Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 9===

Hamazura Shiage remained dazed for a while afterwards.

He had been hopelessly outmatched, so he had no idea how he had survived.

But.

Since he had…

“…”

“Hamazura.”

That question was already mixed in with some unnaturally heavy and heated breathing.

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes unfocused as she looked up at him.

He was anxious as could be. It was worse than having a powerful poison injected into his neck.

“Wh-what about the medicine? We still have a week’s worth from what Pet Breeder gave me, so you can take that!”

“I’m only supposed to take one dose a day and I think that means it’s a powerful drug. Speeding up the dosage on our own would be too dangerous.”

Then there was nothing they could do.

If amateurs like them could not make any decisions here, their only option was going to a doctor. But that was not an option while they were on the run. As a delinquent, he knew the protocol. After a crime, the wanted information was sent to hospitals and hotels first and foremost.

“Let’s find a black market doctor.”

“Hamazura.”

“We have money. There was a whole bunch balled up in the sling bag! And only someone in Academy City can deal with a Body Crystal issue. We can’t get you healed if we leave the city!!”

“Hamazura.”

She called his name stronger this time. She was woozy with a fever and her strength was draining from her along with the sweat, but she spoke clearly.

“Running away is fine, but why are we running away? It isn’t to turn our backs on hope, remember?”

“…”

“It’s true technology outside the city is two or three decades behind, but we have me and the medicine used to treat me. With both of those, a doctor outside the city might be able to fill in the blanks. There’s still a chance.”

How much strength had she gathered even as the core of her body looked ready to break?

“But there is no chance if we stay here and get arrested. Then our chances drop to zero. So which would you prefer? Remember why we’re running away.”

The sick generally became weaker and more selfish. Especially when the details of and treatment for their disease were unknown. But she worked to encourage him like she always did.

He had to reward that courage.

He suppressed the urge to rush forward and instead turned back the way they had come.

That was the only correct answer here.

“Wait, Hamazura. Where are you going?”

“That ghost woman saved us.”

First, he stated the facts so he could use that as a foundation for speculation.

“But ''why''? What happened with Benizome is enough to know we aren’t going to find anyone who saves us out of a spirit of volunteerism or simple benevolence. If she saved us, then it benefited her to do so. She spared us from a position of superiority.”

For that matter, how long had that ghost woman been there? She had appeared in the nick of time to save him, but it was possible ''she had waited until after Takitsubo was hit by the stun gun before intervening.'' Maybe she could have helped sooner, but she wanted to play the savior to take control of the situation.

“Then…”

“The ghost woman manufactured a draw between us and the android. That Kihara guy the android was protecting will notice something is wrong soon enough. If someone escaped the trap he laid for them, then it’s their turn to hunt him down. Once he senses danger, he’ll run. And we left on the advice of the ghost woman. So ''who has uninterrupted access to the valuable counterfeiter now?''”

“Oh.”

“Now you get it. She got both sides of that fight to leave at the same time, so Perfect Film is wide open. She can ask him for a job without having to worry about anyone intervening.”

He doubted that inhuman ghost woman would fear Anti-Skill’s ordinary bullets, but she may have had something she wanted to protect. Like the researcher who had developed her or her real body she had left as an astral projection.

At any rate, Hamazura layered speculation on top of the facts to fill in the blanks like he was solving a crossword puzzle.

“The ghost woman doesn’t want anyone interfering.”

He continued walking.

His pace had picked up.

“She might win a direct confrontation, but I bet there’s someone there she didn’t want caught in the middle of our fight. That’s why she pushed everyone else away. There must be something even losers like us can pull off here.”

They were not far from the tents now. He chose the tent that had some light escaping it and pushed his way in without knocking.

Inside, a stubborn-looking old man—presumably the counterfeiter—was facing a young man Hamazura had never seen before.

Was he a friend of the ghost woman?

He was dressed in something not quite like a plain-colored jumpsuit. His version had shorts and short sleeves. Was it called a safari jacket? It reminded Hamazura of a TV adventurer whose show kept getting brought back. Although this young man wore a black long-sleeved rash guard below to deal with the winter temperatures. The headband around his forehead had an outdoor webcam attached to the side of his head.

This tent appeared to the be the lab rather than the residence. Before anyone could say a word, Hamazura stuck his hand in a toolbox and pulled out a nail gun.

The young man was unfazed.

“Really? Frillsand-kun needs to do a better job.”

“Shut up.”

“Quick question: do you think ''a ghost created with science'' can be exorcized with two-yen-a-pop nails?”

That was not the question here.

Hamazura Shiage did not hesitate to aim the nail gun at Perfect Film.

“Hey!”

The stubborn old man’s eyes widened, but Hamazura was in no position to accept complaints. This was the dark side, so everyone was racking their brains to survive and choosing whatever option they could trust with their life.

He was through relying on uncertain promises or convenience.

“You need this greasy old man as much as I do, so you can’t have me killing him, can you? So let’s calm down and talk this out. We both want out of Academy City, but I’ll break our plank of Carneades if I have to!!”

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

The young man casually raised his hands.

Hamazura had the upper hand, but the young man was as calm as ever. Hamazura had come up with this plan, but he was shaken by this. He started to wonder if he was really doing the right thing.

“You want the same thing I do, don’t you?” asked the young man.

“A passport even better made than a real one.”

“Indeed. But neither of us has much time. And from the look of things, you need two. FYI, I coughed up a cool five mil for my plank.”

“…”

Five million yen. How thick would that be? He had the balled-up cash inside the voice on the phone’s sling bag, but not even that would be enough for this.

The young man grinned while verbally going on the attack.

“But you’re still a student, so how much can you pay for the plank you need to stay afloat? Per person, I mean. Oh, and this is precise work that can’t be done if the craftsman’s fingers are trembling from a threat to his life, so you can’t exactly ask for his help until you lower that weap—”

He never finished his sentence because something else happened first.

Hamazura heard something whizzing through the tent and then the counterfeiter’s rock-hard head burst.

The entire interior of the tent was dyed red and Hamazura fell back onto his ass. He had not done this. A nail gun was only meant to drive the nail into a piece of wood, so even if he had accidentally pulled the trigger, it would not have been powerful enough to crack open the old man’s skull, sending pieces flying everywhere.

Which meant…

“Man, Frillsand-kun ''really'' needs to do a better job,” lamented the young man.

He sounded like someone whose brand-new lightbulb had just died.

Yes, the ghost woman had overlooked something.

She may have thought this young man was free to negotiate once the Hamazura/Takitsubo team and the Kihara/Android team were diverted away from Perfect Film, but there had been someone else there.

Hamazura Shiage found a certain name spilling from his mouth.

“…fish.”

That woman could use electron beams, terahertz waves, and other special photography equipment to accurately aim through the tent, she had carried powerful weapons, and she was willing to lie in wait for her target just like a sniper.

She was part of the dark side and a goddamn harmful at that.

“Benizome Jellyfish!!!!!!”

She did not care about the fate of the entire world or the life of a single person.

That freelance camerawoman had no morals whatsoever, so she was willing to spread chaos if it would help her get the shot she wanted.