Author's Notes (contains novel spoilers): There seems to be a few people noting that Misaki is in danger of becoming a Mary Sue; my understanding of the term is that it describes a female character who is written as implausibly too perfect. Is it about her ability? Or her breaking down Mikoto? If some more details can be given then it would be nice, since I'd need to know what to change if I want to fix it.
Right now, I think Misaki haven't quite crossed the line into becoming a Mary Sue yet; her manipulative personality and willingness to abuse her power to make other people comply, and if that fails use words, make her a less-than-perfect character.
Still, thanks to those of you who have mentioned this. I went and took a look over at Tvtropes at some of the most common traits of a Mary Sue, and it's arguable Misaki might fit some of the things there. I'll try and adjust that in the future.
As for Kumokawa being eliminated by Aleister… Fiamma got close enough to be a threat, seen first hand what Imagine Breaker can do when fighting on the Star of Bethlehem… and most importantly, Fiamma have seen what Touma's right hand can be, beyond just that it contains Imagine Breaker when he used the hand as the medium for his Holy Right (not to mention Fiamma's comment that the IB itself is a liability for him).
Those are details Kumokawa is unlikely to ever discover. Of course, if Kumokawa ever got close enough needless to say she WILL be eliminated, but Aleister is willing to let her schemes go for the time being; the reason why will be apparent within the next few chapters if things go as planned.
Chapter 7 - Shock
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With a 'crack' as Touma's right hand came into contact with the blaze, the whirlwind was shattered after a moment. It wasn't like these flames can regenerate itself like Stiyl's Innocentius, and so was comparatively easy to negate. The young boy sat there stunned, his mouth gaping at the back of the teen who stopped the inferno and from the fact they're not all barbecued finally caught up to him.
"Wha…" The two girls dressed in black look stunned at how things turned out. The wind user was about to rebuke the other girl about her excuse of using their powerful combination technique to defeat him and his ability doesn't mean they can kill their target like how it had looked to become. But those words died as Touma negated their attack and came out unharmed.
"I told you using a strong attack would be alright." The fire user said smugly to her companion, but this is more a façade to hide her anxiety.
Just what kind of monster can take their strongest attack head on like it was nothing? Sure, quite a few Level 5s can probably achieve that, but to them that's a big 'probably'. Even if Kamijou Touma was said to be roughly as powerful as Misaka Mikoto, these two didn't quite believe it. But seeing him do that with their own eyes just hammered in how badly mistaken they were.
"Oi." The two girls flinched at the coldness in Kamijou's voice. "What are you two thinking, using a attack like that where other people can get hurt!"
The spiky-haired young man stepped back into the dim alley, approaching them step by step after telling the other boy to leave. It appeared he didn't want to get others involved, assuming if he ran other people might get caught in the crossfire. From the looks of things, with only the sound of a window shattering instead of a explosion many bystanders only looked puzzled and moved on. In a city filled with espers and unnatural occurrences, people have a high tolerance for things unfamiliar to them and being able to ignore it if it doesn't concern them directly.
Thus, it doesn't appear like Judgment will be on scene any time soon.
In response to his movement, another lance of fire shot towards him, with the intensity of the flame compressed into a small attack instead of affecting a wide area. The young man with a special right hand batted away the attack like a annoying insect, his pace not even impeded.
"It appears you two have business with me. Well then, Ojou-sans from Tokiwadai, I'm more than happy to play around with you a bit if it means other people won't end up as collateral damage." Touma's voice continued to call out to them, not showing any traces of nervousness on the outside.
"Huh…! How did you know we were from Tokiwadai?" The fire user gritted her teeth.
"Are you kidding me? Those clothes look brand new, like it was only bought recently. If it was just one or two pieces I can understand, but every single item of clothing? It's like you bought those for the sole purpose of hiding your identities and then dispose of them later." Touma snorted. "It's not hard to guess who it is if you can afford to do that. As for guessing you guys are from Tokiwadai, you people are the only ones I can think of who're rich and have a reason to come after me. Due to those rumours and all."
Touma's fake bravado is utterly different to how he was reacting to the thugs from earlier. Compared to fists of a dozen or so people, high level esper abilities are easier to deal with from his point of view; his right hand can actually do something in that case.
"So what's your problem? Fans of Misaka angry at me for supposedly being a two-timer? Shokuhou's people coming after me for besmirching her name? Let's just talk this over like civilised people, and hopefully we won't have to fight." Touma said, stretching his arms wide in a placating manner.
Intellectually, Touma knew these two girls didn't plan on getting others involved in their attack, and the other boy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If these girls can be more careful in the future then Touma would be willing to let things go, seeing as no one was hurt.
That didn't change the fact he was annoyed they weren't careful where they're firing off attacks like that.
The two girls glanced at each other, before both coming to the same conclusion:
Fighting this guy is out of the question. Time to get out of here.
A twister bellowed around Touma instantly, obscuring him from view and trapping him. Even the wind user now is convinced he can take care of himself, hence while she didn't make it so Touma will be cut apart from razor wind advancing from all sides she still made it that he will be buffeted by 80km/h winds if he takes a single step.
Before they can even take a step to escape, with another sound like shattered glass the twister was literally blown away like it never existed. The attack didn't even buy enough time as distraction, when ultimately it did no more than ruffle his hair slightly. With one raised eyebrow and a outstretched right arm towards one side, Touma looked every bit as the demon the two girls saw him as, despite his calm but narrowed eyes.
"Can we talk now, or do you want to throw some more attacks at me?" Touma sighed tiredly. "I'd like to hear whatever caused you to come after me, and then we can explain that so we won't have to fight. I don't really want to go through being attacked like this again."
"V-very well." The wind user said timidly, seeing as her attack failed. "If we can still settle this with negotiations then we'll be glad to do so-"
"Forget it." The fire user said in a trembling voice, though Touma doesn't know if it was from anger or fear. "Do you really believe he would just settle for a talk after all we did to him? I'm not getting fooled by this sham. He's planning on eliminating us after squeezing all the information out of us first!"
"But Aki-" Her words were cut off by another shout.
"Don't say my name! We don't want him to be able to identify us later."
"You two have been watching too much movies." Touma groaned. Although he certainly didn't expect ojou-samas to be interested in that genre of films. "Did you people get the idea of buying disposable clothes from that as well? Still, most people would choose clothing that's from a normal shop, not somewhere that even the cheapest items would something of a high quality."
"This is high quality?" The wind user tiled her head questioningly, a move than conveyed her confusion even with her face concealed.
Yep, definitely ojou-samas… Touma thought but didn't say it out loud. "You guys just went to a random shop in the School Gardens and grabbed whatever looked will fit, didn't you? Haven't you ever considered the things sold there are different to the ones in other places of District 7? Like much more expensive and different looking?"
"Well…" The wind user shifted uneasily.
"Enough blathering." The other girl said, another ball of fire appearing in her palm. "I'd rather go down in flames then be violated by a brute like you!"
"Oi, just what the hell are you talking about now…?" Touma can feel a headache coming up, despite the situation they're in.
"You're not just satisfied with one Level 5, but you're going for the other one in Tokiwadai as well! The kinds of things you have done are unspeakable!" She almost screeched. "No way are we going to let you defile Shokuhou-sama the same way you did to the Railgun!"
"U-um, he doesn't seem that bad…" The other girl tried to speak up, but quailed at a look from the pyrokinesis user that Touma can't see from his viewpoint.
"All men are like that!" She declared in her tirade. "It's the same with those Level 0s that tried to chat us up; give them even a semblance of a chance at a member of the opposite sex and they lose all coherent thought! This guy deserves to burn even more than those ones we took care of earlier-"
"Wait, what?" Touma thought he misheard something. "Did you people…"
"There were some groups of people after you earlier; we took care of them since they were in our way." The fire user shrugged. "That and trying to feel us up meant they deserved what they got. A few 2nd degree burns, nothing that will kill them."
"Hey now." Touma's tone warned them. "Just because you have abilities doesn't mean you should just use them to hurt other people like that."
"They started it. Not my fault if they're too dumb to live." She shot back. "Now I'm going to do the same to you or die trying!"
"You're over doing it!" The wind user's voice is lost in the resulting explosion as the fireball erupted into a flash of light.
"Urgh!" Touma shielded his eyes, but the not before catching a glimpse of the flash. He's temporarily blinded for a few seconds, and he felt a leg drive into his stomach, sending him flying back.
"If abilities won't work, then I'll just have to do it another way!" A foot stomped down, narrowly missing Touma's head as he rolled on the ground. "Don't go making the mistake that all high-levelled espers only rely on their ability!"
"Well, you people still talk just as much." Even with his current poor eyesight, it was not hard to deal with direct attacks like the ones launched at him right now. Touma narrowly missed having a knee striking between his legs, but then felt his clothes being grabbed. A moment later he was thrown over her shoulder, impacting onto the ground hard.
"It really paid off to go do Judgment's self-defence classes before." Another fireball shot at Touma, one that he negated on reflex but left him open to a kick over his chest as his right arm isn't in a position to guard. "No way a person that just brawl in street fights can stop these attacks-"
As he was kicked, Touma grabbed her leg with his left hand and dragged her down with him as his momentum pulled her off balance.
"Like I said, you talk too much." Touma grunted as he rolled over and placed one knee on her stomach, pinning her down. His right hand held around his attacker's neck, one of the few places he can have physical contact with her concealing clothing and the hold would be hard to break out. "Talking and fighting should be kept separate, you know? And didn't they ever teach you a fight isn't something like a martial arts match in the sports clubs? If you mess up, the opponent won't just stand down and let you get back up leisurely."
"You…!" The girl is now trying to struggle free but to no avail; Touma's weight and leverage over her can't be pushed off so easily in her position. She tried to bring out some more flames to burn him off her, but for some reason it was like she didn't have a ability. "What have you done…!"
"If you want to use your flames again, then settle down." Touma said to both the girl he pinned down and the other girl that frantically tried to decide between attacking or just stand and watch. "You know my ability is negating others', right? Haven't you thought about just how far I can go with that?"
"You mean…!"
"Ever considered the possibility I can take away your power forever? Considering Tokiwadai needs their students to be at least Level 3, if I do that then you'd probably be asked to leave." Touma said conversationally.
"You wouldn't dare!" The fire user gasped, fear in her voice.
"Try me."
It's only because Touma's opponents don't have a good grasp on what he can do that he can bluff like this. From all the incidents before Touma can appreciate having knowledge of what his enemies are capable off, from Aureolus' Ars Magna to Accelerator's vector manipulation. Not having them would definitely be a problem; for example, if he had to fight that Aztec magician without information from Index then he might have been taken apart if he wasn't careful, or had his body ripped to pieces trying to punch Accelerator with his left hand.
Touma is hoping fervently that this will finally end it. He doesn't want to hurt others over a misunderstanding, and for once it appears he can talk his way out.
"And don't try to attack me either." Touma spoke to the wind user, who shrunk back at being addressed. "Unless you think exchanging your friend's ability to try and get a hit on me is a good idea?"
"… Fine, you win." The fire user almost spat those words out. "We can't beat you. We'll negotiate if you want. But if you try to do anything to my body…"
"Come back in a few years. I'm not the type of guy that goes after little girls." Touma said bluntly. Really now, for once he'd like to be thought of as a guy that has a healthy outlook on what's desirable in women instead of the fetishes people think he is obsessing over.
How ironic then many of the girls around him fit the kind he would be unlikely to ever initiate contact on his part normally: Misaka Mikoto, Index, Misaka Imouto, Komoe-sensei…
"'Little girls'?" The girls said blankly, before the fire user realised what he meant. "What do you mean by 'little'! You're not that much older than us!"
Touma have no idea what he's doing is just inflaming the rebellious spirit in teenagers that don't want to be treated as a kid at their age.
"You're still in middle school, that makes you 'little'." Touma stated as if that's obvious. "Really now, you'd have to be at least in high school before I'd even want to do anything like that to you. I don't want to be seen as a criminal that goes after young kids, that's for sure."
"What kind of logic is that! There's no reason to base a cut off age limit on school years-"
"Do you want me to ravish you or something?" Touma asked sardonically. That stopped her complaints immediately.
"Good. Now we have that settled…"
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After Touma releasing the fire user from his hold, they finally got down to business and discussed the reasons why the two girls came after him. Being nominally important members in Shokuhou's clique, the fire user who called herself 'Akiha' (Touma has no idea if that's her real name or just a pseudonym) decided the best way to eliminate the rumours is to send Touma into a hospital for a few months to prevent any more interactions between him and Misaki. The wind user, who actually just said to call her 'Fuuko' and said it was a fake name, came along to make sure Akiha doesn't overdo it. Fuuko had hopes she might be able to convince her friend to stop, but failed miserably in that matter.
From how timid she's acting, it was really no surprise that Akiha's forceful personality overrode Fuuko's caution.
It's only Touma's vehement denials that he doesn't have interests in girls from middle schools that convinced them Touma isn't going after Misaki. Even if Misaki looks well-developed and doesn't look at all like a middle-school student, Touma is still wary of being labelled as 'a vile person that goes after young girls with honeyed words'.
Additionally, that also meant he's not interested in Mikoto. The two girls had filed that tidbit away for later gossip.
As Touma left, relieved that things have turned out relatively peacefully, Fuuko and Akiha also tried to find a place they can change out of their current garments.
"There you are." A cold voice called out to them from the shadows. The fire and wind duo flinched at the venom apparent in the voice, which made it sound all the more ominous in addition to its familiarity.
Stepping out from a side alley is Shokuhou Misaki, with her eyes glinted like steel. It wasn't really that hard to find her followers, not when she saw their images from the thugs they burned earlier as she tried to search for Touma by following his pursuers.
"I thought I've said this before: we don't solve things by brute force." Misaki said in a tone that would have made a ice queen envious. In the worst case scenario, somebody might think Misaki sent her minions in a botched attempt to eliminate Kamijou Touma and she gets removed from the world, Level 5 or not. Just thinking about the possible actions against her made her feel like puking in her anxiety.
She just hoped this wasn't taken seriously by certain people as a attempt on his life; after all, that guy gets constantly chased by people out for his blood after the spread of those rumours and it's not like every last one of those people are taken care of, never to be seen again.
"But-"
"Enough."
What followed was something which the precise details are best left unmentioned. All her fears, her dark thoughts of being on the precipice of life and death from a single mistake with Kamijou, were projected onto the two other girls as Misaki lashed out.
One way to see this is to make those two feel exactly what it is like to be hunted down everyday, to make them have empathy so they can learn to not do this again.
Another way of seeing this is Misaki just wanted to share her pain, to want to make the ones that made her suffer unnecessarily go through the same things she did in the process of stopping any similar actions in the future.
Either way, only changing memories would not be sufficient in this case. These two might just attack again, if they don't remember the failure this time. Even as Misaki forced Akiha and Fuuko to their knees, clutching at their head in agony she ripped what had just happened from their minds without much gentleness in the process. The hoods fell from their heads as they collapsed, revealing the fire user with curly red hair who tried to attack Mikoto back at the computer room, and a girl with round glasses and black hair slightly longer than Mikoto's.
"S,Shokuhou-sama…"
Have mercy… One of them croaked in the depth of their minds. Things like intense emotion aren't something a normal middle school student would be going through on a daily basis, or should go through for that matter. The gut-wrenching horror, the way their hearts pounded like it is on the verge of tearing them apart…
The body is a plaything of the mind, just as much the mind can be influenced by the body. There have been documented cases where placebo pills can do all sorts of amazing things to a person, simply because they believe the effects. People believe a injection is more effective than a pill, even if they contained the same substance if the subject doesn't know that. Even just a sugar pill can lead to side-effects like nausea and vomiting if the patient really believed the medicine they are taking is possible to induce such effects.
Compared to a esper's 'Personal Reality', those are merely parlour tricks… but that doesn't mean it's not effective. Even if Misaki's ability is 'Mental Out' and only affects the mind, it is still capable of manipulating the physical body to an extent.
"The two of you will stay away from Kamijou Touma. I don't need others to make the situation worse as it is." Misaki loosened her control over their minds, leaving the two to gasp for breath as they hyperventilated, trembling from their experiences. "The next time you do something like this, I promise I won't hold back. Do you understand?"
The two nodded in response.
"Good."
While Misaki could have used mental manipulations to just change it in such a way to get what she wanted, she felt there are limits in what esper ability alone can achieve. For example, who knows what will happen if these two come in contact with Touma's right hand? Better to play it safe and only use her ability as a catalyst as the cause of change, and let the mind to the rest. Misaki doubted that Touma could negate even the ashes left behind from pyrokinesis-caused flames, in addition to the fire. The cause stands no chance against his ability, but the effects are debatable.
With this finally settled, Misaki started to walk away from this place that's decidedly unsuitable for ladies of their standing, with Fuuko and Akiha following meekly.
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"Onee-sama~!" Kuroko lunged tearfully at Mikoto as soon as she walked into the teleporter's room at the hospital.
"I don't care if you have chosen him over Kuroko, just please allow me to stay by your side! For your sake I would even be willing to share with him if it means I would be able to connect with you-"
Whatever was about to be said was mercilessly cut short by a angry Mikoto with a trademark 'chaser' kick that launched Kuroko back onto her bed.
"We haven't gone that far yet! Those are just rumours!" Mikoto said with a cross popping vein showing on her forehead. She's starting to regret the decision to visit her kouhai if not even here can she escape the grasp of those thrice-damned rumours.
How did Kuroko end up hearing about them anyway when she's stuck inside a hospital?
"Yet? Does Onee-sama mean she's actually planning to go that far!" Kuroko let out a strangled voice from her prone position on the bed. "N-no, be strong Kuroko. Even if the price was to offer yourself to that barbarian it would all be worth it to do the same with Onee-sama immediately afterwards-"
Mikoto got Kuroko into a headlock and drilled her fist into the twin-tailed girl's temple. The electromaster's face is burning up to the point she won't be surprised if the glass windows nearby started to melt.
It's times like these Mikoto wished electricity attacks aren't especially harmful to other critical patients in a hospital.
"Just what have you been reading! Where did you get these ideas from?" Mikoto said in a outrage, though she had more embarrassment than anger in her voice.
"Well, Tsuchimikado Maika came to visit and she offered me some references to what a boy and a girl can get to doing when they're together…" Kuroko gasped for a breath as Mikoto tightened her lock at the mention of Maika's name.
What is that maid think she's doing, pouring oil on the fire! Mikoto seethed. It appears Maika's plan to calm Kuroko down by giving her a possible way to keep Mikoto's affections backfired.
"Kuroko, forget whatever you have read from those manga! Those are far-fetched description of what happens in real life, and nowhere near accurate!"
"But Onee-sama, those are tame compared to some of the things I planned on doing together with you before he showed up between us, so how can you possibly call them far-fetched… ow, OW, I'm sorry Onee-sama, please don't use your wrestling moves on me! My spine can't take much more of this!"
Despite her words, it almost looked like Kuroko is in bliss from how closely Mikoto had to get to her in order to deal out the punishment. Just being close with Mikoto took away all of Kuroko's worries about someone else trying to get between them.
After a few more minutes of 'punishment', Mikoto sat down exhausted at a chair nearby. Kuroko lay on the bed, thoroughly weakened but looked like she had the time of her life.
"Kuroko, I'm not like that with him. Those are just rumours being spread around…" Mikoto tried to explain, but Kuroko's gaze back towards her made her stop.
"Onee-sama, please stop joking around. Even if you're not like that currently, you wanted to be like that right?" Kuroko's words contained none of the hysteria from earlier, just sorrow and understanding.
"Wha-!"
"You talk about him all the time, you know. About how reliable he is, how you can see him as a equal when you go all out. Even if it's indirectly, using words like 'that idiot' and say bad things about him as you complain, you honestly have feelings for him. Anyone who heard you at one of those times can tell."
Kuroko's voice is neutral, stating things as-a-matter-of-factly. If it weren't for a slight trembling at her shoulders Mikoto probably wouldn't have seen anything amiss.
"That's why… that's why Kuroko is willing to let you go. I know I can't compete when he can give you peace of mind when I could not.
"Just…" Kuroko sniffled. "Just don't leave Kuroko completely alone, okay? As long as Onee-sama still pay attention to her friends even if she's occupied with someone else, then Kuroko will be happy."
"Kuroko…" Mikoto went and embraced her roommate. "Don't worry. I won't just abandon my friends. I won't leave you, Saten-san, or Uiharu-san even if I do get together with that idiot. So cheer up, okay?"
Kuroko nodded. Mikoto thought Kuroko is now just trembling with happiness at her show of friendship, but in actuality it's something a bit more sinister:
Hohohoho… 'being willing to let her go' worked! Kuroko laughed inside in such a way that would not have been out of place coming from Kongou Mitsuko.
Just you wait! I will get Onee-sama back from your hands, Kamijou Touma! I will not allow you to get in the way of a maiden's pure love!
Any further thoughts (and possibly actions to take advantage of the close contact) were interrupted by the door to their room being slammed open, and a flustered Uiharu ran inside.
"Shirai-saaan! I have big news for you!" Uiharu said urgently.
"Oh? Misaka-san is here as well?" Saten said in surprise as she walked in at a more leisurely pace compared to Uiharu. "We were going to tell you this as well later, guess this saves a bit of time if you're already here."
"What happened?" Mikoto looked curiously at her friends.
"Well, Shirai-san asked us to keep an eye on things about Kamijou-san's rumours, and we found something interesting in the process." Saten said, a wide grin on her face like she found a great rumour to sink her teeth into.
"I found this on a message board mainly for researchers. While it's open for anyone to browse, most students aren't interested in this kind of things normally so not many people know about this." Uiharu said, bringing out a laptop and showing Mikoto and Kuroko what had them so hyped up:
[Due to recent esper attacks on Kamijou Touma and repeated proof of cases where the 'negation' of abilities are recorded, it has been decided to give funding for a one-off occasion that will test Kamijou's ability using advanced technology that is currently still in testing stages. Depending on the situation, this may improve the capability of machinery used in System Scans in the future should further cases like these occur.
Originally, Director Tsugutoshi was assigned the task of setting up this study, due to his expertise in natural-born espers. Kirigaoka Girl's Academy was also a contender in testing Kamijou Touma and developing the new machinery, due experience in researching rare abilities that the academy specialises in.
However, a surprising last minute change has occurred, and the ones responsible for conducting the research will now be the Kihara Research Institute.
This is due to the argument they are more skilled in research about 'unique' and 'abnormal' AIM fields, and has the best experts in the area. Their credentials overshadow the others, having been involved in developing two Level 5s to date. One of them being Accelerator, Academy City's 1st ranked Level 5.
In addition, they will be testing out the new machinery with their own esper that too have trouble being placed into a correct category.
The study is now confirmed to be a series of tests, culminating in a mock battle between Kamijou Touma and the esper in question currently under the supervision of Kihara Research Institute:
The Seventh Level 5 of Academy City.
Sogiita Gunha.]
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*End Chapter 7*
Author's notes: Yes, I know my fight scenes are probably unrealistic, and just plainly suck. That's why I focus more on the emotion aspect of things. This will probably be the case next chapter as well.
The names for the two girls that attacked Touma were just chosen randomly, and they're not important. Chances are they won't have a major role in this fic from now on, so don't worry too much about them.
And as for Sogiita Gunha being mentioned… I'm planning on treating the events in the 'A Certain Vending Machine's Proof of Existence' SS, also known as 'Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare' as canon, despite not being written by Kazuma Kamachi. I've heard Teh Ping at Bakatsuki will be translating this soon, so when it does come out please do check it out.