I was worried when this chapter started getting long without an end in sight, but it worked out in the end. There are so many things to cover and so little time. This chapter introduces a couple characters, along with starting some fun antics with Touma. Also, I am finally going to finish up the bet with Kuroko and Jason. I was thinking of calling this chapter Boys and Girls III, but that's a fallback for when my mind blanks on a title with a lot of character development. I like this one instead, fits perfectly with Touma level events, if you know what I mean. Anyway, thanks to everyone who managed to reach this chapter. This story has gotten rather long and I am surprised at the popularity.

Generation Zero: Magic Gods are tricky, as they break the plot really easily. If I add them, it will take a lot of special preparation to add even one.

Anon: So… I nearly died laughing there. I was debating writing an Omake to cover things like that, but my time is already limited. Maybe I'll start a separate side project to hold all the hilarious near crack level ideas that don't quite fit in the story. I'll call it, Around the Edges, because it is just outside the boundaries of canon style plot.

Sergioqsc: She will be introduced at some point, but I can't tell you when yet.

wildarms13: I would LOVE someone with good drawing skills to be able to draw some scenes form this story. I would totally give them credit and find a way to link them to the story. I know another author does something like that. If anyone has any skills, please contact me. It would make this story epic, especially in future chapters. I have no drawing skills and struggle with stickmen, so I need a third part person lol.

Agent Nine: Aleister's plan has been revealed in canon already. If you are interested, I would check out , it is spelled out in detail. I don't want to give spoilers here for the people who have not read the light novels. He controls everything in the city, and good and evil is subjective.

Riyangendut: It was worth it then. You aren't the only one so don't worry.

ryuhayabusa298: Wouldn't be fun otherwise.

Pssh, all you people and mushy scenes. Well, at least the letter will get revealed, enjoy it you crazy people. A lot of people want Yuriko Suzushina for some reason. I'm on the fence about it, but I suppose it's possible. Accelerator and Jason would have to get into an argument over something.

Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters. Reading this story may cause you to burst out in laughter or yelling at fictional characters. This may cause nearby people to assume you have gone crazy. Please read responsibly.

Dear Mr. Kamijou,

I apologize for the secrecy of this letter. I instructed Knight Leader to give this letter to you, if he believed you showed concern for my daughter Carissa during our meeting. Since you are reading this, you must have fulfilled the condition. I am in a predicament and would like to request your assistance. I'm sure you can guess it involves my daughter's punishment. Right now, she is currently in isolation and only select individuals are able to have any contact with her. I personally believe her punishment should be making amends to the citizens of our country, even if they do not know her role in the attack. She has been rather adamant in not accepting my punishment. She would rather end her reign, in a rather permanent fashion, as the princess who failed to overthrow the monarch. I'm sure you would not want this to happen.

This is where you come in.

We have provided her with a way to communicate with a small select group of individuals. You have been chosen as one of the lucky few. Carissa has been given a special phone and can only reply if you contact her first. Her number is written below. We have limited the number of devices that can contact her, so which ever phone you decide to use, please stick with it. What I would like you to do is keep her company, and prevent her from shutting herself off from the outside world. I rather see my lively daughter again. Who knows, once she has repaid her debt, she may come and visit you in Academy City.

P.S. When you two get around to naming my grandchildren, I have several ideas you may be interested in. I want at least three, and one needs to be a girl.

Also, don't let Knight Leader see the contents of this letter, he's such a kill joy.

Touma had to reread the letter several times to make sure what he read was correct. What is the Queen thinking? Carissa isn't going to want to talk to me. I betrayed her and knocked her out to stop her coup. He stared at the letter as his brain slowly processed the information. He sighed. "Why does every crazy thing happen to me?" He looked over at his bed, and saw Index was still refusing to emerge from under the covers. He figured she was still embarrassed and didn't want to be seen. "I guess I can try and see what happens." He grabbed his phone put the number in and paused. Do I call or text her. Is it even proper to text a princess? If I call, I bet she will yell at me. He thought about it for a moment and decided to send a text.

Princess Carissa, I was given your number and asked to talk with you. I hope it's not too early. I tried to take the time difference into effect. Are you doing well? Touma Kamijou. Touma read it a couple times to make sure it was respectful, but explained how he got her number. He was afraid of her reaction, so he figured sending a text was safer. He hit send and put his phone back down on the table. He glanced over one last time at Index, before starting the dishes. He was almost done when he heard his phone beep. "There's no way she replied already…" He looked at his phone and gulped, before picking it up and reading the message.

Drop the formalities, it's not like anyone else is going to read this, except my mother. She had to be the one who gave you this number. It's a little early, but at least you were smart enough to try to take the time into account. Did you actually message me because you were worried, or because my mother asked you to?

Touma frowned, slightly insulted she would think he would check up on someone just because he was asked to. He started typing while muttering to himself. "She did give me your number and requested I keep in contact with you. But I did it because I wanted to." He clicked send and waited for a reply. Carissa's response can back in under a minute.

Interesting, you always were an unpredictable person. What do you want?

Since I didn't see you before we left, I wanted to make sure you were alright. The Queen and Knight Leader didn't give me much information.

Of course they wouldn't. My betrayal was supposed to be kept a secret.

I don't believe it was a betrayal. You did what you thought was best for your country. I just didn't agree with your choice of actions, so I had to stop you. You don't deserve to die because you followed the wrong path. I know people who did that and they became my friends.

Oh, it is awfully presumptuous of you to think I will become your friend.

I still think you are a good person who just got misguided.

Heh, quite optimistic like usual. So are you planning to keep communicating with me while I am in isolation?

I am. I figured you would hate to be alone, without dissing anyone to pass the time… He was interrupted by Index, who finally stuck her head out of the blanket.

"Touma," Index said, her face was still slightly red, and her eyes were slightly blood shot. "Can we go meet Hyouka now that we are back? I haven't seen her since before we left."

"Sure Index," Touma said, glad she was talking about normal things again. The atmosphere had become really awkward during his confession about his memory. "Is she going to meet us somewhere?"

"No idea," Index told him. "But she finds me when I'm looking for her."

"That's fine," Touma sighed. "We need to restock the fridge anyway. I only bought food for lunch." He sent the message on his phone to Carissa and pocketed it. As he and Index left, he was a little surprised Carissa didn't text back immediately, but he figured she probably had something more important to do then talk to him. He vowed to talk with her, at least a little bit each day, in hopes she decided to go back on the correct path for England. He didn't realize, in his haste to reply to Carissa, the last message he sent had a small, but dangerous, typo. The 'd' in dissing had autocorrected to a 'k'.

The next day Touma woke up and stretched. Even sleeping in a tub, there was something about sleeping in your own home that really made a difference. He was still a little groggy, but that could also be contributed to it being a Monday. He and Index hadn't been out too late with Hyouka, but they had still been back after dark. Index had been acting normally enough, though she had a hard time looking him in the eyes, something even Hyouka noticed. Touma finally dragged himself out of his bed, and starting making breakfast, along with some lunch for Index while he was at school. He then left some money and a note, telling her he was going to be back late and she should buy herself something for supper. He hoped she would just go to the nearby convenience store. As he left his dorm, he ran into Motoharu, who was also leaving for school.

"Sup Kami-yan," Motoharu greeted him. "Are you ready for a perfectly normal day of school with nothing unusual happening?"

"I hope so…" Touma replied sighing, and then he turned toward Motoharu suspiciously. "That was an odd way of phrasing that. What do you know?"

"I don't know what you mean?" Motoharu answered grinning.

"You do know something," Touma said worriedly. "What's happening? Is Lessar planning to try to transfer into our school as a student? Is there a magician infiltrating Academy City again?" His eyes widened as he realized there was something that was worst. "Did we have homework I forgot about?"

"Your priorities seem to be a little out of order," Motoharu commented. "But there's nothing like that happening. Well, that I've been contacted about at least and Komoe-sensei wouldn't be that mean to us over break. I was thinking of what Aogami is going to say. He's got a copy of your documentary."

"Why would you send him a copy?" demanded Touma. "Who knows what's going to happen with it?"

"It was edited to make sure nothing about the other side is mentioned," Motoharu reassured him, but still grinned. "But I told him to keep it on the down low. I only sent it to people I knew wouldn't spread it around. I was planning to send it to Stiyl too."

"Please don't," Touma said. "He would show up with his flame sword."

"I'm sure it will be a hilarious day when we tell Aogami all about our trip," laughed Motoharu. "He can't really blame you though, since he missed it because of his family reunion."

"He probably would have made a lot of enemies," Touma said and they both laughed. Knowing Pierce, he would have said something about fetishes and cause the girls to punish him. They made their way to school and entered their classroom. It was still pretty early and only a handful of people were there. Seiri and Aisa were one of the few and they waved to the guys as they walked in.

"Hey Kamijou, Tsuchimikado," Seiri said. "I hope you two didn't cause too many problems over break."

"Of course not Fukiyose-sama," Motoharu answered. "Though Kami-yan continued to grow the size of his harem." This got him a beating from Seiri, who knocked him down with a single punch.

"Hello," Aisa said softly to Touma.

"Hey Himegami," Touma said, taking his seat. "How was your break?"

"It was rather uneventful," Aisa replied. "Seiri and I mostly hung out. Is what Tsuchimikado-san said true?" She looked at him with a serious expression, but it was hard to tell for sure, as Aisa didn't really show a wide range of emotions.

"Of course not," Touma denied quickly, refusing to accept he had a harem. He knew a few girls liked him, but it wasn't like he was trying to make one. "We spent our vacation in England and visited the sights. Jason, Accelerator, and a few other friends came with us. They had helped me out with a problem earlier and the trip was thanks for the help."

"I see," Aisa replied, staring at him intently. Touma was used to it by now, but when she reached into her bag, he was curious about what she was doing. Aisa pulled out a small package and handed it to him. "I made a little too many cookies last week. Would you like some?"

"Sure," Touma said, he wasn't the type to turn down free food. He opened the bag and sampled one of the small star shaped cookies. "These are really good," he complimented her. "You are going to make someone a great wife someday." Aisa's cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink.

"Thank you," Aisa mumbled, but she was too soft for him to hear, because at the same time, the door to class was thrown open and Pierce barged in.

"Kami!" Pierce yelled, pointing at him. "It's one thing to have a harem, but it's another to show it off like that!" He jumped over several desks, and delivered a full force tackle into Touma, knocking him out of his desk. There was a loud clang, as he desk topple over.

"Get of me you psycho," Touma cried, trying to punch Pierce in the gut, but Pierce was a lot stronger than him. "I don't have a harem and nothing happened."

"Bull," Pierce said, pinning him to the ground. "I saw the video."

"Video?" Seiri asked confused. She was about to beat up Pierce, but she had least needed to know the reason why she was going to. For some reason, she didn't see tackling Touma as a good enough reason.

"Just one of Kami-yan's escapades," Motoharu said dismissively.

"He somehow managed to sleep with easily ten plus girls," Pierce said. "He's evolved to an entirely new existence."

"It was because of alcohol you idiot," Touma grunted, not realizing his poor choice of words.

"But you have to admit," Motoharu pointed out. "It did happen."

"Nothing happened!" Touma yelled. "I don't even rememb…" He froze, as he felt a murderous aura next to him. Judging by Pierce's pale face, Touma knew he felt it to. Both of them turned to look.

"So you were drinking alcohol and sleeping with a bunch of girls Kamijou," Seiri said, cold fury etched in her voice. She cracked her knuckles. "And I bet these idiots recorded it and sent it to others."

"Umm," Touma said, but she was right in a way, so he didn't really have a rebuttal. Because he wasn't able to give an explanation, Seiri unleashed her wrath upon him, Motoharu and Pierce.

"Seriously," she said, dusting her hands together. "They really don't learn." All three of the guys were lying unconscious on the ground. "Kamijou may lack any motivation, but he might be a constructive member of society, if he didn't hang out with these two." She turned to look at Aisa. "I told you it would work though. You just needed to be more aggressive. He's too dumb to notice it otherwise." She didn't really understand what Aisa saw in Touma, but it was obvious she liked him. She crossed her arms and frowned, before sitting down.

"You were right," Aisa said. She had been making cookies on Saturday, but she got distracted and made a lot more than she really needed. Since she didn't have a lot of friends, as she didn't talk a lot, so even delivering some to Seiri wasn't enough to get rid of them all. Seiri had suggested she give some to Touma on Monday. It took a little bit of convincing by Seiri to persuade Aisa to do it but, in the end, she agreed. Aisa glanced over at Seiri, who just took her seat. She had always wondered if Seiri liked Touma, and just acted as tsundere. It was hard to tell, but she was worried what would happen to their friendship if she did like Touma. But he did accept my cookies, so it's a start.

Jason and Accelerator entered the classroom shortly afterwards. One glance told them what had happened, but the exact specifics on why was still to be determined. "Hey Fukiyose-san," Jason said cheerfully. "What did they do?" It was a question on what, not if they did anything.

"They just told us about a couple things that happened on your trip," Seiri explained, before glaring at them. "What's this about alcohol?"

"Some idiot accidently poured an alcoholic drink into a punch bowl at a party," Accelerator yawned. "How people can be so stupid is beyond me."

"It was pretty potent," Jason admitted. "Most of us passed out pretty quickly. Tsuchimikado-san was the only one who actually got any pictures after that. Speaking of which, I'm still going through all the pictures we took on the vacation and making copies for everyone." He paused and smirked. "I mean Touma found himself in the most precarious position, but you know the kind of stuff that happens to him." He waved his hand dismissively. "You just get used to it after a while."

"He does seem to get involved in unusual events," Aisa agreed.

"But that's not the important thing that happened on the trip," Jason told them.

"Oh?" Seiri asked. "What happened?"

"Accelerator found himself a girlfriend," Jason declared. A hush fell over the classroom, as everyone turned to look at Accelerator. Time had passed and about half of the class had already arrived. Accelerator had just sat down, and put his head down to sleep, when Jason had spoken. His head whipped up so fast, it was a blur, and his eyes were full of anger. Jason, unaware of the present danger, continued. "And she's older."

"Kagere!" Accelerator growled, slowly standing up. "What the f$%& kind of shit are you spewing."

"Accelerator!" admonished Komoe, who had just walked in. "Language." Accelerator's eyes whipped to her for a moment, before he sat down. The rest of the class started whispering excitedly among themselves. "Fukiyose, why are those three unconscious?"

"For the sake of world peace."

"Well please wake them," Komoe told her. "Class is going to start soon and there are a lot of things happening, so we can't waste any time. I have a couple announcements before the system scan this morning."

"Yes sensei," Seiri said, stood up, and walked over to the Delta Force. She started kicking them lightly in the side until they woke up. Touma stood up, flipped his desk back up, and sat down.

"What happened?" he asked Jason and Accelerator.

"You got beaten up," Accelerator said, without turning his head.

"Hey Kamijou," a guy asked from across the room. "Is it true Accelerator has a girlfriend?"

"Ah," Touma said, rubbing his head. He noticed Accelerator turned his head and glared daggers at him. Jason was nodding his head, telling Touma to say yes. "We met some people on our trip, but I can't say for sure if he has one. If he wants one, he should be able to get one." Accelerator seemed relatively pleased with his response and went back to sleep, while Jason looked crestfallen. The others guy nodded in agreement and started talking to his neighbors.

"Kami," Pierce whispered at him. "I can't believe how far your harem has progressed. I would give anything to be in that position. You had such a wide variety of types. When Tsuchimikado sent me that video, I vowed to destroy you."

"It wasn't my fault," Touma hissed back. "If he sent you the full video, why aren't you mad at those two?" He gestured to Accelerator and Jason.

"It was obvious the results would end that way," Motoharu said, shrugging.

"But they were focusing on one type," Pierce continued. "You were getting everything. If there had been a bunny girl and cat girl in the mix, you would have had everything you would ever need in a harem, except for maybe an alien."

"I wouldn't even know what happened if it wasn't for him," Touma replied, gesturing to Motoharu. "We got accidently drunk. I don't have a harem." Pierce and Motoharu looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Still in denial," Motoharu said. "I thought you would recognize it by now. At least you finally admitted some girls like you."

"It's a start," Pierce added, nodding his head sagely.

Before Touma could respond, Komoe spoke up. "Settle down class," she said. "I have several announcements to make before your system scan. First, welcome back. I hope all of you enjoyed your break. Sensei is happy you all came back safe and sound."

"Glad to be back sensei," Seiri spoke up and most of the class agreed.

"Next," Komoe continued, smiling at them all. "Second, an Anti-Crime Orientation event is being planned this Saturday. This event is used for improving student crime prevention awareness. We normally don't have it during this time of year but, with the recent intruders, it was decided an additional event would be beneficial. Some rules have changed since last time. As before, there are three main groups, criminal, police, and hostages. Criminals try to capture hostages, hostages try to escape from criminals, and the police try to catch the criminals and protect the hostages. All of district 7 will be part of the event, and the rules on abilities and boundaries between schools will be temporarily withdrawn. The event is optional, but you get extra credit to the ability development curriculum, so I signed you up Kamijou-kun."

"W-what sensei?" spluttered Touma. "I don't want to fight. I would prefer a peaceful Saturday for once."

"Sensei is pleased your regular studies have been improving dramatically," Komoe told him, and then wagged a finger at him. "But you are still lacking points in the ability development curriculum. If you don't want to repeat a year, you need to participate."

"Yes sensei," Touma sighed, resigning himself to the situation.

"Besides," Motoharu grinned. "We all know you can fight well after the tournament." A lot of the class snickered, but Seiri frowned at them. She, along with a large number of the class, were partially suspicious of Touma during that tournament. Not because of any ability he used, but because they had the thought Touma and Accelerator conspired to have Touma replaced with another person before each match. Seiri would always believe in her classmates, until proven otherwise, but the thought still existed in her mind. She didn't like having those thoughts, but the Kami in the tournament fought differently than the Touma she knew.

"Well, that's settled," Komoe said brightly, clapping her hands together. "Now, I'm going to explain the differences set up this time. Points are going to be awarded based on how well you perform your assigned roles. Criminals also get points of causing mischief, simple acts of vandalism, littering, and disturbing the peace will award you points. You get more credit the more points you have. BUT," she had a stern look on her face. "This does not mean you can go to wild and do inappropriate things. Anti-Skill will be monitoring everything. They also asked us to tell you to keep property damage to a minimum. Previous years, there had been a couple buildings destroyed and they would prefer that didn't happen."

"Do we get to choose our roles?" Pierce asked, raising his hand.

"You can make requests," Komoe told him. "But you may not get the role you want. They need to make sure there are enough of each role to make the event work."

"Well obviously we want to join," Motoharu said loudly, referring to himself and Pierce. "We can't let Kami-yan do this by himself. Of course, we all want to be robbers."

"Kagere and Accel-kun," Pierce said. "You should join us."

"I don't know," Jason said thinking. He frowned. "I might be busy. Sounds like fun though…" Touma glanced at him, surprised he didn't take the opportunity to cause mischief.

"I have no reason to participate in a stupid game like this," Accelerator said, without raising his head.

"What if I told you of a master plan we can finally pull off," Motoharu said, and whispered something into Jason's ear. Jason's eyes went wide and he raised his hand.

"I'm in and want to request to be a criminal too," he said instantly.

"What did he say?" Touma asked, but Jason shook his head, saying he wasn't answering questions.

"Come on Accel-kun," Motoharu said. "Join us, I promise you will get a chance to show off how strong you are. Plus, you will get a lot of entertainment."

"Huh?" Accelerator turned his head slightly, to glare at him with one eye.

"We have a plan we have been itching to try out forever," Pierce told him. "It's going to rock the entire city."

"What are you talking about?" Seiri asked them.

"Secret," Motoharu said winking.

Accelerator stared at them in silence for a moment, aware the rest of the class was watching them. What the hell are those two planning? They got Kagere to agree pretty fast. It's not like I have anything to do Saturday anyway. I bet the third will want to be a police, maybe I can get a chance to mock her a bit during this. I'm interested in what big plan they have, but I don't want to admit it to them. "Fine whatever," Accelerator said, going back to sleep. "Make me a criminal. I don't want to be some boring cop."

"I'm glad everyone seems to be interesting in participating," Komoe said happily. "It's great to have so many representatives from my class."

"I will join too sensei," Seiri said, raising her hand. "I can participate in any roll that needs filled." Komoe wrote down her name, along with everyone else that wanted to join. Thanks to Touma's friends, a lot more of his class were willing to participate. After everyone who wanted to sign up did, Komoe released them to the system scan, which took most of the morning.

"I hope Lessar didn't cause you too much trouble," Touma said to Accelerator, as they headed down to the boys locker room before their PE class.

"No more than the other brats do," Accelerator said, shrugging. "We dropped her off and left. Last Order was pretty adamant about leaving quickly for some reason."

"Who is your friend anyway?" Touma asked.

"None of your business," Accelerator snapped, but it was more to Jason, Motoharu, and Pierce who were listening.

"Come on tell us," Motoharu prodded him. "We won't tell your girlfriend back in England."

"Go to hell," Accelerator told him.

"You're no fun today," Jason complained. "What happened to the fun loving Accel-kun that always went with our plans, regardless of what they were?"

"I killed him."

"Then I guess we have a new side quest," Pierce told them. "Discover Accel-kun's mysterious friend."

"If you try," Accelerator growled. "I'll make you regret it."

Touma sighed under his breath, but still laughed silently in his head. Accelerator always got dragged along in his friend's hijinks, and Touma was glad he could enjoy a normal school life. The old Accelerator had always been alone and gotten involved in experiments no teenager should ever do. He's really come a long way. They entered the locker room and Touma made his way to his locker in the back. He unlocked it and a hand reached out, handing him his PE clothes. He took them, shut the door, and turned around.

Then he froze.

That had to be my imagination. He turned back to his locker and opened it slowly, looking inside.

Lessar had jammed herself into his gym locker and moved her hand, as much as she could, in a small wave. She also had a huge grin on her face. Touma closed the door and leaned back against it. What is she doing here? The doors to the lockers were solid, except a few ventilation holes, so no one else would be able to see her, unless they looked directly into the vents. Lessar, on the other hand, probably could see everything in front of the locker. "Why are you here?" Touma muttered, trying not to move his lips.

"Boredom," Lessar whispered back, her voice full of amusement. "I figured you needed someone to make your Monday more exciting. Now you better get changed or you will be late."

Touma wasn't sure what to do and his mind started thinking at panic speeds. If he tried to block her view, Lessar would probably burst out of the locker and reveal herself to his class. At the very least, her pounding on the door would cause a lot of problems for him. If he moved, she would see him, and probably a few other guys, change. About half of his class had left already, so if he took too long, Aiho, the PE instructor, would get mad at him. He delayed the choice by changing into his gym shirt. It's not like he got embarrassed being shirtless. Many of his fights ended with his shirts in tatters anyways. I think I have a plan, but it requires me to be the last one out.

"Oh hero," Accelerator said. "If your free tomorrow, the brat will be available for you to teach her."

"Ah," Touma said, slightly distracted. "That should be fine." Accelerator nodded and headed out.

"Hurry up," Jason called out to Touma. "You're taking forever." He, Pierce, and Motoharu were leaving, but Touma saw Jason and Motoharu laughing silently at him.

"I see what you are trying to do," Lessar said excitedly. "You want to be alone in the locker room with me. Doing it in a place we aren't supposed to will make it all the more erotic."

Those b#$^&%$, Touma fumed silently to himself. I bet they can both detect mana from Lessar and know she's there. They left and the last few guys followed them. Now, I have to be quick. In one fluid motion, he slammed the lock shut on his locker and stepped out of Lessar's line of sight. He then quickly finished changing, as Lessar pounded on the locker door.

"Hey!" she called out. "Why did you lock me in? I'll just break the door down." There was silence for a second, except her struggling to move in the tight space. "There's not enough room to pull out my Steel Glove." There was a loud thudding as she pounded on the door. "What the heck is this door made of?"

"Scientifically engineered metal probably," Touma said. "I'll let you out after class." He threw his clothes in a corner of the room and headed for the door.

"If you wanted me hot and sweaty," Lessar called out to him as he left. "I could have prepared earlier." Touma shook his head, glad nothing horrible happened, and ran to join the others. He felt bad leaving Lessar in the locker, but he also knew what Aiho would do if he was caught skipping her class.

"About time Kamijou," Aiho called out to him. "Get going. We are doing laps today. Go at your own pace. When you complete five laps, you can do what you want." Touma nodded and started sprinting, until he found his friends. They were moving at a slow pace, mostly to stay back with Accelerator, who was at a disadvantage with his handicap if he wasn't using his power. They were talking about something seriously, before Touma caught up to them.

"That was quick," Motoharu told him. "You finished already?"

"You knew didn't you," Touma said through gritted teeth.

"You're the one who brought a stalker back with you," Pierce said and shrugged. "You'll wake up one morning with her in your bed. That's how it always turns out."

"I rather not," Touma mumbled, while Jason and Accelerator laughed. He decided he should steer their conversation away from these dangerous waters. "What big plan did you all have for the crime game?"

"For now," Motoharu said, unusually serious. "We have to keep it quiet."

"There are still a lot of details to work out," Pierce said. "Now that we have Accel-kun's strength and Jason's smarts, along with the freedom of this event, we can finally do what no man has done before."

"I have a feeling I know where this is going," Jason laughed. "I hope it is."

"When we finish adjusting for the crime game's rules," Motoharu told them. "We will tell you everything then. This plan can't get out or someone might ruin it."

"This better be worth my time," Accelerator panted. Out of all of them, he was in the worst shape. "If you waste a Saturday, I'm not letting you off with just a warning."

"We promise you Accel-kun," Motoharu said, saluting. "This event will be the most fun you have had in a long time." Accelerator glared at him, but then shook his he ad. He didn't like the nickname the guys called him, but it didn't piss him off to the degree it used to. They finished their laps and spent most of the rest of the class talking. Near the end, they saw a couple Anti-Skill people ran through the front gate and enter the school. They weren't the only ones who noticed and several people had begun to gather around Aiho. Touma and his group moved closer to hear what was happening, but Touma had a pretty good idea what it was.

"Okay okay," Aiho sighed. "It's nothing big. A student from another school snuck in and caused some mischief in the locker room. One locker door was broken and we think she was trying to deliver something to someone." Her eyes darted over to Touma and Accelerator. It was obvious she knew it was Lessar. There was some shouting from behind the school and everyone turned to look. "It looks like she has been chased out of the school."

"It was one of Kami's girls wasn't it?" Pierce called out and everyone laughed.

"I'm not at liberty to say," Aiho replied, but the grin on her face said otherwise.

"Kamijou-chan," Komoe said, as everyone started to leave. The bell had rung a minute earlier. "Could you do me a favor and deliver these papers to Yomikawa-sensei?"

"Sure thing sensei," Touma said, taking the small pile of papers.

"Always scoring extra points with the teacher," Peirce said.

"What else do you expect from Kami-yan?" Motoharu laughed. "He's been working hard on getting her attention." Komoe turned slightly red and Touma felt his ears burn. They left while Touma headed down to see Aiho and deliver the papers. Aiho gave him a short sermon on not telling Lessar she couldn't enter school grounds, before he was allowed to leave. As he was leaving, he turned a corner and bumped into a girl carrying a large box. Both of them fell backwards and the box fell with a thud.

"I'm really sorry," Touma apologized immediately, believing it was his fault for not looking where he was going. He stood up and reached a hand to help the girl out, before he saw who it was. "Kumokawa-senpai?" he said surprised.

"Oh hello Kamijou-san," she said in a caring tone, taking his hand. Her hand was soft and delicate, as he held it in his own. Her full name was Seria Kumokawa. She had shoulder length black hair, fringe tied back, and an attractive body with an exceedingly ample bosom. Though her appearance was similar to Seiri, she had a mature charm that Seiri did not possess. She was a third year student of Touma's school and had the nickname beauty-senpai by many of her underclassmen. She was wearing a school-issued sailor uniform with its standard skirt length changed to a longer one. "Thank you," she added as he helped her to her feet. "It is unusual for you to be in school this late. You didn't get detention did you?"

"Nothing like that," Touma said quickly, shaking his head. He didn't want Seria to think badly of him. "I was just asked to deliver some papers to Yomikawa-sensei. We talked a little bit and that's why I'm still here."

"That's good," Seria said, smiling kindly at him. "I would hate to hear that my cute kouhai is getting into trouble."

Did she just call me cute? Touma thought, his mind reeling.

"I haven't seen you lately," Seria continued. "How have you been?"

"Trying to keep up with all my school work," Touma told her and he looked down for a moment. "Did you have to take this box somewhere?" he asked, changing topics before he accidently said anything embarrassing.

"Oh yes," Seria said. "I enjoyed talking with you that I forgot."

"I'll carry it for you," Touma offered. "It's the least I could do for bumping into you." He reached down and picked up the box. It wasn't too heavy, but it was rather bulky.

"Thank you Kamijou-san," Seria said sweetly. "I need to take it to the third floor." She and Touma started making their way upstairs, while continuing talking. "So how was your break?"

"Some friends and I took a trip outside of Academy City," Touma told her. "It was rather fun, though my friends like to needle me on somethings that aren't true. I also finally got a few things off my chest so, combined with jet lag, the last few days have been kind of draining. How was yours?"

"Rather uneventful," she said. "I visited a couple friends and spent a good portion catching up on some reading." She couldn't tell Touma about her activities that took up most of her time. Her classmates and underclassmen knew she was smart, but she was actually a genius. So much in fact, she works directly under one of the members of the board of governors in Academy City as an advisor. She had a very intensive network to gather intelligence and constantly was monitoring everything that was happening in the city. She was not above using her resources to spy on Touma, something which she enjoyed, but her network did not extend outside the city borders. If it wasn't for a certain individual, she wouldn't have known about the England vacation antics. "Here we go," she said, opening a classroom door. "Just put it on the teacher's desk."

"Anything else I can help you with?" Touma asked. He actually enjoyed helping someone with completely normal tasks, that didn't involve life and death. Seria was also his preferred type, older, kind, attractive, smart, the perfect onee-san. She would never go for some like me though. From what I heard, everyone likes her. It didn't stop him from admiring her though.

"You have done more than enough," Seria told him. "I feel like I should thank you for all the trouble you went to for me."

"You don't have to," Touma said quickly. He didn't want her to think he helped her for a reward.

"I insist," Seria said, smiling as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. There are limits, even for gentlemen. You just have to know how to push them. "How would you like to join me for lunch tomorrow? I usually like to dine alone, to escape the noise of the cafeteria and classrooms, but I would enjoy your company. I would like to bring you a home cook meal as thanks." She watched him closely, as he stood in silence, for a moment. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Touma said, shaking his head. Is this really happening? Is she actually inviting me on a date? Isn't this just repaying me back for helping her? Wouldn't this be a once in a life time flagging event? "I would love to have lunch with you."

"Lovely," Seria said clapping her hands together. "I won't take up any more of your time today. Thanks again." She turned and mumbled slightly to herself. "I wonder if Shokuhou is free today."

"By Shokuhou," Touma asked, and she turned her head toward him. "Do you mean Misaki Shokuhou?"

"Why yes," Seria answered. "She's a dear friend of mine, but both of our schedules have been in conflict lately and I haven't seen her in a long time. Do you know her?"

"She's a friend of mine too," Touma explained. "She did mention she might be busy today, if I recall correctly." He vaguely remembered she mentioned she couldn't join them today, as Jason and Kuroko finish their bet. "Ah crap, Jason's waiting for me. I got to go. Thanks for the invitation tomorrow." He waved and bolted down the stairs.

"Anytime," Seria called back to him. "If you see her, tell her I said hi." When Touma was out of earshot she laughed. Oh, he's so predictable. All I had to do was casually mention Shokuhou and now, he's going to tell her he met me. I know he will. I wonder if I can catch her expression on camera. She's not going to take him from me. She frowned for a moment and crossed her arms. I'm still not sure if he sent me that video to annoy me or help me. With him, it was probably both.

"About time," Jason grumbled, as Touma bolted out the school entrance and they grabbed a bus. "I thought Komoe-sensei just wanted you to deliver some papers. What took you so long? How many people did you save this time?"

"Don't be stupid," Touma replied. "Yomikawa-sensei got mad at me for Lessar sneaking into school. Which, you obviously knew what she did." He narrowed his eyes at Jason. "Then I accidently ran into someone and helped them carry a box upstairs."

"Whatever do you mean?" Jason answered, but gave him a big wink. "Who did you run into?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Touma asked.

"Ah…" Jason started to say and then made excessively extravagant expressions, like his was arguing with himself. "Yea, I'll keep it. I bet it can't be that bad." Touma spent the next couple minutes explaining everything that happened. Jason's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Beauty-senpai? I've only seen her twice since I've been here. How did you… never mind it's you. But she asked you on a date and you said yes. I need to tell every… dang it you made me promise." He slammed his head on the bus window.

"Glad I took precautions," Touma said, grinning. "It's probably not a date and she just wants to thank me for helping her. There's no way someone could fall in love that easily, right?" Touma looked away for a moment and missed Jason face palming. "Anyway, where are we meeting Mikoto and Shirai-san? You mentioned we had to meet them first before picking up Uiharu-san and Ruiko."

"'Well Kazari and Saten-san are on the way to the place we are going," Jason explained. "Kuroko's dorm is the opposite way and I know she's only going to go if we drag her." He grinned. "Besides, what could be more fun than buzzing them at the dorms?"

"Why do you do these things?" Touma asked, shaking his head.

"It's all part of my plan of world domination," Jason informed him.

"Uh huh," Touma answered sarcastically. "Including embarrassing Shirai-san?"

"It's my stress reliever."

"I think you just enjoy tormenting her," Touma sighed and Jason laughed.

They got off near the Tokiwadai dorm and walked about a block. There were a lot more girls here, as they were nearer to the girl's dorm and schools, but Jason didn't seem to mind. Touma noticed he seemed to be carefree and headed straight toward the dorm. They approached the front entrance and stopped at the large doors. "Let's see," Jason mumbled, looking at the mailboxes. "They are room 208, so just need to use the intercom." He dialed and pressed the intercom. There was a small beep and Jason grinned. "Hey Kuroko, I'm here."

"Gah!" came Kuroko's reply. "What are you doing here?"

"Just coming to escort you," Jason said happily. "Glad you were still here. Touma kept me held up for a while."

"Hello Touma, Kagere-san," Mikoto's voice came through. "Can you give us like five minutes?"

"Hello Mikoto," Touma greeted her.

"Sure thing Misaka-san," Jason replied. "We are going to meet up with Kazari and Saten-san on the way."

"What are you planning?" Mikoto asked curiously.

"It's a surprise," Jason laughed. "I promise you won't be disappointed." Touma heard Kuroko yell something in the background, but he couldn't quite make it out. Jason turned to Touma, removing his finger form the intercom. "Looks like we wait." He leaned up against the wall next to the door nonchalantly and Touma imitated him on the other side.

"This is awkward," Touma muttered. He saw several girls staring at them, as they girls entered and left the dorms. Some even stuck their head out of the windows to get a better look. A couple small groups of girls started forming and it was obvious who they were talking about, as they pointed to Touma and Jason. How often do girls see guys hanging outside of their dorm like this? Jason shrugged and Touma saw he was just texting on his phone. Touma sighed and tried to ignore the girl's whispers. It got a lot harder when they doors to the dorms opened up and a stern woman with glasses stepped out. Touma recognized her and suddenly felt the combination of attraction and fear.

"I couldn't believe it," the dorm supervisor said. "When I heard two boys were loitering outside the entrance to an all girl's dorm, I had to see it for myself." Her glasses glinted dangerously. "You two better have a good reason for being here." Many of the girls leaned further out the windows to listen.

"We aren't loitering ma'am," Touma denied quickly. "We are just waiting for our friends." He forced himself to look up and meet her eyes. Touma may have been scared of her slightly, but he couldn't help admire the dorm manager onee-san aura she had. He had always found himself attracted to those types.

"Oh?" the dorm supervisor said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. She found it odd he could look at her directly in the eyes. "I find that highly unlikely."

"I already contacted Kuroko," Jason informed the dorm supervisor and she turned to him. "She should be out in a minute or so." Her eyes narrowed.

"You mean Kuroko Shirai?" the dorm supervisor clarified and a bunch of exciting whispering burst out around them.

"Yes," Jason confirmed. "She promised to hang out with me this afternoon last week." He shrugged. "She's a good friend of mine. I figured it would be nice to come and meet her. We spent all last week together on a trip, so I didn't see anything wrong with it." Touma glanced over at him, in surprise, at his choice of words. The girls above them and around them were also in shock, and their whispers intensified. "Since we aren't loitering, I don't believe we broke any rules. Am I mistaken?" Touma watched Jason looked up at the dorm supervisor without any hint of fear.

How is he so calm? Touma thought. The dorm leader is attractive, but she's also somewhat scary, even Mikoto and Shirai say so. He must be hiding it, or does he truly believe he isn't doing anything against the rules. Well, he might just not care.

"I suppose not," the dorm supervisor conceded. "But I can verify your story easily enough." She paused for a moment and looked at them. "While you are here, recently a boy tried to sneak into the dormitory a little over a week ago. You two wouldn't happen to have any information on that would you?"

"No," Touma said quickly, shaking his head.

"That would be highly inappropriate," Jason added. "As a member of Judgement, I can't condone a boy sneaking into the girl's dormitory." Touma and the dorm supervisor both looked at him. The dorm supervisor seemed slightly mollified, and turned her attention back to Touma.

"You look familiar," she said, staring at him. "Oh yes, I remember now, Misaka-san met you once outside of the dorm before." She gazed sternly down at him and Touma gulped.

"She's a friend of mine," Touma said quickly, aware a lot of girls and Touma were watching him curiously.

"I see," she said. "And here I thought there was more going on." She sighed. "You two are technically not doing anything wrong, so you may stay. But if I hear of any funny business going on here, you two will be in deep trouble, understand?" Touma and Jason nodded. "Very good." She turned to the rest of the girls. "Stop gawking and get on with your business." They scattered and the dorm supervisor went back into the dorms. When the doors shut behind her, Jason let out a sigh of relief.

"She was scarier then I imagined," Jason said. "Her eyes were like daggers. Kuroko and Misaka-san weren't kidding."

"You held up well," Touma pointed out. "From what I heard, most people get paralyzed."

"We weren't doing anything wrong," Jason replied. "So there wasn't a reason to get nervous."

"True," Touma agreed. "But I wish the girls would stop staring." They looked up and saw a couple girls still peeking out of the windows. "I wish they would hurry…" He was interrupted by a girl's voice.

"I knew you would return to the scene of the crime," a lofty girl's voice said. Touma turned to see who was talking and saw a Tokiwadai girl with long black hair. She was carrying a fan and tapped her chin with it.

"Uh sorry?" Touma said, unsure who she was. Jason raised an eyebrow and watched in silence.

"Playing dumb?" the girl asked indignantly. "Maybe this will jog your memory." She reached into her bag and held out a small piece of plastic. Touma reached out and took it.

It was his school ID.

His eyes widened in surprise and his face paled. He finally realized who this girl was. When he had hidden from the dorm supervisor in Tokiwadai, she had been the half-naked girl who he bumped into. His ID must have fallen out of his pocket when they fell and she picked it up after he fled. But why didn't she turn it into the dorm supervisor or Anti-Skill. He found his voice and asked, "How did you get this?" He was hoping it wasn't what he thought.

"Do you have any idea who you have wronged?" the girl asked, glaring at him. "I am the great Mitsuko Kongou." Her glare intensified when Touma appeared to not understand her importance. "Come with me," she demanded. "I need to talk to you about what happened. It won't do you any good to run. I have all your information."

"Okay," Touma replied, resigning himself to the inevitable, and turned to Jason. "I'll be right back."

"Again?" Jason groaned. "Make it fast. They should be down any minute."

Touma wanted to say it wasn't his fault, but he realized this time it was. Misaki had led him into the girl's dormitory to help him study, and he had gotten caught. While hiding, he accidently saw Mitsuko topless and fell on top of her. He wasn't sure what she wanted, but he was prepared to make amends any way possible. He followed Mitsuko in silence until they were out of sight of Jason and the other nearby girls. Mitsuko turned to face him and Touma responded with a preemptive strike. "I'm sorry," he apologized, putting his hands at his side, and bowing. "I'm pretty sure I know what you want to talk about. I didn't mean to."

"So you do know what you did," Mitsuko commented, holding out her arm and the fan was an inch away from Touma's face. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

"No," Touma shook his head. "I realize I shouldn't have been there in the first place."

"Anyone in your position would say that," Mitsuko pointed out. "But I have a question for you. There is no way you could have snuck into the dorm by yourself. Who helped you?"

"Err," Touma said, thinking quickly. There's no way I could tell Misaki snuck me in and Mikoto helped sneak me out. They would get in a lot of trouble. If she told on him, he was going to face serious consequences, but he was prepared for that. "No one helped me. I snuck in by myself on a dare."

"You are a horrible liar you know," Mitsuko told him. She could tell in an instant his words weren't true. The way he tried to avoid looking at her and sweating slightly was obvious signs to her. "Maybe I should contact Anti-Skill, I'm sure they would be interested in hearing your story. I'm sure they could get you to talk."

"Please don't," Touma begged quickly and sighed. "I did have help, but I can't say who. I don't want to get them in trouble. I'm prepared to accept all responsibility."

"How noble," Mitsuko said softly. She involuntarily raised an eyebrow. She had assumed he would apologize and try to get her to promise not to tell anyone he had been in the dorms. She didn't expect for him to be willing to accept the blame. Is this reverse psychology? She tapped her fan against her chin for a moment, thinking. "I guess I don't have any choice but to turn you in."

Touma sighed, looked down at the ground, and nodded. "I really can't say anything in my defense, because it did happen."

"But," Mitsuko continued and Touma looked up at her. She had an oddly superior look, but there was a slight pink tinge of embarrassment. "You saw me in a rather, compromising, position, and I rather not relive that." She paused for a moment. "But I can't just let you go after breaking so many rules and embarrassing me." She paused again. "I know what to do." Her eyes sparkled slightly. "I, the great Mitsuko Kongou, will rehabilitate you!"

"Rehabilitate?" Touma asked, confused.

"You will work off your debt to me," Mitsuko explained. "As repayment for what you did, and I will personally educate you to make sure you would never do something like that again."

"Why?" Touma asked, but he was beginning to get an inkling of what the girl was like. She's one of the stereotypical ojou-samas isn't she? Is this one of her hobbies?

"There are plenty of low lives currently being held by Anti-Skill," Mitsuko told him. "If they are all locked up, they can't mend their ways and contribute positively to society. I believe you can still be redeemed, so I will take on the challenge personally." She held out her hand. "Give me your phone." Touma was speechless and just handed her his phone by reflex. She copied his number into her phone and put her number in his. "You should be honored for having my number. I expect you to answer it when I call you. Now I must be off," she glared at him once more, before turning around and walking away.

What just happened? Touma thought bewildered. He shook his head to clear his mind as he processed the strange situation. At least Misaki and Mikoto aren't going to get in trouble. I have no idea what she means by rehabilitation, but I bet I will find out soon enough. Such misfortune. He turned and headed back to where Jason was waiting and saw him talking with Kuroko.

"Why are they here?" Kuroko mumbled, pacing back and forth in her room in frustration. "He should have just messaged me the location." She and Mikoto had been studying, until Jason and Touma had contacted them.

"No idea," Mikoto answered untruthfully. She had a pretty good idea why Jason had showed up here, but wasn't sure why Touma was with him. I guess he's tagging along, but he doesn't like to stand out. Just being at the dorms attracts a lot of attention. Her eyes widened, as she remembered something embarrassing. Last year I tackled him outside the dorm for a fake date. If anyone remembers that… Her face flushed and she ran into the bathroom to hide it. "I'll be out in a minute," she called to Kuroko.

"Please hurry," Kuroko replied. "Who knows what kind of problems they could cause." She sighed and muttered to herself. "I might as well make sure they aren't causing problems." Arg, I brought this on myself, but still… She walked toward the door but, before she could open it, someone knocked. Kuroko didn't have any idea who it was and opened the door. In front of her, she saw the familiar faces of Kinuho Wannai and Maaya Awatsuki.

Kinuho had short wavy light-brown hair and blue eyes, along with a decent size chest, enough to make Mikoto jealous. Maaya had medium length dark-bluish hair and eyes. Her chest was slightly smaller than Kinuho's. Both of them were classmates of Kuroko, and close friends with Mitsuko Kongou. Both of them were kind, forgiving, and very friendly, if a bit shy, and were on the school's swim team. Kuroko tilted her head in curiosity, because both of them looked like they had been running to her room. "Can I help you two?" Kuroko asked politely.

"We didn't know you were so bold," Kinuho said excitedly, panting slightly.

"Even standing up to the dorm supervisor to do so," Maaya added.

"Huh?" Kuroko asked, confused.

"Inviting your boyfriend to pick you up at the dorm," Kinuho explained. "I heard him tell the supervisor something about spending your break together last week."

Kuroko felt the blood drain from her face as she realized what was happening. "Excuse me," she said pushing past them and bolting down the hall. Kinuho and Maaya watched with grins on their faces. They were under the impression she was running to meet her boyfriend, but the truth was completely different. I can't let this rumor spread, Kuroko thought to herself. He did this on purpose. However, she couldn't stop her face turning red, as she thought about him waiting for her at the entrance.

Mikoto came out the bathroom and greeted Kinuho and Maaya. She had heard everything and waited a minute, to stop herself from laughing, before appearing. She was still brushing her hair. "I should follow her and make sure nothing bad happens. It's not what you two think. I promise to explain everything later." They both waved goodbye to her and left to find Mitsuko, as Mikoto threw her brush on the bed and followed Kuroko.

Kuroko had almost made it to the front doors, when she heard the dorm supervisor's sharp voice. "Shirai-san," she snapped. "You know the rules of running in the dorms."

"I'm sorry ma'am," Kuroko said, coming to a halt instantly. "It's an emergency." She was aware of many other girls pointing at her and whispering among themselves. I'm too late. The rumor already spread. A pink tinge of embarrassment appeared on her face.

"Regardless," she said. "I don't care if your friends do come to visit, you do not run in the dorm. I won't punish you, this time, because it would be impolite to have your important guest waiting." Several girls giggled and Kuroko's face flushed crimson.

"It's not…" she started to say, but the dorm supervisor shook her head.

"I don't need to hear it," she told Kuroko, turning around and walking away.

I'm not in trouble? Kuroko thought stunned. Worry about that later, right now, I need to deal with him. She glared at the other girls, who were still giggling and watching her, before heading to the front doors. She opened the door, stepped outside, and quickly closed it behind her. She looked to her left and saw Jason. He had just looked up and open his mouth to say hi, when she reached over, grabbed him be the arm, and pulled him away from the dorm. The whispering from the girls watching above them intensified, but she didn't care about that right now. "What are you doing here?" she hissed as she dragged him. "And I thought the ape was with you."

"We are here to pick you up," Jason explained again. "I would have called, but Touma decided to stay at school late. He's around here somewhere, there he is." He pointed as Touma came out from the side of the dorm and walked toward them. At the same time, Mikoto came out the front door, looked around, and then started heading their direction. "You sure you want to do this?" Jason asked quietly and Kuroko's eyes went wide. "I won't force you if you really don't want to."

"Not really," Kuroko sniffed, but she felt her heart beat slightly faster at his consideration. "But I made a bet and I will see it out to the end."

"Sorry about that," Touma said, as he caught up to them. "Had something to take care of." Jason grinned, but Touma was relieved he didn't say anything.

"We really should get going," Mikoto said when she caught up. "There are enough people staring as is." The rest of them nodded and left before more girls began to crowd. Little did any of them know, one familiar girl was looking out a window with an extremely amused look on her face. Misaki was talking with her clique, when the commotion attracted their attention. They had been watching the commotion with interest and were discussing it in detail.

"Do you think Shirai-san is actually dating that guy?" a girl with her hair in pink ringlets asked.

"I was sure she was infatuated with Misaka-san," the girl with glasses and short black hair said. All the girls turned toward Misaki for her thoughts. Misaki smiled, as she knew what she wanted to say.

"Shirai-san really likes him," Misaki told them with a wink. "But she's really confused about her feelings and hasn't been able to confess. They both were part of my group during break and I noticed a lot of intimate moments transpire between them." The girls went wide-eyed and started talking excitedly. Sorry Shirai, Misaki thought. I couldn't resist. She was still slightly disappointed she couldn't go with them. She was just finishing up this meeting, and then she had several other things to do today, along with studying for her actual classes. She had been putting that off for a while. She also had been preoccupied thinking about how she could convince Touma to pretend to be her boyfriend for a short time. I think the direct approach would be the best, but there has to be a way to get him to want to make it a permanent relationship. She continued to watch her friends in silence, but unaware how fast the rumor was going to spread.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Ruiko asked, as she and Kazari stood in front of a building.

"This is the address Jason told me," Kazari replied, holding up her phone. "He actually got a professional photographer? I wonder how much it cost."

"I hope he gives us a picture of whatever outfit he has Shirai-san wear," Ruiko laughed.

"As long as it's not too bad," Kazari said thoughtfully. "Shirai-san probably won't try to get revenge." She sighed. "Sometimes it feels like she gets his attention easier then I can."

"I don't believe that," Ruiko said, putting her arm around her friend. "He treats her as one of his friends, but he definitely treats you special." It was her turn to sigh. "I wish I could make that kind of progress with Touma."

"But you did," Kazari pointed out. "You sat next to him on the plane ride back and talked to him constantly. You just need to keep doing things like that. Then when the opportunity arises, you need to confess directly." A fire lit in her eyes. "You got to get him alone, stare into his eyes, and tell him."

"I think you're just quoting something out of book," Ruiko said, suspiciously.

"Of course not," Kazari replied, unconvincingly.

"Don't try to fool me," Ruiko said, using her power to lift the air under Kazari's skirt. "You know the punishment."

"SATEN-SAN!" After a brief moment of Kazari pounding on Ruiko for flipping her skirt, they went back to their conversations. "But I suppose every relationship is unique," Kazari said. "Each one has its own problems."

"Touma is in a rather unique position for sure," Ruiko said, nodding. "I'll try what you suggested though. It is showing results. As for you," she shrugged. "How about you talk to Shirai-san directly? If it's just you two, she might open up."

"That sounds like a good course of action," Kazari agreed. "But I will probably have to wait a couple days, depending on what happens today." They both laughed, before sitting down on a bench. They still had to wait awhile and Ruiko flipped Kazari's skirts two more times to pass the time, revealing her blue underwear. Eventually, a bus stopped near them and they saw Mikoto, Touma, Kuroko, and Jason get off. Kazari immediately ran and hid behind Jason. "Help," she squealed. "Saten-san is doing it again."

"Saten-san" Jason admonished her. "What have I told you about flipping her skirt?"

"Not to do it if you aren't there?" Ruiko asked.

"Exactly."

"Jason!" Kazari cried and poked him hard in the back.

"Hey Touma, Misaka-san, Shirai-san," Ruiko said cheerfully, waving to them. "What kept you?"

"I got caught up at school," Touma explained. "Then we sort of had a run in at their school."

"You can say that again," Mikoto face palmed. "For once, I won't be the center of the rumors that are bound to spring up now."

"Jason dragged me there," Touma protested. "I just followed. I didn't do anything."

"It's not like people will believe them," Kuroko sniffed. "Just ignore them and they will disappear soon enough. I suppose I should get this over with." She turned to Jason, who was deep in conversation with Kazari, and watched him for a moment. "Are we going or what?" she asked loudly, tapping her foot impatiently. Jason looked at the time on his phone.

"Yea we should," he said and then led the way into the building. They were met by a woman in her mid-thirties, with glasses and black hair tied into a ponytail. "I'm Jason Kagere, I called in advanced."

"Of course," she said, and looked at the others. "Which one is the model?"

"Her," Jason said, pushing Kuroko forward.

"What am I doing?" Kuroko asked. She had acted tough earlier, but now she was nervous for what was about to happen.

"The outfit is in the changing room there," the photographer informed her, pointing toward a door. "Afterwards, we will take some pictures in front of this screen here." She pointed to a large green backdrop with several lights around it and an expensive looking camera on a tripod. "This shouldn't take too long, but the plan is to take several shots."

"Okay," Kuroko sighed and headed for the door. Let's get this over with. It's not like it will be anything too bad with Uiharu nearby.

"Have fun Kuroko," Mikoto called to her.

"Good luck," Kazari added.

"I know you can do it," Ruiko said.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Touma whispered to Mikoto. He saw Jason biting the corner of his lip, most likely to stop himself from bursting out laughing. "He's up to something."

"We can step in if it gets ugly," Mikoto reassured him. "I think it's good for Kuroko to follow through on her promise anyways. She might learn from this for the future."

"I sure did from our last punishment game," Touma said, chuckling slightly.

"Oh?" Mikoto said. "Maybe we should have another competition sometime."

"Please no," Touma begged and Mikoto laughed. Her amusement was cut short as Kuroko yelled out a moment later.

"THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM GOING TO COME OUT WEARING THIS!" The photographer raised an eyebrow at Jason, who had burst out laughing. Mikoto, Kazari, and Ruiko all shared a stunned look for a moment, before running to the changing room and joining Kuroko. Touma was trying to figure out how bad the situation had become, when Mikoto, Kazari, and Ruiko exited the changing room. Mikoto and Ruiko were holding a hand to their mouth and were trying very hard not to laugh, but failing. Kazari's face was red, but even she was smiling slightly in amusement.

"H-how bad is it?" Touma asked Ruiko. Jason was too busy laughing to get any information from him.

"It's… not bad," Ruiko said, struggling to find the right words between her stifled laughter. "It's really funny though."

"Just come out," Mikoto said loudly. "You said you were going to do it."

"But..." Kuroko's protesting voice came through the door.

"You look really nice in it Shirai-san," Kazari added encouragingly.

"…Fine," Kuroko said resolutely. She walked out, and Touma saw why she didn't want to and why Jason was dying of laughter. She was wearing a black and white maid outfit, completely with an apron and headgear. It was complete with black stockings and long black gloves. It wasn't revealing, which is why Jason said the outfit wasn't bad, but there's something to seeing a young girl in a maid outfit that causes reactions with guys. However, unlike a normal maid outfit, this one had three accessories. The maid outfit had black cat ears, a tail, and paws at the end of the gloves.

In short, Kuroko had become a cat girl maid.

Touma could feel her eyes dart toward him with cold fury, as if daring him to laugh. It took all his self-control to not let his mouth move into a smile. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be from Aogami," he said, choosing his words carefully. The other girls were still trying to hide their laughs, and Jason was finally calming down.

"Keep your perverted eyes to yourself," Kuroko snapped at him. Her eyes then darted toward Jason. "Why would you think of something like this?"

"Because," Jason said, taking a deep breath. "I thought it was obvious KuroNeko-chan." There was silence, and then everyone else burst out laughing. They couldn't keep quiet after hearing that. Jason had been emphasizing the nickname Kuro-chan and the word Neko meant cat. Kuroneko literally translate into black cat. If Kuroko had black hair it might have pulled it all together perfectly, but it was still a pretty good joke.

"Kuro…neko…" Mikoto said between laughs. "That's a good one."

"Onee-sama," Kuroko protested. "Don't encourage him."

"It fits so well," Ruiko laughed.

"You look cute," Kazari added, trying to be supportive, but even she couldn't contain her grin. Kuroko noticed and grabbed her cheeks while pulling. "Owe, that hewrts Shirai-san."

"Why don't you were something like this then?" Kuroko asked and Kazari's face turned red. She shook her head vigorously and Shirai let go. She glared at Touma, daring him to say anything. Touma kept his mouth shut and his face passive. He saw the sparks flying out of Kuroko's eyes and didn't want to be on the receiving end of her fury. He was going to stand back and pretend he didn't exist until this was over. Afterwards, he would see if Jason lived to tell the tale.

"If you would please stand over there," the photographer broke in. "We will get started." Kuroko opened her mouth, but closed it quickly and accepted the inevitable. She stood by the green backdrop, while the photographer took pictures. Her friends shouted encouragements while Jason and Touma leaned up against the wall. It took some coxing from the girls before Shirai was willing to do a few poses.

"You know she's going to kill you," Touma commented.

"Totally worth it to further my plans," Jason replied.

"World domination plans?" Touma asked sarcastically.

"Yep," Jason said proudly. "Step one, embarrass Kuroko, step 2, something, step three, profit, step four, something, step five, world domination."

"You are one strange person," Touma said, rolling his eyes. He thought about it for a second and realized something. All of my friends are strange actually. Ruiko and Uiharu are probably the most normal. "Well, whatever. Your punishment wasn't horrible so can't really say much." After about fifteen minutes, the photographer let Kuroko go and she bolted to the changing room. Jason and the photographer started talking by a computer and pointing to the monitor. When Kuroko finished changing, they all left. "So what now?" he asked them.

"I was planning to pick up something for dinner," Jason said, and then turned to everyone. "Want to join me, my treat."

'You're the best," Ruiko said instantly.

"Sure," Touma said, grinning. He was never one to turn down free food. "Just be lucky Index isn't with us, or it might seriously hurt your wallet." Everyone laughed, and Kuroko finally grudgingly gave a smile. She had been rather quiet and still red faced from embarrassment.

"Thanks a lot," Mikoto said and glanced over at Kuroko. Kuroko shrugged, but she didn't look like she was going to thank Jason. Mikoto went over to her and whispered, "I think he's apologizing, even though he didn't do anything wrong. You have to admit, it was pretty funny. Uiharu-san was right too. You were cute." Normally, Kuroko would have been ecstatic from her praise, but she merely nodded.

"I know," she sighed. "I'm not really mad…" She had stopped being mad, and was beginning to plan her revenge. She wasn't someone to take things lying down, but she was having trouble thinking of how to go about it.

"I can go," Kazari said.

"You just can't eat sweets," Ruiko reminded her and Kazari looked devastated. When everyone looked confused, Ruiko elaborated. "Well, she needs to go on a diet and exercise more. She has been careless recently."

"She doesn't look any different though," Touma pointed out. "Are you… Ouch." Mikoto had jabbed in in the side with her elbow.

"Girls are sensitive about those kinds of things," she whispered. "Be careful what you say. You are to blunt most of the time." Touma nodded and shut his mouth. Jason frowned and looked over at her, before sneaking behind Kazari. She wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up in one fluid motion. She yelled out in surprise and everyone turned to watch.

"I don't really feel any difference," Jason commented. "But if you want to, I'll support you and join you on the diet of no sweets." Kazari turned and hugged him, while Touma turned back to Mikoto.

"That's how you do it," Mikoto said, crossing her arms and smiling. Kuroko watched Jason and Kazari wistfully. When Jason let Kazari go, Touma walked next to him.

"How did you know what to say?" he whispered.

"Manga," Jason whispered back and grinning. "Always has the right line."

"Oh," Ruiko said speaking up and turning to face everyone. "Are any of you participating in the anti-crime game?"

"We are," Mikoto confirmed. "Kuroko and I are probably going to be assigned to being police."

"Well that's not good," Touma said. "Jason and I, with some of our classmates, are probably going to be criminals. I know Tsuchimikado is planning something big during it, but Jason won't tell me." Jason whistled innocently.

"Looks like I'm going to have to catch you all then," Mikoto laughed.

"Just remember it's a game," Touma told her. "You don't need to try to go all out to electrocute me."

"Pssh," Mikoto said dismissively. "It's not like it would affect you anyways."

"It's still scary," Touma explained.

"I'll try to go easy on you," Mikoto said, but then she winked at him. Touma sighed, knowing she wasn't going to, but he still grinned too.

"Uiharu and I are going to be hostages," Ruiko said. "They always have to ask people to be them. Everyone wants to be police or criminals." She sighed. "I'm only participating because I need the extra credit."

"I'm participating to keep her company," Kazari added.

"I'm in the same boat," Touma sighed and they both laughed.

"Guess that means we have to capture them then," Jason said. "I suppose we could just chase Saten-san around to give her points. I'm going to grab Kazari first though." Kazari giggled.

"We just have to stop you to fulfill our role," Kuroko said, looking at him. "I'll make sure to catch you before you can do anything."

"I don't want to be caught too fast," Jason said. "I want to have a little fun, so guess I will have to pass."

"I'll definitely be the one to catch you," Kuroko declared, pointing at him. A devious smile appeared on Jason's face.

"What to bet?" he asked.

"You're on," Kuroko said, they looked at each other and shook hands.

"Kuroko," Mikoto mumbled, face palming. "Did you seriously not learn your lesson?" Touma shook his head in amusement. Kazari and Ruiko looked at each other and sighed. They all knew the event was going to be quite interesting that weekend.

"MUGINO!" Frenda cried through her phone. "There's too many of them!" Everything was going well, until a short time ago.

Frenda was currently in a large facility that had just been recently evacuated. Earlier that day, Shizuri had told ITEM they were assigned as security for the research division. Frenda didn't know what they researched here and didn't really care. Their job wasn't to ask questions, but to guard the data within against intruders. Shizuri's contact had told them the priority was to prevent the data from falling into enemy's hands and they were free to eliminate anyone as necessary. The cleanup crews would take care of any unpleasant outcomes. Frenda had been pretty bored, and was patrolling the first floor while Shizuri and Rikou were monitoring things on the third floor. Saiai was patrolling on the second floor. She was sitting down on a box, playing with her cellphone and debating if she should message Touma to pass the time, when the ground shook slightly. Looks like an intruder wondered into my trap, she thought to herself with a grin.

She had set up several bombs, disguised as dolls, all around the entrances of the building. They were armed with trip wire that was specially designed to be super light and thin, yet strong enough to easily hold several hundred pounds. It was some of Academy City's advanced fiber technology. The wires were almost invisible to the naked eye and, unless you knew it was there, would not be noticed. She didn't have to worry about hitting innocent civilians, as the research building was off limits at this time and everyone had left already. Whoever was there did not belong. She walked, confidently, to the door to find out who had tried to trespass. "Here I thought this day would be boring," she mumbled to herself. "Basically, Mugino is going to be pleased I took out the intruder so quickly." She saw the smoke coming from the entrance and she laughed. The door had been blown away and the outside lights were coming into the building. "I wonder if I'll be able to identify who it…" She choked on her words. The intruder was alive, but it also wasn't human.

It was humanoid, but was completely made out of metal. It was slightly bigger than a normal human and resembled a knight from England, as the metal made it look like it was wearing armor. The head was slightly flatter and wider sideways then it was tall, as if its head had been squashed by something heavy. It was armed with a staff with small curved blades on each end. Part of its left arm and torso had been blown away by Frenda's trap. It turned its metal head to face her and she reached under her skirt to pull out some hand held missiles. It started to walk toward her, and then suddenly broke into a run. "Cool a robot," Frenda said with a grin. "This will be different." She fired two of her missiles at the robot. The robot moved the staff in front of itself and knocked them down, away from its head and torso. The resulting explosions blew away the robot's legs. "Take that you bucket of bolts." She started to laugh, but it was cut short.

The robot was moving toward her, using its arms to pull itself forward.

"Damn these things can take some punishment," she muttered and threw a grenade on top of it. She jumped back as the explosion blew the remains of the robot into pieces. "Basically, it's about time you stupid pile of junk." She kicked a piece of it down the hall and it clanged the entire way. She pulled out her phone and contacted Shizuri. "There was an intruder, but it wasn't a person. It was a robot."

"Interesting," Shizuri replied. "At least you took care of it this time. If I had to come down and clean up your mess again…"

"It's taken care of," Frenda said quickly, before Shizuri could berate her some more. "It was pretty sturdy though. Basically, I would run out of bombs if there were too many…." She paused and her eyes widened.

"Frenda," Shizuri called out. "What happened?"

"MUGINO!" Frenda cried through her phone. "There's too many of them!" Ten more of the robots walked through the door and started to spread out through the building. Frenda saw more behind them trying to get in. Some came down the hallway directly toward her, raising their weapons as they got close. She threw a couple bombs at them to slow them down and made a strategic retreat. I got to get to the supply room and bring as many of them as possible. She stumbled, as she felt the building shake slightly several times. "I think all my traps at every entrance went off. Basically, they are coming in from every direction."

"I'm coming down," Shizuri said. "Kinuhata said a couple had reached the second floor already and I have Takitsubo on assignment with the information. For now, stall them until we find out who is controlling them."

"Under stood," Frenda replied and hung up. She heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind her and knew they were hot on her tail. She saw the door ahead of her and threw it open. She changed directions and ran to the far wall and grabbed a thin wire. She turned to face the entrance she had come from and waited. About ten seconds passed before the robots started wondering into the room. There were several shelves of machine parts and extra lab equipment, but Frenda could see them clearly. After the robots took several steps into the room, Frenda called out to them. "Over here you junk piles."

The robots turned and started walking toward her, moving in a semi-circle to box her in. She grinned and pulled the wire. A net above them broke away and dozens of dolls started to rain down on the robots. A moment later, Frenda tossed a bomb toward them. "Good night," she said sweetly, as she dove behind a piece of equipment. The explosions shook the entire building and Frenda had to cover her ears from the noise. When the dust settled she glanced over the top of the equipment. "That should do it…" She stopped. "How?"

Most of the robots had been turned into piles of scraps, but half a dozen of them were still standing. They were hiding behind what looked like three other robot remains. It appeared to Frenda as if they had used the ones in front of them as a shield, to protect themselves from the majority of the explosion. Are they intelligent? What kind of machines are these? One of the robots in the back pulled out an automatic gun and raised it. Frenda ducked as the place where her head had been was filled with gunfire. Damn, I need to get out of here. I didn't realize they had guns. She looked at the exit door and saw an empty corridor. She tossed a couple of her remaining bombs from her hiding place and dashed out of the room as fast as she could while the robots were blinded. I hope Mugino can find their leader.

Shizuri stepped over several smoking remains of the robot intruders. First time I've seen something like this. Mechanized armies are one thing, but they usually have to be controlled manually. Motion sensors for automatic firing are common too, but these machines seem to actually be somewhat observant. They either have to have hundreds of people controlling them all, or these machines have some kind of artificial intelligence. She was leaning toward the second option, as they robots didn't seem to act with a group mentality. They just kept running at her, instead of trying to ambush her. The hallways just made it simple for her to cut them down with her Meltdowner.

She walked down the stairs to the second floor, to pick up Saiai, and heard the sounds of a fight. She walked down the hall and saw several broken robots and several destroyed walls. She followed the carnage and found Saiai, punching out the torso of the last one. She was holding one of their spears in her left hand. "Mugino," she called out. "I just finished the last one here. Those staves of theirs kept knocking me away, so it super took longer than it should have. Luckily they didn't have any anti-armor guns or it could have gotten messy."

"We have to go rescue Frenda," Shizuri said, pointing downwards. "I doubt she's ready to handle an army or machines." Saiai nodded and they descended the last flight of stairs.

"What about Takitsubo?" Saiai asked.

"She's not suited to fight machines at all," Shizuri explained, looking around as they reached the ground floor. "So I'm having her retreat after making a copy of the research." Something here is important, and I plan to find out whom. I will not be left in the dark anymore. They entered the main research room of the building and looked around. There was no sign of Frenda, but about thirty of the robots were there, along with a person in Anti-Skill armor. By their appearance, Shizuri guessed he was male, but the helmet made it impossible to determine age or discerning characteristics. Finally a person, he has to be in charge. "Who the f%#^ are you?" she called out to the guy. He ignored her and continued to work on a computer. The robots, however, turned to face her, raising their weapons. Shizuri did not appreciate being ignored and fired a bright green beam into the computer's processor, causing it to explode. Finally, the man turned around to face her, but the helmet covered everything except his mouth.

"I was looking at something," he said coldly. "I don't care if you're a level 5. You are just second class to me."

"Tell me what you were looking at," Shizuri replied, just as coldly. Several green orbs appeared around her. "Or a quick death will be your only wish."

"Shut up b$%&^," the male replied and all the robots started rushing at her. Shizuri grinned maliciously and fired, cutting all the robots in half. She didn't appreciate being called vulgar names and fired one beam at the male. The beam hit him square in the arm, blowing it away. The male staggered backwards, but didn't yell out in pain, nor was any of his blood spraying out. Instead, some other liquid was. It was a white chalk colored substance, but it vanished into thin air as it left his body.

"What the hell are you?" Shizuri asked, narrowing her eyes. "Are you one of Eve's men?"

"Who?" the male asked, but then he laughed. "It doesn't matter. You probably wouldn't be able to comprehend it anyways. Let me tell you this though. I have no reason to stay here, as you blew up the data." He lifted an automatic rifle with his other hand and fired it at Shizuri. Saiai jumped in front of her and blocked all the bullets with her Offence Armor. "Looks like one of the failures from the Dark May Project," the male laughed. "Oh well, you will all be dead shortly."

"That's a laugh coming from someone in your position," Shizuri pointed out.

"These machines you have been destroying all over the place," the male explained. "Normally would self-destruct on their defeat. We rigged them to not blow up, until I give a signal." His laughter intensified. "How much damage do you think hundreds of these things will do, spread out inside this building, with you in it?" Shizuri's eyes widened in surprise and she fired a beam of light into the middle of the man's chest. The same white liquid flew out and disappeared in midair. Only about ten percent of his torso remained, but it somehow was able to hold up his head and arm. If he was a normal person, he would be dead and spraying blood everywhere.

"What the f$%# are you?" Shizuri asked in shock.

"That guy is a monster," Saiai pointed out.

"Die pests," the male said, snapping his fingers. The machines around them started to explode and, from the sound of it, all the remains of the other robots were too. The building started to shake and then collapse. Pieces of the ceiling started to fall around them like car sized hail. Shizuri looked up in anger.

F#$%!

"I didn't expect the Meltdowner to be a security guard," Ricane said, leaning back in his chair, as the monitor in front of him went dead.

"Your machines didn't last long," Teitoku said irritably. He glanced over at Ricane. "What was the point of sending those outdated models?"

"They were taking up space," Ricane yawned. "I figured they could go out with a bang."

"Is this entire thing a joke to you," Teitoku growled standing up. He reached over and grabbed Ricane by the neck. "Do you even know what you are doing?"

"I thought I made it clear this was a complicated matter," Ricane responded, looking at him without a trace of fear. "I was the one who told you how to use your power this way didn't I?" Teitoku let go of him and Ricane rubbed his neck.

"I suppose," Teitoku admitted. "I wouldn't have thought of actually creating human tissue and cloning myself. It's still a work in progress, as it couldn't really use any of my power."

"That just takes practice," Ricane told him. "You are smart enough to work out those problems yourself. If your team is currently working on testing the ability development resources you put together, then we can focus on the most difficult part." He turned and looked at Teitoku. "It's time to teach you how to cultivate and refine mana."

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Teitoku asked angrily. "You told me already magic and abilities will cause a body to destroy itself."

"It will," Ricane agreed. "This is why only you can use this method. You will cast magic with your body, but it won't be your actual body. Why do you think we did this tonight? The data was only a bonus, but not required. I simply needed to see if your ability could create clones."

Teitoku froze for a second, before sneering. "The rumors were right about you Dr. Ricane. I'm sorry I doubted you. I can see you do know what you are doing."

"You simply will make small changes to the composition until we find one that works without destroying itself," Ricane continued. "Once the others get the research ready for you to develop your ability even further, you should be able to fix your current body. Then you will be able to use both magic and science, a truly unique hybrid."

"Then I will crush the strongest and prove I am not a backup," Teitoku laughed, slamming his fist on a table and shattering it into pieces.

Jason entered his apartment and shut the door behind him. He walked over to a table, pulled out a small electronic device, and turned it on. The device simply emitted a small electronic pulse, too weak to damage any main electronics, but strong enough to disable very small machines, like nanobots. He then sat down in a chair, as his shadow formed a dome around him. He pulled a small rune card out of his pocket and it floated in the air in front of him, glowing to provide him a source of light.

You seem to be taking precautions.

"I have to or Aleister will know what I am doing," Jason muttered. "I wanted to read this in private." A book fell out of his shadow and he opened it.

It was wise to hide Eve's book and pretend she took it. The fire mage would not have let you keep it otherwise.

"I wanted to examine in," Jason chuckled, flipping through pages. "Damn, there's so much written in it. A lot looks like history, damn, my least favorite subject." He paused and frowned. "What's this, it looks like a list of names." He ran his finger down them.

Adam

Eve

Cain

Arthur

Oda Nobunaga

Caesar

Juliet

Romeo

"I know some of these names," Jason muttered. "But not all."

We know Juliet is part of their group, so we should reason the rest are names of their accomplices.

It does seem that way. You said they were in the city already?

Three of them.

Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or ideas, I love reading them. If you have a question you wish I ask and would like a quick answer, feel free to message me directly. I try to respond to those within a day or two. Comments, I tend to respond to in the next chapter.

Yea, there was a lot of Jason/Kuroko this chapter, but I wanted to finish their bet. Now I can focus on the perfect storm beginning to brew.

Lessar: Looks like competition for lover boy is gone.

Mikoto: You can't say that! They may not be nice, but they are still people.

Misaki: I don't have time to worry about them, I have an old hag to take care of.

Shizuri: You think something like a building is enough to kill me. It would take a nuke, minimum, and I would have to be unaware.

Frenda: Basically, you won't get rid of us that easily.

Kazari: How come the guys aren't here?

Ruiko: I heard the author was tired of them and wanted us girls to get some time.

Carissa: But from the comments left by the commoners, it's obvious who they think the best girl is.

Mikoto: What are you doing here?

Carissa: I'm quite popular. No one is going to object.

Misaki: I'm definitely the best girl.

Shizuri: Hah, maybe in your delusional dreams.

Lessar: I'm going to be his first.

Frenda: No you aren't.

Kazari: It seems like they are arguing again. Are you going to join?"

Ruiko: No, I don't want to get in the middle of that. Want to do something else next week?"

Kazari: I think a break would be good.