A few moments after Touma had left, Mikoto heard someone call out, "Hey, Misaka-san!" from behind her. She turned around and saw that it was her friend Saten.

Mikoto was startled to see her friend immediately after saying goodbye to the boy, and she nervously replied, "H-hey Saten-san, what are you doing here?" The girl was internally panicking, "Oh no, did she see me with him?"

Saten gave her a teasing grin, "Oh, not much, I was just walking near this park and happened to notice you with a certain boy!"

The other girl blushed heavily and replied, "H-how long were you here?" Mikoto had hoped she could meet up with him without any of her friends finding out, but it looked like that had been too optimistic.

Saten leaned closer to her and revealed, "Oh, not too long. But long enough to see you giving Kamijou-san a lap pillow! It was a really cute scene! I didn't know you were going on a date today, Misaka-san!"

Mikoto blushed and hurriedly replied, "It wasn't a date! He had just helped me with something and was feeling tired, so I just did that to thank him."

Saten found it cute that Mikoto always tried to deny anything was going on between her and that boy. She grinned, "Sure, sure, and I guess that hug at the end was also to thank him?"

"You saw that too?" Mikoto buried her face in her hands, "This is so embarrassing! Why did she have to be here and see us?"

"Aww, she's so cute when she's flustered about that guy." Saten smiled as she watched her friend freak out for a few moments. She then took out her phone and revealed, "Oh, I even took a few pictures of you two!"

Mikoto looked at her friend's phone as she scrolled through her last few pictures. Saten had taken multiple photos of them when the boy was lying in her lap, including one where he was stroking her hair. She even had a photo of their goodbye hug.

Mikoto stammered, "W-why did you take pictures of us?"

Saten replied, "I don't know, I just felt like it. But they're pretty cute, don't you think?" In fact, when she had seen the pair, she'd immediately taken out her phone, wanting to make sure she could document any cute moments between her friend and that boy.

Mikoto looked over the photos again and admitted, "Yeah, I guess they are pretty nice." Although she was still very embarrassed that her friend had seen and documented those moments, a part of her was glad that there was something to remember them by. She asked, "Actually, Saten-san, could you send those photos to me?"

The other girl smirked, "Sure, though I didn't expect you to ask." Saten remembered that when she'd helped Mikoto make cookies for someone, she'd been in denial about her feelings for the recipient. So it was a bit surprising that she admitted to wanting the photos.

Mikoto sighed, "Well, there's no point denying it, is there?" Saten was pretty good at seeing though her, especially when it came to her feelings for that boy.

Getting back on her phone, Saten announced, "Okay, I'm sending you the pictures now!"

Mikoto confirmed that she'd received them on her phone. She then said, "Thanks! Hey, Saten-san, could you keep this a secret from the others, especially Kuroko? She'll freak out if she sees those pictures or finds out I hung out with that idiot."

Saten grinned, "Sure, Misaka-san, I'll keep it a secret, as long as you tell me all about your date with Kamijou-san!"

Mikoto groaned, "Again, it wasn't a date! But fine, you win! I'll tell you about it, but let's sit down somewhere first."

The two girls found a nearby bench to sit on so they could continue their conversation. Mikoto thought about what to reveal and what to leave out. She didn't want to go into some of the more private details, but she figured she could give enough information to satisfy her curious friend.

Saten began, "So, Misaka-san, why don't you tell me all about your day with Kamijou-san?"

Mikoto decided to start with something Saten was aware of already. She replied, "Do you remember when my mom told you and Uiharu that me and that idiot had a bet, and the loser would do whatever the winner says?"

Saten recalled, "Oh yeah, I remember that! You were betting on which of your schools would do better during the festival, right?"

Mikoto nodded, "Yeah, and I won that bet, so I got to give him a penalty game. So I dragged him to the underground mall a few days ago to help me with some shopping. But it didn't really go that well. He didn't really want to be there, I got annoyed at that and lost my temper a few times, and Kuroko even interrupted us again by drop kicking him."

Saten remembered, "Ah, like at the Folk Dance? Yeah, he probably didn't like that. And being under a penalty game doesn't sound really fun, even if you didn't make him do anything that bad." She could tell that it was hard for her friend to admit this, so she tried not to be too harsh.

Mikoto sighed, "Yeah, I was really looking forward to it, and it ended up being a disaster. Afterwards, I realized that I was a bit childish and decided to apologize the next time I saw him. I ran into him the next day and apologized to him. He also apologized to me for complaining too much, and we agreed to hang out today."

Saten replied, "I see. It looks like that worked out pretty well, right? He probably liked it more when he wasn't being forced to do anything." She grinned and continued, "And you two looked pretty cozy together from where I was standing!"

Mikoto blushed as she recalled those scenes. "Yeah, we got lunch together and then we sat down by that tree and just talked for a while. It was actually pretty nice, I usually don't get the chance to talk to him for that long."

Saten grinned, "It looks like you did a lot more than talking, Misaka-san! I saw that you were playing with his hair while he was in your lap. Are you sure you're not secretly dating or something?" She figured that if Mikoto and Touma were dating, the former would probably want to keep it a secret from Kuroko.

Mikoto frowned a bit, "No, that idiot isn't my boyfriend."

The other girl simply replied, "But you want him to be, don't you?" As soon as she said this, Saten noticed that her friend's mood dropped a bit.

Mikoto looked down at her lap and answered, "Maybe, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't see me that way. I've lost my temper at him a lot, and I can tell he sometimes gets worried when he runs into me unexpectedly. You know, I showed up half an hour early for our penalty game because I was looking forward to it, and he thought it was because I really couldn't wait to make him suffer. Why would he like a girl like that?" She added to herself, "I'm probably just another one of the many girls he's saved. I'm not special to him or anything."

Saten consoled her, "Oh come on, you're being too hard on yourself! You cleared up that misunderstanding, right? And today, he looked pretty happy to be with you!"

Mikoto conceded, "Yeah, that's true. He did also say some really sweet things to me."

Saten nodded, "See? You made up, and had a great time together! I'm sure if you keep being nice to him, he'll look forward to being with you too!"

Mikoto smiled at her friend, "Yeah, I hope so." She reminded herself, "I'll see him tomorrow too, so hopefully I can keep making a good impression, though I'm not sure how it'll go with my sisters involved."

Saten smiled back, glad that her friend was feeling a bit less insecure. She then stood up and said, "Well, this was fun, but I have to go now. See you later, Misaka-san!"

Mikoto waved, "All right, bye Saten-san!" Now alone, she stayed on the bench for some time, thinking about her friend's advice and whether she could get that boy to like her more and see her in a different light. Soon, she also stood up and went off to continue with the rest of her day.

Later that night, Mikoto was back at home, lying on her bed. Kuroko was currently taking a shower, so she used the opportunity to look again at Saten's photos of her and Touma. "These really do look great! He looks like he's actually enjoying himself, and the pictures aren't fake this time." Although she still felt a little doubtful of how the boy really felt about her, Mikoto's earlier talk with Saten was pretty helpful in easing some of her doubts.

Meanwhile, Kuroko had finished showering and teleported back into the bedroom. She saw that her roommate was looking at something on her phone and was too distracted to notice her. "Onee-sama has that lovestruck look on her face again. Could she be texting that troglodyte?" She immediately teleported near Mikoto, grabbed her phone, and teleported it and herself away.

Before Mikoto could react, her roommate was already looking at one of the photos. She shrieked, "Onee-sama, why are you hugging this troglodyte, and why is his dirty hand defiling your hair! Is this what you were doing all day, going on a date with him?" Kuroko continued scrolling through the pictures. Once she reached a particular one, she yelled, "You gave him a lap pillow? You've never done that for me, onee-sama!" Kuroko couldn't believe that her roommate had lied to her in order to hang out with that boy.

Mikoto quickly grabbed her phone back before Kuroko could delete the photos. "Oh shoot, I really didn't want her to find out!" She tried reassuring her roommate, "Calm down Kuroko, it's not a big deal! It wasn't a date, and I was just doing that to thank him for helping me with something." She knew that nothing she said was likely to convince Kuroko, but she gave it her best shot.

Kuroko gasped, "I can't believe what I'm hearing! Just because he helped you, you repaid him with your body? I can't believe you let that troglodyte put his head on your wonderful legs!" As she said this, she knelt down and started hugging Mikoto's legs and rubbing her face against her skirt.

Mikoto pushed away Kuroko's head with both of her hands and angrily replied, "Kuroko! Get off of me, you pervert!" She gave her roommate a relatively small electric shock, which allowed Mikoto to finally push Kuroko away from her, upon which she fell onto the ground.

Mikoto crossed her arms and glared at her roommate. For some reason, she felt angrier at Kuroko's perverted antics than usual. She snapped, "Kuroko, let me get something straight with you. If I want to hang out with that idiot, I will, and I don't need your permission to do so! I'm getting really tired of you always interrupting us! You've even drop kicked him twice for absolutely no good reason."

Kuroko stood up and protested, "But onee-sama, I'm just trying to look out for you! That boy is nowhere near worthy enough to be in the presence of Tokiwadai's Ace! You shouldn't even be giving him the time of day, but for some inexplicable reason, you persist in trying to chase him. I just don't know how that unmannered and worthless troglodyte has managed to turn you from a strong, powerful woman into a blushing, daydreaming girl."

Mikoto grew more and more irritated during Kuroko's diatribe, and the girl's final sentence sent her over the edge. She gave Kuroko a powerful slap on the face, causing her to physically recoil. Kuroko placed her hand on her cheek and took a moment to realize what just happened. She looked back at a pissed off Mikoto and nervously said, "Onee-sama?"

Mikoto was furious, "Don't you dare call him worthless! When I was dealing with a problem that was entirely my fault and that I was completely powerless to fix, I fell into despair and was going to make a stupid mistake. When I hated myself and thought there was no other way, he saved me and found another way himself! And that was only the first of two times he's saved me from my own stupid actions! And don't forget he saved you too when you got into a losing fight on my behalf! You have no right to call him worthless or say he doesn't deserve me. If anything, I'm the one that doesn't deserve him!"

Kuroko dumbly replied, "He saved you?" She tried to think about when that could have happened, "Was it that night when he showed up at our door and needed to talk to onee-sama? That was when she stopped disappearing every night and started smiling again." She wondered, "What kind of problem was he able to solve that the 3rd Ranked Level 5 could not?"

Mikoto turned away from her roommate and crossed her arms, "That's something I can't tell you. Maybe someday in the future, but not right now. Let's just go to bed, Kuroko. I don't really want to talk to you right now."

Kuroko was utterly crushed by her roommate's rejection. She had no idea that Mikoto would be so angry at what she said about that boy. She wanted to protest a bit more, but she could tell that her roommate was firm on not talking to her. She wondered, "What happened to you, onee-sama?"

Both roommates silently performed their nighttime routines and went to bed. Kuroko remained despondent about her onee-sama's growing closeness with that boy. Meanwhile, Mikoto tried to forget about the fight with Kuroko and think about her day with him, as well as looking forward to seeing him and her sisters the next day.

Meanwhile, Touma was also back home, lying in his bathtub bed after putting Index to bed. The nun had asked what he'd done that day, and the boy made the mistake of mentioning that he'd hung out with Mikoto. This had resulted in Index giving him a series of bites more numerous and painful than usual.

Now that he was alone, he finally had some time to think about the time he spent with Mikoto. That morning before he met up with her, Touma had been unsure of what to expect, but it ended up being much more fun than he anticipated. Even their conversation during lunch, which was more serious, had given him crucial information about what was going on in Academy City.

The boy reviewed the information they'd pieced together, "It really sucks that Misaka's sisters are still being used by Academy City. A lot of people will probably keep going after Last Order, but it seems like she has someone who can protect her. Maybe when Misaka and I visit her sisters tomorrow, we can get some more information."

He then thought about his past encounters with Mikoto, "I've been a bit of a jerk to her, haven't I? Sometimes brushing her off when she tries to talk to me or always assuming she wants to hurt me. I couldn't believe that she just wanted to spend some time with me. No wonder she got mad at me when I said she was excited to make me suffer. But today, it was pretty fun hanging out with her! She was really nice to me and she looked pretty happy!" The boy hoped that he'd successfully made it up to her.

Touma smiled as he recalled her interactions with the cat, "Biri-Biri was pretty adorable with that cat! I'm glad I could make her smile, she looked pretty sad when she thought she wouldn't be able to pet it. And I can't believe she actually let me pet her too. I thought for sure she'd be mad at me, but she seemed to actually like it. Her hair was pretty soft, too. I wouldn't have minded playing with it for a bit longer. That smile she gave me at the end when thanking me was really cute!"

The boy blushed as he remembered what happened next, "Oh yeah, Biri-Biri also gave me a lap pillow again. It was really sweet of her to take care of me like that, and she was really gentle when stroking my hair. I always thought of her as a little troublesome, but maybe if I keep spending time with her, she'll keep showing her kind and considerate side. With all the crazy fights I get into almost every day, relaxing with Misaka sounds pretty nice." He hoped that if he and Mikoto continued getting along well, they could start hanging out more often as friends, instead of just occasionally running into each other as acquaintances.

Touma's thoughts then turned back to their farewell, "I definitely didn't expect her to hug me in the end. I guess she really was looking forward to spending time with me." He closed his eyes and crossed his arms around himself as he imagined hugging her, "She's a pretty good hugger too! I sort of wish we could've stayed like that for longer. Maybe I'll get to hug her again tomorrow." The boy paused for a moment, wondering where that thought had come from. "Oh well, whatever, she's probably not going to do that again anyway."

He then chuckled, "Well, tomorrow should be pretty interesting. I'll get to meet some of Misaka's sisters for the first time. It should be fun! Though I'll have to make sure not to mention it to Index." Looking forward to the next day, Touma soon began to fall asleep.