Telling Mikoto About the Misaka Sisters...

Night...

Mikoto and Hinagiku had already gone to sleep. Although the two girls had slept for quite a while earlier, they had yet to fully recover from their mental exhaustion. After all, they were only fourteen or fifteen-year-old girls who had just gone through a brutal slaughter. Even with Wu Yan's antics in between easing things somewhat, it was not so easy to simply let it go...

Wu Yan, meanwhile, sat alone beside the campfire, taking on the duty of keeping watch. No one knew whether monsters would attack again in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. Even if it was not on the same scale as before, they could not let their guard down.

So, as a man, Wu Yan conscientiously took on the watch duty. It would certainly be boring, but watching the sleeping faces of the two adorable girls made it bearable. Wu Yan was an otaku, after all. Pulling all-nighters was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

This place was vast. Otherwise, it could never have held such a terrifyingly large army of monsters. But aside from the slide Wu Yan and the other two had come down at the beginning, there was only the broad passage directly in front of him.

Of course, Wu Yan would not let down his guard anywhere else, either.

The Celestial Jade was up ahead, wasn't it...

Wu Yan stared at the seemingly endless passage in the distance as he thought.

Once they obtained the Celestial Jade and traded it for the other half of the Mystic Crystal from the Luzhinomiya Family, Mikoto and he would leave this world!

Then he would summon Hinagiku over as well. After that, this world would have little to do with Wu Yan anymore.

Before he had crossed over, Wu Yan had also loved the world of Hayate the Combat Butler. But that did not mean he would be satisfied with just this!

He still remembered the familiar instances listed in the system's dungeon list. They had all been his dreams in the past. Now that he truly had a chance to realize them, how could Wu Yan possibly be willing to rest before visiting every one of those places?

Perhaps Wu Yan would bring Hinagiku back here someday, but there was absolutely no way he would stop here!

Hayate the Combat Butler was only the first stop!

"So this is what you call keeping watch? Sitting here spacing out?"

Just as Wu Yan's thoughts were about to drift infinitely far away, a voice successfully pulled him back. When Wu Yan raised his head, Railgun was looking down at him, her face filled with dissatisfaction.

"Weren't you asleep? Why are you up?" Wu Yan scratched his head awkwardly. He really had been distracted just now. He had not even noticed Railgun getting up and approaching him. That was a bit negligent.

"Mm, I suddenly woke up. Maybe I just couldn't sleep anymore. Probably because I already slept earlier." After casually brushing it off, Mikoto sat down opposite Wu Yan.

"Well, that makes sense. You're only really Railgun when you're full of energy." The words slipped out of Wu Yan's mouth almost without thought.

Mikoto glared at Wu Yan. "What do you mean by that?! Are you saying I'm not feminine? And what's with this 'Railgun' thing? Are you making fun of me?"

Wu Yan gave a couple of dry laughs, then pressed a finger to his cheek. "Don't be angry, babe. Let your man give you a smile!"

"Don't act cute in front of me! It's disgusting!" Mikoto barely restrained the urge to punch Wu Yan in the face. If Hinagiku were not still asleep, she would already have electrocuted him.

Wu Yan smiled at Mikoto, but inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Mikoto had completely recovered. He had really been worried that she would brood over it. Fortunately, it looked like the sacrifices earlier had not been in vain...

"Hey, don't change the subject. What's with this 'Railgun' thing?" Seeing Wu Yan grinning foolishly to himself, Mikoto grew dissatisfied again. The way he called her Railgun made her feel as though he were insulting her.

"Well..." Wu Yan scratched his cheek. "Aren't you the Railgun, Mikoto? Calling you Railgun is a sign of respect."

Mikoto stared straight at Wu Yan's face. "Why do I feel like that's not what it is at all?"

"Don't sweat the details. People who sweat the details are all nines!"

"How can I not sweat them?!" Mikoto retorted loudly. "Calling me 'big sister' and all that when you're much older than me? You old man!"

"O-Old man!" Facing Railgun, who had evolved a sharp tongue, Wu Yan felt as though he had been struck by a bolt from the blue and froze completely.

I'm only twenty! I'm not an old man! You half-loli!

Wu Yan screamed madly in his heart, but if he actually said it out loud, he would not be far from death. That made him feel incredibly stifled.

Only when Mikoto saw the expression on Wu Yan's face as though he had eaten shit did she smile. She looked toward the campfire before her and gradually became lost in thought.

Wu Yan, who had somehow recovered, saw Mikoto like this and, for some reason, could not resist wanting to talk to her.

"What is it? Homesick?" Wu Yan asked softly.

Mikoto nodded blankly, then shook her head, leaving Wu Yan confused.

Perhaps sensing his confusion, Mikoto glanced at him and said, "Actually, it's not exactly that I miss home. It's not like I was dissatisfied with my old life, but living in Academy City felt kind of ordinary. Every day was school, then going home, playing video games, and so on..."

Whether it was because her life had fused with Wu Yan's or because she had never had anyone to confide in before, Mikoto suddenly felt as though she could no longer hold it in. "But in this world, there are so many exciting things. There are spirit exorcists, monsters, and all sorts of things..."

When she mentioned monsters, Mikoto's expression became a little unnatural. She had probably remembered the battle from before.

But soon, Mikoto continued, "Still, now I kind of miss Academy City. I miss my parents, I miss my junior... Though that junior is... a little abnormal..."

It looked like Mikoto had really suffered terribly at the hands of that yuri girl, Shirai Kuroko...

"So you're conflicted. You want to go home, but you also want to stay here for excitement." Wu Yan bluntly teased her, while inwardly sighing. As expected of Railgun. No wonder she loved excitement and went around teasing those delinquent punks every day.

"...That's more or less what I mean, but why do I feel annoyed when it comes out of your mouth?"

"With that temper of yours, you probably only feel good when you're electrocuting people..." Wu Yan muttered quietly.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!" At Mikoto's glare, Wu Yan hurriedly waved his hands and shook his head.

Mikoto pursed her lips in displeasure and turned away, seemingly wanting to get him out of her sight.

Life in Academy City... ordinary?

Wu Yan sighed inwardly. He did not know how to tell Mikoto about that matter.

About the Misaka Sisters...

The system had said long ago that if the summoned character came from a world whose instance Wu Yan had never entered, then that character would be summoned from the day before the plot began. Wu Yan did not know whether this so-called day before the plot began referred to the timeline of Railgun or Magic Ban, but at either point, Mikoto did not know of the Misaka Sisters' existence!

It was clear from the original work that this kind-hearted girl regarded the Misaka Sisters as incomparably important. Otherwise, she would not have planned to sacrifice her own life to end the Absolute Power Project.

And now, Mikoto had been summoned here by him. Even if time in the world of Magic Ban had frozen, the Misaka Sisters had already been born!

On the day before the plot began, how many Misaka Sisters had already died? Even Wu Yan did not know.

If Mikoto found out about this, she would definitely be frantic with worry. She was the kind of girl who would see the fate the Misaka Sisters had to face as her own fault...

But if he did not tell her, that would be even crueler. After all, the Misaka Sisters were Mikoto's sisters...

How... should he tell her?

Wu Yan's expression began to shift uncertainly. After hesitating for a moment, he said in a deep voice, "Mikoto..."

Mikoto turned to look at Wu Yan. Seeing the hesitant look on his face, she immediately grew confused. "What is it?"

Wu Yan sighed, looked at her seriously, and said, "What if... what if Academy City wasn't as wonderful as you imagined? What would you do?"

"Not as wonderful as I imagined?" Mikoto's face tightened at Wu Yan's hypothetical question. As a Level 5 with extraordinary calculating power, Mikoto was definitely not unintelligent. She was even much smarter than Wu Yan. Now that Wu Yan had brought up such a hypothetical question at this time, Mikoto did not believe he was saying it for no reason.

She immediately frowned and said, "Yan, do you know something?"

"I..."

"Don't try to brush me off!" Before Wu Yan could answer, Mikoto raised a hand to stop him. "I know that, as my summoner, with such a magical system, you must know many things. Otherwise, you wouldn't summon someone you didn't know for no reason. You must understand me very well, which is why you summoned me, right?"

Wu Yan was taken aback, then said faintly, "Not necessarily. Back then, I chose to summon someone because I needed someone who could protect Hinagiku!"

That was not a lie. No matter how much Wu Yan liked two-dimensional characters, his reason at the time had been to summon someone who could protect Hinagiku. Of course, the fact that he liked Railgun was part of it too.

But Mikoto did not believe him at all. She said directly, "If you had said that before, I might have believed you. But after spending this time together, Yan, I've realized that every word you say and every action you take around me seems deliberate. I don't believe you could understand someone you had only just summoned to that extent!"

"Maybe the system gave me information about you? Just like how you had information about me back then!"

Mikoto smiled when she heard Wu Yan's words. "After hearing you defend yourself, I'm even more certain that you understood me very well before you summoned me!"

Wu Yan stared blankly at Mikoto, then smiled bitterly in helplessness. "You actually tricked me into admitting it..."

"Tell me, Yan!" Mikoto looked at him with her tea-colored eyes, incomparably serious. "Why did you say that Academy City wasn't as wonderful as I thought?"

Wu Yan had a headache. Under Mikoto's watchful gaze, he fell silent for a moment before finally slowly telling her everything—about the clones, the Misaka Sisters, Accelerator, and... the Absolute Power Project...

As Wu Yan spoke, Mikoto's face turned livid, her eyes filled with anger. When Wu Yan mentioned the Absolute Power Project, Mikoto's face became deathly pale. After Wu Yan finished, Mikoto lowered her head.

"It's all... my fault..." Mikoto raised her head and looked toward the ceiling, her eyes utterly vacant.

I knew this would happen...

Wu Yan abruptly stood up, walked to Mikoto's side, and pulled her into his arms.

Mikoto was startled and quickly came back to herself. She tried to struggle, but Wu Yan's voice slowly entered her ears, making her stop moving.

"Being kind is never wrong, Mikoto. You need to face reality. Don't worry, time in your world is frozen right now, so the Sisters will be safe for the time being. Once we become stronger, once we can defeat Accelerator, we'll go back and save the Sisters!"

As Wu Yan spoke, Mikoto fell silent.

Only after he felt the girl in his arms nod did Wu Yan smile...