Chapter Text
Something connected.
That’s how I would describe it.
“You are…”
“Who the hell are you? How’d you get in here? Nah, more importantly… what's happening to your body?”
“…You can see me?”
The rough, masculine way the girl spoke didn’t reach my ears right now.
The déjà vu-inducing face of the girl and the unsettling room surrounding her set my mind racing.
It was a spartan room.
A simple bed and the bare minimum of necessities. At a glance, it could pass for a minimalist’s bedroom.
But no. The iron bars on the window betrayed the truth, this was a room designed to confine its occupant.
The clincher was the girl’s clothing.
Not a trace of the fashionable flair a young girl might favor. Yet it wasn’t just a plain white shirt either. The outfit was too distinctive to dismiss as mere practicality.
“…Is that a prisoner’s uniform?”
“Hah?”
The girl’s expression was one of suspicion.
Not so much that I’d said something off-base, but rather a look that questioned why I’d bother asking something so obvious.
“If you don’t even know this is a juvenile detention center, you’re probably not here for me.”
“Uh?”
“Nah, forget it. But seriously, what’s up with that body? A holographic projection made with optical abilities? No, that can’t be it, there’s an AIM Jammer here, so abilities shouldn’t work.”
“You mean this translucent body? I think it’s… an astral projection through esper powers.”
“What, you aren't sure yourself?”
I can’t help it if I don’t understand it fully myself.
I have knowledge of esper powers, both the procedural memory embedded in this body and my own episodic memories.
But it’s not perfect. Especially since this ability isn’t even mine to begin with.
“Seriously, why the hell are you here?”
“No real reason. I was just wandering aimlessly and ended up here.”
“So you’re just lost? Then get outta here already. If the guards catch you, it won’t just be a scolding.”
“…And you?”
“Huh?”
“Why are you here?”
From what I’ve gathered, this is a juvenile detention center.
If so, this girl didn’t come here by choice.
“…Do I have to tell you ?”
“No, you don’t. But talking doesn’t cost you anything. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but sometimes sharing your story with someone can lighten your heart more than you’d expect.”
“…It’s not a big deal.”
With that, the girl fell silent.
If she doesn’t want to talk, that’s fine. I’m not the type to force someone to spill their secrets.
Besides, I probably don’t have much time left.
“By the way, do you have any kind of sixth sense or anything?”
“Never seen a ghost in my life.”
“Got it… Maybe this is some kind of condition.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. I can’t keep bothering you, so I’ll take my leave.”
“See ya. Don’t come back.”
I don’t have much time.
It’s a shame to let go of the first person who could see me, but I can’t burden a kid who’s already got enough on her plate.
I pass through the wall to leave the detention center, just as I came.
But I couldn’t.
Yank.
A sensation like a thread pulling at my back.
Turning around, I saw a silver thread connecting me to the girl.
“Huh?”
“Hah?”
It connected.
Through the thread, the girl’s memories flowed into me.
“Shundan… Kimi…?”
“…tch!”
A name that felt like déjà vu.
A name I had heard before… a name I had seen before...
“How… do you know that name? Even the guards aren’t supposed to know it.”
“…I see. Shundan Kimi, huh? No wonder I was drawn to you.”
“What the hell are you babbling about!? Are you a freaking mind-reader!?”
“My ability is mental-based, sure, but…”
It seems the flow of memories was one-way.
Having her hidden name suddenly exposed, it’s no surprise she’s on guard.
I need to earn her trust somehow. To fulfill my purpose, I’ll need her help.
“Believe me. I didn’t come here to target you.”
“Where’s the proof of that?”
“That’s… tricky. I don’t have proof, or even anything to offer. For now… how about I start with an introduction?”
That said, there’s not much I can introduce about myself.
I was an ordinary, unremarkable person, someone you’d find anywhere… at least until this whole reincarnation thing happened.
“My name… I don’t have one.”
“Keeping it a secret, huh?”
“No, it’s not that I’m hiding it. I just don’t have a name I can use in this world. At least in this world, I haven’t been given a name yet.”
“And you expect me to trust someone like that?”
“But I do know the name of this body.”
My body is distinctive.
Even if someone doesn’t know her name, plenty of people would recognize her appearance.
Long, honey-colored hair and doll-like, refined features.
A figure that’s been described as ‘unbelievable for a middle schooler’ though, unfortunately, that part hasn’t developed yet. But even this petite, delicate girl, had a charm distinct from the allure she’ll have in the future.
“I’m Shokuhou Misaki. Academy City’s fifth-ranked esper, the strongest mental ability user with ‘Mental Out’ or rather, a fake who’s possessed Shokuhou Misaki.”
A ghost possessing Shokuhou Misaki.
An esper imprisoned in a juvenile detention center.
When these two, who should never have crossed paths, intersected, the story began.
Character Introduction Corner
▽ Shundan Kimi
Debu: A Certain Scientific Railgun, Chapter 105
A girl with long, wavy sky-blue hair and jagged teeth, aged 16.
Possesses the ability to “create a black hole somewhere in the universe.” This power holds the potential to solve current energy problems but is difficult to control, carrying the risk of generating a black hole in the solar system. A potential candidate for Level 5.
Targeted by various organizations for her abilities, she entered a juvenile detention center under the alias ‘Shirakinu Honoka’ to escape them.
▽ Shokuhou Misaki
Debut: A Certain Scientific Railgun, Chapter 41, A Certain Magical Index: New Testament Volume 11
A second-year student at Tokiwadai Middle School. A girl with long honey-blonde hair and doll-like, refined features, boasting a figure unusually mature for a middle schooler.
Academy City’s fifth-ranked Level 5 esper, wielding the strongest mental ability, ‘Mental Out.’ A Swiss Army knife of mental manipulation, capable of affecting anything related to the mind.
During her first year of middle school, she attempted a mental suicide but was saved at the last moment by meeting the story’s protagonist, Kamijou Touma.