Toaru Kikai no Kōgeki
A Certain Attack of Oppurtunity
Much like Uiharu, Saten was awoken that morning by a loud blaring, which she attempted to silence by hitting the snooze button. However this didn't quite work as, unlike Uiharu, that blaring came from 2 different alarm clocks, one of which was several feet away from her bed, too far for her to just reach over and smack onto the floor. So, to silence the annoying noise, she stood up and walked over to it and smacked the snooze button.
She stood in the middle of her room for a second wondering if she should go back to sleep, then she decided that that would be too much work. So she just stood there. Saten was not a morning person
She glanced at the clock. She saw that it was still quite a while before her flower headed friend had to go to work. She smiled and was suddenly infused with a burst of energy. Saten was not a morning person, she was, however, an Uiharu person. The thought of the other girl was enough to convince her tired body to move quickly as she got dressed in her usual outfit. As she did she looked around her apartment. All over were several pictures of her with her family and friends.
One could tell a lot about a person from what they kept in their room, especially what they kept hidden. In her case what she had hidden was a vase and a flowerpot that each held a few mangled flowers in them. It had been her horribly failed attempt at gardening that she had made in hopes of one day giving Uiharu hand grown flowers to add to her hair wreath instead of the usually artificial ones that she did give her. What was more telling was what could not be seen, the numerous previous attempts she had made to do the same.
She had been doing it since before she and Uiharu had even become friends. She had worked so hard to grow flowers with her only success being a single daisy. However it was perhaps a cosmic reward for her dedication to something, considering she normally dropped projects after a single day, that the daisy was truly beautiful and worthy of the girl who would become her friend.
So far that had been her only success since growing flowers secretly in an apartment was not the easiest thing to do. But it had been a success when she needed it most, so she was happy to just keep trying and hope that another flower would grow when need.
Rooting around her friends apartments had been what had told her the most about them. It had told her Uiharu was insecure, Misaka was nostalgic and childish, and Kuroko was desperate to grow up. It had also told her a lot about Uiharu's and Misaka's families and who they considered friends and a whole bunch of other stuff about them. However she had still learned very little about Kuroko, the photo album she found had warded her away from an urge to search, and revealing only her creepy stalkerish dedication to her older roommate. The only other thing she had discovered in a search of their room were a couple of boxes in their closet that were clearly Kuroko's. They were clearly the teleporter's because they were bound in chains with no apparent way to open it other than teleporting them off, like she had done to the wrapping paper of her presents on her birthday.
She thought back to that particular day. Birthdays had always been a happy occasion for her. She couldn't imagine living without them as Kuroko said she had done. It made her wonder what kind of parents she had that they hadn't even celebrated their child's birthday. She doubted she would ever find out though, her auburn haired friend never talked about her family
'Family…' She thought and smiled a little sadly as her eyes danced over a particular picture of her chasing her little brother when she was much younger. Underneath the picture was a stone, a smooth reddish brown one with a beautiful sheen that sparkled in the sunlight. Shortly before she had left her brother had walked up to her and given it to her, "It's my favorite," he had said, "but I want you to have it to remember me by. Promise me when you get back you'll give it back to me and we can play some tag." She never thought that she would actually miss that little snot until she actually left him behind.
That sorrow was actually followed by a little bit of guilt. The reason that he wasn't in Academy City like her was actually her fault. Academy City was expensive and her parents couldn't afford to send another child in unless they could be sure to get some return. Since ESPer potential was linked to genetics, when they had discovered that Saten couldn't manifest they decided that it wasn't worth it to send her brother there only to discover he couldn't either.
Of course her brother didn't blame her. She knew he was disappointed but he would never say that it was her he was disappointed in. the same was true with her parents, they were disappointed but they would never let it show and they would never even once blame her.
It was worse when she was around her friends, especially Misaka. The hope that came from hearing she was once a level one was eclipsed by the frustration that came with the same knowledge. It was more annoying to know that you can grow and see that you aren't than never knowing it in the beginning.
She thought back to a couple of days ago and what Kuroko had said, "The idea of talent is ridiculous. So is the idea that anyone finds anything easy. 'Nothing ever becomes easy, you simply get used to the hardship'."
Those words angered Saten because she at least partially agreed with them. But of course if talent didn't exist then the reason she didn't have powers was all her fault. The disappointment that her parents felt wasn't at the universe for cursing her with a lack of power and ability to improve, but it was actually at her for not choosing to improve.
Saten was what most might call "opportunistic". She had a great deal of patience, a truly surprising quality for someone who most would see as extremely restless and excited, and would usually wait for an opportunity to come along. That didn't mean that she did no work, seeking out those opportunities was a chore in and of itself, however it did mean that some things were more difficult to do. She never really had an opportunity to suddenly improve until she had seen Level Upper, and that had gone terribly. Improvement was done by constant training over a long period of time, and Saten wasn't the best at doing things like that. Kuroko's words, "before joining Judgment I usually trained about 80 hours a week to get to where I am now," were daunting. Even hearing them was enough to bore her out of her skull. All those things she could be doing with that time, all those missed opportunities to have fun and hang out with friends… was that what it took to be good?
Her friends were an unnaturally skilled group of people, especially for their age, but each of them had seemed so alone, with so few friends outside of their group of four. She knew that Uiharu had had no one at the beginning since she hadn't even joined Judgment by the time they became friends. Kuroko and Misaka seemed to have each other but before that Misaka hadn't had anyone, everyone driven off by her power and personality.
Kuroko… Kuroko was an odd case. She seemed to have friends beyond their group, as evidenced by the one fight that had gone on several weeks ago before when they had run into that Birdy girl (thinking back she now understood why Misaka had gotten angry and also why she had gotten embarrassed when she had brought up the "married couple" thing), but even when she was among all her friends she still seemed the most alone out of all of them.
She was glad she had become friends with them all though. It had sounded like an unpleasant thing at first, meeting two snobby rich girls one of whom was an arrogant level five. Still, it was an opportunity, and she was loathe to pass an opportunity up, especially an opportunity to connect to others, which was her second favorite kind, right after an opportunity to make the people she cared about happy. She was grateful she had taken it as well because it had given her two new friends. And even though Kuroko was haughty, scary at times, and perverted and Misaka was brash and often made her feel a bit insecure about her ability, she was happy to have their friendship.
By this time Saten had finally reached her destination. She rang the doorbell then crouched down, her hands touching the ground. When the door opened she announced in her most singsong voice, "U-I-HA-RUUUUU" and flipped her skirt, glimpsing the flower design panties and smiling.
"I just don't get it," Saten said to Uiharu as they walked to Judgment Branch 177, "this personal reality thing is ridiculous."
"It's hard at the beginning but it gets easier. Keep practicing. Remember what our teacher says? Try to picture your idyllic world and pretend it's real."
Saten had heard this before but it was hardly as easy as it sounded. Not because Saten lacked imagination though. It was just, as she looked to the girl walking beside her, hand intertwined with hers, she realized that there was nothing she could do to make this world better. Saten didn't care about much, she didn't want much. She took opportunities as they came and didn't really make plans. She had no real ambition or discontentment. Her ideal world was her and Uiharu just sitting beneath a tree, a warm breeze playing through the colorful leaves.
"That doesn't really work. I'm happy with this world. Besides, I can't concentrate so hard on one thing for that long," Saten explained. And it was was happy to have what she had and hopefully have it for a long time to come. That was one of the reasons that Uiharu's plan that she had talked about at the beginning of their walk, about starting her own company with Saten helping out with the business angle, had appealed to her so much. The opportunity to be with Uiharu even into adulthood was a fantastic opportunity, and she didn't mind business either. She liked to say she had a nose for money and she did have an eye for the particulars of business as well.
"What's on the schedule today?" She asked Uiharu, deciding to change the subject before she got too lost in daydreaming.
"I have work," she said, sounding a bit unhappy at that. Saten could guess why. She was probably lonely now that her colleague and friend was "on leave" as she called it. Or maybe it was because it would be taking away from the time that they could be spending together. Either way Saten looked for a way to cheer her up. Her eyes fell upon the small cake shop near the Branch Headquarters and the sign outside its windows. She separated from Uiharu while the girl was still deep in thought and went over to the shop. It seemed they were offering free samples of their new flavor. She tried one and found it was delicious. It was the perfect thing to cheer up Uiharu with. She took a sample and headed back to the office. When she got there Uiharu seemed to be looking where she had gone, "The cake shop down the street was offering free samples of their newest flavor," she said, explaining her absence.
"Oh, really?" Uiharu asked, excited. The excitement was cute and Saten decided to tease her just a little bit before she handed it over.
"Well they were," Saten said casually, hiding it in her palm behind her back, "I had the last one."
"Oh, really?" Uiharu asked again, this time clearly disheartened, "were they go- " she managed to get out before Saten popped the treat in her mouth. She was pretty accurate but a little bit missed.
"Just kidding," Saten said, "I made sure to get a sample for you too," she assured as Uiharu swallowed the delicious treat, "sorry for just shoving it in but the look on your face was priceless when you realized. And I only made a little mess," the long haired girl said as she moved to wipe off a little frosting from the corner of Uiharu's mouth and put it in her own mouth. "Tasty aren't they?" It was even tastier this time.
Uiharu blushed cutely in response. Then Saten heard a familiar voice speak "Onee-sama". She looked over Uiharu's shoulder to see Kuroko sitting on Misaka's lap, a small piece of cake in her hand, "say ahhh," she commanded much to the electro-master's protests. She hadn't even noticed that the two had been here, too distracted by Uiharu.
Uiharu and Saten sighed simultaneously at the antics of the two lovebirds as Uiharu walked over to the master circuit breaker and flipped the switch, turning the lights back on.
Fifteen seconds later Misaka came barging into the room, clearly annoyed and embarrassed. She sat down hard in a chair facing the wall. It wasn't until another half a minute passed that the other girl teleported in, right near the sink, and began immediately running her tongue under cold water.
"Polnostʹyu stoit on[1]," Kuroko said in what sounded like a foreign language or just really, really bad slurring.
"Zatknisʹ," Misaka responded in the same language, firing another lightning bolt at the girl, this one more controlled. It hit her square in the back, scorching the vest of her uniform and causing a sudden muscle spasm that sent the teleporter's head into the metal faucet hard. Saten winced at the sight and the dull thud that accompanied it.
"Onee-sama, you'll damage my uniform," the teleporter whined, disregarding the lightning's effects on her as she righted herself and wiped off the trickle of blood that the impact had caused. Misaka suddenly looked guilty.
"Are you ok Kuroko," the electro-master asked as if she hadn't been the one who caused the injury.
"I'm fine," she said then she walked over to Uiharu, "I should probably get going, I have a lot of training to do. I'll be back on the beat on Monday. You'll be fine on your own until then," she spoke the last part as more of a statement than a question, utter confidence in her voice.
"Yep," she nodded with a smile, "I'll see you Monday. Have a nice time until then. Train hard." With that Kuroko left. Konori returned shortly after that and said that it was Uiharu's turn for patrol.
"And you two, try not to distract her this time. Her patrols are taking twice the time that they should," she scolded the others who decided to just head off. Saten knew she wouldn't be able to accompany Uiharu without distracting her and getting her into trouble so she decided it would be ok to leave her alone just once.
So she found herself walking and talking with Misaka. It had actually been a while since this had last happened, since before her discovery of them. Saten knew she should be careful with this. "I was talking with Uiharu this morning. We were talking about Personal Realities and that practice where you picture your idyllic world."
"Oh? What kind of thing did you imagine?" Misaka asked.
"Well I kinda had problems with it. My perfect day is just hanging out with my friends. I'm ok with this world you know?"
"That's an optimistic outlook," Misaka said with a smile, "I suppose this world is pretty good… though a little too like an action movie at times."
"I was thinking it was more like a romantic comedy…" she said, "either way I suppose it's better than a drama or," she shuddered, "a soap opera. Those things are so cheesy."
"Or a documentary… think how boring that would be."
"I think it would actually be kind of exciting, having a narrator… maybe Jun Fukuyama? It would be cool having the Code Geass guy narrating our lives wouldn't it?"
"Eh, I don't think I'd like a guy doing it… I think Rie Kugimiya would be better."
Saten laughed in response, "I should've expected that you'd choose the Queen of Tsunderes."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Misaka asked angrily but with a blush on her face demonstrating her meaning more perfectly than she ever could. A few seconds passed in silence before she spoke again, "what's wrong with being a tsundere anyway?"
"Well," Saten began, seizing the window of opportunity presented to her to act as a relationship counselor for the first time since she had actually begun to understand the relationship, "I have nothing against them personally. They have their reasons and they can actually be kind of endearing, but you have to feel sorry for Saito and Hayate. As durable as they are it can't be easy to deal with a tsundere's rage, especially if they're particularly violent."
The guilt that flashed across her friends face told Saten that her words had hit home and that Misaka understood at least on some level, "but they choose it… well maybe not those two but Ryujji certainly chose to stay even if Taiga was violent."
"You're right… I guess they're just masochists who deserve anything they get," Saten conceded. Though she didn't mean it she had to admit that Kuroko might actually be a little bit of a masochist… but that was beside the point.
"I'm not saying that," Misaka predictably argued, "I'm just saying that it's as much them as Rie's characters. They don't have to stay and they don't have to do the things that make them get hurt."
"True. But you still have to ask if they deserve as much as they get. What they do isn't that bad. They're just trying to show affection."
"They do it wrong. It's only for the perverted things, I don't punish Kuroko for hugs and kisses as long as we're not in public." She said, frustrated. A second past before Misaka realized what she had just said. The long haired girl almost heard the click of realization and the rush of blood to her face.
Saten wondered if this was the right opportunity to talk about that, but Misaka ran off with an ever-deepening blush the next second, convincing the level zero that now probably wasn't the right time after all.
Still it was nice to get confirmation. She felt an odd sense of accomplishment, like the one she felt when they solved a mystery, albeit to a smaller degree.
She did love a good mystery every now and then; even the concept of a mystery was enough to excite her. It was why she loved the urban legend sites. It was even more fun when something on them turned out to be true: like the level upper or poltergeist… or the scourge. Recently that was the biggest news after all. The whole thing had exploded shortly after it had happened. People loved stories like that so it wasn't surprising that the message boards of so many sites had exploded with rumors.
Still she doubted that those other rumors were untrue. She had stumbled upon a pattern among that particular site. The first posts were usually the most accurate ones, though they were usually way, way more vague than that. It was almost like the person who had posted it had some sort of personal connection to it.
She shook herself and reminded herself that she didn't really want to know about it. She was curious and worried for her friend but as much as she loved gathering information about her friends she had promised herself in elementary school that she would never indulge in rumors when it concerned people she cared about.
Instead she thought about the other recent rumors. There was a group of rumors about a device which could disable ESPer powers. When Saten had read about it she had thought about Capacity Down but when she had read that it could be carried around by a single person she had dismissed it. The last one had taken up a truck and she doubted it could shrink that much in that little time. Besides, she was immune to it anyway, the one perk of being a level zero. The other rumor was a fairly insignificant one about a group of "delinquent rehabilitation" facilities that were being built.
It was actually kind of a pity that nothing exciting was going on. She had recently developed quite a taste for adventure and action, even if she was next to useless at it. Though when she did manage to help, with the whole smashing of the capacity down and all, it was such an amazing feeling.
It was around that time that she saw a teenager a few years older than herself cornered by 3 big tough looking guys. She couldn't tell if he was being mugged or what but she could clearly see that he was in trouble. She looked around for someone but there was no one.
No one but her. "Hey!" she started to speak as she went over. Then something happened that surprised her. The teenager began to glow with a green aura. He raised his hand and suddenly a massive gust of wind swept up the 3 thugs and sent them crashing into the wall and knocking them unconscious. Saten heard a crack among the three whumps of impacts making her wonder who was really in trouble now.
Had that been the end she could have walked away. After all he did it in self-defense. However he didn't stop there. The strong wind continued to gust in a circular manner, this time twisting around sweeping up dust and debris as well as the 3 unconscious thugs, battering them with rocks and bits of piping as well as an empty garbage can.
The glowing around the other man intensified as other tornadoes began to touch down around him. The clouds in the sky itself began coiling around these cyclones. The cars in the street began sliding around and the branches of the small trees planted in the neighboring park blustered in the strong wind, some snapping off entirely as the saplings began tilting towards the swirling winds. "You Skillout thugs are true idiots you know that? You might have us ESPers outnumbered but we have you outmatched by far."
A sickening crunch sounded from one of the Skillout thugs as a dumpster was lifted into the twister hitting him hard. "HEY!" Saten called but the blowing wind drowned out her words. She looked to the side to see that there was a piece of lead piping near her as well as a few small rocks. She picked up the pipe and a rock. Holding the pipe like a baseball bat, she chucked the rock upward and hit the improvised baseball with her improvised bat.
Saten's baseball experience wasn't too great. She was on the team (because their school forced them to join at least one club or afterschool activity) but she wasn't exactly the best. She had great power and often hit the ball but she had horrible accuracy, mostly getting foul balls when she was up. This time as well her shot went wide of the mark, but this time that was a good thing. The twisting winds would have messed up the shot anyway. But as it turned out they guided her shot which otherwise would have missed right into the back of the man. This distracted him enough that the tornado that was holding up the thugs dropped them onto the ground and made the man turn to her.
Now she spoke, "That's enough," she said, "I know they were picking on you but you don't need to hurt them that much in return. It makes you no better than they are."
"You're defending them? Those thugs pick on ESPers for no reason other than jealous and you defend them? I never claimed to be a better person than they are, but what I am, what all ESPers are, is stronger than they are and it's time to remind those no good zeroes of that. And I'm not gonna let a girl like you stand in my way," he said inhaling through his nose and blowing out, sending a gust of wind down the alley. It wasn't enough to blast her back but it did send her skirt flying up, "flowers… how cute." He teased, remarking upon her panties which matched Uiharu's today, as they often did. For a second Saten understood how her friend felt as she pushed her skirt back down around her legs, after all it was surprisingly chilly to have one's skirt flipped, the cold breeze tickling one's thighs. That must be why Uiharu didn't like it.
"I'm not defending what they did; I'm just saying that you shouldn't be hurting them so much."
"Would you prefer I hurt you?" he asked and without waiting for an answer he pointed to the sky and then at Saten, who was suddenly surrounded by a blustering gale. The high speed wind swept up the surrounding sharp rocks and twigs creating a sort of barrier. If she tried to pass through it the rocks would cut her up. She decided to stay put, amazed at this person's power, "I didn't think so. So just stay there."
"Who are you, what are you," she asked. This person's power was so overwhelming, he must be a high level power user.
"Roku, Level 2 Aerohand" he said simply as he turned back to the thugs, one of whom seemed to have regained consciousness. He was talking on what looked to be a walkie talkie. "Boss come here, we got an uppity brat who thinks he's hot just 'cause he's got his fancy powers."
A powerful gust of wind suddenly swept him up and launched him into the wall again. "Feel free to call in backup I'll defeat them too. You're all just zeros after all," Roku laughed, "and with this power increase there ain't no way I'm losing." Though the double negative was accidental it turned out to be more accurate than they thought when a large truck suddenly screeched up to their position. It stopped and its sides began to raise up revealing walls of speakers and suddenly the air was filled with a high pitched sound as the wind suddenly died down.
"Argh," Roku screamed, covering his ears and pointing a hand at the van. Nothing happened for a couple seconds then a massive air blast, even more powerful than the ones before, pushed the van away and flipped it over, the move accompanied by a flash of the green aura which surrounded him, which was otherwise dimmed by the sound. But the sound did not stop.
Now he pointed his hand at the dumpster near the three Skillout thugs, "Damn you, I'LL KILL YOU!" He yelled but nothing happened for a few more seconds. Then it suddenly lifted up in a surprisingly powerful gust of air, lifting up even further than he had meant it to. Still it was enough, now he began moving his arm down, attempting to blow it as fast as he could right at the three, hoping to crush them beneath the weight.
But Saten, who had been freed when the sound had started, saw what he intended to do. Knowing she couldn't make it in time she again picked up a rock and hit it. This time there was no wind to either help or hinder her meaning it was skill alone which guided the rock to strike Roku's arm knocking it aside just enough to cause the dumpster to embed itself into the wall behind the three leaving them unharmed.
Unfortunately for Saten, though fortunately for the unconscious and defenseless Skillout members, this also turned Roku's attention to her. "So you want to die too huh? Well then die!" He said, raising his arm towards her. But his aura was still dim and his power was still nonfunctioning. This presented an opportunity for Saten, which she took. She ran at him full speed, ready to attack. She had almost gotten there when the gust came sending her shooting down the alley.
She was quick to recover, taken just a few seconds to stop rolling and pick herself up. But this was enough time for Roku to line up a shot and fire a projectile, one of the scooters parked in the road, directly at her but she dodged it and confirmed her theory.
Her years of clock-watching during class had paid off and given her a great sense of time which had helped her realize the pattern that was happening. Three seconds the aura was dim and his powers useless followed by half a second of amplified power. The distance between them was too great to be covered in three seconds but if she could dodge his power once she could make it in six. So she began running.
He grinned at her bravery and followed her with her hand waiting for his powers to begin working again. Finally they kicked back up and he fired a gust at her but she knew it was coming and managed to roll out of the way. His eyes widened as he focused again on her. She was too close now, he needed his powers now. But Saten closed the rest of the distance in two seconds and struck him hard in the stomach with the pipe sending him reeling back. This, combined with the pain from the still active Capacity Down, incapacitated him.
That was when four more guys, big tough and dressed like the three unconscious guys wandered into the alley. Three surrounded the still glowing but incapacitated Roku and began taunting him. "Not so big now are you?" she heard one call out. The remaining guy walked up to her. "Thanks," he said, "for protecting our guys. We level zeros gotta stick together you know. That guy didn't hurt you too much did he?" he asked noticing her skinned arm and the few cuts that she had sustained.
"No not really… you aren't going to hurt him are you?" she asked, and noticed that one of the others was taking out a switchblade.
"They're probably gonna cut him up, maybe kill him. He was willing to do the same after all. There's nothing I can do to stop them really. I would if I cou-," he began. Then an explosion rang out as the van with the stereos was utterly destroyed.
With the capacity down destroyed and its incapacitating noise silenced Roku's eyes flared up and his power blew off his attackers. He stood up, anger clear in his eyes, and turned to Saten. "YOU!" he screamed, "I'LL K-"he began when suddenly the glow surrounding him seemed to spark and surge. The swirling winds around him died as the glow ebbed away and finally he fell onto the ground, unconscious.
By this time the ones who he had blown off him had recovered and were advancing on him once again, even more pissed off. The man near her said, "That explosion was my cue," and ripped the pipe from her hands. He covered the distance between himself and the other thugs in two steps and with three hits knocked them out. He then turned back to Saten whose eyes widened as she began walking backwards slowly.
"Do me a favor," he said politely, "call Anti-Skill and stay here. Make sure everyone's safe until they come and then make sure they're all arrested. I have to go back to Ritoku but if Zangyaku's men," he said pointing at the others clarifying who he meant by that, "are left unattended and one of them wakes up I'm sure they certainly won't hesitate to kill a defenseless ESPer and I doubt the ESPer would hesitate to kill them," He explained and tossed her the pipe, "use that to defend yourself if you want." He said and left.
Saten was confused but she did understand that he was right, that if someone woke up without her here it would result in someone's death. So she called Anti-Skill and waited until they arrived.
To her surprise when they did come she was arrested as well. She tried to explain but the agent said, "I don't have time to listen to your explanation. What I saw was seven unconscious people and you standing in the middle of them holding a weapon. You can explain what really went on at the station but I'm taking you in, all of you."
So she was driven to Anti-Skill headquarters. She saw that the place was both surprisingly full and surprisingly empty. There weren't many officers compared to the one or two other times she had been here (though this was the first time she had been in here in handcuffs) but there were several criminals, especially in the infirmary where her scratches were disinfected and bandaged. Every bed was filled with people with various levels of injuries, many of whom were unconscious. Everyone in it was wearing handcuffs.
After stopping by the infirmary she went to an interrogation room where she was asked the details of what had happened by an automatic recorder as she was told there was no agent available to do one in person. She went over the details as best she could and was told that the case would be reviewed at a later date but that she would need to be held in the holding cell until she was excused and released. She was told that could take anywhere between an hour and a day depending on if and when someone came to claim responsibility for her.
She tried to protest but the recording shut off and she was shuttled to the holding cell which was even more full than the infirmary. She was guided inside and left. She was a bit in shock and simply sat on one of the benches which was free.
She was in a kind of daze which she remained in until she was approached by a guy, "well well looky here. A little girly. What you in here for little girl? Did you steal a cookie from mommy's cookie jar or something? You seem mighty weak to be a criminal." He grinned as he taunted her in a thick crude voice.
"I-I-," she stammered, still confused.
"Hey! Back off of her!" a familiar voice yelled. They both turned and saw Misaka standing there.
"And what are you gonna do if I don't little rich girl?" he continued, completely unafraid. That is he was unafraid until a lightning bolt missed his head by inches. He quickly retreated.
Misaka walked up and sat next to Saten," hey… you're in here too eh? You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, relieved and confused to see such a familiar face, "same to you."
"I'm ok," she said. There was a band-aid on her cheek and she seemed a little scratched up but other than that she looked fine, if a little worn out, "what happened with you?"
Saten gave her the short version and then asked, "You?"
"Well… you see…" Misaka began her story.
Author's Note: Sorry for the "Endless Eight"-esque repeated parts. But at least these are in a different perspective. I swear it isn't laziness, just trying to get you a more complete picture of the day's events.
I shoved a lot of references into this one. I hope it didn't ruin your immersion in the story but I felt like I could get away with it this once. By the way, the right answer to their discussion about who would be the best narrator for life is actually Morgan Freeman, but I didn't think that either of them would have heard about him and my opinion is not necessarily my character's opinion, in fact it very rarely is.
Realistically the protagonists of TAMNI and TAKNR should be arrested far more than they are. I mean they do break so many laws and even if they don't break them themselves they are the ones who are still standing after the fight is over which means that they look like the ones who caused all of the damage, even the damage that they didn't cause.
Coming soon: Biting iron and cold steel, summer's harsh storm.
Dedications: This one is dedicated again to another guest and once again to EtherealFox since he is one of my most reliable reviewers. You guest guys should create an account so I know your names and can thank you properly for your reviews. Also so I can respond to them. I try to always respond to reviews, the longer and more in depth the more likely I am to respond but I can't respond to guest reviews…