Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 17===

Mujinayama was a sniper.

First, he accurately shot through the extra fuel tank of a Two Wings unmanned attack helicopter flying by overhead, causing the jet fuel within to explode. A shockwave dropped down on the entire area like a suspended ceiling. Mugino grimaced and was delayed by half a step while Mujinayama pulled the bolt handle to eject the empty cartridge. Then he loaded the next round.

“Gah!!”

With a bang, Kinuhata flew backwards.

She had moved in to guard Mugino.

She had recognized that the #4 would be hit if she didn’t.

Even with Offense Armor, it was a serious blow. A 7.62mm sniper round had nearly twice the bullet weight of an ordinary assault rifle round. And by intentionally shifting the center of gravity back, the big game round would bend 90 degrees on impact, releasing all of its kinetic energy 5cm within the target. Kinuhata rolled along the ground, doubled over and coughing.

Mugino clicked her tongue and launched Meltdowner, but the old butler in a tuxedo and monocle only took a step to the side. He calmly pulled the bolt handle and loaded the next round.

The next one would end it.

Mugino Shizuri accepted that fact.

But a sudden explosion threw the series of events into chaos.



“In the end, pull yourself together, Mugino!!”



The voice was familiar.

Frenda Seivelun, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, must have tossed in a home-made bomb.

Despite the fact she was being hunted.

Almost as if she just couldn’t resist.

Mujinayama had avoided a direct hit, but he still flinched and froze for a moment. Yes, the seemingly untouchable old butler had actually reacted to this fully unexpected attack. His complete lack of openings before had been the result of his complete understanding of Mugino Shizuri.

Because he was the one who had taught her how to fight and survive within the Mugino Family.

(Oh! In that case!!)

Mugino Shizuri didn’t let the fear win and actually moved forward.

She aimed for an ear.

After all, she had knocked out a white tiger with a single palm strike back in the Colosseum. This had happened in a city of science, so there was of course a reason why it worked.

She had rattled the inner ear to throw off its equilibrium.

(If I want to get in an attack, I need to bring down his guard first!!)

She couldn’t quite reach. Her fingers were 10cm away from the sniper rifle’s muzzle.

But there was an impact.

Not from her elbow or fist.

But with the longer reach of the cardigan she had been roughly wearing.

“Always be cognizant of at least two, and if possible three, options, right!?”

“Nh!?”

Something audibly and violently struck the air.

With the correct snapping motion, any cloth could become a whip.

In the instant he flinched, Mugino once more stepped toward Mujinayama. She moved in low and pushed up on the long barrel of his sniper rifle with her right hand as she did so.

She didn’t bother trying to snatch it away in a game of tug-of-war.

She melted and blew away the center of the rifle with Meltdowner.

Mujinayama had expected her to pull on it, so he was caught off guard and frantically staggered.

Increasing your options wasn’t the only way to gain an advantage.

You could reduce your options yourself to lead your opponent toward self-destruction.

And a basic fact and goal of all forms of art was that information was harder to remove than to add. Adding it could be enough to reach proficiency, but only one who had learned to remove it and was recognized for this could be called a true master.

“Lady Shizuri. I never taught you to do that.”

“No. It’s my own self-taught style!!”

And that prevented even Mujinayama from keeping up with her thoughts.

Their gazes clashed.

But Mugino managed to act a single moment before Mujinayama could regain his balance and strike back.



A roar exploded out.

It was the sound of Mugino Shizuri’s fist accurately finding the old butler’s cheekbone.



She didn’t rely on the easy and deadly Meltdowner.

She had learned more than just her esper power.

This was the experience and violence that Academy City’s #4 had sharply honed in the darkness after leaving the protection of the Mugino Family and entering Academy City where Butler Mujinayama was not watching.

She used only her bare hands.

And that was what surpassed Butler Mujinayama in the very, very end.

“Well done. You really have grown, Shizuri-sama.”

He collapsed.

Slowly.

His words carried utter satisfaction.

Like they always did.

He viewed her with the eyes of a man watching his grandchild.

If only he would say everything had been a lie – a silly act.

That would have made it so much easier.

It was Mugino Shizuri whose face crumpled up.

“Are you kidding me?”

She grabbed the tuxedo’s collar.

And forced him back onto his feet.

She could kill him at any time with Meltdowner.

Yet she was the one trembling and trapped.

The words spilled out.

“You taught me how to hold a pencil, how to use chopsticks, and how to ride a bike.”

She seemed to be speaking through a bit lip.

But her voice soon grew to an unstable shout.

She was shaken.

Traitors deserved death.

But she couldn’t do it.

Not with Mujinayama. This old man had always been at the very foundation of her personality.

He had been a solid, unshakable presence in her life. Like a large tree. He had been an old man in a monocle since she had first been introduced to him.

“Even once I was in Academy City, you stayed on the phone with me until I learned the times table. That’s how it always was for everything! Are you goddamn kidding me!? Why do you have to be my enemy!?”

“…”

Why?

Mujinayama kept his silence in the face of that obvious question.

He had said repeatedly he had his reasons for not betraying Sakuya.

Was it truly a matter of loyalty like he said? Or did he owe her a personal debt such as saving him or his family?

But.

What did that matter?

He should have come to her before the interest grew too large for him to refuse.

He was a Manager who served the Mugino Family.

And Mugino Shizuri was part of the Bloodline.

Neither the troops nor the Management were simple sacrificial pawns. Protecting them was the Bloodline’s duty – their noblesse oblige.

Because the Management risked their lives doing the dirty work, the Bloodline had to risk their own futures to protect them. That was an inviolable rule. It was that give and take that allowed them to rule the world as a single whole. That was the rule anyone who wished to lead the Mugino Family had to learn first and foremost.

Yet Mujinayama hadn’t come to her.

He had feared involving her.

He hadn’t let her do her job.

As a result, he was forced to attack Shizuri on Sakuya’s command and now he had placed the noose around his own neck.

Still, he did not utter a single word of complaint.

He didn’t need to see anything other than how she was biting her lip.

“Honestly…” whispered the old butler in a monocle, slowly shutting his eyes.

He had the look of a grandfather observing his grandchild’s growth even in the middle of a horrific conflict between two blood-related members of the Bloodline.

“That kind of soft thinking…will not let you inherit the Mugino Family which fills 1.4 billion stomachs around the world…”

The gentle air was shattered.

By an explosive sound.

The sound of an explosive detonating.

But this did not come from Frenda. The blonde girl’s eyes were widened with surprise too.

This was more accurately described as the report of a handgun.

Butler Mujinayama swayed to the side and then crumbled unnaturally to the ground.

Standing behind him was Sakuya.

She was holding a two-round handgun small enough to hide in the palm. It would only be accurate up to a range of around 5m, so it was not meant for an actual firefight. It was likely an assassin’s handgun meant to be hidden up the sleeve.



“Whose side are you on?”



Despite the smoking handgun, her voice wavered, like that of a lost child.

They were aunt and niece, weren’t they?

Whatever anti-aging methods she was using, Mugino Sakuya looked at most nearly 30, but her actual age was unknown. Although that she was putting in an effort suggested an effort was necessary.

But it may have been the same for her.

Mujinayama had served the Mugino Family for a very long time. So just as he had taught Mugino Shizuri to ride a bike and helped her learn the times table, he may have also been by Sakuya’s side when she was a child.

But Mujinayama had let go of her hand in the very, very end.

His smile had been directed at Shizuri, not Sakuya.

So.



“Go...to…helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!”



A fearsome beam of light raged out.