The chat with that girl named Fukiyose Seiri about the Daihaseisai ended up taking quite a bit of time without her realizing it.
Natsume-san picked up the wrapper she'd accidentally dropped on the ground and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
Just as she straightened up from bending over, she looked curiously at the sudden pile-up of vehicles on the road.
One after another, private cars and public transport alike, until the road was almost completely blocked in no time.
Traffic in Academy City wasn't usually heavy, since students made up seventy or eighty percent of the population, so traffic jams were pretty rare.
But if one did happen, the first thing that popped into Natsume-san's mind was a certain Railgun, since Misaka-senpai had already caused multiple traffic snarls before.
Much like how Natsume Sonoko herself had caused multiple incidents like water pipe bursts, the largest scale one probably being that time with the giant tentacle monster, which left District 7 without water for a long time.
But Misaka-senpai should be out shopping with Shirai-san right now, Natsume-san thought to herself.
Walking a bit further, she saw that the traffic lights controlling the flow seemed to have malfunctioned, which was likely the cause of the problem here.
Hesitating for just a moment, she applied some protective measure to her hand and touched the metal railing beneath the traffic light.
A tingling, numbing sensation immediately shot through her hand.
'The electrical current hasn't dissipated yet. No doubt about it, it's Misaka-senpai.'
'But what's going on?'
A hint of confusion appeared on Natsume-san's face. Everyone had been fine just a little while ago.
From her position.
Natsume-san's field of vision expanded dramatically. Her pupils dilated slightly as her brain began rapid calculations, and the world instantly seemed to shift, to become different.
Using her own location as the base point for her ability, the area affected by her Personal Reality swiftly bent to her will.
Natsume-san had always believed that so-called Personal Reality was the reality an esper could observe by leveraging their own computational and judgmental abilities.
And this observation was different from normal observation; an esper's perspective seemed to warp normal reality, causing changes in the microscopic world or something else that wouldn't occur under natural conditions.
It was through the chain reaction of these changes that the external manifestation of abilities was born.
While Natsume-san hadn't read any specific materials on it, being an esper herself, she figured this was probably close to the truth.
In her mind's eye, she immediately observed a familiar figure.
The electrical currents emanating from the body gave off more heat than a normal person's, its specific outline becoming distorted. In Natsume-san's mental image, Misaka-senpai sometimes appeared as an irregular, heat-emitting sphere.
Shirai-san sometimes appeared as a faint, dissipating heat afterimage. The temperature around Uiharu-san's head was always very even. Saten-san's moving form emitted more heat than the average person.
The Railgun's movement speed was incredibly fast; she vanished from Natsume-san's radar range in the blink of an eye.
Natsume-san's leisurely downtime ended much sooner than expected. Luckily, she'd already finished all the snacks she bought, replenishing her energy.
Finding a secluded spot, much like those creatures Lord Zoffy wanted to destroy, Natsume-san suddenly vanished from her original location.
Her entire body concealed within the light, but the constantly swirling tornado wings behind her betrayed someone's position.
However, after numerous improvements, when flying at reduced speed, the commotion caused by the two wings was much quieter compared to when she'd fought Accelerator.
"Misaka-senpai?"
Hovering mid-air, a look of slight surprise crossed Natsume-san's face as she saw Misaka-senpai seemingly chasing someone.
Also, due to the interference with multiple traffic lights in the area, this entire block was experiencing severe traffic congestion. The two of them were weaving through the gridlocked cars in pursuit.
"Misaka Mikoto, you still don't know, do you? A crucial reason the Level 6 Shift Project was halted was that the Tree Diagram has been destroyed."
The unknown esper suddenly stopped, hiding her body behind a tree about a meter wide. From her voice, it sounded like a girl.
She had fiery red hair and was wearing the winter uniform of Kirigaoka Girls' Academy, though the top was very exposing, with only thick bandages wrapped around her chest. A military-grade flashlight hung from her waist.
This girl seemed to know Misaka-senpai. Perhaps to distract the Railgun, she spoke up, seemingly casually.
Just as the other party expected, hearing the mention of the Level 6 Shift Project caused Misaka-senpai's expression to turn grim, and her steps faltered.
She had initially thought it was just an ordinary robbery, but while following the thief, she'd heard from the robber's own mouth that the Tree Diagram had been destroyed.
And the stolen case seemed to contain some fragments of the Tree Diagram's remains.
But even more unexpected was that among these robbers was a very powerful esper.
To prevent the thief's accomplices from escaping with the case while she was confronting this esper, Misaka-senpai had chosen to interfere with the surrounding traffic lights.
"Even though such a major flaw appeared in that project, many people know that the Tree Diagram's calculation results weren't fatally compromised."
"After all, the one who defeated that monster is now a Level 5 too—no, wait, it was two Level 5s working together. And since the situation regarding the newly promoted Level 5 wasn't clear at the time, we can't be a hundred percent sure if it was a defeat or a draw."
Saying this, the esper hiding behind the tree observed her surroundings.
"It's just that the upper echelons of Academy City were too arbitrary this time, ignoring everyone's opinions. Plus, that terrifying, despair-inducing guy seemed to have lost interest in continuing the project, so it was shelved."
"To prove that Accelerator being defeated wouldn't affect the normal experiment, some people are very eager to use the Tree Diagram to run the calculations again, to use solid evidence to change the higher-ups' minds. That's why the Tree Diagram's fragments are being retrieved."
Seemingly having found an escape route, the girl suddenly stepped out from behind the tree.
"And my goal is to take the Tree Diagram fragments out of Academy City. In a sense, we shouldn't be enemies."
As soon as the words left her mouth, the red-haired girl raised the military flashlight in her hand.
The tree beside her was ripped from the ground and abruptly dropped from the sky above Misaka-senpai.
Next, cars parked by the roadside, railings, even concrete bricks and cleaning robots were lifted, but this time they were aimed at the onlookers gathered around.
Brilliant arcs of electricity surged from Misaka-senpai's body. Mad silver snakes of lightning shattered all the projectiles in the air.
Turning her gaze back to the red-haired girl, she found her already darting towards a nearby alley.
The scene immediately descended into chaos, though the crowd seemed somewhat accustomed to it, merely putting some distance between themselves and the battlefield, while the bolder ones started taking pictures.
Pressing her body against the wall of the alley, the red-haired girl suddenly felt her feet grow heavy. A thick layer of ice had, unnoticed, crept up her body, firmly cementing her to the wall.
A piercingly cold gas entered her nasal passages, and a sharp chill immediately seized her chest and abdomen, causing her body to slow down involuntarily.
Her face remained calm, but the hand holding the military flashlight twitched slightly, and her other hand trembled faintly, whether from the cold or some other reason.
"Got her."
Though unsure of the exact situation, Natsume-san chose to help Misaka-senpai first.
But unexpectedly, Natsume-san's persistent ice-binding tactic was broken in an instant.
All that remained in the alley was a human-shaped, hollow ice sculpture, but the person who had been trapped inside had vanished.
"Teleportation? An ability of the same type as Shirai-san's."
Natsume-san immediately turned to look in a specific direction. An unknown heat source had abruptly appeared on her radar map; she had detected the opponent's location again.
But the opponent seemed more vigilant than expected. About three seconds after the unknown heat source appeared, their location changed again, directly moving beyond the range of Natsume-san's ability.
'So, the cooldown for her self-teleportation is about three seconds. Much slower than Shirai-san.'
Natsume Sonoko pondered to herself.
--+--
T/N: 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.