Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter2 (section)

===Part 11===

(Oh, no.)

Mitsuari Ayu’s teeth chattered inside the parking garage as it was gradually engulfed in flames, starting from the bottom.

Her refrigerated bag was almost empty.

She had consumed several drinks and ice creams, but she did not at all feel hydrated. At this rate, she would wither up in the heat.

Wasn’t that just about the worst way to die?

The worst?

How could you rank it? Being killed by someone else for no good reason was the worst no matter how it happened.

She trembled, her legs naturally turned inwards and lost their strength, and her small hands wandered through empty air in search of anything at all to rely on. But there was nothing there and she slid down to sit on the concrete floor in her out-of-place gym clothes.

(Oh, no!!)

She was not just afraid of the absurd attackers who had managed to waltz right onto Tokiwadai’s campus.

This was not like the night before.

Then, someone had always grabbed her hand to lead her around the fiery scene, she had been given a role to play, and she had not had to defeat that giant dragon herself. Things could not have been more different from when that pointy-haired boy and mystery high school girl had been with her.

She had the power to control people.

But if she did that, she would have to take responsibility for everything that happened to those people. What if they were caught in the fire and smoke or if they were torn apart by the Gatling gun or wires? She could never carry that weight. Choosing to fight meant to no longer remain just a victim. She would then be a victim and an attacker simultaneously. One or the other would be hard enough to bear while living a peaceful life, but a normal student (albeit one at a prestigious school) could not so easily choose to bear the combined cross of the two.

So she had failed to do anything.

She had not even asked for help.

There had been some adults here who would have shared her fate in the parking garage, but she had aimed her phone’s camera at them and given them a simple command: ''Forget your cars and wallets. Just leave this place immediately.

This was the result.

If she had chosen to fight despite the consequences, she may have found a different option along the way. If she had created a great army using her phone, the attackers might have feared the difference in numbers and chosen to regroup. If she had chosen to cry and beg to exchange addresses the night before, she may have even been able to ask for help from the two who had defeated that giant dragon.

But she was alone.

She had turned her back on all of the cruel choices she could have made and that had led her to the precipice.

Perhaps this result was to be expected.

Had it really been strength that led her to avoid getting anyone else involved? Could it have come from weakness instead?

Just then, she heard the strange roaring of an engine.

No, it was not the sound itself that was strange. Plenty of large motorcycles in Academy City made the exact same sound. Then why did it seem so strange here?

Its location.

The direction it came from.

The fluffy-haired girl’s eyes widened in disbelief, but no matter how crazy it seemed, the reality before her was very real. She could only accept it.

In other words…

“It’s outside the building? But this is the 5th floor!”

With a deafening roar, an airborne motorcycle soared into the parking garage at a point well off the ground.