Both mother and daughter, Misaka Misuzu and Mikoto were on the streets.
It was a corner on the second story of a large department that linked the subway to the surface and to an overhead bridge with a complicated three part road. On the second level that both of them were on, there were many stores on both sides selling handicrafts.
There was still some time till the next match which involved Tokiwadai Middle School. Mikoto was accompanying Misuzu on a shopping trip, and the places that Misuzu wanted to go to were places that were set aside to allow people to shop.
"Wait a second, you don't have to buy that vase cylinder that costs like 5 billion yen! You'll get sick of it in 3 days! 3 days!"
"Oh Mikoto-chan. Speaking about Academy City, one has to buy this sort of thing that no one can figure out as a gift, you know!"
"What? If we're using the latest and most advanced technology, we can't allow you to bring it out anyway. Also, what's with that multi-flowered vase? It says what 'In theory, this can replicate the surface of the fifth dimension with light refraction technology,' this is basically a lie! Can you really go to the fifth dimension to check it out!?"
"But it's this sort of uncertainty that makes it so interesting."
"A real gift should be about dwelling in wonderful memories!"
"Wa, to say something like dwelling in wonderful memories, Mikoto-chan's really a girl—"
"Shut up, stupid mom."
Mikoto tugged at her mother's hand, pulling her away from the stall. She was trying to advise her mother to buy a souvenir that was more worth it. For a middle school student who was going through a rebellious stage, one could say that she had a rather good relationship with her family members.
The mother and daughter combo seemed to be attracting quite a lot of attention, but they didn't seem to mind it.
"Ah, a souvenir, but I want to go to places that can only be seen in Academy City. Mikoto-chan, do you know of any good places? Okaa-san wants to see a giant spaceship."
"…What are you treating Academy City as?"
"Then I'll compromise and have a pure and innocent girl that looks like a humanoid weapon."
"THERE'S NO SUCH THING!!"
Mikoto inadvertently shouted out. At this moment, she felt that someone was staring at her with a strong intensity from somewhere outside her field of vision. Compared to the crowd that was staring at her, it was of a totally different intensity.
"Kuro…Kuroko?"
Mikoto stuttered as she turned around. The twin-pigtailed girl sitting on the athletic upside-down V-shaped wheelchair was looking strange. Shirai Kuroko's eyes were glittering, radiating a shining light, and even the person pushing the wheelchair, a petite girl with a flowerbed on her head, couldn't help but flinch.
Shirai Kuroko swallowed her saliva as she said,
"This…is this onee-sama's…family member? This…is wonderful. So wonderful that words can't describe it! What's with this expansion of onee-sama's radiance? Damn…damn it. If so, I made up my mind! Kuroko won't care whether they're sisters or mother or daughter, I'll take them all! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Basking in the glow of the Misaka family, Shirai Kuroko's thought process was completely messed up.
Deep inside, Mikoto swore not to let this person know of the Sisters' existence.
"Ara ara, is Mikoto-chan's interest heading in that direction?"
"What direction are you talking about? I'm always straight!!"
"You're right. Mikoto-chan's rather infatuated with that boy, so she doesn't have enough time to look for other love interests."
"EH? JUST SHUT UP!!"
Misuzu agilely dodged past a diving Mikoto. At this moment, she saw a familiar person from the corner of her eye.
(Hm? That's…hoho, speak of the devil.)
Right now, Mikoto and Misuzu were at the second level, located on a three part road that led both upstairs and downstairs. The familiar person was holding onto a handrail, facing the lower level. Maybe because of this, it seemed that he didn't notice them.
It was a boy with spiky black hair. There was a blond teenager beside him, a head taller, wearing sunglasses. Both of them were in similar PE attire, so it seemed that they were classmates.
(Both of them look serious though.)
From here, she couldn't hear what they were saying, but the expressions of these boys were such that it was rare to even see it in an important corporate dealing. It was the look of someone putting the fate of others on their shoulders. What was making these young boys look like this in Misuzu's eyes? Misuzu couldn't imagine.
"Hey, Mikoto-chan, isn't your Prince Charming over there?"
"Who would fall for that— no, I don't understand what you're trying to say!!"
Now flushed red, Mikoto must have thought that her mother was teasing her, so she chose not to look in the direction that Misuzu was pointing. At this point, the boys disappeared as they moved into the crowd.