Chapter 85: Sakiko Is Coming!
Makoto walked forward as calmly as ever and said in a casual tone, "You won, didn't you? Isn't that enough?"
Mikoto looked up at him, clearly unwilling to accept that.
"This isn't about winning or losing! Back in the mall, if you hadn't been there, Uiharu and I might both have died!"
Mikoto understood perfectly well how powerful that explosion had been. Neither of them had bodies capable of surviving something like that at point-blank range.
Worse, she'd already tried to stop the bomb, only for her attack to fail because she'd misjudged the situation. To Mikoto, that counted as a serious mistake.
Makoto walked over and almost reached out to pat her head on instinct.
Over the last two days, he'd ended up patting Yukino's head once or twice almost every day. Apparently, it was starting to become muscle memory.
But he and Mikoto weren't nearly that close yet. More importantly, they hadn't gone through the kind of life-and-death experiences that had rapidly deepened his bond with Yukino.
Makoto didn't believe a girl as outstanding as Mikoto would suddenly develop feelings for him that quickly either.
So he withdrew his hand.
"Misaka, you're a gamer too. You should understand the difference between clearing a game and getting a flawless no-damage clear, right?"
Mikoto nodded. Of course she understood.
Plenty of players could simply beat a game, perhaps twenty or thirty percent of them. But those capable of clearing the entire thing without taking a single hit probably made up less than one percent.
Makoto continued, "What you're trying to do now is get a flawless one-life clear in the real world. Do you honestly think that's realistic?"
"This result was already good enough. You don't have anything to blame yourself for."
Mikoto still wasn't convinced.
"But I'm one of only seven Level 5 espers among Academy City's 2.3 million people. Isn't it reasonable for me to demand more from myself?"
"Of course. But one person's strength will always have limits."
Makoto reached out and took one of her fingers.
"Instead of carrying everything alone, why not share some of the pressure with your teammates? Someone like me, for example."
The direct contact immediately brought a faint blush to Mikoto's cheeks.
She was curious about what Makoto intended to do, though, so she didn't resist. She simply endured her embarrassment without unleashing any electricity.
Makoto looked at the scrape on her finger and mobilized his chakra.
Pale blue energy spread from his wrist, wrapped around Mikoto's injured finger, then gradually covered her entire hand.
A cool sensation immediately washed over her.
"Nya..."
The tiny sound escaped before Mikoto could stop it.
Then her eyes widened.
The scrape on her finger was visibly disappearing.
"W-What kind of power is this? Kitano Makoto, what exactly is your esper ability?"
Makoto put on a serious expression.
"I don't know the specifics myself. You can think of it as a kind of life energy."
"It strengthens my body, can emerge to block attacks for me, and can also heal myself or other people."
The astonishment in Mikoto's eyes didn't diminish at all.
"Even if healing were the only thing you could do, an ability like this would make you one of the most important people in Academy City."
Makoto released her hand.
"No chance. Healing other people uses the purest form of this power."
"You could almost think of it as consuming my own life force."
His expression remained calm.
"So I only use it on people I trust."
The excitement in Mikoto's eyes slowly changed.
Her tea-colored eyes shone as she looked at Makoto, and for the first time she seemed to feel an almost irresistible sense of trust and attraction toward a boy.
"...Thank you."
Mikoto slowly turned her face aside.
The frustration that had been weighing on her disappeared completely. In that moment, she once again looked every bit like one of Academy City's proud Level 5 espers.
But just as Makoto had said, she no longer needed to fight everything alone.
Mikoto suddenly remembered something.
She bit her lip, took Makoto's hand, and placed it on top of her head.
"You wanted to pat my head just now, didn't you? I'll specially allow it this once. Only once... mm."
Her face had already turned bright red, but once Makoto gently stroked her hair, the tension gradually disappeared from her expression.
Apparently, Mikoto found the experience surprisingly comfortable.
Her arms slowly relaxed at her sides, and even the toes she'd been balancing on shifted slightly as she settled down.
Makoto suddenly felt that ending this naturally might become more awkward than he'd expected.
At that moment, a figure abruptly appeared behind him.
A flying kick shot toward his lower back.
"Get away from my Onee-sama!"
"Kuroko!"
Mikoto snapped back to reality and tried to stop her.
She was too late.
Too late to stop Makoto from throwing Shirai Kuroko away.
Makoto pivoted lightly, dodging her kick at a speed beyond Kuroko's dynamic vision. He caught her slender ankle and casually swung her upward.
Kuroko shot into the sky.
Only after rising nearly ten stories did she recover from her dizziness enough to understand what had just happened.
'He beat me?'
Makoto himself felt nothing in particular about the result.
His current speed and strength weren't quite at Level 5 standards, but they were already overwhelming against most Level 4 espers.
Mikoto could detect his attacks through electromagnetic sensing and respond using her immense calculation ability.
Kuroko couldn't.
Physically, she was still only human.
Kuroko showed no panic while airborne. She smoothly adjusted her position and continued glaring murderously down at Makoto.
Before she could teleport back into another attack, Makoto spoke.
"Uiharu and the others are safe. I've finished the job you asked me to do."
"So as of today, neither of us owes the other anything."
That finally calmed Kuroko.
Instead of attacking again, she teleported directly beside Mikoto.
Her expression as she looked at Makoto was complicated.
Eventually, she bowed to him respectfully.
"I already heard everything from Uiharu. You really did save my best friend, and I have no way to properly repay something like that."
"As you said, our personal debt is settled."
"But Uiharu will definitely be extremely grateful. If she wants to thank you herself, I hope you won't reject her."
Makoto nodded.
"Of course not. I'd be happy to become friends with Uiharu and Saten too."
Mikoto smiled when she saw the conflict settle down.
Then she noticed something missing from Makoto's sentence.
"Wait. What about me? Don't I count as your friend?"
Kuroko looked at her in absolute despair.
"Onee-sama! You're a Level 5 esper! How can you beg a man to be your friend?!"
Mikoto shoved Kuroko's face aside and looked straight at Makoto.
"Anyway, I've decided you're my friend."
"And after today, I owe you another favor. That's three favors now, so remember that!"
Kuroko clutched her head.
"Onee-sama! How can you owe a man three favors?! What if he uses them to force you into doing something strange someday?!"
The blush that had only just faded from Mikoto's face returned slightly.
Even so, she pretended to remain completely calm.
"I trust Kitano. He wouldn't do that."
"Onee-sama, don't trust men so easily!"
"Enough, Kuroko. If you don't arrest that criminal soon, he might actually get away."
Mikoto pointed toward the alley.
Kuroko looked extremely reluctant, but she still teleported inside and returned to her duties as a Judgment officer.
That was Shirai Kuroko.
Whatever strange problems she had with her personality, very few people could criticize the seriousness and responsibility she showed toward her work.
"Come on, let's go."
Mikoto grabbed Makoto's sleeve.
"If we stay here, Kuroko will start lecturing us again."
She happily pulled him away, and the two returned to the mall entrance together.
Kazari still had work to do, but Ruiko was waiting outside, so naturally Mikoto needed to say goodbye to her.
"Ah, Misaka-senpai! Kitano-senpai! There you are!"
Ruiko hurried toward them.
"I was starting to worry because I had no idea what to do with all this stuff!"
She shoved their shopping bags into their arms.
Mikoto looked perfectly calm at first.
Then she noticed there was a bag for her too.
Her expression immediately became suspicious.
"What's this? Let me see..."
She instinctively pulled out the contents.
The moment the childish floral pajamas appeared, her face turned red all the way to her ears.
Mikoto immediately stuffed them back to the bottom of the bag as if hiding contraband.
Then she glared at Makoto and Ruiko in embarrassment.
"What is this?! Who bought these for me?"
Ruiko spent half a second weighing the consequences.
Half a second later, she pointed directly at Makoto and sold him out.
Makoto answered as though it were obvious.
"You bought clothes for me, so I bought you clothes you liked. It's called returning the favor."
"I-I don't like childish things like this!"
Electricity began crackling around Mikoto in sheer embarrassment.
Makoto kept a straight face.
"What's childish about them? I think they're great. Look at the pattern and the design. They're very... very..."
He stalled.
Mikoto had initially expected him to produce some brilliant argument.
When she saw him run out of words, the anticipation on her face turned into disdain.
She reached toward his wrist with an electrified hand.
Makoto naturally had no intention of letting her catch him.
He vanished almost instantly.
Mikoto pretended to chase him for a few steps before stopping.
Once she confirmed nobody was looking, she carefully pulled the pajamas back out and examined them again with a red face.
The colors and design were exactly her taste.
And Makoto had bought them for her.
'Then I can wear these while hugging the black Gekota... almost like he's here with me.'
Mikoto froze.
'Wait. That's not right at all!'
'That guy is Misaki's ex-boyfriend!'
Her thoughts became increasingly frantic.
'Misaka Mikoto, how could you fall so far that you're having strange thoughts about Shokuhou Misaki's ex-boyfriend?!'
Unfortunately, the harder she tried to control herself, the more chaotic her thoughts became.
She couldn't even sleep properly that night.
In her dream, she and Makoto had somehow become a couple.
The two of them were about to kiss beneath a cherry tree at Christmas when Shokuhou Misaki appeared with her remote, controlled Makoto, and stole him away.
Mikoto shot upright in bed in fury.
Only then did she realize it was three in the morning.
Even Kuroko was still sleeping soundly.
Mikoto instinctively picked up her phone and opened Makoto's contact information.
For a moment, she wanted to send him something.
In the end, she suppressed the impulse.
Instead, she hugged the black Gekota while wearing the floral pajamas and quietly murmured to herself.
"I'll ask him to play games again tomorrow..."
What Mikoto didn't know was that Makoto was currently in a completely different space-time, training in swordsmanship with Yukinoshita Yukino.
Yukino moved gracefully, every swing appearing simple yet precisely aimed at Makoto's weaknesses.
Makoto held a katana of his own.
The blade possessed intelligence and was doing its best to assist him, but the gap between their swordsmanship was still absurdly large.
"Makoto-kun, you really don't have to force yourself to learn swordsmanship."
Yukino lowered her sword slightly.
"The Bleach world's power system is certainly strong, but even a villain like Aizen couldn't completely break through its limits."
"That alone proves it isn't worth investing everything you have into it."
Makoto nodded.
He was mostly preparing for emergencies.
Yukino spent most of her missions in the Bleach world.
If Makoto ever entered that world himself, knowing swordsmanship would at least make it easier to explore the abilities of his own Zanpakuto.
Makoto suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, I've never really asked. What exactly happened to you in the Bleach world? Who are your enemies?"
It had only been a casual question.
Yukino's face immediately lost some of its color.
She shook her head.
She clearly didn't want to talk about it.
Makoto didn't press her.
Still, he couldn't help wondering what kind of enemy could make Yukino, who was already close to becoming a Professional, remain this wary even now.
By dawn, their night of training finally ended.
Makoto returned to Academy City.
As usual, he picked up his phone and prepared to check his social media messages.
Then he noticed an unfamiliar text message.
The moment he saw the sender's name, Makoto shot upright from his bed, surprise and delight flashing through his eyes.
It was Togawa Sakiko.
Makoto had expected her to send a long explanation.
Instead, there was only one sentence.
"Three days from now, I'll be joining a tour group traveling to Academy City. We'll discuss everything after we meet."
Makoto read the message once more before finally calming his accelerated heartbeat.
Thinking about it, this made perfect sense.
Whatever they needed to discuss would inevitably involve the Main God Space.
That meant they absolutely couldn't talk through ordinary communication software.
Even if Academy City wasn't monitoring either of them, leaving written records about the Main God Space on a phone sounded like a spectacular way to get themselves killed.
"Three more days..."
Makoto murmured quietly.
He didn't know whether his reunion with Sakiko would happen before he was sent into his next Mission World.
…