Whoosh!
A pebble was hurled with the force of a Level 4 teleportation ability, flying straight toward a window on the first floor of the four-building complex several hundred meters away in the night. In an instant, it struck its mark.
Crash!!
It didn't take long for the sound to reach them. The distance had thrown off the aim a little, but the clear crash of breaking glass echoed faintly from afar, proving that the building really was there—and that the pebble had shattered an ordinary window.
"Damn it!"
"Lady Misaka, now I'm certain Annie and Index are in there! And I guarantee there's something strange going on. Otherwise, why have we been wandering around here for over an hour without getting even a step closer?!"
Shirai Kuroko glared at the distant "Misawa Cram School" building. She had heard the faint sound of glass breaking after she struck it with her pebble, yet when she looked from afar, not a single window appeared damaged. She couldn't see the pebble anywhere, either. She waved her fists furiously as she spoke.
An hour earlier, her Lady Misaka, Misaka Mikoto, had used her ability to control electronics—essentially a hacking skill—to pinpoint the little girl Annie inside the building known as "Misawa Cram School," a cram school for students hoping to advance despite poor grades. They'd immediately used Kuroko's Level 4 teleportation ability to make several long-distance jumps and get here.
Then something strange and incomprehensible happened.
They were only a few hundred meters from the building and could see it plainly. It should have taken them no more than a few minutes to walk there, yet no matter what they did, they couldn't reach it. They could see it, but never touch it—like flowers in the mist or the moon reflected in water.