[IC][Story] There's Nothing Better!

[robkelk]

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 9th, 2016
9:25am

Rob had only heard something like that sound once: when a lightning bolt had struck the chimney of the house next door. But it wasn't raining, and the sound had come from the parking lot, not the building's chimney. "What the hell ..."

He looked out the window - and failed to see any destruction. He did see a group of five teen-aged Asian girls, two dressed alike in what were obviously school uniforms. "I suppose these are the people we were expecting."

By the time he reached the front door, he could hear them arguing.

"Kuroko, what did you do?"

"It wasn't me, oneesan!"

"Do you see any other teleporters here?"

Oh.
Hell.
A teleporting teenager named Kuroko. Kuroko Shirai. Railgun. And the girl in the same school uniform looked like "Railgun" - Mikoto Misaka. The others looked like their friends from the anime. What were their names again?

And why were they speaking English?

"Hey ... hey ... Hey!" The one with flowers in her hair - Uiharu? - finally got everyone else's attention. (And why did Rob hear an echo "Ano ..." every time she said "Hey ..."?)

"What's wrong?"

"My phone isn't connecting."

All four of the other pulled out their phones. "Neither is mine."

"Or mine, except I can see all of your phones," Kuroko said - although her phone had a fancy pull-out display.

Rob decided it was time to make his presence known ... only to realize the eldest of the girls had been keeping one eye on him for a while. He nodded to her, held out a hand, and tilted his head.

She walked over to him. "Excuse me, sir, but do you speak Japanese?"

Rob smiled. "I don't, but I can hear you speaking English."

"Oh. Is that your Skill?"

That's what they called esper abilities. "I don't have a Skill, miss. What language are you hearing me speak?"

"Japanese. You seem remarkably calm about having five people suddenly appear on your property. What part of Academy City are we in?"

Shaking his head, Rob replied, "You aren't in Academy City, miss."

Kuroko's reaction was unexpected. "Inter-city teleportation! Level 5!" Rob didn't know a grin could get that big.

"Not inter-city, miss - inter-dimensional. Oh, but I'm being rude. My name is Rob Donaldson, and I was told to expect a group of people who would arrive in an unusual manner. Would you care to step inside where we can sit down and discuss what's happened?" Seeing four suspicious looks, he continued, "It isn't as if I can confine you."

---

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 9th, 2016
10:33am

"Are any of you familiar with Schrödinger's thought experiment about quantum mechanics?"

"We're espers. Well, Ms. Saten isn't, but the rest of us are. That's junior-high school work for espers."

"Shirai! There's no need to be like that."

"Sorry, Ms. Konori."

Rob knew he'd need to make a scorecard to keep them straight, at least for the first few days. (Mii Konori was the eldest, the tallest, and the only one wearing glasses.) But that was a project for later. "Are any of you familiar with the many-worlds interpretation of the thought experiment?"

"Vaugely," replied Mii. "You're implying that this is an alternate universe."

Rob nodded. "Now, take that to its illogical extreme. Under the many-worlds interpertation, universes develop in alternate ways. Different books are written. Different movies are filmed. Some of those works of fiction describe events in other universes."

Three of the girls looked puzzled. Mii looked thoughful. Uiharu asked, "How much do you know about us?"

"I'll let you watch the cartoon while I make lunch." Rob blinked - he knew he said "anime," not "cartoon."

---

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 9th, 2016
11:02am

"We're not even in our home universe! Ms. Shirai doesn't know how she got us here! People here think we're cartoon characters! How do we go home? Are we ever going to see our families again?"

In the kitchen, Rob winced. He had no answer to give Saten-san, and no way to take her anguish away.