Academy City's Weather Report! (Toaru)

Chapter 444: Academy City Weather Report! - 444

'Perfect, this is developing splendidly. So we managed to smoothly escape the crisis after all.'

'Still, it's too early to let our guard down just yet.'

The girl named Frenda pursed her lips slightly, walking alongside the other two.

Yet she maintained a faint, almost imperceptible distance, keeping a social gap of over twenty centimeters as if by instinct.

She'd originally wanted to make her excuses and leave this troublesome situation far behind. But the mere thought that they might tail her back to the Item base made Frenda suppress the urge. She needed to carefully gather any available intel to decipher their true intentions.

But it all felt utterly pointless, a complete waste of her time.

No matter how you looked at it, that greenhouse-raised ojousama who seemed like a massive threat actually had zero sense of alertness, carelessly leaving her vulnerable back completely exposed.

What's more, the girl wasn't even doing basic information gathering, let alone trying to subtly pry any 'Item' details out of her.

And that line about not being able to remember foreigner's faces? Frenda was speechless. Was her presence really that low? She'd shown up in the early chapters, for crying out loud!

Come to think of it, the #8 Level 5 must have noticed something, right? But she just casually bought the excuse. So all that tension was for nothing.

'Ah, why can someone like her become a Level 5? It's just not fair.'

'She can't even remember what her opponent looks like, lacks basic caution, gets so obsessed with gossip...'

Frenda grumbled internally. This was her first proper interaction with this particular Level 5, and she was turning out to be just your average, run-of-the-mill middle schooler.

Even more of a chatterbox than most, in fact. The whole way, she'd been going on about various urban legends and the topic of Indian Poker, forcing Frenda to chime in with her own opinions.

"They say that long-term use of Indian Poker cards made by the same person can cause noticeable mood swings and auditory hallucinations."

"Is that rumor popular right now?"

Her light footsteps slowed on the solid stone pavement as Natsume-san turned back, looking rather surprised at Saten-san's question.

Well, that basically confirmed what Shokuhou-senpai suspected about the brainwashing function.

"Very popular. So everyone's trying to avoid long-term use of cards made by a single 'Dream Ranker' now. Of course, some people brush it off, since cards made by certain Dream Rankers are really sought after."

"The specific symptoms are like having someone constantly talking in your ear, telling you what you should do. Their thoughts just take root in your head."

"But that's kinda unavoidable, isn't it? Indian Poker cards carry other people's dreams. If you use them too much, of course your own thoughts and feelings start getting influenced by that person."

Saten-san nodded earnestly, showing she was very familiar with the current Indian Poker rumors.

While they were just gossipy rumors, they sounded more like rules for usage.

These unofficial things didn't come with instruction manuals or customer support.

Academy City's authorities still hadn't done anything about it, so the basic rules were mostly pieced together and summarized by the users themselves.

"They even say that frequently using cards with a fixed theme can cause similar effects. If you keep using cards full of destruction and violence, you might actually find yourself driven by violent impulses."

Saten-san added.

Especially if you picked dream cards that aligned with your own personality and views, it could amplify those stubborn aspects of your character and emotions. And if those emotions spiraled out of control, it could lead to serious consequences, endangering both yourself and those around you.

Realistically, any student with a shred of common sense would be fine. But for those lacking self-control and backbone, it was easy to get influenced.

Hearing this, even Frenda curiously leaned in closer. This was her first time hearing this particular take on Indian Poker.

While Mugino hadn't forbidden them from using Indian Poker, she was clearly wary of anything that could potentially invade the mind. As for whether the other Skill-Out members used them, that was less clear.

Natsume-san beside her seemed lost in thought. She'd just witnessed an incident that might be connected to this very phenomenon.

Getting confirmation would be simple enough. She just needed to ask Shirai-san or Yomikawa-sensei about the perpetrator's testimony.

So, Natsume-san's earlier hunch was pretty much on the money. This thing really was similar to the previous Level Upper incident, but with an even wider reach and affecting more people.

The thought sent a shiver of discomfort down Natsume-san's spine.

It was most likely another case of technology being misused. No wonder Shokuhou-senpai had reacted so strongly earlier.

"But speaking of Indian Poker, you use them too, don't you, Saten-san?"

The realization suddenly hit Natsume-san, her voice tinged with concern.

It wouldn't be good if Saten-san got influenced too. She'd have to step in for sure.

"Well, my budget's pretty tight, so I only buy the skill-type Indian Poker cards. Those kinds of cards are specially edited, only keeping the parts that teach the skill. So even if there are leftover thoughts from the Dream Ranker, they're just little fragments."

"And those cards aren't fun at all. Using them is actually pretty boring, so not many people like them."

Saten-san's face flushed slightly as she admitted this, a little embarrassed.

Unlike Natsume-san's 'fake poverty' where she'd be rolling in cash again next month, Saten Ruiko, with her Level 0 scholarship, was genuinely poor. This was a level of financial struggle Natsume-san had never experienced.

While the Academy City scholarship wouldn't let a Level 0 starve, having ample pocket money was completely out of the question. Unless you asked your family outside for help and exchanged outside Yen for the Yen used within the city.

The money mindset of Tokiwadai's ojousamas and an ordinary student from Sakugawa Middle School were worlds apart.

One could only imagine how brazen Natsume-san was, sneakily drinking the tea and milk at the Judgment Branch 177 office.

"Skill-type cards?"

Natsume-san murmured softly, a spark of curiosity igniting within her.

"Things like pen spinning, card tricks, whistling... cards for skills like that are usually C-rank. S-rank cards that teach things like martial arts or shooting are much harder to find," Saten-san replied quietly.

If you could mass-produce skills and knowledge, the value of such cards would be completely different.

Unfortunately, the cards' capacity wasn't that large. They could only hold skills with relatively small amounts of information.

For example, a martial arts card might only teach a move or two. Becoming a master fighter overnight was impossible, but you could grasp the basics of those particular techniques.

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