Taking an injured person out for some fresh air was pretty normal, but leaving so early in the morning and deliberately avoiding Natsume Sonoko's usual wake-up time? That had to be that certain Teleporter's idea again.
Come to think of it, ever since Shirai-san got injured, Misaka-senpai's patience had increased significantly. She seemed to have become much gentler overall.
This, however, created a major flaw in a certain bun-headed girl's "wait-for-the-rabbit" plan—she'd completely failed to account for the changes in routine.
"I'm back."
The new door to Judgment Branch 177 slid open slowly. A mature-looking girl wearing a straw sunhat waved at the few people inside, casually hanging her hat on the new coat rack by the entrance.
Everything in the Judgment branch office was brand new, except for the small balcony where construction plans were finalized but work hadn't officially started yet. For now, someone's new desk was blocking the opening.
Behind her rimless round glasses, dark pupils exuded a steady light. The Judgment senior known as Konori Mii entered, carrying a few items.
"Konori-senpai!" two voices chorused.
Uiharu was slumped in a chair with a freely adjustable backrest, leaning so far back she was practically staring at the ceiling, greeting the newly arrived Konori Mii from this strange posture.
"Natsume-san is here too."
"And that's not how you're supposed to use the new chairs, Uiharu."
A faint smile flickered across Konori Mii's face as she placed six bottles of Musashino Milk into the storage cabinet.
"Understood," Uiharu said, straightening up with a somewhat embarrassed expression.
"Konori-senpai, you're hurt!"
A certain observant bun-headed girl noticed the bandage wrapped around Konori-senpai's arm and spoke up in surprise.
"It's just a minor injury, nothing serious," Konori-senpai replied, her expression unchanged as if discussing the most ordinary matter, waving her hand dismissively.
If it were a certain bun-headed girl, she'd probably be unable to resist complaining to everyone by now.
"Really? What happened, Konori-senpai?" Uiharu asked, also startled and pressing for details.
"After we all went our separate ways last night, I encountered an incident on my way home."
Konori-senpai recalled the previous evening, pacing slowly as she spoke.
Even though her ability was Clairvoyance, which wasn't suited for fighting, when it came to pure combat skills, this senpai was no less capable than Shirai Kuroko.
If Konori-senpai had gotten injured, it meant the perpetrator wasn't weak.
"Was it an attack on a Level 0?" Natsume-san asked with concern, having encountered a similar case herself yesterday.
"No, it was a robbery at an unmanned bank. The culprit was troublesome. Fortunately, I ran into Anti-Skill who were on duty."
Konori-senpai said seriously. Bank robberies every few days—the public order in this city was truly worrying.
Recently, security measures throughout Academy City had increased significantly, yet criminal incidents continued to rise without decline.
These security measures only increased the cost for criminals; they couldn't eradicate the darkness in people's hearts.
"But there was something very concerning about this bank robbery. These are some items we recovered from the perpetrator."
Remembering something, Konori-senpai took out her phone and opened the photo gallery.
The photo showed a pale green, irregularly shaped crystal and a used syringe.
Natsume-san unconsciously focused her gaze on the crystal. Its interior was somewhat cloudy, dotted with specks like stars in the night sky, as if containing numerous impurities.
"This isn't like the one from last time."
As a diligent Judgment member, Uiharu immediately thought of something, a trace of surprise appearing on her face.
"Last time's what?"
A certain noticeably less conspicuous Judgment member leaned in to ask.
"Probably sometime before summer vacation, weren't there many cases of tree-like humanoids attacking people in Academy City?"
Uiharu turned, her face growing a bit more serious.
"Tree-people? I think I heard Shirai-san mention that."
Recalling some past events, Natsume-san bit her lip, lost in thought.
What exactly had the situation been like back then?
Natsume-san thought for a moment—she hadn't been involved in that incident at all. It had been entirely handled by Anti-Skill and Shirai-san's group.
"And this crystal is completely identical to the Life Crystals seized during those tree-people attacks."
Konori-senpai nodded, confirming Uiharu's observation.
"But recently, I haven't heard about any school districts experiencing destruction of valuable trees."
Uiharu thought for a moment, speaking somewhat hesitantly.
Although many buildings had collapsed recently, and substations or water pipelines were damaged every few days, environmental conservation in Academy City was still developing well.
"Then it's very likely these crystals were actually produced outside Academy City."
"But the most important point is that these crystals can cause mutations in the human body. And it seems someone has already found a controllable method of using them, which has flowed into Academy City."
A trace of gravity suddenly appeared on Konori-senpai's face, as if she'd thought of something unpleasant.
A life force field compression technology developed based on physical enhancement-type ability users—the final product naturally embodied the characteristics of physical enhancement.
"What kind of usage method?"
Natsume Sonoko couldn't help but grow curious.
"In yesterday's robbery case, the perpetrator used a drug suspected to be made from this type of crystal on his right arm, causing massive cell replication in his right forearm, which ultimately formed an abnormal state similar to soft tentacles."
"The tentacles' destructive power was astonishing—they could easily shatter the bank's tempered glass. Even Anti-Skill's standard-issue bullets could only barely penetrate them."
Konori-senpai explained that her arm had been injured by the tentacles' residual force.
"Ah, how is that possible?"
As she listened, Uiharu felt her scalp tingling.
Regeneration-type ability users have impressive cell repair capabilities, remaining unharmed even after dozens of cuts, but that still falls within the normal range for ability users.
But transforming a human arm into tentacles through a single injection? That was truly horrifying.
"Don't be so afraid. As the drug's effects faded, the cells in the tentacles died, and the perpetrator's arm eventually returned to its original state."
"Anti-Skill has already started investigating the flow of this drug and the crystals."
Konori-senpai said in a comforting tone.
Although Uiharu was an excellent Judgment member who wouldn't flinch even against ferocious criminals, her courage was rather small when it came to certain things.
"An arm turning into tentacles..."
Natsume-san frowned slightly; she seemed to have a strange sense of déjà vu.
She remembered seeing something similar somewhere.
But the situation back then wasn't an arm turning into tentacles—rather, those strange people had developed some mutated organs on their backs, and they were extremely dangerous when they attacked violently.
This unmanned bank robbery case Konori-senpai encountered reminded a certain bun-headed girl of her own endless summer vacation.
Although the holiday period had technically extended by over two months, with one day feeling like three—seemingly a great bargain—the memories from that time weren't particularly good for a certain bun-headed girl.
Every day she had to endure the pain of having her memories altered by magic, using the common sense from her past life existing in her soul to repair her own cognition, and every few days there was some festival keeping her extremely busy.
When she finally left, she even encountered her father's subordinates and a bunch of strange tentacled creatures.
Their twisted bodies climbing on walls, with several extra mutated organs behind them far more dangerous than ordinary people's—the intense killing intent in those tentacled creatures' eyes remained vividly etched in Natsume-san's memory.
But now she was hearing similar news within Academy City, which made Natsume-san somewhat concerned.
A drug that made human bodies grow tentacles wasn't necessarily related to those creatures, but Konori-senpai's description of their destructive power was quite similar to Natsume-san's memories—the tentacles could easily shatter the bank's tempered glass.
Back then, those tentacled creatures had also made two large holes in Conan's room. According to Ran-neechan, it still leaked during rainy days.
Thinking of these things, Natsume-san's expression turned grave, her whole face seeming to scrunch up.
It appeared problems related to her had increased again.
Although those creatures' combat ability wasn't particularly strong, judging by how hurriedly the two uncles from Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department had sent her back to Academy City, the actual situation was likely much more severe than what she had encountered.
She was now one of Academy City's proud Level 5 espers, but she still didn't know if she could handle the situation from back then.
However, things seemed to have changed again because a drug that could make people grow tentacles had suddenly appeared in Academy City, possibly originating from the city's own technology.
And if those tentacled creatures were related to Academy City, then why had she been safe after returning?
Or perhaps, although related to Academy City, they couldn't operate within the city itself.
Of course, all this was based on the assumption that the drug and those creatures were somehow connected.
"But were those creatures really holding a grudge against my past life?"
Natsume-san tilted her head, thinking seriously.
After the incident with Ladylee, Natsume-san had become less confused, immediately thinking of her elusive past life.
To be honest, a certain bun-headed girl would rather not have this past life that constantly brought her trouble. She wouldn't even blame others for not believing in such things as past lives. But things never went according to Natsume-san's wishes.
The only gratifying thing was that peculiar perception that had allowed her to enter the microscopic world before.
But Natsume-san didn't know how to trigger it again, leaving her in an awkward intermediate state.
So given the current situation, it seemed her past life only brought trouble—and a certain bun-headed girl hated trouble most of all.
--+--
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.