It all started with just wanting to get so knowledge about electromagnetic barriers from her senpai, but the gain ended up going a bit beyond Natsu Sonoko's expectations.
From basic current formulas to thods of generating magnetic fields, Misaka-senpai casually lectured for what felt like ages, then earnestly warned her kouhai to be careful and not recklessly try unfamiliar derivative abilities.
But thanks to a certain confidence she couldn't really explain to others, the girl with the bun wasn't as timid and hesitant as she'd been when first encountering high-risk derivative abilities.
Instead, she picked up these basics quite quickly, which helped her a great deal in refining her electromagnetic barrier.
"Oh, I'm here already."
Snapping back to attention, Natsu found herself already in the bustling downtown district.
The closer she got to that windowless building, the livelier the surroundings beca. There were no schools in this area, just lots of shopping streets and office buildings. Even the number of adults seed higher here than elsewhere.
A cleaning robot was spinning in place, looking like it had run into so trouble.
The pseudo-ghost girl, who had been pondering so important matters, looked up and realized the path ahead was blocked by a dense crowd. Even an advanced robot with automatic navigation would probably struggle to get through such a packed flow of people.
At that mont, the wild currents dancing around Natsu Sonoko's body also cald down, to avoid accidentally harming any innocent bystanders.
"Crazy fan, right? To do sothing so terrible."
"To think the one attacked was Arisa."
"Arisa? That singer who's been really popular lately?"
Clear snippets of conversation rose from the crowd. The situation had already attracted quite a few folks who loved a good spectacle.
Pushing through the crowd, one could see a familiar Judgnt officer firmly restraining a visibly agitated young man with red-rimd eyes.
Nearby, scattered records and a toppled speaker lay on the ground. The pink-haired girl wearing a white newsboy cap seed a bit dazed by the sudden event.
Co to think of it, this wasn't the first ti igo Arisa had encountered a sudden incident, so she wasn't overly panicked, though it was the first ti sothing had happened during a street performance.
But just like usual, aside from a few knocked-over items, no one around her was hurt. It had to be said, it was another one of those small miracles.
"Shirai-san, are you okay?"
igo Arisa asked with concern, looking at the Judgnt mber who had been hit by the assailant's materialized sound waves but had only ended up taking a tumble.
She knew this Judgnt mber—a friend of Misaka-san and Natsu-san—but hadn't expected her to appear so promptly. The mont this suspected saesang attacker showed up, Shirai Kuroko had appeared as if she'd been lying in wait all along.
"I'm fine."
"And you, the caught-red-handed criminal, stay put!"
Shirai Kuroko, though a bit dusty and disheveled from her fall, offered a ladylike smile. Even if she looked rather embarrassed, she couldn't let elegance and composure slip.
As she spoke, she pressed down hard on the struggling boy's arms with both hands; so standard Judgnt techniques worked well on ability users who were already subdued.
"Just as I thought, he has them too. Indian Poker."
Shirai Kuroko suddenly seed to rember sothing. Her hands lightly brushed against the boy's pockets, and several playing cards emitting an unusual gleam appeared in her hand.
"Was it this thing that caused the commotion?"
Frowning slightly, igo Arisa didn't fully understand Shirai-san's aning, but she could guess the gist of it.
She'd heard of these cards too, but her heart was set on music; she had little interest in sothing that promised wish-fulfillnt through dreams.
"There's no concrete evidence proving it yet, but there have been an unusual number of incidents lately, likely all connected to Indian Poker."
She was being sowhat vague; Shirai Kuroko didn't want to reveal too much information to uninvolved parties.
Actually, she didn't know that much herself. Most of what she knew ca from that older, unmarried female teacher who had been hanging around Judgnt Branch 177 the other day.
"I see. But Shirai-san, were you just coincidentally in the area?"
Coming back to her senses, igo-senpai asked curiously. She had felt from the start that the other girl's arrival was a bit too quick.
While Judgnt officers often showed up where incidents occurred, appearing right as the incident happened was still surprising.
"Just a coincidence, don't worry about it."
A sowhat awkward smile suddenly flashed on Shirai-san's face as she waved her hand dismissively, her words becoming slightly evasive.
But just as Shirai Kuroko tried to drop the subject, an uninvited guest stood elegantly within the crowd, a Judgnt armband on her arm, as she stepped into the incident area.
One good thing about being a Judgnt mber was that you wouldn't be stopped as an unrelated person when an incident occurred.
Of course, exceptions were made when encountering certain by-the-book Anti-Skill teachers.
"igo-senpai."
Without even a glance towards the dust-stained Shirai Kuroko, a certain bun-girl cheerfully greeted igo Arisa.
Co to think of it, since their brief eting during the nightti parade of the recent Daihaseisai, she hadn't had much chance to see this senpai who loved performing everywhere.
Out of fondness for this senpai, the normally non-star-chasing Natsu Sonoko had even changed her phone's ringtone to Arisa's new song.
"Ah, Natsu-san."
The corners of her mouth lifting, igo-senpai showed a beautiful smile, feeling considerable affection for this kouhai.
Facing the life-devouring Cold Light, heading to the space elevator to stop an impending world-ending disaster—though very few knew what exactly happened that day, the final outco was that everyone escaped danger.
This bun-kouhai might seem ordinary, but she possessed courage and conviction beyond the average person, and she was also very cute.
"When you have so free ti, let's have afternoon tea together."
Waiting on the spot for the Anti-Skill armored truck to arrive, Natsu-san chatted with her senpai for a long while, mostly about trivial everyday matters.
Clearly, while Shirai-san was seriously handling the incident, Natsu Sonoko was once again slacking off as per usual.
Since her teammate was so capable, as the secret weapon ant to hold the fort, of course she could do whatever she wanted.
However, Natsu-san was sowhat concerned about the Indian Poker appearing in this incident. Whether it was Shokuhou-senpai's warnings or the abnormalities with Hokaze-senpai, the shadow of Indian Poker was present in all of them.
Compared to the nanomachines spreading through the air, the gradually fernting issue of Indian Poker was undoubtedly more pressing.
"You know, Shirai-san has been acting a bit strange these past few days. So secretive, no idea what she's up to."
"Even though the guys attacking Skill-Out have pretty much all been caught."
Thinking of sothing, Natsu Sonoko cast a suspicious look.
Coming and going at all hours was one thing—she was usually like that anyway; going a week without getting caught by the Dorm Supervisor even once was considered a miracle.
But recently, even Misaka-senpai ntioned that Shirai-san seed to be dating soone, and even she wasn't quite clear on the details.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL
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