"italics" / italics - thoughts
Bold - Emphasis
Italics Bold - Magic names or titles
"normal" - speech
" underlined bold " - Mental transmissions
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 8: School Days
"-what shall we discuss, Yurei-san!"
Percival felt cold sweat run down his back. I guess I should have expected this...
Flashback, yesterday. Before Meeting with Touma and Mikoto
"Queen!"
"Queen!"
"Queen, I have news!"
The last sentence, or rather, the person who spoke it, caught Misaki's attention. "What is it, Junko?"
"Someone wishes to speak with you, Queen." Junko made her way to Misaki's side, keeping pace with the leader of her clique. As per usual, her purplish hair was in ringlets. "It is a male. A young man. He has some information for you."
"Oh?" Her face showed some curiosity, but inside, she was going through some nice, realistic, as well as unsavoury possibilities.
A man? Could he be Touma? Her heart fluttered a little at the thought, before it was mercilessly crushed by her knowledge.
No, its unlikely. Before that happened, he already was unable to remember me. After that happened, I tried it out, and the result was the same. He still could not remember me. Then, those scientists? Dark thoughts began to creep into her mind.
If they come after me again, perhaps I shall show them my...fearsome...power...
"Queen?"
"Ah" Misaki realised that Junko had her hand on her shoulder, a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay, Queen? You seem rather distraught."
"Its fine." Misaki smiled, trying to clear her mind of negative thoughts. It worked, somewhat. Her precious malicious thoughts were mostly gone, leaving the lighter, but still dark, thoughts about the treatment she would give to those scientists. "I was just thinking on what this young man could possibly wants from us."
"Do not worry, Queen." Junko stayed by Misaki's side as they descended down the stairs that led to the reception area, where the man had asked for Misaki. "Even if he wished to harm one of us, it would be unlikely that he would get away unscathed. We are all high level ability users, and we have a powerful dorm manager."
A small shudder ran through the girls currently around the duo, them included. All of them knew about the dorm manager's great ability to keep all the girls in the dorm in line. And her bing an adult with no esper ability made it even more terrifying. There was a rumour going around, though. About how a young man had attracted the dorm manager's interest. And in a good way, too. For the man, that is.
"With that dorm manager, our safety is guaranteed." Misaki agreed with her close friend, as well as number 2 in her clique. After all, it was hard to get out of one's mind the dorm manager's fearsome combat ability.
Shirai-san's screams and neck-snap(courtesy of the dorm manager) are a powerful deterrent from breaking any rules set by the dorm manager, after all.
"Achoo!"
"Bless you, Shirai-san."
"Hmm?" Misaki was surprised by what she saw upon entering the reception area. And who wouldn't be? After all...
"Ah, Shokuhou-san." A young man with greyish-blonde hair was waiting for them near the entrance. "I have been waiting for you. May I take a small bit of your time? We have some matters to discuss."
...there was a male currently in the premises of the Tokiwadai Dorms, having a nice chat with the Dorm Supervisor.
"You are very different from those males outside, Yurei-san." The dorm supervisor spoke in a pleased tone. "It seems you have no ill will, or any hidden agenda, towards any of my charges living here."
"Of course, Miss Supervisor-san." The young male spoke in a respectful, yet light, tone. "All I wish is to speak with Shokuhou-san."
The dorm supervisor caught Misaki's form out of the masses of students lining the hall. "Shokuhou-san!"
The bark caused Misaki to unconsciously straighten her back. "Yes, dorm supervisor?"
"This young man wishes to speak with you. It seems that he requires your assistance." Her glasses glinted in the lighting, momentarily causing her eyes to be replaced with white lenses, making her look sinister.
"I understand, dorm supervisor." Misaki approached the smiling male hesitantly, her clique not too far behind. "May I ask, who is this person."
"My name is Yurei Percival." The male gave a short but polite bow. "I wish to speak with you about certain things. Shall we take a walk while we discuss?"
"Will around the dorm do?"
"It will be sufficient."
"Then, let us set off." Misaki led the way, Percival a few steps behind her.
"Why are you here?"
As soon as they were quite a distance away from the entrance, Misaki questioned(or rather, interrogated) Percival. Said person was taking in the sights around them. Not that there was much to see in terms of greenery.
"I was not lying when I said I did not have any ill will or hidden agendas, Shokuhou-san." He spoke, head still faced away from the blonde haired girl. "But then again, it would be hard to trust what I say. After all, I am a stranger. Well, not for long, I hope."
"Not for long?" Misaki slowly reached into her bag of remotes, taking care to do it as naturally as possible without setting off any alarm bells in Percival's mind.
Who is he? And what does he want? "What do you mean by that?"
"Before that, I would prefer if your clique would not surround us, or anything like that." Misaki stiffened when she heard him say that. "It would be rather unfortunate for certain people if they overheard our little conversation."
" Queen? Shall we attack? " A voice entered Misaki's head, obviously in response to Percival's statement. This voice came from her telepathy network.
See, Misaki was a very cautious person. She also cared for her subordinates/friends. So, whenever there was a battle or an operation, like now, she would create a telepathic network connecting her clique members, herself acting as a control tower.
Right now, several members of her clique were surrounding the pair. These members were ones which were currently outside the dorm. Some had been doing some personal affairs. Others had sneaked out the dorm via windows or hidden access areas. But one thing was for sure: They would heed their Queen's call, no matter the time.
Of course, Misaki would never try to take advantage of this loyalty of theirs. Unless it was for good reasons.
Judging by his tone and face, it would seem he meant what he had just said. But that also begs two questions. Can he handle the 5 members around us? And if so, how?
"Oh, I believe you are misunderstanding something here." A piece of paper was thrust under Misaki's nose, shocking her slightly at the sudden intrusion. "It has to do with this."
Fear, anger and worry erupted inside Misaki's mind. "What do you intend to do with him." She kept her voice low and her tone monotonous, but her clenched knuckles gave away her true feelings.
Why is he bringing Touma into this?
"That would be up to you." Percival kept a calm face as the made their way to the back of the building. "I cannot guarantee his safety if you harm me in anyway, or try to read my mind."
" Queen?" Junko's voice echoed in her mind. "We are waiting for your command."
"Leave us." Misaki finally decided. " But keep some of the faster members around as a insurance. When I say so, you may attack. But for now, do not listen to our talk. "
"Yes, Queen." Several voices replied, before she manipulated the network to work such that they would not be able to hear anything from her side, until the word 'Strike' was spoken.
"So, are you going to start." Misaki decided throw away all pretenses, and went straight for the endgoal. "You said you needed my assistance."
"Kamijou-san is in trouble." That sentence caused Misaki to stop in her tracks. "There is an outside group trying to meddle in some affairs of his right hand, among other things. As such, his life would be placed in severe danger."
"How can I trust you?" Misaki regained her voice.
"For starters, I know that you had small breasts last year, before they suddenly exploded into these huge things." Percival commented with a huge grin on his face. "I also know that you had a rather perverted mind when it came to your 'Prince', as you call him. After all, you wanted to take an indirect kiss from that silver whistle you always carry with you." Then, Percival felt a chill up his spine.
"How do you know that?" A cold voice was suddenly breathed into his ear, causing goosebumps to appear, as well as surprising the teen. After all, Misaki had been in front of him not too long ago.The goosebumps also made the feeling of the remote being pressed into his neck even more prominent. "Have you been stalking me? Or are you part of-"
"Calm down! Calm down!!!" Percival's near shout caused her to press her weapon even harder against Percival. "This is just me showing you that I mean no harm, and that the info I give you cane be trusted! Hell, I only know this because of some unique circumstances!" Jeez! Note to self:Never threaten Touma when around his suitors
"Hmm..." Misaki observed Percival's face. "Is that all?"
"Just one more thing. Come to To-, I mean, Kamijou-san's place tomorrow, in the afternoon. Hopefully about 4pm. A number of things would be explained to you afterwards." A bead of sweat travelled down his face, before the remote was removed from the base of his neck.
"I see no deception in your face." Misaki finally commented. "So, if you would please,"
"Erm, no." Percival lowered her hand forcefully. "Don't even try to do it. You would not be able to get anything. My spectacles are a prototype device that emits waves, similar to Misaka Mikoto's field around her head. It prevents any mental interference."
"That's convenient." Narrowing her eyes, she subtly raised her remote. "But I would still like to test it."
"No can do. I have to go now, so try again another time. Bye!"
Flashback end
"Your last action when we parted was rather violent, for one who was praised by the dorm supervisor."
"What other choices did I have?" Percival felt as if there were hundreds of guns pointed at him, despite the fact that it was only one person who was currently near him. "Knock you out and put you down onto the dirty ground? Use Capacity Down on the surrounding vicinity like a street thug and let innocent people get mixed into my troubles? It was a much more peaceful resolution to take your remotes, and bag, with me, run a few hundred metres, place it within your sights, and then leave so that you would not call my bluff!"
"So, it was a bluff?"
Shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Percival's head now looked like a leaky fountain. I spilled them!!!! I spilled them beeeeeeeeannnnssssszz!!!! "Now, though, I am able to prevent you from reading my mind. Thanks to my ability that I explained earlier, I have Imagine Breaker's unique power to negate esper abilities. It may not be as strong, but it would get the job done." Nervously, Percival looked at Misaki, hoping she not attempt to read his mind.
"And what makes you think your protection ability exceeds my mental power? Hmm?" Misaki placed a finger on her cheek. It would seem cute from an outsider's perspective, but to Percival, her eyes were full of malice at having been 'blackmailed' into coming to Touma's place.
"You can try it, but there would be little effect beyond reading my surface thoughts, I suppose." Despite her cold look, Percival managed to give off a brave front. Which would have looked more impressive if his face was currently not full of beads of cold sweat.
"...Fine, then. I'll let you off the hook. So answer my questions. Why did you approach me? If you know about Touma's unique condition, then why did you even involve me?"
"For a number of reasons, really." Percival breathed a sigh of relief. Here comes the easier parts. "The first is that being a Level 5 mental ability user, it would help if you could reduce the time needed for communication. It would also increase the odds of survival when facing a large number of enemies."
Makes sense. Misaki could see the appeal of having a level 5 mental ability user on his team, as much as she would loathe to think it. And, as an added bonus, she could help weed out traitors in said group, or extract vital information in as short a time as possible.
"The second reason is because of some reasons which I would abstain from saying." Percival raised his hands in a surrendering fashion when he saw Misaki raise her handbag full of remotes from his sitting position. Sometime during her interrogation, he had sat down on a bench nearby. She may lack the stamina, but a bag full of remotes, among other things, would still hurt. "Its for everyone's safety. Once the aim is reached, I will explain to you."
"Fine then. Your persuasion ability is a little lacking, but I shall let this one slide. The next reason?" Misaki huffed as she sat down next to Percival, hand on her bag, ready to clobber him when necessary.
"This one ties into the final one. I know about your history with Kamijou-san, but not all of it. Only the bare basics."
That perked her interest. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly as I said. Only the bare amount I needed. I may be someone who likes to snoop and such, but who doesn't at one point in their life? Plus, when I found out some information, I decided it was best to keep the other, more sensitive info, unknown to me." Percival frowned a little as he continued. "I know that you and Kamijou-san have some history, and that he lost his memories, as well as his ability to make new ones with you in it, after saving you from something. I also know how you met, to some extent. But after that, nothing else."
"See, I believe everyone needs to have at least one secret. No one is pure or innocent, like babies when they are first born. Humans change over time, like any other organism. For us, our personalities change in such a way that there would almost always be two sides. One good side, and one bad side, as cliche as it sounds. To me, everyone is like a coin. With two sides, like a coin, we also have two faces. One we show to public, and the other we keep secret. The difference between the two is how long can the secret one remain a secret."
"Kamijou-san is very pure, so his bad side is non-existent. But, that does kot mean he has no secrets. Some things are better off not known, after all." Brushing off some dust from the back of his pants, Percival stood up. "And there lies my final reason. You should- or rather, you need to be with Kamijou-san. For his sake."
"As sweet as that is, I have a hard time believing you are doing all of this out of the goodness of your heart." Misaki spat out, ignoring the little jolt of happiness she felt when she heard Percival's declaration of sorts. "What are you plotting?"
"Oh, no need to be so hostile. Trust me when I say I admire Kamijou-san as one of the strongest person's I know." Percival gave a cheeky grin. "And as such, would it not be fitting for him to get, like every person, a family? But in this case, his family is going to be very, very messy. A harem."
"A harem?"
"Yes, a harem. With two level 5 espers as the main girlfriends." Percival leaned in to whisper in her ear. "And you would be my partner in crime, so to speak, in getting your beloved prince the love he deserves. Starting with you two level 5 students."
Misaki felt a grin form on her face, before it disappeared, a fact hitting her hard in the head. "My, that is some goal you have, Yurei-san. But you see, why should I help you when there is a very obvious flaw in this plan of yours?"
"You mean his inability to make new memories of you? That is something that I fixed. As I explained earlier, I have a list of skills. One of them allows me to repair wounds of any sort, to a certain degree. So, his ability to make new memories of you would be repaired in due time. So, what do you say?"
Misaki prerended to think about it. She would have been lying if she said she was fine with sharing Touma with other girls, but she could tell. That Percival would try to make this plan a success. His eyes told it all. "I suppose I shall agree with this plan of yours, and let my prince have a harem, as you called it."
"Hehe. Then partner, the first thing is to share with you the harem members for Touma. Of course, it goes without saying that we should try to keep this a secret. Misaka-san would not approve, among some other future members."
"I do hope you have a plan to break it to them."
"Er..."
"My my, you are some planner. Tell me their names, then I will think of a few ways for you to break it to them and convince them."
"As you wish, Queen."
A few days later...
"Everyone, please get to your seats! Classes are starting!"
It was the start of a new school term. And Touma, as usual, was very worried. Why? It was very simple. His grades...
"My grades are gonna faaaaaallllllllllll!!" Touma laid his head face-down on the desk. His words were slightly muffled, but were still discernable. "With my misfortune, I am sure that I am going to be held back!!!!!!"
"Calm down, Kami-yan." As always, his friend/neighbour, Tsuchimikado qas wearing his usual attire of a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of sunglasses tucked onto his shirt. The main difference was that there was a cozy vest over his shirt. Did not change the fact he was wearing it unzipped though. "Your grades may suck, but you are basically set for life! After all, you have an ojou-sama as your girlfriend! Plus," Tsuchimikado grinned "you can still get a job, even with your bad grades, as a cook!"
"But my cooking is not even that great." Touma rebutted Motoharu's words. "Besides, even if it is as great as everyone says it is, I would still need some form of certificate to show that I graduated from high school!!!!And I don't have a girlfriend!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Then come work for us, Kami-yan." Motoharu threw his arm around Touma's neck in a lazy manner, a smile on his face, bringing the spiky haired youth closer to the blonde spy. "After all, many people would love you to join their organisation, especially because of your power."
"Heck no!" Touma shrugged off Motoharu's arm. Surprisingly, it slid off easier then he expected. "With my misfortune, those offers would turn into orders for my head!!! The damages from my fights, as well as medical fees, would get any organization bankrupt!!!!! Besides," A dark look crossed Touma's face. It was very brief. So brief, Motoharu would have thought it was a shadow, had he not been trained as an elite double spy. "I still don't trust the Angelican church completely. Not after what they did to Index."
Motoharu was silent at that. Now, he may be a spy working for the church, and that he was also a very ruthless person, when he need to be. But, that does not mean he agrees with every method the church employs. A good example would be Index. In the beginning, he too would have seen the measure that was used as necessary. But after spending some time observing said girl, he realised there was no need for such brutal methods, if even at all.
Index was a clueless girl. When it came to magic, she was an expert, an almost all-powerful threat to her enemies. But, so what? That does not mean much when it came to the daily life of the nun, especially if she was not doing anything magic related. Eating, sleeping, spending time with her friends. These did not require the usage of magic, nor the expertise of her magic analysis.
"Hai! Everyone, we have a new transfer student coming into our class today!" Komoe's almost childish voice cut through the class's noise and din, like a hot knife through butter. Almost immediately, the noise died down. It also brought the two male students out of their worlds.
"I know this seems a little late," Komoe continued. "but please welcome him with warm arms! Please, come in, Yu-"
"Hai hai hai!!!!!" An energetic voice responded to Komoe's voice, unintentionally cutting her off too. Though, that had to do partly with the sudden wind pressure that entered the small classroom, the open door the only indication that the student had entered the class(besides his voice).
Greyish-blonde hair. Brown eyes. A somewhat average build. And, most noticeably, a metal band that covered his entire forearm. "Hello everyone! My name is Yurei Percival. My hobbies include reading and watching anime! Please take care of me! Also, any questions?"
"Er..." The class was, needless to say, a little stunned by the transfer student. He had rushed into the classroom, has a unique appearance, and spoke quite fluently in Japanese, even though his features suggested otherwise. Just a little.
Now that I think about it, Touma gazed at Percival, resisting the urge to shout out his name at his sudden arrival. We never asked about which country he was from, even though he does not look that similar to a Japanese. Not with that hair and skin colour.
He does look Asian though. Touma sat back into his seat, having realised he had half-risen out of it at the sudden entrance of Percival. I wonder what everyone is gonna ask.
A hand was raised. "Yes?"
"Where are you from?"
"I am Japanese. Although, my father is half japanese, half american, while my mother is also half japanese, half chinese. Hence my skin colour and hair."
"What's your ability?"
"Its called Amplification." Percival smiled at the person who asked. "Basically, it allows me to increase a single attribute of my body. Speed, stamina, strength, even the things you would hear in video games, like durability or mental power. Of course, since my esper level is 4, it can enhance at most 3. 4, if I push it. It works similar to multiplication."
"Why is it called Amplification? By the sound of it, why not call it Stats Boost, or maybe Power Upper?"
"Personally, its preference." Percival shrugged. "I feel that Stats Boost is an esper ability aimed for the entire body. Power Upper is the same, but can only be aimed at the physical or mental area at one point in time. Amplification, however, allows me to be more specific. If I want to Amplify my mental calculation ability, I can. If I want to Amplify my arm strength, I can. If I want to Amplify my natural healing ability, I can. But, the problem is how much I can amplify any of my body parts, be it mental or physical. As of right now, I can only do it up to 10 or 20 times."
"But why such a high level And why the two different numbers.?"
"That is because the 10 is squared, while the 20 is multiplied. So, say my arm strength is base power 1. If I square it, it would be 1. So, I would multiply it. But, if my base srengrh is 2, then, by squaring it by 10, the base power would be over 1000. And, if I take having base of 1 equal to lifting up 1 kg...well, you get the idea of why I am a level 4. And, before you ask, I cannot be a level 5 because right now, I can comfortably Amplify 3 parts of my body. Doing 6 would put me in the realm of level 5."
"If you are such a high level, why join this school?" A girl asked, fixing her glasses as she did so.
"To be honest, I do not like the 'high levels have snobbish attitudes towards lower levels' air around many high level espers. So, by joining a school which has many lower levels, I can more or less protect myself from possible strife against other level 3 to 4 espers. That said, I do hope you would not mind keeping my level a secret. Knowing Kamijou-san's luck, the info would get linked to him, and he would get challenged."
Touma could only watch, slackjawed, as the entire class(sans Fukiyose Seiri) murmured in agreement at what Percival said. Among other things. Like say, death threats from the boys, and hopes of love and affection from the girls.
"Final question." Percival's sudden declaration caused a sudden groan rising from the class. Fukiyose smashed a desk, yelling at the class to be quiet, before said class quieted down. "We still need to have classes, so Yurei-san was right to cut this short!" Fukiyose barked out, her fist still in the desk, which had miraculously survived the Iron Wall's smash.
Quickly, the entire class assembled to discuss which question to ask, the occasional murmur rising from the group. Of course, all that effort would go down the drain, because of one student.
"Are you seeing anyone?"
"Yeek!" Percival jumped at the sudden speaker, as did the students nearer to Percival. "Oh. Erm, who are you?"
"Himegami Aisa." The black haired girl stared at Percival. "So, are you?"
"Hmm, well Himegami-san, I am not. I do wonder why you are asking me, someone you have never met before, this question Himegami-san? After all, that seems like a question that someone interested in me might ask." Percival gave a small chuckle at that. "Sensei! Where do I sit?"
"Waah!" Komoe stuttered at the sudden call for her name. "Etto, you can sit behind Kamijou-kun, Yurei-san." Komoe pointed to the seat she mentioned.
As Percival made his way to his seat, the students that had gathered all gave a small groan. Most likely, they wanted to end class without learning anything. Percival thought to himself. Not that I can blame them. A transfer student is more exciting then learning about history.As classes resumed, with Komoe kicking the lesson off with a small lecture on an esper ability's development and the like, Touma let his mind wander, already knowing that listening was not going to help. After all, he himself could not manifest an esper ability, seeing as his right hand would prevent the formation of any, so why listen to how to further develop them? Realising his train of thought, Touna shook his head and attempted to focus.
Shit! Why did I think that?!? Touma tried to follow Komoe's explanation on why the method she had just stated works. Maybe Othinus's attacks during that time changed me slightly. Though...Out of the corner of his eye, Touma glanced at Percival. Said person was paying attention to the lecture that was being given by Komoe. Why is he here?
After School
"Oh? Why I am here? Well, that's easy. To have fun."
Percival nonchalantly answered Touma's question with a wave of his hand. Currently, the two were in the classroom, the remaining students having already left the classroom.
"No need to be so shocked. I am, after all, 15 years of age. And, like you, I do wish to have a normal high school student's life. I can't scheme and plan all the time, you know?" Percival started to walk out of the class, leaving the misfortune boy behind.
I have both a good and bad feeling about this. Touma thought to himself as he walked back to his place. If he recalled, the vegetarian stew with potato starch to thicken it, as well as some potato grated into it to give it a better texture, that he made last night was almost finished, with only some of the stew's liquid remaining. Already, he was planning on what to make together with the remaining stew.
As he walked in silence, engrossed in his thoughts, he failed to notice someone looking at him from the cover of a building, before it disappeared under the cover of the shadows
AN
Whew. This took some brainstorming, this last part. It took me half a week to come up with the final hundred words. I wanted it to end nicely, but with some hints of what was to come.
That said, here comes the reviews:
ArmouredCoreNineball: Percival is Mary-sueish for a good reason right now. As the story prgresses, his personality and characterisation would be greater, so stay tuned! Also, for the second bit, that was someething that I goofed up at first, which became part of the story when I thought about it. See, Misaki is pretty jealous, as many of us know. So, how would she act when she found out her rival was meeting her beloved frequently in date scenarios? Of course, irrational behaviour and actions! Same applies for the other suitors.
Mr ?: Yeah, that's a fair point. Arisa is way too underrated and underused, so having her here is a boon and a risk at the same time, seeing as we have little info on her. But hey, little info is better than none! Arisa would play a crucial role, as would all of Touma's harem members. Now, if he would accept his fate...
And about Percival's ability. It does seem OP at first glance. But with his restrictions, he would be best placed as a level 4 ver. of Dark Matter(the esper). Both have a versatile weaponry. But weapons do people no good if you can't wield them to its full potential. Like using a shotgun as a club, or a spear as just a fishing tool.