August 31st 6:00 PM.
In the empty research lab, Yoshikawa Kikyou heaved a sigh of relief.
Accelerator appearing there at this critical moment could be said to be a miracle in itself. In fact, if he hadn't appeared, Academy City would have inevitably ended up being dissolved.
Since Accelerator had chosen to save Last Order, the objective that Yoshikawa had was to 'fish out Amai and force him to explain the way to remove the virus'. However, she chose to stay there. Instead of going about running when she was not used to it, she might as well try to decode it herself.
However,
The virus code had numerous traces in the vast personality files, and it was not an easy thing to find them all. Besides, if she accidentally deleted the normal processes, problems would occur. If it was just a memory code, then it would just be a loss of memory. However, if it was a nerve code type that was damaged, then Last Order would lose her life.
"...Ho."
Yoshikawa picked her face up from the stack of research papers. Though she had said it easily in front of Accelerator, it was not an easy thing to readjust Last Order's body. The problem wasn't the technique, but Yoshikawa herself.
The 'experiment' of the research group was just in stasis, not terminated permanently. In other words, they had to prepare to start the 'experiment' when it happened again. For the researchers, letting Last Order, the core controller of the Sisters, go free was not allowed. Once she did this selfish act, she would have to bear the responsibility.
Yoshikawa was just naïve, not kind.
For example, when the 'experiment' had been at it's end, the 10,000 Sisters had joined forces to manipulate the electric wind turbines all over Academy City and stop Accelerator's attack. If she had used Last Order to send a stop signal through the Misaka Network, she could have prevented the Sisters from taking action. But she hadn't done so.
However, it was not because she hoped they would continue to live on, Yoshikawa merely didn't have a reason to stop them. Her motivation wasn't of 'kindness', she was just afraid that if she stepped up to interfere with the Sisters in the experiment, she would cause irreversible damage to the experiment itself. In other words, she was just naively thinking for herself.
"However."
Yoshikawa Kikyou made up her mind.
Accelerator had given up his reason to exist in order to save others. That must have been quite the shock to him. 'Saving others with one's own power' may have been a simple thing, but that was the goal that he had already given up on. He originally intended to mock himself for 'only knowing how to kill others' and find a haven for himself by treating himself as a guy that was too late to be saved.
If the Accelerator now knew that he could have used his own power to protect others.
He would be really regretful about this.
Because the deaths of those people who he had defeated in the past were too meaningless.
He would regret not being able to save those people earlier.
But now, Accelerator had decided to face this truth and save a girl. Yoshikawa didn't dare to trample on his intentions. Even if he realized it, it was too late; even if he couldn't turn back now, Yoshikawa couldn't trample on his feelings.
"In the end, I'm just naïve, not kind."
She muttered to herself. That was right, if she was really a kind person, she wouldn't have asked Accelerator for help and caused Accelerator so much pain. A really kind person wouldn't rely on Accelerator, but would have chosen to settle this alone. Even so, that would cause her to sink into a deeper problem.
But Yoshikawa really hated the naïve her.
In her lifetime, she really wished to be kind for once.
"Seems like it's time for me to eliminate myself."
Yoshikawa sighed again. She took the pile of data papers and started to prepare the readjustments of Last Order's body. This risky act of saving others wasn't something the naïve yet unkind her would do. In fact, she would always feel pity for stray cats who were drenched in the rain, but she never took them back.
She hated herself for this.
Just once, she hoped to do something she never ever did.