It had been a week since the last encounter between a boy named Kamijou Touma and a girl named Shokuhou Misaki.

Kamijou stopped being paranoid three days ago when he decided whatever happens, happens.

Today, he was swinging by himself on the swingset (of course), when suddenly a classmate of his, a girl in a pink dress, appeared next to him and scared him off his seat.

"Wah! Don't scare me like that...you!"

He did not know this person, or at least he didn't think so. He felt like this person should be familiar, and that's when he realized her eyes. They were cold and lifeless and staring directly at him. They were so voided, they caused him to not recognize his classmate.

"C-can I help you?" he asked.

The girl didn't say a word, but nodded to say she did.

He didn't expect a normal answer, knowing very well who could possibly be behind this odd meeting between classmates, so he wasn't surprised or scared.

"What is it that you want then?"

She continued to not say anything. Instead, she pulled out an envelope. It had a nice fragrance accompanying it, along with a ribbon tied around the corner, and a red sticker with a gold outline keeping it closed.

The sight and subtle smell of the envelope made his head shrink.

(Guh, how much did it cost to make this?)

His thoughts didn't quite match his feelings. Although he was genuinely surprised with the quality of the envelope, it did brighten his day. He felt like a peasant receiving a gift from the queen of the kingdom herself.

He took the letter from the classmate's hand.

"Ung? What happened?"

The lifeless eyes of the girl in pink returned from the dead and she looked like she was capable of emotions again.

Unfortunately for Kamijou, this girl was fired up.

"You!"

"Me?"

"I remember now. You jerk!"

"Ah!"

She slapped him and promptly left. Honestly, she didn't remember what happened, but felt satisfied nonetheless.

"Rotten luck," he mumbled.

He looked at the envelope and felt much worse about it this time.

(Let's just hope this isn't a declaration of war. Oh, even the letter inside is fancy. Since when did so much work have to be put into letters?)

The page had a relaxing pink color instead of the usual white of the professional businessman to express feminine subtext. The page also showed no signs of having ever been folded, thanks to the technology of Academy City's expensive paper products. The font for the text was thin, but nothing extravagant.

The letter read as such:

Dear Kamijou-san,

The days have been becoming warmer, don't you think so? How have you been? Hungry, I hope! I have prepared a small picnic at a park nearby. Lunch should be in a few minutes now. Please come over and eat with me, won't you. Or don't, but keep in mind that I don't appreciate the idea of being stood up. I might have your teacher come and eat with me. Maybe we'll discuss your progress in school?

At the bottom of the letter were directions to her location. Kamijou, not willing to let his teacher anywhere near this girl, begrudgingly followed them and arrived to the site.

Over by a small lake was the girl. She was sitting at a round table with parasol attached to the middle.

"Oh! You made it! Take a seat."

He was unwilling at first, but his mind changed once he saw the food on the table.

It wasn't a whole lot of food, but this was a case where quality beat up and killed quality.

(Even the bread looks mouthwatering! They look even softer then my pillows! No, wait, this isn't the time for that.)

He withheld from sitting down on the table first and cut to the chase.

"What's all this for?"

"Are your first thoughts always so cynical? I invite you to eat lunch with me, and the first thing you do is treat me as cold as the sushi over by the tea."

"It's hard to treat you nicely when you made your messenger slap me."

Thinking about the slap made his cheeks burn and he felt like he would have to start rubbing the pain away again.

"The slap was in case you forgot my name. I'd be happy to apologize if you prove my predicting powers wrong."

Little Kamijou stared at her and gulped as he realized he truly did forget her name.

She pouted and gazed away from him.

"I see. My charming ability wasn't enough to make an impact on you. Should I be trying harder then?"

The thought of her giving more effort than right now scared him and he blurted out, "Please don't!"

"Why not? I gave you my name and title and it meant nothing to you."

"That's not true," he said unconfidently. "I, uh, remember the part where you called yourself Academy City's most pure-hearted esper."

"Do you believe it?"

"I don't think I can. There's a good chance your lying."

"But how is that possible? I'm as pure they get," she said.

"What? No. If you're lying, that means you're not pure."

"But I'm not lying. I'm stating a fact; A fact you can believe."

"I refuse," he flat out said, "because you're lying."

"Your stubborness ability is really annoying now. Ah! How about I demonstrate my nonexistant lying powers to you?" she said.

"I don't see how you can."

She smiled and gave him a certain look full of confidence and playfulness. He only felt it for a moment, but a piece of him melted. Of course, he'd never admit it.

She flipped her hair, adjusted her head, and quietly cleared her throat. Having done so much preparation, Kamijou wondered if she was going to do a back flip for the sake of the demonstration.

She got up on her seat and closed her eyes as she said, "I am not the purest girl in Academy City."

A bird flapped its wings and a boy blinked his eyes.

"...is that...is that it? How does that prove you're not a liar?"

She opened her eyes and grinned. "It's simple really: If that statement is false, then that means I really am the pure girl you doubted existed."

He lost his breath and almost fell over from that response.

"That doesn't mean anything! Of course you not the most pure-hearted esper here!"

"Is that right? But then that would mean I have told the truth of my impurity. The fact I have told the truth, however, continues the fact I've never lied, thus proving that I really am the purest of the pure!"

This time, he felt the Earth under him shake.

"Huh!? What?! How!? You can't be serious!? No, I can't believe it! I don't even-!"

He blathered on until he decided to outright stop thinking to give his mind a break. He didn't think it was worth opposing her anymore. He clearly didn't have the wits to enter a battle against her. She didn't use her powers to break his mind.

He quietly went over to the table and plopped down onto a seat.

"Can stupid Kamijou ask for your name?"

She sat back down and told him, "Shokuhou Misaki."

He nodded and looked at the food.

"So...what are we having?"

"A small serving of fried fish," she said.

"That's nice."

He sounded distraught and tired. It wouldn't be a stretch to say he absolutely did not want to be here.

As the host, she did not feel very good about this attitude.

"Do you find me annoying," she said in a low voice.

"Huh?"

He looked over to Shokuhou and saw a frown unlike the playful pouts she gave. This one was genuine.

No matter who the person was, Kamijou did not enjoy feeling the sadness emanating from others. Naturally, he wanted to stop this bad aura and he denied anything.

"N-no! Of course not!"

"Then what do you think of me?"

He truly didn't find her annoying, yet that did not help him pinpoint the feeling he got being with her.

"Is it my power that makes you uncomfortable with me?" she said.

He wasn't sure if 'uncomfortable' was the word for it, but she was right about her power.

She saw his eyes move slightly, to whiich she took as a yes, much to her dismay.

She sighed and her frown increased. "It's not like I chose to have this power. No one chooses their powers. I just happen to get the one everyone is the most afraid of.

"Sometimes I'll see other espers use their power. They'll make things disappear, have things melt, or even make it rain. No one is afraid of that sort of thing here, unless they're being attacked. With me, every little thing I do is an attack. Everyone else is allowed to have a little fun with their powers, but not poor little Misaki."

She reached for her tea and took a small sip.

"For a little bit, I tried to make everyone understand that the most I would do is have a little mischief, but that wasn't allowed. A lot of people stopped trusting me, and I stopped trusting them because..."

She took another drink and pushed the glass away from her.

"In the end, I just stopped telling people and made my power a secret, for the most part."

"So how is it that I know?" he asked.

She didn't say anything, but took a look at his right hand. He saw her looking at it.

"My right hand? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Remember when we first met? Your hand's negating ability stopped my powers and you were back in control of yourself. I've gotten to the point where if people know what I can do, they stop trusting me, and if, for whatever reason, I can't use my powers on them, I stop trusting them."

She shifted away from her spot on the table and moved closer to him.

His heartbeat's rate increased because he was afraid of what point she was trying to make, mixed in with some other feelings he didn't quite understand.

She grabbed his right hand and placed it on his head.

"With you, however, there's a middle line, isn't there? I can and cannot use my powers on you."

"Ah."

He was now easing into her line of logic. As his mind was doing so, he began to make a horrible realization and hated himself for treating her the way he had.

"You see, I was thinking that since you can stop my power by having your hand on your head like this, you'll hopefully realize that my company isn't as dangerous as you would think and maybe be my...my fr-r-r..."

She didn't want to say that last word. Saying it would have made her feel so alone, dropping her off a cliff into a hole she knew existed, but did not want to acknowledge.

"Of course I'll be your friend."

"Uhn?"

She was given an ability she did not ask for. People around her did not like her for that power. She was alone and if she wasn't, people treated her badly. It sounded familiar to him because he essentially went through a similar experience.

"I'll be your friend, but if I see you do anything bad, it's over," he said.

Unlike her experience, however, the issue of trust was different and he would have to be cautious.

She looked at him for a bit before giving him a warm smile.

"Thank you."

When Kamijou returned to class, he was immediately ambushed by his classmate, the girl in the pink dress.

"Kamijou-chan! Where have you been? I've been wanting to apologize for slapping you!"

The teacher overheard the voice and immediately took action.

"You again? How many times do I have to tell you to leave my student alone!? You're a teacher, so go back to your school and never bother us again!"

"Wah!"

The elementary school teacher grabbed a broom and swatted the alleged high school teacher three times before she ran back to the high school class she taught at.

(What a weird girl,) Kamijou thought.

Author's Note

Ugh, I was going to write this after the NT8 was fully translated, but I got sick with bronchitis and I'm just getting better now.

You don't know how corny I felt when I wrote done that friend line. I don't know why, but the "I'll be your friend" line is the line I hate the most. Still, I had to make it for the sake of whatever. Hopefully I did a good interpretation of Misaki and her vague thoughts about trust. I feel it kinda fits with her relationship between Misaka and Dolly.

This chapter went on longer than expected, especially with the liar's paradox scene. It's a bit tiring to write so much at one time.

So, uh, on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z, Touma and Misaki have a play date or something. Play a little game of UNO maybe? But not Jenga, especially Tetris Jenga. That's the worst type of Jenga to play.

Komoe is a little moe, don't you think?