Toaru Kekka no Jizoku

A Certain Persistence of Consequences

The next morning Misaka was woken up by the blaring of an alarm clock. She sleepily reached over to her nightstand to turn it off but another hand reached over and beat her to it. She looked down to see that Kuroko had come back sometime late last night and slipped into bed with her.

Misaka had, as requested of her, covered for Kuroko so her absence after curfew was not discovered. But last night as the minutes dragged on and Kuroko had not come home she had begun to worry a little bit. Even now she was concerned and curious as to what had gone on that had delayed her return so much. Knowing Kuroko she had probably got herself into a lot of trouble which Misaka would need to help her get out of. Their relationship seemed to be built on those types of happenings after all.

Suddenly she found herself looking into the eyes of the girl in question as they locked gazes and lips. It lasted for a few seconds before Kuroko pulled away. "Earth to Misaka," she said, "Are you awake yet?"

"O…of course I'm awake, y…you don't need to do that every morning you know," she stuttered, still blushing despite all the "experience" she had gotten the past couple days.

"You weren't answering me. Besides, of course I do. If I don't take these small, rare opportunities to kiss you while I have them, then I'll never get to." Kuroko explained with a wry grin, "By the way, thank you so much for covering for me last night."

Misaka was glad that Kuroko had brought it up and she could ask her about it in a straight forward manner, "what were you doing anyway?"

"I was out pretty late working. Tokiwadai sure gives out a lot of homework considering it's only a five day break and with everything else that happened I was a bit behind."

"…eh?" Misaka said as her eyes widened, "EH?"

"Onee-sama… don't tell me you forgot your homework? Even with Judgment work I managed to get it done, you've just been goofing off these past two days."

"Shut up. If you remembered why didn't you remind me?"

"I guess I didn't. I'm sorry." Kuroko said, sounding genuinely apologetic.

"No, no… it's not your fault," she said sighing as she got up, "I'll just get as much of it done as I can now, before we go to school."

"Excellent idea Onee-sama," she said getting up as well and standing behind Misaka, "and I'll help you get ready while you work." She said as she wrapped her arms around her, "first of all let's get you out of these clothes." She began undoing her buttons. But she had not even undone the first one when, predictably, Misaka grabbed her wrists tightly and slightly painfully.

"I can do that myself thank you," she said threateningly as she wrench Kuroko's hands away from herself. As she grabbed her uniform and went into the bathroom to get ready.

Kuroko sighed then smiled, "Just like Onee-sama to forget to do her homework, even with all the free time she had."

It worked out in your favor though Shiro. She became far too distracted to continue her inquiries as to what you were doing last night.

"I don't like this. All this lying is really tiring me out."

You have no other choice than to lie.

"That's what I hate about it."

Misaka was rushing to get ready, having only a short shower before getting changed into her uniform and brushing her teeth. After that she sat at her desk and got her homework out. She still had 23 minutes before she would need to leave for school, a few more if she ran. She began working furiously, concentrating intently on her work. It barely registered when, several minutes later, she felt something going through her hair as Kuroko began brushing the messy strands.

"Honestly Onee-sama, for someone so beautiful to allow themselves such a slipshod appearance is such a waste. Kuroko will take care of it though," she said as she brushed Misaka's bedhead into its normal position and touched up her outfit in a few places. It was a bit distracting but Kuroko was careful not to get in the way too much as she straightened up Misaka's appearance, "also, if you want, you can have several extra minutes to do that. I can teleport us to school. It will be a bit tiring but I can do it with a little bit of… motivation."

Misaka paused for a second. It was an attractive prospect, with a little more time she could finish up her first hour's homework and then do her second hour's work during first hour and so on. But… "What kind of motivation?" she asked cautiously.

"What else? A kiss. And you have to be the one to kiss me. Don't worry though, you have all morning to figure it out, and besides, if you ask nicely then I'll probably do it either way," she said honestly, "I'd hate it if I had to force you to kiss me against your will. You could never put love or passion into that kind of kiss."

Misaka resumed her homework, grateful for Kuroko's offer and even more grateful that it didn't come with a price. She continued her work, being fed a small breakfast by her doting roommate who was more than happy to do the task. After around 20 or so minutes had passed, Kuroko spoke up. "We should probably get going now, or else we'll be late even with teleportation."

"Ok," Misaka said packing up. She had gotten quite a bit done, she might actually make this work. She got up and walked to Kuroko, who was waiting patiently for her, hand outstretched for her and ready to go when she was. She hesitated for a second mustering up her courage, then stepped up and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before taking the proffered hand.

Kuroko's smiled widely at the brief contact, ecstatic. Her teleportations were quick and successive and, though the act normally would have exhausted her, she found she was too happy to be tired out by it, her heart raced for a different reason.

Misaka got a little queasy, being unused to so many teleportations one after the other. She was glad when they finally arrived at the school gates. They still had five minutes to get to their respective classes. They were some of the last ones still left in the schoolyard and all the other students were currently funneling inside the schoolyard.

"Thanks," she said to Kuroko, suppressing her own queasiness.

"No problem Onee-sama, see you at lunch. And good luck," she replied rushing off to her class. Misaka went off to her own class as well, making it a minute before the bell rang. The class was abuzz with various conversations, no one even noticed when she walked in and sat down. Being a school she was used to people yammering on before class but this much chattering could only mean a big rumor was going around or an interesting piece of information just surfaced.

Misaka knew what it had to be about of course. The Queen and her, how they fought and how she had won. Of course it would be big news. Even though it was supposed to be a secret, The Queen had brought along some of her lackeys. Surely they were spreading horrible lies around the school this very moment. Misaka could practically feel the gazes upon her, the whispers that would slowly destroy her image. But Misaka would not bow to the pressure; she held her head up as high and proud as usual.

The teacher walked in and the talking immediately stopped as people hurried back to their desks as the bell rang. Misaka followed through with her plan, surreptitiously doing her homework as the teacher talked and lectured to the class. She was glad she had this teacher first hour; she was one of the few teachers who didn't care that they had "The Railgun" in her class. In many other classes she would often be called upon or used as an example. She was a prodigy, a paragon, a shining example of an ESPer. Her teachers knew this and monopolized it, using her as inspiration for her students to succeed ("If she can do it you can too?") or as reprimand for failure ("Misaka doesn't make excuses, she went from level one to level five so why can't you go from level three to level four").

Misaka didn't like it, never had. It separated her from her peers, she became a level five above all else. She was not a student, she was a prodigy. This made other students jealous, they didn't like the image that her fans cultivated for her, and thus assumed that they didn't like her either. In a school like the exclusive and renowned Tokiwadai, the students had been pampered and coddled from birth, always believing themselves to be special. It annoyed them that someone could be more special than them.

Thus people would either avoid her entirely or try and get close to her to advance their own reputation. It wouldn't work though; their reputation would suffer rather than build. Despite Misaka's put on amiability and kindness she was feared and disliked. Anyone who got close to her would suffer the same by proxy. Even worse because they would be seen as a yes man, brownnosing someone in power to try and get some of their own, they would be hated and they didn't have the veil of fear to protect them like Misaka had. It took someone stupidly arrogant, like Kongou Mitsuko, or stupidly brave, like Kuroko, to get close to her in this school.

She tried hard to spare people from this fate, acting friendly but distant, never allowing others too close. But despite all of her efforts she still found herself with a few friends… and a Kuroko, whatever she was to her. After such a long time being alone it had felt wonderful to make friends.

But now that they were her friends they would undoubtedly suffer from the same reputation nosedive as she was about to go through. Especially Kuroko, after what she had done to her fellow students.' It's probably a good thing she doesn't remember that.' Misaka thought to herself.

Before she knew it the bell had rung, announcing the end of first hour. It had been quite productive time, Misaka had managed to get all her second hour work done and had gotten a good portion of her third hour's done as well. As the teachers changed classrooms and they were given a short break the talking resumed. The girl next to Misaka leaned over to her and whispered, "hey did you hear the news?"

Misaka was a little taken aback. Why would she be asking her that? If anyone would know it would be her. She was about to answer when the girl continued, her eyes gleaming with the spirit of gossip and intrigue. "I hear The Queen dropped out suddenly. No one knows why, she just randomly transferred out during the vacation. Her faction has disbanded and the members are taken the loss pretty hard. Apparently she didn't even tell them she was leaving."

"Huh?" was Misaka's only response. Something wasn't right… it was like everyone had forgotten about what had happened. Suddenly it hit her. The Queen could control or wipe memories. She was too prideful to allow anyone to know that she had lost so she wiped the memories of her faction's involvement and just disappeared.

"The leading theory is that it's a guy. I guess even level 5's can still be head over heels," The other girl continued, oblivious to the fact that Misaka wasn't listening anymore as she blathered on about the various rumors she had heard up until the next bell rang.

The rest of the day proceeded regularly. Misaka was glad to have dodged that particular bullet but she still had a lingering worry. Her instincts told her that her troubles were just beginning. Soon it was time for lunch. She packed up her stuff, having finished all her homework by this time (After all, she was a bit of a prodigy, she could handle homework), and walked out the door.

Kuroko was waiting for her, obviously teleporting down here. Her nose was buried in a book. It was a big, hardcover thing with a very plain cover. She couldn't quite read the title though. When she heard Misaka approaching she looked up and smiled at her. "Hello Onee-sama, ready to go?"

She nodded in response and began walking down to the cafeteria with Kuroko leading the way. She noticed as she walked that the school was more restless than usual. She still felt the gazes falling upon her like she was being watched but… why? Could it be that peoples' memories weren't wiped? But then why wouldn't they be slandering her?

The answer came shortly after she had sat down to lunch when a student in the same year as her approached. "Hello," she said politely, "I represent the Akarichi Faction. We were wondering if you would consider joining us."

Before Misaka could decline the offer however another girl came up, "why in the world would you want to join them? Our faction is far better, you should join us."

Another girl came with a similar message, followed by two others. Quickly they were bickering among themselves while trying to sell themselves as the best to Misaka. It was a little overwhelming and Misaka found it increasingly difficult to stay calm. She tried to talk the people down but they would not listen, not only that but they were beginning to attract the attention of others.

"Interesting," Kuroko suddenly piped up in a casual voice, "did you know that a human femur will break under a mere one hundred pounds of pressure?" her casual voice gained an edge as she said that. She looked up at the bickering mob and smiled. But though she smiled her eyes were humorless, they chilled the girls as Kuroko put on a perfect imitation of Kuro's cold glare.

Misaka had her reputation to consider. She was polite and kind to everyone, she was very forgiving and humble for someone of her stature. To those who didn't know better she was calm, levelheaded and even-tempered. She could not simply frighten these people off.

Kuroko, however, could. She had forsaken her own reputation for her Onee-sama long ago. She was known as a frightening and slightly unstable girl who one did not wish to make angry. She had cultivated this persona, this reputation, when she had first become friends with her Onee-sama. She had known such an action had risks after all, she knew that people wouldn't approve of someone getting close to someone so powerful. They had tried to break her.

It was subtle, methodical, and slightly cliché. First they began shunning her; excluding her from clubs, social circles, and group activities. Then came the rumors. They would whisper behind her back, coming up with all sorts of stories about her, calling her vile names and accusing her of terrible things. Then came the more overt bullying, the pranks and the insults that came directly to her face. She was isolated and ridiculed but it didn't matter. She still had friends after all: Uiharu, Kuro, and of course her lovely Onee-sama. She didn't need these snobby rich girls as friends and frankly wasn't too bothered by their actions.

One day however they finally piled on the straw that broke the camel's back. A girl from her class had been insulting her for the past couple minutes, though she wasn't really listening, too busy working. Then she heard something she could not allow to go unpunished, an insult against her precious Onee-sama. "I guess The Railgun must be really pathetic to be friends with someone as lowly as you."

She stopped working for a second and looked at the girl. She had a smug look, finally having got a reaction out of the girl who had been ignoring her. She looked at Kuroko beneath the rim of her glasses as she got ready to continue the tirade. Suddenly a pencil appeared before her eyes. It stayed there for a millisecond before falling to the ground alongside her glasses, now split neatly in half at the bridge.

"It does not pay to make someone angry when they can turn anything into a lethal weapon," Kuroko said casually taking out another pencil and continuing with her work as if nothing happened.

After that people continued to give her a wide berth, albeit for an entirely different reason. Her little stunt made people afraid of her. They became convinced she was dangerous and insane. And they don't even know about your borderline multiple personality disorder. Ever since then nobody had really bothered her, she was allowed to be her Onee-sama's friend in peace, a right she believed she deserved. She didn't care what anyone else thought of her; as long as she was near her Onee-sama everyone else in the world could hate her for all she cared. And at times such as these, this reputation came in handy.

She watched as the five girls backed down and scattered under her icy scrutiny. "Kuroko…" she heard the worried voice of Misaka from beside her, "what was that all about."

She turned to her and smiled, pushing her book and pointing to a sentence. "Just sharing an interesting fact I came across in my reading." She said innocently.

Misaka looked. It seemed she was reading a medical textbook and indeed it did talk about the breaking strength of the various bones in the human body…but… "This says 700 pounds of force, not 100."

"Oh? I guess I must have read it wrong, Arabic numbers are so confusing sometimes aren't they?"

"Yeah, I guess," Misaka said. The statement still disturbed her but it had disbanded the annoying group of bickering girls.

It was odd though, they had been talking about her joining their factions. As a level five she had gotten many similar offers when she first joined the school but she had declined them all. Since then nobody really asked her anymore, knowing their offer would be refused. Something had changed.

"Hey Misaka-senpai, Hey Kuroko-san."

Misaka turned, "Hey Mitsuko-san, Maaya-san, Kinuho-san," she said to the three as they sat down.

"You've heard the big news right? About The Queen's disappearance?" Maaya asked.

"Yeah… I heard."

"The whole school's gone crazy I tell you. With The Queen's faction disbanded the others are moving to fill the gap,we've been asked to join three separate factions since I came in this morning." Kinuho said, sounding exasperated.

"That's nothing, I've been asked by seven different factions. Of course that is to be expected, after all, what kind of club would it be if Kongou Mitsuko was not a member?" Mitsuko asked in her usually arrogant tone.

"I bet you've been horded eh? We saw like five different people here before, pretty impressive for all at once, even for a level 5." Maaya said sympathetically.

"Hey, did you hear about that one faction? STORM I think they call themselves. They're one of the biggest factions and they're really taking advantage of this. Their leader is a second year. A level four ESPer called Yashinko Honogun or something like that." Kinuho said.

"Yeah I heard about them," Maaya continued, "apparently they're a pretty good faction to join. Yashinko's father is pretty well connected and she's allowed to use several of his facilities for club training."

They continued talking for a bit, Misaka listened intently. She usually didn't care about the whole faction scene but now, with all this recent activity, she found herself curious.

"Excuse me for a moment," Kuroko suddenly said politely before standing up and teleporting away.

She teleported outside and took out her cell phone. As she as she heard the name she had a feeling that she knew it from somewhere, Kuro had reminded her. Now she just needed to make sure.

She scrolled down her short contact list until she found the most recent addition. She selected the number and began typing out a text.

"Hey Birdy, It's Kuroko, from yesterday. I hope I'm not interrupting you but I had a little question. I was wondering if you were familiar with the name Yashinko Honogun?"

She waited a minute or so before a response came through.

"Yeah I've heard of her. She's the daughter of the head of the Honogun crime family. She goes to some big rich girls' school. Her tuition is practically paid in blood money. Quite dangerous from what I hear. She's as wily as her father, willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Never met her in person though so I can't say for sure. That help?"

Thought so. It seems they are related.

"Very much. Thank you. Sorry to disturb you for such a random question, but I appreciate the answer." She typed in response before sending.

"No problem, anytime."

She smiled before closing her cell phone and putting it in her pocket.

It seems your new friendship is already paying dividends. This information could be useful blackmail if necessary.

"Do you ever have pleasant thoughts? Thoughts that don't involve using everyone and everything as tools for your own advantage."

My thoughts revolve around using them to your advantage, not my own. But no, I think rationally, I don't have time to waste thinking about things just to make me happy. I don't even have the emotions necessary to feel happy.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for always looking out for me, keep up the good work." She praised Kuro as she headed back to lunch.

"Welcome back Kuroko," said one of Mitsuko's pair of lackeys as she returned.

"What was all that about?" asked Misaka, fixing her with a curious gaze.

She sat next to her again. "Bathroom," she said simply as she put away her book and got another one out of her bag.

"Hey, Kuroko, have you been bugged to join any factions yet?"

"Nope," she replied before leaning over and grabbing hold of Misaka's arm. "My only allegiance is to Onee-sama."

Kinuho and Maaya recalled the time they had walked in to see Misaka practically torturing Kuroko with electric shocks in the pool. Yet even after that she was still so loyal… 'Weirdo,' the two girls thought in unison. Though they could at least admire that kind of loyalty to her friendship.

"Plus my work with Judgment would be hampered if I were to join a club or faction or whatever." She added as an afterthought, still clinging to Misaka's arm. Misaka sported a light blush but supposed that this was in the realm of what friends would do, or at least what Kuroko would do and she would normally allow. So she let it slide until lunch ended.

When the bell finally rang Misaka said goodbye to her friends and walked back to her class, escorted by Kuroko like a clingy puppy… who also happened to be a vicious guarddog. Misaka knew of Kuroko's less than positive reputation, and though she tried to defend her at first Kuroko had told her not to waste her breath. She had assured her Onee-sama that she was fine with having such a poor reputation, saying it was less troublesome than how she had been treated before.

That statement always shut Misaka up. She felt guilty for how her friends were treated because of her. She didn't want anybody to suffer, especially those close to her. But Kuroko had never cared about the suffering she had to endure, willing to put up with anything so long as she could be by her side.

They soon arrived at her class. "See you after school Onee-sama," Kuroko said with a smile before dashing off to make it to her own class on time.

Misaka watched her leave before she walked into her own class. 'It seems no matter what I can't escape the consequences of my actions,' she thought to herself as she went to her desk.

Misaka had a gift for attracting trouble.

Author's Note: You wouldn't believe how hard this chapter was to write. I can handle putting the characters in new and interesting environments but it is so hard for me to put them in an old one that I don't know much about. I tried to do as much research as I could but there just wasn't much information available on life in Tokiwadai. Most of it ended up being introspection on their stations in school and I ended up basing my perception of it off of another fan's work (Cun's "A Certain Destined Introduction") rather than on canon sources. Because of this I would welcome my readers to point out any misinformation or plot holes that exist so I can improve these types of chapters in the future (they are students, several plot points will happen in school).