"Hey, Accelerator?"

"What is it, brat?" the albino responded with a side glance.

"You said that you and Last Order came here as part of a trip, but I noticed you aren't carrying any luggage with you. How long are you planning on staying?" Mikan gave him a look that asked 'are you an idiot?'

"Che" Accelerator scowled in annoyance "Don't look down on me, brat; I ain't a fucking idiot. Of course I brought luggage, but I left it back in the station in a safekeeping place so I could look for my brat. Considering how long we've taken, I take it as a good decision"

"Oh, so that's what's up. It's been nagging at me for a while, so I figured I might as well ask. I guess it would be an inconvenience. Especially for you" she said eyeing his walking aid.

"Don't say it like I'm an invalid!" Accelerator cried out "If I wanted I could kick your ass till you reached outer space" he finished with a low growl, but it was an empty threat.

Mikan, seeing it for what it was just giggled "Color me afraid~" she said teasingly, earning another irritated tongue click, which just made her chuckle a bit more.

They stayed in a comfortable silence until they actually arrived at the Yuuki household.

Mikan opened up the gate first and then the door to the house and beckoned Accelerator to come in.

"I'm home!" she said in a raised voice as soon as she entered, taking off her shoes.

"Sorry for intruding, or something like that" Accelerator mumbled behind her, causing Mikan to level an incredulous look at him for his lack of politeness.

A look that Accelerator gladly threw back as a glare as he took off his own shoes, making Mikan sigh and shake her head.

"You're hopeless, you know that?"

"Tsk, whatever. Now where's the kitchen, brat?"

Mikan lead him through the side door that led to the living room and pointed out the rest of the way "Rito! Lala! Is anyone home?" she called out.

Gaining no immediate response, she frowned.

"I thought you said your brother should've been home already" she turned to see Accelerator stepping back into the living room with his hands empty.

"Well, he should have" Mikan conceded as she went to empty her own hands and came back "Maybe he's taking a bath?"

"Hell if I know." He shrugged, sitting on the couch in a relaxed manner "You go and check it out, while I hang back right here." Accelerator waved her off with shooing motion already making himself at home.

Mikan threw him a small glare, puffing her cheeks. Seeing no reaction she exited the living room and started going up the stairs in a short quest to find her wayward brother.

Believing in her own prediction, Mikan headed towards the bathroom first.

As she approached the door she started hearing voices coming from the room. Glad that she was right, she knocked on the door to check if it was her brother.

"Rito, are you in there?"

To her surprise, instead of receiving an answer, she simply heard a triad of shouts and the sound of someone falling down on the floor.

Worried that someone had an accident, Mikan opened the, obviously unlocked, door and rushed inside, only to be greeted by the most… peculiar (actually quite disturbing) sight.

Sprawled on the floor, in a mockery of a dogpile, were three figures: The first was the resident rose-haired sweetie, Lala, naked as the day she met Rito sprawled gracelessly in a spread eagle pose.

The second figure was the other resident of the house, Mikan's redheaded brother, Rito. Rito's situation in the dog pile was the most… interesting. Lying directly on top of Lala, with his back to her front, Rito's head was currently using her breasts as pillows and his left hand was gripping one of her thighs in a way that caused the pink haired girl to moan. His right hand, by the way, was also gripping something; namely the posterior of the third figure on this pile.

Sitting right on top of Rito's crotch region, and having her butt groped, was a naked little girl with hazel eyes and short brown hair. She was cute and petite, and couldn't really be any older than ten years old.

Ten.

Years.

Old.

The only saving grace in this whole mess was the fact that Rito had the decency to use bathing shorts for this fiasco. But other than that, this situation screamed wrongness.

So much that it was exactly what Mikan did in response.

She screamed.

Snapping out of whatever momentary trance he had gotten into, Rito looked at his sister, looked at his situation, and immediately released the thigh and the posterior, sitting up and making the little girl fall down.

"Ouchie says Misaka as Misaka rubs her roughened posterior. That hurts!" the little girl declared as she stood up to her feet.

That did nothing but make things worse for Rito's current situation.

"W-w-wait, Mikan, this is not what it looks like at all!" Rito claimed desperately as he waved his hands around like a madman, trying to explain himself.

Was there anyway his day could get any worse?

In a flash of speed, another person appeared beside Mikan in the doorway.

The look in the white-haired boy's red eyes answered Rito's question.

Yes, it could get worse.

"Ah, Accelerator! Says Misaka as Misaka notices her guardian. You found me!" The little girl intoned "Rito-nii took from the streets to help me take a bath, says Misaka as Misaka explains the situation"

Something from the way she said it made Accelerator's eye twitch dangerously.

Last Order, noticing something, blinked once and looked down at herself. Finding out she was naked, she looked to the side to see her fallen towel on the bathroom floor.

With a squeal, she covered herself "Don't look, says Misaka as Misaka covers herself from Accelerator, but notices that it is too late!"

Another eye twitch.

"Explain. Now!"

TLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLATLA

In a swift motion, a righteous hand descended upon the head of a mischievous little girl in the form of a fearsome karate chop.

The girl never saw it coming as she was calmly sitting beside her assailant at the dinner table.

"Owie! Says Misaka as Misaka rubs her head. What was that for?"

"That was for leaving my side in the first place" a certain pissed off Accelerator answered right before repeating the same attack a second time "And this is for accepting the offer of taking a bath with a stranger, you damn stupid brat! Don't you ever think!?"

"I'm sorry, whines Misaka as Misaka gives Accelerator some puppy dog eyes. It won't happen again" the little girl said with unshed tears in her eyes.

Accelerator could only click his tongue and a rub the back of his head in response, not really in the mood to forgive her, but not really that mad at her anymore.

Instead he decided to redirect his bad mood at the jackass sitting right across the table.

"So, what do you have to say in your defense, asshole?" Accelerator said with one of his patented 'number one' glares.

Rito's tense stance and sweating face almost made him smile, but Accelerator suppressed it in favor of watching the boy squirm at the menacing scowl.

"W-well, Accelerator-san I really didn't mean anything bad when I took Misaka-chan home with me. I-I mean, we were looking for you f-for some three hours when a truck ran over a puddle while we were waiting to cross the street" he explained nervously "S-so I brought her here to take a bath so she wouldn't catch a cold and also to change out of dirty clothes"

At that Accelerator raised an eyebrow, urging for clarification.

Rito nodded, understanding the message "Mikan has some old clothes that fit Misaka-chan, as you can see" he said, gesturing at the smaller girl.

Indeed she was wearing a pink top with a white daisy flower print, as well as a pair of white shorts, with a daisy hair clip as an accessory.

So overall that was a legit claim. Still, there was one more thing that was bugging him.

"Why did you enter the bath with her?" Accelerator spoke in a low growl, sustaining the eye contact with Rito, trying to look for even the slightest trace of malice or deception.

"Haha, that was actually my fault" a slightly apologetic laugh interrupted the stare off.

Accelerator shifted his gaze to meet eyes with the pink haired girl. Lala, who was in the bath with Rito and Last Order.

Crossing his arms, he waited for her to elaborate.

Lala looked at Last Order and beamed "When Rito-kun brought Misaka-chan here, I got excited with just how cute she is! So when Rito-kun explained the situation, I asked Misaka-chan to take her bath with me, so we could get along" she explained excitedly.

With a glance towards Last Order, Accelerator confirmed that it was the truth from how the little girl was smiling and nodding at the pinkette across the table.

"So when we got ready to take the shower, I dragged Rito along so we could all take a bath together, since he's both my fiancé and the person who brought Misaka-chan here in the first place"

Rito's fiancé, huh? A bit too young to be getting married, but it wasn't anything worthy of paying attention to for any longer than this.

Accelerator brought his gaze back at Rito, but this time it wasn't as accusatory.

"Y-yes, that's right. Lala decided in taking me along, so I insisted in wearing my swimming trunks, so I wouldn't expose myself indecently to a kid." The redhead explained.

Accelerator believed him. After all that happened, and the explanation, there was no reason for Accelerator to be suspicious anymore. Everything was just a misunderstanding caused by the circumstances.

Mikan called for them. Startled, they slipped and fell, making some noise and causing Mikan to investigate. Finding them in a compromising position, she screamed, which made Accelerator run up the stairs using his vector manipulation. The albino seeing the situation with his own eyes made the thing a bit tense.

But all in all it was just that: A misunderstanding.

One that could've easily been avoided if these people learned to lock their goddamn doors when they go use the bathroom to clean themselves. Have they no sense of security? They're just as bad as Yomikawa and Yoshikawa.

"So, now that you all have gotten you're issues resolved, it's time to eat!"

Accelerator turned his head to see Mikan emerging from the kitchen and placing several plates of curry rice on the table, one in front of each of its occupants, before going back to pick her own plate and place it on the head of the table, right beside Accelerator and her brother.

Accelerator was impressed at how fast she was able to cook up a meal for all of them. But then again she's been inside the kitchen even before everyone sat down to have the talk, so he supposed she had enough time.

A quick look at the plate, and a quick whiff made it clear that the food she made was most certainly good in some way. It was slightly impressive considering her age.

"What are you waiting for, guys? Dig in!" Mikan urged them with a proud visage to her.

At once, everyone at the table grabbed their spoons and took a bite.

"Woah, this is so good! Says Misaka as Misaka continues to dig in" the youngest member of the group commented with glee.

"It really is good, Mikan! You've got to teach me your technique" Lala looked at her future sister-in-law with starry eyes, filled with expectation.

Rito, remembering the last time Lala tried to cook, quickly tried to intervene "A-are you sure of that, Lala? Do you really want to try cooking again?"

"Mou, this time I'm going to use earthling ingredients. It's not going to happen again" Lala said with a pout.

While the two lovers (?) were arguing, Mikan turned to Accelerator, who simply kept eating without making any comment, purposely ignoring the other conversation.

"Is it so good that you're not finding any time to say anything ~?" she asked with a sly smile adorning her face.

Accelerator gave her a side glace and huffed "It is fine enough. You're an okay cook, brat" he conceded.

"Just okay, huh? No particular reason to why you're almost finished, then?"

That gave Accelerator some pause. He looked down at his plate, and it was indeed almost empty. Where did the food go? Was it really so good that he didn't see it go?

He took one glance at Mikan and she still had that sly, winning look on her face.

"Yeah, it's just okay"

Her smile persisted.

"…Damn brat" he grumbled and finished off his plate, causing the cook to laugh out loud and motion to start eating as well.

But before she could do so, she was surprised by the albino holding out his plate towards her.

"Seconds… please" he said, looking away.

"Oho~?"

"Just shut up and fill my plate" Accelerator demanded, making Mikan raise her eyebrow in response "…please" he completed, earning a smile from the cook.

"A second serving coming right up for mister grumpy~" she said in a singsong as she grabbed his plate and walked back to the kitchen with a spring to her step.

She was probably thinking she won something.

Damn brat…