AN: Hello readers! I have returned surprisingly with the first chapter after 28 of them that actually has the day end at its conclusion, which should go for what occurs in the next chapter as well.
It's on the shorter end of the spectrum, but not too much since I have these kind of chapters every once in a while so I hope you enjoy it as the long awaited meeting with a certain someone is nearing the horizon.
As always, 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:)
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 28: The Final Decision
July 21st, 12:00PM
Yomikawa was casually walking down the sidewalk wearing her Anti-Skill uniform on way her to Joseph's located not too far from the facility that she works at. She was currently on her lunch break with this time set aside to meet with Asher for a discussion that she knew had to be important if she was the one to schedule something like this for the both of them as she herself was usually the person to do it.
Even from the normally blunt and stoic exterior she tried to put up, it usually fell about 90-95 percent of the time when it was just them two together, usually seeing a more relaxed and at times shy girl that she knew her to be in comparison to what most people tried to label her as.
It honestly saddens her at times to think of the amount of loneliness and alienation she must feel at times due to those who just actively avoided her just because of her personality that most never tried to dig deeper than what they saw on the surface. It was something that her close friend, Yoshikawa Kikyou, could see was taking a big toll on the girl during their sessions together a couple years back in which wasn't helped by her parents all that much as they did not seem to see it for some reason or another that still escaped her to this day.
She thought back to the lunch she had with Yoshikawa a couple years ago where she gave her the opportunity to be in Asher's life and hadn't looked back since…
3 years ago
Yomikawa was sitting in front of Yoshikawa as they were dining at a restaurant that she invited her to. They had talked for a while to just catch up on things within their lives since they hadn't seen each other for a while, before Yoshikawa's face grew somewhat solemn and serious to when she arrived to the main reason why she brought her here.
"There's a kid that you want me to keep an eye on?" Yomikawa asked, seeing Yoshikawa nod slightly as she lowered her head into her hand.
"Yeah, that's basically the gist of it." Yoshikawa replied as her eyes narrowed slightly. "I've been working with her stepfather for a project relating to her ability. She's the 3rd ranked level 5 within this city and a renowned child prodigy for her age…but I'm just…starting to get concerned about her in terms of how she is mentally. It was little things at first, but she's changed enough that I feel as though I'm the only one who notices or at least cares about it. And I'm hoping if she had someone like you in her life, maybe she wouldn't be as alone and depressed as she seems to be all the time that she tries to keep hidden from others."
"Have you spoken to her parents about this?" Yomikawa asked, seeing her friend's expression harden even further.
"With her mother gone most of the time due to the nature of her job in the research field, her stepfather is the only one that she has at home most of the time, and to put it bluntly…he's a complete asshole that can barely see past his own arrogance let alone knowing what his stepchild needs in her life. He may be researcher material in a way, but he is definitely not one to be seen as a father figure in my experience and opinion…"
"The only person she seems to ever talk to is me and a friend at school. Other than that, Silas always complains how he can never get even a word out of her most of the time when she's at home with him…which I honestly don't think is really her fault because I feel it has to do with him for most of it, but part of it I think relates to some type of personality or rare genetic damage or disorder that she may have that has gone undiagnosed or ignored all this time. I thought that she might be on the autism spectrum at first, but after a while I decided that's most likely not the case and it's something else that probably came from her mother."
Some interest flashed on Yomikawa's face as she nodded for Yoshikawa to continue.
"She has told me before that she has a hard connecting with other people as well with their emotions along with her own. I remember Himari, her mother, said some of the same thing, but it seems with her it's more severe in some way." She speculated. "Unlike Himari who seems to be able to turn it on and off whenever she wants to, it seems to permanently follow Zierdan around to the point that she has a hard time at school because of it due to snot nosed brats spreading rumors about her along with her ability. Even though she doesn't make it seem like it, I know that has put even more of damper on things on how she values herself as a person."
They talked about this and other things for a while, before Yoshikawa let out a sigh as she crossed her legs.
"I'm sorry if this is sudden, Aiho, but I really think you'll leave a better impression on her than I can. You're a lot better in my opinion when it comes to this sort of thing and I think Asher would enjoy having someone like you in her life that would care for her and care about her unconditionally. She's a good kid. All I think she needs is more people like you who can push her out of the bubble she constantly puts herself in."
Present
A small smile came on Yomikawa's face when she thought of that. She had never regretted her decision to reach out to Asher like she had these last couple of years. Even after her memory loss where it seemed like she had to start over in terms of getting her to trust her again, she honestly saw Asher as her own child at times where it was her role to lecture her when she knew that she was in the wrong but then turn right back around and tell her how proud she was of having her in her life and watching her grow into her own person.
It was enough that she had been looking into maybe adopting or at most become her legal guardian, something she had never let on to Asher as she wanted it to be a surprise that she hoped would move her in some type of way since she was considered to be a child error at this point in time. She just needed the consent from the person who was still technically her parent legally even though he was imprisoned because of what he did to her but didn't want to relinquish the small bit of hold that he still has over her life.
A person that she suspected to probably be the main focus of this lunch due to her questions last night relating to the facility that he's currently locked up in...
As she continued to walk, she saw Joseph's in the distance along with blonde hair that she couldn't mistake to be anyone else's due to its natural blue streaks. She waved over at the girl from afar and was greeted with a warm smile as she walked up to her with her hands in her pockets.
"Hi Miss Yomikawa." Asher greeted. "Again, I apologize for doing this so suddenly, but I appreciate that you were able to take the time to come here to see me today."
"It's no problem from me. Though I can tell that it must be important for you to get here as early as you did. You're not usually one to expend your energy to get here before you have to." Yomikawa replied as she sat a hand on Asher's head and ruffled her hair, taking amusement in the fact that it caused her face to blush when she did.
"Yeah it is I guess." Asher sighed as she looked away from her. "Though I do have a few things I need to say before we get to that."
Yomikawa hummed in response as they both turned to enter the doors of the restaurant.
After a while when they got settled into their seats, a small silence fell between them as Asher worked up the courage to say something. She let out a sigh as she sat a hand on the back of her neck, bringing up her eyes to meet with Yomikawa's as she patiently waited on what she wanted to say.
"I'm…um….sorry Miss Yomikawa." Asher said as her face fell, not seeing the look of confusion come over Yomikawa's face.
"Huh? I already told you that it's-"
"No, it isn't about asking you to come here." Asher interjected before she could finish. "It's about my…memories since I've basically got them all back, I think but…. I'm apologizing for forgetting you as I did as well as not pursuing to get any of my memories that I had with you and….Miss Yoshikawa because of my illogical mindset in not wanting to get them back due to their connection with the experiment that Silas conducted on me."
Yomikawa's eyes widened before they fell at that as she saw Asher's head bend forwards, seeing her bite down on the bottom of her lip as her body seemed to grow tense.
"I-I know it probably hurt when I did that to you, especially when it came to Miss Yoshikawa from me being frightened at that time and whenever I saw her when she came to see me at the hospital. I don't have to understand feelings to know that it wasn't the right thing to do to two people that I value to the upmost extent and I'm-"
She stiffened when she felt a hand on her head, looking over and seeing that Yomikawa had moved to be beside her and saw a warm smile on her face.
"It's alright and nothing for you to be sorry for at all, Asher. And I bet Kikyou would say the same thing, so don't worry." Yomikawa said warmly as she ruffled her hair, laughing a little under her breath from how red Asher's face was getting. "It's always a great sight to see that I can get you to be as red as you are right now in just seconds of me looking at you."
"Pay no attention to it. My face is being completely illogical right now." Asher said with slight embarrassment in her voice as she covered her face, hiding the small smile as she heard Yomikawa's laughs grow even louder beside her.
After she was able to settle down and went back over to where she was seated before, Yomikawa laid her head into her hand as she looked over and saw the serious expression on Asher's face.
"Alright, with that out of the way," Asher began with a sigh as she leaned her back into her chair.
"I guess it's time to get to the matter at hand here."
A little while later…
"Are you a 100% sure you want to do this Asher?" Yomikawa asked.
Asher did a rundown of the situation that had happened over the last couple of days involving the Level Upper and her suspicions relating to the idea that Silas was responsible for its existence in some way.
After she had gone through the situation and her evidence pretty thoroughly, Yomikawa couldn't help but to think that what she was saying could be the case. She was open to question him on it like she asked, but she paused at the fact that Asher wanted to not only be there but also be the one that does the questioning, which is something that made her tense to allow no matter the circumstances.
It took her a while to give her a definite answer, but Asher nodded her head as she rubbed the back of her neck incessantly.
"I know it may seem illogical, since it's one of those rare times in my life that I feel the same way." She stated. "But…I have to do this no matter how much the idea makes me uncomfortable. I've been avoiding it for so long, but this is the only way that I think will get me to understand why he did some of things that he did, so I can stop analyzing it. So I can maybe…finally get past all of it including…my mother's death. Something that would have never happened if I had just…"
"Asher," Yomikawa said immediately as she reached out and grabbed her hand, with the esper in question not even looking over at her anymore. "Himari's death was not your fault. You had no clue something like that was going to happen to her."
"I didn't have to know. If I actually had some piece of logic and a backbone to question his intentions during that time, I would've realized that he was using me and probably her as well for his own amusement or some type of twisted mind game. If I had just declined his offer for that damn experiment and not have allowed his manipulation to make me scared of myself, she would still probably be here and I or others wouldn't have to question my mental state practically every waking moment of my life for all the crap I've gone through."
"Zierdan look at me."
Even though it was a struggle to even do such a thing after saying that, Asher let out a sigh as her blue eyes hesitantly met with gentle onyx ones.
"Yes, you may be mature for your age as well as most likely being one of the smartest ones I've ever met. But I feel that like me, you forget at times that you're still just a kid no matter how independent you are. You're lazy, eat abnormal amounts of chocolate and sweets when the mood strikes you, and enjoy hanging out with people you care about. This is what being a kid is like and no one can fault you for that. Meaning you shouldn't blame yourself for something that was the fault of a heartless and careless adult that only cared about his own desires and not the child he should've raised as if she was his own."
Asher remained silent at that as she sent over a nod and sent a squeeze to the hand holding onto hers.
She always told her that, with each and every time making her more and more inclined to push herself to believe that it was true. But each and every time that she tried, she just couldn't get the image out of her head of how she found her mother the way she did that day. It had been jarring enough to push her to the point of no return when it came to the experiment, blaming herself each and every day that if she had more power and control over her ability, she would've' been able to save her somehow.
Even with that though, she was still able to find some comfort in the words that Yomikawa said to her, fading out of her thoughts when the woman let out a resounding sigh in front of her.
"I believe I understand and get why this meeting needs to happen, since you're probably the only one that he's open to actually tell the truth to, which is either a bad or good thing depending on his intentions behind of telling you of his motives." She said as she let go of her hand and leaned back into her chair. "I can probably set it up to happen sometime tomorrow, but…I need to make sure that you're ready for something like this. From all that you've told me, I can see why it's important. But at the same time from knowing you and the knowledge I've gained from my countless attempts at interrogating him, I'm afraid of how something like this is going to affect you in a way I don't want it to from seeing how well you seem to be doing now. "
"I get why you're concerned, since Mikoto was the same way in being cautious of me doing this as well. I lived with his constant manipulation for basically 9 years of my life. Meaning… it's only logically that it could still affect me in some way and that I can also fall for it again." Asher said before one of her hands clenched into a fist. "But at the same time, it would make me one of the only ones that could combat it in some way from being used to it as I am in comparison to others. So…yes. I'm sure that I want to do this in order to help my friends with this investigation and find some semblance of closure for things I had to go through for almost no logical reason at all."
Yomikawa was taken aback by the amount of motivation and drive Asher seemed to have to do something like this. She had always known the girl to try her best to avoid things that she deemed to be hard or uncomfortable that always required someone like herself to push her to do.
And…
For one of the first times in a long time, Yomikawa saw some type of spark light in front of her that she thought she would never see before ever again from Asher after all she had been through up to this point. It would be wrong of her to stop her from doing something like this just for her own sake in not wanting to see her hurt.
"Okay." Yomikawa said with a nod. "As I said before, I should have the meeting set up sometime tomorrow. You should be able to also bring that friend with you if you want and I'll definitely sit beside you as well during it. But Asher please look up at me when I say this…"
Asher did what she was asked without any hesitation, slightly taken for a loop by how stern the woman's gaze was but also somehow held the same gentleness that they always had.
"If at any point during the interrogation it becomes too hard for you to take, promise me that you will not push yourself." She said with upmost seriousness as she reached out and cupped both of Asher's hands into hers. "Promise me that if you need to get some air at some point that you'll allow either me or Misaka to speak on your behalf so that you can leave the room if need be. I know you've gotten better, but at the same time I know how severe your anxiety can get in situations like these and I don't want to have to end up sending you to the hospital for a Psych evaluation if you ignore how you're feeling to the point there's no going back and you end up having some type of panic attack or PTSD episode halfway through. You're old enough to know what your limits are, so please just be mindful of them for me and for yourself."
Asher nodded her head after a while, knowing that she needed to in order to grant Yomikawa some type of peace for her doing something like this that will probably end up reminding her of things that always sent her mental state crumbling in an instant.
"I promise Miss Yomikawa." Asher said genuinely as her stoicness fell completely. "It may be hard for me to accept sometimes, but I know something like this is not the best place to exceed my limits too far. I've been in the hospital enough as it is this last week. I'm not really in the mood to end up forcing myself to have to go back there for another visit just because I thought suppressing or ignoring my anxiety was the right thing to do."
Yomikawa smiled when she heard that and sent a comforting squeeze into Asher's hands, finding some type of relief for that admittance.
Even though she was already mature for her age, she thought as Asher smiled back over at her.
It still seems that she's always growing in some way right in front of me that reminds me of how young she still is….
And how proud I'll always be of her.
One hour later…
After leaving Joseph's and saying her goodbyes to Yomikawa, Asher let out a sigh and took out her phone to text Misaka what had happened and that the inevitable meeting with Silas would be sometime in the afternoon tomorrow.
Before she could, though, she received a random phone call from Shirai that she instantly picked up as she brought her phone up to her ear since she had decided not to where her Amps for the first time in a while.
"Hey, Kuroko. Is there something-"
She didn't have time to say whatever she was going to say before she stiffened when she heard her friend grunt out in pain on the other line, enough that it sent enough concern through her system to try and triangulate the teleporter's location by trying her best to sense her fluctuations that she always gave off.
She could find and calculate Shirai's teleports about as easily as she could with the EM waves that Misaka gave off from being an Electromaster both due to being used to it and from how many waves they gave off at any point in time that she could never ignore.
"Kuroko are you okay?"
Shirai laughed a little on the phone, more out of the pain from her current injuries but also out of relief that Asher was able to answer her as quickly as she did.
"D-Don't worry about me Zierdan. I-I'm alright, just having some difficulty restraining a suspect that has used the Level Upper as well as nearly assaulted Saten before I got here. Due to the nature of his ability, i-it's hard to fully track or anticipate hi-his movements." Shirai replied as she let out multiple winces under her breath. "But since it's a cheap version of your light manipulation, I won't have much trouble in defeating him..."
"I do however n-need your help with something else. Do you happen to know where an abandoned building is that has been labeled for demolition anywhere close to your current position?"
Asher took a moment to think for a while. From her countless number of walks within this district, she usually had a good idea of the layout of the area about as much as Shirai did because of her patrols for Judgment.
"Maybe, but the one you're talking about specifically might be out of a couple that are labeled in the same way around here, so it's not easy to narrow down the one you're talking about."
There was a pause on Shirai's end before Asher heard a shout of pain come out of the esper's mouth as she heard an unrecognizable laugh from someone else come through her ears.
"Awwww, trying to call for help, Miss Judgment officer? I thought you had more pride than that."
Even though no one could probably tell from her face, Asher was starting to get irritated and angry from the idea that Shirai was currently getting hurt by someone else and she was at a loss on how she was going to help or what she even needed her help with. And for the fact that whoever it was had tried to hurt another one of her friends as well.
She felt a distinct feeling come from somewhere that indicated that Shirai had teleported again, hearing her breathing growing harsh as time passed for a while.
"S-So…rry for that…rude interruption."
"It's not logical for you to apologize on that annoyance's behalf. But are you in a position where you can teleport another time?" Asher asked as she closed her eyes and widened her gravity field throughout the area.
She didn't hear an answer on the other end since Shirai got the feeling that she was most likely trying to concentrate and did what was asked of her.
Asher's eyes flashed open when she did as she began to run down the sidewalk and into the air with her gravity barriers, not even wasting time to bring out her skateboard to ride her way there.
"I got it. I should be there in a few minutes."
"Al-Alright. I should be able to take care of this guy by the time you get here. When I do, you'll probably know, so be ready because I need you to do some damage control just in case my calculations are off."
Asher hummed for her answer as her eyes narrowed slightly when Shirai got off the phone, having a feeling that she knew what the teleporter was about to do. It border-lined illogical in her eyes, but due to the nature of Shirai's ability, it was safe to say that she could pull it off without getting caught up in the crossfire.
And she says that Me and Mikoto are reckless…
Somewhere within the 7th District…
Shirai teleported down to the ground as the abandoned building that she had been in began to fall apart due to her cutting down the structural supports with her ability by using glass panes to cut each of the pillars.
She felt the esper in her grasp practically trembling in fear at the idea that he had almost fell to his death before she got him out of there as she turned back and smiled when she saw a distinct purple glow light up around the building from a gravity barrier projection to prevent any loose debris from hitting anyone that was located around the demolition zone.
It wasn't too long before she heard a sigh from above her, looking up at Asher who had relief shining in her eyes as she hopped down to stand right next to her.
"Do you think that you may have overdone it just a bit Kuroko?" Asher asked with a sweatdrop. "For a person of your stature and how much you hold yourself to the rules at times, I wouldn't have thought you would go around doing something like that."
"Well, it was scheduled for demolition anyway. So I honestly don't think it's a big deal." Shirai said with a smile, seeing Asher deadpan at her response.
"Sure, and then when MK and I do it accidentally, you seem to think the opposite of that."
The person that was in Shirai's grasp, Trick, who had seen the building crumble right in front of him panicked even further when he looked up and saw Asher stoically glaring down at him when Shirai pulled his head back to look at them from below.
"W-Wait, I kn-know you." He said as fear grew on his face before Shirai could even say anything, seeing Asher's face darken under the shadows of her hair. "A-Aren't you GravShift? Also known as the Calam-"
Before he could say anything else, Shirai teleported to where he could fall upside down on the ground while simultaneously gripping onto Asher's shoulder when she nearly took an aggressive step forward.
"I would advise you to not even try to finish that sentence." Shirai stated as she turned to look over at him with a strained smile. "Zierdan here would probably be an even scarier experience to endure versus us going to demolish more buildings together in my opinion. Before you make her feel inclined to give you a unique and in-depth tour of the city than any Level 5 probably could, I suggest you hand the Level Upper over to me now."
He quickly nodded at that and shakily did what was asked of him. Surprise lit up Shirai's and even Asher's face when he brought out a music player.
"Are you kidding me? The best you can hand us is a music player?" Shirai asked in annoyance.
As she bended down to the ground, she missed the look of absolute horror on the usually stoic face of Asher's as her eyes were wavering ever so slightly.
No…Nononono. That can't be it. Asher repeatedly thought to herself, thinking back to the intervention she had with Saten just yesterday where afterward she told her that her worries were unfounded about the music player she had on her person.
She wouldn't have lied to my face like that…right? This has to be some kind of illogical joke or rare coincidence.
She ignored them but thoughts of Silas began to arise as well as this would be the last piece of the puzzle for the Level Upper to be connected to her theory with his research being involved in some way for it to exist due to the aspect of sound now possibly being added to the equation.
With what Trick saying next that nearly ran both her and even Shirai's blood cold…
"But th-the Level Upper," He began to say with his eyes wide in fright.
"It's a song!"
As Anti-Skill arrived on the scene, Saten ran off from where she was hiding as she left her friends behind who had no clue she had even been there for a time.
She ran for a while before she came to a stop, laying a hand on her chest as conflicting waves of both relief and something she pegged to be a combination of both guilt and jealousy lit her soul from the thought of Shirai having to stop Trick and the other guys with him on her behalf since she couldn't do it on her own even when she had tried.
"I'm so glad that Shirai's safe. And…that Asher had arrived just in case something went wrong." She said under her breath as her face fell. "But why is it that I still feel this way?"
"That I still feel worthless when it comes to times like this to either stand up for myself so that my friends don't have to or be able to help them when I know they're in trouble?"
She began to walk again, rubbing her hand down a fence post beside her absentmindedly as she reveled in these thoughts for a little while longer.
Even though Shirai and her were the same age and were similar in so many ways that she couldn't count them all on one hand, the one thing that would always set them apart was how high of a level she was in comparison to her.
These thoughts and constant feelings of guilt and regret towards herself made her feel as though she wasn't worth anything or even able to begin to be able to relate to her friends, including the one she kept deep ingrained in her heart for the fact that she thought of her as someone who could relate to how she felt….
That's just wishful thinking….To think that someone like me and someone like…Asher could ever be on the same level in terms of that. How could I, a level 0, and a Level 5 like her ever be able to understand each other when it comes to things like this? She thought as she felt her hand tremble, bringing out the music player that had never felt so right for her to use until this moment, but at the same time felt worry and fear surge through her system on what could happen if she did it by herself.
It was at that point that she heard her phone ring, looking down and saw that she had a text. Her eyes widened when she saw Asher's name light the display, looking over her text repeatedly for a while after she had read it the first time.
Hey Saten, there's something I want to talk about relating to our talk from yesterday. I'm not doing anything at the moment, but if you are that's okay. I'm free any time today to do it though, so whenever you can please get back to me.
-Asher
Her eyes widened when it got to the part about the music player each and every time, finding her thumb hesitantly rising to click the buttons she had been wanting to press to type out a phrase for such a long period of time.
She nearly pressed send without even realizing that this is what she was going to do after all this time of feeling as though she shouldn't. But she was stopped in acquiring enough motivation and courage to do so when she heard someone call her name, looking up and seeing her friends from school, Akemi, Muu and Mako, waving over at her from afar. They were girls she knew that could relate to her struggle to some extent from almost feeling how bad as she did when it came to their low level.
As they walked, she idly listened to the conversation going on in front of her, feeling the hands in her pockets grow heavier on their respective items of her phone and the Level Upper, almost as if the balance was trying to find favor in one or the other.
It tipped towards Asher's favor for a time as she nearly brought her phone out to complete her message by pressing send, to open a door that she had been wanting to open by confiding what she had to her first that would probably end in losing it forever when she did.
But…
The balance shifted over and away from that idea to the point of no return when the conversation began to go towards the item located in her other hand, especially when she heard and saw the interest in the eyes from the girls around her.
Knowing for the first time in a while that she wasn't alone in this desire of hers…
"Oh hey guys," Akemi said as she came to a stop and looked over at the group. "Have any of you heard about this Level Upper thing?"
Mako looked over at her in confusion as Muu put her hands behind her head.
"Isn't it that thing that's supposed to increase your ability?" Muu asked.
Saten remained silent during this talk, gripping her music player tighter and tighter as her other hand went slack on her phone located in her other pocket.
I'm sorry Misaka, Shirai, Uiharu, and….Asher, she began to think solemnly that contrasted with the relieved smile that began to creep onto her face as this talk of the Level Upper prolonged into one that she couldn't ignore or allow the opportunity to pass up.
But I have to do this which is something that I know…
None of you would be able to understand as much as these guys do.
"Um, hey you guys?" Saten said as she twirled, gaining the attention of the girls in front of her. "I have one you know…"
"I've got one of them. I have access to the Level Upper."
With that, her final decision was made…
A decision that she didn't know would have such ramifications for everyone involved, including the friends that didn't know of her choice.
And the response that she had typed out to send to Asher, someone who waited patiently and worried alone every passing moment when she didn't see anything or say anything about it to either Shirai or Misaka or even Uiharu in an attempt to spare them from such a feeling…
Was never sent…
And Asher would never see a single response in any form until it was too late.
Word Count of Chapter: 5983 |Page Count: 10 pages |Reviews: 106 | Followers: 71 |Favorites: 56
Review Replies
Blankow: Yeah, with the things all these characters go through within this series, I feel that all of them need to be assigned a therapist...
As with most if not all the level 5's, Asher has psychological problems that in this case can either swing in or out of someone's favor for those who want to exploit them as she could have just as easily snapped at Stiyl for doing it to her that could have led to her destroying the building. He and even Asher herself were aware of the possibility which annoyed her to some extent of how far he was willing to go to beat her with how injured Index was in such close proximity to them.
Finally got some mention of Aleister into the story where you do indeed find out that the events of Project WaveInflux were even speculated to happen on his end as well that he didn't even try to stop other than the directors board deciding to cancel the project itself. I feel that Accelerator, Kakine, and Mugino would have all fallen in the department of "Run, don't look back" for their descriptions since the rest are a little saner (emphasis on a little).
Oh dang, I completely forgot to fit Misaka's Railgun into the equation for Touma's survivability if he were to ever hurt Asher in some way, even if on accident. Her holding back on him would probably be thrown out the window...
I'm glad that you liked how I went about Touma's character in this chapter. I thought since he did attempt to call for help originally, that he would be inclined to take Asher's offer with some pushing on her end. Can't wait to show their interactions after his memory loss along with the interactions she'll have with others in the Index cast like Index herself.
velvetsthetic: Hmmm, it has been a while a fight has been seen to that extent like the last chapter. I'm glad that you found it interesting as there will be more in some of these next chapters with the Level upper arc beginning to come to an end.
Aleister's plans with Asher? My lips are sealed...
With how she was in the last chapter just thinking of Silas, it probably makes sense as to why Misaka and Yomikawa are both for and against this risky plan of hers.
Haha, lol. I'm happy that I made you proud with the mini Asher x Touma moment. I wonder if his memory loss will be a detriment or benefit to their relationship later.
Nope, the logical esper herself sadly can't find the logic in such a thing as magic, which is something she tried her best not to try and find in an effort to not make herself overthink in such a moment where she needed her full focus in distracting Stiyl. Since she doesn't think he would ever lie to her, there's a chance she'll believe it some time in the future.
Ho4qin: Oh, that's a great idea! Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try to look for an alternative for "Tch" that way:)
Thanks for your reviews!
-PurpleClover99
