Saten stumbled out of the exam room after the doctor released her from his vice grip of guilt feeling like she'd aged a thousand years. She dragged her feet down the hall, quietly groaning to herself.
Her ears were still ringing. How could someone not raise their voice above speaking level and STILL somehow be yelling? How was that physically possible? Life was unfair. And now she had an ultimatum. Either she came up with some form of therapy within the next month or so that she and him could work together to get her on, or he'd do… something. He didn't specify. And for some reason, that terrified her more than anything.
"Frog-faced, know-it-all, do-gooder, stupid…" childish grumbling insults continued to pour from her mouth as she dragged herself through the hallways, looking for her friends so she could go home and pout. After some effort, she found Uiharu texting on her phone on a bench, looking up and smiling at Saten as she approached.
"Saten-san!" Uiharu hopped up and approached her, Saten turning her head away and huffing.
"No. Not talking to you. You slammed a door in my face." Saten crossed her arms with a huff, refusing to look at her. After a moment of silence, she dared to glance at Uiharu, the girl now a firm four inches shorter than her, looking like she was about to burst into tears.
"I'm sorrrrrrry!" Saten quickly crumbled, hugging Uiharu tightly and lifting her off the ground, Uiharu making a choking sound as the air was squeezed from her lungs.
"S-Saten-S-San. C-can't b-breathe…"
Saten put her back down, sighing. She couldn't stay mad at Uiharu. Saten was the one who had agreed to get help. Uiharu was just- meanly- helping.
"Where's Shirai and Misaka?" Saten asked, Uiharu pointing down the hall. Saten was curious, and admittedly, Uiharu was too. The pair walked down the hall toward the lounge where the pair had gone for some privacy, both peeking around the corner.
"A-are they…!?" Saten gasped.
"Oh my!" Uiharu covered her mouth.
Both their faces turned a bright, bright shade of crimson.
Some time earlier…
That shocked and stunned moment where Kuroko didn't respond, for Mikoto, WAS SO FUCKING AWKWARD. She just stood there, wishing she could be stiff as a board, but her limbs shaking so hard in anxiety that it painfully reminded her that in her rush to get to the hospital that she had forgotten to grab her forearm crutch and she really, really remembered why she needed it. The pillar would serve as a good substitute but she was too stubborn to allow herself to look weak when she needed to not show weakness because WOULD KUROKO RESPOND PLEASE.
Kuroko's expression went from shock at the sudden question, to a blushing red-faced giggle. Mikoto felt embarrassment flood her. Was Kuroko laughing at her?!
"O-oh, Onee-sama… You're so childish and awkward sometimes. Like a elementary schooler asking their crush if they like them." She giggled out, wiping away a tear from her eye with her shoulder as best she could, which were followed by a couple other tears that Mikoto quickly picked up on were not from laughter. Mikoto did her best imitation of a goldfish as she continued her brick-red blush of embarrassment, quickly cut off from any further aquatic imitations as Kuroko lunged at her and pressed their lips together.
Mikoto let out a squeak of surprise as she fell back into the pillar, feeling Kuroko trying her best to hold on to Mikoto. Kuroko let out a cry of protest as she slid off of her- it was very difficult to wrap her arms around Mikoto's neck without said arms. Mikoto caught her by her lower back, pulling her to her chest out of reflex, and found herself standing there blinking.
"U-um…" Mikoto felt awkward again. Kuroko was smiling at her with such an affectionate expression, one of pure honest love, that Mikoto truly felt naked under her eyes.
The Misaka Network suspected that Mikoto was likely into that sort of thing.
Shoving the intrusive hive mind of younger sisters- that felt the need to invade her private moment- aside, Mikoto looked into Kuroko's eyes once again, biting her lip a bit.
"S-so, um… is… is that a yes?" She asked in a mumble.
"Oh, Onee-sama…" Kuroko sighed out. "Yes." And without another word, got on her tiptoes, already standing on top of Mikoto's feet, closing the distance once more between them.
The old adage of "time flies when you're having fun" is often quite true, and it was quite likely that the pair currently making out in the corner would likely melt in a puddle of humiliation if they knew just how true it was.
Saten and Uiharu couldn't help but stare with their mouths over their hands, like staring at a car crash, before Uiharu began to slowly inhale, the preamble to a sneeze.
"Don't." Saten silently mouthed to her.
More inhaling.
"DON'T." Saten mouthed more enthusiastically.
Alas, it was not to be. Uiharu let out a very audible, if cute, sneeze that echoed through the room, prompting the two teenagers in the corner locking lips to nearly leap out of their skins. Kuroko twisted her head in place, Mikoto looking over the top of her partner's head at their two friends who were quite clearly staring at them.
Oh the awkwardness. It was palpable.
"OH LOOK AT THE TIME! MAIKA MUST HAVE DINNER ALMOST READY I'LL GO GET US A RIDE" And with that Saten was gone, abandoning a betrayed Uiharu to deal with the awkwardness by herself. Uiharu was as red in the face as those two in the corner, perhaps more so, and her only response was to let out a rapid string of words that seemed to be a bizarre alien mixture of excusing herself, apologizing, geometry, computers, and for some reason, gerbils.
Then she ran away.
Kuroko could only stare and bewilderment. Slowly, she found herself descending downward to the floor, and realized it was because Mikoto was sliding down the pillar to the ground.
"Nooo…" Mikoto whined out in unfathomable embarrassment as she sunk to the ground and pulled Kuroko to her so Kuroko's head was resting on top of Mikoto's, Mikoto's face buried in Kuroko's torso as she tried to hide her red face. Kuroko wasn't sure quite what to do. Sometimes, Mikoto's ego was just a bit fragile. Sometimes though, it could use a little toughening up.
Kuroko gasped excitedly above Mikoto where Mikoto was holding her firmly. "I can shower you with affection now, and everyone gets to know!" She cried out, Mikoto whining and protesting more as Kuroko giggled maniacally above her, kissing the top of Mikoto's head.
"...Kuroko."
"Yes, Onee-sama?" She purred mischievously.
"...I forgot my crutch. I can't stand up off the floor."
"...Oh."
The pitiful naked individual currently being forced to clean their own blood off the floor from one of their recent torture sessions winced in terror as they heard the screams of agony in the adjacent room from their tormenter.
"You know, Flower-chan, this would be much easier if you'd let me sedate you." The elderly man known as Kihara Gensei said with a soft grandfatherly smile as he continued to perform his work inside of Indigo's eye socket. Kihari Gensei was dressed in bland dress clothes and a lab coat, a large liver spot on the left side of his forehead. The man in question gripped at the armrests of the chair he was in as he growled and frothed at the pain of the procedure, undergoing it without a hint of anesthetic.
"HAH!" He balked at the man. "As if I would… Let you put me under you fucking psychopath!" He growled as a line of foam dripped down his chin, squeezing tighter down on his armrest. Gensei simply smiled softly at that, continuing his work as he carefully laid more circuitry inside of the damaged socket, moving about flesh and veins with carefully precise tools.
"So testy today, Flower-chan. Is it that little girl that bothers you so much?" He asked as he worked without a hint of fear of the violent and unstable sociopath. Every time Gensei used his nickname for his patient, the man seethed in murderous rage, but did nothing.
"Stop. Calling me that." He hissed at the man, who did not immediately reply, but simply resumed his work silently for a time with an infuriating calm smile on his face as he joined some more nerves together, each one sending agony through the man.
Gensei stepped away from the chair, letting Indigo pant and seethe in hatred and rage. The scientist picked up a small sphere in his surgically gloved hands, holding it up and looking at it.
"What if I told you that I know where Kuroko-chan is?" He asked, turning and smiling at Indigo, who paused in his seething to turn to Gensei. Gensei approached him, leaning down and placing the sphere against the empty, though prepared, socket, firmly pressing it in as it was inserted with a painful sounding cracking sound as the bones were forced to break apart, realign, and fuse back together through the devices implanted inside.
"I'd ask what the cost is…" Indigo growled out through the pain.
Gensei gave him a broad, grandfatherly smile somehow devoid of warmth as Indigo forced himself off of the table, one hand covering the prosthetic eye.
"You've learned so well. It's always a pleasure to teach you, Flower-chan." The old man praised Indigo with a soft chuckle, patting the younger counterparts cheek.
After what had to be Academy City's most astoundingly awkward car ride, the girls were happy to get home and go their separate ways if only just to collapse and rest after an exhausting day. The sun had long since gone down, and Maika had taken the time to track down each girl to get them their dinner where ever they had chosen to hide themselves. They had the fortune of quiet days coming and going for some time, giving them the appropriate chance to rest, relax, and process… something all the girls desperately needed. Time did indeed march on…
Saten had found herself in the Western-Style sitting room off appropriately west side of the house. Lounging on a couch with a laptop, pouring over websites both to satisfy her urban legend craving and to dig up ideas on that therapy method that she might be able to propose to the doctor. She had less than three days to propose something, and NO, she HAD NOT been procrastinating. The month had just decided to go by extra fast was all.
"Ugh…" She groaned out, flipping through various pages, scowling a bit, flicking through page after page of websites, a mixture of boredom and frazzled stress washed over her. She had to admit, she was mildly envious of Mikoto and Kuroko. She felt kind of bad for feeling envious of them, but did genuinely hope that whatever happened worked out. Uiharu and her been betting on them becoming a thing for well over a year. Well… for that long because of unfortunate circumstances but…
Saten sighed. She was letting herself get depressed again. That was just stupid. And pointless. She went back to her web browsing, pausing as something caught her eye, leaning forward and reading the page in front of her.
"Indian Poker…" She muttered, her eyes scanning over the page. "Combine these items and you can make cards that can transmit and share dreams and skills to…" she muttered quietly, her eyes lighting up as she continued to read. Her focus was cut off as she heard nothing short of a delighted giggle.
Saten looked up sharply, glancing around for the source of that giggle, finding it nowhere in the room. She quietly put her laptop and slid off of the couch, sneaking from the room as she went hunting, the giggle coming again from the Eastern-style sitting room in the eastern side of the house where she was fairly certain…
She peeked around the corner just barely and saw Uiharu lying part way under the Kotatsu, her laptop surprisingly closed, her phone to her ear and a pillow under her head as she softly giggled and blushed against the phone. Saten's curiosity was BEYOND piqued. What could make Uiharu act in such a way?
Just as Saten was going to lean in to listen for more, she felt a painful tug on her ear as she was forcibly removed from the conversation.
"It is rude to eavesdrop, Saten." Maika said softly as she pulled Saten away from her prey, devastating the poor troublemaking girl.
"No faaaaiiiirrr!" She whined even as she heard a squeak of surprise and alarm from the other room as Uiharu overheard her.
Uiharu quickly stuffed her phone into her pocket with a big flush of embarrassment. That was SO CLOSE! Saten was always so nosy! Her phone calls were none of Saten's business! She huffed a bit as she sat up and opened her laptop, puffing her cheeks out.
Still… It was nice to get a bit of a sneak peek from her super secret source about school getting back in session sometime in the near future. While it had been nice to recover and heal, and the irregular schooling and supplementary and online courses had been handy for that, it would be nice to get back into more typical studies. She worried that Mikoto and Kuroko would struggle getting back into things after their coma's but… well, they were both students of Tokiwadai, and high level Espers, which required intense calculations. They were both essentially geniuses in their own rights, even if they never went out of their way to brag about it.
Uiharu opened up a file that she had been secretly working on. If there was one thing that she had taken on after everything that had happened… it was a responsibility for her friends safety. Mikoto, Kuroko, Saten, the one thing all of them had in common, was this sense of noble self-sacrifice for others. And while that was a commendable and admirable trait, something she respected…
Uiharu also wanted to keep her friends. And maybe that was selfish… but as SHE said… it's OK to be a little selfish sometimes.
In the file was a series of documents and files on her friends. A lot of different medical and security files, a lot of which had been illicitly acquired through hacking expertise, including the surveillance data on this house. She knew this entire house HAD been bugged both audio and visual when she'd first arrived, but that had almost instantaneously ended within roughly five minutes of Mikoto entering the building. It didn't surprise her terribly that Mikoto didn't like being watched and had entirely fried every bug in the house with a thought. As injured and recovering as Mikoto was, her powers hadn't diminished at all.
Uiharu looked over her shoulder for a moment before back to her laptop, scanning over the medical documents she had. Mikoto seemed like she was recovering OK… no organ rejection. Which made sense, since her donors were her near-exact clones. That was good.
Mikoto was keeping up with her physical therapy at home fairly well, Uiharu had watched her doing that still with Saten, and that was good, building up muscle strength. Over the last month as well, she'd seen her and Kuroko growing much closer. Close enough that it was making Uiharu blush a lot…
Moving on to other topics!
Kuroko had suffered a lot less physical atrophy. Mostly because the machines used to stimulate muscles in coma patients that used electrical discharges were a lot less inclined to exploding violently when hooked up to Kuroko as opposed to when they were attached to Mikoto. The doctor was still working on how to get Kuroko prosthetic arms and studying the strange metal that had appeared out of nowhere on her arms. They'd managed to chip a few flakes off of it(by humorously helping Kuroko knock her stumps together a few times. Her reaction as the metals clinked together was admittedly quite funny.)
She hadn't managed to hack in to the hospitals servers and learn how that was progressing, but maybe she'd do that sometime tomorrow night…
She sighed and rubbed her face a bit. She stood up and closed her laptop. Goalkeeper. Guardian Deity. She remembered when she used to feel excessively proud, deep in a secret part of her heart, of these nicknames when she defended parts of Judgements computer systems from rogue hackers. Now she didn't feel so much pride as she felt staunch obligation.
Her friends were in so much pain. Her friends that had become so close to her that she could barely imagine living without them. Friends felt like it was underselling it. They were… precious. And she needed to protect them as much as they protected her. She didn't have the luxury of pretending Academy City was as pretty and shining as she used to think it was.
Uiharu sighed once again and walked over to a window and looked outside of it up at the skyline where the shining and everbright Windowless Building shined above all else. Uiharu frowned a little at it. That building which previously awed her now filled her mouth with a taste of bitterness.
She blinked as she saw something silhouetted in the light of the skylights, narrowing her eyes a bit as she placed her hand on the window. Thunder rumbled the window a bit as rain began to fall, drops falling down the window.
In the distance, a figure stood up on a tall building. She couldn't make the figure out, he was very, very far away, she could barely make out his limbs. Uiharu felt… comforted.
And she wished on earth she knew why.
Stretching a bit, the young man in a sweater vest ran a hand through his brown hair as he grabbed his unopened can of soda off the skyscraper ledge, sliding one hand into his pocket as he popped the pop tab with one finger in his other hand, grinning a good natured smile as he glanced down at the cozy looking house, his eyes spotting a young girl looking out a window who accurately fit the description a good friend of his described as "adorkable". Those little flowers in her hair really sold it, she must have arranged them herself. Were those marigolds? Probably not. He had no idea how to classify flowers.
He took a healthy swig of his soda. "Ah!" He dropped his arm down to his side in a flourishing gesture as rain began to fall from the sky, striking his clothing, seeming to sizzle and steam as it did so.
"...Watermelon soda is the best!"