Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 2===

[[Image:GT_Index_v01_159.jpg|thumb]]
The Santa costume girl stood on a relatively gently-sloped part of the asphalt cliff that rose up at an angle.

“Now, then.”

As powerless as this hostage was, she did not want the girl struggling.

(My head is so hot in this hat and wig. But I have to keep them on for a while longer still.)

The girl of 15 or 16 tossed out a bandage roll that spread out all on its own before hitting the ground. This was a controlled rope that could bind, constrict, and kill on its own. It had originally been serpentine duct tape that could safely wrap around and seal off leaks in gas or steam pipes at accident sites that would be too dangerous for a person to approach. As she watched the rope automatically bind Last Order’s limbs and mouth, the girl pulled a handkerchief-like cloth from the chest of her Santa costume. She spread it out to reveal the kind of large white bag often seen at Christmas scenes.

It took her less than two minutes to pack up her poor “gift”.

The cosplay girl reached for the side of her miniskirt and pulled a smartphone from the top of her white kneesock.

“Maidono here. Things have taken a turn for the better, so I was hoping I could meet you directly and explain the result. Is now a good time for you?”

The words from her mouth and the violence surrounding her were like polar opposites.

The asphalt ground had risen up, the structure below the concrete was flooded, and the nearby buildings were shaking like willow branches in the wind. All of this had of course been noticed, so sirens were blaring as Anti-Skill vehicles rushed in from all directions.

(That sounds like a V10 with hydrogen explosions, but those Fugaku sports sedans don’t generally have E-chargers installed. These are custom models for those civil servants, not for civilian use. These must be those unmanned pursuer vehicles that were introduced lately. Weren’t they called Hammerhead Sharks?)

They looked like slim sports cars built low to reduce air resistance as much as possible, but they actually had the engine in the rear and the hood was stuffed full of composite armor. Those weapons on wheels were meant to stop rampaging drivers and otherwise dangerous drivers by safely and swiftly catching up to them with no one onboard and then crashing into the target vehicle to stop it. After the press conference announcing them, they had been mocked as an “eye for an eye” policy.

With several of them linked via high-speed wireless internet, those weapons could force even a 20-ton truck off the road.

They were not meant to be used against an unprotected person.

But the girl going by the name Maidono tossed the bag over her back and used her other hand to stick her phone between her cheek and shoulder. With that hand now free, she simply pulled the index finger in towards herself as if telling them to come at her.

That was all she did.

A moment later, the asphalt ground rose up along with the dark soil and concrete structure below. Unable to respond to the makeshift ramp in time, the Hammerhead Sharks flew by over her head, crashed into the third-floor windows of a nearby building, and stopped moving.

These were unmanned machines, so had they only been meant to get an idea of how powerful she was?

A manned unit would be coming next.

“Yes, yes. You probably just heard an explosion, but it’s nothing to worry about. Just cleaning some things up afterwards. I have safely secured the gift. To be honest, if we just want to get Accelerator to self-destruct, wouldn’t it be easier to just wring her neck and kill her? Eh? We can’t? I had a feeling you’d say that. I will send the gift to the designated point.”

They must have originally planned to attack from the safety of the sky after using the unmanned Hammerhead Sharks to secure the ground. She looked up at the noisy helicopter rotors and saw a total of four fully-equipped powered suits attached to a round observation helicopter, two on each side.

With the faces fully covered, she could not judge their age or gender, but she could easily imagine the looks on their faces. The emotions of fear and confusion were oozing from the gaps in their armor.

She did not care if they could see her.

She had altered her color sample with the wig and colored contact lenses.

Her makeup was thick for being seen with the naked eye, but she had applied a noticeable pattern to be seen through cameras and sensors, much like a kabuki actor. She only had to ensure they could not use facial recognition or photo sharing to locate her official data. The surveillance society of the digital age had eliminated crime? No, it had only created a new dilemma where crimes that left no electronic record could not be proven to legal standards. If a convenience store was robbed in broad daylight, what would happen if the security cameras were not running? People would simply suspect the poor clerk was behind the whole thing.

“Yes, I’m dealing with it now.”

With a wave of her finger, Maidono tore a wagon-shaped window washing robot from the side of a building and threw it. The observation helicopter had to be fairly maneuverable, but it was flying between buildings and its exposed companions were clinging to either side. It could not make any sharp movements that might shake them off. But that hesitation prevented it from dodging the mass of steel, allowing a direct hit that sent them all tumbling to the surface as a giant fireball.

“When will I be done? I already am.”

(These are post-Denmark models, so that much of a crash and explosion shouldn’t be enough to kill them. I can’t say the same for the helicopter pilot, though.)

“We can handle Anti-Skill and Judgment in the usual way. If you send enough violence their way, the confusion causes their chain of command to break down. The internet will go a little nuts over it, but there are plenty of crooked ‘experts’ out there. Those filthy adults will lie and claim none of what happened was possible, all so they can cover up their mistakes in the initial investigation. If we get them to make enough of a fuss, it will create the perfect camouflage to hide our own involvement. No one will see through to the truth.”

She was a natural at cleaning up messes.

Peace of mind was no more than a prey lured out using destruction as bait.

“Yes. Given what we’re dealing with here, the amount of attention needed is going to be pretty high, but that is not a problem. It is still within acceptable bounds.”

She earned points by thoroughly eliminating the people and things that got in her master’s way. She reached for unease to search out, snatch up, and offer peace of mind to that master. She would use concerts, festivals, parades, and other events with abnormal security routines and where a lot of outsiders would be present and then she would ''choose a conspicuous costume that actually helped her blend into the background.''

“I am aware of that,” she said cheerfully.

She was the kind of person who would walk right past a dying old person while preoccupied with her phone.

“I agree that we cannot have the dark side eliminated on some idiot’s whim. Not everyone in the world hopes for a world without crime. Academy City has only kept such a massive lead over the rest of the world by constructing and preserving an isolated space where the rules need not apply. You have seen that in the world of money and me in the world of fists. Neither of us can survive without the dark side, can we? …Oh, please. I at least know it’s true for me since you ''remade me'' to be that way.”

She could be as noticeable as she liked.

In fact, it only worked as camouflage if it was noticeable.

It had to feel like stepping beyond the bounds of reality and wandering into a nightmare. By creating such a grotesque and psychedelic world, she could ensure that boring reality could not keep up.

The festival of doom was already beginning.

Today was a day to kick back and enjoy the festivities.

(By destroying those specific pipes, the water department will close a few floodgates to prevent the filthy water from leaking out. I have control of the waterflow, so after confirming the bag is watertight, I can toss it in the river and let the collection team fish the trash out downstream. But the scenario says I need to hold their attention on the surface so they don’t notice that.)

Had she used the word trash because she was reminded of herself?

The ground was far from clean. It was littered with glass shards and metal fragments, as well as the bags and phones dropped by fleeing students. Cracks ran through the asphalt and it rose up in some places. But when she saw some chopsticks fallen at her feet, she quietly clicked her tongue.

“One question.”

Her long blonde hair swayed as she looked overhead with the phone still held between cheek and shoulder.

But she was not viewing another helicopter.

“I can ignore the invisible power balance this time, right? If someone tries to obstruct my work, I can eliminate them by force without calculating out the necessary expenses?”

She looked up at one of the skyscrapers swaying in the wind like a bamboo thicket exposed to a crosswind.

Instead of the roof, she looked to the girl clinging to the wall and staring quietly down at her.

“''For example, I can go ahead and kill anyone who opposes me, even if they’re one of the Level 5s?''”