—13th September 11:46p.m.—
In a ward at A Certain Hospital located in District 7, there were two bodies placed next to each other. One was a pale, skinny boy with white hair that almost touched his shoulders. The other one was concealed under a blanket.
The boy opened his eyes and sat up immediately.
His name was Accelerator, and he was wearing his normal grey and white striped clothes with jeans.
As he was sitting up, he was releasing huge breaths of air out of his mouth. He wrapped his arms around his stomach as he groaned in pain.
It felt like he was a girl and she was experiencing that time of the month already.
"Tch...that fucking bitch! I knew I shouldn't have drank with her!"
He got out of bed, grabbed his cane, and quickly limped his way to the bathroom. His head was in a mess, something was traveling through his oesophagus.
He dropped to his knees in front of the toilet bowl and vomited. He could taste the acid and the remains of his previously eaten food on his tongue as they came out.
"Bleurrrgghhh..."
A color of light green and light brown decorated the insides of the toilet. He got up and flushed his vomit down the drain and went to the basin to wash up. He hung his head low as he felt lightheaded while his head was aching.
It was a terrible experience for him. He could endure pain, but this was just simply unpleasant.
"Fuck, I'll need to get some water..."
He washed his face and rinsed his mouth before getting out of the toilet.
When he went to his room to get his money, he remembered that he broke his credit card when Mugino visited the hospital.
"Seriously...? That fucking bitch..."
He gripped the air tight as he cursed under his breath.
"(Now what am I supposed to do? Should I just call one of the nurses? But they're probably off-duty right now...)"
Accelerator frustratingly scratches his hair as he thinks about his options. But then a voice came up from behind him.
"Master? Did you need any help?"
He turned his head, and he saw his blonde companion, Ester. It seems like she had just woken up as she rubs her eyes.
"Nothing. Why are you up?"
"Oh, your movements were too loud."
She made a good point. It was dead silent in the whole hospital. Even a drop of a pin could be heard.
"My bad. Just go back to sleep."
"Hm...are you not planning to sleep?"
"Yeah, I'll go to sleep soon. I just have to settle a few matters."
She looked at him in a serious manner, as if she was picking a fight with him.
"Is it another matter regarding the safety of others?"
He only shook his head and sigh.
"I just need to clear my head. My head hurts right now. If you keep on disturbing me, then yeah, it will concern my own safety."
"Oh Master, are you perhaps...sick?"
"Ha? No way."
Then she walks over to him, grabs his wrist and inspects his whole arm.
"It could be possible, Master! Look at how thin you are! You are not eating much, you are not getting the right amount of nutrients. Your body might not be strong enough to ward off diseases!"
Accelerator's face became blank as he stared at her. She was still inspecting his arm then she dropped it and inspected his other arm.
"Look, Master! You are really skinny!"
"Tch, fine I get it, I get it! But I'm not sick! Now get out!"
Then she places her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. Her hands were warm, and quite unfamiliar to him. This was the first time someone actually cared for his health.
"Seems like you're fine..."
Then she pulls her hand away, and gives him a diagnosis.
"So you said that you were having a headache, and your temperature was fine...okay! I got it!"
"Huh? What did you get?"
"I'll be right back!"
Then she dashes out of the room, and out of his sight.
"...???"
Accelerator thought of what she was going to do. When he thought about it, he realized that he doesn't really know much about her. Well, to be fair, both of them barely know each other.
They only know the basics of who they were. Accelerator was the #1 esper in Academy City. Ester was a necromancer that really loves delicious food. He doesn't know her origins, and she doesn't know his origins. Well, she does have a vague idea of what he has gone through.
But putting that aside, he limped to the door with his cane, and locked his door.
"(Now I can rest in peace...)"
When he uncovered the sheets, he realized the figure under the blanket was gone.
"(Why the hell was she sleeping in here?)"
He thought about it for a second but brushed it off, seeing as how tired he was to even think of a reason.
He laid his head back, faced the wall on his left, and placed both of his hands under his pillow and slept.
————————————
"...aster. Master. Master, wake up."
He felt something lightly tapping his face. His eyes slowly opened and he saw someone's hips in front of him. They were wide. As he slowly looked up, he could see her hourglass shape, and something big overshadowing him.
"Master, are you awake now? I've brought you your medicine."
"Hnnggh...ah?"
Accelerator slowly got up, looking more miserable than ever. Some of his hair was sticking out, and his eyes were unevenly opened.
"What do you mean you've brought my medicine?"
Ester gleefully smiled at him with her white teeth showing as she shakes a bottle of liquid in front of him using her right hand. The brown bottle blocked out the colors of the liquid in the bottle from showing. In her left hand, which was pressing down on the bed, was a double sided spoon.
The spoon had a tablespoon at the front and a teaspoon at the back. On the table, there was a cup of water, and steam was rising out of the water.
"Is that even the right medicine?"
"Of course, Master! I've checked it already."
"And where did you get it from?"
"I got it from the doctor's office."
"Does he even allow it?"
Accelerator was getting very suspicious. Can he really trust her? He didn't even ask for her help.
Suddenly, she flicked his forehead. This woman had the audacity to flick him in the forehead. No one could have ever done that and still be smiling. She was so dead.
Yet, she wasn't.
"Geez, Master. You still can't trust me? I'm doing this to help you. If you're having any doubts, let me reassure you."
She places the bottle of medicine on the table next to the water, and goes closer to his face.
"Oi, you're too—"
"Master, while you were away, I was helping the doctor tend to his patients. And when you were helping the doctor on his operation for the kids, I was also tending to the patients for him. And I'll have you know that he praised me nicely. So how about it?"
Accelerator couldn't pull his head back further as he was being blocked by the wall. So he had to face her close.
"Tch, fine I get it. Now back off."
She pulls away and gives him another cheerful smile that made him cringe. This was too much kindness for him to handle.
She took the bottle with her right hand and unscrewed the bottle cap. She poured the medicine onto the tablespoon side, and aimed it at his mouth.
Accelerator stared at the orange medicine on the spoon as it approached him.
"Say ah..."
"I'm not a damn child, don't say that to me..."
She didn't reply him and continued to slowly drive the spoon into his mouth. He hesitantly opened his mouth and she placed the spoon in and he swallowed the medicine.
It tasted pretty...okay to him. He didn't squint his eyes and whirled his mouth, instead it tasted normal. It tasted bitter, but it had an orangey flavor to it as well.
This 'immunity' could probably be credited to the fact that he had been drinking black coffee since who knows when.
Ester then placed the spoon and bottle on the table and gave him the hot water immediately. However, she accidentally tilts the water and it spills onto him. He was wet from his head to hips.
"Oh no! Master...I-I'm so sorry! I'll get a cloth immediately."
"*sigh* It's fine, I'll just go and wash up. I smell like oil anyway."
Ester felt bad about what she did. Guilt was written all over her face. He could see it as well.
He didn't want her to feel bad for wasting her effort, she was still trying her best.
"Well, at least my headache is gone. So I guess you did well for someone who can't do anything."
"Huh? Master, i-is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"Who knows? Since you're done already, go and sleep already. It's pretty late now, isn't it?"
"...Yeah..."
Accelerator grabbed his clothes and towel, and went to the bathroom near his ward.
When he went in, he hung his clothes on the hook at the door.
The bathroom wasn't very fancy looking it had a bathtub, a shower head, a small chair, a toilet, and the floors were tiled. The whole place was colored with the same peachy color. The soaps were all placed on a small plate, either along the pipe that holds the shower head, or on the side of the bathtub.
"I'll make this quick."
He takes the small chair and sits down after turning on the tap. The water flowed out of the shower head, and the droplets of water hits his hair and soon covered his whole body. After he rinsed his body, he turned the tap off and applied soap all over his body. Then, he rubbed shampoo all over his hair.
When he wanted to turn the tap on, it failed. There was no water.
"...What?"
He twists and turns it around, but there was no water coming out.
"Tch...I didn't want to do this, but..."
He turns his battery on and tries to control the flow of water to come out, but there was none to control.
"Ha? Now what the hell am I supposed to do?"
He thinks hard as he continued scratching the shampoo all over his head.
"(Control the used water? Fuck that. I could try to dry it using the air around me. I could also try to bind the surrounding hydrogen with oxygen, but there's too little hydrogen in the air...)"
Accelerator grumbled but when he looked up, he saw the empty bathtub.
He walks to it and tries to turn the tap on, but it fails as well.
"Tch, great. This doesn't work as well."
He turns his battery back to 'normal' and he continues thinking of the possibilities. But then, he slips on some of the water on the floor and he fell down as his hand hits the tap.
"Ow!"
The tap was turned to 'full power', and at first he expected nothing. But fate chose to say otherwise.
When he got up, water suddenly started flowing out of the shower head. He looked straight at the opening, and then...
*Pssshhh*
His bare eyes were flushed with water coming at him full speed. It hurts his eyes and he quickly turned away, but just as he was turning, water and a bit of shampoo from his hair entered his ears as well. His ears were slightly blocked as he leans over the bathtub. His back was facing the door.
"Ah fuck!"
He uses his palms to wipe his slightly red eyes.
"What the hell is this?!"
He walks over to the still-flowing water from the shower head and rinses his whole body and eyes. He blinks continuously to get rid of the redness in his eyes and then he swallows air to try and unblock his ears.
After some time, he finally manages to unblock his ear.
"Who knew the hospital could be this dysfunctional..."
Then, just as he was done, he felt something touching his back. That shocked him. He sat straight up and placed his left hand on his battery as he turns back.
"Who is it?!"
That person pushed his left hand down and hugged him.
"Calm down, Master. If you get your blood pressure too high, your wound will open up again, won't it?"
"Tch, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help you wash up. I'm still feeling bad for spilling water on you. I won't feel better unless I can repay you."
Accelerator stared at her and thought that her reason was pretty idiotic. Something like this was unnecessary for him. But that was only one part of his questions. The other part is...
"How did you get in here? Or to be precise...how did you even enter my ward?"
She looks confused for a second. But then, she finally answered him.
"I entered your place by going through the window. And I managed to come here because you didn't lock the door. Was I wrong to do this? All I wanted to do was pay you back."
She wasn't purposely trying to show him her puppy eyes, but it seemed that way. Her eyes looked so pitiful and innocent, like a child that just did something wrong.
She was doing something wrong, but he didn't want to discourage her and make her feel worse. But he also wanted to tell her that she was wrong.
"Listen here...you don't have to do anything to repay me. You tried your best, and that's all that I need from you. Now, if you could please, kindly leave. I'm done here either way. If you want to shower, you may do so at your own pace."
He got up, but was quickly pulled back down by Ester still holding his left hand, and wrapping her arm around his waist.
"Oi! Let go!"
She didn't listen, instead she gripped harder. Behind him, she looked down at the tiled floor, her face flushed red.
"Oi! I'll fucking murder you once I escape!"
He wriggled under her grasp.
"If you don't let go, my blood pressure is going to rise."
She still didn't listen.
"Oi, I'm your..." He hesitated in saying those words. He didn't want to admit it. He'd rather not say that word. That cursed word.
"(No, I'm not going to say it. I'd rather die than admit that I'm that...type of person.)"
She finally spoke up. She looked at the back of his head and said,"M-Master...w-would us like to be m-more than a master-disciple re-relationship?"
Accelerator was confused as he turned his head back. But when he turned back, Ester quickly tilted her head to the side, preventing them from meeting eye-to-eye. She bit her bottom lip nervously as she looks away.
"Ha? What do you mean?"
"I-I mean...w-would you accept me as your g-g-g-g-g-g...ah...I'm too scared to say it!"
"...God?"
"Ah!...Wait, no no no!"
Now she was looking at him in the eyes. His red-pupils stared into her soul. But they weren't scary, they were very calming for some reason. They felt warm like the color of his eyes.
"Would you accept me as your...girlfriend?"
"...Ha?"
"I mean...I know what you said...you know? About the how we just recently met. I mean...I really thought hard about it. At first I saw you as a 'Master', but as time went on, I really love the person you are!"
Her grip was tightening even more, but Accelerator didn't flinch. She was trying her best to speak her heart. No, but things were going to get out of hand. This was not how he wanted this to become. But she was still continuing.
"I love everything about you! To me, you are a hero. I know you don't see yourself as a hero..."
"Oi...that's enough." Accelerator interrupted, but she continued going on.
"...I know you hate yourself for whatever reason...but I still see you as a hero...I don't know what you went through...but I want to know more!"
"Oi, stop already..."
"You treat yourself too unfairly. You sacrifice yourself for others, you don't even ask for anything in return. You're a kind person, Accelerator!"
That was the first time after a long time that she called him something other than 'Master'. She was being serious here.
"Just shut up!"
She looks at him, with a small amount of tears in her eyes.
"You think you know what I've been through? You like me for who I am? Don't lie to yourself. You want to know more? Fine."
He looks in front of him, averting her gaze.
"I'll tell you how much of a monster I am. I killed over 10,000 innocent people. I don't ask for any rewards, so that makes me a good person? Bullshit. I don't have anything that I want, that's why I don't ask for anything. I'm kind? No, I just say some things to make them feel better so they'll owe me something in the future. If I ever feel bored, I'll call them out and murder them. Me, a hero? Don't fuck around. A hero doesn't kill to protect. A hero can protect everything they want, I can't."
His words came out like knives. So aggressive and sharp. So cold and deadly. If words determined the atmosphere, then his atmosphere could kill anyone.
The whole bathroom was quiet. It was awkward. Well, not really. But no one was saying anything, and her grip wasn't loosening one bit.
"Now let go of me. You have been following the wrong person."
"..."
"Heh, disappointed now? Shame on you for having such a bad judgement."
Accelerator smirked at her as he turns his head back. She was resting her head on his back so he could feel strands of hair on his back.
"...Liar."
"Ha?"
Accelerator had his mouth wide opened, feeling confused at what she had just said.
"I don't believe for a second that you're that type of person. If you were really that unkind, why didn't you kill me earlier? I was of no use to you. I've never had the chance to help you once, you fought everything by yourself."
She was full of confidence now as she looks at him straight in the eyes.
"It's called pride."
"Pride?...Fine, I'll accept that. Then why don't you kill me? If you're really that bad of a person, why don't you show it to me?"
She released his left hand and personally turned his battery on. Accelerator clicked his tongue and he tapped the floor with his foot, creating a wave of air that pushed her back. She landed on the wall behind them and her bare body was exposed.
"Okay. If you wish to die that badly, I'll grant your wish to you."
He wasn't smiling, he had a fierce presence that surrounded him. But that didn't daunt her. She put up a strong front as she faced him. She got up and walked forward.
He grabbed her left hand with his right hand and squeezed it tight.
"I won't kill you immediately. I'll torture you. I'll show you why I'm a monster."
A sinister smile appeared on his face that made him look like a devil. They both stood face to face, he looked down on her, since he was slightly taller than her.
He was more dominant right now. She tilted her body to the left a bit more as she tried to endure the squeeze of his hand. He wanted to break her hand. The hand that prevented him from turning his powers on.
But she didn't scream. She clenched her teeth together and endured the pain.
He released her hand and then drove his knee into her stomach, making her bend down. Then he slugged her through the face using his right fist. She fell down to the wet, warm tiled floor.
He curled his toes and started to kick her stomach. However, she only released soft groans as he kicked her. She was still enduring the pain. He kicked her countless of times but she didn't even tell him to stop once.
He clicked his tongue and decided to finish her off. He used his right hand to grab her by the neck and lift her off the ground.
"If you beg for your life right now, I might consider letting you live."
Her arms were still beside her as she was being lifted up. She didn't even think of resisting his assault.
She could only look at him with one eye as she hung from his hand.
"...Gh...never. Gyou...won't...k-kill me."
She struggled to get the words out of her mouth, since her airflow was being blocked by him. He was ready to snap her neck as his grip tightened. He was going to press his four fingertips at the back of her neck further. This would kill her, but she could probably be saved. But even then, she would be paralyzed at most.
Accelerator's eyes closed a bit, leaving a slit on his eyes.
And finally...
Her limbs went limp, and she closed her eyes. Her lifeless body left hanging. He ruthlessly dropped her body down and went to dry himself off and put on his clothes.
He had finally done it.
He dressed her body back up with her clothes that she hung on the hook as well. He carried her lifeless body with his arms as he brought her back to his ward.
When they were back, he laid her body down on his bed and leaned back on the wall.
"(She's so damn annoying...)" He thought as he looked outside the window across him.
To him, she was the most annoying person in the world. He just wanted to be left alone. But she wouldn't leave him alone.
—14th September 2:39a.m.—
Accelerator's head was tilted down as he slept. He had his right arm supported by his right knee, as he stretched his left leg out. His cane was leaning against the wall as well.
Ester woke up, as she caught huge breaths of air. She wrung her left wrist with her right hand as she got up. She was bruised, but they weren't that bad. She was still in tip-top condition. Her bones were fine, there were no fatal injuries.
Ester didn't feel too much pain back then because he wasn't trying to hurt her. He was trying to scare her, and she knew it. He squeezed her hand, but only stopped the blood from flowing there. He lightly kicked and punched her. The only painful thing was him hanging her, but he only stopped air from flowing to her brain.
"I knew it, Master. You wouldn't kill me. You're too soft."
She got out of bed and sat down next to him.
"I trust you the most, Master. You don't have to accept me, but just know that I'll always be waiting for you."
She cups his left cheek and pecks his right cheek with her tender lips.
"Goodnight." She whispers as she drops the side of her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, waiting for the rest of the night to pass on.
Accelerator wasn't really asleep of course. How could he sleep on the cold-hard floor? It hurts his ass just to sit down there.
He had only closed his eyes for about five minutes before she woke up. Her being unconscious wasn't going to last long, he knew that. He also knew that she would have been passed out for five to fifteen minutes, and was just seeing how she would approach him after all that he did.
It seems that she wanted to suffer with him as well.
"(She's really such a nuisance...)"
Then he rests his head on hers.
"(...but I don't dislike it.)"
Then, he heard a girl's voice below him.
"Master, are you awake?"
She didn't budge her head. She asked him with her head still on his shoulder.
There was no response.
"...I guess not. I guess it's just a coincidence."
The whole night went by quietly, with only the wind blowing outside being audible, and the frequent blasts of wind that would come out from the air-conditioner.
Truly, this night was quite peaceful.
—14th September 11:34a.m.—
"Wah?! What's this?! Asks Misaka as Misaka accuses this man of fidelity!"
"*Sigh* How can my servants be so bored that they'd engage in such activities?"
Last Order and Himegi were in his room reprimanding him for his actions with Ester.
Their actions being...sitting down next to each other.
They both woke up from their loud voices and Accelerator told them,"Shut up, you're both annoying."
He got up from the floor, took his cane and went out of his ward.
"Hey, wait!" The both of them shouted after him. "Don't think you can get away this easily! Says Misaka as Misaka tries to make you apologize!"
"Right, right, whatever you say." Accelerator says dismissively.
"Is servant in a good mood today?" Himegi whispers to Last Order as she raises a single eyebrow.
"Hm...now that you mention it, it does seem like he's in a good mood, wonders Misaka as Misaka thinks that they did do something last night."