Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 10===

On the riverbank lined with food stalls, Takitsubo Rikou’s breathing stopped.

It was A-ko who ultimately showed up.

She had fought Mugino Shizuri and emerged entirely unscathed. That overwhelming result felt like a recreation of the legends spreading about Academy City’s #1.

The blatant killer intent she was radiating caused a stir around her and who knows what she would do to the crowd just to silence them.

Takitsubo immediately slid down the riverbank.

On the opposite side of the audience. There was only a makeshift parking lot there. Many vehicles were parked in even rows, but since they all belonged to people here to see the fireworks, the parking lot was deserted at the moment.

A-ko slowly approached Takitsubo in the darkness.

Confidently.

On her own two legs.

She really was only interested in Takitsubo Rikou.

The track suit girl spoke while backing away.

“Mugino…and the others…”

“Eh? We killed them wherever we found them,” readily admitted A-ko. “Academy City’s #4? That monster didn’t impress me. It’s not like she can break the 1/20,000,000th of a second barrier. Esper powers are based on the human body, they can’t deal with my cross-counters that exceed the limits of human nerve transmission. She got scared, held back, and eventually lost.”

“…”

“B-ko and C-ko apparently had some trouble, but they didn’t lose.”

Then A-ko tilted her head.

“What is it, D-ko? You look surprised. It was obvious from the start that one side would win and the other side would die. Yes, that’s right. Frenda Seivelun and Kinuhata Saiai are both dead. ''Or did you see some different future playing out''?”

Takitsubo took a few more steps back.

And shook her head.

“No, that’s impossible!”

“It doesn’t really matter either way,” spat A-ko.

Even though they were discussing the survival of her supposed teammates B-ko and C-ko.

She didn’t give it a second thought.

“What matters is that I am standing in front of you. It was I, A-ko, who appeared before you in the end. Not Mugino Shizuri, not Frenda Seivelun, and not Kinuhata Saiai! It was I who claimed you!! And now I can do with you as I see fit. No, that was always my right!!”

Something was fundamentally off about her statement.

Teammates didn’t claim or have rights over each other.

No one had any rights over Takitsubo other than Takitsubo herself.

“But no one ever died while you were with us. You threw everything off balance! Stop running and take responsibility, D-ko!!”

But A-ko was too worked up by her own words to see that.

She had gotten so many people involved in this and increased the number of victims no one had ever asked for.

And she apparently couldn’t even imagine that Takitsubo Rikou was one of those victims.

“Everyone you were involved with is dead.”

“…”

“So now all I need to do is claim you. It’s simple: with Item gone, I can take it all for myself. But don’t worry. Once you become D-ko, the four of us will be complete. ''We'' will be, not Item. Nothing could be more natural. Mugino Shizuri had just gotten in the way until now.”



“Oh, really? And what can you do if it’s just you and Takitsubo?”



Both girls’ eyes were drawn in a different direction.

Toward Mugino Shizuri.

Her hair and clothing were covered in mud.

And blood.

If she was still breathing, she could have saved her life by slipping into the shadows and escaping. Why had she instead dragged her heavy body back here?

For what purpose?

That thought badly irritated A-ko.

That was supposed to be ''their'' position.

They were supposed to become four and find success.

A-ko spat out her next words like they were filth.

“You were alive?”

“Not just me. The bomb on the sandbank didn’t go off, did it? Frenda and Kinuhata both won. Sounds like it was a close thing, though.”

That would imply something else.

B-ko and C-ko were dead.

Leaving A-ko all alone.

“You…if only you hadn’t come here…Takitsubo Rikou would have become D-ko and the four of us would have been complete! Stop getting in our way, Iteeeem!!”

But she failed to even notice the situation was worsening for her.

It had all fallen apart.

B-ko and C-ko were gone. So even if she did acquire Takitsubo Rikou now, they wouldn’t be complete. And they never would be.

But A-ko didn’t seem aware of that.

If only she had Takitsubo.

If only D-ko could complete them.

…Funnily enough, Frenda had addressed this while away from these three: ''If you were doing this for a casual enough reason to mention it here, it would mean you had really and truly lost it.

And come to think of it…what was A-ko’s concept again?

Self-hypnosis.

As long as she continued to believe she couldn’t lose, she could push her power’s specs beyond their limits.

“What a sad creature you are,” spat Mugino with no apparent expression.

Infinite possibilities? I can do it? I can’t lose? She was wandering the front line filled with a confidence with no actual chance of success backing it up. That was suicidal.

They were similar? Because they were four-person teams?

Hell no. They were nothing like Item.