A lightning

There was a shining glimpse of light in a dark wood, a hand was trying to catch a slippery little firefly; he could never grab it and even when he managed to reach it, the light was getting away from him faster.

Fran slowly opened his eyes and turned toward the clock on the wall; it was 7 A.M and he was in the bed of the hospital where he was admitted three days ago. He had his arm in a cast and his body was covered in patches and bands.

«This dream again, huh…» he said watching his own hand palm.

«You're already awake!» a voice from nearby the door caught his attention; it was Yomikawa who got closer to his bed and sat next to him.

«Oh… Yomikawa-sama. What are you doing here?» Fran said sighing.

«Don't give me that disappointed face! Can't I visit one of my hospitalized students?» the woman replied bothered.

«It's not you… I clearly specified to the nurses to forbid any type of visit.»

«I know… but did you really think some kid's request could count anything against someone like me? Eheh!» Yomikawa exclaimed with a pleased smile; Fran sighed twice.

«It's your fault since you forbid the visits that girl couldn't came here to thank you!» Yomikawa added.

«Huh? Which girl?» Fran asked confused.

«Hello? Are you with us? Ayuzawa Akiko, the daughter of the great stylist who organized the event that made you a living mummy!» Yomikawa answered, slightly pulling some of Fran's bandage.

«Oh, yes… her. Well, that's better. I don't care about the visits of people I know, imagine the ones of strangers who mean nothing to me.» Fran said, as he turned watching through the window.

«That girl is leaving Gakuen Toshi.» and with those words, Yomikawa drew the boy's attention again and kept talking. «She asked me to tell you she decided to walk her own path and not the one others built for her. Now she's probably on the flight out already… she said she wants to open a store with her loved one and that she doesn't care to become a powerful esper like they imposed her since now… I didn't know her at all before all this but I cannot hide how proud of her I am now!»

«Tsk… like I even care to know all of this useless stuff about what she is doing.» Fran said, hiding his eyes. «What about her mother? Possible she didn't even try to stop her from leaving?»

«You don't know anything because you was resting here for all this time… but I think lady Ayuzawa has something much more important to deal with rather than her daughter's romantic getaway. After your match, Gakuen Toshi's security council stopped all the competitions and decided to cancel this event forever due to the consequences it had on many students. Its organizers are now under investigation for corruption and many others complications… I'm on it right now while we speaking!» Yomikawa answered in details.

Fran nodded without comments, then he got up from his bed and started pulling off his hospital coat but with lots of difficulties due to the fact only one of his arms was working.

«You can now stop the storytelling, Yomikawa-sama. What is the real reason you are here?» Fran asked as he threw the coat away.

«It was so obvious, huh? Well… someone told me you decided to leave the hospital earlier. I'm here to change your mind.» The Anti-Skill woman said while slowly approaching Fran.

«A centipede exoskeleton's chitin has a peculiar regenerative capacity on wounds. I can get back to work immediately.» Fran quickly got a jeans on, the grabbed a shirt.

«You are already looking better, sure, but I want to remember you have an injured arm and your leg wound makes your walk limping!» Yomikawa replied worried.

«Do you really think a centipede cares if it has a bunch of limbs taken away?» Fran exclaimed as he wore the shirt starting from his working arm.

«Fran-san… you are not a centipede…» Yomikawa said in embarrassment.

«My esper ability doesn't need my body to be healthy to be used. Even I was armless, my shadows can still move by their own therefore I can fight! Aaaaah! It doesn't enter, damn! Where is my coat?!» Fran tried to wear the shirt through his arm in cast but it seemed impossible.

«Your coat is in tailoring… soon it will be as new.» Yomikawa went next to Fran and helped him removing the shirt; she opened a drawer in the room and picked up a new shirt, giving it to Fran. Fran looked at it carefully: it was a one-sleeved shirt; This way, Fran could have worn it without bothering of his broken arm.

«I know I could have never convinced you to stay… so I came here prepared. Damn, you kids are always so stubborn! Please, at least don't push yourself!» Yomikawa patted the boy's head, then she went back sitting next to the bed.

Fran quietly put the shirt on and then went to the exit door of the room, grabbed the knob and spoke. «Thanks, Yomikawa.» He opened the door but then stopped once again on the exit.

«One last thing before I go, Yomikawa…» he said, and the woman turned to him. «Did someone else try to visit me on these days?»

«No, nobody. Why? Were you expecting someone in particular?» Yomikawa asked, surprised by the weird question of her student.

«No, absolutely. Forget about it… Goodbye.» Fran closed the door behind him and left the place, walking in fatigue due to the cut under his leg.

Fran decided he needed some fresh air so he went to the usual park he likes and, even if it was pretty far from the hospital, he chose to go by walking instead of by public transport.

«Eventually that girl overcame her hesitations and started a journey to her dream… who knows, did I really have the right to blame her so much? What am I doing myself instead? It's almost two months I'm here already and I still haven't discovered anything… I couldn't keep not even one of the promises I made…» Fran, arrived to his destination, sat on a bench and, lulled by a gentle breeze, went through some deep thoughts. «Nothing… I achieved nothing but I still expected to be noticed from her… I'm not different from Ayuzawa Akiko, not at all. We both believed the person we love would've come to us without doing anything to deserve it...» Fran lowered his sight to hide his bitter eyes from people passing by who were looking at him due to his patched body but, thanks to his embarrassment, he noticed the light coming from his mobile phone's screen from his pocket; Fran never had his phone on anything besides the silent mode so the only way he could find himself on a phone call is because he started the call himself or because, randomly like in this case, he has his eyes on the phone.

This was already the fifth lost call from this unknown number; as soon as the sixth one started, he decided to answer it.

«H-hello?» he said skittish.

«Fran-san, it's been a while!★» The pleased familiar female voice answered.

«Oh… no… how do you have my number?» Fran asked annoyed.

«Are you free right now? Well, why do I ask. I know you are! I'll send you the address I'm waiting you in thirty minutes! Later! ♥» she said ending the call.

Fran checked his messages and read the address was followed by "Don't you dare not coming. You know what happens!" together with lots of random lovely emojis that made Fran shiver.

The place was a café in a district about thirty minutes far from the city center and this forced Fran to reach it by public transport even if he doesn't like to do it. The boy arrived at the meeting place just in time and, once he was in, he noticed its usual customers were university students and older people than him overall; Misaki was already on seat, waiting for him at a cornered table and waving him impatiently to come over there. Fran slowly approached her and sat hesitant in front of her.

«You are a very reliable person, Fran-san!» Misaki exclaimed happy.

«Not really… I'm just scared a lot of the likes of you.» he answered honestly.

«Come on! I'm just a normal awesome astonishing Tokiwadai student! Why should anybody fear me?» Misaki replied blinking innocently.

«Can't you just tell me why did we met in such a weird place…? And especially, what do you want from me?!» Fran asked annoyed.

«Nothing, really! I just wanted to see you! I just chose such a distant place because this will prevent meeting someone I know to make gossip about me if they see us on a date!» Misaki answered, feeling really clever.

«Since when you care so much about people's thought? Can't you just erase any of it from their mind?» Fran asked confused.

«Sure, I could. But I decided to listen to your advice! I'll use my power for necessities and important matters only! No more abusing! I'll use it just in case! I bet you are so proud of my character development you can't resist hugging me, right? Right?!» She claimed bathing in proud and confidence.

«Yeah… then how did you get my number? You can only have it directly from me asking by Judgment procedures but, unfortunately, I was not working lately…»

«Wait, really?! Well, you know… obviously I did a deep internet search, yeah! I found it all by myself… eheheh…»

«Misaki Shokuhou… you actually haven't learnt anything!» Fran said face palming.

«Come on! It was the only way! Your number NEEDED the use of Mental Out, I had no choice! Damn, so annoying! You guys never notice a lady's effort to please you! All you're good at is looking at our body and say "Oh darling, I notice you put on some weight lately…" and nothing else!» Misaki said infuriated while she was trying her best to emulate a male voice; Fran looked her in the eyes for several seconds, without saying anything and Misaki returned him with a solid look, then the silence broke.

«You bastard… you just used your power on me too! How did you know that was exactly the thing I was gonna say?!» Fran asked incredulous, threatening pointing her finger against the girl.

«WHAT HAVE YOU JUST SAID?! How dare you call me fat! This is only the third breakfast I have today, and I don't even bother! You see, all the fat I gain goes on the place you naughty boys like so much!» She yelled in anger, getting up from her chair and slamming her hands on the table; she noticed all the customer saw what she did and heard what she said, keeping their eyes on her. Showering in cold sweat, she sat again quietly and instinctively grabbed her purse. «R-r-r-r-resist, Misaki… you can't use your power everytime! Here nobody knows you. They won't remember on their own…» she kept repeating to herself for a minute.

«M-Misaki-san… are you allright?» Fran asked, slightly feeling guilty since he broke her mind with a simple little joke.

«I will deal with you later… first I want to drown my embarrassment in sweets! Waiter, here please!» Misaki ordered two huge pieces of cake and a big multi flavoured milkshake and devoured them in a couple of minutes while Fran was slowly sipping his cappuccino, frightened.

«Aaaaaah! I feel so much better now!» She exclaimed yawning and stretching her arms in relax. «Well… where was I? Oh, yeah… I was talking to a kind and well-mannered sir…» Misaki added as she showed a cold murderer look.

«Come on… I was just joking. You don't need to react like this…» Fran said trying to look away from her star shaped eyes.

«Ok, then. I forgive you… anyways, I see you're pretty messed up.» Misaki said meticulously watching Fran's body.

«I expect you to be already well aware of what happened to me…» Fran replied bold.

«Of course! That's what I wanted to talk about!» Misaki put her hand In the purse and this made Fran worried and on guard, expecting to see her pulling her remote out, but it was a tablet instead. «Sadly, I was not there to see it live… but I managed to acquire some interesting medias of your fight. Really amazing!» The girl said as she slid and showed the pictures on her device.

«You already saw my power in action… I don't know what are you so amazed about.» Fran claimed in doubt.

«True… but I never saw you on a tough fight! Actually, I'm really concerned about your ability! Shadow Crafter is a power that lets you create shadow weapons that deprive the opponent from his power usage. This is not something we can really include into the level two category, don't you think? Are we sure you didn't cheat in the ability test?» Misaki asked, patting her finger on the one photo showing the long shadow centipede of Fran.

«My esp ability is basically level two. The fact it has exponential capacity doesn't mean the original valuation is wrong.» the boy answered coincided.

«Exponential capacity? What does it even mean…?» Misaki questioned curios.

«It's easier with an example. You could easily complain about my ability being classified as a level two if we fought under the shadow a giant skyscraper. I could craft a centipede so huge I would be able to destroy an entire road… but what if we fought on the tenth floor of the same building? Maybe the only shadow I could use would have been my coat's or a bunch of chairs'. Or maybe there would have been no shadows at all up there. In that case anyone, even level zeros, could beat me without trouble.» Fran explained patiently in details as Misaki nodded interested.

«I see, this means your ability is very useful in wide spaces when many items and buildings are around… that's cool. What about this one?» Misaki scrolled to the next picture: it showed one of Fran's centipedes attacking two scientists in a lab.

The boy shuddered and quickly got up his chair to take a closer look while, Misaki, completely calm, kept her eyes on him.

«How did you get that shot…? All of the security cameras are covered by shadows when I get around!» Fran sat again and grabbed the tablet; scrolling through the media, he saw the pictures Misaki had about his lab raids were more than one.

«They are not from the camera's footage, indeed… it's the point of view coming from the people you assaulted.»

«What? You can turn their memory into medias?!»

«Let's just say I know an esper that can download memories on devices due to the manipulation of magnetics… then, thanks to my mind control power, I can also choose the one I want to show. It's pretty neat when we work together. Well, that's not the point anyways…» Misaki took her tablet and put it back in the purse, then resumed talking. «What do you want from those labs…? Why are you searching for the Misaka network project and her clones data?» that question took Fran aback and he started shaking for the anxiety.

«What about you…? Why do you know about this? Are you responsible for those atrocities they call experiments too?!» Fran asked but Misaki did not answer; instead, she put her hands inside of her purse again but this time she really grabbed her remote and aimed it against the boy. For Fran, even if he tried, it was already too late to cancel Misaki's attack and his reflexes were also slower due to the tension of the situation. Misaki pushed the button and Fran closed his eyes instinctively.

«I don't get why you are always so scared, Fran-san… I promised I would have never used my power on you and that I would trust you. This is a promise I made to myself and I won't break it.» Misaki's words were echoing directly in Fran's mind; she used her ability to establish a mental link in order to continue the conversation in private.

«Less people know about Sisters the better… let's talk telepathically from now on.» the girl added. «Well… I'll ask you again… why have you visited those labs?»

Fran hesitated first, but his heart was telling him he could've trusted her, just like she did the first time they met.

«I wanted to know everything about the cloning process and what is needed to perform it…» the boy answered bluntly.

«But… why? Did you want your own Misaka-chan? I mean… you know they are not dolls, they are peopl-»

«Of course I know! What kind of degenerate do you think I am?!» Fran yelled and Misaki stroked her head due to unexpected raise of volume. «I want to know this… because I want to stop it, forever.» he added, turning down his mind voice.

«You want to stop what? Are you aware of new experiments I don't know about?» Misaki asked, but Fran didn't answer and lowered his sight.

«it seems like you don't want to tell me, huh… I know what you think about me, Fran-san. You think I know everything about the experiments and clones because I have the bad habit to mind other people's business by reading in them. Well… at least on this case, you are wrong and I'm going to show you why.» Misaki wielded her remote, ready to use her power again. «You will feel a really bad headache and maybe you'll bleed from the nose a little, be ready!» she pressed the button; the story between Misaki and Dolly, Kihara Gensei's plan, everything happening during the Daihasei festival and many other information got uploaded directly into Fran's mind who was trying his hardest to hold his pain moans not to upset the other customers in the café.

«The things you are seeing now is what me and many others had to suffer because of the madness of the topside of Academy City. When you think you have the right to deal with this matter without considering how I feel, just remember those scenes…»

Fran, with tears of pain and a lost gaze, realized that the memories Misaki shared with him gave him more information than he could have ever gained by himself.

«How could they do that… to the first clone… Misaki-san, how can you be so strong to bear all of this sadness…?» Fran asked, now slowly recovering from the overload.

«Since you can tell, I'm much concerned about Sisters' destiny and everything around them. Now, I can understand you are really tired and shocked so I won't bother you further… I won't read your mind, Fran-san, I promised… but if there's something new I have to now, you should tell me so I will do everything to help them! In return, I will show you something really important.» Misaki put back her remote in the purse, got up from the chair and wrote an address on a piece of paper, eventually giving it to the boy; Fran read it and recognized the place.

«is this an Hotel…? What kind of things do you want to show me, Misaki-san?» Fran asked smirking.

«I see you already feel good enough to make naughty jokes… perfect! I'm waiting you there on noon! Come only if you really have the intention to open up completely… and I will tell you everything you need to know. See ya!» Misaki said goodbye by making her idol pose and left; Fran tried to stand up without losing balance and went to pay the bill.

«Here, dear customer.» the cashier quickly lent him the bill.

«I apologize…» Fran replied. «I think there is a mistake… I only had to pay a cappuccino.»

The cashier laughed and showed him the bill check. «No mistakes. Your girlfriend told me you would be really proud of her if she wouldn't use her power and left you in charge of the full payment. I don't know what she exactly meant, though, but the sure thing is you have to pay those two pieces of cake and the milkshake.»

Fran wildly crumpled up the receipt and slowly lent his credit card. «That shameless fat cow…»

-

Hours passed fast since Fran was so anxious he kept coming and going away from the hotel of the meeting, he had so many important things he could have said; after the umpteenth travel, Misaki noticed him as she was getting there ten minutes earlier.

«You are here already?» the girls asked surprised.

«Yeah, whatever… well then, why are we here?» Fran answered tired and sweaty.

«Follow me.» Misaki entered the hotel and went directly to one of its elevators as Fran followed her quickly inside; the door closed and Misaki typed a long combination of numbers on the display.

«What are you doing?! Do you want us to end up blocked in here?» Fran said nervously, but by the time he started complaining the elevator gained speed going underground.

«This placed was disguised as a normal hotel… but below there is an important lab working on the Sisters' project, well, there was…» arrived to the destination, the two went across a long dark corridor. All the rooms were closed and there was no light on; the place was only dominated by musty air and mould on walls.

Misaki stopped in front of a door looking slightly wider than the others then turned towards Fran.

«Here, I'm going to show you something really important behind this door… but first, you have to tell me why this interests you this much. Time to spill the beans!» Misaki leaned on the door, blocking the access; Fran clenched his fists with decision and looked her straight in the eyes.

«I will do it. But… i have to say I find this so funny. Ahahahaha!» he said, bursting out laughing.

«Funny? What are you talking about?» Misaki asked approaching her index finger to her lips.

«This is something I never told anyone because it means a lot to me, so I would never expected to open up to you… the girl with less trust in others in the whole world who now acts like the caring big sister you can rely on… really ironic.»

«If you're here just to tell me jokes I mig-»

«This is not the first time I came here in Gakuen Toshi… I was here about an year ago.» Fran quit with his sarcasm and both his and Misaki's attitude changed. «I was really intrigued by this city, where seeing some abilities in action was not such a phenomenon like they made it seem in Italy. I made a request in order to visit it by doing a course with the Anti-Skill agents, I already had a good relationship with Yomikawa before, and so they made my group spectate some rescue operations… it was one of those in particular that opened my eyes to a completely different world…» Fran approached Misaki and leaned to the door too, trying to avoid eye contact, then kept talking. «One of those Skill Out criminals fled into an elementary school and took a several number of kid as hostages. He wasn't dangerous at all, he was unarmed… but an accomplice of him had the whole situation in his hands since he managed to steal a crane equipped with a wrecking ball, he was threatening to crush it into the classroom with all the kids inside if the police would have not let his friend escape. The negotiation was lasting from an hour, so the Anti-skill brought me and the other apprentices on the place to see how professional would deal in difficult and tragic events like this but with the only condition we students should have never intervene, for any reason. The situation was looking tough and there was no way to persuade the guy to not use the wrecking ball except to accept his request: the agents agreed to let the partner escape, so the criminal started running away bringing with him a little girl only to assure his safe run out of there. This obviously triggered the classic heroic classmate of my stage who, not concerned about the rules we had, decided to make his move. His esper power was a kind of teleportation based on a bounce between two chosen targets. So, he teleported to the wrecking ball guy first and knocked him down in one hit, then he bounced to the one with the hostage, striking him too to the ground and freeing the kid. Everyone acclaimed him like a hero… but that was not the end of the story. He just was a simple teleporter able to jump right and left, his hit was not enough to make the criminal on the crane faint… so once he quickly stood up, pissed and out of spite, he recklessly launched the wrecking ball aiming to all of those kids…»

«Oh no… this is something I was not aware… what happened next?! Were the kids…? Misaki asked, completely absorbed into the story.

«A lighting.» Fran juts answered.

«A… lightning?» the girl repeated in search of confirmation, not really sure she heard it right.

«An electrified coin with unhuman speed completely destroyed the ball and saved the kids. It was hers, Railgun Misaka Mikoto… without hesitation she cancelled the threat and went away. I still have this memory, vividly in my mind, the majestic shot and her hair dancing on her cute face… she did not ask for glory, gratitude and not even blamed the teleporter. She just saved the kids and left… I never saw someone like her, so different from me, so bright. In the moment the ball was going to crash into the building, I could have easily used its own shadow to counter it and solve the problem but I didn't care at all. All I cared was to follow the rules, to not intervene for any reason like they told me and… my heart craved the sweet satisfaction of seeing the consequences my pathetic classmate's action led to by disobeying and making those kids die… her instead, she just thought about what was right to do in that place that time, not bothering about conditions or the world around her. How could a shadow like me even suspected there was such a huge sun like her? From that day, my prospective changed fully… I went back to Italy and I kept training to get better as a detective and I started getting information of who that girl was and the amazing thing she did for others and her friends… so one day I could've come back here prepared…»

«Fran-san… I can't imagine you have all those feeling inside of you…» Misaki said, trying to hold her tears.

«However… even with all those information about her, I came to know the level six shift project only once someone already managed to stop the madness and save her… all of the data about it was reserved and well-hidden, so I could have never had them when I could have been remotely helpful… I'll be honest with you, the days I spent knowing I was in Italy dealing with chickenfeed while she was feeling the pain of hell… those were the worst moments of my life. I felt so useless… but I used those feelings to push me to do even better and now I'm here to help her for real.»

«So… did you come back here to follow Misaka Mikoto's steps and become an altruistic and stronger person like her? This is why you joined Judgment?» Misaki asked wiping her face.

«Ahahahaha… no, Misaki-san. Don't kid yourself. I haven't changed a bit from who I was an year ago… I would never be able to be like her and that's the main reason I will do anything in my possibilities to let her be who she wants to be: an happy girl enjoying the staying with her friends and ready to help whoever is in need without asking anything back. If such creepy shadows like me exist… it's only because somewhere there is a just as magnificent light that let us live. She became my light… and I won't let anyone turn it off.» Fran exclaimed bold, standing in front of Misaki. «Though… I still wasn't ready… I still wasn't ready to came here and meet her… but I had to because someone really dangerous came in the city and her intentions are to use the Sisters and the cloning.»

«Who is this?!» Misaki asked, with her legs shaking due to the tension.

«About two weeks before I came in Academy City… there was a huge malfunction in a special structure for esper criminals in Italy… we suspect one of my colleagues was responsible. For reason are now useless to explain, I know she got all of the information I had about Misaka Mikoto and so she discovered there was the possibility to make clones able to connect their minds through a network… I know what she is capable of… and I know her intention is to kill Misaka if it is necessary. Now you know everything, Misaki-san… now please tell me, there is a way I can prevent anyone to make new clones in bulk?!»

Misaki smiled and decided to open the door: in the inside, there was a wide control room with windows facing to a room full of incubators.

«Like you can tell, this was one of the first labs working for the project… now it is completely disused and you know why?» Misaki set on the turned off keyboard then answered her own question. «The first thing I did once I defeated Kihara Gensei was using Mental out to gather all of the remaining information about the clones and the experiments… so I know for sure no one is working on a new production.»

Fran quickly stepped up next to the girl and grabbed her from the arm. «What?! Are you sure?! You checked last one or two weeks, right?! No one is working on a new one?»

«Of course… as long as I'm alive I won't let anyone use the genetic data to make new clones because, in that case, I will be the first one to know it and I'll make it stop! I Eventually, I will tell you too! They don't stand a chance against the control I have… even the labs you attacked by yourself were already under my supervision. You don't need to worry anymore, if protecting Misaka-san is what you desire… I'm on your side.» Misaki replied making an ok sign.

Fran let her go and kneeled on the floor, his eyes was tearing a lot but his cry was silent; he kept crying for many minutes, without talking and looking to the ceiling with a celestial relief on the face.

«F-Fran-san… are you ok?» Misaki, who first started laughing seeing Fran in such an unusual weak state, now was worried about his mental.

«I'm not ok… I'm so happy… I can't believe it. That bastard didn't know anything then, she just tried to come to Academy City in the hope to get her hands on the cloning process without knowing its basically impossible now… Normally, I would be pissed if the case was solved without me doing anything but for this time I let it go… the only thing I can think about now is Misaka Mikoto can keep smiling on, having a quiet life and she will not be in any danger… that's so good…» Fran quickly wiped his tears and run to the elevator; Misaki followed him and yelled at him from the distance, she could've not matched his speed even if he was wounded.

«Ehy! Where are you going all of a sudden?!» She asked confused by his checkered attitude.

«Thank you, Misaki-san.» Fran didn't answer her question but he showed a smile so bright every shadow in the room vanished, words could have not answered better; Misaki waved at him shyly and turned back as the elevator was closing.

«How dare him pretend to say he hasn't changed… Misaka-san, you're surrounded by people that love you a lot and you don't even notice… You know, I may be a little jealous now… eheheh…» Misaki walked to a second elevator but, hearing the sound the one behind her opened again, she turned to check.

«Well… how do I get up?» Fran asked completely embarrassed and Misaki died laughing on the ground.