A/N: Hi! For those who remember me, I'm back from a long hiatus and continuing with this story!

Warning: Fanfic rated M

Thank you to Cun and GreatSnapper for their beta/support of this work!

Traces of your Tears

CHAPTER 1:

21st August

The black night sky hid numerous stars as grey clouds drifted past in irregular patches. Far below, the splendid exterior of Academy City glittered, lit up by the bright lamps that lined neatly along its streets. Although it was very much past student curfew, some people still loitered about. Couples were gazing up at the night sky in each other's embrace, groups of friends laughing and hanging out together without much regard for rules. Still, the quiet night appeared peaceful and altogether uneventful.

Within the seventh school district stood a certain iron railway bridge, its 150m length spanning over a river. A railway ran across its banks, designed for vehicles carrying their usual cargo loads. No trains passed by at this hour however, and not a single soul could be seen in the area.

Except for a certain teenaged girl.

In the middle of the darkness stood a lone figure, leaning against the side railing of the bridge and looking out over the river. The scenery from this position was rather beautiful, the multi-coloured lights of the city reflecting poetically on the surface of the water. But the girl's empty eyes were unseeing of this wondrous view; her mind and heart were filled with a terrible gloom that no amount of light could extinguish.

"Why… Why did it become like this?" The question was uttered softly to the empty air, but it demanded desperate answers.

The voice of a certain dedicated teacher from a memory long ago reverberated in her mind. "You're the same as me… that you carry a fate that will undoubtedly bring you great despair…"

Her eyes shut closed at remembering Kiyama Harumi's words, and she cringed over the iron barrier as a fresh wave of pain hit the very core of her heart. Behind the tightly squeezed eyelids flashed disturbing images that had been burned brutally into her mind over the last month, scarring her forever.

So much had changed during that short period of time. Misaka Mikoto had once believed in the idealistic world, believed that Academy City was the perfect home for people like her, believed that there was good to be found in everyone. Now she realised how naïve, stupid, and even arrogant those beliefs had been, to think that evil could not touch her.

Muscular dystrophy. That was the lie they had fed her and she so willingly had taken to heart.

Mikoto had not personally known anyone with such a condition; she had only just met the children at the research centre she visited on that fateful day years ago. And yet, she had thought how wonderful it would be if the sick children could be healed, to walk and run as she could. The youthful mind had never doubted the scientist's promise that was so full of hope – that the children could be cured if Mikoto gave them her DNA.

A sob escaped from her lips as her head drooped, forehead almost touching her bare arms heavily leaning against the cold metal. Her fists were clenched tightly, and silent, unshed tears lingered between the shut eyelids. Violent images and sounds relentlessly continued to assault her mind. A Sister's torso brutally ripped apart; a broken limb - so familiar - being shattered to small pieces of flesh and bone; screams in which she recognised her own voice, riddled with so much unimaginable suffering; crimson blood erupting in fountains, staining the grey concrete with its rich colour; stale air reeking of death…

"…me…. Hel…p…. Help… me…."

In this world, no one was stupid enough to help a complete stranger. It wasn't because everyone was cold-hearted, no… that wasn't it. It was self-preservation, a natural instinct that judged self-safety more important than the safety of others. There was no logical reason for one to dive into the mess of another's life and become seriously injured because of it. If someone did, if someone willingly sacrificed themselves to save a complete stranger, the person was simply an idiot.

A certain spikey-haired boy swam into mind, but she dismissed the thought quickly. No one could help her now. This was her problem, a terrible one that she had caused because of her own stupid mistakes and foolishness. What was done could not be reversed, but she had to find the solution and act it out herself to find justice. It was a burden she alone had to carry, and it was for that reason Mikoto refused to call out to anyone for assistance.

Until now.

In the face of the most horrifying darkness Mikoto never knew existed, in the face of her terrible punishment that was to come, her mouth opened of its own accord and whispered the two words her prideful nature had never allowed.

"…Help… me…"

No one was there to listen. It didn't matter anyway. Even if she screamed it out loud, nothing would change and nobody would care…

"Meow"

Her eyes snapped open, suddenly alert. She quickly looked around, searching for the source of the sound.

A small black cat stood a little distance away, watching her carefully with a pair of curious yellow eyes. Mikoto stared back blankly, and wondered where the creature had come from. She noted how the animal was afraid to come closer, keeping what it probably considered a safe distance away. This was just another of life's cruel ironies, that the animals Mikoto loved so much never dared to come near the electromaster. Her body's natural emission of electromagnetic waves made many sensitive animals such as cats uncomfortable and scared. Her powers, she suddenly realised now, had often been the main source of her problems.

Still the two stared at each other, the cat and the esper, as if daring the other to approach closer. Mikoto almost imagined that the cat knew. It wasn't just because of her power; it was the cat's knowledge of what she had done that made the creature afraid. It somehow knew of her unforgiveable sins…

Sounds of running footsteps broke Mikoto out of her dark reverie. She tore her gaze away from the animal's and looked up to where a figure was approaching from the darkness. Her brown eyes widened as she recognised the person. It was the idiot - Kamijou Touma - who believed himself to be a hero. She stood still, this time transfixed on the certain spikey-haired boy. He stopped before her, a distance away, heaving in great lungfuls of air.

"What are you doing?" Touma asked roughly, trying to steady his breath. He looked as if he had run quite a long distance. His black eyes were fixed determinedly on Mikoto. They glinted with purpose and… something else she could not quite name.

For a moment, Mikoto stared back dumbly, unable to form a coherent thought. Then, like an automatic defence system, her carefree mask of the prideful Level 5 slipped on naturally. A slight smirk complete with a touch of arrogance curved her lips, and a dangerous glow glinted in her defiant eyes.

"Heh~ What, all of a sudden?" Her voice was relaxed, all traces of the previous pain expertly hidden away. She flicked a strand of hair back, the perfect picture of a snobby princess.

"What I do in my spare time is my business right? It's not really your place to be telling me off because I'm having fun out late at night-"

"Stop it." The spikey-haired guy's voice interrupted her, but Mikoto resumed carelessly.

"Stop what? I'm Misaka Mikoto the Railgun, one of the seven Level 5's, ranked third in Academy City. Telling me I can't stay outside late…"

Her narrowed eyes flitted across to him slyly, but what she saw next completely crumbled her entire mask.

Touma had wordlessly taken out a stack of papers, holding it out in clear view for her to see. Even under the low light of the street lamps, Mikoto could clearly make out the familiar print. They were papers that were currently supposed to be under her bed, safely within the clothes of her giant stuffed toy Killbear. They were documents that she had so carefully hidden away from other eyes. The scientific reports that spoke of the inhumane Radio Noise project with such chilling and detached analytical words…

'Wha..?'

Time was frozen. Mikoto's widened eyes were glued to the papers in disbelief, her prideful mask long-forgotten and cast away. Her mind whirled, unable to form a single understandable thought and rendering her speechless.

"I know about the younger Misaka… about the Sisters, about the plan… about Accelerator." Touma broke the silence in a decisive voice. "So let's save us both some time."

The shocked silence continued for a long moment as if it hadn't been interrupted. Something clicked in Mikoto's chaotic mind, and she immediately rearranged her face back to that perfect veil of uncaring indifference. She let out a dramatic sigh accompanied by a smile, as if she was dealing with some mild nuisance that she really didn't want to be bothered with.

"Just what are you? You met my clone yesterday and you've already looked that far into it?" Her heart was thumping erratically, but her expression was one of cool detachment, completely hiding the bewilderment that was still swirling within.

'So he found out…' Pieces of a puzzle were being scrambled in her thoughts, begging to be put together.

"But for you to have those documents means you went into my room, right?" Her tone was mingled with amused laughter, and a smile quirked on her lips. She saw Touma visibly gulp in the shadows and knew that her act was doing the job perfectly.

'To someone as meddlesome as him, this plan would be unforgivable…' A piece of the puzzle was set up, anticipating its next match. 'From his point of view I must have looked like an accomplice by giving them my DNA map. So he came here to blame me…'

"Tch, you even looked inside my stuffed toy! That's a death penalty right there! A death penalty!" Mikoto wagged a finger at him, and grinned as if she truly enjoyed the scolding.

'No matter how you look at this situation, the end result is the same. Being condemned by someone will make it easier…' The picture was almost complete and comprehensible; only one final piece of the puzzle remained.

"So…" Her tone was light and playful.

'Can I get you to fill that role then?'

"Do you think I am unforgivable?"

Mikoto stood still, the wry grin dancing on her features as she regarded him in a mocking way. Her heart was set on what she knew would be the inevitable outcome, her destined fate.

The guy stared with angered eyes that drilled into her very soul. She barely managed to keep herself from shivering at the intensity of it.

"How could you?!"

Even though she had resigned herself to condemnation, her heart still sunk into an even darker abyss to hear such furious and accusatory words from the Touma's mouth. Mikoto had played her part well, too well… It was almost regretful, but there was no turning back now. She could not allow herself to break down after so long; she had to play the villain one last time.

Her heart felt like it was shattering into tiny pieces, but still, she silently thanked Touma and purposefully allowed the grin to grow bigger. Mikoto sneered, pretending she had no clue what he was talking about.

"How could I what?"

Touma took a step forward, a shaking fist clenched tightly. Glancing into his fierce eyes, she suddenly realised that she had never seen him so furious before.

"You know what I'm talking about, dammit! This… experiment… It kills people! How could you just go along with that?! How could you live with it?!"

'I can't… That's why I have to do this…'

A delicate laugh rang out in the space between them without missing a beat.

"I thought you read the report already?" Mikoto questioned mockingly. "What part of the word 'clones' can you not comprehend, idiot?"

Touma's anger deepened, his eyes narrowing to slits. She could sense his emotions beginning to boil, and she mildly wondered if he would actually kill her himself.

"Do you seriously think that?!" He shouted. His loud voice almost made her flinch, but Mikoto kept her cool expression under tight control. "They feel pain, they feel fear, they breathe and think just as we do, don't they?! Just because they were-"

"Created in tanks full of chemicals. By scientists." Mikoto interrupted in a bored voice. "I don't really think of them as humans." Before Touma could furiously protest, she continued on ruthlessly. "They're made from my DNA, donated by me. I do believe I'm more knowledgeable about this situation than you are, so stop meddling like an annoying moron."

His angered expression froze up at some point during her speech, eyes wide with disbelief.

"What?" Mikoto asked when Touma did not speak. She sneered at him with one eye lazily closed.

"Y-you… You actually gave them your DNA willingly?"

'I don't even have to lie about this one.'

"Yes, I did," Mikoto said coolly. "I don't see how it's any of your concern."

His mouth drooped into a grim frown.

"You know… I always thought you were a decent person." Touma's voice was horribly strained. "You always smiled so cheerfully, you were always so energetic… but that was all an act wasn't it? Often I could see your crude and prideful nature, but I never thought you… a murderer."

An icy dagger pierced what remained of her shattered heart. Murderer. It was one thing to call yourself that, but another experience altogether to hear somebody else condemn you as such. She quickly turned her face towards the darkness, and pretended her attention was elsewhere. Her mask was crumbling fast and she could not allow him to see it.

A deep silence ensued, expanding like a vast ocean between them, a distance that could never be crossed.

"Ah~" Mikoto whipped her head back to face him once she recovered. Her expression was completely composed once more, exposing the confident mask out in full light of the lamps for Touma to see.

"You're as meddlesome as ever. Seriously…" She heaved a big sigh, as if giving up against a spoilt, stubborn child. "You think this is some opportunity to become the hero you so desperately want to be?"

His jaws clenched so tightly the crunching sound of teeth was audible.

"You think this is me trying to be a hero?! That's just…"

He trailed off as his fingers curled to fists, unable to find words to express his turmoil of emotions.

Rogue strands of hair fell onto her eyes, but Mikoto did not move to brush them away. She simply stared at him in utter silence, her face devoid of any emotion. She could not trust herself to show anything at this point. One tiny crack of the perfect mask and she knew her resolve could disintegrate into a million pieces.

'I can't let that happen now.'

"Fine," she said after a long moment. "Do what you want. I trust you to look after my Sisters…"

'After I'm gone.'

Mikoto breathed in deeply, wishing she could have said the final few words out aloud. Perhaps, after her inevitable fate plays out, Touma would realise her hint and even find room in his heart to forgive her, even a just little bit. It would be more than she deserved though.

When he said nothing, Mikoto turned and casually began to walk away. The night was becoming colder with every passing minute, but she hardly felt the chill. Sweat ran down her back in small rivulets. It had taken all of her will and concentration not to spill everything to Touma. She had somehow managed up until now, but any more and she thought she would break. Physically, mentally and emotionally, she was on the brink of exhaustion.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Touma yelled at her back. Mikoto stopped walking, but did not turn.

"I told you it's none of your business." Her voice was flat and cold. She didn't even need to act anymore. Bubbles of frustration were beginning to grow inside, twisting and churning with the wish that he would just let her be.

'It will be over if you just let me go…!'

But of course, he couldn't know that.

If Touma found out what she was really planning, Mikoto honestly didn't know what he would do. Even after all this time, she did not know him that well. He wasn't someone she could confidently call a friend, and she didn't think he would either. Perhaps he would tell her she deserved it. Perhaps he would be sad and angry at her fate. Perhaps he would fight. Whatever his reaction would turn out to be though, she didn't really want to find out.

'It's easier this way…'

"Are you seriously going to do nothing about this?!" His voice was also cold, icier than she had ever heard it. She repressed a shiver, but did not reply. The darkness was expanding out beyond, and she focused on its nothingness, its overwhelming magnitude.

Mikoto heard him take a step towards her.

"How can you not care?! Are you really that heartless?!"

Her heart throbbed painfully in response but she still made no sound. She stood frozen like a statue, shallow breaths coming out in quick but silent gasps. Further ahead, there were bright sparkles of light from the city, shining like distant stars. As Mikoto stared at them, these artificial starlights began to grow and blur into multi-coloured circles. She blinked frantically.

Another step was taken, approaching closer. Her body tensed by instinct.

"If you're not going to do anything, then I will put an end to this crazy experiment myself!"

A slight twist of her neck brought his impassioned expression into the corner of Mikoto's vision. Her careful mask revealed nothing as she stared at him impassively, lips tightened into a thin line.

"There's another experiment tonight," Mikoto said softly. Her voice was strangely strained, but she continued on with little pause. "You can't stop the experiments. No one can." Her voice trembled slightly despite herself. "There is just no way to do so…"

'That's why I have to do this.'

Such thoughts strengthened her resolve. This was the path she had to take and it was unavoidable. Mikoto toughened her vocal cords, and forced them to produce more confident tones.

"So I suggest you stop with the delusions already. Just forget all this and go back to where you were before. I'd rather you didn't get involved. You could get seriously hurt."

"Tch… I don't care about that. If you also get in my way, I won't hesitate to stop you either!"

This guy was different from other people. From the moment Mikoto had first set eyes on him on that fateful night many months ago, she had known. He wasn't afraid of diving head-first into the chaos of other people's problems. Some would call him nosy; others would describe such a trait as pure stupidity. She enjoyed calling him an idiot, but secretly, she admired him for it. To have that much desire to help others and then actually fulfil this wish through deeds was no easy feat. It took courage to care for others, to put their needs before yours. In her eyes, Touma had nothing to prove; he was already a hero.

She wanted to scream out the truth to him, to cry and hold him tightly, to beg for help, but the electromaster could not allow herself to do any of these things. This time, it wasn't her usual sinful pride that was holding her back. After all, she wasn't the victim in this situation. She was the villain and no one could save her; it was because she didn't deserve to be saved.

"Whatever you say," Mikoto declared flatly. "Do what you want. By the time you try to do anything anyway… it'll be over."

Mikoto turned her head back, her vision becoming blurry again. Inwardly cursing her weaknesses, she blinked hurriedly and began to walk away again, wanting to escape from this place… from him.

She sensed him move behind her, and abruptly whipped around to face him, for what she hoped to be the last time. She quickly spoke before he could.

"Don't look for me again. You won't be able to find me anyway… Goodbye, you idiot."

Her voice shook terribly, disturbingly out of sync with her trembling body and palpitating heart. With horror Mikoto felt something wet run down her right cheek and quickly turned away. As her chest constricted tightly, the urge to flee as quickly as possible overwhelmed all other thoughts. With a barely contained sob shaking her shoulders, she broke into a fast run, athletic legs swiftly carrying her away into that expanding darkness in the distance.

On the bridge, the lone spikey-haired teenager stood frozen, staring after her form that was rapidly fading into the shrouding, dark shadows.

XXXXXXX

In the wake of the sun's deep slumber, the back alleys of Academy City had become conquered by darkness alone. Without a single glimmer of light in existence, such a place allowed no room for shadows. The tall buildings that created these corridors under the night sky blocked out any stray illumination from the distance, looming forebodingly as their shadows merged into pure ebony. Metal piping ran along the building walls like twisted snakes, melded and configured into distorted arrangements. The ground was littered with junk and debris - cigarette butts, empty bottles, discarded packaging, plastic wrappers - strewn in filthy dirt and grime. These alleyways formed a wild maze within Academy City, a sanctuary for the delinquents, the dangerous, and the different.

Mikoto sat curled up in one of these narrow passages, shivering against the enveloping icy gloom. Her arms were tightly wound around her knees as if to prevent her physical self from literally breaking apart. She stared up into the blurred night sky as tears ran freely from her eyes. The harsh words that had left the lips of a certain spikey-haired boy kept repeating in her mind, striking her soul like blows from a steel hammer. She tortured herself by reinforcing each one, believing that she deserved them all. A swirling whirlpool of despair was ruthlessly sucking her into its bottomless depths, and she was merely hanging onto the one last single thread of hope she had left.

But in the end, even that would not be able to save her.

Mikoto had never truly considered death before all this nightmare began. She had never felt the need to dwell on such a gloomy and irrelevant fate. It had seemed a vague concept that had absolutely no connection to her, at least for a long, long time yet. But now, she found herself staring into the horrifying face of death, who was ready to claim her and drag her into the unknown.

Silent sobs wracked her body as the frightening question suddenly hit her fresh.

Death. What did it even mean?

She would no longer exist in this world. She would never again see any of her loved ones. Her mother Misuzu, her father Tabikake, her closest friends - Kuroko, Saten-san, Uiharu-san… They would become lost to her and she to them. Would they be able to cope with her disappearance? Of course, Academy City would come up with some cover story to save their own faces and reputation. Mikoto's death would be explained as a simple accident, nothing more. Only a few people, only those scumbags who had been directly involved in this nightmare, would ever know the truth.

The Level 5 leaned her head back against the wall, eyes closing as she steadied her breath. Why was she still crying? Hadn't she accepted her fate already? She cursed the idiot for ruining her resolve. It was his fault, for suddenly turning up like that and shattering the wall she had steadily built over time. He had reminded her of her family and friends, of what she had and what she would lose. So many small things, words and deeds now seemed of utmost significance in the face of the finale. They say you don't truly realise what you have until you lose it all. Walking into the absolute finality, Mikoto could understand this as a truth. And now, she only had a few minutes to reconstruct her determination and separate her heart from her mind again...

'No more…. I can't be like this…'

A final tear escaped, leaving a wet trail which she immediately wiped away with a hand. A long minute crawled by as her erratic breathing slowed into a gentle rhythm. When Mikoto opened her eyes once more, there was a new fire burning deep within.

She had an important job to do, and she couldn't let such shattering emotions or negative thoughts get in her way.

The electromaster stood up, her back sliding against the wall. She could still feel the cold darkness caressing her tense and trembling form, as if it knew she was almost completely in its possession...

With a deep breath, Mikoto squared her shoulders and walked out into the streets. The ebony blanket quickly shrunk into simple shadows under the bright street lamps. She glanced at the large clock hanging on a building wall, outlined by colourful neon lights. 9:35 pm it read, and she stared at the numbers blankly as ice filled her chest.

The experiment would have already started. She was late.

Cursing under her breath, Mikoto broke into a run. The frosty air whipped across her face and danced in her hair. Self-disgust at having wasted precious time with self-pity drove her onwards faster, jaws tightly clenched and a fire raging wildly in her brown eyes. She had been sitting there feeling sorry for herself, while her Sister could be already… Her fingernails dug into her palms painfully, but her mind hardly registered it.

The pain in her heart was too great for her to feel anything else.

A couple of people walking by stared at the school girl running so desperately with questioning eyes, but Mikoto truly could not care less about what she looked like at this moment.

Only one thing was important now.

And that was saving the Sisters.

Her Sisters.

XXXXXXX

"So, you're the next doll for the experiment, huh?"

At the Switchyard of School District 17, a skinny albino figure sat upon a large cargo metal box. His posture was completely relaxed, and a twisted smirk lingered lazily upon his pale lips.

"Yes, this Misaka is serial number 10032, Misaka identifies herself."

A brown-haired girl in Tokiwadai uniform stood before him near the railway tracks. Her blank eyes gazed upwards calmly. Her third-person speech was intoned in a detached manner, the monotonous voice lacking any inflections.

"Before we begin, wouldn't it be wise for you to verify the password to make sure that this Misaka is actually part of the experiment? Misaka responsibly advises."

"Tch." For a moment, a mild look of annoyance crossed the albino's features. But it was quickly replaced by an amused grin, and his red eyes glinted strangely under the silver moonlight.

"Honestly, I hate to question you when you're so diligently performing your role in an experiment to increase my strength. But you strike me as unnaturally relaxed, given your situation." The mocking grin grew wider. "Are you sure your mind isn't occupied with something else?"

The girl stared impassively at the taunting figure leering down at her.

"The phrase 'something else' is too vague for this Misaka to fully comprehend, Misaka replies with some confusion."

Her voice was quiet, but the silence of the night amplified it.

"Three minutes and twenty seconds remain until the experiment is scheduled to begin. Are you ready, Misaka enquires seeking confirmation."

The albino sitting atop the crate let out a bark of laughter.

"I don't think I will ever understand how you could be so willing to throw your life away."

He tilted his head and gazed down at the girl before him as if observing a fascinating insect under a microscope.

"My life to me is more important than anything else in the world. Which is why my desire for greater power will never disappear or diminish. So it doesn't matter if I've killed 100 or 10,000 of you dolls in this experiment as long as I'm getting stronger!"

The grin on his face twisted upwards, exposing his sharp canines. "Your petty deaths mean nothing to me!"

"You say you cannot understand Misaka, but Misaka also finds your behaviour confusing, Misaka replies honestly," The girl spoke up. "You are Accelerator, already the strongest Level 5 in Academy City. You are in a position where nobody else can touch you. So there is no need for you to become more powerful, Misaka states reasonably."

"The strongest, huh?" Accelerator repeated almost wistfully. "Yeah, that's true… But how have people arrived at that evaluation of me? They named me the strongest Level 5 because they actually fought me and got beaten. That's the basis for my classification right there!"

His voice suddenly turned harsh, and his eyes narrowed sharply. "I'm at the top of the heap because a bunch of dimwits thought to themselves, 'Hey, I think it'll be fun to fight with that guy and see what he can really do!'"

His lips pinched together as if tasting something sour. "Well, that's not good enough. It's not even close. I've got bigger plans for myself. That level of power is insignificant!"

Accelerator's voice rose in pitch, making him sound quite deranged. "The power I'm after goes way beyond that. I don't want people thinking that fighting me would be an interesting challenge; I want the very idea of going up against me to be unthinkable, something that nobody would dare!"

The girl stood unshaken. She stared up at the white figure as if unimpressed by his declarations.

"One minute thirty seconds until the experiment commences. Are you certain that you are ready to begin, Misaka asks, again seeking confirmation."

Accelerator let out a sigh.

"I thought we could kill a little time before we got to the main event, but this is just hopeless. There's no point in trying to hold a normal conversation with you."

With the agility of a cat, he leapt off the tall crate and landed on his feet solidly without a sound. A predatory grin split across his face as he lifted his head to reveal two pinprick pupils staring at the girl before him.

"Okay then, are you ready? It's almost time for you to kick the bucket, you substandard factory reject."

The girl put on the green goggles. Its screen lit up with an eerie glow of light.

"The time is 9:29:45. We will now commence trial number 10032."

Accelerator smirked, lunging forwards into a deadly blur of white.

XXXXXXX

On the iron bridge stood a spikey-haired boy, staring into the unfathomable darkness that had swallowed a certain electromaster only moments ago. His body was frozen, wide eyes glued to the never-ending gloom in the distance. Images of the Tokiwadai girl flashed through his mind - the cheerful smiles and laughter, always bursting with energy; her arrogant and prideful smirks; the fiery, hot-headed willfulness that never ceased to give up; that swift, athletic turn of her body to deliver a powerful roundhouse to a certain vending machine…

She was the very last person Touma would have expected to possess such a dark secret.

Various emotions had flickered in his heart when he had faced her earlier. Anger, betrayal, frustration… Now though, confusion was at the forefront of them all.

Touma was quite certain he had seen the sparkle of a teardrop fall as Mikoto had turned away. In the months he had known her, he had always perceived her as unbreakable, tough, stubborn and headstrong. He had gotten into all sorts of trouble because of her eagerness for a fight, and he wasn't even sure if she considered him a friend.

Prideful.

Strong.

And yet…

A single teardrop had fallen as she turned away.

So what was the truth?

A hand rose to clutch a fistful of spikey black hair, and his jaws clenched. He closed his eyes, trying to think against the headache that was beginning to throb and gnaw at his mind.

Just what was the truth?