Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth6 (section)

===Part 7===

“And so I believe I have proven that the conflict between our forces was an accidental battle caused by a combination of misunderstanding and misfortune and we had no intention of attacking you. Any questions?”

The meeting room was large.

Both the area of the floor and the height of the roof were far greater than a school auditorium.

It contained about 500 seats arranged in concentric circles like tree rings and it was designed so all participants could be seated at the same level without implying any seat in a circle was superior to another. Of course, the only people allowed a seat in here were national representatives.

Although not a shred of that original concept appeared to remain.

Shokuhou sighed softly.

(Good grief.)

Calling it a “flowing speech” might sound nice, but the old man hadn’t raised his head even once. He simply read through a paper manuscript. And he never once paused, leaving Shokuhou no chance to get a word in edgewise.

And now he was asking for questions?

Did he really think they had a mutual understanding here?

It was so obvious. Even Hokaze appeared to have noticed where this was heading. She bent over and whispered in Shokuhou’s ear.

“…Queen.”

“Don’t worry.”

Shokuhou Misaki poked at the thick stack of paper in front of her. It looked like he had chosen intentionally complicated phrasings and gone back and forth on every little detail to increase the word count well beyond reason, but the Queen was no fool and she hadn’t let that camouflage hide the main points from her.

“Care to explain Article 45 Paragraph 1 where you say the Empire will handle maintenance of all weapons in our possession?”

“Even though you have no need of your armaments, maintaining them still requires money and personnel, right? We are offering to remove that burden from your shoulders.”

In other words, he was asking them to disarm and surrender.

“In Article 19’s special note, you say we must disembark the Izanami and the Izanagi?”

“You will feel cramped spending all your time on a rocking ship, won’t you? You are national guests with no embassy or consulate, so we invite you to stay at an official Imperial residence.”

In other words, he was asking them to gather together and be placed under house arrest where the Imperial military could monitor them.

“In Article 31 Paragraph 4, you say we will receive ‘legal privileges’ during our stay in the Empire?”

“You have come from outside, but you do not have an embassy or consulate protected by international treaty. If you will stay at our official residence, you will be protected under Liheilstaut Empire law.”

In other words, he was setting them up to be tried in a secret trial and either indefinitely imprisoned or even executed.

“Sigh.”

Shokuhou had to consider that countdown. 26 days remained. If they didn’t defend the Izanami and Izanagi, they would lose their chance to return to Earth.

So disarmament and a forced disembarking were out of the question. Not to mention a series of secret trials leading to the death penalty.

Of course, opening up about the gravity field and mini black hole would probably only get the Empire interested in the mysterious return device.

(Anyway.)

“It’s so blatant. Are you even trying to hold a serious dialogue here?”

“You can tell?” The old man no longer tried to hide it. “This discussion never meant anything. Our glorious Empire would never compromise with some puny armed fleet. All we needed was an excuse to lure that foolish group’s leader into our grasp. Whoever that leader might be, we knew this would be much easier once your brain had been dealt with!!”

Every door leading into the meeting hall burst open.

Without warning.

They were armed with .45 caliber submachine guns. Deafening gunfire opened up from all sides sand Hokaze Junko leaped on top of Shokuhou. Without hesitation.

“…?”

But then the ringlets girl frowned in confusion.

Not a single bullet had flown her way.

Despite the excessive amount of gunfire.

The special commandos fully equipped with bulletproof jackets and helmets were standing stock still. None of them questioned that they had just diverted their line of fire clockwise by 15 degrees and sprayed their bullets into empty space.

Something more frightening than lead bullets ruled this battlefield.

It hadn’t even taken 5 seconds from their entry.

While enemy and ally watched on in awe, Shokuhou Misaki (knocked to the floor by Hokaze) kissed the tip of her TV remote.

She was Academy City’s #5.

Mental Out.

“Now do you understand?”