"So they're literally an invisible person—not just light-based powers, but an Aerokinetic too."
The lab cabinet suddenly swung open, and that wind wall blocking Rikou Takitsubo's movement—using those clues, Saiai Kinuhata quietly speculated under her breath.
"Maybe it's a thermal-system ability," Rikou Takitsubo said.
"How'd you figure that out, Takitsubo? Did your ability level up or something?" Fighting through the boiling sensation in her brain, Saiai Kinuhata managed to ask.
"No, just a guess. Light and air control don't usually connect, but it could be possible as derivative abilities." Rikou Takitsubo shook her head. Though her face was still a bit pale, she seemed to be holding up better than the others.
Standing in front of the computer, Sonoko Natsume wore a troubled expression, as if something unexpected had cropped up.
Even though Sonoko Natsume had brought a flashlight, she hadn't brought her phone, nor any device that could store data. Looked like another failed night outing.
So, this certain Sonoko Natsume decided to brute-force memorization instead—what a clever idea.
Her eyes flew over the text, line after line, like a human scanner.
Sonoko Natsume's mind whirred at high speed, just like a busy little bee, storing all the necessary information straight into her brain.
A Level 3 esper's brain could rival a high-performance computer, let alone someone like her. Her mind quickly filled with piles of data, which she then had to sort and organize to prevent any mix-ups.
It was as if Sonoko Natsume was creating folders inside her head, copying all the data on the initial samples into them one by one.
Forced memorization was seriously uncomfortable. By the time she'd stored all the data from one "folder," her brain felt swollen and heavy.
On top of that, she still had to maintain her ability's normal operation. Sonoko Natsume couldn't help but feel utterly drained. After all this late-night effort, she was nearly at her limit.
Thinking about a certain Index, who had 103,000 grimoires stuffed into her head, Sonoko Natsume realized her own data load was nothing in comparison.
'Come on, you can do this. You're the best.'
Sonoko Natsume quietly cheered herself on. She'd originally thought about recording the research on Capacity Down too, but decided it wasn't necessary—after all, she already had the finished product.
Rubbing her head, she took a deep breath, making sure her brain got enough oxygen. Memorizing things, just like using her ability, burned through a ton of oxygen.
"I can move now."
About ten minutes later, Rikou Takitsubo suddenly felt the wind wall blocking her vanish. Moving stiffly, she trudged over to the computer and finally managed to click off the Capacity Down icon.
The moment the icon went dark, the piercing noise echoing through the lab finally stopped.
"Mugino, I've got a suggestion—we should all get noise-canceling headphones," Frenda said weakly, finally catching her breath.
"I agree," Saiai Kinuhata said, raising her hand first.
"Fine then. We'll deduct the cost from this mission's pay. If it's not enough, we'll chip in more. If we're buying, we're getting the best," Mugino Shizuri said, standing up with a grim expression. She was planning a full equipment upgrade.
Damn it, another huge expense.
Truth was, she'd had a way to handle the earlier situation too—just stop caring about precision or collateral damage and use Meltdowner to wreck the entire lab, a mutual destruction approach.
But in that scenario, every member of Item, including herself, could have been killed by Meltdowner.
Still, things hadn't gotten desperate enough to go down that route.
"Did that sneaky bastard leave?" Mugino Shizuri turned to Rikou Takitsubo.
Rikou Takitsubo nodded. "I can't sense them anymore."
"Mugino, are we going to go after that person?" Frenda asked curiously.
"Of course. No one gets to act that recklessly in front of me. But right now, we're dealing with that crazy woman first," Mugino Shizuri said fiercely.
"Eh, in that case, we'd need Takitsubo to use 'Nectar,' wouldn't we?"
"I actually think that person was pretty decent. They didn't attack us even when we were in that state. No need to waste Takitsubo's ability, right?" Saiai Kinuhata cut in, her hands in her pockets, looking pretty casual about it.
"The data we need is still here," Rikou Takitsubo said, opening several folders on the computer.
"Then copy everything we need and delete all the data from the computer," Mugino Shizuri ordered viciously.
Magical Girl Sonoko Natsume stepped onto the cement ground, wearing a mask over her face—she looked as weird as could be.
Sneaking past the robot sentries at Tokiwadai Dormitory, she used an instant-freeze spell on an innocent cleaning robot, stepped onto the white cylindrical body, easily leaped onto the flower bed along the dorm's outer wall, and then casually jumped down.
Squelch, squelch.
Sonoko Natsume stepped through a small puddle left by the rain a few days earlier, but not a drop stuck to her shoes. After overcoming all these hurdles, she finally stood at the foot of her own dorm building.
Just as she returned to Room 210, a series of meows reached her ears. A familiar black cat darted onto Sonoko Natsume's windowsill, followed by a mottled calico cat.
The two cats sat on the sill, licking their paws. The black cat looked up at Sonoko Natsume, her dark eyes reflecting a certain someone's figure.
Sonoko Natsume took off the mask, a hint of displeasure on her face.
"How old are you?" Sonoko Natsume said in English. Given her usual logic, she certainly wasn't asking about the cat's age.
"Meow, meow."
There was a bit of a language barrier. Sonoko Natsume couldn't exactly go find an animal-whisperer from school for help right now, so she went with the simplest solution.
"Since you brought a friend, I can't let you lose face," Sonoko Natsume said, pulling out two prized mackerel cans from under her bed.
She opened the cans and set them in front of the cats, then slammed the window shut.
Seriously, don't they know what time it is?
--+--
The next morning, Sonoko Natsume dragged herself out of bed right on schedule, narrowly avoiding the dorm supervisor's room check, then went through her washing and brushing routine like a zombie.
She'd originally planned to head straight to Heaven Canceller's research institute, but then she heard from Miss Shirai that Kazari Uiharu's new roommate, Haruue Erii, had been acting a little off lately.
She'd been laughing and crying, almost like she was talking to someone—which had Uiharu pretty worried.
"Natsume-san, you look really out of it today," Misaka-senpai said, turning to look at Sonoko Natsume. She'd seemed a bit off lately.
Since Misaka and the others were planning to visit Uiharu, Sonoko Natsume decided to change her plans for now. Haruue Erii probably already knew about the news of Edasaki Banri waking up, right?
--+--
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.