The lights of the izakaya swayed in his memory, their warm glow stretching time into something slow and viscous.
Kurokami Gen didn't own a phone. The contact information he'd left at that certain hospital all belonged to his "guardian." A certain pink-haired loli had been afraid he might "disappear" again.
The black-haired youth pulled an antique flip phone from the pocket of the thoroughly drunk Tsukuyomi Komoe and checked the time.
July 14th. The day before summer vacation.
Komoe mumbled in a daze, "22:59:16…"
No matter how many times he witnessed it, Gen still found it astonishing. Even under the influence of alcohol, this loli's biological clock was unaffected.
Through his [Emerald Eyes], her status panel looked almost identical to a month ago.
True Name: Tsukuyomi KomoeRace: HumanOccupation: High School Chemistry TeacherCombat Ability: None
Life Abilities:
[Academy City's Ageless Legend]: A human female who eternally retains a loli physique. Physical development and aging have both ceased.
[Biological Clock]: Maintains highly regular diet and sleep habits; internal rhythm accurate to the second.
[Mountain of Human Ashtray]: Smokes five times more than Yomikawa Aiho, earning this title. Possesses a nicotine addiction disproportionate to her lung capacity.
[Psychology Mastery]: Expert level.
[Ignition Ability Research]: Specialization.
[AIM Diffusion Field Studies]: Hobbyist interest.
…
Beyond that, Tsukuyomi Komoe was proficient in a wide range of disciplines—social psychology, environmental psychology, behavioral psychology, traffic psychology. A genuine expert scholar.
And yet, she worked as an ordinary chemistry teacher at a certain high school—not the aristocratic powerhouse that was Tokiwadai. For Komoe, caring about adolescents' psychological well-being mattered more than prestige.
In private, she smoked and drank without restraint.
The transmigrator from China snapped back to reality. It had already been a month since he'd been taken in by this loli teacher. Now that he had copied the skills of Heaven Canceller, the "super high school level" knowledge Komoe possessed felt shallow by comparison.
He no longer pried into the people close to him.
Secrets buried in one's heart would naturally be revealed to those truly intimate.
Gen glanced at the other two well-endowed female teachers beside him, equally drunk.
The secrets Yomikawa carried were no fewer than Komoe's—perhaps even darker. She had a past in the underground. With nothing but a shield, she could subdue a Level 3 Strong Ability esper.
[Absolute Refusal to Use Weapons Against Students]: An advanced combat art evolved from standard Anti-Skill close-quarters techniques. Specialized for fighting espers barehanded. Anti-student trait—maximum output only achieved unarmed.
The name was absurdly long, but it truly was Yomikawa Aiho's combat skill. Gen had relied on it to subdue a hospital attacker—and the delinquents in this izakaya.
"I wanna drink more… Oh right, let's call Kikyou and drag her out…" Yomikawa murmured in her sleep.
Tessou Tsuzuri muttered bitterly, "Yoshikawa-senpai is probably still soaking in her lab. Not like us ordinary high school teachers without research projects. Damn those fulfilled people… they should all just explode."
Yoshikawa Kikyou?
At that name, Gen's heart tightened.
Now that he'd fully regained his transmigration memories, he couldn't help recalling Academy City's darkness—and a certain cruel plan.
With my current abilities, I can't interfere yet.
The drunken teachers complained about domestic trivialities and workplace frustrations. Their school wasn't like Tokiwadai;待遇 was poor.
Gen knew exactly how tight Komoe's finances were.
And yet, she always used her own money to help homeless students.
"I'll take you home."
He paid the bill with the salary he'd just received today. This time, he didn't touch the wallets "dropped" by delinquents. It was why Komoe had been able to drink so happily tonight—without worrying about him.
"That street thug who used to mug people has grown up."
"It was picked up," Gen replied helplessly.
Can a transmigrator's actions even be called robbery?
Yomikawa and Tessou were dead drunk, clothes slightly disheveled. The scent of alcohol couldn't mask their mature fragrance. Compared to the first "looting" a month ago, this felt more like corpse-retrieval.
Gen carried the two busty onee-sans into the car without letting his gaze wander.
Among the delinquent memories he'd read were plenty of R-rated content. Despite being a virgin, he had already fought countless "battles" inside the VR known as [Heal].
Even someone claiming to have slept with twenty thousand women would eventually concede defeat.
The longest… adult film?
Right now, he was still the pure-hearted "Healer Hero." Not that other thing.
He dropped Yomikawa and Tessou off, curing their alcohol poisoning—commonly known as drunkenness—with [Heal], then drove Komoe home.
A shabby single apartment building. Two stories.
A month ago, Gen had walked along the street in front of this building.
"Bzzz… bzzz…"
The broken streetlamp flickered—like a prophecy of his bleak life after transmigration.
He'd intended to sleep on a park bench. Without legal identity, even after obtaining a "huge sum" of money, he couldn't risk staying overnight at an internet café. In Japan, those usually meant manga cafés.
Empty Academy City streets echoed with two sets of footsteps.
Gen stopped and looked back at the pink-haired loli following him. She wore a pink dress—half princess, half housewife apron.
"Why are you following me?"
"A teacher can't just watch a child go astray," Komoe said, mustering courage. "You should return the money you stole!"
Through his Elven Eyes, Gen saw through the "teacher" before him.
A character he once adored—now her charm barely registered. After encountering the true heroine like Mikoto Misaka, his excitement threshold had changed.
He had no dinner. No plan for tomorrow.
As someone weak, he should avoid plot characters.
Otherwise, he'd be dragged into dangerous incidents.
"You were the one tailing me from the start! I—I'm home!"
Komoe hugged herself defensively, clutching her dress tight. Gen almost wanted to explain he didn't have criminal fetishes.
After reading countless minds, the "Healer" had witnessed humanity's darkest corners.
Without firm willpower, [Heal] could distort personality—blur identity—pollute even the soul.
"Tat-tat-tat!"
Only after he passed did Komoe dash upstairs. Yet she couldn't resist tiptoeing to the rusty railing to peer down.
"Are… you okay?"
"Me?"
Gen stopped and glanced back.
In Komoe's eyes, it was a four-or-five-degree over-the-shoulder glance at the sky.
An expression she'd never seen in her years of teaching.
"Strange Japanese… why does it have an Osaka accent?"
"Does it?"
Gen rubbed his temple.
His Japanese was chaotic—mixed with accents from dozens of minds, like multiple voice actors arguing in his skull.
They would stabilize soon.
Repeated [Heal] was straining his psyche.
She must have noticed.
It was no wonder the protagonist of Redo of Healer became twisted by revenge. That world was already dark; [Heal] only worsened dissociation.
Gen was grateful he hadn't transmigrated into that original scenario.
Komoe hesitated. "W-Would you like to rest upstairs? My place is… fairly spacious."
"A single woman living alone shouldn't casually reveal her address to strange men. Someone like me could be dangerous."
He was literally a perpetrator of "black eating black."
To Komoe, he was just another delinquent fighting violence with violence.
"Don't misunderstand. I only bring runaway girls home until they find direction in life. Today I was feeding stray cats and happened to meet you. Boys outside should protect themselves too—they deserve equal care."
Her sincerity moved him.
"…Then, excuse me."
Looking back now, if he hadn't met Komoe a month ago, his mind might have shattered.
What began as "just sitting for a bit" became temporary residence.
Tsukuyomi Komoe used her psychology expertise to counsel this boy she barely knew, gradually easing the mental burden [Heal] inflicted.
"You don't remember anything before coming to Academy City? Could it be… some terrifying human experiment? I'll ask Yomikawa to check Anti-Skill's system tomorrow."
Danger.
No immigration record.
He'd be exposed as undocumented. Deported.
Even in this world's China, he had no household registration.
He wanted to see if another "him" existed back home.
But only by staying here could he grow stronger.
The next day—District 7, Judgment Branch 177.
Gen stared at the sign around the corner.
As a fan of A Certain Scientific Railgun, he knew the protagonists' base well. After asking around tirelessly, he'd found it—for one reason.
To contact a marginalized key figure.
"So you got lost? If possible, we can contact your guardian…"
The receptionist was a girl with a flower wreath on her head, her voice sweet as candy.
Petite, youthful, short black hair adorned with artificial blossoms. Nicknamed "walking flower vase."
One of the Railgun quartet—Uiharu Kazari. Level 1 Thermal Hand. Her ability seemed unimpressive—but her technical prowess was anything but ornamental.
"I'll trouble you, Judgment."
Gen pronounced the word dramatically—
—and collapsed at just the right moment.
He fell onto Uiharu, knocking her down. Her dark skirt flipped up.
So the skirt-flipping demon was me all along.
Even floral panties?
Then—
Heal.
"Eh?!"
At such close proximity to the opposite sex, Uiharu flushed, instinctively pressing down her sailor uniform hem. The weight pinning her prevented escape.
"Uiharu!"
Her senior, Kongou Mitsuko? No—wrong memory.
It was Kuroko Shirai's colleague—no.
Correction—
Her branch senior, Konori Mii?
No.
It was Kanzaki?
No—
It was Kanzaki Kaori?
No—
It was Konori Mii's anime counterpart—
Actually:
It was Konori Mii in the novels—
But in this branch:
It was Konori Mii?
No—
Canonically, Branch 177's senior is:
Konori Mii?
(And in Railgun anime: Konori Mii.)
She helped him to the sofa.
After a while, Gen "awoke," clutching his head.
"Headache… what happened?"
Impeccable acting.
They exchanged glances. As an international student, he had to be handled properly.
Ability development accidents causing memory loss weren't unheard of.
"Your guardian is Tsukuyomi Komoe? We'll check the Bank database for her address."
Uiharu returned to her seat, fingers flying across the keyboard.
A mere Judgment member—with access to the Bank, the database containing all esper data: abilities, DNA, AIM diffusion fields, combat records.
Because this unassuming thirteen-year-old girl was the urban legend hacker—
Gatekeeper.
Gen thought silently:
Sorry, Uiharu.
I'll be taking your ability.
After transmigration, he couldn't yet seize powerful abilities via combat. The two he most desired were Uiharu's computer mastery and Heaven Canceller's medical skill.
Get those—and basic self-preservation was secured.
"Found it. I'll notify her to pick you up."
Konori Mii poured tea for the "civilian."
"Thank you so much, Konori-senpai!"
Gen grabbed her hand enthusiastically.
Ping—
Heal.
He had already mastered [Imitation].
From delinquent copies, he'd acquired low-level skills: [Trick Art] to hide the green glow of activation, [Telepathy] to chant internally—bypassing incantations.
Level 1. Weak.
But useful.
As expected, no one sensed his real power.
So Konori's ability is Level 3 Clairvoyance.
"Emergency call. Uiharu, with me."
"Yes, Konori-senpai!"
They hurried off, telling him to wait.
Academy City always found its people.
"Goodbye."
When they were gone, Gen turned to Uiharu's still-open computer.
Using Gatekeeper's own methods, he could alter Bank records without her noticing "herself" doing it.
"Kurokami Gen. Chinese exchange student. Preparing to enter university in Academy City. Seeking treatment for congenital analgesia. Entered via District 23 Airport on June 19. Flight number…"
Footsteps approached.
Clairvoyance.
His gaze strained through the wall.
Limited by calculation power, he couldn't unleash Level 3 fully.
He saw a petite body.
A child's undershirt beneath a dress.
The dream ability of all men—X-ray vision—could only penetrate outerwear.
If his calculation power increased… maybe he could see muscle structure?
A polite knock.
Tsukuyomi Komoe burst in.
"Kurokami-kun! So you're here! You left all your money under the table and disappeared—how awful! I won't accept money obtained illegally!"
Gen froze—then smiled.
This hot-blooded idiot teacher.
Fine.
Since his illegal status was now legalized—
He'd continue cohabiting with this lawful loli.
"Sorry, Komoe-sensei. I lost my way in life."
Before I trouble you further, my guardian…