章 25: Chapter 25 - Strolling In the Toaru World
Mikoto watched in total confusion while Jin approached the small gathering of people outside her dorm room. When he pulled out something that looked like a cigarette lighter, she furrowed her brows in confusion. Then, her brain short-circuited when he started shooting blue flames from the lighter into the girls' faces. Since Jin moved more quickly than an average human, it took her a moment to react to the strange situation.
"What the heck are you doing, Jin-san!"
"Replacing their memories of the last few seconds. Now, how about we escape and pretend this never happened?"
Baffled, Mikoto looked at the pile of girls in the dorm hallway, then looked back at him.
"Are you actually insane? That won't turn their brains to mush, right?"
"Nah. This is something from my world. Doesn't have the same drawbacks as many of the things you might be used to since it directly affects the soul."
"Souls exist? Wait, that's not the problem! Isn't that even worse?!"
"No? I'm sure they'll be fine. Any lasting damage will just have to be a sacrifice to save our reputation."
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"...That was a joke. You really don't need to worry about them. They'll be fine."
'I guess her sense of humor is different from Jellal and I. Unfortunate. She's missing out.'
"...I'll seriously electrocute you later if you're lying."
Sighing, Jin grumbled, "Was just trying to lighten the atmosphere since we don't know each other that well, yet. Anyway, mind leading the way to our destination? I might know about Academy City from a distant perspective, but I'm effectively a foreigner. Would appreciate it if you could be my tour guide."
"Ugh. Fine, so long as those girls are okay… Follow me."
Doing her best to ignore her unconscious schoolmates, Mikoto led Jin downstairs, but she grumbled unimportant complaints the entire way, especially when he casually erased the memory of a dorm supervisor upon encountering her.
"I swear you're enjoying that, you monster. Stop abusing it."
"I'm not enjoying it or abusing it. It will prevent people from asking about me, but I'll stop using it once we're outside. Would definitely attract unwanted attention out there."
Mikoto shook her head and continued leading the way to the front door. Outside, Jin held back the weird combination of amazement and nostalgia upon seeing the futuristic city skyline of Academy City in the full splendor of its scientific achievements. From the moment Jin stepped into the sunlight, he felt his Power Veins crackle beneath his skin. The reaction far surpassed the last couple times he felt them react to a new environment.
"...Are you alright?" Mikoto asked, noticing something off about him.
"Yeah. Just adjusting to the new atmosphere. I felt it to a small extent upon meeting you earlier already, but it hit a lot harder outside for some reason."
"Weird. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I've adjusted now," Jin responded, but then his stomach grumbled in protest. Since he had eaten a full meal not long before coming to this world, he wondered if whatever his Power Veins did had consumed energy. As such, he awkwardly asked, "Do you mind if we stop to eat somewhere first?"
"Uh, I guess I don't mind, but do you have money?"
"I brought food with me, but if you want to buy me food that I can't get back home since I'm your guest right now, then I won't complain. I'll even return the favor whenever we go on a mission together in the future or if you're ever able to visit my… home."
Giving him a strange look, Mikoto didn't realize what he meant by 'home' at first. Then, realizing he was talking about his homeworld, she flicked her bangs and replied, "I guess I don't mind doing that, but you also better treat me to something I can't get here, otherwise what's the point? Anyway, there's a decent restaurant near here if you want to try it."
"Works for me."
Little did Mikoto know that Jin started fantasizing about taking her to a restaurant in Soul Society if he could find one there. Just imagining Railgun in such a situation made him chuckle quietly.
Along the way to the restaurant, Mikoto happened to glance through the window of a konbini. Her eyes went straight to the manga section and landed on a new issue of a manga she recently started reading. Briefly, she paused, which caught Jin's attention. However, she looked back at him and feigned disinterest before continuing forward again.
"Do you want to buy some manga?" Jin casually inquired since he vaguely recalled that the girl enjoyed reading some manga in her spare time.
"Erm… no, of course not."
"You're not embarrassed about wanting manga or something, are you?"
"O- Of course not," Mikoto stammered with a noticeable blush visible on her ears after turning her head away.
"You think I care if you want some manga?"
"..."
"Just buy it if you want it."
The girl pouted with her lips and briefly looked up at Jin with an annoyed gaze before turning around to enter the konbini. Jin shook his head and followed her inside. He couldn't help showing a wry smile while inwardly commenting on the foolishness of tsundere characters and their inability to just be honest. However, he quickly forgot about such thoughts upon seeing only unfamiliar manga titles sitting on the shelves.
Meanwhile, Mikoto swiped the new issue she wanted and scampered toward the counter. She halted upon noticing Jin focused on the shelves of manga.
"...Do you also want something?"
Jin briefly glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the shelves. While reading all the unfamiliar titles, he answered, "I don't need anything, but would you be interested in trading manga later? The ones here are different from where I'm from."
As if a lightbulb lit up in her mind because of his statement, Misaka's eyes glittered with realization. Unable to withhold excitement, she grabbed his sleeve and exclaimed, "Let's do it!"
Startled by the outburst he hadn't expected, Jin blinked a few times. He also noticed the cashier staring at them with mouth agape. Ignoring the guy, he looked down at the girl and wondered, 'Are misunderstandings like this happening because of the world I'm in? Such things were pretty common in the early stages of the adaptations, I think. Feels so unnatural.'
"If you want to do it, we can trade things in the chat group later. Wizard sent me something earlier today, so it's definitely possible."
"Hehehe. So many new series to read..."
Jin raised a brow since he never expected to see Railgun act quite like this. Sure, she was portrayed as a rather unique individual, but this level of excitement over manga from another world…
'Actually, that's pretty understandable. Even I'm excited at the thought of reading some stories I've never read before from a foreign world. Been a while since I felt that.'
With a skip in her step, Mikoto walked up to the counter and purchased her new manga volume. Afterward, they resumed their trek toward the aforementioned restaurant. The location looked like any normal family diner… aside from the sleek architecture and the futuristic vehicles parked outside.
The two entered and sat across from each other at a booth. After a waitress brought them some menus, Jin searched for anything unique he wouldn't be able to obtain back home. Part of him had his hopes up since some of the meat he ate in the Fairy Tail world tasted absolutely divine. He struggled to curb any expectations by thinking any food here likely wouldn't differ much from his homeworld.
Since Mikoto didn't bother looking at the menu, Jin assumed she knew the place well. As such, he asked, "Any recommendations?"
"Um. Maybe? I don't know what would be unique for you, though."
"Good point."
Eventually, he settled on something he didn't recognize before pointing at the picture and saying, "I'll order this. I'm going to quickly run to the bathroom, though, so if the waitress comes back, do mind letting her know?"
"...I doubt she'll ask until you come back."
"Fair enough."
Shrugging, Jin got up and walked toward the back where signs indicated the bathroom would be. Not far from the bathroom doors, he suddenly noticed a small child standing in the middle of the narrow hallway. The child looked like any normal child, but with androgynous facial traits. Aside from dark brown hair, the child stared at him with eerie gray and green eyes. An odd feeling of mental maturity radiated from the child's mostly apathetic gaze. Normally, Jin wouldn't have cared about a random child, but every fiber of his body screamed that something about the child was unnatural. As a gut reaction, he readied himself to cast magic or use his geass at a moment's notice. He even grabbed some coins sitting in his pocket.
The two silently observed each other for a few moments until the child quietly spoke in an almost mechanical voice, "Hello, outsider."
'Oh, Lord have mercy.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author Note: This isn't too important of a note. Just wanted to mention that I've done a bit of research for a good Esper ability for Jin, and I'm thinking something that has to do with Einstein's theory of special relativity. You guys think that'd be good, or would it be too op? As an esper ability, it would take a long time for Jin to master, so just putting it out there to see if you guys think it might break the balance too much. If you guys think it's too much, I'll just settle on one of my two secondary options that are simpler and less op, one being something akin to an adrenaline burst that boosts his senses and reactions to become almost machine-like, and the other being something the ability to control of the mass of an object. If there isn't a majority objection, I'll just choose the first one, so feel free to discuss in comments and whatnot, I guess.
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