This took a while for multiple reasons. Crazy times we live in and my Betas were busy. Things kept getting pushed back one week, then another, and the next thing I realized it was months. The one good news (or bad depending on your interpretation) is information on the dragons was revealed. Some of the information was nice, but I was kind of disappointed. I sort of expected… more. I can use some of the new information I guess, but it's not as amazing as I hoped it would be. Maybe more information will be revealed later. Anyways, enough blabbing on, I hope everyone is staying safe in these troubled times and let's move to comments.

The Wolf Paladin: I was debating doing it, but then it wouldn't be the Pierce we all know and love. I definitely am working toward the ending. I've put too much time into this to give up before an ending is finalized.

Messagepositive: I'm trying and I plan to keep going.

ReyKingKaiser: Yeah, I kind of touched the part about the List in this chapter. Now that people know it exists, it makes sense.

Anime-ted Life116: Ah, that chat? I only did it for a fun a bit, but kind of grew tired of it. Might bring it back sometime. Maybe after the serious event calms down I can add another scene at the end of a chapter. I'll take a look at your story. I think I kind of glanced over it already, but haven't had time to catch up on all the fanfics I want to read.

Acpeters: Wish I could update more myself, but real life takes priority.

Aminadab Brulle: 84 years huh. Man, I'm old. There have been quite a few arcs and a lot of action and events still to come. Kyoka sneaks on from time to time because Last Order doesn't mind. Everyone had fun with the Pierce scene. I did it BECAUSE it was Eve that was involved. They had a talk with Aisa earlier? Yes, that joke with Kazari is silly. That seven was a typo because I have to remember everything I write too plus the canon series. Ruiko Saten just has to tell everyone she beat the list to prove it wrong. Destati died. Maderfole I talk to from time to time. He's occupying his time reading RWBY fanfics, but when he gets inspired, he'll write more of his Index works. I can respect that. Maybe I can do the meta-comments. Yeah… I haven't read GT1 yet… so yeah.

DN Works: I think most of us realized that.

Gamethrower: That's good to hear.

Grendel3130: Slowly Academy City descends into Chaos.

Cygfried: Two more seasons left.

general ironox: Sorry the chapter took so long.

Chris: Hmm, I kind of want Touma to tell Index she can't be in the harem for John Pen Rage Mode. Poor, Jaune. He was so popular. With the new stuff in NT and GT coming out, it threw a lot of my ideas out of whack. I also planned to end this a certain way, as it's not one of those that goes on forever. It's a story, not a series.

A certain guest: You seem to really understand the Parameter List. It's cost versus outcome. Would you pay $5 or $5000 for the same outcome? You choose the cheaper outcome. This is also a defense the city can use. As technology approves, the Parameter List becomes obsolete and they can tell people that it's not used anymore. It was just something to help out when the city was starting out. This chapter focuses a bit on the List and it's just going to get worse.

Mr. X: 1) Yeah, he left discord a long time ago. 2) Yeah, she is. A master of turning people against each other. 3) Yes and most likely. 4) Shipping Touma and Eris? Nah. 5) Too much yeah. That could have been an entire arc on its own.

GunsAndMagic: Fruit was up for debate, most people just use apples.

Generation Zero: Pierce Aogami got a girlfriend and ALMOST became a man. He works hard and gets no respect. Seiri may not like Touma's harem, but if it improves his outlook, it's a good thing. If his job was already done, it doesn't matter if he gets found out. Of course, some of them won't believe the evidence. All girls with power like to tease and bully Shiage. He's just has that kind of aura. This chapter goes into the Parameter List and how it's going to affect the city. It's not like everyone's going to suddenly go into full on riot mode.

DanganMachin: I can see that.

ender50: I really should add some more Sogiita in huh? He kind of got pushed to the side. He's just there to annoy Eve, since someone has to.

Creation1258: Maybe a time skip at the end to show a future where that happened.

FireDusk: The big climax is building, so hopefully the ending will please you.

Gilmesh: Jason was planned out from the beginning, a few minor details changed, but the point of his existence remained. If you like Bayloupe x Accelerator, I recommend reading Maderfole's A Certain Accelerated Light. It's a spin off where things worked out and Bayloupe invites Accelerator to England. How they came together? Bayloupe's like the big sister and there's no way Accelerator would want a brat as a girlfriend, so an older mature girl is more to his liking. At the same time, Bayloupe knows a lot about magic, which is something he would be interested in learning. Bayloupe would be attracted to his strength. Cain has one more job left this season.

Disclaimer: Random people do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters. Reading this story may cause you to burst out in laughter or start yelling at fictional characters. This may cause nearby people to assume you have gone crazy. Please read responsibly.

Touma had no idea what to do about this situation.

Things were calming down, but a heavy atmosphere hung over the city. There were only ten minutes left in the school day and Touma was looking forward to hearing that bell. He still hadn't heard back from Mikoto or Jason. Misaki assured him Mikoto was still in class and was preoccupied with other students while Kuroko had a different schedule than her as they were in different years. With Jason, Accelerator might be onto something. He was probably stuck working overtime with the city and wouldn't be returning to school. They knew where he lived at least and it would be easy to wait there for him.

The spiky-haired boy looked out the window and sighed.

At least there hadn't been any more explosions since that morning. All the school lockdowns were removed, even if their teachers were advising them not to dawdle on the way back to their dorms. Komoe had been especially adamant that they all be careful and not goof around. It's not like Touma had been planning to do anything else before the explosions started. Now? He wanted to see if Jason knew more. He, Accelerator, and Motoharu were planning to visit him after class. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure.

Eris, huh?

It wasn't like Touma knew much about Greek culture. He knew some of the main ones, like Hercules and a couple of the big macho gods like Zeus, and they read about Oedipus in school. Still, Academy City didn't focus on mythology. It was mostly just studying famous past works. Motoharu knew more about that. Though, Touma wasn't sure knowing about Eris helped him. A goddess of discord was something he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Like what was the purpose of a goddess trying to make people do bad things?

Most of the students in Academy City had absolutely nothing to do with magic or the dark side of Academy City. They were normal kids who were trying to live their lives as best they could. Now, the city was thrown into disarray. Komoe's sincerity was enough to convince their class that she truly believed the information was false, but obviously the other classes didn't feel the same way. During breaks and lunch, there were a lot of mutterings and angry glances toward Accelerator.

He did an amazing job of ignoring them.

It was natural that after the announcement a lot of people would resent higher-level ability users. If this had been some random propaganda with no substance, most people would have ignored it and those that believed it would have dropped it pretty quickly. The problem was the Parameter List had been released to every device possible in Academy City. This was way too elaborate for a simple prank. With the information about Eris, the picture became clear.

To Eve, it didn't matter if the Parameter List was true or not. All that mattered was that the city would be busy dealing with riots and pandemonium. Things had gone quiet, but that didn't mean things weren't brewing in the silence. Something hung in the back of his mind. It was like the calm before the storm. Things were going to get a lot worse before they got better. For now, Touma didn't care if the last was true or not. There wasn't much he could do about it if it was. For now, it was to figure out what Jason and the city knew so maybe they could get a clearer idea of what Eve was up to.

I should probably let Carissa know too. Touma thought, dreading her reaction. He had her number, weirdly enough. If anyone outside of his group of friends found out, there would be a lot of awkward questions. Still, she may scare me, but after getting mad at her for hiding information from us, I can't really be a hypocrite now.

He managed to send a short message letting her know a girl named Eris was responsible for the current problems in Academy City. There was no response back and he didn't expect one anytime soon. She was probably incredibly busy with public and private affairs. Being a princess and ambassador must be tough. Touma was glad he didn't have to do that and always tried to remain anonymous, or as much as he could nowadays. Kami probably wasn't as popular now as he used to be after the list announcement.

The blaring alarm cut into his thoughts as the school day finally ended.

"Be safe!" Komoe told them all loudly. "Remember, try not to dawdle on the way back to your dorms. And remember, read chapter 7 for tomorrow."

"Bye, sensei!" The class repeated as students began to file out.

All afterschool clubs had been canceled due to the bombings and there had been an announcement that most businesses would be closing today. It wasn't like they had much to do besides go home. Touma began to pack slowly, watching his classmates leave, as he waited for them all to file out. Soon, it was just him, Accelerator, and Motoharu. Luckily, Pierce had left with Seiri, talking about something before getting slapped. It was obvious why Accelerator stayed back.

He wanted to avoid the stares in the hallways.

Breaks were bad enough, but there was no way he was going to deal with the entire school filing out and being stuck in the middle of it. Being a level 5 made him a prime target for resentment by the other students. It's not like it was his fault he was a level 5 if the Parameter List was true. He was a child when he joined the city and the people up top set his education.

Touma and Motoharu hung back with him so they could talk and leave together.

"Fuck off!" Accelerator snapped when he saw them waiting.

"Love you too, man." Motoharu laughed at his reaction.

"Weren't we planning to see if Jason can tell us what's going on?" Touma asked.

Accelerator scowled, but didn't deny that had been the plan. He wanted to know why the hell Jason hadn't warned him about this. If he had known, there was no way he would have come to school. Now he had to deal with a bunch of people blaming him for them not reaching level 5. Before, there had just been people who believed the city decided who to give preferential treatment to and then they became a level 5.

But now, that announcement told everyone the city knew exactly who could make it to level 5 and thus they worked with them.

"Tsk, fine." Accelerator finally replied.

"How bad do you think the situation is?" Touma asked Motoharu, who was staring out the window watching people leave.

"At this point, I think it's slowly sinking into most of the population," Motoharu answered. "You'll have groups of people. The first group already blames the city for not progressing and a good chunk of them work with Skill-Out. The second group always wanted a reason to blame the city for them not progressing in the ability curriculum. They will be the ones who start rioting first." He leaned up against the window and crossed his arms. "Things won't get bad until the third group joins."

"The third group?" Touma asked. "Who are they?"

"They are the ones who will try to prove the city wrong and work even harder to get stronger. It's when… if they fail and prove the city right, then despair will fall over them. At that point, they will join the first two groups and overwhelm the remaining students and faculty. The fourth group is made up of people who just don't care, much like you and me, who won't fall for this."

The word despair hit Accelerator a little harder than it should have. He was reminded of the distasteful battle with Pride so long ago. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I figured things would get bad," Touma muttered. "It just sounds like things are going to spiral downhill into chaos."

"Well, that's what happens when Eris gets involved." Motoharu shrugged and kicked a desk lightly. "I notified my side, but there's not much more I can do right now until they contact me with an assignment. Any word on your fiancé?"

"Which one?"

Bam!

The punch he received was justified by the many days and all those times he refused to admit his blatant yet ignorant magnetism of the female populace.

"Carissa never responded."

"Yeah… didn't expect her too." Motoharu glanced over at Accelerator. "Are you going to continue to mope around man? Upset that you aren't the Number 1 because of hard work, nyah?"

"You and I both fucking know my ability isn't due to hard work." Accelerator spat out with a glare of disdain that did little to intimidate the Backstabbing Blade. "This list actually makes sense now that I think about it." He crossed his arms and kicked his feet up on the desk. "The city made a big deal the moment my ability was unlocked. They put me into some stupid training programs and manipulated me into participating in shit experiments."

Touma kept his mouth shut.

"There are some messed up people in this city for sure." Motoharu agreed.

"Looks like most people have finally left." Touma informed them, looking out of the window. "We can probably get going."

"Just go on your own and I'll meet you at Kagere's apartment." Accelerator muttered, not wanting to go along with them.

"Naaaaaah." Motoharu brushed off his concerns. "We're best buddies. We can't let you wander around on your own. Not with the current situation at least."

"You think any of those whining bitches are going to be a match for me?" Accelerator scoffed.

"No, but it's still bull that they blame you." Touma pointed out. "Let's say this is all true, it's still not your fault. It's the city. You just happen to have the right genes… DNA… whatever they use to detect who can be a high-level ability user. Not like you got to choose any of this."

"Those the kind of lines you use on your harem girls?" Accelerator asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Nah, I give out free lap dances." Touma deadpanned, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"KNEW IT!" Motoharu yelled. "Aogami owes me 1000 yen!"

Touma could feel the change in the streets immediately.

There were a lot less people hanging out in the streets. Stores were mostly empty as students were heeding their teacher's advice and heading back to their dorms. Touma, Motoharu, and Accelerator were some of the few people not heading toward the student housing, but rather deeper into the city.

At this point, they saw a crowd in the distance, the thunderous voices of the angry mob drowning out the noise around them as they stood outside a large administrative building.

"Tell us the truth!"

"The city lied to us!"

"Was all of our work for nothing!?"

The three boys stopped. They saw several members of Anti-Skill trying to maintain order, but they weren't having much luck. They didn't know the students, but they could recognize some of the uniforms. It wasn't just the poorer schools, but some of the better ones too. They didn't see any Tokiwadai or super prestigious school uniforms in sight, but there were other noticeable ones. Seems the words from Skill-Out affected a lot of people faster than they predicted.

"Should probably avoid that." Motoharu remarked.

"No shit." Came Accelerator's snappy response.

"Looks like we take the side route then," Touma replied, pointing down an alleyway. "Unless you want to fight our way through there."

As Touma's luck would have it, some of the students in the back of the crowd turned around and noticed them. Touma and Motoharu were pretty normal students, but Accelerator was instantly recognizable. There weren't a lot of albinos in the city and after the tournament and Cops and Robbers game, he became a pretty well-known figure. Instantly, the three boys froze, knowing what was about to happen. Their instincts were one hundred percent on point.

"It's Accelerator!"

"Such misfortune." The unlucky boy muttered. Somehow, he always forgot not to tempt fate with words teasing her merciless ways.

It only took one person to shout those two words for the information to echo through the entire crowd. Like a wave, the crowd turned to direct their attention toward the albino. Along with that, their resentment and anger about what they learned this morning began to boil over. Every one of them had an expression of disgust when they locked eyes on him. Touma and Motoharu were completely outside their notice.

"Thanks to you, the rest of us were left behind!"

"How's it feel to be born special?!"

"You didn't have to work at all!"

"Go to hell!"

"All high levels should just die!"

The insults just kept coming and Touma was feeling his own anger well up like boiling water within him. It wasn't Accelerator's fault he was born with the potential to control vectors. Nor was it his fault the city decided to select him. If the list was true, of course. Words were rising to his throat and he was about to tell them off, when a full can of soda came flying toward them and exploded at their feet, drenching them all.

"Serves you right!" Someone yelled as others laughed.

"I'm out of here," Accelerator muttered bitterly. "I'll meet you at Kagere's."

He flipped the switch on his choker and shot off into the air. Everyone was looking at him, and not at Touma and Motoharu, who decided to take the opportunity to sneak off down the alleyway. Once they were well away from the crowd, both of them glanced at each other. This was something they knew was a possibility. It was why Accelerator was waiting for the streets to clear before he left.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" Motoharu said to break the silence, as they walked down the streets in a more depressing mood.

"It's not even his fault," Touma growled angrily. "He didn't threaten the city to make him stronger, it just happened. The city pulled him into those experiments, lied to him, and so much more. He's the victim."

"Don't tell him that."

"Yeah, I don't want another steel beam thrown at me. Once was enough"

"At this point, he might just throw you into orbit to be nice."

"At least I could see the stars up close."

They shared a sort of forced laugh and then silence took over. There wasn't a lot to talk about, as they discussed everything important earlier today. The atmosphere also wasn't really right for any jokes. Without Aogami, they had a harder time setting them up. Touma still hadn't heard from Mikoto, and that was worrying.

Things only got worse when they received a text from Accelerator.

Get your ass here, now!

Touma and Motoharu shared a slightly worried look. Both of them knew Accelerator well enough by now to know this wasn't his normal impatience. There were slight changes to his annoyance that told them if something happened or he was just pissed. For the latter, it would have been something like; where the fuck are you? This text was urgent.

So the two boys booked it down the street.

It still took them a good ten minutes with full out running to get downtown. They probably should have taken the bus, but then they would have not only had to pay, being poor students, but also sit through traffic and bus stops. Luckily, both of them had experience running long distances due to being attacked by crazy magicians, out-of-control ability users, and killer robots. This gave them great cardiovascular endurance.

Finally, Jason's apartment complex came into view.

Their feet skidded to a stop as they saw the source of Accelerator's alarming text.

Glass and concrete debris littered the street under one side of the building. A large hole had been blown out in the side of the building. Metal twisted in odd shapes and there were already workers trying to seal up the hole with sheets of glass. From what they saw, the inside did not look good. Three floors had been affected by the explosion and the inside of the building fared worse. Squinting, they could make out blackened objects, but that was it. There was no fire, but that would have been put out long ago. Orange barricades blocked the nearby streets and Accelerator was standing behind one, watching the scene carefully.

"What happened?" Touma asked, rushing over to him.

"Hell if I know," Accelerator spat back. "No one will say shit. There was an explosion though, that much is obvious."

"And it's Kagere's apartment in the middle," Motoharu pointed out. "Obviously not a coincidence."

"He does work for the city," Touma admitted and then shook his head. "No, that doesn't make sense. We heard the explosions were hitting city-owned buildings, like armories, Anti-Skill headquarters, and those kinds of things. Not private apartments. If they were, there are plenty of better targets, right?"

"Oh, definitely." Motoharu agreed. "Kagere isn't one of the board of directors. They would be top targets."

"Can we get closer?" Touma asked.

"I can," Accelerator huffed. "If you want to deal with the aftermath."

"You know damn well I meant without causing a problem."

"Not unless you can get the workers to agree," Motoharu laughed. "Though… you know this cute girl with mind powers."

"I really hate asking her to use them on people… but this is an emergency." Touma knew he didn't have much of a choice and pulled out his phone. He quickly dialed and Misaki answered on the second ring.

"Touma, do you mind if I call you back in a few-...?" She started to ask.

"Jason's apartment has been bombed!" Touma interrupted.

"What?!" That got her attention. "Are you sure?"

"We're standing outside as we speak," Touma assured her, calming down slightly, trying to keep calm. "We're trying to find out what happened and we need your help getting in. I'm… sorry for asking you this…"

"No, I understand," Misaki assured him. "I'm actually with Misaka right now and I'll let her know."

"Mikoto's with you? Is she okay? She hasn't been answering my messages."

"She's fine and… well, I'll explain it when we meet up. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Thank you, Misaki." Touma said and hung up. "She's coming."

"How fast do you think she's getting here?" Motoharu asked, leaning against a building way. The three of them moved off the main street into an alleyway. They were out of sight from most people on the street and yet could still keep an eye on the apartment. "Guess it doesn't matter. The bombing happened this morning, so there's been plenty of time to hide the evidence."

"You sure you don't want to walk in?" Accelerator asked, gesturing with his good arm while leaning on the crutch. "Not like they can stop us."

"Yeah… that's a great idea." Sarcasm oozed from Touma's words. "Headline news, Accelerator and friends break into a construction zone and threaten Academy City workers."

Motoharu was clutching his side and trying not to fall over from laughing. Accelerator scowled and then smirked.

"Accelerator and peons."

Now it was Touma's turn to snort in amusement.

"Sure, as long as I'm Peon Number One."

"You're number 69." Motoharu pointed out.

"Why?" Touma demanded.

"You know why." His tone was dead serious.

"Quit being fucking children," Accelerator snapped. "I'm sick of you two already."

Talking died down after that. Accelerator was watching the apartment building looking for anything suspicious. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, but something felt off. At least he could trust Bayloupe to watch the brats. A quick text was all it took and she offered to send Floris and Lancis to help inspect the building. The only reason he accepted was because of his feelings. This was weird in itself, as Accelerator usually preferred cold logic.

Idiots kept rubbing off on him.

Touma had something else to think about again. Misaki's words made him realize something was up with Mikoto. He was worried that the Parameter List upset her or maybe it alienated her fellow classmates. His few experiences with them made him believe it couldn't be the latter. They were all really polite and well behaved. Really, meeting Mikoto and Kuroko had given him a slightly warped view of ojou-samas for a while.

Time passed slowly. Even if only fifteen minutes passed, it felt like an hour. Touma was anxious, Motoharu seemed completely unfazed at the situation, and Accelerator was just his normal irritated self. A few passersby glanced at them down the alleyway, but quickly looked away. This was something Touma had seen many times. To others, they just looked like a gang hanging out in Academy City's blind spots. Well, it was shaded from the sun at least, so it was cooler than standing out on the sidewalk. At long last, Accelerator heard approaching footsteps and looked up.

"About time."

"Listen you," Floris growled. "We were off the second Bayloupe reached out to us. You were the ones who didn't tell us which side of the building you were on."

"We were on the other side five minutes ago," Lancis admitted. "Then we figured you might be observing things from somewhere else."

"SOOO, what's the situation?" Floris asked. "We saw some explosions going off around the city, but they weren't magical in nature."

"City's gone to hell." Accelerator answered bluntly.

"And while it might not be magical in origin," Motoharu told them. "We think it might be part of Eve's plan. Eris is involved."

"Yeah, Bayloupe told us about her..." Floris nodded and crossed her arms. "She's using some group in your city then?"

"We aren't one hundred percent sure, but we believe so," Touma confirmed. "The low levels found out some information about the city that indicates the city knew they couldn't improve and were lying. It's not proven yet, but enough people agree." He rubbed his head. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Such misfortune."

"So we need to investigate that building?" Lancis asked, looking out onto the street. "Want us to set up a people clearing field?"

"We have someone else coming to help with that," Touma assured her. "This way, they can keep working on repairing the building so it doesn't collapse."

"Speaking of which," Motoharu interjected. "Seems like she's here."

They all looked up to see familiar blonde hair, who was strangely being carried in a princess style by a girl with long lilac hair styled in drills. The girl jumped down onto the fire escape and then landed on the ground. Gently, she set down Misaki and bowed.

"Was the ride okay?" Junko asked.

"It was fine," Misaki assured her. "Thank you for your assistance. You can go back and let the others know I'm fine now. I'll be back once I finish up here."

"Call us if you need anything, Queen." Junko smiled and then waved goodbye to the others.

"Phew." Misaki sighed, the moment Junko was out of sight. "Not the smoothest way to travel, but time was of the essence. Using a taxi or commandeering a car would risk traffic." She looked at the building behind them and grew concerned. Her smile faded away. "What happened to Kagere's apartment? Was it one of the explosions earlier from Skill-Out?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Touma replied. "Jason wasn't at school, we wanted to know if he had more information about the bombings. Then we stumble across this. Floris and Lancis are here to help see if there were any magicians involved. We need your ability so we can enter without issues."

"No problem," Misaki nodded her head solemnly. "It's just some workers and a few residents still allowed in. I'll just make it so they won't notice us."

"Guess that beats knocking everyone out." Floris agreed.

"I always feel bad for them when we have to." Lancis muttered.

"Enough babbling and let's get to it." Accelerator snapped.

The six of them walked across the street and right up the front door. The desk attendant didn't even spare them a passing glance as Misaki had a remote in her hand. Unfortunately, the elevator was turned off, so they huffed up several flights of stairs. This was hardest for Misaki and Accelerator, but they eventually got up. The workers moved out of their way as they stepped into Jason's ruined apartment.

"Oh, my." Misaki worried and placed a hand over her mouth.

"Looks like the bomb was placed in the middle of the living room," Motoharu announced.

"Well, duh!" Came Accelerator's curt response.

The floor was boarded up, but wasn't completely stable yet. The couch Touma had gotten used to over the weeks of hanging out here was in pieces all over the room. Most of it must have been cleared away. The kitchen was a pile of junk and ash covered. The only rooms left alone were the bathroom and the bedroom at the end of the hallway. The windows were covered with plywood and the room was dark. The only lights were the ones brought up by the maintenance staff.

"Let's get to work, Lancis." Floris said, stepping forward and carefully testing the floor. "See if we can determine if this was because of magic."

"Got it." Lancis nodded and started on the opposite side of the room. Both of them had papers with runes on them and were moving them slowly around.

"Can't you just detect mana?" Accelerator asked. "Bayloupe does that."

"That only works on lingering spells or something constantly producing mana," Lancis answered. "She set up detection runes around the city to track magicians casting spells. If there was an object sitting here giving off mana, we could determine that easily enough. If Kagere was attacked with a spell, most of the remaining mana would have dispersed by now, so we need tools to try to find any remaining traces."

"It doesn't help that his room is full of magical residue because he's a magician," Floris grumbled. "Makes our job a hell of a lot harder."

"Might want to check for hidden magical compartments," Motoharu suggested. "Most magicians hide important stuff behind things. He didn't like the city spying on him."

"So I guess I'll stand by the door," Touma offered. "Don't want to accidentally erase anything that could give you clues."

"I'll keep you company," Misaki told him. "In case anyone else shows up I need to ignore us."

"Hey, Kami-yan!" Motoharu spoke up. "You and Index have stayed here before, right?"

"Multiple times," Touma acknowledged and then frowned. "You know this. Why?"

"Index probably knows where Kagere keeps his dirty little secret magic stash," Motoharu smirked and crossed his arms. "Maybe give her a call and ask?"

Touma stared at him for a second.

Before he facepalmed hard.

"…Right." Feeling like an idiot, he picked up his phone and started dialing, before hanging up. "No wait, let's try her first." Index was not good with technology after all. There were other people who lived in his apartment now. The phone rang twice before being answered.

"Kamijou-san?"

"Itsuwa!" Touma was a little louder than he meant to be. "Listen, Jason's apartment was bombed and we think there might have been magical involvement. I wouldn't put it past Eve to target us when things are hectic in the city. Can you put Index on? We have a question about possible magical storages Jason may have in his apartment."

"Umm… okay! …Index! Kamijou-san needs your help!"

There was a moment of delay and some background whispering.

"Hello, you have reached the Touma residence." Index's voice came through the phone.

"Index… we'll talk about the way you answer later," Touma sighed. "I need your help."

"Ah! Yes, Touma!" She sounded excited. "What do you need?"

"Remember all the times we've stayed over at Jason's place?" Touma asked.

"I have a photographic memory, Touma. I remember everything!"

"Ah, yeah." He glossed over the haughtiness in her tone. "Did you notice Jason having any hidden magical storage areas in the apartment?"

"Huh, yeah. He kept it in the mirror in his room. Why?"

Touma was silent for a moment as his brain processed this.

"And you never mentioned it before?" The words finally came out.

"Why? Most magicians have storage areas for privacy? We were guests, Touma. Guests! We can't be rude, especially to someone who feeds us!"

"Er, right…" Touma shook his head. "Think you can explain to Lancis how to unlock it? Jason's apartment was attacked and he disappeared. We are looking for anything that could give us a lead."

"He's in trouble!" Index gasped. "Yeah, I'll help. Put me on with her!"

Touma handed the phone to Lancis, who rushed over to Jason's room.

"Are you sure you want to go through his stuff?" Misaki asked, observing Touma's expression closely.

"No, but we don't have a choice. If he's captured, anything he started that might help us beat Eve is needed." The boy's hand gripped into a fist.

"Pftt." They turned to look at Accelerator. "That bastard's smart enough to have escape plans. He's probably hidden underground somewhere waiting for the right moment to jump out."

"There's too much damn interference!" Floris shouted suddenly. "This guy fortified most of his room with magical defenses. No wonder the entire building didn't collapse from the explosion."

Touma and Misaki couldn't resist a short chuckle.

Things went slowly for a couple more minutes until the silence was interrupted by a shout from Lancis in the other room.

"Guys! Come here!"

Touma and the others rushed into the room to see Lancis standing in front of the large antique mirror. The outside was old worn wood, but the actual glass was gone. It wasn't anywhere around Lancis, like it had just vanished. However, what they saw didn't make sense. With the mirror gone, there was a hole. However, it didn't show the wooden back of the free-standing mirror. No, it opened into a spiraling staircase that led down into the floor.

Which didn't make sense as the mirror was an inch off the ground and not even an inch thick.

"Amazing!" Misaki gasped, walking around the mirror. "This reminds me of a wormhole."

"Don't try to rationalize magic with science," Floris huffed. "He created a space inside the mirror? What's at the bottom?"

"Shit I want to see," Accelerator growled. "Now, are you going or getting out of the way?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going."

Floris led the way down, with Accelerator behind her. Misaki followed and then Touma. Lancis warned him not to touch the wooden part of the mirror, as that was where the runes were carved. Motoharu took the end of their little parade into the mysterious stairs. The spiral wasn't really that deep, maybe one to two levels, before it reached a single room. It was mostly empty except for one large computer in the corner. It looked like only half of the power lights were on.

"That's it?" Floris questioned. "All that… for a computer?"

"No, there was more," Motoharu told her, squatting down and looking at the floor. "Lots of dust was moved, so whatever was here is gone. If the computer wasn't taken, it was either considered unimportant or there was no time."

"Move." Accelerator ordered, pushing past Floris and sitting down on the chair in front of the computer. "Good, it's on. Let's see what we're dealing with."

"Do you think the files would have been erased already?" Touma asked.

"Unless they didn't have time," Misaki considered, a finger on her cheek. "It looks like it's really worn out though."

"No shit, Sherlock!" Accelerator called over his shoulder. "Half the computer was burned out. Whatever he was using this for was taking up a ridiculous amount of processing power. I can smell the burnt circuitry." He continued to type and open what files he could. "Least it's still running, but most of the files are corrupted."

"Your friend works for the city, correct?" Lancis asked Touma, who nodded. "Could this be a private work space?"

"No, he wouldn't use magic to hide city work," Touma figured and then it hit him. "This might be where he keeps his information on Eve and the Fallen."

"Yeah, pretty sure that's what Accelerator was going for, Kami-yan." Motoharu muttered.

"Anything?" Misaki asked, looking over Accelerator's shoulder.

"Would be nice if documents were labeled with descriptions and not letters and numbers," Accelerator grumbled.

Misaki shook her head and let him do what he wanted. She specialized in mental issues. If Mikoto was there, she would hack into the computer and get every file quickly. No security measure would be enough to stop her. Looking over at Touma, she noticed he was looking around nervously.

"What's wrong?" Misaki whispered, after sliding over by him.

"I'm worried about Jason," Touma admitted. "This can't be a coincidence. Everything lines up too well."

"Coincidences are rare," Misaki admitted softly. "Many times, there are connections that are hard to see." She watched Lancis head back up to scan the apartment, while Floris started scanning the hidden room for any other information.

"How are you holding up?" Touma asked her.

"Me?" Misaki was unable to hide her surprise. "What do you mean me?"

"After the announcement of the Parameter List," Touma elaborated, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. "Have things been… challenging?"

"Not… really." There was a very slight pause in her words. So slight, Touma almost missed it. "I have noticed a few girls whispering about it, but none of them have been openly hostile."

"Do you think the list is real?"

That was something the boy had to know.

"Yes."

That one word answer confirmed his worst fears.

"Why?"

Misaki sighed before answering.

"I know the city can't afford to rank up everyone equally." Her tone lost all of its playfulness. "I didn't know that the city could determine maximum potential from the moment an ability was unlocked, but I did know that resources were limited. It can take a lot of effort to raise people's levels, but it also takes medicine, time, and research. The city just can't afford to buy enough resources for every single student. As their research improves though, studying higher levels, the overall process gets more streamlined and easier for others."

There was a pause and Touma noticed her expression darken. He reached over and wrapped his fingers in her hand, squeezing lightly. Her star-filled eyes met his own and her expression softened when she smiled.

"There was a girl back when I was still a level 3 who was also a level 3 at the time," Misaki explained. "The city knew we could both reach level 5 if we started a specific curriculum then… but the city could only afford one of us." A long sigh escaped her lips. "I was chosen, obviously. The other girl was left behind. She resented me for a long time. Until… well, that's a secret." She winked at him. "We have reconciled since then. She's still level 3, but doesn't blame me."

"I see…" The magnitude of the Parameter List kept growing the more he heard. "What about… Mikoto?"

There was a long pause.

"Misaki?"

"After this… I think you need to talk to her." The blonde haired girl couldn't look him directly in the eye. "Shirai-san and I talked to her and she's trying to act fine, but deep down… she's hurt. Out of all the level 5s, hers was done through a lot of hard work. Or so she believed. Now she's told it was predetermined. It's sinking in quickly, so out of all of us, she needs you."

Touma's throat went dry.

"I… will." One promise was all it took. They both knew he would fulfill it. Misaki wrapped him up in a hug and, even though Motoharu saw them, he was nice enough to avoid saying anything to ruin it. Someone else wasn't as kind.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Everyone jumped as Accelerator roared in fury.

"Find something?" Motoharu asked, more sarcastically than was called for in this situation.

"Fuck off with that shit," Accelerator snapped. "This computer has information on us!"

"Us?" Touma asked, looking over Accelerator's shoulders.

"The level 5s." Accelerator amended and clicked a few buttons. Pages with the level 5s pictures popped up, one after another. Misaki bit her lip when she saw hers. "He's got biographies on all of us. Schedules, assessments, locations, everything." He kept typing. "Bastards got information specifically on our AIM fields too."

"He works for the city though," Misaki pointed out. "It wouldn't be unusual for him to have some documents, especially with them knowing he's around us. Remember we know he got pushed into working with us. Perhaps this hidden room was used to keep what he knew a secret from the city. Obviously magicians could find it."

"Is the hero's stupidity running off on you, fourth-rate?" It was weird how even when pissed, he still remembered the other level 5s ranks, even after the switch.

"Hey!" Touma protested, while Floris and Motoharu chuckled.

"So this isn't magic-related then?" Floris asked. "It's some internal situation within the city?"

"Shut up and let me work." Accelerator growled.

Floris crossed her arms and glared at him.

"He obviously didn't care about these documents," Accelerator muttered, moving folders and skimming the next ones. "This batch here is corrupt and impossible to read. This is… information on the damn hero and your hand."

"My hand?" Touma leaned over Accelerator's chair and looked at the screen. There was a lot of information, but it was definitely titled with his hand and the Imagine Breaker. He didn't understand anything about the date below it though. Accelerator was skimming through it quickly. "What's it say?"

"Nothing we don't already know. The Anti-AIM wavelength mostly. Once they isolated it and found a way to mimic it, they didn't need the real thing anymore."

"That's why I wasn't asked to do any more experiments." Touma realized.

"Seems like this is just Kagere's work computer where he kept sensitive information," Motoharu commented. "Got any juicy bits that say otherwise?"

"I'm looking for that, you bastard."

"He mentioned he wasn't interested in researching us," Misaki commented. "Until that one day we were all dragged in. It sort of got pushed on him. If he was really attacked, he left this information behind hidden with magic. The city could never get it, but a magician could. Would Eve be able to use this information somehow?'

"Misaki… what are you saying?" Touma asked, a worried feeling beginning to form in the back of his mind.

"Sorry, just talking out loud," Misaki assured him. "Maybe we should take this information with us and delete it so she can't use it."

"We know she has at least one more informant within the city." Motoharu agreed.

"She knows all about each of us," Touma added. "So Jason having extra security isn't unusual." He missed Motoharu and Misaki sharing a quick worried look.

"Uh huh." Accelerator muttered, not paying any attention to the background chatter.

His eyes were skimming documents that were not corrupted or didn't need to be crossed reference, when he came across a small piece of information. He almost missed it, but it stirred something within him. He pulled up the other level 5s profile and noticed they had similar documented notes. The question was, what did it mean? There was no information besides five words.

Stability increases around Touma Kamijou.

What the hell is stability? Accelerator thought, clicking through some more folders, searching for some clues. Does this occur because of his hand?

There didn't seem to be any information on Stability, so either the information was removed, or was never on the computer. Still, that connection triggered something in his mind. He began to start tying some of the documents together and then he finally found what he was looking for. Literally a smoking gun.

A single saved email.

"He was responsible for me staying in your class?" Accelerator muttered, surprised.

"Huh?!" Touma and Motoharu were both confused.

"Yomikawa told me she had to pull some strings to get me into her school," Accelerator explained. "That she had a friend who was a teacher there. But it was Kagere that pushed the issue when others wanted to move me into a higher tier institution."

"And?" Touma asked, not understanding what that meant.

"You'll want to see this fourth-rate." Accelerator scooted over, completely ignoring Touma's question. Misaki leaned forward, read the line, and frowned.

"Stability?"

"Yeah, I can't find any information about this. It's on the third and fifth-rate's bio too."

They both looked at Touma.

"What?" The boy asked.

"He won't know." Motoharu told them helpfully.

"Figured…"

Accelerator's tone was a combination of irritation and exasperation. Several minutes passed until he found another clue. An email chain that had some interesting information. There were some bigwigs talking about the level 5s and Jason was involved. Knowing him long enough, Accelerator could tell that while Jason was pretending to argue against them, he was slowly provoking them to go against his recommendation. He wanted them to do this and they were being played. The chain had one main topic.

Making Kami the 8th level 5.

"Turns out Kagere was antagonizing the people about making Kami a level 5."

"Really?" Touma didn't believe that and leaned forward to read the email chain. Misaki was right next to him doing the same thing. "Seems like he's saying he won't do it."

"No, he's subtly insulting them to make them ignore his advice," Misaki told him. "It's quite well done. It seems like he really wanted them to do it, but at the same time to deny he was involved."

"Which makes this section make a lot more sense," Accelerator continued and pulled up Shizuri's profile. "Look at the notes he has about the fifth-rate."

"Won't get involved unless something interests her or garners her anger outside of assignments," Touma read. "Well, that does sound like her."

"So, Kami-yan," Motoharu reminded him. "Tell us about your first encounter with Mugino-san again?"

"She ran into me and asked if I was a level 5?" It had been a while ago and a lot had happened since then. "I remember her getting really pissed when I told her I was a level 0 and tried to kill me. Once she saw my hand in action, she chased me around the city."

"Sounds like she wouldn't have gone looking for you if she hadn't believed you were the level 5." Motoharu pointed out.

"Come on!" Touma began to laugh. "Are you suggesting Jason of all people wanted me to meet you all? I was friends with Mikoto long before I met him."

"We only met after all this time because you entered the tournament," Misaki considered. "Was he responsible for that?"

"Technically, that was Accelerator, Aogami, and me," Motoharu admitted with a small chuckle. "He didn't argue against it though."

Misaki rubbed her chin as she remembered what happened. The tournament hadn't interested her, preferring to let Mikoto take center stage. However, most of the school wanted to watch it, including her clique. That's how she recognized Touma participating. She figured she might as well go see her prince up close at least once since the others girls were going to. It wasn't like Touma was going to remember her, even if he saw her. Then Sloth attacked and he got injured. Heaven Canceller was able to heal him though…

…wait.

Touma had only told her in passing but the Heaven Canceller mentioned Jason helped heal his brain damage by using his shadow to provide carefully calibrated tools. It was then the miracle occurred that caused Touma to be able to remember her. No one besides a very select few would have that information. The city would probably know since the level 5s were monitored constantly. Still, it was done quickly after he suffered a blow to the head. The knowledge and technique required shouldn't have been possible on the spot.

Yet when that boy woke up, he could remember her.

"When was the first time Kagere-san saw you and Misaka?" Misaki wondered.

"Let's see," Touma thought back. "My apartment burned down, I crashed at his place since it was late, then we got lunch the next day and ran into her at a restaurant." He felt their stares before he saw them. "It was a coincidence!"

"Uh huh." The tone of Motoharu's voice implied it wasn't one at all.

"Fine!" Touma threw his hands up into the air exasperatedly. "Let's assume Jason did want us all to meet and worked behind the scenes to do that. What does he have to gain for it? What could possibly be the reason?"

"Stability." Floris answered and he turned towards her with a bewildered look on his face. "What? I've been paying attention. Accelerator pointed out that their stability increased when around you. Whatever that is."

"Could it be our transformations that have been occurring lately?" Misaki asked Accelerator.

The albino froze up for a moment as the gears in his mind spun.

"He didn't do anything to me," Accelerator finally muttered as he thought back. "The third rate… the first time she had some collar that connected her to the Network… He gave it to her."

"Network?" Floris asked, but no one answered her.

"I had to use Body Crystal to transform the first time," Misaki told him. "Kagere-san didn't give it to me, but he did tell me about it."

"Then he wouldn't be responsible for that, right?" Touma pointed out. He almost sounded like he was pleading.

"What about Mugino-san?" Motoharu asked. "Did she transform?"

"Yes," Touma was forced to concede. "She was given drugs by the city… but we don't know it was Jason!" He added the last part quickly. The moment the first half of the sentence left his mouth, he heard how bad it sounded.

"Then ask her." Accelerator ordered.

"Fine!" Touma pulled out his phone and sent a quick question to Shizuri while muttering what he wrote. "Did Jason give you city medicine for your transformation?" Honestly, he didn't expect a response back so quickly. It was always a hit or miss with her if he texted her first. If she texted him, his response better be quick.

When his phone beeped, he stared at it for a minute before finally opening it up.

Who told you?

Touma's mouth fell open.

She didn't technically answer the question, but her response indicated that he did.

"Wow…" Motoharu trailed off, spying over his shoulder.

"That bastard did?!" Accelerator fumed. "That's it. I'm downloading all this and seeing exactly what he's been doing."

"Here." Misaki pulled out a USB from her purse. "I've been carrying this around for situations like this. You can use it."

Without so much as a thanks, Accelerator grabbed it from her hand, plugged it in, and began to copy every file he could on there. There was a lot, but luckily, Academy City had very expansive storage devices. It wasn't uncommon to need to transfer a lot of information.

"Okay, Jason may be working for the city, but we know that!" Touma protested, trying to prevent any of this from spiraling out of control. "You all told me he had information about the level 5s. Why would it be strange for him to have this information? In fact, after all the times this happened, researching your transformations would be beneficial, wouldn't it?"

"It's possible this can all be explained," Misaki assured him. "We're still going to take the information. At the least, it prevents Eve and her underlings from finding it and using it against us."

Guilt flooded through her as she saw Touma's face relax slightly. Misaki was not someone who trusted easily and she always knew Jason had an air about him that screamed secrets. Only because he was Touma's friend and helped them out a lot versus Eve, Carissa, and others, she hadn't been spying on him. Looking back, that's what she should have done. It was too late now and look at what happened. This was suspicious on multiple levels. There was a slim chance this was planted, but it didn't seem likely. The Parameter List being leaked, Jason's apartment being bombed, and now this.

Something big was about to occur and they needed to be on top of their game.

Which meant, after this, her prince was going to have to talk to Mikoto.

That was not going to be a pleasant talk.

"I found something!"

They all jumped as Lancis' voice came from the stairs. Floris rushed up there followed by the others, minus Accelerator. He was still downloading everything he could from the computer. Back up in the main room, Lancis had several rune cards placed in a circle on the floor. They were glowing slightly as she looked up at them.

"They are reacting to Eve's mana signature. This explosion was caused by her."

Her pronouncement was met with silence.

Until Floris asked the important question.

"Can you tell if he was taken?"

"No, but there doesn't seem to be any remains, so I don't believe so."

"Phew." Touma staged backwards and leaned up against the wall. "Thank goodness…"

"Looks like it's possible Eve used the diversion caused by Eris to attack Kagere," Motoharu commented. "Or at least, what she wants us to believe. Could be she just bombed his apartment when he was out."

"We should wait until Accelerator has time to go through everything on that computer," Misaki responded lightly. "While what we found is suspicious, we have to consider that Eve could be behind this to divide and conquer us."

"Thank you." Touma whispered gratefully to her and she smiled back at him.

It was best not to tell him that she was planning to read Jason's mind the next time they saw him.

"She's been picking us off," Touma continued. "First Kanzaki, now Jason… who's next?" He looked around at them. "No one should be going off on their own if they can help it."

"Like you do?" Misaki asked innocently, but unable to contain her amusement.

"…Touché."

He was spared the trouble of responding as Accelerator climbed out of the hidden stairs.

"Okay, I got all the fucking documents," Accelerator spat out. "My entire weekend, shot."

"Because you're obviously sooooo busy." The mocking tone from Motoharu was missed by no one. Floris got a good chuckle out of that.

"We should get going," Touma finally said. "Unless you all can think you can find out more here."

"No, we were lucky to find this much." Lancis admitted, collecting her cards.

"We need to let the others know," Misaki reminded them, as they left the apartment. She made sure to remove the control from the employees once they were outside.

"Yeah… who wants to tell Shirai-san and Uiharu-san?" Touma asked dryly.

"I'm going to see what all was left on the computer." Accelerator interjected. "You deal with the personal stuff."

"We have to go with you and see Bayloupe," Floris spoke up before Accelerator could turn away. "We need to tell her what we found and unless you can go into specifics for magical detection, you won't be able to properly explain it."

"Do what you want."

"Bye!" Lancis waved to Motoharu, Misaki, and Touma as she followed them.

"I'm off too," Motoharu told them. "Aogami wants me to meet up with him. Good luck with telling Kagere's girls about what happened!" He was running away while shouting over his shoulder.

"Coward!" Touma yelled after him. A laugh was all that answered him as his friend disappeared from view. Sighing and rubbing his face, he turned to Misaki. "So… er…"

"I'll tell them."

"Really?" Touma was a little thrown off from that. "I don't want to force that awkward task on you though."

"I can tell Shirai-san at the dorm," Misaki elaborated. "But remember what we talked about before I arrived?"

"Umm… you had something to tell me about Mikoto?" Touma remembered after a moment. Then he got even more anxious. "She's okay, right?"

"She's… okay isn't the best word right now, but she's not hurt." Misaki spoke slowly, weighing every word. "It's about the Parameter List."

Touma's heart skipped a beast.

"Are you and her… being ostracized from your classmates?"

"My clique won't care about the list regarding me," Misaki assured him. "The other Tokiwadai students also are well mannered enough not to cause a scene, but they sort of… avoid us now."

"They shun you?" The normal high school boy was dumbfounded ojou-samas would act like that.

"It's not that bad." Misaki's lips pursed up slightly. "It's more of, fewer greetings, no one asking for help, and not willing to meet her. As a level 5, we always were kind of held up in that sort of pedestal, but with the Parameter list, everyone thinks we were just born that way and they can never catch up."

"Which is stupid, because Mikoto worked hard to get to where she is." Touma growled.

"Exactly!" Her eyes sparkled. "Shirai-san and I both talked with her a bit, but I think it would be better if you talked to her a bit."

"Of course!" A moment wasn't needed to make that decision. "Where should I meet her?"

"Let's just go to the dorms and talk to her in her room," Misaki suggested. "I can meet up with Shirai-san and tell her what happened.

"Wait… your dorm?" There was a small problem there. "The girls' only dorm?"

"Pssh." Misaki waved her gloved hand dismissively. "You've been there plenty of times. We just have to sneak you in."

"Such misfortune."

"Why do I feel that we are on a tightrope to our doom?" Touma asked as he and Misaki were standing out back of the Tokiwadai dorm.

"Because if the dorm manager finds out, we will be in a lot of trouble." Came the reasonable response that did nothing to alleviate the boy's worry.

"And you're sure we won't get caught this time?"

"My friends are working on sneaking us in. It would be easier for Shirai-san to teleport you in, but we know that's not possible."

The back door opened up and Touma was again met with Junko.

"Hurry, Queen." She whispered. "Kamijou-sama. She's in her office and we have the cameras on loop."

"Thank you for everything." Misaki told her as they made their way through the halls.

Junko flushed at the praise and looked pleased with herself. Some other girls were blocking people from heading toward them, so they must have been part of Misaki's clique. Junko kept holding her hand up to her ear, listening to the others warning her of anything happening. It didn't take them long to get to Mikoto and Kuroko's dorm. Misaki knocked lightly and the next moment, Kuroko opened the door. She didn't seem surprised to see Touma, so she had to have been informed.

"Come in." Kuroko whispered, letting them into the room.

"Let me know when he's ready to leave." Junko said, bowed, and then left. The door was quickly closed and locked behind her.

The first thing Touma noticed was Mikoto was sitting on her bed and barely looked up when he entered. She tried to smile, but it was forced and didn't reach her eyes. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and she hugged them tighter to her body.

"Did Shokuhou-san tell you?" Kuroko whispered.

"Yeah, I think I understand."

"Good. I tried, but… she's not responding well." Her lip trembled as she glanced at Mikoto.

"I'll talk to her," Touma promised. "Misaki has some stuff to tell you two about what we found out before coming here." Kuroko tilted her head curiously. "It's not good, but hear her out to the end."

Kuroko nodded and Misaki led her out of the room to hers as to give Touma and Mikoto some privacy. He made sure to lock the door again, to prevent any accidents. Touma then sat down on the bed next to her. Many ideas ran through his mind, most from the manga he read, but none seemed appropriate for this situation. Mikoto had withdrawn into herself and was just out of it. Thinking over it, there was one idea that seemed the most appropriate in this situation.

He reached out and arm put it around the girl and pulled her into a one-arm hug.

There was no resistance, but Mikoto did rest her head on his shoulder. The silence lengthened and Touma debated what to do next. Then he noticed Mikoto was shaking slightly. Not a lot, but it was enough to tell him she was trying to hold back her emotions. It killed him a little inside to know she was suffering this much about something outside of her control. It was the Sisters experiment all over again. Even worse in a way, as now she was being shunned by her classmates. Touma may have been the one with bad luck, but even then his classmates didn't hate him.

It hurt so much to see her like this and he had no idea what words to say.

"You heard."

Mikoto finally spoke after ten minutes. Her words were barely above a whisper and not a question. It was simply a statement. The tone to her words was muddled and hard to decipher.

"I did."

In this situation, Touma decided not to lie. She may not have been physically responding to people, but she should have been able to hear them all. He could ask if she was okay, but that question was stupid. It was obvious she wasn't okay. Same if he asked her if she wanted to talk. Of course, she probably wanted to, but had no idea how to approach him. Right now, he decided to let her continue at a pace that she was comfortable with.

Slowly, her fingers moved and gripped his shirt.

Still not saying anything, all that happened was Touma adjusted slightly to allow her to be more comfortable on his shoulder. The silence lengthened before Mikoto finally spoke again.

"Do you think the Parameter List is real?"

The truth was, yes. Touma did believe that list was real. Everything that happened, the craziness, the evidence that people were able to calculate levels, it was all too real. If he told her that, it would just break her. Lying wouldn't be a good option either. The reason she was acting like this was because she knew this list was real and that's why it hurt so much. Her DNA was used to create the sisters back when she wasn't a level 5, so the city knew she had that potential. Neither choice was the right one, but Touma knew that there were always more options than the obvious ones.

"Who cares?"

Two words caused Mikoto to finally turn and look at him.

"W-what?" Her voice stammered as she tried to comprehend why he said that.

"The way I see it, if the Parameter List isn't real, it doesn't affect us," Touma explained. "So it doesn't matter. If it's real… well, then the city's at fault, but there's nothing we can do about it. No point in worrying about stuff you can't control. What I do know is regardless of if the list is real or not, it doesn't change you, me, us, or our friends. We are still the same people. So I don't care what some random information compiled by a bunch of eggheads in lab coats implies." He tightened his arm around Mikoto. "I care about you."

The last words had an impact.

Mikoto's pale face suddenly flushed to a deep crimson, her eyes stared down at her knees, and a single word escaped her lips in a whisper.

"Idiot."

"Pretty sure we've established I'm an idiot," Touma told her conversationally. "That's why you and Misaki had to hit me on the head with a hammer for me to understand you liked me."

"Snrk!"

A snort of laughter escaped the girl's lips, no matter how hard she tried to hold it back.

"Thanks," Mikoto muttered. "I needed that."

"Are things that bad?" Touma asked, still not letting her go.

"They…" Mikoto's voice trailed off.

"Mikoto, you know no matter what you tell me, I'm not going to judge. If you're worried, afraid, or hurting, I'm here for you. Remember you got upset when I wouldn't tell you what was wrong? I understand what you're going through. If you don't tell me, I can't help you and finding out you're in pain hurts me too."

There was another moment of silence.

"It's weird," Mikoto admitted at last. "None of my classmates are outright hostile, but I can feel their gaze on me. They don't trust me anymore. I used to help them understand material, but now they just ignore me. I'm lucky to get a good morning. It's not bullying, we don't do that, but I'm being shut out. The hurt in their gazes was so obvious."

Her hands began to shake and Touma put his free hand on one.

"Understand they just got a big shock," Touma explained. "If the Parameter List is real, they just found out the city was lying to us. They are hurt and angry, but the anger isn't directed. While they work out their feelings, they are going to lash out a bit. It's going to suck, but it's not your fault in any way."

"So I really was just born special." Mikoto muttered.

"Maybe?" His shoulders moved as he shrugged. "Most people are born different. Some people are faster, smarter, and or stronger than other people. Two people can do the same exercise routine and have different outcomes. Two people can eat the same food and one of them gets fat. At the same time, someone who works harder can surpass someone who slacks off. You're a hard worker so you deserved being a level 5. If you hadn't worked hard, you wouldn't be one."

Mikoto seemed a little more relaxed at his words.

"Kuroko said something similar," Her voice was full of relief. "Even Shokuhou agreed. That's what we were talking about before she ran off to get you." She closed her eyes and smiled. "It's nice to have friends I can talk about these things with. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't. I might have gone insane a long time ago."

Touma's heart sank as one word flashed through his mind.

Stability.

"So what did you need her for so urgently?" Mikoto pressed, looking at him. "She might have mentioned why, but I was kind of out of it."

"It's…" Words failed him as he tried to think how to tell her. Instantly, she could tell something was wrong.

"What happened?" Mikoto sat up and turned to face him directly.

"Jason transferred out of class today."

Mikoto blinked and stared at him.

"Oookay?" Confusion was obvious. "Why?"

"We don't know, but we're pretty sure it has something to do with the Parameter List and the bombings," Touma explained to her, trying to keep his voice steady not to worry her. "He works for the city, so there's a good chance they knew this was coming and had all hands on deck."

"Makes sense." The girl nodded in understanding.

"So Accelerator, Tsuchimikado, and I headed over to his apartment after class to see if he could tell us more of what was going on and verify if the List was real."

"Is it?" Of course Mikoto couldn't help asking.

"He wasn't there… His apartment was bombed."

Heavy silence weighed on both of them for a moment.

"WHAT?!"

"Shhhh!" Touma shushed. "Keep it down!"

"Is he okay?!" Mikoto demanded to know, her voice torn between an urgent whisper and wanting to shout. "Who was responsible?"

"We think Eve."

At that point, Touma explained everything they found out. How Shiage informed them about Eris. From when Floris and Lancis joined them to search for traces of magical involvement, to the hidden room in Jason's mirror. He went over all the information they found on the computer, including the others' theories. To her credit, Mikoto listened all the way to the end without interrupting. Her expressions gave away her thoughts though. When Touma told her Accelerator was under the impression Jason was somewhat responsible for their transformations, she obviously didn't agree with that assertion.

"Are they serious?" Mikoto finally demanded. "Shokuhou was going along with it? We knew he had some information on us because he DOES work for the city. Uiharu-san does too and might see it eventually."

"Exactly!" Touma was glad someone finally was agreeing with him. "This seems like a plan that Eve would come up with to divide us. Make it look like we are against each other so we won't cooperate."

"It does sound like something she would do." Mikoto agreed.

"And it was hidden in a magical room," Touma pointed out too. "So the city wouldn't be able to find it. He might have been hiding the information from the city to prevent you all from getting experimented on."

"That does seem possible." Mikoto rubbed her chin. "If there was nothing on Eve, he might have taken that information with him and left the science side stuff behind. Knowing the city wouldn't find it. Eve would have a difficult time understanding that information."

"We know she has a spy in the city helping her… well, or so she said. Still hard to believe what she says without a weird surprise at the end." They shared a similar look of annoyance at the memory of the magician. "I just wanted to let you know what we found. There's no clear evidence either way, but Accelerator's going to spend the evening going through it."

"I might not be able to go out this weekend," Mikoto admitted with a long sigh. "Going to stay inside and keep a low profile." She suddenly got nervous. "Are you going to tell Kuroko and Uiharu-san about Kagere-san?"

"Misaki is telling Shirai now," Touma assured her. "She offered the difficult job while I cheered you up."

"You're doing a terrible job at it," Mikoto teased, her smile at odds with her words. "I'm not happy nor ready to go outside."

"Guess I'll have to stay here for the night." Touma laughed.

Mikoto's face flushed and she started sparking.

Touma was forced to grab her arm with his right hand to prevent any power outages. It was probably best if Misaki returned quickly to escort him out before they were caught. That was a pipe dream though, as Kuroko was going to drill Misaki on everything and then have to tell Kazari everything. He might as well get comfy and pray the dorm manager didn't find him.

Knowing he would have to tell Itsuwa, Index, Leivinia, and Lessar everything too meant it was going to be a long evening.

Last that night, the moon shone over Academy City.

A single man was standing on the edge of a rooftop, looking out over the quiet city. Even in the middle of the night, with all the offices, schools, and shops closed, the city was still bright. Lamps were keeping the streets lit and an occasional car passed under him. A cigarette was lit with a flick of the man's fingers and he took a long drag from it. His flaming red hair and tired expression were revealed by the light. The rest of him was dressed in black. He didn't look happy.

In all fairness, Stiyl Magnus was rarely happy.

The current situation was even more dire than usual.

"I'm ready to go on your signal." Stiyl spoke into his phone with a rune card hanging from it. The communication was actually traveling through magic, rather than telecommunication lines, so they couldn't be traced. "I'm tracking him now."

"You understand your current position," Laura's voice came through clearly. "Once you take him out, leave. The longer you stay there, the greater chance you get caught."

"My men are stationed to help smuggle you out," Carissa's voice was the next on the line. "If you're caught, you're on your own and my troops will be forced to assist the city in your capture to ensure we keep diplomatic relations."

"This isn't the first time," Stiyl sighed. "I hope you're one hundred percent sure he's the one."

"The tracks were covered quite well, but he made one big mistake," Carissa replied maliciously. "The divine Telesma left behind by God's Judgment was nearly identical to the divine Telesma you reported back in England. Knight Leader verified the findings remotely."

"This is going to be a pain," Stiyl groaned and then pulled out a small crystal, a silver dog, and a few other items. "This should seal up his immortality, right?"

"I personally made sure the spell would stop the Pride Mark," Laura assured him. "Remember, Stiyl. Speed is the key, no matter what he has gone through with you all, he's with her."

"I don't let emotions interfere in my work," Stiyl assured them. "These are necessary evils that have to be done."

"Then go and take that bastard down." Carissa told him.

Stiyl hung up the phone. He took one more long drag from the cigarette before tossing the butt onto the roof. He looked up at the sky and sighed. This mission was not going to be pleasant. Not that most of his missions were. He was a magician of Necessarius and this was what he did.

It's not like he enjoyed these missions, they just had to be done. Keeping magicians in line was a dangerous job and a single lapse in judgment meant he, and many others, could die. That's why he had to lock away his emotions as he snuffed the life of countless people: Young and old, rich and poor, it didn't matter. If they were a threat, it was his duty to take them down.

The clock struck midnight and Stiyl leaped off the roof.

Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or ideas, I love reading them. If you have a question you wish I ask and would like a quick answer, feel free to message me directly. I try to respond to those within a day or two. Comments, I tend to respond to in the next chapter.

UrsaMJR: Have to come clean, this would've been published way sooner if I was active the last week or two. Sadly real life takes priority over written works, even if my slave laborer tries to whip that notion out of my mind. Freedom for editors!

DB: His rations have been cut in half.

HC: That's just what life's like in Dark's sweatshop. Because what Dark wants, Dark gets. It's just like my FGO gacha rolls: a sick joke. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. My next meal depends on it.