AN: Hello readers! I have brought a fairly lengthy chapter today (around 8,000 words), which was basically due to the fact that I couldn't bring myself to split it...

I don't have much to say other than that My Hero Academia won the poll that had this month, meaning that will be the next fanfic I plan for;)

That's all I have today, so I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Please leave a review on anything you liked, think I should work on, or just any questions in general! I enjoy reading them and I will answer them at the end of the next chapter:D

*Last Thorough Edit: 9/05/20*

For Grammar/Sentence/Structure Errors

**New Story that is companion to this series is out titled "Asher" in which will dive deeper into her background as a small gift to you guys to delve deeper into Zierdan Asher's character. After reading this, you can go over there to check it out as it pertains to what happens the night of July 14th. But I suggest reading at least the disclaimer message I usually have for each of my chapters before for where you can also start in terms of how far CSG is right now:)**


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 7: The Case of the Unseen Esper…Mystery Solved?

4 years ago…

Misaka was sitting on the rooftop, waiting for Asher to make her way up there since they usually sat up there to eat lunch together.

The girl in question was usually the first one here, since the class she was in before was closer to the stairwell than hers was, but there was still no sign of her.

"I wonder where she could be…" Misaka said aloud as she looked up at the sky.

'She has been acting strange these last couple of days. Almost like she has been trying to avoid and keep her distance from me for some reason,' She thought to herself.

'But even with that, she still has always came up here, even though she knows I will always come up here no matter how she acts towards me.'

After a little time passed, she heard part of the door creak in front of her, causing her to instantly move her head towards the noise before being surprised from not seeing the door even be opened all the way. It almost sounded like someone had twisted the handle ever so slightly before they just stopped proceeding to finish the motion.

This caused her to be somewhat confused, recognizing the blue streaked, light blonde hair that she had saw for a split second in the window fleeting off somewhere inside the stairwell.

"Asher?" She called out, only to be met with silence as the door was kept shut.

This prompted her to rise up to her feet and make her way over to the door. When she opened it, she looked around and saw Asher huddled in on herself on the ground next to her with her face hidden under the shadows of her hair, her knees brought to her chest, and her hands constantly rubbing the area on the back of neck as she looked towards the floor.

Even though she never verbalized anything about herself, Misaka had picked up on multiple things to get an idea on whatever she was thinking or feeling, knowing that the back of her neck was a sort of comfort spot for her whenever she was nervous or uncomfortable.

A sight she never saw all that often, since tried her best to hide how she was truly feeling on the inside from both her and everyone else around her...

So, after looking down at her in concern for a few moments, she walked over and sat down in front of her with the girl in question not even raising her head to acknowledge her.

"Long day?" Misaka said with a sigh, trying to fill the current silence of the stairwell. "At least it's almost over, right?"

"The only thing that sucks about that is that test we have during our last class. Our teacher is probably going to put us in alphabetical order like last time, meaning I will probably not be able to wake you if you decide that's the best time to take a long nap…." She continued before hearing something she didn't expect to hear today.

"M-Misaka…I h-have something… that I've been m-meaning to ask you," Asher said in a low voice, causing Misaka to stop in her tracks as her eyes widened in shock.

'Did she just?' She thought to herself as she looked over at Asher who still had her head between her knees.

For the past 3 years that Misaka had been up here talking with her, this was the first time that Asher herself had said anything to her.

She may have reacted to whatever she would say but in terms of talking, she would refrain from doing it as the only times she would hear her speak would be on days that the teacher asked her a question with those only being one to two word responses.

"I-I'm guessing with your silence then you d-don't want to hear it? If that's the case, then I under-"

"No no no! I do! I do!" Misaka rushed out as she touched her knees, seeing Asher flinch slightly from the contact. "You just kinda surprised me, so that's why I didn't answer right away."

"Really? That doesn't make any sense. " Asher asked with confusion in her tone, raising her head slightly to look over at her. "How would someone like me be able to surprise someone like you?"

Misaka thought on that for a couple of moments before saying, "Considering we're actually having a conversation is surprising in itself. It's a nice surprise to hear your voice for once, since I rarely ever get to."

Asher eyes widened slightly before she turned away with her eyebrows turned upright as she brought her arms to cradle her legs.

"It shouldn't…I-I shouldn't…be able to do something like that," She replied as she lowered her head back into her knees. "I don't…I've never…I shouldn't have the capacity to do so."

"I-I don't understand why you feel that way about something as insignificant as my voice. Or why you feel obligated to say things like that to me….Why?...Why can't I ever….ever understand it? Why does it always confuse me?'" She said shakily under her breath. "It frustrates me…It frustrates me so so much…that I don't know if I can take it anymore."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Misaka asked as she shifted herself to her knees. "I don't have to feel obligated to say things like that towards you."

"You have to." Asher said almost regretfully. "That's how it always is. Whether out of obligation or just pity, that has to be the reason why you waste effort on talking to me."

"No that isn't true!" Misaka said as she put her hands on Asher's shoulders, seeing her stare back at her with eyes that both wavered but also tried to resign of any emotion. "I'm not wasting any effort talking to you when I genuinely just want to get to know you!"

"Even with all you've heard about me, Misaka?" Asher asked with a voice that seemed to lack any emotion. "I haven't said a single word to you up to this point, meaning you have no clue if you actually want to get to know me. No one ever does, so what makes you so different in comparison?"

Misaka was about to reply until her eyes widened in shock, seeing something streaming down Asher's face that it seemed like the girl herself didn't even notice.

'Is she…' Misaka thought to herself, as Asher continued talking.

"I don't care what people think about me. But I'm also not stupid or deaf to be oblivious of how most people perceive me to be. I'm just known as the heart-less, emotion-less, blank-faced Level 4 esper who holds no regard for others. Someone dangerous due to the power I possessed even at such a young age, that has grown more and more up until now. A power that I didn't even want in the first pla-"

Asher stopped in her tracks and instantly stiffened up when she felt hands wrap around her neck, looking in surprise and seeing Misaka's chestnut hair in her face.

"What are you doing Misaka?" Asher asked before her eyes widened from feeling wetness run down her back and shoulder.

"I'm sad to hear you say this about yourself, and I'm upset with myself that I didn't know that after all this time, that was what you were feeling." Misaka stated in a low voice. "I'm sorry that I never saw your pain any sooner than this. I'm sorry that I didn't do this earlier than I should have…."

"F-For what reasons?" Asher asked with a slight tremor in her voice, feeling something rising in her chest that she was familiar with but something she knew she hadn't done in such a long time. " As I said before, I-I don't care what others say about me. E-Even if some of it is true to some degree…"

"It isn't true. None of it is and it isn't right for people to say that about you." Misaka said as she felt the girl under her shaking slightly, feeling something constantly dropping onto her own shoulder and back ever since she hugged her.

"And if you don't care, then why?" She asked as she squeezed the girl under her a little tighter, hearing her breathing beginning to get shakier and shakier as she dug her face into her shoulder.

"Please tell me why you were crying just now, Asher…"


July 14th, 1:00PM (Present Day)

Misaka and Asher had been sitting at the table chatting with one another as they waited for Saten to return from the restroom.

But after around 15 minutes, the girl in question still hadn't returned…

"Hmmmmm," Misaka hummed aloud. "I wonder what's taking Saten so long. Her tea is starting to get cold."

"You said she went to the restroom, right?" Asher asked casually as she finished her 3rd slice of cake. "She should've been out by now."

"While you should've taken a break with that cake of yours." Misaka said amusedly. "I know you like it, but you're going to make yourself get a stomachache if you eat all of it in one sitting."

"I wasn't going to…" Asher said with a sigh as she closed the case. "I'll just give the rest to Maika when we get back to the dorm, hoping she'll hide it somewhere for me."

As Misaka laughed at that statement, she saw Asher abruptly stiffen up, quickly rising up from her chair as it squeaked across the floor.

"Um, Z?" Misaka said as she stood up slowly, seeing the girl in question looking at the area around her skeptically. "What's wrong?"

"Where are the restrooms again Mikoto?" Asher asked with upmost seriousness in her voice.

"I think over there in that corridor-" Misaka tried to say before seeing Asher run off in that direction, surprising her again as she ran after her. "Zierdan! Where are you running off to!?"

Asher felt sweat fall down the side of her brow, recognizing the same feeling that she had sensed earlier come from this direction.

Which apparently had been the general direction of where Saten was supposed to be in right now…

I hate this, Asher thought to herself, not liking that she didn't know what this feeling was from.

When she made it over to the door, she was about to go and open it before she heard Misaka come around the corner.

"Zierdan, tell me what's wrong! You've been acting like this since we've been here!" Misaka said with concern in her voice.

"Just wait for a little while, Mikoto." Asher stated as she turned the knob, hearing Misaka move to be right next to her. "I'll explain later, alright."

When she opened the door, they looked over to the sink in shock, seeing that Saten was passed out on top of it.

"What happened to her!?" Misaka asked as she instantly went over to check on her as Asher narrowed her eyes at the running faucet.

"Someone must have attacked her when she was about to leave." Asher stated.

Dang it, I should've been more careful, She thought as she bit the side of her cheek.

I knew that something strange was going on and didn't take the proper precautions to stop something like this from happening, leading to Saten being attacked…

"Hey Zierdan! I really can't have you zoning out right now!" Misaka said as she looked down at Saten's face, gasping in disbelief.

"Is there something wrong, Mikoto?" Asher asked as she looked at her in confusion.

Even though the answer was obvious due to Saten's unconscious state, she didn't understand why after a few moments of her gasping in shock that she was now laughing under her breath.

"Here take a look for yourself." Misaka said as she tried to regain her composure.

When Asher walked over to her and saw why Misaka was laughing, she instantly let out a sigh.

What kind of illogical nonsense is this?


Tokiwadai Middle School (Judgment Room)

One hour later…

Both Misaka and Asher carried Saten back to Tokiwadai to meet up with Uiharu and Shirai about their current situation.

"Is she okay?" Uiharu asked in concern, seeing a limp Saten in their hands as they laid her on the couch.

"Physically, it's nothing too serious, so she should be fine after she lies down for a bit." Misaka explained as she and Asher took a seat at the wooden table at the center of the room.

"Have you two came up with any ideas of who could have done this?" Asher questioned, seeing both Uiharu and Shirai shake their heads.

"No not yet." Shirai replied as she looked at them from over her shoulder. "All we know is that Tokiwadai girls are being targeted by these attacks. Their particular ability is making it tricky for us to figure out anything more than that."

"Kinda figured as much..." Asher said with a sigh, seeing Misaka look over at her skeptically. "Is it most likely due to whoever it is being invisible?"

As Shirai nodded her head in reply, Misaka looked over at Asher with one of her eyebrows quirked up in confusion.

"How did you figure that out?" She asked.

"It's mostly due to a small hunch that I've had for a while, starting when we left to go to the Pasticceria Manicagni." Asher explained as she let out a sigh. "When we were at the gate of the school, I thought I sensed someone behind us using some kind of ability but when I looked to check, there was no one there. I let it go thinking I was sensing something else by mistake but when we were waiting for Saten to get back, I sensed the same thing again."

"So that's why you sort of freaked out earlier." Misaka concluded. "There aren't many things that spook you like that."

"Then that means whoever it was has been following us for a long while now." Shirai speculated, remembering how weird it was when Asher had explained that to her before. "Most likely after Saten changed out of her clothes."

"Exactly." Asher stated. "They must've noticed that I was on to them, since I didn't sense it again until whoever it was attacked Saten in the restroom."

"Hey guys," Uiharu called out from the computer she was sitting at, each one of them looking over at her. "Come check this out!"

When they all got over there, the video showed one of the students from Tokiwadai that had been attacked explaining what they had saw to someone from Anti-Skill, fitting Asher's speculation of the situation as they weren't able to see the attacker either.

However, in the surveillance feed you could clearly see that someone was there walking next to her, even though it looked like she didn't notice them at all.

"Naturally due to this." Shirai stated as she looked over at them. "We had thought that it was an esper who could perform optical manipulation."

"We came up with a list of around 48 espers who all have the ability to make themselves disappear completely." Uiharu stated.

"I'm guessing I'm one of those 48, correct?" Asher stated, seeing both Uiharu and Shirai nod their heads.

"We did it just to look at the situation from all angles." Shirai stated. "Due to how high your level is, we sort of used you as a comparing factor to each of them to see if they could do something like that if they did."

"But even with that, each of the people on the list has an alibi." Uiharu remarked.

"Meaning, it can't be optical manipulation then. It has to be something else entirely." Asher said as she leaned her back against the wall behind her.

"Yeah Z is right since even though whoever it was could not be seen by the eye, they were still able to be seen on the surveillance cameras." Misaka said as she leaned her head into her hand.

Then what could it be then? What are we missing? Asher thought, trying to analyze their situation as a whole.

Even if they were invisible, I would have still been able to detect them but the few times I did, it was like I was cut completely off the instant I was aware of it…

Zierdan's senses are pretty keen as she is able to sense most esper abilities in range, due to most of them creating fluctuations in the area around them, Misaka thought to herself.

For her to lose it as quickly as she did, not once but twice now, means there's a specific part of this we're looking over entirely.

"Hey Shirai," They heard Uiharu say from next to them. "Did you see that dove go past the window just now?"

"No, sorry I didn't notice…." Shirai said, triggering the gears to run in both Misaka's and Asher's brains as they came to the same conclusion.

"You didn't notice anything…" Misaka said mostly to herself as Asher walked off the wall towards Uiharu.

"Way ahead of you MK." Asher said as she looked down at Uiharu next to her. "Let me see your computer for a second, Uiharu."

After a couple seconds of Asher typing on the computer, she found the ability that both her and Misaka came to a consensus on, turning it towards the others so that they could see.

"Found it…" Asher stated.

"The ability known as Dummy Check has the power to impair the awareness that a person is looking at a particular subject…" Uiharu read as her eyes went down the screen.

"From what it says here," she continued. "Only one person has it: Jufuku Miho, a 2nd year at Sekichu Middle School."

Before Asher was about to respond, Shirai shouted from next to her. "That's our attacker!"

When she said that, Asher heard it at much a louder volume than she had needed to, cringing slightly in pain as she clutched her ear to turn down the volume slightly.

"Jeez Kuroko…" Asher said as she winced under breath. "Can you take it down a couple notches?"

"Sorry Zierdan." Shirai said with a sweatdrop, hearing Uiharu let out a surprised gasp.

"Hey wait a second," Uiharu said in confusion. "How is it possible for her to do this when she's only a level 2? It also says she doesn't have the power to conceal herself completely."

"Are you sure you put in the right thing Z?" Misaka asked as Asher nodded her head.

"I made sure the ability description was fairly accurate to what we think happened earlier but due to her level, it's starting to make her less of a possibility." Asher said as she looked outside the window.

"Dang, I really thought we were on the right track." Misaka said, before hearing Saten, who had been sleeping at this point, let out a groan.

"Owww, What happened?" Saten groaned as she held a hand up to her face as Misaka, Shirai, and Uiharu looked over at her in surprise.

As Asher kept her attention on watching the clouds pass in the sky, she heard the three next to her trying to hold back their laughter, automatically knowing why they were in the first place due to the apparent addition on Saten's eyebrows.

"You three are so childish…." Asher said with a sigh as Saten sat there in confusion.


"WHHHAAATTTT!" Saten shouted in disbelief, hearing Misaka, Shirai, and Uiharu continuously laughing around her as she looked into the mirror.

What she saw was breathtaking, but not in a good way as it appeared whoever had attacked her had decided to draw on her eyebrows with some sort of thick marker.

"Come on now, get a hold of yourself." Uiharu said amusedly as she tried to not laugh.

"I understand that this might be quite a shock for you." Misaka added from in front of her, doing the same thing.

"If you had bangs as long as this girl's are, you would at least be able to hide most of it." Shirai said aloud as she was looking at the image on the computer.

While this was going on, Asher was currently sitting at the same table as Shirai with her head down, cradling her ears from cringing due to not expecting how loud Saten was going to scream when she had handed her the mirror. All the shouting she had done earlier due to her irritation with what Misaka tricked her into saying previously was starting to catch up with her as well...

They're all being so loud that I think my head is about to explode, she thought, currently regretting how high she had her hearing on before.

They all know how sensitive I can get to the noise around me, but they still somehow make it that even my Anti Amps can barely dampen it most times, which isn't a logical thing to do or happen whatsoever.

"It was her!" Saten yelled from in front of her, causing her to wince under her breath as she brought her head to look up at the group who for some reason had decided to walk over to where she had been sitting.

"What are you even referring to, Saten?" Asher groaned. "And why is it that you have to yell about it in the first place?"

"Does that mean you saw the person who did this to you?" Shirai questioned.

"Yeah, that's right!" Saten said confidentially. "When it happened, I was able to see her in the mirror."

"Meaning…" Asher said as she was trying to come up with an explanation before she gave up doing so, laying her forehead back on the table. "Crap, I can't think straight enough to figure out why that's important."

"It means that she can only make you unaware of her presence, but only if you're looking right at her." Misaka speculated aloud.

"That sounds like it could be right." Asher remarked without bringing her head to look up at them. "Since she supposedly can't hide herself from both mirrors and surveillance cameras. And when I sensed her the first two times, I hadn't been looking directly at her. I only lost her when I tried to look for where she had been behind us."

Before Asher could say anymore, she heard Saten let out a couple chuckles from in front of her.

"Hehe! That girl made me look like a total freak, and now she's gonna pay for it big time! Let's do it Uiharu!" Saten shouted.

"I'm begging all of you for the future of my sanity and overall health to please stop yelling. You all are going to either make me pass out, cry, or everything else in between from the pain due to how close you are to me with all this noise." Asher stated bluntly, with everyone else in the room just now noticing that she had been struggling with their volume this entire time.

"Oh sorry…." They all said simultaneously at a lower volume, hearing Asher sigh aloud.


Asher had to walk out in the hallway to regain some piece of her sanity, due to how much sound her ears had started to pick up in that enclosed room.

This so annoying, Asher thought to herself, annoyed by the fact that she was probably going to miss out on what they were planning.

She decided that it was best to turn her hearing down all the way, having her basically sitting in complete silence as the sound was muted all around her.

After a while, she started to nod off slightly from where she was sitting, maybe due to the slight influence of the painkillers she had taken moments before coming out here or just to replenish some of her energy overall.

Reliving a moment in her past that she hadn't reminisced on in a long while…


4 years ago…

"Please tell me why you were crying just now, Asher…"

'Wait what does she mean by?' Asher thought to herself, not realizing until just now that tears had been streaming down her face, raising up her hand to wipe some of them away.

'When did I even start? I haven't done it in so many years, so I guess I just didn't realize it before.'

"I don't know why I am," Asher stated almost matter of factly with her voice muffled on Misaka's shoulder. "It just happened I guess…."

"I need a better explanation than that," Misaka said shakily as her hold tightened even more. "Someone like you doesn't just cry on a whim, Asher. There's more to the story than that. I promise you that you can trust me, so please stop closing yourself off from someone who really cares about you and considers you a friend."

"I honestly don't know, Misaka I w-wish…I wish I did. I've always had a hard time understanding emotions and mine are no exception." Asher said shakily. "Something else I don't understand is why you care so much about me, when I'm someone you don't even know enough to logically be able to care as much as you do to even be considered a friend of yours?"

"If you think that then, I think you're underestimating me just a bit." Misaka said jokingly as she laughed under her breath. "Yes, you may have kept to yourself a lot, but it isn't hard to learn about someone even if they don't talk all that much."

Before Asher could reply, she felt her body instantly relax when Misaka found a specific point in her neck and rubbed comforting circles in that spot.

She never meant for it to become a spot of comfort, only noticing it over time that it became a habit whenever she was uncomfortable or nervous as her mother many years before would do the same whenever she needed to calm down.

"For one thing, I know you generally rub this spot whenever you're uncomfortable, or just whenever you feel inclined in that moment to do so to get yourself to relax…."

'How did she figure that out? Do I do it that often?' She thought to herself as her eyes closed, feeling herself unwound more and more as she heard Misaka talk over the comforting haze in her mind.

"I know that you tend to nap at the worst times, especially in class when there's a major test or quiz. But the thing about that is you somehow wake up at the last moment and pass the test with flying colors…"

"You love math and science more than most people, even if you'll never admit it. The teachers seem to know that as well, especially when they always get you to do the problem on the board, knowing that you're probably one of the few people in class that actually knows what she's doing…"

"You're a chocoholic to the point of concern sometimes. Almost eating enough cake to put anyone our age into a coma, while you love it until later when you get a massive stomachache from eating too much…."

"You love looking at the sky to pass the time or watching the rain crashing down to the ground…"

"And something that most don't notice about you is that you try to hide whatever you're feeling from others, not ever wanting to bother them with your problems. Remaining silent even though you want to verbalize what you're feeling. But at the same time not knowing how to express yourself…"

"You…figu…red…all that….out without me… having to tell you?" Asher asked softly, feeling herself nearly tipping into sleep from how relaxed she was at this moment. "That sounds…almost like what a stalker… would do, Misaka… which is surprising… from someone who barely has any patience at all…"

"Hey what is that supposed to mean!? And I'm not being a stalker! I am your friend so of course I know stuff about you after all this time!" Misaka stated before she paused from feeling Asher's body go limper in her hold.

"Yeah… I k-kn…ow," Asher stated sluggishly.

"Hey are you okay?" Misaka asked in concern.

"Yeah…I'm fine…more than I have ever been in such a long time," Asher stated as she slowly sunk into sleep. "I…think…or now… know…that it's be…cause…I have you…right n..ow…Mikoto….since…you say that...I can trust you…"

'Someone who I can now see is my friend. Something I never thought possible for someone like me,' She thought to herself.

Misaka was going to respond to that but caught herself when she realized that she fell asleep.

After a few moments of smiling down at her, her eyes widened slightly, just noticing at that point that she had called her 'Mikoto' instead of 'Misaka'….


Present (10 minutes later…)

After a while, Asher started to come out of her sleep, feeling herself being shook slightly on her shoulder as the volume was being adjusted in her ears.

"Z, come on it's time to wake uppppp." Misaka said as she saw her eyes scrunch up slightly.

Saten, Uiharu, and Shirai looked down at Asher in amusement, knowing that her 'break' was going to end up with her taking an unplanned nap.

"I can try waking her up Sissy." Shirai said with a closed eyed smile, immediately teleporting out of the way when she felt the gravity increase around her.

"HaHa thought that would wo-AAH!"

When Misaka, Saten, and Uiharu looked over on the other side of the hall, they saw Shirai flat on her back with some sort of purple construct rolling towards them, hearing her groan in pain.

As Saten and Uiharu looked at it in confusion, Misaka let out a sigh as she stopped it from rolling with her foot.

"You just couldn't help yourself, huh Z?" Misaka asked as she facepalmed, hearing the girl in question let out a soft grunt as she stretched her arms.

"She knew it was coming." Asher stated bluntly as she rose up to her feet. "I already warned her that I could do it, but I guess she wanted to test it anyway."

"I should have you arrested for assaulting a judgment officer…" Shirai groaned as she sat up, looking up and seeing Asher have her hand ready to help her to her feet.

"I think we have multiple arrestable offenses between the both of us, Kuroko." Asher said with slight amuse in her voice. "And it wasn't my fault that you decided to teleport there."

As the others laughed around them, Shirai let out a sigh as she smiled up at Asher and took her hand.

"Now that you've had your nap, Zierdan, ready to actually do some work?" Shirai stated, hearing Asher let out a small sigh as she looked over at her with a slight smile on her face.

"I guess I've replenished enough of my energy," Asher said as she put her hands in her pockets. "So, what did I miss?"


Somewhere in Academy City

30 minutes later…

"Well, I'm actually surprised that you didn't involve yourself more in this plan that you all came up with, Mikoto…." Asher remarked as she sat on a swing next to the Electromaster.

From what was explained to her earlier, they were able to narrow down where Jufuku would be within this district by singling out a sweet spot within the district that allowed her to go mostly unnoticed by most people. So, they decided to have Uiharu work on the cameras within that area, while Saten and Shirai chased down the hidden esper.

What had surprised Asher was due to the fact that Misaka and her were currently waiting on a swing set for them to chase her there.

"What do you mean by that, Z?" Misaka asked amusedly.

"I would've thought that you would've had the both of us after this Dummy Check girl, not sitting here while Saten and Kuroko go after her." Asher said as she looked up at the sky. "It would've been a lot faster that way."

"Yeah it could have, but it sounds like our friends of ours can handle it." Misaka stated as she pointed up to her earpiece. "You were able to connect with those Amps of yours, right?"

"I was able to with Uiharu's help." Asher stated. "So, I can hear what's going on with them as well."

"Did you even know that they could receive or connect to calls like that?" Misaka asked as Asher shook her head.

"I've never had the energy to really figure out if they did. It's nice and all but I don't know if I want someone like Kuroko screaming directly in my ears." Asher said bluntly as a voice rang out from the other end.

"You know that I can hear you, right Zierdan?" Shirai stated with slight annoyance in her voice.

"Considering I didn't try to mute myself when I said it, then yes. I know that you can hear me, Kuroko." Asher said bluntly, hearing both Uiharu and Saten laugh in the background as Shirai let out a sigh.

"You need to learn some restraint with that bluntness of yours, Zierdan." Shirai stated.

"We're almost to where you guys are by the way," Saten said. "We're most likely 2-3 minutes away."

"Alright, see you here in a minute." Misaka stated as she muted herself on her earpiece, hearing Asher let out a sigh as she muted herself as well.

"Something on your mind, Z?" Misaka said as she quirked one of her eyebrows.

"Not really," Asher said as she looked over at her. "Just living in the moment, I guess. I think I've had the most social interactions these last couple days than I've had in years. I didn't think I would find other people that talk as much as you do, and it's starting to be quite tiresome…."

"I could be sitting in my room taking a nap or aimlessly walking the streets of this city alone, getting into fights that I didn't even try to start. I could even be standing on top of a building somewhere, just looking out at this city without any noise around me."

"Wow tell me how you really feel." Misaka said with a sweatdrop. "I think Kuroko is right, that bluntness of yours needs to go down a couple notches."

"While your level of patience needs to be increased a dozen of times more, because I wasn't even done with what I was saying." Asher stated with slight amuse in her voice.

"Because now for some reason, I'm choosing to sit here on a swing with you, waiting on a perverse judgment officer and someone else that teases me about as much as you do, being directed by a girl who knows more about computers than I thought possible, who likes to eat sweets almost as much as I like to eat chocolate to some degree. All in all, a pretty unprecedented situation I've found myself in it seems." She said as she sat up from the swing to sit on top of the metal railing next to them.

"Well how do you feel about this 'unprecedented situation'?" Misaka asked as she laughed a little under her breath from how she described their new friends.

"As I said, it can be quite tiring at times or straining on my ears and overall sanity, but I guess it's growing into something that's pretty nice." Asher said as she looked over her shoulder.

"It seems our guest has arrived, Z." Misaka said as the swing started to creak, looking over at a brown-haired girl who had just walked up the steps.

"Meaning, this mystery game has finally came to an end." Asher stated with a sigh, seeing Jufuku look over at the both of them in shock as Saten and Shirai stopped right behind her.

"Impossible!" Jufuku exclaimed as Misaka went to stand next to Asher. "Why isn't my Dummy Check working anymore!?"

"It's not hard to stop something when you know how it works..." Asher stated matter of factly.

"But who can say? The game has been fun, but it's all over now." Misaka stated confidently as Jufuku grumbled in frustration.

"This is why I hate all you stupid brats from Tokiwadai!" Jufuku stated angrily as she rushed Misaka with a taser in her hand.

Asher was about to stop her, before she saw Misaka's hand stop her from doing so, silently telling her that she could handle it.

Next thing she knew, Jufuku put the taser in the center of Misaka's chest, looking up in surprise when it didn't have any effect.

Well that was a mistake, Asher thought with a sweatdrop.

"Nice try but stun guns don't have that much of an effect on me." Misaka said with a smile as she sparked electricity between both of her fingers.

"Uhhh, oh.." Jufuku said nervously as Misaka brought down one of her fingers and shocked her, causing her to immediately pass out.

Before she could hit the ground too hard, Asher slowed down her fall, sighing at the sight itself.

"I understand how illogical it was for her to try and taze you, but you know that you didn't have to knock her out, right MK?" Asher asked as she rose up from the railing as the others gathered around Jufuku.

"Give me a break Z." Misaka said amusedly. "I held back considerably, so she shouldn't be out for too long."

"Uiharu," Shirai said as she looked over at a camera. "Please contact Anti-skill and inform them that we successfully apprehended the suspect!"

"Okay..." Uiharu said as she yawned over the earpiece.

"Good work today!" Misaka said cheerfully.


A little while later…

As they were sitting on the bench waiting for Jufuku to regain consciousness, Asher's phone started to ring in her pocket. When she looked down at the caller ID, she instantly sighed as she began to walk away from the group.

"I'll be right back." Asher said as they all looked over at her in surprise.

When she got to a spot far enough away, she accepted it.

"Go ahead, Doctor…." Asher said, hearing the person on the other line laugh at her tone of voice.

"It's nice hearing from you too, Miss Asher." The Doctor said with amuse in his voice. "Have you been doing well?"

"As well as I can be," She said as she leaned her back against the tree. "Is there something you needed from me?"

"Nothing specifically right now, though, I wanted to remind you that your monthly check-up is tomorrow."

"I thought you said that I didn't need that until next month." She said with a long sigh as the Doctor laughed again on the other line.

"I did in fact say that last month, meaning it is already next month."

"Yeah I know, unfortunately…" She said as rubbed the back of neck.

"I can reschedule if you want, though, not by too much. You know how important these are to make sure your brainwaves and electrical signals are attuned properly. You may not like the result if they end up going haywire. We also need to make sure to see if your hearing sensitivity is getting any better or worse as that is another issue in itself if you get overwhelmed by it too much…"

"Yeah, yeah I understand that. I guess I'm okay with coming in tomorrow if it's just a checkup."

"Glad to hear that, but before I go, I have two things I need to ask you. Are you still having random memory flashes of certain events that are still from what you say are 'hazy' for you to fully remember?"

Asher paused at that as her eyes looked towards the ground slightly.

"Yeah...sometimes." She said after pausing for a while. "I think I remember most of everything at this point, but those flashes do happen once in a while."

"Alright," the Doctor said as he paused for a second before continuing with his next question.

"Are you able to remember anything concerning the last day of Silas's attempt of finishing Project WaveInflux?"

When she heard that name, she immediately felt a spike of pain go through her head, causing her to wince slightly as she slid her back down the tree to sit down.

"Dang it…." Asher winced under breath.

"Miss Asher? Are you alright?" the Doctor asked urgently over the phone after he heard her wince under her breath repeatedly.

"Alright, no. Trying to get there right now, yes." Asher sighed as she clutched the side of her head. "I wasn't expecting you to just come out and ask that, since you know that generally triggers me. And you probably already know the answer…"

"Well considering how much you deflect from answering, I honestly don't have a great idea of how much you actually remember in comparison to our last session. But I'm sorry for prying. You don't have to answer now if you don't want to."

"It's fine." Asher replied as the pain started to fade. "It's just still a hard subject to go into, but if you must know, I still don't remember much of anything around that time. It still gets pretty hazy those last couple of days with that day probably being almost a complete blank."

"Almost a complete blank? That seems like some progress from nothing at all."

"If you say so," Asher sighed as she saw Misaka walking down the sidewalk out of the corner of her eye. "Hey, I have to go, so I'll see you tomorrow at the hospital."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow at 2:30 Miss Asher. Have a nice rest of your day."

As Asher hung up the phone, she let out a heavy sigh.

"Well there go my plans tomorrow..." Asher said as she looked down at her feet, hearing a couple footsteps stop in front of her.

"There's a sight I don't see too often." Misaka said with amuse in her voice, bending down to look at her. "What's with the pouting? You were in a fairly decent mood just a second ago."

"I'm not pouting," Asher sighed. "Just slightly annoyed. I have to go to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow."

Misaka's face fell for a slight second, before resigning back to how it was originally as she stood up on her feet.

"It's not like you had any plans tomorrow anyway." Misaka said jokingly as Asher looked up at her with a small frown on her face.

"I was planning on sleeping in tomorrow until at least 4-5PM." Asher replied as she looked off to the side.

"I wish you put more energy somewhere other than taking naps or sleeping horrendously long." Misaka said with a sigh. "Honestly, it's surprising that you're still able to go to sleep at night from how much you sleep during the day."

"Can you blame me?" Asher asked with a shrug. "You and Kuroko basically keep from doing it at school all day, so where else am I supposed to recover my energy?"

"That's still not an excuse..." Misaka said with a facepalm before putting out her hand. "Come on, let's go ahead and go. While you were on your call, Anti-Skill took away that girl we caught earlier."

Asher grabbed onto her hand to rise to her feet, and she stretched out her neck.

"Did she ever explain why she decided to do something as illogical as writing on people's eyebrows?" Asher asked as Misaka sweatdropped.

"Apparently, it was due to an unfortunate breakup with a boy, who happened to go off and date someone at Tokiwadai." Misaka stated. "She kind of rambled on about it for a second, but from what it sounds like whoever it was thought her eyebrows were weird. So, she decided to take it out on Tokiwadai by drawing on our eyebrows with that marker of hers."

"I was expecting anything but that." Asher said with a deadpan. "Of all people to be able to elude us like that was motivated on revenge from something as nonsensical as that? I was thinking it would be something else entirely."

"Yeah it surprised us too." Misaka said as Asher gave her a sideways glance. "Especially since she was actually able to turn fully invisible, even though she was only a level 2."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." Asher stated. "Are we sure whatever is in the database is correct?"

"According to Kuroko, it has to be." Misaka stated as she looked over at Asher. "But from that look on your face, you seem skeptical about that."

"Not necessarily," Asher stated, narrowing her eyes slightly as she looked towards the ground in front of her. "More like cautious. The database is most likely correct, though, this situation just seems weird to me. A level 2 shouldn't be able to fully cloak herself from my senses. But again I could've just let my guard do-"

Before Asher could finish her statement, she felt Misaka punch her in the shoulder.

"Ouch… What was that for?" Asher asked as she looked over at the Electromaster, who was laughing next to her.

"I think you're overthinking the situation, Z." Misaka said with amuse in her voice. "You were sick yesterday, so that could've been why you weren't able to sense her as well as you usually do."

"Yeah I guess so." Asher sighed as she rubbed her arm. "Maybe if I had, Saten wouldn't have been attacked like she did."

Asher raised her hand without looking to catch Misaka's fist as she proceeded to try to land another hit.

"Please stop hitting me." Asher asked as she let go of her hand. "I don't think I deserved that one. And unlike Kuroko, I'm not just going to stand here and take your abuse…."

"Stop blaming yourself." Misaka said as she turned to look down the path in front of her. "At the end of the day, we were able to find and catch who did it, so there's no reason for you to feel bad about that."

"Alright, I guess you're right." Asher said with a sigh. "As long as you stop hitting me then, I will try not to blame myself for it. And I guess I could be overanalyzing the situation just a bit."

As Misaka hummed in response, Asher was still thinking through the events that transpired through that day.

If Kuroko and Mikoto think everything is okay, then I may be being over cautious, she thought to herself, trying to rationalize the feeling she currently had.

I do tend to overanalyze things, so that could also be the case but….

Why is there a part of me thinking that there's more to this situation than we originally thought?


School District 7 Hospital

Heaven Canceller let out sigh after he hung up the phone, sending a sideway glance at the person leaning against the doorway.

"I told her what you wanted me to tell her, but are you sure that it was wise to hide the fact that you're going to be there tomorrow?" He asked, hearing the girl let out a few laughs under breath as she messed around with the remotes in her bag.

"Oh I know Asher will just be just elated to see me tomorrow." She replied with a smile on her face. "We both know that if you told her that she needed to get a head scan from me, she would most likely not show up. "

"So, I think this is the best method of getting her here without an intervention from her or from her other Level 5 counterpart." She continued as sent him a sideways glance with the sparkles in her eyes. "Misaka would just get in the way, and we already have a way of subduing Asher enough that strong gravity field of hers shouldn't be too much of a problem for my ability to get through. The only thing we need to worry about are those Mental blocks she unconsciously has up on her mind, which I should hopefully be able to get through this time."

"I understand your methods, though they are pretty underhanded, Miss Shokuhou, but I guess she does need to get some peace of mind at some point. But we also know how mentally straining and or dangerous it can be whenever you try to forcefully break those blockers that she has, so I advise you to be cautious…" He advised as she proceeded to leave.

"I get why you're concerned Doctor, quite well in fact." Shokuhou said as she looked over her shoulder. "We wouldn't want to break that mind of hers like it did during those experiments that stepdad of hers tried to do, now would we? It could quickly lead to an actual and nearly 2nd calamity to this city that even Misaka could most likely not be able to stop again, which is something I would like to avoid entirely."

"She may be the 5th ranked," She continued as she was about to close the door. "But I know if she didn't always hold herself back or just decided to go off the deep end again and destroy everything in sight…."

"The redshift side of that ability of hers would probably be even more destructive and powerful than Miss 3rd Ranked's Railgun could ever be, considering for a time she was the 3rd ranked herself before Misaka even became a Level 5 in the first place."


Word Count of Chapter: 8274 |Page Count: 17 pages |Reviews: 20 | Followers: 27 |Favorites: 23


Review Replies

Blankow: Well that's a relief (concerning the current pace). I was afraid that I was either boring people or overwhelming them at times, but it seems I was mistakened:`)

And yes, essentially the crutch to Z's overall character is that she has a hard time with emotions, whether it's her own or ones that come towards her. She tries to think through emotions with logic, but it can and usually leads to a disconnect at someone's true intentions.

It is pretty apparent that most of the level 5's can be or are pretty unstable mentally with Z not being an exception as you'll find that out throughout the story and have probably already seen to some extent. Misaka (lol on the squirrel comparison) is definitely considered to be the sanest of all of them, allowing that to give a balancing point for both Z and her own instability.

They are fairly close (being close enough that the shipping wars have probably begun, especially after this and the last chapter). Even though it will be a while from now, I can say that the Sister's arc and Daihaisei festival (but more so on the Sister's arc) is going to really put that bond to the test.

Yes, Touma is very much in danger for getting Z's tirades. Whether that will be better than Mikoto's electricity will remain to be seen, and will probably be a big thing concerning the Graviton Bombings. I will try to do it justice, as that is a big moment for Touma, and concerning what chapter it will be, it would most likely be a little farther than that (somewhere in btw chapters 9-13) as it will depend on 2 things: how much I decide to write (as I tend to go to town or go overboard at times) and whether or not I will adapt a few events that happen in the anime/overall timeline between now and that in an entire chapter….

Next chapter is going to be focused around Asher's visit to the hospital, which as you can already see, may or not go as planned….

And finally, thanks! I like that a lot of people are liking Z in concern for her character, background (which is getting a spotlight on these last couple of chapters, including the next one), and her abilities. My main mission is essentially to not create an OP character while also creating a character that will definitely be a challenge or downright scary if pushed too much.

And after electricity based powers, I also love gravity based powers as well:)


drak3n: Thank you! :`)


Bornkiller9: Thanks! Last chapter was probably my favorite one to write so far (especially the part with Mikoto trying to get Kuroko involved in her situation). Not many people can get Asher to snap like that, with Mikoto only being able to do it by pushing multiple buttons hidden to most and Kuroko just…well… being Kuroko as they tend to clash a lot.

In terms of Mikoto/Asher, I actually don't know to be honest with you, after writing this and the last chapter. Since (small behind the scenes fun fact), I actually didn't even plan on writing something on Asher's and her past that early, with this chapter giving more or a less a part 2 of that but also giving Mikoto's perspective.

You've got me convinced and I'm the writer lol. It will just depend on how their relationship develops I guess, since there are a ton of ships that have probably started with those two most likely being seen the most since they're best friends.

So long story short, it currently is just a sisterly bond at this point, but if it will get to be something more will remain to be seen as other prospects may pop up in later chapters…


KirbySage18: Thanks for the feedback! After going back through the chapters, I noticed what you were pointing out. So, over the last couple days before I released this chapter, I fixed it so that they (the ellipses) weren't being used as excessively as they were. I was also pretty mindful of them in this chapter as well, so hopefully you all see some improvement in my writing in consideration to that.

Thanks for the props concerning my writing speed and length! I have nothing but time right now since I'm currently done with college until the fall, so a chapter or two a week for both of my stories can be fairly easy. I'm also more inclined on writing long chapters (my goal is usually around 5,000 words) since I like to read long chapters versus short ones, but sometimes I can go overboard (as seen by chapter 1 and 2 and my other story as a whole). So, sometimes I'll decide to spilt the chapter so it won't end up becoming a full on novel if the mood strikes me that day….

I'm also glad that you're enjoying the story so far! And thanks for the praise of Asher's character and this story as a whole, as it was really heartwarming:`)

Since I'm fairly new when it comes to fanfic writing, I was quite hesitant when it came to releasing this story. But after doing this for a while, I can say that I have no regrets from releasing it, since It seems you guys are really enjoying it:`)


Thanks for your reviews!

-PurpleClover99