A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 787 Girl Ellie
With her fighting spirit ignited, Saten Ruiko showed off her skills in the kitchen. In addition, since Frenda was paying today, she prepared an unusually large amount of ingredients, so much so that the refrigerator was overflowing.

To avoid waste, Saten Ruiko had no choice but to use up all the fresh ingredients she could.

As a result, the number of dishes prepared increased, and the dishes became more and more complex.

As a result, the originally scheduled lunch was delayed until almost 3 p.m. before it was finally prepared – a lavish meal that was almost too big to fit on the entire table.

However, because the supermarket had a wide variety of food, including not only cooking ingredients but also many snacks and desserts, the two girls didn't go hungry.

Taking off her apron, Saten Ruiko checked the time and decided to change her already seriously late lunch into a slightly earlier dinner—she could enjoy it at her leisure and then head straight to the fireworks festival.

As for getting hungry again at night... there's a market right at the fireworks display, so you won't have to worry about not having food.

Frenda had no objection to this. For her, the most important thing right now was the mackerel dish on the table in front of her. As for everything else, she could just put it aside.

“Oh, right,” Saten Ruiko said, “I made a lot of food today, so I invited Hatsuharu and Shirai to come over. Frenda, you…”

"Hmm, it's okay, I don't mind." Frenda waved her hand dismissively. "As long as it's not Misaka Mikoto who comes."

“Eh? I see…” Saten Ruiko couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Fortunately, considering that Misaka Mikoto was most likely with the nameless senior, Saten Ruiko did not invite her in the first place.

“Let me make this clear first,” Frenda quickly explained, “I don’t actually dislike Misaka Mikoto. It’s just that Mugino…”

The blonde beauty shrugged: "You understand, right, Ruiko?"

"Oh...I see." Saten Ruiko chuckled dryly.

It's not entirely incomprehensible, after all, Mugino Shizuri, who is known for his "atomic collapse," does indeed appear very stern and fierce.

……

Meanwhile, Ellie dragged her tired body back to her rented apartment building.

More than four hours had passed since she left the convenience store.

Compared to when she was at the convenience store, the girl's uniform seemed to be covered in more mud and dirt, and her light flaxen hair was mixed with withered leaves and grass roots. It wasn't just a matter of "falling down," it looked more like she had rolled around in the grass.

And that was pretty much the case—on her way home, Ellie went to the grass by the river to look for her phone.

Her phone was thrown away in that area because of some "pranks".

Since that area was within "their" territory, Ellie could only look for opportunities when "they" were not around.

In conclusion, the phone was indeed found.

"Ah...it's like this again..." Ellie muttered to herself, looking at her phone, which was broken in two and had a shattered screen.

Fortunately, the SIM card was still there, but this time it was cut in half and completely damaged—"they" also seemed to be "making progress".

"What's the date for discarding electrical equipment?" Ellie murmured to herself as she put the remains into a plastic bag.

It's crammed together with today's food.

A sandwich and a carton of milk—after being exposed to the sweltering summer afternoon air for several hours, won't they spoil?

Ellie was a little worried and regretted not eating the hard-won food sooner.

She didn't have any money to buy new food.

Ellie actually lied at the convenience store earlier—her wallet wasn't lost; it's just that all the money inside had been replaced with worthless paper...

"My phone is broken, so my e-account is unusable. What should I do next?" Ellie climbed the stairs, one step at a time.

Ellie lived on the top floor of the apartment building, and she was the only resident on the entire floor, so there was no elevator.

"Ellie, you're back!" A middle-aged woman was coming down from upstairs. The two met face to face on the stairs.

"Teacher Administrator!" Ellie quickly bowed in greeting.

"What happened?" The administrator frowned, covering his mouth and nose without any attempt to hide it, and took a step back. "You're all filthy again?"

"Feel sorry……"

"As a girl, I hope you have a better sense of shame!" the administrator scolded.

"Feel sorry……"

"Your friends are here again today," the administrator said, his tone growing increasingly stern. "How many times have I told you not to associate with those delinquents!"

"No, that's not a friend..."

The administrator refused to listen to her explanation and rudely squeezed past Ellie, causing the girl to stumble and almost fall.

Ellie remained silent until the administrator's footsteps completely disappeared before turning around and starting to climb the stairs again.

My steps became heavier.

The administrator's attitude was certainly terrible, but it was not entirely incomprehensible.

Upon arriving at the floor where only I lived, I was immediately greeted by a pungent smell of paint.

Paint of various colors was splattered all over the corridor, and the walls and apartment doors were covered with graffiti, full of vulgar and obscene patterns and words.

As for the apartment where Ellie lived, it was the worst affected area. The door and surrounding walls were covered with glaring words such as "ugly woman," "go to hell," and "slut."

The main reason why she lives alone on the entire floor is because of this scene.

"No wonder there was no one by the river just now..." Ellie murmured to herself.

It seems that my deliberate avoidance angered "them", which is why they came to my house again.

It's only natural that Ellie's address was exposed, after all... some of the "them" were her classmates and "friends" at school.

"Looks like we're moving again..."

Upon arriving at the door, they found the key wouldn't go in. A closer look revealed that glue had been poured into the keyhole.

Finally, the girl could no longer hold back, and squatted down by the door, hugging her knees, and began to sob softly.

After crying for a while, Ellie felt thirsty and hungry. Ignoring the paint around her, she sat down on the floor against the wall—after all, she was already covered in dirt.

He took out his warm food from the convenience bag and ate it in small bites.

After finishing her only meal of the day, the girl cried for a while longer, then unknowingly fell asleep...

boom!boom!boom……

The sound of fireworks waking the sleeping girl.

Ellie groggily opened her eyes and just then saw a dazzling firework blooming in the distant sky.

"Fireworks display... Oh right, it's by the river tonight," Ellie belatedly realized.

"Let's go see the fireworks." Ellie got up and walked downstairs.

"Watching fireworks before you die wouldn't be bad..."

(End of this chapter)