Natsume Sonoko furrowed her brow, her eyes filled with concentration, until suddenly, a look of understanding dawned on her face. She added a few strokes to her drawing, slightly raising the bridge of the suspect's nose.
"Natsume-san, why do I feel the two people in this drawing don't look quite like they did before?"
Komoe-sensei turned her head to look at the person scribbling busily at the low table, a hesitant expression on her face.
Natsume's artistic talent was… debatable.
Her lines weren't exactly crooked, but they were far from professional, even leaning towards a manga style. In the end, she had only managed to produce a rough outline.
Yet, the girl herself seemed utterly unaware of this, still frowning as she carefully recalled the faces of the two culprits, painstakingly showcasing her 'artistic talent'.
To be fair, you could still glimpse a hint of their demeanor in the features. Sonoko put down her pen and let out a long sigh.
'Well now, that's full of spirit.'
She gazed at the two suspects in her drawing, who now looked like a pair of overly earnest young lads, and a thoughtful look crossed her face again.
Had she accidentally mixed up the culprits with characters from a manga she'd been reading lately?
That particular manga had left quite an impression on her, and recently, everything Sonoko thought about seemed to come out a bit distorted. But surely she hadn't drawn them wrong… right?
Just as Sonoko was wrestling with doubt, Komoe-sensei took the pen from her hand. With a few modifications to specific facial features, the style of the drawing instantly underwent a dramatic change.
"This is more like it! Natsume-san, were you trying to draw a manga?" Komoe-sensei said, a little helplessly.
Sonoko had given the suspects rather sharp, angular features—a style that was clearly not very realistic.
"Ah, you're right, that does seem more accurate." Natsume Sonoko looked at their collaborative effort and nodded in approval. Komoe-sensei was truly amazing, remembering the faces of those two culprits so clearly.
"So, it's these two?" Kamijou Touma seemed to be searching his own memories, racking his brain for people he'd seen recently.
"Got it."
As if struck by an idea, Kamijou smacked his fist into his open palm, pulled out his phone, and prepared to take a picture.
When it came to connections in Academy City, that guy Tsuchimikado Motoharu was well-connected everywhere.
Even the blue-haired earring guy working part-time at the nearby bakery was a pretty well-known figure.
"All done and dusted." Kamijou carefully photographed the drawing of the two faces.
Miraculously, no incidents occurred—his phone didn't run out of battery, nor did the screen get accidentally shattered. It was a peacefully concluded operation.
"Sent successfully." As if having accomplished some grand feat, the unlucky high school senior's face lit up with joy.
The bicycle incident was now a thing of the distant past, and Natsume Sonoko had more or less grown accustomed to the routine of taking the school bus or the tram.
However, something that bothered her was that, while riding the tram home, she had spotted a weirdo through the window. He was perched on top of a power pole, seemingly lost in thought.
This eccentric was wearing a white gakuran uniform and a red coat, with a white bandana tied around his head.
He sat with solemn dignity on the narrow top of the power pole, as if using sheer willpower to endure the sweltering heat around him.
"The weirdos in Academy City really are a dime a dozen," Sonoko mused silently from her seat on the tram, her posture perfect and her clothes without a single wrinkle, the very picture of proper young lady upbringing.
Truth be told, being a young lady wasn't easy.
She had to wake up and have meals on a strict schedule, learn a mountain of things in class, be good at handicrafts, master multiple languages, and ensure her manners and behavior were always up to standard.
On top of that, there was the fierce Dorm Supervisor back at the dorm.
Under such strict conditions, Sonoko felt that the mere fact she could persevere was a remarkable achievement in itself.
"Good grief, has the 'Level Upper' really spread to this extent?"
Casually browsing a certain website on her phone, Sonoko was rather surprised to see the massive number of related posts on the site's forum.
There were not only explanations of what the Level Upper was, but also posts from people whose abilities had improved after using it.
Countless replies begged to buy it, with phrases like "OP is a legend, please share!" popping up everywhere.
This frenzy had almost completely squeezed out all the other urban legends. The page for Sonoko's 'Mysterious Weather-Control Machine' topic, neglected by its creator who had no interest in maintaining the hype, had long since sunk to the deepest, darkest corners of the forum.
[After using the Level Upper, my ability started rising from Level 2. It was especially noticeable the first few days, and it's improved a lot even beyond my current Level 4.]
[The effects are incredible. Went straight from Level 0 to Level 3.]
"Really? Is the Level Upper's effect that exaggerated? That seems a bit much." Sonoko scrolled through the various comments, her head filled with strange thoughts.
--+--
"Huh? Antipyretics? Has Uiharu caught a cold?"
This particular Natsume Sonoko was quite surprised by the news; even the chocolate shaved ice in her hand suddenly seemed less appealing.
Frankly, she couldn't stand anything related to sickness or pain.
"Yeah, she took a sick day today. I'm going to bring her this medicine later." Said Saten-san, holding a bag of medicine in one hand and a cup of shaved ice in the other.
Because a certain someone was always treating everyone to shaved ice, it seemed everyone had recently developed a habit of buying a cup.
"Uiharu-san is sick? Kuroko, did you know?" Misaka-senpai, sitting on a bench, glanced over at Shirai-san, who was seated as primly and properly as a lady.
"Onee-sama, I went to see Uiharu right after class today."
"Also, our workload at Judgment has increased significantly lately. Uiharu has been staying very late too. Maybe that's why she caught a cold." Shirai-san sighed, a little helplessly.
"Even though Uiharu herself says it's nothing serious, I'm still really worried about leaving her alone in her dorm room," Saten, standing beside them, added with a concerned look.
"In that case, why don't we all go visit Uiharu together?" Natsume Sonoko slowly put down her shaved ice and nodded, making the suggestion seriously.
"First, we need to prepare some get-well gifts," Misaka-senpai declared, clenching her fist with great determination.
"Wherever Onee-sama goes, I go!" Shirai-san's comment was, as always, very characteristic of her.
For a moment, the group couldn't decide what would be a good gift for a sick person, so they settled on a large fruit basket from a nearby shop.
On the way, as they passed a bookstore, Natsume Sonoko specifically went in and bought two young adult novels.
"Natsume-san, are you planning to give those two novels to Uiharu?" Shirai-san, holding her schoolbag with both hands, turned to look at Sonoko, who was holding two thick books, and asked with some surprise.
"Actually, that's not a bad gift. I remember Uiharu quite likes reading those kinds of novels," Saten said, wagging a finger thoughtfully.
--+--
School District 7, Sakugawa Middle School Dormitory.
This was likely Natsume Sonoko's first time visiting the dormitory where Saten and Uiharu lived.
It was a fairly ordinary student dormitory, located about a kilometer from Sakugawa Middle School. The three-story building could house nearly a hundred students.
It was equipped with security cameras nearby, and security robots regularly patrolled the area. While the safety measures couldn't quite compare to those at Tokiwadai Middle School's School District 7 dormitory, they certainly weren't bad.
And most importantly, there was no fierce Dorm Supervisor here. It was completely the students' own little world.
"Why do I suddenly feel a little envious?" Sonoko thought as she walked up the steps, thinking of a certain bespectacled Dorm Supervisor and having some rather complicated feelings.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Sorry for the intrusion." x4
Uiharu looked very frail as she weakly opened the dorm room door, allowing the group to enter.
"I'm so sorry to trouble you all to make a special trip because of me. And thank you for handling all the Judgment work today, Shirai-san."
Natsume Sonoko helped Uiharu lie back down in her futon and gently felt her forehead.
"It's no trouble at all, Uiharu. You just focus on resting," Shirai-san said.
"It's not serious, only 37.3 degrees Celsius." Sonoko was much more sensitive to temperature than most people; a simple touch was enough to give her a rough idea.
The temperature on Uiharu's forehead wasn't high. It was just a common, minor cold.
--+--
T/N: Might just be me, but i respect tf out of Kamijou Touma. If there was one guy who deserves a harem the most, its him.
--+--
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.