As the night grew deeper, the cold grew sharper. Despite it being the middle of summer, she felt a chill like a cold blade being pressed up against her stomach.
Serial Number 10032 aka Misaka Imouto left a shopping district and walked with an accurate, machine-like pace toward a section of a silent industrial area.
As she walked along the empty street lined with street lights, Misaka Imouto mentally went over the contents of the experiment about to begin.
The absolute coordinates of the area to be used were X-228561, Y-568714. The start time was at exactly 8:30 PM Japanese Standard Time. The specimen to be used was #10032. The purpose was to find a way to fight so that the usage of reflection would not apply.
"…"
Misaka Imouto ran mentally through the scenario in which she was to be killed, but no tragic expression appeared on her face. There was no fear, no hatred, and not even resignation on her face.
Her face truly was expressionless.
If someone had seen that, they would sense the same danger as watching a clockwork doll heading for the edge of a cliff.
Misaka Imouto was not a deviant that did not know the value of a living being's life.
If someone had been about to die before her, she would have immediately searched for options she could take and then taken action on the most suitable one.
However, she could not apply that concept to herself.
As if it were information being written on a hard disk, her empty heart had been installed by a Testament onto her physical body that could be remade as many times as needed at the push of a button using the proper equipment. The value of her life was 180,000 yen. She was like a high performance personal computer. In fact, she was the type that would get thrown into the bargain box.
(…That is why there is one thing Misaka does not understand, thinks Misaka.)
Misaka Imouto had that thought as she walked down the dark street.
When that boy had run into multiple Misakas in that back alley, he had been so shocked he had stopped breathing. It had been like a reality he could not stand was being thrust before his eyes. It had been like he did not want to accept that reality even if it was thrust before his eyes.
Misaka Imouto recalled what that boy had said.
–Who are you?
Those words had not been a question he asked her.
–What are you doing?
It had seemed more like he had asked the question because he wanted her to deny something.
Misaka Imouto's face remained expressionless.
(Did he really want to deny it that badly?)
Had he really wanted to deny the reality of the 20,000 Sisters and the world in which their hearts stopping was all according to plan that badly?
(…Misaka does not understand. Misaka cannot understand, thinks Misaka as she addressed her questions related to the boy's mental state.)
Misaka Imouto concluded that there was no point in thinking about things there was no way she could understand.
It was as if she were saying there was no real problem in not understanding why a frog would swim in a ditch.
But then…
Why had she recalled that boy's face?
If there was truly no value in it, she would not have thought of him. There was no reason to recall the shape and color of the gum that was stuck to the station platform a week before.
She was supposed to be assembling information in her head for the upcoming experiment. If she failed, it would cause problems for a lot of people, so why had her thoughts drifted to that boy's face when he had nothing to do with the experiment?
"…"
Misaka Imouto could not understand.
And she had concluded that there was no point in thinking about things there was no way she could understand.
Misaka Imouto could not even understand something as trivial and pointless as that.
The girl headed alone to her own place of execution while still understanding none of it.
Her precise footsteps sounded like the ticking of a time bomb.