Shirai caught a glimpse of Mikoto’s face for a second. She didn’t appear to be looking at anyone. If she had been, she definitely wouldn’t have let them see her about to cry as she was.
Kuroko Shirai rested her back against the wall, hid herself, and, glaring into the void, thought,
All right. It is now my turn, Big Sister.
If she were in Musujime’s shoes, where would the teleporter go in order to escape Mikoto Misaka’s pursuit?
Plus, how much would she leave herself open in the relief of having escaped from the Railgun?
I do beg your pardon, Big Sister. Even if your idiot underclassman heard what you said and knew just how much you were worrying about her, my will to see this through has not bent even an inch.
They would need a similar esper in order to go after her. Someone who
could
move freely, ignoring the flow of traffic and the thickness of walls.
“Okay, Kuroko Shirai, you can do this. Once more into the breach—and make sure to come back alive.”
She placed her Judgment armband on the shoulder of her uniform.
A second later, after having reaffirmed her mission, she was gone.
—I need to hurry.
In a pitch-black hospital room, with all the lights out, a certain girl rose from a bed.
—
I must make haste, thinks Misaka, revising her priorities in their entirety.
She looked like Mikoto Misaka, but she wasn’t. She was Little Misaka, serial number 10032, who had been created from Mikoto’s genes.
Broadly speaking, she was an esper who could control electricity, and also a group of espers who communicated via electrical signals to anyone on the same brain wavelength. After a certain incident, she had been imposing on this hospital to get her body treated. Most of the other Sisters were using facilities outside Academy City. Units like Little Misaka who had remained in Academy City were in the minority.
What was internally spurring Little Misaka onward right now was information from the other Sisters of the same type who’d been sent to facilities around the world and the conclusion drawn by that serial number 20001, Last Order, who integrated and managed all that information.
She had been collecting fragmentary data from the rest of the world before now, but upon accumulating and unifying all of it, a huge problem emerged.
Misaka will reconfirm now, says Misaka 10032, initiating optimization of everyone’s memory information via the network.
She gave a look around her, then grabbed with her right hand the special goggles placed on the shelf near the bed.
The reason eight nations and nineteen organizations are presently launching or planning to launch shuttles under the pretext of space research and development is because they wish to retrieve the remnants of the Tree Diagram, conjectured to be in satellite orbit, correct? says Misaka, offering a question to the many units in the network.
If that were true, then they wanted to rebuild the Tree Diagram.
That would be why incidents were springing up regarding the remnants necessary for that purpose.
Restoration of the world’s most powerful parallel processing equipment equated to a resumption of the experiment. The very same one a certain boy and girl had risked it all to bring to an end.
Similar movements present in Seville, affirms Misaka 10854.
Rocket launch plans confirmed in Schleswig as well, reports Misaka 16770.
I have received information that Novoslbirsk has already collected part of the fragments, follows up Misaka 19999.
Still in Novoslbirsk, study results report that the core part necessary for restoration, the silicon-corundum unit, is in Academy City, and that the Tree Diagram cannot be completed with the other fragments alone, says Misaka 20000, offering supplemental explanation.
As Little Misaka sat up in bed and swung her feet to the floor, many voices, emotions, and images flowed directly into her head like an avalanche. They were the voices of her Sisters, who had been left in the care of agencies and organizations supporting Academy City across the world, and were now receiving treatment. By constructing a network using the brain waves of all the others, they could acquire information from 9,969 places in the world in a heartbeat.
Presently, the only remnant absolutely needed to restore the Tree Diagram must be in Academy City, speculates Misaka 10044.
Perhaps the fragments other agencies have acquired, as well as the pieces left currently in satellite orbit, are being ignored by Academy City simply because they cannot be used by themselves to restore it, further speculates Misaka 14002.
In the same vein, Cape Kennedy is currently advancing a plan to infiltrate Academy City to steal the remnant, reports Misaka 18820.
Apparently their group is called the Asociación de Cienia, adds Misaka adds Misaka and stuff. Oh? Should I have said Misaka 20001 instead? asks Misaka asks Misaka, wondering to herself.
Little Misaka clenched her teeth at the endless flood of opinions being sent.
None of it was good news.
The very act of her getting multiple confirmations on the answer was partially because she wished it were some sort of joke, but she didn’t appear to realize that herself.
“It is already past the time Misaka is allowed out, but I cannot stay here, says Misaka, driving herself on with the excuse of urgency.”
She placed her hands on her nightclothes. They weren’t pajamas or a negligee but a simple surgical gown. She undid the string in the front, exposing her utterly naked white skin. She cast off the surgical gown as if dropping her bathrobe to the floor for a lover, then took a towel and simply wiped the sweat from her skin. She could feel through it that her body heat was slightly higher than normal. Her poor physical condition came with a slight fever. All of her skin, too, was tinged ever so slightly with redness.
With somewhat unsteady legs, she put on a pair of panties, reached behind her to hook on her bra, did up the buttons on her short-sleeve white blouse, pulled up the zipper on the side of her skirt, reached her head and hands through her summer sweater, then sat on the bed and put her socks on one at a time.
Then she put her goggles on her forehead and put on her shoes. Finally, she picked up the surgical gown off the floor, folded it, and placed it on her bed. The minimum required preparations had been completed in an extremely short time. She spared a glance for the door, but then shook her head and moved to the window, unlocking it and sliding it up.
She looked down. This was the second floor.
Little Misaka didn’t pay any mind to that fact, though.
In any case, dealing with the remnant within Academy City is the top priority, concludes Misaka 10032. Yes, the Tree Diagram’s restoration must be avoided, thinks Misaka, renewing her determination as she remembers that boy and girl. Misaka does not wish to bring a shadow over their faces.
Despite her determination, her expressionless eyes contained a hint of anguish.
The boy had run to the switchyard that night to save Little Misaka, who had been badly beaten.
He had shouted to her, ignoring even the likes of Academy City’s strongest esper.
She remembered. She remembered what he had said.
“…”
She shook her slightly feverish, dazed head and set herself back to thinking about practical things.
The situation involved them, and it was advancing even now. They weren’t at the epicenter of the incident, but by collecting information from places all over the planet’s crust, they had successfully gotten a vague idea of what was happening.
And despite knowing all that…
…neither Little Misaka, nor any of the Sisters, could set foot into it.
There were less than ten of them, including her, still remaining in Academy City.
And most of them were receiving treatment for their excessive genetic manipulation and the side effects of their controlled growth acceleration. None of them were in a state to deal with an emergency—much less be used in combat.
Little Misaka knew.
She knew the name of the one who stood up for her when her life was in peril.
So once again, she decided to entrust their fate to that one boy.
To the boy who came all alone to the switchyard that night. To the boy who stood up to Academy City’s strongest Level Five with nothing but his fist. To the boy who gritted his teeth and rose again, no matter how many times he fell or how many times he was attacked.
The first thing to come to her mind at a time like this was his face.
And his expression—unyielding, no matter what the situation.
Of course, she didn’t want to get him involved.
But she had no one else she could rely on.
She was powerless.
She bit her lip a little at her own inability to do anything about her problem herself. That, combined with the fact that she was getting someone else wrapped up in a big problem she couldn’t solve herself.
Even still, she, or rather they, didn’t realize.
That the anguish they were feeling now was their heart, which had never needed to feel something like that until now. Nor that the anguish was the other side of the same coin—the kindness of taking others into consideration.
The Sisters knew exactly where a certain student dormitory was. Little Misaka had acquired the information from carrying cans of juice there in the past. And now, out of all the Sisters currently in Academy City, she was closest to that position. Serial number 20001, also known as Last Order, was in this hospital as well, but being an incomplete specimen, she couldn’t expect any physical abilities from her.
She placed a foot on the opened window frame.
I will confirm one last time, asserts Misaka 10032. In accordance with Plan 228, all Sisters in Academy City will each move to retrieve the remnant.
Number 10032, you have received an especially severe amount of physical damage compared to the others, so should you not devote yourself to your treatment? asks Misaka 10774, showing her concern.
As the voice reached her mind, Little Misaka’s body wavered slightly.
The Sisters were somatic-cell clones who originally had short life spans. Various things had been done to them in order to construct a physical body in an even shorter amount of time. They were undergoing treatment to regain the balance this had caused them to lose.
Even among them, though, Little Misaka’s current weakness was above all the other Sisters because of the persistent attacks from Accelerator during the experiment. Walking around the hospital for short periods of time was one thing, but even Heaven Canceler couldn’t give her permission to engage in genuine activity on the level of real-time combat.
Her body was still suffering from a slight fever. Her sense of balance swayed a little, and it felt like the floor got squishy.
For now, that was everything.
If she forced herself to do more than a fixed amount of exercise, her fever would immediately grow much worse. She would even be in danger of coughing up blood and collapsing as a result.
It does not matter, answers Misaka 10032
, she declared despite all that, gazing unflinchingly into the darkness out the window.
What are these wounds compared to the situation? asks Misaka 10032 in return. Misaka will not stand and wait until she fulfills her promise to that boy, repeats Misaka 10032 in full understanding.
For just a few seconds, she stopped receiving information from the network.
Eventually, like a wave coming back toward the shore…
Acknowledged; we will entrust this to you, says Misaka 14458 with a nod.
We will leave this to you, agrees Misaka 19002.
Misaka will rely on you, too, says Misaka says Misaka. Wait, Misaka wants to do something, too; she can’t stand doing nothing, and
he
hasn’t even come back yet from wherever he went, says Misaka says Misaka, waving her hands and feet around.
Little Misaka frowned slightly, then said,
Misaka 20001, your role in Plan 228 is to remain where you are and act as an information processing relay, advises Misaka 10032. Also, aside from that, who is “he” exactly? asks…Misaka 20001. Please respond, declares Misaka 10032, though it does not look like she will get an answer.
Serial number 20001, Last Order, had apparently severed the connection after saying whatever she wanted, and she didn’t answer Little Misaka’s call.
Troubling
, she thought briefly. Last Order was originally created as a host specimen who could send an emergency stop request if the Sisters were to go berserk, so the Sisters couldn’t give Last Order commands or restrict her actions over the network.
In any case, Misaka will move on her own, says Misaka 10032, disconnecting.
She jumped out of the window without a mind to her skirt. Her summer Tokiwadai Middle School uniform fluttered in the night breeze. At the moment she landed, she folded her legs under her to soften the impact. She had originally been programmed to turn aside the recoil from firing anti-tank rifles in combat. A fall of a few inches wouldn’t damage her in the slightest. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to do the practical calculations fast enough if it were something she hadn’t predicted beforehand—like sudden combat damage.
She shot off at full speed, breaking out of the hospital grounds. She jumped a fence, dashed into the road, then began immediately shortening the distance by using the labyrinthine array of back alleys.
Even while she ran, she was sweating. If she had been more emotionally abundant, she would have thought the sweat was icky. She was currently receiving treatment from the doctor with the face quite similar to a frog’s—and she was in a much weaker condition than the other Sisters because of her fight with Accelerator.
But she ran on anyway.
If the information of serial number 20001, Last Order, was correct, if the remnant were retrieved, the Tree Diagram restored using it, then mass-produced, there was a risk that the experiment would be resumed as a result. That one fact they had calculated indicated a danger to the lives of all the almost ten thousand living Sisters.
A risk—and a danger.
Still running at full speed, Little Misaka wondered to herself how she had come to be able to make judgments like that.
“Misaka now has a reason she cannot allow herself to easily die, concludes Misaka. Generally speaking, I’ll pass on dying, thank you very much, declares Misaka.”
Yes—she made a promise to that boy.
She needed treatment. When it was all over, she’d be with him again.
It was a comforting promise.
And one that would be very painful if she broke it.
Little Misaka reached a main street from an alley, then dove into another back street. She knocked over a garbage can, sending a wandering stray cat frantically running away. She narrowed her eyes painfully, but there was no time to apologize.
There was only one person she could rely on when situations like this happened.
It wasn’t her logic saying that, but rather her experience.
So now that she had felt herself to be in danger, she was trying to tell that to a certain boy.