Greetings to all!

Most of you may or may not have been aware of this, but last month I went on holiday and thus the reason why I didn't produce a new chapter. I apologize for that, but at the same time not really. It was my last vacation I could use this year, so I took work on all sides off for that month to indulge a bit. But, as I said in the authors notes of What Makes Us Strong, I promised to produce a chapter this month. As you can see, though by the skin of my teeth, I kept my promise and bring you this.

I am a man of my word and my word is good. That aside, I hope you all enjoy this October's update of A Certain World of Darkness.

Tuesday, like most days, was about as eventful to the commonplace individual as the next. Classes were over, weather was at a comfortable temperature, the sky was devoid of clouds and the sun was shining brilliantly above the city of science. To most folk, this was an ideal day to be out and about now that the fiasco that took place Saturday had finally settled down and people weren't as scared to be outside. Walkways were packed, children were playing, and genuinely everyone who could spare the free time was out that day was having a good time in some manner or another.

Kamijou Touma, unfortunately, was among the unfortunate ones who didn't have an abundance of free time to spare.

The reason behind that was due in part to a combination of many things. Poor homework turnout from the night before was one thing, the below average grade on an assignment was another. To top that off, the supplementary class he was forced to take part in was interrupted by his phone going off, which only made things worse for him since he wasn't even supposed to have it on during school hours. The list of bad luck could go on for hours, but in the simplest of terms, it could be deduced that it was just fate coming back to play with its favorite toy as it so often liked to do.

So yes, as far as today went, he had his hands full.

He didn't want to, hell he would give anything to be out enjoying life more than he was right now. But, as wise man once said, it was work before play and so that was exactly what he was doing. Sadly, because his homework was in a subject he wasn't doing well in, it was unlikely that he would finish it anytime soon and there were still more he needed to get done before the day was over.

Touma gave the door to his dorm a longing look that, if seen, would have made almost anyone's chest tighten with sympathy. The gaze lasted as long as the daydream he had of what else he could be doing instead of this; which was only a few seconds long. When his gaze landed back onto the innocent piece of paper in front of him, those delusions were shattered to the extent that he felt like weeping. But, he had too much inner fortitude to allow himself to do such a thing, so instead he took a moment of pause from his work and sulked

This must be karma; it had to be, because this simple piece of paper had broken his illusions of enjoying any free time today!

"…fukou-da."

And that was how a good portion of his would have remained had something else not decided to further impede on his work. That something took on the form of his cell phone ringing…which Touma had been ignoring for a good portion of an hour now. There was no need for him to look and see who it was anymore, he knew the caller, which was precisely the reason why he wasn't answering it. He was tempted to answer it just to tell her to stop calling him, it was what got him into trouble during the supplementary class after all, but that idea was mercilessly cut down before it had time to grow roots.

In these instances, it was better to pretend the caller didn't exist and let it ring all it wanted.

"Geez, you'd think she'd have given up by now." Was he a loon for talking to himself? Not at all, so long as he didn't answer his own questions. Speaking of questions, he had just answered one of the harder ones on the worksheet. "Seriously, doesn't she understand that I just don't have time to talk to her right now?"

To be fair, this was the first time in the past two days that Mugino had bothered to call him. As strange as it was at first, he couldn't deny that he relished in the lack of interaction with her or the other girls. It was a welcome return of normality, of the time before he met her, when things were relatively peaceful for him. But as comfortable as he was with this, he couldn't delude himself forever; he couldn't pretend that he hadn't made an arrangement with her and her group. All he could do was enjoy every bit of peace he got from this point on and await the inevitable to come to him as it always did.

Obviously the inevitable outcome he had been expecting had arrived.

He just wasn't up to dealing with it right that second.

Like clockwork, he counted the number of rings remaining before the room once again graced with silence. After a few seconds of mental counting, a light hum followed as a message was recorded onto the phone before the quiet returned. And, like the times before this one, Kamijou reached over, opened it up, and noted that indeed there was a voice message waiting for him…among the eight or so other messages. All of which had been made by the same number that belonged to a certain Level 5 he had become acquainted with.

Seriously, how persistent could a person get?

"…I'm almost tempted to see what she wants..."

The key word here was almost, as in almost but not quite willing to listen through every voice message she sent in hopes of finding out what she wanted. Given how he had ignored her calls up until this point, he could rightfully assume that some of these were not going to be friendly messages. In all likelihood, he would be on the receiving end of the worst verbal thrashing of his life, and he was not okay with dealing with that right now. Bearing that in mind, Kamijou nonchalantly closed the mobile device and went back to his work; whilst mentally telling himself that he didn't see or hear anything coming from his phone.

That false ignorance would be his downfall.

Because as easy as it was to ignore his phone ringing Touma unfortunately couldn't as easily disregard the sound of someone banging at his front door.

"Basically, open the damn door you degusting pig!" A familiar blonde's loud voice cut through the silence of his room like a hot knife through butter. The fact that she was yelling as she continued to bang on his door only made it more difficult to overlook. "I know you're there, now open up before I kick this door down and drag you're sorry carcass out here!"

This time Kamijou nearly did break down and weep as his body slumped forward onto the table in front of him. With a dejected sigh, Touma rose to his feet and shuffled over towards the door less the girl on the other side make good on her word. A lock removal later, Kamijou's door was open and he stood face-to-torso with the shorter blonde foreigner known as Frenda. Said foreign young woman stood in casual wear as her narrow eyes traveled upward to meet his eyes. Yes, it was clear to both parties that neither was happy to see the other, and in that respect they shared a common bond for that brief moment in time.

"…can I help yo–Yeee-ahaha-ow!"

Touma's form of greeting was promptly interrupted by the blond who had taken that moment to stomp one of her shoe clad feet onto the boy's exposed right foot. She probably would had done it again had Touma not hopped away from the door to clutch the now throbbing appendage. Judging by Frenda's expression, the spectacle did not bring about much amusement or satisfaction, there was some to be had but not enough for it to lighten up her mood. Too busy glaring at the boy who was making a fool of himself in his own home.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Can't you see that this Kamijou is still injured!?"

Whatever impression of anger he tried to give off was lost due to the hot tears threatening to spill down from the corners of his eyes. In his defense though, it should be remembered that those pumps Frenda used were not by any means soft and they did house a stiletto. So yes, his anger was justified since he was barefoot and those shoes hurt!

"Basically, I don't care." She might have still been glaring at him, but the deadpan tone still did its job of reminding him how much she personally disliked him. "Also, you're lucky you got off with just that; Mugino's probably going to do worse for ignoring her calls."

"She called? Huh, guess I didn't hear it."

Touma probably could have at least tried to sound a little more convincing when attempting to convey his ignorance on the matter. The fact that he didn't, however, showed that he didn't much care if Frenda believed him or not and only served as a display of sarcasm. At least, whatever amount of sarcasm he could give whilst nursing his currently throbbing foot.

"Mhm, sure, not like it matters since Mugino's still gonna kick your ass anyway."

To that he could do nothing but agree; since the aforementioned girl would likely use any excuse she could to do such a thing regardless of what he did.

"Yeah, yeah, so what does she want?"

Kamijou's level of carelessness that was expressed here probably had more adverse effects on Frenda then he cared to realize. He clearly didn't have much respect for the Meltdowner, a sentiment that was obviously matched by the Level 5 as well. But the way he said it made it seem like he was undermining the renown esper; talking as though he was dealing with some annoying underclassman opposing to being his superior. In hindsight, though, this behavior was to be expected given that this was the same person who was famous on urban legend websites as the man who negates all abilities.

It still pissed her off and she put little effort in hiding that fact from him as she crossed her arms over her not-so-developed chest.

"Basically, are you stupid or something? You're apart of ITEM now, Mugino is your boss, and your boss wanted your ass at the meeting spot fifteen minutes ago."

"Hmm…" Brow furrowed in thought, he gaze inquisitively at the blonde, who in turn raised an eyebrow upon gaining his attention. "Now that I think about it, doesn't that make you my senpai…oh that's terrific."

Unprepared as she was to hear this, Frenda still took it with stride despite the insulting comment which followed. This was made apparent by the haughty expression in which she now wore and the sudden puffing of her chest as she observed him. Admittedly, she hadn't put that particular kind of thought into that during or after he had been inducted into ITEM. Too appalled by the idea of someone like this man being apart of their group to really consider what his 'induction' implied. As a senior member of the group, she had authority over him, meaning he had to do everything she said.

That thought alone put a smile on her face; which didn't go unnoticed by Kamijou.

"You suddenly have this very scary look on your face; stop it."

The blank tone in which he used pretty much summed up how he felt about the idea of the blonde being his superior. The fact that she didn't respond to his statement at all either implied that she was scheming something or simply refused to listen to him. To that, Touma let out a sigh as he went back into his dorm to collect his things as it was clear she would not leave unless he did. That also meant he had to bring his work with him and hope that he could get it done despite of all the distractions these girls would indefinitely cause.

"Nishishishi, yes, yes, basically hurry up you worthless kouhai. If you move fast enough, your senpai here might even give you a complement."

Obviously, Frenda was enjoying this.

"First Mugino, now you; my misfortune just knows no bounds does it?" Muttered the lad to himself, sluggishly moving about if for no other reason than to spite her. "Having some middle-school girl as my senpai, this must be somebody's idea of a bad joke or something."

Unfortunately, though he thought he was incoherent, he wasn't inaudible enough for Frenda not to hear him.

"What the hell are you talking about 'middle school girl' huh!?" Suddenly, that high-and-mighty aura she had vanished and was replaced with that irritation in less than a human heartbeat. "I'm a first year high-school student you nitwit!"

"Eh, really?" Anyone could see that he was genuinely surprised by this realization. That and how he perked up a bit upon hearing Frenda's words was proof that her revelation there was not something he expected. Though, in all likelihood, that just gave the blonde foreigner more of a reason to be angry with him. "I swear I thought you were…..well, then again, there's Komoe-sensei so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. But still, I guess I assumed that because of how small you are."

Those were probably a poor choice of words there Kamijou.

"Basically…you…are so…DEAD!"

Quivering frame, protruding vein at the brow, clenched fists; yup, she was pissed.

"Eh? He-hey, wait a sec, what'd I sa–AAAAH!"

A very poor choice of words apparently.

Poor, unfortunate, Kamijou.

"So you admit to ignoring my calls?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Following the events that took place at the dorms, Kamijou and miss Seivelun eventually found themselves back in a certain restaurant which ITEM frequently visited. Unlike his last visit a few days prior, he was forced to sit in a chair at the far end of the table; making him the center of attention between all four girl's present at the booth. Or, at least, that would have been the case under normal standards. In this case, most of the girls were doing their own thing to really pay him much mind.

Even Shizuri was only giving him half of her attention as she addressed him, sparing only a few glances from the corner of her eye as fiddled with her phone.

Annoying and insulting!

"Despite my generosity in allowing you to join ITEM, you decided to fucking spit in my face and ignore me?"

"Couldn't help it, I was busy with something important; it happens."

One would think that Mugino's features would have been expressing more negative emotions given how their usual interactions go. Oddly enough she wasn't, Shizuri didn't appear to have even the beginnings of a scowl on her lips as she peered over at him from her place in the booth by the window. Had it been any other time, Touma would have most definitely been concerned by this lack of vexation. For now he would take it for what it was worth, as these as these moments of calm were scarce enough to begin with.

"…point taken, but I doubt that whatever it was you were doing was important enough that you could casually brush off the person who just recently gave you a job."

"I have my own set of priorities too you know."

Yes, he did, and those priorities likely fell short in comparison to Shizuri's. He might not have known Mugino for very long, but when it came to comparisons, her wants and needs always seemed to come before everyone else's. Shallow and selfish, things had to work her way or not at all; that was how the girl's mindset seemed to work. So in that respect, nothing he said would matter all that much to her and as such his point would be invalidated.

Touma couldn't have been more right on the money if he tried.

"I'll make this clear then, unless I say otherwise you're priorities mean shit. Next time or any time I call you, answer your phone or I will make a new hole for you to shit out of. Are we clear on that Kamijou?"

He had to refrain from rolling his eyes; opting instead to just sigh and nod his head.

"Crystal."

"Good, moving on." Here, Shizuri's whole head turned to face him directly, her face static save for the raised eyebrow. "What the hell happened to your face?"

The said male's face was currently occupied by what looked to be the beginnings of a few bruises scattered across his cheeks and jaw. They were still red and had started swell up a bit; but otherwise it was nothing too bad since he was on pain medication and all. Even if he didn't particularly feel them, the reason why he had them was still annoying regardless if there was pain or not. Hence why his gaze shot over towards the blond accusingly, to which Frenda merely snorted in a less than graceful manner before continuing her assault on the can of mackerel in front of her.

But pretty soon after it wasn't just Touma's gaze lingering on her, but Mugino's as well; eventually leading Frenda to offer up an explanation.

"Basically, I needed to teach the underling not to disrespect his superiors."

"Lair, she's lying, she's lying to save face!" The way he was shouting this like a lunatic might have been a little excessive; just a little. "This happened all because she misinterpreted what I said; so don't listen to her!"

To clarify, when Touma made the statement about her being 'small' he was referring to her stature. Frenda, however, took the term differently than the one he was talking about and instead believing him to be making a reference to her lacking chest area. Factoring in his previous assumption of her age plus having seen her slim frame nearly naked on a recent occasion and it was obvious that the blonde would be infuriated by the jab. Thusly, she took it upon herself to 'gently' reprimand him for his lack of proper manners in treating his superior.

Of course none of was on his mind when he said that and he wasn't trying to be insulting or disrespectful…at least not too much.

He had only found out that there was a misunderstanding at hand as she was punching him; having made a comment about how 'bust size isn't everything' or something close to that. Thus explaining why he was so annoyed and why he was so zealous in defending himself before she could slander him further. To top it all off, Frenda had yet to or even make an attempt to apologize for her actions caused from this simple misinterpretation. It further proved to him that someone was more than a little self-conscious…but given how stacked her Ojou-san idol is he couldn't blame her.

Hey, he's a guy, and even if he doesn't like certain things about the person he can at least admit to things he does like.

"You basically thought I was just some middle-school brat!"

"Because you're so sma-short, short, I said short! And because of how short you are, anyone could've made that same mistake!"

From her position at the booth, Saiai could be seen nodding as if to say 'Ah, okay, I get it now.' as she flipped to the next page to her magazine. Whether or not she was doing so for the article she was reading or the conversation at hand was anyone's guess.

To be fair though, Frenda did stand around the same height as Kinuhata did; who was in fact the youngest member of ITEM at the moment. So, in that respect, Kamijou did possess some credibility to his statement, making it less like a baseless assumption that Frenda thought it was. Factoring in how the blonde acted on a normal basis and it wasn't too much of a stretch to say that she did seem less mature than she actually was. Despite these things though, nobody present at the booth spoke up in Kamijou's defense; yet all the same nobody was in a hurry to defend Frenda either.

"Okay, you two, that's enough; this banter of yours is getting on my nerves."

Although she did intervene, Mugino did not do so for the sake of either one party or another. She did it only to shut them both up now that she got an answer for her question. Between the two, Kamijou had been the one to settle down the quickest after meeting Shizuri's gaze; shoulders sinking as he turned away. Frenda took a while once the order was made, mainly because she took an extra two or three seconds to glare at the spiky haired boy before huffing like a child. And not for the first time did Mugino have to resist the urge to massage her temples thanks in part to this display of immaturity.

And these two were supposed to be teenagers; more like bratty kids in teenage bodies.

"Soo….why are we here again?"

She didn't massage her temples, but she did release a sigh that served as an indicator to her current level of irritation.

"Are you really that touched in the head or did Frenda hit you too hard that you forgot what we discussed Saturday?" The fact that Kamijou was still staring at her blankly even after she finished speaking only made the temptation to turn him into a smear on the wall rise. Two days was all it took and he already forgotten, in hindsight Shizuri probably should have anticipated this. "You're apart of ITEM now, so to keep Skill–Out off you're back you were to stick around us to make your affiliation with the group more pronounced. Come on Kamijou, you can't afford to be this fucking stupid; especially now."

"No, no, I get it, I know why I'm here; but I don't know what I'm here for." Aware of how confusing that statement sounded, Touma didn't waste much time in elaborating. A good thing too, as Shizuri's idiot tolerance bar was dangerously close to maxing out. "You told me Saturday that you girls do jobs, right? Now I'm in this group, which means I have to take part in these jobs too. So, does all of us being here mean that there's a job you –I mean we– have to do today or are we here for something else?"

"Somebody sounds super anxious."

"Mugino hasn't pestered me in two days; why else would she call me here if it wasn't for the sake of one of these jobs?" Retorted the teen, his eyes briefly meeting Saiai's as she fleetingly gave the solitary male at the table a glance. "And no, I'm not anxious, far from it actually. I'm just mentally preparing myself for the worst to happen and trust me, it will happen."

"Kamijou, if you start whining about your damn misfortune again, I swear to whatever God exists I'mma smack you." Evidently Mugino didn't like the idea of someone acting as a jinx, because she didn't even miss a beat once he had finished talking. But just as quickly as that anger had spiked, it had been quelled as she spoke further. "Besides, you don't need to worry your spiky head about it right now. I called you because I had a few things I forgot to pass along during the last meeting."

"If it's something you, of all people, forgot to mention last time then I'm guessing it's nothing too big right?"

"That all depends on your point of view."

The response he received was delayed by one could estimate at around thirty seconds. Within those thirty seconds, Mugino had rummaged through her bag, retrieved something from inside, and promptly slid it down and off the table into the boy's lap. The object in question was a card, a bank card to be precise, and reminiscent to the one in his wallet.

"That's where your pay checks will be coming in from." Based on her tone of voice, one would be inclined to think that she was some underpaid receptionist who had long since stopped caring about her job. "Money is transferred over to the account the day after the job's done, feel free to spend it however you want, you get the gist of it."

Yes he did, which was why he wasn't inquiring about that.

"So you waited two days to give me this…why exactly?"

"Would you rather not have it at all?"

"Right now, not really." Was the ever lethargic retort of Kamijou, shifting his gaze between the card and Mugino. "It's not like there's any money on this thing, so to me it's like holding onto a used up gift-card. I figure the more the sensible thing to do is give it to me after I do my first job or whatever."

"Really, correct me if I'm wrong Kamijou, but I clearly remember you doing you're first job two weeks ago."

Not even a second after she said this did Frenda's nose scrunch up as if she had smelled something rotten. Though he might not have been the brightest person in the world, Touma was observant and did pick up on that as it happened. Then again, she wasn't exactly hiding it and he was in the best position at the table to see every person's reaction. Most obvious as it was, Frenda's reaction was not the only one he took note of; though the others were more subtle. A good example was Saiai, who had peered over the magazine she had been reading and Rikou who had for the first time since he got here moved her eyes to look at him.

The former of the two examples didn't raise much concern, but the latter sure as hell got his attention. It was hard not to be concerned when the daydreamer of the group becomes attentive like that. Not that he blamed her, for he became a lot more attentive himself given what he was just told.

"…what?"

"Here's the thing Kamijou, when you stuck your nose into our business, you were considered as an outsider, someone who was not affiliated with ITEM outside of being another face in a crowd. It was supposed to remain that way, considering your aid was not needed or asked for. But, as much as I don't like to admit it, you still impressed me with the outcome. So I figured that, with you now being an official member of ITEM, you deserve at least something to show for it. Consider it a gift, a token of my generosity."

Shizuri said all of that without once looking up from her phone, not once. Why that was had been made clear once she had completed whatever it was she had been doing with her phone. Without any warning Shizuri put the phone down on the table and slid the still open device across to the far end. Thankfully Touma competent enough to catch it before it slid off and got damaged.

"I'm pretty sure your capable of setting up a new password and what-have-you yourself. My advice would be to get an authenticator, works wonders in keeping people out of your account."

It didn't take Kamijou very long to look and see what was on the display screen on the girl's phone. The second he saw it, he knew that whatever lingering thoughts of backing out of this group would be temporarily silenced. Had he not already been sitting down, his legs might have given out from under him. But he was, so instead his body reacted by slumping further down into his chair as his face became etched with bewilderment and, for once, pleasant astonishment.

Because of this obvious display of surprise, it was only a matter of time before someone started poking fun at him and his reaction.

"Basically, you look like some kid with down syndrome sitting there with your mouth hanging open."

Not that he gave a rat's ass about what any of these girls said at the moment.

Some would ask why, and to that the answer was relatively simple.

"S-s-s-so-so m-many—!"

Zeros, lots of zeros.

Like more zeros he'd ever seen in his young life.

And this was just from one job?

"Geez, you look like you've never super seen anything past a few thousand yen before."

Was it that obvious?

Yes, yes it was.

And, again, he could care less if he was being obvious about it or not.

"Ho-how did—when did—who—"

"I did it yesterday by transferring funds from one check balance to another." Was it weird that Mugino was still using a flat tone as she addressed him? Probably, but at the very least she was able to succeed in grasping his attention. Not that it changed much since he was still doing an outstanding impersonation of a fish. "You have any more stupid questions to ask or can we move on passed…whatever this is?"

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kamijou acknowledged that there was something off putting about Shizuri's random act of kindness here. Should he take a gander as to what it was, he would likely say that this was only done to further entice him. Make him think that this whole arrangement wasn't so bad, like it was a good idea, like it was a good thing to be a part of. From a business perspective, buying someone off was an easy way to ensure cooperation and nine times out of ten it worked.

Touma saw it for what this really was; there was nothing to be mistaken about that. In spite of his current behavior, he still harbored doubts about this arrangement and he would continue to do so until he was either proven right or wrong. This was bait on a hook, he was the fish in the water, and Mugino was the one holding the rod. That mental image was more than enough to break him out of his stupor and properly compose himself into a clearer state of mind.

It sounds easy on paper, but not as easy in practice since it took him a few minutes to fully recompose himself back to normal.

"Just a few: why did it take you two days to give me this?" If one were to look up the term skeptical in the dictionary, one wouldn't find his name next to it. Rather it would be the definition of the word, which he clearly was at that moment in time. "Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not complaining or anything—"

"As you damn well shouldn't be, you ungrateful fuck."

"—but if was just a simple money transfer, then it shouldn't have taken any longer than a day to do. It's not like you're doing quantum physics or anything too complex, so what gives?"

"Basically, are you trying to say Mugino sucks at accounting?"

"Don't put words in my mouth, especially words that could end up costing me my head!"

Seriously, it was like Frenda was trying to get him killed!

Then again, that was likely her intention anyway.

Vindictive bitch.

"Because of our benefactor is an anal-loving whore, that's why." For once, the subject of Mugino's irritation was not directed at Kamijou personally. Rather it was the person she was referring to which brought about her ire. Thankful as he was for not being the focus point this time, it didn't exactly put him at ease either. "The bitch didn't exactly jump at the idea of adding some nobody to the pay-roll, let alone paying said nobody for such a shit job."

"I'm sitting right here."

"Shut up, you get what you asked for; so quit your whining. Anyway, I don't feel like going through all the details, so I'll give you the quick and easy version. We compromised, bitch didn't follow through with her end of the deal and I had to pick up the slack."

"Which made only pissed Mugino off even more than she already was." Commented Saiai idly, offering further input once she took note of the questioning gaze the boy had sent her way. "Our benefactor can be a super bitch at times, just as a little heads up there newbie."

At least Touma couldn't say this meeting wasn't informative. He had gained a little more insight on who ITEM's boss was and what to expect in the near future. Vague as it was, a big gap in information was better than having a blank slate of nothing. All in all, it turned out to be a plus in his book, the money he got being a considerably major bonus factor of today. What was there to say? Touma wasn't exactly saint and there was no way he was about turn away from whatever scraps of good fortune he got.

The struggle was real for a Level 0 in Academy City, so sue him.

"Well then…um, thank you I guess for getting this to me. Sorry that it ended up being more trouble than it was worth."

Had Touma been completely honest, he didn't know what to expect from her here. As many times as they had interacted since they met, he couldn't truly admit to being courteous or even remotely nice to her since. Not that she gave him much incentive to be nice to her since she was on an entirely different level of bitch that he hadn't encountered in a good while. There was a word for it, there was always at least one, but he couldn't think of it right then and by the time he did it wouldn't matter.

But after all this effort she was putting into this arrangement, Kamijou felt it was only fair to express some degree of gratitude.

"Tch, way more trouble than ten of you is worth." And as he should have guessed, she blew off his genuine appreciation like it was a fly. Crossing her arms beneath her developed chest, she shot him a look as her finger repeatedly tapped against the exposed skin of her arm. "I want my phone back by the way and for your sake I better not find drool on it because of your stupid ass expression a minute ago."

"Eh? Ah, right, right, sorry." Was it sad that he checked to make sure there wasn't drool on the girl's phone? Better question; would any other person his shoes not done the same thing? Regardless, afterwards he repeated Mugino's action with the device; which thankfully slid to a stop right in front of her and not slam into the wall adjacent to him. "Um, is there anything else you wanted to tell me or is there something we need to do today?"

"Obviously not, considering we're still sitting here."

'Snappy, isn't she?' was probably the most polite piece of commentary Touma could mentally conceive. He could think of more colorful comments to make but instead went with the first one that came to mind be it polite or not. Unsurprisingly 'bitch' was the runner up and that too was still in the strike zone of being in the polite category to him.

"Oookay, so no jobs then…anything else feel like telling me?"

"You want me to tell you something? Okay, here's something: get a haircut and lose the gel."

In hindsight, Touma should have seen that coming; hence the sigh that came after she said that. A week ago, this would have been the time in which he would take his leave and carry on with his day as he normally would. But, as far as he was aware, he had to keep up with appearances and thus was meant to stay. Given how he had been chewed out already for just refusing to answer her calls, Touma felt that it was better to just stick around until she told him otherwise.

For that reason, Touma went ahead and fished out a pencil and some folded papers he had tucked away in his back pocket.

"Basically, what's that?"

"My homework, wanna do it for me?"

He said it with sarcasm practically dripping off his tongue, but the meditative expression on the blonde's face made it apparent that she had been taking him seriously.

"Two-thousand yen and I'll consider it."

That was a surprise, a bit steep, but it was a surprising nonetheless.

"All of it?"

"Two-thousand yen per worksheet."

"Hell no!"

While it wasn't a mountain of it, there were at least three to four papers here. That would've been eight thousand yen he'd have pissed away and there was no garentee that the answers would have been correct to begin with. In fact, he had reason to suspect she would purposely get them all wrong on purpose just to screw him over. Paycheck or not, money lost was still money lost; and given how stingy he was with money to begin with he probably would have been really upset if all of that was for nothing.

It must have been a whimsical action, because the blonde merely shrugged off his retort with a click of her tongue. Not long after that, Touma put his focus on the paper in front of him with the intention of completing at least one before something else came up. Again, that had been the intention, but as the minutes ticked by and the silence among them consisted, Touma lost the drive to actually do it. Maybe it was the silence, maybe it was it was the environment, or maybe it was the four girls who's table he was sharing. He couldn't pinpoint what was causing him to lose that drive, but it was and it did.

Instead Touma simply sat there, vacantly staring down at the papers in front of him.

Seriously, what was he doing here?

By all accounts Kamijou knew he shouldn't be here or associating with these girls. He had already gathered that much from the first time he hung out with them weeks ago. At the time he guessed it was because they had all that money to burn that gave him an odd feeling. No doubt he just felt out of place, which was true since he was the only male in a predominantly female group. But, knowing what he did now, he knew that was not the true case. He couldn't fully explain it, but he knew that being around these girls felt too strange—too foreign—and it made him uncomfortable.

Was it just apprehension? Possibly, this was all still new to him and it's understandable since he hardly knew anything these girl's except Mugino. Kamijou didn't even know what she was hoping to gain from him being in this group. Harsh as they were, she hadn't been entirely wrong in her statement regarding him. There wasn't anything special about him, not as a person anyway. His arm was the only thing which was special, nothing else, and outside of that he was just like any other person who could be plucked out from a crowd.

A nobody, that's who he was in the grand scheme of things, so what was it that she was hoping to gain having him here? Such was the subject of his idol musings for the past two days and probably from the days to come. Hard not to think about considering what he knew now or what little he was told. As much as he distasted the very thought of it, he would just have to wait it out and see what unravels as time passes. The more he knew, the better grip he had on what ITEM did, the closer he would come to understanding what his purpose here was.

"Oi, Kamijou, didn't you hear me?"

"Huh?" Just as if someone had hit a switch, Touma's vacant expression perked back up to normal. Though he rather wished he hadn't, since he was currently on the receiving end of three sets of eyes staring at him; two of which openly displaying agitation. "Sorry, I kinda zoned out there for a bit. What were you saying again?"

"Ka…mi…jou…"

"Since you were just sitting there doing super nothing, she wanted you to go fetch us some drinks." Where Mugino failed to answer immediately, Kinuhata picked up the initiative to speak on her behalf. During which, had already put down the magazine she had been reading and started stretching her limbs out in a manner reminiscent to a cat. "While you're at it, find the waitress and tell her I'm ready to make my order. This place is super overpriced, but I don't feel like waiting til later to eat somewhere else."

"Ah, sure, I'll do that; what kinda drinks does everyone want?"

Shortly after each girl gave out their request, Kamijou vacated the table; leaving the four girls alone to themselves. Frenda, not even waiting to ensure the boy was out of earshot, turned her attention over towards the Level 5 beside her. The highest ranked Esper in question was currently observing herself in the small make-up mirror; not unaware of the blonde's gaze but largely indifferent to it.

"Basically, Mugino, did you really have to give him that money?"

"Stop it Frenda, we've fucking been over this already."

"But Mugino~"

Given this childish display, the blonde foreign girl had obviously had her fair share of objections to this decision. Objections which had been heard previously and disregarded when discussed at an earlier time prior to this afternoon. Any less stubborn person would have just let it drop, but it appeared that it was a matter that the blonde just couldn't let go. Mugino probably would have respected the girl more for her stubbornness in this matter if she wasn't so annoyed with this bout of immaturity. All this did to Shizuri was wear on her nerves, which was rapidly growing more and more visible on her features.

"I dunno, I'm super okay with it."

"That's basically because you're pay wasn't affected by it since you were at that other facility." Snapped Frenda accusingly, to which Saiai could only shrug as it was entirely true. "Meanwhile me, Mugino, and Takitsubo basically get our share cut in half just to pay for that idiot's first pay-check. That's not fair, that mess wasn't our fault, so why do we need to pay out just to compensate for him?"

To shed some light here, the method of payment between members of ITEM was pretty basic. Depending on the job, there was one pot that had a great deal of money in it. Once the job was over, their manager would split it up evenly amongst the members and thus each person which acted as their payment. If the job ended badly, the job's pot would shrink as the funds from it went towards the expenses to cover everything from damages to silencing witnesses. Again, it was basic in scope, but it worked well enough to ensure everyone gets their fair share and helped ensured cleaner job operations.

The Seiren incident had not been one of ITEM's cleanest jobs on the record. For that reason, they're pay had been reduced by a considerable amount. The fact that ITEM had to take a while off from jobs so things could settle put a damper on the girl's income for a short while. It wasn't a lot, and by this time they had managed to get back to work.

Then there was the situation with Kamijou, in which case the cause of Frenda's plight. See, because of the compromise Shizuri made, the group had to essentially shell out a portion of their own funds to pay him for that job. Normally that wouldn't have been a big deal since the job itself paid out very little due to how poorly the job had been handled. What changed was that Touma had incapacitated both threats as well as secured the data which ORDER had been attempting to upload.

To be fair, the second portion of that he was not likely aware of. Even so, he still accomplished the task on his own and had completed the job on ITEM's behalf. Bonuses were often given out by their manager if certain conditions are met, so it wasn't unheard of. As it so happened, Kamijou had earned that bonus which meant he had not received the same amount the girls did when the job had been finished.

That was the reason behind Frenda's indignation, for Kamijou not only made more money than they did on that job, but the money used to compensate him for it was coming out of their pockets. Saiai was fortunate enough that her funds were left alone since she was for the most part successful on her side of things. Frenda, along with Shizuri and Rikou, were not and the amount taken from their accounts was beyond what she was willing to part with quietly.

So yes, it was safe to say that she was more than a little sore about all this.

"Are you sure this isn't about him swooping in and super saving your ass?"

Okay, maybe that also played a part as to why the blonde was upset about it.

"That has nothing to do with it!" Exclaimed the girl, slamming her hand down onto the countertop to emphasize her point; even though she lying through her teeth. "I've said it a thousand times, I had that under control, so basically quit saying that! Besides, none of you were there, so I don't know where you're all getting that conclusion from!"

"…I was there…" And just like that, the blonde's sky-blue spheres had settled themselves onto the ever quiet Rikou, who still appeared to be gazing off into space even as her lips moved. "…it looked that way to me…sorry."

…well, at least Frenda now knew who made had mistaken in their details. Although, the incident Rikou was referring to didn't quite match the one Frenda was thinking of.

"Basically—!"

"Enough! It doesn't matter anymore so drop the subject." Snapped Mugino, closing the mirror with an audible clap as her visage increased in its sternness. "That goes for the money issue too Frenda, because I stand by what I said before. It's already been done, we're not having this discussion again, end of story. So you can either suck it up or you can keep whining about it; and I don't think you want to do that too much longer."

"Ah-hahaha, um, b-basically, I get it, I'll stop Mugino." The panic in her voice was very real, just as the subtle threat Shizuri made was. When it was put like that, letting the matter drop did seem like the better, healthier, option to take here. However, even if she said she would let the matter drop didn't mean she couldn't throw out the last of her objections. "I just don't like it is all."

"I don't care if you like it or not, you're going to deal with it."

"That is a super big thing to deal with though. I mean, this guy doesn't look the type that would fit in this line of work." Was it sad that Shizuri found Saiai's skepticism refreshing? Probably not, but compared to the minor complaints Frenda had it was nice to find someone looking at the bigger picture. "Sure, he did his thing that one time, but how do you think he'll do when we get to the real work? Like, when people are shooting at him or using super explosives to blow his ass up? We're used to that sorta thing, whereas he hasn't even held a gun before in his life."

"You do remember how we found him two days ago, right?"

"Even if that story checks out, it super doesn't mean he's capable of working in the same field as us; it just means he got off super lucky."

Mugino of all people knew the dangers of this lifestyle; hell all of them did. Getting off lucky was hardly a normal occurrence; they were professionals to some degree or another. That was what kept them alive all this time; making a mistake didn't end with a few bruises or cuts. It ended with your carcass in a body-bag being set off to an incinerator for disposal. That's where the end of the line was and all of them knew it. Kamijou, however, did not know that yet and likely wouldn't know it until he was either dead or learned to handle himself.

Now Kinuhata wasn't a saint, but all the same she wasn't a monster either. She was a professional and for better or for worse she did her job as one. And from a professional standpoint, putting some normal guy in an environment like this was a lot like putting a zebra in the lion's den. It wasn't smart, it was a walking liability that could ultimately jeopardize any job with just one minor fuck-up.

"What exactly are you trying to say here Kinuhata?"

What Saiai wanted to say was that she didn't fancy the idea of some amateur causing unnecessary problems. But what she wanted to say and what she could say were two entirely different things. If this was the result Mugino was pushing for, then there wasn't much that Saiai could do to change her mind.

So instead of saying what she wanted to say, she opted to make a suggestion instead.

"All I'm saying is that we should at least teach him how to super use a gun. Even Takitsubo knows how to do that, so it's the least we could do before we sign him up for his first job."

"You make it sound like I was throwing him to the wolves." Signed Mugino, idly curling her long locks of soft-tea hair with her index finger as she spoke. "Don't think so little of me, I know better than to let that idiot go out there as he is. But all the same, I'd rather him get some experience that comes with this job rather than have him spend two-to-three weeks at the shooting range."

"Basically, what're you gonna have him do then? I don't like complementing the pig, but we already know he's useful thanks to that arm of his."

"Exactly, he is useful against Espers; otherwise he's pretty fucking useless." Clarified the girl, but otherwise still nodded at the statement that was addressed. "Even if he's as useful to me as an onahole when it comes to normal people, the benefit that Imagine Breaker brings to the table against Espers is just too good to pass up. It's too valuable not to exploit, which is why I wanted him with us and not stuck with the grunts."

"So we're showing him the ropes like super trainers or something."

"Just about, like it or not he's stuck with us and he knows it." For some reason or another, Shizuri seemed proud of this; her chest rising as she crossed her arms beneath the large mounds. "When he's up to snuff, he'll come with us on another job and that'll act as his initiation. If he dies, he dies but if he survives then that means he's worth keeping 'til he's either dead or not useful anymore."

To Saiai that was to be interpreted as baby-sitting; which she did not fancy all that much. But from what she understood, that hand of his was legit and if so then she could see how it would be something worth investing her time into. How could she not see the benefit such a power yielded? Plus he already survived one of their jobs, completed it for them too, so maybe it wouldn't be but so bad. Then again he was still a cherry to this life, he didn't know much of anything as far as she was aware, and people like that didn't tend to last very long; mentally or physically.

"Okay, I can basically get behind that." Nobody present was dumb enough to wholeheartedly believe that, given Frenda's resentment towards the lad. Once she had explained herself, her reason was pretty straightforward and believable. "It won't hurt my feelings if he dies sooner or he dies later; the only drawback I see is the length of time I have to tolerate the pig."

In the end Saiai released an exhale as her expression showed signs of deflation before providing her response.

"As long as he doesn't botch too many of our jobs, then I super don't care."

"Hmm." With the majority of ITEM in agreement, Mugino's gaze swept across the table until her gaze landed on the remaining party left who had yet speak. "Takitsubo, are there any objections to this that you want to share?"

"..." Admittedly, she didn't even know why she bothered to ask for her input on the matter. Shizuri's mind was made up and the majority of their group had already conceded to her whims as they usually did more often than not. Nevertheless, if Mugino wanted her input on the matter, then she had only one thing she felt the need to relay in response. "…I don't mind…as long as he gets a fair chance."

"We're basically being more than a little fair here Takitsubo."

"…that's true…probably…"

And it was, because it was fair, generous even, by most standards. People who came into this life didn't receive an instructions manual or have anyone to show them the ropes. These girls, unfortunately, didn't fall into that category, yet they still managed to survive this long. Ignorant as he was, one could go as far as to say that Touma was rather fortunate to be given this sort of treatment. Anyone else and they would have been stuck on their own and forced to fend for themselves. Some cases were different, some were like this one, but those cases were so far in-between that it was hardly noticed.

Regardless, this was not Touma's place in the world; not to Rikou at least.

He didn't belong here, shouldn't be brought here, yet here he was being dragged into a life he never asked for. A life he would eventually come to curse with every fiber of his being along with the people who dragged him into this hell.

"Then it's settled." Clapping her hands together as a sign of adjournment, her gaze shifted back towards the chair which was still vacant at the edge of the booth. "All that's left for us to do now is wait...which reminds me. Kamijou, how long does it take to get a couple fucking drinks!?"

An instant later, her question was rewarded with a semi-loud crash.

"Gaaaah!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Along with the sound of Kamijou's startled cry and someone profusely apologizing. Almost as one, the four girls tilted their heads to better angle themselves to see what the disturbance was. What they found was the very same spiky-haired teen on the floor coated from the shoulders up in some form of beverage and condiments. A waitress was also with him on the floor; an empty pitcher laying next to her in addition to several broken plates and tableware.

How this happened none of the girls knew.

"Oh you've got to be—"

"Basically that's just sad, he's so dead come his first job."

"Am I the only one getting a sense of super déjà-vu here?"

"Kamijou…"

He couldn't hear these comments, but what he could do was see them all looking over at him from the table. He could see Mugino's irritation, Frenda's amusement, Kinuhata's bewilderment, and Takitsubo's concern all in their individual expressions. Not that anything they saw mattered, as he was far too used to this happening to him and that was just how life was for him. So he wasn't embarrassed by any means. Annoyed, yes, but not at the waitress who was still apologizing.

He was annoyed at whatever god existed that allowed him to suffer this ridiculously horrid streak of bad-luck.

"Fukou-da."

Worse yet, he knew that his already poor luck from here on would only get poorer.

Welcome to the bottom.

Okay, okay, I'm sure I'll get some heat for this, so I'll explain myself a bit. I know this is filler, but as I do with most things, I tend to try to get these sort of matters done and out of the way rather than just disregard them entirely. I'd like to say its the build-up to the next chapter, the next set of arcs. to come. This also helps because I believed it would further flesh out just how ITEM views Touma now and establishes what kind of impressions they have of him.

So if nothing else, its the foundation for ITEM's character development regarding their relationship with Touma. The first impression without actually being a first impression since we've already seen that already.

If this chapter felt wasted on you, then I'm sorry to hear that. But I can promise you that you'll get the good stuff come next chapter. Because guess what people, the real story of A Certain World of Darkness starts here. Everything's in place now, no more skirting around the edges of Dark-side. Touma's decent into the darkness is now underway.

As usual, if there are any inquiries, thoughts, or concerns that arise in your mind, feel free to address them to me and I'll do what I can to answer them. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed my little piece of work.

Goodbye for now.