In the Judgment Branch 177 office, Natsume Sonoko stared angrily at her computer screen, determined to track down whoever had deliberately stolen her bicycle.
The surveillance footage from that day had been pulled. Starting from when Natsume Sonoko first appeared on her bike, all the way to her arrival near the ATM, she passed a total of six camera points.
Everything seemed perfectly normal; the cameras flawlessly recorded the graceful figure of Natsume Sonoko cycling along.
"Right here is where things suddenly get weird." Four eyes were glued to the monitor. Just as the footage showed Natsume Sonoko going inside the ATM booth to withdraw money, the image abruptly changed.
The two girls looked at each other, having witnessed something utterly baffling, and couldn't help but exchange a bewildered glance.
"Natsume-san, did you see that?" Uiharu said uncertainly, even rubbing her eyes for good measure.
"I saw it, and I saw it clearly," Natsume Sonoko replied, feigning a gulp as her mind raced chaotically.
"Your bike... it ran away on its own. The pedals weren't moving, but the wheels just started turning by themselves."
Uiharu had never seen such a strange thing either, and her gaze instinctively drifted to Natsume Sonoko's utterly flabbergasted face.
"Natsume-san, does your bicycle have a remote control or some kind of auto-pilot function?"
Hearing Uiharu's question, Natsume Sonoko shook her head. While she'd heard such high-tech bicycles existed, the technological level of her own ride clearly wasn't that advanced.
Truth be told, Natsume Sonoko was also puzzled.
Her bike was equipped with an advanced anti-theft system, complete with a built-in IC chip and fingerprint recognition unlock on the handlebars.
If the fingerprint didn't match, the bike would automatically lock itself.
If someone tried to carry it away, an alarm would sound the moment the bike left the ground, making casual theft a very low risk.
But if the bicycle acted on its own... well, that would explain everything.
"So, you're saying the culprit is the bicycle itself? Natsume-san's bicycle is actually a bio-weapon?"
Uiharu ventured this wildly unreliable guess, but then a self-conscious, awkward smile spread across her face, as if even she found it hard to believe.
Natsume Sonoko thought for a moment, then looked at Uiharu seriously and said, "I suspect this is a case involving an ability user, and the perpetrator must be carrying some kind of electromagnetic interference device or something similar."
As a resident of the science-oriented Academy City, Natsume Sonoko's mind instinctively leaned towards a more scientific explanation.
"Uiharu, quickly pull up other camera feeds! Let's see where that bike is headed!" Natsume Sonoko urged.
"It passed two shopping streets, one traffic light, and finally turned into a narrow alley. Past that alley are mostly abandoned buildings. The cameras in that area have either been removed or deliberately disabled."
Uiharu continued switching camera views, tracking the bicycle's path, but they soon lost its trail.
Checking a few more nearby cameras yielded no further sign of the bicycle.
"Abandoned buildings... are those the discarded experimental facilities from before?" Natsume Sonoko asked, somewhat surprised.
"Mhm, I heard there was a large-scale disturbance there before, causing large sections to almost collapse. But that was already a year or two ago," Uiharu explained.
"Natsume-san, please don't go investigating on your own! Wait until Shirai-san arrives—" Before Uiharu could finish, Natsume Sonoko was already hurriedly heading out the door.
"I know, I won't go alone," Natsume Sonoko waved her hand, immediately setting off for the scene of the incident without a moment's delay.
About ten seconds later, Natsume Sonoko came rushing back. She opened the door, poked her head in, and said to Uiharu, "Sorry, I left in such a hurry I forgot something."
"Thank you very much, Uiharu, and Shirai-san on the headset too." Natsume Sonoko expressed her sincere thanks, then promptly hurried off towards her destination again.
"Really, Natsume-san is always like this," Uiharu said with a sigh of resignation.
"Don't worry about her. If she can't handle it, she'll contact me soon enough," a voice tinged with a hint of grievance seemed to come from the headset.
The sun had slid a bit further west in the sky. Unwilling to spend money on a taxi, it took Natsume Sonoko a long time to finally reach the scene—the area near that ATM.
A tall figure was already there, sitting idly near the ATM and fiddling with her phone. As she slightly raised her head, a pretty face was revealed.
"Maeda-senpai, you got here so fast," Natsume Sonoko said apologetically. Even though she was the one who asked for help, she ended up arriving later.
"It's quite alright. I'm happy to help you out, Natsume-chan," Maeda Kana-senpai replied with a smile, looking up.
She smoothed her hair slightly before standing up and walking over to Natsume Sonoko.
A camera hung from Maeda Kana's neck, a beret sat atop her head, and her tall frame stood about 165 cm—even a tad taller than Misaka-senpai.
Her eyes always held a scrutinizing gleam, sharp like a hawk's, as if perpetually tracking clues about urban legends.
She was practically the ace investigator of the Urban Legend Investigation Club.
Natsume Sonoko, who considered herself somewhat of a slacker in the club, had this strange feeling, an intuition really, that she was the superfluous member of the Urban Legend Investigation Club.
"I've been looking over your investigation reports lately, Natsume-chan. While each part is done well enough, I can't shake the feeling that something's a bit... off," Maeda Kana narrowed her eyes, looking up and down at a slightly evasive Natsume Sonoko.
"...Just kidding! Why so tense? Honestly, I've been wanting to investigate something with you for a while, Natsume-chan. Especially with this recent weather, I'm practically turning into charcoal. Quick, cool me down, and I promise I'll work seriously."
Maeda-senpai fanned herself dramatically, putting on an 'I'm melting' act, then looked expectantly at Natsume Sonoko, promising fervently.
Glancing at Maeda-senpai's fair complexion, Natsume Sonoko could tell this was another one of her baseless excuses.
She was much like her online persona—always following her whims, another troublesome rich girl.
"Fine, but don't go too far from me, or I can't control the temperature properly." Natsume Sonoko still needed practice with long-range control.
At around a hundred meters, the margin of error for her ability was quite large, a difference of seven or eight degrees Celsius being commonplace. Within twenty or thirty meters, the error was much smaller.
"So? Is it working?" Maeda-senpai asked curiously, glancing around. Suddenly, she felt the temperature around her drop sharply, instantly creating a comfortably pleasant, spring-like atmosphere.
Not too cold, not too hot—even in summer clothes, there was no fear of catching a chill.
This was the temperature range Natsume Sonoko usually maintained around herself.
"Ahhh, so good,' Maeda-senpai let out a contented sigh, a pleased smile spreading across her face.
"Let's go, time to investigate. What hidden secret lies behind this mysterious case of the vanishing bicycle in Academy City?" Maeda-senpai was a veteran clickbait title crafter; even an offhand comment from her sounded profoundly deep.
The two met up at the ATM, and then, led by Natsume Sonoko, headed for the alley where the surveillance footage showed the bicycle had last disappeared.
And true to her word to Uiharu, she, Natsume Sonoko, was indeed not acting alone. After careful consideration, she had finally decided to call for backup.
"It's just help finding my bike, not some investigation, you know," Natsume Sonoko trailed behind, trying to correct her.
"Details, details. You lack imagination, Natsume-chan. Isn't this clearly a mysterious legendary incident?"
Maeda-senpai turned her head to look at Natsume Sonoko, a strange, intense light shining in her eyes—deep and unwavering.
"Alright, you have a point," Natsume Sonoko nodded silently, feeling as if she was witnessing another kind of fiercely burning spirit. Not the spirit of a maid, but the legendary spirit of investigation.
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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!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.