Thanks to recent events, Misaki had no luck whatsoever in getting even close to Misaka. Neither would Junko be able to even bring up Gekota, let alone other topics, as she was just too embarrassed to talk about any of it. This cut the two off more effectively than Kuroko could ever hope to achieve on her own and it slowly ate away at Misaki.
To drown her misery in something, Misaki spent more time with Dolly and Mitori. With Dolly being a clone of Misaka, this had the unfortunate consequence of constantly reminding her of what she was running away from. It also didn't help, that the three of them had such an emotional past. Mitori already came out about her feelings towards Dolly as soon as they were reunited and it seemed she reciprocated them. But just as much as she liked Mi-chan, Dolly liked to get touchy with Misaki, and Misaki didn't really want to abuse her powers just to stop her while refusing her without them would probably have done even more damage.

Ever since Misaka's panties were revealed to the world, she was berated daily by Kuroko not to wear childish underwear such as that. Although embarrassed, Misaka still held the position, that Gekota underwear was in fact not childish, and that those who derided it as childish were the really immature ones. The shorts were merely a means of avoiding not only trouble with such people, but upskirting shenanigans in general. And it should really have been common sense in a city, where Saten Ruiko existed.
The bigger issue, that was currently bugging Misaka, was the fact, that Shokuhou now knew of the panties and would have a field day talking about them. Even if she knew hers – they'd probably be something really mature with lots of lace, maybe a spider net pattern? – it would in the best case be mutually assured destruction, but much more likely a curb stomp battle in Shokuhou's favour.

"Speaking of 'watching what you do in public'…" Kuroko was not finished? How long did she want to drag this out? "How come you and Shokuhou have been seen together so often lately? And more importantly…" Kuroko showed her one of the many images, that were circulating all over the Internet. "Why am I not in that picture, onee-sama!"
If one looked closely enough, Misaka was also not in the picture. It rather depicted Shokuhou together with Mitori and that long-haired clone of hers, but few people knew of the existence of her "little sister", let alone whatever that was. Since it really looked as if they were dating, the theory, that Misaka wore a wig to meet Shokuhou in secret was pretty convincing.
As if. Shokuhou too must have been unaware of their existence, or else she would already have done something about them.
"A wig is not enough of a disguise to hide, that it's you." Kuroko also bought into the wig theory for the time being. "Here, look at the stories, that some of our students have written after they discovered this."

There was an entire archive of content all generated by a group of sexually frustrated middle school students. "All that is one paragraph?" Misaka was astounded by the sheer volume of their writing. "That really needs to be broken up into smaller pieces."
"What needs to be broken up is the idea, that you two are dating to begin with!" And again, Kuroko talked herself into a delusion, where she was the fated one by her side, who no one could ever replace.
The reality was quite different from what Kuroko saw and even more from what she believed.
That person in the photos was not Misaka. But she wished it was.

As if things weren't already hard enough on Misaki, Kuroko still insisted on teleporting Misaka away whenever she had a chance to. Although perhaps the fact, that she noticed this more and more frequently as time went by was also an indicator, that she really did want to meet her unlike before. If only someone could conveniently create a situation, in which the two of them were alone…
"Good news!" Junko rushed towards Misaki to hand over a movie ticket. "I've won two of those in a contest."
Two? She didn't seem to be holding the other one, though. Which must have meant…
"Thanks for going out of your way to make this possible." Part of Misaki was happy, that she now had a chance to meet Misaka. But another part felt sorry for Junko, who had to give up such a wonderful opportunity to a rival.

"Geh."
Misaka had already expected that movie ticket to be yet another one of those plans to get her together with Shokuhou. For once in her live she did have the same goal, but that didn't mean she was fine with the methods used. And as if to add insult to injury, her clone was already sitting to Shokuhou's right.
"Nice to see you." Shokuhou smiled brightly and patted the seat to her left as if asking Misaka to take a seat. She was wearing a Pyonko bracelet on her left arm… when did she start displaying interest in Gekota merch?
Misaka took the seat. "So, what's the big idea behind inviting me to a romance flick?"
"'A romance flick', is that what it is?" Shokuhou made a gesture as if she was questioning that idea, but at the same time she claimed not wanting to "ruin the experience". Which was it now?

In the end, the movie was quite different from what Junko had told her. She said it was a romantic story, but in reality an esper with the ability to stop time abused that in order to explore her sexuality and the girl she falls in love with conveniently had an immunity towards that ability. Similar things had been said about Shokuhou in light of the recent rumours. It would certainly be nice if Mental Out disappeared once she found true love, but that part was obviously fiction.
Speaking of Shokuhou, she and the other two cried in perfect harmony at every opportunity. Mostly tears of joy, Misaka assumed, since the ending was a happy one, but like Shokuhou couldn't Mental Out her, she could not peek into their heads to see whether her suspicion was correct either.

Misaki's heart was beating really fast throughout the movie. Sandwiched between Misaka and Dolly without an escape, she had to endure a very stimulating experience for over an hour. But in doing so, she managed to confirm the feelings she had. Now she only needed to confess them.
Dolly and Mitori already left as they had other stuff planned for the day. It was just her and Misaka now, and Misaka seemed in the mood for some shopping. At least she insisted on buying a Pyonko bracelet.
It was slowly getting late and they started heading towards their dorms, when Misaki realized, that nothing of what needed to be said had yet been said, and that it would only become more difficult if they allowed Kuroko the ability to interfere once again.
"Um, Misaka?"
"Yes?"
Misaki mustered up all the courage she had. "Actually, there is something I would like to tell you."
"Something you'd like to tell me?" Misaka echoed.
"Yes!" Misaki was a little too tensed up. "Um…" She spotted a white bench with gold painted handles. Not only did those colours perfectly fit the one she was wearing herself, it was also the perfect seat to take to put her exhausted and cold feet to rest. "First, would you sit next to me?"