The door to the dormitory opened and Mikoto Misaka entered her room, clothed in her unusual civilian attire. Taking her cap off, she sat on her bed, pushing the rubber band off her hair. She reflected upon the recent events.
Actively attacking and destroying the laboratories responsible for the Project Sisters was, in a way, satisfying. She felt that she at least had some sense of control over the situation—every laboratory destroyed, the weight within her heart grew less...
She looked up to see Kuroko slumped over her desk with her face buried within her arms and felt a slight twinge of guilt. Kuroko would have had no idea whatsoever of her roommate's reoccurring disappearance, and probably continued to wait until she returned, worried sick. Her computer's monitor screen was not yet within sleep mode, suggesting that she only began to doze off minutes before she arrived. There was something playing on the screen of the computer, placed on an infinite loop. Curious, she closely examined the screen, careful not to disturb Kuroko.
It was a video of a teen, knocking Kuroko onto the ground by slamming his shoulder into her stomach, and walking away, in a continuous loop.
Her first reaction was a simple shock, replaced by anger within seconds. Misaka began to carefully examine Kuroko's current state, and after finding no visible injuries on her body, became slightly relieved.
Slightly.
Anger still flared up within her heart at the thought of her friend being harmed. Changing into her school attire, she began to walk out her dormitory door once more.
No one messed with her kouhai.
Footsteps echoed along in A Certain Iron Railway Bridge; Haru was walking alone, hands in pockets, silently enjoying the night and the smoky, cool air within the atmosphere.
He wasn't sleepy at the moment. He had slept while he was within his pod while placing the machine in auto-pilot. Foolish move, he'd admit, but he needed rest, and the possibility of him colliding with another mining pod was at most nil.
The city looked... peaceful. Calming. In the night, surroundings were illuminated by streetlamps placed upon the road. Water underneath the bridge shimmered.
At that moment the lights along the road began to flicker. Tiny statics of electricity began to crackle from the ground.
Becoming increasingly wary, he turned around, trying to determine the source of this disturbance. Then he saw a girl, standing about a dozen yards away from him on the bridge. Haru's eyes widened as he recognized her as Mikoto Misaka; and she was outstretching her arm in his direction. Then did he finally realize what she was doing.
Oh hell naw—
The coin within her hand shot toward Haru at three times the speed of sound. He had no time to dodge—time slowed down—he placed his fist against the railgun and screamed.
"TACHYON SHIELD!"
The projectile collided with his knuckles; waves after waves of bluish light began to pulsate from his fist, forming a wall in front of Haru, as he attempted to halt the coin in its track. Tachyon particles began to rotate in circular motion in front of his fist, exceeding the speed of light and achieving photon boom, displaying colorful hues of blue. Collectively they formed a wall right in front of him, resisting the power of the Railgun.
The area in front of Haru exploded as they both deflected each other's abilities. He flung out from the explosion, landing on the ground some distance away. The floor of the bridge in front of him turned into rubble of asphalt, smoking. He began to gasp for breath as all oxygen within the area was consumed from the explosion. Kneeling on the ground, he gathered his thoughts.
"Damn..." Haru smiled. "This is fun."
This, now this was what he was chasing for all his life—thrill of fighting, the thrill of struggle. His heart began to beat faster, as adrenaline pumped into his veins, cold sweat ran down on his body; Haru gratefully savored this moment. He absolutely loved this. For goodness' sake, he could do this all day.
The Electromaster, however, appeared to be very pissed. Looking up, Haru carefully observed the actions of his opponent, who immediately began to use another form of her ability.
Giving herself a running start, she stretched one of her arms toward the ceiling rails of the bridge, as a thin strand of electricity sprang from her hands. Using the strands as ropes, she continuously swung from one place to another, connecting with the ceiling of the bridge consistently; almost like Spider-Man.
Haru stood in awe as he watched her swing over the collection of rubble created by their attacks. Landing several yards in front of him, she collected the molecules of iron sand in the air to form a sword. Particles along the edge of the blade vibrated, acting as a chainsaw. She sprinted toward him.
With a large grin, Haru began to collect tachyonic particles within his palm, containing and restricting the moving space into a shape of the sword. A weapon that shone in neon blue.
"Tachyon Saber!"
The Tachyon-Saber was formed, gripped in his hand. At that moment, blood began to rush into his head, and at that moment he would have taken on all the espers within the Academy City head on. He began to charge toward his opponent.
Fantastic sword play to end all sword play occurred as each party began to use all their weapon movements full out. The two blades clashed as screeching sounds rang out across the river and the bridge. His heart beat as if it would burst from his chest, not because of fear—he had no shade of it—but because of his zeal and excitement. He fought like an enraged tiger, sidestepping multiple times and attacking on all sides, drawing his skills from his teachings at Kendo classes.
Small slits began to form on both opponent's unprotected hands, forming tiny trickles of blood that ran down to the ground. But still, his grip on the sword never weakened, as he concentrated on his iron will.
The person she was facing in this battle was not as much of a pushover as she expected him to be. The skill and momentum he was capable of matching made her wonder if he was one of the seven level 5s of the city.
He had one advantage over her in this circumstance—she was tired from her previous activity of running around during the night, destroying laboratories responsible for the creations of her clones. He, on the other hand, was still pumped up from his adrenaline. Her quickness in sword fighting grew less as he slowly began to gain advantage over time.
She changed her tactic. She made a thrust toward him, which he parried. In one fluid moment she threw her sword aside. Taking advantage of his confusion she threw a spear of electricity from her forehead to his direction. He instinctively parried that attack also, but it was a move she was expecting. Right after she launched her spear she thrust out her hand, painfully poking him on the shoulder.
Her finger acted as the probe of a stun gun, as she discharged a high-voltage, low-current electrical current in his body. This attack was potent as she administered electric shock aimed at disrupting superficial muscle functions. The victim would fall down, their nerves shot, rendered immobile.
The sword dematerialized. Haru collapsed on the ground, momentarily stunned.
Out of breath, Mikoto Misaka approached Haru, her steps firm, her fists clenched. He simply crossed his arms in one resigned motion.
"Why did you attack my friend?" She began her interrogation.
"Me? Attack your friend?" Haru replied. "She attacked me first! That was just self defense."
"I clearly saw you ramming her in the stomach, hard." Misaka spoke through clenched teeth.
Saw? Haru wondered. "Saw" meant that she physically saw him retaliate against Shirai. Which either meant that she watched them from afar or from a surveillance camera, or in some other way.
"Did you see the full encounter, or just a repeat of a single action?" Haru asked.
Misaka was halted by his question. How he knew, or came to that conclusion that she saw him from the surveillance camera so fast, she did not know. She would have to watch the entire video once she was back.
"Self defense or not, you hurt my friend." Misaka continued. "Nobody hurts my friends."
Haru, admittedly, was touched by the noble intention of his opponent. Sighing, he averted his gaze as moved his hands into his pockets.
"Hey," Misaka said as she narrowed her eyes. "How are you moving your arms? You should be stunned."
"Why are you wearing boxers?" Haru shot back.
Short silence ensued. Her face began to glow warm as she was stunned by his retort. With a small scream she stepped back once she realized that he was taking advantage of his position to look up into her skirt.
"You... YOU HENTAI!" She screamed at him.
"Woman, what do you expect from a teenager with hormonal issues like me?" Haru replied. "You are the one who knocked me to the ground, and you are the one who decided to walk up right next to me."
Wroth with anger, she shot a small arc of electricity toward him from her forehead. Quickly flipping back up without relying on his hands, Haru leapt out from the way as the electricity bounced along the ground. "Okay, okay, let's be civil about this." Haru attempted to neutralize the situation. "As for your question, stun guns don't work on me."
"Impossible." Misaka narrowed her eyes again. "It should work on all people. And besides, if it didn't work, why didn't you get up the moment you fell?"
"Well, for one thing, it's a free break." He cradled his bloodied hands. "For another, you look dog-tired. Did you sleep at all during last 24 hours?"
She didn't.
Standing up, he began to brush himself off. "I bore no ill intention against your friend. I know that you are angry, but you have to listen to me." She radiated a lot of emotions during this fight, not just anger. Something big was in her mind, something that kept her up at night. He had seen that face before. Face of a youth, who saw too much of what evil the world was capable of. Just what was going on in her life?
"Alright." Haru said, while placing his hands inside his pocket. "I know you are pissed off at me, and rightly so. And you probably have lots of other emotions from whatever you are going through right now."
Her face hardened at his words. "None of your business." She hissed. This guy was getting annoyingly perceptive.
"So, I'm going to let you vent all that on me in one strike." He genuinely meant it. Besides, she probably needed this. "I promise not to block anything you are going to throw at me. Hit me with a lightning, or whatever." He raises his arms in one outward motion. "Go ahead. Consider it a payment from me for retaliating against your friend."
Upon witnessing the sudden determination that burst into her countenance after a moment of hesitation, he slightly faltered in his confidence, somewhat beginning to regret his words.
Then, everything went black.