Hello, Interent. I'm back with another chapter. Sorry this one took a bit of time. Ended up longer than expected. After a quick original chapter, we're getting back into the main story arcs with the infamous Silent Party Arc. With any luck, I can rewrite this version to be a bit more appealing and avoid the issues that plagued the original broadcast. Well, one step at a time, I guess.

For now, let's get those reviews answered.

OnePunchPlayer: Of course. Touma is actually one of the quickest thinkers in the story once he gets he facts straight, though social obliviousness is one of the things that makes him charming, at least in my opinion anyway. I looked up the term Ahamkara, but all I got was a dragon species fron Destiny and a term in Sanskrit that refers to one's connection to their ego. Not entirely sure where you were going with that.

BlueJack22: That bad, huh?

Healthcare: Glad you liked the last chapter. The lack of Mikoto and the Railgang in the last arc was more a result of what the arc was. If there was a feasible way to include them without making them feel shoehorned in, I would have been more than happy to do so.

mohamadstar94: Yeah, still working on getting my editing down. Here here to Railgun 3!

felixiglesias8: Febri is incoming! Glad you liked the chapter.

shiroryuu012: Oh, you know it. With everything good that happened last chapter, you can expect a lot of misfortune in the near future.

SolanaLeonhart: Nice to see that someone thought the fights made sense. Glad you liked the wrap up to the Angel Fall Arc.

Percyfan1998: It just seemed like an interesting idea to toy with. I already have things planned for future arcs, so expect things to get pretty wild later on.

PrinnyMuchIt: Your sympathies are very much appreciated. Glad you liked the filler chapter so much.

Exiled Soul Nomad: Less an abrupt shift, more like moving day closed the misfortune main and now pressure is building in the pipes. there will be leaks, but the pipes will eventually burst.

ahsoei: She's been living with Saten every since the Deep Blood Arc. I know that was a while back and I don't touch on it very often, but I'm surprised people forget that detail. I still had scenes with Touma in his dorm alone, so that makes the confusion even stranger.

Berix: Hit the nail right on the head! Where did you think I got the recipe from?

RPGPersona: Things will certainly be more interesting, but not necessarily better, as you'll see in this chapter. Well, if your crush's older sister happens to be a secret hit-woman that hates you with a passion, you're going to be more than a bit cautious about everything. Like Shizuri said, best movers in the city. She's just really excited to be able to reconnect with her brother. Meeting Tsuchimikado was just a stroke of luck for her. I have big plans for Touma and future interactions with ITEM, but they won't come into play until the Battle Royale Arc. Let's just say I'm going to be cutting certain things in that arc. For me, the biggest issue with the arc was how it tired to portray itself as starting just after the Sisters Arc and ending just after the Three Stories Arc with that shot of Accelerator in a hospital room with Last Order, which conflicts with the fact that Mikoto should have met Touma again and gone on a fake date to lose the fake Unabara, something she couldn't have done if she was worried about protecting Febri. I plan to rectify that with this current set up an realigning all the arcs to more appropriate relative placements. The arc itself was pretty good on paper, exploring how the research is often overlooked for the results (Espers). It just stumbled in execution.

LookItsADoggy: That's just a result of how the arcs are laid out. Accelerator doesn't have any real significance in the canon story until the Three Stories Arc, but the wait is made even longer with inclusion of story arcs from Railgun. I want Accelerator as much as everyone else, but it just doesn't fit with the current events. Once he's reintroduced in the Three Stories Arc, he will definitely be given a spotlight.

RedSS: So, not my best work, but not my worst. I can live with that. I wanted the chapter to be a bit longer, but I just ran out of things to write.

SoulReaver267: Glad you liked the chapter. I just thought it better to leave the interactions in the hospital room to the imagination. However, you can expect plenty of mentions of the incident in the Daihasei Festival. I've had that reunion planned from the very beginning. Let's just say it might not be what anyone expected.

Guest (1): Well, here it is.

Generation Zero: I do like a good slice of life every once and a while. I'm planning of having Shizuri get involved in magic, just not quite yet. I want more Accelerator involved, but he just has no significance until the Three Stories Arc, which is unfortunately pushed back by the Silent Party Arc.

fencer29: Well, at least he managed to get her off his scent. Of course, now he has to donate his collection to Aogami or risk being found out again.

Guest (2): Glad you liked the chapter. The important thing to remember about Touma and Accelerator's relationship is that Touma was the one person Accelerator was not able to hurt. Both of them were outcasts because of their powers, Touma's bringing bad luck and Accelerator's literally pushing everyone away. As the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. They grew close because they were the first people in each other's lives to not be driven away.

ArmoredCoreNineBall: I considered something like that, but I decided against it. There is a time and place to undercut a moment like that, and it didn't seem like the time or place for that. You'll see what I mean in this chapter. The only hint I'll give you is that I'm a firm believer of comedy coming in three's. Plus, My current set up is that Shizuri would want to keep Touma and ITEM as separated as possible for his safety. I actually have other plans for Tsuchimikado, which will come into play in the next chapter. The extra bit of lore I added in the last chapter was something I had rolling around in my head for a while. I thought to myself, "We have a boy with the ultimate power balancer in his right hand and has a name so layered with alternative interpretations there had to be some significance to it all." So, I created the backstory for Touma's entire family. It also helped to explain Shizuri being such a powerful Esper and Touya having accidentally cast Angel Fall. Feng Shui may rely mostly on symbols and the Earth's energy, but it always gave the impression that it at least needed the caster to act as a trigger for the spells to be cased, so making the Kamijou's the descendants of an ancient clan gifted with innate supernatural powers helps to explain why Touya could trigger the spell.

Kami (Guest): Sorry to hear that.

A certain guest (Guest): That is certainly one way to look at Shizuri's reaction to Saten. Shizuri wanted to live a simple life with her brother, uninvolved with anything supernatural or extraordinary, but threw it all away in a desperate attempt to give Touma that life. On the other hand, Saten had that life, but threw it all away and left her brother and the rest of her family behind to become an Esper, something that amount to nothing since she's on the lower end of the Parameter List. I would imagine they would envy each other, with Saten wishing she could have had her family with her and an Esper power like Shizuri, while Shizuri wishing she could have had the life Saten abandoned. I might just use that later.

im waiting (Guest): Wait no longer.

Alright, you know the drill. Disclaimer, story chapter, Animan Temple. Let's just get this taken care of.

Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.

Chapter 44: Lost Child

When Touma woke up the next morning, he left his room to find a note sitting on the dinner table. Apparently, Shizuri had gotten an emergency call last night for a job and wasn't going to be home that morning. According to the note, her latest assignment was scheduled for three in the morning, practically the dead of night, and thus wasn't going to allow her to be home that morning.

"Well, so much for having a family breakfast," Touma sighed in exasperation, "Hopefully this job isn't anything too serious."

Throwing the note away, Touma got to work preparing his morning's breakfast. Thanks to all the shopping he and Shizuri did the other day and his sister's generous savings, food was practically not an issue for the misfortunate Kamijou. A quick but filling breakfast was simple enough to make, and Touma as out the door soon after, ready for his surely hectic day.

The first stop of the day was a certain high school where Touma was scheduled to have another summer remedial class. Thanks to his constant misadventures and visits to the hospital, his overall attendance has taken a considerable hit. The result was spending a few classes over the summer to catch up on his missed sessions. Unfortunately, the absences continued over the summer thanks to the same reasons as before, so Touma had to take even more classes then what was normally required. His only saving grace was the fact that he had the company of his two friends, Tsuchimikado and Aogami, who both regularly skipped class because of their own personal antics.

Miraculously, the remedial class went without a hitch. No stupid debates on perverted topics from the members of the Delta Force. No pointless brawls breaking out because of disagreements in said debates. No manipulative crying from their adorably small teacher to get them to stop such pointless brawls. Truly, a miracle unlike any other Touma has seen, and he's seen a lot.

Once the remedial class was over for the day, the Delta Force lounged around in the classroom for a bit, taking their time to leave. As they walked out the school, the group took a moment to catch up after Touma had once again been released from the hospital.

"So Kami, how's it feel to be out of the hospital again?" Tsuchimikado asked.

"About the same as every other time I've gotten out of the hospital," Touma deadpanned as he pulled out a stack of magazines from his bag, "Here, you take these back."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the blond boy lied, "But, I'll happily take this gift from you. You really do know my tastes."

"And these are for you, Aogami," Touma added, pulling out another stack of magazines, "The issues you lent me, plus a few more extra."

"Thanks, but why the extra? Not that I'm complaining," the blue haired boy asked.

"Because he just moved in with his sister and she found his stash, so now he's being forced to get rid of it," Tsuchimikado said with a cheeky smile.

"Only because you gave her the spare key and let her in ahead of me!" Touma cried, "Also, how did you know that?!"

"The dorm's walls are paper thin. I could hear everything from my room," the undercover freelance spy replied, "You should know this, Kami, you used to live there just the other day."

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about having you as a neighbor," Touma grumbled.

"So, what's your sister like?" Aogami asked out of curiosity.

"Like I'm telling the biggest pervert I know the first thing about my older sister," the misfortunate boy replied.

"She's a total hottie and the bonified dotting-older-sister type," Tsuchimikado answered, earning himself a smack on the back of his head from Touma.

"Next person to talk about my sister that way is getting my signature right hook!" Touma warned menacingly.

"Just being honest," Tsuchimikado grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"She on the market?" Aogami bravely asked, ready for whatever damage Touma was willing to do.

"Don't test me," the Certain Strange Addition to Judgement warned, "Even if she was, she's a Level 5 with a serious temper. If you tried to ask her out, she'd probably disintegrate you on principle alone, especially since you're such a pervert."

"Harsh," Aogami shivered as they reached the bottom of the hill their school was located on, "Well, I better get going. I need to get to work."

"Wait, you have a job? And you actually care about it?" Touma asked in surprise, raising an eyebrow.

"Gotta pay my bills somehow. Not all of use know two Level 5's we can mooch off of," the blue hair boy countered.

"I only get financial support from one of them, and I'm not mooching. I only use what I need," Touma argued back, "What is this job anyway?"

"Aogami is helping to promote a Frog Warp Experiment at a venue for the Academy City Research Form Assembly," Tsuchimikado explained, "He's supposed to dress up in a Gekota costume and hold up a sign for the experiment, directing people towards the presentation."

"That's your job?" Touma deadpanned.

"Hey, it gives me money, so I'm not complaining," the blue haired boy shrugged.

"Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Judgement was called in to help with security during the assembly," Touma pondered.

"Well, I better get going before I'm late," Aogami yelled as he ran off, "I'll see you guys later."

"Later man!" Tsuchimikado said with a wave.

"I better get going too," Touma added, "I'm supposed to meet with the girls at the hospital in a little bit."

"I never knew you were such a masochist," Tsuchimikado joked, "That desperate to get back in the hospital, huh?"

"You of all people should know that's not true," Touma deadpanned, alluding to Tsuchimikado's role as a spy, "We just got news that a friend was being discharged soon, so we were going to visit her."

"Going to try and make a move on her as she gets out of the hospital, huh? What would the Railgun think if she got wind of this?" the sunglass wearing boy teased.

"Good bye, Tsuchimikado!" Touma yelled as he walked away, ignoring his friend's laughter behind him.

When Touma arrived at Heaven Canceller's hospital, the first thing he noticed about it was how crowded the visitor's lobby was. It took a bit of searching, but he managed to find Mikoto in the lobby, talking with some boy he didn't recognize. While Touma was not one to be jealous, and he really had no reason to be considering his and Mikoto's ambiguous relationship, he was not above teasing others. It was a sort of negative habit he picked up from being the constant victim of such actions. So as soon as the other guy was gone, Touma made his move.

"Hey Zapper," Touma greeted as he approached.

"I'd really wish you'd stop using that nickname," Mikoto grumbled under her breath, "Hey idiot. You took your time getting here."

"Remedial class," Touma shrugged, "So, who was that guy? Secret boyfriend you've been seeing behind my back?"

"Why would you care? It's not like we're dating or anything," Mikoto replied, crossing her arms in defiance.

"Oof, you wound me so, Mikoto," Touma cried, feigning rejection, clutching his heart, "To think you would move on so quickly."

"What can I say? I got impatient and decided to stop waiting for an answer," the Level 5 fired back, turning her head away from the Level 0, "It's your own fault for taking so long."

The two students held these acts for a second before suddenly bursting into laughter, letting their façade finally drop.

"Oh man, that was so cheesy!" Mikoto laughed.

"Seriously! I've read my fair share of crappy scenarios in gal games, but that was just plain bad!" Touma agreed through his own laughter, "You're getting better at this. A month ago, I would have expected you to start babbling nonsense and exploding with electricity."

"Give me some credit. I can't woo the guy I like if I can't even comfortably hold a conversation with him," Mikoto argued.

"Oh, and who might this guy be?" Touma asked as he leaned in, playing coy.

"Alright, knock it off, idiot," the Level 5 joking demanded, giving her crush a light punch on the shoulder.

"My, you two have gotten pretty close, haven't you?" a familiar voice said from behind Touma.

Recognizing the voice, the confidence Mikoto was beaming with all but vanished as she froze in place. Touma had a similar reaction, though his was more out of surprise rather than embarrassment. Turning around, Touma was greeted by the sight of Index and a cheeky grinned Saten, who held a paper bag of apples close to her chest. With that grin on her face, Touma could only hope for Mikoto's sake that the fellow Level 0 hadn't been listening for too long.

"Hey, Flipper, Index," Touma greeted, "When did you get here?"

"We just arrived," Index replied.

"H-how much of that did you hear?" Mikoto stuttered.

"Only after all the laughter," the rumor hunter answered, "What was so funny and cheesy anyway?"

"Oh! Uh…" Mikoto trailed.

"Zapper here was just telling me about this article she read in a magazine at the convince store," Touma supplemented, "Out of curiosity, she looked at a dating magazine and found some really terrible pick-up lines in them, so she ran them past me, our resident semi-professional match maker."

"Y-yeah," Mikoto added with a blush, "Even though this idiot couldn't get a date to save his life, I wanted to see what he thought of them since he knows so much about making other couples happy."

"Is that so?" Saten asked with a smirk.

"There you all are," Kuroko called out as she suddenly approached the group, along with Uiharu and Haruue, "What took you so long?"

"Actually," Saten answered, "Misaka and Kamijou were-"

"Oh look, the elevator is here!" Mikoto cried as she started pushing Uiharu and Haruue towards the lift, cutting Saten off, "Come on, let's go! Quickly now, everybody!"

'I guess some thing will just never change," Touma thought with a smile as he, Kuroko, Saten, and Index followed their friends.

"Congratulations, Edasaki," Mikoto said once the group reached the bedridden girl's hospital room, "We heard you were getting discharged soon. Right?"

"Yeah, I am! I owe it all to you guys," Edasaki happily replied, "Having that uniform waiting for me really inspired me to work hard and finish my rehabilitation before summer was over."

"So, you all set for when you get out of here?" Touma asked once everyone had settled down in the room.

"Yup," Edasaki replied.

"Actually, Edasaki is going to be living with Haruue," Uiharu added as she peeled their friend an apple that Saten brought along.

"Really?" Saten asked, surprised.

"That's right," the flower haired girl confirmed.

"It's just that I have been living in a Child Error facility for so long that living on my own all of a sudden would be a pretty tough transition," the hospitalized girl explained.

"True. You did lose a couple years to that coma," Kuroko nodded.

"So, I talked to my teachers about it, and they gave Banri and I the okay to share a place," Haruue added.

"Oh, that's nice," Mikoto noted.

"So, you're moving again, huh?" Kuroko asked, "We'd be happy to come by and help you guys out."

"I actually moved in with my sister the other day," Touma added, "She knows the best movers in the city, so I can probably hire their help too."

"That's okay," Haruue cut in, "Uiharu and I already took care of everything."

"Seriously?" Saten asked in surprise.

"Yup! We made a few calls and got the movers lined up for tomorrow," Uiharu confirmed, handing Index an apple slice to occupy her.

"That was fast," Mikoto noted.

"You could have at least asked us," Kuroko reprimanded.

Once the group finished their visit, Haruue stayed behind to finish sorting out a few details with Edatsaki. This left the rest of the group with the rest of the day to wander about the city and discuss the recent turn of events.

"Really Uiharu, all of us would have been willing to help out on moving day," Saten reprimanded.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Uiharu insisted, "It's not that big a deal. Of course, the place is a huge mess of boxes right now."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Mikoto quipped, "Remember what the place was like when she first moved in with you? Talking about cluttered."

"There's even more boxes now than there were back then," Uiharu admitted, "Which is strange since she didn't actually live there for that long."

"Yeah, times sure flies," Touma mused, "Now that I think about it, she moved in with you not too long after I got my arm reattached in the hospital, and that was early in the summer. We're only reaching the tail end of the summer break now."

"Speaking of time flying, isn't it about that time?" Kuroko asked.

"Aw man! Is it that late already?!" Touma cried, looking at the time on his ODD bracelet.

"You okay there, idiot?" Mikoto asked, one part concerned, one part annoyed by the overblow reaction, "What exactly are you running late for?"

"Sorry, it's just some Judgement work we need to get taken care of." Touma apologized, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

"Judgement was asked to do security for the upcoming Academic Reach Assembly," Kuroko explained.

"Today is the preliminary inspection," Uiharu added.

"Oh, that explains that," Mikoto replied.

"Sorry," Saten interrupted, "I don't really understand what a school assembly would need security for."

"Me too," Index added, "Is it really that important?"

"Oh, I can see why you two are confused," Uiharu sighed, "Shirai didn't use it's full name. The Academy City Research Form Assembly. It's called Academic Reach for short."

"Academy City students are dedicated to research as study. Those with outstanding grades are given a setting in which they can share their work with others," Kuroko explained, presenting the assembly's homepage on her phone, "That's what the Academy City Research Form Assembly is. Qualification is based on student's academic work instead of their Esper abilities."

"Oh, I see," Saten mused, "That sounds kind of fun. It's like a festival for smart people."

"Sounds kind of boring to me," Index deadpanned.

"Well, it's less like a festival, more like a really big science fair," Touma clarified, "If you don't have a particular interest in research, it's not going to be too appealing."

"There are professional quality presentations, great lectures, and all sorts of other stuff!" Uiharu gushed.

"Yeah? I don't really get it, but it sounds pretty cool," Saten said, "I wonder why they decided to start doing it this year?"

"Huh?" everyone else other than Index said in response.

"Um, Saten," Uiharu injected, "They actually do this every year."

"Huh?! Seriously?!" the skirt flipper asked in surprised.

"Yeah. I've been going to them for the last couple of years now, personally," Touma admitted.

"Why would you do that? I though you said your grades weren't the best," Index asked.

"That's precisely why, actually," Touma explained with tears in his eyes, "I do it for the extra credit."

"Well, we better get going," Kuroko said as she put on her Judgement armband and placed a hand on Uiharu's shoulder, "Sorry, Kamijou. You know where the first location is. Try to keep up."

Without saying another word, Kuroko and Uiharu teleported away, momentarily flickering into three-dimensional space a few meters down the street every half-second. For a moment, Touma could only stare down the street, completely stunned as he watched his coworkers leave without him. Once the thought of what exactly happened to him had finally settled, he slipped on his own armband and took off run, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Damn it, Pigtails! Just because you can't teleport me too doesn't mean you can just leave me behind like that!" he screamed as he hopelessly tried to tail the girls, "Rotten luck!"

Meanwhile, Mikoto, Saten, and Index could only watch with stiff smiles as Touma chased after the rest of their friends, having completely forgotten to give them a proper farewell.

As Touma ran down the street after his coworkers, he couldn't help but feel his entire endeavor was completely pointless. At this point, the pair of girls had long since disappeared from his line of sight, most likely having already reached their destination. With her Teleportation, Kuroko could cover massive stretches of distance in only a fraction of the time traditional movement could accomplish. Really, Touma running was just a massive waste of energy.

Stopping to catch his breath, Touma looked around to get his bearings as to where in Academy City he was at the moment. Judging by the buildings around him, he was definitely still in District 7 and all the stores told him he was in the commercial subdistrict. To the east of his current position, Touma could see the currently under construction space elevator known as Endymion, further solidifying his accession as the space elevator was being built in District 23, east of District 7. As he continued to observe, Touma suddenly heard the cry of a woman in distress.

"Somebody, please help!" the voice cried out, "That man took my bag!"

Looking in the direction that the voice came from, Touma saw a young woman, approximately of high school age, knocked down on the ground about a block away. Further down the street was a man in a bandanna, frantically running away as he clutched something too his chest.

'Well, duty calls,' Touma thought to himself as he started running towards the scene of the crime.

However, Touma found himself doing very little in the grand scheme of things. By the time he had managed to cover half a block's worth of distance towards the collapsed woman, the suspected perpetrator of the theft was struck with what Touma could only describe as a ballistic trash can. The suspect was left unconscious in the middle of the street, flat on his back in a pile of empty soda cans. By the time Touma reached the woman, a crowd had gathered around the fallen thief, clearly interested by the unexpected turn of events.

"Are you okay, Miss?" Touma asked as he helped the theft victim off the ground.

"Yes, thank you," the woman replied with a slight blush.

"It is the height of stupidity to perpetrate such a brazen theft in broad daylight on such busy streets," a voice cried out from the crowd, "You're a moron and a criminal, and I will not allow you to roam the streets any longer. You're done! Mitsuko Kongou as spoken!"

"Kongou always comes through," a brown haired Tokiwadai girl gushed through the rising cheers.

"She's so amazing," a black haired Tokiwadai girl agreed.

"Should figured it was you, Airhead," Touma greeted as he made his way through the crowd.

"Oh! Kamijou. I didn't expect to see you here," Kongou greeted in reply.

"Just passing through," Touma said with a shrug, nodding towards the unconscious criminal, "Guess I showed up at just the right time."

"Long time no see, Kamijou," the brown hair girl said.

"It a pleasure to meet you again," the black hair girl added.

"You remember my friends, Wannai and Awatsuki, don't you?" Kongou asked, gesturing to the brown-haired girl and the black-haired girl respectively, "You met them back during the swimsuit photoshoot."

"Oh yeah," Touma lied, only vaguely remembering them from the journal entry regarding that event, "It's good to see you two again."

Touma offered both girls a handshake but was surprised when they simply stared at it with ever so slight blushes.

"Heh. Too forward, I guess?" Touma laughed awkwardly as he pulled his hand back, "Forgot you girls are pretty sheltered, being from a girls-only school. Sorry about that."

"No, it's fine!" Wannai insisted.

"So, what about him?" Awatsuki asked, pointing towards the still unconscious man.

"I'll take it from here," Touma replied as brought his ODD bracelet to his face, "This is Touma Kamijou of Judgement Branch 177 requesting Anti-Skill assistance. I have a convict here in need of processing and potential medical treatment."

With his request made, Touma picked up the purse that had been stolen and swiftly returned it to its rightful owner. Afterwards, he requested her to stay until Anti-Skill arrived so she can give her testimony for the official report. He also asked Kongou to do the same since she was the reason the convict was apprehended in the first place.

"Thanks for the help, by the way," Touma said to Kongou.

"Oh, think nothing of it," the Level 4 haughtily insisted, hiding behind her fan "All in a day's work."

"Excuse me, do you have a moment?" a man with black hair and glasses interrupted, "I saw what happened here. Don't you think you went a little overboard?"

"I'm sorry?" Kongou asked, confused.

"It doesn't matter if the person is a purse snatching miscreant or not," the man continued, "I don't think you should be using your power so recklessly."

"And who are you to sa-" the Level 4 tried to counter before being cut off.

"There are a number of ways you could have handled the situation and any one of them would have been better," the man went on, "For example, there is an Anti-Skill booth not too far away from here, not to mention the security cameras surrounding the area. In addition, your friend here is a Judgement Officer and was within the area. You could have easily alerted him instead of taking action yourself."

"What exactly are yo-" Kongou tried to speak again, once again stopped by the man raising a hand.

"If I may continue. Did you not even stop to think for a moment about how much danger you were exposing everyone here to?" the man continued, proving his point by kicking the convict's hand to reveal a switch blade, "Fortunately for us, you were able to incapacitate him in one shot this time. Can you begin to imagine the results if you had failed to do so? Thief would have been furious. He could have taken a woman or a child hostage."

The once cheering crowd now feel into quiet murmuring. Because of this one man, all of Kongou's good will was being put into question by a single, well-articulated seed of doubt. Kongou herself was beginning to question whether she took the proper course of action.

"You seem to be quite confident in yourself and your power," the man concluded, "but an Esper Ability isn't always the answer."

"I… didn't mean to…" the Level 4 trailed.

"That's nothing but a load of pretentious crap," Touma but in, earning him the attention of everyone present.

"Kamijou…," Kongou whispered in disbelief as he stepped up to her defense.

"Pretentious, you say?" the man inquired.

"You heard me," Touma replied, stepping forward, "Everything you said is true. Maybe there were more passive options, and maybe the choice she made had some risks, but none of that matters. She saw someone that needed help and acted quickly on her own to lend a hand. She looked at what she knew and what she had to work with and made a solution that suited her situation.

"Every solution you provided required time and information that she just didn't have! Trying to contact Anti-Skill or myself would be time for the criminal to get away! Even if everything was caught on camera, those can just as easily be tampered with! Even if the convict used his weapon, she had no way of knowing it was in his hand! The one thing you forgot is that no solution is flawless! You think that you could have done better because you think your smarter, but the real difference is that she was willing to take a leap of faith while you stood idly by! She may be an airhead at times, but Kongou is no idiot!"

For a moment, nobody in the crowd said a word. Everyone present was at a complete loss for words. No one had ever heard someone so passionately and articulately counter another person's beliefs before, let alone do it on such short notice. And all of that was done simply because the person across from him was being disrespectful of someone else's good intentions.

The man in glasses was especially thrown off by the recent turn of events. He held himself as a man of intellect, and the student in front of him seemed to aim to completely destroy that with only his presence. The thought of that made the man furious, but he didn't let it show on his face. He was better than that. He wasn't about to let his emotions get the better of him and make a scene.

Soon enough, Anti-Skill arrived and started the due process of arresting the thief. With the arrest underway, Anti-Skill started herding people not directly involved in the incident away so they could continue their work with minimum distractions, leaving only Kongou, Touma, and the theft victim to give their accounts for the report. As the man with glasses took his leave, he gave Touma one last look and asked a very simple question.

"Excuse me, young man. May I ask what your name is?" the man asked as politely as he could manage.

"Touma Kamijou," the member of Judgement replied, barely sparring the man a glance.

"I see," the man mused quietly as he adjusted his glasses, "That explains it."

As the man walked away, Touma continued to give his report as to what happened during the attempted robbery. Once he finished, he resumed his trek to the preliminary inspections for the Academic Reach.

When Touma finally got home, his was extremely exhausted. In addition to being left behind by Kuroko and Uiharu on the account that Imagine Breaker made it impossible for him to teleport, the trio of Judgement Officers had to do preliminary inspections across several different universities in Academy City, most of which were in completely separate parts of the city. This meant an ungodly amount of walking for the unlucky Kamijou, leaving him tired beyond belief.

As he entered his new, shared apartment, Touma was greeted by the sight of his sister relaxing on the couch in front of the television.

"I'm home," Touma called out as he left his shoes at the door.

"Welcome home," Shizuri replied, "How was your day?"

"Exhausting. Judgement had to do the preliminary inspections for the Academic Reach Assembly, which took forever to finish up," Touma answered collapsing on the couch next to his sister, noticing the bandage on her cheek, "How about you? Did your job go well?"

"Normally, that kind of information would be classified," Shizuri explained, "But given that the job was a total bust, I don't see any issue with telling you."

"What happened?"

"The job was to stop an illegal arms deal," Shizuri explained, "But when my team and I got there, there was no arms deal in sight. Instead, we attacked by a bunch of Powered Suits."

"Is that how you got that cut on your cheek?" Touma asked, pointing at his sister's bandage.

"Just a flesh wound. It's more of an annoyance, really."

"No one died, right?" Touma asked wearily.

"It'll take more than a few Powered Suits to take me and my team down," Shizuri answered confidently, "Plus, the suits were unmanned, so even if I tried to kill someone, there would be no one to kill."

"That's a relief," Touma said as he relaxed into the couch.

For a moment, Touma simply let himself relax. Shizuri really did pick a perfect apartment. Even if he just moved in yesterday, it was already starting to feel like home. Of course, having his sister sitting right next to him helped with that. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last very long as Shizuri's cell phone began to ring.

"Work again?" Touma asked as Shizuri answered to phone.

"Yeah," Shizuri answered after hanging up and heading to the front door, "Its another emergency job. I have to go. Hopefully this one isn't another bust."

"Remember, no killing," the Level 0 insisted as he followed his sister.

"I'll do what I can," the Level 5 promised as she put on her shoes, "I'll see you later."

"Bye," Touma waved as Shizuri left the apartment.

With his sister now gone, Touma let out a heavy sigh at the string of unfortunate events.

"Well, so much for eating dinner together," Touma lamented, "Guess I'll start with dinner."

The next day, Touma, Mikoto, and everyone else had gathered at Heaven Canceller's hospital. The group waited outside, patiently waiting for their guest of honor. Soon enough, that guest of honor stepped out of the hospital, dressed in a sailor style middle school uniform.

"Well, here I am," Edasaki greeted the group once she exited the hospital, "So, how is it?"

"Perfect! Totally cute," Saten cheered.

"It looks fantastic on you," Uiharu complimented.

"Aw, thank you!" the newly released girl replied.

"Here, these are for you," Mikoto said as he handed Edasaki a bouquet of flowers, "It's our way of saying congratulations."

"Congratulations!" everyone else applauded.

"You're lucky. I never get this much applause when I get out of the hospital," Touma joked.

"That's because you're always in the hospital, idiot," Mikoto countered.

"So, we ready to go?" Saten asked the group.

"Where to?" Edasaki asked, confused.

"A special celebration we set up, just for you!" Haruue explained.

"Kazari reserved a table at a restaurant that serves the best cakes in the city!" Index cheered, already starting to drool.

As the gluttonous girls of the group began to fawn over the idea of cake, Touma received a call on the Judgement line on his ODD bracelet. Turning away from the group and tuning out the cake talk, Touma answered the call.

"This is Kamijou," he said into the bracelet.

"Hey Kamijou, it Konori," the chief of Judgement Branch 177 said over the line.

"Something the matter?"

"We have traffic signal trouble over here!"

"Traffic signal trouble?" Touma asked again, sparing Mikoto a glance.

"What's that look supposed to mean?! I didn't do anything!" Mikoto yelled in defense.

"The signals in this area are down across the board! I'm sorry to ask, but I need you here now!" Konori ordered.

"We'll be there as soon as we can, Chef," Touma replied as he hung up.

"Uiharu's needed too?" Mikoto asked, noticing her friend slipping on her armband along with Kuroko.

"Of course," Uiharu replied.

"No, you can't," Saten argued.

"Edasaki is just getting released from the hospital," Kuroko added, "Kamijou and I can cover this. You stay here."

"Really, it's not a big deal," Touma insisted.

"What are you talking about? I am a member of Judgement," Uiharu argued back, before turning the Haruue and Edasaki, "Please start without us. We'll be back as soon as we're done with this."

"We'll see you later then," Haruue agreed with a nod.

"Good luck with those stoplights," Edasaki encouraged.

"Thanks. Let's go, Shirai," Uiharu said, stretching her hand out to her longtime partner.

"Oh, right. Well then…," Kuroko said as she grabbed Uiharu's hand and teleported both of them away, leaving Touma behind once again.

"They're gone!" Edasaki cried in surprise.

"Damn it! They did it to me again!" Touma yelled as he took off running, "Index, remember what I told you about self-control! No more than one slice of cake at a time and only one bite at a time! Do not eat entire cakes by yourself! And most importantly, don't abuse Mikoto's budgeeeeeeeeeet!"

As Touma ran after his friends in a second vain attempt to catch up to a teleporter in the last two days, the girls could only let out a stiff laugh as Touma perused the hopeless endeavor.

After an exhausting run through the city and several hours of directing traffic in an ugly helmet, Touma was finally able to take a breath to relax. The sun was starting to go down, but all the traffic lights were finally working properly again. Truly, the sight of steadily controlled traffic was one to behold, especially after having to direct it for several hours straight.

"Good work today," Konori complimented Kuroko and Touma as they watched traffic resume from a bridge, "Sorry I had to call you out of the blue like that."

"All in a day's work, right? Don't mention it," Touma insisted.

"Stoplight trouble of all things. I was kind of surprised," Kuroko admitted.

"There was some irregularity in the electrical system," Konori explained.

"But in Academy City? It's unusual for things like that to happen here, you know?" Kuroko pointed out skeptically.

"This coming from the girl with the ability to teleport and isn't afraid to use it to sexually assault her idol," Touma snarked, "Thanks for leaving me behind again, by the way."

"There you are!" Uiharu cried as she ran towards the group, violently grabbing Kuroko's arm.

"Jeez, what's gotten into you?!" Kuroko asked as she was pulled at.

"Please, there's someplace I need you to take me!" the headband wearing girl begged.

"Relax, will ya? We're done here so we're meeting with the others now," Touma explained, not completely sure why his friend was in such a rush.

"No, not there!" Uiharu clarified loudly, "There's somewhere else I need to go before that!"

"Huh?" Kuroko and Touma asked, tilting their heads.

With how late it was getting, Mikoto, Saten, and Haruue were starting to get worried about their absent friends. They had been at the restaurant for several hours, but three of their friends had yet to show up after being called in for an emergency. Even the ever-gluttonous Index had stopped eating out of worry for Touma, Kuroko, and Uiharu. Given the fact that it was so late that guest of honor Edasaki had to leave to take care of some errands at the hospital, there was definitely a cause for concern.

Having been pushed by her own sense of worry, Saten began dialing on her phone to call their missing friends. However, as if on cue, Uiharu and Kuroko suddenly teleported into the room, with Uiharu holding a cardboard box of some sort. After apologizing, the two girls were given a rundown as to what had happened in their absence and were explained why Edasaki had left. Once she was caught up on everything, Uiharu offered the box in her hands to her former roommate.

"Here. These are for you and Edasaki to share," Uiharu explained.

When Haruue opened the box, everyone was surprised to see that it contained a set of fish shaped cakes. The girls were quick to criticize their friend for the gift considering they had just finished eating cake at the restaurant. Uiharu tried to explain herself, but found it was unnecessary since Haruue understood the significance of the cakes immediately.

"They look just like they did before," Haruue noted, cutting off everyone's arguing, "These are the same little cakes Uiharu bought me once when I was nervous to make me feel better. They were so delicious."

The sight of the cakes stirred bittersweet memories for Haruue. As she remembered everything that Uiharu had done for her, she found herself unable to hold back her tears. The flood of tears from her dear friend caused Uiharu a great deal of distress, worrying she had done something wrong.

"Are you okay?" the headband wearing girl asked her friend.

"I'm hopeless. I promised myself I wouldn't cry today," Haruue sobbed, "Uiharu, I want to be like you. So kind and considerate. I want to help Banri like you helped me."

"It will be alright. You'll do fine, Haruue," Uiharu said reassuringly as she kneeled down next to her friend, "I know it. You can do this."

"Thank you so much!" Haruue cried as she pulled her friend into a hug.

As her friend continued to cry over her shoulder, Uiharu desperately tired to comfort Haruue as she continued to cry her heart out. Unfortunately, these efforts were in vain as Uiharu found herself crying as well, holding her friend tight as she returned the hug, both of them completely cut off from the rest of the world. All that mattered in that moment for both girls was the person in their arms.

The rest of the girls couldn't help but smile peacefully as they watched their friends bawl their eyes out. There was just something so peaceful about two middle school girls crying like babies over their mutual friendship. Sadly, the moment didn't stay peaceful for long as it was interrupted by the sound of heavy steps and heavy breath. Looking to the restaurant porch outside, Mikoto, Kuroko, Saten, and Index saw a very exhausted Touma leaning on the frame of the restaurant's glass pane sliding door. Based on his condition, the could only guess he had run across the city in a desperate attempt to catch up to the teleporting Kuroko, who once again left him behind.

"What… did I… miss?" Touma asked in-between breathes.

Once everyone had calmed down, the group took their leave from the restaurant and went their separate ways. Haruue headed for her new home with Edasaki while everyone else headed for their respective dorms and apartments which happened to all be in the same direction.

"You know, I wonder how much of a help I actually was to Haruue," Uiharu admitted as they trekked home.

"Oh, don't be silly! I think it was obvious you were a big help!" Saten said encouragingly, giving Uiharu a rough slap on the back.

"And not just her," Mikoto added, "Edasaki too. I think you made a real difference in both of their lives."

"I was only there to see the two of you crying in each other's arms, and even I can tell she was thankful for everything you've done," Touma added.

"I was the same when I visited Touma in the hospital after he helped me," Index added, "Of course, then he had to go a pretend that he had amnesia."

"Right… Sorry about that," Touma apologized in an attempt to maintain his lie.

"That's everyone," Uiharu said gratefully.

"Well, let's head home," Mikoto instructed.

"Hang on. I know about a short cut up ahead," Saten interrupted, directing the group through a park.

Even though everyone agreed to follow Saten's supposed shortcut, not everyone was completely confident in her claims. Especially since this latest shortcut seemed really far off from the beaten path. The only reassurance they had was that Index backed up Saten's claim since she had travelled the shortcut herself while hanging out with the skirt flipper, and her perfect memory told her it was definitely a shorter path.

As the group continued to cut through the park, the came across a rather unusual sight, even for their standards. In the middle of the park, resting in a flowerbed, was a little girl. She had blond hair and was dressed in a Gothic Lolita dress, carrying a lollipop in her mouth and a heart-shaped bag over her shoulder. She was honestly one of the cutest things any of them has ever seen.

After getting over the initial cuteness reaction, the group quickly got her out of the flowerbed and laid her down on one of the park benches, with Touma doing most of the heavy lifting. A little while after setting her down, the little girl woke up, revealing a brilliant pair of purple eyes. The group tried to ask the girl a few questions in an attempt to learn why she was sleeping in a flowerbed, but she remained quite the entire time they spoke to her. They only started having success when Saten, an experienced older sister, started talking one-on-one with her.

"Let's make a trade, my name is Ruiko," Saten introduced herself, getting on eye level with the mysterious girl, "Now it's your turn. Can you tell me your name?"

The girl took a moment to pull the lollipop out of her mouth.

"I'm Febri," the blond child replied.

"That's a very pretty name!" Saten cheered, "Alright, Febri, what else can you tell us? Anything goes. You can just pick something."

The group wasn't sure what they were expecting the girl known as Febri to say, but what she said next was certainly a surprise.

"Mikoto Misaka."

Special End Card Segment: Animan Temple

"And we're back!" the master of the temple screamed as he burst through the temple's front door, "Hey everyone! Welcome back to Animan Temple, with me, Animan von Elysium X!"

"It's a pleasure to see you all again," the head priestess greeted with a bow, "My name is Aisa Himegami. Please don't forget about me."

"Pretty good start to this new arc, huh Himegami?" Animan asked, leaning on his sword.

"I guess. Though I've never liked this arc to be honest," the head priestess replied.

"Because you were not in it?"

"Because the writing was terrible."

"Because you were not in it."

"...that too," Himegami admitted.

"Well, no worries, my dear assistant!" Animan cried, raising his sword so the hilt was at his eyes, "My Mugen has shown me the future, and it tells me that this version of the arc will be much better than the original!"

"Your Foresight has never been very accurate, master," the head priestess deadpanned, "I'm not going to hold you to that prediction."

"Ouch. I feel like I just got sniped by an archer," the master of the temple whined, unaware of the arrow reading 'Unreliabel' that had been planted in his back.

"It appears we are out of time," Himegami noted with a bow, "We will see you all in the next chapter, 'Say My Name'."

"See you," Animan said threw his tears.