The School Garden, which was made of five schools, was a mini-city.
Maybe it's like an American naval base stationed in Japan? Shirai considered. Of course, this comparison may seem weird, but there was a large barricade that prevented other people from entering. The barricade was separated into different areas, such as experimental facilities and housing areas. Even the shops that provided the daily necessities, such as a café or a clothes shop, were available.
Shirai and Mikoto were walking in this "city that had everything".
Though it was a sealed place surrounded by a barricade, there were still public buses driven by female drivers. The crowds of people moving around were wearing different kinds of uniforms, five in total, and looking at them, they were all young girls, which was inexplicable. The School Garden with its stone walkways and white buildings looked like an old town located near the Mediterranean Sea. The buildings had a Western feel, but they were rectangular, as if the triangular roofs had been forcefully torn down by someone- a unique building design exclusive for those areas with little rain. Though the buildings here were modern, there was a tinge of an ancient feeling imbued in them.
However, compared to the scene of a Western street, there were two things lacking in the School Garden:
One, a church.
Two, sculptures of greats.
There should be no need for explanation on the first part. As for the second part, as most of the sculptures were religious greats or saints, one couldn't see them here.
This Western street that had neither of these things seemed really weird because most of the cities in the West had expanded from a religious site or square.
Over here, what replaces it was a school.
If there was a bird's eye view, one could see everything clearly. Numerous roads expanded from the five schools like a spider web. These five spider webs intertwined with each other, forming numerous cross junctions in the process.
In other words, the roads in the School Garden were rather narrow. This was the result of building so many experimental facilities in limited land space, and it made moving along them feel like a maze.
And right now,
After school, on this wonderful street, two girls were walking side by side.
Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto.
As the idols of all the girls in Academy City and princesses of Tokiwadai Middle School, the duo's hair was rather messy. This, of course, was the result of a large-scale battle.
Mikoto tiredly combed her hair with a comb in her hand and said,
"…No matter what, isn't it too much to send a flying kick to the face without putting anything on? I saw what I shouldn't be seeing clearly; that nearly scared me to death."
"Hohoho, I expected that, Onee-sama. To fight head-on with the strongest Electromaster is definitely stupid, but in the bathhouse, where there's water everywhere, Onee-sama wouldn't want others to get involved, so she won't use her electricity. My only miscalculation was that Onee-sama's unarmed combat is so vicious."
Shirai gave a wry smile, as if she had given up. Such a sight wasn't suited for a student of Tokiwadai Middle School, which had the mission of "creating world-class talents through education".
After that, Shirai laughed, and lashed her shriveled bag. She seemed to have regained her spirit. Mikoto looked tired as she said to Shirai,
"Come to think of it, you really intend to lose weight?"
"Why can Onee-sama not treat dieting as anything significant yet still maintain such a perfect body? Don't tell me that you mastered a way to use the electricity in your body to burn off the fats—?!"
"There's no such thing, and stop looking at me with such a fierce expression… That's enough! Didn't I say that there's no such thing? Stop shaking my shoulders! I understand your feelings, but doesn't our school forbid students from dieting?"
Over dieting would prevent the students from developing properly, and that included their esper powers. Thus, some schools forbade their students from doing this.
On hearing that, Shirai stopped rummaging through her bag and sighed,
"Though powers are important, is there really a need to sacrifice a girl's happiness for the sake of powers? I don't want to become a person stacked with fats teleporting all over the place."
"However, I heard that when dieting, the part that's reduced first is the fat on the breasts. Also, if you over diet, your skin will lose its fat, and will become dry and rough. Your hair will also end up lacking nutrients and fall off easily."
"AHHHH—! I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO SUCH HEALTH TRIVIA THAT WILL DISTRAUGHT ME!!"
Shirai covered her ears and shook her head hard.
If it were any other place in Academy City, such an action would be seen as weird. But right now, when girls overheard the duo's conversation, they'd also felt the same thing and wouldn't look at her strangely. A girl who was about to put a French fry into her mouth revealed a stiff smile, and put the fry back into the packaging.
Shirai thought that even if it was Mikoto, she probably wouldn't talk about such things like weight or cosmetics. Though she did keep an aloof look, she would still mind other boys staring at her. However, being in the School Garden wasn't really different from being in a girls' school, so they could say whatever they wanted.
The two of them walked through this artificially created Western atmosphere.
There were no large shops like department stores or shopping malls in the School Garden. All the items required for lessons or school life, like "PE attire" and "stationery", had their own stores. Thus, the streets were filled with mini-stores that specialized in selling certain items. As for some of the large buildings, they belonged to the experimental companies.
Like a trail in a maze, there were shopping streets everywhere.
Shirai saw the brand of a certain shop, pulled Mikoto's hand, and walked into the shop.
Mikoto saw what was inside the shop, sighed, and said,
"You came here for this?"
"Oh, my, yes; this is a daily necessity."
Shirai casually replied.
It was a lingerie shop.
It was a small yet intricate shop, the interior design was mainly made of wood, and the atmosphere felt like that of an antique shop or a gift shop. The orange sunset shined in through the window and, coupled with the lamp lights, created a soft light. One could see that the designer wanted to create a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere.
However, what was being displayed were women lingerie, all of different colors, with different lacings and patterns. It really didn't match the calm atmosphere of the shop. Maybe it was a method to make their products stand out even more and give the customers a deeper impression of their goods?
"To be honest, I do feel that this place isn't suitable for hanging out with friends. My choice of underwear being discovered isn't such a good thing."
"With our current relationship, there should be no need to consider this. Onee-sama likes pink and childish underwear; I've checked it thoroughly- Owowow! Stop pulling my ear, Onee-sama!"
"…Teleportation is truly a troublesome ability. Talk, Kuroko: where are you hiding every day when you see me changing?"
"This… this isn't important, right, Onee-sama? Don't I show my underwear to Onee-sama every day?"
"I didn't see that voluntarily! Who asked you to wear such transparent silk pajamas!? I'm guessing that you're letting me see it on purpose?!?!"
"Ara ara, Onee-sama, I really feel that your fondness of pink kiddy loose pajamas is- Ayowow! Onee-sama, you want to be the queen this year- OWOWOW!"
Though Shirai was being pulled by the ear, she seemed happy.
The two of them continued to make a ruckus, but it didn't attract the attention of the bystanders. Besides the two of them, there were three students from other noble schools and an old granny shop owner and lace master who seemed to have sat at the counter for many years, but no one seemed to notice that they were causing a scene. The female shopkeeper continued to read her English newspapers. In the School Garden, where every student was a girl, this sort of ruckus was just par for the course.
"Ah, Onee-sama, that top and bottom combination over there seem to suit you."
"How can you still calmly recommend this when your ear is being pulled…WA! How do they even have that kind of 80% transparent laced underwear!? Is that used for comedy!?"
"This is a lingerie store, it's normal for them to sell such high class underwear."
"…It sounds like you're an expert or something like that."
"I'm an expert at making Onee-sama blush due to embarrassment…owowow! Oh my, I seem to be more excited now. Hoho…hohoho. In this bright day, to be seen getting a part of my body being pulled by Onee-sama, it's another pleasure."
"Kuroko, if you keep at this, I'm going to pull your ear off, no?"
Mikoto smiled as she pulled Shirai's ear, but the cute look of Mikoto blushing and turning away when she had seen the underwear that Shirai had recommended didn't escape Shirai's eyes. Shirai saw the side of Mikoto's embarrassed face and revealed a smile of happiness like never before.
Suddenly, Kuroko saw that Mikoto seemed to be shocked, staring seriously at something else.
"Eh?"
A suspicious Kuroko followed to where Mikoto was staring.
On the window that was beside the road, the world outside the window was already engulfed by the sunset. On the sky far away, an airship was floating slowing. There was a large screen below, and right now, the news was being aired on it.
The headlines could be seen from here: the Americans had successfully launched a space shuttle. Various images of the shuttle from different angles were being replayed on the screen.
Mikoto completely forgot about the underwear as she watched the news report seriously. This made Shirai, who was beside her, feel bored.
"There are a lot of them recently. Last week, it seems like France, Russia and Spain have launched theirs. This month, China and Pakistan are preparing to launch theirs as well. Our sensei would often mention this during the second economics lesson when talking about the pros and cons about the aeronautical development industry."
Shirai said this as her finger touched Mikoto's earlobe.
"WAA! Kuroko! What are you doing!?"
Mikoto frantically turned towards Shirai.
"That's…that's right, Academy City also launched one last week. Come to think of it, why did you choose such a useless course…stop poking my ear…you…and stop petting me!"
Tokiwadai Middle School was known as an elite training institute, and the philosophy was to 'create world-class talents through education'. Thus, their curriculum was different from ordinary Middle schools.
"In the past, the multi-phase rockets and space shuttles required a large-scale firing area to be launched, so only a few countries or organizations had such funding and technology to use it. But now, times have changed…I have to hand in a report this week, so I checked up on some things…"
Shirai said as she casually picked a black-laced top-bottom combination and tossed it to Mikoto.
"To be honest, I do feel that learning the third economics is useless, but since you're handing in your report, I'll tell you something. Right now, the latest technology is to place a rocket below a plane, and firing it directly in mid-air. Ever since such technology was developed, the number of rocket thresholds have decreased, so such things can't be seen in old references. You have to be mindful of this when you're collecting information."
Mikoto's expression didn't change as she tossed the black-laced underwear back at Shirai, and sighed. After this, she seemed to be really interested in a pale yellow underwear.
"O…Onee-sama…isn't that a little too childish?"
Mikoto unhappily glared at Shirai, but Shirai didn't seem to back down. Mikoto seemed to have gotten some sort of signal from Shirai's stiff expression, and could only turn to look at another set of underwear unhappily. But to Shirai, the other one was still rather childish-looking.
"Sigh… now that you mentioned it, once the basic information in the reference is edited, the entire information becomes hard to interpret, so troublesome. But I can't just abandon all the old references. Besides, some information can only be obtained from the old references."
"Isn't judging the rights and wrongs of old and new information part of what we have to learn? Besides, if you take it all now, it'll get complicated when the aeronautical development industry gets complicated, and would definitely mind-boggle you. Ever since the private sector merged in, the entire industry got bustling, not only are new records formed, the chronology is updated regul…WA! WAIT A SEC, KUROKO! ISN'T THAT A LITTLE TOO…!"
Shirai was holding a set of underwear that had extremely low defense stats, so low that Mikoto was stunned.
"Ngh? Onee-sama, did you say something?"
"En…ne…never mind, everyone has their own underwear preferences. However, try not to get caught by the dorm supervisors or instructors."
Mikoto avoided looking directly at the scary set of underwear in Shirai's hand and adjusted her breathing.
"How…However, the situation right now is really troublesome. Those organizations who originally have a launch area don't want the newcomers to come in and mess things up when the industry develops. The organizations with new technology however want to prove to the world that the new technology is much cheaper and safer than the old rockets and planes. Old and new technology, one side gets supported, the other side would lose ground. This is why everyone has been firing rockets into the air, to prove the reliability to their sponsors."
Though Mikoto was trying her best not to look at the underwear in Shirai's hand, she still couldn't resist the urge to peek. She muttered, "Instead of wearing such things, you might as well not wear anything…"
"Hn? Why is Onee-sama trying not to look at me?"
Shirai picked up several sets of underwear that she liked and said suspiciously,
"Academy City itself is an exception, it does have both old and new technology, so there's no such problem. And with the 'Japanese Government' being the biggest sponsor, they should be feeling alright…ugh…"
Before Shirai finished speaking, she traced her lips with her fingers.
Her lips seemed to be cracked. On seeing that, Mikoto said,
"Do you need some lip balm? The air in the shop is rather dry due to the air-conditioning."
"No. It was already cracked yesterday."
Basically, Tokiwadai Middle School forbade students from putting on make up. And the rules were strict—forget about bright lipsticks or mascara, even practical items like lip balm and hand creams were forbidden.
So to them, 'light makeup that could barely be seen' had become a tradition. Unless one looked closely, one could see that Mikoto and Shirai's lips were giving off a little glow and flavor. However, it was a tactic of last resort, and yet now it had become a little trend that was occurring around Tokiwadai Middle School. Everyone even had a name for this ludicrously pompous method of make-up: 'ladies' ceremony'.
"Okay…"
Mikoto rummaged through her bag and pulled out a stick-shaped lip balm and said,
"We'll be going to the pharmacy to buy some lip balm later, so you won't mind using this one for a while, okay?"
"WHAT!?"
Shirai Kuroko looked in astonishment as Mikoto casually pulled out an ordinary lip balm.
She widened her eyes, her whole body trembling.
(Lip…lip balm! O…Onee-sama's… Onee-sama's… Onee-sama's lip balm that she used to rub over her precious lips! Ha…haaaa…Kuroko…haaa…Kuroko can't take it anymore—!)
"Wait…wait a sec, why are you pulling the entire stick out? Time out! Time out! KUROKO, WHY ARE YOU OPENING YOUR MOUTH SO WIDE!!? ARE YOU GOING TO EAT IT ALL UP!!??"
"AH…too excited, I nearly ate it up…"
"I can guess what your mind is thinking, but this lip balm is sold in sets of three, so this one hasn't been used yet. Ordinary people won't even think about using lip balms that someone else has used before, right?"
"Eh…it wasn't used before? Cheh…what a pity. Ah! But if I use it and then return it to Onee-sama…!"
"No need to return me that. There are three of them anyway, so it's alright to give you one. STOP…STOP IT! STOP FORCING THAT LIP BALM WHICH YOU USED BEFORE ONTO MY LIPS!"
It was like Shirai and Mikoto were living in a Hollywood movie, as the good guy and bad guy skirmished around, fighting for the handgun. Suddenly, Mikoto froze.
Shirai discovered that Mikoto wasn't looking at her, but at something behind her.
She turned around, looking surprised.
Breast pads.
They were meant for girls to wear underneath their bras when they were not confident about their breasts, a gimmick meant to protect their pride and dignity. In reality, there were only girls in the School Garden—which meant that there was no one to seduce, so these things weren't very popular, and could only exude a sense of sadness due to the poor sales.
Shirai thought for a while, and remembered something.
Mikoto had mentioned just now as they were walking on the streets.
"However, I heard that when dieting, the part that reduces first is the fat on the breasts."
"Haha, so Onee-sama is mindful about this? For a huge bust or slim figure, Onee-sama chooses the former?"
"Wha…"
Mikoto's expression immediately stiffened.
"No, that's not right…Onee-sama shouldn't be too mindful about the breasts. If so, this means that it is an abstract desire, like say, Onee-sama wants a mature adult's body, and not be treated as a child? Ah, Onee-sama is infatuated! Whom is the lucky man who made Onee-sama so persistent? It should be someone older than Onee-sama, right? Come to think of it, on the last day of summer vacation, didn't Onee-sama meet up with someone outside the dorm? Didn't the other person look like a Middle School student?"
In this critical juncture, to make such a provocative statement.
Shirai was already prepared to be beaten up, such that she had even thought about the words she wanted to say after she was beaten up.
However…
The Level 5 esper of Academy City, commonly known as the Ace of Tokiwadai, Misaka Mikoto just blushed, lowering her head till she couldn't even say anything.
"Ah, eh? O–Onee-sama…?"
Shirai inadvertently turned pale.
A certain boy's face appeared in Shirai's mind, regretting deeply in her own heart as she bit onto the handkerchief. Just as Shirai was about to bite it to shreds, Mikoto finally snapped back and revealed a look of uninterest, yet glancing stealthily at the breast pads from the corner of her eyes, muttering, "Oh…to think that some people use this contraption". Though she was trying to look aloof, she was practically admitting her guilt.
"…So breasts pads come in different types and textures, huh? Wah, this is practically a balloon stuffed with fruit juice."
Though Shirai was greatly hurt by this huge interest of Mikoto, she couldn't bear to turn a deaf ear to Mikoto's words. She could only suppress her jealous feelings, sigh slightly, and say,
"Hn, I heard that breasts enhancement surgery is just gel packaged inside plastic bags and stuffed inside the breasts. Maybe that might be more bouncy."
"Bouncy…? Ho…but the sizes may vary."
"Because everyone is different. Ah, will Onee-sama's cute breasts develop to that size after puberty?"
"Stop pointing! There are other customers here!"
Mikoto frantically pressed down Shirai's fingers, but her eyes had been attracted by the products that Shirai was pointing at. As the observer, Shirai inadvertently sighed. If it was even possible to stuff such large padding inside a bra, it was not strange for it to be exposed.
For a while, Mikoto seemed to have forgotten something as she observed the breasts pads in front of her. After a while, she backed away, tilted her head, and said,
"However, even if I'm to wear this, wouldn't I be exposed if I take off my clothes?"
"…! O–Onee-sama! Don't…don't tell me you thought about everything already!?"
"Ah? Eh? No…that's not it, Kuroko! I'm talking about PE! When I change my clothes!!"
Mikoto frantically denied it, but Shirai revealed a manga-like thunder shocked expression as she remained rooted to the spot.