章節 14: Mental Out.

Shokuhou Misaki, lvl 5 esper known as mental out. She has the ability to invade other's minds with all the things that come with that like memory erasing.

She had expected this introduction to go a lot differently. Usually she was the 'mysterious person' who appeared and seemed to know all about the individual. She enjoyed this little game she played from time to time, but this was different.

When she was walking down the street the other day, she wasn't trying to read anyone's thoughts it just happens when shes around people. If she doesn't focus then its just surface thoughts like she can hear someone talking around her and she learned to tune it out for the most part.

When she focuses or touches someone, she can delve deeper and really pry into their minds.

She 'heard' his surface thoughts as she walked by. There was a girl at the forefront, she could still picture her vaguely. Then there was a child followed by some other people, some wearing armor for some reason.

Even if it was a little odd at the time, it was nothing that would cause her to do a double take like she had done.

No. It was when they touched if only for the briefest moments.

She unintentionally delved deeper than the surface, and it was not a normal situation. It wasn't in the vein of a 'hostile intrusion' like when she does so intentionally, it was an accident.

She found his name, Alexander Penn. But there was something else, another name hidden deeper. She was curious.

The contact lasted for the briefest of moments, and she had very little time to look for it.

The name, it was like it was being protecting.

A Fortress surrounded it and twelve armor clad individuals stood at its guard.

He had mental defenses. Powerful mental defenses but they weren't triggering. It was like they were built to guard against a different kind of mental intrusion.

She didn't question it as she looked past them.

The words those majestic knights were protecting.

She saw it, the name that left her shocked and dumbfounded.

In normal circumstances she would waive it off as a joke or coincidence.....no this was different.

The object that stood beside the hovering name made that clear.

The light it shown even in his mental landscape made her breathless.

She wanted to dismiss it as an insane person like those people in mental institutions who think they're 'god' or something along those lines....but she's been in the minds of crazy people before. They were a jumbled mess and incoherent at best. This was not the mind of someone who was crazy.

She stood on the sidewalk, absolutely dumbstruck as she continued to watch the back of....that man walk away. The impossible person that should not exist.

There were very few people who wouldn't recognize the name. He etched it in the very fabric of history with his deeds and valor.

Arthur Pendragon, the King of Knights.

She had to find out more about this person.....this anomaly. She had stared at him from a distance after the incident....but even when trying her best she couldn't get back inside his head. It was like a shield was protecting him and not in the manner of that Misaka Mikoto.

Misaka's electrical abilities put a passive electromagnetic shield around her person that stopped Misaki from invading her head. It was one of the reasons they were so antagonistic against each other. Misaki didn't trust people who she couldn't read.

It was different. The 'shield' around this man was like a brick wall whereas Misaka's shield was like a barbed wire.

She investigated the man a bit, she had 'spys' everywhere with her ability. It wasn't hard to find everything out with knowing his name.

Apparently he lived 'closer' than she realized.

He was across the hall from Touma.

Every time she thought about him...she couldn't help herself from both blushing and getting depressed.

When she was a first year, she was attacked by a group of people who were opposing all lvl 5s with the thought that they were responsible for the lack of progression in their own abilities.

Touma, had jumped in to save her at the risk to his own life.

At the end of the fight, he was left on the ground dying. She took drastic measures to save him as paramedics arrived, she basically was manipulated his brain to remove the sense of pain so he could be operated on. There was a side effect though, she inadvertently damaged his brain slightly. Since that time any memories of her would never be retained.

This man was apparently very close to her Touma. Normally, she would have just watched this person from a distance...but she would protect her Touma no matter what. Even with knowing who this man was, if he had any malicious thoughts towards Touma then she would destroy him with all of her power.

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"The Pleasure is all mine...….Arthur Pendragon." She said with a growing smirk. Two could play this game.

Alex couldn't help but feel a tug on the corners of his lips.

"This Cheeky girl...." He couldn't help but think.

He had been caught off guard previously even to the point where he didn't recognize his mind had a visitor until much later. He had been caught off guard, his mental defenses were only built to defend against magical intrusion.... because that's all that there was previously for him. He would need to work on this now that magic wasn't the only means to affect him mentally anymore.

Thankfully, just exerting a bit of prana over his mind was enough to shield him as magic and espers did not mix.

"Please call me Alex in public." He said bluntly.

"Alright Alex then~" She said with smile.

"So why have you been following me?" He asked.

"I was curious at first, its not every day I get to meet someone who supposedly died over a thousand years ago." She replied.

"At first?" He asked in confusion.

Her eyes narrowed and her smile disappeared. At that moment, all people in the block and the surrounding buildings all stopped and turned towards Alex with neutral expressions.

"Why are you so close to Touma?" She said without her usual haughtiness.

"A word of advice child, if you wish to threaten someone...…." As he spoke, a golden ripple opened up above the heads of everyone she had taken control of and a weapon poked out, ready to impale all the people in the area.

"Make sure you have the capability to follow through." He said with a serious expression.

She didn't show it on her face, but she was intimidated. She couldn't get into his head, and taking control of the surrounding people would do her no good. She couldn't do anything to this man in front of her.

She was broken from her thoughts as all the weapons and portals disappeared at the same time.

"But to answer your question, I was basically hired to protect the Nun he has staying with him." He said as the tense atmosphere went away.

She furrowed her brow at his remark. She still didn't know how to feel about that girl staying in the same apartment as him. She kept a few tabs on Touma.....for his safety of course.

"But now I'm curious....what is Touma to you?" Alex asked with a smirk.

She sputtered slightly as a blush overcame her and she turned her head and dropped the control of all the people by accident.

"I Thought so" Alex said as he saw her response.

"So why haven't I seen you in his life, Misaka Mikoto comes to bother him all the time, you may lose your chance if you don't act soon." He said.

He was expecting her to say something cute and get a reaction out of her...…but he was surprised to see her expression become depressed.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"I can't be with him...…" She said quietly.

She didn't know why she was opening up to him so much....it was like there was a natural aura around him. Something warm and inviting that made it easy to speak her feelings without any negative consequences.

So she told him. She told him everything about how they met, how he protected her and how she can never be with him after the incident.

She was expecting some kind of remark about her predicament, or some sympathy about her situation. But no, he didn't give her that, he said something that surprised her.

"Okay, ill fix him." Alex said bluntly.

She was dumbfounded at his remark.

"Check up on him in a couple days as see if you can stick in his memory after I try a few things." Alex said with a sadistic smile. He had an idea on how to 'fix' the boy.

"....why are you helping me, I just threatened you minutes ago?" She asked in confusion. She had experienced the darkness of this city first hand and it stuck with her ever since. Touma had been the only one to really penetrate her shields and get to her heart.

"I looked into you. You surround yourself with people using your ability. Its hard for you to form connections because you can't turn it off and will read people's thoughts even by accident...….you are lonely. "

".....and you have the same look I once had." He said quietly.

That look, the emptiness behind the smile. Even if you surround yourself, the loneliness still permeates. He knew it all too well, and he did not wish that on anyone else. If nothing else, he would have helped this girl just because of that.

The girl didn't know how to react and quickly excused herself as she left, her emotions were a rollercoaster right now. It seemed like a stupid boat on his part....but she couldn't help but believe him as he said it so resolutely.

Just this once...….she would trust someone else. She would put her faith in the man once hailed as the King of Knights.

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Touma and Index were currently relaxing in the apartment with he two Magicians nearby. They were all just trying to occupy themselves at the moment. They all had heavy thoughts on their minds and just wanted a distraction.

They were surprised with Alex suddenly kicked the door open and literaly dragged Touma to his apartment.

"I'm taking the brat for a bit." He said abruptly as he left.

The trio just looked at the odd scene then went back to what they were doing.

Every so often they heard shouting and coughing from the only other occupied room on the floor.

"DRINK IT ALL YOU, DON'T WASTE IT" Was heard echoing out into the hallway.

Alex had dragged Touma into his apartment and immediately wrapped him in chains.

The boy was surprised as alex took out a funnel and rubber hose.

"This reminds me of college." He said fondly as he also took out a few dozen flasks of a familiar red liquid.

It was the same 'potion' that he had used on Touma initially.

It was an odd potion, it was very potent, but it became weaker the stronger the user was. If used on someone like him or even Kaori, it would barely have an effect so he didn't mind wasting it like so.

He used Structural Grasp on Touma, focusing on his brain. Alex couldn't claim to be even moderately familiar with the structure of the brain, but comparing certain parts with others, it wasn't very hard to find the 'broken' part as he put it.

He forced the first potion down Touma's throat.

The reason he was tied up.....to call it disgusting would be an understatement. It tasted god awful, but he needed it to permeate his entire body to hit his blood stream and make its way to his brain.

It was a rather quick acting potion so it didn't take long for the effects to kick in and he performed another Structural Grasp. The 'broken' part had healed.....a minuscule amount. It would take quite a few potions to fully heal him.

And so began the Treatment.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" Touma managed to shout out inbetween coughing fits and chugging potions.

"I shall bestow upon you some wisdom Touma." Alex said with a serious expression.

Touma looked at him oddly as the Atmosphere turned tense.

"The harem must be fed." Alex said without betraying the look on his face.

Touma gaped for a moment before finally shouting.

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?" He shouted in confusion.

Alex just laughed as he continued to pour the liquid down his throat.