"Yukino, are you done packing?" Haruno leaned against the doorframe of the bedroom, watching her sister inside placing her belongings into the suitcase.
Yukino's movements didn't stop upon hearing her sister's words. Without turning her head, she said to Haruno, "If Nee-san hadn't come to cause trouble just now, I would have finished long ago."
"Eh How can you say that? Big Sister was just trying to help you organize your luggage" Haruno said to her sister in a coquettish tone.
After finishing, she changed the subject and mentioned something else.
"Speaking of which, Shinra asked me a few days ago why you haven't gone back yet."
Yukino's hand organizing things paused but soon returned to normal. She replied in a flat tone:
"Is that so."
"Did he look for you?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't I see you go out?"
"It's hot. And he didn't invite me out either."
Mentioning this made Yukino a bit angry. That guy Shinra wanting to see her was fake; wanting to eat the snacks she made was real.
"Is that so? That's really unromantic of him. Next time I see him, Big Sister will give him a good talking to for you."
"Since when did Nee-san's relationship with him become so good?"
Yukino closed the suitcase, looked up at Haruno, and asked.
"Haven't we always been good?"
"Heh..."
Hearing Haruno's words, Yukino's eyes flashed with a cold light, and she immediately exposed the other party's lie.
"Before, you wouldn't talk about him every three sentences."
"Well, you should blame yourself for that, Yukino."
"Don't blame others for your own problems."
"Yukino, how about I go stay with you for a while?"
"No."
"Eh? So heartless!"
"Nee-san is too noisy and will cause trouble for me." Yukino knew her sister's nature very well. Staying for a few days was fine, but if she stayed for a while, she would definitely cause trouble.
"I'm afraid it's not just that, right? Is Yukino worried that I will disturb your alone time?" Haruno teased.
Yukino pinched the bridge of her nose, frowning, "It's because Nee-san always says strange things that I don't want to live with you!"
"Okay, okay. Since staying for a while won't work, staying for a few days should be fine, right? There have been a lot of things going on at home recently. If I don't go out to hide, Mom will probably draft me into service again." Haruno sighed and compromised.
Yukino obviously knew the situation at home. After Haruno came back last time, their mother turned down that contract order. The price for doing so was that their family's construction company had to find new orders to ensure normal operation.
Anyone who has run a construction company knows that sometimes projects are more important than making money.
Because the costs of personnel and equipment maintenance are fixed, these expenses are unavoidable even without projects.
Therefore, for construction companies, even if a project doesn't make money, it's better than having no project. At least with a project, expenses can be offset.
Because of the hereditary assemblyman in the family, the Yukinoshita family had a strong political foundation in Chiba City. At least they could guarantee some municipal projects, so they didn't have to worry about falling into the predicament of having no projects like other construction companies.
But the problem was that the economy had been declining over the years, so the Chiba City Government didn't have much surplus either. Now the new prime minister was drastically cutting local financial budgets. The projects allocated to the Yukinoshita family this year were actually insufficient to maintain the normal operation of the family's construction company.
Otherwise, Yukinoshita Mother wouldn't have been so conflicted about the large order from Tokyo.
After all, Yukinoshita Mother wasn't the indecisive type.
"Even if you run, Mom can catch you back." Yukino said, hesitating for a moment before asking, "Is the situation at home bad?"
"Not that bad. Shrinking the company scale a bit will get us through." Haruno waved her hand, looking quite optimistic. It was unknown whether it was true or she just didn't want her sister to worry.
"Is that so..."
"Let's not talk about this. School starts the day after tomorrow, right? The school festival should be held this semester. That's great. Will I be able to see Yukino perform on stage then?" Haruno looked at Yukino expectantly.
"Impossible." Yukino mercilessly extinguished Haruno's unrealistic thought.
Performing on stage was impossible. With so many people in the class, performing on stage would never fall on her head no matter what.
Even if it really fell on her head, it wasn't like she couldn't refuse.
"True. Compared to performing on stage, Yukino is more suited for behind-the-scenes work. So do you plan to serve as the executive committee member for the school festival?"
Although it was a question, it sounded like a statement coming from Haruno's mouth, as if she was certain Yukino would do so.
"Let me think. According to past practice, the executive committee chairman of the school festival is usually a second-year student. Meguri-chan (Student Council President) is already a third-year, which means the executive committee chairman will be chosen from among you... Have you thought about becoming the chairman, Yukino?"
"This has nothing to do with Nee-san, right?"
Haruno didn't mind her sister's attitude at all and said, "Just asking. If you really become one, maybe I can provide some help. After all, I also served as the chairman back then and know the ins and outs very well."
"Or do you not plan to serve as the chairman, Yukino?"
"If I am really chosen, I will do the job seriously."
The implication was that she wouldn't actively strive for it, but if she was really asked to do it, she would do it.
In addition, what puzzled Yukino even more was why her sister suddenly cared about the school festival.
But on second thought, her sister's thoughts had always been confusing, often saying whatever came to mind, so it wasn't surprising.
Yukino finished organizing all the luggage and took it to the entryway.
Yukinoshita Mother had been waiting there for a long time. Her kimono was as dignified and neat as ever, her hair tied high. She looked at her younger daughter calmly, sighed after a long time, and said, "Are you still going?"
"Mm." Yukino made a nasal sound, showing no intention of compromising.
She knew that her mother had always been opposed to her living alone.
Seeing Yukino still stubborn, Yukinoshita Mother didn't say anything more. She stepped aside and said softly:
"I have asked the driver to be ready. However, even living alone, you cannot slack off in your studies and conduct. I will also ask Haruno to check regularly later."
"I know." Yukino had no objection. After all, this was agreed upon at the beginning, and she knew very well that this was actually a compromise for her mother.
On the side, Haruno took the opportunity to raise her hand and said, "I will also go over and stay for a few days."
Yukinoshita Mother glanced at Haruno. She didn't set three rules like she did for Yukino, but just instructed: "Take good care of Yukino."
However, what Yukinoshita Mother didn't know was that it was precisely this differential treatment that made Yukino feel particularly uncomfortable, thus giving birth to the idea of wanting to live alone.
Haruno keenly noticed the emotional change in her sister beside her. Seeing this, she didn't say anything more to her mother. She took the lead to go out, turned around, and greeted Yukino:
"Let's go, let's go. The driver has been waiting for a long time~"
Yukino sorted out her emotions slightly, then bid a serious farewell to Yukinoshita Mother at the entryway: "Mother, I'm leaving first."
"Safe travels."
Yukinoshita Mother watched the backs of her daughters getting into the car together. She waited until the vehicle completely disappeared from view before closing the door and going back to do her own things.
...
"Zap zap crackle."
Cold white electric arcs briefly overpowered the lighting in the room. Accompanied by a wisp of black smoke rising, the electronic device in Shinra's hand was declared completely scrapped.
On his right, electronic devices like this had already piled up into a small hill.
Shinra was trying to directly use his ability to power portable electronic devices. Once successful, Shinra would no longer have battery anxiety in the future, directly transforming into a human power bank, charging however he wanted.
Here, someone might ask.
Shinra, Shinra, is there any deep meaning in doing this?
Hehe, no!
But it's cool!
Can you imagine the peace of mind brought by holding a phone while walking on the street, with the battery icon in the upper right corner displaying 100% and a '⚡'?
Shinra felt that way, he wouldn't feel tired even if he wandered outside all day.
But unfortunately, even with the BUG-level talent of 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent', outputting a stable and continuous current wasn't an easy task.
How difficult was it exactly?
Let's put it this way. Outputting current is like opening the floodgates; a rush of water is easy. But stable output current is like controlling the urge to pee, letting it out drop by drop. Not a bit more, not a bit less.
Who can do that?
At least in the short term, Shinra felt he couldn't do it.
Shinra glanced at the small hill of scrapped electronic devices piled up beside him and secretly rejoiced that he didn't use his own phone for the attempt right away, but chose to purchase a batch of cheap Walkmans for experiments.
Otherwise, he would probably be hugging his phone and shouting 'My Excalibur' right now.
This path was probably blocked for the short term. After all, even if Shinra controlled the current, once the current left the body and lost a stable medium, disturbances would occur again, making it even harder to control.
And the charging port of a phone was only so big. Although Shinra's fingertip could fit in, the problem was, he couldn't walk on the street holding a phone in one hand and poking the charging port with a finger of the other hand, right?
In that case, it would be better to bring a power bank!
Fortunately, Shinra understood keeping up with the times. Utilizing the principle of 'electricity generates magnetism, magnetism generates electricity' in basic physics, he controlled the current to construct a circuit in his palm. Through a method similar to 'wireless charging', he barely achieved the achievement of a human power bank.
The disadvantage was that the palm easily heated up, and it only supported wireless charging devices.
However, after tinkering for so long, Shinra wasn't without gains. Besides the enhanced control over current, he felt he seemed to be able to indirectly control magnetic force through this method.
Electromagnetism is inseparable, after all.
Now that he could charge phones through electromagnetic induction, in the future, he could naturally amplify himself through this method to obtain various incredible abilities.
The most classic one was firing a railgun with a coin.
Misaka Shinra, so to speak.
Throwing all the scrapped electronic devices into a cardboard box, Shinra then picked it up, planning to throw this electronic waste into the garbage room downstairs.
After all, these electronic devices pierced by his electricity were emitting a burnt smell all the time. It was better to dispose of them early to avoid the smell spreading outside and making others misunderstand that his house was on fire.
Holding the box and wearing slippers, Shinra took the elevator downstairs.
Just in time to run into the Yukinoshita sisters who had rushed back from their family home.
"Oh my?" Seeing the elevator door open and a Shinra drill out from inside, Haruno's eyes immediately lit up.
"Did you know Yukino-chan was coming back, so you came down specially to welcome her?"
Glancing at Yukino who was holding her forehead, Shinra, knowing Haruno's personality, also weighed the box in his hand and replied with a smile: "Yeah. Here, this is a housewarming gift."
"Who gives electronic waste as a gift?" Haruno glanced at the tragically dead electronic devices in the box, her pretty face full of disgust.
"So I came down to throw out the trash." Shinra said as he walked quickly towards the garbage room.
After handing the box to the staff, Shinra hurried back to the elevator. Sure enough, the Yukinoshita sisters hadn't gone up but were holding the elevator button waiting for him.
"You're back?" Shinra asked Yukino.
"Mm, school starts soon." Yukino nodded slightly.
Shinra saw that not only was Yukino carrying luggage, but Haruno beside her was also carrying a large bag.
"Big Sister will also stay at Yukino's place for a few days."
Noticing Shinra's gaze, Haruno patted her bag and said with a smile.
"I shouldn't be disturbing your world for two, right?"
"Nee-san!" Yukino couldn't bear it anymore and interrupted her sister's nonsense with a cold look.
"Not a world for two, as long as you don't hinder Yukino from making snacks for me."
Yukino looked at Shinra again and said in an unkind tone: "I'm not your pastry chef."
Meeting after so long, why is this guy's head full of just that bit of food?
To this, Shinra could only say, Food is the first necessity of the people~
"Do you need help?" Shinra glanced at the luggage beside the sisters and offered.
After all, having been uninhabited for almost half a month, Yukino's home probably needed a good cleaning.
Based on Shinra's understanding of Yukino, she probably wouldn't spend money to hire someone to clean her home. It wasn't that she was stingy, but she didn't like strangers entering her private space.
Not to mention there was Haruno, a free laborer, here this time.
However, before Yukino could reply, Haruno spoke up first: "That's great, I was waiting for you to say that. After all, relying only on us two weak women to clean the whole house would probably take a lot of time!"
"Wait... Nee-san, how can you trouble people like this?"
"Is it trouble?"
"Not trouble, but meals must be included."
"Deal~"