A Certain Time Travelling Imagine Breaker - 9 (Patreon)

Walking hand in hand with his girlfriend on their way to seventh mist, Touma noticed they were attracting quite a bit of attention.

Granted, some of it was just your standard single teenage guy glaring at him in envy because he had a cute girlfriend. He knew how to spot that look all to easily, after all, until yesterday, poor Kamijou Touma was a single shmuck like them.

But beyond them, there was quite a few that were pointed and whispering about them. Mostly, because of Mikoto he figured.

He honestly hadn't noticed how much attention she got out in public before. He supposed that was something that came with being basically the face of Academy City and the most well known level five.

He looked at his girlfriend walking alongside him, noting her attention was more on the hand she was holding than anything else. She was holding his hand in one of her own rather small and softly supple hands, while with her other she fiddled with his fingers.

"Are my fingers that interesting?" Touma asked in amusement. He was seeing so many new sides to Mikoto now that he was dating her. Somehow, she just seemed to get cuter and cuter.

At his question, Mikoto glanced up at his face from the corner of her eyes before looking back at the hand in her grasp, "Yes actually," she replied. It was his right hand she was holding after all, "I'm still getting used to being able to do this with you, but beyond that, it's kind of surreal that the hand I'm casually playing with here has been used to save so many lives." he clenched this fist so many times and fought his way through so many enemies, some she could scarcely even imagine the scope of.

"But every part of you is important to me." Mikoto admitted as well, turning her attention from his hand to look up at him. Now that he was her boyfriend, and she didn't need to fear his rejection, it was so much easier to admit what she felt.

Touma blinked, his cheeks warming at her words, "That's so cheesy," he replied with a snort, "But effective, I think my heart almost skipped a beat." his grasp on her hand tightened just a bit.

"Just taking a page from your book then." Mikoto grinned at him.

He wasn't the type of person that required validation from others, but, that didn't change how her words effected him. It was always nice to be appreciated after all. Beyond his parents, nobody had ever really put into words how much thy cared for him, at least to this extent.

He doubted even a railgun could wipe the smile that appeared on his face right now, "...So..." Touma coughed, "Is Misuzu-san or your dad coming to this years daihasei?" the spiky haired teen asked, changing the subject,

Mikoto quirked an eyebrow at the sudden change, but answered nonetheless, "I didn't actually compete much in this one last year beyond the opening speech, so last time I told mama not to bother, and papa rarely ever gets time off," she replied, "I was thinking of inviting mama to this one earlier, but I don't know if she'll be able to get time off at such short notice."

"Ah right, Misuzu-san's a university student right?" Touma nodded as he remembered.

"We're gonna have to come back to how casually you use mama's given name, especially with how long it took you to use mine." she lifted her other eye brow and gave him a smirk, causing him to laugh sheepishly, "But yeah, she is so it's unlikely any of my parents will be able to show up."

"Sounds kinda lonely," Touma mused, "My folks show up every year, dad always makes sure to get time off to come since it's one of the few times I can see them."

The spiky haired teen snorted then, "Though not gonna lie, not having to make a good impression on your parents as your boyfriend so quickly is a bit of a relief."

Mikoto shook her head, bemused, "The hell are you talking about idiot, my mother practically adored you, she was always teasing me about you every time I talked to her," she replied, though she couldn't deny papa would probably freak out, "If anyone should be worried about making a good impression it's me, your mother is kinda scary and intense." Shiina Kamijou definitely ran a tight ship when it came to her 'boys'.

Touma snorted, "Look who's talking now, my dad is super easy to win over, and my mom adored you right back," he replied, "Oh Touma-san, how is that nice girl Mikoto-chan? She's so polite and well mannered and she would definitely be able to stop those straying eyes of yours that you got from your father." he raised his voice to a higher pitch to emulate his mother and rolled his eyes.

Mikoto was many things. But polite and well mannered, those definitely did not apply to her.

"Is that so?" Mikoto hummed, lips quirking up. She didn't know she had given such a good impression before, especially with how worked up she'd gotten most of the time their families had been around each other during the last diahasei they competed in.

That was good, because she actually liked his parents. His father Touya was calm, mild mannered and easy going, while his mother practically radiated a warm ojou-sama energy that she could never hope to emulate herself. And they loved each other and their son so blatantly you'd have to be blind and death not to notice within just a few minutes of interacting with them, and even then she wasn't sure it still wouldn't seep into you somehow.

"Well, she's right about one thing," Mikoto gave her boyfriend a threatening smirk, "If I catch your eyes straying and you flirting with other girls like you always do, we'll be playing railgun catch."

Touma swallowed audibly, "I-I wouldn't do that!" he denied the accusation, "It's one thing while I'm single, but I'm with you, why would I need to look at other girls?"

"Hmmm?" Mikoto hummed, eyeing him suspiciously for a moment before nodding, satisfied, "Well good then, it's only fair really considering I've never looked at any other guy but you."

Wait, what?

That brought Touma up short, "...Never?" he asked, gaping at her. With how many guys he knew always bothered her, it was weird seriously weird to hear that.

And made his heart pound intensely.

Mikoto shrugged, "I've never once been interested in a guy until I met you," she admitted truthfully, "And you're the only one I've been interested in since. Why do you think I got so annoyed every time you blew me off to hang about with other girls beyond the obvious?"

Touma actually didn't know how to process that. Should he be proud? Because, he kinda was. And it brought up so many reasons as to why Mikoto liked him.

"...You're really terrible for my heart biri biri." he scratched his cheek and looked away shyly.

Mikoto gave him an odd look at his reaction, before her lips curved up in realisation. He was all bashful because of what she just admitted to him. What a novel experience, it was so rare for her to see him flustered at all.

And the fact that it was her that made him like that made warmth spread through her body.

What other girl had gotten to see him like this? She doubted few, if any ever had. And if Mikoto had her way, that face he was making right now would be reserved for her alone.

It was a selfish and possessive thought. But, it was what he did to her and she'd long since come to terms with the effect her idiot had on her. And now was able to admit it both to herself and anyone who asked.

There was no need to be embarrassed since he had accepted her feelings, and there was no need to fear rejection, because she'd already gotten past that and had no need to fear it when she was his girlfriend.

"By the way, what is it your parents actually do?" Mikoto asked, changing the subject herself this time and giving him a little mercy. She was actually curious about it because she hadn't thought to ask before. What she did know was that his mother became part of the same exercise club as her mother, and it was a pretty high tier place that cost quite a bit to be a member of each month.

Touma breathed a sigh of relief at the topic change, "My old lady is a house wife that just spends her time indulging in her hobbies while apart from my dad, sky diving for instance," he replied with a shrug, "Before she married my dad though she was a real ojou-sama like you, came from a rich family."

"I can see it," Mikoto nodded, "Your mom definitely has that refined lady aura about her that Tokiwadai is always trying to hammer in to me." though she was really surprised she had as crazy a hobby as sky diving, it totally didn't suit her image. But she supposed her boyfriends fearless heart had to come from somewhere.

"Have you ever went sky diving with her?" she asked, curious since he had gotten the vast majority of his memories back beyond a single year.

"A few times," Touma nodded, "Mostly when we went on holiday out of country." and they were much better experiences than what happened when he went to Avignon with that blonde nya nya bastard.

"Maybe we should do it together some times?" Mikoto wondered. She had free fell plenty of times and it was really fun, and she didn't even need to worry about a parachute or anything because of her ability.

"As expected of biri biri, always having to go to the extreme for some fun," Touma rolled his eyes, but grinned at he anyway, "But sure, if you want." with the Dragon Shell, he didn't need to worry about falling from any great height at all anyway.

He could fly after all. And wasn't that just crazy? For all he didn't care bout his level and trusted in his Imagine Breaker much more than those crazy violent powers of his, he couldn't deny there was a part of him that did not relish having them.

Young Kamijou Touma was not immune to envying others for their amazing abilities growing up in Academy City after all. It was a good long while before he had learned to accept and be happy with how he was and his power.

The Dragon Shell, for all the trouble he had caused in obtaining the ability to use it, at the very least fulfilled a childhood dream of his.

Every little boy wanted to be or ride a dragon at some point after all.

"What about your dad?" Mikoto asked.

"My old man's job is a mouthful," he rolled his eyes, "He's part of The Securities Exchange Counter Measure Group for a foreign company, the head of his own division and he basically travels all around the world and stops the company from merging with other companies or buying up stocks that would end up losing the company money."

Not to mention, his father invested in stocks himself.

"Huh," Mikoto blinked herself, kind of like her own father in a way she thought, before another thought occurred and she smirked at her boyfriend, "You know you tease me about being an ojou-sama but you come from a pretty high profile background yourself."

"I hardly live like you now, do I?" Touma pointed out dryly.

Actually, seeing his background, that did bring up the question; "Why though?" she asked, brows furrowed, it didn't make sense, "That's a pretty high tier job your father has got, even if your mother cut ties with her family and doesn't have any money from them, you should still be able to live pretty comfortably."

Touma shrugged, "How well off my family is has got nothing to do with my situation," he admitted, "My parents have plenty of money. My mother did actually have quite a bit saved up from her own family, and we came into even more money after a little unfortunate event back when I was a kid. I just don't like taking my parents money."

"Why not?" Mikoto asked, confused. It was definitely in character for her idiot, but like she'd thought before, you'd have to be blind and deaf not to see how much his parents loved him. She definitely couldn't see them letting him live in poverty.

"It's not like I don't accept any money from them, they send me an extra two hundred thousand yen a month," Touma replied, and shook his head, "But I've caused enough problems for my parents growing up with my misfortune, I don't want to take any more from them."

Once again the tea haired girls furrowed her brows. Misfortune. It was a constant with his life, because of his right arm. Honestly, she still didn't understand much about the other side of things even with the briefing she got from the Silver Sister.

But apparently, luck was actually a thing. A blessing even. And his right hand negated even that. It pissed her off to no end, that it was always him. not only did he basically have to carry the world and everyone else's problems on his shoulders, he was constantly plagued by unfortunate things happening to him because of his arm.

It really was a wonder he hadn't snapped from it all before. The world seriously expected too much of her idiot boyfriend. With his lot in life he could have easily played the victim like so many others had and used it as an excuse to take out his frustrations on everyone else, just like Accelerator and many others she'd come across had.

But he never did. Instead, he used his own pain and tragedy to become more empathetic to others and used that misfortune as his own strength to help them.

It made her love him all the more, and only heightened her resolve to make things easier on him.

"What kind of problems?" she asked gently.

Touma gave her a half sardonic smile, "Before I came to Academy City my misfortune was a lot worse," he replied, "To the point where we had to move around a lot because people kept blaming me for anything bad that happened to them. Kids and adult alike hated me in my home town and would throw rocks are jump me whenever I passed by, used to call me the God of Pestilence and everything." he looked up as he spoke, and somehow, it sounded like he was almost fondly recalling those times.

Mikoto's grip on his hand tightened at what she heard and her teeth ground together.

"The first time we moved, it was because of some guy who lost his job, he blamed it on me and came after me with a knife, tried to kill me back when I was five," Touma continued on, not noticing the livid expression appearing on his girlfriends face, "He got close but only managed to slash me before my dad kicked his ass. But after that, a local television station tried to make a series based on me without permission, and my parents sued them for all they were worth before we moved.

How...just how could he just look back on something like that and not be angry? Just listening to it made Mikoto almost spark out of control. It was always him, always her brave, stupid, kind boyfriend all this shit happened to.

But, as much as she wanted to rage at the injustice of it all, Mikoto was well used to injustice going unpunished, so she held herself back, "Your parents love you, you know," she pointed out softly instead, "You'd probably make them happier accepting more help from them, it would make them worry less."

It definitely explained his background though and why his mother could casually become a part of the same exercise club as her mother. The Kamijou had plenty money of their own.

"I know, even when I had lost my memories that was pretty blatant to me," Touma chuckled and looked down at her warmly, "But it's not really about that. It's my own selfishness."

"What do you mean?" Mikoto asked.

"I have my pride too you know." he grinned.

Mikoto stared up at his deep blue eyes for a moment before sighing, "So that's it." she mused, looking down, a smile appearing on her face once again as the tension left her. He was good at calming her down with just a few words like that.

Sometimes this idiot of hers really was just too cool.

His past made him feel like a burden too his parents. And accepting any more help from them would just increase that feeling. He had his own pride in being able to stand on his own two feet, be his own man.

Mikoto got it, she really did.

But this idiot forgot one thing. He had trampled all over her own pride to save her and make sure her life went well. Because he cared.

And because she cared about him, more than she could ever put into words. She would be doing the same right back to him. This just solidified her resolve to make sure he became a level five himself and had access to much more funds, regardless of his wishes.

He wouldn't need to worry about being a burden on his parents then, those funds would be all his alone, a reward for his own strength and everything he did for everyone else.

He deserved that much at the very least.