A/N: This is a one-chapter Railgun fanfic. Thank you to Cun for beta!

My First Railgun

'Come on… Die, die, die!'

My fingers flew over the controls with practiced ease as I glared furiously at the screen. This was the final stage – the level 50 battle against the giant robot – and I only needed to win this to beat the entire game. Easier said than done though; this was the final boss battle after all. My opponent's laser beam assaults were pushing my character back without mercy and I was locked into a defensive position.

'Dammit!'

My health and power bars were slowly decreasing. At this rate, I was going to lose in a spectacular fashion, trapped and unable to fight back. I gripped the joystick more tightly and gritted my teeth. No way in hell was I going to let that happen. I hadn't spent the last two hours levelling up only to get defeated by this goddamn pixelated robot!

I swung the joystick around and pushed one of the attack keys. My ninja girl rolled forward and landed a mighty kick on the robot's shins. The red bar above my opponent dropped, but my victory was only short-lived. The hulky android crushed its metallic fist down on my vulnerable ninja, squashing her brutally to the concrete of the streetscape background.

Booom! My health bar shrank and started to blink in warning. I seethed. I needed to come up with something fast, or else I was history.

Of course, I could always just cheat with my electromaster powers. As a Level 4, deceiving a simple machine like this would be a cinch. But playing a game with competitive spirit was serious business, and my pride called for an honourable match. Anyone could win by cheating, but it took skill and hard work to truly achieve victory. I had to win this fair and square with my technique alone. Hacking was a no go.

Still, the temptation was there. I could feel the hum of electrons in the machine, throbbing beneath my fingers as I pressed rapidly on the keys and manipulated the joystick. They were ready to respond to my call; all I had to do was make the command.

Kick, punch, kick, double punch, shoot! My character was flying across the screen, giving and taking hits. Sparks violently snapped around my head and sizzled in the air. The booths around me had emptied out half an hour ago. People had vacated those seats looking absolutely terrified, although I had no idea why. But if it meant I had less competition to gain the high score for this game, I wasn't complaining.

'I just need to beat this thing…!'

My character leapt high, and struck a double kick against the ugly android's face. She flew back to fire a rapid series of explosive blasts that landed squarely on the robot's torso. Its health abruptly dropped to 13%. I had hit its weak point.

'Yesss!'

My lips pulled into a wicked grin. I was all charged up. This was it; the intense adrenaline rush of the final chase to victory. Now that my opponent was significantly weakened, I had an ace up my sleeve. The ultimate technique that could finish this stupid thing in one epic move.

I slammed the joystick forward with all my might and pushed the special combination of buttons that would unleash my hidden skill for the finale. I thought I heard something crack, but my eyes were glued to the screen. My purple-clad ninja girl flew up, rolled once, twice, three times in the air before smashing her outstretched fists into the robot's face. Bursts of colour erupted from the point of contact and filled the screen. I held my breath, waiting for the verdict, as both health bars began to decrease with alarming speed. The robot suddenly flew back and crashed onto the ground, leaving my character standing victorious. The words "Congratulations, you won!" flashed across the screen, and I jumped onto my feet in glee.

"YESSS!"

I punched the air, beaming brightly. The machine calculated my total score to be 252,505, and placed it on the leaderboard. "New Highscore!" the screen advertised, and I looked down at the words with pride, hands on hips.

"Whoah man, that girl just got a highscore in the new ninja game!"

"What, but it was so friggin' high already…"

"You gotta to be kidding me. She got over 250,000?!"

People were starting to crowd around me, noticing my top score. I tossed back a stray lock of hair over my shoulder with a sigh. I didn't particularly care for all the attention – I was already getting enough of that since enrolling in Tokiwadai Middle School just a couple of weeks ago. No, I had only achieved the high score purely for myself.

"Wait, isn't that the Tokiwadai uniform?"

"Holy shit, are you telling me an ojou-sama kid got that high a score?"

"I've never seen a Tokiwadai girl in the arcade centre before."

"Aren't ojou-samas meant to be all elegant and posh? Like playing tea-parties and fancy what-not in dresses? What's she doing in a place like this?"

"Yeah, this is our arcade, not some lounge room for a rich brat!"

My jaws clenched. What the heck was up with all this attention?! My stress levels were starting to soar through the roof. I had come here to release that kind of tension, not to be hounded by fools like these!

"I've been coming here since my third year of elementary school!" I ground out in annoyance. "Just because I'm wearing a different uniform now doesn't mean I can't play games whenever I want!"

Sparks frizzled from my bangs and a couple of the men closest to me backed away. My lips curled up into what I thought would be a threatening grin.

"Shit, she's an esper guys… And she looks pissed…"

Another guy clicked his tongue. "I bet she cheated the game with her ability."

"Yeah, looks like she's some kind of high-levelled electricity user. I bet you're right."

That did it. These idiots wanted to die, was that it?!

Lightning zapped around my body. I had taken special care not to use my ability while playing the game. And now these bastards were accusing me of not having pride in my own gaming skills, something I'd been honing for years? My fists clenched and shook with anger. Unacceptable.

"You bastards," I growled. "How dare you-!"

"Hey! No fighting in here, or I'll kick all yer sorry asses out!"

I started, glancing to the side where the gruff voice had shouted. I quickly let my electricity fade away when I saw who it was. The manager of the arcade centre was approaching us, looking very, very angry. Sweat beaded on my eyebrows, and my heart skipped a beat.

Uh oh…

The stocky man strode over. I gulped as his narrowed eyes landed on me. He had a reputation for being a surly crank who kicked out anyone he didn't like, so he wasn't joking around with his threats. I had no intention of becoming banned for life – the arcade felt like my second home sometimes.

"Uhh… Hi manager-san, we were just… talking. Not fighting at all," I tried to smile, but my face was too stiff. My eyebrows twitched nervously.

The manager was so short he only reached up to my chin. Despite his size though, he had a large presence that I believed could intimidate the tallest man on earth. He shot me a ferocious glare and I took an unwitting step back. I suddenly realised that the people who had come to harass me about my highscore had all turned tail, leaving me to face this social injustice alone. It wasn't fair. Why was I taking all the blame here?

"Yer better not be causing trouble again, missy."

Huh? What was up with those accusing words? No matter how much I rattled my brain, I couldn't remember the last time I had ever caused trouble for anyone, least of all here. I felt disgruntled, but managed to keep my mouth tightly sealed.

The manager's sharp eyes looked behind me, and his expression drooped into a frown.

"Yer better pay up for that damage, too."

With that, he turned on his heel and left me standing there, bewildered.

'What damage?'

I turned back to see what he had been looking at and immediately found the issue. The joystick had been snapped clean in half.

I choked at the sight. How had that happened?! Now that I thought about it, I vaguely remembered the loud crack I'd heard when I had executed that finishing move in the game. My palm met my face. This must be the third time this has happened since I started playing "Pow Wow Ninja". I sighed in defeat as I rubbed my head. No wonder the manager had been angry.

'Oh well, nothing a little more money can't fix.' I pushed the problem aside in my head with a helpless shrug. Like he said, I just had to pay up and all would be good. Coughing up extra cash wasn't a problem.

I ducked down to collect the arcade coins that had poured out into my collector bucket after my victory. It was filled to the brim. Feeling energetic again, I brought the container to a nearby table and sat down. I picked up a silver coin and studied the crown marking on it with a grin.

Now, with all of these I could… I could…

The growing cloud of elation suddenly deflated. What on earth was I going to do with this many arcade coins?!

I blankly stared at the coin in my hand. Of course, I would usually spend them on plushies and other prizes. The issue was, I had already acquired every single one of them with winnings I'd gained from my previous round in the arcade centre. I had even picked up the rare prize, a giant stuffed toy called Killbear that was a special from the Kirugumar merchandise. The next set of prizes weren't going to be displayed for two months.

All of a sudden, it felt as if I had just wasted a precious hour of my life.

I groaned. It was hopeless. What was I supposed to do with these now?

I mindlessly twirled the coin between my fingers as I pondered over my options. I could take them home and store them away for the next batch of prizes… Although technically, the rules clearly stated that the coins weren't to be taken outside. But it wouldn't hurt anyone if I took them home. Still, carrying the entire container back and keeping it in my dorm for the next couple of months just didn't appeal to me. My roommate at the Tokiwadai dorms was an ill-natured girl who took every chance to try and bad-mouth me. I had an unpleasant feeling she'd cook up some nasty rumour if she believed I'd stolen the coins. The thought left a sour taste in my mouth. I had no idea what her problem was.

'What to do…'

Feeling uncertain about my next course of action, I flicked up the coin with my thumb and forefinger. It spun lazily in the air before landing on my palm. I flung it up again, mesmerised by its movements. The coin pulled on my electromagnetic perception and begged to be fed with electric currents. This was the typical behaviour of a magnetic material, but I had never taken much notice of the arcade coins in this way before. Feeling curiously experimental, I tugged at a thread of the magnetic field surrounding the coin on my hand. It followed my trail of blue light and hovered on the tip of my index finger with perfect balance.

Crackling sparks leapt and the ferrous material hungrily soaked up the power. I felt the charges linger around it, wanting to be freed. The magnetic field began to swirl, propelled by the current I was generating in exponentially increasing amperes. There was so much energy around the coin, it was starting to vibrate slightly. I suddenly realised I should stop. If I released it now, would it shoot through the ceiling like a bullet? It was a fascinating thought. With a shuddering breath, I allowed the field to dissipate harmlessly, the lightning trailing back onto my hand and fading away.

'That was dangerous…'

An idea began to form, piecing together like a puzzle. My eyebrows pulled together in a frown, and I leapt up from my seat with a renewed sense of purpose. Grabbing a large handful of coins, I stuffed them in my skirt pocket before heading to the cashier. I left the rest on the table for a lucky stranger to take. I didn't need those anyway.

There was something I wanted to try, but I had to go outside.

XXXXXXX

I looked up and down the alley. Perfect. It was completely deserted. This area was secluded in the maze between buildings and was quite a distance away from the main streets. I could experiment here without being disturbed.

Trembling with excitement, I pulled a coin from my skirt pocket. I stared at it and visualised its electromagnetic field. It was very faint, but I could sense it interacting with the blue tendrils that snapped between my fingers. The round object sat patiently on my outstretched palm, awaiting my commands.

I licked my lips nervously. If I could do this, if this was possible, there was a high chance I could grow further as an esper. I had pushed hard to reach where I am now since my Level 1 days, but I honestly believed I could go even further. I wasn't going to settle for anything less than my very best. No matter what anyone said, no matter what obstructed my path, I would somehow find a way to conquer them. That was just my simple philosophy.

My idea here was quite straightforward. In essence, it involved me using the ferrous coin as ammunition and firing it with my electromagnetic powers like a bullet. Well, that was the plan anyway. Now I had to figure out exactly how to do it.

Maxwell's equations and the Lorentz Force Law were very familiar to me. I used those as the foundations for my esper calculations every day. They were now second nature. However, what I was about to attempt required another dimension of thinking.

I recalled the principle from some light reading material I had gone through years ago. It was called Fleming's left-hand rule, devised by John Fleming in the late 19th century as a simple method of working out the direction of motion in an electric motor. If a current was flowing in a wire, and an external magnetic field was applied across that flow, then the wire would experience a force perpendicular to both the field and the current flow direction.

Instead of a wire however, I was planning to make the phenomenon occur with this coin. Fleming's rule had a close relationship with the Lorentz Force Law, so the basics weren't hard to understand.

I also remembered reading about a machine called the "railgun" that used the Fleming's left-hand rule. It was an electromagnetic projectile launcher based on similar principles to the homopolar motor. It was a weapon capable of achieving very high kinetic energy and muzzle velocity that easily exceeded those of ordinary explosive-powered military guns.

This meant that all I had to do was recreate the setup of a railgun.

I took a deep breath. Framing the initial conditions for calculations to work in the way you wanted to was always the most difficult part.

'Alrighty, so I need two parallel currents running on either side of the coin…'

Facing down the alley, I held the coin between my thumb and forefinger, my arm fully outstretched.

'The first current should run towards my palm, the other back towards my body, creating a driving current…'

Blue tendrils crackled down the length of my arm, and I felt the charges shift in the direction I wanted. I adjusted the width of the circuit so that the coin became a bridge between the two. Once I got the equations set up in my head, all I had to do was insert the values to match the results I wanted.

'Now I just have to charge it up!'

I put in all I had. Electricity roared and sizzled around the coin. I added more current, eager to make the resulting force as significant as possible. I wanted it to fly like a bullet, and pierce through any obstruction that stood in my way…!

The coin burst forward in a streak of red light, but it only made it a metre before melting away completely.

'Eh?'

I blinked, my brows furrowed in disappointment. I thought I knew what the problem was though. The coin was not of durable material so it couldn't handle my full power. I had given too much and burnt it away too quickly. If I used another, more durable material, it might work. I thought this over, but then shrugged it aside. Coins were still my best option – they were lightweight and small, so they were easy to carry around. I needed something I could have fast access to.

It seemed like less current and lower voltage were essential to success. I could probably reduce my output to about 2,250,000 amperes and around 1,000,000 volts. In other words, the coins could only handle up to one-tenth of my power.

Feeling more confident than before, I took out another coin and repeated the set up. It was finished much faster this time, and I was ready in about ten seconds. I charged up the electricity, sensing the shift in the rotating magnetic field, and released the energy at the precise moment I hit the self-limit.

There was a huge boom and I was thrown to the side against a wall. Pain rippled from my shoulder and I slid down to crumple on the ground. Stars flashed in my vision as I squeezed my eyes shut. Something had gone wrong again. What had happened? My ears were ringing and I rubbed them gingerly. I hadn't been prepared for such a loud boom.

I sneezed as the dust settled and blearily opened my eyes. The wall across me was completely smashed down into a pile of smoking rubble, and I stared at the wreckage in disbelief. Did I do that?! The sight was unbelievable. There was hardly anything left of the wall, just a huge gap into a building where it had been previously standing. Excitement bubbled through my chest and I stood back up with renewed determination. I could do it! It was possible! But there was still a final adjustment to be made before it was perfect.

In my previous calculation, I had applied the Fleming's rule in the wrong direction. That's why the coin had veered off to the right, instead of bursting forward. I only had to fix that and then…

'Third time lucky,' I thought, taking a deep breath and bringing out another coin. Three would be my lucky number.

My confidence was flying high. There was no better source of hope than knowing I could do this. Lightning sizzled down my arm and charged up the coin with my faith. The calculations took less than a second this time round, complete with all the final corrections I had made. Energy surged up and I grinned at the feeling of raw power converging around my hand, twisting to charge the coin with blistering heat and force. The wildly spinning magnetic field pulled on my senses and moulded to my desire.

It was incredible. It was natural. My power wanted to do this.

How hadn't I realised it before?

A roar ripped from my throat as I finally unleashed the built up energy. The scorching intensity left my fingers, streaking forward at three times the speed of sound. A rocking boom thundered through the alleyway, almost knocking me back a few paces, but I managed to stay on my feet this time. The energy that ricocheted back at me was nothing to scoff at either, but I deflected most it with my electromagnetic field.

A thin trail of blue lightning flashed along where the beam had charged down the alley, before completely fading away.

The smell of acrid smoke and burning concrete assaulted my nostrils. I was pretty sure the aftershock had messed up my appearance. But really, I had never felt better. I couldn't believe it… I had actually done it!

My first ever 'railgun'.

"Whoohoooooo!" I yelled out to the sky. "I DID IT!"

I swooned and danced around, bathing in the joy of having achieved exactly what I'd wanted. Now that I knew what a successful railgun required, I knew I could recreate it with even greater accuracy and speed. This new breakthrough surely meant that another hurdle in my power development was cleared. I pondered for a moment what that meant and grinned widely to myself.

Feeling a huge sense of accomplishment, I stretched my arms out and yawned. I turned around and began to head in the direction of the main street. My stomach rumbled. All that experimenting had taken a lot out of me.

I was still pondering what to have for dinner when a boisterous voice called out from behind.

"Stop right there, kid! In the name of justice, don't wriggle another toe!"

I turned around, more bothered by the noisiness than the actual words. There was a group of six guys who had identical smirks pasted on their faces. I quirked an eyebrow in disdain.

"Who the heck are you?"

They goggled at me as if I had just asked a stupid question. Loud whispers of, "How could she not know who we are?" and "She must be really out of the loop!" broke out amongst them. One guy stepped forward, his mohawk a bright shade of red. I wondered if he was the leader of this misfit gang.

"We are the legendary Justice Warriors!" He proclaimed in the same rowdy voice I had originally heard. He held up a fist with a glare as if declaring a war. "We bring justice to those who create public disorder like you!"

I peered at him doubtfully. "Don't you mean Judgement?"

"What!" The guy looked outraged. "Don't mix us up with those incompetent asswipes!"

My eyebrows twitched. Why did I always end up in the presence of weird people?

"Yeah, whatever." I turned away with a bored voice. "Go bother somebody else; I don't have time for idiots like you."

"Don't you dare turn your back on us! You might be just a little kid, but I saw you get that ridiculous highscore on Pow Wow Ninja, you devious, cheating runt! We won't go easy on troublemakers like you!"

I stopped. Were these punks for real? Were they jealous about my highscore or something? I turned back and gave the group a sidelong glare. All six of them widened their stances, looking ready to fight. One guy even had flames burning on his fingertips. These people were really serious about having a go at me.

Slowly, my lips pulled back into a wide grin. So, these punks wanted to battle it out, did they? I was tired, but I wasn't one to back away from a clear challenge like this.

"Ehhh?" I drawled, putting my hands on my waist for emphasis. "You really think it's a good idea to talk to me like that? You really have no idea who I am, do you?"

The guy with the mohawk frowned. "A brat."

"Gh-!" I swallowed the blow and forced myself to keep grinning. A vein throbbed in my head as if it would pop. "Haha, I'd fry your face off if you'd been worth my time."

"Bollocks," another guy called out from the back, and the mohawk dude nodded in agreement.

"It's six against one, and we're all espers of Levels 2 to 4 here," he taunted. "You think you stand a chance with these odds? In the end, justice always triumphs!" He pumped his fist and his pals cheered along.

I sighed heavily. "Six opponents… yeah, that'd be about six seconds."

I felt the beginnings of a headache come on. Actually, if they all attacked at once with the levels of power this guy claimed, I was toast. There was no need to boost their confidence though. I let a few sparks escape my temple and nibble at the air as a warning.

"Six seconds of agony sound tempting to you? Get lost before you regret it."

Some of them shifted with doubts on their faces, but their leader with the rooster-hairstyle didn't back down at all.

"The fuck? Is this confidence coming from your Tokiwadai uniform? Are you saying you're a Level 5 or something?" He smirked as if he had just made the biggest joke on Earth.

I smirked right back. "That's right."

For a second they looked taken aback. Some of them looked at each other. "H-Hey… I heard Tokiwadai has a Level 5…"

"It's bullshit, all of it!" The mohawk guy scoffed. "If you're a Level 5, what's your nickname, eh?"

I flashed them a wolf's grin. "Railgun."

The group started muttering again. "Never 'eard of that one."

"That's because it's a bullshit, lameass joke," the mohawk leader said loudly. The others fell silent, holding onto his every word. "Just like her confidence. And you know what's even worse?" His mohawk began to glow as if living plasma was growing out of his scalp. The sight was downright disturbing. He pointed an accusing finger at me and I almost flinched back. "That you're lying in the face of Justice! It's an inexcusable offense against the morals of our group! Bring her down, guys!"

'Shit!'

The joke hadn't been worth it. I should've gone with Mental Out after all. Chances were, they'd never seen one of her rare publicity ads. Oh well, too late for that now!

"I'm really not someone to take lightly though!"

A large fireball went sailing past my head in a burst of scorching heat. The group was spreading out around me to block any routes of escape. The ground underneath my feet suddenly cracked and froze over in a thin sheet of ice. I almost slipped as I stumbled back, narrowly evading a round of red plasma bullets by ducking to the side. My eyes turned to the mohawk guy and rounded in disbelief – he was shooting this stuff from his hair?!

A hot blast of plasma almost nicked my cheek. Lightning zapped from my outstretched hands in an instinctive act of defence. Blue tendrils exploded out at my opponents, and my lips curled into a grin as I ramped up the voltage and heard their cries of pain. Serves them right-!

Someone suddenly tackled me from the left. The momentum pushed me down onto the concrete with a crash that brought dazzling stars dancing in my vision. Fire rippled along my side and I bit my tongue against the pain. A heavy weight pinned me down, and a rough hand clamped around my arm in an iron grip. Electricity burst out from my body to shock my assailant to a crisp, but his hold on me did not loosen.

'Crap!'

Panic spiralled through my head as I realised this guy must possess an insulating type of ability. It was the worst kind of match up possible.

I gritted my teeth. Taking hold of the magnetic field around me, I pulled with all my might on the piping that ran across a building wall high above us. It snapped off and plummeted, the large chunk of metal hitting my captor's head with a satisfying crack. I smirked as he groaned and grew limp. Roughly pushing his body aside, I stood up with hands on hips. I looked on with satisfaction at the sight before me. The gang members lay twitching and moaning on the ground, some of them a smoking, unconscious mess from my previous electrical shock.

Well, I had to admit that had taken more than six seconds, but surely these weirdos have now learnt their lesson-

I sensed it a fraction of a second before it hit. Something hard slammed into my back from behind. A gasp tore out from my throat as I stumbled forward and whipped my head back with clenched jaws. There was another one left-?

This time I saw it; the metal pipe I had broken off swerved from my right and flew straight towards me. I immediately pushed on its magnetic field to veer it off course, but a foreign force opposed my efforts. I glared at my opponent who stood some distance away with a look of utmost concentration on his slim face. Was he an electromaster too, or something else? Well, no matter, I'd show him all I had!

I summoned all of my strength and pushed forward. But the metal refused to budge from its position mid-air, where it stayed quivering with the strain from opposing sides. This lockdown was going to end one way or another. Eventually, one of us was going to slip up or tire, and it most definitely wasn't going to be me.

Lightning flared brightly from my fingers and streaked out like cobras about to strike. If I could go around this thing and hit him once, it would be game over for him. With a confident smirk, I hurled out the electricity-

Bzzpt!

"EH?!"

The metal pole we had fought over suddenly flattened out, forming a large barricade between us and blocking my sneak attack. I stared at the dent my lightning strike had created as an abrupt understanding of the situation dawned upon me.

'He's a metal user?!'

The giant silver shield suddenly grew spikes pointed in my direction. My eyes rounded at the sight. Even in the shadows, they glinted like brand new dentist's drills.

'Don't tell me...'

My electricity flared in defence as the spikes began shooting at me like an endless barrage of bullets.

"What the hell?!" I screamed as I knocked aside more needles. "Are you actually trying to kill me here?!"

The guy did not reply. In fact, his face only held that deep concentration from before as he adjusted his glasses.

'This bastard is insane!'

There was nothing else to do but run. My pride was suffering a thorough beating, but my instincts were telling me to live on. There was no reasoning with a bat-shit crazy guy like him. Honestly, throwing needle spikes at people without a care?! Who in their right mind does that?!

With an angry cry, I swiped my arm across, allowing the magnetic field to carry some of the spikes flying back towards my attacker like a swarm of wasps. As I turned tail and ran, I heard clutters of metal hitting against metal as the guy raised the shield once more.

"Argh!"

Maybe one hit him, or maybe he stubbed himself on the toe with stupidity. I didn't know and I didn't care. This was my chance to get away. I didn't dare to look back and kept my eyes on the alley head.

After some twists of the maze, I finally broke through to the main street and dived into a crowd. Someone yelled at me, but I hardly took any notice. My heart thudded wildly with the adrenaline rush as I risked a moment to look back. He didn't seem to be following, but I wanted to take no chances.

I rushed forward, ignoring the trail of shouted complaints following behind me.

XXXXXXX

My chest burned as I heaved in deep breaths. I'd been running for fifteen minutes straight at top speed, and I finally felt that I had put enough distance between me and a certain death. I bent forward with my hands on my knees as I tried to slow my pounding heart.

'Gah… I'm so exhausted now.'

I slowly straightened up as I regained my breath and looked around. I was near the park in the 7th district, a territory I was familiar with. A red vending machine stood nearby and my mood lifted at the sight. A soft drink to freshen up would be perfect right about now.

"Let's see now…"

Eyeing a particular drink I wanted, I dug out my wallet from my skirt pocket. When I opened it, I realised I only had a stack of 10,000 yen notes. Ehhh… I shrugged. The machine would give me change anyway, so it didn't really matter how much I put in.

I inserted a note and pressed the buttons. I waited.

And waited.

Ten seconds… Twenty seconds… Thirty… Forty…

"What the hell?!"

I glared at the machine and pressed on some more buttons. Nothing was coming out. Not the change, not a single drink. It just stood there innocently, and the little screen on the side stated it was ready to accept more money.

My jaws grinded together.

"You…. greedy little… SHIT!"

With the final word, I drove a powerful roundhouse kick at the damned thing with all my might. Something clattered from inside and I briefly wondered if I had broken it. Well, who cares? The thing was already broken anyway. It was just a fat scam.

There was a glint from inside the bottom tray and I peered at it with a frown. A soda can? I bent down and picked it up. It wasn't the drink I had originally wanted, but I supposed it was better than nothing. It was definitely not worth the 10,000 yen I had put in though.

"Whatever." I scowled at the thieving machine. "You owe me big time, so I'm gonna kick your ass from now on."

"Oh no you're not!"

I spun around at the sudden voice and was met with a disapproving frown glaring ferociously up at me. Taken aback, I blinked in surprise. It was a young girl with red-haired pigtails, and she was so small she barely reached up to my shoulders. I figured she must be an elementary school student.

"What's your problem?" I raised an eyebrow.

She turned a dark shade of red at my nonchalant response. Huffing like a mad bull, the girl strode up to me and poked me in the middle of the chest. I had to hand it to her – she was small, but she had enough audacity to impress me. I flinched but refused to back away as she began to rant in a rage.

"What's my problem, you ask? I saw you kick that vending machine, so you're obviously the problem here! I knew there was something off about you the moment you barged into me on the streets and then rushed off without even apologising! Just because you're a rich girl from Tokiwadai doesn't mean you can do whatever you like around this district-"

"What's that got to do with-?!"

"Not to mention the hideous shorts you're wearing underneath that skirt!"

I almost choked as heat spread across my cheeks. "Where the hell were you looking?!"

"It's a major crime!"

Heck, I couldn't even be sure of which "crime" she was referring to there.

"That machine stole my money and I just wanted it back!" I retorted. "What else was I supposed to do?!"

She crossed her arms with a disgruntled expression. "If that was the case, then you should have reported it to authorities like any other normal civilian would do-"

"Are you implying something?!" Her uppity attitude was really starting to grate on my nerves.

"But I suppose that's too much to ask from a delinquent like you."

My fists clenched around the soda can, almost popping it like a balloon. I forced out a shark's smile. "Hey kid, don't you think you should respect your elders a bit more?"

The midget merely scoffed. "Why should I? Respect should be hard-earned, not gained because you lived a few more years. Besides," her eyes ran over me and lingered on my chest, "you're just a kid yourself."

Heat radiated up from my neck as I immediately covered my chest area defensively. So, what if I was a bit lacking there?! It wasn't like she was any better! But she's an elementary kid, a devious voice whispered in my head, so you can't compare yourself with her. I shook my head to prevent myself from going down that dangerous lane. Don't think about it, I told myself. Who cares? I don't care, I don't care, I don't-

"Argh, whatever!" I yelled out in frustration. Sparks hissed and scorched the air around my bangs as I turned my angry eyes to hers. "Do you wanna get fried this badly?"

"Heh, so you're resorting to bullying now?" The over-confident girl flashed me an irritating smirk. "So typical. Are you some kind of self-loving narcissist? Want me to call you 'Onee-sama' while we're at it?"

Her sarcastic words rang mockingly in my ears as I seethed.

"Anyhow, you've been caught in the act, so I'll be arresting you for damage to public property."

I frowned. "What, are you part of Judgement or something?"

The small girl's insignificant chest puffed out with pride. She showed off a green armband with a white symbol that I immediately recognised.

"That's right, I'm Shirai Kuroko, a distinguished Judgement officer of Branch-"

"Ehh, I never knew they accepted rude brats as recruits."

I could almost see a vein throb in her forehead.

"Ever heard of a mirror?" She shot back. "I think you might need one."

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. Somehow, I felt calmer after all the bickering. I wasn't particularly in the mood to get into trouble with the law enforcement authorities though. Things could get troublesome if this girl called Kuroko took my actions too seriously.

"Hey look, I'm sorry about what happened, ok?" I held up the white flag in a friendlier tone. Kuroko immediately tensed and looked suspiciously at me. Gee, that kinda hurt. I was usually good with kids.

"Just forget about this whole thing, yeah? I'll uhm… I know, I'll give you this drink to make it up to you! How does that sound?"

I held up the rather battered-looking soda can and offered it to her with the brightest smile I could manage.

Kuroko looked aghast. She stepped away from my offering, wrinkling her nose as if I had just presented her with a dead rat. "As if I'm going to take that! You stole it! And bribery is just not on!" She narrowed her eyes at me shrewdly. "Are you the kind of stuck-up ojou-sama who pushes her responsibilities on others with monetary bribes?"

Annoyance sparked anew. "Just what kind of a character do you think I am?! I'm actually trying to make amends here!"

"How would I know?" She turned away with a huff.

"Then stop making random assumptions about people you don't even-!"

"What's going on here?"

I tore my glare away from the midget to see another student run towards us. I stared at her bouncing chest and decided she had to be a highschool student. The girl stopped and took a moment to catch her breath. Then she looked between me and the midget with a slight, disapproving frown before finally turning to the latter.

"Shirai-san? You just ran off so suddenly without a warning; I almost lost you on the main street. Did something happen?"

"Konori-senpai!" The obnoxious kid pointed at me accusingly with a harsh finger. "This… delinquent kicked the vending machine! Doesn't this warrant a 'damage to public property' arrest?"

I scowled. "Like you could ever arrest me in a million years. Besides, like I said, this machine ate up my money first."

"Oh." The highschool girl supposedly called Konori looked at the machine with a quizzical glance. "How much did you put in?"

I relaxed a bit. At least this girl was willing to listen to sense. "10,000 yen."

There was a long silence. Then-

"Pffffttt!"

I glared at the pig-tailed girl as she began to laugh.

"Hahaha, you… you actually put in… Ahahaha"

My teeth gritted as I heard a chuckle from Konori as well.

"It's NOT FUNNY!" I roared. I stomped my foot and electricity crackled up from between the tessellating tiles of the pavement. Kuroko stopped laughing and stared at me with wary eyes.

"This damned thing was meant to give me change!" I ranted. "Isn't Academy City supposed to be the most technologically developed city in the world or whatever?! Why can't this dumb thing do something so simple like subtraction?!"

"Well~" The infuriating red-haired girl spun one of her red locks around a finger with a sly expression. "Maybe it didn't like your kiddy shorts."

"Gh!" That hit a blow.

"I guess Tokiwadai has their share of black sheep too."

The bright sparks around me frizzled. "How about I turn you into a black-"

"Hey! We want a rematch, you disrespectful punk!"

'Khh! No way...!'

At the familiar obnoxious voice, I quickly turned on my heel and faced the dreaded sight. The misfit gang with the plasma-shooting rooster for a leader were back again. A couple of them looked so battered from our previous fight, I was surprised they were still standing. I eyed the stoic metal user and the insulator esper who lingered at the back of the group like silent shadows. I knew the others were all talk and no show, but those two were dangerous. If it came down to another fight, I'd have to try and knock them out first.

I pasted a confident grin on my face. "Want another round of beating, do you?"

Kuroko facepalmed beside me. "I knew it," she muttered. "She picks fights on random civilians too."

"I do not!" I rounded on her indignantly. "They attacked me for no reason first!"

"Uhh… girls…" Konori sounded worried.

"Lies!" The plasma rooster shouted. The other guys booed along with him. "She must be brought to Justice and punished for her crimes by us Justice Warriors!"

The rest of the guys cheered wildly at his declaration as if it was the most brilliant thing they'd ever heard.

Blue sparks arced along my hair. "Are you all idiots?!"

"Wait, Justice Warriors?" Kuroko frowned. "That sounds familiar…"

A sudden expression of realisation dawned on Konori's features. "They're the ragtag group that's been causing so much trouble in the past trying to enforce 'laws' of their own. They'd been keeping low for a while, but it looks like they've shown their faces again."

"If that's the case…" Kuroko grinned and stepped forward. "Then I have no room for hesitation."

I looked at her in surprise. "You'll help me?"

She tossed a pigtail back with an air of dignity. "While I don't get the whole backstory, it's my duty to stop pathetic looking bunch of hooligans ganging up on a weak kid."

The sparks dancing in my hair flared as I flashed her an irritated grin. "Just who are you calling a weak kid?"

She ignored me completely. "Plus, they'd been on the wanted list for a while now."

"Shirai-san." Konori threw the midget a meaningful look as she nodded in response. I didn't get the message, but it seemed like they were used to working together as a team.

"Justice needs less words and more action!"

Another chorus of cheers from the crazy group erupted as hot bursts of plasma fired towards us. The rest of them charged in like a herd of rhinos. It was such a disorganised mess, I couldn't believe they'd lasted this long. I dodged the round of plasma bullets and saw Kuroko nimbly do the same.

She swooped down like an eagle and picked up a rock. As I swerved to the side to avoid more attacks, I heard her snap, "Gimme that!" and snatch the squashed soda can out from my hand. I looked over and my eyes widened in surprise as the can suddenly disappeared from her hands along with the rock. Almost simultaneously, I heard something crack in the distance.

"Aaargh! My hair! What the heck is this stuff?!"

I turned to the yelps and saw the plasma rooster clawing at his glowing hair. The plasma on it was spluttering madly. I noticed something wet running down his face from the top of his head. My eyes found the broken soda can lying on the ground and added two and two together in amazement. Was this girl a teleporter? If so, that was my first time seeing teleportation in action. It was a rare ability, even by Academy City's standards.

The guy howled as the plasma glowing from his mohawk suddenly exploded in a bright flare and flickered out completely.

"Noooo! My beautiful haaaaiiirrrr!" He crumbled to the ground and began to sob his heart out.

I grinned. Well, at least the midget appeared pretty capable of handling herself. I stepped forward, sparks spitting between my outstretched hands.

"Eat this!"

I hurled a ball of lightning at the group, the electricity scattering into whips that lashed out in all directions. I saw the insulator guy grab a couple of his mates to protect them from my attack, and the metal user diverted the sparks aside with his metallic shield. The rest of them fell like dominoes, including the despairing mohawk.

I glared at the remainder of the group. I could sense they were going to push me to get creative with my methods.

A hand suddenly grabbed my collar roughly from the side and I almost choked at the force.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

It was the midget. She was stronger than she looked. Her forceful grip brought my face close to hers, scrunched into an annoyed expression.

"Huh?! What do you think you're doing?! Let me go!"

"You just knocked out Konori-senpai, you idiot!"

"Eh?"

I looked over to where she was indicating and saw the highschool student collapsed on the ground. Thin trails of grey smoke arose from her uniform. A cold film of sweat formed on my forehead at the sight.

"Just which side are you on?!" Kuroko hissed at me.

"I didn't mean to-!"

"Do you just throw lightning around and hope for the best?!"

"What?! Of course I don't!"

"Don't butt into Judgement business! You're a civilian, so let the officer take care of this!"

I knocked her offending hand aside and straightened up with a huff. "Jeez, it was just an accident!"

"An accident, like how you kicked the vending machine?"

"Are you still going on about that?! There're more important things to worry about right now- watch out!"

I pulled on her arm roughly to prevent a fireball from sizzling through her. Metal spikes pummelled towards us without rest just as a thin sheet of ice covered the ground we were standing on.

"Argh!" I slipped on the ice as I tried to move away from the renewed assault, pulling the younger girl down with me. I grunted as she landed on top of me.

"Ow!" She complained.

"Get off me," I grunted. "You're way too heavy for a midget."

"Hah?!" She sounded outraged. "You're the one who dragged me down!"

"I was trying to save your sorry ass-!"

I sensed another round of metal bullets heading in our direction. I pushed Kuroko away and leapt onto my feet, modifying the magnetic field around us so that they would swerve away. Something cold crawled up my legs and I looked down to see the ice growing up from the ground. I tried to move my feet but I only managed to swerve dangerously on the spot before regaining my balance.

"Shit!"

I glanced across and saw Kuroko in the same predicament, except she was still on the ground and the ice had also caked around her arms.

"Can't you do something useful?!" I screamed at her, more out of desperation than anything else. I knocked aside another round of metal spikes. "You're a teleporter, right?! Teleport yourself out and get me out of here too!"

Kuroko's face looked stricken at my shouting.

"I… I…" Her brows furrowed and her lips trembled. My heart dropped. Was this kid gonna cry on me?!

"I'm just a Level 3, okay?!" She confessed with a yell. Her voice was riddled with frustration and shame. "I don't know how to teleport myself yet!"

The edges of her eyes were red. I almost sighed, but held it back. So that was it. She acted all tough on the outside, but she was actually really terrified.

The ice had encased me up to my knees now; I could hardly feel my legs because of the intense cold.

I smiled widely as Kuroko looked up at me in surprise. "Fine, I guess there's no other way to do this than to go all out. Will you work with me here?"

She wiped the dumbfounded look on her face and quickly nodded.

"Okay then." I ducked underneath the incoming wave of flames. "But you better take back what you said about me being WEAK!"

Lightning exploded outwards from my body, shredding apart the ice. The force sent cracks running across the icy floor, the momentum freeing Kuroko as well. She immediately leapt up just as the pyromancer charged forward with a flame sword. She stepped away from the swing and then sent an impressive kick that forced him to stumble back. Not letting him get away, she delivered the final blow across his temple, knocking him out completely.

The other guys closed in around us. Kuroko and I moved together, finally standing back-to-back.

"I'll take back what I said then." I heard the amusement in the teleporter's voice.

"You're not so bad yourself." I grinned. "Those kicks were pretty badass."

"You're both gonna pay for what you've done, runts!" The insulator shouted, shaking his chubby fist at us.

"My electrical attacks don't work on that one," I muttered to Kuroko, "so I'll trust you to take care of him, yeah?"

"You got it."

We both moved apart in sync as if it was the most natural thing in the world. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Kuroko engage her target, preventing him from protecting the others with his insulating ability. With nothing to hold me back now, the other two were mine.

With a wolfish smirk, I spread my arms wide and sent electricity sweeping across to the duo. The pyromancer fell screaming and turned limp, but the metal user blocked the incoming assault by reshaping his shield. I ramped up the voltage, twisting the electricity so that it would lash out in an unpredictable pattern from all around him. Iron dust began to swirl up from the ground, summoned to heed my control. The vibrating particles grazed against the metal, eating it away bit by bit even as he desperately tried to reinforce it.

Realising that he was cornered, the baffled guy covered his entire body with the metal against the barrage. It formed into a weird-looking capsule around him. It was supposed to be a defensive shelter, but it was also a self-made cage, a mistake created in a panic. This was just what I had been waiting for.

"You fell for it, idiot!" With a snarl, I pulled up his metal prison into the air with all my powers of magnetism. I sensed him trying to escape through the bottom, but I made sure my electricity formed a tight cocoon around the capsule, forcing him to remain put inside.

"Grit your teeth and bear it!"

I hurled the cage aside. It flew a good ten metres before slamming into a tree trunk. The metal case broke apart, revealing the battered looking guy knocked unconscious. I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. I had never tried to move something so heavy before; I was surprised it had even worked according to plan.

A sudden shriek behind me made me spin around. My eyes widened at the sight of Kuroko in a choke hold by the insulator. I stepped forward, but he only tightened his grip on the suffering girl, forcing me to stop.

"Don't take another step," he warned. His eyes gleamed dangerously; it was obvious he meant what he said. "Else your little friend here might not survive."

I glared back at him with clenched jaws. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to charge him and knock him senseless, but I also didn't want the midget getting hurt.

"Don't worry about me- Ghhh!"

The man roughly pulled up Kuroko's arm behind her. I flinched at her expression of pain. As much as I hated to admit it, it bothered me to see her like this, and I didn't even know this irritating girl that well. Damn it, why did she let herself get caught?

"Just let her go," I pleaded with the guy with as much force as I could. "It's me you wanted a fight with, right? She has nothing to do with this."

His face twisted into an ugly sneer. "But she did get involved. And you obviously care what happens to her. That's enough reason for me."

"What the heck do you want from me?!"

He blinked. A puzzled look overcame his bland features.

"Uhh… Uhmm… Now that's a good question."

I stared at him with incredulity. "You… You don't even know why you're fighting?"

"It's because of Justice. I think. Yeah!" He flashed me a stupid grin. "See? Oshiro-san said so. Because you need to be punished by Justice."

My teeth grinded together. "Are you a dumbass or what?! You're going around hurting people because of some half-assed, self-serving shit like that?!"

I was too mad to hold back now. My anger was boiling just beneath my skin and ready to spill over.

"GET A LIFE, YOU DIMWIT!"

I pulled out a coin from my pocket in the blink of an eye and fired my newly discovered technique – the railgun. An orange beam of light exploded forth from my hand and shot through the air next to the hoodlum. A huge boom was accompanied by a shockwave that knocked him aside, stunned. The aftershock also caught me unawares and pushed me back a few paces. I groaned at the unpleasant sensation. I still had to work on that…

"Oww, my ears… What was that boom?" The teleporter rubbed her ears from where she had landed. She saw her captor on the ground and immediately sprang into action.

"Take this!" The pig-tailed midget booted him in the groin. He howled and clutched the area before falling back.

She wasted no time in knocking him unconscious with another well-aimed kick to his head.

My eyebrows twitched. "Jeez… You can be kinda scary - WAAH?!"

Something suddenly wrapped tightly around my waist and pulled me up into the air. I followed the trail of the thin cord and found my assailant. Somehow, the metal user had gotten up from where I had deposited him near the tree.

I grinned. So he thought he could still win, huh?

"Sorry, but you just set up another trap for YOURSELF!"

I charged up the electricity, intending for the sparks to run along the metal line and fry the guy to a crisp. But the movements of my electrical charges were sluggish and died away before they could reach the end.

"What?!"

This time, it was the dude's turn to grin. "This isn't ordinary metal. It's true all metals are conductive to electricity, but this one has been mixed with lead. I take extra measures in preparation, you see." He pushed up the broken glasses dangling precariously on his nose. "Of course, it's harder to control like this, but I'm a skilled esper, if I may say so!"

"Khh!" The cord around me tightened and slid up to also wrap around my throat. I could barely breathe and my head started to pound from the lack of blood flow. I struggled, but the grip around me only constricted further.

'Shit… This is bad!'

I was starting to lose focus. I couldn't even concentrate to summon the iron sand. All the fighting had taken more out of me than I had realised. My vision swam and began to blacken around the edges. Surely I wasn't going to go out like this… It was so… pathetic…

"LET ONEE-SAMA GOOOOO!"

I heard the shout before I felt myself fall. The cords loosened and my senses returned with a coughing fit. I landed on the ground in a crash, although I tried my best to slow down the fall with magnetism. My knees were scraped and they were going to suffer some pretty bad bruises later, but there was no time to dwell on it now. I stood up and glanced at the cord. It had snapped clean where some metal spikes had gone right through.

'Did Kuroko do that?' I briefly wondered. I faced the panicking esper and smirked at him, cracking my knuckles.

"Sorry, but it looks like your luck ran out really fast." My electricity roared to prove my point. He backed away, looking absolutely terrified. He quickly tried to manoeuvre some pieces of scrap metal lying around, but I wasn't about to let him complete that junk.

"Nice try, but you're toast!"

He screamed as the lightning streaks hit him. When I let off, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed forward with a moan.

"I got this!" I heard Kuroko's shout and saw some spikes appear along the edges of his clothes, nailing them down to the ground with brutal efficiency. I realised those needles were from the metal guy's attacks earlier. I watched on with thrilled interest. If the metal dude happened to wake up again, those spikes would not allow him to move an inch.

I looked over at Kuroko. "Eheheh," I laughed awkwardly. "Isn't this kinda over the top?"

She looked down at the metal spikes with a contemplative gaze. "I think this is perfect. I'll use these from now on."

I stared at her. 'That's so extreme… But I guess she's a bit on the crazy side too.'

I stretched out languidly. I felt tired and sore all over, but the fight had been a great workout. "Well, at least this is over, finally. Thanks for the help."

I started to move away but a hand grabbed my arm. I turned and was met with a spike pointing right between my eyes.

"Ughh?!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Kuroko glared at me.

"Why not?!"

"Because you created this entire mess in the first place!" She waved the spike in my face as she ranted. "First you caused a ruckus down the main street by barging into a crowd with no apologies, then you kicked the vending machine, a clear defilement of public property, and now look at how much damage there is around this area because you butted into Judgement business!"

When she put it in a list like that, it did sound pretty bad. But she had a point, as much as I hated to admit it. The place was now a complete mess – the pavement cracked and upturned in places, with bits of metal scattered everywhere. My railgun had left a trail of destruction all the way down to the edge of the park. It would take a while to clean this up.

"It wasn't entirely my fault!" I cried out defensively. "Don't you have those guys to arrest?! I'm the victim here!"

"You're hardly the victim! Besides, what was that huge boom earlier?! It sounded like you fired a cannon or something and I'm assuming that's what caused half of this destruction…"

She suddenly trailed off and stared into the distance where my railgun had shredded apart a tree. Her mouth hung open. The only remaining remnants of it were the bits of bark cluttered around and the large stump where it used to be standing.

I glared at the needle that was seriously on the verge of skewering my nose.

"Hey, can you pay attention to where you're sticking that thing?!" I complained loudly. "That's sharp! It's dangerous, you know!"

She turned her head back and stared at me for a long moment with an unreadable expression. Then she pulled away with a heavy sigh.

"Well, I guess it's true those guys did start up the fight, although I'm suspicious about your previous history with them. They did attack for no reason."

"Exactly!" I nodded in agreement. I was glad those punks never mentioned why they had rounded up on me in the first place. If they had, and Kuroko had heard, she might have made a big deal about it.

I frowned as I recalled something. "Did you… actually call me 'Onee-sama' at some point?"

Her face reddened. "What?!" She snapped. "I didn't know your name so that was the first thing that came to mind!"

"Huh, is that so? Well, I'm-"

"Urrghhh…." A loud groan from the side interrupted me and I looked over to see Konori waking up. She clutched her head with a palm and frowned blearily at her surroundings.

"Is it morning already? My head's splitting… Maybe I drank too much last night…"

My chest constricted as she blinked and looked at us. We watched as realisation slowly flickered into her eyes.

"Oh… I think I got shocked by an electrical esper…" She looked around at the bodies of hoodlums lying about. "There must have been one in the gang."

"Ahahaha… yeah, there must have been…" I said, rubbing my head awkwardly. I could feel Kuroko's eyes glare daggers into my back, but she did not say anything.

Konori dusted herself off and stood on wobbly feet. Kuroko immediately went to help support her. "The area looks like a warzone, but it seems like you girls took care of them without my help." She raised a hand and pat Kuroko on the head. "Nice job, Shirai-san. I think you'll be ready to do your own patrols soon, maybe in a few week's time, even."

Kuroko's eyes brightened. "Really?!"

Konori nodded and smiled encouragingly. "Yeah, I think so." She turned to me and lowered her head slightly. "Thank you."

My cheeks flushed. "E-Eh? Well…" I scratched my cheek and averted my eyes. "Sure… I didn't do all that much though. Kuroko helped out a lot."

I didn't particularly care about getting credit. Things could get sticky for me if they investigated too closely about my connections with this event.

Kuroko peered up at me with a confused frown at my remark.

"I'm not surprised to hear that. Shirai-san is one of the most promising recruits I've ever had the pleasure of working with," Konori said proudly. I saw Kuroko almost glow like a firefly at the praise. Judgement work obviously meant a lot to her.

"We'd best start the arrests on these guys," the high school student continued. "Thanks again for your help."

I flashed them both a genuine smile.

"I'll be heading off then," I said brightly as I turned away. "Bye!"

I made it about thirty paces when I heard a familiar voice call out, "Wait!"

I almost considered running for it, but then decided that would have looked too guilty. I sighed and turned around to face Kuroko. "What is it now?" I asked gruffly.

Her suspicious eyes narrowed at my annoyed tone. "How did you get mixed up with those punks?"

My mouth opened but no sound came out. I remembered back to the huge amounts of destruction I'd caused in the alleyway where I'd tested out my first railgun. What was I supposed to say?

'Oh they had a go at me because they were jealous of my top score in Pow Wow Ninja and then I almost destroyed two buildings firing arcade coins...'

Okay, that was not going to go down well. I could almost visualise Kuroko going bonkos about it.

"I told you," I finally found the words. "They just attacked me for no reason earlier!"

She stepped forward with suspicious eyes. "You better not be lying."

"I'm not! Why would I be? I have nothing to hide!" I almost took a step back at the intensity of her stare.

A long moment passed, neither of us blinking and wanting to give up. Then she finally pulled back with a huff.

"Fine, I'll let you go for now. But!" She placed her hands on hips and threw me an angry glare. "When I become a full-fledged Judgement officer, I'll be keeping a very close eye on you."

"Huh?!"

"So don't you dare go around causing more trouble, Miss Tokiwadai's delinquent."

"That's not fair!" I protested. "I don't go around causing trouble!"

She turned and gave me a sidelong glance. "Well, I'm only letting you go today because you helped out." A pink tinge suddenly arose on her cheeks and she looked at the ground. "So I guess I should say… thank you."

I blinked. Did this obnoxious girl just thank me?

Before I could gather my wits together, she was already gone. I stared at where she had been standing for a long moment, and then smiled.

Somehow, I got the weird feeling that we would meet again in the near future.

A/N: Hi, thanks for reading. The idea for this piece came from the Q&A section of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun - Misaka Mikoto Maniax artbook. Basically, it had a set of questions submitted by fans and answered by "Misaka Mikoto" herself. There were two questions which intrigued me:

"- How did you come up with your special move, the Railgun? - I was playing at the arcade and it hit me when I just so happened to flick a coin up with my finger... At least I think that's how it happened.

- How did you feel when you first fired the Railgun? - It was like "I did it!" It was dangerous because I almost destroyed a nearby building."

Hence, this fic happened. It started as a short ficlet, but then Cun gave me some great ideas to work with and encouraged me to expand the story further, hence it grew into this giant thing! It was originally intended to fit into canon, but you can take this however you like it.

I also wanted to try first person writing since I've hardly ever done it, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity. Adding in Kuroko was a bonus, because I figured they might have met as strangers at least a few times before the teleporter also joined Tokiwadai. Kuroko is yet to fall in love with the electromaster... which occurred when she joined Tokiwadai a year later.

So I know I'm probably breaking canon here, considering there are no such implications minus the episode where Mikoto saves Kuroko in the bank robbery. But I don't understand how Kuroko and Mikoto could have NOT met. I mean, Mikoto is such a magnet for trouble, and Kuroko always tends to land in the middle of it. What are the chances? XD

Mikoto's previous roommate's identity is unknown, but in Index season 1 episode 11, there is an implication that it was someone who was ill-natured/ jealous towards her, before Kuroko "legally" removed the girl and moved in.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. Reviews, constructive feedback or general thoughts on the work will be greatly appreciated!