Chapter 812: Terestina's Plan
After hearing Aleister’s words, Kihara Gensei shook his head, then lit a cigar.
Aleister’s reasons sounded high-minded, but…
If one disregarded his identity as "Chairman," perhaps Aleister could also be considered a standard "Kihara."
As the man who created Academy City and single-handedly built its esper ability system, even if his original intention wasn't so, he wouldn't deliberately prevent the birth of a Level 6.
He merely shifted all the responsibility to old man Kihara Gensei.
Of course, old man Kihara Gensei didn't mind.
As the two conversed, the tremors stopped.
"You may leave," Chairman Aleister said. "Be sure to entertain the guest you invited well."
"What guest?" Kihara Gensei was not surprised—there were indeed no secrets in Academy City that could be hidden from the man before him. "Kihara Kagun is already a citizen of Academy City; he hasn't defected."
"He hasn't defected *yet*," Chairman Aleister corrected. "Do you really think I don't know about his little schemes?"
However, as Kihara Gensei said, at least for now, Kihara Kagun had not yet made any substantial acts of betrayal, which was why Chairman Aleister acquiesced to his return to Academy City.
Anyway, every Kihara tends to act recklessly and engage in various small schemes; if one were to be truly strict, probably few Kiharas would be pure and innocent.
Aleister was too lazy to fuss over such matters.
"Then…" After Kihara Gensei left, Aleister murmured to himself, "There's one more person—Terestina, what are you doing right now?"
…
Buzz~~
Periodically released electromagnetic pulses swept through the area where the powered suit was located, creating a "clean zone."
Terestina sat in the cockpit of the powered suit, chewing candy with a hint of boredom.
The electromagnetic interference was bidirectional. To ensure the interference frequency, Terestina specifically modified the Railgun launcher originally installed on the machine into an electromagnetic jammer.
Anyway, according to Lin Wuming and Misaka Mikoto, the FIVE_Over technology was already mature, especially the Railgun imitations, which had reached mass production levels. There was no point in retaining such an "outdated" weapon.
This way was fine, at least it could block the monitoring of the Stagnant Air Circuit.
Terestina actually hadn't done anything guilty that she absolutely needed to hide from Chairman Aleister.
She truly wanted to guard against Kihara Yuiitsu, or more accurately, Kihara Gensei, that Golden Retriever.
As a "Kihara" forcibly elevated from an ordinary Golden Retriever, Kihara Gensei was the most unique among the Kihara.
Of course, the other Kiharas didn't think there was anything wrong with this. Their concern about species differences only further proved that Terestina was not yet skilled enough to be considered a true Kihara.
"Actually, it doesn't matter if it's a cat or a dog, as long as it's properly vaccinated, I don't mind occasionally accompanying it," Terestina muttered. "The real trouble is its attitude."
The Kihara are all exceptionally intelligent and shrewd individuals. Dealing with them is an exhausting and even dangerous endeavor.
Especially when one has ulterior motives, it's even more crucial to avoid direct contact with them to prevent one's plans from being exposed and ultimately failing!
Judging from the current situation, Terestina undoubtedly had her own agenda; she wasn't just simply cooperating with Lin Wuming's group to jointly oppose her grandfather, Kihara Gensei.
Of course, the reason "opposing Kihara Gensei" couldn't be said to be false, but it was only one of Terestina's objectives.
She utilized Lin Wuming and the vast power surrounding him. Otherwise, with Terestina's own strength, she wouldn't even be enough to make Kihara Gensei take her seriously.
"That little girl Shokuhou Misaki is indeed very powerful, but she's still too arrogant and too young," Terestina knew that she had successfully evaded Shokuhou Misaki's Mind Reading.
Or rather, Terestina used the advantage of information asymmetry to employ an overt strategy that led Lin Wuming and Shokuhou Misaki to actively choose to cooperate with her.
After all, Terestina indeed had no intention of actively harming them, and both sides were genuinely in a "mutually beneficial" relationship—Lin Wuming's side had been clear about this from the very beginning.
However, Lin Wuming and Shokuhou Misaki still underestimated Terestina's ambition and calculations.
Being Kihara Gensei's granddaughter, Terestina knew that her grandfather's next research target was Lin Wuming.
Therefore, as long as she could find a way to instigate a conflict between Lin Wuming and Kihara Gensei, the subsequent developments would naturally fall into place.
—Grandfather would certainly take the opportunity to begin his experiment, directly targeting Lin Wuming!
Once this process began, Terestina's objective would already be achieved, and she wouldn't need to do anything further.
She only needed to stay hidden, or find a good vantage point to observe the unfolding events, and then wait for both sides to completely resolve the situation…
The biggest risk in this was that during the recent Summer Festival, that Golden Retriever suddenly sought out Lin Wuming for a meeting and discussed something.
Terestina also knew that Kihara Gensei's interest in Lin Wuming was actually influenced by Kihara Kagun. In a sense, it could even be said that he met Lin Wuming on behalf of Kihara Kagun, who was not in Academy City at the time.
This was a very dangerous signal. Kihara Kagun, Kihara Gensei, and Kihara Yuiitsu, who unconditionally stood with Kihara Gensei…
This meant that a significant portion of the Kihara were on Lin Wuming's side.
Regardless of their true intentions, or whether they also had ulterior motives, since they chose to stand with Lin Wuming now, they might expose Terestina's intentions to Lin Wuming.
Although it wouldn't matter if her little scheme was exposed—given Lin Wuming's temperament, he probably wouldn't particularly care, right?
At that point, she would just need to find a way to deal with the troublesome girls around him.
But Terestina was still unwilling to take the risk.
—She just needed to get through today. After everything was over, it wouldn't matter if those few boys and girls got angry.
Suddenly, the tremors stopped.
Although it only lasted for a few brief seconds, the strange and powerful tremors had left a deep impression on Terestina.
The sudden cessation of the tremors startled her awake.
Immediately opening the cockpit, Terestina, standing on the high-rise rooftop, gazed into the distance towards the 20th School District.
"It's over. Level 6 wasn't born," Terestina smiled. "Grandfather failed, and Lin Wuming… wasn't successful either. I won!"
