"Esper of the electric type should not deliberately cause electronic devices to short-circuit. You espers really have no sense of responsibility. Luckily it was only a capsule toy machine broken—if it had been some dangerous device exploding and injuring bystanders, what then?"
"Name, school, record it down."
A female Anti-Skill officer sternly held up her recorder, scolding the girl who had caused her trouble.
"Uh… I know I was wrong. But let's not bother with names or schools, okay? It's not such a big deal, and I'll compensate for it."
Misaka Mikoto gave a dry laugh, a bead of cold sweat sliding down her forehead.
After all, the machine hadn't given her the Gashapon badge even after so many tries—it was practically false advertising!
In her frustration, she had accidentally released a jolt of electricity into it. How was she to know the capsule machine was that fragile? Machines in other places were clearly sturdier.
This was absolutely not something that could be reported to her school. Just last week, she had already been summoned by the dorm supervisor and given a severe scolding.
If it happened again this week, she'd definitely be finished.
Just imagining the dorm supervisor's gloomy face, glasses glinting with reflected light, sent sweat dripping down her back.
Boom—
At that moment, an explosion suddenly rang out from a nearby alley, startling the crowd into screams.
"Ahhh! An explosion! There's a bomb!"
"Get away from there!"
The Anti-Skill officer who had been scolding Mikoto instantly changed expression, diverting her attention as she rushed toward the alley, calling into her radio while she ran: "Explosion reported on XXX Street, requesting backup…"
"Eh? What's going on?" Misaka Mikoto blinked toward the source of the noise, still confused, when a voice sounded beside her.
"Oh~ that was my doing. Relax, it was just sound—see, it distracted the officer, didn't it?"
Mikoto turned her head—and saw a high school–aged boy standing right next to her.
"Wah!"
Startled, she jumped back two steps. Sparks danced across her forehead. "Y-you! When did you get next to me?!"
Her electromagnetic field stretched five meters around her, yet this boy had slipped inside without her sensing him.
She was Academy City's third-ranked Level 5, the fifth person in the city's history to reach that level.
Noah studied the twelve-year-old girl before him. She was not yet the half-grown teen from later, but a true little girl—her face full of innocence and childish stubbornness, with a boyish straightforwardness and vitality.
This was precisely a year and a half before the anime's plot began. Misaka Mikoto had just advanced from elementary school to Tokiwadai Middle.
And now was summer vacation, at the end of the first term.
She had only been a Level 5 for half a year.
At this point, Academy City had only five Level 5s. Shokuhou Misaki had not yet been officially announced as Level 5, and the strongest Gemstone, Kakine Teitoku, was still outside the city and had not arrived.
The atmosphere here truly was the perfect vacation setting.
Noah was very satisfied.
"Hey! Weird guy, why are you staring at me? Do you think I'm just some middle schooler you can bully and rob for my wallet?"
Seeing this high schooler gazing at her with such interest, Mikoto immediately crossed her arms, her excitement rising.
Ever since enrolling in Tokiwadai, punks had tried to mug her just for wearing that uniform.
She often thought those thugs were idiots. Tokiwadai students had large scholarships—but only because every one of them was at least a Level 3 esper.
Noah chuckled at the suddenly spirited girl. "Do I really look like someone who robs people? Besides, I just bailed you out, and here you are thinking about fighting me. Isn't that a bit dangerous of a mindset?"
Saying this, he flicked his finger and sent a knuckle-flick straight to her forehead before she could react.
"Ahhh!" Mikoto yelped, clutching her head as she crouched down, tears brimming in her eyes. She glared upward at Noah, looking so cute he almost couldn't resist ruffling her hair.
"Uuuu…"
"And besides, it's obvious I'm your senior here. You look like you've only just entered middle school, right? At least show me a little respect."
Misaka Mikoto's eyes brimmed with tears. "I-I understand… Senpai… thank you for helping me chase away that Anti-Skill officer…"
What was that all about, suddenly hitting someone like that?
She rubbed her forehead where she'd been flicked. "S-So… Senpai, you helped me because… because you wanted something, right?" Surely he wouldn't help her for no reason…
Noah smiled. "You're young, but sharp. That's what I like about you. Even after taking a flick to the forehead, you didn't lose your temper or abuse your powers."
Her understanding of strength was quite proper.
"It wasn't anything much. I simply felt like doing it. Well, and partly because you're cute. If it had been a boy, I wouldn't have bothered."
Mikoto muttered inwardly, "What a weirdo…" Then, looking properly at his face for the first time, she realized this strange guy was actually handsome—handsomer even than the TV idols.
"R-Really… heheh… Anyway, thank you, Senpai, for your help. I-I'll be going now." She gave an awkward laugh, turning to leave—but then something caught her eye, making her freeze.
"Hm~ weren't you leaving, kōhai? Why stop all of a sudden?"
In Noah's hand gleamed a golden limited-edition Gashapon badge. His eyes narrowed into crescents, his lips curving with amusement.
Mikoto practically teleported in front of him, her eyes sparkling like little stars—frog eyes brimming with light.
"T-That—that's the golden limited-edition Gashapon badge! The one with a one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance of winning, only available during a special three-day event, with fewer than fifty in existence!"
She bounced with excitement, grabbing Noah's hand that held the badge. Her flushed, childish face was full of eagerness. "Senpai, how did you get this badge?!"
Looking at Mikoto's adorable expression, Noah's mischievous streak and love of teasing flared. Even his tone turned playful.
"Oh~ this badge?"
"kōhai, are you talking about this badge… or this one?"
He flipped his hand, and another limited-edition Gashapon badge appeared.
Mikoto's eyes went wide, her mouth forming an O.
"Or perhaps… you meant these?"
Like flipping playing cards, Noah spread ten ultra-rare Gashapon badges in a fan across his hand.
A broad grin spread across his face.
Gashapon, especially rare Gashapon, was like a critical weakness attack against Misaka Mikoto.
"Waa—th-they're all limited editions!"
Misaka Mikoto was completely entranced, utterly absorbed in the joy of seeing so many rare Gashapon badges. The stars in her eyes seemed to spill outward, and even her voice became irresistibly cute.
"This one's from last year's expo! I heard fewer than a hundred people ever got it! I've always wanted one!"
"And this one, the reward for collecting the pull-tabs from last month's new drink release! I never managed to gather them all!"
"And this, and this!"
Mikoto clasped Noah's hands tightly, her eyes brimming with admiration.
"Senpai, how did you manage to collect so many Gashapon badges? Please, you must tell me!"
Noah replied matter-of-factly, "If you want to know, then call me Onii-chan."
Without a second thought, Mikoto blurted, "Onii-chan!"
"So decisive!" Noah was surprised. To think she'd go that far for Gashapon. Well, she was one of the twenty-nine girls who'd scoured an entire district's capsule machines just for a badge.
Besides, Mikoto's tsundere side only showed up in romance—otherwise, she was straightforward, almost boyish.
"Actually, I didn't collect these myself. People just kept giving them to me, and before I knew it, I had all of these."
Mikoto's face fell instantly, disappointment written all over it, though her eyes still lingered on the badges.
"I-I see…" She looked like dark clouds had descended over her.
"If you like them that much, I'll give them to you." Noah decided not to tease her further. This much was enough.
"Really?!" Mikoto's joy burst out all at once, the surprise making her nearly lose her bearings.
"Since you're this cute—and you did call me Onii-chan—I suppose it's only fair." He handed the Gashapon badge to her.
Mikoto eagerly clutched it in both hands, hugging it close to her chest. She swayed unconsciously, her face glowing bright red from excitement.
"Thank you, Senpai."
Then, as if remembering something, she fished a handful of arcade tokens from her pocket and offered them seriously.
"Since Senpai gave me so many Gashapon badges, I'll give these to you."
Noah turned the tokens over in his hand, amused. "Oh~ arcade tokens? But I thought these couldn't be taken outside. Is this really something a Tokiwadai ojou-sama would do?"
Mikoto's cheeks flushed red, embarrassed. "Th-this… anyway, they're for you." (I'm not even a real ojou-sama—I got in through special admission…)
"Ah! No good! Dorm curfew's almost here—see you, Senpai!"
Catching sight of the time on a massive screen, Mikoto waved goodbye in a rush, then turned and ran off in a fluster.
"Oh~ she didn't even exchange names. But there's plenty of time, heh~" Noah slipped his hands into his pockets, his eyes casually noting the small machines quietly gathering around him.
These tiny devices, only a few dozen nanometers in size, were hovering circuits.
They were the surveillance machines of Academy City's creator and board chairman, Aleister—ensuring every corner was under his watch.
On the surface, Academy City was the stronghold of science. In truth, it was a transformed version of the Abbey of Thelema.
The Abbey's essence was a barrier against the Magic Gods' influence, while also capable of constructing artificial phases. It was Aleister's personal domain.
Of course, only Aleister himself knew this.
To the magic side, Academy City seemed to have nothing to do with magic, standing as its absolute opposite.
But Academy City's science was like Fontaine's—a fusion of science and mysticism, neither wholly one nor the other.
The city's founding purpose was Aleister's desire to kill the Magic Gods, to free the world from their influence.
Of course, Aleister was no noble savior. His actions were entirely selfish, driven by a desire to protect his family—even if he had left descendants everywhere he went.
"This sort of fellow is rather interesting. The potential he shows isn't bad either."
Noah didn't dislike Aleister, though he couldn't say he liked him. But as a useful tool, Aleister was quite decent.
Aleister's abilities and talents would rank highly even if placed within Teyvat.
Opening a magical path toward the Primeval God within Teyvat was also a necessity.
Noah's figure vanished, reappearing in a chamber filled with glowing cables and electronic screens.
It was spacious, but the emptiness lent the room an unsettling atmosphere.
At the center stood an enormous glass tube, with all the glowing cables connected into it.
This was the brightest spot in the room. Inside the alkaline nutrient fluid floated a silver-haired man in surgical garb, upside down.
For the first time in centuries, the man's unchanging expression was stirred with emotion—fear, shock, astonishment, confusion, doubt… and more.
Hum~
Behind Aleister, a white, humanoid light-shadow appeared, like a spirit at his back.
In that instant, the room was filled with rules potent enough to detonate the cosmos in a heartbeat. A cacophony spread like buzzing flies and whispered incantations.
Yet Noah merely walked forward casually, doing nothing at all. Instantly, all the power gathering in the room dissolved, as if it had never existed.
"How rude. As one of this world's so-called strong, not only do you fail to prepare a welcome for me, you can't even show the most basic respect."
"If you weren't still of some use to me, for that little stunt just now, I could erase you from this world—wipe away your origin, your possibilities, your every timeline."
A mechanical voice responded:
"My deepest apologies, O being from beyond this world. With my current body, I cannot greet you in person. I beg your forgiveness."
"My earlier actions were merely an instinctive response to shock. I ask your pardon."
Noah had not concealed his presence, so the moment he entered Academy City, Aleister sensed him and observed him.
Yet no matter how he probed, Noah seemed not to exist within the world at all.
A being with such a trait would at minimum be on par with himself, a great magician. Yet Noah clearly was no magician.
Then Noah entered his sanctuary by a means even the greatest magician of the modern age could not comprehend.
And the pressure he carried—higher even than the Magic Gods—led Aleister's instincts to judge him as such, compelling him to unleash the trump card hidden within the chamber.
But his ultimate weapon against the Magic Gods had been erased silently, without a trace.
At last, his iron will reasserted itself, restoring his logic.
A Magic God could not enter the world.
Even if one did, they would have to infinitely weaken themselves.
Analyzing the stranger's words, he realized the truth.
This was a being from outside the world.
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