[h2]Saten Ruiko[/h2]

Ruiko folded her arms across her chest, quite proud of her conclusions... and then Uiharu started looking through Esper profiles on the computer. Naturally, Ruiko leaned over beside her to peer at the screen and get a good look at who might be the culprit... even if she was still sure it was like the rumor said, and it was some kind of ghost doing all the knocking out and powering up and that kind of thing. A few bios went by, until the person who seemed most likely came up.

"... Huh, so he's dead?" Ruiko inclined her head to the side slightly as she mused on the deceased nature of the culprit. Well, that made things a bit different... of course, that meant... "So he can't be the culprit..."

The black-haired girl straightened and folded her arms with a smile. "Unless he's the ghost!"

[h2]Misaka Mikoto[/h2]

So the most likely perpetrator was dead, then? Or... at least, [i]recorded[/i] as dead. Part of Mikoto couldn't help but question it. Was this the work of the Dark Side of Academy City again? They could have altered the records... No, no, she couldn't just assume it was something like that. Though if it was...

There would be a way to stop it. There had to be a way she could stop it. Even if it wasn't the work of someone in that darkness, she'd find some what to stop it then, too. Just trying to force these kinds of things on students in the city... what kind of person thought of something like that? What kind of person though something like that was okay? Mikoto felt she knew the answer to that question, but deep inside she knew she couldn't stop questioning it.

Mikoto's serious expression faded somewhat when she noticed that the black-haired girl was still trembling and panicking. The experience must of really shaken her... She just kept looking down, too, somewhere near Kuroko's legs. The poor girl really must be terrified. She smiled at her.

"It's okay, you're safe now," said Mikoto, "So don't worry about that guy."