Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 11===

A-ko snorted with laughter.

“What? You think you can beat me if you work together?”

Academy City’s #4 Meltdowner was no threat to her.

In fact, the more powerful it was, the greater a weapon it was for A-ko.

What good was adding Takitsubo Rikou?

“Don’t make me laugh. Try as you might, a fighting spirit will get you nowhere in this world. It’s impossible! Based on the structure!! Of the human body!!! My Octopus Shutter can follow human movements in steps of 1/20,000,000th of a second and detect any dangerous attack. So no one can escape my cross-counters! Mugino Shizuri, I will kill you, rip you apart, and present the utter hopelessness of your corpse to Takitsubo Rikou. While grabbing her by the hair and rubbing her nose in it!!”

“Don’t worry.”

Takitsubo Rikou pulled something from her pocket.

It resembled a mechanical pencil lead case.

She flicked it open with her thumb and sprinkled a white powder onto the back of her other hand.

That was Body Crystal.

She licked it up.



“This time, I’ll use it for real.”



Takitsubo’s heart throbbed hard in her chest.

That ultra-high-speed camera operated at 1/20,000,000th of a second, but that was only a mechanical substitute for real skill.

AIM Stalker was an AIM Diffusion Field scanning power that Takitsubo Rikou took the extreme risk of using Body Crystal to enhance. Did A-ko really think she could outdo that?

“Mugino.”

The track suit girl’s tone of voice had changed.

The girl could clearly view something deadly with her oracular eyes.

“It doesn’t matter where. ''Just continue firing anywhere away from her'' and outside the range of what counts as a cross-counter.”

At times like this, Mugino Shizuri did not argue with Takitsubo Rikou’s “oracles”.

There was trust there. Enough to let the girl watch her back without hesitation.

A-ko was left all alone.

She wanted Takitsubo so badly, yet they didn’t share anything like this.

“What…? What does that matter!? This isn’t something you can trick by adding in a feint before your attack. I’m tracking your actions down to 1/20,000,000th of a second. A massive number of images are being detected at all times. No tricks will ever let one of your attacks hit. Listen, I will tear them all down with my cross-counters!!!”

A-ko raised her voice, but she could not break free of this strange situation on her own.

She was an expert in cross-counters. So unless Mugino fired Meltdowner to try and kill her, A-ko couldn’t make any attack of her own.

(This is fine. This is fine, this is fine, this is fine. No matter what they do, my Octopus Shutter will break down their actions to 1/20,000,000th of a second and analyze them, so they can’t possibly escape!!)

“…Here it comes!?”

A-ko ducked and dodged before frowning.

Nothing happened.

''Then what was that?

Mugino Shizuri hadn’t made any moves yet. Yet the Octopus Shutter had sent a danger signal?

Even though no attack had been made.

“I think I get what Takitsubo wants to say and wants to do. Unlike you.”

“…”

“That’s right. That high-speed detection is far faster than the limits of human nerve transmission. But that raises a question, doesn’t it? You’re only human, so how are you receiving data from that device in real time?”

A-ko was receiving data from the device, yet she didn’t appear to be viewing an LCD monitor or listening to earphones.

In that case…

A-ko had to be receiving the ultra-high-speed camera’s data from the metal octopus-like legs touching her skin. It was using electrical stimulation, just like a low-frequency therapy device. If she were viewing a monitor and reacting to that, she would lose all of her time advantage, so she had needed a communication method that essentially linked into her reflexes.

Meanwhile, Mugino Shizuri’s Meltdowner was made of a massive number of electrons.

Firing over and over into empty space would electrify the air itself.

So.

If A-ko’s skin was tingling from the start, she couldn’t accurately perceive the stimuli actually coming from the machine!

“But how could you- dammit!!”

A-ko cursed. Openly. She had to be abysmal at poker.

Her 1/20,000,000th of a second advantage was gone.

Without her cross-counters, any attacks would hit her like normal.

And Mugino Shizuri and Takitsubo Rikou spoke at the same moment.

They hadn’t prearranged this.

But their voices joined as one.

“You’re. Dead. Meat.” “You’re. Dead. Meat.”