*Disclaimer – I do not own the copyright to the Toaru Majutsu no Index series or any of its characters.
*A/N – Long time no see! Sorry for the long wait. Life sucks lol. But now it's back to writing, and I have many ideas for this story. So, I hope you enjoy it and look forward to more to come.
**A/N - Also… I can't help the shit-eating grin that's on my face while typing this but seeing that Mugino and ITEM are getting their very own light novel spin-off series is hella exciting. We know only a little bit about each of the girls which is nothing compared to the Touman. But I hope we get more context about Mugino's past and from the looks of it with Frenda involved I'm guessing the series will be before 'that' happens. However, my only hope is that we see ITEM, specifically Mugino, become more involved in the mainline series. Being featured more in GT. Along with the Meltdowner getting more recognition, fanart, and stories involving her because we seem to have an abundant amount of everything for Misaka, Misaki, Accelerator, etc. But hopefully, the series shines the spotlight on the ITEM girls.
Having arrived back at her apartment, Mugino stepped out of a black vehicle that she called to pick her up and waved the driver off signaling that they could leave. Being involved with the Dark Side of Academy City, ITEM had usage of many various resources at their disposal.
A simple pickup was something that fit the bill and something she could call practically anytime. However, sooner or later it would be wise to hire someone personally that would act as their designated driver. Can't exactly trust anyone in this city.
Making her way to the elevator and pressing the level button to her apartment, Mugino let out a tired and annoyed sigh. She still had many questions swarming around her mind, and they all had to do with that damned spiky-haired idiot. Just thinking about him made her grit her teeth while feeling a headache coming.
She didn't know how but she knew for a fact that Kamijou was involved in her dream predicament. And not having the answer right in front of her was pissing her off.
When it came to solving something difficult or complex, Mugino was not one to sit around and twiddle with her thumbs while waiting for an answer.
However, in this case, taking a step back to process how to proceed from where she stood now would be the right thing to do. Hence, killing two birds with one stone is what she was doing. Hearing the elevator come to a stop and seeing the floor level light up above her, Mugino began tapping her foot waiting for the elevator doors to open. As if by command, the doors opened letting the Level 5 walk back to her apartment and begin opening the door.
Upon entering the apartment, Mugino saw Kinuhata and Takitsubo both occupied with their own devices. Takitsubo was watching the news scrolling past channel after channel that was covering the daily goings on Academy City while Kinuhata was on her laptop typing away at something. Once they saw Mugino they both straightened up and looked to be waiting for her to say something.
"I found the prick," Mugino commented, making both girls wide-eyed.
"What did he say? I bet he was super scared and wet himself when found out who you were" Kinuhata said, chuckling at the thought.
Mugino couldn't help but swear under her breath about the bastard. She recalled how unimpressed he was when he heard who she was along with the realization that she was a Level 5. The fucker even alluded to the fact that he has run into the Railgun and Accelerator who are higher-ranked Level 5's. Anger flooded her mind, and she was half tempted to shoot a Meltdowner beam at the wall to blow off steam but instead, balled up her fist until she felt it start to grow numb.
Coming to her senses, the tea-colored girl knew that she had better things to do than start destroying shit. Hence, she answered Kinuhata's question.
"The bastard brushed me off after knowing who I was."
"H-Huh? Come again? He brushed you off… Does he super have a death wish or something?" Kinuhata asked.
"That's uncommon…" Takitsubo muttered, surprised by what Mugino had said.
"He only did so because he's friends with the Railgun," Mugino answered.
"Mm…" Takitusbo murmured, unsure of what to say given that Mugino looked quite pissed.
"Was he at least threatened by you? I super can't imagine some plain-looking guy just brushing off a Level 5" Kinuhata confided to the tea-colored hair girl since she had gotten a glimpse at the boy from when Mugino was looking over his file that was sent to her.
Taking a second to process what the girl said, Mugino began to scowl while still thinking about the boy. Sure, he was threatened but only after she started attacking him. Otherwise, he was just very on edge around her, and to be honest, he wasn't wrong to do so. This was to be expected given that the prick was involved in a few random incidents that would definitely mess with someone's psyche.
Letting out a dissatisfied sigh, she realized there was still so much she didn't know jack shit about, and there was really no one aside from Kamijou who would know what the hell was going on with her and these damn dreams she's been having.
Coming back to her senses, Mugino started speaking to the short brunette girl.
"After I shot my Meltdowner at the prick, he-" Mugino stopped herself from saying that he stopped her light beam from hitting him.
She wasn't sure if she should mention it to the girls given that she herself still had no idea what he did. Hence, she lied through her teeth. "The bastard dodged my attack and went defensive leaving no real time for any questions or answers to be exchanged"
"You didn't kill him? That's super surprising."
Once again, the tea-colored hair Level 5 felt a migraine start forming in her head at the thought of the strange boy who was at the center of her troubles. That Esper ability of his was something she didn't have an exact answer for. Recalling that her power had been stopped by something as simple as the fucker's right hand made her blood boil. Whatever ability he had was something that she's never seen before. Granted, she's seen many various types of abilities but never something that could outright cancel an incoming attack using only the person's hand.
"No, Kinuhata, I didn't kill him. I still need him to answer my questions" Mugino retorted while becoming easily annoyed.
"My bad, my bad."
"So, what now?" Takitsubo said, drawing the two members' attention.
"Hm…" Thinking about it, Mugino figured that she could go ahead with that idea of hers to see if it was true. However, before she said anything, she noticed that Frenda wasn't present.
"Where's Frenda?"
"She got a call and had to step out," Takitsubo answered.
"I see… All right, I'm going to take a nap. We don't have anything going on today so do whatever" Mugino stated, now making her way to her room.
Kinuhata and Takitsubo both looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. No words needed to be said as they understood what the other was thinking. Their leader must have had a pretty bad experience meeting up with that guy she's been gathering research on. They would try to ask her more about what happened later.
Inside her room, Mugino took off her shoes and flopped down on her comfy bed feeling some of the stress on her body and mind leave her. But then again only some of the stress. Rolling over until she was staring at her ceiling, the tea-colored hair beauty felt the presence of sleep immediately start to take over. She wanted to sleep but didn't think it would come so soon. The blame was instantly sent toward that idiotic spiky-haired bastard.
The next thing Mugino could recall was staring at the ceiling but seeing that it started to become wobbly almost like it was water instead of whatever the ceiling was made of. Then within a matter of a second, she was now staring at the bright blue sky. It was as if she was… in a dream.
Realizing this, Mugino bolted up from laying on the ground when she realized that it was sand, she was around, and that she was actually on the beach. Swerving her head left and right, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"No fucking way…"
Standing up and looking around the beach, no one else could be seen. It was eerie and quiet. Too quiet. This left a bad feeling at the forefront of her mind as she wanted to get a better idea of where she was. Hence, she started making her way away from the beach and thought about what to do next when in the corner of her eye she spotted him.
The son of a bitch that had been giving her trouble for the past few days nonstop.
Kamijou Touma.
The boy was standing there not saying anything but looking like he was in deep thought. Mugino thought this was a good time to see if she could find a way to interact with the dream. Jogging over to the boy she was a few feet behind him when she saw him suddenly turn around and look right at her. With her battle instincts kicking in, the girl began activating her Meltdowner beams and aimed her sight right at the boy.
Not even batting an eye, Kamijou began walking toward the girl with a frown on his face and contemplating something all while not even worried about the threat of being attacked by the brunette girl. Unsure of what she should do, Mugino scowled at him and kept her finger on her metaphorical trigger that would activate her beams which would leave holes in the spiky-haired boy's body.
However, before the Level 5 could do anything Kamijou seemingly walked through her almost as if she wasn't even there. Placing her hand on her chest, Mugino figured that she would just feel her shirt and that whatever was going on was just in the dream. But to her dismay, her hand went through her own body leaving her wide-eyed.
"Huh?"
The next thing she knew was that she saw Kamijou continuing to walk away from the beach and head somewhere else. Hence, she wanted to follow him to get a better understanding of what this dream's meaning was but that would not be the case.
Whereas Kamijou was still walking along, Mugino couldn't even move her legs. As though her feet were cemented into the ground. Grunting and yelling at no one in particular, Meltdowner could only watch as the boy got further and further away leaving her alone and unable to move. She was half tempted to shoot a beam out of frustration but stopped when everything around her began to become dark until nothing remained but herself. It was then that she looked up above her and saw that the once-blue sky had now become something oddly familiar.
Her bedroom's ceiling.
Thrashing her head off her pillow, Mugino gasped as she reached out in front of her making sure that she wasn't dreaming anymore. Looking around her, the room did not change one bit. Wanting a definitive answer, the girl quickly reached for her phone and checked to see what time it was. The Level 5 swore at seeing the time.
"What the hell…"
There on her phone read the time: "9:30 A.M."
"I wasn't even asleep for that long… what the hell did you do to me Kamijou!?"
The dreadful realization finally settled in that the girl was definitely inflicted with some sort of power that forced her to dream consistently about Kamijou Touma. Dreaming about the boy once was nothing but then twice was a very low degree of coincidence. And by the third time that was straight-up bullshit. But even taking a nap and still dreaming about the bastard was a guarantee. A guarantee that she would have his head if she didn't get the answers she wanted.
Springing off her bed, Mugino walked to her door and threw it open, managing to startle her two roommates who were minding their own business. The two girls didn't know what to say exactly so they stayed quiet for a second until Kinuhata had the right idea to speak up.
"H-hey? What's up? Have a super good nap?" Kinuhata asked, nervous about pissing off their leader.
"You could say that…" Mugino finished, wondering if the nap could be considered good or bad.
Either way, it did answer a few of her questions.
"What's the plan now?" Takitsubo muttered, gaining the tea-colored hair girl's attention.
"Now… I start doing some more research on this Kamijou" Mugino stated to the tracksuit-wearing girl.
With that plan in motion, Mugino strode to the kitchen and grabbed herself something to drink along with a snack and set out to grab her laptop. If she was going to truly learn why she was having these damn dreams, she should better understand the person who is at the center of it all.
Getting herself comfortable, the girl began searching through all the data that was sent her way on Kamijou and began to look for anything that she might have missed. Granted, she already looked through everything earlier while she was waiting for the boy to head to school, Mugino wanted to take another look and see if there was something she missed. Perhaps a detail about the boy would serve to help her find a way to get him to exchange information. Better than how she tried earlier.
What she found after spending some more time scrolling through the file surrounding Kamijou left her with yet another annoyed impression of the boy. Something so simple yet easily dismissible.
An audible sigh could be heard coming from a certain someone who had his head laying down in the middle of his desk. Touma was beyond tired and could feel his head start to bother him now. So much had happened in such a small amount of time. Misfortune once again working to make his life even more stressful. And, only a few hours had passed into the day! Leaving him with fear for the rest of the day. This led to the poor boy recalling just how his morning had progressed.
First, he ran into a few random troublesome incidents on his way to school. Even having to hide in a trash can. Then, he encountered the eye-catching brunette beauty who turned out to be another problematic Level 5 that had become interested in him for unknown reasons and even attacked him with her laser beams that appeared out of nowhere. And finally, coming back to school and having to deal with his classmates and Sensei giving him a hard time all thanks to Tsuchimikado's explanation which turned out to be a big misunderstanding.
Now, he had to deal with listening to another lecture from his teacher that piqued his interest at first but slowly became background noise that entered his head and would be placed in the back of his mind most likely gone forever. His attention was drawn to a more concerning topic at hand. That girl… Mugino Shizuri.
In most cases, any guy would be lucky to not only get the chance to talk with a girl of her standing but to even get her phone number. That was a one-in-a-million chance that practically any teen boy would leap at the chance to experience. However, Touma saw it in a whole different light. He was half tempted to mute the number so that he could go about his day and not have to worry. But sadly, that was a hopeless fantasy.
The tea-colored hair girl was able to find him and even waited for him to arrive at school. Heck, she had probably been watching him for a while now and decided to confront him today. There was no doubt that she would come back and wait for him outside or even track him down back to his apartment. Not to mention, she's a Level 5. If there was anything he learned from his time with Misaka and dealing with Accelerator it was that if you were a Level 5, then you were probably crazy.
In Misaka's case, the brunette seemed to have a problem or obsession with a certain vending machine that he commonly walked past, and in most cases, he would see the girl kicking the machine. Whether it was out of anger for not dispensing her drink, or out of pure fun at causing damage to the machine Touma did not know. All he knew was that making her mad would leave him with a problematic Level 5.
But back to the topic at hand, Touma wasn't sure how he should feel about Mugino. He just knew that at any time she would be sending him a message or worse calling him for more information about who knows what. Hence, this led the boy to start wondering what she wanted or might know about him. She mentioned incidents that he was involved in. From fighting bullies to Accelerator but the comment about the red-haired priest… maybe she saw something involving Stiyl?
Either way, he needed to not let his paranoia get the best of him. Otherwise, she would-
That train of thought came to an abrupt stop when he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. Fear began seeping into his mind and the first thing he could think of was his damn misfortune. Without making it obvious, Touma pulled his phone out and checked to see who had messaged him.
However, to his despair, once he pulled out his phone the device suddenly reset without allowing him to see what appeared on his phone. The spiky-hair boy felt both relief and anxiety run through his mind at the same time. Perhaps he should just focus back on the lecture that was going on and ignore the phone for now.
'Please be something small. Please be something small. Please be something small' Touma thought while hoping that whatever was sent to his phone was something not so bad.
However, due to the boy's misfortune, he wouldn't see that the person who was contacting him via his phone was none other than his roommate, Index.
Back in his dorm, the magical nun was lying flat down on her face as Sphynx jumped onto the nun's head meowing to his owner.
"S-Sphynx! The episode ended at the worst spot possible! Now we have to wait till next week" Index stated to the poor cat who could only tilt his head and begin meowing at the girl.
"And Touma didn't answer his phone!"
The nun then got back onto her feet and grabbed the phone that was placed on the counter. Index had called Touma moments ago wanting to know when he would be back and to bring along some for her to snack on before lunch. The reason was that she, in a moment of hunger, ate everything that was in the fridge and was now slightly content. But that wouldn't last for too long.
"Hmph! I bet he knew it was me and decided to ignore his phone" Index said, picking up a sticky note that was next to the phone that had the boy's phone number on there.
Letting out a defeated sigh, the white-haired girl looked over at the calico cat and picked him up while making her way back to the bed and sitting down. Reaching for the remote, Index began flipping through the channels and found another one of her shows that were being aired.
"Hmm. Sphynx, how about this? We'll call Touma back after this episode and tell him to bring back food along with making us an extra plate for not answering our first call. Sounds good?"
"Meow…?" Sphynx replied…?
"Great! Now, onto the show!"
Back with Touma
Now entering lunchtime, the wielder of Imagine Breaker couldn't help but slide down in his seat as another issue presented itself. What would he have for lunch?
Thanks to Index's never-ending stomach, the poor buy had been on the low end of things. More so now than compared to before. Touma didn't know what was going on, whether the girl was eating more to get back at him for leaving her alone all day or something else. The only other thing he could think of was that the girl was getting older. Maybe she was having a sweet tooth that caused her to-
That train of thought suddenly stopped when Touma heard someone making their way toward him. Shifting his head to the side, he saw blonde hair and sunglasses.
"Tsuchimikado? What now?"
"Ouch, Kami-yan, can't your friend just come by and chat?"
"Right… Well?"
"Getting right to the point, huh? No rest for you Kami-yan" Tsuchimikado stated while eyeing the boy.
Releasing a sigh, Touma couldn't help but start thinking that he didn't want to be there. He still had some other homework to get done but honestly would have preferred to just leave. The boy was about to start complaining to his friend when he started having a bad feeling. The kind of feeling you get when you know something bad was about to happen.
The next thing to happen was that Touma's phone started buzzing indicating that someone was calling him right now. Tsuchimikado stared at the boy confused about why he wasn't going to answer his phone.
"Uh… Kami, I think your phone is going off."
"…yeah. I know" Touma answered, closing his eyes, and asking for his misfortune to spare him this once.
'Oh, no… please let it be a tax collector… or a debt collector calling about my hospital bills. Anything other than who I think it is. I'll even be fine with Index being the one on the phone.'
Deciding to face the impending doom, Touma reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, and answered it without even seeing who called him.
"…Hell-"
"Outside."
Confused, the boy was about to say something but decided to risk everything and stood up from his seat and looked out the window. What he saw made his face become slightly paler than it was a minute ago.
Standing outside next to a tree was the Level 5 Meltdowner, Mugino Shizuri. The girl, whether it was on purpose or not, was staring right at the window of the class noticing when the spiky-haired boy poked his head out.
Touma was half tempted to reply with a smart-ass remark but having dealt with the girl first-hand, he did not want to cause a scene.
'I could tell her to wait somewhere else, but… I doubt she would do so,' Touma thought while trying to come up with a plan if things got bad.
Hence, after taking a second to think about what was going on, the boy decided to deal with her now and whatever she wanted.
"Can I ask why?" Touma asked.
"…After giving it some thought, I figured I was a bit… direct with my last approach," Mugino said, holding her tongue from saying anything that would cause Kamijou to flee.
"You think?" Touma retorted sarcastically.
"Yes, which is why I have an idea of how we can both walk away today and never have to see each other again" the Level 5 stated while forcing herself to sound reasonable.
Hearing this, Touma couldn't help the surprised look on his face at hearing what the brunette said. Could she be trusted? No. But he had a feeling that there was some truth in her words. Besides, if he knew anything it was that you shouldn't make a Level 5 pissed. Otherwise, they'll keep bothering you. The image of a certain girl shooting electricity suddenly popped into his head.
"…Fine. What did you have in mind?"
"Nothing complicated. Just finding somewhere…less populated and discussing the questions that I have involving you. How does that sound?" Mugino asked, clearly annoyed while leaning on the tree she was next to but doing her best to appear reasonable.
"That's fine," Touma replied.
"Good. Then I'll be waiting"
"Waiting?"
"Yes. Waiting."
"I…"
"Is there a problem with that? Or do I have to come up there and drag your ass out?"
"No. I mean, did… Did you mean now? Like, leave now?"
"For fucks sake, Kamijou! Yes. Now."
"All right, all right. Next time, explain yourself clearly."
"There won't be a next time dip shit. Now, hurry up…" Mugino replied, closing the phone and doing her best to wait patiently.
If this were any other situation she would have marched into the building and grabbed the boy while strangling him for answers. Sure, it would raise awareness among the students but knowing a bit about Kamijou from what information she researched, he was already considered a walking disaster. Hence, the sooner she got her answers… real answers. The sooner she would part ways with the boy and hope to never see him again.
"Great. *sigh* Just great."
While Touma was on the phone for the entire time, Tsuchimikado merely watched from the sidelines, confused about what was happening. Tilting his head, the spy began thinking of who could call the boy and leave him defeated with only a few words through the phone.
It was at that point that Tsuchimikado chuckled and stopped thinking as the list of people he had in mind went beyond fifty.
"Hey, Tsuchimikado, I need to step out."
"Come again, Kami? You need to step out?"
"Yeah. Mind telling Sensei that something came up."
"Hmm. I don't know Kami… Sensei will be heartbroken when she hears that you're ditching class again."
"Tell her it was an emergency."
"What sort of an emergency?"
"Damn it, Tsuchimiakdo! A big emergency!" Touma exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loud.
"Well, why are you still here talking to me then, Kami-yan?"
Tsuchimikado couldn't help the shit-eating grin that appeared on his face when he saw Touma's startled look that slowly turned into realization. He got up from his seat and began jogging past the blonde and heading for the school's exit. The spy's antics would be remembered for a later time but right now he had to hurry before a Level 5 lost their temper and started becoming an even bigger problem for him.
Reaching the outside, Touma was surprised that no one stopped him or asked why he was leaving school. Probably since this was a common occurrence for him.
"All right, I'm here."
"Took you long enough."
"Yeah. No thanks to the unannounced call. Now, where are we going?"
Mugino pondered the boy's question for a second. She had several places in mind where the two could have a successful conversation without being interrupted. However, if she wanted to keep a low profile while also not standing out too much there was one place she thought of.
"Let's hope the staff doesn't remember me that well."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Touma inquired but was ignored.
"Nothing. Let's go."
Without further delay, Touma began following the direction that Mugino was beginning to walk while coming up with all sorts of scenarios and thoughts in his head about what could happen.
'Where exactly does she have in mind? Is she planning on kidnapping me? What if I have to fight her again? I mean, I know she shoots laser beams, but I don't know how many exactly. What's her aim? Maybe she's out to get me for someone on the science side?'
However, Touma would be taken out of his thoughts when he heard the brunette girl call out to him.
"Hey! Dumbass. Where are you going?"
"Err… this way. You were walking this way."
Touma said, pointing to the sidewalk in front of him while being confused about why she didn't keep walking.
"Did you think I walked all the way here?"
"You didn't?"
"Of course not. I'm not wasting my time walking to meet you. Here."
Gesturing behind her, Touma saw what appeared to be a black vehicle that was shorter than a limo but still had a sleek appearance with blacked-out windows. Mugino also had an irritated expression on her face.
"We're taking this."
"Uh… don't you think this is a bit… much?" Touma asked.
"No. I don't think it is. Usually, I order a larger vehicle to pick me up but for something quick I called this in" Mugino said while tilting her head at the car behind her. "Either way, hurry up."
Left feeling a bit awkward now, Touma did so and began walking up to the vehicle's back seat but not before opening the door for Mugino. Seeing this, the girl looked like she would take up his friendly gesture but immediately went to the other side and opened her own door. A sigh could be heard coming from the spiky-haired boy as he decided to get in himself.
"Take off," Mugino said to the driver, which was answered by the vehicle beginning to move.
The boy couldn't help but feel that he was in a whole new ballpark and was out of place.
"What's that look for? Never ridden in a vehicle like this before?"
"I could care less for the vehicle and more about the fact that I just got into the car with a total stranger," Touma said while narrowing his gaze at the brunette girl who looked unimpressed with what he was saying. "And to top it off I feel like I'm being kidnapped."
"...If this were any other scenario, I would gladly stop the car so you could get out and walk the whole way. But seeing that this is a one-time thing, why don't you just shut up and enjoy the ride."
"That's going to be a bit difficult to do. I mean, when was the last time you got into a vehicle with someone that you didn't know very well?"
"Try right now," Mugino stated, crossing her arms and tapping her right index finger on her left arm to try and calm herself down from cursing the boy out.
"All right… You got me there…" Touma lamely replied.
A moment of silence fell upon the two teenagers as they were both looking out their respective windows seeing the vast structural complexity that Academy City offered. It wouldn't be for another minute until Touma was the one to initiate a conversation.
"So… would you mind telling me where we are going?"
Bringing a hand up to rub her forehead, Mugino was beginning to regret bringing the boy along.
'I should have just asked him the questions back there at the school. Gone to that alley we were at earlier and forced…asked him for answers' the Level 5 girl thought.
"We are heading somewhere that is both private and public."
"...That's not very descriptive."
"Do you always complain this much? We are heading somewhere that you said you'd prefer to be in order to talk. But right now all I'm hearing is that you're a complainer."
"I-I'm not trying to be! This poor Kamijou-san is just asking out of curiosity…and safety" Touma said the last part quietly.
"If I wanted to hurt you I wouldn't have let you go earlier."
"You mean back in the alley?"
Nodding in response, Mugino didn't say anything else leaving the two once again in an awkward space. That is until Touma spoke up soon after.
"... You probably have a lot of questions for me. Don't you…" Touma said, still looking out the car window.
Frowning at what the boy said, the brunette girl realized that she indeed did have a lot of questions that needed to be answered. Questions that made absolutely no sense at all but were getting to the point that she didn't care what the answer might be. She just wanted to know what was going on.
"Well, since you're eager to now start talking," Shifting her head so she was now glaring at the spiky-haired boy, Mugino began by shooting the boy a question that was lingering on her mind for a minute now.
"How the hell were you able to stop my Meltdowner ability?"
Bringing his right hand to pat the back of his head, Touma had a feeling that this question was going to pop up and decided to go with a simple explanation. One that he was growing used to saying to explain to others about his power.
"It's… where do I even start. I feel like this is going to be a repeating thing that I have to do every time I meet someone who wants to kill me" Touma said to himself while leaving the girl glaring even harder at him.
"Who the hell are you even talking to?!"
"Never mind that. To answer your question… Well, I can't exactly."
"What? You can't or won't."
"Neither. It's just that I don't officially have an Esper ability."
Mugino stayed silent. If this were any other situation, she would have started threatening the boy for not telling her the truth. But this time was not like any other situation. She had seen first-hand what he could do. Hence, she had to get more complex answers out of him.
"...I take it this has to do with you being a Level 0?"
"You're…Taking this a whole lot different than how I thought you would."
Touma on his part was actually surprised by the girl's behavior. Recalling his previous encounter with her, he was sure that she would shoot a laser beam at him while inside the moving vehicle. Or curse him out for giving her a bullshit answer. But instead, she merely glared at him.
"All right, just so I can understand what you're trying to say. You claim to not have any power. And yet you still manage to deal with a priest that tried setting you on fire, the first-ranked Level 5 Esper in all of Academy City, and myself included by blocking my Meltdowner beam" Mugino repeated to the boy.
"Who the hell is going to believe that you don't have an Esper ability!?" Mugino shouted.
"Therein lies the real problem. I do have a power but… it's not an Esper ability."
"You mind clarifying that for me?" Mugino replied, not understanding the boy's answer, and was starting to get annoyed again.
"The last time I went through the System Scan I went through the test twice but still got the same result. I'm officially labeled as a Level 0."
"And before you say something witty like 'Why haven't you gotten it checked at another System Scan' I have multiple times but it always ends up giving me the same results" Touma added.
Minute by minute that Mugino sat next to the boy, she couldn't help but feel like she was losing something of value. Whether it was brain cells or common sense she didn't know. But she was getting to the point of not even wanting to argue with the boy.
"Okay, smartass. Then you're clearly classified as a Gemstone."
"Err…" Touma muttered, ready to disappoint the tea-color-haired beauty.
"Let me guess. You're not a Gemstone" Mugino said aloud and clearly irritated.
"Yeah… I don't even know if I have an AIM diffusion field. At least, that's what I believe. It didn't help that the scientists conducting the test didn't really mention anything."
"You've got to be-" Mugino stopped herself short when she felt the vehicle start to slow down and looked outside seeing that they had arrived at their destination.
"We're here."
Feeling the car come to a stop, Mugino opened her door and got out which left Touma to do the same. Once out of the car, the brunette girl waved at the car which signaled for it to take off leaving the two to look at where their supposed meeting was going to take place.
"Huh. Never would have thought that you'd pick this place."
"That's because your fragile ass wanted to be somewhere that's near a populated location while also giving us some room to talk."
"Thanks…?"
Mugino's response was to just leave Touma there while she went inside the building. Letting out a frustrated sigh at the woman's attitude, Touma followed right behind her but not before catching a glimpse of the building's name.
On the top of the building was the name of the restaurant, Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant.
Upon entering the restaurant, Mugino found a booth that was near the side of the building while also not being close to the main entrance. Taking their seats, the two were immediately greeted by one of the waitresses.
"Hello! Would you two like some menus?"
"That'd be nice. Thank you" Touma replied to the worker.
"Mm. I'll be right back with those menus and some water."
Now left alone, Mugino crossed her arms and began staring holes into the wielder of Imagine Breaker. There was now nothing in her way from getting some answers.
"Now then, here is how things are going to work out-"
"Let me guess, you're gonna say that I can't answer any questions and only answer whatever questions you have," Touma nonchalantly answered, leaning back into his seat and looking up at the restaurant's ceiling.
"You're getting smart, Kamijou. And here I thought you were a complete dumbass."
"How could you know? This is practically the first time we are having an actual civil conversation. I doubt one interaction was enough to give you an idea of who I am."
"You'd be surprised" Mugino stated while recalling the boy's character in the dreams and how he acted.
"That's not very reassuring. Why are you interested in me anyway? I doubt this poor Kamijou has any real interest to you."
Taking a second to ignore the boy's comment and consider what she would say next, Mugino decided to go about it in a more casual direction. At least that's what she thought of as casual.
"Do me a favor, Kamijou. Don't say anything until I've finished talking. Understood?" Mugino asked.
"*sigh* All right." Lifting his right hand and placing it on the side of his face, Touma would hear her out. "Go ahead. I'll shut up."
Nodding at the boy's defeated approval, the Level 5 began to drift the conversation to her field of advantage.
"Lately, I happened to come across a few incidents. Incidents regarding you."
Touma raised his eyebrows and was about to ask what she meant when he saw her glaring at him which forced him to close his mouth.
"Like I mentioned earlier in the alleyway, I've seen files regarding a few incidents that you were directly involved in. Now, what I want to know is why?"
Looking down at her right hand, Mugino began to formulate the real question she wanted to ask without getting too much into the dreams and scaring the boy away.
"Why do I keep seeing incidents involving you? Why now when we've never even met or glanced at each other in this damn city?"
Raising his hand like what students did in class when wanting to ask the teacher a question, Touma didn't want to get yelled at or even attacked for speaking.
Silently letting out a sigh, Mugino approved of the boy's question.
"Go ahead. Speak."
"You know this is really stupid. I feel like I'm in class."
"Just shut up and say what you wanted."
"Right. Well, what do you mean you keep seeing incidents involving me?"
"I mean that I keep seeing events that you're involved in without really wanting to" Mugino said while scowling.
"You're not making any sense. Could you clarify?" Touma asked.
Before she could respond to the boy, the waitress came back with menus in her hands and handed them out.
"Sorry about the wait. Here you go."
"Thanks," Touma replied.
"Is there anything I could get you now?"
"I'll have water."
"Ok. And you miss?"
"I'll have your sweet tea."
"Great! I'll have that out in a minute" the waitress said before taking off.
Left to themselves now, Mugino decided to take a gamble.
"What I'm trying to say is that… I am ending up in different scenarios where I keep seeing events that for some reason involve you."
"...Um…This poor Kamijou-san has no answer to what you just said."
"And you know what's the worst part of it all?" Mugino continued.
"Err…No. I don't have a clue."
"It's that after our encounter earlier I went back to minding my own business when wouldn't you fucking know it. I ended up seeing an incident that involved you, again."
"...what?"
"You heard me. I don't know how or why but it keeps happening. For the past few days, it's been a recurring thing. And I'm getting sick and tired of this crap" Mugino stated to the boy.
Left with many thoughts scrambling around his head, Touma had no idea what the girl was talking about.
"But why? I don't understand how you keep seeing me in incidents. Are you actively looking into me and what things I'm caught up in?"
"No! God, why can't you wrap this around your damn head? What I'm saying is that I keep seeing you everywhere" Mugino explained.
"Ha… And we are back to square one" Touma muttered under his breath.
"What the hell did you say?"
"Nothing. Just muttering to myself. *sigh* All right, so what I'm understanding is that you keep seeing me in random events. Events that you have no interest or involvement in. Correct?"
"Yes. That's the gist of it" Mugino answered the spiky-haired boy while growing frustrated yet again.
"Well… do you think it's just a coincidence?"
If it wasn't for the fact that a table was separating the two, Mugino would've leaped at the boy and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, and threatened him. But seeing as there was a table, she could only bite her tongue and curse him silently.
"If it was, do you think I would actively seek you out? Truth be told I wish it was just a coincidence but I'm at the point where I don't care what needs to be done. I want it to stop."
"You're not giving me a lot to work with Mugino-san.
"Then what the hell do you think it is jackass?"
Taking a second to gather his thoughts, the black-haired boy had several ideas come to mind. But one idea was more soundproof than the other. And the other idea was… outlandish. To someone from the science side, they would look at him oddly while brushing off his idea. He decided to go with the more safe idea.
"What about an Esper? Could there be someone who is causing you to see events involving me?"
"That's one idea. But it's going to be hard to narrow down who would want to cause me harm."
"Why?"
"Because I'm involved with the Dark Side of Academy City," Mugino informed the boy.
"...Oh. Ok. Yeah, that makes things a bit more difficult" Touma answered while not really knowing how to respond to that statement.
Suddenly the waitress from earlier reappeared again this time with their drinks.
"Here you go! One water and one sweet tea."
"Thanks."
"Do you know what you'd like to order?"
Gesturing over to the tea-color-haired girl, Touma let the girl order first.
"I'll take your salmon bento."
"I'll have the same as her."
"Great! I'll get that ready to go" the waitress replied before taking off with their orders.
Now left to themselves, the atmosphere surrounding the two became awkward which was a surprise given that the two had been talking almost nonstop ever since they encountered each other. Deciding to continue the conversation, Mugino was the one to initiate it.
"Back to the issue, what are your thoughts on all this?"
"Well… I don't really know. Even though I tend to get involved in random situations all the time. This time it's different as I'm not the one being truly involved. It's you."
"Yes, but what's the reason for me seeing these events that involve you? Why am I seeing them at all?"
"I'm just as lost as you."
Grimacing at a thought that occurred to him, Touma began to feel bad. What if this had something to do with his misfortune? Is this a new form of misfortune affecting people caused by him? But that train of thought led him to wonder about something else. But what does she mean by seeing him consistently?
"Mugino-san."
"What? Did you come up with something useful for once?"
"Explain it to me. As clear as you can. What do you mean you keep seeing me in incidents?"
"..." the brunette stayed quiet as she wasn't sure if she should answer truthfully.
"It's like I said, I keep finding myself coming across incidents that involve you somehow."
"Ah. Maybe you're just getting a glimpse into this poor Kamijou's lifestyle and there's nothing to do but just watch or read what happens" Touma explained in simple terms to the girl.
"I don't care what is happening, but I want it to stop."
"Well…" Deciding to go off on a limb, Touma answered the question that would either make the girl get up and leave or make him look like a complete idiot.
"What if it's-"
"What are you two doing here!?" a voice interrupted the boy from finishing what he was saying.
Both the Level 5 and Level 0 turned to look at who shouted and immediately felt a migraine start to form.
Standing there in front of them a few yards away from the table was the one and only Misaka Mikoto also known as the third-ranked Level 5, the Railgun. She was pointing her right index finger out at the two while having a shocked expression on her face.
"Oh great. The spoiled brat is here of all people" Mugino said while glaring right at the brunette girl who mirrored the glare.
"*sigh* Why me…? Such misfortune…" Touma muttered, realizing that he was about to be put into the crossfire between two Level 5's.
And from the looks of things these two did not like each other one bit.