The next afternoon, Kuroko Shirai dragged Mikoto Misaka along as she squeezed through the crowd to the rankings outside the arena. She quickly found her own name and her dear Sister's on the list.
"!!"
"Which one is..."
"Sis! Dear Sister!"
"Look!"
"The top hundred have really been announced! We both got byes and advanced straight through!"
"That's wonderful!"
Then she cheered, drawing the attention of quite a few onlookers nearby.
However, no one dared to make careless comments or point at them.
They all knew the two girls before them were extraordinary. One had terrifying electrical powers, while the other could take people straight up to an altitude of ten thousand meters. No one would willingly pick a fight with people like that.
"Really..."
"Oh no."
"The battles ahead are going to be even tougher..."
Mikoto knew why the two of them had received byes. They had simply stood out too much, so the judges had advanced them directly to keep them from blocking anyone else's path. Someone had already informed them before the rankings were posted, so she wasn't particularly surprised now.
"Look!"
"Those three seem to have advanced too..."
Kuroko soon spotted the names of Rin Tohsaka, Luvia, and Illya on the list—the three detestable magical girls who were at odds with them.
"That's only natural!"
"You know their magic is pretty powerful, no matter what. If you run into them, Kuroko, you'd better be careful."
Mikoto checked the rankings. Apart from the three Kuroko had just mentioned and Hermione, she hardly recognized anyone else, so she pulled Kuroko out of the crowd and reminded her as they left.
"Careful?"
"No!"
"Don't worry, Dear Sister! I'm not afraid of them!"
"Your Kuroko still has plenty of powerful tricks she hasn't used!"
Kuroko didn't seem to take Mikoto's