Chapter 4: Accelerator. Part 1

As the night grew deeper, the cold grew sharper. Despite it being the middle of summer, she felt a chill like a cold blade being pressed up against her stomach.

Serial Number 10032 aka Misaka Imouto left a shopping district and walked with an accurate, machine-like pace toward a section of a silent industrial area.

As she walked along the empty street lined with street lights, Misaka Imouto mentally went over the contents of the experiment about to begin.

The absolute coordinates of the area to be used were X-228561, Y-568714. The start time was at exactly 8:30 PM Japanese Standard Time. The specimen to be used was #10032. The purpose was to find a way to fight so that the usage of reflection would not apply.

"..."

Misaka Imouto ran mentally through the scenario in which she was to be killed, but no tragic expression appeared on her face. There was no fear, no hatred, and not even resignation on her face.

Her face truly was expressionless.

If someone had seen that, they would sense the same danger as watching a clockwork doll heading for the edge of a cliff.

Misaka Imouto was not a deviant that did not know the value of a living being's life.

If someone had been about to die before her, she would have immediately searched for options she could take and then taken action on the most suitable one.

However, she could not apply that concept to herself.

As if it were information being written on a hard disk, her empty heart had been installed by a Testament onto her physical body that could be remade as many times as needed at the push of a button using the proper equipment. The value of her life was 180,000 yen. She was like a high performance personal computer. In fact, she was the type that would get thrown into the bargain box.

(...That is why there is one thing Misaka does not understand, thinks Misaka.)

Misaka Imouto had that thought as she walked down the dark street.

When that boy had run into multiple Misakas in that back alley, he had been so shocked he had stopped breathing. It had been like a reality he could not stand was being thrust before his eyes. It had been like he did not want to accept that reality even if it was thrust before his eyes.

Misaka Imouto recalled what that boy had said.

–Who are you?

Those words had not been a question he asked her.

–What are you doing?

It had seemed more like he had asked the question because he wanted her to deny something.

Misaka Imouto's face remained expressionless.

(Did he really want to deny it that badly?)

Had he really wanted to deny the reality of the 20,000 Sisters, and the world in which their hearts stopping was all according to plan, that badly?

(...Misaka does not understand. Misaka cannot understand, thinks Misaka as she addressed her questions related to the boy's mental state.)

Misaka Imouto concluded that there was no point in thinking about things there was no way she could understand.

It was as if she were saying there was no real problem in not understanding why a frog would swim in a ditch.

But then...

Why had she recalled that boy's face?

If there was truly no value in it, she would not have thought of him. There was no reason to recall the shape and color of the gum that was stuck to the station platform a week before.

She was supposed to be assembling information in her head for the upcoming experiment. If she failed, it would cause problems for a lot of people, so why had her thoughts drifted to that boy's face when he had nothing to do with the experiment?

"..."

Misaka Imouto could not understand.

And she had concluded that there was no point in thinking about things there was no way she could understand.

Misaka Imouto could not even understand something as trivial and pointless as that.

The girl headed alone to her own place of execution while still understanding none of it.

Her precise footsteps sounded like the ticking of a time bomb.

Kamijou was lying on his side atop the windless iron bridge.

He slowly opened his eyes. Most likely, it had not been long since he had been hit by that high voltage current and lost consciousness. It had probably only been 10 or 20 seconds, but his sprawled out arms and legs were oddly cold. The proper circulation of blood had been obstructed. The electric shock may have made the beating of his heart irregular or his heart may have actually stopped once or twice while he was unconscious.

Without moving his head, Kamijou blankly stared at his limbs that looked like they belonged to a doll that had been thrown into a corner of the room by a child who had gotten tired of it.

"..."

He tried to move his fingers and his index finger slowly moved like a dying insect. He managed to move his eyelids and blink. He was sucking in and blowing out terribly shallow breaths and he could hear the faint beating of his heart coming from within his body.

"Thank goodness," he mouthed.

He could still move his body. That meant he could stand back up.

"What are you doing?" said a girl's voice from very close by above his head.

Kamijou suddenly realized that there was an oddly soft feeling on his cheek as he lay on his side.

It seemed his head was lying in Mikoto's lap.

"You're that beaten up, you're lying on the filthy ground, and your heart may have even stopped for a short time. So..."

Her voice was trembling.

That was not the voice of one of Academy City's seven Level 5's, of a Tokiwadai lady, or of Railgun. It was the voice of a normal girl who could not stop trembling in the darkness.

"...How can you smile like that?"

Transparent drops of liquid fell on Kamijou's cheek from above.

They were warm like a spring rain.

"..."

"Thank goodness," he mouthed again without actually speaking.

He was glad that he could be Mikoto's ally. His eyes narrowed slightly in happiness.

The black cat mewed next to his ear.

Its rough tongue touched Kamijou's hand as if to kindly lick his wounds.

"I've figured it out," he said while still lying there.

Mikoto did not respond. He only heard a rubbing sound as if she were wiping at her eyes with her fingertips.

"...I've figured out how to stop the experiment."

He heard a slight sound from Mikoto's throat as if her breath had caught there in surprise.

"If you think about it, it's quite simple."

The entire experiment was just the researchers following the scenario created by Tree Diagram.

That was why Mikoto had been thinking of stopping the experiment by making the researchers think that scenario would not work.

If something that simple could stop the experiment, then it was quite simple indeed.

"...I'm sure Tree Diagram took the fact that Accelerator is the strongest in Academy City into account for its calculations."

If the experiment could be stopped by having them believe in a bluff, then...

"Then it's simple. We just have to make the researchers think that this Accelerator they insist is the strongest is actually really absurdly weak."

What if Accelerator, supposedly Academy City's strongest esper, were to easily lose in a simple street fight?

Even if the simulations said he was Academy City's strongest, would the researchers really continue to believe Accelerator was the strongest after seeing something as pathetic as that?

Wouldn't that make the researchers think the machine's predictions were wrong?

"That's not possible," Mikoto replied. "The experiment can't be stopped so simply. I'm a Level 5 just like him. If another Level 5 defeats him, I'm sure they'll just accept it as within the accepted margin of error. They won't think that Accelerator is actually weak."

Mikoto sounded like she was gritting her teeth and like she was oozing blood.

"And we can't beat him even if we ganged up on him." Mikoto seemed to be reflecting on her own powerlessness. "I've only directly met this Accelerator once, but that was enough. I hacked into the Bank and did a search on his power and it gave me goose bumps. For him, a fight is not something he might win or lose. When he fights, it is a completely one-sided slaughter."

"..."

Kamijou knew she was right.

Tree Diagram had already determined that she would be killed in 185 moves if she were to fight Accelerator. That was surely an accurate answer. Even if Misaka Mikoto used everything at her disposal and tried her very best, she could not defeat Accelerator. That was why that strong and usually impulsive girl had not tried to take him out in a fight, and had instead been cornered in a situation where her death was the only way to stop the experiment and save the Sisters.

Kamijou knew that Misaka Mikoto could not defeat Accelerator.

"That just means I have to fight."

Mikoto's breath caught in her throat because Kamijou's words had shocked her to the bottom of her heart.

But that was the only way.

Even if another Level 5 defeated Accelerator, the researchers would not be convinced that he was actually weak.

But what if Academy City's strongest were defeated by one of Academy City's weakest, a Level 0?

Of course, it may have looked like Kamijou was a strong esper who had merely flown under the radar, but Academy City's System Scan had thoroughly checked him over and he still could not get rid of being branded a Level 0. That was just what Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker was.

If Accelerator were easily defeated by someone who was seen as a Level 0 no matter how much one checked him over, what would those researchers think of their supposed strongest?

"..."

Now that he knew what he had to do, the rest was easy.

Kamijou tried to lift his head from Mikoto's thighs and stand up, but his body would not move as he wanted it to. He felt a slight scraping feeling and his head slid from her thighs down to the hard ground.

Even so, he gritted his teeth and moved his trembling fingers like caterpillars. He slowly, slowly got his fingers gripped on the uneven asphalt and then gathered all his strength to lift himself up from the ground like he was lifting a barbell.

He expended so much effort into just getting up on one knee that he felt like he had shortened his lifespan by 5 years.

Mikoto let out a trembling voice upon seeing Kamijou gritting his teeth.

"What are you doing?" She spoke like she was seeing something she could not believe. "You can't. You're only saying that because you don't know what Accelerator's power is! It's crazy to even think of taking on that kind of overpowered villain that you would see in a manga. He's the kind of person who would just cackle at the fact that every army in the world was after him!"

"..."

Kamijou did not respond.

He merely remained silent and gathered strength in his legs in order to stand up from being on one knee.

"Accelerator's power is the ability to freely control all kinds of vectors such as motion, heat, and electricity as long as they are touching his skin. You can't find an opening in an overpowered ability like that even if you know what the ability is!" Mikoto seemed to be yelling out at the unfairness of reality. "All of his attacks will reach you, but none of yours will reach him. In fact, everything you fire at him is reflected right back at you. No human can stand up to an absolute one-way road like that!"

"..."

Kamijou did not respond.

He poured all his strength into his trembling knees and tried to stand up.

"He's just different. It's best to think of him as a being on a different dimension from espers like us. You can't win when you take on someone who is cheating from the start. And you're already so beaten up! You can't defeat a monster like that in your state!"

Mikoto begged him as she was about to burst into tears. She begged him to not stand back up.

"..."

Even so, Kamijou did not respond.

He moved his body that was even then about to collapse and slowly, slowly stood up.

"Why?" Mikoto asked in the voice of a child who was lost.

"..."

Kamijou did not know.

He did not know how strong Accelerator was.

He did not know what he could do with his body that battered.

But Imagine Breaker resided in his right hand.

And a reason to clench his right fist existed within his chest.

He would not rely on anyone else and he would not hope for anything else.

If he could use that hand to rescue a girl who had been cornered in a dead end by that Accelerator, then he felt it was a wonderful thing.

So Kamijou stood up.

He stood upon the ground on his own two feet.

"Misaka, you said you were about to head to where Accelerator is, right?"

Kamijou looked at Mikoto's face.

He had a feeling that he had not seen her eyes in a long time and they were currently red from crying.

"Tell me, Misaka. Where is he about to start the experiment?"

Misaka Imouto had arrived at a train switchyard.

Similar to a transit bus garage, it was a place where many trains were serviced and where they were kept after the last train ran. An area about the size of a school's grounds was covered in the same gravel as a train track and over 10 rails were lined up next to each other. Lined up at the end of the tracks were garages with large shutters over them making them look like rental storage areas at a port. Surrounding the entire switchyard were large numbers of metal containers used on freight trains. The containers were piled up like building blocks and they rivaled three story buildings in height. The disorderly piles made the area around the switchyard seem like a three-dimensional maze. The containers were like mountains and the switchyard itself was like the basin between the mountains.

The switchyard was not a popular place.

As all students had to be back from school by the time the last train left, the switchyard was quickly abandoned. The electric lights used for work were turned off and there were no houses nearby so that left no illumination. Even though 2.3 million people lived in that city, that area was wrapped in such darkness that the usually invisible stars were visible in the night sky.

Standing in the middle of that vacant darkness was Academy City's strongest esper, Accelerator.

His form seemed to be one with the surrounding darkness, so Misaka Imouto felt like she was being thrown into a giant organ belonging to Accelerator by entering that switchyard.

The white boy smiled in the black darkness.

His eerie whiteness gave her the feeling that her eyeballs had been thrown into boiling water.

"So it's 8:25... I take it you're the next doll to be targeted in the experiment?"

Accelerator's voice sounded like a white darkness spewing forth from that smile that split across his face.

But Misaka Imouto's expression did not change even slightly.

"Yes, Misaka is Serial Number 10032, responds Misaka. However, shouldn't you check using the passcode to ensure that Misaka is part of the experiment? suggests Misaka."

"...Tch. You're fucking insane," Accelerator spat out. "Well, I may have no right to say this as someone forcing you to take part in this experiment to make me stronger, but you sure are calm. Don't you feel anything about this situation?"

"It is difficult to understand what you mean when you use vague terms such as 'anything', replies Misaka. The experiment begins in 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Are you prepared? asks Misaka to make sure."

Accelerator's eyes narrowed. He chewed on something in his mouth with a look like he was fed up with something. It was like he was chewing on a piece of gum that had lost its sweetness.

"? Are you eating something? asks Misaka."

"Yeah, a finger," Accelerator said casually as he spat the object in his mouth out to the side.

The piece of meat was all chewed up and had saliva all over it, but the general shape of a girl's narrow fingertip could just barely still be seen.

"Since I had the chance, I thought I'd borrow it, but human flesh isn't all that great. I'd heard that fingers didn't have much fat and that it tasted a bit sour, but it's not even that. You bite into it and you can feel all these narrow bundles being torn apart. It's fucking horrible. I guess we just didn't evolve to be eaten like pigs or cows."

Accelerator wiped his lips with his arm as if to wipe away the flavor in his mouth.

But Misaka Imouto's expression did not change even slightly upon hearing that.

"Normally, pork or beef has the blood removed and the flavor improved with salt and other spices, advises Misaka. Is the distinction between raw meat and cooked meat due to the changes in the proteins created by heating bringing an error into your testing? asks Misaka giving her view on the situation."

"Is that so?" said Accelerator sounding fed up with the entire thing.

Misaka Imouto did not understand why Accelerator had asked that question. It was true that she had been shocked upon seeing him in front of the used bookstore, but that had been because of the black cat at her feet. She was only afraid of having an unrelated life taken by the experiment.

"Dammit, after 10,000 times, this is getting really fucking old. I was hoping to kill some time, but no. There's just no having a conversation with any of you," Accelerator said leisurely. "I can't understand why you would throw away your lives like that. To me, my own life takes top priority and I think of my own body as the best. That's why there's no limit to the amount of power I want and that's why I can just laugh scornfully as I kill hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of you."

"There are parts of what you said that Misaka does not understand, replies Misaka. You are already Academy City's strongest Level 5, are you not? If you are already at a point where no one else can reach you, there should be no need to head even higher, predicts Misaka."

"The strongest, hm?" Accelerator sounded bored as he responded. "Strongest? Strongest!? Strongest!!? True enough. I am the strongest esper in this city and therefore the strongest esper in the entire world. But," Accelerator sounded bored from the very depths of his heart, "in the end, I am only the strongest. How does everyone else know that I'm the strongest esper in Academy City? It's because they've fought me and lost. In other words, my strength is only at the level where they try to pick a fight with me because it sounds like fun."

His red eyes completely changed to those of a pleasant smile.

"That's not enough. That's nowhere near enough. Level 5 – strongest – is boring. I'm after something beyond that. I want absolute strength that makes the thought of taking me on sound like a fucking joke and doesn't even allow anyone to even think about fighting me. I yearn for that invincibility known as Level 6."

As that boy spoke of his own dream, he slowly stretched his hands out horizontally to both sides.

The right hand of suffering and the left hand of poison.

The boy smiled with his hands held out horizontally. Both were like poisonous snakes that could kill with just a touch.

He looked like a cross emitting darkness.

"So are you ready? It's time to die, you overproduced failure."

The white boy smiled mockingly, but Misaka Imouto's expression did not change even slightly.

She merely spoke unconcernedly like a doll with a clock in it.

"8:29 PM and 45 seconds, 46 seconds, 47 seconds...Experiment #10032 will begin shortly. Test Subject Accelerator, please wait at the designated spot, informs Misaka."

And the unavoidable experiment began at 8:30 PM.

Kamijou left the black cat with Mikoto and then ran through the nighttime city.

On the west end of Academy City was a large industrial area.

Apparently, a train switchyard there was the location for the 10032nd experiment.

"..."

He recognized the number 10032. That was the serial number Misaka Imouto had mentioned in the back alley.

A great impatience assaulted Kamijou's chest.

He had to get to that switchyard as quickly as possible, but the buses and trains had already been returned to their garages.

With most of the transportation facilities shut down, Kamijou had no choice but to run on his own two feet.

He knew he did not have much stamina left, but he was in too much of a hurry to keep a slower pace to preserve that stamina. Instead, he gritted his teeth and ran full speed through a shopping district.

He moved his battered body and ran despite the fact that doing so was shaving away the little stamina he had left.

Leaving the shopping district, he entered a residential area and the lights and hustle and bustle of the city seemed to grow more distant. As he ran further, the student dorms started growing sparse, too. After cutting past some small trees that had been artificially planted, he reached the industrial area.

Academy City had an industrial area so that items made from the research carried out in the city could also be produced within the city. However, the area was not filled with factories that looked like slightly dirty rented storage areas in a downtown area. Instead, the area was lined with windowless industrial buildings. The area was oddly organized and had no sense of being lived in. It was a little reminiscent of an area of a city filled with offices.

There was no one there.

The factories were surely structured to run 24 hours a day, but no sound could be heard because of their perfect sound proofing. The scenery looked like a dead city to Kamijou and he felt a chill in that midsummer night.

As she remained alone on the iron bridge, Mikoto held the frightened black cat in her arms.

She recalled that the electromagnetic waves subconsciously emitted by her body made cats dislike her, but she didn't particularly care at that moment.

"...Is he an idiot?" she muttered in the darkness.

She had wanted to stop Kamijou. She had at least wanted to head with him to the area for the experiment.

But Kamijou had forbidden it.

What was important was that the Level 0 Imagine Breaker singlehandedly defeated the Level 5 Accelerator. If Mikoto, another Level 5, were helping Kamijou, it would be determined that Accelerator was defeated by a group of people that included a Level 5.

"If you want to save Misaka Imouto, leave this to me," the boy had said.

"I will return with her," he had promised.

Mikoto looked at the end of the bridge where the boy had disappeared.

Logically, she knew that she could not do anything by heading there. In fact, there was a chance she would destroy the solution that the boy had finally obtained. Because of that, staying there was the proper choice. She knew that. Anyone could figure that out logically.

But...

Something beyond logic did not want to understand it.

Mikoto gritted her teeth.

"...Do you really think I can do that!?"

In the end, Mikoto chased after Kamijou while still holding the black cat.

She simply could not sit idly by.

At 8:30 PM, the switchyard became a battlefield.

Bluish-white flashes of light as if from a camera flash lit up the dark switchyard.

Misaka Imouto and Accelerator's feet kicked up the gravel.

The distance between them was less than 10 metres.

"Hah. What!? Are you just walking around casually without a plan? If you like pain that much, I'll make you cry so much you might as well take a cough drop now!"

With his arms still spread out, Accelerator bent over and closed in on Misaka Imouto like he was a carnivorous beast.

He did not need to think about defense. In fact, he did not even need to think about attacking. For someone who could reflect all kinds of attacks and therefore could kill his opponent just by touching them, a fight was nothing more than thinking of the fastest and most definite way of touching his opponent.

As he could reflect all kinds of attacks, there was no way of stopping his legs from bringing him closer. Misaka Imouto was faced with that unreasonable amount of violence that was like driving a tank into the middle of a group of demonstrators.

"Ah!?" was Accelerator's dissatisfied cry.

Misaka Imouto took steps back to put some distance between her and Accelerator as if she were fleeing from his advance. Misaka Imouto paid close attention to the situation around her and continued to flee back sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left. The carnivorous beast that was Accelerator chased after her with a look of pure boredom in his eyes.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! That's pathetic! What the hell are you hoping for?! No matter how much time you buy yourself, there isn't gonna be a miracle!"

Misaka Imouto was not listening. She did nothing but put distance between her and her enemy while keeping that enemy in her range of vision. Accelerator felt like the blood vessels in his head were going to burst, but then he noticed that the girl was electrifying the surrounding air.

"Oh, come the hell on! Surely you know that's fucking useless! And I'm not going to play along with your pathetic attempts at resisting much longer!"

Accelerator laughed mockingly. He could reflect any attack that was thrown at him and Misaka Imouto was purposefully not firing the electricity at him out of fear of that. The sparks were flying around him, but no actual attack came his way.

"What's with her?"

Accelerator gritted his teeth, but then he noticed that he was short of breath. At first he thought he had used up too much oxygen by talking while running around, but it was too odd for that. A sharp stench sent off alarm bells in his head.

"Tonight is a windless night." Misaka Imouto's voice reverberated throughout the still air of the switchyard. "As such, Misaka may have a chance of winning, calls out Misaka."

Accelerator checked on his surroundings again. Misaka Imouto continued to run away, she was firing electrical attacks around him, he was oddly out of breath, and he could reflect any direct attack.

(Ohhh, I see. Ozone, huh?)

The oxygen in the air could be broken apart with electricity. Oxygen molecules were normally formed from two oxygen atoms, but once the two oxygen atoms broke apart, they had a disposition toward connecting together in threes as ozone.

Oxygen and ozone were two different things. Breathing it in would not satisfy one's lungs.

And as was obvious from its use in sterilization, it was toxic.

No attack would reach Accelerator, but that did not change the fact that he was a human that breathed in oxygen and breathed out carbon dioxide. If all the oxygen were removed from his surroundings, he would suffer from oxygen deprivation.

Misaka Imouto did not need to approach Accelerator. In fact, it was imperative that she kept her distance from him so that his attacks could not hit her while she continued to rob him of his oxygen.

"Good, good, excellent!! I take it back, you are a worthy enemy after all! Ha ha!! Now this is an excellent change of pace! After killing 10,000 of you, you've finally come up with a good idea!"

Accelerator chased after her while laughing out of enjoyment. Despite the fact that he was being cornered, he was still enjoying himself from the bottom of his heart.

"But!! There's one weak point!"

Misaka Imouto's shoulder's shook out of surprise.

"Your plan fails if I catch up to you!!"

Accelerator's foot suddenly caused the gravel behind him to explode. He had altered the vector for the motion of his foot. As if a rocket were firing from the bottom of his foot, he shot 7 metres forward like a bullet in one step. Misaka Imouto tried to jump further back, but Accelerator heartlessly flew forward many times faster than she could move.

"If you don't try to avoid this with everything you have, you really will die!"

As he yelled he struck with his left hand. The strike was gentle like he was stroking her cheek....and yet a cracking noise came from Misaka Imouto's neck upon receiving the attack. Her vision spun around as her entire body spun like a bamboo copter before landing on the gravel.

His attack did all that, but he had actually been holding back.

If Accelerator had seriously been trying to kill her, her body would have exploded the instant he touched her skin.

"Now for a question. How many times have you been killed!?"

As Accelerator gave a broken-looking smile, he looked like a darkness hanging over her.

The smile splitting across his face filled her vision.

Something like a jeer came from his mouth that was opened so wide that drool was about to spill out.

Accelerator had regained his utter advantage. Misaka Imouto was balled up on the ground, but the tip of his shoe weaved through the gaps in her defenses and stabbed into her. His fist flew and struck her on the back. With each strike, he was holding back enough that her body would not be destroyed. She was thrust into a spiral of intense pain as if she had been thrown into drum that was being repeatedly hit with a metal bat from the outside.

"Ghfh...!?"

Misaka Imouto was having trouble even remaining balled up and she finally lost to the force of a kick to the gut. She collapsed face up on the ground. Her forehead must have been cut because she could not see out of one eye due to flowing blood. She could see Accelerator breathing erratically in her blurry vision. He wiped away the drool that was flowing down from the smile splitting across his face.

Even after all that, Misaka Imouto did not resent Accelerator. It was not that she wanted to but could not. She merely saw no value in her own life. Once the experiment in which her 180,000 yen life was being used was over, her body would be retrieved and disposed of, like a frog that had been dissected.

That was all there was to it.

That was all there was supposed to be to it.

And yet Accelerator suddenly stopped moving as if he had realized something. He slowly turned his head and looked at something over his shoulder.

(What...?)

From Misaka Imouto's position face up on the ground, Accelerator's body blocked her view of whatever he was looking at. But Accelerator froze up. The entire experiment existed in order to elevate him from "strongest" to "invincible", but he seemed to have forgotten all about that.

"...Hey. What happens to the experiment if this happens?" Accelerator muttered while frozen in place.

Misaka Imouto felt that was an odd thing to ask the person he had been in the process of killing, but Accelerator still did not move from that spot.

Misaka Imouto crawled along the gravel so she could see what Accelerator was looking at.

Someone was standing in a gap between the piles of containers circling the switchyard.

Standing there was a normal person who had nothing to do with the experiment.

Standing there was Kamijou Touma.

Accelerator did not know what the procedure was when a normal person entered the experiment. He looked like he didn't know what to do about the high school boy who had suddenly appeared.

"...Get away from her," said Kamijou as if stabbing at Accelerator.

His entire body was wrapped in such anger that it looked like static electricity would scatter about if someone touched him.

"Get the hell away from Misaka Imouto. Can you not hear me?"

Accelerator frowned at Kamijou's words. He then turned back toward Misaka Imouto. He turned his somewhat critical red gaze on her.

"Hey, Misaka's the name of your original, right? If he knows that, then he must know you. C'mon now, don't bring unrelated people to the experimental grounds."

Accelerator's expression made it clear that Kamijou had ruined his fun.

"...I mean fucking come on. What am I supposed to do now? I guess the standard thing would be to silence the person who knows about this secret experiment, but that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. He's not some disposable doll. He's just a normal-..."

"Shut the hell up and get away from her, you lowly thug!!"

Kamijou's lightning-like rage cut off Accelerator's words.

Accelerator looked over at him as if he were looking at something he truly could not believe.

It was like he was a child who had never once been yelled at before.

"Who are you? Do you know who you're talking to here? Not only am I one of the seven Level 5's, but I'm the one who stands at the top of them all. And you call me a lowly thug? What the fuck? Do you think you're a god or something? Don't make me laugh."

His low, quiet voice was accompanied by killer intent leaking into the air around him like static electricity.

That massive killer intent felt like billions of eyeballs staring at Kamijou from the darkness of the night.

"..."

Even so, the boy continued to glare at Accelerator.

His incandescent gaze silently said that he did not care in the slightest if his opponent was the strongest or the best or the greatest or whatever.

"...Heh. Now this is interesting."

Accelerator's red eyes froze over.

Strongest and invincible were different. When someone was invincible the victor was clear before the battle began, but when someone was the strongest, their strength was only discovered once the fight began.

In other words, the fact that Accelerator was the strongest meant he was only at a level where people would still try to pick a fight with him.

"...You truly are interesting."

Accelerator's gaze had moved from Misaka Imouto to Kamijou. He was setting the experiment aside and giving 100 times more priority to crushing Kamijou's gaze.

A crazed crimson heat resided within the white boy's eyes.

His smile was thin and wide. It split across his face like a piece of melted cheese stretched out to the left and right.

"..."

Even so, Kamijou did not take a single step back.

Instead, he took a step forward.

"What are you-...?"

Misaka Imouto was in complete shock.

That boy was going to fight Accelerator. He had no weapon and he was going to fight that person who could singlehandedly crush an entire army smiling the entire time.

That boy had spoken to Accelerator.

He had told Accelerator to get away from her.

In other words, the reason that boy was on that battlefield was...

The reason that boy was risking his life in that fight was...

"...What are you doing, asks Misaka?" Misaka Imouto said in a trembling voice.

–I-I see, so you're the little sister. But you really do look alike. Both your height and weight look the same.

It did not matter how many times Misaka Imouto died in that experiment because her life had no value.

–Hey. Thanks for carrying those drinks and taking care of those fleas yesterday.

But he had nothing to do with the experiment and he could not be mass produced.

–That's right! A name! This is your cat, so take responsibility and give it a name!

An original who there was only one of in the world was going to get hurt due to the experiment.

(What is this...?)

Misaka Imouto felt some sort of pain within herself.

No matter how much she thought, she could not determine the source of the pain.

(Misaka has questions about her own mental state.)

Even so, Kamijou did not respond. He took one more step toward the battlefield.

Misaka Imouto switched out her thinking and spoke in order to stop him.

"What are you doing? asks Misaka for a second time. Misaka is an imitation that can be remade as many times as needed while you are irreplaceable, so what are you doing? asks Misaka for a third time."

There was no inconsistency in her logic. There was no disturbance in her tone of voice. Her words had been extremely exact as if she were running according to a program, so she concluded that her mental state was all green.

Yet her heart was beating at a terribly fast pace. Her breathing was unbelievably shallow and she could not suck in the proper amount of oxygen.

Misaka Imouto wanted to stop that boy from entering the experimental grounds.

Misaka Imouto wanted to stop that boy from clashing with Accelerator.

However, her useless battered body would not move as she wanted it to. That was why she continued to try to stop the boy with her words as she lay atop the gravel.

She did not realize that those very words were doing nothing more than drawing the boy to the battlefield faster.

"Misaka can be automatically produced at the press of a button as long as the proper machinery and chemicals are prepared, explains Misaka. Misaka has an artificially made body and a borrowed mind. Her value is 180,000 yen and there are 9968 more in reserve, so stopping the experiment just for her is..."

"...Shut up," the boy muttered cutting off Misaka Imouto.

"What?" she replied.

"I said shut up. None of that matters. You have an artificially constructed body? You have a borrowed mind? You can be automatically produced at the press of a button as long as the proper machinery and chemicals are prepared? Your value is 180,000 yen? Well, I don't care about that! None of that matters!" the boy yelled into the night sky as the conflagration of his rage burned.

And yet his voice was distressed like he was being hit by cold rain.

"I'm standing here to save you! I'm not here for anyone else. I'm fighting to save you! So the fact that you have an artificially constructed body, have a borrowed mind, can be automatically produced at the press of a button, have a 180,000 yen value, or any other insignificant shit does not matter!"

Misaka Imouto did not understand.

She did not understand what the boy was trying to say. There had not been a single lie in what she had said. She was a being that could be automatically produced at the press of a button. If one was lost, one could be made to replace it. If 20,000 were lost, 20,000 could be made to replace them. That was all she was.

"There is only one of you in the world! Why can't you figure out something that simple!?"

But for some reason the boy's yell reached her.

It was not that she believed what he was saying.

Misaka Imouto still felt that there was no problem no matter how many of her lives were lost.

However, there was still one person who was yelling that he did not want to lose that tiny existence.

That boy certainly had no power.

There was no way he possessed anything making him worthy of being referred to as Academy City's strongest.

"Don't go off and die. I still have plenty more to tell you."

Even so, Misaka Imouto felt that boy was strong.

"I'm going to save you now, so just stay quiet and watch."

She felt that way of living made him stronger than anyone else.