AN: Hello readers!
Here is the next to chapter to the 2nd part of July 15th for your enjoyment! (this day will hopefully end at the end of the next chapter to start getting into the big parts of the Level Upper arc)
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
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 9: Unconditional Assistance
July 15th, 1:00PM
Joseph's Restaurant
Asher went through the doors of Joseph's, stoically looking around for the others who supposedly were already there.
Before she was able to text one of them that she had made it, she heard an outburst from one of the tables near the window, looking over and seeing Misaka on her feet as a black blanket was flown up into the air above them.
"Please that was the least scary story ever!" She shouted leaving Asher slightly confused on what they had been doing before.
Do I even want to know what that's about? Asher thought to herself as she sweatdropped.
As Shirai sat there next to Misaka, she noticed Asher from afar, waving her for her to come over to them.
"About time you got here, Zierdan." Shirai stated, as she saw Asher send her a stoic glance and proceeded to walk over to them. "I thought you said you were only 5 minutes away."
"I was," Asher said with a sigh as she shrugged her shoulders. "But I was apparently delayed by being stopped by something on my way here. So I wasn't late on purpose, Kuroko…"
"Oh hi Asher," Uiharu said as she saw Asher send her a small wave, before she sweatdropped when she saw her casually dodge off to the side when a streak of electricity was sent towards her.
"Hello to you too, MK." Asher said as she looked over at the Electromaster, seeing her eyebrow twitching angrily.
"That's all you have to say!?" Misaka asked with annoyance in her voice. "You literally locked me in your room for basically 10 minutes! What the heck was that all about!?"
"To be more accurate, it was more like 5-7 minutes since that was the amount of time it took me to leave." Asher tried to say before raising up one of her hands and created a small barrier as electricity was sent towards her again. "And to answer your question, I was just concerned for my safety is all. You unfortunately didn't seem to like the name I called you all that much."
"It wasn't just that, it was how you said it!" Misaka grumbled as she sat down at the table with her arms crossed. "I don't have an unhealthy obsession! You're the last one to talk about unhealthy obsessions, considering you could probably eat a whole chocolate cake in one sitting without a bit of hesitation!"
"Yes and? Is there something wrong with that?" Asher asked genuinely, seeing no problem with it as Misaka let out a heavy sigh and laid her forehead on the table in irritation.
"Never mind…" Misaka said as her voice was muffled on the table. "Just forget I said anything."
After looking over at her in confusion for a couple seconds, she went to another table and brought over a chair for her to sit down in, leaning her head into her hand as her elbow laid on the table.
"Hey Asher," Saten said from across from her as she was folding her black blanket neatly. "Were you able to do 'the deed'?"
"If the deed you're referring to is your eyebrow marker remover, then yes." Asher said stoically as she slid the bottle over to her. "It should work since I did go over to the university to test it out."
"Yes! I knew you could do it!" Saten said as a waterfall of tears fell from her eyes, running over to Asher and hugging her from her neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!"
"Ple…ase let g…o…Sa..ten…" Asher rasped as her cheeks heated up slightly. "I can't brea…th all that well rig…ht now with how tig…ht you're hold…ing my neck..."
This caused everyone around her to laugh, prompting her to release a sigh due to their apparent amusement.
"All of this close contact from you is unnecessary…" Asher sighed as Saten released her hold, sending her a bright smile.
"Aw stop playing hard to get Asher," Saten said amusedly as Asher gave her a sideways glance. "I know you enjoy my hugs each and every time I give one to you."
"I don't know what you mean by that, considering you surprise attack me each and every time." Asher said as she let out a sigh and shrugged her shoulders. "It's not like I ask to get hugged by you."
"Well considering you are one," Saten said as she began to count off on her fingers. "Blushing about as hot as the sun right now to the point that I'm afraid we're going to need to get a fire extinguisher to put it out. And two, you didn't even attempt to block me even after you casually blocked a Level 5 Electromaster's attack earlier. Meaning you do love it, but just can't find it in that reluctant heart of yours to admit it…"
Asher's face fell slightly in disbelief at that, feeling her face heating up even more before she hid her face in her hands.
"That is completely inaccurate. MK wasn't even using close to her full power earlier." Asher said slightly flustered, hearing Misaka let out a couple laughs in front of her.
"Awwww, is someone embarrassed from getting her logic used against her?" Misaka questioned amusedly from the other side of the table.
"Shut up. And you already know the answer to that…." Asher said with sigh as the rest of the group started to laugh around her again.
The things these four laugh at…I always seem to be the center of it, Asher thought to herself, looking over at them with a stoic glance as a small smile gradually grew on her face.
A little while later…
After Saten was able to remove the marker from her eyebrows, they caught up Asher on what they were doing before she got there.
"May I ask why you were doing 'scary stories' under a blanket in the middle of a restaurant? It seems nonsensical to me for some reason or another." Asher deadpanned, as Shirai let out a couple of chuckles next to her.
"Yeah, we did kind of do a lot to create a creepy atmosphere didn't we?" Shirai said before she looked over at Saten. "But to be quite frank with you, Saten, I don't think anything can save the story you told earlier…"
"But it really happened to someone we know, so how is that not freaky?" Saten asked as she pumped up her fist. "The legend of the Undresstress who disrobes without warning!"
"That doesn't seem all that scary to me." Asher said bluntly. "I would be appalled more than anything."
"Yeah it's not," Misaka said in agreement as she rose to her feet. "It's sounds more like a sicko who could use some serious therapy."
"I wouldn't go that far, but MK has a point…" Asher sighed as she leaned back in her chair, looking over and seeing Uiharu pulling out her laptop.
"Then how about we do another one?" Uiharu suggested. "This urban legend site we used has a whole ton of stories on here."
As the others gathered around the computer, Asher just zoned out for a while as she stared down at the table, thinking back to her interaction with Shokuhou a little while ago.
["You know dwelling on it is going to just make it worse right?" Shokuhou continued, ignoring her request. "As well as doing what you're doing with coping with it. That dream of yours is a perfect example at how unhealthy it is from how much you're preventing yourself from trying to remember…"]
That doesn't make sense to me for some reason… Asher thought to herself as her eyes narrowed slightly.
Why would me not wanting to remember certain points of that time affect me in such a way that she's describing? It's not like I'm doing it just so I don't live with the guilt of it all.
Or is it like I don't remember anything period, since I basically have everything now with the only things that are remaining being lost somewhere in my head or just gone completely….mostly involving the experiment and…Silas overall.
I don't want them….
I don't want to remember any of it at all…
Because what if remembering what happened that day …or just during those last few weeks in general…leads me to going back into the same state of mind indirectly by reintroducing me to those feelings I had…and the things I had to experience to get that way so quickly…
So quickly in fact that I know I basically lost myself in it all…probably not willing or not strong enough to stop it from overwhelming me from how long I prevented it, even though I knew I was losing to it after a long while.
["You tried to kill her!" The voice yelled aloud. "Even though she was trying to save you from your illogical decision, you nearly killed her by allowing yourself to fall under its control, willingly! Why didn't you tell her before then!? Why did you allow yourself to go so far just because you were scared of yourself!?"]
And why…
Why…would I want to fully remember that?
Remember that I nearly killed my best friend, even though she was just trying to help me…The one person who has stood by me the longest in my life even when compared to either of my parents…
Something I will probably never forgive myself for, even if I can barely remember.
I deserve not to ….I deserve to just be haunted by it all for that very fact alone…
"Hey Zierdan….." She heard from next to her, breaking her out of her thoughts and feeling a hand land on her shoulder.
When she looked over, she saw Misaka looking down at her with concern on her face, turning and seeing that everyone else was looking back at her.
"Is there something wrong? Did I miss something?" Asher asked in slight confusion.
"We should be asking you that," Shirai said as she let out a sigh. "Even if you're not the most talkative person in this group, you at least pay attention to what's happening around you…"
"But it was almost like you just completely zoned out just now." Saten added. "Enough so that you didn't even hear when we tried calling your name a couple times."
"Oh…" Asher said as she lowered her head further, not allowing them to see the downcast expression on her face. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to ignore any of you or anything. I just got wrapped up in my thoughts, I guess. I didn't even realize any of you were trying to talk to me."
Before any of them could press any further, Asher rose up to her feet as she let out a heavy sigh with her eyes closed.
"Going somewhere, Asher?" Uiharu asked, seeing Misaka move her hand off her shoulder as Asher started to rub the back of her neck.
"Yeah, I just need to go take a walk to get some fresh air." Asher said as she opened her eyes and looked off to the side "I'll probably not be back for a while, so you don't have to wait up on me. Especially since, I also have somewhere I need to be in a little over an hour…so I'll see you guys sometime later."
They watched in slight disbelief as Asher walked off towards the door with her hands in her pockets, going through and walking down the sidewalk.
After sitting a couple moments in silence, Misaka let out a heavy sigh.
"What am I going to do with that girl…" She said under her breath as she was about to head towards the door, before Shirai stopped her.
"It really sounded like she wanted to be alone, Sissy." Shirai said as Misaka turned back to look at her. "Are you sure it's wise to follow after her?"
"I honestly don't know." Misaka said as she deflated slightly. "She probably won't care if I do, but she'll probably be just as quiet as she was before. Making it pretty hard to figure out what's wrong…."
"That was kind of weird." Uiharu said as Saten nodded her head.
"Yeah, it was like a mini storm cloud was above her out of nowhere. She seemed fine when she got here…" Saten replied as she looked over at Misaka. "Did we say or do something to cause it?"
"No, you didn't. She would have made it pretty clear if you had if that was the case." Misaka said reassuringly. "She just had a rough start to her morning, which is probably why. If she is having a hard time processing something or just pretty stressed out by it overall, she usually does this to go clear her head enough to calm down."
Shirai stayed silent at that as her expression fell slightly, since she had somewhat seen the state Asher was in this morning when she had been tossing and turning frantically in her sleep.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Saten questioned, seeing Misaka shake her head as she sent them a smile.
"No, it's okay. I can handle it." Misaka said as she turned to leave. "See you guys later!"
About 10 minutes later….
Misaka was running off into the direction that Asher went off to, finally able to spot her from afar with her back turned towards her.
"Zierdan!" She called out, noticing that she didn't react to it at all.
She's either ignoring me, or she just has her volume turned all the way down on her Amps… Misaka thought to herself, not taking all that long to run up to Asher from behind.
"Hey Zierdan…" Misaka said as she laid a hand on her shoulder, seeing the girl in question slow to a halt as she let out a small sigh and messed with the volume in her ears.
"Is there something you need, Mikoto?" Asher asked as she kept her gaze towards the ground. "I'm not in a huge mood to talk right now, but I'll try my best to help if I can. If you need it…"
"No, I don't need any help." Misaka replied. "I was just making sure that you were okay, since you did leave in a hurry. I was kinda worried to say the least."
"You didn't have to leave because of that." Asher sighed as she looked over at Misaka. "You worry over me too much when you shouldn't. It's illogical for the amount that you do."
"If you want me to stop, then stop giving me stuff to worry about." Misaka said with amuse in her voice, hearing Asher let out a few laughs under her breath.
"If only it was that easy." Asher remarked as she sent her a sideways glance. "You're too much of a worry wart for that to happen."
"Hmmmm, it seems like you're in a better mood than you were letting on just a second ago." Misaka said as she smiled, seeing Asher roll her eyes at her statement. "I wonder if I had any hand in that."
"Just keep wondering then, because I honestly don't have enough energy to tell you otherwise." Asher said with slight amusement in her voice, before she began rubbing the back of neck. "I'm sorry by the way. I didn't mean to leave as abruptly as I did. I just needed to be alone for a minute, but it seems someone thought it was best to tag along, unfortunately."
"Why do you say it like it's such a bad thing for me to give you some company? You didn't even allow me to keep you company this morning." Misaka said with fake tears coming out of her eyes. "Is it wrong for me to do such a thing for a close friend?"
"And I thought Saten and Kuroko were over dramatic, but I always seem to forget about you." Asher said with a sigh. "And no, it's not. But considering you would've drove me crazy with your constant complaining from being bored just sitting there, can you really blame for preferring to go alone?"
"I wouldn't have been complaining." Misaka said as she crossed her arms. "You're just thinking of the worst for me."
"Of course, you wouldn't." Asher said with slight sarcasm in her voice, deadpanning at the girl next to her. "You would've pestered me enough to go off and do something else with you, delaying me from helping Saten even further when I have an appointment at 2:30 I have to get to on time."
"Oh, right I almost forgot about that." Misaka said aloud as she looked at her phone for the time. "You still have about an hour left before you have to go."
"Meaning…" Asher asked not liking the look on Misaka's face as she grabbed onto her wrist to walk her off somewhere.
"Meaning, we can hang out for a while before you leave!" Misaka stated happily. "We haven't really had just time to ourselves all that much in a while since you had to do your punishment for 2 weeks straight. And this will get your mind off whatever is currently bothering you hopefully."
"I don't have any say in this, do I?" Asher asked with a sigh, as Misaka turned to look back at her with a closed eyed smile.
"I think you can answer that for yourself, Z, but no you don't." She remarked amusedly, seeing Asher slump down slightly, unsurprised.
"Yeah, I know…I shouldn't have asked in the first place." Asher groaned, hearing Misaka laugh aloud as she turned to look back in front of her.
40 minutes later…
Green Mart
She would end up dragging me here… Asher thought to herself as she let out a sigh, closing another book and setting it next to her.
She was currently sitting on the floor as Misaka stood above her, browsing the manga that were on the bookshelf.
This was a common pass time for Misaka, usually dragging Asher along if she wanted someone to go with her.
As Asher went to grab another book, she noticed how distracted Misaka seemed, noticing that it had been a while since she had said a word.
"Hey Mikoto," Asher said as she rose up to her feet, seeing Misaka close the book she was holding and looking over at her. "Is something on your mind?"
"You could say that." Misaka said with a sigh, putting up the book she was holding. "Do you remember what we told you concerning what we were doing before you got to Joseph's right?"
"Yeah I think so," Asher said as she nodded. "If I remember correctly, it has to do with that urban legend site, right? With one story being about the 'Undresstress' or whatever."
"Basically," Misaka said as they proceeded to leave the store. "When you happened to zone out earlier, Kuroko was trying to get your opinion regarding one of the stories. Care to take a guess on what it was about?"
"I don't really have an idea of what it could be." Asher said with a shrug as they walked down the sidewalk. "And I don't really have the energy to try all that much, so what was it?"
"Well, it's referring to a certain idiot we both know from what I'm gathering. It described him as the 'boy with the power to prevent other powers from working.'"
"Oh right," Asher said with a sigh. "We never did finish that discussion about him now did we…"
"I just can't understand it for some reason." Misaka said in irritation as she crossed her arms. "Why didn't our abilities work on him?"
"I honestly don't know the answer to that, surprisingly." Asher said as she stretched the back of her neck and sent a sideways glance over at her. "Do you think whatever that site says is true though. Since it did seem like our abilities were prevented from working."
After thinking on it for a moment, Misaka quickly shook her head.
"No, that has to be impossible!" Misaka said passionately. "If you or I came at him at full power, there would be no way he could be still standing after something like that. The next time I run into him I-"
Before Misaka could finish her comment, they heard a familiar voice ahead of them, seeing the boy in question giving a woman with long wavy brown hair and wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a black skirt some directions.
Wow, great timing Kamijou… Asher thought as she sighed, already hearing the Electromaster next to her shouting at him from afar.
"It's you!" Misaka said as she pointed, gaining his attention.
"Oh, hey Zapper and Asher!" Kamijou said as he waved. "What's up?"
"Hi Kamijou." Asher said before Misaka practically exploded next to her.
"Why do you always call me by that ridiculous nickname!?" Misaka asked angrily as she crossed her arms. "My name is Misaka Mikoto! Not Bug Zapper! And todays the day I'm gonna settle the score with you!"
What have I gotten myself into? Asher thought to herself as she deadpanned, sweatdropping at the fact of how riled up Misaka was currently, looking over at Kamijou and seeing he was unfazed by it completely.
"Okay, that's nice. Soooo does that mean you aren't busy right now?" Kamijou asked.
"I actually have plenty of time to spare today!" Misaka said triumphantly.
"Great!" Kamijou said as he pointed at the woman next to him. "Do you think you could help this woman find where she parked her car?"
"Wait what?" Misaka said confused, hearing Asher let out another sigh next to her.
It seems he's not as stupid as we thought him to be, Asher thought to herself, knowing what Kamijou had just did under Misaka's nose.
"Yeah. I know I parked it over here somewhere, but I can't figure out exactly where it is." The woman stated as she turned towards them.
"Uhh, hold on. Why me?" Misaka said in disbelief.
"Well you did say you weren't busy, MK." Asher said with a shrug.
"But why can't you do it!?" Misaka asked as she turned to the boy, seeing him innocently lift his hand up at her.
"Well there's actually somewhere important that I need to be at right now." Kamijou stated. "And as Asher said, you said you weren't busy meaning it's fine, right?"
"Don't bring me into this…" Asher said with a facepalm. "You know I live in the same dorm as her, right?"
"No it's not fine!" Misaka stated aloud. "Why didn't you ask Zierdan to do it instead?"
"How would that even help you?" Asher said in confusion before Kamijou could answer. "You already know I have to be somewhere in like 10-15 minutes, meaning even if he had asked me, I wouldn't have been able to do it either."
"GRRGH I refuse!" Misaka said angrily as she turned back to Kamijou. "I'm not going to let you weasel yourself out of this!"
As they went back and forth, Asher's attention was drawn on the woman in question, noticing her doing something quite….appalling.
What is she-no…no no no…. there's no way she's doing what I think she's doing…. Asher thought to herself as her face heated up quickly, seeing the woman unbuttoning her shirt out in the open.
Why is she doing that? That doesn't make sense. It doesn't make any logical sense at all…
She's unbuttoning it…she's unbuttoning her shirt without a single care in the world, but why out in the open like this?
Why is she doing such a thing and why can't I think of a logical answer for something like this and why is it bothering me so much and why does my face feel so hot because of watching it?
And why don't they notice it at all!? Why am I the only one paying attention and why is she doing it in the first place!?
What prompted her to do this!? There's no logical sense in it at all! Why am I so utterly confused!?
At that point and unnoticed by those around her, Asher's mind completely stopped functioning, short circuiting completely to unknown proportions after overthinking too much of what she had just witnessed at that moment, unable to figure out the logic of such a thing whatsoever.
"It doesn't make sense…it doesn't make sense at all…it's illogical…and morally not right…but…she's still doing…it anyway…" Asher mumbled repeatedly to herself, gaining the attention of both Kamijou and Misaka who looked over at her in confusion.
"Um Z?" Misaka said in confusion, seeing the girl completely dazed with swirls in her eyes, as smoke rose up from her head.
Before any of them could say anything, their attention turned towards the woman as she groaned aloud.
"Wow, it's sure is hot out here, don't you think?" The woman casually said as she fully unbuttoned her shirt and took it off, showing off nothing but her bra.
"Um, What are you doing?" Misaka said in disbelief as her cheeks heated up, seeing Kamijou quickly look away from offhand embarrassment.
"My tho…ughts…excactly…" Asher said aloud dazed as she took a seat on the ground from how much everything was spinning. "It doesn't make sense….why doesn't it make any sense?"
"Is your friend alright over there?" The woman asked casually, her tired eyes looking over at the completely out of it esper.
"Just answer the question!" Misaka exclaimed flustered as she began walking towards her and Kamijou. "And no, because of the stunt you pulled for no reason at all, she's probably down for the count right now from trying to process something that shouldn't have happened to begin with! I'm even having trouble processing it fully!"
"Well, I've been walking around in the blazing sun for quite a while now," The woman explained as she shielded her face form the sun. "So, I'm dripping with sweat…"
"That still doesn't giv….e you a right to stri….p in public….nothing should…" Asher exasperated dazedly as she laid her back on the ground. "I need…a better explanation than that…it still doesn't make any logical sense to me….I still…can't process what I just saw….really could use some help…can someone please make it logically sound….everything's spinning …can't think straight anymore…"
"What's with this woman?" Misaka asked as she pointed to her, seeing the look of shock on Kamijou's face.
"I don't know! I just met her a few minutes ago…" Kamijou said as he went over and grabbed her shirt form her. "Anyway, lady, would you please put your shirt back on? I don't think Asher can take it for much longer from the looks of it."
Before he could fully hand it to her, they heard someone gasp from afar, seeing two girls staring at what they were seeing in disbelief.
"That woman is being assaulted!" One said.
"Is he ripping off her clothes!?" The other stated as the other girl nodded her head in agreement.
"No! You've got it all wrong!" Kamijou yelled as he handed the lady's shirt to Misaka, running off in a sprint.
"Hey! Where are-"
"Excuse me…" The woman said, stopping Misaka in her tracks. "If you're leaving me here with your friend, could you at least hand me back my shirt, please?"
Misaka sat there for a couple moments, before quickly handing it off to her.
"Hurry up and put it on!" Misaka stated flustered, walking over to Asher, whose brain was still currently shorted out.
"Zierdan, get a hold of yourself!" Misaka shouted as she shook her shoulders. "People are starting to stare and you're being overdramatic!"
"But…Mikoto…" Asher whined dazedly. "Why did…she do something like that?...please explain it to me…"
"I honestly don't have an explanation for you right now but come on and snap out of it!" Misaka yelled. "Stop over thinking it and just take it at face value!"
"Shaking me is making it worse…..the swirls are getting faster and faster….so please stop Mikoto….It's making my brain hurt more…and I still don't understand it…to the point that it makes your love of frog themed things at our age make even more sense to me…" Asher stated as Misaka stopped shaking her, growling in frustration as electricity sparked around her.
"I can't believe you right now…." Misaka said annoyed, as she shocked the girl below her. "Stop messing around, Zierdan! And get your act together!"
After the shock was over, Asher promptly fell back as smoke rose up from her clothes.
"Owww MK…that actually hurt more than it should have…" Asher groaned. "You…know that….you didn't have to shock me that hard just now…..a small spark…would've done the trick as well…."
"Well, I thought it would be more fitting!" Misaka said with a smile as her eyebrow twitched in irritation. "If you want to avoid it next time, then don't insult me the way you just did!"
But I didn't even insult you… Asher thought to herself as she let out a sigh, staring up at the sky above her.
It's not an insult if it's basically the truth…
About 10 minutes later…
School District 7 Hospital
After she was able to collect herself, Asher was finally able to force herself to go over to the hospital for her appointment.
When she walked in, she was immediately greeted with a smile by someone at the desk, since she frequently came here for her monthly appointments with her doctor or to pick up her medicine refills.
"Hello Miss Asher!" The woman at the desk said as she sent her a small wave. "You're early today."
Asher stood there somewhat shocked by that statement, bringing out her phone to see the time and seeing that it was exactly 2:30.
"Really?" Asher asked. "I was told that my appointment was at 2:30 today…."
"Well in here," The woman said as she typed some stuff out on the computer and pulling it up for her to see. "It says that your appointment is at 2:45."
"That's weird…" Asher said aloud as she tried to think back to her conversation. "I do tend to forget things at times, but I'm very sure he said to come in at 2:30 today."
"He could have told you to come in at that time instead, most likely so you would have come here sort of on time." The woman said amusedly. "You're not one to always be punctual, Miss Asher, so I wouldn't blame him if that was the case."
Asher released a sigh at that, not having any drive to combat that statement since it was true to some degree.
"Well if you want, you can go ahead and go back there," She stated as she handed her a cup with something in it that usually was given to keep her nerves in check. "He already prepared this for you to take. Hopefully it will tank that anxiety of yours down a bit before he starts whatever he's doing today."
"I don't get that much anxiety from coming here." Asher said with a sigh, as she grabbed it and began to drink it. "I'm just not a huge fan of hospitals or doctor visits in general…"
She heard the woman laugh a little under her breath as she began walking away, drinking what she was given in full before she threw the cup away.
"Have a nice day Miss Asher! It was nice talking to you!" The woman called out from afar, seeing Asher wave back without looking back at her.
As she walked through the halls with her hands in her pockets, she began hearing murmurs here and there from around her, looking up and seeing some of the medical staff staring back at her as she passed.
"Isn't that her?" Someone tried to whisper. "The Calamity of Tokiwadai, the 5th Ranked GravShift?"
"Yeah I think so," Someone said with slight fear in her voice. "I can't believe that her doctor is actually open to seeing a lunatic like that, considering she nearly destroyed the city two years ago with that dangerous ability of hers. She should've been locked up with the key thrown away…"
"Well at least from that brain damage of hers, she had to be taken down a rank," Someone else said snidely as Asher stopped in the middle of the hallway with a shadow over her face. "From what I heard, she has been reranked twice now, first the 3rd ranked before the Railgun became a Level 5, shifting her down a spot. And then after she was beaten down by her, she was forced into the 5th position spot. I'm not sure as of why, but don't you think it's quite fitting for someone like her? No wonder some emotionally detached girl like her was knocked down a couple pegs…"
"You all must think I'm deaf to keep talking about me basically in front of my face as you are now…." Asher said without turning to look at them, only hearing the shocked gasps behind her while others remained silent. "It may seem like I'm wearing hearing aids, but it's not due to being hard of hearing, it's more so from being very sensitive to the sound around me. Making that whispering that you're utterly failing at right now, come in pretty clear when I turn my hearing back to normal or even as low as basically hearing nothing at all."
Silence fell in the hallway, before she heard laughing coming from one of the male nurses behind her.
"And what are you going to do about it?" He asked. "Are you going to use that ability of yours to destroy us too? If I remember correctly, that completely blew up in your face, considering you were in a coma for a time because of it."
Asher hesitated slightly at that, before she released a heavy breath, turning herself around to face the gossipers behind her and thinking back to something Misaka had said to her before.
["At least that's what I want to say….." Misaka 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."]
Alright Mikoto….I will try my hardest not to… She thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes at the people in front of her.
I won't allow what they say to get under my skin so easily….
"I could if that's what you prefer. Meeting that expectation wouldn't take that much energy, to match the standards you just set about me." Asher said stoically. "But surprisingly, I have enough energy to do something other than that, and just ignore and disregard those fairly inaccurate assumptions…."
"TCH!" The nurse said as he grabbed her by the collar of her uniform, looking down at her fairly unexpressive eyes which held a hint of irritation within them.
"That sounded like a threat, with you trying your best to hide it with that insult!" He said as Asher remained unfazed. "You think you're so special just because of your standing as a Level 5 esper? I've seen more level 0's that have more of a heart in comparison to the empty one you seem to have. How can you talk like that, while you numb yourself to feeling anything around you and not caring about who you've hurt?"
"And who gave you such an illogical idea as that?" Asher said as she grabbed the man's wrist, seeing his eyes widen slightly from her tight grip. "What makes you think I numb myself to everything around me? What makes you think I don't care about everyone I've hurt within my life, especially on that day you're referring to?..."
"I may seem emotionally detached most of the time as emotions don't come very easy to me, with this being a rare moment of me showing a high degree of irritation…but it would be a misstep in judgement to say I don't have a heart most of the time either. Something you must be lacking to come for a brain damaged, 14-year-old girl in an effort to solve your problems. How logical do you think that to be?"
He seemed to grow angry at that, pulling back his fist to land a blow before he completely stiffened up, ungrasping her shirt and walking away.
"I'm sorry for my behavior. It won't happen again." He stated as he went out of view, leaving Asher slightly confused for that complete turn and not noticing the yellow sparkles that had appeared in his eyes before he had turned away from her.
At that moment, she noticed that most of everyone in the hallway had cleared out without her noticing it, leaving her the only one there.
It was enough for her to sit there and analyze why, but after a while she decided it was just best to use her energy to go and make it to her appointment instead, proceeding down the path to her doctor's room.
A little while later…
Where is he? Asher thought to herself as she rolled herself around the room in her chair.
It had been about 10 minutes since she had gotten there, with not even an appearance from her doctor at all…
"And I'm the one who is always perceived to not be punctual most of the time…" Asher said with a sigh as she looked out the window. "It's nearly the time he set for me to actually get here, and he still hasn't shown his face."
After she had been sitting there for a little longer, she noticed that she was starting to feel off or wrong for some reason, noticing that her vision was wavering ever so slightly and her thoughts were starting to jumble up on each other.
What the…heck…is happening? Asher thought to herself as she clutched her head when she started to get dizzy out of nowhere, rising to her feet and immediately bracing herself on the desk next to her.
I c-cant…think straight….everything around me feels like it's starting to blend t-together…kicking my motion sickness up for no reason at all….
I feel like…I'm about to throw up…even though I was just okay a second ago…
She knew she needed to either clear her head or clear whatever was in her stomach, hearing her breathing starting to pick up from the strain of both and feeling what she thought to be as anxiety rising up in her chest.
I can't think straight….why is there so much noise inside my head all of the sudden?….I can't think straight anymore…
As she staggered all the way towards the door, she saw the Doctor come in, seeing a look of concern fall on his face as she basically fell into his arms.
"Um, Miss Asher? Are you okay?" the Doctor asked, seeing the blue streaks in her hair fade into the color of her light blonde hair as the blues in her eyes faded in brightness into more of a blue-grey color.
"I d-don't…I d-don't know….I don't think so..…I c-can't think ….straight…." Asher said aloud, with the Doctor hearing the slight bit of panic in her voice as her breathing was starting to quicken. "I need…to find someway to…clear my head….there's too much noise to think straight anymore…"
"Hey calm do- Miss Asher!" He tried to say before she pushed him out of the way, looking at her back in some concern.
"I c-can't think….straight…I can't think straight…too mu-much noise…in my head…" Asher kept mumbling to herself all the way down the hallway, missing the sigh of her doctor behind her.
Dang it, just as I feared…though at a further extent than I originally gathered… Heaven Canceller thought to himself as he saw Asher stagger around with her head in her hands.
By dampening the speed at which she unconsciously calculates to allow for that strong gravity field to constantly be around her, it's causing her some level of panic it seems after she took that drug before she got here that I altered slightly in order to help Mental Out perform her headscan on her…
Due to the trauma from those experiments and her unfortunate injuries to an area of her brain that handles organizing information, if something is preventing her to process the information around her, it can cause her mind to go in that one direction to go fix it, which can indirectly cause her to panic and anxiety to set in too much for her to handle….
Though this fairly severe reaction usually happens when she gets overwhelmed by the noise around her due to her increased sensitivity for sound and its essential connection to the experiment she endured…But I didn't predict that she would notice such a small lapse of her concertation like this, telling me she's more aware or her thought process than I originally gathered…
As he sat there and saw Asher go out of view, he heard a couple of footsteps behind him, seeing Shokuhou standing right next to him.
"What happened to her?" Shokuhou asked in curiosity. "I haven't even done anything or peeked into that head of hers, and she's already ramped up from what it looks like…."
"She's having an adverse effect of that drug that you wanted me to create to safely allow access in her mind." He stated before seeing her beginning to walk in Asher's direction, grabbing onto her shoulder before she went any further. "I don't know if it would be a good idea to perform a headscan now with how panicked she is currently."
"Oh it'll be fine doctor, don't worry." Shokuhou said with a smile as she proceeded to walk again. "I just have the greatest idea on how to get her back here…"
Asher had her full weight braced against the restroom sink, unable to function entirely from how much she was feeling her thoughts jumbling together way too much for her liking.
She tried dampening the noise in her ears to see if that was why it was happening, noticing right away that they didn't help her at all as she immediate took them out and threw them across the room.
"Why is th-there so much noise?" Asher said aloud in slight frustration as she gripped the side of her head. "Why c-can't I think straight? Why won't it stop?"
After sitting there trembling in front of the mirror, someone opened the door behind her, though she didn't turn her attention to it.
That was when she felt something sharp pierce her mind, causing her to immediately freeze up and unable to move all that much.
I can hardly even move my fingers…or anything for that matter, she thought to herself, realizing her thoughts weren't as jumbled as before as if they were being pushed to move by the influence of something else entirely.
What is causing this?
"Fancy meeting you here, Asher, where it seems you need my help again to process those chaotic moving thoughts of yours. I think I was able to push them enough to allow you to think enough to function, so I guess that's a win in my book for right now…." She heard a voice say behind her, that was enough to cause her eyes to widen.
She forced her head to raise ever so slightly, shaking at the movement alone as she saw faded but prominent sparkles within her currently dull blue eyes.
"Sh-Shoku…Sh-Shoku…hou?" She struggled to say as she saw the esper leaning her back against the wall behind her in the mirror. "Wh-what are y-you doing…and how ar-are you doing i-it ri-right n-now?"
"To say I'm shocked at that strength to even be able to somewhat combat the effects of my ability without the full backing of that gravity field of yours is an understatement…" Shokuhou said with a shrug as she crossed her arms with her remote in her hand. "But what can I say, even if you are a fairly lazy human being, you're still strong in your own right to be ranked above me."
"But if you really want to know, that drink you usually take to lessen that apparent anxiety you have when it comes to such things like these visits had something in it to cause a small but significant amount of lapse in your concentration to lessen the strength of your passive ability," She continued, seeing Asher struggling even further to turn herself around to look at her with sweat coming down from her brow. "I wouldn't advise continuing what you're doing right now as you may not like the results if you keep fighting my ability like this with just your mental strength alone…they don't call me 'Mental Out' for no reason at all."
"I-I don't u-understand wh-why you're d-doing this in the….first pla-place." Asher stated, trying her best efforts to engage her ability but not being able to fully complete any of her calculations at the moment.
"You do, but you just don't want to admit it." Shokuhou said as she walked up to be right in front of her. "I'll give you a hint, it involves something that you've been avoiding doing for months even though you know it needs to happen to put that mind of yours a little more at ease."
She saw Asher's eyes widen at that, seeing her eyes flickering into a brighter blue as purple developed on their edges.
"N-No…I re-refuse to e-even t-try and consider this, tch…..I d-don't…want you any-anywhere even close t-to my head to do s-something like that…Sh-Shokuhou…." Asher said before feeling herself move without her control as Shokuhou began to leave the restroom to go back towards the doctor's room, picking up her Anti-Amps on the way out and putting them in her purse.
"Well I honestly don't care what you want." Shokuhou said with a sigh, pushing her ability a little further to get Asher to stop struggling against the moderate amount of control she had, hearing Asher wince slightly under her breath. "I'm here now as well as you are, giving me the best opportunity to finish up where I left off. I'm responsible to keep that sanity of yours intact alright? Meaning I'm going to put all my effort to do it with or without your permission."
"You're m-making it sound l-like I've a-already lost it wh-when I h-haven't!" Asher said angrily as she forced herself to stop moving, blood running down her nose from fighting Shokuhou's control. "I-I'm not d-doing this to-today, or s-something I just told you e-earlier and n-now that I don't w-want to do! So st-stop th-this illogical nonsense and st-stop using that a-ability of yours to m-mess with my head!"
"You're going to pop some blood vessels at this rate with me included if you keep trying to fight me. The things you actually put your energy still shock me, especially right now." Shokuhou stated with irritation in her voice as she forced Asher to move to the best of her abilities, starting to lose her patience.
"You are doing this even if I have to drag you in here unconscious myself, Zierdan Asher. We can't keep holding this back any longer, just because you're having some hard feelings for something that wasn't of your control. The only reason you're functioning enough to talk right now intelligently is that I'm keep your thoughts from jumbling as they were previously. I could just allow you to spiral back into a panic, but there's a part of me right now actually not wanting that to happen."
This time when she stopped herself, Shokuhou let a wince out under her breath, turning back and seeing that Asher was able to collect her thoughts enough to use her ability, grounding herself where she was standing.
"D-Damn it… I-I just fr-freaking told you ov-over and ov-over ju-just now that I don't want to do this!" Asher said angrily with her eyes glowing red. "Why t-the hell are you st-still trying to force me Mi-Misaki!?"
Great, it seems she's increased her wavelength to set herself off even more. I just love it when that happens, especially when it causes her anger for this situation to be directed fully at me… Shokuhou thought sarcastically, knowing that the situation was getting even more difficult than it should have been in the first place.
"Sorry for this, but you apparently leave me no choice," Shokuhou said aloud, pressing down on one of her buttons.
"W-What are yo-" Asher tried to ask before her eyes widened until it fell into slits as the color in her eyes dulled immediately.
Asher's world felt like it was swept right from under her, sending it into complete darkness as her mind was essentially subdued and turned off.
"Tch owww," Shokuhou winced aloud, seeing the esper in front of her not even move an inch as she stared blankly ahead of her. "I really didn't want to have to do that to you, but you were starting to become too much of a hassle. You were going to end up actually hurting yourself if you kept that up, which is something I wanted to avoid."
Considering Misaka would throw a fit and come at me from something that you did of your own accord, Asher….probably not believing you would have had enough energy in you to even do that in the first place, she thought to herself, proceeding to continue their journey back to Heaven Canceller's room.
Word Count of Chapter: 8298 |Page Count: 16 pages |Reviews: 27 | Followers: 31 |Favorites: 27
Review Replies
Addie101: Thanks! Asher tends to see the softer side to Shokuhou a lot more than Misaka, since she (Shokuhou) has a higher level of trust for her. Asher sort of recognizes this to some degree, but she still doesn't like how she goes about things, such as the use of her abilities.
Now, here's a small rundown of the device of what I've revealed so far to maybe answer some questions surrounding the experiment (which will be a key point in the next chapter from Shokuhou's and Asher's end):
Basically, the device was focusing on weaponizing the more destructive side to both Asher's power and character, with Silas (her stepfather) wanting to use that for his own gain towards the end of the experiment.
Her esper ability (gravity dimensional shift) is essentially broken into two different shifts of gravity wavelengths: blueshift (low/short wavelengths) and redshift (long/high wavelengths).
Redshift is essentially used the most offensively and defensively, but it's also the crutch of her control if she increases her wavelength too much for her mind to work out the calculations, triggering such a change in wavelength that has a direct hit towards her overall mental state in such situations (usually forcing her to be colder, aggressive, and/or angered in most situations).
The device was essentially created to focus on increasing the power of that part of her ability by forcefully increasing her wavelength in order for her to control it at higher amounts than usual, gradually increasing both her power but also instability in the process, which ended when Silas tried to push this to way too far to create a level six for his own control, but essentially failed due to certain circumstances that will be explained later, indirectly leading to her losing control of her abilities as well.
Whew...hopefully that helps to some degree:)
Bornkiller9: Thanks! I've enjoyed adding the tidbits of Asher's backstory here and there with the last few chapters kinda having a mini-arc in that department for her as we go along in the Level Upper arc. Chapter 10 will hopefully be the last part to this day as a whole in order to finally get into the big events that occur within the first big arc of railgun.
I would say as well that Asher's background is darker in connection to academy city than Mikoto, which is something that she's trying to move past from, but as you can kinda see in this chapter, still essentially having a hard time doing so.
I hope you enjoyed Rukio's hijinks in this chapter as well, as she is a both a brief but lighter part of the beginning of this chapter. Mental Out's and Asher's have been interesting to write to say the least, and I'm glad that you've been enjoying them so far:`)
Blankow: I know and I'm sorry for the depression that is essentially Z's background which you will sadly see more of in the next chapter from what I've planned so far to show. I knew Saten was needed in order to lift such depression:`)
Hmmmmm….
*Looks up Borderline Dissociative Identity disorder*
*Rereads it multiple times while comparing it to Z's character as a whole*
I can say from in terms of what has been revealed in the past that she in some respects did have some signs of this disorder before and when she was spiraling due to the strain of the experiments. In regard to before the experiments, it was mostly due to her not so great past and how she was seen by others during that time as a whole, twisting her own perception of herself. In regard to when she was spiraling, it was mostly due to the effects if she redshifts too high too much, which did take a huge hit to both her own self-image and personality.
Her mentality currently is I would say a double edged sword in respects to the possibility of this disorder and her overall personality as a whole, in that she's stable, but there is a chance for that stability to decrease if certain things occur…
Yes, I would say Z's and Misaka 5.1 are fairly similar, as they are both tied for their internal resentment for the darker doings of this city.
Silas is actually not a Kihara (surprisingly enough). Silas Wright was the head of a research division or I guess you could also say facility that was under the control of the Kiharas until after the experiment in which Silas was essentially arrested and taken by Anti-Skill when found at fault for Z's apparent mental break that lead to her going out of control.
Z would stop Kuroko without the slightest bit of hesitation if given the excuse to, so we'll see if such stoppages will be enough to stop such a force in aid of Saten's efforts.
Lol, Accelerator would be someone to do that, which would probably irritate Z to some extent since she is guilty for doing that as well with her Anti-Amps:)
drak3n: Yes! I have succeeded! (lol, jk) But Thanks!
Thanks for your reviews!
-PurpleClover99
