Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

They had no other option.

This day had seemed long enough already, but it was not over yet.

They took the elevator down and rushed out into the lobby where the concierge in a tailcoat gave them a puzzled looked, but they did not have time to explain themselves.

“Where do we go now? A business hotel or rental room or something!?”

“Anywhere that leaves no record that we stayed there!” shouted back Kumokawa as she raised a hand to hail a taxi.

That was an expensive means of travel for a middle schooler, but he could not resist when she shoved him into the back seat.

“Ugh,” groaned Mitsuari Ayu uncomfortably.

Without her own change of clothes, she had been forced to wear her sweaty underwear underneath the borrowed uniform. Even in Academy City, a fidgeting and freshly-bathed girl must have seemed unusual because the driver gave them a curious look through the rearview mirror.

“I intended to wait until the value recovered a little more,” said Kumokawa while messing with her phone. “But I need to sell that apartment right away now.”

They came to a surprising place given they were being pursued: District 7’s shopping district. The last train and bus had already left, but there were still a lot of pedestrians and open shops. This was apparently the time for college students.

“You’ll find teachers taking some time to relax at this hour, so don’t let your guard down,” explained Kumokawa after having them leave the taxi at a random point.

They apparently still had some walking to do. She must not have wanted to tell the driver exactly where they were going.

And they arrived at…

“A manga café?”

“It has individual booths, a shower, and snacks. And it isn’t classified as a lodging facility, so it often slips through the cracks in of a variety of networks. Both for public agencies and underground groups.”

They climbed the narrow stairs to the second floor of a multi-tenant building.

Kumokawa got straight to business with the part-timer sitting boredly at the counter.

“Three for the late-night course. Give us neighboring booths if possible.”

“Eh? Uh, right. Um, what internet plan would you like?”

“None.”

“Do you have a membership or would you like to sign up for one?”

“No. We just need somewhere we can sleep for the night.”

After paying in cash, Kumokawa gestured the other two on with her chin.

A boy and two girls had shown up late at night and they had not used a membership card or credit card so as not to leave any record behind. The mention of sleeping was the clincher. Those three planned to be ‘sleeping’ here and in their uniforms!!

“(D-damn, I wish I was him.)”

What did that trembling college-aged part-timer think they were doing here?

They did not actually use all three booths. It would probably lead to more misunderstandings, but they all gathered in Kumokawa’s booth.

It was only meant for one person, so it only had the one desk and chair.

Still standing, Mitsuari started to lean back against the thin partition, so Kamijou had to stop her. He was afraid she would knock over the plastic wall and fall into the next booth.

“We need to talk, but keep your voices down. These walls might as well not exist.”

“Isn’t this like a library? Why do I smell curry???”

Mitsuari Ayu asked about one of life’s greatest mysteries.

Kamijou sat on the floor and Mitsuari settled on sitting on the desk. That height difference was a little concerning vis-à-vis her skirt, however.

Kumokawa sank down into the chair and sighed.

“We’ve lost them for the time being, but if we assume they found my apartment in a random search, they’re bound to locate us here eventually. Time is on their side. Not to mention that manga cafés aren’t made for multi-day stays.”

“…”

“This is a temporary solution. We’re only brushing off the embers, but we haven’t escaped the deadly labyrinth yet. Do you get that now, boy?”

After having to run away like this, he did.

This was more than just the big threats. A single triggered alarm could lead to a dragon or assassin coming for them. It could be triggered by some strange animal, by an L.S.S. employee, or by an unrelated student or worker they had hired.

They could not relax.

While walking down the street after leaving the taxi, it had felt like so many eyes were skewering him.

He pouted his lips.

“But how exactly are we supposed to attack L.S.S.? Grabbing a big hammer and smashing up their HQ building from the outside isn’t going to cut it, right?”

“You mentioned a household search earlier, remember?” Kumokawa gave a snort of laughter. “You were on the right track; it just needed more force behind it. Basically, we have to patch together the broken rails and give Anti-Skill a reason to act. Simply put, evidence of criminality. If everything really is pointing toward L.S.S., there has to be records of it. In L.S.S.”

“You mean we have to sneak in?”

“Yes. A lot of people work for L.S.S., from the president at the top to the bottom-level employees and part-timers. If we don’t figure out who is giving these instructions in the company’s name, we won’t know who our enemy is. Besides, we still don’t actually know why that initial dragon was sent out or who it was meant to attack.”

“Now that you mention it…”

“…”

Mitsuari fell silent.

At first, Kumokawa had pretended to abandon her in order to get her to talk, but how correct had her guesses been? Had that been an experiment in which it was intentionally made to attack, or had it escaped on accident? There had to be any number of possibilities. Had it been intentional or accidental? There was no way to accuse anyone when they did not know what had caused it.

However.

Kamijou only looked more puzzled.

“So we’re supposed to sneak into that major company’s server room?”

“Looks that way, yes.”

“That’s bound to have all kinds of security. We’d be caught and roughed up well before sneaking into the ducts like ninjas!”

“Normally, yes.”

The attractive upperclassman did not seem bothered by his concerns.

The movement of her shapely nose suggested the smell of cheap curry was inspiring some hunger in her.

“Did you forget? We have a Mental Stinger user, who can directly manipulate people’s minds, and we have me, who can control people without an esper power.”