Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 8===

Gunshots, explosions, and the clang of metal on metal echoed through the White House in Washington DC.

President Roberto Katze and Vice President Darris Hewlane dueled in the last place gunshots should have been found.

“Yes, I was scared.”

They aimed at each other with semiauto shotguns hot with gun smoke and sparks.

But Darris bit his lip and spat out a response.

“I’ll admit you all scared me!! I know the US is a country of immigrants and we should welcome anyone with open arms. I do get that, but you have grown too powerful!! Show some restraint, have some tact, and know when it isn’t your turn to speak!! Manners and morals require moderation! You can’t just show up and take over!!!!!!”

“What, is this about the religious balance?”

“No, quite the opposite,” howled Darris while their thick shotgun barrels collided. “It’s about science. That’s what scares me the most. People are free to immigrate and they can work with us if they want, but not when they gather up all the latest technology, build giant corporations, and transform into some kind of monster that absorbs all of our people’s data!! I am willing to live side by side with immigrants, but I will not let them rule over my entire life and trample me underfoot. If the Logistic Hornets had been used for their original purpose, an immigrant-run company could have partnered with god-knows-who and developed orbital weapons!!”

Roberto sighed.

If the Logistic Hornets had triggered a revolution in launch costs as had been originally intended, it would indeed have been the death knell for the state-run space development that relied so heavily on expensive and unstable old-fashioned rockets. If private companies were the leaders in space, it meant the state would be almost permanently lagging behind in any number of current and future fields, such as GPS and satellite communication services, largescale control of drones and self-driving cars, lunar travel, generator satellites, and more. NASA did a lot to improve the world’s opinion of the US government, so maybe Darris was imagining the fate of their country if that agency shriveled up and died.

However…

“Here I was expecting some convoluted conspiracy and it’s just a rehash of the old fear of Japanese cars? Were you also scared of the new Chinese and Korean phones or cheap Indian and Brazilian appliances? This is nothing new. It’s a tired old fear we’ve seen time and time again. It’s like a type of ''measles'' that shows up in this country every so often.”

“You could never understand.” The Vice President’s face grew red with humiliation when the President snorted and treated his fears so dismissively. “Not when you started out as an immigrant before earning your citizenship, changing the laws, and finally becoming President!! R&C Occultics will manage all that technology. When all those uncontrollable start-ups start cropping up everywhere, R&C Occultics will keep them in their place and unify them!! America needs that sort of management organization if we hope to coexist with those immigrants while keeping our country safe. The government only needs to interact with R&C Occultics. A company from outside can take care of all those immigrants flooding across our borders!!!!!!”

“I see no freedom or dreams in that.”

“…”

“Darris? Since apparently an immigrant like me can’t understand these complex issues, how about you answer me this with whatever knowledge it is you gained from growing up in the closest thing a country of only about 300 years has to an ‘old’ family: ''You have a pretty low opinion of America, don’t you?'' Remove the freedom and the dreams and whatever you have left won’t be America anymore.”

“…!!!???”

“This is a country where anyone can achieve their dreams – a country where honest hard work and ingenuity are rewarded. That’s the America I strive to defend as President. If you want to accomplish something, don’t tear down your rivals. You should have worked harder to make sure none of us immigrants could outdo you! Don’t underestimate us, Darris. Don’t underestimate America. You ran from the fight and stopped trying, so what right do you have to deny anyone in this country their dreams!?”

But a battle was a battle. The extreme tension meant no stalemate could last forever.

In that instant, Roberto pulled the trigger with his shotgun aimed straight up.

The blast sounded like an explosion.

But Darris was the one to frown. A gunshot at close range could rattle the brain. That was why it was worth pulling the trigger even if your gun was pushed to the side of your opponent’s head.

But there was no point in pulling the gun close to your own head and rattling your own brain.

Or there shouldn’t have been.

However…

“Ohhhh!!”

“Oh, no!”

Roberto Katze roared.

He had already rattled his own brain and numbed his senses, so for this brief moment, Darris’s gunshots could not affect him. The man could ignore the deafening blast and blinding flash even if Darris did fire nearby.

In that moment, the President actually had time to choose from a few different options.

Instead of pressing the muzzle against his opponent and firing, he slammed the collapsible stock against the side of Darris Hewlane’s head.

“But…why!?”

“You didn’t kill my aide, take her hostage, or harm her in any way. It would’ve been easier for you if you had, but you chose not to. That’s the one good choice you’ve made today, Darris!!”

Without warning, the Vice President’s body vanished.

A close-range shotgun blast could not do that to a human, much less a blow from the stock. It almost looked like ''his body had turned to sand.

“?”

Even Roberto Katze had to gasp. He staggered a bit from the momentum of swinging the stock.

Silence.

Stillness.

He grabbed the long shotgun like a rapier once more, spun it around, and sighed. He arrived at a conclusion that sounded absurd from a scientific and common sense perspective.

“''That wasn’t the real him?''”

But in both science and magic, what good was the common sense of an outsider?

Thinking back, he still did not know how Darris Hewlane had gained such accurate knowledge about the goings on in LA. He had not used a phone and no one had whispered it to him. Roberto had assumed R&C Occultics had explained the plan to him in advance, but apparently not.

What if he had been remotely attending the Washington debate while he was actually in Los Angeles? What if that was how he had known something someone in DC shouldn’t have known?

Roberto Katze muttered a comment while somehow certain he would never see the man again.

“You always got way too caught up in your tricks and traps. If you could do shit like this, why not just attack and kill me directly?”