Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Biohacker Chapter4 (section)

===Part 3===

Mitsuari Ayu ate a surprising amount.

It seemed to have less to do with hunger and more to do with wanting to try out everything at her first manga café, so she walked all around the place in loose leather shoes (borrowed from Kumokawa who even had the shoes in her size for some reason). She made a mixed soda at the soda fountain, she ate not only a light sandwich but some heavy curry rice despite the late hour, and she grabbed Volume 1 of a super-long-running shounen manga with volume numbers reaching the triple digits. Surely she did not intend to read all of it in a single night. She may have thought she was in control, but she was apparently unfamiliar with the weekly manga trap that kept you reading “just one more chapter” forever.

“Do not use the shower.”

“Why not?”

She looked puzzled at that warning, so Kumokawa winked and explained.

“These are cheap services, so they don’t have separate showers for guys and girls. Anyone can go in there.”

“?”

Kumokawa finally whispered into the dense girl’s ear.

“(Which means they can set up hidden cameras. So be careful.)”

“Eek!?”

“Senpai, why did she just slap me on reflex???”

They could not stay in the same booth as they slept.

Mitsuari was a little worried (“Because of what you said about cameras in the shower!”), but they were only separated by thin partitions. The others would notice if she screamed and they could even break down those walls to take a shortcut if need be.

“Hmm.”

There was only a desk and a chair.

That left only two options: sit in the chair and lie down on the desk like someone napping during class, or lie on the floor. Even this late at night, the store kept its lights on and the thin partitions did not really feel like walls. This did not at all feel like being in a private room. It was more like being challenged to sleep in a department store fitting room.

But Kamijou Touma had a powerful will.

He only had to call upon the spirit of a middle-aged woman from deep within his mind.

(It’s just like catching some shuteye in the classroom or on a train.)

“Uhhh!!”

Except the neighboring booth was making a lot of noise.

He looked up in confusion and then stood up on the desk to peek over the partition.

“What the hell are you doing, Mitsuari?”

“Eeek!? I-isn’t that a really old-fashioned way to peep!? Are you the kind of gentleman who wears black full-body tights and a cloth over your head while climbing the open-air bath’s partition!?”

“It’s almost midnight, so could you keep it down?”

“I-I would love to, but I can’t tear myself away from this phantom thief’s adventures.”

It was just as he had feared.

At this point, telling her not to read it would do nothing to stop her. A serialized manga had to start its run fighting the label of garbage and come out on top. Only the best of the best survived in that world.

“Stop telling yourself you’ll read just one more chapter. That will keep you going forever. If you’re going to read, then go all out with it. It doesn’t matter if the story moves you or not.”

“O-oh?”

“If you keep at it, you’ll reach the end of the Gold Bar Arc at Volume 7. That’s a good stopping point, so you can tell yourself to stop there for the day. Because if you don’t stop there, you’re stuck reading all the way through Volume 15 to reach the end of the Grim Reaper Arc.”

“No spoilers, no spoilers!”

“By the way, the Grim Reaper arc honestly isn’t very good. I think the author must have focused too much on the survey results saying the manga had lost is thrill because the character relationship had fallen into a rut. Everything is so tense, so it’s like a desert. And starting from Volume 7, you’re a long way off from the next oasis. The manga does eventually get back on its feet, so don’t worry too much about that.”

Mitsuari left her booth and he heard her the footsteps of her loose shoes from beyond the partition.

She was apparently grabbing up through Volume 7 as per his advice. Just to be safe, he snuck out afterwards and snagged Volume 8 to prevent her from continuing past that.

The sound of flipping pages was fairly loud.

The creaking of the thin partition suggested she was sitting on the floor and leaning against it instead of using the chair.

“Hey,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Do you really and truly think we can get back home safely?”

She may have been afraid of tomorrow, so she did not want to go to sleep and “fast forward” to that moment.

He sighed and leaned his own back against the creaking partition. He supported her weight through that thin wall.

“Don’t worry about it.”

He had no proof of anything.

He did not see how they could win and he was also afraid of winning but becoming a criminal.

Nevertheless, he said what he had to say.

“Leave all the dangerous stuff to us. If things really start looking bad, you can run away.”

“…”

“So if you focus on returning to your normal life…”

“No! I wasn’t talking about that!!”

He was trying to calm her, but she exploded.

In fact, she opened the booth door without knocking and entered his space.

The most he could manage was to hide the Volume 8 safety measure underneath the desk.

If she found that, she would definitely be up all night.

“Hey, wait! For the time being, this is a boy’s room!”

“Nhh!!”

Before he could back away in the small space, she stepped inside and plopped herself down next to him. Then she slapped the top of his head with her open hand.

“You should have told me not to worry because ''we all'' would be fine. If you act like we might not all make it, I’m still going to worry!”

“Yeah, but the exact same scandalous behavior is going to harm someone like you a lot more than a guy who hangs around back alleys like me! So!!”

“So what!?”

He just about snapped back at her, but he realized defeating her in this argument would accomplish nothing. He might be able to disprove that they could all make it back safely, but why would he want to do that?

“Sorry.”

“Hmph. At least you understand now.”

She snorted but showed no sign of moving away.

He could feel her body heat reaching him through their touching shoulders.

“Um, Mitsuari-san?”

“You told me to stop at Volume 7, right? I need you to grab me by the clothes or something to make sure I don’t give into temptation and return to the bookshelf.”

She appeared to be sulking.

And that line was especially horrifying since Volume 8, the gate to a hellish all-nighter, was right there.

Still seated on the floor and leaning against the partition, he looked up at the overhead lights. He was surrounded by the body heat and sweet scent of a girl. Not to mention the breathing sounds he could only make out while in the same space as her.

He had a feeling he was not getting any sleep tonight.