[SS] Bi-Polar Opposites Attract Trouble

It was like a pain in her heart, the sister didn't know how to react. All of this interaction was fairly knew to her and so she was unlikely to react appropriately to the situation. However the one thing she did know was the beautiful taste of milk tea and while she wasn't so concerned about the food she was devastated by the loss of the tea.

Immediately in response she stepped out of her seat and towards the scene of what can only be called a disaster. "My milk tea Misaka says with a dishearten tone. Why the tea Misaka continued."

Hiromi was startled by the loud sound of shattering glass. She hurriedly turned around, only to see the waitress trying to pick up the dispersed shards of glass. A second later Kohaku was already by her side.

Kohaku was as quick to act as ever, or Hiromi was just slow.

The college student stood up and told the waitress:

“Miss, do you need any help?”

Oddly enough, the waitress seemed only concerned about getting them new orders even though she was appearently in pain according to Kohaku.

‘I hope she really is alright and not just hiding the fact in order to not worry her customers... ‘

To be honest, Hiromi did feel slightly disappointed as she was eagerly waiting for the crepe just as much as Misaka was waiting for her milk tea, so she understood where the Tokiwadai girl was coming from. However, it can’t be helped now. What’s done is done. And it’s not like they wouldn’t receive new orders eventually. Some additional minutes of waiting wouldn’t kill them, would they? What mattered right now is that the waitress herself was fine. But…

What in the world happened in the first place?

She had noticed the presence of the girl they had met earlier, when she stood up, but decided to pretend otherwise and ignore her for now.

However, she now noticed she had an evil amused grin on her face, as if she was enjoying this disaster.

No way... Could it be....?

That was perfect! The thought raced through Fuuka's mind as her scheme succeeded and left chaos, embarrassment and disappointment in its wake. The only thing that annoyed her still was the rush of those girls to aid the tripped up waitress. But this behavior was to be expected from these selfless sick weirdos, so Fuuka wasn't as bothered as before. In fact, she was glad to have caused them trouble and worry. Not to mention the added bonus of upsetting them with the ruin of their awaited snack foods. The day was starting to look up again. The three helped the waitress clean up and she quickly made her way back to the kitchen to replace their order. Fuuka was almost finished with her drink and began to have thoughts of leaving when a new development was heard from the adjacent table.

"That was really cool of you girls to help the lady with her mess. Pretty and generous, you all are quite a catch. What would you say to hanging out with us for a while?"

Fuuka chanced a quick peek from her seat and saw 5 average dressed guys standing in front of the other girls' table. Using the earlier incident as an ice breaker? How pathetic. But it would be interesting to see how they reacted. Fuuka put her plans to leave on hold and listened intently.

Nothing. Kohaku read nothing. Aside from nociceptors at her ankles firing (and rapidly slowing down the rate of firing) as well as some some excess fat accumulating near her belly, she could read absolutely nothing wrong with the waitress's body.

It was pretty evident at least from the nociceptors that something was causing her body to react as if she had been jabbed there with multiple thin needles or stabbed with a fork. Either way, there was no evidence of a wound or a foreign body in the area of her leg. It was a puzzling case for the girl. Perhaps it was psychosomatic.

Whatever it was, Kohaku could only tilt her head in confusion and wonder. It was something she had never seen before and as curious as it made her, she realized it would probably be awkward for her to stay with a hand on the waitress, who was insisting to the three girls she did not need any help, while she was trying to clean up the mess she made.

Oddly enough, she was relatively quick at cleaning up the mess to the point where within the time Kohaku had taken to read the waitress's condition, she had already finished cleaning everything up. One could wonder whether this girl was really a trainee at that Maid School if she was that adept.

Kohaku sat back in the chair as the waitress bowed to the three girls once again. "Again, I'm terribly sorry and I'll bring you your orders again as quickly as possible." She immediately dashed off into the kitchen.

"Sorry about the milk tea, Misaka." She said to the disappointed girl. "They'll be bringing it out shortly."

She then turned to Hiromi. "Honestly, I don't get what happened. For some reason the pain receptors in her ankle were firing in a pattern resembling that of being pierced. I can't figure out what it is. My first thought was that it was psychosomatic in nature but even that feels off."

As she was going to wait for her senpai to chime in, she saw five guys in average, laid-back clothing come up to them. "That was really cool of you girls to help the lady with her mess. Pretty and generous, you all are quite a catch. What would you say to hanging out with us for a while?"

At that moment, Kohaku's mind could only go blank. Five guys were hitting on them…or trying (and failing) to be smooth pick-up artists…

The tactless girl had zero clue how to react to all of this. All she could to was tilt her head with an obvious expression of confusion on her face. "Eh…?"

With the wasted tea induced despair slowly fading away to a sense of calm urgency as she realised the abnormality of the waitress' sudden pain, the girl who rarely displayed any emotion in her eyes sat back down after observing the waitress, who thoroughly assured the gathered girls that she was okay, scattering away to get their new orders.

"Sorry about the milk tea, Misaka. They'll be bringing it out shortly."

“There is no need to apologise as Misaka believes there was a more urgent issue to attend to."

Indeed, there was. An issue she classified as a mystery that she had called out to the network to figure out.

(This Misaka has been taught by the researchers that they occasionally feel unexplainable spikes of pain in their bodies, cites Misaka serial number 10173. Perhaps this is the same, she questions?) A voice popped in 10031's head after she recalled and shared the scene that unfolded before her, causing her to slightly nod without a reason to outsiders of the network.

"Honestly, I don't get what happened. For some reason the pain receptors in her ankle were firing in a pattern resembling that of being pierced. I can't figure out what it is. My first thought was that it was psychosomatic in nature but even that feels off."

(The incapacitating nature and extent of such pain, however, does not seem to fit what the scientists have complained about, refutes Misaka serial number 10046 in doubt of 10173's theory as she hears this analysis.)

(Could this incident be of malicious origins, wonders Misaka serial number 10053...)

Nod.

Those seemingly blank hazelnut eyes travelled around the restaurant as the two students of different ages discussed the waitress' condition despite her best attempts to reassure them. What those eyes were looking for was an oddity amongst what they, the Sisters, knew of the types of persons in restaurants.

The Sisters had learnt basic things and facts about humans, both by the Testament and by the quite talkative researchers that would take care of them, as well as their personal experiences, however limited said experience was.

That is why they knew that in most situation, there would be certain types of persons with specific reactions: Some people would be shocked at the disturbance but not necessarily bothered or worried, others would be scornful towards the waitress for the disturbance, and another set of others would just be affected by a bystander's effect too strong to even acknowledge the occurrence of the incident.

Amidst that lot, 10031 had finally spotted one girl who appeared quite pleased, too pleased, with the situation, the earlier girl who seemed to be thought of as unpleasant.

“If this incident had a malicious origin, then this Misaka cannot help but suspect this girl, utters Misaka to herself in conclusion.”

***

"That was really cool of you girls to help the lady with her mess. Pretty and generous, you all are quite a catch. What would you say to hanging out with us for a while?"

However, she was called out to at the end of her situational analysis, only to see a group of men she didn't recognise at all. A quick search also told her the network had never seen these gentlemen before.

“Eh...?”

Kohaku's confusion prompted Imouto to explain the situation in the most concise way one possibly could.

“Misaka believes that they are partaking in a form of harassment commonly referred to as “hitting on someone”.”

While the girls were talking, Hiromi was preocuppied with what she noticed earlier. Was that girl behind it? Was she just enjoying the sight of the waitress being in trouble? Was she just smiling about something else entirely?

‘I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. It’s not good to doubt people.’

Hiromi was then brought back into the discussion when Kohaku suddenly talked to her.

“Honestly, I don't get what happened. For some reason the pain receptors in her ankle were firing in a pattern resembling that of being pierced. I can't figure out what it is. My first thought was that it was psychosomatic in nature but even that feels off."

’Pierced… ?’

“If this incident had a malicious origin, then this Misaka cannot help but suspect this girl, utters Misaka to herself in conclusion.”

Just as Hiromi was about to share what she noticed earlier, to confirm Misaka’s suspicions, a group of five boys came to their table.

“That was really cool of you girls to help the lady with her mess. Pretty and generous, you all are quite a catch. What would you say to hanging out with us for a while?"

For a second, her mind was unable to understand the implication of those words. Few moments later she realised that they were trying to hit on them.

At that moment she started to get nervous. People rarely hit on her, and when they did, she would always just ignore them, pretend she never heard them calling, and continue heading towards her destination until they would give up on their own.

But right now, she couldn’t exactly do that for multiple reasons. First of all, she was sitting down, not walking, and she was waiting for the food to come. She couldn’t leave after the trouble that the waitress went through, if she did the owner might think it was because of the accident, and the waitress would be yelled at for something that wasn’t her fault. Moreover, she wasn’t alone. Unless her friends wanted to leave as well, she couldn’t just leave them behind.

As she was pondering about what to do, she heard Kohaku exclaim. Misaka’s reply only served to make Hiromi even more nervous.

“Misaka believes that they are partaking in a form of harassment commonly referred to as “hitting on someone”.”

'Misaka?! That’s not the issue here!! We know those guys are hitting on us!! Both Kohaku and I we just do not know how we are supposed to deal with this!!', Hiromi could only feel utter despair. She couldn’t possibly rely on either of them to save the day. Kohaku looked as lost as herself about how she should react. And the younger girl seemed even more oblivious about the whole situation than both of them. It seemed like she was just reciting the definition without understanding the reality of the situation.

So Hiromi had to find a solution on her own She decided to try and come up with an excuse to get the boys to back down. She didn’t want to cause even more trouble, so she would try to reject them politely.

“Um… I apologize… but we don’t hang out with strangers…”, she said awkwardly.

Just as the words left her lips, she regretted it.

’Idiot!! What sort of excuse is this?! I sound like a 5-year old kid!!’

She could feel blood rushing to her face with embarrassement.

However, she knew why this was the excuse that she voiced out. What she said was really her real reason for refusing, so it was inconsciously the first thing to come to her mind.

Realising she had messed up and not wanting to make things even worse, she sent a quick glance to her her Kouhai, asking for support, but noticed that the girl was still confused. As for Misaka, her face didn’t show any sort of emotion, so she didn’t know what she might be thinking about the whole situation.

‘What should I do?!’, she started to panick.

Five regular guys. Five unappealing, completely normal young men with nothing about them to set them apart from the rest of the faceless blurs one passed by on the city sidewalks. If it hadn't been for their invasion into her observational subject, Fuuka wouldn't have given them a second thought. Everything about them screamed ordinary. They didn't even have any distinguished school uniforms to stand out like the robotic girl's Tokiwadai uniform. Like she'd first thought, completely normal and boring. Though it was another fun development happening at the table now with the girls wondering how to deal with their lame attempt at asking them to hang out with them. Fuuka listened intently to the conversation.

"All the more reason we should find a place to talk a bit. Then we won't be strangers anymore."

Even one as socially inept as Fuuka couldn't help but groan from that line. These guys were really bad at the whole smooth talking thing. As she cast her gaze over other tables, she saw that other customers nearby had taken notice of the awkward development. But like most people, they were all too preoccupied with the idea of not getting involved and quietly tried to ignore the disturbance and mind their own business. It was always the same after all. Even those who didn't act out against others would never do something to aid them either. Self preservation, the base drive of all living things.

"Hey this girl seems cute too..." Fuuka heard one of the imbeciles talking as he took a step away from the group and approached her table. From the angle he was looking, the finer details of Fuuka's face were missed by him. "You free to come with us to....Ohmygod!"

The speaker shouted and fell backward to the restaurant floor after he recoiled back in horror as Fuuka turned to face him, revealing her severely burned face. But it was more than the burns. He had gotten a look at the devilish grin on Fuuka's lips as she showed him her appearance, knowing full well how he was likely to react. She took delight in the fear now spread on his face.

"Oh man, she's a freak! That is some messed up shit there man."

What wonderful manners and language. The thug did so well at reducing any hint of class he might have tried to create an image of. Fuuka stood up from her table and leered down at him, still grinning the canary smile to pile on the twistedness. "What's wrong?" she inquired for fun. "Weren't you going to invite me to your social gathering just now? Or are you meaningless cretins worth about as much as your levels? Absolutely nothing."

Her words cut deep like a knife, heard by all those around their two tables. The apparent hostility implying that they were level zeroes was perhaps an obvious attempt at causing trouble by riling them up. Low lives like this usually reacted badly towards superiority prejudice shown by more stuck up members of the science community. Fuuka didn't genuinely care who they were or what their classifications were. That they had disturbed and involved her directly in this situation was akin to shaking a wasp's nest. They were hers to play with now.

“Misaka believes that they are partaking in a form of harassment commonly referred to as “hitting on someone”.”

Kohaku was unable to help but draw a chuckle at the Tokiwadai girl's dry answer. She had likely drawn the conclusion that Kohaku was confused. However, she had most definitely drawn the conclusion that Kohaku was confused as to what was going on.

On the contrary, she was fully aware that she was being hit on. But, this tactless girl had never had that type of experience.

“Um… I apologize… but we don’t hang out with strangers…”

It seemed Kohaku's dear senpai was not used to this type of experience either. It was a terrible answer. Hiromi's answer was reminiscent of that made by a young child who was being approached by a stranger. Though, if one thought about it, the mentality she and Kohaku held in this type of situation was comparable to that of a child being approached by a stranger.

"All the more reason we should find a place to talk a bit. Then we won't be strangers anymore."

The pick-up artists did not seem to want to back down and were even willing to go through with terrible lines for the sake of it. The tactless girl cringed at the awkwardness of that line.

Before she could even try to come up with a response to the line, one of the guys had walked up to the table adjacent to them. "Hey this girl seems cute too...You free to come with us to....Ohmygod!"

The delinquent boy lost his balance as he shouted and fell back.

"Oh man, she's a freak! That is some messed up shit there man."

It was at that point that Kohaku stood up. "Hey! That's not something you can say to someone you just walk up--"

The other girl who they had walked up to was giving off a twisted smile. It was as if she was taking pleasure in the confusion she was causing. "What's wrong? Weren't you going to invite me to your social gathering just now? Or are you meaningless cretins worth about as much as your levels? Absolutely nothing."

Kohaku, despite her tactlessness, was fully aware that this could lead to an escalation and immediately moved in between the two parties. "Please, guys. We should not cause a commotion in the middle of a restaurant. People are already looking at us…"

Misaka hadn't really understood what this entire method of harassment was for and it's purpose. But it was harassment and even with her limited knowledge 10032 understood that much. These five guys was employing a tactic which seems to bring a level of discomfort of the others and even humiliation towards those she was dining with.


"Their behaviour seems to relate to other males induced with high testosterone Says Misaka 10007 who continues on her point without delay. Which means they intend to further harassment the group until the others give into their demands says Misaka 10007"  

"This Misaka has read up something about how to deal with harassment from men. According to this small book called a 'girls magazine.' The logical conclusion seems to only set them straight them Says Misaka 10031. "

Narrowing her eyes seemed to have been the only response to the words of her sister over the network as Imouto slowly stood up from where she sat. Looking towards the boys who where now paying their full attention to Kohaku and the girl she had seen before near the earlier accident. She just reached out to the closest of the boys and follow by a sudden spark with a click of her fingers a carefully managed electrical charge struck a pressure point to stun the first boy immediately. And before the others could properly react the sister had already stepped further towards the second boy as her hand once again found his pressure point. This was followed by another controlled electrical shock which sent him joining the first leaving them temporary stunned.

And without thinking it any further she pulled the third boy over with such ease, she managed to flip him on his back side and still with such unemotional eyes you could consider this girl was cold. Or maybe too protective considering what she had done and even her voice remain unchanged as if nothing had occurred.

She repeated what Hirmoi had said moments ago while still holding the arm of the third boy now on the floor.

"Misaka would like to apologise... but we don't hang out with strangers says Misaka." she had said with those cold unemotional eyes.

After Hiromi blabbered that ridiculous answer, she expected the boys to mock her or something. But they would at least understand that the girls had no intention to go with them, or so she assumed. However, their answer literally came as a shock.

"All the more reason we should find a place to talk a bit. Then we won't be strangers anymore."

“...”, she was speechless and did not know how she should react. But her face betrayed a look of worry.

‘Huh? HUH?! They’re not backing down?! What?! How much stubborn are they?! So there were really men like this?! There really were?! Just how do people deal with these sorts?!’

Meanwhile, one of the boys approached the other girl sitting on the table next to them. When she turned around to face him, he shouted in panick and fell back.

"Oh man, she's a freak! That is some messed up shit there man."

When she heard the rude words he shot to the girl, Hiromi felt so frustrated and angry that she wanted to punch him in the face. He was insulting the girl solely based on her appearence. However, before she could act, Kohaku stood up.

"Hey! That's not something you can say to someone you just walk up--"

She was interrupted by the girl in question, who stood up and leened down on the boy. She now had an amused smile, or it appeared that way to Hiromi, the girl who unconsciously saw everything in an optimistic light.

"What's wrong? Weren't you going to invite me to your social gathering just now? Or are you meaningless cretins worth about as much as your levels? Absolutely nothing."

However, those words and that tone of voice could only be described as cruel and hostile. It was then that Hiromi realised that the grimace coloring her face was not that of amusement, but that of twistedness.

She realised that things could only get worse.

“Everyone, let’s calm down, please”, she tried to ease the atmosphere and stop the potential fight.

“Please, guys. We should not cause a commotion in the middle of a restaurant. People are already looking at us…", Kohaku added.

She was really thankful for her support.

Suddenly, Misaka did something totally unexpected.

Hiromi was unable to gasp the scene folding in front of her. By the it took her mind to catch up to what was happening, three out of the five boys were already on the floor.

"Misaka would like to apologise... but we don't hang out with strangers says Misaka."

“Misa...ka...?”, Hiromi said the girl’s name in a daze, unable to believe this turn of events. The girl never striked her as the impulsive kind. What was somewhat bizarre was the totally expressionless look in her eyes even as she was taking the harrassers down. Her behavior and expression contradicted each other.

Hiromi realised that she truly could not read what was on the Tokiwadai girl’s mind… at all.

Misaka seemed not to have the intention to take down the other two, probably satisfied with just making her point, or it was originally Hiromi’s, clear to the boys.

‘But that was too extreme!!’, Hiromi complained, ‘This is bad… now the two left might jump in to avenge their comrades. We might be unable to avoid a fight...’

Chaos. The word rippled through Fuuka's mind like a drug, sending her into such a pleasurable high that she felt her already smug grin crack into a face of absolute madness. To the casual observer, she probably looked like she was a bit touched in the head. And to be honest, maybe they'd be right. The scene was beautiful, and she herself had not even needed to instigate the actual physical violence. Perhaps the cold eyed Misaka and her could find some common ground, though her kindness and helpful actions were still a buzz kill.

Fuuka's hand itched to grab one of her weapons hidden in her uniform, but she difficultly restrained herself as she scanned the restaurant and saw that Kohaku's words were correct. The bystanders that had been doing their best to avoid taking notice of any of the previous occurrences now all had their eyes glued to their loud trouble-making group. Fuuka bit her lip in frustration as she realized how much trouble she'd be in if she caused a scene so openly in front of this many witnesses. But she couldn't let the humble offering of these foolish boys go wasted when they had thrown themselves practically into her lap. Her words a moment prior seemed to have gotten their attention. Now how to lure them out of here?

"Why stick around here when we can have...fun elsewhere little boys? If you think you have what it takes to prove that you aren't nothing, come and show me. You think what that girl did to your friends was anything? We haven't even started yet."

With the invitation and challenge clearly issued, Fuuka threw down the appropriate amount of payment for her drink on her table and made her way out of the restaurant.

Out on the street again, she found the nearest alley she could so she could be away from the public's prying eyes. The boys from the restaurant were making their way out too. Fuuka was glad that she'd managed to pull their attention back onto her even after Misaka's intrusion into the scuffle. But that was probably due to Fuuka's direct insults and threats. She was clearly the more hostile target that thugs like these boys just loved to engage. One even could be seen on his phone as they moved to the alley. How cute, he was calling more friends. More victims. This day was starting to look up.

Despite Kohaku's best…or perhaps lone effort, the situation seemed to degrade into even more chaos. Within under 10 seconds, the Tokiwadai girl named Misaka had completely subdued three of the delinquents.

While Kohaku could pride herself on her reaction speed at a minute scale, her reaction speed in this kind of situation was quite terrible. Before she could even react to the events that had transpired, the boys were on the floor and the Tokiwadai girl was delivering a one-liner.

"Misaka would like to apologise... but we don't hang out with strangers says Misaka."

“Misa...ka...?”

So it seemed even Hiromi was unable to truly understand what had been going on at this moment.

"Why stick around here when we can have...fun elsewhere little boys? If you think you have what it takes to prove that you aren't nothing, come and show me. You think what that girl did to your friends was anything? We haven't even started yet."

The situation was escalating even further as she seemed to draw the remaining conscious delinquents out of the restaurant. For all her confidence, she was clearly outmatched, especially since delinquents were the type to overwhelm with numbers. It was unclear if there were more of them waiting in the alleys or if they would simply call more over. Regardless, the situation with the strange girl was not going to end up being pretty.

But, Kohaku had another priority before trying to do anything on that girl's end and that was to make sure that the ones who were knocked out were not put into any dangerous condition.

With that, she immediately kneeled to put one hand on the nearest unconscious boy and picked up the phone to call '110'.

“Misa...ka...?”

Reacting to the call of her name, Misaka abruptly let go of the third boy's arm with a wide stare. She wasn't entirely sure if she took the right action now. Observing the others around her she might of made a slightly bad move, but Misaka was very sure she made right decision to stand up for the girls.

"Why stick around here when we can have...fun elsewhere little boys? If you think you have what it takes to prove that you aren't nothing, come and show me. You think what that girl did to your friends was anything? We haven't even started yet."

For some reason this sent warning bells to Misaka, seeing the reaction from the others from her own actions she worried about this girls' intended motives. Though she couldn't properly display her thoughts on this manner to the other she would express her intention clearly.

"This Misaka will go after them to ensure that girl is OK says Misaka..." Saying this with no further explanation Misaka suddenly chased after the mysterious girls and the highly testosterone induced boys back out on the streets before following them towards the alley.

"Why stick around here when we can have...fun elsewhere little boys? If you think you have what it takes to prove that you aren't nothing, come and show me. You think what that girl did to your friends was anything? We haven't even started yet."

Myriad mixed emotions roiled throughout the surface of Hiromi's thoughts as she took in and processed both the meaning and the intent behind Fuuka's words. Naive though she may be, not even are could miss such an obvious invitation. Her very first inclination was to chase after them to try and make them stop, but...

Part of her hesitation was merely a fear of going about it alone. Involving herself in a fight between so many people... That was just plain scary! But more than that, she was worried about the boys Misaka had done in earlier.

Even now they were laying on the ground, unconscious. Even if Misaka hadn't intended to do any serious harm, accidents happen. Even if she was worried and Misaka, Fuuka, and the boys, she couldn't just leave without making sure they were okay first.

"K-Kohaku! Is he alright!?"

Perhaps because of her excitement, she stuttered, but mentally she had already regained some of her calm and knelt down to inspect the condition of the boy nearest to her as she awaited Kohaku's response.

The alley Fuuka had found was the perfect setting for this encounter. Adequately hiding those in its corridor from the eyes of the city's passersby, it was wide enough to be comfortable while also narrow enough to limit the approach of her opponents. What did it matter to her? She'd never said she'd play fair after all. Setting up the situation to be in her favor was only the natural thing to do.

Both boys had arrived and lined up several paces from her. The whole thing looked like one of those scenes in an action movie when the heroes and villains squared off. One thing was certain though in this scenario: Fuuka was definitely the villain.

"Glad to see you had the guts to show up to your own funeral you fools. Hehehe, you are just what I needed to blow off some much built up stress."

"That's enough out of your mouth you bitch!" the boy on her left yelled. "We're going to teach you what happens when you mess with us!"

As if this was a signal, they both darted forward towards Fuuka with their fists balled. Fuuka swiftly leaped to the side to avoid one, but a look of surprise exploded across her face as the second opponent followed her movement and had a heavy punch aimed right at her face. Funny thing though, he almost could swear that he saw her grimace transform into a satisfied smirk right before his fist found its landing in Fuuka's cheek. A loud thud rang off of the alley walls as Fuuka's body flew back from the impact, sending her slamming her back into one of the sides of the alley. But her trick had worked. At the same time she'd been thrown back, two cries of pain and shock rang out from their position.

Fuuka peeled herself away from the wall, bringing a hand up to rub at the tender mark left on her face. In response to the punch in her face, both boys had stopped short and one had even fallen to one knee. Both glanced at the other, then at Fuuka rubbing her cheek. Confusion gave way to mild realization as they figured out that they both had felt the same pain she had. The pain she was now sinking into, letting her already dark personality warp into a full sadistic pleasure. The anger and brash cockiness quickly left the faces of her opponents as Fuuka's chilling giggle filled their ears. They watched in horror as she reached into the fanny pack on her waist and produced a thin metal needle.

"Don't lose your nerve too quick. The fun's just getting started."

As her needle plunged into her arm, a mixture of screams and laughter echoed loudly from the alley as the only clue to the madness going on within.

Kohaku made a mental note that the Misaka girl went off after the Kirigaoka girl. Kohaku was well aware that she would eventually have to head out to prevent any further altercations once she had finished up here.

In an instant, the dispatch had picked up. As Kohaku spent two minutes giving out the location of the restaurant and the run down of what happened, she had moved from one boy to the next, doing reading after reading to make sure that the three unconscious boys had no lasting damage.

With the dispatcher fully aware of the three unconscious boys and their general situation, she closed off the phone before the dispatcher could give a closing greeting and turned to Hiromi.

"At the very least, there does not seem to be lasting damage. Barring a small burn on one of them from Misaka-san's first attack, they all seem to be fine."

She then turned to face the window. "But, let's hurry. I have a bad feeling that things are only going to get worse the more we leave Misaka-san and that other girl alone with those delinquents."

She made her way to the counter and dropped the money for what they had ordered. "Keep the change. Um…also, can you let the EMTs that will be coming shortly know of the situation? I told the dispatch over the phone but it might be good to get a second opinion from a witness."

She turned straight to head out of the door, fully expecting Hiromi to follow out behind her.

She was surprised at first to see exactly where that girl was leading the boys. It seem that she had carefully planned the appropriate location for her advantage. While she didn't know this was actually fact, but based on Misaka's personal experience this location, this certain alleyway offered that mysterious girl the advantage.  

"Glad to see you had the guts to show up to your own funeral you fools. Hehehe, you are just what I needed to blow off some much built up stress."

"That's enough out of your mouth you bitch!" the boy on her left yelled. "We're going to teach you what happens when you mess with us!"

Misaka had the tendency to think things through before acting and this time it had costed her dearly. Not reacting in time she had watched one of the boys punch the mysterious girl into the wall. This wasn't right and while this was but a shallow danger to what she normally experienced. The clone known as Misaka knew this wasn't right for this part of the city.

For this version of Academy city, this side of the coin was ordered compared to the other side. She was about to leap into action, it would be so simple to take the boy's from behind but before she even had the chance. Before her every muscle was used to send her into action, the boy's collapsed in the face of the girl and a real sense of distaste filled Imouto's mind. She was trying to understand what was happening. The pain and the infliction of pain on the boys by something invisible, this was something she had never seen before in her short life time.

Not even the network was coming up with realistic answers. And worse of all which hadn't settled with Misaka despite being unmoved.

That sadistic sense was all too familiar and she didn't like it one bit.

"Don't lose your nerve too quick. The fun's just getting started."

The mysterious girl had taken out a needle before plunging it into her arm which only confirmed something. Whatever was happening, whatever was causing the boy's to suffer and collapse. It had to do with that girl's ability. She couldn't think on it for much longer, the last time she did the girl was attacked without any shred of mercy.

Maybe it was time for Imouto to take a leaf out of their book this time. This wasn't like last time when she acted to protect and stand up for the other girls. She was doing this to end the suffering of the boys, she was going to do the right thing and attack the mysterious girl.

There was no way to hide her approach, the location's setting was perfect to stop this from happening as a frontal assault. The only advantage Misaka had was to use the girl's attention on the boy to cover her approach. But even that was less likely to work, it didn't matter as Misaka intend to take her out in a similar fashion to the ones in the restaurant.

And so she went using every muscle in her body the clone sent herself forward with real speed. Speed that belong to someone who was use to running away from the Reaper itself. Heading straight for the mysterious girl known as Fuuka, the clone had reached out with her left hand preparing to strike the girl's pressure points with a small electrical shock.

"At the very least, there does not seem to be lasting damage. Barring a small burn on one of them from Misaka-san's first attack, they all seem to be fine."

“I see… That’s good.”

Hiromi breathed a sigh of relief at the news. So they were all fine… That was the best news she could have heard in this situation. Even if those boys hadn’t been the best of people, no one deserved to be hurt.

"But, let's hurry. I have a bad feeling that things are only going to get worse the more we leave Misaka-san and that other girl alone with those delinquents."

"Keep the change. Um…also, can you let the EMTs that will be coming shortly know of the situation? I told the dispatch over the phone but it might be good to get a second opinion from a witness."

“Eh? A-Ah, okay!”

Kohaku’s sudden change of gears threw Hiromi for a loop, but she managed to recover when she saw Kohaku already running out the door. Following close behind, it didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive at the alleyway where Misaka, Fuuka, and the boys had gone to. And the first thing she saw was was Misaka rushing at Fuuka with sparks flying from her fingertips.

“M-Misaka-san?! What are you doing?!”

Fuuka was torn out of her sadistic glee by the sudden notice of the intruders in her alley of torment. In truth, she probably had Hiromi to thank for noticing her would be attacker as Misaka closed in on her with sparks flying from her approaching hand.

'An electromaster.....' Fuuka's mind grumbled as her thoughts raced trying to process her next move. How strong was Misaka? Would her electricity prove too strong for the empathic connection to establish? Not willing to waste a move trying in such a pressed for time situation, Fuuka dropped the needle in her hand. It clanged to the alley floor while the puncture in her arm slowly trickled with bright red blood. Fuuka's hand now moved to a different pocket in her pouch and produced a small pocket knife which she flipped open with a snap of her wrist. Leaping to the side to skip away from Misaka's attack, she held the knife forward in a threatening stance warning Misaka to stay away.

"What are you doing? They attacked me first. And as you can see, there's not a mark on them. It's clear who the victim is in this situation to any authority." Fuuka's words had no desperation of an injured party in them, but more sadistic pleasure of a mastermind who had things dancing in the palm of her hand. Everyone present knew that there was more going on here than perceivable, but nothing physical pointed to Fuuka as a guilty person. She only wondered what disgusting words of right and wrong these goody-goody girls were going to throw at her now. The thought of it made her sick.

As Kohaku rushed through that alleyway, she could feel her stomach churning. It was as if an impending sense of dread had fallen into her stomach and started tumbling around within it. It was far from pleasant. With each slam of her feet against the pavement, the tumbling dread only moved faster as if its rotation was inversely proportional to their proximity to the two girls.

Despite the feeling of the distance feeling like it extended, the two reached the scene Fuuka was leading within a couple of minutes. Standing by the two delinquents who were reeling in pain were the Kirigaoka girl who was dropping a blood-coated needle and Misaka who was readying an electric attack.

Misaka-san's an Electromaster? Kohaku calmly analyzed the sight she was seeing while she heard Hiromi calling out to Misaka.

The Kirigaoka girl had taken out a pocket knife and dodged the attack effortlessly. She brandished the knife in front of Misaka and took an odd stance.

"What are you doing? They attacked me first. And as you can see, there's not a mark on them. It's clear who the victim is in this situation to any authority."

Kohaku could not deny what she was saying about there being a mark on them. At a cursory glance, the delinquents were writhing in pain without even having any visible wounds.

But, the situation was beginning to spiral far to out of control. Kohaku needed to focus on reining it in before it erupted even further.

She took a few steps inwards and clapped loudly once. "Regardless of who attacked first let's calm down." There was no reason to hesitate in this kind of situation. All that was needed was a calm head to act as the heat sink for the tension. "Those two are in pain, you've got blood trickling down your arm likely coming from a puncture wound. Let's not let this spiral any further into chaos and just calm down." She said, looking to Misaka and the Kirigaoka girl.

(OST: A Quiet Maneuver)

The Sister only looked at Fuuka with empty eyes as she attempted to gauge the girl's intentions, composure defining her very stance. Her brain was rushing to find answers at the same time as the rest of the network's, and she finally uttered a simple statement.

“This Misaka believes that you are partaking in very dubious activities yourself, says Misaka as she notes the fallen needle and knife. A normal citizen would usually not bear a knife on their person, she explains.”

Fuuka's overall aura reminded her all too well of the world she had been born in, and she had been incapable of entirely pushing the blame on the thugs. The world she was born in and the normal world should never mix, and she planned on doing as much as she could to keep it that way.

“What were you planning to do, asks this Misaka?” As she spoke, the knife that was in Fuuka's grip was slowly tugged away from her as if it wanted to free itself from her grasp to come closer towards Imouto while small sparks of electricity could be seen on the blade itself.

From the very moment they entered the alleyway, a sinking feeling had been forming in the pit of Hiromi's gut. As much as she wanted to believe everything would end amicably, she knew what kinds of purposes these alleyways were used for. There were a convenient hideaway for the city's many delinquents, a place far away from the moderating hands of Anti-Skill and Judgement. But even still, until the moment she laid eyes upon the situation herself, she would keep hoping that nothing would happen.

Which is why when she saw the delinquents on the ground and Fuuka facing Misaka with a knife, she became all the more upset. She was just about to begin speaking when, but thankfully, Kohaku interrupted her.

"Regardless of who attacked first let's calm down. Those two are in pain, you've got blood trickling down your arm likely coming from a puncture wound. Let's not let this spiral any further into chaos and just calm down."

Kohaku's calm voice let her regain her cool somewhat. She had been just about to plead with the girl to just put the knife down, but thinking clearly, acting emotional in a situation like this was the worst thing one could do. So she paused to take a few calming breaths, and then spoke.

"Yes, please calm down. I-I don't know what happened, but those two aren't going to hurt you! So put the knife down, and we can get your wound treated, okay?"

She didn't know what happened to the boys, but for the moment, she would focus on Fuuka. For the moment, she had to focus on getting her put that dangerous weapon away!

While Misaka's interference was annoying, Fuuka did like her direct approach to things. Hiromi and Kohaku however were acting exactly as Fuuka had expected. Doing the "right" thing again, trying to ease the tension and bring the situation to a peaceful solution. So boring. But at least she could still square off with Misaka.  The knife in her hands was suddenly being drawn forward as Misaka talked, likely due to some sort of magnetism from the electric girl's powers.

"I wouldn't expect a student from Tokiwadai to use lines like 'normal citizen'.  And certainly not in this city.  Is it so strange to carry a tool that can defend yourself? Besides, who are you to call my actions dubious when you came at me with a damn thunder punch?  And what I was planning to d-..."  Fuuka's sentence stopped short as Kohaku's clap broke into the conversation, giving Kohaku the chance to speak her mind.

"Regardless of who attacked first let's calm down. Those two are in pain, you've got blood trickling down your arm likely coming from a puncture wound. Let's not let this spiral any further into chaos and just calm down."

Fuuka turned her gaze to look at Kohaku with a mixture of disappointment and bewilderment, but then her face turned to a twisted grin. "But why? Isn't chaos much more fun?" Her cracked personality was starting to show again through the earlier annoyance from the other three girls' arrival. She looked almost exactly as she had back in the restaurant with the waitress. To a normal person, the whole thing would likely be extremely unsettling.

Fuuka turned to face towards Kohaku as a look of utter confusion, akin to someone seeing a strange new sight that could not live up to expectations, washed over her face. But, that confusion was soon replaced with something far more twisted: a grin. Of course, it was not a grin one put up to mask any emotions. In fact, this was far more raw. It was as if she had discarded any pretenses and began to just let her true self go wild.

"But why? Isn't chaos much more fun?"

What oozed from those words was far more than simple malice.

Disdain

Bitterness.

Sadism.

All of it and more negative emotions that Kohaku could not even name had seeped out from this girl's words. It had reminded her of the same tone Fuuka had let out when they were fighting to stabilize Haruka after the hit and run.

It was definitely an oppressive atmosphere and one Kohaku was not used to. Even the high pressure situation of keeping Haruka stable was something completely different from this. While magnitudes varied, the nature of it felt different. It was much like comparing gravitational force to electromagnetic force.

Even so, that was no reason to let that kind of pressure get to her. "No, it isn't." Kohaku crossed her arms beneath her chest and took another step forward. There was no point in getting riled up by accepting her provocations. She just needed to approach this girl like she usually approached any problem.

"Provoking those delinquents will only cause more to come after you. Even if you enjoy unpredictability, there is a point where chaos will inevitably spiral out of your control." Kohaku simply continued to issue a warning. It was unlikely that this would work but it was the best first step.

It was confirmed.

Most would be thrown-off by such a simple lack of care towards the value of human life, others would be appalled at the willing attempts at destroying it, but the sadism that danced in Fuuka's eyes did not surprise the Sister and in fact felt like a “home” she had returned to, however twisted it was.

Though this Sister and the others did not have “human” value like the people in this city did, they were however used to seeing and suffering from the amount of twisted amusement the sickest people of Academy City found in destruction and chaos.

That was why she was the most fitting of the group to contain it to their world and not let it leak.

“Please stay back, says this Misaka as she attempts to warn the two of their unawareness regarding the real danger of this situation.”

Slowly, she raised her hand a single time to block off any advancement from Kohaku and Hiromi before adopting a fighting stance while keeping another careful hand on her “school” bag and continued. “Things spiralling out of control is exactly what she wants, elaborates Misaka as she reveals a hard to believe and unpleasant truth.”

The fact that she was someone who would discard human lives like mere outlived toys had been confirmed and made it that Imouto no longer had any reason to hold back against Fuuka, yet she made a single suggestion before attempting anything herself.

“This Misaka, however, is willing to ignore that twisted goal and make a single attempt at peace, says Misaka as she gives you a last chance to pull back before you regret it.” Her voice was stone cold and her expression was devoid of any semblance of emotion.

The proposal she had offered was something she was well-aware to be meaningless, but to her it served less of a proposal of peace and more of a suggestion to back off from potential war.