Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume2 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

“Hm, hm, hm hm.”

Someone was quietly humming in the hospital hallway.

''Even though an ominous tremor had just reached the hospital itself.

A short girl had one arm in a cast and a square medical eyepatch over her right eye while she dragged along a metal stand carrying a clear IV bottle. That bob cut girl in pajamas must have been an inpatient because she was walking around in hospital slippers. But she bumped into a boy when she walked around the corner.

And with her forehead still pressed against Kamijou Touma’s chest, the girl known as Maidono Hoshimi spoke quietly to him.

“(Looks like you could use some help. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but if you simply open the emergency exit, an alarm will go off at the nurse station. If you want to escape safely, you would do best to get some help from a professional.)”

“…”

They had injured each other during their intense Christmas Eve battle, but Maidono was clearly exaggerating her own injuries. He should probably be judged guilty for punching a girl at all, but he certainly did not remember breaking her arm or gouging out one of her eyes.

This was her form of flashy camouflage where she chose the most conspicuous costume for the circumstances to keep anyone from remembering what she herself actually looked like. That dark side pro had eliminated all notable details other than “hospital patient”.

For that matter, Maidono Hoshimi was a fake name and her real name was still unknown, but a criminal suspect like her should have been locked in a hospital room with bars on the windows. It was enough of an emergency that she was even walking around free like this.

“(I owe you one,)” whispered the bob cut girl. “(And I thought it would be best to repay you before my trial begins. I’m sure to be charged with tons of additional offenses anyway, so what’s one or two more crimes now, right? You have something you need to do, don’t you? I’ll help you escape.)”

Kamijou appreciated the offer.

The hospital was overrun with confusion due to the near constant influx of emergency patients. But even so, the doctors or nurses were sure to stop a patient in as bad shape as him if he tried to leave through the main entrance. They would physically restrain him and drag him back to his room. That was why he had decided to use the emergency exit, but Maidono said that route held risk too.

However.

Kamijou Touma gently placed his hands on the pajama girl’s small shoulders.

And he slowly pushed her away from him.

“You don’t have to.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You were going to quit the dark side, weren’t you?” He crouched to her eye level. “This is like going on a diet. If you decide to stop doing something, you have to ''get in the habit'' of not doing it. If you switch back and forth all the time because ‘I have to this time’ or ‘this is an exception’, no one will believe you actually want to quit. That’s like a serial killer who keeps insisting they’ll stop tomorrow or next week while continuing to kill people.”

“…”

“Listen, this is your life.”

His mysterious bleeding was still happening.

He felt like he could cough up some blood at any moment if he let his guard down.

But he still refused to grab that outstretched hand.

“Use your power for yourself. You were sick of dirtying your hands for someone else, right? You can’t use chopsticks, but you decided to believe you can still live a normal life and start making progress again, right? Then you can’t do this. You can’t run to the dark side again, Maidono. Living an honest life isn’t easy. Life often isn’t fair and it’s full of disappointments, so if you know some secret tricks, it’s definitely easier to just use them. But you decided ''you weren’t doing that anymore'', right? That was your decision. So live that life. It’s your life, so you need to put yourself first and do your best following the rules that everyone accepts.”

Her face twisted up.

Just like a child who had gotten separated from her mother at a large amusement park.

“For the first time.” Some time passed and she seemed to be holding her breath throughout. “For the first time, I found someone I actually wanted to serve. I thought I could go nuts just one more time before being thrown behind bars.”

“Like I said, life often isn’t fair and it’s full of disappointments. But that doesn’t mean anything is permissible. This is a good chance to learn how to show self-restraint.”

He smiled and wiped her tears away with his thumb.

He felt certain she would be fine now.

If Anna Sprengel was after him, he could not allow the hospital to be caught in the crossfire.

Just like Maidono had her life to live, Kamijou had his own way of living his life.

He squeezed the whistle he was wearing around his neck ''even though he could not remember where it came from.

“I’m on my way,” he said while pushing open the emergency exit with his shoulder.