One-way traffic

The ordinary-looking young man standing here is one of the Level 5 espers in Academy City.

And his identity is that of the number one among the seven superpowered individuals.

The strongest superpowered individual, a white-haired monster, the absolute number one ruler—this is his true identity.

The area he lives in is the sixth school district of Academy City, which is like an amusement park, a place specifically for people's entertainment.

The guy he just dealt with, known as "Management," was someone who lived underground in this school district.

"What a perverse guy, building his headquarters right under an amusement park? What a ridiculous hobby."

After putting away his phone, Accelerator leaned on his cane and walked towards the distance.

Next, he needs to record the intelligence about the mission's completion back into his organization, and then he will be able to get some rest.

…It's break time.

"So that's it! Misaka wants to eat one of those colorful ice cream cones that you see on TV too! Misaka Misaka twists and turns, trying her best to get you to help her get some delicious ice cream cones~!"

That brat.

Accelerator clicked his tongue in amazement. In his memory, a little girl with brown hair once cried out that she wanted to eat an ice cream cone and other silly things. Of course, Accelerator would never do such a thing, but whenever he saw that girl, she would beg him for it again and again.

The first ability user looked around and, coincidentally, on the other side of the path he was about to leave, a cute sixteen-year-old female student seemed to be selling ice cream while cosplaying.

He strolled over to the other person.

"Welcome! May I ask, uh..."

The girl, dressed as a little devil, was delighted that someone had finally come, but... what's up with this person?

It was just a natural expression, yet it still exuded a chilling aura that stung the skin—so, so terrifying…

But he looks so handsome...

"Hey, I'm asking you a question, how much does one of these cost?"

"Huh? Um, um! They have all sorts of different flavors here, a cone is 120 yen!"

"Then give me one."

"Okay! Please wait a moment..."

The girl quickly got ready, but soon she looked at the first person in front of her with a slight smile.

"Um... are you sure one ice cream cone is enough?"

"Huh? What did you say?"

Accelerator raised an eyebrow, but soon he began to think about something.

The first person clicked their tongue again, clearly annoyed.

"Tsk, then let's have one more."

——————————————————————————————————————

Inside a campervan, several figures gathered.

It's lunchtime now, and even the darkest assassins in Academy City need to eat.

And so, the blond young man wearing sunglasses casually lay down on the sofa.

"Hmm~ Kihara, your cooking skills are really good, it's amazing how you can make vegetables taste so good!"

"But I do prefer steak."

"There's nothing I can do about it. After all, it's the child who spends every day with me who keeps asking me to learn how to cook vegetable dishes."

After preparing a simple meal, the girl named Kihara Ayaki enjoyed the food with the two people in the RV.

Then, the door was violently opened.

The white-haired, red-eyed figure slowly walked in.

"Hey meow, you've come at just the right time, newbie. How's the mission going...?"

The young man named Tsuchimikado Motoharu immediately stood up. He had been very serious and was about to continue speaking, but he just stood there, stunned.

The other two people in the car were the same.

"What are you doing?"

Accelerator looked at them indifferently.

He was holding a chocolate ice cream cone that had been licked a few times in his free hand.

Chapter 1 Academy City

Academy City is an incredibly special city that has the potential to influence the entire world.

Although it originated in Japan, it has become completely independent of Japan, with twenty-three large school districts. Each school district is like a simple small city, which is of great use to the 2.3 million people living in this academy city.

Just like its name suggests, as an academy city, it naturally has a large number of students as its residents. Of its 2.3 million population, nearly 80% are students, and these students are mostly supernatural beings with superpowers.

The classification of ability users is divided into six theoretical levels.

Level 0 (No Ability).

Low-ability individual (Level 1).

Ability user (Level 2).

High-level ability user (Level 3).

High-level ability user (Level 4).

And as of now, the one who occupies the highest priority position in the ranking of ability users is the superpowered individual (Level 5).

There are only seven people with superpowers. In theory, there is a new realm above superpowers, but so far no one has been able to reach that realm. Even the number one superpowered person has not been able to reach it directly through ordinary means.

Within this city, besides the students who are mostly gifted individuals, there are also many people without significant abilities.

Most of the powerless individuals choose to become thugs, often engaging in acts such as attacking or interfering with others. Some thug groups even secretly form a large, unknown organization.

This city has residents like these, and twenty-three completely different school districts. It can be said that Academy City has a huge attraction for people from the outside world.

And the current location is the seventh school district of Academy City.

The white figure entered through the main entrance and then climbed the stairs step by step to a room.

However, he seemed somewhat hesitant.

He was holding two ice cream cones in his hands, without the aid of crutches. Surprisingly, he had traveled all the way from District 6 to District 7. Even though he took the high-speed train, the ice cream would still melt very quickly in this kind of weather, even though it was no longer August.

How exactly did he manage to protect the two ice cream cones so well?

The first superpowered user groaned unhappily at the thought of it.

He skillfully opened the door with his right hand.

"Wow! Misaka detected your presence with her Misaka Radar!" Misaka exclaimed in surprise as she sat up.

A very light and innocent voice rang out.

Under Accelerator's watchful gaze, the little girl sitting on the bed got off and ran over happily.

Accelerator quickly closed the door.

"Don't run around on your own. I don't want to have to go for walks everywhere for you anymore."

"Hehe~ Misaka knows you're worried about Misaka, but don't be so nervous, it's okay, Misaka Misaka..."

But the girl didn't finish her sentence.

She noticed the two ice cream cones that Accelerator was clutching tightly in his left hand, and her eyes widened in surprise.

Even the ahoge (cowlick) on her head stood up.

"It's an ice cream cone! Ahh ...

"Shut up, you brat! Do you really want this thing that badly?"

Accelerator angrily propped his cane up to one side and leaned against the wall.

"Alright... take it."

"Eh? Eh?!"

The little girl in front of him looked at Accelerator with an incredulous expression, as if she had been frightened.

"Wow, it was brought for Misaka?! Whoa!! Misaka is so happy! Misaka is overjoyed and dances around with glee~!"

"...That's why I said, why not just not think about such stupid things in the first place?"

——————————————————————————————————————

The two stayed in the room for a while, and Accelerator finally got to taste the ice cream cone for the first time in a long time. He bought the little girl a strawberry one, while he got the slightly bitter chocolate coffee bean one.

However, after leaving the hospital, he did not leave immediately, but instead found another ward.

He casually opened the door, not caring whether anyone was inside.

When the door was opened, there was indeed someone inside, only one doctor—a doctor who looked like he had a frog's face.

The other person looked at the newcomer calmly and said.

"I knew you'd come."

"Tsk."

The first ability user narrowed his eyes, closed the door, and walked to the bedside with his cane.

There were only the two of them in the room, so he didn't need to appear particularly reserved.

"I knew it! You definitely needed to recuperate after that day. And if you needed to recuperate, you would definitely come to me, since I'm the only one who can repair that collar of yours—"

"That's not what happened."

"Oh?"

The frog-faced doctor blinked, and he saw Accelerator sit directly in front of the power outlet next to the bed.

He took out a power cord from his pocket; it was the electrode charging cable from his neck.

And so, under the watchful eye of the frog-faced doctor, Accelerator began charging his electrodes.

However, the frog-faced doctor looked very puzzled.

"Judging from your appearance, you must have used a lot of electricity, right? Why? Did you just come back from a battle?"

"It's none of your business, so shut up."

The strongest player in the first place immediately clicked his tongue in amazement, and his face showed a very irritated expression.

How could he possibly tell the truth to this doctor?

To say that he activated the electrodes to protect the ice cream cone from melting, and then flew back to District 7?

That's incredibly stupid. If those idiots downstairs knew about this, they'd laugh themselves to death.

The fact that the strongest esper in Academy City would use his precious ability to prevent a little girl's ice cream cone from melting is definitely a headline-grabbing joke.

While charging, One-Way Pass looked at the doctor in front of him.

"Is that kid alright now?"

"Of course, who do you think I am? Although it involves issues related to the human brain, the fundamental problem seems to have been solved by other forces, and the child has now fully recovered. He only needs to be observed for a few more days before he can be discharged from the hospital."

The underworld pursues the soul.

That was the name of the doctor sitting opposite Accelerator, a name that even Accelerator himself found quite mysterious.

To be honest, Accelerator isn't at its peak right now.

On August 31st, Accelerator encountered a little girl named Last Order. Because her mind was connected to a mysterious brainwave link station called the Misaka Network, Last Order was targeted by a villain.

In a last-ditch effort to save her, Accelerator had to forcibly stop his reflexes to clear the high-risk virus from her brain, but in the process, he was shot in the head.

As a result, he is now in a situation where he cannot speak, calculate, or even perform the most basic cognitive functions or walk without the collar around his neck.

Using the connection between the Misaka Network and Last Order, the Underworld Soul created this electrode collar for Accelerator, allowing his brain to be supplemented by the computing power of more than 10,000 clones, thus enabling him to regain the use of his superpowers.

However, the restored ability is less than half of the original computing power. Even with the enhanced electrode, the time for extreme combat is only extended to thirty minutes, whereas it was originally only fifteen minutes.

Not to mention that Accelerator in his normal state cannot even use his own abilities. He needs his own electrodes to power even basic tasks such as walking, thinking, and doing arithmetic.

Although it can actually easily reflect the sun's ultraviolet rays in normal circumstances, it doesn't really matter; at most, it can only keep him from getting sunburned in the summer.