Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Fifty Nine: Arabian Nightmare - The Spurned Princess
Beta:
It was a surprisingly balmy day and Mikoto couldn't help but fan herself a little with her hand in response to the heat. It might've been a little unladylike, but sue her! It was hot dammit!
"Wish Ruiko or Naru was around," the [Railgun] whined as she walked back to her dorm after some alone time at the arcade. "Either of them would probably have some technique to beat this heat. Seriously! Why is it so ho-"
Her complaint was cut short though when she sensed something with a trace of ferrous content flying at her at high speed. It wasn't a bullet, but whatever it was would probably be just as deadly so acting on instincts she'd developed ever since she started tangling with the Dark Side, Mikoto used her Electromastery to pull herself to safety.
"Are those lances made of blood?" Mikoto asked incredulously as she leaned against the side of the building she'd magnetically attached herself to. "Seriously!?"
"Yes, it is." A pretty girl in her late teens with tanned skin, jet black hair - That reminded Mikoto of Ruiko. They even had the same style! - and dressed in harem pants and a tiny halter top that barely maintained the girl's modesty said as she stepped out of an alley that Mikoto had just walked past. "And soon yours will flow as well."
As interesting as the girl was - Who walked around Academy City looking like an extra from Arabian Nights!? - it was the monstrous creature walking beside her that truly caught Mikoto's attention. The thing seemed to be a mishmash of various animals. It had disparate traits from all across the animal kingdom that ranged from chitinous armor that looked like it came from an arthropod, a avian beak and a distinctively canine posture.
"And now I'm being attacked by a prostitute with her pet monster. Screw this day." Mikoto grumbled.
Okay, so no way the City's legion of geneticists would create something that freaky and not holler about it on the news.
Seriously, splicing that many things together and still coming out with a viable creature? Front page news worldwide. Easy.
But I've never heard of it, so that means it's probably magical. Either that or one of Parasol's abominations. Great.
"Might I know the name of my latest wannabe prostitute assassin?" Mikoto asked even as she jumped back down to street level, only now noticing the fact that the usually crowded street was deserted.
"Prostitute!? How dare you, you swine!" The older girl snarled. "I am Princess Fawzaana al-Farran of Agrabah! And you will address me with respect!"
Wait! Mikoto thought as that name triggered a memory. I remember that name… Oh right! She's that princess who previously applied to join Tokiwadai and was rejected for not meeting the entry requirements.
"Dress like a prostitute, walk like a prostitute, act like a prostitute. Guess what you are!" Mikoto scathingly shot back. She was attacking the [Railgun], so no respect was given to this apparent royal.
"Y-You…" The Princess said, hissing in anger before she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Truly killing an ill-bred swine like you will be good for society. Mayhaps I might even be doing that accursed Tokiwadai a favour for doing so."
"Let me guess, you're trying to kill me, one of Tokiwadai's Level 5s, to get revenge on it for not letting a non-Esper like you in?"
"Yes," the Princess confirmed. "They rejected me, humiliating me in the process and I will make them pay for that!"
"They just politely said no. It really wasn't a big deal. They were pretty clear that they only accept girls who were Level 3 and above. Heck, it's on their website."
"I am a Princess!" The spoiled brat of a Magician - at least that's what Mikoto was guessing she was - shot back. "They should have made an exception! They should have accepted me on the virtue of my blood alone!"
Mikoto just rolled her eyes, mockingly yapping her hand as the girl talked.
"You know, you're super lucky you picked me as your target." Mikoto told the spoiled brat honestly. "If it were the others, you'd be either bloody mist or reduced to a gibbering lunatic. Or both one after the other. Depends on if the others were feeling nice today."
The Princess didn't seem to have heard her at all though, instead choosing to continue her little rant.
"But it doesn't matter now! With the power I've obtained by the grace of Allah and my own determination to seek justice for my humiliation, it is finally time for my vengeance! Palis attack!"
The monstrous hound let out a happy yelp even as sections of the chitinous armor along its back popped open like its hackles were raised if it had been a normal dog and streams of blood flowed out of the openings to lash out at Mikoto like whips.
"Tentacles!? Are you into that kinda hentai or something?" Mikoto taunted even as she used her EM manipulation to perform some acrobatic evasions. Helped along immensely by the trace metals in the blood pinging her EM sense and giving her a fair idea where the whips were at all times.
"Shut up! That's haram!" The Princess shouted angrily, her face a brilliant red.
"So there is a pervert among you. There always is." Mikoto accused her with a scornful growl even as she kept up her evasions.
Seriously, is that dog thing dimwitted or what? Mikoto thought with a frown. I mean it's obvious its whips aren't working yet it's still not changing tactics?
"I am not a pervert!" The Princess shouted, stamping her feet.
"So you claim! If you weren't, how do you know what I'm talking about?"
Huh, maybe using some of the Usagi's tricks are worth it after all. Look how flustered this spoiled brat is.
"And how do you know?" The Princess shot back, her face cherry red.
"Naru's an unabashed pervert." Mikoto admitted freely as she launched a static burst at the Princess and her pet monster, only for the dog to create a wall of blood that somehow defied the laws of physics and managed to ground her attack. "I have learned things no maiden my age should! I can never look at Easter Eggs the same again!"
"Then you're no maiden at all." The spoiled brat countered, sounding smug. "Palis shoot!"
At her command, the bloody barrier transformed itself into hundreds of bullets that shot through the air straight at Mikoto.
"More than some harem pants wearing hussy!" Mikoto sniped back as she used some static to pull herself out of the way of the barrage.
"This is the traditional garb of my homeland, you uneducated brute." The Princess said, steam practically coming out of her ears even as her pet spat out a new barrage of blood bullets from its beak.
"Still makes you look like a pornstar cosplayer! Also your butt is flatter than a pancake!"
"You take that back!" The Princess said growling. "Palis seize control of her blood!"
The chimera barked questioningly at that, but the Princess was not dissuaded.
"Do it," she ordered.
Suddenly, Mikoto lost control of her body. One minute she was reaching out towards a lamp post with an electromagnetically assisted leap to evade the still oncoming rain of blood bullets, and the next her whole body seized up and her arms and legs snapped together at the command of some unseen force.
"Crap," Mikoto cursed as she hastily pulled together some iron dust to shield her from the blood bullets whilst she simultaneously created an electromagnetic shield that softened her landing somewhat. It still hurt like a bitch though.
"Now put her in humiliating poses! I want her in tears! Ohohoh!" The princess demanded and gave off a genuine Ojou-sama laugh.
I thought those were a myth. Mikoto thought even as her traitorous mind brought up recollections of some of her friends, noticeably Kongou-san, having laughed like that in the past. It's still weird.
"Hey dumbass! I still have control of my power." Mikoto said with a roll of her eyes as deciding enough was enough, she dropped a lightning bolt down on the grandstanding Princess.
Watching the spoiled brat writhe as thousands upon thousands of volts surged through her body, Mikoto couldn't help the smirk of satisfaction that crossed her face. That it seemed to dispel or unsummon or whatever you called it that weird dog thing of hers was just icing on the cake.
"S-swine." The Princess cursed weakly as she tried to push her battered body back to its feet from the slumped position she'd been reduced to by the lightning strike.
"What's that? You want a second one? I mean it could kill you but by all means, I'm a giver." Mikoto smiled viciously as she got back to her feet. When she got no response, she smirked and stalked over to the downed older girl.
That's what you get for picking me as your best shot, loser Princess.
"Y-You haven't w-on yet," the singed Princess said tauntingly. "I-I might've failed, but my compatriots will not. And soon Academy City, the vile atheist capital of Science, will die!"
Rolling her eyes at the cliche threat, Mikoto zapped her unconscious. And also kicked her just for having been an annoying twit!
Did I just- Mikoto thought as she stopped midway through pulling her leg back for another kick. Damn! Ruiko and Naru are bad influences.
"Well, there goes the rest of my day." Mikoto said with a sigh, running a hand through her hair. "Looks like I have another mess to clean up. What a pain. Guess it's time to call Ruiko and find out just whose heads we need to bash this time to save the City."
Pulling out her phone, Mikoto called the Trinity's resident intel broker.
"Hi Ruiko," Mikoto greeted as the line connected after a few rings. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Not yet you weren't." Ruiko told her, sounding smug. "Accel just went down to the kitchen to get us drinks before we started the next round."
"Do I want to know what you're talking about? Should I call Kiyama-sensei to let her know?"
"Only if you think playing Mortal Kombat is something worth telling Kaasan."
Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief. "Just to confirm. You two are not playing strip Mortal Kombat right?"
"Not this time," Ruiko told her with a cheeky giggle. "Thanks for the idea by the way."
"Argh! Please don't do that. Ever." Mikoto said with a groan. "Anyways~ You know why I called?"
"It's about that Magician you just defeated and her cabal's attempt to destroy the City." Ruiko said nonchalantly as if it didn't indicate that she'd been spying on one of her best friends. Then again Mikoto was used to the [AIM Sovereign]'s paranoid surveillance by now.
"Yeah, anything you can tell me?"
"Not much," Ruiko said, sounding apologetic. "I know little about these Magicians. Plus you know I'm not good at dealing with Magicians so if you don't mind I'll sit this one out."
"Bullshit! You just don't want to take time away from beating your boyfriend at Mortal Kombat."
"Maybe~!" Ruiko said with a giggle. "Anyways, I'm not fighting a bunch of Magicians I know nothing about. I will however contact Oyafune-sama to inform the Board of Directors of the possible diplomatic incident that's brewing with a foreign Princess being a member of the crazy cabal of Magicians bent on destroying the City."
Mikoto let out a hissing wince at the reminder that she'd just beat up a foreign royal. "Look, I know I beat up a Princess, but she was trying to kill me. Diplomatic immunity be damned, Ruiko! Look, just help me out and I'll handle the heavy lifting, promise."
"Why not just give Naru-chan a call?"
"She's with Sequenzia-san right now. I'd hate to interrupt them after the whole Endymion Incident. I've never seen the Usagi so frazzled." Mikoto confessed, feeling bad for the Level 4 girl too. Seriously, getting betrayed by your mother figure then merging with another girl to become some kinda weird Esper-Saint hybrid? That's gotta be an unsettling experience.
"And I understand that. Yet, Naru is our team's magical expert or at least on how to fight them. So whether she knows something about them or not, you are going to have to call her."
"Yeah...Yeah she is."
"You like?" Naru asked as she did a twirl to show off the nice little sundress she got from a modelling gig.
"Yes," Shu-chan said, gulping at the sight.
"So what are you going to do to reward me for dressing up for the occasion?" Naru asked her girlfriend mischievously.
"W-What do you want?" Shutaura asked, blushing slightly.
"Kisses," Naru said, skipping over so she loomed over her girlfriend who leaned back on the couch of her apartment living room in response. "Lots and lots of kisses."
Shutaura looked hesitant for a moment before with a decisive nod, she reached out and pulled Naru into a searing kiss.
A truly magical kiss and the first of many that day.
An hour and plenty of kisses later, a satisfied Naru cuddled into Shu-chan's side.
Today's the best! Naru mentally cheered as she rubbed gently at her collarbone where her prize of the day was located. Not only am I all kissed out, I even got Shu-chan to finally give me a hickey!
Yeah, yeah. And that's why I'm wasting effort stopping your regeneration from getting rid of it. Kurama complained. You are a real slave driver, you know? I swear you Uzumakis are like rabbits.
Naru ignored her pet demon. She was on too much of a high to let him bring her down with his whining.
She hadn't just got a hickey today, she'd finally got felt up too! Oh! Shu-chan's hands on her breasts were truly amazing! Almost as amazing as the squeal she'd managed to elicit from the older girl when she'd squeezed hers. Truly, nothing could ruin this day!
"So now that your lust is satiated for-"
"Our lust," Naru corrected her girlfriend. "You were as into it as I was, Miss 'I'm not wearing my blouse anymore'. And by the way, cute bra. I love black lace."
Shu-chan blushed and reached to grab her blouse to slip it back on but Naru grabbed her arm.
"Don't worry about it, it's just the two of us. And besides aren't you an exhibitionist?"
"It's not me who'll be annoyed." Shu-chan said with a sigh before suddenly adding in a more gentle tone. "I'm alright with it actually. Like Namikaze-san said, it's just the three of us."
"Thank you, Arisa-san!" Naru chirped, glad the other person - Personality? Entity? - in her Shu-chan's head was giving them her stamp of approval.
Shu-chan didn't seem to agree though if the frown that spread across her face at Arisa-san rearing her head was any indication.
"Naru, how do you deal with having a voice in your head?"
Hmm… How to answer that…
Kurama rather unhelpfully sent her a mental shrug.
Guess I'll just start with the worst part of it and work from there?
"Is it telling you to either murder, go to Diary Queen, or just fuck already? I get that one a lot."
"No," Shu-chan said, shooting her a disconcerted look. "Arisa mainly just reminds me to put on clothes when walking around and asks to play the piano or sing. What in the name of Science is wrong with your inner voice?"
"It's an ancient inhuman entity in the shape of a demon fox," Naru said with a shrug. "It's weird."
"Okay~! And the bit about Dairy Queen?" Shu-chan asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose warily. "What's that about?"
"It discovered the love of sugar and got addicted."
"Why am I not surprised." Shu-chan deadpanned with that cute face of hers. Truly she was the best straight man a girl could ask for.
"You're not freaked out that I have a demon sealed inside me?" Naru asked, shocked by the easy acceptance.
"I've read your file in the Bank." Shu-chan reminded her. "And while my clearance isn't high enough to see the redacted details about what it is, I did know there was something sealed inside you when you got to the City."
"Huh. I didn't know you knew."
"You didn't make a big deal out of it so I didn't mention it."
"Fair enough," Naru nodded. "So what else do you know?"
"With certainty? Nothing beyond that." Shu-chan confessed with a pondering look. "But the general consensus on the Dark Side is that you were sent here because of whatever was sealed inside you and that it's what made you a Gemstone."
"Pretty much correct on the first point, loosely speaking at least." Naru said, mulling over the matter. "Not so much on the second. Though I guess there's a ring of truth to it. But my tribe, I guess that's the best way to describe us, were all Gemstones from the onset. You know, like the shinobi."
"So you weren't a prototype for the shinobi?" Shu-chan asked, curiously. "Oh, and are you authorized to tell me all this? Isn't this classified?"
"It's fine," Naru said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I can't tell you the full details, but I'll tell you most of it. Most of it is classified at my request anyway not for the purpose of a state secret. You deserve to know."
"You don't have to." Shu-chan said, blushing.
"I want to," Naru insisted. "You're my girlfriend. You deserve to know."
And so Naru told her all about her heritage of being a descendant of a society of Gemstones that were like the shinobi. How the being inside her, the demon fox Kurama, was one of their superweapons and how upon its sealing, her parents had given their lives to send her away to Academy City.
It wasn't the exact truth, there was no mention of her actually being from another dimension, but it was close enough and was the way Naru herself chose to see things anyways.
"I guess we weren't too far off the truth with our hypothesis then." Shu-chan noted with a frown, before suddenly jerking and adopting a softer, more caring tone. "Sorry about Shutaura, Namikaze-san, she's still learning how to be more open with her feelings."
"Arisa-san, I take it." Shu-chan, or more accurately Arisa-san, nodded.
"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that us, both Shutaura and I, sympathize." The older girl said, pulling Naru into a hug. "We'll be there for you if you need us."
"Thanks." Naru said, happily returning the embrace. "I appreciate it."
"Um, by the way, Namikaze-san, I dunno if this is, uh, too forward for me, but could I call you Naru-san?" Arisa-san asked, sounding downright shy.
It was so super cute! She just wanted to pounce on the girl and begin the kissing anew!
Those wonderful high cheekbones flushed brightly as Arisa-san's soft voice said. "N-No, I'm not flirting with her! Since sh-she's your girlfriend I'm just trying to get to know her!"
"Aren't you two the same person?" Naru couldn't help but chime in cheekily and batted her lashes for fun. "So doesn't that make you my girlfriend too, Arisa-chan~?"
Blushing even harder, the idol - Or was it former idol now? Since all Ladylee's assets were liquidated and Arisa-san was kinda out of action for the moment, her career was short, right? - hid her face by burying it against Naru's neck. Her hair tickled Naru and it made her want to tease the singer more.
"A-Are we a m-ménage à trois?" Arisa-chan squeaked, she sounded so embarrassed that it was almost like steam was coming out of her ears. "Then can I get kisses too? Eh? What do you mean I can't kiss unless I have ten dates first? Mou, Shutaura!"
Naru could only giggle as the two halves of her girlfriend - girlfriends? - argued with each other. That they were doing so whilst they were hugging her and their whispers played across the nape of her neck divinely just made this even better!
Their tender moment was interrupted however when Naru's phone rang.
"You should answer that," Shu-chan said, evidently having regained control of her body, whilst sporting a light blush and pulling out of the hug. "It might be important."
Naru rolled her eyes at her duty obsessed girlfriend but checked her phone anyways.
"It's from Mikoto-sempai." Naru said as she read her Caller ID and frowned. "Why is she calling now? She knows I'm with you and not to disturb unless-"
"It must be important." Shu-chan finished. "Answer and check what's happened."
Nodding at the order, Naru obeyed.
"Yo Chibi, sorry to disturb your time with Sequenzia-san but I need some intel." Her uncouth Sempai said without so much as a greeting.
"Well hello to you too, Sempai." Naru said with a roll of her eyes and a disappointed frown as she saw Shu-chan had taken the opportunity of her call to start putting her blouse back on. "What intel do you need?"
"A bunch of Magicians have snuck into the City and are planning to destroy it."
"So a regular Tuesday?"
"Yeah," Mikoto-sempai said, sounding resigned.
"Don't your Tuesdays involve City destroying threats?" Shu-chan asked, trying to sound joking but coming across as worried.
Naru shrugged and covered her phone's receiver for a bit. "Yeah, but this one doesn't sound too serious."
And it wasn't. Magicians invading the City and threatening to destroy it were actually pretty run of the mill stuff for her.
"Sorry about that Sempai," Naru said as she uncovered her phone's microphone. "Shu-chan had a question."
"No problem. So anything you can tell me about these Magicians?"
"I'm guessing that since you're asking me that Rui-chan can't help. That means these guys are obscure, so I'm gonna need details if you want me to be able to tell you anything useful."
"Yeah, you're right about Ruiko." Sempai admitted. "And I don't know what the Magicians have planned. One of them tried to assassinate me and I knocked her unconscious. Last I heard of her was when I handed her over to Maniple and they told me they'd wait for her to wake up before interrogating her."
"That's an amateur mistake right there, Sempai." Naru chided. "Next time get the intel outta your enemies before you knock them unconscious."
"I'll keep that in mind." Sempai said, laughing self-deprecatingly as she did.
"So what can you tell me about the Magician and the magic she used?"
"She was a crazy, they all are, dressed like some stripper who read Arabian Nights too much." Mikoto-sempai said scathingly. "She'd look right at home in one of the porn videos you love to watch."
"Hey hey, don't mention that!" Naru hissed. "And I didn't need to know how she was dressed. I meant what magic she used!"
"Oh, right. Um, she had some kinda pet chimera, I guess since she's a Magician that would be her familiar?" Mikoto-sempai said, sounding thoroughly unimpressed with whatever the thing had been. "It could control blood. It could control my body too."
"Puppeteering huh? I hate those guys." Naru said with a groan. Those kinda Magicians were real pains to fight. "But your description doesn't really narrow things down much. A lot of Magicians can control blood and use it to puppeteer people. Some types of necromancers, alchemists, etc. Aztecs are pretty good at it too. Any I dunno, cultural clues? You mentioned she was dressed up like an Arab?"
"Well, I think she mentioned Allah and certain things being haram too… So maybe she was a Muslim?"
A Muslim Magician!? That's like super rare. Maybe she was an apostate or heretic?
"Did she call the familiar anything?" Naru asked as the puzzle pieces came together in her mind.
"Palis? Yeah, she called it Palis."
"That's a type of Jinn," Naru said with a thoughtful hum. "Oh boy! Sempai, I think you've hit the jackpot here and found yourself a bonafide Islamic Magician."
"I think I already had that bit figured out." Sempai said in a deadpan.
"No, no," Naru said, shaking her head despite Sempai not being able to see her. "I mean this is an actual Islamic Magician and not just a Muslim Magician! You are going to have so much fun."
"There's a difference?"
"Most definitely!" Naru said enthusiastically. "'Cos Islamic Magicians are practically unheard of. Unlike most religions, Islam generally frowns on magic, even magic derived from their faith. Most Muslim Magicians you find are people who are doing so in defiance of their faith, but by your description? This girl might be an actual Magician using magic derived from Islam. They're like super, duper rare. In fact, I've never dealt with a Islamic Magician myself. I'd be super jelly right now if I didn't have Shu-chan to snuggle wuggle with."
Shutaura actually shot Naru a look.
Covering the receiver of her phone, Naru shot her girlfriend a foxy grin in return. "You're like a thousand times more important than getting the chance to beat the harem pants off some rare Magician. Like I said, snuggle times!"
"Oh, joyous me. I'm really feeling that luck, Usagi." Naru heard Sempai say as she put the phone back to her ear.
"And I keep telling you, you are! Be a bit more grateful for your luck, Sempai."
"Mou, Naru, just tell me what I need to beat these guys."
Naru cocked her head and hummed. "You sure you don't need me to do a milk run and beat their asses?"
"I can handle this on my own well enough, thank you."
"Let me guess Rui-chan said she's not going to mess with Magicians and isn't gonna help."
"Yeah, but she's handling the diplomatic side of things so I'm gonna give her a pass this time."
"The diplomatic side of things?" Naru asked incredulously.
Shutaura raised an eyebrow curiously at her tone, but Naru put up a hand to tell her to wait.
"Yeah, the Magician I beat up was a Princess apparently."
"A Princess Magician!?" Naru asked with a chuckle. "Only you Sempai, only you."
"Now you make me sound like Kamijou."
"Well, you do like like him." Naru teased.
"Shut up!" Mikoto-sempai shot back heatedly. "Just tell me what you know about these guys' magic already."
"Can't help you there, I'm afraid." Naru confessed with a sad sigh. "Like I said, I've never tangled with one of them. I've only ever heard of them."
"So you don't know anything?" Mikoto-sempai asked, sounding disappointed.
"Nope, but~! I do know someone who will."
Mikoto fought the urge to punch the idiotic face of Naru's informant as she stood in front of the blond haired, Haiwaiian shirt wearing, sunglasses sporting asshole's dorm room.
And the urge was strong.
"So you want my help huh?" The damnable Tsuchimikado said with a smirk as he leaned on the doorframe of his dorm room. "Well it'll cost you."
"And what exactly do you want?" Mikoto asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the ass.
"Well, first thing first, how about you could stand to be a little more polite when asking for a favour. Call me Tsuchimikado-sama."
Mikoto felt her eyebrow twitching and electric sparks arc off her body.
"You wanna die, huh?"
"What? Is that so hard for some intel? Is your pride worth that much?"
"You didn't make me jump through hoops like this the last time we dropped by for some." Mikoto said with a growl.
"Meh, my alias is Backstabber for a reason, Zap-Happy Jou-chan."
"And the fact that Ruiko makes it a point to regularly brutalize you whenever she sees your disgusting face isn't a factor?"
"Well, she isn't here is she?" Tsuchimikado said, sounding just a tad less confident.
"I could call her," Mikoto told him with a smirk. "She can teleport and be here in a few minutes even from across the City. Or she might be able to do something remotely. You never know with her."
"Do that and I won't tell you anything."
"She can emulate [Mental Out]," Mikoto said, driving the point home. "You won't have a bloody choice."
"You Trinity girls are evil, you know that? Naru-pyon at least plays along until she breaks my heart." The Magician-Esper hybrid said with a pout. "Why can't the rest of you just play the game?"
"It's rigged and it sucks." Mikoto told him bluntly. "Now just tell me what I want to know."
"If I do that without any payment, I'll get a rep for being easy. You know what that'll do to me?"
"Do I look like I care?" Mikoto said, doing her best to look extra disinterested.
"Look, if that happens people will tell me less stuff and I'll be less useful to you girls. Or anyone for that matter. Do you want that? Kamiyan relies on me a lot you know."
"I'm sure he can find other sources of help," Mikoto said, sounding just a little uncertain. "I mean, he's friends with plenty of other Magicians."
"I might just give him bad intel by accident though~"
"And your bosses won't kill you for getting him hurt?"
"Meh, he gets hurt bad every other Incident, doubt they'll notice."
Mikoto winced. Kamijou did, if what she'd learned about him, have quite the tendency to end up in the hospital.
"Okay, fine!" Mikoto conceded with an unhappy growl. "But nothing too ridiculous."
"Thank you Misaka-sama!" Tsuchimikado shamelessly said with a bow like he wasn't trying to blackmail her.
"Just tell me what the hell you want, you siscon."
"Hmm…" The damnable Hawaiian shirt loving bleached blonde hummed thoughtfully for a moment before smiling and stating his terms. "I want some blackmail on you. Nothing too bad, just something embarrassing."
"What exactly?" Mikoto asked, her eyes narrowed dangerously and electricity arcing off her like a tesla coil.
"Oh, just you admitting to be an absolute, one hundred percent tsundere and if you are so kind, confess your maidenly heart and share your true feelings. Which I have no clue on." He said with a knowing twinkle that somehow shined through the sunglasses that he seemed to wear all the time.
"T-True feelings! What the hell are you talking about!?"
"Take it or leave it~"
Mikoto growled, sparking and fighting the urge to wring his neck! Yet, after taking a deep breath she gritted out. "Fine. Fine! Just get your phone, you filthy siscon."
"Yay! Whoo, man just look at how embarrassed you are already. This is going to rock."
Mikoto glared but played along and as he brought his phone up and gave her a thumbs up, she started talking.
"I, Misaka Mikoto, am a total, hundred percent tsundere." She said in the most monotone voice she could manage. Doing her best to imply by her tone alone that she was doing this under duress. "There! I'm done."
"And your true feelings?" Tsuchimikado urged, sounding smug.
"Like I said, I don't know what you're talking about you siscon!" Mikoto said with a roll of her eyes. "Just tell me what I need to know already!"
Tsuchimikado pouted. Honest to Science pouted! But it seemed he realized he wasn't getting anywhere, so with a sigh, he stopped recording.
"Guess you're not ready to admit it yet. Can't be helped then." He said, sounding disappointed.
What the hell is he talking about!? Mikoto thought. She wasn't in denial. She most definitely wasn't! No matter what her subconscious said, she just wasn't!
"Okay, serious time now, so pay attention." Tsuchimikado said, all signs of levity gone. "The Magicians you're fighting this time are using magic power derived from Jinn who they claim are being punished by Allah and forced to give his faithful their powers. Though most other Magicians are of the opinion that it's all just their own propaganda and in truth they're drawing power directly from the Jinn, which just so you know the Islamic Magicians consider demons."
Curious despite herself, Mikoto couldn't help but ask.
"So they're being tricked by the demons then?"
"To be honest no one outside the cabal is sure of the details of the relationship of the Jinn and their Magicians, so everyone could be wrong. I don't think so, but it's a possibility."
Mikoto couldn't help but roll her eyes. She was doing that a lot today. "Alright and how will knowing this help me defeat the Magicians?"
"Oui, oui, knowing is half the battle ain't it, Misaka-chan? Use that big Esper brain of yours. I'm just the exposition guy, you are the fighter." He poked the side of his head. "Think egghead, think."
"If you can't provide me with a way to fight them then what good are you?"
"Exposition," the ass said with a cheeky grin.
That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Without a word, Mikoto punched the blonde idiot's face so hard he stumbled back into his dorm and groaned in pain.
"I know why Ruiko and Naru love hating on you now. You're an absolute ass."
Tsuchimikado just chuckled, easily shaking off the effects of the punch, the bruise to his face already healing thanks to his Auto Rebirth Esper ability.
"You're lucky Kamiyan is away." The blonde told her with a smirk. "Imagine what he'd think of you if he saw you beating up his neighbor?"
"Probably that you deserved it," Mikoto countered smoothly. "Just tell me, Exposition Man, do you know anything about the Magicians' plans for destroying the City?"
"I'll need more info on what they're doing before I can draw conclusions. Phone please?"
Mikoto just shot him a look.
"Oh don't need to look at me like that," he said with a smarmy smile. "I just wanna give you my work number. So that once you've got more intel, you can call me and I'll be able to help you fill in the gaps."
"Argh! Fine!" Mikoto said as she reluctantly handed her phone over.
"Hey hey, I think my sister had this phone model back in Elementary! Wow, you really do have kiddie tastes, you know that?"
Making fun of Gekota was simply the final straw. With a mighty rearing of her leg, the Electromaster soccer kicked the older teen in the groin.
Ruthlessly.
Wincing but otherwise unfazed, the blonde just keyed in his number and returned her phone.
Does he wear a cup or something? Is he that prepared?! Mikoto couldn't help but think as she pocketed her phone.
"Okay, there's my number." He said with a smirk. "Go and play heroine now. I'll be on call when you need me."
Without offering the infuriating man another word, she spun and leapt into the air with an electromagnetically assisted jump determined to put as much distance between herself and the jerk as quickly as possible.
If I didn't need his help, I would so call in Ruiko to give him a taste of a Fatality! Mikoto thought as she leapt between the City's skyscrapers. It's not like it would kill him.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
Now this was just a plain fun chapter. If you look at Tokiwadai's wiki page, it does make mention that a princess from some country was rejected from joining due to not being an Esper. Best use of filler is pre-established canon, whoo! That and sassy Mikoto is best Mikoto. She was on fire today!
Nameless: Actually, I think it was that she was not a Level 3. But that can mean either she was too low level or a non-Esper. Obviously for the purposes of TOT we went with the latter interpretation.
My personal favorite part was of course the Narushu cuddle times. Truly, could this ship get any cuter? Oh wait, it can with an additional ship joining it to be the Narushurisa fleet! All hail it's budding glory of cuteness and well, ehem, private entertainment.
Nameless: Private entertainment indeed. Naru finally got to second base, by the Trinity's standards, and is thrilled. Though if you squint it might be seen as her exploiting Shutaura's unstable state after the Endymion Incident… Well, everything was consensual at least!
It was cuddle support!
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!