A Certain Misfortunate Spider

Chapter 18 - Concerned Citizen

"H-Hey, stop that would you!? Can't you see you're hurting him?"

Ruiko Saten felt her hand squeeze within her chest.

Those thugs bullying that guy are now all looking at her.
Their leader, the tall guy, already ahead.

Saten didn't know how things had happened to this point.

-

A Day Ago...

"So you're a brain specialist?" Uiharu asked Kiyama. "I reckon you might do something to fix Kuroko's broken brain right?"

"We were talking about the Level Upper and her help with this mess." Kuroko explained, with slight annoyance on her tone.

Saten listened to Kuroko's explaination, and excitement guided her hands as she was about to take her hand to her pocket and show off her new bab-

"It's a very big deal, anyone who's seen with one will be taken into custody." Misaka said.

"Wait, isn't that a little excessive?" Uiharu asked.

Kuroko explained. "We can't properly explain to you since investigation's still in progress, but we have suggestions that users may experience side effects."

Saten stayed silent, something which everyone sans Uiharu hadn't noticed.

"Of course, as is the case these users have a tendency to commit crimes, so there is reason to the extra measures."

"..."

"Oh, you had something on your mind Saten?"

"O-Oh, nothing really," Saten said as she stashed her phone away, but as she stashed her phone away she accidentally hit the table, causing the iced tea beside her to wobble, and spill into her seat neighbor.
That neighbor being the aforementioned brain doctor Harumi Kiyama.

"Oh shi- I'm so, so sorry miss-"

"It's okay, it's no big deal," Kiyama assured Saten.
It would've been sincere, hadn't the woman suddenly stand up, place his hands on the sides of her skirt, and pull them down, showing her underwear (and rear) to her tablemates and the restaurant behind her.

"What the hell are you doing!? Can't you see we're in a public space!?" Kuroko reprimanded the woman, as she would to a misbehaving child.

"It's okay. There's no need for you to be worried for me.
My body isn't that alluring to men anyway, so I do not see a problem with this."

"That's not the issue! There are all kinds of perverts, gender be damned, do you really want to give them a show!?"

After the meetup Saten had gone and left the diner immediately, hanging out under an old underpass.
She took out her cellphone out of her pocket, staring at her treasure.

"And it took me a while to get this. Heh, I almost thought my computer's caught a virus."

"Saten-san, is something the matter?" A familiar voice caught her attention. It was Misaka.

"Woah, why are you... how did you..."

"Well, you up and vanished after our meetup. So I was worried."

"Oh, don't worry about me over that. It's nothing really."

"But-"

"I mean, I got nothing to do with that am i right?" Saten discreetly placed her phone in her left back pocket.
"I'm not a part of Judgement, so you know..." Saten said. "What can I do?"

Saten removed her right hand off her front pocket inly for something to fall off.

Mikoto walked over to pick it up.
It was a red charm, like the ones in Shinto shrines.
White floral patterns smattered around the thing, with a small blue stripe run down in the front of it. On display within the stripe were a couple Japanese symbols.