Chapter 72

Without time to play with Fuburi, Saten Riko carried the already sleeping Fuburi on her back, while Shokuhatsu Shizuri contacted Kihara Ami to search for information about Fuburi.

"Hmm... There's no information about her in the records of missing or lost persons. It's too late to contact the responsible person at the [Security Officer]."

Kihara Ami's words made everyone realize the complexity of the situation. What should they do?

"Then I'll take care of her tonight. Look, she's already asleep. I have a younger brother, so I'm used to taking care of children," Saten Riko said, thinking of her own brother.

"Sorry, can I trouble you for one night?"

"Leave it to me!"

Saten Riko then thought about Shokuhatsu Shizuri being alone tonight and suggested that Shizuri help out. Shizuri nodded in agreement.

On the way to Shizuri's dorm, Saten Riko called Kurotsugi Amai. After hearing about Saten Riko's situation, Kurotsugi Amai was quite happy. Now that Shier was gone, it was just her and Shirai Tsukuyomi for the night. Just as Kurotsugi Amai was getting carried away, Saten Riko's words reached her ears: "Take care of Tsukuyomi, please."

"Sure." This was a shared hope, that their lovers would recover soon.

While Saten Riko and Shokuhatsu Shizuri were taking care of Fuburi, having her eat and bathe, Misaka Mikoto found it hard to sleep. Apart from the earlier magical shock, why did Fuburi know her name? But this thought was soon dispelled by Shirai Kuroko's constant pestering.

At night, Saten Riko looked at the adorable Fuburi and had a thought: "What would my child look like?" Thinking of this, Saten Riko's face turned bright red.

The next day, Shier and Kurotsugi Amai were at the hospital taking care of Shirai Tsukuyomi, while Misaka Mikoto and the others went to Branch 177 to search for information about Fuburi.

"Still no information about her," Shokuhatsu Shizuri said, and even with her efforts, there was no result, making it very difficult to find any leads. "We've also submitted information to the missing and lost persons database, but there's been no response yet."

"So, she might be an abandoned child?"

In the end, with no information about Fuburi's identity, they had to conclude that she was an [orphan] and have her taken in by a care facility.

Finally, Misaka Mikoto contacted the dorm supervisor, who had some connections with a care facility, and learned that the admission procedures would take five days. "No problem, I'll take good care of her until then," Saten Riko said, as she really liked Fuburi, which reminded her of her brother.

"Five days, we can be together until the end of the Academic Assembly," Shokuhatsu Shizuri said, and Shirai Kuroko suddenly remembered they still had their Disciplinary Committee duties.

"Right, it's about time to secure the conference venue."

Since there was nothing else to do, they decided to take Fuburi to the Academic Assembly venue.

Upon arriving at one of the venues, Saten Riko was surprised to find that the venue for the important events of Academy City was quite ordinary, with no significant differences from usual notices.

"Is this really one of the venues for the Academic Assembly?"

"I think so."

"It feels a bit desolate."

"The Academic Assembly is unrelated to abilities; it's just a place for academic research presentations, so it lacks the usual grandeur," Kihara Ami explained as a senior.

"I see."

Soon, they reached the inner part of the venue and ran into Konoe Hikari and her group, who were also there to help. Seeing the adorable Fuburi, they couldn't resist approaching her, much to Misaka Mikoto's frustration, as Fuburi had been ignoring her.

Noticing this, Saten Riko wanted to help Misaka Mikoto. When the others went to the meeting, she offered to go to the restroom and left Fuburi with Misaka Mikoto, giving them a chance to be alone.

"Let's temporarily withdraw and make the most of this opportunity, Misaka."

Unfortunately, no matter how hard Misaka Mikoto tried to get Fuburi's attention, it didn't work, leaving her feeling dejected.

While trying to cheer herself up, Misaka Mikoto didn't notice that Fuburi had been attracted by a Kurotokage doll. Following the doll to a shaded area, the doll removed its head, revealing it to be a blue-haired classmate of Shirai Tsukuyomi, who was working part-time.

Fuburi, who had never seen such a scene, panicked and started looking for the others in the vast venue. At this time, Misaka Mikoto also noticed that Fuburi was missing and called the others.

"I'm sorry, I lost sight of her for a moment..."

"It's okay, she can't have gone far. I'll look for her too!"

"Please."

Saten Riko sighed after hanging up the phone. She really didn't expect this to happen, but it was fine. Fuburi was very small, and she could quickly find her by sensing the air currents.

Closing her eyes, she spread her senses and felt the information brought back by the wind.

"Found her!"

Yutoku Haruki, the leader of STUDY, saw the search information for Branch 177 online and prepared to retrieve Fuburi. While passing by the Academic Assembly to confirm the "cargo," he coincidentally ran into the lost Fuburi and immediately contacted his teammate at the research facility to use nearby security robots to forcibly take Fuburi.

However, this plan was quickly terminated when a girl descended from the sky, accompanied by a fierce wind.

Although Saten Riko still couldn't fully control her ability, she could sustain short flights. After finding out Fuburi's location, she immediately rushed to her. At this moment, she didn't think about how significant it was that her air manipulation ability had reached the level to support flight, which meant she was just one step away from Level 5.

Yutoku Haruki, who had some knowledge of superpowers, quickly realized that it was impossible to take Fuburi from a Level 4 peak, nearly Level 5 person, and quickly canceled the plan.

At this point, the others also arrived. Misaka Mikoto, feeling extremely guilty for losing Fuburi, bowed to apologize to Saten Riko, who comforted both Misaka Mikoto and Fuburi.

On the other side, Yutoku Haruki recognized Misaka Mikoto instantly from the fully disclosed information in the [Library].

"Although the retrieval of Fuburi failed, I've encountered better 'material.'"

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