Trying to straighten her arm with force, a sharp, sour ache spread through her taut muscles.
Amidst the Tokiwadai trio, Sonoko Natsume found herself gazing listlessly at the sky. Warm-ups, much like the competitions themselves, failed to spark any enthusiasm in her.
Fortunately, Shokuhou-senpai was a woman of action.
After pointing her remote at that high school boy for a little while, a whole trove of his private knowledge was unceremoniously dumped into his mind—as effortless as a copy-paste on a computer.
"So, aside from the canine robots mentioned in the intel, he also mobilized a spare large-scale weapon this time. But now, they're all our spoils of war."
Resting the remote against her chin, a pleased smile graced Shokuhou-senpai's features.
As for those canine robots Sonoko and the others never did lay eyes on—they probably weren't suited for such a densely populated area. Plus, someone's movements were just too swift.
These robots were no match for any Esper, and controlling them was a hassle. Still, used as an unexpected trump card, they might have had some effect.
Even though this Baba Yoshio was outright Dark Side scum, he unexpectedly held valuable intel.
"Well then, Sonoko-chan, I'm going to wake him up now."
After signaling to the two behind her, Shokuhou-senpai proceeded to reactivate his brain functions—a task she accomplished with ease.
However, the aftereffects of Natsume-san's shock therapy lingered.
Baba Yoshio staggered to his feet, his head and nasal passages feeling muddled and scorched, as if he'd taken a blast of superheated fire head-on.
Blood vessels tinged the whites of his eyes. Being forcibly roused by Mental Out had pushed his brain into a state of severe overload.
"Are we just leaving? We're not going to deal with him further?"
Sonoko Natsume sounded puzzled; she'd been hoping to witness the effects of Shokuhou-senpai's brainwashing firsthand.
The streets were a bustling flow of tourists and students in track suits.
Once again, the Tokiwadai trio moved through the busy thoroughfare, completely overlooked by the crowd.
"Of course. In his memory, he never encountered us here. Don't worry about the rest—he'll handle it for us."
Shokuhou-senpai replied with a smile, though a flicker of discomfort briefly crossed her face.
Walking with a ladylike grace, Shokuhou-senpai sifted through the memories she'd extracted from Baba Yoshio's mind, a wave of intense revulsion rising within her.
Reading memories wasn't like watching a movie or slides. These memories flooded directly into the reader's mind, unlike media which could be selectively viewed or processed with detachment.
Often, Shokuhou-senpai would only skim the most recent months, avoiding the depths of the entire memory sea.
Yet, even a superficial reading meant those memories became a part of her—an unavoidable aspect of her Mental Out ability.
Memories could be good or bad. Most, aside from potentially blurring her own sense of self, were harmless.
But some were deeply contaminating, capable of influencing her personality or altering her perception of things. Thankfully, most such contaminations could be resolved by simply deleting the memory.
The Dark Side was undoubtedly full of twisted individuals. Shokuhou-senpai detested reading their memories, yet brainwashing required it.
Quietly activating her usual protocols, she deleted all the irrelevant memories, her expression finally returning to normal.
"We have a lead. That 'Ability User Mutual Aid Union' forum has a regular offline meetup spot, located inside a clothing mall in School District 12."
"And these gatherings are long-standing, regularly hosting certain high-permission members of the forum."
A powerful smartphone flickered rapidly, its CPU struggling under the torrent of data streams. Misaka-senpai's eyes gleamed with an unusual light.
She swiftly filtered the website's data traffic, observing records of highly active users, and outright ignoring those who were just there for the gossip. Like a certain unnamed girl who'd secretly registered an alt account to 'reason' with people.
By cross-referencing the digital footprints of various active users, she uncovered private posts or those requiring higher permissions.
These posts were 'read-and-burn,' displaying large '404'-like error messages. But by forcibly accessing the terminal server's backup data, she retrieved information long buried within the network.
"Well done, Misaka-san. My ally still hasn't managed to locate their position."
Shokuhou-senpai's voice held a trace of weariness, but she quickly rallied, her expression turning cheerful again.
While she might be lacking in certain intellectual areas, this one possessed overwhelming prowess in the digital realm.
"So, before Kihara Gensei makes his real move, aside from neutralizing the Dark Side 'personnel' threats, we can also eliminate the threat posed by that online forum, reducing their strength to a minimum."
"Taking out the forum organizers would be ideal, but they're buried too deep. Perhaps this offline location will yield some clues."
Lifting her head slightly, Shokuhou-senpai faced the glaring sunlight, her eyes shimmering with a strange intensity.
Past memories lingered bitterly in her mind. Just like that organization called 'Deadlock,' she held not an ounce of goodwill for this forum.
Or rather, no Esper would. After all, posts slandering Natsume-san were still pinned up there.
Most importantly, the forum's ability to remain hidden surprised even Shokuhou Misaki.
Even with her Mental Out, she'd never noticed anything amiss about this forum over the years, assuming it was just a hub for spreading Esper gossip.
Did they deliberately avoid contacting or recruiting students from the School Garden because they knew she was there? Shokuhou-senpai pondered this, feeling like she was grasping at something.
Having read the memories of one of the attackers, Shokuhou Misaki knew clearly that those who came after her were likely just pawns manipulated by the organizers.
It was inevitable that the masterminds behind the scenes had reached some agreement with Kihara Gensei.
"I think so too. Everyone involved in those attacks should be arrested. At least a month of community service is the least they deserve," Natsume-san declared, sounding quite indignant.
Though she felt a bit out of her depth in the two seniors' discussion, she knew when to chime in with agreement—Natsume-san was quite experienced in that.
As a Judgment member with a strong sense of justice, Sonoko Natsume immediately voiced her vehement disapproval.
"However, I still have those nanomachines inside me. I'm probably still being tracked by some devices, so it's not convenient for me to handle this. Dealing with this forum will have to fall to Misaka-san and Sonoko-chan."
Clasping her hands together, Shokuhou-senpai offered an apologetic look.
"Shokuhou-senpai, you haven't gotten rid of those nanomachines yet?"
Natsume-san sounded surprised; she thought that had been dealt with.
"Not yet."
Shokuhou-senpai's expression turned wistful.
"And before that, I think we need to move the Sisters to a secure location. At the very least, we can't leave them separated as they are now. After all, Kihara Gensei only needs one Sister to infiltrate the Misaka Network. We need to gather them together to be safe."
"For the same reason, that task also has to be left to Sonoko-chan and Misaka-san."
At this, Shokuhou-senpai immediately thought of a suitable place.
It had its pros and cons, but it was sufficiently hidden.
That place was naturally Shokuhou Misaki's stronghold in Academy City, the actual location of the so-called Exterior.
The advantage was the numerous mechanisms she had installed there, the excellent anti-reconnaissance measures, and the easier access to Exterior. Coupled with one or two Espers, it could handle conventional assaults.
For example, it could hold its own against a modern military unit a thousand strong, provided they didn't resort to heavy artillery to level the building.
Moreover, the Sisters themselves were a well-trained unit. With a 3D-printed AK-47—easy enough to come by—they could be thrown straight into battle.
The downside was that any damage to Exterior would feedback onto Shokuhou Misaki's own brain. In severe cases, it could even cause brain death.
However, Shokuhou-senpai glanced several times at Misaka Mikoto beside her, shook her head slightly, and decided on another location. She wasn't prepared to share that place with someone whose allegiances weren't entirely clear.
The area around Misaka Apartments, where she had previously applied her ability on a large scale, happened to have a suitable spot that could accommodate all the Sisters.
As for the implanted nanomachines, Shokuhou Misaki had actually already found a way to deal with them. The research team under her control could remove the nanites, but she had ultimately chosen not to.
If she kept the nanomachines on her person, part of the enemy's attention would remain fixed on her. She could easily create decoys to mislead them, or even lure them into making another move.
Of course, there was risk involved, but she had already devised some methods of self-protection.
To deal with that metallic doll that relied on echolocation and cameras, she had packed four or five metal spheres capable of interfering with sound waves into her small bag, along with a smoke grenade. Without the AIM Jammer, other attackers posed little threat to her.
Though she hadn't mentioned it to Sonoko-chan or the others, Shokuhou-senpai had already set her next target.
That was to investigate the companies in Academy City producing liquid metal—the manufacturers of that metal doll's body parts—to gather more intel on Kouzaku Mitori's abilities.
"I'll handle both of those matters."
Her tone softening a bit, Misaka-senpai addressed her rival slowly, finding herself in agreement with Shokuhou Misaki's suggestions.
"Me too."
Natsume-san hurriedly chimed in. Her ability was practically made for relocating people.
Her Scavenger Hunt had been rescheduled for 2:30 PM, only about ten minutes away now, but it seemed the bun-girl was planning to skip yet another event.
Even though Natsume-san hadn't exactly handled her own responsibilities properly, it was clearly a time for prioritizing.
Poor event organizers, probably unaware that someone was about to stand them up for the second time.
"Then I'll be in charge of providing the safe house. I happen to have one in District 7—it's an entire building."
Shokuhou-senpai said with a laugh, an aura of wealth practically emanating from her.
"If only I knew what Kihara Gensei is planning next, we wouldn't be so on the back foot."
The conversation among them dwindled, as if they would part ways at the next intersection. A wave of lament washed over Natsume-san's thoughts.
Her soul's memories remained stubbornly inactive.
Hearing names like 'Kihara Gensei' or 'Exterior' hadn't triggered any recollection. The legacy from her previous life's previous life seemed to have finally exhausted its reserves at this point.
After all, she couldn't rely on plot points she'd only read once, and hadn't even finished. The earlier series she'd at least read a few times, so those impressions were naturally more vivid.
In this situation, Natsume-san wanted to do more, to prevent events from spiraling towards a bad ending.
She had a strong premonition that this incident would inevitably lead to some catastrophic outcome—probably another 'Academy City Destruction Crisis' level event.
Having been through so much already, with the last one being a global-scale incident, your average street-level disaster hardly stirred her weathered heart anymore.
And this time, the disaster was targeting those around her—both seniors and the Sisters were caught up in it. The more she learned, the more uneasy Natsume-san felt.
Academy City teetered on the brink of destruction daily. It was a miracle it was still functioning at all.
"Maybe... Kiyama-sensei knows something."
Walking along, Natsume-san's footsteps suddenly halted.
"Natsume-san, what's wrong?" The question came in unison from both seniors.
"I just thought of something. After moving the Sisters, I think we should also try contacting Kiyama-sensei. I heard she was once Kihara Gensei's student. She might know something else."
Natsume-san raised her right hand as if speaking in class. Between physical training and the Daihaseisai, it had been over a week since she'd last sat in a classroom.
"Kiyama Harumi?"
Misaka-senpai thought for a moment, recalling a mature woman who always wore a lab coat and seemed perpetually sleep-deprived, with dark circles under her eyes.
After Banri and the others left the hospital and returned to normal student life, Kiyama Harumi had also given up her research work, staying quietly by their side. She even seemed to have acquired a position as a board member at Sakugawa Middle School.
--+--
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.