FAR BEYOND: 09/14/2030, 13:14 ♪ BGM: Anxious Times of Rokumei City ♫  How do you suppose we search for one girl in a town this big? Have you tried calling her? Yeah. But she wouldn't pick up. ...Salyu pondered for a second before coming up with an answer. If you can't reach her by phone, then how about using telepathy? Huh!? When we first met at the scene of that accident, you used powerful telepathy. Can't you use that to contact Mashiro without having to know where she is? ...Telepathy, huh.According to Ukita, Natsuhiko's telepathy apparently reached as far as a kilometer away. And he knew Mashiro's characteristic brain waveform quite well after all the practice they had done. But Natsuhiko had never consciously used telepathy on his own. Can I do it...? Mashiro said that the trick to using telepathy was to focus on the words you want to convey from the bottom of your heart. It might be amateurish thinking on my part, but I think you can do it now that you're sincerely worried about Mashiro. Yeah... maybe I can. Okay, got it! I'll give it a try!Natsuhiko resolved himself and placed a finger to his temple. It was the same basic stance Mashiro had used to facilitate telepathy. Okay. I'll cheer you on. Go for it, Natsuhiko. Sorry, please be quiet for a second. I need to concentrate. ...Okay.Salyu fell silent. In the midst of the soft sound of the pouring rain, Natsuhiko concentrated with all his mind. He couldn't dare use mass untargeted telepathy. He absolutely needed to make sure his message had directionality. (--First I need to make myself keenly aware of Mashiro's characteristic brain waveform.) A blue branch with Mashiro at 6 and Natsuhiko at 3. The waveform associated with gentle people who try their hardest to help others. He thought of her and focused hard on the words he wanted to tell her. ''--Mashiro, where are you? Why won't you pick up? Salyu and I are worried. Contact us if you're okay.''  Though it was embarrassing to put it into words, it was indeed true that he was concerned about her. That concern intensified in his heart. ''--Can you hear me, Mashiro? Didn't I tell you before not to make me worry so much...?'' As he finished wringing out those thoughts, suddenly-- ♪ BGM: Silence ♫ The surrounding sound of the rain disappeared. (...?)For a second, he thought the rain had stopped. But that wasn't it. The rain was still falling. He merely stopped hearing the rain because his five senses had dampened.  A strange sixth sense beyond his usual five. (Wh... what's going on? It's like I can feel my own brain cranking...!)The world was full to the brim with BC particles. And Natsuhiko felt as if he could sense their very movement through his brain. (... This...! This is BC!?)Natsuhiko concentrated even further. He focused on the complex, minute electrical signals that formed his desired message. {--Mashiro, where are you!? Contact me!}The message loaded onto the BC particles in his brain and were expelled out into the world--! ---- --  ♪ BGM: Anxious Times of Rokumei City ♫ Eventually, he snapped back to reality once he heard Salyu's voice. Huh... what happened? You suddenly turned pale and surprised me. Are you okay? Y—yeah, probably.Now that he thought about it, he remembered what Ena had said. ''BC use can cause the five senses to dampen, and in certain cases, even vital signs like body temperature and pulse can drop.'' That said, he hadn't heard a thing about complete hearing loss or turning pale. Perhaps those were side effects of the extreme concentration. Well, I guess if I was able to concentrate that hard, maybe it actually did reach Mashiro...That would be assuming Mashiro was currently less than a kilometer away from them. With that thought in mind, they waited for a little while, but still did not receive any contact from her. ...Maybe it failed.Once that utterance eventually left his lips-- An electronic sound chimed from within Natsuhiko's pocket. What's that? An e-mail!Natsuhiko took out his PDA and opened his e-mail. The display showed the following response:  The White Tiger Gate...? Why would she be at a place like that?Natsuhiko cocked his head after he finished reading the e-mail. What's that? It's a city gate on the west side of town.Tips posted:TIP: City gates Rokumei City was surrounded by a fence in order to maintain public security. But obviously, there were entrances in the fence. There were six city gates in total, and the White Tiger Gate was one of them.   Looks like it...The White Tiger Gate was about 2 km away from where they were. An effective range of 2 km made his latest use of telepathy even more far-reaching than what he did at the scene of the accident. It was hard to believe all of a sudden, but if Mashiro said she heard it, then it was probably true. So, what do we do? Mashiro's saying she'll go to school once she's done with her business, so should we meet her there? ...No. Let's go to her. I want to know what exactly this business of hers is. Roger. I'll accompany you.It was not a distance that was impossible to run. So Natsuhiko and Salyu began running towards the city gate.
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