AN: Hello my wonderful readers, Happy New Year to all!

(Sorry in advance for the long AN, but they're some small changes that I need to let you all know that will affect the next chapter uploads for a while)

It has been a little under a month since my last update, which is mostly due to some planning overall for the coming chapters since we are finally in a new arc of the story, as well as mentally preparing myself for the Spring semester of university which starts back up next week.

This sadly means that chapter uploads will slow down again, most likely to 1-2 chapters hopefully every 3 weeks (or at least once a month). There may be times I won't hit that goal though if I start to become too overloaded with work, but I'm still going to try my best to stick to at least a 1-2 week rotation schedule between all of my stories.

This story will be the first in this rotation, while next week it will go to my MHA story and so on with my Black Clover story.

I can say for CSG, though, I have nearly finished Chapter 41 at the time I upload this chapter (the draft just needs to be both edited and proofread). And that will be coming out hopefully during the week of 2/8 if all goes well.

I know it'll probably be a long break in btw uploads and I apologize for that. Hopefully in the summer I'll be able to pick up the pace again.

Before I go, I want to leave some appreciation for you guys for following, favoriting, and reviewing this story. I really appreciate it and it's insane that CSG has reached a little over 100 followers and has nearly reached 20,000 views and the 200 review mark:)

Now I'll finally let you all go to read this chapter. It's a little shorter in comparison to others since it's mostly setting up the beginning of the Big Spider arc, but I hope you still enjoy it. Action will be given during the next chapter for sure.

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 40: Big Spider

July 31st, 7:30AM

Tokiwadai Dormitory

Asher casually walked down the stairs of the Tokiwadai dormitory and towards the kitchen, trying her best to not cause any suspicion or draw attention to herself. She automatically went towards the refrigerator to grab something quickly before she paused in some form of surprise when she saw the item that was usually on the bottom shelf wasn't there anymore.

She blinked a couple times and moved the items that were in there around in some effort to find what she was looking for since she had sworn there were at least two or three left when she grabbed one yesterday. She was about to go check another refrigerator before she stiffened when she heard something clang on the table behind her.

"So, you've been the one who has been sneaking into my secret stash." The calm voice of someone rang out in the room over some type of low brushing sound. "I'm not surprised since I kind of figured it was you, though, Asher."

Asher let out a sigh as her shoulders deflated to some extent, knowing the girl who was behind her even before she had said anything. She turned around to look over her shoulder to see a girl around her age wearing a maid outfit, sitting on top of a sweeping robot that had yet to stop making her go round and round in circles.

It was Tsuchimikado Maika, a maid in training for Tokiwadai Middle School and someone she could surprisingly say was a friend of hers at this dorm as she also knew Misaka and Shirai.

From the time she had met her, Maika had never shown any form of fear or discontent with Asher's presence like many others tended to do, always wearing a genuine smile in her direction and helped her out from time to time when she needed it. She had been one of the few people other than Misaka that she would actively talk to after she had recovered at the hospital from the injuries she had suffered during WaveInflux, finding another small light in the darkness she had created for herself for a time.

"Hey, Maika. And how did you narrow it down to me with all of these girls within this dorm?" Asher asked, hearing a small laugh come from Maika's mouth.

"Well, mostly because you would be the only one here patient enough to memorize my work schedule." Maika answered. "I decided to switch shifts just before my original one was going to start to throw you off and it seems it worked like a charm. Even a Level 0 like me has what it takes to outsmart a renowned Level 5 like yourself."

"Figured as much." Asher sighed softly, closing the fridge door back as she fully turned around. "I knew that I was probably going to get caught at some point with that variable in mind."

Maika hummed in amusement as she shut off the sweeping robot, casually stepping off of it and pointing to the item that was sitting on the table. It was a container that stored 8 energy drinks at a time, 5 of which that were already gone with 3 of them being Asher's doing.

"Now that's all out of the way, how about you stop dodging the subject of the matter." Maika said jokingly. "I remember a certain Electromaster that we both happen to know saying that you and energy drinks don't mix very well after the last time you raided the ones I had before not too long ago. And now, it seems you've been coming back for more of them recently, though at a slower pace. It doesn't upset me or anything since I know you'll reimburse me, but it does make me concerned that you've picked up a bad habit or addiction that detrimentally affects your health."

"Mikoto tends to overexaggerate just a bit from time to time. If I drink them in moderation, then I'm usually fine." Asher stated, ignoring the look that Maika gave her when the word "usually" causally came out of her mouth. It made her nervous enough to have to put a hand up to the back of her neck as she let out a sigh to calm her worn nerves. "My energy throughout the day has just been lower than it normally is, which shouldn't be possible with how low it already is any given day. Your energy drinks have been helpful to at least slow the amount of time it takes me to crash during the day if I'm not doing something productive."

"That may be helpful for the short-term, but we both know what may happen to you if you're not careful and take too many." Maika lightly warned as she saw Asher's stoic gaze falter, looking away as she rubbed the back of her neck even further. "More sleep ironically is probably the best thing for someone as lazy as you can be."

"Yeah, I know. I've just been struggling in that department is all." Asher quietly admitted. "I was trying to find a logical substitute that didn't involve seeing a Doctor that will just diagnose me with something I already know I have or take sleeping pills that would end up bed-riddening me probably the entire day from how strong they need to be to actually work to some degree."

"Have you told Misaka or Shirai about this?" Maika asked.

"I have. I haven't, however, told them the ways I've been trying to manage it. Mikoto just got over her cold a day or two ago and Kuroko is busy with Judgment. I didn't want to bother them with something that they can't really help with."

Maika let that hang in the air for a small while before she let out a sigh and slid one of the cans into Asher's hand. She saw surprise come over the esper's face as she sent her a smile, walking over to her sweeping robot to sit on its head once more.

"If you promise me that this will be the last one out of this container for a while, then I'll let you have that one." Maika said as she turned on the robot, causally wearing her smile as she began to spin around. "If I catch you again, I won't be as kind and maybe even tell the Head Resident of your new indulgence."

Asher paled noticeably enough when she heard that, knowing she would get into major trouble if the Head Resident found out. She was barred from drinking any of it in her presence, the dorm, and even at school due to the medical records her Doctor had given to Tokiwadai. She didn't have a hard time realizing that the girl in front of her was serious, knowing that behind those words and smile were an underlying threat if she even attempted to push her luck more than she already had.

She quickly nodded and only saw the smile on Maika's face grow as she began to move away from her before stopping again. "Before I go, I was wanting to know if you were planning on helping me prep the food for the Midsummer festival a couple days from now like you did last year."

Asher's stoic eyes widened slightly before she released a sigh under her breath, nearly forgetting that event was around the corner with August about to start tomorrow. One day was chosen usually around this time of year where the Tokiwadai dormitory was open to the public for a day. In order to avoid most of it but still make sure that the Head Resident was content with her participation, she would help Maika early in the morning to prep the food while also making her monthly appointment with her doctor on the same day.

That had been working for the last few years she had been at this school. But she couldn't make her appointment on the day in question due to there being something important happening at the upcoming festival that she couldn't miss.

"Yeah, but unlike last time I'll be there basically the entire day. So, I'll most likely be hovering around there to avoid the illogical amount of people that are probably going to show up. " Asher said.

"Splendid!" Maika cheered as she began to move again. "Well, I'll see you later. Have a nice rest of your morning, Asher."

"You too." Asher stated as she went off in a different direction than Maika had, not paying attention to where the girl was sneaking off to.


About 30 minutes later…

Asher was lying on her bed with her laptop, reaching over and taking one last sip of her energy drink to empty the can. Since she had finally finished all of her summer work the other day, she was just doing something to keep her mind busy as she tried to block out the tired haze attempting to cloud it.

She sat there for a while before she heard a small knock on her door.

"Hey Z?" She heard Misaka call out. "Do you have a second?"

Asher automatically closed the laptop in her lap and hid the empty can beside her with her ability. "Yeah, door's already open, Mikoto."

The knob turned as the Electromaster strode in. Asher sent her a small smile and was about to say good morning but stopped herself when she saw that Misaka's eyes were narrowed as if she was looking for something.

A silence fell in the room for a while as Asher watched Misaka slowly but surely look around her dorm, unable to stop her index finger from tapping on the top of her laptop's surface. Misaka let off an inkling that she noticed it, softening her gaze slightly before she continued her search for an item that she had yet to inform Asher about.

It wasn't until Asher saw her eyes land on her desk that her anxiety reached new heights. She tried to hide that along with the surprise that was paired with it, flinching as soon as Misaka let out a heavy sigh and put her head into her hand.

"Zierdan, why do you have something like that in here?" Misaka asked as she pointed at a seemingly empty part of Asher's desk. "I thought you learned your lesson the last time you did this."

"Have w-what?" Asher asked, unable to stop herself from stuttering when Misaka's glare intensified. "You need to be m-more specific, Mikoto."

She was barely able to get out those words before the area in question released a couple sparks, flying into Misaka's hand as Asher's invisible cloak was dispelled almost instantly to reveal the hidden energy drink.

"Is this specific enough for you, Zierdan?" Misaka asked with a quirked eyebrow as Asher sweatdropped, unable to tell if her friend was angry, saddened, or worried about her.

"Yes," Asher stated as she kept her eyes off of her. "Even my logic can't give me any chance of saying otherwise. I'm guessing Maika came by your room a little bit ago and told you?"

"Yeah she did, but that's beside the point." Misaka said as she threw the can away. She went over to Asher's bed to sit down as the gravity esper refused to look over at her in some form of shame. "She told me that you've had four of them so far including the one this morning. Has that been over the last couple of days or in one or two binge periods?"

Asher remained quiet for a while before letting out a sigh. "I've had one every morning since the 28th. So, it has only been once a day." She replied. "It's nothing for you to be worried over, though, Mikoto."

"Asking me not to worry is only going to make me worry over you more, you know?" Misaka lightly retorted, laying a comforting hand on Asher's shoulder. "Z look at me."

Misaka was only met with silence for a time. She moved herself closer to close some of the space between them. "Zierdan look at me." She repeated, seeing the girl hesitantly do so and smiled. "That's better. I'm not upset or mad that you hid this. I understand why you've been drinking them, but I think it'll cause more harm than good for both your anxiety and something else that you're trying to hide from everyone, including yourself without realizing it. You weren't able to sleep through the night again, right?"

Asher nodded her head as her eyes narrowed slightly as she brought a hand up to her neck. For the last couple days, she had been having trouble sleeping for an extended period of time as she normally did. At most, she could sleep about 3 hours at a time before she awakened from her slumber, taking another 1-2 hours trying to go back to sleep before it became illogical for her to do so. To say it made her feel drained and tired more so than usual was an understatement as she had been waking up even before Misaka and Shirai on some days.

She knew what was probably causing it, but she didn't understand why it had been triggered now and for 4 days straight with no end in sight. Normally, it was random or just happened when she was stressed, the latter seeming like a likely candidate at first from all they had been through these last few weeks alone.

But this time felt different for some reason or another that she just couldn't pin down, however, other than she had been sensing odd fluctuations in the city running rampant briefly before going away as quickly as they came.

It always left her wide awake as if she sensed danger imminently approaching that her senses just wouldn't allow her to ignore. She wasn't used to not being able to block out something like this for this long, adding more and more to her anxiety of not knowing the reasons behind it.

Misaka could tell that this was starting to wear on her too, knowing the energy drinks she drank were unconsciously used in an effort to hide the problem instead of forcing her to make harder strides to fix it. There was some medication that Asher had on hand that could potentially help until the problem went away, but she knew at the same time that she probably didn't want to use it.

Even with that being the case, however, she still wanted to at least try and convince her before it started to get even worse.

"Z, I really think you need to consider taking one of the sleeping pills that your Doctor prescribed to you." Misaka suggested, hearing Asher let out a long sigh as some form of dismissal. "We both know how severe your insomnia can get if you don't do anything for it."

"But he gave me so strong of a dose that it honestly makes me sick and even more tired whenever I take them." Asher sighed. "I would rather be tired but at least have some energy to do things in comparison to being bed-ridden for a day after taking one of those things. So, I'll pass on that for now."

"But Zierdan, I really think you should reconsider-"

Before she could finish that sentence, Misaka's phone began to go off. She looked down and saw Shirai's name on the front, accepting the call and putting her on speaker right after.

"Hey Kuroko."

"Hey Sissy. Does Zierdan happen to be awake yet?" Shirai asked.

"Yeah, she is. I actually happen to be sitting right next to her in her room." Misaka answered. "You're also on speaker by the way."

"Do you need something from me, Kuroko?" Asher asked.

"Yes and no. There's an urgent matter that me and Uiharu have to discuss with the both of you and Saten. It involves something that happened this morning that called Judgment onto the scene. Are you two able to meet up with us at Joseph's in the next 15-20 minutes?"

Misaka looked over at Asher with an eyebrow raised. She nodded for her answer, prompting Misaka to turn back to the phone in her hand. "Yeah, we can. We're both dressed, so it shouldn't take that long for us to get there."

"Alright. See you two in a bit."

When the line went dead, Misaka closed her phone and let out a small breath, seeing Asher trying to sneak away out of the corner of her eye.

"This discussion isn't over by the way." Misaka said aloud, laughing internally when Asher's form deflated ever so slightly. She rose up from the bed and walked out the door first as Asher followed right behind her. "You're not going to get out of this that easy, so we'll be discussing this some more when we get back here later."

"I know…" Asher groaned. "It would have been illogical for me to think otherwise."


20 minutes later…

Joseph's Restaurant

"HUH!? Someone attacked Kongou!?" Misaka shouted in disbelief as the stunned looks of both Asher and Saten increased from the words that had just came from Shirai's mouth.

When Shirai and Uiharu hesitantly nodded their heads, Misaka slammed her fist on the table in frustration.

It wasn't too long ago that the both of them were called to a scene where assistance was needed for the aftermath of when Kongou Mitsuko was surrounded by a group known by the name of Skill-Out. Recently, a faction of the group had been conducting esper hunts within various parts of the district, with Kongou being their latest victim.

She was mostly unharmed, sure, but it didn't sit well with any of them that someone close to their circle had been singled out like that.

"Calm down Sissy." Shirai insisted with her hands raised.

"She's right, Mikoto." Asher stoically urged from next to her. "It's not logical to expend energy over something that has already been dealt with properly."

"I know but come on! What those guys did was disgusting, ganging up on a girl like that!" Misaka said, surprising Saten with the amount of anger and disgust in her voice.

"You seem very worked up about this, Misaka." Saten stated aloud.

Misaka's eyes widened for a few seconds before she closed them as a small blush appeared on her face. "My patience just tends to run out for people who decide to hurt others instead of facing their own reality." She explained.

Saten let out a nervous laugh from that response. "It sort of sounds like you're also talking about me as well." She surmised, with varying looks off surprise spreading on the faces of the girls in front of her.

"What? You're nothing like them, Saten." Misaka immediately stated.

"Yeah, Sissy's right." Shirai added as Saten looked over at her in surprise. "Skill-Out only decides to act whenever they're in a gang. They would never have as much guts as you did when you became so desperate to Level Up..."

Before she could continue, she was interrupted by a loud and lengthy sigh from the girl on the other side of Misaka.

"And I thought I was oblivious in these types of social situations…." Asher said under her breath as confusion come over Shirai's face. She looked over at Saten with a softened stoic gaze. "What Kuroko most likely meant to say was that you actually allow yourself to use your moral compass instead of doing things on impulse. Those guys in Skill-Out probably only like the high they get from being able to defeat espers with higher power than their own as a group. We know you wouldn't associate yourself with those kinds of people, especially at the expense if one of your friends get hurt in the process. So, MK, is right. You're nothing like those annoyances."

As Asher looked away, some redness flashed on Saten's cheeks from her words before she looked at the smiling face of Uiharu when she tapped her on her shoulder.

"She's 100% right, Saten." Uiharu stated. "Like Asher said, you're our friend and we know you wouldn't do that."

"Aww thanks." Saten said in some disbelief as she smiled back at her.

Misaka did the same before a small thought popped into her head. "Wait, hold on a second. I thought Skill-Out was filled with Level 0 runaways. Why would they even think to go after espers like this?"'

"As I said before, they probably want to gain some form of amusement or vindication by harming other espers whose power are significantly higher than theirs." Asher remarked. "Even with us, MK, it can be difficult at times to fend someone off if you're overwhelmed by a group. One Level 0 may not be enough to win against someone who is Level 3,4, or even 5. But a group of 20 raises those chances. Even brilliance can't always negate something when the numbers start to become too high."

"What's worse is that we've also received some info that this Big Spider organization has gotten its hands on illegal weapons through the use of Black Market channels, tipping the scales even more in their favor." Uiharu added.

"Well…" Misaka began as a prideful glint fell into her eyes. "Those guys would probably feel differently if they tangled with me."

"You would be looking for an opportunity to find some sort of reason in fighting them." Asher said under her breath, ignoring when Shirai started perversely touching Misaka for seemingly no logical reason at all.

She directed her attention to a more logical conversation that was happening in front of her with Saten and Uiharu.

"Hey, Uiharu, how did all of it go down with the guys from Skill-Out who attacked Kongou?" Saten asked. "From what you said, they were caught, but who was the one that was responsible?"

"Apparently some mystery man came along and took them all out." Uiharu answered.

"I wonder who that could have been." Asher stoically remarked as she turned her head to look out the window, watching as the clouds glided by in the sky.

"Ooh, me too. He sounds like a mysterious champion of justice." Saten added.

This seemed to hit one of Shirai's nerves as it caused her to stop her advances on the girl she loved dearly and slam her hand on the table, gaining everyone's attention.

"Champion!? Please!" Shirai said in a huff. "Anti-Skill and Judgment are the only ones that should be stopping crime. Anyone else who does so is nothing more than some vigilante!"

Both Saten and Uiharu let out nervous laughs when they saw both Misaka and Asher stiffen next to the teleporter, neither one letting out a word to discern the underlying judgment that Shirai had of them which went unnoticed by the girl herself.


One hour later…

Judgment 177th Branch

After their meeting at Joseph's, Misaka and Asher decided to follow Shirai and Uiharu back to the Judgment office. They wanted to hear more on the situation relating to Big Spider's faction of Skill-Out.

Asher took a small nap on the couch as they gathered more intel, finding herself being gently shaken a little while later to awakeness. When she opened her eyes, she saw the smiling face of Misaka right above her. There seemed to be some form of relief but also worry hidden behind her gaze, though her tired mind didn't have much energy to waste to dig any deeper than that.

"Hey Z, sorry to wake you, but do you have a second?" Misaka asked as Asher sat up and stretched her arms above her head.

"Yeah, and no apology needed." Asher remarked as she and Misaka walked over to where Shirai and Konori were typing away on their computers as Uiharu stood off to the side. "Did you guys find anything?"

Before anyone was able to respond, a small beep sounded off on the computers, with Shirai sighing at the sight when 3 individuals popped up on the screen.

"Is it Big Spider again?" Misaka guessed.

"Yeah, and it happens to be the third time this week." Shirai answered with narrowed eyes. "With time becoming smaller and smaller between incidents, it seems they're starting to make greater strides towards advancing their agenda."

"Well, we'll just have to take the wind out of their sails then." Misaka pridefully suggested.

Asher only let out a sigh in response as she didn't have the energy to deter her illogical thinking and leaned her back further into the wall behind her, while Shirai looked back at the Electromaster with a stern gaze.

"Now, Sissy, you know I don't like someone such as you or Zierdan getting that involved in our cases." Shirai stated.

Uiharu went on to explain the information she found on Big Spider, dating back almost 2 years ago when they started to expand. It was around that time that they started to acquire weapons and get involved in illegal activity, which was something that didn't really surprise any of them.

As Konori kept her thoughts on the matter to herself, the question of how an organization like Big Spider could acquire these weapons was left unanswered.

Misaka decided to voice this, crossing her arms as she contemplated on the thought. "How would they have even gotten these weapons into Academy City of all places, though?" She asked aloud. "Distribution of items is strictly monitored here, meaning it should be impossible for illegal items to go unnoticed, right?"

"I would say it's more improbable than impossible, MK." Asher said from behind her, with her stoic gaze softening ever so slightly. "You can probably do anything in this city if you know the right people to turn a blind eye to it. Maybe they didn't have to sneak it in due to someone else giving them the weapons from inside the city."

"You're thinking that they probably have some sort of help?" Misaka asked, seeing Asher nod her head in response. "I was thinking the same thing, since with all they've done so far in such a short amount of time, they probably have others running routes for them as well."

"As some form of backing?" Shirai asked, with Misaka answering with a hum. "Hmmmm, interesting…I'll add all of that as something worth looking into later."

As they went on, Asher started to unknowingly tune them out, finding her thoughts going towards a dark place she didn't want them to go in. It wasn't a foreign concept to her that things like black market deals seemingly going unnoticed by the higher ups happened within Academy City.

She was one of the few who knew personally the dark dealings that happen under the radar here, considering she was a part of it in a way when Silas was around. He used his connections and abused his power in order to get further towards an illogical goal that he should've known he would have never obtained, while purposefully sacrificing the lives and well-being of those around him, including herself.

He took her father's and mother's life away with his own hands, pushing basically all of the blame towards her or someone else probably in an effort to save himself from scrutiny and delay the inevitable of him being judged for his actions. He sacrificed his own humanity for the life of science, abusing his own stepchild into submission so that she followed his word without question.

He made her live a life surrounded by no one but her own thoughts and logic, a suffocating loneliness that she didn't even know she feared until she had been reminded of what it was like to be wanted and needed by someone else when Misaka first began her attempts at gaining her trust years after.

He did all of these cruel things out in the open that left her mentally, emotionally, and even physically damaged even now and nobody who could have stopped it seemed to care until his agenda didn't match up with theirs. They probably wanted to see her break just as much as Silas had, though, even at the cost of the city when her mental break had nearly led to its destruction.

She would never forgive Silas for what he did, or the people of this city she knew who could have stopped it…

She would have to forgive herself first before that even happened, which after nearly 2 years was still far out of her reach for even the thought of doing so.

She didn't realize how enthralled she had been inside of her own head until she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Although delayed, she did stiffen at the contact, looking up and seeing the concerned faces of her friends looking back at her. Even Konori, who had been uncharacteristically verbally absent from their conversation, looked at her with wide eyes, with Misaka the only one there sending her a wavering smile to calm her potential nervousness for the situation.

"Hey, Z, are you with us? You kinda zoned out for at least 5 minutes there." Misaka said almost jokingly, though Asher could hear it in her voice that she was anything but that.

Asher was going to answer until it felt like her words were caught in her throat for a couple seconds, as her slightly rushed breathing was trying to fix itself. It wasn't to the point that she was full-on hyperventilating, but it felt like she had been on the road towards it from how hard it seemed like for her to take in a deep breath. Her heart was also racing, going so fast that it felt like it skipped a beat or two every so often.

It took her only a split second to guess that she nearly had an anxiety attack, with her already trying her best to hide that fact from everyone around her by showing as little signs of it as she possibly could. She hadn't noticed how numb she felt when she allowed herself to get carried away with her thoughts relating to the misdoings of her stepfather, trapping her in some of her emotions repressed inside of herself that gradually started to overwhelm her without her knowledge.

It had been a while since she had almost triggered herself like this with just thinking what she had from before, putting into perspective of how high her anxiety had gotten in such a short time. Her sleeping issues, constant consumption of energy drinks, stress, and a variety of other factors could be responsible, though she didn't try and analyze if that was the case.

Misaka and unfortunately Uiharu were the only ones within this room who had seen her during a full-blown attack, wanting to keep it that way by sparing Konori and Shirai from seeing when she was most vulnerable. She lacked control whenever she was like that and didn't want them to have to deal with her in that state if she could help it.

"Zierdan?" Misaka repeated, a little bit sharper in comparison to the last after Asher had remained silent longer than she should have.

It may have been unnoticeable to most, but Misaka had been able to tell right away that something was off when Asher's breathing seemed a little faster than normal. Good thing she intervened when she did, now seeing her friend relax at a record pace.

Asher let out a sigh and brought a hand up to the back of her neck. "Yeah sorry. Didn't mean to zone out on you guys like that."

"Are you alright?" Uiharu questioned with pleading eyes. She had noticed just as Misaka had on how rushed her breathing had become in a matter of moments, seeing her skin paler than it had been just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Asher responded with a small smile to lighten the mood. "No need to be worried or anything."

"Well, that's a lie if I've ever heard one before." Shirai stated aloud as she typed on her computer, seeing Asher stiffen out of the corner of her eye. "You're starting to get sloppy by the day, Zierdan."

Asher didn't even tempt to argue with the teleporter, finding some logic in her statement for how much of her guard she had been letting down whenever she was around them now. She only let out another sigh to get to the matter at hand. "Did I miss something?" She asked.

"Not really. We were just wondering if you've ever been in a part of District 10 known as Strange since you tend to roam around the city from time to time." Shirai explained. "It should be the best place to find Kurozuma Wataru and his gang."

Asher took a minute to contemplate that question, vaguely remembering the place that she was talking about. "Maybe, though if I did, I was probably cloaking myself to avoid any attention and didn't take any of note of the place." She said. "I'm guessing this 'Wataru Kurozuma' is the leader of Big Spider?"

Shirai nodded her head in response with some realization falling on Misaka's face beside her.

"Are we going there now?" Misaka asked.

"Technically, it's out of our jurisdiction. But since the incidents happened within District 7, it should be enough for us to legally investigate them." Shirai said. She turned her gaze to look over at Konori, whose head was bowed towards her desk. "Are you going to come with us Konori?"

"Sorry. But I really have to get these reports done today!" Konori quickly said.

It was filled with enough restrained emotion for Shirai and even Asher to be taken aback by it. Their disbelief faded, however, when Misaka pounded her fist into her other hand.

"Well let's go ahead and go Z and Kuroko." Misaka triumphantly stated.

"Wait, you know you two shouldn't get involved!" Shirai insisted, only to feel her arm dragged along by the Electromaster.

"Come on Kuroko, me and Z will go in place of both Konori and Uiharu. We'll be fine!" Misaka replied.

Asher let out a sigh when Shirai didn't retort any further, either finding it futile for her to do so or just in an effort to please Misaka. As the door closed behind them, Asher slowly raised up from the wall she had been leaning against and brought her stoic look over to Konori.

"Konori," She said, seeing the older girl flinch at her name. "Are you sure you're okay that we're going without-"

"I said that it was fine alright! So, quit asking!" Konori snapped as she scowled in Asher's direction.

It took only seconds for Konori to flinch at her own words, only seeing Uiharu do the same as Asher remained relatively calm and unfazed. There was nothing in her stoic eyes that seemed hurt by what she said. It was almost as if she could see through her with a gaze that was almost soft and understanding, something she had never really seen in the girl for how emotionally distant she tended to be.

She looked away dejectedly as she tried to keep the tears that were trying to come from the corner of her eyes restrained. "Sorry, Asher." She said, almost meekly. "I d-didn't mean to snap like that…"

"No, it's alright." Asher stated as she turned to leave. "It was illogical for me to make you expend more energy in repeating yourself again. Some part of me just wanted to make sure, though." She walked until she was right in front of Uiharu as a serious look fell into her blue eyes. "Is there anything else I should know about Skill-Out before we go? Anything that we should keep an eye out for?"

Uiharu quickly typed away on the device in her hands, bringing up a report that Kongou had made this morning and skimmed through it to make sure she wouldn't forget anything. "According to Kongou, something happened that made her esper ability not work and rendered her unconscious after that mystery man appeared. Shirai and Misaka theorized that the person in question is Kurozuma Wataru potentially fighting off other gangs due to how ruthless rumors portray him to be. So, on both accounts, I stress that you all be careful."

"We will. I'll make sure those two don't go in too much over their head." Asher stated as she began walking towards the door again. "Thanks."

When she closed the door and walked where she knew Shirai and Misaka to be, the idea of there being something that rendered a Level 4 esper like Kongou powerless did put into question on how much of a threat Skill-Out was towards espers. She knew that they had to be confident with whatever they had to be doing this out so openly without any fear.

It made her somewhat tense, but she knew their days were numbered for motivating a Level 4 with an ability rarely seen within this city and two out of eight Level 5s coming along with her.

The concern for their well-being faded almost instantly, only finding herself having more worry for Skill-Out to some extent for what was about to appear on their front doorstep.


Word Count of Chapter: 6220 |Page Count: 11 pages |Reviews: 189 | Followers: 102 |Favorites: 86


Here is another update over the current poll results: "Sora" is still edging out "Rehsa" by just one vote, while "Ame" is still behind by a couple votes, currently cemented at 3rd place behind "Rehsa." You all still have time if you want to participate (the poll will end some time when Poltergeist is close to ending).

I don't know how, but I think I've broken at least some type of record for my replies during this upload...

I hope you enjoy reading my answers/thoughts. If it's gotten to be too excessive word-wise, though, just let me know and I'll try my best to limit myself during the next upload:)

Hope you enjoyed!


Review Replies

Blankow: Aw, glad that I was able to lighten up everyone's year. Hopefully 2021 will be progressively better than 2020.

Chapter 39 was mostly original, though connected with the timeline of the episode it comes from which is "The Special Workshop" (where Saten and the other Level Upper users attend a class for a day). The others (Misaka, Shirai, and Uiharu) didn't do much of anything during the episode since it was primarily focused on Saten. I was going to adapt the plotline with Asher in mind, but decided to do something else since she wouldn't have provided much to the situation development wise.

So, I say that all to say that some of the interactions between Shirai and Uiharu did happen in the episode, but most of everything else was original as Misaka never got sick in that or in the anime in general from what I can remember.

The only person I remember being sick was definitely Uiharu. I agree that most of the hospital/doctor visits in Toaru are mostly because they're moderately to severely injured. Misaka can be so valiant and caring but also too prideful and stubborn for her own good. Asher may be the same way at times, but at least she's able to allow herself to acknowledge that she has issues.

I could possibly make either a chapter or one shot of Misaka and Asher taking care of a sick Touma in the future as you are right, Index wouldn't be able to do it, lol.

To see that the Dorm Manager can scare Shirai and Misaka and even push Shokuhou to get out of her line of fire, just proves how formidable that woman can be. You could tell me that she used to be or is a Level 6 candidate and I would believe it.

The Dark tunnel is definitely going to return with the Sisters arc around the corner. I still remember when I thought Railgun was just a slice of life show with great bits of action every so often since I watched Season 1 and 2 before Index. Then Sisters came in and tore my heart to shreds but is somehow my favorite arc for the fact that it did. Writing Asher's experience with it will probably be just as devastating to read even with what she has already been through.

Now, I won't say much on the matter, but all I can say for future plans is that I don't think I would ever have the heart to write Asher off to die. She has already been through enough and seen a lot. Could foreshadow the future since my plans are not written in stone, but I can say her dying permanently is off the table.

Actually have not gotten a chance to read any of NT as I don't know where to go read it in English. A therapy session with Touma, Accelerator, Zierdan, and Mikoto would probably last for an entire chapter for all they have been through the entire series.

July 28th, the fateful day has come where Kamijou Touma has been lost and is now a clean slate. I never really did think of how Heaven Canceller must of felt for not being able to do anything to fix it T.T.

Happy to hear the you liked that scene with Asher. I think I've heard of the scene that you're referring to Misaka when she's staring off in the sky. Let's just say they're both viewing it at the same time, though didn't tell the other about it.

The Midsummer Festival could be where Asher meets with Touma for the first time since the 28th. So time will only tell if they'll meet or if Asher will just keep to herself for most of the day until the big event at the end.


Guest10032:Thanks! I thought about maybe having Asher also attend the Special Workshop as some sort of helper since it would give her more time interacting with both Komoe and Yomikawa while also maybe more development for her relationship with Saten. Thought against it and scrapped the idea, though, since I didn't think it would be all that interesting from her POV since it's more of a Saten focused thing. I liked how this chapter turned out with that decision, so I'm glad to see that you liked it as well.

Just as Misaka can sense the EM waves around her from her AIM diffusion field, Asher can passively sense "fluctuations" within the dimensional space around her. Espers tend to give these off naturally, especially when they use their abilities such as when Shirai teleports. I'll admit that I'm not fully knowledgeable of the magic system for Index, but I believe that since magic does have an effect on the environment when used, then Asher would be able to sense it.

"Asher sensing magic" is sort of a work in progress since I probably need to familiarize myself with the magic system more before I explain all the ins and outs of why she can. I'll mostly just say for now, though, is that my belief for this story is that magicians do give off fluctuations just as espers do. She can still sense these said fluctuations but can automatically tell that they're different in some way due to drawing onto another source other than an esper ability or some use of an AIM Diffusion field.

Though, whatever godly powers that the Dorm Supervisor has is apparently too powerful for even Asher to narrow down the truth behind it. To think that she can somehow know who's breaking the rules without any limits proves that she's a threat that even someone like Accelerator or Kakine would have trouble defeating.

Surprisingly, I actually have most of the next chapter finished as it is currently in the 1st phase of the editing process. And all I'll say is that they will definitely be meeting up with Skill-out in the next chapter and though she may not be known by her actual name outside of both her friends and Tokiwadai, "The Calamity" is sadly known well throughout the city, even among those who live in "Strange."

I don't know how to express how much I'm both looking forward to and dreading Sisters' considering my goal is to get to it sometime before chapter 50. For months and just as I had for the WaveInflux arc, I've had a concept chapter just sitting in a folder that I peek into every so often. It's unfinished but it is the baseline of my idea of how Asher will learn of the Sisters' Arc. And whatever you're thinking may either be worse or better, so only time will tell what happens.

It's official, Kurozuma x Asher will go down to the end of time as the best ship. It's so illogical that I don't think even Asher would find any logic of how to explain that to her friends or would be able to find enough Musansino milk to keep Kurozuma happy, lol


Bornkiller9: Thanks! Glad to hear that you enjoyed the chapter. I also liked seeing your thoughts on the question of ships. All of your points are valid and spot on at times as I also see Touma and Asher being better as friends than lovers considering I don't think Asher's logic could keep up with the misfortune that tends to surround him or Index's wrath. It may be well into the future before I truly decide, but it'll be determined at some point one way or another if I can get over my indecisiveness, lol.


Misaka Phenex: Well part of your request seems to be both steadily and unintentionally happening with all of the potential harem candidates Asher has and has yet to acquire, so only time will tell lol.

Hmmm, saving Frenda...

She could possibly be saved, though I don't know if I should change her fate (even though she has kind of grew on me since this recent season of Railgun). From what I can tell, her death is fairly important for Mugino's character development.

I may change my mind later, but as of right now, I don't see myself changing it to where she lives versus what happened to her T.T


LostNeko120: Happy New Year to you too:D

Yeah I know it was probably a small let down that Asher didn't attend the Special Workshop with Saten. I did plan at first that she would help out in order to give her more interactions with both Yomikawa and Komoe, since they're there. But after thinking on it, I kind of wanted to give Asher's and Misaka's friendship some time to shine since it has been a while where the story had been focused on just them two. It also gives more idea of Misaka's mental struggles, considering she uses all of her energy to hide them, even though Asher can usually see right though her illogical behavior. Glad to see, though, that you found their moment adorable.

July 28th in the story kind of crept up on me without me noticing until 1 or 2 chapters before. Wish I could've given Touma's former self a better send off and introduce Index to Asher earlier in the story. But that would probably lead to Asher learning about magic, which I believe is still too soon for that revelation.

You're welcome:)

PS. I finally was able to sit down and read all of your Toaru stories. My thoughts about each of them are below;)

Atrapados

Really liked the overall storyline with Kuroko and a Miyama who was able to get into Judgment. The dialogue works really well, though I would suggest in future stories to not bold the dialogue unless it's special in someway (such as a phone call, thoughts, or expressing emphasis towards a word or phrase). I would also recommend using quotation marks instead of dashes for the dialogue in order to make the dialogue flow easier into the descriptions. All in all, though, nice story.

Despedidas amargas

Even though only a month separates the date between this work and "Atrapados," I can tell that you've improved when it comes to writing out details from how well you established both Misaka's and Misaki's feelings throughout the text. I could visualize the scene pretty well and the pacing was also pretty good throughout. The only thing I'll suggest again like for "Atrapados," is to lessen or avoid bolding natural pieces of dialogue while also using quotations marks instead of dashes to show when someone starts/stops speaking. Like the last one, though, all in all it was a good storyline, which I probably like slightly more in comparison to the one before.

Especial de Navidad 2020

Alright, now down to the last and more recent of your Toaru fics. Before I begin, though, I do agree with you're AN that Saten should know that Frenda is dead at some point in the canon T.T

Now, on to my review…

Again, I see lots of improvement with your overall storytelling. You got the details down in the last story, now the punctuation overall I think has came a long way in comparison to the two before. This one-shot seems to be a bit …juicier (I think that's the right word for it lol) in comparison to the rest, though had some bits of humor that did get me to laugh at times. Well done:)

All in all, I did enjoy reading your stories. I also liked the steady progress between each of them. The only small thing that was constant between all of them was the bolded dialogue but I don't think it was bad enough to ruin the story, only take me out of the moment at times. I think the 2nd one, "Despedidas amargas," was my favorite out of all 3. Nice work!


InsertWeirdUsernameHere: I don't think I would ever muster up the heart or resolve to write up something where Asher would die permanently. Maybe in a "What If?" kind of plot line/one-shot, but I think she has been through enough already in CSG. Nothing is written in stone and her promise could foreshadow things to come, but at least I can agree and alleviate the fear of if she's going to die sometime in the next few chapters.

Misaka always thinks she's helping others by pushing down her issues which seems to hide from others that she actually has any. You're right, Asher is probably the best cushion that Misaka has to hopefully stop or at least suppress what happens if she actually does end up mentally exploding one day.

I may be able to do that Misaka and Asher scene in the future. They may be polar opposites personality wise in some respects, but the parallels/misfortunes do seem to be able to make up the difference probably even more so after Sisters.'


JintoLin: There can't be a Toaru universe without "nice fluff" being mixed with depression T.T

It seems that as Asher allows herself to open herself more for her friends, it becomes more apparent to her how stubborn and at times hypocritical Misaka can be. Seems like history is trying to repeat itself.

Glad to see that my story has changed your mind over Misaki. I grew to like her more during the recent season of Railgun. I think there's nothing that can be done about your feelings relating to Shirai, though lol. I think everyone has a love/hate feeling towards her as she is both serious and cool at times to like, while perverse enough to annoy everyone when she goes overboard.

Nice to hear your thoughts on the current shipping prospects. I actually went into this story not thinking to give Asher any sort of love interest, but changed my mind a couple chapters later. If Misaka isn't chosen, she'll definitely not just disappear from the story, so don't worry.

I'm going to try my best to start Sisters' in the next 10-15 chapters (at the latest). Big Spider and Poltergeist should not be as long as the Level Upper Arc, so the wait (chapter-wise) for Sisters shouldn't be too far away. College is going to slow down the chapters again, but I'll hopefully get to that arc in the next couple of months;)

Glad to hear that I've done well with creating chapters that may be long at times, though aren't padded with pointless words. Sometimes I'm afraid that I do at times, so it's a relief that I've done well avoiding it.

Himari may be seen more in "Asher" but she will get some time to shine in CSG too. Silas, however, is about as connected to Asher's life as she was, so he will sadly be seen and talked about more as well.

I'm sorry for putting that image into your head. Even Saten's Level 6 ability for Friendship probably wouldn't be able to save the planet let alone the city.


Thanks for your reviews!

-PurpleClover99