Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 3===

The approaching typhoon was bad news.

Item and Honey Queen were both pursuing each other, so they couldn’t have all trace of their actions being washed away by the rain and wind.

Item had no way of knowing how far into the future Honey Queen’s thoughtograph had seen, but they had to assume they were always playing catchup on the intelligence front. Which was all the more reason they couldn’t afford any mistakes when gathering intel the old fashioned way.

Nevertheless, their group phone conversation was complete chaos.

“Urp, gwehh. M-Mugino, this blimp was a mistake. Let’s leave this unorthodox choice and move to a super stable hotel with its foundation on the ground!!”

“Hm? Why do you sound close to death?”

“Mugino, the crosswinds are so powerful the blimp won’t stop shaking. That makes it feel like a ship rocking in the waves. I was doing better than Kinuhata, but that might change if I actually see a bucket or washbasin.”

Those two were complaining a lot given the typhoon hadn’t even made landfall yet. But those guinea pigs had gathered this data firsthand, so Mugino feared she would end up the same if she didn’t heed this warning.

“Mugino. In the end, what are we going to do now?”

“We won’t be able to track down Ainame Caroline or Tachiuo Mary right away. Honey Queen can use their Thoughtography to predict the future and run away before we get there.”

With the wind blowing so hard, umbrellas were useless and you had to choose your underwear under the assumption there was a decent chance it would be seen. Mugino ignored the blowing rain as she gave her response.

“But the same isn’t true of the common thugs Honey Queen uses. They sent in a group of them when attacking us yesterday, so we know they have a support organization like we do. Their security is bound to be laxer than with Ainame Caroline or Tachiuo Mary, so it should be possible to track them down and use them to reach those two.”

“In the end, how are we supposed to find those common thugs?”

“…”

(I really didn’t want to rely on him for a problem inside the city.)

They entered a nearby convenience store to get out of the rain. Once inside, (soaking and see-through) Frenda went off in search of canned mackerel. Meanwhile, Mugino moved straight to the more expensive zone of the bento section, bought a salmon bento, had it heated in the microwave, and took a seat in the eat-in section.

“Hm, hm hm♪ Huh?”

She was really looking forward to the thick piece of grilled salmon when she elegantly picked it up with the disposable chopsticks and found…what’s this? The fillet was as thin as a cheap 15cm ruler. It had only looked so wonderfully thick because the bottom of the plastic bento container rose up unnaturally below it.

Shrinkflation strikes again.

“Arrrrgh!! How could you do this to me!? That’s not playing fair. Not even the dark side gets your hopes up and dashes them like that!”

Mugino’s tearful screaming made the gentle mama clerk nervously look over from the register counter. No, she was only bothered by how much of Mugino’s underwear was showing through her clothing and was wishing the employee manual said she could give the girl a big sports towel. Why did she have to be so nice? Now Mugino couldn’t be mad at her.

The delinquent girl sniffled and attached an eraser-sized anti-recording device to her phone’s bottom connector. That was the proper etiquette when going to the trouble of calling someone beyond the city walls.

“Oh, now this is a rare treat. Do you need something, milady?”

“Mujinayama.”

She called the name of the old butler who served her family outside Academy City.

She wanted to get this over with quickly. It couldn’t be easy looking after the people who ran the grain production company that filled the stomachs of 1.4 billion people worldwide (and lined the pockets of a gang with 100 thousand members).

“I was hoping for some advice from the Mountain Sniper.”

“My, my. I appreciate that you thought of me, but will your ''school friends'' be happy about this? If I make a trip all the way out there, they might just become jealous.”

Mugino could tell he was itching for a chance to assist her.

She dried her hair with a cheap handkerchief she bought at the convenience store while she explained the circumstances of the apartment attack to Mujinayama. Then she told him what she wanted to know.

“Whether bombing or sniping a target, you want to carry out your attack from a position with a good view of the target and the surrounding area, right? The initial attack began when our apartment was suddenly blown away by a self-destructing remote-controlled UGV while we were veramping. I’m assuming Ainame Caroline was holding the controller then, so ''I want to know what building she was observing us from''. The bomb had a small camera of its own, but she would have lost track of its direction and position while moving it through such a cramped space. I doubt we’ll actually find her there, but the support organization assisting her may have left some kind of clue behind.”

“Just say the word and I will ''snipe any point within Academy City from outside its walls''.”

“I know, I know.”

Mugino casually rejected that idea.

That would make Mujinayama an enemy of Academy City as a whole. She wasn’t going to place that kind of burden on such a kindhearted old man’s shoulders.

“Also, you appear to be mistaken about one thing, milady.”

“?”

“I doubt a sniper would choose an isolated skyscraper rooftop. The first rule of sniping is to take the shot and make a quick getaway. That will mean wanting a long distance between yourself and the target. Movies often depict snipers in a church steeple, but that would essentially be suicide. You would be surrounded during the time it takes you to descend the spiral staircase after firing.”

“You mean it wouldn’t even be an elevated location?”

“That is a pernicious preconception. If you were on an outward-facing balcony, she would have had a view of you looking up from below as well. The ideal sniping spot is somewhere the target will have difficulty noticing you even if they look your way and which also provides multiple escape routes.”

“That sounds too good to be true. Was Honey Queen using one of those strange mirrors used for interrogation rooms?”

“That would be useful if you had one, but there is a simpler method. That attack occurred in the late evening. There is a lot of light in a city at night, but I would check anywhere that has no lights. To find someone who is up to no good, search the deep shadows.”

“Hm.”

Mugino brushed up her wet bangs with a hand and toyed with her phone for a bit.

Then she grinned.

“I see.”