"It's not like this means everything is just going to go back to how it was before," Kuroko noted.

"I know what you mean. Even if all the fighting is over…" they were both aware that there was darkness in Academy City worse than the occasional criminal, or a single mad scientist gone rogue. Despite the bankruptcy, most of the researchers would just go on to find another position, carrying the same warped viewpoint.

"For one, you need to think how you're going to introduce your sister to everyone."

Introduce her sister to everyone? Singular? She didn't have a sister. Even if you were going to be generous and call all of the clones her sisters, Misaka had no intention of letting everyone know that Academy City had made nearly twenty thousand identical copies of her for some sick reason.

"I was thinking we might be able to get all of the Sisters out of the city."

"Ahah, well, you see, onee-sama…"

"Kuroko…"

The teleporter nervously played with her fingers as they went along. It wasn't like she had planned this, it had just sort of happened. The doctor had even been kind enough to explain further when she brought the phone along. The plan was registered in Kuroko's name for now, but there were no legal impediments to transferring it as soon as Miyu was out of the hospital and, like any other esper, receiving some payment from the city. Which meant…

"When I rescued that Sister and took her to the hospital, I may have put down your family name and age for the paperwork," she said, hastily adding, "That was all Kuroko did!"

The feeling of static on the air showed very clearly that her onee-sama was not buying this as the entire story.

"The doctor at the hospital did the rest. Having a clone that legally doesn't exist brought in could have let the companies behind this push for her return," even if the shadiness of their operation made that a difficult ask, even before they had been shut down, "Or caused trouble with Anti-Skill when it was reported."

A teenaged girl brought in without a leg was the sort of thing that got forwarded to the law. Even if the investigation would turn up absolutely nothing at all.

"And he fixed that by…"

"I think she was just made your sister? I was hoping to ask before she gets discharged." Though that had made the problem something of a future thing, even with the best medical attention possible. In fact, with the current state of Academy City's medical technology, there might be even less point to discharging someone without a functional prosthesis—particularly in the case of an Electromaster, who already had a head-start on that sort of interface, with nowhere to be discharged to.

"Wait here."

The city's databases were no harder to hack into than they had been when looking up Nunotaba—if Misaka had been interested in her own file, it might have been slightly more of a challenge, but it seemed that the clone had just been slipped in like any other student. The associated picture was surprisingly sharp, although the environment looked distinctly off for a student ID, and… there was the name. Misaka Miyu, Level 3 esper with the power Radio Noise, enrolled in…

Great, there really was no getting away from this! Even if her records now didn't have a big link to her supposed identical twin, it would be completely impossible to hide as soon as she showed up to school. Just what sort of contacts did this doctor have?

"Somehow, she got enrolled in Tokiwadai as well," she told Kuroko, who had obediently not followed her round the corner to the payphone, "I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my parents…"

Actually, her mother would probably be overjoyed. Confused at first if this had somehow made it into the standard Japanese legal system as well and any associated financial records, but she'd probably be fine with having another daughter like that, as long as Mikoto hadn't been hurt.

"I guess it would have seemed strange to split twins up if she can pass the entrance tests?" Maybe, though explaining all of last year would be difficult. Keeping a twin for comparative purposes, who could meet the basic entrance requirement, would be the sort of thing that would get special dispensation… "But look at the positives, onee-sama."

"What positives?"

"The Dorm Mistress might forgive you for breaking curfew if you can explain fast enough."

Their conversation had led them aimlessly to a familiar-looking park, one whose only claim to fame over any other location in the city would be its habitually uncooperative vending machine. One that, from the frantic clicking had claimed another victim. Wait, that spiky hair, was that… after all that had happened, maybe it was a good time for stress relief.

"Excuse me. Don't just stand there. Get out of the way if you're not buying."

What was onee-sama doing? If she wanted a drink that badly, there was no need to shove this boy out of the way like that. What was with that sweet and bubbly tone? Was onee-sama going around making friends with strange men!?

Whoever the spiky-haired boy was, he seemed to have no more idea who the schoolgirl accosting him was—which was, in Kuroko's opinion, simply ridiculous, her onee-sama was hardly a scarcely-known secret.

To say that Misaka didn't take his flummoxed "Who're you?" well was an understatement.

"I told you…" Then, they had met before? But how could anyone simply forget onee-sama, especially—if the dangerously building sparks were anything to go by—someone that had made this sort of mistake before. "My name is Misaka Mikoto, damn it!"

Kuroko was prepared to lecture on the propriety of assaulting bystanders (even tasteless, name-forgetting ones) in front of Judgment officers after the older girl was done exacting her wrath on this poor fool, preferably not attracting more of the same in her own direction, but something completely unexplainable happened. The electricity… stopped. It was gone.

"Seriously, it just doesn't make any sense. My lightning doesn't work on you."

"I'm soooo sorry! Why the heck would you suddenly use your power on me anyway?!"

"I have to agree, onee-sama. You can't simply attack someone for forgetting your name."

"There are still people who call someone that?"

The electromaster opted to ignore both of them entirely. "Whatever. Since you're not buying, I'll take my turn first. I've got a score to settle with this vending machine."

"That vending machine eats your money, you know? Even my, Kamijou Touma's, hard-earned money."

… If she didn't do something, onee-sama was going to kick the vending machine again, wasn't she? Showing off those ridiculous shorts to this Touma and assaulting it again. Plus, it was hardly likely to get any less broken. At first, Kuroko covered her eyes, at least wanting to deny the sight—but she could stop it.

Kuroko squeezed between Misaka and the vulnerable appliance, interrupting Touma's story of losing a 2,000-yen note (really? Most vending machines wouldn't even accept those) to ask what he had wanted.

"Ah? The Blackbean Cider." Oh, and this was one of the machines that only sold those strange, experimental drinks.

Tuning out the also-confused sound of onee-sama, whose attempts to kick it were, for now, stumped by the teleporter in the way, Kuroko focused on the cans the other side of the glass divide. After practising for hours on a moving target, slipping into the right frame of mind to focus on the feeling of reaching for something stationary came easily. The numbers easily ran through her mind, her 11th-dimensional "hand" stretching out to something cool, weighty…

She still nearly dropped the condensation-slick can when it slid into her fingers, recovering just in time to hand it off to the boy. She wasn't going to get him a full 2000 yen's worth, but going this far… swiftly, two of the more normal drinks—Watermelon Tea and Sweet Banana Tea—followed, with the teleporter passing one off to her roommate.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Misaka asked. Kuroko's powers needed contact with the item in question. To now be affecting objects remotely was a massive step up.

"Only for about a week. Unfortunately, all it has been useful for is contending with vending machines." Of course, she had been excited to let onee-sama know, but with everything that had happened, that…

It only took a little bit of nudging to get moving, but for whatever odd reason, the boy was following them—or maybe they were just headed the same way—and onee-sama didn't have any problem with it. Just who was this Touma to her?

"How are you acquainted with this gentleman?"

The blush on onee-sama's face, the refusal to meet her eyes… Kuroko choked on her drink, coughing. Oh no, it couldn't possibly be that, not with someone so unrefined! When onee-sama had been sneaking out at night or when she had been busy with Judgment, it had been…

"We fought and… hebeatme."

"Eh?"

Kuroko had hardened her heart, or so she told herself, and prepared for many things. And there was always the possibility that any dalliance with such an unrefined man, one who couldn't even remember her name, would sour onee-sama on men entirely, which give the teleporter some comfort. However, to hear her admit to losing at all was…

Misaka looked between the two of them, with both Touma and Kuroko having come to a dead halt. For some reason, despite being reminded of his own victory in their fights, Touma looked horrified at the idea. Kuroko just looked like someone had told her esper powers didn't exist.

"Is it really that hard to believe!? I might be one of the seven Level 5's, but you just saw that my lightning doesn't work on him. No matter how pathetic he acts, someone with that sort of ability is definitely strong enough to win."

Touma looked like he strongly wanted to disagree with that assessment, with Misaka continuing to (lengthily) defend her loss. He was also the first one to spot the newcomer. "Another one?"

"Wait, what?! Another Biribiri?"

"'Regarding the fact that we are of similar appearances, then it is completely natural, as we are genetically identical' replies Misaka."

Did the Sisters have no idea of subtlety, Kuroko wondered. For a group that had been created to take part in secret experiments, they seemed uncommonly prone to wandering around in broad daylight where anyone might recognise them, and this was at least the second time one had come up to onee-sama in particular. It mattered less if the experiment was over, but explaining it to anyone before they had chance to introduce Miyu would be extremely hard…

"Huh, genetically? Oh, you two are twins?"

"Ah, yes, she's onee-sama's twin. We just didn't expect to see her out and about today. We thought she would still be in the hospital but…" Kuroko said, jumping in to explain before the Sister could offer her own explanation. Onee-sama seemed to be dragging the clone off to talk, hand raised to stop Kuroko from following.

She was to entertain Touma, then?

"Hospital? She looked fine to me." And you would be an expert on hospitalisation?

"That's the wonder of Academy City's medical technology for you. Even injuries such as losing a limb are impossible to tell without closer inspection." Although, she doubted it would be quite so subtle in the real Miyu's case; the Tokiwadai uniform exposed a lot of leg. Maybe she would be permitted a longer skirt?

Of course, now onee-sama was gone, Kuroko could ask the question that was really weighing on her mind.

"Kamijou-san, tell me: are you dating onee-sama?" This time it was Touma's opportunity to choke on his drink. "If you are, I will never forgive you if you hurt her."

It was unreasonable to hold such a threat against someone whilst simultaneously wishing for their failure, but nobody would ever say that Shirai Kuroko was rational where the Railgun was concerned. Everyone who knew her would say the exact opposite.

"Of course not! I…"

The thought went through Touma's head that, perhaps, the twintailed girl in front of him could have been predicting correctly. If the previous him had been dating Misaka Mikoto, how would he have ever known? Hadn't he been thinking right before meeting these schoolgirls that it was unfair to be attending summer classes to make up for things that he never remembered skipping?

That she had teleported right up to him with a disturbingly intense expression on her face was not helping.

"If you aren't dating onee-sama, I would quite like to know what you are doing picking fights with younger girls and pretending you don't know them, Kamijou-san." When had she gotten that armband out?

"She must have been thinking of someone else, uh…"

Not seeing a better option, let alone one that would placate the crazy girl, Touma opted for the option that any normal person would in his situation: he turned and ran for it.

This was not, it shortly turned out, a wise move to escape from an obsessive teleporter. He got a good head start over the surprised Kuroko but as soon as he started to make distance, there was someone sweeping at his legs, and before he could regain his proper footing a weight slamming into his back.

"This is an abuse of power!" he protested. As if that would change the mind of the crazy girl that had nailed most of his clothes to the ground. And was holding his arms in a painful joint lock to stop him from getting any other ideas.

"For onee-sama's sake, this is perfectly acceptable. If you do not wish me to report you for theft from a vending machine, I would suggest you answer honestly."

"But that was you!" the twinge in his shoulder suggested that was not the honest answer she was after.

After nearly a minute ticked by with no change in the position, Touma sighed. Such misfortune… he'd lost a 2,000-yen bill, not even got to finish his drink, and now a schoolgirl was extorting information from him.

"I don't remember."

"What do you mean 'you don't remember'?"

"I mean I have amnesia! I can't remember anything before the 28th of July!"

"You expect me to believe an explanation like that?" He could just barely see the suspicious glare from his current position.

"There's a frog-faced doctor in one of the city hospitals, you could ask him?" Maybe that would get her (literally) off his back.

Kuroko looked thoughtful at that, but rather than getting off his back entirely, she simply changed her position. At least it was less painful with her legs trapping him rather than the joint lock, but she had simply produced her phone. Did she really have the ability to call the doctor with so little information too…? He knew his luck was bad, but this was really turning into something else.

"Can I speak to… yes, this is Judgment. I have one Kamijou Touma here. He's claiming amnesia?" the phone was thrust in Touma's face.

It wasn't like he was getting out of this one otherwise… "Yes, this is Touma."

"Really? That's possible…? Thank you."

Almost as rapidly as he had been pinned, Touma found himself free to stand up again, the overzealous teleporter at least looking slightly abashed by the whole incident. "I owe you an apology, Kamijou-san."

"You can't tell anyone."

Kuroko's look was one of confusion.

"This girl I know, Biribiri… I don't want them to cry. I still don't know what this feeling is, but…"

Kuroko's stare lingered, but eventually she sighed. This soft-hearted fool. This could only end poorly in the long run, but the idea behind it… the teleporter didn't know who the other girl was, but she wouldn't want to make onee-sama cry, either. Even if Kuroko's memory was lost, she was sure that wish would remain.

"Give me your phone."

"Eh?"

"I'm giving you my number. If you really don't want to see onee-sama cry, if there's something she expects you to know… ask me." Obviously, if it was something between the two of them, as repulsive as the idea was, Kuroko wouldn't know. But if it was something else, then she would answer for onee-sama's peace of mind.

Numbers exchanged, they split up. She needed to get back to the dorm.

AN: I had planned for this to go up until right before dealing with Accelerator, but I was reading the conversation again and after Mikoto split to talk with 10031... Kuroko isn't exactly what you'd call calm where onee-sama is concerned. And this felt like it hit a nice break point.

I am sure there can be no repercussions from this spilling.