12 Meetings

Alex had made his way back to his apartment, he noticed a strange thing as he walked through the various crowds.

There were various young girls that would stare at him or take passing glances that they were trying to be discreet about. He would have found it flattering, but they weren't 'those' kinds of glances.

He was being watched but he had no idea who would do something so obvious.

It was odd to say the least, but he didn't feel a threat from any of those that he noticed so he left them alone for now.

He had been out a bit longer than he intended, but he had fun as he explored and purchased some stuff. Who doesn't like new stuff?

Gilgamesh would probably be shouting in anger if he found out what Alex was storing in the gate.

It was still a bit before dinner so Alex had time to mess around a bit.

He plopped down on the floor and took out a large box from the gate and opened it up.

No reason he couldn't test out his new games~

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The group had come over again at Index's assertive request, not that Alex minded.

Though he was a bit confused when the Saint was missing.

As they explained it, she had apparently gone out looking for him when he had been gone longer than expected at Index's request.

Apparently she was worried about him, which was absolutely adorable.

He may as well get started with dinner in the meantime.

Every so often Alex would glance back at Index who was sitting with Touma and Stiyl. She was happily talking and messing around with the two.

He had never seen her this expressive and carefree before. Even previously when she was with Touma, there was an almost hidden sadness in her eyes but now, she was truly happy.

It didn't take long for a knock to come to the door and a familiar aura to be felt, though something felt a little off to Alex.

He could feel that she was trying to suppress herself harder than normal.

He opened the door to greet the saint and was a bit taken back by her appearance. Nothing too noticeable but some things stood out.

"What happened?" Alex asked as the others looked on in confusion.

"I fought someone." She replied as she unsheathed her blade

They all looked at the familiar blade she wielded, lacking the tip.

After coming in, she began to explain her encounter with the mysterious person to the group who were shocked at yet another 'human' who could apparently fight the saint.

"You think he's one of those lvl 5s?" Stiyl asked.

The saint nodded at his statement.

"You would be correct, that was Accelerator the strongest Esper in the city." Alex said.

The group looked at him in shock. Touma being a resident of the city of course knew of the reputation of him, but the Magicians also heard rumors about the strength of the top tiers of the city.

To encounter the strongest off the bat like that was odd to say the least.

"Where do I find him?" Kaori asked, determined to fight again.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, the city is barely tolerating your presence as is. You could very well start a war if you try to kill him." Alex stated.

Kaori had a scowl on her face, the image of him standing over those dead girls still fresh in her mind.

"He killed a bunch of kids...and he was laughing about it." She said with a sadness in her voice.

Alex knew how she felt, he felt the same way but there was a certain way to go about this. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't just walk in and kill everyone related to the experiment going on.

If Alex did give in and do just that, there was nothing stopping the next batch of researchers from restarting the experiment because of outside interference.

No, the reason it ended so decisively in the canon was because Touma as a lvl 0 defeated him who was the strongest lvl 5.

They considered the experiment a failure and filed it away for good.

That didn't mean he couldn't give a helping hand though.

He could stall the experiment out, prevent any unneeded deaths if it came to that.

"You cannot fight him due to your status as an outsider." Alex said bluntly.

"I am in a similar situation....but thankfully we have someone who is a native to the city." He said with a smile as he looked over at Touma.

The magicians stared at Touma who had his eyes widen at the realization.

"NO WAY!" He declared.

He was a lvl 0 for a reason, there was no way he could fight the strongest in the city!

"Touma I won't force you to fight....but tomorrow go ask Misaka about the little sisters." Alex said somberly.

He truly wouldn't force the boy to fight, and worst case he would clean up of the trash in the city. But he didn't feel like that would be a permanent solution for when he eventually leaves.

Kaori didn't understand what he meant by little sisters until she thought back to those girls she saw. She was mosly focused on the threat before her...but thinking back they all wore the same uniform and looked identical...

The remainder of the meal was relatively somber.

The group basically discussed the schedule they would have with Touma in school now that the two were back in Index's life.

Alex basically told them to stay with her for the next few days.

The two could take a hint that someone was going to go down.

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Touma was on his way to school, more specifically cram school.

He recalled the words spoken to him the previous night and found himself subconsciously walking towards Misaka's dorms.

He had inadvertently found her living place one day when out with his friends.

He had a strange feeling, something telling him that what he would learn would give him a reason to fight.

He honestly hated fighting, he was a pacifist by nature. Though he didn't really count that 'squabbles' he sometimes got into with some street thugs.

As he was nearing her dorms, he honestly didn't know what he was going to do, he couldn't just walk inside or ask for the girl, there would be a lot of questions he didn't want to answer.

Thankfully that wouldn't be a problem as he saw a very obviously disguised Misaka walking into an anime store on the corner.

If he wasn't in such an odd mood, he probably would have found it extremely cute.

The girl must have felt his intense gaze as she turned around right before entering and noticed who was staring at her.

She would have been more embarrassed by the whole situation, but he was looking at her so oddly. She decided to go over to him and find out whats wrong.

As Touma saw her walking over he headed down an isolated alley and waited for her away from any prying eyes or ears.

Touma spoke as she finally got near him.

"Tell me about the little sisters." He said bluntly.

She was taken back by his sudden statement.

She began to shake a bit and tense up.

"Don't get involved Touma." She said hesitantly.

She didn't want him involved in her issues, she didn't want to drag him into the darkness that festered the city.

She had been working herself to the bone trying to stop this experiment. The level 6 shift project.

It was theorized by the super computer in the city that if Accelerator killed over a hundred lvl 5 Railguns, he could break through into lvl 6. The obvious problem arose that there was only one of her, so they went with an alternative.

They cloned her. The little sisters as they were called, the girls that Kaori saw on the ground, were clones of Misaka Mikoto.

Though an issue arose with that as well, they only held a fraction of her power, mostly lvl 2s and 3s. So they needed more, a lot more. Around 20,000.

When Misaka found out, she was outraged. She began tearing through research facilities trying to stop the project but to no avail. She watched as thousands of her 'siblings' were slaughtered.

She began to walk away with a few tears in her eyes, she didn't want anyone else to shoulder this burden.

Before should could get even a few steps away, a hand reached out and grabbed her.

"Let me go." She said.

"No." Touma replied.

"LET ME GO" she yelled as electricity began to pulse off her.

Touma could feel it stabbing into him, it was painful but he refused to let go still.

She was about to speak again until he did something unexpected.

He pulled her in and embraced her.

"You're hurting...…let me help." He said quietly as she calmed down due to surprise. He could see it plain as day in her eyes. She was in pain.

She wanted to refute, she wanted to yell at him that she was the lvl 5 railgun, she was stronger than him and she didn't need his help...but those words didn't come out. In fact no more words came out.

Her mouth opened but she could produce no sound, instead tears began to fall.

She had been carrying this emotional burden for well over a week now. She didn't know what to do, she was scared of asking for help from anyone she knew, she didn't want to drag them into something so dangerous.

Instead of her usual bravado...she began to let her emotions out as she buried her head into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. She began to cry and wail into his muffled cloths.

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In a different part of the city, Alex was sitting quietly at a table with another seat that was empty.

He was casually drinking the coffee he ordered.

After a few moments, a young lady walked over and sat in the empty seat.

"Is this seat taken?" She said coyly.

"Not at all, in fact I've been waiting for you." He replied.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion.

It took him longer than it should have to realize what was going on with all those girls staring at him. Though he couldn't really be blamed for it.

He only knew of the first couple seasons of the 'show' and didn't know much about the characters that came after or in spin-offs. He knew of the girl sitting across from him but not on the same level of those he was meeting with on a daily basis.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Shokuhou Misaki." Alex said with a smile.