italics - thoughts

Bold - Emphasis

Italics Bold - Magic names or titles

"normal" - speech

" underlined bold " - Mental transmissions

Underlined Bold - Flashback

{Bold}- Magic spells or abilities

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 13:Talks and Plans

"Because we have no reason to."

Such simple 6 words. But Touma had no way to be sure that they were telling the entire truth. At least, not right now.

Nephthys removed her fingertip from her brown chin and casually reached her hand towards the sun in the blue sky. (There was a sunroof on the modified van, so it could allow a person to shoot backwards, check the weather, or allow natural light in.) "I can't speak for the other Magic God, but I quite like Academy City. Even as one of the lives crawling along the ground, you dream of the stars in the night sky and draw up diagrams for them all. You've even reached the level of building a mass driver and landing an unmanned probe on a comet by matching its one hundred thousand kph relative speed."

"The stars can be plucked from the sky so easily, so why are you so desperate to reach them? It's not even remotely logical, but humans are creatures filled with that sort of passion, aren't they? That movement of your hearts is the one thing I'm honestly jealous of."

Niang-Niang was struggling not to laugh as she listened in. "Neeephthyyys, you're really, really looking down on them."

"Oh, dear. But my experience tells me this leaves them with a more favorable impression of me."

"Well, we are gods. It's true people expect us to crush them underfoot instead of lowering ourselves to their level."

Kamijou, Mikoto and Percival were right in front of them, but neither Nephthys nor Niang-Niang paid them much attention. There was a powerful division between them like with a waiter in the middle of a party.

"I got off topic, didn't I?" Nephthys frowned. "We should really stop doing that, I suppose."

"Why are you even here?" Percival finally managed to cut in to the conversation that they had been excluded out of so naturally.

"Didn't you hear from the High Priest?" Nephthys raised an eyebrow at the trio. "Thanks to 'him', we're weakened at the moment. We had hoped your Imagine Breaker could do something about that, but it didn't work. Not that it really matters. We're not the ones this is a real problem for. I just can't figure out what 'he' was thinking by dragging us into the real world in this incomplete state. You could say we're in a state where we can destroy the world but lack the strength to recreate it afterwards."

"...!?"

"Niang-Niang." Nephthys gave the smaller Magic god a small glare.

"Ah ha ha...Sorry, sorry. You are still traumatized by what Othinus did, right Kamijou-chan~"

"Who wouldn't be traumatized?" The ashen-blonde hared boy voiced out his opinion. "After all, Othinus did recreate the world thousands of times."

"Meh" Niang-Niang shrugged. "For you humans, maybe. But for us?" She gave a grin. "Not so much."

"Hai hai." Percival huffed. "You are all powerful Magic gods. Please forgive this rude individual known as Percival Yurei."

Niang-Niang narrowed her eyes. "...You know, I have been wondering, but you seem to be...different from the rest of the mortals here."

Everyone did not notice Niang-Niang's change of words. All except Nephthys, who narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps we can discuss this a different time." Percival glanced at the wall clock. "We are kinda on a tight schedule here."

"Why not now?" Niang-Niang's tone became subtly darker. Less cheerful. "We have plenty of time. Unlike you humans, whose life can be extinguished in a mere moment."

"Another time."

Touma widened his eyes slightly, his body shivering in terror. Beside him, Mikoto clutched his arm. He could feel her shivering body through his bandages and clothes.

Percival's tone had became significantly deeper. It gave the duo chills up their spines.

As if a person was walking on their graves.

"Oho..." Niang-Niang's eyes widened marginally. Not so much that it would change her facial expression, but just enough for certain individuals to notice. "...Alright then. I agree with your proposal. When?"

"Here." The presence(Touma now realized it was a combination of bloodlust, killing intent, and aura. Possibly amplified by Percival's own ability, if that was possible) coming from Percival dissipated almost instantaneously, like it had never been there to begin with. "When this is all over, I can call you for a meet up. But, if you have any questions, just call this number on the burner phone earlier. Since it only has one contact programmed into it, I trust it would be easy to manage. Not right now though. Perhaps...a couple of hours? Maybe 7."

"Okay then~" Niang-Niang giggled as she took the phone, her hand extending out from the baggy sleeve of her China dress for the first time. Like the skin on her face, it was pale. Almost unnaturally so. A little fascinated by her skin color, Touma watched as she brought her hand, now holding the small burner phone, back into her baggy sleeve.

"I won't become your Scorer." Touma chose this time to answer their earlier question. Both Magic gods turned to face the teen. "I'm sick of thinking about turning the human race into tropical fish for something as ridiculous as 'peace of mind'. I have no interest in making any wishes or prayers."

"Its fine. That can wait until another time." Nephthys laughed. "The current issue is the High Priest."

"The High Priest?"

"Even you can tell he's on a complete rampage, can't you? But that doesn't represent the overall will of the true Gremlin. We can't have you thinking we're all like that."

"Th-then..."

Hesitantly, Mikoto spoke up from behind Kamijou.

"Why can't you deal with him? You know that weird old man, man, right? Then you go capture him and leave!"

Nephthys and Niang-Niang's response was incredibly simple.

They acted like Academy City's #3 was not even there.

"We want you to stop the High Priest, so we'll give you the information you need. But don't expect us to do anything directly."

"Wait..."

Kamijou cut in, but the two Magic gods continued on.

"Well, if you tell us to do it, we will. But only if we receive that prayer from our cute little Kamijou-chan. Of course, that would end up with at least Academy City...no, this entire archipelago at the bottom of the sea. You know why, don't you? A fight between us and the High Priest would be a battle between Magic Gods."

"Wait." Touma said in a firmer tone.

The two Magic Gods were entirely cheerful. They sounded just like someone speaking to a friend in class.

But that was exactly why Touma stopped them there.

"I said wait, Nephthys!"

Touma had reached out and grabbed onto the bandages on Nephthys which would have been the collar of a shirt. This finally prompted the two Magic gods to stop.

"Hmm?" Nephthys just gazed at the spiky-haired boy. Realising what he had just done, Touma slowly released his vice-like grip on the bandages, but he did not let his eyes leave the Magic gods.

"If you want me to even consider being your Scorer," Touma continued his firm gaze on the brown skinned woman. "then listen to my friends inputs. They know about this, so they should deserve at least a tiny bit of your attention. They do not deserve to be treated like an ant on the side of the road."

Nephthys only raised a single eyebrow at this sudden demand, while Niang-Niang gave a small giggle.

As Touma continued to look at the Magic god, he was thinking. Is this why Yurei-san told them about Magic? So that they can act properly, and understand what's going on? To prevent them from feeling useless, as I once did?

A teasing voice cut in from the side. Niang-Niang hid her mouth behind a baggy sleeve and a bewitching smile filled her eyes.

"What will you do if we don't listen? Of course, it doesn't matter to us if you say you don't want any divine advice. If you want to do it all on your own, go right ahead. But can you really manage that? You don't even know the basic structure of the High Priest's mummy body."

Touma gritted his teeth. He knew Niang-Niang was right, as much as he hated it. He had the illusion of having some power in his hand, when in actuality, he had not but just a small silver of it.

...But so what?

If it was just a small silver, if used wisely, it could help him in many ways. This was how he had won his battles against Academy City's #1. This was how he had defeated many overconfident foes in his second home, and how he had felled many a individual outside Academy City.

He glared at her from close range, but Nephthys's expression did not change.

Kamijou Touma felt a strange prickling surround him, as if something invisible were stabbing into his skin.

Still, he did not back down. He had no reason to do so.

"...Fine." The brown goddess sighed."You have always been greedy when it comes to victory, so you tend to use any means available to you. And right now you have someone behind you to protect. You would never worry about appearances here. And, if what you say is correct..." She glanced briefly at Percival and Mikoto respectively. "Then their questions might help develop you as our Scorer even further, or even create a group of Scorers to help with our goal."

The purple-robed High Priest used his golden sword as a staff to walk along the river.

He did not use a people-clearing field to hide himself.

He did not try to conceal the existence of magic.

He held the position of a Magic God, his presence destroyed the many bonds tying one to the world, and yet his living mummy body shattered everyone's common sense simply by breathing. But he gave no thought to any of that. If any problems occurred, he could crush them with his strength and none of the beings living in this world could stop him. His entire body was overflowing with that pride.

And right now?

"Oh ho ho!"

...This all powerful being was playing a game.

More specifically, it was an arcade game where you played with your entire body.

The way it worked was simple. You step into a room, where multiple motion sensors are placed at a corner to ensure every movement was captured. The room itself also made the person inside suspended in midair, giving them a slight sense of weightlessness. But, it also had the special ability to keep the person inside the room in a standing position at all times, so they would not exit the game, only to find themselves upside down. Light projectors projected solid 3-D images around the player, so it would feel as if you are in VR. Esper abilities also had no effect in the game, other than a small boost in your character's powers and abilities, depending on what character and what the player's esper ability was.

As for the game, it was a fighting game, very similar to those at arcades. You use a single 100 yen coin to play. If you win, no need to pay. The next opponent challenging you will do so. If you lose...well...you better have some deep pockets if you end up on a losing streak. And High Priest was having quite a swell time.

"Uh hoi!"

He had gone in at first due to the different images that flashed across the surface of the shop. But, when he found out more on what it was ('A revolutionary way to look and play fighting games', the clerk had said), he had decided to play a game or two before he implemented his plan on lots of mayhem and destruction.

"Ho ho ho. This is as thrilling as being hurt for the first time in centuries!"

Of course, that plan was shredded, burnt up, and buried in a box at the deepest parts of the ocean when he discovered the thrill of fighting in the game, with its realistic effects and abilities. Thankfully, the box was sealed and for the player's privacy, made of a special material so no one, esper with Clairvoyance or not, could peek in on the player. Nor hear them. Otherwise, the old mummy-like Magic god may have been given weird looks at his words, as well as barred from playing due to his winning streak.

Of 300-0.

And that was in the first hour. Two hours had passed, and he was still fighting. His final score?

675-20. The left the number of his wins(Most of them from group free-for-alls.)

"As you know...or maybe you don't, but the High Priest is a Magic God from Buddhism." Nephthys began with that.

"Specifically, from the unique Japanese variety that went through a number of changes after its origin in India and its passage through China and Korea. Now, Kamijou-chan, are you familiar with self-mummification?"

"?" Touma was confused. Self-mummification? What is that?

"Nephthyyys, you're skipping a step in your explanation," Niang-Niang cut in. "In Japanese Buddhism, you can't achieve enlightenment and travel to the Pure Land in a single life, no matter how much you train. It has nothing to do with your social status. By being reborn again and again and going through harsh training each time, you slowwwwly polish your soul and only liberate yourself from your worldly desires in the very, very end. That's when you become a Buddha. Or that's the normal route, anyway. There is a way of becoming a Buddha in the limited few decades of a single life and that is self-mummification."

Were they saying the High Priest had performed that self-mummification ceremony and become a Magic God? Touma listened to the explanations that were taking place, courtesy of tow of High Priest's partners. But what exactly did that ceremony entail?

"The process itself is simple. You can tell from his body, right? It's basically the Japanese version of a mummy. And strangely, they don't even remove the blood or organs. They only close themselves in a dark room and dry up. Speaking as the Egyptian version, it makes me worry they would rot from the inside before drying out." Nephthys spoke with a nonchalant tone.

"Huh. Interesting..." Percival muttered softly, looking very interested in the conversation about mummification.

As for Touma, this surprised him. It was true the High Priest did not look normal, but it was still a shock to have it confirmed by someone else.

"Then he was killed in order to artificially create a Magic God!?" He exclaimed, just figuring out that High Priest's death led to him becoming a Magic god.

"Don't be silly. He closed himself in the underground room and chose to starve to death. It wouldn't be 'self'-mummification otherwise." Correction. He was wrong in his chain of thoughts(Not that he can help it. He has no clue on the nature of a Magic god, nor of the rules that governed who became a Magic god)

Niang-Niang's nonchalant comment left Kamijou even more dumbfounded. Nephthys did not seem to want to stick on any one point, so she continued on to the next one.

"That's why he has a connection to dirt. In self-mummification, the priest wanting to rid himself of worldly desires closes himself in an underground room, essentially burying himself alive, and continues forming mudra and chanting sutra to the end. That creates the mummy. What seeped from his corpse as he dried filled the surrounding dirt and created a connection there. All around the world, people think of the heavenly gods being up in the sky and the sinners being below the earth, but not many cultures view dirt itself as unclean. Take Japan's Shinto for example. But Shinto and Buddhism have mixed and contaminated each other, so that influenced the High Priest, too."

The dirt.

The underworld.

A Magic God who could draw out and control the space that had starved him to death.

"So, your thinking that High Priest can look for you through the dirt is spot on, Kamijou Touma." Nephthys gave him a humorless grin.

Touma was a little happy his inference was correct. However, there was still something bugging him. More specifically...

"Why did he...?" He began, only to cut himself off.

"?" Both Magic gods looked at their chosen (potential future) Scorer in interest

"Why did he go that far?"

This had nothing to do with strategizing. It was an honest question. One that Touma did not expect an answer to. But he asked anyway.

Such was his nature.

"Isn't that obvious? The only reason any priest aims to rid himself of his worldly desires is to save the people. In other words, he wanted to save the entire world." Nephthys replied as if it was nothing.

Touma was shocked "Wha-...?" That's...

"Ah ha ha! Pretty much all of the Magic Gods are the same, y'know? But the salvation our overwhelming power brought was twisted. Or I guess you could say salvation from an individual is no different from an absolute dictatorship. Then again, the High Priest's story may be one of the worst."

"Didn't you find it odd?" Nephthys asked like this was nothing more than gossip. "There are a few peculiar aspects about the High Priest's outfit: his purple robe, the glittering golden ornaments, the collar rising like flames, and the sword made of pure gold."

"What about it?" Mikoto asked, her earlier anger and hurt having been traded for curiosity long ago.

"He has never once swung that sword, has he?"

Now that it had been pointed out to him, the trio realized it was true. High Priest had used mainly the earth and mud to fight, never once using his golden sword to fight.

"You're right!" Percival exclaimed. "Even when I was right in his face, he chose to swat me away with a fist he made instead."

"They're all burial accessories modeled after the Buddhist deity Acala, but they don't represent his own choices." Nephthys explained. "After he died, a faction that did not want him to become a Buddha sabotaged his attempt. No one adorned with those treasures could have abandoned their desire, so no one would think he could have achieved enlightenment. It was basically a blatant negative campaign against him."

"Kee hee hee." Niang-Niang, cut in, giggling "In other words, he has the body of a Buddha but wasn't given the position of a Buddha, so you could call him a wandering Buddha."

"In polytheistic religions, every god is given a name and a role." Nephthys continued to explain, after sharing a tiny grin with Niang-Niang. "The gears of the giant system known as mythology can start turning as long as they have those two things. But the High Priest has neither. He's a Buddha with no name besides 'High Priest'. He's a dangerous gear that can appear anywhere inside an already full box. And worst of all, he still fully intends to save the people. He concluded that what happened to him was 'the desire of the people', so he believes he can save the world by acting as someone who could not abandon his petty desires and thus became a Buddha without a role."

Hearing it was enough to make Touma feel faint.

He had run across quite a few magicians in the past and they had all had their unique issues.

But High Priest was somehow different.

The other magicians had done what they did because something had ended or because they feared something would end, but the High Priest was much more rotten. He was like a dried and eternally preserved mummy.

Everyone else was working out of fear that their HP would drop to zero, but his alone had already reached negative numbers yet he was still laughing.

"So you can't convince him to stop." Mikoto stated, sweat dripping from her forehead. Uncounciously, she had also stated what Touma had been thinking.

Nephthys provided that simple conclusion and her tone made it clear that was not uncommon for someone with that kind of past.

"After all, he's rotted so much, but he's perfectly satisfied with where he is 'now'. If the emperor of the Emperor's New Clothes was proud of being naked, then there would be no stopping him with words, right?" Nephthys stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Ah ha ha! Neeephthyyys ! That doesn't sound very convincing coming from someone who's naked except for some bandages!" Niang-Niang laughed.

"You aren't any better since you don't wear any underwear."

As they spoke back and forth, the two Magic Gods slowly stood up from the seat where Touma was resting at first, before all this mayhem arrived.

"Well, despite what I said, if you really don't have enough strength, call our names. If you give an appropriate sacrifice, we can restrain the High Priest in a direct confrontation between Magic Gods. That wouldn't be all that interesting a conclusion, but I suppose it would be somewhat entertaining. After all, it would mean you had accepted the value of a Magic God's power."

Nephthys held her slender brown hand out to Touma.

He looked at the hand, various thoughts swirling in his mind.

He could do it now if he wanted to. He could accept their deal, take the easy way out. He would have taken a taste of cheating.

And there would be no turning back.

Even if he had tasted a taste of the cheats known as Magic gods, even if doing so would feel like he was spitting on his hard work in the past, it would save everyone...right?

"...I'll-" "No!"

Mikoto's voice cut in, stopping Touma from speaking further. He found his entire right arm in the embrace of Mikoto's grasp.

"Don't take their offer, Touma." Mikoto's gaze seemed to cut into Touma's heart. It looked so...afraid... "Don't join them. Don't...leave me." She whispered the final part in a barely audible tone, but Touma caught it. Just barely.

Ah. Touma realized. Misaka is insecure about all of this. She's afraid I might end up like Accelerator.

Well, that part was partially true.

Mikoto was afraid. Of him becoming something similar to Accelerator.

Before Accelerator participated in the experiments and killed 10031 of the Sisters, he had not wished to kill them. In fact, in the first experiment, he had purposely tried to leave.

Yet the actions of the first Sister, the words of the various scientists involved, the actions of the jealous low level espers, and his past treatment, caused him to go on a killing spree.

And, a small part of Mikoto's mind thought that if Touma accepted this power right now...He may end up becoming something like the people he hated.

Someone who kills and drags innocent people into his goal, no matter if intentional or not.

Stop and erase groups of people, even if their actions had a pure intention behind them.

Well, these may be unintentional side effects of his wishes, but what could happen, will happen due to his luck.

As for the other part...

Mikoto was slowly realizing that she held feelings for the spiky haired boy. She may deny it all she wants, but that kiss had pushed this issue of hers to the front of her mind. Where her two sides, the tsun- and -dere factions fought.

In the end, a truce was made, with the agreement for both factions to calm themselves down, and for their host to confess. Not that Mikoto had any knowledge of this happening in her mind right now.

"...I will not take the deal, Nephthys. Not now." Touma finally responded to Nephthys's offer. "In another life, in another time...maybe I would have. But unfortunately for you, this Kamijou-san has no wish to agree to your wishes."

Nephthys was silent for a moment. Then, she smiled.

"You do not disappoint, Kamijou Touma." Nephthys turned to face Mikoto. "Keep him close, girl. You may never know what might happen to him."

"!"

"I will give you one last piece of divine advice," said the Magic God. "If you intend to defeat the High Priest with brute strength, then you need to carefully work out the process of his destruction. Make no mistake; that is not a simple difference in physical strength."

"What?"

"He is a special being that rose to the level of a Buddha in a single life when that normally takes being reborn into countless lives. He is someone who left the proper path of destiny and skipped a level on his own. He can freely manipulate the intersection of the Six Paths, so it would be best not to assume the cause, the process, and the effect are lined up neatly in order."

Then, Niang-Niang cut in.

"Percival, we will be waiting~" She sang out, giggling at the end of her sentence

They said nothing more.

By the time Kamijou Touma finished blinking his eyes, the Magic Gods were already gone.

Percival was the first to break the silence.

"Shall we start planning?" He asked, moving to the back of the van. "I'll get Shirai-san up from what I presume to be Misaka-san's 'whips of affection' " He made the movements for quotation marks with his fingers with a smirk. "Informant should be pulling up soon, so be ready. And whatever you do, do not take his food." With that, he closed the curtain, leaving them in silence.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Both parties in the room just gave small glances at each other, both too embarrassed to say anything. They had already separated from each other, and were now sitting at the ends of the sofa like seat.

"Erm..."

Touma was the first to break the silence. Mikoto, a faint blush still on her face, looked at him.

"About earlier..." He nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry about that."

"About the k-k-kiss?" Mikoto stuttered on the word kiss. Touma nodded, a small blush appearing on his face.

"Y-you better take responsibility, y-you b-baka." Mikoto blushed, stuttering a little and her voice lowering in tone near the end.

"H-how?!" Touma nearly exploded, the embarrassment and fear nearly causing him to bolt upright.

"Y-you idiot!" Mikoto's eyes widened, tears nearly threatening to spill. "D-do you have to make me say it!"

A few electrical bolts flew from her bangs in her embarrassment, all firing towards Touma. Surprised by the attack, he attempted to disperse all of them, only managing to negate all but one, which struck his leg.

"Gah!" Shocked by the bolt, he fell over, leaning over the brown-haired girl by accident.

"Eep!"

"S-sorry!" Both parties slowly sat back down, their embarrassment at a all time high.

"...you better take responsibility..." Mikoto muttered.

"..how?"

"Do you have to make me say it?" Mikoto's face looked not that different from a cherry now. Her embarrassment level was probably the highest ever in history, but she pushed through it.

"You will have to be my boyfriend."

3,

2,

1,

0.

"Eh?!" Touma nearly shouted out loud, his eyes wide open. D-did she really just say that?! B-but I want a dorm manager onee-san! Yet... His heart was thumping loudly in his ears. ...do I love her? I always thought my misfortune would drive them away. But...

"You better not say no." Mikoto's glare that followed her statement took Touma aback for a second. "Especially after you made me say it..."

"...Alright." Touma sighed. "I'll be your boyfriend. Such misfortune."

"Huuuh!" Mikoto exclaimed in anger. "Why would me being your g-girlfriend," She stumbled over that part. "be a misfortune!"

"W-well..." He trailed off. "It's just...my misfortune would always drive people away. Any chance of a relationship would be gone. They would be faced with the misfortune I face on a daily basis. My family does not have my luck, since they win lotteries. Plus, my funds are pretty much broke, so any person in a relationship with me would- Mmph!"

Mikoto frowned when she heard Touma's explanation. That is too pessimistic. If his misfortune is so bad that it leads to this type of thinking...Then again, part of it also comes from his nature. Having heard enough, she silenced hi with her hand.

"Well, be thankful that I am not an ordinary girl." She smirked at his expression. "I am a Level 5, so I have lots of funds. And I am a powerful esper, who is living in a place full of metal and electronics. I can protect myself just fine here. You can help protect me from magic I help protect you from the Science side. Besides," She leaned closer. "I fell in l-love with you, s-so I might as well deal with your misfortune."

"Eh?"

That was the last thing that Touma said before he felt something warm touch his lips. ...What?

Blinking, he found himself kissing the brown haired esper once more, this time with the girl initiating it. This...feels kinda nice...

"Kah ha ha! Pay up dear friend of mine!"

A sudden shout caused the newly formed couple to separate hastily.

"H-how long have you been standing there?" Mikoto barely managed to speak through her embarrassment, her blush rivaling that of Touma's.

"Oh, not too long." Percival smirked as he leaned against the door leading to the driver seat. "Ever since Touma got zapped."

"S-so the whole thing then!"

"Ah, forget it." Percival's smile started to irritate Touma. It reminded him too much of a certain spy.

Back in his dorm room, said spy sneezed suddenly.

"Hmm?" Tsuchimikado Motoharu looked up from the dating sim he was playing. "My senses are tingling! Kami-yan got a girlfriend nyah~!" He shouted out, standing up from his seat. "Aogami, do you feel it to?"

Beside him, Aogami Pierce looked at the blonde spy(despite his eyes remaining closed the entire time) "Yeah! My kami-yan disease senses are tingling! Kamijou got a tsundere-rich ojou-sama-middle school girlfriend! Damn yoouu Kamijooooooou!"

"...How are you able to know Kami-yan's girlfriend's attributes?" Motoharu asked, confused.

"Never underestimate me, Tsuchimikado!" Aogami sent a grin towards the spy. "My love of any and all genres have given me a power of detecting Kami-yan's potential girlfriends...which exceed 10,000?! How the hell did Kamijou get that many admirers?!"

The clones... Motoharu thought with a twitching face. ...Kami-yan, you are a god amongst men. "Aogami, what other attributes are among the potential girlfriends of Kami-yan?"

"Hmm..." Aogami placed his fingers to his temples. "...Rich ojou-sama, tsundere, yandere, dandere(1), legal loli, loli, busty onee-san, maid, act girl, kuudere(2), goddess, foregin beauty, nun, sex deviant, little sister, sister, army personal, cat girl, zombie girl, heiress, and cyborg girl!"

"...I think some of them are not possible..."

"Why not?" Aogami countered. "With Academy city's technology, we could very well make a zombie girl and cat girl!"

"No no no," Motoharu waved his hand, making a fanning action. "Zombie girl and cat girl belong in the fantasy genre. Don't mix it up with reality, you pervert."

"Pervert?" Aogami scoffed at Motoharu's words. "I am no pervert! I love any and all girl types, from 2-D to 3-D! Unlike you, who only loves little sister characters! Maika should come with me and see how her onee-chan behaves!"

"Don't bring Maika into this, you bastard!"

"Want to go, Sis-con sergeant!?"

""ORAYAH!""

"Also," Percival drawled out. "You are gonna owe me for this, Kamijou-san."

"Why's that?" He looked at Percival with a wary gaze.

"Have you forgotten who Misaka-san knocked out?" Under his expression, the newly formed couple widened their eyes comically.

Kuroko! / Shirai-san! Both of them thought about the twin-tailed girl's reaction to them being a couple.

"Don't worry, I knocked her out again. I'll wake her up when we start to plan. Speaking of," Percival drew his head back into the curtains. "Informant, you gonna come in? Bring your victim in too."

And so, that was how the planning started.

Timeskip

"Alright, everyone got it?"

There was general mutter of agreement to Percival's question. He nodded in satisfaction.

"Remember, we have to either incapacitate or kill High Priest together." Percival stressed the word 'together'. "If not, the plan would end up being useless."

"I'll get going then." Kuroko spoke out, before she teleported out of the van.

"...Why did Kuroko give Informant such a terrified look?" Mikoto noted the look she had given Informant when he had gotten close to her. Fear had clouded her eyes, and she always backed away unconsciously by 1 single step whenever he moved near her.

"Ah, well Informant has this love of eating spicy food." Percival explained. "So, he always adds capsaicin to his foods. Deserts, sandwiches, even snacks! And this stuff is highly concentrated, so if you ever have a lick of the stuff...your tongue would not just feel like it was on fire. It would feel as if your entire head was burning in lava. Plus, from what I heard, Shrai-san was speaking too much, so he stuffed one of his special donuts into her mouth."

"Ah." Mikoto did not know what to say about that. One one hand, Kuroko was her friend. On the other, Kuroko always groped her bust, so she had mixed feelings about this.

"Erm...Yurei-san?" Misaki finally chose to speak. She had been silent most of the duration of the meeting.

"Yeah?"

"Erm, I overheard you say something about 'clone wars'," Mikoto stiffened a little at that, but Misaki ignored it. "and I could not help but wonder, what is it really."

"It is a plan name."

"But, why clone wars?"

"It was a tactic I once made." Percival explained. "It involved using multiple groups to first subdue, then capture or kill, a target. This tactic also had a chance to fail, depending on the target's power level, so as part of the plan, an escape vehicle was to be secured for each team."

"I see...by my deduction ability, I suppose this plan would be called honey pot?"

"Right in one!" Percival snapped his fingers. "Well then..."

"Let the games begin."

(1) - Usually quiet. But when someone they love come, they come out of their shell.

(2) - Someone who is expressionless on the outside, but is very caring on the inside

AN

Well, this chapter is a little bit of a bore. I think, anyway. Not too sure on you guys, since I know my layout(More or less.)

And, to address something someone said.

The helicopter torture is a big NO NO. For a few reasons. The main one being that there would be a few casualties, at the very least, with a copter crashing and burning in the middle of the city(Or, in this case, a Anti-skill training facility.)

That said, I DO find the torturing of an old man who is sadistic and yandere to be amusing, so you can hope for some sort of torture in the next chapters.