Chapter 675: A.A.A. (Anti-Art Attachment)! See you again, Double Ten Star Doomsday!
"Surveillance?"
Misaki Shokuhou's eyes narrowed, her distinctive star-shaped pupils contracting into dangerous, glittering points of honey-gold light. The single word hung heavy in the air of the school corridor, heavier than the oppressive humidity of the Japanese summer outside.
Ren actually said that every part of Academy City was under surveillance.
Not just the main thoroughfares where security cameras buzzed, not just the high-security research districts guarded by Anti-Skill, but everywhere. The classrooms where students laughed, the dormitories where they slept, the dark alleys where the Skill-Outs gathered, the bathrooms... perhaps even the very air they breathed was watching them.
"Hey, you didn't really believe him, did you!"
Misaka Mikoto shouted, her voice echoing slightly off the pristine tiles of the hallway. She looked incredulous, her hands planted on her hips in her signature stance of defiance. Blue-white sparks of electricity danced invisibly around her bangs, a physical manifestation of her irritation and disbelief.
"That's impossible," she insisted, her brow furrowing. "Even with all the satellites and cameras Academy City has, total coverage is a myth! There are always blind spots, dead angles, places where the signal doesn't reach!"
But Misaki Shokuhou didn't say anything to support her rival's optimism. She just gave Misaka Mikoto a warning look.
It wasn't her usual teasing smirk or the condescending gaze of the Queen of Tokiwadai that Mikoto hated so much. It was sharp, cold, and deadly serious—a glare that cut through the tension and said, 'Shut up and use your brain for once.'
Then, she opened the private chat interface of the Chat Group. Her fingers didn't move in the physical world, but in her mind, she typed rapidly, her thoughts racing against a newfound paranoia.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Don't show any unusual behavior.]
Misaka Mikoto looked strange, blinking in confusion as the message popped up in her mental vision like a sudden hallucination. She opened her mouth to retort, to ask why the Mental Out was acting so cowardly, but the sheer intensity radiating from the blonde Level 5 made her hold back.
She wanted to see what Misaki Shokuhou was up to. If the girl who controlled minds was scared, maybe there was a reason beyond Mikoto's understanding.
[Misaka Mikoto: You believe his words? That guy is suspicious as hell. He claims to be from another world!]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant. What matters is the possibility.]
Misaki's mental voice was crisp and devoid of her usual playfulness.
[Misaki Shokuhou: I know that Academy City is very complex. I have seen the Dark Side that you blissfully ignore. There are many conspiracies hidden within its shadow—darkness you can't even imagine. It's definitely not simple. If there is surveillance of that magnitude, acting oblivious is our best defense. Do not look at the cameras. Do not use your ability to scan for bugs. Just act natural.]
[Misaka Mikoto: Huh? What are you talking about? You're being paranoid.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Tch, you can keep being naive. Sooner or later, Academy City will consume you completely, bones and all. And I won't be there to fix your mess.]
She couldn't be bothered to explain the depths of the city's darkness to this idiot. Not right now. Not when the walls might have ears, and the dust might have eyes.
If it weren't for this idiot… Dolly and the others wouldn't have…
Misaki Shokuhou pushed those painful, intrusive thoughts aside, locking them away in the labyrinth of her own mind behind heavy mental barriers. Now was not the time for sentimentality or grudges. Survival came first.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Enough nonsense, let's go. Remember not to show any abnormality on your face. Smile like the perfect Ace of Tokiwadai. As for whether what that person said is true, I will test and judge it myself.]
After giving Misaka Mikoto a deep, meaningful look that conveyed a warning more effectively than words, Misaki Shokuhou adjusted the strap of her small, stylish shoulder bag.
She turned on her heel, her honey-colored hair swaying with the movement, and walked away. Her steps were measured and calm, the very picture of elegance, betraying none of the turmoil churning inside her.
"…"
Misaka Mikoto stood there for a moment, watching her retreating back.
She was used to a peaceful life—or as peaceful as it could be with constant delinquents challenging her and vending machines eating her money—and she enjoyed the simplicity of a straight fight. If there was a problem, she blasted it with a Railgun. Simple.
But that didn't mean she was truly stupid.
She heard something strange in Misaki Shokuhou's words, a gravity and a tremor of fear that didn't seem feigned. The 'Queen' of Tokiwadai didn't get rattled easily. She controlled minds; she didn't fear them.
Could it be… Academy City isn't just an ordinary Psychic technology city? Was there a layer she hadn't seen, hidden beneath the bright lights, the wind turbines, and the scientific marvels?
Misaki Shokuhou's words planted a seed of doubt in her heart, a cold, thorny vine that would soon take root and strangle her naivety.
She shook her head, trying to clear the uneasy feeling, and opened the group chat again. She needed answers. She needed to know what this "Ren" knew.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Ren, Mr. Administrator, what do you mean by surveillance?]
The message appeared in the group chat, visible to all members across the multiverse.
[Misaki Shokuhou: With all due respect, I am a Level 5. I know the security protocols. The surveillance in the entire Academy City isn't everywhere. There are blind spots, alleys, private rooms protected by jamming fields. I have safe houses that no one knows about. How could anyone monitor the entire city without blind spots?]
[Kiana: Monitoring every part of the city? Is it satellites or something? Or maybe psionic scanners like in Anti-Entropy?]
[Ren: It's not surveillance cameras, nor satellites, nor psychics. Its name is A.A.A. (Anti-Art Attachment), a type of machinery spread throughout Academy City.]
[Misaka Mikoto: ? How is that possible? I've never heard of it. And I manipulate electricity; I can sense magnetic fields and electronic signals. If the city was full of machines, I would sense the static! I would feel the electromagnetic waves!]
Misaka Mikoto typed furiously, her confidence wavering but still holding on to the laws of physics she mastered.
[Ren: You can't sense it because it's too small. It's a nano-level machine.]
The text appeared on the screen, simple and devastating.
[Ren: A.A.A. (Anti-Art Attachment) is a microscopic intelligence network formed by Academy City's use of roughly 50 million nano-level robots, spread through the air like dust.]
[Misaka Mikoto: This…]
Misaka Mikoto stopped walking. She stood in the middle of the school courtyard, frozen. The blood drained from her face, leaving her pale.
If it was a nano-level machine… microscopic robots floating on the wind… under normal circumstances, it would indeed be undetectable.
The signals would be too faint, indistinguishable from background noise, cosmic radiation, or static electricity. Her radar sense, which she relied on implicitly, was useless against something so small it mimicked nature.
She looked at the air around her. It looked clear, clean, bathed in the warm afternoon sun.
But if Ren was right, she was breathing in surveillance. The dust motes dancing in the sunlight could be spies. The air brushing against her skin was recording her biometric data.
The concept was terrifying. It was a violation of privacy so absolute it made her skin crawl.
But the question remained: had Academy City's technology really developed so far? To create a dust-sized network that covered everything? Was the technology she was so proud of actually a cage?
Misaki Shokuhou's expression was solemn as she walked through the campus, ignoring the greetings of her followers who waved at her with adoration. Her mind was racing, calculating implications.
Although she was suspicious, she didn't question it outright.
The "Dark Side" of Academy City was capable of horrors she had seen firsthand—the cloning labs, the inhuman experiments. This technology… it fit their modus operandi. It fit the paranoia of the higher-ups.
Instead, she wanted to obtain more information to verify it.
If this was true, her Mind Control might not be the ultimate privacy shield she thought it was. If Aleister could see through her eyes via the air she walked through, then her secrets were never safe. Her plans, her safe houses, her hidden allies—everything was exposed.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Then, Mr. Administrator, do you know who is monitoring Academy City? Who controls this A.A.A.? Who holds the leash?]
Based on her guess, if it existed, it would most likely be the Board of Directors. They were the shadows behind the city's light, the twelve individuals who decided the fate of millions.
[Ren: Aleister, the Chairman of the Board of Academy City.]
[Ren: A.A.A. (Anti-Art Attachment) is the core of Aleister's direct intelligence network within Academy City. He sees what it sees. He hears what it hears. He is the city.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: !!!]
Misaki Shokuhou was truly shocked this time. She stopped walking near a park bench, her grip on her bag tightening until her knuckles turned white.
It was actually the Chairman of the Board!
The mysterious figure who founded the city, the man—or woman, or saint, or sinner—who lived in the Windowless Building in District 7. No one knew what he looked like. No one knew his true goal. He was a ghost story that signed the checks.
Whether it was true or not, a huge doubt arose in her mind regarding Ren.
[Misaki Shokuhou: You… who exactly are you? If it's true that we are from different worlds, how do you know the classified information about Academy City? Information that even Level 5s, the highest authority among students, don't have access to?]
She felt naked before this Administrator. He knew too much.
[Ren: This is truly an old question.]
[Ainz: Emmm, this is really the big shot's specialty. Omniscience is part of the package. Don't try to understand it; just accept it. It saves you a headache.]
[Ren: Heh heh, I just happen to know. I've seen the script, so to speak. Whether you believe it or not is for you to decide.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: …]
She was speechless.
Being mysterious at a crucial moment was truly tantalizing. But she couldn't force an answer out of him. He held all the cards, and she was playing blind in a game she didn't understand.
Misaka Mikoto was truly annoyed. She kicked a pebble on the path, sending it skittering into a bush with more force than necessary.
They had entered this strange Chat Group together, but she felt as if she had no presence at all. Everyone was talking about high-level conspiracies, ancient magicians, and nano-machines, and she was just... there, feeling increasingly out of her depth.
She hated being the ignorant one. She hated being protected or kept in the dark.
[Tsunade: Compared to all this irrelevant stuff about spies and robots, why don't you ask them about the Doomsday information? That seems more pressing. You know, the whole 'world ending' thing?]
[Shinobu Kocho: Yes, Misaka Mikoto, Misaki Shokuhou, new members, please check your status. What kind of Doomsday exists in your world?]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Doomsday?]
[White Blood Cell: The location of personal information. Check your profile in the group interface. It should be on the top right. It's quite intuitive.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Oh, okay.]
She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the interface in her mind. She found the tab marked 'Profile'. A translucent screen only she could see expanded, overlaying reality.
"This is..."
[Human]: Misaki Shokuhou
[Points]: 0
[Doomsday]: Abnormal Doomsday (10-star), Uncertainty Doomsday (10-star)
[Ability]: Mental Control (1v5)
"So there's information about my ability?"
Misaki Shokuhou narrowed her eyes. 1v5? Did that mean Level 5? It was accurate. But what caught her attention was the line above it.
Two 10-star Doomsdays.
She didn't know the scale, but '10-star' sounded catastrophic. The maximum rating she had seen others mention was significantly lower.
[Misaka Mikoto: Abnormal Doomsday (10-star), Uncertainty Doomsday (10-star)? What are these things? World Doomsday? You're kidding! My profile says the same thing!]
[Sakata Gintoki: Hiss! A ten-star Doomsday, and it's double ten-star! That's the jackpot of bad luck! Even the Demon King isn't that rated! Run, girls, run!]
[Emilia: Doesn't that mean it's similar to Shiroyasha's world? The world of Hakoniwa?]
[Shiroyasha: Oh? Our world has three ten-star Doomsdays. Welcome to the high-stakes club, little girls. Your world is apparently a powder keg sitting on a supernova.]
"Interesting."
Ren, sitting in his villa in another dimension, surprisingly savored Misaka Mikoto's information, a thoughtful look crossing his face.
Based on what he had experienced so far, he deduced the scaling.
A nine-star Doomsday should be in the range from a single universe to close to a multiverse. It was a threat that could wipe out galaxies, a crisis that spanned existence.
The scope of a ten-star Doomsday, however, is beyond the multiverse, with its upper limit currently unknown. It represented threats that could unravel existence itself, rewriting the laws of physics and magic across infinite realities.
He was not at all surprised that Shiroyasha's world and Hakoniwa had such Doomsdays. Hakoniwa was a convergence point of mythologies, paradoxes, and gods. It was built on instability.
But Academy City's world... The Toaru Majutsu no Index world.
Are those Demon Gods that strong? The Magic Gods—Othinus, Nephthys, the High Priest. Beings who could destroy the world and recreate it millions of times just to torture a single boy.
He really didn't know about that; he hadn't seen them with his own eyes, so he couldn't make a definitive judgment yet. The texts described them as omnipotent, but 'omnipotence' varied from world to world.
However...
The Doomsday might not necessarily be related to Demon Gods; it could also be caused by external factors. Or perhaps Aleister's plan itself—the plan to destroy all magic, the Artificial Heaven—was a doomsday scenario in the eyes of the system.
One could only say that that world seemed quite dangerous. Far more dangerous than a city of students suggested.
[Misaki Shokuhou: My prompt is also the same. What does this mean? You all seem very surprised. Is 10-star rare?]
[Saeko Busujima: Simply put, your world is facing a very big Doomsday crisis. A catastrophic event that could end everything you know, likely on a scale that defies comprehension.]
[Misaka Mikoto: How big? Like... city-destroying?]
[Ch'en: A ten-star Doomsday... it's as big as the destruction of a universe, at every turn. It's not about cities; it's about reality itself.]
[Misaka Mikoto: ???]
[Misaki Shokuhou: ...]
The silence in the chat was palpable. The two girls, usually confident in their abilities as Level 5s, felt suddenly very small. Universe destruction? That was beyond their pay grade. That was beyond science.
[Misaka Mikoto: You're very good at joking.]
Misaka Mikoto pouted, looking up at the sky. She stood on a bridge overlooking the river, the wind blowing through her short brown hair.
It was a clear blue sky, without a single cloud. The wind turbines spun lazily in the distance, generating power for the city of science. Students were laughing, traffic was moving.
Isn't this world perfectly fine? How dare they talk about the destruction of the universe? It felt peaceful. It felt normal.
Although she didn't believe it, Misaka Mikoto still subconsciously made a mental note. A seed of unease had been planted, right alongside the fear of the microscopic machines in the air.
The world was suddenly much larger, and much darker, than she had ever imagined. And she was standing right in the center of it, blindfolded.
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