A Certain Time Travelling Imagine Breaker - 7 (Patreon)

When Touma awoke the next morning, for a moment he just lay there, staring up at the ceiling.

He may have gotten the vast majority of his memories back yesterday, but still, the soft feeling of his mattress under his back and not the hard porcelain of his bath rub felt so foreign to him.

He was almost tempted to lament the state his life ended up in, that a bed was a luxury to him, but, he stopped himself as memories of yesterday washed over him and his hand drifted up to his neck to feel a familiar bruise.

Things went absolutely crazy and insane yesterday, but even still, things were looking up for this Kamijou-san.

Which reminded him. Touma rolled over in his bed and reached down onto the floor beside it where his phone was charging. Picking it up, he flipped the screen over and looked at his messages.

One new message. And it was from his girlfriend.

'Hey idiot, when you're done with school today, come to my dorm and call me when you reach it.'

Touma almost winced at the thought of going there. Nothing ever went his way when he ended up at the School Garden or really anywhere near Tokiwadai in general.

Last time it even got blown up because of him and Mikoto.

The spiky haired boys eyes flickered to the time on his phone.

07:02.

Good, he still had an hour and a half before he had to be in school, which should give him enough time to do what he wanted.

Touma rolled out of bed and began stretching out any kinks, and as he did, his eyes landed on the mirror on the wall and his reflection staring back at him.

It was weird seeing himself in a younger state, he wasn't going to lie. It was especially more weird that he was, while less tall and broad, more defined, the muscles at the core of his stomach, his abs were much more in view and his waist had a more V-shape to it.

He supposed it wasn't too out of the realm of possibility, and even made sense. His eyes flickered to the small rack of dumbbells at the side of the room.

Wild Younger Kamijou got into working out a bit through Tsuchimikado and Aogami to impress girls, and then ramped that up much higher after...Ayu.

He had been so frustrated and disgusted with himself for not being able to save her, the only thing he could think to do was throw himself into it to burn out the frustration.

Touma sighed, a sardonic smile appearing on his lips, "Well, I made up for my mistakes with her, right?" he mused. He had saved her from herself.

Only...that was kind of invalidated now.

The spiky haired boys shoulder slumped, "This really will take some getting used to." he shook his head.

After all, he would have to save her all over again. But, he had no way of finding her himself. Mikoto could probably help, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Sure, she could probably follow some leads pretty easily with her hacking abilities, but at the same time, asking his tokiwadai girlfriend to help him find another tokiwadai girl seemed like a bad end flag even to him.

He did have another option he could pursue. Tsuchimikado. He had a lot of ties to the dark side of Academy City, and the board chairman himself as well.

He was loathe to get a friend involved, even one as a pain in the ass as the spy bastard. And in the first place, to do so, would mean he would have to reveal to Tsuchimikado that he knew of his circumstances in the first place.

But, if he could make the blonde idiot listen without trying to shoot him in the face for knowing to much out of nowhere, like the paranoid wreck he was, it would also set him up for later.

After all, Tsuchimikado would be able to find out where and what Index was up to. And with his help he could make sure he could find her no matter what he ended up butterflying out of place.

Touma sighed, "Why does everything always need to be so complicated?" he groaned to himself as he finished stretching and made his way over to the kitchen to begin fixing up a breakfast.

A light, but heavy protein rich breakfast might be a good idea, he mused as his eyes went to the weights again.

Though, this time it had nothing to do with Ayu or his friends. But rather, he had a girlfriend now. He was more defined right now than before for two reasons, one actively working out and two, unlike his future body, this one hadn't felt the despair that was feeding Index and getting little to eat himself half the time and sleeping in a bath tub all the time.

'It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep it up and put in a little more effort.' Touma mused. Getting a girlfriend was only half the battle, all the galge he'd played told him this, especially for a girl as popular as biri biri who even had yuri yuri lesbian's trying to gain her affections.

And creepy Aztec stalkers. Couldn't forget that one.

God that guy was a freak.

So, looking good for his girlfriend was quite an appealing avenue to Touma. And he even knew way more about training his body now than his younger self did. Sozty was a fount of knowledge on the subject, especially between differing techniques of her cabal and Academy City and why her cabal had been wanting to destroy the city.

And it even came with a two fold benefit. Getting in even better shape would probably help out quite a bit when things went to shit and started up all again.

Granted, not that more muscles would do him much good against the likes of his understander. He could just see it now in his head.

'And how do you plan to stop me, human?'

'With the power of these glorious muscles!'

And then splat as he got turned into a gory pile of bloody red muscle on the ground.

Touma shivered. That was not the type of macho muscle man he ever wanted to be!

The spiky haired boy put those thoughts out of mind as he pulled some eggs from his fridge alongside some milk and a few other ingredients.

'If I do go this route, I should see about getting some of the supplements I saw before, they'd make things easier.' he mused, pulling out a bowl and cracking a pair of eggs into it.

The only sounds in the dorm room at all, were the sounds of him cooking. Touma sighed in dismay. It was kind of lonely.

He already missed Othinus not being hear to sarcastically point out all the flaws in any of his plans. She honestly probably wouldn't be the biggest fan of him working out all that much either.

She was scared after all. That, if he actively pursued a path of getting stronger, that even just a little bit, he would lose his edge, find himself relying more on his strength rather than his compassion and nature. Less the idea of him being stronger, and him losing what made him strong in the first place by trying to become so.

Touma did see where she was coming from. In a way, as much as he prided himself in having Imagine Breaker and his misfortune, he could not lie, that without it and the violent, supreme power of the Dragon Shell, had been incredibly freeing to use.

It was why he was more comfortable with just Imagine Breaker. But, he hadn't lost himself to the infinite hells Othinus had put him through, and he wasn't going to lose himself just because he had more power to use now.

He needed to learn how to fully control it anyway, and learn restraint with the overwhelming power he now had.

                                                                                         __________

For the second day in a row since she ended up back in time, Mikoto found herself not attending classes.

Instead, she followed silently behind her dorm mistress towards the headmistress' office. She had, after all, after getting her neck snapped very painfully and vigorously last night, expressed the importance of her getting a meeting with the headmistress today.

And the first thing this morning, she she was hijacked by her dorm mistress before classes started up and told that the meeting had been arranged. A simple advance being one of only seven level five's granted her. Preferential treatment.

Mikoto wasn't the biggest fan of it. But, with what she wanted to accomplish, the tea haired girl wouldn't mind abusing it for her benefit.

She slipped her hand into her skirt pocket and pulled out her phone, flipping the green gekota screen open to check the latest message she had gotten.

'Will do Biri Biri-chan, see you then.'

Mikoto withheld a sigh, 'I'm never gonna escape that stupid nickname, am I?' she shook her head and closed down the text.

"Oh, is that your so called boyfriend you were bragging about skipping class to see last night?" the voice of her dorm mistress hummed in her ears and Mikoto yelped, spine straightening and freezing in place.

Somehow, wile she'd been walking on auto pilot looking at her phone, her dorm mistress had caught on within a few split seconds and slipped back beside her without her noticing.

"A picture of you both sleeping together set as your phone background, how bold of you Misaka." the dorm mistress nodded almost approvingly.

Her face turned red, "D-do you have to say it so misleadingly like that!" she stammered in protest. Saying it out loud like that sounded like she had taken a picture of them both post...that and made it her background.

She'd send up looking like some creepy deviant if someone overhead!

The wallpaper was much more wholesome than anything like that! Depicting her l-lovingly stroking the back of her exhausted boyfriends head and hair to lull him to a comfortable sleep on her chest.

Her dorm manager snorted, smoothing out her glasses, "Well maybe that will teach you not to go off in a daze when I'm leading you towards a meeting you yourself pushed for so brazenly," she got rebuked, "May I remind you just what kind of reputation this school has? You pushing for us to go through with a system scan of a boy at this place of all places, you're boyfriend no less, isn't some small matter."

Ugh, this was why she was thinking of going to Touma's school when she transitioned to high school. There, she wouldn't need to deal with such uptight rules, traditions and silly expectations like here.

"Alright, I apologise." Mikoto bowed her head lightly and swallowed her pride. How annoying, getting scolded just because she took a few seconds to check her messages.

"Good, just be aware, that your claims of your boyfriend better be true and have the potential to be level five, that and your own station are the only reason this silly idea is even being entertained," the dorm mistress nodded, "Now put your phone away and come, Miss Wanabe is a busy woman you know and she's cleared part of her schedule just for you." she said and started walking again, bidding Mikoto to follow her.

Mikoto did just that, taking a moment to stick her tongue out at the woman's back and roll her eyes, 'Yeah, Miss Watanabe, over fifty years old and she's still single, just like you.' the tea haired girl mentally snarked.

And completely unlike her.

Maybe if they weren't so uptight, they'd have an amazing boyfriend, like her. Mikoto felt her meagre chest puff out in pride at the thought.

                                                                                       ___________

"Misaka, good morning." Miss Watanabe, an older woman with dark greying hair, clad in a dark feminine suit and half moon spectacles hanging on the bridge of her nose greeted the level five electro master minutes later.

Mikoto dipped her head and greeted her back as she took the seat in front of the headmistress' desk while the dorm mistress walked around the desk to stand behind Miss Watanabe and crossed her arms.

"I must admit Misaka, I was not at all expecting your request," the headmistress spoke, getting right to the point, "Requesting us to conduct a single test and system scan for a single person, not part of our school, and a boy no less."

"Her boyfriend." the dorm mistress added on.

Miss Watanabe's nose wrinkled, "Yes, another complication in the matter," the older woman sighed and looked Mikoto in the eyes, "Putting aside your age, There is of course already the worries of claims of favouritism with going through with such a request if not for that, at this point we may be accused of nepotism because such a close relationship he has with you."

Mikoto resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "With all due respect headmistress, those hold no value here when he deserves the rank, maybe more than me even," the tea haired girl refuted, "The only reason I'm pushing for Tokiwadai to do it, is because the transition would be smoother with this schools backing and to get it done quickly so he doesn't try and weasel out of it."

"Already wearing the pants in your relationship huh, Misaka?" the dorm mistress snorted and Mikoto had to resist the urge to smirk.

It wouldn't look good in such a serious meeting after all.

Miss Watanabe rolled her eyes and sighed, before reaching out to a piece of paper in front of her, "Kamijou Touma, Age 14. As far as school records go, his attendance record is not great and is a known delinquent that has multiple marks on his record for getting into fights," she read from the page, "Grade wise, he's above average in most subjects, except for physical education where he performs quite splendidly, but the most eye catching thing of all though, is the fact he is listed as a level zero and has the lowest power development scans I've ever seen."

The headmistress sighed, placing the paper down and looked back at Mikoto, "There isn't even a listed type of power for him," she pointed out, "Quite frankly Misaka, I must ask what makes you believe in anyway this boy can be a level five like yourself."

Ugh, it was annoying having to justify why she thought he should be a level five. Did she think she was some stupid little girl blinded by a crush or something?

She resisted the urge to retort since they weren't insulting her idiot, but that was the only reason why, beyond the fact she had to sell this, "He's special," Mikoto stressed that point, "For one, he has more than one power, he may actually be that legendary dual-skill everyone always whispers about." she knew he wasn't, but he did technically fit the bill, and she had no problem using that.

"Oh?" Her dorm mistress leaned forward in interest and even Miss Watanabe straightened up.

"He was initially only a gemstone," Mikoto continued, and again by technicality he was, because he had his power from birth, "He was born with his initial power, it's called Imagine Breaker and it's a passive ability, almost like AIM in a way, but only effects his right hand, and it negates any esper power it comes into contact with, even my Railgun gets blown away by it."

The pair of teachers were silent for a moment, "That would explain why no power was recorded for him and why his scores are so low, it's a power that only shows its worth in the face of other powers," Miss Watanabe nodded in understanding, "And quite the power indeed, I've never heard of anything like it, and powerful enough to negate even the power of a level five."

The slightly awed look in her eyes told Mikoto she understood what a big deal that was.

Her dorm mistress on the other hand whistled, "Can negate even your railgun huh?" the woman looked Mikoto in the eye and smirked, "And how would you know that, unless you fired it at him." she raised her eyebrows knowingly.

"Heh heh," Mikoto scratched the back of her head and looked away before coughing and continuing, "Anyway, recently he kind of I think developed a second power due to the esper program, or well, I think he's had it for a while now and just not found out how to use it because of his initial Gemstone Power getting in the way."

"And the reason why you believe he's got a dual skill, huh?" the dorm mistress mused.

"Yeah," Mikoto nodded, "He calls it Dragon Shell. Basically, it lets him turn his body into that a dragons, a kind of Metamorphosis type ability, at the lowest point, it starts in his right arm, the same arm that has his initial power, and with that alone he ends up with superhuman speed, reflexes, durability and strength, enough so that he can move faster than a bullet and could easily pick up a car." she'd make sure to have him explain in explicit detail what he could do now with his powers before she broke off from him yesterday just so she could sell it better.

Even she was surprised by the increase in ability it gave him. And she'd seen it in action.

"A metamorphosis type esper power that physically enhances the body, I see, a rare, yet usually incredibly power though I've never heard of one that reaches quite this level," Miss Watane's eyes widened and her lips pursed together, hard, "I'm assuming since you said it starts with his arm, the more he transforms, the more powerful he becomes?"

"Yeah," Mikoto nodded, "When he's in full dragon form, he becomes about the size of a small bus and can even shrug off getting shot in the face with my railgun without negating it."

In response to her words, Mikoto was met with outright silence as they both actually outright gaped at her.

"...What?" Mikoto asked, shifting uncomfortably under their gazes in her chair.

"What do you mean what, I know I joked about you wearing the pants in your relationship Misaka, but seriously?" her dorm manager gave her a disbelieving look, "In less than a minute you've mentioned shooting him with your railgun in two different occasions."

"What, it's not like he ever gets hurt," Mikoto looked away again and rubbed at the back of her neck, "That idiot loves to piss me off and make fun of me, and never takes me seriously whenever I go all out, he's way stronger than me."

The stage he stood on was much higher than hers, even when she had the A.A.A, now she was even further below.

She had a lot of catching up to do.

There was silence again in response to her words before Miss Watanabe gave a cough, "Well, I can definitely see why you believe it would be beneficial to the school to perform the tests Misaka," she began, an bit of an uncomfortable look on her own face, most likely because of the previous topic, but c'mon it sounded bad but they wouldn't understand until they saw her boyfriend in action and saw how ridiculous he was, "I can't promise anything, but I will bring it up with Mrs Unabara tonight and if she says yes, we will proceed with your request to test Mr. Kamijou."

Huh.

Mikoto nodded, "Great!" she beamed at her. It was good, though a bit annoying they just wouldn't go through with it right away.

What was the school supervisor gonna say, no? Nobody in their right mind would turn down the prestige of being the one that discovered a new level five.

Her old teacher before she became a level five and came to Tokiwadai got a massive fat check and pay out for 'discovering' her, and her old grade school was now one of the most sought out in the entirety of Academy City.

And she'd told him to come meet her outside her dorm in preparation too. 'Oh well.' she mentally shrugged. Him coming to her for once was a nice bonus prize.

"Now, as shocking as this conversation has been, I do have a lot of work scheduled for today," the headmistress spoke up breaking her from her thoughts, "Before I send you off to class, is there anything else you'd like to bring up."

"..Yeah there is one thing," Mikoto nodded, "I was hoping to see about getting into another class."

"Another one?" her dorm mistress asked.

"Yeah," Mikoto nodded, "I want to get into Home Economics." she needed to learn to cook for her boyfriend after all. Properly at least.

In response, her dorm mistress burst out laughing in amusement.