Chapter 9: The Explosive Change of People

  "Ugh... where is this..." Mikoto Misaka covered her eyes from the dazzling sunlight, and her still-groggy brain suddenly realized she was lying on a bench in an empty park. Suddenly remembering the battle that had occurred earlier, Mikoto's expression tensed as she sat up and began to search her body with her hands for any unusual places.

  This scene made Kanzaki Aria's eyes turn black with rage; even if she was starving, she wouldn't lay a hand on a minor from the 3D world! Not even if the 3D world's Misaka Mikoto was just as cute as her 2D counterpart - this was a matter of principle. (Those who thought otherwise in the previous chapter should go reflect on their mistakes)

  Mikoto Misaka, who hadn't found anything unusual with her body, let out a sigh of relief and left the park with a gloomy expression, sporting three oil-based pen strokes on each side of her face resembling cat whiskers. Apparently, she still hasn't discovered where Kuroko Shirai's true mischief lies.

  After seeing Misaka Mikoto leave the park, he also left in the opposite direction; started looking for an affordable restaurant to solve his meal problem. Today was chased by Misaka Mikoto for a long run and calories were consumed too much, if not eating more today at night will have no strength to find evil 'rob the rich and help the poor, chivalrous and righteous'.

  As for the process of searching for food, he vaguely heard voices such as "You damn dead fish eye, I will never let you go, I must kill you" and was ignored by him as an auditory hallucination caused by hunger.

  The dividing line of auditory hallucinations

  "Bastard, next time I meet him, I'll definitely take care of him, I swear!" Mikoto Misaka scrubbed her face fiercely with cleansing liquid in front of the mirror, three cat whiskers on each side of her face. Just thinking about how she had walked down the street with such embarrassing cat whiskers and was stared at by people for a long time before discovering the problem through the storefront window, Mikoto Misaka felt like dying right now.

  "Hmmph..."

  After such a tragedy occurred, coincidentally at this time, the roommate who lived under the same roof and had a perverted personality was still smiling foolishly without a care in the world. Mikoto Misaka felt that today was simply the darkest day of her life, no exceptions!

  It's fortunate that the prankster showed some mercy and didn't use one of those oil-based pens that would take a week to erase; Mikoto Misaka scrubbed her face for half a day in front of the mirror before finally washing off the prank drawing, by which time her face had been rubbed bright red all over, looking as adorable as a fresh apple.

  "Apple red sister, good, so delicious..."

  Mikoto Misaka suddenly felt a malicious intent with a perverted feeling being transmitted from behind her, and subconsciously spread electricity throughout her body. Along with the sound of Bilibili, a black charcoal named Kuroko Shirai appeared on the ground next to Mikoto Misaka.

  "Hei Zi! How many times have I told you, don't suddenly fly over and pounce on me!"

  "It's all because my sister is too cute, and I just can't help but be drawn to her... Ah... wait a minute... the branch office is calling." White井 Kuroko's perverted declaration was cut off as her phone on the desk suddenly rang with the special ringtone set for calls from the branch office.

  "Moshi moshi, this is Shirai Kuroko..." As soon as the phone connected, Shirai Kuroko's expression quickly switched back to her serious and stern work mode.

  "It's... something that can't be helped if it happens... I'll head over right away..." Shirai Kuroko hung up the phone, quickly put on her uniform and tied the Wind Discipline Committee armband around her shoulder. Apologetically, she said to Misaka Mikoto: "Sorry, Onee-sama, but a colleague of the Wind Discipline Committee was caught in an explosion while handling the 'Vacuum Blast' incident, so we're short-handed today... Sorry, I won't be able to spend the rest of this lovely day with you..."

  "'Vacuum Explosion'?" Mikoto Misaka wasn't very familiar with this, but seeing Kuroko Shirai's expression, she could guess that it wasn't a simple crime case.

  "Seriously, this is the work of the student council...” Shirai Kuroko felt a bit exasperated at Misaka Mikoto's curiosity, but decided it was better to tell her honestly. Otherwise, her curious sister would probably use her abilities to infiltrate the server and investigate on her own.

  "Well, recently there's been someone with the ability 'Quantum Acceleration' at level 4, who has been using a puppet to conceal themselves in crowded areas and trigger explosions using aluminum-made products hidden inside the puppet. So far, only Judgment members have been injured. But if this continues, it's possible that the perpetrator will target ordinary people as well." Shirai Kuroko explained to Misaka Mikoto while walking towards the window; (o(︶︿︶)o Ugh, I hope overtime doesn't last too long. If we violate dorm rules and get discovered by that terrifying existence, it'll be disastrous."

  Shirai Kuroko's body trembled at the thought, and she clasped her hands together in a prayer-like gesture, holding them high above her head as she begged Misaka Mikoto: "Sister, if it gets too late during overtime and the dorm mother comes to check on us, I'm counting on you!"

  "Hmm..." Mikoto Misaka thought of that unscientific fighting strength in the dormitory, and her mouth twitched with an unnatural response.

  "I can finally rest assured after handing it over to Onee-sama... See you later..." Before Shirai Kuroko's words had even faded away, her figure vanished with a whoosh from the room.

  "LV4's 'Quantum Gear' ability... making explosives out of aluminum products..." Misaka Mikoto muttered to herself, recalling the few key words revealed by Kuroko Shirai, and her mind couldn't help but think back to that brief skirmish this afternoon; could the culprit be him? Although he had that gloomy dead-fish eyes and a terrible personality, somehow she just didn't get the feeling that he would do something like this.

  Mikoto Misaka thought of this and remembered Kuroko Shirai's efforts to complete the student council work, always seriously forbidding herself from intervening with an expression that made her laugh as she fell onto the bed: Ah, why think so much, this is something for the student council to worry about.

  Kazari Utsuwa sat on the train, counting his ill-gotten gains from today's robbery, when a sudden news flash about the "Empty Explosion" incident caught his attention. He couldn't believe that someone else would do something as stupid as taking out their anger on innocent people. Kazari watched the news for a while to make sure it wouldn't affect his own laid-back life; then he made a decision similar to Mikoto Misaka's, but with completely different motivations - he shamelessly shifted all responsibility onto the student council.