A Scientific Urban Detective

As soon as she stepped out of the infirmary, Kessai Yuki almost bumped into Misaka Mikoto. Startled, and recalling her behavior that morning, she felt a twinge of guilt.

“Yo… Yo, good afternoon, Misaka-san!” Kessai Yuki greeted loudly, “What a coincidence, meeting you here!”

“Coincidence? Oh, I guess it is.” Misaka Mikoto nodded, “I came to see Sawa-senpai; isn't this the infirmary she often uses?”

Kessai Yuki's mind raced. Although to outsiders, Misaka Mikoto seemed to have joined the Shokuhou Faction—which was practically the case—she knew that Misaka Mikoto was still a "free agent" unaffiliated with any faction.

Moreover, due to her personality, Misaka Mikoto had never been particularly interested in faction-related matters.

Therefore, she didn't suspect Kessai Yuki's presence in the infirmary at all.

In Misaka Mikoto's eyes, it was simply an infirmary that Sawa-senpai frequented, not a private one exclusively for her use.

“By the way, Kessai, are you feeling alright?” Misaka Mikoto, as expected, simply assumed her roommate was unwell, hence her visit, “Your complexion looked a bit off this morning.”

“Ah? Oh, yes!” Kessai Yuki replied quickly, “Thank you for your concern. I'm fine; I was just a little too excited by that shocking news.”

“Faction members really have it tough.” Misaka Mikoto said, “Oh right, Sawa-senpai…”

Remembering her errand, Misaka Mikoto quickly tried to enter.

“Wait, Sawa-senpai… she just left.” Kessai Yuki quickly interjected.

“Is that so? I missed her.” Misaka Mikoto sighed slightly, “Well, never mind.”

“Excuse me…” Kessai Yuki asked, “Did you need something from Sawa-senpai, Misaka-san?”

“Shokuhou made me run an errand,” Misaka Mikoto waved her hand, “She said she was afraid Sawa-senpai would forget about afternoon tea, so she asked me to fetch her. But it seems Sawa-senpai has already gone. Kessai, if you're free, let's take a walk in the garden.”

“Eh? But the tea party…”

“I'm not part of the Shokuhou Faction,” Misaka Mikoto shrugged, “And I'm not good at dealing with those kinds of situations.”

“Y-you're right,” Kessai Yuki nodded in agreement, “The heavyweight meeting between the Empress and the Queen sounds heavy indeed. It's definitely not the kind of situation you'd enjoy, Misaka-san.”

With the burden weighing on her heart lifted, Kessai Yuki felt cheerful and proactively took Misaka Mikoto's hand. “Let's go; I know a quiet place.”

“I thought you'd be interested,” Misaka Mikoto teased, “If you want to gather information for Hasekura-senpai, I can take you to the tea party.”

“I wouldn't do that!” Kessai Yuki retorted.

—Although I'm a spy, I'm not a spy for the Hasekura Faction…

Meanwhile, Sawa Aogi arrived at the Shokuhou Faction's activity room.

Because of this heavyweight meeting, today's afternoon tea was held indoors.

Unlike when facing the other two major factions, there was no need to apologize or thank them for their concern—Shokuhou Misaki knew the situation and was, in a sense, her "accomplice," so many things could be discussed openly.

“Please thank the Nameless senior on my behalf; the information was effective—I have found Yosari-nee.” Sawa Aogi stated directly.

“Congratulations.” Suppressing her surprise, Shokuhou Misaki responded with a straight face.

Sawa Aogi could guess Shokuhou Misaki's thoughts, so she took the initiative to explain, “Chairman Sherbin's memory has been tampered with… or rather, deleted.”

If it had only been tampered with, "Mental Out" could easily restore it, but deletion was impossible; it was like directly formatting the hard drive—and with near-perfect camouflage, covering the deleted traces with normal memories…

In this way, unless one knew in advance that his memory was problematic and carefully examined it with the presumption of guilt, even Shokuhou Misaki wouldn't be able to notice it immediately.

As for Sawa Aogi… she simply used brute force to destroy Chairman Sherbin's psychological defenses, causing him to break down mentally, and finally, under the "threat of death," he mistakenly recalled some of the truth.

“You can probably understand it as Chairman Sherbin's potential exploding, breaking through the previous memory deletion?” Sawa Aogi explained, “Although the name he spoke wasn't complete, under the guidance of the Nameless senior, I went to Kihara Gensei's research center.”

Sawa Aogi didn't hide anything, recounting her experiences in detail.

“That's wonderful, congratulations again.” Shokuhou Misaki offered her blessings once more.

In any case, the fact that Muririn Yosari, who had been missing for four years, was still alive was undoubtedly good news.

Moreover, it meant that Sawa Aogi would abandon her insane revenge plan, and Shokuhou Misaki wouldn't need to stand against her and go to the extra trouble of dealing with a multi-ability user.

“Don't worry,” Sawa Aogi said with a smile, “I will keep my promise—as long as my sister wakes up…”

Until then, Sawa Aogi couldn't abandon her identity as a faction leader and the Eitai Oujo.

Because to cure Muririn Yosari, a large amount of funds and resources were needed, and Sawa Aogi had to use her current status and position to help Kiyama Harumi raise these necessary resources.

Sawa Aogi and Kiyama Harumi reached an agreement—Sawa Aogi would provide resources to support Kiyama Harumi's research, and Kiyama Harumi would be responsible for finding a way to awaken Muririn Yosari.

Of course, those who would be saved at the same time were Kiyama Harumi's students.

Since Muririn Yosari and Kiyama Harumi's students had similar symptoms, it was likely that they were all victims of Kihara Gensei's experiments, so they could be saved together.

“Okay, I have no problem with that.” Shokuhou Misaki didn't dwell on it too much, “Just complete the handover before I enter my second year.”

As long as it didn't affect her becoming the "true Eitai Oujo," Shokuhou Misaki didn't mind the other party's small selfishness.

Or rather, Shokuhou Misaki's true meaning was that after entering her second year, she would not hesitate to seize the title of "Eitai Oujo," and Sawa Aogi should take care of her own affairs before then—she didn't need anyone's charity or concession.

Sawa Aogi smiled and nodded, “Deal, it's settled then.”

Having said everything, Sawa Aogi didn't touch the tea in front of her. She stood up directly, hugged her panda doll, and bowed slightly, “Then, I'll take my leave… Also, remember to thank the Nameless senior on my behalf.”

“I will, don't bother sending me off.” Shokuhou Misaki waved her hand impatiently, urging the other party to leave.