A Certain Divine Visionary

The Power to Soar

Misaka and Kuroko's dorm, late afternoon, August 2nd.

On one bed, Misaka is lying down and staring at the ceiling. The other is occupied by Kuroko and a lap desk that has homework scattered all over it.

"What is the Monado?"

"The Monado?" Kuroko glances over at Misaka. She puts her pencil down, distracted from her studying. "Shulk's sword-thing," she answers matter-of-factly.

"You know what I'm talking about." Misaka sits herself up. "He's not some ordinary esper. That sword saved us three weeks ago. How is it so strong?" Her voice falls to that of a whisper.

"Ooh, is my beloved Onee-sama jealous?" Kuroko teases from her bed. Misaka only gives an irritated glance in response and sighs.

"Think about it like this: some stranger with a powerful sword shows up out of seemingly nowhere and kills a bunch of weird monsters by 'changing the future.' If Shulk can do that with the swing of the Monado, what else can he do?"

"So, you don't trust him? Or was my theory that you're jealous spot on?"

"It's not like that!" Misaka opens her mouth to counter, but nothing comes to mind. Kuroko smirks and packs away her homework in a folder. She sets the folder and lap desk aside and begins to tuck herself in.

Was Misaka truly jealous? Shulk had powers Misaka could never hope to replicate. What she had done in days, Shulk could probably do in just hours. Of course, Misaka had worked some of her childhood training her powers and made it far. But her strength paled in comparison to the Monado. When the time comes, would she be able to protect her friends like Shulk could?

"Perhaps it's not that you're jealous of his power. Maybe you're unsure of it." Kuroko shoves away Misaka's thoughts with an offer. "In any case, I'd like to propose something, Onee-sama."

"Oh, yeah?" Misaka snarks glumly. "Shoot."

"You could try fighting him. Without lethal intent, of course, but it could be thought of as sparring."

Misaka raises an eyebrow. "What would that even do?"

"Quite a few things, I surmise. You learn how Shulk fights and how the sword works. You have the opportunity to bond with him, and likewise for him. You can see how strong you are compared to him. That's what you're worried about, correct?"

Both of Misaka's eyebrows rise. "How'd you figure that out?"

"I've known you for a while, and I can't let the problem of my Onee-sama get away unsolved." Kuroko's chin plants onto her hands. Her hand then moves to turn off her lights. "How about it? You wanna do this?"

Misaka sighs, closes her lights, and tucks herself in. "I guess so."

"Good, good. I'll text Shulk-kun tomorrow after school, then."

Misaka falls asleep, comfortably lying in her bed.

Near the Tokiwadai dorms, afternoon, August 3rd

On a long walk to the dormitory, Shulk and Touma are talking to each other.

"I'm surprised I only went to school for a single week," Shulk mentions. "It's been great so far."

Touma replies by drooping his shoulders. "The whole student population of Academy City wishes they felt the same way. I guess you did show up late in the semester." He grabs his hand with his chin to think. "Considering you're from another world, you seemed to be used to school."

"It's not like I didn't go to school once," Shulk reminisces. "I took a lot of design classes alongside my normal ones. It helped me improve my skills for when I eventually started working as an engineer back home."