Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 10===

It was 10PM on August 30. Time to get started.

Item had rested in the trendy laundromat until closing time and now they were finally on the move.

“Mugino, what do we do about Shiratori Okibi’s power?”

“…”

Mugino hadn’t been napping the entire time.

She alone had spent the entire time agonizing over this.

“We know she can create a wall of fire and a flash flood. She must also be able to hammer in a nail with air since that’s her camouflage power.”

“Wait. In the end, the rule is one power per person.”

“But we discussed this so much and we still haven’t found an answer.”

They were heading into battle without identifying the enemy’s power.

That brutal power had gotten the better of them once before and now they were challenging it again.

That was like choosing to dive into a deadly labyrinth. It was possible a member of Item wouldn’t be returning from this alive.

“We’ll spread out around Takitsubo. It’s a pain in the ass, but we need her to gather information!”

“In the end, I guess that is the only option.”

Frenda smiled half in exasperation and stuck a skinny arm into her thin poncho. They were in for a wild fight where they would have to defend themselves, so she may have wanted to double check her number and variety of explosives to reassure herself.

Mugino pointed at the others while walking toward a support team four-wheel-drive vehicle waiting on the curb.

“Frenda and I will move out in front to get the detective to attack, so, Takitsubo, you focus on analyzing her power. Kinuhata, you focus on protecting Takitsubo. Don’t let anyone close to our analyst.”

“Understood.”

“Super got it.”

The meeting point was the ice palace in District 16.

It was classified as a multipurpose event hall.

It was the size of a school building and designed like a Greek temple. It was entirely made by stacking ice blocks larger than vending machines and smoothly carving them away.

The security wasn’t exactly strict, which was why they were using it for their shady meeting. As long as there was no event that day, the ice palace remained quiet. There were no lights on inside and the darkness was deserted. The pathway was lit up by the bare minimum of nighttime lightning and the green of emergency exit signs and the red of fire alarm lights dyed the walls and floor in places. The video ads projected onto the occasional thick ice pillar or flat wall may have been part of the equipment’s automatic maintenance routine.

One of the ads projected on a round pillar was for an upcoming idol concert.

The ice palace was called the Bulweiser Icicle Theater.

“Why’d they have to ruin such a lovely name by tacking a beer brand on the front? It ruins the charm.”

“Shows how much money they’re making through advertising, Kinuhata. They get paid tons of money and all they have to do is let the company name the place.”

Item had made sure to arrive before their opponent.

They took a look around the ice palace. They were checking for traps, bombs, hidden cameras, or even hidden attackers or snipers, but they didn’t find anything.

After around half an hour of searching, Takitsubo looked up.

“Mugino.”

All the lights went out without warning.

The bare minimum of nighttime lighting, the ads projected on the pillars, the emergency exit signs, the fire alarm lights – all of it.

The cameras, sensors, and other security equipment were likely down too.

They heard solid footsteps.

There were two sets, but one set didn’t seem human.

“Hi, hi.”

A black-haired girl wore a thin coat over a white and blue short-sleeved sailor uniform from some school or another. But she probably didn’t have any cooling products hidden inside the coat this time. She grinned over at them while poking and playing with the Japanese wolf walking alongside her legs covered by white boots and short black stockings held up by special below-the-knee sock garters.

Justice.

Detective Shiratori Okibi knew the last thing a criminal would want to happen.

“You’re here early. Didn’t we agree on 12? Weird showing up an hour early when you set the time yourself.”

“Do we look like punctual teacher’s pets?”

“Not a bit☆”

“In the end, you know the last thing criminals want, right? If we showed up right on time, who knows what kind of traps or ambushes we’d find springing on us.”

There was a hint of exasperation in the detective’s smile.

Like an expert investigator had just been forced to listen to an amateur sleuth’s evidence-void guesswork.

Shiratori Okibi said, “That aside, I told you I’d contact you.”

“You really expected us to wait around?”

The detective answered Mugino by smiling and reaching into her pocket.

Tension ran through Item, but she didn’t pull out a gun or a knife. She pulled out a locked notebook.

“I said I could organize the information on the case you’d gotten yourselves involved in if you gave me time, remember?”

Apparently that really was all this was.

Next, a strange emotion formed on her face.

''Pity.

“But it looks like Item’s facing a fate worse than death. Ah ha ha. You’re past the point of a simple death sentence. And if you’d realized what’s going on yourself, I doubt you’d be here wasting your time chatting with me. If it was me, I’d be trying to escape over the city’s wall even though I know it’s suicide. Because that’d be the more logical choice.”

A few thoughts popped into Mugino’s head.

While she had no hard proof, she had been sensing that things were ''trending'' in a dangerous direction around Item. But which side was their enemy on? The villains? Justice? Or the higher ups like the voice on the phone who transcended that kind of morality?

The detective had the answer.

“Okay, you can make it sound important, but what exactly have you discovered?”

“Yes, that’s the thing.” The detective flicked the cover of her locked notebook. “Since you gave me time, I was able to do a lot of detective work. So I have discovered the full truth of the case you’ve gotten yourselves caught up in.”

At that point, Shiratori Okibi asked a basic question.

“''But when did I say I would give it to you''?”

“…”

A quiet metallic jangle came from the Japanese wolf’s collar. Something was attached to the loop that would normally hold a leash. It was a small key.

The detective made a show of putting the locked notebook back in her pocket.

This wasn’t a failed negotiation.

Shiratori wasn’t negotiating in the first place.

This was only a challenge and a declaration of war.

“Now wait just a minute! I super don’t get why you’re even picking a fight with us! If you had to look into everything happening here, doesn’t that mean you aren’t a part of it!?”

“Ah ha ha. I’m a detective, remember? I know better than anyone the kinds of logic criminals hate. You’re the ones who are in trouble if you spend too much time on this.”

“You mean the September 1 deadline?”

“Right. Our school lives are in jeopardy☆”

That meant neither Mugino Shizuri nor Shiratori Okibi could back down.

If your neighbor transformed into falling sparks, then they were your enemy. If you didn’t brush them off, they would burn you and you would lose everything in the ignited conflagration.

Mugino had to accept that this girl was a deadly enemy.

This enemy was a detective and she would cling to this one hint to the end even if it meant giving up on her school life and going into hiding. The villain had only one way of staying safe: cutting her away.

Things were only this bad because Mugino was a villain.

If she were a normal person or a hero, it never would have ended up like this.

“Also, a detective doesn’t need a reason to pursue a villain. It’s like instinct to me.”

Shiratori smiled.

But this smile was different. Almost like she had seen deep inside Mugino, whose world was falling apart at an accelerated rate.

The Class Rep spoke plainly through that cruel smile.

“Just try and take it from me, villain.”