Gathering

A week passed quickly. During that week, Rod toured all of Academy City, though he spent most of his time in District 4.

District 4 had the most food-related facilities and the most comprehensive selection of restaurants in Academy City. Cuisine from more than 190 countries around the world could be found there. Even if Rod ate at a different restaurant every day, he would not grow tired of it anytime soon, so he simply abandoned the apartment Aleister had arranged for him.

Instead, he rented a presidential suite at a hotel in District 4 and moved in for the convenience of dining out. As for the apartment Aleister had arranged, it happened to be right next door to the protagonist, Kamijo Toma.

Anyone could tell what that guy was plotting without even using their brain. Rod was not falling for it.

After showering, Rod walked out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his lower body. His upper body was bare, revealing sturdy, well-defined muscles that were not overly bulky—the classic sort of physique that looked slim in clothes but muscular out of them.

He casually took a can of Coca-Cola from the refrigerator and began drinking deeply.

Drinking cola after a shower—if his mother saw that, she would probably start nagging him again, worrying that carbonated drinks were unhealthy and made people gain weight.

Those lectures that had once annoyed him now felt rather nostalgic.

Lying back on the soft, oversized sofa, Rod casually tossed aside the empty can. A hint of loneliness appeared on his face. Though he was now enjoying the life he had once desired but could never attain in his previous life, the lack of family by his side still left him feeling somewhat lonely.

His ultimate goal, of course, was to return to his own world—Earth.

He was not an orphan. His family was still waiting for him to return.

No matter what, going home was Rod's conviction.

No matter how great the strength required to reach his homeland, Rod would never give up.

Just as Rod's thoughts began to wander further and further, a phone ringtone shattered them.

"Lord Rod, we have finished investigating the Number One. He is participating in the Level 6 Shift Project, and the specific details of the plan..." Mugino Shizuri's gentle voice came from the other end of the phone.

That soft, refined voice, like that of an ideal Japanese lady, left the other three girls utterly dumbfounded. Even Takitsubo Rikou, who was usually indifferent and rarely showed emotion, wore the same stunned expression as Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai.

"No need to explain the details. Just tell me Accelerator's current location." Rod replied casually. He had no desire to hear the plan again when he already knew it.

"Yes. He is currently in the industrial area of District 17. His experiment will begin at ten o'clock." Though Rod had abruptly interrupted her, Mugino Shizuri was not annoyed and continued reporting Accelerator's exact whereabouts.

"Good work. I'll transfer the payment to your account." Rod immediately hung up and transferred ten million.

After getting dressed, Rod gazed into the distance with an unreadable smile, then leaped straight down from the balcony.

Rod's figure drew the attention of several passersby, and cries of alarm rang out one after another. Just as everyone thought he was about to hit the ground and die without question, a shadow abruptly appeared. In the next instant, a gigantic monstrous bird flew out of the shadow and soared into the sky.

"Th-That's the monster bird people were talking about online!?"

"It really exists!"

"Could it be some laboratory creation?"

At ITEM's gathering point, Frenda stared at the number that had arrived on the screen, counted it carefully, and cried out in delight.

"Whoa! That old man... no, that's not right, Lord Rod really transferred ten million!?"

"Really!? That old man is so generous!" Kinuhata Saiai cheered as well. Who would have thought that such a simple intelligence-gathering mission would earn them ten million? Compared to their previous clients, Rod was absolutely the most generous one.

"Mugino?" Takitsubo Rikou asked worriedly as she looked at Mugino Shizuri, who was staring blankly at her phone screen.

"We're going to District 17." Ignoring the two girls celebrating together, Mugino Shizuri spoke to Takitsubo Rikou.

"Mm."

"Eh!?" Takitsubo Rikou's response and the startled cries of the other two rang out at the same time.

At a certain laboratory, Having completely destroyed the laboratory's data and equipment, leaving a floor full of scrapped security robots behind, Misaka Mikoto, dressed in casual black clothes and wearing a baseball cap, quietly vanished into the night.

"Good thing I didn't run into that violent maniac again, or it would've taken more effort."

Landing atop a treetop, Misaka Mikoto let out a breath and muttered to herself.

After learning the truth from Rod a week earlier, Misaka Mikoto had begun investigating. She discovered that the DNA map she had provided as a child to a medical institution that claimed to be researching treatment for muscular dystrophy had somehow been repurposed for military use. Her good deed, meant to help others, had been ruthlessly trampled upon by the experimenters.

Unforgivable! The fury in her heart kept burning, and Misaka Mikoto resolved to destroy the experiment. This was already the tenth laboratory she had cleared out. While destroying the eighth, she had encountered the four-member ITEM dark side group.

After a fierce battle, she managed to escape. Having rested for less than half a day, she resumed her actions.

Misaka Mikoto was already exhausted. Coupled with the injuries left from her earlier fight with the Number Four and the torment in her heart, she felt as though she could barely breathe.

After stopping to rest for a moment, Misaka Mikoto opened her Gekota phone and looked at the message Kuroko had sent her on the screen.

'Onee-sama, don't worry. I've already covered for you with the dorm supervisor. I don't know what you're doing, but please be careful no matter what. If you need someone to talk to, Kuroko will absolutely be a qualified listener.'

"Kuroko..." Looking at the concerned words sent by her junior, a trace of warmth passed through Misaka Mikoto's somewhat numb heart. But it was precisely to protect Kuroko that she could not tell her about Academy City's darkness.

Telling her would only add to her worries, and might even drag Kuroko into danger.

Though she found her junior Kuroko troublesome and clingy, Misaka Mikoto fully acknowledged her in her heart. She was one of her few true friends.

A notification window suddenly popped up at the top of her phone.

'Breaking! The monster bird has appeared again in District 4.'

The headline immediately caught Misaka Mikoto's attention. She tapped it, and once the page finished loading, the enormous bird, as huge as a small mountain, appeared before her eyes.

"Isn't that that weird old man's mount!?"

As a Level 5 Electromaster, Misaka Mikoto possessed exceptional hacking skills. There was no program she could not decipher and no firewall she could not breach. With such godlike abilities in the digital world, she quickly pinpointed Rod's destination—District 17.

"District 17, huh? Time to get moving."

She stretched, revealing the curves of a young girl's body. Though her chest was somewhat regrettable, it did nothing to diminish her charm.

"I'm definitely going to make that old man explain why he knows about these things."

Determined to get to the bottom of a few matters, Misaka Mikoto headed for District 17 as well.

9:50 p.m.

"Yo, you're early, scrap metal."

Under the moonlight, a white-haired figure stood atop a cargo container, looking down at an emotionless girl who looked exactly like Misaka Mikoto.