Near the flower beds not far from Tokiwadai's School District 7 dormitory.
A cleaning robot was lifted half a meter off the ground by a strange gust of wind, struggling helplessly.
Since it hadn't sustained any real damage, it didn't send out any alerts to the surrounding area.
All in all, everything seemed perfectly normal.
A patrol bot occasionally making rounds near the school dormitory automatically checked Natsume Sonoko's identification details, then casually moved right past the tormented cleaning robot as if nothing were wrong, leaving the little machine whirring frantically at its base as if utterly aggrieved.
Because the injury on her leg was still healing, Natsume Sonoko sat on a bench beside the flower bed, perfectly positioned to reach the cleaning robot hovering half a meter in the air.
She frowned as she studied the control panel on its surface.
Unlike the security robots, which had some offensive capability, these cleaning bots didn't require special access—their controls were basically open to anyone in Academy City. You could find these things everywhere.
Curious, Natsume Sonoko browsed through the 3D map of School District 7 on the robot's display. Aside from a few restricted areas, the map was quite detailed.
She could even locate Komoe-sensei's house directly on it.
What's more, the map updated quickly. The industrial area that had been destroyed just a few days ago was already marked with a "No Entry" symbol.
"So there are this many interesting places in School District 7… Wow, there's even a newly opened underground street here!" By now, Sonoko was getting excited, completely taken with her new toy.
She checked the sky—the sun was still high overhead. After resting her chin in her hand and thinking it over for a long while, Natsume finally decided: she really, really wanted to ride this thing around for a spin.
Still, something felt a little off. Roaming around sitting on a cleaning robot… no matter how you looked at it, that was just strange.
But before long, there she was—riding atop the cleaning robot, eyes wide open, cutting through the crowded streets like a hot knife through butter. And yet, the people around her seemed completely unaware of Natsume Sonoko's presence.
The robot weaved left and right through the bustling crowd, then smoothly slipped out the other side.
"That's weird, why did the temperature suddenly rise around here?" Just as the robot passed through, several people nearby voiced the same confusion almost in unison.
"You felt it too? I thought it was just me," said a high school-aged girl, looking around in surprise.
"I think I've heard rumors about something like this before. I thought it was just an urban legend," analyzed a girl from Sakugawa Middle School.
At that moment, everyone's gaze turned toward a faint, translucent figure floating in the air not far away.
The figure seemed to be wearing a Tokiwadai Middle School uniform, but its outline was blurry, making it impossible to see any clear features. Parts of its body were even missing.
"Is that… a ghost?" One girl was so frightened her legs gave out, and she slumped to the ground.
"Where'd it go?"
In an instant, the ghostly figure vanished like a trick of the light, leaving behind a crowd of baffled onlookers.
Meanwhile, Natsume Sonoko sat cheerfully on her cleaning robot, thoroughly enjoying her little joyride.
However, the temperature around Sonoko seemed rather unusual. The difference in temperature caused variations in air density, creating the right conditions for light refraction.
Actually, there were quite a few uses for refraction—Sonoko herself had experimented with several.
First, she could directly bend light coming toward her from certain angles, making it impossible for anyone from that direction to observe her clearly.
Second, by refracting the light that had already reflected off her, she could distort her apparent position in others' eyes—exactly what was happening now.
The latter case was like a fish swimming in clear river water. If a fisherman thrust his spear directly where he saw the fish, he'd miss; he'd have to aim lower to actually hit it.
Natsume Sonoko's mastery of these two methods was still fairly rudimentary, but when used together, the effect was surprisingly effective—so much so that the refracted phantom image she created became blurry and indistinct.
The real headache now was that drifting phantom image. Even though Sonoko knew it was just a distorted reflection of herself, she still couldn't properly control its position. As a result, the phantom kept floating around her erratically, like a ghost wandering through Academy City.
The phantom issue still needed work, but Sonoko's mind clearly wasn't on that. In no time, she had zipped around four or five streets, heading further into the city.
After a loop through the newly opened underground street, the day had grown late, and Natsume Sonoko—still riding the cleaning robot—finally returned to the dorm.
--+--
At the hospital, after having her bandages removed and going through another check-up, a thoroughly recovered Natsume Sonoko beamed with joy.
"You've healed very well—even a bit faster than expected. Basically, there's no problem now," the woman doctor sitting across from her said with a smile.
"Thank you, Doctor," Natsume Sonoko said hurriedly.
Just outside the examination room door, Uiharu Kazari and Saten Ruiko, who had been waiting, immediately came up to her.
"What did the doctor say?" Uiharu asked, a note of concern in her voice.
"Everything's fine now." Natsume Sonoko stomped her foot firmly on the ground to show she was fully recovered.
"Be careful! You just got better—you should still take it easy," Uiharu said, hastily pulling Sonoko back as she demonstrated.
"Well then, to celebrate Natsume's recovery, my treat—let's go have sukiyaki," Saten Ruiko suggested, a slight smile on her face.
"Since Saten's offering, I'm fine with it. What about you, Natsume?"
"But the nearest sukiyaki place is kinda far," Natsume Sonoko said hesitantly. Even though she'd recovered, she still didn't feel like walking that much.
"Getting enough exercise is important, you know. Otherwise, fat will start building up. Better to take care of it now before it gets serious. Once you gain weight, you'll regret it," Uiharu said quite seriously.
Beside her, Saten reached over and pinched the soft flesh on Natsume's arm.
"But I have my own special weight-loss tricks!" Natsume Sonoko retorted, a bit unwilling to concede.
"But this extra bit of flab on your arm is pretty undeniable evidence," Saten murmured, resting her chin in her hand.
"...Fine."
At the hospital's main entrance, Natsume Sonoko spotted several cleaning robots whizzing by noisily. Under the others' watchful eyes, she could only reluctantly follow along behind Saten and the rest.
"How come we haven't seen Shirai-san and Misaka-senpai today? Are they busy with something?" Saten asked, holding her schoolbag in one hand and gazing absently up at the sky.
"Shirai went to School District 18 today for an investigation," Uiharu replied after a moment's thought.
"That's right. Shirai's busy looking into a case—that 'Tree Person' attack incident that's been getting attention lately. Misaka-senpai got too curious and went along too," Natsume Sonoko added, tilting her head.
Even though matters in School District 18 had nothing to do with Judgement Branch 177, Natsume Sonoko was pretty much used to such things by now.
"Oh, I've heard about that," Saten said, suddenly catching on.
"Hey, Natsume, Uiharu—do you know about the two biggest things trending online right now?"
"First, there are the Tree Person attacks happening in other school districts. The other is the Tokiwadai uniform ghost sightings here in School District 7," Saten said, her expression turning serious, her voice dropping to a mysterious low tone.
"Eh? A ghost in School District 7?" Uiharu instantly went pale, stumbling back a few steps.
"Yep. Whether it's in a mall or an underground street, after a faint mechanical whirring sound, a ghost wearing a Tokiwadai uniform appears—on the ground or floating midair, but you can never see its face clearly. It shows up when you least expect it, then vanishes again in the blink of an eye."
Saten recounted it all with an air of gravity, her face filled with utter seriousness.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, 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.