Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 9===

“Wow, it’s really coming down. It’s pounding so loud on the window. But isn’t it lucky this hotel had a vacancy, Lady Carol? I’d be afraid of flooding if we were spending the night in our car during this storm.”

“You have a point. And we had no choice but to move to a new room once the next phase began after Item learned about us. But.”

“But what?”

“Why – in – the – hell – did you get us a room in a love hotellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!?”

Ainame Caroline took a running start, jumped on the canopy bed, and used that springs to leap toward the other girl while shouting at the top of her lungs. But she was still only a 10-year-old. The gloomy high school girl, who had been modified down to the skeletal level, didn’t bat an eye as she caught the whining child by the scruff of the neck.

And she had to make a correction.

“This not a l-l-l-l-love hotel. It is a spa nap room.”

“Yeah, no. It’s a love hotel.”

“It is not. This facility is legally classified as a hotel, not an amusement business like love hotels are. So it could not possibly have been built for such indecent-”

“Lame! You think that counts as an excuse? The wall to the bathroom is made of glass so you can see inside it, the bed takes up almost the entire floorspace, and the vending machine in the hallway was only selling thin rubber products and some kind of slime made from seaweed. Oh, and there wasn’t anyone at the front desk to ensure no one knows who goes in here or what goes on inside. Every aspect of this place says it’s a love hotel designed for couples!!”

“Ugh.”

The gloomy girl’s spirit finally broke.

This wasn’t an issue of phrasing.

Tachiuo Mary blushed and stammered under her mask.

“I-it embarrasses me too, but this was the only place left. All the inns and hotels were already full from people wanting a change of scenery during summer break and then all the tourists rented out what vacant rooms were left to escape from the typhoon.”

“Lame. So lame! I get the issue, but the bad guy’s hideout is supposed to be a lot more wabi-sabi, cute, luxurious, and cool!!”

“Miss Carol, if you keep complaining, I will throw you out into the storm.”

The little brown gyaru flailed her little limbs while lifted from the floor like the crane game.

“Hmph. You don’t seem too bothered by getting so soaked while searching out this hotel. Aren’t your clothes, underwear, and personal possessions all wet?”

“Eh? Well, I knew it would be raining, so I made sure to pack my things in plastic bags before putting them in my bag.”

“Oh, yeah. And those bath posters you love so much are meant to get wet. Still, you should dry them off before they get mildewy.”

A loud commotion followed.

Tachiuo Mary blushed bright as she flung the little brown gyaru onto the bed, fell onto her butt, and backed into the corner of the love hotel room.

“L-L-Lady Carol, um, but, wait, why do you- how did you learn about th-th-th-that!?” shouted Tachiuo Mary, curled up in compact mode.

“Ah ha ha. You crack me up so much☆ Don’t try to deny it. You always spend an eternity in the bath, turning the small bathroom into your own little castle. You go to such extreme effort to hide that 360-degree full-coverage moe planetarium it would be hard to not notice you’re up to something. Lame. That mystery plastic box might have a small lock, but all it takes is a flathead screwdriver to unlock that.”

“Ablhbalvhbasgakfadfb!”

“(How cute. This doesn’t even count as a secret by the dark side’s standards.)”

Tachiuo Mary’s brain had completely overheated. The extreme honestly that led to such an overreaction proved that she had been worth ''taking in''. Ainame Caroline wished she could watch the beet red girl’s reaction a while longer, but then her phone rang.

She glanced down at her phone in its blast-resistant case with bunny ear razor blades.

“One of the illegal casinos run by our support organization was taken out. Lame. Apparently a pair of new bunny girls did it, but it sounds like they had some outside help. And there are signs they got away with some data, so it probably wasn’t about the money.”

“B-b-bwuh!? Lady Carol, don’t you think that was Item?”

“It’s not a problem.”

The tanned girl twirled her phone with the chocolate snack stick wiggling in the corner of her mouth.

And she grinned.

“''If they’re still wasting time there, they’ll never catch up to us.''”

“…”

“Hwa ha ha. Now, then. It’s time we got started too. Hey, murder virgin, you jumped the gun and let Mugino see you before, so you’d better do as I tell you this time. Lame. With your lack of experience, I just know you’ll freeze up when it’s finally time to do the deed, you murder virgin.”

“S-stop saying ‘virgin’ so much. I-I-I can do what needs doing when the time comes, okay!?”

“Stop freaking out and do as you’re told, you gloomy murder virgin!!”