Academy City's Weather Report! (Toaru)

Kirigaoka Girls' Academy, one of Academy City's prestigious institutions, was an elite girls' school comparable to Tokiwadai Middle School.

Though somewhat different from Tokiwadai, Kirigaoka was a girls' high school.

Back when Natsume-san was in elementary school, because her elementary school was actually closer to the Kirigaoka area, she had once leaned more towards attending Kirigaoka's affiliated middle school and then advancing to Kirigaoka itself.

However, drawn more strongly by two particular Level 5 espers, plus some reasons not convenient to elaborate on, she ultimately chose Tokiwadai.

'If I don't go to Nagatenjouki after graduation, Kirigaoka wouldn't be a bad choice either.'

'And I've heard Kirigaoka's scholarships are usually a bit higher than Nagatenjouki's. All the students are girls, too. Even the teachers are quite kind; they're mainly members of the Anti-Skill branch in District 18.'

Observing her surroundings with some interest, Natsume-san was clearly quite satisfied with Kirigaoka Academy.

Even though she was only in her first year of middle school, it didn't hurt to start thinking about future choices. After all, time had a way of slipping right past you if you weren't careful.

The small park near Kirigaoka featured the usual pavilions and waterside pavilions, with lush camphor trees lining the cobblestone paths.

While Academy City's garden styles showed some innovation in layout, you could still see the fusion of many external architectural elements.

'If we can't communicate with sound, then we'll use writing instead.'

Natsume-san's startlingly clear voice was still echoing in Index's mind. The girl giggled, a light giggle giggle sound, as she used a stick dipped in water to doodle on the ground.

Unfortunately, Kazakiri Hyouka could only respond with nods or shakes of her head, as she couldn't make Phase objects other than herself manifest.

This removed the foundation for the two-way communication they had initially envisioned.

"Kazakiri-san has disappeared again. This time it was even faster than before."

Frowning involuntarily, Natsume-san stood beside Index, muttering quietly while facing the spot where Kazakiri-san had just vanished.

What was once in an intermediate state between real and false had now completely turned to nothingness, as if she had been utterly erased from the physical universe.

Under Index's anxious gaze, it took a little while before Kazakiri Hyouka reappeared.

In the shift between the intermediate state and the completely false state, Natsume Sonoko, using her special observational techniques, gleaned some interesting information just from the changes in the AIM diffusion fields occurring in both states.

Simply put, the only difference between the intermediate state and the completely false state was that portion of AIM field energy used to interfere with light in the physical universe.

By observing based on this line of thinking, Natsume-san quickly pinpointed the specific field portion causing Kazakiri-san to fluctuate between real and false.

"The corresponding field manifesting on Kazakiri-san originates from inside the Phase, not from those already existing in reality."

"So Kazakiri-san was born within a Phase, formed by a core aggregated from the field energy within that Phase."

She had arrived at a conclusion she'd already suspected, but now Natsume-san became more serious.

"Yet the current situation is that the AIM diffusion fields belonging to light-based ability users have been separated out within the Phase, and are now invading reality through the core inside Kazakiri-san."

"That means Kazakiri-san must currently exist within the physical universe, not hidden within the Phase as I previously thought. Her sudden disappearances are just moments when there isn't enough stable field energy for her to manifest visibly in the physical universe."

Natsume Sonoko suddenly understood a few things, though she wasn't sure how useful this knowledge was.

It was simple logic. If both the corresponding field and the core were inside the Phase, Kazakiri-san naturally couldn't appear in reality, just like two parallel lines never intersecting.

Therefore, one of them must already exist within the physical universe.

She had long found it strange. Kazakiri-san was clearly an existence akin to a field core, yet she didn't seem to fit Natsume's understanding of such existences. This frustrating contradiction had once made Natsume-san doubt if she had misunderstood things again.

"Making a slight deduction leads to an even simpler argument."

"When Kazakiri-san doesn't appear, she lives within the Phase. The times she is spotted are when she's sent to the real universe, perhaps by some behind-the-scenes actor running experiments or for other purposes. The difference between the real and false states probably depends on the needs of that behind-the-scenes actor."

Natsume-san summarized the information she'd gathered, then instinctively and cautiously let her gaze sweep the surroundings.

She immediately felt like someone might be watching them right now—perhaps tiny nanomachines hovering in the air, or something similar.

Who knows how many of those airborne nanomachines had already been destroyed by a certain someone, but it had barely made a difference.

"And why does this feel so familiar?"

"Just by creating some directional formulas, you can guide corresponding abilities to appear in reality... isn't that just espers in another sense? Only instead of a Personal Reality interfering with the universe, it's an AIM diffusion field interfering with the universe."

"But in essence, it still falls under the category of Personal Reality interfering with the universe. AIM fields are fundamentally the power of espers."

Pursing her lips, Natsume Sonoko thought, her mind wandering.

'If there were a way to find a method to guide AIM fields from a Phase into the physical universe, or to gather the AIM fields already present in reality and control them using a method like Kazakiri-san's, you might potentially obtain a portion of Level 6 power.'

'Not necessarily, though. If you could spiralize the AIM field, perhaps you could create an inward centripetal force, functioning similarly to a core like Kazakiri-san's. For example, forming a pair of field wings or something. I'm just not sure if AIM fields conform to the rules of centripetal force.'

[A/N: I believe Accelerator's black wings operate on this principle, personally.]

Natsume-san stood still, as if she had discovered a new continent.

Forget, for now, obtaining AIM field energy from a Phase—that seemed incredibly difficult to achieve no matter how she thought about it.

But AIM fields in reality were quite common. Just the field emitted by Natsume-san herself was a significant quantity.

In fact, the field Natsume-san could likely influence was probably only the one she herself released. Leveraging her own field to move other fields was a separate problem altogether.

And within that lay a major problem: how to consciously influence one's own AIM diffusion field.

It wasn't like a true Level 5, where a single thought allows effortless control. It required an indirect method—like not controlling the air directly, but manipulating it using principles like cold air sinking and hot air rising.

Natsume-san knew that AIM fields could be influenced by human thought. She just didn't know how to turn this influence via thought into an effective interference with her own AIM field.

However, for someone like Kazakiri Hyouka, who was constituted by the AIM field itself, she likely contained information of this very type. Her thoughts were, in a way, the thoughts of the field core itself. This was probably a classic example of thought directly influencing the AIM field.

Though the control rights most likely didn't lie with Kazakiri-san herself.

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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL