The Favor of the Heaven Canceller

Watching Misaka Mikoto grit her teeth, looking downright jealous, Rod's expression turned somewhat complicated before he began to explain.

After hearing Rod's explanation, everyone present was utterly dumbfounded.

"S-So, the person in front of us could be considered a supercomputer—or an AI—that combines all espers into one?" Shirai Kuroko rubbed her temples. The information she had gotten from Rod nearly burned out her CPU.

"Ten years old? This counts as ten years old!?" Misaka Mikoto's eyes widened exaggeratedly as her gaze went straight to Kazakiri Hyouka's chest. It was truly magnificent—an overwhelming, surging spectacle.

It was as though, the moment she looked at it, she could hear the mooing of cows echoing by her ears.

A woman who could not see her toes when looking down was already a peerless beauty. Misaka Mikoto then looked down at herself and saw nothing but the ground. Instantly, an oppressive aura filled the space around her.

"Um... could you please stop staring at me? It's embarrassing~" Kazakiri Hyouka's pretty face flushed slightly as she timidly hid behind Rod, looking so shy and helpless that she was utterly pitiful.

Misaka Mikoto had wanted to speak up and stop this, but then suddenly realized that the person before her only had the mind of a ten-year-old. In other words, wasn't she getting jealous over a clueless ten-year-old child?

No, no, no. No matter what, I, Misaka Mikoto, am not that petty.

"Kiyama Harumi, you are under arrest for developing Level Upper. Put your hands up!" The Anti-Skill officers who had arrived one after another surrounded Rod and the others, ordering Kiyama Harumi to surrender.

Only then did Misaka Mikoto come back to her senses, instinctively stepping in front of Kiyama Harumi.

"Wait, Kiyama-sensei had her reasons for doing this."

"Whatever her reasons, she involved ten thousand students and broke the law. Misaka Mikoto, the third-ranked esper of Academy City, please step aside." Yomikawa Aiho spoke with a solemn expression, showing no intention of backing down.

From Yomikawa Aiho's perspective, there was nothing wrong with these measures.

Dragging ten thousand students into something for the sake of achieving one's own goal was something she, as a teacher, could not tolerate.

"Lord Rod, what should we do next?" Mugino Shizuri came to Rod's side and asked respectfully.

"Next? Take Kiyama Harumi away. Your underground organization should have more authority than Anti-Skill, right?" Rod pinched his chin and pointed his thumb toward Kiyama Harumi as he asked.

"Uh, ITEM is an underground organization directly under Academy City's Board of Directors. Our main duty is to prevent the upper ranks, including the Board itself, from getting out of control. We belong to a different organization from Anti-Skill, so there's no superior-subordinate relationship between us." Takitsubo Rikou explained lazily.

"Put simply, we're the upper management's black gloves. Anything they can't bring into the light gets handed over to us." Kinuhata Saiai said bluntly, making everyone who heard her break out in a cold sweat. She really dared to say that out in the open.

"..." Rod was speechless. The underground side really was nothing more than a gun in someone else's hand.

"But Anti-Skill can't really do much to us anyway. We might as well just snatch Kiyama Harumi away. That would settle everything once and for all." Kinuhata Saiai looked eager to give it a try, making Rod sigh speechlessly as he gave her little head a knock.

"Ow!" Kinuhata Saiai clutched her head and squatted sadly in the corner, no longer saying anything.

"Forget it. This was all brought about by my own actions. This is the punishment I deserve. Thank you, everyone." Kiyama Harumi sighed, then revealed a relieved smile and held out her hands, ready for Yomikawa Aiho to arrest her.

"Wait, all of this happened because..." Misaka Mikoto hurriedly tried to explain, but Kiyama Harumi stopped her. Her faint shake of the head left Misaka Mikoto stunned. She clenched her fists, her face filled with reluctance. She had done it for the students, but the fact remained that Kiyama Harumi had involved ten thousand of them.

"Then... what are you going to do about those children?" Misaka Mikoto continued to ask.

Kiyama Harumi paused at those words, then smiled as she replied.

"Of course I won't give up. I'll start over again, whether it's in prison or at the ends of the world. Because my mind is still here. But next time, I'll still stop at nothing. If you can't stand that, you're welcome to come interfere then."

Misaka Mikoto smiled helplessly, scratching her head as she replied.

"You really are a teacher who never learns."

Just before Kiyama Harumi was about to be put in handcuffs, Rod pressed down on her hand. Yomikawa Aiho instinctively tensed up at the sight, only to see Rod hand her a cellphone.

"?" Yomikawa Aiho did not understand what he meant, but after Rod gestured again, she accepted the phone.

"Doctor Heaven Canceller?! Ah, yes. Mm, I understand." Yomikawa Aiho received Heaven Canceller's guarantee. As one of Academy City's upper ranks, he naturally had the authority to vouch for Kiyama Harumi.

"You can take Kiyama Harumi with you, but please make sure she doesn't cause such a huge mess again." Yomikawa Aiho gave Rod a complicated look, left him with that reminder, and then ordered her team to withdraw.

"Thanks for the help, old man." Rod could naturally contact Aleister, but having him handle something like this would have felt like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Besides, he had already taken advantage of him once. Even with Rod's thick skin, he really couldn't—and didn't want to—ask him for another favor under these circumstances.

He had helped Heaven Canceller with quite a few things not long ago, so he might as well use that favor now.

"It was no trouble. I know quite a bit about Kiyama's situation too. Even if you hadn't intervened, I would have gone to bail her out later." Heaven Canceller said with a light smile. For someone like him, helping others seemed to be as natural as breathing.

Whether in the past or the present, this old man could be called a saint. That was why Rod respected him.

After Rod hung up, Kiyama Harumi gave him a deep bow and said gratefully.

"Thank you, Mr. Rod."

"You're welcome." As Rod spoke, he noticed a familiar figure—a woman in a professional uniform standing amid the wreckage, directing construction-use powered suits as they carried out cleanup work.

Seeing this, Rod simply couldn't be bothered to keep following the script. Ignoring the discussion around him, he walked straight toward Therestina Kihara Lifeline.

"What is that old man even looking at!?" Noticing Rod's gaze, Misaka Mikoto began gritting her teeth again. Kuroko beside her also could not help feeling a little jealous—though it was unclear exactly who she was jealous of.