Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter6 (section)

===Part 3===

They had the three treasures and they knew the specific cathedral needed for the ceremony.

That only left the preparations.

The night before the ceremony, they needed to cleanse themselves.

That meant today.

And so they had bathed in a warm spring where no tentacles or slimes would attack them.

It was in fact, a spacious, stone bath. It was circular and luxurious, with the bathwater pouring out of a statue of a woman holding a jar. It was the perfect bath other than the need to strongly insist that the castle’s maids did not come in and help wash them.

“I wonder what would happen to this world if we told them how to make 24-hour baths,” said Shokuhou.

“They might love it, but I don’t want to see a new war start over monopolizing the baths. It sounds silly, but I wouldn’t put it past this world.”

They zoned out in the bath for a while.

Instead of plain bathwater, it was scented with a substance extracted from the oil of a flower petal or something. Apparently this fantasy world had more to offer than walking endlessly through muddy fields.

“Hey, Shokuhou?”

“What?”

“Why are your boobs so big?”

“If that’s the only thing on your mind after all this adventuring, you must have it even worse than I thought.”

“Hmph. I know we’ve been eating the same things here in Celesaqphere, so it makes no sense it hasn’t influenced my size like it has yours.”

“If you think diet is the only factor, you are sorely mistaken, poor ignorant Misaka-san.”

“Huh? Are you saying exercise matters too? Was it because I did all the fighting while you sat around the entire time!? Is that why these things got so big!?”

“Hey, don’t just grab my chest!!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou just barely managed to calm down before the maids rushed in after hearing the commotion.

“Huh?”

There was no dinner for them after they left the bath.

Was fasting part of the cleansing?

And they were sent to the same bedroom.

“I can’t sleep…”

“…”

After extinguishing the lights, Mikoto and Shokuhou climbed into their respective beds.

They were supposed to sleep while closed inside this special room.

That was apparently meant to help cleanse them, but they had spent all their time in Celesaqphere in truly deadly battles, leaving them no time for an orderly life. Now that they could actually sleep in a bed like normal, the sleep refused to come. Their idleness in the superpower had affected their daily rhythm in a separate way.

They had nothing to do.

But Mikoto didn’t feel like killing time playing cards with Shokuhou. She found it kind of odd that this world had playing cards, though. Was that something any civilization would invent when pursuing certain functionality far enough, like how every country’s stealth aircraft ended up looking so similar?

“We’re just nothing alike, are we?”

“It took you this long to figure that out?”

“Well, no.”

While they were chatting without even bothering to sit up in bed, a knock came at the door.

“?”

Since they were supposed to stay in this room to cleanse themselves, they had assumed there would be no contact from outside.

Was this really allowed?

But they weren’t going to get any sleep tossing and turning in the dark anyway. Assuming this wasn’t an assassin, Mikoto welcomed this new stimulus.

She opened the door to find a small figure standing in the hallway.

“Patissiet?”

“Eh heh heh.”

The elf grinned a little.

Once inside, she took a curious look around the dark room.

“Oh, keep the lights out. They will come to scold me if they see a light in the window.”

“Oh? So you came knowing they’d be made at you?” asked Mikoto, smiling mischievously.

Patissiet’s eyes widened in mild surprise.

Then she smiled again.

It looked like a natural smile to Mikoto.

“Yes. Eh heh heh. This is the first time I’ve chosen to break someone’s rules!”

“Then how about we eat snacks together? All night long!!”

That definitely felt like it strayed from the idea of cleansing themselves, but no one, not even Shokuhou, protested.

And Mikoto had a thought.

This little elf had saved them so much during this adventure. It was easy enough to say Mikoto and Shokuhou didn’t get along. But the truth was, if the two of them had really been traveling Celesaqphere on their own, they wouldn’t have lasted three days. It was only with Patissiet there needing their protection and creating an air of cooperation that the #3 and #5 had managed to temporarily work together and face their common problem.

Namely, returning to Earth.

By completing the three treasures ceremony.

“W-we’ll be eating cookies this late at night!?”

“Oh, dear. Don’t let that surprise you. Because I have some chocolate here too☆”

“What!? How can something so sinful be allowed!?”

Patissiet really sprang to her feet.

This was apparently beyond anything she could have imagined.

This had been the most luxurious castle in the world, so it had a plentiful supply of snacks like these. You could open a random drawer and find bottles of meringue or candies. It was hard to believe they had once been eating sliced kraken tentacle on a lakeside.

Eventually, Mikoto broached the subject.

“We have the three treasures now. We have a way to return to Earth.”

“Yes.”

“It’s hard to believe it’s happening tomorrow,” said Shokuhou. “Part of me still feels like we’re going to continue trekking across Celesaqphere forever.”

“Yes, it ends tomorrow,” said Patissiet before falling silent.

She also stopped eating the snacks.

“…”

Patissiet had said this was her first time breaking the rules.

What had motivated that change?

What subconscious desire was she acting on?

What had made her intrude when they were supposed to be cleansing themselves in this room?

“Hey, Patissiet.”

Mikoto knew this might be cruel.

But she had to ask.

“You helped us out from the very beginning. Maybe you were only doing it to help the other enslaved elves, but you didn’t need to stay with us after that was done. Retrieving the three treasures and identifying the Strange Underpass Cathedral only help the two of us in our goal of returning to Earth. So we’re truly thankful you continued to help us out.”

Shokuhou did not reach for her remote.

Even though she could find the answer right away with her #5 Level 5 power.

So Mikoto asked the question.

“Patissiet. Do you ''regret doing that''?”

Silence followed.

No, there was a sniffling sound.

Patissiet hung her head in the darkness.

“I...I…”

The words spilled out of her trembling lips.

“I don’t want to say goodbye.”

That was the elf’s selfish desire.

That was the personal truth she had been willing to break the rules to express.

“I kept telling myself I could stop helping you. That I could be with you forever then! I wouldn’t be breaking anything or lying. I just had to say nothing – not give you the next hint – and we could stay together without anyone getting hurt!!”

She would have had plenty of opportunities to keep those two for herself.

But she hadn’t done it.

As a slave, she had been taught to always do what she was told.

“But I knew that wasn’t what you would want!! So I did my best to give you what you wanted. I helped create the ending you most wanted. I thought that was best...I thought that would make you smile!! So!!!”

But she had continued doing as she was told until now.

Something had cracked.

She had stopped being the ever-obedient slave and discovered a new, tiny feeling inside her.

A feeling coming straight from her heart.

“I don’t want to say goodbye…”

The tears spilled, she bit her lip, and she repeatedly sniffled her nose.

It was an ugly display.

But that did not mean it was a bad thing.

“Ugh, sob! I don’t want to. I want to stay with you forever… Wahhhh! I don’t want to say goodbyyyye!!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou both smiled as they watched the weeping elf.

This world had finally won the courage to speak its mind.

They couldn’t stay here forever and Celesaqphere would have to learn to operate on its own eventually, but now they knew this world would be alright without them. They knew Patissiet and the others could live strong as independent people. They wouldn’t just calmly accept death when their number was called. They would take a different path than the one those clones had once taken.

This girl had the kind of heart that led her to take up a longbow out of concern for someone other than herself and to weep at the thought of saying goodbye, so she would surely protest the system of slavery that imposed such an extreme burden on others.

“Don’t worry.” Misaka Mikoto hugged those small shoulders and rubbed her back. “You’ll live a long life. Even longer than ours. So remove the collar from your neck and the chains from your ankles and walk free across Celesaqphere. Do that and I just know you’ll make so many wonderful friends you’ll forget all about this one little goodbye.”