Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

This here is footage of the curb where a streetlight was conveniently broken. A nearby gas station surveillance camera caught it. It shows the two Honey Queen members and a few from their support organization. I doubt we would have any luck pursuing the main two right away, but if we ask these thugs for information, we should learn where Ainame Caroline keeps her hideout or how to contact her. But once we have that information, we have to attack. If possible, we could also threaten them to bring them to us or scare them away, luring them into an ambush. Basically, it’s like shogi or chess. They might have a path to victory using their Thoughtography, but that won’t work if both sides are working to predict each other. It’s just we have to do it without the help of an esper power.”

Mugino Shizuri said all this while lying face down in the nude.

Kinuhata and Takitsubo had complained enough to convince Mugino to leave the blimp hotel, so they had moved their base to District 21. That was a mountainous district with several dams, but it was secretly famous for its villas. It had plenty of cottages that could be rented out in place of a hotel. Few people wanted to camp out in the mountains with a typhoon approaching, so it had an unusual number of vacancies for the summer season.

Since those two had been granted their wish, they were providing a massage in exchange.

Takitsubo tilted her head while pouring oil onto her palm from a bottle.

“They have a different vibe from our support organization.”

“Super true. They’re like a cross between a gambler and an intellectual,” said Kinuhata, curiously moving her fingers inside bumpy rubber massage gloves.

“Kinuhata, do you know what to do now?” asked Takitsubo.

“I have the gloves, so you super check the example video. I’m supposed to rub these on her skin to scrub the filth away, right? I can handle that part since I’m second to none when it comes to power.”

Mugino began to worry it wasn’t safe to leave herself in those two’s hands.

“By following those intellectual thugs from camera to camera, we know their destination was District 22.”

“The district that’s all located underground?”

“For some reason, an unusual number of people gather at a defunct bowling alley there. Hey, Voice on the Phone.”

“Oh, shut up. Your healthy teenage skin doesn’t even need a massage. Why is it like this with you!? I wish I had time to look after my skin that well. I spend so much time sitting down there’s something visibly wrong with the surface of my skin – maybe it’s a circulation issue? …Anyway, that old building was supplied with slot machines, a sturdy safe, and so on. Following the money, I’d say it’s an illegal casino.”

If the Voice on the Phone had checked behind the scenes, that was almost certainly true.

“They have casinos in Japan as part of large integrated resorts, so why go super out of your way to risk using an illegal one?”

“Kinuhata, they are breaking the law to gather on the dark side when they could safely gamble by spending half a day traveling to Guam or Hawaii. They want a local gambling house that’s as convenient as stopping by the convenience store.”

And aside from that, traveling in or out of Academy City was a challenge.

While Item paid their support organization’s wages, Honey Queen apparently had theirs ''support themselves''. That meant they didn’t have to directly pay their subordinates, but it meant the support organization would grow beyond their control and any mistake it made could get its members arrested by Anti-Skill, which could spread to Honey Queen getting arrested too.

“The casino also runs online slots and poker, but they use some brutal settings,” said the Voice on the Phone. “They let the customers win just enough to get them hooked, but then they take them to the cleaners, leaving them deep in debt. It’s all set up that way from the beginning. Damn, the food here has really gone downhill. That’s sad.”

“She didn’t lose big there at some point, did she?” said Mugino, clearly exasperated.

Frenda didn’t have to help with the massage, so she grinned over from a short distance away.

“In the end, is our next mission sneaking into the casino and gathering information there?”

“I’ll be satisfied if we find any information on Honey Queen’s hideouts or activities on the computers or paper documents there, but if that doesn’t work, we can always find some thugs that probably knows something and knock them out with dart of barbital or ketamine hydrochloride.”

“Um, Mugino. A tranquilizer gun filled with a mixture of different drugs isn’t as convenient as it might seem. If you don’t use a neutralizing agent quickly enough, they’ll never wake up again. In the end, it’s ''safer'' to knock out everyone in the room using the pressure of an explosive blast than to fire tranquilizer darts everywhere.”

“You know a lot about this, Frenda. And not just about bombs. You’re so smart,” said Takitsubo.

“Heh heh. Think I would look good as a cool science teacher in a lab coat and glasses? And when you get down to it, chemicals and bombs are the same thing. Explosions are just what we call a certain type of very rapid chemical reaction.”

Takitsubo and Frenda continued their conversation, but Kinuhata was a little disturbed by it all.

“Ugh. So we’re going to super trick them into letting us in?”

“Don’t like lying? In the end, even Anti-Skill and Judgement do sting operations. Wow! Isn’t it cool how having a badge or armband magically makes it okay?☆”

“The only time I enjoy being lied to is when the movie industry films in a southern US desert and then super labels it ‘Ancient Egypt’ in the movie. Also, the people who come when you call emergency services don’t abduct and torture people.”

“Yeah, cause it all depends on ''context''. If you confine a healthy person and cause them pain, it’s illegal, but if some clumsy girl restrains a struggling injured person and provides first aid in an extremely painful and indirect way, she’s considered innocent. Really makes you wonder if there even is a solid definition of ‘humane’.”

Frenda clearly wanted to do it and neither Mugino nor Takitsubo had questioned the idea.

Entering enemy territory and gathering information without rousing suspicions was a job for Frenda Seivelun since she could befriend anyone. That rare talent could be used to stop all fighting across the globe and bring smiles to all of humanity, but it could also be abused in the hands of the dark side.

“I’d be terrible going undercover, so you can handle this one, Frenda. You can choose whether to disguise yourself as a rich customer or a new part-timer.”

“In the end, only someone who works there would be able to check the staff-only section in the back. So should I use my card trick skills to become a dealer? Or should I use this perfect sexy body to become a bunny girl?”

“Wait, wait, super wait!” interrupted Kinuhata.

She ignored Mugino protesting that she was getting distracted while rubbing her sensitive skin.

“I’m not letting you super handle everything just because I’m the newest member. Undercover investigations are super risky, aren’t they? And when we don’t know the conditions for the enemy’s Thoughtography, your cover could be super blown even if you don’t make a single mistake.”

“In the end, I’m not sure it counts as an ‘undercover investigation’ when we’re villains without the official right to investigate.”

“I super don’t care. If this is what we’re doing, that’s fine, but I’m the best choice for this kind of dangerous job. Because if something super goes wrong, I can protect myself with Offense Armor.”

If her cover was blown and bullets started flying when there was no escape, Kinuhata’s ability to block bullets with her power gave her an overwhelming advantage.

However.

Frenda blinked a few times, looking surprised.

“In the end, I hope you don’t think that nitrogen barrier is the ultimate cheat armor that blocks all physical and elemental attacks. Or are you underestimating these people because they’re from a support organization? If they have a stun gun, capacitor bullets, ''or some other weapon that uses a powerful enough electrical current to trigger electrical breakdown, your thin gas barrier is powerless.'' And the villains who work in an illegal casino full of bunny girls love using toys that don’t leave a mark on the skin.”

It was best not to imagine what fate awaited Kinuhata if she was knocked out by an electric shock. The stories of organs being worth more the fresher they were was only the very beginning when it came to the dark side.

Scientific esper powers were commonplace in Academy City, so the villains there had developed their own special tactics for fighting back against those powers. It was naïve to assume a special power ''guaranteed'' safety.

Anything they did meant risk.

On the dark side, it was possible the small child passing you by on the street would stab you.

“Everyone has their area of expertise. Can you keep a stupidly carefree face when they have all their weapons and powers aimed your way and then sneak in without rousing suspicion, newbie? I doubt it. In the end, you can let everyone’s beloved big sister Frenda sneak in and gather that intel☆”

“Super shut up. And I won’t let you call me that again once this job is over.”

“?”

“Newbie. It’s been a month since I joined Item, so it’s super time you stopped that.”