"In the end, you fell asleep. What happened to star-gazing?"
Touma sighed while holding Misaki's hand as the both of them were in a park. It was midnight, and the area was almost pitch black if it wasn't for the faint moonlight. His visual acuity was 10, so Touma could still see his surroundings well. Misaki couldn't, so she held his hand.
"Sorry, I got too comfortable. But I'm sure you had fun looking at those beautiful stars, right?"
"I fell asleep as well. I just happened to wake up earlier."
It was true that the twinkling stars against a velvet black background were beautiful, but looking at the same scene for an hour would get boring no matter how beautiful it was. Or at least this was the case for Touma.
"Our star-gazing date somehow became a sleeping date. Maybe we should have booked a room and sleep together. Well, I don't mind if you take this the wrong way though." Misaki grinned.
Touma decided to change the subject before it got too raunchy.
"How's school?"
"Oh?" Misaki said, "Well... pretty okay I guess. There's PE which I always skip as usual. I'm still the highest scorer in my class. Nothing special happened in particular. How about you?"
"I'm still failing all my tests. Still have extra lessons. Loads of misfortune in my life. Yup, that's all."
Misaki sighed dramatically, "Having a harem in your school must be troublesome. As expected of the Kami-yan disease. It's even larger than my clique in Tokiwadai alone. You even nearly got raped by a few girls in the nurse room as well. Thaaat is sooo misfortunate of you."
Touma wanted to bury his head into sand and pretend that this never happened. It was during PE when he got struck by a soccer ball, basketball and a baseball consecutively on the head. Afterwards, he was sent to the nursing room to rest, and then Touma had to activate his Saint mode to prevent himself from getting raped.
"Those girls were overweight, and... not particularly cute. I would really have been raped if I only had my normal strength!"
"Are you implying that if they were as attractive as me, you would gladly accept them?"
"I only wanted to emphasize how misfortunate I actually was. "
"Yes, yes. Such misfortune indeed." Misaki said.
Just then, Touma grabbed a blade that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Blood dripped from his hand as he kept his grip tight.
He winced in pain. Touma may have enhanced healing, but it didn't mean that he could not feel pain.
"Are... you okay?" Misaki asked.
"It'll heal. Don't worry."
Touma snapped the blade into two using his thumb and forefinger, and crushed it to pieces underfoot. It was a blade from an Academy City's ballastic knife. Since it was already in pieces, the smart system that allows the user to remote control the blade no longer works.
After five seconds to let his hand heal, Misaki took out her remote and repeatedly pressed a button towards Touma.
He used his right hand to "grab" the telepathic waves, turned it into a 100 meters long blade, and aimed it at a blonde girl holding a ballistic knife without the blade.
Because of Touma's excellent eyesight, despite the blonde girl being over 100 meters away sitting in a bench with her twin, he could see her as if he was standing right in front of her.
Febri was stunned to see a blade that long being pointed at Maycia.
Who sent you?
She gripped Maycia's hand in fear. She was afraid of the hollow voice that echoed around them.
Maycia ignored the blade, and smiled like a confident businessman. Finally, a powerful individual that could save Janie.
"Don't be mistaken, this is just a greeting. I'm a working prototype created from the remnant of the Dark May Project. Currently I lack enough calculation ability to use Vector Change, but it should be easy for you to hook me up to a network. I'm willing to offer myself to you in exchange for a favour."
Having sex with a minor is illegal, do you know that?
The hollow voice turned feminine. It was probably the figure with an impressive chest. There was another figure beside it who was holding the blade.
"... That's not what I meant. Don't you understand? I'm fucking valuable. You can even resell me to another organisation for about 150 million yen. All I ask is for you to save my sister."
The blade gleaming under the streetlight beside the bench vanished.
Maycia blinked once.
She saw a figure coming closer. The face wasn't visible, but Maycia could tell that it had spiky hair.
Maycia blinked again.
A boy who had spiky hair was standing in front of her.
"Tell me more about your sister."
"We have to recapture Maycia as soon as possible."
In a dim, air-conditioned conference room, six person were seated around a large table, each with a laptop. Except for one girl with short, black hair, the remaining five wore spectacles. All of them belonged to a single organisation known as STUDY.
Their leader, Aritomi Haruki adjusted his glasses.
"Of course."
Sakurai Jun, a female with short, brown hair and spectacles flipped open a file.
"Because we spent a lot on Maycia, at most only 1000 Powered Suits can be equipped with weapons. Would that be okay with the rest?"
The remaining five members nodded their head.
"Alright. Let's see how our equipped Powered Suits fare against Maycia's ability. Whoever agrees, please raise your hands." Haruki said.
"Don't tell me... you're using that?" Jun said.
Haruki smiled, "Yes. That. It's our greatest discovery regarding the #1's ability."
Five out of the six people raised their hands, leaving the final vote to the girl without spectacles.
After a short pause, she raised her hands as well.
"Passed. We'll proceed as planned tomorrow."
What a perfect day to sleep in.
Touma thought as he opened his eyes, before closing them back.
It was a windy morning, and his bed felt particularly comfortable today. Waking up would be a sin, but he forgot that he took in two homeless girls.
A sharp pain assaulted his stomach.
"Stop sleeping and fucking make us breakfast."
"Just get off my bed!"
Maycia was standing on Touma's bed with her foot planted on his stomach. She reminded him of a certain blonde girl from London. Even the expression Maycia had was eerily similar.
"Now fucking make us breakfast."
She hopped off, and Touma reluctantly made his way to the kitchen.
"What would the both of you like?"
Maycia took a remote, and switched on the TV. It was the news channel, so she pressed a button for the kids channel for Febri.
Febri sat in front of the TV, enthralled by the show, "I want ham and eggs."
"How about some fried chicken?" Maycia took a beer from the fridge. She left a few cans inside because warm beer tastes awful.
Touma cracked a few eggs, "It's unhealthy to eat fried food for breakfast. I don't have ham, so we'll have to make do with scrambled eggs."
A sizzling sound emanated from the kitchen. The dorm room was soon filled with the aroma of eggs.
Maycia said, "So you're just going to drop the Mental Out like a strategic bomb onto STUDY's HQ and finish everything within an hour?"
"It'll take some time before Misaki can determine its exact location. Don't worry, with her information gathering ability, probably about a day."
"That's good."
Touma put the scrambled eggs in two plates and placed them on the dining table.
Maycia dragged Febri away from the TV, "Come on, it's time to fucking eat."
"If we're going to save Janie, could we get her a present?" Febri said while keeping her eyes on the TV.
"But I don't have any money now. Such a shame. And I thought that a present would be perfect after Janie awakes." Maycia said.
Both girls turned to look at Touma, wide-eyed and brimming with tears to induce sympathy.
He tried to resist, but couldn't. The moe level was too strong for him.
Touma sighed, "I get it, I get it. Such misfortune."
Judgement is useless.
A boy thought about his unconscious best friend lying inside a hospital. Because Judgement did not arrive in time, his friend ended up in this state as she tried to protect him from rogue ESPers who enjoyed killing as a form of entertainment.
They'll pay for being so useless.
He looked at a convenience store just ahead.
"That's your next target?"
A girl with long, black hair in a school uniform stood beside him. It gave him a scare because he had no idea when she was there.
"K-Kumokawa-sama?"
"How's the Level Upper that I gave you?"
"How about you see for yourself?"
Kumokawa Seria shot him a confused look as he pointed at the convenience store. An explosion occurred soon after. The blast waves were so strong that the both of them could feel slight tremors despite being at a distance away.
Seria nodded, "I see. Unfortunately for you, nobody is hurt in this explosion."
"What?! How would you know that?"
An albino carrying a plastic bag filled with cans walked out of the store. Soon after, the rest of people inside rushed outside in fear with only a few light injuries.
"Do you know who is he?" Seria said.
The boy shook his head.
"Accelerator. The strongest ESPer in Academy City. Those people were lucky that he was inside the store as well."
The boy understood why Seria would say that. With his Vector Change, he could save everyone by altering the vectors of the blast waves. It was as easy as lifting a finger.
But the convenience store wasn't his only target.
"They aren't going to be that lucky next time."
"Good luck then."
Seria was pleased to see that the Level Upper was working as intended, and left in a sport car.
The boy caused many casualties with his bombing antics, but no Judgement members died from any explosions yet.
He swore that a Judgement member will die today.
"Have you heard of the masked hero of Academy City?"
Ruiko was on her laptop as she surfed through various urban legend forums. It was her favourite pastime ever since she entered Academy City.
"Masked hero of Academy City?" Mikoto asked.
Together with Kazari, the three of them were in a family resturant. Kuroko was busy with Judgement work, so she wasn't here today.
"According to many netizens, he does really exist, but he disappeared for about a few years already. Nobody knows the reason why. Hmm... let's see." Ruiko clicked on a few links for more information, "His mask is really special. Black on the left half, white on the right half."
Mikoto sipped on her juice, and nearly spat it out, "Really?!"
"What's with that reaction..." Ruiko grinned, "Don't tell me you were once saved by him, and fell in love with him as a result?"
Mikoto blushed while denying it.
She had a dirty past that none of her friends knew about. Not even Kuroko. This masked hero of Academy City saved her from the darkness. Not only that, he made her feel loved. But he disappeared one day.
Because of his mysterious nature, no matter how hard Mikoto tried, she couldn't locate him. There wasn't even a slight clue to his whereabouts.
Yesterday, Touma showed off his impressive power by defeating her in two moves. Though she was frightened, Mikoto sensed that he gave off the same mysterious vibe as that masked hero.
Could he be the same person?
Mikoto sighed as she went back to sipping her juice.
"Here's your ice cream."
A waitress placed a large bowl of sundae in front of Kazari. Normally, she would be delighted, but she wasn't in the mood today.
Ruiko noticed that Kazari was different from usual.
"What's wrong?"
Kazari gave a small smile, "It's nothing."
Ruiko thought about what could have happened to Kazari, and she understood. Nasty comments were being posted regarding Judgement's ineptness in dealing with the recent bombing incidents.
"I'm sure you did your best as a member of Judgement."
Kazari sighed, "Is Judgement really that useless? We have tried our best to minimize causalities, and to track down the bomber as soon as possible, but it seems as though it has only gotten worse with each passing day. Anti-Skill is trying their best as well, but even so, the situation doesn't seem to be improving."
"It's really unfair of them to say such things. We all know that you, Shirai and even Konori have been spending sleepless night just to track down that bomber."
Mikoto knew that from her experience in the darkness of Academy City, Judgement and Anti-Skill is useless when it comes to serious incidents. But she also knew that they are trying their very best, and denying their efforts in keeping the city safe was wrong.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. Maybe the bomber is just good in covering his tracks."
Ruiko reached over and patted Kazari on the shoulder, "Yeah. Don't be too hard on yourself. It's your off day today, so cheer up!"
"Let's go to Seventh Mist for some shopping then." Mikoto said.
Kazari nodded, thankful for their attempt in cheering her up.
Mikoto was in paradise.
Rows and rows of Gekota merchandises filled the shop. Even the shop title was known as Gekota Paradise. It was a newly opened store in the mall.
"Uwah... Incredible!"
After Ruiko and Kazari went off on their own to check out some bikinis, Mikoto managed to sneak into this store.
Even toilet paper as well?! Mikoto thought as she walked about.
It was truly paradise. Bedsheets, towels, toothbrush, mugs, stationaries, and almost everything else probably except furniture were covered in this store
"What should I get?"
Mikoto was spoilt for choices. Too many things in this store that she wanted to buy. While she could afford to buy everything in this store, her obsession towards Gekota was not as extreme as Kuroko's obsession towards her.
"Could it be..."
Mikoto spotted a limited edition mini Gekota figurine collection set. All her missing black, white and rainbow figurines to finish her collection was inside. Only one was left.
She went over and grabbed the set. However, Mikoto realized that she was facing competition from a little blonde girl with a lollipop in her mouth.
The both of them were holding onto the set like they were in a tug of war game.
"Don't you know what is meant by respecting your seniors. So just let go and be a good girl."
Mikoto was dying of embarrassment from saying that. A middle-schooler was fighting with a small child over Gekota. It was clear that the middle-schooler should be the one letting go.
Febri was determined. This was the perfect present for Janie. She tried to snatch it away, but she didn't have enough strength.
"L-Look, a friend of mine really loves the set, if sh-she cannot finish her collection, I'm a-afraid she'll commit suicide. Now that you understand how serious this is, let go!"
For her size, the little blonde girl was surprisingly strong. They were now really in a tug of war game. People were looking at them. If Mikoto had not said such a lie, everyone would start pointing fingers at her for bullying a little girl.
Febri shook her head as she increased her strength.
For Janie, I must perserve and keep on trying!
Mikoto was tempted to use her electricity against her, but she somehow felt that this was wrong.
Do I really have to go that far just for this collection set?
"What's this? A fucking middle-schooler fighting over Gekota with a little girl? Do you even have any sense of decency?"
Mikoto saw another identical little blonde girl. But her language seemed too mature for her age.
And then she saw him.
Kamijou Touma.
Mikoto let go of the set instantly.
Touma said, "Biribiri. I didn't know you were still into such things."
Mikoto blushed in embarrassment, "Nope. N-Not at all. A f-friend of mine w-wanted this set badly, that's all."
In some ways, Touma reminded Mikoto of herself. Powerful, yet rather humble. He was always holding back, just like her. She only realized that only yesterday when he decided not to hold back by defeating her in two moves.
It was embarrassing for her to be caught fighting over Gekota with a little girl by such a cool guy like Touma.
"So I assume that this set is fucking ours?" Maycia looked at the price, "Kamijou-san, 30,000 yen please."
Touma opened his wallet, "I only have 12,000 yen. Don't ask me to withdraw money from the bank because that's everything from my savings."
"Hoho," Mikoto's eyes were sparkling, "Well, how about we make a deal. All I need is black, white and rainbow, so I'm willing to pay 30,000 yens just for these three."
Febri tugged at Maycia's sleeve, "But Janie loves rainbow..."
"Black and white only. 65,000 yen. Take it or leave it."
Touma could see from her confidence and tone that Maycia would be a very shrewd businesswoman when she grows up.
After struggling for a moment because rainbow is the rarest, Mikoto agreed.
She took out her credit card, made payment, took the two mini figurines and stuffed it inside her skirt pocket.
Just then, her phone rang.
"Kuroko?"
"Onee-sama, I have no time to explain. Just find Uiharu before the bomber targets her. Hurry."
Mikoto put down the phone.
"What's wrong?" Touma asked.
"Find a flower head Judgment girl before the bomber gets to her. We don't have time, hurry."
All of them left the store, and was about to spilt up when they saw Kazari and Ruiko from a distance.
A little girl used Telekinesis and sent a plush toy from her hands towards Kazari.
"Yay! I did it! Ice cream time!"
She hopped away with glee.
Kazari looked at the plush toy. It was a green frog, but it wasn't Gekota.
"I somehow have a bad feeling about this." Ruiko said.
The toy began to shrink into nothing. Ruiko's feeling was right.
"A graviton bomb?!"
Kazari threw it away in fear.
Touma sprinted and grabbed the plush toy. When it completely turned into nothing, instead of exploding, he used his Imagine Breaker to use the energy generated into summoning his bident.
To the rest, it was like he pulled out a sliver weapon through an invisible portal.
Touma could have negated the explosion, but he needed the bident to deal with the Powered Suits behind Kazari and Ruiko.
The bident was the Holy Lance, though its true form isn't sliver in colour. It just happened to be this colour when he summoned it.
This weapon was an unexpected symbol of his epithet that identified him as the fourth strongest in the world.
While the real bident is stuck at the moon, Touma could use his Imagine Breaker to summon a portion of its power by manipulating energies generated by supernatural phenomenons as a medium. The stronger the energy, the stronger its power up to a certain limit.
Those Powered Suits fired missiles from its back, flying in all directions.
Touma hurled his bident through the air. It split into smaller bidents which pierced through the missiles. Mini explosions occurred as it was taken down one by one.
The smaller bidents merged back into a single bident.
Touma leaped up, grabbed it and sliced the Powered Suits into two, three at a time. It took him less than 10 seconds to deal with those suits.
Ruiko and Kazari stood there, shocked.
"Just... what the hell is that ability? Only a Level 5 is capable of this... That's definitely not Meltdowner... Dark Matter? Attack Crash?" Ruiko asked.
Touma did not know how to answer Ruiko. He was supposed to be a Level 0, a powerless ESPer. However, the situation forced him to use his power.
"What you saw just now is only an illusion. It'd be good if you think of it that way." Touma said.
Mikoto was reminded of the bridge incident last night. Would it be better for her to think of Touma grabbing energy emitted from her Railgun like it was a solid object with his bare hands and turning it into a weapon as an illusion?
But wouldn't that make him something like that disgusting Mental Out? A power that is not of Academy City, huh...
His power is definitely not an illusion. It was merely incomprehensible like that #7.
This was what Mikoto concluded about his power.
"Do you happen to be that hidden #6 that nobody knows about?" Kazari asked.
"He's just a Level 0. I've checked the Bank." Mikoto said.
Ruiko dropped her jaw in response, "EHH?! That's ridiculous. Misaka, are you joking? He is definitely not a Level 0 no matter how you lo-"
"Help me."
Maycia was terrified. Her usual smug look was nowhere to be seen.
Febri clutched her head in pain.
"Run. Get out of my sight." Maycia said.
Touma was confused, until when a few people inside a shop was crushed into a bloody mess by an invisible force. They were all within Maycia's sight.
"Send Febri to the hospital and fucking leave the mall before I end up fucking killing everyone!"
Mikoto scooped Febri and rushed off with Kazari and Ruiko.
And so, there was a new troublesome threat that Touma needed to deal with.
Author's Note: I get a strange feeling that this chapter is kinda boring, so apologies for that if you think that it's boring. Well, at least the plot is moving I guess. I haven't written Mikoto for a long time, and I'm glad to be writing her again. However, this is still a Misaki fic, so more emphasis will be on Misaki of course.
About the Holy Lance, since Touma's right hand has been referred to as the God Killing Spear in the LN, I thought it'd be cool if he actually possessed the real thing. Hopefully I'll be able to explain and show more things about this lance in future chapters.
You might have noticed some overlapping similarities with my other fics, but there are differences, so don't worry. Mikoto having a dark past makes the Sister's Arc more epic, and different from the norm.
Lastly, if you're wondering how Maycia, who possess Vector Change, is able to crush people from a distance, it's actually kinda obvious (maybe not) if you've read the LNs up till Vol 22. Also, Haruki mentioned its their greatest discovery about the #1's ability. I'll leave this simple mystery for you to figure out.
That's all from me I guess.
If you have any comments, just leave them in the review box below.
Hope you liked the chapter :)
