AN: Hello readers! After seeing the general response of this story, I decided to sit down the last couple days to provide you all with the 2nd chapter...I'm glad that some of you seem to enjoy my OC and story and hope it continues:).
Thanks for all the reviews btw...I wasn't expecting 5 to show up only after a few days of posting the 1st chapter...If you want to see my responses to them, they are located at the end of this chapter...
Now that's all from me, so I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please leave a review about anything you liked, think I should work on, or any questions in general! I will answer them at the end of the next chapter:D
*Sidenote: I did change the date of when the first chapter is in as the timing of some things were not adding up if I had started on the 16th, so I pushed it back a week (9th)..the events that happen in this chapter are the last half of the same day of chapter 1:)
Disclaimer: I do not own A Certain Scientific Railgun/Magical Index or any of its characters...the only things I own are:
1. My characters and
2. my ideas
Chapter 2: New Faces to Remember
July 9th, 1:00PM
It was still fairly bright outside as Asher bobbed and weaved with her skateboard through the foot traffic on the way to her dorm. It was a little more packed than it had been earlier, though, considering it was later in the day.
She was nearly all the way towards the dorm before she felt an intense sharp pain come from the forefront of her head, causing her usual blank face to grimace slightly in pain.
Well that hurt, she thought to herself as black spots came into her vision. She had to pause for a second to wait for her vision to clear up enough before she could continue. She rested her arm against the wall that happened to be next to her as she brought her hand to brace the side of her head.
This was a clear sign that she had waited too long to take her medicine to prevent something like this from happening. If she went too much longer without it, she may have a harder time making it even to the door of the dorm even though it was only about 2-5 minutes from where she was.
Haven't felt that in a while….. she thought to herself as she closed her eyes.
I guess it's a given though, since I did nearly wait half a day to take it. If Mikoto was here, she would have either berated me or rubbed it in my face that she was right for once.
"Hey…" Someone called out from beside her, prompting her to crack one of her eyes open.
When she looked up, she saw a boy with spikey black hair and black eyes who wore a white t-shirt and dark blue pants. He seemed to be around her age, just maybe a couple years older than her.
"Are you doing okay?" He asked genuinely as he looked at her with slight concern on his face.
"Yeah I am," Asher said as she straightened back up on the wall a little bit, only to slump back when the pain rang out in her head a little more. "At least I think I am," She continued as she winced.
"Well is there anything I can do to help?"
"Unless you're able to get my medicine from my room then no…." She replied bluntly as she began to walk again, stumbling on some of her footsteps. "Thanks for trying to help, but I'll be fine on my own. My dorm is just a little ways from here."
Before she got too far, she heard the boy from earlier, running up behind her.
"Hey wait up a second, Asher!" He called out, causing her to stop slightly confused when he said her name.
When she turned around, he saw him come to a stop, handing her skateboard that she had forgotten where she was resting on the wall before.
"Here, you forgot this," He said holding it out for her to take.
"How did you-" Asher tried to ask before he hurried off.
"Sorry but I have to go! See you tomorrow!" He yelled over his shoulder as he ran across the sidewalk, leaving Asher deadpanning as she sweat dropped.
Who the heck was that? She thought to herself, still standing in the middle of the path slightly confused.
I know I'm not the best when it comes to remembering the names or faces of people sometimes, but he made it seem like we've met each other recently…
After sitting there for a couple moments, she decided to not think too much on it, and proceeded to walk back towards the dorm.
From what it sounds like, though, I guess I'll figure it out sometime tomorrow…..
Tokiwadai Exterior Dormitory
After about 5-8 minutes, Asher finally made it up to her room, 206, which was located right next to Misaka's and Shirai's room (208). Unlike most of the people on her floor, Asher was lucky enough to be in a room by herself as her former roommate didn't seem very keen on living in close proximity to her and left early during her 1st year at Tokiwadai.
She would have ended up with Misaka if she hadn't applied at the school too late, though, she didn't really have any complaints since she was still able to pick the room next to hers.
When she arrived, she immediately went over to her desk, opening her medicine capsule for the select day, seeing it was still full since she hadn't tried to take any of it until now.
After taking it out and dissolving it into some water and drinking it, she went over to her bed and laid across the middle of it as her feet stayed above the ground.
I probably have enough time to just lie here for a little while, she thought as her eyes began to close.
Before she was able to go to sleep, she heard her phone starting to ring in her pocket. When she took it out, she took a look at the caller ID, before accepting the call, laying the phone next to her after turning the speaker on.
"Go ahead MK," she said as she stared up at the ceiling.
"Hey, we just made it to Joseph's," Misaka said over the phone. "I was wondering if you made it back to your room yet..."
"Yeah I just got here. I'm currently getting dressed to meet up with you two. I should be there in about 10 minutes." She said as she kept lying on top of her bed, not even doing anything of the sort.
"Mmmmmhmmmmm right…." She replied back skeptically. "Are you sure you aren't lying on your bed, trying to take a nap instead of actually changing your clothes?"
Asher sighed, knowing she was caught, with Misaka taking her sigh as her answer.
"Well when you actually change out of your gym clothes, please try to wear our uniform and not your hoodie. I know you're not a huge fan of it, but you know what will happen if you get caught again right?"
"I was going to," Asher groaned. "I'm not trying to tutor a couple of high school students 5 days a week for another 2 weeks. It's such a waste of my time and energy."
"You should've thought of that when you decided to not only miss curfew but wore other clothes other than your uniform again that day, Zierdan…." Shirai said somewhere in the background, causing her to give her phone an annoyed sideways glance. "You knew the head resident was on to you, but you decided to do it anyway."
"I don't think I asked for your 'expert opinion', Kuroko…." Asher said slightly annoyed. "And you're one to talk, since you seem to get into more trouble with her more than I do."
Before they could even start up with arguing with each other, Misaka said "Okay, well we'll see you when you get here Z. I'll contact you if we decide to go somewhere else before you get here okay?"
"Alright, bye…."
After hearing her phone click off, she laid there for a few moments before sighing aloud as she rose up from her bed to get ready to at least be somewhat on time.
Joseph's Restaurant
After getting off the call with Asher, Misaka leaned her forehead on the table as she sighed aloud.
"Why do you always have to pick a fight with each other?" She groaned, as Shirai took a sip of her drink.
"I have no clue what you're talking about, Sissy," Shirai said triumphantly as Misaka rose her head up from the table, giving her a deadpan stare.
"Anyway, remind me again, why you allowed Zierdan to go back to her room by herself? She literally has no one there to monitor her laziness."
"I wouldn't necessarily call her lazy," Misaka said as she leaned her head against her arm sitting on the table. "More like seemingly indifferent on occasion. I promise that she didn't go off on her own to take a nap. She had to go back to take the medicine she forgot to take this morning, which probably led to her having a headache or something on the way there."
"Yeah I understand," Shirai said with a small sigh. "At least she sounded okay on the phone, so I guess there's no need to worry for now."
"True, though, she's probably going to be pretty late, so you can go ahead and start talking about what you wanted to talk to us about earlier. I'll just fill her in when she gets here." Misaka stated, knowing it was going to take Asher more than 10 minutes to just get dressed let alone get here on time.
"Well to be honest, this mostly pertains to you, Sissy, but it might benefit Zierdan too in some capacity…." Shirai said.
"Hmmmm?" Misaka hummed in slight confusion.
Somewhere outside….
"Uiharu!" someone yelled as she was being dragged down the sidewalk by her friend. "Wait a second!"
Earlier that day, Uiharu learned that her friend within her judgement branch, Shirai Kuroko, was going to set her up a meeting with the girl of her dreams: the Level 5 Railgun, Misaka Mikoto. She was currently dragging her best friend, Saten Ruiko, along with her, in order for her to also get a taste of the Level 5 esper, since she thought she was going to be arrogant and snobbish due to her celebrity status of being a Level 5.
"C'mon Saten," She said as she looked behind her. "If we don't move faster we're going to be late!"
As soon as she looked back in front of her, her eyes widened, immediately noticing that she was about to run into a girl who was directly in front of them.
"Hey watch out!" Uiharu yelled but to no avail, seeing her not even move to one side or the other.
Uiharu and Saten crashed into the individual causing each of them to fall over onto the sidewalk.
"Owwwwww…." Uiharu and Saten groaned collectively.
"That's why I was telling you to slow down, Uiharu….." Saten said as she winced slightly.
"Yeah sorry," Uiharu replied back as she rubbed her lower back that was aching.
When they stood back up on their feet, they looked down and saw the blonde-haired girl that they had ran into laying face down on the sidewalk as blood started to slowly pool around her.
"AAHH!" They both screamed, running up to the downed girl, who didn't look like was moving...
"Did we kill her!? What are we going to do Saten!?" Uiharu asked slightly panicked as they bent down to look at her.
"We? You were the one who was dragging me!" Saten said with the same amount of panic in her voice.
As they deliberated on what they were going to do, the girl who was currently laying on the ground, groaned aloud as she slowly picked herself off the ground, scaring them as they immediately backed away.
"She came back from the dead!" They yelled as they closed their eyes in fear, clutching onto each for dear life as the girl in front of them sighed.
"That isn't the case by any means as I am very much alive thank you…" The girl said bluntly as she turned around.
They saw that she was holding the bottom of her nose with her hand as blood dripped a little from the cracks. They expected her to seem angry from hearing the flatness in her tone, but as they looked up to her face, it looked like she didn't seem to really care more or less.
"I just landed on my nose is all." She continued matter of factly.
"Oh no! I'm so so sorry!" Uiharu said in shock, rising up to her feet.
"No you're fine," The girl said casually as she let go of her nose to grab some tissues out of her bag, while also adjusting something in her ears. "You probably warned me that you were coming. It was my own fault for not listening out for you."
As she watched Uiharu apologize multiple times as the girl cleaned her face up, Saten noticed that she was wearing a Tokiwadai uniform.
"Hey ummm, do you happen to go to Tokiwadai?" Saten asked as the girl looked over at her.
"I just noticed the uniform you were wearing."
"Yeah that's correct," She replied as Uiharu looked up at her in shock. "I'm a second year there…."
"Wait does that mean you know Misaka Mikoto!?" Uiharu asked with stars in her eyes. "The level 5 Railgun and the Ace of Tokiwadai?"
Even with the uninterested look on her face, Saten could tell that the girl's eyes brightened slightly at that question before returning to its original look.
"Yeah, very well as a matter of fact.." She said with slight amusement in her voice.
"I was actually on my way to meet up with her right now. That was until I nearly broke my nose from falling on my face from some sidewalk runners….." She added as she deadpanned.
"I said I was sorry," Uiharu said as she slumped down in defeat as Saten chuckled slightly behind her.
"Wait, you don't happen to know Shirai Kuroko too, now do you?" Uiharu questioned.
"Sadly," The girl replied back with a slight sweatdrop, looking off to the side. "She's also someone I know along with her, since she's her roommate. I'd say I know her decently well, even though we haven't known each other that long."
"Ohhhhhh, then you must be Asher Zierdan right?" Uiharu questioned as the girl nodded, leaving Saten slightly confused at how she knew her name.
"Yep, just Asher is fine since most people call me that. I'm guessing you work in judgement with Kuroko since it didn't take much for you to figure out who I was." Asher stated as she rubbed the back of her neck slightly.
"Yeah, Shirai talks about you from time to time when I'm working with her. I'm Uiharu Kazari by the way and this…" She said as she pointed towards Saten behind her. "Is my friend Saten Ruiko…."
"Nice to meet you, Asher," Saten replied back with a smile
"Likewise," Asher said with a small smile of her own as she put her hands in her pockets. "Well I have to go before she starts calling my phone multiple times. I'm just about I'd say give or take 20 minutes late at this point."
"Well take care!" Uiharu said waving at the girl who nodded at her before turning back to where she was going.
After she got out of view, Saten turned to Uiharu and said, "She seems nice. At least nicer than I was expecting due to what happened."
"I'm surprised that it was actually her," Uiharu said as they began to walk again. "From what Shirai told me, she doesn't like to really talk to most people."
"I could tell she seemed a little nervous at times, but she played it off pretty well." Saten replied.
Silence fell between for a couple moments before Saten realized something. "Asher Zierdan huh? That name sounds kind of familiar…."
'What do you mean Saten?"
"Well isn't there another Level 5 esper at Tokiwadai known as GravShift Z? I mean it could be just a coincidence, but I could've sworn whoever it is, his or her last name is Asher as well."
"Hmmmm now that you mentioned it," Uiharu said, as she scratched her chin in thought, " I did try to ask Shirai at one point what level she was, but for some reason she wouldn't give it to me, so I don't know."
"Well, again it could be a coincidence, so don't think too much on it…."
"Yeah I guess you're right."
Joseph's Restaurant
"One of my fans wants to meet me?" Misaka questioned after hearing Shirai's reason for inviting her and Asher to lunch. Asher still hadn't arrived yet, but she had just texted them a couple moments ago, saying that she was nearly there.
"She's a girl I know from Judgment who takes care of my backup at the 177th Branch and she's always asking to meet you, even if it's just for a few minutes." Shirai said as she held her tea in her hand.
"Uggghhh," Misaka sighed, leaning over slightly. "And how does Z even come into this….."
"Well I was hoping it would give her someone else to talk to. As you are quite aware, the only people she tries to actively talk to is only the both of us. When we're both busy, she ends up either staying in her room or walking outside by herself all day." Shirai replied as Misaka tried to contemplate on it.
"Yeah, but I don't know…." She said with doubt in her voice. "I don't want her to feel forced into talking to a person she just met. Especially someone you've labeled 'one of my fans.' She seems to get more annoyed with them than I ever do."
"I know I know," Shirai said as she sat her cup down. "But please give her a chance. I know that your fans have been annoying you more and more lately and that you have little patience for them, but I promise you, Sissy, that Uiharu is different as she's a reasonable polite girl..…."
"Besides of which, she's one of the few people that I actually consider my friend, and I think you and even Zierdan would actually like her to some degree."
"Who am I going to like, Kuroko?" Asher, who had finally arrived, asked as she sat down next to Misaka. "You're not tricking me to go on another outing with another boy, are you?"
"No nothing of the sort," Shirai said with a with a smile, as Asher stoically stared at her skeptically.
"Oh hey Z," Misaka greeted as she scooted over to give Asher some room. She noticed that she already had her Anti-Amps in her ears, meaning her sound sensitivity must've flared enough to warrant them.
"Did you have any-" Misaka said before stopping, noticing a bruise on Asher's face. "Wait what happened to your nose?"
"Oh nothing that bad. I had my hearing down kind of low so I didn't notice some girls who were running and they crashed into me from behind. When I hit the ground, I happened to hit the pavement with my nose, causing it to bleed profusely." She stated bluntly, causing both Misaka and Shirai to sweatdrop.
She said it so matter of factly…. They both thought as she looked over to the side.
After Misaka caught Asher up to speed, they both weren't surprised to see her stand up, proceeding to walk out of the door.
"Welp hope you two have fun, as I'm pretty busy today so…."
Before she could go any further, Misaka grabbed her arm, pulling her back into her seat. "Nice try, but we both know that's not true. If I'm getting roped into this, then you are too."
Sighing, Asher leaned her back into her seat as she blankly stared up at the ceiling, overhearing Shirai and Misaka continuing with their discussion.
"So, since you are fairly busy, Sissy," Shirai said as she reached into her pocket," I've taken the liberty in arranging a schedule for the day that I'm sure you'll find it to your-"
Before Shirai had the chance to finish her sentence, Misaka grabbed the piece of paper she was looking at.
"Hey!" She yelled before Misaka pushed her back with her hand, with Asher turning her attention over to them.
"Okay let's see what we have here," Misaka said as Shirai struggled to get out of her grip.
"'Date plan with Sissy using Uiharu and Zierdan as a ruse.' Part 1: Start friendship within a family restaurant with Zierdan as back up to keep Uiharu distracted. Part 2: Lingerie shopping and purchase big moment underwear. Part 3: Shop in Perfume store and purchase aphrodisiac, Ditch Uiharu, Leave Zierdan at the dorm to watch out for the head resident and then go to an upscale hotel alone with Sissy."
"So you're basically using the two people that you call your 'friends' to go off and fulfill your own perverted desires with MK…." Asher concluded with a deadpan. "Why am I not surprised? My esper ability should've been clairvoyance since I think I speculated this earlier."
"No you've got it all wrong, Zierdan!" Shirai said nervously, with sweat rolling down her face. "I would never do that-"
Misaka cut her off by squeezing her cheeks, annoyed that she even had that in mind for today.
"I thought you were trying to help the both of us! I should've let Z leave, with me right behind her earlier!" Misaka said as Shirai had comedic tears in her eyes.
After a while, Misaka let go as she leaned back into the chair.
"But even with that, if you say she's a friend then what choice is there?" She sighed, looking over at Asher next to her, "You'll come along too right, Z?"
"Yeah I guess so," Asher sighed as sat her head on the table, rubbing the back of her neck slightly. "If it's okay with you, then I guess it's fine with me…."
Right after she had said that, she promptly moved out of the way, sensing that Shirai had teleported into the air to fall into Misaka's arms.
"You could've warned me that she was going to do that, Zierdan!" Misaka said as she struggled to hold Shirai back as she hugged her.
"Well what would be the fun in that MK?" Asher said with slight amuse in her voice. "I wouldn't have been able to stop her anyway. Kuroko teleports usually too fast that I only have enough time to sense it when it happens, so I thought it was best to use that time to get away since you weren't going to be able to escape her even if I told you to."
As Misaka grumbled in frustration, Asher looked over at the window to see the two girls that she had met earlier in the day, looking over at Misaka and Shirai in surprise.
That must be the girl Kuroko was talking to Mikoto about earlier. What a weird coincidence that she happens to be the same girl that I ran into, she thought to herself, surprised that she was able to remember their names and faces since she usually had a hard time doing so.
"Hey excuse me Miss?" A waiter said as she tapped her on the shoulder, causing Misaka to look over at them.
"Your friends are beginning to frighten the other customers." She continued, as Asher let out a sigh.
"Don't worry, MK will handle her in a second." Asher said as she turned around to leave, hearing a resounding sound of a punch go through the entire establishment.
"I'm going to pay you back for that Zierdan!" Misaka shouted as Shirai was knocked down on the ground next to her, steam rising up from her head.
I'm sure you will Mikoto, Asher thought to herself as a small smile came on her face.
Outside of Joseph's
Shirai led the group to an area outside to give them a proper place to introduce themselves to each other since she had gotten Misaka and Asher kicked out of the restaurant. Saten and Uiharu was sitting on one side of her, while Misaka was sitting on the other side with her arms crossed and Asher leaning on a tree a little ways from them.
"Now that's out of the way it's time for some introductions!" She announced, hoping it would lighten Misaka's mood since she was still somewhat angry with her.
After introducing Misaka, Uiharu, and Saten to each other, she teleported over to Asher and teleported back over to where they were standing.
"You could have just asked me to come over like a normal person." Asher said somewhat annoyed.
Since it wasn't that far of a distance, it was most likely not going to kick her motion sickness into gear again. But she still didn't like the feeling of it at all though…
"Would you have come over here if I had?" Shirai asked slightly amused. "Be nice and introduce yourself to these two."
"I've already met them though, so logically speaking I shouldn't have to be a part of the introductions, right?" Asher said bluntly, seeing confusion fall on both the faces of Shirai and Misaka.
"You have?" Misaka asked with one of her eyebrows turned up slightly as she nodded.
"Yeah they were the ones who caused me to fall on my face earlier…." She replied with a deadpan, as the girls in questioned sweat dropped.
"Hi Asher, it's nice seeing you again." Uiharu and Saten said at the same time, waving to the girl in front of them.
"Wait why didn't you say that before?" Shirai asked.
"And why didn't you say you were meeting up with Misaka and Shirai when we talked earlier?" Saten asked as well.
"Well, I did say I was meeting up with Mikoto earlier when I told you what I was on my way to do. You guys actually never told me what you two were going to do in the first place however." Asher said as she turned to look over at Shirai.
"Oh yeah we didn't do that did we…" Saten said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"And with you Kuroko, you never asked." She added, as Shirai face palmed.
"It should be a common courtesy to say when you know someone when you hear someone's name, Zierdan." Shirai said as she sighed, hearing Misaka laugh under her breath from next to her.
"You should know by now that doesn't fit into her vocabulary Kuroko." Misaka said causing everyone but Shirai and Asher to laugh, the latter looking over at the Electromaster in confusion.
What's that supposed to mean? Asher thought, seeing Shirai start to walk in between them.
"Well, anyway, with introductions finished without any major incidents, my schedule I made for today should still work even if-" Shirai said before she was interrupted by Misaka hitting her on top of her head.
"I'm sorry for Kuroko's and MK's behavior," Asher sighed as she looked over at Saten and Uiharu in front of them, not seeing a vein pop on Misaka's head. "MK can be way too aggressive some-"
Before she could finish, Misaka wacked Asher on the head with more force than Shirai, causing her to bend on the ground in the same position the teleporter was in as they winced together in pain.
"That was for earlier…." Misaka said before she turned her attention to the girls who were looking at the downed espers in slight surprise.
"Well," She began to say with her tone shifted into a happier one. "Standing around here isn't all that fun now is it? So I think we should go to the arcade."
"The arcade?" Saten said aloud, looking over at Uiharu.
"Yeah let's go," Misaka said with a smile.
As Misaka and Shirai walked in front of them towards the arcade, Saten and Uiharu stayed close behind them as Asher walked a little ahead of them in comparison.
"I think it's beneath you Sissy…." Shirai said as she led the group. "I guess the arcade and reading magazines is fun and all, but shouldn't you have some more dignified hobbies? I mean at least with Zierdan, she likes to use her downtime in the mornings to tutor other people."
"How can that be a hobby of mine if I'm being forced to do that Kuroko?" Asher asked from behind them.
"Aw come on stop whining about it," Misaka said as she turned to look at her over her shoulder, seeing a small frown on her face. "Even though you're being forced to do it, we both know that you love doing any type of math or science in comparison to most people. I think the head resident is trying to do you a favor by making you apply yourself for once."
"I don't think she has the capability to do so. If the favor is scaring the living crap out of people then maybe." Asher said as she turned her head away from her, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. "And it's normal for people to have a subject that they're good in anyway…."
"Don't get so flustered about it," Misaka said without looking at her, picking up a flier that was just handed over to her. "You shouldn't feel embarrassed for being a math and science nerd."
Hearing Asher let out a sigh in front of them as the blush grew on her face, Uiharu and Saten looked at their backs in slight amusement.
"You know what, she doesn't act like the arrogant celebrity that I thought she was going to be." Saten said with slight surprise in her voice as she talked about Misaka.
"Yeah and she doesn't look down at us at all either." Uiharu stated, looking down at the same flier Misaka had been given before.
"Hey what's on the flier?" Saten asked, gaining the attention of Asher in front of them.
When she glanced at it and overheard what it said, she sweatdropped slightly, only focused on a particularly familiar frog on the page.
"Please don't show that to MK." Asher whispered to them as she slowed her pace to meet theirs.
"But why-" Saten asked before bumping into Misaka who had stopped in the middle of the path.
Asher groaned as she saw the same flier in Misaka's hand, thwarting her efforts of hiding the piece of information from her entirely.
"Oh sorry…" Saten said as she looked over Misaka's shoulder.
"Is there something wrong?" Uiharu questioned, looking over and seeing Asher crossing her arms.
"Other than her about to go off and fuel her addiction, then no." Asher said off to the side, leaving them both confused.
Misaka didn't seem to listen to any of what was going on around her as she read the flier, seeing that at the new crepe stand somewhere close by that they were handing out a Gekota figurine for the first 100 people who get in line.
I haven't gotten this one yet, she thought, not noticing Shirai walk to be right next to her.
"Something the matter, Sissy?" Shirai asked, seeing that Asher was annoyed with someone other than her for once, realizing right away why.
"Oh I see, " She began playfully as she looked over at Misaka's face. "You're interested in the new crepe stand right? Or is it the free giveaway they're doing that caught your eye?"
"No! I don't know what you're talking about." Misaka said as she turned around to face them.
"Sure you don't MK," Asher stated as she closed her eyes. "The blush on your cheeks says otherwise…"
"That doesn't mean anything in this situation, Zierdan!" Misaka said, feeling her cheeks heating up even more. "Why would I care about this Gekota guy anyway? He's just some stupid amphibian and what kind of girl would be interest in that?"
As soon as she said that, each of them saw a small Gekota accessory fall from her school bag, stopping her from saying anything else, hearing Asher beginning to laugh to herself from behind them, surprising both Misaka and Shirai entirely.
After recoiling from her shock, Misaka stomped over to Asher who instantly collected herself, trying to refrain from laughing any further.
"What's so funny?" Misaka asked, her brow twitching in annoyance slightly as the blush stayed on her face.
"Oh nothing, I'm just laughing at the utter irony and hypocrisy of the girl standing in front of me," Asher stated, trying to maintain a neutral tone, only failing at it as amusement trickled in her voice. "As you said to me before, 'you shouldn't get embarrassed for something you love to do.'"
At that, she took her skateboard out of her bag, and quickly rode off, hearing the sound of electricity arching from behind her.
"Get back here, Zierdan!" Misaka said, basically right on her tail, since Asher wasn't even trying to fully run away from her. "I love the things you selectively pick to remember!"
As they stood back in shock, Saten and Uiharu heard Shirai laughing at the scene in front of them.
"Are they always like that?" Saten asked as she pointed at them, seeing Asher casually dodge Misaka's attempts at hitting her with her electricity.
"Not usually, only on rare occasions like this one." Shirai said with a small smile on her face. "It seems like she's having a good time though, since Zierdan could probably get away from Sissy easily if she wanted too. I don't think I've ever seen her poke fun at her this much in a while. She usually doesn't talk much when she's in a group setting like this, so it's kind of a refreshing sight to see."
"How come? Does she not have any other friends other than you and Misaka?" Uiharu asked as they began to walk again.
"No, not really, though I'm not really able to talk either since I don't have many close friends myself," Shirai replied. "She can just be withdrawn at times when it comes to social interactions or showing how she's feeling towards others. A lot of people at our school try to avoid her as much as they can, since they think of her as unnatural since her stoic nature can be confused for emotionless at times. They're afraid she'll use her esper abilities on them with no concern if they end up hurt because of it."
"Oh really?" Saten asked. "She didn't really seem like that when we met her before. She was actually pretty nice though blunt at times."
"Well that's a good thing since that's the type of person she usually is once you get to know her." Shirai replied. "She must've liked you two, since you probably didn't hesitate to talk with her when you ran into her earlier."
"She didn't seem all that bad to me," Uiharu said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Speaking of esper abilities, what is hers anyway to be able to escape the Level 5 Railgun of Tokiwadai? I understand it's probably easy for you since you can teleport and all, but what about Asher?"
Shirai stopped walking then, sweatdropping slightly. "Oh I never did tell you that did I?"
As she shook her head no, Shirai moved her hands to lay on Uiharu's shoulders. "Now when I tell you this, please do not freak out, because Zierdan is the….."
"Z! Stop trying to confuse me on where to aim with your light bending trick with that stupid gravity field that's naturally around you!" They heard Misaka yell from afar, causing both Saten's and Uiharu's eyes to widen.
"Z..." Saten said aloud, looking over at Uiharu who had the same amount of realization on her face.
"Gravity…." Uiharu said as she looked back her, finally able to connect the dots.
"She can't be." They said simultaneously as Shirai looked at them in amusement.
"Yeah she is," Shirai said as she continued to walk on ahead.
"Asher Zierdan, better known as Asher Z, is the 5th ranked Level 5 GravShift of Tokiwadai Middle School…."
"WAIT, WHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTT!?" They yelled in shock.
Near the Crepe Stand
Misaka and Saten were currently standing in the crepe line as Shirai was fanning Uiharu after she promptly passed out earlier after learning that she met not only one but two Level 5 espers in the same day. Asher was close by, lying against a bench that was next to them with her eyes closed.
"Why didn't you tell me she was a Level 5 esper, Shirai?" Uiharu asked.
"Well if I had, you probably would have done the same thing that you just did a second ago," Shirai replied with amusement in her voice. "Unlike Sissy, Zierdan doesn't hold back in telling people if they're bothering her or not. If she saw you as a fan, there was a high chance that she would have given you the cold shoulder…."
As they kept on talking, Misaka and Saten were on their way back with the crepes as Misaka had triumphantly acquired the Gekota figurine with Saten's assistance.
When she looked over in amusement, Saten asked, "Hey I have a question for you, Misaka…."
"Hmmmm? What is it Saten?" Misaka asked, seeing Saten pointing at the third crepe in her hand.
"If I remember correctly, didn't Asher say she didn't want anything? If so, why did you buy her one?" Saten asked.
"Because knowing her, she does want one but since she didn't want to sit in line like the both of us, she most likely doesn't feel like she deserves it." Misaka replied with a smile, with Saten nodding in realization.
"Ohhhh okay, I understand. You know her pretty well don't you? You seem to know stuff about her when she doesn't tell you much." Saten said as Misaka nodded in confirmation.
"Well yeah, that's most likely due to me knowing her for a long while now.." She said with fondness on her face. "We came to Academy City around the same time and we happened to end up at the same grade school together. It may have taken me a while to fully get her to talk to me and get to know her but we've been close ever since."
"Aw how sweet," Saten said with a smile, as they walked up to Asher's bench where she was laying by herself.
"Here you go, Z." Misaka said as she put her crepe in her face, knowing that she was most likely still awake.
"I thought I said that I didn't want anything, MK..." Asher sighed as she cracked her eyes open to look up at her.
"Yes you did but I got you one anyway. And it's your favorite!" Misaka said with a smile as Asher looked up at her skeptically.
After a few moments, she conceded and accepted her crepe with a small sigh as she sat herself up on the bench.
"Okay fine, thanks MK…." She said starting to eat it instantly.
"No problem," Misaka said as she walked over to the other bench to hand Shirai hers.
While Saten was about to follow her over to the other bench, she looked over and saw that Asher intended to most likely sit on the bench alone by herself.
"Hey is this spot taken?" Saten asked with a smile, seeing Asher look up with surprise shining in her eyes.
"No it's not," She replied scooting over to the side slightly, giving her space to sit down with her.
As they sat in silence for a little while, Saten tried to start up a conversation with her to see if they could break the ice between them a little more.
"So what did she get you? From what I heard, it's one of your favorite things to eat." Saten asked, seeing Asher nod in agreement.
"It's mostly just chocolate covered bananas. Chocolate happens to be a small indulgence of mine…." Asher replied as she took another bite of it. "And since MK knew that, she knew I was going to most likely accept it, even though I didn't even ask for it."
"Well it seemed to make you happy though," Saten said, as Asher had some confusion on her face.
"Why do you say that?" Asher asked.
"I can just tell is all, especially since it seemed to make Misaka happy as well," Saten said with a smile as Uiharu came over to sit down next to them.
When Saten and Asher looked over, they saw Misaka and Shirai arguing over something before Misaka walked up to them, offering Saten a taste of her crepe.
"Here as a thanks for before." Misaka said, referring to her assistance in getting the Gekota figurine she wanted.
Before she was able to accept it, Shirai stopped the transaction in entirely, causing them to spiral back into another fight as Uiharu looked at them in amusement.
"I'm not sure I can keep up with your friends. They're so energetic." Saten said as she looked over at Asher, causing Uiharu to laugh under her breath.
"Yeah they are," Asher said as a small smile grew on her face. "But you get used to it after a while…"
After she said that, it looked like her smile faded as quickly as it came, looking over at a building skeptically as she rose up from the bench.
What the heck was that, she thought to herself, as she looked over at a bank that weirdly had their shutters down in the middle of the day.
"Is there something wrong, Asher?" Saten asked concerned as they both looked over in that direction.
"I don't know. I thought I heard something…." She said aloud as she narrowed her eyes, causing both Misaka and Shirai to stop.
"Well that's strange," Uiharu said aloud, looking over at the bank. "Why would the security shutters be down in the middle of the day?"
As Asher proceeded to walk over there, Misaka quickly grabbed her arm knowing something was up.
"Z what's-"
Before Misaka had a chance to finish, the bank shutters instantly combusted, sending smoke in the air as 5 rogue espers came out, signaling to both Shirai and Uiharu to jump into action.
"Uiharu, I want you to contact Anti-skill and request some officers to our location right away!" Shirai said as she jumped over the small fence.
"On it!" She replied back as Misaka tried to run over to help.
"Wait, Kuroko!"
"Oh no you don't, you stay right where you are Sissy," Shirai said authoritatively as she went into judgement officer mode.
"Like I've told you millions of times before, public safety is the concern or those of us in judgement, so please do me a favor and let me handle this…." She continued, looking over her shoulder with a smile on her face with Misaka returning her one of her own.
As they watched Shirai going off to handle the rogue espers, they looked over and saw that Uiharu was having trouble with helping someone, causing Saten and Misaka to run over to assist. Before she got too far, Misaka noticed that Asher had jumped over the railing walking directly over to where Shirai was fighting.
"Z where are you going?" She asked, seeing her stop in the middle of the road.
"Going over there with Kuroko…." Asher responded over her shoulder.
"Yeah I can see that, but she told us not to interfere."
"True, but I think she was mostly talking to you back there, meaning what she said didn't apply to me." Asher said as she began walking again. "Go and help whoever is needing it over there, Mikoto. I'm just trying to watch Kuroko's back for the time being, in case one of them tries to leave….."
"I promise I'll try not to intervene as much as I can help it."
That's what I'm afraid of…. Misaka thought to herself as she watched Asher's back with slight concern on her face.
"Alright, be careful Zierdan!" She said as she ran to help Uiharu and Saten with what they were trying to do.
Please don't do anything too careless over there, Z….
As Shirai finished off one of the espers, she noticed that three of them were trying to escape before stopping in their tracks.
"I would suggest turning back the way you came from…."Asher advised, as she stoically stared at them, adjusting the Anti-Amps located in her ears.
What is she doing!? Shirai thought to herself as she looked over at her in disbelief.
I thought I told them not to intervene!
"And what do you think you're going to be able to do, huh?" One of the espers asked, as he prepared an attack in his hand.
"Because I think you're way out of your league!" He said, sending a massive shockwave of sound at the blank faced girl in front of them, who didn't seem to be all that affected, leaving him and his other buddies next to him in slight shock.
"So you must be the sound based esper I heard earlier." Asher said with slight amusement growing in her voice.
"Zierdan what are you doing! I told you and Sissy to let me handle this!" She said as she fought the pyrokineticist, with Asher not even looking in her generally vicinity.
"If you're trying to tell me something Kuroko, I sadly can't hear you, since I turned my Anti-Amps down to 0, just so that could happen…" She said as a matter of fact, missing Shirai growling at her in frustration.
"Oh so you're trying to fight us with a handicap?" The other rogue esper sneered, seeing Asher's eyes narrow slightly as she read his lips.
"I'm not trying to fight you at all, as it could turn pretty ugly for you. You'd have a better chance in fighting the pervert behind you than me anyway, so I'd suggest you don't."
"Hmmmph right, I bet the bottom of my shoe has more intimidation than you. You look like you couldn't even harm a fly."
"How well did that type of thinking help those 2 buddies of yours behind you?" Asher replied, referring to the two espers that had been restrained by Shirai after she had just defeated the pyrokineticist behind them. "She's only about 1 or 2 years younger than me and she still was able to defeat them, so in terms of intimidation, I feel you lack it more than I do…."
"Why you!" The sound esper from before running up to Asher as he sent a sound-based punch right towards her.
She causally sidestepped the attack before raising her right arm, expelling a wave of gravity to smack him hard against the wall next to them.
"ACK!" He yelled out in pain, cementing himself against the wall due to the hole he created when he hit it, falling unconscious instantly.
"That was your last warning," Asher stated as seriousness began to seep into her voice, a small shadow falling onto her face. She adjusted the sound on her Anti-Amps slightly since the sound esper had been taken out. "If you don't want to be like him, I'd suggest you turn around and fight the judgment officer behind you as I have no obligation to keep the safety of your well-being in mind…."
As one of the rogue espers ran away in fear to the car off to the side, the other esper who standing in front of her was standing there with fear and disbelief on his face.
"Your eyes…." He said shakily as Asher seemed to halt in her footsteps.
"They turned purple when you activated your esper ability. T-There's only one esper who does that who can manipulate the space like what you just did! You're the Calamity of Tokiwadai, GravShift Z aren't you!?" He continued, taking a couple steps back as it looked like the girl's face darkened from hearing that name.
Instantly, he felt the gravity around him increase rapidly, forcing him to his knees, as the esper in question began to walk towards him.
"I would suggest that you stop talking…." Asher said darkly, as she looked down at him with contempt in her eyes. "The gravity around you has been increased to equal around 50% more than the Earth's gravity. Want to test how much you can endure until you pass out from the weight of it all?"
She increased it again, sending him into the ground as he shouted in pain, struggling to be able to breathe under it's weight, looking up at Asher who seemed to hold no regard for his life as she stared back at him, emotionless with a wild glint in her eyes.
"Please stop, I'm sorry!" He asked, before the gravity increased around him even more. "AHHHH!"
"Sorry what was that?" Asher asked as her eyes faded into a red hue, adjusting the Anti-Amps on her ears back around 0. "I can't hear you since you seem to be being forced into the pavement…."
"Zierdan!" Shirai called out as Asher increased the gravity around him again, noticing that the esper somehow angered the usually stoic girl in front of him.
He must have called her by that name, She thought as she sweatdroppped, teleporting towards her and instantly feeling the weight of the gravity within the area she had laid out. She didn't even seem to notice Shirai when she came, her eyes locked on the rogue esper in front of her.
"You're going to be sent into the depths of hell when I'm done with you. How stupid of you to even think you could fight someone like me….." Asher said hollowly as the redness in her eyes and the streaks in her hair seem to grow in vibrance even more. It seemed like her eyes were glazed over, seemingly stuck on the emotions that surfaced out of nowhere.
Shirai struggled and was able to reach up and teleport the Anti-Amps out of her ears, calling out her name once more.
"Zierdan calm down or you're going to cause this whole area to cave-in on itself!" Shirai called out again as Asher's eyes seem to widen in realization as the red hue in her eyes faded back into its natural blue.
As she gradually released the hold she had on the gravity around her, the rogue esper in front of them promptly passed out, as Asher herself let out heavy breaths, inhaling and exhaling to try and catch her breath.
"Sorry about that, Kuroko and thanks…." She said, both relieved that Shirai had snapped her out of it and disappointed that she got lost in her own head so quickly. Shirai helped her sit down on the ground, seeing that she was very unsteady on her feet, about ready to pass out.
"Honestly….." Shirai stated with relief in her voice. "You can be so reckless sometimes Zierdan."
When she looked over at the girl in question, she noticed that she had fallen asleep, prompting a sigh to come from her mouth, as she teleported them over to the benches they were at before and laying her down, walking back to finish off the last rogue esper who was trying to get away….
When Asher finally regained some level of consciousness, she looked up and saw Misaka staring right back down at her as her head laid in her lap.
"Took you long enough." Misaka said with relief filling her voice and face.
"Mikoto?" Asher said in confusion, looking up and noticing that some time had passed since she had fallen asleep, seeing the sun starting to set in the sky.
"How long have I been out?"
"Oh not long. Maybe about an hour or so..."
"And you've been sitting here with me that entire time?" Asher asked, seeing Misaka nod her head.
As she tried to sit up, the pulsing pain in her head became apparent, causing her to wince and fall back into Misaka's lap.
"Easy, there Z….." Misaka said with slight concern in her voice. "You over did it with your ability once again. You know you shouldn't shift the wavelength around you that much for the red shift to overtake you like that…"
"I'm guessing Kuroko told you what happened then?" Asher asked, sighing when Misaka nodded her head to confirm.
"She didn't really have to all that much though. You laid so much gravity in the air that even my radar picked up on it. I told you that you needed to be careful didn't I? And you go off and make yourself pass out. You can be so careless sometimes, Zierdan."
As Asher looked away from her with some sadness on her face, Misaka continued.
"At least that's what I want to say….." She said as Asher looked back at her in surprise. "But I can't really say anything due to my own temper getting out of hand on occasion. But you shouldn't allow what some idiots call you to get you so angry like that. Because you are not the calamity that they say you to be."
Asher stayed silent, her mind flashing to a hazy scene before her sometime in the past, with devastation in her wake, with Misaka standing in front of her with determination written in her eyes.
She always seems to believe in me…. She thought to herself.
She still doesn't blame me for what happened that day. An event that I'm still getting bits and pieces of ever since it happened….
"Thanks for that, Mikoto…." She said as a slight blush fell on her cheeks. "Is this where you tell me that our 'talk' is being moved to now rather than later?"
"Hahaha, no." Misaka said as she laughed a little. "I think you've gotten enough entertainment today, so I guess I can cancel it."
Asher let out a smile, as she tried to sit up again, succeeding in it a little better this time even though the pain continued to ring out in her head.
"Hey, I don't think you should get up yet…." Misaka said as she had her hands out ready and waiting if Asher slumped back down unexpectedly.
"I know since I'm probably not going to be able to walk by myself for a while." She said with slight amusement in her voice, looking over and seeing Saten being thanked for something she had done earlier. "I'll just wait for you here, since I know you want to go check on everyone. I'm okay now so you don't have to worry about me anymore, Mikoto."
She closed her eyes for a second before feeling Misaka picking her off the bench, with her arm wrapped around her shoulder. She looked over at her in shock, making sure she was able to relieve some of her weight by trying to stand on her own just a bit.
"If you have enough energy to tell me where to go and what to do, then you have enough energy to come with me," She said with a smile on her face, as they walked over to the group slowly.
After staying quiet in shock, Asher let a small smile grow on her face as Shirai, Saten, and Uiharu waved over at them.
As Misaka waved back at them, Asher, looked over at them with fondness in her eyes.
I may not be a huge people person, she thought to herself as Shirai began to rant to her about how reckless it was for a civilian like herself to intervene in the duties of a judgement officer.
But, if she's here with me and she trusts them, she thought as she looked over at Misaka who smiled back at her along with Saten and Uiharu.
Then I guess, I should use my energy to trust them too. Learning new faces may be overwhelming for me at times, but I think it's something I'm starting to quite like to some degree….
Classified File LOG #012
Experiment Log for Project Wave*****
November 4th, 1:00PM ******
*Subject seems to be assimilating well to the use of the sound wave device as it allows her to push her abilities past her the limits originally seen a week prior. However, she can become erratic at times if she increases the wavelength around her too fast for her to control, leading to major mood swings that usually tilt in favor of something akin to cold rage.
This will not be a case for concern as we have found ways to subdue her if this becomes the case by sending a high-level frequency wave of sound into her temporal and frontal lobe of her brain simultaneously, which usually knocks the subject out upon doing so.
*I have dubbed this apparent shift in wavelength into 2 types: Blue Shift and Red Shift as her ability usually applies to most applications concerning the phenomena of gravity itself. In this regard, these shifts in wavelength apply to Einstein's well-known theory of General Relativity.
Blue shift is usually implicated when her eyes seem to not change in color, only giving the blues of her eyes and hair a little more vibrance. It's not as dangerous as Red Shift itself, only signaling that waves are going towards her as a course of attraction, shortening the waves themselves..
Red shift is more common to see as it indicates the waves are elongated, moving away from the subject. The safe level of this shift is indicated if her eyes fade into a purple hue whenever she projects the gravity dimensions around her. However, if she increases the wavelength of this too quickly that her mind can process, it can lead to a dramatic change in wavelength which is signaled by when her eyes go from purple to red.
As said earlier, it does tend to inflict damage to her overall mental state, though she still maintains a high level of intelligence in response to her calculations. She does have a limit that she can be in this state that if gone over by too much, it can throw her mind into overdrive, usually rendering her either dazed or unconscious. The prime reason for the project itself is seen in this very concept no matter the danger to her and everyone here within Academy City, however….
Once the sound wave device is fit to expand her personal reality in itself and allows us to control her overall brain capabilities, she will become a prime asset for us to fully control that even the current 1st ranked Level 5, Accelerator, can't even defeat.
END OF LOG
SIGNED BY
S**** W*****
HEAD RESEARCHER OF W***** INDUSTRIES
AFFILIATED WITH KIHARA RESEARCH TEAM
CREATED: 4 YEARS AGO
Word Count of Chapter: 9648 |Page Count: 20 pages |Reviews: 5 | Followers: 6 |Favorites: 5
Thanks for reading!
Sidenote: I have a poll on my profile if you want to vote for the next fanfic I should work on...it will end this Sat. (05/30)...
Review Replies
Mosdra Kazuma: The current arc that this story is starting in is the Level Upper Arc of Railgun:)
Guest Reviewer: Thanks!
drak3n/Accelerator Chan: Thanks! I thought it would be a cool concept for there to be a character who was Misaka's age/year that she had known before her main cast of friends. They're personalities are able to balance each other out more of less with Asher as it pertains to Misaka's character, keeping a level head in most situations and only intervening when she knows she has to while Misaka is able to balance out Asher's personality by seeing the value of some things and providing a more straightforward approach that Asher may not have noticed right away...Im glad that both of you like the general concept of both the story and OC so far:)
Mental Forge:. I actually have not read the Railgun Manga as the knowledge I have of this series in general is due to watching the Railgun/Index/Accelerator animes in full and using the wiki here and there (especially the unified story timeline) to get a general gist of how everything fits together...but I do know about the fight that you are referencing as after I did my overall outline concerning Asher's abilities, I found out about that character from the wiki...after looking at her overall abilities in comparison to Asher's, they do have similarities considering they both control gravity to some extent (such as light manipulation) while also some differences (since Asher's gravity control is more expansive since she can control it in any given area by calculating certain dimensions for the amount of area she wants to control:)
Thanks for the reviews!
PurpleClover99
