Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

It had been one hell of a day, so Kamijou had trouble getting to sleep after closing himself in the bathroom. He was tired, but couldn’t sleep. Or to put it another way, his body was exhausted, but his mind wouldn’t settle down. That drowsy state would mean any sleep he did get was shallow and it could lead to the amusing sleep phenomena of weird dreams and sleep paralysis.

He thought he saw Aradia in his dream.

He couldn’t be certain since he didn’t remember the dream. It was possible he had seen someone else who his mind had decided was similar to Aradia. Then he started wondering if that qualified as his first dream of the year.

At any rate, the next thing he knew, his phone’s alarm was ringing to tell him morning had arrived to his windowless bathroom.

Before he realized he could have switched off the alarm since it was winter break, he noticed a strangely soft and smooth sensation. And it came from below the blanket.

“Um!?”

Index or Othinus would never do this. And with the bathroom locked from the inside, the nocturnal calico cat couldn’t have stopped by to play. Besides, Sphinx was the fluffy type.

That left only one possible suspect.

“Aradi-”

“Nope. You’re wrong, teacher☆”

He really did jump.

His entire body trembled a few times and the small girl below the blanket laughed excitedly like she had found a new piece of playground equipment at the park.

This was Alice Anotherbible.

The blonde girl of around 12 looked like she had stepped right out of a children’s book.

What was she doing here!? How had she gotten in!? The front door and the bathroom’s door were both locked! Sure, their first meeting had been similar, but he couldn’t accept something so absurd just because there was a precedent!!!

On January 2, his morning began with a Transcendent who could determine what happened to his life and the fate of the world.

“Eh? What in the world is going on here?”

“Boo. The girl worked hard to get up early to visit you, teacher.”

“Visit me why?”

“For New Year’s money!!

“Noooooo!!!” shouted Kamijou. He shouldn’t have asked. He felt like he had just opened Pandora’s box, but he couldn’t say no when Alice was actually small enough to be the right age to be begging like this. And she was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner(?), so he couldn’t send her away without letting her experience Japanese culture first.

“Ugh, dammit. Here, Alice. Happy New Year’s. I hope you don’t mind I don’t have a bag to put it in.”

“Yay! This was the girl’s first time!!”

An extremely disconcerting phrase was transmitted from a boy’s dorm bathroom first thing in the morning. And Kamijou was really starting to wonder why a high school boy kept having to give out New Year’s money. Wasn’t he still the age to be receiving it?

The girl wore an apron over a blue dress.

She stuck her head out from the blanket and smiled at him inside the bathtub.

“Everyone was too busy yesterday, but things have settled down enough to invite you over today. Come visit the girl’s secret base!!”

“…”

He wasn’t sure how to react.

The Bridge Builders Cabal Academy City Consulate probably did seem like a fun secret base for Alice who stood at the center of it all, but was going there really safe? According to Othinus, Academy City’s rules didn’t apply inside the consulate – even if a crime was committed.

But he couldn’t let the conversation die here either.

Nothing would get any better if he always chose the safest option.

Kumokawa Seria’s GPS tracker was no longer useful now that Alice had come to Academy City. And she had done so on a whim. If she suddenly got bored and decided to leave, there would be no tracking her down a second time.

Whatever her reasons, it was a miracle to even have Alice with him.

He was also worried about what would happen to Aradia. What would Alice’s cabal do with a defeated Transcendent? The answer to that question would greatly affect how he felt about Alice.

After some thought, Kamijou made a decision.

“Fine. Show me to your secret base.”

“''Boo.''”

Alice’s voice suddenly dropped in tone.

That may have been a dangerous sign.

He hadn’t said anything wrong, but he belatedly realized she hadn’t liked the short pause – less than a second – before he answered. Small children could be sensitive to those subtle clues.

“But whatever.”

“Alice, um, have you had breakfast?”

“The girl has eaten.”

Alice finally crawled out from Kamijou’s blanket.

He left the bathroom with her and checked in the closet. Aradia was still tied up and stuffed in the cramped space and her eyelids fluttered open.

“Ugh? What am I doing in here? Wait, where am I?”

She appeared to still be half asleep. It was probably best not to tell her what had happened last night.

Meanwhile…

“?”

Kamijou looked down at Alice and she tilted her head.

If she were here to silence Aradia, she could have done so at her leisure before entering Kamijou’s bathroom, but she hadn’t. Could he take that as a good sign?

Index and Othinus were waking up now, so he had to fix breakfast for them.

“Touma, are we having bread or rice today?”

“Another one appeared overnight!? Human, explain yourself!”

Unlike last night’s hotpot, their breakfast of toast, fried eggs, and salad didn’t match the New Year’s mood in the slightest, but the next thing he knew, Alice had joined them. She had supposedly already eaten, but there she was spreading chocolate paste on a piece of toast. Like Index, she would eat any food put in front of her.

“The District 2 Firearm Museum has opened a historical weapons exhibit to help us learn from the past,” said the TV. “This is a valuable opportunity to directly touch a real Acht-Acht or PIAT under the supervision of museum personnel.”

“Ooh, wow.”

“Alice, stop leaning toward the TV and look what you’re doing. You’re spreading that chocolate paste all over the kotatsu!”

Unfortunately, this meant Kamijou had to look after someone else too.

“Aradia, do you want butter on your toast? Or would you prefer strawberry jam?”

“…”

“Get ready cause we’re doing this again. Say, ‘ah’.”

“I feel like I’ve woken up to find I’m still living my nightmare…munch.”

While Kamijou took care of Aradia (whose hands were tied behind her back) like her caregiver, he felt a powerful gaze on him.

Alice was moving just her upper body in some warmup exercises while keeping the rest of her under one corner of the kotatsu.

“The girl wants to do that too. Hm, hm.”

“You mean…being duct taped up?”

“No☆”

She smiled and sent a tiny punch toward the clueless boy’s shoulder.

The physical blow hit Kamijou, but it was Aradia’s butt that lifted about 3cm off the floor when she saw it.

“The girl means the food! The girl wants you to feed her! Everything tastes better when you can have fun with it!!”

Kamijou wasn’t sure if she actually wanted this or just wanted to mimic what she saw the others doing, but he had no real reason to refuse her and he ended up feeding Alice her toast.

“Munch, munch. We can go after eating this.”

“…”

“Go to the girl’s secret base – the consulate in District 12!!”