Vol 1 Chapter 5 (1/2)

It was seven in the morning.

As they had a rare break from school (the trip was technically a type of extracurricular activity, but it was a bit like a half-golden week for the students because of all the free time), some people decided to just sleep in, but some people ended up waking up early because they were on vacation. To put it simply, they wanted to go have fun as soon as possible and for as long as possible. Misaka Mikoto and s.h.i.+rai Kuroko were in a rest area on the third floor of the hotel.

The third floor was still connected to the atrium of the lobby. At the four corners of the pa.s.sageways surrounding that atrium were small rest areas with sofas, tables, and magazine racks.

Mikoto was sitting on a sofa and flipping through Liberal Arts City pamphlets while still wearing her killer whale-like racing swimsuit.

“…Y’know, after three days, I’m really starting to miss tofu and grilled fish. Where should we get breakfast? I wonder if they have a j.a.panese restaurant…”

As she muttered about food, she looked at a page that introduced the restaurants inside or near the hotel.

Meanwhile, s.h.i.+rai Kuroko was lying down and rolling around on the same sofa. (She had been begging to rest her head on her beloved onee-sama’s lap, but she had been beaten back.)

“…Y’know, after three days of wearing this s.e.xy swimsuit, it’s kind of lost its freshness. It’s like how curry tastes even better on the second day, but it gives you a face like you’re about to vomit on the third or fourth day.”

The pigtailed girl was looking for something new and she looked through some pamphlets while lying down in order to kill some time.

Suddenly, beams of light shot from s.h.i.+rai Kuroko’s eyes.

“Th-that’s it!!”

“Nn!?”

Mikoto’s shoulders jumped.

s.h.i.+rai jumped up from the sofa and stuck a spread out pamphlet before Mikoto’s face.

“This is it! This is it! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for, onee-sama!!”

“Wai—wha—you id—a nudist beach!? Why does something like that exist on the edge of Liberal Arts City!?”

Mikoto pulled her head back in order to get as far away from that obscene pamphlet as she could.

A nudist beach was the kind of beach where people swam around without swimsuits on. Simply put, it was the kingdom of nudity.

For some reason, s.h.i.+rai’s eyes were sparkling and she had her hands clasped in front of her face in full maiden mode.

The flowers of s.h.i.+rai’s heart that were made of pink and white were in full bloom and she was getting rather troublesome.

“Really, there is nothing wrong with my swimsuit, but humans occasionally want stimulation from a different vector!! So instead of changing things with cheap tricks like making one’s swimsuit showier or plainer, we can go there and be completely nude! That bold idea will open up the future, onee-sama!!”

“Don’t look to me to agree with you!! Oh, th-that’s right! Don’t nudist beaches have age restrictions?”

“Nudists who wish to be nude hold no l.u.s.t in their hearts!! They cast off their clothing with more serious hearts.”

“That idea may be respectable, but I find it hard to believe coming from you, so just stop this, you pervert.”

After saying that, Mikoto suddenly realized something.

s.h.i.+rai Kuroko had gotten tired of her s.e.xy swimsuit. Mikoto wanted to tell her to put on some normal clothes instead, but it seemed s.h.i.+rai’s tastes would only bring more skin into the picture.

That was where the nudist beach came into play, but if she let s.h.i.+rai go with it, the girl would eventually get used to the nudist beach, too. Since there was no more skin you could show than when you were nude, even s.h.i.+rai and her love of showing off skin would have no other option but to head in the direction of adding more cloth.

In other words…

(This is the start of a U-turn!! If I can withstand this idiot’s madness, she’ll start putting on clothes like a reversal of the North Wind and the Sun!!)

That problem did not just apply to the beaches of Liberal Arts City.

If she could influence s.h.i.+rai Kuroko’s progression, it was her big chance to turn the girl into a proper human.

After coming to that conclusion, Misaka Mikoto grinned.

She gave some incredibly forced applause in praise of s.h.i.+rai Kuroko.

“W-well, if you say that, I guess I have no choice. W-we need to just cast off our shame on a trip. If you’re that determined to go to a nudist beach, then I won’t stop you.”

“…Wh-what? Onee-sama, I should have gotten an offensive reaction out of you, but you’ve just had that smile fixed on your face. It looks like you are plotting something.”

“Wh-what are you talking about? You just said something wonderful for a change and the scales have fallen from my eyes…”

“Hah!? Is this a plan to attack me from behind while my defenses are lowered on the nudist beach!? I-I will go prepare more sun oil than is necessary and wait for you!!”

“h.e.l.l no, you pervert!”

As soon as Mikoto unintentionally gave her honest response, Uiharu Kazari entered from the elevator hall. She must have been in a bit of a hurry because she was running a bit.

Mikoto turned her gaze from the exhibitionist and looked toward Uiharu.

“Hey, where should we get breakfast? I’m in the mood for some j.a.panese food.”

“G-good morning. U-um…Uh, do you know where Saten-san has gone?”

“?”

Mikoto and s.h.i.+rai looked puzzled and Uiharu continued.

“I thought she might have overslept again, so I tried calling her room, but she didn’t answer. If she isn’t in her room, I thought she might have come here already.”

“I haven’t seen her.”

“…Are you sure she didn’t just go off somewhere on her own?”

“But if she went to get some food on her own, wouldn’t she have contacted us? She was acting odd yesterday too… What if she’s been sick for a while now and she collapsed in her room…?”

Uiharu was oddly overcome by unease because she had noticed the change in her friend the day before.

She wanted to go check on Saten’s room, but she did not feel right about asking the hotel for a spare key if she had no proof.

That was why Uiharu timidly looked over at s.h.i.+rai Kuroko.

s.h.i.+rai was a Level 4 that could teleport.

With her power, it did not matter if the door was locked.

Mikoto’s power could unlock the electronic lock, but it was clear which was more discreet between Mikoto forcibly opening the door and s.h.i.+rai bypa.s.sing it altogether.

s.h.i.+rai turned aside.

“What a pain.”

“Kuroko.”

“I know, I know,” s.h.i.+rai said in response to Mikoto’s short comment. “I’ll do it if you go to the nudist beach with me, onee-sama.”

“I’ll take you to your own personal paradise with my fist. ☆”

s.h.i.+rai Kuroko arrived in front of Saten’s room with tears in her eyes and while rubbing the top of her head. Just to be sure, she knocked on the door a few times. It seemed even she did not want to intrude on another’s privacy for no reason.

But no response came.

s.h.i.+rai sighed and then her body silently disappeared. She had teleported to the other side of the door.

After 2 or 3 minutes, the door to Saten’s room opened from the inside. s.h.i.+rai had unlocked it and she shook her head toward Mikoto and Uiharu.

“She is not in her room. It seems she has gone somewhere.”

“…? So did she go get some breakfast on her own?”

“About that…” s.h.i.+rai paused for a second as if she were conflicted about whether she should say something. “The air conditioner has been off for a long period of time making the room quite humid. And there is no sign that the shower room has been used. I doubt a girl would leave after waking up without at least was.h.i.+ng her face first.”

“So…?”

Uiharu looked puzzled. She must not have been able to conceive what the situation was.

Mikoto took a step toward s.h.i.+rai and asked her some questions.

“What the furniture and the interior? Are there signs of a struggle?”

“Onee-sama?”

“Just answer me.”

Mikoto was reminded of the official she had met two nights before. Saten had seen something she shouldn’t have along with Mikoto.

However, s.h.i.+rai shook her head.

“From my experience in Judgment, I would say no. And even if the rooms are divided by walls, the guests in the next room would have noticed if there had been a commotion.”

“I guess it’s too much to suspect they may have covered up all the traces… And if they had, they would have kept the air conditioner and the shower room in a more natural state.”

“???”

s.h.i.+rai and Uiharu did not know what to make of what Mikoto was muttering.

Mikoto looked over at s.h.i.+rai.

“There are around 20 students here on this large-scale field trip, right? Find a Psycho-type esper and bring them here. Use your authority from Judgment or whatever, just hurry.”

“Eh? Wait a second, Misaka-san,” said Uiharu finally speaking up. “What do you mean? Is this really a situation where Judgment has any authority?”

She sounded worried, but that wasn’t too surprising. Judgment helped keep the peace in Academy City. They were something like the police. Anyone would be worried if someone like that was called out to search for a friend you had lost track of.

“It’s just to be on the safe side.”

As such, Mikoto had no choice but to be rather vague in her wording.

She had no proof, but in that situation, no proof was a good thing.

Mikoto and Uiharu waited in Saten’s room and after about 10 minutes, s.h.i.+rai teleported back. She was holding an unfamiliar girl’s hand. The girl was likely older than Mikoto and the others. She seemed to be a high school student and she wore a bikini held together by ring-like parts in places.

“I heard a friend of yours has gotten lost in this ridiculously huge facility,” said the Psychometry girl.

s.h.i.+rai must have explained it that way and it wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Let me warn you now: if I read any unnecessary personal information, that isn’t my responsibility. Don’t forget that you will be the ones that have to bow down in apology to her.”

“…I take it your power has its issues.”

“Some, yes.”

The girl laughed and pulled a few hairclips from somewhere. She must have had some reason for it, but she had hairclips clipped onto her swimsuit in various places.

“Hmm. So that’s how you keep your mental focus.”

“I usually keep them on my underwear, but I’m glad I have the swimsuit at times like this. I have to carefully aim so that I only read the necessary information. After all, there’s no point in reading information on a hotel worker that entered the same room.”

As she spoke, she slowly walked around the room.

Suddenly, she stopped moving. As if she had grasped the general location of a landmine, she slowly approached the bed.

“What…?” she finally muttered.

She looked over toward Mikoto.

“What are you all doing here? That’s going too far for a field trip.”

“What do you mean?” Mikoto responded.

The girl pointed toward the bed.

“The girl from this room was thinking about discovering the secrets hidden in Liberal Arts City and then left the room.”

Saten Ruiko was trembling.

Her hands were handcuffed behind her back. Near where Saten was sitting in the hangar, an adult woman was standing and leaning against the wall.

She was the Liberal Arts City official named Olive Holiday that Saten and Mikoto had met the day before as well.

However, she was wearing a different outfit from before. Her entire body including her head was covered in a yellow protective suit. It may have been fireproof as well because it was made of a s.h.i.+ny material similar to what firefighters wore. Her voice was quite soft rather than m.u.f.fled. Most likely, her voice was picked up by a microphone within the suit and speakers on the outside outputted it.

Something like a plastic bag was placed at Olive’s feet. It was similar to the kind of case one would put fis.h.i.+ng gear in. She had pulled the handcuffs from it. Most likely, she had other tools to confine people or to cause pain within it.

Olive spoke into a small radio.

“Dawn has come.”

“Yes.”

“Is management still discussing it? Whether we’re going to let her go, give her a warning, or use some other method, I would have thought they would have come to a decision much sooner.”

“You know they’re always like this. And I’m sure you can understand why they need to be so cautious given the situation.”

Saten’s shoulder’s trembled.

She did not know any English beyond the first year middle school level, so she could not understand the details of what they were saying. However, the danger she was in was still conveyed to her. When she had come there before, she had been released more quickly. She had not been restrained for a long period of time like that.

Something was different.

It felt to her like she was heading in a train along the same track to the same destination, but someone had suddenly pulled a switching lever sending her toward some unknown destination.

“But leader, even if you are wearing that protective suit, it would be better if you did not stay there for long periods of time. You should hand her over to us and return to your post.”

“Hmph. The contamination? We don’t actually know anything about that. There are no abnormalities in the readings, but we still dress like this in fear because we don’t understand it. We don’t even know if there is any contamination or if these suits will protect us if there is.”

“…”

“This may be the reward we get for researching something we don’t understand at all, but that’s the duty of the world police.”

Olive sounded bored.

Suddenly, she started speaking of something unrelated to the job at hand.

“Where did you work before here?”

“…On a mission to destroy Russian pipelines. The reasoning was that oil dealings that do not benefit us had no reason to exist,” said Olive’s subordinate in a sinking voice.

High prices on crude oil made the entire world suffer and having that business go bankrupt would cause a h.e.l.l of starvation to spread throughout the world, so seeing that black liquid pouring from a tear in a giant pipeline like it was hot water was unlikely to be an enjoyable experience.

“I took part in ‘drawing the lines’ for the stations in Antarctica. We were working to create a new map. Due to global warming, the ice melted. Some countries’ research stations were swallowed up by creva.s.ses because the ground beneath them weakened and gave out.” Olive was speaking dryly. “There were foreign researchers walking through Antarctica surrendering in the hopes of being rescued after having lost their stations. We shot them one by one from the distance. After all, if we gave them shelter in our station, they could take our technology back to their own countries.”

“…”

“In the end, it’s the same anywhere. And I had thought you only found bodies in certain special places.”

“It’s only until we can carry out our duties as the world police.”

“Yes. Peace is surprisingly cheap. You can accomplish it just by killing all those who disagree with you.”

The official smiled a bit self derisively and some kind of action could be heard on the other side of the radio.

It sounded like her subordinate was flipping through numerous sheets of paper. The subordinate understood quite well how to follow the decisions that Liberal Arts City came to.

Finally, the subordinate spoke.

“Management has come to its decision.”

“Is it as expected?”

“Yes.”

“I see,” said Olive quietly before turning toward Saten Ruiko.

The girl trembling by the wall heard two words in English.

“I’m sorry.”

Mikoto stepped closer to the Psychometry high school girl who was still confused.

“Do you know where Saten-san went? Can you trace her path!? Can you use your power to follow the route Saten-san took!?”

“No.” The girl shook her head. “My power is not suited for that kind of thing. Even if I tried, the first floor lobby would probably be my limit. Do you know how many people go through there in a day? The residual information from all those people mixes together and turns everything into useless noise.”

Mikoto just barely held back from calling the girl useless and then gave s.h.i.+rai a signal with her finger. The Psychometry girl looked like she wanted to say something more, but s.h.i.+rai gently took her away.

Mikoto and Uiharu remained in the room.

Mikoto doubted something that would conveniently lead them to Saten would be in the room, but it was also unlikely that they could find her by randomly running around the large city.

“U-um, Misaka-san…” Uiharu started to say, but she stopped.

It looked to Mikoto like she wanted to ask something, but was afraid of what the answer would be.

And that was why Mikoto took the initiative.

“I can’t give you any specifics, but it’s possible Saten-san has come across some of Liberal Arts City’s cla.s.sified information. She most likely left the room voluntarily, but it’s unknown where she went after that. It’s possible the officials of this city have gotten involved.”

“You don’t mean…”

“But they will not harm us so easily. Or rather, they seem to have created some strange rule to that effect. As long as they continue following that rule, Saten-san is not in an immediately dangerous situation.”

As she spoke, Mikoto sorted through the information in her head.

Teachers belonging to Anti-Skill were leading that large-scale field trip. Mikoto wondered whether she should get help from them, but she shook her head. The power of the adults was the power of groups, but they were not in Academy City. Anti-Skill would be of no use. Also, the adults would bring out the rules and regulations preventing Mikoto and the others from doing anything. In that situation where every second counted, the adults would just get in their way.

But how were they supposed to find where Saten Ruiko was?

Given what had happened with Olive Holiday, the official Mikoto and Saten had met before, even if Saten had been captured by the officials, she may not be in danger immediately. However, Mikoto could not be sure of that and if Saten had been captured by a different official, she may be treated in a completely different way.

Mikoto thought for a bit, and…

(That’s it…)

Mikoto glanced around the room and headed to the corner. The ATM-like device that let one put money on the IC card that acted as a wallet was there.

Previously, Mikoto had used that device to hack into Liberal Arts City’s network. If the officials were involved with Saten’s disappearance, they may have made some kind of communication over the network.

Mikoto used the charging device in the same way as before to try to hack in.

As before, the security seemed outdated compared to Academy City’s, so she made it right in and then checked on a few pieces of information. In the security system’s alert information, she found a report file with an image of someone who appeared to be Saten Ruiko.

“Found her!!”

However, the location Saten had been photographed in was encrypted.

“Dammit, what a pain… This is the kind of encryption that will take some time to a.n.a.lyze.”

The theory itself was simple, but it would take time to decrypt. However, they did not have that time. Mikoto was conflicted about whether she should continue on that path or try to locate the girl from a different angle.

“…Please move aside,” came a sudden voice from the side.

Before Mikoto could turn around, Uiharu Kazari pushed past Mikoto. Mikoto didn’t know where she it had been hidden, but Uiharu now held a rod slightly longer than a ballpoint pen. Uiharu pressed a b.u.t.ton on it and a clear sheet shot out like it was a scroll. It was an ultra-thin waterproof computer made from a highly flexible printed circuit board.

With a slight electronic hum, an image of a keyboard appeared on the transparent sheet. The two devices were not connected by any cables, but the old(-looking) charger and the ultra-thin computer immediately linked together.

Uiharu’s fingers races along the keys.

The encryption was cracked in 7 seconds.

After that, multiple windows opened up one after another and various parts of the network were a.n.a.lyzed in multiple ways. It had gone beyond something as simple as hacking into the network. An invisible king had appeared within that system that could work faster than its supervisor or its creator. She was not simply leaving things to the specs of the Academy City machine and investigating what she came across. She a.n.a.lyzed the composition of the network in an instant, took the fastest but safest shortcuts, and pa.s.sed through backdoors in order to reach the information she wanted faster than anyone and doing the least amount of work.

Mikoto saw the instant that the speed of the brute force random access exceeded what human intelligence could comprehend. Television shows occasionally showed a genius technician’s intuition and fingers getting greater readings than a major company’s precision machines, but Mikoto felt that she was truly seeing it before her very eyes.

“Found it,” Uiharu Kazari said paying no heed to Mikoto’s surprise. “Because of a computer being intentionally cut off from the network, I cannot say anything with certainty, but from the information I can access, Saten-san must be here.”

Saten had a feeling that, after leaving the hangar, she had been taken along a long road or tunnel in a car or a train before getting out and walking down some kind of long pa.s.sageway.

Saten Ruiko’s explanation was so vague because she had been stuffed in some kind of bag while in the vehicle and she was walking blindfolded. The human senses must have relied a lot on sight because she felt like her senses of distance and balance were distorted. It was even harder to walk because her hands were still handcuffed behind her back. When humans walked, they held out their hands to keep their balance and Saten was made aware of that simple fact more than she ever wished to be.

She wanted to run away.

She wanted to let out a shout and run as quickly as she could.

However, Saten could feel something hard pressed against her back which kept that desire in check. It was not sharp like a blade. The odd feeling felt like some kind of rod, but she could not tell if it was made of metal or plastic. Because she could not tell for sure what it was, her imagination went all out keeping Saten from doing anything bold. She had no choice but to walk along as the official told her.

When had the change occurred?

She first noticed it with her sense of smell. She started to smell salt water. Next, she heard the sound of waves. Then, the flat feeling of the floor beneath her sandals changed to something like stepping on stone. Finally, the light got bright enough to be noticeable through the blindfold.

They had left the facility and were now somewhere outside.

Suddenly, Saten felt the official’s fingers near her ear. She jumped out of shock, but the official ignored her and removed her blindfold. A brilliant light burned into her eyes like when facing the spotlight on stage.

Because it was early morning, the light felt like it was coming from straight ahead rather than from above.

“…Kh…”

She held up a hand to obstruct the sunlight and after a while her vision returned to normal. They were indeed outside of the facility.

But…

“A rocky area…?”

They were not on one of the beaches covered in white sand that were all over Liberal Arts City. The area they were in was likely manmade as well, but it was an area made of black rock. The hard feeling of the rocks mixed with seawater and a bit of sand brought only unease and discomfort.

The rock was not just at their feet. A wall of rock rose up in the direction of the land and a portion stretched out above them like a ceiling. Saten was standing in a コ-shaped area.

When she turned back toward the direction they had come from, she saw a few constructions made of silver pipes and concrete embedded in the rock. They looked a lot like the something from the fish farms one would see on TV, but they were likely fakes. They were nothing more than decorations hiding the entrance to the facility.

“It seems the contamination really was an error in judgment on management’s part. I can understand being overly nervous, but I would rather it did not get in the way of our work.”

Saten turned in the direction of that voice and found Olive. At some point, she had removed the yellow protective suit. She was now wearing only a sporty racing swimsuit and a lifejacket.

“It was made to look quite natural, wasn’t it?” Olive said proudly.

She was staring at the surrounding rocky area.

“This was not in Liberal Arts City when it was first created for the filming of that SF movie. We had it hurriedly made because it was necessary.”

“…?”

Olive continued speaking with a smile like she was telling a child how to enjoy the attractions at an amus.e.m.e.nt park for the first time.

“Accidental drownings occur here again and again. We officials are worried for the safety of the guests, so we have put up a sign saying it is off limits, but couples in love continue to come here to escape the eyes of the public. People could just enjoy swimming in the designated areas, but they end up coming to somewhere like this and then they have unfortunate accidents.”

Saten Ruiko could feel the muscles in her face moving unnaturally. No, it was not just her face. She knew she was in danger, but she could not come up with anything she could do about it, so she felt her body trembling like her muscles were not sure what to do, like bubbles were coming to the surface, or like a change in the earth’s crust was making the ground swell up.

“Do you know why we purposefully constructed such a dangerous place?” Olive said as she reached inside her lifejacket and put on the plastic gloves she pulled out.

“…Ah…”

“Even if someone drowns here and even if the body of some traveler from a distant country is found floating here, no one will find it unnatural. Having a foreign corpse can be a bit of a problem, so we needed to come up with a creative way of dealing with that problem.”

“Wahh!?”

Saten Ruiko stepped back upon learning that it was no joke and it was something that had been naturally done again and again. However, her feet got tangled up and she fell onto her back. The hard and sharp rock injured her hands that she put out behind her and her back. However, Saten did not feel the pain at all. All she felt was fear wrapped around every part of her body.

A smile slowly spread across Olive’s face and she spoke to Saten.

“You mustn’t do that. If you bleed too much, it will stain the sea water.”

“No…”

Saten ignored her and slid back along the rock to distance herself from Olive. Doing so sc.r.a.ped her back like the rocky surface was a giant file.

With a single step forward, Olive filled the gap Saten had made.

The approaching official grabbed Saten’s hair and forcibly lifted her up.

“Agh!? S-stop. Stop!!”

Saten tried to move her arms, but her efforts only caused the handcuffs to rattle. She tried to kick Olive, but she could not muster any strength into her legs. With a battered-looking face, Saten tried to somehow think up a way to survive.

“I’m a student of j.a.pan’s Academy City! It would be a problem for you if an esper went missing here, right!? You said something about them fearing that military secrets had been leaked to America!!”

“Yes, that’s true in the case of a Level 5. It seems opinions among management were split as to how to deal with you, but it was eventually agreed that it was within the acceptable range. Well, you are just a Level 0. You have almost no value. They said the disorder caused by your disappearance would be on a rather small scale.”

“!?”

Those words were like a rusted blade carving out her heart, but Saten did not have time to be in shock.

“There are marks showing I have handcuffs on! If I rattle them around, I can make wounds, too!! Even if you remove them now, a careful examination will show I had them on!!”

“When someone drowns in a rocky area like this, their body is not necessarily found intact.”

Olive’s expression did not change.