Toaru Igi no Shitsumon

A Certain Question of Significance

Afterall… "I don't think this day can possibly get any worse…" Kuroko sighed as she opened the bathroom door and went into the main room. She turned towards her bed and the rest of the dorm only to see…

Her Onee-sama, Saten, and Uiharu all in the kitchen, bustling about doing various things: Uiharu was standing over the stove, cooking something, Saten seemed to be putting up various colored streamers and other festive decorations, and Misaka was holding a bowl, stirring its contents with an electronic mixer that was turned on to a setting higher than necessary, resulting in several drops of the mixture flying out and coloring her face with chocolate splotches. However the noise of the bathroom door opening and closing got their attention and they all stopped what they were doing and turned their gazes to Kuroko. They looked surprised and slightly panicked when they saw her. They exchanged glances amongst themselves then all looked at Kuroko again.

"Surprise," they all said in unison, "Happy Birthday Kuroko."

This whole thing had begun two days ago, on Wednesday after Uiharu and Kuroko had finished their work at Judgment. Kuroko had gone off to do some business and Misaka knew she would need to be going soon as well, but until then her, Uiharu, and Saten were hanging out in a random store, reading magazines. Uiharu had insisted on coming to buy one of her gamer magazines that she was so fond of, which of course she needed to read right away. Rather than listening to her gush endlessly about how many gigabytes of RAM this modem had, or how great the graphics were to this game, or how she had been meaning to optimize her CPU, the others had gotten their own magazines and were reading them as well.

Misaka had picked her usual manga compilation off the shelf, noting that there were far fewer there than usual. She paid for it at the counter and began leafing through it. However she realized as she was reading that the stories were not the usual ones featured in this compilation. Misaka guessed that they were doing one of their events where they would feature lesser known or even amateur mangaka's work to test out their popularity and boost sales. So she leafed through and checked out some of them. 'This one seems interesting… good action… that girl is really kicking ass…wait, what are they… are those two girls…' Misaka blushed and quickly flipped to another page only to face more of what had caused her the embarrassment in the first place. Misaka had bought the manga without looking at the cover first, if she had she would have seen that the publication had been having a special "Shoujo Ai" event in a (successful) attempt to boost profits.

Misaka's blushed deepened with every flip of the page as she slowly leafed her way through the magazine, reading every word and looking at every picture in an attempt to see if all of the stories had two girls kissing in them, of course she wouldn't be reading it for any other reason… she just liked the action scenes…

"Hey Misaka," Saten said suddenly, causing her to jump and press the magazine close to her chest. Luckily Saten was focused on her own magazine, the one where she normally read about all the rumors, urban legends, etc… of academy city, and didn't see this reaction, or the deep, suspicious blush on Misaka's face. "You're a Cancer[1] right?"

"Uh… yeah," Misaka said, trying to recover from her near heart attack.

"Listen to your horoscope," Saten said with a devilish grin, "'your love life this month will experience many ups and down, but with persistence and care you will make it through. Remember that keeping secrets is dangerous and, if revealed at the wrong time, may prove disastrous to your relationship. Keep in mind that sometimes it is better to simply forgive and forget.'"

Despite her belief that horoscopes were ridiculous, that particular one hit uncomfortably close to home. And she did not know how to respond. She felt Saten's gaze on her but couldn't determine what exactly was behind it. Was it mischievousness? Was it disappointment? She nonchalantly turned away to avoid those eyes.

Looking back at the magazine Saten continued, "oh and here's mine: 'Aquarius: This month will be full of surprises. One surprise will often lead to another. Remember to seize opportunities presented to you without hesitation. Sharing is important, whether fortune, feelings, or fun. The route to happiness this month is sharing.' Hey Uiharu, you want to hear yours?" she asked the girl sitting next to her.

Uiharu gave up trying to read for now, knowing that trying to ignore Saten was an impossible feat. "Sure, I'm a…"

"Sagittarius, I know," Saten interrupted and then began reading the horoscope, "'Things are not always as they seem. Remember to always be vigilant. A friend's bold action may reveal something that you have kept hidden.' Hmm… A friend's bold action…" Saten tapped her chin thoughtfully, then, suddenly, flipped Uiharu's skirt, "something you have kept hidden." She said as she peeked at her friend's now revealed panties, "White and yellow striped."

Uiharu blushed and pushed her skirt bag down, holding it tight to herself as her eyes darted around looking if anyone had seen that. It didn't seem that anyone was around, but it was still embarrassing, "Saten-san," she fumed, only for her to respond with her usual apology. She wished that Saten would simply learn that she did not appreciate her skirt being flipped like that.

Saten just smiled her usual smile and returned her gaze to her magazine, "now what does Kuroko's say… let's see…" She paused for a second then turned to her two friends, "what sign is Kuroko anyway?"

They both opened their mouth to answer but nothing came out. Their faces suddenly adopted a slight look of confusion, so Saten asked, "well when is her birthday?"

Again there was only silence. Misaka looked to Uiharu for and answer and Uiharu looked to Misaka. "You're her roommate, don't you know?" Uiharu said.

To which Misaka replied, "you're her colleague, you've known her for longer, shouldn't you know?"

"She's never mentioned it," they said in unison.

"It's a mystery!" Saten declared happily, not having had a good mystery to solve since the poltergeist incident and excited that a new one had popped up, even if it was something minor like this, "let's get to the bottom of this."

"Or we could, you know, ask her," Misaka suggested, despite the inherent complexity of such a controversial plan.

"No," Saten refused, "That's boring. Besides if she has told us and we simply forgot then that might hurt her feelings."

She had a point with that last part. "Fine, we can do it your way, but can we do it tomorrow? I have to get going," Misaka said, noticing the time. She stood up and began walking towards the exit when Saten called out.

"Wait, you forgot your magazine," she said holding it out to her. With a slight blush Misaka accepted with muttered thanks and turned around again. Before she could take another step though Saten spoke again, "Shoujo Ai edition eh? I should probably get myself a copy too." Following that, Misaka left the store, walking a bit more quickly than normal.

Saten went to the manga section and picked up a copy. She looked through the table of contents to see that there was a new chapter to one of her favorites being featured. she smiled as she settled in beside Uiharu, using her as a pillow as she began reading.

"Ooo, a new co-op mode," Uiharu remarked as she read the article about one of her favorite game's newest update. She couldn't wait to get home and install it so she could get to pwning some n00bs with her unparalleled sniping skills. Then she felt the pressure of Saten's head resting on her. The sensation was slightly uncomfortable but not unwelcome, and Uiharu smiled. 'But gaming can wait,' she decided, and went back to reading and spending time with her friend.

Their investigation into the mystery of Kuroko's birthday continued the next day at the judgment office, after Kuroko had gone to follow her "lead" on the case they were working. Saten and Misaka had decided that the person who would probably know best would be Konori, so they asked her as she sat at her desk, getting ready to go to pursue a different lead on the same case.

"Hey Konori-senpai," Saten said, "Do you know when Kuroko's birthday is?"

She paused for a second in her preparations, "no, I don't. Why do you ask?"

"It came up yesterday in conversation and none of us knew the answer. We thought you'd know, seeing how you've known her longer than any of us," Misaka answered.

"I'm sorry to say I don't," Konori responded zipping up her jacket, "Why don't you look it up." Having said that she grabbed her motorcycle helmet and left the building.

Since she hadn't known either, Misaka to follow her advice and look it up on her computer. After a bit of looking she found Kuroko's file on the archive. She opened it up and checked the birthdate. "What? It says that her birthday is tomorrow," Misaka said.

The other two were as surprised to hear this as she was. "Really? I wonder why she didn't tell us." Uiharu said

"She might have told us, I can't remember though…" Misaka replied, "So what should we do?"

"We could throw her a surprise party," Uiharu suggested

"That's perfect!" Saten exclaimed, "we'll go shopping right now while she's at work."

"But I still have to work too. And when we're done working, which we will be soon I might add, we're all going to hang out together, like usu-," Uiharu began.

Her words were cut short by a message from Kuroko telling her to go to a website and patch the video feed on it through to Anti-Skill. She did so and the girls gathered around to watch the subsequent crime drama that unfolded on the camera.

After that the message came that Kuroko would help Anti-Skill clean up and couldn't hang out with them, but said that Uiharu could go now and she would take care of the rest. Uiharu felt slightly bad for accepting and leaving Kuroko to do all the work all by herself, but she knew that now they could go and shop for her party.

So they had each gone shopping for a gift and for supplies for the party. Then, after school the next day, they had all come over here to get it ready. She had panicked a little when Kuroko had messaged her but she had managed to play it off without sounding suspicious.

Of course they hadn't been expecting her back so soon nor to come out of the bathroom like she had rather than the front door, but they tried to go along with it anyway.

"Surprise," they all said in unison, "Happy Birthday Kuroko."

Kuroko didn't hear what they said, too confused by the strange decorations of the room. Kuroko felt a little bit woozy but surely it wasn't been enough to cause her additional hallucinations on top of the ninjas. But what other explanation was there for her friends to be decorating the place in streamers and balloons. She thought of pinching herself but decided there was a much better test for seeing if she was dreaming.

Without saying a word in response Kuroko began walking towards the kitchen and Misaka. Misaka was a bit concerned. Kuroko seemed a little…. Out of it at the moment. 'She doesn't look too good, like something just- okay she's getting a little too close for-what is she…- Error: 0E:016F:BFF9B3D4' Her mind shut down and froze up like a blue-screened computer.

Kuroko walked over to Misaka, leaned up, and licked a dab of cake batter right off her cheek. 'too tasty to be a hallucination,' she reasoned as she lapped another dab off her now seemingly paralyzed Onee-sama. "What was that you were saying? And what's with the balloons," she asked as she diligently cleaned her Onee-sama's fair face of the messy cake batter.

For a few seconds Misaka couldn't respond with anything more complex than the twitch of an eye, so unexpected and frankly weird was Kuroko's action. When she regained control of her faculties she punched Kuroko right in the chest in a slightly panicked and extremely embarassed attempt to get her to back off. "What the hell are you doing?" She demanded as she swung. It knocked Kuroko back a bit but didn't seem to faze her much. However her chest seemed to be tougher than usual and the blow had actually hurt Misaka's wrist.

"Cleaning you off," she said with an innocent smile, too relaxed by the endorphins flowing through her system to see anything particularly wrong with her actions, not that she would normally see such a thing as wrong. Before Misaka could respond she decided to repeat her question, "what's with the balloons?"

Saten and Uiharu looked at her strangely, as if she had just asked what color the sky was or something similar. "It's your birthday," Uiharu said.

Kuroko cocked her head and looked at her, "it is?"

The other girls were slightly taken aback by this, "of course… don't you know your own birthday?" Saten said.

"Not really," Kuroko replied casually, "it's not reall-" Suddenly the ball dropped and Kuroko realized what the balloons were for. "Wait… is this… a birthday party… for me?"

The look of total confusion on Kuroko's face was almost… pitiful. There was a short silence, then Misaka spoke up, trying to confirm their suspicions, "Yes it's a birthday party… or it will be when we're done preparing. Haven't you had them before?"

Kuroko shook her head, "no, I haven't."

There followed a short, awkward silence as Misaka, Saten, and Uiharu exchanged glances. They weren't expecting this at all and they couldn't help but feel sorry for Kuroko. "Well we still have to get it ready, you came home earlier than we expected," Misaka finally explained, trying to break the awkward silence, "do what you want until then."

Kuroko smiled in response. "Will do," she said then disappeared. Misaka barely had time to wonder where she had gone off to when she felt hot breath on her cheek, followed by a soft pair of lips and a spot of wetness as Kuroko's tongue lapped up another spot of batter.

Knowing better than to punch again, Misaka instead raised her hand to Kuroko's chest and unleashed a weak, but still significant, bolt of lightning into her. "Except that," she said as she did so. However it seemed to have even less effect than the punch had. Kuroko didn't even recoil from the zap, though she did get the message and teleported to the table with a grin.

Saten tried hard to contain a giggle throughout the whole display. she went over to the table, taking a break from decorating, and sat with Kuroko, 'you might want to go easy on the teasing don't you think? Wouldn't want you getting electrocuted to death on your birthday."

"Eh, I've had worse."

"Oh," Saten said, her response to that particular statement interrupted by her sudden realization, "I almost forgot." She reached into her bag and pulled out the magazine she had bought from the store a couple days ago that had begun this whole thing. "Let's see… ah, here we are… Ha, should've guessed that's what you were, it fits you well…'Leo: Your dreams will come true. But remember that there are two sides to everything: with dreams may also come nightmares. Learn what to hide and what to reveal, and make sure you keep a level head in times to come."

Hearing this, Kuroko burst out into laughter. It was so… It was so… "That's perfect. I don't believe in all that astrology stuff but that… I can work with that. Dreams coming true..." Then came a glance towards the kitchen and a grin that Saten could easily guess the meaning of. For the second time that day Saten felt pity for the girl who was so in love with Misaka without even knowing the truth, without knowing that Misaka was already taken. She thought back to Misaka's horoscope. How it warned about the dangers of secrets revealed at the wrong time, and wondered if it had something to do with this.

"Don't you have your own work to be doing Saten?" Misaka said pointedly, keeping her head low to hide her blush as she put the cake pan in the oven and set the timer. Then she began to help Saten get the decorations up before dinner was ready.

As they were doing that Kuroko went over to the far end of the room, sitting down on Misaka's bed, still watching them but now having some distance between them and her. This allowed her to talk. "It's weird isn't it…?"

Not overly. You've seen parties before, you've attended Jericho's birthday party, you were the one to throw it in fact.

"But I've never had one thrown for me … I never even knew that today was my birthday," she grinned, "kind of puts today's events in a different light eh? Getting shot on my birthday…"

If it isn't special for you then it shouldn't matter that you got shot on it. Besides, if you look at it a different way, you saved several peoples' lives on your birthday.

"Thanks… you always know just what to say."

I have experience. And that armor truly is amazing isn't it? 30 bullets point blank and not a single one pierced it. Plus it even dispersed the pereskia's electric shock. Hearing this Kuroko remembered that she was still wearing it and quickly teleported it back to its hiding spot in her closet.

"Are you talking to someone Kuroko?" Asked Saten, her voice ridiculously high pitched. She had been having a bit too much fun with the helium.

"Just myself," she replied. It was technically true after all.

"Good conversation?" She asked.

"Yeah, quite good. Hey, Saten, whose idea was this anyway?"

"Well we all had a part in it. I was, of course, the catalyst. None of it would have happened without me… but it was Uiharu's idea to throw you a surprise party. And Misaka was the one who planned it all out."

"I see," Kuroko said and smiled, turning away from the kitchen slightly. Saten was focused on her own task so wasn't paying attention, but Misaka was, and she saw the sadness in that smile. Putting down her current task she walked over and sat next to her on the bed. She put her hand on Kuroko's shoulder.

"Maybe it's a good thing that you haven't had a birthday party before," she began, thinking that was the issue here, though she didn't quite see where she was going with this. In fact, looking it over that was quite stupid.

Kuroko raised an eyebrow as if to ask "Why?" so Misaka smiled and decided to just wing it, "because it means that no matter how badly this goes it will still be the best party ever? No no, that's stupid… " she said seeing Kuroko's growing look of amusement. The other two had similar looks as they eavesdropped on the conversation. Still Misaka was trying and she continued despite her growing blush, "how about… because it means that we get to be together for your first one?"

Kuroko wrapped her arms tightly around Misaka. But when she did the pain from the injuries she had sustained that day flared up, so she loosened her grip a bit to ease the pressure and the pain. "You're absolutely right Onee-sama," she said, though it was partially out of mercy. She was making a complete fool of herself, though that in itself was kind of cute, "Thank you so much for setting this up… all of you.I am truly glad we can be together for this," then she whispered to Misaka, "together in more ways than one eh?"

Luckily Misaka was saved from having to answer by the ding of the oven, telling her that the cake was ready. After that she got it out and frosted it, then came dinner.

When that was done Misaka and Uiharu took away the dishes while Saten got everybody's presents and laid them out on the table. They all sat down and waited for Kuroko to open them. She reached for the smallest box. It was clumsily wrapped in a yellowish flower-print paper. It turned out to be from her lovely Onee-sama, which kind of explained the wrapping. Her Onee-sama was not a very skilled person when it came to… most things. Still it was a touching gesture, made all the more charming by the lack of skill.

Still it did present a problem as she had no idea how to open it. She did not want to do something unladylike, such as trying to tear the paper with her teeth, nor did she want to embarrass Misaka by trying too hard to open it. So she simply took the easy route and teleported the paper off of it and into the trash, earning a "nifty" from Saten. Underneath the paper was a box. It was long but not very wide, similar in appearance to the boxes that necklaces come in, though slightly larger than that. She opened it up to see two long, red, silk ribbons, much like her own.

She took them out, "thank you Onee-sama," she said with a smile. Misaka responded with a slight blush and a muttered "you're welcome." Kuroko took off the ribbons she was wearing and put these ones on instead, then turned from side to side to show them off, "how do I look?"

Saten and Uiharu couldn't see a difference at all but they nodded their heads and said, "great, they suit you," like good friends were supposed to do when asked that question. Misaka, on the other hand, blushed even deeper as she tried to avoid eye contact and said, "Just great…"

In her infinite mercy Kuroko did not tease her, instead she reached for her next gift. It was larger and rectangular. It was wrapped far more neatly. Checking the tag it read "From Uiharu to Shirai-San. Happy Birthday." She did the same trick with the wrapping paper and saw that it was a new camera, like she had been wanting. She thanked Uiharu and put it aside. Then she reached for the final present.

By process of elimination this one was from Saten. It was larger than the other two but thinner. She opened it curiously and gaped at its contents. "Saten…"

"you like it?" Saten asked, happy to see such a positive reaction to her gift. Shopping for a rich girl was hard but she had managed to find something that no amount of money could buy to give to her.

"I love it… how… when…"

"A few days ago. I got it enlarged and printed yesterday."

Curious Misaka took a look at the gift. It was a framed picture of her and Kuroko on a park bench. Both of them were asleep and Kuroko was resting her head on Misaka's lap. Misaka blushed then lowered her gaze at Saten. Her eyes narrowed in a glare as sparks began arcing from her hair to her face.

Saten leaned back, trying to put some distance between herself and the Level 5 that she seemed to have enraged. Still Misaka wouldn't hurt her… right? She quivered slightly in fear as Misaka's gaze became fiercer and fiercer. Until suddenly her eyes twitched as Kuroko's hand, unseen by the others, began massaging a small circle in her lower back.

"Thank you very much Saten but you really shouldn't have done that," she lectured, hypocritically and half-heartedly as she put the picture, face down, aside with the other gifts. Saten was glad to see that Misaka was calming down as well.

"Thank all of you for throwing me such a wonderful party," Kuroko continued, "but it's getting late. You should probably head home before curfew."

"yeah, we better, come on Uiharu," Saten said standing up.

"See you Monday Shirai-san," Uiharu said as she followed Saten out the door.

"Ha-hand," Misaka warned through gritted teeth after the two were gone and the door was closed.

Kuroko removed her hand obediently and walked towards the window.

"Is something wrong?" Misaka asked, a little surprised at how mellow she was acting.

"I'm just a little surprised is all. Surprised that people actually care." After all that had happened today she had started to doubt that very thing.

For a few seconds no words were spoken as Kuroko continued looking out the window at the shimmering night sky. Then she felt pressure on her shoulders as Misaka spun her around and gave her a short peck on the lips.

"Of course we care. Of course I care. I love you," Misaka said as she bent down to kiss Kuroko once again. This time it lasted much longer as the two girls basked in each other's warmth. When they finally broke apart she smiled and said, "Happy Birthday Kuroko."

Kuroko practically melted on the spot.

'Could this day get any better?' she thought to herself happily.

[1]: "It is fair to say that most Cancers are a bundle of contradictions. Compassionate and caring with friends, family and lovers, yet they can cut to the bone with their jealous remarks and ever-changing moods. Endearingly eccentric on one hand, and on the other, insecure about how others see them. Like their astrological symbol - the Crab - Cancers can appear hard and insensitive on the outside. However, for those of us who know and love one, we understand that deep below lies a softness and sensitivity that makes them so very special…" Yeah… this sounds like Misaka.

Author's note: Now here is the question: Does this chapter make last chapter better or worse? Does the fact that the day had a happy ending make up for the fact that I did all those horrible things to her on what turned out to be her birthday?

Anyway, here is what Misaka and co. were doing wednesday and thursday. This is the reason the past couple chapters have been focusing on Kuroko. Don't worry though Misaka fans, though the next couple chapters will be low on action (of a certain kind at least) they will be from Misaka's POV.

Also… horoscopes really are rubbish… don't listen to them.