Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume3 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 18===

They found a strange place inside.

The mountain of trash decorated with hardened snow was like a giant ant colony on the inside. Several metal containers had been buried to create some open space and holes had been opened between adjacent containers. They could not tell how big the entire place was, but it was like a metal labyrinth.

If the Coin of Nicholas was correct, the special screwdriver needed to open the hard drive would be found in here. But that initial guiding noise was all they received. Evidently, it would not grant a wish for a billion yen every five minutes forever.

But Hamazura Shiage did learn something while looking around.

“This place feels like a laboratory.”

“Maybe for mechanical engineering.”

They had found no sign of the trash collectors, but this was an unexpected discovery. Further investigation found a section lined with computers larger than refrigerators.

It was concerning not to know what the lab was for, but that was not their main issue. A specialized tool set was spread out on a table. In a very unorganized way.

“Aneri!”

The support AI gave a long buzz. Not the two short buzzes for a no.

He touched the metal door to discharge any static electricity before grabbing the screwdriver. However the tool was something like a gas station pump. The screwdriver portion was smaller than one for glasses, but the rest was bulkier than a large handgun and had a thick tube for electricity or air attached. The head did not turn when he pulled the thick trigger. If he had not been holding the grip, he would not have even noticed it was vibrating. But it might have made a ton of bubbles if he stuck it in a tank of water.

He cautiously pressed it against the hard drive’s screw and pulled the trigger again.

And…

“It’s turning. We can open it with this!”

The screw may have been so small that turning it normally would break the head off. Or maybe it was made so it would only open with a specific amplitude pattern.

Either way, the card-sized plastic cover slid open.

There was a delicate-looking circuit board inside. He could not afford to destroy the data on there. He was afraid to even touch it, but there was a small switch at one corner.

He was scared.

Very scared, but he still reached out his finger while looking away.

He heard a quiet click.

That was all. He attached the hard drive to his phone with a cable and then took two steps back. He made sure to look away from the exposed circuit board whenever he exhaled.

“Something is scrolling on your phone’s screen,” said the track suit girl. “It’s started, Hamazura.”

An estimated completion time was given, but it was fluctuating too much to be useful.

They both sat down on a bench.

They waited.

“Hee hee.”

She laughed and leaned against him from the side.

“What is it?”

“It feels like forever since we’ve been able to take our time like this.”

It was Christmas night, so whether they were busy or taking their time, it was wrong to be decrypting data inside a lab hidden in a pile of trash.

Nevertheless, he felt his own shoulders relaxing too.

Time passed without incident.

She rested her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes. Of course, she leaned so limply against him because she was sick, not because she was relaxed. He could not even imagine how much damage was being done inside her body right now. But she still seemed to be using this peaceful time to calm her overstimulated nerves.

As if to say this was more effective than any medicine.

He reached into his pants pocket while trying not to move his shoulder.

The gold coin he pulled out was shining bright. It did not have even a pizza slice missing.

It had finished charging.

“Hey, Hamazura. Will we know what that ''Academy City’s Greatest Taboo'' thing is once that’s decrypted?”

“Hopefully.”

They had no guarantee. And even if it did, the answer might not be what they were hoping for. After all, this was the dark side. It was best to assume their naïve hopes would be shattered before their eyes.

Then he heard a noise from outside the room.

The track suit girl pressed against him.

“Hamazura.”

“It’s going to take a while longer.” He gulped while listening to the scratching sound of the hard drive operating. “I don’t know who that is, but we need to draw their attention away from this room. The hard drive’s light is still flashing, so we can’t pull the cable out yet.”

His phone and the hard drive were both small, but he could not shove them in his pocket. The hard drive still had its plastic cover removed, exposing its circuit board. If rubbing against the cloth of his pocket or a bag caused some static, all the data could be lost.

The room was flooded with stuff, but surprisingly little that would function as a weapon. The tools were all as delicate as glasses maintenance tools.

Hamazura grabbed a folding chair in both hands and tiptoed over toward the room’s exit.

He poked just his head out to take a peek.

And his head was lopped off as casually as someone removing a radish’s leaves.

Or it would have been if nothing else had happened.

“Hamazura!!”

Takitsubo immediately yanked on his hand, dragging him back into the room with her full body weight. Thanks to that, a thick machete of an unknown material found only air.

A girl with crimson hair peered inside with a mechanical face.

He recognized her and that racing swimsuit colored with the toxic orange and black of an insect.

“The android!? Then…this isn’t just any harmful. Does this lab belong to that Kihara guy that Benizome was so scared of!?”

“You are the intruders, so why act like the world revolves around you? Did you think you were simply exploring an abandoned building?”

He heard a metallic creaking.

Her weapon must have been ridiculously heavy because the metal container seemed to bend with every barefoot step she took. Their relative positions were a problem. The room full of computers had only the one exit, so he and Takitsubo could not escape if the android stepped inside. That itself was a problem, but the delicate decryption work was also underway. If the android went on a rampage here, she could destroy the phone or exposed hard drive and they would lose their only clue toward ''Academy City’s Greatest Taboo.''

But just before she took that step, the android’s eyes turned to the side.

A casual swing of the ultraheavy machete sliced a split-tipped bamboo sword in two.

The sudden intruder did not seem to care.

“Ohhhhh!!”

Curly silver hair fluttered and air filled the large sleeves of a hakama. Vivana Oniguma switched to a different torture tool as she charged toward the android.

She forcefully grabbed the android’s entire face with her palm.

No…

“Japanese torture developed in a unique direction.”

She forcibly shoved something into the android’s mouth even though it burnt her hand.

“I think this country might be the only one that used burning incense or pine leaves to send smoke into someone’s eyes and nose. Of course, this was used to punish runaway sex workers, so the point was to not leave any marks on the body they needed for their trade. ''But isn’t this especially effective against a delicate machine like you''?”

That was as far as she got.

The hakama girl was hit by a ball of fire so massive it enveloped the android’s own body. It hit Vivana like a solid wall of heat, sending her soaring through the air.

“––––!?”

Hamazura let out a meaningless cry.

Was that a flamethrower? No, she may have used ''some kind of pyrokinetic power''.

However.

“…?”

Something was wrong with the android whose crimson hair swayed behind her. Her head creaked unusually loudly and she did not turn toward Hamazura and Takitsubo despite having eliminated the only obstacle standing between them.

The special smoke may have caused some kind of malfunction after getting inside her machinery.

A dark liquid dripped from her eyes and nose while she tilted her head. Although the head tilt may not have been intentional this time.

Trembling fingers reached for the bottle on her thigh, but she never got it to her lips. The clear bottle slipped from her fingers first.

She tilted her head more intentionally and stars danced in her eyes.

“Sen…sei.”

A dull thud followed.

She must have prioritized her own malfunction over dealing with the intruders. She had withdrawn to avoid a stalemate.

Hamazura and Takitsubo did not dare move for a while, but…

“Ugh.”

The groaning from outside the room brought them back to their senses. They would be dead now if not for her interference.

“Hey, are you okay!?”

He rushed out into the corridor to find the hakama girl collapsed on the floor. He could no longer tell where her clothing ended and her skin began. One of the horns made by hardening her bangs was missing. It took a lot of work to not grimace at the sight.

“Ha…ha ha. This is the dark side. You don’t have to worry about some stranger like me.”

“Why did you do that for us?”

“I already screwed up before coming here…so I wouldn’t have lasted long anyway. Yeah, I really shouldn’t have tried to look so cool for that kid.”

She was barely breathing.

She had to be aware of her own state.

“But still…” She managed to smile. “I wish I could have learned what that ''Academy City’s Greatest Taboo'' thing is.”

She was looking up toward Hamazura and Takitsubo, but she may not have been able to see them anymore. She sounded more like she was talking to herself.

“No, that’s not it.”

“…”

“If this is the end, then what I really wanted was to hear someone say thank you…”

“Shut up.” Hamazura shook his head and pulled the coin from his pants pocket. “Shut the hell up. I’ll fix this. I’ll fix this right now! Listen up, you goddamn coin!! Heal all of her injuries right this instant, Coin of Nicholas!!”

The sparkle around the outside edge vanished.

But nothing happened. The coin was not all powerful. It could open the vault, but you still gained nothing if the vault was empty. It could not grant the impossible.

“I…already tried that. Sorry for making you waste your charge. Ta ha ha.”

Yes, Vivana had one of the coins too. And after trying it with hers, she must have learned that her wounds were past the point of being healed.

But she had still come all this way to protect someone other than herself.

“You can have those.” She pointed at two cloth wrappers sitting on the floor. “They contain…well, a bunch of torture products and shunga books that would probably embarrass most people…but the moxibustion stuff is in there too. You’re supposed to have special qualifications for that, but let’s not get picky about that on the dark side. Check the diagrams in the old book I have and anyone can do the basics.”

She had chosen to use her final moments to deliver this to them.

Hamazura Shiage hung his head and clenched his teeth.

“Thank—!!”

He stopped speaking.

Because when he looked up, he found Vivana Oniguma’s eyes were closed and she had stopped breathing.

What she really wanted was to hear someone say thank you?

No, she had been satisfied once the delivery had been made. She had never wanted anything in return. Seeing the recipient was happy had been all she needed.

Had she really been a part of the dark side?

What had gone wrong to send her tumbling down that slope? Why hadn’t this city given her a second chance?

Why?

Was running away really the right thing to do?

A quiet beeping came from his phone on the table.

“Hamazura.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The phone was back in the room.

“I know, goddammit!!”

That card-sized hard drive had been hidden in a tent belonging to Perfect Film, who had stayed in his hideout instead of running away. The analysis of its contents was complete. Hamazura knew hopes meant nothing, but he still hoped that there would be something useful on there.

It was time.

They were finally approaching ''Academy City’s Greatest Taboo''.