Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 6===

“Cloning tech isn’t some special magic – it’s just a human approach at reproducing the natural self-replication of genes. So there’s no reason to fear it!”

“This is all going way over my head, miss!”

“I wonder if people fear cloning because they see it as creating an entire human being. I mean, we already mass-produce amino acids and alcohol with bioreactors made from artificially modified microbes. They’re even testing missile therapy using monoclonal antibodies. …Oh, but stuffed animals like you don’t have genes, do you, Subscrip-kun?”

Evening had arrived.

Shirai Kuroko was working on some paperwork in a shared office, a booth the size of a shower stall found inside the subway station. She only had her phone’s 1seg TV on for some background noise, so she didn’t notice what they were talking about at first.

She wasn’t really interested in the TV – she simply couldn’t focus without something to drown out the noise of the station outside. The walls of the booth were far from soundproof for safety reasons and every district’s stations were especially noisy at the moment thanks to the Winter Cleaning demonstrations.

“Next up is the news and the weather. Here is our top headline: the United States House of Representatives has just proposed a new bill to investigate all corporations with capital above a certain threshold and another new bill to amend the laws protecting gifted children.”

“I’m sure this is only a bluff meant to get in the headlines. If those actually pass, the original proposer has the most to lose. And I doubt President Roberto Katze will be too happy then either. Restricting the exceptional and artificially creating a level playing field contradicts the very foundation of capitalism.”

“Ironically, it’s people’s frustrations over the inconvenience of R&C Occultics shutting down that has led them towards this Winter Cleaning movement that wants to further restrict corporate activities. Also, there is no connection between R&C Occultics and the Academy City #1’s clone killings, yet we keep seeing people conflate the two since they both entered the public conscience at the same time. We’re seeing a social phenomenon I would call an ‘elite allergy’ on social media, where Winter Cleaning and related terms fill the trending lists.”

She couldn’t seem to organize her feelings.

That was why she had used her phone (which doubled as a transportation smart card) to rent out this booth instead of doing her paperwork in the familiar Branch 177.

She sighed. Discussions like this had grown much more frequent of late. All the commentators were either sweetly pro-clone or harshly anti-elite.

It felt like they were trying to alter public opinion for someone’s convenience.

At least it felt like there were ''multiple'' opinions in conflict there.

(Onee-sama.)

“Argh, why am I so horny? Maybe I should take advantage of this modern blind spot to deal with that real quick.”

But she was interrupted by a phone call.

She gasped when she saw the number. It wasn’t someone who called often. This was from Anti-Skill, that adult law enforcement agency she normally didn’t get along with.

She shut off her phone’s 1seg TV and answered the call.

“A prisoner transport train?” she parroted with confusion on her face.

To be honest, this wasn’t the kind of job Judgment was meant to do. Anti-Skill and Judgment were only in charge of capturing suspects. The transport of tried and convicted prisoners was a job for the prison guards. She had never even heard of an armored train for transporting special prisoners. That sounded like it introduced a lot more risk of attack and escape than driving an ordinary prisoner transport truck along the ordinary roads.

The shared office cost 300 yen for every fifteen minutes, so stopping her work for a phone call felt like having her time stolen by the unseen person on the other end. That irritated her more than the actual cost.

“The prisoners are from Operation Handcuffs? Thank you for informing me, but there isn’t anything I can do.”

She gave a polite response while thinking back on the events of December 25.

That mission to clean up the dark side had ended in the worst way possible.

She had gone up against the twins known as Kaai the Decomposer and Youen the Carrier and the murderous paparazzo named Benizome Jellyfish.

Not to mention Rakuoka Houfu, the Anti-Skill officer she thought was helping her pursue the case.

She of course had her thoughts on the matter. For one thing, she wasn’t confident she had actually seen the incident through to its ultimate conclusion. That may have been why the adults of Anti-Skill had gone against protocol to contact her this time.

Or so she thought.

But she was wrong.

The officer on the phone gave a hurried report.

“Eh?”