Astral Buddy Manga Chapter 023

"If I Was A Level 5" (私がなら) is the 23rd chapter of the Astral Buddy manga, released on October 26th, 2019.

Synopsis
The ghost girl saves Junko from a dark vortex that is about to attack her, causing her to be caught in the process instead. As the ghost girl disappears with the vortex, Junko remembers the phenomenon that claimed the lives of many in Ideal and asks Misaki's permission to take action. Misaki instead requests Junko to prepare first while she gathers information about their enemy. Before they could part ways, Misaki transfers the information she obtained from Gunha into Junko, allowing her to learn about Gunha's own investigation as well as how he had associated the "aura" emanating from those who went on a rampage with users of Indian Poker cards.

While Misaki began her search for the ghost girl's body, Junko is contacted by Uiharu Kazari and Saten Ruiko to inform her about a rise of reports about "sightings" of Yuuri Senya in the internet, most of them caused by exposure to a specific kind of Indian Poker card about Academy City urban legends. Both Mitsuari Ayu and her accomplice are also aware of such reports, and Ayu had also anticipated a search for the girl and had ordered her to be hidden somewhere else.

After Ayu is saved by her accomplice from falling debris in the abandoned building they use as a makeshift base, she talks to herself about the elaborate plan to use Indian Poker cards to gather AIM diffusion fields into Yuuri Senya, towards the same objective that Ideal once tried to achieve.

Major Events

 * The ghost girl, now revealed to be Yuuri Senya, is caught in a dark vortex and separated from Junko and Misaki.
 * The ghost girl's body is confirmed to be in a remote location in the custody of Mitsuari Ayu, a former test subject in Ideal, and her accomplice.
 * Ayu reveals her objective to reach the intended result of the failed Ideal experiment, but this time using Indian Poker cards to converge multiple AIM diffusion fields into Yuuri Senya's "ghost".

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Hokaze Junko
 * Yuuri Senya
 * Shokuhou Misaki
 * Sogiita Gunha
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Mitsuari Ayu
 * Houjou Seigo (not named)

Abilities

 * Mental Stinger - Mitsuari Ayu, Level 5 (not named)

Locations

 * Academy City

Trivia

 * Despite being technically a student of Tokiwadai, Mitsuari Ayu does not go to school and considers herself a "delinquent".

Referbacks

 * Junko fully embraces her ringlet curl hairstyle as her own style, after admitting that her first time changing into ringlet curls was her "going along with it".
 * The ghost girl's suggestion for Junko to try her "personal style" was during her early encounters with Junko, especially after learning that she tends to wear her uniform all the time.
 * The information given by Misaki to Junko was obtained during her encounter with Gunha after interrupting his fight with Junko.

Quotes

 * Gunha: "Who knows what hell awaits us here. Or will this be even worse than hell?"
 * Ayu: "They just keep coming. Just like maggots on a corpse. Just die already."
 * Houjou Seigo: "I can pull off cute and cool... don't you think?"
 * Ayu: "I mean, freaks are so adorable. Because it is easy to look down on them. [...] Because when you're this ugly... I can almost forget my own ugliness."
 * Ayu: "I love... sparkling things. So to make sure I won't see them, once they arrive... I will smash them to pieces."