Wise Operation Luo Yifang

Misaka Mikoto clutched the USB drive in her hand as she sat on the train back to Tokiwadai. Leaning against the window, she watched the scenery constantly sliding backward outside, her thoughts a complete mess.

Luo Yifang had not actually told her anything. He had not even expected to run into Misaka Mikoto when he went looking for 9982. But Misaka Mikoto was not so easily fooled. Railgun, whose intelligence was always online, would never believe the nonsense Luo Yifang had been spouting.

Left with no choice, Luo Yifang gave her a USB drive containing some information about the Absolute Ability User Project... though there was nothing in it about the Misaka Sisters.

"If you're ready to get involved in this, then look at what's on the USB drive," Luo Yifang had said before leaving. He scratched his white hair and put on a deeply troubled expression. "Honestly, now really isn't the time yet."

"Hey, can't you just explain things properly?" Misaka Mikoto waved the USB drive in her hand at Luo Yifang.

"The choice is yours. Don't roast me this time..." As if trying to avoid further questioning from Misaka Mikoto, Luo Yifang vanished into thin air without looking back, leaving behind only those words. Yet Misaka Mikoto felt that the latter half of that sentence had not been directed at her.

"Is there someone else around him?" Sitting on the train, Misaka Mikoto pondered Luo Yifang's behavior. She could not figure out whether his ability to refract light was something he did himself, or whether he had an esper by his side who could refract light... just as Kuroko was often by her side.

After returning to the dormitory, Misaka Mikoto still looked absent-minded. Seeing that Onee-sama was off her guard, Kuroko teleported to Misaka Mikoto's side, intending to greet her. But Misaka Mikoto seemed not to notice Kuroko at all and simply flopped onto her bed.

"Onee-sama?"

"Oh... Kuroko, you're back already?" Misaka Mikoto only seemed slightly more normal after hearing Kuroko's voice. She sat up and asked, "What kind of person do you think Luo Yifang really is?"

"He's a complete bastard and a huge liar!" Thinking her beloved Onee-sama had been tricked by Luo Yifang again, Kuroko panicked and tried to blacken Luo Yifang's image over and over again. "An unevolved humanoid ape..."

Misaka Mikoto cut Kuroko off and said impatiently, "That's not what I mean! I mean, what do you think he does?"

"Eh..." Kuroko froze for a moment before answering without hesitation, "Isn't he an esper?"

"I know that too!" Misaka Mikoto suppressed the urge to give Kuroko a dose of "Professor Yang's Kiss" and repeated her question. "I'm asking what you think his identity is, what he's doing! Aren't you on the Disciplinary Committee? You should be much better at reading people than I am!"

"Hmm." After thinking carefully for a moment, Kuroko said, "He doesn't seem like a student. The schools in Academy City all seem to require students to wear their uniforms outside on holidays, don't they? Tokiwadai is even stricter—it practically requires students to wear uniforms all the time. But I've never seen that guy Luo Yifang wear one."

Seeing that Misaka Mikoto did not interrupt her, Kuroko continued, "And he seems very wealthy. At least, the clothes he wears look plain, but I remember seeing them in some luxury brand store. Every single piece was ridiculously expensive."

If Luo Yifang had been there, he definitely would have argued that he was not someone who deliberately bought high-end goods. That store was simply the closest one to where he lived, and he could not be bothered to run around everywhere else, so nearly all his clothes came from there. Would he care whether his clothes were luxury brands? What a joke! He would rather spend that time grinding a few more games. Still, money really was little more than a number to Luo Yifang. The payments from all sorts of auxiliary experiments over the years, combined with the funds allocated by Academy City's upper ranks, had added up to an astronomical figure. Luo Yifang had never worried about money.

"He must have helped those research institutes with experiments," Misaka Mikoto said carelessly, waving a hand. Her own savings were terrifying as well. "You know, LV.5 appearance fees aren't cheap."

"Yes, yes, Onee-sama's appearance fee is the most expensive!"

"Honestly... he's an esper, and even NO.1. Why can't he just handle things cleanly and decisively?" Misaka Mikoto sighed.

"Just NO.1... Huh? Wait, Onee-sama, you said NO.1?" Kuroko stared in shock. Where had this monster crawled out from? Misaka Mikoto was already so powerful that even Kuroko held her in awe, yet Luo Yifang, who stood above her at the pinnacle of Academy City... acted like an idiot?

"Yeah. Oh, I think I forgot to tell you guys." Misaka Mikoto stuck out her tongue. "I found out when I sparred with him last time. Come to think of it, he really is so strong that you might lose even the courage to fight him."

"W-W-W-Wait! Onee-sama, you weren't hurt, were you?! That's NO.1, NO.1!" Kuroko hurriedly rushed over to Misaka Mikoto. "Quick, let Kuroko examine you! What if you suffered some hidden injury?"

"Kuroko!"

"Hey, why have you been acting like an idiot lately..." Paqi no longer had the strength to criticize Luo Yifang. "You're a transmigrator, a transmigrator! Can't you learn some of that magical foresight your predecessors had? And haven't you always had perfect memory?"

"What can I do? I'm desperate too." Luo Yifang spread his hands, making it clear that there was nothing he could do. "If it were just the Absolute Ability User Project, then once Railgun stepped in, I could provide support from the shadows and beat Kakine Teitoku into deleting his account in no time while carrying her. But now, not only has some necromancer barged in, Kakine Teitoku has gotten an epic-tier buff, and the timeline is all messed up. The Misaka Sisters have disappeared too. I'm not some all-powerful wishing machine. You say a couple of words and expect me to settle everything? Even if I'm an esper, this kind of thing still has to be handled step by step, okay?"

After a long silence, Paqi said, "Do you think you could change your title?"

"Change it to what? Though I've noticed that Vector Manipulation doesn't sound badass enough. How about 'Above Heaven and Below Earth, I Alone Am Supreme'?"

"I think Wise Operation is pretty good. Aren't you quite wise right now?"

"Thanks. I've always thought I was pretty wise..." Luo Yifang savored the words for a moment. "Wait, why does that sound kind of weird... I'm speaking Japanese. There shouldn't be that kind of pun, right?"

"Not only are you wise, you're also incredibly chuuni. 'The choice is yours,' my ass. If this were a novel and I were a reader, I'd roast you to death!" Paqi furiously shouted the thoughts in her heart.