Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter3 (section)

===Part 1===

Dun, dun, dun, duuun!! Welcome to the Giant Croc Hell Dungeon, a life-size escape game!!!

Can you solve all the puzzles in the sunken underground mall of terror and escape back to the surface!?



“In – the – first – place!”

The mood was ruined in record time.

Frenda Seivelun was submerged up to her hips while wearing a fairly revealing swimsuit and another blonde girl was floating in a plastic inner tube small enough to be blown up by mouth. The 7-year-old who adored that inner tube was Frenda’s sister. But since almost all Academy City students lived in school dorms, it wasn’t unusual for family members to live apart.

It was July 14 at 2 PM.

The younger sister happily slapped her hands against the water below the cold fluorescent lighting. As her sister, Frenda was glad she had gotten over her summer cold.

The 7-year-old’s classes had ended after 4th period today, so she had gone here for the afternoon. But it was a mystery why her older sister, whose address and occupation were both unknown, could join her to play at this time of day.

“Academy City is such a strange place. How can they turn an entire underground labyrinth into a pool?”

“In the end, it’s a serious thing. Some kind of disaster response training.”

It was a summer urban flooding response program. They were running a largescale stress test in case a flash flood happened to fill an underground mall, but for most of the students, it might as well have been a temporary pool. And from elementary school to college, students could always get excited about playing in the water. Especially during the summer.

The event also provided a variety of business opportunities. The tablet in Frenda’s hand was one example. By viewing the area around them through its camera, it would augment the scene and even provide quiz-style codes and hints to search out and find.

Bikini Frenda waded through the hip-height water.

“Oh, this code is about cutting the right wire. Hey. In the end, what do you get when you mix yellow and blue?”

“Green!”

(Wait? In the end, is this using the primary colors of light or of color?)

It was a super simple question that even the 7-year-old could answer, but Frenda still suspected it was a trick question. Was that a sign of being a little ''too'' into the escape game?

One of AR’s best features was how different services could coexist at the same location. A service would use a location but not occupy it. The swimsuit couple that passed by while viewing a single screen appeared to be enjoying a mountain stream trivia quiz game. The four elementary-aged boys who each had a game system had formed an adventure party to explore the depths of an underwater cave.

Frenda rubbed her little sister’s head and operated the tablet with her other hand.

“Let’s see, we can’t get the thick rubber harpoon until we find a way to get past the electric lock on its box, so next we should solve the transformer puzzle and restore the power. No, in the end, that won’t work. It looks like we’d electrocute ourselves and get a game over if we electrified the flooded section while we’re in it. So do we have to put this entire area on hold? Is there some way to drain the water? Or is there a plastic diving suit that would protect us from the electric shock?”

“Frenda Onee-chan,” said the inner tube girl floating next to her.

At her age, she wanted to splash water on people and swim around when she was at a pool, so she wasn’t all that interested in solving some grand puzzle and cautiously advancing through a dungeon.

“In the first place, where did you buy that swimsuit?”

“What, has your mental carbonation run out already, princess? In the end, you were the one who said you wanted to do the limited-time croc escape.”

Frenda was mostly doing this for a practical test of her new summer eyeliner that claimed it didn’t run even when wet. But that had to remain a secret because the 7-year-old would have begged to wear the makeup too if Frenda mentioned it.

Anyway, about her swimsuit.

“Really, I just bought a random swimsuit at a District 15 shop. It’s called Shocking Beach and it’s the latest product from Mystery Beach. In the end, bikinis have replaced one pieces as the in thing this year. Specifically, the kind where you wear a normal bikini over a decorative thong.”

“Mhh.”

Frenda’s lazy answer didn’t receive quite the response she expected.

The younger sister was only 7, so she was wearing a cat one piece. It had been on sale for only a few thousand yen at an ordinary department store, but fashion wasn’t about the price tag. Frenda was confident in saying there was no better selection for that girl.

But the puffed-out cheeks suggested the princess was displeased.

The world’s cutest little sister frowned and explained.

“In the first place, I don’t like that your swimsuit has a brand and a name. It reminds me of those sneakers the boys show off because they’re supposed to make you run faster.”

“Eh? In the end, this is nothing like that. This isn’t a high-speed racing swimsuit, so it’s not going to change how fast I swim. In fact, with all the gaps in this, I couldn’t swim very well in it at all. The water’s current and viscosity would probably pull it right off of me. Being a grownup is such a pain. I envy you.”

“Hmph!! Now you’re looking down me. I want to wear a swimsuit like yours! In the first place, I want to grow up as soon as possible!!”

“Oh, shut up. In the end, you need to understand that I can’t wear a cat swimsuit like that anymore. It’s so childish I’d die.”

“Childish!? Die!! And I thought it was a little bit grownup because it isn’t a school swimsuit… In the first place, why do you get to be the grownup one!?”

“Because that’s how it works. In the end, you have the upper hand because you can wear that cat swimsuit and I can’t.”

“Hm?”

“And since you can wear either one, you should focus on the one only you’re allowed to wear. Kyah! Sister, you’re so dazzlingly beautiful and cute I can’t look right at you!”

“Ehh? You’ll make me blush if you keep singing my praises like that.”

The inner tube girl held her hands to her cheeks and wiggled. The way she smiled and did that reminded Frenda of a toy that did a wiggling dance in response to sound. Takitsubo had a habit of visiting a general store in rundown District 19 and her tastes were predictably unusual.

Complimenting while taking something away was one of Frenda’s standard big sister tactics for controlling little kids. If you complimented them and compromised, they would get a big head and, if you scolded them and confiscated something, they were guaranteed to rebel, so it could be tricky to get right. Those other tactics wouldn’t make her the perfect big sister who could get the girl to eat the green peas she so disliked.

“Hm. In the first place, I’m feeling kind of chilly.”

“In the end, what do you want to do? Head on up to the surface? It should be plenty hot there at 2 in the afternoon in the middle of the summer.”

They were playing an escape game where they moved around on their own, but you could also save your location to pause the game and leave. That way a larger demographic could enjoy the game with ease. The summer urban flooding response program lasted more than the one day.

“But you’re right. In the end, I could go for a drink and some sugar. If we get some hot sweets, would you prefer pancakes or some chocolate fondue?”

“Hmph! I don’t like it when you use grownup words like fondue.”

Frenda was pretty sure that was just French.

Then again, that cute but silly little sister would probably make a fuss about French things as a whole being too grownup.

“In the first place, I don’t like people who say sweets when they mean dessert.”

“Oh, that complaint I didn’t see coming.”

“Onee-chan…am I childish for wanting a hanetsuki taiyaki?”

“In the end, that makes you a classy grownup.”

That this was enough to cheer her up showed just how much of a child she was.

The thick waterproof shutters had been shut before flooding the underground mall, so all the shops there were closed. The vending machines had their power shut off to prevent any short circuiting, so they had to head all the way up to the surface to buy a drink. That may have been the one major flaw.

“Sigh. I can’t wait for summer break, but in the first place, I don’t want to do the homework or go exercise in the park. The one you do with the radio.”

“Fair warning: I won’t be helping you there, my sister. Don’t come crying to me when August 31 rolls around.”

“Mgyahhhhh!?”

After Frenda stuck a pin the map and finished saving their progress, she attached the tablet to the hook on the side of her bikini bottom and grabbed the decorative cord on the outer edge of her sister’s small inner tube. Dragging her back toward the stairs to the surface was enough for the little sister to shriek with delight.

(Hanano Choubi.)

Frenda thought to herself while towing her swimsuit sister in her inner tube.

The chill of the water dropped another level.

(In the end, I don’t even know if she’s still alive, but who knows what she’ll tell the enemy after they beat her up. Given the very real risk of a surprise attack, abandoning our hideout and escaping is worth considering.)

Worth considering

Did that mean there were other options to consider it against?

After the sisters left the water and climbed the stairs while holding hands, the little sister looked up and spoke to Frenda.

“Onee-chan, is something troubling you?”

“Hm? In the end, what makes you think that?”

“We got a rare chance to play in the water, but you don’t seem to be having much fun.”

Frenda thought about that for a bit.

That her wounds had healed was obvious enough in that swimsuit, but Hanano wasn’t so lucky. She was still suffering. Or in the worst case, she was already gone.

Also…

“In the end, here’s a question for you. Going to the pool is fun. I won’t deny that. But what if that means abandoning a friend to her problems?”

“Then you need to solve those problems so you can all go to the pool together!! Because you can’t enjoy the pool to its fullest otherwise!!”

“I see,” said Frenda before falling silent again.

She thought while holding the hand of her sister, who refused to remove the inner tube around her hips even after leaving the water.

“I went as far as buying the latest swimsuit, but I’m still too preoccupied to have fun. In the end, that must mean I already consider that newbie a friend.”

Frenda Seivelun could make friends with anyone, but she knew it was difficult for any one person people to stand out above the rest. In that sense, her emotions were thin and dry.

That meant something else about this was bothering her.

She considered that while approaching the bright exit with her sister.

(For one, her puppyish behavior doesn’t really fit in the dark side. In the end, does she feel more like a little sister than a colleague?)