Chapter 13
Part 1
"Shirai-san, I'm back!"
A middle school girl wearing a regular sailor uniform entered the Judgment office through heavy doors.
She had a crown made of flowers on the top of her head and two bento boxes pressed against her tiny chest. They looked like the cheap kind you could buy at any convenience store.
"They didn't have the tuna rice one, but I know you also like salmon nigiri so I bought th-"
She had only now realized she was talking to herself. As the doors closed behind her, she looked all around the cramped room and realized the office was, surprisingly, unoccupied.
"Shirai-san?"
She examined her colleague's desk, which was left in a messy condition, but the computer was turned off.
Uiharu Kazari hummed quietly while putting the boxes down onto the table.
"Maybe she had to go on another patrol...?"
Part 2
There was a big event happening somewhere in District 5. Among the tall, modern skyscrapers commonly found in the area, there was a large square with massive dome-like constructions and crowds of students filling it up to the brim.
At the very end of the square, there was a massive stage around the size of a classroom, which was being prepared for someone's long-awaited performance.
Surprisingly, among the sea of regular school uniforms, a young lady from the prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School could be seen walking casually. She stood out like a sore thumb in this crowd of commoners as she left a small building attached to the stage.
Her hair was dark, with incredible volume and inhuman stiffness.
She held her crystal earring with two fingers while putting on a satisfied smirk.
(The job's done. You don't have to thank me too much.)
Someone responded directly into her head.
(Good work, Minako-san. But… how were you able to do it so fast? Did no one notice you?)
(Thank my creative ability for that. I improvized a little show for the audience and managed to scatter the gems during it. No one noticed a thing~✩! Also it helps that they are invisible to the naked eye.)
(H-How did you get on the stage in the first place? Didn't the staff say anything?)
(What's so surprising about that, Arakawa-san? Do you seriously keep forgetting we're celebrities to those small town bumpkins? The second I got recognized by one of them backstage, he gasped in delight and simply let me onto the stage to do whatever I desire. Ohohohoho!)
The girls on the other side were not buying it, though.
(Let me guess, you bribed the maintenance staff?)
Kitayama Minako dropped her act immediately.
(Okay listen, I wasn't about to argue with a bunch of low-class chimpanzees on whether I'm allowed to go on the stage or not, even if they're just doing their job. They stopped me so I pulled out my wallet, what's so wrong about that? Sometimes it's better to throw some chump change at the common folk and let them shut up for the sake of your own sanity. Besides, did it not work?)
She could feel their disappointment through her own ability, even if she did not voluntarily try to read their emotions.
(I hope no one witnessed you doing that. It would be bad if anyone from school found out. After all, the Tokiwadai drones are still patrolling the area.)
(Of course I wouldn't do that out in the open. It was in a closed-off space for the staff, so don't you worry.)
(Try not to stand out too much. Akiyama will be coming on very soon, right? Maybe go somewhere where there's more people to blend in with the crowd.)
(Try not to stand out? Blend in with the crowd? That's a pretty tall order for someone with as much charm as me, Ishikawa-san. Just by walking around, I can already feel those low-class apes everywhere simply drooling at the sight of my dazzling pers-)
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE PRESENTATION OF AKIYAMA IZUMI-SAN AND HER CLIQUE WILL BEGIN SHORTLY! PLEASE START HEADING TOWARDS THE STAGE TO GET A CLOSE LOOK AT NEWEST TECHNOLOGICAL INVENTIONS BY THIS INCREDIBLE GROUP!"
The automated announcement shook the air through powerful amplifiers.
It was time.
Everyone's heads turned towards the stage, as the crowd started to chaotically move and disperse into different sections. The bustling noises grew even louder after that announcement and a tidal wave of various school uniforms flowed towards the stage vigorously, stopping in front of the metal barricades.
Kitayama Minako, though rudely interrupted, looked at the tall platform construction with focused eyes.
(Looks like it's starting now, girls.)
The young ladies were several kilometres away, enjoying a tea party on Tokiwadai Middle School's campus, yet thanks to her ability, it was almost like they were right here with her. The emotions of excitement flowed inside Kitayama Minako's mind organically through the network.
(Perfect timing.)
(Now, we can finally begin Operation Wiretapping, just as planned.)
Part 3
There was a rather spacious backstage area attached to the massive construction at the end of the square. Covered by steel beams and artificial roof, it looked like it had been made in a short amount of time specifically for the event and intended to be taken down right after it ends.
A presentation was supposed to happen in a couple of minutes.
Several Tokiwadai uniforms could be seen occupying the space backstage, while peeking at the crowd formed behind them. There was a standing audience extending far into the venue, waiting for the show to begin.
The distant chatters multiplied by a hundred could even be heard here.
"Akiyama-sama, is everything ready?"
A gorgeous, icy girl spoke monotonously.
She was facing a mature-looking lady with burgundy hair tied into thick, voluminous pigtails and held a rather large tablet-like device.
This entire group looked elegant and proper, but it was clear she was the star of the show.
She opened her soft lips and spoke casually.
"Let's get this over with."
Her gentle, yet lifeless expression perfectly matched her voice and attitude.
"Well, then." The white-haired lady breathed quietly. "Let's give this audience a taste of our grand project, shall we?"
Despite her natural elegance, there was a spicy, slightly dangerous tone to her voice.
...
Soon enough, the group of classy third-years walked onto the stage, and the audience's endless bravos immediately drowned everything in its vicinity.
Akiyama Izumi showed a charming smile to the people.
Part 4
Shirai Kuroko was strolling down a street surrounded by high-rise buildings, somewhere in the southern part of the city.
The thick, curled chunks of her chestnut-colored hair bounced up and down as she was walking near a glass building.
She pulled out a device from her skirt's pocket, which resembled a small thermometer, but was actually an all-purpose mini cell phone, which had pretty much all the functions of modern smartphones.
One of those was a GPS app.
The device had a screen that could be pulled out from the side like a tiny movie projector and Shirai was viewing it as she was walking. The screen displayed a 3D render of a map, with the girl's destination marked by a red dot.
She was pretty close already.
Shirai took a turn and entered a wider road with a lot more greenery and less cars occupying the roads.
The buildings extending before her had a certain thing in common.
"It looks like there's a lot more of those research facilities here." She muttered quietly. "But none of them really look abandoned or dilapidated."
The area was actually pristine and somewhat high-end, with all of the facilities sporting grand, high-security entrance gates and modern build designs.
She was the only pedestrian here, surrounded by serene silence. Though, this wasn't particularly unusual in areas like this one, where the majority of the space was occupied by research facilities with restricted access. No one besides scientists and researchers was supposed to be here in the first place.
But Shirai Kuroko was here on a solo mission.
She was just about to take another turn, but the second she reached an intersection, a building on the other side of the road emerged and the device in her hands beeped.
The Tokiwadai girl pressed her back against the concrete building and stuck her head out to analyze the area in front of her.
(So this is it.)
She had reached her destination, but she had to inspect the surroundings first.
(Thank god this part of town is practically deserted at this time of day.)
She was looking at a fairly large building covered in glass and surrounded by steel towers and various energy generators. It looked almost exactly the same as on the photos, but Shirai was still troubled by its appearance for whatever reason.
(This facility looks brand new, no matter how you look at it.)
Maybe the Nagayama Power Station had gotten a secret renovation somewhere down the line. Could it have been strictly for Akiyama Izumi's project? Did she even have that kind of money to spare?
But that couldn't be the case, as she was only renting the facility for the time being. Shirai was growing more confused at this point.
(Whatever. I still can't see the front of the building... Might be a good idea to inspect it from above.)
And then, immediately after, the girl vanished, leaving not a single trace behind.
To any passerby, it could have been a truly shocking scene to witness, but at the end of the day, it was just an esper power being used.
The young Judgment girl was a Teleporter.
She possessed an ability so rare and complex, it aroused admiration even in the inhuman realm of Tokiwadai Middle School. She was truly one of a kind.
From pressing her back against a building, she switched to crouching down on its rooftop, in a matter of a single second.
The wind was flowing through her curled pigtails as she observed the mysterious power plant in a quite unladylike pose.
And she immediately noticed something that really annoyed her.
(Are you kidding me?)
There was a pair of adult men standing in front of the main doors leading inside the building. They wore some sort of bulletproof armor, similar to an Anti-Skill suit, but Shirai could tell they belonged to a privately owned company, rather than the government.
(Guards near the entrance... What a pain.)
She had expected the regular security systems to stand in her way, but hiring a proper team seemed like too much of an old-school practice for her, so she had not even taken it into account. She was completely unprepared for such obstacle.
There was a slight frown on her childlike face.
(The situation has changed a lot now, huh. Suddenly I'm dealing with a higher risk of messing up.)
At this point she questioned if investigating the facility was even worth it. It's not like getting inside was impossible in the current situation, but Shirai heavily disliked when actual people had to get involved.
And the Akiyama Clique hired them for a good reason.
The owner was currently out with her members, attending an event somewhere in District 5 and her hideout stood vacant. This was a perfect opportunity for a nosey trespasser like Shirai to show up and break into the place and Akiyama must have been well aware of that.
(If she wants to protect whatever's inside so badly, there has to be some incriminating evidence attached to it. I'm not buying that a simple clique project requires this level of security, even if it they kept the cure to some deadly disease in there.)
The situation felt more and more suspicious to Shirai with every new development.
Indeed, this was now a riskier mission than what she had originally signed up for, but she could not back down when she had already made it this far.
She clenched her teeth and pulled out a green armband from her skirt's pocket.
(Looks like there's no way around it, huh. I only have one chance.)
Part 5
Multiple pairs of loafers stepped onto the stage covered in invisible traps.
An array of unique hairstyles and identical school uniforms appeared to a massive crowd, extending far into an open air venue.
A group of Tokiwadai students, lead by Akiyama Izumi and Inoue Kaoruko, basked in the loud cheers and joyous clapping of the crowd.
The fiery beauty with cranberry-colored locks and the white-haired icy queen welcomed the people with polite smiles, while occupying the very front and center of the stage.
The presentation had already started, but Kitayama Minako was still squeezing her way through the dense crowd.
(Minako-san, how's the situation?)
(Is it starting?)
The black-haired princess scowled and looked up at the tall platform, while surrounded by dozens of people.
(The visibility is poor from my position, but don't worry, I'll be able to tell when one of them touches a transmitter. The problem is...)
She squinted her eyes in order to see every individual girl standing on the stage.
(Looks like I'll only be able to use it on Akiyama or Inoue.)
(Eh? What do you mean?)
Kitayama grimaced while touching her earring with her fingers.
(They placed the rest of the clique members at the very back of the stage. I had limited resources, so I only spread my gems around the microphone area, but only Akiyama and Inoue are standing there. Still, they haven't stepped on a single one.)
(That's okay. They're our main targets anyway.)
(They should start moving around soon, so it's only a matter of time before they touch one of the transmitters.)
In the meantime, Akiyama Izumi was speaking to the microphone, while a big LED screen lit up next to her.
"Today, we pose a question to you all - 'What is the purpose of this city'?"
The Telepath girl looked sick in the face, while standing in the audience.
(Here she goes...)
(Minako-san, could you share her speech with us through the network?)
(Sure...)
Akiyama Izumi's elegant voice continued to reverberate and fill up the space through amplifiers.
"You may respond with different words, but they will all be a piece of the same, one answer. Evolution." She spoke confidently. "It's a phenomena engraved into us, like it is to any life form on Earth. But we, as a species with brains developed far beyond the sphere of nature, at one point, began to understand Evolution. We began to analyze it. Study it. Our obsession with it rose with time, until it reached a boiling point and the Academy City we know today was birthed. This is the end product of the centuries-old chase after Evolution."
The screen next to her displayed all sorts of graphics, but everyone mostly paid attention to the speaker herself.
"Then let me pose another question. How will Evolution be achieved? What will be the means to pursue this sacred phenomena, one which evokes hope and keeps us trying our hardest every single day?"
But that was a much more obvious question. She had said something so simple, the answer was basically laid out in front of her eyes.
"Esper Development." She said harshly. "The catalyst to further progressing the Evolution of the humankind. We all perceive it as the definitive direction we, as a species, should be heading, correct? After all, enhancing the human brain and making creating external phenomena possible through a simple trick like Personal Reality sounds exactly like something people from 500 years ago would consider Evolution. Isn't it?"
"Well, I think we're overlooking a huge step in this meticulous, complex process. We've already created something on the scale of espers, something that aided us in the way to get there, and it surrounds us all the time during our daily lives, yet we fail to take it to the next level and realize its full potential."
"Technology." She almost yelled that word immediately after. "While not physically connected to us the way esper abilities are, it is a testament to our Evolution nonetheless. Yes, in Academy City both of humankind's biggest inventions can coexist together at a level most advanced and spectacular, but what if I said they are actually the exact same thing? What if I said that all technology in this world is created in our own image and should return to us in its unified form? After all, our brains are just organic, pre-programmed computer systems. And the whole world around us is written in binary code. As espers, we can grasp the universal reality and influence it by rewriting it, just like any simple code, so wouldn't it be natural if we used technology as extensions to that system? The deeper we learn about the intricacies of the universal reality, the more unified it becomes with technology. At one point, we will realize that what we've been creating for all those years was actually just a replica of Life. Written in that exact same code. Abiding those exact same rules."
"So here I am, proposing an idea. What if instead of technology and esper powers co-existing, we merged them together? What if an artificially created brain and an organically created brain became one? What kind of phenomena would be birthed from human-made life merging with organic life?"
"This is what we, the Akiyama Clique, have been wanting to find out."
A drop of sweat ran down Kitayama Minako's face, while standing in the audience.
(Wh-What in the world is this speech?)
(P-Pretty extreme, huh?)
The presentation continued.
"If the Academy City viewed technology as an important part of espers' evolution, our current Esper Development Program would be operating on completely different systems. For example, espers would be evaluated solely on their compatibility with technology and based on the outcomes of merging them with machines, to create new constructs operating on their abilities' principles or to simply amplify their output. This is the direction the system should be taking if we truly want to pursue Evolution."
(Isn't she just talking about herself?)
(I bet it's all because she's still bitter about Misaka-san surpassing her.)
(She's obsessed with obtaining the status quo of a Level 5.)
"But what it currently is, is simply just an experimental ground. This city wants to keep researching abilities for the sake of research. To find out what else lies in our brains. But is that really where our priorities should be? Shouldn't we continue to pursue Evolution instead of stopping here to explore something as meaningless as esper abilities themselves? We have such powerful tools to aid espers and enhance the phenomena they can produce, yet we only focus on researching their primitive powers."
"Shouldn't we try to combine our two biggest inventions as soon as possible and let them set the path forward for us? If we did that, we would be able to create things far exceeding our imagination."
"And what we are about to showcase here is just an example of that. It is a product of our many experiments that have been conducted throughout the past months. We won't be showing you everything that we have in store for the Assembly, but we hope that this demonstration can make a change in the way esper powers are viewed, to ensure our future is brighter and that we constantly strive to evolve. Inoue, take it from here."
After Akiyama had finished her speech, the LED screen displayed a ChargeBot. However, this wasn't the thing that caught Kitayama Minako's attention.
Her targets were now switching positions, as Akiyama stepped aside and Inoue Kaoruko moved closer towards the microphone.
The tiniest movement could now trigger her ability and create a telepathic link, in this short moment of silence in-between speeches.
She observed her targets' feet with focused eyes and a sweaty forehead. It felt like time itself froze.
Click, clack. Click, clack.
The brown loafers dangerously danced around an invisible minefield.
And then...
"!"
(I GOT IT! I GOT IT!)
It was like an automatic security system going off in her brain. A completely silent, yet piercing alarm that shook her entire head upon contact.
Suddenly, one of her transmitters had been set off.
(Which one is it? Akiyama? Or is it Inoue?)
She for sure felt a connection, but she couldn't tell exactly who it was, not until she actively pursued information through her mind-reading.
She grinned with satisfaction.
Even though she wouldn't tell that to the others, this action practically pushed her to her absolute limits.
She was a pompous Level 4 who prided herself in being able to connect with up to thirty people at once, but there actually was a lot more nuance to this power than she was letting on.
For one, her ability to create a network wasn't as strictly numbers-based as it was distance-based. She already had four telepathic links extending all the way to the School Garden, so at this point she could only add 2 or 3 more before the network would become unstable. After all, every individual link was a taxing construct to maintain, especially when the distance could be measured in kilometres.
The true virtue of this ability was what it could actually do once the link was made.
And...
(I have them both! I have Inoue and Akiyama!)
An explosion of excitement reached her mind through the network before the girls at the gazebo even responded.
(H-Hey! Don't attack my brain with such strong emotions all at once! I'm trying to focus here!)
It seemed like some stimuli could be felt involuntarily, but that depended on their intensity.
(Perfect!)
(Girls, we got them! We finally got them!)
(Send everything you find directly to us!)
The overjoyed screams certainly added pressure to this operation.
But Kitayama Minako was arguably the most fervent one among them. Her lips formed a creepy smile while she activated her power, which felt like a tiny itch on her brain.
Now, she could simply reach for her target's mind and open it like a book.
It was as easy as outstretching an arm.
Yet.
...
(GH!)
She suddenly felt a pit in her stomach.
Like a violent outburst of brain chemicals, a wave of heat exploded in her head as she felt her own mind coil and tangle, as if on somebody else's command.
It was so sudden.
It was so unexpected.
She couldn't even react before it was all over.
Her eyes widened in an instant.
Just now, she realized what really had happened.
...
SLASH!
An imaginary sword cut through her own Telepathy, tearing apart every single link connecting her to the other girls. It slashed them with such ease, as if they were made out of wet paper.
Her Telepathic network crumbled down in a blink of an eye, leaving just Kitayama Minako and the mortified expression on her face.
She froze on the spot with her brainwaves sliced open from within.
This violating sensation sent a brutal shiver down her entire body.
(GAH!)
(What...?! In the world...?!)
Her voice was stuck in her throat.
It had happened while outstretching that invisible arm forward and she had done it perfectly, with proper technique, so it couldn't have been her fault.
It definitely was not her fault.
In fact, it felt as if some external force had slapped away that hand of hers mid-way through.
There was no doubt about it...
It was a clear and upfront retaliation.
A barrier that not only pushed her Telepathy backwards, but also destroyed it completely.
An esper had to have done this.
She had lost all telepathic contact with her friends in Tokiwadai in a single second. Despite the invisible nature of her ability, someone had detected it somehow.
A million questions began to spiral inside her mind.
However, one thing was clear to her. This was simply a response to her own ability. A counterattack, not an automated shut-down.
And that meant...
There was a slight delay before Kitayama Minako's ability had been forced back. It destroyed all of her other telepathic links, but the one made on the spot actually reached her target for a second before it crumbled.
Someone did not react quick enough.
There was that single second where a bunch of things had poured out of a brain and reached Kitayama's head.
And as long as the catalyst was in close vicinity, she could recreate the link over and over again. The only way they could stop her permanently is if they destroyed the catalyst itself.
She attempted to reconnect it again, but she felt a counterattacking slap once more.
The esper was still fending her off.
There was undeniably a powerful aura, trying to push her ability back as far as possible, but it was still actively controlled.
Someone was making a conscious effort to block off any telepathic interference, at this very moment, and now she could guess what it was.
(Are those... brainwaves?)
Sweat was basically running down her face like heavy rainfall.
(I've never felt anything like this... What in the world is this...? Why is this happening...?)
The paralyzing panic took over.
There was a mind-numbing vision attacking her eyesight every time she tried to activate her power and that same pushback was eliminating her interference.
This was hopeless.
She did not even feel like fighting back anymore.
She was already panicking.
She had no idea what to do.
She checked her surroundings quickly, but as far as the physical world went, she could not sense any danger. Everything was perfectly ordinary all around her.
And then...
She slowly looked up, with eyes doubled in size and skin so sweaty it glowed like wet glass.
Someone was occupying the microphone stand with a perfect smile, currently giving a splendid presentation without stuttering on a single word.
Completely hidden, but overwhelming malice seeped into Kitayama Minako's brain like hoarfrost creeping onto the window.
It was icy cold.
But how was that possible?
How could she detect her?
How could she stop her power from working?
Why did she look completely unbothered despite all this?
But most importantly...
Kitayama Minako was now asking herself an honest question...
What was she more terrified of?
Was she more terrified of what had happened to her telepathy or...
Of what she saw, for that split second, inside Inoue Kaoruko's mind?
...
Panic arose in the, seemingly, peaceful garden gazebo, several kilometres away from the scene.
"Minako-san?! Can you hear us?! Minako-san!"
"It's useless! Her Telepathy completely vanished!"
"What in the world happened?!"
"What do we do?!"
The crystal earrings got immediately thrown onto the table like useless junk.
The Tokiwadai girls were already storming out of the gazebo with smartphones in their hands.
"Quickly, call Minako-san and I'll contact backup if necessary!"
"Ishikawa-san, take the limousine parked by the entrance gate! I'll call up my driver!"
"We need to get there quickly!"
What was the plan now?
Where were they going?
Amidst the unnerving chaos, Minami stood with her hand simply placed on her chest, observing all the girls who were splitting up around the garden. She was visibly startled and uneasy, with her wide eyes jumping around each of the girls.
Quite frankly, she herself did not know what to do.
This was the worst case scenario they had not predicted.
Arakawa Karen had her phone pressed against her ear, with a number dialling, but it was taking way too long.
Finally, an automatic message reached her and she gritted her teeth with anger.
"Are you kidding me?! No signal?!"
"Forget it! Let's get into the car and drive there!"
Minami's body twitched immediately.
None of this was a mere accident or a coincidence. It could not have been.
This was a countermeasure. A defense against their plan.
(No signal...)
Minami's eyes grew wide.
It finally clicked.
Of course.
What were the two espers they were targeting again?
A Telepath. And an Electromaster.
The perfect combination to shut down their entire plan before it could even start.
How could those two had been aware of it this entire time?
Part 6
" 'Judgment inspection week' ?"
Two men wearing heavy, bulletproof armor scratched their heads in confusion, while facing a short, middle school-aged girl. She had curled, chestnut-colored pigtails and a casual smile on her face.
Despite their staggering size difference, she looked like she was in charge of the situation here.
"Yes, we're doing check-ups of all the facilities that will be used for the Exhibition Assembly. And this one naturally falls under the jurisdiction of the Tokiwadai Branch, as it is used by Akiyama Izumi's clique."
They looked her up and down as two things stuck out immediately. She wore the Tokiwadai Middle School uniform and she was quite obviously a Judgment member.
She stood confidently, with her arms resting behind her body.
The two men exchanged a troubled glance through their tinted goggles and hesitated for a moment before answering.
"I'm sorry, young lady, but we were specifically told not to let anyone in here."
"We can't really do anything about our client's orders."
Shirai Kuroko held a finger near her mouth.
"Oh, my. We have a contradiction here, don't we?" She spoke innocently. "That's really unfortunate that our business doesn't align. I really hate to say this, but those facilities that refuse to get an inspection get put on a special list, which is sent to Anti-Skill to take care of. And, as you can imagine, they will carry out the inspection in a much less peaceful and cooperative manner than Judgment. Is your client aware of that?"
The green armband attached to her sleeve was real, unlike what she was saying.
Shirai made the guards even more puzzled now. They both let out a short breath at the girl's statement. She continued.
"If I were you, I'd just get it out of the way quickly before it becomes a bigger hassle than it needs to be. What do you think~?"
There was a quick moment of silence before the men responded to her.
There was still hesitation in their voices, but...
"A-Alright."
"Just do it quickly, young lady."
Immediately after, the electric, metal doors slid open right in front of Shirai, accompanied by a loud beep.
"It won't take long, I swear."
She gave the two guards a polite smile and bowed her head, while entering the glass-covered building all by herself.
Clack, clack.
Her loafers summoned a quite powerful echo as she found herself in a long, cold-looking room.
And.
(This was so painfully easy, it almost feels like I'm getting tricked.)
Instead of thrill, she felt bafflement.
She did not even need to use force to get through the front gate. A simple bluff was perfectly enough.
(Just as I figured, they don't want anything to do with Anti-Skill, to the point where they would rather let in a complete stranger than have to deal with them... there is something fishy going on, for sure.)
She inspected her surroundings with dead eyes after arriving here without even trying.
(Well, I guess I should start looking around. Let's see what interesting secrets I can find here.)
Part 7
"...And that is how we were able to create our ChargeBots from scratch."
Inoue Kaoruko concluded her speech elegantly, with a charming smile and a bow.
Soon after, the entire venue echoed with applause, as the audience clapped and cheered in admiration.
However, somewhere in the crowd, a girl could be seen running in the opposite direction to the stage, causing quite a scene.
"Haah... Haah..."
Kitayama Minako was ramming into dozens of spectators while making a run for it.
The panic in her body had built up to the point of no return. She had to escape the area as soon as possible. For whatever reason, her electronic devices weren't working either.
The esper that had nullified her Telepathy was too dangerous for her to stay there.
But at this point, widening the distance did not matter.
Someone on the stage could still see her, with a smile so beautiful, it could enchant anyone.
How could she be singled out from the audience? How could anyone detect and negate her power, when it was the strongest telepathic ability in Tokiwadai Middle School?
While hastily struggling amidst the dense crowd, something suddenly smashed into her brain like a wave of pressurized air.
Her eyes widened even more.
(Hii~!)
This was Telepathy.
Or something akin to it.
But it clearly was not her own.
The sound reverberated in a much different way, almost as if someone was controlling her own brainwaves and writing those sounds directly into her brain.
She was under the influence of someone else's ability.
(Kitayama Minako-san, is it? What a pleasure it was to have you at the presentation.)
(You are leaving quite early, though. Are you sure you don't wanna stick around till the end?)
The mocking voice felt so familiar.
And it was cold. The icy, monotone words were spilling out into her head, causing almost a migraine-like feeling.
Unlike traditional Telepathy, the receiver could not talk back.
(That trick you tried to do back there was quite impressive. Brain interception? Or was it some psychometric interference?)
She was still desperately trying to escape, hoping she could leave the enemy's effective range.
(But that's still useless. You see, onee-san can easily push that pesky transmission-ability without breaking a sweat~! You really couldn't have picked a worse target, you know. You weren't aware of that, were you?)
An overwhelming sense of danger took over Kitayama Minako's body as she was scurrying out of the venue, while tripping and bumping into people.
The voice playing in her head was like a looming ghost, chasing after her no matter how fast she ran.
(I find your ability quite intriguing, but you're still a pest who tried to get in our way.)
(Normally, I wouldn't go this far with someone as harmless as you, but I can't really have you try to repeat what happened there, can I?)
(Also... you did manage to take a quick peek into onee-san's head, so we naturally can't just let you go like that.)
The hostility in that voice was almost tangible.
Like a terrified animal running for its own life, Kitayama Minako cried with a red face.
(Kitayama-san, did you know that direct control of the brainwaves can effectively work as a nullifier to any esper ability? It might sound like cheating, but I personally find that quite interesting! Also, just a tiny bit of tampering with neural oscillations can do some reeaaal damage to the body~! Scary, isn't it? The human brain is such a delicate organ.)
The prey trembled.
(Why don't I...)
(...demonstrate that on you?)