The next day, morning.
The various events organized by Tokiwadai continued to draw social attention as usual, especially events like the Charity Gala, which ostensibly donated to show compassion but were actually used to flaunt wealth and build prestige.
"Welcome, everyone~"
The Tokiwadai Young Ladies hosting the Charity Gala spoke while performing elegant greetings. The distinguished guests did not put on airs either; instead, they politely expressed their gratitude for Tokiwadai's invitation.
It was no joke—while they had money and power, the elders of these Tokiwadai young ladies had them too, and the vast majority of them were even ranked above the guests.
Offending one Tokiwadai Young Lady was roughly equivalent to offending all the ladies in her faction. A few whispers to their elders could easily topple a leading enterprise.
"I heard that all the funds raised by this Charity Gala will be used to help homeless orphans all over the world.
Actually, we've had the idea of helping them for a long time, but we lacked the means. We are truly grateful to Tokiwadai for giving us the opportunity to contribute to society!"
The entrepreneurs spoke in this manner, and the Tokiwadai Young Ladies nodded in agreement with smiles on their faces. In reality, how could they not know the true thoughts in these people's hearts? It was simply unnecessary to expose them.
The smooth progression of the charity was the top priority.
Tokiwadai Students led the adult entrepreneurs quickly toward the charity venue, while reporters holding live-streaming equipment followed silently behind.
Because this Charity Gala was organized by Tokiwadai, the hosting was also handled by Tokiwadai Students. At the same time, the first and second rows of seats below were filled with Tokiwadai Students, who would also participate in the charity later.
"How boring."
Sitting in the first row, Shokuhou Misaki looked at the students on stage preparing for the charity opening with the eyes of a dead fish, appearing as if she might fall asleep at any moment.
"Haha, well, it hasn't started yet."
Sitting to Shokuhou Misaki's left, Hokaze Runkko gave an awkward smile to smooth things over. After all, the people sitting to Shokuhou Misaki's right were all looking forward to this Charity Gala.
Shokuhou gave a faint glance at the group to her right, then tilted her head up to look at the space where the Charity Gala was being held, recalling the words Chinatsu had said to her yesterday.
"If Satan Sen really plans to do something, now might be the perfect opportunity..."
Thinking this, Shokuhou silently nudged Hokaze Runkko with her arm. The latter tilted her head in confusion at first, but once she realized, she leaned her ear in.
"Misaki-sama, please speak."
"Junko, pay attention to our surroundings."
"O... Okay."
Though Hokaze Runkko was a bit confused, she still nodded and agreed. Then, just as Shokuhou had tilted her head to observe earlier, she also looked up toward the ceiling of this space.
Pay attention to the surroundings?
Would the ceiling collapse?
Hokaze Runkko felt ashamed of her own guess. This charity venue was specifically inspected by Tokiwadai every year; such a low-level mistake couldn't possibly happen.
At that moment, behind the scenes of the Charity Gala.
Satan Sen, as Tokiwadai's eternal princess, walked alone to one of the load-bearing pillars of the charity venue and lightly pressed a hand against it.
Her palm was trembling slightly. This was by no means fear or dread, but the intense excitement of her obsession finally coming to fruition.
"Sister Yeyao, we will see each other again soon."
Satan Sen activated her ability with a voice laced with tremors. The eternal princess medal she wore on her clothes was guided by her ability, and the phantom of a previous eternal princess overlapped with her body.
Instantly!
Centering on the load-bearing pillar Satan Sen's palm touched, dense cracks began to spread in all directions at an alarming speed, and the momentum of a collapse suddenly formed.
With a frenzied smile, Satan Sen made a gesture with both hands as if she were cradling something.
"Not enough, let's add some more fuel to the fire!"
A fiercely burning fireball instantly ignited in Satan Sen's hand. She flung it hard into the air, and the fireball exploded into several smaller fireballs that slammed into the building.
Collapsing stones! Sparks flying everywhere!
The crowd in the center of the venue waiting for the opening first heard a strange noise. When they turned their heads in confusion toward the direction of the sound, danger had already arrived at their side.
"W... What!!!"
Fierce flames spread from the entrance to the interior of the venue, and the ceiling collapsed with a thunderous roar, turning into flaming meteors that fell.
The Tokiwadai Students remained somewhat calm, but the entrepreneurs were the exact opposite. If this continued, even if they weren't burned by falling rocks or fire, a serious stampede would definitely occur.
People would die, many people!!!
Just as a rock accompanied by flames was about to hit a group of panicking entrepreneurs, Hokaze Runkko suddenly leaped up, and a punch wrapped in lightning instantly shattered the massive rock into dust.
"Everyone! Calm down and follow instructions!"
Hokaze Runkko took a deep breath and shouted with all her might, but the effect was still unsatisfactory. Even if some people regained their composure temporarily, they would eventually be infected by the overwhelming atmosphere and lose their calm again.
Shokuhou stood in place with a grave expression. To be honest, before the disaster actually happened, she hadn't expected it to be so severe. A single slip-up could cause casualties significant enough to go down in history.
"Satan Sen, you really went through with it!"
Looking at the chaotic scene before her, Shokuhou took the remote control out of her bag. After closing her eyes to concentrate her calculations and distribution, she held the remote high.
Ding!!!
At this moment, Shokuhou proved that she was a true Level 5 Esper, while also declaring to everyone present why [Mental Out] was called the pinnacle of mental-type abilities.
The rioting crowd, without exception, all came under control and stopped in their tracks. Beyond that, those who maintained basic calm were carefully partitioned off.
"I won't let a single person get hurt. As for the task of stopping Satan Sen, I'll leave that to you, Chinatsu..."
Panting heavily, Shokuhou turned to look toward where the fire had first started spreading. By now, Chinatsu had arrived at Satan Sen's side with a heavy heart.
Satan Sen turned to face Chinatsu with a manic smile, the eternal princess medal on her chest shining brightly.
The phantoms of past eternal princesses overlapped with her body. This was Satan Sen running her ability to its limit, an overload mode akin to initiating a self-destruct sequence.
"The battle begins again... Chinatsu!"
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