Blue-and-White Stripes

Carrying two large bags of instant coffee, Duke hurried back to the research institute. He had no choice—the canned kind had all been bought out by White Hair. Heaven knew why Academy City’s Number One loved coffee so much. It wasn’t like he needed to stay up late working overtime.

The outside world was too dangerous. The embrace of a lovely young woman was much warmer. Speaking of her, one had to mention her less-than-ideal life. As her deputy and assistant, Duke knew very well what Kiyama Harumi had been researching lately.

Her repeated applications to use the Tree Diagram Remnant had all been rejected. To save her comatose students, the young woman had embarked on a path of no return, willing to stop at nothing. Unable to find a supercomputer capable of replacing its calculations, she, a specialist in brain physiology and AIM Diffusion Fields, began developing AIM Burst.

On the surface, AIM Burst was an MP3 audio file. In reality, it was a program that linked together numerous AIM fields, creating a network that stacked their abilities.

It used human brains as processors, linking brainwaves to build an inter-brain network and carry out massive calculations. It sounded like cloud computing, but the human brain’s heat dissipation was nowhere near as good as a computer’s. This was not something a single electric fan could solve.

Users of AIM Burst were continuously affected by other people’s brainwaves, causing their brains to lose autonomy and fall into a coma. Medically, this was called a "persistent vegetative state"—better known as being in a vegetative state.

AIM Burst’s danger was obvious. Kiyama Harumi had become obsessed and no longer cared about anything else, but saying that those above her knew nothing about her research would be complete bullshit.

They had refused to approve her applications time and again, clearly showing they had no faith in her project. The Five Elements Organ and Misaka Network were far more accomplished and controllable than AIM Burst. With improved versions already available, naturally they had no interest in the inferior one.

Tasteless to keep, a pity to throw away—that was the higher-ups’ attitude toward AIM Burst.

But Kiyama Harumi knew none of this. Perhaps out of guilt, perhaps out of responsibility, that foolish woman had plunged headlong into the fire pit without hesitation.

Carrying two large shopping bags, Duke passed a gloomy alleyway, his mind blank as he muttered to himself, "Considering how often she gives me benefits, I guess I’ll lend her a hand…"

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—

A burst of automatic rifle fire rang out. Duke cursed his bad luck and quickened his pace. As the saying went, when you were unlucky, even drinking cold water could get stuck in your teeth. He did not want trouble, but trouble had come knocking on his door.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

More than a dozen bullets tore through the air, all striking Duke and the shopping bags in his hands. He crashed heavily to the ground like a ragged sack.

"I just went out to buy coffee. Did it have to be this miserable?" Duke stared speechlessly at the full moon in the sky. If my Golden Finger hadn’t come online tonight, I’d have been turned into a honeycomb for sure.

Several hurried footsteps approached. Duke shut his eyes, tilted his head, and played dead on the ground. A Certain Magical Index World ran far too deep. He only wanted to be a salted fish, swimming through the young woman’s ample embrace. All that messy plot nonsense could go to hell.

Unfortunately, the tree might wish for calm, but the wind would not stop!

In the alley, smoking shell casings fell one after another, clattering sharply against the cold concrete. The sounds of bullets striking steel and piercing walls did not cease. Then, after a dull explosion, billowing smoke completely enveloped everything.

A Misaka Sister wearing night-vision goggles rushed out of the alley. Suddenly, it was as if she had been struck in the back by a speeding train. She spat blood in midair and crashed down onto Duke.

Duke cracked his eyes open and peered through the slits. Blue-and-white stripes. No safety shorts. Identity confirmed—not Railgun.

Tap, tap, tap—

White Hair, the villain Duke had met once before, Academy City’s strongest Level 5 vector manipulator, Accelerator, walked out of the alley with a savage expression.

"What’s wrong? Have you already reached your limit? Hurry up, get up, and keep running for your life. I haven’t had enough fun yet!" A line villains loved to use.

Panting heavily, the Misaka Sister propped herself up on Duke and raised a hand, unleashing a chain of lightning. It had no effect whatsoever. The instant the lightning neared Accelerator, it was deflected and vanished into the air.

"A feeble attack. Or have you already given up?" Accelerator swept his hand back, and invisible repulsive force blasted the Misaka Sister away. She crashed brutally to the ground and rolled several times.

The Misaka Sister weakly pushed herself up. Blood ran from her forehead down her cheek. Looking at Accelerator as he approached, her pained expression turned blank. "Misaka cannot… accurately grasp the opponent’s ability… But based on the experiment results so far, Misaka infers that the opponent has erected a protective barrier around himself."

"Oh, you’ve still got some life in you!" Seeing the pool of blood on the ground and the Misaka Sister forcing herself to stand, Accelerator tilted his head and offered a word of approval.

"Since the opponent walks on the ground, then at least below… the soles of his feet have no ability-based protection. Attacking from there is the most effective method! Misaka reaches this conclusion." The Misaka Sister staggered to her feet, her gaze sweeping over the spot Accelerator was about to pass.

Duke secretly tilted his head and looked at the pressure-triggered bomb less than a palm’s width from his face. His expression collapsed.

For fuck’s sake, I’m already dead, and you still won’t let me go? And there’s such a huge corpse lying here—why won’t either of you even look at me? Shouldn’t you feel guilty? Mourning the dead would be nice too!

"What are you muttering about? If you don’t run now, I’m going to finish you off," Accelerator taunted, like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Misaka is not fleeing. Misaka has lured you into a trap according to plan! Misaka requests that the opponent correct his statement." Sparks of electricity flashed across the Misaka Sister’s body.

Boom—

The violent explosion swallowed Accelerator, with Duke caught in it as well. Amid the billowing smoke and waves of fire, Duke spun through the air in a full three-thousand-six-hundred-degree rotation, then landed headfirst with a splat at the Misaka Sister’s feet.

"Did it work?"

The Misaka Sister turned a blind eye to her desecration of a corpse. During the operation, anyone drawn into the battle was not considered in the safety calculations. That was a clause written into the plan. The Misaka Sister stated that she was merely following procedure.

A hurricane suddenly rose from the flames, and Accelerator walked out completely unscathed. "What a pity. Your plan has completely failed!"

"How… can this be?" The Misaka Sister stood frozen. She had never known whether she possessed a heart, but she suddenly felt fear of death.

"Formulaic combat…" Accelerator’s face went cold. "Still as boring as ever. I’ll give you a chance. If you beg for mercy, I’ll let you go. How about it?"

"…" The Misaka Sister did not answer.

"Are you not afraid of death, or do you simply not understand death…" Disgust flashed in Accelerator’s eyes as he raised his hand toward the Misaka Sister from afar.

A heavy killing intent spread out, blanketing the entire street. The surrounding air gradually grew tense.

"Die…" Accelerator’s raised hand was about to fall.

"Calabash Brothers, Calabash Brothers, there were seven in all, three got lost, wind and rain blew away another three, now only I am left~~~ Ding ding dong dong, clang clang, Calabash Brothers… la la la la… Calabash Brothers, Calabash Brothers, mighty indeed…"

A soul-stirring ringtone suddenly rang out, and the street instantly fell silent. The atmosphere became slightly awkward.

The ringtone continued for nearly twenty seconds before Duke finally pulled his phone from his pocket while lying on the ground.

"Does buying coffee really take this long?" The young woman’s listless voice came through the phone.

"Why are you calling me now? Couldn’t you have waited a little longer? Even one minute would’ve been enough!" Duke said miserably.

"What happened?" the young woman asked in confusion.

"Nothing… I’m never coming to District 7 again."

"Hurry back. Without coffee, I’m about to fall asleep… Beep… beep…"

The disconnected tone sounded from the phone.

Duke got to his feet and brushed the dust from his clothes. Seeing Accelerator and the Misaka Sister both staring at him, he scratched his nose and gave an awkward laugh. "Well, um, I’m in a hurry to deliver food, so I won’t interrupt you two getting all lovey-dovey!"

Thanks to readers "Brother Fanhu," "Lelouch Corps," "Fei Xindong," "Fire Sparrow Duo," "First Hobby, Final Dream," "Fire Moon Gen," "Failed Fake otaku," "Collecting 16 to 25 Year Old Beautiful Girls," "Bought It and Now Eating Dirt 233," and "Night Cat DEVIL" for their donations!