Kamijou left the black cat with Mikoto and then ran through the nighttime city.
On the west end of Academy City was a large industrial area.
Apparently, a train switchyard there was the location for the 10032nd experiment.
"…"
He recognized the number 10032. That was the serial number Misaka Imouto had mentioned in the back alley.
A great impatience assaulted Kamijou's chest.
He had to get to that switchyard as quickly as possible, but the buses and trains had already been returned to their garages.
With most of the transportation facilities shut down, Kamijou had no choice but to run on his own two feet.
He knew he did not have much stamina left, but he was in too much of a hurry to keep a slower pace to preserve that stamina. Instead, he gritted his teeth and ran full speed through a shopping district.
He moved his battered body and ran despite the fact that doing so was shaving away the little stamina he had left.
Leaving the shopping district, he entered a residential area and the lights and hustle and bustle of the city seemed to grow more distant. As he ran further, the student dorms started growing sparse, too. After cutting past some small trees that had been artificially planted, he reached the industrial area.
Academy City had an industrial area so that items made from the research carried out in the city could also be produced within the city. However, the area was not filled with factories that looked like slightly dirty rented storage areas in a downtown area. Instead, the area was lined with windowless industrial buildings. The area was oddly organized and had no sense of being lived in. It was a little reminiscent of an area of a city filled with offices.
There was no one there.
The factories were surely structured to run 24 hours a day, but no sound could be heard because of their perfect sound proofing. The scenery looked like a dead city to Kamijou and he felt a chill in that midsummer night.
As she remained alone on the iron bridge, Mikoto held the frightened black cat in her arms.
She recalled that the electromagnetic waves subconsciously emitted by her body made cats dislike her, but she didn't particularly care at that moment.
"…Is he an idiot?" she muttered in the darkness.
She had wanted to stop Kamijou. She had at least wanted to head with him to the area for the experiment.
But Kamijou had forbidden it.
What was important was that the Level 0 Imagine Breaker singlehandedly defeated the Level 5 Accelerator. If Mikoto, another Level 5, were helping Kamijou, it would be determined that Accelerator was defeated by a group of people that included a Level 5.
"If you want to save Misaka Imouto, leave this to me," the boy had said.
"I will return with her," the boy had promised.
Mikoto looked at the end of the bridge where the boy had disappeared.
Logically, she knew that she could not do anything by heading there. In fact, there was a chance she would destroy the solution that the boy had finally obtained. Because of that, staying there was the proper choice. She knew that. Anyone could figure that out logically.
But…
Something beyond logic did not want to understand it.
Mikoto gritted her teeth.
"…Do you really think I can do that!?"
In the end, Mikoto chased after Kamijou while still holding the black cat.
She simply could not sit idly by.