After walking a short way from the entrance further into the complex, they soon arrived at the heart of the cargo transfer station: an old warehouse filled with rows of abandoned shelving.
Pulled along by Shokuhou-senpai, they passed a fire door that creaked and groaned. Natsume's thoughts, however, were still stuck on the question she had just asked.
"I walked into a meticulously prepared ambush," Shokuhou-senpai said thoughtfully, smoothing down her grimy long hair as she spoke.
"When I arrived at the juvenile correctional facility, I didn't find any signs of an impending attack in the memories of the guards or staff. I was completely unprepared."
"Just before the ambush, though, I had smoothly found information on Kouzaku Mitori. I learned that a death certificate from Tsuchihara Hospital had been issued, and that the remains had been secretly transported to one of the research labs affiliated with that hospital. In a place like the juvenile correctional facility, that's just a normal, everyday occurrence."
"Since Tsuchihara Hospital falls under the jurisdiction of the General Board, it has at least a dozen subordinate research labs. Even with a narrower scope, it still would have taken time to identify the right one."
Her tone shifted, becoming slightly more pointed.
"So, to save time, Shokuhou-senpai, you planned to just take over the entire correctional facility? Round up everyone involved and read their minds?"
Natsume Sonoko said, a hint of wild speculation and curiosity in her eyes.
Truly, her esteemed senpai. When she decided to act, she did so without the slightest hesitation, ready to tear through everything in her path.
"Of course not," came the reply. "I'm not like that rash Misaka-san, you know."
She couldn't help but complain about the certain Railgun who hadn't quite completed her mission of drawing the enemy's attention.
The slightly disheveled upperclassman shook her head with a sigh, though the end result probably hadn't been all that different.
"I had the staff copy all the electronic records and surveillance footage from the day of Kouzaku Mitori's 'death.' Then, I had a portion of the guards bring everyone who had been responsible for receiving external personnel that day within range of my ability."
"Everything was under control until then. That's when the ambush happened."
As she reached this point, Shokuhou-senpai's voice grew noticeably heavier.
Their conversation continued as they unwittingly arrived at the old warehouse at the center of the complex.
Perhaps because they were now deep within the building cluster, the intensity of the electromagnetic interference seemed to have weakened slightly.
The next moment, Natsume-san suddenly tensed up, hurriedly pulling Shokuhou-senpai close to her side.
She had spotted a Powered Suit wandering aimlessly in the area. It didn't attack them, however, instead moving about as if lost.
"Is that a guard or one of the attackers?" Natsume-san asked, surprised.
It was a Powered Suit she hadn't detected during her earlier sweep.
The question felt redundant almost immediately, as the answer became clear. There was a large hole in the suit's cockpit, and inside was a girl who looked to be a middle school student.
Natsume recognized the uniform; it was the same one Juufuku-san used to wear. This was a student from Sekisho Junior High School
Logically, Shokuhou-senpai shouldn't have any connection to Sekisho Junior High School.
As expected, Natsume thought, charging in here was still too risky. No amount of preparation can fully prevent unexpected incidents.
Still, even if something unexpected happened, Natsume-san had the power to fight back.
Though her ability was severely suppressed, her effective range was just barely holding at a pitiful twenty meters—the same as her thermal radar's range. But Reiko wasn't affected.
At the very least, the formula calculations could be handled on her end; Natsume just needed to receive the answers and output the results.
She hadn't yet tried contacting Reiko's side while her own ability was being interfered with, so she didn't know how well it would work.
More importantly, even with her ability suppressed, finding a way to deal with one, two, three... or even more Powered Suits shouldn't be a problem.
Right. Even with the interference, the essence of an esper doesn't change.
If they cast aside all restraint, ignored the AIM diffusion field interference, and ruthlessly used their abilities without caring about the subsequent effects...
Both of them could essentially use their immense personal calculation power to perform calculations that were frantic, even utterly out of control, to achieve the goal of eliminating their enemies.
It was what you might call unleashing their powers wildly, an indiscriminate attack. Maybe you could even call it a rampage.
Of course, it wasn't clear how it would work for Shokuhou-senpai, but if Natsume-san were to rampage, the first one she might end up killing could be herself, since she'd undoubtedly be at the center of the cataclysm.
As for Natsume-san's suppressed twenty-meter range, it wasn't that her ability had temporarily degraded.
It was the range within which she could still relatively normally use and maintain her ability despite the interference, even if it was significantly weakened in all aspects. A rampage naturally fell into the category of abnormal conditions.
"It's an attacker," Shokuhou-senpai said softly. "I just managed to take control of it."
"These attackers' Powered Suits are all equipped with special plugins designed to defend against psychic-system espers."
"Normally, this level of defense couldn't hinder my ability. But with the severe interference, it was only because we're inside a building and its cockpit was breached that I could barely implant a simple command for it to wander around confused."
Shokuhou-senpai looked down at her own dust-covered tracksuit as she answered. She'd probably gotten so dirty dealing with this very Powered Suit.
"Is that so? Shokuhou-senpai's luck is pretty good," Natsume-san said with a nod.
This particular suit must have shaken off the guards Shokuhou-senpai had dealt with and managed to break into the transfer station's interior. A lucky one.
Fortunately, its cockpit shell had already been shattered, allowing Shokuhou-senpai to remain unharmed.
"Actually, it wasn't luck," Shokuhou-senpai said, shaking her head.
But then a look of surprise crossed her face, because as they walked, the bun-girl somehow managed to trigger some sort of mechanism.
With a rumbling crash, the immediate area descended into chaos.
The clumsy bun-girl, busy chatting and simultaneously trying to avoid an obstacle in the middle of the path, stumbled and accidentally bumped into one of the forgotten shelving units in the warehouse.
A series of heavy thuds followed as things hit the floor, and the concentration of airborne dust particles instantly reached a terrifying level.
Who could have predicted that shelving which looked so sturdy would be so fragile?
No expression was visible on Natsume-san's face anymore—it was completely blackened with dust.
The moment the shelves fell, she'd habitually started running formulas, but she must have made a major error in the calculation, resulting in all the dust settling right on her.
She froze stiffly on the spot.
"Sonoko, are you okay?"
Finding a slightly cleaner spot to sit down, the two Tokiwadai girls, now both covered in grime, finally stopped worrying about hygiene.
At some point, Shokuhou-senpai's address had shifted from 'Natsume-san' to 'Sonoko,' a change the bun-girl herself hadn't even noticed.
Their previous discussion had to be put on hold, as Natsume-san had lost all capacity for action.
Kneeling on the ground, Shokuhou-senpai carefully blew the dust from the other girl's eyes, quietly observing this girl two years her junior.
Looking at Natsume-san's reddened eyes, a trace of guilt flickered across the blonde senpai's face.
Now that my kouhai has lost her convenient ability, she's practically lost most of her survivability. I'm the one who brought her into this dangerous situation.
Even if the bun-girl had insisted on joining herself, Shokuhou Misaki hadn't objected. She had felt she might need this kouhai's help.
"All done," Shokuhou Misaki said softly, having brushed most of the dust from the other girl's face.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention just now. I usually would've dodged that," Natsume Sonoko said, her face a picture of embarrassment.
With some of the grime wiped away, the flushed red of her cheeks became visible again.
She blinked her eyes a few more times, an indescribable discomfort remaining.
At least she hadn't been hit by the falling shelves, or she might have ended up in the hospital. But her clothes were filthy, and even her hair was full of dust.
"I'm the one who should apologize," Shokuhou-senpai said, shaking her head, her starry pupils seeming somewhat dejected.
--+--
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.