Western etiquette classes are essential for becoming a lady and are a compulsory course for students at Tokiwadai Middle School.
Teacher Dicun is indeed an expert in etiquette, as Wannai had mentioned. She knows all the details and points of attention, making it seem as though eating fish has become a science, with every movement governed by rules.
Although Natsume's stomach is a little full, she dares not fall behind in the teacher's instructions. She follows the teacher's method carefully, picking up the fish, de boning it, dipping it in sauce, and paying attention to how to chew, how to handle the remaining fish bones, and so on.
The fulfilling class time always passes quickly. When the familiar bell rang, Natsume finally breathed a sigh of relief, as if she had heard something heavenly.
"Everyone's performance is very good, especially Natsume, who studies very carefully and meticulously. When picking up the fish, she only takes a small portion, and all her movements are extremely standard. When eating, she chews slowly and handles everything properly," Teacher Dicun praised Natsume, who had been rubbing her belly in front of the whole class.
"Natsumeis really amazing. She doesn't like fish, and she can still be praised by the teacher," Wannai thought with some surprise.
In addition to etiquette classes in the morning, there are foreign language and mathematics classes. In the afternoon, there are tea ceremony and music classes. By around 2 p.m., it's time for club activities.
Natsume completed all the courses meticulously, then slowly sorted out her materials and placed them in her newly received standard Tokiwadai black handbag.
This type of schoolbag is specially made by Tokiwadai Middle School. It is crafted from selected precious leather using special techniques. It takes a long time to make and is expensive. It is said to be resistant to small-caliber bullets and is both waterproof and fireproof. Misaka says it's great.
As a freshman at Tokiwadai, Natsume finally received her black backpack from the school office. Each bag is labeled with a unique student code, so if it's lost, the owner can be found.
Club activities began. After a full day of classes, Natsume rested on a bench in the school garden for a while, then grabbed her new backpack and headed out of the school.
Since joining the Urban Legend Investigation Club, Natsume has been leaving school around this time.
Natsume strolled down the street with a refreshed mood. This could also be considered part of the daily routine of Urban Legend Investigation Club members. Hoping to make some new discoveries today, Natsume investigated a comic book store. By the time she left, two more comic books were tucked into her schoolbag.
Just as Natsume was about to find a shaded corner to open the two new comic books, her phone inside the new schoolbag vibrated briefly.
[Academy City Great Discovery: Such a thing was done in broad daylight!]
Attracted by the title, Natsume curiously clicked on the message, and then it turned out that it was a message from the "secret investigation group buried in the corner".
The message was from senior sister Maeda Kana, and Natsume looked at the sender's nickname.
[It's Little Kana. Have you discovered something big again?] Quiet Night also posted in the group chat afterward.
Oh, this is the nickname of senior sister Amakusa Shino.
[It's a big event. Guess what she found today!] Maeda Kana, who uses the nickname 'Elegant Photographer,' sent another message.
[What did you find? Is it a new urban legend?] – Natsume Enako.
[Natsume-san actually uses her real name as her nickname!] – Elegant Photographer
[Send me the photos you took. Have you done any research?] – Quiet Moonlight
[She has done research. Although her ability only captured a blurry scene, there are many witnesses. She should be able to include them on the website.] – Elegant Photographer
[Got it. Send me the photos, and she will select the best ones. Do you have the eyewitness recordings ready? If the information is accurate, the website will be happy to include them.] The last person in the group, a senior with the nickname 'Miss Balance Beam,' spoke.
[We have prepared not only the eyewitness recordings but also some forum posts made by the eyewitnesses online.] – Elegant Photographer
Is this the stripping incident in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun? A woman in a kimono?
Although the photo is blurry and the background is completely unclear, you can vaguely see the outline of a naked woman standing with her back to the camera.
Natsume was truly surprised at this point. Her thoughts started to diverge, and she finally arrived at an incredible conclusion.
She had always thought that Saten Ruiko, with her Level 6 Updraft and script-reading abilities, was the mastermind behind the entire A Certain Scientific Railgun plot. It turns out there's an even darker and deeper existence—the script maker!
A small group of four people was discussing heatedly. Soon, with the final decision of the president, Amakusa Shino, an urban legend called "The Undressed Woman Wandering in Academy City" was born. The authorship naturally belonged to Maeda Kana, but she submitted it under the name of the Urban Legend Investigation Society.
Natsume was becoming more and more certain that the entity was almost identical to a character in the plot of A Certain Scientific Railgun, but she didn't know when the urban legend "Fantasy Hand" would appear.
After the group discussion, Natsume also learned more about Maeda Kana's ability—Scene Replay.
Using a special ability-based camera, you can capture events that occurred in front of the camera some time ago. The stronger the ability, the longer the replay time and the clearer the photo.
It's the opposite of predictive divination, as it allows one to see the past.
However, due to the ubiquitous cameras and security robots in Academy City, the practical application of this ability has been greatly reduced.
Putting down her phone, Natsume noticed that the discussion in the group was coming to an end. She quietly flipped through the comics in her hand.
An advertisement on the cover of the comic caught her attention. It showed a scene of two giant robots colliding with each other.
"The next generation of competition (Computer Fighter Virtual-On) is about to be successfully developed. Sign up for the internal test now to receive a limited-edition customized model."
Natsume's eyes lit up. There were so many interesting things in Academy City. Using giant robots to fight in the city sounded very fun.
Presumably, this type of game, which mainly relies on personal operation, would also allow people with and without abilities to fight on relatively equal terms.
How could Natsume miss such an exciting opportunity? The only downside was that the game was still under development. It would likely take a long time before it was finished and released. At least it wouldn't be available this year.
"Sign up first, I must grab a beta key!" Natsume picked up her phone, entered the official website, and signed up. Soon, a successful registration notification appeared on her phone.
...
In a park in the seventh school district, a cup full of water was placed on a stone table fifty meters away from Natsume.
A common thermometer in Academy City was inserted into the cup. The temperature probe was already immersed in the water, capable of detecting the temperature to two decimal places.
The quiet light illuminated Natsume's somewhat solemn face. She slowly gazed at the water cup in the distance. Little by little, white mist began to condense, and frost climbed up the surface of the cup.
Natsume was attempting to change the temperature of the water. After a while, the reading on the thermometer began to change.
As Natsume-san withdrew her ability, she hurried to the stone table to check the thermometer reading.
"The actual value is 4.78 degrees Celsius, the target value is 0 degrees Celsius, and the deviation is about 4.78 degrees Celsius." This data clearly did not satisfy Natsume, and her brows furrowed slightly.
Natsume was practicing the accuracy of her ability. Only a few days remained until the first comprehensive regular inspection—no, it was a physical inspection.
The range of control and the limits of change were constrained by the brain's computational power. There was no possibility of a significant increase in a short period of time. At this stage, the only thing that could be improved was accuracy.
Within a ten-meter radius, Natsume could achieve very precise temperature control, but as the distance increased, the accuracy began to decrease significantly.
To enhance the long-distance accuracy of her ability, Natsume had found a small park to practice.
However, unlike before, when her ability affected a large area at once, there was no need to deliberately avoid the crowd.
The park in front of her was quite busy, and people came and went, all curiously watching the girl from Tokiwadai Middle School walking back and forth beside the stone table.
"Once the distance increases, the slight calculation deviation in the brain will be exponentially magnified in reality. At this time, try to micro-manage it. Don't control everything at once," Natsume reminded herself, attempting to clear her mind and suppress the sparks of thoughts colliding in her head until she regained control.
This time, the cup in the distance also had white mist surrounding it, and a thin layer of ice formed on the surface of the water. The speed of ice formation was very slow, but there was a strange sense of rhythm, extending regularly from the outermost circle of the water surface toward the inside.
Although the surface of the water in the cup had frozen, the lower layer remained liquid, with the temperature still higher than the ice layer.
"The temperature is 2.88 degrees Celsius, and the deviation is around 2.88." Seeing that the deviation value at the 50-meter distance had finally entered within 3 degrees Celsius, Natsume's eyebrows finally relaxed.
"Keep practicing, there's room for improvement!" Natsume obviously didn't get complacent and ran 50 meters away to continue practicing.
Can such a simple experiment really be measured accurately? Why not find someone to help read the readings?
Anyway, as long as Natsume thinks it is effective, that's fine.
But this time, she wasn't as lucky as before. The calculation power was overrun, and she accidentally froze all the water in the cup into ice.
With a bang, the cup broke in half and fell to the ground, scattering into pieces.
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[Sharer's Note: Bruh, I thought there was actually a Level 6 esper in Index, but it turns out it's just an insult or a meme? Honestly, I'm not even sure. By the way, Saten Ruiko is a Level 0 esper.]