Chapter 65

Today is the day when Bai Jingyue is discharged from the hospital, and a few people decided to hold a "study session" at Saten Rikou's house to celebrate... This "study session" is understood by everyone.

In the morning, Saten Rikou returned home to clean, as she had been away for several days, taking care of Bai Jingyue at the hospital. The dust in the house had certainly accumulated. Meanwhile, Shokuhou Misaki was handling the discharge procedures for Bai Jingyue and buying some ingredients on the way back.

Shizuri Kagari and Misaka Mikoto had to handle some tasks for the Discipline Committee first. After obtaining permission to go out, Misaka Mikoto was responsible for buying some of the ingredients and then meeting up with Misaka Kuroko. Kuro Toki had to discuss changing her dorm room with the teacher, as after a while, Shizuri Kagari would be discharged from the hospital. After discussing with Kuro Toki, they decided it would be better for Shizuri Kagari to live with Kuro Toki.

After obtaining permission to go out, Misaka Mikoto first went to the hospital to ask [Meoto Uroko] about the condition of the Misaka sisters. Only after learning that all of them had been adjusted did she head to the supermarket. After buying the ingredients, Misaka Mikoto went to their usual family restaurant to find Misaka Kuroko, preparing to go to Saten Rikou's apartment together.

While waiting at the family restaurant, Misaka Mikoto encountered the sniper she faced during the attack on the Mizuhō Institute for Pathological Analysis—Mugino Shizuri and Frenda Seivelun.

"I hate family restaurants. Spoiled rich girls are always hanging around here." After all, this is a public place. Even the dark side of society has to live. If anything happens here, it would only make Aleister annoyed, so Mugino Shizuri could only vent her frustration verbally.

In Frenda's eyes, Mugino Shizuri was the strongest, so the不服 (unconvinced) Frenda threatened Misaka Mikoto, "You don't think you won last time, do you? It was all due to insufficient information. If I had known you were [Railgun], I would have set up the bombs more carefully..."

"Frenda!" Mugino Shizuri interrupted Frenda's boasting. Not to mention the presence of ordinary people around, the main reason for the failure last time wasn't due to insufficient information, "It was because you forgot to clean up the dolls, which directly led to her escape. Haven't you forgotten that yet?"

"That... is it...?" Frenda was a bit embarrassed, as she had been severely punished by Mugino Shizuri after returning last time.

Misaka Mikoto looked at the two of them, feeling a bit sentimental. Discussing such matters in front of the person involved, how much confidence did they have? The dark side of society...

"Hey, ask you, do you know about Protect?"

The atmosphere instantly turned cold. Mugino Shizuri and Frenda didn't say a word, just silence.

After a while, Mugino Shizuri spoke, "I don't know how you found out about this name, but if you want to ask anything, you have to pay a price. The dark side isn't a welfare organization."

"..."

"Tell me everything about Protect, and as a reward... I don't have much money, but you can ask for a condition I can accept."

"Ha ha, remember this, you owe me a favor." After a pause, Mugino Shizuri began to introduce Protect.

"Protect is a new dark organization that recently appeared, directly under the Board of Directors of Academy City. Its members, origins, and numbers are all unknown, even the contact methods are unclear. Oh? You look puzzled, don't tell me you don't even know what the dark side is?"

Mugino Shizuri couldn't imagine that a Level 5 at the top of Academy City knew nothing about the dark side.

"Didn't you hear that night? We are also part of the dark side, but not the same organization. Academy City has many dark organizations, responsible for handling the city's dirty work. We don't care about good or evil, only the tasks. For example, that experiment that was stopped. We were assigned to snipe you." After Misaka Mikoto escaped that day, Mugino Shizuri also checked the untransferred data. While the Absolute Ability Plan made her laugh, the defeat of Accelerator shocked her.

[Wait... The new Level 5 with the title FROZEN·UNIVERSE is called Bai Jingyue... Wasn't he the target of my mission that day? And soon after, the establishment of the dark organization Protect was announced. Ha ha, interesting.]

"Here's a little insider information, consider it a gift. The hero who defeated Accelerator and saved you seems to be from Protect." Mugino Shizuri was very curious about Misaka Mikoto's reaction to this news, but to her surprise, Misaka Mikoto just nodded slightly.

"Understood."

In fact, Misaka Mikoto had already suspected this. She just came to confirm it. Now that she knew what she wanted, it was enough. It was better not to disrupt their peaceful daily life. Let everything fade away.

"Tch." Seeing her goal unmet, Mugino Shizuri was very unhappy, "Don't forget your promise."

"I won't forget." At this moment, Misaka Kuroko walked over, and Misaka Mikoto greeted her and then pulled her away. She didn't want Misaka Kuroko to know about this.

Soon, Misaka Mikoto and Misaka Kuroko arrived at Saten Rikou's apartment. Although they had protested Bai Jingyue and Saten Rikou living together before, they had only been to the door, never inside.

Bai Jingyue, Shokuhou Misaki, and Shizuri Kagari had already prepared for the hot pot party with Saten Rikou, just waiting for the two of them.

Misaka Mikoto bought a lot of beef, Shizuri Kagari bought some vegetables, Misaka Kuroko bought a turtle, and the turtle's blood was poured away by Bai Jingyue with a dark face. Bai Jingyue and Shokuhou Misaki bought some seafood, and Shokuhou Misaki also bought some yams and leeks... Bai Jingyue pretended to know nothing and prepared the hot pot seasonings.

The group enjoyed the delicious food together, and Saten Rikou watched Misaka Mikoto. She had noticed Misaka Mikoto's feelings, but with Shokuhou Misaki's threat still looming, and to be honest, Misaka Mikoto's threat was too low. If nothing unexpected happened, Misaka Mikoto would never take that step.

"Ah, by the way, I'm going out for a while starting tomorrow."

"Eh?" Everyone was puzzled.

"Because things have been chaotic 'up there' recently, I, the instigator, need to lay low." Although Aleister was suppressing it, this matter involved many people's interests. While Bai Jingyue wasn't afraid of those people, if Academy City were to fall into turmoil, Aleister would be unhappy.

Shizuri Kagari didn't understand the situation, but seeing the bad expressions of the others, she didn't ask. The others all knew the cause of the matter, and Misaka Kuroko even asked, "Brother, where are you going?"

"A seaside resort, um... Rikou, are you coming too?" Two people going to a seaside resort, Bai Jingyue's "wild heart" had never stopped.

"Eh? Can I come too?" After all, the approval for leaving Academy City is very strict.

"Yes, I can bring some people. My parents will also be there."

"No way! I'm going too!" Shokuhou Misaki couldn't sit still. Bai Jingyue's parents! This was the rhythm of meeting the parents, and who knew what would happen if Saten Rikou and Bai Jingyue were alone?

"I... I also want to go to the seaside, can I?" Misaka Mikoto didn't know why she was saying this. She didn't want to get involved.

"Brother, I haven't seen Uncle and Aunt for a long time~" Seeing Misaka Mikoto going, Misaka Kuroko also expressed her desire to go to the seaside.

"Alright, let's all go. The chance to really go to the seaside is rare." Although he wanted to refuse, Bai Jingyue couldn't resist everyone's enthusiastic gazes.

"I won't go... The Discipline Committee still has work to do." Although she didn't understand the current subtle atmosphere, Shizuri Kagari's intuition told her it was better to stay away from this.

In the end, those going to the seaside were Saten Rikou, Shokuhou Misaki, Misaka Mikoto, Misaka Kuroko, and Himegami Aisa and Misaka Shizuri, who were very interested in the matter.

Today's "study session" ended here.

PS: Dear readers, the book will be on hiatus for a while as I need to consider the next plot. Since there are no drafts, I need to take some time to think about the details of the next plot, which may take three to seven days. I hope for your understanding.

Also, I will soon enter the review stage, and updates will be even harder to guarantee, but the book will definitely not be discontinued.

As my first novel, no matter how difficult, I will finish it.