Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter2 (section)

===Between the Lines 1: A Turning Point, and the Starting Point===

Yes.

It had all begun with this conversation.

“Welcome to the Reincarnation Sanctuary! I’m Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina. Railgun and Mental Out, both of you died after achieving something special, so what kind of alternate world would you like to enjoy for your second shot at life?”

Misaka Mikoto couldn’t keep up with that springlike energy.

Her shoulders slumped.

“What is going on?”

“Oh. Well, normally, the goddess here – that’s me – would be handing out maxed-out parameters and all-powerful skills as casually as a part-timer giving out free energy drink samples on the street corner, but ruining the divine balance you have going on would only work against you, so I thought it would be best to leave you in the default state.”

“That still doesn’t explain anything.”

For one, who was this girl smiling in front of her? She called herself Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina, but that wasn’t enough. Who was she really?

She looked a lot like a small girl of about 13.

…Of course, Mikoto was 14 herself, but a year’s difference meant a lot to middle schoolers. So Mikoto only saw her as a small child.

The girl’s long silver hair was done up in a flat braid that resembled a fried shrimp. She had light skin, but her short stature was at odds with her unnaturally large boobs. In fact, large didn’t do them justice. Enormous worked better. She wore a sheer white dancer’s outfit. But the thin chains, clasps, and whatnot were all silver. However, the hagoromo-style ribbons were bright reds, blues, and greens.

Her appearance had a lot of buts and howevers to it.

Her overall coloration was very holy, but the revealing outfit made it look more profane. Was that imbalance a calculated thing? If so, what was the point of that extremely unbalanced arrangement?

…And was the combination of short and busty another part of that?

“Whatever the case, that outfit is more of a Shokuhou thing. Because it’s lewd.”

“Do you have to bring our fight over into the afterlife, Misaka-saaan?” said Shokuhou, burning with a dark flame next to Mikoto.

Yes. That was a good point.

Hadn’t they both died?

“So what is this place?”

“Does this mean we died in that propane tank explosion during lunch?”

Assuming Shokuhou’s Mental Out hadn’t broken the established rules and reached Mikoto’s brain, that memory should be accurate. In fact, it would have been more surprising to have escaped such a major accident unharmed.

But Mikoto and Shokuhou didn’t have any obvious injuries here and they didn’t recognize this sanctuary place that was larger than a domed stadium.

Yes.

They were standing inside in a massive ancient structure made of heavy stone.

But its coloration made no sense. The faint yellow sparkles floating atop the white surface gave it a color similar to sparkling wine. The stone didn’t seem to be calcite, strawberry quartz, or imperial topaz. It was a mysterious smooth mineral. Did it even exist in the real world? To be blunt, the structure was shaped like a grand temple, but it was colored like a luxury smartphone.

(More unbalanced mismatches.)

Neither Mikoto nor Shokuhou recognized the construction style either (and they knew more than the average person on that subject thanks to their school). At the very least, it wasn’t ancient Greek or Roman. The large open space was surrounded by boxy spiral staircases and pure water fell down tiered paths from above. That may have been a type of cascade, but they weren’t sure what kind of mythological meaning the decoration had.

If whoever was behind this had gone to all the trouble of creating this place, what were they going to do with Mikoto and Shokuhou?

And at the same time, Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina’s eyes widened in realization.

It was the look of an actor who saw her costar just standing there out of costume after the curtain rose.

“Wait, wait. Oh, that’s not good. There’s still a tiny thread leftover. Argh, how many times do I have to tell them to sever every last connection and sliver of regret regarding their past life before bringing them here?”

It was unclear who she was complaining about there, but that wasn’t what Mikoto was interested in.

She had picked up on something else.

“Hm? So was there some kind of trouble? Like that we didn’t actually die in that accident? If we’re still just barely having an out-of-body experience here, then send us back!”

“Sorry, but that isn’t an option.”

The goddess rejected the idea of survival as casually as a clerk explaining that the limited-time coffee jelly couldn’t be included in the bargain hamburger meal.

“And before you get any ideas, you couldn’t go back even if you began a nightmare-difficulty impossible boss battle and somehow managed to defeat me. Lately, there’s been a rash of these dangerous people who try to break things during the initial tutorial. Anyway, the system is a one-way road. I send you from front to back. If you want to go from back to front, you need to go ask a different goddess.”

“Please don’t mention one-way roads when talking about an expert in death…”

“?”

The goddess clearly didn’t understand, but Mikoto didn’t feel like explaining.

Shokuhou put a hand on her hip and spoke.

“If you we do what you say, are we going to have to cross some strange river? I’d really rather not. What happens if we just stay in this really pleasant tutorial space forever?”

“Any soul other mine will probably be worn away into nothingness if it stays here too long. And I mean it truly disappears. If ''that'' happens, you can’t enjoy your overpowered reincarnation. Because your soul will be gone forever.”

“…” “…”

It sounded like disobeying her wouldn’t end well.

Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina seemed like a next-gen goddess who had updated her countermeasures for outrageous people who tried to pull a fast one on her during the tutorial. But that aside, Mikoto was ready to move on and learn what this tutorial and goddess were about.

“So you’re free to take detours if you like, but if you want to take a different route back to your Earth where you can regain consciousness and leave the hospital, don’t try to go back the way you came. I recommend visiting some other random world first☆ Think of it like making a reallllly big U-turn!”

“So what kind of other world are we talking about?”

“I generally think of myself as a sommelier. If I hand the customer a menu, you’ll end up choosing something like having the strongest appraisal skill, being reborn as an inanimate object, being kicked out of a holy party, regaining your lost youth, cultivating and farming some land deep in the forest, resisting until the age of 30 to become a wizard, or discovering Earth home cooking is highly valued, etc. And with the format and direction of the world so well-defined, you’ll actually find it’s really restrictive. So I think it’s best to ask the customer what they think and what they want so I can come up with something for them myself!”

“Ehh? So like you ask a bunch of yes-or-no questions and then give us a recommended world? Can’t we get a hint ability of where to start? Being told you can do anything makes it really hard to do anything at all.”

“This is all for your own good, so stop complaining about the tutorial! Besides, some people are better suited for some worlds than others. Like if I threw you extreme combat kaiju into a world where a plate of nikujaga is worth its weight in gold, nothing would happen, would it? Nothing at all.”

“I-I can cook if I have to! An apron over a school uniform is the perfect middle school girl look!!” “I-I can cook if I have to! An apron over a school uniform is the perfect middle school girl look!!”

Whether it was for appearances or they were serious, they both shouted back at the same time. While blushing.

But were they customers here?

If so, what were they paying with?

Mikoto and Shokuhou did still have questions, but their arms intersected as they pointed at each other’s face.

And they shouted in unison.

They knew exactly what they wanted most.

“Any world is fine as long as she’s not in it!!!” “Any world is fine as long as she’s not in it!!!”

“You got it☆”

Their request was accepted.

It was…accepted?

“But I, Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina, am only in charge of the beginning of life, not the end of it. So all I can do is show you to a world ''where that is most likely to occur''.”

“Good enough.” “Good enough.”

“Hee hee. You two are actually really good friends, aren’t you?”

Shokuhou brainwashed the goddess with her TV remote and Mikoto blasted her away with a Railgun.

Yes, they had forgotten.

This was how their reincarnation journey had begun.

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