Were these girls laughing at her? Beatrix glared at the pair, as they tried to hide the amusement they were clearly experiencing at her expense. What did they find so funny, anyway? It wasn't like Beatrix had said anything silly at all! Why were peasants always so difficult to deal with?
"...You're just jealous, because I'm so great..." muttered the small blonde ineffectually. Thankfully, however, Ruiko had finally taken note of her age, and the smug grin returned as Beatrix rounded on her.

"If anyone should be surprised, it's me!" the arrogant youngster scoffed, "since you're obviously nowhere near as mature as me! Why, I almost pity you!"

Murakawa Torako

"You're late!"

Torako stood crossarmed, tapping her foot on the pavement as Kyouma finally arrived. Her annoyance however, lasted only a short moment before returning to her usual cheerful self.

"You really should start exercising more, you know?" she said, as she started walking down an alley. "Maybe run every morning like I do. In fact, why don't you come running with me in the morning? I'm sure that will do you a world of good."

The alley she had proceeded down was one familiar to her, for it lead down to a shortcut to one of the better areas. The one that has a lot of good food in it. Plus it was probably long enough to qualify for the rumour.

Unable to resist, Tora started mouthing off again, mostly about inconsequential things, again speaking for speaking's sake. "...and then, after all that testing, someone in Nagaten finally affirmed that I had the potential, so I was still a Level 0, but at least with some tiny bit of power. Ah, that was hard on my heart, you know? I was worried about not having enough merit to stay here, when I've been bugging my family all my life then to send me here, and being told I wasn't gifted would be a shocker. Ah, but its kinda slow going though, I only reached Level 2 this year. Speaking of which, you people who shoot up to high levels sure are lucky..."

---

Uiharu Kazari

"... Wait, you're the same age as me?!"

Kazari was still holding back on her laughter, but that bit did pique her interest. So it seems the girl had a penchant to making people think she was younger than she was. How unfortunate, was what she wanted to say, but considering the girl swallowed that story about Kazari being 10, she didn't really have the right to say that.

"If anyone should be surprised, it's me! Since you're obviously nowhere near as mature as me! Why, I almost pity you!"

"Ahaha~ I wonder about that... . By the way, can we talk somewhere else? I'm not exactly comfortable standing here in front of that alley." Kazari stared into the poorly lit alley. She wouldn't go in it for anything, much less search for some urban legend in it.

Kyouma let out a slight laugh at Torako's mention of exercise, choosing to ignore her complaints about his speed. All things considered, she was the one dragging him along, so she should have been the one to match his pace. But that was... Well, no matter, really. As long as he got the job done, then would taking a regular pace be that much of a crime?

"Yeah... No thank you. I've got enough studying on my plate without having to deal with the problems that come with being athletic." he said shaking his head no as he followed close behind Torako as she led him down the alleyway. "Besides, less sleep is the opposite of what I need these days."

It was true, given how he had been knocked out for who knows how long for this morning alone just over some side research; his school days tended to be a bit worse than that, which only served to make matters a tad worse for him.

With nothing better to do, Kyouma decided to listen to Torako's carefree chatter; though it felt much like it, there was a moment of clarity that he felt as he sifted through it all. That... Well, surprisingly enough, it had betrayed her own beliefs quite easily. So that's why...!
Kyouma's pace slowed down, though, as he heard Torako talk about being 'lucky' to get to those higher levels.

That... That was a tad far from the truth, if anything. Sure, it was lucky to get such a high level ability (and, heck, it saved him a chunk of money on glasses and stuff), but that also came with all the scientists pulling you left and right for tests and experiments. Frankly, the whole ordeal sucked; he even go transferred to Nagatenjouki just because of this power of his and had to actually kick himself into gear to get through his school days. Luck? Far from it.

"...You know, having a high level isn't all it's cracked up to be. Given half the chance, I'd trade my power away and go back to being a normal student..." he muttered quietly as he continued along the alleyway. Well, she'd probably get irritated if he told her about the end results of his research here in the middle of this cramped place, and with that it was almost certain he'd get a punch to the gut, at the very least. He'd tell her in a less... Enclosed area, if possible...

Mikoto listened for a few moments as Anette explained what was going on. Was everyone having wardrobe trouble today? First Kuroko got a crepe exploded on her, and now this girl she barely met had washing machine issues... it was kind of a weird coincidence, she realized. However, it was quickly dismissed when she heard mention of the gala. Weren't they giving out special edition Gekota scarves there?! It had to be the same one, there wasn't going to be two galas at the same time on the same day, right? No-way that was how it was! However... she couldn't just get excited about something like that in front of the other girl, she couldn't let the other girl know it had anything to do with Gekota... Still, she was going to the gala, and now that it was brought up...

"Oh, I was planning on going to the gala, too, replied Mikoto, expertly hiding the depths of her Gekota-based excitement under a guise of casual conversation. Yes, this would surely work out, there was no way it would ever be discovered!



"... I dunno, I thought you were about ten at the oldest," replied Ruiko with a shrug. She was being honest, now, it wasn't any teasing, or jokes like she made about Uiharu. She really hadn't realized that Beatrice was the same age as she was. To be honest, she still wasn't sure she believed the boastful little girl. Maybe she was trying to claim she was older so they'd take her more seriously? She did seem like she had the kind of ego that would drive her to do that sort of thing.

"Eh? What about the alley, Uiharu?" she asked, glancing back at her friend, "It takes us to our destination much faster then going the long way around!"

With a triumphant grin, she pointed down the alley.

Annette would admit that she was surprised to hear Misaka was going as well, only to immediately chide herself for that silly thought. Of course she would be going, given that it was an important social function, and she had her own societal expectations to meet. the foreigner herself was busy enough as it was, and she could only imagine what it must be like for Misaka, as one of the top Level 5's in the city. It was probably difficult for her to get a simple moment to relax. At least, so she liked to think.

"That's interesting," she replied without letting any of her inner thoughts sneak out to be noticed. "A party for charity is always worth it." She might not be able to remember the charity in question, but she knew it would be that. And it would provide for plenty of opportunities for all of them, to meet new people, and she had heard there would be a few prizes there as well for entertainment.

She smiled then, tilting her head as she finished up on that thought. "Well, I will look forward to seeing you there."

Satisfied that she had won the debate, Beatrix smirked at the two girls smugly, revelling in her massive maturity and adultness. Granted, she couldn't quite recall the specifics for why she felt the need to prove these traits, but nevertheless! Now that her superiority had been proven, they had no choice but to accept it.

Uiharu then had to remind the obvious adult about the alley, causing Beatrix to eye it warily. It wasn't like she was scared or anything! ...Alleys were just... um... they weren't good for you, so that's why she didn't like them any more!

But of course, the tallest of the girls had to act all fearless and stuff, and there was no way Beatrix was letting her seem like the bravest when that totally wasn't true!

"Hmph, worried about a mere alleyway? So childish..." Beatrix muttered, averting her eyes. Which was totally not a sign that she herself was worried about anything! That would just be silly.

Having been mostly obscured behind some inconvenient piping until Torako and Kyouma were sufficiently far down, the young woman that pushed herself off the wall and planted herself before them could come as a bit of a shock. Short black hair, and what looked like protection for motorsports despite the lack of any nearby vehicles. She seemed a bit too old to be a student right now, but definitely young enough to have graduated in the past year or two.

Suspiciously, she seemed to have a few clear plastic containers filled with green gas clipped to her belt.

"You're not zeroes, are you?"

Murakawa Torako

Oblivious, and unable to to hear his muttering over her own voice, she kept on chattering until a woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere, stopping Tora dead in her tracks.

"You're not zeroes, are you?"

Tora snapped out of her confusion, aware she had just stared blankly at the woman for a few seconds. Zeroes? Since they were in Academy City, she could only assume the woman meant a Level 0 or a Skillout. Perhaps she was afraid of Skillout muggers? Those people was giving legitimate and law abiding lower levels bad names everywhere after all.

"We're not, actually. Kyouma here is a four, though I'm just a level 2. Ah, but I'm still working on that. With any luck I could be a level 3 when I graduate from Nagaten. By the way, could it be that you are looking into that rumors about the alleys?" That was possibly the only thing that came to mind when a woman like her was loitering inside an alley. With a slightly proud look on her face, she pointed to Kyouma. "Because my friend here knows all about it. Right? You did say you were researching it a lot."

---

Uiharu Kazari

"Eh? What about the alley, Uiharu?" she asked, glancing back at her friend, "It takes us to our destination much faster then going the long way around!"

"Hmph, worried about a mere alleyway? So childish..." Beatrix muttered.

Well... Maybe it would be alright this time. It was broad daylight after all, and it wasn't as if all the denizens of the criminal world was packed in there waiting for them to step inside. And since that girl doesn't seem afraid at all.

She turned to Beatrix, "Is that so? Then can you lead the way?"

Though not as unaware as his kouhai was, Kyouma was still shocked by the sudden appearance of someone new in this already-cramped alleyway. Unlike her, however, Kyouma decided to be much more cautious in regards to this person. The woman's outfit, especially given the circumstances, raised a few alarms inside his head, and the belt stocked to the brim with... Something...

Shoot. This was just screaming 'DANGER! DANGER! GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW!', but figuring out a plan of escape in this situation was a lot harder than he'd have liked. If he used his ability, then there was a chance, but he'd much prefer to avoid that, if at all.

Torako striking up a conversation with the woman, though, was not within his realm of expectations, though. Did she REALLY have no sense of self-preservation? Maybe it was his own that was overtuned...
Either way, he had to help her figure a way out of this mess... Which meant playing along for now.

"Ah... Yes. Though I did research it, most of the details that I ascertained were what you'd expect from the situation. Nothing concrete, but so far it seems that most of the people affected are 3s and lower." he tossed out, hoping to placate them both as he wrote a small message in light in front of Torako's eyes, only visible to her due to the way he was currently refracting the light in the area.

[Don't say a word about what's coming up, or else we may be in trouble.
If something goes south, I'm going to create a flash of light to let us escape.
If she decides to attack you, I'll hold her off; just run.]

It was at this point that Mikoto realized that it would be very easy to spot her getting the Gekota scarf now that it was clear she'd be going to the gala. This wasn't like it had been for Febri, she couldn't just let people see her doing that... But surely it would be so crowded no-one would know what she was doing, right? Right. That would have to be the case. Plus it was for charity, wasn't it? That was plenty of a good reason to be going. Indeed, the fact that it was a good cause contributed to Mikoto's decision to go. Even if the Gekota scarf had sealed the deal.

"I think it's for child errors?" she added. To be honest, she didn't remember exactly which charity it was that was holding the gala. But she did remember it was to help raise funds for child errors, at least. "I remember it being something like that, at least."

The brunette recalled that Kuroko was probably coming with her, as well. Which made dodging her long enough to pick up the Gekota scarf somewhat more difficult...



"C'mon, c'mon!"

With a energetic smile, Ruiko gestured to Uiharu and the other girl to follow her as she approached the alleyway. She didn't see anyone weird in it, even if it was a bit dark from the way the light was hitting. Still, it'd be pretty clear if there was any bad guys lurking around the corner, she definitely didn't see anything strange and she could see through to the other side, where there were people on the street. So obviously there was no problem, right?

Not even the ghost would strike them here!

"...Lead... lead the way?" Beatrix repeated, the hesitant tone in her voice obviously nothing more than a commoner's imagination. Her dual-coloured eyes flicked towards the alley (did that thing just get darker and longer since she last looked at it?) and back towards the girls as she tried to think of a good excuse to avoid traversing that place.

Unfortunately, Beatrix' genius intellect was not able to find a solution in time, as Saten was already beckoning her inside, and before she knew it, was already taking small steps towards the alley.
There's nothing in there, there's nothing in there... Beatrix told herself, staring at the ghost-laden space with a small grimace. There was no way she'd be attacked by ghosts, right? What was it supposed to do... right, right, just attack the commoners! So Beatrix was perfectly safe! Uiharu and Saten were the ones that had to worry, but if a powerful genius like Beatrix was there, then no ghost would dare show itself! It was going to be all right!

And so, with her chin raised high, Beatrix put on her smuggest grin and took a step inside.

"Investigating? You could say that," the girl said, revealing a match in one hand and striking it against the wall, before tossing the flismy stick behind them... leading to a brief but intense conflagration back the way they came, "If you're here for the experiment, come with me. If you're not here for it, you're coming anyway."

"You'll get hurt less if you co-operate."

---

There were no creepy espers hanging around this alley, unless you counted the two most harmless level ones that anybody had ever seen as 'creepy'. Didn't seem like there were any ghosts here, at least.

---

With her dirtied uniform dropped off, the schoolgirl was now well on her way back. Twintailed girl latched onto the Railgun's shoulders in three... two... one...

Still unaware of the frog based obsession of the person she was talking to, Annette nodded to confirm that Misaka was correct. "Yes, that's it," she replied calmly, before a slight frown made it's way across her features. "Though I will admit that I'm not the biggest supporter of that term."

It was just personal preference really, most likely a result of how she had been raised, but it seemed to convey the idea that there was something wrong with these kids, that they were some sort of mistake that had to be dealt with. But that would be her foreign viewpoint speaking, and she wasn't ready to take up the crusade just yet. Not when she was in a situation like this.

Before she could go on though, a tingle ran through the back of her skull, a familiar sensation that had been honed through schooling her at Academy City. She closed her eyes at that point, the better to cut out external stimuli, before speaking. "You may want to dodge," she offered moments before Shirai teleported in. Score another point for future sight.

Mikoto paused for a moment. Child Error did sound kind of bad, but it was in reference to the circumstances that left them without anyone to turn to rather then anything about the children themselves. Still, it was kind of a bad-sounding term, to say the least. Regardless, the gala was to help them, so it was not really any problem. And that gekota scarf... well...

However, there was a moment of confusion when Annette told her to dodge. Mikoto certainly hadn't registered anything unusual approaching at all, so why would she say something like that?

"Eh? Why?" asked Mikoto, looking back over her shoulder in confusion. No, there was nothing there...

And then her roommate abruptly appeared and latched onto her, sending the both of them to the ground.



"See? See?" Ruiko grinned, turning to face her friend and the gothloli girl as she headed into the alleyway. Just as she had thought, this one was pretty much empty. Part of her was slightly disappointed about the total lack of any weird hints of a ghost, but the rest was pleased due to the fact that, well, they weren't getting attacked. So there was absolutely nothing to worry about, really. "I knew there wasn't going to be anything down this way, it was too cleared-out. The ghost only goes for darker alleyways."

Murakawa Torako

She blinked as the lights came in front of her eyes, then trying to wave it away before realizing it was forming letters. "Sen....pai?" Tora looked over quizzically, wondering why he was acting so. It wasn't as if that sort of getup was rare, they were in Academy City after all, and much stranger things like flying teenagers and teleporting people were the norm.

Tora turned towards the sound of a struck match, turning just in time to see the match fly over her head. She didn't need to look behind her to know what happened; the loud whoomp of a fire suddenly flaring up, and the intense heat was more than enough. Well... It looks like the woman was exactly as dangerous as she looks.

"I... I understand... I'll follow along quietly." She put up her shaking hands in a show of surrender.

Pyrokinesis was it? Or perhaps another variant or another ability entirely. In any case, it would be dangerous to fight a fire based ability user in this small alley, or flee, which she would do and can do with surprising speed. Regardless of how fast Kyouma can fire off his ability, all it took from her was pushing fire down one direction, and let the heat do it's work. Plus, they didn't know anything about how the woman's ability work; was the match simply a focus or the limit? Can she do much more? Her level? Too much she didn't know to risk both their lives.

---

Uiharu Kazari

Saten, acting like she usually does, confidently stepped into the alley, followed closely by the girl.

"Ah, Saten, wait!" Seeing as her friend had already stepped in, there was no way Kazari could leave her alone. Thankfully the walk was relatively uneventful.

"I knew there wasn't going to be anything down this way, it was too cleared-out. The ghost only goes for darker alleyways."

Kazari sighed. "Yeah, thank God for that. Since everything is sorted out, shall we go now?"

Beatrix let out a small sigh of relief, glad that her hypothesis was indeed correct. Not that there could be any doubt about that, but still.
"Hmph. As I expected!" Beatrix scoffed, and allowed herself a hearty laugh. Satisfied that spectres would not be assaulting her any time soon, Beatrix nodded in agreement with Uiharu, "yeah, sure. Uh, where were we all going, again?" the blonde tilted her head in wonder, seemingly already forgotten her original purpose in venturing outside at all today.

Well, that... Though he did expect some sort of interference from the person in front of them at the moment anyhow, the fact that she was brazen enough to light the whole alleyway on fire... Was she crazy? Judgement or Anti-Skill or even regular people were bound to notice! But the fact that she was so confident in her abilities meant that likely wasn't the case. Shit.

"...Alright, alright, understood." Kyouma sighed, raising his arms in surrender as he quickly started going through possible options to call for SOS from his current position without being too obvious. "Looks like you got what you wished for, huh?"

A cruel joke, yes, but by this point Kyouma had already figured out a few strategies to get them out of this mess, and creating a quarrel of some sort to divert attention was where it'd have to begin.

For starters, the fact that they were so deep in the alleyway meant that whatever was past the raging fire behind them probably wouldn't be seen by their kidnapper. so he started there... With the light indicating signs of a struggle from near the entrance, which would then lead would-be rescuers to the flames. Of course, he'd have to leave more 'tracks' the farther in they moved, but keeping up his illusions wasn't exactly the hardest thing in the world to do. It was pretty easy to tell if they were, though, given how they tended to mess with his concentration a bit when handled without care, which meant that the second someone DID find where they were and was curious enough to investigate, he could simply change the mess into an SOS and all the faked evidence into arrows pointing to their location.

Of course, if that didn't work, there was always the 'flashbang and laser cutter out' option, but that was usually pretty messy and would net him... Well, all of his money to pay for damages, but if worse came to worst...

"Ah, good. I'd probably hurt you trying for peaceful subdual," the girl cheerfully admitted, pointing to her left, further down the alleyway, and allowing the flames to peter out, "Stay ahead of me, and follow my directions if you don't want to be burnt, poisoned, choked, or simply hit from behind. I'm not some untrained rookie that only has their power."

---

Kuroko seemed quite happy to be on top of Mikoto... even if this was in the middle of the street. For once, though, the girl didn't have to be electrocuted off of her senior, apparently having something important enough to convey that it was best to do it before being fried.

"Onee-sama, have you bought a new dress? The gala is tonight and your old one is still stained," the twintailed teleporter asked, apparently having found out about the current condition of the railgun's formal attire and circumstantial evidence that even advanced technology didn't have the perfect ability to remove stains from a white outfit, or at least not easily. Not that she should have forgotten, as it was Kuroko's fault that it had gotten stained in the first place.

She complied silently with the woman, walking in front of her.

"So uh... what are you going to do with us?" Tora gulped nervously, thinking of all the situations she might end up in. Since people nowadays were more open as well... Kyouma might end up in the same situation as well. Damn it, she only wanted to see that level upper like thing, not be grabbed and sold by a crime ring. Or be dissected in a lab, or be sold dissected in a lab crime ring. What sort of scientific crime do they have in store for them both?

"What sort of experiments are you running here? Something like that Frankenstein movie? Because I watched it one day, and I thought, why did people hate that monster so much? He didn't really do much and he got attacked for nothing. Kinda similar to what my friend went through the other day. She was trying to practice control over her abilities in a park and then..."

Annette danced back as Misaka suddenly found herself sporting her roommmate on her back, just as predicted by her visions. She was a tad disappointed that Misaka hadn't listened, but to be fair she hadn't had much time to explain what was about to happen, and the Level 5 didn't know about her particular ability. So she would excuse it for now.

"Welcome back Shirai," she said with a nod from her new position, glad that she had managed to avoid being hit on the way down, which was part of the reason why she had gotten the vision in the first place. At least she didn't have to witness the somewhat awkward sight for long as Kuroko got off her friend, even if it denied her the opportunity to make some sort of joke.

The teleporters comment earned a slight frown, but more a look of confusion and attentiveness. "You too," Annette asked as she looked down at Misaka. Well then, it seemed that today was the day for laundry and clothing mishaps. It was a strange coincidence, to say the least, but she saved that comment for herself, since it wouldn't be very tactful. For now, she waited to see what would transpire between the two friends, so she could decide if she should move on or not.