The atmosphere suddenly turned cheerful. Index, the hardworking supermarket employee, gleefully accepted two boxes of strawberries.
Even though she spent her days dealing with soon-to-expire products at the store, this was a gift between friends—something entirely separate from work.
How should these strawberries be eaten? She'd heard of something called a strawberry pie, and an idea immediately popped into Index's head.
"Hey, Touma, get that out, quick!"
As if remembering something important, Index urgently tugged on Kamijou Touma's arm, urging him.
"Really, what am I going to do with you? This was a prize I finally managed to win," he said, a trace of helplessness on his face.
Though he complained, he obediently started rummaging through his school bag.
After some effort, he pulled out a small keychain. Attached to it was a figurine of the Magical Powered Kanamin, looks like it was the third-generation version.
It was just a common shopping district lottery, yet the grand prize turned out to be a magical girl keychain—the kind only girls like Index and her friends would appreciate.
That magic wand you wield in your hand is the faith I'll hold onto for life.
The Kanamin figurine was posed mid-spell, her skirt seemingly floating on its own.
After saying goodbye to Index and the others on the bustling street, he helped Meigo-senpai pack her keyboard back into its case.
The entire afternoon had passed without accomplishing anything serious, just fooling around.
It felt a bit too leisurely, but everyone agreed that after-school hours were meant for things like this.
At this hour, Tokiwadai's cafeteria was already closed. Even Tsuchimikado-san wouldn't leave the door open for a certain bun-head, so dinner tonight would have to be at a nearby family restaurant.
"Do you really like this keychain, Natsume-san?"
Sitting by the window in the family restaurant, a certain bun-head widened her eyes, examining the magical girl keychain in her hand. It glittered faintly under the lights.
"Even though it got chipped from not being stored properly, I really do like it," Natsume-san replied with a serious nod. This was probably the first gift Index had ever given her.
From elementary school until now, she had carefully kept every single gift anyone had ever given her.
Giving gifts to others, or receiving them, was something that deserved genuine care.
The only slightly puzzling thing was, shouldn't Kamijou-senpai be the type to never win anything, even after ten tries?
"Speaking of which, Meigo-senpai should be back by now," said Misaka-san, a keyboard case resting beside her. She peered anxiously through the glass window.
"Relax, Meigo-senpai is right over there," Natsume-san beside her said confidently, pointing in a certain direction.
Meigo-senpai had never left her observational range. Even if that phone call took a bit long, there was really nothing to worry about.
After receiving what seemed like an important call, the upperclassman had hurried outside and had been talking for over ten minutes.
Right then, the waitress brought over their orders.
Natsume-san and the others seemed to have good appetites today. The table was piled high with food—another significant expense.
Luckily, Misaka-san was treating this time, so her wallet would get off lightly.
But before Natsume-san could finish her thought, a strong gust of wind whipped up outside, carrying tiny debris that rat-a-tat-tatted against the restaurant's glass panels.
The sky outside was already dark, and now this strange wind had appeared.
The scene outside blurred instantly, the environment turning harsh in a flash.
"The wind's picking up."
The weather changed too fast, just like a girl's moods, impossible to predict.
Before Misaka-senpai could even process it, a certain bun-head—who had just deactivated her local 'war fog'—hurriedly put down her chopsticks and dashed outside.
An alarm blared in her mind.
Meigo-senpai was moving rapidly, but not fast enough to vanish instantly. That ruled out an esper specializing in spatial abilities.
In the blink of an eye, just as Natsume-san was about to enjoy her dinner, trouble had to arrive one step ahead.
Dammit, I can't even eat a meal in peace.
The moment she ran out the door, Natsume-san saw a fierce gust of wind envelop Meigo-senpai's body, carrying her away into the distance.
"Misaka-senpai, we have a situation!"
She only had time to shout a warning to Misaka-senpai, who was rushing out behind her, before the air around Natsume-san began swirling in a fixed pattern, forming a vortex.
The wings took shape rapidly. With a seemingly impossible step, Natsume-san was airborne.
Bearing the title of Ace Pilot, Natsume-san never liked being left behind.
The strange wind was fast, but Natsume-san was faster.
She marshalled air masses ten times the volume of the enemy's, turning them into tools for encirclement and pursuit, suppressing it with overwhelming force.
In those brief moments, several thoughts flashed through Natsume-san's mind, and she quickly hatched a little scheme.
She even employed a tactic of leaving an apparent escape route, deliberately guiding the strange wind's direction, handling it all with seeming ease.
Having apparently achieved her goal, Natsume-san substituted the formulae in her mind and, in one move, utterly shattered the strange wind that had taken Meigo-senpai.
In the domain of air, Natsume-san's mastery surpassed even dedicated Aerohands.
If you didn't factor in pure calculation power, perhaps only that monster, Accelerator, could compare.
Although that white-haired guy manipulated wind in a much simpler way than she did, he couldn't beat the fact that a certain bun-head didn't need direct physical contact.
Her body felt light, her head a little dizzy.
Meigo Arisa fell dazedly from mid-air, like a delicate little butterfly, only to be caught by a gentle updraft.
What just happened?
Meigo-senpai's gaze was also filled with confusion, just like anyone caught in an unexpected incident—everyone was baffled.
But Natsume-san was quite clear-headed. In just a moment, her radar map had locked onto several suspicious targets.
Her method for identifying them was simple: see if they moved in sync with that strange wind. Otherwise, she would have crushed their attack from the start.
If their target was Meigo-senpai, they would definitely follow.
But this situation left Natsume-san a bit perplexed. Shouldn't their target be Misaka-senpai?
She was very seriously executing her 'wait-for-the-rabbit' plan. Those guys should be a bit more professional—not mistaking the target is a basic skill for members of [Member], isn't it?
Feeling that she had a grasp on the situation, Natsume-san couldn't help but feel a twinge of apology towards the song-loving Meigo-senpai.
Since she had locked onto quite a few targets, Natsume-san didn't attack immediately. Instead, she initiated her standard procedure.
Lock on target, cloak, fly, shock attack, supernova attack(scratch that).
The order was interchangeable; the effect was pretty much the same.
--+--
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.