"Such things happened just now, Onee-sama."
There were three bathing facilities in Tokiwadai Middle School.
One of them was a shower room that was a subsidiary of the school. It was called the "Henie Bathhouse", and it was a place built exclusively for students to tidy themselves up. The bathhouse was filled with white steam. Shirai said this as she poured the suitably warm water on her body. The water flowed down her delicate skin, pushing the soap bubbles on her breasts down to her abdomen.
"Ah, the water splashed all the way to where you were? Is there anything to really fuss about with that degree of power? I tried my best to control myself. If I had used my full power, not even the swimming pool would be enough to block it."
Mikoto said from the other side of the partition dryly. The bathroom was about the size of five classrooms, and there were close to ninety showerheads. Each of them was separated by white partition boards and a sliding door. The door wasn't as big as the boards. Considering the height of an ordinary female middle school student, it could probably only hide all the way from the thighs to the chest. If the girl was too tall, she wouldn't be able to fit the regulations, and had to bend her body down in order to prevent exposing herself.
"Besides, if I want to 'stop', I would try to use a peaceful way to settle it. This isn't something major as well, and I know how to choose my attacks based on who the opponent is. The only person who I can use my full power on is that idiot."
The sense of comfort revealed in the last sentence made Shirai's eyebrows tremble. The soap bubbles flowing down from her abdomen to her thighs brought a sense of itchiness. Shirai couldn't help but think,
That idiot again, for Onee-sama to mention him again…
One of Shirai's eyebrows continued to twitch as she reached her hand out for the top of the sliding door. That was where she hung the hairbands she normally used to tie her twin pigtails.
Shirai placed one of the bands on the ground. As warm water from the showerhead had accumulated on the white marble floor, once the hairband landed on the floor, it followed the shallow water flow, and drifted into the neighboring bathing room through the gap.
"Ahhh, I'm really careless! To think that I let the hairband flow into Onee-sama's forbidden area!"
"Stop using that as an excuse to use your teleportation to come over here!"
Shirai was really thinking of using her teleportation, but Mikoto just shouted and slammed hard against the partition. The other girls in the bathhouse, who were busy chatting about, were terrified by this sound, and stopped their conversations.
Because of the noise disturbance, Shirai's teleportation failed. When she used her teleportation, she had to define the three dimensions by using the theory of the eleventh dimension, and use the resulting values to recalculate and redefine them. The process was extremely complicated, and it sometimes failed due to sudden anxiety or surprise.
"Hoho, this seemed to have been a well-prepared way to counter it, and proves that Onee-sama's thought process and my own are completely in sync. Ho… hohoho!"
"I don't want to play this sort of mind game with you… Take your hairband back."
Mikoto's wet yet delicate hand extended over from the other side of the partition, the wet hairband dangling from her fingertips. Shirai thanked Mikoto, received the thin hairband, and felt the slightly warm air coming from it.
Shirai felt her body from top to bottom, removing the remaining soap bubbles, and turned off the showerhead.
"Oh, yeah, Onee-sama, do you have any plans after school?"
Shirai said as she turned to the partition wall beside her. The water that was flowing down from her clavicle to her chest was flung away.
"Yeah, I do have the plan to sleep throughout the year,"
Mikoto casually replied, and at the same time, a clanking sound could be heard. She seemed to be rummaging through her shower bag, looking for a small bottle of shampoo.
"If that's not a joke, I could take the chance when you're sleeping…"
"Stop sighing and saying this so seriously; I'm getting goosebumps. Is there anything for me after school?"
On the other side of the partition, the sound of soap being squeezed out of a sponge could be heard, together with the sweet scent of the shampoo. After that, Mikoto seemed to have turned up the water level, as the showerhead made an even louder sound.
"It's not really urgent."
Shirai leaned her back against the partition wall.
"However… about that… I just thought about going out with Onee-sama to buy something, eat some cake. Recently, Judgment's work has increased, so I had no time to go out with Onee-sama. To be honest, I'm a little bored. Also, didn't Onee-sama say that she wanted to buy something?"
"Kuroko…"
The voice from the other side of the partition wall became somewhat gentle.
Go… go for it! Today, Kuroko won't back down so easily! I know that Onee-sama cares for Kuroko even though she's stubborn, and fawn in her arms, hoho… hehahahahaha—!
Shirai Kuroko stealthily revealed a lecherous smile, and as the partition blocked her, Mikoto was completely in the dark, and only said gently to her kouhai,
"You always run off to the sweets shop to heavily indulge every time after your Judgment work; no wonder your little belly won't disappear no matter how much you diet."
A second later.
With a lecherous smile, Shirai Kuroko teleported over to where Misaka Mikoto was.
More accurately, she was directly above her.
As a woman, she knew she would lose, but she had to give the opponent a kick that could send her flying back.