Whew, had a little writer's block there for a couple days, then I suddenly got inspiration. You know, the kind you find with certain substances the man tries to keep us from enjoying.
Well, that is enough joking around. I think I need to get a beta reader because trying to proof read my own stories sucks. If anyone wants to volunteer, you will receive no pay, no vacation times, no holidays, and no tips. You WILL receive the chapter before anyone else, occasional compliments, and the glory of knowing you help make the story better for everyone.
Readers:
Guest: A Certain Beauty-Sempai would do that, maybe at some point in the future when the total number of girls reaches the breaking point.
Agent: Why not both? Then add a little embarrassment.
Glad everyone enjoyed the ending of last chapter. When I first started writing season 2, I wanted to end the first chapter at that point. Everything else was just filler. Let's rewind the clock a bit and follow Mikoto and Kuroko a little earlier in that day before they run into Touma. There will be an overlap at one point.
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.
"So onee-sama," Kuroko asked as they walked back to the dorm. "What do you want to do today?"
"I don't know," Mikoto said thinking. "I should probably review for the tests tomorrow, but they are pretty easy right now."
"Of course they would be easy for you," Kuroko said admiringly. "You are one of the top students in Tokiwadai. Why don't we go out and do something fun? Even you need a break once in a while."
"You sometimes have weird ideas of what constitutes fun" Mikoto said suspiciously as they entered their dorm. "I wish Saten-san and Uiharu-san could hang out with us if we do, but they said they needed to study. I hear Kagere-san is helping them."
"Humph," Kuroko said. She was still holding a grudge against Jason for giving her a weird nickname yesterday. However, she was also slightly happy he was tutoring them because it meant she would be alone with Mikoto. "I bet he is just distracting them."
"From what Uiharu-san told me," Mikoto said grinning. "Saten-san is the one who needs all the help. " Kuroko snickered as they both approached their room.
"Hold it Misaka-san," A woman's voice said from behind them and they both froze in fear. Behind them stood their dorm supervisor, a tall and slender woman with shoulder-length brown hair and wearing glasses. They were glinting and hid her eyes from view, which meant she was upset about something. Her anger was legendary and she had no problem with using physical force on rule breakers.
"Yes ma'am?" Mikoto asked as she snapped to attention and shivered slightly under her glare.
"A rather large package for you has arrived," the dorm supervisor said. "You know you need to check often to ensure the mailroom is not over crowded. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am," Mikoto said again, but inside she was confused. I didn't order anything. "I'll go get it right away." She hurried to the mailroom and the dorm supervisor left. Kuroko gave a sigh of relief, glad she was not on the receiving end of the dorm supervisor's anger. A couple minutes later, Mikoto came back carrying a box about two-thirds her size.
"What did you order?" Kuroko asked curious sitting on her bed.
"I didn't order anything," Mikoto said puzzled. "It's pretty light though. Hmm, here's a note." She tore the tape off of it and opened the envelope.
Dear Mikoto Misaka and Touma Kamijou,
During the carnival in Academy City, you both registered and took a picture at my booth this weekend. I am pleased to inform you, when we closed Sunday evening and tallied the totals, you two won by a single vote. Congratulations. Because you two were not available to receive it in person, I have mailed it to the address you provided me. Please enjoy your limited edition Gekota doll along with a framed picture of you two. You both deserve it.
The guy had signed his name below the letter, but Mikoto didn't pay attention to it all. We won! She immediately crumpled the letter into her pocket and started ripping open the box. She reached in and pulled out the large Gekota doll and gave it a squeeze as she couldn't contain her glee. Kuroko's voice brought her back to reality. "Really onee-sama, another one?"
"This is a limited edition," Mikoto bragged not caring about Kuroko's opinion on Gekota. Mikoto set it down in the corner of their room, quite pleased with herself. "I had to win it in a competition. I didn't know it was coming in the mail today."
"There's something else in here," Kuroko said reaching into the box and pulling out a picture frame. Mikoto's heart sank when she remembered the second part of the letter. She turned around and saw Kuroko stared at the picture with a look of horror; her face had gone pure white. Mikoto lunged forward and grabbed the frame from Kuroko's hand before she could do anything to it. "Onee-sama… and the ape…. together… She's been defiled, her purity tainted. I forgot they were together Saturday. He… must… die…" She was muttering more to herself then to Mikoto with her hands gripping her head.
Mikoto had to shock her to bring her back to her senses. "First, nothing happened Saturday. He was a perfect gentleman. We had just met Shokuhou-san when that magic group kidnapped our friends. We just entered this contest to win the Gekota prize." She looked down at the picture. Touma had his arm around her back and holding her close. They were both looking at each other with slightly red faces and smiling. The cameraman really caught a good angle and Mikoto really liked the picture, not just because it was her and Touma. She walked over and set the picture on her nightstand next to a picture of her, Kuroko, Ruiko, and Kazari.
"Why would you put his picture out in plain sight?" Kuroko asked shocked at Mikoto's boldness.
"Because he's a friend and it's a good picture," Mikoto quickly explained, but then shook her head as she decided to tell the truth. I guess I can't really hide it anymore. She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and finally told Kuroko the real reason. "And I l-l-like him a lot," she muttered. Mikoto was glad she was facing away from Kuroko as her face turned bright red. She suddenly felt chills as a dark aura exploded from the other side of the room. She turned around and Kuroko's eye was twitching and she had a weird half grin on her face. Mikoto thought to herself she might have broken the news to Kuroko a little too soon.
"Nooooooo," Kuroko whimpered, her face still showing the stunned expression. "He can't have taken onee-sama's… The ape has to die… Kill…Trogledyte…Evi…" Her sentences slowly turned to harsh words and then incoherent mumbling. Mikoto suddenly felt worried Touma might be in trouble. She vowed to send him a message warning him of Kuroko. Then she recognized a potential threat and was determined to stop it immediately.
"Kuroko," Mikoto said turning to look directly at her. "If anything happens to this photo, I will blame you. I don't care if a meteor comes flying down from space and destroys the dorm. If the picture is broken or disappears, I will blame you."
"But that's not…" Kuroko started to stammer.
"I WILL blame you," Mikoto repeated with emphasis looking Kuroko directly in the eyes. "If you do anything to it, I will make sure we are no longer roommates. Understand?"
"But…" Kuroko tried to say again looking horrified.
"UNDERSTAND?"
"Yes onee-sama," Kuroko muttered defeated and looking at the ground.
"Good," Mikoto said pleased she would not have to worry about the picture getting destroyed. Then she felt immensely guilty seeing Kuroko's depressed face. I need to cheer her up. "You are my best friend Kuroko," Mikoto said and saw Kuroko look up, her face slightly more cheerful. "But he is my friend too. So please just TRY to get along with him." The look on Kuroko's face told her that was never going to happen. "Anyway, we haven't spent a lot of time together lately, so how about we go shopping. You mentioned there were some new stores you wanted to check out."
Kuroko looked at Mikoto then smiled. "Yes onee-sama," she said breaking out into a smile. She was incredibly happy about spending the evening with Mikoto. She may have feelings for the ape now, but she will be sure to fall in love with me in the end. "There's a pretty high class mall that has some really nice clothing stores. Since it is getting warmer out, I wanted to update my summer ensemble. "
"I think I need to get a new swim suit," Mikoto said thinking. "My old one is getting to small."
"Onee-sama is growing into such a fine woman," Kuroko said with tears in her eyes. "I'm so happy for you." She teleported behind Mikoto and wrapped her hands around Mikoto's chest. "Hmm, they do seem to be a little bigger."
"KUROKO!" Mikoto yelled and the room was filled with blue-white sparks causing Kuroko to fall to the floor twitching in happiness and smoking. Mikoto sighed and sat on her bed thinking while waiting for Kuroko to recover. Something had been nagging her in the back of her mind, and she had been meaning to ask Kuroko about it. What did she need to ask Kagere about yesterday? I probably shouldn't have shocked her so much, but she really needs to stop groping me.
Eventually, Kuroko got up and dusted herself off. "Onee-sama's love never changes," she said happily. "I can't wait to spend all afternoon shopping. Maybe we can finally get you some more adult like underwear and spend all day trying them on."
"I'm not getting any underwear you think is good," Mikoto said crossing her arms as she remembered Kuroko's fondness for very revealing and see-through kinds. "Though, I do have a question for you."
"Sure."
"What were you talking to Kagere-san about yesterday?" Mikoto asked. "Your expression made it look important."
"Ah," Kuroko said thinking fast. She did not want to tell Mikoto about the Parameter List, even though Jason told her he had debunked it. She also didn't want Mikoto to doubt her own abilities and effort she put forth into becoming a level 5. However, she couldn't really think of a valid reason so she decided on something vague. "It was really important," Kuroko said shrugging and pretending it wasn't a big deal. "But it was kind of private so I didn't want to share it with everyone." She kept thinking of a possible excuse to use if Mikoto kept questioning her.
"Really?" Mikoto said suspiciously staring at Kuroko, who nodded. She's lying. I can see it in her eyes, but why? She thought about what kind of question it could be for Kuroko to not want to tell her. It can't be… A thought crossed her mind and she started to smirk while watching Kuroko.
"Why are you smiling?" Kuroko asked tilting her head slightly to the side confused at Mikoto's unexpected action.
"Did you confess to him?" Mikoto asked still grinning. Kuroko's response was so hilarious to Mikoto that she wished she had brought a camera. Kuroko's expression turned to shock as she looked like she had been clubbed over the head. Her face turned red with embarrassment, then deathly pale in horror. A green tinge slowly spread across her face and she looked like she was about to be sick. She held a hand up to her mouth and the other hand clutched her stomach. She teleported to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Mikoto walked up and knocked. "You ok?"
"No!" Kuroko's muffled voice came through the door. "How could you even suggest something so horrible?" Mikoto thought she heard Kuroko slightly retching and Mikoto shook her head laughing, under her breath, at Kuroko's overdramatic reaction.
"Jason," Kazari asked looking at him. "What's wrong?" Jason had suddenly looked out the window with a serious look on his face.
"I don't know," Jason said frowning slightly. "I feel like I missed something important."
"Did I get this right?" Ruiko asked pushing a piece of paper with a long problem on it over to him.
Jason looked at it for half a second. "No," he said and circled a part. "You mixed up those two formulas here." He pushed it back to her. "Try again."
"Arg," Ruiko sighed while grabbing her head in frustration. "These tests are horrible. Why would they put so many in a single week?"
"Well if you would study more instead of just right before we have a test," Kazari pointed out. "It would be easier to review."
"We are lucky Kagere-san is willing to help us," Ruiko said. "We wouldn't be half as prepared."
"You mean you wouldn't be," Kazari said shaking her head slightly while Jason laughed.
"Just be glad Kazari kept good notes," Jason said to Ruiko. "Or I wouldn't know where you two were at in the curriculum. Now go and finish that problem." Ruiko sighed and continued to scribble away on the paper.
"Oh Jason," Kazari said as she remembered something important. "Shirai-san said Misaka-san's birthday is next week, May second. It's during Golden Week so we can celebrate with her the entire day."
"Is Shirai going to throw a party then," Jason said leaning back on his pillow.
"From what she said," Kazari frowned. "Misaka-san told her not to throw a big party. She just wanted to hang out with her friends."
"Hmm," Jason said thinking. "That means we need to get her a present and I should probably tell Touma too. He probably doesn't know." He pulled out his phone. "So Misaka-san only said Shirai couldn't throw a party? I guess it's up to us then." He grinned while Kazari looked unsure.
"I don't think that was what she meant…" Kazari started to reply when Ruiko interrupted.
"Finally got it," she said leaning back onto the floor and looking at the ceiling. "Can we take a break?"
Jason looked over the problem and nodded. "Sure," he said and Ruiko sat up to celebrate when he added, "As soon as you finish those review problems." He pointed to a small stack of papers. Ruiko saw them and collapsed depressed. Kazari and Jason looked at each other and laughed.
When Kuroko told Mikoto she wanted to visit a new mall, Mikoto did not know Kuroko was referring to a mall Mikoto had been to before. It was the one she, Ruiko, and Misaki had been in just last week. The same day, they also met Touma and Shizuri in there together. If Accelerator hadn't shown up and been his usual self, it could have ended badly. Mikoto still never did find out why Accelerator was there. It wasn't like he was going to tell her. However, she knew the mall did have a wide selection of clothing stores, so Mikoto decided to follow Kuroko. At least she looks like she is in a better mood now. Kuroko had been severely depressed when she found out Mikoto was able to admit she liked Touma.
"Hurry up onee-sama," Kuroko called over her shoulder. "We have a lot of places to check out."
"I'm coming Kuroko," Mikoto sighed then smiled as she followed Kuroko into the first store. At least this one looks pretty normal. Kuroko headed to the summer outfits while Mikoto headed to the swimsuits. She started rummaging through them and occasionally holding one up in front of the mirror. She liked some of the colorful ones, but she knew other people saw them as childish. She wanted something more adult like the time, but still would suit her tastes. She held up one that was an adult style two piece, but was still a nice sky blue. As she held it up in front of the mirror she thought, I wonder if he would like it. She shook her head as her face turned red. I'm buying this for me, not for him. He will like anything I wear, right? She still remembered the fun they had on their date before the magic group interrupted them and she smiled.
"Oh my," a sickening sweet voice came from behind her and Mikoto's blood froze. "If it isn't Misaka-san. Are you looking for a new swimsuit?" Mikoto turned around and saw her arch-rival, Misaki Shokuhou. Misaki was waving to her cheerfully next to another attractive girl whose hair was in curls. Misaki bounded forward to meet Mikoto. "Hmm," she said tilting her head slightly to the side as she looked at the swimsuit Mikoto was holding. "That doesn't seem like your usual choice in swimwear Misaka-san." She smiled again and rummaged through the swim suits until she found what she was looking for. It was a child one piece with a lot of rabbit's characters on it. "This is more your style right?"
"You…" Mikoto said angrily sparking slightly. "What makes you think I would wear something like that?" She may enjoy cute things, but something like that was way too childish for her.
"Is our little Misaka-san finally growing up?" Misaki asked putting a finger on her cheek as Kuroko walked up to them.
"Onee-sama what do you think of this?" Kuroko asked. "Oh, hello Shokuhou-san. I didn't see you. How are you?"
"I'm fine Shirai-san," Misaki said sweetly. "Thank you for asking. I just saw my good friend Misaka-san and had to come over." She turned over to her friend. "I think I'm going to hang out with these two for a little bit. Please go on without me." The girl nodded and left without any hassle.
"So onee-sama," Kuroko asked again as she held up an outfit. "What do you think of this?" She held up a purple summer dress. The straps were very thin and it wouldn't cover much above the chest. The dress looked nice, but Mikoto thought it would be a little difficult for Kuroko to pull off with her "body type.' It really was designed for someone with a larger chest. Of course, Misaki always had the opposite opinion of her.
"It looks great Shirai-san," Misaki said clapping her hands together. "It makes you look so adult like."
"Well," Mikoto said grinning insincerely. "I can certainly see that."
"Great," Kuroko said smiling. "I'm going to get it then." She walked over to the register while Mikoto turned to Misaki.
"What do you want?"
"Why Misaka-san," Misaki said pouting slightly. "What makes you think I want anything?"
"Because I know you," Mikoto muttered. "And you can't affect me with your ability."
"Very perceptive," Misaki said smiling. "Yes, there is something I wanted to talk to you about, but we were so busy yesterday I didn't have the time. So, what all happened with you and Touma on Saturday at the carnival?" Her smile was still on her face, but Mikoto could feel the dark aura began to seep out of her.
Damn, Mikoto thought to herself thinking fast. She was debating what to say to Misaki. Mikoto could lie, but since Misaki caught them halfway through their date, she would see through it immediately. "I was on a date with him," she replied the corners of her mouth beginning to smirk and she couldn't stop. "I still don't see what business it is of yours." For the first time Mikoto could remember, she actually saw real anger flash in Misaki's eyes.
"How bold of you Misaka-san," Misaki still in her playful tone, but now it sounded like poisoned honey. "If I remember correctly, your admirer, Shirai-san knows about it too. How does she feel about it?"
"She…" Mikoto said then paused. "Will get used to it… eventually." However, part of her was worried about what would happen if she didn't. Her words sounded surer then she actually felt.
"I see," Misaki said surprised, but narrowed her eyes slightly. "Maybe I should ask her myself. Ah, here she comes now." Mikoto's blood froze when Kuroko walked back over to them carrying a bag.
"Thanks for waiting," Kuroko said then frowned when she felt the tension between them. "What's wrong?"
"We were just talking about Misaka-san's date with Touma," Misaki said quickly before Mikoto could stop her. Kuroko's face suddenly darkened and she looked depressed.
"Onee-sama… ape…. defiled…," she muttered. Mikoto glared at Misaki who just smiled back at her. Misaki was rather pleased with herself. She had begun to punish Mikoto for daring to go on a date alone with Touma.
"Ignore her Kuroko," Mikoto said putting her hand on her shoulder. Kuroko immediately took the opportunity to grab Mikoto and embrace her while burying her face into Mikoto's chest.
"How could onee-sama fall for such a player like the ape?" Kuroko cried into her chest. A vein throbbed in Mikoto's head as Kuroko took the chance and moved her head around in her chest, but she gritted her teeth and ignored it. Let's get it out of her system.
"Kuroko," she said finally. "You are drawing a lot of attention, let's continue our shopping trip." Kuroko sniffed one last time and let go of her.
"Okay," she said sounding slightly better. "Shokuhou-san, would you like to join us?" Mikoto grimaced and started to walk away.
"It would be my pleasure Shirai-san," Shokuhou said smiling at her. When she noticed Mikoto was out of earshot, she whispered, "I'm trying to get Touma to go out with me. If he does, Misaka-san is all yours."
"I'll be rooting for you then," Kuroko whispered back. "I don't understand what people see in him, but I'll help you anyway I can." When she said those words, she suddenly felt a sting of regret. She was plotting against Mikoto, with someone who Mikoto did not like for some reason unknown to Kuroko. After all, she never knew all the rivalry Mikoto and Misaki had behind the scenes. I know I should be supporting her, but she would be better off with someone who is as amazing as her. Not some ape that just happens to have some strange power .In the long run, onee-sama would be happier with someone else. She still felt extremely guilty when she and Misaki followed Mikoto to continue their shopping.
For being with Kuroko and her arch-rival Misaki, Mikoto had to admit the shopping trip could have been a lot worse. The worst things that happened was Kuroko trying to get her to wear see through underwear and Misaki trying to pass her little kids clothing. She was suspicious at how nice Misaki and Kuroko were to each other, but since Misaki did not seem to be using her powers on Kuroko, Mikoto let it pass. They did seem to get along on the beach trip. As long as Kuroko doesn't insult Touma in front of her, they at least seem to have fun together. After the crazy stuff that happened last weekend, Mikoto was kind of glad for this normal shopping trip. She was at least able to buy a new swimsuit for the summer. It was bright cheerful yellow two piece that was a normal adult style, so Kuroko at least couldn't say too much about it.
After they left the mall, all three of them were heading back toward the Tokiwadai dorms. Kuroko was walking in between Mikoto and Misaki, while alternating talking between them. "Shokuhou-san," Kuroko said. "I haven't had time to ask you. Do you have Kamiko-san's number? I never did get it at the beach." Mikoto coughed in surprise at the sudden question, but quickly looked away when Kuroko glanced at her.
"Hmm," Misaki said putting a hand up to her face. "I haven't been in contact with her recently. I believe she had to change her phone number for some reason. I'll see if I can contact her and maybe we can all hang out again. She is in high school and has her own friends, so she may be busy."
"That would be great," Kuroko said beaming at her. "We had such great chemistry ever sense we first met."
Mikoto was glad Kuroko was looking at Misaki rather than her, because Mikoto had covered her mouth to prevent herself from bursting out laughing. Kuroko always said how much she hated Touma, but as soon as he was turned into a girl, he suddenly became Kuroko's close friend. He didn't even change his personality. The only reason Kuroko doesn't like him is because I hang out with him. She really needs to back off on who I want to be friends with. Well, with him I want to be mor…" She shook her head slightly to get rid of that thought. She caught Misaki's eyes and saw the twinkle of laughter there about Kuroko's reaction. It was one of the few times Mikoto could actually laugh with Misaki.
They were walking down a street surrounded by high class apartments. The sun was just beginning to sink behind one of the buildings and the street lights had just turned on. Kuroko was still asking Misaki questions about Touma's female persona, when Mikoto saw something that surprised her. Out of one of the apartments, she saw some familiar spikey hair. She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Misaki saw it too and looked stunned. At least I know I am not imagining things. Both Mikoto and Misaki called out to him.
"Touma?"
Kuroko noticed him right after them and asked, "Ape?"
Mikoto watched Touma jump and quickly look around at them. "Uh hi," he said nervously.
"What are you doing here?" Mikoto asks curiously. Misaki and Kuroko questioned him too. They never thought he would be in a high class apartment neighborhood. She looked up at the apartment he came out of. He quickly explained he was helping out a friend. However, he had a suspicious pause in his words and Mikoto stared at him for a moment. Misaki then announced she believed him and Mikoto found she believed him too. After all, the idiot would probably run halfway around the world to save someone. "So you planning to get stuck with remedial classes during Golden Week since you aren't going to study?" Kuroko snickered and the atmosphere lightened considerably. The encounter went south immediately after that.
Suddenly, out of the apartment, Frenda emerged and looked like she was trying to give him back his phone. Mikoto realized the person he was helping had to be Frenda. Right when Touma was trying to explain under the girl's glares, Shizuri stepped out of the apartment and the situation became even tenser. Mikoto started involuntarily sparking in anger as Shizuri started taunting her and Misaki. Misaki had pulled out her remote, Frenda pulled out her missiles, Kuroko her spikes, and green orbs started to glow around Shizuri. An all-out brawl between several high level ability users was about to begin.
"Stop!"
Touma shouted at them all, his voice ringing with authority. At the same time, he grabbed Shizuri's wrist and caused the green orbs to disappear. To Mikoto's disbelief, Shizuri actually followed Touma's orders. What happened to make her listen to him? She knew Shizuri was strong willed and didn't like taking orders from anyone else. She tried to question them, but then all of those questions were pushed out of her mind when Shizuri leaned toward Touma and gave him a passionate kiss on his lips. Shizuri left right after the kiss before Mikoto could recover from her shock.
"TOOOOUUUMMMAAAA!" Mikoto and Misaki called out in anger and surprise.
Before Mikoto could gather her senses enough to shock Touma within an inch of his life, Misaki had acted first. She leaped at Touma and kissed him passionately on the lips too. Now, Mikoto was furious, but also had other emotions, embarrassment, rage, sadness, rage, confusion, and more rage. She knew she was going to regret this later but, after her initial tactic of shocking him failed, she still needed to cause him at least a little bit of pain. Mikoto rushed forward, to give him one good punch in the gut before she would listen to what he had to say, but then she tripped. She watched as Touma moved forward and caught her before she hit the ground. She knocked them both down and her lips landed directly on his.
Her mind stopped working at this point as her embarrassment rose to new levels. She was hurt that shortly after their date, other girls were kissing him. She was also hurt because this was their first kiss and it was very unromantic. Her face flushed bright red and she felt her powers begin to go out of control as the clouds above them began to gather. She was vaguely aware of Kuroko saying something.
Touma finally manage to get back to his dorm and immediately collapsed from exhaustion. He ran around the city for several hours as he was being chased by Mikoto, Kuroko, and Misaki. Kuroko, of course, wanted to skin him alive and out running a teleporter is not an easy task. She kept cutting him off and forcing him to improvise on his escape route when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Misaki, on the other hand, kept confusing Touma. He knew she wasn't the most athletic person, but somehow he always kept finding her in the direction he was running. It was like she had a network of spies telling her where he was, so she knew the direction he was always planning to go. He also had a powerful sense of déjà vu when he was being chased by an angry Mikoto. It had been awhile since she had chased him, but the conversation was pretty normal.
"Get back here," Mikoto yelled. "I just want to talk."
"That would be a lot more convincing if you weren't shooting lightning at me," Touma said as he negated a bolt of electricity Mikoto threw at him.
"Just accept your punishment," she retorted. "Then we can talk."
"I told you I didn't do anything," Touma yelled. "It was an accident. I didn't enjoy it!" The last part was a lie, but he was saying anything he could think of to calm her down. However, all it seemed to do was fuel her anger even more.
"Take responsibility for your actions!" There were still people on the streets as they ran by and a lot of them shook their head at Touma as they heard the shouting.
That poor girl, the guy must have done something horrible. So of course, no one came to save him.
So finally, after running around and eventually losing the girls, Touma manage to sneak back to his dorm. Only to be attacked by a hungry nun, who was furious at him for leaving her alone without food. After he managed to get her razor sharp teeth off his head, he found out she had gone looking for him and ran into Jason, Kazari, and Ruiko. They had fed her supper, but she was still angry at Touma. He promised to make sure she would have food if he was going to be late to mollify her. The only thing he had the energy to do, before collapsing in the tub to sleep, was look at the messages he received from his friends earlier that day.
How's the date going Kami-yan? Touma decided to ignore Motoharu's text. There is no way he could know what happened. He just wants to annoy me.
I just found out Misaka-san's birthday is next week, the second, you need to get her something. Touma's eyes widened at Jason's useful information. I need to think of something soon. She may have some anger issues and overreact, but she is still a good friend.
Kuroko remembered our date Saturday, so you should avoid her till she calms down. Touma stared at it for a moment and shook his head. Shirai-san is probably a lot angrier at me now.
Would you like help studying for the tests this week? I'm sure we can sneak you into my dorm for a private study session. He stared at Misaki's text and realized that was not going to happen. There is no way I will be able to study there. He fell asleep with the phone in hand.
His alarm woke him up the next morning and he had to force himself to get up. He was still exhausted and his muscles hurt from all the running last night. He slowly lifted himself out of the tub, made Index her daily food, cleaned up, and marched off to school. He was so groggy, he didn't realize he left early and was the first one to arrive to class. He sat down and promptly fell back to sleep with his head on his desk. He was woken up by Motoharu.
"Must have been a long night after your date Kami-yan," Motoharu said grinning as Touma lifted his head. "Wow, you look terrible."
"Thanks a lot," Touma grumbled stretching. "Big misunderstanding last night and spent most of it running for my life."
"Did you try to date several girls at once again?" Pierce asked as he joined the conversation. "You may be good, but doing that is dangerous. It's best just to rent out a hotel room for all of them."
"Nothing like that happened you perverts," Touma denied venomously, but then realized something. That was actually pretty close to what did happen at the tower. If he didn't know how these two were normally, he would have sworn they had seen him last night.
"Did you do any studying then?" asked Motoharu grinning.
"I wish," Touma said getting depressed.
"We told you Sunday you should have," Jason said as he and Accelerator entered the classroom. "I helped Kazari and Ruiko last night, but if you ask nicely, I can probably help you tonight."
"I doubt any amount of studying will help me at this point," Touma sighed as he finally admitted defeat.
"If you just want to pass the tests," Accelerator suggested. "Why not just steal the test answers?"
"Because that would be wrong?" Touma mentioned as if stating the obvious.
Everyone around him shrugged. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," Motoharu said.
"We could probably get you some drugs to increase brainpower for a short time," Jason pointed out.
"I can't believe you guys want me to find a way to cheat on the tests," Touma said shocked.
"Who's trying to cheat on the tests?" Seiri demanded marching over to them.
"Them," Touma said instantly pointing to his friend's direction. He was not planning to take the fall for them today, not after everything he went through last night.
"Traitor!" Pierce said pointing at him dramatically.
"It's supposed to be bros before hoes," Motoharu added.
"Technically drugs aren't cheating," Jason pointed out.
Even though Accelerator had been the one to suggest cheating, he didn't say anything after Seiri showed up and that might have been the reason she didn't try to beat him up too. Instead, Pierce, Motoharu, and Jason were beaten, again, by her superhuman strength. Touma sighed in relief and leaned back in his chair, glad he escaped Seiri's wrath. Komoe entered the classroom and everyone went to their seats to start the day of grueling tests.
At least the tests today were just normal subjects, math and science. Touma may not have been the smartest person, but he wasn't dumb. He just could not relate to the ability development curriculum because of his hand. Normal subjects he was slightly above average. It's just a zero in one subject tends to lower your average. He did notice two people seemed to complete the tests in about a quarter of the time allotted for each one. Accelerator and Jason stood up, almost simultaneously, and passed their exams in. It was almost like the time it took to complete was the time it took to read the question and write down the answer. They must have not used anytime for actual thinking of the question. When the day finally ended, Touma sighed and packed his bag, glad for the day to be over. Before he could leave, Jason spoke up.
"Hey guys before you go," he said. "I have something to tell you all." Pierce, Motoharu, Accelerator, and Touma all looked at him then shrugged. They left the school together and found a table at the nearby park. "Sorry, this information is top secret and only for Touma, so naturally, I'm going to be sharing it with all of you."
"What kind of logic is that?" Touma asked.
"The best kind," Motoharu remarked. "So what is it?"
"This," Jason said pulling out a brown envelope out of his bag and passed it over. Motoharu opened it and he read it with Pierce looking over his shoulder. A grin appeared on both of their faces.
"Yes," Pierce said fist pumping. 'I knew Kamijou would win."
"What?" Touma asked.
"You won the contest for Ultimate Paradise World G," Motoharu said passing the papers over to him. "You were the first person to beat the game completely."
"I just checked the website," Pierce said holding up his phone. "No one else has done it yet. The closest person got 249 but has been unable to get the last girl."
"Tsk," Accelerator said. "How does this involve me again?"
"Because it was a team effort," Jason said. "I figured everyone should know "
"Wait," Touma asked. "Why did this go to you and not to me?"
"They don't know who you are," Jason said with a smirk.
"Huh?"
"Few people know the identity of the eighth rank level 5 Kami the Harem King," Motoharu pointed out. Accelerator burst out laughing.
"Hah," he said. "I forgot you signed him up under that name."
"You idiots," Touma said. "But that doesn't explain why Jason got it."
"Because," Jason explained. "We worked hard to protect your identity. All they know is you represented our class. As I am the only member of Judgment, in our class, they turned to me to pass on the information to you. I said I could do it and I just fulfilled my promise. I would have done it yesterday, but I was busy and skipped class. You need to fill that out for the interview tomorrow. The CEO is coming to personally conduct it then."
"Tomorrow?" coughed Touma surprised it was so soon.
"Yea," Jason said. "I figured they could help you prepare." He jerked his head to Motoharu and Pierce. "I'm supposed to act as the liaison between you and MultiMaxlon Entertainment." He sighed. "Not like I have enough work to do already."
"Heh," Accelerator laughed again. "I may have to watch his first interview as a level 5. I just ignore those people who try to get me to do boring things like that."
"I don't want people to recognize me though," Touma said nervously.
"We will prepare your disguise," Jason said. "I figure some hair dye and no one will recognize you."
"Aogami and I can help you with what to say," Motoharu volunteered. "Should be easy enough to guess what questions they will ask."
"Like I can trust you two," Touma said rolling his eyes at them.
"That hurts," Pierce said holding his hand over his heart. "After all we have been through together."
"Just fill it out," Jason said. "I need to drop it off. After school tomorrow, I will take you guys to the location of the interview. You can change on the way Touma."
"I'm going to regret this," Touma sighed scribbling down the needed information on the form. "You a$$&*%^ just had to sign up that stupid nickname."
"Not our fault you guys decided to call yourselves the Lolicons of Misfortune and attract worldwide attention during the tournament," Motoharu pointed out.
"Yes it was!" shouted Touma and Accelerator together.
"Oh," Motoharu said thinking. "I guess it was."
"You also get a free weeks' vacation to anywhere for you and a group of friends," Jason reminded Touma.
"Sweet," Pierce cheered. "Kamijou can take us all to a famous beachside resort to pick up girls."
"Like hell I'm taking you two anywhere after that shit you pulled," Touma said pointing at them. "I might take Accelerator and Jason because they help me a lot, but not you two."
"Who would want to go with you?" Accelerator asked rolling his eyes.
"Don't be that way Kami-yan," Motoharu said. "I'm sure once you cool down and think about it, you know it won't be as much fun without us." Jason and Pierce both smirked. While Touma still didn't trust them all, everything seemed to be settled. He finished filling out the forms and handed them to Jason, who stuck them in his bag. Pierce and Motoharu left together and Accelerator waved and headed back to his apartment. Jason decided to hang out with Touma and they were talking about the tests they just took, while on the way to the drop-off location for the forms.
"How did you do?" Jason asked.
"I should have just barely passed," Touma said relieved. "Everything looked familiar at the very least. It's the ability related fields I am going to fail."
"Well," Jason said shrugging. "If you don't w ant to cheat, I can probably guess what is going be on them for you."
"That might be ok," Touma said thinking. He wasn't going to cheat but, if it was just like a review session, he would be ok with it. "Oh, where were you yesterday? I'm surprised you skipped out on system scan."
"Wouldn't do me any good," Jason said. "The sin marks are messing with my shadow ability. I couldn't risk letting it go out of control during the scan. Besides, the time was well spent instead. I spent most of yesterday experimenting with the data from your hand."
"What did you find out?" Touma asked.
"Well," Jason said hesitantly. "I was working more on how your hand actually negated things. We found the Anti-AIM field that explains how abilities are negated. But we don't have science equipment to detect how your hand cancels out mana. Magic follows a different set of rules so, whatever your hand produces to cancel mana has to be something else besides just an Anti-AIM. I was hoping we would see something in the equipment that would give me a clue. So far, I think I need to study magic more."
"I see," Touma said slightly let down. I hoped he would have found out more. "Did you come up with any explanation on the dragon I told you about?"
"I have theories," Jason replied. "As you know, I was unconscious and, if I saw it, I could have probably been surer then I am now. I have two possibilities. The first is the dragon is a manifestation of the true power of the Imagine Breaker. If it is, that means there must have been a reason it took on that form. Your mental and emotional state, at the time, could have caused the monster. Without any evidence though, I think this is rather unlikely. The second theory I have, I think this one is more likely, is the Imagine Breaker is a seal for whatever that dragon is."
"What do you mean a seal?" Touma asked confused. "You mean that dragon lives inside me?"
"That is the theory," Jason replied nodding. "How, I don't know. As I said before, my knowledge is limited with magic. I study with Index when I get a chance, but she is limited to what she can tell me besides the basics for security reasons."
"Must be tough for a scientist to have to think about magic," Touma commented.
"Oh I keep that piece of information to myself," Jason replied laughing. "There is a group of scientists who will never accept the ideas of the occult. They have been bothering me for a while, but some of their data is useful."
"I suppose I need to think of a place to visit," Touma said changing topics. "I'm surprised the free weeks' vacation is during Golden Week. Not a lot of time to change plans."
"You know Academy City's level of security," Jason said shrugging. "They probably had to pass like 10 background checks before they would let anyone in to see a level 5. But enough of the boring information," he grinned, "Which of your many girlfriends are you going to invite with you." Jason nudged him in the side with his elbow.
"Don't you start acting like those two," Touma growled while Jason laughed. "I'll probably invite everyone who came and helped us fight the sin organization as thanks." They continued to argue for a little bit as they walked down a less crowded street. Jason ran into a building to drop the forms off, and then they left and started to head back to Touma's dorm. Jason had promised to help Touma study so he could hopefully pass the ability curriculum tests.
"Hey Jason," Touma said as he looked around. "Is this area normally this deserted?" Jason looked around and shrugged.
"There's no mana so maybe?" Jason replied. "I don't come here often unless I'm about to argue with some people."
"Well usually this is a sign something bad is going to happen," Touma whispered as he kept up his guard. Jason laughed.
"You and your paranoia, if we get attacked, I am blaming yo…"
Suddenly, Jason was thrown forward as an explosion erupted right behind him. Touma turned around and saw a power suit standing behind them, the ground below it was destroyed as if it just jumped down from the roof. Another one jumped down, confirming Touma's suspicion. Before he could do anything, the first power suit swatted him away with its arm. Touma was lifted into the air and thrown ten feet away. The second one held out its arm as Jason stood back up. With a bang, two wires shot out of a launcher on its wrist and wrapped around Jason. Touma heard a familiar crackle, and saw sparks fly off the wire as the suit transferred electricity directly into Jason.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he cried as he fell to the ground.
"What the f%&^ are you b#$%&$^ doing!" Touma yelled in anger as he stood back up to his feet. The power suits ignored him. The second one picked Jason up off the ground and threw him over its shoulder. Both suits rolled off down an alleyway at high speeds, so there was no way Touma could catch up to them. The last thing he heard was Jason saying, "Nineteen dash twenty one U." He yelled in pain again as he was shocked into silence.
Touma stood there panting slightly in anger. His body hurt from being smacked around, but nothing felt broken. He ran in the direction the power suits went off, but they were already long gone. Whoever those guys were, Touma thought. They were professionals. But how did they have Anti-Skill power suits? He was worried whoever kidnapped Jason might be someone high up in Academy City so he didn't want to call for help from Anti-Skill. He also knew he was going to need help because his hand was useless against machines and normal weaponry. He reached down and pulled out his phone. He dialed Accelerator's number. He should be able to help.
No one picked up the phone and it went to voicemail.
"Shit," Touma muttered to himself then left a message. "Jason's been kidnapped by guys in power suits, call me back." He sighed to himself as he dialed another person's number. I hope she isn't still mad at me.
The phone rang three times and Mikoto picked up. "What do you want?" Her voice was dripping with anger.
"Is the ape really calling you after what he did yesterday," asked Kuroko's shocked voice in the background.
"Look I'm sorry about that and I'll explain it to you later if you don't shock me," Touma said quickly. "But right now Jason was just kidnapped by two guys in power suits. I need help rescuing him."
"Kagere-san has been kidnapped?!" Mikoto yelled out in surprise.
"What?" Kuroko asked loudly. Her voice was louder, so she must be right next to the phone too.
"I don't know why," Touma said. "We were walking back to my dome when they jumped down from a nearby building. I don't know where they went, but Jason said something before they took him away, 'nineteen dash twenty one U.' Any idea what you think that means?"
"No," Mikoto said.
"I do," Kuroko said. "It's Judgment shorthand. Its district 19, building twenty one, and the U stands for underground."
"How would he know where he is being taken, if he is being kidnapped?" Mikoto asked both Kuroko and Touma.
"It does sound suspicious," Touma said thinking. "He might have known he was targeted or recognized something on the power suits."
"I'll question him later," Kuroko said. "Right now we should try to rescue him. Did you notify Anti-Skill ape?"
"No," Touma said. "The power suits looked like the type Anti-Skill used so they may be working for someone higher up. If we notify Anti-Skill, the perpetrator may receive warning."
"Sounds plausible," Kuroko sighed. "Guess it's the hard way. As a member of Judgment, onee-sama, I'm going to requisition your help in this matter. Let's go."
"I'll meet you there," Touma said.
"No you won't ape!" Kuroko snarled, probably more aggressively then needed. "This is Judgment business now and civilians should not get involved."
"Besides," Mikoto added. "Your hand is useless against machines right?"
"Yea," Touma reluctantly agreed and the line went dead as Mikoto hung up. Of course, he wasn't going to sit by and do nothing when he friend was in trouble. He rushed over to the nearest map terminal and found out where the building was. He memorized the route and rushed to the nearest train. As he boarded the train, he knew this was not the smartest move on his part. He was pretty useless against guns. Screw logic, I'm going to help my friend anyway possible. He made a fist in determination and looked out the window as the train began to move.
Kuroko was teleporting herself and Mikoto across the city toward district 19. Since they could move above the buildings, it was the fastest way since they could travel in a straight line. It took a while to reach their location, since they had traveled all the way from their school dorms, but they finally saw their target. Kuroko dropped them off at a nearby building overlooking building number twenty-two. "Do you think he was really kidnapped?" Kuroko asked.
"Touma made it sound like he was," Mikoto said. "And he's not one to lie without reason, but I can't think of a reason to make something like this up."
"Well let's go rescue him," Kuroko sighed. "He is our friend." Mikoto's eyes widened as she looked at Kuroko then smiled. "What?" Kuroko asked noticing the strange reaction.
"You called him OUR friend," Mikoto pointed out. "Normally you just call him a liar."
"Well," Kuroko said looking away to hide her slightly embarrassed face. "He did help us rescue Uiharu and Saten-san. So he can't be all bad. He is still a liar though and annoys me to no end. Anyway, we should be focusing on the task at hand." Mikoto nodded.
"I don't see anyone," Mikoto said. "The area looks deserted."
"If the base is underground," Kuroko said. "We either need to find the entrance, which is probably in the building, or blast our way in from above. If we do that, there is a chance the ceiling will collapse completely."
"I guess we should check out the building first," Mikoto suggested. "Before we try to blast our way down." Kuroko nodded in agreement. Kuroko teleported them down to the ground in front of the building. It looked like an abandoned storage garage. It was slightly run down, there were no lights on, and the large metal sliding doors had graffiti on them. That alone was suspicious to the girls as cleaning bots usually kept everything spotless. As they approached the building, several of the doors suddenly slid open with a clang. From inside the darkened building, several orange lights appeared as power suit after power suit started to roll out. They spread around the two girls with their guns aimed at them. There had to be at least twenty of them. "I think we found the right place," Mikoto commented as she began to spark.
"Be careful," Kuroko said. "They look like they mean business." Gunshots rang out across the silent street, but Kuroko and Mikoto disappeared and reappeared behind one of the suits. Mikoto unleashed a powerful electric blast causing the suit to collapse in a smoking mess. The fight had begun.
Touma on the other hand was running toward the building's location on foot, after he got off the train. As he got close, he saw some familiar looking blue sparks fly into the air. Looks like they got here first. He figured he wouldn't be able to get through the fighting so he tried to find a way around it. If the kidnapper's base of operations is underground, they should have more than one entrance in case of emergencies. If Anti-Skill sieged them, they would want a back way out. He looked around at the nearby buildings while Mikoto and Kuroko were systematically taking out the power suits. If I was trying to sneak in, where would I go? He looked around for anything unusual. His experience in looking for anything out of the ordinary paid off as he saw a manhole cover slightly askew. He walked over and lifted the lid and looked down into the sewer. There was a ladder and it was lit by emergency lights. If this isn't the right place, no one can know of this. He climbed down and gritted his teeth as a horrible stench overwhelmed him.
He was lucky as there was a walkway below him and he didn't have to travel through the sewers. He walked in the direction of the building he believed Jason was in. Eventually he got to a stone wall and looked around. When he inspected it further, he realized the stone wall wasn't real and a slight chip revealed a metal wall behind it. Well, I'm at the right spot, now to find an entrance. He continued to circle around until he finally found a door. He actually almost missed it, as it was concealed, but he had tripped and fallen directly into it. The thud was different and sounded hollow. He ran his fingers around the fake stone wall until he found a small handhold and forced the door open. He slipped in and walked down a dirty, but now metal, hallway. He approached another door and slowly opened it. He heard some people talking and crept into a large room full of equipment. He hid behind one of the large terminals and looked around.
Jason was strapped upside down by metal bars into the wall. His body was spread out in an X-shape. Touma was glad he at least appeared to be conscious. Several wires were connecting Jason to several machines. Judging by his constant twitches, they were feeding some sort of electrical shock into his body. Touma moved his head and saw two other people in the lab. One was a bald man with white hair around the side of his head and a white lab coat. He was standing in front of Jason and was in the middle of a conversation with him. Touma was surprised who the other person was. It was a woman with tea colored wavy hair, tied up in a ponytail, and was wearing casual clothes. What really surprised him was she was in a wheelchair. She was monitoring equipment and typing something on a keyboard. The man was still talking to Jason and Touma noticed, while Jason appeared in slight discomfort, he had a bored expression on his face.
"So your friends found us here," the man said. "Doesn't matter, Byouri, activate Capacity Down and weaken those girls." The women nodded and hit a lever near her. "There's only a couple suits left, but if they can't use their ability, they will fall soon enough." Touma's stomach dropped. He knew he had to turn off the machine, but how. He didn't know who else was here or if those two had any weapons. Capacity Down was a device that produced a sound that can disrupt ability user's concentration to use their abilities.
"I'm sure they will be fine," Jason said confidently. "I know them both, they are quite strong." Touma felt his stomach unwind at Jason's words. "Your voice is quite annoying though. Can you just tell me what you want already? I assume these electric shocks have a purpose?"
"The electric shock should interrupt your calculations enough so you can't use your shadow," the main said. "But you are intelligent, I'm sure you know what we want with you."
"Are the Kihara's still mad I won't join them?" Jason asked bemused.
The man smiled coldly. "It still surprises me you refused us so many times. We work toward the pinnacle of science. We will do any experiments others are too weak to do. You are someone who works toward science few others could even comprehend, yet you waste it by refusing to join us. We could share information and speed up all of our research by decades. Well, we are now done asking. We will remove your brain and access your memories and the information within. Without your personality, you won't have any way to resist because your mind will be nothing more than electronic and chemical signals, which we can convert to imagery."
Touma felt slightly sick at the man's words. They are going to remove his brain?
"I don't join you because I actually have morals on what I am willing to experiment with," Jason said simply. "While I can't say I approve of your plan for me, the science is sound so can't really complain. It would be easier to read the signals from a brain being kept active in a machine then trying to read a live person's mind."
"I knew you would understand," the man said happily. "Now we can find out your top secret experiments you are working on." Touma was about to jump out form his hiding place and stop them from dissecting Jason when Jason said something surprising.
"I can just tell you what I'm working on if you want," Jason replied.
"What?" The man asked in surprise and Touma thought the exact same thing.
"What I'm working on will change the world as we know it," Jason explained confidently. "No one has been able to figure out the formula, but I have almost succeeded."
"And what is it?" the man said impatiently with a look of hunger in his eyes.
Touma was also leaning forward as he too was curious to what Jason was going to say. Is he planning to mention the imagine breaker?
"I am making…" Jason paused dramatically. "Hot ice cream."
"What?"
"I always thought it sucks to only be able to enjoy ice cream to the fullest during summer," Jason explained. "My invention would have the texture, consistency, and taste just like ice cream but, you could eat it hot like soup. It is perfect for those who enjoy sweets to eat during the cold winter months. It will change the world and make me a fortune." The man just stood there and stared at him for a moment. Touma just face palmed
Seriously? There is a time and place for jokes Jason.
"How cute," the man said sneering slightly. "You are still trying to be funny before you die."
"I'm adorable," Jason said grinning. "It's why people come to save me." If Touma's hand wasn't already hitting his face, he would have face palmed again.
"Byouri," The man said. "Get him ready for dissection. Let's also make it painful for him, no anesthesia." The wheel chaired women nodded and scooted off to the opposite side of the lab.
"Delay that order," the man's voice said. But he didn't move his mouth. The women paused and she, along with the man and Touma, turned to look at Jason. They were shocked when they saw it wasn't Jason hanging upside down, but an exact duplicate of the man, even his voice and tone were exactly the same. "He already told us his plan. Once he gives us the formula there is no reason to kill him. It would be a shame to waste a potential resource that could further our goals."
He's using a sin mark, Touma thought to himself. Jason told him once, at the hospital, he got several new abilities when he took the marks and transformation was one of them. Index warned us we shouldn't use them though.
"How?" the man said and he looked a lot more surprised than Touma thought he should. Until he said something else which made Touma realize why. "Your ability should be Shadow World. You can't have a Metamorphosis ability too. Duel skill is impossible."
"You dare to use the word impossible?" Jason, still disguised as the man, growled. "You call yourself a Kihara? You should kill yourself for uttering garbage. Nothing is impossible for science."
Touma frowned at Jason's words. They sounded pretty dark, but he also acknowledged his way of talking mimicked the man's exactly. Does his transformation mimic the person?
The man opened his mouth slightly then burst out smiling. "You are right," he said. "Sometimes I have to talk to myself to remember important facts. You really should have just joined us in the first place." He walked over to a terminal. "I'm going to remove your brain now. Try not to cry too much." Touma realized now was the time to act.
He jumped out of his hiding place and ran at the man. "Over my dead body." The man turned around in surprise but Touma delivered a powerful punch to his face. The man fell back, toppled over a nearby computer, and crashed into the ground. Touma stood up straight and stretched his fingers. He looked around at the female in the wheelchair who watched him with surprise on her face. She did not appear to be willing to try anything so Touma turned to Jason. "How do I get you down?"
"I would advise turning off Capacity Down first," Jason recommended. "Yellow lever to your left. Pull down slowly." Touma nodded and followed the instructions.
"So I take it you know these two?" Touma asked Jason.
"Yea," Jason nodded. "The guy there was just upset I wouldn't help him with his experiments. The woman behind him is kind of a prisoner herself. He blackmailed her into helping him." Touma nodded in understanding, but unknown to him the women's shock changed to a quizzical look as she raised her eyebrow.
"So how do I get him down?" Touma asked the women.
She shook her head and shrugged. "Only he knew the passcode, I was just forced to help with some calculations and organ preserve."
"Damn it," Touma said gritting his teeth in frustration then turned to Jason. "So what do you think we should do?"
"Wait?" Jason asked trying to shrug while upside down. "I'm sure help will arrive any moment." Touma realized who he was talking about and grinned. They only had to wait for about two minutes when they heard a loud bang from up the stars, like a metal door being thrown open. There was a sound of footsteps echoing down the stars and Mikoto and Kuroko both appeared. They stopped and looked surprised when they saw Touma.
"How did you get here?" Mikoto asked.
"Ape," Kuroko added. "Did you turn off the Capacity Down?"
Touma nodded. "I came in through the underground entranceway. I knocked out the scientist in charge of the kidnapping there." He pointed to the man. "The women there," he pointed again, "Was forced to help him remove Jason's brain."
Mikoto made a disgusted face. "Seriously?" she asked. "That's what they were trying to do?"
"Yep," Jason said from the wall. "They were mad I wouldn't help them with immoral experiments."
"So what are you doing here?" Kuroko asked Touma. Before he could respond, Jason took the opportunity.
"Just hanging around," he said grinning.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Can we leave him here?" Kuroko asked.
"I think we should," Mikoto added. 'That was bad."
"We can't," Touma sighed. "Can you free him Shirai-san." She nodded grudgingly and walked over to Jason. She reached up and touched his head.
"I knew you cared Kuro-chan," Jason said grinning. "Why else would you come help me?" She grinned back evilly and teleported him out of the metal bindings. He reappeared five feet above the ground and fell on his back as he was made perpendicular to the floor. "Ouch," he grumbled as he got back up to his feet.
"You never did tell us why you are here," Kuroko said to Touma.
"I couldn't let my friend get kidnapped and do nothing," Touma stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kuroko sighed but Mikoto let out a reluctant grin. "You can't just interfere in Judgment work as a civilian," Kuroko said exasperatedly. "I should take you in, but you did help us a lot."
"Well," Jason said. "Touma and Misaka-san should head out so they don't get involved. Kuro-chan can take that guy out of here and call Anti-Skill to take him away. I'm going to check to make sure there is no other important information on these computers, like if he was working for someone. Sound good?"
"Stop calling me that!" snapped Kuroko.
"No objections," Mikoto said grinning darkly. "I need to talk with the idiot here." She jabbed her thumb at Touma while sparking slightly.
"Wait Mikoto," Touma said taking a step back in fear. "When did you go back to calling me an idiot? Nothing happened, don't shock me please. It was an accident."
"What happened between you two?" Jason asked looking between them. Kuroko's face turned dark as she remembered.
"Onee-sama… defiled… by…. Ape," she muttered angrily under her breath as she remembered.
Jason looked between Mikoto and Touma then compared their look of anger and fear to Kuroko's words. His male brain came up to one conclusion. "NIIIIICCCCCEEEEE," he said giving Touma a thumb up.
"It's not like that!" Touma and Mikoto yelled simultaneously. However, Mikoto took the opportunity to grab his arm and drag him up the stairs and out of the lab. Kuroko followed by teleporting herself and the unconscious man after them. Jason reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive and plugged it into the computer. He started typing while looking through the data.
"So why did you lie to them?" the women, Byouri, asked Jason. He didn't even turn around.
"You still have use," Jason said. "I didn't expect to see you here, but you were remarkably fast on the uptake."
"No one expects a helpless crippled woman," Byouri pointed out. "Your words just added weight to my disguise. But what are you planning and when did you master duel skill?"
"It's not really duel skill," Jason revealed still working on the computer. "It's something unique to only me right now. You can put the gun away, it won't work. I'm virtually immortal right now." He heard the clink of metal as the women holstered her gun. "But I am interested in a trade."
"Oh," the women asked. "Information I assume?"
"Yep," Jason said turning around and looking at her. He was smiling, but the smile was creepy, almost inhuman. It was a smile she saw once from a higher Kihara who was about to bypass the peak of science. "It may be coincidence I met you here, but I am interested in all your research on dark matter."
"Interesting," she said and smiled back. Her smile was creepy to, but nowhere near his. "What do you offer in exchange?"
"Information on duel skill," Jason said simply. "It should put you quite far ahead. The higher ups don't know I mess with it during my free time."
"I like the sound of that," Byouri replied. "But out of curiosity, why do you want information on dark matter."
"I plan to encounter the number 2," Jason said simply. "And I know little about actual dark matter. His information is in the databanks, but I need more."
"You know manipulating a level 5 is just asking for trouble," Byouri said. "Amata tried that on the number 1 and he was killed for it. Number 2 is even more temperamental."
"Hasn't been any trouble so far," Jason replied shrugging. "But your warning doesn't change what needs to be done."
"You are more like a Kihara then you want to admit," Byouri said wheeling up next to him. "I'll accept your trade."
"We should get out of here then," Jason commented.
"Why?"
He hit a button the computer. "I seem to have accidently hit the self-destruct switch for this lab." Red and orange lights started flashing.
Ruiko: He's only developing the ice cream for Uiharu.
Jason: Maybe I want it for me.
Mikoto: Nah it's for her.
Kazari: I can't wait for it.
Misaki: Ice cream during winter sounds nice.
Touma: Anyone going to ask what Mikoto's going to do to me?
Accelerator: Nope.
Motoharu: Just lie back and accept it.
Jason: Don't cry, it shows weakness.
Mikoto: What do you idiots think I'm going to do?
Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or idea. I love reading them.