Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS3 Chapter7 (section)

===Part 2===

They were in the center of District 15, Academy City’s largest shopping district.

“This is the polar opposite of District 3, isn’t it?”

“I’ve heard this district alone uses 40% of Academy City’s power.”

Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko spoke in annoyance while viewing the flood of neon and electronic signs. It was not Halloween or Christmas, so what was with all those LEDs wrapped around the roadside trees?

There were a lot of broadcast and mass media facilities here, so outside broadcasting vans covered in antennae and location shooting busses covered in smoked glass were all over the roads. Were all the taxis and other hired vehicles meant to transport people in the entertainment business?

It was approaching late night, yet the place was still crowded. Mikoto looked around suspiciously while weaving between some youths carrying energy drinks who looked like they would start cheering each other on at any moment.

“We’re talking about the headquarters of a security software company, so I was imagining some kind of glass-covered secret base deep in the mountains or in the middle of the desert. Y’know, with a domed or donut shape.”

“A child like you might not understand, but a company can increase their reputation by having their HQ in an expensive part of the city☆ Even outside of Academy City, aren’t there a lot of corporate HQs in Roppongi or Akasaka? Really, it’s all about keeping up appearances and showing off. Think of it like the corporate billboards in a stadium or the ‘so-and-so presents’ in the name of a musical or orchestra.”

That may have also explained the TV and online ads that only gave the name of a corporate group without giving any actual product names. It was not for the ordinary customers who would see the product on the store shelves; it was an appeal to the people who bought stocks.

They received a message that would not show up on Sakibasu Yuri’s phone now that Uiharu had changed the settings.

“Sa10> I really didn’t tell Sakibasu-san anything, but are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I am. We can’t force her to do anything more.”

The building in question was a 20-story one on a road one over from the main street. Simply listing it as “in District 15” must have been enough for them. When they actually viewed it from a distance, they found it in a crowded area which did not seem to get much sunlight.

The girl with gorgeous ringlet curls raised one eyebrow.

“Queen, there is someone waiting in front of the main entrance.”

“Oh, dear. I have such trouble telling apart old men above a certain age.”

“…Um, old???”

“My, my, Hokaze. You have very accepting tastes, don’t you?”

The Queen laughed in an exasperated and impressed fashion, but at what age did a man become “old” in her eyes?

At any rate, Mikoto had something to say too.

“Kuroko.”

“I have no interest in filthy men of any age.”

“I’m not talking about that nonsense. I need your opinion as a Judgment member.”

“If he was really a night guard, would he be wearing shiny new equipment like that? I swear I can smell the insect repellant from here. And look carefully near his cuffs and collar. The tanlines are not quite in the right place. This appears to be his first time wearing that uniform.”

“Yes, that’s right. I’m sure they have someone around back too, but check the security camera directly above the entrance. Why isn’t the lens moving?”

“GK> Geh, I tried to hack in but was forced out. And not just because this is a security company. Someone else has already taken over the system.”

The four girls exchanged a glance.

They all had the same opinion:

“They’re guilty as can be. Let’s take them out.”

An explosive boom burst out.

A high-voltage current coursed through the grunt disguised as a security guard to keep people away before he crashed right through the glass door and rolled along the lobby floor.

Nevertheless, no alarm went off.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki crunched the small glass shards underfoot as they entered the building.

And.

The darkness inside seemed to waver.

No, blatant killer intent reached them from the elevator hall, the emergency stairs, and all the corridors leading away from the main lobby. A threatening group was surrounding them. It was unclear how many followers Blue Blood had, but there were apparently a fair number of people who wanted to be special.

They had expected this.

They were here to pick a fight in the first place.

“Kuroko, coordinate with Uiharu-san and clear a path to the server room!!”

“Hokaze, take care of all the fools trying to attack us. I will use this to silence the ignorant onlookers that try to gather outside, so do not bother hiding any of your power☆”

“Understood.”

“Understood.”

The hunters gave their instructions and the hounds were released.

The men were dressed like night guards, but their weapons were an exception. Instead of police batons and flashlights, they appeared to be wielding suppressor-equipped handguns and flamethrowers with several portable gas cylinders inserted like a revolver, but what did that matter? You must not underestimate this special deck composed entirely of Level 4s and Level 5s from Tokiwadai Middle School.

They were from a prestigious powers development school.

It was said the students would be powerful enough to take over the White House if they worked together.

The ringlet curls girl strengthened her muscles and neurotransmission by controlling her bioelectricity, so she slipped through the gaps between the bullets flying her way and broke the plate in a bulletproof vest with a single punch. Metal darts sent out via teleportation accurately pierced the flamethrower cylinders, detonating the weapons. And the Level 5s did not just stand and watch. One used powerful magnetism to tear a drink vending machine from the floor so it could block the bullets the girls could not dodge with martial arts alone and the other spun a TV remote around to make the men in night guard uniforms start grappling with each other.

Mikoto magnetically pulled a fire extinguisher into her hands and then clobbered a nearby man in the head with it.

“They’re weak! Way too weak!! Dealing with them is a waste of time!!”

“GK> I found a map of the HQ’s interior from the documents submitted to the closet fire station. The server room is on the 20th floor. That is where you will likely find the AI that makes up a quarter of Zero-Day Link.”

“The top floor?” asked Kuroko. “They placed a computer higher than the president’s office?”

“GK> They can’t place it underground in case of an earthquake or water damage. And to prevent intentional sabotage or hacking, they wouldn’t want to place it somewhere ordinary employees, visitors, and cleaning staff can go. So their best bet was to place it on the isolated floor above the president’s office on the 19th floor. The elevator only goes up to the 19th floor, so the only way to the top floor is by passing right in front of the president. …You can tell the president is something of a control freak who does not trust their employees or business partners.”

“Is that how it works?”

“GK> It makes sense from a security standpoint. The state of the president’s social interactions is another matter, though. In case of an emergency, the crucial blades can be physically removed from the servers and carried away by helicopter. This is a security software developer, after all. They must know how valuable intellectual property like computers and programs can be.”

“Sa10> Oh, I’ve heard that urban legend! The human life seed rights!! There’s a rumor of a list of items like priceless art and fancy cars that are considered more valuable than human lives, so rescue teams will work to protect them instead of actual people during a disaster or major incident! So if your rent is unusually low, it probably means everyone in your area will be left to die!!”

Shokuhou took a peek at Mikoto’s phone and quickly grew pale.

Thus spoke the extremely unathletic girl:

“20th… M-M-Misaka-saaan? As civilized human beings, we will of course, of course, of courrrrrse be taking the elevator, right?”

“Do you want to get trapped inside it 20 stories up? C’mon, the emergency stairs are this way!!”

“Ahh, I had a feeling!”

Mikoto ignored her complaints and kicked open the metal door.

She first sent a high-voltage lightning spear straight up and a few (men dressed as) night guards rolled down.

“This won’t be all they have. Not when we had to deal with people like Riot and Reversible already.”

They cautiously climbed the emergency stairs.

Mikoto heard the “hee hee hoo” breathing of a young wife with a large stomach coming from behind her. She looked back curiously to see Shokuhou Misaki clinging to the metal railing with both hands and trembling partway up the stairs with sweat soaking her body.

“We’re only at the third floor, so I hope you’re only doing that for laughs.”

“My civilized ability is on another level from yours, Misaka-san. Not everyone trained themselves by running around in the monkey enclosure at the zoo.”

“Breathing doesn’t lie, unathletic girl. Or are you wearing such thick makeup you can’t manage cutaneous respiration?”

“H-h-how am I even supposed to communicate with a low intelligence ability girl who acts like cutaneous respiration has any bearing on keeping humans alive? Misaka-san, are you a mysterious creature that suffocates to death if you soak up to the shoulders in the bath? Phew…”

“(She feels unnecessarily soft, so while she looks skinny, I bet you would find she is an incarnation of visceral fat if you checked with an MRI. Yeah, no girl wants to have a beer belly or dad bod. I need to watch myself to make sure it doesn’t happen to me.)”

“You certainly have a disturbingly active imagination! What part of this perfect, radiant, and sweet-smelling body could possibly make you think of a dad!?”

Shokuhou Misaki had tears in the corners of her eyes now, but the Queen lacked her usual intensity since she really was weak in the knees. It was unclear what kind of unbalanced life she lived to end up so physically weak when she was so careful about eating healthy foods.

And then the gorgeous ringlet curls girl stepped forward because she was used to babysitting that girl.

“Queen, if you are tired, I could carry you like a princess.”

“Really!? My love ability for you knows no bounds, Hokaze!!!!!”

“Stop it, you burden! Don’t waste a valuable frontline fighter by making her carry your fat ass around!!”

“I never even considered it! I can totally walk!! …And why did you suddenly start talking about my butt there? Y-y-y-y-you’re just stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the wonderful size of my chest, aren’t you!?”

“Oh? Gravity doesn’t discriminate, Shokuhou. If this is too hard for you, just tell us. Those of us who are nice and light can support you before you topple backwards and your giant ass crashes into the floor. With three of us, not even that lump of fat can crush us.”

“I said I can walk!! Look, I can easily outpace you!!”

In some kind of miracle, the Queen of Tokiwadai actively used her muscles for once to walk up the stairs. While her clique members thoroughly spoiled her, Misaka Mikoto had apparently found a different way to hold her reins.

But.

“Ah, ahhh… You may have been trying to help there, Onee-sama, but you stole a valuable opportunity from Hokaze-san. …Don’t let it get to you, Hokaze-san.”

The ringlet curls girl had frozen in place with her arms spread in a welcoming pose, so Shirai Kuroko placed a hand on her shoulder and held a finger to the corner of her own eye. The normal Level 4s were overshadowed by the bickering of the crazy Level 5s. This was one bitter truth of Academy City that Shirai herself was often burned by.

But something else happened just as Shokuhou Misaki reached the fourth floor using her psychological rocket boosters.

They heard a creaking sound, but it did not come from the floor or door. It came from the emergency stairway’s wall. Specifically, the one on the outside of the building.

That was confusing.

But as an esper living in Academy City, Misaka Mikoto was extremely wary of any ''phenomenon she could not immediately explain''.

“Be careful, everyone!! Something is coming!!”

“Oh? You’re sensitive. Is that a sign of your experience?”

“Oh? You’re sensitive. Is that a sign of your experience?”

Was that compressed air that rushed in from outside?

Sparks scattered from Misaka Mikoto’s bangs and she controlled magnetism with all her might. The emergency stairs were nothing more than blocks similar to stair cars stacked on top of each other. Every twelve steps were a single block with another block in between for the landing. So with enough strength to tear away one of those blocks, it could be used as a shield.

She only managed to come up with the idea and act on it so quickly because she had seen the leotard girl known as Riot use air as a weapon in the club battle.

However.

“?”

“Misaka-san, you idiot!! The sparks are going to trigger a-…!?”

Shokuhou Misaki was suddenly cut off.

Riot had been involved in another incident as well. The man known as Reversible had altered the concentration of oxygen in the air to knock out his target.

So.

This was not just air. It was pure oxygen.

Crimson flames erupted from Misaka Mikoto’s forehead.

“Hokaze!!!!!!”

When the Queen cried out, the ringlet curls girl removed her blazer and forcefully placed it over Misaka Mikoto’s head. Fortunately, oxygen did not have the explosive energy to accelerate a blaze. If this had been hydrogen, Mikoto’s head might have been blown off. This was the same as swinging your palm horizontally to slice through a candle’s flame. If it was extinguished for even a moment, the propagation of heat could be stopped.

“Hee hee.”

A silver-haired girl peered down at them while clinging to the 3m hole in the wall. She only wore a baggy dress shirt. She must have been crawling along the outside wall like a gecko.

She held what appeared to be a stick of lip balm in her mouth.

“Hee hee hee hee hee. Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.”

“Tch!!”

Shirai Kuroko teleported several metal darts at her, but the silver-ponytailed girl had already ducked back into the large hole.

The ringlet curls girl who excelled at physical brawls held Mikoto’s head in her arms while speaking in a low voice.

“The location of the glass, walls, columns, and steel beams did not even matter. …With power like that, she can target us from any direction. Climbing the direct path of the emergency stairs would be too dangerous!”

“Let’s head into the building proper. Is this the 4th floor? We need that wider space if we’re going to escape her or defeat her.”

They pushed open the metal door to reach the 4th floor.

And…

“I – read – that☆”

“Kh.”

The sound did not come from any direction.

It only left behind the unpleasant sensation of someone directly toying with their minds.

“Now, how do you think I did that? That Queen there can produce any psychological phenomenon since she is the strongest of that sort of esper, so surely she should be able to figure it out. Ah ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

“They lured us in here.”

Misaka Mikoto removed the blazer from her head like it was a nuisance.

She slowly exhaled.

“You guard dogs intend to finish this here, don’t you!?”

She heard two footsteps.

The way they blended into a single set must have been their special skill.

Apparently not even a security software developer had nothing but offices full of computers. Was this a relaxation room or a daycare? Colorful tables and chairs were lined up in a large space and there was even indoor playground equipment like a slide and a jungle gym. Although it was unclear if that was meant to be used or just for decoration.

It was somewhat reminiscent of the hospital pediatric rehabilitation room where they had spoken with Hanakawa Hinadori. Perhaps it was designed based on the same relaxation principles.

In addition to a deck of Witch & Psychic cards, there were a few cards separated out and framed on the table. Perhaps they were actually worth something.

And in that psychedelic world where primary color toys littered the middle of the grownup world, two silver-ponytailed girls stood side by side with identical cheeks pressed together.

“I am Acid.”

“And I am Counselor.”

Between each statement, they used their lips to pass each other the lip balm they held in their mouths. It was like passing each other a single microphone to share it. The act brought their lips dangerously close to touching and they actually seemed to be enjoying that possibility as they continued.

“Were you having fun bullying the weak?”

“But how about we switch up the genre a bit now?”

With dual giggles, they made an announcement while close enough to kiss each other.

“It is time for some cruel and gory horror where an immortal monster chases you around.”

“It is time for some cruel and gory horror where an immortal monster chases you around.”

A powerful wind whirled around the twins.

Their already short dress shirts fluttered even more risquély.

The one with the lip balm in the corner of her mouth, and thus the one in control, was Acid.

“Oxygen again!?”

“Hokaze can’t save your skin every single time, Misaka-san. If you don’t want to end up with a scorched afro, think carefully about what kind of attacks you use!!”

Shokuhou Misaki pulled a TV remote from her bag and pointed it at the twins, but then she clicked her tongue.

“My power doesn’t work?”

“Hee hee.”

(No, that isn’t it. Since I have to see them and press the remote’s button, my power cannot completely ignore the laws of physics.)

“They’re doing something with the air! Something like a mirage that bends the light and throws off our aim!!”

“Hee Hee. Hee hee hee hee.”

“Hee Hee. Hee hee hee hee.”

But things were different from before.

There was an odd noise.

The strange sound was like a thin piece of rubber or plastic bubbling as it was held over a fire.

(Something’s coming.)

Like before, Misaka Mikoto was wary of any phenomenon she could not immediately explain.

This time, her thoughts managed to catch up.

“It has to start with oxygen… So is she combining it with hydrogen ions so it joins with the moisture in the air? Everyone, hide!! A powerful acid is coming!!”

“Too late☆”

Drops of water scattered in every direction like in the middle of a windy storm. Mikoto tackled Shirai’s slender hips and the ringlet curls girl picked up Shokuhou before they both dove behind reinforced plastic playground equipment.

The representative example of an oxyacid was sulfuric acid, so the risk was plain to see.

The frightening sound that followed was like a hot brand being pressed against bare flesh.

Mikoto recalled what Riot had said about old skeletal models while she was disguised as an old man. If they had stayed standing where they were, all their flesh would have been stripped from their bones.

The lip-to-lip handover happened again.

Now it was Counselor who held the lip balm in her mouth.

“And I ‘read’ where you would flee to. Here.”

There was a small sound.

The girl going by the name of Counselor had flicked up a pen she had heated with a lighter. There had been no strange pillar of fire. It had only been heated by a flickering flame no larger than a candle’s. This was a tiny phenomenon compared to before, but it was enough to change things.

It activated the sprinkler.

But the resultant artificial downpour did not make the normal sound. Once the raindrops hit the floor, they bubbled up with white smoke expanding.

Now, a question.

Sulfuric acid is the representative example of an oxyacid. It is stable as a liquid even at high concentrations, but what happens when a lot of water is suddenly poured onto it?

(Not good!!)

Mikoto’s back stiffened and her fears were confirmed by the ringlet curls girl hiding behind a different piece of playground equipment.

“If you breathe in that chemical smoke, it will damage your lungs! And watch your footing. The concentration should have fallen from contact with the water, but touching those puddles should still injure you quite badly!!”

“I get that, but where are we supposed to escape to!?”

Shirai could teleport past the expanding puddles, but there was no safe ground as far as the eye could see. The contaminated water spread across the floor like amoebas and the white chemical smoke would fill the entire space before long.

“Hee hee…”

“Hee hee hee hee.”

Only the laughter of the silver-haired twins in dress shirts reached them from beyond that white veil.

Which one had the lip balm in her mouth?

They had to have been soaked by the water themselves, but one of the twins making cheek-to-cheek contact had free control over oxygen. From the look of things, she could neutralize the harm in their immediate vicinity.

“Misa…ka…-san.”

The Queen of Tokiwadai spoke from behind the other piece of playground equipment.

She saw that other girl as an enemy, so she knew exactly what possibilities that girl’s power held.

“Do not let the existing pathways constrain your thoughts. What is your esper name again!?”

A life-saving boom sounded from overhead.

Just by flicking an arcade coin, she had stirred up the air and blown through the 4th floor ceiling. The white chemical smoke scattered, the artificial rain from the sprinklers was cut off, and a new escape route was opened overhead.

Shirai Kuroko wrapped her arms around Mikoto’s hips, the ringlet curls girl picked up Shokuhou, and they both escaped up to the 5th floor in their own ways.

The giggling silver-haired twins did not pursue them.

After all, the one known as Counselor spoke as she took the stick from the girl whose soft cheek was pressed against her own.

“I ‘read’ all of that☆ …''Is this all you have, chosen girls''?”