In a pitch-black alley, panicked footsteps echoed. Hatsuharu braced herself against the wall in a frenzy, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. "Hah... hah... What the hell is that thing?!"
She had barely stopped when a terrifying, beastlike growl came from behind her again. Hatsuharu looked back at the vast darkness that seemed to conceal a man-eating monster, her eyes filled with despair. "What kind of monster is this...?" Her stamina had never been good to begin with, and her desperate escape just now had nearly pushed her to the limit. Now, she could barely summon any strength in her legs. Sure enough, when she took another step, Uiharu Shiori's legs gave out beneath her, and she fell to the ground.
This is bad! Hatsuharu's heart sank. She felt that she was done for this time, because she could practically hear the monster's footsteps behind her.
Hatsuharu had just pushed herself up from the ground when a roar from behind made her feel there was no hope of surviving today. "Aahhh!!!"
Just as Hatsuharu screamed, a somewhat familiar voice spoke behind her. "Are you all right?"
Tears welled in Hatsuharu's eyes as she shakily turned around. A white-haired young man was smiling at her. She cried out in surprise, "Senior Yifang?"
Luo Yifang had searched Academy City for quite a while before following the Magic Cube's guidance and finding the runaway hell demon—Corpse Fire. This time, Luo Yifang had sealed off the surrounding space in advance with his ability, making it impossible for any spatial ability to be used. Seeing the vicious monster being held in Luo Yifang's hand like a little chick, Uiharu Shiori finally let out a long breath. As expected, all LV.5s were this powerful. Senior Yifang was just like Senior Misaka.
"How did you find me, Senior?" Hatsuharu stood up from the ground and patted the dirt from her clothes.
"Oh, this thing is a biochemical product from an illegal research facility. I was assigned to eliminate it." Luo Yifang frowned. Though he had caught the thing, how to deal with it was another matter. Simply destroying the physical body was not enough for a demon like this. But he was an esper, not a magician. He had no idea how to destroy a demon's soul.
It looked like he could only leave that to the necromancer. However, there was something else that puzzled him greatly. "Hatsuharu, why were you here? And why was this thing chasing you? If I hadn't come, you probably would have lost your life."
Hatsuharu lowered her head dejectedly. "I'm sorry. I was too careless... While checking surveillance footage, I accidentally noticed a strange man frequently wandering around the nearby blocks. I thought he seemed suspicious, so I came to investigate. I thought he was just a delinquent. I never expected him to be this kind of bio-monster..."
"But even if he were just a delinquent, you shouldn't have come here alone. Why wasn't Shirai Kuroko with you?" Luo Yifang was truly at a loss with this girl whose heart was so full of justice. You looked so soft and helpless—delinquents were hardly something you could handle either. If Kuroko were here, that would be one thing; at least if she couldn't win, she could still run. Coming by yourself was just throwing your life away...
"I can handle it!" Hatsuharu suddenly snapped back at Luo Yifang, but immediately lowered her head again like a child who had done something wrong. Several petals had fallen from the flowers on her hair clip. It was clear that she was in a terrible mood. "Sorry... Senior, I was too impulsive. Shirai-san and I had a bit of a disagreement today, so I came to investigate on my own..."
"...Sigh." Luo Yifang sighed. In truth, he understood Hatsuharu very well. Not long ago, he had been a cripple with half his body paralyzed. He understood that feeling of helplessness better than anyone. That was why he had studied desperately, hoping to rely on technology to save himself. Though he had ultimately failed, he had accidentally gained another life, one that felt like it came with cheats enabled.
Hatsuharu and Ruizi were different. They might work incredibly hard, but the results never lived up to expectations. Academy City's "Aptitude Assessment" might have locked down their entire lives. Among people like them, some struggled along this path, while others sank into despair on it. Yet Hatsuharu and Ruizi persisted in their ideals, never becoming discouraged because of their own abilities. They truly could not defeat powerful espers; even ordinary people with stronger bodies could easily knock them down.
Just as Hatsuharu lowered her head, expecting Luo Yifang to scold her, a warm hand rested on her head. "You must pay attention to your safety next time. Also, friendship is hard to come by. Don't give it up so easily."
Hearing Luo Yifang's gentle words, Hatsuharu's face turned as red as an apple. She was like a flustered little rabbit. "Y-yes, yes, yes! Senior!"
"You should head back first. I need to destroy this thing. I can't ensure its complete destruction here." Corpse Fire, held in Luo Yifang's hand, was almost instantly frozen into a humanoid popsicle. Under Luo Yifang's control, the particles' movement had nearly come to a complete halt. The ice sealing produced by temperatures close to absolute zero was not something a mere demon could escape from. "If you run into danger, tell me. I'll get there immediately."
Hatsuharu stood where she was, watching Luo Yifang swiftly leave while carrying that giant popsicle. Her heart seemed to be beating a little too fast. Maybe I just ran too fast earlier... But Senior Yifang is really so gentle... Even though he's an LV.5, it feels like he can understand the hearts of weak people like us, like he understands how we feel...
There were no obstacles on the way back to the café. A little over a minute later, Luo Yifang returned to Lilith's café and tossed the popsicle-like Corpse Fire onto the floor. "There. Your delivery."
A trace of surprise showed in Lilith's eyes. She knew Luo Yifang was strong, but she had not expected him to be this strong. Corpse Fire had apparently not put up even the slightest resistance before being frozen into a popsicle and brought back. "Your power is formidable... At least stronger than any mage I've ever seen—in terms of frost."
"Huh? You can control ice too?" A familiar voice sounded behind Luo Yifang. His face stiffened. When he turned around, Misaka Mikoto was staring curiously at him and the lump of ice on the floor.
"Why are you here? Aren't you going back to the dormitory? Aren't you afraid your dorm supervisor will catch you?" Luo Yifang pulled over a chair and sat down. Misaka Mikoto sat across from him.
At the mention of the dorm supervisor, Misaka Mikoto shrank back slightly, but quickly returned to normal. "It's not curfew yet. This place is very close to the dorms; I can get back in a few minutes. More importantly, what exactly is your ability? You can bend light and control ice?"
Misaka Mikoto did not believe there were espers with multiple abilities. Although her title was Railgun, electricity could also generate magnetism, so she could manipulate iron sand and use it to move between walls and buildings—things that were not simply the manipulation of electric currents. Therefore, she figured Luo Yifang's ability might also be an esper power capable of branching into many different applications. But judging from the fact that he could bend light and control ice, two completely unrelated things, Luo Yifang's ability had to have been developed to an extraordinarily powerful level.
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