Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Cold Game (section)

===Part 4===

'''(the_emperor)

“Oh, the line’s moving. And everyone’s getting a lot noisier.”

Meanwhile, Misaka Mikoto was standing in a very long line of people that stretched outside of the courthouse.

District 1 was seen as a strict place what with all of its administrative agencies and Mikoto felt like she would drown in the atmosphere if she stood still for too long. Other than one convenience store sign with restrained colors, nothing seemed allowed to draw attention to itself. Instead of the normal drum-shaped cleaning robots, Anti-Skill was accompanied by quadrupedal armored robots that played the role of military dogs, so everything felt higher pressure than in other districts.

“Y-you sure are lucky, Misaka-san. Weren’t the odds of getting into this trial 1-in-208, making it a new record?”

“Uiharu-san, I’m more impressed with you and Kuroko for casually getting in using special educational Judgment slots…”

Mikoto stood in the line of gallery members who had won the lottery for a ticket. They passed through a metal gate, underwent a security check, and stepped into the courthouse.

“Uuh, this is all so annoying…”

“That gate there is emitting far infrared beams. By intentionally messing with our body heat, they can lead already unstable people to make a mistake, allowing easier detection of suspicious people. It’s a civilian application of an anti-sleep weapon. It only raises your body temperature by 0.5 degrees, but by emitting the far infrared beams in a grid, it can stimulate individual organs to leave you in an unstable state of mind.”

As their gadget expert, Uiharu Kazari explained it for them.

Shirai Kuroko looked exasperated as she walked by Mikoto’s side.

“…This is a normal school day, Onee-sama. There’s something wrong with how the world works if Tokiwadai’s Ace is skipping class for some stuffy court case.”

“I submitted the proper paperwork so it will count as an extracurricular lesson on the justice system. Of course, that means I’ll have to write a report on it afterwards.”

“That wasn’t my point.”

“I’m better than them, aren’t I?”

A deep electronic tone sounded. A girl hanging her head such that her bangs covered her face was caught by the metal gate and had a digital camera and voice recorder confiscated.

“A blogger claiming to be a journalist?”

“She might just be one of Loophole’s followers.”

“If cameras and recorders aren’t allowed, isn’t it weird for them to let us keep our phones?”

“Please turn that off, Onee-sama.”

Photographing the trial was not allowed, especially during a case involving minors. …And yet 80% of the city’s population was some kind of student.

Uiharu spoke nervously as she caught up from behind.

“Th-these Loophole-related cases have given him cult-like popularity online, haven’t they? The odds of getting a ticket were 1-in-208 and I heard people were reselling tickets or counterfeiting IDs to get in.”

“And the people who lost the lottery are gathered around the courthouse. It’s like a concert for some famous person. …And if they’re treating a criminal like an idol or cult leader, the electronic world must be as insane as ever.”

“Well, that actually helps us out in a way.”

They were not foolish enough to mention the name Saten Ruiko here, but it was said that a tree was best hidden in the forest. It might have looked suspicious if Saten alone took the day off of school, but with this many people skipping school, she could pretend to be the same as all of them.

“Gallery members, please follow the officials’ instructions and move to Court 103. I repeat…”

An announcement played, but a few young people were arrested after pretending to be lost and heading toward the off-limits waiting rooms.

Mikoto’s group obediently walked to their destination.

The double doors opened and they entered the courtroom.

“It’s just like a drama set,” said Uiharu.

“…Isn’t that because the drama staff did their homework?”

A few rows of benches were lined up like in a movie theater. Those were the gallery seats for Mikoto and the others. A metal fence blocked the way to the actual courtroom that felt separated from ordinary life.

The witness stand was in the center.

The prosecution’s seats were on the left from Mikoto’s perspective.

There was a wall behind the awfully-short prosecutor and it blocked off a box of frosted glass. That probably surrounded a door. That would be for witnesses who wanted to remain unidentified, like Saten. The double doors opened and someone entered the box, but they could not tell if that was Saten or not. They could not exactly call out her name or wave to her.

The defense and defendant were seated on the right.

That meant Innai Chigiri, who went by the name Loophole.

“…”

Out-of-place cheers filled the courtroom.

While the female glasses attorney whispered something in his ear, the boy leaned back in his chair, looking completely relaxed. His facial features had an androgynous beauty that made him look unrealistic and fairy-like. His beautifully glossy black hair and bright white skin had such fine lines that he looked like he would melt away like snow in your hand if a human so much as touched him.

His esper power was unknown.

Was it high or low? What kind of power was it? To protect a minor’s personal information from the press, the Bank had been locked down, but that had only added to his strange charisma.

It was thanks to people wanting to see him like this was a concert that the odds of winning a ticket had risen to 1-in-208. Just like a bizarre medieval torture device, he had something that charmed people and drove them mad.

“(A criminal’s charisma, hm?)”

Loophole certainly had that, but the female glasses attorney by his side also looked the part.

They looked like a handsome male idol and his beautiful manager.

“(Tsujinaka Kyouka, was it? They mentioned her on TV so much I couldn’t help but remember her. That lawyer has grown quite famous. She’s been active on video sites as something like the midpoint between a sharp-tongued commentator and a fashion leader.)”

“(So by sending a friend request to a serial killer’s social media account, you might have a chance at making a name for yourself?)”

“(I can see how he got so many irresponsible followers…)”

At the very back of the courtroom, the seats for the judges and lay judges were lined up alongside each other. The presiding judge sat in the center. There were three professional judges, including the presiding one, and there were six lay judges chosen by lottery. Some of the lay judges wore sailor uniforms or blazers, but others had changed into black full-body tights, perhaps to hide what school they attended.

Mikoto frowned.

“The lay judges are the same age as us. Well, I guess that’s not surprising when 80% of the population is students…”

“They apparently have a large computer assisting them so even minors can fulfill their civic duty.”

Uiharu was right. Every seat had a flat-screen monitor, but the lay judges’ seats had far more equipment. The gravestone-like box was not the computer itself. It was the relay equipment that connected to a giant supercomputer.

“So they go through the trial in the same patchwork way as someone using their phone’s word prediction?” Shirai sounded exasperated. “That seems a little too casual to me…”

The sound of a wooden hammer filled the courtroom.

The trivia that Japanese courts did not use a gavel flashed through Mikoto’s mind, but when she looked closer, she saw the presiding judge had placed a finger on his keyboard to play an electronic sound.

The elderly man spoke through a microphone.

“Order in the court. It is time. The court will now begin the trial and I would like to start with the oaths.”

He lightly raised his right hand and continued.

“We, the judges and lay judges, hereby swear to follow the fair and strict ideals of our judicial branch and to reach an impartial judgment for this Cold Sleep Murder Case with no falsehoods or exaggerations.”

The judges and lay judges to his left and right repeated the exact same statement. The middle and high school lay judges chosen from the population at large sounded nervous. It was a lot like a choir competition in which the entire school year participated.

Next it was the prosecution’s turn.

“We of the prosecution hereby swear to follow the fair and strict ideals of our judicial branch and to pursue an impartial judgment for this Cold Sleep Murder Case with no falsehoods or exaggerations.”

It was almost the same with just the relevant parts swapped out. It seemed to be a standard statement that they did not give much thought to. Court was apparently not a place in which people suddenly pushed their glasses up their nose and shouted at the top of their lungs.

However.

The opening oaths had seemed like a tedious rite of passage, but that came to a premature end.

The entire courtroom was enveloped in the same uncomfortable tension as hearing a record needle skip.

That was due to the excessive time the next individual took.

The glasses attorney sitting next to the defendant slowly opened her mouth.

“…Your Honor.”

She was just like a stage actress.

She knew how to gather people’s attention and manipulate a crowd’s emotions.

“I apologize for the suddenness, but I cannot make that oath.”

“Objections are made during the prosecution’s closing argument or during the defense’s argument. The defendant has no such right during the opening oath. As an attorney, you should be familiar with these rules.”

“But I cannot make an erroneous oath. My contract with the defendant obligates me to faithfully defend him, so I am unable to bear false witness against him.”

“Continue with this and I will advise that you are removed from the court. You are no more than a private defense attorney, so you are not a necessary part of the court proceedings. We can always bring in a court-appointed attorney and reopen the trial. We are seeking a reliable trial, not a hasty conclusion. Do not forget that.”

If she took this too far, she could be removed for contempt of court or obstructing the trial.

Defense attorneys came in a variety of skill levels and attitudes. As you might guess from the fact that most defendants paid high prices to choose their own attorney, a private attorney whose remuneration was influenced by the outcome would participate in the trial much more actively than a court-appointed one that was paid the same either way.

But the glasses attorney did not stop speaking.

Was that due to her own charisma, or was she merely borrowing the charisma of the pretty boy seated next to her?

“My conclusion is as follows: the Cold Sleep Murder Case mentioned in the oath ''does not exist''.”

Conclusion.

Did everyone there realize the significance of her choosing that word in particular?

Her opinion was so extraordinary that it inspired blank stares and confusion before anger or animosity.

“The brain and heart of the frozen victim, Asajimo Saemi-san, have ceased to function. Simply looking at her brainwaves or heartrate might lead you to believe she is no longer alive, but since she was put into cold sleep, she can be brought back to life if she is unfrozen using the proper method. Thus, this is not a murder case. I cannot disadvantage the defendant by discussing a crime that never occurred in the first place.”

The cracks of that silence were smoothly filled by the voice of the pretty boy’s representative.

Even a representative could fill in and solidify that space.

“And allow me to provide one piece of ‘advice’.”

This was the same as primitive humans acquiring fire to sweep away the darkness and gain peace of mind.

You felt uneasy when you did not know what a creepy person was going to say, but once you knew their reasoning, you could accept it. You felt like the danger had passed. That was why the words of a madman had such a strange power. If you understood them, you could predict their next action and restrain them. This took advantage of how reasonable people found peace of mind.

“Of course, I will not say he was entirely unconnected to this case, but the techniques used remain hidden in his mind. He can revive the poor victim. But if you mistake the charge, meaninglessly extend this trial, and find him guilty, that could change. If his freedom is unjustly taken from him, the frozen girl will die with no chance of being revived. …There are many different kinds of cold sleep, after all. With some varieties, long-term storage will damage the cells and make it impossible to unfreeze the subject once enough time has passed. You can think of it like the juices leaking from a block of frozen tuna if you leave it in the freezer for too long.”

The glasses attorney’s mouth split open in a crescent moon smile as she made her final statement.

“…It is not he who will decide whether the poor victim lives or dies. It is your judgment here which will make that choice.”

At that very moment, someone silently raised his hand.

It was Loophole, aka Innai Chigiri.

That pretty boy, who took his nickname from the legal loopholes he took advantage of, opened his mouth for the first time.

“Trial results are a noble thing. And that is why you must choose very carefully.”

His statement was short in comparison.

But its attractive power was far greater. The true, non-borrowed charisma bared its fangs.

“You may not be charged with a crime, but the fact that you killed someone will be forever recorded in a public institution where anyone can view it.”