Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 9===

“Oof.”

Takitsubo crawled out of the thick coolant.

“You really are as super naked as can be, aren’t you? Here’s a towel.”

“Whoa. What are you doing, Kinuhata?”

“I’m not letting you act like my big sister forever. I need to super return the favor every once in a while.”

“Ooh, my hair.”

[[Image:Item2_BW5.jpg|thumb]]

(Naked) Takitsubo Rikou looked somehow pleased as she let Kinuhata do as she wished, but she eventually frowned.

“Ugh, there’s nothing worse than putting back on wet clothes. It’s so cold and clingy.”

“Super yeah, yeah.”

While Takitsubo dried off and put her clothes back on, Mugino and Frenda were operating their phones.

Project Angelica.

“Angelica? In the end, that reminds me of the word ''angelic''. Or maybe it’s someone’s name? I know there are people called Angela.”

“Someone’s name? No, it’s only a perennial herb from the Apiaceae family used to decorate cakes.”

Frenda tried to read too deeply into it, so Mugino, who was willing to put on an apron and work in the kitchen (when absolutely necessary), had to exasperatedly correct her.

“And to be honest, I doubt the name means much of anything. It’s common practice to give a project a name that will send anyone investigating it down a dead end. In this case, the similarity to angel and angelic is supposed to make you think there’s something like that hidden behind it.”

“''You mean the truly dangerous projects are given easily mistaken names that would sound important to just about anyone''?”

“That’s right. Then when you find some idiot trying to secretly search for information on it, you go in for the kill. The occult is the perfect option in Academy City because it stands out so much.”

So what was this lab hoping to do with Mugino Shizuri’s Meltdowner?



“The perfect electron microscope.

“The project being run under the tentative name Angelica can be summed up as an attempt to create the perfect electron microscope and electric scalpel at the same time.

“This will be used for physical and industrial gene manipulation.

“In other words, it can be used to design and develop an esper.”



Developing an esper.

That idea alone was hardly a rare one in Academy City.

But why would they bother adding the “design” in there too?

“Do you super think Ainame Caroline wrote this? That little tanned gyaru? Does her personality change when she’s writing?”

“Mugino,” interrupted Takitsubo. “This file gives a summary of the project’s objective and basic theory.”

“…”



“Existing gene manipulation techniques are either biological or chemical and use restriction enzymes.

“This requires strict calculations, including for the type of DNA molecule to act as a carrier for the sequence processed by the restriction enzyme, but the actual macro results are inevitably fickle. Current techniques cannot de-age someone or create a genius with 100% accuracy, nor can they create a human with wings or gills. This can be seen most plainly in the fact that the creation of the Level 5s, the poster children for Academy City’s esper development, is actually reliant on their initial genetic sequence. That is, they must have some inborn ‘talent’ in the first place for the later development to work.

“When such rare talent is required, not all researchers will be able to develop their specimens as desired. The basic concept is closer to investment or gambling than it is science. Anyone in this field will know countless colleagues who were ruined after they received massive amounts of advance funding but could never achieve the results they promised. We are supposed to be scientists. We must eliminate all financial risk from our work, but that is a problem we will never be rid of as long as we continue using existing methods.

“Angelica will fundamentally fix that reliance on coincidence.

“This problem will never be solved as long as we continue treating living beings as living beings. A true solution requires using a purely industrial approach that treats genes as components to be physically manipulated.”



“In the end, what’s this talk about physical and industrial?”

“So like robots?”

“I super find that hard to believe. You mean we’re going to see tin dolls with minds of their own wielding esper powers?”

There were heretical researchers lurking on the dark side who were attempting to create practical cyborgs or androids, but that didn’t seem to have any direct link to Mugino’s Meltdowner.

“Machines… Wasn’t there some research into using Mugino’s power in the field quantum computing and data transmission since it can fix electrons in a certain state?” asked Takitsubo.

“But it doesn’t sound like that’s what this means by industrial. Look at this file. It gives more details.”



“To reiterate, Angelica refers to the perfect electron microscope and electric scalpel as a set.

“If this ‘device’ is used on human genes, it can accurately cut away exactly the number desired.

“So instead of using chemicals and DNA molecules and then waiting for the reaction to show itself, you could see for yourself and use your own hand to directly slice through the genes. Think of it like editing a movie on old-fashioned film.

“Realizing this technique will require the cooperation of a powerful esper with the ability to control electrons.

“There are reports of the Railgun using EM waves to produce a macro reflected wave radar, but there are no examples of her using electrons themselves to cut anything. She has a tendency to avoid that and instead uses magnetism to vibrate iron sand. It is unknown if this is because she was only recently recognized as a Level 5, or if it is a permanent problem. Since we want both an electron microscope and an electric scalpel, it seems best to start with Meltdowner as a base since she does directly burn through things with electrons.

“With the Level 5’s help, she could manipulate people’s genes to evolve them however we wanted.

“She could evolve every last human to Level 5, or she could devolve any Level 5 into a powerless Level 0.

“Angelica would let a single person perform everything that Academy City is attempting to do.”



They were speechless.

Even ''the'' Mugino Shizuri.

Angelica wasn’t just about manipulating electrons or people’s minds. Instead of Level 5s born of happenstance reigning at the top of the hierarchy, they would be creating someone who could alter the total number of Level 5s with a flick of a finger.

If someone like that was created, the 6-tier system running from Level 0 to Level 5 would entirely collapse. The status of Academy City’s seven Level 5s wouldn’t be worth a thing.

Someone would be able to evolve anyone they liked into Level 5s and steal the powers of anyone they didn’t like.

She would truly become Academy City’s queen.

If she were to raise only 100 of her followers to Level 5 and leave the rest of the 2.3 million people at Level 0, she could easily rule over all of Academy City. And she would be able to swiftly snuff out any rebellious traitors among her ranks by taking away their power. No matter how large scale the rebellion, it would end in an instant.

In fact, it wouldn’t end with just the city. The rest of the human population in the wide world found outside the city’s walls would only be a matter of time. No one among the 6 or 7 billion people out there would have any way of resisting the queen and her 100.

If this came to fruition.

However…



“Note:

“Mugino Shizuri = poor match for Angelica’s precise gene slicing.

“Power output too great.

“New esper needed. One with similar power but more precise control.”



The final text file had a different tone.

The choppier text could not hide the irritation of the writer. This was a personal note, not a research paper based on logic.

“…”

Was this why Ainame Caroline referred to Mugino as a failure?

It wasn’t a matter of ability.

She had grown ''far faster'' than the head researcher had wanted. She had become poorly suited for the precision Ainame Caroline needed.

Was it after that she had started destroying other espers with her experiments and been driven from the lab? Had her extreme level of tuning been too much for those espers, or had she just been too impatient?

“I see.”

When she finally spoke, that was all Mugino said.

“But Angelica is a means, not an end. It’s a convenient tool that can customize an existing person or create your ideal person out of a fertilized egg. Ainame Caroline. What is that brat trying to do by toying with the building blocks of human DNA?”