Author's note: I've stated earlier at the prologue, but I'll mention it again. This isn't quite a pairing fic, as who Touma will end up with in this fic is not yet ascertained. I could pair him with Misaki, but I'm also considering other possibilities like the 'Saten Ruiko route', let Mikoto have her idiot or even throw in a wild, out-of-the-blue pairing.

This 'could' be called a characterization fic I suppose… there will be developments, but as for being happy… well that'll be debatable. The clusterfrak that things will end up in (in terms of relationships anyway) will make things interesting, and all I'm doing is have a alternative take on the Index canon basing the story on the scenario "What happens if Mental Out meets with Kamijou Touma?". I've already stated in story description on my profile this is a AU fic, as while following the Light Novel canon events loosely things WILL be different here.

Well, let's just strap ourselves in, enjoy the ride, and see where this take us, okay?

Chapter 4 – Girlfriend

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"Right, so to sum up: Kamijou-san here isn't Misaka-san's boyfriend, or is involved with anyone romantically right now. I'm not his girlfriend, nor do I plan on getting into a relationship. And most importantly, since he's not in a relationship he's not a two-timer, so stop glaring at him like that." Misaki outlined the situation so far.

After Touma and the other girls reached the park where Mikoto often get free drinks by kicking a certain vending machine, Misaki and Touma explained what's going on. They're not very successful in doing so, however.

Saten tried to keep her temper even, but isn't doing a very good job right now. "Then why are you defending him if he's not your boyfriend?"

"I'm not shallow to the point where I only defend people I care about. Even I have some decency to want to prevent someone being punished for a crime they didn't commit." Misaki pointed out, conveniently ignoring the fact is the situation is right she might just do that. Not that anyone here apart from Mikoto would guess she would be capable of doing so.

"Saten-san," Mikoto started to talk to her friend. She already took care to make sure any trace of her earlier breakdown of sorts is no longer visible. "He's not my boyfriend. If anything, I saw him as my rival. Someone to test my full strength against, without having to worry about hurting anyone. So don't get mad at him, please. He doesn't deserve that."

"… Fine." Saten sighed, not entirely convinced but is willing to accept Mikoto's words for now. She then looked towards Touma. "I'm sorry I slapped you like that. And called you those things."

"Don't worry about it." Touma waved it aside. "I've been through worse." He decided to change the topic and directed his attention to Mikoto:

"Come to think of it, why were you just hiding around the corner Misaka?" Touma tried to ask her. "You don't do that normally when you see me."

"… I was checking up on you to see if she did do anything to you yesterday." Mikoto finally said. "Even if it's you, I'm not quite sure you can't be controlled by her."

"She's not controlling me, I'm pretty sure of that." Touma said with a shrug. "Apparently I can negate her ability just like yours. I don't feel different to how I usually feel anyway."

"But if she did do something to you, would you even notice?" Mikoto argued, remembering the time in the library when everyone present was under the Queen's control. Everyone was released afterwards with no memory they've been influenced in any way.

"I've been controlled by other people mentally before, Misaka. It's not the first time I broke something influencing my mind – I'm sure nothing's wrong." Touma tried to reassure Mikoto. The last time was against Aureolus Izzard's Ars Magna, when he told him to forget ever entering Misawa Cram School and to leave. Afterwards he touched his right hand to his head by accident and dispelled the mental influence, so he's not exactly lying about having previous experience. Even if that was magic, not esper ability, and chances are operate on completely different mechanics. He just doesn't want Misaki to get in further trouble when he's sure nothing has happened, considering how Misaki's acting around him. Her actions didn't seem like ones filled with lies, compared to the time he felt something was wrong after Orsola Aquinas was handed over to the Agnese Forces.

The thought that he's being fooled by a pretty face never occurred to him.

"But…" Mikoto tried to say something to refute his claim, but can't really say anything she thinks would change Touma's mind. Besides, can she even be sure she's not the one mistaken here, that Misaki can't possibly beat the one even the Railgun can't overpower? But it's just that on the slightest chance she is wrong it would be disastrous for Touma's life, that he might end up being another puppet under the Queen's control…

"That reminds me." Mikoto said sharply, bring her attention back to Misaki before she gets side-tracked. "How much did you see when you went into his mind?"

"To put it frankly, it's none of your business." Misaki said, glancing back towards Mikoto. "You attack him all the times, so you're not really in a position to say anything about my actions. Not to mention it's not like you're his girlfriend or anything, so stop trying to act like you have any claim over what he does or who he meets."

"Why, you…!" Mikoto's surroundings started to spark with electricity. With a 'Crack!', it was stopped abruptly as Touma placed his right hand on top of Mikoto's head.

"Can't we settle things for once without getting in a fight?" Touma sighed. "She already promised me she won't use what she found, so don't worry about it."

"How can you be so trusting towards her?" Mikoto swiped his hands off her head. "She went into your mind and looked up some of your most guarded secrets, and you're taking her word for it?"

"Who said anything about only trusting my word for it?" Misaki said in a amused voice. "I think you know full well, Misaka-san, that if I put anyone in danger he would never forgive me. I'm not crazy enough to think I can defeat him, even if I summon all the power I have at my disposal with the title of 'Queen of Tokiwadai' and as the leader of the largest clique in our school. You know his strength, do you have any doubt that he would actually lose against me?"

"That's…" Mikoto wanted to argue, but can't find the right words for it. Even the Number One, Accelerator, lost against Kamijou Touma when the albino esper was far more powerful than any other Level 5. Her Railgun didn't do anything to that white-haired murderer, after all. Having said that, Touma ended up with many wounds after the battle and hospitalised, and Mikoto doesn't want to see that happening again.

"Um…" Uiharu's nervous voice popped up, defusing the tension between the two Level 5s and Kamijou. "When you said 'Queen of Tokiwadai', does that mean you are…"

"We haven't introduced ourselves, have we?" Misaki mused. "I'm Shokuhou Misaki, of Tokiwadai Middle School. Pleased to meet you."

"She's also the 5th Level 5, Mental Out, and can control people with a single look." Mikoto said in a disgusted tone. "And she has no qualms using her ability on other people."

"Pot calling the kettle black, Misaka-san." Misaki only smiled at Mikoto's words. "You're not exactly reserved when it comes to using your ability."

"What? I only use it on people that can handle it, like that idiot over there!" Mikoto said in an offended voice. Touma didn't even bother to defend himself when called a 'idiot', he knows he's not that bright and had to rely on a middle school student to help him finish his summer homework that one time.

"Really? Didn't you blast plenty of people instead of leaving it to Judgment?" Misaki asked. Mikoto barely suppressed a 'urk!', and Uiharu recalled the times she hear about Kuroko complain how Mikoto just fry the ones giving her trouble to save time.

"… And you said people in Tokiwadai aren't trigger-happy." Touma muttered in a low voice. Misaki caught that, and decided to answer his comment.

"I said 'not everyone', but I suppose the ones who don't use their ability often are in the minority." Misaki conceded. "Besides, can you really say that when you use your ability all the time as well?"

"Don't lump me in with you people. It's either use my right hand to save myself or get fried." Touma scowled. "I use it in life-or-death situations, not just because I felt like it."

"Aren't you exaggerating about 'life-or-death'?" Saten doesn't quite believe him. To her, he seems like just another person who abuses his ability.

"Have you tried getting hit by lightning?" Touma asked rhetorically. "From the way Misaka's been shooting out those things, someone could die if they can't block it."

"I don't do that to everyone!" Mikoto objected. "Besides, not all electric shocks are fatal, otherwise there wouldn't be tasers invented. And I only go all out at you."

"Am I supposed to be happy at getting that kind of preferential treatment?" Touma said gloomily. This was not the kind preferential treatment he would want from any girl. Hell, not even Aogami would accept this kind of treatment…

Probably. Touma has his suspicions about Aogami being a masochist deep down considering his multiple fetishes, but doesn't feel like thinking about it right now.

Mikoto tried desperately to explain her reasoning, but not succeeding. Misaki only giggled at the scene in front of her as Mikoto is getting increasingly flustered.

"So what, you're another Level 5 that abuses his power like Shokuhou-san there?" Saten said, recalling at how people just walked away after she slapped the guy. She's still not completely convinced Mikoto's problems aren't caused by him, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Level 5? No, I'm a Level 0."

"… What?"

Uiharu and Saten felt sure they misheard that. They just saw him negate Mikoto's lighting several times, and Shokuhou there admitted she cannot defeat him. He might be a electromaster of some sort, but claiming to be a Level 0? Yeah, right…

"You have got to be kidding me." Mikoto said flatly, giving voice to the thought of the other two girls. It's not the first time she heard him claim being only a Level 0. "You can negate my lightning, stop mental attacks, explosions, and a lot of other things I can name. No way you're just a Level 0."

"Go look up my records if you don't believe me. I'm a Level 0, the scans don't pick up anything from me." Touma defended himself. "And considering the situation isn't it better if I'm a Level 0? Otherwise that 'Experiment' wouldn't have been stopped like that…"

Mikoto can't refute that. Getting Accelerator to be defeated by the hands of a Level 0 was the crux of preventing more of her Sisters from being slaughtered, if he's discovered to be far beyond being a Level 0 the 'Level 6 Shift' Experiment might start again.

Then again, Mikoto doesn't know Accelerator had been shot trying to save Last Order so the project was scrapped completely.

"Wait… does that mean your ability is something that can negate any other ability?" Uiharu abruptly asked.

"Well… yeah, I suppose you can put it that way." Touma replied, nonplussed at the interruption. He certainly didn't foresee the girl with a lot of flowers in her hair to then suddenly go 'Squee!' and looks for all intents and purposes like she heard something amazing.

"It's true! That urban legend was true! Saten-san, you see? Another urban legend is standing here in front of us!"

"After the incident with Level Upper, you're still into such things Uiharu?" Saten didn't know whether to palm her face in exasperation or to join her friend in the discovery.

"Misaka-san! Why didn't you tell us you knew that was true? Or that you know the person who has that ability?" Uiharu pouted at Mikoto.

"Um, well…" Even Mikoto seemed taken aback by the sudden zeal Uiharu is presenting. "Back then I didn't know for sure if it was really the case, and…"

"And you wanted to keep the discovery to yourself since he gave you a challenge?" Misaki added. "Being a rival and all that?"

Mikoto merely looked away and not answering Misaki's question. That in itself confirmed Misaki's words. Touma sighed, though he didn't know his ability was some kind of urban legend. It does sort of make sense though, seeing how different his ability is from other people's.

"That's mean, Misaka-san." Uiharu's pout was soon replaced by sparkles starting to appear in her eyes. "But I wonder why someone like you is an urban legend and not someone more well known? Powerful people like Misaka-san are famous, so surely word of such things would get out…"

"There's a reason for that." Misaki cut in, remembering her warning from Kumokawa Seria. "There are some circumstances that led to his situation. It's not advisable for you to look any deeper."

"And you found that out by reading his mind right?" Mikoto looked scathingly at Misaki. It irked her somewhat that Touma might tell Misaki about it and not her, when she has known him for longer. But then again, she never asked about his situation, only focusing on the fact that he can't be a Level 0.

"No, that's not it. Even I'm not sure exactly what's going on." Touma said, also looking at Misaki. His gaze was one filled with question and not one condemning her for keeping secrets.

"I'll tell you later if you want, when others are gone." Misaki said, flicking a bit of stray hair away from her eyes. "Although I suspect you can probably guess, considering your past actions.

"And you." Misaki turned to Uiharu. "I strongly advise you to forget about what you heard today and don't look deeper into this. There are consequences if people getting too curious. I'd like to just erase your memory of this incident, but I don't think he'll be too happy with me if I do so."

Touma said nothing. It was enough that Misaki is showing restraint, and he hoped that would be enough to discourage further inquiry by others. He doesn't condone mental manipulations like that, but that thought warred with his motives to keep Index in the dark about his memory loss. Misaki didn't look like she'd listen to him about not manipulating others, and unless he wants to get rough with her that isn't going to change. If Misaki ever crosses a line that shouldn't be crossed, he might have to confront her but before that he really doesn't have much else he can do. When all you have is a blunt fist to deal with incidents finesse isn't a option available.

Uiharu on the other hand resolved to start digging as soon as she gets back to Judgment branch 177th. As a member of Judgment it was her duty to look into something like this, or so she told herself. If a person's ability is being hidden away, then there must be something behind it. On the surface she agreed with Misaki, if only to prevent conflict against a Level 5.

Misaki knows Uiharu most likely will not heed her advice, but let it go regardless. Maybe the flowery girl will find something interesting, and Misaki won't get in trouble since she's not the one doing the searching. She has no duty to prevent others getting themselves in trouble, after all, so as long as she herself won't get dragged down Misaki is perfectly fine with Uiharu doing what she wants.

"Now that we've cleared up these misunderstandings, I'll leave now since I have a few other things to do." Misaki declared as she turned to walk away. "If you want to talk about things later you know how to contact me, Kamijou-san."

Misaki left before Mikoto could try and force some answers out of her, and as a precaution blew a farewell kiss to Touma as she left. Knowing how the Railgun acts around him, that should be more than enough to cause an uproar to allow her time to escape.

She wasn't wrong. Touma blushed slightly and looked away embarrassedly, Mikoto sent a glare to both Touma and the direction Misaki left, while both Uiharu and Saten took a step back as Mikoto started to send shocks to her surroundings.

"In that case I'll be going now as well, I still need to go shopping for dinner-" Touma started to say, before he was cut off by Mikoto.

"Wait." His arm was grabbed by Mikoto to prevent escape. "What's this about you know how to contact her?"

"She gave me her cellphone number. What else did you think I meant?" Touma asked, not quite knowing why Mikoto asked.

Mikoto's narrowed look only increased his nervousness. "Trade cellphone numbers with me too." She ordered.

"Huh? Why?" Touma's getting more confused.

"In case you get in trouble, you can call me to help. I still don't trust her."

"Again with that? I can understand why you don't trust her, but don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Touma tried to reassure her.

"Is there a reason why you won't give me your number then? You seem to give it to anyone that you know."

"Because not everyone I know is the strongest electromaster that could probably fry my phone if she puts her mind to it." Touma said exasperatedly. "The last thing I need is for my phone to die after I annoy you somehow and you send a attack via the network. Worst case scenario my phone blows up next to my head. I'd like to avoid that happening."

"Wha-!" Mikoto didn't expect that to be his reasoning. "I wouldn't do that!"

"Really?" Touma raised one eyebrow. "Then can you look me in the eye and promise you won't launch a electric attack on my belongings? Unlike a ojou-sama such as yourself, this Kamijou Touma is on a measly budget, so I don't have the money to spare to replace my belongings often."

"Fine. I promise that I wouldn't blow up your phone if I ever get annoyed at you. Now can you… hand over your…" Mikoto's words slowly faded away as she looked into Touma's eyes. Those were the eyes that showed overwhelming determination despite odds against him, and the eyes that seem to convey tenderness unlike his usual look of groaning at the world. His current serious gaze into her own eyes made her heart started to run wild for no apparent reason, and the scarlet shade which covered her face many times this afternoon slowly crept back up.

"Misaka?" The clueless young man that is responsible for her change leaned forward to get a closer look. "Are you not feeling well? You're face just went red for no reason."

"Wah! Not so close, idiot!" Mikoto quickly stepped back, her heart still pounding. "A-anyway, I gave my promise so give me your number already."

"Fine, fine." Touma sighed at the numerous occasions in his life where females of all ages treat him like a servant of sorts. He seems to be pushed around by them a lot recently.

While the two of them pulled out their phone, Saten saw Uiharu had a look on her face that looked as if she was trying to restrain an outburst of some sort but looks like she's losing the battle. With a resulting comical look on Uiharu's face Saten couldn't help but to poke at her cheeks.

"Uwa-! Saten-san, what was that for?" Uiharu looked at her taller friend.

"You looked like you were going to blow up or something. What's wrong?" Saten queried.

"Well, it's just that Misaka-san looked so obviously in love that I wanted to jump in and congratulate her, but I didn't want to ruin the moment." Uiharu replied with a embarrassed look on her face and tongue slightly poked out, her hand behind her head.

"What?" The other three remaining here said simultaneously, looking at the smaller girl.

"What made you think that?" Both Touma and Mikoto asked at the same time, though Mikoto's voice was quite a bit higher than Touma's. Which brought Mikoto to another red-faced situation and she hastily turned away from the spiky-haired boy while Touma just looked perplexed at the situation.

"Well, Misaka-san just then looked like she looked embarrassed at the sudden closeness, and she was flustered when we asked her about you earlier." Uiharu said with a smirk. "From my past experiences this means Misaka-san is in love!"

"That's not it!" Mikoto hotly denied, while Touma doesn't look convinced.

"By 'past experiences' do you mean shoujo manga?" Touma asked, which brought shock to Uiharu's expression.

"How did you know?" Uiharu asked, since it's not like boys read shoujo manga or anything; it's called 'shoujo manga' for a reason, being marketed towards young girls instead of males. Saten was just about to comment on how possibly can Uiharu talk about things like this when she hasn't got a boyfriend, before Touma cleared this up.

"Lucky guess." Touma shrugged. He blames Aogami using them as references once in a while and Tsuchimikado Maika pointing things out to him using those as reference as well, though in her case it was more to emphasize maids in fiction are nothing like what's in real life.

It certainly isn't because someone like him reads shoujo manga when he has free time.

"I have to agree with Uiharu on this one." Saten concurred with some thought. Mikoto's action isn't anything like how she acts when she's around other girls, and Saten doubted Mikoto is the kind that is shy around guys so she acts like that to every boy she meets.

"I still think he's not good enough for Misaka-san though." Saten muttered. Mikoto's betrayed look back then stayed with her, and she kept looking for reasons to prove that Kamijou Touma deserved her wrath. She almost wished she had her baseball bat with her, to threaten him if he does anything if nothing else.

"Well, if that's everything then I'll be going now." Touma waved and then started to walk off, before a thunderbolt try to fry him again. Despite being as ineffectual as usual, it managed to stop him in his track.

"You just had someone say a girl possibly is in love with you, and you're leaving like it's not important?" Mikoto felt her face burn, and she doesn't know if it's due to anger or embarrassment any more.

"Come on, it's you we're talking about. You've tried to shock me multiple times, and the only thing that would even be called a 'date' between us was something that was forced upon me to get rid of a stalker." Touma patiently explained his reasoning. He really needs to go soon otherwise he won't make it to a supermarket discount sale. He ignored a 'Kyaa!' from a now fantasizing, smiling Uiharu and Saten's jaw drop from how Mikoto actually had gone on a date with someone like Touma. "Besides that, every other time we met it's normally in a crisis of some sort, or just you trying to hit me for some reason or another. If this happened in a manga I might be tempted to say the girl is a Tsundere, but of course someone like that doesn't exist in real life."

He doesn't want to think back to the last time someone accused of a girl being a Tsundere in front of him. Aogami once accused Fukiyose Seiri of that when it comes to Touma in front of the entire class, and the resulting massacre was something even Touma's class vowed to never bring up ever again.

Tsundere girls, Touma now knows with absolute conviction, is something fiction and will never happen. There's only girls that would cling onto you and make your heart feel like it'll break from the moe, and girls that would break your face if something like the previous case was even hinted. A fusion of those is just something written up to appeal to the masses that, for some obscure reason, like to read about that kind of things. That illusion was broken already.

"Now that we've made that clear, I also have things to do. Don't worry about them teasing you being in love or anything, I know that's not the case so don't get so worked up about it. Bye now."

With that, Touma once again turned around to leave and Mikoto watched, slack-jawed, as he did so. Part of her is relieved that he didn't think she's in love with him, but another part of her is furious that he didn't think she's in love with him. The guy didn't even care about if she had feelings for him! It's like she wasn't even seen as a girl! (Though to be fair, her decidedly unfeminine traits like wearing shorts under her skirt, kicking vending machines, and challenging people to duels might have played a part in his decision.)

Faced with a dilemma of two conflicting motives inside her heart, Mikoto did the only thing that made sense to her right now:

Attack the source of her confusion with everything she has, to get rid of the cause of all her problems and teach him a lesson to not trivialise the feelings of a pure maiden.

"You…!"

Touma heard crackling from behind, and hoped with every fibre of his being it wasn't what he thinks it meant.

He doesn't have time for this right now.

"IDIOT!"

A lightning bolt many times stronger than what she normally used flew towards Touma's back, just in time to be negated by his right hand as the stream of energy vanished. He was about to ask why the hell is she mad at him now, but his words died faster than food being eaten after it's placed in front of Index.

Black sand started to gather around Mikoto, forming two broad blades that's easily twice the height of a grown man. Saten and Uiharu jumped back before they could be cut apart by the iron sand gathered, watching in amazement. Mikoto leaped towards her target, her twin blades slashing down at him like wings of a vengeful angel. Touma swung his right hand in a arc, negating both blades in one pass before starting to run like his life depended on it.

"Get back here!" Mikoto roared as she rushed after the poor soul that didn't know how to placate a girl's fragile feelings.

"Such Misfortune!" His lament echoed back to the two girls left in the park, followed seconds later by something that sounded like a few more explosions.

"…"

Saten and Uiharu looked at each other uneasily.

"I think I'm starting to feel sorry for… what's his name again… Kamijou-san after all." Saten admitted. If someone had to deal with that level of 'affection' she can't really blame him for not seeing Mikoto as a potential love interest, her own friendship with Mikoto aside. If he has take hits like the kind Mikoto is aiming at him, Saten doesn't begrudge him the ability to negate any esper attacks; he'll need it just to survive. Uiharu simply nodded in agreement.

Needless to say, Touma didn't make it in time for the supermarket discount sale.

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The next day…

Misaki walked to Tokiwadai Middle School's campus from her dormitory, satisfied that the fiasco with Kamijou Touma was over. Compared to that, dealing with underlings that keep mentioning Mikoto's potential threat wasn't too bad, and rumours can't exactly be crushed like a errant thought so Misaki decided to just let it go.

She left early since it's considered healthy to not sleep in, and that she has things to coordinate with other members of her clique. The Daihasei festival is arriving soon, and she needs to consider how to cooperate with other cliques in sporting events against other major schools. Against lesser schools they can afford to mess around, but if they have to face off against last year's champion, Nagatenjouki Academy, then they need to be at their best. It wouldn't do for Tokiwadai to lose against them two years in a row.

As Misaki entered school campus she felt something was wrong. Some of the other girls who arrived early for club activities whispered as they saw Misaki as she walked by, not in a negative manner but still with curiosity afire in their behaviour. Having already made certain to memorise which students in the School Gardens have the potential to detect her ability reaching for their mind and am sure these girls weren't on that list, with a single touch to her remote Misaki picked out the relevant thoughts from their minds.

What she found made her dash to the designated meeting room with other members of her clique, propriety be damned.

As she opened the door to the meeting room, she blurted out "What in the world did that ridiculous gossip site say?", and had to pause to catch her breath.

In this room there is only one other person so far, a student with short black hair tapping away at a laptop, her small round glasses reflecting the monitor's light. She looked up and the glasses stopped shining to reveal sharp brown eyes.

"I was about to notify you of this, Shokuhou-sama." She said in a worried manner. "But I guess you already know the gist of what's going on?"

"Fill me in on the details. What happened?" Misaki said in a low voice.

The thoughts she picked out from the girls earlier was about one of the most popular websites they visit to hear about various things of interest that occurs in Academy City, most of the time not covered by news reports as they were not seen as things important enough to warrant that kind of attention. Such things like gossiping don't really interest Misaki, but she kept track of them just in case there's a shred of truth behind the puffed up rumours.

The bespectacled girl in response turned around the laptop so the Queen can see the screen. There, on the main page and heralded as the equivalent of 'Breaking News':

["Tokiwadai's Level 5s fight over a single lover. The Ace of Tokiwadai faces off against the Queen of Tokiwadai for the heart of one man, whose prowess is equal to theirs in all but name."]

Misaki gritted her teeth as she read further. The articles detailed Mikoto's own crush on him, and the results of a number of their 'duels'. The pictures were damning, depicting various times where Mikoto's lightning was negated with a single touch, a date where the two of them ate hotdogs on a bench together, and even one where Misaki was involved walking with her arms linked to that of his.

Who could have possibly done this…! Misaki clenched her fists. She had made sure no one could have taken such a photo of her with Touma, as accurate as it looked. Mental impulses that suggested everyone around them to look elsewhere was in full effect during the time she was with him, so someone couldn't have thought to take a photo of them. In a age where photos are easily faked, not everyone believes what they see.

Despite that, the detail was impressive even if it was faked. It got every single aspect of her clothing she wore that day down to the last frill, and Touma's own plain clothing was captured just as easily.

"Do you think the Railgun could be responsible for this?" The only other person in the room said in a tense voice, her ears strained to hear if others are approaching for their scheduled meeting.

"Don't be ridiculous." Misaki said absently as she thought through the possibilities. "Misaka Mikoto is just as much of a victim of this as I am. The only question is who has the means and the motive to do so-!"

There was only one person that would do something like this, Misaki concluded. Someone who has the means to do so, and who would take a perverse pleasure linking her with the young man she tried to manipulate into giving her information about the Railgun.

She came to the conclusion that it could only be Kumokawa Seria. If it was anyone else that came after her for trying to attack Kamijou, it would be a lot more direct. Misaki held no illusions just horrible the world could be, and tried her best to not cross the line that would let Darkness consume her. Linking the victim in such a way that if she even tries to use anything she found, whether it is about Mikoto's 'Experiment' the Railgun was involved in, or anything else about Kamijou she would fall along with the person in question when she is investigated along with those two.

Sure, right now the link is weak… but given a few days the rumours will bind her to those two in such a way they would be inseparable. Things like love and power alone generates much interest when it comes to gossiping, and when the two coincide the attention is magnified several times. The love triangle here might as well be true to the female student population of Academy City by the end of the week. If Misaki does do anything to hurt Mikoto or Touma it might be seen as trying to eliminate the competition or as revenge against a boyfriend that rejected her.

"That bitch…!" Misaki snarled, slamming one fist down onto the table.

Guess she would have to spend more time doing 'damage control'.

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*End Chapter 4*

Author's notes: Sorry about this chapter being dialogue heavy. Talking about things is one way to drive the plot along, but I think I might have overused it this time…

Fukiyose's 'Legendary Massacre' is purely made up here. I figured a noodle incident like that might have happened, even if never stated in canon so I felt like throwing it in.

The person that Misaki is talking with at the end of the chapter is just a generic character that's part of Misaki's clique who holds a senior position, but I sort of got lazy so didn't create things like names and other attributes.