Academy City's Puppet Master

... On the night of July 22nd, at the top of the ten-story office building less than 1000 meters away from Teacher Yueyong Xiaomeng's house, the flame magician Stil was using a small telescope to observe the scene in the opposite room.

The boy with the hedgehog head was messing with Index, laughing and fighting like two idiots.

Index seemed to be annoyed, and bit the boy's head forcefully. The boy was struggling in panic, and seemed to be wailing and begging for mercy.

What a peace... Stiyl was speechless, and the cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth burned out in an instant.

So he took the cigarette case out of his pocket again.

"How's their situation?" said the long-haired girl with a sword next to her. She didn't use a telescope. Although her eyesight was far superior to that of ordinary people, it was still difficult to see details at such a long distance.

Without saying a word, Stiyl handed the binoculars to Kanzaki.

"We get along pretty well, don't we?"

"This is not a good thing..." Stiyl snorted.

"Fortunately," Kanzaki said, "they've only known each other for a while, so the parting shouldn't be too painful."

"You really think so?" Steele asked back.

A silent silence answered him.

Neither of them was willing to continue this topic, and after a while, Kanzaki Kaori also put down his binoculars and noticed that his companion beside him was flipping through a stack of documents.

"Any new information?"

===Chapter 14 The second time I met Mikoto===

"Any new information?"

"No, it's just for me to look at it casually to relieve boredom." Stiyl raised the paper in his hand, and there seemed to be something like an advertisement leaflet in it, "Something brought out from Ling Xingye's room."

"It seems that he is not our enemy." Kanzaki said, "otherwise you wouldn't just let him go."

Steele snorted noncommittally: "By the way, have you heard of the sun and the moon flying into the sky—if that's how you read it."

He pointed to the four most prominent characters on a Chinese leaflet and said.Although he is proficient in Japanese, he is still almost unfamiliar with Chinese.

"There is also this calligraphy in his room." Kanzaki immediately remembered.

"No," Stiyl shook his head, and put the flyer in front of Kanzaki, "I'm talking about this circus, it's called 'Sun and Moon Volley', have you heard of it?"

"Speaking of which, it's the circus that seems to be very popular recently." Kanzaki recalled, "In the first half of the year, there have been three performances in the United States."

Seeing Kanzaki Kaori's subtle expression, Stiyl knew that this matter was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

"Is there anything wrong with this circus?" he pursued.

"The Riyue Lingkong is a circus troupe that suddenly appeared in front of the world in mainland China two years ago," Kanzaki explained, "They have superb skills and wonderful performances, and they soon went abroad and started touring around the world... And few people know that the predecessor of this circus, or the former name - is 'Lingjiaban'."

"It sounds like a mainland-style name." Steele commented casually.

"The circus performances in the Lingjiaban era were just as wonderful, or probably even better than they are now." Kanzaki Kaori said, "But they never went out of the country, and even only wandered in remote mountainous villages in the northwest and central regions gig. So it's almost hard to hear from them outside of that circle."

"The Amakusa-style cross desolate sect I used to work in used to have a senior who went to the mainland to learn magic knowledge about Taoism." Kanzaki Kaori recalled, "I remember that one of the important practices was to work in the Ling family class for half a year. Apprentice, specialized in juggling."

"The magic on the mainland is on the decline, and your senior is basically cheated, right?"

Kanzaki glared at him: "Even the United States has magic associations like the Freemasonry. That country with a long history of 5000 years will allow magic to be cut off? They just rarely appear in the outside world."

Stiles no longer refuted.For this point, Japan's local magic community, which is separated from the mainland by a strip of water, is more convincing than others.

Kanzaki Kaori continued: "According to that senior, the Ling Family Ban is definitely not an ordinary circus, and they definitely have a lot of connections with the mainland's magic world!"

"Why do you remember to ask this? It seems that Ling Xingye is from the Ling family class?" Kanzaki immediately guessed the truth.

Stiyl pulled out a document with a photo attached.

Above is a group photo of more than [-] people in front of the tent with the signboard of Ling's class. One of the people in the crowd is the younger Ling Xingye.

……

The sky was getting dark gradually, Ling Xingye finished today's performance, and was about to pack up the props and set foot on the way home.

After confirming Kamijou Touma's safety in the morning, he reported to Hitomi Shiranui that he was safe, and then Ling Xingye temporarily resumed his normal life rhythm.

Of course, it was only a superficial relaxation. In fact, Ling Xingye still planned to use his body as bait to lure out that cunning enemy.

Hitomi Shiranui seemed to be busy attending the book club organized by Sachiko-sensei today, so she didn't come to join her.

But Ling Xingye still received a 5000 yuan bill.

"Thank you for your support!" Ling Xingye politely thanked the girl in the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School—as expected of the eldest lady of a noble school, and as worthy of a level 5 superpower, the shot is really generous.

"Why didn't I see you yesterday?" Misaka Mikoto blurted out such a sentence.

"...No, don't get me wrong, this performance is your part-time job, right? Don't you have to perform every day?" Misaka Mikoto quickly explained again.

"What is there to misunderstand?" Although Ling Xingye was a little puzzled, he still explained, "This kind of performance is just my personal interest and habit, there is no mandatory rule. Usually I come here two to three times a week. If we stay in Academy City, there will be additional performances depending on the situation... In short, we won’t come every day. Otherwise, there will be no time to prepare new programs, and the audience will soon get bored.”

"I see. Is there such a consideration?" Misaka Mikoto nodded in agreement.

"However, it's rare for me to meet an audience as bold as you—after all, this is an open-air performance on the street." Ling Xingye looked in a good mood, and after the audience dispersed, he began to count today's income.

"Borrowing flowers to present Buddha, do you want to buy you a drink?" Ling Xingye took out the 5000 yuan card and said to Misaka Miqin.

Misaka Mikoto embraced her chest with both hands, and snorted: "The day before yesterday I still treated guests to dinner, but today it has degenerated into a drink?"