Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 4===

The boy wasn’t the only one who needed time to gather his thoughts.

Witch Goddess Aradia did as well.

Alice Anotherbible was gone.

There was no second or third Alice like there was for her.

The Bridge Builders Cabal had fallen apart and it was unlikely to ever be restored. The loss of its central figure was too devastating a blow and they had already seen the result of the Transcendents gathering together and trying their best.

Christian Rosencreutz.

They likely lacked the strength needed to overcome that horrific failure and regroup.

But time was still progressing.

Aradia and the others’ regrets and hesitation did nothing to slow the clock.

(I need to decide what I’m going to do too.)

Aradia heard a metallic crash.

Something had fallen over.

She checked inside a nearby hospital room to see just one bed. The room’s sole occupant was a girl of 5 or 6 wearing pajamas. Her gaunt arms dangled weakly at her sides. She may have been in this hospital since before she began Academy City’s esper development.

A red color was splattered on the floor.

She must have pulled out her transfusion needle.

“No, don’t push the nurse call.”

The girl’s parched voice stopped the question on Aradia’s lips.

The bedside table contained a few personal items, but the stuffed animals and picture book looked somehow faded. She may not have been receiving visitors as frequently as when she was first hospitalized.

Aradia glanced at the picture book’s cover.

(Cinderella, hm?)

“Witches aren’t real.”

The girl didn’t even look over at it.

Only that faded picture book remained.

“Miracles don’t happen. Nothing I do will make me even a little better. I already know that. I was surprised when R&C Occultics showed up, but that site was shut down before long. Now no one can use-”

The girl stopped midsentence.

Aradia didn’t even need to snap her fingers.

A spiral lollipop had appeared in her hand. When she spun it around, it turned into a crow, which flapped its wings to transform into a rabbit, which became a kitten that hopped onto Aradia’s shoulder.

The girl in the bed leaned forward.

“Wh-what did you do? Is that an esper power?”

“No talent is needed for this. Because anyone is free to use magic.”

With a flourish of the stick in Aradia’s hand, the cat on her shoulder unraveled like a ribbon and returned to being a spiral lollipop.

“Nothing is impossible,” she declared. This was also a command she made. “I will never let the barrier of ‘impossible’ stand in your way. I will leave you with the hope you need to live. And if you are truly interested in being a witch, seek me out once you have conquered your illness.”

“Are you…a witch?”

“No.”

Aradia shook her head.

She glanced over at the faded picture book on the bedside table with fondness.

And she reached for the nurse call button once more.

“I am the goddess of all witches. I exist to protect and guide all who hope to be a witch.”

Aradia left the room.

Just before some nurses scrambled into the room.

Alone in the hallway, the Transcendent breathed a quiet sigh.

She knew she had no right to make such promises. CRC was on his way here, so Aradia’s presence was threatening the lives of everyone in the hospital.

But.

But what did that matter?

She had never claimed to perfectly embody her borrowed name. She had known from the beginning that she lacked the power to save the world. That was why she did not use her own magic name and instead chose the path of the Transcendent, where she borrowed a god’s name and mimicked their manner of dress and their behavior.

Where had it all begun?

Hadn’t there been something she could not let happen, even if she wasn’t up to the task?

Maybe she would lose this battle in the end.

But who would be the one to suffer from that result?

“Hmph.”