Watching Shokuhou Misaki stare at the cakes in the glass display, her brilliant, star-like eyes sparkling with longing, Fang Li couldn't help but furrow his brows slightly.
A sense of discomfort began to take root in his heart.
Fang Li didn't think of himself as a genius, but the peculiar nature of his soul had always set him apart, lending him a unique perspective on life and people. His powers of observation and judgment were far sharper than most. Coupled with the reconnaissance fundamentals he'd learned at Butei High's Inquesta training, he was extremely perceptive when it came to reading people's psychological states.
That keen perception now let him see something clearly in Shokuhou Misaki's gaze…
A faint trace of bewilderment, buried deep inside her heart.
It was the kind of confusion born from viewing everything around you as utterly unfamiliar.
That impression only deepened when he recalled what she had said earlier…
"Do you know me?"
Those words were, at best, puzzling.
Why would Shokuhou Misaki, of all people, ask such a thing?
Was she just feigning familiarity, picking a random person to buy the cake she wanted?
But that didn't make sense. With Shokuhou Misaki's ability, if she truly wanted that cake, there was no need for such trouble. She could simply use Mental Out to manipulate Fang Li's mind, take his wallet, or even control the store clerk to hand over the cake for free.
In other words, there was something fundamentally off about her.
Looking at the girl before him, her gaze wandering elsewhere while her small hand clutched tightly at his sleeve as though clinging to a lifeline, Fang Li pushed his suspicions down for the moment. Turning toward the shop interior, he called out:
"Excuse me, is anyone here?"
Almost immediately, a store clerk appeared from the back.
Without wasting time, Fang Li pointed toward the cake Shokuhou Misaki had been eyeing all along and said…
"I'll take that one, please."
A short while later…
In a plaza, on a bench in front of a fountain, Shokuhou Misaki finished eating her cake. Setting the empty box aside, she took a sip of her drink and sighed contentedly.
"Phew… I feel alive again."
At that, Fang Li, who was sitting beside her drinking but not eating, raised an eyebrow.
"Feel alive again? Don't tell me you wanted that cake because you were actually hungry, not just because you wanted something sweet?"
"If it was just a craving, I wouldn't throw away my pride and beg someone for help."
Her voice was honey-sweet, so sweet it was almost cloying, but it carried an adorable kind of confidence as she continued:
"Ever since I woke up, my stomach's been in serious danger. Now I'm finally saved."
If she was just hungry, why not simply return to Tokiwadai?
Even without money, if she went back to her dorm, it's not like she'd starve.
But more importantly, what she said contained something that caught Fang Li's full attention.
"Since you woke up?"
Fang Li frowned and asked, "Why do you say it like that?"
At his question, Shokuhou Misaki fell silent for a few seconds before replying.
"I don't know."
Just two simple words, yet they made Fang Li's eyes narrow sharply.
"You don't know?"
Turning his gaze on her, Fang Li studied the depths of those brilliant, star-speckled eyes, where that faint confusion still lingered.
"Don't tell me… you…"
"Yeah, it's probably that."
Taking another sip of her drink, Shokuhou Misaki answered casually, as if it were nothing important.
"I've lost my memory, or maybe there's something wrong with my mental state. Either way, I woke up and didn't remember a single thing."
So that was it.
So that's why the girl's gaze toward everything around her carried that faint trace of bewilderment.
Fang Li didn't know it yet, but one year later, he would meet another person in the exact same state. The only difference was that the next person would have lost their memory for nearly a year, and thus wouldn't look as dazed and disoriented as Shokuhou Misaki did now, still reeling from just having woken up.
Judging by her current condition, where she hadn't even thought of returning to her dorm, it was highly likely she had forgotten that she was even a student of Tokiwadai Middle School.
No.
She herself had said that the moment she woke up, she remembered nothing.
If she meant that literally…
"Don't tell me, you've even forgotten your own name?"
When Fang Li asked that, Shokuhou Misaki turned to him, met his gaze, and slowly nodded.
Her expression didn't change much.
Anyone else might have been impressed by how calm she remained despite losing all her memories.
But Fang Li wasn't fooled by that outward composure.
He could clearly sense the confusion and anxiety hidden deep in her shining eyes.
His brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
"You're supposed to be the strongest psychic-type esper in Academy City, so how could you lose your memory?"
That was what didn't make sense.
For someone like Shokuhou Misaki, whose ability encompassed the entire field of mental and emotional control, to suffer memory loss was completely illogical.
His words seemed to startle her.
"The strongest psychic-type esper in Academy City?"
Shokuhou Misaki pointed to herself in disbelief.
"You're saying me? I'm the strongest psychic in Academy City? Could it be that I'm the fifth-ranked esper, Shokuhou Misaki?"
"...In other words, you may have lost your memories, but not your knowledge or common sense."
Fang Li relaxed his frown slightly and continued:
"At the very least, you still know that the fifth-ranked Level 5 psychic in Academy City is someone named Shokuhou Misaki. So, if you're asking whether that's you, then yes, unless I've somehow mistaken you for someone else."
After all, in Fang Li's memory, Shokuhou Misaki was a mature, voluptuous queen, a womanly presence that made even high school girls envious.
Looking at the small, delicate girl before him now, he found it a bit hard to believe that in just one year, she would grow into that.
"Shokuhou Misaki… Shokuhou Misaki…"
The girl herself still seemed stunned, lowering her head and murmuring her own name softly under her breath.
Watching her like that, Fang Li fell into thought.
In the world of A Certain Magical Index, the story was divided into two major parts: Old Testament and New Testament.
Fang Li was familiar with the contents of the Old Testament, but of the New Testament, he only knew a few key events, nothing detailed.
And as far as he could remember, there had never been any mention in the original story of Shokuhou Misaki losing her memory.
So then, what exactly had happened to her?
That thought brought a small realization to Fang Li's mind.
Finally, he was starting to see how this situation connected to his larger task.
"Anyway, just leaving things like this isn't an option."
Fang Li turned toward Shokuhou Misaki and said…
"If you want to find out the truth about what happened, how about coming with me?"
At those words, Shokuhou Misaki froze, staring at him in surprise.
(End Of This Chapter)
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