Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Misaki SS (section)

===Part 3===

Once again, Shokuhou Misaki was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s and her power was Mental Out, the most powerful of the purely mental powers. No matter what kind of formation the enemy had laid out, she could control all of the doll museum’s guards and walk right past them.

But at the same time, there was nothing she could do about the cameras, sensors, and other security devices. If shutters closed on either side of her and poison gas was sprayed out like in a spy movie, she would be defeated right then and there.

With that in mind…

“If I have to choose between humans and machines, of course I’ll go with the humans.”

“I really don’t like that opinion, you know? And what if you win over the humans but the place is full of traps like an ancient pyramid?”

“The guards will have a safe route hidden away in case of a fire or riot. If I ask them where that is, I can ignore all of the thick doors and over-the-top traps.”

“What if this place prefers to abandon their grunts?”

“If all you do is punish people, they’ll start plotting rebellion. You need to show them your reward ability every so often☆”

Controlling people to gather the requisite information was a lot like the story of the Straw Millionaire. She did not know what information anyone had until she contacted them, but once she did control them, she could create a path to the next target using their connections and relationships. The time it took to find the answer had a lot to do with luck.

Afterwards, Shokuhou Misaki was walking through a tunnel that did not exist on the maps.

The long, long tunnel ended at the deepest part of the prison and she arrived after walking through a round door much like a bank vault.

Like rows of lockers, both sides of the hallway were lined with sparkling obsidian-like doors that were reminiscent of a refrigerator in a trendy kitchen.

The color left one of them and it became transparent.

The doors were apparently LCD blinds.

Inside was a woman in her sixties or seventies who wore the simple shirt and pants supplied to her.

She stared over at Shokuhou while sitting on the bed like a boxer waiting for the start of a match.

Her voice arrived through a speaker.

“You aren’t one of the usual guards.”

“Are you the Professor?”

“If you’re calling me that… I see. So Misaki sent you here.”

“Do you know how it feels to have a doll like that made of you? I’d like to have a little chat about the abilities and objective of Anatomy Mechatronics.”

“There is no chance of that leading to Mental Out. Not that I expect you would believe me.”

“…”

“For one thing, Anatomy Mechatronics is just one of several projects being run in parallel. That meant it alone did not have to fully achieve our objective.”

“Fully achieve your objective?”

“Preventing the loss of powerful espers…especially the Level 5s. Simply put, a method of permanently preserving you.” The old woman spoke in a low tone. “The Level 5s are extremely powerful resources, but they are also extremely difficult to produce or reproduce. Since we can’t get them back once we lose one, they can’t be sent into battle so easily. They’re a double-edged sword. But the way the world is headed, ''that excuse won’t cut it anymore.''”

“Are you saying there are others working with you?”

“I don’t know what they are working on. Although I assume none of them have been stupid enough to reach for clone technology at this stage. But they are definitely using a variety of methods to isolate what makes you who you are in order to arrive as close as possible to the exact mechanism behind Mental Out.”

“In other words, it’s too hard to reach my level using standard methods, so you’re drawing on all of the practical ability you have?”

“As I said, the way the world is headed won’t allow for excuses.”

The Anatomy Mechatronics Misaki was like a puzzle piece and she had little meaning on her own, but that could change when combined with the other projects.

The strange part was how one of the people creating the puzzle did not have a view of the full picture.

Who could say whether the old woman was telling the truth or not and it was possible more was going on than even she knew.

“Academy City’s esper powers development is known to be based in the brain, but it’s also known that nothing is accomplished by having just a brain floating in a vat of preservative liquid. The body is also a part of the single large system, but the exact workings of that system are not yet understood. It’s too late if we lose something before realizing its importance, so Anatomy Mechatronics was tasked with preserving everything.”

“Then what about that crazy outfit?”

“All I did was preserve everything about the modeled individual. If it turned out like that, then the cause must lie in you.”

“What?”

Shokuhou Misaki looked down at Misaki in her handbag.

The doll wore a white and black bunny girl outfit. Had she seen it in a magazine or on TV as a kid? Or did she hope to wear something like that somewhere deep in her heart?

“Our vast stock of data will come in handy once we reach a slump. I have no idea how many decades or even centuries away that would be, though.”

“But that’s just what the higher ups want, right?” Shokuhou placed a hand on her hip in front of the transparent door. “What do ''you'' want? The higher ups must have given you this project because they thought they could use you, but the skill that made them think that was yours in the first place. What led to this? How did you gain the ability to reproduce human organs with pure technology?”

“Do you know why the oldest dolls were made?”

“To create a link to the dead?”

Shokuhou looked confused as she thought of the text in the doll museum’s pamphlet.

“Some were made to take on death in a person’s place. Others were replacements meant to summon the spirit and memories of someone who was lost. Objects modeled after humans were naturally used to create links to people.” The old woman’s voice sounded like old paper scraping together. “Even with the high-level management of Academy City, people still die. And no matter who it is, once they’re dead, they’re dead. It’s easy to say they live on in people’s hearts or that they’re smiling in some distant place, but in reality, ''nothing remains.'' Everything that has been built up over the years vanishes. That is the definition of death.”

“…”

“I wanted to preserve them anyway I could.” The old woman’s voice echoed through the cold cell. “I didn’t want it to end with nothing but nice-sounding words. People deteriorate, vanish, and disappear into nothingness, so I wanted them to take part in the world’s accumulation however they could. If there was some indelible data and if the dead could leave behind an exact model, I thought that might help someone or something eventually. That would throw them into the torrent of the world’s accumulation instead of vanishing.”

“What is your real job?”

“A teacher. Not that I can use that title anymore.”

Shokuhou Misaki sighed.

Anatomy Mechatronics was a model of an esper. She thought for a moment on what that had originally meant.

She nearly accepted it, but then she frowned.

“Wait a second.”

“What?”

“You created Anatomy Mechatronics because you couldn’t allow the dead students and espers to return to the earth without leaving anything behind, right?”

“What about it?”

“Then why did you create one of me? That doesn’t fit your reasoning.”

“You hadn’t realized?”

“Realized what?”

“I only create models of students who have died or those whose death cannot be avoided. My work would lose all meaning otherwise.”

“That’s why I’m asking why you would create a model of me.”

“That explanation wasn’t enough?”

The old woman in a prison uniform stared at Shokuhou’s face while sitting on the bed.

The #5 girl sensed a hint of pity in the woman’s eyes.

“''You will die soon. That result has already been calculated out.''”

Shokuhou Misaki’s mind briefly went blank.

She felt a disturbing tenseness along her cheeks.

“What are you…talking about?”

“I have created forty-seven Anatomy Mechatronics in all. …Do you understand, #5? Even without explaining my exact calculation method, that number proves my experience and accuracy. Those dolls of death can be seen as a direct link to that conclusion.”

“…”

Shokuhou Misaki’s image of that small doll was flipped upside down.

This was not a doll that grieving parents made to decorate their lost child’s room. It may have begun that way, but they now had a completely different meaning for those they were modeled after.

Just like a strange French doll or straw doll, they themselves had become symbols of harm.

“When… will I die?”

“You haven’t noticed your own approaching demise?”

“I need specifics.”

“What good would that do? There is no avoiding it now.”

“Just tell me already!!”

The old woman tilted her head a little at Shokuhou’s shout.

Then she replied in her rough low voice that sounded like old paper rubbing together.

“''Right this very instant.''”

Shokuhou gasped but was not given time to turn around.

After a few dry gunshots, she felt several scorching jabs of pain in her back. Her entire body went limp, she fell to her knees, and then she collapsed to the floor. She tried to breathe in but could not. As her vision grew dark and refused to recover, her conscious cut out.