The Legend of Level 0 in Academy City

Realizing what Inoue Eika had just said, Touma Kamijou's face instantly turned bitter, and his expression became extremely ugly.

"I'm clearly the victim, okay?"

"Can we not bring this up again?"

"Do you think I wanted to bring this up? But Mr. Kamijou has to defend his innocence and clarify his sexual orientation to avoid being misunderstood!"

"How disgusting!"

A girl's voice suddenly came from behind him, and Touma Kamijou turned around in a panic.

The petite blonde girl, being supported by Saten Ruiko, was looking at him with utter disdain.

Saten Ruiko and Uiharu Kazari's expressions were also somewhat subtle, their eyes fixed on him as if they had seen something disgusting and filthy.

"Wha...what are you talking about! So, didn't Mr. Kamijou say that I'm the victim?! Waaaaah!! You...you guys are so unlucky!!"

"hehe!"

Seeing Touma Kamijou's innocent expression as he clutched his head and screamed, Inoue Hideka chuckled softly.

"Haha! Kamijou-senpai, you... don't you feel uncomfortable if you don't say this every day... haha!

Saten Ruiko had been trying her best to suppress her laughter, but when she heard Kamijou Touma's most frequently used catchphrase, she could no longer hold back and burst into laughter on the spot.

"cut!"

Frenda's lips twitched. Although she was still feeling down because of Mugino Shizuri, this commotion eased her mood considerably.

"Ahem, Saten-san... That's so rude! How could you say something like that to Kamijou-senpai? He's already had enough bad luck!"

Haruyuki cleared her throat, forcibly suppressing her laughter, and said to Saten Ruiko in a serious tone.

"Haru-kun... are you trying to comfort Mr. Kamijou by saying that?"

Kamijou Touma slumped his head and spoke listlessly to Uiharu Kazari, who seemed to be trying to comfort him.

"Touma! You're overthinking it! Haru is naturally cunning! She was just indirectly kicking someone when they're down! Hmph!"

"Aaaaaah! As expected... what a misfortune!"

"No, that's not what I meant..."

Seeing that Touma Kamijou was emanating an even stronger dark aura than before, Kazari Uiharu waved her hands in protest.

"Raiko, what happened? What happened to Ms. Mugino...?"

Inoue Eika no longer paid any attention to Kamijou Touma, who was radiating endless resentment.

After Kinuhata Saiai and Takitsubo Riko left with Mugino Shizuri in the dissipating dust, Kinuhata Saiai turned around and spoke to Saten Ruiko while cautiously glancing at Frenda.

Seeing that there was no change in her expression, he continued:

Why is she targeting you?

Upon hearing this, Saten Ruiko also observed Frenda's expression before looking at Inoue Hideka with some confusion.

"Actually, I don't know what happened either. Frenda called me and told me to hide, and then, Frenda was knocked down from the building. As for the specifics..."

At this point, Saten Ruiko looked at Frenda with a troubled expression.

She didn't want to force Flanda to tell the whole story at this time, but when Inoue Hideka asked, she really didn't know how to answer.

"Hmph! In the end, because of your mess, I ended up with... well, anyway, that's all the value I have in her eyes, right?"

Is that so?

It seemed that Frenda didn't want to talk about what had just happened, so Inoue Hideka didn't press the matter.

Based on what Saten Ruiko said and what she learned from Kamijou Touma about being targeted by higher-ups, she could roughly guess what had happened.

The dark organization 'Tools' holds a similar position to 'administrators' in Academy City, and its main task is to prevent the Board of Directors and its higher-ups from going berserk.

To be fair, Inoue Hideka is the leader of the dark side "group," and can be considered a semi-high-ranking member.

Therefore, it doesn't seem unreasonable to send out 'props' in response to his actions.

In response, Inoue Hideka decided to conduct a more in-depth investigation after returning to the 'Group'. Although Flanda should know something, she wouldn't know too much.

When they accept missions as "tools," they only know the mission objective and never understand the reasons for the sniping.

It's even less likely that they'd know who's behind the task, because they usually receive tasks through intermediaries.

Having figured all this out, Inoue Eika then asked Saten Ruiko:

"By the way, Ruiko, what happened to you just now? Were you hurt? Or is something wrong?"

"Huh? No, no!"

Thinking about how bold she had just done, Saten Ruiko felt a little embarrassed and said hesitantly.

"Hmm... That's strange! I clearly notified the security guards and called an ambulance, but why haven't they arrived yet? Even if those two buildings are blocking traffic, they should have come around from somewhere else by now, shouldn't they?"

Shiori Haruhi was very puzzled.

Based on past experience, the police and ambulances should have arrived by now.

It hasn't arrived yet, which is clearly abnormal.

"Maybe it's because of traffic jams in other places during the Daihasei Festival?"

Inoue Hideka squinted and said softly.

"Then, Leizi and Chuchun, why don't you take Flanda to the hospital first? I have to participate in the competition, so I won't go with you."

"Okay, that's fine. We don't know when the ambulance will be back, so let's go to the hospital ourselves!"

"That's true... I didn't expect so many people to come to the Daihasei Festival this year! This has never happened before..."

"Then we'll be going now, Eika, Kamijou-senpai! Let's go, Frenda."

Saten Ruiko greeted Inoue Eika and Kamijou Touma, then she and Uiharu Kazari helped Frenda walk towards a place where they could hail a taxi.

Chapter 292 Title: Die!

"So, where do we go next, Yinghua?"

After Saten Ruiko and the others left, Kamijou Touma looked at Inoue Hideka seriously and asked.

He certainly didn't believe Inoue Hideka's claim about participating in the competition; that was clearly just an excuse to get rid of the girls.

Touma Kamijou is well aware of the situation Inoue Eika is currently facing—he's being hunted down by the higher-ups!

Under such circumstances, how could one possibly participate in the competition with peace of mind?

"Ha! Touma, you... you're not an idiot after all!"

Inoue Hideka smiled and teased Kamijou Touma.

When Inoue Hideka watched the A Certain Magical Index anime in her previous life, she felt that Kamijou Touma was portrayed as silly and foolish.

But as far as he knows, Touma Kamijou is not really like the one in the anime.

On the contrary, although he is not particularly intelligent, his victories in battle are not entirely due to the illusion killer.

During battle, he would also devise feasible tactics based on the information he saw with his own eyes or by asking people who might know about the enemy.

Since being transported here, aside from the time they dealt with Misaka Mikoto's rampage, this was the first time the two had fought side by side, and Inoue Eika could finally confirm it—

The friend in front of me is Touma Kamijou, who has a brain!

"Hey, you! What do you mean by 'I knew I wasn't stupid'?"

"Hey, hey~ don't be angry! Let's go, our goal remains the same, still the Second School District!"

Inoue Hideka noticed it when Haru Shiori mentioned the security guards and ambulances.

It wasn't due to reasons like too many people or traffic jams.

That was definitely interference from higher up!

It's one thing for Shiori Hatsuharu to call the police on the scene, but whether or not the police are dispatched is not a simple matter of just having an incident happen!

Large-scale deployments require permission from higher authorities.

Of course, Aiho Yomikawa is an exception.

She wielded considerable power, and sometimes, for the sake of justice, she was fearless even when disobeying orders from above!

Similarly, the same applies to ambulances.

They probably know that the situation here was caused by the collapse of the fourth atom, so they deliberately put pressure on the police and ambulances to prevent or obstruct them from being dispatched.

They really want to wipe me out completely!

Inoue Hideka pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes, and walked with Kamijou Touma toward the nearby bus stop.

------

The second school district, inside the 'Group' headquarters.

Kamijou Touma sat behind the desk where Inoue Eika usually sat, curiously observing the situation in the office.

Two sets of bulletproof vests were placed on the table.

Inoue Hidekazu just took them out of the warehouse; one set was for himself, and the other was for Kamijou Touma.

He himself didn't care. Even if he faced an opponent who had no abilities or magic and relied solely on his physical body and firearms to fight, he could still fight back with his magnetic gloves.

But apart from his right hand, Touma Kamijou is just an ordinary person.

Therefore, taking this opportunity, Inoue Hideka also found him a bulletproof vest.

In this way, even if the opponent is a fully armed ordinary person, Touma Kamijou will still have some ability to protect himself.

However, he was somewhat curious about where the bulletproof vest he had taken out had gone, as recorded in the data book that documented the entry and exit of equipment in the warehouse.

The magnetic gloves were on his hands, the pistol was under the bed at home, but the bulletproof vest was missing.

In response, Inoue Hideka wondered in bewilderment, "Could it be that Saten Ruiko looked too ugly, so she threw her away?"

After all, he was seriously injured in the battle against a magician in the training city and fell into a coma, so Saten Ruiko must have taken care of him.

Putting aside these old stories, at this moment, Inoue Hideka was sitting on the sofa in the minister's office with a furrowed brow.

There is no other reason.