2 (Aug.31_AM00:25)

[AI CENSORSHIP BLOCKED THIS CHUNK - RAW ENGLISH RETAINED]

“Ah, somethin’s wrong. It ain’t like me to let idiots like these snap at me and get away with it. Something’s definitely changed. But what? What’s up? Whaaat iiisss thiiisss?”

Accelerator cocked his head to the side, perplexed. He had discovered firsthand a kind of battle where it was possible for him to lose. Was he now caught up in the glorified idea that he couldn’t be satisfied with anything less than an overwhelming, one-sided victory in such a fight? After all, if a person were to look back on a time where they had been beaten to a pulp and smile about it, then that person would surely be a masochist.

He groaned and folded his arms. The coffee inside the bag clattered around. There were more than ten cans, all of the same brand. He was trapped in this cycle—whenever he found a brand he took a fancy to, he’d drink it for days on end. Then, within a week, he’d just get bored of it and go looking for a new kind.

Man, what the hell? I don’t feel like doin’ shit.

He gazed up into the night sky once more, his view of it enclosed by the tops of the buildings, far up high—and then he heard what seemed like a girl’s voice.

“Nothing? What donothing?! You knowa girlshock mefeel that way!!”

It was midnight, so her voice was oddly shrill.

Just some arguing couple, he dismissed, reflecting on the meaningless voice floating down toward him—more precisely, all air vibrations. If he had been a few seconds later in doing so, he would have heard the cry of a certain Level Zero he knew quite well.

He could reflect things unconsciously and doing this only required some simple measurements. First, he would calculate the minimum amount of force that he needed (gravity, pressure, radiation, oxygen, heat, voices), then he would formulate an equation thatwould let him reflect all other forces aside from that. If he did actually reflect everything, gravity would lose its grip on him and he’d soar out of the atmosphere.

Accelerator again added a reflection setting for the sounds descending upon him, then crossed through the alley and exited onto the street. He walked along, looking up at the sky for no reason in particular. He wasn’t looking ahead of himself, but then, he really didn’t need to pay attention to obstacles anyway.

His reflection kept his body impervious to pain.

But that’s why he had realized it so late:

Somebody had gotten right up behind him and was moving their throat hoarsely, desperately trying to shout something.

“Eh?” He turned his head to look over his shoulder, still walking.

The person he saw was…rather odd. First of all, they were dressed strangely. All he saw was a dirty blanket draped over their head. The makeshift mantle, made of a sky-blue cloth that almost looked like part of a secret-society uniform or cultist garb, entirely covered their face and body. He couldn’t even tell their gender, nor what type of clothing they were wearing underneath it.

On top of that, they were extremely short. Accelerator wasn’t very big himself, of course, but they only stood up to his stomach.Must be a little kid. Like ten years old maybe.They were clearly too young for the average homeless person. Though given that 80 percent of the population of Academy City was comprised of students, there were still a few similar instances he could think of.

The little monster blanket was shouting something at him.

“!!……, ……………?!”

Unfortunately, it didn’t reach his ears, since he was reflecting the sound. He looked up, relaxed, and stopped the reflection just for a moment as a test.

What he heard was a piercing, yet somehow plain and clear, female voice.

“and, well, how should I put this—the fact that you’re so utterly and completely ignoring me is actually kinda refreshing in away, and you’re walking too slowly to be angry at me or anything, so maybe you’re just the world’s ultimate airhead, hmm? says Misaka says Misaka, all confused and stuff.”

The girl was standing not ten centimeters away from him. If anyone who knew who he was were to witness this, they’d stop at nothing to pry the girl away from him. Or maybe they would just give up, assuming that it was already too late.

He could kill someone just by touching them with one finger. The girl might as well have been peering into the mouth of a yawning lion.

However, the bloody tragedy never came to pass.

She just stood there, looking carefree.

Accelerator grimaced a bit. His ability was that he could change any vector he pleased. That meant that no matter how close she got, as long as she didn’t lunge at him, she wouldn’t get hurt.

His reflection was a defensive ability—he only directed its fangs at those who meant him harm.

He would never injure someone who bore him no ill will in the first place, at least.

“…What a friggin’ joke.”

“You keep walking away while muttering under your breath, can’t you see me, or are you just treating me like a fairy, hey, Misaka’s right here, you know! says Misaka says Misaka fervently, like, appealing to her own existence, and yet you’re totally denying it?”

Accelerator cracked the muscles in his neck and continued walking back home. Then, as if the girl had gotten a little flustered at being left behind, she called out, “Hey, I said, Misaka is Misaka is right here—or wait, are you pretending that this isn’t happening right now? says Misaka says Misaka, tilting Misaka’s head in confusion in a very Misaka-like way…huh? Wait, how many times did I just say Misaka, wonders Misaka wonders Misaka as her thoughts get all muddy and stuff.”

“Wait…Misaka?”

His feet came to an abrupt halt.What’s she so happy about,anyway?That was all it took for the blanket girl to come jogging up to him. He didn’t know for sure, though, since her face wasn’t visible.

“Oh, you finally admitted that Misaka exists, yay! cheers Misaka cheers Misaka, delighting in self-praise and stuff. That whole ‘I think, therefore I am’ sounds like total lies, huh, since you can’t really have a self just by yourself, you need someone else there to acknowledge that you exist, I guess, says Misaka says Misaka, like, rejecting thecogito, ergo sumphilosophy with mistaken knowledge that she’s only pretending to know, and stuff.”

“Hold on, wait, shut up for a second! Take that damn blanket off your head and show me your face.”

“Uh, huh? Um, err, ummm, wow I can’t believe you’re asking a girl to take off her clothes after just meeting her, that’s being a little bit too forward, don’t you think, and I mean, there’s a line for what you can ask someone to do and what— Hey, excuse me! asks Misaka asks Misaka. Were you serious?”

“…”

“Ack, he went quiet. His eyes say he’s serious, they say he’s for real, but please, you, don’t pull on my blanket! There’s no telling what you may find underneath, says Misaka says Misaka, and yet—gyaaahhh…?!”

Her clear and unaffected voice trailed off near the end, but that wasn’t going to help, as the blanket on her head was already falling down, down, down to the ground.

The first thing he saw was her face.

It was the exact same face as all those mass-produced electric users, the Sisters, also known as Radio Noise, who he knew well. While the Sisters’ age was set to fourteen, however, this girl didn’t look more than ten or so. Her eyes widened, surprised at something. That motion wasn’t very much like the Sisters, either.

The next things he saw were her shoulders.

Perhaps she was wearing clothes that exposed her skin. Her build was certainly that of a ten-year-old, her shoulders looking like they would snap if someone were to even touch one, betraying her delicacy.

In addition, he saw her bare chest.

On top of that, he saw her naked waist.

The last things he saw were her unclothed feet.

“Eh? What on earth— Wait, what the hell?”

Accelerator’s face drew back, his hand still on the blanket. If anyone who understood his personality had seen this, then (aside from getting a chill of fear) they would have started laughing uncontrollably.

The conclusion that needs to be stated here is that she wasn’t wearing anything under the blanket.

She stood there vacantly, as if forgetting to react, her mind not having caught up to the situation yet.

When all was said and done, there was a completely and utterly naked girl in front of him.

The girl started demanding that he “give back give back the blanket the blanket” with tears in her eyes, so he hurled the filthy rag back onto her head. She took it, then squirmed around, wrapping herself in it again. Then she launched into an explanation he didn’t really ask for.

“Misaka’s serial number is 20001. I was created as part of the final lot of Sisters, says Misaka says Misaka, beginning her explanation and stuff. My code name was left as Last Order, for being the last one, and I was supposed to be used in the experiment, says Misaka says Misaka, like, complaining about it and stuff.”

“Uh-huh,” muttered Accelerator inattentively as he trudged down the road.

Last Order frantically caught back up to him and went on. “By the way, hey wait a minute, as you know, the experiment ended prematurely, so Misaka’s body hasn’t been adjusted all the way, says Misaka says Misaka, giving even more explanation. I got kicked outof my incubator when I wasn’t finished yet, so I’m all compact and stuff, says Misaka says Misaka…Are you listening to me?”