Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume12 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

This was a perfectly ordinary high school in District 7.

Or it should have been.

Every other school had already had their opening ceremony, but not this one.

A lot of people were coming and going.

The adults stood out most since this was a school.



“The florist just arrived.”

“I know, but what about the salt!? What idiot forgot to order it!?”

“The discount store that sells just about anything doesn’t open until 10.”

“Ordering it online won’t arrive in time for the ceremony. Run to the convenience store!”



Employees of various businesses were running here and there: clothes rentals, large stage lighting and sound equipment, and a caterer providing snacks and drinks for nutrition and to help people rest. The place had the feel of backstage during some kind of event. Instead of an announcer, the host was a fairly unsuccessful comedian holding a mic. He could have just worn a short-range mic on his ear, but he had insisted on a large one in a microphone stand. That was likely his personal preference rather than having anything to do with the ceremony.

Aogami Pierce sighed softly in a brand new classroom.

“Why do those people look like they put on shows in the shopping district?”

“Probably because they do. They’re primarily entertainers, but they study Buddhist temple stuff in college. So maybe this counts as practice for them?”

Fukiyose Seiri had all the information.

Come to think of it, didn’t she usually volunteer for the committees that ran school events?

Aogami Pierce took a look around the gloomy classroom.

“Did you see those weird people hanging around the front gate? They all had smartphones, so do reporters these days not lug around heavy cameras?”

“That’s why the school opened up the back entrance for teachers. The hearse, which is kept chilly inside with dry ice, should be here soon.”

Was that why the curtains were shut first thing in the morning? Carelessly approaching a window would probably end up with a toy-like drone approaching to get some footage.

The TV stations had reporters on the scene too.

They couldn’t just ignore it. As members of the class in question, it made them nervous.

They didn’t know what exactly had happened, but they could tell it was a big deal.

Something big had happened over winter break.

“If only they would send in that sexy female reporter in a miniskirt suit.”

“Honestly. This really isn’t a job for her. We’re not talking about a culinary report discussing the soul food of regions you’ve never even heard of. I did see something like the ghost of parents day wandering around, though.”

“You mean the Old Bavarian Cream Lady of the Educational World? Wow, Kami-yan’s getting the early morning human-interest story treatment.”

“Better than having a self-styled spiritualist show up and chant Buddhist incantations at him, right? Next thing you know, they’d be saying the student who died at our school was a fallen warrior and there was a grave here in ancient times or something. Thank goodness this is Academy City.”

No matter how depressed the mood, people couldn’t help but talk when enough of them had gathered. Maybe that was just human nature.

No.

Maybe the pressure of silence scared them more.

So they were subconsciously avoiding it.

Someone was dead, but the teachers hadn’t explained anything.

And a ton of reporters were here.

It was all too concerning to let it pass in silence. This naturally led to the spread of rumors. Based on absolutely nothing, of course.

“Signs of foul play and mysterious circumstances, huh?”

“Sounds like Academy City to me,” was all Fukiyose said.

As plausible as it sounded, they had no actual evidence.

It was an empty conversation. If they knew the truth, they probably couldn’t have said anything at all.

Aogami Pierce sighed again.

“I heard we’d be released by midday.”

“The other classes will be. We’re riding a bus to the crematorium, so it’s a full day for us.”

“What about lunch? I’m a little worried about that. I was so busy this morning I missed breakfast.”

“Were you too busy to see the message sent to the entire class? It said to bring your own lunch today.”

The day’s schedule had been changed last second for this, but today was only meant to be the opening ceremony. The teachers apparently didn’t think this would affect their classes. Which made the students wonder what the point of that opening ceremony even was. Didn’t that just mean they would have been wasting a day of their winter break?

A look of belated realization came over Aogami Pierce.

“Hm? Hold on. You mean I can’t use the cafeteria or school store?”

“I imagine you would only find an empty and lonely room. The opening ceremony was meant to end at midday and there were no club activities scheduled. They wouldn’t have any ingredients for lunch ready.”

“I-I-I-I- wait just a bit, I’ve gotta run to the convenience store!!”

“You can try if you want, but the closest one will probably be full of the less motivated reporters chatting in the eat-in section. Are you sure you want to go there? Your face will be on the cover of the tabloids as the sorrow-stricken classmate.”

“Hey, wait, ah!! Sensei’s here. The event’s already starting!”

Their free time had ended.

While the classmates chatted, the sliding door by the blackboard opened and Tsukuyomi Komoe, their homeroom teacher, walked in. At 135cm, she was a very compact teacher and she had chosen thick felt clothing to keep warm in the cold. If not for the veil over her head, it could have looked like a private elementary school uniform.

She spoke with just her head poking up above the lectern.

Even for that, she was probably on her tiptoes.

“Himegami-chan, Fukiyose-chan, and the rest of you. Before the classes head to the auditorium one at a time, I want to take roll, so to your seats. The first years go first, so we don’t have much time.”

“Why send us there class by class?”

“Someone messed up designing the auditorium, so its entrance is too narrow. If everyone tried to enter at once, I think we would get stuck,” explained Fukiyose, sounding exasperated.

A gym teacher called to them from outside. The busty one who always wore a track suit.

The students filed out into the hallway.

This was the first day of their third term, but there was no opening ceremony.



Today was a special day.

It was Kamijou Touma’s funeral.