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

===Part 6===

Shokuhou Misaki grimaced while hiding behind cover.

She groaned and shook her long honey-blonde hair. She was leaning back against a concrete wall while seated on the ground. A child would have known the cold might freeze her skin to the wall, but she was too preoccupied to even consider that risk.

Misaka Mikoto had been taken out of the fight.

They had no direct fighter left. She knew they were out of options, but she could not ask for a do-over either.

She looked up while still leaning back against the wall. The wall appeared to belong to a department store. Instead of the fancy ones she would shop at, this one was directly connected to a largish subway station. You could maybe call it a vertical supermarket.

There was another wall here too.

She was hiding behind a partially scrapped superweapon.

The Five Over, Model Case: Mental Out had collapsed on its side. She was holding her breath and lost in thought while hidden behind that ichneumon wasp device. Sound, heat, and the color white all scared her at the moment. Because she did not understand how Anna worked. For example, who could say she could not detect carbon dioxide?

(Five minutes.)

She had no plan.

She could see the hospital’s roof even from here. The pointy-haired boy, the clone girls undergoing treatment, and the many other patients and workers were there. Any option that allowed that monster to reach the hospital was out of the question.

Even if she was going to grab the antidote or vaccine, it had to be done safely.

And that safety included herself, Kamijou, and even all the other people out there. The Queen of Tokiwadai honestly was not that compassionate, but she was following that boy’s rules for today. It all had to follow that.

(It won’t take her even five minutes to reach the hospital on foot. Even if I manage to get him out of there now, she still might see us and chase after us. Not to mention our footprints in the snow.)

And on top of that, there was Anna Sprengel’s strength. She was hopelessly powerful. Shokuhou hated to admit it, but that was not someone she could outdo with her #5 Mental Out alone. She could not defeat her and she could not even escape from her.

That was set in stone.

No matter how much she prayed, she could not change it.

So she knew full well that if she was going to rejoin the fight, she needed ''someone or something else’s help.

The first thing that came to mind was the thing she was using as a shield.

(I never touched this thing before today, so it kind of scares me how readily it obeyed me. This suit doesn’t support you by messing with your head, does it?)

She held a remote in her dominate hand, but she moved her other hand’s fingers like she was operating an invisible marionette. Even she was confused by how smoothly her fingers moved independently of each other.

However, the weapon itself had been partially reduced to scrap.

It could not take flight at full speed with her in its grasp. At most, it could run along the ground while dragging its bent and smashed form around. That would be like asking to be shot by Anna.

(Which means…)

“…”

She let out a heavy breath, pulled out her mirror, and used that to check on things outside of her cover.

Misaka Mikoto remained motionless.

She was still collapsed on the ground with the chilly wind whipping at her chestnut bangs and short skirt. Shokuhou could not see her face, so she could not actually tell if the girl was conscious or not.

They were only a few meters apart, but those few meters of unguarded space were a deadly barrier at the moment.

She would be killed the instant she stepped out.

A millimeter and a kilometer were no different. She had to assume she stood on a precipice and that taking one step out would mean being devoured by the great maw of death.

Mikoto had crossed to the other side.

No one living could reach her anymore.

(Argh, Misaka-san is the one that’s supposed to come bowing to me and ask to come under my umbrella. Then there wouldn’t be any risk for me! And if she was awake and capable of accepting the rule of her beautiful queen, I could ignore her solid defenses and control her. But she’ll reject my commands while unconscious!)

Shokuhou heard a quiet footstep.

She quickly pulled the mirror back before actually confirming what had caused it.

The enemy must have noticed her.

That was the master of the other side.

To a member of the living, that was the grim reaper who would drag them into the darkness.

In other words, that was Anna Sprengel. Shokuhou doubted she could escape detection just by holding her breath behind cover. Not to mention that Anna had only hunted down those who impeded her path to the hospital. Mikoto and Shokuhou had not been attacked because they were Level 5s. They had been attacked because they ''just so happened'' to be on the straight line path between Anna and the hospital.

Anna would keep going no matter who stood in her way.

She would crush and tear through everything that stood along that invisible path.

“There’s no time.”

It was already surprising Shokuhou was still alive at all. And if Anna was no longer interested in her, Anna would probably ignore her if she just left. But “probably” was not good enough right now. If Anna held a small hand out toward her back on a whim, that was the end right there.

She wanted something she could do.

Something that would distract Anna Sprengel enough to create an opening for her to escape.

Sending the half-scrapped Five Over would be the height of folly. Even if it barely provided any defense, she would still be throwing out her only shield. Not to mention its speed was severely restricted since it did not even have all of its legs left. Anna would be able to dodge it with a single casual step to the side, or she could blow it away with an attack of her own if she felt like it. …And if that attack tore through the machine, it would also hit Shokuhou behind it.

(That only leaves one option.)

The look in Shokuhou Misaki’s eyes grew colder.

It was now icier than the snow.

This was the face of the Queen of Tokiwadai’s largest clique. It was the look of the one who had torn down so many rivals and ruled a world of influence where pretty ideals were not enough.

Her rational mind provided a coldhearted answer.

(''Using'' Misaka-san would be the easiest and most certain method.)

Anna was only interested in ''that'' pointy-haired high school boy.

She was not interested in Mikoto, but surely she would be somewhat cautious of that physical fighter ranked #3. She had already moved to defend herself and strike back against the girl, so whether or not Anna was aware of it, she had decided the #3 required more attention than the #5 whose power did not work at all.

The #5’s power to control minds did not work on the #3 who could control electricity.

It did not work, but Shokuhou knew Mikoto would react like she had a headache when rejecting the command.

Shokuhou spun the remote in her hand while still hidden behind cover.

(If I use my full power, won’t her body jerk even while unconscious?)

It was her ability to place this option on the table without hesitation that made her the Queen.

People’s ideas were not distinct points; they were a continuous stream. If you narrowed your options in advance based on taboos or what seemed sensible, you would cut off your access to further inspiration. The people who did things other people could not were generally a mess inside their heads. She had peeked inside a few monsters of that sort, so she understood that better than anyone.

(And once Anna looks over at Misaka-san on the ground, I’ll use the Five Over to escape. I don’t expect it to protect me, but I have a single chance to avoid her attack if its bent even slightly by all the metal and silicon inside this thing. That seems like the best I can do here.)

There were ways to use a lifeless machine even if its specs were lacking.

And even humans with lives of their own could be used to survive if you abandoned your morals.

“…”

She leaned back against the nearly-scrapped machine and looked up into the white sky as if trying to free herself from her human heart.

The Queen of Tokiwadai took a slow, deep breath.

A few dozen options danced in her head, but she could not find one with better odds of survival.

(I’m starting to feel silly trying so hard here. I don’t know how this enemy works, but she’s clearly cheating.)

Strength rapidly drained from her.

And despite relaxing, her body felt horribly heavy.

(Besides, why am I doing so much to support Misaka-san and why do I feel so guilty about considering this? Since when were we such good friends? She’s not even in my clique. I have no real obligation to look after her. If I turn tail and run, the hospital is right there. And if I can get him out of there, then the hospital won’t be attacked.)

If they did not acquire the vaccine, antidote, or whatever else, then running away would only mean waiting for Kamijou Touma to die.

And her own odds of success were extremely low.

They were low, but not nonexistent.

(I can probably only use the half-destroyed Five Over just one more time.)

The Queen of Tokiwadai’s cold side appeared on her face.

(So I should leave Misaka-san here and escape for the time being. And when that sadist Anna Sprengel decides to attack Misaka-san while she’s defenseless, I can ram the Five Over into her, or…)

Trying to save Misaka Mikoto here would save no one.

That would only get them all killed.

But abandoning her might open the door for saving some people.

“At times like this…”

Shokuhou Misaki of course had lines she refused to cross.

For example, she would not eat a burger full of artificial ingredients even if she was stranded on a snowy mountain in the middle of winter. She had other rules like that that she held dear. But wasn’t she following his rules instead for today?

However…

“''Disappearing from his memories no matter what I do'' is annoying as can be, but it has its upside. No matter how this turns out, he won’t hold a grudge against me or criticize my actions.”

She heard another footstep on the snowy road.

There was no prideful demonstration and no merciful final warning. Anna Sprengel was like a freight train. She simply arrived and continued on her way. She would plow through whoever stood in her way without a second glance, even if they were the #3 or the #5.

She was close now.

If she moved any closer, the diversion plan would not work. Shokuhou needed to escape in a different direction from the diversion, so she could not have Anna close enough to kill them all with a single attack.

She could escape right now.

There was an alley between the department store and the next building. If she snuck in there while behind the Five Over, she could escape without Anna noticing.

“Misaka-san.”

This was the most logical answer.

Her voice had grown colder than a machine’s.

She held a remote in her right hand and she controlled the Five Over with her left hand. She held her one and only option in her head to intentionally drown out the noise there.

The word “responsibility” appeared in the back of her mind.

The Queen of Tokiwadai gulped and made up her mind.

“I won’t forget you for at least a week.”

An electrical sparking sound violently burst out.

Something moved.

Anna Sprengel’s eyes briefly strayed from her destination.

“Oh?”

She sounded amused.

A moment later, ''the half-destroyed Five Over, Model Case: Mental Out charged straight at Miss Sprengel.''

“Tch!! I can’t believe this!!” shouted Shokuhou Misaki as she more jumped than ran.

She heard a crash even worse than from a car accident, but that mass of several tons was meaningless against the small body of what looked like a ten-year-old.

Light erupted out and it was blown away like melted cheese in a single second.

Even with the support of the suit, there was simply not enough time to pick up Misaka Mikoto and princess carry her while jumping up onto a building rooftop.

Which was why she instead focused on the remote in her right hand.

She held it like a stake and slammed it against Misaka Mikoto’s right temple while the girl lay motionless on the ground with a thin layer of white snow accumulating on her.

“Wake up already!” she roared. “Misaka-saaan!!!!!!”

Shokuhou’s Mental Out would not reach the #3’s brain without Mikoto’s acceptance, but she knew it would give the girl a powerful headache.

''What if she could shake Mikoto’s mind enough to wake her up?''

She had no guarantee this would work.

It was no more than a poor gamble entirely based on speculation. No, it was wishful thinking she was clinging to in order to escape the other, crueler choice.

“Gah!?”

Someone groaned, but it was not Misaka Mikoto.

A dull impact had hit the #5 Queen in the side while she lay protectively over the other girl. The suit’s protection could hold back a handgun bullet, yet this knocked the breath out of her. Her vision flipped around and she could not prepare for her landing, so she ended up tumbling across the cold asphalt.

She had been kicked in the side.

It took her a few seconds to realize that simple fact. However it had happened, Anna Sprengel now stood right next to Mikoto. Shokuhou did not have time to check what had become of the Five Over. She had trouble breathing and started choking. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they only convulsed. Such a small body should not have been able to make an attack like that.

“Eastern martial arts are the best-known use of the lifeforce circulating through the body,” said Anna like this was some kind of joke. It had probably only looked like she was kicking a soccer ball. “But the Western Sephiroth also corresponds to the human body. It is possible to focus on the channels connecting the spheres to throw a punch or a kick that obstructs that flow of power. Hi-yah☆”

“Cough, ahh!!”

Shokuhou could not breathe. The blood vessels in her temples were throbbing, but that was not the actual problem. She could tell that some more important and unseen circulation had been obstructed.

Anna Sprengel lowered the small foot she had raised as if mimicking something.

She placed it on top of Misaka Mikoto’s right temple.

Shokuhou thought she heard a straining sound, but she knew she had to be imagining it. There was no way the straining of the skull could be heard from outside the body like this. And yet…

She had screwed up.

Her gamble had failed.

She had poured all her strength into Mental Out, yet failed to shake Misaka Mikoto awake.

''Or had she?''

“Ah…kh.”

A foot was pressing down on Misaka Mikoto’s head, but her eyelids cracked open. She could not do anything, but she did turn her eyes toward where Shokuhou Misaki lay collapsed on the ground too.

“Run… get out of here. Hurry.”

“…”

“You’re supposed to be the black-hearted Queen who runs off and gets that idiot out of the hospital, right? Then stop getting all hot-blooded. You need to abandon me here. Go and figure out a way to steal the vaccine or antidote by controlling a more useful esper than me. Weren't those the roles we agreed to here?”

The straining sound grew louder.

Mikoto grimaced like a metal spike was being driven into her temple, but she still yelled at the top of her lungs.

“So get up! Get up and get out of here, Shokuhou!!”

Hearing that really pissed Shokuhou off.

She was still trembling too much to stand up, but she clenched her teeth and adjusted her grip on her remote. She forcibly crawled the best she could with just her hands.

But not to run away.

She crawled toward Misaka Mikoto.

“I’m not… doing that, Misaka-saaan.”

It pissed her off that Mikoto did not understand something so simple. They never did seem able to see eye to eye, not even when they were saying much the same thing.

“Yes, I’m not obligated to save you. Yes, abandoning you and running away would probably be more efficient, more logical, and bring me more happiness.”

Anna did nothing.

But instead of giving them time to talk, she simply did not seem interested. And that was fine. Shokuhou did not need anyone’s permission to crawl along the ground and challenge this situation.

“But if I did that, it would make him sad.”

So she spat out the words.

It did not matter who was listening.

“It might be nice having another nuisance out of my hair and that might open up a happy future for me with him!! But it would make him sad if you had your head crushed here!! Yes, I hate this so much, but my own circumstances don’t matter right now. He might forget all about me and he might never be able to feel anger or hatred over me abandoning you! But ''I’ll'' still remember what I did!! And I’m sick of keeping secrets from him!!!!!!”

She crawled and crawled and crawled.

And she grabbed at Anna Sprengel’s leg. Anna had the small body of a ten-year-old, but she was as solid as a boring machine.

“Now, now,” said Anna. “This isn’t like you at all. Aren’t you supposed to be more like me?”

“I know that.” Snowy and muddy, Shokuhou smiled back at that scoffing voice. She spat out words full of self-contempt. “I know I’m a bad person. I know I break my own rules all the time to achieve my goals and then use my power to hide that I broke them. Again, I’ll break my own rules to achieve my goals.”

“…”

“So I’ll do anything for him.”

She managed to draw out just a bit of strength.

She found she could still move.

“And I will never do anything that makes him cry. He saved my life, so I will protect the world that lets him live with a smile on his face. That is my number one rule and it trumps issues of good and evil!!!!!!”

But the Queen of Tokiwadai did not think she could move Anna a single millimeter.

Instead, she moved her dominant hand to grab her remote and aim it at Misaka Mikoto’s head again.

“If you’re conscious, then let this through.” She clenched her teeth and raised her voice. “If you want to fight to save him, then lend me your strength!!!!!!”

No pain, regulated breathing, emergency consumption of the body’s water and fat reserves, elimination of the physical restrictions brought on by fear, cutting the muscles’ limiters, repeated experiences of success, expanded processing power for the senses, temporary memory enhancements and increased memory analysis.

The remote filled Misaka Mikoto’s brain with all the errors of brain science, like the enhanced strength, slow motion, out of body experiences, and life flashing before your eyes during a near-death experience.

Shokuhou did not command her to perform any specific actions.

Because Mikoto had the greater combat instincts.

Mikoto’s right hand jerked up to an unnatural extent. The sherbet-like snow clinging to her like a curse was shaken off. She seemed to be gently clenching her fist, but she was not preparing a punch. She had an arcade coin sitting on her thumbnail.

It was an uppercut-like attack aimed up at Anna’s jaw.

The point-blank Railgun crackled with electricity as it prepared to launch.

“Whoops,” said Anna quietly.

Shokuhou was lifted up as the small foot left Mikoto’s temple along with the honey-blonde girl’s upper body clinging to it.

This was working.

They had distracted Anna Sprengel. She had put her guard up even slightly. She might as well have been telling them this would be effective.

And…

“Stop that.”

They were too slow by just an instant.

Shokuhou’s vision blurred as she dropped straight down. It took her a second to realize what had happened.

In a truly merciless act, Anna had dropped her lifted foot down to crush Mikoto’s raised right hand.

She robbed the girl’s arm of all strength and pinned her wrist to the cold ground. The arcade coin bounced off the asphalt with a solid clink.

It was not enough.

Their feelings were not enough to reject the very real threat before them.

A dull straining sound came from the right wrist below Anna’s foot.

“You strayed.” Anna spoke like she was watching some fools struggling with all their might to survive in a blizzard but actually only wandering around in circles. “Be it chess or horse-racing, the most important thing when it comes to winning a game is to stick with a single strategy. You will only lose focus if you change strategies whenever you start to lose. That will not lead to an unexpected come-from-behind win. It will only accelerate your very predictable path toward failure.”

“You… wouldn’t understand,” said Shokuhou Misaki like she was uttering a curse.

She was more caught on that young leg than clinging to it anymore. Like a dry leaf caught on your coat or skirt on a winter day.

But she still got the words out.

“I’ve been consistent from the beginning. But you wouldn’t be able to see it since you always put yourself first.”

“Oh, I’m so jealous. Is that how an immature teenager sees the world?”

A dull thud followed.

That foot looked like it belonged to a small child, yet Shokuhou flew through the air when kicked like a soccer ball. If not for the special suit, her organs or spine might have ruptured or broken. The honey-blonde girl rolled along the ground and then gasped for a reason other than the pain or lack of oxygen.

The goal was right there.

They had arrived at a certain hospital’s main gate.

“Zero minutes to your destination.”

The phone in Anna’s hand mechanically and mercilessly ended its countdown.

The little girl laughed.

“You still have delusions about the importance of bonds with others, don’t you? I have long since grown cold about such things.”

That was effectively her final warning.

The hands of the clock would not stop. They had failed to draw Anna’s interest. She was going to continue walking according to schedule while crushing and killing everything that stood in her way. The railways crossing gate had lowered, so everyone knew what would happen to anyone dumb enough to not get off the tracks.

They had challenged the freight train with no more than fragile human bodies.

This was the result.

''And yet.''

Who was the first to notice something was not right?

Was it Shokuhou Misaki, Misaka Mikoto… or Anna Sprengel?

The predicted blow never arrived.

The girl who looked no more than ten had looked to the side with her small leg still raised.

But that was not how it was supposed to work.

Anna Sprengel was following her schedule. Everything in the way would die. There was probably only one person who could draw her interest enough to change that.

But that person was the last one they wanted to be here.

The girls had worn down their lives as they continued to fight to avoid exactly that.

That whistle had been a meaningless present, but the #5 had given it to him to say it was her turn to save him. Even if she was the only one that still remembered what had happened the first time around. Even so, she had wanted to do what he had risked his life to do.

Loneliness could kill.

But you could still be saved if someone reached out their hand.

She had thought today was the day when she would repay him for teaching her that.

And yet.

“Hi.”

She heard that voice.

He was in such bad shape that he should not have still been standing.

He probably could not even remember that he had forgotten who the honey-blonde girl was.

Nevertheless, here he was.

As if to say he would always be the one to come to her rescue.

“Let go of that girl, Anna Sprengel.”

“Ah.”

Shokuhou Misaki turned her head while barely able to move.

And she saw something beyond the silent snow.

“Ahh.”

What she saw there seemed to reject everything they had done.

She should have been angry.

She should have gone red in the face, shouted until her throat tore, and thrashed her limbs about. What had they sacrificed so much for if it was just going to end like this? What was the point of their shed blood, their pain, and their fear? They still had not stolen the vaccine or antidote from Anna. If they passed the baton to him now, she knew they would never acquire any means of saving that boy. Because he would never put himself first even for a second and he would only focus on saving the two girls. But doing that would mean all their previous efforts had been for nothing!

And yet.

(''Why?'')

Academy City’s #5 Level 5 did not feel any anger. The Queen of Tokiwadai was not at all bothered by her wasted effort.

As no more than an ordinary girl, she must have accepted it somewhere in her heart.

(''Why do I actually feel happy everything fell apart like this!? I’m so stupid!!'')

There was no logic to it, but Kamijou Touma was standing there.