Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 12===

“Okay, it’s time to celebrate our victory over the Stativarius Ainsel.”

“Cheers!!”

Afterschool, some girls’ voices rang out in the usual family restaurant. At times like this, the 200-yen fountain drink station with 72 varieties and free refills was a powerful ally. Add an order of fries with truffle salt and it was unbeatable. The cost performance was so good that they were a little worried how the place could stay in business. It felt like discovering a taboo combination.

The first to start eating was Uiharu Kazari whose head was decorated with flowers.

Saten Ruiko seemed like more of a fad chaser, but Uiharu had the greater longing to join the high-class world of the Tokiwadai students.

“Hyah. It’s honestly kind of scary. I mean, we’re talking about a Stativarius. That’s a world-famous violin that goes for hundreds of millions at auction!! How far are you going to go, Shirai-san!? Kyah, come back!!”

“Hwah!! Praise me more, humanity! Gaze upon the living sun that I am! A new legend was born today!!”

“Well, I seriously doubt the price of a Stativarius is going to drop because of this.”

“A win is a win, Misaka-san! C’mon!! We want to hear the story straight from you, Shirai-san! Cheers!!”

At Saten’s prompting, the four girls clinked together their cheap glasses, nearly spilling the colorful carbonated contents, and laughed.

However, there was one person there whose face was flushed red and could not stop trembling.

She had twintails, but unlike Shirai Kuroko, hers were black and had curled ends.

She was Sakibasu Yuri.

“I was prepared to be humiliated as is the fate of the vanquished, but I did not expect you to invite me to your victory party… Fine, I admit it! I lost!! So have your fun at my expense and use my shame to sweeten your food! Yes, like you are consuming a meal served on my naked body!!”

The curly black twintail girl shouted, grabbed her phone, and hit the call button on what appeared to be an app for placing an order through the restaurant’s wireless LAN.

“I am not going suffer through this on an empty stomach!! Hello? Manager? Bring out your secret menu listing! …What? Surely you must have one!!”

But Mikoto and the others only gave her puzzled looks.

Shirai tilted her head.

“Um, Sakibasu-san?”

“What is it, my master!? What are your orders for this cardboard girl who has lost all history and tradition!?”

“You are barely making any sense, but all we defeated was the Stativarius Ainsel’s legend. We have no intention of finding fault in your own talents with the violin.”

“…What?”

Sakibasu was shocked into silence with her eyes wide.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Saten leaned forward. “The sample data I heard in the rental studio was incredible!! The data said the Stativarius wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be and the handmade violin could make similar sounds….but neither Shirai-san nor Misaka-san could perfectly reproduce your performance. And they practiced like crazy!”

“For that matter, Saten-san and I don’t even know how to play the violin at all,” chimed in Uiharu while gnawing on the end of a long fry like a rodent. “I’ve heard Air on the G String on video sites and as a ringtone, but the way it sounds really changes depending on how you play it, doesn’t it?”

Mikoto could only scratch her cheek and smile bitterly.

Playing Air on the G String was not that difficult a challenge for Tokiwadai students.

But Sakibasu Yuri’s performance had shaken people to the core using the slight distortions not found in the sheet music. That was her own secret technique. And the fact remained that Mikoto and Shirai had failed to bring down that stronghold even after working so hard they had bandages on their fingers.

“You have a unique way of applying force. Using enough force to bend the strings normally just pushes back the bow instead.”

“But…”

Sakibasu Yuri bit her lip and let out a trembling voice.

This may have been an emotion other than anger.

It was more like the confusion of someone driven into a dead end or to the edge of a cliff.

“What good is that!? Everything I have comes from the Stativarius. Praise me all you like, but I can’t move anyone’s hearts without the weight of that world-famous violin behind it!! No one will accept me without that history and I can’t give my parents peace of mind without that tradition! So why bother consoling me like this!?”

“Sakibasu-san.”

Shirai Kuroko quietly called the girl’s name.

She held a perfectly ordinary violin and spun it around by the neck.

This was not a Stativarius or even the handmade one she had put together with Mikoto and the others. It was the practice model they had used for reference. But it was still a musical instrument that would produce the proper notes when played properly.

“Then could I ask for a song? I want to hear your specialty: Air on the G String.”

“Kh.”

“How far can you take the sound now that you have lost the legend of the Stativarius? I think your true value can be found there. And let me make one thing clear: I may be able to defeat the Stativarius Ainsel, but I cannot defeat you, Sakibasu Yuri. You lamented the lack of history and tradition, didn’t you? You think your parents must feel ashamed, don’t you? Then isn’t there only one course of action: create a new legend yourself.”

That girl had claimed she had nothing herself.

That was why she had found an outside source to provide what she lacked.

But the very foe who had stripped her of that armor claimed she could not even scratch what was revealed below the armor.

Her fingers were shaking.

She reached for the practice violin that Shirai Kuroko held out, but she hesitated and did not immediately grab it. Slowly and hesitantly, like she was touching a metal rod in the fire, she grabbed the perfectly ordinary violin.

The curse of the Stativarius Ainsel’s reputation was no more.

This performance was the girl’s and the girl’s alone.

The sound may have been subtly different from the Stativarius and its slight distortion at the beginning and ending of each note. No matter how hard she tried, she could not reproduce that sound.

But that was not enough to ruin Sakibasu Yuri’s performance.

Even with the practice violin, the essence of her music – that stroking of the emotional scab – filled the space around her.

It did not matter that she did not have the world-renowned Stativarius.

She only needed the skill she had been using all along to read and adapt to the instrument’s subtle idiosyncrasies.

Normally, there were limits to what you could do even in a family restaurant catering to students after school. If you walked in and started loudly playing an instrument, the staff would run over and tell you to stop. They might even kick you out.

However.

Those emotional thorns never manifested.

From the moment the bow touched the strings, everyone was focused on listening. No ring of people formed around the musician. No one clapped their hands. But everyone leaned back in their seats, let the series of notes wash over them, and enjoyed the performance.

The staff even considerately turned down the music playing over the restaurant’s speakers.

The performance continued in full, to the very last note.

A small noise entered the silence that followed. It was perfectly ordinary applause. It was unclear who clapped first, but eventually everyone was showing their appreciation.

That was the power of music.

It carried a charm greater than a mermaid’s song.

“Do you see now, Sakibasu-san?”

Shirai Kuroko spoke to Sakibasu who was more surprised by what she had done than anyone.

Tricks had only been enough to defeat the tool.

Even with the four girls working together, they could not hope to match that true talent.

“This is a true legend. No matter how high the price, a Stativarius you can buy with money cannot hope to defeat the light that you alone carry. It’s time you realized that you already hold a position no one else can reach. That is your responsibility as the ruler who carries a true legend.”

She said nothing for a while.

But it was obvious to everyone that Sakibasu Yuri was experiencing some kind of emotional response.

So.

All she could manage after her performance was to silently bow.

And no one was crass enough to try and peek at her expression from below.