"italics" - thoughts
Bold - Emphasis
Italics Bold - Magic names or titles
"normal" - speech
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 6: State of affair
"Such misfortune..."
It was a new day, but for the misfortunate Kamijou Touma, he did not feel refreshed. In fact, he felt even more exhausted.
His late night-early morning adventure could be summed up in a few words: Troubling, interesting, and painful.
As Touma made his way back home in a daze, he met up with Index, who was worried about him due to the unnatural mana spike. The cause, she explained, was because of a spell that could only be used through a grimoire. One that even Index was not allowed to touch, due to its rather dangerous nature. Literally. Thankfully, it had been safely disposed off a few decades back. Or so the records said. Touma, Index and Tsuchimikado now knew that the records were false, and the grimoire in question was actually hidden. And that now, it was destroyed for sure this time. But not without casualties.
Of course, when she found out about Mikoto's involvement, she immdeiately set to work on biting Touma's cranium for a minute or so, before she released her captive and left in a huff.
Her mood in the morning considerably lightened when Touma made breakfast, despite his tired state. Rice, eggs with chicken cutlet, a side of cold salad, and some miso soup.In fact, she was in such a good mood that she was fine with 'Short Hair', as she called Mikoto, knowing about the magic side, and having fought in a magic battle. She was rather intrigued by Percival. And for good reason. From what she heard, he had managed to use a power similar to Imagine Breaker, something that should have been impossible, seeing as Imagine Breaker is the only one of its kind.
"I want to come meet this Percival!" Index demanded this the minute Touma was about to step out the door. And nothing could change her mind.
That was when Touma realised the first problem.
"He never did say when to meet, did he?"
"Misaka-san, where are you taking us?"
Misaka Mikoto was not faring that much better compared to Touma. But, there were a few things that she had picked up.
One, when she returned, Kuroko was asleep, which was very unusual. She had expected her to be awake when she came back, as when Kuroko came back, she would have to sign in. And when she did so, she would have noticed that Mikoto was already in the dorm room. But when she entered the room, she would have noticed Mikoto was not in her bed when she did her customary hug(groping) of Mikoto.
And, if Kuroko noticed this, she would have stayed awake. Yet, she was sleeping when she came back into the dorm at nearly 2am in the morning. But, this can be chalked up to being exhausted from doing mountains of paperwork.
The second thing was how early they had woken up. Normally, Kuroko would have woken up at 6am, the same time as her, and be ready for the day's work and such. Yet, by the time Mikoto was awake, Kuroko was still asleep, indocating that Kuroko did something very tiring. But, this too can be chalked up to her doing the paperwork for Judgement.
The third, and final, thing that she noticed was her friends odd behaviour. Although they seemed fine on the surface, Kuroko, Ruiko and Kazari were acting strange. Twice now, she had caught Saten staring at the weather balloon that was floating in Academy City, while Kazari, the voice of reason for her friend, did the same thing.
And while they had talked, she felt that something was...off, like they had realised something huge and did not know what to do with the sudden realisation.
Turning her body, she looked at her three friends. "Did something happen? You three have been acting strange."
Ruiko, Kazari, and Kuroko stopped in their tracks. "Onee-sama, what do you mean? Strange how?"
"Yeah, Misaka-san! What do you mean? We are not acting out of the ordinary or anything. In fact, even if we are acting strange, you could say its because of this sudden change of plans!"
"Yeah! What Saten-san said!"
"Hmm..." Mikoto stared at the three. "They don't seem to be hiding anything..."
"I believe you." Mikoto finally spoke in a soft tone. Out of her line of sight, the three breathed a sigh of relief, tension leaving their bodies. "But that would be more believeable if you you had looked me int he eye when you said that."
Almost immediately, they stiffened up once more, cold sweat running down their backs.
"Not that it matters. When you feel like you are ready, you can tell me." Mikoto waved off her suspicions. "Plus, if I tell them to spit it out, it would be hypocritical of me, seeing as I am keeping my Sisters a secret from them."
"Anyway, let's just go in. We are here to meet up with someone. He requested that I bring you three with me."
"He?" Saten grinned devilishly, causing warning bells to sound in Mikoto's head. "Could it be...your boyfriend, Misaka-san? And is his name...Kamijou Touma?"
"Cough!" Mikoto choked on her saliva, not expecting that to come up. "H-h-how did you come to that conclusion, Saten-san? A-an-and how do you know about the i-idiot!" Out of all the things she had expected, she did not expect Touma's name to be brought up in this conversation.
Suddenly, a dense, malicious aura erupted from between the two Sakugawa Middle School girls. Mikoto, who had exepcted this response, could only sight and facepalm in defeat. "And her comes Kuroko's breakdown."
"Must...kill...the...ape...Cannot...defile ONEE-SAMA!!!!!!" Kuroko roared out, grabbing her spikes from the belt she kept on her at all times. In response, her aura became even more bloodthirsty, her twin pigtails standing up in her pure rage.
"Calm down, Kuroko." Mikoto zapped Kuroko with her electricity. The voltage was more than a zapper, but it was less than the usual amount that she shocked Kuroko with, just enough to knock her out of her bloodthirsty state. "We are meeting up with Touma, yes. But, that is not the person we are meeting. In fact, its someone we met recently. So, calm down."
Ignoring her roommate for now, she entered Joseph. Tentaitively, her three friends followed, after ensuring that Kuroko would not fly into a rage anytime soon.
"Yo! Misaka-san!"
The three followed the source of the voice who had called out to them. There, they saw a youth, about Mikoto's age, maybe older. He had greyish-blonde hair, but his eyes were brown. But what stood out to the four of them was his wrist. His left wrist had a metal band covering his entire forearm. There was nothing on it at all, just a smooth metal band.
Mikoto had to take a while to process what she was seeing. "...Yurei-san?"
"Ah ha ha..." smiling abashedly, the now identified Percival scratched his cheek with his left hand, as Mikoto and her friends made their way to the seated boy. "I forgot to tell you about the time to meet, so I decided to eat here for the entire day while saving a seat for all of you."
"And we are going to wait for the Idiot?" Mikoto took a seat after a moments pause, something that her three friends also did. The way that Mikoto said the word 'Idiot' caused Kuroko to immediately become bloodthirsty, linking it to the only person that she knew Mikoto cared for a lot. Kamijou Touma.
"Must...Kill...the...AP-ouch!" Kuroko's rant was cut short by Mikoto smashing her fist into her best friend's head.
Pouting, Kuroko looked at Mikoto. "Onee-sama, why did you do that?"
"Your disturbing the customers." The simple reply came. As Kuroko took a quick glance around, she realised that Mikoto was right. Her bloodlust was unlike any one of her previous ones. In fact, it was so large and dense, the customers swore that they saw a purplish haze outline the 13 year old teleporter.
"Must be because of what Saten-san said earlier..." Mikoto sweatdropped a little at the response of feeling Kuroko's bloodlust.
"Ah..." Kuroko was slightly embarrassed. Normally, Kuroko would not be too bothered by attention on her. But, this time was different. She had nearly caused an incident in public, in a restaurant, for no reason that could be seen by the people around her.
Luckily for her, all the attention was put off her with the entrance of a certain boy.
*Crash*
"Such misfortune..."
"That phrase..." Looking behind her, Mikoto looked for Touma. What she found, she did not expect.(Kinda)
Index was looking at Touma from the side, clad in her usual white and gold nun outfit. Mikoto assumed that Othinus was under the nun's hood. She knew that the tiny Mgaic God would take any chance to get out of the one-room student apartement. Who knew that a young cat would be the most effective enemy against a goddess that once tried to(and successfully, unknown to many) destroy the world.
But the real eye-catcher was the man of misfortune himself, Kamijou Touma. As usual, his misfortune had struck. But whether it was at a misfortunate time or not remained to be seen.
The spiky-haired boy was covered in the remains of what was once perfectly good food. Pieces of noodles and chunks of meat and vegetables were all over the spiky haired teen's head and shoulders. In his lap was a plate, possibly what had held the food.
The person who had caused this was a young man, who was, like Touma, lying on his back.
Apparantly, when the man was serving food, he had unexpectedly slipped on some spilled water and food bits. Normally, these spills would have been cleared up quickly by some staff member, but as it so happened, today was a day where the place was a little short staffed. When the man slipped, the food in his hands were flung into the air, and landed on the unfortunate Kamijou.
The sudden impact from the plate of food knocked over Touma, causing his head to collide with the door, which had been left open.
Seeing the plate fall in front of his very eyes, Touma tried to catch the plate before it broke. Knowing his misfortune, the broken plate and food would be pinned on him, so he wanted to lower the costs he would have to pay at a minimum.
Twisting his body, he managed to catch the plate, now devoid of food, but lost his balance on some of the spilled noodles. So, he used his own body as a buffer to stop the plate from hitting the tiled floor. The result was the current situation.
"Pfftt." Kuroko, who had witnessed the entire thing, stiffled her laughter. Despite her hatred for Touma, she knew that laughing at his misfortune in public would give a bad image of Tokiwaida. Battling with her need to maintain the image of her school, and her amusment at seeing the 'ape' cause a scene, she decided to settle with a subdued laughter.
Beside her, Ruiko and Kazari could only frown slightly at their friend's reaction. They did not know too much about the relationship of Touma and Mikoto, so they had conflicted feelings. On one hand, Touma could be a massive prick, based on Kuroko's reaction from even mentioning Touma's name. On the other hand, no one should get dumped with noodles when they just enter a restauarnt.
Smiling a little, Percival just looked outside the window, ignoring the chaos that was happening in the restaurant.
"Now that all the trouble is over, I suppose I shall start us off. My name is Yurei Percival, this is Kamijou Touma, Index, Misaka Mikoto, Ruiko Saten, Kuroko Shirai, and Kazari Uiharu." Percival indicated to each person as he said their names. "And please, keep your voices down."
After Touma and the waiter fell, the manager had came out to see what the commotion was all about. When he saw the mess that had occurred, he scolded the waiter, threatening to fire him on the spot. Touma came to his rescue, saying it was an accident.
This presuaded the manger to allow the waiter to keep his job, if barely, and gave Touma a free meal ticket for the next time he came. He was also given a towel to help remove most of the food on him, and to clean up. Touma thanked the manager for his kindness, and proceeded to clean up in the toilet, where he emereged from a few minutes later, his clothes like nothing had happened to them.
"You okay?" Mikoto questioned Touma once he got back, ignoring Percival's introduction of everyone. She knew that Touma's misfortune had struck again and caused this incident. And, with his misfortune, he would usually get injured or lose something he needed, like money or homework. And when he tripped, she saw him hit his head against the door, which, thankfully, did not break.
"I'm fine," Touma rubbed the back of his head. "Just a bump. Nothing more. Hmm?" Touma looked at Percival. "You know their names, Yurei-san?"
"I do my research as best as possible, Kamijou-san." Percival smiled at Touma from across the table. "So, it would be bad if I did not know the names of the people I need to meet." Right now, they were seated as followed: Percival, Ruiko, Index, Kuroko, Kazari, Mikoto, and Touma.
"But how?" Kuroko finally opened her mouth. She had, at first, kept quiet so as to not draw attention back onto herself. But, after hearing everyones names from some stranger, she became slightly shocked. "How do you know our names? You could be a mental ability user, but that does not work on Onee-sama, as-"
"-her ability protects her from mental attacks. Yes, I know." Percival lightly cut off Kuroko, who looked even more shocked. "And, this is exactly why I asked all of you to come here today. To save me the trouble of explaining in the future."
"What do you mean?" Kazari had ordered a strawberry parafit while waiting, but had stopped halfway when the introductions began. Right now, she was curious as to who Percival was, as well as why he was here.
"The first and most obvious reason. You are Misaka-san's friends." Percival further explained when she saw the confused faces. "See, if I only told Misaka-san, Kamijou-san and Index, only they would know what was going on. But, this would cause some suspicion to bloom between Misaka-san and you three, when she starts to go out of the dorms more often. I guess sneak is a better word. This suspicon would lead to you three plotting, and finding out about part of the situation, which would need me to explain all over again about what was going on, and what had occurred since then."
"So, by telling us know, you are nipping a few problems in the bud." Kazari summed up his explanation, taking a bite out of her parafait.
"Bingo." Snapping his fingers, he aimed at Kazari with a finger gun. "As expected from the Goalkeeper!"
The already tense atmosphere, if possible, became even more tense at the mention of Uiharu's alias.
"How do you know-"
"So you ARE the Informant!" Ruiko cut off Mikoto's question, an 'Ah-ha!' like feature on her face.
"...eh?"
"Erm...nope, that not me!" Percival cheerfully shot down Saten, who pouted. "But, he is my friend. And he seems to have followed my instructions to a T."
"Eh?"
"So...you what is it you want to tell us?" Kuroko huffed as she leaned back. "We do not have time for you to beat around the bush. And, what is it that you want us to find out? Instead of making us do a treasure hunt, just tell us and save all of us the trouble."
"Stop!" Mikoto interrupted the conversation(if it could be called one) between her friends and Percival. "What is this about secrets? And why are they saying you are the 'Informant'?" Mikoto glared at Percival from her seat. "Who are you?"
"Hmm..." Percival took up a thinking pose. "I believe I already answered that question earlier, but I suppose I could give you a more in-depth answer. After all, that first one was just an overview."
"Plus, we should be going." Standing up, Percival made his way to the counter. "I trust that Kamijou-san would be fine with using his home as a rendezvous, as you would be able to prepare for dinner earlier, what with the long discussion we are going to have."
"But...my place is only meant for a single person..." Touma tried to refute Percival, but ended up saying it in a small voice. He knew what Percival had said was true. The talk they were about to have might be a long one, and if that was the case, it was better to do it at his place, where he could sate Index's hunger without having to worry about being kicked out of a restaurant from the lack of ingredients they have from trying to feed Index. Speaking of...
"Index..." Touma turned to look at the nun. And his expectations were not betrayed. The nun named Index had managed to finish five plates of food in the short span of time that they were here, and was proceeding to the next one. Beside her, Ruiko and Kuroko could only watch on in morbid fascination.
"I guess Index does not help with your funds..." Mikoto sweatdropped at the amount of food she had already devoured. She had always played off Touma's moaning of shortage of funds due to his misfortune, but after meeting with him, she realised that the main contributor was usually Index. He had to stock up on food for at least 7 people, when in actuality, there was only 2 people and one tiny Magic God.
"Yeah..." Sighing, Touma could already see the amount that Percival would have to pay for this 30 minute meet-up. And how much he would have to pay. "Such misfortune."
"So this is how your place looks like, eh?"
Percival was looking around the relatively small living space that was Touma's home. Behind him, Kuroko, Kazari and Ruiko were also looking over the living space with interest.
"So this is where a high schooler lives..." Ruiko muttered to herself as she looked at the various appliances that were on the kitchen counter. "...looks very similar to our places..."
Kazari seemed to agree with her friend. "Yeah..."
"Mmmm..." A growl could be heard from behind the two middle schoolers. Blinking in surprise, they turned around to see Index's pouting face. "Stay away from Sphynx's place!"
"?"
"Sphynx?"
"Meow"
A soft feeling on their legs caused them to look down. The calico cat was looking at the two girls with what seemed to be a quizitive look on its face. When it saw the two girls look at him, he mewed again, curling himself up against their legs.
As the cat twirled itself around Ruiko's legs, the two realised that they had walked into what was obviously the calico cat's corner. Despite the tiny space that was Touma's living area, he had created a personal spot for the small calico cat to rest and play in. Most of the time, said cat was with his owner. But, that does not mean that he did not use this space.
Small bits of shredded paper were scattered in the corner they were standing in, and a scratching post was also tucked into the corner for the calico cat to scratch whenever he ran out of waste paper. Right now, the duo were steping on an old cushion that was most likely Sphynx's bed.
"Ah!" Panicking, Ruiko hurriedly stepped off the cushion. "Sorry Sphynx!"
With what seemed to be a huff, the calico cat laid on its bed, playing with a nearby ball of yarn, its attention already off the two girls.
Already predicting this possible outcome, Touma just started his preparations for dinner. It was nearly 3pm, still way too early for dinner, but he thought that he might as well think of what to eat, seeing as Percival had said that this might take a long time.
"Let's see, we have some eggs, meat, fish and vegetables. Seeing as we have a lot of guests today, I should probably make something that is filling, yet does not clear me out entirely." Touma brought out a pan and some eggs from the cupboards.
"Perhaps some stew and rice? Or maybe tempura? But, tempura would take a while to prepare, and its a hassle to clean up with this many people. So, stew? Then what type?"
Setting it up, Touma absentmindedly cracked a few eggs into a bowl. "I could make some beef stew, or chicken. Fish is also on the table, but I currently don't have enough. Ah!" A bolt of inspiration struck Touma "That might be good!"
"Touma Touma" Index spoke from her place near Sphynx. The two middle school girls had calmed down from being in a high schooler's dorm, and were now playing with the calico cat. "What are we having for dinner?"
"Its too early for dinner!" Touma tsukkomied at the gluttunous nun. "Besides, you just had nearly 6 plates of food less than an hour ago!"
Seeing this, the last two girls to enter, Kuroko and Mikoto, could only look at what could be described as chaos.
"When will we start with the talk?"
It took a while, but everyone was finally ready. As the table had been destroyed by a misunderstanding, there was a little bit of trouble on where they would have food and snacks, but that was solved by Touma borrowing the table from Tsuchimikado's place. As it was, Maika, his sister, would not be cooking for him, and had not been able to cook for him, for the past few days, and the next few, as she was out doing a training camp for the new maids that had entered her school. For now, he had to settle with heating up food that Maika had left him, buy food from outside, or ask Touma to cook for him.
The last option was rarely used, as Tsuchimikado would rather buy food then owe a favour for Touma. It was, after all, a good way for Touma to get back at Tsuchimikado for all the times he did things to him. Pranks, kidnappings and blackmail included. Of course, Touma would not do it, but he would like to maintain his mask as a double spy longer.
"Hmm, where do I start, where do I start?" Percival seemed to ponder on what he should start. But Touma knew that this was an act, having dealt with Tsuchimikado on a daily basis. His eyes were glinting with mischievousnesss and playfulness, similar to that of a child.
"Well then, as you have oh so many questions, I shall start us off by saying a few things. One, Touma needs an increase in his budget. Two, magic is real. And three, I-"
"You are lying."
"Hmm?" Percival did not seem to mind Kuroko cutting him off mid-sentence. "Why do you think that?"
"Magic is not real." Kuroko explained it slowly, as if she were talking to a child. Well, as Touma has seen that Percival is rather carefree, he can be considered to be a child mentaly. "It is just a slight of hand, an illusion. Something that is used to trick and entertain people."
Beside her, Kazari nodded her head furiously in agreement. Ruiko too nodded, after hesitating for a few seconds. Being an avid believer in urban legends, she can't help but feel that anything is possible. And her proof would be the stripping lady. "Onee-sama, this liar needs to be punished for trying to trick us." Kuroko faltered when she saw Mikoto's face. "Onee-sama?"
Mikoto would have rather kept her friends in the dark about magic. After hearing about it from Touma, she knew that the three of them would be unable to take the horrors and darkness of some magicians and their backgrounds or plans. Index, who until recently, had her memory erased yearly to keep her under the church's control. Orsola, who having decripted a grimoire wrongly(although unknown at the time) was nearly murdered by the very church she came from. And, a little more recently, Othinus. At first glance, she was someone who was evil. But, at heart, she was only lonely, looking for someone to share her sorrows with.
"Yurei-san is right, Kuroko." Mikoto finally decided to come clean after an internal battle with herself. "No lies. They deserve at least that."
"Onee-sama..."
"Misaka-san..."
"I know you think its not real, but I've seen it." Mikoto tried to convince her friends. "I saw a golem made of concrete and metal being formed in-front of my eyes, buildings and metal beams sliced in half by just a knife, and a person take another one's face. Also..."
"Misaka-san, allow me." Percival stopped Mikoto as she tried to think of more examples. "Those that you just listed can be attibuted to espers and their abilites. As I can use magic, it would be better to show them."
Opening his hand, Percival statrted to speak, his metal band on his arm glowing a soft green light as hs did.
"Munio057:Magic Series." Earth began to appear in Percival's open palm. As they watched in intrigued silence, the earth spun at high speeds, before it was launched from his palm. "Earth Bullet."
*Pish*
With a sound similar to a gundischargimg a silenced bullet, the ball of earth shot forwards...at Touma's head.
"Shit!"
Acting on instinct, Touma tilted his head, causing the launched stone to whistle past his head and impact against a wall behind him. Upon hitting the wall with a dulled sound, the stone shattered into small fragments peppering Touma's back with them. Kazari, Mikoto and Index was hit as well, but not as much as Touma, who took the brunt of it for the girls. Or rather, his misfortune caused him to take it all.
"Why is it my misfortune always get me in harms wa- What are you looking a...t..."
Touma's complaint died in his throat as he saw the stunned faces of his companions. Following their gazes, he could see why.
Behind him was a small crater. A clear indication of where the stone bullet, as Percival had called it, had struck. In front of him, Percival's armband had changed back into the shield that he had first saw when they met. Now that he was closer, he could see that the shield had carved designs. But what really drew their attention was his palm.
Lightning, fire, wind, earth and light were wrapped around his palm, creating an unusual, yet mesmerising display. But this proved one thing: It was unlikely that Percival was a regular esper. Or even an esper at all for that matter.
"This good enough?"
AN
Welp, here's another chapter. And it sure is tiring. The plot is moving at a snail's pace. Soon, this would be a once a month update, if I'm not careful. But for now, the reviews!
Armourcoredninebell, thanks for the review! It was a good indication of how my story is progressing. But, the story may get a little dull. This is for all you readers out there. This is cause of some technical stuff I have been dying to explain.
And for the person who asked about the basing off the marvel comic character...
...I had no idea it was out there until you told me. I knew there was Zeus and Ares, but not Thanatos. But after I searched it up, the only thing that matched my mental image of my OC is the wings. The rest does not suit my OC ver. of Thanatos. Or rather, William.
So, this comes in after some awesome news that I received. That time I got reincarnated as a slime S2!!! Log Horizon S3!!!!! Irregular at magic high school S2!!!!! Violet Evergarden movie!!!! Index Genisis Vol. 1!!!!!! And finally...
Anime series for Jobless Reincarnation and Strike the Blood green-lit!!!!!
So, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and on to the next one!
P.S.
This is for those hoping for a new update. Sorry, just some adjustments cause the new Fanfiction app update is very funky