Chapter Text

Prologue 1:

For a population of just 10% of the world’s, Mikoto knew just how vast the Magical world is, how thoroughly integrated it is, the hidden rich history untold in non-magical bookstores, and how magic is a part of almost every existence in the world. 

She knows and she had to, for her father is an ambassador for the Japanese Ministry of Magic and she was an apprentice of his, homeschooled for she is too much of a danger for herself and Mahoutokoro, one of the most prestigious Magical schools in Asia, despite its wishes to welcome her into their Gigantic Fusuma. 

“You’ll just be an experiment, a lab rat to them or perhaps they can manipulate you into becoming their pawn. There is simply no need.” her father says, a frown on his face when she asks why she isn't in school. “ Education is important, Mikoto-chan, but so is freedom. I think the best way for you to bloom is to be with me, I’ll be homeschooling you but you’ll learn not just from me, you’ll learn from a lot of people and I think I can give you that opportunity.”

“But mama is in school. Won't she protect me? Can’t she?”

“She can and she will but she is busy. People can take advantage of that…”

“You are busy too, Pa,”

“This cheeky brat…at least I don't have to deal with children from clans with politics more discombobulated than jellyfish strings.”

“No, you have to deal with their parents.”

“Pah! You are your mother’s child! So cheeky and smart! Bwahahaha!!”

For most of her life, Mikoto traveled with her father, learned from differing perspectives and brought home her mother’s favorite pastries. She had seen firsthand what politics is like and abhors the thought of jumping into that arranged chaos.

Once she had her own established mindset and personality, she entered Mahoutokoro, not as a student but as a relative of a professor. She was fascinated by Mahoutokoro and watched students from afar. Interacting with them is easy and nice but navigating through some clan political maneuvers is a pain in the butt she’d rather not repeat but is stuck with because of whose daughter she is. The person who thrives in such an environment must have a few screws loose.

One of her favorite activities in Mahoutokoro is caring for the magical creatures during her downtime there and talking to local Yokai’s who were granted a home in the castle grounds. They were just terrible, terrible gossips casually informing her of how the Yuki-onna’s descendant is kissing their uncle several times removed.  It could have been worse, honestly.

Revealed information made her long for more.  

Misaka Mikoto hungers for the secrets of the magical world. 

But life has a funny way of revealing such secrets to even the most curious souls. And as fate would have it, reality chose the most stressful scenario possible to deliver its enlightening blow.

It happened on the most mundane of days. Her day off to be exact. 

Exercising at the gym with her junior operative and a plan to play a quick game of quidditch a little later in the day and then going to the arcade was a good iternerary for a day off, all things considered. 

That’s right, this day off was supposed to be that. A fucking day off.

But as all unexpected things, it all happened too fast for her to process. 

“My father is back home and it’s been insufferable in the house since.”

“Context?” without looking at her, Shirai Kuroko continued to jog on the treadmill. she even turned it up.

“You know," Mikoto whines a little bit. "him and my mom…they’re so icky”

“Ah, and I still wonder how there is only one of you. Judging by their…apetite, they should have made an army of you by now.”

“Problem child, remember?” Mikoto points at herself. “Ma and Pa were so focus on taking care and raising me right that they didn't have time to consider a second child.”

“And you turned out okay. They can relax now.”

“Yeah and turns out another problem has arisen with Pa’s work so he’s using this break to get as much time with Ma. Recharging, he says.”

"That's a thing Master would say."

They had a laugh about it. 

Kamijou Touma, her friend and a part of her father’s team, also one of his appretices, joined them during an hour into their workout. Conversations flowed between the three of them until Kuroko got a call from a branch captain of the Judgement organization. 

Kuroko had been a part of the judgment organization since she was a teenager as Mahoutokoro employed the use of student police to help facilitate order in its populated halls. As soon as she graduated, Kuroko had applied for master's, Tabikage’s Magical Security Company (HEXECURA) and has been under Mikoto’s care from then onwards. 

To receive a phone call from a student is…unusual.

When Kuroko put down her phone, she muttered a curse that had Mikoto and Touma alert near instantaneously. Kuroko bolted for her bag, kicked out whoever was in the toilet and got dressed immediately and secured her wand, stapler gun and then some knives. 

Without a word, Mikoto and Touma did the same.  

Kuroko waved her wand and muttered spells consecutively. A disillusioned charm, a tempus charm on the front, a locator map on her right, a tracking charm, and alarm charm were some of the spells that shimmered into view. 

Without a word, Mikoto bestowed protective and cushioning charms on their clothes while Touma took out a few sheets of paper from his bag, passed them onto Mikoto and stuck several to Kuroko’s t-shirt and shorts. Intricate geometric patterns blazed into their clothes. 

Mikoto stuck several of it on her clothes too. Soon, her simple white t-shirt and skirt were glowing with golden runes arranged in shapes. Touma seemed satisfied with his handwork and nodded at Mikoto.

“Junior members of judgment had been tailing a case of missing creatures but they stumbled into an unidentified ritual instead. Managed to call for backup but the communications stopped there. The fastest branch arrives but they can’t decode the wards on site. Seems to be Goblin made, they said.” she briefed. 

Mikoto can see why that would be a problem for Mahoutokoro students. Goblins reside on the western continent. You can't find one on asian soil. Anything Goblin made were beyong their capabilities at the moment.

Hm, so that's why they called for Kuroko. 

“It’s a good thing I’m going then” Touma waves his right hand. Both girls agreed. Touma had a knack for curse breaking. 

When all preparations were done, the trio held hands, with Kuroko spearheading to the designated location. 

From Osaka they apparate in the Azabujuban’s resident area in Tokyo. 

They followed their youngest as she entered a restaurant called Eat More Greens, a simple one with cute interior design and no upper floors but as they all scuttled into the back room, the trio felt the imposing power of the wards near the back door.  

Touma held Kuroko back by the back of her collar and held his right hand forward, touching something intangible in the air. The wards pulse red upon disturbance but no spell is activated. 

Touma had rendered it unable to, or at least his right hand did. 

“Goblins sure are crafty little people huh…hm…az…it's a good thing there are no arithmetics here…” 

His left raised his wand and in a delicate manner, swished it about while muttering some incantation. He then took out some magic chalk and drew before the ward, then taps on it with his wand. 

A conspicuous staircase revealed itself after Touma’s masterful curse breaking. 

The two staff members who followed after would later question themselves if they really did see three people enter the back and just disappeared. 

A sense of unease filled the trio as they all felt the pulse of power from upstairs, thrumming through cement, the glass windows, on the whole building. Magic that could be described as intrusive and invasive filled the air. Their hairs bristled as they heard a couple of screams, faint as they were but they sounded to be in pain. 

Children.

“Onee-sama, Kamijou-san, please be careful from here onwards” Kuroko let her worry and trepidation show on her face. It’ll be the only time she can be vulnerable to them. She had a lot of authority figures in her life but not so much as authority figures that are a lot like older siblings.

“We’ll have pizza for dinner” Touma replied, reassuring them both with a goal for the day, his big warm arms squeezing them all together.

Mikoto chuckled, ruffling both of their hair and putting their heads together. “My treat.”

It’s not their first rodeo but when one is acquainted with danger, they learn to value moments of assurances like these. 

Arriving on the third floor, Kuroko stopped, Mikoto and Touma followed and dozens of people in black robes halted their chanting to look at them. The entire floor is just a big space with no furniture whatsoever, only tension between both sides. 

Their senses are on high alert with their heart pounding with adrenaline as their eyes took as much as they could. 

A magic circle drawn on the spacious wooden floor, glowing gold intensely following a rhythm of what seems to be a pulse and two motionless bodies of kids laid down within its boundaries. Both were clad in draping black robes too. It didn’t hide the writhing of their bodies or the pain whimpers or the silvery tears down their face. 

Anger and protectiveness warred inside Mikoto and she had no doubt that her friends felt the same. 

Her muscles tense and her teeth grinded.

It was Touma who moved first. He threw a stone in front of them, wand in hand and waving in all directions and Kuroko went in next as the ritualist finally reacted, wand flashing a plethora of spells. 

When the ritualist proved to be a bit more capable, she concentrated on disarming them by literally plucking their wands out of their hand and rendering them unconscious with a potent sleeping spell the next. Then apparating to another person and doing the same with different methods. Either she would shove a potion down their throats or use spells that stick them to the surfaces or straight up punching their kidneys to oblivion. 

Some spells landed, but Touma’s talismans did it’s work, it was actively glowing gold now, ensuring that all of them are safe.

Touma is steadily gaining ground near to the magic circle, firing spells here and there but his main objective is to dissolve the magic circle. He leaves a lot of openings for their foes to take advantage of but that is where Mikoto makes herself useful. 

“Kyōka!” Mikoto yelled.  

“Shit! The Japanese!”

“No shit this is fucking Japan!”

A translucent brick wall erected on three sides of Touma, protecting him from the barrage of spells but not impeding his view of the magic circle. Mikoto counted for about three dozen people focused on them so she made use of one of her attacking spells but not before dousing them all in summoned water. 

“Raigeki no Yari”

Electricity licked the tip of her wand before expanding into a targeted direction, hitting two in the chest and spreading amongst those who were connected by water. Mikoto had wiped out a third of her initial number. She waved for the wands of the fallen then unceremoniously dumped them all in her side pocket. 

“Biri-biri! Your butt better be here asap!” 

“Be there in a sec!” Mikoto answered. She fired another barrage of lightning base spells but the remaining ritualist countered hers with big chunks of rock either used as a shield or thrown at her making her dash around the area, carefully leading them away from Touma who had erected another ward of his own around the magic circle. Damn, he was fast. 

Left, forward, another left, and swoop. As she slid on the floor, she fired a couple of lightning spells. 

“She’s too nimble! I can’t keep up!”

“Keep her busy!”

“Are you sure I’m the one keeping you busy?” Mikoto retorted. Firing several kinds of binding spells then yanking those who were caught and bashing them all together. She caught their wands too after flicking a sleeping potion at them.

Three on her left and four on her right. The numbers still ain’t right. And unfortunately, they were one of the smart ones too. 

The leader of the trio on her left decided to stall by talking. “You’re trained. Tell me, are you aurors for the Japanese Ministry?” 

Oh that was a British accent. She wiped the sweat on her chin. Out of reflex one of them fired a spell but Mikoto was quick to identify, deflect and fire a spell back. Out of reflex too, of course. 

That led to all of them training their wands at her. The poor guy she shot continuously sneezed without rest. 

Nevermind that, she had successfully pressed her recorder ballpen.

She took a page out of the foreigner leader, she spoke to stall. “Why the hell are you brits doing on Japanese soil?” she replied in accented english. “Who are you?! Who are those children?! What is that Magic circle?”

Kuroko finished off the people on her side with a last kick to the jaw. 

They all ignored the thud made by the body going limp.

“None of your business.”

“It is when this illegal activity is upon our shores.” Mikoto answers levelly. 

Kuroko glared at the back of their heads. “I will arrest you for…well, frankly, you guys are accumulating a lot of crimes.”

She saw the flash of panic on the leader before he squashed it. “Look—”

A scream interrupted them. One of the kids started writhing violently. 

“Biri-biri! Make sure they can’t escape!” Touma bellowed, his usually mild, panicky tone replaced with low, gultural and good enunciation that rattled Mikoto straight to her bones. It was one of those tones that spurred her to action, no questions asked. 

It was a tone that is only reserved for when Touma is terrified and furious.

If he is horrifically livid then Mikoto is about to be. 

“Kuroko, your eyes!” It was the only warning Mikoto shouted before she activated the flashbang at point blank range. The westerners scrambled about. One tried to shoot the bomb with spells but it had gone off before the spell reached it. 

“Leave them to me!” Kuroko shouted after the initial disorientation.

Mikoto stumbled as quickly as she could to Touma’s side, kneeling with him and looking at the situation. 

“Okay…what am I looking at?” her head is still ringing a bit. 

He handed her a paper. On it was written what Touma could gleam from the ritual circle in the limited time he was given. 

100% magic drain...? how? what does this mean?

Magic transferto—who?

Magical core extraction...

Death

Force termination means death

There are a lot of things zigzaging in Mikoto's mind but the only thing she can utter is, “...What”

“These are the conditions…I—I don’t know what to do.”

“Bu—but you called me here! There is something you can try to do. You have some sort of solution, don’t you? and...and...you need me for it." Mikoto frantically looks around. "And what the hell does this magic drain mean? That’s impossible isn’t it?! It simply cannot be done!” Mikoto stressed, furiously brushing back her hair in an attempt to calm herself. 

Touma laughs helplessly. 

“From what I can gleam, this is a magic to transfer an entire magical core into another. Where this magic circle leads or whoever is connected to this could be on the other side of the world or it could be here in Japan too. I don’t know. ”

"There is no way! Draining and transferring a whole Magical core? What the fuck? It's simply cannot be done! There's no fucking way!" 

Her friend just closed his eyes and muttered something to himself furiously, hands gripping his hair as if he might attempt to pull them off his scalp anytime soon. 

To simplify things, it’s simply murder. 

A magical core is...in other words, a lifeforce. Of Mages.

The lifeforce of Mages. 

Without it, without magic to circulate to the cells, organs will simply cease to function. 

Non-magicals have blood as a very essential connective tissue to feed the cells.

Magicals need blood and Magic to function. 

This ritual of actually stealing a person's magical core is simply evil!

“We’re not giving up are we?” Mikoto encouraged, trying to keep her own helplessness from rising to the surface. There must be something they can do to help. There has to be. "Touma, tell me your plan."

Because Touma hates to be back into a corner, hates it the most when he is helpless, whether to help another or himself, Mikoto knew he's feverishly wracking his brain for something he can do. 

“I can’t forcefully stop the ritual, I can’t fully decode this in time yet I can’t leave them to die…Yes, I have a solution” Touma rasped, eyes squinted in anguish. “But Biri-biri,” something warred inside of her as his grip on her shoulders tightened to uncomfortable levels. Mikoto lets him, if it calms him down even for a little bit, she’d gladly let him. 

She needed him to think. 

He was always the steady one in their little trio, the one to turn to when they needed crazy plans to take shape, the one who tries all options if he can.

It’s never good when he panics. 

“Biri-biri, I will put your life into danger but there is no other person I could suggest this to. Force termination means death but it doesn't specify who's going to die. The kids or the person stopping it. Biri-biri, If I am the one to terminate the ritual, by ruining the circle, the kids will surely die. Their life is linked to this abomination, their blood has been offered and the ritual needs their blood to anchor it to reality…and....and...If I use my right hand, the ritual will simply cease and so would they.

But if you do it, you have a large mana pool, larger than anyone I’ve ever met. If we can’t terminate it, then we’ll just have to ride it through the end. We’ll pull them out, inject your magic into the circle and have it siphoned from you instead—make it choose to siphon from you. Have the ritual continue while the kids are extracted. Then you override the will impose on the circle—I will help—Maybe if I remove something it’ll weaken it…what if I—the extraction time would be extended with you, hm—”

She’ll agree. He knows. That's why he's hesitant to bring this idea to life. The two of them had been friends for a long, long time and there are hardly few things they disagree on. She'll agree and he knows it so now, he’s thinking on how to proceed from there. 

“You’re thinking too fast. Slow down.” she harshly clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s fine, you need to focus and find something else in the magic circle that might help because I do not plan on dying and I have not planned on you or anyone else in here dying, alright? Good. So how do I do this”

Her friend took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Alright. Give me a second, I saw the same-bind runes around here…found them, altering them didn't have much effect on the overall focus of the ritual” he murmured to himself, already lost in his headspace. He held his wand like you would with a ballpen as he continually modified it. “Now, feed it your blood, lots of it, Biri-biri.” 

Mikoto does so by cutting her wrist with a knife and places it just over the area above the kid’s heads. Her blood mixed with the magic circle, mixed with the girls' blood, making it glow brighter. Energy cackled in the air, tasting her and rejecting her, stains of blue electricity snaps into existence, licking her skin but it does not harm.

The ritual is reacting to being modified. 

The magic circle is big, around 3.5 meters in diameter. It would require a reasonable amount of blood to occupy over the plethora of runes and geometrical lines drawn. 

Touma continued circling around the magic circle editing runes into existence or changing its make up to accommodate Mikoto’s magic. Then he reached into one of his pockets and tossed her a potion. 

Mikoto tore the cork open with her teeth and drank it. 

Blood replenishing potion. Ew. That potion will never not be gross.

Mikoto patiently waited, circling around to distribute her blood evenly and speedily. The low creaks of the wooden floor filled the silence between friends. When it reached the point where her blood had completely overlapped the girls’, and when the magic circle was no longer glowing pure gold but had hints of teal in it, Touma nodded to her. 

Kuroko appeared beside her, her eyes shining with worry and determination. 

“Let me heal your hand onee-sama.” Kuroko demanded softly. She held her hand tenderly and casted ‘episkey’ on the wound. She must have gotten the gist of it while securing the criminals.

“Everything secured?” Mikoto asked, trying to take Kuroko’s mind off from the predicament they were in or hers. She’s not really sure. This is a situation that she had never in her life thought could happen. Magical core extraction?   She would have laughed. 

“Kuroko, help me lift the other twin.” Touma requested. 

Their youngest nodded. 

He thrusted his wand and waved it in a spiral manner, slowly pulling it back to the direction of his body. Then raising his wand arm up, in a manner so gentle, no one would have guessed that they were under time constraints. 

The girl on the right began to rise. 

Mikoto hadn't really focused on their features until now but now that she has a bit of window, she realized that the girls were actually twins. Blonde, chubby cheeks marred by tear stains, with cute noses and rounded ears.

Kuroko copied Touma’s movements and then the other twin began to float too. 

They were pale and weak and absolutely pitiful. The sight tugged at her heartstrings. 

Thick tendrils of blood and gold tendrils of magic connected them to the magic circle, now that they were above the Magic circle, the trio could now see the circle siphoning off of the twins. Despite the blood breaking off one by one as they were floating higher, the golden threads held no signs of breaking. 

The twins floated to about Touma’s waist when one of the golden threads snapped off, the twin on the right awoke, screaming in pain and trying to curl herself reflexively.  

“This is where you come in, Biri-biri. Force the ritual to recognize you and choose you instead.”

Nodding, Mikoto kneeled, flattering her palms on the blood soaked floor and concentrated.

She felt her magic travel from her head to the tips of her finger, reaching out further and touching the innate magic of the ritual. It’s not malevolent but it also does not have any altruistic inclination. It does what it is designed to do. Collect the magical core.

The magical runes etched into the floor eagerly lap at her magic, so Mikoto poured more into it, she wants it to forget about the twins, recognize hers and she wants it to want her.  

It will want her. 

All around the magic circle began to turn teal, even the golden threads that held the twins slowly turned blue and with a snap, it let go of the twins. their childish screams of it, hurts, it hurts, help, make it stop; filled the room but the adults are steadfast in their goals. Once that happened, the teal color darkened into electric blue, it filled the crevices made of runes, lines and shapes, it spread onto the cracks and little indentations of the wooden floor, her magic saturated the very space they were in—coming alive under her domineering aura. 

“Extraction complete! Biri-biri! Control your output. Slowly release to a trickle.” Touma called out. The young Misaka took a deep breath and relaxed her muscles, controlling her magic output as per her friend’s instructions. 

Then she opened her eyes. 

Touma had the twins securely, they were unconscious but safe and breathing evenly. 

The ritual tugs at Mikoto’s magic. Touma sat a little ways away from her now, just outside the magic circle. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“Tired.”

“Is the magic drain manageable?”

Mikoto closed her eyes again and concentrated, feeling for her magic. Her magical core is positioned in her head so the sensations were concentrated there. 

It took a couple more moments for Mikoto to reply.

“The ritual is trying to break my core’s defenses. I don’t think it’s powerful enough to pierce a hole and I’m actively feeding it to just a trickle like you said. It asks—demands for more but I can control it…for now.” the both of them look unsure for a moment until Mikoto perks up a bit. “But I think the ritual is designed for underdeveloped cores. The twins look to be 10 years old, yeah?”

Touma placed a hand under his chin.. “...yeah, Maybe we really can break the barrier in this case…Hey, Kuroko, what’s the diagnosis on the kids?”

Both of them look at the brunette who was watching the magic screens floating above both twins in agitation.

“Their bones suggested that they’re 10 years old. Some small wounds likely from fighting back or the kidnappers just didn’t care. No broken bones but this one” she point at the one on her right, “had a sprained ankle and a dislocated shoulder, I’ll set that in a bit. Cortisol levels are really high, terrifically high for their age. Heartbeats are still too fast but this one—I’ll just call her number 2, okay,” she pointed at the left twin “Two, has palpitations, blood pressure is high too. What’s alarming is that their magic core is damaged. Both had holes and they were down to 10% and it’ll be 9 in about 15 minutes—drat—their cores do not circulate their magic as effectively since it’s underdeveloped.

I can patch them up real quick but their cores are another matter, even if I cast stasis magic on them, their magic will continue to leak out. Touma-san, do you have any talismans on you that can help?”

“No”

“Drat”

“This is unfortunate.” Touma growls. “I thought we finally have time to decode but that is increasing the level of difficulty. Why are things so unfair? Why did I even ask?”

“A fair world is terrifying.” Mikoto quips.

“Damn right.” Kuroko answers. “Onee-sama, you have excellent control, can you try and coax their magic to circulate back to the owner? Or possibly control it instead?”

Touma went back to examining the magic circle. 

“I’ve never tried doing that to another person, Dad only taught me how to do it on myself.”

“You can certainly try but as of the moment, you’re trapped here.” Touma inserted. 

“Damn.”

“Drat”

“You guys could stand to swear more, you know.” Mikoto tries to lighten the mood, chuckling as if she wasn’t trapped in a ritual, as if they were not on time constraints to save two kids on their day off.   

It was followed by a scream. 

Chapter Text

Prologue 2: 

Janie Nunotaba was yanked from her sleep by a sudden pain on her shoulder socket, a surprise scream that she couldn't believe had come from her. “Argh! Ngh…” 

Make the pain go away! Go away! Make it go away! Away! Argh…go away…

“There, good as new. Sorry to wake you up this way, kid.”

Janie panted, unsuccesfully hiding her whimpers, for a few moments, riding the pain until it receded. 

She looks around, the edges of her vision getting clearer by the second but everything is still. She's somehow...she's not in pain. There's no unsettling force tugging at her inside and sucking her innards and there was a person over her—she's really pretty.

"Hey kid," the woman greeted, relief lining her shoulders. 

A head full of tawny wavy hair filled her vision. Janie actually likes the nasal quality to her voice.  

She smelled wet though, like sweat? 

Oh—and lychee. 

“Wha—” she smacked her lips together, groaning, her mouth is so dry it’s like she had sand in her mouth or did the bad guys make her eat soil? “Ngh”

The witch summoned—so she's a witch!—water and made Janie drink some to help with her throat. That did soothe her splendidly. 

The moment she relaxed, a sharp pain at the back of her head made itself known, however. After that, she noted the numbness on her whole body.  “My—My—” Wait, her head is not important here. What if—what if her—she had read about this! “What’s happening?! Is my spine broken? Why can’t I move?!”  

“Woah, there, calm down. Everything is fine. Your spine is not broken and I had just fixed your dislocated shoulder and ankle. Nothing’s broken. You’re just tired.”

That explains why she felt weak. 

“Oh…good for you, huh. Interrogation will be a breeze.” her usual snark made its way out of her before her brain could warn her of the potential danger it'll pose. 

Janie wanted to slap herself. 

“What did you say?”

“Sorry, it’s nothing.”

“Brat”

So the woman did hear her. 

Oops. 

She tries to grin goofily, see if she can win the woman with cuteness (she is cute!), but she imagines her smile looks more like a grimace what with her trembling lips not managing to do what she wanted. 

The woman merely stares at her. With no emotion.

Right. Leave her to die here, please. 

Wait—

WAIT. 

Wait a freaking minute!!!!

“—MY SISTER!!...uhh… W–who are you? Where are we? F–Feb–Febrie? Ngh..urgh…Feb? Nghh, Feb? Please. Febrie?! Where’s my sister?!” her voice has risen to almost a shrill and a scream in the same note. 

She sounded weak and desperate. But who cares. Febrie is…somewhere!

“I’m Shirai Kuroko, Febrie is right here, beside you. It’s okay. You can calm down.”

The older witch conjured a mirror above them and held it aloft, allowing the kid to see her twin. The young girl stared at her reflection in the mirror, her eyes widening in recognition. Febrie is just beside her. That’s good. 

Tears filled her eyes as a weak smile formed on her lips. Her twin is right beside her. Breathing. That’s more than enough.

“You’re a witch.”

“...Yes, we are.” She swept her hand to her companions even though Janie could not see them for they were a little ways away. But she did hear hushed whispers.

"You're not with them? The bad people—Extremely evil people who kidnaps kids and maybe sell their kidneys?"

The older witch grimaces. "No, we're not with them. You're safe with us."

Every word the witch uttered were full of grave seriousness and the look of her eyes sealed it. She's speaking the truth.

Embarrasingly, her eyes started to water, which it should not. She's the eldest, she had to remain strong!

"Febrie…," she whispered, her voice filled with both relief and longing. "Is she okay?" she managed to rasped, faint as it was. "How... How did you find us?"

Miss Kuroko's expression softened as she explained. "We received a tip that led us to your location. What’s your name? Where are you from? What’s the last thing you remember? Do you know any of the guys that did this to you?”

“I’m Janie Nunotaba, my twin is Febrie. We were on our way to board the train to Hogwarts.” Hogwarts huh. Did classes start already? She wanted to see what Hogwarts is like. Febrie was so excited too. and here they are, lying in a wooden floor somewhere in Earth. What gives?! “We were just waiting for Professor Shokuhou to show up and then she showed up. We went with her. But then she turned out to be not her , her. You know what I mean? Then next thing I know, we’re down here.” Janie roamed her eyes everywhere, trying to convey to Kuroko the validity of her statement with body language. "Are we... safe now? Are they gone?" she asked hesitantly.

“Yes, they are. We beat them up.” the older miss had assured but Janie twitched. She had a nose for these things. Adults lie a lot. Whether it’s for the good or not, they lie. What goes on in their head when they do that, escapes her really. 

She couldn't shake the feeling of uncertainty, wondering if the danger was truly over. There is something Miss Kuroko is not saying.

What is she hiding?

“Oh! That’s good. I’d like to beat them up too!” 

“That’s dangerous for a kid to say”

“I mean it! They hurt my little sister!”

“I didn’t say I would stop you.”

“Good! Cause I’ll beat you up too!”

“Woah, careful there, you scary daredevil. I’ll wait in 10 years, then you can try and beat me up, okay?” 

“Please look me in the eye and say you’re here to save us?” the 10 year old requested. It’s a long shot by adult standards but hopefully being honest pays dividends here. “No evil eye please. If you’re here to hurt us, just say so...I would probably let a beautiful woman like you....not like I can move a dang thing anyway.”

The lychee scent filled her nose once again. Brown eyes. And they’re beautiful to boot. 

“Oh that’s cute.” Nah, this is it. This is where Miss Kuroko will say she will eat them for dinner isn’t it?—and she’s the one smelling like…like a snack!! Is that unfair? Isn’t that unfair?

Rescuing them only to make her hungry?

“God–dang it! Beautiful people are villains. Just…dang it! I want water.”

("Did the kid just hit on her and called her a villain?? In the same sentence no less!")

(“Kid’s got it. Ahahaha”)

“Cool it with the sass, kid. And no. I’m not a villain. I certainly am a beauty, Thank you. We’re here to help. We’re Japanese and you’re in Japan—”

“—Dang it! I had a dream—"

Miss Kuroko gave her a long stare. It oddly felt similar to how Shinobu-nee looks at them whenever Febrie does insane stuff (because it can never be her) “—You shouldn’t be so trusting, Janie. What if I was lying? You just revealed your name and relations to me.”

“If someone can’t figure out we’re twins, they must be trolls level dumb.”

(“ooooh, she’s snarky~”)

Miss Kuroko rolled her eyes and cluck her tongue in a way only an aristocrat could, before getting out of her face but not before pinching her nose for the cheek.

Janie blinks. 

aww—And she was enjoying the shade the older woman provided too.

She closed her eyes and sighed. 

Janie knew something was up. 

Janie had grown up reading people, especially adults. 

Parents are supposed to nurture and guide and protect their children. 

Janie and Febrie have none. 

Instead, that job fell onto the shoulders of one of the oldest girls in the orphanage. She took care of them, told them what to do and what to not. They taught how to avoid punishments and how to grovel. 

That seemed enough. 

Until they got adopted into the Nunotaba family. 

From what Janie had observed, they were distinguished in their field. A family of scientists, they are. 

The patriarch is a cold man. He doesn’t smile, nor does he frown. Janie is constantly on high alert when they are with him. Yet Febrie likes him. The matriarch wears her feelings on her face so well. She is beautiful and doesn’t like them, that’s for sure. And there is their eldest sister, who is so like her father. Not an expression in those deep bottomless pit one would call her eyes. 

Yet, Febrie likes her too. 

Shinobu-nee has a lot of contact with other people. People she doesn’t like, she says. She was hailed as a genius and father and mother were proud of her. One day, during one of the parties hosted by the Nunotaba family, Shinobu-nee made a game for them. 

“Guess who will betray us.” she had whispered. It was the first time the twin saw her smile. The twins were elated and eager to please, eager to witness their older sister smile again. 

Their answers were all wrong.

Father and mother were found dead the next morning. 

If Shinobu-nee hadn’t taken them to the basement, traveled on foot to another storehouse, they would be dead as well. 

She told Janie that her father planned to dissect them the next day after that party. After he and his friends witnessed Febrie get a slice of cake, without moving from her spot across the room. 

Whether that is true or not, Shinobu-nee did not tell Febrie anything. She indulges Febrie occasionally but she doesn’t tell her any of the scary stuff she tells Janie.

And Janie lets her. 

She lets Shinobu-nee preserve their little sister’s innocence while she slowly removes the veil from Janie’s eyes 

—and she won’t ever forget the first lesson, the one etched into her very soul is—. 

The very first thing Shinobu-nee taught Janie, the second conversation she had with her adopted twin little sisters…..was to watch out for false truths in people or they’d end up dead somewhere. 

So yes, she knew something was up. 

Miss Kuroko may hide it well but she can see the uncertainty and panic in the way her eyes dart around, the tenseness of her shoulders or the way she swallows her own saliva. The way her smile wavers a bit. The way she’s trying to breathe normally and sighs through her nose.

There are two other distant voices that would occasionally grab her attention but their voices are fading and muted, like she had just been dunk underwater. Black spots danced in her vision too, everything was getting blurry and her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. 

Her body felt like it’s melting and she’s just…was the floor cold? Oh—she is. 

“Janie? Hey, you there kid?”

Something was really…wrong. 

“If… if anything happens, save my little sister…please.. ” she managed to utter her wish, whether it would be her last or not, whether the adults do as she says, whether they betray them and left them for dead, it’ll be the same decision, same choice and same wish should she have the chance to reconsider.

[:::::]

“Janie fainted!” Kuroko reports. “9%!”

Just as the last of the echoes of her voice rang out, Touma cursed. 

“Fuck it! Do it, Biri-biri!” 

“Got it!”

There is something always scarily freeing about your friend trusting you to a degree of life and death. But it is also the most terrifying thing on Earth. 

To be responsible for the life of a friend, yet the duty to protect and preserve another…

Touma can handle it. 

He is scarily competent for a guy who had been blessed with an uncomfortable lack of luck (or so he says). 

Her friend does not make decisions lightly. 

He is a closet boob pervert, downright stingy, he doesn't even know he gets clingy because most of the time, it’s in the form of nagging. He saves people, he loves peace but not because it is the right thing to do and it’s morally right, its because—he may not be as heroic as people make him out to be but one thing is always on his mind—He wants the people he cared for, happy. 

So yes, trusting Touma regarding life or death is a given. 

Mikoto grins to herself.  

She’s not going blind into this anyway. The both of them had discussed this as a possibility in hushed whispers while Kuroko was collecting information from Janie— 

Janie and Febrie—whoever named them must be really lazy…or brilliant.

She concentrated on slowly opening the mental cap she had as long as she was aware. The mental cap that her father had painstakingly drilled into her by meditating endlessly and practicing repeatedly. The one that he tested continually if Mikoto could maintain it as easily as she breathes. 

Because it would mean her world if she lost control. 

Unleashing the proverbial dam, she guided the torrent of energy, like a vengeful river after a heavy rainfall, on this poor magic circle, which eagerly welcomed her, feeding its own hunger as it drew out more.

“This ritual is to extract the whole magic core by draining it steadily—and where would that magic go? Hm? There must be some sister ritual going on in some area around the planet, acting as the counterpart to this one, the receiver. We changed the donor now, and you have far too much—more than enough to overwhelm a magic circle designed for underdeveloped magic cores. So say, what if we overwhelm it? If forcefully terminating the ritual causes a backlash on the terminated side, then what happens if you overwhelm the recciever’s side?” she replayed Touma’s wonder in her head. 

All this energy— 

All this effort—

All this human trafficking and trespassing—

She wonders what instigated this too.

She wanted to find them and beat them up.

After a minute, she felt the magic circle draw less and less, her energy slowly being pushed back to her, like there was a clog on the pipe that causes the water to backflow, the cause of the resistance. 

So there really is another sister ritual connected to this one. 

They were right!

It pushes her magic back to her. 

But who is Mikoto if she cannot control her own magic?

The consequences of overwhelming the receiver’s side were uncertain, but the balance of the ritual had to be disrupted. Fast. The repercussions could range from destabilizing the sister ritual to causing unforeseen magical reactions. Nevertheless, she maintained her focus, consequences be damned. 

The twin’s lives were still on the other tip of the scale so they better finish this fast too tackle that next problem. 

She pushed her magic backflow and all, into it, willing it to never come back to her, to push through, break whoever was in the way, to seek release on the other side, whoever the fuck they are. 

She'll fuck them all up!

“I can feel it breaking. Good job Biri-biri!” Touma cheered. 

“Nice, onee-sama!”

The ending was without fanfare. 

For a good solid minute, she can feel no resistance anymore. She frowns and reduces her output but when no changes occurred, she slowly trickles it to a stop. 

She met Touma's widened eyes. 

He wasn’t looking at her. 

“Accio Mikoto!” he suddenly yelled.

The force of the spell yanked Mikoto, her body colliding against the boy in a chaotic mess of mass and limbs. 

They both look back at the smoking Magic circle, once electric blue in color now fading back to teal. Mikoto immediately casted a protego maxima. An electric blue dome encasing the area materialized into place. In case that thing exploded or something. 

When nothing happened, Touma lifted his arm from Mikoto’s waist and both of them stood to get a better look at everything. 

The room darkened to the reds and oranges of the late afternoon clashing with the teal residue that held no signs of fading. Touma vanished the windows, allowing for fresh air to leak in, it helped banish the smoke. 

They have no need to worry about the criminals as Kuroko had stacked them together in the corner of the room and placed Touma’s talismans at the back of their head, rendering them unable to use magic and trapped in a ward erected by strategically placed talismans. 

The trio stared at each other. All of them drenched in nervous sweat, breathing heavily and muscles tense. 

And they waited.

When Kuroko grinned, the other two mirrored her sense of accomplishment and cheered. Relishing in the fact that they are all alive. 

Then the grin vanished and the clock continued its painstaking trip, the time that had seemed to stop at that moment didn’t wait for them and that spurred them to scramble towards the twins. 

Their fight is not over, not yet. They haven’t saved anyone yet.

Not yet. 

Drat. 

“They’re both down to 8%. There is more damage to Febrie’s but Janie is dangerously close to 7%—oh drat…she’s down to 4%?! How?!” 

“What?!” Mikoto and Touma gasped in horror. 

“What’s happening?!”

“Don’t ask me!”

“Biri-biri! Quick! Do something”

“Okay–Okay! But I haven't tried any shit like this before..!”

“Just try. I don’t think you’ll fail”

“Way to add pressure…”

“Sorry not sorry”

“Guys, I think Janie is unconsciously helping Febrie!” Kuroko theorized. “Febrie’s reading read 8% for a moment before going back to 7% and it’s been way. Janie is 3% now. Damn it, Janie. I think her magic is trying to stabilize Febrie’s.” 

“Kuroko, move.” 

Kuroko crawled to the side of the twins, right in front of Touma while Mikoto replaced her, sitting in a lotus position at the twin’s heads, with her wand, she tapped it over Janie’s forehead before doing the same to Febrie. 

Despite being twins, there is an unmistakable difference between the two. 

Jannie’s magic felt purposeful and resilient, a narra tree against the storm while Febrie’s is wild as an untamed horse, bucking and shaking, refusing to be domesticated. 

That’s a start.

What’s next?!

What’s next?!

…Mikoto doesn’t know how to proceed from here! “Shit.”

They’d never been in this situation before! She’s never been put in a situation like this!

This situation had never happened in magical history. Ever!

What the fuck do they do?!

“2%!”

“Master, we have two kids who are close to magic exhaustion. About 25 criminals in the area. Incapacitated and bound. HELP!! Like ASAP! Kids are in an emergency!” 

“1%”

Magical people have known of Magic exhaustion for a long, long time. It’ll make a person faint and recover from no shorter than three days to a month later, more or less, depending on the severity of the draining and the ability of the person’s magical core to gather aether in the air and convert it as usable innate magic. 

“0%, onee-sama!”

“Oh no…”

That’s just the thing though, magical people recover from magical exhaustion. 

They don’t have to worry about DAMAGED magical cores. Cores that have holes in them with magic escaping faster than they can convert. The twins will likely die if something doesn’t happen. If they all can’t think of anything then…

What the hell! 

This is a shitty situation overall. 

Mikoto sat there, frozen and at a loss on what to do. 

“Breathe, Biri-biri”

She felt Touma’s patronus circling around them for a second before zooming away through the window. It gave her a brief respite, filled her contentedness and safety—

Which made her remember the days of her when she's not dying because of her affliction, is dying of boredom. 

It is a little weird that instead of arousing happiness and security, it recalled a memory of one period of panic and desperation.

“Feel the magic woven in the air, the subtle whispers that get you, what makes you electrified and what burns, recognize what is yours and what's not. Feel it? No? We have time…have patience you brat! This is not easy for me either! I’m your dad, I know exactly how you feel! Who’s parent do you think you get that from? Pah! Certainly not from your ma!...Good! Good!  Now get a hold of that! Feel the resonance? Now, remember, what is yours will obey only you. Have it stay put instead of floating away uselessly. Make it recognize you, your will and determination and it’ll be yours to wield. Dominate it. Make it obey.”

“Recognize. Make it obey…” Mikoto narrowed her eyes on Janie and Febrie’s forehead. “Make it obey—Dominate…” She had already done the first part, recognizing the twin’s magic signatures. “...but how do I dominate what was never mine ?”

“...Just do it?” came Kuroko’s tentative suggestion. 

“Huh?”

“She’s right Biri-biri. Your magic’s very nature is very dominant. Whatever plan you have in that big brain, just do it. You have the finest control out of the three of us.” Touma asserts.

Not that she’s bragging but she wholeheartedly agreed. 

Nothing like honing your control of magic or risk dying, eh? That’s been her whole driving force up until 20, when she and her father thought she’d lived without blowing herself or someone up. 

She tightened the grip on her wand, she positioned it vertically with the tip nearly at parallel with the space between her eyes. 

Two magical signatures. One fading fast and another hanging in there. 

Two people. 

Two kids.

—Purposeful and willful. 

—An untamed horse. 

How that fuck would she subdue the two? Two ? At once? Fu—

Purposeful—OH. Janie’s magic is purposeful! And right now, its purpose is to preserve her twin’s life and magic. Until that can be done, Janie’s magical essence will remain in the air, doomed to try and guide Febrie’s until it fizzes to nothing. Yet, strip that purpose off and that will—that volition to do what it must—and it will fold to her whims. 

Aha! 

Janie, Janie~ You are one amazing sister and mage. Hang in there.

Now she just has to start with Febrie. 

Febrie whose magic was unfettered and unbothered, one could say naive, with how her magic chooses to be free despite the risk of it ceasing to exist. It sings of life and the wonder of exploration.

They haven’t met Febrie yet but she knows…“This one is a troublemaker.” she murmured, her eyes briefly landing on the girl with two ahoges to her, letting her friends know who she was talking about. 

With a prolonged exhale, Mikoto released her magic enough for it to materialize physically. Blue lights danced on the surface of her skin. It swirled and converged into electric blue ribbons that fluctuated around her for a moment, at Mikoto’s behest, before elongating and encasing little gold dusts in the air—Febrie’s. And some of Janie’s. 

She waved her wand around with careful precision and gentle flow. 

Some ribbons prodded and blocked, some pushed and guided, directing the magic back closer to Febrie’s body. Mikoto began to smile a bit. Febrie’s magic may be untamed but it is also gullible. She didn’t have to try too hard coaxing it.

Her magic made a path and Febrie’s automatically flowed into it, reminiscent of water following the path of least resistance. If Febrie’s magic core developed into an elemental one, she’d be water, Mikoto has no doubt about it now.   

With what Mikoto can scrap of Febrie’s magic in the room, she guided it back into Febrie, whose magic core is located in her chest. With every breath that occurred, she parted with a considerable amount of her own magic, the ribbons completely detached from her and disappeared into Febrie’s chest, methodically enveloping the core in careful layers. 

Mikoto urges her magic to constantly revolve around Febrie’s core; it'll serve as a temporary yet unyielding barricade, a stopgap patch for the overall damage to her magic core. It kept what remained of the kid’s magic inside. As intended. Hopefully. 

“How long did it take?”

“About 6 minutes,” Touma answered, looking at the tempus charm right above Kuroko’s head. 

That felt like a lifetime.

The physical evidence of Mikoto’s work is the odd spherical orb of dynamic and turbulent pattern of blue with a violet outline, narrow strips of pure magic with a mesmerizing vortex composed of several golden little dusts in the center, submerged halfway on the kid’s chest. 

Mikoto nodded at him before focusing on Kuroko. “How much did I gather, Kuroko?” 

“About 9%. Good job Onee-sama!!” Kuroko cheered. 

“Way to go!” Touma followed. “You’ve made history here, Biri-biri! That’s awesome!”

The both of them made a fist bump then simultaneously uttered. “What about Janie?”

“Working on it,” Mikoto grunted back at them. 

By now she is bathing in her own sweat, her clothes sticking uncomfortably to her skin.

Controlling this much magic after a fight and especially after uncapping her mental lock and releasing a ton all at once, took a toll on her. Her hands trembled. 

Yes she’s physically tired with all the circuits they did at gym and fighting thereafter but she’s mentally exhausted with all the revelations; the magic core extraction ritual, the fact that its happening in the middle of fucking Tokyo of all things, kidnapped foreigner students— kids!— and their damaged magical cores couple with the fact that the strain on saving said kids by inventing and performing an untested method and then controlling her own magic so it doesn't blow them all off the planet on top of that. 

If this is what a day off is, she’ll never have a day off ever again. 

And If she isn’t allowed to sleep after all this, she’d blow them all up. Swear. 

“Good job hanging in there Janie…”

Despite Janie’s magic being more pliable now that it’s purpose is gone, it still took her twice as long with Janie since there is so little to work with and by the time she was finished, only amounting to 3% of collected magic essence, Mikoto was panting and trembling all over. 

From all the magic Mikoto has to expel from her body, the room got uncomfortably hot as evidenced with both of her friends sweating as well. 

As soon as the task was done, Mikoto collapsed on the floor, eyes glazed and lips dry. Breathing like she had just ran a 10 kilometer marathon in under an hour. 

“Wa..ter”

“Alright. Open up!” Kuroko replied. She summoned water and carefully guided it into Mikoto’s mouth. She timed it with intervals, not letting Mikoto gobbled up in one go. 

Kuroko started on one of their customary after mission briefings. 

“All criminals are accounted for. The magic circle is in a perpetual state of a dim glow. Windows are open but I don’t think we’re in danger any longer. Still be alert for any of their comrades, they might hurry here to see what’s going on. Currently 6:58 pm.” Kuroko reports while conjuring a little ball of light and raising it above their heads. “Any updates on master?”

She conjured a bed and Touma lifted the twins onto it. Next she conjured a sofa and the both of them dropped on it bonelessly, leaning on each other. 

But then they both moved away from each other, leaning on the arm rest on their respective sides instead.  

“I’ve called for master Tabi already, he’ll know what to do. The twins are unconscious. I’ve already secured the windows, my talismans will block up to the third powerful spell and that’ll still alert us for any intruders. I had also placed anti-apparition wards Biri-biri, update?” 

“Lemme…hah…get me back to …hah…normal…”

“Of course.” 

When Mikoto finally controlled her breathing, she began to report. 

“The twins are quite stable for now and as of the moment, I can only maintain it for about maybe an hour? and while I can do it all again, I’d rather not. I’ll just lay here and rest for a bit. You guys deal with any intruders, alright?”

Mikoto closed her eyes. Her muscles slowly relaxed. She didn’t want to think of anything…

She was on the verge of sleep when one of Touma’s talisman’s pinged. It must be her dad—

“Who—how did you—Who are you !” Touma inquired while Kuroko shuffled about. “Actually I’m going to ask because of my pride. How did you get past the Talismans and the wards I put up?”

Mikoto abruptly opened an eye, noted the woman’s blonde hair and relative position, then closed her eyes again. She forced herself to relax and pretended back to sleep. 

In case they needed a surprise.

“Who are you?! Why do you have my students?! What’s the meaning of this?!” A question answered with a question. That’s just rude. Well, she has a diabolically smooth, authoritative voice that employs a certain articulation of someone who spoke perfect Japanese. The foreigner intruder sounds positively local if anything. Mikoto will give her that.

“Students?” Kuroko repeated, a certain name coming to mind based on Janie’s information. “Miss, state your name and purpose and then maybe we can talk.” Kuroko urges, ever the professional. 

Touma’s wand was singing with energy, ready to fire a spell at any given moment. He’s not about to let anything they did go to waste because of carelessness, Mikoto knows because she has the same sentiment. 

For a good moment, silence prevailed in the room. 

“Shokuhou Misaki, Professor at Hogwarts and those are my students. Now someone tell me, are you the kidnappers or not?”

Chapter Text

Prologue 3: 

If Mikoto had been ‘awake’ she would have laughed or sputter in anger. 

But she’s ‘asleep’ so she did neither. It was Touma who sputtered angrily and it was Kuroko who had given a higher than thou kind of laughter. 

“You think—!!!”

Kuroko cleared her throat. “Senpai.”

“...Fine.”

“My name is Shirai Kuroko, that is Kamijou Touma and our sleeping companion is Misaka Mikoto. We are Japanese mages and no, we are not kidnappers. We are not directly part of the Japanese Ministry but we work for one. Those people over there were westerners. We stumbled upon them doing some ritual to extract magic cores on these ki—”

“SAY WHAT NOW?!” A new voice entered Mikoto’s audio telenovela. His japanese is choppy and accented, kinda rough and melodious and it’s not the strangest thing Mikoto heard today but it certainly is there.

“And who are you?!” is a question Mikoto would have asked but one can imagine Touma pointing a finger at the other man in the room.

“Answer me first, asshole!”

“Like you’re one to talk!”

“Boys” the foreigner woman interrupted, exasperation clearly lining her tone. “I deal enough with kids, must I deal with this behavior from two grown men as well?”

Oh she’s—

Before anyone can think, Kuroko repeated “The kidnappers are having a ritual on Japanese soil, one that was meant to extract the magic cores. They’re brits too by the way.”

“THEY DARED!!!” the man practically roared. It grated heavily on Mikoto’s ears. His voice is like a mix of raspy and throaty like he spent the most of his life screaming. He started laughing in a pissed manner but he—”kekekekekyahahaha”

He sounds like a maniac in all honesty. 

“My students—Our own students! They must have the right guts to pull this kind of stunt! Right from under my nose! They—Oh they’ll be dying next to pigs after I’m done with them!!”

“They’ll undergo proper due process for their crimes.” Kuroko countered. “...professor…”

“Bullshit. You will hand them over to us. They harmed Hogwarts students. This is Hogwarts business.”

“And they were trespassing on Japanese soil. No, the Ministry will have custody of the criminals.”

“Forgive my colleague. His manner seems to have left him. You can call him Acce” the female professor replied. “Now, if you are who you say you are, you have my gratitude but I really must see if my students are—how are they?”

There were shuffling of shoes, every scrape on the floor making Mikoto’s heart skip. She can feel and hear them nearing her—the twins. 

“A little banged up but we fixed their physical injuries already. Their—” 

“Who’s the loser?” 

What an utter piece of crap. This asshole just keeps getting worse. 

“Acce! You’re here as a professor! What would the Headmistress say?

“Shuddap”

“Honestly,” she sounds exasperated but not surprised, like this is just a daily occurrence. Wow, does this man have an awful personality in and out of duty? “If you want to cause a stir, do it somewhere else.”

“ She is someone that just saved your student’s lives, you piece of crap.” Touma replied with vitriol.

“Look me in the eyes and say that shit again, you cunt!”

“Are genitals all you can think about, Mr. pervert?”

“Better than being a sissy who can’t even say pussy!”

“Oh, forgive me if I know how to use a word in a proper context. Unlike someone I’m talking to right about now!”

As the two boys bickered, Kuroko sighed just right next to Mikoto. Like the other professor, Kuroko elected to ignore the duo. 

By now the professor must be kneeling on her other side, checking for the twins. Her body heat and scent awashed over Mikoto. She smelled good, all things considered.  

Mikoto opened his eyes for a bit. All she can see is blonde hair in layers and the woman’s backside, she’s leaning over the two kids and looking alternately at the magical display of their vitals. 

“Oh Janie…” her voice is positively dripping with worry and concern. 

Right. Janie’s barely just hanging in there. 

“As I was about to say before," Kuroko must be glaring at the boys "By the time we arrived, the twin’s magical core was already significantly drained. It is unfortunate but it’s all we can do.”

“Wha–What spell is this?”

“I don’t know.”

“You dont…"

“Onee-sama was the one who made the spell just now, it’s a spontaneous thing, all things considered.” 

“Spontan—that’s impressive.” She was just doing her duty and the right thing to do but she can’t help but preen proudly (inwardly of course) at the praise.  

Another bout of shuffling of boots, clothes and leathers coupled with heavy steps on the wooden floor entered Mikoto’s ears. They were not particularly loud or anything although she can also feel everytime the floor vibrates. 

“There is only one thing we can do then. Kamijou-san, from what you said earlier, you were the one to make those barriers and talismans. You are proficient in warding and curse breaking…am I right?”

“Yes. I love it.” Touma always sounds the same whenever he answers such queries. Honest and passionate. 

There was a smile in her tone. “That’s good enough. We’ll be working quite efficiently then. It shouldn’t take a couple of minutes.”

A couple of minutes later, after a lot of hush discussion and the like, Mikoto heard the scratch and scratch of a magical chalk against the floor. Miss professor talks most of the time. 

“Double rune ehwaz, right, keep it going…whatever rune I say, you’ll write in elder futhark, okay? Okay just copy these into the inner circle and this one will be above the line border. Draw this magic sigil here and one from above. Also, use this sigil and have it down by the middle. Don’t worry about the fine details, I’ll do that. Now do it in the second circle...hmm, that’s a bit complicated, so I’ll do it since this is your first time. And ah, leave the left side alone, I’ll be drawing a bunch of arithmetic shapes and sigils there…”

After a good while, Touma exclaimed with satisfaction “This isn’t so bad! What Magic circle is this?”

“For transfusion magic”

Mikoto knows for sure that her two friends were frozen in place. She certainly is. If she was ‘awake’ she would have gaped at the professors. 

Magical transfusion is no joke. 

One has to know the intricacies of the magic circle and draw one in proper order, runes and arithmetic angles and all. Aside from that, they have to have the correct stones placed in the right angles and most importantly, a very, very compatible donor. One they don’t know if they have. 

The problem is that the twins magic is infinitesimal at the moment there will be no time to test who’s magic is compatible with who. 

"We are   the ones to do the transfusion? Do you— "

“Do you have a healer license? Only healers are permitted to do that…” Touma trailed off…all of them exchanged unsure looks. 

“—And the donor can only be from someone compatible, otherwise, it’ll be magic contamination instead.” Kuroko continued.

“She wouldn’t suggest it if she didn't fucking know, would she?” Accelerator refuted. 

“Hey, we’re just saying—”

“You’re such a waste of breat—”

“We’ll do the transfusion now. Yes I know magic transfusion and no, I don’t have a license for it but I’ve assisted a total of six such procedures and ten other unofficial ones” 

“Unofficial?!!!” Touma choked on his own saliva.

“Underdeveloped cores— damaged underdeveloped cores won’t survive the journey, no matter how near the hospital is. Your friend may have wrapped them up prettily but who's to say if she can maintain that if she’s forced to use another spell while traveling? Just one mistake. One mistake and they’ll be gone.”

Mikoto, who was protesting at the challenge to her capabilities, stopped abruptly and just nodded her assent, inwardly. She may boast fine control but no one knows what will greet them out there. 

“Are you sure about this? You’ll be charged with some malpractice or something.”

“You really don’t have to worry about me, Touma-san. I’ve done worse~” there was a playful undertone to her words that really just….

“.....”

…rendered the trio speechless. It's a good thing that Mikoto is pretending to be asleep, her jaw would have dropped otherwise. 

This is crazy!

All of this is insane!

Is it really okay to trust her?

With that said, “who's going to be the donor then?” Kuroko asked. 

Someone loomed over Mikoto's ‘prone’ form, it’s not Kuroko because her hair is not that long that it’ll tickle Mikoto in this same position and she doesn’t smell like this…Of pinecones and petrichor. Like she belonged in a forest. 

A cold hand grasped her right cheek. 

That made her heart jump. It’s a good thing Mikoto is good at acting asleep because—

What is she doing? 

Then she got slapped. Thrice. On the same side. 

It’s nothing worth lamenting for or anything. It barely hurt … it hurt a bit . And it certainly disturbed her concentration which is what Miss professor actually wants. 

With half a mind to glare at the professor, Mikoto opened her eyes in reflex and saw molten gold. 

“Good, you’re awake.”

“...”

“Come on now, don’t just stare. We have work to do.”

It took Mikoto a whole seven seconds to reorient herself. Later that day, she would note how embarrassing that was. For now though, her focus was onto something else…

Such…such weird eyes…

“Onee-sama?”

She also thought that the professors were older but from the looks of it, they were barely the same age or in the same age range. 

“...huh?” Mikoto blinks and whips her head away from the professor and unto her friend. “Oh right, what are we doing again? Why slap me?”

“We are going to transfer magic to Janie. At this rate, she’ll barely survive. You will be the donor since her magic has had experience with yours already.” Miss professor replied, “have there been any reactions when you were performing…earlier? Did any of the twins react negatively?”

“...no…? Not that I can recall…but it’s probably because they were low on magic and I have lots of it to incite any incompatible reactions. Basically, what happened was I was kind of forced..? No—not the right word—the best way to explain is that I uhh…dominated their magic regardless of any opposition…and forced them to follow my will. I wanted them inside their own magic core, they will be inside their magic core.”

“Dominated…”

“...yeah..”

“That's…” the professor looked stumped for a moment. There were little signs of anxiety that Mikoto had noticed now that she was focusing on her. The way she was always touching her hair whether to brush it back or to comb it absently.  “You mean to say that you molded your magic and not merely created a brand new, totally untested spell?”

“Yes.”

She was not as confident as they all thought her to be. 

“Then her magic is—how do I resonate with-? ” the blonde was already murmuring to herself. “What sort of—how will it—goddesses!”

The trio plus the male professor all look at each other, worry and defiance written on respective personalities.

The albino man (what's his name again?) knelt close to the girls but his attention was solely on his colleague. “It’ll be fine. I have never met anyone that you can’t resonate with. Just do it, aight?” he said in accented English, red eyes flaring with confidence. 

“Right, molding magic is simpler than practicing a newly invented spell.”

Blondie nodded. Seems like his pep talk is working. She turned to Mikoto before taking out five wands. 

Their eyebrows rose to their hairline at the sight. It’s normal to have two, heck three or four throughout a mage’s lifetime but five in one sitting? That’s rare…if you're not american. Those people have like 2 or 3 visible wands and have 6 hidden wands somewhere in their body. 

Mikoto had clashed with them a while back. She never wanted that to happen ever again. Folks are insane . She never thought she had to use expelliarmus charm so creatively. 

Miss professor picked the darkest one ( one russet with black accents. Short, probably just 21 centimeters in length) there is and pointed it at Mikoto. The area around her fizzled but nothing happened, only that she felt a tickling sensation. 

Next was the wand with the most crooked stick, rustic and unrefined, with knots and gnarls like it was just a branch freshly torn off from its parent tree. The only design is a single thick gold ring where the wand ends and the handle starts. 

It looked weird by Mikoto’s standards. She had never seen a wand so unrefined in appearance. 

Yet, 

Yet, when Professor Shokuhou waved it around, Mikoto felt her own magic stir. It’s chaos. It felt right but at the same time how dare it felt right. Her magic was recoiling aggressively. Resisting the wand’s wild and untamed energy but also cannot deny the attractiveness of its power. 

“This is the wand” “That wand is a maelstrom” they both spoke at the same time. Both entranced at what they were feeling. The wand in question starts vibrating. 

“and it resonates with yours which means you have the same nature”

“My magic longs to conquer it.” Mikoto says breathlessly, eyes glued to the wand. “The Resonate is part right at least…but—”

“Your magic hates it but it also can’t bear to let it go.”

Mikoto met her twin pools of swirling gold. Those eyes . It’s doing that weird thing again. 

She was not kidding about the swirling thing. Her pupils literally get swallowed by what looks like glittering golden sand moving about like the ever changing curves and ridges of sand dunes. Her pupils occasionally peek out and they are basically vertical narrow slits. 

Her eyes are a literal galaxy with a vertical blackhole in the center.

It’s incredibly, utterly mesmerizing and consequently, thoroughly distracting. 

“Yeah…how did you know that?” Mikoto managed to say. 

Those gold eyes were looking at her yet at the same time, through her. She was not looked at normally and thus she felt naked in an entirely different manner. The professor gazes at everything in her vicinity yet is still looking at Mikoto herself, probing her very essence. It's perplexing.  

“I just…I feel it.” she looked askance for a moment, gaze drifting away before focusing back on her with intensity. She continued “and I see it.”

Huh…? It’s those weird eyes isn’t it? 

“You—” Kuroko started but something in the professor's eyes made her unable to continue. Mikoto turns to her friend and finds her staring dumbfoundedly.

“We’ll work with this wand then.” the professor continued, ignoring Kuroko. “Show me your wand?”

Mikoto cleared her throat, took out her evergreen oak wand. She was oddly getting nervous at how close Miss professor is examining it. 

“This one doesn’t know when to give up huh…”

“No it doesn’t.” Mikoto agrees with a smile. It’s the only wand that accepts her because of its resilience to come out on top.  “You study wandlore?” 

“No, but I do read about it from time to time. Helps with kiddy questions.” 

After a bit, she took out the crooked wand and touched the tip of it with Mikoto’s. Instantly, a shift of energy occurred, causing their hair and clothes to whip around and an explosion of pure magic filled the air, it seeped into their bones, making them feel like they could defeat a troll barehanded.  

“Hmm..” Professor Shokuhou frowned a bit. 

“Care to elaborate?”

“They can work together…is the good news.”

“And the bad news?”

“They will work better if we exchange…I think..”

Mikoto stared cryptically. 

Yeah, there is way better news than whatever that was.

“What? Absolutely not! My wand refuses to work with another magi.”

“Give me some time, I’ll make it work for me.” the Professor urged.  

“What nonsen—!” Mikoto started but Professor Shokuhou had already taken Mikoto’s wand and replaced it with her crooked one. Immediately, the wild magic that crooked wand consolidates made Mikoto busy with controlling the aggression on her side. 

A wild, vicious torrent of unfiltered aether entered Mikoto’s consciousness, threatening to drown her with their own will. Forcing her to pay all of her attention to it. It wants her to be its puppet, it wants her to follow its flow, to stop resisting and be one with it. 

It wants her to bend.

Nah. 

To hell with it. 

Her ire rose to heights so swift that upon reflection at a later time, Mikoto would have found it problematic and terrifying. 

It dared to command her? 

Her anger pushed the foreign aether down however it fought, trashed and wiggled. Mikoto pushed it all down too. Pushed down to where it belonged. Pushed it back to the center, back to the wand itself. Where it should belong and stay put until called upon. 

It does not command its master . None of that nonsense.

Mikoto opened her eyes, she didn’t even know she had closed them. Her right hand had been stretched out in front of her, holding the professor's wand in a death grip. The wand’s handle is notably thick, almost as thick as a broom handle. 

Like she said a while ago, this wand is incredibly unrefined, like a fallen branch with just a few clothes and bangles as decor, in terms of appearance and as it had recently proven, in power. It's just plain raw . 

It suited her. 

But it belongs to someone else. 

Shame, that. 

Hmm, she can just take it…she can do that…no. No! 

Yes she can…

“What the hell…” Mikoto muttered to herself, shaking her head in an attempt to clear intrusive thoughts. It always works. 

For now, she had to focus. 

She looks at the wand and silently casts a spell. 

The tip lit up like a lighthouse would, blinding everyone who happened to look. 

“Ow!” 

“Fucking Turn it off!”

“Darn it, biri-biri.”

Mikoto waved it to shut the spell off. Nox “S-Sorry! Didn’t think it would be this bright!...My eyes.”

“What spell was that?”

“Just a simple light charm”

“If you said it was a modified flash bang, I’d believe you.” the male professor snarled, still in the middle of rubbing his eyes. “Then I’d kick you. See if you like that. Dumbass.” 

“Fuck off.” Mikoto said in english. This professor really ticks her off. 

“Oh you know how to swear! Congratulations! That was phenomenal!”

“Guys,” Professor Shokuhou started. Everyone turned to her. “You’re permitted to quiet down ”

Oh right. 

This whole debacle started with her switching their wands and Mikoto was caught with the momentum, even forgetting the very crime of stealing her wand. Damn it! Her wand!  Professor Shokuhou isn't even sure her theory/idea works and she’s plucking straight to it! Would it be appropriate to call this professor a lunatic?

Though a part of Mikoto understands. She does. They have no time for tests and whatnot. The twins' lives are on the line—oh heck, the twins! 

She whips her head towards the twins and carefully observes if her spell is still stable, thankfully it was but the rotation of the magical forcefield is notably slower than when it started. A glance at their vitals states that there are no differences from their previous percentage of magic pool. 

3% for Janie and 7% for Febrie.

Good. At least there is that. 

She turned her attention back to the professor who was busy…staring at Mikoto’s wand. She would occasionally shake her head or mutter something intangible as she worked. Well, good luck with that. 

Her wand chose Mikoto for a reason.

What mesmerizes Mikoto though is the way her eyes shift in different colors. Her pupils would shift a tiny bit to the left and they’d be the color blue, a little more and it’d be purple. Sometimes colors blend, sometimes one color would dominate. 

Is she a half-breed? 

Mikoto wonders what kind of magical species she could be.

“We’re no good just standing here. Come on asshat, we better check on the surrounding perimeters, see if we can find some stray criminals I can beat up with.” the albino professor pointed out, grabbing Touma’s shoulders and stirring the protesting man away. 

“Hah?! Who said I want to work with you?”

“Do you really have time to complain?”

“Why are you suddenly making sense?!”

Touma protested but he knew the professor was right. They all need to do something instead of just watching the Mikoto and the girls do their thing. 

“I’ll go check back on the criminals. See if some talismans have loosened.” Kuroko added absently, already walking away after a final glance at the twins and the professor. “I’ll keep an eye on you guys so focus on what you're doing, senpai. ”

Mikoto nodded. She can do nothing but wait anyway. 

“Done.” 

She whips her head so fast, her hair slaps painfully on her cheeks. 

“D-Done what?” did her wand agree to be used by another?

“Let's just say we came to an agreement, your wand and I…”

“Somehow I want to ask…but I do not want to ask at the same time.”

“Later. Now, lemme tell you the plan.”

After making sure that Mikto understood, the professor stood and double checked the magic circle, making sure that all things are in order before she kneels behind Mikoto who adjusts herself  

The purpose of the exchange is because the raw wand amplifies Mikoto’s ability to convert her own innate magic back into aether. As Mikoto is the most compatible magi they could have at the moment, the professor suggested that she transfer magic as close to aether as she can. Maybe it'll help mitigate any magical backlash of an incompatible reaction, who knows bit it helps to do everything they can. 

But of course, the artificial aether still has Mikoto’s magical signature no matter how she manages to convert it. 

Really, all Mikoto has to do is control her output in a certain range as instructed by the professor and said professor will do all the work. The pressure of the twins lives is now on her hands. 

“Will you be alright after this?” Mikoto asks. 

“Hm? Ah, I’ll be a little bit peachy but…our friends can take the rest. You must be pretty tired yourself.”

“Correct, but I’ll do what needs to be done anyway.”

“You have the right attitude at least~” the blonde teases. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

The professor only gifted her with a mysterious smile. 

Then they got started. 

Chapter Text

Prologue 4: 

Shokuhou Misaki connected their wands at the tip.

Sparks flew. 

Well of course it…would? Were their wands made with the same core source?

Huh???

It was a test, sort of…at least that’s what Mikoto gleaned from the subsequent observations. 

“Now try to release raw magic for me?”

The air hummed with energy when Mikoto started to channel her magic. Just like a little earlier with Janie and Febrie, teal swirls illuminated the air  before darkening into cobalt blue, making the professor gasp in awe.  There was a pleased flush on her cheeks as her eyes were darting to and fro, enjoying the sight of pulsating energy, of Mikoto’s will being materialized into physical reality.

(It’s making her blush too for some reason.)

Before long, it was Mikoto who was gasping in surprise delight.  

Professor Shokuhou’s magic is gentle and patient (and so, so gold. Is she related to the twins somehow?), easily coaxing Mikoto’s magic into controlled coils of light blue pathways. It seems delicate but the way her magic wraps around Mikoto’s and guiding her unruly magic leaves Mikoto speechless. Nobody had seemed so in control with hers before. The way their magic combines, separates, then intertwines once again felt almost complimentary.

Like they were two halves of the whole. 

Their eyes connected once again, under the faint lights of blue and gold, Professor Shokuhou Misaki looks like she belongs in this picture of a magical tapestry. Her gaze was steady, her expression calm and reassuring, as if to convey that with the both of them in this together, they can make a miracle happen. 

The joining feels euphoric to Mikoto but that only lasted for a second.

Their magic danced in perfect harmony, creating a mesmerizing display of color and control and its really, really, pretty. It was then that Mikoto felt confident that the transfer process would unfold in a smooth manner under the Professor’s expertise. 

“Remember the basics of magic is your energy and intention. This ritual means something to us, albeit differently. All you need to focus on is producing the artificial aether, leave the rest of the transferring process to me.”

Mikoto nodded, eyes resolutely connecting with gold swirls of magical sand. 

They both knew what’s at stake here. 

“Misaka Mikoto, I, Shokuhou Misaki, am in control. ” Shokuhou Misaki whispers, affirming their roles, a request to her partner to give her the trust and obeisance she required to finish the magic transfusion ritual. 

“You are in control. So mote it be.” Mikoto affirms, acknowledging Shokuhou’s leadership in this crucial moment. She didn’t know that upon saying that, the weight of responsibility she had been unconsciously shouldering by herself lifted slightly and she instantly felt loads better. 

“From here on out, I’m gonna drain you” the professor jests.

Mikoto scoffs. She's jesting, right? “Nobody has ever drained me.”

“When you feel like dying, tell me.” her partner softly snorts.

“Is that a challenge, miss professor?”

“Would you like it to be, Misaka-san?” the professor goaded. 

That was an hour ago. 

Had they been at it for an hour? It could have been hours upon hours and Mikoto could not tell.

With Mikoto focusing on drawing and converting her magic into artificial aether, and with professor Shokuhou doing everything she can to manage even the most minute flow of magic into the twins..time seems to pass differently when you're too focused on keeping a pair of kids alive through sheer will. 

Mikoto didn't know that her father had arrived and watching the scene in muted awe, that he had alraeady secured the criminals with the help of his two apprentices and one gremlin professor. She didn't know that Kuroko had fallen asleep thrice while waiting for them to finish and that Touma is walking around in circles. She didn't see professor Accelerator gripping his wand a little too long as he watch the two of them proceeding despite exhaustion weighing heavily on the both of them.

As it was, Mikoto collapsed bodily on the wooden floor as soon as professor Shokuhou said “Misaka-san, that’s enough. They’re safe.”

She didn’t care if she inhaled all the dirt on the floor with how she was gasping for air, she was desperate for it, she’d rather eat shit than go without it. She’s so tired. Her muscles feel like they’re just full of lead and two tons of water. 

She can’t even muster the energy to even grunt when the blonde professor laid on top of her with all her weight, taking big gulps of air just like Mikoto. 

“Good work, you two” Kuroko’s words were faint, muffled. “Water?”

Mikoto continued to pant while the professor managed to nod. Her kohai summoned water and made the other drink in intervals. Kuroko must have guided the water into her mouth since the professor is lying on her front on Mikoto’s back. Her right ear is a victim of hot breaths which is a bit weird for Mikoto, if she ever did care at that moment. 

Kuroko guided water to her next. 

“Could you take off my coat please? I’m a bit hot and scottish robes do aid in cooking me a bit, yes?”

Kuroko gently shoved the professor off of Mikoto, and did what was asked. She didn’t bother to move Mikoto, to which she was grateful. Her junior, however, was kind enough to chant a cooling spell and clean them off with scourgify. 

The magic circle retained their magic residue, glowing faintly of blue and gold. Both Mikoto and Professor Misaki laid there in the cold, hard, wooden floor, panting, their gazes blurry, fixated at the remaining floating lights of blue and gold in their direct line of sight. Mikoto, lying on her front and the professor, on her back. 

“We did it.” Mikoto whispers, her relief riding her tone and a little chuckle follows. She’s surprised she even has the energy to do so given that she can’t even twitch her fingers. “The kids are safe.”

“We did. I told you I would drain you, didn’t I?” the professor answered playfully. She looks at Mikoto and smiles and oh she’s really pretty, magical drainer and whatnot . 

 “Shut up. We are dealing with two kids here.” Mikoto would have rolled her eyes if she could. "Kuroko, how is there magical percentage?"

"Around 90 percent, Onee-sama. The both of them."

"That's...that's" Mikoto yawns. "...good"

The professor dragged her hand and rested it over Mikoto’s limp one. Like an automatic switch, with the back of their hands touching, Mikoto felt a pleasant current travel from one to another. Mikoto couldn't help but feel a surge of euphoria mingled with a hint of apprehension. It was as if their magic intertwined seamlessly, yet beneath the surface, there was a palpable sense of something more, something raw and electric.

The sensation of the electric current flowing between their hands gradually transformed into a soothing calmness for Mikoto. It was as though the energy exchanged between them carried not just power and control, but also a sense of serenity and reassurance. 

As she felt the gentle warmth spreading through her, Mikoto found herself letting go of her worries and fears, surrendering to the tranquility of the moment. A lot had happened in just a short time span that Miktoo knew she had to process it all sometime later, because all of what happened in just a heck ton of emotional, mental and physical roller coaster in a pretzel.

It was as if the connection with the professor acted as a balm to her restless soul, easing away the tensions that had been weighing her down.

With each passing second, Mikoto's body relaxed further, she tried to center her thoughts and emotions, but it was all muddled and insignificant. all her brain wants is to shut down and recharge her whole system. This is one of those times when exhaustion crashes you so hard, you had no choice but to succumb… maybe she'll just sleep for a bit. 

In this moment, in this place and this warmth, surrounded by the comforting embrace of their shared magic, all she feels is victorious relief of their success and the rapidly waning adrenaline high. Mikoto knew that what she was meant to do, finding solace in the unexpected connection that had formed between her and the professor.

“Hey” glittering eyes, so gold as the rising sun, thrumming with enough controlled energy to lull Mikoto into safety, soothing her exhausted mind and making her grateful for the trust she had given the professor. 

Mikoto blinks back lazily, the professors visage already a series of blobs.

She’ll succumb in but a minute but she can wait a few more, can’t she?

“Sweet dreams hero .”

“No..t hero…frie”

Mikoto blacks out. 

[::::]

Five days. Her calendar says. 

That’s what it took for her core to regenerate enough magic to wake Mikoto up. One of the many drawbacks of having enormous magical reserves is the regeneration rate. As her organs and entire magical body was so used to circulating large amounts of magic to function, it’ll take forever to fill the necessary magical theshold for her cells to function in an optimum manner. Meaning, she’ll be weak in the several days to come. She can’t even move even a finger!

Mikoto sighs into the ceiling of her room. 

This is going to suck.

The door opens and she feels the magical note of her mom even before she announces herself. 

“Mikoto-chan~it's good that you're awake but by your father’s lovely beard, I’ve been feeding you a replenishing potion and it still took too long for you to come to. This is almost as bad as three years ago.”

Mikoto blinks at her mom’s visage. Well at least she could blink. “How many did you fight this time? Water?”

“Yes…please.” she croaks. “I don't know... Kuroko took care of most of them. How are the kids?” 

This time, it was her mom that blinked and she took time thinking about which kids her dear child was referring to. “Ah, the twins?”

“Uhn.”

“They’re fine. They’re recuperating in Hogwarts now. Kuroko-chan would update us about them any time there is progress. Everything almost turned into an international incident although it is an international incident. Imagine, a Hogwarts student! I pray they don’t come for my students or they would be in for a lot of pain. Thanks to your father, the Japanese Ministry didn’t try to escalate the problems with the crime performed here in all places. 

It was an insult to the higher ups as it was shameful for Hogwarts. The British Ministry wanted to keep it hush hush but they promised they are already in the middle of investigating such incidents. The twins were but one of the many victims, if you can believe that. What is happening in that country?! Oh and did you know that Touma and Acce-chan got along really well? Kuroko had been ordered to take a few days off and—”

If Mikoto could move, she would have already massaged the bridge of her nose in exasperation. Misaka Misuzu often gets on tangents when she talks. It used to be worse when Mikoto was but a kid, at least now, her mom stays on the general and related topics. Still, her reporting needs something to be desired. 

Not that Mikoto wants her mom to change. She’s fine. It’s actually amusing. Sometimes. Her lectures are a racket and a half! 

“Professor Shokuhou? What about her?”

“Ah, Misaki-chan, she stayed here until two days ago.” her mom’s expression turned sly. “Shame you only woke up now huh?”   

“Stayed? Like in the house? Our house? Here?”

“Yes, and I showed her your baby pictures. All of it.”

“Mom!” 

Ignoring Mikoto’s horrified look, her daughter’s horrified look, Misuzu continued talking as if she didn’t just embarrass Mikoto to death. 

“Your father brought all of your hastily assembled band here to rest. Acce-chan went home with the twins and trusted Misaki-chan's care to me. It took 3 days for Misaki-chan to fully recover but I advised her to stay a bit more. I love her company. What a pretty and well-mannered kid. You know she’s actually one of my students? Love that look on you, kid. Hah! She’s actually quite popular you know, in fact she’s one of the most popular kids in Mahoutokoro in generations! You wouldn’t know since all you do at Mahoutokoro is hole yourself up with the storm petrels. Oh well, at least you guys met now!”

“....it’s not really a surprise that she’s popular…” Mikoto eventually murmurs to herself but of course with Misuzu’s mom-powers, of course she would hear that . 

“ Pretty isn’t she? I know your type.” Misuzu smiles at her daughter. “Hehehekekeke”

“Stop laughing like that. It’s creepy and—.” 

“I was trying to emulate Acce-chan since he sounds like a right gremlin—”

Mikoto didn't care about that! She felt her face heat up. Mind still trapped in thoughts of what boggles her the most. “Type? I have a type? Since when?”

“Since you first played Tekken 4. You rage about that Lili character so much because you can’t beat her and then you’ve begun using her obsessively since. You buy all her…skins? Or was it called mods? Whatever. My point is, she’s your favorite, Mikoto-chan.”

“First off, her hits are amazing okay, and the timing of her attacks makes her a bit hard to play and harder to guard against and that is not enough evidence, mom. I don’t have a type. I don’t even do romance.” Mikoto denies vehemently though something in her brain slots into place at her mom’s ridiculous observations. 

“Tell that to all the shojo manga you’ve read~” 

“....that’s not the same.”

Mikoto just sighed and dropped the subject. She let her mother fuss over her while telling her about clans politics that somehow connected to someone getting a baby siren which landed them in big trouble so now this 7 year old first year ended up hanging on chandeliers and jumping to oarfish getting spotted in scotland which should have been impossible and so people descended from dragons are fainting left and right in the presence of the balmung magical artifact all the while, Mahoutokoro is receiving a really good batch of kiddos this year!

Seven days passed and Mikoto was well enough to move around the house which made her ecstatic with repressed energy. The first in her agenda that morning is to go for a run and although she got tired way earlier than usual, she's grinning like a maniac. She's back in business! She loves that by the end of it, her muscles are screaming for their suffering. 

Breakfast is always hearty in the Misaka household as the matriarch had an appetite that belies her slim figure. Misuzu bid them all farewell with a lot of kisses and used a specialized portkey that only she can access to, to transport herself inside Mahoutokoro’s walls. 

(The youngest of the three was unaware of the ongoing battle of her parents before the professor vanished and her father’s eventual suffering sigh. This is the third day of him losing and sighing.)

Since Tabigake is still in the middle of his work leave, he and Mikoto took care of the dishes and played games the whole while discussing things about Tabikage’s work and Mikoto’s involvement in his security detail. Not that he really needs it but he’s in a position of power that requires such. 

Misaka Tabikage is an exceptional mage of many talents. Mikoto inherited his large reserves and he is an accomplished fighter and a master duelist capable of fighting for a long, long time—But his talent really lies in his charms. He is that person that knows every other person in the room, their weaknesses, strong points, their aspirations and limitations. 

Mikoto’s father is friendly to a fault, okay. 

“He’s a scary dude” Touma had remarked once he fully understood the full scope of being an apprentice to one Misaka Tabikage and it never really left Mikoto’s mind ever since. 

That scary dude is wiping her ass in this round. 

“Hah! You could have gone for the high kick on that one. That’s on you!”

“Argh! Stop spamming that move!” 

“You know, you really should use some character other than Lili and Hwoarang during tag teams.”

“Well, you play Paul and Lao almost always!”

Her father grinned at that and they continued playing. Mikoto won. Mikoto loses. She won again. 

There were times during the game silence reigned for a couple of reasons, concentration, nervousness, apprehension…it was during these times that Mikoto can feel a different sort of nervous energy emanating from her father. Mikoto pretends not to notice this and urges him to fight ferociously, her father’s hesitant actions giving rise to nervous apprehension rising within her. 

In times like this, Mikoto forgets that her father is the slyest one around. If he’s having difficulty opening up a subject, meaning either Mikoto or her mother is the heart of the storm in his eyes. 

Eventually, Mikoto can’t take it anymore.

“Pa? Out with it already! What is going on? Is it something about Ma?”

Tabikage winces. He places the controller gently on the floor and faces Mikoto, his demeanor one of resolution. Mikoto found herself doing the same. 

Silence reigned once again for a few seconds. Father and daughter were sizing each other up as the cicada’s summer songs entwined with the wind. 

“Your mom is pregnant.”

“What?” Mikoto shrieks. Laughter and relief bubbling outside of her like a cloud releasing a trickle of rain back to the earth. “You made me nervous. That’s great news dad! You guys have been trying for a while now. Wow, imagine our age gap.” 

With magic running in their very cells, their biology differed greatly from non-magical people. Mages tend to be stronger and sturdier and they tend to live longer. With Japanese mages, making it all the way to 250 or even 300. 

It’s not that far-fetched to have a sibling with a 27 years of age gap or even 50. This is especially true with ancient houses from all around the world. Mages are scholars first and foremost, the idea of love is almost always a second nature to them. 

A population of long lived people doesn't feel the need to rush reproduction after all. 

and Mages are still fertile even when they are a 70 or 80, so really, there is nothing to rush. 

Mikoto rejoices at the news. She’ll have a baby sibling and they’ll be the best baby ever! 

Yet when she looks at her father after daydreaming about her baby sibling, Tabikage remained stoic and serious. Which means

That’s not all there is.

Drat. 

Is the baby developing okay?

“Tell me, Pa.” she croaks nervously.

If they know what’s wrong now, they can draw up some measures to make the baby and her mother sa—

“You’re married.”

“....”

Mikoto stares—

Stares some more. 

The Misaka patriarch stares back.

No one blinked. 

Eyes the color of the bark of a tree bored into ones of charcoal with blue flecks. 

Really, all Mikoto expects is that her father would break character and yell “Hah! Gotchu!”

So she stares some more. 

“You’re married.” he clears his throat. “To someone named Kihara Misaki.”