A Scientific Urban Detective

Watching the two magicians' departing figures, after a moment of panic, Touma Kamijou quickly turned around, leaning on his crutches as he shuffled back to the 24-hour convenience store. He borrowed the phone again, calling Lin Wuming.

"...Actually, it's not impossible to understand Stiyl and the others' decision." After listening to Touma's accusations, Lin Wuming analyzed, "If our analysis is correct, then it's not hard to guess why the girl named Index still has to have her memory wiped regularly every year. Clearly, someone deliberately made corresponding settings in her brain."

"You mean, the church they belong to?" Touma realized.

"Yes, after all, that girl's brain records 103,000 magic books—equivalent to a magician's database, right? Of course, they'll try every means to protect such important information," Lin Wuming said.

"Stiyl and Kanzaki Kaori are members of Necessarius. From their point of view, it's impossible to betray the church. But the problem they face now is precisely created by the church. Therefore, to avoid suspicion, they are even less likely to get involved, so they can only entrust it to you, who are not a magician."

"But," Touma said in distress, "brains, memories, or magic, none of these are my specialties! Wuming, do you have any good suggestions?"

"Then..." Before Lin Wuming could finish speaking, the phone suddenly hung up.

"Damn it! I'm out of change!" Touma slammed the receiver back into place.

Luckily, this was an unmanned convenience store, otherwise, the clerk would definitely remind him, right?

In Academy City, it's not easy to find this kind of old-fashioned payphone.

The change Touma used to make the call was rummaged out of a drawer in the safe house. Other than that, he was penniless.

"Kamijou-kun, what are you doing here so early in the morning?" A familiar voice suddenly came from the door. "To think you'd leave such a beautiful girl alone at home, what a waste of talent!"

Tsuchimikado Motoharu, wearing sunglasses and a floral shirt, dressed in a Hawaiian resort style, appeared at the convenience store entrance.

"I didn't want to come out either!" Touma complained, patting his crutches. "Every step I take, my feet hurt like hell! But who told you to find a house without a phone! By the way, let me borrow your phone."

"I told you it's just a temporary safe house, don't expect so much," Tsuchimikado said. "Forget the phone, I brought you something else good, no need to thank me."

Saying that, Tsuchimikado stepped aside, revealing something hidden behind him.

"...It feels a little familiar." Looking at the wheelchair parked at the convenience store entrance, Touma commented, "But it's definitely something I need right now."

Then, with Tsuchimikado's help, Touma exchanged his crutches for the wheelchair.

With his feet off the ground, relieving the burden on them, the pain suddenly lessened a lot, and Touma breathed a sigh of relief.

The wheelchair was electric, and it was very convenient to control its movement by simply manipulating a joystick on the armrest, especially for beginners.

Tsuchimikado, who took the crutches, laughed gleefully, "Kamijou-kun, are you cosplaying our Lin Wuming-sama?"

Touma finally remembered where he had seen this wheelchair before.

"You were the one who chose this wheelchair, what are you laughing at now?" He couldn't help but roll his eyes in response.

"Alright, alright, don't complain," Tsuchimikado said. "This is the same model as Lin Wuming's, and it's also the top-of-the-line model in the series, very expensive. It's no exaggeration to say that this is probably the most expensive vehicle you'll ever drive in your life, be content."

After learning the price of the wheelchair, Touma shut up decisively and became careful when operating the wheelchair.

Then, borrowing Tsuchimikado's phone, Touma reconnected with Lin Wuming and arranged to meet downstairs from the safe house.

Some things are better explained face-to-face.

Tsuchimikado consciously excused himself and left, with no intention of gossiping.

Half an hour later, Lin Wuming and several girls came to the safe house where Touma was temporarily staying.

From a distance, he saw Touma clumsily operating the same wheelchair to greet him. Lin Wuming inexplicably felt a sense of "wearing the same outfit."

The girls beside him laughed even more rudely.

"..." Speechless, to avoid embarrassment, Lin Wuming stood up.

But he was immediately pressed back by Touhou Yomikawa behind him: "Don't mind it, it's quite good like this."

Touhou Yomikawa said seriously.

If he didn't know that Touma was really injured in his feet, Lin Wuming would definitely think that this guy was deliberately mocking him.

"It's really exactly the same." After getting closer, Touma stared at the wheelchair under Lin Wuming and observed it.

"Get to the point..." Lin Wuming coughed lightly, drawing his attention back.

"Oh, it's like this..."

Touma repeated his experience just now again.

"Index is in good condition now, but I don't know how to tell her these truths, so I have to hide it from her for the time being," Touma said.

After all, if he couldn't find a way to save her, her memory would be forcibly deleted in less than seven days—rather than experiencing such a cruel fact, it would be better to let her walk to the end "happily" like this...

"Touma Kamijou," Lin Wuming and Misaki Shokuhou exchanged glances and made some kind of decision, "Although we are Level 5s, we are not magicians after all..."

Touma's expression suddenly dimmed. Honestly, he had quite high expectations for Lin Wuming, and he sincerely believed that Lin Wuming was omnipotent.

"I'm very sorry," Lin Wuming said regretfully, "If it's a matter of esper abilities, we might be able to find a solution here, but magic... I really can't help—after all, magic and our esper abilities are fundamentally two different systems. Normally speaking, it's difficult to have any effective solution, right?"

"Ah, is that really so?" Touma also sighed heavily, "I should have thought of it, the problem couldn't be solved so easily, otherwise Stiyl and the others wouldn't be suffering until now..."

"..." Lin Wuming stared at Touma intently.

—As expected of the protagonist of the original work, he is indeed a kind person, but why does he feel like he is not very flexible in the head?

Misaki Shokuhou's voice sounded in Lin Wuming's mind.

—I think Wuming-senpai's hint is already obvious enough, does someone need to hint directly?

"I said..." Mikoto Misaka suddenly said, "Kamijou... Senpai, isn't your esper ability said to be able to eliminate any supernatural power?"

"Eh?" Touma immediately looked down at his right hand, "Oh yeah..."