*Beep* *Beep*

An alarm clock buzzed to the right of our dear protagonist, Kamijou Touma. Alive and well and sleeping at home.

This was the call for Touma, who previously lay in bed with his legs and arms spread out and somehow forming 90-degree angles at the knees and elbows, to rise and shine.

It was 9 a.m. after all, high time for anyone wishing to keep their health in order to wake up.

"The one you are seeing wake up now is me, Kamijou Touma." he started narrating in his head.

"*fwpfwaaaah*" Touma yawned and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles as he slowly opened them up.

"It seems like today won't be as unkind to this Kamijou's poor soul as yesterday. Index dragged me around, ordering me to buy all sorts of things for her with me having to tell her that I don't have the money every time. It's good that she still doesn't know I lost all of my memory that day though. She'd either be sad or be very angry at me like in the hospital. Probably both." Touma started narrating before switching to his own thoughts, him still rubbing his eyes.

"Anyway, what time is-?" Touma started to ask a rhetorical question as he finally stopped rubbing his eyes and looked at his rather outdated alarm clock to the side of his bed.

The time on the clock was actually 11:49 a.m. He was exactly 2 hours and 49 minutes late to give a hungry Index some kind of breakfast.

Touma thought for a moment and came up with a brilliant idea!

Touma's bet was now on convincing Index that this was his plan all along and that they'd be having the mighty thing commonly known as BRUNCH! He'd even let Index eat a lot more than she-

"*Fukou da*" he sighed out his signature phrase as his face fell.

Evidently, that would put him in so much debt that to him it felt like bankrupt businesses with millions of dollars in debt would have a higher chance of repaying said debt…

"Kami-sama, can you give me a break today? Please…?" Touma put his palms together and looked up towards the sky above the ceiling.

Touma stayed like that for a good minute with a hopeful expression, before he ultimately his facial veins enlarged and he no longer looked hopeful, but annoyed as he looked up towards the sky with that expression for a second.

He soon lowered his head and sighed.

"I should probably be expecting all of this, honestly. What with me and my misfortune." Touma said as his shoulders slumped, and he scratched the back of his head.

"ToUUUmAAA!" he heard Index exclaim in an annoyed tone.

"You don't give me a break do you, Kami-sama?" Touma said as he exhaled, rubbed the back of his neck, and stretched his limbs out a bit before standing up and heading over.

"Good morning, Index. Do you need me or something?" Touma said worriedly as he opened the door leading from his bedroom to the living room, hoping to all "Kanzakis" of the world that they'd give him a proper burial if Index bites his head off.

Index, dressed in her 'paperclipped' Walking Church, stood in the middle of the room, holding a letter and frowning at Touma.

"This nice man brought this to this address. He said that it was addressed to Touma and so I said I'll hand it over to you, but you didn't come out despite me calling out for you for 20 minutes! I patiently waited right here for you, Touma!" Index sulked and pouted as she still had a letter in her hands, which were outstretched towards Touma.

"Thank you! I'll go change out from my pajamas and we can read it together." Touma said as he swiftly snatched the letter out of Index's hands, turned around, and headed back for his room. "I need to escape! Before she remembers she's very hungry!" he thought, his face covered in dripping sweat as he hoped for some impossible fortune to appear.

"*MhmhmhmhMHMHMHMH*!" Index's anger was slowly building up as Touma was walking away.

"You didn't even apologize!" Index exclaimed as she swiftly ran after Touma and bit him in his precious spiky scalp with Touma's eyes being filled with 'comedic tears of hopelessness'.

"And this is the life of me, Kamijou Touma. You might think that this unfortunate strange incident is a rare occurrence, but misfortunately those happen to me on a daily basis." Touma narrated in his own head.

"Sorry for making you wait, Index. Can I get changed though? I don't think pajamas are good for going outside." Touma said in a slightly tired tone. Getting bitten so early in the morning wasn't particularly what he wanted.

Index 'freed his precious scalp'.

"*Hmph* Buy me some delicious food today then." Index bargained.

"Hai, Hai." Touma said the Japanese in-between between 'yes, yes' and 'I hear you, I hear you' as he headed off to change.

Touma looked very relieved. It looked like food was a non-issue for Index at the time. His life was saved.


"So… here goes." Touma said as he prepared to rip open the letter.

He and Index sat in front of the TV that Touma luckily had. At least, our poor (in multiple ways) Level 0 protagonist had access to Television despite his very minuscule stipend.

The letter ripped open, revealing that the contents have seemingly been written in something red.

"KAMIJOU TOUMA-SAN,

It is very kind of you to read the first letter we have attempted to send you. You are the only person we can ask for help with our request.

Your acquaintance, Misaka Mikoto, has been kidnapped and is currently being held against her will at the following coordinates: Academy City, district 17, block 13.

The kidnapper-terrorists are planning to use her as a bargaining chip to demand something from Academy City officials. Given that you know about how her feedback was not valued in regards as to how the LEVEL 6 SHIFT series of 'experiments' proceeded…it is highly likely that the officials will just sit tight and let the terrorists kill her as the latter will likely lash out against such silence and end Misaka Mikoto's life in frustration.

Please… Save the Railgun.

Sent by: A.E.6."

"I-Index… Is… Is this blood?" Touma said as his eyes widened at the sight of the message written completely in red.

"I-It… It doesn't seem like it. Messages written with blood or with blood added to their ink have a particular look to them. This was just written using a red pen." Index elaborated as she herself was a bit taken aback by such a letter.

"A-Anyway, it seems weird to receive a letter in red ink, right? Especially one that has stuff like this written like this *hahaha*" Touma said and nervously laughed.

"Touma?" Index looked at Touma with puppy eyes.

"Yes?" Touma turned to Index, the nervousness remained.

"Are you going to go save Tanpatsu?" Index looked worriedly at Touma.

"I… As the creepy letter says, there isn't anyone else who can go and save Biri-Biri right now probably. Don't worry Index, I've got a plan. If I rescue her, I can ask her to buy you some food. Maybe she'll finally learn that all people don't have an unlimited amount of money if she buys all the tons of delicious stuff you want and like a lot." Touma said with a cheerful smile.

"Are you praising me or attacking me?" Index sulked.

"Anyway, I'll go save Biri-Biri. Take care of the house and DON'T leave the shower running." Touma instructed with a smile as he stood up and was almost ready to head out. His budget oriented, but iconic attire was present on him alongside a black light jacket that he got for 200 yen at the 99% off sale. For that time only, his luck seemed to be on his side.

"But bathroom snakie was so fun~." Index beamed with happiness as she reminisced of how she played with the flexible pipe of the shower not too long ago, wriggling it around like a snake and sometimes making it emit water, emulating how snakes spray out their venom.

"Index, no." Touma said sternly as he started pulling Index's cheeks, thinking of how anyone who heard her say it without any context would probably imprison him for life for pedophilia or something (which was a good consideration given his track record with luck).

"Promise me that you won't repeat that at least." Touma said sternly.

"I pwomish." Index said normally but sounded weird due to the cheek pull.

"Alright. I'm off then." Touma stood up, headed to the apartment's door, and turned around to show a left-handed thumbs up to Index at the end as well as a wink with his left eye.

"Come back safe, Touma." Index said warmly and closed her eyes.


"Jonah! Get your fucking ass over here! Our "fair maiden" is waking up, haha!" a gruff voice of a terrorist clad in modern body armour with a balaclava on his head and with an assault rifle in hand called out to the similarly outfitted comrade, apparently called 'Jonah'.

Mikoto slowly opened her eyes as she tried to move and punch this random bastard in the face, but found herself restrained, gagged and tied to some kind of weird-looking metal pole with some metal half-braces tied tightly around her wrists and calves that were impossible to get out of and held her up slightly above the ground. The weird metal pole was connected to the ground and ceiling but had two motor lookalike devices of some kind in between the actual ground/ceiling and the metal pole.

Mikoto glared at the terrorist and he glared back, this continued for a while until a voice called out for the terrorist in front of her.

"Shut your trap, Isamu. Boss is doing the dealings with this place's elites right now. Or did you hit your head on the pavement and forget what we came here for, stupid bastard?" Jonah, the guy with the decently young sounding voice, shot back at the gruff-voiced Isamu.

Mikoto did not like this guy either. While the first one had the physique of a bully, the second one was a prime suspect for being a possible child molester.

"You're mean, anniki!" Isamu called Jonah 'elder brother' and did so jokingly. Or that's what could be assumed because of the tone of Isamu's voice.

Unexpectedly, Isamu received a right hook to the face from Jonah.

"Yes, I am. And if you'll keep shouting and interrupt Boss's conversation, you'll be fed alive to dogs or an alligator. Depends on what Boss prefers. Now shut it and maybe thank me later for saving your life." Isamu said slightly quieter than before. That conversation that their boss was having seemed important.

"*Hmmmmm*" Mikoto hummed with annoyance and a bit of anger, her eyebrows deforming to form a frown and the gag doing its job of not letting Mikoto shout that much. "Damn it! I only wanted to get another round at the arcade yesterday. I specifically told Kuroko about it, but then those guys had to sweep in, throw sleeping gas inside the arcade and kidnap me! Oh… they already have it coming… I can already tell that this will end badly for them. I only need to keep quiet and stall for time. Even though they cloned me thousands of times, the elites of Academy City will surely do something about a kidnapped Level 5! I'm sure of it!" Mikoto thought, her eyes showing determination and a sense of calm. She wouldn't allow herself to fall into despair like when she learned of the Sisters. It wouldn't help her situation at all.

"Ah… like you said, Isamu. Our sleeping beauty…" Jonah said with delight.

"Like hell. You're an old hag, Railgun. I only come after beautiful maidens 5 years younger than you." Jonah's demeanor sharply shifted to antagonistic as he described with great pain how he only came after 'beautiful maidens' aged 9 and younger. "This guy's truly a freak of nature." Mikoto summarized in her head as she glared at him with disgust before turning to the other as he started speaking.

"Ah~. Don't worry Railgun. I'm not some weirdo like this comrade of mine. I accept all women regardless of age and EVEN sexual orientation. I only seek princesses trapped in high castles though. But do not worry. Even though you aren't a princess, nor are you in a high castle… You are very much trapped with no hopes of getting out! Oh~~~. How much do I LOVE them… Physically too of course~." Isamu said as he approached Mikoto with an expression of great lust and interest in her.

"*Fweeeh*" Mikoto muffled through the gag, her eyes widening, her expression turning to fear, her legs starting to shiver in place along with the rest of her body.

"Come onnnn~." The absolute freak, whose mother should've honestly named him 'Rapist' instead of Isamu, closed in.

"*Grghhh*" Mikoto attempted what she first thought against. This was the time to take matters into her own hands and use the metal pole as a weapon to deal with those two and escape. It was their own fault that they left metal in such close proximity to her. She'd surely be able to-

Both terrorists grinned with delight at the sight.

"*GAAAAARGHHHHHH*" Mikoto felt strong pain across every nook and cranny of her body as it seemed like whatever electricity was produced by her was being sucked out of her and pulled somewhere else instead.

She didn't stop immediately as maybe they didn't expect her to overpower whatever device they tried to use.

"*KHHHHHGGGGGHHHH*" Mikoto strained but more and more electricity was being pulled out as she noticed that the two 'motor-shaped' devices were the cause. They were somehow sucking up all of the electricity her esper ability produced as it felt like her back was being crushed against the pole because of electromagnetism the siphoned electricity produced.

"Useless, useless, Railgun. You cannot escape. We wouldn't have brought out TWO electrical 'powersinks' otherwise. But you know what, Railgun? I love it even more when trapped women are scared and distressed. That feeling of connection…~? I'm sure it alleviates all their worries~. You'll feel it too don't you worry~. And besides… You'll feel more pain if you try to electrocute me that I will~." Isamu continued advancing as Mikoto was drained of almost the entirety of her power.

"Why…?" Mikoto thought as tears started to form in her eyes.

"OHHHHHH…~ And I LOVE when maidens cry even more! They'll certainly feel much better than before!" Isamu continued inching closer, while Jonah's expression maintained an absolutely twisted grin that formed earlier.

"Why am I… so useless…?" she continued thinking, more tears fell.

Isamu inched closer and closer, finally coming close enough to touch Mikoto.

He pulled down Mikoto's shorts she wore all the time only to reveal the childish underwear.

"Gekota? Sorry, Jonah, looks like this Gekota lover's for me. Even though you said you'd have fun with any Gekota lover regardless of age…" Isamu joked as he pulled the shorts down to Mikoto's knee height, thoroughly enjoying the sickening process.

"Insistent bastard." Jonah grit his teeth and glared at his all-too-lucky colleague.

"Why am I… so defenseless…? This here… is just like that time, isn't it…?" she thought.

And thus, without much time left wasted Isamu reached out, ready to reveal either something hidden in her groin or under the bra. He was thoroughly going to-

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

The two terrorists and the Level 5 all heard the 3 loud knocks from a nearby metal door.

Even though Mikoto made sure to study her captors, she never noticed that there was a door nearby. Maybe her overreliance on her ability showed as, without her ability and Radar Sense, she missed out on such a crucial detail.

"*Tch* Right when we got to the good part." Isamu looked thoroughly disappointed.

"I'll come to see who it is. Keep watch for me, Jonah." Isamu asked.

"If you die by some intruder rushing out of the door, I'll be having fun with Railgun instead, idiot." Jonah only 'half-joked'.

"Fuck you." Isamu shot back as he already headed out.

"That would be gay. I'll accept, but only if you're into it." Jonah continued.

"Go fuck yourself." Isamu replied again.

"Alright, that's more like it." Jonah seemed satisfied.

Mikoto watched at the display with a glint of hope that help has already come here and that there was her saviour on the other end of the door and not a comrade of those actually fucked-up individuals.

Isamu approached the door, opened it, and started talking, revealing that this door was the only thing separating Mikoto from the outside as it was now evident that the place that she found herself in was very much on the ground floor.

"Huh? The hell do you want kiddo? Don't you-? *BGWARGH*" Isamu stepped outside and started talking only to receive a more powerful punch to the face than before, knocking him off to the side.

"YOU'VE GOT THE NERVE, EH?!" Jonah yelled out, not caring if Boss will scold him later. Taking care of the intruder was a priority.

Jonah rushed towards the door, not seeming like he was a pushover at all. Jonah would make sure that 'kiddo' would-

*BAM*

Jonah tripped up on the leg of said extended kiddo and fell onto the concrete, knocking himself out just with that.

Mikoto's hopes shone brightly, just who was that-

"Ah! Biri-Biri?" Kamijou Touma triumphantly entered the scene through the door.

"*DNT UU BR BR MMMMMMM!* *Tsss Msssk Mktkt!*" Mikoto managed to muffle out through the gag, even though she clearly said "DON'T YOU BIRI-BIRI ME! It's Misaka Mikoto!" in her head.

"Ah. Did you say something just now?" Touma said as he carefully looked around the place.

"*GHHHHHHH!*" Mikoto muffled out. Sadly, this had no meaning in her head. This was just a 'sound of disappointment', coupled with the obvious "let me out!" sentiment, which any person that'd see a restrained person would understand.

"Sorry, sorry. I had to check if there was anyone up above us. Are you alright?" Touma asked as he quickly ran up to Mikoto.

Mikoto nodded quickly.

"Did they hurt you?" he asked too.

Mikoto shook her head, seriously being pissed about being unable to say yes because the idiot in front of her would probably misconstrue that as "I am physically hurt", which she was thankfully not.

"*Mhhhhm*!" Mikoto pointed with her head towards the 'motor-shaped-device' under her.

"Down there? What's down there? Oh!" Touma got that after actually taking a look and not asking questions. It was surreal for Mikoto how she narrowly escaped horrible treatment only to be thrust into a makeshift comedy scene.

Touma might have not known how to deal with and use esper abilities, but he liked sciences. And science told him that the big red symbol was probably the one to press.

He pressed it and nothing happened.

"Is this thing even on?" he obliviously asked as he turned to face Mikoto.

"*MHMMMM!*" Mikoto's eyes drilled into the item, likely signifying a yes.

Without wasting more time, Touma decided to hold the button.

After 3 seconds of Touma holding the button, Mikoto felt relieved a bit but only a bit. Her esper power was still not usable probably.

The powersink beeped and shut down as Touma sighed a sigh of relief and smiled awkwardly towards Mikoto.

It was at that moment that Mikoto remembered something.

She was STILL gagged! How could she forget to ask for help with that in the first place?! It'd save so much time!

Touma turned back to Mikoto who was doing weird head movements in all directions and humming to make him notice something.

"What? What's everywhere?" Touma didn't have a clue.

Mikoto's head fell as she gave up.

"Come on, Biri-Biri. We gotta hurry up, so say-" Touma paused for a second "-it…" he finally got what she meant.

As those events seemingly proved, the only time people forget to ungag another person or forget to ask for it is when they're too 'in-their-own-head' trying to free other bodily parts.

"*Phaah* Couldn't you have done it sooner?" Mikoto eyed Touma with disappointment, still practically hanged up by her calves and wrists that were very securely secured to the metal pole.

"Uh… Sorry, I forgot." Touma replied sheepishly.

"I kinda did too…" Mikoto admitted.

"So-!" Touma was about to say something but was immediately interrupted.

"Anyways! There's another one of this atop of the ceiling. Can you get up and shut it off too? I can't free myself otherwise." Mikoto said seriously.

Touma looked up at the ceiling and his jaw dropped.

"It's 5 meters high, Misaka-san!" Touma complained.

"And there's at least one more comrade of those two somewhere! Hurry up, you idiot!" Mikoto shot back as she really wanted to kick him in his leg, but she was barely able to move her foot, so she pretended she did it in her mind.

"Excuse me!" Touma said as he put his foot on Mikoto's shoulder.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Mikoto was entirely unsure of what was going on.

"I can't climb up with you in the way. It's going to be fine! Just don't move!" Touma explained as he pulled himself up on Mikoto's shoulder and swiftly put his other foot on top of her head.

"Just don't stand on me for too long." Mikoto complained with a strained voice. It was painful, but not as painful as being sucked dry of Electromaster abilities via those two powersinks.

"Alright!" Touma grunted as he got off Mikoto and started slowly climbing the pole. If Touma had one thing going for him in everyday life, it'd be his great physical ability and skill in lots of tasks. That never actually helped his luck…

…but that's a whole other thing.

After about 30 seconds, he finally reached the other powersink and switched it off.

"All done!" Touma called out.

"*Ghhh*" Mikoto electromagnetically twisted, turned and the half-braces that held her and dropped to the floor, quickly pulling her shorts back up.

Touma did his best to slowly slide down the pole, in turn. He made sure to blow on his hands when he got down, sliding down stuff is only painless in movies.

"Honestly, where was he looking? He didn't even see my shorts down, huh? That idiot. I can't believe he can be so absent-minded sometimes." Mikoto complained in her thoughts. Granted, she really did want to know what would have happened had he not come to save her.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Three very loud claps could have been heard from a dimly lit area of the warehouse-like place Touma and Mikoto found themselves in.

"Amazing! Such a wonderful attempt!" some weird chuunibyou voice could be heard from there.

"My name is Buka! And I am the wonderful Boss that my two and only subordinates follow! And I shall be thine opponent!" he proclaimed proudly as he stepped out into the light. He was fully dressed in Shounen Jump merchandise. From the Dragon Ball Gi to the Hollow face mask from Bleach, and even to the Konoha headband that he kept on his arm from Naruto.

If anything, he didn't look like a serious opponent at all. By any metric.

Especially, his name…

How can someone literally called 'subordinate' be considered a boss? Neither Mikoto nor Touma had any clue. They were, however, rather stunned and collectively looked at Buka with disbelief.

Realistically, if one was a confident and weird rapist, the other was a child molester with specific preferences, why did this guy look like a chuunibyou NEET otaku? By all conventional and unconventional logic, this guy was no grand 'Boss' but probably just overheard something and strolled inside. A chuunibyou bossing around the other two seemed impossible.

At least, that's what Mikoto and Touma believed.

"Hear thy servant's call!" the strange guy quickly pulled out a scroll from his pocket, unfolded it, and turned it towards the pair.

"FIREBAAALLL!" Buka's scroll lit up as flame erupted out of it and headed straight for Touma and Mikoto.

This was Touma's signal to step in.

He raised up his right hand and stepped in front of Mikoto and the Fireball.

*Kaching*

Touma's Imagine Breaker destroyed the spell.

"We're heading out, Misaka! Don't get hit by this weird pyrokinesist!" Touma yelled as he grabbed Mikoto's hand and pulled her with him. Somehow Touma managed to alleviate Mikoto's worries about magic being real. He really didn't want her involved with any of that. Not yet at least.

"Wha- Wha- Wha-!" Mikoto felt weird getting grabbed and pulled along like that, but for now, she was happy following along.

The pair rushed out of the metal door as Touma took a sharp turn to the right with Mikoto right after him.

"FIREBALL!" another yell was heard, the fireball flew out just above the door, almost ending the lives of the chuunibyou guy's accomplices.

"We're making a run for it, Misaka!" Touma yelled out.

"O-Okay…!" Mikoto complied, she felt like she had to.

The pair quickly made distance with Touma holding her hand throughout.


""*Haah* *Haah*"" the two breathed heavily as they had made their way to district 9 and slumped down under a bridge there, both leaning against a wall.

"We got away safely, Biri-Biri." Touma stated the obvious.

"Stop calling me that!" Mikoto complained immediately.

"But all you do is call me 'that idiot' or something. It's only fair that I don't comply with you." Touma teased.

Mikoto couldn't help but acknowledge that after he'd saved her like that one more time.

"So? What do you want me to call you?" She said after a brief pause.

"You always say "I have a name!" when I call you Biri-Biri! Well, so do I! And it's Kamijou Touma! Remember it for once too, Misaka!" Touma explained loudly.

"Alright then, K-Kamijou…" Mikoto didn't seem too confident saying it.

"*Phaah*" Touma sighed of relief.

"Anyway, I'm glad I got that weird letter." Touma mumbled out loud.

"Weird letter? Of what kind?" Mikoto was immediately interested.

"Oh, uh… someone called A.E.6 said I had to come and save you. Does that right a bell?" Touma said, sounding a bit surprised she'd heard him.

Neither of them noticed but…

…the area under the bridge they were in was actually like an arch and was good at amplifying sounds. Especially under the breath mumblings. Since there were few if any cars in Academy City, their conversation wasn't even interrupted by the passing of those.

"No… No, it doesn't." Mikoto thought on it for a moment before replying.

"Well then, I guess you know as much about that as I do. How did you even get kidnapped in the first place?" Touma said casually.

"Look, if someone threw a sleeping gas grenade at your feet and you collapsed, you wouldn't be as nonchalant as you are now, you idiot." She complained.

"No weird nicknames. Remember, Biri-Biri?" Touma said, teasing her a bit.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Mikoto complained again.

"Excuse me, Misaka-san… How am I supposed to know what you mean by things? You never really talk to me in the first place. To be honest, whenever I'm close to you, I feel like I'm touching random wires in a power booth, randomly guessing which wire won't shock me with electricity." Touma spoke honestly.

"Y-You! You never said being around me is a problem before!" Mikoto was quite aghast.

"Well… I just thought it might be a good idea to be more honest with others about what I think. Is it not?" Touma continued, thinking back on how it helped him get Index to follow certain rules that helped both him and Index.

"It is a good idea…" Mikoto said and blushed.

"*Phew* That's good. Hey… why are your cheeks red? Are you cold?" Touma said, oblivious as always.

"Tha- Tha- Tha-…" Mikoto was unable to form words.

"Let me give you my jacket. That should help you warm up." Touma said with hospitality as he took it off and put it on top of Mikoto's shoulders.

Mikoto was still looking at him with disbelief, however. Partly because she didn't understand how he was so dense sometimes and partly because she was blown away by Kamjou's repeated kindness.

"T-Thank you…" She said softly.

"No problem! I'm here to help you whenever you need it." Touma said, making her blush even more.

"Now that I think of it, that letter from A.E.6 also mentioned that the elites of Academy City won't come to save you and you'll likely die if I don't come." Touma mumbled, not noticing Mikoto's increasing shock at those words.

"I'd die?!" Mikoto was not expecting it.

"Yeah. That A.E.6 person or group said that the negotiations would probably break down and that the terrorists would kill you in frustration as a result. I rushed out to save you because of it." Touma continued, not paying attention to the fact that he was saying some very serious things so casually.

"…ah" Mikoto was at a loss for words.

"You alright?" Touma asked.

"Well… It's a bit of a revelation that I would've died there if you hadn't come…" Mikoto wasn't really feeling good about possible future prospects.

"But those two would have probably tried to do things with me before…" Mikoto didn't notice that she said it out loud.

"What?!" Touma's face contorted into an expression of panic.

"They pulled down my shorts at first. EH?! Was I saying it-?" Mikoto finally noticed.

"They tried to do that to you?! Those…!" Touma looked properly pissed.

"It's fine, it's fine! You came to save me!" Mikoto tried to calm Touma down.

"No, it isn't! Are you hurt anywhere?! Wait, let me check you myself." Touma proceeded to check Mikoto's arms, legs, and back for injuries, making sure that there no bone was broken. He wouldn't forgive himself if he forced Mikoto to run along with him with a broken bone or if those freaks actually did something to her!

"Uhm…" Mikoto's blush only further increased as she couldn't really process what was happening.

"I-I'm o-okay…" Mikoto said softly.

Touma continued examining Mikoto for injuries though.

"*Phew* Looks like they didn't hurt you after all." Touma finally pulled away after conducting a thorough investigation on Mikoto's arms, legs, and back.

But the thing that Mikoto said under her breath was most surprising of all "The only reason I'm reacting like this is because I like you, you idiot."

For Touma that is. After all, this was the first time he heard it.

"Excuse me? Did you say you like me, Misaka?" Touma asked casually, though taken aback.

Mikoto's face instantaneously flushed with red in its entirety.

"No! No! No! How can you say that! Of course, I can't like you! I only really, really want to spend time with you! I enjoy spending time with you! My heart goes racing whenever you save me or say something nice to me! You may make me want to marry you, but I don't like you!" Mikoto blurted out.

It all made sense now.

For Touma, at the very least. He finally understood what the "I don't particularly like you!" line that Misaka often told him meant.

"To think that's how you felt about me…" Touma blushed slightly at the thought as well.

"Uhm… I-If that's the case… W-Will you go on a date with me?" Touma took the initiative. "Seriously, Biri-Biri. I'm in such a tough spot now. I… Ever since I lost my memories… I really don't know whether it's okay for me to like anybody. What if I had a girlfriend before that's still waiting for me? I don't really know… What I do know is that I like you. I like you as a friend, Biri-Biri. Whether I like you any more than that…" Touma thought.

At the same time, an incredible sea of thoughts filled Mikoto's head. She really didn't know what to think of it all. Touma asked her on a date of all things!

She didn't know until she remembered something. "How to respond if someone asks you on a date? I don't really know myself, but I heard that the popular internet advice is to kiss that person." Mikoto remembered Saten saying.

"All right. It's all or nothing." Mikoto prepared herself and…

*smooch*

Touma was shocked to find her kissing him on the lips. In this extremely brief, yet long moment, time slowed down for Touma and he felt himself liking where being kissed by Misaka…

But before he could process it, he immediately pulled back.

"What was that all of a sudden?!" Touma asked in disbelief.

"If someone asks you on a date, you need to kiss them to show them that you agree! That's how dates work!" Mikoto said with complete certainty.

"No, it isn't! You just say 'yes'!" Touma shot back.

"Really?" Mikoto looked petrified by the thought.

"Really!" Touma said loudly.

"Then what did I just…" Mikoto's blush increased tenfold with the realization.

Her posture dropped as she really didn't know what to do when she kissed Touma, which actually wasn't customary but probably looked like an actual kiss to Touma.

"She just kissed me. She said she likes me. I make her want to marry me…" Touma also fell victim to the curse of being very flustered. But he was less prone to being immobilized by this.

"K-Kamijou… I…" Mikoto was about to say something, something about it being an accident.

*smooch*

Touma leaned in and kissed on the lips Mikoto in return, not allowing her head to retreat as fast as his own did by holding her head with his hands, practically covering Mikoto's ears.

Touma slowly pulled away.

"I-If it's a custom… Both of us have to d-do it, r-right?" Touma spoke nervously.

Mikoto nodded once, her eyes wide open.

"Say… Does it say that the date has to be postponed if you confirm it by a kiss…?" Touma asked.

"N-No…" Mikoto responded a bit meekly.

"Alright. Let's go. We're going shopping!" Touma proclaimed.

"S-Shopping?" Mikoto was not following what was going on.

"Yes." Touma stood up and pulled Mikoto up.

"As a bonus, I'll show you how abysmal my allowance is, and I promised Index that I'll get you to buy food for me and her. I only have 500 yen left." Touma said and comedically cried.

Mikoto really felt like she was being taken advantage of. Though…

"Silver Sister? Oh… Yeah, I don't think it's possible to feed her with an allowance of a Level 0. Wait. Then… How did he manage it all this time?! Alright, I'll help him. T-This'll be o-our… d-date…" Mikoto thought.

"S-Sure…" Mikoto said, only to be pulled a second time.

The following date was a date filled with all sorts of things. From rice and potatoes to sushi and onigiri. With one of them dragging his face along, complaining about expensive food and the other reconsidering what she considered cheap.

But…

…that might be a story for another time.


Thank you for reading this one-shot of mine! I actually never dabbled in short fanfics before, but I hope this one was good in your eyes. The two of my other fanfics are incomplete due to being very long in my mind after all.

I'm considering doing a few 'somewhat unrelated' one-shots involving weird dates that Touma and Mikoto might have.

But that's only if they're wanted. For now, I think I'll release this and get back to furthering my OC fic and my crossover.

I don't think there's much to say except that these one-shots (if I make them) will be much less complex than my other two stories, which involve things from different languages to a bit of time travel.

Whatever the case may be, this is technically not the end, since I decided to add an "after-credits scene" of sorts.

Please enjoy:


""We're sorry, Boss!"" Isamu and Jonah were bowing down to their boss (to the point of it being a 'begging bow'), who sat on a chair in the corner of the room, next to the door.

"Everything is proceeding well. Now that Academy City knows we can kidnap a Level 5 and that we have magic in our possession, we'll have the attention of the board and the superintendent specifically! With that, we'll finally uncover UNDER_LINE!" Buka somehow managed to sound like the source of proper authority, despite still looking comically out of place.

*crash*

A white-winged angelic man, wearing a maroon blazer and matching trousers crashed into the conversation via a window, instantly killing the two of Buka's subordinates with debris and pieces of the angelic man's iconic…

…Dark Matter.

"Yo, everyone. Though I suppose 'someone' would be more appropriate now. Care to tell me more about UNDER_LINE? I'm itching to find out." Kakine spoke rather cordially and very calmly.

"K-Kakine Teitoku… The second-ranked Level 5, D-Dark Matter… The likes of you stand no chance at interrogating me!" Buka shouted desperately.

"Perhaps. But that's why he has me." Through the door walked Gokusai Kaibi, Measure Heart. Kakine's ally and fellow member of SCHOOL.

"Ask him." Kakine instructed.

"I was already going to." She said back to Kakine.

"Tell me, Buka." She began the interrogation with Kakine on standby in case of any complications.

"Tell me ALL about UNDER_LINE."