Again, for those wondering, I'll be attempting to salvage a few of my older fics by going back and editing the cringe out of them. I've already begun with Code Decade, Zero Requiem & Saiyan Muyo, though it will be some time before any new Chapters are released. As for my other works.
Possible Reboot/Re-write: Second Chance, Naruto's Bizarre Adventure, Fake x Fate, Hokage no Issan, Reikai Sensei
Continuation: Eyes of Heaven, After Heaven, Bloodstained Arc, RWBYLOVANIA, Jump Force
To be Concluded: Dark Defense, Hunter's Moon, Sailor Moon GSL
Dead: Naruto Gaiden, Cry of the Youko, Herwald von Einzbern, Geass Rider, Hina Digger, In the wake of Death, Vandread-O, Konoha Shinken, Oberon, Twin Foxes, Shun Goku WTF, Strange Bedfellows, Spirit Hunter Naruto
I'm honestly surprised at how well received this story has been, though I warn you updates will be far between due to prior responsibilities.
Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 6: July 20th Part 1
"You Aquarius born between January 20th and February 18th have the greatest luck in love, work, and money! No matter how incredibly improbable things may get, only good things will happen, so how about you go play the lottery!? But no matter how popular you may be, don't try dating three or four girls at the same time"
'I wonder if it'd be possible to sue the forecast company?' Touma mused as he clambered out of his shower, having been forced to wash up after spilling his emergency soba all over his new shirt, the urchin-head gasping for breath due to the humidity of his cramped one-man apartment.
It was the 20th of July, the first day of summer vacation, not that the unfortunate Kamijou was able to enjoy it, having been roused from slumber by the dulcet tones of his beloved homeroom teacher's voicemail reminding him that he was a Dummy and so had to attend Remedial Classes.
To make matters worse, it appeared that at some point during the night his air conditioner had broken down for the umpteenth time, resulting in his already cramped, man-cave to feel all the more claustrophobic and funky due to the summer heat.
'At least the power didn't get knocked off.' He sighed, offering a silent prayer to whichever god(s) that happened to be listening as he helped himself to a cold bottle of almost expired milk from the fridge 'Still, what a waste of an evening that was.'
Needless to say, last-night's brief altercation with the leader of the [Level Upper Dealers], hadn't turned up any concrete leads for their investigation. Then again, could it really be called an altercation when any chance of retaliation on her part had been negated within the first opening seconds?
Long story short, once the woman realised she couldn't use her power, she folded like a house of cards, confirming their suspicions that Level-Upper was circulating on the net, but that the distributor never used the same browser twice, often setting up links to temporary websites that would be gone within minutes of posting.
'At least I got a good meal out of it.' He mused, sighing to himself as he pulled on a fresh change of clothes, wondering what he should do for breakfast. After all, it was the most important meal of the day, and if he was going to survive those supplementary lessons he needed something in his gut to tide him over.
'I guess I could just grab a sandwich from the convenience store.' He mused, not wanting to waste the precious groceries and snacks he and Itsuki had stocked up on earlier that week 'While I'm at it, I'd better air out my futon while the weather's good…getting a bit rank in here…'
Truly, there were few pleasures in life that could compare to a freshly aired, fluffy futon, at least so far as Touma was concerned. Let other people sing their praises of down mattresses and waterbeds, he'd take a nice fluffy futon any day of the week.
"The sky is so blue, but the future is pitch black~" he hummed to himself, his good spirits dropping sharply at his failed attempt at stand up as he grabbed his musky, long-overdue for a wash futon "I just hope it doesn't suddenly start raining."
With that in mind, and already mentally prepared to come home to find his beloved futon reduced to a sodden mess, the Unfortunate Kamijou opened the screen door to his lonesome balcony…only to pull up short at what appeared to be a pristine white futon already hanging there.
Now it should be noted that, while Touma's apartment was but one of many on this floor, his well-founded reputation as a jinx had ensured that nobody ever moved into the apartments immediately adjacent to his own. Even Itsuki, as loyal a friend as he was, had purposefully picked an apartment at the other side of the building to avoid getting caught up in any potential mishaps.
As such, the only person who could have conceivably hung a Futon to dry on Kamijou Touma's balcony could only have been Kamijou Touma himself. But how was it possible for Kamijou Touma to have done so, when the only futon Kamijou Touma possessed was currently in the arms of the understandably confused Kamijou?
'Did Itsuki buy me a back-up futon and forget to tell me?' he wondered, only to immediately dismiss such thoughts as ludicrous, for while Itsuki was more than fine chipping in to help with groceries, purchasing a new futon when there was nothing wrong with his current one was unlikely.
Come to think of it, now that he got a better look, it seemed the object adorning his balcony wasn't a futon at all. For one thing it was far too small, for another it was completely the wrong shape. As a matter of fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd swear it almost looked like a person…
'Why the hell is there a Chibi-Nun hanging on my balcony?' Touma's mind demanded, his futon dropped from nerveless fingers as he gaped at what could only be the set-up for a sick joke 'Am I on a Drifter's Sketch? I know I joked about always unlocking the Little Sister Route with Tsuchimikado but this is ridiculous…!'
Whatever the reason, the fact remained that there was a Christian Nun of Chris Hansen summoning age hanging over his balcony, like a casually disposed rag, a stark contrast to the long silver hair that flowed from beneath her pristine, gold embroidered white habit and robes.
'Wait, I thought Nuns wore Black Robes?' the confused Kamijou recalled, only to tense as the nun's fingertips twitched, her head slowly rising from its prone position like something out of a horror movie, her silver hair parting smoothly to reveal a childlike face set with green eyes that sent shivers of apprehension down his spine.
"I'm hungry." she declared in perfect Japanese, her matter-of-fact tone so completely disengaged from her predicament that for a moment Touma believed she was talking to herself until she frowned at his lack of response "I said: I'm hungry."
'And what would you like me to do about it?' the mind of the ever struggling Kamijou demanded internally, still too shell-shocked by this latest turn of events to respond with his usual sass 'Does this look like a soup kitchen to you? I'll have you know I don't have the resources to afford handouts!'
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm hungry?" the Chibi-Nun demanded irritably, pouting at the teen as if she couldn't comprehend why it was taking so long for a complete stranger, one whose home she was technically trespassing in, to bring her something to eat.
'Typical foreigner…' Touma sighed, honestly grateful for something familiar to latch onto, even if it was the stereotypical greed of westerners the ever concerned Komoe-sensei had warned them about in class "So what you're saying is, you collapsed on my balcony from exhaustion or something?"
"You could also say I have collapsed and am about to die." the nun concurred with unnerving calm, as if she were chatting about the weather and not her impending death by starvation "It would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up."
Now as we have previously established, Kamijou Touma was not the kind of man who could ignore someone in trouble, especially if they were women and most certainly not when placed in a position where he could easily help them at little cost to himself.
However, while he lacked such real-life experience for obvious reasons, the unfortunate Delta Force member had witnessed more than enough scenarios from various sources (of varying age ratings) to not only recognize the beginnings of a route, but whether or not he wanted any part of it.
'Yeah, no. Not happening.' He deadpanned, slowly averting his eyes as the Nun continued to leer at him like a Bethesda NPC awaiting his next input 'I offer her so much as a scrap and she'll never leave…best to drive her off and have nothing further to do with whatever led to her parkouring onto my balcony.'
With that in mind, the Unfortunate Kamijou turned his attention to the spoiled yakisoba-bread still in its wrapper that occupied pride of place on his table. He'd picked the damn thing up some time ago but, in typical fashion, had completely forgotten about it until he had to restock his fridge, by which point the expiry date had come and gone without so much as a bye-your-leave.
'Hope I don't get divine retribution for this.' He sighed, offering the wrapped sandwich up for the nun's inspection, hoping against hope that she'd take the hint and go bother someone else, only to blink as she thanked him for the meal, letting loose a terrified shriek of pain as her gaping maw devoured the entire thing, wrapper and all, along with his entire hand up to the wrist.
Elsewhere...
'Such a pain…' I sighed, suppressing the urge to yawn as I made my way down the street, doing my level best to avoid the looks I was garnering from the crowd as I tried to figure out how to spend the first day of Summer Vacation.
Not that there was anything wrong with me being on the streets at this time of day, as unlike the members of Delta Force, most of Touma's classmates had managed to garner enough points to escape Komoe-Sensei's tender mercies and were probably enjoying their summer vacation right now.
No, the reason I was drawing unwanted attention was, once again, due to Itsuki's damned baby-face. It had gotten to the point that I was seriously considering just staying home and ordering takeout despite how hot it was.
'Is this what Diarmuid had to put up with on a daily basis?' I wondered, offering a silent prayer to the First Spear of Fianna even as I purposefully ignored several catcalls from a pack of 'Gals', blinking as I spied a familiar head of flowers up ahead "Yo, Uiharu, you feeling better already?"
"Ah! Kawasumi-san!" the flower-girl exclaimed, looking up from her phone in surprise as she offered a short bow in greeting "Yes, thank you again for the take-out last night, it really helped fill me up!"
"Don't mention it, [Feed a Cold to Starve a Fever] as my mother used to say." I quipped, though truth be told her fast recovery more than likely had more to do with Academy City's medical technology than the chicken soup we ordered for her at the restaurant "And call me Itsuki, we're friends right?"
"S-Sorry!" the flower girl stammered, looking absolutely adorable as she rubbed the back of her head, though she recovered admirably "Speaking of friends, is Kamijou-san not with you today?"
"Do I look like his wife to you?" I quipped, deciding to have a little fun as she once again stammered an apology "Knowing him, he's probably having a little 'one-to-one' session with our homeroom teacher. If things go as usual she probably won't let him go till she's completely satisfied."
That is to say, the ever determined Komoe-sensei wouldn't let the Underachieving Kamijou-chan leave until the absolute limit of the time she was allowed to hold him back, even if it was blatantly obvious that no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to pull off any off her tests.
It was almost criminal, really, how the deceptively childlike woman could make you feel like absolute trash simply by failing to meet her expectations. She wasn't even doing it on purpose, but the moment she began to tear up you just couldn't help wanting to murder whoever upset her so.
'Come to the Dark Side, we have Moe Homeroom Teachers.' I mused, chuckling at the image of a teary-eyed Komoe-sensei dressed up like Palpatine with the entire class clad in Sith Robes and Storm Trooper Armor standing between her and whatever upset her 'Does that make me Han or Chewbacca tho?'
"So what about you?" I asked the flushing flower girl, whose mind had clearly overheated trying to process my suggestive comment if the steam coming off her rosy cheeks was any indication "You looked like you were waiting for someone. Hot date?"
"Nothing of the sort!" the Judgment-Loli countered, stamping her foot petulantly as she pouted up at me like the world's angriest puppy "I was just wondering where Saten-san is. We were supposed to meet up and she's running later than usual-!"
"Just looking for the right moment to swoop in." the Level-0 in question proclaimed, smiling cheekily as she held up the flushing Uiharu's skirt to better peer beneath the hood, as it were "Ah, you went with the blue-stripes today? Nice."
"How the hell haven't you been arrested for sexual harassment yet?" I deadpanned, having garnered that this was a rather common occurrence where these two were concerned from previous discussions "Even if Uiharu doesn't press charges, all it'd take is someone calling you in to have Judgement on your ass."
"Aw, Uiharu loves me too much to let something like this come between us." Saten chirped, the Level-0 casually fending off the wailing flower-girl with one hand even as she gave me a quick once-over "More importantly, why're you guys still in uniform? It's summer break!"
"Judgement Members still have work over the Summer." Uiharu supplied with pout, having apparently burned out most of her anger "It's not as strenuous since we don't have to juggle our school responsibilities, but at the same time there's a higher chance of [Ability Abuse] now that school's out."
"As for me, I just couldn't be arsed dressing up." I confessed with a dismissive shrug, hands in my pockets "Besides, our summer uniform is pretty much casual wear to begin with if you think about it."
That was actually something I loved about Touma's school compared to Itsuki's, which insisted on wearing a Blazer at all times during the school year. So long as you slapped on a white shirt and casual slacks during summer, none of the teachers gave a shit what you wore.
Of course, there were those who liked to push the envelope, like Aogami's piercings and Tsuchimikado's sunglasses and Hawaiian Shirts. Hell, even Touma wore an orange T-shirt under his uniform, though in his case it was for the sake of decency, since the odds were always good he'd get soaked at some point.
'Certainly better than walking around in a heavy coat in summer.' I mused, lip curling in disgust at the scent of perfume coming off a tall redhead clad entirely in a black cassock despite the summer heat 'Newsflash genius, you won't need as much cologne to cover up the sweat if you ditch the goth get-up!'
"So what was it you wanted to show me?" Uiharu asked Saten, having apparently managed to calm down enough to recall the reason for their meeting while I was distracted "You mentioned in your mail you found something big but wouldn't tell me until we met up."
"That's right!" Saten exclaimed, the Level-0 looking supremely smug with herself as she pirouetted away from her friend "This thing is so incredible, I just can't wait any longer-! I finally found the elusive item we've all been searching for-!"
"A blowjob robot that runs on dreams?" I cracked snidely, offering a mental high five to our Lord and Saviour the Immortal [Sage] even as Saten face-faulted and Uiharu devolved into flustered exclamations "Relax, I'm (not) kidding. It's probably something to do with [Level Upper], right?"
"Spoil my fun why don't ya…" Saten groaned as she picked herself off the ground, Uiharu releasing a flustered sigh of relief "Yeah, I was browsing a couple of urban legend sites trying to find some more information when I stumbled across a download link for the program itself!"
"That's great Saten!" Uiharu exclaimed, clapping her hands together in palpable excitement while the Level-0 bathed in her adulation "Did you manage to save the page data or the name of the poster?"
"Even better!" Saten proclaimed, the older girl leaping atop a nearby bench before whipping out what appeared to be a music player, holding it over her head while striking a pose like she was trying to summon the power of Castle Grayskull "I downloaded a copy of the program! Turns out it's a music file!"
"A music file that helps boost your ability level?" Uiharu repeated, blinking at the player in disbelief, her earlier excitement quickly giving away to understandable scepticism in the face of the weird looks her friend was drawing from the crowd "I dunno Saten, are you sure this is the real thing and not some hoax?"
"Actually, she could be onto something." I countered, holding my chin in thought "After all, studies have proven that listening to certain types of music can boost cognitive functions, so is it that far-fetched to believe someone in Academy City developed a musical score in an attempt to boost Esper Abilities?"
"Even if that is the case, we can't be 100% certain that it's the real thing until we've tested it." Uiharu insisted, frowning at Saten's eager grin "That means we need to contact Shirai-san so we can bring it to a secure environment with the proper recording equipment to monitor changes in the subject's brainwaves."
"Where is that damned Tele-Stalker anyway?" I asked, glancing around for any sign of the pigtailed teleporter or the target of her unwanted affection "Since Judgement is still on duty, I'm guessing she's not off stalking lil miss bug-zapper?"
"Actually, she and Misaka-san are at the hospital last I checked." Uiharu confessed, raising her hands placatingly at Saten's look of alarm "They're not hurt or anything, but we received a call from the hospital this morning that Kaitabi Hatsuya, The Graviton Bomber, suddenly slipped into a Coma."
'Shit, must've hit him too hard…' I cursed, though to be brutally honest I really could've cared less if the little shit died or spent the rest of his life as a vegetable. Maybe in his next life he'd think twice before using children to deliver explosive ordinance "So where are they now?"
A certain café...
"Level Upper…" Doctor Kiyama Harumi mused, the Cerebral Physiologist and pathological stripper staring into her iced-coffee as she sat across from Mikoto & Kuroko, the pair having dragged her to a nearby café after running into her at the hospital "Can you tell me more about what kind of system it is? What does it do? How do you use it?"
"Unfortunately, we haven' figured that out yet." Kuroko confessed, the pigtailed teleporter taking a sip of her soda while Mikoto stared glumly off to the side "From what little we've managed to uncover, it seems to provide a boost in an Esper's overall Ability Level, though the level of growth seems to differ depending on the individual."
"And yet you believe it may have something to do with the recent string of comatose students?" Harumi pressed, earning a nod from the teleporter "So why come to me about this?"
"I believe there's a high possibility that augmenting Esper Powers involves some sort of interference system that upsets normal brain function." Kuroko proposed "If that is indeed the case, then I believe having a specialist like yourself involved when we find conclusive evidence would go a long way to solving this case."
"…I must admit, as a Cerebral Physiologist, this sounds like something I'd be more than happy to help with." Harumi confessed, the tired-looking professor leaning back in her seat as she glanced out the window "Aside from that, there is something else that's been bothering me…are those three friends of yours?"
"Unfortunately…" Kuroko sighed, palming her face as she refused to turn to the window, where Itsuki & Saten were striking [Outrageous(ly Fabulous) Poses] while an embarrassed Uiharu tried, and failed to look like she wasn't trying to join in.
"Isn't that the [Teleporter Boy] from the other day?" Harumi enquired, looking on with interest as a growling Kuroko teleported outside to berate the trio for making a scene in public "The one who claimed to be a Level-0?"
"Yeah, that's him." Mikoto sighed, the Railgun taking a sip of her soda as Kuroko proceeded to march the trio into the restaurant "Though considering he's friend's with that guy who can erase powers, it's possible his power doesn't register the same way."
"Interesting." Harumi mused, her tired eyes moving to follow the baby-faced blonde as Kuroko led the trio towards their booth, a shiver racing down her spine as their eyes met, though she covered it well with her usual tired smile "Long time no see."
"Oh, hey there Doc. Didn't recognise you with your shirt on." Itsuki greeted, ignoring Mikoto's epic spit-take and Kuroko's choked sputtering in favour of helping the startled woman out of her seat so Saten could shuffle in by the window, before pulling up a spare chair "So what brings you here Doc? Lose your car again?"
"Actually, I was brought here by your friends to discuss this Level Upper case." Harumi confessed, nodding her head towards Kuroko and Mikoto as the latter fended off a concerned Uiharu's attempts to wipe her down, Kuroko glaring petulantly at her co-worker for having stolen the seat next to the Level-7.
"Kiyama-sensei is the Cerebral Physiologist they called in to check on the coma patients." Mikoto explained at Itsuki's questioning glance "Kuroko figured she'd be the perfect person to help us analyse the Level Upper once we got our hands on it."
"Makes sense." Itsuki concurred with a nod "We already know this thing messes with the user's brainwaves, so having a someone who deals with this stuff on a daily basis couldn't hurt."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say I deal with cases like this on a daily basis." Harumi countered "I've got my own research projects to work on after all, but I will admit there are few in my field who'd be willing to drop everything to help out in a criminal investigation."
"Isn't it a bit premature to be calling it that?" Uiharu wondered, noting with concern that Saten had frozen in the act of reaching for her music player "I mean, we haven't determined whether this Level Upper is tied to the coma victims yet?"
"Even if it isn't, it's still an unsanctioned program that has led to several acts of Power Abuse." Kuroko pointed out "And I'm not just referring to the Graviton Bombings, from what I've been able to discern, several of our recent cases have involved at least one culprit whose Ability Level differed from official records."
"Kuroko wasn't able to tell me much, but from what I can gather, the higher-ups in both Judgement and Anti-Skill are taking this pretty seriously." Mikoto elaborated, her expression unusually grim "Anyone found to be in possession of Level Upper will be taken into protective custody, even if they haven't used it yet."
"Guilty until proven innocent huh?" Itsuki mused, a frown marring his features as he glanced at Kuroko "Kinda harsh don't you think? I mean it's not like everyone who uses it is going around blowing up Judgement Members for shits and giggles."
"While that's certainly true, until we can eliminate the possibility that using it comes with dangerous side-effects, it's better to be safe than sorry." Kuroko countered primly, running a hand through her pigtails "Besides, it might as well be an illegal stimulant considering how desperate people seem to be to get their fix."
"Um…Saten-san, are you alright?" Uiharu stammered, drawing Mikoto's attention to the Level-0, whose expression had shifted from wary confusion to absolutely terrified over the course of the conversation "Y-you're not looking so good."
"I-its nothing!" Saten stammered, plastering a grin on her face whilst waving her hand placatingly, only to yelp as she inadvertently knocked Doctor Kiyama's drink off the table and onto her lap with her elbow "Omigosh! I'm so sorry!"
"Don't worry about it…" the older woman assured the girl as she rose from her seat, Uiharu letting out a startled squeak as she casually unclasped her belt to allow her skirt to drop to the floor "It's only my stockings that got wet, so as long as I take them off…"
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO STRIP IN PUBLIC?!" Kuroko shrieked, teleporting on top of the table and getting right in the older woman's face in order to better get her point across before glaring pointedly at Itsuki "AND YOU, WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE LOOKING?!"
"At a free show." Itsuki responded, the Blonde haired Devil with the face of an Angel leaning back in his chair with a shit-eating grin "Don't feel self-conscious on my account doc, you got nothing I haven't seen before."
"See?" Harumi insisted, gesturing to the blonde while Kuroko sputtered incoherently at his open-faced perversion "It's not as if I'm particularly special. There's no way any man would get turned on by this curve-less body of mine."
"Now I wouldn't say that." Itsuki countered, cutting off Kuroko with a wave of his hand "I mean, don't get me wrong, I like 'em with a bit more meat on their bones, but it's not as if you've got nothing to be proud of. All you really need is a good night's sleep and maybe a few solid meals and you'd probably be beating them off with a stick."
"You think so?" Harumi pondered, the Cerebral Physiologist looking more like a confused puppy as she blinked at the blonde with her head tilted to the side "I have been burning the midnight oil a lot recently…" she placed a hand to her cheek "Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I ate a meal that wasn't from a vending machine..."
"CAN WE HAVE THIS CONVERSATION AFTER YOU PUT YOUR DAMN CLOTHES BACK ON?!" Kuroko demanded, the teleporter's patience having finally run out as she grabbed the older woman & teleported to the lady's room.
With Itsuki...
'Never a dull moment with that lady.' I chuckled, opting to simply sit back and enjoy the show as a red-faced Mikoto tried to apologize to the equally embarrassed cleaning-staff while several angry women lashed out at their dates for their [wandering eyes] 'Dinner and a show, not a bad day if I do say so myself."
"Ah! Saten-san!" Uiharu exclaimed, drawing my attention back to the booth just in time to see the flower-girl reaching out for the Level-0 as the latter made like Usain Bolt and tore out of the café so fast I almost missed her "Wait a second, I'm sure we can-!"
"Calm down." I assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder to settle her nerves "Shirai probably just spooked her with all that 'taking them into custody' talk. Just keep quiet about the whole Level Upper thing for now until she's confident enough to speak up on her own."
"But…what if she decides to use it herself?" Uiharu protested, the poor girl clearly torn between her desire to comfort her clearly terrified friend and her obligations as a member of Judgement "She might cover it well, but finding out she was a Level-0…it really hurt her pride."
"I can imagine." I assured her, recalling how quickly Itsuki's so-called friends had acted once it was determined that my 'Ability Level' had plummeted following the 'Incident'. Needless to say, they couldn't wash their hands of me fast enough "Give it a day and try to convince her to come forward herself before blowing the whistle."
"I…suppose I can do that." Uiharu conceded, still looking troubled by the idea of concealing information from Kuroko, but no doubt just as determined to ensure she didn't wind up hurting her friend "What about you? What are you going to do?"
"Well, judging by the time I'd say Komoe-Sensei probably got bored of Touma by now." I noted, unable to help teasing the flower girl one last time as I rose from my chair with a grunt "I should probably swing by to check on him, maybe grab a bite to eat before hitting the sack, so I'll be seeing ya."
"Take care!" Uiharu called out as I exited the store, the sound of the bell heralding my transition from the cool interior of the café to the decidedly less-cool, but rapidly cooling streets, the sun having long since begun to set behind the skyscrapers.
'This case is getting more interesting by the minute…' I noted, unable to help the thrill of excitement that raced up my spine as I slowly made my way back to the Student Dorms 'I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a damned hoax...or something as cliché like a failed attempt at conquering the city.'
As a kid, I'd always been a fan of detective dramas and the like. Hell, when most kids were off playing football, I was lost in the works of Sir Arthur and Dame Agatha, watching Poirot work his little grey cells or Watson react to one of Holmes' latest deductions.
Come to think of it, it was that very same love of deduction that drew me to JoJo's bizarre adventure in the first place. While most of the protagonists tended to favour punching the shit out of their problems, more often than not they had to find some way to overcome the villain's ability before they could do so.
So when I found myself faced with the possibility of getting involved in an actual crime drama involving Espers, I naturally jumped at the chance to help out in order to alleviate some of the tedium of my otherwise boring routine.
'Seriously, just how in the name of Norio Wakamoto's God-Given Voice can a City of Espers manage to be boring?' I marvelled, shaking my head at how jaded I'd become ever since moving into Itsuki's body 'You'd think there'd be something exciting happening around every corner but no, it seems all the good stuff's been happening behind closed doors.'
Ah well, time enough to bitch about the humdrum of my 1st world problems later. For the time being, I'd better check in on Touma to make sure he hadn't gotten himself in over his head again without me there to keep him from charging dick-first into someone else's problem.
'Okay, maybe that isn't entirely fair.' I conceded, shaking my head with a wry smirk "After all, Touma's lasted this long without me looking out for him, I'm sure whatever he's doing, he's got the situation under control.'
Several Minutes later...
'I have no idea what the hell is going on!' Touma exclaimed, the unfortunate Kamijou gritting his teeth as he braced his right hand against the onslaught of the giant flaming monster that was currently trying to crush him with a sword composed entirely of fire.
"Attacking Innocentius will have no effect." The prone form of the bleeding chibi-nun explained robotically from her position on the floor next to his front door "Unless the rune engravings carved into the walls, floor and ceiling are eliminated, it will revive as many times as necessary."
'Well isn't that just perfect?' Touma griped, wondering just what the hell the little nun was talking about, his eyes widening as he spied the source of his current predicament doing something behind the giant flaming golem "Oh give me a break-!"
"[Squeamish Bloody Rood]!"
For those of you wondering just what the heck the deal is with the Dates included in the titles, it's to show the passage of time between events.
And before you ask, yes, the Index Arc & Level-Upper Arcs canonically overlap with one another, to the point they occur nigh-simultaneously.
Naturally, this doesn't mean events happen one-to-one. Touma's encounter with index occurs several hours before Team Railgun meet Dr. Kiyama.
However, don't expect things to go the same way as canon. Things are going to start diverging soon enough thanks to Itsuki's presence.
Also, for those who were wondering, Itsuki & Saten were doing Caesar & Joseph's iconic poses from Battle Tendency.