"..."
"..."
Yeah, this is awkward.
"Everything's going smoothly for both of you. You can be discharged as soon as tomorrow... Jeez, you two were always like this in the end, weren't you?"
I was trying to fix it, Dr. Mikado.
I muttered to myself as I looked at Yami, who was lying in the bed next to me.
Two days have passed since Tina was discharged. Yami and I have been alone in the same hospital room the whole time. Just being there.
There was absolutely no conversation. Yami just kept reading her book, and she wouldn't even look at me when I talked to her. Eventually, I felt pathetic talking to myself and stopped talking to her too.
She didn't react to any of our friends who came to visit us every day, either.
"You're going to be living together soon. Is that really going to be okay?"
"Yeah. The last time I heard Yami's voice was..."
Let's see, I think... not in this hospital, and not when we fought with Yasuwaki either, so...
"When I mentioned your underwear...?"
BANG!!!
The railing on the side of Yami's bed was dented.
"Dr. Mikado, are you seriously telling me to live with this man? If this is a joke, please stop."
"...By the way, what do you mean by 'when you mentioned your underwear'?"
"Sho Yozuki. I'll kill you if you tell her."
"See? That's what she said."
'I'll kill you' is quite a chaotic line for our first conversation in this hospital. It seems Yami's Transformation Trans ability has recovered, so she might actually kill me.
"Hmm. Well, I can imagine. I see. But isn't that normal for a healthy boy? I'd be more concerned if he showed no interest at all."
"Sho Yozuki is a perverted fiend who hits on everyone, regardless of age, gender, or orientation."
"Hey! That! Since we have the chance, I want to say this now: I'm not into guys!"
I hadn't had a chance to clear up that misunderstanding, so it had just been left hanging. I needed to resolve it as soon as possible.
"Then what about women?"
"Now that you mention it, all your visitors were girls."
They both looked at me with different expressions. Yami gave me a sharp stare, and Dr. Mikado had a look that clearly showed she was amused. That's the look of someone who thinks I'm going to stumble over my words. But I'm not that easy.
"Of course, I love cute girls. Any man, no matter his age, would say the same thing."
"Pfft, hahaha! Oh, how refreshing! Yami-chan, he's a good kid. He's not a weird pervert, and he's honest with you."
"I hate perverts, and besides, I don't like being with anyone."
Yami seemed to have even stronger feelings of aversion now. How am I supposed to raise my affection level from here? Rito-san is seriously amazing. Even with all those accidental perverted moments.
"It's too late to say that now. I've already registered you in the Butei databank with your photo."
"When did you do that...?"
"You work fast..."
The Butei databank. Once you're registered, the Butei Triple Rule (a rule that states a crime committed by a Butei is punished with three times the severity of a normal crime) is applied. Furthermore, having a photo dramatically improves the accuracy of a Psychometrer's ability.
In other words, it became much harder for her to escape in many ways.
With this, it would be difficult to return to her previous profession as an assassin, and since Yami had no other way to make a living, she had no choice but to accept the conditions offered to her.
The condition was to live in my house and attend Butei High.
"So... so, please try to start over, even now."
"...That's none of your business, Dr. Mikado. I don't think I can so easily erase everything I've done."
"Well, there are a lot of hot-blooded people at Butei High..."
"The biggest problem is living in your house, you know?"
I know, right?
Hmm... even in the original story, it was a miracle that she opened up to him. I guess I'll just have to play the long game.
I thought to myself as I watched Yami turn away.
--------
I'm currently in a state of being on pins and needles. People who are being talked about around me are staring and whispering. To be exact, they're not looking at me, but at Yami.
Yes, the cause is Yami, who is walking a little distance away from me, instead of next to me. If she's wearing that black combat suit in the middle of the day, even the people on this island, who are used to many things, will wonder what's going on.
After getting discharged without any problems, we were on our way to a shopping mall. The purpose was to buy clothes for Yami.
Yami actually doesn't own any casual clothes. All she has is that combat suit. Yami herself probably never thought she needed them, but that's not going to be the case anymore. Although her school uniform will be delivered to the house, it's probably a good idea to buy at least some loungewear. Well, I also don't know how to choose clothes for girls at all.
Oh, and speaking of things she doesn't have, Yami doesn't own a bra either. This is a completely irrelevant side note, but it's true!! That means she's not wearing anything on top when she's wearing that daringly designed combat suit. No, seriously, it's just a side note.
By the way, the airship that Yami used as her home and for transportation is in the hangar (the first floor) of my house. It was empty and lonely, so it was a good fit.
Of course, there was no conversation, and since we were so far apart, it was hard to tell if we were even together when we arrived at our destination store. At least it's not a store where girls her age would normally go shopping on a holiday.
I glanced at Yami, and she didn't seem to have changed her expression at all. Well, the only time Yami has changed her expression was when I mentioned her underwear.
"...Did you just think something perverted?"
"I probably thought exactly what you're imagining."
She's expressionless and doesn't seem to have any interest in others, yet she's very good at reading their expressions. Is that because of the world she lived in?
"Sigh... You're really a pervert."
"But don't worry, I won't suddenly trip and fall into your skirt. You can rest assured."
"Of course you won't. If you do something like that, I'll kill you."
Huh? But you couldn't kill him in the original story, right?
"You're thinking something rude again."
"You're so good at reading expressions."
"...I was just bluffing... What were you thinking?"
"Uh, well... I was just thinking that, as far as I know, Yami-chan's combat record isn't very good."
She was defeated by me, and incapacitated by Yasuwaki, so she hasn't had any good moments, it seems.
"You're really rude. Just so you know, electricity and I are extremely incompatible. When it was you and me..."
Yami glared at me with a flushed face.
"...I was about to lose, so I figured it was fair game to exploit your weakness."
I'm the scumbag who exploited a girl's weakness.
Since standing and talking in front of the store is annoying, we should probably go inside soon.
"Okay, then just pick out whatever you want."
"...Okay."
Well, we're not buying anything too fancy. I'll be happy as long as we get a few sets of loungewear and pajamas for today.
With that in mind, Yami came back right away.
In her hands were three sets of matching tracksuits.
"Is that all you're getting?"
"...It doesn't matter as long as I can wear them."
With that, Yami headed for the outside of the store. Of course, I'm the one who's paying.
This is going to be a long and difficult road. She's completely different from Jeanne, with whom I can at least have a somewhat decent conversation.
--------
To get to know each other a little better, we decided to have lunch together.
We went to the largest food court in the shopping mall. Noodles, rice bowls, hot pots for one, desserts, and more—you could say there was no basic dish that you couldn't get here.
"I'll have a taiyaki."
"Huh... Is that your main meal?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
"If that's your diet and you have a body like that, I don't see any problem."
"My... my body...! You...!"
Yami hugged herself and showed her caution. Why does it always end up like this?
I repeated the meaningless mantra "Next time I'll be more careful" in my heart. And just as I was about to order,
『Attention all customers. We apologize for the inconvenience, but due to a problem that has occurred in the store, we will be closing for the day.』
That announcement echoed through the store.
"Huh, seems like something happened."
"It appears so."
We made eye contact and left the area.
--------
『Attention all customers. We apologize for the inconvenience, but due to a problem that has occurred in the store, we will be closing for the day.』
The store announcement, which I don't know how many times it's been repeated, rang out.
It was a good thing that people didn't panic after the first announcement, but since a lot of people slowly rushed to the exit, a few people were injured.
Why are people evacuating in the first place? It's because of the recent series of Gravity Bombings that have been happening. To put it very simply, it's a type of bomb terrorism. People are being evacuated after a report that a bomb might have been planted.
And among those people, there was a girl running in the opposite direction of the exit.
A Butei girl who happened to be here to play and was running around after receiving a notification on her phone.
Her name is Uiharu Kazari. She wears an excessive amount of floral decorations on her head.
She doesn't have any special abilities and isn't good at sports. She's the type of person who excels at rear support, but she's running around for a reason.
She's looking for a lost girl who was with her until just before the announcement.
"Misaka-san!"
"I looked on the upper floors, but she's not there!"
Another girl joins her.
Misaka Mikoto. She's one of the three most powerful Esper's on this island.
"Maybe she already went outside?"
"I don't know. But if she's still inside, it could be bad. Let's look a little longer!"
"Okay!!"
Just as they were about to part ways after exchanging those words,
"Ah! Big sis!"
The little girl ran up to Uiharu. In her hand was a doll that she wasn't holding when she was lost.
"I'm so glad."
"Yeah."
Both of them were completely relieved to have found her. For a moment, they forgot why everyone was evacuating.
"The big brother with glasses told me to give this doll to the Judgment big sister!"
"Huh, to me?"
Uiharu reached out her hand to take the doll—
"Yami! Throw the doll away!!"
A voice came from a completely different direction, and a figure appeared at an incredible speed. By the time Uiharu registered it, the doll was already flying through the air.
The doll's shape was distorted as if it had been compressed by the air.
Mikoto instantly understood that the doll was dangerous.
(I'll use my Railgun to blow the doll away!!)
Mikoto took a coin out of her pocket. However, in her haste, she fumbled it and dropped it.
(Damn it! I won't make it...!!)
Mikoto's vision slowed down.
The doll's shape became more and more distorted—and was then burned by a huge beam of light that came from the side.
"Huh?"
When she shifted her gaze, she saw a man with a glowing sword.
"Yeah, I'm getting better at adjusting the power..."
The man nodded, satisfied with the destruction he had created.
This was the encounter between Sho Yozuki and Misaka Mikoto.
--------
I can't believe a major plot point from the original story would happen at the shopping mall we just happened to go to. Is this okay? It hasn't even been a full day since I got discharged.
And besides that,
"For all her talk, Yami seems to be pretty into this Butei stuff, doesn't she?"
Even though she said she was reluctant, she's surprisingly obedient when it comes to Butei-like actions. She even listens to my instructions.
"I need to get used to the situation quickly. I can handle something like that."
I guess that means she's pretty skilled after all.
While thinking about that, I entered my house, which I hadn't been to in a while.
"Welcome back!!"
Everyone welcomed me at the entrance.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I've been away from home for a few days.
"Today we're celebrating Sho-kun and Yami-chan's discharge, and..."
"Tina-san, Yami-san, and also the welcome party for another person."
I was led inside, and the table was covered with a wide variety of dishes.
I was surprised, but Yami must be even more so. After all, she just got to the house and was suddenly faced with all this commotion.
Well, it's not that big of a deal. We're just going to have a fun dinner together today.
Oh, but before that.
I faced the gacha machine for the first time in a while. And I pressed the button.
Got Kasukabe Yo.
I need to bring in a new roommate. Everyone seems to be waiting.
--------------------------------------------
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