She couldn't find that idiot.
"Odd..."
Mikoto went back into the small road she had just been on and cocked her head to the side in puzzlement as she searched.
She didn't think it had been very long since they had parted, but Kamijou wasn't in front of the station where they had previously met and even when she searched the different paths away from there she couldn't find him.
(Maybe he went into one of the stores around here.)
(Or maybe he got on a train or a bus and left.)
(...Actually, where is that idiot's dorm anyway? I'm not a stalker, so I have no idea where to go to meet him.)
Since she was always running into him, she didn't think it could be too far away. But when she really thought about it, she had no idea where he lived.
Mikoto folded her arms.
(Well, it's not like I have to talk to him about the Ichihanaransai right away. I can just leave for today.)
Just after she had that cheerful thought, she noticed a side street at the edge of her vision and started feeling restless.
(...I-I suppose I can search just a little longer.)
And with that she pulled up the GPS map on her phone to see if there were any streets she hadn't checked yet.
But then she spotted Shirai Kuroko's face in the crowd of people going home.
Mikoto quickly hid behind a nearby building.
(H-huh? ...Why am I hiding?)
She had to ask herself that because for some reason she had a feeling she couldn't let that twin tail underclassman see her here. Shirai was a teleporter so it would be difficult to lose her on foot once she had been spotted.
Shirai, a Level 4, was walking along the road while chatting with the girl next to her.
From the great number of artificial flowers on her head, it was most likely Uiharu Kazari of Judgment.
(...)
She felt the two girls were coming in her direction, so Mikoto moved from behind the building to a small road to the side. She then continued further and further in.
And then she realized...
(Hm? I don't remember this road???)
She looked around again, but she didn't recognize anything.
She thought she was familiar with pretty much all of District 7, but this was the first time she'd been here.
It was just a stereotypical Academy City residential area. Of course, as an Academy City residential area, it wasn't made up of apartment buildings and houses; it was instead a block of student dormitories. It was a row of square 5- to 10-story buildings not quite worthy of being called high-rise. There was a trash area right under a wind turbine. Someone must have been using the movements of the turbine to keep the pigeons and crows away.
Since all meals were provided by the school at Tokiwadai Middle School, the scents of dinner coming from the area smelled especially nice to Mikoto.
"...Well, this worked out nicely. I'll look around here and then call it quits for the day."
She arbitrarily decided on that and then started walking through the residential area.