Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume7 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 1===

The holiday didn’t mean Accelerator could take the entire day off.

The statistics were clear: trouble and accidents tended to happen precisely on the days people least wanted them to happen on.

“A consulate in District 12?”

“Let’s see…it’s technically called the Bridge Builders Cabal Academy City Consulate.”

“…”

“Yes, sorry, I know that’s weird! I wasn’t checking thoroughly enough on the diplomatic side of things.”

The response came from Qliphah Puzzle 545 who floated near the ceiling. That artificial demon was acting as the eyes and ears of the board chairman now that he could no longer leave his cell.

A consulate was an extraterritorial area in which Academy City had no real authority.

What is the difference between an embassy and a consulate, you ask?

The biggest difference is that a consulate lacks the authority to represent its country in negotiations with the resident country’s government. A consulate is only meant to provide a link between its home country and that country’s citizens living in the resident country, while an embassy is tasked with battling the resident country at the negotiating table.

That might make a consulate sound like less of a threat than if a country suddenly built an embassy in your country.

But that was inaccurate.

To have a country’s consulate in your country meant it was normal to have that country’s people in your country. That meant Alice’s cabal had gained more than just the consulate’s territory. ''They had created circumstances where magicians could walk freely throughout Academy City.

Something quietly struck the wall.

The walls and ceiling were covered with printed documents. They were all attached directly to the wall with colorful pins and those pins were connected with a spiderweb of colorful strings.

Alice, Academy City’s dark side, the Bridge Builders Cabal, the Shibuya riot outside the city.

Whether or not these things were actually connected was a matter to consider at a later stage.

He only needed to lay out all the information first and visualize all the connections with strings later.

His only information on Alice came from Qliphah Puzzle 545’s reports, but that only made the girl more concerning because it meant someone was strutting through Academy City without any of the city’s security capturing her.

Anna Sprengel had bloodily destroyed the dark side on December 25 and Alice Anotherbible had suddenly appeared on the 29th.

“Qliphah Puzzle 545.”

“Y-yes!?”

“How did you get tangled up in the string? To be blunt, you’re in the way.”

“Heh heh heh heh. Th-the more I try to avoid them, the more tangled I get. You can think of me like the bookish girl who’s terrible at dodgeball.”

Qliphah Puzzle 545 was somewhat tied up in a corner of the ceiling that was quickly becoming her standard spot.

“Umm, I didn’t mind so much when it was just my wings and legs tied up so tight, but now it’s getting to my crotch, which is a lot more- ohh!?”

She seemed to like attention of any sort, so she looked kind of happy about this. Which was why Accelerator chose to ignore the demon who had to be devastatingly bad at jump rope.

Yes.

Accelerator was currently lying on a bed much too nice for a prison cell. There could only be one reason he was back here.

The meeting with his guests had been called off.

Because Alice Anotherbible’s cabal had been detected inside Academy City.

Last Order had not looked disappointed on the other side of the thick glass when he had had to call it off. She had smiled as she watched the board chairman go.

He needed to keep in mind that he was the one who had made her force that smile.

“U-u-umm?”

“What now?”
“Well, you see. Eh heh heh. If you happen to be angry, I would actually find it something of a relief if you would hit me a few times. Just go all out with it.”

Accelerator clicked his tongue.

He knew that wouldn’t solve anything. The artificial demon tangled up in colorful string had only relayed the necessary information to him. He much preferred that to her being too afraid to pass on some important information.

Alice was here.

And several more of those monsters known as Transcendents were with her.

(If only we had a solid definition of this Transcendent term everyone’s started using like it didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Was it in Shibuya on the 31st when that third-rate got himself tangled up in this mess?)

With several of those mysterious Transcendents detected in Academy City, there was a risk of the people living their ordinary lives here encountering them. It could happen to Last Order, to Yomikawa, to Yoshikawa, or to anyone else.

Accelerator wasn’t sitting around doing nothing. He had a few tricks up his sleeve beyond the standard Anti-Skill and Judgment. For example, he had direct fighters like Qliphah Puzzle 545, Fuse Kazakiri, and Misaka Worst.

But not even all that was a guarantee.

The #1 knew all too well that there was no such thing as an absolute assurance of safety.

He couldn’t stop whatever happened outside.

Outside and inside this cell were two different worlds.

And once something happened, he could not protect Last Order. If he wanted to protect her from harm, he had to act before anything happened.

A disturbing mass throbbed at the center of his chest.

He felt like he had a giant egg there in place of a heart.

“…”

There was a reason to act.

But if he left the prison for that reason, he would be causing everything to collapse.

He might feel good about it at first, but the monstrous whispers of reality told him he would only be drowning the world in an ocean of blood if he took that path.

“Qliphah Puzzle 545.”

“Y-yes!? D-d-d-do you need something!?”

Accelerator sighed on the bed while the demon responded more nervously than necessary up in the corner of the ceiling.

“I’m not mad, so lend me a hand. Show me those newspapers you’re wearing.”

“Oh, you mean my dress? Hmm, but I’m not sure what article could tell you more than all these documents covering the walls.”

“It’s not for that,” he replied, feeling annoyed.

For one thing, Qliphah Puzzle 545’s dress was not a collection of actual newspaper articles. It transformed depending on who was reading it, creating articles that pointed out that person’s sins and shames.

In other words…

“Show me my darkness.”

“Um, okay!!”

The demon forced her tangled body to move, placing her hands behind her head.

She showed off her body.

The pattern on her dress writhed. The shocking headlines of those English-language newspapers tore into Accelerator’s old wounds.

Each individual article didn’t matter much.

But altogether, they felt like a great monster.

Yes, there was a monster here.

Everyone had a monster inside them.

It was a fearsome thing that would drag you down the path to death and ruin if you let it, but it could provide great power if you learned to control it.

Accelerator knew that violence came in many different forms.

And he knew there were also nonviolent ways of solving problems.

(Don’t let it take over.)

He felt impatience, tension, anger…and the fear of losing someone close to him.

He took a deep breath and faced his monster.

(I created this monster myself, so I must be able to control it myself.)

If he could start by looking to the destination he needed to reach, then he would reach that goal no matter how much he strayed on the way. He focused on his own immaturity while moving his fingers faster than anyone.

(I don’t know who these people are, but they’ve set up a backdoor into Academy City. The question is what they hope to use it for. A backdoor is a means to an end, not the end itself.)

He lay on the bed, moving various things with his fingers without even glancing in their direction.

The bedside printer spat out paper, he cut those apart with scissors, he tossed the cutouts with his fingers, and he threw a pin to skewer the floating paper. And if necessary, he would swing weightless string like a whip to send it slicing through the air so it could add more color to the display.

He continued organizing his information in a fashion that would be more gruesome than execution by firing squad if someone happened to be standing by the wall.

“You said it was a consulate, right? Then it must belong to some country or another.”

“Yes. Th-they apparently bought a Central American country smaller than a soccer field to gain the qualifications and rights of a country. Eh heh heh. That’s what let them officially use the position of a diplomat or consulate to create an enclave in Academy City.”

“Who the hell gave them permission to do that?”

“Eek!! Diplomacy is handled more by the Japanese government than Academy City, so it was probably one of their bureaucrats. The cabal took advantage of a blind spot we created by focusing so much on what was happening inside the city!!”

A new red pin thwacked into the wall.

It pierced through a point on a map of District 12 floating in the air.

“Still, it bothers me that something so extreme managed to slip by us.”

“No, no!! I assure you this wasn’t anyone’s fault!”

The demon girl frantically shook her head.

She seemed to think she would be left behind if she let the #1’s thoughts turn too far inward. She was in a puppy mode where she craved attention, even if it came in the form of a light slap.

“Things have gotten a lot more complicated after the Crowley’s Hazards because a bunch of artificial islands and ship-towed floats were set up as bases for reconstruction efforts, but now some of them have started declaring independence. Countries are joining together and splitting apart as much as a girl who seems to have a new boyfriend every week, so it can be hard to notice when a country’s system or true ruler has been swapped out. And this is the same area where R&C Occultics tried to set up a massive server center to abuse a legal loophole to gather personal information on people around the globe.”

“R&C…”

“I imagine that connection is how Alice’s group learned about it in the first place.”

A consulate.

Needless to say, that was a special site protected by international law. The laws of the consulate’s country were prioritized over the ordinary laws, so in the most extreme example, a murder case that happened on a consulate’s grounds could be tried in a foreign country’s courts.

And now a magic side consulate had been built inside science’s headquarters.

Nothing could be more dangerous.

They had an enclave.

Or worse, they had a foothold for an invasion. It may have been more like an airfield or bridgehead. The word “consulate” might sound peaceful, but the threat here was closer to the Cuban Missile Crisis when the former Soviet Union attempted to deploy nuclear missiles right at Washington’s throat. Except this time, the deployment had already happened instead of being discovered in advance.

“…”

Accelerator rested back in the large bed and stared up at the ceiling in thought.

He had built a bizarre boxy planetarium made of articles and colorful string. What big picture could he find here?

Could he not see the enemy’s goal because he lacked sufficient information?

Or was he misreading the inciting factor for the attack, such as personal interest, love or hate, sheer coincidence, or simple enjoyment?

The Bridge Builders Cabal had a consulate. That never would have been allowed if they had been honest on their paperwork. Alice and her cabal’s Transcendents must have used some clever trick to gain approval for the consulate. And that approval had come from Japan, not Academy City.

That deception was meant to obtain something here in Academy City.

This was enough to conclude they had some kind of attack planned. Accelerator had already confirmed Anna and Alice were the external factor that had agitated Academy City’s dark side. And as the board chairman, Academy City’s #1 could send the city’s official defenses against them without needing to break out of prison himself. However…

“''I wouldn’t do that if I were you.''”

Accelerator clicked his tongue.

That wasn’t Qliphah Puzzle 545. She remained tangled up in a corner of the ceiling, cowering like a puppy in the rain.

The voice came from the large TV in the wall.

These days, it was unusual for a TV to not be connected to the internet. Of course, it was even more unusual for a prison cell to have a TV at all.

The TV displayed short red hair and white skin.

The strong-willed girl was wearing a fluffy white miniskirt dress.

She was Magician Dion Fortune. Except she technically wasn’t human since she was a magical device created based on that magician who belonged to the Golden cabal. And now she led the Anglican Church as their new Archbishop to fill the vacancy there.

She smiled as a black box twirled with its corner balanced upon her extended finger.

Since she wasn’t human, her thoughts lacked the uncertainty of wishing things would turn out one way or hoping they wouldn’t turn out another way. She cut so directly and accurately to the truth it could seem cruel.

Accelerator didn’t get up from the bed as he flicked two pins into the wall.

He added articles for the Anglican Church and Dion Fortune. Where the string would connect those articles would be determined by the coming conversation.

The magic side leader grinned as she got to it.

“I don’t care what sort of monster you were to begin with. But the Accelerator I’m talking to now is also the board chairman who controls Academy City as a whole, correct? Then don’t lose your cool so easily. You’re only allowed to do that when you’re wielding personal power. The leader of an organization served by lots of people doesn’t have that luxury.”

Accelerator clicked his tongue.

Dion Fortune looked pleased at earning that reaction. She ignored Qliphah Puzzle 545’s flustered stammering near the ceiling and kept going.

“It won’t do you any good to single out and deport the individual Transcendents when you don’t know their names or nationalities. But you should also assume you can’t just shut down the consulate itself,” she said to drive that point home. “You ''could'' do that, but as soon as you did, the 190+ other countries and territories out there would see Academy City as an ''untrustworthy and uncontrollable group'' that shuts down consulates and embassies authorized by the Japanese government the instant they become inconvenient. And once no one trusts any of your promises, diplomacy becomes all but impossible. You might be the headquarters of the science side, but you aren’t designed to survive in complete isolation.”

“…”

“It’s called the Condroniard Republic. The Central American country smaller than a soccer field is very real. As sketchy as it sounds, Alice really did buy an entire country that belongs to the UN and can make use of international law. So if your approach to this consulate doesn’t conform to the relevant laws and treaties, Academy City will be seen as ''a children’s playground'' that doesn’t know the first thing about diplomacy. Once that happens, the war between magic and science will be the least of your worries. Those of us on the magic side will be able to sit back and watch as the science side disintegrates all on its own.”

“Isn’t that exactly what outsiders like you want?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Dion Fortune made no attempt to hide her interests here.

And with that said…

“But that result alone isn’t good enough. It matters a lot ''who is responsible'' for magic’s victory over science. The Anglican Church doesn’t want Alice’s cabal to be the ones responsible for destroying the science side while leaving the magic side untouched. That would lead to a new magic side that throws out the current main powers of the Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Russian Orthodox and places the Transcendents of the Bridge Builders Cabal at the top.”

Accelerator could see hints of that being the goal here.

But he threw out that obvious line of reasoning.

“I saw bits of pieces of what Alice did on December 29.”

“Oh? Picking up a new interest in spying to complete your role as faceless dictator? You’re sounding more and more like that pervert Aleister all the time.”

“And based on those observations, this Alice Anotherbible doesn’t seem like the type to jump at bait as simple as the conflict between the science and magic sides or on ruling the magic side herself. What do you say?”

“I haven’t seen her myself, so I wouldn’t know.” Dion Fortune shrugged on the TV. “But Necessarius’s horoscope profile says she’s true to her desires and utterly devoid of patience. Based on that, my guess is she would take anything she can get her hands on, but she wouldn’t be working on multiple tasks at once. To her, a piece of candy and a million yen are the same. So whether or not she would be interested in those goals, it definitely doesn’t sound like her to set a plan in motion and wait for it to bear fruit.”

“…”

“On the other hand, this consulate belongs to the cabal as a whole. Tyrant Alice may be their leader, but it’s still an organization, not just one person.”

“Are you suggesting Alice’s intentions as an individual and the cabal’s objective as a whole are different?”

“It’s probably more accurate to say the rest of the cabal is trying to pull something off without Alice noticing. Think of it like the US president and the lawless CIA, an international corporation’s CEO and a sports team trying to hide how deep in the red it is, or the Russian Orthodox’s pure Patriarch and their perverted torture-loving monster. Really, I expect most organizations have a similar dynamic going on. It’s unusual for the intentions at the very top to work their way down to the very bottom.”

Academy City and the dark side was another example.

The new board chairman had taken action to put a stop to that, but he couldn’t say the process had been bloodless.

“So be careful and watch how this plays out. Attempting a careless confrontation or expulsion will only widen the wound for Academy City.”

The Anglicans had their own interests in all this.

Very few people would reach out a helping hand for nothing at all in return.

And some piece of those interests could be gleaned from the following statement.

“Alice is indeed an extraordinary tyrant, but you will be caught unawares if you focus on her alone. They tend to be overshadowed by Alice’s presence, but keep in mind that ''each and every one of the Transcendents waiting in the wings is an infuriatingly brilliant magician.''”