Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter3 (section)

===Part 9===

It had been rough.

Real rough, but Kamijou’s group had escaped from the burning parking garage.

“Are you insane, you amazing busty high school girl!? I really am grabbing those things this time!!”

“I will respect your freedom of speech and accept your complaints about my behavior, but try not to slip your own desires in there.”

He complained, but this was a stolen car. It would have been engulfed in flames with the rest if left where it was, but given how dented up the bumper was, it was highly unlikely the owner would thank them for saving it. It was too dangerous to drive around in, so they decided to get out and escape on foot.

“What about the two in the trunk?”

“Assuming you’re not interested in abducting them and having your way with them, I recommend setting off the car alarm and then leaving them there. It’s a stolen car, so Anti-Skill will secure them for you.”

They would probably be taken into custody as victims instead of criminals in that scenario, but the authorities could apparently figure out who had fired a gun from fingerprints and something called gunshot residue. They would at least figure out the little girl was the mass shooter, which would make it hard for the sexy poison user to claim she was uninvolved.

They could be safely left with the adults.

“Anyway, I’ve never heard of real-life professional assassins before. What happens to them once Anti-Skill arrests them? Will this be a top story on the evening news???”

“Of course not. Academy City as a whole is in the service industry, so they can’t stay in business without showing off how safe everything is and bringing in lots of kids. What happened here will be never be revealed to the public. And if they can’t fully cover it up, they’ll just call it a spontaneous incident with no planning behind it.”

They held that conversation after finally escaping the parking garage.

Kamijou was so soaked with sweat he could probably produce a very gross sight by stripping off a piece of clothing and wringing it out like a rag. Unlike a super high school girl or a high-class middle school girl, nobody was interested in a guy’s sweat.

They peered out around the corner of a building to spy on the flashing lights gathering a short distance away.

Needless to say, they were hiding because they had done a little too much they could not let come to light, starting with Kumokawa Seria’s motorcycle theft. And while Kamijou had clenched his fist to protect a girl, that would go down in the Anti-Skill paperwork as assault and battery.

“Do you really want to get arrested now? One of the assassins got away and L.S.S. management might use some other method. That would only lead to three unnatural suicides in the holding cells before dawn tomorrow.”

After that threatening statement from Kumokawa Seria (who had committed the most criminal acts of the three), Kamijou and Mitsuari could only curl up like small animals and go along with her plan.

“Okay, the straitlaced teacher/guidance counselor combos have arrived. And it looks like they have indeed taken those two into protective custody.”

Those two did not seem to put up much resistance even when they had their hands handcuffed behind their backs.

That was something of an ending, but there had been three enemies.

There was still one out there. It felt like hearing the shark extermination at the beach had been called off before it was complete.

“A-anyway, you really did beat them all yourself, didn’t you?” said Mitsuari.

“Hm? Yeah, but one-against-three is my limit. Any more and I shouldn’t even try to fight.”

Kamijou made it sound so simple, so he seemed unaware of what a tightrope walk he had made. Your own lucky shots tended not to leave much of an impression in your memory.

But more than that…

“Senpai, what is L.S.S.?”

He felt like he had glimpsed that name a few times.

For example, as a TV show sponsor or in ads at the burger shop. He was pretty sure they were a company that worked in some kind of biological field. He was unsure what exactly they specialized in – or rather, they seemed involved in everything from the food business to the pet business, so everyone online claimed they were too unfocused.

“Hm? Did you really think two different criminal groups had targeted Mitsuari Ayu by complete coincidence? Those three sisters were professional assassins, so that means someone must have hired them. Doesn’t it seem most likely that was meant to get back at us for what happened with the dragon?”

The term “Biohacker” had come up, but had they ever determined where exactly that dragon came from? Kamijou had to wonder, so Kumokawa continued in exasperation.

“Did you forget all about that researcher you punched at the end of that night? A single photo is enough to search out all sorts of information these days. It was a little tricky to track down since he was not registered as an employee, but he had influence over a company project as a guest. That link was intentionally made to be indirect. Also, that very same researcher apparently kicked the bucket due to food poisoning while in his holding cell. It was due to the oysters in his lunch, but…hm, don’t we know someone who specializes in animal poisons?”

She stated it so matter-of-factly that Kamijou did not realize what she meant at first.

It felt like watching a news program for some distant country.

And Kumokawa was not done talking.

There was more.

“To look at it from a different angle, part of L.S.S.’s charitable activities includes managing the distribution of the stray cat population.”

“?”

“Simply put, they capture the kitties, have them sniff an anesthetic, and then chop off their you-know-whats. It’s done out of love for the animals, but I imagine the cats don’t appreciate it much. It’s not much different from alien abductions and cattle mutilation from their point of view.”

Kamijou Touma shrank down a little.

He knew it was wrong, but that topic felt more real to him than the assassination in the holding cell. L.S.S. apparently sponsored a cat program on TV, so were they using information taken from the program staff?

Mitsuari Ayu still looked confused.

A devilish smile spread on Kumokawa’s face like the scissors in rock-paper-scissors.

“By accepting contract work from the health department, L.S.S. can freely enter areas normal workers could never go. For example, the School Garden and Tokiwadai Middle School.”

“?”

Soaked Mitsuari did not seem to quite get it.

“Have you ever seen outside workers entering your school grounds to collect a cat or dog that wandered in? Those were L.S.S. workers.”

“Eh!? You mean those people in work jumpsuits!?”

“There are two ways to earn trust: spend a lot of time somewhere, or call yourself some kind of expert. It’s a pretty basic method.” Kumokawa sighed in extreme exasperation. “Those sisters may have used some kind of esper power or special skill to get into the School Garden, but didn’t they attack Mitsuari and lure her outside a little too smoothly? Someone who knew a lot about things inside must have given them detailed information on the distribution of people and things at different times.”

Also, even if that dragon had been the product of a dangerous experiment combining the DNA of a few different animals, that did not seem possible for an individual to pull off. Wouldn’t it require specialized equipment, personnel, and plenty of funding to keep it all running?

“Well, we know someone used high-level cover-up techniques to erase all trace of the dragon attack. If L.S.S. is involved this time too, that parking garage will probably be handled in the same way. If we check to see what materials and chemicals were used to repair the damage at both sites and then track down where they came from, we can figure out who the Biohacker is.”

Mitsuari Ayu must have had a hard time believing this (or she was embarrassed standing on the roadside in sweaty short-sleeved gym clothes) because she gave them a puzzled look while fidgeting her butt.

“But isn’t L.S.S. a trustworthy company that everyone knows? The girls from the major cliques talk about it a lot. Would a major company with a solid position at the top of the listings really take the risk of messing with life using a Biohacker or whatever?”

“Heh heh. A trustworthy company? Do you actually think those exist?”

“This is no time for dark jokes.”

Mitsuari seemed to mistake that for a joke as she walked along in her loose indoor slippers.

Meanwhile, the busty high school girl gave her the look of someone seeing a small child write “I want to be a wonderful wife when I grow up” on their Tanabata wish card. It was a somewhat maternal look.

“Well, the people behind corporate misdeeds usually lose track of the scope of their actions. So with the Biohacker, it probably started out small. Yes, like modifying genetics to create a thoroughbred in the lab instead of relying on selective breeding. Then they moved on to developing delicious edible earthworms to use for cheap hamburger meat and they eventually reached the point of creating giant dragons without anyone involved noticing anything wrong with what they are doing. That tends to be how these things go.”

Kamijou groaned again at this.

He recalled seeing an L.S.S. ad at a burger shop. That meant there was some form of favorable relationship between those two. He could not help but worry about the burger meal he had eaten there.

“We saw the assassins taken in by Anti-Skill, so there’s no point in staying here. Let’s get moving.”

“Th-there’s more? Can’t we just head home now?”

Mitsuari may have wanted it all to be over so she could strip out of her sweaty gym clothes and take a shower.

Kumokawa Seria breathed an exasperated sigh (which made her large chest rise and fall).

“Have you already forgotten they got assassins inside the strictly-defended Tokiwadai Middle School? Needless to say, L.S.S. is a big company. Go to sleep in the dorm linked to you in the school paperwork and you might as well be leaving the window open and asking them to attack you.”

“Eh? But then what do we do?”

Mitsuari’s exhaustion was quickly making her useless, but Kamijou’s heart had felt the squeeze of fear ever since the discussion about chopping off cat balls.

The mystery super high school girl smiled thinly.

“That just means you have to go somewhere not linked to you in the school paperwork. I will show you to my apartment. It’s too late to turn back now, after all.”

Was that normal for a high school girl, or not?

Kamijou still dreamed of the freedoms found in a high school life, but this was starting to feel like more than that. He doubted you could rent an apartment with the money from an afterschool job.

For now, they had to obey her, but she did not lead them to a train or bus.

But not because her apartment was nearby.

“What a pain. Using public transportation now would like asking for an ambush.”

They were forced to walk for quite a while along deserted roads. That was difficult for Mitsuari in her indoor slippers.

“Ugh.”

“What?”

“Ugh, ugh!”

“Hey, quit leaning on me from behind! What, you want me to carry you!? How about using words next time!?”

“(You’re quite something yourself for readily accepting her demand to be carried!!)”

It grew dark while they walked.

They had spent an entire day on this.

If you did not earn any experience points, your level remained at 0. All this fighting had earned them nothing.

“Hm, hm, hm, hmm.”

The fluffy-haired middle school girl was in a good mood now that she was riding on Kamijou’s back. She kicked her feet cheerfully.

“There it is,” said Kumokawa.

This was not just a studio apartment.

It was a huge multi-room apartment meant for families. No, this high-rise apartment building was clearly meant for investors and resellers. It was the kind only seen on soap operas.

“Being invited somewhere this luxurious makes me fear some kind of trap,” said Kamijou.

“Why would you associate fanciness with booby traps?”

Hearing the fluffy middle school girl say “booby” right into his ear just about awoke something inside him, but he decided it was best to keep that to himself. He wanted to avoid putting his foot in his mouth.

“It’s not really a booby trap, but they did find some unexploded ordnance in a park near here, which made the apartments hard to sell and caused their value to plummet,” said Kumokawa. “But rumors fade and I’m sure the value will return to normal eventually.”

The entrance naturally used an automatic locking system.

Once through the thick automatic door, they found a huge air-conditioned lobby.

“C’mon, get down now, Mitsuari. We’re here.”

“Ugh.”

“Don’t you dare go to sleep. And don’t throw a fit! Just get down!!”

He decided it was for her own good to not spoil her too much, so he forcibly lowered her from his back.

A butler-like old man in a black tailcoat stood at the reception counter. Was that what they called a concierge? This was feeling more like a resort hotel than an apartment. The man said nothing about the sweaty girl in gym clothes.

And Mitsuari did not seem to care either.

He had forgotten, but she had had an upper class upbringing.

“Well, whatever. Which floor is your room on?”

“52. That high up, I’d be worried about power outages if I actually lived here.”

Kumokawa opened the window below the panel and pressed her thumb against the inside. The fingerprint scanner set the elevator to take them straight to their destination floor without any intermediate stops.

They found an insane place where only four rooms took up the entire floor.

“At the very top, they have this ridiculous thing they call the Tenshukaku Room. It takes up two whole stories on its own, but the most expensive room tends to be harder to sell, so resellers won’t touch it.”

Kumokawa Seria did not pull out a key.

Did these fancy luxury apartments for the wealthy not get hit by filthy burglars because they used fingerprint and iris scanners?

And.

At this point, Mitsuari Ayu (still in her gym clothes) tilted her head.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a lecture from your parents when a Biohacker and professional assassins are trying to kill you.”

“No, not that.”

For some reason, the fluffy-haired girl glanced over at Kamijou as he walked alongside her.

Then she got to the point.

“I mean, you’re inviting a boy into your room, right? If it’s a complete mess, won’t you lose all of the ‘capable older girl’ points you’ve earned so far???”

“Gh.”

It looked like her heart had stopped.

Kumokawa Seria froze in place, but that did not change the reality around her.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!???”

''Thump, thump, thump, slam!!

The super high school girl went pale in the face, opened the entranceway door, and rushed inside all on her own.

“Um, senpaiii? If you need some heavy lifting done, I could help out.”

“How dense can you be? Or are you trying to deliver the finishing blow?”

“?”

“Fine, fine. I will explain everything. We’re stuck waiting for a while anyway.”

They heard a lot of dull noises as things were moved around inside the room.

They apparently were not receiving their invitation for a while yet.

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