Haaah~~
With a long, heavy exhale, it was as if she had expelled all the unpleasant emotions festering in her core.
The girl, her head swathed in thick bandages, supported by two amateur little nurses, finally managed to shakily get to her feet from the grass.
Her pale, slender arms hooked firmly over each nurse's shoulders for support, she looked utterly drained.
Judging by the details of her face exposed to the air, she seemed to have just come through a rather rough time.
Both the despairing, nauseating swelling in her brain and the consciousness battered by the collective emotions of numerous espers had seemingly returned to a state that appeared normal.
Perhaps Natsume Sonoko's constitution was just exceptionally compatible with this type of AIM field energy. Even though her mind was now filled with a jumble of inexplicable, chaotic thoughts, her core consciousness firmly suppressed them all.
Maintaining an attitude of seeking common ground while reserving differences, she kept everything neatly organized.
"My apologies, Index, for making you worry."
"And to you, Kihara…san, thank you for looking after me all this time."
A somewhat embarrassed, awkward smile spread across her face. Though a certain bun-haired girl had verbally entrusted herself to Index's care, she had actually collapsed suddenly. She must have given Index quite a scare these past days.
Furthermore, just earlier, she had been quite engrossed in watching the altered Gekota projection with the Misaka clones, so she had actually returned a bit later than intended.
And while watching that Gekota hologram, another thought had popped into her head: Kazakiri Hyouka-san's body… it really didn't seem any different from a holographic projection.
She remembered that Academy City already had holographic equipment capable of perfectly mimicking realistic texture and optical imagery.
The versions she bought for the sisters were just very simplified, neutered models, producing Gekota images that were merely ordinary optical projections.
That high-grade holographic equipment probably utilized technology similar to Kazakiri Hyouka-san's—so-called anomaly tech constructed from espers and AIM field energy.
"It's nothing, really! As long as Sonoko is okay, that's all that matters!" Index's eyes were wide open, blinking rapidly as she stared at Sonoko, her initially somewhat aggrieved and worried face finally breaking into a bright smile.
"That's a relief. I thought we might have to send you to a specialized ability trauma center," said Kihara Nayuta, who had finished packing her medical supplies carefully back into her backpack. Her serious tone carried a hint of uncharacteristic tension.
"But an esper of your level needs to be especially careful to maintain balance and restraint. If your powers went out of control and caused a rampage, resonating with other espers in the same system… while it might not trigger a city-wide earthquake, District 18 could certainly be thrown into chaos."
"Eh? Understood," Sonoko replied, 'staring' pointedly at this Judgment girl who seemed to know her background. She answered slowly, word by word. "That was just an accident. I'll be more careful next time."
In fact, much of her basic information was semi-public within Judgment, so being recognized wasn't particularly strange.
"Well, it's about time I should start my patrol." Clenching her teeth silently, Kihara Nayuta turned and began walking away.
Although she had mentally rehearsed scenarios like encountering the #8 Level 5 before, and had grown accustomed to her previously motionless state, actually conversing with her now made the peculiar emotions in Nayuta's heart grow increasingly intense.
This feeling was truly awkward. She found it somewhat difficult to face the existence of the #8. No matter what, the other party held an extremely special place in her heart.
But her steps suddenly halted about ten meters away.
Then, striding quickly, she returned to stand before Natsume Sonoko, drawing puzzled looks from the two other girls.
"I am Kihara Nayuta. I'm a friend of Banri-onee-san's." Kihara Nayuta took a deep breath, forcing the cold rationality characteristic of the Kihara family deep down, letting a normal human warmth and kindness shine through.
What was wrong with a failure of a Kihara like her having the same feelings as everyone else in Academy City?
"I am deeply grateful for your righteous assistance to the Advanced Education Bureau before! Allowing Academy City's 'failed products' to wake up with smiles… it holds extremely important meaning for me!"
Kihara Nayuta closed her eyes, then suddenly opened them, a blazing fire almost roaring out with her words.
Her red backpack jostled with the heaving of her chest, and even her golden twin tails fluttered somewhat wildly.
"Eh?! It's really nothing, that was so long ago. And Banri-chan and the others are my friends," the bun-haired girl stammered, hastily taking a few steps back, a little uncomfortable with the current atmosphere.
"Other people helped too, I didn't really do much."
She felt she'd seen eyes like that somewhere before… and the other girl had twin tails too… and come to think of it, the Judgment affiliation was also the same.
"It's not the same." A sharp light gleamed in Kihara Nayuta's eyes as she stepped closer to Natsume-san, continuing with utmost seriousness.
"To stand against powerful enemies for people you didn't even know, to not flinch even when facing an unbeatable opponent… I've looked into everything about Natsume-san."
"Wow, that's amazing, Sonoko!" Index tilted her head, not fully grasping the situation, but getting the impression that her Sonoko had done many good deeds.
"Ah, well, you see… about Banri-chan and the others, I did all that willingly. There's no need for thanks," Sonoko said, a flustered expression instantly appearing on her face.
Ignoring her still-weak body, she grabbed Index's hand and began heading towards the distant road.
"Index and I have some things to attend to, so we'll be going now. If you have the chance, feel free to visit me at the Tokiwadai Dormitory!"
She hadn't forgotten her current mission: to find a way to help Kazakiri-san break free from control.
Though, images of Misaka-senpai and Shirai-san's daily lives suddenly flooded her mind, causing an unnatural expression to flit across her face.
She felt very sorry for associating this Kihara Nayuta-san with Shirai-san—it was extremely rude and offensive—but the impression her resident teleporter had left on her was just too profound.
With their similar characteristics, Natsume-san immediately chickened out. This was probably all Shirai-san's fault.
"Understood." Though not entirely sure about the #8's somewhat odd behavior now, Kihara Nayuta simply stood her ground and nodded in response.
"Visit you at Tokiwadai Dormitory…?" she murmured, watching the retreating back of the hurried bun-haired girl, thoughtfulness stirring in her heart.
"No need to go through all that trouble. I'll just transfer to Tokiwadai next year."
She was twelve years old. Next year would be time to enter middle school anyway.
Becoming the #8's kouhai? That sounded rather perfect.
"Speaking of which, this year's Judgment training camp should be ending soon. Did Banri-chan manage to get selected for Judgment, I wonder?" Remembering something, Kihara Nayuta muttered to herself, planning to visit Banri and the others either today or tomorrow.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL