“What a terrible situation…”
When Yurika came to again from her unconscious state, she found that she hadn’t, as she’d imagined, been left abandoned and covered in wounds with no one to look after her, tossed away in that gloomy alley.
But neither was she, as she’d guessed, lying wrapped head to toe in bandages in one of Academy City’s hospitals, whose medical standards she remembered being terrifyingly advanced.
Glancing around, what came into her view was a room simple and plain to the extreme—white walls without any decoration whatsoever, a bed so white she’d nearly mistaken it for medical equipment, and a few cans of coffee tossed carelessly on the most ordinary of coffee tables.
Apart from one can being a different brand, they were all the same brand of coffee, and by the look of them, already drained dry.
After a moment’s thought, Yurika could guess this room had to be the residence of that monster of an esper ranked No.1—Accelerator.
It seemed that after he’d pulled a fast one on her with his ability and knocked her out cold, Accelerator hadn’t outright killed her, nor left her where she lay, but had brought her straight back to his place.
That struck Yurika as a little strange—after all, given how Accelerator had earlier acted like he’d kill at the drop of a hat, who’d have thought he wouldn’t follow through in the end.
The clothes on her body hadn’t been removed, nor were there any signs they’d been changed, so Yurika wasn’t worried about whether Accelerator had done anything weird to her—though it seemed she’d never attracted any man her whole life, that didn’t mean she’d want to start giving off hormones that would attract male creatures in a situation like this.
Everything seemed fine, but there was one drawback: although Yurika had woken up now, she had no way to leave on her own.
The reason was that her hands, pulled behind her back, were locked tight in a pair of handcuffs—where Accelerator had even gotten them, she had no idea—and her feet were cuffed too.
Even if Yurika’s ability was Telekinesis, a Level 3 wasn’t yet at the level of snapping sturdy metal handcuffs apart.
So faced with this situation, Yurika really had no recourse but to sigh and groan.
Lowering her head, she looked at the wounds Accelerator had inflicted on her.
The scrapes on her legs from the friction of hitting the wall had a few adhesive bandages slapped on haphazardly, and her back still ached a bit even now from slamming straight into the wall.
But with all four limbs cuffed, Yurika had no way to check behind her.
Looking at the somewhat empty, pale room, she suddenly felt that maybe staying unconscious would have been the better option.
There wasn’t a single decoration in Accelerator’s room—even someone like Yurika, who didn’t care about decor, felt her scalp tingle looking at it.
Facing a room like this nonstop, Yurika figured she’d develop psychological issues sooner or later.
No wonder Accelerator, a phantom student who didn’t even need to attend school, still spent all day running around outside…
Still, her luck wasn’t too bad—the timing of Yurika’s waking was rather convenient.
Just as she was getting a bit dizzy staring at the white walls of the room, the door in front of her was suddenly pushed open from outside with a creak. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping . com.
She narrowed her eyes, and sure enough, as expected, Accelerator’s white-from-head-to-toe figure appeared in her view.
“Hm? Awake pretty early, huh?”
Seemingly not particularly bothered by the fact that Yurika was already awake, Accelerator merely let a faint flicker of surprise cross his face upon seeing her conscious, then walked over to the coffee table like it was nothing, casually plopping the plastic supermarket bag he’d been carrying onto it—bam!
Along with the sound of the bag’s contents hitting the table came a clattering jumble of clinking cans.
Yurika’s eye twitched; she could roughly guess this plastic bag of Accelerator’s was probably more canned coffee.
“…What did you tie me up and bring me back here for?”
Watching Accelerator pull a can of the same brand as the ones on the table out of the bag—as if ignoring her existence entirely—then pop it open and start drinking, with no intention whatsoever of paying her any mind, Yurika frowned a little uncomfortably.
She shifted her shoulders to make her posture a bit more bearable, lifted her head to look at him, and voiced her question.
“I’m just an ordinary Level 3. To a Level 5 like you, there’s nothing worth extracting from me, is there?”
Hearing Yurika’s question, Accelerator tilted his head back, continuing to pour coffee into his mouth, and shot a sidelong glance at the Yurika who could only sit on the floor with her feet cuffed.
He took the can away, then reached out and held the very can he’d just been drinking from in front of her:
“Want some?”
“…”
Yurika didn’t reply.
Instead she kept staring at him with cold eyes—since Accelerator seemed to have no intention of harming her, there was no need for her to panic over it.
Once she calmed down, her expression naturally reverted to its usual indifferent state.
“…Tch.”
Accelerator, who hadn’t really expected any answer from Yurika in the first place, clicked his tongue a little irritably, took the can back, and poured another mouthful in.
“Hm…?”
Yurika raised an eyebrow.
Accelerator was probably just making an offhand remark, but to her ears, those words sounded a little off—first of all, Accelerator shouldn’t be living anywhere near the School Garden, because there were hardly any boys living around there, and even if there were, someone as conspicuous as Accelerator couldn’t have gone unnoticed.
In other words, the place Accelerator lived should be some distance from Tokiwadai.
And yet Accelerator had noticed the commotion at Tokiwadai.
“You went all the way to Tokiwadai to check on the situation for my sake?”
It started out as just a question, but under Yurika’s somewhat flat tone, it came out sounding almost like an undeniable statement.
And Yurika noticed that the instant she finished saying it, Accelerator’s right hand—still gripping the coffee can—suddenly trembled.
Then he abruptly bent over, coughing violently—apparently, he’d choked.
“Are you kidding? I don’t have that kind of free time!”
Perhaps because of that coughing fit, Accelerator’s already-white face looked even paler.
The corner of his eye twitching as he glared at Yurika, his tone carried a note of irritation.
“You’re awake, so get the hell out!”
“…”
Not explaining would’ve been fine; with this explanation, Yurika found Accelerator even more suspicious instead.
Is Accelerator a guy or a girl?
You kidding?
Isn’t Accelerator a futa?
(shocked)