Number 9982

"Ah... Luo Yifang is such a bore, always acting like he's so busy." Misaka Mikoto walked with her hands behind her head, complaining as she went.

Seeing Misaka Mikoto like this, Ruizi tried to comfort her. "Senior Yifang is an esper, right... He probably has things of his own to do."

"Tch, that guy. I clearly saw him wandering around before, and he even went looking for some really secluded cafe." Misaka Mikoto scoffed at the nonexistent notion that Luo Yifang was busy. "That cafe was even inside Academy Garden. I was the one who got him a pass."

"Huh? A really secluded cafe? Inside Academy Garden?" Ruizi suddenly seemed energized.

Misaka Mikoto was a little curious about Ruizi's strange reaction. "Yeah. What's the problem, Saten-san?"

Before she had even finished speaking, Ruizi pulled out her phone and tapped away at it. Then she held it out in front of Misaka Mikoto. "This is it, Senior Misaka. Look!"

"The Creepy Cafe of the Horror Wizard?" Misaka Mikoto read the title on the screen.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it!" Ruizi said excitedly. "Don't you know? It's the latest urban legend. Apparently, some Academy Garden students went together late at night to explore a haunted house, and they actually saw ghosts in that cafe."

"N-No way..." Thinking back on it, Misaka Mikoto suddenly felt that something was off. The atmosphere in that cafe had seemed a little strange. When she had sat there waiting for Luo Yifang that day, there had always been a chilly feeling hanging in the air. After hearing Ruizi say that, Misaka Mikoto got a little scared.

And the owner had seemed strange too. She was a very pretty girl, but she barely spoke. Unless someone went up to order coffee themselves, she seemed to just stand there wiping the same cup over and over, as if she had not noticed anyone else at all.

Then there was the enormous block of ice Luo Yifang had carried in when he arrived. Even though the ice was thick and cloudy enough that she could not see what was inside, it had given her an extremely unpleasant feeling. The more Misaka Mikoto thought about it, the stranger everything became—could she really have been cursed?

"Senior Misaka? Senior Misaka?" Seeing that Misaka Mikoto had not responded for quite a while, Ruizi waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Huh? Ah!" Misaka Mikoto snapped out of her daze and quickly waved her hand. "What is it, Saten-san?"

"You've seemed distracted ever since just now, Senior. What are you thinking about?" Ruizi asked doubtfully. "Did you not rest well?"

"Hahaha, how could that be? I slept great last night. I definitely wasn't scared by Kuroko's ghost stories!" Misaka Mikoto gave a dry laugh.

What a textbook tsundere... Ruizi's mouth twitched as she looked at Misaka Mikoto, who did not act like a proper young lady at all.

"Nice!" After defeating another player, Misaka Mikoto clenched her fist in celebration.

Ruizi sat off to the side, playing on her phone. She had only come with Misaka Mikoto to play arcade games; she herself was nowhere near as interested in this stuff as Misaka Mikoto was. After spending half the day here, Ruizi felt a little thirsty and decided to buy two drinks. "Senior Misaka, I'm going to get something to drink. What do you want?"

"Ah, thanks, Saten-san. I'll have whatever you're having!" Already caught up in another fierce battle, Misaka Mikoto did not even look up.

Senior Misaka really is bursting with energy. At least she never has to worry about her test scores... Thinking of her own miserable grades that barely passed, or even failed, Ruizi forced back bitter tears. Why can a top student play arcade games and still score so well?! Limp with despair, Ruizi walked over to a vending machine and bought two cans of lemon tea. As she crouched down to take them out, she casually glanced over and caught sight of a somewhat familiar slim figure on the street outside. What looked even more familiar was her short brown hair and Tokiwadai uniform.

"Senior Misaka?" When Ruizi tried to confirm it again, the figure had already vanished. She turned to look at Misaka Mikoto, who was still playing arcade games. "Hmm?? Did I see wrong?"

After handing the lemon tea to Misaka Mikoto, Mikoto, tired from playing, decided to sit down and rest for a while as well. Ruizi hesitated, but still asked, "Senior Misaka, do you have any sisters or something?"

"Huh?" Misaka Mikoto was clearly taken aback. "If I had to count one, then Kuroko, who calls me Onee-sama every day, could count as one?"

Ruizi shook her head. "I'm not talking about someone like Shirai-san. I mean, do you have a twin younger sister or older sister?"

"I'm an only child," Misaka Mikoto said with a smile. "My mom already has her hands full raising just me. If she had another daughter, I have no idea what she'd be like! Still, now that you mention it, I really would like to have a younger sister. At least I wouldn't be lonely, and there'd be someone to keep you company. Do you feel that way too, Saten-san?"

"Huh? Yeah..." Ruizi answered vaguely, still thinking about the person who had passed by earlier... Had she really seen wrong?

"So why did you come looking for me again?" Busu Dixin irritably brushed at the ends of her hair. "Running around during the experiment is a major taboo."

"What number is today's experiment?"

"Huh? Why are you asking that?" Busu Dixin froze for a moment. Then, seeing Luo Yifang's extremely serious expression, she stopped wasting words. "Number 9982."

Luo Yifang's pupils contracted. That number... was the first Misaka Sister Misaka Mikoto had encountered?! "What about the previous numbers?!"

There was a trace of grief in Busu Dixin's expression. "All of them..."

"All right, I understand," Luo Yifang interrupted Busu Dixin. His mind was now filled with one question—hadn't the outdoor experiments begun with Number 8912? Why were they now beginning with Misaka Sister Number 9982? Or had something changed during the roughly week since he had come to this world?

After concealing her sadness, Busu Dixin continued, "What I need to explain is that, for some reason, the originally scheduled outdoor experiments have been postponed since last week, and the indoor experiments have also been suspended. The reason is that some Misaka Sisters have gone missing..."

What? Luo Yifang felt a trace of unease... At that moment, Paqi, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke. "As expected, the change to the world line was not caused only by Kakine Teitoku and you. There are other factors as well."