On the other hand, Kamijou was dashing down the morning streets as he headed towards the school.
A vandalizing prank had been done on the rail track in the city. The train had actually stopped because someone placed a stone on the track.
In order to encourage students to take the school bus that was really expensive, Kamijou's school forbade students from taking the train. On the surface, it seemed like it was to prevent students from creating trouble after school and prevent them from being harassed by perverts, but the real reason was to earn money by forcing the students to take the bus.
But in reality, the bus had only ½ the speed of the train, and yet the bus fare was 3 times that of the train's. Anyone would want to take the train. Ever since he had taken the bus once during summer vacation, Kamijou had decided to secretly take the train to school as well.
But because of this ridiculous school rule, even if he was to show the certificate that proved that the train had a mishap, they wouldn't erase the record of being late.
(Damn it…I'm already so tired and sleepy, and now there's one entire morning of misfortune. Though I'm not the only unlucky one this time, I can't feel happy even though I know this.)
While Kamijou was thinking of this with that sleepy head of his, someone dashed past Kamijou at an amazing speed.
A middle-school-aged looking girl. She had shoulder length tea-colored hair and was wearing a short-sleeved blouse with a summer woolen jacket over it. The top matched the grey pleated skirt, and there seemed to be shorts underneath them. Truly a 'I don't care whether my skirt flips' attitude, completely different from an ojou's image.
"…Ah, so it's you, Biri Biri."
Kamijou, who was sleep-deprived and thus unable to think, finally understood who the person in front of him was.
Kamijou continued to run as he flicked his heavy eyelids and said,
"…Morning, as expected of the young to have so much energy early in the morning."
Hearing this voice, the Biri Biri Misaka Mikoto unhappily slowed down and ran beside Kamijou, giving him an unhappy look.
Mikoto glared angrily at Kamijou, who was beside her, and said,
"How can you still talk to me so casually? Weren't you ignoring me com, com, com, com, completely yesterday? Aren't you the least apologetic?"
Kamijou rubbed his sleepy eyes and processed Mikoto's words in his mind.
Speaking of which, on the 31st of August, which was last night, when Index had been taken away by Ouma, he seemed to have met Mikoto on the way, but as the situation had been really urgent, he had ignored her.
Kamijou and Mikoto continued to run really fast on the morning streets. Kamijou said,
"Hm? What? You were looking for me yesterday? For what?"
"No…nothing, it's not really urgent…"
"???"
Kamijou blinked his tired eyes and said,
"Ah, can I ask an unrelated question? If there's nothing, why did you call me?"
"YOU…YOU'RE TOO NOISY! STOP GETTING NOSEY! Never mind, we'll change topics! Do you normally take this road?"
Since when does anyone mention that she wants to change topics…Kamijou thought, but he didn't say it out loud.
"…Nope. The train stopped today, so I came by this road. But then again, there's only two stops, so it's sort of a running distance."
"Oh yeah. Why are you looking so listless? Are you afraid of early risers?"
Running beside him, Mikoto revealed a puzzled look. Kamijou ignored her stare and said,
"A lot of things happened yesterday, and I'm really tired. As for you, why are you so energetic today? Is this the power of youth?"
Yesterday, on the 31st of August, Mikoto had gotten involved in a little trouble as well. However, the one who had been victimized the most was Kamijou, who got involved in it…
"Wha…what, is the date…act really tiring to you?"
"Mm? It's not just that…I got involved in something else as well."
"Oh."
Mikoto slightly heaved a sigh of relief.
Good thing that she didn't give Kamijou a whole lot of trouble, Mikoto thought. Just as Mikoto was feeling relaxed, she pondered, and said,
"Eh? Something else? Oi…don't tell me you did something with other girls?"
"Are you an idiot!? Most likely, only you'll casually request others to do such an awkward thing."
"WHAT…!?"
As he was sleep-deprived, Kamijou's tone was rather flat, but on hearing that, Mikoto blushed.
"Who…who's casual about it! I…I was bothered by it for a long time as well! I couldn't think of any other way, so I could only drag you along!"
"…Ah. Okay okay, I understand."
"Oi, are you seriously listening? Don't you dare listlessly ignore what I say just like that!"
Just like that, with both of them having rather bad feelings, they continued to bicker all the way to school.