After saying goodbye to Mikoto, Kamijou continued to run on, and finally saw his school.
(Seems like…I won't be late. Ah, good thing I took part in summer remedial.)
He roughly remembered all the paths from the dorm to the school and the location map during summer remedial. Because of that, Kamijou didn't need to take a map out and do some suspicious stuff and loiter around.
(There're two buildings, the front one is the new one and the back is the old one. My classroom's on the third level of the new one, it's the second room from the right, and the shoe cupboards are on the right side of the staircase. Good!)
In order to act like he hadn't lost his memory, Kamijou collected the information in his head and passed through the school gate like every other student.
The school had a flat campus, which was rather rare in Tokyo. The school wasn't big, there was a school compound at both the front and the back, and there was a corridor in the middle linking them together, making it look like a 'エ'. There was also a semicircle roofed sports hall on the left, and a swimming pool on the right.
In this city that had 2.3 million students, there were all sorts of schools. Some had their swimming pools on the roofs, some had their gyms dug underground in a bunker, it was not strange to see all sorts of weird constructs.
But in this school, the layout was so ordinary it didn't have any characteristics. The students passing by Kamijou were also wearing 'model' like uniforms, completely ordinary.
(That's okay either way. It's too troublesome to make it too special. Tokiwadai Middle School's uniform should be rather terrible.)
Kamijou pondered wildly as he rushed towards the school entrance. He was almost late already, and yet this was the time when most of the students entered school. On the way, while rushing through the staff parking lot, Kamijou suddenly heard a sharp honk. Turning back to look, a car looked like it was about to reverse and park, only to stop halfway through and honk, scaring a white cat that was in the middle of it away.
It was a round-model small car that was bright green in color. However, the car itself sure was too small.
There was no passenger seat, instead, it looked like it was a one-seater.
(Woohh! That car is great! As light as a sheep, and there's no need to worry about getting drenched by the rain! How about I get one? I can't buy a car, but a bicycle…wait, never mind. If it's my vehicle, if I park it in front of a train station, it'll definitely be stolen.)
Already used to misfortune, Kamijou could already imagine the car being stolen, and could only sigh.
Then, Kamijou noticed that the elementary student-looking Komoe-sensei was in the driver's seat, her hand was holding onto the steering wheel.
"—OI! DON'T TELL ME YOUR LEGS ARE LONG ENOUGH TO REACH THE BRAKES!"
"I…I can still drive even if I can't reach it!"
Komoe-sensei deliberately opened the door and retorted.
Looking closely, the steering wheel of that small car was somewhat unique. There were buttons on the left and right sides, as if it was a joystick for a racing car game. Maybe the car utilized technology for the disabled, allowing the driver to accelerate and break through the buttons.
Komoe-sensei's actions were unexpectedly steady as she easily parked the car. She pulled out what seemed to be a pile of folders with information inside them.
"Really. To say such words the first time we meet when you came back from summer vacation, sensei doesn't remember teaching you these words—"
"(…Anyone who sees this will be worried about you…)"
Kamijou muttered as he turned away.
"What did you say, Kamijou? Are you thinking of running behind sensei and throwing sensei into the sky?"
"I'M NOT! YOU'RE BEING TOO SUSPICIOUS HERE!"
Kamijou and Komoe-sensei continued to talk loudly as they headed towards the school. Maybe there was still work to do before opening ceremony, as Komoe-sensei rushed forward in small steps. But every time the students greeted Komoe-sensei, she would politely stop and reply 'good morning', thus, even though Kamijou was merely walking fast, he was still able to catch up to Komoe-sensei easily.
"Oh yeah, what's that pile of papers? Don't tell me it's a mini-test?"
"Kamijou, whatever bad things sensei experienced as a student body, sensei will never let you experience. Okay okay, don't be so slow, hurry up."
Komoe-sensei prompted Kamijou,
"These aren't schoolwork, but a university friend of mine asked me to help read through some theses."
"University…well yeah, you do have a teacher's license."
"Kamijou?"
Komoe-sensei looked puzzled as she tilted her head, staring at Kamijou, who was muttering to himself.
Kamijou again stared at the pile of papers, and then said,
"What's on them?"
"Something not too difficult. It's AIM research, and it's rather related to you."
On hearing this, Kamijou wondered, what was AIM? He had never heard of it before.
Komoe-sensei seemed to be rather mindful about the time as she started to speed up. However, she still continued to maintain her teaching spirit as she said,
"When you grow older, you'll understand that this AIM is An Involuntary Movement…which also means 'no awareness'. And the AIM diffusion field means the same thing. It's like body temperature, an energy field that naturally radiates out from an esper."
"Oh, like how Misaka's body will let out weak magnetic fields, right…?"
"Ah, you're talking about Misaka-san…eh? Misaka? Hold on, eh? No way?"
Komoe-sensei was stunned for a moment. She then continued,
"Anyway, AIM diffusion fields will differ according to the esper's power. For example, a pryokinesis user generates heat, a telekinesis user generates pressure; these powers will generate from the espers' bodies and scatter around. But as they're rather weak, it's impossible to detect them without a powerful machine."
Komoe-sensei saw that Kamijou, who was moving very fast, was ahead of her, and immediately chased up.
"I see, so if there's an esper that can detect that AIM whatsoever thing, the esper can detect whether there're other espers around, right? Such an esper can go 'hm? There's powers nearby' like a manga!"
"Hahaha, that's right. If it's even more powerful, it may even use the AIM diffusion field to detect how strong and what type of ability the power is. At this moment, the esper may end up saying 'hm, this guy battle ability is over 70,000'. There're all sorts of people with varied weird interests studying these things."
Kamijou and Komoe-sensei dashed towards the school as they continued to talk, but immediately separated. The staff members had their own entrance.
After Komoe-sensei was gone, Kamijou heaved a sigh of relief.
(…Let's go.)
He decided as he headed towards the school entrance.
To Kamijou, who had lost his memories, a school life of deceptions would now begin.
Kamijou had come to school for remedial lessons before, so he knew where his shoe locker and classroom were. Like an ordinary student, he placed his shoes in his locker, put on his slippers, walked up the stairs, into the corridor and arrived in front of his classroom.
But here was the tough problem.
When Kamijou was having remedial for the first time (about the time when he first met Misaka Imouto, actually, it was already a remedial of a remedial), there were only him and Komoe-sensei, so Kamijou had sat at the table in front of the podium, but that was not his original place. In other words, having lost his memory, Kamijou didn't remember where he should be sitting.
(What should I do now…?)
Kamijou was slightly troubled by this, but it would be rather suspicious of him to loiter around outside the classroom. Though he couldn't think of anything, he still reached his hand out to pull the door open.
(Wah…)
Kamijou cursed as he walked into the classroom. There were less than half the number of students present, and they were all not sitting at their own place.
If all the students had been sitting at their own place, the last one left would definitely have been Kamijou's. But of course, things weren't going to be that simple.
Just at this moment, Aogami Pierce, who had arrived at school earlier today, saw Kamijou stunned at the door. The 180cm high school student walked towards Kamijou and said,
"Hm? What's up Kami-yan? Did you walk here only to remember that you forgot to bring your homework? If that's the case, it's really funny and pitiful."
After Aogami Pierce said this, everyone in the class turned to look at Kamijou.
And the class got louder.
"Ah? What? Kamijou forgot to bring his homework?"
"Eh, Kamijou, did you really forget to bring your homework?"
"BANZAI! SENSEI'S EYES WILL BE ATTRACTED BY KAMIJOU'S MISFORTUNE! OUR DAMAGES WILL BE REDUCED TO THE MINIMUM! BANZAI!!"
Seeing the entire class cheer like that, Kamijou inadvertently let out an impatient look.
Though his own father was really bothered that his son was treated like this, to Kamijou himself, this was just a common thing in the daily life of a manga.
"Oi, don't tell me you guys didn't do your homework? Komoe-sensei will cry!"
Kamijou couldn't help but press against his temple. He knew that he wouldn't be able to make it, and right now, he was too stupid to even rush through his homework.
At this moment, Aogami Pierce thievishly said,
"Don't worry, that sensei loves problematic students more than good students. Komoe-sensei seemed really happy when she saw that 2/3 of the class needed to take the summer remedial."
"…Don't tell me she went to a bar alone to cry?"
"Ahhaha, what nonsense are you spouting, Kami-yan? I deliberately left my finished homework at home so that Komoe-sensei would scold me!"
"I DARE SAY THAT SHE'LL CRY! ARE YOU GUYS LITTLE KIDS WHO SPECIALIZE IN BULLYING YOUR CRUSH!?"
Kamijou couldn't help but shout, but such a thing was abnormally normal in this classroom. Everyone started to return to their own conversations.
Being finally able to stop crossing paths with a bunch of weirdos, Kamijou really wanted to sit at his own place, and he could take a slight nap during morning assembly, but he just didn't know where his seat was.
(What should I do now? I can't just honestly ask 'where's my place' right?)
Kamijou pondered for a while, and then said to Aogami Pierce,
"'Cuse me, but can you help me get my notebook? It's in my drawer."
"What's up Kami-yan? Forgot to bring it back before summer break?"
On hearing Kamijou's words, Aogami Pierce obediently headed towards a table at the back of the classroom that was near the window.
(I see, so that's my place.)
Kamijou saw Aogami Pierce peek at the drawer of the table and thought,
"Oi, Kami-yan! Where's that notebook?"
"Ah? Eh? I didn't put it in the drawer?"
Kamijou casually replied to the puzzled looking Aogami Pierce and finally sat at his own place.
Aogami Pierce also sat at the neighboring seat, and both of them started to chit-chat.
"In the end, after that so-called scholar launched that electric brain, he started to promote some manga brain. What an idiot. If reading manga can change the brain, wouldn't power development become way too easy? But it's cool to change every power development textbook into manga."
"Ah, but those manga that are used as teaching materials are normally rather boring. They seem to have so much lesson content."
"Damn you! What's exciting are the things behind these useless things! Haven't you realized that those kids-rated cartoons and special effects films have such devastating destruction? Do I need to punch you to wake you up?"
"Why are you so excited? I'll feel strange if those teaching materials can actually turn one into a Level 5 esper."
Like usual, Kamijou continued to discuss useless things with Aogami Pierce, and slowly found himself merging into this space.
It had been a month since he had lost his memory, and the Kamijou sitting there was no longer the blank-slate-state Kamijou. It was as if the 'he' who had lost his memory was overlapping with the 'he' before he had lost his memory.
Kamijou now had memories that he could discuss with others.
But that was just for Kamijou.
To that white nun, it was likely that none of the problems were solved.
Kamijou didn't remember meeting with Index, but from the way their conversations went, it seemed like Kamijou and Index had only met recently. Most likely, the amount of time he had spent with Index after losing his memories was more than the time before that.
But that didn't mean anything.
In the short time before he had lost his memories, Index had trusted Kamijou. To her, the memories in that short moment were treasures that she definitely didn't want to lose.
Right now, Index and Kamijou were rather close, but Index didn't know something.
That was, Kamijou had lost his memory, and no longer held those precious memories of being with her.
"Kami-yan? Oi, Kami-yan?"
Hearing Aogami Pierce's voice, Kamijou finally recovered.
"Ah, oh, sorry. I didn't sleep last night, so I'm a little dazed."
Kamijou tried to motivate himself and returned back to the fake everyday life.