Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Virtual On Chapter2 (section)

===Part 29===

Even if they had Defected, it was still based on the Next Generation Game of Virtual-On.

Attacks were used to earn points, not to destroy your opponent. The winner and loser were determined by the points.

And no matter how much a player wanted to keep going, their unit would not move once the match was over.

Raiden fell silent.

Kamijou’s Temjin was similarly locked as they waited for the results.

“I know Defections are common during battles with a player going by the username of Blue Stalker. They must be good at pushing people in that direction. But they aren’t the only condition, so crushing the source might not be enough to solve this.”

“So you decided to try a method other than crushing the source?”

“The Blue Stalker appears so unpredictably that there was no real way to attack them anyway.”

That meant not even Mikoto know where the Blue Stalker was or how to contact them.

“I know my method is wrong, but the fact remains that there is no better method. Assuming the Blue Stalker knows something and that there’s some way of stopping this all in one fell swoop seems like wishful thinking to me. They might just be enjoying the chaos.”

“…I know that.”

“So with that in mind, I have to ask: what are ''you'' going to do? How exactly are you going to attack the Blue Stalker?”

“The same thing I did with you.”

“?”

“I don’t know where the Blue Stalker is, so I’ll have them come to me. I just have to do whatever it is they least want me to do.”

“…That being?”

“I don’t know how they benefit, but they’ve been using Virtual-On to increase the number of Defected players and the number of NPC players from there. I don’t know which is their goal and which is a side effect, but stopping it is simple enough. …I just have to attack the legal Virtual-On in a very public way. If no one can play Virtual-On, the Defections from there will stop too. The Blue Stalker won’t be able to make their very first step.”

“Are you serious…? You mean you’re going to stop the entire Virtual-On system!? I can’t even imagine the economic losses if you cause a data blackout across all 23 districts! This goes beyond rating restaurants and getting the latest information; the people who are really into it can’t read or write kanji or even do simple arithmetic without the machine!!”

“Luckily, the portable devices used for Virtual-On are so reliant on the centers that they need to be taken there for a simple firmware update. Take out the centers and they can’t maintain the service. …But I don’t know if I’ll really do it. I hope I can lure out the Blue Stalker by only making it look like I will.”

A short silence followed.

Mikoto may have been shocked into silence.

But she finally spoke.

“Fine then… I’m a part of this too, so I guess I can help you lure out the Blue Stalker.”

“Misaka…?”

“You’re talking about taking out the centers, but you don’t really have a way of doing that, do you? Surely you aren’t thinking of pouring gasoline around to set them on fire. So if you’re going to mess with the data, you’ll want me around.”

“Wait. I…”

“Stop. You yourself said you were fighting because you didn’t want me to become a villain. Well, I’m the same. I’m not going to let you become a villain on your own. And this is for that girl too.”

Kamijou brought a hand to his forehead.

He had not expected things to develop in this direction.

He was a little afraid to let things continue like this, so he changed the subject.

“Come to think of it, who is this girl you’re talking about? Oh, or should I not have asked?”

“It’s fine.”

Mikoto replied with the voice of someone once more facing the problem they had to solve.

That girl was someone who attended Tokiwadai Middle School and was always by Mikoto’s side.

Or so Kamijou assumed. But what she said next betrayed those expectations.

“I’m talking about a girl named Furashina Ririn.”