Stubborn Kuroko

"Then, Ms. Kiyama, please tell me the specific details of the car you were driving, such as the model and color. I'll use the nearby surveillance systems to search for it." Uiharu Kazari brought out a laptop and spoke to Kiyama Harumi as she powered it on.

However, when Kiyama Harumi heard the word "teacher," her originally languid gaze trembled slightly. A trace of hidden sorrow flashed through her eyes.

"Teacher, huh." Kiyama Harumi looked at Uiharu Kazari with a complicated expression.

"Uh, sorry. I'm just used to calling people that, so I accidentally..." Thinking her form of address had offended the other woman, Uiharu Kazari nervously rubbed her little hands together, looking adorably apologetic.

"No, it's fine. I used to be a teacher too, though I wasn't much of a qualified one." Kiyama Harumi gave a self-deprecating smile, making the atmosphere even more awkward.

"AIM Diffusion Field? Isn't that..." Misaka Mikoto suddenly recalled what Rod had said before and instinctively looked toward him.

"The AIM Diffusion Field is a faint power that espers unconsciously release in every direction. Individually, it's so weak that it can practically be ignored. But with Academy City's total of 2.3 million espers, it becomes something that cannot be underestimated." Rod explained with a faint smile.

"It seems this gentleman knows quite a bit about the AIM Diffusion Field as well." Kiyama Harumi looked at Rod with considerable surprise, her gaze carrying an unmistakable hint of probing.

"I wouldn't call it knowledge. I just happen to know rather well where those AIM Diffusion Fields will ultimately be put to use." Rod answered casually.

Yet that answer made Kiyama Harumi's pupils contract. The look of astonishment vanished in an instant, and she quickly returned to her languid demeanor.

Rod noticed Kiyama Harumi's reaction as well. He chuckled and shook his head. What he meant by "put to use" was not the Level Upper Kiyama Harumi was planning, but Aleister's terrifying plan to use the AIM Diffusion Field to envelop the entire world and completely erase the existence of magic.

"..." Misaka Mikoto remained silent. She had no intention of asking Rod at this moment why the Misaka Sisters had been distributed across the world.

Having gone through the Level 6 Shift Project, she had become more mature and more capable of calming down to think things through on her own.

Just from Rod's brief explanation earlier, she could glimpse the terrifying scale of the Chairman's plan, like seeing a leopard through a tube. It was a massive scheme that encompassed the entire world.

How far ahead did he have to calculate for even her childhood act of handing over her genetic map to be included in it? The moment Misaka Mikoto thought deeply about it, a chilling fear rose within her.

"Here's a car similar to the one Ms. Kiyama described. Can you see if this is it?"

After a while, Uiharu Kazari found a vehicle resembling the one Kiyama Harumi had described. She turned the laptop toward Kiyama Harumi and asked.

"Ah, yes, this is the one. You're really impressive." Kiyama Harumi gave it a quick look, nodded, and smiled as she praised her.

"It's... it's nothing... Hahaha~" Receiving praise from an elder, Uiharu Kazari shyly waved her hands. But the blush on her cheeks gave her away—she was clearly delighted by Kiyama Harumi's compliment.

After some effort, they successfully escorted Kiyama Harumi to the parking lot. Seated in her Lamborghini, Kiyama Harumi thanked everyone.

"Thank you for your help. Well then, goodbye."

Watching the car drive away, Misaka Mikoto said speechlessly, "She really was a strange person."

"It's said that if you encounter the Stripper Woman, you might get cursed and end up stripping on the street just like her!?" Once Saten Ruiko saw Kiyama Harumi leave, she immediately explained.

The others looked at one another.

"Don't say such stupid things. She's just an ordinary researcher with a stripping fetish. What does that have to do with curses?" Shirai Kuroko said flatly, wearing a thoroughly sour expression.

"What are you talking about?" Rod raised an eyebrow and asked in confusion.

"It's an urban legend. Ah, right—Mr. Rod, did you really defeat Accelerator, Academy City's number one!?" Uiharu Kazari explained first, then suddenly remembered what Misaka Mikoto had mentioned earlier. She immediately grew excited and asked Rod.

"Yeah, yeah, is it true!? Mr. Rod!" Saten Ruiko snapped back to attention as well. She should have asked right away, but Kiyama Harumi's shocking stripping had interrupted her.

Seeing the two girls looking at him with sparkling, starry eyes, a bead of cold sweat slid down Rod's temple. He looked toward Misaka Mikoto, only to find the little girl whistling and turning away with flushed cheeks, looking immensely guilty.

Rod shook his head with an amused smile, then looked back at the two girls and nodded lightly.

"Yes, I did defeat Accelerator."

"That's amazing!?" the two girls cried in unison, their gazes growing even more fervent. They had never imagined that Academy City's strongest person was standing right in front of them.

"Why did you and Accelerator fight?" Shirai Kuroko was more curious about that.

"Why? Ask your onee-sama." A curve lifted at Rod's lips as he casually pointed at Misaka Mikoto, tossing the blame her way.

All three girls turned their eyes toward Misaka Mikoto, clearly deeply interested in that question.

"Th-this... I... Ahaha~" Misaka Mikoto obviously couldn't explain it to them. If they learned about the Level 6 Shift Project and the Railgun Cloning Project, if they came to understand Academy City's dark side, would they still be able to live their peaceful daily lives as usual?

Misaka Mikoto's flustered, reddened face immediately set off alarm bells in Shirai Kuroko's mind. In her imagination, a melodramatic love triangle appeared: Rod and Accelerator had leveled an entire school district while fighting over Misaka Mikoto, and Rod had ultimately emerged victorious and won the beauty's heart.

Misaka Mikoto lovingly offered Rod a fragrant kiss. The instant that image reached this point, Shirai Kuroko broke down once more and shouted loudly.

"No! Onee-sama!? Please don't abandon Kuroko!? Kuroko, I..."

Watching Shirai Kuroko suddenly lose her mind and repeatedly slam her head against the ground, everyone fell silent again.

"Her iron head technique is pretty impressive," Rod commented. Ever since meeting Shirai Kuroko, he had seen her lose her mind in nearly every encounter.

The three girls rolled their eyes at Rod in unison and hurried forward to stop Shirai Kuroko from hurting herself.

"But if Mr. Rod defeated Accelerator, why didn't he become number one?" Saten Ruiko noticed the key point and changed her question.

"Who knows? Maybe because I'm not an esper. Or maybe because I blew up the Chairman's office building not long ago~"

Rod shrugged indifferently. He did not care about the number one position. It was nothing more than fame and profit—he did not value fame, and as for profit, with the ability to take unlimited currency from the system whenever he wished, money was just a number to him.

"You blew up the Chairman's office building?! W-was it... the Windowless Building?" Uiharu Kazari swallowed and asked nervously.

"Yes."

"..." Another long silence followed. Strictly speaking, the person standing before them could be classified as a terrorist in Academy City. But he possessed the strength to defeat Academy City's number one—who would dare arrest him?

Not even Kuroko, as hardheaded as she was—in both senses of the word—would be foolish enough to try arresting Rod.

"Wait, did Mr. Rod just say he isn't an esper?" Saten Ruiko noticed the information hidden in Rod's words and asked him curiously, with some inexplicable anticipation mixed into her tone.

"Heh, that's right. I'm a sorcerer..." Rod briefly explained the basic concepts of sorcerers, cursed energy, and the like to the girls.

It undoubtedly opened the door to a whole new world for them.