Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 7===

“Killing that Judgment girl super wasn’t a problem, was it?”

“In the end, how did you do it?”

“Um, I didn’t want her struggling, so I started by snapping her neck to kill her. Then I laid her body in the center of the furnace. That gets up to 3500 degrees, right? So I super set it for half an hour.”

“Hold on. You left her all in one piece? With sloppy work like that, some hair, bones, or maybe a back tooth could survive. Since this was your first time doing body disposal, you might not have eliminated all the DNA.”

They easily began a conversational back-and-forth.

Mugino and Takitsubo were telling Kinuhata what questions she would be asked in advance and, even if she gave a wrong answer, Frenda would smile and make it work out. Making a major mistake would be a challenge under those circumstances.

Frenda’s bunny ears swayed as she turned toward Kawazakana.

“Anyway, it’ll be dangerous in there, so don’t let anyone in the cell room. Don’t worry. Once the time she set is up, it’ll stop on its own. We can check for any problematic evidence once the furnace has cooled.”

“R-right. You know a lot about this. ''You said your main job is illegal forensics work, didn’t you?''”

“Oh, you want to know more about my previous job? Like why I need money badly enough to agree to wear this embarrassing getup? You’re the one who’ll regret learning that kind of dark side secret. Stick your nose where it doesn’t belong and you might get someone sent after you.”

Kawazakana grimaced for once.

The pink and white bunny girls kept their smiles while secretly conversing over their earphones.

“(What are you doing here? Super what happened to that antimatter cannon you showed me before?)”

“(Showing you that scary-looking toy was enough to convince you your super strong Senpai was actually staying behind, didn’t it? No one’s developed a practical antimatter weapon yet. In the end, you proved your newbie-ness by buying that cock-and-bull story. That’s what convinced me I had to go in with you. There was no way you could get through all the mind games on your own. I couldn’t just sit around and watch you get killed.)”

Frenda put an arm around Kinuhata while casually insulting her like that.

“Hey, can I take this girl with me for now? She’s gonna get herself killed if I don’t teach her how to use the equipment – and more importantly how ''not'' to use it. I’d hate to have one of our own lost in a corpse disposal accident.”

With that, Frenda practically dragged Kinuhata away.

“(Telling them to wait for it to cool may have bought us as much as an hour. What happened to the Judgment girl?)”

“(She should have super escaped outside by now.)”

The two of them entered the girls locker room before taking a deep breath.

Kinuhata opened an empty locker at the very end to block the view of the 2mm security camera embedded in the wall. She switched on a hairdryer and placed it on the floor to neutralize the small microphone.

“Again, super what are you doing here!?”

“In the end, I said I was sending you in undercover, but I don’t recall saying I wasn’t also going in undercover using a different route☆”

Kinuhata Saiai really did facepalm.

No matter what she did, Frenda was still in control.

“So what did you get from her?”

“She super left me with a flash drive. She said she copied all the data from the computer in their office, but I can’t check what’s on it without a phone.”

“In the end, I snagged these.”

Frenda opened a locked locker and dumped a bunch of mobile devices on the floor.

“These are all the phones the customer and staff left up front. In the end, I just swiped the entire box of them. I was planning to search the personal data on them for anything related to Ainame Caroline or Tachiuo Mary, but let’s take a look at your flash drive while we’re at it.”

Kinuhata picked up her own phone and an adapter cable someone must have left with their phone. She used the adapter cable to forcibly connect the flash drive to her phone’s bottom port.

“300 thousand files in all. That’s a lot of data, so super what should I search for first?”

“Start with names. Either Ainame Caroline or Tachiuo Mary.”

Made sense.

Kinuhata began the search right away.

She ignored the casino’s sales reports and the purchase records for weapons and vehicles. She did check the latest bodyguard schedule. She hoped following the movements of the support organization that accompanied those two would tell her where their hideout was or what places they regularly visited. But…

“Wait, Frenda-san. Super look at this.”

“What is it, newbie?”

White Bunny Frenda leaned in from the side to check the screen. The way her pointy bunny ears hit Kinuhata’s cheek was mildly annoying.

“Today at 8 PM, it looks like Ainame Caroline and Tachiuo Mary will be performing some kind of deal that requires a super large number of troops. It’s happening at the District 7 Stadium Dome.”

“Huh? In the end, isn’t that where they’re holding the baseball tournament that’s been on TV?”

“Kinuhata, what kind of deal is it?” asked Takitsubo.

“If it’s for some kind of giant weapon, this is going to be a real pain in the ass,” complained Mugino.

“It super isn’t that,” said Kinuhata, scrolling the small screen. “It’s for a person. The Honey Queen secret data thieves are planning to super add a new member to give them more ways to steal.”

It was a high-level esper.

Which, in a way, was a lot like a powerful weapon.

Kinuhata Saiai gave the person’s name.

“''Shokuhou Misaki. It looks like they’re getting Mental Out, the Level 5 with the strongest psychological power.''”