Here we are again. This chapter, things are about to shake up a bit more than usual. Nothing earthshattering, but I think the changes here and going to be quiet interesting. Plus, if you keep an eye out, you might see the seeds for an idea I've been toying with for a while now hidden in the chapter. Can you find them?
Also, as you can see, Accelerator and Shizuri are now counted as main characters in the description. Hopeful, I can really flesh them out, create interesting dynamics with them, and really make it feel like those roles are earned.
For now, let's get some Q&A done.
ahsoei: Nah, Touma's still the one getting involved. Just like in canon, Shizuri is just going to be watching from the distance. I don't remember it ever being mentioned, but I'm assuming she was just watching the reports on the experiments to see how Mikoto struggles to deal with them.
Bluejack222: Thanks. Good luck with your own projects.
ArmoredCoreNineBall: Well, that's kind of how the id works. I stays buried under our conscious and subconscious until something gives it a chance to be let out. Can you tell I'm a strong believer of Freudian thought? Like, it's part of the reason I gave Touma a missing older sister, to fall in line with and explain his taste in girls, just in case that wasn't clear. Thanks for being so understanding about my circumstances.
MrQuestionMark: Rest in peace, two years worth of school work and fanfiction, some of which that will never see the light of day. Yeah, Frenda's big sister comment was originally the only real addition planned, given how she is a big sister too, but I took the flashback from the chapter before and expanded on it, just to make the story feel more interconnected. It's really less of changing her character and expanding on it with new motivations. I like to think I did so pretty seamlessly. Then again, it's not very hard to do when the character your working with has nearly zero backstory to begin with.
icedshadows: Eh, that's debatable.
RedSS: Oh, so the sin was for the method of providing the background. So does that make providing background a win? I think that makes it a win.
Guest 0 (Guest): Trust me, you're not the only one. Cleaver Guest name.
Guest (1+2): Huh, I never knew there was so much nuance behind the Parameter List. Guess that explains why the insane/quirky are the only ones that can reach Level 5, they're so open with their inner nature that they have no mental blocks. Provides a lot of evidence of Pierce Aogami to be the Number 6, huh, given that he's so open about being a pervert. Man, you wrote a lot. If it weren't for the fact you wrote the two reviews right next to each other, I might not have figured out you were the same reader.
Generation Zero: Glad you liked my take on their characterization. Who knows, I might have the two of them fight again at a later time. You never know. Well, to be fair, Touma's always been more involved in the Magic Side of things anyway. His Judgement status kind of just balances that.
The Coke-aholic: Yeah, Freudian though is a pretty funny thing. Well, she's mostly going to watch through reports on how the experiment progresses. She's interesting in seeing Mikoto struggle to stop them, not so much in how the fights go.
SoulReaver267: Thanks, the dream is my favorite addition last chapter. Your sympathies for my flash drive are appreciated.
mohamadstar94: Thanks.
Anonymous Noob the 2nd: Yeah, probably should have had like 4 back-up. Thanks for the tip.
RPGPersona: I think the changes I did make were well executed, so thank you. I think the pills in the anime were to avoid the more dangerous stigma relating to drugs like Crack in a wider reaching medium like anime. Pills are more associated medication than common street drugs, so the anime opted to use them instead. Then again, given that ITEM is a underground organization, it would have made more sense thematically as a powder. You never forget your family. Remember, Shizuri's whole motivation is to protect Touma. She knows he would hate the darkness she lives in, so she show she at least one light for him, even if it is tainted with the blood of those she killed using that strength. That watch them suffer line was in the dub. I always interpreted it as her keeping an eye on project and watching as Mikoto struggles to stop it.
Guest (3): No, she's just keeping tabs on the project to see Mikoto struggle to stop it. She's not really interested in the fights themselves.
TeotakuFantasia: Didn't have to wait long.
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 32: Promises
After his encounter with the mysterious and rather violent Nunotaba, Touma had some difficulty falling asleep. He just couldn't get his mind off of all the weird things she said the other night. Clearly, something was wrong with Mikoto, her recent behavior was proof enough. Yet, according to Nunotaba, there was nothing he could do to help here, neither as a Judgement officer nor her friend. Was the problem so out of reach that even a connection to higher ups in the Disciplinary Committee couldn't do anything about it? The only problems that big were ones orchestrated by Academy City's board of directors. Mikoto may be a Level 5, but surely she couldn't have done something to upset the leading political leaders of the city, right?
Thankfully, Touma wasn't so worked up from his confusion that he couldn't get to sleep. If anything, all the stress made him so much more tired before bed that he fell asleep faster than normal. Getting out of bed, he quickly glanced at the four leafed clover he picked the other day and left on his short table. Based on what he read in his journal, his father had been giving him good luck charms ever since his bad luck started to become prevalent, getting a handful of them every time he came back from a business trip. None of them worked, though the current knowledge of Imagine Breaker gives some sort of rational as to why. Now that he was aware of his ability, Touma elected to store the clover in a small plastic bag. Even if Imagine Breaker negated the ambient luck the clover supposedly provided, it wouldn't hurt to keep it handy. With everything happening with Mikoto, he certainly needed all the luck he could get.
Ignoring the clover for the time being, Touma went about his normal morning routine. He cleaned up, changed his clothes, and prepared a simple breakfast for himself. While he did have a remedial class that day, it wasn't supposed to start until later in the day. For now, he could take the morning easy before going to class. In the middle of his meal, his phone rang, drawing his attention away from his food.
"You've reached Kamijou," Touma greeted, not bothering to check the caller ID.
"Hey, Kamijou, it's Shirai," Kuroko said on the other line, "Everyone is planning on meeting up at the usual café this morning. Care to join us?"
"I have a bit of time before my remedial class," Touma admitted, "Sure. I'll be there in a little bit."
"See you then!"
Hanging up, Touma couldn't help but notice how peppy Kuroko was on the phone. After everything that was happening with Mikoto recently, he expected her to sound even a little more resigned. Had everything with Mikoto been resolved already? Sounded too good to be true. Deciding not to dwell on it too much, Touma quickly finished the rest of his modest breakfast. After cleaning up after himself, he gathered his things and headed out.
"So that's it?" Uiharu asked, "She's back to normal, just like that?"
Kuroko, Uihaur, Saten, and Index were all seated at their one of their usual cafés. Kuroko had some hot tea, Saten had some iced tea, and Uiharu and Index each had a sundae, the later of which was about ten times the size of the former. They were simply enjoying a relaxing morning in Academy City, with Kuroko using the gathering as an opportunity to share some good news. Apparently, Mikoto had gotten over whatever problem she was facing and was back to normal.
"That's right, and just when I was ready to leave her alone and wait for her to consult with me," Kuroko confirmed, "There's no reason for Sissy to know how worried I've been. That would just make her worry instead. I just hope that's the last we have to worry about something like that."
"Hang on, let's recap," Saten suggested, "She went out last night without eating, she didn't tell any of us where she was going or what she was doing, not to mention Kamijou's similarly distant but not as extreme behavior lately… It fits. I'm absolutely sure about it now. Those two have an unspoken thing going on."
Kuroko suddenly froze up, unable to accept such a scenario without herself included in some way. Uiharu gasped in shock, letting her imagination run wild with the thought of her two dear friends being a secret couple. Index was too engrossed in her sundae to pay too much attention to the topic at hand.
"W-wow!" Uiharu stuttered, blushing.
"Absolutely not! I spoke with Kamijou himself, there is nothing between them!" Kuroko denied.
"That's why they've been acting so strangely, because…" Uiharu deduced.
"That's right, because they're having secret assignations," Saten concluded.
"It all makes sense now! Why she was sneaking around! Why she couldn't turn to any of us for advice! Why she kept it all a complete secret! Why he's been so quiet and distant about everything!" Uiharu continued.
"I know," Saten agreed.
"Looking back, Kamijou is a pretty good catch if you look below the surface," Uiharu added, "He's always racing to the rescue alike a knight in shining armor, and his looks aren't half bad, either."
"True, but there more to him than just that," Saten continued, "Despite what his grades say, he can be pretty intelligent, plus he's pretty interesting when it comes to his interests. Not to mention the fact his perfect househusband material."
"Wait, she stays out all night and doesn't come back until morning," Uiharu realized, "You don't think those two are doing this and that, do you?"
At that point, Kuroko had completely lost it. Her thoughts were so focused on the evidence pointing towards Touma and Mikoto doing the act behind their backs that she could barely function properly. She ended up dumping so many sugar lumps into her tea that it couldn't dissolve completely because of her lack of focus.
"Aren't you all forgetting something?" Index interrupted, for once not entirely focused on the food in front of her.
"What do you mean?" Saten asked, confused.
"Touma's been loaded with remedial classes lately," Index clarified, "With all the work he's had in conjunction with Judgement, he couldn't possibly have time for a relationship, especially not enough to nurture it to something as advanced as tier fifteen."
"Huh, guess we forgot about that," Saten laughed.
"Y-yeah," Kuroko agreed, "I mean, the likelihood of those to spending time together without things spiraling out of control are like a million to one."
"Though, you have to wonder what the two of them are up to now," Uiharu noted.
A few blocks away, Touma was passing though a very familiar park on his way to meet his friends at their usual café. While passing though, he crossed paths with a certain broken vending machine, as well as it most regular and violent customer. This person wore a Tokiwodai uniform and appeared to be preparing a roundhouse kick, something that only confirmed her identity for him.
"Zapper, is that you?" Touma asked, stopping in his tracks just before reaching said machine.
The middle school girl standing in front of the machine suddenly stopped at the sound of Touma's voice, stopping her leg just before it impacted the faulty piece of equipment. She then swung her leg in the opposite direction, launching a ball of electricity straight at him. Reacting on instinct, Touma raised his right hand and blocked the attack, saving him from an electrically painful fate. If the girl's identity wasn't confirmed before, it certainly was now.
"Idiot! I told you to quit calling me that!" Mikoto yelled in anger.
"Good to see you too," Touma replied flatly, shacking off the slight tingling feeling in his hand, "I see you're back to your normally electric self."
"What do you mean, 'normally'?!"
"Please accept this disrespectful Kamijou's humblest apology," Touma said with a bow, his tone slightly mocking, "Seriously though, it's good to see you back to normal. You had everyone worried of a bit."
Mikoto glared at him for a moment, but eventually couldn't help herself. She let herself smirk before breaking out in a light laugh. After accomplishing what she needed to do the other night, she couldn't help but feel a bit happy. She could even let Touma's idiocy slide for the day.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Mikoto apologized, "I just had a lot going on. You don't have to worry though, everything is fine now."
"That's good to know."
"Say, I'm in a pretty good mood right now. How about I get you a drink," Mikoto offered, gesturing towards the vending machine.
"I'd rather not steal from a vending machine, especially considering my status as a member of Judgement," Touma replied wearily.
"I was going to pay for yours, idiot," Mikoto said flatly, "I can think of at least one girl who would swoon to be in your position."
"I want to argue against that, but I know your telling the truth. Regardless, I was actually planning on meeting with the others at the café before heading to my remedial class," Touma explained, "Care to join us?"
Mikoto gave the offer a bit of thought. However, before she got the chance to answer, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice called out to the middle school girl. After all, the voice was exactly the same as her own, save for her tone.
"Big sister," the voice said.
Turing towards the voice, both students were quite shocked to find a girl who looked exactly like Mikoto. They had the same facial features, the same build, even the same outfit. The only differences between them was the second girl's permanently blank expression, her goggles on the top of her head, and, to those that dared look, her lack of shorts under her skirt.
"There's another Zapper?!" Touma asked in shock.
"Our appearances are indeed similar, which makes sense as we are entirely identical on a genetic level, offers Misaka in reply," the new girl replied, completely monotone.
'A genetic level? Is she a clone? Were those rumors all true?' Touma thought to himself, 'Hang on. You can't jump to conclusions yet, Kamijou. This could just be some huge misunderstanding. Play ignorant, just like Zapper believes you to be.'
"Oh, I get it, you're twins," Touma said, pretending to know nothing, "Why didn't you mention you had a sister, Zapper?"
"I don't need to that from a guy who never bothered to mention he had an older sister," Mikoto replied coldly.
Something was definitely wrong. At the very least, Touma expected her to make a sarcastic comment about the ironic situation. The tone she used was way too harsh to be simple sarcasm. There was something else about the situation bothering her, and it had to do with this girl that looked exactly like her.
"Moments ago, I identified a power being used that was identical to Misaka's," the girl simply referring to herself as Misaka explained, "I now see the two of you in front of a broken vending machine. Big sister, I hope you were not planning on stealing from said machine using your ability."
"Actually, while your sister does steal from this machine, she usually uses roundhouse kicks to do it," Touma clarified, "She did however just try to zap me with her ability."
"Misaka does not see any residual damage to the area, nor to you, Misaka notes, analyzing the scene. How exactly is that possible? Asks Misaka skeptically."
"It's a bit of a hard to believe story," Touma admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
However, before Touma could go into further detail, Mikoto started to walk up to her apparent sister, giving of a confused aura.
"Why?" Mikoto asked in a low voice, gripping the girl's shoulder, "Of all places. What are you doing wandering around out here?"
"I am here for training," the girl replied simply.
"What are you training for?" Touma asked, keeping up his ignorant façade, "Are you training for Judgement or something?"
"Judgement?" Mikoto asked, caught off guard, "Yeah, that's it."
'That didn't sound too convincing,' Touma noted in his head.
"Come on, let's talk," Mikoto said, leading her "sister" away by the hand
"Unfortunately, Misaka has a schedule to keep," the second girl protested.
"It's okay, come with me," Mikoto insisted, "I'll see you later, Kamijou."
As the two girls walked away, Touma could only stare in shock. He and Mikoto never called each other by name, it was just part of their usual banter. Yet she just did so, completely unironically. The only times she ever did that were when something was more concerning than her need to insult him. Something was definitely wrong, and it involved this girl that claimed to be her sister. There was something off about her, especially given her constantly blank expression and her manner of speaking in the third person.
Continuing his trek to the café, Touma was surprised to see that there was already a cup of black coffee at the table where the girls were sitting. Sitting down with the rest of them, Touma gave them all a quick greeting.
"Didn't expect you girls to order for me," Touma said as he took a sip.
"We figured you would be kept up by something, so we ordered your drink ahead of time to save you time," Uiharu explained, "Luckily, Index's perfect memory helped use to get your favorite drink."
"So, what was so important that you girls wanted to meet up?" Touma asked.
"Shirai had some great news," Saten cheered, "Misaka is apparently back to normal now. Isn't that great?"
'Well, this is awkward,' Touma thought to himself, keeping a straight face.
"Yeah, awesome," Touma replied, "I actually noticed myself."
"Wait, you too were having secret assignations?!" Kuroko cried in shock.
"What? No! I just ran into her on the way here!" Touma clarified, "I asked her if she wanted to come, but she was busy. Where did that even come from?"
The girls only responded with a stiff laugh, clearly not feeling like divulging the fact that they were discussing the potential romance occurring between the Level 5 and the Level 0.
"Well, whatever," Touma dismissed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Anyway, I never got to ask this earlier since Haruee was with us, but I had a question for Index relating to the topic on clones."
"What is it, Touma?" Index inquired.
"I was wondering if there is some sort of magical equivalence to cloning, just out of curiosity," Touma admitted.
"I must admit, I'm a bit curious too," Kuroko added.
"Well, there are homunculi, magical creatures made through alchemy in an attempt to create artificial humans," Index explained, "A family in Germany has been making homunculi for generations, all of which are based on the genetic material of one of their earliest models. Their growth and development can also be accelerated to reach adulthood in very little time and can halt their growth once they reach that stage. Some homunculi are even capable of reproduction."
"Wow, that's pretty amazing," Uiharu noted.
"Maybe, but the process is not without drawbacks," Index clarified, "Homunculi tend to have shorter lifespans and they're minds can be flawed. Human thought isn't exactly the easiest thing to replicate, through either science or magic."
"Interesting," Touma mused.
'If parallels were to be drawn, I'd say Misaka's sister seemed to have a rather underdeveloped thinking process,' Touma thought to himself, 'If she were a clone and was given intelligence artificially, that might explain her inability to properly convey emotion and her strange manner of speaking. Still, I can't just jump to that conclusion with just that. Lots of people have weird quirks like that. According to my journal, Shizuri had a weird obsession with store bought salmon lunches. Surely a strange speech pattern isn't all that out of the ordinary. Besides, even if she is a clone, that doesn't make her any less human.'
Checking the time, Touma noticed how close his remedial class was getting. Quickly chugging down the last of his coffee, Touma left a few hundred Yen on the table and excused himself. For the time being, he couldn't dwell too much on the idea that Mikoto's sister was an artificial clone made by some Academy City scientists. He would keep an eye out for any other suspicious activity, but for now, he had to worry about himself and his grades. He can't help her if he's grades suffer so much that he gets expelled and kicked out of the city.
After meeting yet another one of her clones, Mikoto had learned some rather frightening news. Project Level 6 Shift was still in progress. More than that, it was operating on schedule. By the time she had learned about it, over ten thousand Sisters had been killed, more than half the total Sisters made for the purposes of the project.
It didn't make sense to her. Over the last couple of nights, she's been destroying every single facility doing work related to the project. The night before, she destroyed the second to last one and this morning she found the last facility completely shut down. The project itself should have gone bankrupt with all the damaged facilities, lost data, and understaffed workforce. What was most baffling was how the project survived. After hacking into a network through a phonebooth, Mikoto learned that one hundred eighty-three other facilities received transfers of data and equipment from the last remaining facility before it shut down, all of them being done during the time she spent attacking the second to last facility and the morning afterwards. It was ridiculous. How could a single project be so important and influential that it could get so much support in such little time?
Suddenly, it clicked.
'I'm an idiot! I can't believe I didn't see it sooner,' Mikoto thought in shock, 'Academy City is under constant satellite and camera surveillance. Nothing in the city stays hidden from the higher ups. These experiments were held over and over again, outside. If senior management of the city knew about them, and with the surveillance they definitely did, the only reason they wouldn't do something about it was if they were in on it. In other words, all of Academy City is my enemy.'
In a random alley, Accelerator stood in front of the corpse of his latest victim, Misaka 10030. She had been dead for a couple of minutes now, her blood starting to dry up on the cold concrete. Accelerator just stood there, chewing on something like it was a piece of gum. Eventually, he spit out whatever he was chewing on to the ground next to the clone's broken pair of goggles, commenting on how it lost its flavor. It was the chewed up remains of one of the clone's fingers.
Leaving the scene, he thought back to about a year ago, when he was first approached about Project Level 6 Shift. Back then, only two types of people ever approached him. First, there were the people who came to fight him, thinking they had the chance to take to title of Academy City's top dog. They were all idiots who got their hopes up too high. They saw his slim and lanky build and though he was no big deal and was easy pickings. Anyone who gave it even a little thought would know that every physical action involves vectors in some way, including all methods of attack. With his high-level ability to manipulate all manner of vectors, no attack could ever harm him and all attacks he threw or reflected proved to be dangerous.
The second type of people to approach him were people form research labs. These people knew how powerful he was and how versatile his ability could be since every physical action involves vectors. The research they could do through studying or utilizing his ability was beyond imaginable. That was something that grew to irk him almost as much as the idiots that tried to fight him.
There used to be a third type of person that approached him. He was one of a kind. He didn't care about power. He just saw Accelerator as a person, as a friend. And in turn Accelerator saw him the same way. This person had a sister that treated Accelerator in a similar manner, albeit to a lesser extent, preferring to leave the two to themselves. All that really mattered was that one person that he called his friend, the friend whose name and face he had long forgotten. The only thing he remembered was the person's spiky black hair and his right hand.
However, the person that approached him a year ago was of the second variety, the kind that came from a research lab to recruit him for Project Level 6 Shift. At first, Accelerator was dismissive of the project. He was already the strongest, so why should he bother getting stronger. However, the man attempted to coax him into participating with the promise of even more power, the kind of power that would make his normally monotonous life interesting. He would be a god among men, possessing power that was beyond anyone else's reach. That caught his attention, but not because of the power itself. If the power he obtained from participating in the experiment was beyond the reach of anyone else, that would mean no one would dare challenge him. He would be at a Level no one else could reach, stomping out anyone's foolish hopes of challenging and beating him. The constant challenges, confrontations, and pointless injuries would end. At that point, he agreed. Not even the knowledge of the illegal clones was enough to deter him at his point. It was his chance to stop the constant fighting.
Granted, stopping the fighting meant he had to fight a lot more for the time being. Twenty thousand required fights to be exact, in addition to all the challenges he normally got from complete idiots. It was about a year later, and he was only halfway there. It was starting to become a drag. Still, if he got invincibly at the end of it all, it would all be worth it. If he could stop the constant fighting, he might be able to devote some time to finding that person again.
That night, Mikoto sat on her bed, gently hugging the giant Gekota Touma won her at Phantasm Carnival a couple weeks back. The frog was where she kept all of her files on Project Level 6 Shift, hidden inside a pocket in its back. Kuroko had just gotten out of the shower and offered it to her roommate, but Mikoto didn't pay too much attention as she was too focused on trying to find a way to stop the experiments.
She didn't know what to do. She couldn't find the person behind the creation of the project. With Academy City itself greenlighting it, that wouldn't do anything. All she really knew was that the city wanted to keep these experiments secret. With how twisted and illegal it was with all the cloning and killing, it was only natural. It was why news of her attacks on the facilities never reached the media. If Academy City wanted something to stay secret, it would stay secret.
It suddenly clicked. There was only one way she could think of to stop the project. It was drastic, could through the entire city into chaos, and her life would never be normal again if she did. However, Mikoto didn't care. These experiments had already gone on far too long, killing over ten thousand clones of her. Normal wasn't an option for her anymore.
"Hey, Kuroko," Mikoto called out.
"Sissy! Can I help you with something?" Kuroko replied enthusiastically.
"Supposing… just supposing I did something that brought calamity and chaos to Academy City, what would you do?" Mikoto asked.
"If you mean stealing drinks from a vending machine that you broke, I guess I would suggest you stop doing so," Kuroko replied with a bit of thought.
"That thing is fair game as far as I'm concerned! It stole money from me my first year here!" Mikoto rebuffed.
Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Mikoto asked her roommate the question again, this time much more clearly.
AN: At this point, I would suggest you start playing "Stand Still" by Yuka Iguchi. If you know your "A Certain" soundtracks, you know why I'm suggesting this. Lyrics are optional. Just no Nightcore. Seriously, Nightcore is so uninspired.
"No, I mean, if I did something that shook the very core of Academy City," Mikoto clarified.
"I won't pretend to know why you would even ask something like that," Kuroko admitted, "but if someone threatened the safety of this city, I would not hesitate to stop them, even if that person is you, Sissy."
"Huh? Then despite all the things you said, is seems our relationship really does have its limits!" Mikoto fake cried.
"No, it doesn't at all!" Kuroko panicked, teleporting to Mikoto's side, "I know in a million years, you would never even think to do something li-"
"Ha! Got ya!" Mikoto cut her off, flicking Kuroko's forehead, "I'm just messing with you!"
"That wasn't nice, Sissy!" Kuroko whined, earning a laugh from Mikoto.
Later that night, after Kuroko went to sleep, Mikoto stayed up at her bed, gently hugging the gift Touma gave her. Quietly, she picked up her cell phone and dialed a very important number. She had a call she needed to make, and she didn't want Kuroko listening in.
Across District 7, Touma was up late at night doing his summer homework. He sat at his short table, hutched over it, completely focused on his work. However, his focus was soon interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing. Picking up his phone, Touma was surprised to find that Mikoto was calling him. She never called his number, especially not at this hour.
"Hey, Zapper," Touma said tiredly, "Did you need something?"
"Hey," Mikoto greed on the other end of the line, "I need to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"If I were to do something that brought calamity and chaos to Academy City, shaking it to its very core, what would you do?" Mikoto asked seriously.
"Is that even a question? The answer is obvious," Touma answered simply, "I would help you."
"Huh?" Mikoto asked, clearly confused, "I don't get it. Why?"
"Because I know you," Touma replied, "You would never do something like that. You may attack me on a daily basis, but you don't do it just for the sake of doing it. If you were planning on doing something that brought harm to this city and its people, then that just means this city did something to hurt you. I wouldn't help you destroy the city in revenge or something like that. I would help you find another solution. I told you before, my goal is to make sure everyone in a bad situation gets out of it with a smile on their face. If the city has done something to you, if the city has caused you pain, I'll do what ever I can to help you heal. If you ever feel like your backed into a corner and have no other option left, I promise you, I'll shatter that unfair illusion."
After a moment of silence, Mikoto could be heard giggling on the other side of the line, much to Touma's confusion.
'Did I say something wrong?' Touma thought to himself.
"You're an idiot, you know that?" Mikoto finally replied, "Always going to such extreme lengths to help someone, making promises you might not be able to keep, making long speeches about shattering people's illusions. It's all so stupid."
"I like to think it's part of my personal charm," Touma defended, feeling a bit insulted.
"Don't worry, it is," Mikoto said reassuringly, "Thanks. I needed that."
"Happy to help," Touma replied with a smile.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Mikoto said, "Goodnight, Kamijou."
"Goodnight," Touma said as Mikoto hung up.
Putting the phone down, Touma stared at it for a moment, contemplating what Mikoto had just said. He then leaned back on to his bed, staring at the ceiling in confusion.
"Misaka, what are you up to?" he asked aimlessly.
Closing her phone, Mikoto couldn't help but let out a soft giggle. Touma Kamijou is a real idiot, but not one without his charms.
'If I do this, and Kuroko is the one who catches me, that wouldn't be so bad,' Mikoto thought to herself, 'that guy said he would do whatever it took to help, but I'll make sure he doesn't have to. He's done more than enough for me and everyone else already. I promise you, you don't have to get involved this time, Kamijou.'
So, did that last bit get you all feelsy? I know I did writing it. Did the layered on song help? It's honestly one of my favorites from the anime, essentially being Touma and Mikoto's image song. Funny story, while writing that bit, I was actually listening to my "Toaru" playlist on shuffle, and the first song to show up was "Stand Still". Immediately afterwards was "Zero Kara no Gyakushuu" (Touma's character song) and "Watashi Rashiku Aru Tame no pledge" (Mikoto's character song), in that order. Fate, maybe?
Did you see the Easter egg and guess what my future idea is? Tell me in the review and what you liked about the chapter. If anyone can guess correctly, I'll reveal it to everyone in the next chapter. See you then!
P.S. : Billy, what are you doing! Why are you reading fanfiction?! You know you should be doing your summer homework!