A Scientific Urban Detective

“Also, please rest assured,” Misaki Shokuhou added, “Only a portion of Anonymous-senpai’s memories were deleted; everything else remains unchanged. Moreover, according to my observation—Tiger Bee, lend me your ribbon for a moment.”

Tohmi Kohachi was puzzled but still took out her spare “weapon” from her pocket.

“Thank you~” Misaki Shokuhou took the ribbon and folded a section in the middle. “Like this ribbon, the folded part represents the one hundred seconds of memory that Anonymous-senpai lost. Strictly speaking, it wasn't deleted, but folded and sealed.”

Misaki Shokuhou summarized, “This is a small trick played by the enemy, which shows that he is not a mental系 ability user, but indirectly achieved the effect of 'memory deletion' through other means. But precisely because of this, it is even more difficult to detect.”

As if explaining her mistake, she added, “After all, Anonymous-senpai's memory has no substantial defects, so I failed to notice it!”

Lin Wuming asked, “Then, is there a way to restore those one hundred seconds of memory?”

“Unsealing will take some time,” Misaki Shokuhou said, “Because I am not familiar with the methods used by the enemy, and it concerns the brain and memory, I can only probe little by little.”

“Okay, I understand.” Lin Wuming nodded, “But I have a faster method.”

“I knew it…” Misaki Shokuhou pouted. After all, the answer key was right there; there was no reason not to use it.

After returning to the room and sitting back in his wheelchair, Lin Wuming returned to the living room. “I'm going to the hospital.”

The girls present already knew that Lin Wuming's leg injury had healed, and he only insisted on using the wheelchair out of personal preference and habit, so they were used to this scene and not surprised.

“Going back so soon?” As he was leaving, he saw Iruka Yumiya and Hojo Ayasuzu coming down from upstairs.

“We are going to the hospital next,” Runko Kazakiri explained.

“Eh? Is Anonymous-senpai's condition that serious?” Iruka Yumiya looked over in surprise. “Doesn't look like it at all.”

“No, it's not serious,” Lin Wuming said, “It's just that the 'attending physician' I'm looking for happens to be at the hospital.”

Just as the group was heading out of Family Side, they saw Misaka Mikoto rushing over on a cloud of iron sand, flying close to the ground in a very low-key manner.

“Anonymous-senpai, how are you?” Jumping off the cloud of iron sand, Misaka Mikoto quickly ran to Lin Wuming and looked him up and down with some concern.

Misaki Shokuhou looked at her in surprise. “I didn't expect you to notice it too, Misaka?”

“What are you talking about?” Misaka Mikoto snorted. “Of course I can see Anonymous-senpai's strangeness at a glance! It's just that I had to send Kuroko back first, so I'm late.”

Lin Wuming was very surprised. “Is my performance that obvious? How can you all tell?”

You know, Lin Wuming had been relying on “acting” to get by all these years. If his acting was so bad… wouldn't he have been discovered by Chairman Aleister long ago?

“Anonymous-senpai,” Misaki Shokuhou said helplessly, “How long do you think we've been with you? How could we possibly miss any slight change in you?”

“This… is that so…” Lin Wuming suddenly felt a little guilty—if it were the other way around, he didn't have such a deep understanding of Misaki Shokuhou and the others.

If the situation were reversed, Lin Wuming was not confident that he could see their strangeness at a glance.

“Alright, don't waste time here.” Tohmi Kohachi pushed the wheelchair forward. “Let's hurry to the hospital to find Touma Kamijou.”

“The car is ready.” Runko Kazakiri waved to summon the Queen's car parked nearby.

The main reason why Misaki Shokuhou and the others were able to arrive faster than Misaka Mikoto was because they had a vehicle, while Misaka Mikoto could only fly on clouds in sections with few pedestrians and vehicles…

Arriving at the hospital, Touma Kamijou was still recuperating in the hospital.

Index was obviously not the type to take care of people. Being together, it was hard to tell who was taking care of whom.

For his recovery, the hospital had specially arranged for a nurse to provide full-time care. Anyway, the expenses were provided by Lin Wuming, so Touma Kamijou had no pressure.

The only thing to worry about was…

“Ouch, ouch, ouch! Let go, let go of me!”

Just as they arrived at the door of the ward, they heard Touma Kamijou's miserable cries from inside.

“Uh…” Misaka Mikoto looked at the others with a strange expression. “Should we come back later? It feels like we've come at the wrong time.”

“What's there to wait for? Just knock on the door.” Tohmi Kohachi stepped forward and knocked hard on the door.

“Someone, someone outside is coming in!” Touma Kamijou's voice came from the ward. “Let go, I have to open the door!”

“Touma is injured and needs to rest well. I'll open the door.” Then came a girl's voice.

“You know I'm injured too… Whatever, just go open the door.” Touma Kamijou's voice was full of a sense of relief.

Except for Lin Wuming and Misaki Shokuhou, who probably guessed what was happening inside, the other girls looked at each other—the conversation in the room just now made it difficult not to have misunderstandings.

“Next time, we should remind them to change to a ward with better soundproofing.” Yumiya Iruka, who was at the back, said to Ayasuzu Hojo.

“Who exactly lives inside?” Ayasuzu Hojo also had a surprised expression.

But the scene after opening the door relieved everyone outside, or rather, greatly disappointed them.

It was just an ordinary ward, and a young man in a hospital gown leaning against the bed.

The only unusual thing was the silver-haired nun who came to open the door—in Academy City, such attire was truly rare.

“It's Lin Wuming-san!” Index was startled by the large group of people at the door, but relaxed when she noticed Lin Wuming.

“Good afternoon, Index.” Lin Wuming greeted, then looked up at the room. “Kamijou-kun, are you alright?”

“Wuming-kun, I'm fine…” Touma Kamijou's spirits lifted, then he couldn't help but touch his forehead, which was covered in teeth marks. “Probably? By the way, every time I see you, the scene around you becomes more and more amazing.”

Lin Wuming looked back and, indeed, the sight of a large group of girls in Tokiwadai Middle School uniforms appearing in the hospital corridor was very conspicuous.

“Most of them are members of the Shokuhou Faction… that's normal, right?” Lin Wuming thought for a moment, other than being a little eye-catching, there were no other problems.

“Let's not talk about those things, I have something I want to ask you.” As Lin Wuming spoke, he drove his wheelchair into the ward.

Because the space inside the ward was limited, except for Tohmi Kohachi, who naturally followed, the others had no interest, so they waited outside the door.

“If there's anything you need from me, just say it!” Rarely encountering Lin Wuming needing his help, Touma Kamijou patted his chest to assure him.

“I want to borrow your Imagine Breaker to touch my head again…” As he said this, Lin Wuming noticed the thick bandages and plaster cast on Touma Kamijou's right hand.

Touma Kamijou also looked a little embarrassed at his tightly wrapped right hand.