Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter2 (section)

===Part 14===

Everyone was gathered in one place.

Good and evil, expert and amateur – everyone.

The large motorcycle broke through the shopping mall’s 8th floor window, flew in a falling arc, and charged right into the 5th floor of the blazing parking garage. The force of landing blew out the rear tire, but Kumokawa kept the motorcycle from falling over and forcefully stopped it by spinning it around in something like a roundhouse kick.

“Kyah!?”

A high-pitched scream sounded from surprisingly close by.

A fluffy-haired middle school girl was crouched down clutching a refrigerated bag to her chest to look as small as possible as she cried out in terror. The heat and smoke must have gotten to her because she was so sweaty you would think she had been in a sauna. Also, she was inexplicably wearing sleeveless gym clothes. It was plastered to her bodylines and the color of her skin showed through in places.

“What’s with the oddly sweet smell in here? I was wondering how she had held off dehydration in this sauna of a place, but she must have been rehydrating all the while.”

“Eh? You mean that isn’t just how girls smell? I mean, she is pretty sweaty.”

The motorcycle was useless with the tire blown.

Kamijou hopped off of the rear seat and Kumokawa did not bother with the kickstand. She just let it fall and she did not seem to care when the sidemirror was smashed against the floor.

“Ah, ah…”

Mitsuari Ayu stared in confusion at first, but once she recognized who this was, she felt a different sort of panic. This must have been an odd curveball for her current mental state because her eyes started spinning and her small hands wandered aimlessly through empty air.

She wore gym clothes and indoor slippers.

She sat there in that mismatched outfit and looked up at the boy and the girl.

“Wait, what? What are you doing here!? Why would you break free of the earth’s gravitational pull to come here of all places!?”

“Direct your thanks to Mr. Lady Killer here. To be honest, I wouldn’t have seen any need to come here if I was doing it myself. I’m pretty sure I can get information on LS.S. from another source.”

“Eh? Huh?”

Still unable to get up, she glanced over at the pointy-haired boy, but he did not say anything.

What could he say?

If he explained at length why he had come to rescue her, what would it accomplish aside from making it sound like he was asking for something in return?

He did not know how much it would help, but he handed her the handkerchief from his pocket.

“I don’t see anyone else in here. I don’t know who did this, but was the idea to let her burn in here?”

“That would make this easier, but I imagine they’ll come check the corpse to make sure she’s dead. So someone will be coming here. What I can’t tell you is whether that will be a human or if it will be a dragon or dinosaur or something.”

“Th-they’re human.”

The fluffy-haired girl got her voice out in fits and starts.

She squeezed the borrowed handkerchief in both hands and spoke like she was taking a step forward in this hopeless situation.

“There are at least three of them!! One is an esper using a Gatling gun, one controls drones with poisoned wires, and one is another psychological esper with a handgun!!”

Kumokawa Seria put a hand on her hip and sighed.

That girl could have done a better job than this with Mental Stinger at her disposal. If she had controlled a large number of people and sent them in, she may have been able to escape to safety even if it meant a bloodbath for everyone else. But there was no sign of that. In fact, there was no sign of anyone else having collapsed from the fire and smoke in this parking garage. No customers and no security guards.

Kumokawa coolly asked a question within the blazing heat.

“Did you use your power to move the other people ''away''? First this boy insists on going to rescue you and now this. Does no one else have any sense at all?”

“…”

“So why the change of heart now? The information you gave us may change the outcome of the battle. And in this fire, if the attacker is left unconscious, they could be killed in the fire they themselves set.”

Still slumped down on the floor and with tears in her eyes, Mitsuari’s mouth moved.

For a while, no words came out.

But.

But she finally managed to squeeze the words from her dry throat even though her hips were too weak to move and the sweat pouring from her skin had plastered her fluffy hair to her cheeks.

“I…”

She was desperate.

This did not at all sound like a brand-name girl.

“I can’t keep going like this. Someone came to save me even though it meant choosing to fight and being an attacker instead of just a victim. So…so I can’t just hide behind them. I want to be useful to someone!!”

That was enough.

It was unclear what she could do in this situation.

But in that moment, Mitsuari Ayu joined their party. Of her own free will. She was not waiting in safety to see which side was going to win and then joining them. She was taking their side when everything was still up in the air.

Now it was Kamijou’s turn.

They were all in this together now.

So it was time for him to reveal a certain ''secret''.

“We’re not up against a giant creature made by a Biohacker. We have multiple opponents and we need to be on the lookout for next-generation weapons based on esper powers. In that case, we might just be able to use ''my right hand''.”

“Do you really believe that?” cautiously asked Kumokawa Seria, but the pointy-haired boy did not apply the brakes.

“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I believe it with all my heart. Maybe I’m wrong, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. We all make mistakes, but it definitely wouldn’t be this girl’s fault.”

“…”

These were exceptional circumstances.

Mitsuari Ayu looked up at him with a curious look while she sat on the floor with her sweat-soaked gym clothes plastered to her skin.

Kamijou Touma rotated ''his entire right arm'' around as if to see how his shoulder was doing and then he clenched his fist.

For the first time, he called a certain girl’s name.

“Don’t worry, Mitsuari. If anything tries to hurt you, I’ll smash it to smithereens.”

He took on the burden of that girl’s life after she was driven to the very edge.

He was in his element now.

A certain inexperienced boy was going to use his right fist in a true battle between espers.

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