Chapter 17: Is it a Feng Shui Problem?

  But no matter what, Kanzaki Hitori never thought that he would get entangled with Misaka Mikoto again; the type of girl who likes to interfere and cause trouble is not his cup of tea. He prefers girls like Tsuchiya Akane, the kind of weak and gentle type. If it were a girl like that, she would quietly sit beside him while he plays games or watches anime, leaning against him as she rests, or accompanying him; for him, this is the epitome of the perfect wife.

  "Shouldn't you wait for her to wake up and say something?" Dr. Frog seemed to be muttering to himself as he spoke to Keiichi, who was still in a daze.

  "This is fine. Actually, I'm not very familiar with her either, and we've only met three times since the last time we hung out." Mikoto Misaka was now really unsure of what to say to Kuroko, and rather than risk an awkward silence when they finally met face-to-face, she might as well just hurry home and watch anime.

  "Is that so......" Dr. Frog nodded without confirming or denying, and didn't say anything else; he casually called over a nurse to have her take care of the discharge procedures for Qie Lü Chu Xiang, then leisurely left the place.

  After completing the discharge procedures, I returned to that familiar snail abode. As I looked at the dilapidated apartment in front of me, half-hidden among the trees with sunlight leaving patchy marks on it, I couldn't help but wonder if it was because of the poor feng shui here; why did it seem like I hadn't had many peaceful days lately, always encountering one trouble or another.

  "O(︶︿︶)o... Alas...... Unfortunate." Kai Lü Chu's words trailed off as he muttered a phrase often used by a certain spiky-haired youth, and upon returning home, his gaze fell on the calendar where the 19th was circled in red.

  Kazari Utsuho suddenly remembered the purpose of marking this date: it was because on the eve of the summer vacation, Touma Kamijou and Mikoto Misaka had another dramatic duel, causing all the electrical appliances in the vicinity to be sacrificed; therefore, in order to protect the precious resources collected with great difficulty in the hard drive, Kazari Utsuho specially marked this date with a red pen.

  "It seems that luck hasn't completely abandoned me yet, and as a poor ghost, I can keep these electronics, which is really not bad! Seeing that it's still early, Jian Yu casually set an alarm on his phone and then opened the computer to continue his otaku life. As for unplugging the power cord to prevent lightning strikes, he'll deal with that after the alarm goes off; afterwards, he'll go play PFP, haha!"

  When people are fully engaged in doing what they like, time always flies by quickly; before you know it, the world outside the window curtains is mischievously smeared with a dull orange-red by the sunset. The alarm clock set by Kaito also rings on time, bringing Kaito back from the 2D world to the real world.

  He let out a sigh of frustration, reluctantly closing the browser that was playing an anime; then he shut down and started unplugging all the electrical appliances in his room. After finishing everything, as he prepared to log into the game with PFP to flirt with the beautiful girls, for some reason, he suddenly recalled the conversation he had when he was caught by Mikoto Misaka yesterday.

  "Level 2? You think you can fight me for that long and this is all a Level 2 can achieve? Go explain to the Wind Chronicle Committee later!"

  Why is it that now when I think back to this sentence, no matter how I think about it, it seems like there are several kinds of information being conveyed; well, never mind, I'm not Houtarou Oreki, what's the point of thinking so much? I shrugged my shoulders and logged into the PFP game interface, absent-mindedly pressing a few keys at random; I found that I couldn't enter that state of immersion at all now, it was as if there was something stuck in my heart, feeling very uncomfortable.

  "Why hasn't my curiosity been killed by my otaku halo yet?!" Jia Lu Chuyi grabbed his hair in frustration and rolled around on the tatami mat. In the end, he decided to compromise with his curiosity, lying down in a 'T' shape on the tatami mat, staring blankly at the ceiling as he began to think.

  There are several possible meanings that can be inferred from Mikoto Misaka's words:

  First, she infers from our battle that my ability is not just at the LV2 level, because she thinks it would be impossible to achieve this level of performance with only a LV2-level ability.

  Second, if the first assumption holds true, then she believes my previous explanation was just a deception on her part and wants to hand me over to the Disciplinary Committee in disappointment.

  Third, if both the first and second assumptions hold true, will she feel disappointed about being deceived by me because I am considered a friend?

  No, no, no! How can this be possible! We've only met three times and that's it. Jia Luochu felt a bit dizzy in the head, so he lightly patted his cheeks to calm himself down before continuing to analyze; let's first summarize the necessary preconditions for all of the above hypotheses to hold true. The necessary condition for all of the above hypotheses to be true is that my abilities are not at the LV2 level as I thought, but rather at a higher level than that!

  But I've already confirmed that before possessing this body, its original owner had never come into contact with or used the Fantasial Hand; so the ability should indeed be LV2, unless... it's because my soul underwent a mutation after crossing over, resulting in an enhancement of abilities?

  Someone like Misaka Mikoto, who likes to pick fights and has a lot of battle experience, wouldn't have any reason to misjudge; it seems my abilities might actually be higher than I thought. There's this one phrase that comes to mind: if you eliminate all other possibilities except for the one that looks the most unlikely, then that unlikely possibility is probably the truth.

  Thinking of this, Touma Kazari realized that he was expelled on the second day after crossing over; and indeed, he hadn't properly tested his abilities to see what level he was at. Well, if it were really like that, then Misaka Mikoto's misunderstanding of him wouldn't be so hard to understand either.

  After all, if it were my own words, I wouldn't believe a guy who lies with his eyes open, especially when the lie can only deceive a three-year-old. Thinking of this possible misunderstanding caused by asymmetric information, Ji Lu felt an overwhelming urge to rush outside and grab someone at random to shout: "Isn't the one who's wrong the world, not me?"

  *sigh* Alright, as someone who values clarity on grudges; considering it was a misunderstanding and you prepaid my medical expenses, I'll just let it go this time. Anyway, Lao Jiu absolutely won't admit that the prepayment of medical expenses is the main reason he's letting this matter drop.

  After getting things straight and satisfying his curiosity, he can finally focus on PFP and start the happy journey of conquering the beautiful girl's game! As for whether Mikoto Misaka received the information "I don't mind anymore" sent by brain waves, it's not something that Touma Kamijou cares about right now.

  What PFP is concerned about now is the question asked by the beautiful girl on the screen: Mr. X, should I eat first or take a bath first, or... hehe.