Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item5 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 4===

“Kinuhata,” said Takitsubo over the radio. “Mugino has contacted A-ko. That leaves B-ko and C-ko. And it means the Advanced Lab is definitely here.”

“Super acknowledged!”

There was no predicting when the bomb would explode. Not when there wasn’t an obvious digital timer. It was all over once the fireworks technicians reached for the control board on the sandbank and the scheduled time had already passed. The color of the sky was just barely hanging on as a purple tinged with orange…but the sun was no longer visible behind the skyscrapers. If the technicians decided to compromise and launched the fireworks, hundreds of thousands of futures would vanish.

Kinuhata felt an urge to rush to Mugino and focus their attack on the known enemy, but if A-ko, B-ko, or C-ko were killed, there was a risk of the remaining two taking desperate measures. Splitting up and eliminating all three as soon as possible still seemed like their best option.

The point Takitsubo had assigned her was…

“This super…relay station?”

The TV station cameras located here and there across the vast event site had to be relayed to the TV station itself, so large-scale radio communication equipment was needed. Using ordinary internet lines could lead to unexpected freezes (especially during a major event when the communication servers were flooded with connections), so it wasn’t a good option for a live TV broadcast.

Although it was unclear if the main focus of the relayed footage was the fireworks show or the live performances.

“Hi.”

Someone called out to Kinuhata.

The girl was a bit older than Kinuhata. But she shouldn’t have been in this off-limits area.

More than that, she didn’t seem at all bothered by the presence of an intruder like Kinuhata.

“Super who are you?”

“What name did I end up going with again? Ugh, it’s no use. I can’t remember, so just call me B-ko.”

(So she’s B-ko? Her power lets her super search for the enemy’s location using her hair’s scent particles, right? Which makes her similar to Takitsubo-san.)

“That really is B-ko,” said Takitsubo over the radio. “She isn’t C-ko giving that name to hide her power, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

…Oh, had that been a possibility? It helped so much to be working with someone who knew the enemy.

And in that case, Kinuhata’s power gave her the upper hand.

Those search types were most useful when they were hidden. They were like bombers or snipers who unilaterally located their target and delivered a deadly attack from afar. Ideally that initial attack would end it because they wouldn’t want to fail to kill and be dragged into a 50-50 close-range battle.

Around 80% of their charm vanished once they were standing in front of you like this.

A search type alone couldn’t kill anyone. Since B-ko had attacked alone, she was likely hiding a weapon other than her power, but…

“What does it matter that you can use your power to accurately locate me? I was never going to hide from you in the first place. A knife? A handgun? Bring it on, whatever it is. I’ll walk right up to you and punch you so hard your skull super caves in!!”

The sound of evaporation reached Kinuhata’s ear.

Coming from her right upper arm.

No, was it the sound of something burning?

“!?”

Kinuhata shook her arm, but it didn’t help.

Throbbing pain belatedly began to torment her skin. Like drops of sulfuric acid had landed on her skin, or like orange-glowing sparks had touched her. The pain came from points of heat.

It didn’t make sense.

What just happened?

Kinuhata’s entire body was covered by Offense Armor which could withstand a shotgun blast or a 12-ton truck, so why was she feeling this pain so directly!?

“What do you think that was?”

B-ko laughed.

And didn’t move from her spot.

So did she have something that could cause burns and could be used without approaching the target?

“Could I be doing something with friction? Or maybe fire ants? Doesn’t aluminum melt pretty easily when heated? C’mon, start listing up the possibilities and trap yourself in a cage of paranoia.”

“Tch!!”

Kinuhata clicked her tongue, jumped back, and sprang to the right, but the throbbing pain continued to crawl along her arm. Worst of all, the Offense Armor that acted as a mental support for her didn’t work at all. Her thoughts were close to shutting down.

“Kinuhata.”

A voice came over the wireless earphone in her ear. Takitsubo’s voice.

“Remember: B-ko’s power is Territory Pheromone. By scattering her hair’s scent particles, those particles bond with other scents and break down…allowing her to precisely search out people’s locations.”

“Super so what!? How does that help me in this situation!?”

“That’s my point. Discussing her power is meaningless. That will not solve your problem.”

Kinuhata felt like punching that girl watching on from some safe place.

But just when she thought no more advice was coming, Takitsubo provided a more direct statement.

“''B-ko’s power cannot cause an attack like that.''”

“…”

Finally, Kinuhata understood.

She cooled her head while continuing to run around.

This wasn’t some strange new power. B-ko’s attack could be explained with nothing more than ordinary scientific technology. It was a form of science that could burn the skin without being visible. Yes. That sounded a lot simpler than triggering an artificial big bang or time traveling with no assistance.

There was nothing there.

She couldn’t see anything.

Yet as she threw her body around to flee, something invisible pursued her along the metal walls of the relay station.

First an unnatural dark scorch mark and then an orange glow.

The wall was burning.

In other words…



“An HMLa!!”



That is, a homemade laser.

A voice cackled loud.

It was B-ko.

“Look, you don’t need to sound that shocked. Laser weapons aren’t all that unusual.”

Still standing a short distance away, B-ko twirled something in her hand. It was even smaller than the glowing sticks used to guide vehicles at a construction site. It resembled the pen lights used at concerts.

It clearly wasn’t a normal tool.

“You can make one of these from a copier. By rearranging the equipment, insulating it and increasing the voltage, and some other annoying work, you can get as much power as a car’s cigarette lighter. It’s not some amazing weapon that can shoot down a ballistic missile, but it can ignite a piece of paper at a range of 50m. You can imagine some interesting uses for that, can’t you?”

(…Kh. So that’s it. Since I can see when Offense Armor is active, it must be super letting light through. ''Which means laser weapons will pass right through too''!?)

Light was an electromagnetic wave. Takitsubo had known this from the start. The signal passing through her mobile device to reach her wireless earphones was getting through too, after all!

“This isn’t super all you can do though, is it?”

“Do I need more? A single boring success is enough as long as you ramp up the quantity. And lenses gathered together like a honeycomb are enough to boost the power as high as I need it.”

“Tch!!”

Before the enemy could move, Kinuhata kicked over a nearby bucket. The bucket was being used to chill the fruits and frozen treats being given out as gifts in the heat, but it must have been in the way and someone had dumped it out back. When the dry ice and water collided, they spewed white smoke.

And something tore through that white curtain.



The invisible weapon wasn’t so invisible anymore.



There was more than one red line of heat. Multiple weaponized laser beams emerged from each side of the thoroughly modified pen light, looking something like the veins of a leaf or stacked Ys.

This was a projectile weapon.

With a range of 50m.

With so many lasers, it was amazing B-ko didn’t burn herself.

“Visualizing an invisible weapon is probably the right way to go, but lasers move at the speed of light, making them history’s fastest projectile weapon. This is the next gen weapon that will end the era of guns and gunpowder. Surely you didn’t think you could escape by hiding in that smoke, did you?”

“…”

“I have combined my perfect searching power with an HMLa that can burn my target at the speed of light. Do you really think you can escape? I will kill you no matter where you run, so I hope you’re ready☆ I’ll start by burning your eyes to neutralize you. After that, maybe the Achilles tendons? And after that, I can slowly burn you to death while you roll around with your hands over your face.”