Struggles Of Being A New “Father”

———23rd August 10:27a.m.———

Accelerator was back at home with someone unexpected.

"For fuck sake!! Leave me alone!!"

"No no no!! I want to play with papa!!"

Accelerator was kept up the whole night because of her. And it was not in the way anyone expected it to be.

For the whole night, she kept nudging his body back and forth, stopping him from falling asleep.

His eye bags were apparent through his pure white skin.

Accelerator looks away from her and thinks of a solution for his problem.

He puts his hand on her cheek, and thought of reversing her blood flow but remembers that killing her will mess up the experiment.

"Why the hell did I bring her back with me..."

———22nd August 9:30p.m.———

"Papa!"

Misaka hugs Accelerator and he immediately clicked his tongue.

"I'm not your damn 'papa'! Go find someone else!"

He pushes her off and kicks her away.

She hits the ground and then looks up at Accelerator as her eyes start to tear up.

"No...don't tell me..."

Misaka starts crying in the whole multilevel overpass, and Accelerator quickly shuts her mouth using his hand.

"What the fuck is up with you?"

He releases his hand from her mouth while backing up and she calms down a bit. She hugs him as she calls him again.

"Papa, I love you!!"

"(If I leave her here, she would just cry and attract attention to the experiment site.)"

Accelerator let out an exasperated sigh as he looked up.

"(This is going to be troublesome...)"

———23rd August 10:40a.m.———

Accelerator was in the bath with Misaka. Even though to most people, this would seem like an abomination to society, but to him, it felt weird yet natural.

It was his new natural.

He never had the company of anyone before.

During his childhood, those kids that came near him would get hurt immediately.

It was because of his power.

His power isolated him from the rest of Academy City.

"Tch, stay still!!"

In the first place, he didn't force her in the bath with him.

He wanted to take a shower because that is what humans should do everyday, unless they are trying to conserve energy and save money. But Accelerator didn't have to do any of that.

Misaka wanted to join him, but he kicked her out. And of course, she weeped again.

He suggested her to take a bath first before him, but she acted like a child and was persistent to get into the showers with him.

And so, that was how it occurred.

In the shower, Misaka kept tilting her head left and right as she hummed a tune under the shower, all while Accelerator was brushing her short hair.

"(What the fuck am I doing...? Just two days ago I fought a boy, two magicians, and killed a bunch of overproduced failures. Just what the fuck am I thinking by doing this?)"

Accelerator was in disbelief.

Why is he doing this?

There was no reason to.

Yet...

It was strange.

"Papa, what happened yesterday? I can't remember anything."

"Hm?"

Accelerator thought about it for a while, and came up with a reasonable answer.

"If you don't remember it, it means it wasn't worth the space in your brain."

He only deleted three parts of her brain that contained every bit of memory in her head. The rest of it remained only to let her function as a normal person while retaining her esper powers.

"Is that so? But I feel like I don't belong here... B-But it's not like I don't want to be here with papa! I just feel like there's something missing."

"..."

Accelerator couldn't say anything in response.

He only smiled to himself and thought...

"(Heh, how stupid of me. Yeah, why did I even bring her back. I shouldn't have even done that in the first place...)"

After scrubbing her hair, she turned around to face him with the brightest smile he had ever seen.

"Okay!! Now it's my turn to scrub papa's back!"

"Uegh, fuck off. I can do it myself."

"No no no, Misaka feels that she should do something nice for papa since he helped me to wash my hair and back."

"Get out now!!"

Accelerator shouted at her, and she jumped. In a second, she started sniffing the air, as tears welled up in her eyes once more.

"(Oh for fuck...) Fine! Fine!"

Immediately, her face brightened up again, as if a switch controlling her emotions had been flipped.

"Yayyy!! Shwub shwub shwub!"

She rubs her soft hands on his back as he lowered his head under the shower head to rinse his hair.

For some reason, he felt relieved for the first time in his life as he smiled while looking at the ground.

-----23rd August 11:07a.m.-----

Accelerator had to let Misaka borrow his clothes as she didn't want to wear her Tokiwadai Uniform again, which was stinking up a bit.

Accelerator's phone rang and he picked it up. There was only one person in his contacts list, so he didn't have to see or check who it was.

"Yo Yoshikawa, what do you want?"

"Don't 'yo' me! Why did you make such a huge mess at the Switchyard and the Multilevel Overpass?"

"Tch, how 'bout you guys at the lab actually pick a damn good spot for me to fight in, because those places were easily found out. In fact, it felt wayyy too exposed."

"Wait, so someone from the public actually found you out?"

"Yeah, a damn Level 0, and two-"

Accelerator hesitated to finish his sentence because he wondered how Yoshikawa would react upon hearing the term 'magician'.

"Two??"

"Two espers."

That was the only word he could come up with.

"That's all? For those three people, you almost destroyed the whole Switchyard! And those two espers, they weren't any big figures in Academy City, right? Like they weren't Level 4's or any of the Level 5's?"

"Calm down, Yoshikawa. The only Level 5 who would interfere in the experiment would be the 3rd ranked."

Accelerator glanced at Misaka who was observing him.

"I highly doubt a reputable Level 4 can actually stand against me without any backup."

Then he paused for a beat before continuing.

"By the way, Yoshikawa, what happens if the 3rd ranked Level 5 isn't back at her own dorm?"

Most of the students in Academy City either lived in dorms or apartments. But for Tokiwadai students, they would live in dorms with another schoolmate. Tokiwadai Middle School had two different dorms that everyone was aware of. One that was inside the School Garden, and one that was outside.

"Huh? At most the school would just try to contact her via email or call her phone. Then, they would probably put up a wanted poster around Academy City if they can't find any traces of her."

"..."

"Of course these measures seem extreme, but there are only seven Level 5's in Academy City out of 2.3 million students. So you can see why they are treasured."

"I see."

"Why did you even ask me in the first place? It's not like you have Misaka Mikoto staying at your apartment, right?"

"..."

"Accelerator...if you don't answer me right now, I'm going to get worried. That was meant to be a joke..."

"..."

"You can't be serious..."

"Nevermind that. Can you take care of her for me?"

"No!!" Yoshikawa shouted through the phone.

"I have to stay in the lab all day. I can't afford to spend time tending to her."

"Then what should I do?!"

There was a lingering silence in the air before she gave her cold, and straightforward answer.

"Kill her."

"..."

"It's okay for you to do it. We can write off the incident as accidental. 'The Accelerator overestimated the 3rd ranked and accidentally used too much force, and she died.' It's a pretty easy way to cover up, don't you think?"

"You're taking me as a joke, aren't you?"

"Oh, no I'm not. Don't get the wrong idea here. It's just that the Board Chairman wants to cease the experiments for the time being."

"What?! Why?!"

"It's because of the mess you made at the Switchyard and at the Overpass."

"Tch, it's not like I had any choice."

"But for THE Accelerator to struggle so much against them. What happened?"

"There were two Level 4's with the interruption of the 3rd ranked, what do you think would've happened?"

"I would think that you simply brushed them off."

"...Just let me have my fun."

"Right, right. Now, back to the main topic: Killing the 3rd ranked esper. You should be able to do it, right? Just think of her as another one of those clones since they all look so alike."

Accelerator looked back at Misaka and he narrowed his eyebrows. It was true that they looked very much alike, but there was a distinct difference to both of them.

One had gone through the Testament to gain her powers and grew naturally while expressing the emotions of a human.

While the latter had gone through the Testament as well, but was raised using drugs and machineries, and had no expressions of emotions.

"...Tch, I'm done talking."

He ended the call and Yoshikawa let out a tired sigh.

She looked at her phone and the person who she contacted.

"Did I go too hard on him?"

There was nothing happy about what she said, but...

"Being kind is way too difficult."

But a smile still appeared on her face.

"Just like a father huh? I wonder how he'll do..."

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

"Tch, what a troublesome lady..."

Then, he felt a tug on his shirt and he looked down.

"Papa, who was that? Was that mommy?"

Misaka was looking at him with her big eyes and bright smile. She was obviously excited about who her mother was.

She had never seen her before because she had no memories of her.

"I'm not your father, nor was that your damn mother."

"Papa...how can you say that..."

Misaka's eyes welled up with tears as she prepared to let the water flow.

"Oh no...Fine, fine! Lets go!"

She stopped crying as she tilted her head.

"Where are we going?"

"Let's go eat."

Accelerator was still a human, and just like every human, he needed carbohydrates to fuel his body.

———23rd August 11:31a.m.———

Accelerator brought Misaka to a family restaurant called 'Joseph's' and they were greeted by a waitress.

"Table for two."

"Right this way, sir!"

When they entered and sat down, across them were two people, a short girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a tall, slender woman with a light-brown hair. The two of them stared at Accelerator and Misaka intensely, and when he noticed their gazes, he turns to face them.

"What the hell do the two of you want?" Accelerator asked, feeling annoyed by their stalker-like gazes.

"Tch, this is why I hate family restaurants. They're filled with spoiled, sheltered little girls."

The light-brown hair woman spoke as she looked away.

"Hey, if you have a problem with me, say it to my face, bitch." Accelerator gives her a sadistic smile and she does the same.

"Oh? I thought you were included as well. I didn't know a guy would look so feminine."

"You've got guts to speak to me like that! Do you know who I am?"

The blonde girl then interrupted the both of them.

"Mugino, people are looking at us..."

"I don't care about that. Anyway, why is the railgun...acting like that?"

The menu came and Misaka looks at some of the pictures of food. Her mouth was watering as she gawked at some of the food items.

Accelerator flicks her forehead and points to the food and says,"Choose."

She does not understand him however, and puts her head on the table, touching her forehead to indicate that she was feeling pain. Accelerator clicks his tongue as he starts ordering for the both of them.

"Is she alright in the head?" The blonde girl asks him.

"That's none of your business. Stick your nose into a pile of shit, would ya? That would fit the both of you well."

"Why you..." Mugino clenched her fist as green orbs appeared around her.

Misaka didn't look at Mugino when they both arrived, but after she saw her, her eyes lit up immediately.

"Momma!!"

"HA?!"

The two girls on the other table as well as Accelerator shouted out.

"Come on! Mugino does look more mature, but she's definitely not fit to be a mother!"

The blonde girl casually let her comment out, but it was not so well-received.

"Fre/nda...would you like to keep your mouth shut?"

She had two orbs of green light floating in the air, and when Misaka saw it, she slowly approached it.

Her hand slowly stretched out for those orbs of light.

Mugino wasn't paying attention to Misaka as she had her focus on Fre/nda.

Before Misaka could make contact with the green orbs, Accelerator pushed her back onto the chair and pressed his left hand and right hand on both of the orbs.

Immediately after he touched them, the sound of glass breaking could be heard. Despite that, only Frenda looked around to see what had broken.

The both of them exchanged glares.

Of course, they were both Level 5's, but Accelerator had no idea she was the 4th ranked Level 5, while she knew who he was.

Seeing his display of pure dominance against her power, she backed off.

"Tch, come on Frenda, we're leaving."

"Ehhhh but we haven't eaten anything yet!!"

"Are you going against me right now?"

"Eek! O-Okay, Mugino..."

With that, the two of them left, leaving Misaka and Accelerator all alone again. When Accelerator looked back at her, Misaka was ready to cry again.

"Oh, come on! What the fuck did I do?!" Following that, Misaka's cries were heard throughout the whole restaurant.

The whole restaurant turned their heads to look at the two of them, and he had to find a way to calm her down.

Right now, he didn't have anything to give her, and he doubt that words would actually reach her, so he had to express it through his actions.

"(You gotta be kiddin' me...)"

He was about to do something he never thought he would do in his whole life.

"(Fuck...)"

He stretched his right hand out and patted her head like a dog. Misaka immediately tilted her head downwards as she receives his hand.

And a smile appeared on her face.

"(Eek, disgusting...I never thought I'd see that. Why am I so unlucky...)"

When their food came. It was a Hamburg with rice and curry by the side and the smell alone was enough to make Misaka drool.

She attempted to use her hands to take it but he quickly held her hands.

"Are you fucking stupid? Use these, fucking dumbass."

He handed her a set of utensils, figuring she would know how to use it, and she did. But just to confirm that she knew how to use it, Accelerator didn't eat his food when it came, he just observed her.

"(What the fuck am I actually doing...)"

Once he was certain that she was safe when using the utensils, he dug in as well.

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

"Rrrrgggghhh...That fucking 1st ranked piece of shit!!"

"Calm down,Mugino..."

"Just because he's the strongest means he can treat me like shit?! What the fuck is up with that?!"

Mugino and Frenda had just exited the family restaurant and were planning to regroup with their team members, Kinuhata and Takitsubo.

Mugino was stomping through the streets as Frenda followed behind her.

When she finally calmed down, she slowed down her pace just for Frenda.

"But the Railgun...Did she really forget us already? What did Accelerator do to her?"

Frenda was full of questions about what happened to Misaka. However, Mugino could care less.

"Well, whatever he did to her, it had better bring my rank up to #3. Anyway, it was all her fault that she got caught up in the dark side. She chose to fall in."

Mugino chuckled under her breath.

"Ah...That's amazing. Just within 2 weeks, that brat managed to lose to the dark side. HAHAHA!! I guess in the end I got my revenge on her. But that just means the strongest esper will still continue to reach Level 6."

"Level 6, huh? I wonder how powerful someone will be when they reach Level 6."

"Who knows? I don't really care. As long as he doesn't get in the way of ITEM, he can reach Level 100 for all I care. Now then..."

Mugino flipped her elegant hair back as she continued walking as if she was on a red carpet.

"Let's get to work."

———23rd August 3:33p.m.————

Kuroko was at the 177th Judgement Branch Office. She had just been released from school and was about to clock in for duty.

Though she wasn't getting paid for doing Judgement work since Judgement is like a Non-profit Organisation, she still wanted to make sure that Academy City was a safe place for everyone to live in.

But she was down in the dumps.

She walked into the office with an aura that screamed misery.

Uiharu, Saten, and Konori Mii noticed it immediately the moment she opened the door.

"Oh Shirai-san, what happened?"

Konori Mii is a girl with short, black hair with glasses. She was currently studying for high school, which may explain the size of her bust. For a high schooler, her bust size was a little more than average, but she was a very mature girl as well.

"Konori-senpai...Onee-sama hasn't returned yet..."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said! Onee-sama still hasn't returned after two days!!"

After she said that, Saten and Uiharu who were surfing the web, went over to the sofa that was in the middle of the office. All four of them sat around a table to discuss what had happened to the 3rd ranked Level 5.

At first Saten and Uiharu thought that Kuroko was upset because of the argument that she and Misaka had. But they were wrong.

"Shirai-san, is she not in the hospital?"

"She escaped last night. I wanted to stop her, but she electrocuted me to sleep."

"This is bad..." Konori said as she rubbed her forehead.

"I think Misaka-san might have gotten herself caught in some sort of ploy again..."

Then she sticks her hand towards Uiharu as if she was commanding a ship.

"Kazari-san, check all the surveillance cameras to see if there are any signs of Misaka-san's whereabouts."

"Got it."

"Shirai-san, instead of worrying about Misaka-san, how about you help us find her. The faster we act, the faster we can find her. The moment we find her is the moment we can save her!"

"Konori-senpai..."

Kuroko looked at her and smiled.

"Of course, it's time for Judgement to get to work. Saten-san, if you hear anything about this, let us know, okay?"

"O-Oh sure."

Saten didn't have any way to find a missing person. She could at most surf the net and try to find some clues relating to her disappearance, but that was the most.

If Misaka went missing, it could probably have meant that she met an opponent far stronger than her to be able to beat her and take her away. She had seen Misaka in action countless of times already, so she knew what Misaka was capable of.

Misaka was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Anyone who faced her, lost in some way in the end, while she came up on top.

So for her to be missing really shocked Saten.

Saten didn't want to distract them, so she left the office briefly after their conversation. She had to search for clues, but she didn't know where to look in the first place.

Truly, it was a Level 0's misfortune.

———23rd August 5:56p.m.————

"Tch, give it up already, for fucks sake!"

Accelerator was in a dark alley around District 7 as he ran away from a gorgeous woman.

Why was he running away from a beauty?

Well that's because this beauty had a 2 meter-long nodachi beside her thigh, but she wasn't using it to attack the strongest esper. Instead she was using metal wires to surround him.

If she had managed to form a pattern around him, she could cast a specific spell using her metal wires.

But he didn't know that. All he knew was to just run and dodge her.

"(I could turn around and beat the shit out of her, but her speed is just way too fast for me...)"

His only choice was to backstep all the way out. If he was to turn his back, he was afraid that he would be slashed from the back.

After all, her weapon and hand didn't even bend when she came into contact with his AIM field.

Each time her steel wires went around him, he would reflect it back.

"(But it's weird...she knows her shit isn't workin', but why is she still tryin'?)"

Accelerator took one more step back before realizing what THEY were trying to do.

"(From the back huh?)"

Accelerator twisted his body, and he had his back turned to Kanzaki. Right in front of him was the man who dyed his hair red.

It was Stiyl Magnus.

The two boys charged at each other. Accelerator raised his right fist to meet the magician head on, and in the magician's hands were blades made out of fire.

The result was decided at that moment.

———23rd August 7:39p.m.———

Mugino, Takitsubo, Kinuhata and Frenda had finished their mission of curbing a weapons deal and all that was left were robots laying down on the ground in the warehouse.

"To be honest, our mission today was surprisingly easy."

Frenda sat on top of a barrel nearby as she inspected the fallen robots.

"Super right you are."

A girl with short brown hair in a bobcut, wearing a brown sweater that barely covered her legs and thighs walked up next to her.

"Tch, we came here to stop an arms deal, but there isn't even a stray cat around here. Instead, one of these toys starts attacking us."

Mugino knew something was up as she kept looking around the warehouse.

Takitsubo, a girl with shoulder length black hair looked around the warehouse as well. Her pink tracksuit stood out from the whole place which was only filled with cardboard boxes and unwanted wastes.

Suddenly, one of the robots which they had smashed up, came back to life and tossed a metal beam towards Takitsubo.

It threw that beam as if it was a javelin and it covered half the distance between them in a split second.

However, Mugino was quick to act as she erased the approaching beam like it was nothing using her meltdowner and she aimed back at the robot.

However, in the process of doing that, a piece of metal which did not get caught in her meltdowner flew to her cheek and left its mark on her.

She felt a burning sensation on her cheek, and knowing what it was, she clicked her tongue.

"Whoever pulled this prank better be ready to pay."

"Mugino, calm down..."

In the next moment, the whole warehouse was up in flames.

The group known as ITEM, with Mugino in the centre left their mark on that place.