While kitties were utterly adorable, a certain girl with a bun had never once considered actually getting a pet.
Raising a pet was a lot like raising a child. It required daily time and attention—something Natsume Sonoko, who had unexpectedly become Reiko's guardian, was deeply feeling these days.
Don't be fooled by Natsume-san's usually carefree demeanor; she was remarkably diligent when it came to looking after Reiko.
Speaking of Reiko, Natsume Sonoko's duties weren't just about meals, bathroom breaks, and baths. She was also responsible for teaching her essential life skills, like learning to walk.
Reiko's roommates, Misaka 9982 and the others, had by now grown accustomed to her somewhat peculiar habits.
She loved lounging on the wool rug, sleeping or just spacing out, and would sit dutifully in her spot at mealtimes, waiting for food.
Perhaps thanks to Natsume Sonoko's serious and responsible care, combined with her own fully developed muscles, Reiko was learning at an astonishingly fast pace.
Inhale~~Exhale~~
Suddenly feeling an itch, Natsume Sonoko involuntarily wrinkled her nose.
Noticing a few cat hairs of varying colors on the tip of her nose, she sighed and looked helplessly at Sphynx.
'Hey Sphynx, aren't you shedding a bit too much lately? It seems pretty serious.'
It was around then that Natsume-san realized something else. Ever since they'd found Kamijou Touma-senpai earlier, the girl who had been with them, Kazakiri-san, had quietly vanished without a trace.
"There's something off about Kazakiri-san," Natsume Sonoko murmured, a wave of concern washing over her.
The speed Kazakiri-san had displayed was as shocking as her strength.
Coupled with what seemed like a deliberate effort to avoid Index and the others, she'd vanished from someone's mental radar in the blink of an eye, moving far beyond normal human limits.
Kazakiri-san was special. She wasn't human in the ordinary sense.
Beneath her skin lay a strange crystal, hollow yet filled with an eerie light.
Perhaps she was the core of something, or a form of condensed energy, but she possessed emotions and thoughts indistinguishable from a human's.
Despite her many differences, the feelings she evoked in Natsume-san were no different from those for any other person.
She had a heart just as human as anyone else's and could hardly be called a monster.
Just as she was about to tell Kamijou-senpai and the others about Kazakiri-san's disappearance, she noticed Index looking around frantically.
"Hyouka, where are you?"
Pacing around the area, Index's face began to fill with panic as she realized Kazakiri-san was missing.
"Touma, Sonoko-chan, Hyouka's gone!"
Index spun in anxious circles. Kamijou had vanished in the literal blink of an eye.
"Index, I think... Kazakiri-san probably left."
Kamijou Touma hesitated before speaking. The reason for Kazakiri-san's sudden departure wasn't hard to grasp. He recalled her hysterical reaction upon discovering she wasn't human.
Maybe, once Index was out of danger, Kazakiri-san had already decided to run away.
When you're always alone, you can't even feel fear in the darkness.
But loneliness is something that can melt away, just as darkness vanishes when it meets light.
Once you've seen the light, it's hard to accept the darkness again, to reconcile yourself with living within it. For Kazakiri-san, Index was likely that very light.
Unwilling to let that light be extinguished because of her own monstrous nature, clinging to a sliver of fragile hope, Kazakiri-san had chosen to flee far away.
"Index, I need to tell you what I know... about Kazakiri-san."
Looking at the increasingly distressed Index, Kamijou Touma spoke in a low, steady voice.
Index cared deeply for her friend and didn't see any difference between Kamijou and herself.
But Kazakiri-san was hung up on her own identity, convinced she was a monster. This misunderstanding couldn't be allowed to continue.
"Actually, Kazakiri... she isn't human. What we see isn't her true form. She's made from AIM diffusion fields..."
Kamijou Touma explained everything plainly—partly from the investigation results Komoe-sensei had shared, partly from his own deductions.
"But even so, Kazakiri-san isn't some fleeting illusion, a bubble that pops at a touch. She's a living being with a human heart. Index, let's go find her and bring her back."
Kamijou Touma took a deep breath, watching as a look of firm resolve settled on Index's face.
"I think I know where Kazakiri-san went," Natsume-san spoke up from the side.
The puzzle pieces concerning Kazakiri-san clicked into place for Natsume Sonoko. So it was AIM diffusion fields. She'd had her own fair share of run-ins with that.
According to Komoe-sensei's findings, Kazakiri-san was likely a physical manifestation of an AIM diffusion field, similar to the Poltergeist, but far more advanced in terms of complexity and technological sophistication.
Essentially, it used the AIM fields emitted by espers to construct the various parameters that form a human body.
An electromaster's AIM field constituted the body's electrical currents.
Air and vibration manipulators formed her voice.
Controlling light refraction allowed her to have a visible form.
Telekinesis provided the elasticity of her skin.
Even Natsume Sonoko herself had, unknowingly, contributed to Kazakiri-san's body temperature.
Furthermore, Kazakiri-san seemed to exist in a state fluctuating between illusion and reality, not as stable as one might assume.
At the place where Index and Kamijou had first met, the security cameras showed no footage of Kazakiri entering the area, as if she'd appeared out of thin air.
Yet, at the supermarket entrance and in the underground mall, Kazakiri-san had clearly possessed a physical body—Natsume Sonoko was sure of it.
Of course, there was another explanation: Kazakiri-san could turn invisible.
Natsume Sonoko thoughtfully proposed this possibility.
--+--
On the rooftop of an unfinished building, overlooking nearly half of School District 7 from its construction crane, stood the 'Entity of Unknown Origin.'
The tricolor cat Sphynx perched on her head, Index, her face streaked with tears, walked towards the figure standing at the crane's edge, buffeted by the inexplicably strong winds.
"Hyouka!"
Index quickened her pace, throwing herself at Kazakiri Hyouka and clutching her clothes tightly with a stubborn, unyielding grip.
"Index... how did you find me?"
A flicker of panic crossed Kazakiri Hyouka's face. She wanted to pull away but feared hurting Index, so she stayed still, letting herself be held.
"Hyouka, I'm so happy to be your friend. I always will be."
Index was a mess of tears and sniffles, holding Kazakiri Hyouka in a tight, teary-eyed embrace.
"Kamijou-senpai, I should probably go find Misaka-senpai and the others now," the twin-bunned girl whispered to Kamijou Touma.
Worried they might fall from the great height, she'd discreetly set up a wind barrier around the area, though it seemed a bit unnecessary now.
But since Kazakiri-san had been found, Natsume Sonoko needed to hurry to Misaka-senpai's location.
She'd only meant to help Shirai-san initially, then ended up inexplicably fighting two rock monsters, and now this business with Kazakiri-san... It felt like things were finally settling down.
"Natsume-san, aren't you going to say goodbye to Index and the others?" Kamijou Touma asked from the crane's edge, sounding concerned.
"Goodbyes... well, sometimes less is more."
Shaking her head firmly, Natsume-san said something cryptic.
Then, to the stunned expressions of the onlookers, she hopped right off the crane.
Kamijou Touma's eyes widened in horror. He rushed to the edge, a look of pure shock on his face, to check on her.
What he saw was a girl with wings sprouting from her back, mimicking the flight of a jet plane, leaving puffs of smoke in her wake.
"Index, Kazakiri-san, come find me to play sometime, 'kay?" floated back Natsume Sonoko's soft, fading echo.
--+--
Using your phone while flying is pretty dangerous, you know? If you get distracted, you might crash into a passing unmanned combat helicopter or some random esper. Kids, don't try this at home.
But certain veteran fliers had no such worries. In fact, they took it further, texting someone mid-flight.
"I'm on my way now, just ran into a little thing. Oh? Saten-san's there too?"
Replying to Misaka-senpai's message, she landed briefly by a roadside vending machine to buy some drinks.
Natsume-san, you see, loved treating people.
She paused for a moment, noticing a faint shoe print on the vending machine.
Word was, someone had recently been using violent methods to get free drinks—a true nightmare for the beverage industry.
Arms laden with drinks, Natsume Sonoko wandered into a public park.
Fountain, merry-go-round, seesaw...
While these facilities were fun, they held little attraction for Natsume-san anymore.
But according to Misaka-senpai and the others, they'd run into something unusual.
"We just got a call at the Branch Office," Shirai-san explained to a certain temperature-controlling esper as the group sat around a flower bed.
"We found Febrie here in Haruhi Park. But she seems lost, and she doesn't appear to know anything."
Sitting primly nearby was the one who'd reported it, Miss Saten Ruiko, along with a passing-by civic-minded Railgun. Uiharu Kazari was still back at Judgement Branch Office 177 and hadn't arrived yet.
'Another incident already? The frequency's way too high. Good thing I'm just here for the ride,' the seemingly attentive Natsume Sonoko was actually mentally checking out.
Engaged in a bit of a staring contest, a little girl in a black dress sat on a park bench, locking her huge, dewy eyes with Natsume-san's.
The drinks Natsume-san had bought were all placed beside the little girl. Unconsciously, her attention was fully captured by the child.
'What a cute girl. Is her name Febrie?'
Natsume-san frowned slightly. It felt like ancient memories were stirring again, fragmented pieces starting to coalesce.
She knew of the existence of several Railgun anime series and had impressions of the main characters.
But whenever she tried to recall more specific plot details, everything became chaotic and blurry. She needed an anchor point to piece the scattered fragments together.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.