"If it's just a simple celebration, then why are we using this kind of 'medicine'?"
"It seems curing a perverted personality like yours requires strong medicine. Just like your name, you're about to get scorched."
Sparks had already begun crackling in Misaka-senpai's hair. A blue-white visual effect enveloped her entire body, with streaks of silver, snake-like electricity dancing around her.
Natsume Sonoko watched with a nervous heart. The sizzling of the current felt like a pre-battle announcement.
Were they really about to have another brutal ability user battle right here in this poor student dormitory?
She felt a sudden, inexplicable worry for all the household appliances in the building and her newly bought laptop. But there was no time to dwell on that.
Natsume Sonoko shielded Uiharu-san and Ruiko-san behind her, a look of fearless sacrifice on her face.
As she watched the scene unfold, a stray thought crossed Natsume Sonoko's mind.
Was the electricity Misaka-senpai controlled DC or AC?
She remembered Misaka-senpai had a move called 'Real Lightning' or something, which relied on the pulse discharge created by moving a massive charge in a short time. Lightning, in a way, could be considered direct current.
And Misaka-senpai's Railgun seemed to use a DC electromagnetic field too.
But maybe that wasn't the right way to think about it.
Alternating current required a stable periodic change, which would consume far more computational power than direct current.
Perhaps Misaka-senpai was just saving on calculation time and effort.
She was thinking too much. Natsume Sonoko tensely watched the standoff before her. Thankfully, air was a poor conductor of electricity, so she didn't need to worry about them getting caught in the crossfire.
The electric shock only lasted a few seconds in the air before vanishing.
The door of Room 208, under such immense power, held out for merely a second before shattering into pieces amidst a cloud of dust and sparks.
The communication panel by the door suffered a tragic fate as well, caught in the discharge. The delivery guy's voice, cut off before his message finished, was replaced by a plume of black smoke rising from the device, clearly in need of repairs.
"How awful, no wonder the Dorm Supervisor desperately emphasizes not using abilities in the dorm," Natsume Sonoko remarked with deep feeling.
If she were facing Misaka-senpai's powerful discharge, without a convenient spatial movement ability like Shirai-san, a better countermeasure would be to create an ice layer or a pseudo-AT Field.
While an ice layer could block electrical shocks to some extent, if the ice got contaminated or faced extremely high voltage, it could still conduct electricity.
No matter how she thought about it, it definitely couldn't block a billion volts from Misaka-senpai.
As for a pseudo-AT Field, by rapidly raising and lowering the temperature around herself to displace the air and carry away the electric current... if her computational ability was fast enough, could she become immune to electric shocks?
In fact, it shouldn't just be electric shocks; probably all physical attacks could be blocked this way. That would make it almost no different from a real AT Field. [A/N: From a reader's post, not sure if it's feasible, seeking opinions.]
'As long as I spin it fast enough, the electric shock can't hit me,' Natsume Sonoko thought to herself.
The fight continued. With the Dorm Supervisor absent, the battle began spilling out from the room into the hallway.
If Misaka-senpai and the others could fix the door and communication panel before the Supervisor returned, they might still have a chance to escape punishment.
"Will Misaka-senpai and the others be okay? They're making such a huge commotion," Uiharu-san said uneasily, glancing worriedly at the lingering dust and door fragments on the floor.
"It's fine, the Dorm Supervisor isn't in the dorm right now," Natsume Sonoko reassured her, though she wasn't so sure about what would happen after the Supervisor returned.
"Stop running! Don't use your cheating ability!" declared an angry Misaka-senpai, her body shrouded in electric light, like an enraged Pikachu.
"Onee-sama is so mean, using such a powerful electric shock yourself," Shirai-san appeared at the end of the hallway, sighing with a resigned expression.
The esper battle in the hallway intensified. Shirai-san was like a cunning fox, always abruptly appearing in Misaka-senpai's blind spots. But Misaka-senpai could sense Shirai-san's bio-electric signals, allowing her to locate Shirai-san almost instantly.
"Natsume-san, aren't you going to stop them?" Saten-san asked hesitantly, craning her neck to watch the ability user battle outside the dorm room.
"Ah, right, I should be mediating," Natsume Sonoko said as if waking from a dream.
She hurriedly ran between the two combatants, only to collide head-on with a teleporting Shirai-san, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
"What are you trying to do, you meatball head!" Shirai-san snarled, scrambling to her feet. But before she could say more, she saw Misaka-senpai closing in from behind.
--+--
Weather: Clear, with not a cloud in the sky.
On this day, Shirai-san was absent from Judgment's regular activities.
Inside Judgment Branch 177, Natsume Sonoko and Uiharu huddled together in front of the computer, two pairs of eyes gleaming intently as they watched the surveillance footage.
"There it is again, the mysterious bicycle disappearance case," Natsume Sonoko's eyes shone with a sharp light, as if seeing hope for cracking the case.
"Not counting Natsume-san's case, six similar incidents have occurred recently. The stolen bicycles are mostly expensive, high-end models, and the positioning systems in the vehicles were deliberately disabled."
Uiharu played several clips showing bicycles mysteriously moving on their own. In all of them, the bicycle wheels rolled automatically while the pedals remained completely still, extremely similar to Natsume Sonoko's situation.
"So the target is already clear: stealing expensive bicycles for profit," Natsume Sonoko nodded, her gaze fixed on the monitor as she stated this with certainty.
"By the way, you said there were six cases? Why are there only five video clips here?" Natsume Sonoko asked, confused after counting the windows on the screen.
"It's because when this particular case occurred, all the surveillance equipment in the vicinity was under repair, so no footage was captured, and we couldn't get any useful information," Uiharu-san explained.
"And this case is also very different from the others. The bicycle stolen this time was very ordinary, probably only about an eighth of the price of Natsume-san's bike. It's the only one that wasn't particularly expensive."
Uiharu-san furrowed her brow in puzzlement. Clearly, she also couldn't figure out why the thieves would target a bicycle of little value.
Natsume Sonoko looked at the information for this case's complainant. There were two photos attached.
One was a boy with spiky black hair, wearing a standard high school boy's uniform. The other was a photo of the missing bicycle.
"The complainant for this one is named Kamijou Touma. He said he lost it while attending a supermarket sale event. He remembers locking it, but both the bike and the lock mysteriously vanished," Uiharu-san recalled.
"I see."
Natsume Sonoko looked thoughtfully at the figure in the photo.
The guy in the picture seemed familiar to her—the main character from A Certain Magical Index, the legendary Imagine Breaker.
She never thought he'd lose his bicycle too.
"Based on an analysis of the multiple crime scenes, we can roughly determine the perpetrator's area of operation is within this part of District 7. Aside from a small commercial street, the nearby area is mostly student and faculty dormitories."
Uiharu-san pressed a few keys, and large sections of the District 7 map on the computer gradually dimmed, leaving only a small highlighted area.
"Also, I'm monitoring several online second-hand trading websites. If any listings for similar bicycles appear, I'll know immediately," Uiharu-san added.
"That's amazing, Uiharu-san. Your computer skills are incredible," came the praise from someone who only used her computer to browse forums and play games.
Natsume Sonoko memorized the area on the screen, mentally marking it as her club's 'field research' zone for the next few days.
By the way, Natsume Sonoko's first club activity had been completed quite successfully.
The feature page on the urban legend website had been approved. Now, all she needed to do was submit an investigation report to the club president, and it would be done.
"There's one thing I've been concerned about. Shirai-san asked for leave and didn't come to the branch today. Was she punished because of what happened yesterday?" Uiharu-san asked worriedly after closing all the surveillance videos on the computer.
"Yeah. After the Dorm Supervisor returned, she was furious. Misaka-senpai and Shirai-san were punished with cleaning all the school's swimming pools."
Natsume Sonoko recalled the Dorm Supervisor's authoritative demeanor and couldn't help but shiver. 'When using abilities, never destroy property, especially buildings. That's the cardinal sin.'
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 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.