Vol 1 Chapter 4 (1/2)

On the second night, Misaka Mikoto and the others waited until after the roll call with the teachers to head to a restaurant away from the hotel they were staying at.

The restaurants in the hotel were overall of a higher grade, that restaurant had a bit of a messy atmosphere, and it was not all that big, but Mikoto and the others had chosen that place for a simple reason.

A cake buffet was a maiden’s battlefield and those middle school girls were the soldiers who would fight on that day.

“Mfmghmgt!! I can finally have complete conquest over the shortcake festival!! Okay! Let’s head to the chocolate cake heaven next!!”

“Dahh! Uiharu-san, slow down. And they’re bringing in a new shortcake over there.”

“Mghh!?”

Uiharu Kazari was attacking all the expensive-looking cakes with showy decorations and Mikoto was swallowing down small fruit desserts. It was a secret that the small fragment-looking fruit desserts were actually worth many times more than the large cakes.

There was one person there who was unable to partic.i.p.ate in that maiden battle.

It was the pigtailed s.h.i.+rai Kuroko in her s.e.xy swimsuit.

“…Ghh…I-I’m going to head over there and eat a safe sandwich or something…”

“Hm? Kuroko, are you still worrying about your diet or whatever?”

“Still!? What do you mean ‘still’, onee-sama!? That sounds like you’re trying to say it’s too late no matter how much effort I put into it!!”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Mikoto stabbed her small spoon into a clear jelly with pieces of dragon fruit inside that were sliced as thinly as flower petals. “We’re eating out for every meal this whole week we’re in Liberal Arts City. Our meals aren’t being regulated like at the dorm, so you’re going to end up eating too much no matter how much you try.”

“Fgyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

s.h.i.+rai the s.e.xy swimsuit let out a scream and all of the customers in the buffet area turned in her direction. It seemed a girl’s scream was recognizable the world over.

However, s.h.i.+rai paid no heed to the surrounding gazes and started muttering something with her head in her hands. Her thoughts circled around and seemed to have no means of escape, but she finally looked up as if she had realized something.

“Th-that’s right! If I exercise like crazy beforehand, I can lose the amount I would gain and it’ll all cancel out even if I eat a cake!! That’s it!!”

s.h.i.+rai Kuroko let out an excited shout and then ran out of the buffet area. Uiharu spoke while watching that mostly skin-colored back leave.

“Ahh… Once she leaves the buffet area, she has to pay again to get back in.”

“And if she exercised like crazy and then resisted eating the cakes, wouldn’t she reach her goal a lot faster…?” Mikoto muttered in exasperation, but of course s.h.i.+rai did not hear her as she was already running as quickly as she could along the nighttime beach.

Uiharu used her fork to cut apart a fancy-looking but actually inexpensive chocolate cake and then ate the pieces, but she finally started speaking.

“I wonder what’s wrong with Saten-san…”

“She said she was worn out from having fun today and then headed back to her hotel room to get some sleep, right?”

“Yeah, but it isn’t like that festive girl to give up so easily…”

She must have been worried about Saten because Uiharu’s expression clouded over a bit.

Mikoto was a little worried about the possibility of the officials having tried something with Saten, but for the time being it seemed the officials were waiting and watching as well.

That may have been because they simply had no intention of killing her or Saten as they had claimed in that area with the destroyed flying fish, or they may have felt that secret was on a level where it would be no real problem even if it could not be immediately pa.s.sed off as an attraction.

“…But what was that today?” Those words contained feelings of searching and of dissatisfaction. “Even if they are just trying to surprise their guests, that show was rather sudden and it happened all across the city. I know it wouldn’t be as interesting with advance notification, but it looked like they had set explosives in buildings’ walls for the show. I think they should have done more of a safety check for the guests with that. What if someone had gotten hurt?”

“…”

Mikoto was a bit conflicted about how to respond.

Uiharu was speaking of the explosions that had occurred across Liberal Arts City that day. A group of those flying fish-like crafts had come and fired dozens of missiles at Liberal Arts City buildings and attractions. Mikoto also had a feeling that there had been more explosions than just those.

From what she could tell by listening to other tourists, the attractions were periodically changed and altered, but the flying fish “show” had continued to pop up every so often.

Those with sharper intuitions were starting to detect something dangerous, but when they seriously tried to warn others of possible danger, the over 90% of people who were too used to peace would laugh at them and tell them not to get reality and fiction confused. It was all dealt with as a show in the end.

Normally, destruction on that scale would be impossible to hide, but in that movie city, that large scale was the reason people went there in the first place, so people did not see it as out of the ordinary once they noticed it.

Of course, Misaka Mikoto had realized what was going on.

What she was conflicted over was whether to affirm or deny what Uiharu had said.

Liberal Arts City was hiding something.

It was not a mere theme park that brought in customers to make a profit.

There was something about the city that was calling in outside attackers.

But Mikoto could not deny that unnecessarily stirring up Uiharu’s unease could end up bringing the girl to an even more dangerous place. From the conversation with the official in the hangar full of broken flying fish the night before, she could imagine just how large a risk that could be.

(Now then…how should I respond to Uiharu?)

Just as Mikoto started to consider her options…

“Onee-samaaan!!” s.h.i.+rai Kuroko said throwing open the door and making her comeback to the buffet area.

“Uuh!? W-wait a second! You couldn’t have worked off a cake’s worth of weight in that short amount of time! You’re just giving u—!?”

“Free hug!!”

“Gwah!? Don’t suddenly hug me like that, you idiot!! H-huh? That’s odd… I have a girl in a swimsuit pressing up against me, but all I can feel is skin…”

“A hug is a free way of calming someone’s heart. Now, onee-sama, you give me a squeeze!!”

“You utter moron!! This free hug thing is not something a ma.s.s of l.u.s.t like you is supposed to do!!”

Mikoto grabbed the skin-colored shoulder and cheek a.s.saulting her and pushed them away.

The intrusion of that idiot knocked whatever she had been thinking of out of her mind.

“Ha. Ah ha ha…”

Uiharu Kazari subtly took two steps back from the other two and tried to keep her distance so as not to get wrapped up in it as she put a giant Mont Blanc on her plate.

Uiharu suddenly had a thought as she watched the two Tokiwadai Middle School ladies arguing back and forth.

Her expression clouded over a bit as she did.

(Really…I wonder what happened to Saten-san…)

The pale orange light of the floor lamp next to her bed illuminated Saten Ruiko’s cheek. She was lying atop her bed while still wearing her swimsuit. She was not really doing anything; she was just lying there thinking.

She was thinking about what had happened earlier that day.

She was thinking about the exploding buildings and the flying fish-like craft that had appeared from within the ground.

She was thinking about the girl named Xochitl.

(…)

Saten turned over as if she were moving her cloth-wrapped b.u.t.t to the side.

Her black hair was reflecting the pale light and the hair spread out on the bed as if following her movements.

She did not think what she had seen that day had been some kind of show. She may have been in a theme park that did everything on a large scale and they probably did hold shows that let the tourists join in, but what she had seen was different. After those kinds of shows, she was pretty sure a member of the staff would at least give a word of thanks…and more importantly, Saten had been able to detect the danger despite how dulled she had been by peace. There had been a feeling of discomfort in her temples and her heart had felt tight like someone was squeezing it. It had not been the enjoyable danger that did not leave a set safety zone like with a ghost house or a roller coaster. The true threat of death had approached before her eyes.

And if that was the case…

(What was that show with the Laveze Squadron and the flying fish I saw yesterday with Uiharu and the others?)

She didn’t want to think it, but she was suspecting that had not been a scripted performance. Had it actually been a real battle? She wanted to laugh that off as ridiculous, but she had a feeling that the flying fish she had seen the day before and the ones she had seen that day had been the same things.

Saten worked her brain a bit to try to figure it out.

There were those flying fish coming to Liberal Arts City and there was the Laveze Squadron fighting to stop them.

And then there had been the explosions in the buildings before her eyes.

Given just that, it seemed like the flying fish were evil p.a.w.ns and the fighters in the Laveze Squadron were the heroes of justice protecting everyone from the grasp of evil.

The flying fish were evil.

If that were the case, what about Xochitl who had gotten onto one and left?

“…”

Saten closed her eyes as if to cut off her thoughts.

She had met that girl in about the worst possible way and she had a feeling the girl had even threatened to kill her if she didn’t do as she was told. But for some reason, Saten had not felt much real danger behind those words. The explosions caused by the flying fish had been terrifying, but Xochitl’s words had seemed panicked and cut off from that kind of direct destruction. It was as if those words had only been on the surface and she was simply asking Saten.

Saten simply could not think of that brown girl as a mere villain.

Saten Ruiko had no ability or experience in peering within people’s minds. She merely did not want to think of the girl named Xochitl as a bad person.

“Xochitl…” Saten muttered.

Then she opened her eyes.

She had realized something.

(…Huh? Didn’t Misaka-san fight to drive off that flying fish in yesterday’s “show”?)

And then there was what had happened the night before.

Mikoto had been wandering around Liberal Arts City and then she and Saten had entered that area filled with destroyed flying fish. Saten had not asked anything at the time, but thinking back, it seemed as if Mikoto had been searching for something.

Of course, an outsider like Mikoto was not a subordinate of Liberal Arts City.

She had no obligation to help them with a mere show and they would not have given her the key to an off limits area.

Which meant…

(Misaka-san knows something.)

As soon as that idea came to her, Saten Ruiko got up from the bed.

It was getting rather late at night, but she did not care.

(I need to ask Misaka-san about Liberal Arts City and those flying fish. And she might know something about Xochitl!!)

She immediately grabbed her cell phone, but Mikoto’s may have been turned off because it would not connect. It was also possible that Mikoto was taking a shower or had even gone to sleep already.

Saten felt a bit awkward about it, but she finally decided to head to Mikoto’s room to meet her directly. She put the IC card that acted as a wallet around her neck and then opened the door connecting her room to the hallway.

Saten Ruiko’s back was swallowed up by the Liberal Arts City night.

She had completely forgotten that she had charged out of her room in a similar fas.h.i.+on the night before and that that had led her to the verge of death.

“We sure ended up eating a lot,” Mikoto said while sipping on an iced tea with quite a bit of milk in it.

There were quite a few cafés and restaurants in the hotel they were staying in and Mikoto was currently in a small café with a difficult to find entrance on one end of the third floor. Perhaps to draw in people who had been driven out of other places by the last call, the café stayed open until about 6 in the morning which was rare for something attached to the hotel.

It might have been due to its location or the time and it might have just been the atmosphere the place gave, but the place did not seem to have many customers. However, that was not a bad thing. Mikoto saw it as a point in the place’s favor. For some reason, she was fond of places like that where you could easily lose track of the time if you did not look at the hands of the clock.

Uiharu looked around while holding a cup filled with cold cocoa.

“Fweh… Misaka-san, s.h.i.+rai-san, this is your first time in Liberal Arts City, right? How did you find a place like this so quickly?”

“Well, there are a few common points in useful cafés like this. You don’t have to try every piece of food in the entire world to get an idea if you’ll like something, right? Once you have enough experience, you can get an idea of how a place ranks without even stepping inside,” explained s.h.i.+rai.

“And if the place ends up defying your expectations, you get even more experience points which is fun.”

s.h.i.+rai and Mikoto gave their explanations as if it should be obvious, but Uiharu could only give idiotic-sounding noises of admiration. She had been staring blankly at the superior skill of those ladies ever since they referred to it as a “useful café” instead of a “delicious café”.

“We spent yesterday and today playing on the beach, so how about we head to the inland mechanical area with the roller coasters tomorrow?”

“They look interesting, but I don’t like the lines. If someone tells me to wait for two hours under the hot sun, I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it.”

“…Actually, Kuroko, wouldn’t your swimsuit be completely blown away in the wind if you got on a roller coaster?”

Mikoto trembled as she imagined that terrifying scene.

Uiharu sighed.

“Saten-san said she went to bed early because she was worn out, but she’s usually so festive. I wonder if her body couldn’t keep up with the time difference. I hope she’s back to her usual self tomorrow.”

“Come to think of it, what did she do about dinner? Maybe she just got room service.”

“Well, I don’t know if anything happened, but as long as she isn’t hurt or sick, do we really need to worry too much? If it is the time difference, there’s nothing for her to do but to rest,” said s.h.i.+rai.

“Hmm… I wonder if she’s okay…” said Uiharu with a puzzled expression.

The girls continued talking while enjoying the atmosphere of that hidden café.

“Huh? Maybe she isn’t back yet… Misaka-san. Hey, Misaka-san!”

Saten Ruiko lightly knocked on the door to a hotel room. Unlike with an apartment or a dorm room, there was no intercom and just knocking might not reach someone if they were showering or sleeping.

On the other hand, she couldn’t just shout Mikoto’s name that late at night. A uniform light illuminated the hallway and the lack of people made the area seem rather dreary.

(What should I do…?)

She thought of heading back to her own room and calling Mikoto’s room with the room phone, but Saten just had a feeling that Mikoto was not in her room.

And then…

“Hm? What are you doing here?”

“!?”

Saten jumped at having someone suddenly speak to her from behind.

When she turned around, she saw the blonde-haired, huge-breasted genius girl film director Beverly Seethrough. She was looking at Saten with a puzzled expression.

“Don’t tell me you…”

“Wh-what?”

“Did you leave your key in your room and get locked out? If so, you should just give up and head to the front desk.”

“I didn’t do anything embarra.s.sing like that,” said Saten while feeling utterly exhausted. “I came looking for someone I know, but she seems to either be asleep or out.”

“Looking for someone, hm?” Beverly looked down at her cell phone to check the time. “…Are you jetlagged? I’d say that’s a rather uninteresting turn of events, too.”

“Actually, what are you doing, Beverly-san?”

“Hm? My work for the day is done, so I was heading to the casino for some fun and to maybe make some money. Due to the state laws, minors can play at the casinos here.”

“…Yeah, where is the casino, anyway? That other place was filled with nothing but junk.”

“?”

Beverly stared in puzzlement in response to Saten’s words to herself.

“Well, you should get to sleep soon so tomorrow won’t be too terrible for you. Jetlag can really catch up to you later.”

“I see,” Saten responded and Beverly walked off.

If Saten followed her, she could find out where the casino was, but she did not do so. She had something more important to do.

(I want to find out about Xochitl as soon as possible…)

Saten bit at her thumbnail in a bad habit and her sandal-covered feet made slight tapping noises as she walked along. She wandered back and forth in front of Mikoto’s room before finally coming to a stop.

(I don’t know what organization she belongs to or where she came from.)

In other words, she did not know enough to directly look for information on Xochitl.

(But she has to be connected to one of the things going on here in Liberal Arts City. If the Laveze Squadron and the flying fish are fighting, then there must be something in common they’re fighting over. That means that I might be able to find out why the flying fish are attacking and what Xochitl was doing here if I look into what’s going on in the city itself.)

Saten then headed away from Mikoto’s room.