In the end, Yurika was still kicked out by Accelerator.
Although she’d really wanted to press the inexplicably flustered, embarrassed Accelerator for answers about the matter of her own trip to Tokiwadai, the injured Yurika simply had no power to resist an Accelerator who didn’t have a scratch on him.
And so she was hauled out and dumped at his front door like a puppy abandoned by its owner—it was honestly impressive that a guy with those scrawny little arms and legs had the strength to throw her out.
And it wasn’t until now that Yurika finally figured out what time it actually was outside—gentle sunlight spilled slowly over a corner of this massive city of steel, signaling the start of a new day, and making Yurika realize she’d actually been knocked out in Accelerator’s home for a whole day… or maybe “knocked out for a whole day” wasn’t quite right; calling it “slept the whole night through at Accelerator’s place” was probably more accurate.
But having spent a night in a male high schooler’s home, a lone man and woman together, and yet not getting felt up at all by that man—this left Yurika a bit deflated about her pride as a woman.
Sure, she didn’t want to be assaulted by a man, but being utterly ignored by one still made her feel pretty rotten.
Especially being ignored in an environment where people so often said things like
“If you won’t even make a move, are you even a man?”
“Serves you right to fap for the rest of your life”—
Yurika couldn’t help starting to doubt whether all those compliments about how pretty she was had even been true.
Still, since it was all over now, Yurika couldn’t keep dwelling on it.
She frowned slightly; the wounds with bandages haphazardly slapped on still ached faintly even now.
By this point, Yurika could guess that these adhesive bandages on her must have been put on by Accelerator.
Unfortunately, Accelerator seemed like someone who’d never been injured in his life, so these things he’d stuck on not only failed to help Yurika at all—in some spots he’d stuck the adhesive part directly onto the wound, making it even harder to deal with now.
Standing below Accelerator’s apartment, Yurika looked around.
Some of the diligent students who had school were already up by now—some seemed to be heading out for breakfast, others were doing morning exercises.
From the look of these students, this should still be District 7, where high schoolers and junior high students were the majority.
But judging by the somewhat unfamiliar surroundings, this place was probably still a good distance from Tokiwadai.
“What a pain… now I’ve gotta go wait for a bus too…”
Feeling for the bus pass in her pocket, Yurika suddenly wondered—should she go to school for class, or go to the hospital first to get her wounds properly treated?
“Yurika!”
Not long after the bell signaling the end of class rang, the door to Yurika’s classroom was thrown open, and then Shokuhou’s somewhat anxious voice rang out across the room.
Just one person, and her voice nearly drowned out the entire room’s chatter.
“Are you okay!?”
Well… I knew this one would show up… Currently surrounded by the girls of her class showering her with concern, Yurika sighed.
She’d long anticipated that Shokuhou would come running to her classroom—after all, Accelerator had said Tokiwadai seemed to be in a bit of an uproar over her staying out all night.
Thinking it over, it was probably just Shokuhou sending those subordinates of hers out to look for her again.
But since she’d been knocked out at Accelerator’s place, those people definitely couldn’t have found any trace of her out there.
By now Yurika’s body had been re-wrapped with gauze and adhesive bandages.
After hesitating for a long while that morning, she’d decided to treat her wounds properly before heading to school—otherwise going to class with those poorly-treated wounds would have no real benefit and only make her more miserable.
And because of that, unsurprisingly, Yurika ended up late.
Judging by the look in her homeroom teacher’s eyes, she figured she’d have to go explain to the teacher after school the reasons she hadn’t returned to her dorm last night and had shown up late.
“You all…”
When Shokuhou saw Yurika surrounded by countless classmates, a wave of displeasure rose in her heart.
The star-shaped pupils flickered slightly, and the next moment, the classmates who had been crowding around Yurika with concerned questions froze in place as if someone had pressed pause—holding the postures from the previous instant, motionless, like dolls.
“…I’ve told you not to keep using your ability on the people around you.”
Seeing the people beside her suddenly freeze like that, how could Yurika not understand that Shokuhou was up to her tricks again.
She sighed, exasperated by Shokuhou’s habit of completely ignoring her advice.
But Shokuhou seemed already used to Yurika’s way of talking and paid her words no mind at all.
Brushing aside the now-frozen crowd, she walked up to Yurika, took her hand, looked at the gauze on her arm, and a look of dismay appeared on her face:
“That, um… is a little hard to explain…”
A peculiar look surfaced on Yurika’s face.
Only now did she suddenly realize that what had happened last night really was a bit hard to put into words.
For one, Accelerator killing someone in an alley—setting aside whether saying it would cause her any trouble, the news of a Level 5 esper committing murder would definitely have a bad effect on Shokuhou too.
For another, she’d spent a night at a man’s home—and a man with absolutely overwhelming power at that.
Even if everyone knew she’d never been much good at catching male attention, would anyone actually believe nothing had happened at all, even if she believed it herself?
“…”
Shokuhou saw the troubled look on Yurika’s face and felt a flash of displeasure.
She narrowed her eyes, seeming to consider something.
“Ngh!”
The next instant, a stab of pain shot out from inside Yurika’s mind.
A pained expression flickered across her face, and then, with anger in her eyes, she looked at the Shokuhou standing before her wearing a who-me expression, and said with some irritation,
“Shokuhou Misaki!”
“Still couldn’t read it…”
Pursing her lips a bit unhappily, this was who-knows-how-many times Shokuhou had tried to read Yurika’s mind—and not one attempt had ever succeeded.
Yurika’s mental power, which by now didn’t resemble Telekinesis at all, completely repelled her Level 5 ability, and it had always frustrated Shokuhou.
Faced with Yurika’s glare, Shokuhou lowered her head, a little sulky.
“I was just worried about you…”
“Haah…”
Watching Shokuhou look so aggrieved, Yurika sighed, genuinely at a loss for how to deal with her.