"I love you!"

It is an odd feeling to be suddenly confessed to. Yes, very odd. Especially if the one who confessed was one of your friends that you occasionally hung out with.

Laying down in his bathtub as a makeshift bed, 'normal' high school boy Kamijou Touma could only sigh while thinking of the events which lead to him contemplating this new situation.

Today was December the 28th and excluding the confession it felt like any other day.

Wake up, make food for Index and Othinus, and then go to remedial class because he missed too many days of school and making up time during winter break was one way to save him. After that long day and before he could start his large amount of homework, he was suddenly called by Biribiri. She wanted him to meet her at a certain iron railway bridge which was the one that the two of them had previously interacted at. She had sounded flustered when she was speaking but Kamijou just filed that away as her being her. He had expected her to ask for an explanation of that Santa magician who had terrorized Academy City a few days back. He got something he never would have expected.

On a snowy bridge with flicks of snow still falling on it, Misaka Mikoto confessed her love to Kamijou Touma.

Let's be clear Kamijou was caught off guard, he considered her a friend and a valuable ally so he never thought about her that way.

Then again Kamijou was willing to admit that he didn't think of many women that way, as whether their dating material or not. He wasn't a saint who never thought about women in a lewd way but he just never had the time to seriously think about dating.

Before he could think of or try to come up with an answer to her, their confrontation was interrupted by Kamijou's misfortune.

Apparently some rogue Egyptian magician cabal choose that exact time to launch a magical attack on Academy City.

One such mage was also on the bridge sent with the duty of killing the dreaded Imagine Breaker.

This of course lead to the standard convoluted magical situation where Tsuchimikado called, running was had, homework was burned to a crisp, Index was captured, faces were punched, and illusions were destroyed; all of which lasted throughout the entire day.

All of this basically means that he never found a chance to respond to her.

This all leads to our hero Kamijou Touma contemplating what to do while in his bedbath.

It was currently 2:00 AM and he was still awake.

Was he really dense enough to not know about her feelings?

He didn't really know how he felt about biribiri but he also didn't want to break her heart.

Kamijou didn't really know how to feel, his thoughts were in chaos. Kamijou didn't consider himself to be absentminded, maybe dense to a certain degree, but when things do happen that can drastically affect him he does start contemplating things and getting lost in thought.

The main problem was that he wasn't just focused on the confession, a certain memory kept entering his thoughts.

It was a memory from many months ago while in a certain hospital room.

"Touma, you don't remember? How much Index loved you?"

What? Why was he remembering that now? Shouldn't he be focused on Mikoto's confession?

Why do they both sound so similar?

Touma didn't know why but he felt a similarity with the two experiences, they were both similar in their sincerity and truthfulness.

Why was that important?

He had previously thought that Index loved him platonically.

But…

Did Index feel the same way then as biribiri did now?

He knew Mikoto's confession was romantic due to it making sense in context. A romantic snowy setting with a determined expression made that pretty clear. But when Index said hers it was at a hospital to a boy who lost his memories. She was crying and lamenting the loss of a friend. He just assumed that it was platonic but Mikoto's confession was introducing doubts into his thoughts.

Was he dense at that time as well?

Wait.

A horrific feeling enveloped Kamijou's body.

Does she feel the same now?

Stop.

Index definitely said that toward the past me, the dead me, the one who didn't lose his memories.

But…

Did her feelings ever change?

He remembered a different memory.

"It's fine," Index had said. "That…doesn't matter anymore. As long as the usual you returns from this, nothing else matters."

Why can't he stop thinking about this?

Touma sighed and resigned to think more about it later that day after he got some sleep. He repositioned himself and started to fall asleep into dream land.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Until he was suddenly interrupted by his alarm clock.

Touma drowsily looked at his alarm to find that it was already time to get up.

"Such Misfortune"

Struggling to get up on the slippery surface Touma raised his body in order to shut the alarm and begin his day.

Stepping out of bathroom he found two very asleep freeloaders and a kind of destroyed apartment. Index on the bed and Othinus in her dollhouse with both of the accessories managing to still be in 'okay' condition after the Egyptian mages. Seeing this only reminded Touma of his homework being one of the few causalities.

Internally sighing Touma began his daily routine of making a cheap yet hopefully fulfilling meal that will satisfy the diets of both Othinus and Index. The microwave was still working and he began fixing up a ton of grilled cheese sandwiches. ½ for Othinus, 2 for him, and 20 for Index.

"Why am I starting to feel like there's a reason why I'm always broke." Touma murmured to himself.

Othinus and Index started to stir and wake up either due to the comment or the smell of breakfast.

While Index wiped the sleep from her eyes and started heading towards the table for her food. The television was destroyed, but at least the table was fine.

Despite being focused on the duty of cooking for a black hole, Touma was still distracted by his thoughts.

What on earth should he do?

Wasn't the reason why he was glad he was misfortunate because of the fact that he got caught up in the pain of others without being oblivious to their pain? Is he unknowingly causing the pain of others by being dense to their feelings?

Is Index secretly saddened by him ignoring her confession?

The presence of Index there continuously devouring the sandwiches that he quickly made, wasn't helping.

Suddenly, he had a strange idea while he was fixing his sandwich. It was one of those sudden thoughts that make you want to suddenly commit an action. He didn't put much thought into it so he just said that very strange thought that entered his head. Maybe it was his lack of sleep that contributed to his impulsive action. In any case Touma said what was on his mind.

"Hey Index…Do you love me? "

This was mainly a test story. I'll probably continue this once I get better at writing. Criticism and tips are appreciated. If you like this concept and think you can write it pretty well, I'll encourage you to do so. I mainly just had this idea and really wanted to see this idea.

I wasn't really sure what to put for Index's confession. The original translation had "Your friend Index…loved you" while the official one had what I put down, the anime version looked slightly different as well. So I just went with the official one.