Grrrrrl.
The wheelchair made sharp, grating sounds as its hubs pressed and scraped against the pavement.
Natsume Sonoko, who had nearly been bowled over by the mysteriously appearing empty wheelchair, shot an indignant glare at the Judgment member who'd barged into her cloaking field. The girl completely ignored her.
Beyond simply hiding herself, Sonoko could also alter the light and shadow within an area, even creating illusory phantoms. Right now, however, these effects only worked on those outside the zone; inside, everything appeared normal.
"Onee-sama~!"
A shrieking cry, like pure noise, assaulted Sonoko's eardrums and significantly upped their risk of exposure.
Before Sonoko could even voice her annoyance, she saw a pair of chestnut-brown pigtails whipping through the air.
A look of pure bliss was plastered on the girl's face, her heart pounding so fiercely it painted her skin a healthy flush.
Shirai Kuroko expertly masked her earlier worry, teleporting instantly to throw her arms around Misaka Mikoto's neck, abandoning the wheelchair entirely.
Some joint locks she'd learned in Judgment training let her maintain perfect balance, clinging to Misaka like an octopus.
Her beloved Onee-sama had vanished after her event this afternoon. Her phone was unreachable, and not long after, one of the Board of Directors' important assets got struck by lightning—a once-in-a-century event.
But what worried Kuroko most was that news: a suspected ability rampage incident in District 7.
'Suspected' because the sheer scale of the outburst seemed to exceed even what a Level 5 could possibly achieve.
Level 5s were strong, but not this strong.
Coupled with the initial electronic storm that had fried most electronics in the vicinity, and the massive-scale mental control incident Kihara Gensei had triggered earlier, no concrete information about the accident had leaked yet. The public was still largely in the dark.
Unless an eyewitness or some lucky passerby came forward, most people would probably write it off as yet another experimental accident caused by Academy City.
In fact, without official confirmation from the city, it was most likely destined to become just another one of Academy City's many urban legends.
That saying about urban legends all being based on truth? It didn't come from nowhere.
But for Shirai Kuroko, even a one percent chance was enough to fuel her anxiety. Seeing her sister safe and sound was a massive relief.
"Kuroko, what are you doing here? You're still injured, you should be resting."
Caught off guard by the full-body glomp, Misaka reacted quickly, her voice filled with concern.
At the same time, a hint of awkwardness and embarrassment flashed across her face. She instinctively pushed forward, trying to deter her kouhai's over-enthusiastic affections.
Honestly, it's like this every single time.
Seemingly noticing Natsume-san's odd stare and Reiko's blatant curiosity, the Railgun's smile became even more strained.
But she couldn't very well hit a wounded person with a ten-million-volt shock, a punch, an elbow strike, and a shoulder throw, so she could only struggle to keep her temper in check.
Ever since Shirai Kuroko had been seriously injured, Misaka had reined in her temper, becoming much gentler. This, unfortunately, had only encouraged the perverted girl's bizarre fantasies to escalate.
Though, Misaka's patience would probably only last until Kuroko's injuries healed. Shirai-san's electrical resistance could always use more training.
Who knows how many volts Shirai-san would ultimately be able to withstand without flinching.
"The commotion here was huge, everyone's terrified. Some of the events scheduled nearby have been cancelled outright."
"And because of the Daihaseisai, the Anti-Skill teams in District 7 are swamped with emergencies. They're short-handed for evacuation and resolving the situation here, so I came to see if I could help."
Temporarily ignoring the girl's excessive actions and the fact she was forcibly attached to someone else, Shirai Kuroko's expression turned deadly serious.
After a moment's thought, she spoke with utmost gravity.
Though the Anti-Skill department had sent her some strongly-worded official notices, including, but not limited to, ordering her to stay away from these dangerous incidents.
This was clearly a special circumstance. Being a flexible and strong-willed person, Shirai Kuroko had resolutely decided to fill the temporary gap left by Anti-Skill's lack of personnel, in passing strong-arming a certain pitiful flower-ring wearing girl into providing continued remote support.
Whether the central figure of this incident was Misaka Mikoto or not, Shirai Kuroko would have rushed here to help.
That's just the kind of driven, justice-seeking, and responsible girl she was. Even being officially 'grounded' couldn't stifle her initiative.
"I'm very sorry."
"I know Shirai-san isn't well, and I tried to stop her... but I was worried something might happen that I'd regret, after all..."
Shirai Kuroko's earpiece was remotely activated, switching to external speaker mode. Uiharu Kazari's somewhat timid voice came through from the other end, cutting off abruptly on her final words.
After the suspected ability rampage occurred, the anomalies were detectable even kilometers away. Not only could they not reach Misaka-senpai, but Natsume-san had also gone silent.
This had instantly snapped Uiharu and the others out of their Daihaseisai excitement, making it impossible to simply lose themselves in the festival atmosphere.
Uiharu's personality was even softer than Natsume-san's, making her easier to persuade—it had been the same last time they encountered Tsuchimikado Maika.
But truthfully, when faced with many of these difficult choices, Uiharu agreed with Shirai-san's decisions deep down.
Having been partners for so long, she knew exactly what kind of person the other girl was. Their bond was stronger than one might think.
On the other end of the line, under the shade of a tree in a roadside park, the two members of Sakugawa Middle School were sweating bullets from anxiety.
Saten Ruiko was busy gathering whatever scraps of information were circulating, but it was too soon for anything useful.
Uiharu, meanwhile, was clutching her PDA, both guiding Shirai-san's path and trying to access a suitably positioned satellite to get images of the scene.
Right now, however, they both breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. Their efforts had finally paid off.
Thank goodness. Everyone's safe.
"You! What on earth happened to you?"
Shifting her gaze from Misaka-senpai, Shirai Kuroko finally noticed a certain dishevelled, clearly displeased girl from her own grade. Her expression instantly shifted.
With a sudden feeling of lightness, the human-shaped appendage vanished from Misaka-senpai's person and promptly reappeared right beside Natsume Sonoko.
"This is the ointment supplied to Judgment members."
Pulling a small kit from her person, Shirai-san found a tube of cream and handed it over.
She was well aware the girl in front of her probably had her own supply, but thinking about it for just a second was enough to know it was probably lost who-knows-where.
--+--
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.