"italics" - thoughts

Bold - Emphasis

Italics Bold - Magic names or titles

"normal" - speech

*Bold* - sound

Disclaimer:I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index nor its characters. All rights belong to Kazuma Kamachi. Except for my own characters that I create.

Chapter 2: Side missions of life

"Hello, this is your informant speaking."

"Eh?" Kuroko could not help but let out a noise of surprise. Despite the fact that the voice was disguised to make the gender indiscernable, the tone was obviously cheerful and carefree, just like one from a help center. She was expecting something like, "I see you found my message", or " If you want to know more, you would have to do this.". Not something like...this.

"We have a lot of time. Well, actually, not that much. More like 2-3 hours after the next 2 or 3 conversations we would have. So, I suggest we get down to business." The tone did not change much, its carefree like nature still remaining. "Please pass this earpiece to Ruiko Saten, and connect both yours and Kazari Uiharu's earpieces to this call. I suppose you can do this rather quickly. Once that is done, I would explain further. I need all of you to be listening to what I am saying if you are to be able to discover the secrets I am about to expose. All questions after you we are done, I suppose. Depends on the tkme remaining."

Kuroko had many thoughts going through her mind right now. But she knee that if there was a time limit on, she needed to be fast. Tossing the earpiece to Ruiko, she quickly teleported both her and Kazari's earpieces into her grasp, connecting both of them to the call, before teleporting it back to Kazari. "Put this on."

Blinking in surprise at how fast her partner had acted, Kazari fitted her earpiece into her ear. "If Shirai-san is acting this fast, the person might have some time-sensitive information for us."

"All done?" Receiving murmurs of "yes", their 'informant', as he or she called himself, he continued. "Good. Then, this first secret is very important. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that this one secret is directly connected to four very influential people."

"Four?" Kuroko filed that piece of information away for another time. "So, once you are ready, give me a shout, as one would say. "

"Wait!" Kazari whisper-shouted into her earpiece. "Who are you?" Silence greeted her.

"Don't bother, Uiharu." Standing up, Kuroko went to pay for her drink. "Based on what he had said, we need to hurry. If he answers some of our questions now, we might end up missing our window to discover whatever he wants us to know."

"Alright, Shirai-san." Laptop packed, Kazari shouldered her bag. "Do you think we would have to go far?"

"Perhaps so." Kuroko held the door for her two friends.

"Maybe you can use this chance to lose some weight, Uiharu!" Grinning, Ruiko poked her belly, causing Kazari to blush in embarassment.

"Saten-san!"

"So, what are your questions?"

Their mysterious informant had told them to go in the direction of the famed 'windowless building'. Despite their confusion, they did as they were told. As they ran, their informant opened the dsm that was their questions.

"What's your name?"

"Wait a month, then we'll see. Just call me the Informant for now."

"Gender?"

"Male. And before you ask, I disguised my voice to prevent my age and nationality from being discovered. Can't be too careful."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I would like to say ' It's for fun! ' in a carefree tone, but it's to save lives." The trio could clearly hear his tone get darker, more serious, unlike his earlier happy-go-lucky nature. "In fact, I guess you could say that this is because of a mistake on my part that this is happening. If I had not done some things, millions of lives would not be in danger."

"So, we are just cleaning up after you." Kuroko summed up the situation, not pleased with how everything was going. If, in fact, all of this was to get people to help clean up his mess, her view on him would fall tremondously, even though they have not met.

"Oh no, that is not the case." Their informant sounded a little offended. "Believe me, if I could, I would be cleaning this up all by myself. But the problem is, my...enemy...I guess you could say, is making use of people here to kill me. And the worst part is, they would not lose any sleep over sacrificing a few thousand lives, if just to obtain their objective. Both their allies, innocent bystanders and their foes."

"So, this is something similar to a collaboration." Kazari summed up the small conversation. Despite having gone through Judgement training, Kazari was not as fit as Ruiko or Kuroko. She was more of a backline supporter, not a frontline vanguard type of person. Even now, she was panting heavily, trying to keep up with her more atheletic friend and partner. It did not help she had to carry her laptop as well.

"That is correct." They could hear his tone become a little lighter. "At least we avoided jumping the gun this time. Unlike some people that I know. Well then. Two more questions before I close this off."

"So this...colloboration...how long would it last." Kuroko asked, her previous thoughts on their informant being pushed back to her mind for now. Although she did not want to work for someone to clear up their mess, she could not just stand by if there were lives on the line. So for now, she would tolerate this person's help for as short as possible.

"I suppose...3-4 months." The pause earlier did not help improve Kuroko's thoughts on him. "It depends on what could happen. And on luck."

"Luck?" Kuroko could not help but scoff. "There is no such thing called luck. What people call 'luck' is in actual fact a set of probabilities."

"Say that after you meet a certain person." The person behind the phone spoke, his tone full of mirth.

In another part of Academy City, a certain misfortunate boy sneezed.

"You okay?" Mikoto asked Touma, handing him a piece of tissue as she did so.

"Some one must be talking about this human." Othinus, jostled awake by the sudden sneeze, jabbed a tiny thumb at the mentioned person.

"Ah, sorry Othinus." Touma sniffed. "Did I wake you?"

"Don't worry human." Othinus waved off the apology. "I needed to wake up soon anyway."

"So, final question."

"How did-"

"Shit. Sorry." The Informant cut off Saten's question. "God damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Kuroko asked the question in place of everyone. Ruiko was helping Kazari up, who had jumped from shock at the sudden shout. Coupled together with the fact that her physical abilities were bad, she was exhausted from the long distance they had to go, and that she was carrying her laptop with her, Kazari could not recover from the her sudden jump and fell, hitting her face against a lamppost as she did so.

"Change in plans. Do not go to the Windowless building. Go to the switchyard at School District 17. Once you get there, be prepared to fight." Over the phone, the three could hear sounds of combat. "Shit! *Crash* Damn it you bastards, take this! *Crack! Roar* Still kicking? Good, have a present you creeper! *Bang!* Ah, sorry about that. So, meet you there in about an hour."

"Wai-"

*Doo*

"Tsk. Great." Kuroko clicked her tongue and starred at the phone that was given to them in slight anger at being suddenly cut off.

"Anoh," Kazari panted from her sitting position, rubbing her bruised nose.

"Yes, Uiharu?" Kuroko looked at her temporarily downed partner.

"Couldn't we have taken the bus earlier? Or teleported there with Shirai-san's help?" Kazari questioned her partner. As she rested, she had noticed a bus pass by the small group. When she saw that, the question pooped into her mind.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Ruiko, Kuroko and Uiharu only looked at each other with a blank gaze. With forced laughter, Kuroko broke the awkward silence.

"Y-yosh. Let's go! The longer we wait, the shorter time we would have to get there."

"Y-yeah. Let's start moving! Shirai-san, can you teleport us?"

"Y-yeah! T-that would be much faster! And we also need to get ready to fight, if what Informant said was true."

Laughing nervously, the three girls tried to get their minds off what Kazari herself had just pointed out.

In truth, the three would have done exactly as what Kazari had said, had it not been for the fact that what Informant had done, as well as what he was doing, pushed that common sense out of their mind. And so, this is the result of their blunder: Running through quite a few districts, using the backalleys as shortcuts whenever possible.

Still laughing awkardly, the three took a bus to District 17, trying their very best to ignore their previous blunder.

Meanwhile, back with a certain misfortunate boy...

"Haaa..." Touma sighed in relief. "I guess that is all for today?"

Beside him, Mikoto stretched her arms, allowing blood to flow back through them due to lack of use for the past hour. "I guess so. If that is all your homework."

For their last few meet ups, they had a timetable of sorts to follow. Eat, work, and then information exchange. The work part was mainly for Touma's sake. Regarded as the weakest esper in Academy City by the system, Touma needed to put in a lot of effort just to not flunk out of school.

Fact is, his maths and science understanding and knowledge were above average, and when compared with the rest of the world, he was quite smart. The problems were his languages and esper development. Especially his esper development, since he had no esper ability to speak of. This is due to his Imagine Breaker stopping any ability from occuring. And, considering that esper abilities utilised calculations to use, his mental calculative abilities and scientific understanding was swept under the rug, so to speak.

So, most of the work regarding esper development and languages was coached by Mikoto and Komoe-sensei. Thanks to the extra help from Mikoto, he could now understand what was going on in his esper development classes. More or less.

"Should be." Touma scratched the back of his head. "Thank's for all the help, Misaka-san. I wouldn't be able to get a passing grade with all your help."

"Sh-shut up Idiot." Blushing slightly, Mikoto looked the other way as she scratched her cheek in embarrassment. "Ah, right." Suddenly remembering the deal they had made a few months back, Mikoto glared at Touma, catching him off guard. "Now its time for you to hold up your end of the deal."

"Fine..." internally groaning, Touma continued where he had left off last time they had met up. "So, we...er...what did we last talk about again?"

"Really? After what happened last time, how could you forget?" Narrowing her eyes, Mikoto glared at the misfortunate boy, causing him to lean back in a panic.

"Ah! Please forgive this misfortunate Kamijou-san!" Clapping his hands together, he bowed his head towards the brown haired electromaster. "With all the misfortune in this Kamijou-san's life, I completely forgot about what we last talked about. With the sudden increase in magicians coming into the city, and my daily misfortune, it pushed what we last talked about into the unknown corners of this Kamijou-san's mind."

Tapping her finger against her crossed arms, a spark flew of her bangs and struck the table, causing Touma to flinch in fear for his homework's life. Sighing, Mikoto uncrossed her arms, causing Touma to breath a sigh of relief. He hoped that this meant that Mikoto had calmed down. He was partially right.

"Alright Idiot." Mikoto's glare lessened its intensity. "I will recap what we last talked about. But!" Raising a finger, she caused Touma to gulp slightly in fear of what she was about to demand of him. "You will have to cook for me, and come meet my friends next week. And no complaints!" Seeing Touma open his mouth, she stopped the train before it could leave the station. "This is your punishment for forgetting, so be thankful that this Ojou-san is letting you off the hook so lightly."

"Fine." Touma sighed, already giving up on persuading Mikoto. He knew that Mikoto could have asked for another duel, or forced him to accompany her again for some reason. For her to ask him to cook, and meet her friends was very light punishment. However...

See, Touma was very reluctant to meet Mikoto's friends. One reason was the rumours surrounding both him and Mikoto. After their pretend date, Mikoto had to work hard to clear the air that Touma was not her boyfriend, and was actual just a random guy she used to ditch a stalker, who is now under arrest(actually, he is working as part of the City's dark side, but none of them knew that). But, with the sudden increase in Mikoto going out of the dorms for the past month, the rumours began anew. So, whenever she went out, she would quickly change into her casual clothes and go to places that many of the students did not frequent, so as to not draw attention to both her and Touma. If the Tokiwadai students saw Touma meeting with Mikoto's friends, they could start rumours about Touma and Mikoto. Of course, only the Dorm Manager knew what was actually going on, having encountered Touma and Mikoto doing their first meet up. But, that was a story for another time.

The main reason, however was quite simple. Kuroko. The past few times that they had met, Touma had eaten either a dropkick, spike attacks filled with malice that miraculously missed, or ominous auras that could kill. If he was to meet with Kuroko and she found out that the reason Mikoto was going out frequently in the past month was because of him...

Shuddering slightly, Touma turned his attention back to Mikoto, who was beginning her recap.

"So, we have gone through a number of things already. First, how magic works." Mikoto counted them off her fingers. "Then, we went through what Saints are, as well as their abilities. After that, we talked about the different magic groups you have met, as well as the number of people you met along the way. Speaking of, I still can't believe you know the president of the United States and met with the British Royal family." Glancing at Touma for a moment, she continued. "After that, we talked about how you lost your memory, and what you have done up till now. Last we stopped, we were talking about your encounter with that golem that I saw that time. Sherry...Cromwell, I believe. Othinus helped with the names."

"Indeed I did, human." Peeking out from the jacket, Othinus interjected. "And, we should be on the topic of Kazakiri. Oh, and thank you for this jacket that you gifted this human with." She patted the jacket she was currently in as she talked. "This thing has been really comfortable for me. In place of my Understander, we thank you for this wonderful gift."

"You should be, you tiny former Magic God." Touma sensed a little smugness in Mikoto's tone. "In fact, you should be thanking me on your knees for this jacket. I bought it to help Touma with his public image in mind." Mikoto started to glare at the 15cm goddess, who was hidden from prying eyes in her pocket, ignoring Touma who had seemed to taken some damage from what Mikoto had just said."I mean, why on earth would you sit in plain view of the entire world. Have you forgotten the fact that almost everyone, magicians and other people alike, wanted you dead and actually think you are locked up in a maximum security prison?"

"Hmph." Othinus snorted. "And why should I hide? I am a proud Magic God-"

"Former Magic God." Mikoto cut off Othinus. "Or did you forget that you hiding is to not make people think that Kamijou is some crazy maniac who loves little dolls?"

"Le-let's stop now, shall we girls?" Touma tried to calm the two down, while also trying to stop the jabs at his dignity from flying again. "We had this discussion last time. Besides," Touma looked at Mikoto hopefully. "Didn't you want to know about Kazakiri?"

"...Fine." Mikoto finally said after a while. But her tone said that she was not done with this topic. "So, Kazakiri. Who is she, exactly?"

"Well, you know the AIM Burst that you dealt with before?" Touma asked Mikoto, who nodded. "Well, Kazakiri is something like that. She is a collection of AIM Diffusion Fields of espers in Academy City, so if she comes into contact with my right hand...well, you can imagine what happens."

"But, how does she have a conscious? The AIM Burst I encountered just indiscriminately attacked people, and could not talk, much less think straight." Mikoto curiously asked, taking a sip of her milkshake as she did so.

"Surprisingly, the answer is this." Touma indicated to his power.

"Your right hand?"

"Yep. I was surprised to." Nodding his head, Touma explained further. "Apparantly, Imagine Breaker helped create Kazakiri's conscious by inducing fear into it."

"Fear?" Mikoto was confused. "How did that- oh." Understanding crossed her features. "I see."

"Yeah. With fear added into the mix, it helped create a human-like mind, and therefore, a human-like conscious that could not only converse with others, but could also think and feel, like any human." Touma stared at his right hand. "From what I heard from Komoe-sensei when I asked her, if something can't fear death, they cannot comprehend the feeling of beig alive. And ironically, this shows that my right hand is both the creator and possibly destroyer of Kazakiri

"But, what about her abilities? The super strength and ability to repair herself, I can understand, seeing as a being made from AIM fields could also use said fields to help rebuild her body, as well as enhance her strength. But, that does not explain her wings, or why both her hair and eyes become golden when she becomes all angel-like." Mikoto had noticed Kazakiri before, both during her 'angel mode' and 'regular student mode'. But seeing as she has not talked with said collection of AIM fields, she does not know much about her. Hence, resorting to talking with someone who actually knew about her, and is her friend.

"No clue." Seeing Mikoto's disbeliving face, Touma continued. "Honestly, I have no idea! But Kazakiri said that she got it from a virus, or something like that at first. Now, she can access it, provided she ask someone for help."

"Who?"

"She never said." Touma shrugged. "And, I would not pry. If she does not want to say, then I won't ask."

Mikoto sighed. "Looks like that's it for today." Looking up, she gazed at the orange-tinted sky. "Today sure looks like a beautiful day. Especially the orange sky..."

...

...

...

"Wait, ORANGE SKY!?"

Checking her phone, Mikoto's face quickly turned a pale colour when she saw the time.

"Sorry, Touma. Have to go!" Grabbing her things(not that she brought much out in the first place), Mikoto ran off, using her powers to help increase her speed as she headed back to her dorm.

Left alone, Touma packed up his stuff, before he too left for his dorm room

"Touma, Touma!"

Unlocking the door, Touma was met with the smiling face of Index. "Yes Index?" Touma locked the door behind him as he made his way inside the dorm room.

"What's for dinner?" Index went to get Sphynx. Said calico cat was currently playing with some papers. Shredded remains surrounded the young kitten as he pawed at a balled up piece of paper.

Watching Index scoop up the cat, Touma smiled. It seemed that someone was in a good mood, unlike the night before. Removing his bag, he dropped it off on the floor, ready to cook the night's dinner. But it seemed fate had a different plan for the misfortunate boy.

"Hmm?" Touma felt his phone vibrate. "Is it Biribiri?" He was curious as to who was messaging him. Due to their earlier conversation, he believed it to be from Mikoto messaging him about when he was to cook for her. But, of course, his misfortune struck once again, causing his peaceful days to once again be thrown into turmoil. As he read the contents, he could not help but feel that his luck was to blame, yet again.(As well as the grudge magicians had.)

"Such Misfortune."

Message

To Kamijou Touma,

Hello, Imagine Breaker. You are to come to this location before this, or at, the time below. You may choose to decline. If you do not mind the destruction of, as well as deaths of innocents, Academy City.

Do not bother asking the Backstabbing Blade for help or information. This has nothing to do with the church Necessarius, nor any Magic Cabal you know. This is just a grudge against someone you know.

If you want to question us, we invite you over.

Time: 2300, January 2nd

AN

So, yet another chapter done. And Im surprised at the number of people who are following this story. Quite a surprise, seeing as this is my second fic, as well as my third chapter.To answer that question one of you posted, that perfect image is $*#:$@£%¥=#£*#@(-;#*@. Whoops, look like you would have to wait. Teehee ;)Also, as a future disclaimer, this fanfic is my idea only. It may show some similarities to A Certain Infinite Possibility, A Certain Unknown Level 0, or a Certain Strange Addition, as these are the 3 fics I am referencing to to keep the characters and plot as interesting as possible. Just to say it again, THIS IS NOT BASED OFF OF THE 3 FICS I JUST MENTIONED. They are what got me to actually write about this, in fact. What should have been a Percy Jackson fic turned into one that revolves around anime.See you all in the next chapter! And keep the reviews rolling in!