*Disclaimer - I do not own the copyright to Toaru Majutsu no Index
*A/N - Hey there, how are you doing? Hope everything is going well. With the release of the Item light novel and having read it, we now have a bit more information about Mugino's backstory along with the other girls as well. Pretty cool actually. Going to use some of the new information about her in the story. Either way, Touma is screwed lol. And with that, I hope you enjoy it and have a good one!
Listening to the sound of the train coming to a slow stop, Touma was holding onto a handle hanging above one of the seats in the train. It had been a rather uneventful walk to the train station with Tsuchimikado chatting about practically everything but the mission.
The spiky-haired boy was about to strangle his friend and shut him up or make him start talking about something actually intriguing or useful but held himself back.
"What's wrong Kami-yan? You've been quiet during my whole explanation on the fine art material needed to create a perfectly functional maid outfit that will not only be comfortable and stylish but look good on- "
"Stop stop stop! This Kamijou can't handle it anymore!"
Shrugging his shoulders, Tsuchimikado tilted his head in confusion.
"Huh? What's with this sudden change in attitude? I thought you were a cultured individual?"
"I am! Maid outfits are amazing! Especially when an older girl is wearing one while doing her best to help you around the house or join you in making dinner or primarily when you come home from a long day and need someone to comfort you. But what you're describing- "
Balling up his fist, the wielder of Imagine Breaker swung his fist in front of the blonde-haired boy and yelled with all the conviction he could muster without screaming too loud.
"You and your damn sis-con fantasies are getting out of hand!"
"Whoa whoa! What's with the sudden insult to my preferences!?"
"Oh, quit it. This entire train ride has been nothing but you gushing about Maika! Nonstop topics that involve her. When you started talking about sports and got to volleyball, this Kamijou would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in that, however, you then turned the conversation into the scenario of Maika playing" Touma explained while his right eye was twitching.
"What's wrong with that? I'm just wondering what my dear sister does to stay in tip-top shape to perform her amazing duties as a maid" Tsuchimikado said, defending himself.
"And then when you started talking about the idea of having someone take care of you while you are sick. That started out really great! Until you instantly brought up your sister being the one to take care of you."
"Oi! Kami! There's nothing wrong with that. Besides, that scenario is totally realistic and not something fantasized."
"Realistic maybe, but not something that- "
Suddenly, the doors to the train opened allowing the passengers to either exit or enter. And the few people who were seated in the same train cart that Kamijou and Tsuchimikado were stationed in immediately got up from their seats and bolted for the door. They had heard enough of the blonde boy's thoughts to be traumatized.
"Looks like we will need to put this conversation on hold until later" Tsuchimikado commented while heading for the train doors.
Placing his hand on his head, Touma could only sigh at his friend's ridiculous antics. There was no way of winning against that bonehead. Thankfully it was only him and not the other idiotic member of the Delta Trio. Otherwise, he would have his hands full dealing with two morons. Shaking his head, the thought of the blue-haired classmate of his left him to feel another migraine forming in his head. To stop that from happening, he followed behind the spy and exited the train.
Now standing in the District 19 train station it was clear that night wasn't that far away which would in a way be beneficial to the two on their mission. Moreover, inside the station only a few people were standing around waiting for the next train, it did not look like the other stations. Parts of the station looked old and worn down with holes even in some of the walls. Graffiti was sprayed all over the walls which could have offered a unique art piece to spice up the place.
Were it not for the other pieces of graffiti ruining the one outstanding artwork.
'Whoever did that is kind of bad. They should take some real art classes' Touma thought while looking at the wall filled with graffiti.
But putting aside the vandalized walls, the two boys continued to walk through the station and soon found themselves outside and moving further away. No one said anything as they both took in their surroundings and saw that the buildings all around them were worn down or collapsed leaving only debris behind.
For being within the technologically advanced city, an analogy to describe this section of the city would be that this district was more like that one stain in your favorite sweater that you didn't know was there and got made fun of it out in public.
"Here's a little something interesting to think about, Kami."
Drawn to Tsuchimikado's comment, Touma now paid attention.
"I heard that in the next couple of years, they want to do something about District 19."
Hearing this, the spiky-haired boy processed this information while beginning to frown.
"Took them long enough. Why haven't the higher-ups done anything about it before?" Touma asked, frustrated at the situation enveloping this part of the city.
"The almighty reason for everything. Time and money. Nobody wants to stick their head into something that they aren't one hundred percent sure will make them a profit or provide beneficial results" Tsuchimikado explained while kicking a rock away.
Anger and frustration were what the boy felt.
"That's bullshit! Don't they know the people who are still here in District 19 are struggling and need help?" Touma asked, irritated beyond belief at the adults of Academy City.
"Kami-yan, I probably don't need to tell you this, but the adults and higher-ups of Academy City couldn't care less about this district. And there's plenty more they don't give a damn about. Which is why there are those working their way up in the city to help the small guy out. But it's going to take a while…"
Having a lot more to comment on, Touma decided to just stay silent on the matter and focus back on the mission while still glancing at the buildings around him. He even caught glances of people inside other buildings that were just worn down or had looked battered but still appeared like nothing was out of the ordinary. A somber mood had sunk around the two boys. It didn't help that Tsuchimikado had gone quiet and appeared… different. With his back almost straightened and face looking still.
The spiky-haired boy wasn't sure what was going on but decided to go along with him while taking in the sights of this part of Academy City.
Continuing to walk further into District 19, the spy and ordinary high school student continued to pass by many old and worn or utterly demolished buildings nearby while just taking in the sights that lay bare to be seen by anyone who was curious about venturing into this area of the city.
It was at this point that Touma wanted to at least start talking about the situation he was not necessarily being forced into but still had to involve himself in due to his desire to save everyone and-
The view of his world was suddenly thrown sideways while his body felt a twinge which soon turned out to the hard floor. Looking down, the boy saw that he had unfortunately stepped into a small sinkhole in the ground which caused him to fall like a sack of potatoes leaving him covered in dirt and dust now.
Tsuchimikado looked behind him and saw the helpless boy with dirt covering his hair. Letting a small smirk appear on his face, the blonde boy helped Touma stand back up all while taking a look at the sinkhole.
"Watch where you're stepping now, Kami. You might end up in a ditch."
"Very funny."
Taking out what appeared to be his phone, Tsuchimikado crouched down on the ground and appeared to be measuring how deep the sinkhole was that had entrapped Touma's foot.
"Didn't know you were a land surveyor?" Touma comedically questioned.
"It's a side gig. Pays somewhat all right."
"Heh. Probably pays more than being a spy?"
"You'd be surprised."
"Oh?"
Having measured the hole, Tsuchimikado straightened himself while scanning the area in front of them. Something caused him to start looking a bit serious.
"What is it? More sinkholes?"
"Something like that… let's just watch where we are stepping now, eh Kami-yan?" the blonde replied.
"Yeah, yeah."
Making their way further into what once appeared to be a plot of land dedicated to multiple large-looking buildings both in height and size, the plain-looking boy couldn't help but feel like his spy of a friend was holding some information from him. This whole being quiet business was starting to get irritating.
"Hey, Tsuchimikado, what's got you so… secretive lately?"
Stopping in his tracks, the blonde spy slightly tilted his head and offered a poker smile to the black-haired boy.
"Nothing of the sort. Just considering what we might be going up against."
Shaking his head, Touma was having none of that hiding information crap. Not this time.
"Which is…?"
"Like I said, nothing to worry about- "
"Tsuchimikado."
"…Fine. Jeez, Kami, what's got you so interested in this extracurricular magical mission?" Tsuchimikado asked while sliding one of his hands into his pocket.
Touma was silent for a second before getting right to the heart of the issue.
"You've been quiet since we got to District 19. Scratch that, you've been tight-lipped about something. Even more so than usual."
"How can you tell?"
Giving a deadpan look at the boy, Touma answered back.
"Really?"
The blonde remained quiet.
"I think I can read a few of your expressions now" the black-haired boy stated.
Lightly laughing at the claim, the spy shook his head.
"Unlikely. You forget, Kami-yan, that being a double-crossing spy has its benefits of pulling a fast one on people to trick them."
"True. I guess… but that doesn't answer why you won't tell me about the mission or about the sinkhole."
Appearing to look at the ground, Tsuchimikado realized that Kamijou would only begin to grow more curious about the mission and everything related to it. Letting out a ball of air, the blonde caved in.
"You got me, Kami." Starting to walk closer to the boy, the blonde was only a few feet away from the nagging spiky-haired individual before whispering loud enough for him to hear.
"We're being watched."
The misfortunate boy's eyes widened, and he was about to say something but was stopped when the blonde-haired spy continued talking.
"Ever since we got to the train station… I don't know from where but call it a spy's intuition."
Wanting to retort that last comment, Touma decided to save it for another time and began to look around the area.
"Don't freak out." Tsuchimikado affirmed.
"Kinda hard not to."
"You're drawing more attention to yourself."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier!?" Touma yell whispered.
"Because I knew you would start acting like this."
Groaning at the blonde's words, Touma started to calm himself down and formulate a plan of action or at the very least what he could do now.
'If what Tsuchimikado said is true about someone following us, then should we try to get the upper hand and seek them out? That could force their hand and lead to us getting trapped or worse…'
Shaking his head, the spiky-haired boy could only let out a sigh. Nothing he could come up with would be safe enough to act through. Hence, he decided to sadly listen to the spy.
"Well, what now?"
"Stick with moving forward. We don't know where they could be. Besides, we need to watch our steps. There may be more sinkholes with traps waiting to go off."
"Wouldn't we be walking right where they want us to be?" Touma asked, not sure why the two should head straight for the enemy base holding the documents.
"Oh, don't worry. I've got a plan."
Not sure if he should be glad that Tsuchimikado has a plan or not suddenly got the boy thinking. Why were these papers important enough to steal? And why did it seem like he was walking himself into something dangerous?
Having these thoughts cast around in his head, Touma decided to blurt out what he was thinking.
"Why are these documents so important?"
"Quite the question to ask. But didn't I tell you about them already?"
"You did. But not the whole truth." Taking a step toward the spy, Kamijou Touma had a serious look on his face now. He wanted to truth.
"We haven't even reached the location where the documents are and yet it feels like we are treading around a very active and hostile trap set up by this so-called rogue group of magicians. But that's not the whole truth… is it?" Touma stated clearly.
Advocating to brush aside Kamijou's statement, Tsuchimikado realized that the wielder of Imagine Breaker would somehow find the answer later on. Hence, the blonde spectacle-wearing boy decided to explain the situation.
"Nothing seems to get past you, huh Kami?"
"So, there is something more to it all?" Touma questioned, becoming more concerned by the second.
"There is. I'll give you the brief summary version of what's going on." Moving his head around to not only stretch but also check the area around them, Tsuchimikado began explaining.
"This rogue group of magicians is a small team that was stationed over in Southwest Europe. Part of Necessarius actually. But something happened and they suddenly flipped to being insurrectionists. How they were able to get the documents is all a mystery to me but honestly, it's like I said nothing too big to worry about."
"Even though there's a chance that we are being spied on right now" Touma casually responded.
"Circumstances aside, this is still a simple task to get back the stolen documents and either retrieve them or destroy them." Looking over at the boy, Tsuchimikado waited for his reaction. "Does that answer your questions, Kami?"
Grasping his fist, Touma was not content with what he heard. The group of magicians… there had to be a valid reason for them to suddenly do something reckless.
"Yes and no. There has to be more of a reason for them to do something this drastic. They're putting their lives in danger…"
Shifting his head to look at the pointed-haired boy, Tsuchimikado had a feeling that Kamijou would try to see the group's point of view. After all, who wouldn't be curious to know why this group of magicians suddenly decided to flip a switch and do something heinous and quite literally dangerous.
"…Well, better put those ideas to the side for now. We're coming up on the location."
Looking ahead, Touma realized that they were still a bit away from the targeted building but knew that it was better to prepare. However, that didn't mean he would just forget about the rogue group and their reasoning.
"All right, so, what's the plan?"
Taking notice of another building close by, Tsuchimikado nodded his head.
"Get to that building and lay out a ground plan."
And with that, the two boys began making their way to the building pointed out while still being wary of their surroundings. They still didn't know for sure if they were being watched. A risky situation to be put into.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in District 19
Walking along the side of a crumbled-down building stood a tea-colored-haired girl who was currently looking at her phone. Reading a plethora of details sent her way about the mission she took on a quick whim to clear her head, Mugino hoped that this job wouldn't be too short. She was still pissed off about what had happened earlier today. Her meeting with Kamijou still left her considering her personal problem.
There were still no clues or explanations for why she was seeing him in her dreams. And even when she took a nap, the teen girl still saw him again almost as if it was all a sick joke. And as brief, as that might have been… that was still too much.
"*sigh*"
Beginning to walk closer to the location she was given to her by her contractor and the support division for Item, Mugino also began to recall the bit of time she spent in the car that brought her over to District 19 and how she was typing away at her phone searching for anything relating to her issue. Scavenging through published papers and reports on Pseudo-science and if it was possible to primarily dream about a certain person without having met the said person before. Another area she researched was the neurobiological theory of dreaming but that wasn't getting her exactly what she wanted.
Other fields of research that she glanced over mainly talked about the inclusion of a dramatic or emotionally bizarre event that can be remembered from an experience or two. Which she knew for a fact that she had never actually interacted with Kamijou Touma before today. So, unless you could count meeting him as an emotionally intense experience that caused her stress, then she was left with no real answers about her issue.
Mugino also recalled thinking about searching outside of Academy City's database on aspects of psychology that could help in her finding. But that idea was soon blasted out of her mind when she remembered how useless the rest of the world was when it came to factors like science or technology. Academy City was at least several decades ahead of anyone else and that was a kind of degrading thought. She honestly thought that even though this piece of shit city acted like her home now with its countless flaws and other nuances. It was still superior to everything else out there. Which led to her pausing her search for information there and being picked up later.
This brings her back to the now where she was currently walking along an empty street devoid of anything living or moving aside from the slight breeze that pushed some of her hair back. To most people, the atmosphere and mood of being alone in a place like this was a no-go. But for Mugino…
That thought was abruptly tossed to the side as she saw something strange occurring several meters ahead of her next to a worn-down building. Creeping to the side of another building and poking her head out, the tea-colored-haired girl noticed what appeared to be a cloaked figure with a hood pulled over their head. The figure was also staying close to the second floor of the building.
The Level 5 recalled the photo that was sent her way for where the documents were supposed to be located and knew that wasn't the building of interest. This raised her senses up now seeing that whoever was in possession of the targeted papers was taking a defensive position and had scouts watching the area. Either they had prior knowledge of her or someone looking to retrieve the objects or… someone else was already here.
With that idea in mind, the brunette girl decided to start making her way to the building where the grunt looked to be positioned. If she could take out the bugger, then she could start making a beeline to the point of interest before whoever else got to it first.
Moving across the building's wall, Mugino was about ready to start making her way to the grunt's location when she noticed him start to be on the move. This forced her to shift to the side and stay out of sight. Having a backup plan, she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out what looked to be a small glass card. This card was a bit different from the other ones that she carried which helped multiply the amount of Meltdowner beams she was able to reflect. Rather, this card was more akin to acting like a mirror for a situation such as this.
Lowering her hand to the edge of the wall, she pioneered the card to give her a view of where the grunt was last located while still staying out of sight and avoiding being caught. Adjusting her hand and view on the glass card, the teen girl soon found the grunt but now he was on the ground and making his way down the street to another location.
This left Mugino to consider that he was either moving to another outpost or back to the building storing the documents. Whatever his next location, she would follow behind until she knew for sure that taking him out wouldn't sound the alarm making her job more difficult… not that she really minded. It would be a quick firefight with nothing but scorches of her Meltdowner beam that showed there even was a fight.
Coming to the conclusion that she would be moving at a slower pace, the high school girl figured that this was better than thinking about that plain spiky-haired-looking son of a-
She was thinking about him again.
Her knuckles cracked as she clenched her fist again and decided to now focus all of her attention on the grunt who was slowly getting further and further away from her. If this kept going, she was seriously going to start blasting things with her esper ability. Even if it alerted the group of her presence. That would honestly just give her more targets to blast.
Hence, she continued to stealthily follow the grunt all while grumbling to herself. Damn it all.
Meanwhile, back with Touma and Tsuchimikado
Now crouched down inside the building that the blonde spy pointed out, Touma was beginning to turn his attention to getting the mission done. Along with finding out more about the rouge group of magicians. The blonde spy on the other hand was beginning to poke his head out of the nearest window to try and see if anything or anyone was nearby.
"We should be good for a minute, Kami."
"Are you sure that we're being followed? I thought it was a spy's job to be proficient at stealth and, you know, not being seen by anyone" Touma clearly stated to the blonde.
Shaking his head and sighing, Tsuchimikado had to wonder where the boy got that idea.
"Kami, Kami, Kami. You've been reading too many spy manga. Or watching anime that doesn't really depict the real-life interpretation of an undercover agent."
"So, you do consider yourself to not be that great of a spy?" Touma jokingly questioned.
This question forced the blonde to look over at the spiky-haired boy and frown sadly. In a comedic manner… hopefully.
"I'm hurt, Kami-yan. I'm truly hurt. You've managed to hurt me on a level I never thought would be possible."
"More than giving critique to Mai- "
"Don't you dare bring her into this! She and my spy work are on different levels. I will not allow you to speak ill about her or her name!"
Waving his hand repeatedly in front of the boy, Touma scrunched his face and was worried.
"Quiet! You're going to give our location away!" Touma whispered shouted.
"Well, maybe if you didn't bring my sister into this, then the enemy wouldn't hear me defending the one true goodness in this blasted city- no, this damn world!"
"Quit yelling!" Touma once again whisper yelled.
About to say something else, Tsuchimikado stopped himself when he saw what appeared to be a flashing light coming from one of the windows in another abandoned building. Motioning to Kamijou to stay quiet, the blonde started slowly making his way to the window to get a better view of whatever was happening outside. Touma followed closely behind him hoping to avoid making any loud noise.
However, this is Kamijou Touma we are talking about here.
The spiky-haired boy's next step seemed to cause a sequence of reactions to take place which ultimately left the boy flying into a battered wooden closet that was now nothing but sticks of planks scattered across the ground. He also felt the wind get knocked out of him leaving him dizzy. Tsuchimikado was also standing next to the boy trying to help him up.
"Gonna be honest, Kami, I'm surprised your so-called misfortune is taking effect now. I thought it would have happened later."
"W-What? What the hell just happened?" Touma asked, brushing dust and debris off his clothes and hair.
Hearing this Tsuchimikado looked ready to say something but quickly got up and went near the window to see if the worst had come to happen.
As a matter of fact, it did.
"Crap. All right, Kami, he's the short version of what just happened." Pulling out what appeared to be a small capsule full of strange-looking liquid pills sticking out, Tsuchimikado checked whatever was in the capsule and nodded to himself before glancing over at Touma.
"What's that?"
"A sort of concoction that's being worked on from the science side. Gives you a little boost. I'll tell you more later. Maybe even give you one to try out. Anyway, thanks to your misfortune striking, your foot caught onto something that I suspect was a plank which threw your balance off forcing you to thrash yourself around like a fish out of water, but then you seemed to trip over a flat piece of debris and started flailing all over the place. This caused you to shift your momentum forward and threw you into a barely standing chair and then into the wooden closet" Tsuchimikado explained to the boy, taking another look outside.
A moment seemed to pass as the spiky-haired boy processed everything that had happened and could only let out a sigh. His misfortune was certainly performing its regular checkup.
"Wait… does that mean- "
"Yep. That commotion was definitely heard."
The next thing to happen was the sound of people yelling and footsteps starting to get louder.
"Crap! What's the plan now?" Touma asked, beginning to stand up but was suddenly pushed back to the ground by Tsuchimikado who happened to use his foot to do so.
"Improvisation. You stay here and get to the warehouse that's holding the documents. I sent you a picture of what the papers look like. It's now up to you to either destroy or retrieve the documents. But whatever you do, don't let the rogue magicians escape with them."
Startled by what he was hearing, Touma had so many questions but could only ask one which was pretty substantial.
"What about you?"
"Doing what I do best. Staying out of the fight."
"…What?"
Snickering at the boy's deadpan expression, the blonde spy was now running to the other side of the room and picked up a broken chair, and started breaking the glass on a window that would allow him to escape. But not before he turned around and addressed the boy sitting on the ground.
"I'll buy you some time, Kami. Just roll around on the ground and cover yourself up. I'll lead however many magicians away from here giving you some space."
"You- "
Touma tried saying but Tsuchimikado had already bolted through the busted window leaving him sitting on the floor.
Coincidentally, the door to the room that he was in now was being hit by something heavy along with voices yelling out to open the door. This forced the wielder of Imagine Breaker to do as he was told and started rolling on the ground before grabbing as many broken wooden planks from the closet and throwing them onto himself while laying down. Covering himself up while laying on the ground.
Deciding that it would be best to stay as still as possible and not even let out a small breath, Touma took a deep breath like he was getting ready to dive into a deep pool of water and closed his eyes. Hoping to remain out of sight.
The door to the room now busted open with the door flinging off its weakened hinges and in entered several figures dressed in dark hoods.
"Where'd they go?!"
"I don't know. Jin said he saw them head in this direction."
"Where could they- there!"
Footsteps could be heard making their way to the window that Tsuchimikado bashed out.
"Dammit! They probably made a run for it."
"We can catch them if we hurry. They won't have much cover. We triggered several other buildings in case someone caught wind of us being- "
As soon as one of the magicians said that a large explosion could be heard in the distance which caused everyone even Touma to flinch.
'Tsuchimikado!' Touma mentally yelled out.
"Haha. Well, what do you know? I wonder if it got them."
"How many did Jin say he saw?"
"He said he saw two. Let's hope we got two for the price of one."
Hearing the footsteps start to move, Touma did his best to become as still as possible. The boy was about to let himself relax due to thinking that the magicians had left when the sound of creaking and a foot landed right next to him making him think otherwise.
Touma started swearing in his head while making sure not to cause any sort of movement.
It would be a moment of stillness and anxiety lingering in the room when the magician that was near him called out to his comrades.
"Heh, I wonder what idiot fell into the closet."
"Doesn't matter. He's probably the idiot that got caught up in the explosion. Let's go see what's left of him."
And with that, the rogue magicians had finally left the room and were completely oblivious to knowing that Touma was hiding under the broken wooden closet.
Slowly moving his hand to push a piece of wood out of his face to get a better view of the room, the spiky-haired boy now saw that he was in the clear. This led to him standing up and removing everything that was on top of him. He now started to check his surroundings and peeked his head outside the window that Tsuchimikado went through.
No one was in sight. Part of him wanted to see how his friend was doing and if he was okay but another part realized this is actually what the spy was hoping for.
Letting out a sigh, Touma realized that this was his chance and soon started making his way outside and sticking close to the building's wall. He had to pass through what appeared to be a block of damaged buildings which actually worked in his favor. He would stay low to the ground and keep behind corners while getting closer to the building. Moreover, he was now on his own with no one to come to his aid. He'd have to play smart with how he got in and out of the building holding the documents.
Seeing an opening in another building to the side of him, Touma stealthily speed walked to the building making sure to keep his surroundings in mind before seeing a window open and taking his chance to move forward.
In a smooth and fluid motion, he leaped toward the window and calmly rolled himself so that he had one leg back and the other perched up while scanning the room he was in.
'That went better than I thought it would…'
Moving to the door of the room he was in, Touma kept crouching low to the ground while also checking the place up and down for any signs of a trap. Nothing seemed to be out of place in this deserted building that looked to once be an office building. Holes in walls and debris were what filled the inside of the bottom floor that he was in right now. Taking note of the chance that he had a moment to spare, the spiky-haired boy pulled out his phone and looked at the images that Tsuchimikado sent to him. Giving him a better idea of what the papers looked like.
There was a total of five pieces of paper.
Touma couldn't help but scoff at what he was looking at.
"Only five? *sigh* These five papers better be worth it."
Taking another look at the images sent to him, the black-haired boy had a deadpan expression played out on his face.
Before he could start commenting anything else on the papers, Touma noticed something that caught his eye. Moving to an opening he spotted in the corner of the room; he saw what appeared to be a ladder hanging on the side of the building that he needed to get to. Perfect!
That would allow him to get into the building without being seen out but was still a risk. However, he had no other intel for the building. Tsuchimikado in all his wisdom didn't exactly give him a rundown of the structure or any openings. But for now, that would be his plan. A stealthy way in.
A few minutes before the explosion at another location
Mugino had a scary look on her face. One would think that with her beautiful looks that a face like hers' could not change into anything off-putting. How wrong they would be.
She was still currently following the grunt that had moved outpost locations and was hiding behind a large damaged wall that looked extremely unstable. However, she couldn't exactly move from her location as the grunt she was following decided to take his sweet-ass time looking at what she presumed to be his phone. His eyes were either glued to the damn device or he was swerving his head left and right or up and down scanning the area. The tea-color-haired girl was beyond pissed now left to only being able to watch this imbecile act like a moron.
'I swear… if this fucker keeps looking at his phone for the next five minutes, I'm dropping him. I don't care if I have to go guns blazing. Waiting behind every corner is pissing me off. Bastard's probably looking at some- '
Suddenly, Mugino's thoughts were halted as she heard a loud explosion rattle the building next to her and force her to dash back a few steps and hide at another part of the building. She turned her attention to the location she was just at and saw nothing happened. This caused her to become defensive as she realized that she might have given her position away.
Getting ready to summon a beam of light to hit the grunt, she poked her head out and tried to find where the grunt was when she saw that something was up.
The grunt was now on his phone calling someone which forced her to take a step closer and listen in to the conversation being played out.
"… the hell was that? One of the- Where? Did it get both of them?"
'Both of them? So, there are other people here then' Mugino thought while continuing to listen.
"All right, I'll head back to base and regroup with- Ok… No, I didn't get a good look at who they were. Just that one guy had blonde hair and- Fine. Radio in once you find whatever is left of them."
And with that, the grunt started moving again without even knowing that a certain brunette girl was listening to everything he said. A smirk appeared on the girl's face as she was practically guaranteed an easy way into the building where the targeted documents were sitting. All she had to do was follow behind the dumbass who had for the most part been taking his sweet-ass time.
Which is exactly what the tea-colored-haired girl was doing now. Sticking behind every wall available to her and keeping a good distance away from the grunt who was now picking up the pace and actually getting somewhere.
This also gave her the chance to check just what tools she currently had on her now. She recalled bringing along several cards that amplified her esper ability and allowed her to shoot multiple beams from hitting the card. This was something that she was privately training herself to fine-tune. Being able to summon more than four beams was something she wanted to do. Managing to amplify the needed state of electrons and power frequency to increase the number of light orbs was something she had tried experimenting with but not as often as she wanted. In addition, she also needed to consider the calculations needed to prevent herself from injuring herself or worse.
However, not only would increasing the amount of Meltdowner beams she created get missions done faster but it would showcase that she was growing in strength. Along with showing up the scientists that decided to demote her from third-ranked to fourth. Being classified as weaker than the damn Railgun.
"…Huh?"
Snapping herself out of her inner thoughts, Mugino saw as the grunt looked to be coming up on the exact building that she needed to get into. And wouldn't you know it, the grunt looked to be walking right to the front door. Giving her free entry through the front door.
Picking up her pace, the Level 5 was sticking close behind cover and got right behind the grunt as soon as he was about to open the door. Her instincts kicked in to just blast the bastard right there but as luck would have it she did not.
The Level 5 frowned to herself as she realized that once she used her ability and toasted the grunt, then she would have to fight her way in and out of the building with the objective. Plus, who knows if there was anyone else here after the same thing as her?
This is why she decided to play the stealth route and crept up to the guy and performed a silent takedown on the bastard. Knocking him in the back of the head while carrying his body and dropping it to the side of the building covered in darkness. She also looked around and found a bunch of junk that could be used to cover the grunt's body. Taking a step back, the girl let out a grin at seeing how camouflaged the unconscious body was.
Now, focusing back on her task, Meltdowner entered the building while closing the door quietly before going back to sneaking behind every source of cover she could use to her advantage. Time was of the essence.
Meanwhile… with a certain misfortunate boy
Having successfully climbed up the building's outside ladder and now standing on the railing that led to another floor, Touma tried looking for a window that would allow him to enter the building. But as luck would have it, every single entryway that he saw was either blocked by wooden boards or blocked by debris or large-looking objects which would have caused noise if moved.
Just as he was about to start climbing the ladder to another floor did he spot what looked to be a small hole that had appeared a good distance away from the railing. This caused the boy to blink several times before letting out a sigh along with his hands starting to sweat even though the weather was fairly warm with the sun being set and the moon hanging above the night sky.
The boy took another look at the small opening and knew that time was running out. Tsuchimikado had bought him time to act and he wasn't going to let it go to waste.
Clinging his body to the side of the building, Touma started slowly making his way across the small ledge that led to the small opening in the building. He also tried his best not to look down but… curiosity got the best of him which caused him to peek down at his feet, but his gaze fell to the ground. His breath left him for a second before he clung harder to the building's wall.
'Oh, come on! Focus Kamijou! Focus!' Touma yelled in his head, forcing himself to stare directly at the small hole.
Hyping himself up, the spiky-haired boy continued to push through and steadily walked along the menacing ledge while having a stone-cold face. Facial expressions aside, Touma at that moment was a man of conviction. And that conviction was to avoid falling to his death… which was very unlikely since his misfortune would probably ensure that he'd survive the fall but feel an excruciating amount of pain.
However, before he knew it, his eyes landed on a magnificent sight. There in front of him was the hole. Not letting excitement cause him to mess up, he slowly lifted one part of his body through the hole before following through with another soon finding his arms and head in the hole. This seemed like good progress, but he soon heard something that caused him to freeze.
It sounded like people talking and getting closer to his location.
Stressing like no other, Touma started wiggling his body and legs to follow through the hole before whoever was talking could get closer and see half a body on the floor. Everything came to a sudden stop as he now heard people clearly talking and coming right next to him.
"Any word from Jin?" one voice said.
"Nothing yet. Last I heard he was heading over here. Probably taking a leak somewhere" another voice responded.
"Eww. Doesn't he know that there are bathrooms in these abandoned buildings? Why is he just going where he pleases? That's not right."
"Don't ask me. I would hope that he has some sense still up there in that empty head of his. Besides, any word from the others?"
"Nope. They're scanning the area where the explosion happened. Guess the whole building came crashing down. Now, they're searching for any sort of remains."
"I'd tell them to hurry, but I would rather them look for and confirm bodies caught up in the explosion than have to worry about one of them surviving and coming after us."
"Hey, has that hole always been there before?"
"As far as I know, yes."
"Doesn't that make you… worried?"
Scoffing at the comment, one of the voices replied all too casually.
"Not at all. You're telling me someone would be stupid enough to walk along that small ledge outside and try to crawl through there?"
"Just a thought. You never know."
"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go see if any news has come in. Or wait for Jin to get here."
And with that, the two voices speculated to be the rouge magicians started moving away from the small hole in the wall.
Poking his head up from hiding behind a small box was Kamijou Touma who had a stressed-out look on his face. He had just barely gotten his body through the hole and leaped to hide behind the closest box to avoid being seen. Which worked right in his favor.
Standing up while being cautious of his surroundings, the wielder of Imagine Breaker started to get a feeling of everything around him and began looking all over. The inside of the building was structured like most office buildings that had cubicles and whatnot dispersed throughout the floor. But where he was now, Touma could see several holes in the floor that showed glimpses of the level beneath him.
This raised the boy's stress level a bit.
Deciding that he was out of time now and recalling what those two magicians were saying, he started walking steadily and crouched down to another part of the floor while keeping his eyes on anything suspicious. The boy still had no idea where the documents could be hidden and frankly, he wouldn't have time to search everywhere.
Coming to the other side of the room, Touma spotted what looked to be a doorway that led to the stairwell. He had the decision to make whether he should go up or down but knew that whatever choice he went with he would need to hurry.
Making a drastic choice, he decided to continue on working up to the next level. This led to him climbing the stairs and keeping an eye out for anyone else. Time was running out and he needed to find those papers and get out quickly.
Now having entered the building, Mugino was sticking close to boxes that were stacked up a couple of feet offering the perfect cover for her. She also started coming up with ideas on where the documents could be. Her first thought was about the papers being on the base floor but didn't think something as cliché as that would be likely. Next, she thought about the middle floors and how there could also be more grunts holding out up there. But then again she was left with only her gut feeling. Intel about the mission had been rather limited. Both from the mission details and the support team for Item. Something that irritated her.
However, there was no point in bitching about it any longer. She was here and needed to find the documents. Then, she could turn her attention to everyone else.
Quietly walking across the main floor and hearing voices in the distance, Mugino stepped behind an open door and waited for the voices to either come closer or get further away.
Luckily, the voices did in fact get closer and were practically a few feet away from her which allowed her to hear what they were saying.
"Did they find the bodies yet?"
"No. Nothing has been found. They told me it would take a bit since the entire building came down with the explosion."
"Great. *sigh* How long are we going to be stationed here?"
"I heard until later tonight. Boss thinks things are getting a bit tense."
"Well then, guess I better get a nap in before we leave."
"You can take a nap when Jin gets back. He's supposed to be on his way here."
The voices continued to speak but now got further away leaving Mugino to start to paint a picture of what was going on.
'Moving to another location huh? I need to hurry. But where the hell are these documents?!'
Deciding to get a move on, she calmly made her way to the entryway that led to the stairwell that would take her to another level. There was one idea roaming around her head for where the papers might be and she figured that it wouldn't hurt to take a look. That location happened to be at the upper levels of the building.
Making her way to the staircase, Mugino began to pick up the pace and was already on the next floor when she heard something coming from the main floor.
"What the- Hey! Get over here!"
"What? What's going on?"
"Help me! It's Jin!"
The brunette Level 5 suddenly swore to herself.
"Shit."
Mugino was tempted to throw a punch at something but decided to cool down and criticize herself later.
'Goddamn rookie mistake. Something Frenda would've done. I should've just killed the bastard.'
The voices from earlier had found their ally most likely the guy named Jin outside. He must've moved the things covering him which let his body be visible.
The girl's battle instincts started to kick in. It was only a matter of time before the group began searching the area and then making their way through the building. She also realized that she hadn't found the documents yet or even a hint of where they could be. This left her in a rut.
Knowing that her time was basically nonexistent now, she decided to take the initiative and started running up the stairs and soon passed several levels before arriving at a higher level when she suddenly started hearing what could be assumed as shuffling. She didn't know for sure what was beyond the current floor's door but didn't care.
Running right up to the door, Mugino leaned right on the door and was ready to throw it open but suddenly the door opened from the other side leaving her to fall right onto whoever opened it.
Without wasting a single second, the tea-color-haired girl rolled herself off the person she fell onto before pushing herself back and landing on her feet with a single orb of whiteish light appearing right above her. The second this person tried anything funny, she would leave nothing behind to be used for the funer-
Mugino's eyes widened and her breathing came to a halt.
The person who appeared right in front of her was someone she was not expecting to see any time soon. In fact, this was the person she wanted to keep out of her head and forget about entirely.
The one and only Kamijou Touma was right there in front of her holding his right hand out while carrying what appeared to be a folder on his side while rubbing the side of his head with his left hand.
"Ow. Ow. Why were you practically throwing yourself onto the door… like… that…"
Touma's voice had gone quiet as he realized just who landed on him.
Brown eyes met dark blue eyes.
"Uh…Fancy running into you here, Mugino. Ha-ha…" Touma knew he was fucked.
"What… the fuck are you doing here, Kamijou?" Mugino questioned while giving off a downright life-threatening aura.
Quickly throwing his right hand up, Touma tried to quell the beam-blasting beast of a woman.
"Calm down, Mugino. Let's talk about this."
Starting to sport a crazed look on her beautiful face, the brunette girl started summoning other orbs of light around her.
"Hahaha… oh, I'm way past the point of talking."
Before she or Touma could get another word in, the sounds of people yelling and running could be heard. Both the Level 0 and Level 5 looked at each other and knew exactly what was coming.
Jumping up to his feet, Touma grabbed the folder that was next to him and held onto the door while Mugino ran inside. The spiky-haired boy then slammed the door shut before grabbing a chair and wedging it into the doorknob. He was about to grab another chair to block the door when he felt his shirt collar be grabbed and then his entire body thrown into a wall. Followed by another hand landing right on his shoulder pushing him back and forcing him to move his head to look at his aggressor.
"Gah! Mugino! Wait a second! Let's talk this- "
"No. What you're going to do is explain to me why the hell you are here now of all times" the tea-colored-haired girl demanded.
"T-That's a funny story. You see- "
"Don't play me for a fool, Kamijou! If you give me some make-believe bullshit reason for being here, then I'm going to do whatever it takes until I get the truth" Mugino stated to the boy holding no hesitation in her words.
"Oh, trust me. This Kamijou completely understands the ideology behind bullshit answers. And to tell you the truth, I- "
Yelling stopped Touma from trying to talk down the girl from roasting him.
"Open the door! Dammit! Open up!"
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
"You don't have anywhere else to run!"
*Bang* *Whooosh* *Bang*
"What the hell?! Open the door!"
"It's budged. Quick use your power!" one of the voices said.
*Bang* *Bang*
Hearing the banging against the door get louder and heavier, Touma looked at Mugino who shot him a half-focused glance which indicated that she was focusing on him and the door.
"Mugino."
"Don't."
"We kind of have an issue."
"I can see that. But you're not going anywhere."
"And what happens when they bust down the door?"
"Then I fry them where they stand."
"How?"
The tea-color-haired girl now looked at Touma like he had just said the stupidest thing you could ever imagine- oh, wait.
"What the hell? Did you seriously just ask how?" Mugino asked, not believing the degree of the question.
"Yeah. How are you going to do that?"
"Are you an idiot?"
"Depends on whom you ask" Touma casually countered.
"You know how I'm… How… Dammit!"
What Mugino had suddenly realized was that while she had one had pressed right into Kamijou's chest and the other pushing back on his shoulder. The Level 5 had neglected to notice the boy's right hand was now grasped over her own hand that was on his chest. The same hand that was able to negate her Meltdowner beam back in the alley where she first encountered him.
"What the- What the hell did you do to me!?" Mugino shouted at the boy.
"Making sure nobody gets a hole shot in them."
The girl was now seeing red and could feel anger and frustration bubbling up within her and it was all directed at the boy in front of her.
"You fucking better stop whatever you're doing."
Seeing an opportunity to get the girl to calm down, Touma knew the risks that would happen if this backfired on him, but honestly, the situation was getting worse by the minute due to remembering the loud banging on the door still going on.
"Then promise me you won't attack me or the people behind the door."
"Huh? Are you being serious?"
"Yes. I am being very serious. Do we have a deal?"
"For crying out- Yes! Fine. We have a deal. I won't attack you…"
"You didn't say the last part."
"Just get off!"
And with that, Touma let go of Mugino's hand which allowed her to pull away from the boy who flopped to the ground now having one problem somewhat dealt with and turning his attention to the other which was developing rather quickly.
Around the door frame, there seemed to be a strange-looking mist coming through the door. The point-haired boy saw this and consider several different ideas for what was going on but when he looked closer at the frame, he noticed what exactly was happening. The door was being hit with ice.
Speculation on what kind of magic was being used forced Touma to start trying to find anything useful in the room to use against the magicians or at least barricade the door.
"Crap. There's not that much open space here" Touma stated, checking the room again for anything to use against the magicians only seconds away from breaking into the room.
Mugino on the other hand looked down at the ground and saw the folder holding what appeared to be several pieces of paper. Upon closer look, she was once again puzzled by the situation. The exact documents she was tasked to retrieve were sitting right in the folder that Kamijou was just casually carrying around.
"You want to explain to me why you have these?"
Having found another chair to stack near the door, Touma turned his head and saw Mugino with the documents. Things were honestly starting to pile up against the boy.
"Uh, those are… I actually don't know what they are. As I said, it's a long story but I was just asked to get them from here" Touma nervously explained, hoping that Mugino bought his answer.
She did not buy his answer.
"Really? Then why are you here?"
"Misfortunate circumstances landed me here. Now, if you don't mind, can you help me with this!" Touma suggested, nodding his head at the door which was now mostly covered in ice.
"Kamijou… trust works like a two-way street. Weren't you the one who told me that?"
"Don't you dare use this Kamijou's words against him! Dammit!" Touma yelled, scolding himself for being hit with his own words.
Before Touma could retort some more, a large crack could be heard coming from the door. Both of the teens looked at the door which now had multiple large cracks breaking across the middle section. Time was out.
Turning to look at Mugino, the spiky-haired boy knew that if he didn't act fast, then he'd be dealing with an even more dramatic and dreadful situation. Having dealt with Mugino at least once, he knew that her power would leave quite a mess which was something he did not want to happen. Hence, he resorted to a quick decision. One that would leave him screwed, nonetheless.
"Ok, ok. How about this, I tell you the truth about why I was here. No baloney or lying but the truth. And in exchange, you don't fry those people behind the door. Sound good?"
The Level 5 knew that there was a possibility of Kamijou lying about telling her the truth, but at the same time, she wanted to know why exactly the plain-looking bastard was here. In addition, this just proved to her that there was more to the boy than she thought.
"…You're starting to become a damn pain in my life, Kamijou."
"Should I take that as a, yes?"
No response.
"Great! Now, then, how are we getting out of here?" Touma asked, spotting the windows which were all boarded up.
"Easy."
Grabbing the folder holding the targeted documents, Mugino suddenly summoned two white orbs that began to circle her.
"Step in."
Getting ready to say something stupid, Touma heard the door crack again and now saw a giant hole appearing in the middle of the door followed by the magicians yelling out at him.
"There they are!"
Right then, a large spear made of ice was launched right at the two which was instantly countered by Touma raising his right hand and causing a glass-breaking sound to be heard. He then quickly dashed to Mugino who had her orbs start blasting around the two in a circular motion.
The boy's eyes went wide as he remembered when he first entered the building. The level he was at had holes in the floor and if they were to drop down to another floor… and if there was enough weight and force, they would come crashing down… which meant…
"Ahhh! Mugino! Wait!"
"Huh? What the hell are you on about?"
With not enough time to elaborate and seeing that the orbs had circled around the two of them. The black-haired boy jumped to act. Moreover, time seemed to slow down in that instant.
Touma leaped right at Mugino which caused her to have her facial expression change from confused to shocked to outright pissed. But still, the boy threw himself onto her wrapping his hands around her back while she still held onto the folder all while the rouge magicians were crashing through the door and casting spears of ice at them.
However, in the next instant, the floor beneath the two high school students gave out and they were now falling to the level under them. At the same time, Touma still had a hold of Mugino and shifted his body so that he was the one to take the brute force of the fall.
This ended up working as they hit the floor but as the boy suspected, they continued to fall through another floor in the building causing dust and debris to go flying everywhere. The back side of the boy was surely damaged with scrapes and bruises and probably debris sticking to him but he would have to push through it as he felt them go flying through another level until he felt nothing but pain.
The duo had now fallen to the main floor of the building. To say that he had the wind knocked out of him would be an understatement. The boy could feel nothing but pain swelling in his back and in his right leg. He also thought that he could feel something wet flowing down his back. But that would have to wait.
His concern was mainly positioned toward the girl whom he still had in his arms.
Lifting her head, Mugino saw that the area around her was covered in dust and that wood and other debris were surrounding her. She also realized that she felt something strange next to her and that's when the girl immediately remembered what happened. The sight of the boy jumping at her and throwing his arms around her.
While her first instinct was to blast him, she also knew that he had protected her from the fall damage. While she was someone who killed without even giving it a second thought, she understood that what he did helped her. Which is why she stopped herself…
Hearing groaning, she turned her head and saw that the boy was grimacing while still holding onto her. The tea-color-haired girl now saw blue orbs looking at her.
"You… all right?" Touma weakly asked.
"Yeah… thanks."
"No… prob- ow…"
"Did you break anything?" Mugino asked, stepping out of the boy's arms and checking his condition.
"I'm… not sure. Probably. But that doesn't matter."
"The fuck it doesn't matter. You just fell through several floors."
"Nothing that unusual for this misfortunate Kamijou."
Before Mugino could further retort, she heard yelling. Most likely coming from the grunts making their way down.
"Dammit. Kamijou, we need to go. Can you stand?"
Forcing himself up while feeling a tremendous amount of pain, the boy nodded while extending his right hand to the side which caused something to happen that forced both him and the brunette girl to go wide-eyed.
The sound of glass breaking could be heard.
Shifting their gazes down to where he put his hand, Touma and Mugino realized what just happened. The folder holding the documents that both of them were after were now dissolving at an incredible rate almost like the papers were burning in front of them but without the fire.
"You've got to be shitting me…"
Touma knew that he had a comedic joke waiting to be said aloud but decided to hold off on it. Due to feeling pain and not wanting to be caused even more pain by the girl standing next to him.
"You know what, this can wait for another time. We need to get out of here" Mugino stated which surprised Touma but decided to stay quiet.
However, the wielder of Imagine Breaker remembered one more thing that needed to be dealt with before he would leave this place. The rouge magicians.
Forcing himself up, Touma was now looking right at Mugino and forced a small smile on his face.
"You should get going, Mugino."
"Huh? What are you talking about? We need to go before those fuckers get here."
Shaking his head, Touma affirmed his statement.
"I have a bit more to do here before I can leave. But… you need to go."
"Like hell, I have to! You don't get to tell me what I have to do" Mugino yelled back at the injured boy.
"Mugino- "
"No, you can forget about me leaving. You destroyed what I came here for so, now, you're stuck with me."
A weakened sigh could be heard coming from Touma. This girl was resilient.
"…Compromise."
"What?"
"Please go wait outside while I finish up in here. I promise that once I'm done here, then… *sigh* we can talk."
"What makes you think I want to talk?"
"Seriously? It's written all over your face. You most definitely have questions. And this hopeless Kamijou has answers."
Taking a second to consider the boy's words, Mugino knew that what he was saying was true. She had many questions and they all regarded why Kamijou Touma was here of all places and at this time of night as well. There was no way she was going to go home empty-handed. She already had to deal with her dreaming problem left unanswered and now she wasn't going to let this whole issue go off easy.
"…Fucking hell, Kamijou."
"Err…"
"Fine. I'll wait outside. But if you try and escape out of here- "
"I already know what you're capable of, Mugino. Even if I did try, you would look for me again and probably wait for me no matter how long it took" Touma answered.
"You make it sound like I'm some sort of stalker."
"There's a lot I could say about that, but that'll have to wait another time. Please, go…"
With nothing else needing to be said, Mugino began making her way out through the front door but not before shooting Touma another look. He didn't know how to react but simply had a small smile grace his lips before turning his attention somewhere else.
The tea-color-haired girl responded by turning away and heading out through the door with an annoyed expression on her face. She had no idea what he was doing or had to do but frankly as much as she wanted to say that she didn't care… that would be a lie. Kamijou Touma's life was more complex than she initially thought. Granted, that didn't really mean much when she saw glimpses of him encountering strange situations along with fighting and winning against the first-ranked esper in all of Academy City.
This is why deep down she knew that whatever was causing her problem of dreaming about the spiky-haired boy had something to do with… well, him. The root of the problem.
For now, however, she gave off the idea that she would wait outside until he was done doing whatever it was that he was doing. However, she figured that it wouldn't hurt to poke her head inside the building and hear what the boy was up to. He did say to wait outside but nothing about listening in.
Meanwhile… back inside the building
Leaning against a stack of boxes that acted as support to help him stand, Touma knew that he was in for a rough time.
While he was thankful that Mugino decided to take the bait and wait outside for him which also coincidentally saved the lives of the rogue magicians. That girl would have caused some massive property and life insurance damage. And she would most definitely want answers about tonight.
However, the boy now realized that he had traded one problem for another. Which in his case still spelled out misfortune coming his way. But at this point, what else did he expect?
The sounds of the rogue magicians running down the stairs and reaching the main floor caused Touma to force himself up and prepare for the next encounter.
"…*sigh* Here we go… Such misfortune…"
*A/N* - What a way for things to turn up, huh? Sorry for the long delay between chapters. I blame myself lol. But other than that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will continue to support this story. Also, I saw in the reviews that some people thought that I hate Misaka. That couldn't be further from the truth lol. She's one of my favorite characters in the series. Honestly, there are so many characters that are amazing that it's hard to choose just one. But the exception should be the Touman. He transcends everything. Well, with that out there, I hope you have a good one and take care out there.