Chapter 4: The Two Sisters
It was interesting how little truly changed between them in the months that followed Misaka and Touma's first kiss. The groundwork of how there life's interacted had already been set into a pattern that was still running in a fairly similar way to this day. He was the hero that saved the innocent, and she was the one who made sure he got there and back in one piece.
Course there was kissing, hugging and many cases of static electricity between them, but her Onee-sama made a very strong point to Touma that he wasn't to go that 'far' with Misaka, words which at the time that made little sense to Misaka, but made much sense now. Touma of course had got her sister's intent clearly and did as he was told (Misaka suspected the idle coin flicking may have help).
On the other hand there dynamic with Index did change...
Misaka knocked on the door of Touma's dorm politely in gross defiance of the rules of no girls being allowed there. She didn't really see much point paying that rule much heed considering the nun and maid who made this floor there homes, it was more of loosely enforced guideline by this point.
Misaka heard a familiar voice from the other side.
"Touma someone is at the door and you said I shouldn't answer it!" Index shouted loudly in a tone that was obviously female. Misaka suspected in a dorm which took its rule enforcement seriously, Index's location would have been found out in a matter of days.
"Hide!" Touma screamed in a panicked tone. From the sounds of it he was rushing about on the other side of the door quiet frantically. 52 seconds after Misaka first knocked on the door, a worried Touma opened it.
"Ahh Imouto." Touma said as he opened the door, the worry quickly draining from his face as he realised who his guest was. "Good too see you."
"Oh hi Imouto." Index said in a friendly tone as she pop her head from behind Toumas back were she been poorly hiding a moment ago. "What brings you this way?"
"I wish to privately discus with Touma matters raised in a certain event that happened 31 hours and 3 minutes ago. Misaka explains as she gives Touma a significant look."
That was how long ago that it had been since Misaka had her first kiss, she didn't want to hide that she and Touma were dating from Index, but she felt Touma would appreciate some tact on the matter.
"Sure, let use the bathroom for privacy..." Touma began as he took Misaka shoulder softly. However he was interrupted.
"No way." Index said sternly as she brought her hand down on Toumas arm sharply and broke his hold on Misaka's shoulder. "There no way I'm going to let you have a girl as innocent and pure as Imouto all alone with you in your bedroom!"
"Index, Imouto and I really need to talk in private, it important!" Touma protested.
"She surely knows by now that anything she can say in front of you, she can say in front of me." Index said confidently with her hands on her hips.
"Touma and I kissed, Misaka admits with a sigh giving up on the subtle approach."
A silence filled the room.
"Say that again." Index said with a look of annoyance
"Touma and I kissed, Misaka repeats, as she looks at Index with some worry."
" I see..." Index said surprisingly calmly (and in direct contrast Touma looked terrified). Index then turned around and calmly walked over to the other side of the dorm, before carefully placing Sphnix in the space between the bed and the wall.
"Stay there a little bit Sphnix, Index needs to see to a little problem." The Nun explained to the small cat as she patted him softly on the head. She then walked over to what looked like Touma's schoolbooks and picked one up and flipped to a page seemingly at random, but knowing her photographic memory, it could be a deliberate choice.
" Do you know for a collision occurring between object 1 and object 2 in an isolated system, the total momentum of the two objects before the collision is equal to the total momentum of the two objects after the collision. That is, the momentum lost by object 1 is equal to the momentum gained by object 2?" Index explained. "For example a heavy book hitting a whores head should hurt!"
The book was thrown through the air with some force, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it) Misaka had the memories of 10031 experiments between her sisters and Accelerator, and in more than a few dodging projectiles had been a matter of life and death. But Misaka didn't dodge. She chose to take the book full on and in the face. It was surprisingly painful, for such a petite girl, Index had a good throwing arm.
"Imouto!" Touma screamed as he ran to Misaka's as she dropped backwards due to the gain of energy in her body from the book hitting her. Index face slowly turned from rage to guilt.
"I thought you would dodge." Index said in a low quiet tone. "I didn't think you just stand there and take it full on..."
"But how would that cool your fury of not being the one that Touma entrusts his heart too? Misaka explains as she rubs her face."
Index looked down. Her expression was shameful.
"Am I really that aggressive a person Imouto?" Index asked with a open honesty.
"You can be, Misaka admits."
Index looked down at Misaka and bite her lip.
"I guess this is why he chose you over me..."Index said with a sad sob. "You.. you give him something I haven't even thought he needed!"
After that the waterworks truly started, but Misaka, Touma and Sphinx weren't the sort of people/cat, to leave a girl crying all alone when she needed a hug.
After that things were different between the three of them. Index accepted that Touma and Misaka were a couple, through she was Touma house guest all the way up to the fall of Crowley then after that she returned to her native England. Misaka was glad that they had remained friends after that incident and she still kept in touch with the Nun whose advice she valued as much as Kuroko's.
Her sister Mikoto and Kuroko's link on the other hand turned into something of quiet flame. There was something there for sure, but even Misaka had little idea what happened beyond the close friendship they showed on the surface and there fondness for privacy. It would be many years before Mikoto opened up more than a inch to the outside world. Kuroko seemed happy to follow her lead.
Of the events that happened in those times, there was another one that stuck in her memory, or to be more exact the collective memory of the network...
Misaka (serial number 14032) adjusted the throttle on her red sports car with retractable roof. It was a special Academy City model known as the Cheater 564X and was capable of going at 712 miles per hour and had excellent turning speeds. Additional due to a clever little trick that included a ear piece in the driver ear that speeded up perception of what was on the road, it was remarkable easy to drive at those speeds with full control of the vehicle.
Besides the Cheater 564X, Misaka also had some "Green Lens 7X" sunglasses that acted in the same way as her old goggles with the bonus of being less bulky, more subtle and way more stylish, a few small arms, and her Hat. It didn't have any special abilities or cutting edge tech built in (it was a black cowboy styled hat). But it was pretty, and importantly it was -her- Hat. She was also wearing a denim miniskirt and jacket along with her cute tiger themed top. Cute tigers having become something of Network obsession as of late. 14032 blamed 19026 for starting the suspicion that cute tigers would lead to good fortune, but the top was -so- cute and went well with her Hat... and going well with the Hat was important.
As Misaka came to stop at the designated point, she heard the shattering of glass and the sound of a voice well known to the Network.
"Such misfortune!" Touma screamed as he dropped through the air in the arms of the saint Kanzaki Kaori. It was 34 floors up, but 34 floors up was of little consequence to Kanzaki, and she landed in the back seat without a hair out of place, Touma of course had the misfortune to land face first in a certain chest area...
"Hello Touma, I am Misaka 14032 and its a pleasure to meet you in the flesh, Misaka says politely as she greets the cute boy in one of his customary embarrassing positions."
Misaka then turned her head to look at the blushing Kanzaki.
"The MISAKA Network apologise for Touma's bad habits and hopes you can quickly recover, we are on a tight schedule after all, says Misaka as she draws your attention to the task at hand and accelerates the Cheater 564X."
"I don't have a seatbelt on!" Touma screamed in protest as the car rapidly worked itself up to its top speed, but Misaka wasn't worried.
"We don't have time Kamijou!" Kanzaki shouted loudly over the roar of the cars engines as she held the boy down in the car. "If we don't destroy the last of the cursed artefacts in ten minutes, then every corpse in New York going to start walking about!"
Misaka speeded through the city, breaking several traffic laws in the processes and causing many rude words to be sent her way, but Misaka didn't have time to be polite, the necromantic spell was due to take effect in 9 minutes and 42 seconds.
"By the way the hat is nice!" Touma managed to scream out as Misaka expertly darted between two cars with inches to spare on either side.
"Thank you, Misaka replies warmly."
"I don't think any of the other Sister have one like that!" Touma continued to shout as the car speeded along the pavement (or sidewalk to use the local term) briefly to get past a traffic jam, Misaka was infinitely glad there was enough room in the crowd to pull off the stunt.
"This is correct, Misaka replies before adding assertively, as it is -my- Hat."
There was a pause in the conversation as the sound of police sirens gained everyone attention. It seemed Misaka's driving had gained the interest of the local authorities.
"I think I actually heard some assertion in your voice, and not just the word there Misaka!" Touma complemented.
14032 sighed to herself slightly despite the complement, she had hoped for more, but it seems there was still only one Misaka that he specifically called ' Imouto'.
"The hat is rather stylish too by the way!" Kanzaki shouted as Misaka began to work on losing there pursuers. "It good for you girls to all have your own style, rather than all looking the same!"
"Thank you, Misaka politely replies to the kind magicians complements."
"I still can't believe I accidentally kissed 19090 that one time." Touma lamented. "I thought when you became someone a lover, you gained the ability to tell them apart from there identical siblings!"
"In all fairness I do believe 19090 was trying to cause a 'accident' quiet deliberately, Misaka states, saying what the vast majority of the network believe is true."
"I still feel bad about it either way." Touma said with a guilty air. "I should be able to tell the difference."
Misaka reflected on Touma words somewhat. He wanted to be tell over 9000 genetically identical girls apart, and felt bad because he sometimes slipped up. Misaka supposed it was part of his character to give himself ridiculously unreasonable targets, through much to his credit he did tend to get which Misaka he was dealing with right nine times out of ten.
"We appreciate your generally high accuracy, Misaka states as she drives rapidly through the city."
"I know, but I still feel I should always get it right." Touma replied with clear honestly. Misaka bit her lip slightly. It wasn't just 10032 that was in love with Touma, the whole Network were more or less in love with him (the Controller seemed mostly disinterest in romance.. not that it ever stopped her asking Touma for favours and taking advantage of his goodwill) . He gave himself imposable goals, then set himself to work destroying there improbably, and despite all the heroic deeds under his belt, he still referred to himself as a 'normal highschool student'.
It was a incredibly attractive personality, but 'this' Misaka wasn't allowed to kiss those lips. She knew from the Networked shared memory what it was 'like' to kiss those lips, but she also know the differences between the Networks memory of drinking milked tea and drinking milk tea. It was like having 97% of colour saturation on a picture, basically correct, but slightly off... and she wanted the last 3%, the reality of those lips...
"Glad we lost those police." Kanzaki shouted with relief clear in her tone. "I don't think we have any trouble handling them, but its not right to drag amateurs into a battle between magicians."
"We have 4 minutes and 22 seconds remaining, Misaka notes as they grow closer to the objective."
"Were making good time then!" Kanzaki shouted as the speeded through a tunnel.
"I wonder if the MISAKA Network will ever be allowed to expand to a Fifth Session, Misaka muses as she drives rapidly to the last cursed item's location."
"Why you want a Fifth Session for?" Touma inquired. "Cloning is banned under international law and you Sisters seems to have good lives, why get involved in something so legally complicated as trying to find a exception under international law, you could be stuck in courts for years and years and under all sorts of constant attention?"
Misaka took a soft right turn to carefully avoid a dumbstruck child before replying.
"The Network ages and one day we will all be dust, why should we let our memories and insights fade to dust too? Says Misaka thoughtfully."
"So why don't you girls write a book? I'm sure it would be a interesting read!" Kanzaki loudly suggested as they speeded down the city streets.
"There too much data, Misaka explains. We have over 10000 full sets of senses, even if one of us wrote none stop every day and only writes the more important points, we would still be unable to accurately describe it all."
"Your looking at this the wrong way. " Touma suggested.
"Hum? Says Misaka in simple response to the cute boy's remark."
"What you want to do is to preserve what is important to you, and there's other ways to do that that don't include the United Nations and years of courts." Touma explained.
"Other ways? Says Misaka as inquires with a strong sense of curiosity evident in her voice."
However what Touma was going to say next was cut. They had reached there destination and Kanzaki was quick to leap towards the last of the cursed artefacts.. a protesting Touma in her arms.
"Drat, Misaka says with great annoyance to no one in particular."
Misaka grinned to herself at that memory, Touma reply to that question had turned out to be very important, in fact it was leading Misaka to her current destination...
A/N : Only one more chapter to go folks :)