Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter6 (section)

===Part 9===

It was like a bad joke.

She was Academy City’s #5 Level 5, Mental Out. She could brainwash any human by sticking her hand in her bag, aiming her TV remote, and pressing the button, but that assumption had collapsed all at once.

She couldn’t hit her.

Her TV remote wasn’t fast enough.

All she had to do was point the end at the woman and press a single button, but not even her eyes could keep up with the dorm manager who kept rapidly vanishing to the left or right.

“Rahhh!!” shouted dancer Shokuhou.

It was meaningless.

But even if it was effectively useless, the dorm manager could briefly pause if she were caught off guard. If something she failed to understand froze her in place for even half a second, Shokuhou’s remote could catch up.

That was long enough for her thumb to press a button. And that would settle it.

(This time it’ll work!!)

''Bam!!

As soon as the dorm manager stomped her foot against the floor, the solid sparkling wine stone cracked and split. A thick cloud of dust rushed into the air and the makeshift smokescreen obscured Shokuhou’s view.

She saw the glint of glasses.

Driven by fear, the #5 aimed her remote that way, but it was no use.

It didn’t work.

She knew she must have pressed the button countless times. It had to have been pointed the dorm manager’s way at least once. But it didn’t do any good. Did the aim not even matter? Was that dorm manager from hell immune to mental powers!?

(I-I-I-I can’t see her very well in the thicker parts of that smokescreen. Wait, does it not count as targeting my power if I can only see a vague silhouette!?)

“E-eeeeek!?”

Tears welled in her eyes and she tried to back away, but she stepped on the frills of her dancer’s outfit and tripped. She ended up shamefully backing away on her rear. But she still tried to deter her enemy from approaching.

With a light “slap!”, the hand holding the remote pointed in the wrong direction.

Her body had moved against her will.

Or so she thought at first.

In truth, the dorm manager’s fist had tapped Shokuhou’s wrist, diverting her aim to the side.

It was a simple parry.

The dorm manager didn’t need Academy City esper powers or this world’s magic. She had neutralized the #5’s Mental Out that easily!?

The sound of something tearing through the air was horrifyingly heavy.

The dorm manager’s right leg seemed to disappear before the kick caught Shokuhou square in the gut, launching her several meters backwards.

She had tearfully grabbed her handbag in her other hand to cushion the blow at the last second, but how much had that actually helped?

The dorm manager from hell did not hesitate to land this solid blow even though it put distance between her and her opponent.

As if to say she was willing to give the girl that much of a handicap.