Western etiquette classes were imnsely helpful in cultivating young ladies, and for Tokiwadai Middle School students, they were practically a required course.
Professor Murasaki truly lived up to being the etiquette expert that Wanō had described.
She treated every minute detail with scholarly attention, turning sothing as simple as eating fish into an intricate discipline where every movent carried weight.
Though Natsu's stomach felt uncomfortably full, she didn't dare fall behind in the lesson.
Mimicking the teacher's movents, she carefully picked at the fish, removed bones, dipped it in sauce, and paid close attention to how it should be chewed and how to handle any remaining bones afterward.
The engaging class ti always seed to fly by. When the familiar chi for the end of class finally rang, Natsu Sonoko let out a soft sigh of relief, as if she'd just heard heavenly music.
"Everyone perford quite well today, especially Miss Natsu. She was very ticulous—taking only small portions of fish, executing each movent flawlessly, and chewing with proper care and grace."
Before leaving, Professor Inamura praised Natsu in front of the whole class, even as Natsu kept subtly rubbing her full stomach.
'Natsu's really impressive—getting praised by the teacher even though she doesn't like fish,' Wanō thought with so surprise.
Aside from etiquette class, the morning also included foreign language and mathematics.
The afternoon was reserved for tea ceremony and music, and around two o'clock, club activities would begin.
Natsu Sonoko diligently completed all her classes before calmly organizing her materials and placing them into the newly issued standard-issue Tokiwadai black leather bag.
These bags were specially crafted for Tokiwadai Middle School.
Made from select, high-quality leather and incorporating special techniques, their production was ti-consuming and costly.
Rumor had it they could even stop small-caliber bullets head-on. They were waterproof, fire-resistant, stylish, and practical—even Misaka-senpai had given them her approval.
Natsu Sonoko and her fellow first-year students had finally received their own black leather bags from the school administration. Each bag had a unique student code, allowing it to be returned if lost.
Club activities had already started. After finishing a full day of classes, Natsu rested for a while on a bench in the school garden before slinging her new bag over her shoulder and heading off-campus.
Ever since joining the Urban Legend Investigation Club, Natsu had been leaving school around this ti.
Feeling refreshed, Natsu strolled down the street—sothing she considered part of her daily routine as a club mber, scouting for potential discoveries.
She did so "field research" in a manga bookstore and erged with two new volus tucked into her bag.
Just as she was about to find a shady spot to inspect her new manga, her phone in the new bag buzzed briefly.
[Shocking Discovery in Academy City! How Could They Do This in Broad Daylight!]
Drawn in by the clickbait title, Natsu curiously opened the ssage. It was from the "Urban Legend Investigation Group" chat.
It was a ssage from Maeda Kana-senpai, Natsu noted, checking the sender's nickna.
"It's Kana-chan! Did you find sothing big again?" Soon after, a ssage from Quiet Night Color appeared in the group chat.
Ah, that was Senpai Amakusa Yū's nickna.
"It's huge! Guess what I found today!" Maeda Kana, using the nickna "The Elegant Photographer," sent another ssage.
"What did you find? A new urban legend?" — from Natsu Sonoko.
"Natsu uses her real na as her nickna!" — The Elegant Photographer
"Send the photos you took. Did you do any further investigation?" — Quiet Night Color
"I did. My ability only captured a blurry image, but there were several witnesses. It should be good enough for the website." — The Elegant Photographer
"Received. Send the photos, and I'll screen them. You have witness recordings ready, right? If the info is reasonably reliable, the website will be happy to publish it." The last mber of the group, using the nickna "Balance Beam Miss," chid in.
"I'm prepared. Not only witness recordings, but also so forum posts from witnesses online."
Could this be... the Stripping Woman from the Railgun storyline?
The photo was blurry, the background almost entirely indiscernible, but the faint outline of a nude woman was visible, standing with her back to the cara.
Natsu Sonoko was genuinely taken aback. Her thoughts raced, finally arriving at a startling conclusion.
She had always thought that Level 6 "Rising Air Current" "Script Reading" Saten Ruiko was the hidden hand guiding the events of the Railgun storyline.
But it turned out there was an even darker, deeper presence—the Scriptwriter!!
The four-mber group chat buzzed with lively discussion. Soon, under club president Amakusa Yū's final approval, a new urban legend was born: "The Stripping Woman Roaming Academy City."
The byline credit went to Senpai Maeda Kana, though it was submitted under the na of the Urban Legend Investigation Club.
Natsu Sonoko grew increasingly convinced that these individuals closely matched characters from the Railgun plot.
She just wondered when the urban legend of the "Level Upper" would appear.
Through this group discussion, Natsu also learned a bit about Maeda Kana's ability: Scene Retrospection.
By using her ability with a specially made cara, she could capture events that had occurred so ti earlier in front of the lens.
The stronger her ability, the further back she could see and the clearer the images would be.
It was the opposite of precognition or divination abilities—instead of seeing the future, she could glimpse the past.
However, with Academy City's ubiquitous surveillance caras and security robots, the practical application of such an ability was significantly limited.
Putting down her phone as the group chat wound down, Natsu Sonoko quietly began flipping through her manga.
An ad on the inside cover caught her attention—a scene of two giant robots clashing.
"All eyes here! The next-generation competitive ga Cyber Troopers Virtual-On is nearing completion! Sign up for the closed beta now and receive a limited edition custom model!"
Natsu's eyes lit up. Academy City always had sothing new and exciting. The idea of piloting giant robots for combat in the city sounded incredibly fun.
She imagined that this kind of ga, relying mostly on individual skill, could sohow allow espers and non-espers to compete on a more level playing field.
How could Natsu Sonoko miss out on sothing this fun? The only downside was that the ga was still in developnt.
It would probably be a long ti before it hit the market—definitely not within this year.
"I'll sign up now. I have to get a beta invite!" Natsu picked up her phone, went to the official site to register, and soon a "Registration Successful" notification popped up on her screen.
-- --
In a park in District 7, a cup filled with water sat on a stone table about fifty ters away from Natsu.
A common Academy City thermoter was imrsed in the water, its probe subrged and capable of asuring temperature down to two decimal places.
The quiet park lights cast a glow on Natsu's focused expression. Her gaze fixed on the distant cup as faint white mist began to gather around it, and a layer of frost crept up the surface.
Natsu Sonoko was concentrating on altering the water's temperature. Soon, the reading on the thermoter began to change.
As she released her ability, she hurried over to the stone table to check the thermoter.
"Actual reading: 4.78 degrees Celsius. Target: exactly 0 degrees Celsius. Deviation of 4.78 degrees." Clearly dissatisfied with the result, Natsu's brow furrowed slightly.
She was practicing precision control of her ability. The first comprehensive periodic assessnt—no, the physical exam—was only a few days away.
The range of control and the limits of temperature change were restricted by her brain's computational power, leaving little room for major improvent in the short term. For now, the only thing she could enhance was her precision.
Within ten ters, Natsu could control temperature with high accuracy. But as the distance increased, her precision dropped significantly.
To improve her long-range accuracy, she had co to this small park to practice.
Unlike before, when she'd affect a large area all at once, this kind of practice didn't require avoiding people.
This particular park had a fair amount of foot traffic. Passersby ca and went, so casting curious glances at the Tokiwadai girl pacing back and forth near the stone table.
"Once the distance increases, even a tiny calculation error in my mind gets magnified exponentially in reality. I need to focus on fine control, not just brute-force it." Natsu strategized with herself, trying to clear her mind and suppress the distracting thoughts vying for attention.
The distant cup once again beca shrouded in white mist, and a thin layer of ice slowly ford on the water's surface.
The freezing spread slowly but with a peculiar rhythm, moving steadily from the outer edge inward.
Although the surface of the water had frozen, the lower layer remained liquid, slightly warr than the ice.
"Temperature is 2.88 degrees Celsius. Deviation about 2.88." Seeing that the deviation at fifty ters had finally dropped below three degrees, the tension in Natsu's brow eased.
"Keep practicing! There's still room for improvent!" Clearly not content to rest on her laurels, Natsu ran back to the fifty-ter mark to continue her drills.
Honestly, could such a simple setup really provide accurate asurents? Shouldn't she get soone to help read the thermoter?
Well, if Natsu felt it was effective, that was all that mattered.
This ti, however, she wasn't as lucky. Her calculations went slightly overboard, and she accidentally froze the entire cup solid.
With a sharp crack, the cup split right down the middle, shattering into pieces on the ground.
-- --
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!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.
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