Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter2 (section)

===Part 7===

Kamijou Touma knew he had to do something.

The short platinum blonde girl named Furashina Ririn had disappeared without interacting with Kamijou and Index much. She must not have had much interest in other people because she had wandered off without even saying goodbye. He had wanted to run after her, but he had lost sight of her in the crowds.

“Oh, how about you purchase 3…no, 6 of the aerial filming drones from that stand over there and search for her from the sky?” suggested Lilina. “Her distinctive blue clothes and platinum blonde hair should stand out.”

“You fool, don’t underestimate the emptiness of Kamijou-san’s pocketbook.”

“Umm, according to the bank account in Kamijou Touma’s name, your remaining balance is-…”

“I wasn’t asking for an answer! And that’s scary! When did this device get linked to my bank account!? And when it’s connected to the internet!”

“Either way, I’m not sure why you would want to brag about how poor you are.”

So Kamijou assumed that was the end of it.

However…

“…Touma.”

“Yeah.”

After less than 2 minutes of walking around, they spotted Furashina curled up on the park lawn like a cat in the sun.

He shook her shoulders to wake her, but she walked off again. Then they found her sleeping underneath a fish & chips van.

Finally, they ran across her sleeping with her next to a drink vending machine. Her head was sticking inside a wire mesh trash while her miniskirt and small butt were sticking up into the air.

That was when Kamijou Touma realized he truly had to do something about this.

“Cut it out!! What do you hope to accomplish by worrying Kamijou-san’s peace-loving heart!?”

“Nfweh…?”

Furashina Ririn looked his way after he pulled her head from the trash can, but the eye visible past her long bangs looked unfocused and her cheeks were red. And her reactions were incredibly sluggish.

He was certain she was not listening.

Just like the homing instinct of a drunk, she was moving entirely on reflex.

Kamijou scratched at his spiky hair, sighed, and pulled out his portable device. He glanced over at the drink vending machine next to the trash can.

“Okay, fine. Here, I’ll give you some coffee, so drink that to wake up. This is actually weird. Not even a TV station’s AD can sleep like that.”

“Ah, no fair, Touma!! If people accept that lazing around is enough to get a treat, this country’s economy will collapse!!”

“Sounds like your lifestyle in a nutshell to me.”

Due to the crowd, some of the buttons had the “sold out” light active, but the black coffee was still in stock. He pulled out his portable device, held it up to the vending machine, and grabbed the hot can that clunked down to the bottom.

But he was soon stopped.

“Sorry, but I don’t like hot things or bitter things.”

“That’s why it’ll help wake you up.”

“I don’t like what I don’t like.”

“You mean I wasted my money!? Uhh, here, Index! Open your mouth!!”

“A chance to steal it for myself!? …Glug, glug, glug, glug…ahhh, that was refreshing.”

The black coffee effect seemed to make Index’s face look slimmer and more dignified, but he did not have time to focus on that now.

These small expenses were no laughing matter when they piled up, but he bought another one.

(Anything’s fine as long as it’ll wake her up.)

So he chose a carbonated energy drink from the drinks without the “sold out” light active. This one was known for its fairly harsh effects.

“Sorry, but carbonated drinks make me feel bloated and sick. Pass.”

“Index.”

“Gyahavobarhahhh!! I’m brimming with energy!!!!!”

After making sure the drink did not go to waste, Index had something of a punk aura around her, but that was still not Kamijou’s focus.

He could not leave that blonde napping idiot without doing something about her sleepiness.

“Is there anything I can do? I get the feeling she’ll just refuse if I try to feed her something super spicy.”

“The more fundamental problem is that sleeping is my job. Or maybe you could say remaining asleep is my duty.”

“That level of laziness might be the dream of all mankind, but…oh, I know. There are food carts here too. Come here a minute!!”

Furashina Ririn would disappear and fall asleep somewhere if he let her, so he was forced to grab her fairly warm hand as he walked through the park. Index’s spirit had been sent to the world of punk, so she was too busy headbanging to make any of her usual comments.

Kamijou returned to where they had eaten lunch earlier. As he walked around the food trucks gathered in the parking lot, he spotted the perfect one.

“A coffee jelly sundae. Hmm, that should work. …I’m a bit worried about this price that looks inflated for the tournament, though.”

“Coffee is bitt-…”

“It’s almost all syrup and whipped cream!! Can you please meet me halfway here!?”

Kamijou forced the issue and prepared to hold his portable device up to the reader on the counter.

At that very moment, Furashina puffed out her cheeks and narrowed her visible eye while still looking nearly emotionless.

“In other words, I can avoid the bitterness by keeping that from working.”

“Hm?”

Immediately afterwards, an odd tone sounded from his portable device.

“Wah!”

“What? I’m getting an error too!”

“Is something wrong with the communication base? No, this app doesn’t exchange data.”

He looked around and noticed a small commotion.

The Virtual-On tournament itself seemed to be continuing without issue, but the portable devices in this section of the rest area had all ceased functioning.

“Ahyarawarbrr!? Wh-what is with these packets?”

Lilina’s eyes were spinning on the screen.

Could it be?

“Are you hacking the device with some kind of electric or data esper power!?” he asked the girl.

“I’m not sure what you mean by esper power…”

“N-nyo, Touma-shama, this portable devishe should theoretically be immune to any attack method reliant on the shtandard binary-based von Neumann architecture. It doesh not matter if it comesh from an equation or eshper power.”

“Then what’s going on?”

Kamijou felt shocked anew, but Furashina Ririn did not hold her head high.

In fact, it drooped down.

She was preparing to fall asleep.

“Yawn… That should give me…some time to…”

“Unfortunately for you, Furashina, Kamijou-san keeps a 5000 yen bill hidden in his sock for times like this!”

“————”

“And if you don’t fix this bizarre problem right this instant, I’ll give up on the coffee jelly sundae and bring you a piping hot hell with the blackest coffee I can find! I’ll pour it down your throat whether you like it or not, so choose wisely!!”

Limp Furashina’s red eyes dilated slightly.

That was all.

“Huh?”

“It’s back…”

“It scares me that I have no idea what happened.”

Everything was back to normal.

Unsure what had happened, Kamijou looked around, but…

“Mumble mumble, zzz…”

“T-Touma. I’m about to be crushed here.”

He had to do something about Furashina Ririn, partially because she was leaning all of her weight on Index. To do that, he needed the caffeine of the coffee jelly sundae.

So he ordered one.

As the Kamijou household’s finances were driven into even more dire straits, he held up his portable device and purchased the necessary item. The three of them sat at one of the simple tables put together for the food cart customers. They were quite crowded, but they managed to find space to sit. A lot of people had their portable device on the table to watch the matches while they ate. Seeing people watch it on a video site while sitting within the actual battle stage was an odd sight.

“…Sob. This is Nakamura Mary. The next standout card is over here.”

“…”

“Here we have the Comet Strikers team that looks like out-of-control trucks after adding skates to ultra-heavyweight Dordray to forcibly give it some mobility. And their opponent is the Killer Trench team that uses Apharmds with the improved disturbance abilities thanks to stabbing their shields into the ground to mass-produce obstacles. I can’t wait to see how it turns out! Sob…”

“That’s quite the change of heart there. I’m impressed at how depressed it makes you. It really must be frightening to get your sponsor mad at you.”

It was time for the coffee jelly sundae.

The spiky-haired boy was unsure of the difference between a parfait and a sundae, but this looked like a wide container with lots of die-shaped pieces of coffee jelly poured in, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream piled on top, coconut syrup dumped over that, and finally a stick-shaped cookie stuck diagonally in. It also looked like a mas of calories that would last someone stranded in the mountains or a desert island until rescue arrived if they ate it bit by bit. Simply put, it was the enemy of girls everywhere.

“I’ve turned into something of a bad guy for ordering that for her. Well, just eat it. You can tremble in fear once your mind is functioning again. You need to find something to worry about, even if it’s just your weight.”

“Ah, the napping girl has reached the next stage!? Lazing around gets you a veritable house of sweets!?”

“Don’t you recover now! And again, that’s your normal life!!”

“And the napping girl is snoring with her face inside the container.”

“Don’t ruin it like that!!”

Hearing a strange bubbling sound from where Furashina Ririn’s face was submerged in the ice cream, Kamijou quickly grabbed the nape of her neck and lifted her head. He had bought all that coffee jelly to wake her up and yet she was about to use it to give herself eternal slumber.

“C’mon, look this way so I can wipe off your face.”

“Nfhh?”

“This handkerchief sure is getting a lot of whipped cream off. If I tied you to a tree, I bet you’d attract rhinoceros beetles…”

Even if she had a small face, it was still impressive that the sundae was large enough to contain it all. She would have had difficulty finishing it all herself, so they all shared it in a casual family hotpot style.

“Chomp, chomp!! Munch, munch, munch!! Touma, that clump of vanilla there is mine!!”

“This will be entirely useless if you eat it all! And Furashina’s about to fall asleep again since you’re excluding her!!”

The girl seemed to have almost no independence. Or rather, any time not focused on her would be entirely wasted. Kamijou finally grabbed her spoon, scooped up some coffee jelly, and developed a delivery style of culinary culture.

Index grew somewhat irritated as she watched.

“…Touma. I didn’t think I was going to see the old-fashioned ‘say ah’ here.”

“I’m well aware this is a legendary art that had supposedly faded into the mists of time, but there’s no other option here! I have to take one for the team. If I don’t throw out my shame, we’ll be stuck here forever!!”

Finally, he managed to get a bite in her mouth.

Furashina Ririn’s mouth moved like a small animals and then she swallowed.

“Gulp.”

“She swallowed it. Oh, my! This girl just swallowed my coffee jelly, Index-san!!”

“If that’s enough to move you to emotion, then I’m confident I can submerge America in a sea of tears 24/7.”

That said, Index seemed somewhat interested, so she scooped up some coffee jelly in her small spoon and carried it toward Furashina Ririn’s mouth. The girl’s mouth moved on reflex like a drunk’s homing instinct.

The caffeine’s blessing must have reached her after a short delay because life gradually filled her dull eyes.

Her wobbling head suddenly stopped.

“Mh? This isn’t good. My drowsiness is about to vanish entirely.”

“That’s how it’s supposed to work.”

She ignored Kamijou’s comment, rubbed her eyes through her bangs, and then reached upwards to stretch her back. When she leaned back a little, her sensual but undeveloped feminine bodylines showed through her blue vest somewhat. Whether sleepy or wide awake, she seemed to do things at her own pace.

Regardless, it looked like she was not going to fall asleep below a van or with her face in a trash can anymore.

“Mission complete. Finally.”

Kamijou gave into his annoyance and let his legs sprawl out in front of him while sitting in his seat. He also plopped the portable device down on the table. Just like removing a wristwatch or cellphone, it provided an illogical sense of relaxation.

He glanced down at the device.

“I need to do something about this soon. With the Defection and Blue Stalker, the problems keep piling up. What am I even supposed to do?”

“…”

Furashina Ririn’s eyes were drawn toward the portable device too.

After a pause, she asked a question.

“Do you hate that thing?”

“Hmm?”

After a glance over at Index who was consuming the rest of the coffee jelly now that it was not needed to wake up the other girl, Kamijou answered without really thinking.

“I do.”

It was a piercing answer.

Furashina Ririn gasped a bit, but he continued.

“It brings all sorts of extra problems like the Blue Stalker and such. Defection? I don’t care about that. Why would I even want ‘more’? Its only value is in being fun, so I don’t care whether or not it’s useful. But they felt the need to add on that extra stuff.”

“…”

The girl’s eyes moved so slightly no one would have noticed.

It was like she was viewing a dream.

“What is your name? She seems to call you ‘Touma’.”

“Oh, I’m Kamijou Touma. Come to think of it, I bought a giant dessert for someone I hadn’t even introduced myself to.”

“Kamijou Touma-kun. I must remain asleep.”

“?”

Kamijou looked puzzled.

The light blonde girl looked him in the eye using the eye hidden by her bangs.

“I thank you for showing me something that makes me want to wake up despite that.”