'So, you can ascertain that a murder happened at that location?'
That is, in broad daylight. How bold.
'Yes. I'm also concerned about the City's quietness on this. The board of governors must have known about this incident - the City's surveillance cameras in the near-Earth orbits are always monitoring the city - which makes the fact that nothing has been done all the more inconceivable.'
'...'
What does this mean? It cannot be like this, can it? But what is out of place here?
Think. Think about it, Kuroko!
'Shirai-san?'
'Erm... Well,' Kuroko tried to maintain her cool as she spoke, 'from what I'm told by an eyewitness, there is a cloning project and an experiment behind this.'
'Wait, what was it? Clones of Misaka-san? And an experiment where they get killed without a blink?'
'That's what I wish to know more about too. Uiharu, can you do a search on 'Misaka Sisters' and anything related to that? We may be able to find out just what is behind the incident. Also, report this incident to the Judgement authority and seek a formal investigation.'
'Understood. I will start my digital search right away! And I will ensure a report is made to the higher-ups!'
That concluded the call.
Kuroko slipped her phone back inside her pocket.
It's time to act.
And she disappeared from the dorm, teleporting herself all around the city.
Where should I start?
Uiharu was still quite startled by what Kuroko told her. She couldn't imagine that Academy City, the place she loved and admired so much, would create, in violation of international regulations, clones and kill them without any regard for their lives.
But she knew she had a duty: to find out about what is going on.
So she began a search.
After a few minutes' of browsing through (cracking) classified government documents, she located two documents that seemed most relevant to the search words 'Misaka Sisters'.
They are named 'Radio Noise Project' and 'Radio Noise: Accelerator's Level 6 Shift Project' respectively.
Level 6? Isn't level 5 the highest ranking in Academy City? What on earth is it?
She chose to look at the second document first, purely out of curiosity.
But as she read on, Uiharu's breath became irregular, her eyes widened until they are like balls and her hands began shivering.
As she reached the end of the document, another scream can be heard in the 177th Judgement branch office, after the first one which was made just a few minutes ago.
Uiharu broke into tears, as she just learnt about the gruesome scheme.
'No... No... Uiharu must be strong... I must uphold my responsibility...'
She first sent an email, and then dialled a number.
Konori Mii was out at the lab attacked that afternoon to lodge a property damage report for them.
Her phone rang. She picked it up and found that it was Uiharu.
'Hi Uiharu, what is the matter?'
'Konori-sempai, I wish to make a criminal report.'
'Oh. Regarding what?'
Kuroko had been teleporting all over the city for a while. She wanted to find Onee-sama or Kamijou-kun, but to no avail.
She teleported and landed onto the top of a tens-storeyed building, from where she could see a large part of the city. High-rising glass-surfaced buildings were bright and colourful because of both their internal lighting and the light from other buildings reflected by the glass surfaces. All that made Academy City looked as glamorous as ever.
But what kind of darkness hides behind this hypocritical facade of glamour?
Behind which clones are made and killed?
Kuroko quivered at that thought and shook it off her mind. No... no... I mustn't be like this. I must stay focused and sort things out while keeping my cool.
Just when she wanted to teleport elsewhere to continue her search, her phone vibrated and sounded notifying her of an incoming email.
She took it out and checked the mail. It came from Uiharu, and it was short and simple with nothing other than a document and a sentence.
That is,
'Check this, Shirai-san.'
And
Radio Noise: Accelerator's Level 6 Shift Project.
What is that?
Wind can be felt moving past Kuroko's cheeks, gently pushing her two pigtails backwards. Kuroko began to read:
Among Academy City's 2.3 million population, there are only 7 level 5s.
However, via Tree Diagram's calculation, only one of them has the potential to reach the yet unknown level 6 and remain stable after his level shift.
What is level 6? Isn't level 5 - Onee-sama's level - the highest?
If we follow through the ordinary Power Development Curriculum, it would take 250 years for the subject to evolve. We hence abandoned this course of action.
However, it is calculated that specially designed combat scenarios can stimulate the development of his power.
Via Tree Diagram's calculation, if 128 battlefields are prepared and by killing Railgun 128 times, the subject can reach level 6.
WAIT. Isn't Railgun Onee-sama?
They are thinking of killing Onee-sama for the, what, evolution into level 6?
Despite the strong wind, beads of perspiration could be seen forming on Kuroko's temples.
The once gentle light of the city right now seemed penetrating. She felt her eyes were getting dry, but uncertain whether it's because of the penetrating light rays, the wind that takes moisture away from her widened eyes, or...
Fear.
However, as it proved impossible to procure 128 Railguns, we have set our eyes on the abandoned Radio Noise and the mass-produced Sisters.
!
Although they are much weaker in terms of power, by connecting them via a network, they can learn from their combat experiences. Therefore,...
'By arming them with combat rifles, and stimulating their growth to adjust for the schedule...', muttered Kuroko as she unconsciously started reading from the document.
'and then... then...'
By deploying them in 20,000 different battlegrounds, killing 20,000 armed Sisters in the process, the same result can be achieved: Accelerator's Level 6 Shift.
...
...
Kuroko gasped.
'Ha... Ha...' Kuroko still was struggling to breathe due to shock.
'Unforgivable... Killing 20,000 people... for a sh*tty level 6 shift project... This is criminality...' Kuroko mumbled as she trembled.
'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THIS CURSED CITY?!'
The scream reverberated in the air. Kuroko, almost consumed by her rage, inquired the night sky.
So this city is responsible. The pursuit of science. The pursuit of greater power level. For those things' sake, they chose to murder en masse...
...
Insanity!
They should never be forgiven. And I must thwart their plan!
As a Judgement officer, I must right now...
Kuroko's thought was interrupted. Her gaze was caught by her phone screen again as she noticed that the document did not end there.
The next line says,
'Please refer to annex A for the combat location and timing details.'
Kuroko quickly swiped to the bottom. Her finger was shaking as she scrolled through a whole chank of experiment data. She stopped as she noticed today's date.
'Experiment 10031, August 21, 1730 hrs...'
Wait, isn't that...
The back alleys! And the murder!
And what does the experiment number mean?
Kuroko's body quivered.
So if 20,000 sisters need to be deployed across 20,000 battlegrounds, doesn't that mean that...
1 experiment kills 1 sister?
So...
They've already killed 10031 of them!
That realisation was like a thermal bomb. Kuroko, who was apparently struck by it, was boiling with hatred and fury.
But she didn't have the chance to be carried away by her emotions as the next set of data almost made her freeze.
'Experiment 10032, August 21, 2030 hrs...'
Her teeth gripped.
Kuroko looked at the time.
2028 hours.
Crap.
She looked at the absolute coordinates for the experiment.
It's the train switchyard, isn't it?
Well...
This Kuroko is going to stop it tonight.
Because...
NO ONE IS DYING ON THE WATCH OF THE LEVEL 4 TELEPORTER OF JUDGEMENT!
And she disappeared from the building top.
The light of the city now resembled the reflection from a grin. So mysterious, evil and cruel.
Kuroko must hurry.
A few kilometres away, a spiky-haired boy was running on the street.
'Shoot!'
He was tripped by a rock and fell to the ground, landing on his face.
He pushed his hands against the floor to stand up. But his legs were shaking as he felt his knees were like cotton.
'Is this because of the electric shocks just now? Or is it...'
Is it because at the bottom of my heart, I'm terrified?
He could not help but recollect the horrific scene of Misaka Sister's death.
The blood that was splashed all around.
Do I even stand a chance if I fight?
But he forced that thought off his mind as he scolded himself.
'Pathetic! I talk big but am so weak in the actual fact!'
He punched his knees and continued running.
The wind was still blowing. It seemed to have turned calmer.
But it hid an ominous intensity with which actions are about to begin.