Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 2===

It was early morning in the District 4 Chinatown.

Item and the detective were facing each other from opposite sides of the bloody gazebo.

“You might think deduction has no place in a world of DNA testing, security camera networks, and forensic investigation, but you would be wrong.” The detective girl laughed with a ferocious Japanese wolf by her side. “It comes in handy when shadier groups, who can’t make use of those public services, have to track down who killed one of their own or identify a traitor among them. Even this high-tech city has a lot of ''isolated places'' where the laws and regulations of the outside world have no power. As long as the demand remains, I’ll never be out of a job. It is kind of ironic that deduction has become a toy for the dark side though, isn’t it?”

This girl should not have been here.

Mugino was used to being at dark side crime scenes and she was used to seeing this Class Rep at school, but the combination of the two felt so wrong it rattled her.

“Surprised?”

Shiratori spoke in the exact same way she always did.

She sounded just like the usual Class Rep refusing to mind her own business in the sunny classroom.

“It’s not really that surprising you failed to notice who I am before. We belong to different worlds. We both work in the dark side, but logically speaking, I’m on the side of justice.”

“…”

“My job is to do the things that Anti-Skill and Judgment can’t. So I make sure I can’t be detected by the villains I track. As a detective who unilaterally pursues villains and brings a swift end to their criminal lives, I’d be out of business pretty quick if I let them pursue me instead.”

“In the end, why are you even here?”

“A detective is always pursuing a case.” Shiratori smiled confidently and glanced around the bloodstained gazebo table. “I can imagine this case is especially difficult for you. First the Sadistic Dolls assassins, then the Frees who kill with photos, and now me, a detective. We all belong to a different category than Item.”

Shiratori laughed a little and patted the faithful wolf’s head.

“I mean, of course, the category of justice.”

Something changed.

It was strange no sound at all came from Mugino’s face.

“Ha ha. Just hearing the word made you cringe. But whether you’re aware of it or not, I can tell that Item can never survive in that field no matter how many villains you kill.”

“You sound super confident in the strength of your justice. Seems odd for someone who killed the third member without turning herself in. Not to mention how you keep picking up and moving around the pieces of flesh lying around here.”

“I don’t want to hear that from the team that killed the first two.”

The detective seemed amazed they would even bring that up.

Her refusal to even make an argument for why she was right did sound like something an advocate of justice would do.

“But really, Item wasn’t supposed to even get involved in this one. Eliminating the Sadistic Dolls and their incomplete justice should have been a case of justice killing justice. Since that didn’t happen…hm, I wonder if there’s more to this.”

Detective Shiratori Okibi spoke to herself for a moment and then looked up again.

“Anyway, there really isn’t much for me to do at this point. The Frees...oh, that’s the three corpses packed in plastic over there. I had hoped to speak with their leader, but you were a step ahead of me.”

The detective looked troubled. But her regret was on the level of finding the eggs on sale at the supermarket were sold out.

“So I’m done here. But if you will give this detective some time, I can logically organize the data on this case you’ve been caught up in.”

“Hold on.”

Sounding exasperated, Mugino took a step forward.

She didn’t know Shiratori’s situation here, but if she was in the same business, Mugino had no reason to hold back. She could tear apart and eliminate this girl with Meltdowner at any time.

Yes, she could do it.

As long as she cast aside the humanity she was meant to direct toward the Class Rep at her ordinary school.

“Do you really think we’re just gonna wait here until you’re gone? You’re not some ninja who can throw a smoke or flash bomb to escape. In real battle, the hardest thing to do is safely escape when you’re at the disadvantage.”

“Oh, right. You seem to be coming up with some conspiracies related to the Sadistic Dolls, but your voice on the phone wasn’t hiding their personal information just to be mean or anything. She really did look it into and really didn’t find anything.”

Mugino’s silence grew more piercing.

Several points here kept her from laughing it all off.

That Shiratori knew Item had been pursuing the Sadistic Dolls.

The mention of the voice on the phone.

And a claim to understand what the voice on the phone had been doing when even Item wasn’t aware of that.

Shiratori put on an innocent smile.

She saw right through Mugino’s thoughts.

“Ah ha ha. You think I’m bluffing? I guess I can’t prove any of it while you’re trapped in that labyrinthine case.”

“You bitch.”

“Oh, trying to provoke me?”

The black-haired detective girl laughed and muttered something under her breath.

A moment later, a massive wall of flames rushed toward Item.

The first to react was Kinuhata with Offense Armor. She kicked one of the pillars supporting the gazebo, breaking it and causing the entire roof to collapse.

That acted as a shield to protect the four of them.

The flame wall split to the sides because explosive blasts took the path of least resistance.

But that was all Kinuhata managed. They detected the sounds and smells of their support team being roasted.

A smiling voice arrived from beyond the thick orange wall.

“Don’t assume all I can do is create fire anywhere I want with pyrokinesis. Rush in with that shallow an understanding and you will die.”

“Kh.”

Meltdowner could not deflect a wall of fire.

Mugino could shoot right through the wall, but was Shiratori really where her voice was coming from? It was possible she had threatened some innocent person to hold a speaker or mobile device there.

“(Takitsubo, where is she? Can you sense anything at all!?)”

“(Can I use Body Crystal?)”

“You don’t need to do that. It’s a real burden on your body, isn’t it?” interrupted Shiratori.

Did she have good ears, or had she predicted what they would be thinking and doing?

“Don’t contact me – I’ll contact you. I said I would logically organize the data on this case if you gave me time, didn’t I? I am a detective, after all.”

Her presence grew more distant.

Mugino clicked her tongue, aimed her palm toward the wall of fire, and then stopped.

She heard something like a train’s metal wheels slotting into the rails.

“Like I said, I’m done here. It might be summer break, but that doesn’t mean anything to those businessmen in suits. Rush hour will be starting soon and I can’t exactly say I’m working for justice if I get ordinary people caught up in this. What about you on the villain side?”

Shiratori’s playful tone said she really was leaving.

Item still hadn’t discovered the details of her power. Which meant she may have been able to reduce Item’s numbers by catching them by surprise.

“Where should we meet up!?” shouted Mugino.

“Use some deduction. Start by investigating me.”