Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 16===

When Kamijou heard fierce blows rattling the metal shutter, he grabbed struggling Hanatsuyu Youen with his bloody hands and rolled behind a nearby indoor wheel loader. A simple high schooler didn’t know how to locate a professional sniper and the random ricochets were still a threat, but it had to be better than staying put.

Rakuoka Houfu vs. Tessou Tsuzuri.

Ordinarily, it was hard to imagine the skinny woman defeating the 3m mass of muscles, but surprisingly, neither side had emerged victorious yet.

She blocked his attacks. The battle remained even while heavy straining sounds filled the room.

(Damn, that Anti-Skill Negotiator woman is using ''something'' too. I guess celebrating this convenient interruption won’t be enough to survive!!)

There was no saving Rakuoka Houfu if he was sniped from the side while dealing with Tessou. He was an Anti-Skill officer turned criminal, but he had put himself in harm’s way to let them escape. Shirai and Alice were not here and Kamijou’s right hand could not negate bullets. That left him with only one person to rely on. He spoke to the girl in his arms.

He spoke to the little villain who he had not abandoned even while encountering new surprises at every turn.

“Youen.”

“Wh-what?”

“I want your help. How much of your strength as the Carrier do you have left? Can you call all those crickets in here!? C’mon, please! I’m begging you!!”

“S-stop grabbing me and using my given name like we’re friends! Unless I screwed up mixing a drug and erased my memories with some kind of gas, I’ve never met you before in my life!”

“Just! Do! It! Now!” He was shaking her back and forth by the collar. “You’re the only one I can rely on!! I don’t want that guy to die after he chose to fight for us and you can prevent it with your Carrier stuff. So please!! I’ll do anything, ''so please save us with some trick only you can pull off''!!!!!!”

“…”

For a while, she forgot to even blink as she tried to process what he had said.

She almost looked pleasantly surprised, like no ordinary person had ever come to her for help before.

“Ha.”

Finally, she broke out of her daze with a laugh. She pulled a bunch of industrial-strength drugs from her pocket, crushed them in her fist, and tossed the powdery result toward the garbage dumping pit. Was that the allergy medicine that caused drowsiness as a side effect? That likely reached Rakuoka Nodoka, knocking her out.

With a loud clink of glass on glass, she pulled several test tubes of colorful liquids from her white coat.

“You’re going to regret this.”

Was she summoning a swarm of crickets to act as an acoustic weapon, a swarm of hornets or spiders filled with deadly venom, or something so horrific a high schooler couldn’t even conceive of it?

With several dull sounds, she tore open the nearby pipe until white steam erupted from it. She may have wanted a secret ingredient for her test tubes, but the real surprise was how she tore the pipe open with her teeth.

“What? My teeth melted away during Handcuffs, so I replaced them with nonmetallic implants I made myself. It’s the same stuff they make airplane fuselages out of.”

Apparently she used more than just chemicals. And how had she managed to implant herself with that new equipment while restrained? He had been shot before it could happen, but if he had managed to tackle her and incapacitate her, would she have bitten into his chest or shoulder?

Also, what had his analysis of her abilities been again?

She was powerful. She used chemicals to control the urban pests and vermin to carry microbes or chemical weapons to her target. Once that process had begun, there was nothing you could do, but she lacked the immediacy of a handgun.

“Benizome-chan.”

That voice was the slightest bit faster.

Tessou Tsuzuri managed to speak while grappling with the mass of muscles.

“Your top priority is Hanatsuyu Youen, but if I can’t have her, no one can. If she is falling into another player’s hands, eliminate her.”

“Ah!? Youen!!”

Kamijou had to wonder what he hoped to do about the bullet that would soon be flying their way. He could barely even get up and Imagine Breaker wouldn’t work on it.

Nevertheless, he rushed out in front of her.

However, the flow of time felt distorted. His body moved so slowly and Youen felt terribly far away when she was right there next to him.

At the same time, a question occurred to him.

He knew why Anti-Skill Aggressor Rakuoka Houfu had come here, but why had he burst from underground to do so?

What possible reason was there for that?

The answer revealed itself.

A liquid erupted from underground.

The skin-colored syrup surrounded Hanatsuyu Youen and blocked the bullet as a thick liquid barrier.

Yes, skin.

That whitish cream color could have applied to so many other things, so why was that disturbing word the first thing that came to Kamijou Touma’s mind?

The answer was obvious.

It was so similar to the color of Hanatsuyu Youen’s skin while she stood there in a daze.

“Ka…?”

“Nee hee hee hee hee.”

After spiraling around the girl, the liquid swelled up in violation of gravity and finally formed a silhouette seemingly made of melted wax. Once the details formed, it looked exactly like Hanatsuyu Youen.

No, not quite.

''Another girl'' was toying with the crushed rifle bullet held between her little fingers.

“I dissolved myself into the sewers to bathe in all the city’s filth forevermore, but I just couldn’t do it. Humans are great at adapting to their environment, but the Japanese spirit isn’t made to eat curry rice three days straight. Hmm, maybe I should’ve gone to train in India, the mystical curry capital of the world, before melting my body.”

“Kaai!? Is that you, Kaai?”

“Youen, I was honestly sick of your creepy dependence on me. Doing our hair and clothes exactly the same just cause we’re twins is so boring, so I wanted the freedom to be on my own and do whatever I wanted. But then I realized the filthiest part of this city was always right there by my side! Hello, my bluebird!! Hello, my defilement!!!!!! I want to see something really nasty from you, ''the only scum so filthy that even I have to doff my cap to you.'' Do that and I’ll play with this enemy of yours☆”

Youen the Carrier hung her head.

And she smiled a little.

“Heh.”

The strained atmosphere here was packed hopelessly full of malice, so it was the polar opposite of a comfortable household. But the little villain knew it had always been that way with them.

She could never be a good person, but now that something crucial had been restored to her, she pulled out a new test tube and poured its contents onto the floor.

“Hm, hm, hm, hm.”

“Hm, hm, hm, hm.”

Both girls hummed while the one let her shape collapse and spiraled around the other. Kaai might have been called a water spirit if there was anything remotely pure about her. Together, the two wicked twins took the first step back into the city’s darkness.

“What do you think would make a good punishment? An indiscriminate slaughter?”

“What do you think would make a good punishment? An indiscriminate slaughter?”

The darkness really did suit them best.

So they used their forbidden techniques to clear their own way toward freedom.