Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter8 (section)

=== Part 7 ===

Mikoto sat flat on the floor.

She was within the top of the rocket.

Her PDA was connected to the giant computer and a few pieces of information were displayed on the small screen.

She held a cell phone in one hand.

Odd-sounding static could be heard through it.

It was not a proper connection.

Mikoto used a cell phone about as frequently as any middle schooler in Japan, but this was the first time she had seen such an odd connection.

She could not hear any voices.

She could not sense any breathing on the other side.

She could not imagine what the scene was like on the other side.

It was if…everything had suddenly vanished.

“…”

For a while, Mikoto said nothing.

All strength left her body.

The PDA slid from her hand.

She just barely managed to hold on to the phone because she trusted her connection with the person on the other side.

And…

“…e…sama…”

Finally, she heard a voice coming through the phone.

But it sounded different from normal. It was extremely scratchy and hard to hear as if all moisture had been taken from the very depths of the speaker’s throat.

The speaker was Shirai Kuroko.

She was giving her final report.

“The UAV…was successfully shot down… And…it was thanks to…the information you gave us…onee-sama…”

Hearing that, Mikoto finally remembered to breathe.

Meanwhile, Shirai sounded confused.

“But your voice…sounds very distant.”

“That’s probably because I’m not using a proper antenna.”

As she spoke, Mikoto looked up at the sky through the opening she had created in the side of the rocket.

The cell phone in Mikoto’s hand was not her own.

That one had fallen down from above in the middle of the countdown.

She had heard the sound of something repeatedly beating against the air above her.

She had looked up and seen a large helicopter circling around. From the Russian she could read on the side, it belonged to the security guards.

The helicopter’s door had opened and Mikoto had recognized the face that stuck out.

(Enirya…was it?)

It seemed the woman had come that far following different information, but it had saved Mikoto and Academy City in the end.

The large helicopter was loaded with all sorts of communications equipment so that it could carry out investigations smoothly. It had antennae for things such as simple radio signals and also had a device that could access cell phone satellites.

Enirya had thrown down the cell phone and Mikoto had caught it.

Enirya may have determined she should help Mikoto because the helicopter had intercepted Mikoto’s failed transmissions as she tried to get the information to Academy City during the countdown.

“So what’s the situation?”

Just as Mikoto asked that, the sound quality became much clearer.

The helicopter’s antenna may have performed some kind of adjustment.

“As you told us to before, the UAV approaching the outer wall was intercepted. The Solntse has shown no signs of being detonated. It seems unlikely, but it is possible that a second or third UAV could have been sent out at the same time, so the Solntse is being sent to a sealed off underground facility. Even if there is another UAV, it can no longer receive the signal.”

“So for now the danger has been avoided.”

“How are things on your end?”

“I’ve recovered the core of the Russian shopping mall’s super computer, but it’s a decoy. The person truly behind this is…”

Mikoto looked down over the edge of the rocket.

Lessar looked back at her while holding Peter Wellgo.

“Well, he’s alive. If we ask him for the details, we should be able to get more info about the background to this whole situation. There seem to be some passionate security guards in this city, so it looks like this will clear all the suspicion that had been placed on me. It’s all over,” Mikoto said with a sigh.

The incidents surrounding the Russian shopping mall and the Solntse attack on Academy City were all over.

She felt more exhausted than refreshed.

The end of a real incident did not leave one with the same sense of achievement as the end of an RPG.