Academy City's Weather Report! (Toaru)

Chapter 457: Academy City Weather Report! - 457

Twelve years old, and already with rather... distinctive views on schoolyard brawls.

Yet, when faced with such a situation for the very first time within the school's walls, Natsume Sonoko proved she was no slouch either, moving with a speed that fully embodied the proactive initiative of an esper.

By the time the raging computational power within her gradually settled, a certain bun-girl had already retracted her exaggerated arm movements.

Everything seemed to revert to that originally quiet and peaceful learning environment.

On one floor of this building, a symbol of Tokiwadai's advanced educational prowess, the once smooth and tidy floor was now densely pockmarked with small holes.

A large amount of glass shards littered the area near the corridor, and within Sonoko's classroom, only the water dispenser beside the lecturer's platform remained structurally intact.

If you also considered the desks, chairs, and various teaching facilities thrown into complete disarray within the classroom, then this room would likely be out of commission for lessons for several days at least.

However, Natsume Sonoko wouldn't be attending classes here for the next week anyway. As the victim of this incident, she didn't need to trouble herself with the messy aftermath, so the impact on her wasn't particularly significant.

Thinking of the school's approach to handling such severe incidents, her classmates who had participated in the fight—and might have been controlled—were likely facing a series of investigations and restrictions.

Shaking her still-dazed head, Natsume Sonoko didn't wish to comment much on the matter. She just felt terribly tired.

Even though the intense stimulation in her eyes had gradually subsided over time, her vision hadn't returned. When she opened her eyes, everything was a hazy, gray blur.

'Speaking of which, the commotion in the building was so huge. Why has the school's response been so slow?'

A trace of confusion crossed her face. Sonoko knew full well how stubborn her school could be in certain aspects.

The resources poured into security were top-tier even for the School Garden, with security robots spread all over even in the external dormitories. But this time, their response speed was unacceptably slow.

From Sonoko's understanding, whenever a severe incident like a fight broke out within the school, the board of directors would dispatch a specialized security team to handle it.

Even among the teachers, a portion were enlisted personnel within the Anti-Skill system.

'That leaves only two possibilities. Either this operation was tacitly approved by the school, or someone is tying up the school's security forces.'

Rubbing her sore eyes, tears still streaming down, Sonoko immediately dismissed the first guess.

The folks on the board might seem old-fashioned and rigid, but they basically had no self-destructive tendencies.

As school directors, they surely understood the impact such an event occurring within Tokiwadai would have.

She, Natsume Sonoko, might just be an ordinary student, but she bore the title of Level 5 esper—a top-tier student her school would never abandon, a major pillar supporting the school's revenue and influence.

Her school would be falling over itself to protect her, let alone doing something this terrible.

This was evident from how the school chairman had rushed to sign a pile of agreements with her immediately after her promotion to Level 5. Those people on the board valued her highly.

Even if one day she accidentally breached the surface-level rules of Academy City, she believed her school would do its utmost to protect her, unless some utterly unstoppable force decided to crash the party.

Her own troublesome senpai, Misaka Mikoto, had dismantled so many labs, destroyed so much public property, repeatedly caused traffic jams and large-scale blackouts, and yet remained unscathed.

It was impossible without the school pulling some strings.

In fact, Sonoko's own ascension to Level 5 likely involved help from the interest groups behind Private Tokiwadai.

These groups could be the established beneficiaries of Tokiwadai Middle School, tech or pharmaceutical companies collaborating with the school, or simply the students' parents.

Stepping on the carpet of glass shards, Sonoko groped around, picked up her schoolbag and textbooks, and patted off the dust. The lack of vision was really inconvenient.

Fortunately, everyone had fought with a certain unspoken rule—no one intentionally trampled these important vessels of knowledge, still holding a reverence for learning.

Otherwise, Sonoko's textbooks would surely have gained a few footprints.

Around her were various Tokiwadai girls, restrained and immobilized, staring wide-eyed at the only girl in the room who could still move freely.

Even Yumiya Iruka was trapped in a corner of the classroom.

The girl in the severely hypoxic environment seemed to be experiencing something akin to altitude sickness; with insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, she could no longer sustain normal ability release.

In fact, for people who exercised frequently or were heavier-set, a sudden drop in surrounding oxygen levels often affected them much more severely than your average, slender girl.

The laser pen Yumiya Iruka carried had been knocked to the floor, and an unused military-grade flashlight remained tucked inside her kyudo-gi, rendered useless because she couldn't lock onto her opponent.

Only by avoiding direct confrontation could Natsume Sonoko's combat prowess be fully realized. Even if her opponent exhausted their stamina, they might not necessarily be able to pinpoint Sonoko's location.

'So that's what happened.'

Her mind filled with confusion about the current situation, Sonoko desperately wanted to figure out what was going on with the school.

Having temporarily dealt with the immediate assault, Sonoko pondered for a moment before releasing her perception, letting it spread across the entire Tokiwadai Middle School.

The commotions happening everywhere began to flood her mind.

This kind of meticulous sensory ability was very draining, but after fuzzy processing and selective ignoring, only the parts Sonoko wanted to know were parsed by her computational power into understandable information.

Suddenly, she sensed a display screen standing at the school building's entrance, broadcasting a notice about temporary circuit inspections in the building.

Sonoko roughly understood why no students had come near for so long.

Because there had been multiple incidents of unexplained power outages or voltage instability, the school occasionally inspected circuits and transformers in various areas after normal teaching activities concluded.

Sonoko, leaving a little later, was almost among the last few people remaining in the building. It was already after afternoon classes; most students should have been at club activities.

But that didn't seem to be the main reason the building was so empty. Sonoko realized that many people seemed to have had their attention drawn to other matters, which prevented them from noticing the situation inside.

'I'm not the only one being attacked.'

Noticing the commotion over at the gymnasium and the clique building, Sonoko caught on immediately.

Right now, members of the Shokuhou Clique trapped inside the gymnasium were trying to break the windows, firmly stuck and unable to leave quickly.

Meanwhile, inside the clique building, several Tokiwadai girls who had fallen into an abnormal state were engaged in combat with the remaining Shokuhou Clique members. The girl named Hokaze Junko, with her violet princess curls, held her unconscious queen in her arms, fighting against multiple espers.

And, of course, the security personnel dispatched by the school also seemed to be caught in a strange internal conflict.

In short, Tokiwadai appeared to have descended into complete chaos.

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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL