Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 20===

Finally.

It was finally over.

The Anti-Skill Negotiator had her hands cuffed behind her back and was loaded into a car by the adult Anti-Skill officers who had come running. The Anti-Skill woman who had cuffed her was not at all okay. After she confirmed the Anti-Skill Negotiator was restrained, Kamijou saw her collapse.

He couldn’t even get up while Hanatsuyu Youen expressed blatant displeasure with the flesh-colored liquid floating around her.

“That wasn’t enough. I only got to do it once and it only really hit that muscle guy.”

“What’s wrong with that? The less fighting the better.”

“You’re the one that got me all fired up! Don’t tell me you would say that kind of thing to just anyone!”

“O-ow!! Wait, I’m sorry! Don’t send that liquid toward me! I’m not sure if it’s alive or dead, but it’s made from a person, isn’t it!? It’s terrifying!!”

“Okay, that’s it. I’m pulling that bullet out of your gut!!”

“Gwah! Please treat me with more care than that!”

Kamijou desperately apologized while his limbs convulsed. It scared him that he felt so little pain yet his body wouldn’t do as he told it.

“Teacher☆”

The blonde girl ran over with a smile. She held her little hands out and mercilessly leapt at him, burying his face in the warmth of her flat chest, violently smothering him in relief. It was like drinking hot milk after a very long day. He was afraid he would fall asleep right then and there.

“Pwah. Wh-what happened to Shirai Kuroko?”

“The girl saved her. Because you told her to.”

He heard a windy sound and saw the twintails girl appear out of thin air with a modified China dress woman over her shoulder.

“That’s the last of the fugitives. Now I won’t have to work through the night on this.”

He wasn’t sure what to make of how casual she was about it. He was pretty sure Benizome Jellyfish had played an important role behind the scenes in the events of the 29th and that meant she might have played a direct role in whether they lived or died, but it was all so uncertain he didn’t have a real argument.

He was also pretty sure the crickets had moved elsewhere when Hanatsuyu Youen had gathered all of her forces to herself, which was before Alice had rescued Shirai.

“You aren’t going to run away, are you?” he asked.

“Why would I need to?” The Carrier rubbed her cheek against the flesh syrup floating in the air. “Hee hee hee. I’m happy as long as I have Kaai, so I don’t care where we end up living. In fact, an airtight cell sounds perfect. I wouldn’t even need to implant a tracker in her. Now I know she can never escape me. Hee hee hee hee hee hee.”

“Ew, gross. Why are you so clingy, Youen? Kya ha ha. You’re the creepiest person in the world☆”

By this point, even Kamijou Touma had learned that there was no point in trying to understand the dark side. You needed enough mental fortitude to classify these twins as “friendly”.

“Okay…that’s finally everything squared away. Yes!! I so want to get home and take a shower. I’ve only got 49 yen, but I can worry about that after getting some sleep!!”

“Hmm? Are you sure this is everything?”

Alice sounded displeased and hadn’t let go of him.

He looked to her in confusion while she pulled some hedgehog balls from below her apron, stuffed them in a sack, and sat on that.

“''Did you ever figure out why Frillsand #G attacked''?”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

He had no answer for her.

“…Huh?”

Come to think of it, what had that artificial ghost been doing? She hadn’t been onboard the Overhunting and she hadn’t had anything to do with Anti-Skill Negotiator Tessou Tsuzuri, but she had still played a role in the day’s events. So where was she now?

Did some of the 29th’s storm clouds still hang in the sky?

He had no clear answer. Leaving this unfinished would mean wasting the efforts of the teacher who had fought until she broke her arm and passed out.

He was left speechless by this question, but then he heard something else.

A flat, repeating electronic tone.

He turned his head to see a fluorescent light at one corner of the garbage incinerator grounds. It shined on an old-fashioned device: a payphone in a booth of reinforced glass. It was ringing like a home phone.

He hesitantly approached, opened the creaking door, and looked to the phone. It never stopped ringing no matter how long he waited, so he finally picked up the receiver.

He pressed it to his ear and heard a voice.

“Hi.”

“A-Accelerator?”

He didn’t understand.

He blinked in confusion before finally managing to squeeze out a question.

“Weren’t you arrested?”

“I was. Which is why I’m calling you from prison.” Accelerator sounded bored. “You never should’ve been involved in this mess, but if you’re gonna stick your neck where it doesn’t belong, have the decency to actually end it properly, third-rate.”

“…”

Even over the phone, Kamijou felt the usual tension.

“I’ve been monitoring the events with ''my demon'', but that only tells me so much. Can you fill me in on the details?”

Kamijou nodded, not really understanding what was happening here. Then he realized Accelerator couldn’t see him nodding over the phone and gave a verbal affirmation instead.

“Did you capture all the prisoners who escaped the Overhunting?” asked the boy on the phone.

“Um, yes. We caught Hanatsuyu Youen, Rakuoka Houfu, and Benizome Jellyfish. And for some reason, Youen is with her twin.”

“What about the Anti-Skill Negotiator behind the train crash?”

“The Anti-Skill officer who survived Handcuffs, right? Was her name Tessou Tsuzuri? We somehow managed to capture her, so that should settle every-”

“''One last question. How much do you know about the conflict between Kihara Hasuu and Frillsand #G''?”

“…''Eh?''”

He had no answer.

What was that about? He knew Frillsand #G, but Kihara Hasuu? His name had been mentioned as an android researcher back in Alice’s world, but what was this about a conflict? He hadn’t shown up yet, so didn’t that mean he had died on the 25th like Drencher and Vivana?

He heard a disappointed sigh from the phone.

But he still had a question.

Tessou Tsuzuri had been threatening dark side villains to get them on her side so she could battle even greater criminals. But if she just captured all of the prisoners who escaped the train crash she caused, she was right back where she started. He had never learned who she was hoping to attack after getting them all on her side.

Could it be?

Could another Handcuffs criminal still be out there? Was that Frillsand #G, or was it ''someone else''? Was that why the Anti-Skill Negotiator had been fighting to gather all the criminals riding that train?

But that still didn’t answer what Frillsand #G had been doing and he hadn’t even met this Kihara Hasuu. And didn’t this gap in information suggest there was some greater depth to the 29th’s dangers?

“That’s right. And speaking of that ghost…”

Things had worked differently from Alice’s world. If she hadn’t been involved in the Overhunting’s crash, then why had she attacked his group?

If he couldn’t come up with an answer, maybe he was looking at this all wrong.

For example, what if she hadn’t been trying to harm them at all and they simply hadn’t been strong enough to withstand her presence? What if she hadn’t meant any harm and had only been appearing to them to ask for help?

“Someone out there still needs help.” New Board Chairman Accelerator gave the answer. “Her name’s ''Risako''. I can’t give you a passing grade if you haven’t found her yet. So get out there and rescue her from Kihara Hasuu.”