Chapter 25

A few weeks have passed since. I'm currently sitting on the same family restaurant surrounded by the usual lot while we eat and discuss our last event.

Here I am, relishing the flavours the slice of cake has to offer, Uiharu sitting in front of me enjoying her parfait. As usual, Haru is next to me eating his salad with Saten sitting in front of him scrolling through her phone while drinking her melon soda.

Coincidentally, today happened to be a rare chance when our days off convened --Although me and Uiharu are still required to respond to emergency situations.-- and we decided to just relax for once.

A short respite was what I need considering It was hard balancing all the miasma catalyst by myself. I breathed a sigh of relief when Hii-chan's group returned from their Russian mission a week and a half after they left, I was happy to finally have a full night's sleep.

And about the catalyst, just like I said, I took them hunting for the 'monsters' that pop out in Academy city. Granted, I looked for the weaker varieties first before bring them over because they didn't have any actual battle experience. Those things wouldn't wait for them to stand back up if they stumble fall down so it was crucial that they take baby steps first.

Saten is strong and athletic so I focused on teaching her to fight head-on, but since it wasn't to my style I just pass along the advice and lessons that Rumia tried to teach me in the past. She absorbed that knowledge like a dry sponge to water, now she obviously wasn't dumb since she is a fellow student in Academy city but it was still fast enough that I was honestly a bit jealous.

Other than the obvious tech support, For offense, Uiharu was average with a gun. In fact, I would even go so far to say that Saten is actually better than her. I was a bit surprised since I vaguely remember from my memories that she used a gun in the anime.

Maybe I was mistaken but I chalked it up to the difference in worlds. In any case, she isn't useless in battle but with regards to direct confrontation, she would have to wait until she gets augmented with proper support equipment.

Haru on the other hand, didn't have any particular specialty as of yet.

After a bit of deliberation I told him to focus on training with his quirk. To effectively use one's quirk, they would first need to understand it so I had Haru study fauna and flaura extensively for now since we never know when we need something on the fly.

With the way things are progressing, They would eventually become strong enough to contend against a small group of delinquents by their lonesome.

Speaking of delinquents, there were already rumors of some miracle drug provided by a shady distributer that can spike up someone's quirk.

It made me think that the plot of [BNHA: Vigilante] has been set in motion. The drugs hasn't spread to this area as of yet but sooner or later someone would find a way to get through the security and smuggle some inside. When there's a demand, there's a supply and when there's a will, there is always a way.

And from then on, we would also have to face instant villains. The plot of that story and the ripples it would create had slipped my mind so training everyone before then was a nice coincidence.

These drugs are different from the quirk stimulants. The former are short-term power boost while the latter is a small, gradual process to long-term powers.

And about the quirk stimulants.

Since someone with power is clearly pulling the strings to this, I simply made a phone call to Nezu and sent him the data.

Nezu, himself, is a victim of live experimentation so he was more than happy --beyond ecstatic-- to help.

The one pulling the strings was had some weight in Academy city but against Nezu, --Who is an internationally renowned genius. In addition, he also has plenty of connections to plenty of high places.-- the board of directors more or less chose to lose a 'small' part.

It doesn't sound like much but what's important now is that Nezu would have more leeway to steadily wiggle himself inside the sphere of power within Academy city. By bringing the quirk stimulant case into light, there would be more scrutinizing eyes that would notice Academy city which is the opposite of what the dark side of this place wanted.

That being said... Since Nezu knows about my deeds, it's only natural for Recovery Girl to be the same.

To my suprise, Chiyo didn't scold me this time. She only gave a long sigh before telling me a long widened speech that basically spells out to: "Be careful and take care of yourself more."

It nice to have someone worry about me but it keep reminding of the people left behind in Gensokyo.

Is it homesickness? Or is it anxiety?

The longer I'm don't see them, the more my mind suggests the worst, looping of the last memories by the shrine. Reading Shinomori's letter can hardly even pacify my emotions as the thoughts of it keeps haunting me. I admit that worrying is useless so I tried to work more, distractions from my own thoughts are what I needed.

Sometimes I wonder if I am worrying too much. Everyone there is strong. Stronger than I am.

However, the warmth of home in Gensokyo was luxury I didn't have in my previous life. Sometimes I think that, perhaps... Perhaps, it would have been better if I never even knew of such warmth. You can't cherish, what you don't know, after all.

Whoops. I kept brooding. Where was I?...

Right, work...

My schedules at the hospital are the same as usual. Hevun-sensei teaches me all sorts of cool or important stuff. Unfortunately, no matter how he tried to explain in simpler words, the medical jargons don't register well inside my mind even after multiple simultaneous attempts.

Individually, the words he speaks make sense on their own but when put together it always seemed like they take on anti-memetic properties. Even the spell books made more sense than it!

In fact, I managed to finally learn how to use a me-equivalent of certain spells.

[Heal] and [Circle Heal] are one's that I learned first and foremost. One is a Single target type while the other is an Area-of-effect type spell. These are the ones that I use alongside my smoke.

I initially wanted to learn how to lift curses from the tomes of La Luna Academy, but those turned out to be worthless. The curses of when those books were written are severely outdated. The curses of today are not only more complex, but even the materials for them are both cheap and mostly easy-access thanks to modern transportation.

For the next spell I was considering to learn, Originally, I chose the Stellar Branch of magic.

Not much is known about that nowadays with how most of its records destroyed over the long centuries, especially during the witch hunts. Or rather, plenty of magic has been lost due to varies reasons...

The witch hunts, Wars between the wix,The persecution of the Church, Practitioners dying without passing on their craft, The advancement of science, The dwindling Global magic reserves, The Downfall...

Magic families have their own collections, for sure, but they also have their own specialities. You'd never really know which family secretly has what branch of magic without asking the appropriate people. Even if I did ask for them, they wouldn't let a stranger --let alone a non-human-- see them.

Most of what remained of stellar magic is only known by one individual but unfortunately she has already gone missing a few years ago.

It truly is a shame to see all sorts of magic be forgotten. It's almost as if I feel sympathy for the spells?...

Moving on, there is a certain spell that I decided to learn after a blunder on my part.

It happened shortly the day after the small disturbance of the Akaname incident at Tokiwadai.

Back then, I was already done with work and was aimlessly walking around under the night as usual. It was when I felt a familiar presence from behind me. --Is that a trend nowadays? People keep appearing from behind me.--

Kuroko was there and wanted to ask me a few questions.

She informed me about the security footage at the bathhouse --Why is there even one in a place where they change clothes, I don't have a clue.-- and saw me seemingly talking and then drag out someone that appeared from thin air.

Normally, that stand grounds for breaking and entering --in an All-girls private academy, no less!-- and should have gotten reported. She hasn't done that because she chose to trust a colleague for now but still wanted an explanation.

Considering that there was also the case of the invisible robber that have yet to be caught, her suspicion is valid. The fact that she kept silent about it and asked me first is already a great show of trust.

This is the part where I would say a witty excuse and call it a day, but I am not that kind of person.

For me, who usually keeps to himself and barely voices his opinion, suddenly being confronted with a question without any time to prepare an answer beforehand would undoubtedly make me short-circuit.

Perhaps someone else would have blurted put a response from the top of their head but I've refrained from such behaviour. There were more than enough times when such impulsiveness from Cirno landed our group in trouble.

When Kuroko asked for an explanation of sorts, I was dead silent.

Whenever I recall that moment, I still feel the urge to kick my own head for not immediately diffusing the awkward staring contest.

Back then, My mouth remained shut for a few moments. I was quickly trying to think of an excuse or story, anything to say.

It wasn't until Kuroko sighed and said, "Fine, I'll wait until you organize your thoughts. But your excuse better be convincing." She narrowed her eyes for a bit and handed me back my ribbon before promptly teleporting away.

Even now, I still haven't told her anything. I'm procrastinating and running away from the problem, sure. But it was hard how to explain one thing without giving away certain points. Fortunately, she was being very professional and didn't let this affect out work.

All this started because some genius decided to put security cameras in a changing area of the bathhouse.

Taking it as a lesson comes the [Shadow form] spell. This is the one I learned while taking inspiration from the way Rumia used her spiritual energy. Despite what the cool name might suggest, it doesn't make me incorporeal. It does, however, give me a shadow outer layer that cloaks me better in darkness.

With this, not only would I blend in better at night, but it would also hide my appearance from random cameras. I'm hoping that it would eventually lead me to a form of shadow travel eventually but it is proving harder than I thought.

And the last bit of event that happened so far was the recent bank robber attempt.

It's been a while since I've seen someone brazen enough to rob a bank on broad daylight but what really takes the cake was the railgun.

I've finally met Misaka Mikoto, the railgun of Tokiwadai. Although, I just wish that it could've gone better.

Kuroko got there first because she's a teleporter. When she arrived, she swiftly took down a big guy and immediately apprehended a pyrokinetist. The third criminal, seeing what happened to his friends, immediately bloated towards his getaway car but not before accidentally bumping into Misaka.

Her parfait that she was eating at that time fell unto her uniform. She got so mad that she fired her signature attack and grazed the car.

Fortunately, there were no casualties.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of collateral damage.

Even if she meant well, not only was it blatant and aggressive use of quirk, it also counted as vigilantism, both of which are a clear violation of the law. Even without her meddling, Kuroko could've handled it, even I could've handled it.

If it wasn't for Kuroko, she would have been taken in. After all, this world's Academy city doesn't have a level system. In here, Misaka isn't somewhat protected by her title as a level 5. But even so, she still ganers respect as a strong electromancer.

At that time, I saw that she and Kuroko were already friends. Even close enough to cover for each others back.

I did notice that Kuroko wasn't as 'aggressive' with her. Instead, perhaps it was more respectful?... Or maybe it was just an work-mode control. Who knows, it might even be the butterfly effects of not having the level system.

What I do know was that the this event was the beginning of the Railgun spin-off series. Which means that plot --what's left of it atleast-- has officially begun.