Heyo everyone. I'm glad a lot of you read and enjoyed the first chapter. I appreciate the positive feedback. I'll try to answer any common questions here, but I'm not really one for talking much. Please don't feel offended if I don't answer your question.
Firstly, this is going to be an exploration of Mikoto, Touma, Accelerator and Last Order's characters (Touma less so. He's still going to be explored, but due to the nature of his character, it will be less prominent. Besides, I can't do much more than what Othinus did to him). They are the four main characters, with a major focus being placed on Mikoto. I'll give quite a few of the characters cameos in order to explain what they're doing now, but they won't hold prominent roles, if any at all. Some of them may not even have dialogue. I'm sorry if I leave out your favourite character from the plot, but this story isn't about them. It's about these four. ITEM will not be involved with the story either.
Also, if you don't like character explorations, then this story is not for you. There will absolutely be a plot, I have an interesting plot planned, but it will all service exploring the characters and their issues and traumas. Don't worry, I plan to explore these things with dignity and respect. Using trauma for shock value isn't really my thing, it all has purpose, it's something that I've always specialised in.
Now, as for questions of "Where is X character or why is Y character no longer doing this," please remember that this is a 5 years later story. Rather than an AU, It's more of a logical progression of the timeline in my own interpretation. For a little perspective, Index (the girl, not the series) is 20 years old. Things change. People change. That's the basis of this book. This is my vision of a potential future that has yet to come, that is all.
If a question is going it be answered in the book, then I won't answer it here, because I want everyone to find out as I slowly feed you all information. I suspect that a few questions on some people's minds may be answered in this chapter.
Don't worry, this series isn't going to be devoid of all hope and happiness, there will be levity and sweet moments, just like the end of the last chapter. Speaking of the last chapter, I like to go back to previous chapters and improve them all the time. The last line of the chapter has been changed multiple times already, and I added a mini prologue. I'll try to get our chapters as fast as I reasonably can, but they may take some time depending on the circumstances. Ideally it would be at least a chapter a month, but it all depends on how the words flow.
I think that's all the necessities out of the way.
Now, onwards with the chapter!
A New Day, a New Start
Mikoto awoke in a cold sweat. She simply couldn't couldn't settle down after last night. She looked over to the left, where an empty bed stood, and her neck cracked. She groaned; everything hurt. She began to channel electricity through her entire body, loosening her muscles.
"Oh, you're awake." The Level 5 looked up to see a spiky-haired boy stood at the foot of her bed, carrying a tray. "I was starting to get a little worried, you're normally awake long before me." Mikoto avoided his gaze. "You were tossing and turning last night, did you have a nightmare?"
"I..." She lowered her head. "It was much worse than they normally are. I don't really want to talk about it."
Touma nodded, and put down the tray in front of her. Rice, fish, miso, the works. "I figured you'd still be quite stiff after chasing me around for hours yesterday, so feel free to dig in." He then sat down next to her, with a gentle expression on his face. "Listen, Firefly... If you ever need me, I'm here for you, okay? I know you're going through a difficult patch, and Accelerator just made it worse, but I'll gladly lend you an ear to listen or a shoulder to rest on, okay?"
Mikoto nodded, conflict clearly on her face, before panicking. "What about-"
He laughed. "Don't worry, I've already told Anti-Skill we're going to be late. They'd already heard about the running around last night, and they're aware that we had complications, so they're giving us a little time to get back into gear. We've got another couple hours before we need to be at the station."
She smiled. "You're the best-" A loud ringtone interrupted her.
Touma embarrassedly opened up his phone, fiddling with the controls, until a video feed opened up in front of him. "Hello?"
Stiyl was staring at him on the other side. His fire red hair looked incredibly messy. "Finally! I've been trying to connect for ages!" Somewhere behind him, Touma could see a surreally small girl with an eyepatch, about the same size as a pixie, sat down on a sofa.
Mikoto leaned into frame, finishing her mouthful. "It's that tall fire magician, whatever his name is."
"My name's Stiyl! Anyway, I need you to - hey, let go-" he was forced out of the way, and a girl with silver hair and green eyes closed in on the camera, getting far too close.
Touma grinned. "Index! How's it going?" Mikoto waved at her.
"Touma, Short Hair!" She didn't look like she was wearing her nun's habit. "There's so many different kinds of food in London, it's incredible! It's so nice to try out all these different things, and there's still so much more!"
He laughed. "I hope you're not eating Stiyl out of house and home."
She proudly puffed out her chest. "I've been holding myself back and only eating at meal times!"
"Oh, well done! I'm sure he appreciates that."
"So, when are you-" He began to hear the sounds of a struggle behind the girl, and irritation appeared on her face. Touma knew that face all too well. "Hold on a moment." She opened her mouth, baring her teeth, and turned around. All they could hear after that was "No no wait Index please I beg of-"
Touma ended the call. "Well, that was something. Poor Stiyl."
Mikoto giggled. "I'm glad to see she's doing okay. Othinus looked like she was having a nice time too."
"Yeah, I'm glad for them too. But, at the same time, I'm happy that they moved out before we found a place. It's nice to finally have some peace and quiet around here." He ruffled the Level 5's hair. "It's nice living with someone who can somewhat take care of herself, too."
She raised her eyebrow. "Somewhat? I have half a mind to zap you for that comment."
Touma laughed. "I know, I'm just teasing you. You're much more than that." He glanced at his watch. "I should probably start cleaning up. Oh, and don't go into the kitchen. I had a stroke of bad luck." He froze up when he saw her face. "I didn't break anything, I swear! It's just real messy in there and I feel like if you saw it you'd want to cry."
"So the usual then."
"Hey, I'm not that bad!"
She raised an eyebrow. "Really? How many phones has it been this month? Four?"
He hung his head, defeated, as he began to leave. "I'll go clean up."
She giggled to herself for a moment. It was fun to tease Touma every now and then. As she entered the bathroom and hopped into the shower, she stared at herself in the mirror.
While the water poured over her slim body, she slowly ran her fingers along the scars on her chest and back; she hadn't gotten out of every battle unscathed. She wasn't anywhere near as unlucky as Touma, but it still left marks that she was unwilling to show on her body. The few times she'd been to the pool she always wore a shirt over her swimsuit, even when she was swimming. Touma had undoubtedly picked up on it and she knew one day she'd have to accept them, but it scared her. She'd read about guys being put off by scarred girls and she wasn't the pristine, sheltered girl she once was. She knew he wasn't one to care about that kind of thing but it still scared her.
Once she'd washed up and dressed herself, she entered the kitchen, and immediately groaned. "Touma, how'd your get rice on the ceiling?"
He sighed. "You'll find this quite fun. When I finished cooking the rice, I stuck the spoon into the rice cooker, slipped over on some water that I hadn't noticed, flipped the spoon up so rice went everywhere, and the rice cooker tipped over, and about half the rice spilled out. The pan fell off the oven, barely missing me, and my fish landed on my face." He laughed an empty laugh. "So all in all it could've been worse. Oh, please can you get the rice on the ceiling for me? I can't reach it..."
Mikoto grabbed a cloth, and used her power to slowly pull herself towards the ceiling, carefully avoiding any electronics, wiped it, and dropped back down with an incredible amount of control. "There we go. Don't want that to stain."
He laughed. "What would I do without you?"
She playfully shot a lightning bolt at him. "Cram it, Dragon." She took hold of her jacket. "Anyway, I'm ready, so let's head out now. Don't want to keep anyone waiting any longer."
District 22 was quite a unique area in Academy City. It was by far the smallest in terms of surface area with only two square kilometres, but it spread several hundred meters underground, splitting into 10 levels. Mikoto and Touma lived near the entrance to the second level, just out of earshot of the spiral road leading deeper into the district, while also being extremely close to a convenience store selling all their basic necessities, and there was a nice bathhouse just on the level below. It was honestly the perfect place to live. The only downside would be that it was quite a way away from District 15, which was the centre of commerce in the city.
As they walked, the level was shrouded in twilight. The Board seemed to be testing what intensity and shade of light was best for people to experience during the day and night. As Mikoto looked up, she could see a projection of the stars and a bright, full moon, with a purple hue. She couldn't say that she didn't like it.
As for where they were heading, the Antiskill base they worked at was in District 7, which was next to District 22. Normally, both Touma and Mikoto would be in college, but they were instead offered a job in Anti-Skill by the Board in such a way that it seemed to be a bad idea to turn them down. Anti-Skill was a volunteer service, a Riot Police of sorts, and you would simply experience perks instead of being paid for it. However, for them two, it was a special case. While they officially worked for Anti-Skill, they were separated into their own two-man squad, known as ANGEL. They took care of unknown threats or dangerous, runaway espers, as well as particularly complex problems like hostage situations. Due to the nature of their employment, they were paid a fairly healthy wage that allowed them to live comfortably, as well as receiving the perks of working for Anti-Skill.
Mikoto casually adjusted her jacket. Due to the fact that she was a part of Angel, she didn't really have a set uniform. She had a blue Antiskill jacket, though it had been modified to remove any armour on it to reduce insulation and increase her ease of movement, and had been converted into a crop-jacket. Other than that, she wore a standard dark t-shirt with a cute yellow heart in the middle, and brown shorts. Touma was wearing a standard Antiskill jacket, but there was a strange metal-like guard along his right arm, reaching from his wrist to his shoulder, and he sported a black glove on his right hand. Under that he wore a white t-shirt and black trousers. On both of their right arms, you would be able to see the word "ANGEL," though most people didn't know what that meant.
As they entered the neighbouring district, nearing the base, Mikoto saw someone stumble out of an alley, looking panicked. "Oh, Anti-Skill, thank G-" he screamed as some invisible force pulled him back into the alley. The Level 5 quickly approached the entrance, checking for danger. She saw the man from earlier, backed up against the wall, on the ground. "Wait, please, mercy! I won't do it again!" A short girl wearing a black shirt and dark denim shorts in front of him clicked her tongue and leaned right over him, causing the man to cry out in fear.
Mikoto immediately recognised her. "Last Order, what are you doing?!" Touma rushed in behind her, ready to spring into action.
Last Order looked over, and sighed, stepping away from the man. "Big sister, what do you want, asks Misaka as Misaka groans from being interrupted."
Mikoto stared at the group of people unconscious around her. "What the hell happened here? I sincerely hope this wasn't unprovoked."
"They were..." she seemed to be pondering what to tell her, before sighing in defeat. "They were stalking me and trying to capture me. I just acted in self defence, says Misaka as Misaka speaks honestly."
Mikoto raised an eyebrow. "Right..." Something caught her attention, and she tried to run to her, but there wasn't enough time.
The man on the ground lunged at Last Order, knife in hand, aiming for her back. He closed in, and... it diverged. Somehow, his arms were thrown to the side, and Last Order hadn't even moved.
The knife clattered to the ground as he toppled over and she turned around to face her assailant. She leaned right up to his face, and whispered something that made the man whimper. She picked up the knife and twirled it around her fingers, before scowling and throwing it into the darkness of the alleyway. Shen then kicked the thug in the shins and nonchalantly walked towards Railgun as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Mikoto was stunned. Her mind was racing. What had happened to make her sweet and kind younger sister to be so violent? Why was-
"Are you gonna just stand there gawking at me or are you actually going to say something, says Misaka as Misaka wants to walk by."
"You're being awfully stand-off-ish," Touma commented. "What's got you in such a rush?"
"Im tired, I've been up having an appointment, and it's really past my bed time, groans Misaka as Misaka stifles a yawn." She took a can of coffee out of her pocket, and cracked it open. "I really want to get back home, but I have one more thing to do."
"Before you go," started Mikoto, "I want you to tell me why you're acting so violently towards those people. You were never like this in the past."
"When life kicks you in the tits enough times, you tend to change, comments Misaka as Misaka really wants to keep moving." Suddenly, she appeared to have an idea. "If you come along with me, I'll tell you all about it. How's that sound?"