A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 681 Leaving the City
“It’s all Touma’s fault. You were the one who suddenly ran away just now, weren’t you?” Index seemed to be full of resentment in response to Kamijou Touma’s complaints. “I told you to wait for me, but you still ran away without looking back!”

“You saw what happened just now,” Kamijou Touma said, feeling very wronged. “I ran away to lure those thugs away so you could slip away! No, that wasn’t running away, it was luring the enemy!”

"About this matter," Ying suddenly interrupted, "We are looking for you this time because of this."

"That irresponsible rumor?" Kamijou Touma asked immediately. "Has the General Council finally decided to refute it?"

Sakura and Yoshiko looked at each other and shrugged slightly - refuting the rumor or something...it would be better to say that the "rumor" was fabricated by them in the first place.

To be more precise, with the tacit approval of Chairman Aleister, rumors were allowed to spread and distort at will, and then the desired parts were selected from them, while other unnecessary "impurities" were erased.

In the end, the "rumor" that is now widely circulated was formed - Kamijou Touma defeated Lin Wuming.

Of course, this was not actually Chairman Aleister's intention. After all, he only instructed the elimination of some rumors, but did not take the initiative to create any new rumors.

The news had become what it was now during its spread, even exceeding Chairman Aleister's expectations.

Otherwise, Sakura and Yoshiko wouldn't be here.

Chairman Aleister's original intention was just to hide Lin Wuming's existence from the "Misawa Academy Incident".

For various reasons, at this stage, Lin Wuming is more important than "Fantasy Breaker" Kamijou Touma.

That's why Chairman Aleister chose to push Kamijou Touma to a prominent place to attract attention for Lin Wuming.

And from another perspective, Kamijou Touma does need more trials - making the enemies on the magical side focus their attention on him is in line with the original idea.

But the result was something not even Chairman Aleister had anticipated—the direction of the rumors had indeed changed, but it had gone too far.

I don’t know what went wrong in the process, but during the spread of the rumor, it inexplicably evolved into a nonsensical version like “Kamijo Touma defeated Hayashi Mumei”.

"Misawa Academy", the core of the incident, has become an insignificant footnote...

And this is just the beginning.

Facts have once again proved that the name "Lin Wuming" seems to carry with it the memetic pollution of its own spread, and no matter what the circumstances, it can easily occupy a place in the public opinion field of Academy City.

Moreover, because Lin Wuming has been active for more than two years, the title of "hero" has never faded, resulting in him actually having many fans and admirers.

Likewise, there are many potential enemies.

Now, both groups have been blown away by this rumor, and are now targeting the innocent Kamijou Touma...

It wasn't noticeable when he was just discharged from the hospital yesterday, but as more and more people noticed Kamijou Touma's activities outside, a large-scale "battle royale" immediately broke out.

No matter how good Kamijou Touma was at fighting, he couldn't handle the siege of dozens or even hundreds of people at the same time.

In reality, if he hadn't been truly desperate, Kamijou Touma wouldn't have "abandoned" Index and led the pursuers away on his own; nor would he have fled to Lin Wuming's hospital room for peace and quiet...

Even Chairman Aleister couldn't stand watching this unfold.

"Rumors are better to be diffused than blocked," Ying explained. "The best way to deal with them is to just ignore them—do nothing. They'll naturally dissipate after a few days."

"Do I have to stay home for a few days?" Kamijou Touma looked embarrassed. If he was alone, staying home for a few days would be fine, but now there was Index at home!

If you can’t go out to buy food, the food reserves at home can only last for two days at most!
"No," Sakura shook her head, turned around and took a file bag from Yoshiko, "According to the council's opinion, Kamijou-kun needs to go out and hide."

"Go out?" Kamijou Touma was a little confused, but after taking the file bag and opening it, he found that it contained an "application for going out" with a stamp on it.

Academy City has very strict entry and exit management for students. Anyone who wants to leave the city - even to go home or for a short trip - must apply in advance.

After obtaining permission - that is, this "application for going out", a chip must be implanted under the skin before you can leave.

Because the procedures are very complicated, few students choose to leave Academy City even during the summer vacation.

Anyway, the city is big enough, so there is no need to worry about being bored.

Kamijou Touma carefully examined the application form and discovered that his name had already been signed. He only needed to stamp it for it to take effect immediately.

"So... by letting me out, you mean leaving Academy City?"

"Yes, I'll give you five days of vacation time." Ying nodded and said, "With you, the party involved, away, five days is enough time for people to calm down."

"Also," Yoshiko added, "Kamijo-kun, your family happens to be free. We've given them invitations to a seaside resort in the name of Academy City. It's a great opportunity for you to go on vacation with your family."

"I'm happy to..." Kamijou Touma scratched his head. After all, it was a free invitation ticket, which was still very tempting to him.

However, Kamijou Touma looked at Index with some confusion - what should he do with this silver-haired nun?

Index, who belongs to the British Puritan Church, should be considered an illegal immigrant, right?

Since they entered the country illegally, it is impossible for them to apply for an "exit permit"...

Having said that, Index's identity as a stowaway wasn't discovered by these two "official personnel". She was really lucky...

"Ms. Index has visitor privileges and does not need to go through the procedures to apply for going out," Yoshiko said again.

“Huh?” Kamijou Touma looked over with wide eyes. He had never expected that Index actually had a legal identity…

But if you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem strange.

After all, Stiyl, who is also a magician, has taken flights in and out of Academy City several times, and he has never been arrested by the security forces.

How could Index, who is from the same organization, not have a legal identity?

It's just that because he never uses it in normal times, Kamijou Touma always thought that the nun living in his house was an illegal resident.

Now, Index can go on vacation with us and we don't have to worry about leaving her alone in the apartment.

The only headache left is how to explain this nun who came out of nowhere to my family...

(End of this chapter)