A quiet walk
[ACMI: Then Once More]
GV and Misaka walked together and continued chatting. Their goal was Touma's apartment. Misaka apparently knew where it was.
As they walked, they discussed Misaka's worries. Getting them out was better than bottling them in after all.
"If he lost his memory before the incident with my sisters..." Misaka was musing "I met him back in July, if I could confirm he knew about that meeting then we could confirm his memory at least that far back."
Misaka was quiet at that and GV made a point to ask "You seem to even be worried about that though, if he remembers that then there wouldn't be any missed time between you too. Why is that not enough?"
Misaka's cheeks reddened slightly as she explained "Because I'd be worried about who else he has lost time with. Imagine if he couldn't recognise his parents."
...GV didn't really have parents to relate that too, but he did have Asimov. It was likely no one would notice if he forgot Asimov, Joule was the only person who might notice and she met him for all of about a minute when she was already emotionally frayed.
It was probably worse for Misaka. She still had loving family members who she'd naturally be terrified of losing her memories of. Changing perspective a bit, how did he think Joule would feel if he forgot her?
...Hmm. Was that too self-centered of him? It didn't feel nice regardless.
"Let's focus on the short term for now." GV suggested "We'll see if he remembers your first meeting. That might just give us the answers you want."
Misaka didn't seemed enthused about either options but she sighed.
"Maybe I could ask Shokuhou?"
"Oh?" GV asked, slightly worried.
Misaka shrugged "Well, she's getting better. She isn't nearly as bad as she used to be. We've had chances to sit down and talk properly."
GV shook his head. He had told Mitsuari the truth before, he wasn't that fond of the telepathic Esper.
"Can you trust her?"
"Nope." Misaka said bluntly "She clearly delights in making fun of my... my..." She paused, her blush growing. GV sighed.
Misaka took a moment to recenter herself and she took a breath.
"Yeah, she acts flirtatious around him because she knows it annoys me. I don't know if she actually likes him but I worry she might do something to him while she was fixing his brain."
GV shrugged, if someone told him she does do that sort of thing for the sake of amusement, he'd believe them.
Misaka glanced up at the darkening sky.
"Think we should stop somewhere to eat?"
GV checked his phone on which he'd put in the address Misaka had told him.
"We're close enough to check in on him. We check in on him, go have something to eat and then go home."
Misaka nodded "I should be able to dodge the curfew as long as it's done quickly enough."
They made it to the apartment building and after asking at the desk, headed up to Touma's room. The lights were on inside so he was home at least.
[ACMI: Hurry Up]
There was a smell coming from within, it seemed someone was cooking inside. As they were thinking about who would knock, they heard the sound of wheels rolling and a most bizarre sight crossed their vision. A girl in a maid dress who was sitting on top of one of Academy City's cleaning robots rode down the balcony outside his room upon which they were standing.
How was she controlling where the robot was going? No, a better question was just what was going on?
They stood aside as she slammed the door open.
"I smell it!" She called. Misaka and GV followed in behind her to watch as she approached a woman who was standing by the apartment's kitchen. Also in the room were Index (Who had stepped back from whatever she was heading towards in surprise) and Touma who had been leading her.
Misaka for her part was pointing and gasping. Not at Index, Touma or the maid but at the woman who was cooking.
"You!? Here!?"
The maid ran over Touma as she tried to stop her (as he begged for "No more weirdos") and she spoke to the woman.
"There, in that miso soup!"
The woman started back with surprise as the maid continued.
"You've added in dried scallop powder as a secret ingredient!"
What happened next was a few moments of crazy before the maid left the way she came in just as a dramatic fashion.
Everyone still in the room paused as the sounds of siblings arguing could be heard from the next room over.
"Is..." Misaka was the first to speak "Is this normal for you Touma?" Her tone of voice clearly held that she thought that it was and that he had her condolences for it.
Touma sighed but seemed to notice the two of them properly for the first time. He greeted them before shooing Index into the bathroom for some reason.
"Hey you two..." He sounded unsure but he was greeting them properly "Why did you come?"
Misaka tapped her foot on the ground for a moment, putting together exactly what she wanted to say.
"Three things." She eventually replied "And in the order that I want to ask them: Who is that woman?" She pointed to the mysterious woman whose Miso soup was almost ready "Are you okay from earlier?" Misaka continued and then noted her last question just as "and umm... there's something I want to ask you about that call three days ago."
The first question was actually answered by the woman in question.
"I'm Itsuwa. Just... a friend."
"A friend huh?" A little spark bounced off of Misaka and GV tapped her to make her focus. Anyone else would have been electrocuted but GV was able to harmlessly discharge her.
GV just looked up "I am sorry for our intrusion, it's the third question that's actually important but if you have a guest, it probably should be delayed."
Itsuwa though spoke up "There's plenty of food, you shouldn't feel a need to go so late."
Touma sighed, pulled between the two of them.
"So unlucky..."
End of chapter
And yes, this is how I am crowbarring these two into the arc.
I would have noted this in the chapter but GV had no way to know: The reason Itsuwa is trying to get them to stay and talk is because Misaka mentioned "Three days ago." AKA: When Touma was in Avignon. She wants to know what Misaka knows.
Also the FF Traffic stats are broken again. I got a guest review so I'm fairly sure this story is being read but I'm not getting any feedback on how many.
