Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth1 (section)

===Part 7===

Night had fallen.

Before getting to bed, Shokuhou took a peek inside the CIC which had become a hangout for her clique. She frowned.

Someone who didn’t have duty at this time was seated there.

“What’s this? Researching something at this late hour?”

“Yes, Queen. I was analyzing the Ruler’s movement pattern.”

Kobayashi smiled with no hint of fatigue despite sneaking past the dorm manager and teachers to work at night.

Movement patterns were no more than a rough approximation. Not many pet owners could perfectly predict what their cat or dog would do next. It was even worse with an enemy’s actions. So did she really need to work so hard at this?

Even though spending too much time in here had brought unwarranted suspicion on her before?

“The Ruler is made from the same military cells as the Girlish Weapons, so she should eat petroleum and breathe oxygen to live.”

“Right.”

“But she doesn’t seem fixated on those things. If she was only interested in acquiring large quantities of fuel, she would be attacking the coastal petrochemical complexes and offshore oil rigs.”

“Misaka-san said she got the impression ability that the Ruler was focusing on whatever grabbed her attention, positively or negatively.”

“Yes. The question is on what basis something catches her attention.”

Kobayashi overlaid the location of witness information on the map while rapidly eliminating the many fake posts that used digitally altered photos.

“She appears to be walking arbitrarily through United States territory, but there have been surprisingly few civilian casualties.”

“After everything she’s done, you expect me to believe she’s good and sensible?”

“I think it’s simpler than that: she just isn’t interested in them. The country can no longer keep up appearances, but the Ruler is only attacking military facilities and military weapons. She hasn’t shown any interest in political or economic strongholds or in the infrastructure supporting the large cities.”

“Even though she destroyed the presidential residence almost right away?”

“The president of the United States of Narmeli is both the political leader and the commander-in-chief of their military.”

That explained it.

“The country has only collapsed because she has been attacking all the important locations of that sort for the political and military side of the country. The Ruler has only been attacking the apparent enemies, so I doubt she even intended to render that superpower nonfunctional.”

It wasn’t clear if that 1800m creature was intelligent enough to distinguish between military and civilian, but it did make sense.

She was interested in the humans and Girlish Weapons who could fight and attack.

That was her priority.

If so…

“Do those things interest her in a positive or negative way?” wondered Shokuhou.

That could greatly change their next move.

Kobayashi shrugged in her seat.

“It doesn’t look to me like she’s eliminating an enemy because she’s fearful for her life.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Shokuhou sighed.

The Ruler’s eyes were always unfocused and she never seemed interested in the outside world. That kind of apathy seemed incompatible with worry and fear.

She wouldn’t even move until something stimulated her from within.

However.

“The Ruler’s actions are based on her own interest. A positive interest.”

In a way, that led to an extremely troublesome answer.

Who was the only person who had managed a draw with the Ruler so far?

“It feels like she’s spoiling for a fight.”