Mikoto handed the electrosniper rifle to a scientist inside a research facility.

"Thank you for your help in testing out the weapon. We will wire you the money to your bank account within a few days." The scientist said.

"No problem."

The real reason why she was carrying around the rifle was because she needed money to fund her setup to 'wake' Leivinia up from her coma.

With Academy City's technology, it was possible to extract a snapshot of Leivinia's brainwaves before she got inflicted with the curse, and use that snapshot to clone an exact copy of Leivinia. However, the process required a lot of computing power from the Tree Diagram, and also a lot money to borrow such an amount of power.

Mikoto left the research facility towards a bank.

She may be a Level 5 and rich, but she wasn't a billionaire.

Mikoto took a seat at the bank and picked up a pen, ready to sign a contract to borrow 20 billion yen in exchange for her services. To put it simply, she was selling herself into slavery in exchange for money and if she were to default on her debt, her mother's life and Touma's life would be considered forfeited.

The lady at the other side smirked, "Are you really sure?"

"Shut up."

Being in debt was the reason why she ended up working as an assassin in the Dark Side in the past. Her father did leave both her and her mother a fortune, but greedy relatives took advantage of the situation, conned her mother out of everything and even left her mother in heavy debt. To her mother, she had gotten a scholarship from Academy City to study, but the truth was that she was working for the Dark Side as an assassin to repay her mother's debt.

Mikoto thought that she was doomed to be trapped forever in this hell until Touma appeared in her life. She didn't know exactly how Touma managed to force or convince her debtors to forgive her debts because Touma refused to tell her details, but it definitely had something to do with Touma ending his relationship with his girlfriend Misaki before leaving Academy City.

Mikoto signed the contract.

She clutched the small Gekota keychain attached to her briefcase, "I'm sorry, Touma."

It was about time she repaid the favor anyway.


Touma stepped out of the hospital towards the sunny street of District 7. The doctor deemed him well enough after a quick routine checkup so he was released from the hospital earlier than scheduled.

"Don't hesitate to call me if you have any problems! See you." Misaki said before disappearing into the crowd. She was an attractive, busty blonde girl who was starry-eyed in the literal sense; her irises were stars instead of round like most other humans.

She seemed convinced that he was a Touma who lost his memories, but he was really another Kamijou Touma who supposedly belonged in an alternate world known as the "Pure World" beyond the "Phases" surrounding this world.

Academy City wasn't so different from the city he lived in back at the "Pure World". They were both the most advanced cities in their respective worlds except that his city was known as Mitakihara City instead of Academy City and there were no Board Of Directors and a General Superintendent governing Mitakihara City like a monarchy.

But Academy City was clearly the more advanced city compared to Mitakihara City. Academy City was so advanced that they even managed to unlock supernatural powers within people via their Power Curriculum Program. Those people in Academy City were referred to as espers.

Fortunately, six out of the ten espers around him are likely to have no powers despite going through the program with the remaining four having powers widely ranging from "being able to bend a spoon" to "fighting an army on equal terms".

All he could deduce from what little memories this Touma left behind was that he might have a chance of returning to his own world if he could somehow find a way across the "Phases"... that is if he actually wanted to return.

There was no reason left for him to return to his world anyway.

Since he was given a second chance at life, might as well make the best out of it in this new world.

Touma entered a supermarket and was pleasantly surprised to see eggs and vegetables at 30% off. Sales normally appear around evening when the supermarket was about to close, not in the middle of the day, but then again he was no longer in his own world. Things might be finally be different!

"I'm sorry. You seem to have not enough money in your card. Perhaps you could pay by cash instead?" The cashier said.

"No, I should be the one apologizing for wasting your time." Touma said.

Touma placed all the eggs and vegetables back and returned to another cashier with a pack of instant ramen. If there was one thing that would never change, it would be the amount of money in his bank account.

"I'm sorry." The cashier said, "But it seems that there is insufficient balance in your card. Perhaps you could pay by cash instead?"

"I think there might be an error in the scanner you're using. I mean, this pack of instant ramen is only a hundred yen. I can't possibly be that broke."

"Sir, there is no error in the scanner I'm using."

Touma took out his phone and reluctantly dialed Misaki's number.

Such misfortune.


Touma left the supermarket with a bag of necessities such as value packs of yakisoba bread and instant ramen.

Misaki transferred money into his bank account in exchange for him going out on a date with her. In some ways, this whole thing felt like him participating in compensated dating because Misaki was just a stranger to him. To Misaki however, this Kamijou Touma was her childhood friend and ex-boyfriend and maybe she wanted to use this as an excuse to ask him out.

His childhood friend back in his own world looked nothing like Misaki. The more Touma thought about it, the more he realized that maybe his world wasn't the "Pure World" beyond the "Phases" of this world. In the first place, what exactly does "Pure World" and the "Phases" even mean anyway? Either the memories left behind by the Touma of this world wasn't complete, or that he never understood them properly, only relying on what someone named "Amaterasu" told him.

A girl emerged from the alley and collapsed in front of Touma.

"Are you okay?!" Touma said. Shit. There were multiple burn wounds on the girl. Was 119 still the number to call for an ambulance in this world?

"I don't understand…" Tears streamed down the girl's cheek, "We're just doing our job to keep the city safe… why do they hate us so much?"

According to the girl, rogue espers have become increasingly more brazen in assaulting random Judgement personnels just because they were doing their job in upholding the laws of the city and today, it was finally her turn to get assaulted.

Touma took the green Judgement armband from the girl and entered the alley, making sure to slam the concrete wall with a sewer pipe every now and then so that the culprit would know of his presence.

He may not be from a world where it was normal to have people running about with supernatural powers, but he did have a supernatural power of his own which he never knew he had until he fought a magical girl in an alley.

His world was a world where aliens and magical girls exist in secret. It wouldn't be surprising if it was actually the aliens who actually teleported his soul into this world for whatever sick experiment they have in mind.

"Here to avenge your Judgement friend?" A man with a smirk plastered on his face said.

"Were you the one who injured that girl?"

"That girl? Ah, yeah. I was just having some fun with my new powers, and she had the audacity to stop me. Who does that Judgement bitch think she is anyway?"

Touma hurled the pipe at the man. A flame whip extending from the man's palm melted the pipe into liquid steel. So this was how his power worked. Pretty simple to counter with his right hand.

The man laughed, "Stupid fool! Try harder will you?"

Touma burst forth with his right hand clenched into a fist.

The man widened his eyes in complete horror as his flame whip dissipated into nothing upon contact with Touma's right hand.

"If you think you can get away with doing things as you please…"

Touma ducked an overhead sweep of the fire whip. His power may be a shitty power that failed to save anyone when it truly mattered, but at least it was good enough to punch the shit out of scums like him.

"...then let me first shatter that fucked up delusions of yours! "

Touma sent an uppercut across the scum's jaw before following up with a fist straight at his face.

The scum fell to the ground unconscious.

Touma let out a satisfied sigh. It felt good punching someone who totally deserved every bit of it.

Armed personnels arrived at the scene with a twin-tailed girl with a green Judgement armband. Accompanying the girl must be Anti-Skill, the equivalent of the Special Assault Unit in his world.

"Just in time." Touma said, "That guy lying over there was the guy who injured your colleague… what are you doing?!"

The twin-tailed girl handcuffed Touma while the guy was escorted on a stretcher by Anti-Skill towards the ambulance.

"Until we get the facts straightened out, I am going to have to hold you in custody for assaulting a man while impersonating as a Judgment personnel." The girl said.

"Such misfortune."

There was no point in arguing against the police from experience.


Kaitabi Hatsuya, a bespectacled man with a guanty frame, could not help but feel happy that this Judgement girl was finally being punished for her incompetence as he watched the paramedic applying treatment to her burn injuries. Even without her green armband, Hatsuya could still remember how incompetent she was when she arrived to his aid five minutes after the bullies gave him a good beating and stole all his money.

He stuffed a Gekota plushie into his bag with a maniacal glint in his eyes.

This was only the beginning of a new world where Judgement will finally wake up and start being competent for once.


Mikoto sipped her drink as she looked intensely at Ruiko's laptop about the latest happenings in Academy City.

Recently, there was a series of incidents involving bombs caused by accelerating gravitions. In the beginning, the "bombs" were only empty cans in garbage bins. Soon, the "bombs" took on the form of inconspicuous items such as stuffed toys or bags.

But no one ever cared about such important and serious incidents like that. All they care about was how Misaka Mikoto was being an arrogant bitch for carrying a rifle around during the bank robbery where the robbers were quietly taken down by her expert marksmanship skills with zero collateral damages caused; a fact that some rational forum users pointed out, but the majority were screaming at why a Level 5 who wasn't an Anti-Skill personnel could carry firearms without being charged under the law.

In Academy City, most people have the impression that only Anti-Skills personnels are legally allowed to possess firearms. Unknown to them, Level 5s are technically allowed to carry firearms as well because their powers alone could wipe entire armies. Heck, her opponents should be relieved if she was handicapping herself by fighting with a gun. Idiots.

"Try not to let those comments get to you." Ruiko said to Mikoto, "Internet forums are usually filled with people venting their anger on whatever that is happening at the moment."

Mikoto sighed, "Sometimes I think it doesn't really matter what I do. People will always find a way to criticise me."

The other time, people were complaining on the forums that she was being too reckless with her powers and causing a lot of damages to her surroundings just to handle a minor robbery case. Now that she was using a rifle to minimise her damages to zero, people were complaining that she was abusing her status as a Level 5 to do whatever she wants.

Ruiko stretched her arms, "You know, I don't really mind being criticized all the time if I had powers like yours. Even being a Level 1 would be enough for me. If only I had the Level Upper or something like that, then maybe I might actually have a chance to be a Level 5."

"Level Upper?"

"It's a tool that gives anyone a boost to their levels. It's a popular rumor floating about these days on the Internet but I don't think it actually exists though."

"Trust me, if Level Upper actually exist, you can bet that the Level 5s would be the first to be experimented on with that. No Kiharas would give up the chance to create a Level 6."

Attaining Level 6 or SYSTEM was really the whole point of this Power Curriculum Program and why Academy City was founded in the first place. The definition of a Level 6 was "Absolute Power", or the ability to do God's calculations and to possess a body beyond any humans. It would be a complete joke if Level Upper could actually boost a Level 5 to the point of being able to do God's calculations.

"That's true… but despite all the criticism being thrown at you, it must be a lot of fun being a Level 5, right?"

Mikoto forced a chuckle, "In a way, yeah. I'm sure if you work hard enough, you'll eventually get abilities of your own. Who knows, you might even surpass me one day."

If only Ruiko knew how "fun" being a Level 5 was. If only.


Mikoto flipped open her phone as she laid on her bed in the darkness.

People like Ruiko only see the glamorous side of a Level 5, but they fail to see what was hidden behind the scenes. She could have been an exception though, actually living a glamorous life as an ojou-sama, but for Touma's sake, she gave that up.

To pay off her debts, Mikoto had to take jobs from the Dark Side listed on an hidden intranet server. The only good thing as a Level 5 now was that she could now accept whatever job offers she wanted instead of being forced by her handler to accept jobs she hated.

The grace period for repayment was two months, so this meant Mikoto could ignore any job offers for the next two months except for jobs that would pay 10 billion yen or more at one go if she completed them. Rejecting such a job meant that she had no intention of paying off her debts and thus, her mother and Touma's life would be considered forfeit. After the grace period of two months, she had to take a minimum of three jobs in a week or else this would also mean that she had no intention of paying off her debts.

At least she could still enjoy her life for two more months. Might as well make the best out of it.

"Hey Kuroko, wanna go shopping tomorrow?"

Kuroko turned away from her laptop screen, "It's a tempting offer, but I'll pass this time. Recently, there has been a huge spike in espers assaulting Judgement members. And the graviton bomb incidents had also left many other of our Judgement members injured. I can't help but suspect that this might be a coordinated effort to take down Judgement."

"But why?"

"That's what I'm still trying to figure out. What's the reason behind the huge spike of such attacks?"

"Maybe I could help out with the investigations as well."

"Onee-sama, please leave the investigations to Judgement." Kuroko said. "Although if you really want to help out, you could apply to join Judgement. Given your status as a Level 5 and previous Anti-Skill training, your application would be approved within an hour."

"No thanks. I prefer working alone. Besides, don't you sometimes get frustrated at how bureaucratic Judgement can be?"

"I do, but sometimes it can't be helped because Judgement is a large organization after all. And for the last time Onee-sama, st-"

"Stop interfering with Judgement work. Yeah, yeah, got it. Good night."

Mikoto hurled a blanket over herself and went to sleep.

Although Judgement may be annoying, but that was no reason to attack the members who work hard to maintain peace and order in the city.

I'll get to the bottom of this. Mikoto thought. No one could convince her otherwise.


Mikoto looked around the shops in Seventh Mist with Ruiko and Kazari as she pieced together her findings by hacking into Judgement's database and Academy City's database.

To be able to create bombs by accelerating gravitons would mean that the esper behind it must be of Level 4. However, there was only one Level 4, and she had been hospitalized for the past six months, so it was impossible for her to be the culprit.

The only possible explanation was either a discrepancy in Academy City's database, which shouldn't be possible because the database was updated recently with the results of the System Scan.

Or the culprit gained a huge amount of power in a very short amount of time, which shouldn't be possible unless Level Upper actually existed.

Either way, she had hit a wall in her investigations. No wonder Kuroko was losing sleep over this incident.

"Hey Misaka, is there anything you'd like to get?" Kazari said.

"Me? Pyjamas I guess."

Kazari guided Mikoto towards the pyjamas section with an enthusiastic smile. Meanwhile, Ruiko kept showing Kazari erotic lingeries on the way, much to Kazari's embarrassment.

Mikoto chuckled. At least Ruiko was just being playful. On the other hand, Kuroko was always asking her to "grow up" and start wearing something more mature like the ones Ruiko was showing to Kazari. Sorry, but those mature lingeries can never beat the comfiness of Gekota panties.

And then, a pink pyjamas displayed prominently at a store caught her eye. The pink background color of the pyjamas was a perfect complement to the flowery design around it.

"Hey!" Mikoto said. "Check this out! Isn't it really cu-"

"Uiharu, isn't that the pyjamas you wore during elementary school? I totally can't imagine anyone our age wearing such childish pyjamas." Ruiko said.

"I think wearing that would be even embarrassing than the erotic panties you showed me just now." Kazari said.

Mikoto stared at both of them in complete shock. Was it really that childish?!

"What's wrong?" Ruiko said to Mikoto.

"No-nothing at all!" Mikoto said. "Yes, I totally agree with what you said. No one our age should be wearing such a childish piece of clothing. Definitely not."

Both Ruiko and Kazari looked at each other, confused.

"Speaking of which, I really need to get a new bath suit." Kazari said. "Misaka, would you like to come with us?"

"No thanks, I'll be here looking at pyjamas." Mikoto said.

Kazari left for the bath suit section with Ruiko, but they both stopped halfway at the bikini section with Ruiko teasing Kazari again.

Mikoto grabbed the pink pyjamas and jumped in front of a mirror. This was her chance to see how awesome she would look.

She jumped at Kuroko's sudden appearance behind her.

"Onee-sama." Kuroko said. "How many times have I told you to stop buying such childish pyjamas."

"That's none of your business! Anyway, I thought you couldn't make it because of Judgement work. What happened?"

"Nothing much. I'm just taking a break from the investigation."

"So how's the investigation so far?"

"Onee-sama, are you really asking me that? Whatever you got from hacking into Judgement's database is whatever we have so far. And to think I just told you last night not to interfere with Judgement's work."

Mikoto smiled embarrassingly, "I'm sure Judgement needs all the help they can get right now. I promise I won't cause too much trouble!"

Kuroko sighed, "I guess desperate times calls for desperate measures. I'll… make an exception this time. But just this time, you hear me!"

Mikoto's eyes lit up at the Gekota plushie that Kazari was holding. This wasn't just any Gekota plushie. This Gekota plushie was part of the first edition series that Mikoto have been waiting for a year already for someone to sell it on the online Gekota marketplace.

"May I know who's the owner of this plushie?" Mikoto said.

"Eh?" Kazari said. "I guess that would be me? This little girl gave it to me as thanks for helping her find her bag the other day."

The little girl beside Kazari waved hello with a big smile.

Ruiko grinned, "A million yen and it's yours."

Mikoto whipped out her smartphone, "No problem. What's your bank account number? I'll transfer the money to you immediately."

Kazari handed the Gekota plushie to Mikoto, "Don't listen to Saten. Here, you can have it for free. Besides, I'm not exactly into Gekota anyway."

Mikoto hugged Kazari while Kuroko was shaking her head at how childish Mikoto was behind.

"Thank you so much! I'll never forget your kindness!" Mikoto said.

Finally, after a year of waiting, this super rare first edition Gekota plushie was finally hers. Wait, why is the plushie shrinking into nothing?!

"Onee-sama! It's a graviton bomb!" Kuroko said.

Mikoto hurled the Gekota plushie aside and formed an iron prison around the plushie by ripping off everything that was metallic around her through electromagnetism.

The iron prison shook violently, but remained intact.

Mikoto took a deep breath. She successfully managed to contain the explosion, but not without damages to the surrounding shops. At least no one got hurt.

"Little girl." Mikoto said, sparks angrily flying off her bangs, "Where did you get this plushie?"

The little girl choked on her tears before she managed to give a description of a bespectacled man who first gave her this plushie.

Mikoto hacked into Academy City's database with her PDA, and showed the little girl a list of espers who had the ability to accelerate gravitons.

The little girl confirmed that it was this bespectacled man named Kaitabi Hatsuya who gave her the Gekota plushie.

Mikoto leaped up through the rooftop. How dare that Kaitabi scumbag use Gekota as ammo for his explosion! He'll fucking pay for this!


Touma walked out of his cell after being detained for a day, which really wasn't exactly a cell when his childhood friend Misaki got involved by making sure that he gets a TV, the most comfortable bed in his cell, and restaurant quality meals. If this world was an RPG, then he was a Level 1 newbie being carried through the game by the Level 99 veteran Shokuhou Misaki.

It might seem like a blessing, but the more kinder Misaki treated him, the more uneasy Touma felt. He didn't have the heart to tell her that the Touma she loved has been completely replaced by a Touma from another world.

Touma entered a lecture room. While Anti-Skill finally confirmed that the guy Touma punched was the guy who assaulted a Judgement member, and that there was also an understandable reason for him to impersonate a Judgement member, a Anti-Skill captain and his PE teacher Yomikawa Aiho would like to have a word with him before his release.

Yomikawa Aiho was a mature lady with an impressive chest comparable to Misaki's own chest. To be able to overcome the weight of her chest and still be considered fit enough to be the captain of Anti-Skill must mean that her fitness was far more superior than most other female captains.

"Before I say anything, I would like you to watch this video recorded just two hours ago." Aiho said.

In the video, a brown-haired girl fired an orange beam towards a moving car. The shockwaves caused the surrounding cars to crash into each other, and there was also a deep gash on the asphalt surface.

"What do you think of this girl?" Aiho said.

"I'm sure she had a good reason for doing so."

"Of course. You also had a good reason for impersonating a Judgement member to lure out the culprit. But if everyone starts doing things their way because they had a 'good reason' for doing so, then there would be no more law and order in Academy City." Aiho sighed, "So please, next time just contact Judgement and Anti-Skill instead of rushing off and doing your own thing. Have some faith in us."

Touma nodded. "Yes madam, I understand."

If he didn't do so, Captain Aiho might just decide to detain him for another day or two for being unrepentant.

"Good, you may leave."


By some luck, Touma met the brown-haired girl in the video on his way out of the Anti-Skill building. She was apparently here to settle some paperwork for the damages she caused two hours ago while pursuing a culprit named Kaitabi Hatsuya responsible for a series of bombing incidents around Academy City.

Ironically, Kaitabi Hatsuya carried out the bombings because he lost faith in Judgement and Anti-Skill, so he wanted to punish them through the bombs.

"It can't be helped right?" Mikoto said. "What if Judgement and Anti-Skill failed to arrest that guy and he manages to hurt even more people as a result of that?"

The brown-haired girl was Misaka Mikoto, his friend who visited him once briefly in the hospital. She seemed surprised that he was discharged from the hospital earlier than expected until he mentioned Misaki.

Mikoto said that her relationship between Misaki and him was too complicated, so Touma decided not to ask any further for now.

"I can tell that you don't have any faith in Anti-Skill and Judgement as well." Touma said.

"Not really. They're just too slow, so I have no choice but to step in."

If anything, Mikoto looked more like his childhood friend from his world than Misaki. The both of them had short hair and tend to behave impulsively to do the things they believe is right. If it was his childhood friend Sayaka instead of Mikoto, surely Sayaka would have done the same as well.

"Exactly."

He told Mikoto about the incident a day before when he decided to take matters into his own hands by impersonating as a Judgement member to lure out the scum who assaulted a random Judgement girl. If he hadn't done that and decided to call Anti-Skill or Judgement and wait for them to do something, then the scum would have gotten away with it.

For a brief moment, their eyes locked against each other, as if they had finally found someone who could truly understand them.

Mikoto's face flushed red as she averted her gaze, "St-Stop looking at me like that! I'm not your girlfriend!"

"Sorry, you just remind me of someone."

"Remind you of who? Misaki? You might not know this, but Misaki was your ex-girlfriend."

"Yeah… maybe."

Touma couldn't really tell Mikoto that she reminded him of Sayaka.

Maybe, just maybe, Sayaka had been reincarnated as Misaka Mikoto in this new world. If this was really the case, he could finally move on in peace.

Who was he kidding.

Misaka Mikoto is Misaka Mikoto, and Miki Sayaka is Miki Sayaka. They are two different person despite their similarities. It would be very unfair to Mikoto if he were to start confusing her as another person who no longer existed.

The other Touma however, was a fucking asshole for unfairly treating Mikoto like his girlfriend, holding hands and kissing her while refusing to officially acknowledge her as one.


Author's Note:

While there is a pretty blatant connection to the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series in this story, this is not a crossover, so there will be no Witches, no Magical Girls, no Soul Gems and no Incubator running around in Academy City turning young girls into magical girls. In fact, you don't need to know anything about PMMM to understand what's going on.

All you really need to understand is that there are aliens (Incubators) trying to understand the laws of magic of the To Aru world using their own alien technology. From there, you probably should be able to have a better idea what exactly "Amaterasu" and "Tsukiyomi" are, and their true motives. The final chapter... if I ever get to that point, will explain it more clearly.

(To those of you who did watch the PMMM series, I suppose the word "contract" would be quite telling.)

Anyway, instead of a Touma with his memories completely wiped, I decided to go for an alternate Touma from another world with some memories of the old Touma because it seemed more interesting. I mean, since I mentioned "Pure World" in the previous few chapters, might as well go for it and bring in a Touma from the "Pure World", which really isn't the "Pure World".

Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)