A week passed quickly. During this week, Tsukasa explored all of Academy City. The place he stayed at the most was School District 4.
School District 4 is the district with the most food-related facilities. It has the best selection of restaurants in Academy City. You can find food from more than 190 countries around the world here. Even if he changed restaurants every day, Tsukasa would not get tired of the food anytime soon. Because of this, he simply abandoned the apartment Aleister had arranged for him.
He rented a presidential suite in a hotel located in School District 4 and moved in to make dining easier. As for the apartment Aleister had arranged, it was located right next door to the protagonist, Touma.
Even without thinking hard, he knew exactly what Aleister was planning. Tsukasa would not fall for that trick.
After finishing his shower, Tsukasa walked out of the bathroom with a bath towel wrapped around his waist. His upper body revealed strong, solid muscles, yet he did not look too bulky. He was the type of person who looked lean in clothes but muscular without them.
He casually took a can from the refrigerator and began to drink.
Tsukasa lay down on the large sofa.. He tossed the empty can aside., and a trace of loneliness appeared on his face. Although he was enjoying a life that was once out of his reach in his past life, the lack of his family's company made him feel a bit lonely.
His ultimate goal was naturally to return to the world he belonged to—Earth.
He was not an orphan. His family was still waiting for him to return.
No matter what, going home was Tsukasa's firm belief.
No matter how much strength he needed to reach his hometown, Tsukasa would not give up.
Just as Tsukasa's thoughts were wandering further, the ringtone of his phone broke his train of thought.
"Lord Tsukasa, we have clearly investigated the information on the #1. He is participating in the Level 6 Shift project. The specific details of the plan are..." Mugino's gentle words came from the other end of the phone.
That soft, lady-like voice made the other three girls stare in shock. Even Takitsubo, who was usually indifferent and rarely showed emotion, showed a look of surprise just like Frenda and Kinuhata.
"No need for a detailed explanation. Just tell me where Accelerator is right now," Tsukasa replied casually. Since he already knew the plan, he did not want to hear it again.
"Yes. The area where he is currently located is the industrial zone of School District 17. His experiment is set to begin at ten o'clock." Even though she was suddenly interrupted by Tsukasa, Mugino was still not angry. She continued to report Accelerator's exact movements.
"Good work. I will transfer the payment to your account," Tsukasa said, then hung up the phone and transferred 10 million.
He put on his clothes and looked out into the distance. Tsukasa showed an unreadable smile, then he jumped down from the balcony.
Tsukasa's figure caught the attention of some passersby. A series of screams rang out one after another. Just as everyone thought Tsukasa was about to hit the ground and die, a shadow suddenly appeared. In an instant, a giant, strange bird flew out of the shadow and soared toward the sky.
"That... isn't that the strange bird people were talking about on the internet?!"
"It actually exists!"
"Could this be a creation from some laboratory?"
At the ITEM underground meeting point,
Frenda stared at the numbers on the screen showing the payment. She counted them carefully and shouted in surprise,
"Wow! That guy... no, wait, did Mr. Tsukasa really send 10 million?"
Really?! That's very generous!" Kinuhata also cheered. Who would have thought that such a simple information-gathering mission would earn 10 million? Compared to previous employers, Tsukasa was definitely the most generous one.
"Mugino?" Seeing Mugino staring blankly at the phone screen, Takitsubo asked with concern.
"Move to School District 17," Mugino said to Takitsubo, ignoring the two girls who were celebrating.
"Understood."
"Eh!?" Takitsubo's reply and the shocked shouts of the other two girls happened at the same time.
At a certain laboratory,
Mikoto had completely destroyed the lab's data and equipment. The floor was covered with scrapped defense robots. Wearing black casual clothes and a baseball cap, Mikoto quietly disappeared into the night.
"Fortunately, I didn't run into that violent freak again, or it would have taken more effort."
Landing on a tree branch, Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief and sighed.
A week ago, after hearing the news from Tsukasa, Mikoto began her investigation. She learned that when she was a child, she had provided her DNA map to a medical institution that claimed to treat muscle atrophy. As it turned out, at some point, it was diverted for military use. Her kind act of wanting to help others was heartlessly trampled on by the researchers.
'Unforgivable!' The uncontrollable anger kept burning in her heart. Mikoto made up her mind to destroy the experiment. This was already the tenth laboratory she had cleared. While clearing the eighth one, she had encountered the four members of the ITEM group.
After a major battle, she successfully escaped. After resting for less than half a day, she started her operation again.
By now, Mikoto was extremely exhausted. Combined with the injuries from the previous fight against the #4 and the inner suffering, Mikoto felt like she could barely breathe.
Stopping to rest for a moment, Mikoto opened her phone. she looked at the message Kuroko had sent on the screen.
'Sissy, please don't worry. I have already hidden things from the dorm supervisor. Although I don't know what you are doing, please be safe no matter what. If you need to talk, I, Kuroko, will definitely be a perfect listener.'
"Kuroko." Looking at the caring words from her junior, Mikoto's numb heart felt a bit of warmth. But it was precisely to protect Kuroko that she could not tell her about the darkness of Academy City.
Telling her would only increase her worries and would likely pull Kuroko into danger as well.
Although she thought her junior Kuroko was troublesome and clingy, in her heart, Mikoto fully accepted her as one of her few close friends.
Suddenly, a notification popped up at the top of the phone screen:
"Shocking! The shadow of the giant bird appears again in School District 4."
This headline immediately caught Mikoto's attention. She clicked on the title. Once the page finished refreshing, the image of a giant, mountain-like bird fell into her eyes.
"Isn't that the old man's bird?!"
As a Level 5 Electromaster, Mikoto possessed high-level hacking skills. There was no program she could not decode, and no firewall she could not break. With this like skill on the internet, Mikoto quickly locked onto Tsukasa's destination—School District 17.
"Is it School District 17? It's time to move."
She stretched her body. Although her chest was a bit disappointing, it did not hide her charm at all.
"I definitely have to ask clearly why that uncle knows about these things."
Intending to figure things out, Mikoto also headed toward School District 17.
Nine fifty PM,
"Yo, you've come quite early, you scrap metal."
Under the moonlight, a white-haired figure stood on top of a shipping container. He looked down at the emotionless girl who looked exactly like Mikoto.
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