"Seventh Mist!?!" Shirai Kuroko instantly remembered Misaka Mikoto's invitation from the night before and immediately called Uiharu Kazari.
At that moment, Uiharu was awkwardly watching as Selene and Misaka Mikoto argued yet again over their differing opinions on fashion when her phone suddenly rang, startling everyone.
"H-hello?" Uiharu barely got the word out before a deafening voice nearly made her drop the phone.
"Uiharu! Where are you?! There's been another development in the [Graviton Bombings] case—Academy City's surveillance satellites have detected rapid graviton acceleration!"
Realizing from Kuroko's tone that something serious was happening, Uiharu immediately tensed up. "W-where was it detected?!"
"I've already requested emergency deployment of nearby security officers." Kuroko's voice was sharp and high-pitched with urgency. "You need to return right now—"
"So where is it exactly?!" Uiharu interrupted, shouting into the phone.
"It's the Seventh Mist department store in School District 7!" Kuroko replied, exasperated. "Anyway, hurry back! We suspect the target might be—"
"Seventh Mist? That's perfect, I'm already there! I'll start evacuating people right away!" Without hesitation, Uiharu glanced up at the store's sign to confirm the name, then hung up the call before Kuroko could finish speaking.
The line went silent.
"Uiharu? Uiharu! Hey! Hey!" Kuroko shouted into the phone, her heart dropping as she realized the call had been disconnected.
"What's wrong with Uiharu?" Konori Mii asked, turning toward her in concern.
"Uiharu... she's at Seventh Mist right now!" Kuroko gritted her teeth.
"What?!" Konori's eyes widened in shock.
Panic washed over the two. If their deductions were correct and the culprit's real targets were Judgment officers, then Uiharu was currently in grave danger.
Without wasting another second, Kuroko teleported out, racing toward Seventh Mist at full speed. When I find Uiharu, I swear I'm going to scold her so hard for hanging up on me!
...
Meanwhile, at Seventh Mist.
"Uiharu?" Even from several meters away, Selene could hear Shirai Kuroko's voice loud and clear through the phone. "That was Kuroko, wasn't it? Is this about the [Graviton Bombings] case?"
"Yes!" Uiharu quickly explained the situation to Selene and the others before rushing to contact the store's management to begin evacuating customers—completely unaware that she herself was the target of the impending attack.
The store's public address system promptly broadcast an emergency evacuation notice.
Though Selene was confident in her own ability to protect Saten Ruiko if needed, she still preferred to play it safe. Without hesitation, she instructed Sebas to escort Saten to the designated safety zone.
As she watched the two disappear into the distance, Selene's eyes turned cold. She remembered something about the perpetrator of the [Graviton Bombings] incidents.
She didn't particularly care about that so-called "explosion esper." From what she knew, the guy was just another poor soul who had used the [Level Upper] to temporarily enhance his powers.
The so-called "Graviton Bombings" referred to a phenomenon where omnipresent gravitational particles within space were accelerated instantaneously, causing a violent collapse within a localized area—a miniature spatial implosion that resulted in a massive explosion. To an ordinary person, it was terrifying. To Selene, it was nothing more than a glorified firecracker.
What puzzled her, however, was why that person—after gaining more power—had chosen to attack Judgment officers instead of those who had bullied him in the first place. Was it just because Judgment hadn't saved him fast enough?
In Selene's view, if someone bullied her, she'd pay them back tenfold, maybe even a hundredfold—brutally if necessary. But taking revenge on those who had once tried to help you? That was utterly despicable.
Seriously, she couldn't understand the logic or morals of some people in this city.
Yes, Selene had always believed in repaying kindness with kindness, and violence with violence. Strictly speaking, she wasn't exactly a good person—but she had her own principles. At the very least, she never confused gratitude and revenge.
A twisted mind... pitiful, pathetic, and detestable, Selene thought to herself.
Just as she was about to head inside, Kamijou Touma came running toward her, looking visibly panicked. "Selene! Have you seen that little girl? I couldn't find her outside!"
"What?! Wasn't she with you? Don't tell me she's still inside?!" Hearing that, Misaka Mikoto's face went pale, and she dashed into the mall without hesitation.
"Hey—!" Kamijou Touma shouted and followed right after her. It was his responsibility, after all; he hadn't managed to protect the child.
Watching the two rush inside, Selene didn't immediately move. She had already locked onto the real culprit behind the [Graviton Bombings] incident.
A faint crimson gleam flickered in her eyes, and her lips curved slightly. "Found you, you wretched insect."
...
Inside the mall, Uiharu Kazari had just finished helping the last group of customers evacuate when she called Shirai Kuroko. "All customers have been safely evacuated."
But Kuroko wasn't interested in evacuation reports—her mind was focused entirely on Uiharu's safety.
"Uiharu! You need to get out of there right now! In all the previous incidents, the only casualties were Judgment members! The culprit's real targets are the Judgment officers at each detection site! That means you're the target this time, Uiharu! Get out of there now!"
"Eh?" Uiharu froze, stunned at the realization that she was the one being targeted.
Just then, a little girl ran over from the other side of the hallway, holding a small gekota plush toy. "Big sis, a man with glasses told me to give this to you!"
The moment Uiharu reached out to take it, she felt something was wrong. The plush was collapsing in on itself, its surface warping unnaturally. At its head, a black sphere was slowly expanding—a miniature singularity.
Her eyes widened as she recalled Kuroko's warning. Realizing it was an attack aimed directly at her, Uiharu immediately threw the plush aside, wrapped her arms protectively around the child, and shouted, "Run! It's a bomb!"
Misaka Mikoto, who had just arrived, saw what was happening and instinctively pulled out a coin to fire a Railgun at the toy—but it slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor. "Crap—"
Kamijou Touma sprinted forward, raising his right hand, ready to use Imagine Breaker to neutralize the blast. But before he could reach it, a slender hand clad in a gleaming white gauntlet shot out from thin air.
In an instant, the hand grasped the miniature black hole.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion tore through Seventh Mist, engulfing the entire floor in a wave of light, heat, and sound.
Outside the building, the deafening blast and rising column of smoke from the fourth floor sent the crowd into a panic.
Saten Ruiko stood among them, staring up in horror. Her eyes were filled with worry as she turned toward the calm figure beside her. "Um... aren't you worried, sir?"
"There's no need to worry. For Milady Selene, this kind of firecracker is nothing. Your friends will be fine as well," Sebas replied confidently.
"T-this is a firecracker?" she murmured incredulously.
...
"An explosion!"
"Isn't this just like those serial bombing incidents?!"
"There are still people inside—it's that Judgment girl!"
"What?!"
Just as the voices of panic spread through the crowd, Shirai Kuroko appeared at the scene. Hearing those words, her face went pale as despair washed over her. "Uiharu!"
Without hesitation, she teleported straight into the building, ignoring the smoke and flames.
Inside the mall.
As the smoke cleared, Selene stepped out of the flickering purple remnants of the "black hole," exhaling softly as a faint haze of vapor rose from her fingers.
The explosion's power was decent—this graviton-accelerated detonation could have caused catastrophic damage if she hadn't compressed and contained it. Even with Kamijou Touma's ability to nullify a portion of the force, Seventh Mist would've suffered massive destruction.
"Are you alright, Uiharu?!" Misaka Mikoto knelt beside the girl, who was still tightly hugging the child.
"...Eh? It's over? I-I'm still alive?" Uiharu opened her eyes, trembling as the realization hit her. Relief and exhaustion flooded her body, and she collapsed onto the floor, panting. "Thank you, Misaka-senpai!"
"No... you should be thanking Selene. She's the one who saved us." Misaka sighed heavily. She had been too careless—one second later, and they might not have survived at all.
"Uiharu!"
A familiar voice echoed from above, and a second later, Shirai Kuroko materialized mid-air before dropping down to the ground. Her gaze darted to the scorched area still glowing faintly beside Selene, and she froze.
"Shirai-san!" Uiharu cried out, overjoyed. "I'm here!"
"Uiharu! You have no idea how worried I was!" Kuroko ran over and hugged her tightly, relief washing over her face. For a brief moment, it was a warm, touching reunion between friends.
Then, suddenly remembering something, Kuroko's expression changed. She grabbed Uiharu's cheeks and started pulling. "Uiharu! You hung up on me, didn't you?!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Uiharu squeaked, laughing awkwardly. She didn't get angry—she knew this was just Kuroko's way of showing concern.
"Hmph! We'll settle this later—"
Before she could finish, a loud thud echoed through the air, drawing everyone's attention. Selene had slammed a slender, gray-brown-haired man with glasses and earphones hard against the wall.
"Pathetic. Foolish." Her voice was icy as she lifted him effortlessly by the throat.
The man's eyes rolled back as his legs kicked helplessly in the air—he was seconds away from being strangled to death.