Chapter 2: A Certain Ojou's Railgun. Doubt_Lovers.[Part 1]

August 31, 8:00 AM.

Within the psychic powers development institution Academy City, which had 2.3 million students, was Tokiwadai Middle School, a famous girls' school ranked among the top five schools in the city. Focusing on only raising elite students, the student numbers did not even reach two hundred. In the school, there were currently two Level 5 espers and forty-seven Level 4 espers. Also worthy of note was that one of the entry requirements for Tokiwadai Middle School was "Level 3 esper or above".

Even during summer vacation, the morning life didn't change in the Tokiwadai dorms: wake up at seven in the morning, clean up to the level of "it doesn't look too bad" within thirty minutes, roll call in the dining hall at seven-thirty, and finish breakfast by eight o'clock.

What was notable was the reason the dorms let students have until eight to finish breakfast: Tokiwadai Middle School encouraged students to take the school bus. The deadline before being late was 8:20 AM, so if one didn't take the bus, they would have to sprint full-speed to school.

Today was August 31st; because it was still summer vacation, after 8 AM and aside from dinner, curfew, and lights-out time, students had leisure time. All across the world, students were now hurrying to finish their summer homework, but at Tokiwadai Middle School, that feeling of anxiety couldn't be felt in the slightest.

Misaka Mikoto, one of the Level 5 espers, was sitting in the majestic and also ridiculously spacious dining room, spreading her arms out and yawning widely. Even though it was summer vacation, she was still in uniform. According to Tokiwadai's school rules, the dorms were still part of the school, so students were forbidden from wearing casual clothing inside the dorms. Mikoto had shoulder-length hair, a stubborn look, and a mouth that, once she started talking, wouldn't stop for twenty minutes, all of which were traits far from the "Ojou-sama" stereotype.

Then again, those weren't traits that belonged solely to Mikoto. The other female students around her had finished breakfast and were still sitting and chatting with each other; and, as a whole, they gave the same impression. Even though they had special circumstances, they were still middle school students in Japan. The classical Ojou-samas described in manga and novels with a hobby of equestrian riding and a specialty of the piano were extremely rare (on the other hand, those kind of people do still exist).

(Manga, manga… Oh, right, today's Monday.)

Mikoto suddenly remembered something, and stood up from her chair. Every Monday and Wednesday was when Mikoto stood at a corner store and read manga magazines. Though, she didn't know that her reading them left a lot of high school students able to buy only magazines with the edges messed up.

Normally, she went to the corner store and read manga only after school, but it was summer vacation, so she could go and do it right now. Mikoto wanted to know who the culprit was in a manga that had a closed-room murder, so she hurried and left early. Just when Mikoto was about to head off, a girl in a maid outfit who was gathering the cutlery realized her intentions. This girl was a middle school student in some home economics school who was working in the Tokiwadai Middle School girls' dorm for the purpose of gaining work experience. Practical work for the home economics school varied widely, and those that could get in to the Tokiwadai girl's dorms were supposedly the finest of the finest.

"Misaka, Misaka! Are you going to the corner store or the book shop?"

"Today's not the 10th, and it's a Monday, so it's the corner store. And Tsuchimikado, your role here is that of a practicing maid, after all; shouldn't you not be talking to me so familiarly?"[1]

"Misaka, Misaka! If you're going to the corner store, then buy a kinda strange manga for me—the kind of shoujo manga that's not R-18, but still has lurid descriptions."

"Ah, I remember, your interest is BL[2], right? And Tsuchimikado, your role here is that of a practicing maid, after all; shouldn't you not be making your patrons run errands for you?"

"Misaka, Misaka! Men pushing down other men isn't my hobby, but that of the head chef. I like the kind of manga where the brother and sister get into a messy relationship."

"Wouldn't that count as seinen manga and not shoujo, then? And, Tsuchimikado, your role here is that of a practicing maid, after all; shouldn't you not be admitting that you like your own brother?"

Misaka sighed, and walked out of the dining hall, past the excessively long corridor, and towards the main door. She came across no one else as most of the students were staying in the dining hall and chatting after eating breakfast.

Misaka went to the entrance hall, and opened the huge front doors.

From the student dorms and heading outside, the view changed from an old Western-style building to the street in a near-future fashion. There were no power lines; replacing them were wind power generator propellers at the end of every corner. Barrel-shaped security robots that automatically patrolled the streets came and went everywhere. A zeppelin with giant screens on its belly floated across the sky. The views of that "city" were different from those of a normal city, but for the residents there, it was already very familiar, and they could no longer tell the difference between the two.

Right across the student dorms that looked like a Western-style stone building was an "open 24 hours" general store. The difference between the two made Mikoto smile slightly. Just when Mikoto was about to take a step onto the road… suddenly a man's voice came from the side.

"Ah, aren't you Misaka-san? Good morning. Where would you be going? Eh, I remember that you're not in any clubs, right? If you don't mind, would you care to walk together with me for a while?"

"Uu!" Mikoto instantly stiffened, tried to hide the look of "met up with somebody extremely troublesome" on her face, and turned towards the direction of the voice.

In front of her was someone a year older than Mikoto, a tall and slim man. Though slightly thin, he had the body build of a sportsman. His hair was smooth and fine and, unlike a Japanese person, his skin was very white. A man that started exercising from the basics. That meant that even if he was holding a tennis racket or typing on a laptop keyboard, it would look fitting for him—really very advantageous. The sweat that came out of him almost seemed to sparkle, and his face nearly always had a warm smile… he was that kind of person.

Unabara Mitsuki.

He was one of the people that Mikoto found hard to handle, and also the grandson of the director of Tokiwadai Middle School. In Academy City, where the main goal was psychic powers development, the power of that position was like that of the ruling family of a major corporation. Tokiwadai Middle School was a girls' school, so Unabara Mitsuki couldn't enter the school grounds or the dorms, but he was free to roam around everywhere else.

The reason Mikoto labeled him as a troublesome person wasn't because he was someone that liked to show off his influence, though.

"Hmm, even though you're not in a club, focusing on personal hobbies isn't bad. Misaka-san, what kind of sports do you like? If you're interested in tennis, equestrian riding, squash, or golf, you can tell me; in these areas, I may be able to give some pointers… eh? Are you alright? Are you feeling well?"

"Ah… It's… it's nothing."

From Unabara's tone, he really seemed to be worried; Mikoto couldn't help but give a small sigh.

Unabara Mitsuki understood clearly what kind of enormous influence he could bring about, yet he never flaunted it. He always deliberately matched Mikoto's values, talking to Mikoto as an equal. To Mikoto, the kind of "mature" personality that gauged the situation between the two made her feel rather uncomfortable. But since the other party was using a "mature" way to get close to her, she couldn't just deal with him the same way she did with the usual high school student and fire off a bolt of electricity as a response, because that would have made her feel like an immature child.

What made Mikoto feel like Unabara was hard to handle was that, whenever she met him, she always had to be careful and prudent. It didn't feel like a meeting between friends, but rather like fawning to a senpai at a school club.

(Then again, this guy wasn't so bothersome a week ago, but recently, he comes to me on a daily basis… They say summer changes men… What a disagreeable way to change.)

Thinking about it carefully, in the past, they were only at a level where they would greet each other if they walked past each other. They might have stood together and chatted, but they wouldn't have interfered with each other's plans. Now was different; he had become very aggressive—almost like he was tracking Mikoto's every move…

"Misaka-san?"

"Uu…" After Unabara called out, Mikoto had involuntarily shrunk back her upper body slightly. While Mikoto was deep in thought, Unabara had closed in, and bent down to stare up at Mikoto's face.

"Don't be so deep in thought; where were you going to go?"

"Ah… Uh… (Honestly, I'm one that laughs out loud while reading manga even if I'm in the store, so I try not to have people I know around me when I go read manga, but if it's Shirai Kuroko, that idiot, it wouldn't really matter.)"

"What?"

"Ah, nothing! Nothing, nothing! I didn't just accidentally say what I was thinking out loud."

"So there isn't anything that urgently needs to be done? Ah, if so, there's a restaurant around here whose seafood is quite delicious; do I have the pleasure of inviting you to there?"

(At this time, right after breakfast?) Mikoto thought, but she didn't let it show on her face.

"Ah… but… but… Thank you for your invitation, but I have some private business to take care of…"

"Then take care of it now. I'll come with you, too."

"Uu… ah… I do have some things to do, but…"

"…?" Unabara involuntarily frowned and said, "Is it somewhere that's inconvenient for me to go?"

"Ah, that's right, that's right!" Mikoto clapped and said, "I… I'm (uh…) right, right, going to the lingerie section of the department store now; boys would be uncomfortable there, right?"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't mind."

Without the slightest hesitation, Unabara unthinkingly answered with a dazzling smile.

(The excuse got broken so easily?!) the Mikoto in her heart cried out in anguish.

(Uu, uu, what to do, what to do? Ah, right, I'll just pretend I already have a date with some other guy! In that case, no matter what he says, he can't really stick to me like this. Even though it's old-fashioned, fine, I'll just grab a guy, say something like "Sorry, did you wait long?", and improvise something to fake it through. Even though it'll give that unlucky guy some trouble, I'll treat him to a canned drink later, and that'll do!)

Mikoto looked around, trying to find a guy to play along with her act. However, today just had to be August 31st. In Academy City where 80% of the residents were students, today was a day to stay at home and rush to complete the rest of the remaining summer homework.

In other words, there wasn't anyone in sight.

(Uwah… Is there no hope left?) the Mikoto in her heart once again cried out in anguish. At that instant, almost like a gift from the heavens, three boys walked out from a corner and towards them.