By the riverbank—the one from the rumors, mysteriously frozen over by some weather-control machine.
The water flowed sluggishly beneath irregular sheets of ice that kept breaking apart at the edges, only to freeze over again almost immediately.
"Saten, Natsume-san, let's hurry up and go. This place gives me the creeps. Can't we just forget about that machine?"
Uiharu Kazari shuddered, feeling as if some sinister presence was watching her from the shadows. Her voice came out anxious and urgent.
"What's so creepy about it, Uiharu-san? Actually… I am that weather machine. Codename: Natsume 9527."
Natsume Sonoko stood stiffly in place, her expression blank. She spoke in a flat, emotionless tone, like something out of an old robot movie.
Her words were slow and deliberate, almost muffled-sounding.
She moved her arms in stiff, mechanical gestures like some clunky outdated machine, then pointed her flashlight right at her own rigid, expressionless face.
"Geez, Natsume-san, don't scare me like that!"
Uiharu, caught completely off guard, stumbled back several steps at the sight of Sonoko's eerily pale face in the flashlight beam. Her eyes went wide with panic, and she bumped right into Saten Ruiko.
"Uiharu, you're such a scaredy-cat. She's just an outdated model, that's all."
Saten had turned around at some point and was now looking right at Uiharu. She gave her shoulder a light pat, and when Uiharu turned toward her, Saten shone her own flashlight under her face.
"Actually, I'm a robot too. Codename: Saten Ruiko Prototype." Suddenly, Saten's expression turned dark, and she grinned like some highly intelligent evil android.
"Aaaaaah!!" Uiharu's scream tore through the quiet.
After that little prank, the search for the weather machine was completely forgotten.
Now Natsume Sonoko and Saten Ruiko faced a much bigger crisis.
"Uiharu-san, don't be mad! I was only joking!" Sonoko clasped her hands together apologetically, looking helplessly at Uiharu, who stood fuming in the falling snow.
"Sorry, sorry! To make it up to you, how about I treat you to some croquettes?" Saten chimed in, her face full of remorse as she scrambled to fix the situation.
"Me too! Since Saten's treating you to croquettes, I'll get you takoyaki. So please don't be angry, Uiharu." Sonoko wasn't the best at comforting people, but she quickly picked up on Saten's strategy.
Uiharu finally turned to face them, puffing out her cheeks with a sulky expression.
"I won't forgive you yet. I'm going to stay mad a little longer," she declared, still clearly upset.
Three minutes later, the two finally managed to earn Uiharu's forgiveness—though it cost them not just croquettes and takoyaki, but also an agreement from Sonoko to let both girls visit her dorm room as an extra condition.
Thinking about her dorm, Sonoko recalled her neatly made bed—so tidy it looked like it had never been slept in—and the items under her bed, all sorted and organized by category.
Aside from a few things she'd left lying around and forgotten to put away, there was nothing she'd be embarrassed to show anyone.
Still, Sonoko noticed how Uiharu seemed to idolize Tokiwadai Middle School, longing for the life of a refined young lady.
Of course, as Saten put it, maybe she was just drawn to the idea of high-class living.
"There's so little snow, and the ice looks so cheaply made. Maybe it's just some failed machine developed here in Academy City," grumbled a passerby Sonoko didn't recognize. She shot him a meaningful glance.
More and more people had gathered to check out the scene, but as time passed, the snowflakes grew sparser.
The frozen surface of the river began to thaw, the current breaking up the larger sheets of ice. Before long, the culprit blocking the river's flow had vanished completely.
Sonoko withdrew her ability, feeling rather pleased as she listened to the amazed murmurs from the crowd around her.
Well done. As the director of this little show, she'd definitely succeeded.
She'd wander around a few more spots, and after that, all that was left was to wait for the incident to be recorded on the website.
--+--
Another new day. Waking up on the sofa in her student dorm, Natsume Sonoko felt refreshed and clear-headed.
Today was an ordinary day, but also a little special.
It was the first time she'd receive her scholarship since entering Tokiwadai Middle School.
And from the looks of it, the amount this time was definitely going to be doubled—no doubt about it. When it came to financial matters, Sonoko paid just as much attention as she did to developing her abilities.
She picked up a common student notebook from her desk. The first few pages were filled with what looked like gibberish—alien script.
Back in elementary school, during a certain youthful phase, her thoughts had been so all over the place that she'd delved deep into studying "Martian script."
By breaking apart traditional Kanji, Japanese kana, and mixing in various symbols and emoticons, she'd created these bizarre characters that filled her notebook. Sonoko felt they worked perfectly as her personal cipher.
Opening her secret code notebook to somewhere in the middle, she found her bank card tucked between the pages.
Worried that carrying her card around might lead to loss or damage, she'd hidden it right in her dorm, slipped between the pages of one of her ordinary notebooks.
The most dangerous place is the safest—Sonoko felt she had a real talent for stashing things.
But today was scholarship day, so her bank card would finally see some use.
She could head to the ATM, happily check her newly increased balance, and withdraw some cash for her living expenses for the coming month.
The only thing that annoyed her was that Academy City, for all its technological advances, still didn't support mobile payments.
The likely reason was the sheer number of hackers around—the cybersecurity environment was just too risky.
Tucking her bank card into her pocket, Sonoko hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. Once she'd tidied up, a bright-eyed, refreshed Tokiwadai student stared back from the mirror.
Leaning in for a closer look, she noticed the dark circles under her eyes seemed to be fading. Maybe her sleep had improved lately, or perhaps she was just getting used to Tokiwadai's schedule.
"Morning, Misaka-senpai, Shirai-san." Just as she stepped out the door, Sonoko ran into Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko, who were also on their way out.
"What's going on with you today? Normally you'd still be in your room asleep right now!" Shirai's face instantly turned wary, her eyes scanning Sonoko up and down.
"Huh, now that you mention it, I really don't run into you two much in the mornings." Sonoko thought for a moment, glanced at the time, and recalled her usual routine.
Today, she'd woken up about thirty minutes earlier than usual—before the official wake-up time, even.
"See? You're acting strange. Don't tell me you're plotting something against Onee-sama again!"
Spreading her arms, Shirai stepped protectively in front of Misaka-senpai, drawing stares from everyone around.
'I, Shirai Kuroko, have sworn to protect Onee-sama always, to be her most steadfast shield. Anything that threatens her must be mercilessly cut down—especially certain suspicious individuals trying to steal my place by her side.'
"You! First you steal Onee-sama's after-school time, and now you're trying to take the mornings that belong only to her and me? Unforgivable!"
As Shirai lost herself in her own dramatic world, firmly confronting a certain innocent-looking girl with a round bun in her hair…
Misaka-senpai's hands transformed into steel blades. She raised them high, gathering immense gravitational potential energy, then brought them down like a meteor on the space between Kuroko's twin tails.
"Stop saying things that'll make people misunderstand!" Misaka-senpai snapped, her eyes narrowed in agitation.
Setting aside Kuroko, who was now crouched in a defensive pose clutching her head, Sonoko noted the twitch at the corner of Misaka-senpai's brow when she'd struck.
It seemed her stress levels had been rising again lately. While it wasn't fair to blame everything on Shirai, she probably deserved a solid 70–80% of it.
Sonoko quietly recalled the recent posts about vending machines. Ever since Shirai had moved into Misaka-senpai's room, the number of such posts had been increasing at a rate comparable to a tornado tearing through a parking lot.
The scene had turned awkward in a strangely harmonious way. Just as Sonoko was wondering how to break the silence, she heard footsteps behind her.
She felt a pat on her back and turned to see a small maid smiling serenely back at her.
"Ah, Tsuchimikado-san! Long time no see." Freeing herself from the earlier awkward atmosphere, Sonoko greeted Tsuchimikado Maika, who'd seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Natsume-san, it hasn't been long at all—we saw each other just yesterday in the cafeteria." Maika raised one finger casually as she spoke, then gently pinched the edges of her maid apron and performed a flawless curtsy to everyone present.
--+--
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!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.