Chapter 746: Shirai Kuroko: "Onee-sama, guhehehe! What are computer parts?"
Academy City.
Room 208, Tokiwadai Middle School Girls' Dormitory.
The bathroom was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from the cold, blue glow of a laptop screen.
Misaka Mikoto sat on the closed toilet lid, her face drained of all blood, looking as pale as a sheet of paper. Her trembling fingers hovered over the keyboard, frozen in sheer disbelief.
"How... how could this be?!!!!"
The nightmare had started just this morning.
She had accidentally run into a girl who looked almost exactly like her—a doppelgänger.
She was shocked. The girl had identified herself as a "Misaka." She even possessed the same electromagnetic Esper ability, though weaker. Aside from her dull, lifeless eyes and peculiar, stilted speech pattern, she was a carbon copy of Mikoto herself.
After returning to the dorms, Mikoto's confusion had festered into a gnawing anxiety. Unable to sit still, she had utilized her skills as a top-tier hacker, using her mastery over electricity to bypass security firewalls that would baffle supercomputers.
She had intended to find a simple explanation. Perhaps a long-lost twin? A prank?
Instead, she had torn open the belly of Academy City and discovered its rotting entrails.
Files titled "Radio Noise Project" (The Sisters Project) and the "Level 6 Shift Project" (Absolute Power Evolution Project) flashed before her eyes.
The more Mikoto read, the more her expression twisted from confusion to horror, and finally, to an incandescent rage.
Her own DNA map was displayed on the screen. Her very genetic code was being harvested, not to cure diseases, but to mass-produce disposable lives. Clones.
And the Level 6 Shift Project...
'Target: Accelerator. Requirement: Shift from Level 5 to Level 6 (SYSTEM).'
'Method: Combat simulations indicate 128 kills of the Railgun are required. Due to lack of original samples, substitute with 20,000 clones of the Radio Noise series.'
"What... what exactly is this...?"
Mikoto's breath hitched in her throat. She thought of the naive girl she met this morning. The one who had looked at her with those vacant eyes.
She... or rather, they... were all born just to be slaughtered? Twenty thousand of them?
Bzzt!
Blue-white sparks began to dance violently around her bangs. The air in the bathroom instantly filled with the sharp, stinging scent of ozone.
"Boom!!!!"
A sudden, earth-shattering clap of thunder erupted from the dormitory window, tearing through the silence of the night in Academy City.
It wasn't a weather phenomenon. It was the physical manifestation of the Railgun's fury.
"Waaahhhhh!!!!"
The thunderclap was so loud it shook the building, instantly waking up the other occupant of Room 208. A high-pitched scream echoed from the bedroom.
"Onee-sama!!!! Where are you?!!! Onee-sama!!!"
Amidst a flurry of frantic, pattering footsteps, the bathroom doorknob rattled.
Click!
The door swung open.
A girl with pigtails the color of tea—similar to Mikoto's but noticeably naturally curly—burst into the room. She wore pink pajamas and a look of terrified desperation.
It was Shirai Kuroko.
"Wuwuwu! Onee-sama! I'm so scared!"
With tears welling in her eyes, Kuroko launched herself like a missile, pouncing directly onto Mikoto.
"Kuroko?!"
Mikoto, caught off guard, barely had time to react before the petite girl latched onto her.
"The thunder was so loud! I thought the world was ending! Hold me, Onee-sama!"
She looked genuinely frightened by the thunder, trembling against Mikoto's chest.
For a split second, Mikoto felt a pang of guilt. Her emotional instability had caused her AIM diffusion field to spike, triggering the lightning discharge outside. She had scared her roommate.
"I'm sorry, I just—"
But then, Mikoto's instincts kicked in.
Something was wrong.
The trembling stopped too quickly.
A pair of small, wandering hands suddenly began to snake their way across Mikoto's back, sliding lower with alarming speed. The breathing against her neck shifted from panicked gasps to heavy, excited panting.
"Guhehehehe~ Onee-sama's scent... so fresh... so vulnerable..."
Kuroko, burying her face into Mikoto's chest, let out an extremely lewd, perverted laugh that vibrated against Mikoto's ribs.
"..."
Vein pop.
Zzzzt!
Dangerous arcs of blue electricity began to flicker ominously on Mikoto's forehead. Her bangs defied gravity, rising with the static charge.
She knew it! This pervert was never up to any good!
"Let! Go! Of! Me!"
BZZZTTTTT!!!
"Ah ah ah ah ah! Yesss! The passion of Onee-sama's love! It stings so gooooood!"
High-voltage current coursed through the small bathroom.
Kuroko screamed, her body seizing up in a rhythmic, electrified dance.
A few seconds later.
Thud.
Kuroko collapsed onto the tiled floor. She now sported a perfectly spherical afro, her face blackened with soot, and a small wisp of gray smoke rising from her open mouth.
Anyone who didn't know better would think she had been electrocuted to death.
This girl was Shirai Kuroko.
She was Mikoto's junior, a close friend, and a roommate who gave Mikoto more headaches than all her enemies combined.
She was a Level 4 Teleporter—the best in Tokiwadai Middle School—and a member of Judgment, the student disciplinary committee responsible for keeping the peace.
Normally, Shirai Kuroko was the picture of competence. Serious, responsible, and bearing a strong sense of justice. When wearing the Judgment armband, she was a terrifying force against delinquents.
But... towards Mikoto, Kuroko transformed into a raging pervert with zero boundaries.
Just like now.
Mikoto sighed, looking down at the twitching form on the floor. She felt utterly speechless, but this was their daily routine. The voltage she used was carefully calculated—painful enough to punish, but never lethal.
"Ugh..."
Within seconds, Kuroko twitched and sprang up like a zombie reanimated by sheer lust.
She smoothed down her charred afro, a triumphant, creepy smile lingering on her lips.
"Teleporting directly into Onee-sama's arms... worth it," she muttered.
Being able to hug Onee-sama meant she won, regardless of the voltage.
However, as her brain rebooted, confusion set in. She looked around the bathroom.
"Onee-sama? It's the middle of the night. You weren't sleeping... why did you bring your laptop into the bathroom?"
Kuroko's sharp eyes, trained by her Judgment work, narrowed slightly. "Is something wrong?"
"..."
Mikoto's heart skipped a beat. She pursed her lips tightly.
She couldn't tell Kuroko.
Absolutely not.
The darkness she had uncovered involved the absolute highest echelons of Academy City's administration and the monsters of the Dark Side. And the target was Accelerator—the strongest Level 5.
If Kuroko got involved, she would be crushed. Mikoto had to protect her.
Panic flared in Mikoto's chest. She needed a diversion. Fast.
Impulsively, she spun the laptop around, hiding the files on the Sisters Project and bringing up a purchase order page she had stumbled upon earlier—a sketchy site selling dubious items.
"I-I was just... checking something!" Mikoto stammered, her face flushing red for a reason Kuroko wouldn't expect. "Kuroko, look at this! Can you tell me what those 'computer parts' you bought online are?!"
"!!!"
Kuroko froze. Her eyes widened as she looked closely at the screen Mikoto was pointing to.
The order history. Under her name.
Item: "Computer Accessories" (Type A - High Potency).
Description: Organic Muscle Relaxant & Mood Enhancer (Aphrodisiac).
Immediate, cold sweat broke out on Kuroko's forehead, washing away the soot.
Those were the "special supplements" she had ordered from the Dark Web! She had intended to slip them into Onee-sama's tea to make her more... receptive to Kuroko's love.
"Uh... this... that is..."
Kuroko's eyes darted around the room. Her usual eloquence as a Judgment officer evaporated instantly.
"It's... for cooling! Yes! To cool down the CPU!"
Mikoto's eyes narrowed. Electricity crackled at her fingertips, brighter than before.
"Cooling, huh? The description says 'Heating' and 'Euphoria inducing'."
What should have been Mikoto's righteous anger about the dark experiments was now channeled into a desperate, terrifying interrogation to keep Kuroko away from the truth.
"Kuroko... prepare yourself!"
"No! Wait! Onee-sama, let me explain! It's for the greater good of our relationship—Ahhhhh!!!"
KA-BOOM!
Unfortunately for the Teleporter, the electric current once again rampaged over her body.
"Ju...dge...ment..."
Kuroko twitched one last time and happily fainted amidst her screams, a blissful expression on her face.
Silence returned to the bathroom.
"Sorry... Kuroko."
Mikoto's gaze softened, filled with deep apology and sorrow.
She gently picked up Kuroko and carried her back to the bedroom, tucking her into bed. She brushed a stray, singed lock of hair from Kuroko's forehead.
"You can't be part of this. It's too dangerous."
Returning to the bathroom, Mikoto sat back down in front of the computer. The screen still glowed with the horrific data of the Level 6 Shift Project.
She stared at the wall, spacing out. Her hands were shaking again.
What do I do?
I can't fight the entire city alone. I can't fight Accelerator alone.
Suddenly, a notification popped up in her mind.
The Chat Group.
She remembered the hint Ren had given her. 'You can't do this alone. Find allies.'
Ren...
He knew. He had warned her.
After hesitating for a long minute, Mikoto took a deep breath. There was one person in Academy City who might have the power—and the connections—to help. Someone she absolutely loathed asking for favors.
She opened the private message interface and selected a name she usually ignored.
[Misaka Mikoto: Are you there?]
She waited nervously, biting her thumb nail.
One minute passed. Two.
Finally, the reply came.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Are you sick? Do you have any idea what time it is? Why are you messaging me late at night instead of sleeping? Beauty sleep is essential for a maiden, unlike someone I know.]
[Misaka Mikoto: ...]
Mikoto gritted her teeth. Misaki Shokuhou—the Queen of Tokiwadai, the Level 5 "Mental Out."
She was indeed annoyed. The tone of the text practically dripped with her haughty voice.
[Misaka Mikoto: Sorry...]
[Misaki Shokuhou: ???]
This apology instantly made Misaki Shokuhou lose all sleepiness.
In another dorm room, the blonde girl with starry eyes sat up straight in her bed, her lace nightgown rustling. She stared at the holographic screen in shock.
[Misaki Shokuhou: Who are you?! You hacked Misaka-san's account?]
That was her first reaction.
Misaka Mikoto apologizing to her? The crude, violent Railgun bowing her head to the Queen?
This couldn't just be a dream, could it? Or perhaps a mental illusion?
The two of them had been at odds for so long—water and oil—that Mikoto had never apologized to her before, not even when she was wrong.
[Misaka Mikoto: ...]
Of course, she didn't want to apologize to this girl. Every fiber of her being resisted it. But she recalled the 20,000 Sisters. The despair she felt reading those files.
She needed a teammate.
So, she cut straight to the chase.
[Misaka Mikoto: Do you... know about the Radio Noise Project and the Level 6 Shift Project?]
On the other end, Misaki Shokuhou's eyes narrowed sharply. The playful atmosphere in her room vanished.
She actually found out?
Misaki leaned back against her pillows, tapping her chin. She wasn't too surprised. With Mikoto's hacking skills and tendency to stick her nose where it didn't belong, it was only a matter of time.
[Misaki Shokuhou: What do you want to say?]
Mikoto looked at the screen. Although Misaki didn't answer directly with a "Yes," the evasion was confirmation enough. The Queen knew.
[Misaka Mikoto: I want this plan to be shut down. I want to save them.]
[Misaki Shokuhou: Heh. And are you asking me for help? The great Railgun can't handle it herself?]
[Misaka Mikoto: ...]
Mikoto clenched her fist, then relaxed it.
No choice.
After Ren's hint, she knew that even her current strength—Level 5 though she was—was not enough to overturn the dark will of Academy City or defeat the monster that was Accelerator.
So... she needed a teammate.
Misaki Shokuhou's ability—Mental Out—was perfect for information control, manipulating researchers, and covering their tracks.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]