Kuroko leaned back a bit into the pillows and bed that had been propped up to allow her to recline a bit and read the papers in her lap at the same time. Her eyes scanned over the document in her lap, finishing the last few sentences.
"Next page, please." Kuroko said for what felt like the thousandth time today. Uiharu, who was seated in a chair next to her quietly reading herself, reached over quickly and turned the page for Kuroko. Just another inconvenience that she was going to need to get used to. She bristled at the frustration of not even being able to turn pages, or holding a cup of water to drink it, or any other thousand mundane things that now felt like mountainous challenges.
"Thanks." Kuroko mumbled softly as she continued reading. She had requested either Uiharu or Saten bring her various documents concerning the events she'd missed out on since she had lost consciousness, which turned out to be quite a lot, and the details regarding the Level 6 Shift project. The documents in regards to that particular experiment was something the girls had collectively decided to keep their mouth shut about possessing.
The damage to the city had been extensive, billions upon billions flowing from the city's bank accounts into repairing and retrofitting the various buildings and public and private property that had been bombarded by the debris from Endymion. Kuroko had noted to her friends that referring to the event as Treefall, as she had heard it repeatedly called, was somewhat inaccurate, since it was the Space Elevator, not the satellite holding Tree Diagram, that had actually fallen down onto the city, but she was many months too late to voice a relevant opinion on that.
Academy City had responded in several ways, beyond just their massive cover-up campaign that Kuroko had found grating and irritating. It was in in defiance of the justice she felt was owed to the city, while mutually feeling beyond relieved that the city had decided to cover up Mikoto's involvement and responsibility, freeing her from the united hatred the city might have thrown at her and instead replacing it with unending support.
It was a lie. A lie that Kuroko found comforting, and grateful for, because it meant that she wouldn't lose her beloved. Thoughts drifted through her mind, as she recalled the last memory she had before she had crippled herself teleporting the kinetic energy from the momentum of the massive debris that would have destroyed the city right back onto the giant hunk of metal in reverse orientation. She didn't know she could do that- evidently not without consequences.
But the memory that eclipsed that was her farewell to Mikoto. She had finally confessed in a way that wasn't shielded by her humorous antics, or her euphoric emotional admiration for Mikoto. She had just been honest. She… still hadn't brought it up to Mikoto. And Mikoto hadn't said anything either.
A slight sigh escaped her lips as her thoughts returned to what she had learned since waking up. All the various festivals that Academy City organized, often to the admiration of the world, had been postponed until such a time as repairs could be made, and the safety of the citizenry could be assured. Calls for such security was likely why Kuroko hadn't even heard from her parents- outside communication was extremely restricted, and Mikoto's mother had only been able to come visit because of circumstances getting her into the city before the lockdown had come into effect.
The city was cautious and on high alert, and whispers of the end of the city echoed throughout the months, she was told. And yet, the Board treated it like some unfortunate road bump rather than a cataclysmic disaster. The funding for the various festivals, which was budgeted annually, had been redirected toward the city's repair with great and over dramatic apologies to the citizens that the festivals had to be postponed because of the damage. No use letting set aside funding go to waste, apparently.
Kuroko could feel Uiharu's eyes occasionally falling on her with that concerned thoughtful look she seemed to always possess. Kuroko's eyes moved to meet Uiharu, giving her a questioning look at the stare that had fallen off of the book in the flower girl's lap and onto the bed-ridden friend of hers.
"Something on your mind, Uiharu?" Kuroko asked curiously. To which Uiharu jumped visibly out of a train of thought.
"O-oh, sorry, I was just… thinking." She explained, trying to wave off the question, but Kuroko didn't let go.
"Uiharu, come on." Kuroko gave her a bit of incredulous look at the notion that Uiharu thought she could get rid of the question that easily. Uiharu shifted around in her seat uncomfortably.
"U-um… I was just wondering if, with your current, uh, condition and all… and what you explained to us about your powers… what does that mean for you?" Uiharu asked, looking up from the floor she had suddenly found so interesting and back to Kuroko, who was just sitting staring into her own lap looking more than a little sad.
"Well… my powers were based upon my arms. It's how I focused them. It's been… three months, I believe, since I woke up. I've tried other ways of using my powers, but… I've had no success. If I had to theorize what that meant, I guess I'd say that…" She trailed off again, every sentence sounding like it was painful for her to say. She let out a drawn out, mournful sigh.
"I'm pretty sure my powers are gone forever." She whispered quietly, her head hanging down a bit more. Uiharu stared at her silently with a bit of a horrified expression, trying to find words to say to comfort her friend, but her mind finding nothing before she simply stood up and hugged Kuroko, the sound of Uiharu's own book hitting the floor with a thump as she held her.
Kuroko leaned into the hug, taking a deep, calming breath. Kuroko hadn't burst into tears once since she woke up- not that anyone had seen. She was trying so hard to keep her composure around everyone, show that she could take this change in her life without a worry. But…
She knew she was lying to herself and everyone else. Internally, she was devastated. She had gone from one of the rarest Esper's in all of Academy City, a Level 4 Teleporter, down to someone without any powers at all. A member of Judgement, one of the most successful, reduced to an armless cripple.
Her thoughts betrayed her, and she struggled to maintain her composure as she leaned into Uiharu, forcing herself to remain passive. She wasn't sure her pride could take yet another hit right now.
"It's… it's gonna be OK, Shirai-san." Uiharu said, trying her best to push the uncertainty out of her voice. "We're here for you. Misaka-san especially." She said with far more confidence. Kuroko smiled a little and nuzzled against Uiharu for a moment before they broke apart.
"Thank you, Uiharu." Kuroko said with a soft sigh, smiling at her weakly. She sat up a little straighter and put on a somewhat familiar lecherous look on her face.
"I mean, how can it not? Not only do I have Onee-sama, but now she has little sisters that look JUST LIKE HER!" Kuroko's grin widened as she made a somewhat overdramatic swooning gesture at the notion of so many Misaka's to stare at and ogle. Uiharu giggled despite herself, covering her mouth, happy to see Kuroko had at least not lost everything positive in her mind- well, positive may not be the MOST accurate of ways of viewing her lecherous behavior.
"They don't hold even close to a candle as their big sister, but…" She grinned and stared off into the distance. Kuroko had, initially, been floored for hours after she'd been informed about the clones and their sheer numbers, and it was only after several of Mikoto's numerous visits, in which Mikoto did her best to both explain and not explain the program to the point that it had begun to slightly annoy her three friends with her evasiveness did they finally get a firm, horrified grasp of what had been going on in the city they called their home. 7
And quite frankly, while none of them had voiced it, but all quietly understood, was that there wasn't a single one of them who had come to terms with it.
"Onee-sama has been acting very differently lately… ever since she first visited." Kuroko said softly, her mind returning to the day that Mikoto had collapsed against her in inconsolable tears. Uiharu and Saten were too stunned and, from how Kuroko recalled their expressions, horrified to do anything besides stand there and not say a word.
Kuroko didn't blame them. How do you respond to the idea that one of your friends is now a cripple? But Mikoto… she had gone from inconsolable grief to much more like she was previously before all of this had occurred. And despite all her own recovery, kept finding time to visit Kuroko almost every day- to the point that the doctors started limiting Mikoto's ability to visit so she would keep up on her own recovery. The visits both elated Kuroko, and concerned her greatly at their frequency.
Kuroko sighed a bit, looking to Uiharu as she tried not to get lost in thoughts.
"Mhm. She's been working extra hard in her physical therapy, and Saten has been helping her out. Last I heard, Misaka-san is getting discharged today. Saten is with her now, probably helping her out with getting released. I bet Misaka-san has been stressed from being cooped up for so long." Uiharu said with a cheerful smile.
Kuroko stared at her for a couple seconds before glancing away and staring off into space as she mulled over her friends words. Unbeknownst to her, her expression shifted slowly into one of deep thought and intense longing, prompting her friend to tilt her head at her bedridden companion, but deciding to simply keep her smile and let Kuroko have her thoughts free from interruption for now.
Saten sat outside in the hall directly across from Mikoto's room, waiting ever so patiently. The doctor had gone in to explain to her a variety of things and her final instructions before being discharged out of the hospital. Saten was excited for oh-so-many reasons. Chief among them was just the excitement of her friend finally being released after over a year of being stuck in this place.
The door to the hospital room was opened by the doctor, who stood aside to let Mikoto out, leaning on the forearm crutch that she was still utilizing for support, but could now thankfully rely on without the aid of others. Mikoto gave Saten a smile as she limped out of the room, meeting Saten half way as she got up off the bench and hugging her with one arm.
"Thanks for standing by me, Saten-san. I know I've been just an absolute bitch." She said softly, hugging her as tight as she could, which wasn't half as tight as Saten's grip was.
"Language, Misaka-san." Heaven Cancellers said as he walked past them, pausing to hand Mikoto her medical documents before giving her a polite nod and departing. Saten giggled as Mikoto blushed, that foul-mouthed tomboy peeking out blatantly in public.
"I'm ready to go home…" Mikoto sighed out, Saten letting her go and patting her shoulder.
"Well, lucky for you, I know just where to take you! The city prepared a little something since your dorm is… you know." Saten said, shrugging a bit and smiling. Mikoto only raised her eyebrow at her in confusion. Saten looked momentarily surprised.
"Your dorms. For Tokiwadai. They got smashed with a bunch of debris, so they had to demolish and rebuild it." Saten explained, still a bit surprised that Mikoto hadn't been told this yet. It HAD been rather busy as of late.
"But… then… where are we going to stay?" Mikoto looked just exasperated. At this point, it was just par for the course for her luck, or lack thereof. Saten however, just grinned brightly and tugged on her hand excitedly, Mikoto gasping as she did her best to keep up. Thankfully, she had grown rather practiced with the crutch, and her limbs didn't feel like limp noodles anymore. She was really hoping that she wouldn't need it soon.
"Come on, I'll show you. We'll get you all settled in, and we can get ready for when Shirai is released too." Saten beamed as she pulled her friend along. Saten, with her eyes forward, didn't get the opportunity to see the soft smile spread across Mikoto's face at the mention of Kuroko.
"Yeah… Let's do that."
The silence had stretched on for a bit, Uiharu just reading her book as Kuroko got lost in her thoughts, but eventually she came back to earth and the two had begun to converse for the past hour or so without worries. It was nice to just talk like friends again, even though Uiharu felt like she'd not seen Kuroko much longer than Kuroko felt she'd last seen Uiharu.
Uiharu sat up a bit straighter as a vibrating sound emanated from her pocket, reaching down and pulling out a phone not unlike the one Kuroko used, with a extendable holographic display. "Oh, excuse me, I need to take this." She stood and gave a polite bow like the ever so polite person that she was before wandering over to one corner of the room and putting the phone to her ear, speaking quietly.
But Kuroko had good ears, and she was just too curious. She leaned slightly forward as she tried to catch on to the conversation, though only caught Uiharu's side of the conversation.
"Mhm. Yeah, I've been feeling better. I've been doing everything you've said, it's really helped." Uiharu said in a soft, friendly, even familiar tone. Kuroko leaned in deeper, her curiosity overwhelming her with who Uiharu might be talking to.
"I'll give you a call later today, sure. Goodbye." Uiharu hung up the phone with a smile, pocketing it and walking back over to Kuroko, who had jerked back and tried to pretend like she hadn't been listening in.
"Who was that?" Kuroko asked curiously, looking over at Uiharu who waved off the question with a laugh.
"Oh, no one really." She said evasively, prompting yet another raised eyebrow from Kuroko.
"Didn't sound like nobody. You seemed awful familiar." She said, leaning toward her, Uiharu puffing her cheeks and chest at Kuroko a bit in exasperation.
"It's rude to eavesdrop Shirai-san!" She scolded, huffing indignantly. Kuroko raised both stumps up, as if she was going to try to use her non-existent hands in a faux defensive way, but reality asserted itself pretty quickly, a flash of pain spreading across Kuroko's face before she simply shrugged
"Alright, alright, I apologize." She said, sighing a little, her curiosity thwarted. Uiharu crossed her arms against her chest a bit, trying her best to be upset, but it was very challenging with how frail Kuroko was. Though she'd tried very hard never to imply such to Kuroko… she knew her friends pride wasn't doing so hot these days.
The momentary silence was broken by a knock at the door, followed by Heaven Canceller letting himself in.
"Pardon the intrusion, but I had some medically related topics to discuss with you, Shirai-san." He said, before glancing to Uiharu pointedly, who in turn looked to Kuroko with a bit of a worried expression. Kuroko couldn't help but be drawn in by the puppy dog eyes that Uiharu pulled off with no effort.
"It's OK if she stays for it." Kuroko said, the doctor nodding as he moved to the opposite side of the bed to speak to Kuroko. Uiharu got very silent, but sat up and listened with the utmost attentiveness, her eyes glued on the doctor.
"I have some good news, and some difficult news. Your muscles have not atrophied as much as they might have, as we managed to give you extensive electric muscle treatment during your coma to maintain them from deteriorating too much. While you will have a road to recovery, you should be able to regain full use of your muscles in a relatively short time frame so long as you maintain to your exercises and treatments." He explained, Kuroko leaning in, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she thought it might explode.
"In regards to your other concerns. As you well know based on your question, prosthetic replacements for lost limbs is something that Academy City and this hospital are equipped to do. However." He quickly cut in as Kuroko began to swell up in some excitement.
"The damage to your arms was extensive, and you have the unfortunate circumstances of them also being linked to your Esper power, a power that Academy City poorly understands in comparison to many other powers. This will be a process, Shirai-san. And one that is not guaranteed to end entirely the way you want it to. We will have to perform this step by step, carefully, and with close observation. Any rejection your body might have could have disastrous consequences, not the least of which is uncontrolled teleportation of yourself or your implants"
He explained as softly as he could, even as Kuroko deflated very rapidly. "I… see." She said softly, shifting around in her bed.
"I cannot guarantee everything Shirai-san. But I can guarantee that we here will do our absolute best to do what we can for you. If it is possible to return your full mobility and powers, we WILL find it." The doctor said with absolute confidence that somehow did not trespass into arrogance- just grandfatherly comfort.
Kuroko was still a bit deflated, but gave him a small smile in appreciation.
"Beyond that, based on your own readiness, we can discharge you within the week. I am told accommodations have been prepared for you, and we will have medical equipment available for you to better adjust." He finished, Kuroko sighing in a relieved way. Getting out of the hospital sounded like a dream come true. She felt so stifled and cooped up.
"Unless you have any questions.." He paused, to which Kuroko shook her head. "Then I shall take my leave. Good day, Shira-san, Uiharu-san." He gave a polite nod to both of them before departing.
Uiharu looked to Kuroko, who looked just plain exhausted from the conversation.
"Hey, Uiharu, sorry but… I think I'm going to lie down for a bit, OK?" She gave a weak smile, Uiharu standing and smiling back brightly.
"No problem, rest well, Shirai-san." She gave a energetic bow before taking her leave. As she got out of the room, she reached into her pocket and removed the phone, holding it in her hand as she began to walk the halls, twisting and turning around the massive facility until she stopped at a dead end that capped the hall with a large window. She stopped at the window, staring out it as she removed the phone, dialing a number and putting it to her ear, waiting. As the receiver picked up, she spoke.
"I am at the window." She stated, staring out it, her eyes going out of focus for a moment before coming back in a flash. She listened to the voice on the other end, responding to each question they made of her.
"No, that's everything. Yes. Yes. I understand, I will continue to keep an eye on Shirai-san. I'll call you if anything changes." She finished, pulling the phone away and hanging it up, sliding it into her pocket. She yawned loudly, rubbing her tired eyes and stretching. "Time to go home." She said to herself, humming quietly as she strode down the hall, making her way home with a carefree smile.