[Accelerator maintains his grumpiness, the corner of one eye even twitching at Leo calling Last Order a little sister.]
She's just someone I keep an eye on, that's all. Everyone gets pushed around by some younger brat at some point in their life. I don't treat her like family.
[He waves a hand at the whole scene. His behaviour hadn't been that bad so far, just typical Accelerator surliness that Last Order is doing an excellent job of barreling through, but he remembers where the conversation goes. It doesn't last, he ruins it, because that's just who he is.
“…You know what?” Accelerator removed his hand from the heated hot plate. “I shoulda probably asked yesterday, but you’ve got nerves of steel, you know that? Don’t you know what I did to all of you? Wasn’t it painful? Distressing? Brutal? Humiliating?”
Just before the experiment ended, after the Level 0 had intervened in the fight at the switchyard, he thought he could feel the one Sister (whom he seemed to be calling Misaka Imouto) glaring at him with hostility.
Did they not acquire actual human fear and emotion at that time? Or was that limited only to Misaka Imouto herself?
“Weeelll, Misaka has a brain-wave link with all 9,969 other Misakas, so she’s mentally connected with them.”
“Yeah? And?”
“There’s this mental network that creates those brain-wave links, says Misaka as Misaka explains to you.”
“You mean like a collective unconsciousness or whatever?”
“Well, it’s a little different, says Misaka as Misaka corrects you. The link and individual Misaka’s relationship is like that of synapses and brain cells, says Misaka as Misaka gives an example. It would be correct to say that there is a giant brain called the Misaka Network and that it controls all of the Misakas, says Misaka as Misaka explains to you.”
Accelerator fell silent.
Last Order, however, continued on with her explanation.
“When an individual Misaka dies, the Misaka Network itself doesn’t disappear, says Misaka as Misaka continues the explanation. Going with the brain analogy, Misakas are the cells, and the brain-wave links are like the synapses that convey information between cells. If a cell is destroyed, then the memories experienced go away, so it does hurt, but the Misaka Network can’t be completely destroyed until the very last Misaka goes away—”
Accelerator was overcome with a sense of hatred, like the kind one would get if a giant spider was looking at them. Not because this person was scary, of course. He could kill her instantly. Right at this moment. He’d killed ten thousand of them, after all. Given time, he could hunt the rest down.
But that wasn’t it.
There was something more fundamentally different. This girl, wrestling with the food on her plate—it was like she was built entirely differently from humans, like an alien…
“—At least that was what Misaka thought, but Misaka thinks Misaka has changed her mind.”
“?”
“Misaka learned something new, and that’s a Misaka’s worth, says Misaka as Misaka is confident. There is value in each individual Misaka’s life and not Misaka as a whole. Nobody can replace a Misaka. If Misaka were to die, then there would be people who would cry for Misaka, says Misaka as Misaka asserts proudly. So Misaka won’t die anymore. Not even one more can die, says Misaka as Misaka believes that.”
So she said, in a human way, looking into Accelerator’s eyes with human directness.
She had declared one thing: that she would never forgive what Accelerator did.
It was a proclamation of hatred. An announcement that Last Order would never forget about that time as long as she lived.
“Haah…”
Accelerator unconsciously slumped deep down into the back of his chair and, looking up at the ceiling, breathed a sigh.
He didn’t know.
He had known that they had emotions this whole time, but…no one had ever come face-to-face with him and denounced him on the spot. That’s why Accelerator didn’t understand their pain. And those Sisters, whom he’d treated as puppets until now, were humans. They could feel that sort of pain—and he hadn’t realized that until everything was over.
“—”
Accelerator opened his mouth. He moved his mouth. But no words came out of his mouth.
no subject
She's just someone I keep an eye on, that's all. Everyone gets pushed around by some younger brat at some point in their life. I don't treat her like family.
[He waves a hand at the whole scene. His behaviour hadn't been that bad so far, just typical Accelerator surliness that Last Order is doing an excellent job of barreling through, but he remembers where the conversation goes. It doesn't last, he ruins it, because that's just who he is.
“…You know what?” Accelerator removed his hand from the heated hot plate. “I shoulda probably asked yesterday, but you’ve got nerves of steel, you know that? Don’t you know what I did to all of you? Wasn’t it painful? Distressing? Brutal? Humiliating?”
Just before the experiment ended, after the Level 0 had intervened in the fight at the switchyard, he thought he could feel the one Sister (whom he seemed to be calling Misaka Imouto) glaring at him with hostility.
Did they not acquire actual human fear and emotion at that time? Or was that limited only to Misaka Imouto herself?
“Weeelll, Misaka has a brain-wave link with all 9,969 other Misakas, so she’s mentally connected with them.”
“Yeah? And?”
“There’s this mental network that creates those brain-wave links, says Misaka as Misaka explains to you.”
“You mean like a collective unconsciousness or whatever?”
“Well, it’s a little different, says Misaka as Misaka corrects you. The link and individual Misaka’s relationship is like that of synapses and brain cells, says Misaka as Misaka gives an example. It would be correct to say that there is a giant brain called the Misaka Network and that it controls all of the Misakas, says Misaka as Misaka explains to you.”
Accelerator fell silent.
Last Order, however, continued on with her explanation.
“When an individual Misaka dies, the Misaka Network itself doesn’t disappear, says Misaka as Misaka continues the explanation. Going with the brain analogy, Misakas are the cells, and the brain-wave links are like the synapses that convey information between cells. If a cell is destroyed, then the memories experienced go away, so it does hurt, but the Misaka Network can’t be completely destroyed until the very last Misaka goes away—”
Accelerator was overcome with a sense of hatred, like the kind one would get if a giant spider was looking at them. Not because this person was scary, of course. He could kill her instantly. Right at this moment. He’d killed ten thousand of them, after all. Given time, he could hunt the rest down.
But that wasn’t it.
There was something more fundamentally different. This girl, wrestling with the food on her plate—it was like she was built entirely differently from humans, like an alien…
“—At least that was what Misaka thought, but Misaka thinks Misaka has changed her mind.”
“?”
“Misaka learned something new, and that’s a Misaka’s worth, says Misaka as Misaka is confident. There is value in each individual Misaka’s life and not Misaka as a whole. Nobody can replace a Misaka. If Misaka were to die, then there would be people who would cry for Misaka, says Misaka as Misaka asserts proudly. So Misaka won’t die anymore. Not even one more can die, says Misaka as Misaka believes that.”
So she said, in a human way, looking into Accelerator’s eyes with human directness.
She had declared one thing: that she would never forgive what Accelerator did.
It was a proclamation of hatred. An announcement that Last Order would never forget about that time as long as she lived.
“Haah…”
Accelerator unconsciously slumped deep down into the back of his chair and, looking up at the ceiling, breathed a sigh.
He didn’t know.
He had known that they had emotions this whole time, but…no one had ever come face-to-face with him and denounced him on the spot. That’s why Accelerator didn’t understand their pain. And those Sisters, whom he’d treated as puppets until now, were humans. They could feel that sort of pain—and he hadn’t realized that until everything was over.
“—”
Accelerator opened his mouth. He moved his mouth. But no words came out of his mouth.
He had none to say.]