Chapter 12:

"It all just doesn't fit together." Yoshi said out loud. Feeling cold, she had put her old lab coat on and sat down on the armchair. She supported her chin with her hand and was deep in thought. When she had come back from her errands, which included the grocery store, Yomi and Accelerator had debriefed her. The two were sitting on opposite sides of the sofa. Accelerator was sitting closer to Yoshi, crossing his long legs and leaning back, his arms crossed as if he was irked. Yomikawa put leaned her left elbow on the sofa's arm. Everyone looked unhappy with the exception of Last Order. She had actually fallen asleep afterwards, the walk making her more drowsy than usual.

"I know. Should we ask Last Order if she did anything to the rope?" Yomikawa sounded tired all of a sudden.

"I doubt the brat actually cut the rope. That rope's too thick compared to her strength. We can interrogate her later if necessary, but I don't think she did anything." Accelerator said.

"Well, thinking about this logically…" Yoshikawa knit her hands together and put her elbows on her legs. Accelerator and Yomikawa looked to her. "If it all doesn't fit together, then that means some of the data is either corrupted or not present altogether."

"Tch, but we can't figure that out by ourselves, can we?" Yomi said. "We don't have much to go on, jan."

"Why don't we just ask her?" Yoshi said. "If she's really as innocent as she appears, she won't think any of it. I'll use that information to run crosschecks with some of my computers' databases."

"Naïve, you mean?" Accelerator said.

Yoshi weakily smiled. "They kind of mean the same thing, in a way. Naïve is just a more negative term for it."

"We should just ask her next week. She's coming back then, right?" Now it was Yomi's turn to cross her arms. She turned on the lamp that was in that corner. She took a magazine from the corner's mini coffee table and a pen. She flipped to a page that had enough writing space and looked up to Yoshi. "So, what are we going to ask, exactly? We have to get this down…Wait a minute." She narrowed her eyes at Yoshi, whose smile was becoming wider. "Computers? I thought you dismantled them…Was this sneakiness what you meant by 'errands'?"

"Maybe."

"Tch, jan. She plans into the future. Guess I can't complain right now, though."

"When you're done indirectly complementing her, go make dinner."

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, JAN? LIKE HELL I'M COOKING AFTER I DID ALL THE NEW YEAR'S CLEANING BY MYSELF, JAN!"

Yoshi sighed. "Fine…Someone go wake up Last Order."

と あ る 臨 時 の 人

"Good evening Ryuuzaki-san!" Yomikawa opened the door to her. "I have to be honest, I wasn't sure if you would find us without trouble."

"Oh, it was no problem," Rei smiled as she took of her sneakers. She took of her coat and walked towards the closet. "All I had to search was the beautiful park you guys live nearby and the memory came back. Where's Accelerator-sensei?"

"Uh, he went out. He'll be back in time for dinner, though." Yomi closed and locked the door. Rei saw Yoshi reading a novel on the armchair. Yoshi looked up and smiled at her, promptly returning to her book.

"Ryuuzaki-san, Ryuuzaki-san! Misaka Misaka calls out." Last Order ran to Rei and stopped in front of her. She looked up with a smile. "Misaka Misaka and Ryuuzaki-san should cook something together for dinner!"

"Ah, really?" Rei blinked at her. She broke into a grin unexpectedly. "If that's the case, then I have a recipe from an old friend. Let's go into the kitchen-ah, wait. Do you mind-" she looked to Yomi.

Yomi shrugged. "No one minds. At least the two of us will have a break for once." She stretched and plopped herself on a sofa. She fished for a magazine out of the pile. She lifted a pen from the table. "Time for the magazine puzzle!" She said, concentrating only on the magazine.

"Hmmm….Does a beef udon noodle bowl sound good to you, Last Order-chan?" Rei was in the kitchen now. She kneeled to Last Order's height and took out a recipe from her jean's pocket.

As Last Order scanned the recipe card, Yomi and Yoshi called, "That sounds delicious!" at the same time.

"Mmph! Misaka Misaka agrees and nods her head!"

Rei smiled at her. She stood up and began searching for the ingredients. "Okay then. Want to help me find some ingredients?"

"Misaka Misaka would like to help Ryuuzaki-san!" Last Order fist pumped the air energetically.

"It's so cute how you always talk in third person, Last Order-chan. Can I call you Mi-chan?"

"Sure, Misaka Misaka says. Ryuuzaki-san's 'Mi-chan' is better than Accelerator's 'brat' any day! Should Misaka Misaka come up with a name for Ryuuzaki-san?"

"You can just call me Rei." Rei opened the fridge and pulled out a medium-sized container with a decent amount of beef. "Now, 8 ounces of udon noodles….Mi-chan, can you please find the cooking spray and measuring cups?"

"Misaka Misaka will find the requested materials!"

"So, Ryuuzaki-san, you cook as a hobby?" Yoshi asked her, flipping a page.

"Oh, not really. My dorm has a kitchen, so Haruhi and- she's my doormate- I take turns cooking. It's kind of like you two cooking, only without all the complaining and we sometimes cook together when Haruhi suggests it."

"When you grow older, jan, you're going to complain about cooking. I bet on it." Yomi said.

"I doubt it. Okay, now to find the shitake mushrooms…2 cups of that…" her voice trailed off.

"So you go to Toshiko, correct?" Yoshi asked.

"Yes, have I not said that before? It's nice going to Toshiko, their dorms are quite lavish and the school has many amenities and opportunities. It's extremely strict, though. I believe I've said before that Toshiko's junior high is in fierce competition with Tokiwadai, who, by the way, loses quite frequently to us in archery and badminton competitions." She added smugly.

"Yeah, you did say something of that. Well, except for the badminton and archery part. Did you participate in those sports? Does that mean you were once part of the junior high division?" Yomi said, scribbling something onto her magazine. Rei thought nothing of it, she was still gathering the ingredients.

"Un, I joined in the junior high division once I got out of the hospital. I hadn't applied before for the elementary division. If I did, I would have just used the stair-step path. And yes," Rei sounded smug again, "I would know if Tokiwadai lost to us in badminton and archery, because I'm on their badminton and archery teams."

"Wait, hospital?" Yoshikawa said gently.

"Yeah, I suffered amnesia as a result of head trauma. I can't remember anything before I was in 7th grade- I applied before second term started. Toshiko wasn't near the hospital I was at, but since Toshiko had dorms, it was fine. The hospital told me I was an orphan, so it's not like I could have stayed at my parents' home."

"Misaka Misaka found the cups and spray!" Yomi and Yoshi heard the clack of the plastic cups being placed on the counter.

"Thank you!"

"Wow…so young and you're already alone….how old were you then?" Yoshi asked.

"Hmmm….12, I think?"

"So you're…?"

"I'm a first year in the high school division now, so I'm 14. The doctors told me my birthday's in the springtime."

"Oh really, when?" Yoshi asked further.

"March 14th."

"You said your hospital is far away from Toshiko, and this place is far away from Toshiko, so are you saying the hospital is near here?" Yomi stopped scribbling for a brief moment. She and Yoshi slowly exchanged glances before Yomi turned back to her magazine.

"I don't know. Is Miyazawa Public Hospital nearby?"

"Not sure." Yoshi shrugged.

"So, enough about me," Rei said as she sliced carrots, "how do you two normally spend your day? What are your jobs?"

"Anti-skill lieutenant." Yomi replied instantly.

"I currently am searching for a job. I was once a scientist for Academy City, so I still have a lot of money saved up. Of course, I'm still looking for employment."

"Oh really, what did you research?"

"…Oh, nothing that's entirely important. I just took data from experiments related to human efficiency and analyzed it."

"I see. Must be top secret, important Academy City stuff."

"Indeed it is. Indeed it is."

"…Where's Accelerator?" Yomi asked.

"I don't know. How much time will it take you to finish dinner, Rei."

"With Mi-chan's help, I should be done in about 30 minutes? I've only just gathered everything together."

"Accelerator better come soon," Yomi mumbled threateningly.

と あ る 臨 時 の 人

The doorknob turned back and forth. "I'm home from this stupid task." Accelerator took off his shoes. He was carrying a laptop bag. "Here," he gave the bag to Yoshi and sat on the sofa. "Where are those two?"

"Last Order and Rei already went to bed. Leftover beef udon noodles are in the fridge." Yomi said, ripping out a page from her magazine. She handed it to Accelerator.

Accelerator scanned the page and gave it back. "So you've already gathered the information?"

"Yup, jan. Now all we have to do is search it when Rei leaves for school." Yomi said softly.

"God, how many computers do you frickin' own?" Acclerator growled at Yoshi. "Correction, how many broken computers do you own?"

"Several. A couple are hidden in this apartment, actually." Yoshi smiled faintly, putting her chin in her hand as if she was in nostalgia. "Except for the one I use currently, I've damaged every computer in a specific way that few would be able to fix them if found. One of my friends kept charge of that computer. I'm sure even my friend couldn't get into that computer. Even if the computer was fixed, he or she would have trouble breaking the security."

"Huh. Wish I could see this friend. All you told me was to go to a section of the library because the person dropped it off. Do you know how far the library is from here? It's 20 minutes by bus…And that doesn't even count the amount of time it took me to find the thing."

"Oh, you haven't exercised in a while. Suck it up, jan. Stop complaining." Yomi retorted.

Accelerator sighed again. He lifted himself up and went into the kitchen for dinner. "Who made dinner today? Yoshikawa?"

"Nope. Ryuuzaki-san did." Yoshi stood up and stretched. I think I'm going to shower and brush now, 'kay, Yomi?" Yomikawa nodded.

Accelerator heated the food up and ate a bite. "I expected worse."

Yomi chuckled. "I hope you weren't expecting poison, because we're still alive."

"I believe Accelerator is just a teensy weensy bit paranoid that Ryuuzaki is out to kill us." Yoshi put her pointer finger and thumb close together to show Yomi.

"That may be a bit too extreme, jan…"

"I guess," Yoshi walked to the bathroom. "But we'll find out some clues soon. Tomorrow night. When Ryuuzaki leaves. We'll get to the bottom of this."