August 31, 6:32 PM
Accelerator was running on the street.
It took him quite some time to walk from the restaurant to the research facility. And since he had spent quite a while talking to Yoshikawa Kikyou, the sky was now getting darker.
As he was running, Accelerator noticed all the sounds around him. For some reason, there were many Anti-Skill members around. Listening to them closely, it seemed like an intruder had forced his way through Academy City's safety net.
(Is this person related to Amai Ao? If so, did someone 'outside' request him to insert the virus into Last Order? Is that Amai really intending to escape 'outside'?)
Running at a speed faster than an ordinary car, Accelerator continued to think.
(No, if that intruder's aim is to help Amai escape, he shouldn't have created such a large commotion and caused Academy City to be on their guard. So it seems like they're completely unrelated, it's really dangerous to make such a conclusion.)
No matter what the truth was. Right now, it was more important to look for Last Order than to find Amai Ao. As for that intruder, since he didn't know whether he was related, it was better to leave it as it was.
Thinking about this, he saw the restaurant where he had separated from Last Order.
(Damn it, I should have brought that brat over to the research facility!)
The reason why he hadn't done so was because he hadn't known how they would treat Last Order. He had been afraid that she would get 'punished' by the research facility, which was why he had left her at the restaurant. However, he had ended up complicating things. However, it was useless to start cursing now. He didn't know whether Last Order was still in the shop or whether she had been taken out. Accelerator dashed towards the restaurant.
Suddenly, there was a ruckus.
The glass windows of the restaurant shattered in front of him.
"Ah?"
Accelerator inadvertently stopped in his tracks.
This restaurant window was facing the road. On the road, there was a 2m tall and burly man who looks like a sumo wrestler. This burly man, who was dressed in black Western clothes, slowly entered the shop with the glass-shattered window.
There seemed to be an argument in the shop.
After a while, a set of footsteps rang out from within the shop, through the glass-shattered window and onto the road. However, there was just footsteps, and he couldn't see anyone. It was as if he was seeing an invisible man, as the shoe-shaped imprints crushed the glass fragments and let out sounds.
This invisible man ran off in a completely different direction from Accelerator. On the way, he crashed into a black long-haired girl in a miko outfit. The contents of the stuff in that mysterious girl's arms spilled out, and it seemed to be cat food. As the bag was open, the invisible man got cat food scattered all over him.
Just as Accelerator was feeling weird about this person, a boy jumped through the shattered window and onto the road.
A person he was very familiar with.
"It's...it's that guy!"
Accelerator widened his eyes in shock. That boy was the Level 0 who had beat Accelerator down with a punch in order to save the Sisters and force the experiment to be frozen.
The boy dashed down in the direction where the invisible man had gone. However, to a bystander, the boy was running for his life instead of being chased. For some reason, it seemed like the man who was the shop owner and waitresses were chasing him from behind.
(What's going on? That restaurant had such a commotion...is it because of that brat? Cheh, can't tell at all. That idiot may end up treading into such waters.)
Accelerator hesitated for a while, not knowing whether he should pursue him. He finally choose to walk into the restaurant first. There was not much time left, and he couldn't mess around. Also, with his 'speed', he could still catch up to him after collecting information.
He walked into the restaurant.
The restaurant now looked completely different compared to when he had been there in the afternoon. The windows facing the road were all shattered. A table seemed to have been sliced into pieces as if by a laser and had tumbled onto the floor. Having seen this commotion, the customers in the restaurant didn't seem like they could recover, as they were standing far away from the sliced up table, chattering with each other as if they were watching a small fire.
Accelerator looked around the place.
The shop wasn't big, but he didn't see the familiar figure of Last Order.
(Oi, don't tell me she really got taken away? That brat shouldn't be able to go out on her own in that condition.)
Looking around, he exchanged glances with a waitress. She was a petite girl that did not look much different from a middle schooler. At first, she just stared blankly at Accelerator. Maybe she was so shocked that she forgot that it was business as usual. After about 3 seconds, the girl finally recovered and walked towards Accelerator. The waitress looks rather pale as she smiled.
"Wel, welcome. Is it just one person? No smoking is allowed--"
"I'm not here to eat, I'm here to look for someone. She should still be here."
"Eh?"
"A ten-year-old brat who's not wearing clothes and has only a light blue dirty towel over her. She came with me to your shop here. Do you have any recollection of her?"
If there was a need to discuss who could leave the biggest impression, there's nothing that leaves a deeper impression than Last Order's get-up. That was why Accelerator didn't specify much. He thought that it should be enough.
But the petite waitress seemed rather fearful.
"Eh, ah...I'm sorry, I don't remember. Do you remember which table she was sitting at?"
"...Are you kidding me? Is that get-up common in this age?"
The waitress who bowed politely and apologized looked like she was about to cry. It seemed like she really didn't remember.
(Cheh, is it because of this commotion?)
Accelerator muttered. It had been several hours since he was here eating lunch with Last Order, and they just had a huge commotion here, so it was possible to forget about 'a stranger wearing really weird clothes' due to shock.
Having suddenly lost his clue, Accelerator looked impatient. The petite waitress seemed afraid as she frantically hid inside the shop.
(Now what? Should I check the CCTV?)
Normally speaking, this kind of image record should be left to the security company; the shop wouldn't have the original records. But if he had hacking skills, he could retrieve the records from outside...
(Nope, this can't be compared to the outside.)
Accelerator shook his head.
He didn't have any skill in hacking at all. And besides, in Academy City where there were all sorts of research facilities and classified information, it was impossible to leave this to an ordinary security company. Normally speaking, the security system in Academy City should be flawless. Only a very rare breed of exceptional hackers could hack in through 'loopholes' that the starters of the system hadn't even discovered.
Thinking about this, Accelerator saw 2-3 staff workers walking out. That petite waitress was hiding behind them.
Maybe they think that I'm obstructing them from work, Accelerator thought. However, there was no time to properly explain it to them. Accelerator's eyes let out a dangerous gleam.
But unexpectedly, a 30-year-old male worker revealed a friendly smile and said,
"Are you a relative of that girl with the towel?"
"Ah?"
"That girl who came to our shop at 3 PM didn't seem to be feeling well."
Accelerator let the male worker's words roll in his mind. At that time, Last Order's incomplete body had caused a malfunction and created multiple fever like symptoms. She shouldn't have be able to go out with her own power.
"Around 4 plus, we saw her lying on the table and felt that something's not right. The waiter tried to talk to her, but found that she lost consciousness. We thought that it was serious, so we called for an ambulance."
"So that brat's in the hospital now?"
"No. Before the ambulance came, a white-cloaked man came in saying that he's a relative of the girl. He said that the girl's illness occurs periodically, and is not in any danger. So we handed the girl over to him."
A white-cloaked man.
Accelerator gritted his teeth. Maybe these clues weren't enough to make a conclusion, but...
"If you want to find that girl, why don't you try contacting that man? Do you know who he is?"
"--I can guess that with just a kneecap."
He said nonchalantly.
There was only one person who fulfilled that condition, Amai Ao. Accelerator saw him messing around at lunch. Besides, how could that Last Order have any 'relatives'?