It was finally Sunday, all homework he had to do was already done, all of his duties for now were complete, Hibiki had the rest of the day free, what meant one more day wandering around the city, to watch and portray what he saw. He looked around his dorm, while the rest of it was tidy, the living room was a complete mess, there were canvases all around painted or not, along with ink of the most different colors and some brushes on the ground.

He should probably stay and organize all of that, but he decided to have some fun on his way that day.

Some time later he found himself walking around the Furiai Plaza, next to the Crepe Rablm where he saw the famous Misaka Mikoto, the 3rd level 5 of Academy City, the Railgun, along with a friend, his thoughts were "It isn't everyday you see a level 5.", and so he grabbed his sketch book, picked a seat at a bench and started transcripting the scene to the paper with some amazing detail.

He was there, drawing in silence, almost invisible to the people around, when the tragic episode of the coin happened, he wanted to laugh, but kept that inside his head, the poor Kuroko had lost her food, he actually wanted to buy another one for them but he was too shy for that and didn't want to look like a creep, well the least he could do was to grab some napkins for them.

Hibiki stood up directing himself to the Crepe Rablm, asking for the napkins urgently, after getting them, he walked to their table, he wasn't sure about how to approach them actually.

The boy walked towards with the napkins on one hand and his sketchbook under his arm. Without a single word, he handed them out to Kuroko while lowering his head, being too nervous to interact with someone he didn't know very well.

Annette sighed as she relaxed on the balcony of her room, looking out over part of Academy City as the sun shone down overhead. It was a pleasant day with all things taken into consideration, and one that she wished she could enjoy more of. Sadly she couldn't, with too many things to do later on and not enough time to do them. but such was life, and she had resolved to enjoy this while it lasted.

It wasn't even that big a deal anyway. Just a charity ball for some group or other that she had to attend as a result of her social position. She'd gone to plenty before, so she knew what to expect, how to talk to the various people, and acquit herself in a manner befitting someone like herself.

For now though she relaxed, taking in the sounds of the city whilst ignoring her roommate in the process. She was very good at that sort of thing, and even moreso since she began living here in Academy City. Not that Chloe was a problem, persay, but they didn't exactly see eye to eye, either in terms of beliefs or in personality. It was best just to ignore her at this point.

A quick check made sure that she didn't have any messages, which she didn't, before she got back to resting in the chair she'd set up, head tilted back to bask in the sun. She could have gone somewhere else, but didn't feel in the mood for it. She'd be traveling enough later.

It did occur to her that she'd need to check her clothes and make sure she had something suitable to wear, but there was no hurry for that. She had to keep up appearances, and that meant doing things even like this. And even more at the social function, where there would be a lot of people watching. There were plenty of expectations, but it was fine. With herself and her powers, she could handle them.

So for now, she'd waste the day away. The hard work could come later.

Kyouma groaned as he woke up, hit neck sore from accidentally falling asleep at his desk. He had spent the entirety of yesterday hunting down information and digging up whatever documentation about that urban legend that he had access to online. Granted, it was mostly cross-referencing cases from multiple sources and seeing what was common about each scenario before picking out the outliers, but in the end it seemed like it was still just that- a rumor. Though it did seem that what Torako said held true- that every incident occurred in the alleyways or something of the sort- it also seemed to be that none of the locations coincided with one another. He'd have to keep that information away from her for sure; there were already so many incidents, and if she was to know about this there was no telling what she might do in her own carelessness.

The research did also give him a bit more information, though. The bias was heavily in favor of the lower end of the Level spectrum in terms of who was victimized, but that was probably because they went to actively search out the source of the incident... And with the current spectrum of students having a majority in that, it's no wonder that the data seemed biased. But it seemed that some other Level 4s had hunted this down as well (probably out of greed) but failed to gain anything from it or even be affected by whatever was causing this. That was both reassuring and troublesome; if he stuck close to Torako, it was likely that he could prevent the incident, but that also meant that he couldn't continue investigating any further on his own. It'd also make him look like a total creeper, but details.

"Geh... I should really stop sleeping at my desk, though..." he complained as he cracked his neck and got out of his seat before changing his clothes and taking the leftover steak out of his fridge. Tossing it in the microwave, Kyouma glanced out the window and noticed Torako down below, (accidentally?) destroying the crepe of a Tokiwadai girl passing her by. The subsequent crackling electricity around her immediately gave away her identity to him, causing Kyouma to immediately rush out the door and fly down the steps to the ground floor.

"H-Hey, don't fly off the handle---!" he shouted as he burst out of the dorm building, a drop or two of sweat running down his forehead.

It wasn't like Beatrix needed a power up or anything.

After all, she was already the best esper ever, even if everyone refused to acknowledge this for some reason. She was also super rich, which was cool. Anything she could ever want was well within her grasp (except puppies. Why were even her parents so adamant about refusing her a cute sidekick?!), and she was so secure in her awesomeness, that all this silly "level up" business was just a laughable legend for the weaklings in this city.

So the only reason she was standing outside this alley was to mock anyone that searched it. Totally.

Almost unmoving, the small blonde in the white, frilly dress practically glared at the darkened pathway, and had been doing so for just over ten minutes now. There was absolutely no way she was terrified of entering this alleyway, because that was just absurd. The great, mighty and ultra-cute Beatrix, scared of tall tales like this? Ha!

Still... there was an awful lot of shadows... and maybe she should have bought a drink or something. For some reason, she was succumbing very quickly to the heat, even though she had smartly avoided black clothing this time!

"Sorry, its not like I was intentionally aiming for you with a prank in mind or anything." Tora said, glancing at the boy who brought napkins to the table.

She panicked a little after that, but it soon grew into annoyance as the two ignored her completely. Especially when they started off on some romance comedy routine right in front of her AND started to use their ability without hesitation. Well, since she started it, accidental though it may be, she might as well see it to the end. Tora knew for sure that there was no other electromaster up to the level of the Railgun herself, so at most, the girl before her, and her companion, cannot be more than level 4s themselves.

Seeing the electromaster emitting sparks, Tora impulsively put a finger on her, doubling her output just to see what happens. Just as she realized the ramifications of touching a human taser which she just doubled the output of.

"Ah."

Something in Mikoto's words did indeed get through to her incomparably dense junior: that she didn't want to eat off of the other girl's body. Unfortunately, with the girl's inexplicable ability to ignore every sign that her behaviour wasn't appropriate, Kuroko completely missed the reason why the Railgun wasn't interested. She simply realised that eating the exploded crepe off her body would mean eating a good amount of clothing... and that was hardly as sensuous or as appealing.

Thanking the stranger for the napkins, the girl endeavoured to restore her outfit, though she quickly resigned herself to simply not being covered in dessert; both her blouse and the jacket had absorbed cream and sauce, and the skirt didn't seem to have fared all that much better. With her attention firmly on trying to clean her clothing, the teleporter was unfortunately (for Torako) paying too little attention to realise that she'd just prodded an irate level five.

Really, Mikoto was kind of surprised that so many people had shown up to calm her down. But it looked like, in spite of that initial perverted reaction, Kuroko had quickly backed off and started to try and clean herself up. Had all the rejection finally sunk in for the other girl for once? But still, she'd made that perverted comment, and-

The static crackled louder and the power rose the moment something came in contact with her. Before there could be more then the slightest static shock, Mikoto immediately clamped down on her electrical output, the static fading immediately as she stepped away. Whoever had poked her had done something, something to... to...

... It was the older girl? For a few moments, Mikoto stood stock still. Interfering with her power like that... The third-ranked level five wasn't sure what had happened or how it had, but the only conclusion she could make as to why her electricity had suddenly became so much more powerful then she was intending was that it had coincided with the prodding from the other girl. If she had went ahead and shocked Kuroko, it wouldn't have been the reprimanding blast she usually used to try and make the younger girl back off. It could have seriously hurt her friend, and the newcomer could easily have gotten a much nastier shock then the one she did from contact. There was a moment of sharp, unpleasant guilt at the thought.

"... Kuroko, I'm going to buy you something to wear, okay? You can't go around like that," Mikoto's gaze was cast downward, but she swiftly looked up and turned to face the older girl who had prodded her.

"Oi," she started, fixing her gaze on the girl, "... I don't know what you did, but it could have seriously hurt you... And Kuroko. What were you thinking?"



She was going to meet up with Uiharu... somewhere around here, right? It seemed like the right place. Ruiko glanced around, and... wait, was that some girl in gothloli staring at an alleyway for some reason. Realizing the possibilities, Ruiko couldn't help but immediately hurry over to her. After all, what was in the alleyways?

The ghost, of course!

"Hey, hey!" Ruiko said as she approached, stopping beside the smaller girl and peering into the alleyway as well, "Are you looking for the alleyway stalker? I hear he can pass through walls, 'cause he's a ghost, so it's really hard to spot him unless he's trying to get you!"

So lost in her thorough search of anything strange, when someone actually called out to her, Beatrix jumped, and turned angrily towards the person that broke her concentration. Apparently, it was some girl with long, black hair. So annoyed was the heterochromatic student, that it took her a moment to actually process what had just been said to her.

"So what if I am?!" Beatrix responded haughtily as she folded her arms, "It's just a silly story spread about by the peasants of this city! Anyone that has to rely on a ghost to power up is... just..."
Beatrix's gaze slowly turned back to the alleyway, which seemed strangely pitch-black compared to three seconds ago. So wait, she had been waiting for a ghost to jump out all this time?! Why the hell didn't Torako mention that?! That stupid servant was definitely getting punished for this!

"U-um, well... i-it's not like the ghost would be after me, s-so..." Beatrix scrambled for a good excuse to leave the area, without making it look like she was scared off (when she so clearly wasn't, totally), "Um... er, I-I think I was supposed to finish this game by today, uh..."

Murakawa Torako

The sharp jolt she got was thankfully brief.

Oddly she felt as if her mind cleared a little; was this what they say about electricity refreshing the brain? Tora noticed Kyouma running towards them, though for what reason she knew not. Whatever he wanted, he'd have to wait for a bit.

"..that's right... you could have hurt someone..." Tora raised her hand, pointing straight towards the electromaster. "That is why, I hate people like you."

She was dead serious now, though that was the first time she ever said something like that to another person. Hot damn, she felt like some cool caped crusader jumping about in the night in tights. Like... some sort of chosen one who just met the main villain accidentally and didn't know who they were. Feeling oddly excited now, she continued after the brief pause.

"High levels like you using their abilities with no thought to everything around them."

Wait, maybe she haven't thought this through. What if these two were to actually fight her? Well the other one might not, but still... As of this moment all she had on her was a glass marble and her coins. Well, at least there are people around. They wouldn't actually try something in public now, would they?

---

Uiharu Kazari

"She's kinda late..."

Kazari looked at her phone, leisurely swinging her legs as she sat on the bench. Humming to herself, she looked around the busy street, hoping for a glimpse of her long black hair bobbing through the crowd. Did she get sidetracked? Perhaps I should go get something to drink first.

Well, that was certainly the plan for her, but as soon as she walked the short distance there, she spotted Saten with.... some little girl? Was the girl lost perhaps? Or perhaps someone she knew?

"Ah, Saten. There you are. I've been wondering where you were just now." With her usual smile, she looked at the girl with Saten. "Is this someone you know?"

"Eh? Are you sure, onee-sama?" the younger of the two asked, looking again at her unfortunately stained uniform. To continue to wear it in its current state was hardly an option, but with Tokiwadai's rules requiring you to wear the uniform at all times, getting changed could risk getting in trouble with school authorities. Presumably, there were exemptions for extreme circumstances--though the ability to teleport just raised the question of 'why not go back to your dorm?' She didn't think she had an entire clean uniform just lying around today, though, and the summer uniform would be inappropriate.

Things promptly took a turn for the worse, with the crepe-wrecking stranger apparently also being responsible for something that would have made the inevitable reprimanding shock far more dangerous than it would otherwise have been, then had the gall to blame someone else for her reckless desire to interfere. If merely touching the Railgun was enough to throw her ability off, Kuroko would have been hospitalised every other day, which allowed the conclusion that some sort of ability was in play.

"Who is the one recklessly using their ability here? Even a level one could cause serious injury if tampered with. Interfering with an ability that already has the potential to do serious harm is as criminally reckless as distracting a pilot. If anyone had been hurt, Judgement and Anti-Skill would have needed to get involved."

Kyouma's run slowed to a stop as he arrived at Torako's location just as she began rattling off about her distaste for level 5s... Right in front of one of the top level 5s in the city.

So he was too late after all, wasn't he.

"...Oi. There's absolutely no reason to lash out like that, you know..." he sighed, shaking his head. She was one to talk, after all; he had seen everything unfold from his dorm room, and what happened heavily implicated her, not the level 5 standing before them. "If you're looking to agitate people, don't. You'll only be hurting yourself."

He was quite sincere about this; someone of his kouhai's strength taking on Misaka Mikoto was like tossing a deer in front of a truck, and his underclassman certainly was no truck. She'd probably hate him for siding with those two, but he really felt she was in the wrong this time. He could sort that out later, though. Right now, disarming the situation was the highest priority.

"High level this and ability that," Mikoto handed the crepe to Kuroko and folded her arms across her chest, giving a stern glare towards the older girl. Now this... this wasn't what she'd had in mind. Why would anyone suddenly interfere like that? It could have been so much worse... the thought of not stopping in time, of shocking Kuroko with so much more power then she had intended... It could have seriously hurt her. The idea of seriously injuring Kuroko was enough to make the Level Five feel guilty, even if she hadn't actually done it. The regular shocks were just reprimands, punishments that didn't do anything more then knock the smaller girl senseless for perverted behavior. But that could have put her in the hospital.

On top of that, the audacity to boost her power output and then accuse her of being the one who didn't care about her surroundings... So she did sometimes knock out the power grid in some areas. But when there were people around, she always held back. She never wanted to do anything that would seriously hurt a person. "It doesn't matter what level you are. You always need to notice if people are around you! If I hadn't noticed what you were doing, Kuroko could have ended up in the hospital, and you would have gotten a lot more then a little shock! Any esper shouldn't just ignore people around them and use your power however they like. If you're stopping a mugger, you need to make sure only he's stopped, and you haven't hurt anyone else!"

When it came to people, Mikoto was always careful. No matter how hard of a shock she gave back-alley thugs, they were always fine after they recovered. She always made sure she never caught any innocent people up in an attack when she was fighting. Sure, sometimes her surroundings didn't fare so well, but...



"Eh? You're leaving?" Ruiko tilted her head. Sure enough, the little girl was going off and just leaving without an explanation. What was that all about? "But weren't you looking for the ghost?"

Hearing a familiar voice calling to her, Ruiko looked back over her shoulder and spotted Uiharu approaching from a distance. There she was! Ruiko reflected a little on the fact that she had kind of ended up a bit distracted after spotting the gothloli girl staring off into the alley. But she couldn't help it, these kinds of rumors were so interesting! Who could say there wasn't a ghost somewhere in Academy City, the place where Esper powers thrived? Even if they didn't exist anywhere else, who said they couldn't exist here? "Hey, Uiharu! I just met her, I think she was looking for the ghost!"

"...I-I was not looking for gh-ghosts!" Beatrix protested hotly, arms flailing wildly, "I-I'm a genius! I know tha- that ghosts don't exist at all!"

It was necessary to emphasise this, because having this girl spread lies to her friends was a terrible thing. Imagine, mere peasants believing a silly lie that made herself look bad! Beatrix would stand for such things, so she was going to gracefully set the record straight.
Regaining her composure, the small gothic lolita folded her arms, puffed out her chest and smirked in a smug, condescending manner, "silly children, I hope you don't believe those silly rumours, too!"

She pointed to the empty, hopefully-not-haunted alleyway, "I was... I was merely watching the people stupid enough to believe there was one! Because they're stupid! And that's funny!"
She glanced between the two girls, and continued, "only dumb kids think ghosts are real anyway! You two must be way younger than I thought!"

Murakawa Torako

"..then at least you people will learn to control your abilities a bit. Your sort never learns until they get burned after all."

Huh? Whats with the short kid? Tch, it was as if all their power levels inflated their heads with enough hot air to make them think they were so much more intelligent than other people.

"...Oi. There's absolutely no reason to lash out like that, you know..." Kyouma said. "If you're looking to agitate people, don't. You'll only be hurting yourself."

"Senpai..."

Was... was he worried about her? That was quite surprising. Ah, perhaps he was referring to the fact they were loitering about in broad daylight, and was likely to inconvenience the general public if this goes on. As expected of Kyouma. She had absolutely no idea what the electromaster was saying right now about muggers and stuff, but Tora was going to let this slide. For now.

"Tch. Whatever. I'm going." She walked past the two, whispering to the electromaster as she did so. "..this isn't over."

She was going to be late for that volunteer work anyways. Stupid high levelers and their hubris. Seeing those Tokiwadai high class girls made her feel sick. It was almost enough for her to start sympathizing with those Skillout people. Almost. Skillout thugs weren't exactly the best voice of reason for the low levels in Academy City after all. She'd pick a high level in her school, but the only one really worth talking about was the Accelerator, and he doesn't seem to like talking to people, being around with people or people in general.

"Ah, I'm late."

She started jogging, pacing herself as she went.

Perhaps the one person qualified in her mind would be the Railgun herself. Having earned her way to level 5, Tora had no doubt she'd be the one who'd understand the most about how they felt.

---

Uiharu Kazari

"Hey, Uiharu! I just met her, I think she was looking for the ghost!"

Ah, so this girl was looking for the ghost as well. That explains why they were standing about near this alley. It seems a lot of people had already heard about this rumour. Though, it was kinda dangerous for this girl to be doing so. Any number of rough people could be in there. Or worse, it will be something like the Level Upper.

"Is that so? But it's just some urban legend right? I don't think you'd find anything interesting in those alleys."

"only dumb kids think ghosts are real anyway! You two must be way younger than I thought!"

"Ahaha... Is that so?" The girl certainly had a mouth on her. Well, if she's not looking for rumours in the alley, then there shouldn't be any trouble. "If that's the case, then we should be going. Ah, that's right. Saten, about that shop I mentioned..."

Annette frowned, radiating displeasure as she stood inside her room. "Well, this is unfortunate," she commented with tasteful understatement as she looked on her latest problem. She had been preparing, checking to make sure that she had everything she needed for the ball later, only to find that she was in a bit of a situation. No thanks to her roommate, which wasn't too much of a surprise.

"Just a bit," Chloe agreed with a nod and some chagrin, glancing over at her mistake. It was her fault, yeah, but she didn't consider it that bad on the whole. She'd make up for it, somehow.

A sigh issued forth as Annette looked down at the mangled dress, destroyed by the washing machine as a result of Chloe messing with it while washing her own clothes. Admittedly Annette probably should not have left it in as long as she did, but her roommate should have checked to make sure there was nothing in there. Now it was ruined, and she didn't have anything suitable to wear now. Wonderful.

Chloe nervously chuckled as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Well hey, it isn't that bad. You've got other stuff to wear to this thing, right?"

Annette shook her head at that point. "Sadly, no," she admitted with more than a hint of reluctance. She'd been meaning to get similar clothes, but had never gotten around to it. Now she supposed she had a reason to, if no choice in the matter. She couldn't go to a ball without looking good.

"EHeheh, alright." Chloe winced a bit. This was annoying, but not amazing for her roommate, to be honest. She'd grown used to it, though this was particularly unfortunate timing, to say the least.

She sighed once more before putting on her shoes and getting her wallet. Well, she had no choice but to go shopping. "I'll be back later," she commented before heading out the door and moving down the street towards the nearest clothes store. Better to gt this over with now rather than later. And hopefully there would be no problems in the process.

Mikoto watched the girl leave, fuming. She always made sure she never got innocent people caught up in anything, and yet the older girl just decided to try and twist her words to support her attack. The worst part was that the brown-haired girl really did feel completely sympathetic to all those beneath level five on the Esper ranking scale. She wanted them to succeed, just as she had earned her way to level five. And yet this girl barely gave her a chance to speak, just making assumptions and insisting that she was in the right.

"Grr..." Mikoto folded her arms, an electrical current crackling around her head for a moment. "That girl... she really ticks me off!"

It took a moment for the electricity to subside, and she remembered herself. Oh, she'd told Kuroko she'd buy something for the other girl to wear, until her winter uniform was cleaned off. The summer one just didn't work for this time of the year, even if today was unseasonably nice.

"... Well, next time she'll learn just how wrong she is," she said with an irritated sigh. "... Kuroko, let's go get you something to wear until that's clean."



Ruiko paused for a moment, thinking things over. Well... the little girl definitely had a mouth on her, but she looked pretty freaked out too... Well, there was no reason to be too harsh on her yet.

"You were the one staring into the alleyway like that," she said with a shrug. She briefly gestured to Uiharu with a smile. "Now, I see how you could mistake Uiharu for a kid. After all, onee-san here-"

Ruiko jerked a thumb towards her chest with a grin.

"-always has to take care of her!"

She paused for a moment, letting that sink in(more to Uiharu then the other girl), before continuing. "Right, Uiharu? You needed me to take you to that shop and all..."

After a moment's thought, Kuroko handed the untouched crepe back to the person that bought it; if only one of them was going to be eating it then it should be the person that had paid for the treat in the first place. Even more so when that person was noticeably more annoyed by the foolish girl than the one to have her clothing ruined. Perhaps it was the electromaster's better understanding of fully how dangerous the shock would have been.

"We can get to a shop more quickly if we go down here," the teleporter stated, looking at one of the small side alleys that worked as a shortcut between two roads rather than as a gathering ground for delinquents and people foolishly chasing after shortcuts to improve their level. It was quite conspicuously empty of people, and unless someone had gone around littering money again, there should be nobody coming the other way.

Mikoto nodded, her smile returning for a moment as she turned and headed down the alleyway. Jeez... that girl really had ticked her off. But she'd said she was going to get Kuroko something to wear, and she still felt pretty bad about how close she'd come to seriously hurting her. There was a big difference between disciplinary zapping and a serious electrical shock.

Needless to say, Mikoto wanted to make up for it.

-

And her method of making up for it was, well...

Kuroko was small, and naturally that meant looking for small clothing. Mikoto had purchased outfits for Kuroko before, like the shirt she had gotten the other girl for the anniversary of their becoming friends. This time, though, it was on shorter notice and it really required finding something warm and... and...

There it was. The ideal outfit.

It was soon purchased and presented to Kuroko.

It seemed the brunette's interests had gotten the better of her, for the article of clothing she had purchased was a hoodie that strongly resembled a certain amphibious mascot.

In order to make the most of the remaining day, with the possibility of Judgement responsibilities intruding given the odd disappearances, and to spend as little time shopping for clothing that would probably only be used the once, Kuroko set about removing the dirtied clothing whilst Misaka got something else that she could wear.

She found herself regretting this immensely. Whilst most of the clothing was non-offensive, albeit classless compared to her own normal purchases, it wasn't a huge cry from how she'd used to dress. If it was only for a day, then it would do. But that hoodie... of all the things for onee-sama to pick out, she had managed to zone in on the most childish article in the entire store? The frog, of all possible things...

Yet it had already been purchased and it was a gift from onee-sama. Had it been anyone else at all, she would have refused out of hand. Instead, politeness and obsession were warring with abject horror as the middle school girl stood in the changing room, holding the last remaining piece of clothing.

---

The wind starting to pick up outside wasn't so bad, now. So long as they could get through the rest of this day without meeting anyone familiar or mirrors, the teleporter felt she could make it through with her dignity intact.

It was difficult for Mikoto to hide how pleased she was. In fact, it was impossible. The brunette teenager was practically glowing with happiness as she walked along beside her friend. Kuroko was her friend, but also a pervert... but the Gekota hoodie was really cute! It was why she picked it out in the first place, she just couldn't help it... and really, she couldn't help but acknowledge that Kuroko looked cute wearing an outfit designed after her favorite mascot. Not that she'd let Kuroko hear that, of course. But it was true, the adorable froggy hood perched upon Kuroko's head...

Mikoto was sad she couldn't find one in her own size, really. But no, the upper limits for size had all been just barely right for Kuroko. It fit her well enough, though, and as far as the Third-Ranked Level Five was concerned it was a good replacement for the dirty uniform.

"We should probably drop off your uniform so it can get cleaned off," Mikoto commented, her eyes unavoidably shining due to the presence of anything Gekota-related, "I hadn't really planned what to do after that, that idiot at the crepe stand ruined things there."