Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 5===

The distinct odor of formaldehyde seemed to hit them in the head more than the nose, so Uiharu and Saten choked and suppressed some nausea similar to light motion sickness while they scrambled out of the store. Shirai Kuroko was one thing, but it was ironic that an amateur like Sakibasu Yuri had to carry a Judgment member like Uiharu.

And…

“Shirai-san, can you carry us all to safety if he comes back?”

“That would be difficult. My Teleportation has a limit of around 130kg and that includes my own weight. So carrying four people at once would probably push it over the limit.”

“Then can you use your power offensively to defeat him in a preemptive strike?”

“I will do my best.”

That meant there was no guarantee.

When Shirai teleported objects, they could be embedded in things while ignoring how hard or tough the original material was. And she did indeed have a belt around each thigh to carry dart-like metal spikes. If she wanted to, she could break open a bank vault door protected by tungsten steel rods.

But on the other hand, her power was difficult to use in defense. She generally fought by combining projectile attacks with quick evasions. She did not even consider stopping any attacks head on. A single hit would end it. With a shotgun being fired repeatedly, she would have a hard time fighting safely while also covering for Uiharu, Saten, and Sakibasu.

The girl with the curly black twintails spoke up while holding her violin case.

“Then I suppose I cannot let myself be carried around this time.”

“Sakibasu-san?”

“You there! Those are being disposed of, aren’t they? I will buy them all. And it is dangerous here, so leave immediately!!”

The young men in work jumpsuits blinked in confusion, but when Sakibasu held her phone up to their mobile device to complete the electronic payment, she began inspecting the large bags loaded onto the back of the parked truck. She must have felt the violin case was in the way because…

“Excuse me, but could you hold onto this for a moment?”

“Hwuh? Um, the Stativarius!?”

Uiharu had been sitting limply on the road, but she immediately tensed up. Meanwhile, Sakibasu began pulling out the truck’s contents.

“Let’s see. Flour is the most common version seen in movies and dramas, but cornstarch actually works better. …There!!”

This was not a case of opening the bag too hard and having its contents scatter everywhere like often happened with chips.

She split open the bag on the road and intentionally scattered its contents around.

The white powder spread out in the air like a miniature cumulonimbus cloud. The Tokiwadai uniform was made of the finest quality materials while remaining tasteful, yet she did seem to care when this fine powder got all over her uniform.

Shirai Kuroko looked puzzled.

“S-Sakibasu-san? What are you doing!?”

“Carbon Search…”

Instead of answering the Judgment girl, Sakibasu calmly pointed her palm straight ahead and spoke that term.

That power let her precisely measure the carbon isotopes inside an object.

She could use that to accurately read the movements of the corn starch powder distributed thinly through the air. That meant she could read the movement of the air. Sakibasu Yuri was one of the girls who studied at Tokiwadai Middle School, so her power was bound to be above the norm.

And.

And.

And.

While essentially performing a three-dimensional scan of the space around her, the curly black twintails girl looked around and stopped her gaze on a single point.

“Found you!! I know you are hiding there!!”

With a click of the tongue, a small figure ran out of an alleyway entrance with a pump-action shotgun in hand. Was that…the old man from before? The semi-long blonde hair belonged to a small girl in a bright blue leotard whose youthful skin was nothing like the old man from before. She(?) wore delicate pointe shoes that did not look like they were meant for outdoor use. She looked even younger than first year middle schoolers like Shirai and Sakibasu, but the way she carried herself was oddly similar to that old man. It was like seeing a 3D model running on his motion capture data.

But the most important fact now was the shotgun she held.

“Sakibasu-san, get away from- !!”

Shirai started to shout at Sakibasu, but…

“I can use the motion of the powder to read the air currents created by the gun’s movement. That isn’t going to hit me!!”

The supposed protection target was exactly right.

In fact, Sakibasu shoved Shirai out of the way. A deafening blast rang out a moment later, but the horizontal swarm of metal balls did not produce a single drop of blood. The curly black twintails girl easily avoided the very real gun.

A light bursting sound followed.

But this was not the firing of a gun. It was more like the sound of a paper bag popping. Sakibasu had pulled a finely embroidered handkerchief from somewhere.

Instead of letting it flutter, she beat the air with it.

By pushing on the air, she subtly altered the density of the cornstarch and made sure it enveloped the shotgun-wielding assassin. The static electricity built up in the synthetic leotard may have acted as the final ignition.

“Watch and be amazed. I am not some helpless little girl.”

A scarlet explosion erupted out.

It was a dust explosion.

That was the moment when Carbon Search, a passive sensory power, was used as an offensive physical power.

“Tch!!”

Finally, a panicked voice came from beyond the explosive flames. That may have been a sign that the leotard girl had finally taken a step off the rails she had set up.

Sakibasu Yuri’s short skirt fluttered dangerously while she winked and waved her handkerchief as if taunting her opponent.

“I like to go the eco-friendly and non-wasteful route, but do you see what I can accomplish doing that? This truck is full of expired cornstarch. Or should I go with flour next? Or maybe you would prefer some potato starch or pancake mix. The size and weight of the powder affects the quality of the explosion, so feel free to make your request. Now, how many more times can I intentionally trigger a dust explosion? And is an ordinary shotgun really a greater threat than that? Work your clever little head to figure out the answers!!”

It did not matter whether the leotard girl moved forward and tried to ready her shotgun or fell back and tried to escape.

Sakibasu would not let up until the girl set down her weapon and put her hands up.

A few more explosions thoroughly assaulted the tiny attacker.

It was a lot like fire magic in a classic RPG. The theory behind it was simple, so there was no fear of catching herself or her friends in the blasts and it provided a powerful and highly stable attack. Even an esper with actual Pyrokinesis might have been jealous of the incredible precision of these explosions.

Then Sakibasu Yuri brought the handkerchief to her mouth.

“That was a hit…but it felt like she got away.”

“Geh. What is that!?”

Shirai Kuroko groaned because a large swarm of small winged insects burst out of a back alley. They were the type to swarm around streetlights at night. The flashy explosions had apparently awoken those sleeping nocturnal beasts.

Meanwhile, they heard a sound like scrap metal being thrown.

They found the shotgun abandoned by the alley entrance with a bent barrel, but that was all. The leotard girl must have fled into the alley because there was no sign of her.

“She escaped outside the cornstarch? Shirai-san, please pursue her! But don’t forget that she might have another gun hidden somewhere!!”

“Seriously!? I have to run right into that swarm of bugs!?”

“You can take a shortcut using your teleportation!!”

Shirai Kuroko was in serious trouble if she was being bossed around by this girl. She was at risk of falling behind on the path of the twintails.

But just then, they heard a dull sound.

It was the sound of Mikoto “landing” on a multi-tenant building wall and joining the others from overhead.

“Are you okay!?”

When she called to them from the wall, Uiharu and Saten weakly waved up at her from where they sat on the ground. They seemed to be showing off that they were not injured.

After seeing that, Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief. Sakibasu’s previous intensity seemed to evaporate as she waved her hands side to side and opened her mouth.

“Misaka-san, I don’t know what happened, but it seems that old man was actually a girl in a leotard.”

“?”

“Anyway, that’s what happened! If you see a small girl with a flat chest and semi-long blonde hair who is wearing a light blue leotard and pointe shoes, that’s, um, the same person who attacked us!!”

Watching her try to explain with strange hand gestures only made it more confusing, but Mikoto had seen the stripped-off track suit and something like a strange skin. Some kind of chemical had caused it to burst into flames, so it was definitely something the enemy had not wanted anyone to find.

(Come to think of it, there was no innerwear there. Did they strip off what they were wearing along with the skin? As much as they could without hindering their movements, anyway.)

“Kuroko, let’s trade positions. I’ll stay on the surface while you teleport between rooftops. We need to track down that attacker!!”

“Onee-sama, I am with Judgment!!”

“Your power really only lets you evade quickly, so can you really respond to a surprise attack from a bullet? Oh, is that their shotgun there? But they might have some other gun and Telekinesis doesn’t require any kind of motion to activate. Not to mention we’re talking about narrow alleyways. I can approach them more easily since I can use a thick metal panel as a shield. So hurry!!”

Mikoto did not wait for an answer.

After jumping down from the wall, she ran into the alley. Bugs and rats were flying or running around in a panic after the explosions, but that did not slow her down any. Now Shirai had no choice but to follow Mikoto’s plan. She gave a quick nod of thanks toward Sakibasu for earlier and then teleported on up to the multi-purpose building’s roof.

Mikoto thought to herself while continuing down the alley.

(I won’t let them get away this time. They were apparently boosting their athletic ability by using their power on the skin wrapped around them for their old man disguise, but they don’t have that anymore. They can’t have gotten far with just their legs to carry them, so I can catch up and settle this!!)

She caught sight of a bright color fluttering around a corner down the alleyway.

It was semi-long blonde hair.

And was that the long, skintight sleeve of a light blue leotard?

“Kuroko, after her. Don’t lose track of her!!”

“True T-Tails> I can see her from above. Turning that corner was a bluff. She ran inside the back entrance of a nearby shop!!”

Mikoto turned the corner, forcibly unlocked the metal door’s electronic lock using her powers, and more or less kicked it open.

With a loud bang, she saw a pair of fearful eyes inside.

However, it did not seem like the female staff member in the dimly-lit back room had just now screamed and fallen onto her butt. It looked more like she had already been cowering down and simply looked over when Mikoto ran in.

“Excuse me, but a girl ran in here a moment ago. Do you know which way she went?”

“She had a gun. It was a weird shape, but it was definitely real. I’ve seen them on video sites before.”

“Just tell me which way!”

Mikoto ran in the direction indicated by a trembling finger and flung open another door.

The light inside dazzled her.

Her eyes must have grown too accustomed to the dim back room.

She found an area filled with soft lighting and jazz music. It appeared to be a women’s boutique. It was meant for women in their early twenties and the scattering of customers looked college aged.

“She’s not here?”

According to Sakibasu and the others, the real attacker hidden below that strange skin was a small girl who might be as young as elementary school age. Plus, a light blue leotard and pointe shoes was not the best outfit for walking out on the streets. She would definitely stick out like a sore thumb in this space full of grownups. Nevertheless, there was no sign of her here. Mikoto could not find her.

Was there another exit somewhere?

She had been small enough to dress up as that old man, so Mikoto remained cautious and peeked between the rows of clothing on hangars as she slowly looked around the boutique. Then she noticed something strange.

(What’s with the windows?)

Hadn’t this area been a shopping district with rusted metal shutters covering everything? The sign for a fancy boutique like this would have stood out. And when she looked closer, she could indeed see metal shutters covering the glass windows and door.

From outside, there would be nothing to tell you the boutique was open.

The shutter-filled shopping district was a bluff.

Did that mean all of the customers and staff used the back entrance?

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

A young woman had approached without making a noise.

She was like someone who would be featured in a magazine or on TV. She was on another level entirely from the self-styled charismatic staff members who did not even know the proper words to use.

“I deeply apologize, but may I see your key?”

“Oh, hell…”

Mikoto ignored the question and took another quick look around the boutique. The only people there were a scattering of college-aged “elite customers” and two or three staff members who were a little older. But she was focused on their eyes. They were of course mostly glancing toward Mikoto since she was an outsider, but they also occasionally looked elsewhere.

Mikoto did not overlook that.

“M-ma’am!?”

The woman who seemed to be the manager raised her voice as Mikoto ran toward the fitting rooms lined up by one wall. Just one of them had the curtain unnaturally closed. Needless to say, that was the other location the people here were focused on. She did not bother saying anything before grabbing the curtain and throwing it open.

There was nothing inside.

It was so empty that the emptiness felt abnormal.

“…”

Simply tracing her fingers along the edge of the large mirror on the wall was not enough to reveal the existence of a hidden door. For one thing, it might be on the floor instead of the wall. Regardless, the leotard attacker had vanished after entering this fitting room. She likely gone underground and left the boutique.

Keys, keys, and more keys.

It felt like wandering through an RPG castle with color-coded doors. Academy City’s secret VIPs apparently enjoyed these games of make believe. This was on a larger scale, but it was a similar form of catharsis to small children gathering scrap materials to build a secret fort where the adults were not in charge.

Mikoto spoke into her phone.

“Uiharu-san, search the Bank for a map of the urban development plans for this area! They won’t be using the facilities and underground pathways on that map. They’ll have constructed their own ant colony that weaves through the gaps! What safe routes would there be for digging an underground route leading away from this boutique? Check the plumbing, gas lines, power lines, fiber optic lines, subway tunnels, and utility tunnels. Academy City is packed full of things underground, so there can’t have been much space for them to dig!”