Chapter 014

The Lady Tasting Tea ⑦ (Unabara Sorano)

Update Time: 2011-NOV-08 19:18:52

What does spring look like every year?

Although countless poems describe the same spring scenery, the truth is that every year's spring will change. Human language is so limited that it is inevitable to miss something.

Even with photography, it is impossible to capture the differences of spring. This is because the concept of spring itself is a pile of countless details, and even advanced photography techniques cannot reproduce all the details.

Human memory naturally cannot bear this heavy burden.

But, so what?

Although no one remembers past springs, people are accustomed to reminiscing about last year's spring during this year's spring, even if they don't truly understand the differences of each year's spring. Even if the traces in memory have long been flawed, people are still enthusiastic about this somewhat contradictory memory game.

Because what's important is not what the past looked like, but that we have experienced it.

Today is the first day of spring semester in Academy City. A new school year begins from this moment.

All current students, as long as they are not unfortunate enough to have to repeat a grade (although, there are always unlucky ones), have all moved up one grade.[1] Of course, there are also graduates and new students.

Now, there is a girl who is a new student on her way to school.

Using the phrase "on her way" may be a bit ambiguous because this girl is not walking on the road, but flying in the sky.

At the entrance of a separately isolated area, the girl gently lands. Inside is a closed area called the School Garden, jointly funded by five prestigious girls' schools, and flying without permission is prohibited — although generally, this restriction is mainly for private aircraft.

This is already a very conspicuous behavior, but not many people pay attention to it because the uniform on the girl already explains everything.

After all, that is the famous Tokiwadai Middle School uniform. As a famous elite school that explicitly writes "Level 3 or higher" into its admission requirements, having a student who can fly with supernatural powers doesn't seem to be too surprising.

She takes out her ID card from her waist bag and passes it over the sensor. The blue pass signal and the name "Unabara Sorano" light up. The barrier blocking her path retracts, and the girl walks straight out of the passage.

Beyond the passage is a scenery that is completely different from the outside world. It looks like a European coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea.

If she turns around, she will notice that even the entrance is modeled after the famous European architecture, the Brandenburg Gate. The only difference is that there is no statue of the goddess of victory, Nike, sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow, at the top.

But every time Sorano sees this imitation Brandenburg Gate, she has a strange thought. She has always wondered what her teacher thinks when passing through this gate.[2] Perhaps even her teacher cannot explain it clearly. Although she is not interested in thinking about political issues, she cannot help but be curious...

This kind of architectural design that brings a part of Europe to the Far East is not too rare. After all, lifeless things are always easy to imitate. But if it is just a combination and arrangement of materials, who can say that human consciousness and memory cannot be imitated in the same way?

"I'm thinking about all sorts of things again..."

Sorano lightly pats the back of her head to drive away the extra thoughts. Now is not the time to think about these things.

Her schedule for today is very tight, and she must hurry to Tokiwadai at the moment.

She never thought she would have a day when she would enter a girls' school, let alone spend at least middle school time there.

Suppressing the urge to roast herself, Sorano releases the ability applied on herself and speeds up her pace. She decides not to wait for the school bus and walks directly to Tokiwadai.

She is not really a fan of sports. In order to maintain a scientific amount of exercise, she usually applies appropriate gravity to her body using her ability. This is both a practice of ability operation and physical exercise. It can be said that she is constantly undergoing weight training and ability control training. And because the gravity she applies to herself is calculated and arranged scientifically, her training can be said to be extremely ideal. Therefore, although she looks weak on the outside (Sorano's appearance gives people a feeling of being somewhat delicate), Sorano's athletic ability and sports performance are absolutely top-notch among her peers. Once she releases the ability applied on her body, she can be said to have reached the level of an athlete. Although it is a bit far from Tokiwadai, it is not a big problem for her.

At this moment, she suddenly takes a step back.

It's not a conscious step back, but rather a completely unconscious action as if she had no reason to take a step back.

Bang!

Someone runs into her and they both fall to the ground without any preparation.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..."

In fact, the fall isn't too heavy, but something seems to have hit her rib in the collision, causing a momentary pain.

After a short time, Sorano manages to recover and looks up, only to find someone wearing the same school uniform as her sitting on the ground.

Is it a fellow student from the same school? It should be.

The girl in front of her, who wears the same Tokiwadai uniform, has a face full of undisguised surprise.

With white lace stockings and white lace gloves, her golden hair touches the ground when she is sitting, and even seems to approach her knees. This girl who collided with Sorano seems to be quite different.

But what surprises Sorano the most are the girl's eyes. After careful observation, she finds that the pupils of her eyes are shaped like a cross star.

Is she a genetic mutant?

Although Sorano is a little surprised, she doesn't pay too much attention to it because she herself is a so-called genetic mutant. As a genetic heterochromia iridum patient, without wearing colored contact lenses today, her golden green and dark purple dual-colored irises are just as strange.[3]

If adding the extremely rare genetic trait of "mirror person" that cannot be seen from the outside, there probably won't be many genetic mutants more bizarre than her.

Sorano stands up and helps the blonde girl up. Perhaps because they will definitely have to deal with each other in the future, Sorano pays a little attention to her schoolmate.

The first impression is "So tall!"

Although Sorano herself is also tall, this girl is even taller than her. And her curvy figure is amazing, even if she were a professional model, no one would doubt it.

Is she really a middle school student?

Although it's a pointless question in front of her Tokiwadai uniform, anyone who sees this girl would be surprised. After all, she doesn't look like one.[4]

And the aura around her... how should she put it? Simply put, anyone can tell at a glance that this girl is the kind of person who is the most conspicuous core of the most conspicuous group, and that she is the kind of girl who makes people hesitate even if they just want to talk to her.

At this moment, the girl is also looking at Sorano. Her surprise is definitely greater than Sorano's.

The first impression is "So beautiful!"

Although the girl has absolute confidence in her own appearance, she has to admit that Sorano surpasses her in this aspect.

Sorano gives the impression of being closer to the most ideal beauty that is not influenced by any aesthetic standards, and can be recognized by everyone at any time. So even though they are both females and it's a bit awkward, there is no denying her beauty.

However, what really surprises the girl is not these details, but something more important.

Staring at Sorano's dual-colored irises that resemble amethyst and emerald, the girl makes some attempts while showing a polite smile.

As a result, she hears a series of completely indistinguishable noises. She frowns, surprised that this is the first time she has encountered such a strange situation.

Sorano notices her strange reaction. While she is still puzzled, the girl asks a question first.

"Are you left-handed?"

Is that why? Sorano looks at their hands awkwardly clasped together and smiles apologetically.[5]

"Yes, I'm left-handed," Sorano politely bows and answers, "I'm sorry, senpai, I have something to do and can't delay too long."

This is not an excuse. Sorano has more to do today than other freshmen. In addition to the freshman enrollment and student dormitory allocation, she also needs to arrive early at Tokiwadai to register for the student assistant position reserved for her for half a year and to receive and organize related materials. Besides these, she also plans to apply for a flying license. So even though there are no classes on the first day of school, time is still tight.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We are schoolmates, we can talk later. Also, although I don't know your grade, I can't be your senior. Because I am a freshman."

"Oh? Really? I'm sorry. Actually, I'm also a freshman."

"Well, we can talk later if you have something to say. Since you have something to do, you should go now."

"Okay, then I'll say goodbye."

The blonde girl watches her leave quickly and quietly reaches into her own bag.

A few seconds later, Sorano stops. She realizes that she seems to have taken the wrong direction again unintentionally.

What's wrong with her? Is she distracted?

She lightly taps the back of her head again and turns in the right direction. This time, she doesn't make the same mistake again.

However, behind her, the blonde girl frowns in confusion. In those unique yet beautiful eyes, there is a look of puzzlement and confusion.

As mentioned before, appearance is not a problem at all, and the girl is not so shallow.

"Why was she affected after a moment of delay?"

These kinds of questions are what really surprise the girl.

[1] Comment by the translator: A certain spiky-haired boy may ask, "What are you implying, uh-huh?"

[2] Footnote by the uploader: The author's writing here is not very clear, so let me clarify a bit: Sorano's teacher is from Russia.

[3] Footnote by the author: Because her dual-colored irises are noticeable, Sorano usually wears a purple contact lens. However, Tokiwadai strictly prohibits students from wearing makeup and decorative contact lenses, so she took them off today.

[4] Footnote by the author: At this point, Sorano forgets that her own height and figure are also not like a middle school student's.

[5] Footnote by the author: When holding someone's right hand with your left hand facing each other, you will notice this awkwardness, just like facing a mirror.

Endnote by the uploader:

In principle, the School Garden is a place where males are not allowed to enter. However, this rule should not apply to teachers and researchers at the school garden. Because for prestigious schools like Tokiwadai, it is difficult to require that all teachers are female in pursuit of teaching quality. As for researchers, it is impossible to require that they are all female. There is no intention to look down on female colleagues, but at least in the field of physics, males are still the mainstream. So whether there are males in the School Garden should not be a problem. In fact, in Chapter 40 of the "A Certain Scientific Railgun" manga, there is a male shop assistant. However, there are definitely no male students. But will there be males' residences in the School Garden? The author believes that even for researchers and teachers, they should leave the School Garden after work and arrange their residence outside of the School Garden. But I think since there are research institutions, considering the issue of long-term research, there should also be accommodations arranged within the School Garden.

This part is open to everyone's opinions.

Endnote by the translator:

Personally, I prefer the former. But of course, these rules do not exist for a certain spiky-haired boy.

By the way, half a year before the beginning of the "A Grand Design of the Myriad Phenomena" fan-fiction, Queen Bee made her first appearance in Chapter 40 of the "A Certain Scientific Railgun" manga, and was still a new face when the two authors wrote her into this chapter. And Shokuhou Misaki's first appearance in the "A Certain Magical Index" light novel was in the New Testament Volume 6 published in January 2013, not to mention New Testament Volume 11, which was not published until the end of 2014. Therefore, Shokuhou's image in this fan-fiction will inevitably be quite different from the original work.

Another digression, because Misaka Mikoto's status soared in the later part of "A Certain Magical Index" light novel, squeezing the imagination space of the "A Certain Scientific Railgun" manga as a spin-off, the manga author now has no more ideas to draw, and has turned back to the setting of the First Year Arc. The viciousness of the Tokiwadai ladies is surprising, but their expertise in internal and external battles is still consistent with the portrayal in this fan-fiction. I wonder what the two authors think about it now.