The moment she emerged from the alley, Juufuku Miho swiftly melted into the crowd. With so many students milling about, finding cover and shaking off whoever was chasing her became a whole lot easier.
True to form, Natsume Sonoko lost her.
Hands on her knees, Sonoko panted heavily, completely winded. Even a regular long-distance run was tough for her, let alone this obstacle course through a packed crowd.
After colliding head-on with an oncoming student, Sonoko finally gave up and plopped down on one of the ubiquitous park benches scattered throughout the School Garden to catch her breath.
The mental calculation drain was still within acceptable limits—more practice would only make her stronger—but the physical exhaustion was the real killer.
Who would've thought that Juufuku Miho, who looked so thin and frail, could run like that? But Sonoko wasn't unprepared.
An idea sparked in her mind, recalling the three days she'd spent at the roller rink during last year's break.
Weaving through the dense crowd, Sonoko slipped into a secluded narrow alley.
Tiny ice crystals began gathering around her feet, steadily building up and lifting her height by about seven or eight centimeters. Four small ice wheels formed under her soles, shaping into a pair of oddly designed roller skates.
At the same time, two miniature tornadoes appeared around her, their bases attached to her back like wings, providing a forward thrust.
Each whirlwind was about the size of a basketball, looking like a pair of semi-transparent, twisting wings.
"Let's go—" But before Sonoko could even finish her rallying cry, the thrust from behind shoved her forward.
Though the tornadoes weren't large, controlling them wasn't easy—especially when changing direction required constantly adjusting their thrust.
At first, Sonoko struggled to get the hang of it.
Feeling the wind rush past, the speed wasn't much faster than riding a bike, but compared to her running pace, it felt like flying.
She considered manipulating air pressure to create an updraft, lightening her weight, but her skirt threatened to fly up, forcing her to hastily abort the attempt.
Skating along on her ice wheels, Sonoko turned into a narrow path. After a short while, she noticed something.
The path was somewhat blocked. Seeing a pile of clutter right ahead, Sonoko manipulated her wings, lifting herself four or five meters off the ground—just barely avoiding a crash.
Before she could even savor her slick move, Sonoko quickly turned to look at Juufuku Miho, who was hiding behind the pile of junk.
It wasn't a dead end, but stacked cardboard boxes and old papers clogged the way, making it a perfect spot to stay out of sight.
Having used her ability for so long today, Miho could only find a place to rest and recover her computational strength.
"Stop running. Your ability doesn't work on me," Sonoko called out kindly, watching Miho gradually fade from view.
Just then, sensing something, Sonoko swung her black handbag high into the air.
The bag hit something mid-air with a dull thud, like striking a watermelon or something similar.
Following through with a backhand swing, she whipped up a gust of wind and struck the target again. A heavy thud echoed as something fell, crushing two cardboard boxes on its way down.
Something also hit Sonoko in the stomach, but it didn't do much harm.
"Ah!" A sharp cry rang through the alley as a misshapen stun gun became visible, flung aside and smoking—clearly short-circuited.
Though Sonoko couldn't see the stun gun itself, she could clearly track the trajectory of her opponent's strike.
The visual obstruction around Miho faded, allowing Sonoko to finally get a clear look at her.
She matched the profile: around 150 cm tall, with tea-colored hair in twin buns, and long bangs covering her eyebrows. A red mark on her hand looked like a burn from the overheated stun gun.
Miho scrambled to her feet, frustration plain on her face. She glanced at the smoking stun gun, gritted her teeth, and bolted for the street entrance.
The entrance was only a hundred meters away—well within Sonoko's range.
Sonoko watched as the now-invisible Miho ran about twenty-nine meters before stopping dead in her tracks.
"Ouch!" Miho seemed to have run into a soft but solid wall. Struggling to stand, she peered closely at the barrier.
A three-to-four-meter-tall tornado stood like a wall before her, howling winds making it hard to move, let alone break through.
To Sonoko's surprise, this girl named Juufuku Miho clenched her teeth and charged straight into the tornado wall.
Inevitably, even after Sonoko reduced the wind speed, Miho got caught in the vortex, trapped and unable to move.
In a nearby alley, Juufuku Miho hung three meters in the air, a small tornado strapped to her back. Her bangs fluttered in the wind, occasionally revealing the thick, short eyebrows beneath.
Below, Natsume Sonoko was on the phone with Kuroko, roughly explaining her location. Amid the other girl's skeptical tone, she said she'd arrive in about ten minutes.
"Go ahead, laugh. I'm used to it," Miho said, her voice full of resignation and misery as she dangled in mid-air.
"Laugh all you want. I'm used to it… just like how that person treated me." As if seeing through the vanity of life, Miho's tone turned deeply bitter.
On the ground, Sonoko shifted uncomfortably. I'm just here to catch the culprit, not counsel her through her emotional issues.
As for Miho's thick, stubby eyebrows, Sonoko didn't find them funny at all—she actually thought they were kind of cute. A real charm point, honestly.
"In the spring, I foolishly thought those happy days would last forever. But then spring ended so suddenly… I wasn't prepared at all."
Listening to Miho's mournful words, Sonoko immediately recognized it: teenage angst. Kids these days really keep you on your toes.
"I was there first, so why did he break up with me? Was that Tokiwadai girl just better?"
"He said he hated my eyebrows. So I resent him for abandoning me, and I resent that Tokiwadai student who stole him away. And what I hate most…"
"What I hate most are eyebrows everywhere! So I'll make sure everyone's eyebrows look ridiculous!" Having declared this as if it were some grand manifesto, tears welled in Miho's eyes. She clenched her fists tightly, ignoring her skirt flapping wildly in the wind, and kicked her legs excitedly.
"Sorry, I had my suspicions partway through, but I still admire your determination."
Sonoko listened calmly to Miho's proclamation, feeling a wave of inexplicable emotion. Teenage reasoning truly is a world of its own.
Frowning like a weary adult, Sonoko pondered solemnly. Miho's words left her itching to retort.
"What are you thinking? Trying to find the right words to mock me? Go on, do your worst!" Miho proactively pushed her bangs up, exposing her thick eyebrows.
"No, your eyebrows are cute. I don't see anything strange about them. This is all your boyfriend's fault."
Sensing that Miho had suffered some real trauma over her eyebrows, Sonoko couldn't help sharing her opinion.
"Really?"
"Really. They're cute. I quite like them, actually." The moment Sonoko finished, a blush spread across Miho's cheeks, leaving Sonoko somewhat baffled.
"I think I understand your reasoning. Your boyfriend disliked your eyebrows, dumped you, and found some Tokiwadai girl—so you're taking revenge on Tokiwadai Middle School. But that part seems really misguided to me."
Sonoko felt immense sympathy for Kongou-senpai and the others who'd been caught up in this. Getting dragged into a revenge plot over something like this—who'd believe it?
"Shouldn't you be directing your revenge at your boyfriend? And do you realize how many people you've hurt with this?" Sonoko said disapprovingly. She had little patience for people who lashed out at society just because they were upset.
Then again, it seemed like Academy City was full of people like that—always seeking revenge, trying to destroy the city, hatching some evil scheme.
Sonoko felt a bit weary. No matter the reasons, dragging so many uninvolved people into it was unacceptable. She felt they needed a firm lesson.
"Once you're out of the Anti-Skill's custody, we'll go teach that boyfriend of yours a lesson. Show him why the roses are so red."
Unintentionally slipping into online slang from her past life, Sonoko's face took on a serious expression.
Without even looking at Miho, Sonoko suddenly felt a lot more at ease.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.