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Misaka Mikoto's quiet confession hung in the air, leaving Fang Li speechless.
As someone with knowledge of the original events, the core narrative of her world, Fang Li understood all too well why she had just said those things.
The truth was, the horrific "Absolute Ability Evolution Project" had been preceded by another, less famous, but equally pivotal experiment: the "Mass-Produced Ability User Project."
This earlier project was an attempt to decipher and replicate the precise 'genetic equation' responsible for creating a Level 5 esper. The goal was simple: to artificially, and reliably, mass-produce individuals who normally only appeared by pure chance.
The person chosen as the genetic blueprint, the template for the entire endeavor, was Misaka Mikoto.
Identified as having Level 5 potential from a very young age, she had been selected, and her DNA was harvested to create and mass-produce super-powered clones.
That was how the clones, the Sisters, first came into being.
Crucially, the experiment was shelved just before its final phase. The reason? The resulting clones' powers were tragically weak, barely one percent of the original's, averaging only Level 2. No amount of genetic tweaking or specialized education could elevate them to Level 5. They were, irrevocably, degraded copies.
With that, the "Mass-Produced Ability User Project" was officially frozen. It lay dormant for a long time, only to be revived later when those same failed clones were repurposed as mere lab rats for the monstrous "Absolute Ability Evolution Project."
Yet, both projects had one critical prerequisite: Misaka Mikoto's DNA map.
A map she had provided herself, willingly.
Misaka's voice dropped to a barely audible murmur as she looked at Fang Li.
"Do you know what muscular dystrophy is?"
Muscular dystrophy. A disease that relentlessly breaks down muscle tissue, causing it to atrophy. The patient gradually loses all strength until even their internal organs cease to function. It is a hopeless, incurable descent into immobility.
"The human brain sends commands to the muscles through electrical signals," Misaka explained. "In essence, people with muscular dystrophy have lost the ability to transmit that signal."
If that were the case, wouldn't someone with the ability to control electricity be able to become that signal, to issue those motor commands directly, guided by their own will?
That hope, that desire to help, was why Misaka had voluntarily handed over her DNA map to Academy City.
She wanted to help those patients inching toward death, people whose lives were defined not by freedom or joy, but by endless suffering and despair.
"That's what those so-called researchers told me," Misaka whispered, her lip unconsciously trapped between her teeth. "And yet… somehow, at some point, my DNA ended up being used for military purposes instead."
It was the shock of this betrayal that led Misaka Mikoto to discover the existence of both the Mass-Produced Ability User Project and the subsequent Absolute Ability Evolution Project, and, in agony and despair, to dedicate herself to stopping them.
"Such a ridiculous experiment should never have been allowed to proceed," she insisted. "It's not just that Number One who's the problem, the children themselves should never have been forced to cooperate. If they hadn't, the plan couldn't have gone forward."
She turned her back to Fang Li, hiding her expression, yet the tremor in her voice was undeniable.
"But those people still went ahead, using drugs to accelerate the children's physical and mental development, making them reach my physical form in less than fourteen days. They forcibly input language, motor control, and basic ethics into their brains through the Testament system, but they left out emotion."
The clones, the Sisters, could not even conceive of resistance. Programmed only with knowledge, they had accepted that dying in the experiment was perfectly natural, not something to struggle against in order to live.
"Do you know what they said when I asked them why they didn't resist?"
Misaka's fists clenched at her sides.
"They said this. The cost of producing a Misaka is very affordable, only 180,000 yen."
The depth of Misaka Mikoto's shock and pain at hearing those words was easy to imagine.
An act of pure goodwill, a genuine desire to help others… had instead created twenty thousand tragedies, lives manufactured solely for the purpose of being slaughtered.
"Even now, even though the project has been terminated, more than ten thousand of the Sisters have already been killed, haven't they?" Misaka Mikoto's voice was hollow.
"And the one who killed them… was me."
She believed that her own naïve trust was the root cause of everything.
"If I hadn't been so naïve back then, if I had understood how important it was to protect my DNA, none of this would have happened," She said, offering a bitter, self-mocking smile. "Even if I managed to stop the project, I still have to take responsibility for the more than ten thousand Sisters who died. For that… I'm willing to do anything."
It was that conviction that drove Misaka to commit crimes, to defy Academy City itself and destroy its research labs one after another, even knowing she was being tracked by satellites.
"Originally," Misaka continued, "once everything was over, I should have been thrown into prison by those enraged researchers and the higher-ups of Academy City, and spent the rest of my life there."
She turned her head toward Fang Li, forcing a small smile.
"But now, it seems those people are too busy struggling for their own survival. They probably won't come after me anymore."
But that was clearly not what Misaka Mikoto wanted to hear. Her smile was devastatingly sad.
Fang Li recognized that expression. He'd seen it before, on Orphelia's face: the sorrow of a person who cherished life, yet ended up trampling on what they held dear. That contradiction, that agonizing self-reproach, was etched into Misaka Mikoto's features.
Fang Li sighed softly.
His evaluation was a single, simple sentence.
"You're really clumsy."
Misaka Mikoto froze at the word.
Fang Li, ignoring her reaction, simply stepped closer, raised his hand, and gently placed it on her head.
"Losing yourself in guilt and self-blame while forgetting the responsibility you truly should bear…"
He paused, his eyes looking straight ahead. "That's nothing more than self-satisfaction."
He spoke to the dazed girl beside him. "If it were me, rather than seeking punishment for the ten thousand Sisters who've died…"
"I'd rather seek what I should do, for the ten thousand Sisters who are still alive."
Misaka Mikoto's entire body trembled at his words.
He was right.
Even though more than ten thousand Sisters had died, there were still nearly ten thousand who lived.
"They must be lost right now," Fang Li said, "uncertain of their purpose after losing the reason they were created. They need someone to show them the path forward."
He offered a crooked little smile.
"And don't forget…"
"You're their big sister, aren't you?"
With those words delivered, Fang Li gently ruffled Misaka's hair one last time, then turned and began walking away.
Misaka Mikoto remained standing there, watching his back gradually recede into the distance, clutching her cell phone tightly in her hand.
The light slowly, steadily, returned to her eyes.
"That's right…"
I am their big sister, after all.
(End Of This Chapter)