Misaki had known for a while now, that Junko bonded with Misaka over some weird frog thing. Having looked into it a little, she was astonished by what people were willing to buy when it had that face on it. Panties and bras were just the beginning…
Was Misaka like Junko in this regard? How far would she go if the item happened to be rare enough? This might have been the greatest opportunity yet.

"Onee-sama… Onee-sama. Onee-sama! ONEE-SAMA!"
Misaka was shaken out of her daydream by Kuroko's voice.
"Don't space out like that."
"I'm sorry."
Just like a week without incident went by, she didn't see Shokuhou after the kiss. Thankfully, she used those powers of hers to erase everyone's memory except for Junko's and Junko was willing to keep quiet about it. More troubling were her feelings when and after it happened. She couldn't deny, that she liked it when it happened – it tasted a bit like citrus – but even more so, she was confused about what to make of the non-sexual component of it. Sure, maybe Shokuhou wasn't annoying at all times of the day, but to say that she even liked her was already far fetched. Love? Not possibly…
"ONEE-SAMA!"
"Huh?"
"Don't apologize if you're going to daze off again." Kuroko was seriously angry this time. "Good grief, what has your thoughts so occupied you're not even trying to retort?"
"Kuroko…" Misaka didn't want to bother her with this, but there was not really a way around it either. "You often say 'love knows no gender', don't you?"
"Onee-sama, does this mean you finally…" Kuroko teleported herself towards Misaka as always, and as always Misaka instinctively pushed her away.
"It's not like that." The strength in her push weakened as she was trying to find words to explain herself. "Up till now I thought you were special in that regard… but perhaps you're not."
Kuroko stopped struggling too, when she heard those words.
"I think Shokuhou might be like that too."
It took Kuroko a while before she made out, what Misaka was intending to say. "I find that comparison insulting. Just because I love you, onee-sama, doesn't mean, that I would form a brainwashed lesbian harem if I had the power to do so."
Brainwashed lesbian harem? Was that the true nature of Shokuhou's clique? Kuroko probably knew more about that than Misaka ever would, not least thanks to her work at Judgement. Members of her clique were in that too, is that the reason why she knew so much about it? "Could you tell me more about that brainwashed harem of hers?"

Misaki looked with the same satisfaction at her creation, that researchers showed towards espers when their experiments showed the results they were hoping for. "Finally," she said towards herself, "Pyonko pair phone straps."
Pyonko pair phone straps must have been the most unique Gekota item to exist, as there was only one set consisting of two complementary pieces. It wasn't even a surprise to Misaki, that the people in charge of the brand never even considered the idea. Of course there were all sorts of Gekota/Pyonko pair items, but two Pyonkos holding hands? That was heresy.
Misaki let out a sigh. She could easily have used her Mental Out to achieve this goal, but then Misaka would probably have accused her of using her powers in sinister ways. She had to do this the way an ojou-sama would usually go around acquiring unique items such as that… by moving a huge stack of cash from her account to theirs. Of course via proxy.

The deal Misaki arranged with the manufacturers would ensure, that this particular set remained unique, but as she thought about it some more, she played with the idea of letting same-sex relations be normalized through Gekota or Pyonko merch. And if she played with that idea as someone who was neither interested in Gekota nor the money he generated…
Gay Gekota sold like crazy. The first wave of a few thousand pairs vanished from store shelves in less than an hour. News reports were written about it en masse, some praising the brand for its progressive message, some decrying moral degradation, some critical of what they assumed to be nothing but a ploy to make even more money out of an already successful franchise. Some special nutcases even argued, that it was a government conspiracy to turn real frogs gay as if Gekota merchandise had any influence on them. Why they were even given attention was anyone's guess.
Misaki wondered for a brief moment, what news would be written if her plan was made known. She rather quickly discarded that thought as a pointless exercise of her brain power, since she had no intention of revealing herself to the public anyway.

"Wha-? It's sold out here as well?" That voice belonged without a doubt to Misaka. Just as planned, she was already out there searching for the gay Gekota. Of course she would after all the attention it has garnered.
"Misaka-saaan~" Misaki waved her hand at her, greeting her with a bright smile on her face.
Misaka however, was not happy to see her. "I have something important to do and you'll only slow me down!"
It looked like her plan backfired once again. Misaka was so preoccupied with Gekota, she didn't even see the people around her. If things were to be like that, Misaki could not possibly hope to reach her through normal means. Even with the item she had, it would prove to be very difficult.
Misaka was just about to rush past Misaki in order to head towards another store, but Misaki could not allow that. "Hold it right there." Misaka turned around. "What if I told you I have what you're looking for?" She revealed her Pyonko pair phone straps. The two of them together formed a heart with their arms, completely different from the ones they sold in the store, that merely held hands. Even among a group of people all having Pyonko pair phone straps, the two of them would stand out with those.
"Don't bother me with some cheap knock-off, I'm here for the real deal!"
"This is the real deal!" Misaki held out one part of the pair. "Just look at it and try to deny that it's Pyonko!"

Misaka took the strap from Shokuhou. It really was Pyonko, who formed half of a heart with her arms. Still remaining in Shokuhou's hands was another Pyonko, who did the same but flipped horizontally so that the two of them formed a pair. The timing of this was just too convenient. How come Shokuhou of all people had a pair of Pyonko phone straps unlike every other Pyonko pair in existence just after they were released to the public? Something was very fishy about this.
"Can I have that?" Misaka's urges as a Gekoer betrayed her. She blurted out something, that could be abused at any moment and knowing Shokuhou she would do so instantly.
"If you're talking about the one in your hand, I intended to give you that anyways, so…"
What a roundabout way of saying, that she'd be holding onto the other half. But for what reason would she want to do that? It was not like she showed interest in anything Gekota-related at any point before that, so it seemed a little out of character. Very out of character if you considered everything else about the situation as well. Why would she even give her half of it, was a ghost possessing her or something?

There was no method of finding out other than asking. "And what about the one you're holding?"
Her reaction to that was… an innocent blush? Not what Misaka had expected. "I wanted to keep that to myself… and maybe use it… if you don't mind."
"Use it? How?" The ghost hypothesis became likelier and likelier per each line of dialogue.
"Well, I don't know. What do you do with those things?"
That was the last straw. Maybe if she had an actual use for it, Misaka could have pardoned Shokuhou withholding such a rare item from her, but this made it clear, that it had no purpose other then being a means to get her to act as she wanted.

"Oh, I get it!" Sparks of electricity were forming around Misaka as she channeled her anger. "You were thinking I'd join your lesbian harem if you just acted nice enough."
"L-lesbian harem? Who told you about that?" That was not the way Misaki wanted to phrase this. It was true, she had her clique perform acts on her that others would consider to be lewd, not to mention how she'd sometimes outright flirt with them. But hearing someone call it her lesbian harem was a bit unsettling.
"So it's true." Misaka was even more annoyed now. Not that Misaki could blame her when someone gave her such an exaggerated idea of what her clique was.
"Okay, okay, calm down." She put her hands up in the air as a sign of her surrender, the second half of the Pyonko pair still dangling from one of her palms. "Let's just say this never happened and you can have both of them."
Misaka pondered about her proposal for a bit. After a while, she took it without words and left.
Misaki sighed in relief. That surely did not go as planned. It might even have worsened their relation towards each other.