Academy City's Weather Report! (Toaru) Chapter 162: Academy City Weather Report! - 162

Holding the braised pork atball, Higami 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," Higami murmured to herself, a dawning comprehension spreading across her face.

"Thank you very much. The flavor of this atball is quite good," she said, understanding dawning. Higami 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 tis.

"Higami-san, there's really no need to be so formal," Natsu said, looking sowhat pleased herself.

She offered a shy smile. It seed Higami-san had quite a healthy appetite; giving food was definitely the right move.

"Now, now, that's not quite right. Higami 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," Higami 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 . 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, Natsu asked a few more questions about this Higami-senpai.

What was rather noteworthy was that this senpai seed unwilling to talk about her own ability. She really was a unique person.

Later, the conversation turned to the Germanian cross pendant Higami 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 atball-haired girl.

Haaa...

Letting out a soft sigh, Natsu waved goodbye to Komoe-sensei and the others.

Natsu 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 Apartnts.

Besides checking on the Misaka Sisters and Reiko, she also needed to inform the Sisters about the upcoming cellular adjustnts.

In a day or two, the first batch of machines for the adjustnts would be put into use.

The Sisters currently active throughout Academy City needed these adjustnts more urgently than those still in the cultivation pods.

But as she walked, the atball-haired girl suddenly froze, as if she'd noticed sothing. 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, Natsu 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, Natsu usually didn't pay much attention to these heat signatures. Finding them a bother, she mostly ignored them.

Since she couldn't discern soone's face or identity from their heat signature alone, she'd devised so simple, practical formulas to differentiate various situations.

For instance, she had a few basic rules set.

If a heat signature on her ntal 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 ti, 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 sumr uniform of the private Shidarezakura Academy, a faint smile on her face as she browsed the items at a street-side shop.

Natsu didn't know much about Shidarezakura Academy. Her main exposure was seeing its students a few tis on the school buses.

While it was also an all-girls' school within the School Garden, it was rely 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 Natsu Sonoko's unfavorable impression of this person, her guard was up, even if the girl looked completely nonchalant.

Natsu 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 mory of that shot fired from this girl's sleeve was still fresh.

This was soone completely different from her innocent appearance.

"This looks like a product from overseas. You have quite a selection here, shopkeeper," Natsu 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 ," the girl said, seemingly oblivious to Natsu's approach, continuing as if nothing was amiss.

anwhile, 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 sowhat 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 experints."

"Not only have they arbitrarily changed 'defeated' to 'repelled,' so have even tried to pressure the Board of Directors to change their minds," said the girl nad 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 confird that this Tokiwadai girl, Natsu Sonoko, is the one they're looking for."

"Since her identity isn't publicly known and won't attract widespread attention, so 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 outco of that fight," Gokusai Kaibi continued, involuntarily stretching to relieve the stiffness in her body.

"Probably for protective reasons again, soone on the Board proposed giving this student the qualification assessnt for Level 5, bringing her into the spotlight for more people to see."

"It's a kind of compromise. But if she fails to beco 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 lanting the city's darkness or sothing else.

Becoming a Level 5 ant stepping directly into the storm. Any plans targeting them wouldn't be carried out so brazenly.

"I see. Being able to defeat Accelerator must an she possesses Level 5 capabilities. So so 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 soone acknowledged to have Level 5 caliber power was bold indeed.

"So, is our mission this ti 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, erged 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 sche 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 experint that could make Accelerator stronger to disappear completely.

As for this Natsu Sonoko... Kakine Teitoku picked up a photo of the atball-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 deed 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 Natsu Sonoko.

"Discovered? No matter. Let Yumiya Rakko continue tailing her," Kakine Teitoku said dismissively.

As the mbers 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, Natsu Sonoko looked sowhat 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 sothing on my face?" the girl suddenly spoke up. Her voice was soft and weak, like the buzzing of a mosquito.

She had noticed Natsu's strange behavior long ago; only a certain atball-headed girl thought she was being subtle.

Simultaneously, the miniature earpiece the girl wore received a ssage from her companions.

"Eh?"

Caught in the act, the sneaky atball-head's face flushed with embarrassnt.

Even though she thought this person was dangerous, the fact that she hadn't done anything out of line yet left Natsu uncertain. She couldn't very well say, 'You shot once before, you know.'

"Not at all, I'm just here to shop too," Natsu 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 rchandise nearby.

The air grew quiet, occupied only by one girl seriously browsing and a very distracted Natsu Sonoko.

"Um, you're from Shidarezakura Academy, right? I'm from Tokiwadai. My na is Natsu Sonoko."

After standing still for a mont, for so reason, Natsu 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 seed stunned for a second, lowering her head so her expression was hidden. It took her a mont to regain her composure.

"Hello. My na is Yumiya Rakko. I'm a third-year at Shidarezakura Academy."

There was a hint of excitent in her voice.

Yumiya Rakko lifted her head, revealing a face flushed bright red, which gave the atball-headed girl quite a start.

What's happening? Did I do sothing I shouldn't have? Is there a ntal-out ability user nearby?

Natsu's thoughts beca a jumbled ss as she stared, bewildered, at the girl before her.

"So it's Yumiya-senpai. It's nice to et you. I look forward to your guidance," Natsu Sonoko hurriedly replied, a trace of confusion still evident on her face.

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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 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.

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