Chapter 84: Full Tailed Beast Transformation!
Misaka Mikoto was a genuine rich young lady.
Her family was already wealthy, and as a Level 5 esper she received one of Academy City's highest stipends. She also assisted research institutes and regularly qualified for high-level scholarships from Tokiwadai and Academy City.
On top of that, Mikoto occasionally participated in speeches, promotional events, and public demonstrations. Roughly estimating everything together, she probably earned at least thirty million yen a year.
As long as she didn't develop a taste for luxury goods, Mikoto genuinely had no reason to check price tags. Eighteen thousand yen wasn't even enough to cover one of her more expensive meals.
Kazari and Ruiko, on the other hand, were staring in complete disbelief. They looked like ordinary people who had accidentally wandered into the home of royalty.
Even Makoto was caught off guard by Mikoto's casual declaration.
It wasn't that he lacked money. There was still one million yen sitting in his Storage Space. The problem was that Academy City's yen contained proprietary IC chips and couldn't be freely exchanged with currency from outside the city, so Makoto had never dared spend recklessly.
For now, he'd been living on the 200,000-yen monthly stipend transferred by the school he hadn't officially enrolled in yet. That was plenty for ordinary expenses, but paying 18,000 yen for a casual shirt still felt excessive.
That was precisely why Makoto controlled his spending. He had no intention of drawing attention from Academy City's darker factions simply because he wanted to indulge himself.
Yet Mikoto had casually offered to pay for him. 'Does she have some strange idea in her head?'
Only after everyone stared at her did Mikoto realize how reckless her words had sounded.
"I mean I'll pay for Kitano first! He can return the money after his allowance comes in!"
Ruiko finally recovered from her shock.
"Still, that really is expensive for Kitano-senpai. Maybe we should go somewhere a little cheaper."
This time, Mikoto didn't object.
Even after they found a cheaper store, however, she still refused to let Makoto pay and bought him two full sets of clothes and shoes herself.
When Kazari and Ruiko weren't paying attention, Mikoto leaned closer.
"You don't actually have to pay me back. Just consider it a housewarming gift."
Makoto gave her an amused look.
"Fine, but this doesn't count toward repaying either favor you owe me."
Mikoto snorted.
"Do you seriously think a favor from Misaka Mikoto is worth less than fifty thousand yen? Stop arguing. It's our turn to shop now."
The three girls moved into the women's section and began browsing with considerably more enthusiasm.
Ruiko seemed to have a special fondness for bikinis, and her figure far exceeded Mikoto's despite being a year younger.
Unfortunately, Ruiko came from an ordinary household and was only a Level 0, unable to afford the high prices, so she could only browse casually with Kazari.
As for Mikoto, she became interested in a childish pink pajama set decorated with colorful flowers.
She was just about to take them off the rack when she remembered Makoto was nearby and immediately looked toward the entrance.
Sure enough, he was watching her with an amused expression.
Mikoto's face instantly turned red.
"Misaka-senpai, are you looking for pajamas?"
Mikoto hurriedly pulled her hand back and pretended she'd never been interested in them.
"Yeah. Ruiko, do you have any suggestions?"
"Then I think this pink camisole lingerie is great! It looks really sexy!"
Mikoto gave a dry laugh. Did the word "sexy" have anything to do with her? By comparison, she still preferred the childish pajamas she'd just abandoned.
Makoto had assumed Mikoto would return quickly, but Ruiko apparently became even more enthusiastic because he was waiting outside.
She dragged Mikoto toward the swimwear section, held up one outfit after another, and whispered something into her ear until electricity started crackling from Mikoto's face.
Makoto checked the time.
'The bombing should happen soon.'
He stopped waiting and entered the store.
Pointing toward Mikoto's back, he spoke to one of the female employees.
"Could you package one of those pajamas in that girl's size?"
The employee displayed impressive professionalism. She asked no unnecessary questions, accepted the payment, and respectfully handed over the packaged clothes.
Any slight embarrassment Makoto had felt quickly disappeared.
His reason was simple. Whatever Mikoto's intentions had been when she bought his clothes, basic courtesy meant he should return the gesture.
Not long after Makoto received the package, Kazari's phone rang nearby.
The caller was Shirai Kuroko.
The instant Kazari answered, Kuroko's tense voice came through.
"Academy City's satellites detected explosive graviton acceleration! The observation point is Seventh Mist in District 7. Get back here and assist immediately!"
"Wait, Shirai-san. I'm inside Seventh Mist right now. I'll use my Judgment authority to begin evacuating everyone immediately."
Kazari hung up.
One second earlier, she'd looked like the same gentle, easygoing girl as always. The next, she carried herself with unquestionable authority.
"Everyone, please listen carefully and stay calm. The culprit has chosen this building as the next target."
"Misaka-senpai, please help guide the crowd outside. Ruiko, evacuate with Kitano-senpai. We'll handle everything else."
Kazari immediately ran off to contact the mall's management.
Makoto was mildly surprised.
Apparently, she'd classified him among the people who needed evacuation.
It made sense.
Compared with the more spectacular abilities in Academy City, Level 3 physical enhancement didn't look particularly impressive.
Makoto didn't argue. He nodded and left the mall with Ruiko.
The moment they reached the outside, she anxiously asked him, "Kitano-senpai, Misaka-senpai and Uiharu will be okay, right?"
Makoto nodded.
"Mikoto is in there. They'll be fine. Stay here. I'm going back to check."
He handed all the shopping bags to Ruiko.
Realizing she couldn't stop him, she could only call after him.
"Kitano-senpai, please be careful!"
Makoto smiled.
"Don't worry. I'm pretty strong."
Instead of immediately entering the mall, he turned into a blur and circled the entire building, searching for Kaitabi Hatsuya.
If Makoto remembered correctly, Hatsuya had activated his ability while hiding among the crowd.
But Makoto couldn't find him anywhere.
'Is he still inside?'
Makoto stopped hesitating and rushed back into Seventh Mist.
He quickly found Kazari, who was still moving through the building and carefully checking whether anyone had been left behind.
Then Makoto's phone rang.
"Where are you?! I found Ruiko outside. Kitano, where did you go?!"
It was Mikoto.
"Inside Seventh Mist. I checked the recent reports and realized the culprit's target might be Uiharu. Judgment officers seem to have an unusually high rate of getting hurt in these incidents."
Mikoto's fingers froze around her phone.
She didn't waste another word.
Lowering her head, she sprinted straight back into Seventh Mist.
Guilt immediately began eating at her.
Makoto had barely arrived in Academy City, yet even he had noticed the crucial pattern. She was Kazari's senior, and somehow she'd completely missed it.
'Uiharu, Kitano... neither of you better get hurt!'
"Kitano-senpai! Why are you still here?!"
Kazari spotted Makoto and hurried toward him.
At that exact moment, a green frog-shaped package dropped from above.
A strange distortion spread outward from within it, swallowing the package's surface and creating a visible black warp.
The aluminum inside had reached the final stage of graviton acceleration.
Kazari recognized the bomb immediately.
Without hesitation, she threw herself toward Makoto.
"Get down, Kitano-senpai!"
Unfortunately, Kazari was far too weak to move him. Even after crashing into Makoto, she couldn't force him back a single step.
The frog package struck the ground.
By then, it had already compressed to roughly the size of a fist.
Mikoto arrived at that exact moment.
"Both of you, move!"
With a furious shout, she flicked the coin held between her fingers.
It became a streak of electricity that passed directly between Makoto and Kazari before smashing through the green package.
It was Mikoto's signature technique.
Railgun.
To avoid harming anyone nearby, however, she'd reduced the output as much as possible. Her only goal was to knock the bomb away.
Unfortunately, she was already too late.
The graviton acceleration had distorted the aluminum inside until it had effectively lost its original physical form.
Her coin couldn't knock away something that no longer maintained an ordinary shape.
The stored energy erupted.
The explosion was powerful enough to tear through the concrete and steel beneath them, even ripping apart a building's load-bearing walls from the inside.
Mikoto instantly realized something was wrong and tried to gather iron sand for defense.
But they were inside a shopping mall.
The best she could do was attract herself toward the steel inside the walls and escape. There was no longer enough time to build a proper defense.
Mikoto could still get away.
But what about Makoto and Kazari?
Her thoughts accelerated so violently that her brain nearly stalled.
Then Makoto moved.
He pulled Kazari against one side of his chest and wrapped his other arm around Mikoto's waist, turning his own back toward the explosion.
But Makoto had no intention of enduring it with his bare body.
For the first time, he consciously commanded the Tailed Beast inside him.
A pale blue Tailed Beast Cloak instantly appeared across his body.
Unlike a true Tailed Beast cloak, however, it had no tails.
After all, Makoto merely called the creature inside him a Tailed Beast for convenience. In reality, it was nothing more than a pure chakra lifeform.
And this was only the beginning.
The chakra cloak thickened almost instantly, becoming dense and viscous.
If this had been Uzumaki Naruto, he'd already be entering a berserk state.
Makoto had no such problem.
The Tailed Beast inside him barely possessed any consciousness at all and obeyed his commands completely.
That was also why Makoto had never bothered giving it a name.
Its lack of a name didn't diminish its power.
Makoto had already entered Partial Tailed Beast Transformation, yet because of the creature's unusual nature, his body barely changed at all.
There was only one difference Makoto himself didn't notice.
In Mikoto and Kazari's eyes, a faint blue glow had appeared in his eyes and across his skin.
Dense, viscous chakra that somehow carried a sense of reassurance and vitality wrapped around Makoto and the two girls in his arms.
The blast wave struck.
Fragments of concrete and metal flew through the air like sniper rounds and embedded themselves in the Tailed Beast Cloak.
Even the chakra cloak was peeled apart layer by layer.
The fragments were moments away from tearing through Makoto's clothes and flesh.
Instead, even more chakra erupted from within him.
The amount became so immense that the chakra outside Makoto began expanding into the vague outline of a giant figure.
Clearly, he could take the transformation even further, continuing toward Full Tailed Beast Transformation until he'd completely mastered all of that chakra.
That was probably his limit, though.
Makoto likely couldn't become a perfect jinchuriki.
The reason was simple.
The Tailed Beast inside him had no real consciousness.
Without consciousness, the two of them couldn't synchronize their thoughts. It couldn't independently help Makoto fight, much less gather natural energy for Sage Mode on his behalf.
Makoto was already extremely satisfied with what he had.
This state meant he could call upon roughly Sixth Gate Guy's combat power whenever necessary.
More importantly, the Main God Space still hadn't punished him.
That practically confirmed his earlier theory.
As long as the Tailed Beast inside him remained mindless, the Main God Space would continue treating it as part of Makoto's own internal energy.
The explosion was powerful, but brief.
By the time Mikoto and Kazari truly registered the violent shaking around them, the blast's aftermath had already vanished without a trace.
Makoto calmly withdrew the Tailed Beast Cloak and acted as though nothing unusual had happened.
"You two okay?"
Kazari nodded in a daze.
Mikoto recovered from her initial shock much faster and grabbed Makoto's sleeve with obvious excitement.
"What was that just now?! Something came pouring out of your body!"
Makoto answered casually.
"No idea. I'm a Gemstone, remember?"
"You are absolutely not..."
Mikoto caught herself and glanced toward Kazari.
"Uh, Uiharu, get some rest. I'm taking him over there to talk."
Mikoto knew Makoto's background better than almost anyone.
She was the one who had deleted his original records.
She dragged him into a corner, eyes practically shining.
"Tell me. Your ability has already awakened to Level 4, maybe even Level 5, right?"
Makoto had no interest in arguing and simply gave up.
"I genuinely don't know. I haven't been tested yet."
"...Fine."
Mikoto stared at him for several seconds before finally letting go.
"I'm going after the culprit. My electromagnetic senses picked up someone sneaking out through the rear entrance. It has to be him!"
Electricity flashed around her legs.
She jumped straight through a window blown open by the explosion and disappeared outside.
By the time Makoto finished reassuring Kazari and caught up, Mikoto had already knocked Kaitabi Hatsuya flat with a single punch.
Makoto noticed her mood immediately.
"You caught the culprit. Why do you look upset?"
Mikoto flexed her right hand, her knuckles red from hitting Hatsuya too hard. She remained silent for several seconds before finally looking at Makoto.
"Kitano... I can defeat enemies this easily, but I couldn't even protect the people beside me."
Her voice dropped.
"As a Level 5 esper... am I actually useless?"
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