NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: chapter 30
[BACK IN THE PRESENT]
"Eeeh? What was the present?" Hokaze inquired, but Kongou shook her head.
"It's a secret. However, I think that I talked long enough. What about you, Hokaze-senpai? Do you have any pleasant memory?"
Junko smiled, gathering her thoughts.
"Well, it is probably not as elaborate and complex as yours, but it's still something I treasure... my first outing with best gentlemen friends I had..."
Kuroko smirked, before pouring herself second cup of tea
"This calls for another drink"
[JUNKO'S STORY]
The amusement park in District 6 was filled with colours and attractions. Among them, a trio of people, two boys and one girl, walked around the entertainment zone.
Hokaze Junko hummed merrily as she walked in front of the Sogiita Gunha, who looked around with enthusiastic curiosity, and Kamijou Touma, who was more cautious than anything.
"I am so glad that I get to spend this evening with two of you" Junko spun around, leaning in front of them with a smile on her face. "The Queen gave me free day and I have no responsibilities for today, so I am free as a bird"
"Yeah! It's not every day you get to hang with my best girl and best bro in the whole wide world" Gunha patted Touma on the shoulder, before frowning" But it seems your guts are kind of quenched. Something's bugging you, Kamijou?!"
"It's nothing. I am glad that I am with you two, it's just... I don't have the best memories from amusement parks"
"Oh? How so?" Junko asked with concern.
"You see, when you are as unlucky as I am, there is always chance of something malfunctioning. And in the place like this..."
"Kamijou-san..." Junko said in serious tone of voice, gently but unhesitatingly grabbing Touma's face and forcing him to look at her own "Look into my eyes. What do you see?"
"Ehm... your eyes?"
"Oh well, I guess I walked into that one... yes, eyes of a person who considers you a precious friend. It is certain that for one reason or another, you are valuable for my Queen, so if anything happens, I will protect you just like I would protect her. Besides, I admire you even without Queen's feelings involved, and I truly wish to spend some quality time with you and Gunha-san"
"Junko-san is right. We got your back, so just relax and let your guts shine" Gunha grinned and took a piece of folded piece of paper from his pants" And speaking of guts, I made a list of cool things we three can do around the place. Starting with..."
1. Roller coaster
"Guys, I don't know..."
"I always wanted to try this!" Hokaze pointed at the specialized railroad system with steep drops and curves. As an ojou-sama, she rarely got a chance to truly experience common folk attractions like this one.
"We would like to have 3 tickets" Gunha asked the cashier, smiling nonchalantly" for the one with the gutsiest, highest drop you have!"
Soon after, the three were sitting in the same car, with Touma on the left, Gunha on the right, and Hokaze in the middle.
"Okay, thinking positively, this sounds interesting." Touma commented, looking at the ride ahead of them " It even has a vertical loop. Wow... just wow..."
"Hold your enthusiasm until you go through with it" Gunha whispered to him, when the cars started moving.
"This is so interesting. I feel such excitement while facing such a thrill" Junko smiled at both of them, when they gained altitude. 50 meters... 60 meters... 70 meters...
Touma felt as if he worried for nothing. He was here with friends, which was in itself a great thing. He wanted to spend time with them just as much as they wanted with him, so he should just accept it and embrace that attraction, despite the fact that his stomach was protesting from tension.
It felt like a breakthrough in his life. So high, everything became meaningless. What mattered was just here and now, a moment shared with two awesome friends.
They reached the altitude of 100 meters, the peak of the gigacoaster drop.
And immediately, Kamijou's enlightenment ended.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH?!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Kamijou's scream, Hokaze's squeal, and Gunha's laughter all blended together with the sounds of other passengers. The wind was such that Touma felt as if his eyes were about to be pressed into his skull, as the car fell down, raised up, upside down and almost horizontally.
"Boys, it says here it's photo time. Smile!" came Hokaze's scream from his left side. He felt the younger girl embracing him with an arm.
"What phot-"
FLASH!
After the blinding light, the car traversed a few more curves and slopes before finally stopping.
"My, my! That was great!" Junko leaped out of the car and stretched her body" Mhmm... what a unique experience! Don't you agree, Gunha-san?!"
"People who have true guts have their real test with this one." Gunha laughed once again, joining Junko and looking at Kamijou.
"Are you coming?"
Kamijou nodded weakly and rose up slowly, trying to pull up the safety restraint.
Although, there was none.
Come to think of it, how could Gunha and Junko just get up without undoing the restraints?
Touma looked down and noticed that restraints rested under his feet.
"Guys... at which point... those fell off?" he shakingly pointed at the safety precautions.
"They did? Oh, those things!" Hokaze wondered for a moment, before shrugging" I thought it was an automatic feature to heighten the excitement"
"I actually broke mine. It restrained my guts. Maybe I should apologize"
"You two..."
"Come on, Kamijou-san. This park has one of the greatest safety systems in the world." Hokaze offered him her hand.
"While I would like to believe it, I think my misfortune doesn't really care about certificates"
"Well then..." Gunha clapped his hands to attract attention" After that part, we shall proceed to..."
2. Matching T-Shirts
"It was not without a reason that we did the roller coaster first. Watch!"
With a boom, Sogiita dashed away, zooming around the gathered people with a blur.
It only took 2 or 3 minutes from minutes for him to get back with 3 T-shirts
"The roller coaster had photo taken during the ride and I asked for the custom made shirt for all of us."
"How did you know our sizes?"
"Guts and intuition. Besides, it is mainly unisex"
The shirts were dark blue, almost black, and had two components at the front.
One was red kanji at the front, forming a sentence:
根性上風
"Gutsy... Kamikaze" baffled Touma read out, looking at Gunha, who gave him thumbs up.
"Each of us contributes a kanji" Junko explained, pointing at each of the trio" Gutsy-Kami-Kaze"
Touma shook his head, whispering to Tokiwadai student
"I will never be able to look at our surnames in the same way as before"
The second, lower part of the T-Shirt's front, was the photo from the roller coaster. It depicted smiling and blushing Junko hugging both Gunha and Touma into opposite sides of her chest. The former looked as if he was in the state of highest euphoria, the latter as if life was flashing before his eyes.
They each got dressed. Hokaze's big chest made the kanji almost disappear, but Touma was too flustered to point that out straight up, especially since Junko looked very pleased with the photo.
"Now that we all match, we can go onto..."
3. Ferris Wheel
"Whoa! Look Kamijou! You can see outer walls from up here!" the excited Gunha pointed out to the horizon.
"You can also see the School Garden from too. I think many people of our clique would love to see this" Junko also commented, on the other side of the capsule.
Touma sighed, finally getting some rest after roller coaster ride, and looked around. The ferris wheel they were on was one of the biggest in the world. The view was truly amazing. He could see place where once stood Aleister's stronghold, Windowless Building, Steel Bridge, Tokiwadai, even the approximate locations of his dorm and school. After some searching, he also found the apartment he now shared with the Gokusai sisters. It wasn't that difficult, as it was one of the higher living complexes in the city. Thinking about it and seeing it from such perspective, Touma could only be in awe of how crazy, chaotic, but also fun his life was as of late. He met so many people and experienced so many things in such an amount of time that although he was also anxious that some misfortunate accident could end it all for good, on the other hand, he couldn't help but feel wave of gratitude.
"Othinus" he spoke to himself quietly, looking at the city and recalling the scene from another world, another phase, where he gazed upon the buildings tinged in golden light "This. This what I wanted to return to. This is what I strive to protect. And in moments like this one, I so glad to be back and proud to be here"
Othinus, back in the apartment half of the city away, could not hear him. But he still felt the need to say it anyway.
"Hey, do you want to take a photo?" he asked his companions.
Gunha slammed his fist into his chest.
"With the view like this? You bet!"
"Come here, you two" Junko motioned towards
The photo was taken. And this time, all of the three friends have genuine smiles on their faces.
And in that moment, the ferris wheel stopped.
"I hope that we are not stuck here for good"
"Better to be stuck in gutsy company than in gutless solitude" Gunha commented sagely" Let's play 'I spy with my little eye...'!"
Fortunately, return to the earth didn't last as long as Touma feared, although they spent 15 more minutes in the capsule than they intended.
Now came the time for...
4. Prizes to win
Although Touma and Gunha didn't really have the prize in mind, it became obviously clear that Hokaze Junko was hooked.
The girl's eyes sparkled as she looked at the big Gekota plushie from the prize gallery. The violet orbs seemed to get bigger and bigger, until Junko noticed Touma staring at her, and averted her eyes with a small blush of embarrassment.
"W-What is it, Kamijou-san?"
"You really are like Biri Biri. Do you want this frog?"
"Gekota is more than just a mere frog. B-But when it comes for a mascot..." Junko twirled her ringlet curls in her fingers, before answering" I-I would love to take it home..."
Touma looked at Gunha and both boys clenched their fists
"Kamijou, are you thinking what I am thinking?"
"Absolutely. Let's beat the hell out of those challenges and make Hokaze-san happy"
Junko was almost blinded by the fiery aura her two male companions were emanating.
"But... you don't have to do this..."
"Junko-san... this is the calling of our guts... it's the only possible choice..."
"Yeah... when we saw you want it so badly, we understood. Didn't you say it yourself? We are friends. And friends desire the happiness of one another"
"You guys..." tears welled in Junko's eyes, and she dried them up with a handkerchief "You guys are so wonderfuuuuuuuul! May Gekota bless you with his amphibian glory for all eternity!"
And so, operation 'Get Hokaze a Gekota' was on the way.
Firstly, they tried tossing contest, but got disqualified after Gunha tossed the hammer so far that it disappeared over the city and crashed into a building. Oops.
Then Touma tried batting cages. Yet his bat somehow broke. Double oops...
Gunha volunteered for arm wrestling, but the competition actually ran away after he burried one of the contestants upside down. Triple oops. So he conversely tried to win at test his strength, but the indicator crashed through the gong, soared through the air and ended up landing on Kamijou's head.
(10 MINUTES LATER)
"My goodness..." Junko fumed, while Touma and Gunha rested a little bit" You don't have to go that far for me!"
"This is the pride of guts. We need to overcome this obstacle or die trying"
"I wouldn't go that far, Sogiita. But speaking of going too far... are you sure you should be doing that, Hokaze-san?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?" asked the ringlet curl girl.
"Well..." Kamijou spoke, as the soft yet firm skin under his cheek shifted slightly." This position could be interpreted..."
Yes. As many could deduce by this point, Kamijou Touma's head was resting on Hokaze Junko's left thigh. Although he tried to act like a gentleman, the younger girl firmly placed it back, saying that she had to rest.
"What do you mean? I am only helping my friend to rest and recover. You got hit in the head rather hard"
Her innocence was as endearing as it was overwhelming.
"Well... I mean... in this position, others can assume..."
"Don't worry about that. If anything, I am helpful my thighs can be of help. Just don't move too much, I am a bit ticklish."
Temporarily giving up, Kamijou glanced upwards.
"That being said... Sogiita, why are you resting too?"
#7 had his head on the right thigh and was looking upward, towards the darkening sky.
"Seems like an interesting thing to do. Also, it makes me think faster for some reason. Feeling like I could solve the greatest mysteries in the universe"
"While I assure you such thighs can make many people think of mysteries of life, I doubt that they are meant in the same way as you mean them"
Suddenly, something clicked into Touma's head. Maybe it was him being hit on the head. Maybe Hokaze Junko's thighs were secret to the mysteries of the universe. But the sudden idea most possibly came from the sudden announcement.
"THE FIGHTING COMPETITION! SIGN NOW, DEFEAT THE OPPONENTS, AND PICK THE PRICE OF YOUR CHOOSING!"
Touma and Gunha instantly got up, leaving confused Hokaze on the ground
"That's it!" they shouted and dashed forward to the site of the competition.
(HALF AN HOUR LATER)
Finally, the Gekota plushie got into Hokaze Junko's hands. The girl squealed with joy as she hugged the frog. Her beaming face turned towards the boys... only to be replaced with one of terror.
"We won..."
"Yes, I see that! But you are beaten black and blue!"
"That was an epic fight!"
"Right?! It was great!"
"W-Why are you laughing?! Even when you both got to the finals, did you really have to clobber yourself until simultaneous KO?!"
"I respect Kamijou's guts too much to go easy on him."
"Same here. Even though I dislike fighting for fighting's sake, this time I did it with Fistbump!"
"Hell yeah!"
"Mou! Men are so hard to understand sometimes... go into the mobile infirmary, now!
Not wanting to irritate Hokaze, Gunha and Touma went to the infirmary. But upon their return, they were introduced to a new problem. One rather frequent on occasions such as this one.
A large, burly man with bald head and wearing dark leather jacket was towering over Hokaze Junko, who was engaged in diligently ignoring him. The men was not pleased with that and Touma intervened before he could become forceful.
"Hey, she is with us." the spiky haired teen stated firmly.
The men turned to Touma and Gunha.
"You are the guys from the tournament, right? You should tell that you came with such a cutie. I was just explaining to her why she shouldn't waste time on likes of you"
"Leave Junko-san alone"
"Or what? You got lucky back then. It was a power-free tournament. If I could use my ability, I would wipe the floor with you"
"Don't talk to me about luck and leave her alone. Or else I will shatter your illusion that you can harass her so hard that there won't be any teeth left for you"
"The gutless people, harassing girls..." Gunha assumed battle stance, with energy charging around his fist "make my blood boil without fail"
It was possible that the men did not know that he was a level 5. Or maybe he did and didn't care. In reality, Gunha pissed off lots of thugs and Skill-Outs because he didn't have clear motif other than helping out and fighting. And it probably stung to be defeated by someone who didn't even provide explanation for his own power.
"I am rather pissed, so you can go for a rematch." The bigger man chuckled ordinarily" You fight so valiantly, yet go for the childish, kiddie toy as a price? Are you kidding me? You are pathetic. If I won, I would show this chick a hell of a better time and hell of a better price!"
Touma clenched his fist and took a swing.
"Don't insult Hokaze-san. Super Amazing..."
Yet the boys never got to execute their attacks. Because they looked beyond the thug... and instinctively fell back a little.
The bald man laughed, assuming that he intimidated them...
"I don't like violence when I can avoid it. I am a lady after all...
But the crackling of electricity soon proven how wrong he was.
"But you, sir..." Hokaze Junko spoke as her curls came undone, straightening under impulses emanating from her body." ...made two crucial mistakes. Firstly..."
In the blink of an eye, Rampage Dress jumped and delivered karate chop to the man's head, causing him to be buried to the chest level. The thug struggled in vain, as Hokaze approached him and clenched her fists.
"...those two are far from pathetic and you are only saying this to save your sorry self-esteem. Those boys are two wonderful gentlemen that accompany me this fine evening. But they are more than that. They are the dearest, most amazing friends I made outside of Tokiwadai. So here is Hokaze Junko 101. NEVER. EVER. INSULT. MY. PRECIOUS. FRIENDS. UNDERSTOOD?!"
With each word, lightning fast punch was delivered, until Hokaze finished, by initiating roundhouse kick.
"Secondly, Gekota is not childish..."
The roundhouse kick connected, sending the man out of the earth and into the air.
"IT'S A REFINED TASTE!"
Hokaze tossed her hair aside as the man dropped down.
"Well then, I got rather hungry. Who fancies some food?!"
On that evening, appreciation of both Kamijou Touma and Sogiita Gunha towards the category of 'cute girl who can kick your ass' increased tenfold.
Before they went to eat, Hokaze had to take care of her now loose hair.
"Usually, those curls are the present from my Queen and represent my place in the clique, so I don't change that hairstyle. However, today I am open to suggestions."
4. Makeovers
To help Hokaze tidy up, they went to the costume hall to have some fun.
They witnessed twintail Hokaze, straight hair Hokaze, side ponytail Hokaze, even Hokaze with a hair tied up into a big topknot.
Because the boys couldn't form an opinion, Junko finally decided to wear her hair in a regular, low-tied ponytail, just to keep the hair from spreading out too much.
But Touma and Gunha weren't spent from the clothing hell.
On this day, history witnessed policeman, pirate, pilot, devil, angel, doctor, samurai, and many other outfits on both boys.
Hokaze also changed. She took a role of priestess, a nurse, a teacher, a chinese warrior, a ninja, a queen, and many others.
Once they had fun with the outfits, the expected meal time arrived.
They ate some festival food, which consisted of karaage, teriyaki, and hamburgers. They all ate a lot, as the various activities made all of them rather hungry.
After this short break, it was time to get back to the list of activities.
5. Cotton Candy
The trio got themselves some cotton candy. Touma didn't eat such a delicacy for quite a while, but with Gunha offering to pay, both he and Junko, who explicitly enjoyed the candy very slowly, ate with visible pleasure.
Oh, and they were also able to witness one of the most epic battles in the history of Academy City.
No, it wasn't against Accelerator. Nor Kakine Teitoku, Misaka Mikoto, or any other level 5. It was someone much more daring and challenging.
The battle that occurred was...
Sogiita Gunha vs Mosquito
At the beginning, the persistent insect was pestering them without anyone reacting. But after 10 minutes or so, Sogiita Gunha was through with it.
"Super Amazing... Slap!"
His hand came down with such a force that the bench they were sitting on cracked. But the mosquito still buzzed free.
"Super Amazing... Pinch!"
Yet mosquito still evaded the supersonic fingers.
Soon, Gunha was zooming around, trying every possible fighting technique to get rid of the insect that didn't intend on leaving them alone.
"That's it! Super Amazing Hyper Kinetic Blood Sucker Killing Punch!"
There was an explosion of colour and pressure that created a big crater in the ground. As one could expect, mosquito didn't care and was still alive.
Fortunately, Touma and Junko dragged Gunha away before he entered a real frenzy. Who knew, even the most laid back level 5 had something that pissed him off.
6. Water attractions
The amusement park had an indoor section dedicated to water leisure. Touma, Gunha, and Junko knew about this beforehand, so each of them went to change into the swimsuit they left beforehand in the facility.
Firstly, they all went to the river rapid simulation, which consisted of a steep artificial river traversed by rafts. Gunha got the idea of kicking pushing their raft with his power, for a good measure. This worked a little bit too well, as the raft swirled so quickly and bumped amongst the shores of artificial river so viciously that Junko actually hugged the boys in fright, covering their vision as they finally got catapulted into the water.
Later, the group split, with Junko opting for artificial sunbath, and boys going for the variety of slides. The two of them entered competitive mode once again, trying to see who is going to slide the fastest. They also had a discussion regarding which slide was the best. Gunha enjoyed looped slides, while Touma liked traditional speed slide more. They both found themselves laughing by the pair of maniacs on the bowl-type of a slide. But the real treat was yet to arrive. And it was the so called high-tech drop-launch capsule.
It was a type of slide where you were dropped from nigh-vertical position down through the tunnel and into the water. It was experience that required lots of guts, and Touma actually felt his stomach ride up to his throat when he was plunged down. It ended with a rather comical accent, because Touma entered the plunging pool so hard that the emerging wave of mist sprayed all over freshly heated Hokaze Junko, who just exited the sunbath.
Of course, the girl didn't take the sin of having her freshly warmed body subjected to chilly water without any payback. Touma learned that water droplets combined with Rampage Dress could very well be used as rubber bullets. Made him wonder how how Amazora would react if she could power her bullets with energy of her body.
The splashing battle that ensued lasted until Gunha accidentally punched the water outside of the pool and they were forced to evacuate out of there.
7. Freefall
Touma knew that recent attractions were going too safely.
The sun was setting when the dried themselves off and set out to make out their time to the last minute. This was when their noticed the drop tower.
"No way in hell am I going to go to something like that's called a 'Freefall', wearing a T-shirt that says 'Gutsy Kamikaze'!"
The accident paranoia of Kamijou Touma told him to bolt away, but upon Junko's insistence that going high in the air during the sunset would an unforgettable experience, he reluctantly decided to go.
It was type of installation that sped up quickly through vertical rail, before leaving you for a moment in a momentum high above the ground before gravity took you down and you returned to earth.
Touma asked to see safety certifications. Gunha and Junko, to reassure him, went on the ride individually. It went on without any problem, and they both couldn't stop talking about it, so Touma finally tried the ride himself.
To his surprise, the first of three drops per entry went well. Sure, it raised the adrenaline, but not in more terrifying manner than on the roller coaster. During second drop, he actually felt confident on the attraction.
Nothing could be any more deceiving.
Because during final ascension...
CLANG! SCREEEEECH!
Touma's face dropped as, somehow, his individual seat shot up high in the air, reaping away from the freefall drop tower, way above the ride and other attractions, almost at the height of the ferris wheel.
He was still sitting straight as he flew higher, as if he was in the invisible elevator. The only problem was that he was actually just on the seat slowly losing the speed of ascent.
'Did all the security systems malfunction? And for me specifically?! Misfortune-chan, we know each other for so long, but this is certainly an overkill!'
There was a distant booming noise from the ground and Sogiita Gunha, casually jumping into the air found himself next to Kamijou, just as the separated seat reached its peak in ascent.
"Wow, Kamijou! You totally shocked me with this real freefall! What a twist!"
"You... don't say..." Touma muttered through clenched teeth as they started to fall.
"I was thinking" Gunha casually inverted himself in the air as they fell and Touma's eyes became wider and wider "How can I make this situation better?"
"By returning me to the ground? Preferably, in the very short period of time! My right hand will not prevent me from turning into a human equivalent of tomato paste!"
"But that's so casual, Kamijou! This kind of accident is a unique experience. So to make it something that will be truly memorable..."
Sogiita fell down a bit faster and simply stopped himself, standing on air before he caught the seat with Touma. But Touma's relief was premature, as he felt Gunha initiate the swing.
"Let's do it together! One of the gutsiest things ever! Freefall skydiving simulation!"
"You are supposed to have a parachute for those! Sogiita, no! Stop! Don't you daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare!"
Touma screamed as he was yeeted into the air again, with such force that the seat completely fell apart. Now, he was at least 3 or 4 times higher than when it was just an accident. Kicking the air as if he was climbing, Gunha caught up to him in no time.
"Look, we are so high that you can see almost entire Academy City!"
"Please, don't remind me. Do you mind if I just yell at fate for a second?!"
"Whatever makes this more exciting for you!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"
(SOON AFTER, BACK ON THE GROUND)
"Junko-san..." Touma wobbled towards Junko, who was observing the aerial acrobations from the ground "I think I am going to be sick..."
"There, there..." the kind girl patted his head with a smile" You were very brave, you actually impressed me..."
"Glad to... hear that... my another near death experience... was so entertaining...
After this, the group did a few individual attractions. Gunha entered a breakdance contest and made it to the top. Touma ventured to look for souvenirs for his current and earlier roommates, that is, for Gokusai sisters, Index, and Othinus. Meanwhile, Junko zoomed around the entire park and bought probably every possible Gekota merchandise she could get her hands on.
And finally, the three of them exited the park. Gunha waved to them after hugging Junko and giving Touma a very convoluted fist bump.
"See ya! I will do a small patrol to check the guts of my neighbourhood, before going to bed!"
And with those words, he dashed away.
"Does he ever run out of energy?!"
"Gunha-san is certainly lively even after all that fun we had"
After walking close to Tokiwadai, Junko turned to Touma and did an elegant bow
"I had lot of fun today. Thank you for that"
"I had a good time too. Even if I could do without certain... excitement. Well, it's time for me to go. My roommates are probably very hungry right now. Hungry roommate is a grumpy roommate, and a grumpy roommate poses a danger for this Kamijou-san's physical well-being"
As Touma walked away, Junko called out.
"Kamijou-san! Will all of us do this again?!"
Touma smiled and showed thumbs up
"Sure, it's a deal. Although freefall is a pass for me"
When Hokaze sneaked into her dorm through the window in ninja-like style, she was surprised when she was greeted by not only Shokuhou Misaki, but almost entire clique, cramped in her room.
"Queen?!"
"Hokaze, why didn't you tell me that you went to spend time with those two?"
"I didn't know... I thought that in free time... I beg for forgiveness, my Queen!"
Misaki sighed and waved her hand
"Junko-san, I am not angry at you. Free time from clique duties is by definition a time you can spend however you want. H-However... do mind to take me along next time, right?"
"B-But of course my Queen! I am sure they will be delighted."
"You were filmed you know, that's how we knew. Oh, and there is also one other hindrance coming you have to take care off..."
There was something moving in the darkness. It seemed like a spark jumping from building to building, but in ridiculously fast time, it flew inside of the building through open window, as Misaka Mikoto practically tackled Junko to the floor.
"My, Misaka-san, what a surprise!"
"Hokaze-senpai, is what I saw on those videos true?! Is that... limited edition mega huggable Gekota from season 3?!"
"Why yes, it is..."
"And those are rare golden Gekota socks?!"
"Correct..."
"And even Pyonko Fedora?!"
"Again true..."
Misaka looked as if she had a few years of lifespan taken from her.
"So that's true... and I was busy today...that idiot... it should have been me! It should have been meeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"Oh, and Junko-san. The girls are rather eager to speak with you, for... girls talk about boys, if you know what I mean"
"What do you mean, Queen?" innocence of the violet haired girl made her unable to grasp the true intentions of her classmates" Ah?! Everyone wants to talk?! This... might take a while..."
[BACK TO THE PRESENT]
"That sounded like a lot of fun... and danger hazards" Kuroko remarked as Junko finished her story.
"As I said earlier, it is not as long as you might have expected" Junko smiled, taking a sip of tea" But it's just a token of how much I care for time with Kamijou-san and Sogiita-san. They are certainly the closest people outside of Tokiwadai that I know... well, Ayu-san is not in Tokiwadai anymore so I guess I can count her into that category... and one of the most fascinating and amusing gentleman around"
"Amusing? Hah, that's a word" Kuroko snorted.
"What about you, Shirai-san? Do tell us something!"
"No. I am not doing ape stories! I don't care about him so much that I would produce such a lengthy testimony."
"Oh, Shirai-san."Kongou raised one of her eyebrows" With how much Misaka-san is connected to Kamijou-san, there is some emotions behind your relationship with Kamijou-san"
"W-What kind of logic is this? If I cared, which I don't, I could probably tell you about how I met this ape of gentlemen. How confused I was that onee-sama met someone like this without my knowledge?! Our beautiful love was tainted! So I decided to show onee-sama how vile and primitive this mongrel truly is! I tried so hard and got so far, but in the end, he always had the last laugh! He didn't even care about onee-sama's gloriousness. All that hard work I put in seduction efforts, for showing my absolute physical devotion, he achieved flawlessly without any effort. I didn't know what to do. Was my fate to be left out for some ape? But it wasn't all! When I was tasked by Judgement the container switchyard after some explosions occurred during the night, I found his DNA in the form of hair! After getting help from my friend Uiharu, I discovered that he was all over the place, involved in many affairs, from simple fights to city-wide calamities. I couldn't sleep thinking about it. What if he was some sort of criminal that wanted to seduce onee-sama so he could take not only her purity, but also her life, money, or something even more valuable! No, onee-sama, you shouldn't fall for that, I thought! So I decided to incriminate him, for the greater good. But then he saved my life. When I was fighting Musujime Awaki, he took me into his arms and casually diverted the attack weighing over thousand tons. His arms... his stupid, primate arms! I have the highest level of rational mind in this school when it comes to dealing with this commoner, so why on earth am I landing in his arms. During Musujime Awaki incident, apparently during the heat wave, during Handcuffs, and more! The fact that I can tell that those are his arms simply by being in them, with my eyes clothes, makes me tremble in humiliation to my very core. I don't even know what to do anymore. He is so stupid, yet so clever. Is this some convoluted plan to seize control over Tokiwadai? Nononono, maybe I was thinking about this backwards? Maybe he wants to seize control over White Springs and get to me through onee-sama?! HE IS POOR AFTER ALL! But Shirai Kuroko will never yield! No matter how well-toned and muscular his arms felt, there is absolutely nothing that can deter me... I just can't understand that guy! And he should be a piece of cake to understand. How can he move me to action so easily. I always loved heroes and everyone is talking about him as one...Why after so much punishment I put him through he is not only determined, but even eager to help me out? Is he a masochist? Hmm... then I would be able to punish him and keep him from onee-sama without actual displeasure for any party. Banzai! But wait... if he was a masochist, he would be more glad than sad about his so called misfortune. Grrr, back to square one. And he even spoke with my mom! Onee-sama probably hate me that I was in his arms more than she was. I certainly didn't enjoy... being safe... and secure... but that's not my point! He suddenly appeared in my life, and threw everything upside down. And I don't even spent all that much time with him. It's just that whenever I try to assume something about him, he pulls out a new card in his stupidly, ape-like way. I think he is a player? He saves me and onee-sama, and has the audacity to look cool while doing that. He also didn't do anything to my body when he held my unconscious form on two separate occasions, even though I put effort into being irresistible. I think he is helpful? He completely disregards any sort of protocol. I think he is normal? He not only goes around the time, plunging himself in all sorts of fights and catastrophes, but is miraculously unscathed when he fights any esper. He also gets involved in all the incidents that concerned terrorist invasions in the city by outside forces. Details are classified but Uiharu's footage doesn't lie. I think he is hiding some ability? None of the scans he took ever showed everything. Plus he is poor and lacks even the basic understanding of esper power mechanics. Someone like this should be just a common, boring man, so at which point he got so intriguing?! Why does he know not only onee-sama, but Mental Out, no, why are level 5s so invested in him in general? At which point he stopped being just an obstacle and at which point I found it hard to genuinely hate him?! This man is a walking contradiction and ever since I met him, he never fails to drive me nuts! Everything he gets involved with turns on its head! Look at this school! Before it was an oasis of feminine purity, where we contemplated the beauty of just blooming flowers, like my glorious onee-sama. Then he came in like a big, ape wrecking ball and everyone turned into a bunch of giggling teenagers. Sometimes I even resort to meditation and clear my mind, so why is there an inkling of the thought, that if onee-sama allowed it, we three could... together... no! CLEAR YOUR MIND, CLEAR YOUR MIND! He is only an ally! An unlikely ally of justice, that cares about onee-sama, just like me, is a hero, just the way I admire, and protects the city I love, even though he is reckless, stupid, and may die each bloody time! F-For that matter, I didn't get happy when he confided in me first on the Mitsuari Ayu quest. I didn't! And it's not like any of this actually matters, so there is no story for you!"
Kongou Mitsuko and Hokaze Junko both stared blankly at panting Kuroko.
"Shirai-san... for someone who doesn't care at all..."
"... you are surprisingly vocal about him..."
"T-That's because I... because... there is need to know your enemies even better than your friends! All that ape talk made me nauseous, you can't make me tell me anything!"
"Let's catch her, Hokaze-senpai!"
"On it!"
"Haha! Fools! Catching a teleporter will prove harder than you anticipate! I can hide in places you can't even begin to anticipate!"
After over 15 minutes of chase, Kongou and Hokaze admitted defeat.
"Well, there is always another time to get that story. Also, in case of Shirai-san, it is good to watch her in action in addition to her words"
"Agree. But I think we can agree..." said Junko, as the sky cleared away and both maidens looked outside through the window" That Kamijou-san entered the hearts of Tokiwadai and made it so much better"
"He truly did. Although, for some hearts, it is much harder to admit the truth"
"Indeed!"
And as they both laughed...
"Achoo!" Kuroko sneezed, while holding onto spire of one of the small towers adorning the inner dorm. She sniffled, while also looking up towards the sky "Did I overestimate how cold it will be after rain or are those two making fun of me?!"
(MEANWHILE AT KAMIJOU + GOKUSAI RESIDENCE)
"Delivery for Mr. Kamijou Touma"
After taking the package, Touma looked at it with confusion
"I didn't expect anything... oh, this is from Kongou-san? But why?"
After opening the package, he noticed that it contained rather big red book and note attached to it
"KWA Calendar... what does it mean?!"
He took a look at the note
Dear Kamijou,
Darling, you may be confused by this package, but this is the reason why I contacted you back then, when we were supposed to meet. I yearned to show you some gratitude for your actions, as my honour of a lady dictates. Even though not much time passed since we stumbled upon each other, your presence, despite differences between us, made it truly special. Not only for me, but for my dearest, closest friends as well.
We want to inform you that we are all well and healthy, thanks to that delicious brew you made for us. We are all hopeful that you will see us on the fastest available date, as we are all thankful and want to see you again.
The book you received is our present for you. Although it was my idea, Wannai-san and Awatsuki-san made the crucial contributions for it to be truly complete. This Kongou-Wannai-Awatsuki calendar can serve you as a reminder and token of our thankfulness and gratitude toward you, as well as our shared feelings. Feel free to gaze upon whenever you desire. It was made for your eyes specifically and it wouldn't give us greater joy than see you appreciate it. It took a little bit of time and lots of photoshooting and searching the archives to get it done, but in my opinion, results were worth it.
Let me see you again the fastest that I can.
Sincerely,
Your Mitsuko
Touma looked at the book before slowly opening it. His eyes widened.
He flipped a few pages, with his eyes getting bigger and bigger.
He then promptly closed the book, dashed into his room, locked the door, before finally sitting on the bed and opening the book again.
The gift was a photobook. More specifically, it was photobook with 365 photos, one for each day of the year.
That in itself wasn't surprising. What was more shocking was what photos depicted.
Those were the photos of Kongou, Wannai, and Awatsuki in various costumes and many scenarios, both posed and from real life. Besides the opening photo, which featured three friends in their regular school uniforms in front of Tokiwadai front gate, and the last one, which featured all of them in the swimsuits, each photo was individual for one girl. That meant that Kongou, Wannai, and Awatsuki each had 121 photos in the album.
The photos ranged from innocent, like Wannai standing in the field of sunflowers with bouquet in the her hands, through comical, like Awatsuki getting wall-eyed while trying to get whipped cream from tip of her nose, to slightly provocative, like Kongou eating an ice-cream in strangely seductive fashion.
The girls wore many costumes, and Touma saw nurse, stewardess, teacher, amazoness, priestess, military outfit, bunny girl outfit, gym clothes, pyjamas, witch clothes, samurai, knight, princess, nun outfit, artificial gyaru tan, and many others. On some, girls posed with animals or made cute faces to the camera. Meanwhile, other photos were clearly not posed, as they depicted the girls school life, or their slightly younger versions.
In other words, it was a huge variety of photos depicting the three ladies in pretty much every way it could be done without stepping into forbidden territory (all the photos were 'appropriate' in this sense). On the first page, there were three signatures: the energetic cursive of Kongou; the elegant, petite signs of Wannai, and solidly drawn kanji from Awatsuki, all encircled by a single heart and with words in latin alphabet:
With love and gratitude to Kamijou Touma
Needless to say, Touma's face was fully red when he closed the book one more time. It would take time to truly look through the book, but he wasn't mentally prepared. But he did appreciate the gesture. Let's be honest, who wouldn't?
The knocking on the door made him jump as he quickly hid the photobook.
"Onii-chan? Are you coming? We were supposed to go to buy my stuff for the outing..."
"Yes, of course..."
"Onii-chan, you are weirdly red..."
"T-That's because... that blasted AC is not working properly, it's so hot in there, hahaha! Let's see if I can fix that..."
But no explanation needed, the photobook gained a place in Kamijou Touma's most precious possessions, together with various photos on his desk. Although, in contrary to the other photos, he kept it well concealed. He dared not imagine Kaibi's reaction if she accidentally found it.