Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume15 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 16===

Things could hardly be worse.

Takitsubo Rikou, a scientific tracking expert, had joined the Anglicans to pursue him.

What clue was his girlfriend using to track him?

“This maybe?”

Inside the antenna tower that doubled as a disaster shelter, Hamazura Shiage’s eyes dropped to his hand.

To the cracked phone.

To AI Aneri.

…He was the only one who could use that special gadget, so maybe it also acted as a ''sign''. If it was possible to follow the trail he left from using Aneri, it would lead his pursuers straight to him.

Nothing was truly perfect.

Any plus could also act as a minus.

That was true of Academy City espers too…but it was Takitsubo’s sharp mind that let her shift focuses so quickly. She had worked as Item’s tracker, after all. In that world, you couldn’t get away with saying you were at a loss because you couldn’t find any clues. She knew all too well how to track down a running and hiding target.

“Ugh. Does that makes my presence fairly dangerous too?”

This was a new reaction from Blodeuwedd the Bouquet.

She sounded somehow apologetic.

…It was true magicians were an oddity from Academy City’s scientific perspective. And as a Transcendent, she was different even among magicians. ''With so few like her, she could be used to track him.'' He didn’t know how much Takitsubo knew about the phenomenon known as magic, but there was still a chance she could follow that trail.

“Dammit, Takitsubo’s just too good. There’s a reason I fell for her…”

As a Level 0 who was used to being one of the useless masses, he had never imagined that a special ability only available to him could work against him like this. For a tracking expert like Takitsubo, was an overpowered ability no more than a convenient target to lock on to?

“So what now, Hamazura-chan? You can’t give up your trump card just because it’s dangerous, right?”

“No matter how good Takitsubo is, she’s still from the science side. That means she can’t track things magically. So even if she’s tracking a magician, she only has science to work with. We should be able to stop her tracking by focusing on scientific interference. Aneri! I have one big job for you before you go quiet. Search for any way of scientifically tracking me based on anything other than you – like Blodeuwedd the Bouquet – and block them all!!”

The response came quick.

The seemingly harmless sensors and mics for gathering weather data and preventing bird strikes had all been taken down.

“Come with me, Blodeuwedd the Bouquet.”

The emaciated girl tilted her head.

“You’re keeping me with you? I’m pretty conspicuous, so if you used me as a diversion…you would be free to move.”

“I’m not losing someone as powerful as you at this point. I’m just a Level 0. If I lose what makes me special here, I’ll be one-shotted the next time anything happens.”

For some reason, Blodeuwedd the Bouquet grinned at him.

She also leaned against him from the side…but there was nothing gentle about it with that thick metal coat. And the icy January wind had him worried the copper panels were going to freeze to his skin!

“I see your dependency on me is only growing. Hee hee. Your big sis couldn’t be happier.”

“…You dare call yourself a big sister with that washboard chest?”

“I’ll strangle you.”

They walked a while longer with no surprise attack from the Anglicans…so did that mean they had successfully warded off Takitsubo’s attack?

With Takitsubo stymied, that just left the Anglicans. He decided to assume they were back to being a bumbling army.

But that didn’t mean he could relax.

Blodeuwedd the Bouquet reminded him why.

“The actual villain managed to escape while the Anglicans were causing a lot of worthless trouble…but where exactly do you think they went?”

AI Aneri provided several candidates, but there were ''several'' of them. They had nothing with which to narrow it down further. District 23 contained far too many important facilities that would be dangerous if hijacked.

Hamazura consciously took a deep breath and tried to restore his calm.

He was about to face the worst case he could think of.

“Black_Oneday is only useful somewhere that runs on the unique code used by the aerospace industry. It isn’t very useful outside of District 23, so I think they’ll stay inside this district ''as long as they still intend to attack.''”

If they could remotely hack from some far distant location, the enemy wouldn’t be in District 23 to begin with. Most likely (even if it hadn’t been revealed to the public), there was a firewall between District 23 and the rest of the city, much like the one between Academy City and the outside world. But if their enemy was physically inside the district, they could ignore that troublesome security.

“But then where are they? District 23 is a big place. It covers both the aero and the space of aerospace, so it’s full of labs for different fields.”

…In that moment.

A normal good person’s goodness would have obstructed their thoughts. But Hamazura couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t be able to follow the enemy’s thoughts unless he pushed past any thoughts of “surely not” or “no one would go that far”.

A day ago, he probably would have let that stop him.

But not today.

“The enemy’s Black_Oneday hacking tool is specialized for aerospace. District 23 has all sorts of things, including lasers and a mass driver, but what’s the last thing we would want them to hijack to boost their strength?”

The villain had primarily attacked in two ways in their previous retaliation. First, they hacked the Hotel Town’s passenger planes and space shuttles to crash into Hamazura. Second, they had used various drones hidden in wooden crates.

If those drones had been hidden, it meant the Black_Oneday user hadn’t hacked random drones that happened to be out on patrol. They had acquired those drones from somewhere and hidden them in the nearby crates. In other words, they were spare weapons.

The enemy no longer had those spare weapons.

They may have had other means of large-scale and general attack – including the enormous laser and mass driver – but they wouldn’t have much in the way of nimble defenses. That was like having plenty of swords but no shield, so wouldn’t the Black_Oneday user be concerned?

If so.

What would they most want to put their mind at ease?

Yes, even villains wanted safety. Hamazura knew that after seeing Coronzon.

So he had to directly face the worst case scenario that had first come to mind.

That was where the truth lay.



“Academy City’s automatic aerial division. A drone airbase for weapons like the Six Wings attack helicopter. That’s the last thing we want them to hijack.”



He got it in one.

He had no proof, but he was willing to bet everything on this answer. He was that certain.

“Oh?”

The word spilled from Blodeuwedd the Bouquet’s lips.

That legitimate monster sounded halfway impressed.

“You’re cooking now.”

“?”

“But do you know where this power comes from? You may think you’ve gone so bad you’ve awoken to new power, but this power doesn’t come from evil.”

Yeah.

In that sense, he probably already had the answer.

…This was the power to approach death.

The more he boosted its sensitivity and precision, the more dangerous the bridge that power lured him toward. He knew a few people who had been taken in by that power. That was what happened to Skill Out leader Komaba Ritoku. He had seen Mugino Shizuri drawn in that direction at times. He knew several more among the Kiharas and the dark side. …And maybe Coronzon was another one.

“So we’re headed to that military base next? Think they’ll have better food than this portable stuff?”

“I wouldn’t expect a vacation where you get to enjoy the food.”

The Black_Oneday user had the upper hand. Based on what happened at the Hotel Town, maybe they should expect things to get even worse the closer they got to the drone airbase.

And that wasn’t the only threat.

He had considered this before…and he hated that he ''hadn’t been'' overthinking things.

“Hey, Blodeuwedd the Bouquet. Didn’t that stuff at the Hotel Town seem weird to you?”

“Weird how? I’m a Transcendent, so you can’t except me to have an average or normal opinion. It’s a waste of time. I’m confident my answers to any psychological test would deeply disturb you.”

“No, I meant those Anglicans. If they hadn’t done anything, we would have caught the villain.”

Takitsubo’s skills as a tracker weren’t enough to explain this.

Even if she had accurately located Hamazura, she wouldn’t attack so haphazardly if she had a group or organization to work with. She would make appropriate preparations and coordinate the attack. That meant it was the Anglicans who chose when to attack, not her.

Also, the timing of the Anglicans’ intervention had been too convenient.

It almost felt like they had interfered to allow the unseen Black_Oneday user to escape.

Which meant…