Toaru Kādo no Hanten

A Certain Flipping of the Cards

Kuroko wandered the streets of Section 177. Her green Judgment insignia pinned to her sleeve and her needle bands on and reloaded. Her posture was straight, confident and professional. Her eyes darted back and forth as she wandered around on patrol, keeping an eye and ear out for any goings on. It was a welcome distraction from the confusion of the morning.

You shouldn't be going to work today. You still haven't fully recovered.

"I know that but I can't just miss work, I've already been gone for three days."

While I admit it would be a little suspicious, your health is a little more important than your job performance.

"I just don't want Uiharu to worry is all."

If she worries she'll start asking questions, and your cover story of leaving the city to visit family wouldn't exactly cover why you look like hell would it.

"I'm feeling a lot better though, finally having a good night's sleep never felt so good." And it is all thanks to Onee-sama, her warm and loving presence. Kuroko felt so damn giddy. Earlier Uiharu noticed she had seemed happy, chalking it off to enjoying her little trip, but she didn't know the half of it. It took all of Kuroko's control not to giggle and frolic in a field of flowers like a schoolgirl whose first crush ended up liking them back.

That's exactly what you are you idiot.

"Who asked you?"

Uiharu had asked for details about her trip but she was saved from having to come up with a story on the spot by Konori-senpai's arrival and her somewhat forceful reminder to, now that she was back, get on with her work already. She had been expecting a backlog of paperwork but her workmate had been diligent, working hard to take care of both of their work while she was gone. She was touched by the gesture, thanking her and promising to take her out for ice cream sometime tomorrow.

"Shirai-san," a voice said into her ear.

Speak of the devil, "Hai Uiharu?"

"We have a report of a mugging near your area, a whole gang it seems like. Can you handle it on your own or do you want to wait until I call Anti-Skill?" Uiharu asked, despite knowing the answer.

"How many?"

"Six. Unknown power levels. The descriptions we got weren't clear enough for identifications."

"I'll take it, tell me where they are."

Of course… "The report came from near your area," she began and gave Kuroko instructions on how to reach it, "once you get there I'll monitor the gang and guide you to them."

I'd say you were taking unnecessary risks with this but I'm confident in your abilities. But…

"Something doesn't feel right." Kuroko finished, turning off her microphone so she could hear without being heard. She was so immensely happy right now with the wind whistling through her hair as she teleported to the location of her next exciting Judgment work, knowing that she had a great friend like Uiharu to back her up and help in whatever way she could, and the lightness of her heart knowing that, when she was finished, she had someone who loved her to return home to. But there was this odd feeling in the back of her mind that the universe wouldn't let her be this happy for very long. It wasn't quite pessimism, just a feeling that things were too good to be true, or at least stay true for very long. "I mean if this is all I have to deal with then life would be so great."

She soon got to the location Uiharu had designated, there was no one there beside the odd pedestrian. "No rest for the wicked though," Kuroko said as she turned on her microphone, "I'm here, have you located them."

"Yeah, you got there quick, they haven't gone too far, they're heading north, I lost sight of them after they entered an alley off the side of the road you're on 180 meters ahead of you" Uiharu said, keeping an eye out in case they made any more moves.

"Roger," she heard Kuroko say, then a couple seconds later, "I feel it too…Yeah I know I know, I'll be careful…Because it's my job…. That would be an unnecessary waste of time." Each time she spoke she left a little pause, as if waiting for a response Uiharu couldn't hear.

"Kuroko, who are you talking to?" She asked curiously.

"oh uh…" 'Damn,' she cursed herself, 'I forgot to turn off the microphone.' "I'm just talking to myself." Now she's going to think I'm weird.

"O…K…" Uiharu responded, deciding not to go deeper into the matter.

"Ok, I'm at the alley, I'm going in." Kuroko said before doing just that, stepping over the large puddle at the entrance and walking in the narrow alley between the two neighboring buildings. She saw a trail of wet shoeprints leading down the alley. "Clearly one of those brutes wasn't careful enough…" Kuroko thought to herself following the trail cautiously, eyes out for an ambush. The trail soon turned off into a side alley, she heard voices coming from down it. She looked around the corner to see six people, all gathered around something. They seemed big and dumb, with the classic delinquent look. Leather jackets, dyed hair in the most idiotic of styles, and more piercings than anybody should have, especially a male.

"We got it, the boss will be happy."

"Looks like Skillout will be making its comeback soon."

"Yeah, who needs those Big Spider guys."

Kuroko had heard enough. Skillout meant they were level 0, easy enough to defeat, even if there were six of them. She stepped out from behind the corner she was hiding about, standing firm in front of them, "I am Judgment, surrender immediately or I will be forced to use force."

The six thugs looked down the alley, searching for the intruder. When they saw her they smiled and laughed. "Well isn't this lucky. A member of Judgment."

That wasn't right, they shouldn't be happy.

"Looks like we get to try out our new toy out sooner than expected." One of them said as two more stepped aside, giving Kuroko a clear view of what looked like a suitcase propped on a crate near the middle of the alley.

Kuroko was quite confused as to how exactly a suitcase could be a threat unless it had a bomb or something similar inside, and that would blow them to pieces too. And then they opened the suitcase. There was no bomb iinside, only a set of what looked like speakers. How can speakers be da…

Realization dawned on her, her eyes widened but before she could do anything else a horrible, high pitched wailing issued forth from the speakers, the pain ran through her head, making it feel like it was splitting in half. It was not nearly as painful as she had experienced before but the sound still shook her to the core, the sound of Capacity Down.

She shut off the microphone and covered her ears, trying in vain to dampen the sound and the pain as the Skillout people grinned at the little Judgment girl that was now at their mercy.

On the other end of the line Uiharu listened, she could hear Kuroko quite clearly but the other people were too far away for her to hear the replies. Then suddenly a godawful sound ripped through her earpiece. She quickly removed it and half a second later it stopped. She put it back on only to hear nothing. "Kuroko? Kuroko are you there? Are you ok?" She said concerned. She heard no answer. "Kuroko!" she yelled to hear only silence. She quickly stood up from her desk. Konori-senpai wasn't here at the moment, she had no one to turn to for help.

"No, I'm here, I'll help." She said steeling herself before running out of the office and down the street at full speed, it was quite a distance but she was needed and she wouldn't just give up, "I'm coming Kuroko."

The leader of the small group of Skillout thugs laughed, "Seems like it works quite well. Now then, shall we put this little bitch out of her misery?" He was met with approving jeers.

"How bothersome."

He looked down the alley again to the little girl, hunched over in pain as she slowly started to stand up again. "Huh, you shouldn't be able to stand. What is this, is this thing working." It was still issuing its high pitched wailing, but being a level 0 he couldn't feel its effect either way.

"Having to deal with lowly trash like you is a waste of my time," she said in a cold dead voice, undoing the ribbons in her hair, letting it fall freely down her back.

"What the hell, you should be writhing on the ground. What are you? You're an ESPer aren't you?"

"What am I?" she considered the question for a moment and then smiled, but there was no humor or happiness in that smile, it was a smile as cold and merciless as her voice, "I'm Kuro. I hurt people."

"Oh is that so?" asked the leader in an amused tone, "Big talk for a little girl. We'll just see who the one who gets hurt is." He charged at her like an enraged bull, pulling his arm back for a punch.

Kuro waited as he drew near then, as he struck, she sidestepped and drove her knee into his stomach. The force of the blow, increased by his own momentum, knocked him back and off balance, so Kuro stepped forward, placing her hand beneath his chin pushing him back and driving him hard into the ground headfirst. The concussion knocked him out instantly.

The other 5 thugs looked stunned. This little girl had so quickly and easily taken out their boss. Still, they weren't about to lose, it was 5 against 1. "How dare you you uppity little brat," one of them cried out before they all charged her at once.

While the narrow alley limited Kuro's maneuverability it also meant that they couldn't attack her more than one at a time. "Idiots," she remarked as she spun around and kicked the next unfortunate bastard right in the side. She felt and heard as his ribs gave in and broke beneath her powerful, unrestrained kick.

The next one lunged at her but before he could get any further than his friend Kuro twisted in the opposite direction, hitting him hard, square on the jaw, with her heel. Blood sprayed from his mouth, painting the sidewalk, buildings, and even landing on the girl's otherwise pristine uniform. Then she took a step back and re-assumed her ready stance.

The next person, learning from the fate of his two comrades, decided it was best to get in her space as quickly as possible to avoid her kicks. He practically leaped at her as he swung his fist directly for her head. Unfortunately for him it seemed that he was so busy learning from the mistakes of his two comrades he had forgotten how his leader had met his end. Kuro easily ducked below the punch, stepping to his side and grabbing his arm. Then she used the momentum he had built up to charge through her defenses to ram him hard against the brick wall of one of the neighboring buildings.

She turned to face the next one only to see that he had picked up an iron pipe. He raised it above his head, winding up for a hit when Kuro took a step forward and kicked his forearm hard, interrupting his movements and, from the feel of it, breaking the ulna. He dropped the pipe in pain hunching over and holding his broken arm tight to him, only to be hit by the pipe as it fell directly on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

Kuro glanced at the last person left. He was frozen in fear, looking at his 5 comrades, so easily dispatched by this little girl. He pointed a quivering finger at her, "O…Oni." He stuttered, "You're an Oni." He turned tail and ran down the alley. Kuro casually bent down and picked up the pipe that had knocked out one of the thugs. She hefted it nonchalantly, getting a feel for its weight. Then she took aim and chucked it down the alleyway. It tomahawked through the air before finding its mark, striking the fleeing delinquent square in the back of the head. He collapsed in a heap.

Kuro looked around at her handiwork. "they're all still breathing it seems," She pondered for a moment if she should remedy that then decided not to, "I'd probably be told off by little Shiro. Speaking of that…" She looked at the crate that lay in the middle of the alley and the suitcase that lay on top of it, the strange device called Capacity Down that had completely crippled her little Shiro and forced her to step in herself. She walked over to it, bending down to examine it for the off switch. That was when she noticed something. Engraved near the top of the device was a single word, a signature scrawled in looping gold colored letters. "Jericho." She said out loud, "interesting."

Uiharu ran, out of breath but she was almost there. It had taken too long, she was worried, she had kept her earpiece in in case she received any word. She hadn't yet though, which worried her even more. If Kuroko was ok she would have called back, right?

She was now on the street that Shirai-san had been on; the alley was just up ahead. She ran for it before suddenly stopping. She turned around, "Shirai-san?" She asked, out of breath, her lungs aching.

The girl turned around, her hair was down and her hand covered her eyes as she rubbed her temples with her thumb and finger, but it was definitely her. "Ah, Uiharu." She said, "They're taken care of."

"Never mind that, are you hurt? Why didn't you answer me?"

"Oh," she said, then proffered her palm, revealing a smashed earpiece (she had smashed it earlier in preparation for this particular lie), "it broke." She explained simply, "as for me… I have a killer headache, I'm going to go home and rest for the day, tell Konori when you get back."

"Good to hear you're not hurt, do you need my help getting back."

"No. You can help by making sure those thugs get arrested by Anti-Skill though," she told her, always professional, always putting her jobs first, "I'll submit my report tomorrow." She said before walking off. Uiharu nodded then got to work, she had already called anti-skill so that work comprised of sitting down and getting some much needed rest for a few minutes until they arrived and she could show them to where the apprehended criminals were. While she was waiting she got out her phone and sent a mail to Misaka-san, who, she had heard from Kuroko, was back today as well and currently hanging out with Saten-san.

"Shirai-san is heading home early, she has a headache and is heading back to the dorms to rest. When you get back take care of her and tell me how she's feeling.I'm a bit worried, she was acting kind of… weird. Thanks." She typed and sent

In the shadows on top of a nearby building was perched a lone figure. A smile crossed its face as it watched events unfold. Pulling out a phone it called a number.

"You have progress to report on your task I assume." The voice on the other end of the line said as it was picked up.

"Perhaps not progress but certainly some interesting news. It seems that retrieval is unnecessary after all. I'll fill you in on the details once I've returned." The figure elaborated

"Very well, I shall wait for your report." The voice replied before hanging up.

The figure sat and watched for a little longer before going on its way.

A short while ago and elsewhere in the city, two girls were sitting, eating parfaits in a small café that they went to often.

"So how was the trip?" Saten asked the recently returned level 5 in front of her.

"Dull," she replied in a convincingly bored voice, "Nothing really to talk about. The most exciting thing during the whole thing was the scenery passing out the window on the journey there and back."

"Pity. Trips are supposed to be fun; even school field trips are usually fun," Saten said, disappointed that she could not hear the grand tales of The Railgun's Exploits Abroad that she had conjured up in her head, "hey you know Kuroko went on a trip too? Visiting family or something, she didn't really say. She just said it was quite sudden and then left."

"Yeah I heard from her when she got back," Misaka said, playing along. It was agreed upon this morning, after the…incident and before Kuroko had left for Judgment, that it would be best if they lied about their recent exploits; she didn't want to worry their friends or, worse, make them feel useless because she had not asked them to come. Kuroko had pointed that one out and Misaka had to agree. She had not even considered the possibility when she had gone in alone that other people might feel it was because she did not trust them not to be a burden.

"She doesn't talk about herself much, she's never mentioned her family. I wonder what happened to make her want to go see them so suddenly," Saten pondered, "but perhaps it's better we don't ask, if it was a funeral or something it might be uncomfortable to have people asking questions about." Despite her behavior at times, Saten was very kind and careful about other people's emotions.

After that they talked about light, inconsequential things for a while, nothing out of the ordinary, that's when something strange happened.

A boy, about Misaka's age, walked up to the table. He seemed slightly nervous, a barely noticeable blush colored his cheeks but he held himself tall, confident but not arrogant. "Um… hey. Sorry to bother you, my name is Hitatsuki. I know it's kind of sudden and you don't know me, but… well you seem kinda cool and cute and I was wondering if maybe you'd want to exchange numbers and maybe go out sometime, together?"

'Huh… wait… what?' Misaka thought as the boy finished his nervous stammering. 'is he asking me out?' That much was obvious, but it still caught her off guard. She had never really been asked out before. Her boyish looks weren't that popular with the guys and those who could look past that were usually put off by her reputation or personality. Because of that she had no idea quite what to do or what to say. She found herself at a complete loss for words, until an image popped up in her head.

"I'm sorry, but the thing is I kind of already have someone I'm with." She said, hoping to end the situation quickly without hurting his feelings.

"Oh, I see. That's alright, sorry for bothering you." He said, disappointed but not crushed as he walked back to his table where his friend was sitting.

Misaka breathed a sigh of relief that that was over before turning back. Saten was staring at her wide eyed, mouth agape but the edges curled in a massive smile, her inner gossip consuming her with curiosity.

"You have a boyfriend?" she whispered loud enough to make the whispering redundant, "since when? Who is it?"

Misaka blushed deeply, realizing what she had said. She mentally slapped herself, having forgotten in her embarrassment that she and Kuroko weren't ready to tell anyone yet (at least she wasn't, Kuroko would shout it out to everyone as loud as possible from the top of the tallest building in the city if given the chance). "Well… uh… you see…. I… um" She couldn't think of what to say and Saten was leaning ever forward, her eyes shining with curiosity, a hunger for knowledge of this newest development.

Misaka was relieved when her phone suddenly went off. She quickly retrieved it to see she had a new message. "Is that him? Is it from your boyfriend?" Saten asked, excited as a kid in a candy store.

"No. It's from Uiharu. Kuroko is going home early with a headache," she explained reading the mail, "She's asking me to make sure she's ok." Then her phone rang again.

"That one's your boyfriend," Saten guessed teasingly. Misaka's eye twitched as she read the sender. Saten was more accurate than she thought. "Kuroko," she said, "asking if I've come home already." She sighed and looked off in the distance for a second before her gaze fell back on Saten. "hey, sorry to cut this short but I think I'm going to go home now."

"That's fine. Sorry for teasing you, I'm just excited and happy for you. I might not have anyone but I've read loads of shoujo manga so if you need advice or just someone to talk to, I have 2 ears and a lot of free time." She said sincerely, smiling at Misaka.

Misaka smiled back, grateful to have a supportive friend like her. "Thanks. Have a nice day." She said, starting for home before changing her mind and going back inside the café to pick up a piece of cake for Kuroko while she was here.

Saten watched as she left in the direction of Tokiwadai's external dorms. She smiled, "well it's a bit unexpected I have to say. She hasn't mentioned anyone at all. Maybe she just met him, on her trip maybe. She seemed to be a little embarrassed about the whole thing but I guess she would be. I wonder who it is? What kind of person is he? Will I get to meet him?"

"I wonder if the other two know..." She puzzled that thought for a minute, "Uiharu tells me everything, so if she knows I'll hear it from her. Kuroko's much closer to her than us so she probably knows, but maybe not." Either way Saten decided not to tell anyone. If Misaka didn't want people to know then she had no right to blab, she'd be a bad friend if she did.

Kuro laid down on the bed. She had had a shower and changed out of her bloodied uniform, washing it and hanging it up to dry. Now all she had to do was wait. The pereskia [1] would be back soon, as well as Shiro… hopefully.

"It isn't a perfect plan," she admitted to herself, "but it's worked before." She glanced at the time on her cell phone. The pereskia's message had said that she was just heading home and would be back soon. She had placed a strange emphasis on the fact that she had just finished up when she sent her message and was heading home anyway. Given her behavior patterns from the past, this led Kuro to believe that she was, in fact, lying but too embarrassed to express worry.

"Oh well, nothing I need to worry about," she said dismissively. About half a minute later there was a knock on the door. By the time it was opened Kuro had stood up and was crossing the room.

Misaka opened the door and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her, "Hey Kuroko how…" her question was cut off when her lips were covered by Kuroko's in an unexpected kiss. For a second Misaka was caught off guard, then she hesitantly returned the kiss, pulling away a bit sooner than usual.

"What was that about?" she asked confused and a bit embarrassed.

"I have a bit of a headache," Kuroko responded, smiling happily at her, "I thought a little kiss from my beloved Onee-sama would make me feel better. Was that not ok? Did I step over the line?"

Misaka shook her head, "no, no. It's fine. It was just a bit unexpected, you know? Just don't do it in public, ok? I'm still not quite ready."

"I know, even when we're alone you still blush every time I kiss you. It really is adorable," Misaka wasn't quite sure if that was a compliment or not so she just let it slide, "don't worry though, all you need is practice, and we'll be doing plenty of that." She finished with a smile, a surprisingly innocent smile, more happiness, contentment, and love than lust and perversion.

Then Kuroko sat back on the bed, glad that her Onee-sama had received the kiss well without any suspicion and glad to be in control of her own body again. Kuro's plan had been a bit of a long shot but it seemed to have worked out in the end. Don't my plans always work? I'm the smart one after all.

"Yeah, thanks" she said, tying her now dry hair back up in its ribbons.

"Thanks?" Misaka asked confused at Kuroko's sudden outburst as she sat on her own bed.

'I need to stop talking to you when others can hear me…' she thought, chastising herself for slipping up again. Soon people would start to think she was crazy. You technically are.

However Kuroko was quick, "Yeah. You got me something right?" she said pointing to the box that she had noticed Misaka carrying earlier.

"Oh yeah," she said remembering, "I picked you up some cake at the café." She handed the box to Kuroko.

"Thank you Onee-sama," Kuroko repeated, taking the offering and eating it happily.

"Oh, by the way, Uiharu seemed concerned. She wanted to know if you were ok."

"I'm fine," she said. Then Misaka heard her phone ring, Kuroko winced slightly at the sudden, irritating noise.

"Speaking of Uiharu," Misaka remarked then answered the phone, "Moshi Moshi."

"Moshi Moshi. Sorry to bother you Misaka-san but… well… is Kuroko resting right now."

"No, she's up and she says she's fine."

"Um… well… could I… maybe speak to her?" she asked, her voice a mixture of confusion, nervousness, and worry.

"Sure, she's right here… is something the matter though, you sound kind of…" she trailed off.

"is it for me?" Kuroko asked. Misaka nodded. "Put it on speaker phone, I don't feel like having it blasting into my ear."

Misaka pushed the button and soon Uiharu's stuttering was pouring forth at a volume that was audible to both of them.

"You're on speaker," Misaka informed her.

"Um… Kuroko?" she asked, making sure.

"Can I help you with something?" Kuroko asked, not sure why she was calling.

"It's just… um…" she took a deep breath before continuing, "What went on today? The culprits suffered 4 concussions, 3 broken ribs, a dislocated jaw, and a broken arm. What happened to these people?"

Misaka's eyes widened, she looked at Kuroko confused. Could Kuroko have…?

"Infighting," she responded simply. Sitting up straight and clearing her throat, before expanding in a professional manner, as if she was delivering just another report for Judgment, "after engaging the culprits and offering the chance to surrender, they responded with violence. So I attempted to apprehend them alone only to be struck in the head by one of them, knocking out and destroying my communication device. After that I decided to retreat for a while and monitor them until Anti-skill arrived," she said, rattling off the story Kuro had concocted earlier, "Prior to my engagement with the culprits I overheard them arguing, though the exact subject of this argument is unknown to me. My retreat seemed to set off the last spark as the apparent leader began yelling at the others for allowing me to escape. Seemingly unhappy with him, 3 of them attacked the leader and 2 other people. One of them picked up a pipe to use as a weapon, knocking out two people, including one whom he threw the pipe at as he attempted to run away before falling unconscious himself."

Uiharu and Misaka both sighed in relief as they heard this explanation. "I'm glad to hear that you wouldn't do such a brutal thing," Uiharu said. As she did an image of the remains of the fight at hospital in district 17 came to mind. Her trust in Kuroko's story wavered for a second as she remembered the carnage but then she dispelled it. The Queen was manipulating her, and she was in quite a rage. There's no way Kuroko would do something like that again. "are you sure you're alright though?" Uiharu continued, "A blow to the head shouldn't be shrugged off, even a minor head injury can cause some serious damage."

"It's ok. With Onee-sama's loving care I'll be better in no time. Love is the greatest medicine isn't that right Onee-sama?"

"K…Kuroko," Misaka said, angry and embarrassed, "what in the world are you doing."

Uiharu giggled over the phone. "I'm glad you're back to your old self Kuroko," she said, "I was a bit worried about you after that incident. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow." She finished before hanging up.

"Kuroko," Misaka began, seeming quite upset, "I thought we agreed that we'd keep this between us for the time being."

"I am. But the thing is that I've been making advances on you since before you even met those two. If I stop now it would be more suspicious than if I kept it up. You might not want to kiss in public but in front of them I can say or do anything to you and they'd just chalk it up to Kuroko being Kuroko."

"That doesn't mean you have free rein," Misaka shouted back. Kuroko winced in pain at her loud outburst. Kuroko had a point but if she yielded now Kuroko would likely abuse the interpreted permission.

"I know how to control myself Onee-sama," she said reassuringly, "I'll try and go easier on the affection."

"Good," Misaka said, relieved that that was settled, "Now you should probably get some rest, don't want that brain permanently damaged do you?"

Kuroko's grin fell immediately. She turned her head away from Misaka as she looked out the window. The sun had just fallen over the horizon.

Everything was silent for a few moments, and Misaka was just about to ask her what was wrong when she spoke up, "um… Onee-sama," she said. She sounded a bit nervous and Misaka could swear she heard a twinge of fear as well, "could I… sleep with you tonight?"

Any other time Misaka would have answered with a simple "Hell no," probably hitting her for even suggesting such a thing. But she could hear no perverted or impure intent in her voice, and given what had happened the past few nights… Kuroko sounded just like a child asking to sleep with his parents after a bad dream, and Misaka couldn't bring herself to say no.

So she placed and hand on Kuroko's shoulder, nodding and saying, "sure thing Kuroko."

Kuroko smiled though she seemed slightly embarrassed at having to ask such a childish thing at her age.

Soon Misaka was changed and slid into her bed, Kuroko sliding in beside her. "goodnight Onee-sama, she said happily as she got comfortable.

"Goodnight Kuroko," Misaka said. It was the first time in the past three days she had actually gotten to sleep in a proper, comfy bed and she was quickly asleep.

'It's been a busy, interesting day,' Kuroko thought to herself, 'what with this morning, and Kuro, and the skirmish with Skill-out. And then there was that…' she looked over to her bed, under which was hidden the plain little suitcase that had caused so much trouble for her today.

"Jericho… could it really be…"

Author's note: I hope the title makes a bit more sense now, if not then it will soon. This is a pretty big development, I know. And I also know that it is probably a bit confusing right now. Rest assured though, the next chapter will be focused on the story of who exactly Kuro is and where she came from. I hope that this development is not off-putting to anyone and if it is I can only ask you to be patient and see if I can't change your mind.

Ok… now to wrap up a few, very minor plot holes. These are really minor details but they bugged me that I couldn't fit or forgot an explanation to them.

1: Kuroko's and Misaka's injuries that they sustained in the contest. Misaka's healed up quickly so she took the bandage off that morning. Kuroko's is hidden from view so no one saw it.

2: Kuroko's backpack that she had in the contest. When Kuroko collapsed Misaka took it. She left it in front of the door to room where she fought The Queen and after the battle picked it up again before she left.

3: When Uiharu saw Kuro, she had the suitcase with her but Uiharu didn't notice it, thinking it was just Kuroko's bag that she always has with her. The colours and proportions were similar enough that Uiharu, not exactly paying attention to such things, didn't notice at all.

If you notice any others just tell me and I'll try and patch them up.

[1]This is Kuro's (slightly) insulting nickname for Misaka. Her reasoning for this will be given later, my reasoning is twofold. One, because the difference in what they call Misaka is another thing that can help identify them. Two, I wanted to show early on the animosity and resent Kuro harbors for Misaka, the reason for which will be explored later on as well.