I, Kurumi Tokisaki, Am a Wanderer

With his hands cradling his chest and an expression of near tears, he looked utterly pitiful. If he had been a girl, it might have been somewhat endearing. Unfortunately, this was a nearly 170 cm tall boy, smeared with strange, sticky fluid from his chest down to his pants, muttering incessantly, "My eggs... my eggs..."

It was enough to give anyone a headache.

"Phew—"

Kurumi sighed softly, a hint of helplessness crossing her face as she pressed her fingers against her temple, all while gently patting Uiharu Kazari's trembling back.

The girl's face still carried an expression of fear that could make anyone's heart ache. Her hands clutched her shoulders as she huddled in Kurumi's embrace, shaking uncontrollably.

After all, the grim realities of the dark side were still far too alien and overwhelming for someone like Uiharu Kazari.

"I expected this, but it feels like every misfortune imaginable always seems to find you," Kurumi said, her words piercing like a blade through Kamijou Touma's knees. He slumped to the ground, propping himself up with both hands.

"Eggs... 7 grams of protein, 6 grams of fat, and amino acids perfectly proportioned for human absorption," Kamijou mumbled like a resentful housewife.

"Don't worry... Kamijou-san is already used to it." His entire demeanor turned grayscale. "It's just eggs. Kamijou-san has endured far worse misfortunes."

"Alright, how about I treat you to dinner?" Kurumi sighed.

"Really!?" Kamijou seemed to come alive, nearly leaping forward to grab her hand.

But under Kurumi's disdainful gaze, he realized his mistake, awkwardly wiping his sticky hands on the unconscious Hunter Dog soldier lying nearby.

"Dark-haired, twisted—I mean, kindhearted lady! You're truly a good person!"

You're truly a good person...

A good person...

Kurumi's face darkened suddenly, but Kamijou, lost in the euphoria of being offered dinner, failed to notice.

It was nearing 4 p.m., right when school was letting out.

At the edge of the cordoned-off "Scavenger District," a few girls sat near the street-facing windows of a fast-food restaurant, gazing toward the area that had been isolated under the guise of an "experiment."

Among them, one girl clearly held the role of leader. She was tall and slender, with softly flowing brown hair and an imposing figure.

Dressed in a pastel lavender dress with a deliberately high waistline that accentuated her elegant curves, she exuded undeniable allure. Every movement seemed poised and graceful.

She was Mugino Shizuri, an LV5 esper whose ranking surpassed even Shokuhou Misaki.

Mugino Shizuri tapped the glass tabletop rhythmically, her movements as languid as a lion's.

Sitting beside her was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl dressed in a white shirt and black vest, giving off the impression of a foreign exchange student in Academy City.

Across from them were two other girls—one lively with sparkling eyes, the other slumped over the table, clearly exhausted, blowing bubbles from her lips in a daze.

At first glance, they might seem like an ordinary group of high school girls, but they were, in fact, one of Academy City's most elite and hidden weapons of the dark side.

The underground organization code-named "Item."

"That reward is ridiculously generous~! And the target's just some super-ordinary middle school brat," complained a girl who looked about twelve. She wore an orange hoodie and shorts so short they almost disappeared under the hem of her top. Her slender legs were crossed, revealing fleeting glimpses of fair skin.

She was Kinuhata Saiai, an LV4 Offense Armor Esper.

"If your head had anything in it besides third-rate movies, you'd realize that kind of job is bound to have some hidden catch," Mugino remarked lazily, resting her chin on her hand as she glanced at Kinuhata.

Kinuhata laughed sheepishly and leaned back in her chair.

"The results... are in." The blonde girl in the beret fiddled with her phone, frowning slightly.

"Is that so?" Mugino nodded. "The Hunter Dog failed?"

"Yeah," Frenda—Item's golden-haired, doll-like explosives expert—confirmed with a nod, holding up her phone. Displayed on the screen was a long string of encrypted text.

"The entire deployed Hunter Dog... wiped out," Frenda announced grimly.

"Oh?" Mugino's lips curled into a wickedly amused smile. "What did those losers run into? Couldn't even manage to slink away with their tails between their legs?"

"Nightmare..." Frenda's face fell, the fear in her voice palpable as she inwardly thanked her luck for not taking on such a perilous job.

"Nightmare?" Mugino arched an eyebrow.

"The current No.1 in Academy City... that newly risen monster."

The table fell into silence.

Click.

As though someone had pressed pause on reality, the girls froze mid-conversation.

The reason was clear: Mugino Shizuri, their leader, had suddenly tensed, her usual relaxed demeanor giving way to a razor-sharp alertness.

Her slender arm pressed down firmly on Frenda's leg, encased in stockings.

Truth be told, her hyper-vigilance resembled a bristling cat, lowly growling as if to assert dominance over its territory.

...

Three customers pushed the door open and entered: two women and one man.

The girl in the lead wore a black dress, seemingly immune to the summer heat. Her bangs were so long they covered one of her eyes. Her face, however, was exquisitely beautiful—so flawless it looked as if it had been crafted through CG rendering.

The other girl clung tightly to her hand, her expression one of unease, her face pale. On her head was an oversized flower crown, giving her the appearance of a walking vase.

The man exuded an aura of "misfortune, misfortune, misfortune," as if it were part of his DNA. Beyond that, he was utterly ordinary.

Mugino Shizuri fixed her wary gaze on Kurumi. There was something unnervingly dangerous about her, like a devil with a smiling mask.

Kurumi turned her head and greeted Mugino with a refined smile, exuding the air of a noble lady.

The members of Item glanced at the distinct flower crown on Uiharu Kazari's head and recognized her instantly.

Well, speak of the devil.

In that case, the girl in the black dress must be the rumored newly crowned No.1.

Beep, beep, beep—

Mugino's phone buzzed. She opened it to find a long string of encrypted text—a request inviting them to assist in this mission.

"They're still trying to push this?"

The girls exchanged glances and unanimously shook their heads.

While Uiharu Kazari looked like a walking pile of cash to them, this payday was clearly one that came with strings attached—strings that could cost them their lives.

...

Sitting by the window on the second floor, Kurumi's mind replayed the information she had on the four-person group downstairs.

Mugino Shizuri... Kinuhata Saiai... Takitsubo Rikou... Frenda Seivelun.

As her finger gently traced calming patterns in Uiharu's palm, Kurumi looked down at them with the detached air of someone surveying a chessboard.

Let's hope they're smart enough to stay out of trouble.

Across from her, Kamijou Touma had been holding back for a while but finally couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Aren't we... going to order something?"

"Hm?" Kurumi turned her gaze to him, her devilish smile curling up. "I already ordered earlier, you know."

Looking at her smile, Kamijou felt an ominous sense of foreboding rise in his chest.

"Can I ask... what exactly you ordered for me?"

"Don't worry, don't worry~ It's your absolute favorite: Bitter Melon and Snail Inferno Lasagna!" Kurumi's voice stretched out playfully.

In the next moment, the restaurant was filled with the sound of a young man's despairing wail.

"Noo... Such misfortune!!!"

This woman... she really was dark to her core.

...

The soft sensation from her side caused Uiharu Kazari to curl up slightly. A sweet breath brushed past her ear, and her hand was gently held by Kurumi-senpai. Slowly, Uiharu emerged from her nightmare.

The accuracy of Academy City's weather forecasts was almost eerie. Not long after, a light drizzle began to fall outside, and dark clouds blanketed the sky.

The rain steadily washed away the traces of the earlier battle, and the students who had been evacuated trickled back to their dorms in scattered groups.

Sticking to his principle of not wasting food, Kamijou Touma tearfully finished the Bitter Melon and Snail Inferno Lasagna. Only then did he realize Kurumi had also ordered him a legitimate meal.

"I'm truly grateful to you," he said, his tongue almost numb from the earlier ordeal. Kamijou's gratitude was sincere.

Ultimately, he decided to take the rest to go. Swearing to himself never to forget the name Kurumi Tokisaki, he prepared to leave.

As the rain outside grew heavier, Kamijou, who had to rush to make it to his evening class, reluctantly asked Kurumi if he could borrow her phone to call his friend for a favor.

In his words:

While helping a girl cross the street, he had accidentally grazed her waist to avoid an oncoming car. Misunderstanding his actions, she pushed him away. His phone then fell to the ground, only to be kicked by a passing child, run over by a car, and ultimately swept away by a cleaning robot.

Uiharu Kazari listened in stunned disbelief. Could such bad luck even exist in the world?

Soon, his golden-haired friend, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, arrived with an umbrella. He eyed Kurumi warily and teased Kamijou, saying he had quite the knack for getting girls' phone numbers.

The two spiky-haired boys left together, drenched by the downpour.

At some point, Mugino Shizuri and her group had quietly left the restaurant. The second floor was now deserted, leaving only Kurumi and Uiharu Kazari behind.

Cautiously, Uiharu began to recount everything that had happened, step by step.

Kurumi's expression grew more troubled as she listened.

She regretted it. She shouldn't have involved Uiharu in the first place. Now the girl had been dragged into this murky mess.

Extracting her from it would be incredibly difficult. Aleister Crowley was surely waiting for her to make a move and ask for help.

Resting her head on her hand, Kurumi lightly tapped the table as she pondered her options.

The root cause of Uiharu's troubles with the dark side was herself—there was no way to step away from this unscathed.

Though she could shield Uiharu for now, Kurumi was, after all, just a traveler. Sooner or later, she would leave Academy City.

Should she leave behind a clone? Or entrust Uiharu to someone else?

No… neither option felt right.

After much deliberation, Kurumi finally spoke to Uiharu. "Do you remember what I mentioned to you and Saten Ruiko last time?"

"Huh?" Uiharu tilted her head with an innocent expression, clearly having no idea what Kurumi was referring to.

"I told you that I could help you gain superpowers or something similar. But in return, you'd need to have the resolve to bear the weight of such power." Kurumi frowned slightly, unsure if this was the right thing to say.

"Superpowers?" Uiharu instinctively clenched her fists.

She couldn't help but care. When that man had hunted her down, when the bullet had pierced her shoulder, she had wished—wished desperately—that she possessed the strength to fight back.

But in the end, she was just a Level 1—a low-level esper.

Holding hot items for others like a walking thermos was already her limit.

"Is it... really possible?"

"The reason I hesitated so much before," Kurumi began to explain to Uiharu Kazari, "is exactly what you've seen—Academy City isn't as bright as it seems."

"Once you possess power that can be openly displayed, you must also be prepared to become a pawn on someone else's chessboard. Even someone like Accelerator couldn't escape this reality."

"Accelerator?" Uiharu repeated the name, mulling it over.

"Mm... he's a fool too," Kurumi sighed in exasperation. "But now that you're already entangled in all this, extricating yourself is going to be extremely difficult."

"Still," she continued, "if I truly wanted to, I could make it happen. So... the choice is yours to make."

Her gentle crimson eyes gazed at Uiharu, and her interlocked hands silently conveyed courage.

To Kurumi's surprise, Uiharu asked her, "Then... is Kurumi-senpai also a pawn?"

"Perhaps," Kurumi admitted.

"Which means... even as the No. 1, even as Kurumi-senpai, it would be troublesome for you to pull me out of this, right?" Uiharu said, revealing Kurumi's identity.

Clenching her small fists against her chest, her sweet voice began to quaver.

"I don't want to burden Kurumi-senpai anymore. Please... grant me power."

Kurumi's lips twitched slightly, and for a moment, she felt as though she had become some sort of Kyubey-like figure.

"Oh, Kurumi-senpai," Uiharu asked hesitantly, then struck a pose like someone lifting weights.

"Will there be training involved? My physical abilities are awful. I can't even manage one push-up," she admitted.

...

By the time the heavy rain had ceased, and Uiharu returned to her dormitory, it was already past 8 p.m., and the sky had long since turned pitch black.

Inside her room, Saten Ruiko was anxiously waiting for her.

"Uiharu!" Saten's eyes lit up the moment she saw Uiharu push open the door.

After school, she had gone to the 177th Judgment branch, only to learn from Shirai Kuroko that Uiharu had left much earlier.

Then Uiharu had seemingly disappeared without a trace. Calls went unanswered, and isolation barriers had been erected around a nearby apartment district, leaving Saten in a state of dread.

"Sorry... I went out with Kurumi-senpai," Uiharu forced a strained smile.

Saten immediately noticed that something was weighing on Uiharu's mind.

The two sat down together and began to talk.

After much hesitation, Uiharu finally asked Saten, "If... if you could enhance your own abilities, but it meant you might get involved in all sorts of things, would you still want to?"

"Of course I would!" Saten exclaimed, clutching the protective charm on her bag tightly.

Then, just as suddenly, her excitement waned. "Sorry... I..."

Saten bit her lip tightly. If she had the chance to gain an ability, no matter what kind of experiments it involved, she would likely accept them, even while crying.

She longed for the chance to gain an ability.

"It depends on what price you have to pay," she said, giving a measured response.

"Kurumi-senpai said she could help me enhance my ability," Uiharu said, meeting Saten's gaze.

"Then that's great, isn't it?" Saten replied with a smile, before bowing her head. She bit down on her lips so hard they nearly bled.

"Uiharu, make sure to seize this chance."

"I will."

...

The lights were supposed to be out.

Yet Uiharu's room remained brightly lit.

She sat cross-legged on her bed, cradling a "sun" in her hands.

The radiant, warm fruit in her grasp seemed unreal, as though it was made of pure condensed light. It looked like a tiny piece of the sun itself.

After hesitating for a long time, Uiharu bit into it.

The fruit was one that Kurumi had taken from a golden sacred tree in the world of Godslayers, a fruit said to have originated in the Netherworld.

Legend had it that the sacred tree's final fruit had transformed into the sun.

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