Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 3===

Academy City’s #3 was the strongest girl when it came to pure electricity generation.

In other words, this was Misaka Mikoto.

“You stabbed him.”

She used magnetic power to cling to the wall at the 44th floor of a building that included office space on the lower levels and apartments on the upper levels, but magnetism was not the only thing she could do. Traveling along the ground would have taken too much time given the extreme confusion and damage there, so she had chosen this other path. A Level 5 could reach for this level of freedom for ''no other reason than that''.

“And on Christmas Eve when we were enjoying ourselves!! You’re a natural when it comes to ruining the mood, aren’t you!?”

The situation here was exactly what Kamijou Touma had predicted earlier.

Splitting up into two teams gave them an advantage. While the villain pursued the boy, Mikoto’s team had managed to track them down and move in from behind.

Misaka Imouto had been sent to support the boy on the surface, but she did not need to deliver a finishing blow to the villain. Once she got the boy out of the way, Mikoto could handle the rest.

She moved from that 44th floor to another building’s 38th floor and from that 38th floor to yet another building’s 52nd floor.

She was even holding a certain girl while moving freely between buildings in midair.

The small calico cat in that silver-haired girl’s arms was struggling, perhaps because of the EM waves.

Unlike the well-trained Sisters, it would have been too risky to let her move along the ground while it littered with glass and rubble.

“Short hair!! That monster Santa turned the corner, but that’s not the biggest problem. Do you see that plaza across the bridge? What is with this country!? It looks like it’s full of red Santas! She’ll blend in with them at this rate!!”

(No, if she only wanted to hide from our elevated vantage point, she would only have to move indoors or underground. Is she intentionally staying visible to distract us from something else?)

Mikoto realized something and ran full speed along the vertical wall while holding Index in both hands. A deadly attack burst through the thick reinforced glass just below them. The brand-new sports cars lined up in the well-polished display area were crashing out through the window one after another.

There was no rumble from their engines.

The squealing of thick rubber would be from forcibly pulling the cars out with some kind of power while their tires were not turning.

The #3 was not about to be hit by an attack like that, but it did destroy the glass she was using as footing, making it hard to continue clinging to the wall here. She used magnetism to jump to the opposite building’s wall while clicking her tongue.

“Tch!!”

She was a powerful esper who could use the Lorentz force to launch an arcade coin at more than thrice the speed of sound.

Her magnetism was powerful enough to stop a car plowing toward her.

And yet even she was forced to stay on the run. Her power had the upper hand when things like its breadth of application were included, but when came to the simple power to move objects, she could not compete in this game of tug of war. Their enemy had the greater power output. So if she was still not considered a Level 5…

(Is she the kind of genius that can only use her power for spying or stalking or something? Where has such a powerful esper been lurking in the shadows all this time!?)

That girl was a threat, but Mikoto could not lose sight of what really mattered.

That blonde Santa did not have to defeat her in a fight. In fact, wearing herself down in this fight had to have been an unexpected expense for the girl. Combat was a risky choice that unavoidably scattered material evidence all over the place and increased the number of witness accounts. Not fighting had to be the best option if available.

Win or lose, this fight would only work against her.

So for this girl in the world’s most conspicuous camouflage, what was the ideal result and what was her win condition?

Mikoto only knew one thing for now.

(She’s definitely after Last Order.)

Mikoto hated how coldly she could work through the calculations at times like this.

The #3 always stood on the borderline.

She was one of the few people who could get involved in both the sunny and dark sides of Academy City. Of course, just like all the people who had peered into the dark side, she had not ended up in that position out of choice.

(She has such a powerful ability, but she made sure not to harm that girl. That means killing her isn’t her goal. She won’t want us rescuing Last Order or a stray shot accidentally killing her. That means she will be taking Last Order somewhere safe no matter what it takes. That’s her goal! So where is Last Order!?)

All of those conspicuous actions were camouflage. When a stage magician made some large sweeping motion, they were actually drawing the audience’s eye while they performed some trick under the table.

This was where a girl with a perfect memory came in handy.

“The bag is gone.”

“?”

“The monster Santa was carrying a white bag before, but it’s gone!”

(Did she throw it in that river!? But that water has to be freezing!)

Mikoto started to look downstream of the concrete-banked river that intersected at a right angle with the bridge the Santa-costumed assailant had used, but she stopped her head.

The Santa girl put away the phone she had been using to speak with someone, freeing up her hands as she turned toward Mikoto. Her long blonde hair spread out behind her like something from a shampoo commercial. She placed her miniskirted butt on a drum-shaped cleaning robot located nearby and crossed her legs while aiming her hands toward the sky.

She made finger guns.

Both index fingers were aimed high up at the building where Mikoto was and she winked.

That alone might have looked like a playful gesture, but…

“Here it comes,” said Mikoto.

Stage magicians did not train just for when things went well.

If so, their shows would be little different from clockwork doll performances.

The pros would have several recovery scenarios prepared in case their attempt to draw the audience’s eye failed and their trick was about to be revealed. If it looked like an audience member had seen through the trick, they would call out to that person, draw them into the scenario, and remake the near failure into fuel for a new surprise.

In other words, the enemy would now be contacting them in earnest.

“Here it comes!!!!!!”