A Special 'Gift'

"You're unbelievably unlucky!" After retrieving Kamijo Touma's Savings Card from a sewer, Jiu Ming tossed it to him. Was this good luck or bad?

The card had fallen in there and somehow hadn't been washed away...

"How did you find it in there...?" Staring blankly at the Savings Card, Kamijo Touma could hardly believe it. He'd found it so easily (after spending several hours and searching more than a dozen streets)?

Happiness had come too quickly. Unlucky—better pinch myself. It hurt, so he wasn't dreaming because it was too late at night.

"Just a feeling. I took a closer look and spotted something."

A feeling? Was he kidding? What kind of feeling would tell someone to look in a sewer? Wait, how had he even gotten the card through the gap leading into the sewer...? In any case, getting a lost item back was probably something that would happen to him only once in his life.

He'd better hurry home and write it down in a journal!

"Thank you so much!! My name's Kamijo Touma. I have to treat you to a meal!!"

"What does treating me to a meal have to do with your name?" Looking at the excited boy, who seemed barely able to speak coherently, Jiu Ming shook his head. Even if he'd been worried sick about losing it, there was no need to get this worked up. "Mm, I'm Jiu Ming. I don't need a meal or anything. Goodbye." He waved and turned to leave. He wondered if Misaka 1 was asleep yet.

Beneath the streetlight, Kamijo Touma confirmed it clearly this time: the kind passerby who'd helped him find his Savings Card really had no shadow!

He watched Jiu Ming slowly cross beneath the streetlight, his gaze shifting back and forth between Jiu Ming and the ground. When Jiu Ming had finally walked off into the distance, Kamijo turned toward the empty air beside him and gave a rather strained, bizarre smile. "Mm, it seems Mr. Kamijo has very unfortunately seen a ghost?"

He rubbed the Savings Card in his hand. "Is this a blessing in disguise?"

Huh!?

As he started to head home, Kamijo Touma suddenly glanced at his right hand, uncertain. Had it just touched something invisible? It had caused the 'special' property of this hand to activate for an instant.

It must have been his imagination.

"What's this?" Sensing a disturbance inside the Card Collection Book, Jiu Ming snapped his fingers and summoned the hidden Card Collection Book. He opened it to find a Sealed Card that had appeared at some point. It was a skill card, too...

Name: Imagine Breaker

Type: Skill

Attribute: Erasure

Uses: 1

Note: Careful! Don't use it on yourself!

Description: A special ability that makes all supernatural powers disappear...

Convertible Origin Power: 300

Huh? Jiu Ming looked back. He could no longer see that unlucky boy, but this sudden appearance had to be connected to him. Was this what they meant by good deeds being rewarded?

Imagine Breaker—the power contained in his right hand?

If that was true, then his caution back there had been justified. If it was really as overpowered as the description said, what would have happened if it had caught him? Would his soul have been scattered, or would he simply have lost his powers and become an ordinary Soul Body?

Neither outcome would have been good for him.

The notes changed according to each person's circumstances. In Jiu Ming's hands, they served as a hint; in someone else's, they might simply say 'none.' Of course, the most common note was a warning that you lacked the ability to use the card. Use it anyway, and you'd be headed straight to the morgue and crematorium!

This was a Sealed Card, not some legendary magic scroll. Using it required energy. No special energy? No problem—use your stamina instead. Not enough stamina? That didn't matter, either!

By the Mysterious Shop's logic, burning a soul could release tremendous energy. You could absolutely use your life as fuel...

"Panel-kun, it's time you made yourself useful."

When someone sincerely thanked you, there was a chance this situation would occur. You could consider it a different kind of gift.

A sincere thank-you, huh? Hey, it was only a lost Savings Card. He could've just gotten a replacement. Was all this really necessary?

Of course, Jiu Ming had no idea that in Kamijo Touma's life, getting a lost item back was probably something that would happen only this once... He also had no idea what a rough life Kamijo had led.

Okay! He had another item to add to his collection. Jiu Ming put the Imagine Breaker, which had one use, away and nodded. If he used that one chance against Accelerator, the guy's turtle shell would stop working, too.

Once it failed, one punch from Jiu Ming would be enough to put him in the hospital for at least a month...

"Welcome back," Misaka 1 greeted him, sounding displeased.

"...Uh, it's almost midnight. Hurry up and get some sleep. Tomorrow... if nothing unexpected happens, you'll get to meet the person you want to see." Jiu Ming patted Misaka 1 on the head and shook his own.

"Are you leaving then? Misaka asks."

"Yeah. Once the job's done, I'll be leaving. In any case, I'll remember you—you were my first real client." He'd have a new entry to write in his journal when he got home. "Now hurry up and get some sleep."

The next day.

"Doctor, I'm leaving her in your care from now on."

"Oh? Oh! You're leaving?" Netherworld Soul Chaser hadn't understood what Jiu Ming meant at first, but then it dawned on him.

"Of course. I can't stay here for long!" Jiu Ming smiled. The toll of his accumulated energy consumption had increased a little more.

"Given your situation, it's better that you leave soon. Don't worry. I'll take good care of that girl. I've also found a way to get the equipment needed to adjust her body and help her overcome the aftereffects of being accelerated by the drugs."

"Thanks." Jiu Ming glanced at the evening sky and waved to Netherworld Soul Chaser. "Goodbye, Doctor."

"Wait. Aren't you going to say goodbye to her?"

"I'm just passing through. There's no need." With a carefree smile, Jiu Ming left without looking back.

"Just head over here." Someone passing by Jiu Ming murmured as they went past. He tilted his head slightly. Jiu Ming looked down at the slip of paper that had appeared in his hand. That star-eyed girl had messed with him again. The address she'd given him last night was entirely up to him to accept or ignore...

In just one day, Shokuhou Misaki had investigated quite a lot. With her ability, something like this was incredibly easy. Jiu Ming didn't need to break into Accelerator's home at all.

"How are you going to thank me?"

Jiu Ming was following the map toward the location on the slip of paper when someone suddenly covered his eyes.

"We're not close enough for you to do that, are we?" He twitched his nose slightly. Even without hearing her voice, her familiar scent was enough to tell him who it was. "Getting this close to a ghost you've known for less than two days, huh?"

"Tch. If you like someone, it's perfectly normal to go to a hotel with them after knowing them for an hour, isn't it?"

"...A girl shouldn't bring up topics like that. Are you sure you don't mean hiring a prostitute?"

"How can you be so blunt? You sound like an old man." Shokuhou Misaki stepped in front of Jiu Ming and mocked him without the slightest restraint.

"Human nature, I guess. I'm still young, so it's normal to act silly and get sentimental now and then. Looks like you're feeling a lot bolder today?" Yesterday, even when she'd been alone with him, Shokuhou Misaki had been prickly, but her barbs had felt soft. Now... she had confidence. She was standing her ground!

"Of course. We're on my turf now."

As she spoke, the pedestrians walking around them came to a bizarre standstill, like one of those scenes in a movie where time suddenly froze.

What was even stranger was that the pedestrians all turned toward them and formed a circle around them. Every gaze landed on Jiu Ming, as if they were about to swarm him like ravenous zombies and attack him together...

Smack!

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Quit fooling around. A Mage who gets close to me is just asking for trouble." Jiu Ming's mental burst could be described in specific terms—just think of it as a critical hit in a game. A multiplied critical strike could crush any shield through sheer force.

After Shokuhou Misaki cried out and rubbed her forehead where he'd flicked it, the pedestrians went back to walking around as if nothing had happened. They had no idea they'd nearly taken part in a brutally one-sided group assault... or rather, an attempted gang attack that would have ended with the target slaughtering them.

"Anyway, thanks... Why are you following me?"

After walking a few steps, Jiu Ming turned around and looked at Shokuhou Misaki, who'd followed him. "Ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?"

"I did all this for you. You wouldn't just leave me without even protecting me, would you?" Shokuhou Misaki countered without the slightest hesitation. She even had the nerve to act like she was in the right!

"I don't have the energy for that, and I'm leaving."

Shokuhou Misaki looked slightly taken aback. "So soon?"

She'd thoroughly investigated him. Academy City had no records of anyone named Jiu Ming, which meant he wasn't from Academy City. He was more likely an outsider from beyond the city, someone who'd taken on a job... Wait, a young mercenary who wasn't even human?

"Yeah. The job's almost done, so naturally I have to leave... Mm, is something wrong?" Jiu Ming noticed that Shokuhou Misaki looked a little off and asked, puzzled.

"Uh, well... If it's just a job, you don't have to leave so soon, do you?"

"I'm an exception. What are you hiding?"

"Just after you left the hospital, Misaka Mikoto set out from Tokiwadai..."

"...Damn it! I'll remember this!"

Jiu Ming froze for a moment, then his eyes widened. He'd apparently underestimated a girl's psychology. She'd really played him like that?

Once the job was done, he'd be kicked out of this world.

As Shokuhou Misaki stared at him in shock, Jiu Ming took off at a speed that was practically out of control, vanishing into the distance. After a while, a feeling of irritation welled up in her. What was that supposed to mean?

It was just a job to find someone and arrange a meeting...

Whether it was his imagination or not, by the time Jiu Ming reached the location on the slip of paper, the dry, constricted feeling brought on by the toll of moving around had grown worse.

The location on the slip of paper was a raised platform. This time, she hadn't tricked him. From up there, Jiu Ming soon spotted the person he was looking for... His original plan to beat up Accelerator and tear down the research lab running the experiment would have to change now.