Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

When Misaka Mikoto arrived a bit later, she viewed Branch 177’s disastrous state in disgust.

“You say you need help carrying Saten-san out of here, but what in the world happened? Wow, she is out cold, isn’t she?”

There was blood everywhere.

Saten Ruiko was in the center of the room, lying on her back and twitching. She must have had a talent for looking somewhat sexy even when receiving karmic retribution. In a suspense drama, she would be the victim found in the inn’s open-air bath without providing any clue toward solving the mystery.

“This place is a mess.”

“All of this uses black bean cider and strawberry oden as an ingredient. She really needs to learn not to waste food.”

Uiharu Kazari managed to look cute even while upset.

She was puffing out her cheeks.

She was a mouselike girl with a grip strength of only 13kg.

Of course she was. Mikoto refused to believe Judgment had a hellish destroyer like that.

So what had happened?

“I could see everything Saten-san was doing while I was away from my desk,” explained Uiharu, wiping up the splattered blood with a wet towel. She was an ordinary girl once more. “I used ''the computer’s webcam.'' Those aren’t just special office devices anymore. You can see it attached to the top of the monitor there, right? I honestly hate them because they’re nothing but a nuisance from an information security perspective.”

Branch 177 contained lots of important documents and data, so she wouldn’t have left it unlocked and unmonitored. The usual automatic lock had been deactivated while they carried out the equipment needed for the largescale training today, but even when away from her desk for a short time, Uiharu had made sure she could monitor the inside of the office – with a particular focus on the presence any unauthorized intruders.

Shirai Kuroko shrugged.

“Then she used the webcam to keep an eye on Saten-san while she had her back turned. She pretended to shop on an industrial online store while actually contacting my phone with the computer.”

“I had Shirai-san make some of that fake blood using a VR instruction video.”

“And I took the liberty of putting on some special makeup while I was at it.”

They had been preparing for joint training with Anti-Skill.

And a mock crime scene investigation at that.

They had already had the necessary makeup and props to dress someone up as the victim’s corpse.

“I pretended to stop by Branch 177 by random chance and then get clobbered by Uiharu.” The twintails girl sighed and gave Uiharu a puzzled look. “But, Uiharu, how did you manage that with the police staff’s grip? It seems to have been an adlib.”

“Ah ha ha. I’m only a Level 1, remember? I can’t use Thermal Hand to release the limiter on my muscles or anything like that. But this is made of polyhydroxybutyrate plastic, a biodegradable plastic, which makes it a lot like wood. By getting it decently damp and then keeping the temperature steady, I can use the power of microbes to cause rapid rotting and fermentation.”

“(Hold on. That’s scary enough on its own.)”

“?”

That 1st year middle schooler was generally a good girl, so she must not have considered the esper combat applications of that ability.

Hopefully, she couldn’t put on a gasmask to protect her from the rotting gases and spend 10 hours erasing an entire bullfighting bull from the face of the planet. Mikoto had always suspected Thermal Hand had a disturbing number of possible applications.

“Hmm,” groaned Mikoto.

She looked down at Saten who was lying on the ground convulsing with her eyes rolled back in her head, which robbed her of all dignity as a teenage girl.

“I get pranking her back for trying to prank you, but I think you overdid it.”

“Tell that to her. I didn’t want to take the joke this far.”

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