“Then, all of a sudden—whoosh!” “A whoosh?” “She took off her shirt.” “…” Mikoto Misaka, Kuroko Shirai, and Uiharu Kazari all went silent.
None of them knew how to respond.
“Hey!
That isn’t scary at all!” Mikoto Misaka stood up and slapped the table.
She yanked away the black cloth they had used to make the atmosphere spooky and complained out loud.
That made the other customers in the shop look over.
Kuroko Shirai quickly pulled Mikoto back into her seat and glanced around with an apologetic look.
“Onee-sama, please keep your voice down.
Don’t disturb the other customers.” “S-sorry.” Mikoto Misaka’s face turned red when she realized what she had done.
She apologized in a small voice.
“Eh?
You really don’t think that’s scary?
What if you ran into someone who suddenly started stripping in real life?” Ruiko Saten asked.
“No, no, no.
That’s just a pervert.
You’d call Anti-Skill,” Mikoto Misaka replied, waving both hands with a helpless look.
“This is the urban legend of the ‘Stripping Woman.'” “What kind of urban legend is that?” Mikoto Misaka asked, looking completely uninterested.
“Well then, how about this one?” Hearing that, Uiharu Kazari placed her laptop on the table and motioned for everyone to look at the screen.
“When the wind turbines spin in the opposite direction, strange things happen in the city.” “At 4:04 PM, do not wander through the school districts, or you will enter the hallucinatory ‘Imaginary Number School District.'” “The ‘Level Upper,’ which can raise your ability level as soon as you use it.” “Sigh…
Stop reading those weird sites,” Kuroko Shirai said helplessly.
To her, the content on those pages sounded too absurd to be real.
“Kuroko, you really have no sense of romance at all~” Ruiko Saten puffed out her cheeks and complained.
“Yes, yes I have no sense of romance” Kuroko Shirai replied without much interest.
She didn’t want to argue with Ruiko Saten over something like this.
“Some urban legends even have videos as proof.
That also shows how strange Academy City can be.” Uiharu Kazari pulled up a video and showed it to the others.
The four girls leaned in and stared at the screen.
At first, the video was completely dark.
Then came the sound of people screaming.
As the phone camera shook, a dark shadow appeared in midair once the image steadied.
A giant monster bird with a human face, as large as a small mountain, burst out of the darkness and shot into the distance.
The video lasted only thirty seconds, but it was enough to set the girls off.
“The monster bird that appears in the city at night.
Rumor says it destroyed District 7’s landmark, the Windowless Building,” Uiharu Kazari read aloud.
“Th-that…
isn’t that the mount the old man summoned?” Mikoto Misaka had once ridden the creature called Nue.
But the moment she remembered that ride, another feeling came back to her.
Flying that high in the sky had been exciting, but what she remembered most was something else.
She had been wet down there.
Then the wind hit her, and the feeling had been impossible to describe.
The moment that memory surfaced, Mikoto Misaka’s face turned bright red.
Steam almost seemed ready to rise from her head.
“What?
What?
You mean that monster bird is Tsukasa’s mount!?” Ruiko Saten leaned in close to Mikoto.
Her eyes were shining with excitement.
“Eh?
Um…
y-yes.
It really is the old man’s mount.
I rode it before,” Mikoto Misaka answered, sounding a little awkward.
Beside her, Kuroko Shirai turned pale, as if all hope had left her body.
Uiharu Kazari watched with a drop of cold sweat on her forehead.
“What was it like!?
Flying freely through the sky…
I want to try it too!” Ruiko Saten looked full of longing.
She was very interested in the idea of riding that monster bird through the night sky.
“W-what was it like?
Well…
my butt felt a little cold…” Mikoto Misaka froze for a second, then answered in a low voice.
“…Eh?” The other three girls went stiff.
After a short silence, a white, ghost-like shape began drifting out of Kuroko Shirai’s mouth.
Everyone panicked.
“Quick…
push it back in!?” Ruiko Saten shouted.
“Kuroko!
No!” Uiharu Kazari cried out.
“Kuroko!
What’s wrong with you!?” Mikoto Misaka yelled as she grabbed Kuroko and started shaking her.
“Guests, please keep it down!” The shop assistant had finally had enough.
If they kept causing a scene, she would have to ask them to leave.
“Sorry…” The four of them apologized at once and didn’t dare say anything more.
After that, they no longer stayed in the shop.
They packed up and left together.
“It’s all Kuroko’s fault.
What happened to you all of a sudden?” Mikoto Misaka complained after Kuroko finally returned to normal.
“…” Kuroko Shirai didn’t argue back.
She simply added Tsukasa to her kill list.
‘This guy is definitely the biggest obstacle between me and Onee-sama.’ ‘But I, Kuroko, will never give up.’ ‘This is a trial of love!’ For some reason, Kuroko suddenly became full of energy again.
The other three could only look at her in embarrassment.
“Oh, right.
There’s also a recently updated urban legend.
The man who defeated Accelerator.
It’s said the completely destroyed District 17 was where they fought.” “Eh!?
Really?
I thought someone had tested a nuclear bomb there,” Ruiko Saten said as she recalled that night.
“The explosion woke me up.” “I thought I saw two suns.” “Then I figured I was still dreaming, so I went back to sleep.” “Haha That really does sound like you, Saten” Uiharu Kazari said, looking a little helpless.
She really hadn’t expected Ruiko Saten to go right back to sleep after something like that.
“What?
How could that happen?
Did the second-ranked and first-ranked espers fight each other?” Kuroko Shirai still sounded doubtful.
She didn’t think anyone could beat Academy City’s top-ranked esper that easily.
After all, that was someone ranked even above her Onee-sama.
“No, it’s true,” Mikoto Misaka said, shaking her head.
“Onee-sama?” Kuroko Shirai tilted her head and looked at Mikoto Misaka in confusion.
“It was the old man,” Mikoto Misaka said with a serious face.
“Eh?” The other three froze.
At first, they didn’t understand.
Then, after a moment, it clicked.
“It was Tsukasa!?” Ruiko Saten said, her voice full of shock.
Her whole body trembled.
She couldn’t believe that the person who had been laughing and chatting with her just a few days ago was actually that strong.
“How is that possible?
That old man!?
Um…” Kuroko Shirai started to argue, but then she remembered their first meeting.
She remembered the strange scene where Tsukasa had healed himself.
Bit by bit, she started to believe it.
It wasn’t impossible for him to defeat Accelerator.
With healing like that, any opponent would have a hard time dealing with him.
If Kuroko Shirai knew that Tsukasa had controlled the entire fight against Accelerator and had not even needed to use that healing technique, she would probably be scared out of her mind.
“So Tsukasa is really that strong?
He seems very easy to get along with.” Uiharu Kazari covered her mouth as she spoke.
To her, Tsukasa was a trustworthy adult.
He was generous, often bought her snacks, and was a genuinely good person.
current girlfriend: Ruiko Saten suitors: Mikasa Kokoro Shizuri Mugino Rikou Takitsubo Saiai Kinuhata Frenda Seivelun Kaori Kanzaki