A Certain Sequence of Events

The posy of friends that was Mikoto, Kuroko, Kazari Uiharu, and Ruiko Saten were sat at their usual meet up location that was one of the Josephs family restaurants that populated Academy City.

Eventually the Railgun felt nature calling, so she left her friends to relieve herself. That was when the trouble began.

"So," began Ruiko once she was sure Mikoto was out of earshot, "have either of you noticed that Misaka seems a bit distracted?"

"How do you mean?" quipped Kazari.

"Well, y'know…" went on Ruiko, she waved her hands about the air as if trying to make the appropriate words come to her. "It's kinda like, she's here, but then her thoughts are drifting off to somewhere else, it's as if she has something big coming up that she's raring to come to her already."

Kuroko audibly scoffed in annoyance. Both Sakugawa students looked to their pigtailed friend. "Well?" asked Ruiko. "Come on Shirai, you know something. Spill it."

"Ugh…" she groaned. "As you know the Daihaseisai Festival was a few days ago, but ever since that week, Sissy's been talking in her sleep." She growled, and her fist clenched up. "She's been doing that day and night…in daylight she could suddenly start dreaming off whether she's in class, lying down, or any time where there isn't something distracting her she just gets this look in her eyes…" Her own eyes narrowed as she trailed off.

"What's it about?" asked Kazari, slightly worried if Mikoto was having emotional trouble.

"Something about a Penalty Game and how someone lost it," said Kuroko.

" 'Penalty Game'…?" asked the two black haired girls.

"It is where someone loses a bet, and they have to do whatever the winner says for an allotted time period — usually said game only lasts a day." Her mood turned darker. "Whoever it is has stolen Sissy's heart…"

"Wait…" said Ruiko, as mischievous thoughts entered her mind. "Someone who's stolen Misaka's heart…? Was it perhaps…a boy?" she asked slyly.

"Yeah," muttered the Teleporter absentmindedly, having not picked up on Ruiko's tone. "An ape of a man who'd jump in to save you for no particular reason other than that he feels like being a hero and because he can…he's without reason, easily incapacitated and a complete idiot." She rustled and straightened her back. "Aka that mysterious boy who can cancel out an Espers powers you were talking about."

"What, no way!?" squealed Ruiko, standing up. "He exists?"

"Isn't that what I said?" replied Kuroko as she slumped back down and idly drew circles on the table. "A dirt poor monkey with no powers, absurdly misfortunate, stubborn, hair that looks like he's a common manga protagonist, and he's stupidly sentimental and kind…" and with that, her hand that was circling curled up into a fist.

Ruiko and Kazari stared in shock when they noticed that Kuroko's cheeks had a slight hint of red. They exchanged a look, as though they were asking for reassurances from the other if what they had seen was a dream. Kazari was the first to ask, and quickly motioned with her eyes towards her Judgement partner, and with sweat beading down her head, Ruiko just nodded.

It was then that Mikoto returned. "Well then, what's all this?" she asked.

"Um…we were just talking," said Kazari as she stiffened.

"About…?"

"Nothing," said Kuroko bluntly. Mikoto was taken aback and turned to her. "Nothing for you to be concerned about, Sissy."

"Hold on…"

"Y-y-yeah…just small stuff, not much to hear there, Misaka," Ruiko stammered. The Railgun narrowed her eyes, and was about to question their answers…when her phone rang out.

She quickly grabbed it. "Hello?" she asked. The voice on the other end said something hurriedly. "Wait…so it happened just as I thought…?" asked Mikoto, her lips curling upwards to smile. "Nothing ever good comes to him, does it…? What's that? No, I didn't want him to get hurt intentionally, I-I just knew it would happen, that's all…no! I didn't want him to get hurt! I told you, I just knew – err –predicted something would happen…anyways, you gave him my message, right? Good, thanks…" as she said those words, her friends observed in utter astonishment as a dreamy, blushing, dumbstruck faraway look came into her eyes. "…Of course. Well it isn't like what I plan will send him back to you. If anything it'll be by something completely unrelated… all right, thanks, bye." And she hung up.

Then she sat back down, completely unaware of the look her friends were giving her as she went back to sipping on her straw. Eventually she became aware of the tension - from where her head was leaned over her eyes darted from Ruiko to Kazari, and noticed both were visibly tense. "What is up with you two?" she asked, before straightening up and offering a kind smile. "We're just eating sweets. Is there something the matter?"

"No…nothing," said Ruiko as she tried to keep it together.

"It's just we're shocked that you have someone who you'd want as a boyfriend!" cried Kazari unexpectedly as she slammed her hands onto the table and stood up.

"Uiharu!" scolded Ruiko. Kazari blushed and quickly sat back down.

"B-boyfriend?!" cried Mikoto, her face going red with embarrassment. "I – well…" She quickly shook her head and steeled her heart, an action she was used to doing. "I don't have anyone like that, he's just a friend." Immediately Mikoto began fiddling with her straw, glaring with blushing embarrassment and fury at the ice cubes.

Kuroko leaned in to her left hand, distancing her head from her Sissy's, and looked at her through seemingly bored but focused eyes. I just cannot fathom what you see in him, Sissy, she thought.

OoOoO

Kuroko saw Troglodyte and Sissy together a few days later. All students starting that week had changed into their mandatory winter uniforms, so it was forgivable that the initial impression she got when she saw Touma fanning Mikoto whilst he was on one knee as something akin to a master and servant relationship. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that, and feelings arose out of it.

One, she felt enraged that Troglodyte saw himself as a worthy servant of her Sissy. She based her claim on that it sounded like Mikoto was angry with him for suddenly fanning her skirt – how one measly folder could whip up a current strong enough to do that was an entirely different matter.

Two, she hated how she wasn't the one doing the fanning. The chance to be the one to cause Mikoto's short skirt to wave around in such a matter was one not to be missed! Even if she knew there were shorts underneath…

And so, without warning, she quickly grabbed her own folder, and promptly kicked up a gust of her own. How she avoided nose bleeding afterwards was a mystery.

Though she still wondered how she would've felt if her skirt had been the one being fanned at…something about seeing him on his knees like that evoked something.

OoOoO

Academy City was hard to call dull, that was for certain. In the span of a week all Hell seemed to be on the loose. First most of the city suddenly passed out suddenly, a member of the Governing Board was shot at, members of anti-skill pronounced dead at a plant, some of the cities infrastructure was somehow destroyed – some looking as though they had been chucked. Second, Skill Out had seemingly been the victim of some mercenary job, then the Dangai University Database was under siege from Skill Out trying to kill Mikoto Misaka's mother.

Kuroko Shirai could only massage her head to sooth her growing migraine as she finished speaking with one of Anti-Skills officers on what the situation at had been. As Judgement was a lower ranked but still vital outfit for protecting the wellbeing of the city, it was natural that the student ran organization was obliged to assist in the cleanup and damage control at Dangai.

It was rather bizarre – her Sissy's mother had been at the database when Skill Out suddenly attacked. Apparently two strangers had helped her escape. In the aftermath, many of the surviving Skill Out members had been arrested. But worst of all, according to eye witness reports, one of the helpful strangers had been a somewhat short High School male with spikey black hair…she only knew one male like that.

The Judgement officer sighed, teleported back to her headquarters, and sorted out the necessary paperwork for the incident alongside Kazari, and both had to juggle the new papers, parallel to the ones built up over the past few days. After she finished, she realized it was late afternoon – she stared with discontent at the mountain of unfinished paperwork.

"Never mind that," said Mii Konori, the head of the 177th branch. "You two have done enough paper filing for one day I should think. Go out and enjoy your evening. But be here on time tomorrow, you here?" The two girls muttered their thanks and left the building.

Kazari had personal business to take care of, leaving Kuroko to herself. She looked at the time, and then at her phone. She sighed. "Might as well visit the hospital," she grumbled.

OoOoO

She waited right by the automatic doors with her arms crossed in front of her chest, leant back with eyes closed in deep thought. At last the doors opened, and she saw who she was after.

"Ugh…what to do about dinner…" muttered one Touma Kamijou as he left the hospital that he consistently frequented almost every month.

"About time," said Kuroko suddenly. This frightened Touma, who whirled round, shocked to see the pigtailed teleporting girl.

"Wait, y-you were waiting for me?!"

"Well yes."

"Why in Hell would you do that…?" he asked with a deadpanned expression. He then began to walk away.

"I saw Anti-Skill's report about the incident at Dangai University," explained Kuroko as she followed him. "I saw that you were one of the strangers that saved Sissy's mother, and that you were injured after fighting with that Hamazura guy."

"Okay, so what of it?"

Kuroko felt a strange mixture of disbelief and a pang of heat overcome her heart. "Well I had to check on you after finding that out – to make sure you are okay," she replied with a straight face.

"Thanks for that," said Touma, smiling genuinely at her. The teleporter swore a strange comfortable feeling overcame her chest as he said that.

"That's not the only reason…gives me the opportunity – seeing as you're just coming out of hospital – to ask you more questions as to the strange happenings that's been going on around here."

"Of course that's why you'd seek me out," Touma lamented dramatically as he dropped his head.

"H-hey, it is not as if I'm looking to hurt you!" Kuroko sighed when the teen didn't react to her response. Not that it was blamable. "Anyways…strange things started to occur allegedly after our last chat. Arisa went missing – you…got dragged around by Sissy during the Daihasei Festival, among other things…" She shook her head, remembering a long complicated series of events. "Then suddenly, majority of this city falls asleep and awakes to chaos. You always seem involved."

"Nothing short of coincidence," replied Touma dryly. "I just do what I can to help those I care about."

A typical and expected answer of you, Kuroko thought. She knew there was little use in trying to confront him on the subjects any further. "So…" she continued. "Sissy's mother, quite the gal, isn't she?"

"Erm…yeah, I guess. Very eccentric," said the boy cautiously.

"You pulled quite the risk back there," said Kuroko. "Shiage Hamazura has a bit of a reputation for his brashness. It was quite a brave action, that you, a Level Zero like them, would oppose them and actually win."

Touma's complexion sweated a bit and he looked down and her with a nervous and mystified expression. "Um…thanks. It was no trouble, really, just ordinary humans like us with easy weaknesses to physical altercations."

"Yes, but still brave considering they were all armed, and their testimonies said you only went in with a crowd shield and your fists." Touma just chuckled, rubbed the back of his neck, and fell silent. Kuroko sighed and looked ahead of where they were walking, and saw that there was a bun vendor nearby. She swore that as they got nearer, she heard his stomach growling, and got an idea.

"Hey, how about I get us some food? My treat, okay?" And before he could protest, she hurried over to get some of the bread. She came back a minute later and shoved a big sugar coated treat into his arms. His eyes bulged at the sight. "Go on, eat up," she said with a big soft smile.

Before Touma could make a quip, Kuroko began to sink her teeth into hers – she sighed contentedly, a sugary, carb rich treat after work was what she sorely needed. Touma smiled, amused by her various hums of happiness and went to eat his.

They continued to walk along as they munched, Kuroko following Touma, assuming her knew the way to wherever he needed to go. As they did, she kept noting down his own hums as he gratefully bit down on his share of the food. "Thanks for this, Shirai," he eventually said after a while, as he finished the last strands of his snack. "Ah! I needed that."

The little girl felt a strange tingle overcome her nerves when he said that, somehow the receding sunlight created an oddly intimate mood and look to Touma's countenance as he smiled down at her. She couldn't help it, her small stature forced awe to flood her mind as she observed the male before her. She gulped the last bit of bread down, and felt her throat go dry.

She licked at her lips to moisten them before responding. "You're welcome," she said with uncharacteristic softness. Touma just smiled.

"Thanks," he remarked. He then noticed where they were. "Ah, there's the mart I wanted to go to. Tomorrow's the last day of their sale, but I better take advantage of it before they take it down." He turned to Kuroko. "See ya around, Shirai!" And he jogged off across the street.

"Eh?! Whoa, that was quick…" she muttered. She was surprised at how she didn't feel mad that he left her, instead it was…peaceful, things felt calmer…

…and then Sissy walked out of the nearby manga café.

"Oh, Sissy!" she called excitedly. Mikoto froze up, and turned around. She panicked.

"Oh, K-Kuroko…" she stammered, and braced herself.

Kuroko walked calmly toward her. "How are you this evening? Things well?"

"Oh, um, things are well," she said, shocked by the calm approach of her normally perverted roommate. "Although," she added as she began to walk away, "the news recently has been alarming. People all over Europe just senselessly fighting…"

"Oh, oh yes – indeed," quipped Kuroko. "A shame that. I'm sure things will look up soon though."

Mikoto didn't respond as another thought crossed her mind. I wonder how that idiot's been…he still hasn't responded to my texts…n-not that I need him too…! I just…I can't help but feel as well that he might know something about these recent protests…

OoOoO

Author's Note: You all wanted it, so here you go – a second chapter! Definitely crossing the Touma x Kuroko line on this one, wasn't even intended to this extent, but it just fell that way. This is one of those fics where I don't actually know if there'll be a concrete end strangely enough.

Anyhow, got this ready for you all in honor of the last episode of Index III going up today. What an arc – I loved it!