Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant.
"Where's Uiharu?" Seeing Saten Ruiko arrive alone, Selene asked curiously.
Saten pointed to the medicine bag in her hand and said, "She caught a summer cold, so she took the day off. I'm just about to bring her some medicine."
"Uiharu got sick again? Honestly... looks like we need to train her better," Shirai Kuroko said helplessly, shaking her head.
"Is it serious?" Misaka Mikoto asked with concern.
"Not really, just a mild cold."
Hearing that Uiharu Kazari only had a minor cold, Selene immediately sighed in relief. She had thought it might be aftereffects from the explosion last time. Leaning back lazily on the sofa with her hands behind her head, she said, "That's fine then. Take me to Uiharu's place—I'll treat her myself. It'll work faster than medicine."
"Oh right, I forgot—Selene-senpai also has healing abilities..." Saten's voice grew quieter toward the end, and for some reason, she couldn't stop herself from feeling a bit of longing. "If only I could..."
"Then what are we waiting for? Selene, let's go treat Uiharu!" Misaka said enthusiastically, deciding on the day's plan on the spot.
"What's the rush? We're visiting someone's home—you're not planning to go empty-handed, are you?"
"Oh."
...
"Excuse us!" ×4
"I'm so sorry for making you come all the way here!"
"Ta-da! Look, Uiharu, Selene-senpai specially bought your favorite Pasticceria Manicagni cake for you!" Saten announced proudly as soon as she entered, directing the other three Tokiwadai girls to set down the gifts like she owned the place.
"You even brought gifts? You really didn't have to. Sorry, I can't get up to greet you properly right now," Uiharu said weakly from the sofa, though her eyes shone with happiness at the sight of her friends.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that—you'd better treat us well while we're here, Uiharu," Selene said with a playful smile.
"Eh?" Uiharu blinked, a little dazed by Selene's words.
Then Selene placed her hand gently on Uiharu's forehead. A warm white light spread out, and Uiharu immediately felt her body becoming lighter, the dizziness in her head fading completely.
"There, all better now."
"Oh wow!" Uiharu sat up straight, her eyes wide with amazement. "I didn't know Selene-senpai could even cure colds! I always thought you could only heal physical injuries."
"This is nothing. You caught a cold because your immune system was weak, so I temporarily multiplied your immune response several times. Naturally, you recovered quickly."
"Wow, so does that mean my immunity will stay high from now on—mmph! Saten, what are you doing..."
Saten couldn't stand it anymore. The moment Uiharu recovered, she immediately started clinging to Selene again, completely ignoring the guests. Sure, when she was sick, it made sense to let Saten handle things, but now? Saten smacked Uiharu lightly on the head. "Didn't you hear what senpai said? Temporarily! And besides, you only got sick because you keep blasting the air conditioner and sleeping with your stomach uncovered! Now get over here and help!"
"O-okay..." Seeing Saten's fierce expression, Uiharu had no choice but to retreat obediently. She knew she was in the wrong. As she went to help with the cooking, she couldn't help glancing back at Selene.
"It's only temporary," Selene said with a helpless smile. "The human body is like a precision machine—you can't just force one system to change on its own."
She chuckled softly. "...If I kept your immune system boosted like that for too long, it'd start damaging your body."
"Got it." Uiharu nodded, her excitement dimming. Just as she was about to start cooking, she suddenly remembered something. Looking up at Shirai Kuroko, who was sipping her tea nearby, she asked worriedly, "By the way, Shirai-san, is there any new progress on the [Graviton Bombings] case?"
"You could say yes, or no," Shirai Kuroko sighed, holding her teacup. "So far, we've only confirmed that the perpetrator was a Level 2 esper, but judging by the destructive power, it was definitely on par with a Level 4. And..."
Her tone grew heavy. "...this isn't the first time we've seen cases where an esper's actual output doesn't match the Level recorded in the [Bank]."
"Could it be that their abilities improved recently, and the [Bank] just hasn't updated yet?" Misaka Mikoto asked casually, sipping her tea.
"That would make sense if it were one or two people, but there are too many cases like this," Kuroko replied helplessly, giving her Onee-sama a sidelong glance. "Besides, jumping from Level 2 to Level 4 in such a short time? That's impossible."
"So basically, more mysteries are piling up, huh?" Uiharu Kazari sighed dramatically. "Does this mean that now that I'm better, I have to go back to work again?" She was still lamenting the workload of Judgment lately when it suddenly hit her—she had just said she was fully recovered.
"Of course you do! Don't think you can slack off! Come back here and help!" After scolding Uiharu for trying to sneak away, Kuroko turned toward Misaka with a serious look. "Onee-sama, how long did it take you to reach Level 5?"
"About six years, give or take. Under normal circumstances, there's no way to jump Levels like that. I've never seen it happen before... Each Level increase took roughly a year of training and adjustment." Misaka thought for a moment, then looked to Selene. "What about you?"
"Me? I was Level 5 from my very first test..." Selene replied with mild confusion.
Before Selene even finished, Kuroko slammed her forehead against the table with a dull thud. Looking up, she sighed deeply. "Onee-sama, if you ever bothered to check Academy City's official website, you'd know that Selene-senpai's case doesn't count—she's a Gemstone. She was already Level 5 when she was first measured."
"Uh... right." Compared to Selene, Misaka suddenly felt like her own story wasn't all that impressive.
"Now, let's think about this logically," Selene said, glancing at each of them. "We all undergo physical evaluations twice a year, and the [Bank] updates more frequently than that. So do you think it's possible for multiple espers to drastically improve their abilities on their own in such a short time?"
All four of them shook their heads. "No."
"Then how did they do it?" Kuroko frowned. "Is there really some method that allows people to boost their powers so quickly?"
"[Level Upper]," Selene said plainly.
Upon hearing that, Misaka Mikoto immediately turned to the kitchen. "Right! Saten, didn't you mention something called [Level Upper] before?"
"Ah... huh?" Hearing her name, Saten Ruiko froze, then forced an awkward smile as everyone's attention turned to her. "You mean... [Level Upper]?"
"Yeah, that urban legend you talked about before—the tool that supposedly lets people raise their Level with ease."
"Easily raise one's Level?" Kuroko sounded skeptical. "That sounds like nonsense."
"Ahaha... well, it's just an urban legend! No one even knows what it actually looks like," Saten explained hurriedly. "And there are so many different versions of the story online."
"Even so, that might be our best lead for now," Kuroko admitted reluctantly. "So far, we've encountered three cases where the suspects' actual output didn't match their recorded Level—the girl who attacked Tokiwadai, the pyrokinetic who robbed the bank, and the [AIM Burst] incident."
Just thinking about those three cases made her uneasy. For something supposedly fictional, the pattern was too consistent to ignore.
"Urban legends aren't always false," Misaka said, half-joking but thoughtful. Ever since her encounter with Kiyama Harumi, her skepticism toward such things had softened. "If the Stripping Lady exists, then maybe [Level Upper] does too. We don't have any other leads anyway, so we might as well start there."
"Eh? So you mean it's real?" Saten's eyes lit up, though she quickly laughed awkwardly. "But we don't even know what it looks like—how are we supposed to find it? And weren't you guys the ones who didn't believe me before?"
"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures..." Misaka muttered.
"Selene, any other clues?" she asked.
"If it's real, we just need to find someone who's used [Level Upper]," Selene said calmly. "And in that regard, I think Saten Ruiko's the expert here."
Misaka nodded in agreement. "Saten, do you know anything else?"
"Um... well, I don't know if it's true, but I heard that people who've used Level Upper leave messages on certain online boards."
"Message boards?" Kuroko's eyes brightened, immediately thinking of her tech-savvy partner. "Uiharu, you—"
Before she could finish, Uiharu Kazari had already found the site. "This one, right?"
"Eh?! That fast?!"
"Yeah, that's the one!" Saten confirmed.
"Uiharu, you've done it again!" Kuroko exclaimed excitedly. "If we can just track down the people posting there and their meeting place..."
"Their identities are unclear, but I found the gathering spot," Uiharu said, pointing at the screen. "They seem to meet up at this restaurant pretty often."
Without wasting time, Kuroko immediately snapped into Judgment mode, standing up with resolve. Misaka and Selene exchanged glances, then stood up as well.
"Onee-sama, this is supposed to be my job! You—and Selene-senpai too, why are you coming?!"
"Because I want to see this for myself," Selene replied, already walking out.
As her voice faded down the hallway, Uiharu blinked innocently. "Um... is that okay?"
"They'll be fine," Saten said softly, watching the three disappear. Her expression darkened slightly. "After all, we're talking about a Level 5 and a Level 4—the pride of Academy City. Even if we went along... we probably wouldn't be much help anyway."
"Saten..." Uiharu looked at her friend, unsure what to say.