In the School Garden, upon receiving Natsume Sonoko's distress call, Shirai Kuroko immediately dropped what she was doing and rushed to the scene.
"Natsume-san, are you sure that annoying Kongou Mitsuko is in trouble? And she asked you to call me for help!?"
Kuroko's voice came through the phone, punctuated by the sound of rapid footsteps, a note of surprise in her tone.
Though Kuroko and that arrogant ojou-sama didn't get along at all, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
After dozens of teleports, about ten minutes later, Kuroko finally found her way to this remote corner of the School Garden.
Since it was past the time when Uiharu would have already returned home from the Judgment Branch 177 office, without Uiharu's help with tracking, Kuroko had ended up wasting a bit more time.
Kuroko carefully observed the surroundings.
This spot housed several research institutes, yet foot traffic was extremely sparse, making it a perfect place to avoid prying eyes.
The light, blocked by the surrounding buildings, was noticeably dimmer here.
"My head is so dizzy." The senpai, Kongou, lying on the ground, was beginning to show some signs of reaction.
Though her head still felt heavy and clouded, her whole body weak and limp, she had finally regained a sliver of consciousness, muttering faintly to herself.
"Really now, you arrogant fool, did you just trip and knock yourself out?" Kuroko sighed helplessly, looking down at Kongou who was clutching her head. Now that she'd found her, the crisis was pretty much over.
"Natsume-san, I found that annoying girl. Her things are scattered all over the place. Looks like she just took a fall. Next time, please don't treat me like a babysitter, okay? Judgment members are very busy."
Even though Kongou-senpai was right there in front of her, Kuroko didn't hold back at all, pulling out her phone to report back to Natsume Sonoko.
"That's not it. Kongou-senpai definitely said she was attacked by someone back then," Natsume Sonoko's voice came through the phone.
Kongou-senpai's awareness sharpened a little more. Subconsciously, she moved her hand away from her head, revealing her smooth, unblemished forehead.
"Hey, what's up with your forehead, you annoying girl? Pfft… Haha."
With just one glance, Kuroko, standing beside her, seemed to be hit by a wave of laughter.
She immediately covered her mouth, squatting down on the ground, shoulders shaking as she struggled to contain her mirth, unable to stand up straight.
Seeming to sense Kuroko's presence, Kongou-senpai groggily opened her eyes, a confused expression on her face as she looked at the laughing Kuroko squatting in front of her, hand clamped over her mouth.
--+--
School District 7 Anti-Skill Branch, Interrogation Room, Anti-Skill Building.
Kuroko waited outside the interrogation room, gazing absently at the sky, a trace of a smile still lingering on her lips, as if she'd been laughing behind her hand for a long time just moments before.
Natsume Sonoko, who had rushed over in a hurry, also arrived outside the interrogation room, though she looked slightly out of breath.
"Kuroko-san, is Kongou-senpai alright?" Natsume Sonoko asked.
"That annoying girl is fine, it's just… her eyebrows are having a bit of a situation."
At this, Kuroko couldn't help but laugh again, though she still maintained a ladylike demeanor, covering her mouth to keep her laughter from being too loud.
Hearing that Kongou-senpai was, just like in the storyline, largely unharmed, Sonoko let out a sigh of relief. But then, her curiosity was piqued by Kuroko's laughter.
What would Kongou-senpai look like with thick eyebrows? She couldn't help but feel a little curious.
"Is it still not finished inside?" Sonoko had been waiting outside for over ten minutes, and the conversation inside showed no signs of ending.
"It should be about time. Actually, Anti-Skill is probably verifying her story. She keeps insisting she was attacked by someone she couldn't see. If that's true, then it falls under the category of an esper incident."
Kuroko, being more familiar with this aspect of things, suppressed her smile and explained to Sonoko.
"Doesn't Judgment have the authority to access the Library? Couldn't we just run a search to find out the perpetrator's information?" Sonoko asked.
Regarding the culprit's details, Sonoko, with her special channels, knew the general outline. What she lacked were the person's name and appearance.
"If the perpetrator truly possesses an ability that makes them undetectable, I suspect they might be an optical manipulation esper. We could indeed use the Library to search. But first, we need to confirm whether it really is an esper-related crime. We'll also need to pull the surveillance footage from the area to verify," Kuroko said after a moment's thought.
If no clues could be found for the incident, they would mobilize Academy City's vast surveillance system.
If that still yielded nothing, then they'd deploy satellites. When your technology is this advanced, you can afford to be a little reckless.
"You two students outside, please come in as well. I have a few questions for you too."
The Anti-Skill officer named Tessou Tsuzuri leaned out of the interrogation room.
She wore thick, high-prescription glasses, a small band-aid on her cheek. Even in her Anti-Skill uniform, she still managed to look rather frail.
"Yes, Ms. Tsuzuri," Natsume Sonoko nodded obediently.
Academy City had no military; instead, it relied on Anti-Skill to maintain daily operations and security. Handling espers who abused their powers was also a key part of their duties.
Anti-Skill operated independently of government armed forces, being a special unit directly under Academy City's jurisdiction.
Its members were usually teachers from various schools, or at least individuals possessing teaching licenses, though female Anti-Skill officers were relatively rare.
"Well then, please describe the situation when you found Kongou-san," Officer Tsuzuri began.
Sonoko sneaked a glance at Kongou-senpai beside her. Kongou-senpai still wore her typical arrogant ojou-sama expression, a gorgeous folding fan spread open, covering the upper part of her face above her eyes.
She even turned her head away, refusing to look at Shirai Kuroko, who was still stifling giggles beside her.
"That's pretty much the situation. It's all we know," Sonoko said, having recounted the events factually.
At that point, the Anti-Skill officer played a video—footage from around the time Kongou Mitsuko was attacked. The camera was positioned far from the scene, only capturing vague outlines of figures.
"To think they were following Kongou-senpai so closely the whole time… Even at that proximity, they were nearly impossible to detect." Sonoko also found it rather unbelievable.
The abilities in Academy City were truly bizarre. Right beside someone, yet completely invisible.
Some extrasensory perception abilities were simply impossible to guard against. It defied all scientific logic!
There were also powerful optical espers who, by bending light around themselves, could achieve complete invisibility to both people and equipment.
Of course, Academy City undoubtedly had methods to deal with such espers.
Faced with all these strange and varied abilities, Sonoko felt that Academy City was a genuinely dangerous place. For an ordinary student like herself, surviving in this environment was a monumental challenge.
Forget about the monstrous Level 5 senpais; there were all sorts of mad scientists and bizarre experiments cropping up endlessly.
The video continued to play. The distance between the two figures suddenly increased.
That was probably when she had called Kongou-senpai. The ringtone seemed to have startled the perpetrator, causing them to delay their action for a moment.
"It seems the culprit is a novice, perhaps even a first-timer. Even with the change in events, Kongou-senpai is still the first target, huh?" Sonoko thought, her gaze inadvertently drifting towards Kongou-senpai.
"We'll notify you if there are any developments," Officer Tsuzuri said, seeing them to the door.
Just as the group was leaving the Anti-Skill building, another Tokiwadai student, supported by a classmate, arrived.
Kuroko asked and was told it was also a case of being attacked by an unseen assailant.
Kuroko's brow furrowed. It seemed this matter was no longer just about Kongou-senpai alone. Perhaps it was targeting Tokiwadai Middle School as a whole.
In short, the students of Tokiwadai Middle School were facing an invisible threat. Any Tokiwadai student alone was in danger.
"Would optical, invisibility, or other abilities that erase one's presence work on Shokuhou-senpai? If the physically frail Shokuhou-senpai were ambushed, could one of the Level 5s be taken out?"
A random thought popped into Sonoko's head, her mind wandering, but she quickly dismissed it as unlikely.
After all, Shokuhou Misaki-senpai's abilities covered almost all mental phenomena. It was possible she possessed telepathy, danger perception, or similar skills.
Kongou-senpai declined Sonoko and Kuroko's suggestion to accompany her. She probably wouldn't be showing her face in public until the ink faded.
According to the information from Anti-Skill, this ink was a new product developed by the universities in School District 10 of Academy City. It would absolutely take at least a week to wash off.
--+--
The next day, Judgment Branch 177 Activity Center.
Judgment member Konori Mii wasn't at the activity center. Kuroko and Uiharu were huddled around a computer searching for information, while Natsume Sonoko sat quietly on a stool, waiting for the results of their search.
"I think before we check the alibis of these optical espers, we should identify other espers who could potentially achieve similar results."
Sonoko sat on the sofa, slightly displeased.
With the simple goal of getting some payback for Kongou-senpai, Sonoko had decided to personally teach the perpetrator a lesson before apprehending them and sending them off for correctional labor.
But this infuriating Kuroko completely disregarded Sonoko's suggestions.
Even though Sonoko had proposed investigating espers with abilities like visual obstruction, illusion creation, or brainwashing, Kuroko still had no intention of letting Sonoko get involved in unrelated incidents. Uiharu, however, sitting to the side, had listened earnestly to Sonoko's ideas.
"This can't be considered unrelated to me anymore. I'm a member of Tokiwadai, and Kongou-senpai is my friend. I want to help find the culprit."
Sonoko slapped the table and stood up forcefully, but Kuroko, leveraging her height advantage, immediately placed a hand on Sonoko's head, holding her in place.
"I don't know when that annoying Kongou Mitsuko acquired a friend like you, but…" A frustrated expression crossed Kuroko's face.
Before Kuroko could finish, Uiharu, beside her, picked up the thread.
"But I can help search the Library for the types of espers Natsume-san suggested. Kuroko-san can continue investigating the alibis of the optical espers," Uiharu said in her sweet, gentle voice, the flower wreath on her head making her look like a little angel.
--+--
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!
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If you guys wanna check it out.