Level 5

---14th September 2:46p.m.---

"Exterior?"

Accelerator was in a spacious room with two massive pillars in front of him behind a glass wall. At the bottom of each tubes was a brain.

"It was supposed to be an extension of my power, on paper at least."

The blonde haired girl stepped forward and placed her delicate hand on the glass behind those tubes.

Accelerator took a step forward to look below as well. Needless to say, he wasn't impressed the least bit.

"The Exterior Project was originally meant to make my power usable by anyone☆"

"What?"

Accelerator glared at her for a good reason. She was talking about a power from a Level 5, and a power that manipulates people nonetheless. It was a dangerous power to let anyone get their hands on.

"But, before you start overreacting, I caught on ahead of time, crushed the project and took it over for my own purposes. Mental Out is a power only someone with a pure personality like me can use. It would be dangerous to give common philistines free reign over it."

"...You must have misjudged yourself."

"Sh-Shut up!"

Misaki's face flushed red as she forced her arms down beside her.

"A-Ahem!! But anyway, it does amplify my power, but I don't like the idea of people using it. For one thing, it technically is not a machine."

"...?"

Misaki had a sorrowful look on her face as she placed her head against the glass wall.

"I didn't want anyone to know this, but now I'm showing it to you. A portion of my cerebral cortex was cut out, cultivated and enlarged into this giant brain."

Accelerator did not have to sympathise with her, but now he knew that she too, was involved with the Dark Side of Academy City.

"This is Exterior." Misaki said in a low voice.

"So you're telling me that this machine can give others your power, but since you crushed that project, is it still able to do that?"

"It...still can. But, it would take several days to register with it before he can actually start using it."

"So he can still access it to put it simply."

"But, I already used my power to apply several layers of protection on her brain. He would need Exterior to actually do something with them. So kidnapping the Sisters would be pointless."

"If only it was a normal scientist."

Accelerator pressed his fist against the glass wall as if he wanted to break it open. He had a feeling that destroying Exterior would stop Kihara Gensei, and so he turned on his battery.

"What are you going to do?"

"What I feel is right."

He pulled his fist back, but before he could lay into the glass wall, a melody echoed through the spacious room.

The both of them looked at the shoulder bag hanging from Misaki's shoulder because that was where the noise was coming from.

Misaki immediately pulled out her phone and frantically pressed the 'answer call'.

Without a moment's greeting, she got straight to the point.

"We're in front of Exterior. Where are you?"

Accelerator walked over to her side and snatched the phone away from her ear.

"H-Hey!! Give it-"

Accelerator pressed a single button, and the voice behind the phone could be heard throughout the whole room.

"On the roof. I am with her."

A man's voice could be heard over the phone. He sounded like he was in his thirties and he was panting in between sentences.

"Who are-"

Before Accelerator can ask him questions, Misaki quickly intervened.

"The roof right?! We'll be right-"

"No."

She was immediately cut off by the man behind the phone. He didn't have time to ask her who was with her, and he immediately tried to give her any info that he knew.

"The attackers were a group of skilled special forces. I doubt they would let me escape while carrying someone. I have reasons to believe that I was led here. Be careful."

"Oh, don't worry☆ I have the world's strongest idiot whose ability can easily deal with anyone, so I'll be fine☆"

"(I'm going to kill you...)"

Since the phone was on speaker, Accelerator and Misaki were both holding on to the phone with their heads right beside each other, so he just had to look to his left to give her the cold stare. However, she just gave him a wink and he swore that a star came out just as she winked.

"Is that so? If he is with you-"

Right after those words came out, Misaki's eyes immediately widened as she dropped to her knees. She felt some sort of sensation hit her brain and it was like she was struck with a momentary stroke.

Fortunately, Accelerator was just right in front of her so he managed to catch her before her knees hit the cold hard floor.

"Oi!! What the hell-"

Then, another voice could be heard behind the phone.

A voice he was all too familiar with.

"That was not planned, it might prove to be a bit troublesome for me. But, the fruits of my labour are coming to fruition."

"Gensei!"

"Accelerator-kun, it has been a long time hasn't it?"

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you to bits. Get fucking ready!!"

Accelerator held Misaki in his arms as he spoke over the phone with a gleeful look on his face. Though his battery was running out, he knew he could tear into that old man's flesh like a piece of paper.

"I will be looking forward to it. And, as for Shokuhou..."

Misaki tried to turn back to look at her phone in Accelerator's hand, but he brought it closer to her.

"You thought you could prevent a hijacking by making the registration process complex? How naive. If I tune the giant brain to have the same brain waves as my own, its power is mine without needing to register. I was the one who gave Kiyama instructions on brain wave tuning."

"(Kiyama?)"

Accelerator had saw this name before. It sounded familiar.

"The...Level...Upper...!"

Misaki whispered under her breath. That was when it hit him. He had read some research on Level Upper back at A Certain Hospital a few days ago.

Kiyama was the one who invented the Level Upper. A drug to boost the capabilities of esper powers, and to give those without esper powers, a means of escape from this society of espers.

Misaki clenched her fists and pressed it against his chest as she looked him in the eyes.

"Go...now..."

Her voice was weak but she managed to say it.

Without uttering a single word, Accelerator dropped her phone and held on to his cane tightly as he looked up. He bent his knees forward and took off. Using the 'shield' on his cane to block the debris, he exploded through each floor of the building until he reached the very top.

He landed softly on one of the generators on the roof and there, he saw the culprit to this whole mess.

"Ah, Accelerator-kun! You arrived earlier than I had anticipated."

"I'm going to enjoy killing you!"

"Now, now, before that. Take a look at this."

Black strokes of lighting were zapping all around the Sisters head. It was as if she was producing them herself.

"But that's not all. Did you notice someone missing from the hospital today?"

"Ha?"

From behind one of the generators, Gensei pulled out someone Accelerator was all too familiar with. The person who had caused him nothing but annoyances.

The Original.

"Misaka Mikoto."

Accelerator was in shock to find her there.

She was tied up, and tears continually flowed down from her eyes. Ropes wrapped around her body, her mouth, and her legs.

"Look at my new experiment unfold!!"

Accelerator could not stop it.

With a cheeky smile covering his face, he pressed a button on a normal remote control, and the black strokes of lightning immediately came into contact with Misaka Mikoto. Her whole body engulfed by the black-reddish lightning and Accelerator immediately sprung into action.

He pushed himself off and dashed all the way to Gensei with a single push from his knees. Gensei was just right in his view.

All he had to do was reach his hand out and smash his face in using his fist. Using his right hand.

However, just as he was 3 inches away from touching him, an explosion occurred right beside them. Sending the both of them flying back.

A cloud of smoke appears, but was soon cleared out thanks to the open space they were in. And in the middle, he could not believe what he was seeing.

A pure white shining figure stood in the centre of the smoke with sparks of electricity buzzing all around her. Two strands of some strange white material hung around her shoulders, but at the same time, it was levitating around her shoulders. The strands of those white materials were lined with diamond shaped 'daggers' that were one meter apart from each other. It was like she was out of this world.

Her hair floated behind her as well, while still maintaining her looks. Her eye sockets looked dead as blue flashes of lightning were the only things giving it 'life'. It was as if a god had descended upon Academy City.

"Wonderful, isn't it?"

"You-!! GAHGHK?!"

Accelerator choked on his words as he felt his ability disappearing from his body.

"Lets see if Misaka-kun can reach Level 6."

Accelerator could not believe what he heard.

Level 6.

The power he sought to achieve, but failed thanks to a certain boy. This power was just easily obtained right in front of his eyes.

"Oh, but don't worry. She'll take time to develop. She's not at the stage of Level 6...yet."

Accelerator not only lost control of his abilities, but he lost his ability to walk, talk, and understand.

And he finally realized that Gensei messing with one of the Sisters, not only affected that unit, but the whole entire network as well. Including Last Order.

"I'll see you later, Accelerator-kun. If you're still alive at least."

----------------------------------

In a dark empty space was a girl with short brown hair. She was curled up like a ball, as if she was a newborn baby.

Her eyes slowly opened as she realized that she was alive.

"...Everything is so hazy...What was I doing? More importantly...Who am I?"

Suddenly, a cheerful, childish voice spoke to her from behind.

"Hey, hey, how can you stay so calm when you know what happens in this city?"

"What...happens?"

A pair of hands pressed onto her naked shoulders as it presses its face against hers.

"Don't you remember? Huh? I guess it's not here anymore. He did mention that her memories were erased. I guess that would explain it."

"I...don't know...what you're saying..."

"Then let me create a scene for you. What do you think of this person?"

The person she was shown was a pale white boy, with white hair and red eyes.

"...My...hero...?"

"Your hero, huh? Then what do you think of this happening?"

That teenage boy with white hair had his arm sticking through the body of a girl who looked almost exactly like her. Except that girl in that scene had no emotions when she was dying.

"How do you feel?"

"..."

She could not answer.

"Come on, what kind of person is he?"

"...A...villain?"

"Yes!! That's it! And you know who created that villain?"

That girl was shown a picture of a tall building standing all by itself.

"The person in that building made him. So, if we want to stop villains like him from existing, we must hit the mastermind behind this!!"

"My...My heart hurts...My head...I..."

"That building made that person."

"I...don't want to hurt him...but I also want to..."

"You want to?"

"I want to...kill him..."

A large pillar of lightning surrounded both the figure and building together as tears ran down her eyes.

She did not know the reason why she felt hatred towards that boy, but all she knew was that he was someone important in her life for reasons unknown.

----------------------------------

Accelerator was desperately trying to get to her by crawling to her using only his fingers, but it was all in vain. His nails were bleeding as his fingers cracked. He just wanted to touch her with his left hand. That was the only solution he could think of. However, he felt that something was coming his way.

The monster that Misaka had turned into looked at his general direction and that was when he knew he might possibly die from this. Instead of backing away, or cowering in fear at his own powerlessness, he persevered. He didn't know why he wanted to protect her so much.

She has absolutely no connections with him. She was just this girl whose mind he had partially destroyed to his liking so that she would stop chasing him. But it turned into a relationship that he never thought he would ever get.

But his futile struggle was about to end. She was about to fry him using her powers.

Yet, it didn't feel like it was over.

He could feel his legs slowly coming to life as he pushed his knee down.

Before anything could happen, he was picked up from his stomach and was lying around someone's arm. They were strong enough to pick him up using one arm. When he looked beside him, he saw a white cloth, and blue shorts that reminded him of a certain school. That was when he realized who his saviour was.

The person who saved him moved him away from the sight of Misaka and behind a generator where he or she placed him on the floor.

"I came here as fast as I could. I wasn't too late now, was I?"

The alluring and cute face that was Ester greeted him with a smile on her face. Beads of sweat trickled down her face as she quickly looked back to see where Misaka was headed to. Unbeknownst to her, she had barely avoided a pillar of lightning from hitting her and Accelerator.

"Are you alright?"

He did not respond. He gave her the same stare like the time when they first met each other on that fateful night. That stare reminded her that she had to turn on his power for him.

However, when she pushed down on the button, it did not respond. It was simply dead.

"Oh no...Did it run out of battery?"

Suddenly, a petite girl on a wheelchair appeared out of thin air, and he immediately recognized the person.

Kuroko Shirai.

"Thanks to her, I managed to reach here in time."

"How did this mess even occur?" Kuroko asked as she looked around. Behind her stood someone else as well, it was Judgement's new recruit, Tobio Yumi.

"This is crazy..." Yumi commented as she gripped the handles of Kuroko's wheelchair.

Accelerator couldn't understand or reply them even if he wanted to. He knew what he had to do, but he couldn't convey it.

In their view was The Windowless Building which housed the Chairman of the entire Board of Directors. That indestructible building was then struck with a pillar of lightning that engulfed its entirety.

The four of them stared in horror at the sheer strength of that thunder bolt. If Accelerator was hit by that thunder just now, he was certain that Death himself would have came over to greet him.

"S-Senpai, do you have any plans?"

"If I had a plan, I would've done it a long time ago."

Then, another pair of footsteps approached them and a cheery voice came along with it.

"Wow, it's surprising to see the #1 esper being surrounded by a bunch of girls☆"

Shokuhou Misaki came out of nowhere, as she used the row of generators as her support. It seemed like the brain attack she had suffered was still having a toll on her.

"Shokuhou-san..."

Kuroko whispered as she glared at her.

"This is...the first time we've met, right?"

Misaki was astonished to hear her first question being that.

"Pfft...Hahaha!"

"What's so funny?"

"Haha...If you're wondering, then yes, it is the first time we've met. Shirai-san☆"

"Geh..."

Kuroko felt uncomfortable talking to Misaki. There was a sense of nostalgia coming from her, but she also could not recall it.

However, she was not given the time to think.

"Let's not waste anymore time here. This is Kihara Gensei we're dealing with. I have an idea on his whereabouts, but I need someone to keep Misaka-san busy. If she's free to roam around, who knows what the people controlling her might make her do."

Yumi, Kuroko and Ester looked at the Windowless Building before looking back at her. They saw the amount of damage it can potentially do. But...

"Are you suggesting that this person has more things in store for Onee-sama?"

"It's just a guess, but I think so."

"Damnit! Then we can't lose anymore time."

"I'm going to send you whatever I know through your brain, so try not to get overloaded with information☆"

With a single press of a button, a sudden sensation hit their brains and they immediately held on to their heads.

A burst of information entered their head, and they knew the identity and the gist of what was happening right now.

The moment they've calmed their minds, they gave each other a reassuring look. This was a threat they had not thought that they would ever have to deal with.

Suddenly, lightning cracked through the sky and exploded onto the ground below the building. The next thing they knew, Misaka was gone.

Yumi followed the sound of where the lightning went and immediately pointed below them.

"She's down there!!"

All of them looked below and saw Misaka in the middle of destruction. 30 meters apart from her were the remains of buildings and debris which she swept up with just a single thunder strike.

While they were distracted, they couldn't see another anomaly behind them.

It was a greyish slime with two pigtails with a feminine figure. The pigtails were wrapped around using a thick, pink hairband and its features were limited, but visible enough to see her emotions.

It readied its arms behind Misaki and opened wide, but Yumi happened to turn back at the right time to see it and immediately shouted.

"Watch out!!"

By the time Misaki could turn back, it would be too late to save herself. Fortunately for her, Yumi did not hesitate to step up and challenge the greyish slime figure. She charged forward and placed her hand right in front of the gooish monster.

The monster closed its arms down and caught Yumi's shoulders with its sharp claws.

"Caught you!"

Shockingly, the girlish slime could speak, but it did not change what Yumi was about to do.

She compressed the air in front, and it started to tear the centre of the slime right open.

"What the?!"

A second later, a small explosion occurred that sent bits of the slime flying everywhere, hitting everyone around her. Including the Accelerator.

"Urk!! I hope this doesn't stain my shirt..." Misaki complained as she slowly took bits of the goo out and threw it on the ground.

However, it seems like it would not have been so easy for them to get rid of their adversary.

The goo slowly started to form up again, and it did not waste a single second the moment it got back up.

"Quick!! Do that thing again!" Misaki shouted.

Yumi immediately ran forward again, and placed her hand on that goo, but she was easily swatted away like a bug.

"The same tricks won't work twice!!"

The goo girl enveloped Misaki in itself and started to move away with her like water. It all happened so quickly that no one could do anything.

"I'm going to chase after her!" Yumi shouted as she took a few big steps forward, but Kuroko halted her.

Kuroko teleported in front of her and placed her hand in front.

"Lets not do anything rash here, Yumi-san."

"But-!!"

"We don't know what they could be planning, for all we know, they might just want us separated so they could also kidnap him."

Kuroko glanced at Accelerator who was still on the floor, not being able to do anything to assist them.

"But..."

Yumi hesitated in her step for a second as she tilted her head down. She had already undergone this predicament once.

And she knew what her next step was.

It wasn't back.

"I've already felt the pain of being powerless. That is why..."

"Yumi-san!!"

Before anyone knew, Yumi compressed the air beneath her palms and blasted herself over Kuroko. Kuroko could have caught her or even pinned her to the floor if she so wanted to, if not for Ester's intervention.

"Don't stop her."

"What, are you crazy?! I brought you here because I trusted you to know what was going on here since you rushed here from the dome but all I see you doing is just looking after that ape!"

Ester did not acknowledge what she had said, instead she gave her a piece of advice.

"Trust her. If she went through something painful in her life, I'm sure she would do something so that it would not happen again."

"..."

Kuroko had a bitter look on her face as she looked away. Ester was right. If one was hurt from such an experience, they would try their best so that the same event would not happen again. Especially if it was something they cared about dearly.

Yumi was doing what Kuroko could not do.

Yumi was redeeming herself after a mistake. What was Kuroko doing?

After not being able to protect the person she respected the most from the monster that was 'Accelerator', she wanted to have another chance. But her turning into this 'monster' that had the power close to that of a god was contradicting her commitment.

"I...You're right. I might not be able to do much in the state that I am in, but...I'll try my best to protect the both of you."

After that, Ester had a confused look on her face as she raised one of her eyebrows.

"Both...of us?"

"Yeah, you and Accelerator. I will protect the both of you."

"Shirai-san, what do you mean? I'm going to stall Misaka-san."

"..."

Kuroko had her arms folded as she held her head high when she said she was going to protect the both of them. But upon hearing what Ester had to say, she kept repeating her words over and over again.

"...Sorry what?"

"I'm going to stall for time since Misaki-san needs it."

"But...she's not here right now...a-and her power is overwhelming! What do you think you can do?! Do you even have any powers?! The last time I saw you fighting, you were using a knife! Do you think you can harm that thing using a knife?!"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"A knife! You're always carrying a knife, right?!"

"No...I only did that because I forgot to bring my talismans from home."

Kuroko's eyes widened up as she leaned forward from her wheelchair. She blinked in disbelief at what she was hearing.

"Talismans? What kind of esper ability is that?"

"Hm? It's not an esper ability??"

"What?!"

Their conversation was leading nowhere and Kuroko tilted her head back as she rested on her wheelchair. She could not believe what she was hearing. There was too much information being passed down to her in one day. Her brain could only hold so much.

The only thing that brought their attention back to the 'calm' rampaging monster was another thunder strike from the sky.

"Sorry Shirai-san, but I have to go now."

"Okay...let me-"

Before she could finish, Ester jumped down the building.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!"

Kuroko teleported to the edge of the building and looked down, to see Ester falling to the ground. However, before she made contact with the ground and disable the use of her legs entirely, she threw a talisman and it expanded from within, to create a circle with a pentagram in the middle of it. It was approximately 4 metres in diameter and it softened her landing.

She got off the platform and it disappeared immediately. She pulled out another talisman with the word '光' written in the colour of white on that yellow-brownish talisman from the side of her belt. On each side of her belt were holders that held her talismans. They were shaped like card holders, only they were a metre taller and slightly wider.

"Let's hope this works..."

She placed the talisman in front of her face with the word facing her. In order to use this magic, she had to focus her mana into her talisman, only then will she be able to use it. It was like a cannon but instead of loading it with cannonballs, she had to load the talisman with mana. It only took her a few seconds to charge it up, and then she tilted it 90° to the right and aimed it at Misaka.

"Spell of guiding light, bind!"

She swung her right arm diagonally from her head until her talisman lined up with Misaka's back. From there, the talisman flew forward a metres before bursting into 2 strings of light that surrounded Misaka for a brief moment before wrapping themselves around her body and legs.

However, that move did not hinder her one bit. She simply got out of it by teleporting herself a few metres upfront using the thunder strike move again. This time though, the monster turned its whole body back to look at Ester.

Multiple lightning bolts jolted themselves around Misaka's head. Whatever Misaka was about to do to Ester, she was prepared.

She held a talisman in her right hand and started charging it up while grabbing a bit of soil from the ground. And just as she had expected, flashes of lightning rushed her in less than a second and she threw the soil in front of her along with the talisman.

Just as the talisman made contact with the soil, the soil expanded itself to form a massive pile of dirt and it exploded in front of her face. She was covered in dust and dirt from the explosion, but fortunately she closed her eyes, so she could still see.

She grabbed the soil again and prepared four talismans all in her right hand and charged them all up at once in the 'smoke' that she created.

It took awhile for the smoke to dissipate and Misaka had thought that Ester died from the explosion so she did not continue firing her electric bolts at her.

However, the moment the smoke dissipated, Ester rushed towards Misaka with the four talismans, each with the word '土' written on it using the soil from the ground. She threw one directly in front of Misaka's feet, another one beside her left and right side, and then she threw a different one right in front of herself to jump elegantly over Misaka as she did a frontflip and placed the last talisman behind Misaka.

She placed her middle and index finger on that talisman while placing her other hand with the same hand sign close to her face and chanted.

"Power from the earth, grant me protection!"

Immediately, a pentagram formed beneath Misaka and four shields popped up from the ground, covering Misaka's view, and the entirety of her form.

She thought it would have bought her a bit of time since soil was a conductor of electricity so she would have to put out a high electrical current to destroy the walls that surrounded her.

But Misaka's newfound power exceeded her expectations by a huge margin.

Without even sparing a second, Misaka produced a high voltage current that sent the walls exploding once more.

Suddenly, the metals around the area started to slowly come together around her and slowly floated above her head like a tornado.

"Shit, what do I do now?"

Without another moment's notice, the metals flying around Misaka started to fly towards her at a fast speed. But having all those chunks of metal which could crush anyone's body in half did not faze her. She easily dodged them, even going as far as styling on her as she dodged them by backflipping and doing a tinsica.

The only problem with Misaka's attacks was that she was not given enough space to cast another spell.

But as she was calmly dodging those objects, a beam of electricity was fired right at her and she was finally hit once.

The beam covered her, and the shock from it flowed through her blood vessels. She was shaking, not because of fear, but because of the lingering effects of the electricity.

"I can't...I can't give up now!!"

Using whatever ounce of power was left in her body, she stood up to face the monster in front of her. Misaka didn't give her a chance to catch her breath as she was preparing to launch a 'meteor' right in her direction. The metal above Misaka's head slowly clumped themselves up into a ball that was around 30 metres in diameter. The sheer size of it could kill at least 20 people, and it was slowly dropping itself onto her.

"(My only option is to...)"

She moved one inch forward.

Her feet shuffled across the sandy ground, as she took another one forward.

"This is for them...This is for his future..."

She broke into a desperate run forward.

She took out another talisman and threw it behind her feet to launch herself forward while escaping the massive boulder above her.

But there was actually no need for her to run as a helping hand came to her rescue...or rather fist.

Behind her, was a guy with black, spiky yet smooth hair that was being held back by a white hairband. He had a white uniform on like all the students, but the centre of his shirt had a Rising Sun design on it. He made his jacket into a makeshift cape by having it over his shoulder.

"Hyper eccentric ultra great giga extreme another hyper...amazing punch!!"

That boy threw his right fist at the massive rubble and every single bit of that metal-rock infused boulder exploded into nothing but a few small parts.

"I saw electricity coming from the ground and I have to say...that you have a lot of guts!!"

It was Sogiita Gunha, the 7th ranked Level 5 in Academy City as he gave Misaka a thumbs up.

"But I cannot accept the destruction that you are causing right now, so I will beat you with my guts!!"

"(It's that boy...)"

Ester remembered seeing that boy at the opening of the Daihasei Festival yesterday.

"(What is he doing here?)"

He jumped over Misaka and landed right next to Ester which surprised her a bit, but after seeing the spectacle that he put up, she came to accept it.

"You should leave, ma'am. I'll handle the rest."

"No, I'll fight along with you. With the two of us, we stand a better chance at stalling her."

"Stalling? Why must we stall her?"

"Huh? Weren't you sent here because of Misaki-san?"

"Hm?" Sogiita gave her a look of confusion.

"How does she have anything to do with this?"

"Wait, so you didn't-"

Before she could finish, she immediately jumped back because she saw a spark of electricity heading towards them. But Sogiita just stood still.

"?!" Ester could not warn him in time because she was too focused on dodging the one approaching her. Fortunately for her, she stepped back in the nick of time. If she had hesitated for a split second, she was absolutely certain she would not have lived for another second. The beam of electricity was just an inch away from making contact with her clothes.

When the attack dissipated, she had expected Sogiita to be lying on the floor, but she was flabbergasted that he was still standing, not even batting an eye at Misaka. He continued looking at Ester as if they had unfinished business.

"How..."

Ester was about to ask how he had survived, but she looked beneath his feet to see that a wide hole was punched open.

"(Did he just redirect the electricity? I thought only Accelerator could do that...)"

But in actuality, from Kuroko's point of view, Sogiita punched the electricity downwards. Her mouth gaped open at what she had seen.

"HE JUST PUNCHED THE ELECTRICITY AWAY?! W-WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY?!"

It seems like Kuroko was meeting one too many people whose abilities were too...weird for her comprehension.

"By the way, you said something about stalling her?"

"Yeah, Misaki-san said to buy her some time."

"Well then, I guess I'll have to hold my guts back. You should probably leave. I don't really need any help with fighting evil."

"No. She is a friend of...my friend. I'll assist you as best as I can."

"...Alright. For a girl, you got plenty of guts! My name is Sogiita Gunha. What's yours?"

"Ester Rosenthal."

"Ester huh? Well, try not to hold me back."

"I'll try not to."

----14th September 3:20p.m.----

"Oh, quite the catch you have here, Kouzaku-kun. I wish you could have damaged her a bit before bringing her to me."

"I can do it now if you want."

"No, that won't be necessary. Focus on controlling Misaka-kun. We don't want to have her wander around aimlessly. However...it would be nice to spread a bit of destruction around Academy City."

"Understood...Wait, it seems like we have a problem at hand."

"What is it?"

"It's Ester. The blonde girl you've been mentioning."

"Hohoho...it's the dependent variable. Interesting, but you can dispose of her. She wouldn't prove to be a useful research subject."

"Okay."

With that, the goo that held Misaki earlier slipped away through the small cracks of the facility under the building they were in.

Where they were at right now was a full facility underneath Exterior. It wasn't very spacious, but there was enough space for two people to walk down the same corridor together.

Misaki heard what Gensei had said earlier to Kouzaku and that name had reminded her of someone.

"Kouzaku...san?"

"Ah yes, Kouzaku Mitori-kun. I'm sure you've heard of her. After all, you were both involved in Clone Dolly."

Misaki scowled at him the moment he mentioned 'Clone Dolly'.

"The prototype for the Misaka clones you see running around. To be honest, I was surprised to know that one of the Sisters was attending Tokiwadai. When I heard that, I knew I had to find another plan to ascend one of the Level 5's into the territory of god, Level 6."

Kihara Gensei was an old man with a hunched back, with his eyes leaving only a slit for him to see through. He had a birthmark on his right temple and he had the uniform of a scientist on.

"Why are you so obsessed with the power of Level 6?"

"Espers are very interesting test subjects. Think about it. Accelerator-kun who is still a Level 5 despite being shot in the head. With him at the pinnacle along with his untouchable powers, think about him being a Level 6. If he had continued with the experiment, we would be looking at a stabilised god. At the rate that Misaka-kun is growing, she would inevitably destroy a part, or even the whole of Academy City!"

"But won't you be brought along with the destruction? Don't you care about living?"

With a big smile on his face, Gensei did not think about his answer and he didn't even hesitate.

"Scientific advances always comes with sacrifices."

"You are crazy."

"Maybe, maybe not. But great scientists always prioritise their results over their losses. One life doesn't really matter, as long as we get to see the power of a god. Right now, Misaka-kun is at 40% of her transformation. The moment she reaches 100%, meaning the moment she reaches Level 6, I believe her body and mind will exceed their limit and she will be destroyed as an individual."

Gensei opens his eyes for the first time to reveal a twirling pattern on his left eye and his normal eye on the right.

"Don't worry, I'll just need the limiter release code. Once I have that, I'll release you. Well, not like you'll have anywhere else to go."

"Rrrgh..."

Misaki reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out one of her controllers and with a touch of a single button, she hypnotised no one.

"Hohoho...Shokuhou-kun, you should know that because we both possess the abilities to read minds and control emotions, you should know that hypnotising me should be impossible. And looking ahead of me won't open the path for you."

Misaki immediately turned her back on him and started running for it, but a beam of ice suddenly chased her from the back.

The chill ran through her legs and spine but that was the most it went. Her feet and legs froze on the spot, leaving her upper body unfrozen.

"Hohoho, surely you would have expected me to have more than Exterior on my side, right?"

"I...expected as much." Misaki's teeth chattered from the cold embedded onto her lower body.

The old man slowly approached her, as if he had all the time in the world.

"All of the Level 5's in Academy City are just pawns for Aleister, with him as the king and Accelerator as his queen. The rest of you are irrelevant."

"Hah, that boy would never follow anyone but himself."

The smile on Gensei's face disappeared as he formed a disappointed expression. He did not expect the Level 5's to not know anything despite having been involved with the dark side of Academy City.

"How naive kids can be these days. You might not know it but that boy has been following Aleister's plan without knowing it. He wields the phenomenal power called 'Imagine Breaker'."

At the sound of that name, Misaki's eyes opened wide in shock at what she just heard.

"Imagine...Breaker? Wasn't Kamijou Touma the wielder of Imagine Breaker?"

"Oh? Do you know something about it?"

"..."

Misaki hesitated from giving too much information, but the moment she was about to say something, someone attacked Gensei from behind.

A spherical-shaped wind attack went to the side of Gensei's head and his head was blown towards the side.

"Heheh, do you like my secret weapon☆"

Gensei groaned as the side of his head smashed against the wall, blood seeping out of his right ear.

"(How could I not read her mind?!)"

Gensei looked exasperated as he looked at the faces surrounding him. Misaki and Tobio Yumi. Both of them with a star shaped pattern in their eyes.

"...Heh...impressive, Shokuhou-kun. You weren't looking behind me for an escape, you were simply looking at her. By using your Mental Out on her, you've prevented me from reading her thoughts..."

Gensei chuckled as he looked down at the white tiles on the floor, this time blood flowing out of his eye sockets.

"Your ridiculous dream ends here, Kihara Gensei. You'll never be able to hurt the Sisters ever again."

"I have a deal to make with you, Shokuhou-kun."

"..."

Misaki did not reply, but Gensei knew that she was interested in that offer.

"Imagine Breaker...I know you were involved with that boy at one time in your life. If you spare me and give me the limiter release code, I will tell you somethings that you don't know."

"..."

"How about it?"

Misaki looked down as she weighed her options, but that was all for show. She had the power to read minds, she could just extract the information out of him. So she had one answer for him.

"Sorry, but no☆"

"How unfortunate. It was something really good. But I guess you'll never know."

She found what he was saying very strange but when she realized what he was going to do, it was too late. She pressed a button on her controller to stop him from erasing his memories, but she was only able to stop the process at its halfway point.

"Tch! This old man!" She pressed her controller against his scaly forehead as she tried to salvage whatever information she could get from him. Although there was nothing about Imagine Breaker, she found another valuable information from years ago that was related to Clone Dolly.

-------------------------

Both Gunha and Ester were fighting back to back, covering any sort of attack that Misaka was throwing at them. The large boulders were being crushed down by Gunha, while Ester made them crash into each other. They just had to keep defending.

"Hey Ester, how long do we have to keep defending?"

"Until Misaki-san comes up with a plan."

"But how long is she going to take?! I'm bored just destroying these rocks. It's gutless!!"

Ester was panting hard because she was not as physically gifted as Sogiita Gunha. She was just a normal human being who worked herself to become stronger physically. She wasn't as flashy as before, nor was she as fast.

"(I can probably last for a few more minutes...Come on, Misaki-san...)"

All of a sudden, a loud teenager's voice destroyed the whole atmosphere with his power.

White wings spread from his back as he slowly descended upon the three people on the ground.

"I found out that the Kiharas were starting another dumb plan to evolve another Level 5 to a Level 6, but I didn't think it was going to be so chaotic this time around."

He had shoulder-length dirty blonde hair and he was wearing a dark maroon coloured suit with a white collared shirt, both unbuttoned, revealing a red v-neck under them.

"Oh, it's this guy." Gunha commented as he folded his arms.

"Hm? Do you know him?"

"I don't know him personally, but I know that he is the #2 strongest Level 5 esper in Academy City."

"(Right behind Accelerator?! Does that mean that he is almost as strong as him?!)"

Misaka slowly turned towards him, and in a blink of an eye, a row of white coloured object which looked like a fence came flying at him from around her back. But he was prepared for it as he placed one of his left wing up to block that attack.

The two fringes that were hanging from Misaka's head swirled together to form an almost-triangle shaped figure with a black sphere in the middle.

It seems like she was evolving.

"Woah-hohoho, he has guts!!"

Kakine raised his right wing and with a single swift flap, shards of feathers were shot out from under his wings and they rained down on Misaka. Misaka tanked the hit, or rather, she absorbed his attack and a beam of electricity was immediately released from the tip of that triangle shaped design on her forehead.

This time, Kakine had to use both of his wings to block the devastating attack that rocked the ground beneath them. When the electricity came into contact with his wings, he was pushed back ever so slightly.

"Pathetic. This is what they call a Level 6?!"

Kakine flapped both of his wings this time, and twice the amount of feathers came out of his wings this time. However, unlike just now, the feathers from his wings this time around stuck onto Misaka's light-engulfed body.

"The Kiharas took something precious from me, I think it's only right that I pay them back."

Before he could do anything, thunder struck him from above, engulfing his whole body with electricity.

"W-Will he be alright?!" Ester asked Gunha.

"Of course!! If he has guts!!"

"H-How does guts save someone?!"

Ester rushed in to try and assist Kakine, but it seems like there was no need for any worry.

He had covered himself like a cacoon using his wings, and he forcefully pushed the electricity away from him.

The electricity scattered around him and it formed something like a shockwave to everything that was 25 meters away from him.

"Impressive attack."

Even though he praised Misaka, he did not seem the least entertained by what she had just done. He slowly continued descending upon her until he was right in her face. He extends his hand out as he tried to reach her head, but...

"Bind!!"

Ropes of light grabbed onto his right hand and pulled it away from her. Then, even more surrounded him and eventually, they constricted and restricted any sort of movement he had.

He wasn't surprised by the turn of events, but he was rather pissed as he looked at the girl who had two fingers in front of her mouth while holding the rope in her other hand.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?"

"I won't let you kill her..." Ester felt the struggle of holding the rope. She only had a bit of rest in between when Kakine was fighting Misaka.

"Do you think you're some kind of hero?"

"..."

Ester tried thinking of an answer, but before she even had the opportunity to say it, Misaka emitted sparks of electricity around her entire body, and this time, he didn't have time to react to her attack. The electricity buzzed all around him and it sent electrical impulses throughout his entire body. He could not even move away because of the leash created by Ester.

He clenched his teeth as the shock continued to slowly fry him. He forced his eyeballs to roll down to look at the leash, then with one swift motion, he sliced it and quickly pulled back from Misaka.

"Haaa...haaa...haaa...that fucking bitch..."

Kakine had to catch his breath, but it was more shocking to everyone, especially Kouzaku Mitori who was controlling Misaka from the shadows.

"Woah, you have a lot of guts, Teitoku!!"

"Oi, you third-string, is that girl with you?" Kakine looked at Ester before turning to Gunha again.

"Hm? Oh you mean her? Yeah, she's got guts to be fighting this monster!!"

"Good to know, because I'm about to crush everyone here!!"

Kakine's wings extended outwards as a field of white started to spread itself out around Misaka, Ester and Gunha.

"All of you, kneel."

He flicked his wrist downwards while pointing to the ground, and everyone fell to their knees.

Except Misaka.

The weight of gravity did not even seem to affect her that much. She only crushed the floor as the weight pulled her down, but she didn't kneel.

"You are one stubborn little shit, aren't ya?!"

Sogiita slowly got up as well, but the way he did it just seemed like he was just brushing off a small matter.

"You as well?!"

"I'll fight with you!!" Gunha shouted as he rushed head first into Misaka.

Light filled his eyes as his speed suddenly went from one to a thousand in a single instant.

He blasted off the ground towards Misaka and he pulled his arm back.

"Super amazing mega hyper hyper again...PUNCH!!!"

As he chanted his punchline, his fist was also glowing.

Being rooted to the ground from Kakine's ability, Ester could not do anything. The pressure got even heavier and it was probably because he tried to hold down the 7th ranked Level 5, Sogiita Gunha.

She could not even utter a single word as her knees and hands continued digging a hole.

The moment Gunha released his punch at Misaka, a beam of light was shot out of his fist, and a cloud of colours exploded behind him out of nowhere.

"What the fuck?!"

The 2nd ranked Level 5 was confused as he watched him execute his special move. The beam of light was aimed downwards so the beam dug through the floor beside Misaka as the light consumed her figure.

"(That idiot probably killed her already. Guess another one of the Kiharas' plan was crushed."

Or so he thought.

A crack from within the light destroyed the entire atmosphere, and all of a sudden electricity sparked all around her, even going so far as to hit Kakine in the back.

Instead of a continuous shock like last time, the hit was as solid as a boulder.

"How is she still alive?!"

Much to his consternation, Misaka was practically unkillable at this point. His attacks did not seem to affect her, and even his power that supposedly ignored the laws of physics did not work.

"Tch, what do I do..."

There were many possibilities, but saving was not one of them.

"(I am not a damn hero, but...)"

He could do something about her condition. He picked himself up and slowly approached her, even though he knew he was not supposed to. But he was hesitating the action that he was about to do.

And everyone around watched him in silence. Even Misaka herself.

The white fields that he had dispatched earlier came back to him and he placed his hand in front of Misaka's face.

In a split second, he brought out a naked Misaka from that body of light...

---------------------------------------

"KILL THAT IDIOT!! KILL THEM ALL!! HOW ARE THEY STILL ALIVE?!?!"

"Khhhh?! Why is there 2 Level 5's here right now?! Misaka, destroy them!!"

Kouzaku Mitori's Shadowy figure stood behind Misaka as she stomped her feet in that astral plane.

"I don't understand, she's supposed to be getting stronger! Why does it feel like she's getting weaker and more useless?!"

"I...I'm scared..."

Misaka cowered on the floor with her whole body shaking in fear.

"If you're so scared, just stand up and destroy everything in front of you!!"

"I...I don't want to..."

"YOU USELESS SPOILT BRAT!! You have so much power, use it for the good of humanity!! If you do that, no one would get hurt!!"

"Ahhhh...!!"

Mitori could not do anything to harm her since they were only astral bodies, but if she could, she would have been abusing Misaka the whole time she was there instead of giving her a pep talk.

"Grrrr...huh?"

Mitori's anger suddenly subsided when she saw the #2 Level 5 esper walking towards her.

"Heh, what is that idiot doing? Kill him. He's vulnerable."

But she didn't listen.

"Hey, can you hear me?? Hellooooo???"

She didn't answer.

"Hey!! Kill him!! He's just right there!! If you don't do anything right now, he's going to kill you!!"

She still stayed silent.

"HEYYYY!!!"

The moment Kakine's hand covered her eyes, the screen immediately went blank.

"W-What?!"

"I thought something weird was going on here. Turns out someone like you was behind all this."

"H-How did you get in here?! Did you have access to Exterior too? Did Gensei give you rights before he died?!"

"Exterior? What the hell is that?"

"You don't know what it is? Only people with Exterior can enter her mind."

Kakine's body was covered in black just like Mitori, but his smile was ever so wide.

"Your rules does not apply to my Dark Matter. I can create whatever I want with it, and I can do anything I want with it."

"Except defeating the Accelerator."

"..."

It seemed like the joke she made was about to backfire on her as a vein popped inside his head.

"I hope you said that on accident. Well, not that it matters. Once SCHOOL finds you, I'll beat you to a bloody pulp and make you my punching bag for the next ten years. You better hope Anti-Skill or Judgement finds you before my team does."

"..."

"If I wanted to, I can even stab you right now."

The moment he said that, his wings pierced her astral form and she immediately disappeared into thin air.

Suddenly, someone tugged at his leg and when he looked down, he saw Misaka's face. But it was not the face of someone pleading for help or forgiveness, it was someone who was inspired or amazed by what they had seen.

Her eyes were shining bright as she looked at him.

"Your wings are really cool!!"

That took him aback to an incident not too long ago. He had wanted to protect a certain girl before, but reality struck him.

"Tch, I don't need someone else to say that to me. Only she could say that to me."

He pulled her hand away from his leg and the whole world around them shattered.

When he pulled her out of that world, only a second had gone by and she fell right into his arms. But instead of embracing her or checking whether she was alright, he just threw her to the floor as if she was trash.

"Tch, what a lame fight."

He pulled out his cellphone and pressed a few buttons in to make a phone call.

"Oi, we're moving out now. Help me find a girl called Kouzaku Mitori. It seems like our investigations are right. She's still alive...Huh? What do you mean I'm in a good mood?...Get your head out of the gutter. If I go back and there's still nothing about her, I'm gonna beat the shit out of you."

He slips his phone into his pocket, but before he could leave, a certain someone had dropped by the site of devastation.

A figure from the sky fell all the way down, but instead of crashing down, he simply floated down like a feather.

Kakine turned his head back to see who it was, and his eyes could not believe who he was looking at.

"Accelerator..."

The white-haired boy with red eyes took his time to look around and take in the scene that had occurred without him.

"Tch, seems like I was late."

He slowly approached Ester with his cane in his right hand. The air was tense. Three Level 5's all in one place, who knew what could happen right this instance.

"Oi, rank 1. You look ridiculous with that cane. Has the rank 1 lost his bite?"

Accelerator only glanced at him from the corner of his eye and continued walking towards Ester.

"Oi, don't ignore me!"

He flapped one of his wings once and a shard of feather quickly approached him. But that didn't faze him. He lifted up his left hand as the projectile approached him and the moment it came into contact with his left hand, it immediately shattered into bits of pieces.

"?!"

Kakine was stunned by what happened as he flinched back. Gunha was actually rather impressed.

"Impressive guts you have there, Accelerator!"

"Gh..."

Kakine quietly took a deep breath as he regained his cool composure.

"Fine, do whatever you want. I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. I guess I'll spare you for now. Till the next time we meet."

He spreads his wings out and flies away before anything else could happen.

And when the dust finally settled, Accelerator lent Ester a hand.

"Hm?"

"Do you need a hand up?"

Accelerator looked away as his hand was laid out in the open for her.

"Hm? Are you proud of me?"

"Tch, if you're not going to take it, I'm pulling away."

"Wait wait wait!!"

However, before she could grab onto it, the obnoxious Sogiita Gunha steps in and quickly shakes his hand in an instant.

"Nice to meet you, Accelerator! I am Sogiita Gunha, the 7th ranked Level 5 in Academy City. You showed me that you had a lot of guts to take the 2nd ranked Level 5's attack without even breaking a sweat! Though I think you could have been a bit nicer when talking to him."

That infuriated Accelerator as his head hung low.

But Gunha was the least of his worries as a certain girl went to tackle him head first right in his chest.

"Guh?!"

Air escaped his lungs as he fell to the floor with Misaka lying on top of him.

"Papa! Did you see that boy with the cool angel wings?! He was so cool!! Can you do that too?! I want to see him again! Pwetty pwease?"

"Gh...Get off of me!!"

Suddenly, three figures overshadowed his face, and when he looked up, he saw Kuroko, Yumi and Misaki.

"My, my, pretty devious are we?♥"

"Ac-celerator..."

"You've tarnished Onee-sama's innocence...You'll pay for that!!"

"(Oh fuck...)"

He turned his battery on and pushed Misaka aside, but before he could jump away, his battery died and he immediately fell face first into the ground.

Kuroko stepped on his back with her arms crossed, and she became the devil incarnate.

"Nowhere to run now!!"

-----14th September 5:32p.m.-----

"So...you're Kouzaku Mitori, and you were the one who was controlling Onee-sama using something called...'Exterior'?"

In the 177th Judgement Branch Office, Kuroko, Uiharu, Konori Mii, and Tobio Yumi were all gathered in there with the supposed culprit of the whole situation that happened in the afternoon.

"And you're also requesting for protection from these people called 'SCHOOL'?"

"Yes, please you have to help me! I...I don't want to die!"

Mitori looked like she was around Misaka's age, with purple hair styled into twintails that complemented her purple-coloured eyes. She had a nurse's uniform on, with a skull-faced necklace located around her neck as well as a pair of dark-coloured hosiery and pink pumps.

"Ironic of you to say that, seeing how you almost caused the deaths of a million people in Academy City. Fortunately, we had help in dealing with the situation, else the whole of Academy City would be destroyed."

"But, I have my reasons! Think about it, the inhumane acts done in Academy City, surely you've seen some of it right?!"

The rest of them looked at her for a brief moment before looking away, except for Kuroko who confidently maintained her eye contact with her.

"Sure, I've seen some of it. And yes, it could be inhuman."

"Yes! So you agree with me right?!"

"HOWEVER..."

"?!"

"That should not be an excuse to cause mayhem in Academy City. Academy City might just be a testing site to you, but it is a refuge for some unfortunate souls. I'm not saying that I condone these types of behaviours, but I believe that causing destruction upon Academy City is no different from what they are doing."

"..."

Mitori was speechless as she looked at the ground, exasperated by what she had just heard.

"Now then, you spoke about protection?"

"Y-Yes!"

"We can give you to Anti-Skill, though it might not be a full-proof plan seeing as how a break in occurred a few nights ago, you can take your risk."

"B-But this is a team of highly trained assasins! I need more than Anti-Skill!"

"Hey, Anti-Skill might be incompetent, but I'm sure they can get you the help that you need."

In a split second, everyone's' minds went blank and they all fell to the ground.

All except for Mitori.

"Wh-What just happened?!"

A girl appeared at the front door, and she had a rather tired face. She wasn't particularly happy, nor was she elated.

Her hair was golden, and it seemed like she was a bit damaged. The stars in her eyes did not match the expression on her face.

"(Shokuhou...Misaki?)"

"You are 'Mi-chan', aren't you?"

That name struck her like a stick hitting a drum.

"I was told I was playing the part of a girl who abandoned Dolly. But it seems the circumstances were a bit different. I should have looked into it more. Follow me, you're not ready to give up yet, aren't you? That's why you sought protection instead of giving up. I know a place that will keep you safe, but I want you to follow me first."

"What?"

"I learned something while reading Gensei's memories. Dolly had a younger sister created at the same time. Dolly was created for more than establishing their cloning ability. She was also an experiment into constructing an information sharing network between clones. All of Dolly's memories and experiences were transferred to the other model and are still there. And that 'Sister' sleeps in a Certain Research Institution."

Misaki prepared to leave as she turned her back to her.

"Even if they shared memories and experiences...she is not Dolly. But...I can't just leave her there, can I? It wouldn't hurt to have some help...so come with me."

-----14th September 7:15p.m.-----

"Heyyyyy!! Misaka wants to go to the festival and playyyy!! Says Misaka as Misaka complains about having to stay in the hospital even though she is clearly fine!!"

"Tch, shut up already!!"

In a Certain Hospital, Accelerator had a bandage around his head as well as his neck, not because of Misaka in her almost-Level 6 form, but because of a certain girl...

Last Order was sitting on his leg complaining about her problems to him, and he could hardly give a damn about what social troubles she has.

"Just stay in the hospital and sleep."

"That's just what you do!! Misaka wants to eat the sweet apple stuff and catch fishes!! FUN STUFF!!"

Accelerator threw a pillow at her face as he takes the other one and covers his ears with it.

"Just shut up and let me sleep then."

Last Order pulled the pillow down as she crawled to him.

"Are you okay? Misaka realizes that you are not in a good mood right now. Says Misaka as Misaka tries her best to comfort you like a big sister."

Although his ears were covered by the pillows, the pillows did not act as a good earmuff.

"...Tch, I'm not in a good mood because some brat is trying to disturb me when I'm trying to sleep."

"Haa, if you're having difficulties expressing yourself, you can always tell me, says Misaka as Misaka pats your head gently."

Last Order brought him up to her small chest as she gently caresses his hair. She tried to make them bigger by squeezing her chest with her arms, but that motion was too awkward as her arms could not do anything else when it was completely wrapping his head around.

Accelerator pulls away slowly with his eyes closed as he laid his head down on the pillow.

"(Two days in a row of this shit...When will I ever have a break...)"

His door suddenly opens wide and a loud mouthed woman came in with an excited tone in her voice.

"Yo, Accelerator!"

"(Fuck, not this shit again...)"

"Guess what I have?"

"If it's something about going to a park or a festival, leave me out of it."

"Don't worry, it's something better! We're going for a staycation!"

"...Oh, is that it?"

"Yup!"

"Well, isn't that great. Have fun."

"..."

That woman was Yomikawa as she placed her hands by her hips. When she heard Accelerator's response, her smile immediately turned sinister.

"Well, it so happens that HQ decided to give me a break and they booked a resort for me and three other people I could bring along."

"Good for you."

"The doctor said I could bring you along."

"I don't wanna."

"..."

Without even uttering a single word, she walked up to his bedside and pulled his head up by the ear from the pillow.

"Ow, ow, ow!! Oi, are you trying to damage my ears!!"

"We're going shopping for new clothes tomorrow. And you're not allowed to decline."

"Seriously?"

Suddenly, a squeaky voice beneath her shouted out loud.

"I want to go too! Misaka wants to go too!! Says Misaka as Misaka changes her mind about going to the Daihasei Festival!!"

"Haha, of course you're invited too, Last Order."

"So, who's the last person?" Accelerator asked nonchalantly.

"I was thinking of Ester. I thought she might need a break after what happened today."

"...Tch, fine I'll go too."

"Didn't I say you did not have a choice?"

"Shut up!"

And with that, another chaotic day that ended peacefully.