After shutting down the overly confident rant from someone in the group chat, Natsume Sonoko felt she could finally get back to having fun.
But before that, she still had something to do.
The clever Natsume Sonoko went ahead and started a thread on a certain website, giving it a headline that was practically designed to grab attention.
To avoid any accidents, Sonoko decided she wouldn't use her ability on a large scale across Academy City until her little self-directed performance was a success—no sense letting someone else patent her creative ideas first.
[Men Are Stunned, Women Weep: The Hidden Secret Research in Academy City! A Moving Zone of Abnormal Temperatures—Could It Be a Mysterious Weather-Control Machine?]
She'd heard that longer titles were more eye-catching, and judging by the sheer length of this one, Sonoko felt it could at least win some kind of award.
As for that somewhat lengthy headline, Sonoko would have you know she put serious thought into it.
Her ability did include some control over weather phenomena, but compared to ordinary espers, Sonoko figured people would be far more intrigued by secret research going on in Academy City.
And it was true—the place was crawling with clandestine studies.
Sonoko was convinced this already had all the makings of a juicy urban legend.
Now, Sonoko had indeed altered weather patterns a few times, whether on purpose or not. Since her ability range extended about a hundred meters around her in all directions—including underground—it naturally had an impact below the surface as well.
Here's something worth mentioning: before using their abilities, espers need to run a series of calculations in their heads.
You could think of these calculation formulas like moves in a wuxia novel—they're closely tied to how an ability is applied. Most espers probably only develop one or two common sets of formulas.
If you compare an esper's ability to a computer, their Personal Reality is the foundation—the very concept that allows the "computer" to exist.
Computational power is like the hardware, determining the ability's strength, while these formulas act as the software, governing how the computer is used. (A/N: Just my own wild theory, of course)
Natsume Sonoko definitely had more formulas in her head than the average esper, but most of them were tailored to specific targets—like nitrogen, oxygen, or water vapor in the air.
For rarer gases or trace elements like carbon dioxide, the meticulous Sonoko had also prepared corresponding formulas.
But since tweaking temperature required extra computational effort, she usually couldn't be bothered.
The reason Sonoko could relatively easily change ambient temperature or water temperature was that she'd drilled those formulas to perfection.
No matter how many variables or situations popped up, it was all just a matter of applying or tweaking those familiar equations.
Beyond the formulas she'd already developed lay territory Sonoko hadn't yet explored. She'd have to keep building her knowledge, working hard to upgrade her "software" and broaden the versatility of her ability.
Of course, there were those who could develop formulas on the fly—not that Sonoko was one of them. Still, she liked to think she had potential in that area.
But back to the point: Sonoko's ability allowed her to manipulate air and moisture below the surface.
Whenever she used her ability on a large scale without consciously avoiding the ground, it often caused underground moisture to rise. If there was groundwater involved, things could get out of hand fast. Plant transpiration also added some moisture to the mix.
So in many places, using her ability could trigger some noticeable weather changes.
She didn't need water vapor to rise all the way into the clouds—if Sonoko caused a sharp temperature shift, cold and warm air currents would clash, resulting in a small-scale rainfall right then and there.
If she could shoot that mist high enough and freeze those tiny droplets into ice crystals before they hit the ground, she could even create a localized snowfall—not unlike artificial snow machines.
'Sigh, when I think about it, I really can influence a lot of weather phenomena. So there's some basis for calling it a mysterious weather-control machine.'
Sonoko felt her headline was perfectly fitting. After laying out some of her own speculations and theories in the post, she decided it was about time to go write her "script."
After publishing the thread, Sonoko quietly closed the browser.
Great—with this post as proof, who could say she spent her days idle, with club activities being just an excuse to slack off?
She planned to stage some photos in the coming days as "evidence." When the time came, she'd just have the club president contact the website and turn the thread into a featured page.
After that, she could coast through each month's club activities by faking a few shots.
Seemed like she'd need eyewitnesses too—looked like Sonoko would have to rope in a few people to play along.
And she'd have to make sure her own traces weren't obvious.
If she was spotted every time a temperature anomaly occurred, or caught on one of the ever-present security cameras—how awkward would that be?
Thinking it over, a place packed with cameras like School Garden was definitely off-limits.
As Sonoko walked down the street, a sudden roaring noise exploded in her ears, like something had blown up.
A crowd was gathering up ahead. Though she only glanced from a distance and had no interest in joining the commotion, she found herself pushed forward by the surge of people behind her.
"Another explosion? They're getting more and more frequent, aren't they?" A student beside Sonoko looked panicked.
"I heard someone got hurt in one a few days ago."
"Was it a trash can explosion? I'm scared to go near them now."
Sonoko quietly squeezed her way out of the crowd—being fairly small made it easy.
She let out a helpless sigh. This Academy City—it really never lets you get bored.
After scanning the area and spotting no suspicious characters, Sonoko gave up on the idea of casually solving the case and putting an end to the incident.
By a river in District 7, scattered flashlight beams played across the water's surface like so many searchlights.
"So this is the lake that mysteriously freezes every night at seven? Maybe we shouldn't stick around—it's already pretty late, let's head back." Uiharu tugged at Saten's sleeve, sounding a little worried.
"There's more to it than that! According to the post, right at seven, the temperature in a certain area around here weirdly changes. Not only does a big patch of the lake surface freeze, sometimes it even snows! Rumor has it an ice dragon lives deep in the water—but some say it's a secret Academy City testing site."
Saten Ruiko waved her arms dramatically as she spoke. Uiharu seemed startled, growing visibly tense.
"Uiharu! There's nothing to be scared of—look, plenty of people came to check it out like us. And Natsume came along too, right?" Saten tried to reassure her, then glanced toward Natsume Sonoko, who was sitting quietly nearby.
"Natsume-san, do you believe in this urban legend too?" Uiharu couldn't help asking Sonoko.
"I'm not so sure I believe it, but there's no harm in looking. Though it doesn't seem to be an ice dragon—more like some kind of weather machine built by Academy City. And apparently, it can move around."
Sonoko's face took on a curious, serious expression as she corrected the mistake in Saten's earlier explanation, sounding every bit the avid urban legend enthusiast.
Truth be told, she hadn't expected to run into Saten and Uiharu here.
As the creator of this particular urban legend, Sonoko naturally needed witnesses. She'd only uploaded the staged photos the day before yesterday, and already a crowd had gathered.
Roughly estimating, about fifteen or sixteen onlookers had shown up to play unwitting extras.
'Just watch—the moment of truth is almost here.' Sitting motionless in the crowd, Sonoko saw the time was nearly right and quietly activated her ability.
It wasn't like she was doing anything obvious—just sitting there normally in the middle of everyone. No way anyone would trace it back to her.
To ensure enough eyewitnesses, Director Sonoko had racked her brains before deciding to treat everyone to a winter spectacle.
The temperature around them began to drop. The shift was especially noticeable in the sweltering summer air, and a thin layer of ice had already started forming on the lake's surface not far away.
The ice spread, eventually forming a large, irregular semicircular shape.
With plenty of moisture in the air meeting the intense cold, ice crystals formed and drifted down as snowflakes, dusting the heads of Saten Ruiko and the others.
"It's real—the legend is real!" Saten's eyes lit up with excitement. Brushing the snow off her hair, she grabbed Uiharu's arm, almost jumping up and down.
"We're right in the middle of the snowfall! Looks like we're really close to the machine. Do you think it might be near us?"
Sonoko put on a grave expression, exaggeratedly glanced around, placed a finger to her lips in a "shh" gesture, then pointed toward the ground.
"Natsume-san, are you saying the machine is right near us… or under our feet?" Uiharu said hesitantly, looking around with some concern.
Meanwhile, Saten was still peering around curiously, as if trying to spot any trace of the machine.
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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.