AN: Hello everyone! Happy New Years' Eve where we see the hectic year of 2020 finally come to an end tomorrow...

In my nearly 20 years of life, I don't think I've ever seen a year crawl so slowly as this one and have so many devastating things happen at a time. It has been brutal for everyone and I hope 2021 will be better to where we may finally see some normalcy at some point.

On a not as depressing note, this will be the last chapter before we finally get to start getting into Big Spider and Poltergeist. These two shouldn't be as long as the Level Upper Arc ended up being as my hopes are that we'll be getting into the Sisters' Arc sometime in the 40s but potentially the early 50s if things run long.

Now without further adieu, I hope you enjoy the last chapter of 2020, with more definitely on the way in 2021.

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 39: Sick? Misaka's Strong Front

July 27th, 11:30AM

Tokiwadai Dormitory

Asher was sitting at her desk in her room, scribbling away on a packet as she wore a bored expression on her face. She had been up the last couple hours doing the additional summer work that her teachers had given her after she had missed school for an extended period of time before summer break had started.

Even if 6AM wasn't a usual time for her to wake up, she oddly did during that time and hadn't been able to fall back asleep since, where she decided at some point to put the last remainder of her energy elsewhere.

It was still a little irritating at times, but this type of thing has happened before ever since her time at the hospital after Project WaveInflux. She'll just get into those type of moods where she doesn't feel tired even though it's fairly late, feel exhausted even though she had slept for a long time, or somewhere in between like today where she would randomly wake up and not be able to go back to sleep.

She had gotten used to it, though, not paying much attention to it as she tried to finish the illogical amount of summer work in front of her. It didn't use much of her energy as she pretty much knew what to do, finding some of the problems so easy that they were almost trivial for her to even work out.

She got halfway through her work before her phone started to ring, looking over at the caller ID before she let out a small sigh and stretched out her arms. She pressed a button on one of her Amps and leaned back fully into her chair as she looked up blankly at the ceiling.

"Hey, Kuroko."

"Hi Zierdan," Shirai greeted over the phone. It's somewhat surprising that you got to the phone as fast as you did. I didn't happen to wake you up, though, did I?"

"No, you didn't. I've been up for a while now." Asher reassured. "Is there something that you need from me?"

"Well, not from you specifically. I just wanted to know if you've seen Sissy at all this morning. I tried calling her phone, but she didn't pick up."

"No…I haven't." Asher said with some hesitance within her voice. It was sort of strange that the Electromaster was still asleep at this time and hadn't sensed her phone going off earlier, especially considering she had sworn she had remembered Misaka saying that she was going out with the girl that she was currently talking to. "I thought she was out with you, since I was going to meet up with you two later to go eat with Uiharu and Saten at Joseph's."

"Yeah, that was the plan. But when it was time for us to wake up this morning, Sissy wanted to sleep in a little more. She didn't really say why but she just seemed kind of off from how she normally is. She had a hard time sleeping last night from what I could tell, so she must have still been tired."

Asher's lips ran a thin line from hearing that, letting out a sigh as she rose up from her chair. "There's probably more to it than that she didn't want to admit outright." She said under her breath, raising a hand to rest on her neck. "I'll go check on her to see how she is now."

"Alright, thanks Zierdan."

Zierdan hummed in response as she ended the call, automatically walking out of her room to the door directly next to hers.

When they had got back from the Swimsuit photoshoot yesterday, Misaka seemed to be fine from what she could tell. Though when it got later in the night, she started acting off like Shirai had described just now, looking sluggish when she and Shirai had tried talking to her as well as unable to get comfortable in any position she was in.

This went on and grew progressively worse over an extended amount of time that was almost concerning, but Misaka just waved it off as nothing, saying that it was just her sinuses acting up out of the blue that would hopefully get better when she got some rest.

She was about as bad with hiding her issues about as much as Asher was, leaving the latter somewhat put out of her comfort zone since she tended to not pry for things if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

When she got to Misaka's room, she knocked on the door a couple times and waited for a response. After repeating this without a single answer, she looked around to see if the Head Resident was there before she used her ability to unlock the door herself.

The click of the lock turning sounded almost instantly, with Asher casually walking inside and closing the door behind her. She looked over at Misaka who's back was towards her, seeing her sleeping within her usual Gekota pj's next to her stuffed bear.

She got closer and looked down at her face, seeing tired bags on her unnaturally pale features. Her eyebrows were also crinkled in some form of discomfort, with shaky breaths coming from her mouth as her body was visibly trembling.

Asher's eyes fell at the sight, bringing down one of her hands and putting the back of it to touch Misaka's face. She didn't need to touch her to know that she had some sort of fever, feeling heat radiating from her skin as she seemed to relax to some degree from her gentle touch.

"I guess all the illogical amount of craziness that has happened in the last few weeks finally caught up with you, Mikoto." Asher said softly under her breath.

She stood there for a small while, debating on whether or not it would be right to wake her out of her slumber. She let out a sigh and decided it was probably best for her to in order to see how Misaka really was, though, lightly shaking her shoulder.

After a while of doing so, a soft groan sounded into the room. Misaka's eyes gradually cracked open, turning her head and seeing Asher standing right next to her. She turned over onto her back and stretched her arms over her head, moving her teddy bear out of the way and wore a wavering smile on her face.

"Good morning, Z." Misaka greeted as her voice cracked slightly. She brought up one of her hands to wipe the sleep out of her eyes.

"Morning, even though it nearly doesn't qualify to be as such." Asher said as she brought a chair to sit next to Misaka's bed. As Misaka sat up, Asher automatically laid a hand on top of one of her hands without much thought. "Are you feeling okay?"

Misaka was somewhat taken aback by the amount of concern that was written on the esper's face. She hesitated for a moment, figuring out what she should say.

Currently, she was feeling pretty awful overall, barely able to move without causing the room to spin. Her head was pounding, hurting about as much as her sore throat. The room around her felt so cold even though it felt as though a fire had settled in her body, feeling sweat constantly rolling down her face. And her heart felt like it was racing in her chest even though she hadn't done much to warrant it to.

There was probably enough for her to say that she wasn't feeling the best but at the same time it was nothing new for her to just push through it, knowing it would go away at some point. She had planned to do stuff with Asher and the others today, not wanting to be the reason why they would have to cancel their plans or push it back to another day.

So, she put on her usual strong front, wearing a closed eyed smile to hide her discomfort. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little groggy." She casually said, ignoring the unconvinced look on Asher's face as she looked over and saw Shirai's bed empty. "Where did Kuroko run off to?"

This was a pretty big sign for Asher to know that the esper wasn't fully telling the truth, not even taking in account the notable signs that said otherwise. Whenever she wanted to avoid talking about something, Misaka tended to try her best and change the subject, which she probably hoped Asher wouldn't try to call out as she usually didn't have the energy to talk in circles with most people.

Asher let out a sigh and decided to play along. "Not really sure. I'm here mostly by her wanting me to check on you since you two were supposed to go somewhere earlier this morning. However, she said that you wanted to sleep in more and wasn't acting like yourself to some extent." She explained.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot that she did that. I guess I overslept just a little bit." Misaka said with a small laugh before she went into a small coughing fit.

Asher quickly grabbed a glass of water that had been sitting at Misaka's desk, handing it over to her. The Electromaster went quiet for a while, greedily drinking its contents in a matter of seconds.

"Are you sure you're as fine as you say you are?" Asher asked with a raised eyebrow when Misaka had handed her the cup back.

"I think so. My throat has been pretty dry since last night. Thanks for giving me the water, by the way." Misaka responded.

Before Asher could say anything else. Misaka rose up to her feet as steadily as she could, walking over to her bathroom before she felt a gentle hand clench hers.

"Mikoto, what are you doing? We both know you feel worse than you say you do, so I think it would be more logical for you to stay in bed for the time being." Asher sighed.

Misaka let out another chuckle under her breath, looking back at Asher with an amused expression on her face. "And you say that I'm the worrywart out of the both of us…Zierdan I'm fine. I'm just going to go take a shower, so we can both meet up with Kuroko at a decent time."

Asher's eyes narrowed at her for a few moments before another sigh came from her mouth, releasing her hold on Misaka's wrist. She watched as Misaka went in and closed the door behind her, raising a hand up to her neck as she thought of what to do next.

Misaka was too prideful for her own good to let something like a cold stop her from doing something that she wanted to do, probably stopping at nothing to complete it even if it would make her feel worse. As Asher had did before, she thought that it would probably be for the best that she plays along with this act again for now, patiently waiting for the best opportunity to put Misaka in a position to not be able to deny that she was feeling worse than she was letting on.

As Asher waited on her, Misaka stood on the other side of the bathroom door, nearly leaning all of her weight against it. Just the walk over here was enough for her to be out of breath, trying her best to get her breathing under control in hopes it would also get rid of her dizziness that had hit her all of the sudden.

Damn that was close, she thought as she panted quietly. If she hadn't grabbed my hand when she did, I probably would have lost my balance without meaning to.

She stood there for a few moments before she let out a deep breath, collecting enough composure to step out of her clothes and get into the shower.

It's not surprising that Zierdan is already on to me. Kuroko probably is the same way, though, won't be as persistent surprisingly.

We're not doing anything too hard today if I remember correctly, so I should be fine.

I'll just have to hold out for a couple hours and then I'll be come back here and sleep in some more.


One hour later…

After Misaka had gotten ready, she and Asher headed out to meet up with Shirai over at the Judgement office. Misaka had been able to act mostly how she normally was, socializing with both of her friends in an effort to put how tired and sick she felt in the back of her mind.

As Misaka deduced before, however, Shirai noticed almost instantly that something was wrong with her, only mentioning it once before Asher convinced her to keep quiet about it. She still thought it would probably be better to play a patient game with this, since she had been keeping a close eye on the esper just in case they needed to intervene in some way.

And just as Asher predicted, it didn't' take too long for subtle signs on how Misaka truly felt to start to show, seeing the color drain out of her face after a while as her pace gradually got slower and slower.

Shirai looked over her shoulder at her with notable concern written on her expression, seeing red beginning to flush Misaka's pale face. "Do you need us to slow down for you, Sissy?" She asked.

There was a delayed response on Misaka's end, stiffening up when she noticed that question was directed at her and smiled. "No, you two are fine. I'll catch up with the both of you in no time."

Shirai didn't seem all that convinced from her words as there was almost no strength behind them anymore. She looked over at Asher whose stoic face had hardened considerable since the last time she looked over at her. To most, it would probably look as if she didn't care all that much about the esper who was visibly having a hard time just standing up on her two feet.

But Shirai knew better than that, knowing that she probably was more concerned than she was.

"Zierdan," Shirai whispered.

She didn't have to say anything else for Asher to know what she wanted her to do or say, letting out a sigh as she sent an unreadable gaze over to the teleporter.

"It's fine Kuroko. If Mikoto says she's okay then she logically has to be. She knows it wouldn't be the best way to waste her energy doing otherwise." Asher sighed, increasing her pace to the point she was leading the line.

A conflicted looked came over Shirai's expression before she conceded, silently agreeing with the underlying meaning of Asher's words.

It didn't too much longer after that for Misaka's charade to come to an abrupt end as she could barely focus on anything that was a couple meters in front of her. She felt faint, feeling dizziness hitting her in waves.

"H-Hey…G-Guys…." Misaka mumbled, only seeing the blurry form of Shirai turn to look at her and Asher come to a stop as the edges of her vision darkened. "I…"

She wasn't able to finish what she was going to say before her body began to sway off to the side. Shirai's eyes widened before she prepared to teleport to brace her fall. Asher, however, was somehow able to beat her, causing her to stiffen in shock when she saw Misaka fall softly into Asher's chest as she heard her let out a sigh.

"You're such a hypocrite. You know that don't you, Mikoto?" Asher said aloud without any weight behind her words. She could feel her entire body trembling within her grasp, allowing her stoic face to fall as she tried her best to keep the girl from falling again. "You're always telling me not to push myself and here you're doing it probably for an illogical reason."

"Hehe, sorry…" Misaka said weakly as her chestnut eyes opened ever so slightly. "You know me. Fighting through obstacles in my way is something…I do best…."

"I know, unfortunately…." Asher sighed. "Sometimes I wonder how my energy has survived all of your antics in the 6 years we've been together."

"Sissy! Sissy!" Shirai said as she ran up to the two with tears falling down her face. "Awww, you look terrible. My Sissy shouldn't have even gotten out of bed looking so dreadful! Or nearly about to pass out after just walking for almost 20 minutes!"

"Sorry if I scared or worried the both of you." Misaka strained as she leaned off of Asher's chest slightly, still feeling a strong hand around her back in case she grew lightheaded again. "I didn't think it would get this bad so quickly."

"It wouldn't have happened in the first place if you had just listened to me to begin with." Asher remarked bluntly. "Your stubbornness, pride, and your Railgun aren't going to help you in every situation. Or hide it behind a smile that you know that the both of us can see through. So next time when you want to do this when you're sick, please at least do it after you get some form of medication in your system. I don't think I've ever struggled that hard to manage my patience before without Kuroko involved in some way."

Misaka let out a nervous laugh before she went into another coughing fit. It lasted for a small while before she brought a hand up to her aching temple, closing her eyes as she heard Asher release another sigh.

"Go and meet up with Saten and Uiharu, Kuroko." Asher suggested. "I'll take care of Mikoto and make sure she goes to see at least some type of doctor today."

Before Shirai could say anything, Misaka immediately perked up and leaned off completely from Asher's chest, using all of her strength to keep herself balanced.

"Z, you don't have to sacrifice your entire day just for me. I can get back to the dorm on my own and even stop by some sort of clinic on the way." Misaka stated, as Asher sent a deadpan in her direction. "I'll be fine, promise."

She didn't get to walk too far before Asher pulled her back into her hold as some form of surprise fell on her face for how quickly it had happened, finding the burst of energy she just had diminish almost instantly.

"You literally just nearly passed out after walking by yourself for not even 20 minutes and you expect me to willingly let you do that again without any supervision?" Asher questioned as the blue in her hair glowed a brighter blue. "Sorry for this, but after what you just said I know this will probably be the only way to keep some of my remaining energy intact."

"What do you mean by…" Misaka began to say before her eyes widened, feeling the air around her shift so much that it made her head spin. All of the color completely drained out of her face as the fatigue she had been pushing back took a complete hold over her. Everything that was happening around her was lost completely in waves as something akin to a migraine began to pulsate through her head.

"D-Damn i-it….I h-hate it…wh-when you do….this….ngrh…" Misaka barely got out before consciousness left her completely.

Shirai let out a small shout when she saw that as Asher managed to still keep Misaka mostly upright by lowering some of the gravity around her right as she passed out.

"What the heck did you just do to Sissy, Zierdan!?" Shirai yelled, not even seeing Asher flinch at her words.

"Not much. Just quickly lowered the air pressure around her before quickly raising it back to normal again." Asher said a matter of factly.

"Why!? You just said that she shouldn't push herself and you purposefully pushed her into unconsciousness!" Shirai yelled even louder, causing Asher to cringe slightly at her volume.

"Calm down Kuroko. If I hadn't, she was just going to continuously keep fighting me on this and I didn't have enough energy or patience to entertain it for much longer." Asher explained. "Changes in air pressure are natural for people to feel any given day, so what I did shouldn't impact her health more than if she had pushed herself any further. She'll probably just have a headache when she wakes up."

It took some time for Asher to calm the teleporter down completely, sighing internally when she gave her an in-depth lecture she barely listened to. When she finished, she got Shirai to help her by teleporting Misaka onto her back, with her using her own ability to lower the gravity enough to lessen some of her load and lower the risk of dropping her.

"Zierdan," Shirai called out as Asher started to walk away, prompting her to stop in her tracks. "Are you sure you're okay with taking Sissy to the doctor and back to our dorm by yourself? Saten and Uiharu would understand if we cancelled because of her being sick."

"Yes, it's fine. I'm still trying to regain my energy from the illogical things I did with you guys yesterday. This may be just as draining, but it does allow me to get to go back and finish more of my summer work." Asher said. She turned to look over at Shirai with a small smile on her face. "MK would probably say have fun for the both of us, anyway. She wouldn't want you guys to drop everything for her sake."

She turned back around to leave again, using her ability to cloak herself which caused Shirai to lose any trace of where she went.

Shirai wore a conflicted expression on her face, letting out a sigh after a while and began to walk off towards where they were supposed meet up with Saten and Uiharu.


A little while later…

Joseph's Coffee & Restaurant

Shirai was sitting inside one of the booths of the restaurant, looking down in deep thought before she turned her gaze onto the window beside her. She was trying her best to distract herself with something before Uiharu and Saten got there, finding it hard not to worry about Misaka and Asher.

She knew that Misaka was in good hands, knowing that Asher would do everything in her power to make sure she was okay. But that was the very thing that made her concerned since Asher had a habit of overdoing things without much thought if it was for something that she deemed logical for her to do. She knew that she would be willing to do anything for the Electromaster if it meant she would be alright in the long run, not caring about herself in return.

She hoped that what had happened these last few weeks, however, would remind Asher to be mindful about her own health just as she was with her energy and patience. She had never seen the esper move so fast when Misaka had collapsed, basically over there in an instant to stop her fall as if she had teleported.

After Uiharu and Saten had still yet to make an appearance, she was tempted just leave and go back to her dorm to check on them. She nearly did, rising up to her feet to do so.

But hesitated when Asher's words went through her head once more…

["Yes, it's fine. I'm still trying to regain my energy from the illogical things I did with you guys yesterday. This may be just as draining, but it does allow me to get to go back and finish more of my summer work." Asher said. She turned to look over at Shirai with a small smile on her face. "MK would probably say have fun for the both of us, anyway. She wouldn't want you guys to drop everything for her sake."]

This caused her to stop, letting out a sigh as she sat down for the fourth or fifth time as she had been debating whether or not to listen to the esper's words. She knew that Asher wanted Misaka to mostly be annoyed with her for not only causing her to faint but also taking care of her for the day against her will. It was probably Asher's way of making sure Shirai wouldn't be caught in the crossfire as she had most likely dealt with Misaka like this before and knew how to manage whatever lecture was going to come her way.

As she thought on this, Uiharu finally appeared at the table she was sitting at, with Shirai looking up and seeing her head bowed towards the floor.

"Sorry I was late!" Uiharu quickly said as she rose up to smile. Her face fell in confusion when she just realized that Shirai was the only one sitting at the table. "Wait, where's Misaka and Asher?"

Shirai let out a small breath as her form deflated, laying her head on the table in some type of exhaustion. "It's a long story…."

When Uiharu sat down in front of her, Shirai explained all that had happened that morning, seeing the girl's face fade in various layers of concern and worry.

"Asher left to take care of Misaka for the day because she's sick?" Uiharu summed up, seeing Shirai nod in confirmation. "Have you heard anything from her since?"

"No," Shirai said with a small sigh, leaning her head into her hand. "She probably doesn't want me to be reminded by the fact that my beloved Sissy isn't feeling well. From what it sounded like before she left, Zierdan was going to take her to see a doctor before taking her back to our room, so she could rest some more."

Uiharu sent a sad look in her direction, looking off to the side as her heart filled with worry. After a couple moments of silence, Shirai noticed that another person in their group was missing as well.

"Hey Uiharu," Shirai called out. "Saten isn't with you either today?"

Uiharu stiffened before a nervous smile came on her face. "Well, she just found out of nowhere that she needed to take extra classes today this morning." She explained.

"Really? Even on a day off?"

"Mmmhhmmm," Uiharu hummed. "But from what I know, it's not just our Middle School that's doing it. They're calling students from all over to participate in this Special Workshop."

"A Special Workshop?" Shirai said mostly to herself as she brought a finger up to her chin. "I wonder what that even means."

"I honestly don't know what about it makes it special." Uiharu said with a small shrug.

"Well Special or not, it seems another one of our friends have been struck with bad luck." Shirai said with a somewhat down expression. "They're all going to be stuck either indoors or at school on a beautiful day like this one."


A few hours later…

Tokiwadai Dormitory

Asher casually walked up to the doors of the dormitory with Misaka still sleeping peaceably on her back, feeling the Electromaster's arms weakly cradling her neck. She had just got back from taking Misaka to see her Doctor over at the Main hospital within 7th district, trusting him to check on her best friend more than some random one at a clinic.

After explaining what had happened, she received a small lecture almost instantly due to her part in causing Misaka to faint by tampering with the air pressure around her. He understood why she did it and why it was probably logically sound to do it. But from his scans he could deduce that Misaka was most likely already suffering from sort of headache from all of the sinus pressure in her head, warning her that what she did probably made it even worse.

Asher did feel bad that she most likely did in some ways make Misaka feel worse but didn't regret what she did for knowing how stubborn Misaka could be any given time.

After running all of his tests, Heaven Canceller came to the conclusion that Misaka had just caught some type of cold that would hopefully go away in the next couple days. He said that it probably did stem from stress and that she needed to rest and take it easy for the time being.

In terms of medications that he prescribed to her, he mostly just gave her something that would relieve her symptoms and something else that would help her sleep if she was having some trouble. He had given the Electromaster a dose of both before they had left, which is the main reason why she hadn't regained consciousness in the last couple of hours.

Before they had left, the Doctor also warned Asher to be careful around Misaka, due to the slight chance that whatever Misaka has could potentially be contagious.

If it was, she probably would have caught it by now, though, honestly not even taking that into account in her decision of wanting to take care of her.

As she entered the doors of her dorm still cloaked through the use of her ability, she stiffened when she heard the Head Resident's voice come out of nowhere when she nearly made it to the stairs.

"Asher, I don't think I have to remind of the dorm rules." the Head Resident stated. "But do make a better effort to remember that you are not allowed to use your ability for any reason at the dorms at any time."

How did she even know I was there? Asher thought as she let out a sigh, stopping her ability and allowing her and Misaka to be visible.

Sometimes I wonder if she has some sort of hidden esper ability that she hasn't told anyone about. It would make it more logical how she's able to appear in places that she knows the rules are being broken in. Or know when a Level 5 esper is hiding herself with her ability.

"Sorry, I'll try to be more careful next time." Asher remarked in passing, missing some sort of emotion that flashed in the eyes of the Head Resident when she noticed the unconscious girl on her back.

"Is Misaka alright?" The Head Resident questioned as Asher came to a stop. "I can call for a Doctor or some sort of ambulance if I need to."

"Yes, she's okay and you don't have to do that. I actually just took her to see a Doctor, and he said that she was mostly fine. He gave her something to help alleviate some of her cold symptom and something else that would help her sleep." Asher explained as she looked over to the woman behind her. She looked back in front of her after a while as she began to gradually climb the stairs. "I'm going to take her back to her room, so she can rest more. So, excuse me."

The Head Resident nodded, allowing the girl to leave without anymore questioning.

As Asher made it to the hallway of their floor, she paused when she felt Misaka shift slightly on her back. She thought that there was a chance that she may have woken up, though looked back and saw that wasn't the case as her eyes were still closed.

"Z….Z-Zierdan…." Misaka mumbled almost incoherently as her body trembled a little more than it had been. "Zier….d-dan….I-I…."

She went off to murmur too low for even Asher's Amps to pick up. Asher paused for a couple moments longer as her eyes narrowed slightly, before letting out a sigh as she went towards her room.

I wonder what she's dreaming about. Asher thought, trying her best not to worry too much about it.

She went into her room and collected the last half of the summer work that she had to do as well as her laptop before going next door to Misaka's and Shirai's room. She sat those down on the desk next to Misaka's bed before gently laying her down onto her bed.

She carefully took off Misaka's Tokiwadai vest and skirt as well as her loafers and socks in an effort to make the Electromaster more comfortable, leaving her only in her white shirt and the shorts that she usually keeps on under her skirt.

Misaka stirred for a small while before she finally went still again, deciding to lie on her side with her face towards where Asher was standing.

Asher looked down at her face for a while, bringing out a thermometer and gently inserting it into her ear. She waited before a small beep sounded aloud, looking down as "38.89 C (102 F)" appeared on its display. Her fever may have still been high, but at least now it seemed like her medication had kicked in since it was lower in comparison to what it was before.

She sat down at the desk beside her and then began to keep some of her focus on her summer work in an effort to distract herself. It, however, didn't work as she just kept looking over at Misaka every so often before she just gave up completely on what she was working on, finding her energy better well spent in watching the Electromaster sleep.

After watching her for a while, she let out a sigh, finding some sort of embarrassment she guessed from being unable to focus on anything but the sick girl beside her.

She didn't know why this tended to happen, but they're times where a task just consumes all of her attention no matter what she does to prevent it. She guessed at least in this instance it was natural for that to happen, though, since she knew Misaka would probably do the same if she was in her position.

She sat there for a while before she rose up to her feet, with some part of her thinking that Misaka probably wouldn't want her to just do this all day. As she began to turn around, however, she felt something grab her wrist tightly. She looked down at it in surprise before looking down at Misaka whose eyes were still closed, though her words were more coherent as some sort of pain came across her face.

"Z-Zierdan….please….breathe…." she mumbled as Asher stiffened from hearing her words. "Please…I-I….c-can't lose you again…."

It felt like Asher's heart stopped beating for almost a full minute as the weight of Misaka's words sunk in.

Those exact words were probably the first thing she always remembered before Shokuhou started the headscans, making them the first things she remembered even when she awoke from her coma no matter how much of it was clouded from the constant nightmares she had been afflicted with during those 2 weeks.

Those words…

Those very words….

Always sent chills down her spine and triggered an emotional response out of nowhere as a dark shadow came across her face. She knew this feeling well, because she always felt it one way or another at varying degrees:

Guilt.

She felt guilty even though she knew it wasn't entirely her fault what happened that day

She had never thought that when she accepted to do WaveInflux, that Silas would end up using her for his own gain.

She had never thought it would lead her into the self-destructive path that it did.

And…

She didn't think…

She hadn't ever wanted Misaka to…

To see her nearly die that day.

All she had wanted to do was to make sure she was safe, which was the exact opposite of what had happen as she was still suffering about as much as she had been 2 years since that day.

So, she sat back down in her chair and turned it to where she was facing Misaka completely. She grasped the hand that was holding hers with both of her own as she brought them up to her forehead, hearing Misaka's fearful murmurs come to a gradually stop. Also feeling her trembles nearly slow down to the point of stopping.

She sat there in silence as she tried her best to keep herself composed, feeling her chest burning to the point that she could say that it hurt even if she hadn't been hit by anything physically as the words of that day echoed through her head.

["Zierdan please breathe! Please, Please, Please!" Misaka cried out as she sent a surge greater than the rest that she had just done before.

"PLEASE, I CAN'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!"]

"D-Damn it….I'm sorry," Asher said shakily in a low voice as a tear cascaded down her face. "I'm s-so sorry that you went through that. I-I may not have known at the time it was y-you but….I did hear you an-and….I'm sorry that I nearly….d-didn't listen."

She had been hurting so much at that moment and time that day without any idea as to why it was happening that all she wanted was for it to end. Her mind had broken to the point that it felt blank and empty, being forced into a situation that she hadn't even remembered she was a part of. Everything was whirling by too fast for her to control or stop that hardly anything had made sense. She didn't understand why she was there, only thinking about how much her chest was hurting and how much harder it was becoming to breathe.

The moment that some part of her gave up was the moment that everything went away briefly, feeling numb to the world as it felt like she fell into a pit of darkness she would never escape from again.

But then….

When Misaka's words somehow pierced that suffocating darkness, it honestly felt like her entire being was split in two. She didn't understand why that had happened or why she knew the voice but didn't recognize it at the same time. All she wanted to do was to stop it, opening herself to the pain once more in hopes it would stop the pain of whoever said those words that she somehow knew were directed towards her.

She had never told Misaka that she remembered that, and probably never would. That would mean admitting to her that some part of her had wished not to come back and how that feeling had never left.

Its moments like what had just happened before, though, that reminded her why she should have and deserved to have a 2nd chance. If she hadn't come back and actually died that day, she knew Misaka would have probably fallen apart without her no matter how much her thoughts tried to tell her how insignificant she was in comparison to her.

That brave face that Misaka put on was the only way she knew how to cope with something, which was something that Asher could say that she deeply understood why.

"I promise…I s-swear to you that you won't come that close to losing me ever again." Asher said softly with conviction layered in her normally stoic voice. "No matter what happens. I'll always be there when you need m-me."

It would probably seem illogical to some to make a promise like that since there was no telling what could happen in the next few years, months, and even days.

All she knew was that she was going to do better to make sure Misaka and their other friends knew how much they meant to her for how ever long they would be together.


Several hours later…

Misaka's eyes gradually began to flutter open after finally using enough energy to break the sick haze clouding her mind. She was met with some darkness, as well as a pulsating pain radiating through her head, letting out a groan as she brought a hand to rub her aching temple.

It took a couple moments for her brain to register where she was, finding herself in her room when the last memory she had was being in Asher's arms somewhere within the 7th district earlier that day. From the moonlight shining in her room, though, she could tell that several hours had passed since then, letting out an even louder groan that was filled with some sort of irritation for knowing why there was such a break in her memory.

Asher had knocked her out and she wasn't all that happy about it…

I'm so going to get that girl back for this, Misaka thought, trying to bring up her other hand to her face before realizing that she couldn't.

She looked down to see what was weighing her hand down before noticing that Asher was sitting there. She stiffened in surprise for how quiet she was even for her as she saw her eyes looking in her general direction. It didn't take long for her to notice that her eyes, however, seemed to be both blank and dull, almost as if she was stuck in some sort of trance or semi-conscious slumber.

"Zierdan?" Misaka asked aloud, waving a hand in her face and not even seeing a single reaction from her.

Before she started to get too concerned, she noticed that the blues in her eyes and hair were brighter than they normally were, making her assume that she was probably using her ability in some way. It didn't take her long to deduce what she was probably doing, just now realizing how comfortable she was with the temperature around her even though she knew she probably still had some sort of fever.

She's probably tampering with the air within the gravity field around me. And probably has been for so long that she kept doing it in her sleep somehow….

Meaning that there's a pretty high chance she has been pushing her ability to do this for hours now.

After she was able to pry her hand out of Asher's, she saw some light finally come into the esper's eyes as she let out a low groan.

"W-Wait…what…" Asher mumbled as she blearily looked around in confusion. "W-What was I…ju-just doing?"

"That's something I would like to know, too." Misaka sighed in relief, seeing unfocused blue eyes look over at her.

"Mikoto? Wh-When did….When did you wa-wake up?"

There was a moment of hesitation from Misaka's end to answer Asher's question, taking a moment to realize how out of it she was from her broken speech. She almost sounded like how she does whenever she hadn't taken her medication, but she was sure that wasn't the case as she knew that she had taken them before they left the dorm that day.

"Not too long ago, but Z are you feeling alright?" Misaka questioned.

"Th-Think so. He-Head's just….um just…." Asher tried to say before she winced when some sort of pain pierced her head, feeling her thoughts clear for just a second before she lost a hold of them again. "Jumbled….It's ju-jumbled."

"That's strange since your meds should be managing that and it's not even time for you to take them again. Do you happen to know how long ago it was when you engaged your ability last?" Misaka asked.

It took some time for Asher to fully get her thoughts in order to answer that, feeling her gradually getting more and more tired after a while from how drained she started to feel.

"So-Sometime around…the ti-time that the sun…was…still up." She casually answered.

Misaka sweatdropped from hearing that, instinctively looking out her window and seeing the moon high in the sky. "Well, that explains it. You used your ability so long that it probably overworked your head." Misaka concluded as she facepalmed. "You should know better than to do something like using your ability for several hours straight. It isn't healthy for any esper to do, especially you since it can end up lowering the effectiveness of your meds to suppress your brain damage "

"I know….bu-but y-you were cold." Asher stammered as her eyes got heavier and heavier. "Th-That was the only way…only way I could think to help, I guess. I-I don't know what happened, bu-but I must have managed keeping you warm...or cooling y-you off even wh-when I fell asleep."

Surprise flashed in Misaka's eyes before some heat flushed her face briefly, looking away in an attempt to hide it. When Asher was like this, she tended to be pretty forthcoming and genuine with her words on occasion, making it hard for Misaka to stop the heat rising up her face from not expecting what she said so suddenly.

"You didn't have to go out of your way to do that. But thank you." Misaka said.

She didn't get any sort of response from the girl beside her, looking over and seeing that she had fully fallen asleep. She smiled at the sight, guessing that this was probably one of the first times today that the esper had allowed herself to relax completely from how tired she had seemed to be before.

She attempted to rise up to her feet to maybe take Asher back to her room to go to bed. But as soon as she got up, her vision swam almost instantly, causing her to have to fall back down to her bed before she nearly passed out again.

The pounding in her head came back with a vengeance to remind her that she was currently sick and could hardly stand on her own two feet let alone guide Asher back to her room in the current headspace she was in.

So, she grabbed her phone that wasn't too far away from her to call Shirai for assistance, nearly shouting in surprise when Shirai appeared out of nowhere as if she had been waiting for her to do so.

"Sissy! You're finally awake!" Shirai said cheerfully as she literally jumped on her.

Misaka let out a soft wince when she had, prompting Shirai to spout a mouthful of apologies as Misaka regained her bearings.

"It's alright, Kuroko. But could you do me a favor really quick?" Misaka asked, seeing Shirai nod her head vigorously.

"Anything for you, Sissy!"

"Well, could you by any chance carefully teleport Zierdan to her room?" Misaka asked. "Her body is probably too exhausted to even notice it, so her motion sickness will hopefully not act up."

Shirai did hesitate for about a second before agreeing to take Asher away to her room. Misaka was right that she didn't really notice when Shirai teleported her to her bed, only stirring for a few seconds before going back to sleep.

Shirai didn't linger too long before she teleported back to her own room, unable to restrain herself any further from making sure that the Electromaster had been given decent treatment from both Asher and the Doctor she had taken her to get checked by.


July 28th, 12:10 AM

Asher was jostled out of her slumber when she felt something split through her senses. It was enough to clear whatever haze had been on her mind before, mostly likely also being helped by some of the rest she had gained in the last couple hours.

She didn't know how to describe whatever she was sensing at this moment, only knowing somewhere deep in her heart that it wasn't an esper ability from never feeling anything like it before.

She looked outside her window to see a beam of light pierce through the night, sensing that it was tall and powerful enough to leave the Earth's atmosphere for a few moments before shrinking down to some sort of beacon lighting up the sky.

She found herself both shocked and somewhat fearful for a reason she could hardly explain, finding herself drawn to go there to some extent as if she thought something bad might have been happening. That was mostly because when she had looked at it, a name popped into her mind and had still remained, wondering if a certain boy she knew was involved in this.

No matter how illogical anything seemed to be, he always seemed to be in the center of it from what she had learned from the few weeks she had tutored his class and walked with him after.

She got close to opening the window before the odd light faded, prompting a sigh to come out of her mouth. It wasn't one of relief and to be honest she didn't think there was any reason for it other than to calm her nerves from the hollow feeling filling her chest.

It was like she knew something bad had happened even though she wasn't a part of whatever it was and that feeling lingered even after the light was gone.

Her eyes narrowed before she let out a sigh as changed into something comfortable and went over to lay down on her bed, turning her face towards the wall as she tried to go back to sleep.

["So please, go back to your dorm to get some rest and allow me to take care of this. You may be a Level 5, but even a Level 0 like myself should be able to handle this without too much trouble."] Were the words that constantly went through her head at that moment, which caused a conflicted look to grow on her normally stoic features.

That illogical boy always pushes himself hard, probably even more so in comparison to both me and Mikoto. He always seems to come out of situations relatively unscathed, though. Even with what he calls "Rotten Luck" dragging him down. she thought as she closed her eyes, envisioning an image of the smiling face of the person she was currently thinking about.

I just hope that whatever I just saw, Kamijou…

Wasn't just the last bit of your luck running out.


Word Count of Chapter: 8320 |Page Count: 15 pages |Reviews: 182 | Followers: 101 |Favorites: 83


Here's another small update on the poll up for this story: "Sora" is currently in the lead by one over "Rehsa" while "Ame" remains in 3rd place. Since the poll doesn't close until just before the end of Poltergeist, you all still have time to vote if you want to participate;)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter


Review Replies

JintoLin: Thanks! It still surprises me how many people have enjoyed this story so far, and I hope it continues on into the new year as well:)

Trying my best to hopefully keep a continuity between "CSG" and "Asher," where some of the flashbacks that have already been seen within this story will be featured within that story either more in-depth or from a different perspective. Ironically Asher seems to be the one keeping Silas safe from the danger of her friends, as both Misaka and Shokuhou probably wouldn't be as subdued without her.

Nice to see that you found a connection between both Asher and Himari from the people they became fully close to. Misaka and Ryo helped them both respectively see the world differently, which in turn changed their lives even though it took a while for Himari to be herself after she married Silas. Things probably would have been different if Himari had found out sooner as she probably would have been able to talk Silas out of WaveInflux before he got too drunk on his own arrogance.

The Sisters' Arc needs some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, and what better way to do it than Yomikawa finally telling Asher about her adoption. Trying my best to be patient with both the arc and that to hopefully not rush things.

I won't go into much about how Asher having Sky back at some point will affect her. All I will say is that clash will potentially come during one of the next Arcs;)


Blankow: Young Misaka was definitely helpful for Z to doing things she hadn't ever done before or knew existed. Asher probably didn't know how she got the place for herself at the Bathhouse either, probably too shocked by the fact that she took her there to begin with.

Hmmm, you're right that Misaka probably has more protection as a Level 5 candidate than Silas who's just running an experiment. He's more expendable considering he's still locked up, so Misaka would have most likely been safe even if she went to confront him. All the heat would have most likely ended up coming down on Asher, though, if Silas found out that she said anything about him. She probably wouldn't have admitted it, but that chance probably scared her more in comparison.

It has been refreshing writing out these light-hearted chapters after all of the depression before them. Though, with Sisters in sight, it sadly won't be long before it gets pretty dark again….

Dang, "childhood friend never wins" lol. I'd say that list is most likely accurate for some people with the top two most likely switching at times. I can say so far that I've narrowed it down to a few on who Asher might go with but I haven't made a definite decision yet. As the harem grows, more candidates enter the fray, making it hard for an indecisive person like me to truly decide who to go with T.T

Kuroko can be so hard to figure out any given time. It's like I know she has the capacity to be serious and mature but that swimsuit and her other perverse antics can almost negate that serious side of her and make me question if it even exists even though I know it does. But to think that swimsuit even existed is a surprise in itself.

Wait, that swimsuit isn't the worst one she has used before!? Don't really know much about Liberal Arts City. But to hear that Kuroko acquires a swimsuit that becomes transparent underwater is just…I don't think I have any words to really describe my surprise. I don't know if Kuroko would be able to survive Asher's wrath if she were to ever see her in that thing.

I will try my best not to rush to Sisters' no matter how much I want to. The arc is definitely my favorite in terms of Railgun's version.

Thanks for the reminder about "enjoying my free time." Helpful advice as I took a week off mostly to do just that after being hit with a case of writers block with one of my stories I've been doing.


LostNeko120: Sorry for the fake out. I thought it would be interesting to write about the time Misaka took Asher to a bathhouse and just added it as a small flashback at the beginning of the chapter XD

While Saten's and Asher's bond grows stronger, Kuroko is slowly digging her hole of how much she can push Asher's patience. Though her death was probably negated when Konori's swimsuit came into view, lol.

PS. I have still yet to finish reading any of your stories and I'm sorry about that. I'll try to get on it before the next upload of chapter 40, but I can say that I have started reading one of them a bit:)


Ho4qin: In my defense, the material I was working with was probably a "cheap quickly made filler comedy anime episode" lol. Railgun Season 1 has a lot of filler that I will acknowledge internally but probably won't write about.

All joking aside, I do understand where you're coming from and I am not at all offended by it. Constructive criticism is welcomed as it has helped me better my writing and style so far. I'll try to be better when using the material of an episode to not make it seem like a recreation.

Hopefully you liked this light, filler-like chapter a little better in comparison:)


supboyyyyy93:

Chapter 36

Sky, Asher's second personality, may seem aggressive at times but it is all in all for Asher's benefit in her mind. Knowing Kikyou works with Silas on this experiment and seeing the affects of what its doing to Asher does not really set her at a high place in her eyes. The only reason she even trusts her a small bit is because of how much Asher trusts her though.

Well…I will say nothing that will spoil the ideas I have for Sisters', but Asher seeing Misaka dead at any capacity would probably break her if she's by herself to think about it into oblivion. I can see why they're those that love Kikyou but also those who hate her due to her involvement with Sisters. I think her relationship with Accelerator, Yomikawa, and Last order got me to like her even with Sisters' in mind as she was probably one of the more humane scientists that were there like Shinobu.

Kikyou probably knows that there's a chance of Asher reacting poorly to her involvement, but probably not thinking of the part of how much seeing the aftermath of one of Sisters' trials could do to Asher.

You are correct with the woman that Silas cheated on Himari with. And I will do your wish and ignore that last sentence lol.

Chapter 37

I will try my best to give Kongou, Wannai, and Awatsuki some more screen time. I thought about doing Saten's extra lessons but decided not to fully do it and only mention them. Asher didn't seem to fit in being involved with it other than the fact that Saten was doing it and Yomikawa was a part of it. I do agree that it also cemented my love for Saten as well.


Guest10032: Wow:O. I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed this story so much and quite flattered and shocked that you were able to go through 38 chapters with a total of 371,672 words in just a few days amid studying (or pushing back studying lol) for you finals.

Shipping Direction? Ha. Short answer is that there will be one at some point. Long answer is that I've yet to narrow down to who it's going to be. Saten, Misaka, Shirai, Touma, and Accelerator seem to be popular candidates. After reading 38 chapters worth of reviews every upload, I have been going towards Saten and Misaka at the moment but that could change.

"Which Direction Asher swings" for some reason is hard for me to answer as Asher's personality sort of makes it to where she doesn't even know. That moment with Saten could be a small flag or just me as the author teasing you due to my indecisiveness, lol. There's a running gag with this story that Asher is unintentionally creating her own harem about as fast as Kamijou did. So, the bag of ships seems to grow every other chapter that I'm still having to pick through.

The one shipping direction that I know I probably won't do is ToumaXAsher. Other than Misaka, the Railgang doesn't seem to be affected or drawn to entering Touma's harem, so I'm pretty sure I want Asher to continue that trend and just be a fairly good friend to him.

I'm pretty anxious with what I'm thinking about writing for the Sisters' arc. It's probably my favorite arc in terms of Railgun with Daihasei coming a close second. The bridge scene is also one of my favorites as well.

Eh, I'm pretty iffy about Big Spider too. I don't hate it, but it's not really my favorite either in comparison to some of the other arcs. Along with Poltergeist, it will serve as set up for the Sisters' arc overall.

Thanks for leaving a review and I hope you continue to enjoy reading this story:)


Thanks for your reviews!

-PurpleClover99