Railgun 159

Chapter 159

01

Text: Sha's revenge plot shows no restraint!
Sha: It won't take long for people to realize...
Sha: all the victims of the mysterious mass murder are Tokiwadai haters.

Sha: Then there will be no stopping it.
Sha: This school will be destroyed by the investigation.

Kiyoshi: Killing tens of thousands?
Kiyoshi: But those people are innocent.

Kiyoshi: And if you combine the 12 powers in the emblem...

Kiyoshi: you'll die too.

02

Sha: Yes.

Sha: My only regret is that I won't be able to see Tokiwadai's fall for myself.

Sha: So I leave that role to you.

03

SFX: Step

SFX: Step

Kiyoshi: What am I doing?

Kiyoshi: To avenge my lost sister...
Kiyoshi: I'm going to let tens of thousands of innocents die...

Kiyoshi: and lose another sister?

04

SFX: Creak

SFX: Creak...

SFX: Wobble...

05

Kiyoshi: I don't want to see this.

Kiyoshi: I can't bear it.

Kiyoshi: So what if I just let it all go?

06

SFX: Tug

SFX: Thud

SFX: Pant pant

Kiyoshi: Ah...

07

Mikoto: Kiyoshi, what...
Mikoto: the hell are you doing!?
Mikoto: If I hadn't seen you go up to the roof and followed you...

Kiyoshi: Ah ha ha. What's this?

Kiyoshi: Did you think I was going to jump?
Kiyoshi: Don't be silly.

Kiyoshi: I just wanted some fresh air.
Kiyoshi: Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea.

08

Mikoto: Wait!

Mikoto: Kiyoshi!!

09

Margin: Ruri-senpai and Kuroko are both in Judgment but never met?

Title: Chapter 159: Inherited Truth
Credit: Author: Kamachi Kazuma
		Art: Fuyukawa Motoi
		Character Designs: Haimura Kiyotaka

Profile:
Shinenkouji Rurikakesu (Esper Name: Gifted)
*An upperclassmen who (for better or for worse) had a great influence on Mikoto.
*Gifted Level 4. Can provide others (estimated max of 3000 people) with powerful buffs such as "a bullet-deflecting shield", "the strength to bend steel beams", and "the ability to jump to tall building rooftops in a single bound".
*1st Princess of the Southern European Platinumarea Principality. Her Japanese name is an alias.
*Had trouble fitting in when she first arrived, but after some attention from a certain Judgment upperclassman, she joined Judgment as well.
*Despite her seemingly free and wild behavior, she is terrified of hurting people's feelings, which is part of the reason she is a lone wolf.

10

Lily: The sun is setting.

Lily: Most of the other students appear to have left school.
Lily: We need to get back to the dorm in time for the 5:00 roll call.

Lily: By the way, I haven't seen Komaki-san around.
Kuroko: She is out with a cold thanks to the esper-created chill that hit her during the other day's arrest.
Komaki: Achoo

11

Kuroko: While the companies with reason to oppose Tokiwadai were being watched...
Kuroko: a board member was attacked.

Kuroko: And now both the Level 5s...
Kuroko: and we are stuck here.

Kuroko: We're out of options.

Lily: In that case...
SFX: Clatter

Lily: We just have to rely on the adults.
Kuroko: But with Anti-Skill watching Tokiwadai...
Kuroko: I feel like they're carelessly assuming they can stop the attacks whether the attacker is in the school or not.

Lily: Then...
SFX: Type type

12

Lily: Why not ask another school's Judgment branch to go on patrol?

List:
Branch 077
Branch 078
Branch 079
Branch 080
Branch 081
Branch 082
Branch 083

Kuroko: Hm...

Kuroko: We're only supposed to deal with our own school.
Kuroko: So asking for help outside our jurisdiction will be tough.
Kuroko(small): I'm sure a few would help if we asked, though

13

Kuroko: The two arrested the other day were affected by a power very similar to Mental Out.

Kuroko: But what about the previous suspects?
Kuroko: If they were controlled in the same way, they would have said so when questioned.

Lily: Couldn't their memories of it be erased with Mental Out?

Kuroko: It would be easier to implant a false motive in them.

Lily: Let's refer to the perp as X.
Lily: Does this mean X has mastered Mental Out and a number of other powers?

Kuroko: Mastered...
Kuroko: That phrasing sounds wrong to me.

14

Kuroko: The powers used in the attacks have all been different.

Kuroko: They've never used the same power twice.

15

Kuroko: For the dust explosion at the fertilizer plant, they used the power to induce abnormal activity in bacteria.

Kuroko: The construction materials plant explosion 2 days later used pyrokinesis and the power to break plants down into dust.
Kuroko: That one was a combination of two powers.

Kuroko: Why go to more effort to produce the same result?

Lily: Maybe they want to frame as many Tokiwadai students as possible for the attacks.
Kuroko: It's a possibility.

Kuroko: But what if X can only use each power once?

Kuroko: What if the powers are consumables.

16

Lily(flashback): Her power to materialize the thoughts imbued in objects is also wonderful!

Lily(flashback): The fossils she uses break apart and are wholly lost...

Kuroko: The materialization of thoughts.
Kuroko: Items have been going missing a lot at school.
Kuroko: What if the students' powers were extracted from those items?

17

Lily: N-now wait just a second!
Lily: You aren't suggesting her Highness is X, are you!?
Kuroko: No...it's only a theory.
SFX: Clatter

Kuroko: But...
Kuroko: Who else could use so many powers?

Lily: Shirai-san!!

Lily: This accusation is outrageous!!!
Kuroko: Again, it's only a theory.

List:
Branch 077: District 9             48-1, Kamimuda, Kanzaki
            Kanzaki High           TEL: XX-XXXX-XXXX

Branch 078: District 12            6-3, Sakaue, Miki
            Seimei High            TEL: XX-XXXX-XXXX

Branch 079: District 9             23-4, Shirakawa, Nakajima
            Matsuri Middle         TEL: XX-XXXX-XXXX

Branch 080: District 14            5-1, Koganedai, Anan
            Eniwa Academy          TEL: XX-XXXX-XXXX

Branch 081: District 18            2-5, Anei, Adachi
            Murasakino High        TEL: XX-XXXX-XXXX

Branch 082: District 11            43-2, Saiseki, Tanaka
            Harou Industrial High  TEL: XX-XXXX-XXXX

18

SFX: Scoot

Lily: Hey, I'm not done-
Kuroko: Look.

Kuroko: Branch 079's district and phone number are wrong.

Lily: Huh?
Lily: I'm new at this, so I wouldn't know.
Kuroko: Looking more closely...

Kuroko: There's an unusual number of mistakes in here.

Kuroko: I have a friend who's good at this stuff.

Uiharu: I checked it against the correct contact chart...
Uiharu: and it's full of very unnatural mistakes.

19

Uiharu: I'll send you just the modified text.
SFX: Type type

Kuroko: What is this?

Uiharu: I think it's the access key to a hidden account.
Uiharu: Reboot your branch PC...

Uiharu: and type that into the initial screen.

SFX: Appear
[Note: The computer text here is given in full in the next page's boxes]

20

Box: Contributor: Shinenkouji Rurikakesu
Box: I am writing this in the hope that a skilled underclassman will find it.

Lily: Shinenkouji!?
Kuroko: Shinen-? Who is that?
Kuroko(small): Is that even a real name?

Lily: She's a Judgment member who graduated last year.

Box: Forgive me for this roundabout method, but I'm afraid the branch will be searched over spring break.
Box: I never found any definitive evidence before I graduated...

Box: but I want to leave behind what information I do have.
Box: It all began 4 years ago...

21

Text: That is all. I hope this information will help Tokiwadai and you.

Kuroko: The Takebayashi family.
Kuroko: The Sha family.
Kuroko: The Kessai family.

Kuroko: If they resent Tokiwadai for what happened 4 years ago...
Kuroko: then they all have a motive.

Lily: I-it's nonsense!
Lily: Utter nonsense!!

Lily: Shinenkouji was a weird girl, so this must be her idea of a joke.

22

Lily: But it's not funny.
SFX: Stomp stomp
Kuroko: Ah...

Uiharu: Um, what should I do?

Kuroko: Try to corroborate this.
Uiharu: Will do.

Kuroko: This isn't...
Kuroko: enough to get at Sha with.
Kuroko: So first...

SFX: Chatter chatter

23

Girls: How do we decide where to sleep?

Girls: We need to remove the tables.
Girls: Only after dinner, though.

Mikoto: Kiyoshi...

Mikoto: I haven't seen her since school let out.
Mikoto: And she isn't answering her phone.

Mikoto: Where did she go?

Text: The truth is still a long way off, but the time of destruction is nigh!!

Box: To be continued next issue. The February Issue goes on sale Thursday, December 26!!