On the rooftop of an unnamed apartment building.
"Well, looks like things have really come to this, huh?"
Natsume Sonoko, crouching on the ground with a troubled and gloomy expression, felt a strange sense of pressure.
She was completely out of breath, her heart pounding a little too fast, her stamina drained significantly.
"Juufuku-san, our only way out now is to open this door and get downstairs, quick and agile."
Letting out a sigh, Natsume offered this rather unreliable idea while rubbing her head.
"But outside is all... alright, I'll follow your lead."
Juufuku, seemingly anxious, a sudden look of determination flashed across her face.
Sometimes, the way things unfold can really make your head spin.
What started as a mission to punish evil and uphold justice, a righteous crusade, had now landed them trapped on a building's rooftop.
As for Juufuku's not-so-bright ex-boyfriend, someone had tossed him into a roadside trash can and vowed to beat him up every time they crossed paths. Great, the momentum was especially strong today; she could even eat a little more for dinner.
Although that particular issue was perfectly resolved, trouble always seems to come out of nowhere.
As a result of taking a shortcut through a deserted area, they ran into those guys from the Skill-Out gang on their way back.
And those Skill-Out fellows seemed to have been planning to attack Espers all along. The moment they met, Natsume and her companion found themselves in danger.
But thanks to sticking with her morning workouts recently, even though Natsume's physical fitness was still poor, she no longer got winded after just half an hour of walking.
When she spotted the danger, she even grabbed Juufuku's hand and ran up to the nearest rooftop.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The rooftop door suddenly shuddered under violent pounding, accompanied by a harsh, screeching noise from outside. Looks like Natsume's plan was dead before it even started.
"Found 'em! Those brats are in there!"
"Kick it down! Let's teach those Espers a lesson!"
"Natsume-san, my head... it really hurts."
Clutching her head, Juufuku Miho suddenly grimaced in pain, collapsing to sit on the ground.
"That screeching noise seems to be some kind of device that interferes with Espers. Blocking your ears should help a bit."
Natsume Sonoko's face wore a dazed look as she carefully used her hands to cover Juufuku's ears, but her gaze towards the door held a flicker of anger.
I might look like an easy target, but I get angry too.
She was holding up slightly better than Juufuku.
Although her ability was also being interfered with, the opponents only had a small, portable, low-power player.
It wasn't enough to make Natsume Sonoko lose her fighting capability; she could even maintain the insulating layer of air around her body.
"What kind of plot is this now? A device that disrupts ability calculations... this feels strangely familiar."
Her brain throbbing from the stimulant noise, Natsume Sonoko belatedly recalled a bit of the storyline. If this kind of device used a large-scale, ultra-high-frequency broadcast channel, it could even render Espers like Misaka-senpai helpless.
But if she remembered correctly, wasn't the first Tokiwadai student attacked in the original story actually Kongou-senpai?
In a way, this device was like a reverse Level Upper—interfering with calculations, causing a comprehensive drop in ability.
"Should I call Shirai-san?"
Quietly pulling out her phone from her pocket, the first person she thought of when in trouble was Shirai-san. Natsume Sonoko felt she really couldn't do without Shirai-san anymore.
"…No, better not. She's busy planning her date right now. Besides, I need to handle this myself."
After a moment's thought, Natsume Sonoko put her phone away. Truth was, she could easily deal with these guys.
Even with her brain's calculations being interfered with, she could still use her ability. The problem was, if she couldn't hold back... she really didn't want to become a murderer for no reason.
Of course, using her wind wings to escape wasn't a safe option right now either.
"Juufuku-san, stay here. I've thought of a way."
Natsume Sonoko guided Juufuku to a corner of the rooftop. With her control over her ability a bit problematic right now, she didn't want to accidentally hurt her friend.
"Found something! Use this to pry it open!" An impatient voice came from the door. A few of the Skill-Out thugs seemed to have found a crowbar. The door began to shake violently.
"Actually, this device isn't unbeatable. Sound needs a medium to travel. As long as I create a pseudo-vacuum, I can block out this annoying noise."
Natsume Sonoko couldn't create a true vacuum, but she could manage to block the air medium immediately around her by rapidly heating it.
Rubbing her temples, a reliable idea finally formed in Natsume's mind. Covering her ears reduced the noise a little, allowing her to barely operate her ability.
Instantly, the temperature within several dozen meters skyrocketed. Due to the interference making control difficult, some spots not far from Natsume Sonoko even heated to over a hundred degrees Celsius.
The high temperature also affected both Juufuku and Natsume herself. Juufuku, being farther away, was okay, but Natsume immediately began to feel oxygen-deprived—the air trapped near her body was very limited.
The oxygen deprivation lasted only a brief moment. The harsh interference noise, cut off by the pseudo-vacuum, was largely silenced all at once.
For a moment, it was as if she had lost her hearing. It took a while before she could faintly perceive the weak, buzzing sound waves again.
Freed from the interference, Natsume immediately used fine control to restore her oxygen supply.
CRASH!
The door finally burst open. A gang of aggressive-looking delinquents swarmed in—more than ten of them, all holding various weapons.
One guy was carrying a small speaker, blaring that ability-interfering, screeching sound.
"You thought hiding would let you get away?"
"You really underestimated us!"
Several of the Skill-Out thugs were shouting, their mouths moving, but Natsume Sonoko could barely hear them.
Behind her, Juufuku was also saying something anxiously, but Natsume ignored it all. What normal person knows how to read lips?
"This is really making me angry. You guys need to pay the price."
Natsume Sonoko simply took one step forward.
The delinquents in front of her began collapsing to the ground one by one. In an instant, weapons clattered scattered everywhere, and even that speaker was instantly fried.
The Skill-Out thugs all turned bright red, their bodies paralyzed, as if swept by Conqueror's Haki. The vast majority fell unconscious.
The only ones left standing on the scene, besides Natsume Sonoko and Juufuku, were one delinquent leader.
Natsume had noticed him talking nonstop earlier, seeming like the boss. She still had some questions for him.
Dispelling the pseudo-vacuum layer, Natsume Sonoko lifted her head high, her gaze finally meeting the head thug's eyes.
"Talk. What's your deal? Where's your headquarters? How many of you are there?" Mimicking the Dorm Supervisor's authoritative demeanor, Natsume Sonoko narrowed her eyes and interrogated him fiercely.
"You Espers are always looking down on us from on high! How could you possibly understand how we feel? Do what you want! I'm not saying anything!"
The thug leader laughed loudly, but then a fist sent him sprawling to the ground.
"Finally made it. Looks like you don't need my help, though."
As the thug leader slowly collapsed, a man appeared in the rooftop doorway. He wore a black leather motorcycle jacket, a skull-shaped pendant, and had messy, light purple short hair. He was holding a carton of Musashino Milk—seemed like a lot of people liked that brand.
"Spouting stuff about Espers looking down on you, but deep down, don't you want to be one too? Picking on girls like this—I think it's pretty pathetic."
Taking a sip of milk, the purple-haired guy nodded at Natsume Sonoko.
Without another word, this suddenly-appeared man casually headed back down the stairs.
"Girls these days are really not to be trifled with. Don't mind me, just passing through."
Natsume Sonoko watched the guy who appeared and vanished just as quickly, feeling a bit bewildered. But she could sense that this biker guy had probably come to help.
"Natsume-san, are they... going to be okay?" Although Juufuku Miho held no goodwill towards the people lying at their feet, she couldn't help but ask with concern.
If anything serious happened to these guys, Natsume-san could end up in juvenile detention.
"How could anything happen? They're adults," Natsume stated.
But that line felt strangely familiar.
She'd obtained a lot of data from the previous research institute, even including combat records from that Kaito Ito guy.
Thanks to that, Natsume Sonoko had accurately learned the limits of what ordinary people could withstand, and her temperature-shock technique had finally seen significant improvement.
Still, she usually wouldn't use this move. After all, Natsume Sonoko was a good student. Unless someone made her really angry.
"Decision made. Next, we're taking out their headquarters!" Clenching her fist determinedly, Natsume Sonoko declared seriously.
"Natsume-san, I've already contacted Anti-Skill. They're on their way."
"Oh, is that so? Then we'll wait a bit. After all, we still don't know where their headquarters is."
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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!
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If you guys wanna check it out.