him. "Should we head back to everyone else now? I bet they wonder where we went, especially Kuroko."
"Can we keep this a secret from everyone else," Touma asked hesitantly. "Ruiko and Kazari MIGHT not hate me but Kuroko would try to kill me more than ever."
"Hmm," Mikoto said pretending to think. "I think they might have the right to know." She started to strut back to the hotel grinning. "Kuroko might be interested to find out who her new friend really is." She started to whistle innocently.
"Please Mikoto-sama," Touma called out in the most respectful way possible. When she turned around he prostrated himself on his hands and knees before her. "I don't want to die."
Mikoto looked surprised and then burst out laughing. She had to clutch her side from laughing too much. "You idiot," she said still smiling at him. "Stand up. I was never going to tell them as long as you don't do something like this again without telling me first." She walked back still laughing as Touma stood and ran to catch up with her. She wasn't going to let him get killed right after he finally accepted a date with her.
Seeing her smile like that made Touma think this entire trip may have been worth it. She was virtually glowing.
That same morning, in Academy City, another fight was going on. Well, fight might be too strong of a word, but there was definitely arguing. In the tallest building, some of the most influential individuals in the city were having a conference meeting. On one side of the room, twelve places were set up but only 7 had actual people filling them. The other 5 seats had a monitor each showing another individual. These were the Board of Directors, the ones who held absolute authority in Academy City, with only the Board Chairman above them. They rarely met as a group but they were facing a problem they still were unable to solve. Facing them was around 20 other people who looked like scientists in white coats or fancy suits. These individuals were some of the top researchers and developers in Academy City and they were summoned to find a solution to this problem. Out of everyone there, only one youth seemed to be calm to an almost mockingly degree.
"We understand your concern," the head scientists from one of the tables said. "But we still have no idea how this Kami was able to negate all these abilities."
"And why have you not been able to locate him?" one of the directors said.
"We have tried many times," the scientist replied nervously. "We cannot locate his AIM field. It is almost like he can hide it."
"You know that is impossible," the director replied. "He had one at the tournament and it is impossible to hide an AIM field completely. We made him a level 5 after seeing his capabilities but it will make us look like fools if we can't give more information about it."
"That is why I told you everyone acted hastily," the blonde haired youth said smirking. "You need to understand something before you just mark it a level 5."
"Ah Kagere-san," a female director said speaking up through her monitor. "We took your advice into account but anyone who can match up blow for blow with the rank 3 Railgun has to be a level 5."
"Well," Jason said shrugging. "We don't know his ability except we all assume it is negation, By the way I don't approve of assuming either. But what if it's something else that just resembles negation and actually is a pretty weak ability once you know what it does? Maybe he just has combat experience. I mean we can't find him or anything. I suppose we can always tell people he is outside the city for a specific experiment so we can ignore the media."
His smile was so prominent on his face a lot of the other people near him scooted away from him while others looked at him in disbelief. They all thought the same thing. How could this kind talk to the Board of Directors this way? A few people didn't look too interested in his remarks, including 3 men and 2 women in the back. They were more interested in the Board's responses to the kid's comments.
"Well you refused to help find him didn't you?" the first director said irritated.
Jason shrugged. "And as I told you before, my job is not to go looking for someone just because the trackers were incompetent. My job was to help develop the ability curriculum and work part time helping Judgment and Anti-Skill in exchange for grant money to do stuff I wanted."
"Yet you continue to ignore many requests from us about what to develop for the curriculums," the female director said crossing her hands on the screen.
"Ah yes," Jason said leaning back in his chair. "You mean like making a level 6, the AIM burst, Duel Skills, and Ability Change? In two weeks I gave you 117 different ways to improve the curriculum in order to develop more and higher level abilities. You implemented only a handful of them but you already have seen a significant increase in level 1s and 2s. Yet you still complain?"
"Why don't you just work on helping us develop a new tree diagram?" the female asked. "You always told us it was filled with flaws even with it being one of the most sophisticated pieces of machinery in existence."
"Now you are just being silly," Jason said grinning. "Like one person could repair the Remnant."
"You dare mock us," a second male director said slamming his fist on the table. "We recently approved your application for new equipment but if you can't show us real progress in developing a high level ability user, then maybe we will stop giving you free reign. Then you would be forcefully assigned to the projects you detest so much."
"Progress?" Jason said waving his hand dismissively. "I could turn a level 0 or 1 to a level 3 to 4 long before you could."
The director turned red and opened his mouth in anger but was cut off by an elder male director with black hair with a streak of grey. "If I may interrupt," he said calmly and the other director shut his mouth immediately. "I think I can come up with a solution. Why not give him a couple weeks to find and develop a high level ability and see if he can? We know his ideas work in improving the curriculum even if we haven't implemented them all due to their complexity. If he can show real progress in making a level 0 into let's say a 3, then he obviously knows what he is doing. Would that be agreeable to all?"
"That sounds acceptable," the other director said and several other members nodded with him. "But if he fails, then he is getting moved to a project of my choice."
Jason narrowed his eyes at them. He did not expect them to call him out on his claims. Trying to find a subject and improving them on an individual basis would cut into his valuable time and there is always a small chance it won't work in time. He sighed. "Fine," he said a little irritated. "Then when I show you how skilled I am, he can't question my methods again." The other male director glared at him.
"Very good," the elder director said. "We will discuss options later about Kami, but I think Kagere-san's idea was the best. If this Kami is outside the city then we won't have to worry about people snooping around." Other nodded in agreement. "Meeting adjourned then. Kagere-san, follow me I have something to discuss with you about your attitude today." Jason nodded frowning and the other director smirked.
Jason followed the elder director out a different door then everyone else and they walked down the hallway in silence. They entered an elevator and went down several floors, still not talking to each other. It wasn't until they reached a very large and decorated office, did the director turn to Jason and said. "One second." He fiddled with the watch on his arm and held it out in front of him while Jason smirked. He knew this director long enough to know his watch was a sensitive piece of equipment that could detect any sort of electronic spy equipment. After a minute he said, "Everything is clean." They both looked at each other then burst into laughter.
"I thought that geezer was going to have a heart attack," Jason said laughing. "His blood pressure must have risen considerably."
"He needs to exercise more," the elder director replied. His name was Osamu Miyagawa, the longest serving director on the board at this time. He has known Jason for many years. While they were talking, he pulled out a marble chess set and set it between them. "Well anyway, you shouldn't have antagonized him that much."
"You said he was going to try to crew me out today anyways," Jason said sitting down in a chair. "After the last few days, it was to be expected. But the plan went well, not as good as I would have liked, but definitely better then it could have been." He made the opening move and the game took off.
"Now you have to find a level 0 who you can raise to level 3," Osamu said as he made a move. "Though, it shouldn't be hard to find a willing participant. Hmm, interesting move." He muttered and started concentrating more on the game.
"Yea," Jason said. "Luckily it was just a single person. He could have tried to make a group. My time is already limited with my research, experiments, Judgment/Anti-skill, and enjoying high school."
"How much specifically do you have going on?"
"Going to start spending more time on researching a most interesting ability," Jason said offhandedly as he watched the board. "And my main experiment is going well, even with the interruption of that weird organization that keeps sneaking into the city."
"How far are you in the experiment?"
"Just hit 43% in phase 1, I could move to phase 2 at anytime now but I would prefer to get to 57% or 71% for best results. Hitting 100% right now is improbable and the effort is not worth the slight increase in success."
"Sounds challenging," Osamu remarked moving his knight.
"And last Friday as part of my peacekeeping duties I go and meet a small group led by a powerful psycho. I chased them away but I could have died if the fight continued."
"I heard about that," he said looking up for a moment. "But I am more interested in the experiment of yours."
"Well right now," Jason said. "It's tough to not let people know what you are doing but at the same time guiding them. Hopefully, another piece will meet soon."
"You are such a devious kid," Osamu remarked leaning back in his chair. "The old you would have just plowed through with anything that interested you and taken the main lead. Now you just hang out backstage."
"You know why," Jason said as his face darkened.
"Yea," he said frowning. "I do. It shouldn't have happened. Is that why you allowed yourself to join Judgment?" Jason nodded but didn't say anything. He just moved his bishop to take Osamu's knight. "You know, if you worked with the other groups more, you could have a lot more help and influence."
"I've seen the so called experiment's they tried and failed at," Jason said his face still dark. "If you are going to do something like that, you at least make sure you have every variable accounted for. But I won't lower myself to that level. I have my own goals and method to achieve them. I will not do the crap those old farts will do."
"Why don't you help recreate the Remnant then?" Osamu asked. "They currently are unable to solve a couple problems which I am sure you would be able to fix. Oh, check."
"What if I told you I already fixed it and made myself my own tree diagram to use it to further my plan of world domination?" He made a move.
"I would castrate you with a rusty pair of scissors," Osamu said in a matter of fact voice not missing a beat. He made a move.
"Good thing I have no plans for world domination," Jason said quickly and laughed. "Checkmate." He got up and left the room with Osamu looking in shock at the board. "You should always make sure when you move forward, that your opponent isn't sneaking around your side."
That Vacation Arc is officially done and the next arc is now being set up. Be prepared to see more Accelerator, new characters, and Touma stuck in the middle of World War Girls. Also, we will begin to learn more about Touma's right hand, though that may not be a good thing. How many different plots are going on in Academy City at once? Maybe Crowley might be planning something too? Who are we kidding, he is always planning something.
Ruiko hasn't had a lot of Touma time. Hope she gets to do something later but she is up against Mikoto and Misaki now.
Next chapter starts a new arc and new adventures.