Everyone looked up when Accelerator and Haruka entered the living room. Yoshikawa smiled at the two.
"Looks like you're awake, Haruka. How are you feeling?"
"A little tired, but I've been worse. Thanks for asking." She and Accelerator sat on the couch next to Last Order, who promptly turned and grinned at Haruka.
Index and Stiyl entered the room. Index spoke. "We've finished the carving in all the rooms. The rest we have to do is to stick a few more rune cards on the walls of the living room, kitchen and door, and that should be it. Remind me, what day is it?"
"August 17."
"Hmm… August 18. 8-1-8. The year is 2018, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"A palindrome. Combined with the powers of Leo, tomorrow is definitely a powerful and auspicious day."
Touma looked confused. "What's palindromes got to do with all this?"
Stiyl scoffed. "This many months with magicians and you still have no idea. Mathematics is important in magic."
"Oh, right."
"Anyways, right now, it's 5:30 pm," said Index, checking the clock. Everyone reacted with surprise. "We have six hours and 30 minutes until midnight."
"We were told that the seals would break at midnight. Luckily, we pretty much have all the preparations ready."
"So what do we do now?" Haruka asked.
"We wait. Stiyl, Kanzaki, please help me put up the rune cards." Stiyl and Kanzaki got up and started to help Index out.
"That's boring. I'm not going to spend six hours doing nothing and then go into a coma." Accelerator had an extremely disinterested look on his face.
"Then what do you propose we should do?"
"Anything but sitting around. You seem perfectly content though. Time-wasters." He scoffed.
"Oh, stop fighting already. Hey Kikyou, mind telling me who all these people are?" Amidst all the conversation, they didn't hear the door unlock and see Yomikawa step in.
"Magicians from Necessarius and that's Kamijou Touma, which you should know from your school. I suppose you didn't get a message from Komoe. Anyways, Aiho, I thought you wouldn't be back until 7."
Yomikawa scoffed. "We weren't allowed to leave. But then after so many fruitless searches, Judgment left, so we were forced to call it off, since they made up a large part of our group. Pampered brats. Anyways, Hakutsuki, I brought your stuff. Here you go." She handed Haruka a semi-large gift bag.
Haruka opened the bag slowly and reached inside. She pulled out a large leather-bound photo album and set it on the table. A silver locket and a blue dress followed. Everyone leaned forward, interested. Haruka held up the blue dress, smoothing out the wrinkles. She handed it to Last Order.
"Think you can wear that?"
"'MISAKA doesn't know, but MISAKA can try it,' says MISAKA as MISAKA looks at the dress."
"It's a good dress. You can keep it. Probably too small for me now anyways."
Last Order took the dress and looked at it carefully. The dress was made of dark blue linen, and had white flowers embroidered on the hem of the dress. On the sleeve, Haruka's full name was embroidered in tiny kanji characters. She hugged the dress to her chest.
"'Thanks a lot Haruka-san!' Says MISAKA as MISAKA expresses her gratitude."
"You're welcome. It was my favourite dress. Now, what else is there?" Haruka picked up the locket and examined it closely. The front of the locket had her initials carved on there. Carefully, she pried open the locket. Inside were 2 photos. The photo on the left side had 3 people in it: a man, and a woman holding a tiny baby. The one on the right was of a little red-haired golden-eyed girl around 6 or 7 standing with a young white-haired red-eyed boy. Both had smiles on their faces, although the girl's smile looked more natural. Once she saw the photos, Haruka dropped the locket.
"Oi, what did you do that for?" Accelerator caught it before it crashed to the floor, and dangled the locket in front of her face.
"Sorry. The pictures startled me."
Accelerator flipped the locket over and took a look at the photos. When his eyes landed on the right-hand photo, they widened. "Is that me?"
"Who else would know me and have white hair and red eyes?"
"Don't distinguish me by my appearance!"
"Oh? Let us see." Yoshikawa and Yomikawa went over to the couch and peered at the photos. "That's Accelerator as a seven year old, no doubt. Which means the little girl is Haruka."
"They both look really cute. Even Accelerator."
"Shut up!" Accelerator had a faint pink tint to his cheeks which could easily be defined as blushing from embarrassment.
"'MISAKA thinks they're both cute,' says MISAKA as MISAKA looks at the photo."
Accelerator turned his choker on and reflected all the sound waves, effectively cutting off all outside noise and any other comments about his 7-year-old self. He settled back onto the couch, sending death glares at everyone who was looking at the locket. Finally, Haruka put him out of his misery by closing the locket. She put her hand on his shoulder and sent a thought-message.
You can stop reflecting the sound waves now. Accelerator scowled, but turned his choker off. Haruka gave him a devilish grin.
"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"
He groaned. "You have no idea." To his benefit, Touma hadn't moved from his seat, but stared confusedly at all of them. Accelerator gave him a sadistic, but superior smirk and had the satisfaction of seeing the level 0 flinch.
Ignoring him, Haruka picked up the photo album and ran her hands over the worn leather cover. To her surprise, the cover glowed with a faint blue light, and then the book opened by itself. On the first page was a photo of the same couple as the one in the locket. Steeling her nerves, she called Kanzaki and Stiyl. The two magicians hurried over. Haruka held up the picture album.
"Are these my parents? Do you know who they are?"
Kanzaki studied the picture. Then she spoke. "I recognize both of them. Yes, they are your parents. The man is Hakutsuki Minato and the woman is Kushinada Kushina. Minato's a water and fire elementalist, and Kushina's an earth elementalist and a combat magician. They were members of the Amakusa Church."
"From the generation of magicians before you came along, right?" Stiyl asked.
"Yeah. Nevertheless, these are your parents, Haruka." Kanzaki and Stiyl went back to Index's side.
Haruka stared at the photo, desperately trying to recall any memories of her parents. Unfortunately, she didn't. She went back to studying her parents's features. Hakutsuki Minato had spiky blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, a tall, muscular build and a smile that was full of playfulness. Kushinada Kushina had long red hair, purple eyes and a graceful, slender figure. She had a gentle smile on her face that seemed to radiate kindness even from the photo.
Accelerator and Last Order looked over at the photo. "'MISAKA thinks Haruka-san looks like both her mother and father,' says MISAKA as MISAKA looks at the photo."
"The brat's right. You resemble your parents to a great deal." Was it her imagination, or did she hear a note of bitterness in his normally expressionless tone? "Well, that does explain why your control over air isn't too good. If the magician's right, you inherited all the elemental skills except for air."
"True." Haruka flipped to the next page. There she found some photos that made her slam the book shut, which sent a plume of dust spiraling into the air. Everyone around the couch started coughing hard. Accelerator stopped, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"What was that for?" He demanded.
"Sorry. Just some photos that are private," she said, putting extreme emphasis on the word "private".
"Give us a warning next time, will you?" Yomikawa waved the dust away from her face. "Anyways, what's for dinner, Kikyou?"
"I'm not cooking for that many people, Aiho. Let's call for some pizza or something."
"Fine with me. 4 pizzas are enough?"
"Should be."
Yomikawa took out her cellphone and made a call. After that, Touma got up abruptly and approached her.
"Hey, Yomikawa-sensei, how do you know about magic?"
"Same reason as Kikyou, which I'd rather not say."
"If it's fine with you, can I leave? It's a little crowded."
Before Yomikawa could reply, she heard Stiyl's voice. "You're not leaving, Kamijou. I said you're needed for later."
"What am I supposed to do? I can't help out with anything."
"That's not my problem. Not to mention I think Index would attack you as soon as you step out the door for leaving her."
"Such misfortune," Touma muttered as he went back to his seat, tripping over a bump on the rug and landing flat on his face.
Accelerator stifled a laugh. "Why don't you call Railgun over here to keep you company, level 0?"
Touma promptly turned red when he sat up. "She nearly killed me for not telling her about magic. And then her roommate from Tokiwadai turned up and tried to kill me for hanging around her 'precious Onee-sama.'"
Haruka started giggling, while Accelerator was trying hard not to laugh out loud. After a few seconds, Haruka stopped. "What's Tokiwadai?"
"It's a prestigious boarding school for girls. Misaka-san goes there."
"Oh, I see."
"So's Mental Out, if you haven't forgotten, Haruka."
"Mental Out? So you mean Tokiwadai's Queen, Shoukuhou Misaki?" Touma looked kind of surprised that Accelerator would know.
"Fifth-ranked, Mental Out, Queen, Shoukuhou, call her whatever you want. I don't care."
"She and Misaka-san are huge rivals. Misaka-san is called the Ace of Tokiwadai."
"Am I supposed to care? Who's this roommate girl you were talking about then? Looks like someone else is out to kill you. All the better for me." He yawned.
"Oh, uh, she's a level 4 Teleporter in Judgment."
"Whatever. This conversation is getting boring."
Just as Accelerator finished speaking, the doorbell rang, indicating that the pizza had arrived. Yomikawa and Yoshikawa went to the door, the former paying and the latter carrying the pizza boxes to the kitchen. After a few seconds, they heard Yoshikawa's voice. "Pizza's here! Take a break and let's eat!"
"Ah, food!" Index raced into the kitchen and took 5 slices. "I'm starving!"
"Aren't you always?" Touma asked.
"You're the one who didn't get me lunch. As a result, I'm hungrier than usual."
"I said I was sorry!"
"I wish I brought Sphinx along."
"You left him with Himegami-san, remember?"
Index said no more, since she was busy wolfing down slice after slice of pizza.
Last Order and Haruka each took 2 slices of pizza, while Accelerator only took one slice. Everybody else took 3 or 4 slices.
The general silence was broken through a series of small talk between some people. Yomikawa and Yoshikawa were discussing the next school year, while Stiyl, Kanzaki and Index were talking about the strength of the magic-sealing spells and circles. Haruka and Last Order were talking about the Sisters network and the level 5s. Strangely enough, the two people who didn't want anything to do with each other, did the same thing: nothing. Accelerator had turned on his choker and reflected the sound waves, and closed his eyes, resting. Touma sat and methodically chewed, watching the others converse easily.
After 30 minutes, everyone finished, although their conversations kept on going on for another 30 minutes. Finally, Yomikawa got up and cleared the table and plates. "What time is it, Kikyou?" She asked.
Yoshikawa checked her watch. "7:00."
"5 more hours then," Stiyl said. "There's really nothing else for us to do. We've finished the wall carving, and we're also done with the rune cards."
Yomikawa's eyebrow started twitching. "Wall carving?"
Yoshikawa rushed to explain everything. When she was done, Yomikawa sighed. "Geez. All this for a magic seal breaking? You're sure you won't destroy my apartment walls?"
"The carvings will fade, and your walls will be back to normal. No lasting damage."
"And the cards?"
"Not permanent. I'll remove them when they've done their job." Stiyl replied.
"And if we don't do this, Academy City would be destroyed?"
"Pretty much."
Yomikawa sighed in defeat. "Okay, do whatever you want. But I'm putting my foot down if you guys insist on blasting the apartment to pieces."
"We won't do anything like that."
"Good."
"Anyways, what are we supposed to do for the next 5 hours?"
"'MISAKA wants to watch a movie,' says MISAKA as MISAKA overhears the conversation."
"Well, that'll certainly work. It should keep everyone busy for a while."
"What movie then?"
"I'll take a look at what I have," Yomikawa said, walking over to the cabinet under the television.
"Should I wake up Accelerator?" Haruka asked.
"Leave him be; I'd rather not have him get into any fights with Kamijou."
"Alright then."
Stiyl and Kanzaki declined to watch a movie, claiming they had some other things to do before midnight. They disappeared outside. Index and Touma readily agreed to join in. Yomikawa popped in a DVD, and the movie started.
***
10:30 pm. Index and Last Order had fallen asleep on the floor during the second movie. Yomikawa carried Last Order to Haruka's bedroom, and Touma moved Index to Accelerator's room for later. Surprisingly, Accelerator hadn't moved a bit, or so it seemed to them. Haruka went to her room, and Yoshikawa went to her room.
When they had all left the living room, Accelerator turned off his choker and stood up, cracking his stiff neck. Grabbing his crutch, he scrawled out a short note and headed outside. Once he was outside of the apartment, he took a few stairways and ladders onto the roof.
Outside, he looked out at the expanse of Academy City. Even at night, the buildings were still illuminated with electric lights. Looking up, he still managed to see a few stars despite the light pollution. He let out a rueful sigh. He had certainly gotten himself into a nice mess. In less than 2 hours, his life would change forever. According to what Stiyl said, he'd be the major factor in the war.
"Did I really want this? Well, this was probably planned out at the very beginning." There were so many "what ifs" spinning around in his head.
What if I hadn't stormed outside when Yoshikawa was telling us about our pasts? What if I never participated in the Level 6 Shift Project? What if I killed all the clones? What if I never took a walk on that night Haruka was attacked? Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the voices until the last second.
"—got to be kidding me, Stiyl."
"I wouldn't be lying about something this big, Kanzaki."
Crap, the magicians are up here as well?! Accelerator dove behind a large metal box that housed the fans. Turning on his choker, he directed the sound waves of their conversation to himself. Staying absolutely still, he listened.
"You mean to be telling me that Nagato-san's coming here right now ?"
Huh? Who's this Nagato guy?
"For the millionth time, yes. He got off the phone with me a few minutes before you decided to join me. After he finds a way to sneak past the security here completely untraced, he's coming here."
"For what? Don't tell me he thinks we're not enough backup."
"He told me he's only here for Accelerator."
Who the hell is this Nagato guy and what does he want with me?!
"For what reason?"
"A simple family matter, if you haven't already forgotten. After all, he is Accelerator's father's brother."
You've got to be joking right now, magician. My uncle?
"The simple word 'uncle' would have sufficed."
"From what he told me, Archbishop Laura even let him go. He's only here to guide Accelerator and Hakutsuki Haruka in magic and act as a guard as well."
"'Only here to guide'? Considering he told us he hasn't seen Accelerator ever since he was taken into that Institute, I thought even that cold hearted diviner would at least try to act as a family member."
"How many times have I reminded you, Kanzaki? Losing his older brother and sister-in-law was a tragedy he never recovered from . He doesn't want to get close to anyone again, even his own flesh and blood. At least that's what he told me."
Right, they did say my parents died.
"Apparently time doesn't heal all wounds then."
"Anyways, I've told you everything he told me. Well, and he says Archbishop Laura will stay neutral, but we are free to do as we wish."
"Fine by me. Let's go back."
Once they headed off, Accelerator slid his back down the metal wall and sat on the ground, head spinning yet again. So his birth father's brother was coming. Another person from his past that he didn't remember. Someone related to him.
Is there any point in thinking like this when my memories return in less than 2 hours?
Getting up, he took a deep breath, calming himself. He looked out at the landscape again. Sighing, he laid down on the roof, staring at the night sky. Where was all his cool levelheadedness he had at the park? Where was his usual coldness and hostility?
If this is what I'm supposed to be like when I have my memories, I don't like it.
Taking out his cellphone, he checked the time. 11:20. He decided to head back in 30 minutes. As he shut off the phone screen, he caught his reflection on the blank screen. He examined himself. Tired red eyes, an exhausted expression, and an air of defeat around him. He slid the phone into his pocket.
"Damn, I look so pathetic right now. Maybe I should relinquish the title of the first. I'm not supposed to be like this. What the hell has happened to me?"
He laid back down on the metal roof, letting the warm summer night envelope him in a dark, peaceful silence.