Hey everyone! Last chapter before we get to the Index Arc! Before we start, I feel like I should apologize to all of you. I should have made it more clear that I was going to do the swimsuit episode before I got to the Index Arc. I mentioned it in one of the review responses of the last chapter and said I was going to skip the episode for the time being in the chapter before that, but I should have made it a more general statement in the last chapter. I only realized I forget to tell of you after a few reviews came in, so by then it was too late to add it to the end note of the chapter. Sorry about that! I'll try to be more careful about it in the future.
Now that that is out of the way, Q&A time! Also, I should clarify that unmarked Guest reviews are numbered base on which ones appear earlier in the review page, just in case that wasn't clear.
narufuuin: Thank you for being so understanding about spoilers. I totally get where you're coming from when it comes to skepticism about how Touma's decision will affect the story, but that's exactly what I'm playing with. Imagine Breaker has always been met with skepticism, especially among people on the Science Side. Even if word gets out, only a handful of people will actually believe the stories while the rest continue to believe it to be just a rumor. No matter how fast information travels, if an idea is thought as fake, it has no weight. The higher ups would probably be aware of that not not worry too much. I can totally I agree with the Yomikawa part, though. That was what I was going for with Touma's high endurance during the last chapter.
AriaTheLostMelody: I'm glad you feel like I'm writing something that would have been in the anime. I always try to replicate the original flavor of a franchise when I write a story. Nice to see there is fellow Kamikoto trash reading my story.
Awareness Bringer: Trust me, I know that age matters less in a relationship when you get older, my own parents have a ten year age gap. It's just not something I'm comfortable writing when one of the characters is a student and the other is a teacher that is clearly an adult. The only reason Komoe is the exception for me is because it makes for a great gag (gag as in joke, not the reflex). Still, thank you for being so understanding and for all the support.
mohamadstar94: Here you go.
ALostBlueIdiot: Sorry, man, spoiler territory. You should know the rules by now. I totally understand where you're coming from when it comes to Tsunderes. If done wrong, they become less of a funny gag and more of an annoyance. Still, thanks for the support.
Bluejack222: Glad you liked the end to the Level Upper Arc. Sorry again for the misinformation. I still hope you find some joy in this chapter before we move to the Index Arc.
PvtNevets: Will do!
MrQuestionMark: I'm happy you liked how I'm handling the AU. Your words are such a confidence booster, you have no idea. I have a lot of deviation from canon planned up ahead, but you'll have to wait and see what they are. Hope the eagerness doesn't kill you before I post the next chapter. Speaking of which, is that a Gate of Babylon behind you?
2remember: She will show up next chapter during the Index Arc.
RedSS: Don't worry, you'll see a little bit of light KamiKuro in the near future. You now just know when they will really pick up.
ahsoei: The nicknames are meant to be affectionate, mostly being used greetings, light jokes, and casual conversation.
GhostofTime: Spoilers, man! I have a very strict "no spoiler" policy! I thought I made that clear in other chapters! In all seriousness though, I really can't give that away right now. Sorry.
RareSilver: No worries about the rant. That was a rather creative scenario you made there. Makes me wish I took the time to write it myself. Glad you like the story!
Shwae: Thank you for your support. I'm glad I earned your trust when it comes to keeping up to date. Also, I looked it up, and I found no requirement of someone being at least a Level 1 to be a Judgement Officer. I hope you enjoy what I have in store.
MaiBilaro: You're welcome.
RPGPersona: I'm glad you liked the chapter. Something tells me you're going to be rather surprised by some of my deviations form canon in the future.
Handsomistic1: Not true, he's constantly chasing girls when he is trying to save them.
Cyber dragonarmy: Glad you liked the chapter. While this is kind of a spoiler, keep in mind that Imagine Breaker is always met with skepticism, especially among people of the Science Side. While problems are sure to rise for Touma, they may not be for a while if no one actually believes that Imagine Breaker exists yet.
Guest (1): Gald you liked the chapter.
DarkPERV (Guest): You bring up many fair points with your concerns. Allow me to counter all of them with a single one. Skepticism. In canon, Imagine Breaker is always met with skepticism, especially from the Science Side. No matter how many people hear about Imagine Breaker, it will have no effect if most of those people don't believe it to be true. Remember, Imagine Breaker was already a huge rumor on the web and the Higher Ups didn't even bat an eye. They know that the extremely scientific minds of Academy City aren't going to buy the existence of a divine power like Imagine Breaker without hard evidence, something that is hard to provide when most of the information is third hand and on the web. No matter how big the reveal, if people think it holds no weight, it's not going to do anything.
AC phony (Guest): Oh, I'm doing the Index Arc! Of course, no spoilers!
Guest (2): That is a whole pile of spoiler questions, my friend. As much as I might want to, I cannot allow myself to answer any of them. Sorry. Still happy you like the story so much!
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 8: Beach Day
It was just like any other day in Academy City. As per usual, one Touma Kamijou was being dragged along by his friends Tsuchimokado and Aogami into another one of their many idiotic exploits. Why Touma constantly let them do this to him, he had no idea. Regardless, he was coming along with them whether he wanted to or not.
Apparently, Aogami had caught wind of a swimsuit photo shoot happening within city limits. After telling Tsuchimokado about it, the two of them devised a plan to sneak into the swimsuit company's studio and get an up-close look at the photo shoot. Being such wonderful friends, they of course let Touma in on the place and brought him along with them.
Their plan was quite simple. They would hide in the bushes just outside of the photo studio and wait for the models to arrive. Afterwards, they would tail behind the models into the building while remaining hidden. If they were feeling extra dangerous, they would attempt to peek in the changing room before following the models to the photo shoot itself, where they would watch from a completely hidden hiding spot. The plan was so simple it couldn't possibly go wrong!
Of course, with Touma's luck, that plan went south immediately when they saw who exactly the models were. To Touma's complete shock, Aogami had failed to realize that the models for the photo shoot were Touma's friends from Judgement and a few other girls for Tokiwadai Middle School. Things only went even faster down hill when Mikoto's 'pervert sense' (a skill she developed from dealing with Kuroko) went off, prompting her to fire a lightening spear at the bush that the boys were hiding in. Forced to flee their hiding spot, the boys were discovered by the group of mostly middle school girls, most of which were of high ability levels and could cause a lot of pain. It was fight of flight, and two thirds of the Delta Force chose flight, leaving Touma to deal with his very angry Level 5 friend.
"Care to explain what you're doing here, idiot?" Mikoto asked threateningly, her bangs sparking.
"It was all Tsuchimokado and Aogami's idea, I swear! I was just dragged into this!" Touma pleaded on his hands and knees.
"Excuse me, do you know this young man?" the woman in a business suit asked.
"Yes, he is a good friend of ours," Saten explained.
"He just tends to get dragged into a lot of crazy situations by his friends who just left," Uiharu added, "Please forgive him.
The woman took a moment and examined Touma, noticing his slightly above average build.
"Young man, what is your name?" the woman asked.
"Um, Touma Kamijou, ma'am," Touma responded, getting off his feet and standing straight.
"Could you do us a favor and act as an additional model?" the woman requested.
"Huh?" everyone else responded in utter confusion.
"You see, we have a line men's swimsuits we were planning on showing off in a separate photo shoot next week, but were couldn't get any models," the woman explained, "If you would be willing to model one of them today with your friends here, it would really be appreciated."
"Won't it be a bit awkward having a single guy in the same photo shoot with a bunch of girls, especially when most them are younger?" Kuroko reasoned.
"Don't you know anything about modeling, Shirai?" the girl in a kimono said smugly, holding a fan in front of her face, "The point is to be seen. If a model can't handle being seen by a man while modeling, then she is a bad model. This friend of yours should be honored to even be considered for the chance to work alongside me on this project."
"… Who are you exactly?" Touma asked obliviously, earning a barely contained laugh from Kuroko.
"I'm Mitsuko Kongou," the girl introduced herself, "Surely you've heard of me."
"Not at all," Touma replied flatly, causing a giggle to escape Kuroko's lips.
"So, what do you say? Are you will to help us?" the woman asked again, getting back on topic.
After a little bit of convincing, everyone agreed to let Touma join the photo shoot. From a business and marketing standpoint, it made sense. If a guy saw a photo of another guy surrounded by girls while wearing one of the company's swimsuits, he would surely be more likely to buy one to try to replicate the same result.
The girls had all gathered in an empty white room, waiting for Touma to arrive. He came in a few minutes later than everyone else. Apparently, the door to the men's dressing room had gotten stuck with him inside.
"Sorry I'm late," Touma apologized as he walked in, scratching the back of his head.
Upon seeing his outfit, the girls couldn't help but admire him for a minute. He wore a simple pair of blue swim trunks, but they worked well with his overall figure. He had also taken a note from Tsuchimokado and wore his white button-down shirt open, revealing his bare chest. He was by no means incredibly buff, but he was well built, having a slightly above average build. He seemed like a perfect balance between realism and fantasy; something attainable, but at the same time ideal.
After a minute, Touma noticed the girls were staring at him for a bit too long.
"Is everything alright? Touma asked in concern.
"Oh, it nothing," Mikoto replied, turning away to hide a blush.
"We just thought that swimsuit fit you well," Uiharu explained.
"Thanks, I guess," Touma responded, not seeing what the big deal is.
"So, Kamijou, what do you think?" Saten asked, making a pose, "How do we look?"
"You all look great," Touma answered, but paused when he took a good look Kuroko and Zapper, "although I must admit Pigtail and Zapper's choices are a bit odd."
"What's wrong with our choices?" Kuroko asked, clearly offended.
"Well, for one, Pigtail's swimsuit is a bit lacking in substance, unsurprising," Touma explained, holding his chin in thought, "It looks like something my mom would wear for my dad, something that scares me a little bit."
"What the hell is with your mom's taste in swimsuits?!" Saten asked in shock.
"Apparently, my dad was a lady's man when he was younger, and my mom had to get really competitive in order to win him over," Touma replied, "I've been told I take after my dad in that sense, but I honestly don't see it."
'How can he not?' Mikoto, Kuroko, Saten, Uiharu, and Konori thought to themselves.
"So, what's wrong with my swimsuit?" Mikoto asked shyly.
"Well, I'm not saying it doesn't look good on you, because it does," Touma answered awkwardly, causing Mikoto to blush, "It's just that it doesn't seem to fit you, like it's something you chose to wear out of embarrassment of your actual tastes."
'When did he get so good at reading people?' Saten and Uiharu thought to themselves.
"Wh-what do you know?" Mikoto said with a huff, not wanting to admit he was right.
Moving past the topic of swimsuits, Touma took a look around the room they were in.
"Are we really going to shoot in here?" he asked skeptically.
To answer his question, the woman who lead them in, who happened to be the swimsuit manufacturer's general manager, pressed a button on a remote. Nearly instantly, the blank room became a scenic beach shore with white sand, palm trees, and a beautiful ocean front. Upon closer inspection, the group found that it was possible to touch the projections. The general manager explained that the studio was designed to create any location of a photo shoot, changing the studio setting several times to demonstrate the studio's capabilities.
"I have to admit, this is impressive," Touma said, "Aogami would kill to have something like this. He always said he wanted to bring his video and card games to life and make them tangible."
"So, who's going be shooting the photos?" Uiharu asked shyly.
"All the photography is automated," the general manager explained, "The camera will never be inside you're field of view, so you don't have to worry about it. Just act natural."
"You do realize that's actually even creepier in some ways, right?" Touma asked dryly.
As soon as the general manager had left them to themselves, Kongou immediately started posing on top of a beach chair. Clearly, this was her definition of acting natural.
"This girl is quite the airhead, isn't she?" Touma commented.
"You have no idea," Kuroko added with a small laugh, "It's actually quite fitting, considering her personality and her power is Aero Hand, the ability create ejection points for jets of air."
"Guess I'll be calling her Airhead from now on," Touma said nonchalantly.
"I approve of that nickname," Kuroko replied with a thumbs-up.
"Still, nothing about that looks natural at all," Mikoto noted, watching Kongou continue to pose.
"Come on, Sissy. We need to play our parts too," Kuroko claimed.
"What parts do you mean?" Mikoto asked.
"Oh, you know. You're the sexy beach babe I apply suntan lotion to," Kuroko said, drooling with a perverted gleam in her eyes.
"Not again! I said no!" Mikoto yelled as she ran away, Kuroko hot on her heels.
"Rotten luck. Now I have to go break them up before someone gets hurt," Touma lamented as he joined in the chase.
"Now I get it, that's totally natural for them," Konori noted as the rest of the girls watched the group's antics.
"Yeah, that's Misaka for you. she always sets a great example," Wannai commented.
"And just like Kamijou to try and help someone like that," Uiharu added.
"What do you say, everyone? Should we follow their cue?" Awatsuki suggested.
"Yeah!" everyone agreed.
Soon enough, the photo shoot got underway. Of course, plenty of antics took place during this. The entire time they were on the beach, Mikoto was being chased by Kuroko, who was being chased by Touma. Eventually, Touma ended up tripping over a rock during the chase and crashed into the sand castle Saten was building around Uiharu. This accident left the castle destroyed and Touma and Uiharu buried under a pile of sand, much to Saten's amusement. Having failed to stop Kuroko's perverted pursuit, Touma could only watch as Mikoto performed a suplex on Kuroko into the sand.
Soon after, the beach setting changed to that of a beach resort pool. After that last experience, Touma decided to just rest in on one of the lawn chairs. However, Uiharu and Saten came up to him and pulled him out of it, shoving him towards to pool to go swimming. Unfortunately, the path he was shoved along ran right through Mikoto and Kuroko, with the former bending the latter over her shoulder as punishment for trying to take advantage of a stretching exercise. As a result, Touma crashed into the two girls, knocking them and himself into the pool, where they arose with Touma having an arm over each of their shoulders.
Once they got out of the pool, the scene shifted again to that of a yacht. The group explore the yacht for a bit, taking in the view of the synthesized ocean in front of them. Touma and Saten got an especially beautiful view as the two were at the bow of the ship, mimicking the iconic "king of the world" scene from a certain movie about a tragically sunken ship. For once, Touma was actually enjoying himself during the photo shoot.
Unfortunately, Touma's joy was not to last. Soon enough, the scene changed again, this time into a blizzard in a frozen tundra. Why such cold conditions were programmed in for a swimsuit photo shoot, the group had no idea. Everyone tied to stay as warm as they could, something made more difficult by their lack of appropriate clothing for the weather.
"What the hell is up with the blizzard?!" Touma yelled as he hugged his now closed shirt, "This doesn't make any sense!"
"That's what makes a real model! Whatever happens you get the job done!" Kongou gloated as she laid on the ground before sneezing from the cold.
"Keep telling yourself that, Airhead," Touma responded flatly.
As Touma said this, the scenery changed from the cold tundra to a hot desert. Due to the sudden change in temperature, Kongou sprung up from the ground in pain as she was suddenly burning.
"From too cold to too warm," Mikoto complained.
"Way way too warm," Uiharu clarified.
"Why did that program in such extremes?" Saten asked.
"Seriously, this is getting ridiculous," Touma lamented, holding his shirt over his head for shade.
Kongou begged for water to help her ease the pain of her burns. However, she didn't expect the scenery to suddenly change into a small boat in the middle of a raging storm.
"Rotten luck!" Touma cried as he and the rest of the girls grabbed onto anything they could for stability.
"Like I said, what's with all the extreme weather?" Saten asked again.
"If they want to put us on a boat, could they at least make if comfortable?" Awatsuki begged.
After struggling with the weather for a little bit and watching Kongou reel in a large tune, the group found that scenery had changed yet again. The weather was much calmer and the sky was full of stars. However, Mikoto soon noticed something odd about the sky.
"Looks a lot like the earth," Mikoto noted, pointing towards the celestial body in question.
"You've got to be kidding me! The moon!" Touma yelled in realization, "This is getting way out of hand!"
"At least's it's pretty," Saten reasoned.
"Hey guys, look over there!" Kongou yelled, pointing at something in the distance.
Off in the distance of the lunar surface stood, to everyone's confusion, a single black monolith. To make matters even stranger, Kuroko suddenly found herself carrying a bone in her right hand. Seeing this turn of events, the alarms in Touma's head all started going on high alert. He had hung out with Aogami enough to know exactly what kind of situation they were in.
"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope! We are not dealing with this!" Touma said firmly, "We need to get as far away from the monolith as fast as possible, ASAP! I am not joking here!"
"Sorry about that. Please wait a moment," the general manager said over the loud speaker, "We need to make some adjustments and change the scene."
"Great, what are we in for this time?" Kuroko asked sarcastically.
To everyone's surprise, the scene was actually rather calm. Unlike the last couple of scenes, there was not sign of extreme weather or questionable entities anywhere. Instead, the group was presented with a rather peaceful campsite.
"I'm sorry," the general manager apologized as she approached the group, "We're experiencing technical difficulties with the cameras. We should have it taken care of soon. In the meantime, why don't you take a short break?"
"So, what do we do now?" Mikoto asked no one in particular.
"Oh, by the way, the food there is real," the general manager called back as she left, "Feel free to cook something up if you want to."
"Cook something up using this stuff?" Saten questioned, inspecting one of the pots, "What should we make?"
"With the number of people..." Konori mused.
"… and the ingredients we have…" Touma continued.
"We need to make some curry!" the high schooler realized simultaneously.
"Some of us can work on the curry, and the rest can do rice," Konori explained.
"I'm on team curry!" Saten proclaimed.
"Me too, please," Uiharu said, raising her hand.
"I'll help you guys then," Touma offered.
"Alright, then how about I make the rice?" Mikoto suggested.
"If you're making rice, Sissy, that's what I'm doing," Kuroko added.
"Uh, please," Kongou scoffed, "Curry is such a boorish, unsophisticated food."
"What are you talking about? It's delicious, especially when someone like Kamijou is making it," Saten insisted.
'My cooking isn't that good, is it?' Touma thought to himself.
"You mean you don't like curry?" Uiharu asked in surprise.
"I'm betting you just have no idea how to make it," Kuroko accused with a sly grin.
"Please, don't be ridiculous," Kongou boasted, pulling out her fan, "I have the recipe for the best curry. It has been passed down through the Kongou family for generations."
"Oh? What kind of curry is it?" Mikoto asked curiously.
"An authentic family recipe," Saten mused, "I'd love to try it."
"Yes please, make it for us!" Uiharu begged.
"Well, since I'm stuck here anyway, I suppose I can make do with whatever plebian curry dish you prefer," Kongou replied.
"We can make a normal curry, and your dish," Konori pointed out, "We've got lots to work with."
"That's a great idea!" Uiharu cheered.
"Better yet, why not make it a competition," Kuroko suggested, "Kongou's high-class family recipe versus Kamijou's self-taught hand-crafted recipe."
"That sounds like fun!" Saten agreed.
"I guess there's no harm in that," Touma shrugged.
"Well, if you insist I guess we can," Kongou replied.
"Hurray!" all the girls cheered, much to Kongou's chagrin.
Soon enough, everyone had split into their individual groups to prepare their meal. Mikoto, Kuroko, and Konori were in charge of making the rice. Touma was in charge of making his personal curry recipe with the help of Saten and Uiharu. Finally, Kongou was tasked with creating her family's special curry recipe and was given the assistance of Wannai and Awatsuki.
However, there was one problem with Kongou's group, she made the whole story about the recipe up. Her image was so important to her that she made up the story on the fly. Kongou didn't want anyone to think she was incapable of doing something as simple as cooking. Unfortunately, she only dug herself into a bigger hole with her lie, something that didn't go unnoticed by Touma's group.
"Okay, so the secret is the cut the vegetables in both chucks and bits," Touma explained as he chopped some vegetables, "This way, you have some substance to the curry and some extra flavor in the sauce."
"Um, Kamijou," Uiharu interrupted, "Have you seen anybody do what they are doing over there?"
Looking at Kongou's group, Touma couldn't help but cringe at what they were doing. First, they were peeling onions to the point that there were only a few inner layers left. Next, they were grating several ears of corn, cob included. Then they tried to peel off the skins from tomatoes. Afterwards, they were trying to cut hydrated seaweed. After that, they started cutting up tangerines into rounds with the peel still on. It was such a huge waste of perfectly good food that Touma couldn't stand it. The worse part was that Wannai and Awatsuki were completely convinced that this was a proper method of preparing curry. Judging from Kongou's defeated expression, she knew this too.
"Hey, I've already told you most of my modifications to a traditional curry recipe, so can you girls take it from here?" Touma asked, "I need to check on something."
"Sure, go on ahead," Saten replied.
Leaving the rest of the curry making process in Saten and Uiharu's hands, Touma walked over to the other counter where Kongou's group was working.
"I take it you could use some help?" Touma deduced as he approached.
"Yeah, actually," Wannai admitted.
"You'd really do that?" Awatsuki asked.
"Of course," Touma replied, grabbing a knife and an onion, "I don't need a reason to help someone."
"But what about the competition? We're supposed to be competing," Kongou pointed out.
"I didn't really care about it. Besides, this way everyone wins," Touma replied while peeling an onion, "By the way, onions have multiple layers and you're only suppose to peel off the first one. The rest of it is edible, Airhead."
The girls were completely stunned. This boy before them was extremely humble and was will to help people he had only just met and barely knew anything about. Not only that, but he was extremely friendly. Despite only just meeting, he had already given Kongou a nickname. While it may have sounded insulting on the surface, his tone clearly indicated that it was one made to be affectionate, like some kind of playful joke. If this was some kind of manga, light novel or fanfiction, the three girls probably would have swooned.
Soon enough, the group had two pots of curry and two pots of rice prepared. The girls quickly set the picnic table while Touma prepared the individual plates with food. The group sat down at the table with Mikoto, Kuroko, Uiharu, and Saten on one side of the table and Kongou, Wannai, Awatsuki, and Konori on the other side of the table. Touma sat at the head of the table between Mikoto and Kongou.
"Ladies, allow me to present today's Kamijou special," Touma said in a rather showy manner, "Today, we have a selection of both a chicken curry and a seafood curry."
"Looks great!" all the girls complimented.
"Alright, everybody ready to eat?" Konori asked.
"Absolutely!" everyone cheered.
Everyone immediately began to dig in to their individual plates. Everyone except for Kongou, that is. She was anxiously watching Shirai take her first bit of the seafood curry she helped Touma made. She relaxed as soon as she saw that Kuroko had a positive reaction to it.
"I'd say we did a pretty good job," Kuroko commented.
"Yup, I couldn't agree more," Konori replied.
"Plus, I think we all know who won this little cook off," Saten added.
"I guess so," Mikoto admitted.
"Great job as always, Kamijou," Uiharu congradulated.
"Well, I did end up helping to make both of them," Touma laughed.
"This is great, isn't it?" Wannai asked her two teammates.
"It was worth every bit of effort," Awatsuki agreed.
"Yes," Kongou said quietly.
She stared at the plate of seafood curry in front of her, hesitating to take a bit.
"Go on, Airhead," Touma encouraged, "You helped make it. You deserve to taste it."
Slowly, Kongou took a spoonful of curry and hesitantly popped in in her mouth. To her surprise, she actually found it delicious. She couldn't help but smile at the sensation.
"See?" Mikoto asked encouragingly, "It tastes better because we all worked together to make it."
"You know, you both seem like such nice people," Kongou said, referring to Mikoto and Touma, "What were your names again?"
This question earned Kongou surprised looks from everyone else from the table. No knowing Touma was understandable, but Mikoto? Out of everyone there, Mikoto was the only regularly in the public eye. How could she not know who Mikoto was?
"Well, I'm Touma Kamijou."
"I'm Mikoto MIsaka."
"Misaka, huh? That sounds familiar," Kongou mused before pulling out her fan again, "Well, in any case, I've decided to give you two the opportunity to become my friends. How does that sound?"
"That sounds great," Mikoto replied with an awkward smile, "Thanks a lot."
"Nice to make your acquaintance, Airhead," Touma answered, earning a laugh from all the other girls.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" the general manager said over the loud speaker, "The system is up and running, so we'll resume shooting now."
"Huh? Already?" Mikoto asked in shock.
"Oh, you can continue eating," the general manager insisted, "I think we can get some great shots of that."
Indeed, they did. Out of all the photos they took during the photo shoot, one of the best shots was off the girls crowded behind Touma, each of them presenting a plate of curry they worked so hard to make together.
"That was fantastic!" Saten said as the exited the building, "I'd model any time if we get to eat like that."
"It really was a lot of fun," Uiharu agreed.
"I'm so glad you all had a good time today," Awatsuki said thankfully,
"I suppose eating peasant food isn't so bad once and a while," Kongou mused.
"You did have seconds," Kuroko pointed out.
"That honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Touma admitted.
"Hey, where's Misaka?" Konori asked, noticing their friend wasn't with them.
"Where'd she run off to?" Kuroko wondered.
"Yo, Kami!" a familiar voice yelled towards the group.
Looking in the direction the voice was coming from, the group saw Tsuchimokado and Aogami running at them at full speed. As soon as they reached the group, they completely ignored the girls and grabbed Touma by the collar of his shirt.
"How could you do this to us?!" Aogami cried.
"If you're taking about me spending the entire day at a photo shoot with a bunch of girls, you did that to me!" Touma defended.
"Not that! We couldn't care less about that right now!" Tsuchimokado clarified, "We're talking about you showing off your adorable middle schooler girlfriend to the entire city!"
"You both know I don't have a girlfriend!" Touma yelled.
"What are you even talking about?" Kuroko asked in confusion.
"Come with us if you want to know," Aogami said in a German accent.
About one block away from the photography studio, the group found themselves staring at a giant projection screen on the side of a nearby building. On the screen was a live feed of Mikoto playing around at the beach, wearing a frilly, pink, polka doted bathing suit.
"This is being broadcasted all across the city!" Tsuchimokado explained.
"Hey, isn't that the bathing suit she was looking at before she took the one piece?" Konori asked, recognizing the bathing suit.
"Who would have thought the number 3 Level 5 had such childish tastes?" Wannai mused.
"Yeah, I know," Awatsuki agreed.
"Wait, she's a Level 5!" Kongou asked in shock.
"I don't know. I think it actually suits her. It looks much better than the one she was wearing earlier," Touma admitted.
This earned him several odd glances from everyone else present. By some miracle, Touma didn't notice the looks he was getting. He just kept looking at the screen, wondering how long it would take for one of the swimsuit manufacturer's staff to realize she was still in the studio and broadcasting it across the city.
Here we are again, at the end of the chapter.
Sorry again for being so vague about what I was covering next. I can assure you, next chapter is definitely going to be the start of the Index Arc. I swear this on my honor as a writer!
Thank you all for all your support for this project. I hope that some day this story gets enough prestige to be given a mention on the "Toaru Majutsu no Index" FanficRec and Fanworks pages on TvTropes and its own TvTropes page. I'd do it myself, but that would take way too much time and be pretty pretentious. Still, a guy can dream.
Leave a review if you like! See you next time.
Be Free! (If you couldn't tell, I've been making Taiga Fujimura quotes at the end of each chapter for a while now.)