Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item4 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

There had been an explosion in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

That upped the priority level for the police.

A bomber had escaped from Academy City. The bomber was no longer a “maybe”. They were a real threat. Politics and economics were no longer enough for the police to just sit by and watch because of Academy City’s extraterritoriality.

Sobasaka Michio was raring to go.

He was a police officer.

This was the perfect chance to actually investigate Academy City who claimed to extraterritoriality despite being located right inside Tokyo. If this bomber could be used as a reason to demand an investigation, he might just be able to expose the many suspicions whispered about that city. If he let this opportunity pass him by, he would never get a better one. Plus, he couldn’t let this bomber get away with harming his city.

(So I finally have the foothold I need to go after Academy City.)

He didn’t like that this chance had fallen in his lap instead of being something he had accomplished on his own, but he wasn’t about to let it go because of that.

As a child, Sobasaka Michio had been friends with a boy.

Everyone had called that boy Hiyamugi.

His family name had been one of the most common in the country, but he had always been hanging out with Sobasaka. They had been close friends.

When they had moved from elementary school to middle school, Hiyamugi had gone to Academy City.

He had smiled and said he would grow up to be an esper police officer.

And that the two of them could solve all the hardest cases together.

“…”

He had gone to Academy City and never returned.

Sobasaka didn’t even know if he was alive or dead, but he did know Hiyamugi hadn’t safely “graduated”. He had heard rumors that Hiyamugi had been a clinical trial subject in some kind of strange research experiment, but rumors were only rumors. He hadn’t found any shred of the truth.

Only Sobasaka remained.

Only he had grown up, become a police detective, and been left all alone in the world they had dreamed of.

(I’m not letting them wriggle out of it. And it isn’t just Hiyamugi. I’m going to dig up all of Academy City’s darkest secrets and expose them to the world.)

But the voice coming from his phone was heartless.

He had succumbed to a bad habit of Japanese adults. He immediately wished he hadn’t answered the call.

“Come back immediately, Sobasaka.”

“Why, Chief!? I’m gathering witness reports of a blonde girl who sounds like who we’re looking for. Admittedly, her hat, poncho, and blonde hair stand out so much I’m having trouble getting a likeness drawn, but still! She was apparently going around asking people which train would take her to Yokohama. If she doesn’t know the city, she probably used either the subway or the slow train, so it’s not too late to give pursuit!!”

“And where is that train headed?”

Sobasaka’s voice caught in his throat.

It couldn’t be…

“It crossed the prefectural border and entered Kanagawa. That means it falls under a different department’s jurisdiction. We protect Tokyo, so this is no longer our job.”

“You can’t be serious… That just means we have to request support from their prefectural police.”

“We’re talking about a bomber. This will be a major incident if it gets designated a wide-area case and a joint investigation HQ is established. You can’t act on your own.”

Time froze.

The police were supposed to fight to protect the law, yet he was being hindered by the law.

His new partner watched on nervously as Sobasaka yelled with all his might.