"If it's just a simple celebration, then why are we using this kind of 'dicine'?"
"It seems curing a perverted personality like yours requires strong dicine. Just like your na, you're about to get scorched."
Sparks had already begun crackling in Misaka-senpai's hair. A blue-white visual effect enveloped her entire body, with streaks of silver, snake-like electricity dancing around her.
Natsu Sonoko watched with a nervous heart. The sizzling of the current felt like a pre-battle announcent.
Were they really about to have another brutal ability user battle right here in this poor student dormitory?
She felt a sudden, inexplicable worry for all the household appliances in the building and her newly bought laptop. But there was no ti to dwell on that.
Natsu Sonoko shielded Uiharu-san and Ruiko-san behind her, a look of fearless sacrifice on her face.
As she watched the scene unfold, a stray thought crossed Natsu Sonoko's mind.
Was the electricity Misaka-senpai controlled DC or AC?
She rembered Misaka-senpai had a move called 'Real Lightning' or sothing, which relied on the pulse discharge created by moving a massive charge in a short ti. Lightning, in a way, could be considered direct current.
And Misaka-senpai's Railgun seed to use a DC electromagnetic field too.
But maybe that wasn't the right way to think about it.
Alternating current required a stable periodic change, which would consu far more computational power than direct current.
Perhaps Misaka-senpai was just saving on calculation ti and effort.
She was thinking too much. Natsu Sonoko tensely watched the standoff before her. Thankfully, air was a poor conductor of electricity, so she didn't need to worry about them getting caught in the crossfire.
The electric shock only lasted a few seconds in the air before vanishing.
The door of Room 208, under such imnse power, held out for rely a second before shattering into pieces amidst a cloud of dust and sparks.
The communication panel by the door suffered a tragic fate as well, caught in the discharge. The delivery guy's voice, cut off before his ssage finished, was replaced by a plu of black smoke rising from the device, clearly in need of repairs.
"How awful, no wonder the Dorm Supervisor desperately emphasizes not using abilities in the dorm," Natsu Sonoko remarked with deep feeling.
If she were facing Misaka-senpai's powerful discharge, without a convenient spatial movent ability like Shirai-san, a better counterasure would be to create an ice layer or a pseudo-AT Field.
While an ice layer could block electrical shocks to so extent, if the ice got contaminated or faced extrely high voltage, it could still conduct electricity.
No matter how she thought about it, it definitely couldn't block a billion volts from Misaka-senpai.
As for a pseudo-AT Field, by rapidly raising and lowering the temperature around herself to displace the air and carry away the electric current... if her computational ability was fast enough, could she beco immune to electric shocks?
In fact, it shouldn't just be electric shocks; probably all physical attacks could be blocked this way. That would make it almost no different from a real AT Field. [A/N: From a reader's post, not sure if it's feasible, seeking opinions.]
'As long as I spin it fast enough, the electric shock can't hit ,' Natsu Sonoko thought to herself.
The fight continued. With the Dorm Supervisor absent, the battle began spilling out from the room into the hallway.
If Misaka-senpai and the others could fix the door and communication panel before the Supervisor returned, they might still have a chance to escape punishnt.
"Will Misaka-senpai and the others be okay? They're making such a huge commotion," Uiharu-san said uneasily, glancing worriedly at the lingering dust and door fragnts on the floor.
"It's fine, the Dorm Supervisor isn't in the dorm right now," Natsu Sonoko reassured her, though she wasn't so sure about what would happen after the Supervisor returned.
"Stop running! Don't use your cheating ability!" declared an angry Misaka-senpai, her body shrouded in electric light, like an enraged Pikachu.
"Onee-sama is so an, using such a powerful electric shock yourself," Shirai-san appeared at the end of the hallway, sighing with a resigned expression.
The esper battle in the hallway intensified. Shirai-san was like a cunning fox, always abruptly appearing in Misaka-senpai's blind spots. But Misaka-senpai could sense Shirai-san's bio-electric signals, allowing her to locate Shirai-san almost instantly.
"Natsu-san, aren't you going to stop them?" Saten-san asked hesitantly, craning her neck to watch the ability user battle outside the dorm room.
"Ah, right, I should be diating," Natsu Sonoko said as if waking from a dream.
She hurriedly ran between the two combatants, only to collide head-on with a teleporting Shirai-san, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
"What are you trying to do, you atball head!" Shirai-san snarled, scrambling to her feet. But before she could say more, she saw Misaka-senpai closing in from behind.
-- --
Weather: Clear, with not a cloud in the sky.
On this day, Shirai-san was absent from Judgnt's regular activities.
Inside Judgnt Branch 177, Natsu Sonoko and Uiharu huddled together in front of the computer, two pairs of eyes gleaming intently as they watched the surveillance footage.
"There it is again, the mysterious bicycle disappearance case," Natsu Sonoko's eyes shone with a sharp light, as if seeing hope for cracking the case.
"Not counting Natsu-san's case, six similar incidents have occurred recently. The stolen bicycles are mostly expensive, high-end models, and the positioning systems in the vehicles were deliberately disabled."
Uiharu played several clips showing bicycles mysteriously moving on their own. In all of them, the bicycle wheels rolled automatically while the pedals remained completely still, extrely similar to Natsu Sonoko's situation.
"So the target is already clear: stealing expensive bicycles for profit," Natsu Sonoko nodded, her gaze fixed on the monitor as she stated this with certainty.
"By the way, you said there were six cases? Why are there only five video clips here?" Natsu Sonoko asked, confused after counting the windows on the screen.
"It's because when this particular case occurred, all the surveillance equipnt in the vicinity was under repair, so no footage was captured, and we couldn't get any useful information," Uiharu-san explained.
"And this case is also very different from the others. The bicycle stolen this ti was very ordinary, probably only about an eighth of the price of Natsu-san's bike. It's the only one that wasn't particularly expensive."
Uiharu-san furrowed her brow in puzzlent. Clearly, she also couldn't figure out why the thieves would target a bicycle of little value.
Natsu Sonoko looked at the information for this case's complainant. There were two photos attached.
One was a boy with spiky black hair, wearing a standard high school boy's uniform. The other was a photo of the missing bicycle.
"The complainant for this one is nad Kamijou Touma. He said he lost it while attending a supermarket sale event. He rembers locking it, but both the bike and the lock mysteriously vanished," Uiharu-san recalled.
"I see."
Natsu Sonoko looked thoughtfully at the figure in the photo.
The guy in the picture seed familiar to her—the main character from A Certain Magical Index, the legendary Imagine Breaker.
She never thought he'd lose his bicycle too.
"Based on an analysis of the multiple cri scenes, we can roughly determine the perpetrator's area of operation is within this part of District 7. Aside from a small comrcial street, the nearby area is mostly student and faculty dormitories."
Uiharu-san pressed a few keys, and large sections of the District 7 map on the computer gradually dimd, leaving only a small highlighted area.
"Also, I'm monitoring several online second-hand trading websites. If any listings for similar bicycles appear, I'll know imdiately," Uiharu-san added.
"That's amazing, Uiharu-san. Your computer skills are incredible," ca the praise from soone who only used her computer to browse forums and play gas.
Natsu Sonoko morized the area on the screen, ntally marking it as her club's 'field research' zone for the next few days.
By the way, Natsu Sonoko's first club activity had been completed quite successfully.
The feature page on the urban legend website had been approved. Now, all she needed to do was submit an investigation report to the club president, and it would be done.
"There's one thing I've been concerned about. Shirai-san asked for leave and didn't co to the branch today. Was she punished because of what happened yesterday?" Uiharu-san asked worriedly after closing all the surveillance videos on the computer.
"Yeah. After the Dorm Supervisor returned, she was furious. Misaka-senpai and Shirai-san were punished with cleaning all the school's swimming pools."
Natsu Sonoko recalled the Dorm Supervisor's authoritative deanor and couldn't help but shiver. 'When using abilities, never destroy property, especially buildings. That's the cardinal sin.'
-- --
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.
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