Chapter 7:
Accelerator groggily ate whatever Yomikawa put in front of him. He wasn't paying attention to anyone or anything beside his food.
He heard voices, though. "Does he normally eat like this?" So she's not stammering now. Just the thought of her made him extremely irritated. Is it because of the morning or her or both? Huh. Doesn't matter.
"He used to eat all that instant food before, but now he eats my awesome omelets, jan!" Yomikawa said energetically. Accelerator didn't respond; he just chewed on the omelet.
"You're really proud of your omelets, huh?" Yoshi and Rei said at the same time.
と あ る 臨 時 の 人
It wasn't until Rei and Last Order pulled Accelerator outside did he confirm how early it was. He was forced to walk out of the apartment's front entrance red-and-white awning, early morning light poked his eyes. Last Order pulled at his jeans sleeve; Rei at his free hand. "Oi, you two brats, let go! I can walk on my own!" He growled.
"You use a cane to walk normally, Accelerator-sensei." Rei retorted calmly.
"Your personality is so damn convoluted." Accelerator fumed.
"Please don't swear in front of the children." Rei retorted in the same fashion, although she let go of his t-shirt sleeve.
"What children? All I see are two brats."
"Brats are considered children."
"…"
The three walked into the cobblestone park and garden. It had a different light in the morning; people were biking and jogging on the paths. None were paying attention to the odd trio; most of them had mp3 players plugged in. Even with no one looking at them, Rei felt too crowded.
"We're not going to be practicing here, are we?"
"Well," Accelerator plopped on a bench. He looked at around while he was talking to Rei. "I don't know what you know. What I teach you depends on what you know already."
"I can only move moving objects, really…" Rei trailed off.
"That's lame."
"Accelerator-san shouldn't be a bully, Misaka Misaka says!" Last Order pointed accusingly at Accelerator.
"Well, it is. What kind of a vector change ESPer can't even move still items? I bet you didn't even realize anything about plasma, either."
"Plasma?" Rei looked confused.
"Nevermind." Accelerator shook his head.
"So what will we do? Will we stay here? I don't feel comfortable here with all these people." Rei asked again.
"Dunno…" Accelerator shrugged. "But…I think it's time you learned how to move still things."
"Un! Misaka Misaka agrees!" Last Order did a thumbs-up and turned to Rei. "I'm sure with some practice, you'll be able to move any still object! Misaka Misaka tries to boost Rei's confidence."
Rei just kept looking down at her. Her mouth was slightly ajar, as if she wanted to say, "Anything, except his heart."
と あ る 臨 時 の 人
"Ow! That hurts!" Rei's voice was higher-pitched
"Hold still already!" Accelerator was merciless.
"But it hurts! Can't you tie it nicer?
"It does look like it hurts, Misaka Misaka observes."
"The hell does 'nicer' even mean in that context?"
The trio was back into the guest bedroom. Accelerator had brought a pole and rope from outside and began tying Rei against the pole.
"There." Accelerator exhaled. "I'm done with the tying." He leaned back against the dresser. It was faced across the bed. The room was simple enough. Right beside the bed was a square wooden nightstand. A light and a digital clock were on the stand. There was less than a yard of space between the nightstand and the sliding closet. The closet was on the wall that had the door to the near-square room. A large window with transparent, white fabric curtains was on the far side.
"You could have been a bit gentler…" Rei barely sounded audible.
"The goal of this exercise is," Accelerator ignored her, "to get untied from the rope without snapping it. The rope is, in this case, a still object. I tied it hard enough and in a way that hurts you if you try to move."
In case you didn't know this beforehand," he began to explain, "Everything has atoms in it. Even in solids, the atoms are vibrating- but just barely. The minute movement, however," he raised his upper right arm. A pencil case on the dresser fell, startling Last Order. "Is enough for us to manipulate. Well, it shouldn't be a problem for Level 5s, anyway. But it should be possible for you anyway."
"So that was the point of tying it so hard? I'm having trouble breathing."
"Then get working on the knot." He stood up and shook off imaginary dust.
"Can't you at least tell me the kind of knot you used?"
"Nope. See ya." Accelerator walked out the door.
"Time for lunch, Yoshi, jan!" Yomi called out to Yoshikawa. Clearly she expected the other three to still go out for lunch.
Rei's stomach grumbled. "It's good that you're still here, Last Order-chan." She looked to Last Order. Now that Rei was tied up, she was on eye level with her. "I'm surprised that he hasn't told you to leave with him."
"Accelerator-san probably knows how to figure out if I helped you, that's why, Misaka Misaka guesses."
"Well." she grunted. The rope was really cutting into her waist and wrists. "Could you tell me what kind of knot he used? I'm sure that wouldn't constitute as cheating." She huffed. "I can't move still objects yet, so how on earth can I see their position if I can't see their structure?"
"Misaka Misaka begs your pardon?"
"Oh, never mind that. Just look, please."
Last Order moved behind her. "It's a double knot, Misaka Misaka reports." Last Order breathed.
"Really?" Rei wanted to laugh hollowly, but the ropes suppressed the will to do even that. "I'd have suspected that he used some complicated knot that the E-scouts use."
"Misaka Misaka thinks that that is Accelerator-san's way of going easy on a student."
"He calls that easy?" She questioned. "Anyway, stay silent for a moment. I need to concentrate." She closed her eyes. Her ability always felt like lucid dreaming in real life. She could move any moving thing in a different way with a thought. The only difference was that lucid dreaming was harder to her. It was ten times easier for Rei to think of something that would hurt her in the dream than it was to fight it.
Speaking of dreams…Rei still remembered the dream she had last night. It was such a relaxing dream. There was just a beach, a beautiful island, and no one was there…
Gah! Back to the rope-untying! These ropes are so tight, yet I'm thinking about dreams?
It's not as if Rei saw anything when she closed her eyes. She didn't see any "scans" of the place around her when her eyes were closed. But her intuition did sense things for her. She saw nothing; her intuition felt the things around her and reported them to her.
This time, her intuition was working with her imagination. She had to picture what a double knot looked like. Her intuition was the one that figured out how it was situated on her.
Come on! I need force to start untying it! She tried motivating herself once she finished sensing the knot.
Suddenly, her chest felt looser. Tah, the rope fell around her.
"Wow, that was fast, Misaka Misaka says! Congratulations, Ryuuzaki-san! Ryuuzaki-san is learning so fast that Misaka Misaka predicts you'll be a level 5 in less than a year! Less than 6 months, maybe! Misaka Misaka says optimistically." She spun around.
Rei didn't say anything at first. She first took deep breathes, compensating for her lack of oxygen. "Thanks, Last Order-chan." She picked up Last Order. Huh. She's not too heavy. "Let's go have some lunch."
"Okay, Misaka Misaka cheers!" Last Order's arm pumped air.
Rei walked outside and observed the surroundings. To her joy, all three were preoccupied. Yomikawa and Yoshikawa were sitting together at the dining table. Their backs were to Rei. Rei was somewhat surprised that the group moved around the table. Shouldn't the head of the table always sit at the head of the table? No matter. Now, Accelerator…She looked to him. He was sitting on the armchair, flipping through a different magazine.
"Ey, can't I have lunch now?" He said impatiently to the two without looking away.
"Not until Ryuuzaki-san's done with the task you assigned her. Although, I must say, I hardly call what you're doing teaching. Also, where did you get the pole?"
"One of those road signs. There were so many of them, so I thought it wouldn't matter if I took one. It had a couple of those traffic monitors and signals on it. And, heh, that brat's not going to be done until it's dinnertime."
"EH? YOU TOOK A TRAFFIC POLE? GO RETURN THAT! THAT DOESN'T BELONG HERE, JAN!" Yomikawa shouted.
Yoshi looked seriously at Yomikawa. "I didn't know our ceiling was that high, Yomi."
Yomi looked sheepish. "Oh, so it was just a joke. But still, where did you get it."
"Someone threw it away."
The two looked appalled. Rei could only imagine their looks, but she knew what their reactions were "That's even worse than taking city property. I expect that thing out before dinnertime." Yoshi commanded.
"You shouldn't be so mean to Ryuuzaki. She's earnest. I bet she's almost done already." Yomikawa huffed. Rei took this as the time to start walking.
She walked passed Yomi and Yoshi without a word. She heard Yomi stop her breath, not saying whatever she was going to say.
She stopped behind Accelerator. She smirked; he didn't realize the casted shadow. With Last Order still in her arms, she bent forward. She was so close to Accelerator's ear, she had to be careful not to accidentally kiss it. "I'm done. It's not dinnertime." She said normally. As she expected, Accelerator didn't twitch. Rei was, however, sure that his face showed some surprised. As Yoshi and Yomi giggled, she stood up straight. She was smirking some more as Accelerator turned around. Rei could just imagine how she looked to him. A shadow on her face, a snicker, Last Order in her arms. She must have looked proud to him, boastful even. After all, Accelerator had been proven wrong. He showed no signs of this, but Rei expected that.
"Time for lunch," she said. "Let's go."