Bubbles the size of ping-pong balls churned inside the cultivation tank, steadily squeezed upward toward the vent at the very top.
Under immense internal pressure, every last trace of residual gas had been expelled, leaving only the nutrient-rich solution used to sustain the Misaka clone's life.
The concoction bore a strong resemblance to the one used in earlier batches of Sisters—its primary purpose was to keep them alive.
Inside the tank, the little Misaka's expression, once twisted in pain, had softened. She seemed to have drifted into a brief, uneasy sleep.
At that moment, Natsume Sonoko was lifted clean off the ground by a sudden surge of air pressure, hovering some thirty centimeters above the floor, still locked in a defensive stance as if bracing for an attack.
Unnoticed by her, thick clouds of steam had begun gathering overhead inside the lab, raising the humidity in the surrounding area.
Noticing the slight change in the little Misaka's condition, Natsume Sonoko relaxed her guard just a fraction.
It seemed that Yoshikawa Kikyou's treatment was actually working.
Her eyes swept the room, taking in every detail in mere seconds. She'd already mapped out the layout in her head. With the main door already smashed open, she was confident she could whisk the little Misaka away in five or six seconds flat—if she needed to.
Just as Natsume was lost in thought, Yoshikawa Kikyou finished entering the final command.
The instant she hit enter, the computer screen exploded with countless crimson warning alerts—like the most stubborn virus imaginable—flooding the display in rapid succession before vanishing just as quickly.
Inside the tank, the little Misaka suddenly curled into a tight ball within the greenish liquid. Her mouth, encased in a transparent oxygen tube, began opening and closing rapidly, as if trying to speak. Her face twisted again in pain.
But the liquid muffled all sound. Natsume could only stand outside, silent and tense, her expression tightening with worry.
After roughly five minutes, the little Misaka finally stilled, drifting peacefully once more in the fluid.
"I thought seeing that brat suffer like that would've made you jump in," came a familiar voice.
Accelerator leaned against the wall nearby, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the cultivation tank.
The best way to deal with a Level 5? Keep your distance—though Misaka-senpai and Shokuhou Misaki-senpai were notable exceptions.
Natsume Sonoko, who'd learned that lesson the hard way, had no intention of entertaining Accelerator's remark.
She didn't fully trust him or his kind—but she wasn't foolish enough to sabotage the treatment mid-process, either.
"The virus consisted of 357,081 lines of code. I've successfully purged them all from Last Order's personality data," Yoshikawa Kikyou announced, stepping over to the tank to monitor the little Misaka's condition.
"However, because the viral code was entangled with Last Order's recent memories, the system couldn't isolate it precisely. To be safe, I actually deleted 360,080 lines. That's about ten percent of her total memory—mostly from the past week, after the virus was implanted."
She glanced toward Accelerator as she finished.
"But the Sisters can upload their memories to the Misaka Network," Natsume Sonoko mused aloud, piecing it together. "So it shouldn't be a major issue."
"That's true," Yoshikawa replied. "But Last Order hasn't been out of the tank for even a full week yet. We can't be sure if she's backed up her memories."
"In other words," Accelerator cut in, his lips curling slightly, "the brat might forget the last few days… or she might remember them just fine."
His face gave nothing away, but there was a flicker of concern in his tone.
"Exactly," Yoshikawa nodded.
The virus was gone—but Last Order remained still inside the tank.
According to Yoshikawa, the viral interference had forced them to initiate the first cellular adjustment immediately, right here in the lab.
Cellular adjustment was no small task—especially for Last Order, whose growth had been artificially stunted. Yet, thanks to her smaller frame, the process was actually easier for her than for most other Sisters.
Once the initial adjustment was complete, Last Order would regain normal metabolic function. After a few more sessions, her body would begin producing growth hormones like any ordinary human.
Even then, though, she'd only reach something close to baseline human physiology—her cellular turnover rate would still far exceed that of a normal person.
"It's getting late. Aren't you heading back?" Yoshikawa asked.
Time passed. Accelerator had been sent out by Yoshikawa to pick up dinner—some takeout bento boxes.
Now, only Natsume Sonoko, Yoshikawa Kikyou, and Last Order remained in the lab.
Natsume had finally grasped what "Last Order" truly meant: Misaka #20001, an outlier beyond the original experiment. She wasn't just the command center for all the Sisters—she was the core of the entire Misaka Network.
Last Order was vital—and fragile. If anything happened to her, every single Sister would collapse. That much was clear to Natsume now.
"I'm not leaving. I'll stay until the adjustment's done—and then I'm taking Last Order with me."
With Accelerator off her radar for the moment, Natsume felt a bit less on edge—and more willing to talk.
"Is that so? This adjustment will take all night. Don't most schools forbid students from staying out past curfew? …Ah, right. You're practically a Level 5. I suppose you've got some special privileges."
Yoshikawa sat back on the nearby sofa, blowing gently on her coffee as she watched data scroll across the monitor.
"Privileges?" Natsume choked.
If Level 5s really had that kind of leeway in their dorms, Misaka-senpai wouldn't bolt every time she spotted the dorm supervisor.
"Don't worry about it," Natsume said firmly—though her confidence sounded a little hollow.
Her mind raced. With someone's upcoming Level 5 evaluation looming, she could always claim she'd been pulled into an emergency training session. That might just convince the dorm supervisor to look the other way.
Having settled on an excuse, Natsume refocused—and turned a slightly sharper gaze on Yoshikawa.
She'd checked the list of participants in the Level Upper Project during her time at Judgment. Yoshikawa Kikyou's name had been on it—alongside Nunotaba Shinobu-senpai's.
"How utterly unadorable of you, middle schooler," Yoshikawa said with a faint smile—impossible to tell if she was amused or annoyed.
"But if you're serious about taking Last Order, you'd better think it through."
"...Think what through?" Natsume blinked.
"Think about what Last Order herself wants. I don't imagine you're the type to ignore someone else's feelings."
While purging the virus, Yoshikawa had taken care to preserve Last Order's memories of Accelerator as much as possible.
Most of what was deleted came from the week Last Order spent wandering Academy City—memories that likely hadn't been backed up to the Network. Even so, she might still remember him.
"Let's be honest—Accelerator's power dwarfs yours and Railgun's combined. Even if you beat him once, he's still the better protector for Last Order. You could even call it his way of making amends to the Sisters."
"And truth be told… he ended up like this because of us. Deep down, he wants to be good. We just couldn't find a way to push him to Level 6 without using the Sisters."
Yoshikawa set her coffee down, her expression earnest.
"But he's still the one who killed nearly ten thousand Sisters," Natsume countered stubbornly.
"That's true," Yoshikawa admitted.
"But there's something you might not know. Without Accelerator, all the Sisters would've been scrapped the moment the Radio Noise Project ended—long before the Level 6 Shift Project even began. It was his existence that gave them a second chance… that let them survive until the project was frozen."
"When Accelerator went to find Last Order, I gave him two choices: either capture Amai Ao after the virus outbreak and contain the damage… or protect Last Order before the virus activated and bring her back to the tank. He chose the second. That's when I realized… maybe that could change him."
Yoshikawa stood, stretching her arms.
"I'm back. Looks like you two were having quite the chat."
The door slid open. Accelerator stepped in, bento boxes in hand, his face as unreadable as ever.
"Mm. We were just discussing custody arrangements for Last Order," Yoshikawa said with a smile.
--+--
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.