Paranoia is a strange thing—it's like a reflection in water, illusory yet undeniably present.
But rather than dwell on such psychological quirks, Natsume Sonoko preferred taking more concrete actions. For instance, trying to properly communicate with Accelerator.
Unfortunately, Accelerator remained as unapproachable as ever, that villainous grin ever-ready on his face.
His white hair rustled faintly, obscuring the corners of his eyes, while an unusual pressure radiated from his entire being.
Luckily, Natsume wasn't your ordinary girl either.
She strode forward confidently, her breathing even, her bun swaying rhythmically with each step—a far cry from the timid girl who'd once shrunk from him.
If you can't avoid it, face it head-on.
"It's the Dorm Supervisor! Misaka Misaka's eyes light up as she prepares to throw herself into the Dorm Supervisor's embrace, Misaka Misaka declares triumphantly after shooting a glance at that person."
Last Order came trotting over, her hand passing straight through Natsume's head as if through thin air, immediately drawing a contemptuous look from a certain white-haired individual.
"Hah? Thought you might've improved, but you're still the same. Can't expect much from a hothouse flower like Tokiwadai's young lady."
Accelerator's tone was as rude as ever—though he was always like this, never cutting anyone slack, not even a certain small Misaka, always calling her 'brat' this and 'brat' that.
This unpleasant personality perfectly matched Natsume's impression of him.
No wonder he was such a hot topic on the Ability Users' Mutual Aid Forum.
Speaking of the forum's popularity trends, when Natsume had become the eighth-ranked Level 5, she'd briefly surpassed Accelerator.
But as time passed, her buzz died down to ordinary levels, while the pinned posts about raiding Accelerator's place kept popping up endlessly.
"Hello, I'm Natsume Sonoko, currently a first-year at Tokiwadai."
Natsume shot an apologetic look at Last Order, who was sulking after her failed tackle, before speaking up.
She took a deep breath, her light-shadow and main body simultaneously growing serious. This wasn't like making ordinary friends—she felt an indescribable complexity inside.
Strictly speaking, Natsume and Academy City's #1 had never really had a proper conversation before. After all, she usually crossed the street to avoid him.
This time was different. If Accelerator had really been persuaded by the small Misaka to help, then Natsume Sonoko couldn't just ignore him.
"Hey, you don't actually think I'm here to play some friendship game, do you, #8?"
"Just tell me what intel you've got, then I'll deal with the bastard behind all this. I don't wanna waste time on you people. Who you are doesn't interest me."
Accelerator narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice dripping with impatience.
Still sheltered by the school's wings, these girls who'd never truly seen Academy City's dark side loved their formalities.
As if they weren't already familiar with each other.
Though his gaze did catch the trial-size packet of 'Smart One' held in Sonoko's light-shadow's hands. His eyelid twitched imperceptibly, but he offered no comment.
"I'm not interested in who you are either."
Natsume fired back without hesitation, that vague prejudice flooding her mind again. She really disliked this person, especially when he spoke.
Meanwhile, Natsume's main body in the distance took out her phone and made a call, while her light-shadow made no attempt to hide the fact that she was calling for backup.
If the Tokiwadai trio assembled, they could at least match Accelerator in presence. With clear roles and ample experience, they were practically Academy City's ace team.
Though Natsume wasn't sure if Shokuhou Misaki's ability would work on Accelerator—she was rather curious about that.
"Sonoko-chan? I think I understand the situation. Accelerator, huh? I'll be right back."
The familiar female voice came from the other end of the line, though her tone sounded somewhat detached.
Her eyes were vacant, the stars in them gone.
Shokuhou Misaki was dirty again, fresh scratches on her face, one arm bent unnaturally inward—clearly broken.
Shokuhou Misaki stood dazedly in the liquid metal factory, staring blankly at a gaunt figure ahead, seemingly oblivious to the pain in her arm.
Academy City's strongest psychic-system ability user appeared to be under someone else's control.
Shokuhou Misaki's Mental Out represented the peak of that ability system. But all espers shared one inherent, glaring weakness.
If their bodies suffered unbearable pain, rendering their brains unable to use abilities—or if the brain itself was damaged—then even the highest-ranked esper would become as helpless as any ordinary person.
Coupled with most non-physical espers having frail bodies and poor defense, targeting that weakness made dealing with most standard espers straightforward.
"Seems your hypothesis was correct. The leftover liquid metal really did attract the #5. Still a pity we didn't secure her at the juvenile correctional facility."
"Some of the liquid metal vaporized, breaking my control over the doll. Ultimately, the factory's product quality is lacking."
A strange mechanical synthesized voice echoed nearby.
Shedding its human disguise, a pure liquid metal doll stood beside the gaunt figure—this was the ability user Kouzaku Mitori, the 'Liquid Shadow'.
Kouzaku Mitori's ability had a significant limitation: the liquid metal's volume and shape had to match her own body, otherwise control became extremely difficult, useless for combat. That was why she'd withdrawn from the battlefield earlier.
As for successfully ambushing Shokuhou Misaki—that had been part of the plan all along.
Shokuhou Misaki still had nanomachines inside her, but their signals were incomplete due to mass destruction. While detectable in open areas, in the city the signals became intermittent, easily affected by the environment.
Shokuhou Misaki seemed aware of this, hence her earlier plan to wander around and attract Kihara Gensei's attention.
Though pinpointing Shokuhou Misaki's location via nanomachines was difficult, the liquid metal left with her had become a conspicuous clue.
Very few manufacturers could produce this liquid metal, with only one currently authorized—making deducing Shokuhou Misaki's movements relatively straightforward.
The gaunt figure was, naturally, Kihara Gensei.
His hands clasped behind his back, he crushed the last metal sphere emitting high-frequency noise underfoot, finally silencing the surroundings.
These spheres were Shokuhou Misaki's countermeasure against the metal doll, but they'd proven ineffective when Kihara Gensei ambushed her from the shadows.
Her arm snapped instantly under the assault, the intense pain shattering her concentration. Caught off guard, Shokuhou Misaki couldn't maintain her ability.
Easily controlled by Kihara Gensei, who had somehow accessed the Exterior and now also possessed Mental Out.
"I don't consider it a pity. Gaining temporary control over the Exterior without facing Mental Out directly—that was the most crucial part. Fortunately, everything proceeded smoothly."
"As for the #5 herself, now that we have the limit-release password, her usefulness has diminished."
His lab-coated body appeared incredibly aged, stooped like any ordinary old man. Kihara Gensei's eyes narrowed to slits, containing something inexpressible.
While using the AIM Jammer to trap the #5 Mental Out and having 'Deadlock' and Kouzaku Mitori attack, this Academy City elder had used that time to infiltrate the building housing the Exterior.
Even though a certain Mental Out had desperately concealed this building's existence, where there's existence, there's traces—especially for someone like Kihara Gensei, privy to numerous Academy City experiments and secrets.
But registering and logging into the Exterior was troublesome.
Or rather, a certain blonde senior had intentionally made registration cumbersome to ensure her absolute control, requiring the limit-release password to bypass these procedures.
Kihara Gensei hadn't used conventional methods, instead employing the Level Upper to synchronize the Exterior's brainwaves with his own.
Shokuhou Misaki and the Exterior shared identical brainwaves—the Exterior being her hypertrophied excised cerebral cortex.
Altering its brainwaves was like stealing her admin account while locking her out.
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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.