Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter4 (section)

===Part 1===

July 21, 8 PM.

“Phew.”

A girl in a summer uniform and a large mask arrived in District 3. She was fortunate her usual makeup tools had survived the explosion. The mask covered most of her face’s identifiable features, but it could stand out too much if she didn’t eliminate the mismatch with her skin.

This was Ibotanokikouji Kaede.

A drum-shaped security robot passed nearby, but she was fine for now. Based on its movement pattern and the direction it pointed its lenses, it was likely on traffic duty. Panicking and running away would only draw its attention. While she was a criminal, there was not a major alert out for her arrest.

This was the northernmost district in Academy City. In addition to luxurious office buildings owned by many major corporations, it contained the North Gate leading to Saitama. That meant it also contained the traffic services and infrastructure related to the gate.

The blimp floating by overhead provided some advice on its screen: “The North Gate is experiencing light congestion. Plan for a 20-30 minute delay. If your vehicle is caught in the congestion, please turn off your engine to cut down on exhaust while idling.”

During the hot night, the roadside mist shower was unpleasant. It stuck to her skin and clothing like sweat.

A small light danced in the corner of her view while a three-blade wind turbine turned.

A couple in yukatas was crouched down, apparently enjoying some sparklers. Their phone backlights were brighter than the fireworks. ''Die,'' the upper-class girl cursed silently. It didn’t look like they had requested a security robot with a firefighting attachment to supervise, so she hoped they started a fire and had the worst night of their lives.

Her fluffy blonde hair with a decorative braid swayed as she walked, the suitcase rolled behind her, a bulging sports bag hung over her shoulder, and she entered a building that resembled a giant parking garage.

Ibotanokikouji had arrived at a long-distance bus terminal.

To efficiently process as many large buses as possible, the facility had been expanded to have loading stations on the upper and lower level. The lower level also had a taxi loading zone and a parking lot, but the bus loading stations were the main attraction.

The interior was a bit nicer than a concrete parking garage. Instead of metal signs and sun-faded plastic benches, the waiting area was protected by a glass box and contained large sofas like you would find in an airport lounge. A push of a button on the seat and a waiter from the affiliated café would come to take your order.

“C-11 – the Highway Cradle bound for Aomori should be…this one?”
Ibotanokikouji checked the alphanumeric designation provided by the e-ticket displayed on her new phone and made her way to the loading station for the bus she wanted. The bus itself had yet to arrive, so she would have to wait. She opened the clear door, found an empty spot on the sofas covering three of the four walls, and sat down.

“Phew.”

(I would have preferred to go to District 23 and escape overseas by air, but they should be monitoring all of the international flights.)

“Ugh, if only I could fly tonight. Just give me freedom. But that can wait until I escape Kantou and take a domestic flight to another international airport.”

The transportation facility was crowded even at night. There were other middle schoolers like her and even younger elementary schoolers wandering around with large suitcases. Public transportation usually shut down after the city curfew, but today was special.

It was the 21st.

There was a reason Ibotanokikouji had taken the risk of staying hidden until today.

Today was the first day of summer break.

The city had a population of 2.3 million, 80% of whom were students. They wouldn’t all be leaving the city to return home for the break, but a lot more would be leaving today than any other day. Tokiwadai was extremely strict about spending the night away from the dorm (although Ibotanokikouji snuck out of the dorm fairly frequently), but that changed if you were returning home for the break. She had gotten her form filled out a little differently from everyone else, but as long as it let her hide among all these people, she didn’t need to fear pursuit.

She heard a deep rumbling.

A late-night bus large enough to give 30 people ample legroom was climbing a spiraling slope similar to a parking garage.

“…”

Ibotanokikouji was alone after losing her three teammates, but Mugino still had all four members of her team. That meant her opponent was more than just a Level 5. Mugino had multiple support personnel, so fighting her alone would be a bad idea. The strength of Ibotanokikouji’s power didn’t even come into it. If a power compatibility issue occurred in that situation, she would be doomed.

She was at a terrible disadvantage, but the battle wasn’t over yet.

Whoever emerged victorious in the end held the right to the Item name. That condition remained in effect.

It didn’t matter that she was the only one left.

If she gathered new teammates to fill all four slots again, she could redo her version of Item.

She crossed her legs in the waiting area sofa and rubbed her palm gently across the suitcase sitting next to her.

She had created this place for herself – no adult had given it to her. She couldn’t let some stranger have it.

Yes, for herself.

To put that another way, her teammates had only ever been a collection she kept to decorate her hideout according to her tastes. She might watch them, touch them, and adore them, but she would not lament their loss forever.

She loved her Item teammates from the bottom of her heart. That was completely true.

''But'' the sorrow would not last forever.

They could be replaced.

Replaced with an even greater collection which would create an even more comfortable place for herself.

If you lost your treasured possessions in a fire or other disaster, you would not just give up. When you loved something, you would naturally seek out new ones as long as you lived.

Hers was the love of someone looking down at her loved ones from above.

(I have plenty of money. I can rebuild my forces as many times as it takes. So what I need most now is freedom. I need to go into hiding and cut off all pursuit before slowly and gradually acquiring new fighters and finally becoming the hunter once more. Then I can turn the tables on them. I will make them pay for taking my collection from me.)

“This is not over.”

To do this, she needed to escape Mugino’s team’s pursuit, use the adults’ power to gradually weaken them, and end their turn as the hunters without having to lay a single finger on them herself.

For now, that meant escaping outside of Academy City.

“As long as I am undefeated, the threat of Item remains to plague you. I will grow and regenerate and wear you down.”