The aftermath this time was unprecedented in scale. Order hadn't yet returned to the streets, which were clogged with vehicles haphazardly parked and blocking traffic, leaving public transport still paralyzed.
No buses were running back to District 7, and even the trains had stopped.
Aside from walking and non-motorized vehicles, which were less affected by the traffic situation, you couldn't find any mode of transport moving faster than twenty-five kilometers per hour.
After saying goodbye to Kamijou-senpai and the others, Natsume, who had just helped resolve this major incident, was carefully surveying her surroundings.
She finally spotted a few cleaning robots wandering aimlessly by the roadside.
Natsume pulled her senior along and hopped onto one of these convenient transports.
No matter how harsh the conditions, the cleaning robots never let you down—as long as you used them in conjunction with light refraction, that is.
"It's a relief, everyone's safe."
"You're kidding me. So there was such a massive underground facility beneath School Garden?"
Electromagnetic waves carried their voices, and a genuine, heartfelt smile spread across Natsume's face.
Perched on the white cylindrical robot, her body transparent like a ghost, Natsume was busy calling everyone she knew.
This incident hadn't just affected Academy City; it had spread across all of Japan. So, Natsume was also contacting everyone she knew outside the city, one by one.
It was the same for Misaka-senpai. Though fully transparent herself, she was also busy contacting others. They'd become the Tokiwadai Ghost Girl Duo for the moment.
Accompanied by sudden laughter appearing out of thin air and the faint, indistinct sounds of girls conversing…
Several students passing by, emerging from nearby shelters, broke out in goosebumps. Their minds jumped to those urban legends they'd heard about, and they couldn't help but quicken their pace.
Another day in Academy City, and it was anything but boring.
"Ah, that's right. There's also Yumiya-senpai."
Natsume hesitated for a moment, suddenly realizing she didn't have that particular senior's contact info.
She felt a bit uncertain about how to interact with that senpai who worked in the Dark Side.
They were from two different worlds. Maybe the best approach was to keep some distance.
After returning to familiar territory from District 23, the two of them found Shirai-san and the others near the underground shopping arcade.
Just as she stepped off the white robot, the first thing Natsume saw was Meigo-senpai, surrounded by a crowd, singing a new song a cappella.
With the singer Arisa back on the streets, life seemed to be returning to normal.
--+--
There's a certain speed known as Academy City's response time.
Less than an hour had passed since the incident was quelled—not even enough time for Tokiwadai Dormitory to finish preparing dinner—and various news websites were already sprouting all sorts of explanations for the strange light that had appeared in the sky.
The general direction of these explanations was mostly the same, likely all approved by the higher-ups of Academy City.
The mainstream theory was that staff from the Orbit Portal Company had conducted an unauthorized antimatter experiment within the space elevator, leading to an unforeseen accident.
Rizdy, the actual controller of the Orbit Portal Company, had been formally arrested by Academy City, and the space elevator would be reopened to the public only after all safety hazards were completely eliminated.
Natsume, a dedicated phone user, pulled out her ID card while still looking at her phone.
She hadn't really been watching where she was going for a while now.
Slipping her phone into her pocket, now back in her own Room 210, Natsume didn't feel like commenting on these explanations.
As one of the people in the know, she was aware there had been no antimatter experiment.
While matter-antimatter annihilation does produce photons—gamma rays, in fact—the situation that had just occurred was different, and it couldn't have produced such neat halos either.
Trying to explain magical matters with science was far too difficult, which was also why Academy City hadn't used its official media to release the news.
However, there was another theory: that it was an anomaly produced during an experiment involving the 'Dark Matter' extracted from the #2 Level 5.
This even more far-fetched explanation actually garnered a lot of support.
"I'm home."
Waving at the bear plushie on the sofa, Natsume's first instinct upon returning was to bury her face in the couch and get some proper sleep.
But she hadn't bathed yet, and dinner was coming up soon. Having gone through so much today, Natsume reluctantly mustered some energy.
Closing the door, shutting out all the troublesome problems from outside, Natsume's mood finally began to lighten.
She casually found a plastic container from a box and placed her trophy—the white stones—inside. This was Natsume's new collectible.
As for the spoils seized from the 'Three Magical Girls' incident, those were still over at the Judgement Branch 177 office.
Stuffing the summer uniform she'd taken off into the last unused public washing machine, Natsume changed into a fresh uniform. She half-crouched beside the machine, staring somewhat blankly at the tumbling clothes inside.
Even though she'd been busy outside all day, Natsume's clothes were actually still quite clean. It was just that someone with a slight cleanliness obsession had to change and wash her clothes every day.
In contrast, Misaka-senpai's uniform was rendered unwearable, yellowed by smoke from the fire. If she wore it out, the dorm supervisor would surely call her into the office the very next day.
"Speaking of which, what was that perception all about?"
With a moment of free time, Natsume finally had the chance to ponder that peculiar state she'd entered in the space station.
Only something closely related to herself could get this certain bun-head so invested.
If she could just enter that microscopic world, Natsume's ability would have much greater room to play, and her combat power would skyrocket exponentially.
This improvement would be earth-shattering for Natsume. She wouldn't have to painstakingly collect all sorts of experimental data and develop her abilities further through constant trial and error.
Like the 'Meltdowner' data previously obtained from the 'STUDY' Dark Side group—if she could enter the microscopic world, the development difficulty would plummet by more than half.
Possessing that kind of perception, capable of detecting the microscopic world around her, was far more impressive than even Kanzaki Kaori's sharp eyesight that could easily make out scenes six hundred meters away.
"Maybe it's related to the soul."
Landing on a somewhat plausible answer, Natsume felt it was absolutely necessary to re-examine her own soul.
Natsume was different from everyone else; she could perceive the existence of souls.
Perhaps this had been Natsume's special quality from the very beginning.
But it seemed as if there was a faint, indistinct barrier between Natsume and her soul. Because under normal circumstances, a person shouldn't be able to perceive their own soul.
Due to this barrier, although her consciousness could travel back and forth between her brain and her soul, the two remained distinctly separate.
The biggest evidence was that memories from each side didn't interfere with the other, yet they could still flow between them. Natsume had always been extracting memories from her soul to her brain, but she had never tried the reverse.
If this was all just because of her identity as a 'transmigrator', such preferential treatment was really annoying.
"Is it because this soul doesn't belong solely to me? Or perhaps my soul doesn't belong to this world?"
Falling slightly silent, Natsume found these ambiguous matters quite perplexing.
And those sudden, strange feelings of familiarity seemed to point to this very issue.
She didn't know if she'd encountered such problems in her previous life. Regardless, Natsume felt somewhat concerned about it.
Was that special perception truly originating from her own soul, a power inherited from her past self?
Thinking this, Natsume felt it necessary to make contact with that Ladylee again. She suddenly wanted to know more about the past.
"Natsume-san, you're doing laundry too?"
Tap, tap, tap—footsteps echoed on the smooth marble floor. A girl with damp hair draped over her shoulders, her bangs plastered to her forehead, squeezed into the laundry area.
"Ah, if there are no free machines, this one of mine will be done soon."
Natsume, still half-crouching, lifted her head, her gaze looking up at the girl who had suddenly appeared.
It was Juufuku Miho.
"Thank you. It seems like everyone got their clothes dirty today; the washing machines are all in use."
Juufuku Miho wore a pleasant smile and gave a slight nod.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, a lot really did happen today."
She couldn't help but voice a minor complaint, even though her own clothes were still clean.
Natsume wasn't particularly fond of this kind of fast-paced, perilous life.
For her, life should be about attending classes every day, reading manga and playing games after school, and occasionally going shopping or to a family restaurant with friends.
Now a Level 5 esper, Natsume was quite the little rich girl with formidable purchasing power.
Counting the days, the third day of the Daihaseisai should be when the scholarship money gets deposited.
--+--
T/N: 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.