AN: Hello readers! I have returned with the 2-3 part finale to the Level Upper arc (which may or may not finish this week or next week depending on the amount of time I have)
After the next one or two chapter releases, I'm going to take a small break with the uploads to be on a more 1-2 week basis with each of the releases for a while to focus on some of my other stories along with university. I've been pushing to get this arc done these last couple of days and the end is finally in sight to go on to maybe the OVA but definitely to Big Spider and Poltergeist afterwards.
Sisters' Arc is getting closer and closer as we speak as more things fall into place before then so stay tuned:)
Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
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 30: Setting a Plan Into Motion
July 24th, 9:30AM
Tokiwadai Dormitory
Misaka was walking up the stairs holding a basket of assorted breakfast foods within one of her hands as she made her way to go to her room. She had asked Maika, a maid in training at her dorm, to make it for her so that she and Asher could eat it together.
With Shirai gone early to go do something with Uiharu for Judgment, she was the last one left here to be able to convince Asher out of her room considering she had hardly left it since two nights ago. She honestly was at a loss on what to do to cheer her up to the point she was before the meeting they had with Silas, hating that she had to watch her friend struggle though something that she couldn't fix quickly no matter how much she tried.
It had been made apparent to her that it wasn't going to be easy after witnessing Asher taking out her pent-up anger in an unhealthy way when she was at the park. She had never seen her do something like that to herself so casually, thankful that the multiple cuts littered on her hands were not deep enough to where she needed stitches after they had gotten the bleeding to stop once they had made it back to the dorm that day.
But what had worried her more so was the state she found her in when she went to check on her last night. She had left her alone most of the day since she knew that she needed some time to herself in order to not overwhelm her any further than she already was emotionally.
She had a feeling at some point, though, that she needed to go and see what she was doing, relieved that she had when she did…
Last Night Around 9:00PM…
Misaka was about to bring her hand up to knock on Asher's door before she hesitated when she heard a small crash on the other side as if someone had been pounded against something like wood.
"Damn it! That isn't right either…" She heard Asher say, concern flashing across her face as she wrapped her hand around the doorknob and went inside.
"Hey Z," She began to say as she smiled. "Are you-"
A small gasp left her mouth as she stopped in her tracks from whatever she was going to say after she saw the sorry state the esper's room was currently in.
Even with how lazy and unmotivated she can be at times, Asher was always motivated to some extent to keep her room to look decently clean. But what she was currently seeing was the complete opposite of that: books, rolled up pieces of paper, and miscellaneous items were littered everywhere on the floor as if a tornado had come in and wrecked the place.
Something that shocked her even further were the high amounts of empty energy drinks littered all over the floor as well. It sent her deeper in her worry as she was never one to drink such a thing due to not having a high liking for them and knew they would make it hard for her to control her anxiety.
There was one light that lit up the dark room where Asher was sitting at her desk, watching her slumped form as she crumbled up another piece of paper and threw it somewhere within the room.
"Nonononono, that i-isn't right. It would still require some type of Testament o-or Silas's waveform device for that to work. Meaning it's incorrect…in-incorrect incorrect." Asher mumbled as rubbed her temple with one of her hands, resting the other on the back of her neck "I'm still looking over something but what the hell even is it? Why is th-this so difficult for me to figure out?"
"Zierdan?" Misaka called out as she closed the door behind her.
She tried calling her name one or two more times, but it was almost like she didn't know she was there as she continued on with her ramblings.
"I've already came to the conclusion that there's more than just sound being involved, unlike in my case during Project WaveInflux. There's another sense being stimulated here that's allowing multiple people to increase their level and stress their minds to the point they fall into comas but…I-I can't seem to figure out more than that. I n-need to….I need t-to."
She carefully walked towards her, getting close enough to see that her Amps were within her ears. She knew now that she probably shut herself off from hearing any of the sound around her. So, when she reached her, she brought out one of her hands to nudge her on the shoulder.
She saw her world immediately turn upside down and looked up in surprise when she found herself pinned by Asher on her back, looking up into the unfocused and tired, bloodshot eyes of her friend above her. Her hands trembled slightly as she grabbed the collar of her shirt, narrowing her blue eyes at Misaka without any recognition shining in her gaze.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Asher asked darkly as red tinged the edges of her pupils.
Misaka tried to keep her face from falling at that. She had to be completely stressed out for her face blindness to be triggered, especially with her.
"Zierdan, it's me. Mikoto." Misaka said as she raised her hand to get close to Asher's cheek, sending a small amount of electricity into that area, so she could recognize her and tampered with her Amps to raise her volume.
In just a few moments, she saw Asher's gaze widen slightly as she immediately raised up off of her with some form of surprise on her face.
"Oh! I'm so sorry Mikoto. I didn't mean to do that." Asher said in a panic as she fearfully backed away. "I-I don't know what came over me. I ju-just thought…..y-you were…"
Before Misaka was about to say it was okay, Asher trailed off as she let out a few winces under her breath, gripping her head with both of her hands. It looked like it was so painful for her to use her brain to think about anything, seeing massive amounts of sweat pouring down from her forehead and damp circles on the bandages located on her hands.
"Wait…Wh-What was I just doing?" Asher said in confusion mostly to herself as she leaned onto the wall next to her. "I w-was just doing something…somethingsomething…. Right, Level Upper. I was trying to fi-figure out the Level…U-Upper."
Asher walked off the wall unsteadily and went over to sit back at her desk to continue on with what she was doing before, leaving Misaka at a loss on what to say in response.
It was almost like she was completely scatterbrained, unable to focus enough to think straight. She also looked like she hadn't slept a single wink in hours, so unsteady on her feet when she had stood up that she nearly thought she would have needed to catch her.
She had a small idea of what it might have been due to, though, walking up to Asher from behind and tapped her on her shoulder to gain her attention again.
"Did you take your anxiety and brain medication today?" Misaka asked.
A silence fell between them for a while as Asher stopped whatever she was doing completely to turn to look over at her. Misaka took notice that her entire form was shaking, but it almost looked like she didn't really notice or seemed bother by it.
"I don't really know the answer to that. I think I remember doing it, but I have been trying to figure th-this o-out." Asher struggled to say. "I c-can't for some reason. None of my calculations are coming out right. Nonenonenone and I need them to."
Misaka instantly went to check the drawer that she knew usually kept her meds, looked down and let out a sigh for seeing two tablets still in there for that day.
It was concerning that she hadn't taken them, but it was even more concerning that she was more obsessed at what she was doing versus if she had taken her meds or not. It was a surprise to see that she was even functioning right now for how long she hadn't taken them, but could tell that her ability to process information took a really big hit due to how much she was struggling with keeping her thoughts straight which she knew would work to push her anxiety even higher than what it currently was.
'She's most likely trying to keep her mind off what happened yesterday by keeping her mind busy,' Misaka thought as she went over to get a foam cup. She filled it up with water and dissolved her medicine within it, walking over to shut the computer Asher had been typing on and shoved the drink into her vision.
"Drink this and go to bed, Zierdan. You're not in any condition to even try to think through this right now." Misaka gently suggested.
"Nonononono, I don't need to do that. I'm fine…Mikoto. I just need to clear my head. Clear all the noise a-and then I can keep focusing." Asher stated as she tried to rise to her feet, immediately bracing herself against the desk as Misaka caught her before she could fall any further.
"You can barely keep yourself up. I know you probably haven't slept at all since yesterday and most likely haven't eaten a single thing either if that's the case. You're working against yourself and your anxiety is not making any of this better." Misaka pressed.
"It's illogical to try i-if I can't. Every time I close my eyes…he's there. Silas is always there a-and I'm alone. A-All alone with him." Asher mumbled before she shook her head and let out a wince, grabbing the side of her head. "I need to figure out the Level Upper. I need to expend my energy to somewhere useful and not think of him. Maybe when I'm done and can figure it out, I c-can maybe be able to sleep, but I ju-just can't do it now. I have to fi-finish this first. I have to...I h-have to."
Misaka dragged Asher over to her bed and forced her to drink down her medicine. When she did and attempted to get up again, Misaka pulled her back to where she was laying down in her lap, looking down and seeing confusion spread on her face.
"What are y-you doing? I need to go over an-"
"You are not doing anything until you get at least a couple hours of sleep." Misaka said sternly before her face softened, running her hands gently through her blonde hair. "And I won't leave until I can see that you can sleep soundly, so don't worry."
Asher's body seemed to relax almost instantly from hearing that, watching her try her best to fight the sleep that had probably been trying to claim her for so long.
The repetitive and soft movement Misaka's fingers did in her hair lured Asher further and further into darkness until she nearly couldn't hold on for much longer.
"N-No, you don't have to…d-do that….Because…I c-can….I-I need….t-to…nngh…" Asher strained before her head lolled over slightly as her eyes completely closed.
Misaka continued to run her hands through her hair as she went deeper in her sleep, coming to a stop when she heard her breathing almost deep enough to let out a soft snore under her breath.
'It's almost like she completely crashed when her mind wasn't actively on something for her to try and think through. I don't think I've ever gotten her to sleep so fast before,' Misaka thought with a relieved smile, seeing Asher's face completely at peace. She stayed there for a while, making sure she wouldn't wake up in a panic due to some type of nightmare.
After being there for almost half an hour, Misaka carefully moved her out of her lap and onto her own pillow without disturbing her. She then slipped out and snuck into her own room before the Head Resident or even Shirai noticed she was gone.
Present…
Misaka came to a stop in front of her room as she looked over at Asher's that was next to hers.
I don't think I've ever seen her like that before. She was so driven to get her mind off of Silas to focus on the Level Upper that she basically forgot to do everything but those two things. She thought as her expression grew more downcast.
I wish I had decided to go check on her before then. It's just that I thought I would end up making it worse if I kept pushing my worry onto her.
She stood there for a few moments before she began to twist her knob and open the door. When she did, she paused after walking a few steps inside when she saw a sight that she hadn't expected to see so early without someone else waking her up.
It was Asher, and she was sitting on Misaka's bed typing something up on her computer with a bag of some sort beside her. When she noticed that the Electromaster was here, she immediately stopped and closed the computer in front of her and sent her small smile.
"Hey Mikoto." Asher greeted before her face fell as she looked away. "I um brought something for you as an apology and to make it up to you for what I've done these last few days."
"Hey, but what do you mean by that?" Misaka asked in confusion.
A small silence fell between them before Asher let out a sigh and looked back over at her.
"Everything, I guess. My illogical reaction to what Silas said to me, ignoring all of your calls and texts when I left to go clear my head, yelling at you when you just came out there to help me, and for how you saw me last night." Asher summed up. "It wasn't right that I did all that to you. So that's why I'm apologizing."
Asher's face fell in slight surprise after she heard Misaka let out a few laughs under her breath.
"I don't know what I'm ever going to do with you." Misaka said with a smile as she sat down the basket in her hand, walking over and laying a comforting hand on Asher's shoulder. "Thank you, but I know it wasn't just you in that situation that made you react like that. It is natural for you to get mad at someone as cruel and arrogant as Silas is."
"I wasn't just angry. It was like I completely snapped." Asher explained. "I can hardly remember what happened in that moment, but…all I do know is that I really…really wanted him dead. I wanted to make him suffer right then and there for all that he did to me. And that scares me to some extent that those thoughts even crossed my mind during that. Wouldn't that just mean that I'm-"
"Zierdan you aren't a bad person or anything like him if that's what you're thinking." Misaka said as she hugged her, stopping her from talking any further. "If you couldn't tell from my own outburst, I was having to hold myself back from hurting that man for all of that stupid crap he was telling you. I can't even imagine how you felt from not only hearing it but basically learning the motivation behind his heartlessness and knowing he did it for such a stupid reason."
Asher mutely nodded at that before she let out a small wince from clenching her hands a little too much, letting go of Misaka and let out a sigh as blood began to seep through her bandages.
"Great, and I literally just changed them." Asher sighed, hearing Misaka let out a small laugh from seeing her expression. "It's illogical that something like this amuses you so much. I can tell you for a fact that it doesn't amuse me in the slightest."
"Oh sorry, I'm laughing more at the fact that you actually used your energy to change them by yourself when you can hardly even move your fingers to clench halfway into a fist." Misaka said with a giggle.
Misaka grabbed the medical kit that they had on hand in their room and unwrapped the bandages on Asher's hands. When she did, she looked down and saw that her knuckles were still pretty swollen and red but had decreased slightly in comparison to yesterday. The small cuts were healing well, but the large gashes located on both of her hands had been problematic from how easy it was to reopen them due to where they were located.
She did her best to be gentle in this process of cleaning and coating it with more healing cream to prevent her from feeling any unnecessary pain. At the end, she wrapped new bandages on each of her hands tight enough to keep pressure to stop the bleeding but still allowed her some ease of movement.
"And there." Misaka said with a smile. "That should hopefully keep them from reopening for now."
Asher said a small word of thanks before her eyes came across the basket of food Misaka had sat down before, sighing as she rummaged through the bag she had next to her.
"No matter how different we seem to be in terms of our personalities, we always seem to come up with the same idea to make the other happy to some extent." Asher sighed, bringing out two gourmet parfaits. One was made with multiple layers of strawberries and cream while the other substituted the strawberries with bananas and had them layered with cream and chocolate.
Misaka's face lit up in surprise as she let out a gasp, knowing how expensive those items are at the Pasticceria Manicagni. "Those must have costed you a fortune!"
"It did. But for once, being a Level 5 has its perks with the allowance we get." Asher remarked casually.
"But even with that you're not one to spend that much money, like ever. What made you inclined to get these at these sizes today?"
"Well," Asher said as a light blush fell on her cheeks, ruffling through the bag again. "You're right in the fact that I don't usually see the logic in spending this much money at one time. But I decided to ignore it for you. There was a deal that required to buy two of these, which I was probably going to do anyway even if it wasn't there. But when I did, it came with this…"
When she brought out the object that was given to her, she smiled at the way Misaka's face lit up as a similar blush began to creep up her face.
"Wha-What? Is th-that a BLUE-STRIPPED GEKOTA FINGER PUPPET!? You only have a 1/50 chance at getting one of these!" Misaka stuttered as sparkles fell in her eyes.
Asher nodded her head as her smile grew ever so slightly. "if I remember correctly, you've been looking for this one for the last few months now. I've known for a while that they were going to do this promotion and wanted to surprise you with it since it was going to line up with your birthday. But they apparently pushed it back around sometime in August due to some renovations they had to do, but one of the employees there said they would try to get in an earlier shipment of them for me to get you since I tend to go there a lot."
Right as she finished her explanation, Misaka literally jumped on her as she hugged her with tears of joy rolling down her face.
"Thank you! thank you! thank you!" Misaka cheered. "You're the best Z!"
Asher let out a small laugh from hearing that as she reciprocated her hug.
I may see it as an unhealthy obsession of hers at times, but it's always nice to see how excited and happy it makes her.
A little while later…
After they ate, Asher revealed something to Misaka that she hadn't noticed she did to some extent earlier relating to the incident that had occurred during Silas's meeting the other day.
"Wait? I almost forgot you said that before, but can you really not remember what happened towards the end of the meeting?" She asked as Asher's eyes narrowed slightly in thought.
"It's complicated." Asher stated. "The last thing I clearly remember is when I asked why he did everything. But then it gets fuzzier and fuzzier each moment after that other than how I was feeling at that time when my ability started going out of control. It all seemed to stop to some extent when I realized Miss Yomikawa got in front of me though. It was an odd experience that I wasn't too sure if I've ever had before."
Misaka contemplated that for a moment before a thought crossed her mind. "Do you think it could have been due to that personality that developed due to the experiment?"
"Maybe but it isn't likely, since I know how that feels. I still felt like I was all there and in control, which is the exact opposite of how I felt whenever it would come out and push me basically into the backseat in terms of how I felt on something. I would be aware of our actions but never question them when it had most control." Asher explained before she let out a sigh. "I also don't think it's that mostly because Shokuhou said she did all that she could to suppress it as she couldn't full on erase it since it was still me in a way."
"Yeah I need you to explain that bit just a little more." Misaka stated as she thought back to her encounter with Asher when she began acting like a whole new person during the after math of Project WaveInflux.
[ "Hey, I have a question for you before we start this up again…." Misaka stated, seeing Asher falter in her steps. "Who are you and what are doing to mess with Zierdan's head?"
"Wait what? Oh, you figured it out huh?" Asher asked as she stared at her from afar, letting out a sigh and shrugging her shoulders. "I guess it's not surprising, since I did let her name slip out of my mouth. Technically I'm still Asher in a way but at the same time not the one that you've ever really talked to, since I didn't come out all that often around you. She was always able to somehow keep me mostly suppressed when she was in your presence boringly enough..."
"If I had to describe myself or us in a sense, you could say that me and Zierdan as you refer to her are basically two halves of the same whole ever since that psychopath went along and did his little experiments on her."]
"I understand that it was a split in your personality per say, but what would be the danger in if you erased it entirely, considering you didn't have it before the experiments started?" Misaka asked. "When I figured out something was different about you, it told me that it was technically still you but not at the same time as you were different halves of the same person. And then it explained to me that it was created with all the conflict going on in your head."
"That's a short version of the story. The rest is a little bit more complicated than that, though, which will require me to have to explain Silas's thought process in the theories relating to my ability." Asher stated as she crossed her arms. "As you know my wavelength and brainwaves are interconnected enough to be able to change at times depending on what type of Wavelength shift I'm in. Since I'm normally passively on Blueshift, my personality and brainwaves have been built off with that particular wavelength at its foundation. Whenever I shift into Redshift, there's a chance that my brainwaves can change, indirectly leading to a chance that my personality can shift as well because of it. If I'm balanced or plan to shift into Redshift, I'm usually okay to the point my brain can keep up with my calculations and my brainwaves are relatively the same…"
"But if it happens because I lose control of myself or my emotions, there's a higher chance that my brainwaves will change extensively to the point that my personality is altered. This has always had a chance of happening but where I'm still in control in a way like what happened the other day. Meaning both of these events are considered when it comes to my own personal reality. I've always had a harder time controlling that side of my ability because it has always made me unstable if I try to do more of it in comparison to Blueshift, so I always try to keep a balance of the two which is why my barriers are typically purple in nature as it involves the use of my Redshift side to a degree."
Misaka nodded at that as she brought her fingers to rest on her chin. "I think that makes sense to me. Does that mean whatever Silas was doing was trying to change that as you predicted, which would indirectly mess with the foundations of your Personality Reality to the point it sustained damage?"
"Yes, which was something I realized right before Silas kidnapped me. Due to the waveform device forcefully pushing my Wavelength to increase the amount of hold I have over Redshift wavelengths in a way, it was making it to where my Gravity Field was attracting those wavelengths passively more so than Blueshift wavelengths, constantly overwriting my brainwaves in the process. It led me and my personality to being unstable because of it as I would shift without realizing I was. And due to this constant struggle, another entity or in this case, personality was created to embody the Redshift side of my ability, while I or more specifically, my personality harbored the Blueshift side of my ability to lessen the amount of stress my body was enduring. Meaning, theoretically, we are both Zierdan Asher, but we're different people at the same time from harboring 2 distinct Personality realities within the same person."
Misaka's eyes widened at that, feeling sweat run down the side of her face. "Wait how is that even possible? That would theoretically mean you would have to have two abilities or a dual skill as it's been rumored to be called if you have two personal realities, right? But at the same time, you shouldn't since every esper is only supposed to have one ability that is mainly applicable to something that can stem out depending on how you figure out how to use it."
"That's still something I'm trying to figure out I guess, because you're right that the logic in even believing that shouldn't be there to the point that Silas and even I didn't think it could happen until it was too late. All he thought it would do is expand my personal reality to encompass something like that, but it instead lead to a rare split that essentially created an entirely new person in the process that reflected how aggressive and irritable I tend to be whenever I use Redshift too long. Shokuhou probably noticed that even if it was technically not my personality, it was still me, just following or embodying a different personal reality if that makes sense. If she were to erase that…"
"She would essentially be erasing a part of your personal reality. Which could have completely wrecked you psychologically and altered your ability to the point of instability as it would essentially erase a part of how Zierdan Asher is as a person." Misaka summed up with Asher confirming it with a nod.
"With the personality suppressed, I am theoretically in control of both realities if it's true that I do have two of them in some way. I could have possibly tapped into that when I snapped at Silas the other day, which means there's maybe a whole another side of my ability I'm not all that aware of. Which…"
Asher trailed off after that as her expression fell ever so slightly, feeling Misaka's hand rest on her shoulder after a while.
"Which is something that probably bugs or worries you that you don't know what you're fully capable of right?"
"Yeah." Asher simply remarked. "And I believe it's fueled on the one thing I hardly have any knowledge of how to control or use all that much, which are my emotions. If I get too emotional on something like I had the other day, I could end up really hurting someone without being mindful or even care about it."
A small silence fell between them before she felt Misaka send a reassuring squeeze, looking over at her with a sideways glance and seeing a smile on her face.
"You shouldn't try to overthink something like this that indirectly causes you to panic. We'll be able to figure this out at some point together, alright?" Misaka reassured, seeing Asher send her a nod. "Well with that out of the way, how about we go meet up with Kuroko and Uiharu to go and see what they're doing? It will hopefully be enough to get your mind off of all of this."
Since she hadn't seen them in a long while and was interested as well, Asher agreed to go along with her to see Shirai and Uiharu.
Though, it did remind her to some extent of something else that was stressing her out, looking down at her phone and wondering if she should text a friend that she had a feeling wouldn't be there.
About 15 minutes later...
Judgement 177th Branch Office
"Okay this is going to sting a bit so hold still…" Uiharu said as she wiped disinfectant on one of Shirai's wounds, causing the teleporter to grimace harshly under her breath.
Over the last few days, Shirai had been called out to multiple scenes relating to subduing those using the Level Upper, acquiring more and more injuries each and every time since she was out there on her own.
There were times that she thought of maybe involving Misaka or Asher into this in order to assist but she decided against it as they were civilians after all. And due to the fact that both of the Level 5's had been acting strangely for the last couple of days ever since they had gotten back from doing something together that they vaguely let on was in relation to the Level Upper.
She would've asked more questions about it to Misaka, but the Electromaster avoided the root of the issue each time and said that it related to a personal matter regarding both of the Level 5 espers. This frustrated her slightly that she wouldn't give her much more than that, but realized after a while it was how she acted when it involved some sort of event that had happened involving her and Asher, thinking back to when the matter recently came to her attention about a week ago.
["Alright, but there is one question I have if you're okay with just answering that for now." Shirai stated as Misaka landed a hand on her shoulder, nodding her head for her to continue. "Is this all connected to the incident that happened during your and Zierdan's 1st year at Tokiwadai?"
Silence fell between them as an unreadable emotion came across Misaka's face before the corners of her lips turned upwards into a small smile.
"Yeah it does. But that's probably the farthest I'll go into that. I don't feel right to go too much into it without Zierdan talking about it along with me, since it is a personal matter for the both of us but with her more so." She explained. "When she's ready, I promise we'll go into more detail, but that's all I'll answer about it for now."]
What could it possibly be that Sissy goes to such strides to hide it from us on Zierdan's behalf? Shirai thought to herself. Her thoughts were shattered when she grimaced even further due to Uiharu touching another tender spot on one of her many wounds. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes as she tried her best not to shout out in pain.
"Sorry." Uiharu said sweetly as she continued wrapping and cleaning Shirai's injuries. "It's starting to look like you're getting bruised up here and there every day."
"Yeah I know, but it can't be helped with more and more people deciding to use the Level Upper." Shirai said with a sigh.
"I wish there was a way to track how far this craze will end up spreading." Uiharu remarked as she put another bandage on Shirai's arm.
"Wishing won't do us any good here, Uiharu. This is going to take work, and we need to make up a plan." Shirai stated as she raised 3 fingers. "They're 3 things that are crucial for us to do."
Determination fell in Uiharu's eyes as she nodded her head. "First we have to get the Level Upper off the streets. And then help those who have fallen into a coma…"
"And then we arrest whoever is responsible for creating it." Shirai finished.
She brought up the Level Upper music file that was acquired from the device that the esper known as Trick gave her and Asher a couple days ago.
"We need to find out whoever created this thing and why they handed it out for the general public to use." She continued. "Hopefully it will lead us to somehow find out their true motive in why they did this."
"Well," Uiharu hummed as a smile came on her face. "Let's try and get you taken care of first."
She brought out another roll of bandages to wrap Shirai's chest as the teleporter kept her arms raised above her head.
"Hey, Shirai. Are you sure you don't want Misaka doing this?" Uiharu asked with some amusement in her voice.
"Oh no no no. I would never allow anyone to see me like this much less my Sissy."
"If that's the case, I can promise you Shirai, no one would like to see you like this. Almost to the extent of how Asher would feel." Uiharu casually remarked, flinching at the sight of when Shirai's gaze steeled into annoyance.
Shirai turned and began shaking the mess out of her to the point that enough swirls began to cloud her vision. She would have continued until she thought the girl had deserved enough of it, but the Electromaster she loves dearly in her heart made a surprising appearance at the wrong time.
"Hey Guys!" Misaka said on the other side of the door, causing Shirai to panic internally as she immediately paused in what she was doing.
"We were just wanting to see if there was anything we could-"
Shirai instantly teleported Uiharu on the other side of the room as Misaka came in, calculating it to where she appeared upside down above the Electromaster to fall on top of, hearing their groans of pain as she quickly tried to cover up her injured state.
"Good thing I decided to walk in behind her." She heard Asher sigh, surprised to know she was actually here after not seeing her at all these last couple of days.
"O-Oh hey Sissy! And it's nice to see you up and about Zierdan." Shirai said nervously as she turned back around to see Asher bending down to check on the dazed girls below her.
"That's all you have to say? Not for the fact that you nearly gave these two a concussion?" Asher sighed as she sent her a stoic sideways glance. "You could've at least tried a more logical approach in hiding your injuries from MK."
Shirai's body stiffened from hearing that before she began to button her shirt. "I have no clue what you're talking about." She said with a nervous smile as she saw Asher deadpan in front of her.
"Uh huh, sure you don't…"
After Uiharu and Misaka regained consciousness, each of the girls moved to the corner of the room to chat as Misaka sat backwards in the chair in front of the computer.
"Soooo, are you guys making any type of progress with the case?" Misaka asked, seeing Shirai and Uiharu glance back at one another.
"It's hard to say even with the amount of information you and Asher got for us the other day." Uiharu replied.
"We have acquired some more information after we talked to Dr. Kiyama a day or so ago. There's a certain device called a Testament which is able to electronically input a large quantity of data directly into the brain. But it supposedly operates by using all of the 5 senses: Taste, Touch, Hearing, Smell, and Sight."
Misaka's eyes widened slightly at that, remembering this sort of "Testament" device being mentioned by Asher the night before.
["Nonononono, that i-isn't right. It would still require some type of Testament o-or Silas's waveform device for that to work. Meaning it's incorrect…in-incorrect incorrect." Asher mumbled as rubbed her temple with one of her hands, resting the other on the back of her neck "I'm still looking over something but what the hell even is it. Why is th-this so difficult for me to figure out?"]
"Hey Z?" Misaka said aloud as she looked over at the esper standing near the window. "Is this Testament the same thing you were stuck on not even being an option for the Level Upper last night?"
Asher thought on that for a while before she remembered what she was talking about. "Yes and no. I'm pretty sure that a Testament is not involved in this. But at the same time, the applications of it seem to be there as more than one or all of the senses are being stimulated in some way just on the surface level of this particular kind of sound file, even though only sense of hearing seems to be stimulated. But even with that theory, I can't think of how that could be possible at the same time."
"We searched the rooms of all the users who are currently in vegetative states, but we couldn't find any other relevant data other than the song." Uiharu noted before she ran off to stop her tea pot from steaming out of control as it let out a whirring sound.
"Alright, well let's look at this hypothetically." Misaka stated before she raised a finger in Asher's direction to stop her from talking. "I know it may not seem logical to do it, but just roll with me on it Z for a few moments in order to think outside the box a bit. It could potentially allow you see it from an angle you hadn't considered before."
Asher remained quiet at that as she let out a sigh to allow Misaka to continue.
"As Z said, there could be a possible chance that a few or all 5 senses are being stimulated in the way that I'm thinking that could make it possible." She speculated as some surprise lit up Shirai's face.
"But how is that when only one sense is being directly stimulated?"
"Well remember that conversation when we were eating the shaved ice?" Misaka asked, seeing Shirai's think on it for a bit as Asher's eyes widened slightly.
"About brain freezes?" Shirai asked.
"No, Kuroko, that isn't what she meant." Asher said with some intrigue in her voice. "Try one more time.
Shirai did and after a few moments of doing so, she let out a gasp.
"It's Synesthesia!" Shirai and Misaka said at the same time with Asher sighing from their high amounts of enthusiasm.
Uiharu had just got back from the kitchen with tea in hand when they said that, wearing a look of confusion on her face from what the girls had just said.
"Synes-what?"
"It's a conversation they were having the other day before we came to visit you when you were sick. It's basically the sensations you feel based off a reaction of a single stimulus." Asher stated as she leaned her back further into the wall behind her.
"Do you think it's possible that is the case that's happening here then?" Uiharu asked as everyone turned to look towards Asher.
"Hypothetically and theoretically it could happen. I hadn't thought of something like that before from I guess the simplicity of the application of it. It's somewhat surprising something like that would be able to upgrade someone's ability to the extent that it has over the course of this device's existence." Asher responded stoically, seeing Misaka nod her head.
"Due to this, if you stimulate one sense with a particular method, all of the senses will react as well even if they weren't the intended target." Misaka added.
"So, what you're basically saying is that by stimulating sense of sound, you could get the same reaction from using a Testament?" Uiharu summed up as each of the girls nodded their heads.
"Even if she's illogical in nature, I would still run this by Dr. Kiyama just in case we're slightly off about this in some way. If you need me to be in there to help discuss something you don't understand or know how to explain, I can help you with that, Uiharu, as MK and Kuroko go over to the hospital to also run it by the doctors over there as well." Asher suggested.
"Okay that sounds like a good idea." Shirai agreed as she moved to stand next to Misaka.
"We'll meet back up with you guys in a bit." Misaka remarked as Uiharu and Asher hummed for their answers, seeing the two disappear right in front of them.
After they left, Uiharu went over to a table to set down the tray of tea that had been in her hands, bringing out her phone as she began to look back over at Asher.
"It seems we finally have a plan set in motion for this." She said with a closed eyed smile.
Before she continued, her face fell in slight surprise from how focused Asher seemed to be on her phone, bringing up a hand to land on her shoulder. She felt the esper jump slightly when she did before she looked down at her.
"Is there something wrong Asher?" Uiharu asked in concern.
Some silence rang in the air between them before Asher let out a small sigh.
"I don't know, I just got this bad feeling all of the sudden, that's all." Asher said before a small smile came on her face. "But it's nothing you have to worry about Uiharu, so just go ahead and call Dr. Kiyama so we can talk to her."
Determination fell into the eyes of Uiharu as she nodded her head. Asher proceeded to go over and lay down on the couch a little ways from where she was standing as Uiharu dialed the doctor's number.
She tried not to let on how nervous she felt for some reason she couldn't explain relating to this situation as she brought up her phone into her view, pressing to go to her contact list as the highlighted box came across Saten's name.
She hadn't seen the girl for a total of 4 days at this point, surprising her to some extent that a girl she had hardly known for not even month was on her mind as much as she was, about as much as Misaka and Shirai were at any given time.
She's fine, Zierdan. If she wasn't, she would've texted you or someone else by now. Asher kept thinking to herself as her lips ran a thin line, distracting herself with the rings that went off from Uiharu's phone as she waited for Kiyama to pick up.
["Now look at the logical person being the illogical one right now. You actually did great Asher, so you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. It's natural for anyone to be nervous from going out of their comfort zone like you have. I appreciate and keep seeing how much of a kind and caring person you are, even though you're probably too shy to admit it at times."]
She wouldn't have told me that for no reason that day. Or say that my worries were unfounded when it came to her music player…
She wouldn't use the Level Upper on herself because she knows the potential dangers of what could happen…That she could end up falling into a coma after its use…
So, it's fine and I don't have to tell anyone of this…
I don't have to help her because she doesn't need any help right now because she would tell me if that's the case.
This won't end how it did with my mother like it did back then…when I knew Silas wasn't to be trusted and knew the danger he posed to her, meaning…
I won't be late this time…
Because I know she is able to call me if she needs me and I'll be ready to help her by any means necessary.
Word Count of Chapter: 7625 |Page Count: 13 pages |Reviews: 116 | Followers: 74|Favorites: 60
Review Replies
Ho4qin: Thanks! It seems your theory with Asher's other personality was right. It lays dormant inside of her after Shokuhou's efforts to suppress it due to how volatile it could get when the mood strikes it. The personality definitely developed as a way of protection towards Asher's original personality and trusted no one else had her best interests in mind, though grew to be unstable and more aggressive and sadistic overtime due to damage Asher was receiving during Silas's experiments. When or if it will return remains to be seen.
So the Whole essentially is more or less the head of the Misaka network in a way a little higher in comparison to Last Order's amount of authority. She is also basically the sum of all the parts of the Sisters' in a way and has the ability to emotionally express herself more so in comparison.
Blankow: Thanks! Silas probably deserves every level 5 angry at him at the same time and it still wouldn't be what he would deserve. Sadly, the psychological scars Asher has because of Silas are still very much there, but has digressed to some extent from Misaka's efforts. Hopefully, Yomikawa will be able to convince him at some point to allow her to rightfully be the parent he should've been.
Silas's plan was definitely an illogical one, especially the way he went about it. If he had just left Asher alone, she could have possibly still been a Level 6 candidate and remain the 3rd ranked under Kakine and Accelerator. Though the question is now is why Asher has been moved down to Rank 5 and what are Aleister's plans for her…
What her mother developed for her will be discussed later on. But the question of Asher's full potential has been brought up even more with the passing of this chapter with her theory relating to the possibility she has a hidden power she has no clue how to safely tap into.
Sadly the trees were sacrificed for the sake of her not beating down some perverts or delinquents on the streets who didn't know they were coming across her at a bad time.
Yeah you're right that Tsuchimikado would definitely not care and that the level 5's would feel inclined to let him live with his dignity from it. I don't know if Accelerator would be able to handle sitting in Touma's class for even a few seconds. Asher already threw books at Tsuchimikado and Aogami, I wonder what Accelerator would do to them in comparison.
velvetsthetic: That day was definitely hard on Asher, especially the nights after. Silas falls in the very brave department as he knew Misaka and Asher wouldn't attack him in the presence of Yomikawa. But he nearly saw that plan go up in flames after he enraged Asher to the point that she nearly didn't care anymore.
When she said that she would "send/crush him in oblivion," it was just a very blunt way that she was going to use her ability on him without holding anything back.
Since Asher doesn't understand emotions all that well, when she can't restrain them any more, she doesn't have a lot of emotional control. She couldn't figure out any routes to safely let out her anger, and the poor trees seemed to be the best thing for her to use in that moment.
LostNeko120: I know that chapter was pretty sad with Silas involved. Hopefully with the help of Misaka and the others, Asher can move past it, especially with Level Upper nearing its end and Sister's coming closer and closer in the timeline.
Due to Asher's relationship with her, Yomikawa will definitely appear more so within this story:)
I was waiting for someone to say this, but I did take some small amount of inspiration from Accelerator's moment of rage during Index III into Asher's. She wasn't completely lost in her rage like he was, but she was very close in losing a complete hold of herself due to her ability.
Next chapter will move forward with the events relating to Saten. I nearly did it in this chapter but I was afraid it would run too long if I had.
You're welcome and Thank you!
Thanks for your reviews!
-PurpleClover99
