Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

”Sister Dear? Mm... yes, I understand, I’ll do it right away.”

Putting down her phone, Kuroko looked toward Hatsuharu.

”Hatsuharu, I need a favor from you.”

”What is it?”

”Sister Dear just brought a group of people from outside Academy City to hang out in the Seventh School District, and it looks like two of them got separated from the others. Could I trouble you to check where they went?”

”No problem. Exact time and place?”

”Park District, about twenty minutes ago.”

”Got it.”

Hearing this, Hatsuharu started tap-tapping away on the keyboard, and before long the park’s footage popped up on the monitor in front of her.

”Ah, that should be them.”

On the surveillance screen, they could clearly see Misaka Mikoto chatting with several girls who looked like foreigners. After a while, Misaka Mikoto followed three of the girls over to the other side, while the two on the bench kept talking.

Very soon, they saw the girl with long silver-white hair lift her head curiously and glance toward a nearby alley, then stand up and walk over. The blonde girl she’d been talking to followed after her, and the two of them just walked straight into the alley...

”Those are the ones?”

Seeing this, Kuroko couldn’t help but frown. Academy City might be relatively peaceful overall, but there were still plenty of problems in the darker corners. If those two were from outside Academy City, they might get attacked by an Armed Powerless Group. If that really happened, it would be bad.

”Hatsuharu, can you pull up surveillance from inside the alley?”

”No can do, Classmate Shirai, that’s a blind spot in the cameras.”

Hatsuharu shook her head, and Kuroko clicked her tongue in annoyance.

”Fast forward. Let’s see what happened afterward!”

”Okay.”

Hatsuharu reached out and tapped the keyboard. The footage quickly started fast-forwarding, and not long after, they saw the blonde girl run out of the alley. She glanced around, like she was trying to find someone... but clearly there wasn’t anyone she recognized nearby, so the blonde girl hurriedly ran back into the alley again.

Don’t tell me they really ran into some delinquents.

At this point, Kuroko was getting more and more worried. Both of those girls were very pretty; if they attracted the attention of some Academy City punks, who knew what would happen. Judging from the footage, it was obvious the two of them had run into something in that alley, then the blonde came out to look for Misaka Mikoto for help—but Sister Dear and the others had apparently wandered off somewhere by then, so the blonde girl went back...

But that wasn’t the end of it.

A moment later, Kuroko saw the two girls rushing out of the alley, which let her breathe a sigh of relief. But then she immediately noticed something strange.

Now the silver-haired girl was holding a small child wrapped head to toe in a blanket in her arms. They went back to the bench, the silver-haired and blonde girls talked for a bit, then both of them nervously glanced back toward the alley before hastily turning and leaving.

”What on earth is going on?”

Hatsuharu and Kuroko stared at each other, totally unable to figure it out. From the last bit of footage, the two girls were clearly safe and sound, and on top of that they somehow picked up a kid from who-knew-where. Logically speaking, they should’ve gone back to the bench and waited for Misaka Mikoto and the others. In fact, that seemed to be what they planned at first, but then they changed their minds...

”Hatsuharu, keep tracking them and confirm which way they went.”

”Yes.”

With that in mind, Kuroko immediately picked up her phone again and got back in touch with Misaka Mikoto, reporting the situation.

”Something like that happened?”

Hearing Kuroko’s account, Misaka Mikoto was taken aback.

”Yeah. What I find strange is, they clearly ran into something, so why didn’t they come to us Discipline Committee Members or the Guard Officers for help?”

Kuroko had even asked Hatsuharu to check, and during that time period there’d been no reports from the Park District at all...

”Ah, that’s easy. It’s because they can’t understand the language of our world.”

”Our world’s...?”

”Sorry, sorry, Kuroko, they’re foreigners, okay? From overseas. They don’t understand Japanese at all, and they don’t have cellphones either, so even if they wanted to call the cops, they couldn’t.”

”Is that so...?”

Kuroko accepted Misaka Mikoto’s explanation, but still found it a bit weird. In this day and age, there are still people without phones?

Where on earth did these girls come from?

”So, Kuroko, where are the two of them now?”

”Let me see... Right now they’re heading north along Fifteenth Street, they just passed through the flower market...”

”Phew... they’re going back to the lab, then. That’s a relief.”

Hearing this, Misaka Mikoto finally let out a sigh of relief.

”The lab?”

”Yeah. These girls are guests invited by Mr. Fang Zheng. He asked me to show them around Academy City. I didn’t expect something like this to happen. Really helped me out here, Kuroko.”

”So they’re Mr. Fang Zheng’s guests. You’re welcome, Sister Dear.”

Hanging up the phone, Kuroko thought for a moment, then grabbed her armband.

”Hatsuharu, lock onto the Park District, I’m going to check what exactly is happening there! Also, track those two girls. If anything happens to them, notify me immediately!”

As soon as she finished speaking, Kuroko Shirai’s figure gave a sharp ”swish” and vanished into thin air.

Fang Zheng opened his eyes.

He raised his head and helplessly pressed his fingers against his forehead.

”Ah... such a pain, that menopausal woman is coming after me again, guess she’s gotten tired of living.”

He shook his head, then picked up the teacup in his hand, falling silent for a moment.

”That woman just never learns, huh. Well, I happen to need to study whether the Swarm, after devouring LV5 genes, can gain LV5 abilities... so, let’s just kill her.”

After saying this, Fang Zheng put down his teacup, yawned, stood up, and looked toward the Little Misakas currently using the learning devices in front of him.

You have to admit, these rows and rows of... things that look like coffins are pretty damn creepy.

But more importantly...

”9982, what are your sisters doing over there?”

Seeing the Little Misakas off in the distant grassland fiddling with who knows what, Fang Zheng felt a wave of exhaustion. Although he had transported a batch of learning devices over in advance, there was no way he could bring ten thousand of them. So the Little Misakas were taking turns going in to study, and the ones who were waiting their turn were currently bent over in the nearby grassland doing who-knows-what.

”Misaka is making plans for her future life, Misaka reports very seriously.”

”...Plans?”

”Yes. Misaka believes that at present Misaka does not have a suitable house to rest in, so Misaka plans to rely on her own hands to obtain food and clothing, using local materials to construct a house. Misaka hereby requests permission to build a garden...”

”No no no, that’s not necessary.”

Hearing this, Fang Zheng was taken aback and hurriedly waved his hand.

”Your rooms on the Warship are already prepared. Once you finish your studies, you can head to the Warship and, according to your serial numbers, find your own rooms and go in to rest. They’re double rooms, but not small at all, more than enough for you...”

”Then may Misaka purchase furniture herself to decorate the room? Misaka very earnestly hopes to receive Mr. Fang Zheng’s affirmative reply.”

”...Maybe we should reconsider the city-planning project for building a Misaka Town here instead.”

You girls are nothing like Artificial Humans at all, you know that.

After getting the message from Kuroko, Misaka Mikoto rushed back to the research facility with the others, where she met the Priestess of the Goddess, Emilia, and that little girl...

”So you’re... my little sister too?”

Looking at the girl before her, Misaka Mikoto’s expression was extremely complicated, but the girl seemed very cheerful.

”That’s right. Misaka’s number is 20001, the last sister to be manufactured. Misaka Misaka’s codename is ’Last Order’. Originally Misaka was also supposed to be used in the ’Experiment’, but the experiment was halted midway. Misaka Misaka hasn’t even finished having her body adjusted. Misaka Misaka adds that, since she was tossed out of the culture tank halfway through manufacturing, Misaka looks even smaller than a normal Misaka, so Misaka Misaka...”

However, before Little Misaka could finish, they saw Misaka Mikoto slam a heavy punch into the wall beside her.

”You’ve gotta be kidding me, that experiment wouldn’t even spare a kid this little!?”

”Uwah!”

Seeing Misaka Mikoto lose her temper, Little Misaka let out a yelp and darted behind Emilia, poking her head out to peek at Misaka Mikoto.

”Although Sister Dear wasn’t directly involved in the experiment, Misaka Misaka judges that Sister Dear must know some of the people involved. If possible, Misaka Misaka hopes you can contact those researchers on Misaka’s behalf. Right now Misaka’s body and personality are both unfinished, so Misaka is in a very unstable state. If possible, Misaka hopes to enter the culture tank again and completely finish her manufacturing. Misaka Misaka puts both hands together, tilts her head slightly, and strikes a cute pose as she pleads with Sister Dear.”

”.........”

Hearing this, Misaka Mikoto clenched her fists tightly. This child might seem much more lively than the other Little Misakas, but just like them, she saw herself as some sort of experimental material... and all of this was her own doing.

If only back then she had not...

”Sister Dear!”

But at that moment, an untimely voice suddenly rang out. Kuroko Shirai flashed into view and appeared in front of everyone.

”So you’re here too, perfect...”

Yet before Kuroko Shirai could finish, she simply stared blankly at Little Misaka, her mouth hanging open, not knowing what to say.

”Eh? Ku-Kuroko?”

Seeing this, Misaka Mikoto panicked. She absolutely did not want Kuroko and the others to know about this, at least not yet. But she’d been seen by Kuroko, and now...

”Right, this is my cousin, um, she...”

”Sister Dear...”

But Kuroko Shirai had no intention of listening to Misaka Mikoto’s explanation. Instead, she looked up at Misaka Mikoto with teary eyes.

”Sister Dear, y-you and Mr. Fang Zheng already have a child together, and she’s even this big now...”

”...Huh?!”

”Sister Dear, it must have been really hard raising a child all by yourself. Please, you must let Kuroko—let Kuroko share that pain with you——!!”

”What the hell are you talking about——!!!”

BILIBILI——!!!

With Misaka Mikoto’s furious shout, a burst of lightning exploded in the next second, zapping the lunging Kuroko Shirai dead-on.