Holding the braised pork meatball, Himegami Aisa suddenly felt a bit at a loss. A trace of confusion flickered in her eyes, as if she couldn't quite figure out the other girl's angle.
"Is this actually a gift? It's... rather unique," Himegami murmured to herself, a dawning comprehension spreading across her face.
"Thank you very much. The flavor of this meatball is quite good," she said, understanding dawning. Himegami gave a slight bow, very polite.
Against the backdrop of her red and white miko robes, it created a distinct feeling, like a scene straight out of ancient times.
"Himegami-san, there's really no need to be so formal," Natsume said, looking somewhat pleased herself.
She offered a shy smile. It seemed Himegami-san had quite a healthy appetite; giving food was definitely the right move.
"Now, now, that's not quite right. Himegami is a high school student now, Sonoko-chan. Your form of address is a bit off," piped up Teacher Komoe from the side, hands on her hips and tilting her head back, a serious expression on her face.
"Eh?"
"It's fine, I don't really mind things like forms of address," Himegami said softly, shaking her head gently, her expression seeming a bit distant.
Suddenly, she pulled a small toy ring from her pocket. "I don't have much on me. But I just got this from a gacha capsule. Consider it a token of my thanks."
She said this with a completely straight face, tilting her head slightly. Her long, raven-black hair cascaded down, almost reaching her waist.
Accepting the toy ring and expressing her thanks, Natsume asked a few more questions about this Himegami-senpai.
What was rather noteworthy was that this senpai seemed unwilling to talk about her own ability. She really was a unique person.
Later, the conversation turned to the Germanian cross pendant Himegami Aisa wore around her neck.
Surprisingly, it turned out to be from Index. The purpose, she heard, was to prevent herself from harming others again.
All of this was undoubtedly rather perplexing for a certain meatball-haired girl.
Haaa...
Letting out a soft sigh, Natsume waved goodbye to Komoe-sensei and the others.
Natsume Sonoko's work for the day wasn't finished yet. After dropping the food off at her dorm, she still had to make a trip to the Misaka Apartments.
Besides checking on the Misaka Sisters and Reiko, she also needed to inform the Sisters about the upcoming cellular adjustments.
In a day or two, the first batch of machines for the adjustments would be put into use.
The Sisters currently active throughout Academy City needed these adjustments more urgently than those still in the cultivation pods.
But as she walked, the meatball-haired girl suddenly froze, as if she'd noticed something. She subconsciously tightened her grip on the food in her arms.
Her thermal vision required very little processing power to maintain, hardly more taxing than normal breathing.
Except for in her own dorm room or places that might involve others' privacy, Natsume had gotten into the habit of keeping her thermal ability active in general public areas.
Because of this ability, her mind often held a swarm of little heat-figures milling about.
However, Natsume usually didn't pay much attention to these heat signatures. Finding them a bother, she mostly ignored them.
Since she couldn't discern someone's face or identity from their heat signature alone, she'd devised some simple, practical formulas to differentiate various situations.
For instance, she had a few basic rules set.
If a heat signature on her mental map consistently maintained a stable distance from her, or lingered for an extended period, or approached her rapidly, it would trigger an alert, prompting her to take a closer look.
And right now, several of her predefined scenarios were matching up.
Glancing back slightly, she spotted a girl who looked familiar.
Once upon a time, when she'd sneaked out of her dorm at night, this very girl had inexplicably taken a shot at her.
The girl was wearing the summer uniform of the private Shidarezakura Academy, a faint smile on her face as she browsed the items at a street-side shop.
Natsume didn't know much about Shidarezakura Academy. Her main exposure was seeing its students a few times on the school buses.
While it was also an all-girls' school within the School Garden, it was merely a relatively famous one, completely unable to compare with Tokiwadai Middle School, which was one of Academy City's five elite institutions.
But right now, the school didn't seem relevant. Based solely on Natsume Sonoko's unfavorable impression of this person, her guard was up, even if the girl looked completely nonchalant.
Natsume stopped walking, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Suddenly, she turned and strode towards the girl. She wanted to verify if her suspicions were correct.
She secretly activated her Temperature Control ability, bracing for any unexpected attacks. The memory of that shot fired from this girl's sleeve was still fresh.
This was someone completely different from her innocent appearance.
"This looks like a product from overseas. You have quite a selection here, shopkeeper," Natsume Sonoko heard the girl's soft voice as she approached. The girl looked sweet and cute, with a small dimple. Her eyes were wide open, a clear spark of delight visible in their depths.
"Shopkeeper, please wrap this up for me," the girl said, seemingly oblivious to Natsume's approach, continuing as if nothing was amiss.
Meanwhile, in a building connected straight to this shopping street, two people leaned against a fifth-floor window sill. Next to them, a man was bound tightly, struggling to get up but completely unable to.
"It seems Yumiya Rakko has been discovered. Her disguise isn't cutting it," said a man wearing a strange-looking goggle apparatus with various wires dangling from it.
Yobou Banka sounded somewhat puzzled.
"Actually, it's not hard to understand. According to the data, she's suspected of having repelled Accelerator, after all. We can't overestimate her enough," said the girl next to Yobou Banka.
She was dressed in ornate Western-style clothes, with golden locks cascading down her head. Though she looked only fourteen or fifteen, she carried an air of maturity.
"Repelled Accelerator? I thought it was 'defeated'," Yobou Banka remarked, sounding confused.
"You have no idea what a storm the news of the #1 being beaten up like that caused among the higher-ups. Especially those researchers obsessed with creating a Level 6; they've practically turned over every scrap of information on that unknown individual."
"And these days, you often see researchers begging Accelerator to continue the experiments."
"Not only have they arbitrarily changed 'defeated' to 'repelled,' some have even tried to pressure the Board of Directors to change their minds," said the girl named Gokusai Kaibi with a laugh, a hint of mockery on her face.
Using her ability, she could easily obtain many pieces of information others considered valuable.
"While there's no direct evidence, it's mostly confirmed that this Tokiwadai girl, Natsume Sonoko, is the one they're looking for."
"Since her identity isn't publicly known and won't attract widespread attention, some researchers want to send out assassination squads—like, say, the dark side organizations from our 'school'—to completely erase the record of Accelerator's defeat."
"After all, only the two of them knew the actual outcome of that fight," Gokusai Kaibi continued, involuntarily stretching to relieve the stiffness in her body.
"Probably for protective reasons again, someone on the Board proposed giving this student the qualification assessment for Level 5, bringing her into the spotlight for more people to see."
"It's a kind of compromise. But if she fails to become a Level 5, this naive young lady is going to fall right into the darkness of Academy City," Gokusai Kaibi sighed, though it was unclear whether she was lamenting the city's darkness or something else.
Becoming a Level 5 meant stepping directly into the storm. Any plans targeting them wouldn't be carried out so brazenly.
"I see. Being able to defeat Accelerator must mean she possesses Level 5 capabilities. So some people want to strike before she's officially recognized as one. Those people are truly unadulterated science maniacs," Yobou Banka also mused.
Regardless of whether the researchers' plans had any chance of success, targeting someone acknowledged to have Level 5 caliber power was bold indeed.
"So, is our mission this time to kill her?" Yobou Banka continued. He'd been summoned in a hurry and wasn't entirely clear on the mission details.
"Not at all, Yobou-kun. We haven't taken on any such mission," Gokusai Kaibi said, blinking her beautiful eyes.
"To be precise, we're here to protect her, to prevent any assassinations targeting her. That's the order from the boss himself."
Just as Yobou Banka was frowning in thought, a tall man with brown hair, dressed in a high-quality shirt and trousers, emerged from the shadows—Academy City's #2, Kakine Teitoku.
His hands were in his pockets, his face full of gloomy intensity, yet the corner of his mouth held a confident smirk that was hard to miss.
"I won't give Accelerator another chance to grow stronger. Since the Level 6 project has been halted, it's best that it ends for good. Those researchers who still want to scheme need to be taught a lesson," Kakine Teitoku stated, his tone resolute and self-assured.
Previously, it was due to the Board's strict orders that Kakine couldn't interfere with the Level 6 Shift Project.
But now that the highest levels of Academy City had ordered it abolished, how could he stand by and let this project revive?
Accelerator was the obstacle in his path, blocking him from obtaining more resources. It was best for any experiment that could make Accelerator stronger to disappear completely.
As for this Natsume Sonoko... Kakine Teitoku picked up a photo of the meatball-haired girl and studied it carefully, a contemplative look on his face.
Temperature control, huh? Perhaps it offered a new angle for dealing with Accelerator, since it had already been deemed effective.
Not that Kakine was overly concerned about such an ability. Temperature control couldn't affect his Dark Matter, unless the user knew its precise properties beforehand. And even if they did, he could quickly produce entirely new forms of Dark Matter.
"Boss, there's a slight problem. It seems Yumiya Rakko has been discovered," Yobou Banka reminded, pointing towards the distant figure of Natsume Sonoko.
"Discovered? No matter. Let Yumiya Rakko continue tailing her," Kakine Teitoku said dismissively.
As the members of 'School' began to leave the room, Yobou Banka suddenly turned back.
"Sorry, sorry, I almost forgot about you."
Yobou Banka picked up a sniper rifle fitted with a silencer from beside the bound man. A soft thwip of a suppressed shot rang out.
Back on the street, Natsume Sonoko looked somewhat dazed as she covertly observed the Shidarezakura Academy girl, who was now just a few paces away.
Her eyes kept darting towards the girl. At this point, her intentions were practically an open book.
"Is there something on my face?" the girl suddenly spoke up. Her voice was soft and weak, like the buzzing of a mosquito.
She had noticed Natsume's strange behavior long ago; only a certain meatball-headed girl thought she was being subtle.
Simultaneously, the miniature earpiece the girl wore received a message from her companions.
"Eh?"
Caught in the act, the sneaky meatball-head's face flushed with embarrassment.
Even though she thought this person was dangerous, the fact that she hadn't done anything out of line yet left Natsume uncertain. She couldn't very well say, 'You shot me once before, you know.'
"Not at all, I'm just here to shop too," Natsume Sonoko attempted to explain, casually picking up a nearby item to look at. "My apologies, I was overthinking things."
The girl nodded apologetically, displaying excellent manners. "It's quite alright," she said in a very soft, gentle tone before turning her attention back to the merchandise nearby.
The air grew quiet, occupied only by one girl seriously browsing and a very distracted Natsume Sonoko.
"Um, you're from Shidarezakura Academy, right? I'm from Tokiwadai. My name is Natsume Sonoko."
After standing still for a moment, for some reason, Natsume blurted this out instinctively, as if trying to break the awkward silence.
The long-haired girl, who wore her hair in twin tails at the sides of her head, suddenly trembled. She seemed stunned for a second, lowering her head so her expression was hidden. It took her a moment to regain her composure.
"Hello. My name is Yumiya Rakko. I'm a third-year at Shidarezakura Academy."
There was a hint of excitement in her voice.
Yumiya Rakko lifted her head, revealing a face flushed bright red, which gave the meatball-headed girl quite a start.
What's happening? Did I do something I shouldn't have? Is there a mental-out ability user nearby?
Natsume's thoughts became a jumbled mess as she stared, bewildered, at the girl before her.
"So it's Yumiya-senpai. It's nice to meet you. I look forward to your guidance," Natsume Sonoko hurriedly replied, a trace of confusion still evident on her face.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, 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.