Mikoto and Touma exited from the hospital, having just visited her sisters. The boy thought back to her interactions with her sisters and how well they had bonded with each other. It had been a pretty wholesome sight, and Touma felt lucky that he was able to witness it.
The girl noticed that he was gazing at her with a fond smile. She nervously asked, "W-what, is there something on my face?"
He ruffled Mikoto's hair and gushed, "No, I was just thinking about how sweet an older sister you are, Biri-Biri! It's great that you're so close with them after just a month and a half!"
Mikoto blushed furiously, looking down to avoid the boy's gaze, and stuttered, "Th-thanks." She was a bit unsure about his intentions. "Is he just teasing me, or does he actually mean it?" She lifted her head back up and saw his genuine smile. "I guess he does mean it. He's been weirdly nice to me since yesterday."
The girl composed herself and continued, "It was pretty awkward at first, especially since I was still blaming myself for their suffering. But you were right, they didn't blame me for it at all. I visited them as often as I could, and I guess we've bonded a lot as a result."
Touma retrieved his hand and then said, "That's great to hear! So I was actually thinking of going to the underground mall to buy those necklaces for your sisters. Do you want to come with me?" He figured having Mikoto around to help pick out the necklaces would be a good idea.
The girl answered, "Y-yeah, sure." She didn't expect him to ask to spend more time together, but she wasn't about to turn down the opportunity. "Is he inviting me for a shopping date? Nah, a date probably doesn't involve buying presents for other girls."
The boy replied, "Great, they told me what types of necklaces they want in general, but I might need some help picking out specific ones. Plus, we'll get to spend some more time together!"
Mikoto smiled, "He wants to spend more time with me?" She said, "That sounds great! I don't think they'll be that picky. As long as you get the correct types, they'll probably be pretty happy." She added to herself, "Especially since they'll be getting presents from you."
The two teens started heading towards the underground mall. Now that she had the chance to talk to the boy alone, Mikoto gave him a teasing grin and said, "So it seems you were enjoying all the attention you got from my sisters, and now you're buying them all jewelry. Are you into the little sister type after all?" Although the girl was mostly joking around, she was pretty curious about what he thought of her sisters, since they had gotten along pretty well.
Touma blushed at the sudden accusation. "Uh oh, she just asked a dangerous question." Trying to dispel the girl's suspicions, he replied, "No no, I mean they're definitely cute and pretty sweet, but I'm into the mature onee-san type girls."
"Wow, I can't believe he just came out and said it so easily. I am an older sister, but that's probably not what he meant. But if he thinks my sisters are cute, he should also think that I'm cute, right?" Mikoto then narrowed her eyes and asked him, "What exactly do you mean by mature?" She guessed, "I bet he means older and more well-endowed girls. He goes to a co-ed high school, so he's probably used to seeing those kinds of girls."
"Huh, she's pretty interested in this for some reason." Touma answered, "Hmm, I guess someone who can take care of me if I'm having a worse day than usual and who doesn't instantly get mad over misunderstandings." He blushed a little and continued, "A-and a well-developed body doesn't hurt either."
Mikoto looked down at her body and frowned, "Well, he probably doesn't think I have that kind of body, based on what he said about me when we first met." The girl then tried cheering herself up, "I have been doing pretty well at not losing my temper and being nice to him, and I think he's noticing it." Noticing that he had focused on personality traits instead of physical traits, Mikoto hoped that she could make up for her deficiencies.
In any case, Mikoto actually thought his desires were pretty wholesome. She eventually replied, "Well, that makes sense, I guess you want a girl who'll pamper and comfort you whenever you come home from all the fights you get into?"
Touma rubbed his head and chuckled, "Well, I hope there'll come a time where I won't have to get into fights almost every day, though probably not with my luck. But you're right, having a nice girl to come home to would help a lot." He added to himself, "As opposed to Index, who usually bites me when I return from a fight."
"I can take care of him, right? I did it yesterday, and he seemed to really like it. Maybe I do have a chance after all!" Mikoto smiled and pumped her fist, hoping that the boy would start seeing her as an option.
Unaware of the girl's inner thoughts, Touma continued, "Though there's probably no way any girl would fall for this misfortune boy, let alone one of my type." From what he could tell, most of the girls he knew just saw him as a moron who causes trouble.
Mikoto abruptly stopped walking and blinked dumbly. "Is he kidding? Is this idiot seriously that dense? Me, my sisters, that nun, probably a bunch of other girls...has he really not noticed?" She couldn't believe that he couldn't see all the obvious signs.
The boy stopped as well and said, "Misaka?" He wondered why she had suddenly frozen, but he couldn't figure out why.
The girl sighed, "It's nothing, let's keep going." She started walking again, and the boy soon shrugged and joined her. "Well, I guess if he thinks that it's impossible, then he'd miss all the obvious clues. But seriously, how can he think that no girl would ever be into him?"
Noticing that he had just called her Misaka again, Mikoto changed the subject, "So, I see you're back to calling me by my surname again, huh?"
Touma replied, "Well, you're the only Misaka around now, so I don't need to use your given name, right?"
Mikoto conceded, "Yeah, that's true. Though it feels a bit weird for you to call me by my surname but my sisters by their versions of given names." She added to herself, "Not to mention the honorific."
"Does she want me to keep using her given name?" The boy grinned at her and asked, "Oh, then would you prefer me to call you Mikoto?"
The girl's cheeks reddened, and she stammered, "W-well, I don't really care either way, but y-you can call me that if you want." Her heart fluttered as she thought about Touma regularly calling her Mikoto, which no one else did besides her parents.
Touma chuckled, enjoying her adorable reaction. He replied, "All right then, Mikoto." He was a bit surprised that she was okay with him continuing to call her by her given name, but perhaps she'd gotten used to it earlier.
The boy then mused, "Speaking of names, I don't think you've ever called me by name. You just call me an idiot." It wasn't something that really bothered him, but he thought it would be a good time to finally bring it up.
Mikoto retorted, "Well, you are an idiot, so I think it's a pretty fitting nickname. If you get to call me Biri-Biri, it's only fair I get to have a nickname for you."
Touma countered, "Yeah, but I do also call you by your actual name. Come to think of it, do you even know what my name is?" He wondered if that was the reason she never called him by name.
The girl stammered in response to his question, "W-what? Of course I know what your name is! It's K-Kamijou T-Touma!" She was not at all used to using his name, so she had a bit of a hard time saying it.
"Oh, so she did know it after all." The boy grinned, "Well then, it wouldn't hurt to use it once in a while, right? If you want, you can call me by my given name too."
She blushed as she realized, "He wants to be on a given name basis with me?" Mikoto answered, "All right, T-Touma." She looked down, a bit embarrassed, and softly said, "S-sorry, it might take me some time to get used to this."
"Hmm, maybe I took it a little too far." Touma patted her head a few times and said, "That's fine, Mikoto, I can wait." He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, though it felt nice for her to call him by his given name. "It feels a bit different than when Index does it."
The girl replied, "O-okay then." She reasoned to herself, "It shouldn't be a big deal, right? It's just a name, one word, two syllables. I don't know how he's so calm about this, but I should get the hang of it soon."
Now that they had settled the name issue, Mikoto and Touma continued their journey to the underground mall. It took a bit longer, but once they reached the entrance to the mall, they descended down the stairs, ready to look for the necklaces the Misaka sisters had requested.
Mikoto and Touma were now in the underground mall, back in the store where the boy had previously bought Misaka 10032's necklace. This store sold a lot of cheap accessories, including necklaces, so Touma wasn't too afraid of draining his wallet by buying a few necklaces here.
Touma recounted, "So, we need a star necklace for 10039-chan, a flower one for 13577-chan, and a snowflake one for 19090-chan, right?" He was pretty sure he remembered them correctly, but he wanted to make sure.
Mikoto nodded, "Yeah, I think that's right. Those are all pretty common designs, so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding them." She was glad that her sisters hadn't asked for more uncommon types of necklaces.
They first came across a selection of flower necklaces. There were actually many more types than Touma expected, each with a different kind of flower. He wasn't quite sure how to pick one, so he turned to the girl and asked, "Hey, do you know what type of flower 13577-chan would like? Maybe one similar to the ones on your hair clip?"
"My hair clip?" Mikoto brought her hand up to touch the two daisy flowers in her hair. She was a bit surprised, since Touma didn't seem like the type of guy to notice things like that. She replied, "I'm not entirely sure. I mean, I like these flowers, but she might not have the same taste. She didn't ask for a specific kind of flower, so it might not matter that much to her."
Touma said, "Yeah, that makes sense. How about we pick a flower different from yours, then? That way, she'll have her own unique one."
Mikoto nodded, "Sure." She began looking at the selection of flower necklaces more closely. There were quite a few ones with roses, but the girl didn't really want Touma to give her sister one of those necklaces. Instead, she pointed out a different one, "How about this one? It has a really pretty lotus flower."
The boy glanced over at the necklace. The charm on it was a metal outline of a lotus flower. He replied, "Yeah, this one looks good." He took it off the hook and held it up in front of Mikoto.
The girl was a bit confused by his sudden action and asked, "What are you doing?"
He replied, "I'm just trying to see how it'll look when she wears it, since you two look almost exactly the same." The boy wanted to make sure that it was the right size.
Mikoto said, "Oh okay, that makes sense. I think it's about the same length as the one 10032-chan has, so it should work."
Touma nodded, "Great, let's get this one then! Hopefully she'll like it." When he had bought the heart-shaped necklace for Misaka 10032, she was the one who had picked it out, so the boy was a bit nervous about not having the sisters' direct input this time.
The girl reassured him, "I'm sure she will. Now, let's go look for those other two necklaces."
Touma started carrying the necklace, remarking, "Okay, now we just need a star necklace and a snowflake necklace! It's sort of fitting that 19090-chan wanted a snowflake necklace, since she's a little different from your other sisters."
Mikoto replied, "Yeah, it looks like she put a bit of thought into her choice." By this time, they were right next to a selection of star-shaped necklaces, and she noticed a section of snowflake necklaces a bit further away. She pointed to them and said, "I see a bunch of snowflake necklaces over there. How about you go look at the ones over here, and I'll go over there and take a look?"
The boy nodded and started taking a look while the girl separated from him to look at the snowflake necklaces. They were all pretty similar, so after some time, Touma just took one with a gold-colored charm and compared its length with the necklace he was already carrying. "They're about the same size, so it should be fine. There's not as much variety for these ones, anyway. The only choice you really have is whether to get a gold-colored or a silver-colored one. Hopefully 10039-chan will like it!"
Meanwhile, Mikoto was looking at a relatively large selection of snowflake necklaces. There were a large number of different designs to choose from. She ended up choosing one with a silver-colored snowflake with blue gems to accentuate the wintry feel. Holding it up to herself, she decided that it would fit her sister well.
The girl took a moment to think about Misaka 19090. "Touma seemed to like 19090-chan a lot. He was patient with her when she was nervous, and it seems he liked hugging her. But I can't really blame him for it, she's really sweet. He did say he wanted a nice girl, after all." Glancing at the necklace she was holding, she continued, "This is a really beautiful necklace. Hopefully, she'll like it."
While the girl was browsing in another section of the store, Touma had already selected a star-shaped necklace for Misaka 10039. He was about to rejoin Mikoto when something caught his eye. It wasn't another necklace, but it was a different kind of accessory. "She's been helping me choose these gifts for her sisters. I should probably get her something too. I'm not that good at buying gifts for girls, but maybe she'll like this? It suits her pretty well." Touma grabbed the accessory and hid it under the two necklaces he was holding, before rejoining the girl.
When he reached her, Mikoto noticed the star-shaped necklace in his hand and said, "That one looks pretty good." She then showed him the snowflake necklace she picked out and asked, "What do you think of this one?"
Touma replied, "That one looks really pretty! Good choice, Mikoto!" He then held out his hand to receive it from her.
The girl, a bit flustered by his praise, replied, "T-thanks!" and placed the necklace into his hand. She was distracted enough to not notice the extra accessory he was carrying, especially since it was hidden under the necklaces. And since it was in his right hand, it was also invisible to her magnetic sight.
Touma took the three necklaces and the extra accessory to the checkout counter, trying to hide the extra gift. Fortunately, Mikoto decided to stay behind as he finished the purchase, so he was able to put them all in a bag without the girl seeing it. "Phew, I somehow managed to keep it hidden. Now that it's in the bag, I should be safe!"
Once Touma completed the transaction, they exited the store and sat down on a bench to rest for a bit. Touma turned to Mikoto with a smile and said, "Thanks for coming with me, Biri-Biri. You were a big help!"
The girl blushed and waved her hands in front of her, "N-no no, I didn't really do that much. I'm sure you could've done it on your own." She had helped in picking out the necklaces, but the girl didn't feel she did anything he couldn't have done himself, especially since her sisters probably wouldn't be that picky.
The boy countered, "Don't be silly, without you I definitely would've made some weird choices. You picked two out of three necklaces, and they were the two hardest ones!" Touma knew he would've had a hard time picking a good flower necklace and perhaps the snowflake necklace as well.
Mikoto replied, "Well, anyway, I didn't mind coming with you and helping out. So when are you going to give them to my sisters?"
Touma took a moment to think and then answered, "Well, I don't really have any other plans today, so I could just go back to the hospital after lunch and give them the necklaces then. What about you, do you want to come back with me?"
The girl expected that he'd deliver the necklaces another day, so she was surprised by him wanting to immediately go back. She replied, "That's a good idea, that way you won't have to carry those necklaces around. I'm pretty free too, so I'd be fine with going right after lunch."
The boy nodded, "Okay then, let's go back in the afternoon." He was looking forward to going back, both to see the sisters again and to complete the errand that they'd requested of him.
Mikoto was also looking forward to seeing her sisters again, but there was one downside for her. "I'll probably have to watch them fawn all over him. 10032-chan was bad enough, but now all of them will get to hold it over me. Oh well, that just means I'll have to try even harder!"
With her resolve strengthened, the girl was ready to continue enjoying her time with Touma, no matter what obstacles were thrown in her way.