A lot of things are happening, it's kind of hard to keep track. Plus I was distracted last weekend with the new Magic: The Gathering Pre Release. Now that it's over, I was able to focus on writing more. There is a lot of focus on some character's that don't get a lot of attention in this chapter, so I'm rather proud about that. One downside with having so many characters is some characters tend to get neglected. I'm also rather impressed with some of the reviews people left, there are a lot of great ideas and, even if I don't use them, they get my gears turning to continue to pump out new chapters.
Darkbetrayer notices no man.
Now let's move on to the comments.
Riyangendut: Well, there names form a lot of other places, and Oda has a very specific purpose, so he has to be on there. But I see what you mean.
Banditz: Let us bring you up to the front and make sure everyone can see you and possible mock you a bit. All in good fun of course. I know how much you were looking forward to the cooking lessons.
Guest: Yes, when I was googling Japanese names, I had temporarily forgot about that. The name is actual neutral, but more commonly masculine. So it can be used as a masculine female name too.
flayjunior15: I'll let you in on a secret, I'm a Christian to. Reason I use Catholicism is that I know enough about it to go into the magic aspect with the lore. At no time should anyone consider I am bashing or promoting any religion. This is purely for entertainment only.
Brosephg: One upon a time, everyone died.
Handsomistic1: Pssh, it wouldn't be Touma if something crazy doesn't happen at the end. As for your question, it depends if I get an opportunity to introduce his parents. As for Stiyl and Kanzaki, that will only occur if the situation arises.
Agent Nine: Well, maybe. There was one part planned with something similar…
Anon Guest: You were close.
Guest 10032: Of course not. I don't notice people. As for the alternate ego, since you don't have a fanfic account, you are just one of the many voices in my head. Sometimes they materialize, like Banditz.
Guest3: I love her pet snake so much. I definitely want to do something with it.
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.
Rikou opened the door quietly and peered out of the building. There did not seem to be any of the robots outside, so she swung the door open all the way and took a step out. Mugino wanted this data, so I can't let my guard down. Her ability AIM Stalker let he detect and memorize AIM fields. Once memorized, she could tell the direction and distance to the individual, no matter how far they tried to run. Those machines didn't have AIM fields though, so I have to be careful. I won't be able to detect them. There's one person with an AIM field, but Mugino is approaching him. Rikou didn't know why Shizuri wanted the data, but she was used to doing what she was told, until there was time to explain why. Shizuri never had them do frivolous things. Rikou heard a crunch, and immediately turned around.
One of the robots was walking around the corner of the building, obviously performing a patrol along the perimeter. The programmer must be skilled, they actually appear intelligent. Several explosions blew a couple of windows out and a flash of green light flew out of the building. Looks like the others are busy, I'm on my own. Rikou took a step back from the robot. The robot turned its head, and raised its bladed staff. Rikou heard a soft crunch with each step, as it walked over the rubble from the recent explosions. She turned and ran as fast as she could, glad she was wearing her track suit. She always prioritized function over fashion, something Saiai constantly complained about. She tripped on a piece of rubble and, out of pure luck, it saved her. The robot's staff flew above her, where her head would have been, and impaled itself into a nearby wall.
They are strong, she thought, springing to her feet. She started running and began to cross the street. She knew she had to get out of the vicinity. As long as she was in a deserted area, the robots would find her. She had to hide in a more populated district with the data, until Shizuri called her. The robot continued to follow her, unaware of her intentions. When Rikou was halfway across the street, it started running and jumped thirty feet, over Rikou, and landed in front of her. She skidded to a stop, and took a step back instinctively. The robot swung his arm at her and she cross her arms instinctively to block the blow. It sent her flying backwards several feet and she landed on her back. Her arms hurt a lot, but she didn't believe anything was broken. I can't outrun it and it's stronger than me. What should I do? The robot reached a metal hand down toward her throat and she scooted backwards on the ground. A sudden flash of light blinded her for a moment, and then she heard a crunch of metal.
A large truck had crashed into the robot, sending in flying down the street. Sparks flew as it scraped against the concreate. She looked up, and the passenger side door of the truck opened. She saw familiar dirty blonde hair and the Shiage reached out a hand toward her. "Get in quick," he said. "It's getting back up." Rikou reached up, grabbed his hand, and he helped pull her into the front passenger seat of the car. She slammed the door and struggled to put on her seatbelt, as Shiage backed the truck up. "Frenda, can you take it out?"
"If you don't make any sudden moves," Frenda said from the back seat. She leaned out of the window and threw her last hand held missile at the robot. The robot had begun to stand up, its arm broken and circuits visible, when the missile hit it square in the head. The explosion blew it clean off and the robot collapsed into a pile of debris. Frenda pulled her body back in and leaned back in her seat. "That was close. Basically, if we didn't arrive, things could have gotten bad."
"Wow a compliment," Shiage said amazed. "I didn't think I would hear that from you."
"Don't get cocky," Frenda sneered at him. "Basically, you still aren't nearly as useful as Kamijou."
"I want to meet this legendary Kamijou," Shiage mumbled under his breath, and Frenda kicked the back of his chair.
Rikou leaned back in her seat, patted her pocket to make sure she still had the data, and then clutched her bruised arms. She was listening to Frenda and Shiage bicker, and her mind wondered to what Shizuri had planned. Shizuri had told Shiage to find them a medium sized vehicle and keep it parked a couple blocks away. If things got bad, they needed an escape route. Of course, Shizuri never had planned to retreat, but she was smart enough to always have a backup plan. She had threatened to break one of his fingers for every minute he was late, if she signaled him. ITEM had been through a lot of difficult missions, fighting men in power suits, remote controlled machines, ability users, and swarms of people with guns. This was the first time something as bizarre as an army of intelligent robots had attacked.
Rikou turned her attention to Frenda. While Frenda was acting the same as usual, excitable and slightly arrogant, Rikou could tell she had been injured. Her clothes were burnt and cut, her left arm was bleeding, and she had a large black bruise on her ankle, her sock had been cut to reveal her skin. Rikou pulled her sleeves back and examined her arms. They too were covered with large bruises. If Hamazura didn't pick me up, I would not have made it out alive. She remembered how strong his hand felt when he pulled her in. I bet he rescued Frenda too. She didn't know how right she was. Shiage had picked Frenda up on the other side of the building, after she was being chased by three more of the robots. Hamazura may complain a lot, but he always pulls through. She didn't say anything, because she didn't feel like anything really had to be said. Shiage performed the way his role required him to do.
"Takitsubo," Shiage said, seeing her injuries. "You're hurt."
"…They are superficial," Rikou told him calmly, but she heard the worry in his voice. "Frenda's wounds are worst. Her ankle looks bad."
"I'm fine," Frenda lied. Her ankle was actually bothering her quite a bit, but she wasn't going to show weakness in front of the others.
"… We should retreat and look for Mugino," Rikou pointed out.
"I don't know how we will find her with all those machines patrolling the area," Shiage said, frowning. "Maybe if she gave us some kind of signal…" His words were drowned out as several explosions rocketed the nearby building and it started to collapse. The third floor began to merge with the second, and the second floor into the ground floor. Out of the review mirror, Shiage saw the robot they had destroyed explode too. "Are they self-destructing?" he asked in shock.
"Mugino and Kinuhata are still in the building!" Frenda shouted, as Shiage turned a corner to avoid the wave of dust from the explosion. Shiage drove closer to the building wreckage and turned on the high beams, to be able to see the full extent of the damage. Concreate and metal support beams were lying in every direction, the entire building was beyond salvage, and all that was left was a pile of rubble. Shiage parked that car close and got out carefully, pulling out a small gun. Frenda and Rikou were waiting in the truck, as neither of them were in any position to help if things got messy.
"… Be careful," Rikou warned him. Shiage nodded and stood on top of a piece of concreate to get a good look around.
"I don't see anything," he told them. He scanned the rubble again. If they were on the ground floor, they must be buried under all this. Could they survive being crushed? He thought he heard something to his right and he raised his gun, but stopped when he saw a small green glow. A second later, a beam shot out of the rubble and blew away a small pile of concreate and metal. "Are you okay?" he called out, hopping over the debris and making his way over to where Shizuri fired her ability. Saiai was standing up, and trying to push a large chunk of debris out of the way. Shiage was able to help Mugino out of the hole while Saiai moved the rubble. It appeared as if she had used her ability shield to prevent most of the debris from crushing them. The building material was dissolved before it fell on them.
"What do you think?" Shizuri snapped, as she leaned on him. When they got out of the rubble and the light from the truck engulfed them, Shiage saw her left arm was at an odd angle. Saiai looked a little better, probably because her offense armor had protected her, but she was covered in bruises and cuts. There was a limit how much she could stop, and the force of the blunt objects still got through.
"We super need to get your arm looked at," Saiai said, and Shiage was glad she spoke up. He didn't want to be the one to tell Shizuri what to do.
"I know," Shizuri growled, making an annoyed click with her tongue. "But right now, let's get out of here. Anti-Skill won't have missed this much noise and we did our job. The intruders didn't get the data and the robots are annihilated. There wasn't anything in the mission briefing about not destroying the building."
"I don't think they will like that explanation," Shiage pointed out.
"Who cares?" Shizuri said sarcastically. "They didn't tell us what we were up against." Shiage helped her into the back seat and Saiai joined her. Shiage got back into the driver's seat and started the truck. He drove off, and took a couple side roads until they were out of sight of the building. They heard the sound of Anti-Skill sirens, but they didn't have to worry about them anymore. "You got the data?" Shizuri asked Rikou, who nodded and held up the external hard drive.
"…It's still encrypted," Rikou told her. "So I just copied everything."
"That's fine," Shizuri said, and then she grimaced slightly. "Even with Academy City's advancements in medical technology, my arm will take a few days to heal. We can use that time to crack the code. Let's not tell our contact we have it though. " Frenda and Saiai gave a short laugh and leaned back in their seats. Both of them were tired and ached all over. A couple days of recovery sounded good to them.
"Normal hospital?" Shiage asked.
"Where else did you expect to go?" Shizuri snapped at him.
"Seriously," Saiai said, shaking her head. "You are super Hamazura-y."
"Basically," Frenda added. "All you can do is follow directions. You ask the stupidest questions."
"No respect," Shiage muttered under his breath. He felt a pat on his shoulder and saw Rikou's hand. She gave him a brief, reassuring nod, and he felt better. The rest of them may be jerks, but she's not.
Touma got back his apartment, after grabbing dinner with his friends, and found Index watching TV and waiting for him. She greeted him normally and told him all about her day. Touma listened and had to avoid grinning. He was glad Index was treating him like usual again. After their discussion yesterday, he had been afraid of what their relationship was going to become. Now that everything seemed to be normal again, Touma was relieved. He spent some time with Index, before she went back to watching TV and Touma went to sit down in the kitchen. His phone beep and he turned his head to look at it. He chuckled when he saw Jason had sent everyone one of the pictures of Kuroko in her outfit. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of what would happen if Index found that picture, so he deleted it. It's not like he needed it for any reason. He frowned, as he realized he missed a message from Carissa today, and opened it.
Read your previous message and tell me if you are stupid or just trying to get hurt.
Touma read his previous message and his face turned ashen. That was a typo, I mean dissing. I didn't mean that kind of disrespect. He sent the message, sighed, and leaned back in his chair. I hope she forgives me. Even if she is locked up, I think she would find a way to come here and try to punish me for disrespecting her. He was about to stand up and go watch TV with Index, when his phone beeped. He felt a shiver run down his neck, and he looked at it.
I figured as much. I seriously doubt you would have the balls to try any sort of funny business. I am more interested in when you said my mother gave you this number. How did she give you this number undetected?
She had Knight Leader pass me a letter.
Send me a picture of the letter. Touma froze and his mind started thinking of how to get out of this. He still had the letter hidden above his fridge, a place Index wouldn't look, but he didn't want Carissa to see it. He was concerned about his safety if she saw what her mother wrote. As if reading his mind, another message came through from her. Don't you dare give me any shit about losing or destroying it. You and I both know you didn't.
Touma gulped and pulled out the letter. He took a picture of it and attached a message with it. I didn't write this and I had nothing to do with it. Please don't blame me. He sent the message, with slightly trembling fingers, and waited for her reply. Several minutes passed in silence and his nervousness grew. How pissed off is she at me? he thought to himself. He heard the beep, took a deep breath to steady himself, and looked down.
I guess I should thank you. I know what she's trying to do now. Next time we meet, there is going to be a long discussion. Touma felt both relieve and nervous at the same time.
Try not to be too hard on her. She really is just worried about you. I'm glad you aren't mad at me. He didn't get long to feel relieved though, she replied moments later.
Who said I wasn't mad at you? Just you wait until I'm out of this confinement. Touma felt another shiver over his entire body. He looked out the window and could swear he felt predator eyes glaring at him.
The next morning, a rumor had been floating around a certain high school. It started with many of the girls, but spread like wild fire among the guys when they found out. Several girls this morning had seen Seria Kumokawa coming to school, carrying a lunch box far larger than one person, let alone a delicate girl like her, could eat alone. All the girls were whispering excitedly among themselves and came up with one explanation. Seria must have brought lunch for someone. The question on their mind was, for whom? The guys immediately thought it was for her boyfriend, while the girls were divided between her bringing it for a boy or one of her friends. Naturally, Motoharu and Pierce were two of the guys most interested in the news.
"Did you hear Kami-yan?" Motoharu asked. "Beauty-sempai brought a lunch box for someone and no one knows who."
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about this?" Pierce asked suspiciously.
Touma gave an involuntary yawn before answering. He had been up late because he couldn't sleep. Carissa's last text kept his imagination working in overdrive about what Carissa was going to do to him, after she was released. He didn't regret stopping her, but he understood why she would be upset with him. Unfortunately, his attention was now being forcefully turned to the topic at hand and he knew what would happen if his friends found out about how that lunch box was for him. "What? Really? That means she's taken? Who is it?"
"So it wasn't you?" asked Motoharu in shock. He turned to Pierce. "We were sure it had to be him."
"Looks like it must be for her friends," Pierce said reasonably, before narrowing his eyes at Touma. "Unless, you're lying to us."
"O-Of course not," Touma denied, shaking his head. "There's no way the school idol would be interested in me."
"I never saw him raise any flags," Pierce said thoughtfully. "Kagere isn't here so we can't ask him what he knows." Touma gave a mental sigh of relief. He wasn't sure, if Jason was here, that he would be able to keep his mouth shut. "Hey Accel-kun, you know anything about Kami and beauty-sempai?"
"Who the hell is beauty-sempai?" Accelerator asked. He had been sitting down and listening to their conversation.
"Ah that's right," Motoharu said, realizing an important fact. "He never met her. She's the school idol and a third year. I'll point her out to you if you're interested."
"I'm not," Accelerator replied and put his head down on the desk. "Probably not my type anyways."
"What's your type?" Pierce asked interested.
"None of your business."
Disaster averted, Touma thought to himself. Motoharu and Pierce were now in the process of needling Accelerator about what type he was interested in, constantly joking about him being a lolicon. Now how am I going to meet Kumokawa-senpai without causing her problems? He didn't care if he was made fun of, he was used to his friends teasing him about having a harem, but he didn't want Seria to be on the receiving end. After all, she's just thanking me for helping her. There really is a difference between older and younger girls that way. Older girls are so mature. He spent most of the morning trying to think of a plan.
When the lunch bell rang, Touma made a big scene over forgetting his lunch. Motoharu and Pierce laughed at him and Touma pretended to rush out of the room to get to the cafeteria, muttered about being stuck in line the entire time. Accelerator watched him suspiciously for a moment, before pulling out his store bought lunch. Touma left the room and snuck upstairs, before realizing Seria never told them where they would meet. Where would she be? She mentioned she didn't like the noise of classrooms and the cafeteria… I know, the roof. He bolted to the stairs, trying to move quickly but quietly up them, until he reached the door leading to the roof. He opened it and looked around.
"Hello Kamijou-san," Seria greeted him warmly. "I realized I forgot to say where we should meet, but I'm glad you found the place." She had laid out a small blanket for them to sit on and it looked like she had been perusing a magazine while waiting for him. A large bento box sat next to her.
"You mentioned you liked to dine away from the noise," Touma told her. "I figured this was the best place for that."
"It does get harder during the winter to find a place like this," Seria admitted. "But the weather is quite nice now and the other students haven't realized it yet." She patted the blanket next to her. "Why don't you have a seat?"
"Thank you," Touma said, and sat down on the opposite side of her, instead of next to her. He missed the slightest motion on her face, as she bit the very edge of her lip. She had obviously wanted him to sit next to her, but she was going to take what she could get. She opened the bento and Touma looked inside. There was an assortment of dishes, chicken, sushi, fresh vegetables, and rice. The last time he got to taste something that looked that good, was Misaki's bento she had made for him awhile back. "This looks amazing. Now I feel bad you went to all this trouble."
"Think nothing of it," Seria laughed slightly. "It was no trouble at all. I really appreciated your help." She wasn't lying because she had, in fact, not made it. One of the secrets Seria kept was she was hopeless with normal chores. Her apartment was always a mess and without her sister, it would never be clean. The minute Touma had left yesterday, she had called her sister, Maria, and asked her to make a special lunch. It took a while to convince her, as she wanted all the details, but Seria got the lunch made in the end. It's technically homemade so it's fine.
"I can't thank you enough," Touma said, as she passed him his half. "This is really good," he said after the first bite. "You really are perfect."
"Oh stop," she giggled. Hah, he's all mine now. A way to a guy's heart is through his stomach, even gentlemen aren't an exception. "I'm far from perfect."
Worried about embarrassing her, Touma decided to change the subject. "We didn't get to talk much yesterday," he said. "What have you been up to sempai?"
"Oh nothing much," Seria lied, not mentioning the amount of work she actually did for the city. "School keeps me busy and I try to spend time with my friends, but enough about me. I'm interested in your trip to England. It has been so long since I have been out of the city. Can you tell me all about it and what you saw?"
"It was quite fun," Touma said truthfully. If he took out the issue with Carissa, it was probably the best vacation he ever had. He was so happy to be talking about normal things with an attractive older girl, he completely missed the fact he had never told Seria about the trip going to England. He had only told her about going on a trip outside of Academy City. They continued to talk while eating lunch, until Seria made a surprising offer.
"Here," she said, holding out her chopsticks with a small white daifuku. Touma reached for his chopsticks, but Seria shook her head. "Just eat it," she added smiling. Touma mind was reeling, worried about if this was considered an indirect kiss, but his male body moved automatically. He leaned forward and Seria put the sweet into his mouth. He had the brief taste of strawberries before he heard a loud click. Both he and Seria turned toward the door to the stair case, saw it was open, and Motoharu stood there while holding a camera. Touma swallowed quickly and almost choked because he didn't chew properly.
"Nice try Kami-yan," Motoharu grinned. "I knew you were involved in some way. It was one of your better attempts to hide a harem member." He turned around and started rushing down the stairs.
"You idiot!" Touma yelled, standing up and chasing after him. He was worried about the sort of rumors that Seria would have to endure if Motoharu spread that photo. "It's not like that! She was only thanking me for helping her yesterday! There was nothing romantic about it!"
Seria watched him, until he disappeared down the stairs. She frowned and her face was contorted with anger. The chopsticks in her hand snapped from the force of her grip. That b#$%^*&, he knew what I was up to and waited until he could interrupt at the most inopportune time. I guess he still holds a grudge against me. She was slightly annoyed Touma said there was nothing romantic about their encounter, and she sighed. He's so naïve, but I guess that's part of his charm. She started packing up and started planning damage control, in case Motoharu spread that photo to the wrong people.
Touma never did catch up to Motoharu, before he was able to get back to class and explained what happened to Pierce and Accelerator. When Touma entered the room, he was barraged by his classmates asking questions and yelling. The guys were angry because he took the school's idol and the girls were jealous. Pierce tackled him shortly afterwards and Accelerator went back to sleep. Motoharu then took the picture and sent it to three girls. He would have sent it to more, but he didn't have their numbers. Touma had no idea the trouble that was about to erupt because of that.
The bell rang, signally the end of a class at Sakugawa Middle School. Kazari and Ruiko left together and were heading to the 177th Judgement Branch Office. Kazari had to work after school, but Ruiko was just accompanying her. Though, if someone was just watching them, it would appear as if Kazari was the one accompany Ruiko and trying to cheer her up. "I'm sure it's not what it looks like," Kazari told her reasonably. "Kamijou-san isn't the kind of person to fool around with girls if he actually had a girlfriend. Jason and Accelerator-san both have said he wasn't with everyone."
"I know," Ruiko said, slightly downtrodden. "I keep telling myself that, but the picture…" Motoharu had sent her a picture of an attractive girl feeding Touma. "Did Kagere-san reply yet?"
"No," Kazari said, frowning slightly. "He usually gets back pretty quick. I hope nothing is wrong."
"I bet he is just busy," Ruiko said, and grinned slightly. A gust of air suddenly blew up Kazari's skirt. "Ah, your underwear always calms me down. Red with white stars, a classic."
"SATEN-SAN!" Kazari yelled in surprise. She calmed down and gave a weary smile. "It's good to see you back to your old self, but please stop flipping my skirt."
"All thanks to your choice in underwear," Ruiko explained and Kazari turned redder. "But you are right. I'm not going to let one of Tsuchimikado's pranks get to me. I'll talk to Touma first and see what that was about. For now, let's head to your office and I'll try to liven things up for you."
"We have to actually work you know," Kazari sighed. "Konori-sempai lets you hang out, but you can't interfere with our work. Besides, you could do something constructive, like get a start on your homework."
"I'll wait until you are free so we can work on it together," Ruiko said happily. This literally translated to, Kazari will do most of the work and Ruiko will get the answers.
"You really should be doing more of it on your own," Kazari told her, shaking her head. "It's why you have trouble on the tests."
"But there's so many things I want to do," Ruiko protested. "Homework takes up to much time." Kazari sighed again, knowing further persuasion was useless right now, and they continued to head to her Judgement office. About half way to their destination, Ruiko stopped and held out a hand in front of Kazari. She frowned, as she turned her head, like she was listening to something. "Hang on, did you here that?"
"Huh?" Kazari asked, confused. Ruiko walked over to the entrance of an alley and gestured to Kazari. She raised an eyebrow and followed. "What are we doing?" she whispered.
"I thought I heard those guys who just walked down there mention the level upper," Ruiko whispered hurriedly. She stuck her head out and looked down the alley.
"That can't be," Kazari whispered back. "It was destroyed. Everyone knows how dangerous it was." She imitated Ruiko's action and they heard hushed voices.
"So we can really raise our levels if we go here?"
"The benefactor is just giving you the option to join. We have to make sure Judgement or Anti-Skill doesn't find out. You know they will want to prevent normal people from gaining any power."
"They really like abusing their authority." The three guys walked to the end of the alley and appeared to walk right through a brick wall.
"What the…?" Ruiko said. "That didn't look like teleportation."
"One of them could have phased them through I suppose…" Kazari started to say, when they felt a pair of large hands on their shoulders. They both turned around to see two burly guys glaring down at them. One had short black hair and the other shaved his head to look bald.
"What are you two girls doing?" the black haired guy asked.
"Nothing," Ruiko replied, tensing slightly.
"Think they are spies?" the bald one asked.
"W-we aren't," Kazari stammered slightly. "We were just passing through."
"Do they look like spies?" a third voice asked and all four of them turned around. A young man with dirty blonde hair was standing there. He appeared pretty tired. "They look like middle school students. I bet they want to raise their levels to."
"You got a lot of nerve showing up here Hamazura," the bald guy growled at him.
"Hey," Shiage said, raising his hands defensively. "I'm tired of being a level 0 too."
"Whatever," the black haired guy said. "We were told to let anyone interested in. Get going you three, it's about to start. Just walk through the wall at the end." Kazari and Ruiko nodded, deciding playing along would be the best course of action, and walked with the young man they only knew was named Hamazura.
"Thanks for the help," Ruiko whispered. "But we discovered this by accident. What's going on?"
"How did you know those guys?" Kazari asked.
"We worked together a couple times," Shiage muttered. "We never got along well. Seriously, you don't know? There has been a rumor that some benefactor is going to work on raising all the low levels in the city. A lot of people think it's going to be something like the level upper."
"But it was really dangerous," Kazari protested. "People were left in comas."
"A lot of these people are most likely from Skill-Out divisions," Shiage told her. "They are probably tired of being treated poorly by the city." He sighed. "Can't really blame them too much. I only came here because I was interested in what it was and had some free time." They stepped up to the brick wall and leaned up against it, not sure of what to do. They passed right through it, like it was just an illusion, and walked into a large room. Looking around, it appeared to be some large storage warehouse. Instead of boxes of goods, machines, or vehicles, a wide assortment of benches were lined up and hundreds of students were milling around them. At the far end of the warehouse, a makeshift stage and a large monitor had been set up. It almost looked like a cheap concert hall. Kazari and Ruiko turned their attention back to how they got here.
"That wall shouldn't have been connected to the building," Ruiko said, examining the wall they had just walked through. "I don't think we teleported either."
"Did someone actually develop a wormhole ability?" Kazari asked wide-eyed. "I heard there were a few people with potential, but they never got above level 2."
"What's special about wormholes?" Shiage asked her.
"Normal teleportation requires eleventh dimensional calculations and manipulation," Kazari explained. Being friends with Shirai the longest, she had the most knowledge of teleportation and Shirai had mentioned wormholes before. "By using their position in the eleventh dimension and moving, they can instantaneously move to another point in our space. Wormholes operate differently to achieve a similar effect. Wormholes connect two coordinates though compressed space and time. I don't know the specifics of it though. The compressed space, which I believe includes dimensions and time, allows the two distance points to move next to each other. It changed the distance to virtually zero, so we never have to surpass the speed of light. It just appears we move vast distances instantly, but are actually barely moving at all."
"You sound like you know a lot about it," Shiage said, slightly impressed. "Do you have one of those abilities?"
"No," Kazari shook her head. "I'm a level one, Thermal Hand. I can maintain the temperature of things I touch. I know a teleporter though. Wormholes can cover a lot greater distances then teleportation, but they are stationary."
"My ability is Aero Hand and I'm a level 1," Ruiko said, before holding out her hand. "I hope I ranked up with system scan yesterday but, before that, I never thanked you for saving us." Shiage shook her hand and grinned slightly.
"Nice to be appreciated," he said. "I'm only a level 0 and some of my… friends… look down on me because of that."
"That's not right," Kazari said indigently. "People shouldn't look down on others for not being a high level."
"The real world isn't that kind," Shiage told her. "It's the reason Skill-Out was originally formed. Us low levels had to band together for protection."
"It sounds like you were part of that group," Ruiko said, for the first time sounding slightly alarmed.
"I was," Shiage told her. "I left for personal reasons, but it doesn't change the fact that is how they started. Now, they sort of became a terrorist organization." He looked away for a moment, like there was a bad taste in his mouth.
"We know a lot of higher levels who won't look down on you," Kazari reassured him.
"You're one of the lucky ones," Shiage muttered. "We can talk about that later, look. Everyone is sitting down and, if we don't want to draw attention, we should to." Kazari and Ruiko nodded, before sitting down next to him on one of the benches in the back. There was still a lot of talking, until the lights started to shut off and everyone got quiet. Only the lights near the stage stayed on and a single young man walked up on the stage.
"Looks like everyone who wants to be here has arrived," the man said. He was wearing a mask and had short brown hair "You can call me Moderator for now. For safety reasons, I have to disguise my appearance. You never know what kind of assassins the people at the top of this city would send at me if they knew what we are doing. For that reason, this building won't let any signals in or out, so don't bother trying to record and send anything. Anyone attempting to will have their device destroyed." He took a deep breath. "But let's ignore that boring introduction. We all know why you are here." He raised his hand in the air and pointed at them all.
"It's time for all of us to take back our city!" he cried and the majority of the crowd started clapping and yelling. They must have known more than Kazari and Ruiko did. "Even without explaining, most of you know what I mean. Sixty percent of the student population is considered a level 0, but you know what? We barely get any time of day. It's always the higher levels that get all the attention and funding. Look at our schools and teachers, and you can see the obvious in front of you. We are stuck with mediocre training and equipment, while those with power continue to have everything at their disposal. Maybe if we were focused on that much, we too could reach their levels, but the higher ups don't want that. They want to use us as stepping stones for others." Excited whispers broke out among the audience and many people yelled out in anger.
"Great," Shiage sighed. "It's just propaganda. Wish I could leave, but that would make a big scene."
"You know what they want to achieve?" Ruiko asked, as she and Kazari turned to him.
"They want everyone to believe the city is stacking everything against them," he explained. "They will feed on everyone's insecurities and then explain what they want everyone to do. Dang, I only came because they said they had the ability to raise our levels. It looks like this was a bust. I don't want to join some random organization again."
"What kind of things do they try to get people to do?" Kazari asked, ignoring the again part.
"Usually join the organization," Shiage shrugged. "Sometimes they try to get donations or information. Guess we will see in a bit." The moderator started talking again as the chatter died down.
"I know many of you probably have thoughts along the line, oh all the high levels aren't bad or, how about, maybe if you work hard you can raise your ability too." He shook his head. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your max level was determined by them, as soon as you awakened it. They could tell how high your potential was and then compare it to the cost of developing it. If you didn't have the potential, or costs were too high, they left you alone to be at the mercy of others." This must have achieved the Moderator's desired effect, because many people started whispering anxiously.
"Do you think that's true?" Ruiko whispered to Kazari.
"I doubt it," she replied offhandedly. "It would completely undermine what our teachers tell us at school. If this was true, it would cause riots in the street. Many people only joined because the city promised we could develop high level abilities."
"I will return to this important topic in a moment," the Moderator told them. "We have big news on that subject, but I want to address the other issue first. The higher levels are not on your side. They may not actively work against you, but they aren't helping or supporting you either. They look down on us, because we don't have the powers they do. To long have level 0s had to remain in the shadows because of them. I bet many of you are level 0, 1, and 2, but I'm sure you have seen it to." There was a lot of muttering and, this time, it seemed to be an acknowledgement of his words. "We sent people around the city to find proof of this abuse and we found way more than many of us thought. We sent our findings directly to the board of directors and didn't receive a single response. THEY WANT US TO SUFFER!" He yelled the last few words into the mic in anger, before he calmed himself. "We plan to show you the recording of what we found." He walked off stage as the remaining lights dimmed, and the monitor turned on.
"This is all wrong," Kazari whispered. "Jason, Misaka-san, and Shirai-san wouldn't do anything like that."
"I know what he's saying is wrong," Ruiko acknowledged. "But I still feel his words hit me." She thought she had gotten over trying to gain power for the purpose of just having it, but she remembered the way she felt when she was powerless to help others. She had seen people abuse their powers on others who were weaker than them. Her heart still remembered those feelings and she knew how the others must have felt. This wasn't something a higher level would understand. Kazari might have similar feelings, even though she developed her power early, it never grew past level 1. I won't let these feelings keep me from moving forward though. She felt Kazari pat her shoulders reassuringly and she felt better.
"Looks like another smear campaign," Shiage yawned, and leaned up against the back wall. "Wake me up when it's over. I have heard all of this before many times. I might still believe it if it wasn't for this one guy." The monitor turned to a blue screen and a cool female's voice came through the speakers. She sounded like she couldn't have been much older than Kazari and Ruiko.
"The scenes you are about to see is thanks to the painstaking work our group has done over the past few months." The monitor flashed from a blue screen into what appeared to be a movie. As the entire audience watched, they saw several ability users, obviously high levels, attacking other students. The first scene had a man throwing fire at several innocent bystanders, causing them to yell and flee in different directions. The scene quickly changed to several girls forcing another one to dance as they shot high pressure water and air at her. Another scene showed a guy knocking down a group of people with a single hand. His hand crashed into a concreate wall and left a hand print in it. These kinds of scenes kept repeated again and again, none more than a minute long. Ruiko couldn't help cringing at a couple of them. "Higher levels are untouchable with punishment, because the city considered them valuable, unlike all of us. We even managed to get some videos of a couple of the level fives abusing their power."
"What?" Kazari asked shocked. "These have to be taken out of context."
"This is bad," Ruiko agreed and looked around. "But it looks like most of these guys are falling for it." Kazari also looked around and a lot of the nearby audience were making fists and beginning to shout angrily.
The screen changed to reflect a person they were familiar with. Accelerator's white hair was obvious and he was walking away from a large group of people, all lying on the ground in pain. Several of them looked like they had broken hands and arms. They didn't see much, as the scene changed, and they saw Mikoto firing electricity at several guys. Again, the scene didn't last long and it changed to show Misaki. About fifteen people collapsed all around her and she was holding a remote in her hand. "We don't have much information on the rank four Meltdowner," the girl's voice said. "But just recently we caught her ability destroying a building." The video changed to a night time scene and they saw green beams of light fly out of a building. Only a minute later, the building started to explode and collapse in on itself. The scene then went dark. "You would think with the level 5s attacking so many people and destroying everything, there would be consequences, right?" Several people shouted loudly in agreement, while Kazari and Ruiko looked at each other in shock.
"But you must know now, they are above the law," the girl continued. "Their involvement gets swept under the rug and it's all treated as an accident." The girl paused as many people in the crowd started yelling. "Even Judgement is on their side." Ruiko felt Kazari sit up slightly, but nudged her to remain still and avoid attention. "Judgement is supposed to keep the peace and help prevent incidents like this. They say they allow anyone who can pass basic training to join but, even then, it's still discriminatory. The high levels are allowed to patrol and use force whenever they want to. The lower levels are stuck doing desk work and cleanup."
"That's not true," Ruiko whispered. "I've seen you on patrol before."
"I mostly monitor back at the office," Kazari told her, nodding. "But I volunteer for that. If Shirai-san does it, nothing gets done and paper works starts getting back up. Plus, I'm good with computers, so it's easier for me to monitor everything."
"Uiharu," Ruiko grinned. "The number one hacker in Academy City." Kazari grinned for a second, but it slipped off as they returned to the serious conversation.
"… and no matter how many complaints Judgement receives on unnecessary use of force, nothing changes" the girl continued. "Here are some scenes of these so called protectors abusing their power." The monitor turned on again and several more scenes flashed. Kazari didn't know most of the people, they had to be part of different branches, but they were all the same type of clips as before. It was short scenes of Judgement members taking down people before moving to the next one. After about ten people, Kazari couldn't contain her gasp. Someone had taken a video of Kuroko and they watched her take down three people by teleporting around them, knocking two down and pinning the third to a wall with her needles in their clothes. The screen turned black shortly after. "They abuse their power and the city doesn't care…"
"Wait," Kazari said frowning. "I remember that scene with Shirai-san. I saw that fight through a camera. Those guys were robbing a store and one of them was an ability user. None of that was shown."
"That's the purpose of propaganda," Shiage yawned, and sat up. "When I was part of Skill-Out, it's what we did all the time. I was never good at it though," he sighed depressed. "Maybe that's why I'm where I am now."
"I only heard bad things about Skill-Out," Ruiko admitted. "They act as a terrorist group, but you don't seem like a bad guy."
"That's not why I joined in the first place," Shiage told her. "Some groups are extreme yes, but I joined for protection. It sort of grew from there, but I did things I'm not proud of." He sighed again. "I guess my current position is punishment for that. He looked at them. "I take it you're part of Judgement. You probably shouldn't say that out loud, even if you are low levels, most people here don't have favorable opinions of you."
"We can tell," Kazari agreed. "Thanks for the warning. We appreciate it." Shiage eye's widened in surprise, like he was stunned someone would thank him. Kazari decided not to say anything about it.
"Listen," Ruiko hissed suddenly. Kazari and Shiage went silent and turned their attention to the stage. The screen was off, but the girl's voice was still coming through.
"I am now going to turn it back over the Moderator," the girl continued and the speakers went silent.
"Thank you," the Moderator said, stepping back up on stage. "Now that our demonstration is over, I am going to go back to what I told you all briefly about. The city told us if we work hard and go through the ability curriculum, we too could develop our powers. This was a lie! When they awakened our abilities, they knew how far we would progress. They called it the Parameter List. This list tells the scientists how far we can go and how much it will cost them to do so. They then pick and choose which individuals they are going to focus on. The rest of us get stuck with the normal curriculum. They choose the people who they believe can reach the highest level and devote all the resources to them, or find those with unique abilities…" He was interrupted by the uproar of people yelling in anger or disbelief.
"But Misaka-san worked really hard to achieve level 5," Kazari whispered.
"This has to be propaganda right?" Ruiko said to Shiage who shrugged.
"Never heard of anything like this before." He leaned forward, slightly interested in hearing more. "It's a big lie to tell, so they must have proof."
"If this is true," Kazari said, frowning. "Or just if they believe it's true, this could cause a lot of problems. Students joined because they thought they could develop a high level ability, if they stuck with the curriculum. Many people would be devastated to learn their abilities are predetermined."
"HOWEVER!" the Moderator yelled over everyone and they got quiet. "I have good news. Our benefactor has developed away for us to surpass that list and turn even the weakest among us into high level ability users. We can prove their list wrong and show we are all not disposable." A hush fell over the audience until someone stood up.
"Bullshit!" he yelled, pointing. "Like we would believe some random person could do what the city can't."
"Your belief is understandable," the Moderator conceded, and the guy sat down. "That is why we brought you evidence." He waved to a male standing off stage, who was also masked, and he made his way up on stage. He had long oily looking black hair. "This guy here is codenamed Transporter. He is the one who made the wormholes for all of you to arrive here." There was excited whispering at these words. It appeared many of them understood wormhole abilities were no fully developed. "We needed someone to move a large number of people, otherwise the higher ups will try to stop us. We developed his ability from a level 2 to a level four in a very short period of time." He paced back and forth on the stage while the audience watched.
"The reason we brought you all here was to offer you this choice," the Moderator said, and his voice turned deadly serious. "For those of you who are sick of the adults in this city letting us suffer, we give you this opportunity. If you wish to join us, we will develop your ability far beyond what the city says you can achieve. No longer will you be forced to hide from those who abuse their power. Now," he stopped pacing and turned to face them all. "If you choose to join us, you understand the risks. The city will not appreciate what we are doing because we are stepping onto their turf. They will not profit off our research. Those of you who choose not to come with us, we wish you luck in your pointless endeavor. You may exit the way you came in. The people who do want to join, you need to go through the door there. We will give you more information." He looked at the watch on his wrist. "You have ten minutes to decide. He turned the microphone off and exited through the door next to the stage.
The audience burst into conversation. Ruiko noticed several people followed the Moderator immediately. At least most of these people realize it's too good to be true, she thought, watching several groups leave through the wormhole they had entered. "We obviously aren't going to go through with this," Ruiko said. "So should we leave?"
"I'm worried about the people who do go through with it," Kazari replied. "If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Should we try to warn them?"
"That will probably just end up badly for you," Shiage reminded her. He stood up and stretched. "I told you people here don't like Judgement."
"We really should go," Ruiko added. The group was thinning out and they were becoming more obvious.
"We can tell Konori-sempai about this for sure," Kazari said. "She might know something about the Parameter List rumor." I hope this isn't true. Misaka has always been happy about having worked hard to get to level 5. If this is true and becomes widely known, she will be devastated. She turned to Shiage. "What are you going to do Hamazura-san?"
"I'm going to leave," he told her. "I don't trust these guys." He gave one last look at the direction the Moderator went though, before heading back the way they came. Kazari and Ruiko looked at each other for a moment, and then followed him. They stepped through the wall and suddenly appeared outside in the sun, like they passed through a thin veil. They walked out of the alley and faced each other.
"It was nice meeting you," Kazari said politely. "I wish it wouldn't have been something so serious."
"You really helped us out," Ruiko added.
"I didn't really do anything," Shiage said, feeling strange. When he took over a Skill-Out group, he wasn't the most popular leader. The previous leader had died and he was forced into the position. His group fell apart shortly after that and their last mission had ended in failure. Shiage remembered a spikey, black haired, boy defeated him. After that, he was drafted into ITEM by Shizuri. She and her friends treated him with little respect, except Rikou, so he was feeling weird when two complete strangers were thanking him. He didn't even know their names. Mugino is such a…. wait… OH SHIT. He grabbed his head. "I was on an errand for her! She's going to kill me for being so late!" He ran off without another word, leaving Ruiko and Kazari looking stunned.
"He's an interesting guy," Ruiko said. "He sort of reminds me of Touma, except it seems like he tries not to get involved in things if he can help it."
"I got that feeling too," Kazari agreed. "Kamijou-san would probably have run up on stage and tried to convince everyone they didn't need power to be strong." They both giggled at the thought. "But we should hurry back to the Judgement Branch. They will be wondering where I am and we need to report what we found." Ruiko nodded and they both started running.
After class, Accelerator found himself walking with Touma back to Touma's dorm. Touma was planning to come over to his apartment to teach Last Order some basic cooking skills, but they needed to pick up Index first. At least those other two idiots didn't come with us. Motoharu and Pierce had gone off on their own, while Jason never showed up for school. Accelerator glanced over at Touma , who was glued to his phone, constantly messaging people. He's still at it? How many people did he send that picture too… never mind, I know what that idiot is like. The damn hero is probably trying to avoid getting killed by every girl he knows. He was only partially correct. Touma had been messaging only two girls all afternoon, Misaki and Mikoto, both of whom did not seem to want to drop the subject.
"Finally," Touma sighed, putting his phone away. "I think I got them to finally believe me after explaining everything." Misaki seemed a little more aggressive than usual in her questions. "Why on earth would he do that?"
"Are you seriously asking that question?" Accelerator asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Touma replied, shaking his head and looking at the ground. "I know how those two are." He looked over at Accelerator. "How much experience does Last Order have cooking? I know you mentioned she wasn't very good."
"She can't even make toast," Accelerator told him.
"What?"
"She tried using the toaster once," Accelerator informed him. "It was to slow for her, so she thought it would be a smart thing to charge it with her ability." He sighed in exasperation. "Not only did the toaster explode, the toast somehow became a brick and flew straight through the TV."
"That's… kind of impressive actually," Touma replied. "Though, I think that's more than Index can do. She just eats everything, if it's cooked or not."
"Where does she store it all?" Accelerator asked. "Does she use magic that requires food?"
"She actually doesn't use magic," Touma said. "She just knows a lot about it."
"She did seem to be able to answer all of my questions about magic," Accelerator mumbled. I wonder if she knows anything about the way magic vectors actually work. So far I only have information I gathered through experience. I need the theory part if I want to master controlling them. One thing that bothered him was when he was reviewing and practicing the magic vector formulas he worked out, he felt the formulas start messing with something inside of his body. He stopped experimenting, because he needed more information on why his body was reacting. Index would be the best person to question about magic, but she didn't know anything about science abilities. That left asking Jason or just continuing to practice on his own. He had always been more self-reliant, so he probably wasn't going to ask for help unless he absolutely had to.
They continued small talk, since Touma didn't annoy Accelerator as much as everyone else, until they finally arrived at Touma's apartment. Index was patiently waiting for them and greeted both of them happily. She was thinking that not only did Touma not leave her alone to starve, he was taking her over to her friend's place and staying with her. They continued to Accelerator's apartment and, as soon as he opened the door, Index ran in. Touma shrugged and followed her. He looked around and didn't see Aiho or Kikyou. He noticed Worst sprawled out on the couch, Index and Last Order talking in the kitchen, and, to his surprise, Misaka Imouto, also known as Misaka 10032. "Hi," Touma said waving to her. "I didn't realize you would be here."
"The moderator was bragging about receiving cooking lessons from you and Misaka wanted to learn too, explains Misaka." She was still wearing the Tokiwadai uniform, but was wearing a white apron over top of it.
"I don't have a problem with that," Touma said. He felt his face grow hot at the sight of her in the apron, before turning to Accelerator to distract himself. "Can I use what's in the kitchen?"
"Knock yourself out," Accelerator yawned, walking into the living room. He kicked at Worst, until she moved enough for him to sit down on the couch. "Just clean up after the brats destroy the kitchen, I sure won't do it."
"Misaka won't either," Worst added. "But if you need help messing it up…" Accelerator elbowed her in the side.
"Well let me see what we have to work with," Touma said. "I guess we need to start with something easy…" He entered the kitchen and started rummaging through cupboards. Something easy for Last Order, yet something she will like. As Touma continued to look around, Last Order and Index approached Misaka Imouto.
"You know how to cook MISAKA points out as MISAKA questions your intentions." Last Order and Index were both staring up at her. It was a good thing Misaka Imouto didn't show facial expressions or her face would have gone red.
"Misaka believes the moderator is mistaken, Misaka says quickly. Misaka simply wants to improve her skills."
"Then why is the network trying to cover up your intent… Ouch!" Misaka Imouto had stomped hard on Last Order's foot. "That hurts MISAKA cries as MISAKA waves her arms angrily. Why did you step on MISAKA's foot, MISAKA questions?"
"Misaka has no idea what you are talking about, Misaka lies." Misaka Imouto had consulted with the network over the last few days, keeping their conversation a secret from Last Order, and they decided on two things. First, they would not tell Touma about their involvement in England. While their part was small, they voted, almost unanimously, that they believed Touma would prefer them not to be part of the strange occurrence. The second part was one of them had to go and spend time with the savior. This was a more complicated matter, as Misaka 19090 wanted to be the one. There were only ten Misaka clones left in Academy City, the rest spread out over the world, and Misaka 10032 won by a small margin. The reason she won was she had spent the most time with Touma and he was comfortable around her. Last Order looked like she was going to protest, but Touma's voice called out to them.
"Hey Last Order," he called. "You interested in making cookies?"
"MISAKA loves cookies MISAKA yells as MISAKA rushes into the kitchen." Misaka Imouto sighed n relief and followed. Index, on the other hand, frowned to herself.
Index always had a favorable impression of Misaka Imouto, even since she helped Index's pet cat Sphinx with a flea problem. Now, Index could tell Misaka Imouto was attracted to Touma. Something happened I don't know about. I bet it was during Last Order's party. I should have gone with them. Touma promised he would stay with me though, and he won't break his promise. She didn't have any interest in cooking and joined Worst and Accelerator in the living room.
"Aren't you going to learn how to cook too?" Accelerator asked, sparing her a glance.
"Why?" Index asked confused. "Touma always cooks for me and if he can't, he leaves me money for food." Worst snickered and Accelerator rolled his eyes. He began to realize how much trouble a normal life for Touma was.
"Wait Last Order!" Touma yelled and all three of them turned to face the kitchen. "Don't run with the flour…" There was a loud poof as the bag of flour exploded and a large cloud of white dust engulfed the kitchen. When it cleared, Worst and Accelerator burst out laughing to see Touma, Last Order, and Misaka Imouto covered in white flour. "Now we have to clean up before we can continue," Touma said and then realized what Misaka Imouto was doing. "No, don't take off your clothes here. I mean the kitchen!"
"But Misaka's clothes are dirty, Misaka explains. Misaka supposes she can leave the apron on, as it's designed to hold undesirable material away from the skin."
"No wait stop!" Touma cried. "This is not that kind of flagging situation. Keep your clothes on!"
"It's like snow MISAKA laughs as MISAKA tries to make a snow angel." She laid down on the ground and started moving her arms and legs.
"Stop Last Order," Touma told her, trying to avoid looking at Misaka Imouto who had been in the process of removing her clothes. "You're spreading the flour even further. Get up and find a mop or broom." He turned back to Misaka Imouto. "Don't you start either," he told her, noticing she was looking at a pile of flour on the table.
"Misaka was not planning to throw a flour ball at you playfully, Misaka informs you untruthfully."
"You're thoughts are leaking out," Touma said desperately, as he continued to try to get Last Order to stop making a mess. How does Accelerator handle all these girls? I think I actually rather spend the day with Mikoto and Misaki together. They may have some rivalry, but they at least don't cause these kinds of problems. Is it weird I now have different classifications for all my misfortune? He sighed and finally got Last Order to bring him a broom.
"Touma!" He heard Index growl at him from the other room.
"Nothing is happening," he called back to her quickly. "Be patient and there will be cookies." His words must have calmed her down because he didn't hear her say anything back, or feel her death glare. "We are going to clean the floor and table, and then we can finish making the cookies," he told Last Order and Misaka Imouto. Last Order nodded excitedly and tried to help, but all she did was cause the flour to cover more of the kitchen. Misaka Imouto started cleaning the table and Touma was relieved she knew how to help. The next problem was when Worst showed up, she was always drawn to conflict, and grinned.
"Oops," she said, knocking a couple eggs to the ground. "Misaka is so clumsy."
"Not you too," Touma wailed.
"Heh," snickered Accelerator turning his attention back to the TV. He didn't realize Index had the remote, Worst knocked it to the floor when she stood up, and she was flipping through channels. Looks like the hero is finding out what I go through on a daily business. He yawned. He didn't have any interest in the kid shows Index and Last Order preferred, so his thoughts turned to other things. Naturally, he found himself thinking of the magic vectors again. I don't really have anything else to do. He clicked his choker, to give himself the ability to do advanced calculations, and started to review what he knew. He started applying those formulas for magic vectors to himself and he flinched. A sharp stabbing pain hit his head and he stopped. He made a slight adjustment and still felt the pain, but it wasn't as sharp. He continued to make small adjustments, until the pain was none existence. Once that was done, he continued the process of applying the unknown vectors to his body. Something inside of him moved, but wasn't sure what. He felt a pair of eyes on him and turned to see Index staring at him, wide-eyed. "What?"
"How did you do that?" Index asked softly.
"Do what?" Accelerator asked, confused.
"For a moment there," she said. "You were emitting mana."
Accelerator crossed his arms, frowned, and was lost in thought for a moment. So if I apply unknown vectors to my body, it creates mana? Or am I just moving it. She said I was emitting it. He figured now was a good as time as ever to discuss it while the others were busy. "I was manipulating certain vectors within my body," he said, flipping off his choker to save power.
"Vectors?" Index asked, tilting her head.
"Vectors are quantities described by both a magnitude, numerical value, and a direction," he explained. He wanted to simplify it enough for her to understand, but still have the information she would need to understand how it could affect magic. "If something was moving at me from the east at thirty miles per hour, I calculate the change in direction and then manipulate the vector." Index nodded in understanding. "When we were in England, I had the opportunity to fight a couple different magicians. I realized the vector calculations I learned would not work against magic, since laws and rules are different." Index nodded again, as this was common knowledge. "I started developing formulas that worked on magic during those fights. I then took those formulas and applied them to my body. There were some slight modifications, but I felt like I was moving something."
Index frowned. "If what you say is true, it sounds like you are refining mana."
"Which means?"
"You are processing your life force into energy," Index explained. "Mana exists in everything, but has to be refined to be useable." She frowned. "The fact you developed a method all on your own, using science nonetheless, is an amazing thing. You must be a prodigy."
"I've been called that," Accelerator said dismissively. "Does this mean once I master this, I can use magic?"
"No," Index said immediately, shaking her head. "You shouldn't try to use it. It's one thing to have mana in a body that has been manipulated by science for your abilities. If you try to use magic with an ability, you will surely suffer a conflict between the two laws."
"Oh yea," Accelerator said. "I remember hearing about that. Those wings I formed, the Kanzaki girl said they were similar to Telesma. If I didn't cast a spell, does that mean I can use mana or Telesma as a direct attack?
"Touma really has a bunch of amazing friends," Index stated, and Accelerator looked away. He didn't know why he did, but it felt weird to hear her say that. Even if considered them friends, he still wasn't use to the feeling. "But promise me you won't continue to mess around with it. I know Touma will be sad if you accidently destroy yourself."
"Fine whatever," Accelerator yawned. I guess it doesn't really matter. It's not like I was planning to use magic anyways. Unless it actually becomes a necessity, I'll avoid messing with it. He yawned again and looked back to the kitchen. It seemed like Touma had gotten the cookies into the oven and was in the process of finishing cleaning up the kitchen. Worst was bothering Last Order about something, and Misaka Imouto was trying to cling to Touma's arm. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch. He had only intended to rest, but he found himself being poked, what felt like minutes later, and opened his eyes.
'Wake up MISAKA tells you as MISAKA continues to poke you." Accelerator opened his eyes to see Last Order's face a couple inches away from him and she was poking him in the stomach. He reached up and flicked her on the head. "Ouch, Misaka cries."
"What do you want?" he asked.
"MISAKA wants you to try a cookie MISAKA says as MISAKA tries to shove it in your mouth." Accelerator reached up and grabbed the cookie before she could, preventing her from choking him by accident. He looked at the cookie, it appeared normal enough, so he took a bite.
"It's actually edible," Accelerator commented, slightly shocked.
"Yay MISAKA cheers. Misaka knew you would love it." She ran back into the kitchen.
"Cookies!" Index yelled excitedly and ran after her. Accelerator glanced up and saw Index and Last Order around the plate of cookies. Worst and Misaka Imouto were sitting down watching them, and Touma was in the kitchen cleaning up after the cooking lesson. He was the only one who actually acted like an adult. The door open and he turned his attention to Aiho and Kikyou, who just walked in.
"Looks like you all are having fun," Aiho commented looking around. "Don't spoil your supper. We brought pizza." Kikyou set down the boxes in the kitchen and looked around.
"Wow," she said. "You cleaned up the place AND did the dishes."
"We sort of had a small accident," Touma said sheepishly. "So I made sure to clean up and sort of got carried away." The kitchen was usually pretty messy, but now it looked new.
"You want to live here?" Kikyou asked. "It would be good to have someone who actually pulls their weight around here."
"Coming from the biggest freeloader among us," Accelerator said, standing up and grabbing a slice of pizza. "You still haven't found a job."
"It's the economy," she answered immediately and Accelerator rolled his eyes.
"Good to see you Kamijou," Aiho said to Touma. "Hope you've told your friend not to sneak back into school."
"That wasn't my fault," Touma protested. "She doesn't listen to me much."
"She did appear like a pretty unique girl," Aiho agreed. "I doubt she would listen to someone unless she really liked her." She gave Touma a big wink, something Index and Misaka Imouto didn't miss.
"Touma…" Index warned him dangerously.
"Does the savior like it when girls don't listen to him Misaka asks? Does that mean Misaka should take off everything except her apron?"
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Touma asked. "Index…. it's not my fault, there's no need to bare your teeth…AHHHH!" Index had lunged at him, teeth revealed, and everyone else laughed as he tried to get her off his head. Worst was laughing the most, as she always enjoyed other's suffering. Accelerator snickered and leaned back against a wall, until he realized something.
When did I start enjoying his company?
It was pretty late before Touma and Index left Accelerator's place. Index couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was to eat with everyone and Touma agreed. He had promised Last Order he would stop by from time to time to teach her and she had appeared extremely happy. She even confided in him she wanted to be able to make Accelerator bentos for school. When they got back to Touma's dorms, his phone started ringing. "Go on," Touma told Index. "I'll be right up." Index nodded and Touma looked at the caller ID to see who it was. "Hey Misaki."
"Hey Touma," Misaki said happily. "I hope I'm not calling too late."
"No you're fine," he said. "What's up?"
"If you are free tomorrow," Misaki asked. "Would you be available to help me with a little problem?"
"I'm free," Touma confirmed. "But what kind of problem? Are you in trouble?"
"Oh no," she said quickly. "Nothing like that. You see…" she hesitated for a moment. "I talked about you with some of my friends, not by name of course. I know you don't like to be the center of attention, unless you are in your Kami persona." He heard her giggle.
"Please don't say that," Touma sighed. "I feel ashamed every time I think about it."
"Well," Misaki continued. "I may have talked about you a little too fondly and now they want to meet you."
"That… doesn't sound too bad," Touma replied, frowning slightly. I rather not have a bunch of girls gawking at me because I know a level 5. Mikoto always said Misaki was really popular at their school. "Since they are your friends, I'm sure it would be fine."
"There's a little more to it," Misaki added, and Touma could hear her tone change, almost like she was embarrassed. "They might have the wrong idea about us."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"They might believe… you are my boyfriend," Misaki said. Touma couldn't see her, but she had turned bright red. "Not that I mind, but I didn't want you to be in that uncomfortable position."
"I see," Touma said. Misaki told me several times she loves me, but we aren't technically a couple. I feel really bad I haven't returned her feelings. His heart started pounding. She is really sweet and kind. Any guy would be lucky to have her. He suddenly felt really guilty. She's been so open with me and I can't even give her an honest answer. It's not like he hadn't thought about it, but she and Mikoto had a very strong rivalry. He had always been afraid if he went out with one, the other might stop being his friend. He also wasn't sure he was ready to go out with anyone. With the amount of weird things he got caught up in, he didn't want to risk others getting hurt. "What would you like us to do?"
"Many of my friends look up to me," Misaki explained. "And a few were looking for advice with guy troubles. I was hoping you might be willing to pretend to be my boyfriend when you meet them. I'll be sure to make them promise not to gawk at you or spread you identity around school."
"If you're okay with that," Touma said slowly. "I would be happy to meet your friends."
"Even when I ask you for help," Misaki said happily. "You always worry about me over yourself. It's one of the many reasons I love you so much. I'll send you the location after school tomorrow. Thank you in advanced." She hung up and Touma put his phone away, his ears burning, and walked upstairs. He was just pushing open the door when he heard Index call out to him.
"Touma," she cried. "We have a problem."
"What is it Index?" he asked, rushing into the room. He half expected them to be robbed, with what little possession he had, a fire started somewhere, or the air conditioner blew up. Index pointed to his bed and saw a lump under the covers. Index hadn't noticed it at first, but when she went to sit on the bed, she realized someone was hiding under them... Touma frowned, and pulled the covers back. Touma's blood immediately froze.
Lessar was coiled up into a ball and sleeping.
It wasn't her appearance that made him freeze up. Knowing her, he expected Lessar to trespass into his apartment eventually, even breaking down the front door. What scared him was what she had clutched tightly in her hand. It was a very familiar looking piece of paper that, in hindsight, he should have destroyed.
She found the Queen's letter. I am so dead. Such misfortune.
Misaki was laying on her bed and looking up at the ceiling. Her phone held loosely in her hand. She was smiling brightly, as she propped herself up on her pillow. I did it, she thought. Now, I have to make sure he enjoys himself and wants to make our arrangement permanent. I will have to stress to the other girls they need to be on their best behavior. I would prefer not having to use my power to fix any issues, since Touma doesn't like if I manipulate people for personal reasons. She started messaging her friends. I wonder if there is anything else I can accomplish while I enjoy myself with my prince. Her thoughts turned to Mikoto. What would she do if she caught me with him? If we were by ourselves, I guess she would butt in, but could she do it in front of a bunch of girls from our school? A mischievous grin appeared on her face. This is revenge for taking him on the date to the carnival. She started putting her plan into motion. I'll make sure to get my own picture to send to the old hag while I'm at it.
"Did I lose them?"
A girl with long dark brown hair, part of it tied off to the side of her head and left hanging down, and golden colored eye with glasses was leaning up against a wall in a deserted alley. She was panting heavily, as she had just ran several kilometers without a break. It wasn't an exercise craze or she was trying to get to a specific location. She was being chased by several unknown individuals and she had no clue as of why. The sun had set and the city was lit up with lights, but the area was devoid of people. I'm glad no one else is going to get involved, but I should have seen at least one other person. She caught her breath and started moving, peering out of the alleyway. She didn't see anything move and made her way carefully, trying to avoid detection.
"Hyouka Kazakiri," a girl's voice said and Hyouka turned around. Walking up to her was a girl with shoulder length blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. She was wearing a green tank top and skirt. "You don't need to run from us. I just want to talk."
"Why are you chasing me?" Hyouka asked. "And why did you attack me?" She had been walking down a street when everyone else started to disappear. A moment later, she had been hit by a paper airplane and was sent flying.
"If I had walked up and said hi," the girl giggled. "You would have fled anyway. My name is Eve and, just to be clear, I know what you are."
"What do you want with me?" Hyouka asked.
"You are an essential part of my organization's plan to achieve the final piece of a puzzle that began at the dawn of time," Eve said. "I would prefer you to help willingly, but I can force you if I have to." Hyouka looked around for an escape path and another girl walked out of a side street.
"I would just do what she said," the new girl sighed. She had long dark brown hair, which reached the middle of her back, and dark brown eyes. A single rose was tucked away behind her ear. She was wearing a shoulder less sky blue dress. Hyouka first thought she had a kind face, but the dark lines told her this girl had been through something traumatic. "She's not the kind of person to take no for an answer."
"Juliet," Eve admonished her. "You make it sound like I'm a difficult person to work with."
"You refused to work on the mission until we brought you cake," Juliet pointed out.
"It's not my fault Academy City has such great deserts," Eve replied, pouting slightly. "You enjoyed it too."
"Only because you made him get an entire cake," rebuked Juliet.
"Don't let me distract you two," Hyouka said weakly. "I'll just be going…" She started walking backwards away from them, when she was suddenly surrounded be page sized pieces of papers. They circled around her like a tornado.
"It's okay," Eve reassured her. "You can stay." The pages grew bigger and merged together until Hyouka was completed surrounded by a metal box. Eve walked up grinning, tapped the metal box, and then grabbed her head. "Noooo!" she cried. "She disappeared." She kicked the box and it collapsed into a pile of dust and disappeared with the wind. "She's the most important link to the Imaginary District, but it's so hard to capture her."
"Why don't you have him help us?" Juliet asked. "You never invite him along when we look for her."
"Cain is better against living beings," Eve explained. "Hyouka Kazakiri is supposed to be a merge point of these scientific abilities in the city." She sighed. "I guess we have to ask our spy for more information. I rather not blow his cover if I can help it. He's done a pretty good job at avoiding detection."
"Someone with the ability to escape from you is pretty interesting," Juliet remarked as they turned and walked down the street.
"I think I need some cake to cheer me up," Eve said depressed.
"You just had cake earlier today," Juliet pointed out incredulously.
"How about some pie then?" Eve asked.
Juliet sighed. "Fine, but I would prefer ice cream." Eve just laughed.
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.
Index: Quit bullying Hyouka.
Eve: I just wanted to invite her out for cake.
Index: You aren't lying right?
Eve: Of course not, would you like to come?
Touma: Index, don't believe her!
Ruiko: Wow, we got our own scene.
Kazari: I know. It was so exciting.
Kuroko: How come onee-sama and I didn't get a chance to appear?
Misaki: I'm sure the author will have you appear later.
Mikoto: I'm watching you Shokuhou-san.
Misaki: Want to see how to really flirt with a guy?
Carissa: It's more fun to mock him though.
Shizuri: Just show yourself again and I'll make you regret it.
Carissa: Sounds like a challenge from a scared little girl.
Accelerator: All of you are a pain. Just go settle your pathetic squabbles in a giant FFA. Make it to the death for my entertainment.
Worst: Misaka will bring popcorn.