I’m Not Taking the Blame for This

Kuroko moved at high speed to save Onee-sama, who had been abducted by the Demon King. Konori Mii was not idle either. Through a portable micro-terminal, she passed Duke’s information to the person in charge at the scene—the captain of the Anti-Skill Seventh Branch, Yomikawa Aiho.

Upon receiving Duke’s profile, Yomikawa Aiho did not dare relax in the slightest. Although the information stated that Duke was an esper with no abilities, her years of front-line experience told her that intelligence often differed from reality. It could only serve as a reference, never be fully trusted. Kiyama Harumi, an ability-less individual, had developed AIM Burst and become a Multi-Skill. As her assistant, Duke was probably not as simple as his profile suggested.

Otherwise, how could anyone explain what an ability-less person was doing here? Turning himself in?

Give her a break!

Remembering how Duke had appeared like a teleportation esper, Yomikawa Aiho became even more certain of her judgment and calmly gave the order. "Everyone, switch to live ammunition!"

Click, clack—

Metal rounds were chambered. Holding a riot shield, Yomikawa Aiho stood outside the encirclement and shouted sternly, "Researcher Duke, in the name of the Anti-Skill Seventh Branch, I am placing you under arrest. Do not test my patience. Your accomplice, Kiyama Harumi, is already wanted. If you do not wish to follow in her footsteps, stay where you are and do not resist."

As she spoke, Yomikawa Aiho hesitantly glanced at Misaka 9800, whose eyes were vacant. Although the girl’s identity was unknown, there was no mistaking that face, identical to Railgun’s.

This girl was Railgun’s sister!

A woman’s intuition told Yomikawa Aiho that Misaka 9800 was most likely a hostage Duke had taken, intended to make Railgun, who was currently fighting Kiyama Harumi beneath the overpass, hold back out of concern.

Which was why women’s intuition did not sell as well as condoms—not that it was completely without reason…

"Please don’t misunderstand. I have no hostile intentions. I came here to stop Professor Kiyama." Duke cooperatively raised both hands. "Also, could you stop pointing your guns at me? Someone might get hurt!"

Unfortunately, Duke’s reasonable advice changed nothing. People always chose to believe their first impressions, and Anti-Skill officers were no exception. Professional standards prevented them from easily believing a suspect’s words.

Just then, Kuroko, the pervert who had teleported at high speed repeatedly and was nearly exhausted to death, finally arrived. Standing beside Yomikawa Aiho, she tugged on the woman’s clothes, her entire body aching.

"Yomikawa-sensei, Kuroko isn’t too late, is she?!"

"You came at just the right time. A girl suspected of being Railgun’s sister has been taken hostage by the other party. It’s up to you."

The Disciplinary Committee and Anti-Skill both belonged to Academy City’s public security system. The difference was that the former maintained order within schools, while the latter possessed greater authority, similar to a special forces unit in the outside world, and faced more dangerous enemies.

Since both operated in District 7, they frequently crossed paths. Yomikawa Aiho was quite familiar with Kuroko and knew she was a Level 4 esper—and, moreover, an extremely rare spatial-type esper.

"Onee-sama is in danger. Of course Kuroko cannot refuse." Kuroko flared her nostrils and exhaled two heavy breaths. Fueled by a certain yuri power known as "love," she instantly revived as though injected with stimulants.

Whoosh!

Kuroko used Teleportation and vanished from where she stood. When she reappeared, she was already behind Misaka 9800. Just as Kuroko pressed her palm against Misaka 9800’s back, a familiar electric current surged into her body.

Crackle, crackle—

Lightning flashed. Smoke rose from Kuroko’s entire body as she rolled her eyes and collapsed to the ground, blissfully exhaling a puff of black smoke. "Nngh~~… Aahh~~ Please ravage Kuroko even more violently!"

Yomikawa Aiho: "…"

The Anti-Skill officers: "…"

Duke: "…"

Misaka 9800: "…"

Duke stared speechlessly at Misaka 9800 and complained, "Why are you making such a confused face too? You’re the one who electrocuted her, you know?"

"Misaka does not know. When she touched Misaka, Misaka instinctively used her ability. Researcher, has Misaka’s ability gone out of control? Misaka asks with considerable concern." Misaka 9800 blinked blankly, looking utterly innocent.

Kuroko, lying on the ground and twitching occasionally: "Onee-sama with a strange verbal tic is adorable too…"

Duke’s eye twitched. Still holding up his hands, he nodded toward Kuroko, indicating that the earlier attack had absolutely nothing to do with him. But in Yomikawa Aiho’s eyes, that action became a criminal’s provocation.

"Damn it, the number of hostages has increased!"

"Hey, hey, I’m not taking the blame for this!"

Beneath the overpass, Misaka Mikoto and Kiyama Harumi’s battle had already ended. In Duke’s eyes, the clash between their abilities had been nothing more than two amateurs pecking at each other. There had been little worth watching.

Kiyama Harumi was a shut-in researcher with combat experience equal to zero. Misaka Mikoto was not much better. Her Level 5 electromagnetic abilities were excellent for both attack and defense and immensely destructive, but in her hands, they still lacked a certain polish.

Sure enough, for a girl her age, romance was far more important than superpowers.

Both were amateurs, but Misaka Mikoto, who regularly bullied street punks, was clearly superior. With years of domestic violence under her belt, she had plenty of experience dealing with bugs like big sisters. Taking advantage of the moment the big sister let down her guard, she used the Thousand Years… ahem, she used the Princess Carry Death Grip from behind. First, she pinned the big sister in place, then at point-blank range unleashed an electric shock, sending her down the same path as Kuroko.

Misaka Mikoto had won her first battle, and just as she was about to call for Anti-Skill to come down, she suddenly sensed Kiyama Harumi’s memories. It was not that her electromagnetic ability had leveled up from fighting monsters; rather, her neural circuitry had connected with Kiyama Harumi’s, allowing her to accidentally read the other woman’s memories.

After seeing Kiyama Harumi’s memories, Misaka Mikoto fell silent. Both had been harmed by Academy City’s dark side. Kiyama Harumi had chosen to resist, while she had curled up in her own little world and licked her wounds alone, not even knowing what she should do next.

"You saw… my memories?" Kiyama Harumi staggered to her feet and took a few unsteady steps. One of her multiple abilities was physical enhancement, so she was not completely defeated yet.

"If I’d known from the beginning, I wouldn’t have stopped you…" Misaka Mikoto gritted her teeth, holding firmly to the justice in her heart. "But even with a past like that, you still shouldn’t hurt more people."

"As long as I can save those children, I can do anything. Even if I have to become enemies with everyone in this city, I will not stop!" At that point, Kiyama Harumi suddenly shut her eyes in pain and began trembling uncontrollably.

"Ahhhhhh—"

Kiyama Harumi clutched her head and screamed miserably. The needle-like pain made her pupils constrict sharply, then it felt as if her head were about to explode, her consciousness gradually blurring.

"Wh-what’s happening?" Misaka Mikoto hurriedly asked, too shocked to care about anything else.

"The network… is out of control!!!" The side effects of forcibly controlling ten thousand AIM Diffusion Fields had emerged.

Kiyama Harumi managed to force out those words before collapsing onto the ground. Then, a white light appeared from the back of her head, and some bizarre creature floated up. Hazy ribbon-like matter connected her to the unknown creature strand by strand. The hollow, translucent being gradually solidified and swelled into a nauseating ball of flesh.

A monster resembling a newborn infant floated in the air, with glowing jellyfish-like tentacles. Its enormous head was larger than half its body, like a waterlogged corpse, while its blood-red eyes and mouth full of fangs made anyone who looked at it feel instinctive disgust.

Mottled, chaotic AIM Diffusion Fields radiated from the bizarre infant, disorderly yet arranged according to some kind of pattern. Standing closest to it, Misaka Mikoto could clearly feel the nearly overflowing malice.

There was also a golden-red ring above its head, like the halo supposedly worn by angels in legends. Of course, no sane person would think the monster before them was an Angel!

A monster was more like it!

"Waaah—"

Like its first cry after being born, the materialized infant’s body began to grow enormous. The color of the ethereal, translucent monster deepened, countless masses of flesh sprouting from it as its body rapidly expanded until it reached more than ten meters in size. Irregular mountains of flesh bulged across its surface, and like a true monster, it grew many horrifying arms.

"So disgusting… What exactly is that…" Misaka Mikoto stared in shock at the enormous infant monster in the air.

Misaka Mikoto had assumed the monster would attack her and had already prepared herself for battle. Yet she discovered that it seemed to have no consciousness at all. It merely kept roaring at the sky, its piercing screams seemingly containing countless agonies.