Talk:Kamijou Touma/@comment-124.106.255.181-20161117170810

Spoiler Alert: NT17 chapter 2, Part 10:

The girl’s lips moved a little as Kamijou held her and she buried her face in his chest. He did not sense any of the embarrassment or bashfulness of skin contact with the opposite sex. There was hopelessly cold and heavy anger and hatred in her voice.

“What do you think happened at Tokiwadai after you left?”

“…”

“We drove off that scientist named Kihara Yuiitsu. We defeated those Element things she brought in. But do you know what waited for us after we were worn down by all that? Completely normal people!! With the barricade broken, strangers flooded into the School Garden. And what do you think happened then!?”

He could not answer.

That would have been when he had been recovering in the mall Kamisato had taken him to. And he had thought resolving the heat wave and Elements problem would be the fastest way to help restore order and help everyone.

“They didn’t even glance our way when we were worn down and in need of help.”

But had he been wrong?

Had someone been seeking help from a different direction?

“They looked at the collapsed school building and called it a treasure trove!! They said they could make money off of the drugs and equipment at such a prestigious esper powers development institution. They laughed and said they were only taking what had been denied them when we locked them out and refused to help them!! They said this was their right and that we were getting our just deserts!!”

“Misaka…”

“I did help them. I revealed the existence of the A.A.A. I’d made for myself, I protected everyone in Tokiwadai, and I used what strength I had leftover patrolling outside the School Garden. I didn’t have to do that, but I still did it! But they said I was negligent. They said I didn’t do enough. And so they said they were making up for that… Why do I have to be criticized by people I’ve never even meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!”

Kamijou did not ask anything more.

He simply held the girl’s fragile body tightly in his arms once more.

“I can’t forgive them…”

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">Malicious words left her like she was squeezing water from a sponge. But Kamijou continued listening. He knew she needed to get this off her chest.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">“But we don’t even remember who exactly they were. They abandoned us like stones on the side of the road and made their way to the collapsed school building. The only image burned into my mind is those cheerfully hopeful backs walking away from us…”

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">Most likely, it was not any one person’s actions that had driven Misaka Mikoto to despair.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">When given 10, they demanded 100. When given 100, they demanded 1000. It was the group psychology that saw that as perfectly normal. They had been infected by the limitless desire of those who intentionally kept themselves in a lowly position.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">She had said she did not remember who the target of her revenge was.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">Even if the people behind the looting of Tokiwadai were captured and brought in front of Mikoto, Kamijou was confident she would probably just look confused. This was not that simple. Misaka Mikoto had been faced with the great malice of the extreme environment created by a disaster.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">“It’ll be okay…” Kamijou finally spoke as he rubbed the far-too-small girl’s hair. “What you want to defeat might not have physical form, but I promise you we’ll defeat it. Hurting people won’t affect it, but there has to be a way to kill it. So don’t lose your way. It’ll be okay.”

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">“Really?” asked Mikoto with the wavering voice of a small child. “Is there really a way to defeat that monster?”

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">“Yes.”

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">Once order was restored and once they could return to their normal lives again, that malice would have nowhere left. It would vanish from everyone’s hearts. That was when they could tear the formless monster to shreds. They could only trust in that as they continued fighting.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">And the former Kamisato Faction centered on Ellen and Maya were using the Spheres to control that monster to a certain extent. And for nothing more than locating Kamijou and Fran and to send their own fighters after them.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">Kamijou could not ignore this.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">Kamisato Kakeru’s rescue, the girls under Kihara Yuiitsu’s command, and the malice covering the city. It all looked separate at first glance, but they were actually linked, even if unintentionally.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">“Work with me, Misaka. I need your help.”

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">He had to fight.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">He had to protect something important from this chain reaction of malice.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;">“I’ll return everything to normal. I swear it.”