Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter3 (section)

===Part 5===

The secret behind magic tricks was always quite simple.

And unlike a mystery novel, there was no rule in reality saying all the necessary information to reach the answer had to be provided in advance.

“This way.”

“…”

Uiharu Kazari gulped when an alto girl’s voice called out to her.

The mystery girl gesturing for her to follow turned back to look at her.

“This is something of a main road for the delivery drones because the signal is best here. They check the massive amount of map data in the rooftop relay antenna and learn how to fly to the next base antenna on their own.”

Antennas needed more than just an elevated location. They were only one part of the wired network linked to the thick communication cables, so they required some way of attaching an industrial cable.

In other words, the two girls were underground.

[[Image:Railgun_BW7.png|thumb]]


They were in a conduit used by all the thick cables.

Several cables thicker than Uiharu’s arm ran through a concrete space so cramped even someone as short as her had to duck to avoid scraping her flowery head. The conduit may have also been used for the power lines connected to the wind turbines. It felt exceedingly long, but that may have been due to the lack of any light other than the other girl’s phone. She could not see very far down the conduit.

“Are you the seller?”

“What if I am?”

The alto-voiced girl was probably a high schooler.

She had the bleached blonde hair and brown-tanned skin often seen in District 15.

The adults might not see much difference between middle and high schoolers, but that framework created an absolute barrier for Uiharu. If she wasn’t careful, she would forget about the situation she found herself in and let the older girl take command just because she was older.

“You shouldn’t have to meet me directly since the deal is made by piggybacking on the network of drones flying overhead. So why did you come to me?”

“To warn you,” replied Uiharu.

“…”

“If I could reach you, then anyone else could using the same methods. It’s a clever system, but there is no such thing as absolute safety. I recommend you do something about this security hole as soon as possible.”

“Hoping I’ll be grateful enough to reward you in some way?”

“No, hoping you will be impressed enough to pay for my services.”

It all came down to this.

She didn’t need to act tough. She could be her usual earnest self.

“With my help, you can develop a much safer method. I don’t know why you’re selling this perfect suicide tool, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t a nonprofit act of charity. So how about you pay for the extra safety I can provide you?”

“Hm,” groaned the girl as if appraising her.

No.

The high school girl really was eyeing Uiharu from head to toe.

She had taken aim at Uiharu and dragged her down below the surface.

She must have noticed Mikoto and Shirai keeping an eye on things. If not, she could have just spoken to Uiharu in the alley without going to all this trouble.

That meant ''it was working.

The mystery high school girl was elated over outsmarting Mikoto and Shirai, which loosened her lips. It was more of a physical reflex than a psychological thing, similar to the reaction after leaving a dark and spooky tunnel or a haunted house. If Uiharu claimed to have intentionally escaped their surveillance, it would sound a lot more realistic to the seller than if she tried to act like a villain.

Ultimately, the girl started talking on her own.

“So you don’t want to use it?”

“…”

“You aren’t asking for some kind of special deal either. You want to join our group and make a profit off of our perfect suicide tool?”

“I’m not interested in the suicide itself. I wouldn’t have a use for the tool even if I had a copy.”

“How rational of you.” Her alto voice lowered further in tone. “Keep in mind that this isn’t a fraction of users dying after an accident or after overusing the app. We created a tool people buy for no other reason than to die and we sell it, converting lives into money.”

“I am also not interested in ExitApp itself. I will earn my share while handling the security countermeasures one step removed from all of that. You don’t strike me as the kind of person who optimistically believes in heaven. Well, neither am I. I can rationally work the numbers and they tell me I’m better off helping sell this app than using it. You arrived at the same conclusion, didn’t you?”

“Hm,” she said for the second time.

But the nuance was different this time. The scales within her were tilting. Uiharu was not so oblivious that she failed to notice that. And even if Uiharu’s people-reading skills had only been trained in an ordinary classroom, she could tell where this was headed.

In other words…

(I’m in troub-)

“''Hm.''”

A loud thud rang out.

The tanned high school girl had repeated that same sound again.

Uiharu’s vision flashed in and out. It took her a few seconds to realize she had been grabbed by the collar and slammed back first into the wall. Her feet were only still on the ground because the ceiling was so low.

The difference in strength between them was too great.

“Kah, ah!!”

(Oh, no! I failed to earn her trust!)

Uiharu had discovered this security hole before anyone else, so had the girl decided to it would be safer to silence her than hire her?

(Wh-what do I do?)

She had her phone in her skirt pocket. And she had used her handiness to modify the strobe flash into a handmade stun gun. But releasing that high voltage current while this close to the target could end up shocking her as well. It was especially dangerous with the other girl’s arm against her neck and chest. Incapacitating her opponent was meaningless if she stopped her own heart in the process.

But she couldn’t let this girl get away either.

If she allowed her to escape, she would go into hiding and start another job somewhere else.

Then ExitApp would take even more people’s lives. The repeated practice runs would lower the hurdle of suicide and even give that final push to people who hadn’t really intended to die.

(What can I do!?)

But then the girl said something unexpected.

She whispered in her alto voice from directly in front of Uiharu.

“It’s true I developed the health management software known as ExitApp.”

“?”

(She isn’t just a seller? I found the developer already!?)

That was enough of a surprise.

Uiharu had trouble imagining someone who looked like that wearing a lab coat, but there were science-loving gyarus with bleached hair, tanned skin, gawdy nails, and beads. If first impressions were enough to know who someone truly was, no one would bother developing the AI-linked security camera networks meant for use in airports.

This unnecessary revelation only made Uiharu more of a threat. And with a real criminal, this could be enough of a reason to kill her.

But the girl didn’t stop.

“''I came here because I hate that people are making money off of this. I wanted to take out the people selling it.''”

“?”

Uiharu gasped for a reason separate from the hand on her collar or her back against the wall.

She wasn’t sure what to make of this.

But the high school gyaru looked to the side while keeping Uiharu pressed against the wall. She stared into the deep darkness of the long conduit and spoke in her alto voice.

“They’re here.”

“Wh-who is?”

Uiharu realized what was happening as soon as she asked. She heard footsteps from the darkness. And not just one set. There were several people approaching.

“The customers.” The blonde, tanned high school girl spat the words with her eyes still on the shadows. “I’ve already taken down a few of their sales routes, but they saw me in the area a couple of times. They already know I’m the developer. If they can’t nab me at the storefront, they’ll aim for my workshop.”

“…”

“Come with me.” She let go of Uiharu’s collar. “I’ll show you some mercy. If I left you here, they might rip you to shreds.”

Uiharu choked while she finally searched through her skirt pocket for her modified phone. Whether she was aware of the stun gun feature or not, the high school girl scoffed at Uiharu’s action.

She whispered with the face of a fearless teenager.

“Most of the people who try out ExitApp are suicidal kids who don’t want to break the law. They keep using it as a part of their daily routine, but they abandon it before crossing that line. But that doesn’t apply to this group.”

“(Is she really aware I can do this? Let’s see, I need to start up the default camera mode, wait for the strobe flash’s high-capacity capacitors to fully charge, and then I can switch it on and off with the extra physical switch I added to the side.)”

“They’re willing to attack someone to get their hands on the perfect suicide tool, so these people won’t stop when they have to break the law. …Hm? What are you muttering abou-”

“Yah!”

“Gyahhhh!!!!!!”

When Uiharu squeezed her eyes shut and thrust out the object she held in both hands, the mysterious high school girl was easily brought to the ground. She had set the stun gun to a maximum voltage of nearly 200 thousand volts. Contrary to what dramas and movies would have you believe, stun guns did not usually fully knock people out. The high school girl was lying on her back with her limbs twitching, but she appeared to still be conscious. As a District 15 gyaru in a short skirt, the (surprisingly plain and white) underwear situation made her look especially pitiful. She was unfortunately unable to consciously shut her legs or fix her skirt at the moment.

Mysterious or not, she was still human.

Uiharu wiped the sweat from her brow while looking down at the mystery girl trembling in silence, but she had another issue to focus on.

Several sets of footsteps were still approaching.

She got the impression they would find her and easily capture her if she stayed here.

These people wanted ExitApp even if it meant assaulting someone, so she couldn’t expect much in the way of morality from them. Leaving the developer collapsed on the ground here would end badly and Uiharu was the one who had put her in that position, so she had no choice but to carry the older girl with her.

That meant it was time for a benevolent kidnapping.

The older girl’s curviness against her back irritated Uiharu. Simply put, the high school girl had bigger boobs than a middle schooler like Uiharu.

“Okay, she was putting on this invincible aura that practically dared you to try something and it’s only human nature to want to accept that challenge, right? Still, what was I thinking?”

“Yeah, that’s a really good question!! Pant, gasp. I was holding a peaceful, civilized conversation and then you tased me out of nowhere, you maniac!!”

“Ugh, ugh. Shut up. Why are you so heavy? I should just leave you here.”

“Please, don’t! I’ll tell you everything, so at least take responsibility by carrying me until I can move on my own!!”