Springtime of Our Youths

Chapter 3

June 18th 2004

They had agreed to meet at 1 PM

"Why is it already 1:30!?" shouted Misaka while she stood alone in the shopping mall that made a decent landmark

Kamijou ran over to her as quickly as he could while bowing his head and holding his hands together.

"Yeah, sorry about that! My teacher held me up after class and I also got in some trouble with my friends, just my rotten luck I guess"

Mikoto folded her arms, tapped the ground with her right foot, and sent bluish-white sparks flying from her bangs.

"That right hand of yours is so annoying, the fact that a level 0 can cancel out my level 5 ability is very irritating. Anyway, if you were running late you could have just sent a text so I wouldn't worry about you possibly setting me up and making me look like an idiot. Do you have any idea what it feels to be stuck standing here for everyone to see for an entire hour? Some weird guys called out to me, and I had to go to the effort of driving each of them away with a lightning spear."

Yeah! Yeah! And like I said, I'm really sorry! I'll make sure to text you next time I'm running late."

Touma tried to get by with completely meaningless small talk, but then he suddenly realized something Mikoto had said didn't make sense.

"Wait. We agreed to meet at one, right?"

"...Don't tell me you're trying to say you forgot."

"No, I'm not. You said you were waiting for an hour, so did you get here a full half hour ahead of time? Wow, I am sorry then."

Mikoto's shoulders jumped in shock and her eyes opened wide.

She unfolded her arms and started shaking her hands in front of her.

"No...D-don't be stupid. I was just giving a general amount. I haven't literally been here for sixty minutes. Why would I arrive that early just to wait for you? I'd rather you didn't imagine strange scenarios and grin like that."

The boy noticed her flustered expression and the grin on his face became even wider than before.

"You..." said Touma without thinking. He looked the flustered middle school girl straight in the face." You were so eager to see me that you arrived 30 mins early, I am really flattered Misaka, I didn't exp—"

Before he could finish speaking, a lightning spear shot from Mikoto's bangs.

Touma repelled the blast with the right hand he had immediately held up. From the tremendous zapping sound it made, the voltage had to have been in the hundreds of millions.

His right hand held a power known as Imagine Breaker and it could negate any supernatural power.

But that did not mean that nothing scared him

While trembling, Touma said, "...So I hit the nail on the head?"

Another lightning spear flew at him

The great noise caused the people around them to scream and run away. Touma had managed to stop it at the last second, but he had tears in his eyes.

"Just tell me, Misaka-san! What do you want me to say!?"

"Just shut up and stop getting so full of yourself, I'm just paying you back for yesterday, there's nothing more to it," Mikoto shouted angrily. "Now let's get going," muttered Mikoto as the corner of her lips twitched and she turned her head to the side slightly.

Mikoto looked extremely displeased and realizing he was not going to have an easy time dealing with her, Touma scratched at his head and said, "So, MIsaka. What was it you planned for us to do today? You said to get going, where are we headed?"

As soon as he said that...

"Uh?" said Mikoto with a blank look on her face.

She looked over at Touma.

In complete shock, he said, "Don't tell me you don't have anything planned."

"I-I have something planned! Um...uh...well...Oh, right! Some of my classmates were talking about a new hot dog stand that just opened at a nearby park, it may not sound like it but apparently, they are very good for their price. Now come with me!"

They were currently walking around town hand in hand with a blush on their faces, but for better or worse, neither one was aware of that fact.