Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 5===

Earlier, Shirai Kuroko teleported from the platform roof to the elevated railway. She could use a series of teleports to travel at a speed equivalent to a sports car, but she instead chose to travel on foot this time. Not even she was sure why she avoided high-speed travel and instead chose to walk slowly along the track.

The train tracks were a dangerous area you weren’t meant to walk through in the first place. Plus, the gathered darkness keeping her from seeing very far ahead may have triggered an instinctual fear within her.

At any rate, Shirai Kuroko walked along the elevated railway with Matsuriba, the young driver of the Overhunting, and Alice, the girl left in her care. She didn’t like getting the driver involved, but she knew nothing about railroads and needed assistance from someone with the appropriate knowledge. Alice came too. No one knew why.

(Wait, I only teleported myself and the driver from the platform to the roof. When and how did she follow me onto the roof and then onto the railway?)

Shirai wanted to get to the bottom of this case, so she was headed to the likely center of the action. The escaped prisoners were unlikely to return to the train, so leaving Alice at the platform should have been the safest option, so what was she doing here?

Alice looked perfectly harmless smiling up at Shirai, but that just made everything about her more confusing.

The fairy tale dress was also curious. Not to mention the short sleeves. Clothing that didn’t match the season was a sign of someone on the run for a long period of time, but could that really be the case here?

Eventually, they heard a voice. They hadn’t even traveled 300m by that point.

“Yes, yes.”

Shirai immediately grabbed Matsuriba and Alice’s hands and teleported. The elevated railway traveled in a straight line, but it stuck out a bit from its meter-high concrete walls. The drop from there was about 7 meters, but she could approach whoever-this-was if she traveled along the outside of that wall.

She held a finger to her lips to tell the other two to stay quiet.

“…”

The lack of noticeable obstacles along the track gave a clear view in both directions and it was easy to overlook the walkable section past the walls, so they had managed to get in a blind spot.

The voice coming from the other side of the thick wall belonged to an adult woman.

“I’ve had a realization, Yomikawa-senpai. I’ve realized the truth. Operation Handcuffs was an obvious failure. Attempting to clear out the dark side while keeping our hands clean triggered a powerful backlash. That’s what brought down Handcuffs, right? So we need to make some adjustments to keep that from happening. Anti-Skill needs to adapt more flexibly to the state of the city if it hopes to keep the peace.”

(Who is she talking to? Is she on the phone?)

“Do you have any idea what you’re saying?”

“Of course I do. We need to be more open minded. Call it a plea bargain or a witness protection program if you must, but we’ve decided to call ourselves ''Anti-Skill Negotiators'' and we actively negotiate with the criminals. We can use that to make the technology seen in Operation Handcuffs our own and use that to defeat even more powerful criminals. From there, we just have to repeat the process, our power growing each time. The power scattered by Handcuffs will be absorbed by Handcuffs and used to end it once and for all. Anti-Skill doesn’t need to suffer any more damages tonight.”

“Anti-Skill only has the right to arrest. We have no right to determine a suspect’s guilt or reduce their punishment. You lack the power to keep the promises you’re making!”

“Yes, and?”

“First of all, some of the criminals you’re talking about using are minor students and they will come to harm using your methods. What do you do if they end up hurt or worse!?”

“Why should I have to do anything? ''They’re criminals'', so why should I care what happens to them?”

“Tessou…Tessou Tsuzuri!!”

That name came as a shock.

Shirai knew her.

(Are you kidding? She’s changed so much I didn’t even recognize her. Is this really the same timid Tessou-san?)

Surviving Handcuffs may have acted as a baptism for her.

December 25 had been a nightmare for everyone involved. That bloody night had been so horrific it was a miracle anyone had survived. It may have been a radicalizing event for some.

“Oh, please, Yomikawa-senpai. Did you learn nothing after surviving Handcuffs and crawling out of the hell that was South District 7 General Anti-Skill Station?”

“Kh.”

“The nightmares plague me every time I try to sleep. Now I know there are people who don’t see the world the way we do and can’t possibly be saved. Criminals can be useful, but they are too dangerous to let loose. If you insist on denying these simple truths, then you’re making a mockery of all our colleagues who died helpless and in vain while trying to the end to be the good teachers serving to protect the city’s children. Also…”

The speaker paused there.

(Oh, no.)

Shirai Kuroko’s hand wandered through empty space until it found the driver and she teleported him to the ground. Alice had already disappeared of her own accord, but Shirai didn’t have time to question that.

“''I can see you,''” said the voice beyond the wall.

“Dammit!!”

The meter-tall concrete wall was mercilessly blown away. If Shirai hadn’t teleported away a moment before, the scattershot of fragments would have knocked her from the elevated railway.

She teleported to the center of the track.

The person who ended the call and stored the phone in her chest was an adult woman with glasses and curly black hair blowing in the night breeze. Shirai knew her to be the timid type, but no sign of that remained.

She wore a black jacket and tight skirt, but the outfit would never have fit in at an ordinary office. The belts around her hips and shoulder looked more military than anything. For some reason, the Anti-Skill emblem stitched onto the shoulder belt was upside down. Instead of a gun on her hip, she wore a large whip, a stun baton, pepper spray, an LED strobe light, a spherical wireless speaker, and more gadgets. It initially seemed like a motley collection of SM gear, self-defense tools, and A/V equipment, but Shirai realized what they all had in common.

(Those are all used in nature parks and circuses to get large animals to obey.)

The hooked pole she held was used by animal tamers.

The Anti-Skill Negotiator grinned and scraped that along the ground.

Shirai had heard that loud noises and strong smells could be as effective as direct pain against an animal with sharp senses. Although in those cases, it might be referred to as a repellant instead of pepper spray.

Someone else stood alongside her.

The woman was cowering nervously and looked to be college aged – no, probably a bit older than that. Her long chestnut hair was tied back with a simple hair tie. She wore an apron over a sweater and skinny jeans, giving her the look of a homemaker. Light gleamed from her left hand’s ring finger. It could always be fake, but that suggested she was married and had a family.

But something else clashed with the rest of her look.

A neon color shined atop her head. She wore a pair of triangular devices resembling cat ears. They were attached like headphones and they made constant subtle adjustments in response to the wearer’s thoughts.

That was clearly a next-gen weapon.

And if what Tessou Tsuzuri had said was accurate…

(Is she a criminal who made a deal with this so-called Anti-Skill Negotiator? But wait. I don’t remember anyone like her during Handcuffs.)

Shirai was suspicious, but she couldn’t deny the possibility either. Too many people had died during Operation Handcuffs to keep track of everything.

But now was not the time to frown in thought.

The apron woman may not have been the belligerent type. She was stooped over and cowering with tears in her eyes as she asked a nervous question of the woman in a black military uniform.

“E-excuse me, but is what you just said, um, true?”

“Oh? Ohh? Ohhhhh???”

[[Image:GT_Index_v05_BW7.jpg|thumb]]

The Anti-Skill Negotiator on the other hand sounded amused. She moved her legs adorned with garter belts and black stockings, clacked her sharp heels against the ground, moved her lips over to the apron woman’s ear, and tore into the other woman’s heart with a voice loud enough that even Shirai could hear it.

“What makes you think a criminal’s family deserves an ordinary life?'' Would you prefer I spread some rumors around your neighborhood so you can never go back to the life you had?”

“!?”

It was Shirai Kuroko of Judgment who gasped, not the apron woman herself.

Did that woman not realize she was violating an unforgivable taboo for anyone with the ability to search people’s personal information at a deeper level than the average person!?

“Ah ha ha! I hope you’re ready to deal with graffiti on your house, stones thrown through your windows, and raw garbage left at your front door. Your name will be on all the trending search lists. You see, people don’t give a crap about the rights of bad people, especially when they’re strangers. And people with too much time on their hands will do just about anything to feel self-righteous. I wouldn’t go outside at night if I were you. A van might pull up and snatch you off the street. You and your family!!”

This was pure malice.

It was the ultimate cruelty where you stripped all other options from someone until they had no choice but to continue toward the precipice. The scum who tamed humans like animals used her whispered words more than her whip or stun baton.

She made a show of driving the verbal blade into the soul found deep in the apron woman’s chest.

“Do you get it now, ''Rakuoka'' Nodoka-chan?”

That name was enough for Shirai Kuroko to sense something snap in her mind.

Maybe he hadn’t been a good person. Maybe Operation Handcuffs had revealed him to be a harmful villain.

But.

“Tessouuuuu!!!!!!”

Shirai’s shout was repelled by a deep metallic noise.

The apron woman stepped forward to shield the black military uniform woman.

Rakuoka Nodoka’s weapon was neon-colored metal that protectively surrounded her hands. She held them in her hands and passed her fingers through them to enhance her fists like high-tech brass knuckles. She scraped them together before spreading them to either side.

“We’ve found your second target, Nodoka-chan. C’mon, hurry it up. I don’t want to dirty my own hands. I can’t let my involvement get out until we’ve managed to build ourselves a solid enough foundation within Anti-Skill.”

(Did she punch through the concrete wall with that? No, enhancing an ordinary fist couldn’t accomplish that. And at her age, I doubt she’s an esper.)

Shirai Kuroko pulled a few metal darts from her thigh belts, but Rakuoka Nodoka was more afraid of someone other than the enemy in front of her.

“Wh-what are you going to do? This girl looks like ordinary Judgment. Eek, eek. Can you really ''trap'' someone who hasn’t done anything wrong?”

“Kh.”

“Nodoka-chaaan. Don’t phrase it like that. Are you doing this on purpose?”

(Whatever the case, she isn’t an esper. If only these darts weren’t so powerful. And I can’t use them for defense either!!)

This woman wasn’t even a criminal.

The government workers in charge of rehabilitating criminals had a duty to protect not just the victim but the perpetrator’s family from any social backlash. But a public agency’s network was being used to threaten this woman and force her to commit crimes against her will. ''What was she if not a victim?

With all the pain and suffering, it was unclear if she even knew what she was doing, so it was possible she could not be held legally responsible here. And Shirai personally hoped it would turn out that way.

She only wanted to take down this villain using justice as a disguise.

More and more brutal words were used like a whip against the puppet’s ass.

“Get going!! Make yourself useful or I’m posting photos of your home on social media. Ah ha ha hee hee. Do you want your lovely and comfortable family torn apart because you’re the sister of some criminal scum!?”

“Uhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Don’t listen to her, Rakuoka Nodoka-san! Dammit!!”

Rakuoka Nodoka approached with greater strength than expected.

Her skinny arms suggested she had never worked out a day in her life, but a punch from those metal fists could easily be fatal.

“!!”

Shirai Kuroko escaped outside of her punching range.

She couldn’t attack either, so she kept teleporting away, focusing on Rakuoka Nodoka’s feet. Specifically, on her short-heeled pumps.

(If I can break one of her shoe’s heels to knock her off balance, she won’t be able to rush toward me in that moment. But that’s all the opening I need. I can use that moment to end this by defeating that Anti-Skill Negotiator grinning behind her!!)

Shirai Kuroko did not see Rakuoka Nodoka as an enemy. It didn’t matter where she came from. When she was so blatantly being threatened by a third party, she was a victim needing protection. More than that, it made this a battle she could not afford to lose for the sake of the Anti-Skill man she had fought alongside.

She would not harm her.

Killing her was entirely out of the question.

She was sick of the cruelty seen in Operation Handcuffs.

But ''she didn’t know the full truth.

Shirai Kuroko had not seen the end of Operation Handcuffs after it was so distorted by the Coins of Nicholas, so she didn’t know how this particular case had begun.

She did not know that Rakuoka Houfu and his family had gotten away with murder in the past. She did not know he had strayed from the straight and narrow to dispose of the body of a malicious stalker who wouldn’t leave his sister alone.

So a question.

Rakuoka Houfu had disposed of the body, but who had that body belonged to? Kihara Heikin. That specialist in psychological research had belonged to a family infamous in a certain field and he had a bad habit of mixing his personal and professional lives. But who was it that managed to locate that monster hidden nearby, attack him, and end his life without giving him a chance to fight back?

The answer stood before Shirai now.

An impossible impact struck her in the forehead.

No amount of external boosting should have brought such a slender fist to this level and Shirai had been out of punching range regardless, yet her brain was rattled all the same.

Woozy, she heard something slicing through the air and hallucinated a great flying serpent.

Only then did she realize what was happening.

(So…that’s it.)

Once you noticed it, it seemed silly.

But if you failed to notice until it hit, even the cheapest of tricks could be very effective.

Shirai was a Level 4 Teleporter. She could ignore the three-dimensional restrictions and warp to whatever coordinate she wanted, but this apron-wearing homemaker was holding her own against that high-level esper.

In other words…

(I don’t know if it’s to extend her reach or boost her power, but is she ''swinging the brass knuckles around on some kind of rope.''!?)

The rope was cheap. It looked like she had a sturdy cardboard tube around it to protect her hands from the friction.

It was less like a Western flail or morning star and more like the flying claw developed in China during the Ming dynasty. That weapon swung some finger-like claws at the end of a long rope. It was unlikely Rakuoka Nodoka had dug that deep into history, though.

It wasn’t that this was all Rakuoka Nodoka could do.

Just think back to her first move. With nothing more than the cat’s paw brass knuckles on her hands, she had easily broken through a concrete wall.

That suggested she was more destructive at closer range.

The really scary part was the incredible luck involved in sensing her disadvantage, immediately coming up with a clever solution, creating it on the spot, and proving it to be effective.

''This ordinary homemaker could convert a discount store into a collection of weapons more deadly than a military armory. Those deadly crafting skills were here true essence.

“Bff?”

Shirai didn’t have time to shout.

With her head so rattled, she couldn’t teleport even when she noticed the threat approaching.

The apron woman tugged on the rope to retrieve the blunt weapon and then moved in close while readying her other fist. Maybe she had thick springs at her armpits and elbows because the body blow that hit Shirai’s gut from below felt like it was rocket powered and even lifted her feet from the ground. More than that, it sent her soaring through the air.

Rakuoka Nodoka could draw on as much deadly force as she needed and she was being threatened into doing precisely that.

The Anti-Skill Negotiator would negotiate with anyone involved in this case and make use of them even if it meant their deaths.

It was an extremely dangerous combination. They had more than enough power already, but the threat level could grow endlessly if Hanatsuyu Youen, Benizome Jellyfish, or someone else was convinced to obey as well.

Tessou Tsuzuri.

That woman’s own physical abilities were an unknown, but she was definitely dangerous enough to make use of Operation Handcuffs and all the human desire and violence packed into it.

Whether it was the Carrier or the artificial ghost, she could squeeze out all the bizarre technology anyone was hiding.

Shirai Kuroko understood all this, but she couldn’t find a solution.

She could considerably reduce the chance of being hit by teleporting around, but her physical endurance was the same as any middle school 1st year. Her head was rattled and it was a struggle to breath. She could not recover right away, so she was helplessly dumped off of the elevated railway.

Her badly blurring vision caught sight of a tearful smile.

Now she understood.

If she had collapsed atop the railway, Rakuoka Nodoka feared the Anti-Skill Negotiator would laugh and crush her head under her sharp heel. ''Whether it was warranted or not,'' someone who felt no guilt could not be threatened into obeying. That meant the corrupt Anti-Skill officer would have no choice but to physically eliminate her. To avoid that, the kind homemaker had intentionally sent the pitiful loser over the edge.

Shirai was again saved by someone with the name Rakuoka.

She bit her lip, still unable to clear her vision.

But the 29th threatened to transform Rakuoka’s kindness and compassion into something deadly.