Story: Level Upper Railgun

There comes a certain point where you can smell your troubles coming from a mile off, and Touma was well past that point by now. He'd seen plenty of weird things of late, to the point it would be weirder if he went a week without some whole new brand of nonsense stepping into his life and ruining his flow. What misfortune befell him!

"Hey! Stop ignoring me!" yelled a certain scientific Biribiri. "Give me back my phone, or I'll zap you so hard -"

"That you'll fry your own phone," Touma pointed out, continuing to drag her up towards his apartment. Ah, actually he might be putting too much effort into this where he didn't need to. "Relax. I just want Index to take a look at you to find out why you're acting so weird."

"I'm acting weird?" Misaka complained. "Says the guy that grabbed my hand and is dragging me up to his place! And the last thing I want is to be examined by that bubble headed bottomless stomach of a nun!"

Touma put his free hand on the doorknob to his place and let out a weary sigh. This rivalry between the two of them was pretty annoying. He wasn't even sure what they were supposed to be arguing about, but that could be credited to the fact that he was a shounen hero, meaning that no matter how intelligent he might be he was totally immune to noticing the attraction cute girls in his life had towards him.

"Index isn't that bad," Touma explained while opening the door. He turned towards Misaka and tried on his best reassuring grin. Anything to set her mind at ease. Come to think, if Misaka was being manipulated by something it made sense that this something might try to resist being discovered or cured. He'd have to make sure she was kept nice and calm. "Come on, at the very least the two of you should try to get along better."

"Fat chance," Misaka huffed. "I'd rather eat staples than let myself be examined by that doe eyed Moeblob with the strokable hair and the ickle dimples in her cheeks, and d'awwwww!"

Right... So, deep down, Touma had to admit there was a part of him that was thinking there probably wasn't anything wrong with Misaka, and thinking that he might be reading too much into it. That part still felt it was safest to take her to Index, just in case, but it still doubted.

That part of him was throwing its metaphorical hands in the air. Misaka's body language and tone had totally transformed in an instant. She'd gone from her usual irate and snippy self to cooing and awwing in the blink of an eye, and the sight was frankly... Chilling. Eerie. Unsettling.

Though not half as unsettling as the back of his neck being licked out of nowhere.

<i>Licking: Exp Gain: 30
Current Level 25, Exp 31/250 To Next Level Up</i>

"Hey! What gives!" Touma yelled, spinning around with his hand at the back of his neck. All he saw was a little moggie strolling away from him like it was cock of the walk. It arrived at a pair of bare feet, just as he began to yell "Was that you? Stupid little d'aaaaaww!"

That last part happened when Index, clad in naught but a towel, gingerly scooped the offending feline into her arms and began to cradle it in her arms like it was a newborn baby. Now, Touma's relationship with Index was... Complicated, to say the least. Did he like her? Did she like him? While the answer to both of these questions could be boiled down to the further question of "why aren't they at least kissing yet?" that only scratched the surface of the nuance and complexities of their interactions.

At any rate there were some experience points being earned.

<i>Cuteness: Exp Gain: 35
Current Level 30, Exp 100/700 To Next Level Up</i>

Yes, you read that right. Level 30! Index has had a busy time of it while Touma was out. In fact... Let's take a quick look to see how that went.
<hr>
We begin with the place where all good stories should begin. In the bathroom, with a naked cute girl. Now, Index is a funny one. She's really quite smart. Well, she'd have to be, wouldn't she? After all, memorising one grimoire so perfectly is challenging enough. Try doing it with thousands of them, see how your mind holds up.

That being said, she didn't really have the sort of social smarts a girl her age ought to have. Otherwise, she'd have known the Japanese traditions for bathing included scrubbing first before entering the hot water tub.

"Ahhhh!" she sighed, splashing the water on her face. "This really hits the spot! Kitty, are you sure you don't want to join me?"

The cat hopped up onto the edge of the bath and peered inside. It sniffed the water, then backed away very quickly, making Index giggle cutely to herself.

Cuteness: Exp Gain 25
Level 15, Exp 28/70 To Next Level Up

"Silly kitty," she said, ducking her entire body up to her chin underneath the water. "Afraid of a little water. Why, water is widely regarded in many magical circles as the purest element. It's normally used in terms of healing, recuperation and cleansing body, mind and soul."

She then, for reasons that even Index did not understand at the time, leaned back and stuck her left leg up into the air out of the water, becoming thoroughly entranced by the droplets sliding down it. There was something about her skin that seemed to gleam, and Index attributed it to the light refracted and reflecting off the thin layer of water over it. But no, she was wrong. There was more to it than that. Index reached up her hands and grabbed a spot just below her knee with both hands, and then pulled back down in an inadvertently sensual, erotic manner until both hands reached the surface of the water, totally oblivious to the effect this might have on any hypothetical men that might be watching.

Cuteness: Exp Gain 70
Level Up! New Level 16, Exp 28/90 To Next Level Up

Then without thinking about it, she repeated the gesture with her other leg, though this time whispered Touma's name under her breath.

Cuteness: Exp Gain 71
Level Up! New Level 17, Exp 8/110 To Next Level Up

"Hmm... What was I doing earlier?" she asked nobody in particular? "Oh right! I was practising my new technique to compel Touma into the divinely ordained mission of filling my belly!" She stood up and then patted said tummy with great enthusiasm. Truly, she is a girl to be envious of: Eating that much, all that she likes, without gaining a pound. But she did gain experience, though not nearly as much as her leg treatment gave her.

Cuteness: Exp Gain 19
Level Up! Level 17, Exp 27/110 To Next Level Up

She climbed out of the water, and then slipped on the floor making a little "kya!" noise as she fell over, face-first. Luckily Index caught herself, and she tapped the top of her head with her knuckles while sticking out her tongue. "Silly me!" she remarked. "Uh... As I was saying! If I'm going to perfect this 'cuteness spell' then I shall require only the finest artefacts, incantations and understanding of the proper ritualistic movements! By the time Touma returns from the shops I shall have perfected this art in full!"

Cuteness: Exp Gain 35
Level Up! New Level 17, Exp 62/110 To Next Level Up

To that end, Index dashed around the apartment seeking out things she could use to enact this spell. This strategy was perfect! Even Touma would not be able to overcome its overwhelming power. He'd been pretty stingy with food of late, but now she would make him see sense!  A hungry Index was a cute Index, and a cute Index would more effectively be able to guilt him into keeping her gullet full and her pallette sated.

"There!" she nodded. "These props will suffice. A full body mirror to practise in. A teddy bear plush to cuddle. These DVDs have really cute covers, so I can probably use still shots from these to mimic... Indeed! Now, it is my holy mission to ensure that my cuteness level is maximised!"

To that end Index stood in front of the mirror, and she began by tilting her head down, clutching her arm against her chest and then sticking her thumb in her mouth while making her eyes go as wide and doe as she could manage. Ask her to do this an hour ago, the result would look quite clumsy. Cute, but clumsy. Now, though, it was effortless. As though she had spent an hour practising it, rather than trying the pose for the very first time.

This was the effect of the Level Upper in play, of course. At level 20, it would seem as though she'd been practising it for a week. Level 30, a year. Level 40, a decade, and level 50 would be a lifetime... And of course, when it reached higher her cuteness would be above and beyond what normal humans could hope to achieve without magical intervention. At level 60, she could make mammals blush. At level 70, she would begin to have the Disney Princess effect on wildlife writ large. At level 80, even insects would cater to her desires. Level 90, plantlife would reach towards her... And at level 100, even inanimate objects would yield to her cuteness.

Yet that is in the future, potentially. That is just a small taste of what the Level Upper had to offer. Though at the rate she was going, that future may come sooner than anticipated.

<hr>
This may come as a surprise but Misaka did not like Index all that much. Misaka, you see, had worked to make her power into the legendary status she'd managed to make it. So you see, she was the hard working sort. No nonsense, down to business. Index, on the other hand, struck her as kind of lazy, the kind of girl who got power handed to her without putting much effort into it.

Therefore, her initial reaction to seeing Index clad in naught but a bath towel, standing in front of a mirror while some cartoon played on the television and seeming just so damned cute was largely due to surprise, and wore off pretty quickly.

"What... What is this supposed to be?" Misaka demanded. "Is this what you guys do in your spare time? What are you making this girl do for her rent, pervy boy?"

"H-Hey, this is new to me as well!" Touma exclaimed, snapping out of the cuteness spell cast by Index on hearing Misaka's proclamation. "Uh... Index, what's with this setup?"

"I was practi- I mean, I was bored and hungry Touma," Index said, cuddling the kitty tight and close to her body, batting her eyes at Touma. "Sooo hungry. Do you have food?"

Ugh, what a disgusting, blatant attempt at manipulation. Misaka could hardly believe that she was dragged all the way up here to have to see something so adorably gross! Wait... Adorably gross? She turned away from Index and stared at Touma, glowering at him impatiently to get Index sorted -

"Suuuure," Touma replied with a dopey grin on his face. He held up the bag full of shopping without complaint. "What would you like?" Misaka slipped behind him and sent a jolt into his hips. Not a big one! Just enough to shock him out of it. "Gah! I mean, what's all this in aide of?"

Index shot Misaka a Look. For a moment it seemed like the two girls might get into an argument, but after a moment Index simply smiled and oh gosh her hair looked so strokable and soft, Misaka reached out her hand to pat her hated rival on the head - Only for her wrist to be seized by Touma out of nowhere.

"Oh, that's right!" Touma suddenly said. "Index, I brought Misaka so you could check her out. I think something's wrong with her."

"Ah, you finally noticed," Index said. "To start with is her flat chest, her violent personality -"

You know, for a moment there Misaka was getting really lost in the cute way that light reflected off of Index's big shiny eyes, the little way she had her lips turned up like that, the sheen of skin showing on her shoulders - But that spell was broken when the litany of insults poured into Misaka's ears.

"That does it! I'ma zap you!"

And so she tried - but Index was just a fraction faster today, pratfalling cutely onto Touma. This had the unfortunate side effect of bringing him down on the edge of the table in the middle of the room, upturning it and a glass of juice resting on the other end. Naturally Misaka saw the glass object flying towards her and reacted immediately and without thinking, blasting it to smithereens, and in the process showering herself with juice.

"Oh, goodness," Index gasped, sitting up with her legs straddling Touma's waist. Need you be reminded she was only wearing a towel just now? "That's a really good look for you! It suits you almost as much as that yog -"

"Gah! You idiots!" Misaka yelled at the pair of them. "Stop pulling me into your antics! I bet this is all some freaky kind of kinkplay, humiliating me so you two can get your jollies!"

"S-sorry about this!" Touma exclaimed, though it seemed rather lacking in conviction given his current position. "Y-You can use our bathroom to clean up if you want! I'll talk with Index while you're bathing and get her to calm down."

That made her snort. Good luck with that! Nothing could calm her down except a three course meal, where each course destroyed an entire ecosystem. Still, she stormed off towards the bathroom to take advantage of Touma's <i>generous</i> offer.

"Can't believe that idiot is making me miss out on Uiharu updates for this," Misaka complained while undressing in the bathroom. "Stealing my phone like that. I should zap him on principle! Index too, for that matter."

She huffed and complained under her breath about it all while sinking into the water. Unknown to her, not too long ago Index had been using the bath herself. The trouble with this is, Index did not rinse herself off before getting in the water, meaning that now much of the dust that she'd knocked onto herself had accumulated within the water and, of all people, Railgun was gaining access to the Level Upper.

"Guh, that Touma, such an idiot," Misaka complained, unknowing of the new abilities she was about to rapidly improve in. "Complaining about my weird behaviour when he and Index are so much weirder. He's acting as though I'm under some freaky external influence when it's more likely that he's -"

The lightbulb above her head flickered off, then on again. Of course! She stood up in shock, feeling totally stupid for not thinking of it before. What if there was an unknown enemy attacking people... But it was really Touma and Index that were under its influence?! That didn't seem right. Touma would shrug off any form of magic, it would not affect him at all.

But something based in science might. Subliminal messaging, chemical control. These kinds of things would not be prohibited by his right hand. Right at this very moment, they could be -

"Guh!" Misaka eeped, jumping clear out of the bath. "Gosh, that was close! Who knows what might be in there?" she complained, little knowing how right she was. "Alright then... I need to be careful." She shut up and thought it through in her head: 'If they really are being influenced by something else, then that same person or people might try to get me next.'

She reached for a towel, but thought better of it. Instead, she ran a careful electrical current around the outside of her body to dissipate the water, it was far from the most efficient way to dry herself but it would be better than risking further contamination by... whatever it was."It's not that I care about that idiot or anything..." Misaka mumbled. "But I'll stick around a little longer to keep an eye on things."

<i>Sexy Tsundere
Exp Gain 10
Level 15, Exp 10/50 To Next Level Up </i>

1. Touma notices that Index is weird as well.
2. Touma remains totally oblivious.
3. Meanwhile, the photo shoot concludes.
4. A Mysterious Skirt Flipping Vigilante appears!
5. Uihara starts to notice her fan club.
6. Something else