Painted Prison Chronicles

by Sparity Ikari

When Kamijou Touma and Gokusai sisters reunite after a long while, things certainly go crazy for all of them when they found themselves living together through random twists of fate. In their daily life, Touma, Amazora, Kaibi, and Rikuri will learn about each other, with their light, darkness, and pasts revealed. Among the misfortune, comedy, and romance, their bonds blossom anew!

16. Chapter 16

PAINTED PRISON CHRONICLES

CHAPTER 15

SPECIAL II: HEAL THE HEART - FOUR TIMES THE CHAOS

Hello there! I am more than happy to present this special chapter. There will probably one more before we get to new arc. As with previous one, this chapter is canon to the story, more so, it introduces certain meaningful connections. In this chapter, a very interesting cast makes their appearance, one that you may not expect (or maybe you do) but nevertheless one that I was very excited to write for this story. Their appearance also has a certain clear purpose.

There will probably be some time before next chapter, as I have exams, so I have hope that this one will come to your liking. Because majority of the things I want to talk about in regards to this piece of work concern material covered below, more of author notes on the very end of this chapter.

Q&As:

Druss the Legend: I am very happy to hear such positive words. For some things, adding original plot is a great thing to do, I am also trying to blend it in with the universe as much as I can. I am glad you like the way I write Touma, this is reassuring. As for Touma getting with some of the girls, I may be inclined to do an open ending, but for now, even if girls do something that would be consider sign of love, you can bet that Touma will somehow justify it otherwise and it will go over his head. Because I want love confessions and such to be truly special!

Commander Lance: No, they didn't erase each girls memories of times with Touma. They only messed up with their memories regarding that specific evening when Touma and guys went to Tokiwadai, and everybody suddenly realized that Touma charmed almost all of Tokiwadai. No, all the particular memories were left intact.

Regarding the reactions to last special: I can't thank you enough for kind words, I agree, it was a damn epic piece of writing, it was very vivid in my head and there was so much that could be done with powers of both Hasako and Maidono. Also, I kind of feel like I am making them more fleshed out as waifus because some people started to greatly enjoy my descriptions of Hasako. Well, the girls of this series are generally supreme, what esle to say.

Kaibi and Rikuri stood over Touma's bed with arms crossed.

"I don't know how should I put it..." the middle sister began" Rikuri onee-chan, I know it's stupid to envy elementary schooler, but..."

"No, I unfortunately get what you mean..." Rikuri's long, wavy curls swished on her back as she sceptically looked at what was in front of them.

Kamijou Touma was sleeping without a care in the world, with Amazora in his arms.

After Kyozetsu incident and the preceding one night disappearance of Kaibi the sisters found themselves with an ever so slightly changed dynamic.

By this point, it was still unknown how Amazora got to this stage (maybe it wasn't really a pinpointed event like it was for her older sisters) but all three of the blond assassins were in love with Kamijou Touma. Although they did not address the issue, it remained as the unspoken truth and each of the trio had their own theories on the matter.

What ensued was a certain game with the aim to monopolize time with Touma.

The presence of single target of their affection did not made the sisters actually worsen their relations. The small runaway trio had bonds forged in blood, sisterhood, and shared fate, that could not be tarnished by something like that.

That being said, they had no problem in introducing the element of small rivalry. Just normal sibling pranks, like spiking drinks with chemicals inducing diarrhoea, using mental ability to get other sisters away, or snapping the bra hooks from the distance using rubber bullets, causing the embarrassed prey to change in private.

Rikuri was in Touma's strike zone, so she could get the boy's attention with one word from her. But two elements were in her way. First, with incredibly attractive young woman being genuinely in love with him, there was no way Kamijou would come to the conclusion that his luck would allow that. That was why most of Rikuri's hints went over their head. And when they almost did get through, there came the second problem. The misfortunate dealings of Touma's life and Rikuri's own schedule meant that most of the time they had to stay on flirting and teasing.

One could almost hear Kumokawa Seria sigh in the distance. Rikuri had no way of knowing, but Touma's senpai had the exact same problems.

Kaibi on the other hand still found herself struggling with some forms of denial. Admitting she was in love was one thing, but apparently going on dates, holding hands and doing some night activities from her fantasies were another. Tsunderes were dying hard and Kaibi still was unsure how to cope with first genuine love. She was so surrounded with artificial feelings created by her ability that she genuinely did not know how to act once confronted with true ones. She had very vocal and vivid ideas of what she and Touma could do, but somehow, turning those ideas into action proved difficult.

Why was that, Kaibi could not possibly fathom. She was once a rental girlfriend, for crying out loud! It should not be that hard. She accompanied many people, holding hands and saying sweet things, but here, she got paralyzed with butterflies in her stomach.

As for Amazora, she did not seem to overanalyze things, as was a general rule with her. She simply knew that she treasured her onii-chan. And if being a good little sister was a way to keep her onii-chan, than Amazora did a lot to ensure she will remain in privileged, spoiled position. On one hand, her age created obstacles because any way to show off the so called "Amazora's womanly charm" was met with either horror or panic by the boy. On the other...

The girl snuggled deeper under Touma's arm, and slightly opened her eyes, looking at her sisters.

Amazora's age allowed her to get away with many things and get closer to Touma without raising suspicion for her motives. Amazora always wanted a brother and Touma really wanted to ensure that the reckless girl was safe. So in no time they formed a really tight bond, with going to school together, getting back from there, helping her dress up, and in general doing lots of things side by side, in synch.

It all started when Amazora was experiencing terrible nightmares back when she was sick. Everyone's best big brother Kamijou Touma could not watch the girl suffer like this and the two slept together whenever Amazora had troubles with her own slumber. Soon enough, it turned into a routine, because in Kamijou's eyes it was for a good cause.

Except... Amazora was not exactly the little angel she seemed. Being quite skilled and daring in manipulating men despite very young age (Kaibi and Rikuri had absolutely no idea where she picked up on that...). It was true, sometimes Amazora really did had nightmares.

But other times, she simply wanted to sleep with Touma. Kaibi and Rikuri were keen on noticing when Amazora was faking, but Kamijou still didn't live with them long enough to pick on such subtleties.

Right now, Amazora's eyes narrowed as her lips formed a wide grin as she looked at them.

"Heh"

"Oh, that's it. Sister or no sister, I will not stand for-"

"No, no, Kaibi-chan..." Rikuri grabbed furious Measure Heart, before she could jump and yank Amazora out" It is simply not the way. We have to accept it here and think of a strategy tomorrow."

"But nee-san-"

"No buts. We will walk out of this room and away from this very tempting and warm bed with dignity to actually devise something original. On count of 3. 1...2..."

(15 minutes later)

Rikuri and Kaibi laid in Kamijou Touma's wide bed, at two sides staring at the ceiling.

"So let me get this straight..." Kaibi began, twisting her neck to look at Rikuri, who already managed to latch onto Touma's arm "You wanted for me to leave, and then returned after 5 minutes? Hah, you think too little of me, sister."

"You grow up so fast, Kaibi-chan. Now, this might sound, a little embarrassing, but each time I sleep in this bed, I feel..."

"Safe. Like no one is going to hurt you" Kaibi said "I didn't feel like that ever since..."

"We left home. Just like when dad was still with us and before mom... went too far" Rikuri concluded.

They returned to staring at the ceiling, in a silence disturbed only by Amazora's occasional mumbling, like "secret thigh flash" or "my gattling gun shoots oysters now" and many other absurd things.

"Is that possible? For one many to change our lives so much?"

"I don't think that's what he does" Rikuri mumbled sleepily, shifting and looking at Touma's sleeping face with a small smile "I think he brings out the change from what we always had in our hearts. But maybe that's just me being romantic."

"Then... if we met him earlier..."

"Don't think too much about it. Who knows, maybe if we weren't dark siders for that part of our lives, our paths wouldn't intertwine as well? Don't worry about it, and get some sleep..."

(HOURS LATER)

"It's... heavy..." Kamijou Touma muttered, awakening.

With Amazora's hand over his face, Kaibi soft breathing by his side as her cheek was pressed against his own, and Rikuri smiling silly with the face plastered to his chest and body alongside his own, Touma was left in stupefied daze.

Was this it? The day in which Kamijou Touma would realize the signs of affection and feelings directed towards him?

"Do... do all of them have bad dreams? If so, this is a little bit of an overkill. Oh no! Maybe they all wanted to sleep with Amazora and I got in the way?"

No, today was not that day. It would take a lot more to fight the density greater than that of a black hole.

As Touma managed to look on the electronic clock, he almost screamed out loud.

'10-10 AM?! It's that late? I will miss the sale, god damn it!'

(LATER ON)

After getting out of the bed situation after a particularly hard struggle (Kaibi kicked him angrily in her sleep as he tried to sneak away), Touma left the prestigious apartment in the search of food.

He was to eat lunch with Komoe-sensei before his weekend supplementary lesson. Then, he would utilize the opportunity of being so close to his original dorm and check how things were going with the renovation. But first of all, he needed to resupply in once a month opportunity. The special, level 0 dedicated sale.

That's right. No longer would he latch on those sister's wallet. Rejuvenated by money from his parents, Kamijou felt like he could handle the decent shopping.

However, he paled once he noticed the supermarket and people already gathering in front of it. That battle would be hard, even for such a sale-searching veteran as himself.

Looking around, he noticed a familiar girl walking from around the corner. He ran forward towards her.

"Hey, 'Jime!"

The girl wearing a military jacket over bare shoulders flinched and in the next moment Touma had to dodge the trashcan that materialized above him out of nowhere.

"There goes usual hello..."

"I wouldn't do that if I not for that stupid nickname! Stop calling me 'Jime'!" the girl pointed finger at Touma before, sighing and rubbing her red hair" Your reflexes are as good as ever though."

"Good to see you as well"

"W-Who said anything about this being good..." Musujime Awaki, because this was the girl Touma encountered, fumed a little bit more but finally relaxed" You are alive. I guess that's cool"

"Thanks for your confidence. More importantly, what brings you here? The nearest elementary school is kilometres away"

"You are absolutely hilarious, start a comedy club" Awaki rolled her eyes, but smiled a little, before rising up empty bags in her hands" Komoe wanted to have few things before lunch. And you?"

"Well, I thought that I could contribute to the lunch in some way, so I guess... we got the same idea"

Awaki's smirk widened

"Great minds think alike, huh?"

Kamijou Touma and Musujime Awaki met when Touma encountered her after she was absolutely obliterated during one-sided fight against Accelerator, and he took care to call an ambulance for her. Afterwards, as Musujime moved in Tsukuyomi residence, she saw Touma in brief several times, before, following Komoe's advice, inviting him for something to eat. There was the first time they actually talked and actually interacted with each other. During that time, Touma found out about Awaki's abilities and they both learned, through accidental mention, that they shared relationships with people that formed the ex-dark side fraction, GROUP. Ever since then, the pair sort of bumped into each other on occasion, usually doing each other's favours in the spur of the moment.

For Kamijou Touma, Awaki was someone very odd but not distant enough to not like. In fact, he had no reason to dislike the girl, even if he felt somewhat worried about her tastes in anyone younger than middle school age, and in time the two developed a friendly relationship. They were not close by any means, and probably stuck somewhere between acquaintances and good friends. Yet, with the teasing dynamic they had going on, they were slowly getting to know each other better.

They had many differences, like power level, lifestyles, schools, or strike zones (younger than oneself for Musujime, older than oneself for Kamijou). But for all of that, they had at least one thing in common.

Both of them were, in different periods of time, cared for by Tsukuyomi Komoe. After the incident with Accelerator, Komoe apparently became Awaki's mother-like figure, and the redhead warmed up to her a lot. And although technically Touma never lived with Komoe, she helped him a lot in his time in the city. Both he and Move Point could agree that the pink sensei's smile was something that needed to be protected at all costs.

Touma looked at the market and his eyes widened

"Jime, with you being here, I have a plan!"

"Give me one reason for me not to teleport you hundred meters into the air for using that dumb nickname!"

She pointed her finger at Touma. After a few moments, she screamed in frustration.

"Oh right. For whatever shitty reason, my power does not work on you."

Touma almost chuckled, remembering the first time Awaki tried to teleport him when he angered her. She simply could not believe that he was immune to teleportation and tried to remotely move him for such a long time that her face became as red as her hair.

"I just don't get it. Well, no helping it. I guess your mind is so dense that it makes you above my weight limit. Mass equals density times volume after all"

Touma tried to cover the damage caused by the comment of smug teleporter.

"Anyway, there is a sale here. A sale that can benefit us both if we play it right."

"Huh..."

"With my skills in sale-hunting and your ability, we can get a good laugh and fool those overconfident bastards who think they outsmarted us just because they are first in line."

"I am listening..."

"First, with my resources..." Touma reached to his pocket.

Then he searched in it... before his fingers stuck on the other side of his hoodie, revealing a torn hole in the pocket.

And of course, no wallet in sight.

"F-Fukou da! That was 1/4 of my allowance... J-Jime-sama!"

"Even if you add honorific, you still want to annoy me! Why do you even call me with that nickname anyway?!"

"Well, I thought that we are not nearly close enough for me to call you Awaki"

"O-Obviously!"

"So I stuck with your surname instead!"

"Which is Musujime! Mu-su-ji-me. Not Musu, not Jime, Musujime!"

"Musujime-san is way too long for casual conversation. Besides, it sounds cute"

"It's only one syllable longer than your own surname, you hypocrite. What would you say if someone called you Tom or Jou?"

"Tom? Joe? Is this some British cabaret show?"

The girl could only facepalm at Kamijou's equivalent of a linguistic dad joke. For some ojou-samas learning three languages was still insufficient, but Touma felt like he achieved godhood while ordering sandwich at the foreign bar.

"Please, I will do anything you ask!"

The girl inhaled.

"Except taking my DNA to clone me and create my shota-clone for yourself"

"Boo, you greedy jerk. Okay, genius, what's the plan?"

"You see, there is a limited number of on-sale products in the shop and the person who first manages to get them and arrives at the cash register gets ultimate price reduction over 70% and coupon for next sales. I am determined to get those privileges. Thanks to them, I would be able to have a real feast for you and Komoe, and also something to get my flatmates."

"So what do you want me to do?"

Touma gave her the sheet of paper.

"This is the layout of this supermarket. And this is the camera I got from one of my flatmates. So, once I get inside, could you... whisper, whisper, whisper..."

After listening to the boy, Awaki grinned.

"If you pinpoint the exact locations, I am sure I can do it"

(10 MINUTES LATER)

The doors to the supermarket opened as the hordes of level 0 teenagers flooded the inside. All in the rush to get the limited sale, tumbling forward in chaos.

All, except a single boy with a dark spiky hair who walked in with an empty shopping cart... and headed straight to the counter.

"What is this idiot doing? If he doesn't buy anything, why did he went here in the first place?!"

Touma did not mind the laughter coming from all around him from passing sale hunters and arrived at his destination, addressing the supermarket's cashier.

"I would like to collect my reward"

The lady gave him an irritated look.

"Look boy, I am not paid enough to deal with all of this chaos and those stupid jokes. You have nothing to buy, so you clearly-"

"Nothing. Don't you see this mountain of food? To be honest, I have experience, but I really outdid myself in this shopping hunt and it's really heavy, so let's get to business"

Touma said, motioning to the cart filled with the literal mountain of various food items.

The cashier blinked and rubbed her eyes.

"What? I could have sworn there wasn't-"

"What?!" multiple screams echoed through the market" why are so many items missing already?! I was here first. What the hell is going on here?!"

"Miss, as you said, you are overworked and not paid enough." Touma shrugged with a smug face" It's no wonder your eyes are playing tricks on you. Now, about that reward..."

5 minutes later, a frustrated crowd left the supermarket, cursing and shaking their heads with confused faces.

They were observed by the pair of boy and girl, standing near few large shopping bags.

Touma's lips twitched, as Awaki put a hand on top of her own mouth.

And in the next moment, they both burst laughing, so loudly and contagiously that they had to support each other to not fall down and roll on the pavement.

"Their faces when they realized you won... s-stop, I will piss myself if I laugh any harder" wheezed the teleporter.

"How could this happen? What did you do?" Touma mimicked the other people from the shop, in the rare display of open superiority. "Man, that was priceless. It's all thanks to the fact that you could teleport all the things to my cart without even entering the shop itself!"

"Yeah, but it would never work if you didn't tell me the exact locations of them and didn't have that micro-camera. So that's team effort!"

They started walking, with each holding a bag in both hands, savouring their victory.

Awaki finally stopped laughing and after a moment of silence, she looked at Touma from the side.

"I know I asked about this before but... you knew that I was a dark sider when we first met, right?"

"Yeah"

"And did you also know that I fought with Shirai Kuroko, the girl you rescued from me?"

"I suspected so"

"And even after that, you still decided to help me? Why?"

"I don't need a reason to help or save someone. Besides, you were badly hurt. I couldn't just leave you there."

Awaki sighed and shook her head.

"That's the thing, you could. Any dark sider would do that. That's why you are weird. But... that's also probably why I like this attitude of yours. I can't complain in the slightest. Thanks to you, I didn't bleed out on the street, you also convinced Komoe to take me in. Thanks to her contact with Yomikawa Aiho, I was able to secure my friends, the group I was fighting for before the whole Remnant fiasco. So, I owe you a lot. The least I could do was met you and try to be friends"

Touma smiled, facing forward.

"Don't mention it. You also helped a few times. Remember that time with vending machine?"

"That was embarrassing! All I did was teleport the cash the machine eaten from you back to your wallet and you started to hug me, breaking into tears. Are you really 16 years old?"

"When you are as unlucky as me, every single bit of luck counts. There was also that time when you saved my life from the truck."

(FLASHBACK)

As he finished doing shopping for himself, Index, and Othinus, when he noticed a speeding truck heading towards a boy on the zebra crossing.

"Look out!" he screamed, speeding up and pushing the kid out of the way.

He could not make it in time. There was no time to him to escape the speeding vehicle.

Suddenly, someone pushed him away, just like he did to a child before. He only managed to get the glimpse of red hair, which disappeared after a blink of an eye, as he fell to the pedestrian zone and the truck zoomed away.

(END FLASHBACK)

"In that moment, I knew you had a good heart" Touma looked at the teleporter, who crossed put the bags down, crossing her arms. "You didn't teleport the truck itself because there were people and other cars around, and it was riding totally out of control, so you worried that it may crash into someone if you suddenly change its place and scare the driver. And of course you couldn't teleport me either, so... you got there yourself, and then teleported away."

"D-Don't read too much into it" the redhead looked away, somewhat awkwardly" I was really pissed at you for forcing me to teleport myself. But what you did next made it more than even, I have to admit."

(FLASHBACK)

Kamijou Touma ran into the nearby alley following being saved from the truck, to find Musujime Awaki on the ground.

"I knew it was you! Wait... what's wrong?!"

The girl was unresponsive, shaking, her breaths were very fast and shallow, her pupils were dilating, and cold sweat covered her skin. Touma could only imagine how fast her heart was beating.

Touma suddenly realized what was happening. Komoe-sensei told him about it, Tsuchimikado also mentioned something along those lines.

Long ago, in the past, Musujime Awaki was on a way to level 5, yet misfortunate accident, in which she teleported herself with her lower leg phased through the wall and had to be forcibly pulled out with muscles and skin, made her experience trauma. This traumatic experience was always present when she was teleporting herself, so she usually avoided that and had to mentally prepare if she was to do that for limited number of times that she was capable of.

'Is she under a severe panic attack? Is it because she jumped in to save me? She didn't have time to prepare and she couldn't teleport me out of the way like she would with anyone else. I am responsible for this.'

Looking at the suffering girl, he had no hesitation. He crouched down and tightly grabbed her left hand with his right one.

"Awaki-san, I am here. I will stay with you so focus on my hand and voice. I am here, and you are safe"

The girl's fingernails dug into his skin, but Touma endured the pain and just kept his hold on Musujime's hand, whispering words of encouragement and support.

At first, nothing changed. But after half a minute, slowly but steadily, light came back to the girl's eyes. Her shallow breaths turned into panting, then completely calmed down. She blinked, and slowly turned her head towards Touma

"Thank you... "

"Welcome back. I should be the one thanking you"

"You knew... you are the same as me?"

"I've been there too. Feeling as if your life is ending, fear so terrible it makes your body freeze and shake. I dreamed of... dying, from the hand of someone I battled for a very, very long time. So I know what I would want when I wake from a dream like that. I thought... you might want it too."

(END FLASHBACK)

"How did you do it back then?" Awaki asked, shaking the not so pleasant memory away" When I have those episodes, I usually have my massaging machine to help get them under control... but back then, I felt like I was... splitting away. As if I was unstable, and tried to teleport in every direction. But when you touched me, this splitting feeling disappeared."

Touma did not tell Awaki about Imagine Breaker and was not yet on the level of figuring out how or if to tell that groundbreaking fact about himself, so he tried to divert the subject.

"I have a question too. Why were you there in the first place?"

"Gah?!"

The diversion worked. So there could be only one explanation.

"Don't tell me you were stalking elementary schoolers again. You know the way to all elementary schools in District 7?"

"Of course not, in all of the City!"

Staaaare...

"Right. You know, I didn't want to bug in or anything, but why do you even like those kids in the way you, well... do? Don't tell me it's only physical... oh my god, do you like Komoe-sensei also because she is... you know..."

Touma made a gesture indicating small height, and Awaki paled and shook her head.

"No! It's not for those reasons. Even if they do look cute, I am not liking this for physicality, hell no. Who do you think I am, some degenerate pervert?"

Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare...

"Good. So if not for that, what do you value in this?"

Awaki blinked and put a finger to her cheek. Touma challenged her, as she never evaluated her likes before.

"I guess... it would be for purity and innocence. They are so untainted and free and full of hope, it's just so precious. I wish I could gather all of that and bask at it myself. They are still unchanged by this shitty world, they are still trying their hardest, and are so cutely naive. Just like..."

Awaki paused suddenly.

Just like...

Wasn't Kamijou Touma called reckless and naive? Wasn't he called out for being idealistic and hopelessly bent on saving everyone.?

In this city filled with broken ideals and corruption, his naivety and heroistic idealism was the torch of innocence and purity. He never abandoned his ideals of salvation and shared them with others in equality, no matter how absurd it seemed.

In a way, if Awaki's tastes extended on purity, innocence, and idealistic naivety besides cuteness that smaller boys had...

Would Kamijou Touma also...

The boy shivered as something changed and shifted in Musujime Awaki's gaze...

"W-What is it?" he muttered as the girl closed in on him with a hand on her chin, suddenly deep in thought.

"I am not sure..." Awaki muttered, twinkle of mischief dancing in her irises" But I am ready to examine this new discovery..."

Touma gulped and started walking again, with the girl still scanning him, up to down, with a newfound revelation in her heart.

"T-That was quite a conversation. I thought you were into little boys because you were getting desperate being single in your age group"

"Oi! Just because I am single doesn't mean I wasn't popular in Kirigaoka. Although... I was usually treated like a taxi so..."

"You say that, but then, why don't you try to wear your hair more confidently. I think you would rock loose hair or ponytail!"

Musujime got stunned into stopping again and she looked at her reflection in a shopping display with a small blush on her face.

"Not that I care, but do you really think so?"

"Yup. I mean, everything looks better than a pair of long toothpick look-alikes sticking from your head"

"You just had to throw that in! Maybe if I throw a building at you... hah?!"

Kamijou quickly let the bags down and grabbed Musujime by her long tails of hair, pulling them together.

"Ow! What the-"

"Mwahahaha! This Kamijou already has skyscraper throwing girl in his life, and that's quite enough, so I read your attack patterns, Jime-san! You can't drop something on me if we stay close in one place, and you can't teleport me away too!"

"Y-You fool! I will just risk teleporting myself-"

"You're welcome to try, but your power won't get past my hand. Which means the tails are going bye-bye! Gehahaha!"

Dark overlord Kamijou Touma almost made Musujime Awaki cry, as her revenge attack was fully denied.

"N-Not the tails! Without them, I will look like one of those matchsticks with red tips, god damn it!"

(2 HOURS LATER)

Lunch was delicious. Touma ate it in the company of Musujime, Komoe-sensei, and Himegami. Even the details of make-up lessons didn't make his mood bad.

But the questions from both his friend and teacher about Index made him steel his resolve to come here. To his 'normal' dorm.

He was happy to converse with Index, he missed her very much already. But when it came to her getting back to Japan... that was something that Touma found himself delaying, without much of a reason.

Was it because of Gokusai sisters? Possibly. Touma, through sheer fate, managed to reunite with them, and did not want to separate with them just yet. There were still things they needed to do together, including the case of Mitsuari Ayu, which the sisters agreed to help with.

His worry was about how Index would react to the fact that he was living with 3 girls (4 counting Hasako sleepovers) in one dorm, while she was away. Index was hard to read in that regard. Sometimes she would be somewhat benevolent. Other times, she would just jump and almost chomp his head off. And to be completely honest, the latter happened most of the time.

Yeah, it was strange enough to introduce Othinus to Gokusai sisters. Knowing that they would never believe stories about either magic side (he did not wish to provide proof if he didn't need to) or his time in Infinite Hells and the real context of his relationship with Othinus (where he could not provide the proof), Touma decided to make a cover story, at least for the time being.

(FLASHBACK)

"So, Othinus here, emm... got miniaturized by an experimental shrink ray. We met in rather specific circumstances, but I care for her after she was affected by that ray. Heh, Academy City's technology is surely crazy"

All sisters were fascinated by small figure on Kamijou's palm, touching her and examining her closely.

"Oi, were are you looking at?!" the fairy screamed in protest" Show some respect. I tolerate you because my human has reasons to help you, but don't allow yourselves too much. I may look like this now, but I was ageless deity of war, and I was already ancient when your civilizations first came to be. I shifted reality more times than I can remember and I led armies to countless battles"

Touma chuckled awkwardly, rubbing Othinus' head.

"Before the accident, she was a writer and she is a bit..." he tapped his head with a finger a few times" on a chunni side, if you know what I mea...aaaaaaah?!"

Othinus bit him in the finger. Hard.

Rikuri accepted the explanation without much of a problem, instead bombarding Touma with technical and scientific questions about Othinus accident.

Kaibi didn't seem convinced, but said nothing, instead trying to figure out the existence that was Othinus on her own.

And as for Amazora...

"What a cute dolly!"

"Humaaaaaaan!"

Touma's cover story was not needed, because she already created one for herself.

"Human! She is taking me away! She has that strange smile on her face! No, don't take that off! Waaaaaah!"

Apparently, Amazora believed that Othinus was high-spec doll.

Touma tried to help her, yet Kaibi and Rikuri didn't provide any opening in both physical passage and their questions, allowing the youngest sister to flee with screaming Othinus.

(END FLASHBACK)

That night, Othinus returned dressed in a pink dress, with makeup and styled up hair.

Touma made the mistake of laughing. He never knew ear bites and hair pulling could be that painful.

Still, he needed to have both Index and the sisters by his side. Who knew, maybe he actually worried over nothing?

He decided to see how things were going on with his dorm. That would give him some push towards settling other things.

In the present, standing in front of his door, Touma felt kind of strange. Long time passed since he returned to the truly empty dorm. To humour himself, he knocked.

He knew there was no one to answer it, so he reached to the doorknob.

But he was in for a surprise as the doors opened before he could grab it.

"You are back already? That was fast, I thought that-"

Touma came face to face with a girl. A girl fresh out of the shower at that.

She was wrapped around in towel, with steaming coming from her skin. She had short brown hair, with a small singular strands standing out within generally brushed back hairstyle. The girl had decently sized forehead, with two slimly trimmed eyebrows, and chestnut coloured eyes, that widened as she saw Touma.

She screamed.

He screamed back.

She screamed even louder.

Touma shut the door back.

"I am sorry!"

As he said that, he suddenly froze, surrealism of this situation getting to him.

"Why the hell do I apologize... someone is..."

He looked at the nameplate. Everything was as he saw before.

"Someone is inside!"

He opened the door, rushed past the still stunned girl in the towel, and entered the living room.

Yes, that was undoubtedly his dorm. But there were also certain new elements.

Namely, there was yet another girl, polishing something that looked like a strange spear-like weapon. It had a strangely familiar shape to Touma.

Come to think of it, the girl, blond haired with dark blue eyes, also seemed familiar. Upon noticing him, she shot up, pointing finger at Touma.

"H-Huh?! YOU?!"

In a rather comical display, she tripped over the rug and fell on her butt with a squeal.

"What are you doing in my dorm?!"

Maybe because of the face she made during that fall, Touma suddenly recognized her.

Because the first time they met, they fell down together from a high speed train.

But... that meant...

"Surprise~" someone practically purred into his ear in japanese with a twinge of english accent, as arms held him from the back and spun him around. Not expecting something like this, he fell onto the bed.

Which suddenly shot out ropes that tied him up on the spot.

"Huh? What the hell is-"

"Hello again, Lover Boy..." the owner of the voice pounced from the edge of his vision to the position above his tied torso.

Long dark hair with yellow dyed streaks. The twinkling blue eyes. The still on the small side yet developing slender body frame and mechanical tail, moving along each lick of tongue brushing against cherry lips and between pearly white teeth.

Lessar of the New Light broke into wide grin, as she got her flushed face so close to Touma's that their noses were almost touching

"Les..."

"Did you miss me?"

"Lessar? Why are you here?"

The mechanical tail of the girl in lacrosse uniform wagged from one side to the other, as she traced her finger down his chest.

"That's a very metaphysical question. I guess everyone has to be somewhere. Then again..."

She pinned him down, and whispered into his ear, warm breath making his hair stand on ends. He looked in terror at two other girls, but, for some reason, the looked at them as if it was some kind of weird spectacle, without interfering. The blond forgot to get up from the ground, and the towel girl frozen on her way to the living room.

"... the important question is not why, but what. What are we going to do now..."

"Lessar, if this is going where I think it is going..."

"Oh, it is clearly much more than you think" Lessar smiled, pulling her blouse through her head. After a considerable amount of skin showed up, Touma's heart almost stopped.

"L-Lessar-san?! Let's be rational here. Things like this require..."

"I am very rational" the girl said, fully loosening her hair and allowing her to fall into black cascade reaching almost to her butt. "Me, the ultra-sexy Lessar, will bear the child that will be the future hope for United Kingdom. But before that, let's have the most passionate make out ever. And you are going to love my skills!"

Looking at her and being fully, objectively honest, Touma could not deny that Lessar's looks got better since they last saw each other sometime in the past. It wasn't actually all that far away, so maybe she had puberty episode? Her silhouette and face looked more proportionate, the hair had considerable luster, and chest appeared to grow by one cup size.

She was younger than Touma by two years, but he didn't doubt that she could become really attractive as an adult. But that didn't change the fact that things were happening much too fast.

He was tied to the bed, unable to negate the ropes (did Lessar actually set a mechanical trap for him?), and Lessar's hands grabbed his pants. The boy paled and tried to free himself, to no avail.

"Now, let's not keep you waiting any longer. Say hello to momma and let's free this dragon!"

"HEEEELP!" Touma was pretty sure that his voice turned into falsetto.

And then, the door opened and another female voice shouted angrily

"LESSAR!"

There was a flash of light, a booming noise and Lessar suddenly fell down from Touma, twitching, as the sparks of electricity danced on her skin.

"Bay... Bayl..."

"I knew there was something fishy around here" the other girl cut her off " You were a little bit too eager for me to leave. Of course I didn't really go, it's not like I know you from yesterday"

This girl seemed more mature than the others, as indicated by her older features and bigger chest. She had blue eyes, pale skin and silver-white hair, that seemed to shine like a precious metal, with some kind of artefact within the locks. Like others she wore a lacrosse uniform, accompanied with a spear, that Touma now recalled was named "Steel Glove"

The girl flashed him a smile and approached the bed. With one motion, the ties were cut and Touma could get up. The girl extended the hand to still shaken Touma.

"Off you go. Are you alright?"

"Thank you, silver angel onee-san"

She blinked, before laughing and sending a short, coy gaze Touma's way.

"Silver angel? No one ever called me that before. Well, sorry for the ruckus. I am just as confused, but I am sure that we can explain that here and now

(5 MINUTES LATER)

After a moment, all girls and Touma sat on the floor.

"Before we explain this mess, let's go with the introduction" the silver haired girl said in an authoritative tone "You already know Lessar quite well..."

"Yeah, let's start again. It's nice to see you are okay, even if that welcome was quite... physical. But then again, that's so like you"

"You bet!" Lessar gave him a thumb up. Apparently, the silver girl was mad at her and forced her to wear a a small piece of paper on hold in a necklace-like fashion, that said:

"I WAS TOO HORNY. I AM SO SORRY"

Apparently, Lessar was equally irritated that her moment with Touma was ruined because she rather boldly wrote "NOT" before "SORRY" with permanent marker. Silver girl gave her a truly terrifying look, but Lessar seemed stubborn enough to endure it.

"I also heard that you met Floris." the older girl motioned towards the blond, who huffed and crossed her arms while looking away.

Now Touma remembered that she was the girl he met and escaped from a train, jumping in the river to flee the Knights of England.

"I am not talking to you" the blond girl named Floris stubbornly glanced at Touma "Not after what you put me through last time"

"I apologized for that" Touma muttered, and the brown haired girl next to Floris smiled to him.

"Don't mind Floris. She is the stern one of the group, but she actually got a bit worked when it came to you and wanted to thank you as well. She can be a little bit melodramatic, but that's how she shows affection"

"Lancis! I didn't-" Floris shouted, before calming herself down and facing Touma with a pouting lips" Well, I never thanked you for that one. I was so focused on the fact that we jumped from one danger to another and at that time I was really mad at you. I mean, first I get captured by Amakusa, then I escape from Amakusa, then I get captured by the Knights, then you make me almost die in that jump and get me back to the Amakusa of all people and-"

"Floris" the silver haired girl said firmly" Stay on track. What do you wanted to say?"

"Oh, right" Floris fidgeted, before taking a deep breath and saying" Thank you. You really saved me back then. We and the Knights are not exactly in best relations, so... yeah, that's what I wanted to say"

She tried to look indifferent, but it was clear that she was waiting for his reaction.

"You're welcome. It's nice to see you are okay and also, to meet you outside of the chaos of British Halloween."

"Uhm..." Floris looked away as her heart sped up ever so slightly and she felt the tips of her ears burn.

"My name is Lancis" said the brown haired girl, previously in the towel. She was wearing long, pink, talon-like nails on her fingers" I am sorry about the moment at the door. I think I made quite a bad impression"

"No, that's fine. You seem calm and nice, so I will go along with that. We never met before, right?"

"No, although Lessar told me about you. She also suggested for me to go overseas and...ekhm, no, never mind. I was quite interested to meet you"

They both shook hands, and Touma looked at the oldest girl.

"My name is Bayloupe. I am the leader of New Light and I care for those fools." said the silver haired girl" So, you are Kamijou Touma. You may look quite plain, but I've been in a game on magic side to know that judging book by the cover is a very bad idea. You have been a subject of my interest of quite some time. Although Lessar should mainly be credited for bringing that attention to you. Initially, I was not convinced that a foreigner and a complete amateur could be a good asset to Britain. But she praised your tenacity, fighting spirit, and heroic actions"

"She did?"

Lessar beamed at Touma, clearly enjoying being the focus of his attention.

"Thus, I want to ask you. Kamijou Touma, what do you think of United Kingdom?"

Touma was silent for a bit

"Well, it's a nice country. Rather different from what I know, but I had rather good impression. I also know some pretty great people from there-..."

"Excuse me, is it true that you also have close ties with Royal Family?" Lancis cut him off with a question.

"Well, I don't know if close is right word... I met the Queen, I also did work with Princess Villian during British Halloween. I think that I got closer to Carissa during our battle and after it. As for Princess Rimea, well... she and me... I can't really tell much, but..."

"Kamijou" Bayloupe said, bowing to the floor, emulating the japanese way of appology" Firstly, as New Light leader, allow me to apologize for inconvenience Lessar caused you. She means well, but does not know the word STOP"

"N-No, no, don't bow! Beautiful girl bowing before me is just wrong" Kamijou frantically waved his hands" Lessar is a great ally, even if she sometimes can't control herself and doesn't think things through. I am grateful to her"

"Beautiful? My my, your tongue is quite sharp indeed." Baylope straightened herself and twirled strand of her silver hair in between her fingers." Keep being like this and I would want you to stay with us just as much as Lessar. So..."

He thought he saw a different kind of light in Lessar's eyes in that moment, but chose to ignore it, as she slid closer to him and snuggled into his arm.

"That being said, I have to ask you. Would you come with us and help serve the glory of the United Kingdom?"

Touma smiled and shook his head

"I am honoured, but no. I have my life here and I don't think about leaving it"

"Such a shame..." Bayloupe sighed" yet it was expected. However, such a critical figure, with Imagine Breaker nonetheless, doesn't come in every era. We won't resign in trying to convince you."

"I expected that as well. And that reminds me... why are you here, specifically now and in my dorm?"

Lessar froze with a comical expression on her face.

"Well, time to use the toilet... oh, that's your bedroom too, right Lover Boy? I guess I will just wait for you there-"

"Wait just a moment..." Bayloupe said it quietly, but she started to give off a menacing aura "Wasn't it you who said we could use this place? That you informed Kamijou? You actually wanted to get into his pants this entire time, didn't you?!

"I regret nothi-aaaaaah?!" Lessar cried out, as Bayloupe pulled her away by the ear

"Excuse me for a minute" she said closing the door to the bathroom. Yet even from behind that barrier they could hear the sounds of argument and sounds of pain.

"Will they be okay?"

"Yes. We are more than just coworkers" Lancis said, slightly bemused. " Bayloupe is a great leader and she is really just, but tends to have a short fuse at times. Like, she really gets mad. She is pissed because Lessar got distracted with you. Again. Even if she approves of Lessar's motivations of getting you on our side, she doesn't like that Lessar has head in the clouds ever since she met you"

"Distracted?"

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it! She sleeptalks and recites all the things she would do to you. Which in turn causes my dreams to become... ekhm, anyway..." Floris fumed, causing Touma to become slightly red" It goes on, and on, and on! It's damn unbearable. Even gagging her doesn't make it better."

"Kamijou-san... the thing is..." Lancis' elegant eyebrows knitted together as she looked at the boy" Lessar is not actually messing around with you. In her own way, she is being serious... as contradictory as it sounds."

"What do you mean by that?" Touma asked in confusion.

But by the time the girl could answer, Bayloupe returned with Lessar.

"Kamijou! Comfort me!" the imp girl cried, jumping onto the boy, with a small bump on her head, likely from Bayloupe's fist. Touma sighed and massaged Lessar's head, to which she reacted by relaxing and leaning her body against his.

"Y-Your butt is right on my family jewels..."

"Oh? Does that turn you on?"

"If you press harder, there will be nothing to turn on, so get off a little"

"Cutting to the chase" said Bayloupe" we were sent here on a diplomatic mission, given to us by the Church and approved by the Crown"

"Really? I thought that your relations with them were a little... iffy"

"Yeah, but we agreed to do it cheap" snickered Floris" and left others in the dust"

"I would like to believe that our professionalism was recognized, but that seems like a bit of a stretch..." Lancis also rubbed her head sheepishly.

"Which meant we could see you. Only...I had no idea you changed addresses. Heh heh, my bad" added Lessar.

"Anyway, we are going to have a call now. Lancis, can you put up a soundproofing field?"

"Yup, right away."

"S-Seriously, Lessar-san, can't you get off?"

"Don't tell me you are not enjoying it"

"I would be lying if I said that I didn't but that's not the issue here! My legs got all tingly from the lack of blood!"

"You know what else got tingly? Hint: It's like Niagara Falls within my-"

Suddenly, a fit of giggling startled Touma who jumped slightly, shaking Lessar off.

Lancis put a hand to her lips to stifle giggles threatening to escape her lips.

"I am sorry, I didn't want to scare you"

"Lancis has amazing magical sensory perception, but she also has this strange condition that causes her own mana to tickle her when she refines it" Lessar explained the situation to Touma.

"D-Don't worry, it didn't really scare me or anything. And you don't have to apologize, having a cute laugh is not a bad thing. If anything, it's an attractive quality... Emm? Lancis-san? Moshi-Moshi?!"

The girl started at him with open mouth. And then...

POOF!

Her entire face became red. She scrambled to her feet, muttered a short "excuse me" and ran to the toilet.

"D-Did I say something off?"

"Well..." Bayloupe gave an amused look to the bathroom's door." this condition of hers was never really quite welcome. It was called..."

"Annoying. Loud. Distracting" Floris gave a few suggestions.

"We learned to tolerate it, but it does get annoying sometimes." Bayloupe continued" She definitely never heard anyone call her laugh cute before."

"Good job" Lessar clapped with a hint of sarcasm" You broke her. Honestly, your conquest never stops, does it?"

"What conquest? I am just a high school boy you can find anywhere, not some harem lord"

"Good old dense lover boy. Never change, never change"

In that moment, the broach like amulet that Bayloupe held in her hands played a music box melody of Rule Britannia.

"It's the call regarding our task"

"So this is the person who interrupted my sweet and much needed time with him" the agitated Lessar pounced forward and pressed the red gem on the center of the broach, answering the call.

"Oi, I don't know who you think you are but you messed big time. You don't take a man from under the girl's face without consequences. Not only that, but I am on a super important mission!"

The amulet puffed out a cloud smoke, in which the colourful image began to take form.

"Lessar..." Floris began nervously, but the energetic seductress wasn't done.

"It is on! I am having only the best future of Britain at heart. So much that I will dedicate my body and heart to the task. So who is the idiot who interrupted my time with Lover Bo-"

The image cleared, showing the mature face of black haired woman with a monocle, wearing a blue dress.

"That would be Her Royal Highness, Princess Rimea." Bayloupe said, facepalming. Lancis, who returned from the toilet with redness fading from her face, also watched in anticipation.

Lessar bit her lips as her blue eyes became the size of dinner plates.

"P-P-P-Princess Rimea..." in one moment, her voice shifted from that of the mighty warrior to the one of grandma suffering from asthma attack" W-What a lovely day we are having. E-E-Except those neighbours shouting the stupidest things next walls and all those terrible words, because that surely wasn't your faithful servant..."

She mouthed small help to Touma with pleading eyes.

"How... interesting" Rimea muttered" It appears you are also here, Imag... Kamijou Touma"

The girls tilted their heads, confused why Rimea suddenly decided to drop Touma's epithet... and seemed rather proud of doing so.

"Please don't blame Lessar. She didn't mean it, and we had a rather emotional reunion" Touma was hoping he did not blush while saying that.

Rimea looked at Lessar for a few moments, before sighing

"If you take her side, I take no offense. I take it you were informed that New Light will be arriving?"

Touma noticed fear, mainly in Lessar's eyes, but also in the gazes of other girls

"Yeah, I knew. They are on some sort of diplomatic mission, right?"

Fear shifted into gratitude, as Touma covered for Lessar's earlier, nefarious plan.

"Correct. They are sent to clarify deliver some messages and retrieve some things from your Board Chairman, on request of the Archbishop, the nature of which I will not needlessly disclose."

"Oh, I see. And you probably thought that I will understand the situation much better than anyone else in Academy City, so you hoped to use my dorm for your stay. Doesn't the Church have some sort of Embassy now?"

"No. Not yet, anyway"

"Well, that's not really a good place to live for a moment. The walls still need to be refreshed and there is a hole in outer one... I generally moved elsewhere temporarily"

"I see..."

Rimea looked undecided what expression she should make before asking.

"Are you... alright?"

"Huh? Yes, I am. Everything is fine, that was just a onetime accident"

"Truly? I thought that with your right hand, your entire life seems like a continuous accident"

"You... don't hold back on words, don't you?"

"It a inborn talent" Rimea's lips curled upwards ever so slightly. "Oh, by the way, Carissa is reporting again. She will probably come to see you too"

As if on cue, there was an aggressive sound of heels on the floor and something red zoomed to his vision.

"Kamijou!" the second princess yelled out into the vision.

"Carissa... you look well. Wait... did you run here for that call?"

Carissa opened her lips, before angrily stomping her foot on the ground.

"Yes! No! I... just wanted to see you and tell you that we have a score to settle."

"Right... you are in great shape alright"

"When I see you next time, you are going to have to pay for what you've done"

Touma backed off a little

"I am a little poor so what exactly are you talking about"

Rimea raised her eyebrow, while glancing at Carissa with expression of boredom.

"Translation: my brutish sister is the type of woman who thinks that the only way to spend quality is recklessly cause violence, so she thinks challenging you can substitute her wish to spend more time with her"

"Spend time? Me? With person who humiliated me! You think that I am some fool whose heart would change because I was hit into the face?"

"When you say it like that... "Touma muttered deep in thought" Lots of people that I hit became my friends"

"Correct. Based on what I've read on Kamijou Touma's previous exploits, hitting an enemy increases the probability of close relations by..."

"You calculated a probability? I am done, you two are impossible" Carrissa looked like she was a step away from slamming her head on the surface below the smoke projection.

"Well, even if you are still mad, I am glad that you are well. Oh, did you like the flowers? I didn't know what kind you like, so I went with the ones that reminded me of you..."

Carissa laughed, although, if one listened carefully, there was a nervous note in it, without her usual arrogance.

"Flowers? Don't make me laugh. I am a princess of war, I trample the cutesy flowers and drench them in blood of my enemies. Do you really think that I would not throw those plants away at first occa-"

The doors on the other side of the chamber opened

"Sister!" the owner of the cheerful voice was none other than third princess, Villian. "I put the flowers from Mr. Kamijou back by your bed after watering them, as you asked. I know how much you like to look at them when you wake up. Oh, and he is on the call? Hello there! Nice to see you in good health!"

"Hello to you as well, Princess Villian"

Carissa could as well become a stone statue, that was how much she tensed up.

"Thank you, Villian. What a diligent little sister you are. What a god damn impeccable timing you have" she hissed under her breath

Rimea addressed Touma once again.

"There you have it. Please be understanding of this situation and lend a helping hand. But knowing your disposition, you are probably already set on helping. Oh, and by the way, I am expecting your letter. Do not keep me waiting"

"Okay, Rim... your highness. I am looking forward to it."

Both Lessar and Carissa looked at Touma with narrowed yes. Was he about to call the first princess by the name?

Rimea's gaze became slightly more gentle, even if it was microscopic change.

"Then I shall await it eagerly and expect you to visit us in possible future. Kamijou, remember also, that by our agreement, if any subjects of my mother cause you problems, you are free to invoke the law of lessè-majesté through my name, and deemed that person guilty" she looked at Lessar, as if giving a warning.

"I doubt I will ever have the need to-"

Yet another time that day Touma was interrupted.

"Oh, that's it! Letters? Secrets? And the fricking lessè-majesté of all things? Sister, what is going on between you and him?"

"Yeah, I would like to know too. What Lassie is she talking about?" Lessar shook Touma by the shoulder.

"What transpires between me and Kamijou Touma is strictly private and confidential. And as such, you have no reason to know" Rimea explained calmly" We agreed upon certain assignment that my mother requested."

"Mom did? Is that why are you acting so strange?"

"How so?"

"I saw you trying to smile at the guards. You almost never smile for people you distrust. And to be honest, it was kind of terrifying." Carissa spread her arms wide "And I know a thing or two about terror"

"I don't want to hear that from someone who could scare potential suitors with her smile"

"At least when I smiled, I actually had the intention to keep those assholes away!"

The heated debate emerged between two older sisters, as Villian took hold of the call.

"Is everyone fine with you, Princess?"

"Oh, it's wonderful. I am trying to be more proactive and usually go to some parties. And I have to say, ever since we encountered you, our family actually got closer. Mother is often interested in your action, while it seems Rimea and Carissa have formed separate connections, with you. It sure is lively out here... I am also very glad and honoured that I met you. I am sure that William would say that too. He is temporarily released and away on the mission right now, but he sends his regards."

"No, the pleasure is all mine."

Villian smiled at him, watching something beyond the screen with somewhat tense expression.

"Well, I hope we will meet in the future... sister, no! That's mom's antique-"

There was a crash and the vision from smoke faded away.

"Well, that was something else. But I kind of get all the situation now..."

"What do you with first princess?" Lessar screamed out" Do you provide the services of-"

"N-No, it's not what you think" Touma quickly raised his hands in defensive gesture" But I can't talk about it, so let's just say that what I do is important for her mother and probably also to Rimea"

"I knew it. You call her by her first name" Lancis pointed out.

"You really are slaying maiden hearts" Lessar muttered, with a grumpy face, her tail wagging as if she was an irritated cat.

"Kamijou, lessè-majesté is a pretty big deal. It means that the princess considers you as tied to her. In a way, it means you are in her area of influence and in her protection, so the affront towards you can be treated as affront towards her" Bayloupe explained to the confused Touma.

"Huh... I had no idea. Say, this was a lot of things in rather short amount of time, so what would you say about some sightseeing?"

(LATER)

The tour was pretty eventful.

Touma spent pretty decent amount of time with Lessar and had one-time encounter with Floris, but never experienced the overall group dynamic of New Light.

They planned route went from the river bank, through the restaurant, an indoor onsen, and finally, a shopping center. Touma felt rather weird, being a single guy in a group of clearly foreign girls, and he was sure that they attracted a lot of attention.

However, he stopped himself from worrying too much and instead put together everything he was thinking and experiencing throughout the outing in regards to the girls.

Floris tried to keep her distance from Kamijou, clearly not sure how to act around him, but it seemed like the fate had other ideas. When the group was having a walk near the river, Touma tripped and accidentally sent her tumbling alongside him down into the water. When they were at the restaurant, they accidentally got the same noodle in the grasp of their chopsticks, giving him a near-kiss experience and punch to the cheek by crimson faced girl. Not to mention that when they went to the onsen, the separating wall somehow collapsed and the blond girl somehow fell into male section, causing Touma to scramble and run away.

Seemed like the record of Kamijou keeping Floris a step away from panic/embarrassment attack was more of a pattern than an exception to the rule, as both of them seemed to have same affinity from double meaning situations. Floris was second oldest, and personality-wise she was stern, rational, usually freaking out when things didn't go the safe and planned way. However, Touma noticed she was also fond of humour and displayed similar sassy, cynical kind of jokes that he encountered in Kumokawa Seria or Othinus. According to other members of New Light, Floris had tendencies to perfectionism and often denied her feelings, which ultimately resulted in her having dramatic outbursts, often accompanied by some sulking. As Touma already knew, she wore magical item resembling steam punk wings that allowed her to fly and glide, which she greatly enjoyed.

Lessar was the energetic one of the group, which Touma could tell even without his knowledge of her sultry antics. During their outing, she had resumed her talkative, careless attitude. She and Touma talked a lot, with Touma asking a bit about situation in UK, and Lessar telling him some details about their life as a reserve cabal. She was also quite invested in hearing of all the adventures Touma had in her absence, although she paid quite huge emphasis on question regarding any encountered female and, as Touma noted, was writing something in a notebook with a face of some grand scientist.

Touma could not help but smile. Sure, Lessar was usually over the top in lot of details, but he realized that he missed that wacky, loud, and enthusiastic girl. Which is why he found himself a little bit conflicted.

On the one hand, he liked her and was happy to see and be with her again. On the other, he could not say he felt fully comfortable with her 'recruitment efforts'. Why was that? It wasn't really because the fact that he didn't find her attractive. On contrary, although Touma wasn't falling for Lessar's many traps, he had to honestly admit that she was pretty, especially for her age group of middle school. It didn't even concern the fact that she wasn't in Touma's self-proclaimed type. What bothered Touma were two things.

Firstly, Lessar was skipping all the steps and going straight to physical intercourse. Kamijou was a healthy young boy, but in all honesty, the nature and circumstances of Lessar's actions irked him up a little. She kept saying serious things and acted in a very direct way. But with her omitting the psychological process of forming a bond with someone, romantic or not, Touma could not say what kind of relationship they really had and that unnerved him. Which brought second point. Did Lessar treat him just like a way to get her goal? Or most importantly, did she think so little of herself that she chose the role of mere tool to achieve that ideal? Touma wasn't a fully pure romantic, but he knew that any affection, be it friendship or romance, especially something that Lessar seemed to seek while trying to seduce him, would not be right when born this way.

Were the definitions of friendship, affection, and love in minds of Kamijou Touma and Lessar so different that they were forever keeping them from establishing common ground? The space they both actually wanted in their relationship?

Well, Lessar certainly did cause a lot of her usual ruckus on the way. From a few seduction attempts during the city tour (some in response to Floris' luck) one caused Touma to run around without clothes, another ended up with Lessar jumping on him in the shower, with just a small strap covering her crotch area. So boy and girl were in their usual dynamic. Only... Touma could be wrong in exasperation caused by stopping the overly lustful girl, but he thought that her reactions felt a little bit... stronger than usual. As if she was... more focused and did it because something in her heart added foreign element to the equation.

Lancis turned out to be someone that Touma found common language with. Compared to other three, she was more mellowed down, soft-spoken, even apathetic at times. Yet for Touma this was very refreshing. He spoke with the brown haired girl and learned a fair deal about her. Apparently, she cared for New Light's base, liked to cook, and did a lot of smaller, logistic errands. She was second youngest, between Floris and Lessar. She was the type to have many smaller interest, but don't excel in anything in particular. Because she was blessed with sensitivity to any form of magic and could detect it much faster than normal magicians, she was usually tasked with lookout and information gathering.

Contrary to what other girls said, Touma found out that Lancis wasn't really all that reticent, she was just reflective and usually overwhelmed by her more outspoken peers. However, Touma was a good listener, and in rather short time, both he and Lancis felt very comfortable with just talking to each other and learning about themselves. For example, they shared experiences of doing chores, cooking, and funny stories about everyday lives. The helping factor could also be the earlier compliment from Touma, thanks to which Lancis laughed without restraint in his company with no worries of judgement, which definitely improved her mood.

Another bit of trivia was the fingernails on Lancis' fingers. This was apparently her weapon, and after infusing the claw-like extensions with mana, she could slice and cleave through almost all solid materials.

Finally, Bayloupe seemed like a big puzzle to Kamijou. He kept glancing at older girl, for more than one reason, before turning away when she sensed his gaze. He didn't manage to exchange any more words with her, which was kind of frustrating, yet many things he could deduce from observation alone. Obviously the oldest (which didn't lessened any of the charm, oh no), she exuded aura of confidence and control, being the older sister to other girls, even Lessar not questioning her all that much. Although very gentle and graceful, she apparently was prone to intense outbursts when irritated. She was just as energetic as Lessar, but showed it in a completely different way. Her inner power was cold, channelled, and focused. She was just, fair, and intelligent, being a pragmatic girl, in the way that she carried herself and spoke. But when she wanted, she had this ice queen charm that made everyone focus attention on her. That contradiction of control and emotionality, of pragmatism and sensuality, was quite mesmerizing.

Besides her silver hair, one other characteristic was a very confident smile that she showed practically all the time (besides the times she was mad at someone) that looked like she was ready to conquer and dominate the world. Or, alternatively, it was the look that said 'I have secrets, come take them if you dare'. Yes, there was definitely more to this girl that Touma was able to see for now.

Bayloupe apparently had the biggest proficiency in using New Light's signature weapon, Steel Glove. She also had lightning powers, which Touma experienced, when she suddenly (seriously, what was with people with electric abilities attacking him out of the blue?!) conducted an attack, sending lightning strike towards him, that he managed to block in time with his right hand. She nodded in approval, and actually laughed at the boy's cries of distress.

On finishing note, one could probably compare New Light to the cycle of seasons. The vividness and drama of Floris was like spring, energy and physicality of Lessar like summer, the reserved and calming nature of Lancis like autumn, and dominant yet aloof Bayloupe like winter.

With his musings on New Light members concluded for now, Touma found himself standing before the shopping center. And that was where his luck truly ran out.

"Onii-chan's knows abroad students?! They look as if they are bunch of weird people..."

"Amazora, be polite. We are not completely normal either, though I agree that their sense of fashion is rather bizarre." came Rikuri's reply.

"Oi, can you explain this to us?" Gokusai Kaibi's eyes were quite literally glowing as she faced New Light members.

They just had to encounter Gokusai sisters here. Touma had absolutely no intention of introducing them earlier, but now he had no choice, when Lessar spoke:

"Hey to you. I am mother of Kamijou's child"

Amazora shouted a big 'NO!', Kaibi gave icy cold look to trembling boy, and Rikuri swayed from one side to the other, whispering 'he has a child?'

CHOP! Touma's hand landed on Lessar's head, who shrugged

"Not my fault he didn't realize that yet"

After this memorable introduction, Kamijou decided, for the sake of his corporal integrity, to take things in his own hands.

He introduced Amazora, Kaibi, and Rikuri as his past acquaintances, for now omitting the details of them being his flatmates, as this would put a major death flag. It was just a suspicion, but the one he was willing to follow. As for New Light, they were introduced as students from a special boarding school that came to Academy City for a trip. He met them once before during his own trip to England and so, he volunteered to gave them a tour on the city.

Both sides seemed to accept his explanation, but Kaibi was relentless in joining in with the group, so it grew as they entered the mall.

"Come on, Bayloupe. We can't let out best friend down" Lancis said to the oldest girl.

"Yeah. They seem okay" Floris also spoke up after a moment.

It seemed that Measure Heart affected them without a flaw, and Touma noticed that Bayloupe was struggling with it as well. Her mental fortitude had to be impressive, but she finally relented and the group split up for shopping.

Touma found himself on self-appointed duty of protecting already daring Amazora from being enlightened in the ways of perversion by the cool aunt Lessar-san. It would do some irreversible damage. Besides that, Amazora managed to charm her way into the heart (and wallet) of Lancis, as the poor girl could not help but spoil her, as they walked through various shops.

Rikuri was intrigued by reality of England and questioned Bayloupe about it, to which the silver haired answered and in return, asked about life in Academy City. Turned out that the girls had the same interest in certain academic endeavours and happened to like classical music, which shifted the topic of their conversation.

The strange duo of Kaibi and Floris wandered around, and Touma was not sure about the topics of their conversation, but it seemed like good match, as both of them were slightly apprehensive towards new people in this particular scenario.

(LATER)

"Heh, that sure was fun! Especially the swimsuit section!" Lessar beamed, taking a lick from the ice cream she picked for herself.

"Kamijou, you really attract the strangest of people. Although they do seem quite a lively group" Kaibi whispered to Touma's ear.

"Yeah, I get what you mean. I didn't quite know they would be here today, but well... at least they seem to be enjoying the trip. And it looks like Amazora took a liking to them as well"

He referred to the fact that New Light girls seemed to be enjoying the smallest sister inquiries and energy. For example, Lessar was clearly having fun while allowing Amazora to chase her wagging tail. She seemed to get along well with the sisters, but the contact with Touma's body increased majorly since they appeared.

Meanwhile, Lancis, made a surprise attack on Floris, and stole her wing artefact before giving it to Amazora, infusing it with mana so it could be useable. However, the girl's hopes in following Maidono-sensei's footsteps in reaching flight was short lived, as she made a few loops in the air before crashing into the artificial tree in the middle of the mall's patio. And even though the blond sorceress was mad at both Lancis and Amazora for stealing her equipment, she in truth didn't want the small girl to be sad and offered that she will take a small flight in her arms. As Kaibi ran after them and Lessar fell to the ground, rolling from laughter as Floris used power of her wings to give Amazora "airplane ride", Touma found himself smiling as well.

"It's nice, isn't it?"

Touma jumped, as Bayloupe managed to sneak to his side without him noticing.

"Y-Yeah..."she answered the New Light leader" You guys act so peaceful when not during... you know..."

"Magical missions for the sake of our country? Well, we do fight for something like this. But looking at it makes me actually rather glad. Because this also makes me have part of my dream realized"

Touma looked at her, but before he could ask the questions, there was a shout from Rikuri, who pointed at the something on an exhibition near the entrance.

"Everyone, you have to see this!"

This Rikuri was referring to was a device the size of the tablet, connected to the small box with openings. It was on an exhibition, guarded by the shopping center worker.

"It says here that this is a prototype of Genetic AI-assisted Growth And Recombining Simulator. GAGARS for short." Rikuri read out as the New Light, Touma, and her sisters approached" I am actually quite excited to see one. Because I like combining chemistry and mechanics, that is"

"What does it do?" Touma wondered, looking at the exhibited piece of tech.

"It says here that it has two main functions so far. First, it can conduct a simulation of your physical development 10 years into the future. Of course, the simulation is not set in stone, because it is done on the hypothesis that the diet, environment, and lifestyle will not change drastically from the moment you used the machine. In other words, it simulates your development if you would live the exact same lifestyle, or at least minimally altered, for the next 10 years."

"How does it do it?" Kaibi asked, getting a closer look.

"It first scans you from head to toe and then requires your DNA sample to be inserted into this slot. Then it calculates the possible future, and constructs the image based on information from your DNA and scan it acquired."

"How is that possible? Simulating changes in genetic code, and knowing what types of changes will manifest into phenotype... this is all science fiction!" Kaibi cried out

"Onee-chan, we are espers. Aren't we any more science fiction that this box?" Surprisingly, Amazora decided to play the role straight man in conversation.

"Good point, that's Academy City's technology after all... and second function?"

"Well, if you insert two different samples, alongside with some materials, like a scan or photo, one in those slots the other on the screen to scan... it can create possible recombination and physical apparition of your linked DNA. In other words, it can show possible child of two people."

Suddenly, heads of 3 sisters and Lessar turned towards Touma. The remaining 3 girls also kept glancing at him from time to time. The boy felt the shiver run down his spine.

"Well, let's try this out! How much do we pay?"

It turned out that the experience was free, as it contributed to the improvement of the machine. First was Lessar. After she set a program, gave a few droplets of blood, and undergone a scan, the monitor showed the results...

Everyone stared at young woman on the screen. She looked extremely realistic. She was undoubtedly Lessar. But she had bigger chest, her proportions were more toned and curvy, the face also became more mature and elegant, even though the simulated Lessar still sported that playful grin the present Lessar had. Her legs became pronounced just enough not to be overly muscular, but not thin as sticks.

Finally, Lessar broke the silence by nodding and stating:

"Wow... if I wasn't me, I would totally **** myself"

"This is supposed to be Lessar... at the age of 24?" Floris blinked few times, still coming to terms with surrealistically real vision" She even smiles like her."

As for Touma...

He felt something drip down onto his hand. In one moment, Kamijou Touma realized he had a nosebleed. He quickly wiped his face, but the smug and triumphant look on Lessar's face told him that she saw it all.

Touma found himself in the internal discussion.

'Calm down... surely, she looked as if she could be dorm manager, but it's the personality that counts. And she doesn't have it'

'Maybe it will mature alongside her.'

'Calm down, she is actually younger than you. This is only the possibility.'

'But it can become real!'

But the attacks on Touma's heart were far from over. Next, Amazora and Kaibi tested the machine. And...

"Hmm..." Amazora put a hand on her chin" Don't we just look like Rikuri onee-san?"

This wasn't fully accurate, firstly because simulations showed two different ages, 21 and 25 respectively, secondly, there were difference in the faces and body frames. But overall...

"Ah! We will become even more sisterly-like as we age" Rikuri went to hug her younger siblings.

"Yeah, and I bet you are not the only one happy with the results" Kaibi gave a sassy grin to Touma, who tried his very, very best to remain unbothered.

'I never thought of it that way but if they are sisters, they will probably look similar... but damn, three people with the body like Rikuri-san is too good to be true. I am so glad to be born in this era!'

Lessar raised an eyebrow, before leaning closer to Touma and whispering

"Huh, so you are into multiple people of the same type? Can be though, but maybe I can find some cloning spell"

This momentarily sobered Touma up, as a certain vision entered his mind.

He was standing on empty street in the middle of the night.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

Suddenly, he noticed a silhouette in the darkness.

"Misaka Imouto? Thank goodness, I was-"

"Who is Misaka Imouto, asks Lessar as Lessar suspects you of somehow having another girl in your mind"

That voice. He knew that voice.

The girl that came from the shadows was Lessar. But she wasn't alone.

On her left and right there were dozens of exactly identical girls with black hair and blue eyes, all wearing the same uniform.

"What is going on here?"

"Did you really not remember, asks Lessar 10032 as she ponders how could you be so forgetful"

"In this world, only you and us exist, clarifies Lessar 10324 with know-it-all face while unhooking her bra"

"In other words, you are here with all of us, Lessar 19090 comments while staring hungrily at your chest.

"In order to ensure your loyalty to Britain, Lessars were magically cloned, to overwhelm you with numbers, Lessar 998 says pulling down her skirt..."

"And now you will submit to our lust..." said the choir of thousands of voices.

As Touma took a step backwards, he realized that identical girls filled the street, but not only. They also stood on buildings, climbed on traffic signs, poured out of every exit.

His eyes widened.

And then the avalanche of Lessars pounced at him.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Kamijou screamed, before realizing where he was.

"Is everything fine?" Rikuri asked him.

"Y-Yeah, I just... had a nightmare while awake. Lessar-san, never stop being such wonderful, singular existence"

"I don't really understand what went on with you, but I dig the much deserved compliments"

Meanwhile, there was a sound from the GAGARS and they all noticed Bayloupe's simulation.

Their jaws dropped. Even Rikuri, who had objectively attractive body, nodded in admiration.

"Damn" Touma could only say, looking in awe. "B-Bayloupe-san... what's your secret..."

Silver haired girl winked at him

"Self-confidence and milk"

That sounded like title of some strange self-help book for the girls.

As Floris, Lancis, and Rikuri weren't really interested in 'glimpsing the future', the remaining one was...

Lessar in one quick motion plucked a patch of hair from Touma's head causing her to scream and shook her in return

"You! Do you know how much it requires for it to grow back and not be bitten off by Index or destroyed in some accident?"

"And... done..." Lessar managed to input the sample and scan Touma.

The result was...

Kaibi actually blushed, Lessar started to giggle eerily to herself with a small bit of saliva at the edge of her lips, Rikuri put hands to her mouth, Amazora was flabbergasted, Lancis and Floris started to clap, and Bayloupe's smile widened a little bit.

However...

"Body and silhouette are fine and cool, but why do I look so tired? Is my DNA that telling of the amount of stress I suffer? Even artificial intelligence makes fun of me."

"Well, you look cool to me" Kaibi said after a moment.

"Yeah, that face actually makes it kind of... well... hot" Rikuri wasn't far off.

"Heh heh... mommy likes what she sees, oh yes"

"Don't worry onii-chan. You still look like a super onii-chan. Even with a face of tired salaryman"

"OI!"

Afterwards, it was time to test the second function.

"Okay, our data is already in here, so now we just have to press two of the profiles and..."

The hands of Kaibi and Lessar shot out at the same time. However, as they both pressed their own profiles, what was generated was...

The horror struck both of their faces as Touma, Amazora, Lancis, and Rikuri started laughing so loudly that they were probably heard beyond the district borders. Even Bayloupe was chuckling.

"What... I-I am going to have nightmares. No offense, you are cool and all but..." Lessar looked at Kaibi awkwardly and then at the girl at the screen. Which had both her and Kaibi's characteristics.

"How is that even possible?!" Kaibi cried in anguish.

"Well, parthenogenesis technically enables two ova to-" Rikuri started to explain, but Kaibi quickly stopped her and instead change the genetic matchup towards her and Touma.

(LATER ON)

"Wow, I can't believe how good our daughter looked, Lover Boy" Lessar mused, as they returned to Touma's old apartment.

"P-Please don't say it like that, it's actually kind of awkward..."

The simulation of Kamijou and Lessar combo showed a girl with black hair, that looked similar to Lessar's, and grey eyes, similar to Touma's. After seeing it Lessar got strangely proud and could not stop talking about it, to the irritation of Kaibi.

"You know what's best? That if that child takes after both parents, it would be an idiot who would flirt with everyone but couldn't take a hint" Floris grinned at Lessar and fled as the imp girl started to chase her.

"Well, I think that your combination looked good as well" Rikuri grinned at Kaibi and Touma.

Both of them looked away from each other, slightly red faced.

"To be honest, I was kind of expecting blond hair to appear... but then I realized that this was not your original colour of hair."

"Yeah" Kaibi took a part of hair golden curls" Believe me or not but, original colour of our hair is the mixture of gunmetal and umber hues"

"Which means?"

"Medium-light brown, moron"

"Yeah... can't picture it. Anyway, welcome to my dorm. Well, what was supposed to be my dorm but it is under renovation."

The sisters took a look around, contemplating the inside of the boy's usual living space. Before Touma's memory loss, they never managed to be here.

"Well, it's something you would expect of a level 0..."

"But it still has a cozy aura to it"

"Well, I guess by what my friends from abroad told me, is that they re-electrified the dorm and fixed majority of things. So, make yourselves at home... you already did before, but let's do it properly this time.

(1 HOUR LATER)

"Well, I was not expecting this" Touma muttered as they all sat together in the circle.

After whipping up some snacks and having New Light sighing in delight after them, the group actually decided to play Daring game. Without the Truth part, as this would be terribly hard to verify.

"Okay, Floris first. I dare you to hug Kamijou" said Lancis, causing the serious girl to jump

"Huh?"

"Come on, Flory. Or maybe you are chickening out?"

"F-Floris-san..." Touma tried to rescue the situation" you don't have to..."

Yet the girl moved closer, while clenching her fists and pouting her lips.

"Just for the record, I still hate you"

And gave him a somewhat awkward yet at the end of the day pleasurable hug.

Now it was Floris' time to dare someone.

"Little one, I dare you to lift the fridge. I heard you can do it and I really want to see it"

Amazora gave a thumbs up and zoomed over to the fridge.

"N-No! Amazora, it's attached-"

SCREEECH!

"...to the wall... fukou da..."

"Wow!" Floris was now clapping, alongside with the others, besides Touma who almost suffered a heart attack. Amazora got so gleeful that her teleknietic support was so effective that she lowered that fridge a little too quick.

BANG! The floor actually caved in a little, but fortunately, not enough to actually let the fridge fall down.

Touma hid his head in his hands.

"Okay then..."Amazora said, trying her best to cover the fridge with her body "Next is... horny onee-chan"

"Horny onee-chan?" Touma said, looking at Lessar.

"I dare you to... make a dance for onii-chan with your friends"

"Ho?" Lessar seemed intrigued, but Floris protested

"Oi, what's with this? Daring a group must be illegal! Because I will die if I make a music video for h-him"

"It does seem a bit embarrassing" admitted Lancis.

"What kind of dance?" asked Bayloupe with neutral expression.

"Rikuri nee-san... was it shamboo? sampa?"

"Oh, she means samba! I love samba and you four would look fabulous dancing it" Rikuri clapped her hands in joy." I have perfect get ups from our shopping earlier"

"Sounds fun. Let's do it! It will have to wait a little bit though, it has to be prepared" Lessar said, shaking hands with Rikuri.

"Lessar! Don't decide on things like that on your own" three other voices screamed, enraged.

"Oi, Bayloupe always says that we aim to be gorgeous girls, so what's exactly the problem"

"Losing our dignity, that's what!"

"Anyway. Goldilocks, I have a dare for you. " Lessar pointed at Kaibi "Say you like Lover Boy, without all the tsun tsun-ness"

"What?!" Touma was about to protest, but Kaibi stood up. Lessar looked at her with superiority, but the girl in the dress bit her lip and, assuming the cutest look she could muster.

"Kamijou Touma, I..."

She inhaled deeply and finished.

"I really, really like you"

The room was silent before cheers erupted from around her. Touma smiled at Kaibi

"Thanks! I also like you very much and I am glad we can be friends"

Kaibi twitched from the invisible blow, and the other girls winced at that. The Ultimate Friendzoner Kamijou Touma was blissfully unaware of this devastating strategy.

However, Kaibi quickly recovered.

'If I want to confess one day, I have to be prepared that he will not get the hint until that day comes'

Touma himself got slightly red. If it wasn't a game, it would almost look like as if Kaibi... no, there was no way that was the case.

Meanwhile, Lessar felt as if a cloud of frustration, alien to her usual self, clouded her mind.

'I... I didn't expect her to say her so readily. I thought she looked like a dishonest type, but she must have grown along the way... I feel kind of pathetic now...'

And as Lessar watched, this dark fire in her soul enveloped her heart. She tried to stop it, but it only burned more and more.

After 3 or 4 more dares, Touma noticed that Lessar disappeared.

"Go on without me, I want to check something" he said as he got up and approached the toilet.

He narrowed his eyes, as he entered into the darkness... he managed to walk a few steps...

The doors closed and locked, as he quickly turned around, but Lessar was faster, and they tumbled into the bathtub.

"Oh, this place brings back so many memories. Bathtub as a bed is actually quite dirty from your side, Lover Boy."

"Lessar, what the hell? We seriously don't need to do this right now!" Touma said as he tried to get the girl off of him" I only came here because I was worried that something is wrong with you. Everyone is having a good time, so can't we for once act normally with each other?"

"On contrary, I think you were holding yourself back today a lot." Lessar said, sneaking her hands underneath his T-shirt" And your sexy best girl Lessar is here to do her job and relieve you of this tension. Isn't that great? And you will have a girl all to yourself. It's like a dream. Now, get those pants down and-"

Then, something broke in Touma. It was rare, raw feeling of anger in him. In burst of strength, he flipped Lessar so now he was the one pining her down.

"Listen! I am not your job. Our lives are our own to decide! You want me to stay if we sleep with each other?! And you honestly believe that something remotely good will come from something so forceful?! I am not an object, Lessar. I am not someone you can just screw over with and make it a god damn checklist. I am tired of this! And you know why?! Because you are not a bad person. We could have something interesting and I saw glimpses of what person you could be if you stopped with this job of yours. But you are trying too hard and we don't have proper conversations. What do I even know about you? And what do you even know about me..."

Lessar flinched, but stood her ground while on the bathtub's bottom.

"Yeah, right, as if you were interested in me if I talked. Going all out with my body was the only way..."

"Why?! Your friends seem to have common sense to their actions. You are trying to convince someone? You take time to honour their interests and you do it like a normal person, instead of trying to have a child with them!"

"Well, excuse me that I am not older like Bayloupe, gentle like Lancis, or intelligent like Floris. For that matter, so damn sorry for not being like any other of this humongous harem of yours. I may not be the smartest, the most eloquent, but I have a nice body. So I will do anything it takes and use all my advantages."

"Lessar, you are missing the point here! Why isn't there other way? What are you afraid of?"

He let go off her wrists and the girl moved upwards, supporting herself on the edge of the tub.

"Afraid? What are you talking about? I am your happy, go-lucky girl."

"There is something obviously off with you."

Lessar's eyes lost its usual sparkle, and her tail was not in motion. However, she still forced a smile.

"Like you care, Lover Boy. From all the time we spent with each other, you always wanted me away and were looking at other girls rather than me when you had the occasion! Look at me! I am not talking about doing my job or anything. But do tell... do you find me awful. Do I look bad?"

Touma opened his mouth as Lessar stared at him intensely

"No... but your behaviour..."

"I dedicated my actions for you! Although the intentions were different, I directed my whole attention to trying to seduce you. Isn't that worth it?"

"Again, there is a huge gap between total ignorance and physical intimacy! Whatever lies in between is really important and in your case, I would like to know it too! Why can't we do this step by step like normal people?!"

"There is no way that would be enough! I need you... to not leave..." Lessar's voice shook a little, but she remained stubborn.

Touma's anger reached its peak

"Fine then! If you don't care about the inside, go ahead and marry a wild animal with no mind! Or swap me with any of my male classmates, no, all of them. Then you would have an army for the glory of United Kingdom! What's the difference, after all stubborn as mule Lessar-sama doesn't care what others think or feel! Get on with it and sleep with anyone you wish! If all you see in yourself is a tool without consideration for any depth in a relationship, than I don't want to be a part of any such thing! Come on, do it! If you refuse my help and stubbornly cling to this illusion, then-"

Even before reaching that point, Touma realized that he went too far. His anger evaporated in that short outburst, but the damage was done.

Lessar started shaking. It was such a contrast with her usual self that there was something disturbing in this sight.

"I do not... have such wishes... I just can't... I just don't know how to..."

"Lessar... what I meant was..."

"No, you made it loud and clear! You think that I am a slut who would sleep with anyone if it was for my cause, right?!"

"That's not what I..."

"Well, thanks for honesty. I know when I am not needed." Lessar got up and something silver shone in the darkness at the level of her face, as she wiped her cheeks with a hand" Heh, even breaking girl's heart, you still look hot as hell, you know?"

After that, she swiftly jumped out of the tub, unlocked the door and ran away, not turning back.

"Lessar... wait!" Touma shouted, not caring that someone else could hear it. But it was too late. He slammed his fist down in frustration.

He knew he was right to mad at the girl, but now that he calmed down, he also knew he could have handled it differently. He didn't know who was he more mad at: himself, for not figuring out what his relationship with Lessar even was, or at Lessar, because for some reason she assumed that having a sexual intercourse was an only option.

He did not know why he reacted that way. Maybe because Lessar never, as long as he knew her at least, was that upset. So he pushed forward in his anger, not really holding back.

"I can't leave it like this..."

But his valiant attempts were in vain, as he slipped, rather anticlimatic fashion, and hit his head hard on the floor, causing his consciousness to disappear like a blown candle.

(LATER)

He heard a voice singing as he slowly regained his bearings

Co am fear am measg an t-sluaigh
A mhaireas buan gu brath?

He noticed the dark sky above and silver shape that looked like a halo of mercury adorned with the stars in the darkness. The soothing voice echoed around him, clearer and clearer by moments

Chan eil sinn uile ach air chuairt
Mar dhithein buaile fas

He felt that he was laying on something soft yet firm, facing upwards.

Bheir siantannan na blianna sios
'S nach tog a' ghrian an aird.

"The moon is beautiful tonight..."

"Say, I don't know much about your japanese culture, but did you just confess your love to me?"

Touma focused and what he assumed was the moon turned out to be the silver hair over the face of the girl.

The girl that kept his head on her lap and after running her hand through his hair, raised it in a greeting

"Hi"

"B-B-B-Bayloupe-san?!" Touma shouted, jumping upwards" I-I am sorry... I didn't-"

"For what? I was the one that brought you hear after you passed out in the toilet. Quite a squabble by the way. That Kaibi girl ran after Lessar. As for the other sisters, I used people clearing field to have some space for a private talk. Don't worry, they are safe though.

"Oh..."

"Also, don't apologize after you stared at me throughout the day"

"You noticed?"

"It wasn't hard to see. Am I your type? I think I am, based on the few rumors going around"

"Just... forget it and..."

"No" the girl cut him off" I like daring men. That makes... things more interesting. As for now, I was just relaxing and did you a favour. We treated ourselves to some juice, hope you don't mind"

She took a gentle sip while saying that.

"Bayloupe-san..."

"Bayloupe is fine"

"Bayloupe... do you want something from me?"

She grinned and changed her position, taking Touma off her legs and instead resting her head and chest on Touma's, causing the boy's heart rate to accelerate from the pressure of her bosom on him. Apparently, this girl really liked to be in control.

"It's honestly sad that you immediately assume I want something... but well... do you remember when I mentioned my dream? Do you know what that is?"

Touma shook his head, and the girl leaned closer to his ear.

"I always wanted a family"

Although he knew the context was different, Touma felt strange and weirdly light when older girl whispered word family into his ear.

"Senpai, do you actually tease me now?"

"Who knows. Also, what was that about the moon?"

"Well, you hair looked really beautiful and I mistook-"

A hand slammed next to him, which felt as if Kamijou was in a laying down version of kabedon.

"You know, I am not like Lessar, but if you keep hitting those weak spots, then I will take a page from her book"

"W-What?"

The girl distanced herself a little bit and continued

"You know, when I was little, everyone hated my hair. They said I looked very weird. So I usually beat them up... yeah, I was a troublesome one, but the hair was always my pride. And I can appreciate someone who can see that too"

Touma forced himself to ignore the wink after that last sentence and asked something else

"Why did you want a family?"

Bayloupe took another sip of the juice, and looked into night sky.

"My parents died in a car accident when I was only 3. I was the sole survivour, and was then taken to orphanage. I was always strong and very agile for a girl, plus I had that silver-grey hair, so other children didn't really felt comfortable around me and often avoided me. I was a troublemaker who took everything she wanted so my caretakers had their hands full."

"You were lonely?"

"Well, I learned to fight for myself and be independent, strong woman you see before you. So it wasn't a total waste. But yes, don't days were rather lonely. The only friend I had back then was Oriana"

"Oriana... wait, don't tell me..."

"You've met her, right? Her father, Alan Thomson, was the head of the orphanage I was in. He lived there with his second wife. Oriana's mother died when she was small, and she was left in the care of religious dad, who decided to make her a nun. She was the same age as me but visited only occasionally because she was training to be a church servant per her father's wish. She always was so nice to me, maybe because she had no mother and felt cut off from her roots, just like me. Although I lost contact with her for years and only recognized her when Lessar faced her and you during British Halloween. We both changed a lot."

"Roots?"

"That song I sang to you, you probably didn't recognize the language, huh? I was originally from near the border of Scotland and England. I learned both english and gaelic, but I use it rarely and don't have an accent. Heh, it suits me, doesn't it?

"Yeah... I have no full idea about it, but yeah"

"Fun fact: each of us New Light members is from different fragment of United Kingdom. I am from Scotland, Floris is from Wales, Lancis from Northern Ireland, and Lessar from England. I like to take it as something really symbolic"

"Come to think of it... how did you even met?"

"I finally got bored and ran away from the orphanage. I worked for myself in better times, fought on the streets in worse. One time, I stumbled upon a gang of thugs in some alleyway. Using stealth skills, I managed to discombobulate them, and was about to rob them, when I noticed a person on the ground. He was dead, and, upon closer inspection, he happened to carry a book with himself. I thought I would sell it, so robbed him off it. But on the other day, my curiosity got the better of me and I looked inside. I later discovered that the dead guy was actually a messenger transporting a grimoire for the Church. Pretty lame one if you ask me, if he couldn't protect the book"

"But I thought no one expect Index could read the grimoires unharmed"

"You are right. I wasn't unharmed. The contents of it latched into my mind and made me sick. My whole body was on the verge of shutting down, I lost track of time, or how much pain I experienced, laying in the pool of blood, vomit, and saliva. But after many days, I awoke like normal. Barely alive, hungry, dehydrated, and weak beyond belief, but sane and alive nonetheless. And within my mind was knowledge of magic New Light uses to this day. "

"Wow..."

"This power was too great to waste! I decided to form a team of people who could use those powers alongside me and teach them what I knew. So I travelled, far and wide, and one by one, people who I was searching for came to my life through the twists of fate and action. I confronted them, talked to them, fought them if necessary, and offered the chance to be my family. Lancis was a rich girl from good family, but was considered a freak, bullied and ridiculed by her oversensitivity to magical energy, that she didn't even know about yet. Her parents didn't want a damage to their precious status.

'A small girl was crying by the side of the wall. Her brown hair had fragments of tomato, with red juice trickling down. Her uniform was dirty, and books, vandalized with offensive words in permanent marker, fell from the bag onto the ground.

Suddenly, a figure of another girl appeared before her, causing the girl to cover in fear.

"Hey, don't be afraid. I dealt with those guys who bullied you. They won't come for you again"

"I should go..."

"No, stay. I have something to say to you"

"You want to... talk with me? But I am a freak! I don't want to be connected with-"

The silver haired girl wiped the tomato juice of the hair of the girl with tears on her cheeks.

"You are not a freak. In fact, you have a wonderful talents. They are just ignorant of your true power. So what if it has side effects? I will help you and make you shine. I heard that even your parents left you in care of others, right? Well, in that case... if you are tired of being alone, if you love this country, but want to change it for the better, for all those who are alone and suffering, to restore its glory and beauty for all people..."

She extended her hand to wide-eyed girl.

"Come with me and become my sister"

Floris was one of 5 siblings, as the oldest she was completely neglected or overworked by her family, starving and stealing for survival. She is still little paranoid about any reckless danger. She was very successful because she was the smartest girl in the slums... before she encountered me...

Bayloupe was staring at the thin blond haired girl, rapidly devouring the sandwich she was given. Her eyes never once left the person in front of her, as if the blue-eyed blond was scared that her meal would be taken away.

"Why did you feed me? I tried to rob you!"

"I was there too. But there are better ways than living a life like you do"

Before, Bayloupe and the blond girl fought as the little thief tried to rob her.

Even though the thief girl was apparently swift and smart, she lacked the fortitude to truly defeat Bayloupe.

"What is your name?"

" *munch* I am... *munch*...Floris"

"That's a nice name. Floris, I think you have talent for things you didn't even dream of. So what would you say about joining me?"

"Nah. I work alone. Thanks for the meal, but me being a lackey? Hard pass"

"Bayloupe, you have those eyes again..." muttered Lancis, sitting by their side.

"Only because this will be fun..."

Bayloupe sighed with nostalgia.

" Floris is keen on noticing every possibility of danger, which stems from her days as a thief, and may seem prone to panicking, because that's her way of dealing with stress. But she actually is focus and smart in actual combat. Back then, she was stubborn and bent on operating solo. So we fought. 10 times. She lost each time, but her agility and skills just cemented my desire to make her a part of the team. Eventually, she joined because she acknowledged my power and wished to learn as well. Although she initially only did it for this reason, with time she started to love being together with us. She is often a great help, and helps to keep Lancis and Lessar focused on the task."

And as we travelled in trio, it came time for Lessar to join our lives..."

"Bayloupe-san, speaking of Lessar, I must ask you something. You see, just before I woke up, we..."

And then Touma told Bayloupe what he and Lessar argued about in the bathroom.

The older girl cringed as if she ate something sour

"That... was probably the worst conversation you two could have"

"Why? I don't understand? What is Lessar so afraid of?"

"Well, to understand her, you must understand her past circumstances. When I met her, she was trying to sell her body to some men in the pub, and luckily, I was there to stop it from happening. She was unusually eager to join me, and was always very enthusiastic, yet not so wanting to talk about her life before that pub. So I did some digging myself, tracking it back to Lessar's home town.

Lessar's mother was apparently an actress from London, who liked to go to countryside during her holidays. She was a woman of great beauty and charm, and in time, she was relatively popular. But due to some scandal, which I don't know details of, she lost her job. So she started to use her fans and her body as the ways to keep her living status as it was. That made her addicted to attention even more, and she switched partners as fast as she switched gloves in romance movies in which she acted before. One of the her greatest admirers was a young man, elected as a mayor of a small town near Leeds in Western Yorkshire. He was an honest, hardworking type, who lived a simple life but was very active in a community and loved by people of his town.

They met before during her holidays and when she, the revered actress and his muse, came to him asking for help, he could not deny her. But even though she only wanted to sleep with him to get the money, he got her drunk and she let her guard down. The effect of that romance came 9 months earlier, in the form of little Lessar. You would think the mother would stay with her child. But no, Lessar's mother didn't care in the slightest, as she never wanted her daughter in the first place. She only stayed with them only until Lessar could eat solid food, and then disappeared without a trace"

"That's awful... is that why Lessar acts like she does?"

"Hmm... the worst was yet to come. This prolonged stay made Lessar's father think that the object of his affection actually loves him back. He completely changed. When she disappeared, he became obsessed. He praised Lessar for how she looked, while disciplining her for anything else. I have no idea what level of unhealthy dynamics and abuse was really going on, but it was clearly there. Why? Because apparently, Lessar looks like a spitting image of her mother in her younger years. Possibly, he transferred his emotions and thoughts regarding his lover on their daughter, and in a way, used Lessar as compensation for the loss he could not face, punishing any behaviour that was against his vision. It's only my theory, but I think the only praise Lessar ever received was on how she looked, and expression of every other area was punished. Thus, she started to associate good things with her body and intimate side, and started to fear internal world, that could lead her to 'diverge' and cause more harm."

Touma was truly shaken. Regret towards the things he said to Lessar came back tenfold.

"How could he do this to his own daughter?"

"People hide many forms of darkness. He never did this in public too, I had to ask one of the cleaners of his house. Also, he possibly lessened the moral burden by pretending, for those occasions, that Lessar wasn't in fact his daughter. With the quantity of the men her mother was with, it was very hard to determine who was the father, even though everyone in the town had no doubt in this case"

Lessar finally ran away, just like me. As for her dad, I heard he never recovered, spiralling into madness further and further, and succumbed into alcoholism, dying just few years after. Lessar's upbringing filled her with some pretty messed up ideas on how to earn money, but at the same time, she was always an unyielding optimist. She managed to survive thanks to her luck and spirit. But it's a good thing I found her, last member of New Light to join. And it's even better thing that she met you."

"..."

"What I am getting at Kamijou, is that you had it backwards. Lessar hates the idea of selling body to just anyyone. She does what she does because she believes that physical intimacy will make you stay close by. She always listened to her father saying that if he was more interesting and attractive, Lessar's mother would stay, so she thought that if she was attractive enough, she won't be abandoned again. And she is scared to think of alternatives. She thinks her inside is worthless because she was punished for it. Kamijou, I think you are the one who can truly show her the path of true affection"

"Affection?"

"She got hurt because you suggested something she hates the most. That she would try to throw her dignity around like someone completely without a care who she sleeps with. I know it sounds contradictory. But even if Lessar unconsciously acted like her mother, she is not like her! That's because she is determined to do this for one person only, in the entirety of all people. And that person is you. She is childish and needs to learn a lot, but she truly has affection for you."

"Bayloupe, I need to go to find-"

"Ssssh!" the girl pressed a finger on his lips.

"I think you see now. New Light is set to make UK better place. We all love our country, although each of us has their own motif in acting like we do. Also, we want to become gorgeous girls with unparalleled beauty, to get back on the years of hate and loneliness."

Touma frowned. Did her face was that flushed before?

"Kamijou, those 3 became my true family. We grew alongside each other, I taught them, we fought alongside one another, and cared for each other in sickness and health. But for quite some time, I felt the need for someone else-"

Yes, she was definitely closer now. And there was a rather strange light in her eyes.

"Ever since I heard about you, I started to research you and your adventures. And the way you fought off adversaries, and united all the factions, like Amakusa, Roman Catholics, and Necessarius, to work together, even for a moment, sent shivers down my spine. After hearing from Lessar and observing for myself, I was convinved. You are someone our isles need. Someone this world needs"

"W-Well..." Touma muttered, trying his best to back off " always nice to be needed..."

"Someone I need"

"I-I am sorry?"

"You are strong, possess a powerful force at your disposal, and already got into hearts of our team. Lancis came to like you, and Floris is... how do you call it Japan? Tsun-da-ray? As for myself..."

"Bayloupe-san... in what sense you meant when you wanted for me to be a part of your family?"

"Family is quite an extensive term for me. What sense do you want for me to follow through with?"

"B-But we don't know each other all that much"

"There will still be time. But now, I just have to do it. I always wanted a strong partner who could keep up with me"

"W-What do you mean... in what areas-"

"All of them. My energy, power, temper, dreams... and more. I like winning, Kamijou. And I am beating Lessar as her superior right now"

She brushed her hair aside and leaned over him.

"Wait, wait, someone pressed fast-forward in this movie called life? This is too fast!"

"Don't worry, I am not like Lessar. I will give you only the apetizer taste... so we could do more later~... or maybe..."

Her face suddenly fell, and she stared at him with sad eyes.

"You don't want big sister to kiss you?"

The contrast with her usual composed face made this a devastating blow.

"Bay...loupe...san..." he said weakly, trying to argue back with shattered conviction.

But before the kiss could happen, the sliding door to Touma's balcony opened.

This gave boy strength and he managed to shake Bayloupe off.

"Lancis! Floris! Help, Bayloupe started acting stra-"

But then he stopped, as he looked at two girls.

Lancis was half-crawling, and Floris was swaying slightly. Their faces were flushed... and their gazes were fixed directly on him.

Touma felt cold sweat on him.

"Oh no... not you too..."

"Kamijou, you were the first one who treated me seriously in long while. You listened to me and you said my laugh was cute. No one... ever said that to me. I can't focus on thinking until I reward you for being so nice" Lancis said while crawling forward, with a dreamy smile on her face, licking her lips.

"I hate you... I hate you so much... but I also can't stand that you don't see my sings... so I will just make you see me and punish you for your stupidity. After I drank so much, it became easy to see... that you are not so bad... after all..." Floris extended her hands towards Touma, making a kissy face.

"Drink? Wait..." Touma shot a glance towards the empty glass Bayloupe was drinking from.

He was sure that it was a juice. But if it somehow wasn't and girls drank something else...

They were closer and closer, all three of them.

"Wait! You drank something that is messing with and amplifying your emotions! If you just..."

He never got a chance to finish.

Three pairs of eyes lit up, three pairs of female legs jumped, followed by the respective bodies and one male falsetto scream echoed through the night.

(MEANWHILE)

Gokusai Kaibi turned around. She could have sworn she heard a familiar scream, but maybe it was just her imagination.

She finally managed to locate the girl she was looking for, the one named Lessar, who suddenly ran away from Touma's dorm. They were in District 7's main park.

Kaibi was not sure why she felt the need to pursue the girl. Although she had a few ideas.

Maybe it was because of the dynamic those girls shared and it reminded her of her own broken, runaway family? Or maybe because, according to Kamijou, this Lessar girl was also, like Kaibi in the past, using her body and seduction to gain what she wanted?

She sat down near the girl, who embraced her legs with her arms while sitting on the bench.

"What do you want, Goldilocks?"

"I... I think I would like to help"

"Go away"

"Lessar, what is the problem? Surely you can tell your best friend"

This time, she wasn't using Measure Heart for malicious purposes. The girl in front of her obviously needed to vent, and decreasing the distance between their hearts could create an opportunity for that.

"I... feel awful. And I never feel awful" came the comment from the black haired girl after a while. "I just wanted to be with him... so why is my body not enough? I offered Kamijou all I could. Why is he requesting something I can't give? That's just not fair!"

"Okay... could you tell me everything about that argument you had?"

And so, Lessar spoke. Kaibi listened and sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Lessar-san, I doubt that Kamijou meant what he said. He was just confused and didn't know full picture. But if you want my opinion, you should try to do things his way as well as your own. Setting the compromise is a basis of a relationship"

"But... I feel awesome and fun when I can seduce him and whenever I charm him. I know my hobbies and basic stuff... but I am not good with all the things he wants. I am... afraid. I don't like being afraid!"

"Sometimes, we have to be afraid and push past our limits to find something beautiful"

"What if he leaves me?" there was a true fear in Lessar's voice.

Kaibi put a hand on top of foreign girl's shoulder.

"Ask yourself why is this so important to you"

"What?"

"Why is Kamijou so important that possibility of losing him hurts you so much?"

Lessar scratched her head

"Because if I fail, Britain would lose a valuable asset?"

Kaibi did not buy the half-hearted reply. She also did not understand what Lessar meant by that, so she just assumed that she wanted to take Touma to her country and join her friends, for whatever reason. Kamijou was mysterious enough for her to just accept that heuristic.

"Maybe that is partially true, but I think there is something else there. If what you say is true, if one of your friends got to convince him to join you, would you be happy with that?"

"No!" shouted Lessar, getting up... before blinking, and tilting her head.

Why... would that be a problem?

When she met Touma, she wanted to convince him to joining her and seduce him to give UK a powerful ally. She still wanted that, but...

Ever since they spent time together during WWIII, and then Touma disappeared from the place by her side in the cold waters of Arctic Ocean, something changed.

She would no longer be satisfied if Bayloupe, Lancis, Floris, or even Princesses themselves were the ones to seduce Touma. She felt irritated when she even thought about it.

"No, that won't do. I made so much effort and I don't... don't want anyone else to take credit, when what I feel..."

Was she... jealous? Was the bitterness today jealousy she had no knowledge of before now?

Kaibi sighed again, as she too realized something.

'I would never help her before, especially not with this kind of thing when she is essentially my rival. But you know what? This moron actually managed to change me a lot'

"What do you feel when you are with him, what things you don't want to lose?"

"When I am with Lover Boy, I feel excited and happy. I think he is awesome and cool, and it makes me smile even more. I like when we can have fun together, eat together, and it would be great if he felt that too. I feel so warm and nice around him that I just want to give him my body and bear his child"

"Okay... except that last bit, all of this is rather normal. I diagnose you with being in love."

Lessar pouted, her tail swaying between her legs.

"In love... really?"

"Yes. I was in denial of it for a long time so I know it quite well"

"But..." Lessar lowered her head, and Kaibi saw the wet droplet hit her hands "If I am in love, then if he abandons me... then I..."

Lessar was one of those people who were so vibrantly carefree and optimistic that it seemed almost unbelievable to think she could cry. But even she had parts of her that were sad and tainted with fear.

Kaibi looked forward, towards the darkness of the park and skyscrapers in the distance.

"You know, it's quite hard, but the key in being with others is communication. Talking with others can hurt, but it can also heal. You didn't bother to talk with your desires with Kamijou, right? And although he could have handled it better, you never gave him any space. Well, now it's time to make it right. And you are in luck. Because the guy you fell in love with..."

Lessar slowly looked at Kaibi, who smiled at her.

"...is surely coming to save you. If you leave things as you are, you two will never heal. You needed this moment, and now, you will push forward. That's normal thing in relationships. Arguments hurt, but sometimes, they are needed to make way for the change that benefits everyone."

"Lover Boy... won't reject me? Even if I don't know much about loves other than physical?"

"That's for him to decide. But if I know one thing about Kamijou Touma, is that he doesn't abandon people in need."

Lessar's eyes widened as she slowly stood up.

Flashbacks of Touma saving her life from Robin Hood arrow, and against berserk monster of a level 5 known as Accelerator, as well as many episodes along their journey, filled her head.

That's right... that was one of the reason why she became attracted to him in the first place. Because he did not abandon her.

As Lessar thought this, she realized something. The desire to become one with Touma and love him in a physical, passionate form was still there.

But her heart opened to new desires. Some were unknown and alien to her, worrisome even.

But she knew a person who could help her.

And choosing between stubbornly keeping her way or remaining in Kamijou Touma's life was an easy choice.

She sprang into the run, waving to Kaibi

"Thanks so much Goldilocks, I will treat you to something in the future. I have to go find Kamijou!"

(MEANWHILE)

Othinus landed on a Certain Dorm's outer corridor.

She slept through majority of the day because of the incarnate of chaos, Amazora Gokusai, that kept her up all night. And after waking up, her Understander was not there.

So, she went to search for him by scanning the ground from the crow she tamed in the City, just like she did once when she was in London.

She had no luck through the day, and she was about to give up, when light caught her attention in the dorms that should be empty.

And when she landed, she was there to witness Kamijou Touma frantically getting out of the dorm and locking the door beside himself.

The usually reserved goddess laughed. Oh, did she laugh.

Touma's hair looked as if he was dragged through a hurricane. His clothes had holes in them, and Touma's face and exposed fragments of skin bore scratches, as if from claws, and lipstick kiss marks all over himself.

"Human, what happened?"

"Othi...nus... did I die?"

"As an expert in watching you die, I can certainly say that you are both alive and looking like an idiot. Who did this to you?"

"British women are... scary... yet... kind of amazing too. But when I managed to touch them with Imagine Breaker, they calmed down a bit. That was weird."

He then shook his head and took off running.

"That reminds me. Sorry Othinus, I have to go now. We will meet later on"

"Where are you going?!"

"I have to find Lessar!"

(20 MINUTES LATER)

Maybe because she didn't ran all that far, they managed to notice each other on the main street, few intersections away.

"Lover Boy!"

"Lessar!"

As they ran towards each other, it almost looked like a scene from the movie, if not for...

HONK!

"Shiiiiiit!"

The car that came from across the corner almost hit Kamijou. The owner cursed loudly and the boy himself lost his footing causing him to stumble and slam against the trash cans on the edge of the street.

Lessar's lips stretched into a smile, and then the black haired girl burst laughing. She laughed merrily till her sides started to hurt. And with it, the cold feeling she was dealing with earlier started to melt away.

"W-What is this?! Hahahaha! You made it seem like such a great moment, and then you ruined it like this!"

She reached the spot where Touma was and then extended her hand.

As they took few steps away, they looked at each other, both feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Hey/Listen..." they both said simultaneously, which caused another moment of further silence.

Finally, Touma took a deep breath and said

"Lessar, I am sorry for what I said earlier. I was angry and I didn't know the full picture. Bayloupe told me everything and I just want to say that I really am sorry that I misjudged you. I feel that I had right to feel mind about certain things, but I went too far. You didn't deserve that."

"I..." Lessar shifted from leg to leg, her tail coiling around her waist " have something to say too. I am not very good at all the deep stuff, nor am I extremely smart or powerful. But I know that I want to know you. You are important to me. I still think that I want to sleep with you, but if it means that you will not want to see me anymore... that's just not worth it."

"Wait. I don't want to change who you are. The things you did made you who you are, so I have no intention to make you stop. Although... if you could warn me in advance and respect the moments when I say no?"

"Hmm...I can definitely try" Lessar gave a thumb up" Unless you make me too lonely of course."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Touma smiled back. "Oh, and also: Lessar, I will not abandon you. Even if you are scared of the parts of yourself that you don't know, I will be here to learn and support you in becoming who you want to be"

Lessar said nothing, but her cheeks reddened slightly and she shook her head with a smile

"Well, then I will try to talk to you more instead of only doing my thing. You were never just an object for me, Kamijou. You are so, so much cooler. And this girl dedicates her heart to show you how fun this journey can get. So if we take it step by step, I guess we can find the middle ground."

They stood there, smiling and staring at each other.

Then, Lessar's nose twitched and she shivered.

"Atchoo!"

Touma watched Lessar sneeze with amusement.

"I thought idiots don't catch colds"

"That's rich coming from you. Admit it, you just thought that I look super hot and it made me sneeze"

"Firstly, that superstition doesn't really work if we stand next to each other. Secondly, you are hot in the freezing night. You will catch a cold like this"

"So you agree that I am hot!"

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Agree to disagree"

"Although... you do look very nice"

"Heh, that's a given!"

Touma unzipped his hoodie and motioned to Lessar

"This hoodie is slightly bigger... big enough for you to fit up front."

"I thought you were going to give it to me"

"I know but... this is more of your style. Think of it as compromise. "

And so, Lessar got under the hoodie and zipped it, wearing it together with Touma. Although the material stretched, Lessar's hair was tickling Touma's face and they had to synchronize steps with one another, it was strangely...

"How nice" purred the girl, feeling warmth spreading through her.

Then she looked at Touma, twisting her head, and for the first time, she noticed the blurs of red and scratches on his skin

"What are those?"

Touma shivered and muttered

"W-Well..."

"Is this lipstick? Wait, kisses?! Who did that?"

"F-Floris"

"She always acted all cold for you! And those scratches?"

"Lancis..."

"Tch, it's always the quiet ones! Then... Bayloupe?"

"She actually... did both"

"Oh, that's it! I am going there to give them piece of my mind. Damn hypocrites!"

"Wait! Lessar, something was really off with them. First, they acted normal, but then got all... enthusiastic and stuff, as if they were drunk. My Imagine Breaker seemed to pacify them, but they were still out of it. Floris mentioned something about a drink and..."

Lessar froze in place

"D-Drink?!"

"Lessar... what is going on?"

"Erm.. you see... I might know what happened to them... it's quite funny actually, really a riot... heh heh... heh..."

(IN THE MORNING)

Bayloupe groaned, blearily opening her eyes.

She cringed from the light permeating Kamijou Touma's dorm.

"So, you are awake" Lessar called to her while sitting on the chair.

Floris and Lancis were already awake, also cringing and groaning.

"What the hell happened? My head hurts..." New Light leader muttered, walking towards the rest of the quartet.

"My too. What happened with us last night?" Floris put an ice pack on her head, looking just as confused.

"I remember... Kamijou... and then... it's all a blur" Lancis looked at Lessar, who coughed and put out a camera.

"Well, for abridged version, you got drunk. So you smooched Lover Boy, and later organized an all out party! When I returned here, you were all having a blast. Look!"

Kind of fearing what they were about to see, three girls leaned towards the screen of the digital camera.

'So you think you are better than me? Huh?! Then you shall see who is better once Kamijou gets back!" drunk Bayloupe stood in front of the bathroom's mirror, practically snarling at it.

CUT!

"And now it's the time for another song" Lancis wobbled on the Touma's table, doing the pose that was supposed to be elegant "What do we do with a drunken... sailor... Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waaaaaaaves..."

CUT!

"I can always... fly away..." Floris giggled, jumping on the balcony's edge and falling back into the air, before she flew in circles, spiralling with no sense of direction, until she crashed into the wall "Nailed it..."

CUT!

Bayloupe, with only blue panties on herself, was running around the flat, while screaming "Freedom!", accompanied by the clapping of other girls

CUT!

Lancis got a hand on Touma's jar of hair gel and was laughing at herself senseless with her hair standing straight

CUT!

Floris was trying to kiss Touma's school photo but ended up hugging the TV

CUT!

"Alright girls, let's have some fun!"

All of them were wearing exotic costumes, and stared at the camera, as they all started to shake their hips and

"It's time for samba!

Floris's mouth was opening and closing, Lancis became crimson and was looking through her fingers. Even Bayloupe reddened, extremely embarrassed, as they watched this and more.

"Are we all dancing samba? We don't even know how to do it! Lessar, why are you there?"

"You looked like you were having fun so I joined you as well!"

"We can't be seen like this! Our hips... I didn't know we could move like this... no, this samba dance is dangerous. And... are we doing a train here?! Lessar, delete this at once!"

Lessar grinned, and Bayloupe shook her head.

"You didn't..."

"Lover Boy already saw it, sorry"

Lancis face looked if it could release streams of hot steam any second, and Floris grabbed her head, muttering

"Kill me, kill me, kill me now..."

"Well, from better news..."

"Better?!"

"Me and Lover Boy had important talk and I decided to tone it down a little."

Meanwhile three other girls had their minds focused on something else.

Namely, on moments they had with Touma in their drunken state.

Each of them, no exceptions, blushed deeper as they realized something.

'Although I would never expose myself so much...' Bayloupe mused in her mind.

'Although certain things would never seem that simple...' Floris thought.

'Although I would never be that bold in front of him...' Lancis reminisced.

Each of them felt their hearts pulse with a newfound emotion.

'The things I said during this drunken state were not false' they all realized in unison

Sure, emotions were amplified and such, but they were still true.

Even if it was because of observation from the distance for Bayloupe, being in denial for Floris, or being greatful for attention and kindness in case of Lancis, in each of the ways, Kamijou Touma captured the hearts of New Light.

"Ekhm..." Bayloupe coughed, trying to regain her composure" actually, I think I agree that it is rather crucial, the recruitment of Kamijou Touma"

"Oh, yes. Do your job Lessar"

"And you can count on our... full support"

Lessar narrowed her eyes

"Wait a second... aren't you a little too happy with this?"

"Speaking of being happy" Bayloupe addressed her youngest sister and subordinate, her tone causing Lessar to freeze "you are really carefree for someone who messed up"

"H-Huh? Whatever are you t-talking about, Bayloupe?"

"Oh let me think. Didn't you prepare a super strong aphrodisiac infused with magic on the way here with the purpose of giving it to Imagine Breaker..."

"F-Funny that you mention that, you have a good memory..."

"And you know that you have a habit of swapping the bottles so he would not suspect a thing? Well, guess who drank the juice Lessar..."

"Y-Your face is really scary now, so if you could..."

"ALL OF US! Hey everyone, since we did well while dancing samba, let's take a page of tradition from that part of the world and make a Lessar piñata, with Steel Glove as a bat!

The vengance of three girls could not be underestimated.

(MEANWHILE)

Kamijou was walking alongside Gokusai Kaibi. Previous night, they decided to return to find Amazora and Rikuri, with Touma picking Othinus up along the way.

It turned out that after being expelled by people clearing field, Amazora and Rikuri, somehow convinced that there was an actual reason they left, headed back to their apartment. Touma was never fully aware how people clearing fields actually operated, but he guessed that they could imbed a suggestion in the minds of people affected.

And now, Kaibi was out with Touma, returning to see how Kamijou's friends were after the night.

She still felt good after helping the girl named Lessar. Maybe she should consider becoming a therapist one day?

She put a hand on Touma's shoulder and leaned on to look him in the eyes

"Hey. Don't worry over nothing, everything is fine"

"I know, I just... have a really bad feeling"

"Look, there is no reason to be so paranoid." she commented, as they approached Touma's dorm" Those are just 4 teenage girls, what can they-"

BOOM!

A ball of fire emerged from the side of the dorm, making Kaibi stop her sentence.

Did she forget who was she talking to?

(5 MINUTES LATER)

Kamijou Touma dropped to his knees

"My dorm..."

"It was Bayloupe who grabbed the fragment of the wall while chasing me!"

"My dorm!"

"You deserved it, Lessar. Besides, you trashed the place by jumping around it"

"My dorm!"

"But if Floris didn't conjure that ball of flames, then-"

"It was Lancis who deflected it though."

"My dorm! What happened to my poor dorm?!"

The newly renovated place looked as if the bomb dropped in the middle of it, with the place trashed and in grandiose mess. Not to mention the scorched walls and a gaping hole in the middle of it.

Floris gulped slightly.

"M-Maybe... it is not as bad as it looks..."

Just as she said that, yet another fragment of the wall collapsed. The girl winced as car alarm sounded in the distance after the concrete fell down.

"Not as bad as it looks?! I will have to sell my organs and eat grass to explain this and pay for once again calling to repair it!"

"There, there, it will be alright..." Kaibi crouched down to comfort the boy, giving his arm a squeeze. She then turned in the direction of New Light and her pretty face contorted in the visage of anger

"Apologize~" she growled, her eyes flashing pink.

The girls backed away. Even Bayloupe felt a little intimidated.

'Woah, she totally acts like a protective wife' Lessar thought with a hesitant awe.

Bayloupe thought for a moment, and then, knowing that Lancis would follow what she was doing used both hands to bend both Lessar and Floris into lowering their heads.

"We got carried away in our argument. New Light will help you in the rebuild of your dorm"

"We will?-ow!" Lessar was kicked by Bayloupe, who then leaned closer and whispered something into girls ears. Whatever it was, it gave an effect.

Lessar's lips stretched into a smug grin and Floris absentmindedly smoothened her hair.

As the girls approached the still-recovering-from-shock Touma, saying more apologies and encouragement, Kaibi narrowed her eyes, looking at the foreign teenagers. She got that feeling yet again. The one she already knew, in particular from the interaction with the strange, 'shrunken friend' of Kamijou Touma

'Aside from some illegal cases, and wild Gemstones, Academy City is the only places in the world to produce supernatural powers. It is clear that those girls are from outside of the City. They said it themselves and Touma confirmed it. But if that's the case, they shouldn't have any abilities. Yet it is clear that right now right of them was strong enough to somehow make a huge hole in the wall, and another created a big orb of fire. The possibility of all of them being unregistered Gemstones is too slim, impossible even. So... who are they? And why do I get the feeling Kamijou tapped into something I have no knowledge of?'

(LATER)

And thus, New Light helped to tidy up Touma's dorm. At least, there were to do that in the near future before returning to England. For now, they set to fulfil their diplomatic duty, whatever it actually was. As Touma waited for the group outside of Board Chairman's administration office, a chill ran down his spine.

The presence of Itsuwa, Oriana, even the Magic Gods, and now New Light (although the last group had legal reasons for entrance) made him a little nervous. Was there something going on regarding Magic Side that he was not aware of?

He tired to speak about it with Lessar before New Light went for business, but the girl was kept getting distracted by Academy City's attractions. Lancis and Floris were not any better, with the former wanting to see School Garden, the latter wanting to go on scientific exhibitions. Meanwhile Bayloupe could not really give him any solid news. She admitted that it was always better to be cautious, but also reassured him to not be paranoid. She also got interested with Itsuwa's whereabouts, as they battled in the past.

Yet somehow, he could not fully get his mind of the issue.

But, as New Light got back and everyone celebrated completing the task by going to restaurant (with Touma and the sisters invited as well), he forced those thoughts out of his mind for now. There was no reason to worry for possible futures.

He looked around the lunch table. Lessar was happily munching on whatever she got a hold of, Lancis was playing with Amazora by putting an oyster on each of her dragon nail-claws and trying to evade Amazora's efforts to devour her favourite meal. This was accompanied by Floris reprimanding them to stop playing with food. Kaibi, sitting next to Touma, was mainly trying to eat in peace, and Rikuri conversed with Bayloupe in straightforward manner.

Yes. That was the fragment of peace Touma loved so much.

When Bayloupe finished her conversation, she looked at Touma

"Regarding our earlier conversation, I wanted to show you something."

She pulled out a small locket, the same colour as her hair.

She put it in front of them on the table and opened it.

On one half of the inside was a photo of New Light, at least few years younger than now. On the other, there were two girls, appearing to be the age of 7 or 8. One of them, grinning and with plasters on her arms and legs, was clearly Bayloupe. The other girl, embracing her, was slightly taller and was dressed in simple black clothing, with curly golden hair and blue eyes. And although she didn't have her signature ample chest back then, Touma knew that face and hair.

"Is that... Oriana?"

"Yes. I will have a copy of this made. I want you to have it"

"Really? No, I can't-"

"I insist. You are New Light's close ally, and our valuable comrade too"

They stared at each other for a while but before Touma could reply, Kaibi, who looked at locket moments earlier, suddenly became pale as a ghost. She scooted closer, to the surprise of Kamijou.

"Bayloupe-san... how old where you here?"

"Seven, or something. Oriana was 8. Why do you ask?"

"Because this girl... her face... she reminds me of someone I know. But that's impossible..."

"Oh, it's that rip off girl!" Rikuri exclaimed, also coming closer to examine the photo.

"You met her, Rikuri nee-san?"

"You can say that... but why did you react to her that way, Kaibi-chan?"

"Wait a second, wait, wait... Bayloupe-san, did this girl's mother... was she a foreigner? Was she from beyond the UK?"

"W-Well, yeah. Oriana was half-British. That was the reason why we got along so well, among the others. Do you know her too?"

"I... don't know... but if it is true... then... this means a lot to me and my sister! And it makes so much sense!""

"Kaibi-san, what do you mean? This girl is Oriana Thomson, a courier that both myself and Bayloupe-san know from the past circumstances. But why do you know her?"

"Yes, sister, why do you know her? I didn't recognize her when we met and I am older than you!"

"You wouldn't know. Mother always kept you away and busy, and Amazora was far too little to even comprehend what was going around her. But I remember, hazy, like through the mist... but I remember meeting the woman that looked just like that girl on the photo. I mean, she is your age now, Bayloupe-san. But that face..."

"Can someone please tell me some inside context?!" Kamijou yelled out, attracting the attention of others, who froze on the spot.

Kaibi exhaled and spoke.

"Kamijou... once, Gokusai family affairs were ruled by a matriarch, my grandmother. She had two daughters. The elder one, per tradition, was prepared to inherit the financial empire and business. She was destined to become one of the most influential women in Japan, but she had to follow certain rules and don't disobey orders and ways of the family. It happened before my birth, but I know that she rebelled and had a romance with a foreigner. My grandmother disowned her and she left our home. I don't know much of the details, but my mother, the younger sister, had to take in the role she was not meant to do. So she ended up hating her sibling... my aunt. I only ever saw her once, because my mother allowed her to come to at grandma's funeral. It was just this once, but I remember her clearly. And this face and hair... it's differently coloured, but that girl in the photo looks just like my aunt. I knew she left the country, but I had no idea that she had a child. And a daughter too. For generations, only daughters were born in Gokusai family... Bayloupe-san... what was the name of the mother of Oriana-san?"

Bayloupe shrugged helplessly

"When I came to orphanage, Oriana was with her mom, but she died and then she returned to live with her father, who then re-married. So in the end I never knew her biological mother, not to mention knowing her name. And Oriana never told me. Sorry"

"No... that's okay. We will just have to find her, if she is still in the City, and confront her about this. Something tells me that there is a really interesting story behind this twist of fate..."

"What are you talking about, Kaibi-san?"

"If information from both sides will check out, then this woman, about whom we had no knowledge about, is our older cousin" Kaibi delivered the big news, motioning to herself and her sisters.

(LATER)

It was a busy day. Kamijou could admit that.

But right now, he got no rest.

New Light had no place to stay, so they begged him with puppy eyes.

He declined. But they begged, begged, and begged...

So, he finally agreed.

"So... heavy..."

But even if this was only for a short amount of time, before they returned to England...

"I knew it will come to this, daaaaaamn it!"

He was in his bed. Surrounded by 7 girls.

One could think that it would be heaven on earth?

Well, yes, but actually no.

Sleeping with 7 girls could have sounded like a dream. But Kamijou was expert in shattering illusions. And once this one was shattered...

It was a heavy, hot, and chaotic mess. Sure, the girls were all cute in their own ways, smelled nice, and such. But even disregarding the fact that the bed was caving in and Touma could not comprehend how and why all girls were laying in his bed, this was simply uncomfortable.

Rikuri was laying on top of him. Floris was hugging his leg and didn't let go even for a moment. Bayloupe was grasping his arm and growled when he tried to move her. Lancis somehow found herself upside down in relation to everyone else and was kicking him in the face with her foot. Amazora was curled up between his feet. Kaibi rested her cheek against his with the rest of her body dangling on top of other girls.

Touma could not see Lancis, which was never a good sign.

He managed to somehow move a little, and reach for the phone. It showed 2 AM.

And when he was about to pick touch the screen again, the phone rang.

But before he could do anything else...

"And now, the main star of the night, with the wonders of Academy City's high-tech greatest erotic costume, Lessar and Liquefiable Lingerie"

Touma's eyes got extremely big as suddenly the silhouette of Lessar emerged from the shadows and, after splashing herself with water, jumped in the air, with her attire actually melting away.

The result was scream, female curses, and one particularly epic pillow fight, as well as Kamijou Touma's rather predominant insomnia for the rest of the night.

The only upside was the fact that phoning to Index, which he was determined to do the next day, didn't seem like the most uncomfortable thing after all.

(MEANWHILE)

"So it appears that my ingenious machine worked well" noted Aleister Crowley to the rather exasperated Kihara Noukan" Well, I sent her for fun to some of our 'dear friends'."

Misaka Mikoto accidentally fried the GAGARS machine after using it.

Itsuwa got tempted by Amakusa to use it and actually got charmed by the results, as she stared at the small girl with her hair (only long) and Kamijou's eyes.

Shokuhou Misaki cried throughout all night, but woke up with renewed motivation to make her dream a reality.

Kanzaki Kaori had to punch through hundred of wooden logs to contain her excitement after witnessing the possible offspring of herself and Kamijou

Leivinia Birdway secretly framed older Kamijou Touma, alongside possibilities, in her cabal studio.

Agnese Sanctis waited till midnight until she failed to contain her desire to use the machine, which left her in the state of guilty shock and pleasure.

There were only a few who managed to experience the wonders of the GAGARS system.

Although...

"Say, Nephthys..." Niang-Niang commented, as the brown goddess stared at her own possibilities of mixing DNAs with Kamijous "What if we got every member of this harem of his, created a separate phase for each, clone him, let each copy live his individual life, and then reintegrate them?"

Nephthys smile deviously.

"Sounds like a material for a pretty interesting tale"

But back to Aleister...

"And this is really so you can get more erotica materials?" Noukan asked.

"But of course?"

"Why?"

"Why? What kind of question is this? When one gets over 130, you must keep yourself motivated. And nothing motivates like some morning erotica in bed."

"Sometimes, being with you makes me seriously reconsider my life choices."

(To be continued)

And there you have it. There are few more things to say.

I really, really wanted to write something with New Light. They were vibrant, yet unexplored characters, that just screamed 'perfect'. So as for my goals here:

1. I decided to experiment in taking harem to extreme and make all of the New Light interested in Touma for various reasons, while keeping the integrity of the group. I thought 'why not? It would be fun, there is no real reason why they wouldn't be interested'

2. I really wanted to try to add depth to Lessar's character. I adore her quirky, sultry, and carefree side, but I thought 'there are many portrayals of Lessar like this. What would it be like if I introduced deeper elements and insecurities in her character to make her more relatable/approachable, without overshadowing that seductive aspect. I took inspiration from real life problems of people, who are scared of their internal life, while trying to primarily rely on their physicality.

3. Continuing the last point, I wanted to write Lessar x Touma sub-plot, while getting the sisters involved, and answering the dillema that was always laying between Touma and Lessar: did they relationship was just shallow or not? Who really were they to each other? I thought Touma getting mad at Lessar and Lessar confronting her other side would be intense and curious experience.

4. I wanted to write backstories for New Light, asking the questions: Why are they so close? What reasons they have to fight for better future in their country? I figured that for those girls to be so closed, they had to be through some tough things before. I wanted to explore some of the motivations through their past and interactions with Touma

5. With Touma and Bayloupe, the relationship is purposely laced with sensuality and quite heavy flirting, as Bayloupe is Touma's type and she desires a guy that can take her on, while also seeing her as a girl. With Floris, the theme is her noticing various things about Touma she didn't consider before, and the comedy of accidents. And Lancis is the girl who we saw the least, so I took the approach of characterizing her as quiet character with a lot to say and actually a funny girl to be around.

6. There is of course Oriana twist in this chapter. I thought Bayloupe and Oriana could be friends, they are the same age, and the idea of Gokusai family feud, and Oriana being essentially a rejected child would add some intricacies. Besides, I decided to use the joke that Oriana and Rikuri have similar designs and build it into something relatively logical and intriguing, like them being a real, separated family, who got into completely different paths of life.

6. There is also Awaki in this chapter. I think that community needs some Touma and Awaki friendship and/or more. It's just a shame that it isn't explored more.

Song that Bayloupe sings is a fragment of a song called An Eala Bhàn (White Swan) by Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna. It's a sad but touching song about love in times of war It translates more or less to:

Who among men

Endures eternally?

We are all only on a journey

Like flowers in deserted cattle fold

That this year's rain and wind will bring down

And that sun cannot rise