Editing IndexVSDRRR Crossover Academy City Chapter (section)

===Part 11===

A total length of three hundred and eighty meters.

And a total width of five hundred.

It was an aircraft that looked like a flying wing aircraft shaped like a "<" with another, sharper, V-shaped pair of wings stuck on top. A four-winged flying machine, it looked like a kimono floating on a river. In fact, more than 80% of its giant fuselage was filled with SSTO launch and control devices, and the upper part of the fuselage was covered with countless hatches, which looked like a honeycomb or the vertical launch tubes on a nuclear submarine from which cruise missiles were shot.

The manufacturing technology used could be seen everywhere in Academy City, which, admittedly, could even be mistaken as a Martian base by outsiders.

Or rather,

"This is fourth control; some unidentified cooling system is proliferating around the computing equipment! It is presumed that the object has acquired CIC-class processing power. Currently in the process of self-segmentation!!"

"You can't even remove the parts. Cut cables are rewired in about 30 seconds on average!"

"Warhead formation capability is rising. Unlike until now, when only conventional rocket fuel was injected, it seems that special explosives are being mass-produced in on-board chemical synthesis plants!!!!"

The lamenting cries of young girls could be heard from all over.

Even as they cried out, the ground beneath them writhed, the wires and the pipes in the walls constantly shifted, and rooms and equipment that had never been seen before were constantly created as if it was a matter of course.

It was as if they were inside a living creature, or as if they were watching a timelapse of a plant's growth.

This wasn't the time to talk about modern technology. Rather, the technology itself was becoming more and more complex by the second, right in front of their eyes.

"We're less than a hundred kilometres away from Academy City. Thanks to the altitude, we're already at a point where something can reach the city by simply free-falling without any propulsion!!"

"I still can't get my commands to be received. Maintain an altitude of 25,000 meters!"

"Analyzing the target's position through a radar survey, terrain relief scanning, and concave/convex patterns.... The target is represented as the center of Academy City!! The launch tube hatches on the first and second wings are opening in sequence!"

The girls who were giving those various reports seemed to be middle schoolers.

If one were a native of Academy City, one would have recognized them to be the elite students of the famous Tokiwadai Middle School.

"Sigh, what's going on here…?"

Misaka Mikoto muttered impatiently.

There was no explanation of any kind, and even those girls couldn't explain what had happened. 

They had been at school, as usual. Shortly after the bell that signalled the end of the first period had rung, they had all appeared inside this machine, which they had never seen before. 

Rather than to say that they had been transported somehow, it was more appropriate to say that the entire landscape around them had been replaced.

"How exactly was the list of names leaked?"

Said the queen of the largest clique at Tokiwadai Middle School, Shokuhou Misaki, as she leaned back against the wall.

One of the monitors that were lined up everywhere was displaying a student register for Tokiwadai Middle School. Each name was assigned to each part of the giant aircraft called the "Sky By Fire."

"Or could there be another reason why the names are known even though they haven't been released…?"

Presumably, they were to be the crew of the ship.

A unified group of people, possessing enough skill to be able to manipulate such an aircraft. 

That may have been the reason why the aircraft twisting like an organism had "selected" them.

In order to assume the proper form of an aircraft.

Everything it did was to enrich the details even though it had the ability to grow to completion by itself already. 

At some distance from Shokuhou, Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko were in the middle of a conversation.

"Onee-sama, how is the situation on your side?"

"Wait a minute, here, it's this wire, right…? Should be fine, there's just a bit left... there!!"

Misaka said, hunched over at the console. 

Having peeled off the equipment's power distribution panel, she was cutting into the mass of cables inside.

According to previous reports from the girls, even if the power distribution cables were cut, they would automatically be reconnected, but...

"Okay, that's good... Although the severed cables will automatically connect back together, if we add other wires to the mix, they should mix together and be restored as well! Alright, it's starting soon!!"

 Misaka Mikoto snapped her fingers.

The terminal held in her other hand showed a red debug screen that she had never seen before.

Although it was based in English, it was totally different from what one would see in everyday conversation. Kuroko, who was watching from the side, could not understand it at all, but that was not the case for Misaka.

Tatatatatatat!! As her fingers quickly moved around, the "Sky by Fire," which had been so stable that you could almost forget it was actually flying, began to shake slightly.

"Local data link, CIC, first through fourth full wing surface, waiting for the command list to be displayed... there it is!! The emergency stop command for all SSTOs about to be launched! Disengage target coordinates!! And now… !!"

There was a noticeable change in the screens piled up everywhere.

One of the underclassmen turned her back.

"Launch preparation successfully lifted!! With this, Academy City is saved!!"

"That was just the first step. If we don't land this thing safely, then..."

Shortly thereafter, Misaka smiled.

Bzzzzt!! The cabin lights immediately turned bright red.

Immediately afterwards, the entire "Sky by Fire" shook tremendously. 

In the blink of an eye, all of the girls were thrown up to the ceiling, as if gravity had disappeared. Some turned in the air and landed with their feet on the ceiling, while others held the hands of other girls while floating in the air. If they had not all been high-level Tokiwadai espers, a few head-on collisions and a couple broken bones would not have been surprising at all.

So why did such a gravitational anomaly occur?

The reason was revealed before they even got their feet back on the ground.

"The 'Sky by Fire' is rapidly losing altitude!!"

"Its speed is rising––now it's practically shooting itself straight down to Earth!!"

"The surface analysis on the radar is working again. The target is still the middle of Academy City, but this...this isn't using the SSTOs! It's going to crash the whole aircraft into the city!!"

"Considering that we have 10 minutes before impact and that we reach the target at top speed, we predict a blast diameter of over 8 kilometers!!"

Listening to the depressing report, Misaka gritted her teeth.

Although the gravitational anomaly hadn't been resolved yet, she magnetically forced herself back on the ground and grabbed the still-attached support terminal that was swinging in the air.

"Argh, why is this thing so persistent!! It's almost like a living creature in its tenacity!!"