[SS] Arduous Tasks

Despite her tone which stood in state of superimposed warmth and disappointment, Kuroko had failed to break that barrier of Mikoto’s. At least, that’s what it seemed at first glance. But, the cracks of her mental resistance were beginning to be laid bare.  

A single luminescent blush came to grow more and more vibrant with every denial and Kuroko had been in the business of law enforcement long enough to catch those very very simple tells. Though, one could argue that any idiot could do the same at this point.

But, the meaning behind it all was something Mikoto had still worked her hardest to conceal so Kuroko could only speculate. Perhaps it was embarrassment from having such a dedicated and reliable underclassman worrying for her well-being? That would absolutely be the grade S best case, heavenly wonderful scenario.

Or was it a secret as pink as the blush on her face that was keeping her from speaking?

NO! NO! DON’T YOU DARE ENTERTAIN THAT POSSIBILITY!

Shaking her head, she forced off that behemoth of a possibility from her mind. There was no way she would entertain such an idea. NOT A SINGLE WAY.

Unfortunately, her questioning was cut short as Mikoto finally decided enough was enough as she changed the subject back, once again, to how late they were and that they needed to go.

Her grasp had been cut short as Mikoto took the opportunity to make a break for it, only for her to crash in an undignified manner into another girl right outside. On the other side of Mikoto was another girl Kuroko had never met before.

If Kuroko were a clique girl, she would have taken offense at the other girl’s casual address of Mikoto, but she was not that petty. Even if that girl had ruined her chances to figure out what Mikoto was worked up, she was not that petty.

But, even so, she could not stifle the urge to ask a blunt, simple question. “Who are you?”

Her petty vengeance would come at some point.

Recovering from the impact of her much too rushed fleeing attempt, Mikoto stood up and started dusting off her skirt.

"Oh, Misaka-san. Where are you heading off to in such rush so early?"

“Umm…”

She gave Aiko a fair bit of a blank stare; something very unfortunately typical of her stay in Tokiwadai. If most people knew her and could recognise her within moments, it was much more difficult for her to place names on faces, which made discussions all the more awkward.

“Well, it’s just the usual, I guess…”

It wasn’t like she didn’t care about people, but more that it was humanly impossible to keep track of everyone who knew her. As such, Mikoto did her best to ponder on a way of discussing without asking the quite rude "who are you" question she was dying to ask.

"What ab-" She was almost immediately cut off by an interjection from her dear friend, stating as such with almost miraculous timing...

“Who are you?”

Truly, Kuroko had an amazing way with words as a Judgement officer.

Aiko was a bit relieved as Misaka got back to her feet and looked to be unhurt.

“Umm... Well, it’s just the usual, I guess…”

(Huh, a much more evasive answer than anticipated...) The look on Aiko's face changed from apologetic to one of burning curiosity. It was vague answers like these that piqued her curiosity and sent her straight into interrogation mode. However before she could start barraging Misaka with questions, a voice pulled her attention away for a moment.  

“Who are you?”

The question came from a girl Aiko hadn't noticed at first. She seemed to be coming out of the room Misaka was exiting as well. (Is this her Roommate?). Regardless, from the look on her face and the tone of her voice it sounded as if she was, somewhat hostile. She seemed to be younger than Aiko, and for that matter younger than Misaka as well. (Was she really her roommate?). The girl was probably a first year, and because of that it wasn't at all surprising that she didn't recognize Aiko. Because of her somewhat strange appearance and her tendencies to get into peoples business but also help them with their problems, most of the students who had been around for a while knew Aiko, or at least knew of her.

Shifting her gaze to the girl behind Misaka, Aiko responded

"Me? Oh, I'm Aiko, Aoki Aiko. Are you Misaka-san's roommate? What's your name?"

That was the answer she received. How very anticlimactic. Though, to be fair, it would have probably been more strange if the answer packed more punch. They were all, after all, supposed to be middle school girls of Tokiwadai. A snippy retort or veiled jab would have been way too out of character for someone of their class.

Well, out of character for someone who wasn’t Kuroko, at least.

Yet, as much as she wished to give a pointed retort, the black-haired girl whom she had questioned gave no openings in her cookie cutter answer.

Even so,

I must know who thinks they can casually speak like that with onee-sama!!

After not even making the slightest attempt to hide the pure rage that she was containing, the twintailed brunette let her the rage be wiped away from her face as she gave the most courteous smile she could and took a curtsy.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Aoki-san. I am onee-sama’s one and only squire, Shirai Kuroko.” While keeping a smile of the utmost artifice up, she once again questioned Aoko. “May I inquire as to what your relationship with my dear, dear onee-sama is?”

“…It’s six in the morning. And I’m sure you know there aren’t going to be any girls – much less in their swimsuits – until we’re done cleaning and gone. So what are you planning now? And don’t give me this “nothing, I’m just content of being able to help my students” bullshit you think works on people.”

He shook his head ruefully as though laughing to himself at Natsumi's apparent naivety.

"Does everything have to be some dreadful plot with you?" He uncoiled the length of hose with a little effort and half=heartedly directed a quick spray of water at the sour-looking girl. "Are you this suspicious of everyone or is it just me?" He made no attempt to deny the accusation that he was planning something.

"I can assure you..." He hopped into the pool. "It has nothing to do with the fact that the pool is shielded from view of the headmistress' office..." He hid in the scant shade offered by the deep end of the pool. As the sun was still in the East it afforded him just a little respite from the sweltering heat. Guy reached into his pocket and lit a cigarette. "Or that it's so damn hot that this could really be considered a blessing in disguise." He bowed his head to shield his cigarette as he aimed the hose upwards and let the refreshing water rain down on him.

He was drenched, but it was absolutely worth it for the relief it brought.

"Learn to look for the positive things in life. You might be surprised at what you find."

Aoki Aiko, Aiko Aoki, Aiki Aoko…

(Uwah, that can get confusing…)

The name may have been familiar to Mikoto’s ears, but if it was, it had likely been lost in the ocean of other Tokiwadai students’ names she had heard during her two years here. Feeling some sentiment of guilt that people would recognise her by her name alone and that she was unable to do so even after strong pondering, she simply hoped that this wasn’t a girl she had met before.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Aoki-san. I am onee-sama’s one and only squire, Shirai Kuroko. May I inquire as to what your relationship with my dear, dear onee-sama is?”

“Hey, Kuroko! Don’t introduce people to your weird fantasies!” She tried to silently nudge Kuroko into being less defensive than this by making usage of only a slightly forceful elbow in the ribs. “I’m sorry, Aoki-san. But isn’t it pretty early to be up?”

“Hey!” She took a further step back from him as he briefly doused her with water. If there had been drowsiness left on her face after getting up, it was likely gone by now.

"Learn to look for the positive things in life. You might be surprised at what you find."

“Like what? Getting stuck the whole week on preparing some eye candy for students I don’t even know? And with you? How wonderful.”

As he was basically confirming all suspicions she had regarding his strange optimism, Natsumi simply made her way down to the pool with her mop, uncertain of how she was going to efficiently hold the damn thing.

“I know Tsubame woke you up pretty early, but I’m not sure that replaces a shower. Oh well. Here, I’ll help.” She simply retorted with a smirk to his fairly bizarre spectacle as she started amusingly nudging him with the mop.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Aoki-san. I am onee-sama’s one and only squire, Shirai Kuroko. May I inquire as to what your relationship with my dear, dear onee-sama is?”

(Huh, this girl seems like she's really got a thing for Misaka... hmm...)

“Hey, Kuroko! Don’t introduce people to your weird fantasies!”

“I’m sorry, Aoki-san. But isn’t it pretty early to be up?”

"It is pretty early to be up isn't it. I assure you the reason is definitely not suspicious... Heh heh." She couldn't really tell them that she had been contracted for a job by the dark side of the city that had then been cancelled. She needed a minute to think of an excuses so a quick distraction was in order, a riled up underclassman could be used for that.

"And to answer you question Shirai-san, my relationship with Misaka-san..." Aiko turned and stared wistfully out the window. "Misaka-san and I were oh so close... A new student to Tokiwadai arriving knowing nothing about where she had ended up, and a kind hearted senpai. Whether she had lost her way or simply dropped her books, I was there to help. When times were stressful, I was there to give her a comforting embrace. And when things got tough, I was there to urge her on. Pushing her to be more than she could be. But alas a senpai can't guide forever. Eventually the Kohai needs to grow up and fight on their own. So I told her this year, she'd have to go forth, without me by her side." There it was, Aiko's bad habit of making up the truth coming out in full force. She glanced back from the window to see the reaction she'd gotten out of the underclassmen. It was also at this point she'd remembered the actual reason she'd left her room this early despite the cancelled job.

"Oh, Food!" Aiko exclaimed "I'm up this early for food." The way she exclaimed this after her grand speech didn't make the reason any less suspicious.

If she were drinking something she would have spit it out. If she had a table, she would be banging her head against it. If she had a handkerchief—wait, she did have a handkerchief. But Kuroko was a refined lady fitting of the Tokiwadai standard and knew better than to fail to restrain herself from tearing it apart with her tee—too late.

It took not even an instant for the pigtailed girl to begin biting her handkerchief and pulling it with her teeth as she heard Aiko’s words. Nothing could fetter the currently unfettered...energy? Rage? Envy? Lust? Whatever it was, she had long since given up the desire to exercise any form of restraint on it.

“Onee-samaaaaaaa” Kuroko’s voice, supplemented by her heated breaths, rolled out in one long trill. At least, that’s what the Doppler Effect would have produced for Mikoto as Kuroko had grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her around.

Truly, Kuroko was acting as an exemplary officer of Judgement and refined Tokiwadai lady then and there.

“Please tell me she’s lying!”

It was as if all pretense of her aloofness had vanished without even a trace, leaving a crying and jealous child.

Though, said pretenses were pretty damn feeble from the start.

Pure horror was lining Mikoto’s features as Aoki’s nonsensical blabbering reached her ears, but failed to sound even remotely coherent. This was the first time they were meeting, wasn’t it?! Considering Kuroko, there was no way she would forget someone else abnormally clinging onto her.

And hell, when did she ever have a senpai in this school?! The most she had were particularly annoying enemies!

“Don’t tell me you’re going to believe her, Kuroko! Of course this isn’t true!” Mikoto stared daggers at Aoki without really meaning to, mainly out of reflex for Kuroko's usual antics, and merely took a step back from any incoming assault from Kuroko, whether it would be out of despair or pure... "relief". Whatever it was you could be relieved about in this situation.

“A-Anyway! Are they even serving breakfast this early?”

“Please tell me she’s lying!”

A thin smile began to creep across Aiko's face.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to believe her, Kuroko! Of course this isn’t true!”

Aiko, while a brilliant attempt was made, could not stop herself from bursting out laughing. The laugh she she let out was much to loud for any sound that should be made at this time in the morning and she quickly stifled it by covering her mouth with both hands until she had settled down a bit. It was at that point that Misaka asked a truly devastating question.

“A-Anyway! Are they even serving breakfast this early?”

The levity drained from Aiko's being as she realized that, due to her normal summer routine of getting up as late as she could afford to, she had forgotten that there was in fact a time before food preparations were started. Aiko's arms hung limp by her sides in defeat.

"My early job was canceled so I got up for nothing, I got all dressed so I can't go back to sleep, and there's not even any food because it's too early..." Aiko mumbled this under her breath before looking back up at the two girls she had just been teasing. "You two wouldn't happen to need any help with anything would you? Looks like I have some time to kill, at least until they start serving food anyway."    

“Like what? Getting stuck the whole week on preparing some eye candy for students I don’t even know? And with you? How wonderful.” I know Tsubame woke you up pretty early, but I’m not sure that replaces a shower. Oh well. Here, I’ll help.”

He grumbled a little as the persistent girl prodded him with the end of the mop.

"It could be worse. That's all I'm saying." He stretched out and slumped back against the wall of the pool, sliding down to a sitting position. It was true what Natsumi was saying, it was too early for most of the students to be up. But to him all that meant was that he could relax for a while. At least until the rest of their 'team' arrived to help.

It could be worse... Sitting there enjoying the shade on a warm Summer's day, it was almost enough to make him forget about the previous week's events. One catastrophe after another. Endless brushes with death. By comparison, a little physical labour was nothing to complain about.

And petty as she was, Kuroko would in no way, let Aiko’s attempt to mess with her or worm her way in slide. Without warning, as Aiko began to mumble, Kuroko immediately clasped her arms around Mikoto’s waist and left her head next to Mikoto’s flank, wearing the same disappointed and annoyed look throughout.

At this point, any and all pretenses had been completely dropped. Dignity? Posture? Grace? Keeping none of that mattered now that the illusion of it had been broken through in an embarrassingly simple way.

All that mattered now was keeping her onee-sama away from this weirdo. That and avoiding the dorm mistress’s punishments. The last thing she wanted was to get a neck fracture from all that twisting.

“No. We need no help at all from civilians.” Kuroko simply let out that one line before sticking her tongue out like an angry child. “So, shoo.”

Ah, pettiness truly is an ugly thing.

Seeing him slouch against the pool’s inner walls certainly didn’t motivate her to achieve her own task in this. Much less with an undisposed arm. She let out a sigh and looked in the direction of the school with a fairly sour expression.

“Are you talking about what happened? That’s never going to be comparable to some school punishment, is it?” She felt the need to point out, though for once his fairly pragmatic approach made sense to her.  “…where are those two, anyway?”

Heading over to her bag to check on her phone, she decided to simply drop the topic. It was best not to linger too long on this matter, especially since anyone could listen in currently.

Rummaging through it, however, she couldn’t get a single feel for the overly practical rectangular device. There honestly wasn’t much in her bag in the first place, being in Summer vacation and all, but it seemed like she’d forgotten something essential regardless.

“Dammit. Going back to the dorm is gonna take a bit..”

She clicked her tongue and bore a troubled expression at this scatter-minded display of her tiredness..

“Kuuurokoooo…”

A dangerous tone of voice left Mikoto’s mouth, however it was far too late for the girl to heed the warning before her upperclassman would bonk her fairly strongly on the skull with her fist.

“Don’t take this opportunity to cling onto me! Hell, don’t start arguing so early in the morning!”

Having taken her change to wedge herself away from Kuroko, Mikoto only gave Aiko a questioning glance; since, after all, they weren’t allowed to have jobs as middle school students. Hell, why would they need it? Most of the girls here were rich enough they wouldn’t know what to do with all the money.

A kind of hobby, perhaps? Mikoto decided against inquiring further, it was getting later and later, after all, and they still had… “tasks” to achieve.

“Aha… well, we kinda angered the dorm mistress, so now we have to clean the pool before the other girls get up, But don’t worry, we can handle it!” She assuredly said, taking extra care to not mention just how used to it both girls were…

“Aha… well, we kinda angered the dorm mistress, so now we have to clean the pool before the other girls get up, But don’t worry, we can handle it!”

"Oh ho," Her ears picking up on something interesting. "You angered the dorm mistress, I've been down that road a number of times." Aiko tilted her head up as if reminiscing of the times in the past she'd ended up at the end of one of the dorm mistress' punishments.

"So what'd you two do the get her this mad, that's not some normal punishment?" Aiko continued to pry. "Tell you what, if you treat me to lunch, I'll help you guys clean the pool. It'll go faster with more people, I'll have something to do so getting up this early doesn't feel like a waste, and I get some lunch. Talk about nothing but upsides. A pool that size isn't really something that two people should be handling alone anyway. Let your senpai here help you out, that's what we're for."

While Kuroko lay on the floor, her legs and hips convulsed and twitched at irregular intervals. It was only natural. She had been hit straight on the top of the forehead with the hard blow of her dear onee-sama’s fist.

While some may have denoted such an experience as painful or uncomfortable, Kuroko may have derived a modicum (or slightly more) of perverse pleasure from being punished by her onee-sama though she dared not speak of it at this point. There was only so much punishment she could take.

After that last but of pain had finally worn off, though, Kuroko slowly picked herself off the ground and with an uncharacteristic poise, dusted herself off with her palms.

She had heard everything loud and clear despite kissing the floor for a good portion of it. While she would normally be glad to accept external help for this kind of punishment, considering it could take roughly forever, there was a part of her that refused to let her say no.

“Forget about it,” she said, waving her hand as if shooing off her senpai. “We have no need for civilian interference. This is our own punishment so leave us be.”

It sure wasn’t the sense of duty she had masked her true mood with. Whether it was her vying for a free meal or just being messed around with, Kuroko’s first impressions of Aiko had already been soured and she would have much rather pushed the so-called senpai away. After all, that just meant more competition for Mikoto’s attention.

…

Unless…

An awkward laugh left Mikoto, clearly uncertain as to how to deal with Kuroko. The animosity sure seemed strong today, and it would be particularly bad if she started electrocuting her so early in the morning.

Namely because she did fundamentally agree to the idea. Considering she hadn’t even said this was just a part of their punishment, it seemed unfair to request help when they hadn’t even gotten to work, yet.

“Sorry, Aoki-san. But we’ll probably be spending the whole day on it, I’m not so sure you’d get to eat lunch anyway…”

Nor would they...

In the end, would they even have time to do anything besides scrub?

An aggravated sense of despair showed itself under the form of unavoidable acceptance on her face, accompanied by more dreadful laughs…

“Sorry, Aoki-san. But we’ll probably be spending the whole day on it, I’m not so sure you’d get to eat lunch anyway…”

Aiko looked a little upset as her offer was rejected. Not only that but her inquiry into what they had done to receive such a punishment was completely ignored... A total failure. But just because this plan of action failed doesn't mean Aiko couldn't still use these two to alleviate the boredom that was surely to come following waking up this early.

"Oh well, that's too bad." Aiko said, feigning dejection. "If that's the case then I'll be seeing you two around."

With those "parting" words Aiko walked a ways down the hall and around a corner. Once she was out of sight she hid and waited for the two girls to pass on their way to the pool. She planned to follow them from a good ways back. She already knew their destination so it's not like she needed to keep that close an eye on them to keep close. Hopefully as some point while they were cleaning they would let slip the reason for the whole debacle they found themselves in.

It was never meant to be. Kuroko could only watch as her prospective barbarian distraction mechanism walked away. She wanted nothing more to keep that barbarian at more than five bodies distance away from Mikoto at all times, but the plan she had come up with could no longer be executed.

Kuroko was a classy lady. She would take this in stride.

Which is why she would stop repeatedly slamming her head against the wall in anger and regret.

With a deep sigh and some blood trickling down her face, Kuroko brought herself off the wall and gave a big smile to her onee-sama, beckoning her. “Come on, onee-sama. Let’s get there before we widen our lateness ant further~”

It was merely one failure in the end. There were plenty more opportunities waiting for her to remove that barbaric interloper from the picture.

It had now been well over 30 minutes since Guy and Natsumi had arrived at the pool.

Yet, there was still not a sign of the other girls who were meant to endure this hellish punishment with them. The sun had begun to raise, and more importantly, Natsumi could start feeling a sense of dread welling up in her.
It had been 30 minutes.

Nothing had been achieved besides the brief semblance of a “conversation” that seemed to comprise most of her interactions with the slightly older boy during that time.

And she knew very well that if the dorm mistress were to walk in and see this pure lack of productivity, they would be cleaning the goddamn pool well into winter in their swimsuits just for the hell of it.

“Oh, for God’s sake…” She muttered, slowly dropping the mop to the ground as she forced herself up from the sitting position she had adopted; it seemed she would need to move things along, but the issue was that her lack of any social amiability made it that she didn’t actually have those things you’d call “phone numbers”.

Not for the people who mattered, at least.

Climbing out of the pool, she threw a quick warning glance at Guy; she would be back soon enough with the two skippers, and he better not have disappeared in the meantime. Natsumi didn’t bother waiting for any kind of response – or even a reaction – from him before heading back into the school’s main building.

What she didn’t know, however, was that he would scarcely have the time to plan for any escape.

As only a mere minute after Natsumi had left him, pained and terrified screams could be heard from within the building, along with a terrifyingly strong metallic thud.

And what could be found there were two girls, sprawled out on the floor, with one having visibly fallen off a wheelchair.

Guy shrugged questioningly in response to Natsumi's sharp glance.

"Don't stray too far..." He said as she walked off, though he spoke more to himself than to her. "If the dragon lady realizes you're not working she might just go haywire." He sighed and let his eyes close briefly.

It was a little too hot to be comfortable, but in the shade, he would be cool enough to doze gently for a while.

"Summer festival, eh? Think I heard about that. That means they'll have a bunch of girls in those cute maid outfits, right?" He hummed. "That'll be nice..." He mumbled as he closed his eyes.

The scream jolted him awake with a sensation like falling into ice cold water. Springing from the edge of the pool he made off in the direction of the yell.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of the scene he found when he got there, though.

Adorning the splendid halls of Tokiwadai’s Middle School, was the most unfeminine vision you could expect from it. If one would expect to see the halls roaming with well-behaved young girls, the current situation was much different.

For the current situation was that there were two girls sprawled on the immaculate floor, alongside an overturned wheelchair which had its wheels still turning.

The long-haired brunette was clutching her arm in every visible pain, biting hard on her lip to prevent an avalanche of the various curse words she had learned throughout her life, in the various languages she knew. Lying beside her was also a brunette, though of a much lighter shade. Her hair was even longer but had a curve that slightly reduced its length. The sides of her head had these long locks of hair braided to her hips, and decorated with pink and yellow flowers.

“Awawawawawawawa…” The young girl muttered in a sweet, soft yet fully troubled voice. It was light, as if underestimating the gravity of the situation, and it took her a little while to raise her head and welcome the boy who had come to check in on them. As she did, her emerald eyes could be seen as slightly dazed, perhaps from the rising sun, or simply from shame of this unsightly display.

“A….wa…Awawawawawawa!!!!” Flustered, she expressed much more audibly. “I’m sorry! Sorry! Sorry, Natsumi-chan! Are you okay?!”

“…fine. I’m fine.”

It took all of her willpower for Natsumi to stop herself from replying in the most sarcastic manner she knew of, and all the girl did was slowly rise into a sitting position, still visibly cringing from the pain that wasn’t dissipating rapidly enough. She took a bit of a pained glance at Guy before nudging towards the other girl and scratching her head.

“Help her out. I don’t think I can put her wheelchair back.”

The young teacher stood dumbfounded at the spectacle before him. He glanced down to Natsumi. Then to the girl across from her. Then the wheelchair. And back to Natsumi. Like a movie detective piecing together the events of a mystery from the crime scene around him, he seemed to be trying to recreate a mental image of what had led to this point.

“Help her out. I don’t think I can put her wheelchair back.”

With a resigned sigh, he shook his head and took the frame of the wheelchair with his unbound hand. Thankfully such chairs were designed to be lightweight so he didn't have much difficulty righting it.

Next, he approached the chair's owner. The fallen girl was still apologising to Natsumi when Guy offered her his hand.

"Looks like you had a nasty fall, miss." He helped her to sit upright before scooping her up in his arms. "You're not hurt, are you?" The stiff material of his cast supported the backs of her knees as he cradled her like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold.

“We look away for a second and you find a girl to just pick up and carry around? Does your barbarism know no end?”

It was only pure chance that Shirai Kuroko had arrived at that moment. But, those words seethed with pure scorn at the sight she beheld at that very moment. After all, she had only just arrived with Mikoto to see what was going on, or at least the truncated version of it.

To any normal person, it would look like a guy helping a fallen girl up off the ground and helping her back into her wheelchair.

But, Kuroko could hardly be called a normal person after all. There was a prevailing belief that since Espers functioned by imposing their own perceptions onto reality, their psyches and perceptions tended to be heavily distored.

In that case, what distortion had run ripples across Shirai Kuroko’s perception?

The answer was nothing short of obvious.  

Once a troglodyte, always a troglodyte. That sentence echoed in her head.

“You have five seconds to explain before I dropkick you, you barbarian.”