"Thank you, senior sister. I will definitely work hard to carry out the club activities and uncover the unknown secrets hidden in the dark corners of the Academy City," Natsume Enako said, nodding vigorously. Being able to find a club that suits her tastes, she thought, made today's happiness comparable to scholarship day.
Scholarships in Academy City are issued based on the school and ability level of the students. They are automatically transferred to the students' bank accounts each month. The scholarship amounts for LV0 and LV5 students are vastly different, with a growing gap between the levels.
The scholarship for LV0 students is enough to ensure a normal life in the Academy City, but they need to be frugal to save extra money. The scholarship for LV1 students is twice that of LV0, and the gap continues to widen from there.
Currently, Natsume Enako's scholarship is 11 times that of ordinary LV0 students. Not only does her LV3 status increase her scholarship, but Tokiwadai Middle School also provides additional funds to its students.
In other words, as Natsume Enako enters Tokiwadai Middle School, her scholarship this month has already increased.
If Natsume Enako advances to LV4 in next week's comprehensive regular checkup, her scholarship will increase even further.
"The club's activity funds will be deposited into your bank account every month. And if you discover useful urban legends, the club can also help publish them on the website, and the pay is quite good," said the president of the Urban Legend Investigation Club, a third-year junior high school student named Amakusa Shino. She was happily holding Natsume Enako's hand while speaking.
It must be difficult to recruit students willing to roam the Academy City in Tokiwadai, where many young ladies reside. The Urban Legend Investigation Club currently has only four members, including Natsume Enako.
Natsume Enako didn't recognize the smiling president in front of her.
To Natsume's surprise, Amakusa Shino was also one of Tokiwadai's LV4 students. She had the Silent Field ability, which seemed to prevent her from speaking or making any sounds.
But her ability was indeed well-suited to the Urban Legend Investigation Club. She could walk quietly, making no sound when touching anything. This should be very useful when investigating or following leads, Natsume Enako thought to herself.
"Enako, your ability is temperature control. That's amazing. I'd like to join you on future investigations," said another member excitedly. "My name is Maeda Kana. I'm a second-year junior high school student, 165 cm tall, and I weigh…" She suddenly fell silent, only able to wave her arms and stare forward.
Senior Amakusa Shino slapped her forehead in disbelief, glared at Maeda Kana, who couldn't make any sound, and then said to Natsume Enako, "We usually don't gather in the activity classroom. We only meet on the days when we're recruiting new members and on the days we apply for club activity funds. Normally, we contact each other through mobile phones. I'll add you to the group, and we'll notify you if there's any news."
"Usually, it's free activity. Any news you find can be shared in the group. Just submit a survey report every month. I'll send you a template now. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions." Amakusa Shino said, pressing the send button on her phone. A survey report was sent to Natsume's account.
"Is Amakusa-senpai still using a keypad phone?" Natsume Enako asked curiously while looking at Amakusa Shino's phone. Tablets and smartphones had long been popular in Academy City, and even smartphones were in widespread use outside the city, yet the senior in front of her was still using this antique model.
"Well, it's hard to change once you get used to it. And at least it's not easy for others to install any unnecessary software," Amakusa Shino-senpai replied with a smile, before removing the mute field on Maeda Kana-senpai beside her.
After completing the club registration and reporting the name of the club to the teacher, Natsume Enako headed toward the student dormitory of Tokiwadai Middle School with a refreshed mind.
Congratulations, Natsume Enako now had the freedom to move around after school in the afternoon. There were too many urban legends in Academy City. Just gathering a few people could fulfill the club activities.
But there was nothing to do in the student dormitory now. Why not start the urban legend investigation?
However, this idea was quickly dismissed by Natsume Enako. She wasn't assigned to conduct any investigations this month—it would officially begin next month. Why rush? There was a new cold dessert shop specializing in shaved ice that had opened in the shopping street of the seventh school district. Maybe she could try it today.
Halfway through her journey, Natsume Enako changed direction and headed toward the shopping street. Actually, if she wanted to eat something delicious, she would need to go to the fourth school district. But thinking about the exorbitant prices, even Natsume Enako, who was about to be promoted to level 4, was terrified.
Can you believe that a single dish consumed a level 0 student's entire scholarship? The poor level 0 student had unknowingly become someone's unit of measurement.
Natsume Enako sat in the cold dessert shop and ordered a large serving of fruit shaved ice, topped with plenty of strawberry sauce. The sweet, cold sensation made Natsume's appetite grow.
Since gaining her ability, Natsume Enako no longer worried about gaining weight.
The temperature-controlled ability easily solved her fat accumulation problem. As long as the environment was set to a few degrees below zero, the fat in her body would burn faster.
Thinking this way, wasn't the problem solved?
As for the fact that the ability holder wouldn't be harmed by her own ability, Natsume agreed. But the issue was that Natsume's ability didn't involve extreme high or low temperatures. She couldn't launch high-temperature fireballs or create snowballs with a single hand.
It was more like a remote control that could raise or lower the temperature of a place. If Natsume failed to control the range or forgot to keep herself warm when using her ability, she could end up hurting herself. Therefore, the low and high temperatures created by her ability could indeed affect her.
A sad life needs a little sweetness to balance it out. Sometimes, a little dessert can help people forget their troubles.
Just when Natsume Enako was enjoying the cool dessert on a summer day, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in her sight.
It was a girl wearing a beige thin sweater, a gray pleated skirt, the Tokiwadai uniform, brown twin ponytails tied with a bow, and a striking green armband on her arm.
The Misaka simp girl, Kuroko!?
With an invisible ripple, Shirai Kuroko, who had crossed space, suddenly appeared on the street not far away.
Uppercut, lower hook, an elbow to the opponent's chest, followed by a 180-degree spinning kick. A man with a scarf covering his face and wearing a thick coat, out of place in the current environment, was suddenly sent spinning 360 degrees in the air before falling to the ground. A pistol slipped out of his clothes and fell to the side.
"So handsome and powerful, worthy of being the eldest lady of Tokiwadai." The boy not far from Natsume Enako widened his eyes and stared awe at Kuroko.
This made Natsume Enako feel a little embarrassed. There was also a Tokiwadai lady who chose the Salted Fish Club. No way! She was working hard to reach the goal of level 5!
"It's the Discipline Committee!" Shirai Kuroko, with the style of a lady, tidied her hair and looked very majestic.
"I received a report that you are suspected of carrying dangerous items. Really, you have to trouble me today," Shirai Kuroko said with a little anger. "Anyone who troubles me on such an important day is an enemy!!"
"Guardian? I've caught the criminal. The location is XX." Although Shirai Kuroko had the ability to teleport, she was unwilling to move with a dangerous criminal. It was safest to call a guard at this time.
"Be careful!" A pedestrian nearby screamed as a motorcycle sped out from a street not far away, its target being Shirai Kuroko.
"There's an accomplice," Shirai Kuroko said, a little surprised. She bent forward slightly and disappeared from the sight of the motorcycle driver in an instant.
When she reappeared, a pair of brown women's leather shoes appeared out of thin air in front of him, and the petite shoes stomped on the motorcycle driver's face, throwing him off the motorcycle.
"Huh." When Shirai Kuroko thought the trouble was finally over, her expression suddenly changed. She turned her head to look at the masked man who had been knocked down earlier.
At that moment, the man was motionless, an extremely terrified look on his face. One of his hands was reaching for the gun, preparing to shoot, but it was covered with a thin layer of frost.
The whole hand, along with the gun, was frozen to the ground. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of the frost on his hand. The entire person seemed to be slightly frozen and appeared somewhat listless.
"The freezing technique was successful!" Natsume Enako, who was not far away, said, her face full of joy. Natsume Enako was still relatively new to using her ability in combat, but she had figured out a few self-defense techniques, which were easy to implement and very practical.
Because Natsume Enako's goal was only to control the criminal, she was very measured in her actions and did not abuse her ability.
The distance between Natsume Enako and Shirai Kuroko was about 80 meters, which was well within Natsume Enako's attack range.
In just one second, Natsume Enako's brain performed a series of calculations and substituted several formulas, successfully lowering the temperature around the masked man to the freezing point. This not only paralyzed the opponent's body but also gathered the nearby moisture, allowing her to condense it into ice in an instant, freezing the opponent's arm that was holding the gun.
The nearby moisture was plentiful, making it easy for Natsume Enako to execute her first freezing operation. The dripping water drops from the outdoor unit of the nearby store's air conditioner gathered a lot of moisture in the area, making the air humid.
The water vapor evaporating from the nearby sewers was also within Natsume Enako's ability range, and even plant evaporation and groundwater could be used.
This was not a big problem for Natsume Enako. After all, it wasn't like in the park, where the ambient temperature within a radius of 100 meters was affected for a long time, even causing weather changes. Now, it was just a slight manipulation of the temperature in a small area.