Chapter 30B:
"It's decided. I will stay here. I'm not going to Russia." Rei sat on the single-seater couch. She was across Yomi and Yoshi on the loveseat with Accelerator and Last Order on the other sofa.
"Really?! Misaka Misaka is thinking out loud in joy! Hurray, Misaka Misaka cheers!" Last Order kicks her legs up and down happily before getting scolded by Yoshi.
"Yes. I have spent a lot of time in the hospital going over all the facets of such an opportunity. I finally landed on not going." Rei smiled at Last Order who in turn beamed back.
"And what reasoning did you employ in your decision?" Yoshi asked in a scientific manner.
Now Rei frowned. "My family died in an attempt to save my life. If I go to Russia, I'll be a soldier. All soldiers have to deal with death, if not themselves then the death of comrades. I don't want to be in such a situation."
Yomi and Yoshi nodded sympathetically. Although they had never had to go through the horror of their families getting murdered in the name of science, they could understand Rei's wish to live and let others live. And, even if Rei did not say it explicitly, they also understood that Rei was afraid of getting close to others who had a larger-than-average chance of leaving this world.
Rei continued. "I was not too worried about losing time studying, and although I want to travel, a cold Russian warfront is far from what I have in mind. It's more of what my family left for me." Rei looked downwards, feeling exposed among so many eyes. She almost didn't want to give out all that she was thinking. "I would like to respect them and my life by living on here, not putting myself in danger." She got the intimate sentence out of her mouth.
No comments. All understood that this was a very personal statement. Even Last Order didn't speak, although she was too happy to care.
Yomi was the first of them to speak. "That Matsumoto character certainly did seem shady. Must be some mysteries surrounding him, like all rich bags. He certainly was obnoxious when he came over, wasn't he, Yoshikawa?"
Yoshi simply nodded. Seeing that Yomi was clearly annoyed with her small reaction, Yoshi explained, "Sorry, as a scientist we eventually develop a need to be courteous towards such funders. It's hard doing research when you are short on funds. But yes, he was no different than other annoying rich people. Either way, Rei," Yoshi turned to the young girl, "You won't need to worry about him now that you have decided to stay."
"Well…" Rei drawled. "I am a little bit worried about the consequences of refusing him."
Yomi scowled. "That would be a really low move of him to ask for a favor and then harm you."
"That's a risk, I suppose. But, since you are on Anti-skill, couldn't you help protect her should any problem arise?" Yoshi prompted.
"Indeed. Be sure to let us know, Rei-chan, if anything is bothering you." Yomi gave a diligent nod.
"Alright, I appreciate the gesture. Hopefully nothing happens." Rei politely bowed her head.
"Yes we hope so too. At least you are a level 5. And you know Accelerator." Yoshi reasoned.
Last Order clapped her hands gleefully. "Maybe Accelerator could become Rei's bodyguard, Misaka Misaka muses."
Accelerator rolled his eyes. The teasing would never end.
Rei looked to Accelerator, hoping for some kind of a reaction. All she saw was him blankly staring at the newspaper on the coffee table. Rei shook her head, not going unnoticed with Yomi and Yoshi. She didn't know what she was expecting. No matter.
Rei drummed her fingers on the café table. The weather was warming up significantly and everyone was in the mood for summertime as the Academy City coldness. However, for several schools across the city, final exam week was coming up. Rei, acknowledging her stress and went out to the café where she once snacked with Accelerator and his makeshift family during her training in the middle of winter.
A waitress came by with a strawberry smoothie. "Ah! You're…" The waitress softly said in recognition. And how could she not? This girl was all over the news channels for days. But the girl was turned the other way. Disappointed at the lack of attention, the waitress walked off to take the next person's order.
Rei took the small spoon-straw combo and started nibbling on the frozen pieces of the smoothie. She was trying her best to calm her nerves, but it was easier said than done for most students and she was no different. After calling Tabito, who became more and more disappointed as the call went on, Rei finally felt relief. After feeling free of one of her many burdens, she was lightened up enough to feel common teenage stress. As crazy as it might sound to other people, after the past couple of weeks Rei considered such a feeling a luxury.
She let her gaze wander to all the others sitting out in the outside portion of the café. Everyone was sitting in iron-wrought designed chairs with glass tables and pastel umbrellas. It looked so posh but it was hardly an expensive place. She saw plenty of students, but few appeared to be her age- all the rest were either younger or college student level. Rei sighed, knowing that all of those diligent students were studying, but it had been so long since she had gotten a breath of fresh air.
Rei's glance passed a boy who looked around her age. He had crazy, spikey blond hair and sunglasses. He was sitting with another boy, this one with spikey-but less crazy- blue hair. Bored, Rei focused on them, both of them in her direct line of vision. The two boys were just casually talking about class. There was something intimidating about yellow-crazy-hair boy. When he smiled he seemed dangerous. The other boy had a natural smile. It was almost cute, even. But Rei also felt wary of such a smile. It seemed too innocent.
Slowly Rei began to sip on her smoothie, it now being melted enough. Still nosily looking at the two boys, she quickly found her smoothie glass very interesting when she saw the yellow-haired boy turn in her direction. Through her peripheral vision, Rei could see him stare and smirk at her. Immediately Rei's cheeks turned hot. She calmly looked around everywhere, making it a point to seem natural.
"That's the newest level 5." The boy said. Rei, interested in using her powers whenever necessary, sometimes amplified conversation sounds so she could eavesdrop easier. The boy wasn't too loud thankfully, or maybe the entire café would stare at her.
"Huh. The one just like Accelerator." The blue-haired boy responded back and then turned the subject back to some boy named Touma and his harem.
What? Rei was immediately repulsed and disconnected herself from the conversation. Having finished her smoothie, she turned to leave. What she didn't realize was that, after she was out of earshot, the yellow-hared boy mused out loud, "She could very well end up in an organization soon enough."
A bell rang and the teacher commanded the room to drop their pencils. Many immediately clanged their pencils against the wooden and plastic desks while a handful tried to sneak in a couple more responses. Rei, prompted at the command, dropped her pencil and stretched her arms. She looked to the back of the classroom. Haruhi had done the same and gave Rei a fatigued smile.
Once out of the building, Haruhi and Rei were filled with nothing but joy. The last exam had been cleared, tomorrow the scores would be out. Summer break was nigh.
As a treat, the two had planned to hang out with each other- Kiri and Reika having other obligations for the rest of the day. Haruhi would later have to pack to leave for her home which was outside Academy City, but for the rest of the day she was more than willing to out for lunch and then go for shopping.
Haruhi was chattering about how happy she was that Rei would be staying and about her family home. Rei was having trouble focusing on the specifics on her conversation: Rei was just so enthralled with the felling of liberation in so many forms.
Rei closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked up to the beautiful sky, a baby blue with no clouds. It was bright, and so was Rei's future. The clouds had finally stopped blocking the sun. The clouds had trapped her for years, but now they were gone.
My life begins now.
と或る臨時の人
Aaaaand that was Toaru Rinji no Nin (A Certain Special Person)! I hope you enjoyed it! It took years but it has finally been completed! I learned a lot about writing and specifically writing fanfiction during these years and for that I am grateful.
I will be polishing this story. I am not sure how long it will take, given that I think the beginning chapters are lacking compared to the latter ones (although frankly I feel like all of this could be improved upon). I will also be marking this story as complete. But don't worry, the edits I do should not involve story plot additions so you will not need to reread (i.e grammatical, description, chapter structure, removing author notes, etc.). I am planning on spreading my work to other ff sites as soon as it gets polished. I will mark it complete then and will make sure to update it so people can see that it has been polished.
So, now that you have read this story, you must be aware that there WILL be sequels! Here are my writing story plans:
The Snow in Our Hearts (私たちの心の中に雪): Rei has decided to go to Russia. Before leaving, Rei was left with the bittersweet recollection of her past. Accelerator, her sensei, has a past that he cannot recover from. As conflict heats up in the country of ice, politics and war cuts Rei-now a soldier for Academy City- off from communication with those she knew before she left and pushes her to her limit. Accelerator, on a mission to save Last Order, heads to Russia. Rei spends all her time with her battalion, meeting new people, leaving Accelerator all but a memory. Both are on a crash course for the other, their times in Russia changing them from who they once were. Will they ever recover from all their burdens? More importantly, will they help the other melt the snow that lies within their hearts?
ANBU (暗部): Rei has decided to stay in Academy City. Despite vowing to respect and protect the life she was given, she cannot quite control herself getting involved in the Dark Side of Academy City. But never to fear! As a level 5 ESPer, she's more than able to be a badass! Although, Accelerator might get extremely annoyed at her for invading even on this piece of his life! What mayhem will result from Rei's addition to the chaos? Meant to be lighthearted and comical, this story follows Rei as she witnesses the organisations and actions rarely seen by her fellow students.
A Feather to Span a Thousand Generations: Feel that this story might have some loose ends? Want to know about those mysterious people who watched over Rei at the train station and that man who worked with her at her part-time job? This story takes place in Rei's past and carries on to the current events of TARNN. This story is standalone, just as TARNN, but it complements the plot. AND THIS STORY IS A CROSSOVER. Few of you might not have noticed it, but those characters are the main characters from CLAMP's "Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles". The canon of that manga/anime involves the characters on a quest through different worlds. And this time they are on a quest to return Rei's memories! In a bid to save her life, Rei's memories were used to pay for her life. Now, devoting their time and energy as a price to get them back, these characters must now travel to other worlds to get back their new friend's past.
Singing Sands, Dancing Dreams: AU of this series. Is planned to not be a long story. Gypsies Magdalena and Adelmira must dance and sing to sustain themselves, yearning for the day poverty vanishes and stability enters their life. Instead, they and their caravan are shunned for their mysterious powers, treated as monsters. When the caravan stops at the next village, Magdalena finds a boy like her, living life as a hermit with power so raw and hatred in his eyes so strong…]
I am planning on working on AFTSATG before ANBU or Yuki. You can read ANBU or Yuki (I'm just going to call it that) in either order. Feather is just a good addition to this story to tie all the loose ends. And SSDD is just for fun.
This has nothing to do with this whole Rei-centric series, but I am planning on also writing an FTL: Faster than Light fanfic (title TBA), if any of you have played the game (Also, if you haven't, and you have Steam, PLAY IT). Actually, even if you DON'T have Steam, watch a YouTube vid of its playthrough and if it looks interesting to you you can buy it on an ipad or through the game creators' website.
If anyone has any questions or comments, please PLEASE let me know! Reviews, follows/favs, PMs are VERY important! One thing I learned as a writer is that support is super important. Reviews were always my personal favorite. It gave me encouragement even in the hardest of times writing this story. I don't read ff often but if I do I make sure to review because I know realize how important it is. I want to thank everyone who reviewed me! :D Please do that for other authors as well! Support should be given to all who work hard for it.
I will continue to write and become a better writer. I am very happy that this story is finally done. I am not too pleased with how long it took or how I wrote at some times, so I will be sure to amend that. However, another thing I have learnt is that I won't be able to write during school times. That would be too much of a time issue. I can't put this account over my schoolwork, but I will try to use time over breaks more efficiently so it won't take 5 freaking years for each of my ideas. My goal is for someone to recommend me to other people, such as on the TV trope fanfic rec page for toaru majutsu. It might seem very silly to a lot of people that I want that, and it's quite possible that that doesn't really give a lot of advertisement to stories, but it would mean the world to me if someone thought my story was good enough that they would take the time to work their way through that convoluted site just to recommend my work. I mean, have you been on that site?!
I think that this is it for now. I thank you for being here through this journey. Have a nice day!
Luxraye