Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Misaki SS (section)

===Part 1===

“Dolls.”

Shokuhou Misaki had just gotten out of the bath, so she only wore a bath towel inside her Tokiwadai Middle School dorm room.

That prestigious esper powers development school had two dorms, but this was the one inside the special district known as the School Garden. Needless to say, this was because she did not want to live in the same building as the other Level 5 who she did not at all get along with.

“Items modeled after humans have developed independently all around the world, but their origins are almost always connected to the dead. They summon or preserve the souls of the dead. When a great king dies, they are placed in his grave as a simplified version of the sacrifices that would normally accompany him, etc. etc. This topic may seem out of place for a city of cutting-edge technology and esper powers development like Academy City, but the most popular dolls in the world are the Christian sculptures of the Son of God. At the very least, many people create them, believing that they have some kind of effect.”

There was no one else in the room with her.

Nor was she speaking to anyone.

She held a large pamphlet in her hand as she used a towel to get out the last bits of moisture that not even a drier could get from her hair.

“Once religion and art could be separated and art become a mere indulgence, the culture of dolls quickly grew. But the more detailed the doll the more ‘uncanny’ people find it, which may be a remnant of the religious practices. This doll museum sets aside all speculation, rumors, and preconceptions to study the origins of and changes in the dolls that have remained by mankind’s side for so long. It also demonstrates the dolls of a new era using models made with 3D printers and holomodels that can be touched and held thanks to the tactile feedback of an electronically controlled suit. Valuable dolls from around the world and their technological information have been gathered here.”

Shokuhou Misaki tossed the pamphlet to aside. Annoyed that it fell limply to the ground instead of flying like a frisbee, she threw herself onto the bed. She jumped too much and ended up bouncing a little as if on a trampoline.

When she rolled onto her back, the bath towel fell away, revealing her notable body lines.

“Ahh, ahh… These school events are such a pain.”

This was the preliminary material for a social studies field trip they would be going on in the near future.

At times like that, Tokiwadai Middle School tended to send one of their two Level 5s to give an introductory speech as a school representative. The other one tended to act the commoner and play dumb, so the requests were generally shoved onto Shokuhou Misaki instead.

She could use Mental Out, the most powerful mental esper power, but she did not consider using her remote control to get out of it. More importantly, she unfortunately kind of liked it when people relied on her and let her stand above everyone else, so she was a tad reluctant to manipulate everyone’s memories to erase the event altogether.

That meant preparing the old fashioned way was the only option left.

She needed to study up on the bare minimum of knowledge so she would not mess up her speech and so she would not think she knew more than she did.

“Phew…”

A long but quiet sigh of exhaustion filled the room.

However, Shokuhou Misaki frowned in confusion as she lay on the bed.

Yes, ''it had not come from her.

She sat up on the bed, pulled the bath towel back up to her chest, and slowly turned her puzzled face toward the sound.

The window was open by just a few centimeters.

The curtain was fluttering a little, but there was no wind this night. Something else was moving the fabric.

She saw something on the windowsill.

It was a slender girl with long honey-blonde hair and sparkling eyes. But she was only twenty centimeters tall.

(A doll???)

“What is this?” muttered Shokuhou as she approached the window.

The clothes were strange. Overall, they resembled a white and black bunny girl costume, but fabric had been removed all over. For example, the navel was completely exposed.

“Did this thing speak?”

She ignored the strange first impression and observed it more closely. The details resembled her quite a bit. Also, it waved both hands at her with surprisingly smooth movements.

“Ahh… I finally got up here☆ Well, the height wasn’t much of an issue with this thing’s flight ability, but I had some trouble when a crow tried to eat me on the way up.”

The doll stroked a surfboard-like object held under one arm.

“Yes, the voice is definitely coming from this. Let’s see…um, where is the switch? On the back?”

“Dwah!? W-w-wait! Don’t flip me upside down like that!! There’s nothing between my legs!!”

It may have had a gyro inside like a video game controller because it reacted when she turned it upside down and shook it. That seemed like an excessive amount of technology, but that was not what had caught her interest.

“Why does thing look like me with so exactly like me?”

“Wait a second. I’ll explain everything, so don’t make upside-down into my default position… Hey, wait! Why are you stripping me!?”

“Hmm. There aren’t any ball joints even underneath he gloves. Wow…it’s accurate here? …Oh, dear. And here too!? Did they base this on the System Scan data? But then how did they know about these places no one ever sees?”

“Listen.”

The doll’s voice grew an octave lower.

Her torso was held in Shokuhou’s hand, so she slammed her fist into the white spot at the base of Shokuhou’s fingernail.

“How about you actually look at me now!? Stop treating me like a ‘thing’ and quit acting like you’re alone!!”

“Ow!? I’m going to destroy this doll!!”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!? Are you some kid with frightening cruelty ability who likes adding drills to his toys!?”

That nonsense did not matter.

Basically, someone had detailed data on Shokuhou Misaki. That alone was a problem. It was possible the doll was an unmanned surveillance device sending back camera footage, so Shokuhou made sure her bath towel was tightly wrapped around her body.

After she threw the doll of herself to the floor, it tearfully gathered up its tiny clothing and began dressing itself.

“For one thing, I’m not a doll.”

“What? Don’t tell me you think you’re a tiny fairy or something.”

Shokuhou was really speaking to whoever was controlling the doll than the doll itself, and the doll looked somehow upset with that.

“I’m a product of Anatomy Mechatronics… Well, from what I can see, that probably isn’t enough for you to understand. You’re giving off the aura of someone who can’t set their TV to record and has to ask the neighbor boy for help.”

“Now, do I have anything that can burn? Oh, right. I think I have an aroma candle.”

“Why are you pulling on my legs!?”

“Explain.”

“I-it’s a project that branched off from cyborg research.”

“Cyborg?”

“…Don’t tell me I have to explain that too.”

The bunny doll escaped Shokuhou’s hands, landed on the floor again, and continued.

“They make exact copies of a powerful esper’s skeleton, muscles, organs, blood vessels, and nerves. In other words, they create a perfect model using pure technology. That’s the Anatomy Mechatronics project.”

“…”

“Once it’s complete, the size doesn’t matter. Since making a giant robot version of you would be pretty useless, they shrank it down for easier storage and transportation. And that’s me♪”

She waved her small hand.

“So I get hungry and I sleep at night. On paper, I’m a collection of medical technology, but the machines perfectly modeled on your organs extract energy in the exact same way as your organs.”

“I have one question.”

“Just one?”

“Have you also perfectly copied my brain…no, my Mental Out?”

The look in Shokuhou’s eyes made it clear she might swing her fist down and smash the thing to pieces depending on the answer, but the doll waved her rabbit ears and shrugged.

“Maybe it would be simplest to say I’m a copy of everything but your brain. If Anatomy Mechatronics had that ability, all of the unstable and uncontrollable Level 5s would have been disposed of, right?”

That was a good point, but Shokuhou was not about to just trust her.

This explanation about Anatomy Mechatronics could easily be a bluff. There was also the cyborg named Rensa who had drawn on other people’s powers to switch between multiple Level 5 powers. If this doll had perfectly reproduced Shokuhou Misaki’s body, then a similar danger could exist.

But if no amount of questioning would erase her doubts, then what was she supposed to do?

In nothing but a bath towel, she brought a hand to her forehead in thought.

Finally, she spoke.

“So why did you come to my room?”

“So we’re fiiiiiinally getting to the main point. The Professor who made me was captured and can’t escape, so I want you to save her with your Mental Out.”

Shokuhou groaned at the established series of events she saw coming.

She had no obligation to save this Professor. In fact, she wanted to actively send them to hell. But to accurately judge the threat of Anatomy Mechatronics and erase the detailed data on her body used to create the doll (Oh, honestly. This is even more embarrassing than a naked photo.), she needed to contact this Professor.

The doll in front of her eyes was a doll. If she really was made from pure technology as she claimed, then Shokuhou could not control her with Mental Out which could only affect human minds. She could read the residual information left in objects, but that had likely been wiped clean.

This had been calculated out so she would be forced to act no matter what.

It made her head hurt, but there was no other answer.

“Fine then… But I might just kick this Professor’s ass the instant I rescue her.”