Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3 (section)

===Part 10===

With their school uniforms gone, they only had that trunk to rely on.

After using the lake water to cleanse themselves of the glowing yellowish-green goop, a nude Mikoto and Shokuhou approached the stolen luggage. To reiterate, they were outside, on an open field at night.

However…

“Hm? That’s weird. This dress’s zipper won’t open.”

“Is this broken? The buttons are on so tight they won’t come undone.”

“Um,” said Patissiet apologetically.

Apparently she had something to tell them.

“That might be the equipment compatibility lock. I think I mentioned it, but what weapons and armor you can equip depends on your job and level. So Lady Misaka can only use equipment for a Warrior Woman and Lady Shokuhou can only use equipment for a Dancer. That’s how things work in Celesaqphere.”

“…” “…”

So they were stuck.

The only compatible clothing for Misaka Mikoto was a lightning-blue bikini armor that would provide little to no actual protection.

“Huh, am I imagining things? Ow, ow, ow, my head. Why do I feel like I’ve worn one of these ''a long time ago''?”

The only option for Shokuhou Misaki was a black and yellow honeybee dancer’s outfit.

“H-how humiliating… A bare midriff, a bikini, and a loincloth? Why do I have to wear this skimpy, jewel-encrusted see-through affair!?”

They heard applause.

It came from Patissiet the elf.

Her reaction was entirely innocent.

“Wow, you both look great!”

“Please stop! I don’t want a compliment for this!!”

Mikoto and Shokuhou both tearfully shouted back, but Patissiet only looked confused. Apparently this world’s aesthetic sense was very different from Earth’s. Was showing off more skin considered stylish here?

Also, Patissiet herself declined any new clothes. Even though her dress was in such poor condition. Mikoto initially thought the elf was again being reluctant for no good reason, but apparently not.

“The thing is…human clothing is really uncomfortable for me. It feels all itchy.”

“?”

The outfit was so embarrassing Mikoto wanted to die, but she wouldn’t call it uncomfortable. The armor (that only covered her chest) was even lined with silk. It was very much a rich person’s garment. In fact, it couldn’t have been her size, but without any need for sewing, it magically adjusted to fit her. So the itchiness must have been something only elves felt.

It turned out the nonhuman trafficker had been almost entirely reliant on her magic to fight. The only self-defense weapon they found was a 60cm Cedar Stick. Mikoto wished the woman had sprung for cypress instead. Then again, it had been inside her locked trunk, meaning she couldn’t have pulled it out right away if bandits attacked, so she clearly hadn’t trusted in it at all.

“You need to be careful around water. If you fall in a river, well, all rivers eventually lead to the ocean below, so it will sweep you away to a waterfall at the edge of the floating land.”

“Ugh.”

More death.

Water always presented the risk of drowning, but it was even more deadly here than on Earth.

“Also, some people will train by meditating under a waterfall, but I’ve heard of objects flowing downstream falling on them and splitting their heads open. It happens a lot, apparently. So water creatures aren’t the only danger. Got that!?”

They were preparing food while listening to the elf.

Bikini armor Mikoto grabbed one of the thick severed tentacles and dragged it over.

“We can cook this to make ourselves some grilled squid. It’s a valuable source of protein.”

“Are you kidding me!? You would fill your stomach with that lewd and toxic thing that has a clothes melting ability!?”

“What, I thought you loved natural ingredients with no artificial chemicals. And unlike land animals, we only have to cook it before eating. I know I’m trying it. But if you’d rather gather up some weeds for dinner, be my guest.”

There was no clear definition of a weed, but it generally referred to all fast-spreading plants that were no good as food, decoration, or animal feed.

The nicer ones were simply hard for your stomach and intestines to absorb, but there were also plenty of poisonous plants. And with a completely unknown plant in another world, it was anyone’s guess.

“W-wasn’t there a flock of sheep or goats over there?”

“I’m giving you 0 points for camping skills. It would take days to skin them, gut them, remove the blood, and cure them before they were ready to eat. And even with properly prepared meat, those have a stronger flavor than beef and pork which a lot of people don’t like, so there’s no way you could catch them and cook them tonight. But I won’t stop you if you think you can stand the bloody flavor and meat stench filling your mouth.”

Patissiet pointed elsewhere.

The creature skillfully napping on a thick tree branch with only two legs was a half-naked girl with giant bird wings. She looked more like a siren than an angel.

“Can’t you eat that?”

“Oh, um, we are admittedly fairly arrogant about how we draw the line between meats we are and aren’t willing to eat, but I know I couldn’t manage that one.”

Mikoto wanted to focus on the giant squid. She didn’t know how it worked, but its goop hadn’t affected her hair or skin. In that sense, the kraken was the only food here they had proven didn’t harm the human body.

With a “crack!” of electricity, she ignited a pile of dried grass and cooked the giant tentacle over the fire. This wouldn’t cook the thick tentacle all the way through, but just taking bites off the surface would be enough to fill her stomach.

The elf began to panic.

She waved her little hands wildly.

“W-w-wait! I am a slave, so if it’s found out I let you do the cooking, I’ll have a back tooth pulled out with big pliers!”

“We won’t let that happen!! And wow is this world horrific!”

But if cooking for themselves had her reacting like this, she might just faint if they gave her some of the food.

And Mikoto already had an idea, so she switched her focus.

“Hey, exhausted Queen. I know you’re more worn out than either of us, so you need to eat something. This is probably the best part.”

“Ugh.”

“Snake, wasp, and scorpion venom are all protein-based, so heating them changes their structure, neutralizing them. That’s why you can eat some gross-looking delicacies without ending up in the hospital, right?”

“Yes, that is true.”

Dancer Shokuhou took the first bite.

And she chewed it.

“Hmm. Not bad. In fact, it reminds me a lot of ordinary grilled squid, but it could use some seasoning. It’s a little sweet, but it’s mostly just bland and flavorless. With some soy sauce and butter, it would taste just like it came from a festival stand.”

“Hm? Why do you know what festival grilled squid tastes like? You’ve never eaten proper ramen.”

“It’s a memory I made with a certain boy☆”

“…And now it’s been a bit after you ate it and you haven’t started foaming at the mouth and you haven’t collapsed, so I’d say it isn’t poisonous. I’m glad it doesn’t have a powerful toxin that heating won’t neutralize, like the scrawled filefish which is fifty times stronger than the pufferfish or the Irukandji jellyfish which is a hundred times more dangerous than a cobra. Okay, Patissiet, Shokuhou bought my terrible reasoning and tested it for us, so now we know this giant squid is safe to eat. Just take a big bite out of this side she didn’t touch♪”

“Hey!!” shouted the tearful #5, but it was too late.

Mikoto also bit into the same tentacle.

Shokuhou was right that it could use seasoning. It wasn’t particularly bad tasting, but eating it was a challenge, like chewing on flavorless gum and forcing it down your throat. But this was still better than coming down with hunger knock and being unable to get back up after sitting down.

“This is so good. Munch, munch. I’ve never tasted anything so good.”

The elf had a big smile on her face. Like a child eating her birthday cake.

The compliment didn’t please Mikoto very much.

Patissiet was guileless, but she still said it tasted good. Mikoto was now worried what kind of food she had been forced to eat before being rescued.

And now that they were having a sleepover, this topic was bound to come up eventually.

“Tell me about your…Academy City, was it? I want to know all about your home.”

“Hmm.”

There were plenty of stories to tell, but their world wasn’t exactly a paradise either. And would the elf really enjoy any of those stories?

While warming themselves by the fire and looking into the sky, Mikoto noticed the moon and countless stars there.

Some sections of the sky were missing any stars, so that had to be where a large floating land was passing by overhead. Still, there were a lot of stars.

And she realized something.

“The constellations are completely different. This really isn’t Earth, is it? It’s another world entirely where a compass might not even point north.”

“I’m more worried about what we’re going to do now,” said Shokuhou. “We don’t have a tent or blankets.”

“It looks like tonight won’t be as cold as I had feared, so you shouldn’t catch a cold,” said Patissiet. “You can always gather up dresses from the trunk to use as a pillow.”

A cold.

Hopefully that didn’t refer to some local disease unique to this world. The thought of them bringing an infectious disease to this world was also extremely unpleasant.

That would be especially bad if this was a perfect fantasy world where people didn’t even get cavities, but they had to get home as soon as possible. And if that wasn’t going to happen on its own, they had to get moving. They would have to ignore some of the risks for now.

Besides, any pathogens they were carrying would be a greater risk if they died and left their corpses here.

“So itchy…” said a nearby voice.

While balling up a dress into a pillow, Patissiet openly complained for the first time.

Come to think of it, she found human clothing uncomfortable, didn’t she?