Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume10 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 8===

“You’re late, fool.”

When Kamijou finally made it back to his dorm, Anna Sprengel was waiting for him like she was supposed to be there. The mystery little girl without a passport or residency papers was sitting on his bed and she patted the space next to her with her little hand.

He decided it was best not to ask why.

“Left to your own devices, you’re going to get involved with this Alice stuff, aren’t you? Both to stop the way she’s distorting the world around her and to take back that nun. But instead of rushing in blindly, wouldn’t it be better to have the help of someone who knows a thing or two about the Bridge Builders Cabal and Alice herself?”

“Hey, I never said anything about taking you with me.”

“What, afraid I won’t be much help against Alice herself when the Shrink Drink that borrowed only a fraction of her power nearly killed me?”

“No, I’m worried about you.”

That shut Anna up.

But only briefly.

She soon resumed speaking.

“If you want to rescue the hostage, you should wait for the perfect time to act.”

“Eh? Hold on, you want me to wait? Can’t we at least discuss this first!? Index was captured and Alice could make her move at any time.”

“Fool, there’s no point in trying to include Alice’s capriciousness in your calculations. The grimoire library could be killed a second from now, or she and Alice could be the best of friends a year from now. The one thing we do know is that we only have one shot at making a rescue. Screw that up and there’s no ‘could be’ about it. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum will surely die. And in a way that prevents Good, Old Mary’s resurrection from working.”

“…”

“As a wicked woman who prefers to discard her ordinary emotions to think more rationally, I would weigh the time against the necessary work and recommend you focus on the greatest quality rescue. Aiming for speed will only cause the quality to drop below the minimum line. Are you sure you want to waste your one and only shot at this?”

“Hmph. You at least understands the basics of being a trickster.” Othinus sighed softly and crossed her arms atop the glass table. “Hey, human. Don’t look so lost. Stop assuming any lost time is exacerbating the situation. Rushing in fueled by righteous anger, kicking down the door, and rescuing the hostage only happens in the movies. Real special forces who can’t afford to let a single life be lost will build a set identical to the target location and spend hours practicing there before going for the real mission.”

All the information was accurate.

Yet as the data piled up, there was no hope to be found.

The farther they went, the deeper they sank.

Othinus cast an appraising look over at Anna.

“Do you have a concrete vision of how this rescue could play out?”

“We make our move during the night.” Miss Sprengel gave a wicked snort of laughter. “Around midnight would probably be best. Which means I would want us to finish gathering intel before then.”

“Won’t they suspect an attack in the night?”

“H.T. Trismegistus will of course, but Alice is essentially a small girl. I highly doubt she will still be awake at that hour.”

“Hm.”

“Needless to say, the ideal scenario is where we secure the site before Alice wakes up. But that might not work out, so we should also simulate who Alice will attack if she does wake up. Simply saying she’s in an unstable state and impossible to predict isn’t good enough to give the go-ahead on this rescue operation.”

“C’mon, you don’t have to hold back with this god of deception. What nasty trick are you actually considering, villain?”

“Really, you have to ask? I would like to manipulate grumpy Alice so she defeats H.T. Trismegistus for us. Did you think I would even attempt a direct confrontation? If you have more than one powerful foe to deal with, then pit them against each other so they wear each other down.”

“Yes, those probably are our best bet for Plans A and B, but I’d like a Plan C just in case.”

Kamijou got to thinking while listening to those two speaking and grinning wickedly.

A switch capable of destroying the entire world was being toyed with by a capricious girl too young to stay up late.

Humanity really could be destroyed by this.

Kamijou frowned.

“Okay, we know the time, but what about the place?”

“It will be somewhere linked to you, fool,” stated Anna.

Kamijou looked taken aback, but Anna wasn’t just guessing.

“That’s the only reason Alice would still be fixated on Academy City. And if she had gone elsewhere, the Acute Kotatsu Syndrome would be slowly destroying a city or country outside of Academy City. To be honest, I saw this dorm as a likely candidate. Not to mention the hospital you were recovering in. But Alice hasn’t shown at either place. What other candidates can you think of?”

“…”

“Where would Alice want to be, or where would she have dreamed of going at some point? She will be waiting for you there. If an idea occurred to you when I asked that question, that’s probably the answer.”