Inside the Misaka household.
Mikoto sat curiously on the living room sofa, while Chinatsu sat cross-legged on the bare floor in front of her, the television switched on and playing a video about meditation.
"Big sister, is doing this actually useful?"
"Probably, maybe, possibly, it's useful."
Chinatsu's eyebrows raised slightly in uncertainty. As the meditation session grew longer, she increasingly felt the unreliability of her Gemstone ability.
In the future, there are seven Level 5 Esper who stand at the pinnacle of Ability Users in Academy City. The one ranked at the very bottom is, like Chinatsu, a Gemstone, and his name is Hamazura Shiage.
He possesses a powerful and indescribable strength within him. The nice guy Ollerus once said that if he could actively use this indescribable power, he might be able to defeat him. One must know that this nice guy Ollerus is a man who once had the opportunity to become a Magic God.
Holding a rocket launcher but using it as a club—that is the state of Hamazura Shiage. As a fellow Gemstone, Chinatsu felt her own state was even stranger; she couldn't even begin to describe this feeling.
Looking at Mikoto, on the other hand...
Chinatsu opened her eyes languidly and turned her head to look at the textbooks on the table to the side of the living room, where Mikoto had already finished her homework. For Mikoto, doing homework only brought the fatigue caused by the sheer volume, never the distress of not understanding or being unable to learn.
Mikoto is a genius. Although she started at Level 1, her ability level has been steadily increasing as time has passed.
By the time she was 12, she was detected by the relevant institutions as having reached the realm of an Esper; at that time, she wasn't even a middle school student yet.
Thinking this, Chinatsu sighed helplessly. She certainly didn't want to reach a point where Mikoto became a Level 5 while she herself didn't even have the corresponding strength of a Level 5.
[Gravitational Manipulation]
To put it nicely, it is the ability to manipulate gravity, one of the four fundamental forces of the universe. If this field could be pushed to its extreme, then destroying the heavens and the earth would be possible.
However, the power of an ability and the strength of the Ability User are two completely different things. Mikoto's ability can also interfere with electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces, but in reality, the precision of the ability makes it difficult to realize theoretical fantasies.
Besides that, the future number one ranked Esper, Accelerator, can analyze and manipulate the direction of vectors, while the second-ranked Kakine Teitoku can create imaginary matter that shouldn't exist.
It can be said that the abilities of Espers are extremely powerful, but how far each of them can walk on the path they tread is another matter entirely.
Click~
"Hmm?"
Hearing the sound of the front door opening, Chinatsu slowly opened her eyes from her meditation, while Mikoto happily trotted to the door to welcome her mother home.
"Mom!"
Misuzu was seen holding a box containing a cake in one hand and carrying a shopping bag from the mall in the other, though it was unclear what was inside.
"Get ready, we'll eat cake in a bit!"
Misuzu walked to the large table in the living room with a smile and placed the cake box on it. She then immediately opened the shopping bag she was carrying in her other hand and took out a frog-shaped plush toy.
"It's a new piece of merchandise recently released at the big mall nearby. It's quite popular; I saw many parents buying them, and I thought you would like it too, Mikoto, so I bought it back."
Misuzu handed the gua tai plushie into Mikoto's arms. Although it was their first meeting, its appearance had already struck a chord in Mikoto's heart—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as love at first sight.
"So cute!!!"
Mikoto held the gua tai plushie high in her hands and began to spin 360 degrees around herself. Seeing Mikoto's delight, Misuzu also revealed a joyful smile.
"Chinatsu, come here quickly, this one is yours!"
Misuzu smilingly took out another plush toy from the shopping bag. Its appearance was slightly different from the one in Mikoto's hands, though it belonged to the same series of products.
Mikoto's was a "gua tai".
Chinatsu's was a "Yuntai".
It was a doll that looked like a gua tai, but with two whiskers on its cheeks and wearing a black suit.
"This one is also so cute!!!" Mikoto's eyes sparkled again upon seeing the Yuntai.
It turned out that Mikoto had no resistance to this series of frog plushies; if one had to compare her level of affection for the two dolls, it would just be 110 versus 120—either way, both were at off-the-charts levels.
Misuzu's expectant gaze, combined with Mikoto's enthusiastic response, and the fact that Chinatsu still needed to maintain her persona as a child.
In response, Chinatsu looked down at the Yuntai plushie she had received from her mother. After a very brief moment of mental preparation, she broke into a pure, innocent smile.
"It's really so cute, I love it!"
An innocent smile appeared on Chinatsu's face, and the whole house was filled with a happy, harmonious atmosphere, until the sound of footsteps emanated from outside the house. A few seconds later, the sound of the front door lock being opened could be heard.
Click!
The three people inside the house heard this sound and turned their heads suspiciously toward the direction of the front door. At the same time, the door opened, and a man with messy stubble but wearing a neat suit walked in from outside.
"Surprise!!!"
Misaka Ryogake walked into the house with his arms wrapped full of gift bags. When he saw his family all gathered right in front of him, he quickly spoke up first to greet them.
A surprise.
Whether it was a pleasant one was debatable, but it was definitely a full score for shock.
Misaka Misu frowned instantly as she looked at her husband who had suddenly returned. Facing such an attitude from his wife, Misaka Ryogake coughed awkwardly, then turned his gaze toward his two daughters.
"I've heard from your mother that you both have obtained some truly incredible abilities. Can you show your father?" Misaka Ryogake asked with a grin.
"O-okay!"
After Misaka Mikoto placed her gua tai plushie securely on the living room sofa, she raised both hands and looked around, eventually locking onto a steel fork sitting in the kitchen.
"Hah!"
Mikoto stared at the steel fork with extreme seriousness. Due to the distance, the steel fork first wobbled left and right twice and did not fly directly toward Mikoto.
It wasn't until Mikoto took two steps forward to close the distance and focused her mind even more that the steel fork, after shaking violently, floated upward and was forcibly dragged into Mikoto's hands.
"I did it!"
Mikoto grinned and held the steel fork she was gripping high in the air. Although it wasn't a particularly impressive feat for an Electromaster, for Mikoto, it was indeed a very memorable first step.
Misuzu and Ryogake both applauded in encouragement upon seeing this. When it was Chinatsu's turn to demonstrate, she bowed her head in silence for a moment before slowly walking over to her father, Ryogake's side.
She placed one hand on Ryogake's body, and amidst Ryogake's confusion and bewilderment, Chinatsu lifted the over 130-pound Misaka Ryogake up with one hand.