The atmosphere heading back to Tokiwadai was jubilant. The literal atmosphere was too, now that I had relaxed my chicanery of the clouds.
And...
And I really, really needed to disappear.
I hadn't planned this far!
We won. Now what?
I didn't even want to consider.
I felt like a wrung sponge! Walking around so much wasn't a bother—I hadn't even really done all the rushing about so much as carried myself around in my exoskeleton of air—but the sheer degree of such intense focus, protracted for so long, like an exam day with the enormous deluge of calculation and refinement...
I wanted to run away and take a nap at the same time.
How was that even possible?
I half contemplated just letting the Mental Out projections blink out of existence and flying away at best speed under a veil as conglomerating blobs of celebratory students all converged toward the wooded region bordering Tokiwadai itself. That would leave the older Misaka to fend for themselves, though, not to mention the... awkwardness that might ensue if the school I was going to go to soon realised I was responsible for spoiling everything with a badly handled departure.
On the other hand, though, we Misaka were more adversaries who were also allies, at the moment, when we couldn't be friends and being enemies was unacceptable, and raising a fuss might actually be a decent way to give the real enemies pulling their strings a hard time.
It was... a conundrum.
What did I do?
I eyed the girls around me as they skipped and sauntered down the thoroughfares, happy for them but with a building unease.
If I was really Mental Out, I could just make everyone forget or ignore me!
And now I had to slip notice thrice over!
Think, think, think, Best, I told myself, poking one of my foreheads.
Some of the girls in Mental Out's social group who had helped with the spontaneous throne were in the forest now ahead of the others and maids began mustering within Tokiwadai nearby as the school came into more conventional view.
Uh, right. If I could get inside, that could block line of sight a lot.
Oh, this was so awkward...
Hiding behind Mental Out was easy when it didn't matter what people thought of her beyond what was useful, but with the threat of fallout for me...
I gulped under my veil.
And then I saw it, as a chink happened in the facade.
The teleporter, Shirai Kuroko, she finally caught direct sight of one of the older Misaka posing as the eldest, goggles perched up on her head and blinding her to some deceptions, an analytic part of me noted as most of the rest of me tensed. Shirai's face lit up in pure joy but for a flickering second, and froze.
I kept the projections strolling imperiously toward the school in their converging groups and turned, assessing who was around my only visible self trying to keep people between me and Yumiya and looked for gaps where a teleporter might move on the offensive.
And...
Eh?!
I just stared as the clone noticed being noticed, and all of them just... just walked away!
Shirai blinked from one spot to another, appearing right next to a clone, who simply ignored the girl staring at her uncertainly, and kept mechanically soldiering on.
Th-That wasn't fair!
What kind of illegal move was that?!
I gaped in horrified fascination at the older Misaka steadfastly completely disregarding the increasingly distressed girl flitting about her. From quick assessment, it looked like my counterparts all intended to march straight for the nearest separate exit from School Garden, utterly regardless of anything else.
Several girls called after one Misaka or another, and all were ignored as Shirai grew increasingly distressed.
I am... so sorry...
We approached the school, and the tide of students blobbed together in a single mass that highlighted the ticking clock as more people seemed to start to realise that, indeed, there were three of Mental Out, still, and we were no longer in a combative situation.
I deviated from the main throng, heading for the gate instead of continuing along the campus wall. More than a few girls accompanied the projections, unfortunately, and I felt like I was rapidly running out of usable responses to the excited chatter fired at them; it was all congratulatory and exclamation, but there were only so many times I could respond with an assertive hum of agreement or a nod or an appropriate-seeming word.
But...
I thought maybe I had a plan.
It was a big maybe, but... but maybe I could do something similar, I wondered? Not just walk out on everybody—I shivered at the sheer thought of that—but refuge in audacity?
Anxiously, I tried to keep an eye on everything around, doubling down pressing myself to actually pay attention instead of just glazing over everything as I tracked Ryouran's maids bringing tables out and kitchen staff swinging into action for what apparently was to be a slightly early celebratory luncheon with Shidarezakura in the trees. Suzuki and Dubois weren't with them, however, instead distantly tailing me through the boundary between the school zone of District 7 and District 15's shopping venue, though a pleased part of me noted that Maika looked chipper and caught up in the upbeat atmosphere. Here-there, too, though, I was also subjected to more scrutiny, or at least the projections were, anyway.
Mental Out's coterie was a curious bunch. I wasn't sure what to make of them.
Hokaze kept a measured pace by the projection in the lead of the tight triangle in which I kept them, and I couldn't tell what she thought; I'd be the first to admit that I'd kill to be able to read people like the real Mental Out, but Hokaze's face was an opaque mask to me that might have been happiness and might have been suspicion, or anything else at this point, and her posture suggested calm, which... maybe fit the atmosphere? She'd been worried about the absence of Mental Out, but most girls were buzzing with excitement. Most, save the others with me, anyway, for they seemed upbeat as well, yet with a reservedness to them.
Or maybe they were just indeed reserved girls, the sort that might in fact attend an upscale place like Tokiwadai?
Except there was also context to consider, too, I judged as we strode around Tokiwadai's central track and field for the main building wrapping around it.
They were suspicious and acting, or they were pleased but subdued, or they had their brains rewired who even knew how.
How would the girls whom the mindbender kept around her react to her perceived presence? Certainly, I got the impression that if I had a projection snap its fingers and call for a drink, one'd practically be magicked right up in short order, but there was every possibility that some or all of Tokiwadai's students and staff couldn't be suspicious of Mental Out or regard her negatively, whether or not they were faced with the real one.
I tried to keep to the rear of the group, and not quite the very back as the only visible avatar lest I maybe make myself suspicious to potentially already keyed-up girls. It didn't help that the student body looked to be small enough that a given girl might well know everybody enrolled, but then that was what trying to subtly bend light in an attempt to look more a background fixture was for.
And that's when I found out that they totally did suspect.
One of the girls right in front of me where I lurked under my veil extending my rigidified atmosphere across and into the ground in silent stalking leaned slightly to her side and murmured quietly to the adjacent student. Tatsuki and Onizuka, as I recalled from the morning roll list.
"You're right, her behaviour is all wrong. That's not her," The professional-looking taller girl whispered softly, pushing up her glasses. The almost frail-looking, dainty figure next to her nodded, sending a ripple down her cascade of white hair.
Overdrive, now!
Thoughts raced.
I needed a plan, a plan!
I was so tired...
I had fractions of a second to work with. Stop moping, start solving!
I couldn't embarrass myself; first and foremost, that had to be addressed! No, no, I needed to get away first and foremost; it didn't do me any good if I didn't make an utter humiliation of myself if I still got caught out. ...well, no, I could potentially break contact down the line, maybe, but both were important! But I also...
Could I?
If I really went for audacity...
I was going to go to school here, but that did still also need to be finalised. Noukan had basically said so, which was good enough.
And maybe this didn't have to be finished here and now.
And... And maybe this could serve more than one goal at once, too.
Cause and effect, how would this go... How might this go...
"Of course not, Tatsuki-san," the lead projection called out coolly, not turning around or stopping as I traced the view angles of the few people still about in Tokiwadai. With the student body emptied and the maids largely busy elsewhere, there actually wasn't a single person looking our way right now, nor any discernible camera.
Tatsuki and Onizuka, almost all the girls with us, each froze nearly in unison.
"My Queen?" Hozake asked with a growing concerned frown.
I brought the projections to a stop and the lead one that just pretended to speak was reconfigured in the alignment of looking back over its shoulder toward Tatsuki.
"Now that we have some privacy," the pretend Mental Out continued negligently, and feigned snapping its fingers as I positioned the likeness turning around. The duplicate projections were released, and I set the overlaying illusion to scattering in a sweep of fading sparkles. "Those ones were never real, by the way, but then, conflating recognition was one of the first things Mental Out learned, and making it difficult to tell where she really is is only smart."
Hokaze next to the now only remaining projection straightened and went loose, but the shimmering aura playing about her boiled in sudden sharp frenzy.
Ah...
"Where is the Queen?" She spoke in scarily controlled, even tone that did not remotely seem calm. "Where is my friend?"
Gulp. At least this was within expectations?
I was very, very glad I was mostly invisible and had a functionally unbreakable barrier between me and the girl who absolutely wore her heart on her sleeve, even if she was unmistakably the sort to be too kind for her own good. It wouldn't be the slightest bit surprising if she turned out to be a magical girl as well, or, for that matter, if Hokaze actually knew the truth about Mental Out perfectly well and was just determined to be her friend anyway to force the other girl's heart to accept something less dark under unyielding optimism.
I could definitely respect her for that, but...
A small spark snapped to life in her hair as the swirling shines following its contour clashed.
That didn't mean I could afford to treat her as a friend. (At least not yet?)
The other girls, reacting on her cue, turned wary, somehow simultaneously defensive and aggressive in the subtle way each held herself.
Was it bad that this was somehow reassuring?
I had little to fear from them; that was one problem I could actually confident about. The prospect of a mere fight breaking out was something easy. Except this also was actually going more or less according to plan, even! I had a plan and it was working!
I could do this!
It might take an embarrassing collective power trying to cast doubt on the validity of a big number multiplied by zero really being nothing, but I could do this!
I reflected back to what I had learned after taking over the facility that had made me, as I traced through potential answers and consequences for Hokaze's pointed question, modifying projections of pretend back-and-forth on the fly.
"That is a question many would like to know, Hokaze-san," I replied evenly through the projection's speaker membrane. The threat of Mental Out's activity had terrified the staff, and the enemy mascot I'd eliminated had alluded to that same fear of the nightmare he had unleashed. "What you do not know, however, you cannot so easily give away, willingly or otherwise." (Which was true, if a patent evasion.) "More is at stake than any of you realise, and more at work as well," I exposited cryptically, with a delivery that I hoped could be taken however beneficial once this all settled out, and maybe in the meantime cause trouble for Mental Out or the researchers or whoever might not want a bunch of concerned mystic maidens poking into their business.
Hokaze's face took on a somehow aggrieved yet determined expression as she blanched, mirrored by everyone else to varying degrees. I slowly tried to edge a little away from them, visible avatar and otherwise; I could only count myself lucky that the girls had their attention so riveted on the projection rather than caring about me in their midst no matter how much I sidelined myself.
Tatsuki was the first to take initiative in the uneasy swell.
The girl shifted her glasses once more, and it didn't escape my notice that the gesture seemed measured to cast a gleam across the lenses from the projection's perspective as she turned her head just so, and broke in with an unfriendly tone, "I think you'll want to explain a bit more, dear impostor."
I had the projection turn her an aloof mild regard.
"Want? Mm, perhaps. But the wants of any one of us are not what matters. What matters at the moment," I turned her a sharper look, "is that Mental Out and Railgun are seen here, that they are believed to be here. After all, if they are here," I continued indirectly, manipulating the projection to take a measured retreating step back. "Then obviously they are not somewhere else."
The girls drew in upon the bait, moving with the projection and beginning to spread, facing it.
"Who are you?!" Hokaze pressed. "Please, if something is happening, you have to believe that we can do more together than shutting each other out!"
"And some of us know how to be discreet for... whatever may be necessary," Tatsuki followed up with veiled ominousness, shooting a look between the projection and Hokaze while stalking forward.
If I was really in front of them, I might be a lot more nervous; it was like watching a pack of lionesses advancing almost. Instead I continued to slowly tint colours in a gradually deepening veil muting and blending appearance with the background along the arc facing the students.
I conveyed a smile more my own through the projection, then, as I turned it upon Hokaze feeling a little melancholic. Tatsuki stiffened.
"Your heart is in the right place, Hokaze-san," I allowed, and focused on the feel of earnest sincerity as I followed on, "But have you the strength to make your heart a reality?"
A shiver ran through them all in a visible ripple.
"As for who I am? ...It takes a great deal of power to pretend the presence of two Level 5s."
I could see the immediate gears turning in all their heads behind their eyes.
And from behind them...
"And it's not nearly enough," I added across from the projection as I dropped veil and glamour entirely for a brief, fleeting, blurred moment as they whirled, and I threw air down over my body in a heavy downwash.
"What-"
"Who-"
"Stop her!"
I launched into the sky, wrapping a new concealing veil about myself as I did, and as Hokaze exploded upward in a ballistic lunge cratering the walkway beneath her and aiming her body like a spear!
Holy-!
I swerved in aerial pirouette and lurched aside, rocketing in a different direction as spraying droplets and flame and crackling webs of static began to shoot upward from the ground in elemental flak and the fierce-eyed violet-haired girl blitzed past, only to snap her head around like a hunting shark and pupils locked unmoving fixed ahead—not needing to see me with the rushing wind I caused, I realised!—and then she also twisted in mid-air and threw a hand out, detonating the air behind her in a sudden redirection back at me again!
She could fly!
I reached ahead of myself, hurtling straight upward and grabbing at the air to push it aside and slip through itself more easily, ramping up the accelerated slipstream propelling me to streak into the sky. My stomach attempted to interdict Hokaze's pursuit by leaping through my feet as everything turned impossibly heavy—I couldn't breathe, couldn't see even though I could, as I wove twisting layers of a bubble around me slipping through aggressive hues panning through the sky.
Panicking, I released the formulae driving me up, feeling like I was somehow smothering myself as a screaming realisation yelled in the back of my head to decelerate even as the very thought of slowing down from such harsh catapulting shoved to the forefront of gibbering imagination the mental image of squishing... like... jel-
Oh fuck!
Far, far below myself, I raced upward from my airborne perimeter around School Garden even as I simultaneously crept carefully away from Tokiwadai and the overturned anthill and stretched my focus up into the distant sky, struggling to maintain an obscuring sphere around my sailing unconscious body.
Far out over the sea, I caught up to me in a disorienting confusion as everything slipped back into focus even before I opened my eyes. I self-consciously looked around, even though I was stupid-high above the sparse clouds with no one in sight to see me.
I reasserted my Adamant Air Armour, taking longer way up here-there with the sparse argon.
Face feeling surely about to combust, I met my own gaze.
"This never happened..."
I... decided to take the return trip back to Academy City a little more slowly.
It seemed impossible to me that this was somehow things going "well", within tolerance according to "plan".
Still...
If maybe I was really lucky, Mental Out's own inner circle of minions or lackies or misguided friends just might give her a stumbling block or distraction, and they might divert attention later today or even take advantage of diversions I caused hitting my targets to cause some headaches of their own for enemies who really deserved it. And now they could be the ones to do... whatever it was they were more familiar with for excusing Mental Out's absence, now that they held motivation of their own, plus this might help pave the way for my own enrollment now that pieces could start to be put together in a way that could put me in an impressive light to the administration, but not too soon as it had to be unraveled.
So... success?
And, actually, I had a perfect excuse for maybe keeping tabs on proceedings.
Hokaze still had to get her finger doll, after all.
Down on the ground (way, waaay down, I noted, hoping that I hadn't somehow given myself a fear of heights), I strolled out of a train for a bus stop, glad in the knowledge of right where to go.
Really, for all my tricks, my single greatest power, I thought, was simply a computer with a connection to the wider world. That was how I knew where the Gekota event would be hosted, a plaza not actually too far from The Dianoid, what GekoToday listed as a friendly froggy lunchtime funtime. It was also, incidentally, how I knew where to pick up Fremea.
As I rode along toward awaiting sweet treats and the promise of extra-squishy finger dolls, I also drove my own ride out of the motor pool of my claimed headquarters that, I had been very pleased to find, had some serious perks of law enforcement. Like database access.
Fremea Seivelun*; Female; Age: 8; Level 0, ability classification pending further study; Nationality: Norway (Note *: Norwegian surname)
And her school, quite conveniently enough, was practically on the way anyway. MAR's headquarters in the eastern reach of District 2 south of Tokiwadai and School Garden bordered District 15 and 13 alike, the latter the main hub of primary schools, much as Tokiwadai's District 7 was the hotspot for middle and high schools even by Academy City's standards. I followed the freeway chasing the inner edge of Academy City's circular border wall, swaying between oblivious traffic under aerial spotting identifying my route, and as at Fremea's school neatly in time to pick her up for lunch.
I was actually feeling pretty positive about this. On the whole, the lethargy of being just so drained and done with everything was oppressively wearying, but even that couldn't impinge too much on the strange dichotomy of different sensations not conflicting across avatars, and I'd gotten up from my naps just for this work.
And it was worth it as I met Fremea.
She, for her part, wasn't sharing the chipperness; it was probably only obvious to me as I surveyed her school and strolled on in taking shameless advantage of my imminently-to-be-justified school uniform to pass through with nary a challenge, just a few words of explanation and smiles like perfectly well-to-do middle-schoolers here to do something nice for one of the teachers' students... but Fremea wasn't happy. There was a subtle air of melancholy about the younger girl whose big sister was currently snoring across the hall from me elsewhere and whose main babysitter even now was quite busy trying not to look too unnerved upon discovering the explosives I'd just delivered to him unnoticed—grenades and anti-personnel mines I hadn't judged very safe to pack into a car—and, well, she knew there was something fun happening that she couldn't be a part of.
Except she could.
Her eyes lit up as she caught sight of me at the doorway of her classroom, and I couldn't help the small smiles it evoked.
"Mimi-sempai!" She cheered, and raced forward to wrap me in a broad twin hug.
I tried not to melt under the onslaught, but it was a near thing.
Sempai. I... I could get used to that, I decided privately.
"Hello and well met once more, Fremea-san," I returned her enthusiastic greeting in stereo with a polite bow, aware we had attracted the riveted attention of all the other kids of Fremea's classroom.
I pivoted apart, beckoning between me, and Fremea's face somehow shone all the more as without even waiting for explanation she grabbed a hand in each of hers and was ready to take off.
"In the first place, are we really going to the event for lunch?!" Fremea asked excitedly as finally it couldn't be contained an instant longer.
I smiled, and Fremea looked between me, squeezing my hands tightly.
"Ah, yes, I can't wait! Maybe if we're lucky, we'll even win a prize! That's what they always do at a Gekota event!"
Her enthusiasm was infectious, and it was hard not to burst into giggling alongside her.
"Indeed," I answered her as we exited the building under the bemused smile of one of the staff at the front desk. "According to GekoToday, that would be the Shining Emerald Super Cute Geko Geko Ultra-Squishy Gekota Finger Doll," I recited by virtue of cheating and tracing a finger along the entry on one of my computer screens as I read it off, mentally thanking Hokaze for the idea to check about the prize, and for revealing GekoToday in general; it was a goldmine of information!
Promotional events were held regularly, and it was a great community thing from what I read! Local food vendors were invited, and it was somebody new each time and an opportunity to try new things to learn what was liked, whilst also great exposure for them too, so that visitors could make friends with them and keep enjoying what they had to offer and maybe share the experience with friends afterward!
Sliding into the back seat of my acquired car, though, Fremea's eyes ballooned to comical proportions.
"Sh-Shining Emerald? That sounds super special!"
Quite, I had to admit.
I just wished it didn't also sound like something to haemorrhage my meagre finances, but then, some things absolutely were worth spending money on, and it wasn't just about the collector's item, in truth.
Closer to my destination, however, I appeared to be super special, it seemed.
My fellow maids drew nearer, staying just out of what they apparently presumed the limits of my sight. Dubois had her phone to her ear, part of wider tab-keeping, I suspected, and Suzuki had a manga out that she wasn't actually reading while she walked, as she took advantage of the mostly sunny day and District 15's abundant glass storefronts and windows for a spy trick straight out of a movie, watching at reflections rather than her actual quarry.
And yet, they weren't the only ones snooping.
I felt Misaka about.
Not many. It was hard to tell by the alien-but-not feel alone as to their exact numbers, but it gave them away at all for more thorough visual sweeping, and I spotted a loose lopsided square half covering the plaza and extending into a sprawling mall complex adjacent.
I readied to project a barrier and interdiction screen over Fremea just in case as I drove us closer, nearing myself on foot, but I didn't expect my fellow clones to try anything too loud and direct; Anti-Skill and Judgment had an obvious presence with a few officers keeping watch and helping hand out flyers, respectively, and keeping the Level 6 Shift Project on a low profile was a priority for its backers if it could be helped. I imagined the other Misaka were more likely here for much the same reason as the maids, watching me, because in their defence, anywhere I went in any kind of force was probably something of interest.
After all-
One of the Misaka went rigid suddenly, and the other three in my clairvoyant view snapped in her direction despite the intervening buildings.
In the air, I immediately banked and shot towards us from three different directions.
What now, what now?!
I carefully projected my already calculated protections around Fremea nervously as we pulled into a good spot not far away to drop off. Even Fremea's vibrancy couldn't dispel the sudden tension.
This wasn't normal, this wasn't an attack on their part, I just knew it. It didn't fit.
As artificial bell tones began to chime, the plaza came cheerfully to even greater life with a multitude of kids and even a few adults escorting obvious class groups milled about, and I identified where to specifically go.
There was a food truck, several, actually, but one in particular had a big cardboard box with finger dolls in it next to the opening-up window counter.
Under the watchful eyes of Dubois and Suzuki, I made a beeline straight for the cute pink and white truck, clutching some of my hard-earned money in my makeshift pocket. The hospital gown posing as a maid uniform didn't have pockets of its own, naturally, nor did some maid outfits, I thought, but mine had the advantage of custom design.
The money felt heavy, though, as I wrangled with the idea of spending it.
I didn't have a lot, exactly, and I could hardly make a presumption of reimbursement, but I wasn't going to be spending it on me... except Hokaze's expression of uneasy worry and pure human frustration at the need to do what was right however the personal cost was even heavier in my head than the coin felt.
And one simple act, just an ordinary kindness, could bring a smile to her.
A girl like that deserved to smile.
Get in, get out, make the delivery, before who knew what trouble ensued.
I was not quite the first in line, but near enough.
And that was when a new problem arose.
I scanned options cheerily spread across the cute truck.
Ice cream cones stared back at me. Strawberry, strawberry-vanilla swirl, caramel, pineapple or rum raisin... Matcha ice cream or choco-mint, lemon or orange...
What kind of ice cream did Hokaze like?
What kind did she like?!
Wh-What if I got her the wrong one and she hated it!
"Miss?"
Some people adored coconut and others hated it!
I couldn't get her the wrong ice cream! She was already upset, and part of that was even maybe my fault; if she had a bittersweet could-have-been smack her in the face like a mockery, it might make her cry instead of be a moment of reassurance!
"Would you like to order?"
Quick! Glegoo! What's the most common favourite ice cream flav- Of course it's vanilla, but the ice cream truck didn't have plain vanilla!
"Miss, are you alright?"
"I'm fine!" I squeaked, snapping in sudden realisation to the man standing in the window of his truck expectantly. "Ah, uh, th-th-that is, um, one scoop of strawberry-vanilla ice cream would be greatly appreciated, please!"
I surrendered three hundred-yen coins with a bow and a cone spawned into existence in my numb grasp as I waited for the earth to swallow me hole and crush bumbling Bests to bits.
"And here you go!" The man with his matching pink apron and hat to match his truck added, additionally handing over a small toy, the real objective of this escapade. "Heh, cute little things. Enjoy!"
"Thank you very much, sir!"
I power walked a direct line straight toward the bus stop I'd taken to get here as I also dropped down from the sky by one of the older Misaka. Both tailing maids followed me while I leveraged phenomenal cosmic powers to keep an ice cream cone from melting and a trio of clones began to converge on my location with their compatriot.
The older Misaka looked scared despite her almost total lack of expression as she blankly regarded me, and I hated it. No, she was scared, she was terrified; I could see it in the tenseness inside her neck, the spike in drumming heartbeat racing away far more rapidly than in the others.
"What's wrong?" I demanded sharply as I spilled out from under a veil, my own anxiety building. I wasn't sure if it was even safe to bring Fremea near anymore, except she-
An aura-shine abruptly winked out, and the other Misaka relaxed the same instant.
Hostile action, unmistakably.
I whirled in the direction the glow had come from. There, down the alley! A potential target in the uniform of Anti-Skill stared back, wide-eyed in damning alarm.
She turned and ran.
I put myself between her and the confused Misaka behind me and an extending interdiction screen, and slammed down on the fleeing enemy from above at the same time.
"Cease and desist immediately or die," I ordered, and drummed up every last scrap of the feeling I could for authority. The pinned target locked face-down under my knee rigidly affixed to the rest of my Adamant Air Armour and the ground tensed, but didn't move, and I reached my focus inward within a belt around her waist to slice it apart and withdraw the broad band with its attached contraption of some sort.
I stood, examining it as the nearest Misaka approached under my escort and the remaining three returned to their earlier positions, evidently decided that their presence was superfluous or pointless.
"Rise," I commanded. I didn't bother to tell her to do so slowly; that was pointless when I held readied death in my mind and watched for the wiggle-shifts within her constantly streaming back and forth and all throughout her body in esoteric patterns to direct her physical form. If she made the decision to do anything that looked threatening, she'd disappear in million-degree obliteration before thought could become act.
The target did so, and turned around to face me—face us as the attacked Misaka stepped up and I stared up at the target from each side.
The target's own face, though, slid into open, unreserved confusion as she stared at the Misaka between me and then flicked eyes across to both of me. The brunette target, slim even in her yellow Anti-Skill vest, was bewildered.
I cocked my heads opposite directions.
"What the hell is going on?" She demanded uneasily.
"'Misaka wishes to know this as well,' Misaka says, unsure why Anti-Skill would do this," the clone between me shot back in empty deadpan, and the target blinked, twice, rapidly.
"You are being assessed for hostile action against a Misaka," I replied frigidly with almost as little inflection to the target's right. Then from her left, "Explain."
"You're... There's more than one of you?" The target stammered out, taking a step back as if it mattered. "But... I thought... Are you Railgun's sister? All of you?"
"I would dearly like to know why you think this line of inquiry relevant, and why it should spare your life," I retorted evenly. I wasn't concerned with onlookers; the target had ducked into one alley from another leading from the plaza, and for all the crowd, no one was actually in our immediate vicinity, even completely disregarding any active concealment on my part should it become necessary.
"Y-You can't kill me!" The very killable-looking target blanched. "I'm Anti-Skill, and the whole city is abuzz with officers; that's why I was even able to try..." She broke off, realising she was revealing something in her affront yet not realising the value in doing so.
I rolled a single hand.
"Oh, do go on, by all means, please, pray continue and elaborate, because as I see it, Anti-Skill either shan't take kindly to you in the first place or is something very much to be opposed with all force necessary."
I leveled a hard look at the target as she took another step back, deeper into the alley, and I matched her faltering stride.
"Let us make this simple," I added in something arctic. "What is your name, what did you just do, and what is your business here? If you do not comply, I end you, and that will be that," I stated, and drew together a swell of light before my pointing finger to visibly punctuate the statement.
Her eyes started to shake with real fear now, and she trembled.
"J-Jounan Asako, don't hurt me." She raised her hands. "Look, you don't want to do this. I-I... It wasn't actually harmful, just-"
"'Misaka contradicts your assertion,' Misaka claims in interrupting objection. 'The experience has caused a measurable decrease in expectable operational performance and risked compromise to confidential objectives by multiple avenues," the bigger clone with me broke in, and the target cringed.
Something in me took a mean satisfaction at that in the wake of the older Misaka's words. Measurable decrease in expectable operational performance... That was a broken doll's way of saying I'm too rattled to fight for my life at my best, you bitch!
"Look!" The target insisted shrilly. "I was only- All I did was- You have the transmitter I made! All it does is just tune electromagnetic frequencies. I-I thought you were Railgun, I thought this was my chance! Th-The AIM Burst, the lightning tower, s-s-security's been... A-And with the clamour in School Garden! A chance... I didn't mean to!"
The other Misaka panned over to meet my eyes.
"'Misaka 10031 does not consider Jounan Asako a threat to the project that can be allowed,' Misaka 10031 states with uncertainties as to things she does not know how to explain, but also is unsure if she has conflicted wants to do something she is not comfortable with because it is necessary or if it is because the Anti-Skill officer wished to attack Onee-sama."
Whelp, that was that, then.
I enfolded a containment field around the target and got rid of it.
Hmph, good riddance. Whatever. It sounded like the target had gone off the proverbial reservation and stepped in things way above her pay grade for some kind of stupid, petty, poisonous reason.
Wished to attack Onee-sama...
Targets had to be eliminated, but that was one I sure didn't mind doing. Going after Misaka 10031 because she looked just like someone else and was there...
"This Misaka wishes to know if Misaka 10031 is alright," I spoke up next to her as the older clone looked unblinkingly at where the target had been, and I hoped it was okay to say.
The whole... asking if someone's okay thing... What was someone supposed to do in a situation like that? If it needed to be asked, then... Well why was it asked in the first place if the answer was always no?
Unless maybe it was supposed to be an avenue for talking about whatever the problem was?
Misaka 10031 didn't answer, and the thick uncertainty found somewhere to lodge in my chests.
I frowned, looking away, and not liking the mix of feelings.
Even as the just... awkward not knowing of what to say or do sat around heavily, I was also relieved, because the incident being resolved meant it was fine for Fremea and I to queue up.
I didn't especially relish the idea of forking over even more money, but this was my treat for Fremea, so I certainly was going to get her an ice cream! And... And a greedy part of me rubbed its hands in glee, because arguably wasteful though it might be, I was gonna get two ice cream cones, all for me!
Should I get the choco-mint? Or maybe the ramune. Yeah, that sounded yummy too, a really citrusy deliciousness. Except, staring at Hokaze's strawberry-vanilla cone right in front of me on the bus, ready for licking... But I could also get double-dip cones, too, and- a-and it was actually a really good deal, three hundred for a normal cone, but only four hundred for two scoops, a whole extra scoop—a whole extra flavour—twice as much for only a third more... and if I was getting two double-dip cones, then that was four! And lots of the flavours on the display looked like they'd be great together to make them even better!
I plotted and fantasised what combinations would be best as I idly surveyed the plaza awaiting our turn. Fremea pointed out a stall selling colouring books, and there was a cluster of kids at another food truck getting actual lunch rather than the dessert, plus I spotted one of the teachers with a group of kindergarteners lining the kids up with somewhat crude, handmade-looking little wind-up frogs set in front of them.
"Look, look!" Fremea insisted. "They're gonna do a race!"
And hoppity-hop they went!
I grinned.
That was a neat little class project. The toy froggies were hardly fast, but it was cute. And it was...
It really was right, I thought to myself. Very Gekota. It wasn't about whose frog hopped along faster or how far, not really, but the whole journey involved in it all, the experience.
And as I idly looked down at Fremea, still grasping a hand in each of hers, she smiled as well. I thought she got it too.
So, across the plaza and threw a few winds, I regarded Misaka 10031.
"Does Misaka 10031 like ice cream?" I asked without preamble.
What was the point of money if not spending it on things worthwhile? Call it an investment in the future.
Misaka 10031 turned back to me while Fremea and I got our cones. Ramune and pineapple, and strawberry-vanilla swirl and chocolate-mint for me, and double coconut for Fremea, because apparently she was one of the people who super-duper liked her coconut!
But something unexpected happened as he dished up our cones.
The man in his pink-and-white uniform to match his truck and almost fit one of my ice cream scoops blinked at the two of me.
"Huh. I think I saw your sisters the other day." And he laughed as he held up my less tropical and fruity cone with a bemused eye toward it. "They liked 'em too! Enjoy, and have a nice day!"
I had to hide my faces under glamour as I accepted the squishy finger dolls, feeling vaguely... I didn't even know.
What just happened?
Fremea led us off to enjoy our ice cream, finally letting go of my hands to attack her cone with gusto.
And the adrift sensation got worse as Misaka 10031 tilted her head slightly and gave me an enigmatic look.
"'Misaka 10031 likes chocolate-mint ice cream more than strawberry-vanilla but has never tasted either,' Misaka 10031 says in response to provisionally designated Misaka Type-Chibi 7's question as she considers the Network's memory of the first encounter with Onee-sama. 'However,' she adds, 'Misaka 10031 does not wish to get ice cream with Misaka Type-Chibi 7 at this time-'"
O-Oh...
"'-as Misaka 10031 would get in the way.'"
What?
There was movement.
Anti-Skill officers started looking across the plaza more actively, searching. And when their eyes fell upon me with Fremea, jitter-pulses shone out as signal communications began to flare.
Uh-oh...
I started licking my ice cream faster, as I saw several more Anti-Skill vehicles arrive in a loose perimeter.
I rounded on Misaka 10031 even as the bottom fell out of my stomach at the sight of different movement.
Misaka 10031 nodded her head.
"'Misaka 15433 alerted Anti-Skill to Misaka Type-Chibi presence,' Misaka 10031 admits as part of the greater plan," she said, as from one of the cars a familiar face—a set of four familiar faces—clambered out, and another far too familiar face approached elsewhere.
I started biting my delicious ice cream, imagining it as active coolant for my brains as I tried to think, frantic and furious and terrified and cursing myself, wondering what the hell I was going to do with Fremea as one of the Anti-Skill officers stepped forward in time with a dead-eyed Misaka clutching a rifle.
Wide-eyed, Yomikawa Aiho approached hesitantly across the plaza, switching between both of me. "Misaka-chan?"
And approaching my conquered second base of the MAR headquarters, another clone stepped up alone to the gate and stood silently awaiting for them to open.
