Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 2===

“GK> Anti-Skill has sent out an emergency alert along with coordinate data. The device that sent the signal is registered to…Maeda-san? But the signal from the ambulance’s car navigation system has vanished. It apparently has not arrived at the hospital it was headed for!”

Uiharu’s confusion was palpable even in the social media message.

The enemy had even infiltrated Anti-Skill, the city’s peace keepers. Just as they thought they had found a solid lead to this elusive target, the ambulance carrying the leotard girl had vanished. Whether the enemy was sheltering the girl or silencing her, their clue was as good as gone at this rate. Mikoto and the others would be forced to live in fear of assassins being sent their way from some unreachable position.

They had no time.

If they were going to take back that girl, how could they do it?

Mikoto thought for a moment on the nighttime street.

“Uiharu-san, where was the ambulance’s signal last seen? We can start searching from there!”

“GK> Um, quite close by. It’s about a kilometer south from that club. I’ll send you a map!!”

“Misaka-saaaan,” called a weak voice.

Sakibasu Yuri was ducked down and hiding behind Shirai Kuroko’s back while holding her violin case. Her skirt’s broken zipper had apparently been temporarily fixed with some pins. …She apparently did not wear underwear due to some kind of personal belief, so she had to be intensely worried that the skirt would fall down on the side of the road here.

“I have heard most everything and I will not let that girl be spirited away or whatever. Let’s search for that ambulance before the trail goes completely cold!”

“Thanks. Kuroko, you send Sakibasu-san there ahead of me! She might be able to find some kind of hint with her power!!

“Sure, sure. Your old twintail girl will help out too.”

Shirai was sulking a bit as she placed a hand on Sakibasu’s shoulder and caused them both to disappear together. Mikoto then used magnetism to cling to a building wall and jump between buildings to take various shortcuts to her destination.

(Anti-Skill, huh? If the enemy has people there, we can’t rely on any normal organizations or agencies. Are we supposed to suspect even the pizza delivery worker and door-to-door newspaper salespeople!?)

[[Image:RailgunSS3 5.jpg|thumb]]

After using the map on her phone to cut across the nighttime city, she found Shirai and Sakibasu standing at a perfectly ordinary intersection.

Saten and Uiharu were also there.

“Hah hah hah. You can never underestimate a rentacycle, Misaka-san!”

“It hardly matters at this point, but we’re completely breaking curfew, aren’t we? Ohhhh, what are we going to do!?”

The whole gang was there.

The Judgment pair of Uiharu and Shirai were crouching down and doing something.

They were focused on a small stain on the asphalt. It almost looked like someone had dropped their ink during calligraphy class.

Except it was not black.

It was a much brighter and more sinister red.

“That’s…blood, isn’t it?”

Uiharu did mostly data analysis work, so she must not have seen it in person all that often. She seemed nervous, but then Sakibasu cut in from the side.

“It is B Rh+, but it appears to be a mixture of different people’s. It is likely the preserved blood used for transfusions.”

“Y-you can tell all that?”

“Ho ho ho. Do not take my Carbon Search lightly. Heh heh heh hah hah!”

Yes, esper powers were all about application. At the very least, hers was worth the laughing she was doing while bending so far back her spine strained. And the backwards leaning pulled the front of her short skirt dangerously high, but she did not seem to notice.

Mikoto cut in from the side.

“That may have been a sign from the ambulance. The back door opens upwards just like with a normal van, so there’s a gap at the bottom even when closed tight. Any liquid spilled on the floor will drip out onto the road. Someone might have secretly crushed a blood pack behind their back to tell us where they are.”

“Hm, in that case!”

“In that case, we can follow the trail of blood without using Carbon Search.”

Shirai Kuroko’s whispered comment caused Sakibasu Yuri to blush and start cutely hitting her. …Except those cute blows had to be painful with that violin case still in her hands.

Uiharu continued the conversation while rudely staring at her mobile device.

“For now, I’ll send the information to the Anti-Skill and Judgment networks. …Let’s see, searching for a missing ambulance. Watch out for Inoue Kasha.”

However, that name had been supplied by Shokuhou Misaki of all people.

It was unclear where she had gotten it from and was testimony she acquired from someone using her mental manipulation power even admissible in court? Plus, the adults would probably want to cover for someone in their organization.

“Uiharu, what’s in the direction the blood trail leads? Like, is there a giant airport or a next generation weapon armory?”

“Saten-san, if you’re hoping this incident escalates, we might need to have a chat in that alley over there. 
There is nothing that exciting in that direction. There’s only…let’s see, the most notable landmarks are an aquarium, a concert hall, and an online broadcast studio.”

Shirai frowned at that.

“Those don’t sound like the destination of choice for a runaway criminal.”

“I mean, Academy City as a whole is surrounded by giant walls, so it’s not a great place to lose pursuit in a car chase. Ta ha ha.” Uiharu laughed before adding more. “There is also a large tunnel, but they would never go there. With a single long path, they’d be trapped like rats if we sealed off both exits.”