The sky had turned to the black of the sea at night.
The moon was in a crescent shape. The narrow moon looked like a sneering mouth and its light was much too weak. The street lights did not reach an iron bridge a ways from the center of the city. With the black of the river running below as well, the area seemed to have sunken into darkness.
Misaka Mikoto had her hands on the handrail as she vacantly stared at the distant lights of the city.
Bluish-white sparks crackled around her.
The term "electrical attack" had a frightening ring to it, but it was a kind light to her. She could not forget the night on which she first became able to use her power. She had crawled under her blanket and sent out small sparks all night long. She had seen them as sparkling stars. She had seriously thought that she might be able to create a starry sky one day when she was older and stronger.
That was how she had been before she grew up.
Now, she did not feel she had the right to have dreams.
"…"
She clenched her fists and then opened them again.
With just that motion, Mikoto's eyes narrowed slightly in a smile.
That simple action was one that everyone took for granted.
However, there were people in the world who could not take that simple action.
"…Muscular dystrophy, hm?" were the words that came from her small lips.
Muscular dystrophy was an incurable disease of unknown cause where one's muscles slowly become unusable. As the muscles became unusable, the strength of the muscles fell. Eventually, that loss of muscular strength spread throughout the entire body and even the freedom of the heart and lungs was lost.
Of course, Mikoto did not have muscular dystrophy.
Nor did she have someone close to her who suffered from it.
But she had thought that life would be a tough one.
They had done nothing wrong, but they were born with a body that would not move as they wanted it to, they had to watch helplessly as their body grew weaker and weaker, and they finally became unable to get up off of a bed. No matter much they tried to reach out their hand asking for help, no one would come to grab that hand. She had felt that life was just too much.
A researcher had asked her if she wanted to try to help those people
The researcher had said that those with muscular dystrophy might be able to be saved using her power. The man in the lab coat had then tried to shake her hand.
Muscular dystrophy was a disease that made one's muscles not move as you wanted them to.
And the brain's instructions were sent to the muscles with electrical signals.
If someone had the power to manipulate their own bodily electricity, they might be able to send signals to the muscles via a different way than the usual nerve route.
She might be able to bring a saving light to those people who were being swallowed up bit by bit by unease and fear as they helplessly saw their bodies getting weaker and weaker.
"…"
A certain young child had believed those words without a shred of doubt.
She had thought that, if her Electromaster power could be studied, it could be "transplanted" into others and save all those suffering from muscular dystrophy.
That was how Misaka Mikoto's DNA map had been officially recorded into Academy City's Bank.
However, recently there had been a rumor spreading throughout Academy City that her DNA map had been used to create military Sisters. It wasn't that rare an occurrence. Mikoto was one of the seven Level 5s and a scholarship student at the prestigious powers development school of Tokiwadai Middle School. There had been countless baseless rumors like that about her. That was why she had not believed the rumor.
Or perhaps she had simply not wanted to believe it.
However, that girl's wish had been shattered in a way she had never expected.
"…"
A mass production line had already been created for the Radio Noise Sisters that had been created for military use. An inexhaustible supply could be created at the press of a button.
And the Sisters that had been created did not even get to live the life of a weapon. Instead, their sole purpose in life was to be killed as experimental animals. They were like frogs to be dissected.
"Why…did it end up like this?" Mikoto muttered with trembling lips.
The reason was obvious. It was because she had carelessly shared her DNA map when she was little. She did not know if that man in the lab coat had been lying from the start or if the proper research had been changed partway through.
There had once been a little girl who had wished to save some troubled people.
But that girl's wish had resulted in 20,000 people being killed.
"…"
That was why that girl wished to stop it.
Even if it cost her her life, she had to stop that insane experiment.
She did not think she was being cool by betting her life. She did not especially want to die. In fact, her body was trembling, her fingertips had gone pale and cold, and she could not gather her thoughts properly as if there was static scattered throughout the back of her head.
If she could, she wanted to yell out for help.
But she could not allow herself to do that.
The face of a certain boy floated up in the back of her mind. That older boy had an unknown power that had allowed him to easily deal with one of Academy City's Level 5s yet he was branded a Level 0. That boy was strong enough that, without bluffing, he could honestly write off that unfair treatment as "not mattering". That strong boy held great power yet was not proud and he treated both strong and weak equally and without discrimination.
She suddenly recalled that she had fought with that boy on that same iron bridge just a few weeks before.
That boy had acted foolishly in an attempt to get some delinquents to chase after him. He did not even know those delinquents, but he had been trying to distance them from Mikoto who was quick to start a fight.
If Mikoto had already known everything about the experiment hidden in the underside of the city at that time and had called to that boy for help, would he have stood up for her?
She was sure he would have.
She had a feeling that boy could do what she could not.
But she also felt it would be cowardly to ask him to help her.
It was Mikoto's fault that around 10,000 Sisters had been killed and the remaining 10,000 were still standing on the verge of death. Could someone who had committed such a great crime – could a monster whose hands were soaked in blood, flesh, bone, fat, and guts – really ask for help? She did not think so.
"…Help me."
That was why Mikoto let out that voice in that place where it would reach no one.
Her frightened, wounded, and tattered voice merely disappeared into the darkness.
"Help me…"
That cry that would reach no one spilled uncontrollably from her mouth.
And then she heard the mewing of a kitten.
Mikoto looked down. Instead of darkness, she saw a kitten sitting at her feet that had black fur that held gentle warmth. The black cat looked up at her and mewed with that young face that looked like the face of a pure unblemished child.
She wondered where the cat had come from.
And then she heard a footstep.
"…"
Mikoto looked up.
With no street lights, the only light was the pale moonlight from the wire-thin crescent moon. This left that iron bridge covered in darkness as if it represented the environment surrounding her.
"…What are you doing?"
That boy appeared as if he were tearing through that darkness.
He appeared like a hero rushing over in response to the cries of a girl being swallowed up by the darkness.