"No need. Just call me Selene. Hearing 'Lady' from you sounds strange."
"Huh? Why would it sound strange? Aren't you a young lady from Tokiwadai? In television dramas, don't butlers and servants call rich... Ahem, girls like you 'Lady'?"
In the end, Kamijou Touma swallowed the words 'rich woman.'
"Mm-hmm. You were the one who said we're friends, so why be so distant? Unless... that's how a butler or servant addresses the master of the house. What, Kamijou? Are you interested in applying for a housekeeping position at my home? You're welcome to. The benefits are extremely generous, provided you're willing to come."
"Is your wallet running dry because that little nun at home eats too much? Or did your bad luck make you step on your bank card again? I provide food and accommodation."
Having his miserable domestic situation exposed, Kamijou Touma's face fell. The girl at home ate far too much. On top of that, taking care of her had greatly reduced the time he could spend fighting over discounted groceries at the supermarket, lowering his quality of life yet again.
In truth, the Kamijou family was not poor at all. Touma's father, Kamijou Touya, worked as a sales representative for a major foreign corporation. He was one of the eleven elite members of the company's Securities Trading Countermeasures Office, specializing in preventing hostile stock acquisitions and mergers. Their family was at least upper-middle class, if not wealthier.
Aside from Academy City's monthly allowance, his family also deposited living expenses into his account. It should have been more than enough for an "ordinary" student like him to live quite comfortably. Unfortunately, nothing could withstand Kamijou Touma's terrible luck. The mere thought of it brought tears to his eyes.
Faced with Selene's teasing, Kamijou Touma could only cover his face.
Those two seem to be getting along awfully well...
Watching them shake hands and joke so naturally, Misaka Mikoto, who was holding the suitcase containing Tree Diagram's new-generation central data processor, immediately reacted. Her brows curved slightly.
I'm not happy.
Why did he always act as though he had encountered the plague whenever he saw her, desperate to flee while calling her ridiculous things like Biri-Biri?
Yet the moment he met Selene, Kamijou Touma smiled like a blooming flower and politely addressed her as Lady over and over again.
Recalling something she had once been unable to resist investigating, Misaka Mikoto's face filled with suspicion. Kamijou Touma had once stated that he liked girls of the mature dorm-manager type.
Could it be...
She looked down at her own scrawny figure, then looked at Selene. Mm. She seemed inferior in every possible respect.
Ah! Misaka Mikoto paled in horror. This is a huge crisis!
"Ahaha... All right, all right. Selene, now that the wanted criminal has been arrested, why don't we all go have something to eat?"
Still holding the suitcase, Misaka Mikoto placed her hand atop Selene and Kamijou Touma's joined hands. She blinked repeatedly as she spoke, appearing slightly guilty.
Jealousy? It was nowhere near that serious.
She was not that kind of person. This was merely the childish emotion of a middle school girl whose personality carried a slight touch of tsundere tendencies.
She was only a middle school student. Even though she was a Level 5, she had not experienced much of the world's bitter, hate-filled darkness. How mature could anyone expect her to be? To use a somewhat inappropriate example to describe Misaka Mikoto's current feelings and behavior...
It was like the concern one felt when a beloved toy might be taken away.
"Onee-sama, how could you possibly leave Kuroko out?!" At the same time, a figure seemingly wreathed in black mist emerged from beside Selene and reached out to viciously pinch Kamijou Touma's hand.
"Ape-like... Ahem. Kamijou, I look forward to your guidance from now on. Ohohoho..."
Shirai Kuroko laughed sinisterly. Bloody light seemed to flicker within her eyes, while nearly tangible waves of black resentment radiated from her body. Kamijou Touma shuddered under her gaze, hurriedly released Selene's hand, and moved several steps away from the girl who resembled a resentful wife on the verge of exploding.
Meanwhile, Selene naturally understood Misaka Mikoto's little thoughts when she noticed the faint curve at the corner of her lips.
"Oh, you've changed your hair clip again. It seems you've grown up."
When Selene first met Misaka Mikoto, she had worn two Gekota-shaped hair clips. Later, she had replaced them with a plain pair of straight metal clips. Now, she wore a flower-shaped hair clip instead.
The young maiden has fallen in love.
"W-What do you mean, grown up? You make it sound as though you're older than me." Flustered by Selene's meaningful gaze, Misaka Mikoto hurriedly retorted.
"Do you dare deny it?"
Selene merely smiled faintly. She bent down and softly blew a warm breath against Misaka Mikoto's earlobe. As the girl let out a small moan of "Eek...," Selene's mischievous voice continued beside her ear.
"Do you like him? Then pursue him boldly. Believe me, that man's luck with women is only beginning."
"Mmmph—!"
Misaka Mikoto abruptly pulled away and stared at Selene with lingering fear, as though looking at a female hooligan. She deliberately injected displeasure into her voice. "Selene, what's gotten into you? Of all the people you could imitate, why Kuroko... Huh?"
As she spoke, Misaka Mikoto noticed the gentle, gauze-like warmth surrounding Selene. The vague pressure and sense of distance that had once clung to her had vanished. She remained cool and aloof without feeling cold, and both her speech and expressions seemed far more natural.
After a brief pause, Misaka Mikoto quietly asked with some hesitation, "You haven't started dating someone, have you? You've changed so much."
The moment Misaka Mikoto spoke, Selene was rendered speechless and froze in place.
She was certainly perceptive. When it came to Misaka Mikoto and the others, Selene now mostly wanted to bring matters to a proper conclusion. She no longer entertained so many unnecessary schemes. With fewer calculations in her mind, the invisible barrier between them had naturally faded.
Thump!
"Ouch... That hurts..."
"My mother and younger brother will be coming to see me during this Daihasei Festival." Selene lowered her clenched fist and spoke irritably.
"Wait, you have a younger brother? What's his name? Do you have a picture?" Misaka Mikoto rubbed her forehead and asked curiously.
"You'll find out later."
...
During the few minutes Selene spent speaking with them, the police sirens drew closer. The hum of helicopter rotors echoed over the district, followed by a dense wave of approaching footsteps.
"Don't move!"
"Raise your hands!"
"You are under arrest!"
Sharp alarm sounds rang out like wailing cries. Accompanied by cold electronic voices, several riot-control robots raised their firearms and surrounded Shirai Kuroko and Musujime Awaki, who was still lying motionless on the ground.
Holding the suitcase containing Tree Diagram's new-generation central data processor, Shirai Kuroko helplessly looked toward the lights shining from an alley around the corner of a nearby block and sighed.
"Judgment truly is the finest example of capable people being burdened with more work..."
She then raised her arm and displayed the armband representing Judgment.
"Judgment."
"Identity verification. Shirai Kuroko, first-year student of Tokiwadai Middle School, Level 4 Teleport esper, assigned to Judgment Branch 003 in School District 7..."
Strictly speaking, Shirai Kuroko did not belong to Branch 177. She was officially assigned to Judgment Branch 3 within Tokiwadai Middle School. However, she rarely operated there and preferred spending her time at Branch 177, working alongside Konori Mii and Uiharu Kazari.
As for the reason, every member of Judgment Branch 3 belonged to Shokuhou Misaki's clique.
...
By the time Misaka Mikoto's body temperature had fallen after all that running, the season had already turned to autumn. The moment the night wind blew over her summer uniform's short sleeves, she began sneezing repeatedly.
"Why did we leave Kuroko there alone?"
"I wouldn't care if you stayed, but you and Kamijou are unrelated civilians. Wouldn't you be taken away to give statements? Do you want to spend the night in an interrogation room?" Selene glanced sideways at her.
"Oh..."
Selene was not surprised that Misaka Mikoto had chosen to hand the suitcase containing Tree Diagram's processor over to Shirai Kuroko so it could be officially surrendered.
That was simply the kind of girl she was—naive, kind, and quick to trust those close to her. Selene could deceive her. If Selene had been a depraved thrill-seeker without any bottom line, she could restart the Level 6 Shift Project whenever she pleased.
But there was no need...
It had no value whatsoever.
"Now that the matter has been resolved, where do you plan to go?"
"Huh?"
Misaka Mikoto failed to react for a moment. After blinking in confusion, she casually replied, "Aren't you coming? We're going out to eat. Everyone has been so busy this month that I feel like the only idle person around. With your help, Saten finally became a Level 1 esper. Her motivation to study has soared, and she's been training and developing her ability constantly."
"I won't be going. I still have something to do. Not everyone is here this time anyway, so we can gather another day."
"Oh, um, Biri-Biri, Lady Selene... I'll head back first too. It's a little cold out here. Ah, I mean, I'll return to Komoe-sensei's place. Index is probably getting impatient." Kamijou Touma shivered and raised his hand.
"Stop calling me Biri-Biri!"
"Then I wish you both a pleasant evening." Watching the two start bickering again, Selene shook her head and waved. In the next instant, she vanished.
...
"It was rare enough for that brat's endless whining to drag me out here. What a waste of time. The culprit turned out to be some third-rate idiot who had already been dealt with."
On another street less than a kilometer from the crime scene, footsteps echoed along the empty road. Accompanying them was a steady series of dull knocks, like an iron rod striking the pavement.
A white figure slowly made his way down the street, complaining in a hoarse voice carrying an eerie edge. "Had I known, I wouldn't have bothered interfering. Getting all the way here in this condition was already troublesome enough. Seriously, what an incredible nuisance..."
"Hm?!"
Having made the trip for nothing, he had already started back when the sudden appearance of a new vector caused his nerves to snap taut.
"Come out!"
"Last Order asked you to come, didn't she? Tch. Accelerator, I never expected a villain like you to possess such a tender side."
Accelerator slowly raised his head. The instant he clearly saw the white-haired beauty's face, his unnatural, blood-red gemstone eyes contracted sharply. He stared fixedly at the Tokiwadai student who had stepped forward, his expression grave.
"Selene."
"I thought you might drown in despair." Selene quietly studied Accelerator, who leaned on a cane with his brain damaged. After examining him from head to toe, a trace of amusement flashed through her crimson eyes. "Mm. That outfit suits you."
"Heh. Right back at you!"
Accelerator twisted his neck, producing a series of sharp cracks, then snorted with laughter. "That obedient Tokiwadai schoolgirl uniform with its ridiculously short skirt doesn't suit you at all. Someone like you, a Board Director praised by scum like Kihara Amata, is actually playing house with Railgun? It's enough to make me die laughing."
Even after suffering severe injuries, brain damage, and a drastic decline in his ability, falling from the second-ranked position and nearly becoming a cripple who could neither speak nor walk, Accelerator had no intention of bowing and scraping before Selene.
He was not Dark Matter. She could kill or torture him however she pleased! However, since Selene had joined forces with Chairman Aleister Crowley, then Accelerator, as property belonging to Academy City—a self-mocking description—still possessed value.
Accelerator was betting that Selene would not kill him!
Capitalists like them would never casually discard a painstakingly developed product before extracting every last trace of its remaining value.
"Oh? Those are bold words. Aren't you afraid I'll restart the Level 6 Shift Project? You should know that if I decide I want Last Order, you cannot protect her."
Hummm—!
In an instant, the space-time beneath Selene's feet was contaminated. Everything in the surrounding area transformed into smooth purplish-red crystal. Red-black Honkai energy surged and coiled around her body, while a frigid aura of deathly stillness spread outward in every direction.
Crack, crack, crack...
Enormous gravitational force crashed down upon Accelerator in an instant, making every bone in his body groan. He wanted to analyze and reflect it, but the loss of calculation ability caused by his brain damage left him powerless. In the next moment, dizziness overwhelmed him.
The gunshot wound in my forehead... Damn it... I can't fall yet! That brat is still waiting for me!
Accelerator's body swayed on the verge of collapse, but he continued gritting his teeth and glaring fixedly at Selene through bloodshot eyes.
Yet in the next instant, the gravitational field that had made every cell in his body scream vanished completely. His vision returned to the silent street. Not even the slightest damage marked the pavement, as though nothing had ever happened.
Tap, tap...
The same short skirt he had mocked moments earlier swayed gracefully with each step. Beneath its hem, black stockings framed the exposed curve of her full thighs, accentuating the graceful line of her exquisite legs. The Tokiwadai uniform was meant to embody the image of an ordinary schoolgirl. Yet on Selene, its design only made her beauty more striking, especially the way it highlighted her legs.
"I love that expression you make when you want to bite me but can't. So adorable."
Standing above him, Selene ignored the look in Accelerator's eyes that suggested he wanted to devour her alive. Her long fingers closed around his thin shoulder like an iron clamp as she looked down at him.
"Look at how frail you are. Even Arisa is sturdier than you."
"I'm not killing you because I still have use for you. However, in your current state, protecting Last Order will be difficult. You should understand that the meaning behind her existence will attract the greed of countless people."
"I don't need your false concern! I'll protect her!"
Accelerator growled in a low voice.
"Protect her? Do you have the ability to do that now?"
Selene chuckled softly, bent down, and whispered temptingly, "Repairing the damage to your body would not be difficult for me."
"And my terms are quite generous. All you need to do is... become the kind of hyena you despise."