Troublesome matters are best dealt with quickly.
Holding onto this simple belief, Natsume Sonoko rode the wind, alighting upon a layer of clouds.
Her original pair of wings began to multiply, turning from two into four.
The consumption of her processing power subsequently more than doubled.
But her speed didn't double; it increased by less than half the speed one pair of wings provided.
Meanwhile, behind Reiko, two smaller pairs of wings appeared. With modest speed, they carried a large quantity of items as she flew off in another direction.
This level of calculation was within Natsume-san's tolerable range, especially since she was also borrowing some processing power from Reiko's side.
In any case, after ejecting a massive counter-propelling airflow from her rear, Natsume-san's main body shot forward at a speed rivaling that of a high-subsonic fighter jet.
It couldn't compare to the Seventh's multiple mach speeds—that remained a distant dream. But this was her maximum speed for now, enough to leave most aircraft, espers, or other entities in the dust.
Simultaneously, an invisible barrier of air pressure formed in front of Natsume Sonoko, blocking the natural airflow and resistance caused by her high-speed movement.
This allowed Natsume-san to quite enjoyably do other things while in the air, feeling none of the boredom or tedium of a long journey. If she had brought snacks, she could even have held a little party mid-flight.
"Arrived."
Silently calculating the distance, Natsume Sonoko spotted a derelict building in the distance.
Even though the building was abandoned, one floor was still brightly lit, clearly occupied by some kind of gathering.
Natsume Sonoko retrieved a metal-textured glove from her belongings, but she had no intention of slowing down.
Scooping some moisture from a nearby low-lying cloud, she shot an icicle straight towards the building's window.
The icicle landed steadily beside some delinquents who were in a meeting, its frozen core containing a remarkably lifelike glove.
Thanks to this swift and convenient delivery method, which saved a lot of wasted time on decelerating and negotiations, the pack on Natsume-san's back visibly lightened at a rapid pace as she flew past one school district after another.
While the customer reviews for this delivery service probably wouldn't be top-tier, for a certain exasperating delivery girl, this was already exceptionally enthusiastic service.
After all, she aimed carefully—didn't hit some unlucky guy on the head with the icicle, didn't damage any flowers or plants.
Alright, let's temporarily give Natsume-san's service a five-star rating; at least the speed was excellent.
The PM2.5 concentration in the air tonight wasn't high.
Lacking the fine particulate matter in the air currents, Natsume-san's overall combat capability was probably reduced by 0.1 to 0.5 percent.
If she encountered an enemy now, it would obviously be quite disadvantageous.
A certain aviator lady, transforming into a flying specter within Academy City, gifted the city yet another new urban legend.
This time, however, she decided to be proactive. She used a certain brand of mobile phone she carried to take a few photos, planning to use them as filler for this month's club activity.
Although Natsume Sonoko's phone was quite old, its camera performance was still excellent.
It could achieve 100x zoom and approximately 20x lossless optical zoom, far superior to some of Academy City's old, blurry, low-zoom surveillance cameras.
As a veteran time management master, Natsume-san's true nature remained unchanged.
While delivering items, she pondered the content for this month's club activity, furrowing her brow as she began to meticulously craft her words.
Sometimes, she really worried herself sick over the club activities, especially when trying to come up with a powerful title.
[Delinquents' Treasure Mysteriously Returns: The End of the Black Cloak or a New Conspiracy?]
A good title was important, but thinking one up was truly exhausting. Natsume-san sighed with considerable emotion.
That'll do. I'm tired.
After posting the thread, Natsume Sonoko expressionlessly slipped her phone back into her pocket.
For the remaining time, she planned to push through and get everything done in one go.
The delivery speed was much faster than anticipated. Almost all the items she had brought with her were returned within about two hours. Reiko still had a portion, but that was just a matter of time.
"Incoming call?"
Having tossed the last item into the delinquents' base, Natsume Sonoko flew some distance away and landed on the rooftop of a nearby, well-lit building.
"It's actually Nunotaba-senpai?"
She had just landed. Natsume Sonoko looked somewhat surprised at the number displayed on her phone.
It had been several days since Natsume-san had been able to get through to Nunotaba-senpai's number, but now she was receiving a call from Nunotaba-senpai herself.
"Hello, is this Nunotaba-senpai?"
A look of hesitation crossed her face as thoughts raced through her mind. It took Natsume Sonoko a moment to finally answer the call.
According to the data Uiharu-san had found earlier, Nunotaba-senpai's phone had been disconnected from the network for many days.
Coupled with the persistently failed calls, she was effectively in a state of disappearance.
Unless her phone was powered off or broken, she must be in a location with signal restrictions.
Even though Natsume Sonoko wanted to investigate at Nagatenjouki Academy, where Nunotaba-senpai attended, the result she got was that Nunotaba had long since been expelled from there.
--+--
"We've located the other party's position. It's just... rather remote, in School District 17."
Inside a certain laboratory, a group of researchers in white lab coats collectively turned their gaze towards the person operating the computer in the center.
"Nunotaba-san, we've identified the person who has been persistently calling you. It's Academy City's newly appointed Eighth Ranker. Thirteen calls yesterday, ten today—it seems she's very concerned about your safety."
The person at the computer turned the screen towards a corner of the long table, where a female researcher with a high-schooler's appearance, her eyes dull but her expression weary, came into his view.
Displayed on the computer was a photo of a certain girl with twin buns, wearing Tokiwadai's uniform, likely a recent picture.
"That's correct. However, I'm unclear of her specific motives. I haven't disclosed any information about this place. The reason for her searching for me might simply be routine pleasantries."
Lifting her head, Nunotaba Shinobu's face was a mask of calm. It seemed as if no matter what happened, nothing could alter the expression on her face.
"Is that really so? I originally thought you didn't have any close acquaintances."
The bespectacled man named Aritomi Haruki showed a curious expression, then raised a finger to adjust his glasses.
He was the leader among these researchers, the head of the dark side organization known as 'STUDY'.
"And just a short while ago, the experiment prepared for the Third Ranker was interrupted, resulting in us failing to acquire any data on the Third Ranker. The one who intervened is suspected to be the Eighth Ranker," Aritomi Haruki stated.
To collect data on the Railgun, the powered suits stored in the abandoned factory had been prepared as testing tools.
Although some research institutions already had imitations of the Railgun, such knowledge wasn't widely circulated.
Furthermore, given the intelligence that the Railgun herself was an Electromaster, they had prepared specially made powered suits with non-electrical systems, designed to effectively block attacks and influences from electrical ability users.
But those were the only powered suits of that kind; the others they had prepared still maintained the factory-standard electrical systems, as the Railgun hadn't initially been part of their plans.
"Just as we were placing Janie's hair into the powered suit, what appeared to be a telekinetic esper showed up. Someone who can dismantle powered suits made of special metal into pieces in mere moments... to my knowledge, no telekinetic of that level exists in Academy City."
"Therefore, I suspect the one actually present at the time was the Eighth Ranker. Everyone, please take a look at the ability report on the Eighth Ranker."
Aritomi Haruki wore a look of certainty.
"Are we to include the Eighth Ranker's abilities in our experiments? But according to the data, her abilities are too dispersed, not suitable for analysis," one of the chubbier researchers said hesitantly.
Analyzing Level 5s also had its costs. The most valuable were those with highly destructive techniques, or abilities inherently possessing great destructive power.
If they were to replicate an ability, it also needed to be easily mounted and used by machinery.
For instance, the tornado the Eighth Ranker created during her assessment—to replicate that would require influencing a portion of the atmosphere, necessitating a much larger mechanical apparatus, which clearly wasn't efficient.
"Our goal is to change the current methods of creating espers, turning ability enhancement from something reliant on the small probability event of talent into a mass-produced process using quasi-chemical material means."
"To perfect the manufacturing procedure, it's necessary for us to analyze the Eighth Ranker's abilities," another researcher retorted.
"The Eighth Ranker's abilities require analysis, but not now."
"According to intelligence, the Eighth Ranker possesses a form of invisibility undetectable by conventional means like the naked eye or infrared. Not only can our powered suits not identify it, but none of us can either."
"At this critical juncture of the plan, regardless of Nunotaba-san's relationship with this individual, we need to dispel any suspicions this one might have as much as possible."
Aritomi Haruki shook his head, his expression appearing quite resolute.
After a round of collective decision-making, Aritomi Haruki, with a serious face, handed the already connected phone to Nunotaba Shinobu.
While they weren't worried about their location being discovered by the Eighth Ranker, the Eighth had already unexpectedly become involved in their experiment and had discovered Janie's hair.
Whether intentional or not, they needed to respond preemptively.
Unlike with the Third and Fourth Rankers, they clearly lacked effective methods to deal with the Eighth Ranker. Natsume-san seemed to be receiving special attention.
Nunotaba Shinobu was visibly stunned, seeming slow to react.
But she quickly understood. Clearly, this Aritomi Haruki was unaware of the relationship between Natsume-san and Misaka Mikoto.
Because when Aritomi Haruki was at the research presentation venue today, only the Third Ranker, the Railgun, was near Febrie.
In fact, in his perception, the relationships between Level 5s were generally tense, something observable from the mutual antagonism between certain Level 5s.
Taking a slight breath, Nunotaba Shinobu accepted the phone, a trace of unreadable emotion flickering in her eyes.
"Natsume-san, this is Nunotaba Shinobu."
For a long moment, all that came from the other end was indistinct static.
Hearing Nunotaba-senpai's voice so abruptly, Natsume Sonoko suddenly let out a sigh of relief.
--+--
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.