Kamijou was lying on his side atop the windless iron bridge.
He slowly opened his eyes. Most likely, it had not been long since he had been hit by that high voltage current and lost consciousness. It had probably only been 10 or 20 seconds, but his sprawled out arms and legs were oddly cold. The proper circulation of blood had been obstructed. The electric shock may have made the beating of his heart irregular or his heart may have actually stopped once or twice while he was unconscious.
Without moving his head, Kamijou blankly stared at his limbs that looked like they belonged to a doll that had been thrown into a corner of the room by a child who had gotten tired of it.
"…"
He tried to move his fingers and his index finger slowly moved like a dying insect. He managed to move his eyelids and blink. He was sucking in and blowing out terribly shallow breaths and he could hear the faint beating of his heart coming from within his body.
"Thank goodness," he mouthed.
He could still move his body. That meant he could stand back up.
"What are you doing?" said a girl's voice from very close by above his head.
Kamijou suddenly realized that there was an oddly soft feeling on his cheek as he lay on his side.
It seemed his head was lying in Mikoto's lap.
"You're that beaten up, you're lying on the filthy ground, and your heart may have even stopped for a short time. So…"
Her voice was trembling.
That was not the voice of one of Academy City's seven Level 5s, of a Tokiwadai lady, or of Railgun. It was the voice of a normal girl who could not stop trembling in the darkness.
"…How can you smile like that?"
Transparent drops of liquid fell on Kamijou's cheek from above.
They were warm like a spring rain.
"…"
"Thank goodness," he mouthed again without actually speaking.
He was glad that he could be Mikoto's ally. His eyes narrowed slightly in happiness.
The black cat mewed next to his ear.
Its rough tongue touched Kamijou's hand as if to kindly lick his wounds.
"I've figured it out," he said while still lying there.
Mikoto did not respond. He only heard a rubbing sound as if she were wiping at her eyes with her fingertips.
"…I've figured out how to stop the experiment."
He heard a slight sound from Mikoto's throat as if her breath had caught there in surprise.
"If you think about it, it's quite simple."
The entire experiment was just the researchers following the scenario created by Tree Diagram.
That was why Mikoto had been thinking of stopping the experiment by making the researchers think that scenario would not work.
If something that simple could stop the experiment, then it was quite simple indeed.
"…I'm sure Tree Diagram took the fact that Accelerator is the strongest in Academy City into account for its calculations."
If the experiment could be stopped by having them believe in a bluff, then…
"Then it's simple. We just have to make the researchers think that this Accelerator they insist is the strongest is actually really absurdly weak."
What if Accelerator, supposedly Academy City's strongest esper, were to easily lose in a simple street fight?
Even if the simulations said he was Academy City's strongest, would the researchers really continue to believe Accelerator was the strongest after seeing something as pathetic as that?
Wouldn't that make the researchers think the machine's predictions were wrong?
"That's not possible," Mikoto replied. "The experiment can't be stopped so simply. I'm a Level 5 just like him. If another Level 5 defeats him, I'm sure they'll just accept it as within the accepted margin of error. They won't think that Accelerator is actually weak."
Mikoto sounded like she was gritting her teeth and like she was oozing blood.
"And we can't beat him even if we ganged up on him." Mikoto seemed to be reflecting on her own powerlessness. "I've only directly met this Accelerator once, but that was enough. I hacked into the Bank and did a search on his power and it gave me goose bumps. A fight for him is not something he might win or lose. When he fights, it is a completely one-sided slaughter."
"…"
Kamijou knew she was right.
Tree Diagram had already determined that she would be killed in 185 moves if she were to fight Accelerator. That was surely an accurate answer. Even if Misaka Mikoto used everything at her disposal and tried her very best, she could not defeat Accelerator. That was why that strong and usually impulsive girl had not tried to take him out in a fight and had instead been cornered in a situation where her death was the only way to stop the experiment and save the Sisters.
Kamijou knew that Misaka Mikoto could not defeat Accelerator.
"That just means I have to fight."
Mikoto's breath caught in her throat because Kamijou's words had shocked her to the bottom of her heart.
But that was the only way.
Even if another Level 5 defeated Accelerator, the researchers would not be convinced that he was actually weak.
But what if Academy City's strongest were defeated by one of Academy City's weakest, a Level 0?
Of course, it may have looked like Kamijou was a strong esper who had merely flown under the radar, but Academy City's System Scan had thoroughly checked him over and he still could not get rid of being branded a Level 0. That was just what Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker was.
If Accelerator were easily defeated by someone who was seen as a Level 0 no matter how much one checked him over, what would those researchers think of their supposed strongest?
"…"
Now that he knew what he had to do, the rest was easy.
Kamijou tried to lift his head from Mikoto's thighs and stand up, but his body would not move as he wanted it to. He felt a slight scraping feeling and his head slid from her thighs down to the hard ground.
Even so, he gritted his teeth and moved his trembling fingers like caterpillars. He slowly, slowly got his fingers gripped on the uneven asphalt and then gathered all his strength to lift himself up from the ground like he was lifting a barbell.
He expended so much effort into just getting up on one knee that he felt like he had shortened his lifespan by 5 years.
Mikoto let out a trembling voice upon seeing Kamijou gritting his teeth.
"What are you doing?" She spoke like she was seeing something she could not believe. "You can't. You're only saying that because you don't know what Accelerator's power is! It's crazy to even think of taking on that kind of overpowered villain that you would see in a manga. He's the kind of person who would just cackle at the fact that every army in the world was after him!"
"…"
Kamijou did not respond.
He merely remained silent and gathered strength in his legs in order to stand up from being on one knee.
"Accelerator's power is the ability to freely control all kinds of vectors such as motion, heat, and electricity as long as they are touching his skin. You can't find an opening in an overpowered ability like that even if you know what the ability is!" Mikoto seemed to be yelling out at the unfairness of reality. "All of his attacks will reach you, but none of yours will reach him. In fact, everything you fire at him is reflected right back at you. No human can stand up to an absolute one-way road like that!"
"…"
Kamijou did not respond.
He poured all his strength into his trembling knees and tried to stand up.
"He's just different. It's best to think of him as a being on a different dimension from espers like us. You can't win when you take on someone who is cheating from the start. And you're already so beaten up! You can't defeat a monster like that in your state!"
Mikoto begged him as she was about to burst into tears. She begged him to not stand back up.
"…"
Even so, Kamijou did not respond.
He moved his body that was even then about to collapse and slowly, slowly stood up.
"Why?" Mikoto asked in the voice of a child who was lost.
"…"
Kamijou did not know.
He did not know how strong Accelerator was.
He did not know what he could do with his body that battered.
But Imagine Breaker resided in his right hand.
And a reason to clench his right fist existed within his chest.
He would not rely on anyone else and he would not hope for anything else.
If he could use that hand to rescue a girl who had been cornered in a dead end by that Accelerator, then he felt it was a wonderful thing.
So Kamijou stood up.
He stood upon the ground on his own two feet.
"Misaka, you said you were about to head to where Accelerator is, right?"
Kamijou looked at Mikoto's face.
He had a feeling that he had not seen her eyes in a long time and they were currently red from crying.
"Tell me, Misaka. Where is he about to start the experiment?"