Part 4

Mikoto Misaka, the #3 Level 5 of Academy City and the Ace of Tokiwadai Middle School, looks over to the empty bed next to the one that she is laying on.

Normally, Mikoto wouldn't be too bothered about her best friend, Kuroko Shirai, to be out for the night. It usually meant late night Judgement work. More importantly, the perfect night to sleep peacefully and soundly.

This night was a completely different feeling.

Kuroko Shirai and a number of other Tokiwadai students were taken by Anti-Skill officials for questioning about the disappearance of a research facility.

According to the evidence, Kuroko is the likely culprit. However, things just don't add up.

While Kuroko is the most proficient teleporter of Tokiwadai, she is only Level 4 and does not have the capability to teleport a large amount of people, let alone an entire facility, all at once.

There is also the fact that the area where the said facility used to be located shows no signs of being used at all.

That is the biggest hole in the evidence.

It is strange that the officials have yet to acknowledge it. Or perhaps, they already have.

What's bothering Mikoto the most, however, is that she is struggling to force herself from leaving the school grounds and infiltrating the building where Anti-Skill is holding her best friend.

She replays the conversation she had with Touma Kamijou earlier that day in her head over and over again.

The Mikoto Misaka that I know isn't going to let anything stop her from achieving her goal, especially when it comes to her friends. This is why I'm telling you to forget about it for now. I have full confidence in Anti-Skill that they will take care of her.

Turning over to her back, the buttons on her Gekota pajamas lazily fastened and is revealing her navel.

She lets out a loud sigh and places her right hand on her head, simulating the sensation of being petted.

"You idiot. Aren't you talking about yourself?"

Part 5

All that is left is the cement pavement that the research facility was standing on and the fence surrounding the perimeter. No signs of any previous construction are visible.

No records of the research facility appear in the database either.

It's as if it never existed at all.

Mikoto has been standing in the middle of the site for a few minutes. It is becoming hard to believe a building even existed here in the first place. Thoughts of anything occupying that large space is slowly leaving her head.

"This isn't right. There has to be a clue somewhere."

Shaking her head, Mikoto takes her first step away from the site and decides to walk around the perimeter and think.

"Even if the building were to be teleported away, it would be relocated somewhere else. There doesn't seem to be any reports about any possible location of where the building is. It really has disappeared."

Mikoto continues looking through news reports through her phone without looking where she's walking.

Turning the corner of the block, Mikoto loses her breath and feels her body bounce backwards and falls over.

"Ow…"

"Shit, I'm really sorry."

Immediately after Mikoto realizes she's on the ground, the goosebumps on her arm start to rise as a human hand touches her skin and grabs her arm to pull her arm.

Why do I feel so cold…?

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Thank you."

The stranger smiles and Mikoto is taken aback by the stranger's kindness.

Taking a good look at the stranger's figure, he is clearly older than her by a couple years. Likely a high school student, but what he's wearing doesn't seem to be a uniform belonging to any of Academy City's schools. It's just a light blue button shirt and jeans.

Not complaining. It really is a refreshing site to the eyes.

There's also a faint synthetic scent of the seaside in the air.

Watching the boy lower himself and picking an object up from the ground, he holds out the object in front of Mikoto.

"Is this yours?"

"Oh, yes, thank you."

"That's a nice frog strap, by the way."

A comrade!?

"Th-thank you! It's Gekota! Say, you don't happen to be interested in the same thing, are you?"

"Well, not really. I mean, it's pretty cool, I guess. I just happen to have a similar strap right here."

Mikoto's face comically turns into her usual cat face whenever she senses Gekota's presence.

It's one of the core elements to her ESper abilities, I guess.

"Chef Gekota!"

"Yeah. I never ate a crepe before, so when I found a crepe stand I decided to try it. Then the woman handling the orders gave one to me. Perhaps, it's good luck?"

"Yeah, good luck…"

Mikoto's face then turns to sadness after remembering back of her failure to get in line on time to be one of the first 100 customers to get a free Chef Gekota strap.

The boy notices her feelings towards the straps and waves it left to right in front of her face.

He then lets out a chuckle after seeing Mikoto's eyes sway back and forth glued to the swinging frog.

"Here, I'll let you have it."

"Are you serious!?"

"Why not? You didn't even hesitate."

Twirling the strap around, the frog flies away from his finger and up to the sky until it falls back down into Mikoto's hands.

Mikoto stares at the frog in her hands, her mind occupied by excitement and thinking what she has done to deserve such fortune.

"Alright, well, I'll be seeing you."

Hearing the boy's voice, Mikoto snaps out of it and holds the frog in her hands tightly.

"Wait! What's your name?"

"…"

The boy stops walking and stands silently still as if that very question was a signal to shut down that boy's mind.

Wondering why the boy has turned silent, Mikoto steps forward to check and see what's wrong until a voice comes out of the boy's mouth.

"That's a Tokiwadai Middle School uniform, right?"

"Yes. I'm Mikoto Misaka."

"I'll see you around then, Mikoto."

Mikoto watches the boy walk away without getting his name.

She looks down at her hands and sees the cute little frog and smiles.

"Thank you agai—"

Looking back up from her hands, the boy has suddenly disappeared.

Part 6

"Wishes!"

"Huh?"

"Wishes! I read that there are ESpers with the power to grant wishes and be able to do anything that they desire! Maybe someone was holding a grudge?"

"Oh please, Saten. You know that there's no ESpers abilities like that. Besides, even if it were real, wouldn't the person with that ability wish to be a millionaire, or a billionaire, or be as powerful as our Mikoto? The latter would be impossible without it!"

"Yeah, you're right. It would be great to be able to grant wishes, right Mikoto? Like, I wish Uiharu would be wearing a brand new pair of panties todaaay~"

"Ah! Wait, stop, eek!"

"Oh wow, laces too~?"

"Saten, I told you to stop doing that!"

Mikoto laughs awkwardly at the usual playful nature between her two friends, Saten Ruiko and Uiharu Kazari. This skit that they do every day is a normal occurrence and is to be expected a number of times per day.

"Impossible, huh?"

Saten and Uiharu looks over at MIkoto, watching her constantly stir her ice cream to the point it became a milkshake.

"Lighten up, Mikoto. Uiharu checked it out and has even spoken to the Anti-Skill officials. They say that Uiharu is fine. Once they are completely sure of her innocence, they'll let her go."

"Shirai's innocence is definitely a thing."

"You're right. I really should just let this one go. I've been feeling stressed out since this whole fiasco started. I even went to the site one more time and still haven't found any clues."

"Ooh, but I see you found a new friend!"

Mikoto watches Saten reach over the table and grabs the Chef Gekota strap from her school bag and starts twirling it around her finger.

"What's this? You went to eat crepes without us~?"

"H-hey! That was given to me by someone else!"

"Oh!"

Saten and Uiharu stare at Mikoto with stars in their eyes.

"Is it that boy from the festival~?"

Part 7

Standing in the middle of a long bridge located in District 7 is a boy wearing a blue shirt.

The boy leans against the railing, watching the calm waves of the water dance.

He looks down at his hand. His hand opens and closes repeatedly with crystal-like objects appearing and changing form every time.

While the crystal-like object forms into random indescribable shapes, it sometimes takes form of real world objects such as a cross, a tall rectangular prism, and a head of a cartoon frog.

The boy stares at the frog-shaped head longer than the other shapes.

"She was interested in this, too."

After staring at the crystal frog for a while, the boy crushes the crystal object within the palm of his hand and releases the crystal-like dust into the air.

"What was she looking for?"