Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

“Finally. It’s already midday. How did it take you that long to escape one little building?”

“Huff, puff. Sh-she really is in full dominatrix mode, isn’t she?”

Mugino held out a hand in a “give it here” gesture. Hanano wiped the makeup from her face to return to her puppyish self before handing the miniature computer to Mugino. She was irritated and wanted to look cool by tossing it over, but after going through all that, she was terrified of dropping and breaking it.

Mugino looked satisfied as she accepted the computer.

“After grabbing some lunch, we can check inside this and start tracking one of the participants.”

“Shouldn’t we be running away? I can see the building from here and- wow, there’s a giant hole in the center.”

After yanking Hanano inside the van, Item left.

“Um, wait. Are you really asking me to change inside this cramped van? I have to strip down while the rest of you watch!?”

“Don’t worry, Hanano. I’m rooting for you.”

“You, busty track suit girl! What part of me were you looking at when you made that pitying comment!?”

Hanano tearfully complained, but she must not have wanted to remain in the security uniform that smelled like male sweat (because she had designed it to do so). The rustling of cloth filled the van for a while.

Anyway, next on the agenda was lunch.

Frenda knew how to access a wealth of information on her phone and she learned of a good restaurant frequented by District 3’s elite office workers. After driving to the center of the district, they left the van behind and walked the rest of the way.

Frenda spotted something on the way.

“Neat. In the end, of course a salaryman district would have miniskirt ladies handing out cans of beer.”

“That sign calls them ‘bargirls’. What does that mean?”

Takitsubo tilted her blankly staring head.

The bargirls were apparently advertising a new seasonal craft beer. But none of the officer workers in suits could drink beer in the middle of the day, so it seemed like they would have a hard time selling every can. Mugino though they would have better luck in District 5 with all its college students ready to party on Tanabata.

Mugino had also wondered what hidden gem of a restaurant Frenda had discovered, but it was a fairly large Chinese restaurant that shared a giant building with an electronics store.

“It’s normal. It’s so normal I’m about ready to punch Frenda.”

“No one here has time to wait in a long line, so anyplace that gets super lots of five star ratings will be one with a super lot of seating and decent enough food. This place is as super big as a parking garage.”

The five girls found a seat at a table in the back.

Was it a dark side habit to prefer the seat closest to the emergency exit? Or if that wasn’t available, one by a window.

“I’m going to get the vegetable gyoza meal with no garlic. It’s a good basic dish to super test the quality of the cooking. What about you, Takitsubo-san?”

“This.”

“Oh! In the end, they’re already serving the chilled noodles! I’ll get that too but with sesame sauce!!”

“It sure is summer. And I hate it.”

Mugino never passed up a chance to complain about wheat and she apparently went for the rice dishes as a result. She ordered the seafood fried rice with ankake sauce. Based on the photo in the menu, it had something extremely greasy poured on top. It had to be a giant mass of calories. The day she had slim legs was still a long way off. Although anyone foolish enough to say that aloud would have an instant 50% reduction in weight when their upper half was vaporized.

The restaurant was meant to get office workers in and out during their limited lunch break, so the young part-timer in a mini China dress had their order out in no time. Takitsubo stared blankly at the food.

“They’re gyozas, but they’re green. Kinuhata, you should eat more meat.”

“I don’t need your criticism. What are you – a super old man?”

“But you won’t grow otherwise.”

“''Are you picking a goddamn fight with me while you waste your own super boobs by covering them up with that lame-ass track suit''!?”

The growing girl who channeled the #1 when she got mad had to be calmed by friendly Frenda.

“Whew…”

Hanano’s body was demanding something unhealthy after the exhaustion of the previous job, so she nervously pulled in her bowl of stir-fried meat and vegetables that looked heavily seasoned. On the dark side, you could get your hands on a variety of pills or even a mysterious stamp that made sounds quite colorful when you placed it below your tongue, but this was the limit of unhealthy that petty bourgeoisie was willing to go for.

“Today’s Tanabata, isn’t it? Oh, this ordinary free ice water is soaking into my soul.”

“Which one is Tanabata again? The one with the pandas and lots of firecrackers?”

“Takitsubo-san, I think you’re super confusing it with Chinese New Year.”

Kinuhata looked kind of smug, but you wouldn’t see pandas on the streets of China even when celebrating the lunar new year. What Asian movie had she seen?

“Hanano, you should put this shichimi togarashi on your stir fry. You’re in the mood for something strong, aren’t you?” suggested Takitsubo.

“That sounds good, but it would make fixing my face harder, so I’ll pass. Spicy foods making your lips swell isn’t just a thing from gag manga. They have that lip cream full of capsaicin to give you fuller lips, remember?”

“Hanano.”

“Stop recommending it to me because you think that sounds funny!”

All of their food was good. But only good. The secret to the flavor was probably tubs of dashi from a factory in District 4. If this place was getting five star ratings, perhaps office workers thought it was a virtue to have no sense of adventure.

That was the opposite of Item’s way of life.

Mugino pulled out the miniature computer.

“Frenda.”

“Just one, okay!? Please, Takitsubo! In the end, a bite of my almond jelly for one of your sesame dumplings isn’t a bad trade at all, so pleeeeease! Oh, what did you want, Mugino?”

“You’ve been watching the Colosseum online, right? When does today’s match begin?”

“Hmm? The morning event should be over already. In the end, the next soonest would be the one that starts at 8 this evening. I remember the time because I tended to watch the killing while eating dinner in my room.”

“That’s super primetime. Are the managers intentionally aiming for mealtime when people are relaxing with their families?”

“Ugh.” Hanano paled and shrank down in her seat, but that was nothing as far as dark side tastes went . Mugino didn’t seem interested in that part at all.

“Damn, and it’s only 1 in the afternoon. Then there’s no point in pursuing one of the living contestants now. We can take our time and begin our pursuit at around 5.”