Academy City's Weather Report! (Toaru) Chapter 13: Academy City Weather Report! - 13

Natsu Sonoko let out a soft sigh, her breath sending ripples across the surface of her coffee. The milk and coffee swirled together, black and white intertwining like a piece of art.

Finding plain coffee a bit too bitter, she had tried adding a generous amount of milk and several sugar cubes.

Without realizing it, she'd ended up with an overly sweet drink.

Holding the cup in one hand, diligently blowing to mix the milky coffee, Natsu Sonoko's eyes kept drifting involuntarily towards the two people beside her, who were radiating a rather strange atmosphere.

"So, you're saying you want to use your well-mannered, sensible friend here to fulfill your... perverted desires."

Misaka-senpai's tone grew increasingly heavy, the corner of her eye twitching slightly as if bearing pressures unfit for her age.

"It's not like that... I an, that's not..." Shirai-san stamred, visibly nervous and sweating profusely.

Even with most of her face squished in Misaka-senpai's grip, Natsu Sonoko could clearly sense Shirai-san's guilt.

"Just reading this content is enough to make my stress levels skyrocket!" Misaka-senpai's anger erupted.

She pinched and kneaded Shirai-san's cheek, stretching it like pulling on a piece of dough.

"Ouch, oww! You've got it all wrong, Onee-sama!" A glistening tear welled in the corner of Shirai-san's eye, as if she were suffering so great injustice, her mouth continuously offering excuses.

"...Well, if it's for a friend of yours, Kuroko, I suppose there's no helping it."

The gloom hadn't entirely lifted from Misaka-senpai's face, but her tone softened as she sat back down, speaking with a hint of sullenness.

She shot an apologetic glance towards Natsu.

"I'm really sorry. Today was supposed to be for celebrating your Level Up," Misaka-senpai said apologetically to Natsu Sonoko.

"It's really no problem! More people just ans more fun, I don't mind at all," Natsu Sonoko hurriedly waved her hands, dismissing the concern.

To be honest, she had been really looking forward to this offline fan et-up organized by Misaka-senpai.

Among the group was the super fan Shirai Kuroko, the rational fan Natsu Sonoko, the idol fan Kazari Uiharu, and Saten Ruiko, who was currently still more of a casual fan.

"Onee-sama!" Shirai-san's voice was brimming with emotion and excitent, her eyes practically forming heart shapes.

She seed about to use her Teleport to latch onto Misaka-senpai, but was ruthlessly interrupted by Natsu Sonoko.

"Shirai-san, are they the fans of Misaka-senpai you ntioned?" Not giving Shirai Kuroko a chance to disrupt the cafe's peaceful atmosphere, Natsu Sonoko pointed towards two girls outside the window who were looking around curiously.

The 'Constant Temperature Shinigami' Uiharu Kazari and the 'Rising Current' Saten Ruiko had arrived together within Natsu Sonoko's line of sight.

Uiharu-san had short black hair and wore a floral hairpiece, which from a distance made it look like she was balancing a vase on her head.

She wore the sumr uniform of Sakugawa Middle School, complete with a red scarf-like accessory at her chest, and a very obvious look of nervousness on her face.

"So this is the place, Uiharu?" said the girl next to her, Saten Ruiko, who also wore the Sakugawa Middle School uniform.

She had long, shoulder-length black hair and wore a hair ornant shaped like a five-petaled white plum blossom. She looked up at the cafe's signboard not far away.

"Mhm, Shirai-san said to et right here," Uiharu Kazari confird, her voice soft, weak, and sweet.

"Let's go greet them quickly, Shirai-san. We shouldn't keep them waiting," Natsu Sonoko said to a sowhat deflated Shirai-san.

She downed the rest of her coffee in one go, then turned her curious gaze to properly observe the two girls outside.

Outside the cafe, the offline fan et officially began.

An awkward silence seed to hang in the air.

Natsu Sonoko stood opposite Shirai-san, looking up at the sky. Misaka-senpai stood with her arms crossed, head bowed. To the side, the Sakugawa Duo exchanged bewildered glances.

Shirai-san's gaze shifted between everyone, seemingly also unprepared for so many unrelated people showing up today.

"Anyway, let introduce everyone. This is Uiharu Kazari, a first-year at Sakugawa Middle School, and also my partner in the Judgnt," Shirai-san, as the main organizer of today's fan gathering, naturally took on the role of introducer, gesturing towards Uiharu Kazari.

"Ha-, it's nice to et you. I'm Uiharu Kazari," said the girl with the flower wreath, her hands nervously pressing down on her skirt, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

"And this is..." Shirai-san's gaze moved to Saten Ruiko, standing beside Uiharu Kazari.

Like Natsu Sonoko, she fell into the category of unplanned, unrelated personnel.

"Hello, I'm Uiharu's friend, Saten Ruiko. Anyway, I just kinda ended up tagging along sohow. For what it's worth, my ability is Level 0," Saten Ruiko said, placing a hand behind her head, a cheerful smile on her face.

Her gaze sowhat awkwardly avoided Natsu Sonoko, who was blinking curiously as she scrutinized the two of them.

"Saten-san, what are you saying?" Uiharu-san flusteredly interjected, looking all flustered.

Natsu Sonoko, listening intently to the introductions not far away, suddenly had an idea. Tiny ice crystals flickered into existence on one of her palms.

As water vapor condensed in Natsu Sonoko's hand, two exquisite ice sculptures appeared, perfectly capturing the likenesses of Uiharu-san and Saten-san.

"Natsu-san, what are you doing! It's your turn to be introduced!"

Shirai Kuroko planted her hands on her hips, looking displeased at Natsu Sonoko, whose mind seed to be wandering off doing other things.

This girl had been superfluous from the start!

"This is Natsu Sonoko, a first-year at Tokiwadai. It's hard to believe a little shrimp like her is in the sa grade as , but it's the truth."

"Now that I think about it, I heard she's only eleven this year," Shirai Kuroko offered this blunt comntary about the girl with the bun hairstyle.

"It's nice to et you all. I'm Natsu Sonoko. I'm very happy to know everyone," Natsu Sonoko offered no rebuttal to Shirai's comnts.

Among the group, Natsu Sonoko was indeed a head shorter than the others. Even she herself had to admit she was seven or eight centiters shorter than even Uiharu.

But Natsu Sonoko had special confidence.

Her current lack of height was purely due to her age. By next year, she should be able to shoot up like crazy. Maybe she'd even catch up to Misaka-senpai by then.

"Hello," Uiharu-san looked curiously at the Natsu Sonoko before her: the neat Tokiwadai uniform, the exquisite bun hairstyle, the black school bag in hand, the obvious dark circles under her eyes, trying hard to put on a dignified air, but she really did look so young.

"For you. A little gift," Natsu Sonoko placed the two ice sculptures into the hands of Uiharu-san and Saten-san.

The sculptures were about the size of a finger, yet intricately carved to resemble the two girls, even down to the individual strands of hair, rendered vividly.

"It looks just like you, Uiharu! So pretty, even the petals on your head look exactly the sa," Saten Ruiko exclaid in surprise, examining the sculpture in her own hand while also comnting on the one in Uiharu's.

"Thank you, Natsu-san. We really like this gift," Uiharu-san said earnestly, pulling Saten Ruiko along as she thanked Natsu-san, the small present seeming to have really hit the mark.

"You're welco. It's just a little thing," Natsu Sonoko said with a serious expression.

"Uiharu-san, Saten-san, I'm Misaka Mikoto. Pleased to et you," Finally, it was Misaka-senpai's turn for self-introduction.

She seed to have shaken off her earlier distress about the fans, a warm smile appearing on her face.

"Pleased to et you."

"Pleased to et you," Uiharu-san and Saten-san spoke in turn.

Just as everyone finished introductions, Shirai Kuroko, who had been waiting sowhat impatiently to the side, stepped into the middle of the group.

She flipped open a notebook, its contents sowhat scribbled and modified, looking like Shirai-san's battle plan had been hastily revised in a short ti.

"Now that everyone's introduced themselves, even though the original plan got a bit disrupted, I'll still be in charge of today's itinerary..." Shirai-san's voice grew increasingly excited, an unnatural flush rising to her cheeks again.

The more she spoke, the more it reeked of conspiracy.

Just as even Natsu-san was starting to feel Shirai-san's rearranged schedule was rather dubious, Misaka-senpai beside her seed to be trembling with anger, a fist the size of a sandbag suddenly connecting with the top of Shirai-san's head.

"Ow, ow, OW!" Shirai-san demonstrated masterful head-clutching, squatting defense techniques, clutching her head and rubbing the sore spot.

Uiharu-san and Saten-san watched, mouths agape, forced smiles on their faces.

Natsu Sonoko was currently considering the actual itinerary. Both the arcade and the large shopping mall seed like good options in her mind.

As for Shirai Kuroko's fate, Natsu Sonoko was sowhat used to it by now. Compared to a 100,000-volt shock, Shirai-san was getting special leniency from the restraining Misaka-senpai.

"Staying here is a waste of ti. Anyway, let's just go to the arcade," Misaka-senpai declared, her thumb pressed against her chin. A mont later, she unconsciously placed her hands on her hips.

"The arcade?" Saten Ruiko asked, a bit uncertain.

"Mhm, mhm, that's a really good suggestion. As expected of Misaka-senpai," Natsu Sonoko was very satisfied with the arcade proposal; it was also within her area of expertise.

Video gas, comics, arcades—you start talking about that, and Natsu Sonoko with her dark circles under her eyes suddenly isn't tired anymore.

"Don't underestimate the value of arcades, you know. They can help improve personal calculation skills and reaction tis," Natsu Sonoko spoke from deep experience.

For example, with certain two-player fighting gas, Natsu Sonoko could completely design multiple combo sequences for the characters used by both sides in her head, even achieving flawless KOs. Not only did she have fun, but she also grew stronger herself.

And not to ntion anything else, the safety factor there was greatly increased. After all, the arcade, in a way, could be considered Misaka-senpai's personal arsenal.

A whole warehouse full of Railguns—now that's sothing to be afraid of!

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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 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!

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