Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth6 (section)

===Part 5===

“Queen, the vehicle does not appear to be rigged with a bomb.”

“Good.”

After taking a motorboat from the Izanagi to the harbor, Shokuhou Misaki boarded a bulletproof car provided by the Empire. As the invited guest, she of course sat in the back.

Everything had a near future look.

Not that that meant much to Shokuhou since she was accustomed to Academy City. She had traveled all the way to another world and this was what she found? It felt like traveling overseas and then eating curry rice at a Japanese chain for your first meal.

“Wow.”

Next to her, Hokaze pressed her hands against the bulletproof glass and looked out. Nothing wrong with that sort of innocence, but Shokuhou really wished her bodyguard was paying attention to things inside the vehicle.

“Look, Queen. They have all sorts of things docked in the harbor.”

“Yes.”

“Is that an Aegis ship? And that’s a carrier. It makes sense they would have so many warships at their capital.”

…Of course, Hokaze wasn’t looking at steel ships. These were 100-200m bikini girls. They were all lined up and moored at a dock that appeared to be for both military and civilian use.

(They all look bored, so they must not be necessary for defense of the capital. Then are they only for show and they want people to see the warships here? Maybe the top brass are prideful and worried about appearances.)

The cruisers, destroyers, and other ships were in backstroke position, so their backs were hidden below the water, but they did appear to have the joints attached to their backs and hips and those were used to mount the ship-like weaponry to the outside edges of their arms. Their legs looked mechanical up to the base of their thighs. Their warship armor was attached to the sides of their bodies and the propellers on the soles of their shoes(?) were visible as they kicked their feet.

…There were also some submarine-looking girls moored out in the ocean. They were floating on their stomachs instead. Since they were meant to operate at the bottom of the ocean, they would have no trouble breathing underwater, but to Shokuhou it felt like viewing a crime scene. The way those plain girls were floating face down and motionless made them look an awful lot like giant drowned corpses.

''I’m letting this influence me,'' thought Shokuhou.

Was it a good thing she was no longer questioning it?

A giant shape passed by even higher up than the glass-covered skyscrapers. What looked like a giant winged waitress was probably the air tanker provided by the Empire. A few girls that looked like fighters were circling slowly overhead, presumably to look out for aerial threats.

One was a little girl in a short-sleeve shirt and athletic bloomers plus yellow and black striped thigh highs. Wings thinner than the other fighters extended from the back of her hips. Perhaps so she could deal with fighters and attack aircraft, she had various sizes of missile hanging from those wings.

Another was a gloomy looking girl wearing a black raincoat over a bikini. She had a sturdy metal joint attached to the back of her neck and black metal wings that looked like a paper airplane lazily made out of polygons spread out from her ankles. The missiles and bombs were stored there. If necessary, she could drop or launch them from her sides.

(An F/A-18E and an F-117A, huh?)

“Queen, why do you look troubled?”

“No real reason. I’m just disturbed by how good I’ve gotten at identifying them.”

Was this due to inviting in a possible enemy representative, or was the military always involved in politics here? Armored trucks and anti-aircraft tanks were blocking off the streets and restricting traffic. Although those were giant girls with wheels or continuous tracks attached who sat on the ground and slowly stood up with their legs together. Maybe it was for a parade, but there were a lot of military band miniskirt uniforms visible on the surface.

“All of their trucks have such thin armor, Queen.”

“Did they leave out all the tanks 30 ton or heavier because the roads and bridges couldn’t support their weight?”

But more than anything, Shokuhou looked to the driver’s seat separated from her by thick glass.

This was the real new information here.

“Sure enough, the humans here aren’t all that big. Just the normal 150cm.”

The glass must have blocked out what Shokuhou was saying because the female driver dressed in black with sunglasses gave her a curious look in the rear-view mirror.

This car and all the others driving in the city were ordinary machines. Same for the motorcycles, the trains on the elevated tracks, and the non-military cruisers in the river. Apparently the giant girl technology was limited to military weapons.

It made sense that there would be ordinary vehicles to carry humans as well.

Yet those ordinary things felt weird after seeing nothing but the giant Girlish Weapons for so long. Humans were humans and weapons were weapons. This world had a clear distinction between the two species.

The female driver spoke through the speaker.

“We will soon be arriving at Omega Site, the international meeting hall. Please get ready.”

“Will do☆”

The black bulletproof car descended a slope into the parking lot.

A group of women in suits, looking like an army of secretaries, was waiting. They surrounded Shokuhou and guided her to the elevator.

She was guided all the way to the meeting hall. Inside she found a gorgeous elevator hall decorated with carpet and chandeliers, but something odd was displayed in the center.

A 3m piece of flesh frozen at less than -100 degrees.

Any possible movement had been stopped, but it was clearly alive.

That symbolized this world’s strangeness.

No one was in control of it. No one could control it. They had only frozen it because they didn’t know how to kill it, but they still felt like they had won. Because thinking about it any other way would worry them. Shokuhou figured all that out at a glance without having to use any psychometry.

What was it?

What should she call it?

She couldn’t even imagine what kind of life form it had originally belonged to. It had no eyes, mouth, hands, legs, skin, or fur. It was only flesh. No more than a mass of red, pink, and black. Was that the whole thing, or was it only a piece torn off from the whole? Even that was a mystery.

That her Tokiwadai knowledge couldn’t find an answer held great meaning in and of itself.

This really wasn’t Earth technology.

Shokuhou came to a stop and spoke quietly.

“A Frozen Fossil.”

“Yes, it must be,” agreed Hokaze, looking thoughtful.

“Unlike us humans, it apparently evolved from petroleum-eating microbes,” politely but coldly explained one of the secretaries guiding them. “Its muscle fibers produce far greater horsepower than ours and it has a strong affinity for machinery. But it has far too much power for safe use in the city, so the resultant technology cannot be adapted for civilian use. It was only natural that it would be managed by the military and used as Girlish Weapons.”

“I see…”

But.

This was how they saw it?

It was displayed in the center of all the carpet and chandeliers.

Shokuhou Misaki updated her understanding and correlation chart.

A secretary opened the door to the meeting room.

A small old man emerged. The chest of his fancy suit was decorated with a few medals, so was he a soldier rather than a politician?

“Hello, hello. So glad you are here. My, aren’t you a young representative. And beautiful too. Your talents must belie your appearance if you could break through the old traditions of military society with your gender and age. Please come in.”

He smiled broadly, but he didn’t even offer his own name. And his references to her appearance, her gender, and her age seemed calculated to rub her the wrong way. He scattered rudeness like a shotgun blast.

“…I am Shokuhou Misaki. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. This way please.”

Still, he didn’t give his name.

He was only interested in doing things his way.

(I would be impressed if none of it was calculated.)

Unlikely, though.

A national leader who spoke more faux pas than quotable soundbites was unlikely to keep a position like this into old age. This was definitely all on purpose.

He was already testing her.

His tactic was to anger his opponent into revealing their true nature.

(Sigh. He probably thinks he’s the expert, but he’s no more clever than a sleazy tabloid reporter.)

But this was not about comparing each other as individuals and seeing who came out on top.

They were here to negotiate.

Reaching a compromise here would require work on both their parts.

Shokuhou didn’t want an idiot tripping her up.

A brilliant negotiator would be trouble in its own way, but a dull fool could also be a threat at the diplomatic negotiating table. The two might seem like polar opposites, but both could suddenly make devastating decisions that no ordinary person would ever even consider.

How would his foolish cheapness affect the negotiation for a ceasefire and peace?

Shokuhou could only hope he wasn’t too far below average.

She set foot inside the meeting room while regulating her breathing.

The real challenge was about to begin.