It felt like this sleep was no different from every other single sleep he had. In his deep slumber, his activity from the night before was largely ignored in his lethargic mind. But even then a deep sense of foreboding swept over his body. Although he was still semi-conscious, he had this deep sense of urgency... He was doing something, no doubt something dangerous, but he could not remember what it was. His mind felt like it was fractured into many pieces. He was unable to concentrate upon a single thing, and he merely floated around in a cloud of haze. Constant physical contact on his body slowly prompted him to wake up...
...To see a girl's face inches away from his face, with large unblinking brown eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAAARRG!" Haru yelled in surprise while trying to scramble up, but failing once his entire body began to ache in protest. Severe pain began to flash from various places on his body as he grimaced painfully. Something wet and sticky was on his head—was that blood?
"What was I doing?" he questioned while staring at his surroundings. It was early in the morning; he was in a cargo area of some sort, with various gravel and debris scattered around, as if they were in a heavy storm. Large metal containers were peppered all over the place. His own clothing was for some reason partially covered in white powder.
"Wait, wait," Haru placed his finger over the clone's mouth before she could speak. "I remember, I was fighting him; it was a spectacular fight to death, no doubt, and... I lost." Haru frowned. "Well, I'm not too disappointed, that result was to be expected... But that doesn't explain why you and I are safe... unless this is heaven... without clouds and angels?" He glanced at the clone who had only scratches on her body. "He is not the type of person to leave anyone alive... So... what?"
"We were rescued—by you." the clone said. "You appeared after you were injured..." she trailed off, as if her own words were conflicting with her inner sense of logic. "And then we were transported here, instantly. Away from the impact."
A short silence followed as Haru pieced together what happened.
"Oh, okay, I escaped, then." After checking for the vital parts of his body, Haru began to smile. "Brilliant. Love it when I do that." He beamed at the clone. "And you survived too! Mission accomplished!"
"Misaka has no idea as to what exactly happened..."
"Ah, I'll be able to explain it better after I rescue ourselves. It's pretty clever, actually." Ignoring the overbearing signals of pain he propped himself up against the cold metal cover of a cargo. He checked his watch for accurate measurement of time. He was rather hoping he could attempt the rescue later, but he had to accomplish this within the 24 hour mark, and the less distance between the time travel meant easier transmigration. He had to do this quick.
"I'll... be right back."
Traveling back in time to intervene on his own timeline was something he was against doing, but since he already had done so... No point in not doing it now. Concentrating, his body began to convert into tachyon particles, and he traveled faster than light…
...Dang.
He looked handsome, especially with trickles of blood along his face. Although in this current situation he should have been concentrating more on the actual rescue.
Looking down, he saw the clone gawk at him. Her expression switched from that of despair into amazement. His past self was on the ground, bleeding profusely. Gazing at the clone briefly, he gave her a small smile as reassurance. Crouching down, he placed his hands on both of them—well, himself and her in this case.
Transporting two people at once... This would be tough. But he always relished a challenge. In an instant all three of them were transmigrated to the front of another cargo container 3 boxes away.
All this took place in the space of 3 seconds.
The entire switchyard shook violently as both cargoes collided. It was a very close call, in hindsight. He smiled at the successful rescue, despite the pain from the sensation akin to having his brain being hammered into mush. His adrenalin was gone a long time ago, and now he felt every bit of pain from his injuries. Telling his screaming body that his much needed rest was near, he transmigrated back once more.
The night turned back into day as he rematerialized back to when he was several meters away from the clone and himself. His transmigration was more off than he expected, a distressing sign of his fatigue. Standing up haphazardly he hobbled back toward the clone; his breathing became more and more heavier as he carried his protesting body a few meters forward.
"How long was I away?" He asked her in a worried tone.
"You were away for about an hour." the clone replied.
...Okay, he was off with both the distance and the time. This was bad. A single miscalculation could result in disastrous result. "Mmm, sorry about the delay; didn't mean to keep you alone for so long."
"Misaka is still confused as to what exactly happened." the clone scooted near him, looking at him expectantly for proper explanation.
"...Well, I used my powers to travel back in time to rescue ourselves from the resulting impact. I had to travel back, and transport a total of three people (including myself) to this location to prevent them from being crushed by a cargo, and travel here back here, where I started. And then I would wake up to do the same thing again. It's a... paradox. I saved myself. Now Accelerator was unable to see me materialize out of nowhere as the metal container he threw toward in our direction blocked us from his point of view. He still thinks we are both dead, I'm willing to bet. Any questions?"
The clone was silent, trying to process all this confusing information.
"Misaka now knows more about what happened... But now Misaka has more questions than before."
"Indeed. But it'll take forever to explain everything completely. I'll tell you in another time. As for now, we both need medical treatment immediately. I sustained enough damage to knock myself out, again, and despite that I had to travel three more times. That can't be good for my health." Taking out his blue Gekota phone, he began to ponder which number to dial. He dialed that number in his phone; he still wondered as to why they never bothered with his lack of proper ID, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Hello, emergency line? Yeah, I need immediate medical assistance..." Haru began to talk into the phone. "I'm not even sure where I am. I'm in 17th district, and I see a bunch of metal containers scattered around." He waited for some time. "Maybe try to triangulate my position using my phone?"
"..."
"Well, alright, Thank you." Snapping his phone shut, he began to make himself comfortable on the ground. He'll give 8 minutes, give or take, for the ambulance to arrive where they were. And now for some intense thinking about what had happened...
...At first, he had several different predictions about the outcome of the battle; either he won, which was drastically unrealistic in hindsight, or he got killed and hopefully everyone else was satisfied enough at his death to leave the clone alone, which was also equally foolish, looking back. He never really thought about what would be the exact outcome as thinking too much about the inevitable end was something he wished to avoid. He just charged in, head on, and hoped for the best...
Well, he got what he wanted, didn't he? Both of them, safe and sound... for the time being.
"What do you want to be called?" Haru looked toward the clone. "I can't just call you Misaka. You should have a unique name. And besides, today marks the beginning of your full-fledged human life. Free to do whatever the heck you want, pursuit of happiness, unalienable rights, and all that."
The clone appeared surprised at this question. "A unique name..." Misaka clone began to mouth the words. "Misaka is fine with Misaka as Misaka's name."
"See, that sentence alone is confusing." Haru laughed. "It's about time you picked your own name. Tell you what, I'll give you a day to decide. Pick a good one."
Sure, he didn't win this fight... But he saved her nonetheless.
And that was the important thing.