Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth7

==Depth 7: The Two Stealth Fighters==

===Part 1===

Winning the battle wasn’t the end of it.

They were at an altitude of 800m.

They were flying at a speed of less than 300km/h.

That meant they had decelerated nearly to the limit for an aircraft, but they were still moving far faster than a car on the highway.

Which meant they couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake.

Since they were flying, they would have to perform a landing. A deck landing in this case. Mikoto, Shirai, and Hokaze could not let their focus slip until they had landed on Camouflaged Aircraft Carrier Izanami.

No matter how ridiculous it seemed, they were risking their lives. Even without an enemy and without any air-to-air missiles, screwing up the deck landing would mean death.

“By the way, Kuroko, that was smart choosing Hokaze-san as the other pilot. She makes great ''insurance''.”

“Eh? That is not why I chose her, Onee-sama. I merely thought her superior strength would make her less likely to blackout. I would never entertain such thoughts.”

“?”

If it was only Mikoto up there, the wicked queen could lie and give false instructions that indirectly caused her to crash, but she couldn’t tell that to the ringlets girl tilting her head in confusion.

“Kobayashi here. I am here in the CIC working control with the Queen. We are ready for your landing, so we will display instructions on your screens. Match your speed, angle, and altitude to the instructions you receive. Misaka-sama, you can go first since you are the most fatigued.”

“I can’t believe you would take a stroll in the supersonic world wearing your uniform instead of an anti-g suit, Misaka-san. That goes beyond being a musclebound gorilla. Academy City really has created a dreadful monster. I don’t think the #3 even qualifies as a mammal. You seem more like a dinosaur to me.”

“God, I want to shoot a missile at the carrier.”

She would have done so if she had any anti-ship weapons, but unfortunately she did not.

“Also…”

“I know, Misaka-sama. That carrier seemed like a labyrinth, but it looks like a speck from up here.”

Hokaze was right.

The blue sky and the sea were like planes of death created by a lazy god and that one artificial object sat in the space between. If they fell anywhere other than that tiny speck, they would die.

It was now time to descend toward that speck. To be blunt, its size made the idea terrifying.

Where was the landing runway on that speck?

Was it that?

The arcade running diagonally through the cruise ship? The rain sheet that had acted as a roof had been removed to open it up, but camouflage structures the size of 4-or-5-story buildings towered up on either side.

…Would this be like squeezing a fighter into the gap between buildings at school? And Mikoto’s craft was about 20m long.

(The standard single-seat Shinshin was less than 15m long. Why did they feel the need to make this bigger two-seat custom?)

This was going to be a tight fit.

As sturdy as the fighter felt, a crosswind could still push it and the carrier itself would be endlessly rising and falling thanks to the waves.

“Yikes! That’s like landing in a narrow valley between two giant mountains!!”

“Um, uh… Onee-sama, I don’t think someone of your meager size needs to worry about any valleys between big mountains…”

“Kuroko, shut up or I will shoot you down.”

After Mikoto’s threat, Shokuhou’s exasperated voice came in over the radio.

“Izanami to the flat pair. Your landing will be guided by microwave and laser, so there’s no problem. If you follow the instructions on your display, you will be navigated with a margin of error of less than 30cm. The ILS is apparently precise enough for you to land inside a tunnel. …Listen, Misaka-san. That means you have no reason ability to doubt what I’m telling you.”

(This is going to be tricky. It’ll be even harder than piloting an unfamiliar fighter without any practice.)

“I don’t need Mental Out to read your mind, Misaka-san. Doubt me if you want, but if you are going crash, do it in the water. I don’t want to have to run around putting out burning metal wreckage on the crucial deck. Especially not out in that blazing sun☆”

In the end, this was a group activity.

There wasn’t much Mikoto could do on her own.

Despite her doubts, she had no choice but to follow the instructions.

(I’m so glad we have Hokaze-san with us. Not as a fighter, but as a valuable hostage.)

“Anyway.”

This was another world.

A world that looked a lot like Earth but was entirely different. Especially with how the fighters and bombers were scantily-clad girls flying through the sky.

Mikoto had a headache. Did this mean they were faced with ''the usual question''?

“How are we supposed to get back to our world?”

===Part 2===

Mikoto and the other two were risking their lives descending from the sky, but it was a nerve-wracking experience for those on the carrier as well.

A landing runway ran diagonally across Camouflaged Aircraft Carrier Izanami.

“Okay, okay! Make sure the landing wire is taut!! Is the overrun net ready? Misaka-sama will be arriving soon!! Move the tractor to the side – we won’t need you for a while yet!!”

The shouted instructions were coming from Kongou Mitsuko.

Having the heiress to Kongou Airlines was a huge help here. It was unclear how many actual skills the daughter of the airline’s president had, but the title still put people at ease.

Regardless, the fighters were coming in to land on the carrier.

That was very different from landing on an ordinary airport runway. They had less than a tenth of the distance to work with. So a hook hanging from the bottom of the fighter would catch on a taut wire stretched horizontally across the carrier to forcibly stop it.

The fighter was a 20-ton mass moving at more than 250km/h. That was worse than the giant semi-trailer trucks seen in action movies. It went without saying what would happen to anyone it happened to come in contact with.

So next to the runway, Wannai Kinuho of the swim team had formed a large ball of water.

“Leave it to me. If anything goes wrong, I can stop the landing fighter with this☆”

They needed to be making full use of their Academy City esper powers. They were only middle schoolers. Without cheating like that, they couldn’t hope to operate a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

“Huh?”

Awatsuki looked back and tilted her head.

“But this is a mall arcade. Is it really safe to have those shop banners, café tables, and more out here? I thought even the smallest object had to be cleared from a runway.”

“Kobayashi from control here. We are guiding Misaka-sama in. We will be making the final safety check, so all deck personnel should get ready.”

“?”

There wasn’t time to question it.

With a blast of compressed air from the deck, all the café chairs and tables on the long, long arcade were blown to either side of the landing runway.

“Kyah!?”

Also, Kongou and the others were forced to quickly hold down their short skirts.

Was that what they were meant to get ready for?

“H-how could an Aero Hand like me fall victim to some m-mischievous wind?”

A calm transmission reached the blushing and tearful girls.

“Final safety check confirms all extraneous objects have been removed from the runway. Misaka-sama is coming, so get ready.”

…Ordinarily, a large team would have removed every last fallen screw and bolt from the deck first, leaving the compressed air as only a final safety measure just in case.

At any rate, a great roar reached them.

A streamlined silhouette that was not usually a part of everyday life was accurately approaching them. Wheeled landing gear had emerged. Tension filled the girls. Despite the fighter’s elegant design, it had a real sense of weight when seen up close. It was, after all, a 20-ton piece of metal. Having it flying toward them inspired as much fear as facing down a large oncoming truck or train.

It was coming.

The screeching of the small tires rang loud.

Kongou shouted while ducked down at one side of the runway.

“Contact!!”

Metal loudly struck metal.

A thick wire stretching like a rubber band was a strange sight.

The Shinshin two-seat custom’s hook had caught the wire.

The tires screamed with white smoke.

The stench of burning rubber filled the air.

This was nothing at all like a paper airplane slowly falling to the ground. It was forcibly decelerated from more than 250km/h as if snatched by a giant hand. It was as wild a move as trying to manually stop a race car.

Awatsuki raised her voice.

“The Shinshin has stopped!”

“Confirmed!”

Wannai, who had been ready with her water but ultimately wasn’t needed, provided the double check.

Kongou stood up.

“Tractor, drive forward. Once Misaka’s craft is on the elevator, the next one will be coming. Everyone else, check the runway. Even a 5mm piece of tire could be deadly, so do not overlook anything!!”

===Part 3===

“Sigh, I love swimming… Especially in such a large pool. Oh, I have an idea. I hear they have a sauna over there☆”

“My, my. Look at the size of this kitchen. We could cook just about any type of cuisine in here. How should we decide who is on cooking duty?”

“Beauty salon, beauty salon. Time for a mudpack.”



Evening had arrived.

Since the Izanami was camouflaged as a cruise ship, it didn’t have the usual closed-in feeling of a military vessel. It had no end of options for entertainment: a shopping mall, a theater, a sports gym, restaurants, etc. The pool even had a twisting and turning water slide.

There was no problem getting rooms for everyone either. Tokiwadai’s full student body numbered nearly 200, but there were more than 1000 guest cabins.

They hadn’t actually counted, but it didn’t look like there was any risk of the food stores running out any time soon. That said, they were talking about supporting 200 people. That many people consumed a lot of supplies in a day. If they treated the food as casually as the contents of their family fridge, it might come back to bite them.

“That aside…”

Shokuhou Misaki’s icy voice filled the belowdecks maintenance hangar, which felt so far away from all the fun and laughter.



An F-22A.

A girl in a long-sleeved black leotard, who had to be nearly 20m tall.



Mikoto had shot her down, but when they came to collect her from the ocean, she had still been alive.

Now she was seated with her arms around her knees and glaring at Shokuhou. Without speaking a word. That probably was the most compact position for storage in a hangar, but it looked a lot more like the girl with curly blonde twintails was pouting. Sitting like that without crushing the wings and engine on her back below her butt seemed like it would be tricky.

Shokuhou held her head in her hands.

“How am I supposed to process what I’m seeing here?”

“I seriously doubt there are any girls this size on Earth,” said Mikoto who had actually fought her.

A biological approach definitely couldn’t explain this, but Mikoto also didn’t think she had ever seen an Academy City esper who could scale their physical size upwards like this. Not that she had looked into every esper power in the city.

And Mikoto’s eyes landed on the F-22A’s ultra-luxury chest hidden behind her knees. Or rather, the size thereof. Academy City’s #3 gently smiled. It was nice and small. Was that choice made to preserve her high stealth capability? Yes, Misaka Mikoto was kind to any girl with a bra size smaller than her own!!

“Hee hee. You don’t have to worry. You can leave everything to me. I promise you we will treat you well, so-”

“Don’t you look down on me, tiny chest. Mine are bound as tightly as possible out of necessity, so they are not actually a pathetic washboard like yours.”

Hokaze had to use her prized strength to restrain the girl who attempted to fire a Railgun inside the ship.

But that was the first thing she said?

This did confirm they could communicate, but did that mean this world also used Japanese? Or had she been listening to their conversation and learned the language at Mach speed? That was a scary thought, but they had to at least consider it. They had too little information to rule it out.

Mikoto sighed softly and spoke.

“Anyway, since she’s alive, shouldn’t we see what she can tell us?”

“Euahhh…”

“Stop acting like a toddler, Big Boobs Queen. I mean, this is apparently an F-22A. I want to know how their weapons tech works and whether this was a pair of stray weapons attacking us or if they were ordered to attack by a military or a nation.”

The idea of a stray F-22A just flying around on its own was absurd by Earth standards, but those standards might not apply in this world. It was a completely different world after all. Hanging onto old assumptions could lead to a fatal mistake, so Mikoto wanted to confirm what she could.

“We don’t know how to return to Earth, so we’re going to need to travel around this world searching out a way. And I get the feeling we’re going to encounter more anthropomorphized fighters as we do so.”

“Ugh. How flexible is your mind, Misaka-san? You’re not even questioning the idea that this is another world anymore, are you?”

The one who looked most surprised was the strangest of them all: the F-22A.

She looked to the Shinshin and F-2As in the hangar.

“Are you really calling those things fighters? But they’re just flimsy metal without any feminine skin or pretty hair. You’re not making any sense.”

“Can you tell us what you mean by that?”

Mikoto’s interjection made the curly twintails girl fall silent again. She must have realized she was carelessly giving away information. She was scowling now. But did that mean this was a world with a military that’s higher ups had ordered her not to give away classified information? Or was it a coincidence?

“Why should I tell you dumbasses?”

“…”

“Heh. The savage is thinking savage thoughts, I’ll bet. Fine, as a military aircraft, I am ready for whatever might happen. C’mon, torment me however you like. I am not so weak I would talk to some vulgar and brutal barbarian warriors no matter what cruel torture you subject me to!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou exchanged a glance. In perfect harmony.

Hmm?



“Wait, wait just a moment! What are you doing with those pliers!? And that wrench!? Did no one ever teach you the proper way to treat a lady!?”

“Aircraft need daily maintenance, so why are you so afraid of a wrench?”

“Wh-what? What are you doing with my armor? There!? But that’s my most sensitive part! Y-you’re opening it? Ah, ah, ahhhhh!?”

“Oh, we won’t hurt you. But if you don’t hurry up and talk, we will be dumping a bucket of seawater on all this radar equipment inside your wide-open nose.”

“No, please, anything but filling me up with that salty stuff!!!”



By the end, the F-22A was crumpled in a heap, sobbing and trembling as she tried to catch her breath. Tears glittered in the corners of her eyes.

They had discovered the girl portions covered more of her than the mech parts.

“You devils. You’re just a bunch of devils!!”

“Just tell us everything you can about this world. Next, we’ll go behind you and remove your jet engines.”

The F-22A used this new fear to crush the old one and calm herself enough to talk, albeit while trembling.

“W-we are weapons.”

“Sure.”

“Specifically, we are Girlish Weapons. We are not products of nature. We were created by humans.”

Mikoto and Shokuhou exchanged a glance.

Artificial girls.

Created for military use.

Tingling tension ran through the air.

“…This wasn’t done with clone technology, was it?”

“Close, but not really.” The F-22A brushed a curly twintail from her shoulder. “Frozen Fossils are found all across the world. Each country has a different production rate and different processing technology…but military cells are extracted from that naturally-occurring frozen meat, those cells are artificially processed, and they are cultivated into the desired shape. Once the exterior equipment is attached, you have a Girlish Weapon like me.”

Several new terms were scattered through that explanation.

Frozen Fossils, frozen meat, military cells, Girlish Weapons.

If the Frozen Fossils and frozen meat referred to the same thing, then the fossils were not like dinosaur bones and ammonites. Were they more like a frozen mammoth discovered in the permafrost?

But something else caught their attention more.

“Each country?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean this world has multiple countries, each with a military to defend it?”

“Of course. I am the ultimate stealth fighter, not some cheap junk like the corporate mercenaries and terrorists use.”

Shokuhou held a hand to her forehead.

And a certain someone had carelessly shot her down. A certain someone named Misaka Mikoto.

…While it had been necessary, this meant they had made at least one country into an enemy. As extraordinary as the carrier was, taking on an entire country’s military with just the one ship wasn’t realistic.

“This continent has three major countries.”

“So like Wei, Wu, and Shu?”

The F-22A tilted her head.

…If the famous Records of the Three Kingdoms didn’t mean anything to people here, then this really was another world that didn’t share Earth’s time or space.

“The United States of Narmeli, the Cutalularia Republic, and the Liheilstaut Empire. Most of the humans belong to one of those three. There are plenty of other smaller countries and autonomous provinces, but I doubt their combined population is even 10% of the big three. Majority rule in international politics is pretty much entirely determined by the big three.”

She had said something else interesting.

Most of the humans.

Why not “most of us”?

“Wait, did you just refer to humans as a separate category from yourself? So is not everyone in this world a giant anthropomorphized weapon girl like you?”

“Of course not. Humans are humans, weapons are weapons. We are entirely different. Also, I am not ‘giant’. It’s you humans who are so puny and small. Dumbasses.”

The F-22A spat this out with contempt for their ignorance in her eyes. …She went back to tearfully twitching when Mikoto clanged her wrench against a nearby column, though.

But.

Thinking back, hadn’t she said the Girlish Weapons were created by “the humans”?

The giant girl was apparently an F-22A, but she had no pilot.

Then what role did the humans play in the military? If the humans were only the infantry at the very bottom and the commanders at the top, the system seemed awfully unbalanced.

And the F-22A went on to explain each of the “big three” countries that fought for supremacy on the giant continent.



“First, the United States of Narmeli. They hold the northeast of the continent. More than 70% of their land is permafrost, giving them the greatest quantity of buried Frozen Fossils, but they are no more than barbarians who lack the technology to convert it into Girlish Weapons. They are a major presence in terms of the size of their territory, but – tch – that’s all they have going for them. Without their loathsome resources and quantity, the war front wouldn’t be in a stalemate. Well, the entire world apparently freezes over every 150 years, so if the status quo can be preserved for long enough, their land will freeze over and they will die out on their own.”



“Second, the Cutalularia Republic. They call themselves the superpower of the south, but they are nothing but a gaggle of barbarians who can’t even preserve order in their own country. The temperature and humidity there is high, so they have the least quantity of buried Frozen Fossils. They have a high level of technology and can manage a high level of production efficiency with just one fossil, but after luring in arms manufacturers with their extremely low corporate tax rate, they have transformed into a barely-held-together collection of corporations from more than 30 countries and regions. They have no spirit of patriotism or national identity, so they try to make up for it by filling their military with unmanned weapons. They claim to use general elections to run their country, but everyone knows those elections are a complete joke. All the real power is held by a few influencers.”



“Lastly, the Liheilstaut Empire! The shining star of the northwest and the true center of the world. Abundant resources, abundant food, abundant riches, abundant technology, and – most importantly – an abundant population!! Hee hee. The combination of plentiful Frozen Fossils and excellent industrial technological expertise creates the perfect country that is bound to go down in history as the greatest conqueror of all. Each and every citizen is brimming with patriotism and every branch of the military – army, navy, air force, and marines – is at such a high level that trite terms like ‘the greatest’ or ‘the best’ doesn’t do them justice. They overpower the competition when it comes to art as well, so unlike those barbarians who have their hands full simply making things ‘functional’ and ‘practical’, they have the brainpower leftover to design the sharpest looking Girlish Weapons around! Ho ho ho ho ho ho!!”



Mikoto’s mouth formed a small triangle.

And she spoke.

“Let me guess, you’re from the Empire.”

“H-how did you know!? D-don’t tell me you’ve already sent filthy spies into our glorious Imperial territory!?”

No, you just had a completely different attitude with that one. And you need to apologize to the other two. Then again, maybe those insults were just what happened during wartime. Plus, the bomber (woman) had come from the northwest and departed to the northwest.

Apparently the continent was shaped a lot like a Y.

The countries could invade each other by land, but the center of the Y-shaped continent contained a treacherous mountain range and each major power was well aware of the risk of invasion by land, so they had covered that area with mines, gun emplacements, sandbags, barbed wire, pillboxes, and so on. This had created an eternal labyrinth of deadly trenches.

“Those three countries do technically work together in a coalition, but that’s in name only. Hmph. Preserving world peace is too much for the States and the Republic to handle. Our great Liheilstaut Empire can handle it all on our own.”

“Wait, what’s this about a coalition?”

“They call it the International Peace Agency, but it’s really a den of corruption.”

Uh, oh.

It sounded like they had something like the UN here.

That meant an attack against the Liheilstaut Empire could result in retaliation from a massive coalition force containing all three major powers. In other words, the Tokiwadai girls might be facing a war against this entire world.

“I need to get Kobayashi-san or someone to check on that later… Hopefully there aren’t any ominous radio transmissions traveling between those major powers.”

So.

For now, the Liheilstaut Empire was definitely an enemy. They were the ones who had fired anti-ship missiles at a ship that had only sent out an SOS.

And now there was a possibility of the United States and the Republic joining in as a coalition.

Maybe that was just what happened when an unidentified but very deadly warship suddenly appeared in someone’s territorial waters. The cruise ship camouflage may have only made it look more malicious. Mikoto breathed a heavy sigh.

(This isn’t going to be easy.)

It was only a rough look, but this was enough basic social studies.

However…

“You said they extract cells from the Frozen Fossils, cultivate those to create the base form, and then attach equipment to create you Girlish Weapons, right?”

“What about it?”

Mikoto and Shokuhou both fell silent.

…Then what was Camouflaged Aircraft Carrier Izanami?

The nuclear-powered ship was filled with Japanese fighters and it flouted the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. The F-22A’s story did nothing to explain that. Yet they were fairly certain it hadn’t existed on their Earth.

===Part 4===

The next event happened in the middle of the night. At 2AM to be precise.

A voice burst from all the speakers in Camouflaged Aircraft Carrier Izanami. Kobayashi’s voice.

“Alert!! Radar is showing eight objects flying straight for us from the northwest. They are hostile! Everyone hurry to the section you were assigned at dinnertime and take your post. I repeat, we are under attack!”

“Damn, I just know they’re harassing us in the night to wear us down.”

Mikoto’s head still felt terribly heavy, suggesting she was still tired.

“By the way, Kuroko, why are you right there next to me…in bed?”

“Hee hee. Do we really need to explain these things at this stage in our relationship?”

“This ship has! A thousand cabins!! And everyone was given their own!”

A serious night attack wouldn’t target the very middle of the night when people would actually be ''most'' on guard, but they couldn’t ignore a formation of enemy aircraft.

Mikoto didn’t have time to change out of her pajamas. She grabbed a thin cardigan and left the room, only to run into Shokuhou in the long corridor. Apparently that girl’s idea of sleepwear was sheer negligee. She had the same sinister tastes as Shirai Kuroko there…

Ringlets Hokaze was following after Shokuhou while giving the Queen’s bouncing blonde hair a thorough brushing. …Had she also snuck into the Shokuhou’s cabin without her knowledge?

Mikoto and Shokuhou walked briskly down the corridor while other girls rushed frantically around.

“There are 8 enemies,” said Mikoto. “Yawn…oh, and they came from the northwest.”

“That means they’re almost certainly from the Empire, but we can’t be certain yet. Another country’s aircraft might have flown in a big loop to reach us from that direction.”

“And by aircraft, you mean…?”

“Yes, those Girlish Weapons. The flying girls.”

Whatever they looked like, it had already been proven they had dogfighting and missile launching capability. So an error in responding to them could get the camouflaged aircraft carrier sunk along with all the students aboard. They couldn’t afford to underestimate this world’s technology.

“We don’t have anywhere near enough information or time. I’d love to gather in a big conference room to hold a quick briefing, but I need you and the others up in the air right away, Misaka-san. Once you confirm the 8 unidentified craft are hostile, you can shoot them down.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be borrowing Hokaze-san there and a few others. If we can’t match their 8, we can’t stop some of them from reaching the carrier while we’re busy with others.”

Shokuhou and Kobayashi (who had joined them from another route) went to the CIC while Mikoto, Shirai, Hokaze, and some others went to the maintenance hangar which contained the launching catapult.

Kongou Mitsuko was forming a megaphone with her hands and shouting.

“101 Squadron will take off one at a time. Pilots, I need you ready and waiting in your cockpits. The tractor will move you into position, so don’t blast your jet engines and wander around on your own!!”

Mikoto sighed.

“Where’d that 101 come from?”

“That’s your squadron, Misaka-san. Also, you are Railgun 01, Shirai-san is Teleport 02, and Hokaze-san is Rampage 03. When communicating with the carrier, use Izanami. When addressing me personally, use Mental 00☆”

“Is there any point in using call signs after using our real names over the radio so much before? Even if our transmissions are encrypted. I’m sure the Empire is working day and night to break the code.”

Then again, this was another world, so it wasn’t like Imperial agents could use their personal information to threaten their families.

“My, my. Are these the flight suits?”

“Such futuristic designs.”

“C’mon, everyone. You’re being scrambled, so hurry up and change!”

With only girls around, the oddly carefree students casually stripped off their sleepwear and donned their flight suits. The crude maintenance hangar looked like a girls locker room filled with the sweet scents of sports drinks and perfume.

And Mikoto had no reason to hesitate either. Not a one.

Then she looked over at Shirai. With obvious distrust.

“…”

“Geh heh heh. Tie me up or restrain me – it doesn’t matter. Do you really think you can keep a teleporter in one place? Now, it’s time to enjoy my Onee-sama’s live strip showwwww!!”

Mikoto slowly walked around behind Shirai.

When Shirai tried to look back, Mikoto latched her hand onto the back of her head.

“There, that’s better. I just have to keep an eye on you from your blind spot. If you turn around or teleport away even once, I’ll blast you with a Railgun.”

“Weh heh heh!! J-just imagining you bashfully removing your clothing one piece at a time while staring intently at me isn’t bad at all. Ahh, now my brain juices are really pumping…”

“Damn, I forgot perverts know how to convert anything in their favor.”

Mikoto decided being quick about it would be better than worrying over every little thing, so she reached for her pajamas, stripped down to her underwear, and then reached for her flight suit.



If she was being charitable, she would call it a high-performance riding suit.

If she was being uncharitable, she would call it brightly-colored full-body tights.



The neon blue with yellow lines gave it lightning colors.

The flight suits did not have a standardized design. The basic design was the same, but the colors differed. For example, Shirai’s was pink with white lines and Hokaze’s was light purple with red lines.

Those two had already worn theirs once, so they were past questioning it.

It still felt strange to Mikoto thanks to her Earth-based knowledge, but after her experience flying in her summer uniform, she knew she couldn’t be picky.

“Why does it have velcro on the belly, back, underarms, and thighs? I’m afraid those parts will come undone.”

“It makes me think of a next-generation school swimsuit.”

Hokaze provided that strange term with a smile.

Was it for regulating body temperature? Or did it allow the air within the suit to escape when the pressure changed? It sort of reminded Mikoto of zippered plastic bags that prevented leaks when storing leftovers in the fridge, or of the steam vents on frozen foods that were microwaved inside their bags.

Mikoto used a simple gangway resembling a tennis umpire chair to board the Shinshin.

She took a look around the hangar from that higher position. There were multiple types of aircraft, but most were F-2As. …Was that a bad sign? To keep costs down, those were basically a Japanese customization of the excellent F-16 design. That meant their specs were inferior to the truly top-level fighters. Depending on what the Empire had sent, this could be a difficult fight.

And…

“Coming through,” said a voice.

The giant girl with curly blonde twintails was down on all fours and slowly moving through the hangar. She apparently had small wheels. That was the F-22A in a long-sleeved black leotard. She was moving into the catapult standby position.

Did she intend to join the fight?

Since Mikoto had already closed her cockpit canopy, shouting wouldn’t help, so she focused on the radio instead.

“Hey! You’re an Imperial fighter, aren’t you? You aren’t going to join the enemy squadron once you take off, are you!?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Whatever you plan to do with me as a POW, I am a noble fighter and I intend to repay you for your help.”

“?”

Come to think of it, the F-22A had fallen into the ocean after her right tail assembly was damaged, but what had happened to that damage? The Izanami obviously wasn’t equipped with spare parts for an F-22A (especially a giant girl version).

Kongou Mitsuko caught Mikoto’s eye, winked, and gave her a thumbs up. With a smug grin. …Apparently she had taken a spare part for the Shinshin and cut it down to the right size and shape before using it to replace the damaged part. The idea was crude, but the work had been superb.

Was that the help the F-22A had alluded to?

Apparently the daughter of Kongou Airlines’ president had managed to win over this world’s greatest stealth fighter.

Mikoto sounded exasperated.

“Well, I’m glad you want to help, but can you even take off from the carrier at your size?”

“Heh. I am the YF-22A, the special final test model that emerged gloriously victorious from the competition against a certain loser I could mention.”

“What?” asked Mikoto without thinking.

So she wasn’t an ordinary F-22A? After Mikoto had gotten used to thinking of her that way? The damn carrier’s computer estimation must have been wrong.

That fighter just had to make this confusing, didn’t she?

The long-sleeved black leotard girl proudly brushed back one of her curly twintails as she spoke.

“That means I am a size smaller than the mass-produced F-22A. You called this the Izanami, right? It seems to be equipped with a high-power electromagnetic catapult, so I won’t have any trouble. I am the only F-22 model light enough to take off from a ship! Heh heh heh, ha ha ha! Yes, only me!!”

“Oh, that explains it.”

“What part of me do you think you are looking at, Miss Washboard? Unlike a loser like you, I am keeping my chest wrapped up tight. It isn’t easy, but I need to reduce my curves as much as possible to preserve my excellent stealth capabilities.”

Mikoto considered firing her machinegun inside the maintenance hangar, but Shirai’s fighter blasted its jet engine to move in between them. That failure to obey the tractor’s instructions earned her some angry gesticulation from Kongou.

(Well, it’s not my problem, so whatever.)

Once Mikoto abandoned all responsibility there, Shokuhou’s exasperated voice arrived over the radio.

“What should we call her? Just F-22A could lead to confusion ability later on.”

“I just told you – I am the special YF-22A!!”

“How about Twintails 04?”

“Teleport 02, I object. That is my identity.”

“Uh, then curly-”

“Rampage 03, objection.”

“Um, uh, I’m sick of thinking, so let’s just go with Brat 04!”

“Do I not get to object!? This is a violation of my fundamental rights!”

Mikoto was a little concerned she would betray them over this, but having a member of the highly-regarded F-22 family would mean a lot. In mock battles, they had even won a crushing victory of 1 against more than 100.

The enemy numbered 8. With her and Mikoto’s Shinshin together, they could probably take on that many while also protecting the others in their F-2 varieties.

Kongou apparently liked to get the unfamiliar part of a job done first, so she had the YF-22A girl prepare for takeoff first.

Specifically, she had the giant long-sleeved leotard girl lie prone on the catapult. It looked like she was lying on a sled in preparation to descend an icy slope head first. So not the bobsled or the luge. It was the…um, no I can’t get the word bobsled out of my head! Hmm…oh, right. The skeleton!!

“Catapult and launch bar are in place! Control, is the sky clear? Brat 04 will be taking off. Count 3!!”

“Brat 04, roger that. Ahhh, I’m stuck with that awful call name, aren’t I?”

On Kongou’s signal, the YF-22A slid rapidly along the guide rail. The air compressed and burst out as a gust of wind. At more than 250km/h, she rivaled a race car.

Mikoto was somewhat impressed inside the waiting Shinshin’s cockpit.

“That mech girl is really flying.”

“She’s part of your 101 Squadron now, Misaka-san, so shoot her down the instant she does anything suspicious,” said Shokuhou. “I secretly removed the restrictions on the squadron leader’s fighter, so you can ignore Brat 04’s friendly IFF signal and lock onto her☆”

“You’re a monster.”

Kongou waved both her arms to provide a signal.

“Connect Misaka-sama’s Shinshin to the catapult next. We want the best two fighters in the air to guard the ship as we launch the F-2s! If they are targeted before they can stabilize their speed and attitude, they will be sitting ducks!!”

“Railgun 01, roger that.”

The electromagnetic catapult launched the Shinshin.

It felt so different this time.

The specialized flight suit helped keep her mind clear and she had no trouble breathing. Her lungs felt so much more free.

An anti-g suit protected a pilot form the high gs of high-speed combat maneuvers, preventing blackouts. That might make it sound like a high-tech piece of equipment that controlled both the body and mind…but the actual design was fairly crude. The problem was the powerful inertial forces sent the blood down into the legs where it could not return to the head, so it only had to mechanically constrict the thighs just before high-g combat to temporarily cut off the flow of blood to the legs. That meant a fighter pilot who didn’t want to lose their legs could not dogfight at full specs for very long. But if they were fine with having their necrotic legs amputated afterwards, that was another story.

However, the flight suits found on the Izanami appeared to be a bit more advanced. A weak electrical current flowed through the interior of the skintight material, activating the veins which were meant to act like pumps and accelerating the circulation of blood throughout the body. That meant they didn’t have to worry about their legs.

So…

(I can directly control electricity, so do I not even need the suit? …No, no. This is about bodily control, so it’s more of a Hokaze-san thing. Although she might run out of stamina quick if she had to be using her power at all times.)

Mikoto flew in a large circle around the carrier as she spoke into the radio.

“Railgun 01 here. Takeoff complete. I will now wait for the rest of the friendly fighters to takeoff before- hey, Brat 04! Don’t blast your afterburners yet! Teleport 02 and Rampage 03 aren’t in the air yet!!”

“Heh. Why should I wait for you ignorant plebs to catch up? Not only am I from the F-22 family, but I am the special YF-22A. I’m sure those are only some outdated models, so it doesn’t matter how many there are. It is my noble duty to bring down anyone who opposes me!!”

She flew straight toward the enemy group on her own.

For a supersonic fighter, about 100km was nothing at all.

(Oh, I see she calls them ‘anyone’. She sees them as people, not machines.)

Mikoto made a mental note of that while the two dots on the radar intersected without waiting for the Shinshin and F-2As.

And…

“Hellllp! I’m surrounded and the missile lock alarm won’t stop sounding!”

“How weak are you!?” shouted Mikoto on reflex.

Did this tearful mayday from an F-22 count as an extremely rare historical event?

Shokuhou’s exasperated voice came over the radio.

“While the F-22A’s superiority is globally famous, I seem to recall that comes from its spec abilities on paper and its results in mock battles. I believe it has very little actual combat experience. And after paying so much money on it, wouldn’t the developing country want to exaggerate its abilities as propaganda?”

More than that, the YF-22A was only an experimental model. Actual combat would mean the stress of 9gs or more, but the development competition only went up to 7gs. Why was the F-22A a size bigger?  Because some small adjustments and reinforcements had been made to prepare it for actual combat. The YF-22A didn’t have that. Meaning it was overly specialized and thus fragile.

“Your thrust vectoring nozzles and stealth aren’t divine miracles, so the other side is going to be researching countermeasures.”

Stealth aircraft did not appear on radar, but only when viewed from one direction. That changed if it was exposed to radar waves from multiple directions and that information was shared via a datalink. If the radar waves diverted in a different direction by the stealth aircraft’s surface were picked up at a different angle, it would appear on radar.

Not to mention that it would be pursued and attacked like normal in a dogfight at close enough range for visual observation.

And even if that high-level fighter was an idiot, this fight would be a lot harder if she was shot down. Mikoto’s Shinshin alone wouldn’t be enough to wipe out the enemy while also protecting the F-2s.

(Damn, I would really prefer to wait until 102 and 103 Squadron are in the air.)

“I’m going to go rescue her, even if she is an idiot. Everyone who’s in the air already, come with me!!”

“Roger that, Onee- Railgun 01.”

“Roger!”

There were eight enemies. If they could all be stopped by the vanguard, the fighters taking off from the carrier would remain safe without anyone there to protect them.

Mikoto formed up with Shirai and Hokaze and charged on in.

It was a dark night, but the moonlight helped a lot. Mikoto’s appreciation for it grew once they were above the clouds. And as they approached the trouble area, she could see the details not shown on the flat radar.

“Yikes, Onee-sama…”

“Yeah, they’re really going at it.”

It was best described as a swarm of furious hornets.

That they all looked like scantily-clad girls made it hard to interpret at first, but based on the shape of their main wings and engine exhaust ports, the enemy was a mixed squadron of F-14Ds, famous for their variable-sweep wings (school swimsuit catgirls with the main wings on their backs linked to the movement of their arms), and F-15Cs, the bearers of the strongest title in the pre-stealth era (curvy leggings mamas with giant wings spreading out from the joints on their shoulders).

It wasn’t just YF-22A.

The other aircraft were giant girls too.

So were these all Girlish Weapons? This was the standard in this world, so the weird ones were Mikoto and the others who had to put on flight suits and climb aboard steel aircraft.

Mikoto frowned.

“…? I would get F-14s, but can F-15s take off from a carrier?”

“No sign of an enemy carrier in the vicinity,” reported Shokuhou. “Could it be a long-distance attack launched from land? With a midair refueling stop along the way?”

Mikoto’s Shinshin could manage against those large F-15Cs, but Shirai, Hokaze, and the others in smaller F-2s would be overpowered.

The Liheilstaut Air Force had to have detected their approach on radar.

The enemy’s plan appeared to be to start by concentrating on hunting down the troublesome YF-22A and then tear through the inferior F-2s at their leisure, but the initial idiot’s unexpectedly quick evasive maneuvers were throwing a wrench in that plan.

Mikoto was a little impressed. She wasn’t about to say so out loud, though.

(She’s fleeing from eight fighters at once without getting shot down. Hm, I guess that crybaby idiot has some skill after all.)

Anyway, she was risking her life to buy this time.

That was their ticket to survival.

Mikoto’s squadron was in position to take them on.

“Railgun 01 to 101 Squadron. Don’t fly out ahead. Stay by my side!!”

“Onee-sama, you are not one to talk there.”

The situation here was different from the previous dogfight against YF-22A.

This was a head-on clash between two squadrons.

This was a group battle.

===Part 5===

Four F-14Ds.

Four F-15Cs.

Both types had their pros and cons, but the F-15C (curvy leggings mamas) were likely the greater threat here.

Mikoto quickly made some observations.

(Those Girlish Weapons really do have a lot of variations.)

The sturdy joint running from the back to to the back of the hips appeared to be standard because these two types had it as well. But the weaponization of the arms and legs had a lot more variety. For example, the F-15Cs’ arms were mechanical all the way up to the shoulder, but the legs in their leggings were entirely biological. The F-14Ds’ arms and legs were weaponized all the way up to where they emerged from the school swimsuits.

(Are more of the biological parts replaced with aerospace materials each time they’re modernized? No, that isn’t it. YF-22A is an early test model, but her arms and legs are mostly weaponized.)

The enemy was flying around like a swarm of angry hornets, but careful inspection revealed they were split into two-fighter groups with an F-14D (school swimsuit catgirl) always flying behind an F-15C. That showed who was in charge.

The F-14Ds’ variable-sweep wings gave them excellent mobility even at low speed and low altitude, so they were the hounds who pursued a target to make it easier for the generally stronger F-15Cs to get a lock. They probably also took care of any enemies the F-15Cs missed due to flying by too quickly.

So which should Mikoto’s squadron target first: the stronger ones or the weaker ones?

(If we shoot down the weaker F-14Ds first, the F-15Cs won’t have to protect them anymore and can start using their full abilities.)

“Railgun 01 to 101 Squadron. Focus on the F-15Cs! They’re fast and mobile, but we can keep them from escaping by surrounding them from multiple directions!”

“Of course you want to tackle the stronger ones first. Onee-sama, I think you may have been a macho martial artist in your past life.”

Mikoto was too busy to listen to that nonscientific hogwash.

The Imperial fighters were sticking to two-fighter units, but that still meant they had four units. Since Mikoto’s squadron couldn’t count on YF-22A as she tearfully fled, they only had three fighters to work with. That put them at a numerical disadvantage.

The enemy was confident.

Four of them pursued YF-22A while the remaining four split into two units of two. Those units drew out wide arcs as they turned their noses around and charged sharply in from the left and right.

Uh, oh.

“Teleport 02, head to the right and use your radar. Rampage 03, come with me and help me set up a barrage of autocannon fire down the center!!”

“Onee-sama, I can’t get a lock soon enough to-”

“You just have to scare them into breaking formation!! If they complete their pincer attack, we’re dead!”

Flying head-on at close range would only last an instant. The Imperial fighters would know Mikoto’s squadron didn’t have time to get a lock and launch a missile.

But that didn’t mean there was nothing they could do.

With the manually-aimed autocannon, they didn’t have to wait for a lock. They just had to use their skill to make up for the poor accuracy. For example, if they approached from either side and fired from two directions simultaneously, a frantic attempt to escape one stream of bullets would lead the enemy right into the other.

So before the enemy formation could complete their pincer attack…

“Now!!”

Shirai’s fighter took action just as Mikoto’s and Hokaze’s did.

The enemy was approaching sharply from the sides, but if one half of the pincer was scared off by the missile lock alarm, the two sides couldn’t close in on them. It was only a bluff though, so they wouldn’t actually have a chance to launch an air-to-air missile.

And once the enemy took evasive action, their movements would be sloppier. When moving in formation, moving around too much could lead to a collision with your wingmate.

Mikoto’s side only had to prepare a thick barrage of autocannon fire.

Instead of Mikoto and Hokaze trying to pursue the enemy, they would wait for the enemy to carelessly fly into their barrage.

The intersection happened in an instant.

Even so, orange sparks scattered from F-15C armor, a small explosion occurred, and Mikoto heard a sound like claws scratching at something.

A small piece of broken wing must have hit her as she passed by.

That was no laughing matter for a stealth fighter covered in extremely pricey paint.

“One down. An F15C, I think!!”

“Your reports need more accuracy ability.”

“We passed by at supersonic speed – and it’s the relative speed that matters!! How am I supposed to visually follow that!?”

They could ignore the leggings mama trailing smoke as she fell toward the sea.

As soon as both sides passed by, two Y-shaped flowers blossomed in the dark night sky. The formations of three enemy and three friendlies split apart and made separate sharp U-turns.

The fight for each other’s tails had begun.

At times like this Mikoto’s Shinshin could turn faster and more sharply than Shirai and Hokaze’s F-2s.

In no time, Mikoto saw an F-14D up ahead.

The movements of the girl’s slender arms (which were mechanical-looking all the way to the upper arm) were linked with the variable-sweep wings, allowing for precise control of air resistance and lift, but Mikoto still had the advantage in positioning herself.

She could get on the F-14Ds tail from here.

That wasn’t her top priority, but she wasn’t going to waste a chance like this. She rapidly pursued the F-14D from behind.

A missile lock alarm sounded.

(Tch.)

That wasn’t the Shinshin getting a lock. The F-14D (school swimsuit catgirl) had fled side to side as bait while someone else pursued Mikoto from behind.

“Onee-sama, an F-15C is after you! You need to get out of- oh, damn!!”

Shirai’s warning was cut short by an air-to-air missile being launched from behind Mikoto.

It was a heat-seeking Sidewinder. And probably the latest version.

Evasive action taken after the launch had less than 50/50 odds of success, but Mikoto stayed calm and operated the control column.

Her Shinshin rapidly accelerated to fly right alongside the F-14D.

They were 5m apart.

At that distance, they might as well have been engaged in some acrobatic flying.

The incoming missile lost its target and sharply passed her as if piercing the space near the Shinshin.

It didn’t detonate.

Air-to-air missiles used IFF to identity friendlies and would not detonate too close to one. So while the F-15C had a lock, the presence of the Imperial F-14D within the blast radius automatically deactivated the proximity fuse, allowing the missile to pass by without detonation.

A thick shockwave shook the Shinshin.

The F-14D had raised her arms to spread her variable-sweep wings, which intentionally increased her air resistance and rapidly decelerated her.

Mikoto was still flying at great speed, so to her it was like the enemy suddenly vanished from view. In truth, the Shinshin had overshot the F-14D.

The F-15C was still on her tail and could kill her at any time. With her F-14D shield gone, the next missile would hit her.

“Onee-”

“It won’t be that easy.”

Mikoto dumped chaff and flares to create something like a fireworks show behind her and then made a rapid turn to leave the area. She had made sure the enemy F-14D would charge headfirst into the harmless flare downpour.

She could almost hear the enemy’s confusion.

A moment later, an air-to-air missile launched by the F-15C exploded nearby, bringing down the F-14D.

Mikoto heard a scream.

Was that the defeated F-14D, or the F-15C that had accidentally shot down her ally?

As said before, the missiles used IFF to identify friendlies. But that didn’t work if flares were scattered all around, confusing the sensor. Especially when chaff also obstructed the IFF signal itself. A missile designed to pursue the heat of engine exhaust would be lured in by the flares to explode nowhere near the enemy, which could end up harming a friendly.

Before the F-15C could mentally(?) recover from the shock of her terrible mistake, an air-to-air missile flew in from a different direction and scored a direct hit, bringing her down.

The missile came from Hokaze Junko’s F-2A.

“Rampage 03, one F-15C down☆”

That was three hostiles in all. The enemy’s two units of two formation was in shambles.

The remaining F-14D was soon surrounded by Mikoto’s squadron. Mikoto launched a missile, forcing the enemy to take a sharp turn to escape along a predictable enough path for Shirai’s autocannon to shoot her down.

In only a minute, the situation had reversed itself.

The remaining four hostiles finally noticed what was happening while they pursued YF-22A.

They quickly scattered and attempted to get a fresh start, but once the tides started turning, it was hard to stop them.

“Railgun 01 here. I’ve freed you from your sky prison, Brat 04.”

Whoever was on the other’s tail had an overwhelming advantage in a dogfight. The Imperial fighters must not have wanted to have their unguarded asses targeted while they pursued their own target.

But they should have kept YF-22A surrounded if they could.

Because this was the alternative.

“Get back to us! Now it’s 4-on-4, so they’ve lost their advantage. It’s time to bring them all down!!”

===Part 6===

Back on Camouflaged Aircraft Carrier Izanami.

Or more accurately, in the CIC hidden down in the bowels of the ship. Its explosion-resistant walls may have been even sturdier than those around the nuclear-powered engine.

Without any windows, the room was dark and felt even more stifling than a bank vault. It was in there that the bob cut girl named Kobayashi spoke without taking her eyes off the radar screen.

She had an elegant smile on her lips.

“The final one has been shot down. That’s Misaka-sama for you. Now we should be safe for the time being.”

“Continue monitoring our surroundings. That might have all been a diversion while they use the cover of darkness to sneak in a stealth fighter or launch an anti-ship missile from a sub.”

“Yes, yes. …Queen, you really should let that kindness show more often.”

They had fought a squadron of eight with inferior numbers and suffered zero casualties.

Even in this strange world, Misaka Mikoto really was merciless once the fighting started. The way that battle freak got more excited the greater the crisis told Shokuhou she probably had a mental perpetual motion machine inside her.

The situation facing the Izanami was fairly hopeless when looked at rationally, but it didn’t feel that way thanks to the Tokiwadai Ace’s carefree flying.

Shokuhou sighed.

“But now we have even more captured fighters. Will the maintenance hangar even hold eight more?”

“It would be a shame to throw them out.”

She knew that.

She also knew that way of thinking was dangerous.

The Izanami’s supply of jet fuel and weapons wasn’t unlimited, so they wanted to bring in anything they could capture. And since Girlish Weapon YF-22A was Imperial, there was a good chance the captured missiles and ammunition would follow the same standards, allowing her to use them.

But it was all for nothing if the maintenance hangar ended up packed too full to get any work done.

That would be a waste.

Greed would be their undoing.

…So what was the right choice here?

“Kongou-san is the maintenance hangar manager, right? Wasn’t she already demonstrating some complaint ability?”

“Well, the Izanami had a full load to begin with and now we’re adding these captured fighters, so it is getting cramped in there. Plus, that thing is in there too.”

“…Oh, that.”

“Yes, that.”

Unlike a normal(?) aircraft carrier, this one had its true identity camouflaged, meaning the electromagnetic catapult was inside the indoor maintenance hangar.

That added extra equipment that took up even more space.

(Did they intentionally send in old non-stealth fighters in order to trouble us like this? No, I’m overthinking it.)

Either way, they had to decide whether or not they would be picking up the (giant girl) F-14Ds and F-15Cs that Mikoto’s squadron had shot down into the ocean.

What were they going to do?

As Shokuhou tried to decide, she heard a clattering sound.

Kobayashi was staring at the radar screen. So intently she had stood up from her chair.

“What is it?”

“I have something on radar.”

Tension ran through Shokuhou.

Was there ''more'' already?

“Range, direction, and type!?”

“Within 300km to the south. It’s too big to be an aircraft. If I had to guess, I would say a 10 thousand ton warship.”

“Kh.”

That was smaller than the 100 thousand ton Izanami, but it was still cruiser class. Even at a distance, it could be dangerous if it started launching long-distance cruise missiles.

Why hadn’t they seen it before now?

Unlike the small flying aircraft, large ships were easy to miss on radar. Because they could hide behind things. For example, staying on the other side of an island mountain was enough to hide from a carrier’s early-warning radar.

So that wasn’t the question.

Shokuhou Misaki needed to be considering another question.

Such as…

(Why did they move their ship to reveal themselves to us now!?)

“We have an incoming transmission. Wh-what!?”

“A belated demand for surrender?”

“Y-yes.”

When Kobayashi turned away from the instruments, she was trembling for some reason.

She even had tears in her eyes.

“But this isn’t from the Liheilstaut Empire. …I-I think we’re really in trouble this time.”

“?”

===Part 7===

Meanwhile, Mikoto’s squadron was making their carefree return to the carrier.

It was still just barely before dawn.

“Sigh, I’m exhausted. I need to recharge by eating something sweet.”

“Onee-sama, um, I don’t mean to be rude, but do you know what time it is? Enjoying some sweets at 3 in the morning seems a little barbaric to me.”

“Just wait an hour and it will be 4 in the morning, Railgun 01. That is the perfect time for some yogurt or cereal sprinkled with dried fruit to make it feel like a dessert☆”

Would their insistence on ordinary mealtimes and 8 hours of sleep go away once they began combat shifts on the carrier? Mikoto was a little worried.

(Ugh, I feel so sluggish.)

They hadn’t been in the air for long, but the weight of exhaustion pressed down on them now that the dogfight was over. It was like they had spent 20 or 30 minutes sprinting at full speed and now they were paying the price.

Was it that hard to sense the changes in their bodies when the fear of death and thrill of the speed had their adrenaline and dopamine pumping? They had been exposed to gs several times that of Earth’s gravity. Fighters really were designed without a concern for the human body. They defied the laws of nature.

And then…

“Hm? What is it, Brat 04?”

“Th-they’ve already withdrawn the air tanker for midair refueling on a long-distance mission. I’ve already repaid my debt, but now I’ll run out of gas and crash into the ocean before reaching land!!”

“Ugh, if you don’t want to die after working so hard to win, then stop being difficult and just land on the Izanami. C’mon, we’re heading back.”

They had all survived.

Mikoto needed to focus on that. If possible, she wanted to take a bath and then climb into bed. After all this effort, she wanted to sleep well past noon.

“Railgun 01 to Izanami. The skies are safe again, so we’re heading back. Prepare for our landing. Also, I can’t wait any longer, so have a baked custard or caramel latte ready for-”

Mikoto trailed off when she noticed something.

The Izanami had changed its heading.

“?”

Cruisers – and any oblong warship – had a direction they would want to be facing an enemy. For example, a cruiser’s close-in defense Gatling guns would be lined up along the port and starboard sides, so if it wanted to create a barrage to defend itself from an incoming missile or enemy fighter, it could fire the most Gatling guns if it had its side turned toward the enemy.

But while the enemy had come from the northwest this time, the Izanami’s position had shifted.

Why were they staring to the south?

(What is Shokuhou doing? Don’t tell me she forgot to account for the force of the waves and got swept around. But if it isn’t that…)

“Did…did they correct their position to face some other enemy?”

“Izanami to all squadrons,” said a tense voice. It belonged to Kobayashi, Shokuhou’s aide who was viewing the carrier’s early-warning radar screen in the idiot’s stead. “We have detected a new enemy 300km south of us. It is a 10 thousand ton landing ship. Please follow control’s instructions.”

“Huh!?” shouted Mikoto on reflex.

She felt like she had just worked hard to finish her homework only for her teacher to inform her she had done the wrong problems.

“Another enemy? You mean…we can’t land? Or refuel!? We have to battle a ship now!?”

A landing ship.

What did the 10 thousand tons mean? In this world, were warships 100m swimsuit girls backstroking through the ocean?

Hokaze radioed over for advice.

“My, my. What do I do, Railgun 01? I thought this would be an aerial battle, so I only have air-to-air missiles loaded. Should I attack them with my autocannon?”

“We’re talking about a 10 thousand ton hunk of steel. Do you really think you can sink that with 20mm bullets? O-Oneeee-samaaaa, how hard are they planning to work us out here?”

“There isn’t even a hint of dawn yet. The day hasn’t even begun, girls☆” said the giant curly blonde twintails girl flying alongside them. “Brat 4 to squadron. I do have anti-ship missiles. Admittedly, it’s only two short-range ones, but still.”

“That’s it!!”

YF-22A had been placed on 101 Squadron without any kind of resupplying after being captured on her carrier attack mission. That meant those anti-ship missiles had originally been meant to bring down Tokiwadai, but Mikoto was willing to accept anything if it would work.

Mikoto scratched at her head, irritated by her craving for something sweet.

“Okay, the rest of us will escort Brat 04 into anti-ship missile range. If she’s taken out, we lose our trump card and I do not want to fight a marathon battle against this big boss!!”

“Carrier Izanami to all squadrons! No, stop! No attack ability! We are in serious trouble if they decode these encrypted transmissions!! Do not cause any trouble! You need to act ladylike for now!!”

“?”

Mikoto frowned.

It was unusual to hear Shokuhou Misaki so panicked in the face of an enemy. The stronger the enemy, the more that wicked girl rejoiced because she could make them into her pawn.

On the other hand, her behavior seemed somehow familiar.

Yes, it was like after lights out in the dorm when you would climb into bed and pretend to sleep until the night patrol had moved on.

But wait.

Why did that particular scene come to mind?

(What is going on?)

Then it happened.

“Hello, Misaka.”

The staticky voice over the radio was enough to produce a cold sweat on the lovely young lady’s back.

Her instincts bypassed her reason to raise the white flag.

She must not fight this person. Even considering it was suicidal. Being a Level 5 or the student of an elite school meant squat against that monster.

That voice…

That voice!!!

“It breaks my heart as the dorm manager charged with supporting a proper life for you fools, but I hear you have been breaking just about every school rule in the book as you enjoy your life in this world.”

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