Just a quick note. The tildes (~) here are stars, since the document manager don't seem to support alt characters. You know what that means...

DISCLAIMER: I forgot to include this in the last chapter. To Aru is not owned by me, even in my wildest dreams. If it was, it would definitely suck.


Earlier on that same day, some time in the afternoon...

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid Mr. Kamijou's room is already vacant. It appears that he checked out yesterday afternoon."

Mikoto's shoulders visibly drooped at the desk nurse's response to her inquiry. The nurse noticed this, and, thinking some sort of forlorn misunderstanding, her heart reached out for the teenage girl.

"Um, maybe you would want to know his residence address? I'm sure he wouldn't mind-"

"No, no, it's okay. I already know where he lives, I... It's just, I didn't think he'd check out just yet, that's all."

Mikoto dismissed the nurse's concerns with a chuckle. To the nurse, it was a chuckle that tried to hide a lot of emotion within. It pained her to even just think of that.

As Mikoto walked out of the lobby with her head hanging low, the nurse couldn't help but dab the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. Hang in there Miss Railgun! She wholeheartedly sent out a silent encouragement to the girl's retreating back.


Mikoto continued to walk away from the hospital. Once out of the view of the lobby, her meager steps turned to stomps. Sparks discharged around her head as her face, previously overshadowed by her hair, revealed an extremely pissed off look. She proceeded to a nearby tree to the side and started to kick it with all her might.

"THAT! NO! GOOD! IDIOT!"

Each word was punctuated with a kick to the tree. The poor animals living in said tree quickly evacuated their dwellings, maybe because of the rather ominous feeling in the air. Mikoto ignored the scampering critters and continued to brutalize her target.

Of course, such show of violence didn't go without good reason for Mikoto. After all, she had just spent the better of her whole week mustering up the courage to visit that idiot at the hospital. The way that they last saw each other in Denmark left much to account for, their separation too sudden. Mikoto did not yet have a clear picture of the events that transpired that led to him running off with that Othinus. Despite being the one to face the numerous FIVE-OVERs then in order to cover his retreat, she was still yet to receive a proper explanation as to what had really happened and what his reasons back then were. So, with that in mind, on that sunny Saturday, Mikoto had gone straight to the hospital right after her morning classes had ended.

Imagine her dismay when she had found out that the idiot she was supposed to visit had already left. All the time she had spent readying herself for their confrontation, wasted. Still, being the properly raised girl that she was, she couldn't let it show just how frustrated she had felt in front of so many people back then at the hospital lobby. And so, she had retreated first to somewhere secluded in order to do what had to be done: vent her anger.

"YOU! COULDN'T! HAVE! WAITED! FOR! JUST! ANOTHER! DAY?!"

And with those last few kicks, Mikoto stood panting in front if the tree, which now donned a proper shoe print on its trunk. It was a good thing that Tokiwadai uniforms included shoes; no one would be able to tie her name to public vandalism.

Now, with her anger properly vented for the time being, she stormed off away from the poor tree. Out the park, down the sidewalk she stomped, all the while thinking of various violent ways to punish that idiot.

Maybe I should go over to his place, just to give that idiot a good beating and a piece of my mind!

...

...B-b-but isn't that a little too upfront? I-I mean, a girl going to a boy's dorm all by herself, surely there's something wrong with this picture! M-maybe I can just ambush him by waiting at a convenient store that he frequents. Yeah, that's right! I could just do that! Plus, I can catch him off guard that way and finally get some answers!

...

...

How the hell am I supposed to know which stores he shops at?!

People were staring and were careful to steer clear from the strange girl who was rubbing her hair in frustration and unconsciously emitting sparks all around her in her anger.

As luck would have it, a stray spark hit a nearby drum-shaped cleaning robot. The sudden flux in current was interpreted as an external attack by the robot's security system, and thus, the proper protocol was initiated.

"WARNING! WARNING! UNAUTHORIZED VIOLENCE DETECTED! CEASE ALL ACTIONS, JUDGEMENT AND ANTI-SKILL HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED AND WILL BE HERE SHORTLY! WARNING!"

The sudden blaring of a siren and the loud warning were enough to cause a small panic. People started to scatter away from the now revving robot.

Mikoto, in particular, was quick to notice the incident as her fault. A scene briefly flashed in her head: her dorm mistress was bailing her out of an Anti-skill jail cell, only to twist her neck once back at the dorms. The fear that the scene wrought on her drove her to take immediate action.

She shot the robot with a lightning spear; just enough power to fry its circuits, and possibly disable it before it could alert the authorities. The blaring siren stopped, and the now charred robot fell over to its side.

Not risking it, Mikoto bolted from the scene of the crime while using her bag to try and cover her face. "Damn it! That idiot's luck must be rubbing off on me! Damn iiiiiiiiiiitttttttt!"


In a certain restaurant which was situated just by a certain intersection, Shokuhou Misaki was just finishing up her late lunch. She rested her elbows on the counter while she dabbed the napkin around her mouth.

It had been a taxing day for her, more so than usual, so she had splurged a little on food. She had Physical Education as a subject earlier. Now normally, Shokuhou would just "ease her way out" of said class, but introspection of recent events led her to become motivated and make an effort to improve herself.

~No matter how little improvement, if it means being less of a bother (to him), even just a little...~, she thought at the time.

And so, for the first time since God knows how long, Shokuhou Misaki participated in P.E. class. And failed. Miserably.

Let's just say that she was lucky she wasn't classmates with Mikoto then, otherwise, it would have been impossible to erase all traces of that embarrassing memory from everyone's mind.

How would pole jumping even contribute to one's fitness ability? It is just ridiculous! I should really remember to pick out the classes I'll participate in in the future. Hmmm, maybe track & field? Or swimming?

A look of fondness flashed across her face as she remembered a brief day in the past. She twisted her stool around to face the windows, while sipping the cup of tea she held in her gloved hands.

Yeah, I suppose exercising my swimming ability will do. Though I might give some of my classmates an inferiority complex with my certain asset ability~. Oh, and speaking of the devil...

Outside, the most likely to suffer such a complex appeared. Mikoto leaned on the side of a store while trying to catch her breath.

A sly grin slowly formed on Shokuhou Misaki's face, along with the beginnings of a plan in her head.


Having finally caught her breath, Mikoto proceeded to pat down the ruffles on her hair and clothes.

Damn that robot, as if I'm not having a bad enough day as it is. Maybe I should just go home for the day and let this unlucky streak pass. B-b-but then I might miss my chance to finally get the truth out of him. What should I do? Maybe I can-

"Oh my, Misaka-san, boy-shorts even though it's a Saturday? Although I expected this much tomboyishness ability from you, I still feel a bit disappointed. Tsk, tsk, tsk. So unladylike~!"

Mikoto turned her head around, only to find a boy holding her skirt up and peering meticulously at what lay underneath.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!"

She retreated away from the boy with a speed an Olympic sprinter would be jealous of, all the while donning a face redder than any tomato in the world.

Even if she was indeed wearing boy-shorts under her skirt, it didn't change the fact that Mikoto's heart was one of a maiden's (albeit a rather violent one). And for a maiden, such actions only warranted such reactions on her part.

For a brief moment, she suddenly sympathized with what Uiharu has been going through all these times.

"Wha-wha-wha-what the hell do you think you're doing?!" She pointed an accusing finger at the guilty party.

"Hmm? Well, I considered greeting you normally but you seemed so deep in thought, I decided to try how long I could get away with my peeking ability~."

It was then that Mikoto finally recognized it. That verbal tic. That tone. The choice of words. The stars in the boy's eyes. It could only mean…

"Shokuhou Misaki…"

"Well who else would it be, silly~?" The boy struck an uncharacteristically cutesy pose: he stuck a tongue out and accompanied it with a peace sign sideways at his eyes with the other hand on the waist.

Mikoto facepalmed, a gesture she didn't make very often. "This just isn't my day is it? Of all the people to bump into, it had to be her. Maybe I SHOULD just sleep this off…"

"Awww, don't make such a face Misaka-san. Hey, I know, have you eaten lunch yet? Why don't you join me for a bit over there?"

The boy pointed across the street to a building with a convenient store at the 1st floor and a restaurant above it. Following the boy's finger, Mikoto saw the real Shokuhou Misaki inside the restaurant, waving at her with a hand holding what seemed to be a TV remote.

"... And the reason you bothered to use another person instead of personally going out to talk to me is...?"

"Don't be silly Misaka-san. In this heat ability? My frail body might not take it and faint before I even got to you."

"... At least you could burn a little extra fat while you're at it-"

"Hmm? What was that Misaka-san?"

"Nothing, don't mind me."

Now while it was true that the relationship between the two were somehow antagonistic of each other, Mikoto's frustration at the moment was pointed to an altogether different person. And it was true that she had yet to eat lunch, having headed straight to the hospital after classes.

There was another reason why Mikoto even considered Shokuhou Misaki's invitation. For some time now, she had been offhandedly implying a connection with that idiot. This may be her chance to get some truth out of her, if she was willing to put up with Shokuhou's attitude for a time, which was asking for a lot, she thought.

Mikoto weighed her options and decided. She looked sharply at the boy who was still looking to her with those starry eyes for an answer.

"... You're buying."

"Ehh? But you're allowance is so much bigger than mine, is it not? Why then-"

"I don't care. Just for that stunt you pulled, you're buying."

The boy pouted, puffing his cheeks while he crossed his arms. After a moment had passed, he let out a sigh and nodded.

Taking it as an affirmation to her demands, Mikoto crossed the street, leaving the boy behind on the sidewalk. She took the stairs at the side of the building to access the second floor.

The inside of the restaurant was a nice change from the stuffy afternoon air outside. The air conditioning was set not too low, just enough to feel comfortable and not warrant sweating. The lights inside were on but dimmed; the restaurant relying on the brightness from the windows to serve as indoor lighting. It seemed that this restaurant was not that well-known; even though it was already afternoon, aside from the two Tokiwadai students, only a couple seated far away and the bartender were there.

By the counter were eight stools, with Shokuhou Misaki already occupying one of them. She was motioning to Mikoto to occupy the vacant stool next to her. Mikoto took the seat, all the while continuously keeping her eyes on Shokuhou.

"... I'm gonna say this now so it's clear: I won't stand for any of your shenanigans, you hear me? I'm already having a bad enough day as it is, so don't think I'll hold back if I find out you're up to something funny."

"Oh my, Misaka-san, I'm just merely extending a kind invitation to a fellow schoolmate. Honestly, I'm quite surprised myself that you didn't put up much of a fight ability when I invited you, or that you didn't refuse my offer altogether."

Looking back, Mikoto indeed found it surprising that she hadn't reacted violently or such to Shokuhou's presence. If it had been any other day, she would have stormed off then and there after being "invited" by Shokuhou.

With a grunt, she buried her face in her arms on the table. "Let's just say that you're not the most annoying thing to happen to me today, so I'll at least tolerate having lunch with you."

"I see, I see. Then, shall we order something now? Oh barkeep~!"

After giving their orders, Mikoto rested her chin on her hands and stared at the wall behind the counter.

I can't believe I somehow ended up in this situation. If a time-traveler would have visited me earlier this morning and told me I would somehow end up having lunch with Shokuhou Misaki today, I would have kicked his butt on the spot. Talk about ridiculous.

Then again, this is my chance to finally wring out of her just how she and that idiot are related, and why it seemed she had known him longer than I did. I got to time this just right, no need to sound too eager.

She decided to collect herself and plan it out carefully somewhere private before executing her plan. Mikoto placed her bag to the side as she stood up from her stool.

"Oh? Misaka-san, where are you going?"

"Restroom. I'll be right back."

"Don't you want me to go with you? After all, isn't it normal for teenage girls such as us to go to restrooms in pairs~?"

"Shut up you. Who even needs someone just to go with them to the restroom?"

"Oh, but won't it lead towards an increase in our bonding ability? We can share secrets with each other, talk about the latest gossip… You know, normal teenager stuff! Wait, Misaka-san, don't tell me that you haven't-"

"I said shut up! Just stay sitting there! Like I said, I'll be right back." Mikoto stomped away from the counter and towards the restrooms.


Heeheehee, Misaka-san is just so adorable to tease~.

Shokuhou Misaki drank again from her cup while thinking this. The bartender suddenly appeared and laid the cup of black tea that Mikoto had ordered on the counter. Seeing this, Shokuhou's eyes began to sparkle.

Now then, time to put my plan to action~.

She leaned closer to the barkeep, who was pouring milk into Mikoto's black tea.

"Excuse me sir, but my friend here has been a little bit depressed as of lately. I was wondering if you would offer her some kind of 'refreshment' to help her through the day."

"... And by 'refreshment', do you by any chance mean alcoholic drinks?"

"Why yes~. I've heard that since this restaurant only serves food and drinks that are made from 100% organic ingredients, your selection of drinks are top-notch. So, would you mind helping my friend out?"

The bartender crossed his arms while shaking his head.

"I'm sorry miss, but even though our ingredients and selection are indeed top-notch, I cannot so easily grant your request. It's painfully obvious that your friend is underage, and even though this is the renowned Academy City, I have been raised up to uphold certain values, one of those being not to let under-aged children do anything improper like drink this stuff. Also, who knows how much trouble I might get from Anti-skill if they ever found out that I willingly served alcohol to a minor."

The bartender then leaned closer to Shokuhou with squinted eyes.

"Speaking of which, that's a Tokiwadai uniform you're wearing, right? Are you sure you're really a middle schooler?"

Why the bartender made such an observation about Shokuhou Misaki was pretty obvious. In the past, she had found it funny when Mikoto was the one who asked the same question to her. She also just laughed when HE had commented on it, but for some reason, hearing it from the bartender seemed to have struck a nerve in Shokuhou Misaki.

She drew out a TV remote from her bag and pointed it towards the bartender.

"Category 056/ You will now see middle school girls as mature, high-class ladies and treat them as such for the next 24 hours." *Click*

Now, as to how and why Shokuhou Misaki had such a command already prepared…

Being a telepathy-type esper, she had deemed it important to her and her power's development in the past to do a rigorous study on how alcoholic drinks affected the mind; namely: hers, her puppets', and of people she wanted to use her ability on. While the information she had gathered were indeed valuable, if she were to, say, learn how to separate the experience from the information tied to it in the future, she would not wait a beat to banish the memories of that day from her head. Until that day, however, she would forever steer clear of a certain restaurant in District 8.

For a brief moment, the bartender's eyes became a bit hazy. The moment passed, and he straightened his posture. Shokuhou blew at the tip of her remote and put it away as she turned a mischievous smile towards the bartender.

"Now, let's try this again, shall we? You see, I would like to help my friend here through her bout of depression as of late, if you know what I mean. Any recommendations?"

"Why most certainly madam. We offer quite a selection for those seeking such, and rest assured, they have been brewed and fermented finely. Using the technology available here in Academy City, we have used a process which allows the drink to mature faster through organic means, thus, ensuring it to be still 100% organic. Because of this-"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure your process for brewing them is quite interesting. Now, about that selection of yours…"


Shokuhou Misaki had just had her cup refilled when Mikoto finally came back from the restroom. She plopped down on the stool beside Shokuhou.

"What took you so long Misaka-san? Your milk tea is about to get cold."

"Aren't girls supposed to take long when going to the restroom?" Mikoto retorts while taking a sip of her tea. Her eyes opened wide at the taste of it.

"Oh wow, is this really milk tea? This tastes great!"

"Misaka-san, you might want to lower your voice a bit, or else people might find out that you don't even know what fine cuisine really tastes like and have them think of you as a brute."

"S-shut up okay?! I'm just saying, this might actually be the best tasting milk tea I've had. I guess this is what 100% organic food really tastes like."

Mikoto continues drinking her tea innocently, not knowing that the tea she was so enjoying had been spiked.

Yes, using her acquired knowledge of alcoholic beverages from that time, Shokuhou Misaki chose the drink used to spike Mikoto's tea with from the restaurant's variety of drinks. This particular brand was sweet and fruity, while at the same time containing an ungodly alcohol percentage. Even when added to any beverage, it was already potent enough to end parties prematurely if taken in large quantities in a short amount of time.

It was the type of drink that wild party-goers would start the night off with in order to start a buzz, even with a small drink of it. Then, they would just proceed to order some cheaper drinks to keep the buzz going all through the night.

It should be clear now that Shoukuhou Misaki's goal was to get Mikoto drunk. Due to Mikoto's innate ability, she had a perpetual EM field that constantly surrounded her, shielding her from Shokuhou Misaki's telepathic attempts.

Shokuhou was betting on the chance that given Mikoto was drunk enough, she might subconsciously drop her guard and allow her to finally peek into her mind.

She was after one specific thing at the moment: the events that took place when Eastern Tokyo had been attacked by a terrorist force, not that long ago before her whole episode with Mitsuari Ayu. A text message had been sent then to all the Level 5's (maybe even not just to them), with the message specifying Kamijou Touma as a target for elimination. And would you know it, earlier that same day, Mikoto had been with him. She even skipped that day's classes altogether.

For various reasons (mostly, she suspects, thanks to the higher-ups of Academy City), she had been unable to glean more light on the incident. She was determined to find out what really took place then. And what better source for information than someone who might have actually been by his side then?

Also, even if telepathic means to get the information from her were to fail, she could just coax what she wanted out of a loose-lipped drunk Mikoto herself.

A tad bit cruel? Yes, it may seem to be. However, Shokuhou was certain that thanks to Mikoto's ability, the fatty acids on the neurons in her brain that would come from the alcohol would break down more quickly than normal. In layman's terms, she doubted Mikoto would stay inebriated for long, or if she would even have anything resembling a hangover.

Mikoto had quickly finished her cup and asked the bartender for another when he came back with her food. The sweet, innocent Mikoto, unknowingly sipping away at her tea, unaware of the schemes rolling around in Shokuhou Misaki's head.

*Hic*

Heeheehee. Now then, Misaka-san. Let's see what's inside that pretty head of yours, shall we~?


"... and can you believe it?! That idiot thought that he could beat me, then just go off to somewhere far and leave me behind again! Me! The friggin' Railgun! So yeah, I gave him a good zap, I busted him up real good, and he was down for the count! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Shokuhou Misaki couldn't help but wince with pain from the headache she was now nursing. The loud shouting of the drunk girl beside her definitely didn't help with that at all. It seemed that even with her being the strongest telepathy-type esper in Academy City, there was still a kind of headache that even she was powerless to do anything about. Who knew? Add to the fact that it just kept worsening by the minute, courtesy of our little drunk Mikoto. Even with her gloved fingers already shoved inside her ears, it still wasn't enough to block out the incessant, loud laughter.

2 hours had passed since Mikoto had downed her first cup of tea. 2 stressed-filled hours that Shokuhou Misaki has been forced to endure.

When she thought that Mikoto was drunk enough, Shokuhou had tried to use her esper powers to try and access her mind, but still to no avail. She had tried to do it every now and then during the first hour, but all her attempts were still being blocked by Mikoto's powers.

What's more, every time that Mikoto suffered from the backlash, she either shouted at Shokuhou for trying to use her powers on her, or bawled her eyes out because Shokuhou wouldn't trust her enough and thus resorted to using her powers. The latter one was immediately followed by a string of suggestions of "bonding activities" that the two could undertake in order to strengthen their bond.

Uggghh, who knew that a drunk Misaka could be even more stubborn and annoying than a sober one. And what was it that she has been trying to tell me all this time? Could Misaka actually be suffering from chuunibyou[1]? But wait, we're actually 2nd year middle school students, so is this and all her delusions normal for girls our age?!

Shokuhou then proceeded to bang her head against the counter in an act of utter defiance.

When it was evident that her powers were still useless against Mikoto, Shokuhou had resorted to trying to talk the information out of her.

While Mikoto was all too insistent and glad to finally have someone to listen to her rants, Shokuhou just ended up confused with what she had been told.

What was that she told me about Ichihanaransai? Something about a lightning god and battle maids? Damn this, she's making even less sense than her usual self.

Mikoto had went on about everything that had happened in the past month:

About his returning home,

The terrorist attack that took place in Hawaii,

The battle over an apparently immortal being during the Ichihanaransai,

The incident earlier in the morning of the day hundreds of heroes clashed, which they both had participated in ("That pervert actually tried to sneak into the School Garden earlier that day! Ahhh! I still haven't punished him for that one!"),

And finally, the incident in Tokyo Bay that led to a wild goose chase all the way to Denmark, where apparently, he finally gave "that idiot" a good beating.

Mikoto's accounting of the events were accurate, albeit being completely biased about how idiotic and reckless "that idiot" was being the whole time. However, Shokuhou Misaki was quick to dismiss Mikoto's stories regarding the various incidents with the people from the magic side of the world. As far as everyone not in the know was concerned, magic was something that was a convenience to a happy ending in fairy tales. She merely thought of Mikoto as being delusional and blamed it on the fact that drunk Mikoto was beyond a normal human's capability of comprehension.

That sneaky bartender, he should have known better than to keep serving Mikoto tea spiked with the same amount of alcohol as I suggested. Does this mean that as long as they're not underage, he actually encourages girls to get this drunk in his restaurant?

A good hour or so had passed before Shokuhou Misaki had noticed this. She immediately rescinded the order to the bartender about Mikoto's drinks, but the damage had already been done.

She was actually a bit impressed that Mikoto was still upright after ingesting all that alcohol. But amazement aside, she was ready to deem this scheme as fruitless and pointless to continue further, so she started thinking of an exit strategy.

"Heey Missaki… You've been a reeeaal good lisstener today, you know that? Who knew? I ssshhould pay you back sssomeday for thisss… I wisshh it wasss alwaysss like thiss betweeen uss… You know?"

She's slurring. Why is she slurring? What the heck is with this close friend vibe that she's suddenly emitting? And did she just call me by my first name?!

"Ehh, uhm, don't mention it Misaka-san, but I really don't think that the two of us would fit that well with each other. *ahem* Just treat this as a rare occasion to which the queen graced you with her presence, and-"

"AHHH! Ahahaha!" Mikoto interrupted by putting her hand around Shokuhou's shoulder and leaning into her. "I jussst… thought of sssomething funny! Hey heeey… You know what would be funny? *snicker* Ifff… sssay sssomeday, we got together… and you took my lassst name asss your own… Your whole name would be Misssaka Misaki! Hahaha! It ssoundsss ssooo funny! Hahahahaha!"

Screw exit strategies!

Shokuhou slammed her hands loudly on the counter and stood up. That was it. The last straw. She couldn't take it anymore. She beckoned impatiently at the bartender to come closer.

"Here's a cash card. Deduct all my expenses from it, and be quick!"

"Understood madam. And what of your friend?"

She looked to the side at her wasted "friend". Mikoto was holding her empty cup on her palm, staring at the intricate designs engraved on it and trying to trace the patterns with a finger while her lips were puckered in concentration.

Shokuhou wanted to just leave her there and let her be. After all, she was the cause of a sudden damaging attack against Shokuhou's psyche just now. But admittedly, it WAS Shokuhou's fault that Mikoto was this wasted in the first place. This train of thought gave her pause.

"...Grrrrrrrr, FINE! Just… put it on the cash card I gave, I'll come back tomorrow to collect whatever's left. You can keep taking her orders, BUT NO MORE ALCOHOL, CAPISCHE? You can just turn her away from here when it's near the time for curfew."

"Curfew? Why is that madam?"

"Errr, it's because… she has to make sure her little sisters are home before then! That's right! So yeah, just do like I asked okay? I'll be back tomorrow."

Maybe it was because she felt a tad bit guilty. Maybe, if she had left Mikoto to herself, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to sleep that night. Maybe, she's just a tiny bit scared of what Mikoto might do to her if Mikoto remembered what happened, and Shokuhou was merely trying to lighten her punishment. Or maybe, deep down inside her, she was actually kind of touched when Mikoto had called her by her first name.

Whatever the reason Shokuhou Misaki had, she couldn't completely abandon Mikoto (to some extent). And there was still more she could do.

Shokuhou picked up Mikoto's bag from the floor. She opened it and ruffled through its insides, not in the least bothered by the invasion of someone else's private property. After a few moments, she found what she was looking for: Mikoto's wallet. She opened the wallet to check its content. However, instead of taking from it, she merely put it into Mikoto's pocket (who by now was downing her nth drink while chewing away at some fish sticks).

Shokuhou had also found Mikoto's coin pouch which contained the token coins she used for her signature move. She decided that it would be a really bad idea to hand over that level of firepower to a drunk Mikoto, so she put it back in the bag.

There, now she'll have some way of being identified if ever worse comes to worse and she can't make it back in time. Maybe I can have someone from my clique to watch over her for today?

Shokuhou frowned as she realized what her train of thought had led to. She shook her head, deciding that the idea would be too much of an effort on her part. She picked up her bag, along with Mikoto's, as she got ready to leave. Shokuhou was doubtful that Mikoto had enough presence of mind left to not lose her bag somewhere along the way home. She planned on taking it with her and to just drop it off by the dorms on her way home. She noted to herself to have someone from her clique that resided there to discretely deliver it to Mikoto's room afterwards.

In Shokuhou's mind, what she was doing would be enough penance for her actions. Whatever happened to Mikoto afterwards, she couldn't be held responsible anymore.

"Well then Misaka-san, I'll be going on ahead. It's been quite a… pleasure *cringe*... to dine with you."

"Waaaaah? Youuu're going home alreadyyy? *hic* Come oooon, sssstay with me for a bit, Missssakii…"

Shokuhou couldn't have dashed to the exit faster than she did then. Afraid of suffering another tremendous blow to her psyche, she hightailed it out of there with two bags in hand, leaving behind a drunk Railgun to order another cup of tea.


The sound of a metal clinking upon the ground resounded along the streets. Under the afternoon sun, a figure with a cane trudged along the sidewalk, accompanied by two other figures: one taller figure which seemed to be wearing an aodai, and another that had a prominent ahoge and sported the height of a grade schooler's.

The first figure, Accelerator, was wearing an all too familiar scowl on his face. He had been sent out by Yomikawa to buy some groceries to restock their pantry. Yomikawa had forced him to take Misaka WORST with him, seeing as how difficult it would be for him to carry more than one bag of groceries while sporting a cane with one hand. Of course, Last Order wouldn't take being left behind sitting down. So, in spite of the numerous protests from everyone, she had managed to tag along with them.

Coincidentally, she was also the one at fault for their current predicament.

"'Misaka is sure now that it's this way!' says Misaka as Misaka points towards an unsure direction."

"Keh! Stop fooling around already. It was funny to get lost for the first fifty minutes, but Misaka is just pissed off right now. Tch, Misaka can't believe that she's missing the afternoon sitcom just because of this stupid errand," complained WORST.

"'Ah! The one with all the stabbing and betrayals?! That's no good! Little sisters should stay away from those kind of shows and watch cartoons about rainbows and unicorns instead,' says Misaka as Misaka remembers the morning cartoon she watched earlier."

"Oi, who are you calling a little sister, huh? Technicalities about our production dates aside, it's perfectly obvious just who's the more mature one here. Sorry, try again after fifteen years or so."

"'Why do you only play the little sister card when it benefits you?! That's unfair!' shouts Misaka as Misaka proceeds to stomp the ground in frustration!"

Meanwhile, Accelerator merely continued to trudge along the sidewalk. For him, it was still along the normal level of day-to-day bickering between the two. Sad to say, he had long gotten used to their noisy tirades. He had also mastered the art of tuning out their pointless arguments, even without the use of his vector powers. All he had in mind at the moment was figuring out where the hell they were and getting home as quick as possible.

Just a few moments later, the trio stopped in their tracks.

It wasn't as if the one leading them had stopped and held the other two back; no, the three of them all stopped simultaneously.

…What the fuck?

A few yards away from them, on the same side of the road as they were on was a 2-floor commercial building which consisted of a convenience story on the ground floor and a restaurant above that. To the side of the building (the side facing them) were stairs that led to the restaurant's door, which had suddenly burst open. Stumbling out of the door came Mikoto.

Or drunk Mikoto, to be precise. She leaned on the railing in front of her for a few seconds, then turned and attempted to climb down the stairs. Attempted being the keyword; she only got as far as two steps before she tripped on her own feet, resulting in her rolling down the stairs in an unsightly manner and, with a loud crash, landing face down on the sidewalk.

A passing bird chirped as the three stared at the unmoving figure.

"...What the fuck?" Accelerator voiced out what had run through his mind earlier.

"...Oi, that's the Third, right? Hey Onii-san, is she dead?" WORST whispered to him.

"Who the fuck are you calling Onii-san?"

Suddenly, the prostrated Mikoto stood up, as if she hadn't just rolled down a flight of stairs a few seconds before. With a staggering gait, she started to cross the street (which was miraculously devoid of passing cars at the moment). It looked like she was too preoccupied (or just too incoherent) to notice the trio to the side, whose gazes followed followed her till she went around the corner and was out of their sights.

WORST turned towards Accelerator to complain. "Hey, if the Original is allowed to drink, then why the hell isn't Misaka? In a way, Misaka is already closer to the legal drinking age than she is. Is this some kind of double-standard just because she's a level 5 or something?"

"Because the old hag would blow her casket if she ever caught you drinking and you know that. Besides, it's not as if you care whether you're allowed to or not, you'd still sneak out every night to some place and get hammered if you felt like it. And another thing: I'm pretty sure that the Third Rate isn't allowed to drink at all. Something must have happened between her and that star-eyed bitch."

Ignoring Accelerator's spot-on prediction, Last Order tugged at his sleeves. "'Shouldn't we do something to help Onee-sama?' asks Misaka as Misaka remembers the various scandals that happens to drunk teenage girls in sitcoms and the news."

"Pfffft, the fuck do I care about her? I'm sure she can take care of herself, one way or another. Now come on, if we take any longer, the old hag might get worried and mobilize an entire unit of Anti-skill just to come looking for us."

Accelerator glanced at the direction Mikoto had staggered off to. For some reason, he had a feeling that somehow, by some inconceivable chain of events due to misfortune, HE would end up tangled with the drunk Railgun.

Good fucking luck hero. I think you're gonna need it.


Footnotes!

[1]chuunibyou - commonly known as 8th-grade (which roughly translates to 2nd-year middle school) syndrome. It is used to describe someone who believes in the delusions that they overlay upon reality. Think over excessive imagination, fighting darkness and stuff, and actually believing that they're some hero incarnate out to rid the world of evil. Check out the anime (shameless plug!) Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai for an in-depth understanding of the term, as I feel that I cannot do justice on describing it with my words alone.

AN:

Holy crap, a whole bunch of someones actually did follow my story. And the reviews! Awesome, you guys are just so awesome. Many thanks to those that reached this space and read through the whole lot of text above (and if by any chance you cheated, shame on you ).

I know, I know, sorry that the second chapter took a while to come out. I'm not really one for speed, plus life has just been busy as heck (I'm looking at you, IC interface coding). And, sorry to say, but my pre-made draft only made it as far as half this chapter. Sooooo, the next one might take a while to come out. I can only ask for the patience that To Aru fans have nurtured waiting for Season 3 to wait for my chapter 3 as well.

How did you like it so far? Personally, I thought the first chapter was better, since I had a hard time getting into Shokuhou's mind (get it? get it?). Yeaaaah, if she seemed a bit OOC in this segment, I've got no excuses. A whole ton of research went with this chapter, like how exactly did WORST refer to Mikoto, or the fact that the restaurant in NT11 was actually on the 2nd floor (bet you didn't notice that in LNs. did you?). Also, it seemed a bit lacking in dialogue, since I had to explain a bunch of stuff. Or is that just me? Arrrrggh, someone tell me please...T.T

And that's what reviews are for. Spotted typos? Have a problem with my prose? Just want to congratulate me on a job well done(pfffft, yeah right)? Feel free to drop a review complaining to me. I see now how writers feel when reading reviews, it's just short of addicting, wahaha.

A shout out to 61wisampa for helping a ton with this again (Non-verbatim:"Senpai! I added a bunch of stuff to my story, what do you think?" "You should study first! We have exams for pete's sake!") and for GreatSnapper for pointing out some typos in the last chapter. Sorry for those by the way if the change in tenses bothered some of you, I swear those weren't intentional, honest! I'll try my best to learn from them as to not inconvenience people so much, I'm really sorry! T.T

Well, I'm off to research on how to make Othi-chibi more appealing in the next part without being to OOC(did I say spoiler alert? spoiler alert). Hopefully, I can pull it off somehow and get the next chapter up by, say, mid-April. :D To the followers and the new readers, I hope you'll look forward to reading more of my work.

And with that, let's meet the next time I write again. Adieu.

~Vindex101