Chapter 922: The Excuse for Cover
Falling asleep while taking a bath—hearing the excuse Misaka Mikoto came up with, Shirai Kuroko couldn't help but rub her forehead again: "Such a reason... I can't believe the Dorm Supervisor would accept it."
Misaka Mikoto was also a bit embarrassed. She naturally knew the reason was a bit unreliable, but she really had no other choice.
"The Dorm Supervisor has a key. Even if I don't open the door, she can just open it and barge in. What do you want me to do?" Misaka Mikoto said, "I could only react on the fly, lock the bathroom door, and say you were bathing inside..."
Or rather, it was precisely Misaka Mikoto's act of "resisting the room check" that led to the Dorm Supervisor's "forced entry and inspection."
It was also thanks to Misaka Mikoto's Electromagnetic Manipulation that she could remotely lock the door, making it seem like someone was inside the bathroom.
"Actu-actually, it's quite reasonable, isn't it?" Seemingly feeling a bit embarrassed, Misaka Mikoto couldn't help but defend her plan, "Look, we did fight a big battle outside the city, accumulated a lot of stress, and were covered in dust and sweat, so taking a bath to relax after coming back is not wrong! The only flaw was that you, Kuroko, were outside longer than I expected, which led to the bath excuse gradually evolving into falling asleep in the bathtub... If you hadn't come back, I almost couldn't keep it up! If the teacher hadn't been lingering nearby, I would have wanted to borrow someone from next door to impersonate you!"
"Onee-sama, your thought process isn't wrong," Shirai Kuroko sighed again, listening to Misaka Mikoto's rambling complaints from outside the bathroom, and said somewhat helplessly, "But the problem is, the 'taking a bath' trick has been used by me many times already. The teacher must have seen through it, right?"
Because she can use Space Movement, Shirai Kuroko can also lock the bathroom door when she is alone.
Although the Dorm Supervisor has the authority to enter every dormitory room, she cannot just freely enter places like the bathroom.
Therefore, for students, the best place to hide any forbidden items is the bathroom. Similarly, if they want to hide a roommate who isn't actually in the dorm, the bathroom is the most suitable place.
Since she often needed to help Misaka Mikoto cover things up, Shirai Kuroko had mastered this trick long ago, and because she used it a bit too many times, she had also discarded this strategy quite early.
She didn't expect that tonight, Misaka Mikoto would also, by some telepathy, think of the same strategy...
"..." Misaka Mikoto was even more speechless. Finally, she threw away the hairdryer and comb in her hand as if giving up, and slumped onto the bed.
It wasn't until Shirai Kuroko had truly finished bathing and came out wrapped in a bath towel that Misaka Mikoto spoke again: "Thank you, Kuroko."
"Eh?" Shirai Kuroko was bending down to pick up the hairdryer when she suddenly heard this, and immediately froze, "Onee-sama, you've got it backward, haven't you? Today, I should be the one thanking you."
"No, what I mean is," Misaka Mikoto shook her head, "I've always troubled you to cover for me and deal with the Dorm Supervisor. Thank you very much, truly."
Some things, only after experiencing them firsthand, will one truly understand their difficulty.
Faced with Onee-sama's straightforward thanks, Shirai Kuroko became a bit embarrassed and quickly turned her head, pretending to fix her hair. However, because it wasn't plugged in, the hairdryer was completely just a prop.
Misaka Mikoto smiled and reached out to pinch the hairdryer's plug.
Finally, the strong hot air blew the girl's long hair...
"Tha... thank you." Shirai Kuroko thanked her, lowering her head.
"You're welcome." Misaka Mikoto leaned back, then propped herself up with her arms, her gaze shifting from the ceiling to Shirai Kuroko in front of her.
This time, Shirai Kuroko didn't avoid her gaze.
"Nothing happened, you know." Shirai Kuroko said.
She naturally knew what Onee-sama was truly concerned about; since there was no escaping it, dragging it out with more evasions was meaningless, so it was better to just speak frankly.
After all, truly nothing had happened.
"Nameless-senpai is in good condition. Although he needs to stay in the Hospital for treatment, at least I didn't see any signs of injury or discomfort." Shirai Kuroko said, "Also, the reason Senpai left the Hospital was indeed to find Chairman Aleister. I was waiting for Senpai downstairs at that No Window Building."
"You don't need to tell me these things." Misaka Mikoto said with a wry smile, "I trust Nameless-senpai."
After a slight pause, she continued: "And I trust you, Kuroko. So you don't need to explain these things to me..."
The reason she kept looking at Shirai Kuroko was purely because she found it unbelievable—Misaka Mikoto was still in the process of "accepting reality."
Shirai Kuroko was her roommate, her best friend, and she had even truly regarded her as a younger sister, yet today she suddenly transformed into a "love rival"!
The lingering impact of this shock was truly quite significant, and Misaka Mikoto was still in a state of continuous astonishment.
Of course, because of the precedents of Shokuhou Misaki and Hu Feng Toumi, and then the sudden appearance of Misaka Worst and Kazakiri Hyouka, Misaka Mikoto had long anticipated the arrival of new "love rivals" or "competitors."
After all, given Nameless-senpai's excellence and his slow and hesitant attitude towards romance, it would be strange if there were no competitors.
However, what Misaka Mikoto never expected was that this "love rival" would be right beside her, that it would be Shirai Kuroko!
—Now, looking back and thinking carefully, Kuroko's feelings for Nameless-senpai seemed to have shown signs long ago, but I just never noticed.
Although it was just one more person, Shirai Kuroko, it gave Misaka Mikoto a feeling of being "besieged on all sides."
Because she was her roommate and best friend, Misaka Mikoto was very clear about how excellent Shirai Kuroko was.
To be fair, Misaka Mikoto even felt that Shirai Kuroko was far more outstanding than herself; her only advantage was merely being a Level 5 esper ability user.
Other than not being a Level 5, Shirai Kuroko was impeccable.
Excellent in academics and character, all-around in sports, strong sense of justice, almost like a female version of Nameless-senpai!
And her personality was also very good—sensible and considerate, gentle and kind, but with an inner resilience and an unwillingness to admit defeat...
Misaka Mikoto felt that if she were a boy, she would definitely be moved by such an excellent girl like Kuroko.
Nameless-senpai would certainly be no exception...
"But I won't lose!" Misaka Mikoto said softly.
It was somewhat abrupt, like a random, out-of-nowhere remark, but Shirai Kuroko understood. Because she was thinking something similar.
"I won't give up either," Shirai Kuroko said seriously, "I've thought it through. Since things have come to this, even if my opponent is Onee-sama, I won't give up! I absolutely will not hand over Nameless-senpai!"
