Mikoto could still remember the day Touma left Academy City. It was a sunny morning as they both sat under the shade of a tree in a park. The only thing she hated about that morning was the obnoxious chirping of the birds.
Touma took out a little Gekota keychain from his pocket. He said it was a farewell gift because he was leaving Academy City.
She wanted so badly for him to stay, but she wasn't shameless enough to say that out loud. Touma had already done so much for her by freeing her from the darkness.
"If you somehow reach Level 5, I promise I'll come back to find you," said Touma.
"Hmph. You better keep your word for I'm definitely going to reach Level 5 sooner than you think."
Touma raised his pinky up with a smile, "Promise."
Right now, Mikoto was on the rooftop of a building across Touma's school as she observed a flustered Touma with her binoculars who seemed to be explaining something to a pink-haired… child? No wait, that's his teacher Tsukiyomi Komoe. It was hard to believe that Miss Tsukiyomi was born with a condition that stopped her from growing since she was 12. It was even harder to believe that Misaki's starry eyes was something she was born with.
Misaki appeared from a blue portal with the newly transferred student Norikiyo Hana. Hana was a level 4 teleporter like Kuroko and could open a portal to teleport herself and others. If Hana could open multiple portals, she would have become a Level 5 as well. It wasn't hard for Misaki to recruit a valuable asset like Hana when Misaki had the largest clique in Tokiwadai.
"What are you doing here?" said Mikoto.
"I should be asking you that," said Misaki before snatching the binoculars from Mikoto. "Just as I thought, stalking your boyfriend instead of talking face to face to him."
"He's not my boyfriend."
Misaki laughed, "But the both of you were holding hands and kissing. If he's not your boyfriend, then what are you to him? A disposable hole to fulfill his loneliness?"
Mikoto clenched her fists as she struggled to keep herself from striking Misaki with lightning. Touma only held her hand because it was crowded and he didn't want to lose her. And the kiss was just an accident! Why was Misaki being so bitter anyway? She had no rights to be bitter about anything ever since she betrayed Touma.
"And you? You're the reason why Takitsubo Rikou managed to assassinate Kumokawa Seria so keep your mouth shut and accept that you'll never have a chance with Touma ever again."
Misaki fell silent as she pressed her lips together in agony. After all, it was Misaki who leaked Kumokawa Seria's hiding location to Takitsubo Rikou.
Misaki left a phone with a Gekota keychain before she stepped into a portal with Hana.
"Damn it," said Mikoto.
She should have asked about Touma's apparent memory loss instead of being upset at Misaki and said something horrible to Misaki in response. Misaki was like her, a victim of Kumokawa Seria's desire for more power within Academy City. Even though she hated Kumokawa Seria as much as Misaki, but Seria wasn't an evil psychopath. Seria only wanted more power because Seria wanted to protect her sister and Touma.
Touma didn't blame Misaki for betraying him because what Seria did to Misaki was unforgivable. Mikoto had no idea what exactly Seria did, but it must be something so horrible to the point that Touma would rather die than tell her.
Mikoto had a hunch that Touma's memory loss might be a pretense. The only way to prove that was to secretly follow him and wait for him to slip up. There was no way he could keep this up forever.
Mikoto smiled wistfully while hiding behind a streetlamp. He was still the same Touma she knew.
In that two hours, Touma slipped on a banana four times, missed the bus six times and got his wallet stolen by somebody. While the banana was him being unlucky, he missed the bus for the sixth time because he went all the way to help a small boy find his toy gun.
Even if he lost all his memories, at least he still remembered his pain of being unfortunate. That was why he kept on playing the hero to save strangers even if it costed him his life.
"Onee-sama. What are you doing?"
Mikoto turned behind in shock to see Kuroko.
"No-Nothing in particular."
"So you skipped classes because of him?"
Kuroko aimed her Judgement scanner device at Touma waving goodbye to the small boy who finally found his toy gun, "He does have a rather interesting ability, but what kind of relationship do you have with this guy for you to be stalking him for the last two hours or so?"
"Were you stalking me as well?"
"I was just simply worried ab-"
"Look," said Touma unamused. "Let's stop following each other alright? By the way Miss Judgement, this Level 5 over there has been following me for four hours already. Is there anyway you could arrest her for harassment?"
"Harassment?! I ju-just happened to be in the area," said Mikoto.
"Yeah right, Biribiri."
Mikoto bit her lip as Touma's words plucked a string in her heart that forced her tears to well up slightly.
She composed herself, careful not to burst into tears. "I have a proper name, you know. It's Misaka Mikoto."
"Unfortunately sir, Judgement are not authorized to arrest Level 5s on their own without backup from Anti-Skill," said Kuroko. "I will however, try and persuade her to stop following you."
While Mikoto tried her best to hold the tears back, some of it managed to escape and rolled down her cheeks as Kuroko dragged her away. Whether or not Touma was pretending to have lost his memories, it hurts so bad to see Touma treat her like a mere stranger.
Mikoto slotted coins into that vending machine at the park and pressed the button for soda twice. Two cans tumbled out soon after.
"Onee-sama. What's wrong? Is he the reason why you cried in your sleep last night? I'll punish him for being so insolent to my onee-sama!" said Kuroko. That boy must be affecting Mikoto a lot if she wasn't in her usual 'zapper' mode where she would illegally zap that vending machine for free drinks.
Mikoto stared at her soda can. "What if I've totally forgotten all about you for some reason or another. How would you feel?"
"Onee-sama…?"
Mikoto hugged Kuroko.
Kuroko smiled as she patted Mikoto's back, "Of course I would feel sad, but the onee-sama I know wouldn't give up that easily. Even if you can't get his memories back, what's stopping you from making new memories with him?"
Mikoto stood up and wiped her tears, "You're right. I can't just sit here and keep crying about something that I can't change."
"That's the spirit," said Kuroko. That was why she loved and admired Mikoto so much. After all, Misaka Mikoto was someone who never gave up and succeeded in reaching Level 5 despite the incredibly low odds.
Reports of students mysteriously going missing has been increasing lately." said Uiharu while typing in the data of those reports into a computer inside the office of the 177th Branch of Judgement.
Konori scanned through the profile of the missing students on her computer, "It's strange how all of them are students of Misawa Cram School. Something must be very wrong with that school."
Mikoto almost spat out the milk in her mouth. Miss Tsukiyomi had sent Touma for even more extra lessons in that cram school because of his abysmal grades.
"What's wrong?" said Konori.
Mikoto quickly wiped the milk away from the corner of her lips, "Nope, nothing's wrong at all. By the way, how's the investigation coming along?"
"It seems as though all of them disappeared within the compounds of the school, said Uiharu. "I can't say that the person behind it has a specific motive in mind. So far, all of the victims are only related by the fact that they're attending this cram school."
"Leave this to me. I'll get to the bottom of this," said Mikoto.
"What do you mean by 'leave this to me'?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm entering Misawa Cram School as a student of course."
"Kuroko is going to give me hell for this," sighed Uiharu as she went back to typing the data into her computer.
Mikoto flipped open her phone and started filling in the application form to join Misawa Cram School as a student. Geez. It's not like she joined because she was worried about Touma or anything. She just wanted to get to the bottom of a mystery that was endangering people's lives.
Touma scratched his head as he opened up a map on his phone, "Where could that Misawa Cram School be?"
A notification popped out, informing him that the map has encountered an unknown error.
"Rotten luck..."
Perhaps it was karma for making Mikoto cry. He was too used to calling Mikoto with that nickname. Sometimes, he wished that he actually lost his memories. At least he could forget about all of the evil he had done in the name of creating a better world for everyone.
A girl with a blonde hair approached him from behind. " Do you happen to be a student of Misawa Cram School?"
She was wearing a brown vest with a prominent crest at the left side. No doubt this was Tokiwadai Middle School's uniform, but that school was one of the top five schools in District 7. Why would an elite student, especially one with star-shaped irises, choose to go to a cram school? It wasn't a very hard question to answer actually.
"Are you lost by any chance?" said Touma.
The girl giggled, "No. I'm just here to lend a helping hand since you seem lost. I'm a student there as well and I know how difficult it is for first-timers to reach the place."
It was because of him.
"How'd you know that?"
The girl handed him a piece of paper, "That's yours, I believe."
His letter of admission into Misawa Cram School had fallen out of his briefcase. That totally must be how she knew his name.
"Thanks."
The girl wrapped her arm around Touma. "Let's go!"
"What's your name by the way?"
"You can call me Misaki."
"The Level 5 Shokuhou Misaki?"
Misaki nodded. "You know, I used to know a guy who looked exactly just like you. Every evening, I would hold his arm like this while walking back home together. It's such a shame how things has changed."
"What a coincidence. I used to know a girl who looked exactly just like you. Every evening, she would also hold my arm like this."
"Could you actually be that guy I used to know?"
"It can't be that of a coincidence, right?"
Both Misaki and Touma chuckled.
It had been so long since they locked arms together while walking, but these small bits of happiness was something a sinner like him never deserved to have.
In the city of Omelas, everyone is happy. They have everything they want and lives life to the fullest. An utopia that only existed in a story by Ursula Le Guin. Kamijou Touma had waged a huge war resulting in millions of people dead and successfully retrieved the final piece needed to turn this world into an utopia like Omelas.
Even if billions of people ended up dead, it was fine. Touma knew that he could bring them all back to life so long as he succeeded. However, the city of Omelas was only possible because of a child locked under the basement. The 'child' he needed to sacrifice was... Misaki.
When he chose not to sacrifice Misaki, he became a monster that had committed an unforgivable sin.
Reviews:
I will now answer reviews here whenever I post an update, but if you prefer that I answer your review within a day or two instead, please let me know.
ElDragonZangetsu25:
Thanks. This is a simpler and more contained story unlike Brosephg's A Certain Broken Testament for example, so you probably won't see magic gods or Kamisato Kakeru since they don't quite fit into the story. But having said that, because of the past I've given to Touma, one magic god that is an OC I've created will appear. The purpose of that magic god is to justify certain things in the story that won't make sense unless a magic god was involved somehow.
Fortitude501:
Hey there. It's definitely been awhile!
YoLO1992:
Thanks!
Mokey D. Dreiko:
My other stories isn't that good, but I hope you enjoyed them if you've checked them out.
Guest:
Just a little spoilers here. Part of the reason why Touma is dying is because the dragons don't exist inside his right hand anymore.
Sokol:
I'll do my best!
Author's Note:
In case you're wondering, yes, Touma's ex-girlfriend in this story is Misaki.
Hope you liked the chapter, and if you have any comments, please feel free to leave the review box below.