Author's note: Since this is the first "real" chapter, I'm going to put my introduction here.
This is a fanfiction I'm working on in my free time when I feel like it. That means there will be no consistent schedule. I can do 5 chapters in a day, I could go on hiatus for 6 months. As with any story, there is no guarantee I will finish without abandoning/rushing the ending, but I will try my best to finish the story on a good note.
I don't have every single detail figured out yet, but I do have a general outline of the story. This will not be a single arc, but something more akin to the Gremlin saga, with multiple arcs contained within one larger overall arc.
In terms of timelime, this takes place after NT13. That being said, Kamisato has been lured out of the City, and the conflict with the Birdways has been solved separately, meaning NT14 never happened and the chain of events that lead to where the main story is now have been cut off. I may expand this story to cover my own take on those arcs in this new timeline, but there is no guarentee.
Given the nature of Toaru, this story will have multiple themes covered. Action, Adventure, some slice of life, and probably some romance too.
In terms of romance, while I won't say what paring I'm going with, I will say that It's a very vanilla pairing that isn't gonna be much of a surprise for anyone. I'm not going for something unconventional like throwing Kinuhata or Kuroko at Touma. Whether or not things get spicy depends on how I'm feeling and whether or not I'm willing to cringe at my own writing. In otherwords, we get there when we get there. If things do go that route, It will obviously be implied - I'll write the buildup if I can endure it, but I am not writing smut.
There will be OCs in this story, but I do not plan on making them overpowered (With exception to the antagonists, who obviously need to be "overpowered" in some way to be a proper threat). I plan on managing when they get included and when they should be useful. Nothing annoys me more than an OC that always acts as a dues ex machina with no real reason for their insane power besides being the author's self insert.
With that out of the way, sit back and enjoy the show.
The boy took a deep breath.
I can do this.
His face was covered in sweat.
I am more than capable of doing this
His arm started to move.
This is nothing compared to what I've been through.
He reached out.
I just have to be brave.
And…
Kamijou Touma opened his fridge.
He let out an audible sigh of relief.
To a normal person, the sight of the fridge's interior would be depressing. But Touma was not a normal person. He was a dirt poor High Schooler who lived paycheck to paycheck, so the fact that there was food in there at all was enough to send waves of relief through his body.
That being said, the thought of not having breakfast wasn't enough to frighten the boy so much. As much as he hated to admit it, Kamijou Touma was more than used to not having breakfast.
"Touma, what's for breakfast? We have food, right?"
His gluttonous roommate of a nun. Had the fridge been empty, her fury would have sent pain through his scalp for the next few hours. That was what made him so terrified of opening the fridge.
"Yes Index, we have food, so please don't bite this poor Kamijou."
From the countertop near him, a third voice spoke out:
"You know human, we wouldn't have this problem if you would just ask for help from the #3. Having food in the house is worth a few zaps."
"That's not the problem! She's a middle schooler! Kamijou Touma is many things, but 'someone indebted to a middle schooler' will not be one of them!"
"She's barely a year younger than you."
"That's not important!"
The 15cm magic god could only sigh. As his self-proclaimed understander, she knew he would be too stubborn to ever ask others for financial help. That being said, it still didn't hurt to occasionally try.
Touma was able to get ready and start his walk to school without a hitch, something that was very unusual for him. That thought resonated at the back of his mind, but not to the point that he was consciously thinking about it.
About halfway through his journey, he stopped.
He was about to pass an area containing a vending machine.
To a normal person, this wouldn't mean much. But Kamijou Touma was not a normal person.
Every time he passed this vending machine, there was a 50/50 chance a human bug zapper was using it as a training dummy to practice martial arts on.
And whenever she was there, there was a 50/50 chance she would be irritated for some reason, usually resulting in him running for his life while a thunderstorm in human form threw lightning at him.
Given his luck, it was best to assume both coin flips would land against him, meaning he would be walking right into an angry Misaka Mikoto. The best solution to this was to draw no attention to himself and hope she didn't notice him. Said solution almost never worked, but "best solution" simply meant he had nothing better, not that it was an actually good solution.
Touma took a deep breath, braced himself, and turned the corner
"..."
Nothing.
There were no signs of human life anywhere near the vending machine
Touma let out a sigh of relief, and continued his walk.
And then he froze.
Index had not bit him. Misaka had not been there to zap him. Things were going well for him. And things never went well for him.
Kamijou Touma was a boy of misfortune.
He would finish his homework, just to spill his drink all over it.
He would find a good sale, just to realize he had no money on him.
He would fall down the stairs and land on a girl's chest, who would then proceed to chase him with a baseball bat across the entire district while calling him a pervert.
He would receive a love letter in his locker, only to find it was from a mummy who would destroy his school before chasing him around the city.
In short, Touma was the embodiment of Murphy's Law: What can go wrong, will go wrong.
The only time things worked out for him was when something much worse was around the corner.
Speaking of which, right as he thought that, he rounded a corner…
...and bumped into a group of buff delinquents.
And I mean that literally. He walked right into the back of what looked like their leader, who stumbled forward while Touma fell on his back.
This was nothing new to Touma. He had walked into more delinquents than he could count, and it always ended the same way. Soon he would be running for his life while the group chased him with clenched fists and blunt objects.
However…
"Oi, you aight' there kid?"
The leader of the group had regained his balance, and helped Touma off the ground.
"You gotta be more careful. Coulda' walked right into a brick wall!"
"S-Sorry! I will!"
Touma nervously walked at a notably faster pace, and kept glancing back at the group.
They're probably waiting for me to lower my guard before they pounce. I just got to keep my eye on them and react faster than they can jump at me.
Except…
The group just continued to talk amongst themselves like nothing had happened. Eventually Touma had reached the end of the block and left their view.
Kamijou Touma was terrified. He had run into countless delinquents, and every single time it ended with him running through back alleyways. Not once had they actually helped him up before forgetting he existed.
This was bad. His fortune was building. And that meant his misfortune was building at twice the rate, and it would come crashing down on him eventually.
He reached his school. It had been several weeks since High Priest attacked it, and repairs on the building were complete a few days back.
And then he saw it. A student he didn't recognize standing outside the gate. He had blonde hair and blue eyes - a textbook foreigner. Factor in Touma's luck on the way here, and that meant one thing:
He's an enemy magician!
Touma took a deep breath.
I don't know if he's after me or Index. He may also be after Othinus. I don't see anyone around, so he probably set up a people clearing field. Wait, those two on the bench over there, are they with him? Shit, that means there are at least three I gotta worry about. And that's assuming there aren't more around hiding. I can't tell what his methods are until he throws something at me I can nullify with Imagine Breaker. Without Othinus or Index here for advice, I'm at a disadvantage. Alright, I just gotta play thing defensively, and-
"Hey, you okay? You look pretty distressed…"
Touma hadn't even noticed the boy looking at him, and his voice completely cut off Touma's thoughts.
"S-Sorry, yeah, I'm okay. Just got lost in my own thoughts."
"Ah, that's good. Name's James. Don't bother with honorifics. Came here from America when I was five, and as embarrassing as it is, I never really got used to hearing my name with '-san' at the end of it."
He held out his right hand, and Touma shook it with his own right hand without a second thought.
"Kamijou Touma. I don't think I've ever seen you around here."
"Transferring in today. Apparently a teacher is supposed to come show me around."
"There really isn't much to see. It's a pretty average school."
"The more average, the better. I never cared much for standing out. That being said, I'm a level 4 thermokinetic, for whatever it's worth."
"You're lucky. I'm a level 0. I have no ability."
Touma didn't mention Imagine Breaker. He didn't keep it a secret per say, but it wasn't classified as an esper ability and he didn't care to talk about it if he didn't have to.
"Respectable. The ability doesn't make the person. Hell, from what I've heard most of the level 5s are literally insane."
Having met multiple level 5s in person, Touma couldn't exactly refute that.
"Well, this school is nowhere near significant enough for a level 5 to attend. I mean, there's only seven of them, and they're practically celebrities."
"Don't jinx it bro."
"Even with my luck I doubt that could ever happen. Well, I gotta head off to class before Komoe-sensei gets upset with me for being late. It was good to meet you James!"
"Likewise. I'll see you later."
By the time Touma was seated in his classroom, his mind had split into a sort of duality. On one hand, he was absolutely terrified of whatever was awaiting him, considering how fortunate he had been today. On the other hand, there was a certain calmness gained from simply accepting that something terrible was going to happen, rather than wondering whether something terrible was actually going to happen.
There had been some minor seating changes after returning to the old school building. As far as the delta force went, Aogami was moved behind Tsuchimikado, and that was about it. Touma would be lying if he said having Aogami behind him wasn't a little nerve racking, but given that Touma was male, he probably didn't have too much to worry about from the pervert.
Speaking of the pervert,
"I can't wait to see the new transfer student! I hope it's a high class rich girl who ran away from home after her father learned about her secret love of bunny suits!"
"First, that's way too specific. Second, Catgirls are better, we already discussed this. Third, I already met the transfer student. They're a guy."
"Oh, but are you sure about that? Do not underestimate the eroticism of a reverse trap!"
"His name is James. He is definitely male."
"Dammit!"
Aogami looked defeated. Their conversation was cut short when their teacher - who looked like she belonged in an elementary school as a student - walked in.
"Alright class, settle down. I know you're all excited to meet the new transfer students."
Not really. I mean, he's a nice guy, but- Wait, did she say students? With an "S"? There's more?
Touma's "misfortune" sensor was going off the charts. Something was wrong.
Sure enough, the first student to walk in was James, who introduced himself before taking a seat behind Touma.
Aogami had noticed Komoe's wording too, and after confirming that James was the person Touma was talking about, put on an expression that screamed "There's still hope!"
But that hope was immediately crushed by the blonde idiot wearing sunglasses in front of him.
"Nyah, Don't get your hopes up."
Touma turned to him. "What do you mean?"
"Nyah, I did some digging. Aogami's dream of a runaway bunny girl isn't coming true. However…"
Aogami's mood was immediately killed. Tsuchimikado looked at Touma with a huge grin.
"I'm about to have the time of my fucking life."
Touma couldn't tell if he was more confused about what Tsuchimikado meant, or if he was more worried about what it could mean. Regardless, the sunglasses idiot continued.
"Oh, and by the way, if things go sour, I'm relying on you to watch my back Kami-yan!"
"Wait, what do you mean you're relying on me to-"
"Sorry! Can't talk right now! Gotta use the bathroom, nyah!"
Sure enough, Tsuchimikado jumped out of his seat and hurried out the classroom door. When Komoe tried to stop him he simply yelled "Bathroom!" and continued out of the room.
Aogami was the first to speak.
"What was that about? The only person I could imagine making him that excited is his sister. Unless...what if he has another fetish we don't know about! But with how niche it would have to be for me to have not figured it out already…"
Aogami started rambling about different possible fetishes that the delta force hadn't gone over yet, which was a surprisingly long list. Touma, however, knew better.
Tsuchimikado is a spy for both the science and magic side. Given his reaction, it's definitely someone he knows, and judging by him asking me to "watch his back if things go sour," it's probably someone from the magic side. Could it be Kanzaki? No, she's too old and has way too much important stuff going on. Actually, how old is she? Wait, that's not important. What if it's Lessar? And he's happy that he gets to watch me suffer from that pervert? But why would he need me to watch his back? Wait, does he even know Lessar?
"Oh, I think the second transfer student is here!" The small teacher interrupted Touma's thought process.
And then he heard it.
It was a noise in the hallway outside the classroom.
It was a familiar noise.
It was not the noise of shoes hitting the floor.
It was a noise that almost made him wish Lessar had been the new student.
His good fortune this morning suddenly made sense. It was all building up to this moment. The tower of cards was about to come crumbling down as his bad luck reared its ugly head.
Crying out "such misfortune!" would not be enough to cover it here. For a moment, Touma legitimately considered jumping out of the window.