Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter5 (section)

===Part 7===

Kamijou and Kumokawa were not infiltration experts.

So instead of following any kind of complex plan, they went for a fairly crude method of storming into the log cabin.

Kamijou did not hesitate to reach for the main entrance’s doorknob, but Kumokawa firmly grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“Jellyfish cnidocytes.”

“?”

He tensed up in fear of something he could not see, so she used the sole of her shoe to kick open the door itself. The log cabin had looked like a two-story building from outside. Even as a villa, it was the size of a normal family home.

Kumokawa put thin rubber gloves on her hands while walking inside.

What would you call this room in a villa or mountain cabin?

In a normal house, the large room would have been the living room, and that was where the man they were searching for was lounging on a leather sofa without any attempt to hide himself. Instead of sitting, he was lying down with his head on the armrest and he had a glass of brandy in one hand.

“Matsuo!!” roared Kamijou the instant he saw him.

“Now, this is a surprise. I thought no one else would appreciate what I was doing here, yet here you are just in time to celebrate with me. I know this storage facility is drab, but please, make yourselves at home.”

Kamijou did not let him say a word more.

With a short breath, he rushed toward the young winner at life who was lying on a three-person sofa.

The man did not even stir.

Perhaps Kamijou should have noticed something was wrong when the man did not get up after hearing the door kicked open.

“Gah!?”

Kamijou Touma was the one to groan.

Matsuo Ryuusuke still had not even gotten up from the sofa.

He remained relaxed in that unnatural position while the boy was pinned in empty air. Whatever had done it, a human being could not change direction once their feet left the ground. While Kamijou struggled, Kumokawa softly sighed and pulled out a flashlight. It was similar to the glowsticks an idol concert audience would wave around, but it was made so she could change the wavelength of light. As she gradually changed the color from red to blue, there was a reaction at the yellowish-green range.

Some kind of invisible wires were strung up all around.

“A spider web, huh?”

“The web’s owner is underneath the sofa. Shall I Introduce you?”

Was that a drunken joke, or not?

But Kumokawa paid it no heed and sprayed something toward Kamijou from a spray can. His bonds vanished and he crashed down to the wooden flooring.

For the first time, Matsuo twisted around on the sofa to show an interest in them.

It still was not enough for him to even sit up, though.

“How did you do that? I doubt you came equipped with tools for dealing with a spider in particular.”

“Be it spiders or jellyfish, everything you rely on is biological in nature, so all I needed was something effective against all biological creatures.”

“Acid?”

“Of a sort. A collection of digestive acids.” Kumokawa winked while shaking her spray can. “Lions, sharks, tigers, elephants, orcas, electric eels, polar bears, gorillas, rhinos, giant squids, two-centimeter killer jellyfish, army ants, and tiny water bears. Everyone has their own opinion on what animal is the strongest, but they all have their pros and cons. So, Matsuo Ryuusuke, as a Biohacker who made biological creatures his hobby and job, surely you know that ''no other species can outdo human beings'' who eat anything and everything as omnivores.”

“I see.”

“Assuming L.S.S. has not started making silicon-based creatures, then this is checkmate. You specialized too far in one direction. Of course, that is a common mistake here in Academy City.”

“Interesting.” Finally, Matsuo Ryuusuke gathered strength in his abs and sat up. “Perhaps I should have done more research into sulfur-reducing bacteria or those bagworms that use plastic. That was a mistake on my part, so I will accept the consequences. Now, what is it you wanted to discuss?”

“Are you kidding me?” Kamijou clenched his teeth and shouted while enduring the pain and getting up off the wooden flooring. “You already know what!! Where is Mitsuari!?”

“I will return her soon enough.”

“Return her now!!”

“If you insist.”

An out-of-place electronic beeping began to fill the room.

Was it an alarm clock or a kitchen timer?

But it seemed unlikely that the man had a pizza or turkey in the oven right now. What had he been waiting for while lying on the sofa with a glass in hand? The cheap beeping sound felt like the toll of a bell reporting the world’s imminent demise.

Kamijou could not help but turn toward the source of the sound.

He had to wonder how he had failed to notice it until now.

The walls were lined with shelves covered in a few items. In addition to thick medical books, encyclopedias, and a few liquor bottles were some biological specimens kept in a mysterious liquid.

“Ah.”

Among those, something similar to a coffin stood upright.

“Ahh.”

The cover was removed, giving a view of what lay within.

The coffin was lined with colorful flowers and a fluffy-haired girl lay half-buried in them.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

Kamijou cried out, tripped in his haste, and somehow managed to approach close enough to grab at the coffin. It was not fixed in place, so it rolled onto its side. The girl within did not open her eyes or even stir. That was unusual. He struck his hands into the flowery coffin and tried to lift her up, but she would not move. Almost like she was held in place by a powerful super glue or something.

The girl’s unfocused eyes wandered and monotone words spilled from her lips.

“Memory amplification +3, fear stimulation +2, confusion -2, directional misidentification +1, delirium +0.”

“Mitsuari? Hey, Mitsuari!!”

She did not respond to his shouting and he was not sure it would be safe to grab her shoulders and shake her in this state.

Something was wrong.

A closer look showed that those were not flowers in the coffin.

The plant’s leaves and stems were unnaturally swollen for some reason and they filled up the space similar to a bunch of grapes.

“Are those galls?” Kumokawa narrowed her eyes. “What exactly did you do?”

“Like you said, I have specialized in a single direction, so I cannot do anything without involving biology in some form or fashion.” Matsuo Ryuusuke shook his glass and drained the rest of the amber liquid before tossing aside the empty glass. “I needed to ensure Mitsuari Ayu used her Mental Stinger power as I desired. She was already in a faint state of delirium from the infectious stun weapon, removing her limiters. Then I only had to provide the exact right external stimuli to achieve my goal. Which is what you see here.”

An odd creaking sound followed.

The coffin containing the unresponsive girl tilted disconcertingly. No, whose coffin had it originally been? Mitsuari Ayu was not the only person lying within. Another gaze peered out from below the coffin like someone hiding underneath a bed.

Yes.

Someone else had been lying back-to-back with Mitsuari.

They had been sleeping on the bottom side of that same coffin.

“Boy!!” shouted Kumokawa.

Like a giant manhole cover being pushed open, the entire coffin forcefully rose up.

This small form provided a far more intimidating presence than a dinosaur or dragon.

It was a human girl wearing a hakama-like school uniform of the sort only seen in old black-and-white photos. A large bow swayed adorably at the front of her hips.

Without any advance knowledge, that would not have seemed like much.

But in L.S.S.’s server room, Kamijou had learned that this person was Academy City’s first esper who not even the Board Chairman could control. She should not have existed in this time period. She looked like she had used a time machine or stepped right out of a photo.

And that was not entirely wrong.

In fact, he may have been too slow to figure it out.

His vision suddenly blurred. He only realized he had been thrown across the room when he crashed into the opposite wall. He gasped, unable to breath, and he slid down to the floor like a wet rag stuck to the wall.

He had no idea what that girl had done.

Was that an esper power, or simple physical strength?

“The Beginning Child, who not even Aleister could control.”

He heard a singsong voice.

Matsuo Ryuusuke sat on the sofa’s armrest while viewing the fruits of his labors in satisfaction.

This strange power was of a completely different type than what he had worked with.

“If L.S.S.’s ''company products'' are no use against you, I might as well pull out all the stops. This ancient genius holds the possibility of surpassing Board Chairman Aleister. Now, you modern students. How close to her can your efforts bring you?”