Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item6 Chapter2

==Chapter 2: A Maple Syrup Kind of Day==

===Part 1===

Mugino Shizuri looked puzzled.

Item was in their luxury hotel suite in the college-filled District 5.

The basic furnishings were no longer the only interior decorations there. Specifically, something new was hanging by the window: a mesh pattern box of less than 15cm.

“Frenda, did you buy some new product again?”

“Yup. In the end, I have a curse where I’ll die if I don’t buy all the latest trends.”

The small fluffy blonde haired girl answered while sinking into the one-person sofa.

Frenda Seivelun appeared to know a logical explanation wouldn’t work so she was trying to dodge the issue with meaningful-sounding words. It may have been a variant of chuunibyou.

Short, refreshing chirps were coming from the box.

“Wait, there’s a super bug in there?”

Kinuhata’s slight surprise was not the result of her laboratory upbringing(?) leaving her unable to touch Mother Nature’s bugs. She was more concerned with the responsibility that came with caring for a living creature. After all, the illicit nature of Item’s work meant there was never any guarantee they could return home after stepping out the door. If they wanted to be soothed by the presence of a puppy, they had to either go to a pet cafe or watch some animal videos.

But Frenda smiled bitterly in the sofa and waved her hand.

“No, no. In the end, it’s just an audio device. It’s called a bug cage speaker.”

“?”

“The thing has around thirty thousand different autumn insect sounds in it. The internet is flooded with people insisting they got their best sleep in years leaving it on overnight.”

“Ugh. Thirty thousand? You mean there are super more autumn insects than the bell cricket?”

Don’t try to imagine it, Kinuhata. There aren’t actually thirty thousand of them stuffed inside that small box.

The point was to create an autumnal mood.

“They apparently included some pretty rare ones. Like the jungles of Southeast Asia and Central America where millions of species live.”

“How is this any different from having your phone play the sounds?”

Mugino was quick to smash Frenda’s dreams.

Maybe that was how it felt for people who weren’t interested. Those people would also casually reject an LED lantern that let you listen to a music subscription service over your wireless LAN. When no one saw the appeal of these silly products, it could be surprisingly painful for the person who had brought it along.

However…

“Frenda.”

“In the end, what do you want, Takitsubo?”

“Wasn’t there a rumor about people suffering brain damage after listening to the chirping of a special cricket in Central and South America? Y’know, like a natural ultrasonic attack.”

Sounds of people scrambling around in a hurry continued for a bit.

Modern electronics did not come with a paper manual. That wasn’t an issue most of the time, but it meant you lacked the necessary information when something did come up. They all began searching on their phone, found a site gathering the manuals for different manufacturers, realized that was a fake site meant to get the user to set up their smart electronic device in a way that leaked their personal information, and wound up back at square one. In the end, Frenda ended up looping a few times through the same dialogue with the manufacturer’s crappy official AI chat before she finally arrived at a list of the insect noises included in the device.

There were around thirty thousand of them.

“In the end, what’s the actual name of that special cricket from Central and South America!?”

“Um, I’m searching for that too. Is this it? I found the District 23 insect museum’s site. The cricket is called…”

“This super lets you do a site-wide search by tapping here. That cricket name…is not among the thirty thousand on the list.”

In the end, there was nothing to worry about.

If only all the world’s problems were that way.

“Nhh…”

Mugino Shizuri raised her arms and stretched.

She was generally like this after they were paid and didn’t have to worry for a while.

“I’m bored. …How about we go clothes shopping?”

“Mugino, I really think you’re showing signs of a shopping addiction.”

===Part 2===

The grown-up District 5 was full of college students.

Item arrived in the luxury hotel’s first floor lobby.

The place had a distinctive air to it.

“Whoa. In the end, there’s even more now. They’ve got bite-sized mackerel pizzas!”

“Mugino. That says they have salmon mince. Is that actually any good?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Large hotels like this usually had restaurants and souvenir shops on the lower levels. All the English words like “lounge” and “gift shop” made it seem fancy at first glance.

Among all the restaurants, curry rice was weirdly prevalent. And the many souvenir ships meant even the little snacks available for sale tended to be on the fancier side of things.

“Super what were you hoping to shop for?”

“I said clothes, didn’t I?”

…The clothing stores and beauty salons in fancy hotels like this tended to be for people preparing for a wedding or other formal event, so they likely didn’t carry the kind of clothes Mugino was interested in.

So they left the hotel and walked along the main street of that grown-up district.

They were met by a lazy afternoon mood.

Apparently it was still too early for the college students to be out enjoying themselves.

There were quite a few luxury brand shops who were likely known all around the globe. Item was here for clothes, but it seemed likely they would end up bringing home shoes, bags, and jewelry too.

When Mugino walked past the large mirror placed next to a fitting room, something activated and some unfamiliar clothes were superimposed over the Mugino in the mirror.

“The hell?”

“Mugino, this says it’s a virtual fitting service.”

Mugino tried twirling slowly on the spot…and the clothes followed her movement. So this wasn’t just a product image being displayed over her body. It could handle all 360 degrees. So did it use a 3D model instead of a photo?

That did seem more convenient than having to change into each individual outfit…but why did she feel so disappointed?

Like it had ruined her fun.

It reminded her of how she felt seeing the ad for a rare natural hot spring in Academy City where the cutting-edge high-tech bath could cleanse your body in just three seconds. On a day off, she preferred taking things easy.

“Feels more like they’re trying to get people talking than providing a practical service. Do they only care if people make a big deal about it?”

“This says it instantly scans your figure with microwaves and then chooses the best products for you. Incredible.”

“!?”

Mugino frantically covered her body with her arms.

Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“Look, Mugino. It shows an assessment and some brief advice on the side: ‘we recommend clothing that obscures your hips and legs.’ ”

“That’s none of their business!!”

Mugino Shizuri wasn’t the type to lash out at a machine, so she could only blush and yell. An accurate program could provide a false 2D moe smile but couldn’t provide any flattery at all, so it could be cruel at times like this.

Also, a top-of-the-line brand would already have its regular customers’ data on file, so was this kind of toy even necessary? Formal clothing above a certain level of quality tended to be tailor made, after all.

…In that sense, this may have been a unique oddity of the college-filled District 5 where pricey brand-name products sold like hotcakes, but the customers were easily influenced by the current trends and thus regular customers were hard to come by.

Mugino raised her voice as if to reclaim control of the situation.

“Anyway, we need to choose some clothes. Let’s make it into a game. It can double as a periodic test for working on the dark side. Let’s find out if you can take everything from the present situation to the current trends into account to choose clothing that will let you blend in. Oh, and if you choose an outfit that stands out for no good reason, you get punished, okay? Anyone who makes a joke to avoid giving a serious answer will soon regret it.”

Frenda froze in place halfway toward grabbing a mini-China dress.

Apparently going the silly route wasn’t an option here.

“Are there any super rules?”

“Good question. For now, try to keep it under a million per outfi-”

“Someone oughta strip this filthy criminal super naked and chuck her outside.”

For some reason, this pissed off Kinuhata Saiai. Even on the same team, they viewed money very differently.

And so the Item girls began to argue what would best suit each other.

They ended up visiting many different luxury brand stores.

“It’s my time to make the rules? Hmm…I don’t really care as long as the next person brings me whatever they think I would look best in.”

“That will super leave you with no way to refuse wearing a naked apron.”

Kinuhata made sure Takitsubo understood that.

You could never assume basic human decency on the dark side where people tended to take a cynical view of everything from donation boxes to the Board Chairman at the top of the city. Especially when Frenda was super grinning in the corner of Kinuhata’s vision!

The game rules they thought up on the spot were full of holes, so they took a lax attitude where they could simply fill in the holes whenever they ran across one. It helped that the idea was to make the shopping more fun, so there was no real need to strictly follow the rules.

“You’re next, Frenda. What rules do you want?”

“Ooh, ooh, ooh!”

Frenda Seivelun raised her hand and leaned forward.

An idea had apparently formed within her while she watched the other games.

“Three of us will split up and choose the clothes they think look best on the guest. Then the guest gets to choose which one she likes best.”

“Eh? You mean we’ll be super taking them out of the store?”

“Kinuhata. Let’s use that thing. The mirror that acts as a 3D fitting monitor. If you enter the number, it can apparently display products from other stores.”

“Huh, and what happens afterwards?”

“Whoever’s outfit gets last place has to buy the best outfit. In the end, how does that sound?”

Yes.

That did sound more like a real game.

The four of them excitedly prepared their outfits on the tall, mirror-like screen, but what they were really doing was spending obscene amounts of cash. The dark side girls behaved inappropriately in a different way while enjoying a day off.

And their outfits ended up as follows:



Mugino wore a thin dress with a thick, ankle-length coat worn over it.

“Well, it’s not great but it’s not bad either. I feel like you could have been a little more creative.”



Takitsubo wore her usual track suit, but with the cold-resistance boosted by a knit hat, earmuffs, and a jacket wrapped around her hips. The short lines of LEDs hidden in the lining were built-in heating elements.

“It’s fluffy and warm.”



Frenda wore a white jacket and light blue miniskirt combo. The gold decorations here and there made it look more like something from a military band or parade than a school uniform.

“Ehh? In the end, is this for a marching band? I don’t really play any instruments, though. And doesn’t the gold make it sparkle a lot?”



Kinuhata wore sportswear composed of a short-sleeved shirt and bike shorts. But she wore an old-fashioned leather pilot’s jacket over it, giving it a mixture of old and new.

“This jacket won’t restrict my movements in a pinch, will it? I super hope it won’t rip suddenly.”



They had their complaints, but “it’s just a game” proved to be a powerful argument. They might have taken ages to choose something on their own, but this let them decide in no time.

Mugino Shizuri reached for a random garment in one store and rubbed it with her fingers as if checking for something. It was available to try on, but the price tag was over 300 thousand yen.

Takitsubo tilted her head.

“What is it, Mugino? Do you want to buy that?”

“Not really…”

Meanwhile, Frenda and Kinuhata were running around. The youngest member was being chased by the big sister who was howling about how they still had to choose underwear.

Then Mugino spoke up without warning.

“Okay, let’s also buy a few dresses.”

“Hm? Super why?”

===Part 3===

Night had fallen.

Apparently long-range attacks these days did not require occupying a building rooftop.

Mugino made a final check over her radio while climbing the emergency stairs with baggage in hand.

“Frenda, I haven’t heard anything from you in a bit. Did you fall asleep?”

“In the end, I wish… What is this thing? The memory foam yoga mat you bought is just so comfy. I can feel myself drifting off as soon as I lie down on it…”

“Frenda, I know you want caffeine, but you shouldn’t drink so much black soda,” said Takitsubo, also on the other end of the radio. “You’ll regret it once you need to pee and can’t take time to go.”

They didn’t have to worry about the ordinary security. Kinuhata Saiai had secured a line of fire by cutting out a square of the tempered glass window in an unlit rental conference room located on the bottom ten floors of a towering skyscraper.

Mugino set a device down on the table and got to work constructing and making adjustments. Altogether, it weighed 30 kilograms, so the plastic and aluminum table creaked below it.

Kinuhata was already fed up with it all.

She was wearing a frilly party dress and carrying a fancy handbag too small to even fit a bento. It didn’t suit her at all and she felt like she was dressed up for the Shichi-Go-San.

“It’s not like we’re going to be sneaking in, so is this dress really super necessary?”

“Illegal security like that will set up maybe three lines of security using plainclothes guards and parked cars around the building. Getting close without being noticed requires a disguise.”

Kinuhata twirled something on her index finger.

“Including these pervert butterfly masks?”

“It’s that kind of party – a masquerade. Think of it like the 16th century version of an anonymous hook-up app.”

Apparently Mugino wouldn’t be using Meltdowner this time. Probably because it was too powerful. Her ability wasn’t great for targeting an individual within a group.

Kinuhata’s role was support.

By aiming a directional gun mic at the distant party venue, the festivities within reached her earphone loud and clear.



“Those agrobuildings are going to make a fortune.”

“But buying an entire building is a steep initial investment…”

“Global climate change will be along soon. Then the price of fruits, vegetables, and grains will all rise without end. But anything produced indoors won’t be affected. By cheaply growing crops that can be harvested more than 20 times a year and then selling at those higher prices, you will make back that investment in no time.”

“If it doesn’t use natural sunlight, how will this building be powered? If fuel and heating costs also rise, then the profits will evaporate.”

“What does the price of petroleum have to do with Academy City’s wind power?”



Damn those masqueraded tuxes and shoulder-baring dresses. They were all discussing sketchy investment opportunities.

Academy City was supposedly a happy and blessed city, but that assessment was badly skewed by the average income and savings data of a tiny minority that made up less than 0.1% of the population.

The city showed off its perfect image by silencing the people who were drowning in debt and being threatened by blackmailers.

“The place is called the Ceremony Hall, right?”

“One of Japan’s unique church-like buildings that are not in fact churches. It’s used for weddings and such.”

Mugino didn’t even need to look through the binoculars equipped with targeting support functionality.

The white building was impossible to miss thanks to the powerful lights illuminating it from below. It stood out clearly from the surrounding darkness. It looked to be around the size of a school building maybe? It was supposedly meant to look like a church, but it looked sort of like a Greek temple to Kinuhata. Maybe a side effect of being made by science-focused Academy City.

“But it’s secretly also used for mysterious parties that can’t even be held at the extraterritorial embassies or consulates.”

“It’s not some super sex thing, is it?”

“This time it’s an auction. And not even one where they buy and sell humans. I believe it’s about the right to use trigger capsules.”

“Trigger what?”

“A drug that causes a painless death as peaceful as drifting off to sleep.”

Kinuhata’s focus shifted away from the gun mic.

She looked to Mugino and saw the #4 chuckling.

“Super really? These rich assholes have made enough money for multiple lifetimes and the final luxury they look to…is how to kill themselves?”

“I doubt many of them actually want to die right away. When people feel like they’re already dead – or like they can escape into death if things get bad enough – they can run their business much more boldly. It’s a hollow and suicidal thing, but the psychological effect does have some beneficial results. Haven’t you heard of rich people in other countries who have a handgun and a small bottle of whisky hidden in a desk drawer?”

“That super wasn’t just something the movies invented?”

Were they wearing those pervert butterfly masks for the masquerade in order to hide their sickly pale faces, or because those corporate executives couldn’t let anyone else see their weakness?

Either way, it felt like a concern from another world to Kinuhata.

It was an unthinkable luxury on the dark side where you would be ruthlessly killed if you got careless.

“Mugino.”

Takitsubo spoke over the radio from her position in a skyscraper located in a different direction entirely.

It probably wasn’t even visible from here.

“The target has emerged onto the roof. As per our intel, he is empty handed and appears to be receiving something from a drone to get it past the baggage inspection at the front entrance. Probably a weapon.”

“I have a visual too. Okay, let’s get started. Kinuhata, put the gun mic away. This is about to get noisy, so you’ll burst your eardrum if you keep listening in like that.”

“Super yeah, yeah.”

“It’s time, everyone. Frenda, say hello.”

“Takitsubo, stop rubbing my butt. In the end, I’m awake, okay?”

Orange sparks flew in the distance.

.50 caliber heavy machinegun bullets tore away earthquake resistant metal fittings. An air conditioning unit larger than a vending machine fell to the side, blocking the metal door leading back inside from the rooftop. At this range, Mugino couldn’t hear the sound of the metal being destroyed.

“Isn’t it super backwards that a big, full-auto machinegun can hit better than a specialized sniper rifle?”

“The gun alone weighs more than 35kg. Which doesn’t count the spare barrels and the bulky ammo belts. In the end, you’re about the only person who can run around the jungle or desert carrying this heavy-ass gun.”

Either way, this prevented him from reentering the building. Unless he could lift an industrial air conditioner unit weighing over 300kg, that is.

Mugino Shizuri switched her radio to a different frequency.

He didn’t have the equipment to do anything to them even if they gave away their position.

“Can you hear me, Private Casino?”

“Eek!? …No way. Is that…Mugino Shizuri?”

“And you would be the bookmaker who rakes it in through the gambles you run. Tonight you were taking bets on how many people would survive if a skyscraper went up in flames. Isn’t that why you’re there? …To set up the bomb you stole from where Frenda had set it up elsewhere?”

She was smiling.

Mugino Shizuri was grinning.

“I’m thankful really. I never did like the way you move money around using the deaths of ordinary people while insisting you never directly harmed them, but it would cause far too many problems if I killed a colleague who hadn’t made himself our enemy. …So I really have to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving us a reason to kill you without taking any blame.”

“Wait. No, wait! Yes, I took that bomb, but this will benefit Item in the long term!”

Mugino Shizuri ignored his plea and tapped her phone.

The 30kg mass on the table gave a roar.

Next, a muffled “bwoof”.

In the distance.

Something like a thick smokescreen spread out on the building rooftop. But that building was being used for an illicit night party, so the blast-resistant structure prevented any of it from reaching the interior. Meltdowner had ''too much'' penetrative power to supply so light a touch.

Unlike the Frenda-Takitsubo team, the Mugino-Kinuhata team did not have a sniper weapon set up.

Theirs was an automatic grenade launcher that fired 40mm objects.

And the grenades it used were not normal.

(Really, it’s probably partly because this wouldn’t be as fun if he died right away. The white phosphorus in there is highly toxic and burns the skin on contact. …I suppose he’ll be slowly smoked to death by the high-temp poison gas. This means this is super what would’ve happened to me if she found out about the bank robbery. Offense Armor isn’t all-powerful. Ugh.)

There was something severely wrong with the world since those were officially designated as smoke grenades rather than lethal rounds.

If she wanted to, Mugino could have continued firing and covered the entire roof, but she didn’t.

As large as the building was, its roof was still a limited space. No matter where he ran, he would still be caught in the white phosphorus smoke, but the longer he could struggle, the longer his terror and agony would last. The duct filters could apparently block the white phosphorus, so everyone inside the building would be safe.

“In Item, we do not forgive traitors,” murmured Mugino. Looking unamused.

She waited until the target had collapsed and ceased moving.

“If we head back now, it’ll be past three. How about a late night meal?”

“Meatloaf! In the end, I could really go for some meatloaf.”

“Eh? That super sounds like a specialty dish. Are any restaurants open this late?”

“Kinuhata, they’re having a special event at a gyudon place that stays open late. They can probably manage something with the hamburger meat they use for the cabbage roll and loco moco bowl.”

“You want to talk about ground meat right now?”

They weren’t cleaning up the body this time. Because this job was meant as a message to the dark side to keep anyone else from trying what he pulled.

“Okay, let’s contact his number 2 or 3 and have them pay us for our trouble. We gave them the top spot without them needing to bloody their hands, so while they might act furious, we all know they’re smiling on the inside.”

“Mugino, and if they refuse to pay?”

“Frenda can handle it. She blasts them with a drone and we contact the next person down the line. It’s all the same to us if it’s their number 4 or 5 who ends up paying us☆”

Mugino sprayed the barrel with a silver ion deodorant to get rid of the gunpowder smell.

Were they done now?

Kinuhata intercepted the radio signals of the security team that was only now starting to freak out.

“Won’t the others continue Private Casino’s super abuse of ordinary people’s deaths?”

“Only their leader did that. The other high-ranking members have their own nasty gambles, but that only takes dirty money from other dirty villains, so I’m quite fond of those. We can ignore the rest.”

Item had once again completed their job flawlessly.

===Part 4===

Item had returned to their suite in the District 5 hotel.

“Oh, ohhhh. Super ohhhhhh…”

Kinuhata Saiai was thrashing about on the floor even though there were plenty of chairs and sofas.

Wet-haired Frenda, who was wearing a towel and cutting across the large room in search of a hair dryer, frowned (and showed no concern about the extreme low angle Kinuhata would have from the floor).

“In the end, what has you so worked up this early in the morning?”

“Right this very moment, they’re showing a trash movie that was never released in Japan! At a Mexican restaurant!! I just called to check and they said all the seats were full! Even though I said I’m perfectly fine standing!! Why can’t I watch it on that TV right over there!? What kind of niche industrial service does that restaurant have their monitor hooked up to!? I’m super jealous!!”

If it wasn’t available on a phone movie subscription app, was it such a minor film that no one could track down who owned the rights anymore? It could also be such a horrifically gory movie that all of the ordinary apps’ regulations kept it out.

“Ugh…”

A lump in the bed groaned as if the shouting voice had struck it like a physical blow.

That lump was Mugino Shizuri.

Takitsubo Rikou climbed into the same bed and spoke quietly to her.

“Mugino.”

For some reason, Mugino wouldn’t look her in the eye. This was extremely unusual.

Takitsubo continued with no change of expression.

“This was your decision, so if you’re going to do it, get started.”

“Ehhhh? But…”

“It’s already October, so the heat no longer works as an excuse. You need to start jogging.”

The track suit girl was Item’s oldest member.

She knew very well how to deal with Mugino Shizuri.

“Look, these are the numbers on your health app.”

“Ugh.”

“This shows your current calorie intake and exercise level. If you keep this up, the results will be tragic a month from now. The changes will be noticeable in your figure. Especially in the hips and legs.”

“…”

“Mugino. I know it’s in season during autumn, but you’ve been eating too much fatty salmon. Are you going to go jogging?”

The daughter of the Mugino Family silently got out of bed.

This was unusually obedient for Item’s leader, but if she refused now, the track suit girl might continue pestering her. And there was no escaping that search expert when she wanted to find you.

Mugino left the suite alone and took the elevator down to the ground level, but she had zero intention of jogging.

“It doesn’t matter what I do as long as I lose some weight, right? That doesn’t require running on my own two legs.”

Mugino grumbled to herself as she walked to a business that was hardly unusual in the grown-up District 5.

The sign out front called it a beauty salon.

Just as a barber would pay careful attention to their hair and clothing store workers would wear the store’s clothing as a form of advertisement, the college-aged receptionist at the counter had an unnaturally model-like figure. She looked somewhat surprised to see Mugino.

But not because Mugino had shown up without an appointment.

“Why, if it isn’t Shizuri-sama. What brings you here today? Need to alter your body to the point your own parents wouldn’t recognize you?”

“Don’t be dumb. I wouldn’t screw up that bad. Is the doctor in?”

“She’s ready when you are☆”

This salon used the swelling and slimming effect of the body to remake one’s body lines so a criminal could slip past the latest security cameras that, in addition to facial recognition, would analyze your build and bone structure.

Incidentally, the place next door was a repair shop for leather products like bags and belts. But it was also known as an ID forging specialist that carried all sorts of different special inks. The intended clientele here was more obvious than a bicycle shop right next to a school.

Mugino was guided to a locker room where she changed into the paper underwear and grabbed a towel before heading to the treatment room.

The blonde woman in her mid-twenties waiting there was something else entirely from a doctor.

“Wah hah hah. Those are some nice tits. Man, isn’t youth a wonderful thing?”

“Shut up and get to work.”

“Then will you lie down there for me?”

Mugino Shizuri lay face down on on a stretcher about as tall as a desk.

Something fell onto her back. A liquid.

“Hot! What is this!?”

“Massage oil. This is better than ice cold, don’t you think?”

Hands reached for her unguarded back.

“Ohh, ohh. You dark side customers are fascinating. The firmness of the skin and flow of the muscles differs so much from person to person. It makes great study material☆”

“Damn anatomy model freak.”

“Yes, Academic Hall’s latest model looks very nice indeed. I just know that was designed by someone who’s seen real living organs and not just the samples floating in formaldehyde. The old Tanaka Educational Model Shop has to be panicking right about now.”

“…”

That was what you got with this blonde woman who bought a new one each season like they were body pillows.

“God, you really are a pervert.”

“My, my. But a human’s skin is only a fraction of their total weight. Trying to measure the extent of human beauty from the exterior alone is quite frankly ridiculous. You need the bone, the muscle, and the fat below or the skin won’t have that alluring firmness and spring to it. Human beauty is more than skin deep.”

She was supposedly the best esthetician in the business, but she was definitely enjoying the ways she used her fingers a little too much.

Still face down, Mugino spoke up in annoyance.

“Nh, kh…hey, is this really necessary?”

“The human body is over 60% water. Shifting its location can drastically change your appearance. As a liquid, it can change shape freely. This lacks the permanence of cosmetic surgery, but it can easily redesign your figure for a short time☆”

The massage oil had been a little too hot at first, but it adapted to her body heat as the esthetician worked it in with her hands. As the boundary between temperatures faded, the oil felt like it was silently entering Mugino’s skin. Adapting? Fusing? With her eyes shut, her awareness of her own body seemed to glitch.

“Let me know if this hurts, okay? I might not do anything about it, but I’d still like to know.”

“Well, nh, it’s a small price to pay for easy results. Jogging is a pain in the ass and I’m all for real-life pay to win if it buys me time. I’ll just put up with it and enjoy the easy weight loss.”

“Oh, uh, no matter where I move your excess water around, the total amount will stay the same, so while you might look slimmer, your weight will not change.”

Mugino threw the wet towel into the esthetician’s face.

===Part 5===

The lower levels of the fancy District 5 hotel were filled with restaurants and shops. You could find most anything walking around there.

But it wasn’t an ordinary shopping area, so there were some weird gaps in what was available.

That evening, Frenda Seivelun was screaming in a hotel shop.

“Nwohhhhhh! Th-they don’t sell ear picks here… In the end, you can find those in any 100-yen shop! Ahhh, the inside of my head itches so baaaaad!!”

“Places like this want to sell the products that let you enjoy a luxury lifestyle. Won’t they have a super hard time selling 100-yen products?”

“Surely we’ve got an ear pick somewhere in our room.”

They had all sorts of items in their hotel room, including brushes and hair ties. They had a brand-name hair drier, a large humidifier, as well as knives, pots, and a cocktail shaker at the suite kitchen counter. But was there an ear pick? Thinking back, the four of them didn’t remember seeing one.

“Why not super order one online?”

“I need it now. There’s no way I’m waiting until tomorrow! I can’t stand another second of this!”

And so they were forced to head out on short notice.

…They could have just sent Frenda off on her own, but Mugino and Kinuhata tagged along because they also had things they wanted to buy.

There was a taxi loading zone in front of the hotel, but they walked a bit further to reach a bus stop.

Kinuhata asked a question while boarding a large bus that made a big loop around District 5.

“Super where would they sell ear picks?”

“Literally anywhere else. In the end, even a normal discount shop will work!”

Did Frenda sound so impatient because of the super sketchy ad for a bunny girl ear cleaning salon playing on the LCD screen near the ceiling? Was that weird ad campaign a variation on the autumn moon viewing series of ads? Whatever the case, it was driving Frenda’s need for ear cleaning wild.

To provide for the many college students, District 5 had a fairly large discount shop. The chain was one found anywhere in Academy City, but this one was especially large and seemed halfway on its way to becoming a theme park. It had seven different entrances on the first floor, which seemed a little excessive.

“Ear picks, ear picks, in the end where are the ear picks…”

Frenda was muttering to herself like a starving animal as she made her way to the health products section. She was wobbling side to side as she went. Hopefully she wouldn’t start cleaning her ear before paying at the register.

The guide map said the place was three floors in all and the escalators were at the back of each floor.

“I’m gonna super take a look at the bath goods section. Will you be buying anything, Mugino?”

“Some cheap food. The salmon stuff at the hotel’s souvenir shops is meant to seem fancy, which means it’s all really fatty. That’s not bad, but after eating so much of it, I’m craving some dry flakes.”

Takitsubo Rikou whispered quietly in her ear.

“Mugino.”

Mugino wasn’t careless enough to turn in her direction.

She looked over at a nearby mobile accessory shelf to view the figure reflected in the clear plastic wrapping.

The girl was about 20 meters away and looked to be high school age. Her short black hair and glasses were her most notable traits.

She wasn’t wearing an armband.

But Mugino Shizuri saw right through that from the way she was standing near the exit and staying a short distance from the crowd so she could keep an eye on it all.



“That busty glasses girl… Is she Judgment?”

===Between the Lines 1===

Tokyo was their backyard. With the exception of Academy City surrounded by its wall.

They were on the sixth floor of a perfectly ordinary multi-tenant building. They had chosen the old and filthy building to give any possible visitors a chance to get scared and turn back.

“Ugh. The smell of blood is making me woozy…”

The groaning came from an elderly man in a pricey Italian suit.

Or more accurately, the head of the Mugino Family.

This was happening at the office that provided consumer credit at ''unthinkable interest rates''. Bloodline members would never directly involve themselves in illegal activities, including contacting, visiting, or even engaging in inter-office cooperation with one. …but things were different in the elderly man’s case.

A rusty smell filled the room.

Girls in classic maid uniforms were using a powerful bleach to mop the floor, but the smell hung in the air even with the source gone.

The family head sank into a leather sofa and called out to the elderly butler standing stiffly next to him.

“Mujinayama. How’s that old woman doing?”

“The bleeding has been stanched, so her life should not be at risk. Our medic Yamaarashi has confirmed it. It should be safe to transport her to an ordinary hospital via ambulance.”

“Then do so.”

The Mugino Family hadn’t done anything to the woman in question.

The old woman had visited the shady consumer financing office and slit her wrist. With the kind of large razor not often seen in the modern day.

She had said something about that being her “backup plan” if she couldn’t borrow any money here.

Her voice had been shaking with fear the entire time.

“A reverse mortgage, huh?” muttered the Mugino Family head.

That service allowed the elderly to use their own house as collateral so they could borrow a large sum of cash from a real estate agent or money lender on the condition their house would be sold upon their death. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but…

(There are some real estate agents who leave a lot of “loopholes” in the related contracts, leaving the client in a dangerous position.)

In At Home & Finance’s case, signing the contract to sell your house to them after your death would give you a large sum of money, but it was paid out in small monthly payments.

But if the elderly client died before the full sum was paid, the unpaid amount could be seen as a violation of contract and be treated as a scam, so the remainder would be paid all at once to a convenient family member.

That created a perverse incentive.

“No matter how it happens, ''if they die, their family is given a large sum of money.'' In other words, suicide pays big. And this is after the life insurance industry did so much to avoid this situation.”

And even after going that far, the payment would only be in the tens of millions of yen. That was certainly a sizable amount of cash, but it was a measly amount for buying a house in the city center. Ultimately, At Home & Finance knew very well that their elderly clients had only come to them after failing to get a long-term loan from an ordinary bank.

Mujinayama calmly continued his professional explanation. Which didn’t mean he didn’t have any personal feelings about the issue.

“That loophole in the contract was likely left their intentionally. Because it allows them to buy prime real estate at a convenient price and sell it for a profit. They end up paying less than a tenth of what it would normally cost.”

“I get that.” The elderly man pouted his lips like a child. “But why did that old woman want so much money that badly? She would have to die for it, so it obviously isn’t for herself.”

“She had a digital recorder with her. Although she used the old-fashioned method of recording the message by holding it to her landline phone’s receiver. It appears she was being threatened. Something about evidence that her grandchild was accomplice to a crime.”

“A blackmailer then? …That’s Academy City criminal lingo. Don’t they abuse people’s ID with the city’s…Bank, do they call it?”

“Because the method ''has yet to'' spread beyond that city.”

Did that mean this detrimental technology eventually would spread across the world?

(Oh, god. In a way, I feel like that city is the root of all evil. On a global scale.)

“What was the bastard’s name?”

“It was mentioned in the recording. They called themselves the Information Broker. Not much to go on.”

This was a further application of the method used by the former blackmailer.

Was the villain not satisfied with threatening ordinary people into committing crimes, so now they were threatening the victim’s family too?

“Is it spreading?”

“Probably.”

“I had a feeling it would. It’s not too surprising. It’s just that no one’s taking accurate statistics. We only see it as an unusual spike in the number of people showing up for loans this month.”

“A new crime must have been invented within Academy City.”

The old butler was not making a dark joke.

This was an important point.

“The family members outside of the city want to directly help their families, but that enormous wall is not so easily crossed.”

“And Academy City wants to preserve their clean image, so if anyone submits a complaint, they’ll just cover it up entirely. The very existence of the reports will disappear.”

The thick wall meant to protect the children of Academy City was instead putting them at risk.

Things like that happened a lot.

Being part of the legitimate world did not mean someone was safe. As seen in At Home & Finance and in Academy City, there were forms of righteousness that were even more bad for your health than the bleach splattered on the floor here.

“If they would only use organized crime to collect on those debts, then we could fight back in our own way.”

“Being entirely legal is their greatest selling point. They all know where the line is and make sure to avoid crossing it. I imagine they don’t want to get in a turf war with our shady consumer finance business that lends money at ''unthinkable interest rates''.”

Their business often discussed loan terms that would make the police raise an eyebrow if they overheard it. Hopeless people like handsome men who acted like they worked in a host club or self-proclaimed musicians would regularly be charged 10% interest every ten days. Despite what movies and TV would have you believe, kidneys didn’t sell for very much, so having it removed by a proper(?) black market doctor who didn’t accept insurance would leave you in the red. The Mugino Family was ''wellllll'' aware of this.

But…

“She was willing to sell her house and throw her life away for her family. And whatever their reasons were, her family member did get involved in crime. Nevertheless, she was willing to throw away her entire life to save her family. …Heh heh☆”

“Master? Your bad habit isn’t rearing its ugly head again, is it?”

“''How can I compare to that''!? As a human!! I can’t go that far. If anyone is foolish enough to break our inviolable rules, I will punish them, family or not. So I’ve lost to her as a person. And what else am I to do now? …That old woman who slit her wrist for her grandchild is an amazing enough person to single-handedly outdo the head of the Mugino Family. Someone that respectable deserves to be treated right.”

The elderly butler sighed.

He had been right. That bad habit was back.

But that was why all the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and executives followed that man.

“What do you intend to do?”

“Oh, a lot. But for now, let’s do something about her debt. After all, we provide consumer financing with unthinkable interest rates. I’d say 0% is pretty ‘unthinkable’, wouldn’t you?”

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