With Chinatsu and Misaka Mikoto working together, Kiyama Harumi finally put her shirt back on, and the group moved from the sweltering street to a shady, tree-lined area.
"Here, consider this an apology."
She bought two drinks from a nearby vending machine and handed them to Chinatsu and Misaka Mikoto. In the sweltering heat of summer, most people would buy refreshing cold drinks, but the beverages that landed in their hands were piping hot.
"You should drink hot things when it's hot outside. The curry drink I chose contains ingredients that relieve fatigue. Why, don't you like it?"
Kiyama Harumi looked at the two, who were simply holding the drinks without opening them, and asked in confusion. Misaka Mikoto lowered her head, gave a slightly embarrassed laugh, and then quietly handed her hot curry drink to her older sister.
Chinatsu immediately understood Misaka Mikoto's intention. By using Field Control to adjust the temperature, the once-hot drink quickly became ice-cold.
"Hehe, we naturally understand the logic, but we still feel like having something cold~"
Misaka Mikoto took the ice-cold drink from Chinatsu with a grin, opened it, and gulped it down. A powerful, refreshing sensation surged straight down through her entire body.
One word: refreshing!
Kiyama Harumi nodded to herself upon hearing Misaka Mikoto's reply. She reached out to open her own hot drink while explaining leisurely.
"I'm truly sorry. I'm always so immersed in my research that I've picked up the bad habit of thinking about everything from a rational perspective."
After saying this, Kiyama Harumi couldn't help but cross her legs and tilt her head back to drink her hot beverage. With that look, she seemed less like a professional scholar and more like a shut-in who lived entirely in her own world.
"Research? Are you a scholar?"
Misaka Mikoto tilted her head slightly in confusion and asked. Kiyama Harumi nodded and answered the question without trying to hide anything.
"I am a Researcher in brain physiology, specializing in the AIM Diffusion Field. I don't know how much you know about this."
"Ah? The AIM Diffusion Field? I don't know much about it. It's supposed to be the weak energy that Ability Users unconsciously emit, right? They taught us a little bit about it at school."
Misaka Mikoto didn't know much about the concept; after all, it didn't have much to do with using her abilities in daily life. In fact, there weren't many Researchers who could explain the concept of the AIM Diffusion Field in detail.
[AIM Diffusion Field]
Although it carries the name of a field, it is vastly different from many other fields, including magnetic fields, electric fields, and gravitational fields.
It possesses the property of storing power in different phases of the same world. This is quite similar to the power of angels, and the Artificial Heaven that Aleister intends to build also utilizes this power.
Kiyama Harumi nodded with satisfaction at Misaka Mikoto's answer. She didn't expect Misaka Mikoto to say anything deeply profound, even if she was a Level 5 Esper.
As an excellent Researcher in Academy City, she recognized Chinatsu and Misaka Mikoto the moment she saw them.
Railgun, Misaka Mikoto.
Universal Gravitation, Misaka Chinatsu.
And this Gemstone ability of Misaka Chinatsu's had recently updated from Gravitation Manipulation to Field Manipulation. This was likely not her, as a Gemstone, suddenly mastering a new power, but rather her hiding this power until recently.
What a smart girl.
Not revealing all her trump cards to Researchers like us is a good decision; after all, this city is far from as peaceful as it appears on the surface.
Her gaze shifted from Misaka Mikoto to Chinatsu. She had originally thought that Chinatsu would likely give a similar answer to Misaka Mikoto, but to her surprise, after a brief silence, Chinatsu chose to go beyond the curriculum.
"I can manipulate the AIM Diffusion Field."
"..."
Kiyama Harumi blinked blankly, even doubting her own ears for a moment. When she realized she hadn't misheard, her eyes widened sharply.
"What!!!"
Kiyama Harumi stood up from her seat with a "Bang!", her voice so loud it was almost a roar, and her pitch undoubtedly cracked.
Chinatsu covered her ears with a deadpan expression, indicating that she hadn't intentionally hidden this ability; at the very least, Aleister had known about it for a long time.
The fact that those Researchers didn't know was purely because Chinatsu was too lazy to inform them. When she first sparred with Accelerator, she hadn't yet used the AIM Diffusion Field as a weapon.
When Kiyama Harumi sat back down, she lowered her head and closed her eyes. The images of one child after another appeared in her mind.
She had once been a teacher.
For the sake of a project called the "AIM Diffusion Field Control Experiment," she briefly became a teacher to look after those abandoned Children who were being used as test subjects.
Because for that experiment to be a complete success, detailed growth data on these Children was needed, along with careful observation during the process to make appropriate adjustments to the experiment.
During her time as a teacher, although the Children were always naughtily noisy, impolite, loved to play pranks, and were generally unpredictable...
But...
"Teacher, happy birthday!"
The Children innocently showed her happy smiles. Over time, she, who had thought she disliked Children, had gradually had the ice in her heart melted by these warm, sunny beings.
As the data collection phase ended, these Children were taken to the Research Institute, with all sorts of experimental equipment attached to their bodies.
"Are you scared?"
"Not at all, because this is Teacher Kiyama's experiment, and we trust Teacher!"
The Children voluntarily accepted the experiment with smiles on their faces. The moment the experiment began, they closed their eyes, and to this day, they have yet to open them again.
[Dopamine levels low!]
[Anticholinergic agents are ineffective!]
[Compared to heat damage, low-volume impact is more... Quick, inject lactated Ringer's solution gel!]
It turned out that this experiment was not an "AIM Diffusion Field Control Experiment" at all, but an "Induced Explosion Experiment for Analyzing the Laws of Out-of-Control Abilities."
Those Children had their AIM Diffusion Fields actively stimulated, causing them to go berserk. These Children were treated as lab rats, and what's more, they were disposable.
She developed the Level Upper precisely to use its power to awaken these Children. As long as she could achieve that, she was willing to make an enemy of the entire Academy City.
Yet now, a Level 5 Esper who claimed she could manipulate the AIM Diffusion Field had appeared before her. She didn't even hesitate for a split second before deciding whether to ask her for help.
"I have something I want to discuss with you."
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