Story: Level Upper Railgun

The life of a Judgement employee was full of a lot more paperwork than one might expect. Not that Uiharu was the type to complain about such matters, but it did take up a lot of time. As Kuroko would always remind her as she complained about doing it instead of spending time with Misaka.

Well, it wasn't as if Uiharu could blame her too much for that either. Spending time with one of the rare Level 5s in the city? That was something special that others would be so jealous of. Not to mention her rather.. Ahem, extreme <i>attraction</i> to the Railgun? She was pretty sure that someone with a weaker sense of responsibility would have dropped out of Judgement long ago to follow her everywhere.

Still, thinking about Misaka did make Uiharu wonder sometimes. What must it be like to be a celebrity like that? Sure, she didn’t get identified by people on sight, but they did know the Ace of Tokiwadai, the infamous #3. How many times did she get asked for tips on how to reach a higher level? How often did she get stuck in some kind of special by the city event due to her rank?

Well, now she was getting a taste of that celebrity. And she didn't care for it! Not one bit! She had never expected that people would make pictures of her eating lunch and go batshit crazy over the fact that a bit of rice was sticking to her cheek. Plus, people were even asking if she had a boyfriend? She would almost be flattered, if it weren’t for others writing that she should get together with Saten. What the hell was a OTP anyway?

Then she met Misaka herself acting weird, and that almost certainly had something to do with the website, and so they'd rushed right on into the Judgement offices to deal with this.

"Hi, Konori!" Uiharu said while rushing inside. "Don't mind Misaka, this might be important business."

"Of course," Konori stoically said, then looked at her phone. "If you will excuse me, I also have important business to take care of. I expect a report on your potential incident when it is resolved."

Right, right. Of course of course. She'd expected that kind of paperwork. Uiharu sat Misaka down, and then immediately went straight to the website. Her... Her fansite.

She was never going to get used to the idea that she had her own fansite. What exactly was so great about her that so many people were going crazy over pictures of her?

"Misaka was wondering, Misaka tentatively began to ask. What is the secret of popularity, Misaka concluded, seeking to satisfy her envy."

Uiharu began working faster. "It's okay Misaka, I'll fix whatever's wrong with you!" she said. Maybe... subliminals in the background? No. Nothing there. Her filters weren't picking up anything strange in the visuals. In fact, the site seemed to be completely ordinary! So why -

Ding! A new post appeared. It showed Uiharu, holding hands with Misaka, with the caption "OTP holding hands! Almost died! ♥"

This picture wasn't too unusual. Not when compared with some of the others. There were several such other pictures that had been taken while en route to the Judgment offices. It didn't really stand out at all, not in the least. Except for one small detail.

It had been taken inside the Judgement office. In fact, it had been taken <i>in the very next room!</i>

"What does OTP mean, Misaka asked hopefully while staring at Uiharu's cute shoulder."

Uiharu shot out of her seat and dashed out of the room. Someone had snuck a camera inside Judgment! To spy on her?! That was... it was unthinkable! A teleporter? Someone invisible? No, no. The defenses filtered for that kind of thing, Esper powers were carefully monitored to ensure no misuse. Panicking now, she looked around for where it might be hidden. Under that book? In that drawer? That shelf? Where, where where could it be?!

"Konori!" Uiharu called out, racing across the room and opening the door that her friend had walked through a short time ago.

And upon entering that room found what could be called no less than the physical manifestation of the website within Konori's office. Pictures on the walls. Drawings. Wax sculptures. Was that a body pillow in the corner? The wallpaper had her face on it. In fact, it almost seemed as though every item in the room was merchandise based on... based on her.

There was a flash next to her, and Uiharu turned slowly around. Her immediate boss, Konori, was standing there. She had her phone out, and was smiling in a way that Uiharu had never seen before.

"Do you like it?" Konori asked. "I mean, your reaction to it just now was so... so cute!"

Oh good lord, she was about to be killed. Uiharu began to tear up.

"Oooh, that expression! It's so cute! Here, have a tissue!"

“Misaka wonders is a member of law enforcement should really do such rather questionable activities.” Uiharu sniffled, having taken the tissue more out of reflex than anything else. She looked back at her friend, grateful for a touch of sanity in this world. “Even if her reaction makes Misaka want to tease her and make her cry, this does seem a bit extreme, says Misaka while being confused by her own feelings.” Even as she said that, the Railgun continued looking neutral, only the tiniest hint of emotion on her face if one looked carefully.

Part of the problem was a simple bit of exponential growth. By this point, a really large portion of people within the city had fallen under the Uiharu spell. To at least some degree. As such, her 'fanservice' level had shot up proportionately. With fresh pictures being added and commented on every few minutes, her exposure was getting rather ridiculous.

Another thing that wasn't helping matters was that a Sister was a fan as well. Since they were all connected across the Misaka Network, that meant that all ten thousand of them were now fans as well, fuelling the experience gain even more. At this point Uiharu was sitting on level 51, which is the point where the Level Upper goes into properly supernatural territory.

If Uiharu did something slightly disgusting like spitting on the ground, it would come across as cute. Something in the way that she did it would seem absolutely charming. So far as boys could see her, she would appear a little bustier. Her overall 'appeal' would be a little bit higher, and actions she took would lead her fans into thinking that it appealed to them as opposed to her taking actions that innately appealed to fans.

At the moment the pendulum more swung the other way, but the more experience Uiharu received the easier it would be for her to do anything at all and make it appeal to anyone watching. It was a vicious circle of service and more service, where she would end up as the sexiest, cutest and most fanservice prone girls in the world if things continued.

"So? So?" Konori asked. "How did you get to be so cute? Will you sign my mug?"

"Eh? Ehhhh?!" Uiharu gasped. Her eyes flickered to Misaka. "Um... How- how do you deal with it? This popularity, how does the Railgun handle it?!"

"The Railgun handles it by..." Misaka began to answer. Then added "Misaka trailed off as she thought of the best way to have fun with the situation..."

"You know I can hear you when you say that, right?!"

"Hear what? Misaka asked, wondering if this girl was secretly a telepath and thinking that this would be a bad thing given the extremely naughty thoughts Misaka has been experiencing about her breasts the entire time they had been together today."

“Great, this whole thing is also making people into my perverted fans <i>and</i> turning them stupid.” Uiharu said, wondering if maybe she was having a particularly weird dream.

"Ah! Misaka has it, Misaka said triumphantly. Misaka suggests that Uiharu take advantage of your fans and their willingness to help you out. This will mitigate their creepiness

“Take advantage? I guess I could ask them to help me find the source of this..” She considered, even as she felt that it was kind of questionable to use people who were clearly under some kind of influence like that.

With a nervous swallow, she looked Konori in the eye. Then firmly declared "I am thirsty."

"I'll get you some water!" Konori answered. "Or... would you prefer lemonade? Perhaps a fruit drink? Tea? Milk? I'll get you whatever you want."

Huh! Well... How about that? Maybe... maybe she could use this against the people who set up this mysterious brainwashing website. If her 'fans' were so desperate to please her that they did this kind of thing, then maybe if she played along just a little bit she could investigate the culprit with a minimum of fuss.

Well, that's what she thought right up until a cup of water was thrust into her hands. Uiharu nervously began to drink from it - but then her fanservicey nature kicked into supernatural overdrive, and the idea got into her head that she'd cool herself off a lot more effectively if she poured it all over her blouse.

"H-Hey! What are you staring at?!" Uiharu gasped. She put her arms over her chest to cover herself up, in the process making herself seem even cuter and more vulnerable than before. Misaka and Konori were staring, mouths hanging open a touch and faces scarlet. And her superior was once again breathing heavily and looking at her like a well done steak.

“Great, now I have to change clothes.” The girl sighed, trying to ignore the way her friends were staring and staring very intensely. God, this was awkward. "You two stay out here, I'll get dressed in the office. Got it?"

The two nodded, and Uiharu went through there to take off her wet clothes. Gosh, that wasn't like her. She wasn't normally that clumsy. Oh, this thing had her rattled more than she thought... In fact, as she was unbuttoning her blouse she noticed that she'd not closed the door all the way. How had she not noticed that? Now those two could keep on staring. They might even take pictures and upload them to her...

A woozy spell overcame her there for a moment. Her fingers fumbled, keeping her blouse just a tad open and giving the two girls outside a peek. They were looking at her with a strange hunger, one that made her belly flutter in an odd way.

They were a pair of dirty, dirty fangirls. And it's well worth noting that 'fan' came from 'fanatic'. These girls eyes were doing a better job undressing her than her hands could ever do. Uiharu couldn’t even imagine what sort of things they were imagining.

Well then. The sensible thing for her to do was... was to put up with a little bit of humiliation. Only a little bit. It would keep them happy. Keep them from doing anything too outlandish. It was to help her investigation along. That was all. It certainly wasn't as if she was starting to find enjoyment in the sudden attention.

1. It wasn't as if her level of fanservice was so high that it was starting to affect her judgment.
2. Meanwhile, Index is getting cuter and Sphynx is getting lickier.
3. In a twist of fate, the original Misaka is stalking Kuroko for a change.
4. Saten is testing her new items some more.
5. The next thing Uiharu knows, she's being carried everywhere by loyal fans.
6. Something else