August 31, 12:15 PM- the exact same time.
"Ah, thanks for helping me with my homework," said Kamijou, who was standing on the hot summer sidewalk waiting for Mikoto.
In comparison, Unabara, in the same position, still managed to give off a cool atmosphere, smiled, and said, "It's nothing; I only did what I could with all my power."
(…With all my power?)
Kamijou felt that something wasn't quite right.
Unabara also felt a slight pause in the conversation and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Mm… I want to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
"Are your grades good?"
Unabara paused slightly before saying, "Ah, sorry, did I get something wrong on the homework?"
"T-That's not it…"
How could he ask 'Didn't you get your grades by cheating?' in front of him? Kamijou hurriedly looked for some way to change the topic… Suddenly, his mouth stopped moving.
"What's wrong?" Unabara asked, slightly confused, but Kamijou didn't answer. Actually, nothing was wrong with Unabara; what Kamijou was looking at was behind Unabara.
Behind Unabara Mitsuki. The fast food shop Mikoto was lined up in, due to it being lunchtime, was packed with people; plus, the students walking by made it seem even more crowded.
In this view full of people… Kamijou saw another Unabara Mitsuki.
The man whose face, height, clothes, and everything else looked exactly like that of "Unabara" was soaked with sweat and has bloodshot eyes as he rushed into the fast food shop.
Seconds later, Unabara seemed to notice where Kamijou was looking and turned around to look at the fast food shop. But that man had already pushed himself into the crowd.
Kamijou was very suspicious. Was it only someone who looked a lot like Unabara…? If it's like that, then it's too similar. Even though they felt slightly different, they looked exactly the same on the outside… yes, just like Mikoto and Misaka Imouto.
"Hey, do you have any siblings?"
"No, I'm an only child. Why do you ask?"
"Uh… I just saw someone who looked a lot like you entering that shop."
Kamijou pointed at the shop, and Unabara turned back and looked once more.
"Mm… I didn't see, so I don't quite understand what's going on. You only got a glance at him, right? Could it be that it's only the hair and clothes that looked the same? Anyway, I don't have siblings."
After that was said, it seemed to be right. Kamijou hadn't looked that close, so he was really not sure on the details. Now Unabara seemed a bit anxious, taking a look at Kamijou before looking back at the direction of the fast food shop.
"Excuse me, but did that person really look like me that much?"
"Eh? Ah, mm. Not just like you, but almost… exactly the same, though it's probably just someone that looks a lot like you; don't be so worried."
"That person who looked a lot like me went into the shop, and Misaka-san's in the shop, too, right? I'm a bit worried."
Unabara had a troubled expression on his face as he looked at the entrance to the fast food shop.
"Among the espers in this city, some supposedly have the Metamorphose ability. Just like its name, it can make somebody's face or body similar to someone else's, though it's apparently impossible to change it at the genetic level."
Looking at the slightly nervous Unabara, Kamijou thought that maybe he was just worrying too much, though maybe it was natural for him to be that way, since he liked Misaka.
"Hmm, it doesn't matter if it's someone that looks similar; we can just go in and check, right? Even though I think it may just be nothing, it's good to clear things up as fast as possible."
Kamijou walked towards the fast food shop, but Unabara instead took a step back.
"Ah, no… I just made Misaka-san mad; if I really am just worrying too much and see Misaka-san like this, I'll be troubled."
"Why do you have a lonely smile when you say things like that? You just care about her, right?"
"Caring about her and being nosy are two different things. Sorry, if possible, can you go in and have a look if there's anything wrong?"
"Alright, I get it, though even if this isn't something I should intrude in, I feel that you don't have to be so timid at this point. Just in this past week, she has already refused several of your invitations, but you didn't give up, right?"
"Uh, I don't get what you are saying."
"Ah, I meant…"
"All this week, I was at a club practice. I know she was avoiding me, so I thought that maybe I should let both sides cool off a bit first. Today's the last day of summer vacation, and I wanted to see Misaka-san after I haven't seen her for a while, so I came to look for her."
Kamijou was surprised. According to Mikoto, "Unabara Mitsuki" had been harassing her all this week—but "Unabara Mitsuki" himself said he had been at club activities. If that was the case, then who was it that had been going to Mikoto all this time?
Unabara didn't seem to know this. Kamijou didn't want to cause more unease for him, so he just ran past him and headed for the fast food shop.
But after running halfway there, Kamijou thought of something. If Unabara cheated to get his grades, then how had he gotten the answers to his homework so easily?
As Kamijou questioned this, from behind suddenly came Unabara's voice.
"It looks like nothing ever goes as planned... When you lie to deceive someone."
With a *Don!*, the center of Kamijou's back was hit by a strong impact. A few seconds later, Kamijou realized it was from a fist. Just like when a plastic bag full of air is suddenly stepped on, the air inside his lungs was pushed out of his body, not to mention yelling in pain—he couldn't even breathe.
Kamijou turned his head around, looked behind him, and saw Unabara Mitsuki with a cold stare looking back.
Kamijou didn't understand what was going on; due to the lack of air, his head blanked out for a moment. Unabara put his hand behind him and took out something similar to a knife.
As Unabara stabbed forward with his knife, Kamijou also stepped forward hurriedly.
Kamijou felt the knife almost slash across his back, and started sweating. But he still forced himself to breathe and opened some distance between himself and Unabara to prevent a fatal blow. In such a large crowd, everything below the chest was blocked from sight by other people, so rather than covering Kamijou's mouth and stabbing him, this was less obvious. If Unabara killed Kamijou this way, he could still blend into the crowd without anyone noticing his acts.
This wasn't a suicidal attack that took the opponent down with him, but an assassination technique that put one's own safety first.
An act of violence carried out in broad daylight amongst a crowd of people.
But there were no screams or disturbances; from this, one could see how skilled Unabara was.
(Could it be…?)
Kamijou felt himself losing his balance. He tried to stabilize himself, but his stumbling feet couldn't stop. As if using "Unabara" as the center of a circle, Kamijou moved continuously.
(Could it be… that this one is the fake…?)
"Unabara Mitsuki" smiled slightly, as if seeing through Kamijou's thought from his eyes.
Kamijou looked at "Unabara Mitsuki's" hand, and saw him holding a knife made of black stone. It didn't look like it was made by cutting, but instead by chipping the rock itself.
Because it didn't look like a weapon, people around it didn't panic when they saw the stone knife.
Kamijou kept trying to focus, blinded by the pain in his head, and asked, "…Dammit… Why… are you doing this…?"
"You're asking me why? Because now is the crucial period of infiltrating… even if I explain it, you wouldn't understand the importance of it, right? Then again, the real deal actually escaped. Guess this half-assed way of just imprisoning him was a mistake; I should've just killed him in the first place. Ah, just so you know, I'm not his brother or someone that looks similar to him. Apart from science's Metamorphose ability, there are other ways of changing one's image into someone else's."
"Unabara Mitsuki" said that before pointing his stone knife at the sky.
Boom!
Something invisible flew past Kamijou's cheek.
Something like an invisible laser had been shot from the knife's edge, hitting an illegally parked car behind Kamijou. Almost like it had been branded, a complicated seal appeared on the door of the car. From the seal, something invisible was spreading out. Just like an evil look at somebody else, it couldn't be seen, but it could be felt. It seemed that this phenomenon couldn't be explained by science—almost as if it symbolized the existence of a power outside science.
That was magic.
After a second's pause, a huge clatter was heard. The car's doors, glass, frame, wheels… every part was disassembled.
Not "destroyed" by a rough cutting or pulling, but "disassembled" like a toy model being returned to the state it was in before being built.
Kamijou's face went white after seeing that.
If that incomprehensible attack hit the human body, what would happen… could easily be imagined.
A disturbance spread among the crowd like a wave, but nobody screamed, nor did they panic. From their eyes, it was only an "unordinary phenomenon", and nobody thought of it as an "attack".
"Unabara Mitsuki" didn't even look at his surroundings.
Once again, he raised his knife.
"?!"
Kamijou started to sweat profusely on his back.
Unabara's attack was fearsome. Though Kamijou's right hand had the ability to destroy any supernatural power, but to be able to predict this kind of attack where it couldn't be seen by the eyes was just as hard as trying to see and dodge bullets.
Mikoto's electricity attacks may have been similar in attack style, but after all, the electricity attack could be blocked by extending out his right hand and using it as a lightning rod to attract the attack and then negate it.
But that wouldn't work against Unabara's mysterious attacks.
And the most frightening thing was that the accuracy of the attack was very low. Kamijou was only five meters away from Unabara, without any defenses, and the attack still hadn't hit him. It had low accuracy, but its power was enough to destroy a car in one blow.
There were plenty of passersby who were surprised by the car being disassembled, but nobody thought that it was an attack on someone. Unabara didn't care about dragging somebody else into this mess. If that magician was allowed to rampage in this situation, a lot of people would be hit by stray shots.
"Dammit!"
Kamijou risked the danger of turning his back to Unabara in order to find a deserted place. He dashed into a side street, running frantically down the twisting and turning path.
The sounds of the invisible-weapon-wielding "enemy's" footsteps could be heard closing in step by step.