"Huh? Su Mo?" Yomikawa Aiho, stepping out of the vehicle with a riot shield in hand, immediately caught sight of the two criminals who had already been securely tied up.
While Su Mo was busy studying his own knot-tying technique, Yomikawa Aiho approached. "You're the one who dealt with these criminals?" she asked, a bit surprised.
"Long time no see, Aiho," Su Mo greeted his old friend with a wave, then shook his head. "No, these guys weren't caught by me. My adorable students took care of it."
"I figured as much," Aiho nodded knowingly. "They don't have a single scratch on them — definitely not your usual handiwork. Looks like they got lucky this time and didn't run into you personally." She even sounded like she was genuinely relieved for the criminals.
"Hey now, you make me sound like some kind of violent maniac," Su Mo retorted indignantly. "I've never once used lethal force on ordinary criminals!"
Aiho stared at him speechlessly. "The fact that you even bring up lethal force is dangerous enough thinking by itself," she sighed. Having once worked in the city's dark side herself, she had no intention of prying into what Su Mo might have done to those far from 'ordinary.'
At that moment, another voice joined in. A young girl with glasses, wearing an Anti-Skill uniform but looking surprisingly timid, spoke up. "Yomikawa-senpai, Su Mo-senpai! Please calm down, now's not the time to argue!"
This was Aisui's junior colleague from Anti-Skill — Tessou Tsuzuri, a soft, timid girl with glasses who could almost be described as a walking marshmallow. Hearing her words, Aiho chuckled and shook her head. "Don't worry, Tsuzuri, we're not actually arguing. This is just how we usually talk."
"Eh? Really?" Tsuzuri blinked in surprise, but after glancing at both of their expressions, she realized they didn't seem angry at all. Embarrassed, she lowered her head and apologized. "Sorry, I misunderstood!"
"It's fine," Su Mo waved it off casually. After exchanging a few words, Aiho and Tsuzuri proceeded to escort the two criminals toward the back of their vehicle.
As they approached, Aiho suddenly noticed something strange about the two men — their vacant, dazed eyes. "Mental control?" she muttered, instantly recognizing that they had been subdued using an esper ability. She turned to Su Mo for confirmation.
Su Mo glanced toward Misaki Shokuhou. "You can release them now."
At that moment, Misaki was observing Aiho with curious, sparkling eyes, clearly intrigued by the woman. Hearing Su Mo's instruction, she cheerfully responded, "Okay!" She pressed a button on her remote, releasing the mental control.
The two criminals immediately regained consciousness, looking around in confusion, completely unaware of when or how they had even been tied up.
Aiho briefly noticed the unusual gaze the blonde girl cast toward her but didn't give it much thought. Instead, her attention was caught by the girl's Tokiwadai uniform. "So the rumors were true—you really did start teaching at Tokiwadai."
As if something clicked in her memory, Aiho's eyes narrowed slightly. "Wait... a mental ability user, Tokiwadai uniform... Could this student of yours be the sixth Level 5, the 'Mental Out'?"
"You guessed it," Misaki smiled sweetly and quietly moved to stand beside Su Mo. "I didn't expect this Anti-Skill aunt to know who I am!"
"A-aunt?!" Aiho froze, caught off guard. She hadn't expected to be addressed that way—after all, she was only in her twenties! The unexpected blow from Misaki left her momentarily speechless, but since she couldn't really scold a student, she turned her frustration toward the criminals instead.
"You two are really something," she sighed. "Trying to commit a crime under the noses of not one, but two Level 5s... I don't think I've ever seen criminals this reckless."
Misaki Shokuhou and Su Mo — two Level 5s. Aiho doubted there was anyone who could get away with anything in front of that kind of lineup.
"W-What? Two Level 5s?!" the two criminals were stunned. They had barely managed to boost their abilities to Level 3 using Level Upper, and right as they stepped into action, they had unknowingly run into two Level 5s? Talk about rotten luck!
Only now did they finally understand how they had been so easily captured without even realizing it. Faced with two Level 5s, they never even stood a chance.
But just as they exchanged despairing glances, Su Mo added calmly, "Actually, technically speaking, they weren't just facing two Level 5s."
He gestured toward Misaka Mikoto. "Including her, that makes three."
The moment fell silent.
The two criminals looked like they were on the verge of tears, while Shirai Kuroko couldn't help but shake her head in pity. "Trying to rob a bank in front of three Level 5s? That's some courage. Even after you're sent to juvenile detention, this story will probably become an urban legend."
Most criminals wouldn't even dream of facing a situation like this.
Surprisingly, hearing Shirai's words seemed to cheer up the two criminals. Their eyes lit up. "You're right!" one of them said. "We can tell people that Academy City had to dispatch three Level 5s just to catch us!"
"Yeah! That sounds really impressive!"
Suddenly, being arrested didn't seem quite so bad. In fact, they almost felt like they had earned bragging rights. Seeing their enthusiasm, Aiho sighed deeply, half as a police officer, half as a teacher. "You two idiots, what's the point of having that kind of reputation? Are you planning to become delinquents when you get out? Looks like ideological reform is going to be a top priority for your time in juvenile correction."
Shaking her head, she finally loaded the two into the back of the vehicle. After the interrogation, these two would undoubtedly be sent off for re-education at a juvenile facility.
Once Anti-Skill had departed, Su Mo, having obtained what he needed, said his goodbyes to Misaka Mikoto and the others. Then he and Misaki quietly left together.
They had barely walked a few steps when Su Mo suddenly stopped, as if remembering something. "Oh right! Misaka!" he called out, turning back toward Mikoto.
"Huh? What is it?" Mikoto looked at him, slightly puzzled.
"I recall you seemed to like this little thing, so I grabbed one too," Su Mo said with a smile, tossing a small object toward her in a smooth arc before turning and disappearing around the street corner.
With a soft clap of her hands, Mikoto caught the object perfectly. When she opened her palms, her face immediately lit up with delight. "Gekota!" Nestled in her hands was the very Gekota keychain she had wanted while they were lining up earlier.
Gratitude welled up in Mikoto's heart toward Su Mo. "Su Mo-sensei really treats you well, Misaka-senpai!" Uiharu Kazari commented enviously. She couldn't help but admire how attentive Su Mo had been to notice even this small detail.
However, Saten Ruiko noticed something odd. "But… why was Shokuhou-senpai with Su Mo-sensei? Isn't it a little strange for a teacher and student to be out together during the holidays?"
The others exchanged glances, but none of them could come up with a satisfactory answer.
....
....
Meanwhile, Su Mo and Shokuhou Misaki had already walked far from the scene. "Su Mo-sensei, did you manage to get what you were after?" Misaki asked curiously.
"Yes, I did." Su Mo nodded and pulled out a small music player from his sleeve.
Misaki looked at it with some confusion. "Isn't the Level Upper supposed to be some kind of advanced device? This is just… a music player?"
"No. The true Level Upper is nothing more than a piece of music," Su Mo explained, shaking his head.
"Music alone can enhance esper abilities?" Misaki was skeptical. "How does that even work?"
"It uses synesthesia to influence brainwaves through the music's frequencies. By creating resonance in the brainwaves, it allows the user's brain to synchronize with others and share their processing power," Su Mo gave a brief rundown of how Level Upper worked. "In essence, it's like a cloud computing network. As long as the network administrator doesn't get too greedy and overdraw the processing power, everyone benefits from it. As a way to temporarily boost abilities, it's actually quite ingenious."
Normally, espers couldn't maintain the use of their abilities continuously throughout the day, except for a few special Level 5s. Most espers could only tap into their brain's calculation power for a few minutes, or at most, a few dozen minutes per day. The rest of the time, their mental computation capacity remained idle. The Level Upper network tapped into this idle processing power, pooling it so users could borrow from others when they needed it, temporarily amplifying their abilities.
From a resource utilization perspective, the Level Upper was a remarkable concept. It took the untapped potential of countless espers and redistributed it for mutual benefit.