Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth7 (section)

===Part 6===

Back on Camouflaged Aircraft Carrier Izanami.

Or more accurately, in the CIC hidden down in the bowels of the ship. Its explosion-resistant walls may have been even sturdier than those around the nuclear-powered engine.

Without any windows, the room was dark and felt even more stifling than a bank vault. It was in there that the bob cut girl named Kobayashi spoke without taking her eyes off the radar screen.

She had an elegant smile on her lips.

“The final one has been shot down. That’s Misaka-sama for you. Now we should be safe for the time being.”

“Continue monitoring our surroundings. That might have all been a diversion while they use the cover of darkness to sneak in a stealth fighter or launch an anti-ship missile from a sub.”

“Yes, yes. …Queen, you really should let that kindness show more often.”

They had fought a squadron of eight with inferior numbers and suffered zero casualties.

Even in this strange world, Misaka Mikoto really was merciless once the fighting started. The way that battle freak got more excited the greater the crisis told Shokuhou she probably had a mental perpetual motion machine inside her.

The situation facing the Izanami was fairly hopeless when looked at rationally, but it didn’t feel that way thanks to the Tokiwadai Ace’s carefree flying.

Shokuhou sighed.

“But now we have even more captured fighters. Will the maintenance hangar even hold eight more?”

“It would be a shame to throw them out.”

She knew that.

She also knew that way of thinking was dangerous.

The Izanami’s supply of jet fuel and weapons wasn’t unlimited, so they wanted to bring in anything they could capture. And since Girlish Weapon YF-22A was Imperial, there was a good chance the captured missiles and ammunition would follow the same standards, allowing her to use them.

But it was all for nothing if the maintenance hangar ended up packed too full to get any work done.

That would be a waste.

Greed would be their undoing.

…So what was the right choice here?

“Kongou-san is the maintenance hangar manager, right? Wasn’t she already demonstrating some complaint ability?”

“Well, the Izanami had a full load to begin with and now we’re adding these captured fighters, so it is getting cramped in there. Plus, that thing is in there too.”

“…Oh, that.”

“Yes, that.”

Unlike a normal(?) aircraft carrier, this one had its true identity camouflaged, meaning the electromagnetic catapult was inside the indoor maintenance hangar.

That added extra equipment that took up even more space.

(Did they intentionally send in old non-stealth fighters in order to trouble us like this? No, I’m overthinking it.)

Either way, they had to decide whether or not they would be picking up the (giant girl) F-14Ds and F-15Cs that Mikoto’s squadron had shot down into the ocean.

What were they going to do?

As Shokuhou tried to decide, she heard a clattering sound.

Kobayashi was staring at the radar screen. So intently she had stood up from her chair.

“What is it?”

“I have something on radar.”

Tension ran through Shokuhou.

Was there ''more'' already?

“Range, direction, and type!?”

“Within 300km to the south. It’s too big to be an aircraft. If I had to guess, I would say a 10 thousand ton warship.”

“Kh.”

That was smaller than the 100 thousand ton Izanami, but it was still cruiser class. Even at a distance, it could be dangerous if it started launching long-distance cruise missiles.

Why hadn’t they seen it before now?

Unlike the small flying aircraft, large ships were easy to miss on radar. Because they could hide behind things. For example, staying on the other side of an island mountain was enough to hide from a carrier’s early-warning radar.

So that wasn’t the question.

Shokuhou Misaki needed to be considering another question.

Such as…

(Why did they move their ship to reveal themselves to us now!?)

“We have an incoming transmission. Wh-what!?”

“A belated demand for surrender?”

“Y-yes.”

When Kobayashi turned away from the instruments, she was trembling for some reason.

She even had tears in her eyes.

“But this isn’t from the Liheilstaut Empire. …I-I think we’re really in trouble this time.”

“?”