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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Epilogue

2025-03-25T17:39:08Z

209.195.250.74: /* Epilogue: End of the Ritual – Flat_Line… */

==Epilogue: End of the Ritual – Flat_Line…==

The silver-haired young man in red lay collapsed on his back.

Atop the shattered frozen lake.

He stared vaguely upwards.

The spiral staircase – that thin strand of saving light – was already in use. He could tell because the entire staircase was glowing in a way it hadn’t been before.

The trial had begun.

Rosencreutz slowly got up.

Did he have no regrets?

Of course he had regrets.

“Hee hee.”

A shadow covered Christian Rosencreutz from behind.

It belonged to Anna Kingsford.

She too was looking overhead.

“Oh, I am so ☺️ that boy managed to climb those stairs. If, after everything, he had seriously said ‘I refuse to let anyone sacrifice themselves, so you take the stairs, Kingsford’, all of my work could have been for nothing☆ …Of course, if that happened, I would have knocked him out with a quick 👊 and shoved him onto the stairs.”

“Damn you. …Did you guide him in that direction? Did you push his thinking towards taking the stairs just like a demon’s temptations!?”

“🎯.”

She smiled.

She had used the exact same trick Rosencreutz had in order to keep Kamijou Touma from suspecting.

The Qliphoth would bring disaster if an ordinary person contacted it. But not so for an expert with sufficient knowledge and sufficient equipment. That expert would have access to tricks and loopholes far greater than the standard methods.

That meant Anna Kingsford could make free use of the secret arts belonging to demons and hell. Such as the sweet temptations of a demon.

And this time, she had promised a certain human she would save Kamijou Touma even if she had to break the rules.

But even so, Rosencreutz found this hard to believe.

“You would go that far…but why? What do you gain from this? Now you cannot take that single-use staircase and this old man knows you know what awaits us down here.”

“I already explained that, CRC.”

As usual, Anna Kingsford did not hesitate to respond.

A benevolent expert did not make mistakes.

Even if it was all a fairy tale spread by Johann Valentin Andreae as a prank, righteousness could be found there if one dedicated their life to it.

That was the truth.

“I will save everyone I included in my plan.”

“…”

“Our next destination is ❌ a false phase like this one. But with two experts working together, we should be able to mitigate the eternal torment to an extent. Don’t you 💭, CRC?”

“Damn you.”

“Nowww then. Let us 👁️ together what the real hell is like, CRC. We are ❌ approaching from the direction I would have liked, but we are about to visit a true world of myth. Hee hee. I do hope I will not be disappointed.”

This tiny salvation surpassed the imagination of Johann who had created this place.

A solid cracking rang out.

Just the one at first, but more and more came with increasing frequency.

At last, the vast frozen lake of Judecca was well and truly shattering. But this wasn’t just the thick ice attached to the surface. That had already been broken and split by the clash between Kamijou Touma and Christian Rosencreutz.

This was something more fundamental.

It had been mentioned several times that this was not the “real” hell.

That was the issue here.

Rosencreutz, the expert of death and destruction, and even Kingsford, the benevolent expert, had wielded heretical power to accomplish their ends.

''Something'' had reacted to that.

So the ''real one'' was finally making its appearance.

Christian Rosencreutz clung to the woman from behind and looked up at the long, long spiral staircase. It looked so much like a single ray of light shining down from heaven. He could no longer even see where his recent opponent was on it.

“To serve those around you, hm?” he muttered.

“🎯. That is one of the ideas you yourself sent out into the 🌍.”

The meaning of his upturned gaze changed.

That was no longer Christian Rosencreutz.

Johann Valentin Andreae spoke.

Along with benevolent expert Anna Kingsford.

In the very instant they arrived in the same place.

“Live a happy life, Kamijou Touma.” “Live a happy life, Kamijou Touma.”

[[Image:GT Index v11 BW7.webp|thumb]]

The frozen lake had fully shattered.

The false bottom was gone.

The phase forcibly inserted by the deadly expert had broken, so the thin film peeled back in places, revealing another layer. That was the moment when the real hell really did open its great maw.

Welcome to the first level of hell, located across the Acheron.

“Phew…”

Meanwhile, Kamijou let out a heavy breath.

He hard a crumbling sound. What was happening down below? He didn’t have it in him to check. But the rumbling of the collapse was approaching. Most likely, the transparent spiral staircase would start breaking apart from the bottom eventually.

Everything would be swallowed up.

A horrifically great maw gaped below.

That was the real hell.

Did that phase really exist?

“Pant, gasp.”

The spiral staircase appeared to be made of thick panels of clear glass. But that probably wasn’t accurate. No matter how endless the staircase, he wouldn’t be experiencing this just by climbing step after step.

His strength was fading.

“Gh!!”

With each new step he took, his strength seemed cut in half. He had easily continued on up at first, but his strength was really and truly fading fast. He felt like his whole body was tangled in long, long hairs while he struggled underwater. It didn’t matter how much strength he had to begin with. No matter how much strength he built up, he would eventually collapse during the eternal cycle of halving and halving and halving. That was the trick.

Was it just that difficult for the dead to be revived?

Ordinarily, that should never happen.

So things had been firmly programmed to prevent it from happening.

(I will go back.)

He fell to his knees.

He was still only partway up, but he could tell he no longer had enough willpower to get back on his feet.

Nevertheless, he reached his arm forward.

He grabbed the next step up even if he had to force it. And he pushed his body up.

“I swear I will go back.”

He spoke the words.

It didn’t matter his legs would no longer move. He would continue forward even if he had to use his hands or even bite the steps. He spoke to himself to gather the necessary strength.

But the halving was absolute.

When he drew on some untapped strength, that would then be halved. Just by climbing the next step.

“I will see Index again and talk with her.”

He spoke aloud.

And he climbed a step.

“I will go back to Academy City and bow to Misaka and the others.”

His voice was falling apart.

And he climbed a step.

(I will…my class…stupid stuff with…Pierce and Komoe-sen…)

His voice had vanished.

And he climbed a step.

(I will…Alice Ano…ble…wasn’t her fau…I died…)

Even his thoughts were breaking up.

But he still climbed a step.

“…”

…It wouldn’t end. The spiral staircase never ended. The great pain and exhaustion began to form suspicion and obstructive thoughts in a corner of his mind. This looked like a helping hand meant to save people, but it was really just a cruel trick designed to obliterate people’s minds and conviction. Instead of filling in all the exits, this hell prepared just the one exit and then watched as people failed to reach it. It was a soul disposal device wrapped in starvation, agony, and exhaustion, that provided no kindness at all to the people suffering within it. It seemed like nothing more than an intentionally calculated obstacle. But…

''Where am I?

''What am I doing?

Even as he occasionally forgot those fundamental things, Kamijou Touma forcibly dragged along his body which felt like a wet rag clinging to the stairs, using just the strength of his hands to bring himself to the next step.

His fingertips trembled.

Even his eyeballs must have been losing their strength because his vision grew dark.

He had to be approaching the surface.

There had to be light shining from there.

But the world was gradually enveloped in darkness.

“I…back.”

He knew it would be immediately robbed from him, but he still gathered new strength.

He could no longer see.

Or hear.

Still, he relied on the touch of his trembling fingertips to grab the next step.

“I…will retu…to liiiiiiiiiiiiii…iiiiiiiii…iiiiiiiiiiiiii…iiiiiiiife!!!!”

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter3

2025-03-25T17:37:54Z

209.195.250.74: /* Monsters */

==Chapter 3: A Single Lie, A Single Answer – Seat_the_Only_One.==

===Part 1===

The situation had changed.

Anna Kingsford.

That absolute safe zone had been shaken.

No one was perfect.

No one was flawless.

…That should have been obvious. And since Kingsford had seemed that way until now, wasn’t it natural to suspect she was hiding something?

''Was she a wholly good person?

''Or was she a person who only let her good side show?

Stay calm. That would be dangerous in a different way from Rosencreutz who didn’t hesitate to let his dangerous and ugly side show. Kingsford was obviously hiding her true intentions. She kept everything perfectly clean, not allowing even the slightest stain or mistake. Why had he accepted what she said when it was more suspicious than a chemical bleaching agent?

He kept telling himself not to trust anything, but he had still entrusted everything to Kingsford.

He had been reunited with Kingsford and Rosencreutz.

And he had encountered this giant phenomenon called hell.

Had he actually made any effort to organize the information in his mind and come up with an explanation for it all?

Kamijou did not know what Anna Kingsford had actually done while she lived. He had a vague impression of her being with Aleister and Miss Sprengel in Shibuya and Academy City and giving them advice, but he had not been directly involved with any of that. So he had no chance at all of guessing what she had been doing behind the scenes.

She had simply guided them toward victory in the battle against Christian Rosencreutz.

And she had simply guided them toward victory in the battle against Alice Anotherbible.

…But could anyone actually explain why Kingsford lent a helping hand and what she had gained from it?

Kamijou couldn’t see even a hint of an ulterior motive there.

Which made her look like a good person without even the slightest dark side.

“CRC…” said Anna Kingsford.

Always a step ahead and still with her back turned.

Or to put it another way, keeping her face hidden from Kamijou.

“❌, I should call him Johann Valentin Andreae who took on that name and became one with the legend. Now, he did ❌ manage to live for 106 years and he could not resurrect himself 120 years after his ☠️. He extended his life as Rosencreutz, but eventually hit a limit and met his end as a human in 1654. He never managed to destroy the Rosicrucian illusion he had created and he ☠️ed wracked with disappointment and a grudge toward the people around the 🌍 who refused to see the truth.”

“…”

“Once Rosicrucianism had truly left its owner’s control, the term was free for anyone to use. New 🪄 cabals could give themselves clout by claiming to be the legitimate descendant of the Rosicrucian cabal and ❌ one could actually prove them wrong. Plenty of 🪄 cabals with nothing to do with Rosicrucianism used the title too. That is one reason it mutated into a massive collection of 🪄al methods that gathered spells and spiritual items from all over the 🌍. For better or for worse, it was used as the foundation of a wide variety of cabals.”

Her words flowed smoothly.

“This includes theosophist and Hermetic societies, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, and the Golden cabal created by my students Westcott and Mathers, which went on to be known as the 🌍’s largest 🪄 cabal. The extent differs, but ❌ one of them escaped the influence of CRC who had been sent out into the 🌍 by Johann. Miss Sprengel seems to have felt guilty for using the concept for her disguised life, but she need ❌ have. Because there was ❌ true Rosicrucian cabal. Her guilt over calling herself their true descendant despite her lack of knowledge was entirely misguided. …Our efforts were wasted as we poured our strength into true emptiness while trusting that the foundation could be an illusion as long as we could save the 🌍 that way.”

This was news to Kamijou. He probably would have never learned this if he hadn’t been taken to hell along with these extraordinary experts.

Come to think of it, hadn’t Magic God Othinus sacrificed her eye or life to receive terrible knowledge after mastering her path?

High Priest, Nephthys, and Niang-Niang had done the same.

But…

(Why?)

Kamijou had a question.

His desires had gained visual form in this hell. Rosencreutz’s – no, Johann’s – past sins had been revealed.

But he hadn’t seen anything from Anna Kingsford.

Hell hadn’t reflected any of her inner thoughts, nor had she revealed her past or objective.

(Has she been ''avoiding that''? Rosencreutz’s surprising truth came as a shock, but why were we shown that? It doesn’t seem directly related to our jailbreak from hell.)

In that sense, Kamijou needed to dig deeper on Kingsford.

And if this massive soul-processing device called hell wanted to prevent a (from its perspective) illicit jailbreak, reading Kingsford’s mind and calling up some past trauma would be a great way to obstruct them.

Yet that hadn’t happened.

That seemed odd. And unnatural.

When he looked at it rationally, Kamijou Touma realized he didn’t know Kingsford’s overall intentions, or even the slightest flaw, like what food or genre of music she disliked.

She was perfectly and flawlessly good.

That was all he could see there.

There had to be something more to her.

He just didn’t know if that something would help him or hurt him.

(But…)

If so…

Kamijou had been guided deep into this unfamiliar world. He wondered if this was what it felt like to board a strange taxi in a foreign country where he didn’t know the language. He knew the driver was dangerous, but he really didn’t want to be abandoned in the middle of the jungle or desert. Even if they were a dangerous criminal, he had to pretend he was still fooled and wait until they arrived back in human civilization.

Their destination was the depths of hell.

But what did Kingsford gain by guiding Kamijou’s soul there?

Why had she gone to the trouble when he had already died and would disappear all on his own?

(If I only knew her ultimate objective, I could work backwards from there to escape her plans.)

He could only pray this wasn’t a case of a high school boy being unable to understand the thoughts of an expert.

And was their travel companion his one and only trump card here?

[[Image:GT Index v11 BW4.webp|thumb]]

Christian Rosencreutz.

As terrifying as he was, he was still an expert. He should be able to properly determine the logic behind Kingsford’s actions.

===Part 2===

Lots of legs grew from the ground.

The ground was covered in them.

“Umm.”

“This is ❌ an unusual sight in hell. This is where the simoniacs, sinners guilty of simony, are punished.”

The glasses woman provided an explanation, but the high school boy had no idea what simony was. The sight was more surreal than frightening. With the victims flipped upside down with only their legs sticking out, it reminded Kamijou of a scene from a very famous mystery movie, but there were just so many of them. It went beyond looking like an aquatic performance done in a pool and looked more like some kind of farmland.

“🔥 burns at the bottom of the pits to burn the sinners’ heads while they are never able to escape.”

“That’s a lot more horrific than I was expecting!”

“We are approaching the bottom of hell, after all. We will be 👁️ing more facilities designed to punish more serious sins.”

But all Kamijou could do was shout.

He tried grabbing one set of legs and tugged on it like it was a daikon radish, but the legs started thrashing wildly. He heard a sound like something thin peeling away, a tremor ran through the legs, and they stopped moving. Kamijou felt like he had only made the situation worse for whoever that was.

He realized he had touched them with his right hand, but they hadn’t disappeared.

What did that mean?

(It’s probably bad if I get too accustomed to the cruel scenes here in hell.)

He felt like his common sense and the ordering of events was breaking down, just like in a hell.

If he couldn’t help those people, this place left him with only guilt. They couldn’t take a break, so Kamijou’s party continued across the simony punishment zone.

“Another river,” muttered Kamijou.

That was something he had seen a few times already.

“The Rivers Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon. Many rivers flow through hell. The idea of a river forming the boundary between life and ☠️ is ❌ unique to the 🗾ese Sanzu River. I 💭 this is the Phlegethon, but this is ❌ the original river. It should be red and flaming.”

“You don’t say,” said Kamijou offhandedly.

He was in fact listening very carefully.

Everything she said held so much more weight after Rosencreutz’s warning.

(Come to think of it, why does Kingsford know so much about the structure of hell?)

If you lived an honest life so you could go to heaven, you wouldn’t need to study how hell works. And Rosencreutz himself had said god didn’t give all that much thought to hell compared to heaven, which allowed people to imagine it in so many different ways.

Yet Kingsford knew so much about it.

Why?

And she had said the Qliphoth was a map of the realm of ghosts and curses. If she had gone to the trouble of studying that, she might be an expert in that sort of field.

She had learned it because it had felt necessary to her.

And if she knew more about it than anyone, she might have acted on that knowledge.

Kamijou was curious, but if he directly asked her about it, wouldn’t she just dodge the question? Especially if she was hiding something.

It was too soon to reach a conclusion based on her reaction, so there was no need to ask a question that would put her on guard.

Kamijou looked to the opposite bank of the river.

“But…how do we cross it? It looks too wide to swim.”

“🏊ing across would be suicide. We must use a boat. A simple raft should ❌ be too difficult to construct.”

Kamijou had pictured hell as rocky mountains and lava, but it actually had many different faces. It had forests and it had fields. The weather changed and it even rained. But he was still surprised to see Kingsford wander off and return with a toolbox she had found somewhere.

In fact…

“Um, that isn’t a torture box used for doing some DIY work on a human, is it? Y’know, like that girl in Gremlin with the silver hair and dark skin!!”

“You can’t remember her name?” growled Rosencreutz, but Kamijou chose not to react.

He wanted to hide that he had been about as serious about that comment as when watching a trivia show on TV. If the naked overalls girl with the glasses and braid found out, she would probably cry. But he could remember what she looked like at least!

“There are boats and villages in hell. And if it has been influenced enough by the Greek Tartarus, there should be an area protected by a bronze wall. So of course the tools used to build such things are lying around.”

This was the first Kamijou was hearing of this.

Were there weapon shops and inns in hell too?

“Hell will react to your unnecessary thoughts. Do you want to be pursued by obsessive oni who have boosted their deadly strength with the nonexistent legendary orichalcum series?”

CRC whispered a truly frightening idea into Kamijou’s ear. He could see that happening here. It was like the difference between a Yeti and a Yuki Onna. If the oni was a little girl oni in a tiger print bikini and with little horns growing from her head, or if it was a graceful and busty young woman oni with her kimono slipping off, he might be okay with it, but if it was a traditional muscle man oni with all the usual deadliness before even taking into account the ultimate gear, there was no upside to it at all.

But that aside, they had to build a raft.

Kamijou pictured a raft as several logs lined up side by side and tied together with rope, but apparently that wasn’t accurate.

Kingsford had also collected a few long, skinny sticks similar to clothesline poles.

Before tying them together with rope or nailing them together, she lined up the logs and poles on the ground in the general shape of the finished product. The long poles stuck out from the sides of the raft itself. And she was apparently going to tie something like empty jars or water jugs to the ends of the poles.

“What are those?”

“Tying together 🪵 will ❌ provide enough buoyancy or stability. Capsizing in a river of the ☠️ would be disastrous, don’t you think? So it’s safer to attach some extra crossarms.”

That made sense.

Jars and water jugs would act like floats using the same principle as the powerful resistance felt when trying to push a wash basin down into the bath. But where had she found those things?

The end result was shaped something like a water strider.

“Hold that 🪵 down for me. I will hold it down on this end. Oof.”

Crafting time had begun.

Kingsford lined up a few logs and tied them together with rotting rope, but that apparently wasn’t enough so she drove in a few long nails to fully fix the logs and poles together. Instead of the usual nails seen in a hardware store, she used giant nails shaped something like an upside down L. She said they were used for train tracks. Piercing the poles through would split them, so instead the horizontal protrusion of the upside down L held the thin pole tightly down instead.

However…

“Um, wait, Kingsford-san? Sensei!?”

“?”

They were jiggling.

When the racing swimsuit woman crouched down, held the nail in place with one hand, and held the hammer with her other hand, her large breasts were squeezed between her upper arms. And when she started hammering away, the jiggling began. Those huge boobs were out of control! Right in front of Kamijou!!

“I-I’m doing my best not to look, but you started doing this right in front of me, so it’s fair game for me to look, right, Sensei? You won’t be mad?”

“😠 about what?”

She looked confused.

He refused to believe she didn’t know. He took that as her hitting the “consent” button, so he replenished his mental health by enjoying the joyous view. No matter who they belonged to, big boobs were big boobs. Rejoice.

Now, the raft lacked a sail like a yacht might have.

They all pushed it down the riverbank.

From the look of it, the hell river had no current at all. The raft floated in water that seemed more like a stagnant swamp than a river. Then the three of them boarded it. Kingsford held an extra of the long poles which she stuck into the water to control the raft.

Just like in the old samurai movie Kamijou had seen while playing on TV at midday during summer break.

Instead of rowing in the water, she pressed the stick against the river bottom to push the raft forward.

And if that pole could reach the bottom, the river couldn’t be all that deep, could it?

“Falling in one of hell’s rivers would be quite the tragedy. But if you want to be stuck here for all eternity after being stained by someone else’s sin, be my guest.”

Slowly but surely, they crossed the…Phlegethon, was it?

“…”

Anyway…

This was a river.

The line between life and death was simple enough, but what did these borders within hell mean?

Kamijou had died and gone to hell, but were there any further lines he couldn’t afford to cross?

“I feel like I’ve already crossed some of those. Without really thinking about it.”

“We are aiming for a jailbreak. And we can ❌ achieve that just by doing as we are told.”

That wasn’t true.

Kingsford’s objective was the very center of the mortar-shaped hell, which was the furthest point from the gate at the entrance.

He didn’t know what she wanted to do there, though.

“There is nothing beautiful about this river 🌊, but the wind feels nice. …Phew.”

Kingsford stopped working the pole and ran a hand through her long hair shaped like a big fried shrimp.

Maybe it was from being a fiery hell, but gem-like beads of sweat scattered from her hair and a sweet aroma wafted back from her revealed nape.

“Long hair really is a pain at times like this. It gathers a lot of air, which creates a thermal insulation effect on your back.”

“Please show some restraint before a giant nape emerges from the middle of the river.”

“?”

Kamijou Touma gathered all his might to fight against his own adolescence.

The bastard sharing this raft with him began taking revenge yet again.

“The surface area on the front is far greater than on the back. You could compare it to a naked apron, or perhaps like a dorm manager? Focusing on the nape is all well and good, but do not ignore the bare shoulder blades or the line of her spine. And if you lower your gaze to the back of her hips, you can even make out the bump of her tailbone showing through the thin swim-”

“Oops, excuse me.”

“Bwohhhhhh!!” screamed CRC. The raft suddenly lost its balance just as something grabbed and tugged on his long silver beard. What did? Something that emerged from the filthy river. In fact, several giant canine heads emerged and chomped at the young old man’s beard.

“My, my. It’s Cerberus again. I should have known he would do the 🐕y paddle. Perhaps we should have defeated him on the higher level while we had the chance.”

“Do dogs just really like CRC or something?”

That one had just been some silly nonsense.

There couldn’t have been any deeper meaning.

Rosencreutz hadn’t hidden any kind of code inside it…had he?

“Ghhhh. Question, boy,” said Christian Rosencreutz, who was in a very serious situation with his prized long beard being bitten and tugged on by giant canine jaws. He took the tone of a late night chat during a school trip. “Who do you have a crush on?”

“Um…”

“You…have to think about it? Wait, wait, wait. You mean it isn’t Anna Kingsford!? Then why the giant boobs and butt? Didn’t you dream of an older dorm manager in a naked apron? A-adolescence is so cruel. Are you telling me you were only ever interested in her body!?”

“Old man, you’re just trying to stir up trouble again, aren’t you? You want to increase Kingsford’s hate value and direct it this way so she’ll attack me in the middle of a river where I have nowhere to run!!”

“But none of that refutes my asser- bghbbhfgbfgh!?”

To silence this massive conspiracy, Kamijou crouched down and grabbed the red-clad old man’s ankles. He then flipped the man over, held him up by the ankles, and dipped his head into the stagnant river so he couldn’t say anything else. The world knew peace once more.

Anna Kingsford used the long pole to keep the raft moving along.

“And we’re there.”

They had arrived on the opposite bank.

They might need to turn back at some point, so they pulled the raft up onto the land so it wouldn’t float away. It looked light while afloat, but it was so heavy when dragging it along the ground. Which made sense when it was made from several logs. And the raft shape meant they couldn’t roll it along.

A question suddenly occurred to Kamijou.

In a way, there was no question where a horrific expert like Christian Rosencreutz would go when he died. Kamijou could accept his own destination too. He had selfishly chosen death and brought sorrow to quite a few people, so he wasn’t going to complain about winding up in hell.

But.

What was that purely good and benevolent expert doing here?

Maybe she could switch between life and death at will by switching off her preserved corpse. But wouldn’t someone so dedicated to goodness end up in heaven after death?

Yes.

What if Anna Kingsford was also the kind of person who would be damned to hell?

===Part 3===

Kamijou had pictured hell as dark, empty, and dry.

He had also associated it with heat and flames.

But he noticed things gradually changing as he followed carefully after Anna Kingsford.

He felt chilly.

He looked around and noticed he could see his breath.

“We are approaching the bottom of hell,” said Rosencreutz. His breath was visible too. “Boy, have you ever encountered the term Cocytus?”

“Isn’t it usually a kind of ice magic, or a magic sword?”

“But where did modern people find the term they now incorporate into their entertainment?” The young man stroked his long, long beard. “Cocytus is the name of the bottom level of hell. And Cocytus itself is divided into four areas like the rings of a tree stump: Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, and Judecca. From outermost to innermost area, the severity of the sin grows and the very center area – Judecca – is where the world’s three most sinful people are eternally punished until the day the world ends.”

“…Wait. ''Did you say three''?”

“My, what a predicament. This old man is quite concerned by how perfectly the numbers match up.”

Kamijou looked to Kingsford’s back as she continued walking through this frozen world.

The three of them were walking through hell. Toward the prison for the three most sinful people.

Could there be something there?

But wait…

(That logic would mean Kingsford was leading herself to her doom too. If she wanted to take us to the bottom of hell to trap us, she would need another person with us.)

Think as he might, he couldn’t figure out what she was after.

And without knowing that, he couldn’t prepare.

His anxiety grew.

Their surroundings became darker and the chill much more biting, hinting that something was changing. He had to do something soon, but he couldn’t even run off at random while he was guided deeper and deeper.

That was like running full tilt in a random direction inside a trap-filled pyramid because he couldn’t trust his guide.

He should have thought for himself more.

If he had at least kept track of the path they took, he could have turned back the way they had come. Then he could have at least safely reached the gate to hell.

He could tell he was being guided down a path.

A wide world was spread out around him, but he couldn’t escape that path.

That only worried him more.

“What is this place?”

The deepest depths of hell were covered in ice.

It looked a lot like a vast subterranean lake that had fully frozen, but he couldn’t tell if there actually was any water below the thick layer of ice. And that ice was a lot clearer than he had expected.

He had expected the center of hell to be a vortex of dark filth, but maybe this was like an isekai fantasy where the demon world was generally dark and creepy but the demon lord’s castle was bright and shiny inside.

That meant this was a special location.

Kamijou didn’t know much about the layout of the European hell, but he could tell that much.

Anna Kingsford came to a stop.

The benevolent expert had continued unstopping for so long, but here she stopped.

After leading them this deep with such confidence, he was afraid she was about to turn around with a smile and say she was lost, but apparently not.

“This is the place,” she said.

There was…

…something there.

Kamijou’s breath caught in his throat.

There was nothing like that in the world of the living. That was a monster you had to die and go to hell to see. It was bad news. It was somehow different from powerful foes like Othinus and Aleister. He could tell just coexisting in the same place as it would lead to his destruction.

Before he could even grasp its true nature, he saw just a vague silhouette.

What would happen if he did get a direct view of it?

He usually thought of darkness as something that brought unease and fear to the human heart. This wasn’t just his view. Giving the light side the position of the good guys was common across the globe.

But things worked differently here.

Was the deep darkness a comfort here? Because he wanted to avoid viewing the ''thing'' that lurked beyond that thick veil before he was ready.

Kingsford had said Greek mythology had Nyx, goddess of the night.

So had there been an age when this sort of comfort was valued to the point it was worshiped as a god?

He must not see that.

Seeing it would mean his demise.

No one had told him that and he hadn’t actually checked for himself, but he could just tell. No matter what power might reside in his right hand, he could never even stand up to that thing.

“The 👑 of the demons…or the 👑 of hell,” said Anna Kingsford.

Was this her goal?

To contact that thing?

“Some 💬 he is Satan, some 💬 Beelzebub, and others 💬 Lucifer, but he has only one role. To provide the ultimate punishment by eternally gnawing on the three greatest sinners. In this view of hell, the demon 👑 has rebelled against god and gathers strength in the depths of the earth, yet he is still doing the will of god by tormenting the sinners damned by god.”

“What…?”

Kamijou was dumbfounded.

What did Kingsford hope to accomplish here? Kamijou had been led down here by deception, but she had come here of her own free will. She had come to this extremely dangerous place where a great monster lurked in the shadows. If Kamijou had full control of the situation, he never would have come here no matter his goal and no matter what benefits it might provide. So why had Kingsford come here?

“What are we supposed to do here, Kingsford!? I thought you said our journey would take us from hell and return us to the world of the living!!”

“I did.”

The benevolent expert – or the woman wearing that mask – immediately nodded.

With a smile.

Would she offer Kamijou and Rosencreutz’s souls to that giant thing lurking in the shadows so it would send her back to the living world? That useless idea came to Kamijou’s mind. But no amount of speculation would give Kamijou any kind of useful answer or countermeasure.

However.

“Like I 💬d back at the beginning, hell is shaped like a mortar,” she said.

…?

Nothing had changed?

She spoke in the same gentle way she always did.

But now that she had the other two in the depths of hell, she no longer needed that good guy act.

“So if you wish to take the shortest route from hell to the living world, the answer is obvious: You secure a ↕️ starting at the very bottom and climb up. That is the only way.”

“Oh.”

“When people 💭 up this structure of hell based on the limited depictions in Revelation and other sources, elevators, 🚁s, and 🚀s did ❌ yet exist. Only the 🪽ed angels in charge of hell could take that vertical route. They used it as a shortcut.”

Something sparkled in front of her.

It looked like tiny particles.

But it wasn’t. It was something made of highly transparent glass. A thick pane. And more of them floated in the air with a regular pattern. It looked like a spiral staircase to Kamijou. But as his gaze traveled up the clear staircase, perspective threw off the sense of scale and it ended up looking like a single line of light shining down from heaven.

“The gate to hell is often mentioned, but it is never mentioned that turning back there will bring you back to life. When standing on the outer edge of a mortar, what good is walking further outwards? If you try that, you will end up forever wandering in the dark forest at the top level of hell.”

So…

What did that mean?

When Anna Kingsford led him from the gate to the very bottom of hell, she hadn’t had any kind of ulterior motive? She had simply chosen the shortest and quickest route to escape straight up from the bottom?

She hadn’t been hiding anything.

Was that really all it was?

“The Qliphoth references the territory stretching from the living world to hell. If you contact it while viewing it as a heretical thing that specializes in 👻s and curses, it will bring disaster, but the Crowley faction has a fully-equipped expert very carefully contact it to acquire countless tricks and loopholes ❌ found in the proper methods.” Kingsford stared at the sparkling staircase as she presented a miracle, free of charge. “And the standard meditation technique of the Crowley faction says the one and only way to travel between worlds is to ascend vertically while ❌ being tempted to either side by existing standards of morality. …If you were to directly visualize the modern theory, it might look something like this.”

There was nothing more to Anna Kingsford.

She really had stopped her own functioning to leave the living world and descend into hell for no other reason than to save Kamijou Touma. Free of charge. She gained nothing at all from this.

Kamijou was the one being saved, but he had still doubted her.

It was like red cabbage indicator.

Or like this hell.

What someone thought when faced with Kingsford’s true benevolence revealed how shameful they were. There was no hiding it before that true expert. In the face of the ultimate righteousness, the very act of feeling shame and trying to hide something would reveal that something.

Yes.

Now that he knew Anna Kingsford was innocent, a new question came to Kamijou’s mind.

Why had he begun doubting her in the first place?

However it had started, that doubt was his own. He wasn’t going to blame his own ugliness on someone else. But it had started somewhere. There had been an initial push that had led him to doubt that benevolent expert who had thrown out her own life for pure volunteerism.

It wasn’t a difficult question.

The process of elimination was enough to solve it.

It hadn’t been benevolent Kingsford. It was the ugliness in Kamijou’s heart that let him be influenced, but he had only been influenced. It was someone else who had guided him in that wicked direction.

Who else was here in hell?

When the two of them were removed from the three, who remained?

Kamijou Touma spoke the name of the culprit.

“''Christian…Rosencreutz''?”

===Part 4===

Time froze.

Kamijou Touma couldn’t believe it.

But maybe that disbelief was proof that he had already been taken in.

There was precedent.

Rosencreutz was the opposite of benevolent expert Kingsford. Unlike the common legend, he was an expert who selfishly and capriciously spread death.

Had Kamijou forgotten how dangerous he was?

Had he forgotten what had happened in Academy City?

He had been deceived by the idea of a truth that couldn’t be found by simply following the righteous path, a cynical view, a possibility of using a trick or a loophole.

Hadn’t Kingsford said that the Qliphoth could only be used by a fully-equipped expert? And that any normal person contacting it would simply be engulfed by disaster?

This was the stereotypical example.

If Kamijou had doubted Kingsford enough to part with her, what would have happened to him in this hell?

Demons did not rely on simple physical strength or shoot fire from their mouth. They used apparent kindness and tempting words to send people racing toward a mistaken ending. Everyone knew demons were dangerous, but they assumed they alone were built different and could take advantage of the world’s hidden rules to escape unscathed.

Kamijou had been directed toward his own doom to eliminate him without Rosencreutz having to dirty his own hands.

Was that why Anna Kingsford had responded so coldly to Christian Rosencreutz when compared to Kamijou?

“That expert was back at work even if he had to do so from beyond the 🪦. Just ☠️ing you once was never going to be enough, was it, CRC?”

Kamijou had thought it was just the difference between an amateur high school boy and a professional expert.

But the answer was simpler: CRC was the villain from the very beginning. Kamijou had completely forgotten, but the benevolent expert had seen right through him all along.

Anna Kingsford revealed people’s true nature in a different way from hell.

Not only had she revealed Kamijou Touma’s shameful side like a red cabbage indicator, but she had also stripped away the demon’s kind and pretty makeup to reveal the true nature hidden below.

The one and only villain had been obvious from the very beginning: Christian Rosencreutz.

“This hell…”

He was shaken. The silver-haired young man in red trembled and raised his voice.

Was this some kind of irony?

Or did hell flip everything on its head?

The death-dealing man was pleading his own righteousness.

“This hell is a great device meant for this old man. This old man made it himself!! It is not for the two of you who showed up later!”

“?”

Kamijou didn’t understand.

“🎯.”

But the benevolent expert did.

Generally speaking, there was nothing she did not know. Nor did she stray from righteousness. To oppose her was a truly terrible idea. Not because of her strength in battle. No matter who you were, if you opposed her, that alone was proof that your being or thoughts were not righteous.

“This is ❌ the real hell,” said the benevolent expert. “It is a temporary space created by combining different 🖼️es of hell. It covers up a supposedly ☠️ soul with a phony hell to shuffle its destination and forcibly convert its affiliation to a vague near-☠️ state that is neither wholly alive nor wholly ☠️. It exists solely to fake the qualifications needed to return a ☠️ soul to the living world. Simply put, it provides a miraculous survival after the fact.”

This was not the real hell.

Kamijou had seen figures flitting through the shadows and legs sticking upside-down from the ground. But he had mostly passed them by as just a part of hell instead of trying to save those suffering people. Thinking back, that felt unnatural, but did this explain why?

Everything here, including those figures, had been hollow, so none of it sparked any emotion in him.

But…

“Are you saying you created this resurrection zone?”

“❌.”

Kingsford immediately rejected that idea.

Unlike the masses who had once been swept up by the Rosicrucian movement, she would not bend the truth for her own advantage.

“This hell was inserted by Johann Valentin Andreae who is currently going by Christian Rosencreutz.”

“You mean…?”

Come to think of it…

If Kingsford had created this hell, how had Rosencreutz ended up here? If she had only wanted to save Kamijou, only the two of them needed to be here.

Rosencreutz was a mystery addition.

''Except he wasn’t.

“We found Rosencreutz at the gate – at the very starting point of hell. But we never saw when he arrived here.”

“Of course you didn’t. This old man arrived here first. It’s you two who arrived later who don’t belong here!!”

“🎯, that is true.” The righteous one never made any attempt to hide anything. “But I made a promise to Aleister that I would save Kamijou Touma ❌ matter how much I must break the rules. So I must keep that promise. CRC, I will do so even it means breaking your pure but destructive ambition and using it for my own ends.”

“This old man will be resurrected.”

“So you can remove all trace of Rosicrucianism from the present 🌍?”

“This old man has things he must do in the living world!! So I cannot remain here!!”

“Even if that would result in the direct destruction of the 🪄 side’s countless 🪄 cabals and the resultant chaos would indirectly cause the science side to collapse as well?”

The hell this group had walked through all this time was a temporary space created by Rosencreutz so he his dead soul could return to the realm of the living.

But Kamijou and Kingsford had broken into it.

That was the accurate view here.

That was why Johann’s past and sins had been revealed along the way. The path had been tuned to him from the very beginning.

And Rosencreutz wouldn’t have cared as long as he could achieve his jailbreak. And if he had only paid the smallest possible cost to escape this hell, Kamijou could guess at something else.

That is…

“''This hell was only made to return a single soul to life''.”

“…Are you going to take it from me?”

“After the damage it took, Academy City is in ❌ state to endure another attack by CRC. A second attack would truly finish it. Johann, your resurrection must be 🛑ed at all costs.”

“You are going to steal this old man’s seat!? By giving the resurrection ticket to Kamijou Touma who so conveniently died, you will waste that one and only ticket so that ''this old man can never be resurrected''!!!”

“The boy’s ☠️ was inevitable. Nothing at all could be done to prevent it. So the best option was to take that ☠️ into account and find a way to still save him. And it is my responsibility for making use of him to send his young soul back to the living 🌍 where there is so much he has left undone.”

That was all of it.

But this did not account for two things: Anna Kingsford and Christian Rosencreutz.

“❌ matter how powerful we are, we are 🧙s who have already ☠️ed. I will not allow either of us to foolishly and shamefully resurrect ourselves at the expense of a still-living boy. The 🎟️ to survival should go to the living, CRC. So with just the one 🎟️ available, we should hand it to the boy. It is ❌ our place to intrude.”

Kingsford did not hesitate.

From the very beginning, she had not even considered the possibility of her own resurrection.

“Young lady…are you really satisfied by that?”

“I am.”

“By that silly argument!!!? T-this isn’t just about this old man. You really can reach the door to the realm of the living. If you were to abandon that boy and resurrect yourself, you could save far more people. Since you name yourself an expert, you must be able to perform the actual calculation. So why give him the ticket!? Why throw out your life for such foolishness!?”

“Everything I do is in service of those around me. Even if that was all nonsense you wrote for a prank and even if the groups naming themselves followers of the 🌹 and the ✝️ were something else entirely, there were indeed experts who believed in the ideals ✍️en there and dedicated their lives to upholding them. Those true experts saved people in secret and many people reclaimed their ☺️s thanks to them. I am merely joining their ranks. As long as there is a lost one before me and I have been blessed with the opportunity to provide a helping ✋, it makes little difference if it all began as a truth or a lie.”

“…”

“CRC did ❌ actually exist? Rosicrucianism was a made up story? You can tell me that all you like, but there is ❌ need for me to come up with some clever trick to counter it. I need only 💬 that I truly believe in the great deeds carried out in Rosencreutz’s name. Christian Rosencreutz – or the illusion of him – has moved many 🧙s’ ❤️s into saving so many people. And so I wish to become one such 🧙 and join the ranks of my predecessors.”

“…………………………………………………………………………………………”

Silence.

Even Rosencreutz was driven to silence.

“Blessed with,” Kingsford had said. If not for the excess baggage that was Kamijou, she could have used this to resurrect herself. In fact, she wouldn’t have had to visit hell in the first place.

But she felt no hesitation or reluctance.

She was really and truly looking only toward sending Kamijou Touma back to life.

And by preventing CRC’s resurrection here, she could save Academy City and the world as a whole.

Even if he had been cleverly tempted into doubting her.

The complete lack of doubt in her eyes made Kamijou feel his own foolishness all the more vividly.

“This old man won’t let you.”

The expert who spread death and destruction had failed.

He had said death was the default state for the dead and that Kingsford must have some kind of ulterior motive. But after all that whispering in Kamijou’s ear, this was his true nature.

He was only interested in himself.

Once you knew that, the truth or fiction of the rest of the information fell into place nicely.

“This old man created this hell!! So whatever you say, this old man will be using it! You wretched thieves. Act as benevolent as you like, this old man holds the legitimate claim here!!”

“Weren’t you 👂ing, CRC?”

“Kh.”

“I promised to save Kamijou Touma ''❌ matter how much I must break the rules''.”

CRC. Christian Rosencreutz.

Or Johann Valentin Andreae.

His true nature was dangerous through and through. Kamijou couldn’t forget what he had done in Academy City. But at the same time, that silver-haired young man in red had never once lied to himself. Even if that worked against him and led to his own downfall.

He had in fact wandered between the realms of life and death for more than 400 years.

He had just one goal: take responsibility for what he had done.

That was all.

So the man who had once been a 15-year-old boy had turned himself into a monster.

He had achieved this after so much hardship, so what was the point? He wasn’t gathering wealth or fortune for himself.

That didn’t matter to him.

He hadn’t done it for his own happiness.

He had continued on while thinking only of punishing himself.

He had thrown out his name of Johann Valentin Andreae and dressed up as the person he most loathed: the fictional Christian Rosencreutz. He had poured all his energies into eradicating the Rosicrucian legend spreading through the public consciousness, but he had failed to keep up with the self-replication rate of the story spread by word of mouth and the story’s own inventor had ultimately become a corpse and vanished from history.

“This old man will be resurrected.”

This identity.

And his sins.

They had both been revealed by the benevolent mirror, but Rosencreutz still gnashed his teeth and roared.

“It will happen, no matter the damage to my reputation and even if this old man must abandon himself to do it!! Can you do that, boy? You cannot even have a dream for your future or a picture of what occupation you will take up. But do you still claim to have a reason to crave resurrection that surpasses this old man’s 400 years of regret and resentment!!?”

The words pushed in.

Like a great invisible wave.

Kamijou Touma was in fact a mere high school boy who hadn’t even decided if he would continue on to college or get a job after graduating. Presented with the 400 years of persistence and righteousness of Christian Rosencreutz after becoming one with a legend, he could easily lose sight of his position and have his soul shattered.

“Are you kidding me?”

But he managed to speak.

He didn’t even need to use his right fist. His words alone shattered a 400-year-old illusion.

He wouldn’t doubt himself anymore.

It was easy to listen to tempting words. At times, joining the dangerous one in skepticism could look more clever than trusting as the benevolent one did. But that was wrong. The truth was straightforward. Always choosing the clever and sly path was not guaranteed to take you to a happy future. Trusting a shady expert could make you a laughing stock, but that did not mean that always doubting anything and everything would make you happy. Forcing yourself to always take a cynical view accomplished nothing.

You had to decide for yourself.

Focus your mind there and you would feel a great power in your heart.

No one was asking you to choose based on what was more solid, more clever, more savvy.

To put it another way, what was wrong with making the flimsy, silly, and foolish choice?

So.

The words seemed to come to Kamijou Touma’s lips of their own accord.

He did not lower his head.

He stared straight ahead and accepted the deadly expert’s gaze head on.

“I want to talk with Index again.”

“I want to return to Academy City and apologize to Misaka and the others I worried so much. As many times as it takes for them to forgive me.”

“I want to see Aogami Pierce, Fukiyose, and the others at school during the third term and discuss our winter breaks. I want to enjoy our time together at school now that we’re second and third years!”

“I want to wipe away Alice Anotherbible’s tears with this hand – this fingertip – right here!! I want to tell her I died because of my own choice and it wasn’t her fault! 400 years of regret and resentment? Sure, I don’t have anything on that grand a scale. But that doesn’t mean it’s any better than my reasons, CRC!!!”

Anna Kingsford said nothing, but she did appear to be smiling.

She may have seen a small, pale light.

All people had the right to live and hope.

All people had the right to work toward bettering themselves.

Kamijou Touma would use all of his rights here. He would throw out the arrogant idea that he should back down or give up in advance due to some kind of hierarchy or ranking. He would return to the living world no matter what. And if Rosencreutz was trying to once more bring ruin to Academy City and the rest of the world, he would do whatever it took to put a stop to it.

CRC.

This wasn’t like before.

He couldn’t rely on everyone else in Academy City.

This time, just the puny boy had to challenge that man and win.

So what?

If it had to be done, then it was up to whoever was here to save the world.

Strongly.

Kamijou Touma clenched his right fist very, very strongly.

“Christian Rosencreutz.”

“Why did that power choose you? Why can you have it without any kind of objective or direction for it?”

But this received an odd reaction.

It came from CRC’s expression.

His face crumpled up, but not in rage or resentment. The faintest hint of envy was displayed there.

“if you believe you can achieve your dream by trampling everyone else underfoot…”

“If this old man only had that…if my hand only possessed that one supernatural power…”

“And if you intend to continue destroying the world once you return there…”

“This old man wouldn’t have had to wander for 400 years! I could have destroyed the illusion of the rose and the cross back theeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!”

The boy made his announcement all the same.

He trusted that it still remained in his right hand.

It too must have stuck around because he wasn’t really dead yet.

So he came out and said it.

“Then I’ll destroy that illusion!!!”

===Monsters===
[[Image:GT Index v11 BW6.webp|thumb]]

'''Lord of Demons

The demon lord found at the center of hell’s bottom level. Has six wings and three faces used to gnaw on the three most sinful people. Referred to by different names, such as Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub. When he fell from heaven, even the ground bent and fell away to avoid him, producing the great crater now known as hell.

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter3

2025-03-25T17:37:14Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 1 */

==Chapter 3: A Single Lie, A Single Answer – Seat_the_Only_One.==

===Part 1===

The situation had changed.

Anna Kingsford.

That absolute safe zone had been shaken.

No one was perfect.

No one was flawless.

…That should have been obvious. And since Kingsford had seemed that way until now, wasn’t it natural to suspect she was hiding something?

''Was she a wholly good person?

''Or was she a person who only let her good side show?

Stay calm. That would be dangerous in a different way from Rosencreutz who didn’t hesitate to let his dangerous and ugly side show. Kingsford was obviously hiding her true intentions. She kept everything perfectly clean, not allowing even the slightest stain or mistake. Why had he accepted what she said when it was more suspicious than a chemical bleaching agent?

He kept telling himself not to trust anything, but he had still entrusted everything to Kingsford.

He had been reunited with Kingsford and Rosencreutz.

And he had encountered this giant phenomenon called hell.

Had he actually made any effort to organize the information in his mind and come up with an explanation for it all?

Kamijou did not know what Anna Kingsford had actually done while she lived. He had a vague impression of her being with Aleister and Miss Sprengel in Shibuya and Academy City and giving them advice, but he had not been directly involved with any of that. So he had no chance at all of guessing what she had been doing behind the scenes.

She had simply guided them toward victory in the battle against Christian Rosencreutz.

And she had simply guided them toward victory in the battle against Alice Anotherbible.

…But could anyone actually explain why Kingsford lent a helping hand and what she had gained from it?

Kamijou couldn’t see even a hint of an ulterior motive there.

Which made her look like a good person without even the slightest dark side.

“CRC…” said Anna Kingsford.

Always a step ahead and still with her back turned.

Or to put it another way, keeping her face hidden from Kamijou.

“❌, I should call him Johann Valentin Andreae who took on that name and became one with the legend. Now, he did ❌ manage to live for 106 years and he could not resurrect himself 120 years after his ☠️. He extended his life as Rosencreutz, but eventually hit a limit and met his end as a human in 1654. He never managed to destroy the Rosicrucian illusion he had created and he ☠️ed wracked with disappointment and a grudge toward the people around the 🌍 who refused to see the truth.”

“…”

“Once Rosicrucianism had truly left its owner’s control, the term was free for anyone to use. New 🪄 cabals could give themselves clout by claiming to be the legitimate descendant of the Rosicrucian cabal and ❌ one could actually prove them wrong. Plenty of 🪄 cabals with nothing to do with Rosicrucianism used the title too. That is one reason it mutated into a massive collection of 🪄al methods that gathered spells and spiritual items from all over the 🌍. For better or for worse, it was used as the foundation of a wide variety of cabals.”

Her words flowed smoothly.

“This includes theosophist and Hermetic societies, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, and the Golden cabal created by my students Westcott and Mathers, which went on to be known as the 🌍’s largest 🪄 cabal. The extent differs, but ❌ one of them escaped the influence of CRC who had been sent out into the 🌍 by Johann. Miss Sprengel seems to have felt guilty for using the concept for her disguised life, but she need ❌ have. Because there was ❌ true Rosicrucian cabal. Her guilt over calling herself their true descendant despite her lack of knowledge was entirely misguided. …Our efforts were wasted as we poured our strength into true emptiness while trusting that the foundation could be an illusion as long as we could save the 🌍 that way.”

This was news to Kamijou. He probably would have never learned this if he hadn’t been taken to hell along with these extraordinary experts.

Come to think of it, hadn’t Magic God Othinus sacrificed her eye or life to receive terrible knowledge after mastering her path?

High Priest, Nephthys, and Niang-Niang had done the same.

But…

(Why?)

Kamijou had a question.

His desires had gained visual form in this hell. Rosencreutz’s – no, Johann’s – past sins had been revealed.

But he hadn’t seen anything from Anna Kingsford.

Hell hadn’t reflected any of her inner thoughts, nor had she revealed her past or objective.

(Has she been ''avoiding that''? Rosencreutz’s surprising truth came as a shock, but why were we shown that? It doesn’t seem directly related to our jailbreak from hell.)

In that sense, Kamijou needed to dig deeper on Kingsford.

And if this massive soul-processing device called hell wanted to prevent a (from its perspective) illicit jailbreak, reading Kingsford’s mind and calling up some past trauma would be a great way to obstruct them.

Yet that hadn’t happened.

That seemed odd. And unnatural.

When he looked at it rationally, Kamijou Touma realized he didn’t know Kingsford’s overall intentions, or even the slightest flaw, like what food or genre of music she disliked.

She was perfectly and flawlessly good.

That was all he could see there.

There had to be something more to her.

He just didn’t know if that something would help him or hurt him.

(But…)

If so…

Kamijou had been guided deep into this unfamiliar world. He wondered if this was what it felt like to board a strange taxi in a foreign country where he didn’t know the language. He knew the driver was dangerous, but he really didn’t want to be abandoned in the middle of the jungle or desert. Even if they were a dangerous criminal, he had to pretend he was still fooled and wait until they arrived back in human civilization.

Their destination was the depths of hell.

But what did Kingsford gain by guiding Kamijou’s soul there?

Why had she gone to the trouble when he had already died and would disappear all on his own?

(If I only knew her ultimate objective, I could work backwards from there to escape her plans.)

He could only pray this wasn’t a case of a high school boy being unable to understand the thoughts of an expert.

And was their travel companion his one and only trump card here?

[[Image:GT Index v11 BW4.webp|thumb]]

Christian Rosencreutz.

As terrifying as he was, he was still an expert. He should be able to properly determine the logic behind Kingsford’s actions.

===Part 2===

Lots of legs grew from the ground.

The ground was covered in them.

“Umm.”

“This is ❌ an unusual sight in hell. This is where the simoniacs, sinners guilty of simony, are punished.”

The glasses woman provided an explanation, but the high school boy had no idea what simony was. The sight was more surreal than frightening. With the victims flipped upside down with only their legs sticking out, it reminded Kamijou of a scene from a very famous mystery movie, but there were just so many of them. It went beyond looking like an aquatic performance done in a pool and looked more like some kind of farmland.

“🔥 burns at the bottom of the pits to burn the sinners’ heads while they are never able to escape.”

“That’s a lot more horrific than I was expecting!”

“We are approaching the bottom of hell, after all. We will be 👁️ing more facilities designed to punish more serious sins.”

But all Kamijou could do was shout.

He tried grabbing one set of legs and tugged on it like it was a daikon radish, but the legs started thrashing wildly. He heard a sound like something thin peeling away, a tremor ran through the legs, and they stopped moving. Kamijou felt like he had only made the situation worse for whoever that was.

He realized he had touched them with his right hand, but they hadn’t disappeared.

What did that mean?

(It’s probably bad if I get too accustomed to the cruel scenes here in hell.)

He felt like his common sense and the ordering of events was breaking down, just like in a hell.

If he couldn’t help those people, this place left him with only guilt. They couldn’t take a break, so Kamijou’s party continued across the simony punishment zone.

“Another river,” muttered Kamijou.

That was something he had seen a few times already.

“The Rivers Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon. Many rivers flow through hell. The idea of a river forming the boundary between life and ☠️ is ❌ unique to the 🗾ese Sanzu River. I 💭 this is the Phlegethon, but this is ❌ the original river. It should be red and flaming.”

“You don’t say,” said Kamijou offhandedly.

He was in fact listening very carefully.

Everything she said held so much more weight after Rosencreutz’s warning.

(Come to think of it, why does Kingsford know so much about the structure of hell?)

If you lived an honest life so you could go to heaven, you wouldn’t need to study how hell works. And Rosencreutz himself had said god didn’t give all that much thought to hell compared to heaven, which allowed people to imagine it in so many different ways.

Yet Kingsford knew so much about it.

Why?

And she had said the Qliphoth was a map of the realm of ghosts and curses. If she had gone to the trouble of studying that, she might be an expert in that sort of field.

She had learned it because it had felt necessary to her.

And if she knew more about it than anyone, she might have acted on that knowledge.

Kamijou was curious, but if he directly asked her about it, wouldn’t she just dodge the question? Especially if she was hiding something.

It was too soon to reach a conclusion based on her reaction, so there was no need to ask a question that would put her on guard.

Kamijou looked to the opposite bank of the river.

“But…how do we cross it? It looks too wide to swim.”

“🏊ing across would be suicide. We must use a boat. A simple raft should ❌ be too difficult to construct.”

Kamijou had pictured hell as rocky mountains and lava, but it actually had many different faces. It had forests and it had fields. The weather changed and it even rained. But he was still surprised to see Kingsford wander off and return with a toolbox she had found somewhere.

In fact…

“Um, that isn’t a torture box used for doing some DIY work on a human, is it? Y’know, like that girl in Gremlin with the silver hair and dark skin!!”

“You can’t remember her name?” growled Rosencreutz, but Kamijou chose not to react.

He wanted to hide that he had been about as serious about that comment as when watching a trivia show on TV. If the naked overalls girl with the glasses and braid found out, she would probably cry. But he could remember what she looked like at least!

“There are boats and villages in hell. And if it has been influenced enough by the Greek Tartarus, there should be an area protected by a bronze wall. So of course the tools used to build such things are lying around.”

This was the first Kamijou was hearing of this.

Were there weapon shops and inns in hell too?

“Hell will react to your unnecessary thoughts. Do you want to be pursued by obsessive oni who have boosted their deadly strength with the nonexistent legendary orichalcum series?”

CRC whispered a truly frightening idea into Kamijou’s ear. He could see that happening here. It was like the difference between a Yeti and a Yuki Onna. If the oni was a little girl oni in a tiger print bikini and with little horns growing from her head, or if it was a graceful and busty young woman oni with her kimono slipping off, he might be okay with it, but if it was a traditional muscle man oni with all the usual deadliness before even taking into account the ultimate gear, there was no upside to it at all.

But that aside, they had to build a raft.

Kamijou pictured a raft as several logs lined up side by side and tied together with rope, but apparently that wasn’t accurate.

Kingsford had also collected a few long, skinny sticks similar to clothesline poles.

Before tying them together with rope or nailing them together, she lined up the logs and poles on the ground in the general shape of the finished product. The long poles stuck out from the sides of the raft itself. And she was apparently going to tie something like empty jars or water jugs to the ends of the poles.

“What are those?”

“Tying together 🪵 will ❌ provide enough buoyancy or stability. Capsizing in a river of the ☠️ would be disastrous, don’t you think? So it’s safer to attach some extra crossarms.”

That made sense.

Jars and water jugs would act like floats using the same principle as the powerful resistance felt when trying to push a wash basin down into the bath. But where had she found those things?

The end result was shaped something like a water strider.

“Hold that 🪵 down for me. I will hold it down on this end. Oof.”

Crafting time had begun.

Kingsford lined up a few logs and tied them together with rotting rope, but that apparently wasn’t enough so she drove in a few long nails to fully fix the logs and poles together. Instead of the usual nails seen in a hardware store, she used giant nails shaped something like an upside down L. She said they were used for train tracks. Piercing the poles through would split them, so instead the horizontal protrusion of the upside down L held the thin pole tightly down instead.

However…

“Um, wait, Kingsford-san? Sensei!?”

“?”

They were jiggling.

When the racing swimsuit woman crouched down, held the nail in place with one hand, and held the hammer with her other hand, her large breasts were squeezed between her upper arms. And when she started hammering away, the jiggling began. Those huge boobs were out of control! Right in front of Kamijou!!

“I-I’m doing my best not to look, but you started doing this right in front of me, so it’s fair game for me to look, right, Sensei? You won’t be mad?”

“😠 about what?”

She looked confused.

He refused to believe she didn’t know. He took that as her hitting the “consent” button, so he replenished his mental health by enjoying the joyous view. No matter who they belonged to, big boobs were big boobs. Rejoice.

Now, the raft lacked a sail like a yacht might have.

They all pushed it down the riverbank.

From the look of it, the hell river had no current at all. The raft floated in water that seemed more like a stagnant swamp than a river. Then the three of them boarded it. Kingsford held an extra of the long poles which she stuck into the water to control the raft.

Just like in the old samurai movie Kamijou had seen while playing on TV at midday during summer break.

Instead of rowing in the water, she pressed the stick against the river bottom to push the raft forward.

And if that pole could reach the bottom, the river couldn’t be all that deep, could it?

“Falling in one of hell’s rivers would be quite the tragedy. But if you want to be stuck here for all eternity after being stained by someone else’s sin, be my guest.”

Slowly but surely, they crossed the…Phlegethon, was it?

“…”

Anyway…

This was a river.

The line between life and death was simple enough, but what did these borders within hell mean?

Kamijou had died and gone to hell, but were there any further lines he couldn’t afford to cross?

“I feel like I’ve already crossed some of those. Without really thinking about it.”

“We are aiming for a jailbreak. And we can ❌ achieve that just by doing as we are told.”

That wasn’t true.

Kingsford’s objective was the very center of the mortar-shaped hell, which was the furthest point from the gate at the entrance.

He didn’t know what she wanted to do there, though.

“There is nothing beautiful about this river 🌊, but the wind feels nice. …Phew.”

Kingsford stopped working the pole and ran a hand through her long hair shaped like a big fried shrimp.

Maybe it was from being a fiery hell, but gem-like beads of sweat scattered from her hair and a sweet aroma wafted back from her revealed nape.

“Long hair really is a pain at times like this. It gathers a lot of air, which creates a thermal insulation effect on your back.”

“Please show some restraint before a giant nape emerges from the middle of the river.”

“?”

Kamijou Touma gathered all his might to fight against his own adolescence.

The bastard sharing this raft with him began taking revenge yet again.

“The surface area on the front is far greater than on the back. You could compare it to a naked apron, or perhaps like a dorm manager? Focusing on the nape is all well and good, but do not ignore the bare shoulder blades or the line of her spine. And if you lower your gaze to the back of her hips, you can even make out the bump of her tailbone showing through the thin swim-”

“Oops, excuse me.”

“Bwohhhhhh!!” screamed CRC. The raft suddenly lost its balance just as something grabbed and tugged on his long silver beard. What did? Something that emerged from the filthy river. In fact, several giant canine heads emerged and chomped at the young old man’s beard.

“My, my. It’s Cerberus again. I should have known he would do the 🐕y paddle. Perhaps we should have defeated him on the higher level while we had the chance.”

“Do dogs just really like CRC or something?”

That one had just been some silly nonsense.

There couldn’t have been any deeper meaning.

Rosencreutz hadn’t hidden any kind of code inside it…had he?

“Ghhhh. Question, boy,” said Christian Rosencreutz, who was in a very serious situation with his prized long beard being bitten and tugged on by giant canine jaws. He took the tone of a late night chat during a school trip. “Who do you have a crush on?”

“Um…”

“You…have to think about it? Wait, wait, wait. You mean it isn’t Anna Kingsford!? Then why the giant boobs and butt? Didn’t you dream of an older dorm manager in a naked apron? A-adolescence is so cruel. Are you telling me you were only ever interested in her body!?”

“Old man, you’re just trying to stir up trouble again, aren’t you? You want to increase Kingsford’s hate value and direct it this way so she’ll attack me in the middle of a river where I have nowhere to run!!”

“But none of that refutes my asser- bghbbhfgbfgh!?”

To silence this massive conspiracy, Kamijou crouched down and grabbed the red-clad old man’s ankles. He then flipped the man over, held him up by the ankles, and dipped his head into the stagnant river so he couldn’t say anything else. The world knew peace once more.

Anna Kingsford used the long pole to keep the raft moving along.

“And we’re there.”

They had arrived on the opposite bank.

They might need to turn back at some point, so they pulled the raft up onto the land so it wouldn’t float away. It looked light while afloat, but it was so heavy when dragging it along the ground. Which made sense when it was made from several logs. And the raft shape meant they couldn’t roll it along.

A question suddenly occurred to Kamijou.

In a way, there was no question where a horrific expert like Christian Rosencreutz would go when he died. Kamijou could accept his own destination too. He had selfishly chosen death and brought sorrow to quite a few people, so he wasn’t going to complain about winding up in hell.

But.

What was that purely good and benevolent expert doing here?

Maybe she could switch between life and death at will by switching off her preserved corpse. But wouldn’t someone so dedicated to goodness end up in heaven after death?

Yes.

What if Anna Kingsford was also the kind of person who would be damned to hell?

===Part 3===

Kamijou had pictured hell as dark, empty, and dry.

He had also associated it with heat and flames.

But he noticed things gradually changing as he followed carefully after Anna Kingsford.

He felt chilly.

He looked around and noticed he could see his breath.

“We are approaching the bottom of hell,” said Rosencreutz. His breath was visible too. “Boy, have you ever encountered the term Cocytus?”

“Isn’t it usually a kind of ice magic, or a magic sword?”

“But where did modern people find the term they now incorporate into their entertainment?” The young man stroked his long, long beard. “Cocytus is the name of the bottom level of hell. And Cocytus itself is divided into four areas like the rings of a tree stump: Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, and Judecca. From outermost to innermost area, the severity of the sin grows and the very center area – Judecca – is where the world’s three most sinful people are eternally punished until the day the world ends.”

“…Wait. ''Did you say three''?”

“My, what a predicament. This old man is quite concerned by how perfectly the numbers match up.”

Kamijou looked to Kingsford’s back as she continued walking through this frozen world.

The three of them were walking through hell. Toward the prison for the three most sinful people.

Could there be something there?

But wait…

(That logic would mean Kingsford was leading herself to her doom too. If she wanted to take us to the bottom of hell to trap us, she would need another person with us.)

Think as he might, he couldn’t figure out what she was after.

And without knowing that, he couldn’t prepare.

His anxiety grew.

Their surroundings became darker and the chill much more biting, hinting that something was changing. He had to do something soon, but he couldn’t even run off at random while he was guided deeper and deeper.

That was like running full tilt in a random direction inside a trap-filled pyramid because he couldn’t trust his guide.

He should have thought for himself more.

If he had at least kept track of the path they took, he could have turned back the way they had come. Then he could have at least safely reached the gate to hell.

He could tell he was being guided down a path.

A wide world was spread out around him, but he couldn’t escape that path.

That only worried him more.

“What is this place?”

The deepest depths of hell were covered in ice.

It looked a lot like a vast subterranean lake that had fully frozen, but he couldn’t tell if there actually was any water below the thick layer of ice. And that ice was a lot clearer than he had expected.

He had expected the center of hell to be a vortex of dark filth, but maybe this was like an isekai fantasy where the demon world was generally dark and creepy but the demon lord’s castle was bright and shiny inside.

That meant this was a special location.

Kamijou didn’t know much about the layout of the European hell, but he could tell that much.

Anna Kingsford came to a stop.

The benevolent expert had continued unstopping for so long, but here she stopped.

After leading them this deep with such confidence, he was afraid she was about to turn around with a smile and say she was lost, but apparently not.

“This is the place,” she said.

There was…

…something there.

Kamijou’s breath caught in his throat.

There was nothing like that in the world of the living. That was a monster you had to die and go to hell to see. It was bad news. It was somehow different from powerful foes like Othinus and Aleister. He could tell just coexisting in the same place as it would lead to his destruction.

Before he could even grasp its true nature, he saw just a vague silhouette.

What would happen if he did get a direct view of it?

He usually thought of darkness as something that brought unease and fear to the human heart. This wasn’t just his view. Giving the light side the position of the good guys was common across the globe.

But things worked differently here.

Was the deep darkness a comfort here? Because he wanted to avoid viewing the ''thing'' that lurked beyond that thick veil before he was ready.

Kingsford had said Greek mythology had Nyx, goddess of the night.

So had there been an age when this sort of comfort was valued to the point it was worshiped as a god?

He must not see that.

Seeing it would mean his demise.

No one had told him that and he hadn’t actually checked for himself, but he could just tell. No matter what power might reside in his right hand, he could never even stand up to that thing.

“The 👑 of the demons…or the 👑 of hell,” said Anna Kingsford.

Was this her goal?

To contact that thing?

“Some 💬 he is Satan, some 💬 Beelzebub, and others 💬 Lucifer, but he has only one role. To provide the ultimate punishment by eternally gnawing on the three greatest sinners. In this view of hell, the demon 👑 has rebelled against god and gathers strength in the depths of the earth, yet he is still doing the will of god by tormenting the sinners damned by god.”

“What…?”

Kamijou was dumbfounded.

What did Kingsford hope to accomplish here? Kamijou had been led down here by deception, but she had come here of her own free will. She had come to this extremely dangerous place where a great monster lurked in the shadows. If Kamijou had full control of the situation, he never would have come here no matter his goal and no matter what benefits it might provide. So why had Kingsford come here?

“What are we supposed to do here, Kingsford!? I thought you said our journey would take us from hell and return us to the world of the living!!”

“I did.”

The benevolent expert – or the woman wearing that mask – immediately nodded.

With a smile.

Would she offer Kamijou and Rosencreutz’s souls to that giant thing lurking in the shadows so it would send her back to the living world? That useless idea came to Kamijou’s mind. But no amount of speculation would give Kamijou any kind of useful answer or countermeasure.

However.

“Like I 💬d back at the beginning, hell is shaped like a mortar,” she said.

…?

Nothing had changed?

She spoke in the same gentle way she always did.

But now that she had the other two in the depths of hell, she no longer needed that good guy act.

“So if you wish to take the shortest route from hell to the living world, the answer is obvious: You secure a ↕️ starting at the very bottom and climb up. That is the only way.”

“Oh.”

“When people 💭 up this structure of hell based on the limited depictions in Revelation and other sources, elevators, 🚁s, and 🚀s did ❌ yet exist. Only the 🪽ed angels in charge of hell could take that vertical route. They used it as a shortcut.”

Something sparkled in front of her.

It looked like tiny particles.

But it wasn’t. It was something made of highly transparent glass. A thick pane. And more of them floated in the air with a regular pattern. It looked like a spiral staircase to Kamijou. But as his gaze traveled up the clear staircase, perspective threw off the sense of scale and it ended up looking like a single line of light shining down from heaven.

“The gate to hell is often mentioned, but it is never mentioned that turning back there will bring you back to life. When standing on the outer edge of a mortar, what good is walking further outwards? If you try that, you will end up forever wandering in the dark forest at the top level of hell.”

So…

What did that mean?

When Anna Kingsford led him from the gate to the very bottom of hell, she hadn’t had any kind of ulterior motive? She had simply chosen the shortest and quickest route to escape straight up from the bottom?

She hadn’t been hiding anything.

Was that really all it was?

“The Qliphoth references the territory stretching from the living world to hell. If you contact it while viewing it as a heretical thing that specializes in 👻s and curses, it will bring disaster, but the Crowley faction has a fully-equipped expert very carefully contact it to acquire countless tricks and loopholes ❌ found in the proper methods.” Kingsford stared at the sparkling staircase as she presented a miracle, free of charge. “And the standard meditation technique of the Crowley faction says the one and only way to travel between worlds is to ascend vertically while ❌ being tempted to either side by existing standards of morality. …If you were to directly visualize the modern theory, it might look something like this.”

There was nothing more to Anna Kingsford.

She really had stopped her own functioning to leave the living world and descend into hell for no other reason than to save Kamijou Touma. Free of charge. She gained nothing at all from this.

Kamijou was the one being saved, but he had still doubted her.

It was like red cabbage indicator.

Or like this hell.

What someone thought when faced with Kingsford’s true benevolence revealed how shameful they were. There was no hiding it before that true expert. In the face of the ultimate righteousness, the very act of feeling shame and trying to hide something would reveal that something.

Yes.

Now that he knew Anna Kingsford was innocent, a new question came to Kamijou’s mind.

Why had he begun doubting her in the first place?

However it had started, that doubt was his own. He wasn’t going to blame his own ugliness on someone else. But it had started somewhere. There had been an initial push that had led him to doubt that benevolent expert who had thrown out her own life for pure volunteerism.

It wasn’t a difficult question.

The process of elimination was enough to solve it.

It hadn’t been benevolent Kingsford. It was the ugliness in Kamijou’s heart that let him be influenced, but he had only been influenced. It was someone else who had guided him in that wicked direction.

Who else was here in hell?

When the two of them were removed from the three, who remained?

Kamijou Touma spoke the name of the culprit.

“''Christian…Rosencreutz''?”

===Part 4===

Time froze.

Kamijou Touma couldn’t believe it.

But maybe that disbelief was proof that he had already been taken in.

There was precedent.

Rosencreutz was the opposite of benevolent expert Kingsford. Unlike the common legend, he was an expert who selfishly and capriciously spread death.

Had Kamijou forgotten how dangerous he was?

Had he forgotten what had happened in Academy City?

He had been deceived by the idea of a truth that couldn’t be found by simply following the righteous path, a cynical view, a possibility of using a trick or a loophole.

Hadn’t Kingsford said that the Qliphoth could only be used by a fully-equipped expert? And that any normal person contacting it would simply be engulfed by disaster?

This was the stereotypical example.

If Kamijou had doubted Kingsford enough to part with her, what would have happened to him in this hell?

Demons did not rely on simple physical strength or shoot fire from their mouth. They used apparent kindness and tempting words to send people racing toward a mistaken ending. Everyone knew demons were dangerous, but they assumed they alone were built different and could take advantage of the world’s hidden rules to escape unscathed.

Kamijou had been directed toward his own doom to eliminate him without Rosencreutz having to dirty his own hands.

Was that why Anna Kingsford had responded so coldly to Christian Rosencreutz when compared to Kamijou?

“That expert was back at work even if he had to do so from beyond the 🪦. Just ☠️ing you once was never going to be enough, was it, CRC?”

Kamijou had thought it was just the difference between an amateur high school boy and a professional expert.

But the answer was simpler: CRC was the villain from the very beginning. Kamijou had completely forgotten, but the benevolent expert had seen right through him all along.

Anna Kingsford revealed people’s true nature in a different way from hell.

Not only had she revealed Kamijou Touma’s shameful side like a red cabbage indicator, but she had also stripped away the demon’s kind and pretty makeup to reveal the true nature hidden below.

The one and only villain had been obvious from the very beginning: Christian Rosencreutz.

“This hell…”

He was shaken. The silver-haired young man in red trembled and raised his voice.

Was this some kind of irony?

Or did hell flip everything on its head?

The death-dealing man was pleading his own righteousness.

“This hell is a great device meant for this old man. This old man made it himself!! It is not for the two of you who showed up later!”

“?”

Kamijou didn’t understand.

“🎯.”

But the benevolent expert did.

Generally speaking, there was nothing she did not know. Nor did she stray from righteousness. To oppose her was a truly terrible idea. Not because of her strength in battle. No matter who you were, if you opposed her, that alone was proof that your being or thoughts were not righteous.

“This is ❌ the real hell,” said the benevolent expert. “It is a temporary space created by combining different 🖼️es of hell. It covers up a supposedly ☠️ soul with a phony hell to shuffle its destination and forcibly convert its affiliation to a vague near-☠️ state that is neither wholly alive nor wholly ☠️. It exists solely to fake the qualifications needed to return a ☠️ soul to the living world. Simply put, it provides a miraculous survival after the fact.”

This was not the real hell.

Kamijou had seen figures flitting through the shadows and legs sticking upside-down from the ground. But he had mostly passed them by as just a part of hell instead of trying to save those suffering people. Thinking back, that felt unnatural, but did this explain why?

Everything here, including those figures, had been hollow, so none of it sparked any emotion in him.

But…

“Are you saying you created this resurrection zone?”

“❌.”

Kingsford immediately rejected that idea.

Unlike the masses who had once been swept up by the Rosicrucian movement, she would not bend the truth for her own advantage.

“This hell was inserted by Johann Valentin Andreae who is currently going by Christian Rosencreutz.”

“You mean…?”

Come to think of it…

If Kingsford had created this hell, how had Rosencreutz ended up here? If she had only wanted to save Kamijou, only the two of them needed to be here.

Rosencreutz was a mystery addition.

''Except he wasn’t.

“We found Rosencreutz at the gate – at the very starting point of hell. But we never saw when he arrived here.”

“Of course you didn’t. This old man arrived here first. It’s you two who arrived later who don’t belong here!!”

“🎯, that is true.” The righteous one never made any attempt to hide anything. “But I made a promise to Aleister that I would save Kamijou Touma ❌ matter how much I must break the rules. So I must keep that promise. CRC, I will do so even it means breaking your pure but destructive ambition and using it for my own ends.”

“This old man will be resurrected.”

“So you can remove all trace of Rosicrucianism from the present 🌍?”

“This old man has things he must do in the living world!! So I cannot remain here!!”

“Even if that would result in the direct destruction of the 🪄 side’s countless 🪄 cabals and the resultant chaos would indirectly cause the science side to collapse as well?”

The hell this group had walked through all this time was a temporary space created by Rosencreutz so he his dead soul could return to the realm of the living.

But Kamijou and Kingsford had broken into it.

That was the accurate view here.

That was why Johann’s past and sins had been revealed along the way. The path had been tuned to him from the very beginning.

And Rosencreutz wouldn’t have cared as long as he could achieve his jailbreak. And if he had only paid the smallest possible cost to escape this hell, Kamijou could guess at something else.

That is…

“''This hell was only made to return a single soul to life''.”

“…Are you going to take it from me?”

“After the damage it took, Academy City is in ❌ state to endure another attack by CRC. A second attack would truly finish it. Johann, your resurrection must be 🛑ed at all costs.”

“You are going to steal this old man’s seat!? By giving the resurrection ticket to Kamijou Touma who so conveniently died, you will waste that one and only ticket so that ''this old man can never be resurrected''!!!”

“The boy’s ☠️ was inevitable. Nothing at all could be done to prevent it. So the best option was to take that ☠️ into account and find a way to still save him. And it is my responsibility for making use of him to send his young soul back to the living 🌍 where there is so much he has left undone.”

That was all of it.

But this did not account for two things: Anna Kingsford and Christian Rosencreutz.

“❌ matter how powerful we are, we are 🧙s who have already ☠️ed. I will not allow either of us to foolishly and shamefully resurrect ourselves at the expense of a still-living boy. The 🎟️ to survival should go to the living, CRC. So with just the one 🎟️ available, we should hand it to the boy. It is ❌ our place to intrude.”

Kingsford did not hesitate.

From the very beginning, she had not even considered the possibility of her own resurrection.

“Young lady…are you really satisfied by that?”

“I am.”

“By that silly argument!!!? T-this isn’t just about this old man. You really can reach the door to the realm of the living. If you were to abandon that boy and resurrect yourself, you could save far more people. Since you name yourself an expert, you must be able to perform the actual calculation. So why give him the ticket!? Why throw out your life for such foolishness!?”

“Everything I do is in service of those around me. Even if that was all nonsense you wrote for a prank and even if the groups naming themselves followers of the 🌹 and the ✝️ were something else entirely, there were indeed experts who believed in the ideals ✍️en there and dedicated their lives to upholding them. Those true experts saved people in secret and many people reclaimed their ☺️s thanks to them. I am merely joining their ranks. As long as there is a lost one before me and I have been blessed with the opportunity to provide a helping ✋, it makes little difference if it all began as a truth or a lie.”

“…”

“CRC did ❌ actually exist? Rosicrucianism was a made up story? You can tell me that all you like, but there is ❌ need for me to come up with some clever trick to counter it. I need only 💬 that I truly believe in the great deeds carried out in Rosencreutz’s name. Christian Rosencreutz – or the illusion of him – has moved many 🧙s’ ❤️s into saving so many people. And so I wish to become one such 🧙 and join the ranks of my predecessors.”

“…………………………………………………………………………………………”

Silence.

Even Rosencreutz was driven to silence.

“Blessed with,” Kingsford had said. If not for the excess baggage that was Kamijou, she could have used this to resurrect herself. In fact, she wouldn’t have had to visit hell in the first place.

But she felt no hesitation or reluctance.

She was really and truly looking only toward sending Kamijou Touma back to life.

And by preventing CRC’s resurrection here, she could save Academy City and the world as a whole.

Even if he had been cleverly tempted into doubting her.

The complete lack of doubt in her eyes made Kamijou feel his own foolishness all the more vividly.

“This old man won’t let you.”

The expert who spread death and destruction had failed.

He had said death was the default state for the dead and that Kingsford must have some kind of ulterior motive. But after all that whispering in Kamijou’s ear, this was his true nature.

He was only interested in himself.

Once you knew that, the truth or fiction of the rest of the information fell into place nicely.

“This old man created this hell!! So whatever you say, this old man will be using it! You wretched thieves. Act as benevolent as you like, this old man holds the legitimate claim here!!”

“Weren’t you 👂ing, CRC?”

“Kh.”

“I promised to save Kamijou Touma ''❌ matter how much I must break the rules''.”

CRC. Christian Rosencreutz.

Or Johann Valentin Andreae.

His true nature was dangerous through and through. Kamijou couldn’t forget what he had done in Academy City. But at the same time, that silver-haired young man in red had never once lied to himself. Even if that worked against him and led to his own downfall.

He had in fact wandered between the realms of life and death for more than 400 years.

He had just one goal: take responsibility for what he had done.

That was all.

So the man who had once been a 15-year-old boy had turned himself into a monster.

He had achieved this after so much hardship, so what was the point? He wasn’t gathering wealth or fortune for himself.

That didn’t matter to him.

He hadn’t done it for his own happiness.

He had continued on while thinking only of punishing himself.

He had thrown out his name of Johann Valentin Andreae and dressed up as the person he most loathed: the fictional Christian Rosencreutz. He had poured all his energies into eradicating the Rosicrucian legend spreading through the public consciousness, but he had failed to keep up with the self-replication rate of the story spread by word of mouth and the story’s own inventor had ultimately become a corpse and vanished from history.

“This old man will be resurrected.”

This identity.

And his sins.

They had both been revealed by the benevolent mirror, but Rosencreutz still gnashed his teeth and roared.

“It will happen, no matter the damage to my reputation and even if this old man must abandon himself to do it!! Can you do that, boy? You cannot even have a dream for your future or a picture of what occupation you will take up. But do you still claim to have a reason to crave resurrection that surpasses this old man’s 400 years of regret and resentment!!?”

The words pushed in.

Like a great invisible wave.

Kamijou Touma was in fact a mere high school boy who hadn’t even decided if he would continue on to college or get a job after graduating. Presented with the 400 years of persistence and righteousness of Christian Rosencreutz after becoming one with a legend, he could easily lose sight of his position and have his soul shattered.

“Are you kidding me?”

But he managed to speak.

He didn’t even need to use his right fist. His words alone shattered a 400-year-old illusion.

He wouldn’t doubt himself anymore.

It was easy to listen to tempting words. At times, joining the dangerous one in skepticism could look more clever than trusting as the benevolent one did. But that was wrong. The truth was straightforward. Always choosing the clever and sly path was not guaranteed to take you to a happy future. Trusting a shady expert could make you a laughing stock, but that did not mean that always doubting anything and everything would make you happy. Forcing yourself to always take a cynical view accomplished nothing.

You had to decide for yourself.

Focus your mind there and you would feel a great power in your heart.

No one was asking you to choose based on what was more solid, more clever, more savvy.

To put it another way, what was wrong with making the flimsy, silly, and foolish choice?

So.

The words seemed to come to Kamijou Touma’s lips of their own accord.

He did not lower his head.

He stared straight ahead and accepted the deadly expert’s gaze head on.

“I want to talk with Index again.”

“I want to return to Academy City and apologize to Misaka and the others I worried so much. As many times as it takes for them to forgive me.”

“I want to see Aogami Pierce, Fukiyose, and the others at school during the third term and discuss our winter breaks. I want to enjoy our time together at school now that we’re second and third years!”

“I want to wipe away Alice Anotherbible’s tears with this hand – this fingertip – right here!! I want to tell her I died because of my own choice and it wasn’t her fault! 400 years of regret and resentment? Sure, I don’t have anything on that grand a scale. But that doesn’t mean it’s any better than my reasons, CRC!!!”

Anna Kingsford said nothing, but she did appear to be smiling.

She may have seen a small, pale light.

All people had the right to live and hope.

All people had the right to work toward bettering themselves.

Kamijou Touma would use all of his rights here. He would throw out the arrogant idea that he should back down or give up in advance due to some kind of hierarchy or ranking. He would return to the living world no matter what. And if Rosencreutz was trying to once more bring ruin to Academy City and the rest of the world, he would do whatever it took to put a stop to it.

CRC.

This wasn’t like before.

He couldn’t rely on everyone else in Academy City.

This time, just the puny boy had to challenge that man and win.

So what?

If it had to be done, then it was up to whoever was here to save the world.

Strongly.

Kamijou Touma clenched his right fist very, very strongly.

“Christian Rosencreutz.”

“Why did that power choose you? Why can you have it without any kind of objective or direction for it?”

But this received an odd reaction.

It came from CRC’s expression.

His face crumpled up, but not in rage or resentment. The faintest hint of envy was displayed there.

“if you believe you can achieve your dream by trampling everyone else underfoot…”

“If this old man only had that…if my hand only possessed that one supernatural power…”

“And if you intend to continue destroying the world once you return there…”

“This old man wouldn’t have had to wander for 400 years! I could have destroyed the illusion of the rose and the cross back theeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!”

The boy made his announcement all the same.

He trusted that it still remained in his right hand.

It too must have stuck around because he wasn’t really dead yet.

So he came out and said it.

“Then I’ll destroy that illusion!!!”

===Monsters===

'''Lord of Demons

The demon lord found at the center of hell’s bottom level. Has six wings and three faces used to gnaw on the three most sinful people. Referred to by different names, such as Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub. When he fell from heaven, even the ground bent and fell away to avoid him, producing the great crater now known as hell.

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter2

2025-03-25T17:34:18Z

209.195.250.74:

==Chapter 2: Journey – What’s_That_Adventurer’s_Party?==

===Part 1===

The rain poured down.

Everything a step below the hill Kamijou stood on was a mess of dirt and mud. The place was like a giant, empty pool cut out of the ground. Countless figures squirmed within. They appeared to be fleeing from something, but when he tried to get a look at what that something was, Kingsford’s hand covered his eyes.

“That would be Cerberus. ❌ a good sign.”

“Cer-what?”

What was that?

He was pretty sure he had seen that name in RPGs before.

Wasn’t it usually a black doglike thing that used fire? Or was that a hellhound?

For that matter, what was a hellhound?

He was getting distracted.

“It is ❌ enough of a monster to ☠️ if you simply 👁️ it, but it will dull your soul.”

When Kingsford-sensei sounded that serious about something, it was probably a good idea to do as she said.

And what happened if his soul lost its luster?

Regardless, he didn’t want to climb down where a monster like that was lurking. The bottom looked like a muddy bog, so if it did pursue him, he doubted he could escape on foot. And he didn’t want to even think about what happened if it took a big chomp out of his side.

He doubted hell had rules about keeping your dog on a leash.

Christian Rosencreutz chuckled cruelly.

“It is a three-headed demon dog. What, you aren’t going to tame it by feeding it lumps of dirt?”

“With all this mud around, I do ❌ 💭 that would have much of an effect. It will have already 🍴en plenty.”

“?”

Kamijou didn’t understand.

Was that conversation based on some myth or another?

That aside, what were they going to do?

A dog the size of a light car was terrifying.

Anna Kingsford pointed at a stone pillar(?) nearby.

It had a small hole at around hip height.

“Looks like we need a 🗝️ to operate the draw🌉.”

“Whoa!?”

It was so big Kamijou hadn’t noticed.

The massive structure the size of a broadcast tower was apparently a stone bridge with chains that could lower it by 90 degrees.

Were you supposed to insert something into the small pillar to work it?

“But what key?”

“It appears the harpy has it. I see it glittering in that 🐦’s 🪺.”

Did Kingsford mean that thing cawing up there? It looked kind of like a girl.

And sure enough, there was the key.

But it was up in the tree. And the tree trunk looked eerily like a human silhouette. But this wasn’t the same as the lewd tree crotch that made the little kids at the neighborhood park (and Aogami Pierce) laugh so hard.

The key was too far up to reach from the ground.

Could Kingsford or Rosencreutz just fly up and nab it?

“I can climb up onto your shoulders.”

“That’s an awfully grounded idea.”

“There is ❌ need to use secret tricks when the standard solution works just as well. Okay, I need you to crouch down.”

The spiky-haired boy went ahead and obeyed.

He should have thought this through some more.

“Here goes.”

She approached from behind him.

A soft weight pushed in at the back of his head and at his cheeks.

Were those her thighs squeezing his head?

Was that also her thighs resting on his shoulders? Or was that actually part of her butt?

And what part of her anatomy was that soft sensation he felt on the back of his neck!? Teach me, sensei!!

“That should do it. You can stand up now. Is something wrong?”

“…I think the pareo has the opposite effect here.”

“?”

He had thought a pareo was like a safety device meant to cover up the body, but here it created the illusion that he was sticking his head up this soft young woman’s skirt. But it was only an illusion, okay?

He gathered strength in his knees and slowly stood up.

The pressure from the sides increased.

“Oh, dear. Ah ha ha. Doing things I am ❌ accustomed to is kind of nerve wracking. But this should work.”

“Bwgohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Hm? Why the 💥ive roar?”

Yeah, this was a bad idea. Letting a clueless swimsuit woman ride on your shoulders was a terrible idea!!

But for now, they had to accomplish what they set out to do.

“➡️, ➡️.” “A little further ⬅️.” “➡️ again.” Kamijou kept tottering side to side to fulfill Kingsford’s requests.

When he tried to look up to see the harpy nest for himself, he was greatly distracted by the pareo falling over his face. The sweet young woman scent was powerful.

He decided to just let Kingsford guide him.

“Got it. This 🗝️ will let us continue on.”

“G-glad to 👂 it…”

Her way of speaking was contagious.

His brain was breaking down.

The shock was like unwittingly drinking a super-sweet chain coffee from a cafe that gathered customers with its whipped cream covered donuts and pancakes more than the coffee itself.

Even so.

The shoulder ride that felt like having his skull pried open and having sugar dumped directly inside was finally ov-

“Wait, do ❌ move.”

“Why!?”

“The harpy noticed us. I will deal with her, so do ❌ move from there.”

“Can’t you do that after I lower you to the ground, Sensei!?”

She gave his face a squeeze.

A hard squeeze.

[[Image:GT Index v11 BW2.webp|thumb]]

The glasses woman was probably only entering combat mode, but this went beyond a simple thigh-based reward.

His head didn’t feel right.

It seemed to be swelling, but it wasn’t quite the same as suffocating.

Could she be constricting his carotid artery rather than his windpipe?

“I need to convert to the reverse tree. Gevurah corresponds to Agshekeloh. The reverse of justice is cruelty. The element is 🔥. The wicked name that rules Sphere 5i is Golohab. You who are bound by the name and the number, obey my right 🖕 and display your power!!”

A tremor shook the place.

Almost like an artillery blast. Whatever Kingsford had done, a bright beam of light shot out and her upper body was knocked back as if by recoil.

It was a fairly large action made while still gripping Kamijou’s neck between her thighs.

The spiky-haired boy recalled a life hack for using a door’s hinge to crack a tough walnut.

Wait! But if the fulcrum is my neck, or my carotid artery really, then-

“Oh, dear???”

It happened far too easily.

The spiky-haired boy was rendered unconscious much like some kind of judo chokehold.

===Part 2===

What were they doing again?

Kamijou Touma’s mind was too woozy to remember.

Regardless, he opened his eyes.

What he saw looked strange. Was he lying down? He felt something soft below his head. Someone was peering down at him, but he couldn’t tell who it was due to the large pair of breasts blocking his view of their lower face.

The glasses jogged his memory.

It was her.

“Whoa!?”

He was resting on Kingsford-sensei’s lap pillow.

And since she was wearing a swimsuit, it was a bare lap pillow.

“Oh? You could have 💤ed longer, you know?”

The glasses woman placed a hand over her mouth and laughed elegantly. He decided he needed to get up before he developed any further problems with his heart rate. Why did he feel like he was losing years from his life when he was already dead?

Surprisingly, Rosencreutz did not seem exasperated.

He stroked his beard in his hand and commented on the situation.

“Hm. It would seem sleeping in hell does not eternally bind you here.”

“Old man, do you have to take this so seriously?”

“Hm, hm. You should count yourself lucky that sleeping does not eternally trap you in a dream within a dream within a dream…to the point you lose track of how many dreams deep you are.”

“Wait, what? Are you telling me even a woman’s thighs could be a devious trap in hell!?”

Kamijou’s party continued trekking through hell while taking the occasional short break.

They traveled through a variety of different hells, which mostly seemed to be fire based.

They had managed to descend a few levels thanks to Kingsford’s guidance.

“Wow…”

Kamijou hadn’t actually been counting what level of hell they were on, but in this hell, tons of embers were pouring down on them like a blizzard. The embers were especially noticeable in the darkness and they continued burning without extinguishing even after falling onto the sand. He knew nothing good would come from having those land on his skin. He doubted any kind of unexpected romance would be starting here. The embers reminded him a lot of white phosphorous or napalm.

The wind changed and the fiery snow blew this way.

Kamijou froze in place.

What was he supposed to do?

There were no gaps in that. Was he supposed to play a real-life bullet hell game!?

“Bwah, bwah, bwah!? Ah, no, it’s burning, it’s on fire, gya, gya, gya, gya, this old man’s beard is burning, bwah, bwah, bwah, bwah!?”

Kamijou had hoped there was some kind of loophole or safe zone hidden away in this general area-of-effect attack, but that hope was dashed when he saw the person rolling on the ground and burning. The distribution was just too even. Unlike in a shmup, there were no gaps at all. And once one of those embers touched your skin, it apparently kept on burning. The fact that water was immune to fire and the human body was 60-70% water didn’t seem to matter. Kamijou Touma learned the all-too-unpleasant fact that humans really did dance when they were burned alive.

Oh, right.

He had forgotten.

Tears formed in Kamijou’s eyes. The dead were horrifically punished after descending into hell and, since they were already dead, they wouldn’t die even if they were burned and stabbed in hell! Even if the total damage was well past a fatal level and even if it was complete overkill, their lives wouldn’t shut down at the moment of death, in a way making this even worse than the world of the living!

“Phew.”

Kamijou heard a sweet sigh.

It came from the teacher-like glasses woman.

Anna Kingsford untied the pareo she wore around her hips and spread it out overhead. She provided an umbrella not for herself but for Kamijou walking next to her. As if to protect just the spiky-haired boy from an unexpected rain shower.

Apparently she considered her witchy hat to be protection enough.

“You will be safe now. I guarantee it as an expert. I will ❌ allow your soul to be lost until you have been safely returned to the 🌍 of the living.”

A sweet scent wafted over to Kamijou.

It may have been the scent of her sweat.

When she was this close, he couldn’t ignore the warmth of her shoulder against his even if he wanted to. Her newly uncovered thighs were dazzlingly bright and his attempt to not look at them hurt his neck.

“?”

The oblivious woman tilted her head.

At extreme close range.

…Hold on, Kamijou panicked. Could it be that the sexy young woman was rapidly becoming his greatest obstacle in this journey through hell? She rattled his adolescence in a different way from the Bologna Succubus who walked around in her underwear or Aradia who did the same in a star-shaped bikini. Anna Kingsford wore something like a near-future racing swimsuit, so she didn’t show off all that much skin.

But.

Did she have to act so clueless and unguarded? This probably was necessary for them to pass through the fiery snow and continue on their journey, but the pareo umbrella made him feel like he was sticking his head up an ordinarily meek glasses woman’s long skirt. His worldly thoughts meter was on the rise and he already knew hell would react and make those thoughts visible!!!

“Eh heh. I’m burning. Eh heh heh. Now that I’ve lost all feeling, this old man is kind of enjoying it.”

Half of Rosencreutz’s surface area was now pockmarked with burns several centimeters in diameter, a sight that helped recover Kamijou’s SAN a bit.

If he made Kingsford go “eek, pervert!” and shove him out from under the umbrella, he would end up with that fiery snow all over him too. He would end up traveling beyond the realm of pain and start twitching on the ground.

(Come to think of it.)

Kamijou started to reach his right hand out from under the umbrella to touch an ember.

“Kh.”

But he pulled back.

Was that really safe?

He wanted to test if he still had Imagine Breaker, but surely there was a safer way.

If he was wrong, he would end up seeing his own finger bone.

Kingsford, meanwhile, decided to completely ignore her fellow expert, Rosencreutz.

Her kindness must have been limited to amateurs.

The traveler with no sympathy for the scorched first-rate pro began to speak.

“Sigh. This area of hell is still partway between the medium and 🌶️ levels. To be blunt, Westcott, Mathers, and my other students saw much worse when they made a mistake.”

“…”

What was education like in the late 19th century?

Kamijou had trouble imagining it. He lived in an age when no one was even asked to stand out in the hall holding buckets, so this was beyond anything he could imagine. And was the Mathers she mentioned ''the'' Mathers he had seen in London? Had that ultimate genius actually cried after being beaten up by his teacher? What in the world had he done to deserve that?

Rosencreutz (who was lying burnt at their feet) joined the conversation.

“Pant, wheeze. B-by the way, a little later in the early 20th century, the famous Crowley had this to say to his students: ‘You made a mistake? Then slash your arm with a razor to leave a permanent scar. That pain will teach you your mind is capable of controlling you.’ ”

“Who let a guy like that reign at the top of Academy City?”

Had Aleister been that strict? Then again, he did seem like the type who would writhe on the floor in agony when someone dug up a story of his past.

But apparently Anna Kingsford was from the era before even that.

She looked like a gentle and smiling glasses woman, but maybe Kamijou needed to focus a little more on what was hidden deep inside?

Rosencreutz was still smoldering, but by the time he returned unsteadily to his feet, his burns had all vanished.

He really was an expert.

The ability to turn horrific burns like that into a joke was anything but normal.

“But, well, you know.”

“Hm?”

“You know. If Anna Kingsford were only a little nicer, this old man would see her as a certain ideal.”

“She seems nice enough to me.”

“Does she now? Then are you saying you see her as the ideal you-know-what, boy? I envy you.”

The ideal what?

Did he know what?

Kamijou Touma felt a cold sweat dripping down his back.

Oh, no.

He shouldn’t have let himself think it. But now that the thought was in his mind, it wouldn’t leave.

It was the worst possible thought.

Yes.

Wasn’t Anna Kingsford a lot like ''the ideal dorm manager''?

He knew he shouldn’t think it, but he couldn’t escape the image he had conjured into his mind.

The ideal.

She was a generally clueless and gentle woman, but she was stylish, sexy, older than him, could do both her job and housework, and she would accept anything he might do, but she also loved his attention as the sweet and lovely school dorm manager. That ideal was so powerful he couldn’t shake it. ''Don’t give in. Harness your mental fortitude. Weren’t you going to crawl out of hell and wipe away Alice Anotherbible’s tears back in the world of the living? C’mon, Kamijou Touma, you’re better than this. Just remember that crying face waiting for you! You need to return. Don’t think about if it’s possible with ordinary methods. You have two extraordinary monsters with you. Didn’t you decide to escape from this hell with Kingsford’s help and Rosencreutz’s power!? This isn’t about a dorm manager!!''

…''But wait. As well guarded as her front is, the back of that racing swimsuit is wide open, leaving a lot of exposed skin. Isn’t it a lot like a naked apron? No!! Don’t let her swimsuit distract you. Refocus your mind. This is only the starting point. There has to be more to this. This place is called hell, so there’s bound to be some hellish obstacles here. So stay focused! Shut down your imagination! Keep that image out of your head!! But it’s true a dorm manager would be at a city pool, not a midsummer beach. And she would wear a racing swimsuit instead of a flashy bikini. Wait!! I don’t need to pursue a dorm manager all the way to hell when there are plenty of them back on earth!! Nwoahhhhhh!!! Good morning, Kamijou-san. Hee hee. You have some bedhead. My, my, did you only just get up? What a naughty boy you are. Oh, by the way, Kamijou-san, do you have some free time? I can’t figure out how to hook up my TV and digital recorder. Oh, this? I made too much nikujaga, so I thought I would share some with you☆

The world warped around Kamijou.

He paled. He had noticed the change.

This was bad.

Very, very bad.

Nothing could be worse right now! This wasn’t just the surface-level stuff like boobs or a butt. This was the very core of what made Kamijou Kamijou. He had to admit it. If a young woman gave him an icy look and rejected this softer part inside him, he really would cry. The boy’s soul was wracked with the fear of a lack of acceptance and understanding. ''No, wait! Anything I say now will only hurt me. If they find out about this, they can directly attack my innermost desires!!!

“S-stop this, hell!! Don’t react now of all times. Ah, ah, ah, nooo. Why does hell have to be so merciless? Why does my dorm manager dream have to appear like this? Damn, the very center of my heart is blooming before my eyes! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”

Hell shined bright.

He was dead.

Kamijou flailed his right hand at the empty air, but hell refused to disappear. No matter what. Unable to bear it, the teenager covered his face with his hands. Couldn’t someone silently kill him right this instant? Without speaking a word?

But he waited and waited without hearing any comments from Kingsford or Rosencreutz.

He puzzled over this in the darkness of his hands.

…Were they too disturbed?

…Had his open display of worldly desire left them speechless?

But something still felt off. There was a tension in the air. A serious tension. He didn’t get the sense they were going to criticize his desires. Nervously, he moved his hands from his face and viewed the outer world through the gap.

“What…is that?”

This wasn’t at all what he had expected.

He saw some kind of city.

However, it wasn’t a modern city of concrete skyscrapers and asphalt streets. This was something older – much older – with nothing but stone-paved roads and pointy roofs he could imagine an RPG king living below.

So was this a fantasy world?

No.

“I see. This imagery comes from him. Hell is designed to reveal each individual’s sins and provide an appropriate punishment. So even an expert – ❌, especially an expert – will have his greedy and defiled soul revealed before us.”

Anna Kingsford still had her back to them. As if protecting them from the scene spread out before their eyes.

Yes, them.

It wasn’t just Kamijou this time. She was protecting the other one as well.

Christian Rosencreutz.

“…”

His head was lowered.

He was averting his eyes.

CRC was never slow to provide verbal abuse or mockery, but now he said nothing.

(Is that monster afraid?)

“1602, the Holy Roman Empire, the University of Tübingen. That would be modern day 🇩🇪. Back then, you were ❌ more than a 15-year-old boy who was still learning theology while also engrossing yourself in the works of John Dee, the queen’s 🧙‍♂️.”

Had that monster really been 15 years old once?

And a student?

Wait, wasn’t 15 the same age as Kamijou?

It should have been obvious, but Kamijou found that obvious fact surprising. He had more or less imagined that Rosencreutz had been born an expert in magic who destroyed the world as he pleased while shouting about how he was an old man.

But that wasn’t the case.

“This is your origin, CRC. The center point of your sin and your distortion upon the 🌍. …This is why Anna Sprengel chose the path of 🪄, why the Golden cabal was born, why Westcott, Mathers, and my other students strayed in pursuit of their own desires, why the 👿 lord known as Aleister Crowley was awoken within the world’s greatest cabal and destroyed it all, and why some unknown person created Alice Anotherbible without Crowley noticing.”

Aleister.

And Alice.

Kamijou leaned forward at the mention of those familiar names.

Yes, this wasn’t something from a game or an isekai fantasy story. As large as the scale was and as absurdly unrealistic as it might sound, this story was directly connected to the real world.

This was a story Kamijou Touma needed to know.

“So he was 15 back in 1602? But what happened there?”

“The beginning happened.”

Anna Kingsford’s voice was stiff as she responded without turning back.

“The beginning of it all. The very moment that the Rosicrucian cabal, the world’s most mysterious 🪄 cabal, came to be.”

===Part 3===

A light clanking sound continued endlessly.

It was a lot like ancient gears fitting together. But this lacked the precision of a clock. It moved sometimes fast and sometimes slow. This was an old machine supported by the tolerance of the viewers, from a time when the slight margin of error caused by the hand crank was thought to give it “flavor”.

This was a film projector.

In a flat world confined to a rectangle, something danced in grainy black and white. It was a boy walking across undulating dunes of scorching sand, a young man gathering students from across Europe, and an old man with a bald head and long beard writing silently at a desk.

“Christian Rosencreutz,” said Kingsford as she viewed the images. “He abandoned a privileged life to travel east where the great professors living in secret in the depths of the desert granted him wisdom, which he chose to distribute freely throughout his homeland of Europe after managing to bring it back with him. But the foolish European educated class – that is the ignorant religious leaders who ruled the Dark Ages that preceded the Renaissance – rejected his wisdom and silenced him. Eventually, he established the House of the Holy Spirit where he could learn along with the few students who shared his vision. He fought against vested interests while healing small human illnesses, correcting the great distortion of the world, and leading humanity as a whole toward goodness. He was a truly benevolent expert.”

“…”

Much like a children’s picture book, it was all so abstract and simple, but it didn’t sound anything like the red-clad young man standing silently next to Kamijou now.

Kamijou felt more like he was viewing images of a handsome prince charming.

That is, it was all so perfect it felt flimsy.

This didn’t feel like a living human being.

“But all of that was an illusion.”

Anna Kingsford left no room for doubt.

At the same time, the flimsy story projected by the projector shattered like glass. With a single statement, the thick stone wall acting as the white screen crumbled away, revealing a hallway on the other side.

The expert spoke while staring down that.

“The mysterious Rosicrucian cabal was first revealed to the 🌍 by a booklet, which only presented him with the mysterious initials CRC. The full name of Christian Rosencreutz did ❌ appear until much later. An individual by that name did ❌ yet exist, so it is more accurate to say Rosicrucianism was created by the person who ✍️ that booklet.”

Kamijou Touma had not been present when Alice took revenge on CRC, but he had been told that the mysterious Rosicrucian cabal didn’t actually exist. Really, he had just suddenly discovered the smart people like Othinus and Anna Sprengel were talking based on that assumption, so he had found it difficult to keep up.

He had also learned that the person named Christian Rosencreutz had been invented.

Kamijou wasn’t going to doubt the man’s power.

It didn’t matter to him if someone dressed up as the god or demon of their choice to draw on that figure’s abilities to reach out a helping hand to whoever they had decided to save. It didn’t matter to him if they didn’t actually throw out their magic name to become a Magic God. That was the foundation of the Transcendents like Aradia and the Bologna Succubus. That had also become the driving force for Anna Sprengel who monopolized so much power yet always fell short of Kingsford and who had pushed past all that to face Alice Anotherbible’s distortion and prevent the destruction of the world.

“…Johann…”

Kamijou heard a voice from down the hallway.

It belonged to a boy his own age. He doubted the boy was speaking Japanese, yet he could understand it even though he couldn’t even speak English well.

“Johann.”

It was a name.

The man next to him.

The silver-haired young man in red hadn’t said anything for a while now. His constant insults had vanished. Like he sat in the defendant’s seat in court. Was this what happened to anyone who was accused?

A step.

Kingsford took a step into the hallway beyond the screen as she spoke calmly.

“The legend of Rosencreutz is said to have begun in 1378, but the real 📅 is much later. It truly began in 1602. It happened here at the University of Tübingen, in what is now known as 🇩🇪. …It happened in a tiny room at one corner of that massive educational institution where people were free to learn the natural sciences thanks to the Renaissance but it also taught theology, in which people learned how to read the Bible in greater detail. It all began as nothing more than a single 💧 being added to the 🌍.”

So at this point, it didn’t matter if it was real or fake. There was something else they had to pursue further.

The false information was intentionally distributed.

What had someone hoped to accomplish by creating the fictional image of CRC – Christian Rosencreutz – as if he were a real person?

What were his intentions and goals?

Kamijou had already been told he was still only 15 at the time. Kamijou didn’t know anything about the educational environment of 17th century Germany, but he could guess it wasn’t something just anyone was allowed to attend.

The University of Tübingen allowed humans to learn about god in detail.

Including his mysteries.

This somewhat reminded Kamijou of Academy City, which looked like a peaceful city of children but actually had massive gears turning below the surface. However, this seemed even more blatant. Instead of enacting some kind of plan in secret, no effort was put into disguising the truth and all effort was dedicated to a single grand objective.

Rosicrucianism had caused so much trouble.

It had created all the foundational theory that had formed the basis for the Golden cabal.

There had to be something there.

There just had to.

So Kamijou prepared himself for the worst. He felt his heart pounding even though he wasn’t sure he really had a heart anymore.

They arrived at the end of the hallway.

There was a small door there.

It was a thick oak door in a stone wall, yet it had none of the grandeur of the door to a cathedral or to the audience chamber in the demon lord’s castle. It was smaller, more grounded, and something even a high school boy like Kamijou could picture.

The actual parts used were different, but the overall scene brought a term to Kamijou’s mind.

(A clubroom?)

No, it couldn’t be.

Kingsford threw open the oak door without knocking.

Johann Valentin Andreae.

His true form was finally revealed.

Voices flooded out from the small room.

“Johann, are you planning ''another'' prank? You only just got reprimanded for that phony newspaper saying Bacon and Shakespeare are one and the same. …What are you plotting now, writing up some weird booklet?”

[[Image:GT Index v11 BW3.webp|thumb]]

“You had better be ready, Christoph, because this one’s a doozy! Once this young man finishes writing this, I’ll finally get back at those professors lording it over us from their lecterns. This young man calls it the Great Rosencreutz Operation!!”

===Part 4===

A prank.

Those professors.

Operation.

“………………………………………………………………………………………………Umm?”

Kamijou had heard it himself, but he still couldn’t believe it.

What was with this light mood?

Those cheerful voices sounded like two children digging a pitfall in a field somewhere.

“Johann Valentin Andreae.”

Anna Kingsford sighed again.

In exasperation.

“It all began with him. And ❌ everything that changes the 🌍 begins as some grand strategy or plan.”

The two boys had no idea Kamijou’s party was observing them.

In fact, they were upset about being crammed into such a small room.

“Besides, the Dark Ages are over. Over! No longer will our Germanic people be seen as the enemy of European culture by the fools who refuse to think for themselves. We live in a new era where everyone is familiar with the concept of the Renaissance! Instead of waiting for a drop of miracle to trickle down to our parched lips, we can mix our own potions and publish our own newspapers! Paintings have depth thanks to perspective and there are naked statues aplenty! The people and the cities have received the visual blessings of the Renaissance, so it’s wrong to force everyone to think of god in the one ‘accepted’ view.”

“Johann.”

“This young man is not arguing against there being just one god. I’m not interested in the complicated arguments over what exactly the Greek Zeus or Roman Venus were or over whether the great Caesar and Aristotle went to heaven or hell because they died without being baptized. Those kinds of details aren’t for the young. I’m just saying each individual theologian should have their own stance on how they think about and view the one god. This is Tübingen! We’re paying an arm and a leg in tuition to receive an education in ''that subject''!! So what is this!? The professors think they’re better than us just because they’ve lived longer. They think the world’s reformation ended with criticizing the old church for its indulgences and all that. Give those educated idiots enough free time and they’ll stir up trouble by writing a book criticizing innocent witches or something. Like our country’s greatest author of nonsense: Heinrich Kramer! There are still so many real problems to deal with. The ideal is to allow free debate of all possibilities and then collect the best of them and link them together into an even better theory, right? This is a university, so that’s what we should all be collaborating on. But how are we supposed to debate anything when simple thinking is deemed ‘sinful’!? What’s even the point of attending university then!? You might as well go to a tiny rural church and listen to the ancient priest’s sermons!!”

“Johann, you’re rambling. And this is why everyone says you’re dangerous. You’ll be burned as a witch eventually, I swear.”

“But it’s all true. The adults just don’t like it when you question them, so they try to silence anyone who’s too smart for them. Right?”

“Don’t drag me into this. Your grandfather is weeping.”

“You sound just like the teachers, Christoph. It’s true my grandfather is famous in the field of theology, but that’s all anyone knows about him. Just so you know, he’s far more active and playful than me back home. If he was as strict and serious as everyone thinks he is, he wouldn’t have fathered 18 children, now would he?”

“No comment. Geez, there’s nothing like an insider’s view, huh? So what’s this Rosen thing? What does all this have to do with that flimsy booklet? I don’t want to be in the dark when your trouble hits the university, so tell me how this prank works. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“This young man is glad you asked!!”

Johann Valentin Andreae energetically swung his hands around and spoke theatrically loud.

“Rosen…creutz!! The rose and the cross. Heh heh. A mysterious combination like that is sure to grab everyone’s attention, don’t you think!?”

“Is it? But there’s a trick, right? Tell me.”

“Heh heh. My erudite and impoverished friend Christoph Besold. Are you familiar with the Andreae house crest?”

“So that’s it, you troublemaker.”

“Yes, it is four red roses and a diagonal white cross. Everyone will be worshiping this young man!”

It wasn’t just Kamijou’s modern viewpoint.

Johann’s friend from the University of Tübingen was also exasperated.

In the distant illusion, Johann waved the booklet between his fingers.

“Rosencreutz. The two of us will set this up as a legendary magic cabal. This young man would like the help of your unnecessarily knowledgeable mind! The Chemical Wedding. It’s the perfect name for the current era. Everyone is familiar with flasks and beakers now, so even the general public will be interested! Because the Renaissance changed the world a short while ago!!”

“To make it a legend, you’ll have to cover a long period of time.”

“This young man is well aware. What if we say it was established 200 years ago? A mysterious organization acted from the shadows to smash the petrified knowledge of the church and end the mysterious Dark Ages while they spread the light of the Renaissance across the current age, but this collection of true wise men was not satisfied with just that. They are a cabal capable of changing the world. A good lie is not a perfectly flawless myth. To give it verisimilitude, it must feel lived in and match the changing of the world around us all. The people have grown bored of the Renaissance. They seek the next great change!! See, see!? The general public will believe it in a heartbeat!”

Bored of the Renaissance.

The changing of the world.

Like when high-speed flat-rate internet swept across the world, or when online shopping and smartphones changed how people lived their lives. Had Johann taken advantage of the idea that a single good idea could change everything?

In an age of plenty, people were not necessarily satisfied.

Those people would have their own complaints.

“This young man will release these all-consuming omnivorous fish into the waters of public opinion,” said Johann with a grin and the thin booklet in hand. “This young man hasn’t decided how long yet, but probably at least 2 years. Just the one booklet will seem too sudden, so we need to set the stage by first leaking a few fragments of supposed documents. Of course, if it looks like the truth is coming out early, we can make our move before it all falls apart.”

“You’re going to hide that you faked it all for no good reason for two whole years? If nothing else, this is a great example of the terrifying focus of someone with too much time on their hands.”

“Ideologies spread in no time. And if the topic is to spread among the educated, maybe we should aim for the salons for playwrights or composers? Those people are always searching for mystical material, be it Greek or Roman or even the Germanic Valkyries or Egyptian Isis and Nephthys. They’ll leap at a mysterious world-spanning cabal that no one’s ever heard of. If we add in a king or queen or princess, we’ll be reeling them in like salmon or anchovies.”

“I’m impressed, Johann. Just how many enemies are you planning to make? Trying to set a new world record for how much trouble you can cause with words alone?”

“No one in the world can put a lid on the truth for their own convenience. This might only be a thin handmade booklet right now, but once plenty of copies have spread around and people are whispering of its existence, even the most absurd story starts to sound a lot more real. We can fake multiple sources all on our own. That way it will grow to the point that not even those professors can ignore it. They look all dignified now, but just you wait until they’re onboard with it too.”

“Well, those old men have all learned the history of what happened to the hardheaded Christians who refused to get onboard with the Renaissance when it showed up.”

“This young man just know they’ll claim to have known all about it before the general public found out or even claim to secretly be a member. …Heh heh. After all, it’s the rose and the cross. Those proud adults will all be smugly confessing their association with a secret organization that reveres the house crest of the very same Johann Valentin Andreae they look down upon. They will claim to have sworn allegiance to this young man!!”

“Bff!? …S-sorry. Unlike you, I have this thing called common sense. I am extremely concerned about the trouble I see brewing in the future. I certainly wasn’t laughing.”

“Don’t try and hide it. Ah ha ha ha!! Those narcissistic teachers act like they’re omniscient despite being as human as the rest of us, so this young man can’t wait to have them bowing their heads to me with looks of utter solemnity! Oh, I already can’t wait until the day we can reveal the truth!!!”

It could hardly be worse.

The corners of Kamijou’s mouth were more than a little stiff.

Was this really acceptable?

Maybe it didn’t matter if it was nor not.

The hidden truth of Johann Valentin Andreae may have been even worse than Aleister Crowley’s.

“Really…?” said Kamijou without thinking.

Rosencreutz(?) refused to turn his way. For a while now, he had been avoiding Kamijou’s eye.

This was the unvarnished truth.

It may have hurt him.

Kamijou took a deep breath and kept a straight face.

“Are you stupid? No one asked you to, but you went right on ahead and created your own original myth with yourself as the leader? I’ve heard most people write some embarrassing things in their youth, but this is ridiculous. Could you not look at yourself objectively and see why you were an outcast?”

“Salt in the wound!? And this old man means the sea salt with pieces bigger than sesame seeds!?”

Kamijou spoke plainly.

This was his chance.

He was so glad he had lived an honest life. He could now take revenge and give this man his just deserts.

“Heh heh heh. Don’t try to pretend you don’t deserve it, Rosencreutz. You did your best to torment me when Kingsford’s giant boobs and butt appeared. That ended peacefully because Kingsford is a wonderful person, but I was this close to receiving a blow powered by an expert’s arm strength, sending my head spinning all the way around. Heh heh, ha ha ha ha! At the hand of Kingsford, the owner of the giant boobs and butt!!”

“Shut up, be quiet, take this: racing swimsuit woman armpiiiiiiit!!!”

That was a curse.

CRC’s cry dragged out the boy’s adolescence.

And hell reacted.

The earth split apart and something emerged. It had no head, arms, or anything below the hips. It looked so much like an indecent silicone doll made with only the necessary parts, but it was enormous. It rivaled a high-voltage transmission tower in size. And hell had even included the racing swimsuit. Was hell particular about such things?

Kamijou Touma seriously screamed as he looked up at the giant something towering above him.

“Ahhhhhh, now that is a niche thing. Boobs and butts are mainstream, but I’d have a hard time calling this sexy. But…if it belongs to a young woman…maybe? If you see it as the one small chink in the young woman’s perfect armor, then maybe an armpit is pretty nice after all!?”

“…”

A short distance away, Anna Kingsford placed a hand on her cheek and remained absolutely silent, but that wasn’t the problem right now.

The fake booklet.

Was that the initial motive?

After spreading the lie everywhere and waiting for enough people to believe it, he would announce it was all a lie to pull the ladder out from under them. And once they were all trapped up on the roof, he could point and laugh at them.

That was all.

The reveal wouldn’t do much damage to Johann and his friend as they stewed inside their little room, but the same could not be said of the important scholars.

This was mischievousness taken to an extreme.

But.

“?”

Kamijou couldn’t believe what he had seen, but then something occurred to him.

Something didn’t add up.

This was something he could only notice because he was looking back from the present time and already knew all the answers.

He gave voice to his confusion.

“But wait… Rosicrucianism was all a lie and it all came to an end when Johann confessed to his enormous prank once the time came, right? Then why do people in later times believe that Rosicrucianism and Rosencreutz were real? Like Anna Sprengel who claimed to be an important figure in the Rosicrucian cabal. Hell, you even said Rosicrucianism is a foundational part of the Golden cabal.”

“It did ❌ come to an end.”

Kingsford’s answer was a simple one.

Generally speaking, that expert did not make mistakes.

“Johann Valentin Andreae abandoned his plan ❌finished.”

That would explain it.

But that called into question the earlier assumptions.

“Johann knew it was all a lie from the beginning, right?”

“🎯.”

“And his prank was meaningless if he didn’t tell everyone it was a lie, right?”

“🎯.”

…Then why did he abandon it unfinished? For hundreds of years, it would seem.

For Johann, the prank lost all meaning if he abandoned it unfinished. Had he lost interest in it? After resisting for two whole years waiting for it to charge up, had he abandoned it all without actually pulling the trigger?

Or.

Could it be…?

“Johann’s greatest error was ❌ accounting for his own perfectionism. While he was a 15-year-old prankster, he was also a student at the University of Tübingen and through his own self-study he had accumulated a great wealth of knowledge in many subjects including theology, alchemy, and astrology. ❌. He lived in the 1600s, the 17th century. The Dark Ages had already ended, a reformation had occurred in a massive system, and as long as they knew Latin, anyone could broaden their horizons past ✝️ and learn about Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so many other aspects of the occult.”

“…”

“❌ wanting his prank to be discovered early, he was very careful as he built up his Rosicrucian mythology from the ground up. ❌ matter how detailed a story is, it can still all fall apart if the author says the fraternity does ❌ exist. …But Johann’s greatest error was letting his great knowledge and perfectionism drive him to create such an intricate story that ❌ one saw it as a mere story.”

The fraternity bearing the crest of Johann’s family was spoken of in the utmost seriousness and even the university professors had bragged about having long known of it or even of being a secret member. It must have a wild experience for the author who knew the truth.

But.

A mere student’s voice had less strength than the voices of influential scholars. Once it became a trend flooding the public, nothing the prankster could say would overcome the wall of majority rule.

No matter the truth of the matter.

So what would happen if he tried to explain what had really happened?

“Are you saying he made his big reveal…and no one believed him?”

===Part 5===

Anna Kingsford pinched the center of her racing swimsuit(?)’s ample chest and tugged.

She let air into the cleavage. Or rather, the created tunnel.

Damp with sweet sweat, she used the back of her other hand to wipe the sweat from her brow.

“Phew. It sure is 🌡️ here. I’m soaked with sweat. Yet the bottom level of hell is supposed to be an 🧊 prison.”

“Is that really necessary? Hey, I thought you were just dragging a really serious truth out into the open!! Why are you trying to overpower that with your unbeatable femininity!?”

“?”

She looked confused.

Ms. Sexy’s glasses had started to fog up.

And her air of natural gentleness seemed to press in on him.

…Was she not even aware she was doing it? No, it couldn’t be! It was true his adolescent brain’s memory was more stimulated into activity by the faintly flushed skin of this busty young woman than it was by the distant past of some historical old man!! But not even he was going to focus on the sexy woman in this moment. Wouldn’t that be as extremely inappropriate as ogling the wife in mourning clothes during a tearful funeral ceremony? Did that glasses woman’s hair and skin have to smell so sweet!? Was she like the ultimate mayonnaise that overwhelmed all the other more subtle flavors!?

The silver-haired young man in red was hanging his head.

His expression was hidden, but his shoulders were shaking. In this gloomy atmosphere.

It was no use.

Trying to be nice would probably just make him cry here.

Apparently CRC’s selfishness and capriciousness had all been an act to make himself look bad and he was really just a diligent 15-year-old deep down.

Kamijou Touma had to harden his heart if he was to protect Rosencreutz’s pride and soul.

“Ah ha ha, bwa ha ha, hee hee hee hee hee!!! …I-I can’t do it. I can’t. It makes me laugh every time I think about it. Christian Rosencreutz. Oh, I can’t stand it. Bwah ha! I’m sorry. Pfft. But all this talk about – pfft – the secrets of the world – kee hee hee hee hee – and it can’t hold a candle to a woman in a swimsuit! Pffffft!!!”

“Answer me, hell. Send Kingsford’s giant glasses plummeting toward us. I call upon you, meteor, to crush this insolent boy.”

CRC raised his arms and recited a curse.

But hell did not react this time.

He had fumbled it. Not even Kamijou had taken his adolescence to such an extreme that he couldn’t control himself when it came to glasses that weren’t currently on a woman.

Apparently CRC wasn’t all powerful.

In fact, it sounded like his failures had outnumbered his successes in the past.

Magicians were the end result when a failure kept on struggling. Which was why they tried to distort reality. They wielded supernatural power, but they were entirely different from the Level 5s who had mastered their innate talents. Since Rosencreutz had risen to the level of expert, he must have had a reason behind it all…right?

But in that case…

Noticing Kamijou’s eyes on her, the other expert smiled a little.

“Yes. My past is full of failure and regret.”

And so she had mastered magic.

Unable to forgive her own weakness or tendency to give up, she had decided she would change the world even if it meant remaking herself.

But be that as it may, Kingsford was still perfection as far as Kamijou was concerned. She continued saving people even after dying, but she had also thrown out her resurrected life and descended into hell to collect Kamijou there. This wasn’t like Othinus or Aleister. He sensed something that set Kingsford apart.

He needed to behave himself.

He had to.

“But I just can’t help it. Pft, we were talking about Rosencreutz, but Kingsford is all I can think about.”

“I hope this boy is devoured headfirst by a giant vagina-shaped monster. A horrifyingly hairy vagina!! It can abduct him in a beam of light like a UFO!!!”

Something suddenly exploded.

It came in the form of a fist. The smiling glasses woman had sent a blow right into the center of CRC’s face.

Kingsford was fairly merciless when it came to a death-dealing expert.

Kamijou was glad hell hadn’t reacted to that one…

“While this is CRC’s starting point, we are only looking at echoes of the past. Kamijou Touma, this may be necessary information for you in the present, but do ❌ let it influence you too much.”

“…”

But this was about Rosicrucianism.

He had seen the truth about Christian Rosencreutz.

This was the foundation that had, on some level, influenced the Golden cabal and their greatest mutation Aleister, influenced Anna Sprengel, and even influenced Alice Anotherbible and the other Transcendents.

Kamijou had no idea if he could return from hell alive.

But it still wouldn’t hurt for him to learn all of-

“By the way, Kamijou Touma. While there is 🔥 and lava bursting from the ground here, hell’s 🌊 quality means there is ❌ much hope for a ♨️. But do you think we could manage a hot stone spa?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be discussing Rosencreutz!? I’m sure hell is a boring place for a perfect and flawless woman like you, but stop filling in the gaps with merciless condensed milk!! Everything will end up having that super sweet Kingsford flavor!!!”

Immediately, Kamijou noticed a pale glow.

At first, he thought he was going to get to see a giant young woman enjoying a hot stone spa, but this appeared to be something else.

He sensed a different current or trend to this.

A familiar scene emerged from the scenery. He was again seeing the University of Tübingen which shouldn’t have existed here or now.

Hell had activated.

===Part 6===

A great commotion was underway.

Asking where was meaningless. Talk of the rose and the cross was so popular it was happening pretty much everywhere.

Even though it was all made up.

He had loudly insisted it was all a lie, but no one had listened.

Rosicrucianism had completely left Johann’s control. It now belonged to everyone else.

If they wanted to enjoy it, so be it.

As long as that was what they wanted, an individual might be happy living a blindfolded life.

But.

This was on another level altogether.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I am an official Rosicrucian member. Pray to me and you might just acquire a potion capable of curing the ailment destroying your body.”

That was one of the professors.

One of the important scholars who taught at the university. As much as the boy was loath to admit it, that man was a respectable theologian who had supported the protestants to critique corruption in the monasteries and the selling of indulgences in order to drive out the vested interests of the old world.

But…

This wasn’t the same as an individual refusing to face reality and blindfolding themselves. Stealing reality away from those who had yet to be deceived was something else entirely.

The boy attempted to fight it.

Recklessly.

The worst part was that this professor was a professor.

That meant he wasn’t trying to deceive people maliciously. He believed the Rosicrucian legend from the bottom of his heart and ''had truly convinced himself that praying to a member of the cabal would heal other’s ailments.''

So.

This was well past the point where a good argument could function as a weapon.

Only academic theories could be beaten with logic.

Logic was powerless against faith.

“You say you created it all yourself? …Nonsense. Even I have barely even begun to scratch the surface of its true depths, so you – you who are so close to flunking out – could never understand even a fragment of the Rosicrucian truths that flawlessly combine mind-bendingly complex theories with supremely simple answers!!”

There is no deeper meaning! It’s a joke! It’s my house crest!!

Johann’s shouts reached no one.

No one at all.

The people who spoke of his invented nonsense as if it were real instead mocked him as ignorant and uneducated, shunning him.

They were like a naked emperor who no one could judge.

They all were.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Johann wasn’t alone. The friend who had accompanied him in that small room was the only other one who knew of the prank. In that topsy-turvy world, only he understood the same truth as Johann. He had helped created this trend. So if they worked together, surely they could bring an end to this ridiculous festival.

Or so Johann thought.

“It wasn’t us.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

The original assumption had crumbled away within his friend.

“We didn’t create this. You said you searched through all sorts of old non-Christian texts, right? Well, couldn’t you have stumbled upon some real secret Rosicrucian document in there? That must be it. That makes so much more sense than thinking the two of us somehow managed to remake the world!! Right!?”

Johann could not forget the strange light deep in his friend’s eyes.

He could never forget.

Something had taken root deep inside his friend.

The monster those two had created had taken on a life of its own and grown to the point it could travel freely from person to person. And even swallow up one of its own creators.

Had that friend been unable to bear the pressure of breaking the world?

Or had he not wanted to destroy the Rosicrucian illusion. Even if it meant altering his own memories?

Yourself or the world?

When one or the other had to be wrong, an individual mind would give into the majority rule and rewrite its own memories. People would fabricate memories in no time as long as they were aware that simply lying to themselves would let them escape eternal isolation and join the crowd.

Hypnosis only worked when the subject wanted it to.

This was a perfect example of a self-suggestion no one had asked for.

…Johann didn’t know what happened to his friend afterwards. They had continued attending the same university, but they had barely spoken. He may have begun a search for nonexistent old texts related to the rose and the cross.

Johann had no allies left.

He was all alone.

In a storm of fierce words, Johann was forced to endure the gale of text all alone.

Meanwhile, the important people who believed in Rosicrucianism began pulling out dusty old documents. They discussed whether Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, or other things might point to a piece of the Rosicrucian secrets and they tried patching it all together. The powerless invented story began to to change as the patchwork gradually took on a new form. By the time the original flavor was no longer recognizable, a drop of true poison had found its way inside.

In other words, various forms of eastern and western magic.

''They'' must have decided this would make good camouflage and help them in their factional conflicts.

So a kernel of knowledge taken from, of all places, an original grimoire was included.

Once the ball began rolling down the hill, no one could stop it.

Not even Johann.

He was its creator, but he had lost control.

Once people were wielding visible miracles, it became impossible to say whether it was a lie or the truth.

“Ahh.”

“Pray to me.”

“Help me.” “I’ll pay anything.” “Give it to me too.”

“No.” “It hurts.” “That’s weird.” “Help.” “I heard the Rosicrucian book could heal me.”

“L-L-Lord Rosencreutz!!” “Argh, I’m willing to spend my entire fortune to track down CRC!” “Are you sure that’s safe?” “Hee hee. Care to try some divination of the rose and the cross?” “Uweeeeaahhhhhhh!” “Please don’t leave me.” “This here is the sequel to the primary text of a secret cult! Any takers!?” “Wait, you seriously don’t believe in CRC?” “I heard you shelter Rosicrucians in your territory.” “Are you the enemy of mankind who dares defy Lord Rosencreutz!?” “All you have to do is believe, so stop making waves.” “They say it’s complete.” “You got what you deserved. You wouldn’t be sick if you hadn’t insulted the Rosicrucians.” “I am Rosencreutz reborn!” “I have the elixir of life!!” “You must be removed. Your lack of belief in CRC makes you an illness upon this world!!” “Hee hee. I’m making a killing off of this.” “Can you really call yourself an intellectual if you aren’t well-read on the rose and the cross?” “Help me!!” “Don’t worry. Everyone will be saved as long as they do as Rosencreutz says.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Johann Valentin Andreae.

He was ''defeated by Christian Rosencreutz.

Reality was stolen from him.

He had invented it, but he was labeled the liar.

CRC had transformed into a secret truth. And the Rosicrucian legend with him at the top had left the control of the 15-year-old boy who had created it. He had been able to switch it on, but switching it off wasn’t so easy.

He heard the world changing.

Distorting.

Bending.

Twisting.

Breaking.

He had created an engine that convinced so many people they were happy even as it dragged them down to hell.

===Part 7===

“Mugyu.”

That was a sound effect.

It came from Kingsford’s lips.

And Kamijou Touma’s face was fully buried in the large chest of her swimsuit-like outfit.

Her arms were holding him tight.

(Why!?)

“!!!???”

“🤫.”

Anna Kingsford was perfectly calm.

The heat must have been too much even for an expert because her body felt overheated and was slick with sweet sweat!!

“There is something here. But this is ❌ as characterized as the Malebranche, so it must be a more primitive concept. Perhaps a manifestation of Nyx who surrounds Tartarus.”

“(Mghghmgh, what does that have to do with these boobs in my face, mgh!?)”

“Nyx seems to calculate the #️⃣ of souls wandering in hell and 🔒s onto them, so by bringing our souls close together, the difference between one and two vanishes and we can avoid her.”

Kingsford explained a mysterious concept as if it were obvious.

Of course, Kamijou’s confusion was probably his fault for being ignorant.

Also, Kingsford appeared to be counting them as souls, not bodies. That was a weird feeling for Kamijou. Did it mean he was sensing this body heat, sweet scent, and large soft boobs without them actually having bodies!?

“Also, it seems CRC will be attacked because he is all alone over there.”

“Old man!! Quit feeling sorry for yourself and run away!!”

He was right there next to them.

And in an instant where the soaring beads of sweat seemed to freeze in space like jewels, Kamijou’s outstretched hand just barely failed to reach him.

He was pulled back.

Forcefully.

He had lost to Anna Kingsford's big boobs.

“You trait-”

Something rushed right past him and then the silver-haired young man in red vanished in the middle of shouting something. There was now nothing past Kamijou’s fingertips. The selfish and capricious old man who was surprisingly diligent deep down had disappeared.

Something like a great wave of pitch black sludge being slung around by the color white tinged with red enveloped and took away Rosencreutz. The language may have broken down there a bit, but that was unavoidable when something so strange had happened. That was just how it was in a hell beyond human understanding.

It was now a level lower.

It was rolling down.

Making an unpleasant sludge-like noise the entire time.

That extraordinary monster had made a physical attack just as its target was immobilized by their past trauma. That showed just how unforgiving hell was.

Now was not the time to be buried in a kind glasses woman’s sweaty boobs.

“Ahhhhhh!! I-I don’t believe it. CRC was taken out in a single blow? What, are we playing on hell difficulty!”

“Um, do you need to specify that when we’re in hell?”

Yes.

This truly was hell.

“By the way, Nyx is a girl, so you could say CRC was just attacked by a goddess of the night. Yes, a very passionate mounting attack.”

“Did you say a goddess of the night!?”

Why did that sound so extremely indecent!? Based on the white statues, he could guess Greek mythology’s surface-level standards of beauty weren’t all that different from the modern standards, so if he wanted to see an extremely lewd and beautiful goddess, was his best option to wait and see what happened!? …That would be fine, right? CRC was an expert, so he had to be pretty sturdy and waiting a bit before rescuing him wouldn’t make all that much difference, right!?

The glasses woman tilted her head.

“Sigh. I do ❌ know what has inspired this desire to learn more about the Hellenistic gods, but one of her most notable traits is that she goes on to marry her older brother.”

“She’s a goddess of the night, a little sister, a young bride, and a divine wife!? D-do gods just exist at a level beyond human imagination? This goddess has way too much going on. I’m having a hard time even visualizing her!!!”

Kamijou’s adolescent soul took a powerful blow, like he snuck into a park full of lovers at night, but that probably wasn’t what this was.

Look, Rosencreutz had been taken away by the color white tinged with red, pitch black, and a flash flood.

What about that was a girl?

“Um, Kingsford-sensei?”

“Yes?”

“The limbs and back can be as monstrous as you want, but the face and body need to maintain that soft femininity. What I mean is, the end result should look someone wearing fancy thigh highs and long gloves.”

“?”

It was actually extremely rare for the benevolent expert to be left tilting her head in confusion, but Kamijou failed to notice that.

Listen.

This was a very important discussion for the pointy-haired boy.

“My point is, if you don’t follow those rules, I’ll have a hard time accepting it as a niche type of moe. The way things are, Nyx-chan seems more like a traditional monster than the kind with ‘girl’ tacked on the end. And that sludge doesn’t even seem like a translucent slime girl where you can see right through her!! So can you please explain what this even is, sensei!? Senseiiii!!!”

“Well, while I did call her a goddess, the Greek Nyx is actually a giant amorphous something that surrounds hell in place of the river of the ☠️.”

“Wh-what the hell!? These old mythologies just don’t get it! Are you kidding me!? How is that supposed to be my little sister young wife goddess of the night!?”

“Hm??? Your?”

“No sheer negligee and no frilly apron? If I asked Othinus about a long thing surrounding the world, she’d probably tell me it’s something like a giant serpent. Which means this is a legit mythological creature!!”

“How many times do I need to tell you that Nyx is a Greek goddess, dammit?”

“That’s just a horror monster trying to kill Rosencreutz! There’s nothing cute about it! It’s a scam! Did you think there were boys out there who would get excited over a hug from a female tyrannosaurus!?”

“Oh…I 💭 you hurt Nyx’s feelings. She’s leaving CRC and trembling.”

“Are you serious? Have I finally reached the point of making a goddess cry?”

“I 💭 she 💭 she was just playing with him.”

That kind of playing seemed like it would kill a human, though. Also, it turned out that big wave of black sludge was in fact a clump of filthy wet hair.

Kamijou Touma had accidentally saved Rosencreutz.

This was a new record for him.

He couldn’t imagine what kind of damage being mounted by Nyx would cause, but the silver-haired young man in red lay unmoving on the ground. No. Don’t laugh. Yes, he’s sizzling with smoke rising from him, but that damage is serious. Don’t laugh! I have no proof, but I’m certain that would have killed me. But I can’t help it. Peh heh heh. The more I try to tell myself it’s inappropriate, the more hilarious it seems. This is the same guy who strutted across Academy City trying to destroy the world. Bwa ha. It’s just too funny. Ah ha ha. He really is lying there on his back like a dead cicada, sprawled out with some smoke rising from the very top of his head. Hee hee. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

This was hell.

Kamijou swore to himself he would take this seriously.

<span style="font-size:75%">“I-I am pleased to see Rosencreutz is safe?”</span>

“Boy. For as long as I live, this old man will never forget that grinning face twitching on the verge of exploding into laughter.”

Now he had a lifelong promise from a legendary figure.

But this didn’t sound like the beginning of a love story.

And hell began to glow once more.

The cycle seemed to be speeding up.

===Part 8===

The Rosicrucian social phenomenon proved to be more than just a temporary fad.

It had taken root.

The educated class had developed an understanding that anyone who wasn’t well-versed in Rosicrucianism was behind the times.

Or to put it another way, simply being able to discuss it came with advantages.

At that point, the instigator was no longer needed. A cycle had been established, allowing rumors to birth further rumors.

It all began at the University of Tübingen in the Holy Roman Empire.

That university was a base of the Lutherans who had thoroughly criticized the self-interest and bad habits of the old church, meaning it was a protestant institution. Thanks to this, the three major Christian powers – the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Russian Orthodox Church – were slow to react. They were slow to identify the source and this delay allowed the delusions of the rose and the cross to spread too far to be stopped.

The witch hunts that began in the 12th century and spread rapidly in that period were another problem. To stop the people’s emotions and the standardization of vigilante justice, the three major Christian powers were trying to apply the brakes on the rejection of heretics at the time. Public executions were a symbol of fear from above, but when an execution failed, the furious public were liable to rush in and kill the executioner.

In the 17th century, the Renaissance had split the public in two and changed how rational people thought. The people once more accepted ancient Greek and Roman art, they let their imaginations run wild about the Egyptian pyramids, and the old church, which had oppressed such things and even slaughtered the public they were meant to protect, fell out of favor. At first, the three major powers tried to pin the blame for this failure on each other, but they were also hesitant to act for fear of repeating the same mistakes and reopening the half-healed wounds.

This allowed the legend of Christian Rosencreutz to spread too far and endlessly alter the world.

If they were truly in the right, they shouldn’t have hesitated.

Of course, there was a downside to the Rosicrucian movement sweeping across that era.

Use a certain special method and you will be successful.

You must not follow any other method.

Training came with danger.

If it was easy, everyone could become an expert, so the creator of the myth had to make sure the task was difficult to achieve. So difficult that people would give up before they even tried.

Nevertheless.

Visible rituals weren’t a problem as long as they were on the level of putting stockings out on Christmas Eve or writing on a tanzaku for Tanabata, but when they escalated to the point of severely restricting people’s actions, they could lead to a dangerous path.

Looking back, it was all the work of a 15-year-old boy.

Who hadn’t given it all that much thought.

He had only sought simple ways of making it seem more realistic so his prank would succeed.

And because that creator hadn’t properly ended his prank, the truth born from the lies produced real victims. He struggled for years but couldn’t change it. In fact, he learned that this would likely continue well into the future. Possibly even after his own death. Maybe forever.

So…

“This is this young man’s responsibility…”

The words leaving the former-boy’s mouth carried resentment.

True resentment.

The magician raised his head and made a howling announcement to the world.

“So. So! Listen, you fools claiming to be members of the phony Rosicrucian cabal!! And you masses dragging yourself down to the depths by innocently believing in the nonexistent Christian Rosencreutz!! No matter what it takes – even if it takes centuries. This young man swears he will obliterate every last trace of this ridiculous legeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!”

===Part 9===

Kamijou heard that cry.

He listened to the entirety of the lament, the wail, the roar.

To the cry of the boy who had once been 15.

That monster turned out to in fact be unexpectedly responsible. He felt so responsible for the problem he had caused that he had dedicated his entire life to ending it.

That was Christian Rosencreutz.

No, that was Johann Valentin Andreae wearing the costume.

He was indeed the cause of it all.

But was he really such a villain that he deserved to suffer even after his death?

“And so he became Christian Rosencreutz,” whispered Kingsford. Quietly but firmly. “He had created the character, so he knew what weak points to target to make him crumble. He concluded that dressing up as his most hated character and causing nothing but violence was the quickest way to disillusion the 🌍 and its people with Rosicrucianism and thus saving them. The man named Johann Valentin Andreae built up his status as a theologian while secretly using his Rosencreutz guise to ruin the people who believed in him.”

Like a bandit.

Like a phantom thief.

Like a con artist.

He became a mysterious and elusive miracle of a man who seemed to exist in that same era, but no one in the world could come in contact with.

“Come to think of it, hell has a spot to punish liars and frauds. It was believed to be near the bottom of hell as a whole, which shows just how sinful an act that was thought to be. Hell is another part of the mythology. If he had studied theology a little more seriously, this may ❌ have happened in the first place.”

“…”

“Let’s go. We are still only partway through hell. We are ❌ even close to finished.”

Kamijou suddenly realized Tübingen was nowhere to be found.

This was no longer a university.

It was hell.

Everything he had seen was so overwhelming he had lost sight of where he was walking, so it had taken a bit to notice. Without that benevolent expert guiding him, he doubted he could have even walked in a straight line here. It wasn’t just the fiery hell and the mountainous hell. Simply following the path was a challenge. He hurried after Kingsford so he wouldn’t be left behind.

But still, this was hell.

Kamijou once more gulped at how effective it was. It wasn’t just an ordinary high school boy like him. Hell would even mercilessly attack a monster like Christian Rosencreutz.

And…

“I see. The benevolent expert, hm? But do not think you can hide it forever. The truth is gradually coming into focus for this old man.”

“?”

Kamijou thought this was only some nonsense from the selfish and capricious expert.

No matter how it had begun, that man had become someone who brought ruin to everyone who believed in him. Kamijou knew how dangerous it was to carelessly listen to anything CRC said.

But…

“Hmph. Anna Kingsford has some guts saying all that while ignoring her own presence.”

That statement caught Kamijou’s attention.

CRC made it sound like the benevolent expert – perfect Anna Kingsford – had some kind of flaw.

Kamijou had trouble imaging that.

If this was a baseless accusation made out of sour grapes, surely CRC could do better than that.

It felt completely out of place.

Which bothered him.

“What? Boy, have you really not noticed?”

“Noticed what?”

Rosencreutz’s surprise looked fairly legitimate.

They had fought a deadly battle in Academy City, but this was an unusual look from him.

“There is no such thing as a perfect person. Sigh, she really has tamed you, hasn’t she? Has the boy who defeated this old man regressed to being a baby bird that can only follow after its mother?”

“Hey, even I know to remain a little caut-”

“Was it her boobs or her butt that ensnared your soul? You can tell this old man. Or is this something more psychological? Is it based on your dream of being babied by a dorm manager in a naked apro-”

“(Shut your mouth. Kingsford-sensei can hear everything you’re saying at this range!!)”

“?”

The point of Kingsford’s witchy hat wobbled a bit as she walked up ahead…or so it looked to Kamijou.

Which scared him.

The adolescent frantically covered the young old man’s mouth with his right hand.

The two filthy guys spoke from extreme close range while Kingsford walked a few steps ahead.

“Now, then.”

Something floated in the air.

It was a clear jigsaw puzzle. That miniature model of the world was too bugged too function here in hell, but Rosencreutz was still trying force it into a V-shape.

Was that supposed to be a cross-section of the mortar-shaped hell?

Rosencreutz poked at a piece wiggling a bit below the middle.

“Even if you are unfamiliar with the structure of the western hell, you must remember that we started by passing through the gate, correct?”

Now that he mentioned it…

Of course, Kamijou couldn’t remember much about that gate with the later impact of the giant boobs and butt, Rosencreutz’s secret, and Nyx-chan.

“There is a reason you barely remember it,” said Rosencreutz, sounding deeply exasperated. “That was the entrance to hell. That is, it was the earliest stage on the easiest difficulty setting.”

''Oh, is that all?'' thought Kamijou because it had seemed more like a dark forest and stone, which wasn’t very hell-like. Things had seemed a lot more like hell once they started seeing orange-glowing magma.

…But then Kamijou froze.

Wait.

Hold on.

“Caught on, did you?”

“Um. Weren’t we trying to stage a ‘jailbreak’ to escape hell?”

“So you have caught on.”

“''Then why did we all pass through the entrance and then start walking down toward the bottom of hell''?”

Kamijou took another look at Anna Kingsford’s back a few steps ahead of him.

His impression of her had changed.

Kamijou had already walked through the gate. He may have only been one step into the afterlife when he first woke up, but then he had crossed hell’s starting point of his own free will.

“''You will die.''”

“''That doesn’t change my answer.''”

He recalled his past conversation with Alice.

Could it be?

Was it possible that he had once again made a fatal decision right at the very start before anyone had even explained it to him?

“Umm…”

“Is something wrong?”

Kingsford sounded unconcerned. She turned back to look at him, but he could only manage a noncommittal smile in return.

Unconcerned?

He of course had no clue what her truth was. That expert had complete control over her body and mind. It was possible her willpower was strong enough to manipulate the value of her heart rate, so he could never hope to see through her poker face.

He had seen and heard a lot in this hell.

But he hadn’t put any effort into any of it. The fact that a benevolent expert like Anna Kingsford had shown up in hell was too good to be true for someone for whom misfortune was his default state.

With his misfortune, he would more likely be left behind on a school trip after the bus tour guide forgot all about him.

He had no actual evidence to back it up, but his instincts were screaming that he shouldn’t trust that everything was as it seemed concerning this lucky turn of events.

So he had been prepared to find a lie somewhere.

But…

(Come to think of it, I never did learn what Anna Kingsford’s goal here is. Can I really just assume this is just a kind young woman acting of a maternal spirit of volunteerism? But what if she does have her own purpose here and I can’t trust her either?)

He heard some screeching.

It almost sounded like birds, but he doubted it really was.

If he did peer into the shadows to find out what it was, he had a feeling it would shatter his soul. That was a perfectly plausible outcome in hell.

(Then should I get away from Kingsford and try to escape without her? All on my own while already past the midpoint of hell!?)

“Be careful,” whispered CRC.

He even kept his lips motionless to keep the benevolent expert from noticing.

“This old man is an obvious threat…but the truly terrifying threats are the ones that aren’t so obvious at first glance.”

===Monsters===
[[Image:GT Index v11 BW5.webp|thumb]]

'''Cerberus

Originally the guard dog standing at the entrance to the Greek underworld. Was incorporated into the Christian view of hell, where he is a beast that chases down sinners and crushes them in his great jaws.

Looks terrifying but has a strong canine side, so it may be possible for a human to tame him if they know the correct method?

'''Nyx

Goddess of the night and the being that fully surrounds the Greek hell of Tartarus. She is depicted in many different forms, but here she is depicted as a woman with exceedingly long hair.

While she is in hell, she does not necessarily do bad things and she is heavily involved in the structure of the world.

She acts as an extremely solid border, so her appearance indicates you are approaching some kind of taboo.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter1|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter3}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Chapter2

2025-03-25T17:33:37Z

209.195.250.74: /* Chapter 2: Journey – What’s_That_Adventurer’s_Party? */

==Chapter 2: Journey – What’s_That_Adventurer’s_Party?==

===Part 1===

The rain poured down.

Everything a step below the hill Kamijou stood on was a mess of dirt and mud. The place was like a giant, empty pool cut out of the ground. Countless figures squirmed within. They appeared to be fleeing from something, but when he tried to get a look at what that something was, Kingsford’s hand covered his eyes.

“That would be Cerberus. ❌ a good sign.”

“Cer-what?”

What was that?

He was pretty sure he had seen that name in RPGs before.

Wasn’t it usually a black doglike thing that used fire? Or was that a hellhound?

For that matter, what was a hellhound?

He was getting distracted.

“It is ❌ enough of a monster to ☠️ if you simply 👁️ it, but it will dull your soul.”

When Kingsford-sensei sounded that serious about something, it was probably a good idea to do as she said.

And what happened if his soul lost its luster?

Regardless, he didn’t want to climb down where a monster like that was lurking. The bottom looked like a muddy bog, so if it did pursue him, he doubted he could escape on foot. And he didn’t want to even think about what happened if it took a big chomp out of his side.

He doubted hell had rules about keeping your dog on a leash.

Christian Rosencreutz chuckled cruelly.

“It is a three-headed demon dog. What, you aren’t going to tame it by feeding it lumps of dirt?”

“With all this mud around, I do ❌ 💭 that would have much of an effect. It will have already 🍴en plenty.”

“?”

Kamijou didn’t understand.

Was that conversation based on some myth or another?

That aside, what were they going to do?

A dog the size of a light car was terrifying.

Anna Kingsford pointed at a stone pillar(?) nearby.

It had a small hole at around hip height.

“Looks like we need a 🗝️ to operate the draw🌉.”

“Whoa!?”

It was so big Kamijou hadn’t noticed.

The massive structure the size of a broadcast tower was apparently a stone bridge with chains that could lower it by 90 degrees.

Were you supposed to insert something into the small pillar to work it?

“But what key?”

“It appears the harpy has it. I see it glittering in that 🐦’s 🪺.”

Did Kingsford mean that thing cawing up there? It looked kind of like a girl.

And sure enough, there was the key.

But it was up in the tree. And the tree trunk looked eerily like a human silhouette. But this wasn’t the same as the lewd tree crotch that made the little kids at the neighborhood park (and Aogami Pierce) laugh so hard.

The key was too far up to reach from the ground.

Could Kingsford or Rosencreutz just fly up and nab it?

“I can climb up onto your shoulders.”

“That’s an awfully grounded idea.”

“There is ❌ need to use secret tricks when the standard solution works just as well. Okay, I need you to crouch down.”

The spiky-haired boy went ahead and obeyed.

He should have thought this through some more.

“Here goes.”

She approached from behind him.

A soft weight pushed in at the back of his head and at his cheeks.

Were those her thighs squeezing his head?

Was that also her thighs resting on his shoulders? Or was that actually part of her butt?

And what part of her anatomy was that soft sensation he felt on the back of his neck!? Teach me, sensei!!

“That should do it. You can stand up now. Is something wrong?”

“…I think the pareo has the opposite effect here.”

“?”

He had thought a pareo was like a safety device meant to cover up the body, but here it created the illusion that he was sticking his head up this soft young woman’s skirt. But it was only an illusion, okay?

He gathered strength in his knees and slowly stood up.

The pressure from the sides increased.

“Oh, dear. Ah ha ha. Doing things I am ❌ accustomed to is kind of nerve wracking. But this should work.”

“Bwgohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Hm? Why the 💥ive roar?”

Yeah, this was a bad idea. Letting a clueless swimsuit woman ride on your shoulders was a terrible idea!!

But for now, they had to accomplish what they set out to do.

“➡️, ➡️.” “A little further ⬅️.” “➡️ again.” Kamijou kept tottering side to side to fulfill Kingsford’s requests.

When he tried to look up to see the harpy nest for himself, he was greatly distracted by the pareo falling over his face. The sweet young woman scent was powerful.

He decided to just let Kingsford guide him.

“Got it. This 🗝️ will let us continue on.”

“G-glad to 👂 it…”

Her way of speaking was contagious.

His brain was breaking down.

The shock was like unwittingly drinking a super-sweet chain coffee from a cafe that gathered customers with its whipped cream covered donuts and pancakes more than the coffee itself.

Even so.

The shoulder ride that felt like having his skull pried open and having sugar dumped directly inside was finally ov-

“Wait, do ❌ move.”

“Why!?”

“The harpy noticed us. I will deal with her, so do ❌ move from there.”

“Can’t you do that after I lower you to the ground, Sensei!?”

She gave his face a squeeze.

A hard squeeze.

[[Image:File:GT Index v11 BW2.webp|thumb]]

The glasses woman was probably only entering combat mode, but this went beyond a simple thigh-based reward.

His head didn’t feel right.

It seemed to be swelling, but it wasn’t quite the same as suffocating.

Could she be constricting his carotid artery rather than his windpipe?

“I need to convert to the reverse tree. Gevurah corresponds to Agshekeloh. The reverse of justice is cruelty. The element is 🔥. The wicked name that rules Sphere 5i is Golohab. You who are bound by the name and the number, obey my right 🖕 and display your power!!”

A tremor shook the place.

Almost like an artillery blast. Whatever Kingsford had done, a bright beam of light shot out and her upper body was knocked back as if by recoil.

It was a fairly large action made while still gripping Kamijou’s neck between her thighs.

The spiky-haired boy recalled a life hack for using a door’s hinge to crack a tough walnut.

Wait! But if the fulcrum is my neck, or my carotid artery really, then-

“Oh, dear???”

It happened far too easily.

The spiky-haired boy was rendered unconscious much like some kind of judo chokehold.

===Part 2===

What were they doing again?

Kamijou Touma’s mind was too woozy to remember.

Regardless, he opened his eyes.

What he saw looked strange. Was he lying down? He felt something soft below his head. Someone was peering down at him, but he couldn’t tell who it was due to the large pair of breasts blocking his view of their lower face.

The glasses jogged his memory.

It was her.

“Whoa!?”

He was resting on Kingsford-sensei’s lap pillow.

And since she was wearing a swimsuit, it was a bare lap pillow.

“Oh? You could have 💤ed longer, you know?”

The glasses woman placed a hand over her mouth and laughed elegantly. He decided he needed to get up before he developed any further problems with his heart rate. Why did he feel like he was losing years from his life when he was already dead?

Surprisingly, Rosencreutz did not seem exasperated.

He stroked his beard in his hand and commented on the situation.

“Hm. It would seem sleeping in hell does not eternally bind you here.”

“Old man, do you have to take this so seriously?”

“Hm, hm. You should count yourself lucky that sleeping does not eternally trap you in a dream within a dream within a dream…to the point you lose track of how many dreams deep you are.”

“Wait, what? Are you telling me even a woman’s thighs could be a devious trap in hell!?”

Kamijou’s party continued trekking through hell while taking the occasional short break.

They traveled through a variety of different hells, which mostly seemed to be fire based.

They had managed to descend a few levels thanks to Kingsford’s guidance.

“Wow…”

Kamijou hadn’t actually been counting what level of hell they were on, but in this hell, tons of embers were pouring down on them like a blizzard. The embers were especially noticeable in the darkness and they continued burning without extinguishing even after falling onto the sand. He knew nothing good would come from having those land on his skin. He doubted any kind of unexpected romance would be starting here. The embers reminded him a lot of white phosphorous or napalm.

The wind changed and the fiery snow blew this way.

Kamijou froze in place.

What was he supposed to do?

There were no gaps in that. Was he supposed to play a real-life bullet hell game!?

“Bwah, bwah, bwah!? Ah, no, it’s burning, it’s on fire, gya, gya, gya, gya, this old man’s beard is burning, bwah, bwah, bwah, bwah!?”

Kamijou had hoped there was some kind of loophole or safe zone hidden away in this general area-of-effect attack, but that hope was dashed when he saw the person rolling on the ground and burning. The distribution was just too even. Unlike in a shmup, there were no gaps at all. And once one of those embers touched your skin, it apparently kept on burning. The fact that water was immune to fire and the human body was 60-70% water didn’t seem to matter. Kamijou Touma learned the all-too-unpleasant fact that humans really did dance when they were burned alive.

Oh, right.

He had forgotten.

Tears formed in Kamijou’s eyes. The dead were horrifically punished after descending into hell and, since they were already dead, they wouldn’t die even if they were burned and stabbed in hell! Even if the total damage was well past a fatal level and even if it was complete overkill, their lives wouldn’t shut down at the moment of death, in a way making this even worse than the world of the living!

“Phew.”

Kamijou heard a sweet sigh.

It came from the teacher-like glasses woman.

Anna Kingsford untied the pareo she wore around her hips and spread it out overhead. She provided an umbrella not for herself but for Kamijou walking next to her. As if to protect just the spiky-haired boy from an unexpected rain shower.

Apparently she considered her witchy hat to be protection enough.

“You will be safe now. I guarantee it as an expert. I will ❌ allow your soul to be lost until you have been safely returned to the 🌍 of the living.”

A sweet scent wafted over to Kamijou.

It may have been the scent of her sweat.

When she was this close, he couldn’t ignore the warmth of her shoulder against his even if he wanted to. Her newly uncovered thighs were dazzlingly bright and his attempt to not look at them hurt his neck.

“?”

The oblivious woman tilted her head.

At extreme close range.

…Hold on, Kamijou panicked. Could it be that the sexy young woman was rapidly becoming his greatest obstacle in this journey through hell? She rattled his adolescence in a different way from the Bologna Succubus who walked around in her underwear or Aradia who did the same in a star-shaped bikini. Anna Kingsford wore something like a near-future racing swimsuit, so she didn’t show off all that much skin.

But.

Did she have to act so clueless and unguarded? This probably was necessary for them to pass through the fiery snow and continue on their journey, but the pareo umbrella made him feel like he was sticking his head up an ordinarily meek glasses woman’s long skirt. His worldly thoughts meter was on the rise and he already knew hell would react and make those thoughts visible!!!

“Eh heh. I’m burning. Eh heh heh. Now that I’ve lost all feeling, this old man is kind of enjoying it.”

Half of Rosencreutz’s surface area was now pockmarked with burns several centimeters in diameter, a sight that helped recover Kamijou’s SAN a bit.

If he made Kingsford go “eek, pervert!” and shove him out from under the umbrella, he would end up with that fiery snow all over him too. He would end up traveling beyond the realm of pain and start twitching on the ground.

(Come to think of it.)

Kamijou started to reach his right hand out from under the umbrella to touch an ember.

“Kh.”

But he pulled back.

Was that really safe?

He wanted to test if he still had Imagine Breaker, but surely there was a safer way.

If he was wrong, he would end up seeing his own finger bone.

Kingsford, meanwhile, decided to completely ignore her fellow expert, Rosencreutz.

Her kindness must have been limited to amateurs.

The traveler with no sympathy for the scorched first-rate pro began to speak.

“Sigh. This area of hell is still partway between the medium and 🌶️ levels. To be blunt, Westcott, Mathers, and my other students saw much worse when they made a mistake.”

“…”

What was education like in the late 19th century?

Kamijou had trouble imagining it. He lived in an age when no one was even asked to stand out in the hall holding buckets, so this was beyond anything he could imagine. And was the Mathers she mentioned ''the'' Mathers he had seen in London? Had that ultimate genius actually cried after being beaten up by his teacher? What in the world had he done to deserve that?

Rosencreutz (who was lying burnt at their feet) joined the conversation.

“Pant, wheeze. B-by the way, a little later in the early 20th century, the famous Crowley had this to say to his students: ‘You made a mistake? Then slash your arm with a razor to leave a permanent scar. That pain will teach you your mind is capable of controlling you.’ ”

“Who let a guy like that reign at the top of Academy City?”

Had Aleister been that strict? Then again, he did seem like the type who would writhe on the floor in agony when someone dug up a story of his past.

But apparently Anna Kingsford was from the era before even that.

She looked like a gentle and smiling glasses woman, but maybe Kamijou needed to focus a little more on what was hidden deep inside?

Rosencreutz was still smoldering, but by the time he returned unsteadily to his feet, his burns had all vanished.

He really was an expert.

The ability to turn horrific burns like that into a joke was anything but normal.

“But, well, you know.”

“Hm?”

“You know. If Anna Kingsford were only a little nicer, this old man would see her as a certain ideal.”

“She seems nice enough to me.”

“Does she now? Then are you saying you see her as the ideal you-know-what, boy? I envy you.”

The ideal what?

Did he know what?

Kamijou Touma felt a cold sweat dripping down his back.

Oh, no.

He shouldn’t have let himself think it. But now that the thought was in his mind, it wouldn’t leave.

It was the worst possible thought.

Yes.

Wasn’t Anna Kingsford a lot like ''the ideal dorm manager''?

He knew he shouldn’t think it, but he couldn’t escape the image he had conjured into his mind.

The ideal.

She was a generally clueless and gentle woman, but she was stylish, sexy, older than him, could do both her job and housework, and she would accept anything he might do, but she also loved his attention as the sweet and lovely school dorm manager. That ideal was so powerful he couldn’t shake it. ''Don’t give in. Harness your mental fortitude. Weren’t you going to crawl out of hell and wipe away Alice Anotherbible’s tears back in the world of the living? C’mon, Kamijou Touma, you’re better than this. Just remember that crying face waiting for you! You need to return. Don’t think about if it’s possible with ordinary methods. You have two extraordinary monsters with you. Didn’t you decide to escape from this hell with Kingsford’s help and Rosencreutz’s power!? This isn’t about a dorm manager!!''

…''But wait. As well guarded as her front is, the back of that racing swimsuit is wide open, leaving a lot of exposed skin. Isn’t it a lot like a naked apron? No!! Don’t let her swimsuit distract you. Refocus your mind. This is only the starting point. There has to be more to this. This place is called hell, so there’s bound to be some hellish obstacles here. So stay focused! Shut down your imagination! Keep that image out of your head!! But it’s true a dorm manager would be at a city pool, not a midsummer beach. And she would wear a racing swimsuit instead of a flashy bikini. Wait!! I don’t need to pursue a dorm manager all the way to hell when there are plenty of them back on earth!! Nwoahhhhhh!!! Good morning, Kamijou-san. Hee hee. You have some bedhead. My, my, did you only just get up? What a naughty boy you are. Oh, by the way, Kamijou-san, do you have some free time? I can’t figure out how to hook up my TV and digital recorder. Oh, this? I made too much nikujaga, so I thought I would share some with you☆

The world warped around Kamijou.

He paled. He had noticed the change.

This was bad.

Very, very bad.

Nothing could be worse right now! This wasn’t just the surface-level stuff like boobs or a butt. This was the very core of what made Kamijou Kamijou. He had to admit it. If a young woman gave him an icy look and rejected this softer part inside him, he really would cry. The boy’s soul was wracked with the fear of a lack of acceptance and understanding. ''No, wait! Anything I say now will only hurt me. If they find out about this, they can directly attack my innermost desires!!!

“S-stop this, hell!! Don’t react now of all times. Ah, ah, ah, nooo. Why does hell have to be so merciless? Why does my dorm manager dream have to appear like this? Damn, the very center of my heart is blooming before my eyes! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”

Hell shined bright.

He was dead.

Kamijou flailed his right hand at the empty air, but hell refused to disappear. No matter what. Unable to bear it, the teenager covered his face with his hands. Couldn’t someone silently kill him right this instant? Without speaking a word?

But he waited and waited without hearing any comments from Kingsford or Rosencreutz.

He puzzled over this in the darkness of his hands.

…Were they too disturbed?

…Had his open display of worldly desire left them speechless?

But something still felt off. There was a tension in the air. A serious tension. He didn’t get the sense they were going to criticize his desires. Nervously, he moved his hands from his face and viewed the outer world through the gap.

“What…is that?”

This wasn’t at all what he had expected.

He saw some kind of city.

However, it wasn’t a modern city of concrete skyscrapers and asphalt streets. This was something older – much older – with nothing but stone-paved roads and pointy roofs he could imagine an RPG king living below.

So was this a fantasy world?

No.

“I see. This imagery comes from him. Hell is designed to reveal each individual’s sins and provide an appropriate punishment. So even an expert – ❌, especially an expert – will have his greedy and defiled soul revealed before us.”

Anna Kingsford still had her back to them. As if protecting them from the scene spread out before their eyes.

Yes, them.

It wasn’t just Kamijou this time. She was protecting the other one as well.

Christian Rosencreutz.

“…”

His head was lowered.

He was averting his eyes.

CRC was never slow to provide verbal abuse or mockery, but now he said nothing.

(Is that monster afraid?)

“1602, the Holy Roman Empire, the University of Tübingen. That would be modern day 🇩🇪. Back then, you were ❌ more than a 15-year-old boy who was still learning theology while also engrossing yourself in the works of John Dee, the queen’s 🧙‍♂️.”

Had that monster really been 15 years old once?

And a student?

Wait, wasn’t 15 the same age as Kamijou?

It should have been obvious, but Kamijou found that obvious fact surprising. He had more or less imagined that Rosencreutz had been born an expert in magic who destroyed the world as he pleased while shouting about how he was an old man.

But that wasn’t the case.

“This is your origin, CRC. The center point of your sin and your distortion upon the 🌍. …This is why Anna Sprengel chose the path of 🪄, why the Golden cabal was born, why Westcott, Mathers, and my other students strayed in pursuit of their own desires, why the 👿 lord known as Aleister Crowley was awoken within the world’s greatest cabal and destroyed it all, and why some unknown person created Alice Anotherbible without Crowley noticing.”

Aleister.

And Alice.

Kamijou leaned forward at the mention of those familiar names.

Yes, this wasn’t something from a game or an isekai fantasy story. As large as the scale was and as absurdly unrealistic as it might sound, this story was directly connected to the real world.

This was a story Kamijou Touma needed to know.

“So he was 15 back in 1602? But what happened there?”

“The beginning happened.”

Anna Kingsford’s voice was stiff as she responded without turning back.

“The beginning of it all. The very moment that the Rosicrucian cabal, the world’s most mysterious 🪄 cabal, came to be.”

===Part 3===

A light clanking sound continued endlessly.

It was a lot like ancient gears fitting together. But this lacked the precision of a clock. It moved sometimes fast and sometimes slow. This was an old machine supported by the tolerance of the viewers, from a time when the slight margin of error caused by the hand crank was thought to give it “flavor”.

This was a film projector.

In a flat world confined to a rectangle, something danced in grainy black and white. It was a boy walking across undulating dunes of scorching sand, a young man gathering students from across Europe, and an old man with a bald head and long beard writing silently at a desk.

“Christian Rosencreutz,” said Kingsford as she viewed the images. “He abandoned a privileged life to travel east where the great professors living in secret in the depths of the desert granted him wisdom, which he chose to distribute freely throughout his homeland of Europe after managing to bring it back with him. But the foolish European educated class – that is the ignorant religious leaders who ruled the Dark Ages that preceded the Renaissance – rejected his wisdom and silenced him. Eventually, he established the House of the Holy Spirit where he could learn along with the few students who shared his vision. He fought against vested interests while healing small human illnesses, correcting the great distortion of the world, and leading humanity as a whole toward goodness. He was a truly benevolent expert.”

“…”

Much like a children’s picture book, it was all so abstract and simple, but it didn’t sound anything like the red-clad young man standing silently next to Kamijou now.

Kamijou felt more like he was viewing images of a handsome prince charming.

That is, it was all so perfect it felt flimsy.

This didn’t feel like a living human being.

“But all of that was an illusion.”

Anna Kingsford left no room for doubt.

At the same time, the flimsy story projected by the projector shattered like glass. With a single statement, the thick stone wall acting as the white screen crumbled away, revealing a hallway on the other side.

The expert spoke while staring down that.

“The mysterious Rosicrucian cabal was first revealed to the 🌍 by a booklet, which only presented him with the mysterious initials CRC. The full name of Christian Rosencreutz did ❌ appear until much later. An individual by that name did ❌ yet exist, so it is more accurate to say Rosicrucianism was created by the person who ✍️ that booklet.”

Kamijou Touma had not been present when Alice took revenge on CRC, but he had been told that the mysterious Rosicrucian cabal didn’t actually exist. Really, he had just suddenly discovered the smart people like Othinus and Anna Sprengel were talking based on that assumption, so he had found it difficult to keep up.

He had also learned that the person named Christian Rosencreutz had been invented.

Kamijou wasn’t going to doubt the man’s power.

It didn’t matter to him if someone dressed up as the god or demon of their choice to draw on that figure’s abilities to reach out a helping hand to whoever they had decided to save. It didn’t matter to him if they didn’t actually throw out their magic name to become a Magic God. That was the foundation of the Transcendents like Aradia and the Bologna Succubus. That had also become the driving force for Anna Sprengel who monopolized so much power yet always fell short of Kingsford and who had pushed past all that to face Alice Anotherbible’s distortion and prevent the destruction of the world.

“…Johann…”

Kamijou heard a voice from down the hallway.

It belonged to a boy his own age. He doubted the boy was speaking Japanese, yet he could understand it even though he couldn’t even speak English well.

“Johann.”

It was a name.

The man next to him.

The silver-haired young man in red hadn’t said anything for a while now. His constant insults had vanished. Like he sat in the defendant’s seat in court. Was this what happened to anyone who was accused?

A step.

Kingsford took a step into the hallway beyond the screen as she spoke calmly.

“The legend of Rosencreutz is said to have begun in 1378, but the real 📅 is much later. It truly began in 1602. It happened here at the University of Tübingen, in what is now known as 🇩🇪. …It happened in a tiny room at one corner of that massive educational institution where people were free to learn the natural sciences thanks to the Renaissance but it also taught theology, in which people learned how to read the Bible in greater detail. It all began as nothing more than a single 💧 being added to the 🌍.”

So at this point, it didn’t matter if it was real or fake. There was something else they had to pursue further.

The false information was intentionally distributed.

What had someone hoped to accomplish by creating the fictional image of CRC – Christian Rosencreutz – as if he were a real person?

What were his intentions and goals?

Kamijou had already been told he was still only 15 at the time. Kamijou didn’t know anything about the educational environment of 17th century Germany, but he could guess it wasn’t something just anyone was allowed to attend.

The University of Tübingen allowed humans to learn about god in detail.

Including his mysteries.

This somewhat reminded Kamijou of Academy City, which looked like a peaceful city of children but actually had massive gears turning below the surface. However, this seemed even more blatant. Instead of enacting some kind of plan in secret, no effort was put into disguising the truth and all effort was dedicated to a single grand objective.

Rosicrucianism had caused so much trouble.

It had created all the foundational theory that had formed the basis for the Golden cabal.

There had to be something there.

There just had to.

So Kamijou prepared himself for the worst. He felt his heart pounding even though he wasn’t sure he really had a heart anymore.

They arrived at the end of the hallway.

There was a small door there.

It was a thick oak door in a stone wall, yet it had none of the grandeur of the door to a cathedral or to the audience chamber in the demon lord’s castle. It was smaller, more grounded, and something even a high school boy like Kamijou could picture.

The actual parts used were different, but the overall scene brought a term to Kamijou’s mind.

(A clubroom?)

No, it couldn’t be.

Kingsford threw open the oak door without knocking.

Johann Valentin Andreae.

His true form was finally revealed.

Voices flooded out from the small room.

“Johann, are you planning ''another'' prank? You only just got reprimanded for that phony newspaper saying Bacon and Shakespeare are one and the same. …What are you plotting now, writing up some weird booklet?”

[[Image:GT Index v11 BW3.webp|thumb]]

“You had better be ready, Christoph, because this one’s a doozy! Once this young man finishes writing this, I’ll finally get back at those professors lording it over us from their lecterns. This young man calls it the Great Rosencreutz Operation!!”

===Part 4===

A prank.

Those professors.

Operation.

“………………………………………………………………………………………………Umm?”

Kamijou had heard it himself, but he still couldn’t believe it.

What was with this light mood?

Those cheerful voices sounded like two children digging a pitfall in a field somewhere.

“Johann Valentin Andreae.”

Anna Kingsford sighed again.

In exasperation.

“It all began with him. And ❌ everything that changes the 🌍 begins as some grand strategy or plan.”

The two boys had no idea Kamijou’s party was observing them.

In fact, they were upset about being crammed into such a small room.

“Besides, the Dark Ages are over. Over! No longer will our Germanic people be seen as the enemy of European culture by the fools who refuse to think for themselves. We live in a new era where everyone is familiar with the concept of the Renaissance! Instead of waiting for a drop of miracle to trickle down to our parched lips, we can mix our own potions and publish our own newspapers! Paintings have depth thanks to perspective and there are naked statues aplenty! The people and the cities have received the visual blessings of the Renaissance, so it’s wrong to force everyone to think of god in the one ‘accepted’ view.”

“Johann.”

“This young man is not arguing against there being just one god. I’m not interested in the complicated arguments over what exactly the Greek Zeus or Roman Venus were or over whether the great Caesar and Aristotle went to heaven or hell because they died without being baptized. Those kinds of details aren’t for the young. I’m just saying each individual theologian should have their own stance on how they think about and view the one god. This is Tübingen! We’re paying an arm and a leg in tuition to receive an education in ''that subject''!! So what is this!? The professors think they’re better than us just because they’ve lived longer. They think the world’s reformation ended with criticizing the old church for its indulgences and all that. Give those educated idiots enough free time and they’ll stir up trouble by writing a book criticizing innocent witches or something. Like our country’s greatest author of nonsense: Heinrich Kramer! There are still so many real problems to deal with. The ideal is to allow free debate of all possibilities and then collect the best of them and link them together into an even better theory, right? This is a university, so that’s what we should all be collaborating on. But how are we supposed to debate anything when simple thinking is deemed ‘sinful’!? What’s even the point of attending university then!? You might as well go to a tiny rural church and listen to the ancient priest’s sermons!!”

“Johann, you’re rambling. And this is why everyone says you’re dangerous. You’ll be burned as a witch eventually, I swear.”

“But it’s all true. The adults just don’t like it when you question them, so they try to silence anyone who’s too smart for them. Right?”

“Don’t drag me into this. Your grandfather is weeping.”

“You sound just like the teachers, Christoph. It’s true my grandfather is famous in the field of theology, but that’s all anyone knows about him. Just so you know, he’s far more active and playful than me back home. If he was as strict and serious as everyone thinks he is, he wouldn’t have fathered 18 children, now would he?”

“No comment. Geez, there’s nothing like an insider’s view, huh? So what’s this Rosen thing? What does all this have to do with that flimsy booklet? I don’t want to be in the dark when your trouble hits the university, so tell me how this prank works. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“This young man is glad you asked!!”

Johann Valentin Andreae energetically swung his hands around and spoke theatrically loud.

“Rosen…creutz!! The rose and the cross. Heh heh. A mysterious combination like that is sure to grab everyone’s attention, don’t you think!?”

“Is it? But there’s a trick, right? Tell me.”

“Heh heh. My erudite and impoverished friend Christoph Besold. Are you familiar with the Andreae house crest?”

“So that’s it, you troublemaker.”

“Yes, it is four red roses and a diagonal white cross. Everyone will be worshiping this young man!”

It wasn’t just Kamijou’s modern viewpoint.

Johann’s friend from the University of Tübingen was also exasperated.

In the distant illusion, Johann waved the booklet between his fingers.

“Rosencreutz. The two of us will set this up as a legendary magic cabal. This young man would like the help of your unnecessarily knowledgeable mind! The Chemical Wedding. It’s the perfect name for the current era. Everyone is familiar with flasks and beakers now, so even the general public will be interested! Because the Renaissance changed the world a short while ago!!”

“To make it a legend, you’ll have to cover a long period of time.”

“This young man is well aware. What if we say it was established 200 years ago? A mysterious organization acted from the shadows to smash the petrified knowledge of the church and end the mysterious Dark Ages while they spread the light of the Renaissance across the current age, but this collection of true wise men was not satisfied with just that. They are a cabal capable of changing the world. A good lie is not a perfectly flawless myth. To give it verisimilitude, it must feel lived in and match the changing of the world around us all. The people have grown bored of the Renaissance. They seek the next great change!! See, see!? The general public will believe it in a heartbeat!”

Bored of the Renaissance.

The changing of the world.

Like when high-speed flat-rate internet swept across the world, or when online shopping and smartphones changed how people lived their lives. Had Johann taken advantage of the idea that a single good idea could change everything?

In an age of plenty, people were not necessarily satisfied.

Those people would have their own complaints.

“This young man will release these all-consuming omnivorous fish into the waters of public opinion,” said Johann with a grin and the thin booklet in hand. “This young man hasn’t decided how long yet, but probably at least 2 years. Just the one booklet will seem too sudden, so we need to set the stage by first leaking a few fragments of supposed documents. Of course, if it looks like the truth is coming out early, we can make our move before it all falls apart.”

“You’re going to hide that you faked it all for no good reason for two whole years? If nothing else, this is a great example of the terrifying focus of someone with too much time on their hands.”

“Ideologies spread in no time. And if the topic is to spread among the educated, maybe we should aim for the salons for playwrights or composers? Those people are always searching for mystical material, be it Greek or Roman or even the Germanic Valkyries or Egyptian Isis and Nephthys. They’ll leap at a mysterious world-spanning cabal that no one’s ever heard of. If we add in a king or queen or princess, we’ll be reeling them in like salmon or anchovies.”

“I’m impressed, Johann. Just how many enemies are you planning to make? Trying to set a new world record for how much trouble you can cause with words alone?”

“No one in the world can put a lid on the truth for their own convenience. This might only be a thin handmade booklet right now, but once plenty of copies have spread around and people are whispering of its existence, even the most absurd story starts to sound a lot more real. We can fake multiple sources all on our own. That way it will grow to the point that not even those professors can ignore it. They look all dignified now, but just you wait until they’re onboard with it too.”

“Well, those old men have all learned the history of what happened to the hardheaded Christians who refused to get onboard with the Renaissance when it showed up.”

“This young man just know they’ll claim to have known all about it before the general public found out or even claim to secretly be a member. …Heh heh. After all, it’s the rose and the cross. Those proud adults will all be smugly confessing their association with a secret organization that reveres the house crest of the very same Johann Valentin Andreae they look down upon. They will claim to have sworn allegiance to this young man!!”

“Bff!? …S-sorry. Unlike you, I have this thing called common sense. I am extremely concerned about the trouble I see brewing in the future. I certainly wasn’t laughing.”

“Don’t try and hide it. Ah ha ha ha!! Those narcissistic teachers act like they’re omniscient despite being as human as the rest of us, so this young man can’t wait to have them bowing their heads to me with looks of utter solemnity! Oh, I already can’t wait until the day we can reveal the truth!!!”

It could hardly be worse.

The corners of Kamijou’s mouth were more than a little stiff.

Was this really acceptable?

Maybe it didn’t matter if it was nor not.

The hidden truth of Johann Valentin Andreae may have been even worse than Aleister Crowley’s.

“Really…?” said Kamijou without thinking.

Rosencreutz(?) refused to turn his way. For a while now, he had been avoiding Kamijou’s eye.

This was the unvarnished truth.

It may have hurt him.

Kamijou took a deep breath and kept a straight face.

“Are you stupid? No one asked you to, but you went right on ahead and created your own original myth with yourself as the leader? I’ve heard most people write some embarrassing things in their youth, but this is ridiculous. Could you not look at yourself objectively and see why you were an outcast?”

“Salt in the wound!? And this old man means the sea salt with pieces bigger than sesame seeds!?”

Kamijou spoke plainly.

This was his chance.

He was so glad he had lived an honest life. He could now take revenge and give this man his just deserts.

“Heh heh heh. Don’t try to pretend you don’t deserve it, Rosencreutz. You did your best to torment me when Kingsford’s giant boobs and butt appeared. That ended peacefully because Kingsford is a wonderful person, but I was this close to receiving a blow powered by an expert’s arm strength, sending my head spinning all the way around. Heh heh, ha ha ha ha! At the hand of Kingsford, the owner of the giant boobs and butt!!”

“Shut up, be quiet, take this: racing swimsuit woman armpiiiiiiit!!!”

That was a curse.

CRC’s cry dragged out the boy’s adolescence.

And hell reacted.

The earth split apart and something emerged. It had no head, arms, or anything below the hips. It looked so much like an indecent silicone doll made with only the necessary parts, but it was enormous. It rivaled a high-voltage transmission tower in size. And hell had even included the racing swimsuit. Was hell particular about such things?

Kamijou Touma seriously screamed as he looked up at the giant something towering above him.

“Ahhhhhh, now that is a niche thing. Boobs and butts are mainstream, but I’d have a hard time calling this sexy. But…if it belongs to a young woman…maybe? If you see it as the one small chink in the young woman’s perfect armor, then maybe an armpit is pretty nice after all!?”

“…”

A short distance away, Anna Kingsford placed a hand on her cheek and remained absolutely silent, but that wasn’t the problem right now.

The fake booklet.

Was that the initial motive?

After spreading the lie everywhere and waiting for enough people to believe it, he would announce it was all a lie to pull the ladder out from under them. And once they were all trapped up on the roof, he could point and laugh at them.

That was all.

The reveal wouldn’t do much damage to Johann and his friend as they stewed inside their little room, but the same could not be said of the important scholars.

This was mischievousness taken to an extreme.

But.

“?”

Kamijou couldn’t believe what he had seen, but then something occurred to him.

Something didn’t add up.

This was something he could only notice because he was looking back from the present time and already knew all the answers.

He gave voice to his confusion.

“But wait… Rosicrucianism was all a lie and it all came to an end when Johann confessed to his enormous prank once the time came, right? Then why do people in later times believe that Rosicrucianism and Rosencreutz were real? Like Anna Sprengel who claimed to be an important figure in the Rosicrucian cabal. Hell, you even said Rosicrucianism is a foundational part of the Golden cabal.”

“It did ❌ come to an end.”

Kingsford’s answer was a simple one.

Generally speaking, that expert did not make mistakes.

“Johann Valentin Andreae abandoned his plan ❌finished.”

That would explain it.

But that called into question the earlier assumptions.

“Johann knew it was all a lie from the beginning, right?”

“🎯.”

“And his prank was meaningless if he didn’t tell everyone it was a lie, right?”

“🎯.”

…Then why did he abandon it unfinished? For hundreds of years, it would seem.

For Johann, the prank lost all meaning if he abandoned it unfinished. Had he lost interest in it? After resisting for two whole years waiting for it to charge up, had he abandoned it all without actually pulling the trigger?

Or.

Could it be…?

“Johann’s greatest error was ❌ accounting for his own perfectionism. While he was a 15-year-old prankster, he was also a student at the University of Tübingen and through his own self-study he had accumulated a great wealth of knowledge in many subjects including theology, alchemy, and astrology. ❌. He lived in the 1600s, the 17th century. The Dark Ages had already ended, a reformation had occurred in a massive system, and as long as they knew Latin, anyone could broaden their horizons past ✝️ and learn about Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so many other aspects of the occult.”

“…”

“❌ wanting his prank to be discovered early, he was very careful as he built up his Rosicrucian mythology from the ground up. ❌ matter how detailed a story is, it can still all fall apart if the author says the fraternity does ❌ exist. …But Johann’s greatest error was letting his great knowledge and perfectionism drive him to create such an intricate story that ❌ one saw it as a mere story.”

The fraternity bearing the crest of Johann’s family was spoken of in the utmost seriousness and even the university professors had bragged about having long known of it or even of being a secret member. It must have a wild experience for the author who knew the truth.

But.

A mere student’s voice had less strength than the voices of influential scholars. Once it became a trend flooding the public, nothing the prankster could say would overcome the wall of majority rule.

No matter the truth of the matter.

So what would happen if he tried to explain what had really happened?

“Are you saying he made his big reveal…and no one believed him?”

===Part 5===

Anna Kingsford pinched the center of her racing swimsuit(?)’s ample chest and tugged.

She let air into the cleavage. Or rather, the created tunnel.

Damp with sweet sweat, she used the back of her other hand to wipe the sweat from her brow.

“Phew. It sure is 🌡️ here. I’m soaked with sweat. Yet the bottom level of hell is supposed to be an 🧊 prison.”

“Is that really necessary? Hey, I thought you were just dragging a really serious truth out into the open!! Why are you trying to overpower that with your unbeatable femininity!?”

“?”

She looked confused.

Ms. Sexy’s glasses had started to fog up.

And her air of natural gentleness seemed to press in on him.

…Was she not even aware she was doing it? No, it couldn’t be! It was true his adolescent brain’s memory was more stimulated into activity by the faintly flushed skin of this busty young woman than it was by the distant past of some historical old man!! But not even he was going to focus on the sexy woman in this moment. Wouldn’t that be as extremely inappropriate as ogling the wife in mourning clothes during a tearful funeral ceremony? Did that glasses woman’s hair and skin have to smell so sweet!? Was she like the ultimate mayonnaise that overwhelmed all the other more subtle flavors!?

The silver-haired young man in red was hanging his head.

His expression was hidden, but his shoulders were shaking. In this gloomy atmosphere.

It was no use.

Trying to be nice would probably just make him cry here.

Apparently CRC’s selfishness and capriciousness had all been an act to make himself look bad and he was really just a diligent 15-year-old deep down.

Kamijou Touma had to harden his heart if he was to protect Rosencreutz’s pride and soul.

“Ah ha ha, bwa ha ha, hee hee hee hee hee!!! …I-I can’t do it. I can’t. It makes me laugh every time I think about it. Christian Rosencreutz. Oh, I can’t stand it. Bwah ha! I’m sorry. Pfft. But all this talk about – pfft – the secrets of the world – kee hee hee hee hee – and it can’t hold a candle to a woman in a swimsuit! Pffffft!!!”

“Answer me, hell. Send Kingsford’s giant glasses plummeting toward us. I call upon you, meteor, to crush this insolent boy.”

CRC raised his arms and recited a curse.

But hell did not react this time.

He had fumbled it. Not even Kamijou had taken his adolescence to such an extreme that he couldn’t control himself when it came to glasses that weren’t currently on a woman.

Apparently CRC wasn’t all powerful.

In fact, it sounded like his failures had outnumbered his successes in the past.

Magicians were the end result when a failure kept on struggling. Which was why they tried to distort reality. They wielded supernatural power, but they were entirely different from the Level 5s who had mastered their innate talents. Since Rosencreutz had risen to the level of expert, he must have had a reason behind it all…right?

But in that case…

Noticing Kamijou’s eyes on her, the other expert smiled a little.

“Yes. My past is full of failure and regret.”

And so she had mastered magic.

Unable to forgive her own weakness or tendency to give up, she had decided she would change the world even if it meant remaking herself.

But be that as it may, Kingsford was still perfection as far as Kamijou was concerned. She continued saving people even after dying, but she had also thrown out her resurrected life and descended into hell to collect Kamijou there. This wasn’t like Othinus or Aleister. He sensed something that set Kingsford apart.

He needed to behave himself.

He had to.

“But I just can’t help it. Pft, we were talking about Rosencreutz, but Kingsford is all I can think about.”

“I hope this boy is devoured headfirst by a giant vagina-shaped monster. A horrifyingly hairy vagina!! It can abduct him in a beam of light like a UFO!!!”

Something suddenly exploded.

It came in the form of a fist. The smiling glasses woman had sent a blow right into the center of CRC’s face.

Kingsford was fairly merciless when it came to a death-dealing expert.

Kamijou was glad hell hadn’t reacted to that one…

“While this is CRC’s starting point, we are only looking at echoes of the past. Kamijou Touma, this may be necessary information for you in the present, but do ❌ let it influence you too much.”

“…”

But this was about Rosicrucianism.

He had seen the truth about Christian Rosencreutz.

This was the foundation that had, on some level, influenced the Golden cabal and their greatest mutation Aleister, influenced Anna Sprengel, and even influenced Alice Anotherbible and the other Transcendents.

Kamijou had no idea if he could return from hell alive.

But it still wouldn’t hurt for him to learn all of-

“By the way, Kamijou Touma. While there is 🔥 and lava bursting from the ground here, hell’s 🌊 quality means there is ❌ much hope for a ♨️. But do you think we could manage a hot stone spa?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be discussing Rosencreutz!? I’m sure hell is a boring place for a perfect and flawless woman like you, but stop filling in the gaps with merciless condensed milk!! Everything will end up having that super sweet Kingsford flavor!!!”

Immediately, Kamijou noticed a pale glow.

At first, he thought he was going to get to see a giant young woman enjoying a hot stone spa, but this appeared to be something else.

He sensed a different current or trend to this.

A familiar scene emerged from the scenery. He was again seeing the University of Tübingen which shouldn’t have existed here or now.

Hell had activated.

===Part 6===

A great commotion was underway.

Asking where was meaningless. Talk of the rose and the cross was so popular it was happening pretty much everywhere.

Even though it was all made up.

He had loudly insisted it was all a lie, but no one had listened.

Rosicrucianism had completely left Johann’s control. It now belonged to everyone else.

If they wanted to enjoy it, so be it.

As long as that was what they wanted, an individual might be happy living a blindfolded life.

But.

This was on another level altogether.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I am an official Rosicrucian member. Pray to me and you might just acquire a potion capable of curing the ailment destroying your body.”

That was one of the professors.

One of the important scholars who taught at the university. As much as the boy was loath to admit it, that man was a respectable theologian who had supported the protestants to critique corruption in the monasteries and the selling of indulgences in order to drive out the vested interests of the old world.

But…

This wasn’t the same as an individual refusing to face reality and blindfolding themselves. Stealing reality away from those who had yet to be deceived was something else entirely.

The boy attempted to fight it.

Recklessly.

The worst part was that this professor was a professor.

That meant he wasn’t trying to deceive people maliciously. He believed the Rosicrucian legend from the bottom of his heart and ''had truly convinced himself that praying to a member of the cabal would heal other’s ailments.''

So.

This was well past the point where a good argument could function as a weapon.

Only academic theories could be beaten with logic.

Logic was powerless against faith.

“You say you created it all yourself? …Nonsense. Even I have barely even begun to scratch the surface of its true depths, so you – you who are so close to flunking out – could never understand even a fragment of the Rosicrucian truths that flawlessly combine mind-bendingly complex theories with supremely simple answers!!”

There is no deeper meaning! It’s a joke! It’s my house crest!!

Johann’s shouts reached no one.

No one at all.

The people who spoke of his invented nonsense as if it were real instead mocked him as ignorant and uneducated, shunning him.

They were like a naked emperor who no one could judge.

They all were.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Johann wasn’t alone. The friend who had accompanied him in that small room was the only other one who knew of the prank. In that topsy-turvy world, only he understood the same truth as Johann. He had helped created this trend. So if they worked together, surely they could bring an end to this ridiculous festival.

Or so Johann thought.

“It wasn’t us.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

The original assumption had crumbled away within his friend.

“We didn’t create this. You said you searched through all sorts of old non-Christian texts, right? Well, couldn’t you have stumbled upon some real secret Rosicrucian document in there? That must be it. That makes so much more sense than thinking the two of us somehow managed to remake the world!! Right!?”

Johann could not forget the strange light deep in his friend’s eyes.

He could never forget.

Something had taken root deep inside his friend.

The monster those two had created had taken on a life of its own and grown to the point it could travel freely from person to person. And even swallow up one of its own creators.

Had that friend been unable to bear the pressure of breaking the world?

Or had he not wanted to destroy the Rosicrucian illusion. Even if it meant altering his own memories?

Yourself or the world?

When one or the other had to be wrong, an individual mind would give into the majority rule and rewrite its own memories. People would fabricate memories in no time as long as they were aware that simply lying to themselves would let them escape eternal isolation and join the crowd.

Hypnosis only worked when the subject wanted it to.

This was a perfect example of a self-suggestion no one had asked for.

…Johann didn’t know what happened to his friend afterwards. They had continued attending the same university, but they had barely spoken. He may have begun a search for nonexistent old texts related to the rose and the cross.

Johann had no allies left.

He was all alone.

In a storm of fierce words, Johann was forced to endure the gale of text all alone.

Meanwhile, the important people who believed in Rosicrucianism began pulling out dusty old documents. They discussed whether Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, or other things might point to a piece of the Rosicrucian secrets and they tried patching it all together. The powerless invented story began to to change as the patchwork gradually took on a new form. By the time the original flavor was no longer recognizable, a drop of true poison had found its way inside.

In other words, various forms of eastern and western magic.

''They'' must have decided this would make good camouflage and help them in their factional conflicts.

So a kernel of knowledge taken from, of all places, an original grimoire was included.

Once the ball began rolling down the hill, no one could stop it.

Not even Johann.

He was its creator, but he had lost control.

Once people were wielding visible miracles, it became impossible to say whether it was a lie or the truth.

“Ahh.”

“Pray to me.”

“Help me.” “I’ll pay anything.” “Give it to me too.”

“No.” “It hurts.” “That’s weird.” “Help.” “I heard the Rosicrucian book could heal me.”

“L-L-Lord Rosencreutz!!” “Argh, I’m willing to spend my entire fortune to track down CRC!” “Are you sure that’s safe?” “Hee hee. Care to try some divination of the rose and the cross?” “Uweeeeaahhhhhhh!” “Please don’t leave me.” “This here is the sequel to the primary text of a secret cult! Any takers!?” “Wait, you seriously don’t believe in CRC?” “I heard you shelter Rosicrucians in your territory.” “Are you the enemy of mankind who dares defy Lord Rosencreutz!?” “All you have to do is believe, so stop making waves.” “They say it’s complete.” “You got what you deserved. You wouldn’t be sick if you hadn’t insulted the Rosicrucians.” “I am Rosencreutz reborn!” “I have the elixir of life!!” “You must be removed. Your lack of belief in CRC makes you an illness upon this world!!” “Hee hee. I’m making a killing off of this.” “Can you really call yourself an intellectual if you aren’t well-read on the rose and the cross?” “Help me!!” “Don’t worry. Everyone will be saved as long as they do as Rosencreutz says.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Johann Valentin Andreae.

He was ''defeated by Christian Rosencreutz.

Reality was stolen from him.

He had invented it, but he was labeled the liar.

CRC had transformed into a secret truth. And the Rosicrucian legend with him at the top had left the control of the 15-year-old boy who had created it. He had been able to switch it on, but switching it off wasn’t so easy.

He heard the world changing.

Distorting.

Bending.

Twisting.

Breaking.

He had created an engine that convinced so many people they were happy even as it dragged them down to hell.

===Part 7===

“Mugyu.”

That was a sound effect.

It came from Kingsford’s lips.

And Kamijou Touma’s face was fully buried in the large chest of her swimsuit-like outfit.

Her arms were holding him tight.

(Why!?)

“!!!???”

“🤫.”

Anna Kingsford was perfectly calm.

The heat must have been too much even for an expert because her body felt overheated and was slick with sweet sweat!!

“There is something here. But this is ❌ as characterized as the Malebranche, so it must be a more primitive concept. Perhaps a manifestation of Nyx who surrounds Tartarus.”

“(Mghghmgh, what does that have to do with these boobs in my face, mgh!?)”

“Nyx seems to calculate the #️⃣ of souls wandering in hell and 🔒s onto them, so by bringing our souls close together, the difference between one and two vanishes and we can avoid her.”

Kingsford explained a mysterious concept as if it were obvious.

Of course, Kamijou’s confusion was probably his fault for being ignorant.

Also, Kingsford appeared to be counting them as souls, not bodies. That was a weird feeling for Kamijou. Did it mean he was sensing this body heat, sweet scent, and large soft boobs without them actually having bodies!?

“Also, it seems CRC will be attacked because he is all alone over there.”

“Old man!! Quit feeling sorry for yourself and run away!!”

He was right there next to them.

And in an instant where the soaring beads of sweat seemed to freeze in space like jewels, Kamijou’s outstretched hand just barely failed to reach him.

He was pulled back.

Forcefully.

He had lost to Anna Kingsford's big boobs.

“You trait-”

Something rushed right past him and then the silver-haired young man in red vanished in the middle of shouting something. There was now nothing past Kamijou’s fingertips. The selfish and capricious old man who was surprisingly diligent deep down had disappeared.

Something like a great wave of pitch black sludge being slung around by the color white tinged with red enveloped and took away Rosencreutz. The language may have broken down there a bit, but that was unavoidable when something so strange had happened. That was just how it was in a hell beyond human understanding.

It was now a level lower.

It was rolling down.

Making an unpleasant sludge-like noise the entire time.

That extraordinary monster had made a physical attack just as its target was immobilized by their past trauma. That showed just how unforgiving hell was.

Now was not the time to be buried in a kind glasses woman’s sweaty boobs.

“Ahhhhhh!! I-I don’t believe it. CRC was taken out in a single blow? What, are we playing on hell difficulty!”

“Um, do you need to specify that when we’re in hell?”

Yes.

This truly was hell.

“By the way, Nyx is a girl, so you could say CRC was just attacked by a goddess of the night. Yes, a very passionate mounting attack.”

“Did you say a goddess of the night!?”

Why did that sound so extremely indecent!? Based on the white statues, he could guess Greek mythology’s surface-level standards of beauty weren’t all that different from the modern standards, so if he wanted to see an extremely lewd and beautiful goddess, was his best option to wait and see what happened!? …That would be fine, right? CRC was an expert, so he had to be pretty sturdy and waiting a bit before rescuing him wouldn’t make all that much difference, right!?

The glasses woman tilted her head.

“Sigh. I do ❌ know what has inspired this desire to learn more about the Hellenistic gods, but one of her most notable traits is that she goes on to marry her older brother.”

“She’s a goddess of the night, a little sister, a young bride, and a divine wife!? D-do gods just exist at a level beyond human imagination? This goddess has way too much going on. I’m having a hard time even visualizing her!!!”

Kamijou’s adolescent soul took a powerful blow, like he snuck into a park full of lovers at night, but that probably wasn’t what this was.

Look, Rosencreutz had been taken away by the color white tinged with red, pitch black, and a flash flood.

What about that was a girl?

“Um, Kingsford-sensei?”

“Yes?”

“The limbs and back can be as monstrous as you want, but the face and body need to maintain that soft femininity. What I mean is, the end result should look someone wearing fancy thigh highs and long gloves.”

“?”

It was actually extremely rare for the benevolent expert to be left tilting her head in confusion, but Kamijou failed to notice that.

Listen.

This was a very important discussion for the pointy-haired boy.

“My point is, if you don’t follow those rules, I’ll have a hard time accepting it as a niche type of moe. The way things are, Nyx-chan seems more like a traditional monster than the kind with ‘girl’ tacked on the end. And that sludge doesn’t even seem like a translucent slime girl where you can see right through her!! So can you please explain what this even is, sensei!? Senseiiii!!!”

“Well, while I did call her a goddess, the Greek Nyx is actually a giant amorphous something that surrounds hell in place of the river of the ☠️.”

“Wh-what the hell!? These old mythologies just don’t get it! Are you kidding me!? How is that supposed to be my little sister young wife goddess of the night!?”

“Hm??? Your?”

“No sheer negligee and no frilly apron? If I asked Othinus about a long thing surrounding the world, she’d probably tell me it’s something like a giant serpent. Which means this is a legit mythological creature!!”

“How many times do I need to tell you that Nyx is a Greek goddess, dammit?”

“That’s just a horror monster trying to kill Rosencreutz! There’s nothing cute about it! It’s a scam! Did you think there were boys out there who would get excited over a hug from a female tyrannosaurus!?”

“Oh…I 💭 you hurt Nyx’s feelings. She’s leaving CRC and trembling.”

“Are you serious? Have I finally reached the point of making a goddess cry?”

“I 💭 she 💭 she was just playing with him.”

That kind of playing seemed like it would kill a human, though. Also, it turned out that big wave of black sludge was in fact a clump of filthy wet hair.

Kamijou Touma had accidentally saved Rosencreutz.

This was a new record for him.

He couldn’t imagine what kind of damage being mounted by Nyx would cause, but the silver-haired young man in red lay unmoving on the ground. No. Don’t laugh. Yes, he’s sizzling with smoke rising from him, but that damage is serious. Don’t laugh! I have no proof, but I’m certain that would have killed me. But I can’t help it. Peh heh heh. The more I try to tell myself it’s inappropriate, the more hilarious it seems. This is the same guy who strutted across Academy City trying to destroy the world. Bwa ha. It’s just too funny. Ah ha ha. He really is lying there on his back like a dead cicada, sprawled out with some smoke rising from the very top of his head. Hee hee. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

This was hell.

Kamijou swore to himself he would take this seriously.

<span style="font-size:75%">“I-I am pleased to see Rosencreutz is safe?”</span>

“Boy. For as long as I live, this old man will never forget that grinning face twitching on the verge of exploding into laughter.”

Now he had a lifelong promise from a legendary figure.

But this didn’t sound like the beginning of a love story.

And hell began to glow once more.

The cycle seemed to be speeding up.

===Part 8===

The Rosicrucian social phenomenon proved to be more than just a temporary fad.

It had taken root.

The educated class had developed an understanding that anyone who wasn’t well-versed in Rosicrucianism was behind the times.

Or to put it another way, simply being able to discuss it came with advantages.

At that point, the instigator was no longer needed. A cycle had been established, allowing rumors to birth further rumors.

It all began at the University of Tübingen in the Holy Roman Empire.

That university was a base of the Lutherans who had thoroughly criticized the self-interest and bad habits of the old church, meaning it was a protestant institution. Thanks to this, the three major Christian powers – the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Russian Orthodox Church – were slow to react. They were slow to identify the source and this delay allowed the delusions of the rose and the cross to spread too far to be stopped.

The witch hunts that began in the 12th century and spread rapidly in that period were another problem. To stop the people’s emotions and the standardization of vigilante justice, the three major Christian powers were trying to apply the brakes on the rejection of heretics at the time. Public executions were a symbol of fear from above, but when an execution failed, the furious public were liable to rush in and kill the executioner.

In the 17th century, the Renaissance had split the public in two and changed how rational people thought. The people once more accepted ancient Greek and Roman art, they let their imaginations run wild about the Egyptian pyramids, and the old church, which had oppressed such things and even slaughtered the public they were meant to protect, fell out of favor. At first, the three major powers tried to pin the blame for this failure on each other, but they were also hesitant to act for fear of repeating the same mistakes and reopening the half-healed wounds.

This allowed the legend of Christian Rosencreutz to spread too far and endlessly alter the world.

If they were truly in the right, they shouldn’t have hesitated.

Of course, there was a downside to the Rosicrucian movement sweeping across that era.

Use a certain special method and you will be successful.

You must not follow any other method.

Training came with danger.

If it was easy, everyone could become an expert, so the creator of the myth had to make sure the task was difficult to achieve. So difficult that people would give up before they even tried.

Nevertheless.

Visible rituals weren’t a problem as long as they were on the level of putting stockings out on Christmas Eve or writing on a tanzaku for Tanabata, but when they escalated to the point of severely restricting people’s actions, they could lead to a dangerous path.

Looking back, it was all the work of a 15-year-old boy.

Who hadn’t given it all that much thought.

He had only sought simple ways of making it seem more realistic so his prank would succeed.

And because that creator hadn’t properly ended his prank, the truth born from the lies produced real victims. He struggled for years but couldn’t change it. In fact, he learned that this would likely continue well into the future. Possibly even after his own death. Maybe forever.

So…

“This is this young man’s responsibility…”

The words leaving the former-boy’s mouth carried resentment.

True resentment.

The magician raised his head and made a howling announcement to the world.

“So. So! Listen, you fools claiming to be members of the phony Rosicrucian cabal!! And you masses dragging yourself down to the depths by innocently believing in the nonexistent Christian Rosencreutz!! No matter what it takes – even if it takes centuries. This young man swears he will obliterate every last trace of this ridiculous legeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!”

===Part 9===

Kamijou heard that cry.

He listened to the entirety of the lament, the wail, the roar.

To the cry of the boy who had once been 15.

That monster turned out to in fact be unexpectedly responsible. He felt so responsible for the problem he had caused that he had dedicated his entire life to ending it.

That was Christian Rosencreutz.

No, that was Johann Valentin Andreae wearing the costume.

He was indeed the cause of it all.

But was he really such a villain that he deserved to suffer even after his death?

“And so he became Christian Rosencreutz,” whispered Kingsford. Quietly but firmly. “He had created the character, so he knew what weak points to target to make him crumble. He concluded that dressing up as his most hated character and causing nothing but violence was the quickest way to disillusion the 🌍 and its people with Rosicrucianism and thus saving them. The man named Johann Valentin Andreae built up his status as a theologian while secretly using his Rosencreutz guise to ruin the people who believed in him.”

Like a bandit.

Like a phantom thief.

Like a con artist.

He became a mysterious and elusive miracle of a man who seemed to exist in that same era, but no one in the world could come in contact with.

“Come to think of it, hell has a spot to punish liars and frauds. It was believed to be near the bottom of hell as a whole, which shows just how sinful an act that was thought to be. Hell is another part of the mythology. If he had studied theology a little more seriously, this may ❌ have happened in the first place.”

“…”

“Let’s go. We are still only partway through hell. We are ❌ even close to finished.”

Kamijou suddenly realized Tübingen was nowhere to be found.

This was no longer a university.

It was hell.

Everything he had seen was so overwhelming he had lost sight of where he was walking, so it had taken a bit to notice. Without that benevolent expert guiding him, he doubted he could have even walked in a straight line here. It wasn’t just the fiery hell and the mountainous hell. Simply following the path was a challenge. He hurried after Kingsford so he wouldn’t be left behind.

But still, this was hell.

Kamijou once more gulped at how effective it was. It wasn’t just an ordinary high school boy like him. Hell would even mercilessly attack a monster like Christian Rosencreutz.

And…

“I see. The benevolent expert, hm? But do not think you can hide it forever. The truth is gradually coming into focus for this old man.”

“?”

Kamijou thought this was only some nonsense from the selfish and capricious expert.

No matter how it had begun, that man had become someone who brought ruin to everyone who believed in him. Kamijou knew how dangerous it was to carelessly listen to anything CRC said.

But…

“Hmph. Anna Kingsford has some guts saying all that while ignoring her own presence.”

That statement caught Kamijou’s attention.

CRC made it sound like the benevolent expert – perfect Anna Kingsford – had some kind of flaw.

Kamijou had trouble imaging that.

If this was a baseless accusation made out of sour grapes, surely CRC could do better than that.

It felt completely out of place.

Which bothered him.

“What? Boy, have you really not noticed?”

“Noticed what?”

Rosencreutz’s surprise looked fairly legitimate.

They had fought a deadly battle in Academy City, but this was an unusual look from him.

“There is no such thing as a perfect person. Sigh, she really has tamed you, hasn’t she? Has the boy who defeated this old man regressed to being a baby bird that can only follow after its mother?”

“Hey, even I know to remain a little caut-”

“Was it her boobs or her butt that ensnared your soul? You can tell this old man. Or is this something more psychological? Is it based on your dream of being babied by a dorm manager in a naked apro-”

“(Shut your mouth. Kingsford-sensei can hear everything you’re saying at this range!!)”

“?”

The point of Kingsford’s witchy hat wobbled a bit as she walked up ahead…or so it looked to Kamijou.

Which scared him.

The adolescent frantically covered the young old man’s mouth with his right hand.

The two filthy guys spoke from extreme close range while Kingsford walked a few steps ahead.

“Now, then.”

Something floated in the air.

It was a clear jigsaw puzzle. That miniature model of the world was too bugged too function here in hell, but Rosencreutz was still trying force it into a V-shape.

Was that supposed to be a cross-section of the mortar-shaped hell?

Rosencreutz poked at a piece wiggling a bit below the middle.

“Even if you are unfamiliar with the structure of the western hell, you must remember that we started by passing through the gate, correct?”

Now that he mentioned it…

Of course, Kamijou couldn’t remember much about that gate with the later impact of the giant boobs and butt, Rosencreutz’s secret, and Nyx-chan.

“There is a reason you barely remember it,” said Rosencreutz, sounding deeply exasperated. “That was the entrance to hell. That is, it was the earliest stage on the easiest difficulty setting.”

''Oh, is that all?'' thought Kamijou because it had seemed more like a dark forest and stone, which wasn’t very hell-like. Things had seemed a lot more like hell once they started seeing orange-glowing magma.

…But then Kamijou froze.

Wait.

Hold on.

“Caught on, did you?”

“Um. Weren’t we trying to stage a ‘jailbreak’ to escape hell?”

“So you have caught on.”

“''Then why did we all pass through the entrance and then start walking down toward the bottom of hell''?”

Kamijou took another look at Anna Kingsford’s back a few steps ahead of him.

His impression of her had changed.

Kamijou had already walked through the gate. He may have only been one step into the afterlife when he first woke up, but then he had crossed hell’s starting point of his own free will.

“''You will die.''”

“''That doesn’t change my answer.''”

He recalled his past conversation with Alice.

Could it be?

Was it possible that he had once again made a fatal decision right at the very start before anyone had even explained it to him?

“Umm…”

“Is something wrong?”

Kingsford sounded unconcerned. She turned back to look at him, but he could only manage a noncommittal smile in return.

Unconcerned?

He of course had no clue what her truth was. That expert had complete control over her body and mind. It was possible her willpower was strong enough to manipulate the value of her heart rate, so he could never hope to see through her poker face.

He had seen and heard a lot in this hell.

But he hadn’t put any effort into any of it. The fact that a benevolent expert like Anna Kingsford had shown up in hell was too good to be true for someone for whom misfortune was his default state.

With his misfortune, he would more likely be left behind on a school trip after the bus tour guide forgot all about him.

He had no actual evidence to back it up, but his instincts were screaming that he shouldn’t trust that everything was as it seemed concerning this lucky turn of events.

So he had been prepared to find a lie somewhere.

But…

(Come to think of it, I never did learn what Anna Kingsford’s goal here is. Can I really just assume this is just a kind young woman acting of a maternal spirit of volunteerism? But what if she does have her own purpose here and I can’t trust her either?)

He heard some screeching.

It almost sounded like birds, but he doubted it really was.

If he did peer into the shadows to find out what it was, he had a feeling it would shatter his soul. That was a perfectly plausible outcome in hell.

(Then should I get away from Kingsford and try to escape without her? All on my own while already past the midpoint of hell!?)

“Be careful,” whispered CRC.

He even kept his lips motionless to keep the benevolent expert from noticing.

“This old man is an obvious threat…but the truly terrifying threats are the ones that aren’t so obvious at first glance.”

===Monsters===
[[Image:GT Index v11 BW5.webp|thumb]]

'''Cerberus

Originally the guard dog standing at the entrance to the Greek underworld. Was incorporated into the Christian view of hell, where he is a beast that chases down sinners and crushes them in his great jaws.

Looks terrifying but has a strong canine side, so it may be possible for a human to tame him if they know the correct method?

'''Nyx

Goddess of the night and the being that fully surrounds the Greek hell of Tartarus. She is depicted in many different forms, but here she is depicted as a woman with exceedingly long hair.

While she is in hell, she does not necessarily do bad things and she is heavily involved in the structure of the world.

She acts as an extremely solid border, so her appearance indicates you are approaching some kind of taboo.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter1|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter3}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4

2025-03-03T19:16:05Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 12 */

==Chapter 4: The Violent Gears Known as Justice==

===Part 1===

“Fox I // Sigh. Another job? But we’re only just finishing up the last one.”

This was one of the countless games available in the app store.

Specifically, it was the simple chat on the home screen of a puzzle game.

The text from these cheap message services was not automatically indexed by the major search engines. Plus, if the management staff had very little focus on crisis management, they wouldn’t even check for suspicious messages. That meant so much could get through without question, so a throwaway account was all you needed to use the chat as a contact point for some fairly dangerous transactions. And if it was discovered, you only had to move on to another game and another account.

The person frowning at their horizontally-oriented phone was a high school girl in a white miniskirt military uniform. The pale-skinned girl wore her long flaxen hair in a single braid…which people often said looked like a fried shrimp.

Her name was Inoue Fox.

In her other hand, she casually held someone by the collar. That person had some clear plastic wrap wrapped all around him, but that was to prevent his blood and guts from spilling out of ''the many sharp lacerations covering his body''.

“(Hidden Name) // You mean you’re not done yet?”

“Fox I // We’re finishing it now. I did tell you luring out a hacker would take some doing. He’s the one that hacked into the Bank to check through the students’ DNA maps.”

After dumping the person in a plastic container, she focused on typing on her phone. ''I’d really prefer a layout that let me type one-handed,'' she complained, pouting her lips.

“Fox I // Number 000 demands we execute every single person responsible for a Judgment death. This guy took a job from that science cult leader to search out sacrifices who met whatever her conditions were, right? Without this hacker, Minamioki Sarusa wouldn’t have-”

“Fox I // That was too long, so it got cut off. Oops. *wouldn’t have died. We need to give him a proper ‘reward’ for that.”

“(Hidden Name) // Be quick about it. That is your job.”

“Fox I // Yeah, yeah.”

With that complete, the girl fought the temptation of the campaign guaranteeing an LR ticket and closed the app. While that sounded like a good deal at first, actually doing the math showed it was more expensive than testing your luck with 100 rolls.

A short distance away more girls in white miniskirt military uniforms were passing the time leaning against the wall or seated at a table.

The four of them were a team.

Yamada Coyote, who had short chestnut hair, held a hand to her forehead.

“I feel like we’ve had a lot of work recently. Does no one respect Judgment anymore?”

“It is concerning,” said Satou Lycaon, a brown-skinned and busty girl with silver ringlets who was massaging her shoulder.

Tanaka Jackal, a flat-chested girl with wavy black hair, nodded in agreement.

“We need to inject some violence into the city to restore Judgment’s reputation.”

That was their job.

They couldn’t let the criminals have the last laugh. If they allowed it to happen even once, the criminals would grow arrogant, resistance would grow, and victims out on patrol would become more common.

So they had to strike back before that happened.

Judgment was actually prioritized above Anti-Skill.

Ignorance of this fact was no excuse.

If anyone was foolish enough to take a Judgment life, they would be taught quite thoroughly how foolish that had been. By others from the same organization.

“Number 000 is a code indicating a special emergency. But if it becomes the new status quo, it loses all meaning.”

Inoue Fox duplicated a document camouflaged as a meaningless corrupted file before opening it on her phone.

The plastic container next to her was filled with red and black. The number of arms and legs matched up, but none of them were intact. They had been slashed to pieces. Letting it all stay in the general shape of a person was only meant to increase the pain as much as possible.

And despite all this, the bloody mouth was moving.

''He was alive.

The extreme sharpness of the cutting edge had been a bad thing for the victim in this case.

“Ah…”

She slammed the lid shut.

Without even looking in that direction. Inoue Fox used her entire palm to paste a shipping label on top as if to seal it shut.

“Where did we decide to send this eyesore again?”

“District 9’s Moe Bells.”

Yamada Coyote frowned at Inoue Fox’s answer.

“Oh, the poor people there. It’s not like they had anything to do with it.”

“Making the most use out of a corpse is proper etiquette for a killer, remember? We can’t achieve our goal in this case unless we scare the geeks lurking below the surface. And if you want to silence the hackers in this city, there’s no better place.”

Inoue Fox explained while pressing a large button on the wall.

With a heavy metallic rumble, the entire wall began to move. No, that was a metal shutter. They were currently inside a garage.

And a mass of composite armor weighing more than 30 tons sat in the center.

That was a HsAAt-07 Matchlock. It was equipped with thick rubber panels to avoid damaging the pavement, but it was in fact an anti-drone tank with a giant gun and continuous tracks.

“Who’d ever guess a prestigious school had something like this hidden away?” said Yamada Coyote with a smile.

The thick metal shutter opened to reveal Nagatenjouki Academy in the middle of the night. The school was relatively new, but it was an elite prep school that rivaled Tokiwadai and Kirigaoka in the field of esper power development. This garage was located in the athletic club building.

The leader, Inoue Fox, clapped her hands twice.

“Okay, everyone. Hop on!”

“Dammit, I’m improving my score this time!!”

The other girls used the hatches on the gun and tank itself to board the tank. They did so with a practiced ease. They were accustomed to driving this thing across Academy City.

Satou Lycaon sighed inside the thick vehicle.

“I knew we couldn’t trust those outsiders.”

“You mean those journalists? The Frees, was it?”

“All they had to do was gather the personal information and common gathering places of the Sadistic Dolls and Item. They weren’t even fighters, so of course they got burned when they tried to attack. If only they hadn’t gotten themselves killed before they could send us what info they’d gathered.”

By leaving the plastic container outside, a cargo transport drone would fly in, read the packing slip’s barcode, and then carry it off into the night sky.

“It’s already the 31st, the last day of summer break. Judgment needs to set an example, so we can’t afford to oversleep, forget our textbooks, or otherwise embarrass ourselves once September starts. If you don’t want us to end up on the kill list, then we need to get this job done with enough time left to prepare for the new term!”

“Understood.”

“Will do.”

“Roger☆ Score, score, I am so getting a high score!!”

These four were Judgment Branch 000, aka the Special Exception Cleanup Team.

Judgment had no official records of their existence and they handled only Number 000s. These monsters existed to physically prevent justice from becoming inoperable.

The girls in white military uniforms tore noisily out into the night, but to them, the anti-drone tank was no more than a toy to set the stage.

Judgment relied on esper powers more than next-gen weapons to deal with criminals.

“Do we know their general location?”

“if the data we received is accurate, they are at District 16’s landmark. There shouldn’t be any decent people there at this hour on the 31st. And anyone who isn’t decent is none of our concern.”

An anti-tank drone required a few different things to function.

1. The accuracy to track a drone flying a complex path at more than Mach 1.7.

2. The ability to set up a barrage capable of shooting down a swarm of attacking drones with 100% accuracy.

3. Cheap enough ammunition to shoot down enemy drones for far less money than the drones cost.

…#3 was surprisingly difficult. For example, surface-to-air missiles packed full of ultra-precise equipment would mean paying a ton for each cheap drone destroyed, which would mean a financial blow for only the defending side. However, being too cheap for anything more than a peashooter of a machinegun was meaningless if drones managed to breach your defenses.

Thus, the Matchlock used large explosions that covered a wide area.

Specifically, it used thermobaric shells.

These were derived from fuel-air explosives, but if the explosion happened in the empty sky, there was no concern of accidentally bombing civilians. When striking a wall rather than aiming at a point, precise targeting and a large number of shells became unnecessary. That allowed for a high interception rate along with an overwhelming reduction in cost. The tank only needed the bare minimum of a radar and each disposable warhead didn’t need a small computer loaded in it.

But what happened if this weapon’s intended usage was ignored and it was fired at an altitude of 0m – that is, ''on the surface'' where so many people and buildings were located?

Inoue Fox actually sounded bored.

“Okay, fire the first leveling round.”

“If this first wave was enough to kill any of them, I really doubt we’d have been called in. And it doesn’t improve my score.”

“Following procedures is best. For justice, anyway. Fire.”

The HsAAT-07’s gun borrowed the design of a warship’s quick-firing gun, so it could launch more than 20 thermobaric shells a minute even while the tank was in motion.

And they would soar through the air like a long throw in baseball.

===Part 2===

The shrill sound was a lot like someone filling their lungs with air and then blowing into a whistle.

Takitsubo and Frenda looked up almost simultaneously within District 16’s Bulweiser Icicle Theater ice palace.

“Mugino.”

“Oh, no. In the end, ''that’s the reaper’s flute''! Get down, everyone!! Something’s falling this way!!”

How many of them managed to follow those instructions?

Light flashed.

All sound was drowned out.

The flames were a lot like those caused by a car explosion. Which meant small particles in the air had been ignited. But it covered an abnormally large area. Each blast caused an explosion more than 100m across and they just kept happening.

The support team delinquents waiting outside were enveloped in flames and blasted into the air along with the bulletproof car. Even if they got down or dived behind an ice pillar, the waves of heat and shockwaves would circle around and take their lives.

The tremendous explosions were too loud to even hear their death cries.

A nearby concrete building was scorched black and the heat was so great the asphalt melted.

Kinuhata used Offense Armor to smash the ice floor below her and then Item slipped underground.

Without advance knowledge of the enemy, they would have been caught completely by surprise and killed.

The detective had given them the clue they needed.

Takitsubo reached a hand out toward a delinquent being left behind, but Mugino grabbed her wrist and dragged her down.

An especially large explosion followed.

Even with a thick ice roof over their heads, they had to shout to be heard by the people right next to them.

“It looks like we at least managed to deflect the heat, but if I could smash these ice blocks with my fists, then they super aren’t going to be much of a shield. I don’t know what idiot is behind this, but if they’re serious about this bombardment, they’ll break through soon enough!!”

There was no one here but the four of them. They hadn’t had time to save anyone else.

The girls crouched down and ran through the narrow space.

“So is this Number 000? They’re killing everyone involved in the death of a Judgment member?”

Paling, Frenda bit her thumbnail.

This proved none of that had been a bluff.

This city’s justice could easily cover up even a thermobaric carpet bombing.

“In the end, this is absurd. Why do we have to die because they were careless!?”

Absurd

They could be so certain of that assessment because they were villains who existed outside the rules of justice.

The people who could do something like this were different.

Generally, anyone who was immersed in justice never even questioned their actions.

(You call this justice?)

Mugino thought this while clenching her teeth hard.

These people were abusing their official authority to cover up evidence of a mistake and kill anyone who got in their way. And these were the people who reigned above the detective who had risked her life for a classmate?

Kinuhata kept her voice low. “If they kill everyone who was involved in a case where a Judgment member died, then they won’t just target the dark side. They would do this to an ordinary person who happened to witness it too.”

“What’s your point?”

“It super pisses me off, so I want to tear that fucking system down!”

“Then the best way is to attack the dumbasses doing the attacking and cause so much damage it becomes clear they’ll get burned even if they try to keep their system going. But that’s a lesson for the execution squad’s higher ups, not the squad themselves,” responded Mugino with a brutal smile.

She only had her life now thanks to the detective, but this was her way of doing things. Asking Mugino to become a good person right away was simply impossible. She had to choose what Item could realistically do right now.

“Violence isn’t a toy to play with for fun. It’s a professional’s tool. That’s a lesson the purity-obsessed justice needs to learn.”

The four of them emerged from below the floor.

They heard more whistling overhead.

It seemed unlikely they could escape the downpour of flames on foot, but they fortunately found themselves in a parking lot. And a few snowmobiles were parked there in place of motorcycles.

“Hurry!!”

Mugino and Kinuhata boarded one snowmobile and Frenda and Takitsubo boarded another. They started the engines in a less-than-legal way.

A suggestion came from the snowmobile moving alongside Mugino’s.

“Mugino, can you shoot down those things falling from the sky?”

“What good would it do? I’d just be telling the enemy where we are. We can make our counterattack after escaping their targeting and losing them!!”

More and more shells struck the city behind them. The white snow reflected the red light and giant ice sculptures were scorched and shattered before they could even melt.

Trying to escape based on speed alone would only get Item caught in the explosions. To survive, they had to drive in sharp curves while focusing in what would act as cover.

Fortunately, there weren’t many people out tonight. Since it was late at night on August 31, people were staying in to prepare for the new school term in September.

“Mugino, does that mean we don’t have to worry about ordinary people getting hurt?”

“All this and zero deaths? That’s too much to chalk up to coincidence. We may be playing right into Number 000’s hands.”

Frenda clenched her teeth while operating the one snowmobile, but she was also rationally analyzing the situation.

Explosives that didn’t rely on esper powers were her specialty.

“In the end, there are a lot of shells, but they’re all coming from the same direction. They might be launching them while on the move, but there is probably only one launch point. The enemy can’t be too large!!”

“How about we make a u-turn and super go in for the attack!?”

“In the end, it’d be a real pain if they’d set up a bunch of landmines and then built up a thick wall. It’s better to let them shoot all they can and aim for the moment they approach to see if they got us!”

A blue road sign passed by overhead.

Mugino clicked her tongue.

“That ain’t good.”

Fleeing on snowmobiles was all well and good, but it was late August. The snow on the ground had all been created by snow machines.

So once they left District 16 where the campaign was being run, the winter wonderland would vanish.

And if they escaped District 16 to the south, they would run into District 1.

That was the symbol of the sketchy justice. That inhuman district contained all the administrative and government agencies, so it was the most distant part of the city for anyone on the dark side.

The snowmobiles sent sparks into the air as they scraped across the asphalt. Mugino hopped off before hers had even come to a complete stop.

“Mugino, another shell is coming.”

“Super what do we do!? There’s no way we can escape on foot!!”

“In the end, this way!!”

===Part 3===

The Special Exception Cleanup Team accurately closed in on their target while driving the HsAAT-07 Matchlock anti-drone tank through the late-night city.

They showed great familiarity with this work.

The driving was done by Yamada Coyote down in the tank proper while Inoue Fox and the other two were up in the turret operating the gun with a flat touch screen. The Matchlock’s advanced datalink functionality meant it contained as much communications equipment as a small communications base.

“Where’s that data on the targets?”

“It’s coming up now.”

No matter how dangerous their mission, these four were officially-recognized members of Judgment.

Thus, they could legitimately access the Bank.

Revealing the details of their opponents’ powers before the fight began gave them an overwhelming advantage. Attacking their target’s weak point and going for the kill before their own identities were revealed allowed them to win without taking any damage themselves.

“Let’s see, based on our mission request list, I have confirmed the eyesores who have survived this long are Item: Mugino Shizuri, Takitsubo Rikou, Frenda Seivelun, and Kinuhata Saiai.”

“They’re not here,” said Tanaka Jackal in surprise.

Impossibly, her search of the Bank had found zero results. Were they supposed to believe Item was incorporeal ghosts?

“They do dark side work, right? Maybe they’re being protected,” suggested Yamada Coyote over the radio.

Inoue Fox gave a snort of laughter at that.

It happened a lot.

Hiding someone’s data from the Bank wasn’t enough to conceal their existence. They would still leave evidence where they lived their lives.

“Besides, Mugino Shizuri is a Level 5. They’re famous. Hide her official ID as much as you want, you can’t hide her at her school.”

They had gathered enough data on Takitsubo Rikou and Kinuhata Saiai to make some good guesses about those two as well.

Satou Lycaon stared at the screen.

“Who is the most dangerous eyesore?”

“Frenda Seivelun. That she’s a Level 0 means she’s trouble. Searching through the locked internet isn’t going to tell us what kind of toys she’s hiding.”

That was how the Special Exception Cleanup Team ranked things.

''Nothing more than a high-level esper'' was business as usual for them. It was always the mysterious nobodies who they had no data on who threw off their plans.

With a general target priority in mind, the girls kept the Matchlock moving.

The anti-drone tank had been loaded up with thermobaric shells, but they would still run out if they kept firing for 10 minutes straight without reloading.

The Special Exception Cleanup Team burned the city of snow and ice until it was red and black, but they didn’t think this toy could actually eliminate their target.

That wouldn’t be any fun.

“Which way did they go?”

“Any way but south and they’ve already been carbonized.”

“Then the eyesores must be in District 1. Check the map and locate a spot near the border where they could have escaped the thermobaric shells.”

“Here,” said Yamada Coyote over the radio while driving the tank. “District 1’s cold storage warehouse. The building is surrounded by thick insulated walls, so it could have protected them from the walls of fire.”

===Part 4===

The place was large for a cold storage warehouse. It was the size of a stadium.

“Get back!!”

They didn’t have time to slowly pick the lock. Mugino blew away the staff entrance door with Meltdowner.

As soon as the four of them rushed inside, several explosions erupted outside. Each shell produced burning flames for 100m in all directions and the outdoor space was engulfed by several of these at once.

The chill seemed to cling to their skin.

It wasn’t August in here. They could see their breath. They had avoided the downpour of thermobaric shells, but they didn’t get the liberating feeling that comes with outsmarting an enemy.

“Mugino.”

Takitsubo held her body, shivered expressionlessly, and looked to the wall. The digital display there said -40. That meant it was 40 degrees below freezing. Mugino shouted, her breath coming out in white puffs.

“Frenda! What about our phones!?”

“Mine’s working fine. In the end, they are Academy City products☆”

Circuit boards and batteries could fail in extreme environments, but that apparently wasn’t an issue.

Still, they had stumbled into a world where a towel would freeze instantly if you wet it with water and swung it around. Without appropriate cold weather gear, there was only so long humans could operate in here.

Frenda stared intently at a metal wall panel that had half-fused with white frost.

“Damn, it’s cold. Argh, isn’t there a map posted somewhere? Liquid nitrogen support coolant tanks, emergency generators, ceiling crane… In the end, is that all the equipment in here!?”

Trying to hole up inside this giant cold storage warehouse would only put Item at a disadvantage. The thick insulated walls might be able to protect them from the walls of fire caused by the thermobaric shells, but they biologically couldn’t ignore the extreme temperature of -40 degrees.

Eyeballing it, the ceiling appeared to be five or six floors up. But the containers and boxes were stacked up like pyramids, so Item still felt cramped down on the floor. They may have gotten a different impression if they were looking down from the catwalks quite high up on the walls, though.

Just like in a gym, a lot of metal beams were set up near the ceiling, but there were also some special rails laid out there. Were those for the ceiling crane that could move containers heavier than a ton in and out of the warehouse?

“What if we blasted a hole in the wall? Letting the outside air in might help with this cold.”

It was fortunate the warehouse’s design had been based on a capsule-shaped indoor soccer stadium. That meant the enormous ceiling was supported by countless metal beams distributing the weight. With a domed stadium that used the power of the air to remain intact, a large hole would have caused it to collapse.

However…

“When we don’t where the enemy will attack from? We managed to hide in a fairly large and complex building, so we don’t want to give away our position with all that loud destruction.”

Battle Freak Mugino applied the brakes.

Which showed just how formidable an enemy she was expecting.

Kinuhata covered herself with a nitrogen barrier, perhaps hoping it would have an insulating effect.

“So super what is this place?”

It was much too big to be a simple cold storage warehouse.

It was the size of an indoor soccer stadium, after all.

Not to mention that an ugly warehouse felt out of place in clean District 1.

“It’s probably Reserve Meal,” spat Mugino.

Frenda sighed and explained.

“That’s Academy City’s largest disaster-response food vault. But only the Board and a limited number of VIPs get to use it. The general public isn’t even told it exists.”

The place was like Academy City in miniature.

The elites would monopolize all this food and refuse to part with any of it, but as soon as it was close to expiring, they would donate it to the Child Errors so they could look benevolent. It really just demonstrated that they were hoarding more food than they could eat themselves, but they took the act of shoving it onto others and wrapped it up with the pretty image of heartfelt charity. And the recipients’ thanks for the food really was heartfelt.

As a rule, a villain like Mugino did not trust philanthropy that asked for nothing in return.

People did things either because it benefited them in some way or because it let them feel superior to the others around them. Her dark side nose, which tended to view all things in an uncharitable light, told her that much.

Just rationally view the structure here.

No matter how much they tried to pretty it up with their words, the food supply route visualized the difference between the upper class and the lower class.

(Not that I’m one to talk when I’m the prodigal daughter of the Mugino Family, a grain production company that feeds 1.4 billion people.)

Or maybe that was why it irritated her so much.

Meanwhile…

“In the end, this isn’t over. The execution squad is made up of Judgment elites, right? That means they fight with their powers, not those toys. The enemy is coming and soon. They’ll be breaking through a door or using that big hole we made, so be as read as possible by then!”

Blue in the face, Frenda dumped something out from her thin poncho: explosives and detonators of all sizes.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“There’s no point in thinking too hard. If you attach them to the door and press the big button, then they’re all ready to be detonated! But do it in the reverse order and they’ll blow up in your hands, so be careful. I’ll cover the hole with IR and milli-wave!!” Frenda rudely stuck a hand into her short skirt. “Also, you take this, Takitsubo! That’s better than me holding onto it, so be ready just in case.”

“Kay.”

Takitsubo expressionlessly reached out a hand and caught the small automatic handgun soaring through the air toward her. It was unclear how well she could fight on her own, but this would be better than nothing. And that kind of destructive power in the hands of a targeting-support power like AIM Stalker could scare the enemy with the possibility it presented if nothing else.

The warehouse was the size of an indoor soccer stadium. They didn’t have time for Frenda to set up the explosives herself. Mugino, Takitsubo, and Kinuhata carried as many explosives as they could and ran to different parts of the facility.

They set them up on the large main entrance meant to allow forklifts, loaders, and other equipment to pass through, on the side entrance meant for people, and…

“The walls are thick, but since the place is like a giant freezer, there must be a super huge fan leading outside. There should also be an outside door on the second or third floor for firefighters to get in. That’s how it worked with the lab I was in. Someone super take care of those!”

“Okay, Kinuhata. I can get those,” Kinuhata replied using the group call feature on their phones.

Mugino was blocking up all the main entrances on the first floor. Kinuhata was attaching explosives to the center of the doors on the same level. Kinuhata couldn’t see where Takitsubo and Frenda had gone.

Without warning, a rectangle was cut out of the wall right next to Kinuhata.

As if the thick insulated wall that had endured the thermobaric shells had been silently melted through.

Since the enemy wasn’t using the doors, all of the explosive traps were rendered meaningless.

A girl in a white military uniform, her long flaxen hair worn in a fried shrimp, stepped inside.

“Hello, you reckless Number 000 targets☆ The Special Exception Cleanup Team has arrived.”

Mugino didn’t bother listening.

She immediately raised her palm and fired a Meltdowner beam. The beam was sharply deflected to the side right in front of the white uniform girl and then dispersed into particles.

“!?”

“Super keep back, Mugino! We still don’t know what kind of power the enemy has!!”

Mugino and Kinuhata backed up toward the main floor of the warehouse where containers and boxes were stacked like pyramids. They couldn’t force the enemy back, so more and more white uniform girls got in.

“Nice to meet you. I am Inoue Fox.”

The fried shrimp uniform girl gave a mock bow in the presence of Mugino Shizuri of all people.

[[File:Item3 BW5.jpeg|thumb]]

Even though she had to know how dangerous it was to take her eyes off of Mugino and unbalance her center of gravity.

Were these four, who wielded justice mostly for fun, really ranked higher than the detective who bet her life on her actions?

“And these are Satou Lycaon, Yamada Coyote, and Tanaka Jackal. I am sure we will never meet again after tonight, but all the same.”

“So you’re the execution squad, huh? You seem to understand why so many people on the dark side like to use fake names.”

“Ha ha. Please refer to us as Judgment Branch 000 or the Special Exception Cleanup Team. We are the odd jobs team that works to preserve the definition of justice☆”

She must not have cared if that information got out.

What ''did'' she care about?

Inoue Fox grinned.

“That look on your face says you wish it hadn’t been Judgment who died, thus sparing you this mess.” She lowered her voice and spat out the next words. “But that’s where you’re wrong. Judgment or not, everyone has their own lives. You can’t choose to kill them for your own selfish purposes and then complain when the result is inconvenient for you.”

“Oh, and are you justice people spared that problem because when you do it it’s an authorized execution?”

“Not at all.”

The white uniform girl was not fazed by Mugino’s glare.

Justice would not falter in the face of evil.

“No matter the reason or circumstances, killing someone will earn resentment. I am merely asking you to understand that basic rule. You have become an enemy of justice and face this punishment because you chose to wield violence without considering the consequences first.”

“…”

“We, on the other hand, know what we are doing. It will be inconvenient for us and a great many people will resent us, but this is necessary to protect Judgment from violent criminals, so we will carry out our deadly duty with full awareness of what it will mean. We work within a fundamentally different system than you villains whose standards change depending on how much you are being paid. We can remain on the side of justice because we limit ourselves to more restricted methods.”

They ''dedicated themselves'' to justice.

If anyone couldn’t do the same, they looked down on them, labeled them villains, and attacked them fiercely.

Inoue Fox sneered as Mugino assessed her.

“Well, it all began as an old Judgment tradition. We just transformed it more to our liking. I do apologize if you stumbled into this unaware of what it meant, but you must prepare yourselves now. Because justice demands it.”

Takitsubo must have whispered into her phone while she watched from a higher floor.

“I’ve never heard of this.”

“It is already underway below the surface. Word of it will reach someone eventually. In pieces and as baseless rumors that distort the truth almost beyond recognition,” a busty brown-skinned girl with silver ringlets said with a grin.

Was she basking in the superiority of knowing more than someone else?

Mugino responded with a snort of laughter.

“Your Number 000 exists because your law enforcement groups are done if the criminals don’t respect your strength. So to avoid future victims, you take a zero tolerance policy when it comes to one of your own being killed, is that it?”

“What of it?”

“That’s identical to how gangs retaliate. When you get down to it, Judgment is just another form of organized violence. The only difference is you have official recognition and have the right to steal people’s tax money to fund yourselves.”

Inoue Fox had been so unflappable, but this caused a slight twitch around her eyes.

For the first time.

“What, was that an unforgivable insult for you justice people?” Mugino snorted in laughter. “C’mon, now. You use your weapons and powers to scare the city’s people into obeying your rules. It’s exactly the same. The mafia that started in Sicily don’t call themselves evil either. They say they represent justice and provide a more perfect order than the flawed legal system does. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like someone we know?”

“…”

“Ha ha!! What, had you seriously not noticed, ''you villain''?”

A deadly attack approached with no advance warning.

Light surged out, Mugino took a step back, and the pile of containers next to her was sliced through at the bottom, causing the rest to come tumbling down.

But Mugino reacted with a brutal smile.

“You idiot! You’ve already shown your hand! I thought maybe our cutting power had some more complex conditions – hwa ha ha! – but it’s just a regular old light sword!?”

“We’re super done provoking them into reducing their effectiveness. Everyone, to your positions!!”

They had no choice but to start the battle now.

Item had been completely on the run, so they considered themselves lucky enough to make this a direct clash with no tricks.

But that only made it 50-50.

They still had a chance of dying. A big one, even.

The detective had given them this chance at survival.

Mugino would prove that her Class Rep had been a superior form of justice. No matter what.

(I want something unexpected. This is still part of their plan, so I want something so unexpected their plan falls apart!!)

===Part 5===

On the labyrinthine ground floor of the warehouse, there was no predicting when a surprise attack might come.

But if you tried to climb up to the narrow catwalk to take a look down from above, there was nowhere to run or hide. Which meant you could become the target of concentrated fire from anywhere.

Kinuhata thought as she fell back through the stadium-sized cold storage warehouse.

(I guess it would be a good idea to hide behind the piles of containers. But that’s only “good”. I super hate that I can’t come up with a great pla-)

The wall next to her suddenly exploded.

She was thrown a few meters through the air. She would have died right then if not for Offense Armor.

“Ugh!? Did the wall’s wiring super burst!?”

“Oh? Are you the sacrificial pawn who gathers information the hard way? This is a big city full of electronics, so my Pumping Bomb will have no trouble killing such an eyesore of a villain.”

Several fiery orange explosions erupted out at once.

A stack of frozen containers swayed unsteadily, throwing white ice particles everywhere.

Frenda was responsible.

She ignored her thin poncho and her short skirt blowing in the blast and she launched all of the small missiles and rockets she had. But…

“Nee hee hee.”

Tanaka Jackal didn’t even try to hide.

Frenda clenched her teeth.

This was why she hated high level espers. But only when they were her enemy.

“In the end, it didn’t work at all? But I used a ton of directional chemical rounds and armor-piercing rounds!!”

“Kee hee. What, are these physical brute force attacks all you’ve got? Then you can’t hope to get through my barrier. I do hate how hard it is to improve my personal score when I’m always doing my job as a defender. Anyway, let’s get this game started. You’re powerless in the face of my Swing Shield!!”

Another part of the warehouse was entirely empty.

At five or six floors up, track suit girl Takitsubo stood on one of the countless metal beams supporting the ceiling.

She held a handgun like she didn’t know what to do with it and her eyes raced around her surroundings.

There they were.

“You poor villain. Aren’t you at least going to use that Body Crystal stuff?”

“Yamada Coyote, right?”

“Pretty sure my power’s the more useful one when it comes to targeting. If you aren’t going to try, I’ll shoot you in the vitals before you have time to regret your decision. No one can escape my Perfection Hit.”

The white uniform girl readied something like a thick cane by pressing it against her shoulder. No, that was no cane. A grip and a stock had been forcibly attached to a small shotgun ordinarily meant for breaking down doors. It could hold at most three rounds, but that must have been enough for Yamada Coyote.

With three shots, she could drive any enemy into a dead end and then kill them.

She was an esper who used that sort of information warfare.

“I, Yamada Coyote, shall serve as your opponent so you might meet a swift death at the hands of my benevolent strike.”

“Is justice part of the drama club?”

===Part 6===

Pure white explosions pursued Kinuhata in quick succession.

Sharp welding-bright flashes of light implanted pain in her retinas.

The frozen floor and the electronically-locked container doors were all rupturing from within.

Kinuhata could stop a bullet, but she couldn’t ignore an explosion.

And electric ones were a bad match for her.

She had only just learned that the hard way against the ground combat drones commanded by the Japanese wolf.

She jumped back while working to find a common point in what she was seeing.

(The electric wiring is exploding! But this warehouse is super big. If I move to the center where there isn’t any electronic equipment…)

Something suddenly emerged from behind a pile of containers.

It was an AGV used to move around containers weighing more than a ton.

“!?”

It exploded.

A metal-melting white flash erupted right in front of her.

Without her excellent physical defense, Kinuhata would have been killed instantly.

“Kah...ah!? It isn’t just the stationary wiring!?”

“Hee hee. You have to get creative if you want to use your power more effectively.”

The brown-skinned girl with silver ringlets spread her arms wide.

Satou Lycaon gave a roar with an ecstatic smile.

“The world is flooded with electronics. Humanity has remade the world in that way! And all I must do is supply just a bit of external energy to it all. That is all it takes for any powered device or cable to be reborn as a bomb!!”

With the forklifts and loaders, there were still plenty of unmanned vehicles taller than a human that transported large containers and boxes. The quiet sound of their motors running was mildly painful. Focusing only on the range of the blasts made it all the harder to predict when the bombs themselves might be sneaking up on her.

There could always be an electronic lurking out there that Kinuhata was unaware of.

It didn’t help that she knew very little about this massive cold storage warehouse.

“Now, then, villainous eyesore☆ Just let me know when you are tired of living. I have a caring and compassionate heart, so I will immediately stop stretching this out and kill you with a single explosion before you can feel any pain or fear!!”

===Part 7===

Frenda viewed the dungeon from atop the frozen pile of containers.

(Oh, Kinuhata might be in trouble soon. In the end, her Offense Armor is convenient, but it runs into compatibility issues a lot.)

“Do you think I’ll let you go help?”

Tanaka Jackal must have read Frenda’s thoughts based on the movement of her eyes, so she grinned and took a pose similar to a boxing guard.

Frenda brushed up her bangs in annoyance.

“This is why I hate you justice roleplayers with the maturity of a 7-year-old. Did you really think I was going to ask permission for every little thing?”

“We actually see you as the most dangerous member of Item. Unlike with high-level espers, a Bank search won’t tell us what we’re up against with a Level 0.”

“I’m honored.”

Frenda was being treated as superior even to Level 5 Mugino, but her response was dripping with sarcasm.

“But none of that matters to my Swing Shield. No heat or shockwaves can reach me. And if I can stop the unpredictable irregular factor here, the others can take out the boring, ordinary espers one after another. I’ll have to settle for only adding you to my score.”

“Pft.”

“?”

“Oh, excuse me.”

Frenda honestly apologized for her rudeness.

But had that girl just called Mugino Shizuri and Takitsubo Rikou “ordinary”? While Kinuhata was new to the team, even she had a portion of the #1’s thought patterns implanted in her and not even the researchers had figured out how far she could take that, but she was still considered “boring”?

Frenda tried and failed to suppress laughter, ending up chuckling in her throat.

“This is basically a 200m freezer. In the end, ordinary chemical coolants aren’t enough at that size, so they apparently need something more to cool the heat-producing areas and preserve the overall balance. I mean, of course, the liquid nitrogen I’m sure you’ve seen on trivia variety shows.”

“What about it?”

“Oh, you don’t know? Liquid nitrogen is stable at -196 degrees and it has some interesting traits. One of those is that it rapidly expands in volume if you heat it.”

Tanaka Jackal gasped in sudden realization, but it was too late.

Frenda gave a devilish smile and continued speaking.

As the expert.

“In the end, ''liquid nitrogen can be used as a bomb''.”

===Part 8===

A muffled white explosion erupted.

“?”

Satou Lycaon looked up for a moment, but now wasn’t the time to be inquisitive.

Something fell from the containers stacked up like a pyramid.

That something was Frenda Seivelun.

“In the end, I don’t think your defender likes being flash frozen. But I’d have to do some more testing to know if the cold’s the problem or if it’s an attack from the side or behind that does it.”

This conflict had been four against four.

But if anyone flinched and let their target escape, a two against one situation was possible!

“You let yourself get hurt, Kinuhata? If you’re having trouble, I can help you out.”

“That super won’t be necessary!!”

Kinuhata snapped back at Frenda’s grinning comment, but they still both attacked Satou Lycaon at once.

“Wh-what!? Now there’s two eyesores!”

“In the end, I don’t want to hear you complaining about this not being fair. We openly told you we’re villains, remember!?”

The enemy had suddenly received support.

And Frenda was an expert at using all kinds of explosions, not just electronic ones.

===Part 9===

Track suit girl Takitsubo Rikou and white military uniform Yamada Coyote were glaring at each other from atop the metal beams near the ceiling.

One held an automatic handgun and the other carried a shotgun, but their trigger fingers remained motionless. If they fired and the recoil caused them to freeze up even for a moment, they knew exactly what kind of counterattack awaited them.

They were both targeting support espers.

“So it comes down to our concentration,” whispered Yamada Coyote. “That means the real deciding factor will be how well we can adapt to this environment. My uniform is made to help me endure harsh conditions, but what about you? Poor thing. With so much skin showing, you can’t last long in this -40-degree space.”

They were feeling the extreme tension of a confrontation where not even a single careless movement was allowed.

Or so the white uniform girl thought. However…

“To sum up…”

“?”

“Their leader Inoue Fox specializes in martial arts and she can manipulate and condense light. Satou Lycaon makes bombs, but she isn’t as skilled or adaptable as Frenda. Most likely, she simply boosts the electrical resistance to make electronics burst. Yamada Coyote provides targeting support like me and Tanaka Jackal provides defense. But since she moves around a lot to match the enemy’s location, she must not be able to protect her entire body like Kinuhata can. An attack from a blind spot is probably enough to take her out.”

“No, it can’t be… Are you saying you haven’t been focusing on me at all!?”

Takitsubo had climbed to these dangerous heights despite the risk of being fired on from below because she wanted to observe the entire battlefield as quickly as possible.

And she held a phone in her hand.

She used a group call to swiftly share this information with the rest of Item.

“Mugino, the one with me isn’t a threat. I can keep her busy by continuing to stare her down. What matters is I have all the information. It would be best if you acted quickly to take care of the remaining two who can wield direct deadly force and take out their defender as well.”

===Part 10===

Satou Lycaon clicked her tongue as she realized what the information-sharing via group call meant. She kept up her quick movements to make sure she was never caught between Frenda and Kinuhata.

“Eyesores. I should have blown up ''your phones'' right at the start instead of saving them for the perfect moment!!”

“Whoops.”

In addition to her phone, Frenda removed and tossed away the pouch that contained all her electronic detonators. They didn’t even have a chance to reach the frozen floor. Half a second later, a white light erupted from within them.

“Can a bomber like you really super throw out all your detonators like that?”

“You must be joking. There are plenty of other ways to do it. Every explosive has its own method. Some are ignited by impacts and others detonate when two chemicals react. Or you could just light a fuse the old fashioned way.”

Whatever pocket you kept your phone in, it was always in close contact to the body, so most people would suffer some broken bones or organ damage if theirs exploded. That made it Satou Lycaon’s greatest trump card, but she also only had one chance at it. Frenda could understand why she would want to wait until the ideal time to use it.

Of course, none of that mattered if she missed her chance.

It was an unscientific way of thinking, but invisible tides and winds were the deciding factor in dark side battles.

Frenda spoke as casually as she did when greeting her 7-year-old sister.

“In the end, she’s all attack and doesn’t have any defensive moves, so I say we rush in and beat her to death.”

“Super got it.”

“You will regret underestimating me, eyesores. Reactive armor – set up!!”

“Do you really know what that means? In the end, I know it sounds cool, but I just have to steal your oxygen away with a fuel-air bomb.”

Without any warning at all, the metal container to the side was turned to Swiss cheese by fearsome beams of light and the giant pile collapsed with its support missing.

“!?”

Tiny ice particles flew into the air like a cloud of dust as something approached Frenda and Kinuhata.

Inoue Fox fled this way wielding a sword of light.

More of Mugino’s Meltdowner beams shot in after her.

Inoue Fox swung her light sword while falling back, but she couldn’t actually deflect or cut down the beams. The most she could do was slice through the piles of boxes and containers in the area so Meltdowner would pierce them and be diverted ever-so-slightly off course.

“Hey, what’s the matter!? Out of tricks already, execution squad!? The detective was better than this. Show me something I’m not expecting here. You carry this city’s justice on your shoulders, don’t you!?”

Swing Shield could apparently deflect even Meltdowner, but on the other hand, that was all it could do.

Since that girl couldn’t actually attack, they could ignore her for now.

Item would first kill the other three and deal with Tanaka Jackal once she was on her own. Then they could take their time seeing what kind of attacks worked, like freezing her or burying her alive.

Mugino aimed her palm straight ahead and fired more brutal Meltdowner beams while sneering. Her battle freak side was on full display.

“Are you all Level 3? Or maybe Level 4? …Don’t make me laugh, you wannabe elites. Did you really think that was enough to defeat a Level 5!?”

While Mugino had Inoue Fox and Satou Lycaon stopped, Frenda was free to launch some explosives straight up.

More container piles collapsed and even the steel beams up by the ceiling were damaged.

A tongue click echoed loudly down from there.

Yamada Coyote and Tanaka Jackal skillfully jumped down from the containers and boxes to reach the frozen floor.

Which put them at risk of being targeted by Meltdowner.

The execution squad was gradually gathering in a single location.

Were they planning to use Tanaka Jackal’s Swing Shield for protection?

But if Tanaka Jackal moved out ahead to guard the others, she would be pinned in that location. Then Frenda or Kinuhata could attack from the side to eliminate a member of the Judgment execution squad.

And just as Mugino prepared to step forward while firing further, Takitsubo shouted down from the ceiling, sounding panicked.

“Wait, Mugino!!”

More than that, the track suit girl, who was supposedly unathletic and not a fighter, jumped down from the metal beams to a pyramid of containers and then down to the frozen floor.

But she was a moment too late.

“Illuminate Fencer – light source active. Pumping Bomb – external energy received. Perfection Hit – target locked. Swing Shield – heat and shockwave protection established. Sequence complete – final check complete.”

By then, Inoue Fox was already speaking under her breath. And she finished.

She raised her head and her voice.

“Get ready!! Commence ''Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack''!!!”

===Part 11===

Light filled the world.

===Part 12===

This damaged more than just the piles of containers.

A massive beam tore through the entire Reserve Meal warehouse, melted a round hole in the outside wall, and blew away two or three government buildings in the administrative district. Unless the government workers had all closed up shop to avoid working overtime, there was no telling how many people had just died.

The scent wasn’t quite the usual rusty one.

The stench of even the metal scorching filled the frozen air.

Mugino must have just barely dodged it.

But she was still sent soaring through the air, slammed back-first into a collapsed container, fell to the frozen floor…and didn’t move.

This was all without a direct hit.

“There are only so many Level 5s and none of us are one. On our own, maybe none of us could defeat Mugino Shizuri.”

Inoue Fox, wearing the white uniform that symbolized justice, displayed her bloody teeth with a sneer.

She was the leader of the Special Exception Cleanup Team that made a living doing ''this''.

“But that changes if we work together. Our combined power is far greater!!”

Their comeback had come together with disturbing grace.

The heroes had joined forces for a group attack.

Just like in a children’s morality tale.

“Pwa ha. Item isn’t half bad, but you can’t work together. It all amounts to no more than some eyesores fighting on their own. Ah ha ha ha! But that’s what you get with the morons who chose the path of evil. You can never defeat us when we combine our powers with love and courage!!”

“!”

“You all need to be working toward a just goal. Anyway, I guess we won’t be seeing any more teamwork out of you.”

“Tch! In the end, I don’t care what you professional killers have to say. We’ll find a way to turn this around. Takitsubo!!”

They had lost Mugino.

They didn’t want to imagine how much that reduced Item’s firepower.

And losing their Level 5 leader did not mean the fight was over.

Even in the -40-degree temperature, Kinuhata felt a sharp chill down her spine. But Takitsubo remained calm even now.

She suddenly spoke up.

“''Why aren’t they firing a second laser''?”

“!?”

If they had a trump card greater than Mugino’s Meltdowner, they could simply fire it repeatedly. Item wouldn’t have stood a chance if they had stayed outside of Reserve Meal and filled it with holes.

Yet they hadn’t done that.

Why not?

Did justice find value in a direct confrontation with a villain?

Did they need to kill their target in some way that left enough of a body to confirm the kill?

No…

“There’s a reason why they want to hold that in reserve and why they can’t fire it repeatedly.”

Takitsubo was confident. She wasn’t going to accept defeat.

“At least one of them needs some time between shots, maybe to charge up or to cool down. Whoever that is is the true core of the execution squad.”

The tongue click didn’t come from Item.

The benevolent execution squad took action.

“Lycaon, they’re onto us! Now how am I supposed to get a high score!?”

“It doesn’t matter. Once I control my breathing, expel the filthy carbon dioxide from my blood, and manage to focus again, we can finish them off with a second shot. Support me until I’m done charging.”

One of the white uniformed girls, Yamada Coyote, took position to guard Satou Lycaon while she charged up and she aimed her exceptionally light shotgun at one person in particular.

At collapsed and unmoving Mugino.

A direct hit now would kill her instantly.

(This is super bad!!)

“Don’t worry, Kinuhata.”

Satou Lycaon, who could turn electronics into bombs, noticed before their targeting supporter did and looked up with a gasp.

“Fox! Get back!!”

It was too late.

In fact, the result would be the same even if she detonated it right away.

Takitsubo was already done.

A great roar burst out.

A container fell from the ceiling crane five or six floors up, separating unconscious Mugino from the execution squad.

It ruptured from within and a white explosion spread out.

The frost covering the floor rose up into the air all at once.

The surrounding piles of boxes all collapsed this way.

“Kinuhata!”

“Drag Mugino to safety and stop her bleeding. In the end, her wound isn’t going to freeze shut on its own!!”

“Super really!? Dammit!”

[[Image:Item3 BW6.jpeg|thumb]]

Kinuhata cursed, but she couldn’t abandon unconscious Mugino. She activated Offense Armor, reached her arms below Mugino’s arms from behind, and dragged her back.

She wasn’t quick enough.

Bright lights flashed out in several straight lines.

Inoue Fox’s Illuminate Fencer had sliced through the obstacle.

Frenda and Takitsubo’s attempt to recover hadn’t even lasted 10 seconds.

“Tch.”

Frenda clicked her tongue and took a step forward.

Her thin poncho whipped at the -40-degree air and she tossed a grenade without its pin.

“Kinuhata, continue on back. In the end, I’ll buy you the time!!”

The white uniform girls’ leader, Inoue Fox, actually smiled as she whispered a name.

“Lycaon.”

“Understood.”

The brown-skinned girl with silver ringlets kissed a phone battery and tossed it into the air.

The two explosives collided at the midpoint.

And detonated.

“Gyah!?”

The unexpectedly close explosion made Frenda scream.

She was also knocked down.

Her skin had to be freezing to the cold floor, but she didn’t move.

Kinuhata knew she couldn’t let her concern show, but she felt it clutching at her heart.

“Kh!!”

Mugino Shizuri and Frenda Seivelun.

As inhumanly strong as Kinuhata was, she couldn’t protect both unconscious girls at the same time. The two of them were located too far apart.

And…

“Excuse me.”

In the brief moment Item flinched, Inoue Fox moved right up to Takitsubo and held her Illuminate Fencer right against the girl’s throat.

They were 10m away – too far for Kinuhata to arrive in a single step even with Offense Armor. If she boosted her leg strength too far, her foot would break through the floor.

“Malicious or accidental, any involvement in a Judgment death must not be tolerated. If you were there and capable of making your own choices, you should have saved her. No matter what.”

Inoue Fox spoke quietly, but with an earnest voice that rang with fearsome purity.

“Then we would have used our lives and justice to repay your kindness.”

That was their way of life.

Their goodness.

While their job was to kill, they must have unofficially wielded their powers to save lives as well. And they had ultimately increased their strength to the point they could hunt down villains like this.

The justice leader laughed as she spoke.

“Now! Mugino Shizuri or Takitsubo Rikou!? Which one do your villain’s rules tell you to save!?”

“Kh.”

Kinuhata could move more nimbly if she let Mugino go.

If the execution squad was assuming Kinuhata couldn’t move very quickly while dragging the unconscious girl and thus assumed they were at a safe distance, she might be able to make a counterattack.

She doubted she could defeat the entire execution squad at once.

But if she could take just one of them hostage, then they could possibly negotiate from equal footing. With even one of the four missing, they wouldn’t be able to fire a second Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack.

(Don’t think about it.)

Mugino Shizuri.

Takitsubo Rikou.

Frenda Seivelun.

(Super don’t think about it!! Don’t think about the possibility of losing one of them! You have to stop the second shot no matter what!! If you don’t, all four of us will be obliterated with no chance to negotiate!!!)

She knew that.

She understood it all.

''And yet…

“…can’t.”

A soft voice spilled from her trembling lips.

She was still holding Mugino’s limp form.

And she spoke words she herself hadn’t expected.

“I can’t… I can’t betray anyone in Item.”

She owed Item for taking her in.

If they hadn’t attacked that lab for a job and messed with the cold sleep device on a whim, Kinuhata never would have experienced life on the outside.

That had led to everything she took for granted now.

She understood Item had their own selfish reasons for what they had done. They had wanted a high-level defensive esper to protect Takitsubo who couldn’t fight on her own. That was probably the only reason they had taken her in.

But that didn’t change the fact that they had saved her.

“Foolish.”

Yamada Coyote rejected the idea with a single word.

The disinterested white uniform girl spat out her words.

“You poor thing. If you aren’t going to save any of them, you could at least betray them all and escape on your own. You villains can make those decisions that we can’t.”

“One final good deed does not cancel out all the eyesores you’ve done in the past.”

“In fact, this isn’t even a good deed. Your score’s still zero. I don’t know why you’re getting all emotional about it, but protecting a criminal is called ‘harboring’ and it’s a crime.”

(Dammit.)

Kinuhata wished she could have been the hostage.

(Dammit! Dammit!! Super dammit!!!)

Then the original three Item members could have betrayed her and gotten away. She could have repaid their kindness that way, so how had it all gotten backwards!?

''“So how do you like your first taste of freedom?”

After freeing Kinuhata from that shitty lab, Mugino had asked that with a wicked smile.

Item had a calculated reason for needing her. She understood that, but they had wanted her all the same.

''“Kinuhata. In the end, are you hurt anywhere?”

After destroying the illegal casino, Frenda had spoken to her and they had laughed together.

She had felt invincible.

But she wasn’t.

When the time came, it could all be taken from her so easily.

Justice would trample over evil to a refreshing degree.

(They let me out and this is how it has to end? Is this the most freedom a villain can hope for? Are we doomed to be trampled and exploited by justice?)

“You criminals ignore the laws created to keep us all safe, so we all know you can’t keep your promises and rules. If you could do that, you wouldn’t have broken the law in the first place.” Inoue Fox scoffed. “You will die.”

Kinuhata’s vision blurred.

She didn’t understand.

She only noticed the tears running down her cheeks after she had already shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Why the hell should that matter!? I won’t betray the people I super decided are like family to me. That’s the one thing I will never do!!!”

Even with the light sword touching her throat, Takitsubo smiled a little.

She smiled for Kinuhata.

Even though, in a way, Kinuhata’s indecision was dooming her to die.

But she did it anyway.

“Illuminate Fencer – light source active. Pumping Bomb – external energy received. Perfection Hit – target locked. Swing Shield – heat and shockwave protection established. Sequence complete – final check complete.”

The light sword vanished from Takitsubo’s throat.

No, now that palm was directed toward Kinuhata.

“Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack is ready. Ah ha ha! You idiot!! You couldn’t even make a choice. That’s a crime, just like how this all began! So to protect justice, we will fire a second shot to eliminate you and Mugino Shizuri. With no one left to oppose us, we’ll crush the two leftovers easily enough!! Justice will always exterminate our enemies!! That is our job as Judgment Branch 000 – the Special Exception Cleanup Team!!!”

Light flashed.

The cleanup found after a mistaken decision had begun.

(Oh, damn. I super never managed to rewatch Momentary Blues in a theater.)

Kinuhata needlessly held her leader close while that thought rose in the back of her mind.

And in that final moment, Takitsubo’s lips moved slightly.

She spoke with a definite smile.

“''Here it comes''.”

No.

One of Item’s oldest members wasn’t smiling out of resignation.

“Ha…”

Kinuhata heard an impossible laugh.

It came from within her arms.

Along with some movement.

“I like the way you think, sister.”

Mugino Shizuri.

She still couldn’t get up, but Item’s leader did raise her hand with a belligerent smile.

The clear drops scattered from Kinuhata’s eyes.

And a moment later…

===Part 13===

Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack vs. Meltdowner.

Good and evil collided head on.

===Part 14===

The explosive boom was compressed and the flash of light twisted around.

For only a moment, Kinuhata sensed complete nothingness.

It was a strange floating sensation.

But time was still passing just the same.

She heard a dry sizzling sound.

And she wasn’t imagining it.

It was the sound of the skin burning off the surface of an outstretched palm.

The Judgment execution squad’s Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack was not responsible. Mugino’s Meltdowner was so powerful it had started to destroy her own body.

In other words, she was losing control.

“Super Mugi-”

“''Interesting''.”

In a complete contrast to Kinuhata’s pale face, battle freak Mugino had a brutal smile on her face.

She had to be feeling pain.

She had to be feeling a fear different from being blown away all at once.

But.

She didn’t care.

“You attacked my sister and made her cry. I hope you aren’t expecting a quick and painless death. You’d better be ready to experience hellllllllllllll!!!”

Mugino’s perfectly maintained nails split and peeled back.

The intensity of the light grew.

''“As Class Rep, I end up hearing a lot of people’s problems. So if you’re ever in real trouble, you can come to me. I’ll do anything to help you out!”

Mugino suddenly remembered those words.

The words of another girl she might have called her sister if only they hadn’t encountered each other in the city’s darkness.

''“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

Mugino roared more from her gut than her lungs.

She was ''sick of this.

She never again wanted to see a familiar face lose its color while the light faded from the eyes.

And she chose to believe.

She was a Level 5. She was Meltdowner.

That detective must have already discovered that Mugino held the power necessary to avoid that worst possible ending.

''“I don’t know what kind of world you’ve gotten yourself involved in! But I can tell you have something going on outside of school and I can guess that it isn’t anything as peaceful as working part-time at a convenience store after school.”

A sharp explosion erupted.

From directly behind Kinuhata.

Light and electrons. They both entered an intensely excited state that grew uncontrollably. As if avoiding a great pressure, the Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack veered off in the wrong direction, blasting through a pyramid of containers and out through Reserve Meal’s outer wall.

Meanwhile, the massive beam was pushed straight ahead.

Takitsubo twisted around and got down on the frozen floor. Removing the Illuminate Fencer blade from the track suit girl’s throat had been a definite mistake. Inoue Fox could have at least prepared to fire after slitting her throat. Or maybe that was a villain’s idea that wouldn’t occur to justice.

The beam shot out and scorched the air.

The one attack didn’t obliterate Inoue Fox’s upper body, but probably only because Mugino had intentionally diverted it away.

Still, the intense heat caused the air to expand and the shockwave slammed into the white uniform girl.

She was sent spinning through the air.

This was Meltdowner.

This was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s.

Satou Lycaon reached out her arms to try and catch Inoue Fox before she hit the frozen floor, so she was knocked down along with her. Tanaka Jackal was struck by the splinters of a broken box, knocking her out. Yamada Coyote looked between her collapsed teammates and the exit before crumbling to the floor with the simple shotgun still in her grasp.

At some point, Frenda had gotten back on her feet.

She was badly beaten up, but she could still stand.

She had struck the girl on the back of the head with the bottom of a detonator that had to be heavier than a phone.

“Heh. In the end, give me a chance to participate.”

Takitsubo got up from the frozen floor.

Frenda grinned and joined Takitsubo as they approached Kinuhata.

Kinuhata wondered what look she had on her face.

She didn’t bother searching for a mirror.

Mugino, who was still in her small arms, was refusing to look her in the eye for some reason.

Then the leader girl turned around and raised her palm.

“…”

It was the science cult that had killed the Judgment girl.

(You’re…)

It was Item and the Frees that had killed the Sadistic Dolls.

(…dead…)

And it was Item that had exterminated the Frees.

(…mea-)

And.

It was also Item that had killed Detective Shiratori Okibi who had discovered the truth of the case and revealed the presence of the execution squad.

“Tch.”

Mugino clicked her tongue and the light slowly vanished from her palm.

''“Malicious or accidental, any involvement in a Judgment death must not be tolerated. If you were there and capable of making your own choices, you should have saved her. No matter what.”

She recalled Inoue Fox’s words.

Like with so many other cases, it came down to this.

''“Then we would have used our lives and justice to repay your kindness.”

Had she made this choice because Kinuhata had gently grabbed her wrist just before she fired?

Or was it her memory of the Class Rep?

The leader girl irritably spat out her words.

“Then we’ve got no reason to kill you. We’ve got nothing to do with you and your pain-in-the-ass justice.”

===Between the Lines 3===

No one knew that Judgment Branch 000 existed and the existence of the Special Exception Cleanup Team was thoroughly hidden.

''But thanks to that'' they were only considered ordinary Judgment members in the official records.

Word of their defeat was quickly spread over Judgment radios.

Yamagami Erina and the two Judgment upperclassmen were forced up in the middle of the night.

That meant there was a culprit behind this.

“Let’s go, Erina-chan and Aomi!!”

“Wait,” someone said.

But instead of the usual timid Yamagami Erina, this came from Yanagisako Aomi who was always running around on the front line.

Facts and scenes no ordinary student would know bounced around in the back of her mind.

That was enough for her.

Her friend had been ruthlessly killed by a science cult and her ''upstanding colleagues'' who had been sent out in the middle of the night for an emergency assignment had been mercilessly defeated. The culprit was entirely unknown.

Was this reality?

What had happened to this city’s justice?

“Has Judgment always been such an unrewarding job?” asked Yanagisako Aomi, trembling and pale-faced. And wholly ignorant of the truth. “Mii. I can’t keep doing this. I’m done with this job.”

<noinclude>
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter4

2025-03-03T19:13:05Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 4 */

==Chapter 4: The Violent Gears Known as Justice==

===Part 1===

“Fox I // Sigh. Another job? But we’re only just finishing up the last one.”

This was one of the countless games available in the app store.

Specifically, it was the simple chat on the home screen of a puzzle game.

The text from these cheap message services was not automatically indexed by the major search engines. Plus, if the management staff had very little focus on crisis management, they wouldn’t even check for suspicious messages. That meant so much could get through without question, so a throwaway account was all you needed to use the chat as a contact point for some fairly dangerous transactions. And if it was discovered, you only had to move on to another game and another account.

The person frowning at their horizontally-oriented phone was a high school girl in a white miniskirt military uniform. The pale-skinned girl wore her long flaxen hair in a single braid…which people often said looked like a fried shrimp.

Her name was Inoue Fox.

In her other hand, she casually held someone by the collar. That person had some clear plastic wrap wrapped all around him, but that was to prevent his blood and guts from spilling out of ''the many sharp lacerations covering his body''.

“(Hidden Name) // You mean you’re not done yet?”

“Fox I // We’re finishing it now. I did tell you luring out a hacker would take some doing. He’s the one that hacked into the Bank to check through the students’ DNA maps.”

After dumping the person in a plastic container, she focused on typing on her phone. ''I’d really prefer a layout that let me type one-handed,'' she complained, pouting her lips.

“Fox I // Number 000 demands we execute every single person responsible for a Judgment death. This guy took a job from that science cult leader to search out sacrifices who met whatever her conditions were, right? Without this hacker, Minamioki Sarusa wouldn’t have-”

“Fox I // That was too long, so it got cut off. Oops. *wouldn’t have died. We need to give him a proper ‘reward’ for that.”

“(Hidden Name) // Be quick about it. That is your job.”

“Fox I // Yeah, yeah.”

With that complete, the girl fought the temptation of the campaign guaranteeing an LR ticket and closed the app. While that sounded like a good deal at first, actually doing the math showed it was more expensive than testing your luck with 100 rolls.

A short distance away more girls in white miniskirt military uniforms were passing the time leaning against the wall or seated at a table.

The four of them were a team.

Yamada Coyote, who had short chestnut hair, held a hand to her forehead.

“I feel like we’ve had a lot of work recently. Does no one respect Judgment anymore?”

“It is concerning,” said Satou Lycaon, a brown-skinned and busty girl with silver ringlets who was massaging her shoulder.

Tanaka Jackal, a flat-chested girl with wavy black hair, nodded in agreement.

“We need to inject some violence into the city to restore Judgment’s reputation.”

That was their job.

They couldn’t let the criminals have the last laugh. If they allowed it to happen even once, the criminals would grow arrogant, resistance would grow, and victims out on patrol would become more common.

So they had to strike back before that happened.

Judgment was actually prioritized above Anti-Skill.

Ignorance of this fact was no excuse.

If anyone was foolish enough to take a Judgment life, they would be taught quite thoroughly how foolish that had been. By others from the same organization.

“Number 000 is a code indicating a special emergency. But if it becomes the new status quo, it loses all meaning.”

Inoue Fox duplicated a document camouflaged as a meaningless corrupted file before opening it on her phone.

The plastic container next to her was filled with red and black. The number of arms and legs matched up, but none of them were intact. They had been slashed to pieces. Letting it all stay in the general shape of a person was only meant to increase the pain as much as possible.

And despite all this, the bloody mouth was moving.

''He was alive.

The extreme sharpness of the cutting edge had been a bad thing for the victim in this case.

“Ah…”

She slammed the lid shut.

Without even looking in that direction. Inoue Fox used her entire palm to paste a shipping label on top as if to seal it shut.

“Where did we decide to send this eyesore again?”

“District 9’s Moe Bells.”

Yamada Coyote frowned at Inoue Fox’s answer.

“Oh, the poor people there. It’s not like they had anything to do with it.”

“Making the most use out of a corpse is proper etiquette for a killer, remember? We can’t achieve our goal in this case unless we scare the geeks lurking below the surface. And if you want to silence the hackers in this city, there’s no better place.”

Inoue Fox explained while pressing a large button on the wall.

With a heavy metallic rumble, the entire wall began to move. No, that was a metal shutter. They were currently inside a garage.

And a mass of composite armor weighing more than 30 tons sat in the center.

That was a HsAAt-07 Matchlock. It was equipped with thick rubber panels to avoid damaging the pavement, but it was in fact an anti-drone tank with a giant gun and continuous tracks.

“Who’d ever guess a prestigious school had something like this hidden away?” said Yamada Coyote with a smile.

The thick metal shutter opened to reveal Nagatenjouki Academy in the middle of the night. The school was relatively new, but it was an elite prep school that rivaled Tokiwadai and Kirigaoka in the field of esper power development. This garage was located in the athletic club building.

The leader, Inoue Fox, clapped her hands twice.

“Okay, everyone. Hop on!”

“Dammit, I’m improving my score this time!!”

The other girls used the hatches on the gun and tank itself to board the tank. They did so with a practiced ease. They were accustomed to driving this thing across Academy City.

Satou Lycaon sighed inside the thick vehicle.

“I knew we couldn’t trust those outsiders.”

“You mean those journalists? The Frees, was it?”

“All they had to do was gather the personal information and common gathering places of the Sadistic Dolls and Item. They weren’t even fighters, so of course they got burned when they tried to attack. If only they hadn’t gotten themselves killed before they could send us what info they’d gathered.”

By leaving the plastic container outside, a cargo transport drone would fly in, read the packing slip’s barcode, and then carry it off into the night sky.

“It’s already the 31st, the last day of summer break. Judgment needs to set an example, so we can’t afford to oversleep, forget our textbooks, or otherwise embarrass ourselves once September starts. If you don’t want us to end up on the kill list, then we need to get this job done with enough time left to prepare for the new term!”

“Understood.”

“Will do.”

“Roger☆ Score, score, I am so getting a high score!!”

These four were Judgment Branch 000, aka the Special Exception Cleanup Team.

Judgment had no official records of their existence and they handled only Number 000s. These monsters existed to physically prevent justice from becoming inoperable.

The girls in white military uniforms tore noisily out into the night, but to them, the anti-drone tank was no more than a toy to set the stage.

Judgment relied on esper powers more than next-gen weapons to deal with criminals.

“Do we know their general location?”

“if the data we received is accurate, they are at District 16’s landmark. There shouldn’t be any decent people there at this hour on the 31st. And anyone who isn’t decent is none of our concern.”

An anti-tank drone required a few different things to function.

1. The accuracy to track a drone flying a complex path at more than Mach 1.7.

2. The ability to set up a barrage capable of shooting down a swarm of attacking drones with 100% accuracy.

3. Cheap enough ammunition to shoot down enemy drones for far less money than the drones cost.

…#3 was surprisingly difficult. For example, surface-to-air missiles packed full of ultra-precise equipment would mean paying a ton for each cheap drone destroyed, which would mean a financial blow for only the defending side. However, being too cheap for anything more than a peashooter of a machinegun was meaningless if drones managed to breach your defenses.

Thus, the Matchlock used large explosions that covered a wide area.

Specifically, it used thermobaric shells.

These were derived from fuel-air explosives, but if the explosion happened in the empty sky, there was no concern of accidentally bombing civilians. When striking a wall rather than aiming at a point, precise targeting and a large number of shells became unnecessary. That allowed for a high interception rate along with an overwhelming reduction in cost. The tank only needed the bare minimum of a radar and each disposable warhead didn’t need a small computer loaded in it.

But what happened if this weapon’s intended usage was ignored and it was fired at an altitude of 0m – that is, ''on the surface'' where so many people and buildings were located?

Inoue Fox actually sounded bored.

“Okay, fire the first leveling round.”

“If this first wave was enough to kill any of them, I really doubt we’d have been called in. And it doesn’t improve my score.”

“Following procedures is best. For justice, anyway. Fire.”

The HsAAT-07’s gun borrowed the design of a warship’s quick-firing gun, so it could launch more than 20 thermobaric shells a minute even while the tank was in motion.

And they would soar through the air like a long throw in baseball.

===Part 2===

The shrill sound was a lot like someone filling their lungs with air and then blowing into a whistle.

Takitsubo and Frenda looked up almost simultaneously within District 16’s Bulweiser Icicle Theater ice palace.

“Mugino.”

“Oh, no. In the end, ''that’s the reaper’s flute''! Get down, everyone!! Something’s falling this way!!”

How many of them managed to follow those instructions?

Light flashed.

All sound was drowned out.

The flames were a lot like those caused by a car explosion. Which meant small particles in the air had been ignited. But it covered an abnormally large area. Each blast caused an explosion more than 100m across and they just kept happening.

The support team delinquents waiting outside were enveloped in flames and blasted into the air along with the bulletproof car. Even if they got down or dived behind an ice pillar, the waves of heat and shockwaves would circle around and take their lives.

The tremendous explosions were too loud to even hear their death cries.

A nearby concrete building was scorched black and the heat was so great the asphalt melted.

Kinuhata used Offense Armor to smash the ice floor below her and then Item slipped underground.

Without advance knowledge of the enemy, they would have been caught completely by surprise and killed.

The detective had given them the clue they needed.

Takitsubo reached a hand out toward a delinquent being left behind, but Mugino grabbed her wrist and dragged her down.

An especially large explosion followed.

Even with a thick ice roof over their heads, they had to shout to be heard by the people right next to them.

“It looks like we at least managed to deflect the heat, but if I could smash these ice blocks with my fists, then they super aren’t going to be much of a shield. I don’t know what idiot is behind this, but if they’re serious about this bombardment, they’ll break through soon enough!!”

There was no one here but the four of them. They hadn’t had time to save anyone else.

The girls crouched down and ran through the narrow space.

“So is this Number 000? They’re killing everyone involved in the death of a Judgment member?”

Paling, Frenda bit her thumbnail.

This proved none of that had been a bluff.

This city’s justice could easily cover up even a thermobaric carpet bombing.

“In the end, this is absurd. Why do we have to die because they were careless!?”

Absurd

They could be so certain of that assessment because they were villains who existed outside the rules of justice.

The people who could do something like this were different.

Generally, anyone who was immersed in justice never even questioned their actions.

(You call this justice?)

Mugino thought this while clenching her teeth hard.

These people were abusing their official authority to cover up evidence of a mistake and kill anyone who got in their way. And these were the people who reigned above the detective who had risked her life for a classmate?

Kinuhata kept her voice low. “If they kill everyone who was involved in a case where a Judgment member died, then they won’t just target the dark side. They would do this to an ordinary person who happened to witness it too.”

“What’s your point?”

“It super pisses me off, so I want to tear that fucking system down!”

“Then the best way is to attack the dumbasses doing the attacking and cause so much damage it becomes clear they’ll get burned even if they try to keep their system going. But that’s a lesson for the execution squad’s higher ups, not the squad themselves,” responded Mugino with a brutal smile.

She only had her life now thanks to the detective, but this was her way of doing things. Asking Mugino to become a good person right away was simply impossible. She had to choose what Item could realistically do right now.

“Violence isn’t a toy to play with for fun. It’s a professional’s tool. That’s a lesson the purity-obsessed justice needs to learn.”

The four of them emerged from below the floor.

They heard more whistling overhead.

It seemed unlikely they could escape the downpour of flames on foot, but they fortunately found themselves in a parking lot. And a few snowmobiles were parked there in place of motorcycles.

“Hurry!!”

Mugino and Kinuhata boarded one snowmobile and Frenda and Takitsubo boarded another. They started the engines in a less-than-legal way.

A suggestion came from the snowmobile moving alongside Mugino’s.

“Mugino, can you shoot down those things falling from the sky?”

“What good would it do? I’d just be telling the enemy where we are. We can make our counterattack after escaping their targeting and losing them!!”

More and more shells struck the city behind them. The white snow reflected the red light and giant ice sculptures were scorched and shattered before they could even melt.

Trying to escape based on speed alone would only get Item caught in the explosions. To survive, they had to drive in sharp curves while focusing in what would act as cover.

Fortunately, there weren’t many people out tonight. Since it was late at night on August 31, people were staying in to prepare for the new school term in September.

“Mugino, does that mean we don’t have to worry about ordinary people getting hurt?”

“All this and zero deaths? That’s too much to chalk up to coincidence. We may be playing right into Number 000’s hands.”

Frenda clenched her teeth while operating the one snowmobile, but she was also rationally analyzing the situation.

Explosives that didn’t rely on esper powers were her specialty.

“In the end, there are a lot of shells, but they’re all coming from the same direction. They might be launching them while on the move, but there is probably only one launch point. The enemy can’t be too large!!”

“How about we make a u-turn and super go in for the attack!?”

“In the end, it’d be a real pain if they’d set up a bunch of landmines and then built up a thick wall. It’s better to let them shoot all they can and aim for the moment they approach to see if they got us!”

A blue road sign passed by overhead.

Mugino clicked her tongue.

“That ain’t good.”

Fleeing on snowmobiles was all well and good, but it was late August. The snow on the ground had all been created by snow machines.

So once they left District 16 where the campaign was being run, the winter wonderland would vanish.

And if they escaped District 16 to the south, they would run into District 1.

That was the symbol of the sketchy justice. That inhuman district contained all the administrative and government agencies, so it was the most distant part of the city for anyone on the dark side.

The snowmobiles sent sparks into the air as they scraped across the asphalt. Mugino hopped off before hers had even come to a complete stop.

“Mugino, another shell is coming.”

“Super what do we do!? There’s no way we can escape on foot!!”

“In the end, this way!!”

===Part 3===

The Special Exception Cleanup Team accurately closed in on their target while driving the HsAAT-07 Matchlock anti-drone tank through the late-night city.

They showed great familiarity with this work.

The driving was done by Yamada Coyote down in the tank proper while Inoue Fox and the other two were up in the turret operating the gun with a flat touch screen. The Matchlock’s advanced datalink functionality meant it contained as much communications equipment as a small communications base.

“Where’s that data on the targets?”

“It’s coming up now.”

No matter how dangerous their mission, these four were officially-recognized members of Judgment.

Thus, they could legitimately access the Bank.

Revealing the details of their opponents’ powers before the fight began gave them an overwhelming advantage. Attacking their target’s weak point and going for the kill before their own identities were revealed allowed them to win without taking any damage themselves.

“Let’s see, based on our mission request list, I have confirmed the eyesores who have survived this long are Item: Mugino Shizuri, Takitsubo Rikou, Frenda Seivelun, and Kinuhata Saiai.”

“They’re not here,” said Tanaka Jackal in surprise.

Impossibly, her search of the Bank had found zero results. Were they supposed to believe Item was incorporeal ghosts?

“They do dark side work, right? Maybe they’re being protected,” suggested Yamada Coyote over the radio.

Inoue Fox gave a snort of laughter at that.

It happened a lot.

Hiding someone’s data from the Bank wasn’t enough to conceal their existence. They would still leave evidence where they lived their lives.

“Besides, Mugino Shizuri is a Level 5. They’re famous. Hide her official ID as much as you want, you can’t hide her at her school.”

They had gathered enough data on Takitsubo Rikou and Kinuhata Saiai to make some good guesses about those two as well.

Satou Lycaon stared at the screen.

“Who is the most dangerous eyesore?”

“Frenda Seivelun. That she’s a Level 0 means she’s trouble. Searching through the locked internet isn’t going to tell us what kind of toys she’s hiding.”

That was how the Special Exception Cleanup Team ranked things.

''Nothing more than a high-level esper'' was business as usual for them. It was always the mysterious nobodies who they had no data on who threw off their plans.

With a general target priority in mind, the girls kept the Matchlock moving.

The anti-drone tank had been loaded up with thermobaric shells, but they would still run out if they kept firing for 10 minutes straight without reloading.

The Special Exception Cleanup Team burned the city of snow and ice until it was red and black, but they didn’t think this toy could actually eliminate their target.

That wouldn’t be any fun.

“Which way did they go?”

“Any way but south and they’ve already been carbonized.”

“Then the eyesores must be in District 1. Check the map and locate a spot near the border where they could have escaped the thermobaric shells.”

“Here,” said Yamada Coyote over the radio while driving the tank. “District 1’s cold storage warehouse. The building is surrounded by thick insulated walls, so it could have protected them from the walls of fire.”

===Part 4===

The place was large for a cold storage warehouse. It was the size of a stadium.

“Get back!!”

They didn’t have time to slowly pick the lock. Mugino blew away the staff entrance door with Meltdowner.

As soon as the four of them rushed inside, several explosions erupted outside. Each shell produced burning flames for 100m in all directions and the outdoor space was engulfed by several of these at once.

The chill seemed to cling to their skin.

It wasn’t August in here. They could see their breath. They had avoided the downpour of thermobaric shells, but they didn’t get the liberating feeling that comes with outsmarting an enemy.

“Mugino.”

Takitsubo held her body, shivered expressionlessly, and looked to the wall. The digital display there said -40. That meant it was 40 degrees below freezing. Mugino shouted, her breath coming out in white puffs.

“Frenda! What about our phones!?”

“Mine’s working fine. In the end, they are Academy City products☆”

Circuit boards and batteries could fail in extreme environments, but that apparently wasn’t an issue.

Still, they had stumbled into a world where a towel would freeze instantly if you wet it with water and swung it around. Without appropriate cold weather gear, there was only so long humans could operate in here.

Frenda stared intently at a metal wall panel that had half-fused with white frost.

“Damn, it’s cold. Argh, isn’t there a map posted somewhere? Liquid nitrogen support coolant tanks, emergency generators, ceiling crane… In the end, is that all the equipment in here!?”

Trying to hole up inside this giant cold storage warehouse would only put Item at a disadvantage. The thick insulated walls might be able to protect them from the walls of fire caused by the thermobaric shells, but they biologically couldn’t ignore the extreme temperature of -40 degrees.

Eyeballing it, the ceiling appeared to be five or six floors up. But the containers and boxes were stacked up like pyramids, so Item still felt cramped down on the floor. They may have gotten a different impression if they were looking down from the catwalks quite high up on the walls, though.

Just like in a gym, a lot of metal beams were set up near the ceiling, but there were also some special rails laid out there. Were those for the ceiling crane that could move containers heavier than a ton in and out of the warehouse?

“What if we blasted a hole in the wall? Letting the outside air in might help with this cold.”

It was fortunate the warehouse’s design had been based on a capsule-shaped indoor soccer stadium. That meant the enormous ceiling was supported by countless metal beams distributing the weight. With a domed stadium that used the power of the air to remain intact, a large hole would have caused it to collapse.

However…

“When we don’t where the enemy will attack from? We managed to hide in a fairly large and complex building, so we don’t want to give away our position with all that loud destruction.”

Battle Freak Mugino applied the brakes.

Which showed just how formidable an enemy she was expecting.

Kinuhata covered herself with a nitrogen barrier, perhaps hoping it would have an insulating effect.

“So super what is this place?”

It was much too big to be a simple cold storage warehouse.

It was the size of an indoor soccer stadium, after all.

Not to mention that an ugly warehouse felt out of place in clean District 1.

“It’s probably Reserve Meal,” spat Mugino.

Frenda sighed and explained.

“That’s Academy City’s largest disaster-response food vault. But only the Board and a limited number of VIPs get to use it. The general public isn’t even told it exists.”

The place was like Academy City in miniature.

The elites would monopolize all this food and refuse to part with any of it, but as soon as it was close to expiring, they would donate it to the Child Errors so they could look benevolent. It really just demonstrated that they were hoarding more food than they could eat themselves, but they took the act of shoving it onto others and wrapped it up with the pretty image of heartfelt charity. And the recipients’ thanks for the food really was heartfelt.

As a rule, a villain like Mugino did not trust philanthropy that asked for nothing in return.

People did things either because it benefited them in some way or because it let them feel superior to the others around them. Her dark side nose, which tended to view all things in an uncharitable light, told her that much.

Just rationally view the structure here.

No matter how much they tried to pretty it up with their words, the food supply route visualized the difference between the upper class and the lower class.

(Not that I’m one to talk when I’m the prodigal daughter of the Mugino Family, a grain production company that feeds 1.4 billion people.)

Or maybe that was why it irritated her so much.

Meanwhile…

“In the end, this isn’t over. The execution squad is made up of Judgment elites, right? That means they fight with their powers, not those toys. The enemy is coming and soon. They’ll be breaking through a door or using that big hole we made, so be as read as possible by then!”

Blue in the face, Frenda dumped something out from her thin poncho: explosives and detonators of all sizes.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“There’s no point in thinking too hard. If you attach them to the door and press the big button, then they’re all ready to be detonated! But do it in the reverse order and they’ll blow up in your hands, so be careful. I’ll cover the hole with IR and milli-wave!!” Frenda rudely stuck a hand into her short skirt. “Also, you take this, Takitsubo! That’s better than me holding onto it, so be ready just in case.”

“Kay.”

Takitsubo expressionlessly reached out a hand and caught the small automatic handgun soaring through the air toward her. It was unclear how well she could fight on her own, but this would be better than nothing. And that kind of destructive power in the hands of a targeting-support power like AIM Stalker could scare the enemy with the possibility it presented if nothing else.

The warehouse was the size of an indoor soccer stadium. They didn’t have time for Frenda to set up the explosives herself. Mugino, Takitsubo, and Kinuhata carried as many explosives as they could and ran to different parts of the facility.

They set them up on the large main entrance meant to allow forklifts, loaders, and other equipment to pass through, on the side entrance meant for people, and…

“The walls are thick, but since the place is like a giant freezer, there must be a super huge fan leading outside. There should also be an outside door on the second or third floor for firefighters to get in. That’s how it worked with the lab I was in. Someone super take care of those!”

“Okay, Kinuhata. I can get those,” Kinuhata replied using the group call feature on their phones.

Mugino was blocking up all the main entrances on the first floor. Kinuhata was attaching explosives to the center of the doors on the same level. Kinuhata couldn’t see where Takitsubo and Frenda had gone.

Without warning, a rectangle was cut out of the wall right next to Kinuhata.

As if the thick insulated wall that had endured the thermobaric shells had been silently melted through.

Since the enemy wasn’t using the doors, all of the explosive traps were rendered meaningless.

A girl in a white military uniform, her long flaxen hair worn in a fried shrimp, stepped inside.

“Hello, you reckless Number 000 targets☆ The Special Exception Cleanup Team has arrived.”

Mugino didn’t bother listening.

She immediately raised her palm and fired a Meltdowner beam. The beam was sharply deflected to the side right in front of the white uniform girl and then dispersed into particles.

“!?”

“Super keep back, Mugino! We still don’t know what kind of power the enemy has!!”

Mugino and Kinuhata backed up toward the main floor of the warehouse where containers and boxes were stacked like pyramids. They couldn’t force the enemy back, so more and more white uniform girls got in.

“Nice to meet you. I am Inoue Fox.”

The fried shrimp uniform girl gave a mock bow in the presence of Mugino Shizuri of all people.

[[File:Item3 BW5.jpeg|thumb]]

Even though she had to know how dangerous it was to take her eyes off of Mugino and unbalance her center of gravity.

Were these four, who wielded justice mostly for fun, really ranked higher than the detective who bet her life on her actions?

“And these are Satou Lycaon, Yamada Coyote, and Tanaka Jackal. I am sure we will never meet again after tonight, but all the same.”

“So you’re the execution squad, huh? You seem to understand why so many people on the dark side like to use fake names.”

“Ha ha. Please refer to us as Judgment Branch 000 or the Special Exception Cleanup Team. We are the odd jobs team that works to preserve the definition of justice☆”

She must not have cared if that information got out.

What ''did'' she care about?

Inoue Fox grinned.

“That look on your face says you wish it hadn’t been Judgment who died, thus sparing you this mess.” She lowered her voice and spat out the next words. “But that’s where you’re wrong. Judgment or not, everyone has their own lives. You can’t choose to kill them for your own selfish purposes and then complain when the result is inconvenient for you.”

“Oh, and are you justice people spared that problem because when you do it it’s an authorized execution?”

“Not at all.”

The white uniform girl was not fazed by Mugino’s glare.

Justice would not falter in the face of evil.

“No matter the reason or circumstances, killing someone will earn resentment. I am merely asking you to understand that basic rule. You have become an enemy of justice and face this punishment because you chose to wield violence without considering the consequences first.”

“…”

“We, on the other hand, know what we are doing. It will be inconvenient for us and a great many people will resent us, but this is necessary to protect Judgment from violent criminals, so we will carry out our deadly duty with full awareness of what it will mean. We work within a fundamentally different system than you villains whose standards change depending on how much you are being paid. We can remain on the side of justice because we limit ourselves to more restricted methods.”

They ''dedicated themselves'' to justice.

If anyone couldn’t do the same, they looked down on them, labeled them villains, and attacked them fiercely.

Inoue Fox sneered as Mugino assessed her.

“Well, it all began as an old Judgment tradition. We just transformed it more to our liking. I do apologize if you stumbled into this unaware of what it meant, but you must prepare yourselves now. Because justice demands it.”

Takitsubo must have whispered into her phone while she watched from a higher floor.

“I’ve never heard of this.”

“It is already underway below the surface. Word of it will reach someone eventually. In pieces and as baseless rumors that distort the truth almost beyond recognition,” a busty brown-skinned girl with silver ringlets said with a grin.

Was she basking in the superiority of knowing more than someone else?

Mugino responded with a snort of laughter.

“Your Number 000 exists because your law enforcement groups are done if the criminals don’t respect your strength. So to avoid future victims, you take a zero tolerance policy when it comes to one of your own being killed, is that it?”

“What of it?”

“That’s identical to how gangs retaliate. When you get down to it, Judgment is just another form of organized violence. The only difference is you have official recognition and have the right to steal people’s tax money to fund yourselves.”

Inoue Fox had been so unflappable, but this caused a slight twitch around her eyes.

For the first time.

“What, was that an unforgivable insult for you justice people?” Mugino snorted in laughter. “C’mon, now. You use your weapons and powers to scare the city’s people into obeying your rules. It’s exactly the same. The mafia that started in Sicily don’t call themselves evil either. They say they represent justice and provide a more perfect order than the flawed legal system does. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like someone we know?”

“…”

“Ha ha!! What, had you seriously not noticed, ''you villain''?”

A deadly attack approached with no advance warning.

Light surged out, Mugino took a step back, and the pile of containers next to her was sliced through at the bottom, causing the rest to come tumbling down.

But Mugino reacted with a brutal smile.

“You idiot! You’ve already shown your hand! I thought maybe our cutting power had some more complex conditions – hwa ha ha! – but it’s just a regular old light sword!?”

“We’re super done provoking them into reducing their effectiveness. Everyone, to your positions!!”

They had no choice but to start the battle now.

Item had been completely on the run, so they considered themselves lucky enough to make this a direct clash with no tricks.

But that only made it 50-50.

They still had a chance of dying. A big one, even.

The detective had given them this chance at survival.

Mugino would prove that her Class Rep had been a superior form of justice. No matter what.

(I want something unexpected. This is still part of their plan, so I want something so unexpected their plan falls apart!!)

===Part 5===

On the labyrinthine ground floor of the warehouse, there was no predicting when a surprise attack might come.

But if you tried to climb up to the narrow catwalk to take a look down from above, there was nowhere to run or hide. Which meant you could become the target of concentrated fire from anywhere.

Kinuhata thought as she fell back through the stadium-sized cold storage warehouse.

(I guess it would be a good idea to hide behind the piles of containers. But that’s only “good”. I super hate that I can’t come up with a great pla-)

The wall next to her suddenly exploded.

She was thrown a few meters through the air. She would have died right then if not for Offense Armor.

“Ugh!? Did the wall’s wiring super burst!?”

“Oh? Are you the sacrificial pawn who gathers information the hard way? This is a big city full of electronics, so my Pumping Bomb will have no trouble killing such an eyesore of a villain.”

Several fiery orange explosions erupted out at once.

A stack of frozen containers swayed unsteadily, throwing white ice particles everywhere.

Frenda was responsible.

She ignored her thin poncho and her short skirt blowing in the blast and she launched all of the small missiles and rockets she had. But…

“Nee hee hee.”

Tanaka Jackal didn’t even try to hide.

Frenda clenched her teeth.

This was why she hated high level espers. But only when they were her enemy.

“In the end, it didn’t work at all? But I used a ton of directional chemical rounds and armor-piercing rounds!!”

“Kee hee. What, are these physical brute force attacks all you’ve got? Then you can’t hope to get through my barrier. I do hate how hard it is to improve my personal score when I’m always doing my job as a defender. Anyway, let’s get this game started. You’re powerless in the face of my Swing Shield!!”

Another part of the warehouse was entirely empty.

At five or six floors up, track suit girl Takitsubo stood on one of the countless metal beams supporting the ceiling.

She held a handgun like she didn’t know what to do with it and her eyes raced around her surroundings.

There they were.

“You poor villain. Aren’t you at least going to use that Body Crystal stuff?”

“Yamada Coyote, right?”

“Pretty sure my power’s the more useful one when it comes to targeting. If you aren’t going to try, I’ll shoot you in the vitals before you have time to regret your decision. No one can escape my Perfection Hit.”

The white uniform girl readied something like a thick cane by pressing it against her shoulder. No, that was no cane. A grip and a stock had been forcibly attached to a small shotgun ordinarily meant for breaking down doors. It could hold at most three rounds, but that must have been enough for Yamada Coyote.

With three shots, she could drive any enemy into a dead end and then kill them.

She was an esper who used that sort of information warfare.

“I, Yamada Coyote, shall serve as your opponent so you might meet a swift death at the hands of my benevolent strike.”

“Is justice part of the drama club?”

===Part 6===

Pure white explosions pursued Kinuhata in quick succession.

Sharp welding-bright flashes of light implanted pain in her retinas.

The frozen floor and the electronically-locked container doors were all rupturing from within.

Kinuhata could stop a bullet, but she couldn’t ignore an explosion.

And electric ones were a bad match for her.

She had only just learned that the hard way against the ground combat drones commanded by the Japanese wolf.

She jumped back while working to find a common point in what she was seeing.

(The electric wiring is exploding! But this warehouse is super big. If I move to the center where there isn’t any electronic equipment…)

Something suddenly emerged from behind a pile of containers.

It was an AGV used to move around containers weighing more than a ton.

“!?”

It exploded.

A metal-melting white flash erupted right in front of her.

Without her excellent physical defense, Kinuhata would have been killed instantly.

“Kah...ah!? It isn’t just the stationary wiring!?”

“Hee hee. You have to get creative if you want to use your power more effectively.”

The brown-skinned girl with silver ringlets spread her arms wide.

Satou Lycaon gave a roar with an ecstatic smile.

“The world is flooded with electronics. Humanity has remade the world in that way! And all I must do is supply just a bit of external energy to it all. That is all it takes for any powered device or cable to be reborn as a bomb!!”

With the forklifts and loaders, there were still plenty of unmanned vehicles taller than a human that transported large containers and boxes. The quiet sound of their motors running was mildly painful. Focusing only on the range of the blasts made it all the harder to predict when the bombs themselves might be sneaking up on her.

There could always be an electronic lurking out there that Kinuhata was unaware of.

It didn’t help that she knew very little about this massive cold storage warehouse.

“Now, then, villainous eyesore☆ Just let me know when you are tired of living. I have a caring and compassionate heart, so I will immediately stop stretching this out and kill you with a single explosion before you can feel any pain or fear!!”

===Part 7===

Frenda viewed the dungeon from atop the frozen pile of containers.

(Oh, Kinuhata might be in trouble soon. In the end, her Offense Armor is convenient, but it runs into compatibility issues a lot.)

“Do you think I’ll let you go help?”

Tanaka Jackal must have read Frenda’s thoughts based on the movement of her eyes, so she grinned and took a pose similar to a boxing guard.

Frenda brushed up her bangs in annoyance.

“This is why I hate you justice roleplayers with the maturity of a 7-year-old. Did you really think I was going to ask permission for every little thing?”

“We actually see you as the most dangerous member of Item. Unlike with high-level espers, a Bank search won’t tell us what we’re up against with a Level 0.”

“I’m honored.”

Frenda was being treated as superior even to Level 5 Mugino, but her response was dripping with sarcasm.

“But none of that matters to my Swing Shield. No heat or shockwaves can reach me. And if I can stop the unpredictable irregular factor here, the others can take out the boring, ordinary espers one after another. I’ll have to settle for only adding you to my score.”

“Pft.”

“?”

“Oh, excuse me.”

Frenda honestly apologized for her rudeness.

But had that girl just called Mugino Shizuri and Takitsubo Rikou “ordinary”? While Kinuhata was new to the team, even she had a portion of the #1’s thought patterns implanted in her and not even the researchers had figured out how far she could take that, but she was still considered “boring”?

Frenda tried and failed to suppress laughter, ending up chuckling in her throat.

“This is basically a 200m freezer. In the end, ordinary chemical coolants aren’t enough at that size, so they apparently need something more to cool the heat-producing areas and preserve the overall balance. I mean, of course, the liquid nitrogen I’m sure you’ve seen on trivia variety shows.”

“What about it?”

“Oh, you don’t know? Liquid nitrogen is stable at -196 degrees and it has some interesting traits. One of those is that it rapidly expands in volume if you heat it.”

Tanaka Jackal gasped in sudden realization, but it was too late.

Frenda gave a devilish smile and continued speaking.

As the expert.

“In the end, ''liquid nitrogen can be used as a bomb''.”

===Part 8===

A muffled white explosion erupted.

“?”

Satou Lycaon looked up for a moment, but now wasn’t the time to be inquisitive.

Something fell from the containers stacked up like a pyramid.

That something was Frenda Seivelun.

“In the end, I don’t think your defender likes being flash frozen. But I’d have to do some more testing to know if the cold’s the problem or if it’s an attack from the side or behind that does it.”

This conflict had been four against four.

But if anyone flinched and let their target escape, a two against one situation was possible!

“You let yourself get hurt, Kinuhata? If you’re having trouble, I can help you out.”

“That super won’t be necessary!!”

Kinuhata snapped back at Frenda’s grinning comment, but they still both attacked Satou Lycaon at once.

“Wh-what!? Now there’s two eyesores!”

“In the end, I don’t want to hear you complaining about this not being fair. We openly told you we’re villains, remember!?”

The enemy had suddenly received support.

And Frenda was an expert at using all kinds of explosions, not just electronic ones.

===Part 9===

Track suit girl Takitsubo Rikou and white military uniform Yamada Coyote were glaring at each other from atop the metal beams near the ceiling.

One held an automatic handgun and the other carried a shotgun, but their trigger fingers remained motionless. If they fired and the recoil caused them to freeze up even for a moment, they knew exactly what kind of counterattack awaited them.

They were both targeting support espers.

“So it comes down to our concentration,” whispered Yamada Coyote. “That means the real deciding factor will be how well we can adapt to this environment. My uniform is made to help me endure harsh conditions, but what about you? Poor thing. With so much skin showing, you can’t last long in this -40-degree space.”

They were feeling the extreme tension of a confrontation where not even a single careless movement was allowed.

Or so the white uniform girl thought. However…

“To sum up…”

“?”

“Their leader Inoue Fox specializes in martial arts and she can manipulate and condense light. Satou Lycaon makes bombs, but she isn’t as skilled or adaptable as Frenda. Most likely, she simply boosts the electrical resistance to make electronics burst. Yamada Coyote provides targeting support like me and Tanaka Jackal provides defense. But since she moves around a lot to match the enemy’s location, she must not be able to protect her entire body like Kinuhata can. An attack from a blind spot is probably enough to take her out.”

“No, it can’t be… Are you saying you haven’t been focusing on me at all!?”

Takitsubo had climbed to these dangerous heights despite the risk of being fired on from below because she wanted to observe the entire battlefield as quickly as possible.

And she held a phone in her hand.

She used a group call to swiftly share this information with the rest of Item.

“Mugino, the one with me isn’t a threat. I can keep her busy by continuing to stare her down. What matters is I have all the information. It would be best if you acted quickly to take care of the remaining two who can wield direct deadly force and take out their defender as well.”

===Part 10===

Satou Lycaon clicked her tongue as she realized what the information-sharing via group call meant. She kept up her quick movements to make sure she was never caught between Frenda and Kinuhata.

“Eyesores. I should have blown up ''your phones'' right at the start instead of saving them for the perfect moment!!”

“Whoops.”

In addition to her phone, Frenda removed and tossed away the pouch that contained all her electronic detonators. They didn’t even have a chance to reach the frozen floor. Half a second later, a white light erupted from within them.

“Can a bomber like you really super throw out all your detonators like that?”

“You must be joking. There are plenty of other ways to do it. Every explosive has its own method. Some are ignited by impacts and others detonate when two chemicals react. Or you could just light a fuse the old fashioned way.”

Whatever pocket you kept your phone in, it was always in close contact to the body, so most people would suffer some broken bones or organ damage if theirs exploded. That made it Satou Lycaon’s greatest trump card, but she also only had one chance at it. Frenda could understand why she would want to wait until the ideal time to use it.

Of course, none of that mattered if she missed her chance.

It was an unscientific way of thinking, but invisible tides and winds were the deciding factor in dark side battles.

Frenda spoke as casually as she did when greeting her 7-year-old sister.

“In the end, she’s all attack and doesn’t have any defensive moves, so I say we rush in and beat her to death.”

“Super got it.”

“You will regret underestimating me, eyesores. Reactive armor – set up!!”

“Do you really know what that means? In the end, I know it sounds cool, but I just have to steal your oxygen away with a fuel-air bomb.”

Without any warning at all, the metal container to the side was turned to Swiss cheese by fearsome beams of light and the giant pile collapsed with its support missing.

“!?”

Tiny ice particles flew into the air like a cloud of dust as something approached Frenda and Kinuhata.

Inoue Fox fled this way wielding a sword of light.

More of Mugino’s Meltdowner beams shot in after her.

Inoue Fox swung her light sword while falling back, but she couldn’t actually deflect or cut down the beams. The most she could do was slice through the piles of boxes and containers in the area so Meltdowner would pierce them and be diverted ever-so-slightly off course.

“Hey, what’s the matter!? Out of tricks already, execution squad!? The detective was better than this. Show me something I’m not expecting here. You carry this city’s justice on your shoulders, don’t you!?”

Swing Shield could apparently deflect even Meltdowner, but on the other hand, that was all it could do.

Since that girl couldn’t actually attack, they could ignore her for now.

Item would first kill the other three and deal with Tanaka Jackal once she was on her own. Then they could take their time seeing what kind of attacks worked, like freezing her or burying her alive.

Mugino aimed her palm straight ahead and fired more brutal Meltdowner beams while sneering. Her battle freak side was on full display.

“Are you all Level 3? Or maybe Level 4? …Don’t make me laugh, you wannabe elites. Did you really think that was enough to defeat a Level 5!?”

While Mugino had Inoue Fox and Satou Lycaon stopped, Frenda was free to launch some explosives straight up.

More container piles collapsed and even the steel beams up by the ceiling were damaged.

A tongue click echoed loudly down from there.

Yamada Coyote and Tanaka Jackal skillfully jumped down from the containers and boxes to reach the frozen floor.

Which put them at risk of being targeted by Meltdowner.

The execution squad was gradually gathering in a single location.

Were they planning to use Tanaka Jackal’s Swing Shield for protection?

But if Tanaka Jackal moved out ahead to guard the others, she would be pinned in that location. Then Frenda or Kinuhata could attack from the side to eliminate a member of the Judgment execution squad.

And just as Mugino prepared to step forward while firing further, Takitsubo shouted down from the ceiling, sounding panicked.

“Wait, Mugino!!”

More than that, the track suit girl, who was supposedly unathletic and not a fighter, jumped down from the metal beams to a pyramid of containers and then down to the frozen floor.

But she was a moment too late.

“Illuminate Fencer – light source active. Pumping Bomb – external energy received. Perfection Hit – target locked. Swing Shield – heat and shockwave protection established. Sequence complete – final check complete.”

By then, Inoue Fox was already speaking under her breath. And she finished.

She raised her head and her voice.

“Get ready!! Commence ''Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack''!!!”

===Part 11===

Light filled the world.

===Part 12===

This damaged more than just the piles of containers.

A massive beam tore through the entire Reserve Meal warehouse, melted a round hole in the outside wall, and blew away two or three government buildings in the administrative district. Unless the government workers had all closed up shop to avoid working overtime, there was no telling how many people had just died.

The scent wasn’t quite the usual rusty one.

The stench of even the metal scorching filled the frozen air.

Mugino must have just barely dodged it.

But she was still sent soaring through the air, slammed back-first into a collapsed container, fell to the frozen floor…and didn’t move.

This was all without a direct hit.

“There are only so many Level 5s and none of us are one. On our own, maybe none of us could defeat Mugino Shizuri.”

Inoue Fox, wearing the white uniform that symbolized justice, displayed her bloody teeth with a sneer.

She was the leader of the Special Exception Cleanup Team that made a living doing ''this''.

“But that changes if we work together. Our combined power is far greater!!”

Their comeback had come together with disturbing grace.

The heroes had joined forces for a group attack.

Just like in a children’s morality tale.

“Pwa ha. Item isn’t half bad, but you can’t work together. It all amounts to no more than some eyesores fighting on their own. Ah ha ha ha! But that’s what you get with the morons who chose the path of evil. You can never defeat us when we combine our powers with love and courage!!”

“!”

“You all need to be working toward a just goal. Anyway, I guess we won’t be seeing any more teamwork out of you.”

“Tch! In the end, I don’t care what you professional killers have to say. We’ll find a way to turn this around. Takitsubo!!”

They had lost Mugino.

They didn’t want to imagine how much that reduced Item’s firepower.

And losing their Level 5 leader did not mean the fight was over.

Even in the -40-degree temperature, Kinuhata felt a sharp chill down her spine. But Takitsubo remained calm even now.

She suddenly spoke up.

“''Why aren’t they firing a second laser''?”

“!?”

If they had a trump card greater than Mugino’s Meltdowner, they could simply fire it repeatedly. Item wouldn’t have stood a chance if they had stayed outside of Reserve Meal and filled it with holes.

Yet they hadn’t done that.

Why not?

Did justice find value in a direct confrontation with a villain?

Did they need to kill their target in some way that left enough of a body to confirm the kill?

No…

“There’s a reason why they want to hold that in reserve and why they can’t fire it repeatedly.”

Takitsubo was confident. She wasn’t going to accept defeat.

“At least one of them needs some time between shots, maybe to charge up or to cool down. Whoever that is is the true core of the execution squad.”

The tongue click didn’t come from Item.

The benevolent execution squad took action.

“Lycaon, they’re onto us! Now how am I supposed to get a high score!?”

“It doesn’t matter. Once I control my breathing, expel the filthy carbon dioxide from my blood, and manage to focus again, we can finish them off with a second shot. Support me until I’m done charging.”

One of the white uniformed girls, Yamada Coyote, took position to guard Satou Lycaon while she charged up and she aimed her exceptionally light shotgun at one person in particular.

At collapsed and unmoving Mugino.

A direct hit now would kill her instantly.

(This is super bad!!)

“Don’t worry, Kinuhata.”

Satou Lycaon, who could turn electronics into bombs, noticed before their targeting supporter did and looked up with a gasp.

“Fox! Get back!!”

It was too late.

In fact, the result would be the same even if she detonated it right away.

Takitsubo was already done.

A great roar burst out.

A container fell from the ceiling crane five or six floors up, separating unconscious Mugino from the execution squad.

It ruptured from within and a white explosion spread out.

The frost covering the floor rose up into the air all at once.

The surrounding piles of boxes all collapsed this way.

“Kinuhata!”

“Drag Mugino to safety and stop her bleeding. In the end, her wound isn’t going to freeze shut on its own!!”

“Super really!? Dammit!”

Kinuhata cursed, but she couldn’t abandon unconscious Mugino. She activated Offense Armor, reached her arms below Mugino’s arms from behind, and dragged her back.

She wasn’t quick enough.

Bright lights flashed out in several straight lines.

Inoue Fox’s Illuminate Fencer had sliced through the obstacle.

Frenda and Takitsubo’s attempt to recover hadn’t even lasted 10 seconds.

“Tch.”

Frenda clicked her tongue and took a step forward.

Her thin poncho whipped at the -40-degree air and she tossed a grenade without its pin.

“Kinuhata, continue on back. In the end, I’ll buy you the time!!”

The white uniform girls’ leader, Inoue Fox, actually smiled as she whispered a name.

“Lycaon.”

“Understood.”

The brown-skinned girl with silver ringlets kissed a phone battery and tossed it into the air.

The two explosives collided at the midpoint.

And detonated.

“Gyah!?”

The unexpectedly close explosion made Frenda scream.

She was also knocked down.

Her skin had to be freezing to the cold floor, but she didn’t move.

Kinuhata knew she couldn’t let her concern show, but she felt it clutching at her heart.

“Kh!!”

Mugino Shizuri and Frenda Seivelun.

As inhumanly strong as Kinuhata was, she couldn’t protect both unconscious girls at the same time. The two of them were located too far apart.

And…

“Excuse me.”

In the brief moment Item flinched, Inoue Fox moved right up to Takitsubo and held her Illuminate Fencer right against the girl’s throat.

They were 10m away – too far for Kinuhata to arrive in a single step even with Offense Armor. If she boosted her leg strength too far, her foot would break through the floor.

“Malicious or accidental, any involvement in a Judgment death must not be tolerated. If you were there and capable of making your own choices, you should have saved her. No matter what.”

Inoue Fox spoke quietly, but with an earnest voice that rang with fearsome purity.

“Then we would have used our lives and justice to repay your kindness.”

That was their way of life.

Their goodness.

While their job was to kill, they must have unofficially wielded their powers to save lives as well. And they had ultimately increased their strength to the point they could hunt down villains like this.

The justice leader laughed as she spoke.

“Now! Mugino Shizuri or Takitsubo Rikou!? Which one do your villain’s rules tell you to save!?”

“Kh.”

Kinuhata could move more nimbly if she let Mugino go.

If the execution squad was assuming Kinuhata couldn’t move very quickly while dragging the unconscious girl and thus assumed they were at a safe distance, she might be able to make a counterattack.

She doubted she could defeat the entire execution squad at once.

But if she could take just one of them hostage, then they could possibly negotiate from equal footing. With even one of the four missing, they wouldn’t be able to fire a second Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack.

(Don’t think about it.)

Mugino Shizuri.

Takitsubo Rikou.

Frenda Seivelun.

(Super don’t think about it!! Don’t think about the possibility of losing one of them! You have to stop the second shot no matter what!! If you don’t, all four of us will be obliterated with no chance to negotiate!!!)

She knew that.

She understood it all.

''And yet…

“…can’t.”

A soft voice spilled from her trembling lips.

She was still holding Mugino’s limp form.

And she spoke words she herself hadn’t expected.

“I can’t… I can’t betray anyone in Item.”

She owed Item for taking her in.

If they hadn’t attacked that lab for a job and messed with the cold sleep device on a whim, Kinuhata never would have experienced life on the outside.

That had led to everything she took for granted now.

She understood Item had their own selfish reasons for what they had done. They had wanted a high-level defensive esper to protect Takitsubo who couldn’t fight on her own. That was probably the only reason they had taken her in.

But that didn’t change the fact that they had saved her.

“Foolish.”

Yamada Coyote rejected the idea with a single word.

The disinterested white uniform girl spat out her words.

“You poor thing. If you aren’t going to save any of them, you could at least betray them all and escape on your own. You villains can make those decisions that we can’t.”

“One final good deed does not cancel out all the eyesores you’ve done in the past.”

“In fact, this isn’t even a good deed. Your score’s still zero. I don’t know why you’re getting all emotional about it, but protecting a criminal is called ‘harboring’ and it’s a crime.”

(Dammit.)

Kinuhata wished she could have been the hostage.

(Dammit! Dammit!! Super dammit!!!)

Then the original three Item members could have betrayed her and gotten away. She could have repaid their kindness that way, so how had it all gotten backwards!?

''“So how do you like your first taste of freedom?”

After freeing Kinuhata from that shitty lab, Mugino had asked that with a wicked smile.

Item had a calculated reason for needing her. She understood that, but they had wanted her all the same.

''“Kinuhata. In the end, are you hurt anywhere?”

After destroying the illegal casino, Frenda had spoken to her and they had laughed together.

She had felt invincible.

But she wasn’t.

When the time came, it could all be taken from her so easily.

Justice would trample over evil to a refreshing degree.

(They let me out and this is how it has to end? Is this the most freedom a villain can hope for? Are we doomed to be trampled and exploited by justice?)

“You criminals ignore the laws created to keep us all safe, so we all know you can’t keep your promises and rules. If you could do that, you wouldn’t have broken the law in the first place.” Inoue Fox scoffed. “You will die.”

Kinuhata’s vision blurred.

She didn’t understand.

She only noticed the tears running down her cheeks after she had already shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Why the hell should that matter!? I won’t betray the people I super decided are like family to me. That’s the one thing I will never do!!!”

Even with the light sword touching her throat, Takitsubo smiled a little.

She smiled for Kinuhata.

Even though, in a way, Kinuhata’s indecision was dooming her to die.

But she did it anyway.

“Illuminate Fencer – light source active. Pumping Bomb – external energy received. Perfection Hit – target locked. Swing Shield – heat and shockwave protection established. Sequence complete – final check complete.”

The light sword vanished from Takitsubo’s throat.

No, now that palm was directed toward Kinuhata.

“Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack is ready. Ah ha ha! You idiot!! You couldn’t even make a choice. That’s a crime, just like how this all began! So to protect justice, we will fire a second shot to eliminate you and Mugino Shizuri. With no one left to oppose us, we’ll crush the two leftovers easily enough!! Justice will always exterminate our enemies!! That is our job as Judgment Branch 000 – the Special Exception Cleanup Team!!!”

Light flashed.

The cleanup found after a mistaken decision had begun.

(Oh, damn. I super never managed to rewatch Momentary Blues in a theater.)

Kinuhata needlessly held her leader close while that thought rose in the back of her mind.

And in that final moment, Takitsubo’s lips moved slightly.

She spoke with a definite smile.

“''Here it comes''.”

No.

One of Item’s oldest members wasn’t smiling out of resignation.

“Ha…”

Kinuhata heard an impossible laugh.

It came from within her arms.

Along with some movement.

“I like the way you think, sister.”

Mugino Shizuri.

She still couldn’t get up, but Item’s leader did raise her hand with a belligerent smile.

The clear drops scattered from Kinuhata’s eyes.

And a moment later…

===Part 13===

Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack vs. Meltdowner.

Good and evil collided head on.

===Part 14===

The explosive boom was compressed and the flash of light twisted around.

For only a moment, Kinuhata sensed complete nothingness.

It was a strange floating sensation.

But time was still passing just the same.

She heard a dry sizzling sound.

And she wasn’t imagining it.

It was the sound of the skin burning off the surface of an outstretched palm.

The Judgment execution squad’s Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack was not responsible. Mugino’s Meltdowner was so powerful it had started to destroy her own body.

In other words, she was losing control.

“Super Mugi-”

“''Interesting''.”

In a complete contrast to Kinuhata’s pale face, battle freak Mugino had a brutal smile on her face.

She had to be feeling pain.

She had to be feeling a fear different from being blown away all at once.

But.

She didn’t care.

“You attacked my sister and made her cry. I hope you aren’t expecting a quick and painless death. You’d better be ready to experience hellllllllllllll!!!”

Mugino’s perfectly maintained nails split and peeled back.

The intensity of the light grew.

''“As Class Rep, I end up hearing a lot of people’s problems. So if you’re ever in real trouble, you can come to me. I’ll do anything to help you out!”

Mugino suddenly remembered those words.

The words of another girl she might have called her sister if only they hadn’t encountered each other in the city’s darkness.

''“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

Mugino roared more from her gut than her lungs.

She was ''sick of this.

She never again wanted to see a familiar face lose its color while the light faded from the eyes.

And she chose to believe.

She was a Level 5. She was Meltdowner.

That detective must have already discovered that Mugino held the power necessary to avoid that worst possible ending.

''“I don’t know what kind of world you’ve gotten yourself involved in! But I can tell you have something going on outside of school and I can guess that it isn’t anything as peaceful as working part-time at a convenience store after school.”

A sharp explosion erupted.

From directly behind Kinuhata.

Light and electrons. They both entered an intensely excited state that grew uncontrollably. As if avoiding a great pressure, the Asteroid Destruction Strategic Defense Laser Attack veered off in the wrong direction, blasting through a pyramid of containers and out through Reserve Meal’s outer wall.

Meanwhile, the massive beam was pushed straight ahead.

Takitsubo twisted around and got down on the frozen floor. Removing the Illuminate Fencer blade from the track suit girl’s throat had been a definite mistake. Inoue Fox could have at least prepared to fire after slitting her throat. Or maybe that was a villain’s idea that wouldn’t occur to justice.

The beam shot out and scorched the air.

The one attack didn’t obliterate Inoue Fox’s upper body, but probably only because Mugino had intentionally diverted it away.

Still, the intense heat caused the air to expand and the shockwave slammed into the white uniform girl.

She was sent spinning through the air.

This was Meltdowner.

This was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s.

Satou Lycaon reached out her arms to try and catch Inoue Fox before she hit the frozen floor, so she was knocked down along with her. Tanaka Jackal was struck by the splinters of a broken box, knocking her out. Yamada Coyote looked between her collapsed teammates and the exit before crumbling to the floor with the simple shotgun still in her grasp.

At some point, Frenda had gotten back on her feet.

She was badly beaten up, but she could still stand.

She had struck the girl on the back of the head with the bottom of a detonator that had to be heavier than a phone.

“Heh. In the end, give me a chance to participate.”

Takitsubo got up from the frozen floor.

Frenda grinned and joined Takitsubo as they approached Kinuhata.

Kinuhata wondered what look she had on her face.

She didn’t bother searching for a mirror.

Mugino, who was still in her small arms, was refusing to look her in the eye for some reason.

Then the leader girl turned around and raised her palm.

“…”

It was the science cult that had killed the Judgment girl.

(You’re…)

It was Item and the Frees that had killed the Sadistic Dolls.

(…dead…)

And it was Item that had exterminated the Frees.

(…mea-)

And.

It was also Item that had killed Detective Shiratori Okibi who had discovered the truth of the case and revealed the presence of the execution squad.

“Tch.”

Mugino clicked her tongue and the light slowly vanished from her palm.

''“Malicious or accidental, any involvement in a Judgment death must not be tolerated. If you were there and capable of making your own choices, you should have saved her. No matter what.”

She recalled Inoue Fox’s words.

Like with so many other cases, it came down to this.

''“Then we would have used our lives and justice to repay your kindness.”

Had she made this choice because Kinuhata had gently grabbed her wrist just before she fired?

Or was it her memory of the Class Rep?

The leader girl irritably spat out her words.

“Then we’ve got no reason to kill you. We’ve got nothing to do with you and your pain-in-the-ass justice.”

===Between the Lines 3===

No one knew that Judgment Branch 000 existed and the existence of the Special Exception Cleanup Team was thoroughly hidden.

''But thanks to that'' they were only considered ordinary Judgment members in the official records.

Word of their defeat was quickly spread over Judgment radios.

Yamagami Erina and the two Judgment upperclassmen were forced up in the middle of the night.

That meant there was a culprit behind this.

“Let’s go, Erina-chan and Aomi!!”

“Wait,” someone said.

But instead of the usual timid Yamagami Erina, this came from Yanagisako Aomi who was always running around on the front line.

Facts and scenes no ordinary student would know bounced around in the back of her mind.

That was enough for her.

Her friend had been ruthlessly killed by a science cult and her ''upstanding colleagues'' who had been sent out in the middle of the night for an emergency assignment had been mercilessly defeated. The culprit was entirely unknown.

Was this reality?

What had happened to this city’s justice?

“Has Judgment always been such an unrewarding job?” asked Yanagisako Aomi, trembling and pale-faced. And wholly ignorant of the truth. “Mii. I can’t keep doing this. I’m done with this job.”

<noinclude>
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter2

2025-03-03T19:10:03Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 10 */

==Chapter 2: The Fourth Estate==

===Part 1===

“It’ll be alright. We took care of the Sadistic Dolls.”

“You say that. But you didn’t. Leave any signs. Pointing back to us. Did you?”

“I promise you I didn’t.”

The boy smiled bitterly while listening to the cheerful artificial voice coming from his phone. It sounded a lot like a female voice actor.

Their discussion was as suspicious as could be, but they weren’t stupid enough to just use the ordinary call feature. They were instead using an avatar clerk app. That was an industrial service that allowed boutiques or cosmetics shops to display a 3D clerk on a tall LCD screen and answer customers’ questions, but it wasn’t well known that anyone could use the service with their phone or tablet as long as they went through the correct process. By using throwaway accounts, it was easy enough for both sides to feign ignorance if the contents of the communications were ever discovered.

A service that let both sides communicate without revealing their real faces or voices was extremely useful.

For ''members of the press'', seeking out a variety of ways to contact people was a part of the job. It let them create an environment where whistleblowers felt comfortable sharing their information and it gave them the means to contact various publishers themselves.

The boy was in District 4.

The district was already unique for its focus on food, but he was in the even more unusual Chinatown.

To help them blend into the scenery, even the three-bladed wind turbines were painted red here.

There were colorful flowers planted in dark soil around him, but the location couldn’t quite be called a small park. He sat inside a roofed gazebo where anyone was free to get some rest. It was chilly there since it was still early in the morning, but sensors would automatically detect the heat during the day and activate the spot cooler on the ceiling.

It was a public facility meant for people to enjoy the flowers, sip on some Chinese tea, and maybe play some go to enjoy a relaxing break. But no one would be using it before the trains even began running for the day.

It was early in the morning of August 30.

Specifically, it was 4:30 AM.

A middle school boy named Kagiyama Sasuke was using the avatar clerk app to communicate with someone while crouched down and performing some kind of work.

He was digging a hole in the dirt.

He held a smooth white blade in his other hand. The blade was more than 30cm long. The nonmetal knife appeared to be ceramic, but it was not.

“Using an esper power. To kill can be tracked back to you. After a search of the Bank. But adding in a weapon. Creates physical evidence.”

“We thought of that, of course. Ah ha ha. There won’t be any evidence left.”

The term “biodegradable plastic” might sound like some kind of cutting-edge technology, but it could even be created from cream.

And as long as you had the material, you could make just about anything out of it.

For example, you could create a large knife with a 3D printer and then hone it with a whetstone. If you killed someone with it, the knife would be the greatest piece of evidence, but if you simply buried it far away from the crime scene in District 9, it would degrade underground as various microbes consumed it.

“We’re on the side of justice, so we aren’t supposed to be resorting to these exceptional measures,” said Kagiyama. “Our specialty is civilly killing people with photos, after all.”

“Civilly?”

“What, do you have a problem with that?”

They called themselves the Frees.

A ''free''lance writer, a ''free''lance photographer, and a ''free''lance drone operator.

The three of them worked together as a no-pressure press group.

They undoubtedly worked on the side of justice.

Ideally, they could capture a decisive enough photograph to eliminate the evils of society. But as proud journalists, they wouldn’t push too hard or pursue their enemy too far. However, in the face of an evil powerful enough to cover up the decisive photograph they presented, “exceptional measures” were necessary.

That meant directly killing that evil themselves to end it.

The photos allowed their target to turn over a new leaf after losing everything. Killing truly took their life. The Frees paid careful attention to that distinction when choosing their target’s fate.

Kagiyama patted the dark soil down and wiped his hands off with a wet tissue. He noticed a bit of soil under his nails, but he figured that wouldn’t be enough to keep him from handling his camera equipment.

Now the evidence was gone.

As time passed, the knife itself would be completely eliminated by soil bacteria, so he could ignore any and all risks, including any fingerprints that may have been left on the knife.

“In that case. You need to continue. Working on the main job.”

“We’ll keep working on the case you were interested in. And I mean supplying information, not killing.”

Kagiyama logged out of the avatar clerk app and stomped down the black soil with the sole of his shoe.

The buried knife would disappear on its own.

And now…

“If we do everything that noble bunch wants us to do, we’ll be out here the rest of the summer. So what’s Item up to?”

“I’m monitoring them.”

He was answered by a girl in a gaudy suit.

Her name was Saetani Melusine.

The blonde high school girl was part French. She held a 30cm plastic tube, but it was not the kind of skinny water bottle that capable businesswomen in tight skirts used to carry around coffee.

It was another tool of their trade: a highly-directional shotgun microphone.

“In the end, the Sadistic Dolls’ guitarist was killed by someone else on their justice side, right? And not even the voice on the phone knows who on the justice side it was?”

The device was meant to get high-quality recordings of bird cries from a distance because wild birds were so cautious. By placing the shotgun microphone on the wooden table and pointing it in the right direction, it could accurately pick up on the voices through the thick tempered glass of the convenience store more than 30m away.

For whatever reason, Item appeared to have no set hideout and instead frequently move between different businesses with 24-hour service. They were behaving like summer break runaways and they were currently occupying a convenience store eat-in section.

The one seated in a stool by the window and resting her cheek against the long counter in obvious boredom was Frenda. She was staring lazily over at her phone which was resting on its side so she could watch something on it. She really did look like a harmless girl who didn’t want summer break to end so she ran away from her strict dorm to spend her time anywhere that had free internet service.

But what she said was far from harmless.

“Do you really think someone could outdo that voice on the phone on the intelligence front? In he end, I feel like she’s manipulating us.”

“''Wrong,'' muttered Saetani with a chuckle.

Kagiyama Sasuke and Saetani Melusine went to different schools, but they were both in their school’s newspaper club.

As was the third member of their group.

“Our funds are drying up.”

“What about our usual uploaders? Fumiaki is getting pretty dull, so what if we send them a few of our stocked photos?”

Newspaper clubs were mostly a thing of the past.

In an age where people could see anything they wanted on their phones, who would bother stopping in the hallway to read a school newspaper on the wall? And even if they tried to force a shift to a digital edition online, there wasn’t much they could do. The new rules meant to prevent students from starting secret school message boards tended to hinder the school reporters too.

But that made the clubs the perfect camouflage.

By creating a secret network of school newspaper clubs, they could use each school’s infrastructure to pursue the scandals of corporate executives and celebrities and deliver the finishing blow by anonymously sending the photos to the editorial department of a weekly photo magazine.

“Any news on recruiting ''Tokiwadai’s newspaper club''?”

“No, but they wouldn’t wait this long to respond if they weren’t seriously considering it. They definitely have some latent rebelliousness at their school. It sounds like things are chaotic there, so who knows if they’ll eventually join with us or not.”

The pursuit of the truth was everything for journalists.

Which meant they couldn’t just report on criminals. They had to dig up everything they could find on the victims as well.

Kagiyama started up the recording app he used to take memos and played a recording of an elderly man’s voice.

That man was the father of the scrapyard worker who was thought to have been caught in the mass murder perpetrated by the Sadistic Dolls.

“Please go away. I don’t know who you are, but we just want to be left alone. I beg you not to use our son’s death as an excuse to justify your own crimes!!”

With the recording app still open, Kagiyama gently shut his eyes.

And reflected on what he heard.

“''It hurts us as much as it hurts you.''”

“Yes. But if we tell them that, we would be making those parents into our accomplices.”

“''That is how the victim’s relatives tell us to do it without openly saying it. True justice knows how to pick up on those hints and act on them.''”

The Frees believed in acting on the victims’ behalf.

They would do anything if it would avenge the people who couldn’t take direct vengeance themselves.

They weren’t looking for thanks. In cases of apparent revenge, the relatives were always the top suspects, so it was best if those relatives said nothing at all. ''It was enough to know they appreciated it deep down where no one could see it.

The Sadistic Dolls task had been completed without incident.

It was time to face the next tragedy.

Saetani adjusted the position of her shotgun microphone.

Her power was Electro Reading.

With it, she could accurately detect the sound of static electricity crackling on the surface of people’s bodies, allowing her to predict the movement of their muscles and joints. While it would allow her to predict someone’s next action with perfect accuracy and set up a cross-counter, the sound of the static electricity was so faint she couldn’t hear it without her ear pressed up against her enemy’s chest. That made her power impractical without a shotgun microphone to support it.

(Of course, ''my power'' isn’t much better in that regard.)

“There’s definitely ''something'' going on with the rumored #1, Accelerator, but reaching him right away would be difficult.”

“Right.”

“So we need to prove ourselves first. Once we’ve proven we can freely kill a Level 5 with the power of mass media, the adults should be more willing to cooperate with us. Fortunately, the #1 has earned himself a lot of enemies. We can deal with him later.”

Kagiyama peered through the viewfinder of his SLR camera. It was equipped with a telephoto lens so large it looked like it could snap a photo of the footprints on the lunar surface.

“First, we need the upper hand when it comes to information. Specifically, we need to know exactly how much information Item has on us.”

“Then what?”

“If they do have our information already, there’s no point in hiding. We’ll just be assassinated when we least suspect it like a certain someone was.”

“And if they don’t have anything on us, we peacefully go into hiding?”

“Right.”

“Don’t make me laugh. We both know you’ll be spreading their photos and voice recordings online as efficiently as you can. They have no future either way.”

Just then, Kagiyama heard a dull thud and felt a vibration.

(What was that?)

He looked away from Saetani seated next to him and then froze.

“Ugh, that convenience store’s air conditioning is too strong. I can’t get any sleep there. I’ll freeze solid if I don’t get some fresh air first.”

It was Mugino Shizuri.

That extremely dangerous girl was approaching another bench in the gazebo, putting her only a meter away.

===Part 2===

Mugino was in a bad mood as she plopped herself down on the gazebo bench.

Her phone was the source of that bad mood.

She had a call from the Mugino family outside Academy City.

“Such a wretched state of affairs… How could the daughter of the glorious Mugino family find herself homeless and spending her nights in junk food establishments?”

“Shut up, Mujinayama. What happened to paying me respect?” grumbled Mugino.

While Butler Mujinayama spoke quite gently, she knew better than to take what he said at face value.

He ordinarily did not ''directly'' call Mugino’s phone. He must have made this decision after using various indirect methods to finally sense that something was wrong.

There was pity in his voice.

That was not an emotion that a butler should have been directing toward his master.

This was an emergency for a high-class girl.

“If necessary, we can send supplies to support you. We could even send an RV or a large truck along with a kit for building a simple house with 2x4 construction. Academy City keeps itself locked up tight, but there are delivery services using the official routes.”

“You must be kidding. If I accepted a handout from the family, I’d be their laughing stock until the end of time.”

“I am intensely relieved to hear you say that. Even if you must live a miserable life without a roof over your head, I see you have not forgotten that you are a proud member of the Mugino family.”

“Mujinayama.”

She was ready to give him a serious talking to, but discovered he had hung up on her.

He might be the lead butler, but he was only a servant and she was the heiress.

“Damn bastard.”

She just about crushed her phone in her grip but stopped herself at the last second. Mujinayama had been getting around the restrictions on his speech to encourage her. And he had succinctly told her what things were like in the Mugino family at present.

A house was more than just a place to sleep.

For the upper classes, it was as much of a status symbol as a wristwatch or handbag.

(He’s too damn nice. Ugh, we need to find a new hideout sooner rather than later.)

===Part 3===

Yes, Item had four members.

While the Frees were focused on one of them, they could lose sight of another.

The two guilty journalists were left trembling with a brutal criminal seated across the gazebo table from them.

“(Wh-wh-wh-wh-what is Mugino Shizuri doing here all of a sudden? I thought all four of them were in that convenience store!)”

“(Don’t ask me! I was only in charge of listening. You’re the photographer, so it’s your fault for getting so focused on your phone! I just thought some of the four were more talkative than others!)”

They weren’t speaking out loud, of course.

That wasn’t an option with Mugino only a meter away. Seated side by side, Kagiyama and Melusine pressed an index finger against each other’s back and secretly communicated by tapping out Morse code.

They had chosen this spot because it wasn’t covered by the security cameras and the slightly cracked walkway kept the drum-shaped cleaning and security robots away, but now they wanted all of those things here. Now that villain had no reason to leave.

“Yawwwn…”

Only a meter away, Mugino put away her phone and calmly yawned.

They felt like they were in a strange zoo with no cages or fences and a lion was lying in front of them and opening its great maw in boredom. But at least Mugino didn’t seem cautious.

Did she not know?

It didn’t seem like she had purposefully snuck up on them. She must have left the convenience store without them noticing and then just so happened to spot the gazebo and decided to sit down there.

They were fine.

Everything was alright.

There was nothing directly linking the killing of the Sadistic Dolls with the Frees. The murder weapon was a biodegradable plastic knife which was already degrading underground. Without any damning evidence, Mugino would have no reason to suspect them.

She was dangerous.

But reading people like this didn’t seem like her forte.

She seemed a lot more like a meathead who solved everything in battle!!

It was worrying that she seemed like the type to just kill everyone she thought was remotely suspicious, but not even a dark side team would be allowed to indiscriminately harm ordinary people.

So they were safe. Unless she could somehow prove it.

This was working out in their favor.

Kagiyama searched for every little thing that would make him feel better, but then…

“You came out here, Mugino?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

Another one showed up.

(Takitsubo...Rikou.)

She didn’t directly participate in Item’s battles, but she supposedly provided mental and targeting support.

Which meant her specialty was data analysis.

===Part 4===

“The days of major vs. indies are over! Now it’s all about general artists who bring music and video sites together! The big name there has got to be the Sadistic Dolls. Their new song The Color of the Whip is just so good and they’re having a streaming event on the last day of summer break!! I can’t wait☆ Oh, I know! How about you watch it with me?”

“Eh?”

Mugino couldn’t exactly tell Class Rep Shiratori-chan that the band was already dead.

Not when the girl was speaking so excitedly and peacefully over the phone.

“With phone culture cutting into their business, internet cafes have started renting out home theaters, so it shouldn’t be too expensive to get ourselves a great live viewing environment. Don’t you want to join me in enjoying the Sadistic Dolls’ streaming event on a big screen?”

“Oh, uh, your breaking up. Hello? I can’t hear you? Damn, I’m losing my signal. (click)”

Hanging up like that was pretty rude, but it was exceptional for ''the'' Mugino to feel the need to put on such an obvious act when doing so. Even that deadly beast tried to put on appearances for her public life.

“Mugino.”

Takitsubo waited until the free talk app was closed to speak up.

She was well-behaved for the dark side.

“Are you out here because the convenience store was too cold? Keeping the air conditioning on that strong can’t be ecological.”

“Yeah, and Frenda and Kinuhata have so little fat on them it makes no sense that they’re the ones who can take it.”

“Don’t say that. They can’t help it. And I don’t think chest size has much to do with how well you handle the cold.”

“You’ll make those dumbasses cry tears of blood saying things like that.”

As they chatted, the track suit girl sat down next to Mugino.

Now it was 2 vs. 2.

And the other side was Item, a group that specialized in direct combat.

This had been a safe zone just 5 minutes ago, but now it was a gazebo from hell itself.

Sweat poured down Kagiyama Sasuke’s body.

“(What do we do? Hey, what do we do!? Hey!?)”

He tapped away on the blonde girl’s back to communicate, but then he felt a very dangerous sensation. He must have tapped too hard and unhooked her bra. Yet Saetani didn’t react in the slightest.

Her thoughts must have briefly left her body and begun floating in the ether.

While Mugino pulled her phone back out of her pocket and irritably did something with it, Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“Mugino, on the dark side, we’re supposed to retaliate when someone makes a fool of us, right?”

“Butting in on our territory is like declaring war. I don’t know what piece of shit stole our job, but I will make them pay. ...Oh, right. Gather up all the cleanup delinquents! As many as we can get! It’ll take a lot of people to collect all the scattered fragments and clean everything up!!”

Mugino kicked the table with her phone in hand, making the media pair shrink down even more than before.

They began a sweaty strategy meeting only a meter away.

“(Wait, hold on. We can call Anti-Skill over what they’ve said here, right?)”

“(No, she hasn’t said exactly ''what'' they’re cleaning up. She’s just barely talking around it.)”

But Kagiyama wanted help regardless.

Was there no way of reporting this to Anti-Skill or Judgment so they could handle everything instead?

He operated his phone under the table in what felt like a prayer, but it had no signal. No signal? In Academy City, a city of cutting-edge science in the middle of Tokyo?

“Shut up! I said all of them!! Have the outside workers on standby too. Yeah, all of them!! Including that expert called Hanatsuyu Kuchikusa or whatever!!”

Yet Mugino was somehow yelling into her phone just fine.

Her own signal was getting through. Unnaturally so.

Was she jamming the ordinary phone signals!?

“Phew. Calling people is always such a pain.”

“I feel bad for the delinquents when you yell at them like that.”

“Yeah, and we were the ones who screwed up this time. Maybe I should buy them something to eat later. ...I need to direct this anger at the pieces of shit who stole our job.”

“Mugino.”

At this rate, all four members of Item could end up in this gazebo. The Frees were experts at gathering information, but they couldn’t launch a direct attack using a microphone. Especially with someone so terrifying. They preferred to make waves without revealing their own identities.

That meant they needed to leave this gazebo of death and go elsewhere. If they managed that, there was no way-

“Hey, you.”

“!”

Kagiyama’s shoulders jumped.

He was an expert journalist who made sure to always get the devastating photo, so having his target within arm’s reach was never ideal. He sensed trouble – big trouble.

“We’ll pay, so help us out. You do media work, right? And I can tell you’re not some major newspaper employees who get to take part in some fancy press club.”

She’d noticed.

And her instincts were serving her pretty well here!?

“Let me guess – freelancers who use that freedom to take a step into the dark side where you package up people’s misfortune to sell unconfirmed stories to sports papers and weekly photo magazines? Or maybe unethical journalists who prefer making money by threatening company executives and celebrities with photos of the skeletons in their closet?”

“…”

Kagiyama Sasuke and Saetani Melusine couldn’t come up with a response.

Track suit girl Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“How can you tell, Mugino?”

“The expensive shotgun mic I could see a video streaming freak carrying around, but you don’t see many amateurs using one of those along with an SLR camera that can only take still photographs. And I doubt they’re birdwatching in this restaurant district with nothing but crows to see.” Mugino looked bored. “I don’t know their exact ages, but even freelance students who’ve signed an exclusive contract with a major newspaper will use equipment lent to them by the paper. And kids especially will rely on borrowed equipment if they can. And those would have waterproof labels with an asset management number on them. A camera lens alone normally costs a fair bit of cash.”

“You mean like the women in suits on the train whose phones and laptops have a weird number on the back?”

“More or less.”

Takitsubo blinked twice.

And then took a look around.

“Is there a celebrity around here? Maybe on a secret date in Chinatown?”

“Frenda seems to know everyone, so maybe she’d know.”

Mugino and Takitsubo discussed it casually before both turning to face the other two.

Sweat poured down Kagiyama’s back, but he did his best to keep it off his face.

He remembered the time he was trying to get a photo of a celebrity’s affair during the middle of the night, but the celebrity discovered him and tried to run him down with a giant four-wheel-drive vehicle. He was reminded of the headlights and overly thick bumpers rushing toward him like death itself.

But this was worse.

He wasn’t going to escape Mugino Shizuri by running into a park with bollards guarding the entrance.

“Ha ha… Um, our photos are more important than our lives, so we can’t comment until they’ve actually been published. We just finished a job and were performing maintenance on our equipment.”

(Damn. We could take them out right now if we could only contact ''Amekawa''!!)

Kagiyama smiled while thinking of their third member and just about clicked his tongue.

Amekawa Souji had played the most important role when it came to finishing off the final member of the Sadistic Dolls. His power was Remote Murder and it was perfect for settling conflicts.

But right now, Kagiyama was too scared to even pull out his phone. If he so much as glanced at the small screen, those two might get suspicious. And that could have devastating consequences.

“Does Frenda know anyone on TV?” asked the track suit girl, her gaze wandering through empty space.

“She muttered something about having no need for a has-been movie star when she was cleaning out her phone. Y’know, when she starts unfriending people on social media like crazy.”

“We probably shouldn’t let Kinuhata know about that. They might get into a fight.”

Saetani’s Electro Reading alone didn’t seem like enough to overpower the combo of Meltdowner and AIM Stalker.

Kagiyama’s power wasn’t any better.

Bind Scoop.

It was a mental power based on “the fear of being found out”. When he took a photo of someone, they were hit with an invisible psychological pressure that let him remotely control them as he wished. However, not just any photo would do. He wasn’t so talented that a single surveillance drone would let him conquer a country in record time.

The photo had to meet a few different conditions.

1. The target must be unaware they were being photographed.

2. The target had to be looking right at him.

3. The target had to be caught in the act of some personal scandal which they believed would be devastating if it got out.

So it was nearly impossible for him to control Mugino or Takitsubo now that they were right here with him. Aiming his enormous SLR camera at them from this close without them noticing but also with them looking at him was asking too much. Plus, he would have to be catching them in some kind of devastating personal scandal.

Saetani and Kagiyama (forcefully) poked at each other’s back with their index fingers.

“(This is why I keep telling you to carry around a pen camera just in case!)”

“(Those take a video after you press the button, so they don’t work with my power!)”

And so.

There was no doubting it.

If they thoughtlessly fled from the gazebo or shouted and attacked those two, they would simply be Meltdownered by a yawning Mugino.

(But it’s not over yet. I can still bind and control Frenda Seivelun and Kinuhata Saiai in the convenience store. Then Item can tear themselves apart!)

Takitsubo expressionlessly but curiously viewed the camera sitting on the table.

“Wow. You still use a big SLR even though phone cameras have gotten so good?”

“Since everyone uses the same phones, that’s become the new average, so you have to work hard to stand out from the crowd. That means you need specialized equipment for any professional work.”

Mugino gave the camera bag, big battery, and directional shotgun microphone on the table an exasperated look.

“Even if it’s the end of August, it’s still summer. Why bother sitting around waiting for the perfect moment with that huge camera and shotgun mic? You can fake all the photos and voice clips you want nowadays.”

“Yes, it’s true computers can even create fake articles and photographs.”

Kagiyama smiled a little and shook his finger.

He noticed some dark filth under his nail, which depressed him a little.

“Most deductions and opinions can always be buried along with the truth when a terrified politician scatters fake articles around and points to them as proof they’re being targeted by a smear campaign.”

“Yeah, I have heard the authenticity of real videos can be called into question by injecting them with codes and artifacts associated with generative AI.”

“Right. We’re approaching a world where credibility is nothing but a popularity contest.”

That might make it sound like reporters and photographers would no longer be necessary.

That may have been a dying occupation.

But…

“''That'' only makes a real photo all the more powerful.”

“Oh, really?”

“The real deal acquired the old fashioned way carries the unique power to break through all the fakes. The more over-the-top tricks powerful people with skeletons in their closet try, the more powerful a cross counter formed from the truth. That’s what we believe.”

Still seated on the bench, Mugino threw her upper body onto the table, squashing her large chest below herself. She used her own arms as a cushion and grinned.

“Interesting.”

Uh, oh. Making himself sound valuable only made it harder to escape.

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed high school girl gave up on Morse code and just plain pinched his back. And too strongly for him to consider it a reward.

Then she again spoke with him by firmly rubbing her index finger against his back.

“(You use your power to help them out. In the meantime, I’m going to feign illness and go home!!)”

“(Are you stupid? If you leave like that, you’ll make those monsters suspicious and then it’s all over! You know my power is no good in direct confrontations!!)”

“Anyway, Takitsubo, I say we get their help if they can be useful.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It doesn’t matter what photos they get as long as it isn’t being livestreamed or sent to the cloud. We’re safe as long as we check their devices and destroy them if we find they’ve recorded anything we don’t like.”

Bull’s eye.

That would explain the powerful jamming. Which meant it was already far too late!

“Besides, unethical journalists who aren’t sure whether they’ll deal with a magazine or the actual celebrity they photographed are part of the dark side. They’re the same as us.”

“But, Mugino, they’re part of the media, which means you could also say they’re on the side of justice. Doesn’t that scare you?”

“Rumors fade.” Mugino whispered to Takitsubo who was expressionlessly tugging on her coat. “But when a scandal that was all over mass media and personal blogs suddenly vanishes one day, it isn’t because people stopped caring. It’s because someone drew a line and said no one was to cross it.

“And I’m not talking about a press club,” added Mugino with a grin. “The big companies aren’t going to protect them, so the smaller media people can always sniff out when to back off. The ones who can’t are weeded out. By which I mean, they mysteriously drive their car into a dam or somehow wind up inside a giant jet engine at the airport.”

“Does that mean what I think it does, Mugino?”

“You two are supposed to get your photos in secret, but now we know what you look like. I know you know what kind of retaliation you’ll suffer if we were to let that information slip.''”

“Ha ha ha ha ha...ha…”

Saetani laughed stiffly.

Kagiyama had known her for a long time, but he couldn’t tell if she was acting or not.

It didn’t matter how much Mugino threatened them. They could launch a surprise attack as long as they got away from this gazebo safely.

“So how much are you planning to pay them? Use too much money and Frenda will be upset again,” said Takitsubo, exasperated.

“That’s not an issue. We have money – we just don’t have anywhere to spend it,” replied Mugino, sticking her tongue out a bit.

Then Mugino whispered into the phone she had left on the table.

“Hey, voice on the phone.”

“Don’t expect me to answer at all times of day. It’s always like this with you. We! Have! Our! Roles! Here! I am the one who sends you jobs and controls everything from above. Or did you forget?”

Mugino looked annoyed as she spoke into her phone.

“Did you get the security camera footage from that building?”

The Frees had of course planned for that much.

And it would seem unnatural if they didn’t say anything for too long.

They didn’t want to give the impression they were cautiously listening in, so the two of them exchanged a glance and Saetani spoke first.

“Could you start by explaining what kind of case you’re investigating?”

They started off carefully.

Intentional or not, Mugino and Takitsubo hadn’t mentioned any specifics about the case.

If Kagiyama or Saetani carelessly mentioned the Moe Bells, a knife, or a murder, they were dead for sure.

“There are different kinds of crimes. If security cameras were all anyone ever needed, the media would be out of a job.”

“That’s true. You can’t track the criminal from camera to camera to locate their home if they’re cognizant of the cameras’ positions, hide their face, and frequently change coats while hidden behind pillars,” added Kagiyama.

That set up a continuing conversation.

They were putting on a bit of an act, but they could safely mix in some ''accurate but safely revealed information''. In fact, that would seem more natural.

However…

“It’s a murder. ...Anyway, a big entertainment commerce building like that will have more than just the obvious cameras on the ceiling, right? To catch streamers making prank videos. ''Like 2mm cameras hidden in the gaps in the wall''.”

“!”

(''We didn’t know about those cameras''!?)

===Part 5===

“Mugino, your clothes are all sweaty.”

“Damn this demanding body. And after the convenience store was too cold.”

“Hee hee hee. Your bra strap is showing through. This is why you shouldn’t wear a single layer of white in the summer.”

Kagiyama Sasuke was too panicked to focus on that.

He nearly gasped out loud. What was that about 2mm cameras in the walls!? Saetani Melusine kept trying to catch his eye. She was clearly confused and seeking instruction.

The woman’s voice coming from the phone was loud enough to reach the two of them as well.

“No luck there. It was in the Moe Bells, remember? All the life-size cardboard characters and giant balloons block the security cameras a lot. The elevator hall in question had this huge model airplane hanging from the ceiling by wires, so we can’t see a thing. Keeping those cameras a secret from the ordinary workers backfired because they end up covering them up accidentally. It’s always like this, I swear.”

(D-don’t scare me like that.)

“What about fingerprints?”

“Mugino, the victim was stabbed 19 times, but no one saw a bloody figure flee from the scene. They must have been prepared, so I doubt they would have been careless enough to leave any prints.”

Takitsubo answered before the voice on the phone could.

She was acting like a pet cat trying to take its owner’s attention away from the video they were watching.

And she was right, of course.

Fingerprints were the most basic thing to think of. Kagiyama and Saetani were both relieved, but…

“Hey, voice on the phone, then did they leave any hairs on the floor? Or footprints? If we check the shoe print, we can figure out the manufacturer and size. Tracking down the store where the shoes were bought could help narrow down who did it.”

…Had they been that thorough?

Anxiety slowly grew within the Frees.

Kagiyama knew it was dangerous, but he asked a probing question despite Melusine pinching his back.

He tried to be careful.

“Um, but, even if there were hairs on the floor of this...did you say it was an elevator hall? Anyway, that wouldn’t be enough to identify the killer. A lot of people would pass through there in a day and the air conditioning could have blown the hairs in from somewhere else.”

“If we end up with a list of 100 or even 1000, we can just investigate them all. Of course, it’d be our support team that did it.”

“Mugino, it wouldn’t be that many. The cleaning robots would pass through periodically, so we wouldn’t find anything from more than an hour before the killing.”

Kagiyama nodded with a smile.

“A-and how many people would that mean?”

‘Who knows. It’s not like we’ve taken exact statistics or anything, but if we assume not too many balding people were using the elevator, I’d guess ten at the most.”

“Ha ha. Oh, that’s good. Sounds like you can narrow it down a lot…”

The shotgun microphone on the table was still switched on. Saetani’s wireless earphone was still playing the distant conversation within the convenience store.

“Super by the way, what are we going to do about the support team’s equipment?”

“For now, put in an online order with this Armory person who 3D prints weapons. We’re in no position to make them ourselves right now.”

“Are guns made with craft plastic actually reliable? Are they sturdy enough?”

“Oh? So in the end, you’re worried about those delinquents now? You’ve grown. Then only order blades and blunt weapons from the Armory and order the more explosive toys from Wartime Arsenal.”

Frenda Seivelun was smiling with her laptop open in the convenience store’s eat-in section.

Kinuhata’s glum look changed to one of confusion.

“Why don’t you super order them?”

“Because I have a higher priority job to take care of.”

“?”

“In the end, it’s about you.” Frenda pointed straight at Kinuhata. “School starts after August, right? But in the end, you were trapped in a secret lab for so long you don’t have an academic history.”

“Now that you super mention it.”

“Your record will stand out as is, which could hinder your work on the dark side. It would be safer to rewrite some documents to make it ''look like'' you attend some school or another.”

“Even Mugino can’t super avoid stuff with her school, right?”

And so Frenda was writing a job order for some other sketchy worker.

“Kinuhata, I’ll have them make an ID for you, but in the end, is there a specific elementary school you want to go to?”

“I don’t care about the specifics, just super make it a middle school!!”

While those two were shouting in the convenience store, the voice on the phone was speaking calmly.

“Nineteen stab wounds makes for a fairly vigorous killing, but the culprit didn’t leave any sweat or saliva splattered on the floor. We can’t expect any hair either. If they were wearing a thin, foldable raincoat or windbreaker to keep the blood off, they would have had the hood over their head.”

No.

''That wasn’t true at all'', but Kagiyama had no reason to correct them.

Just knowing they hadn’t collected any hair from the floor was good enough.

“I wouldn’t expect any footprints either. Since this was right in front of an elevator, even with the cleaning robots, there would be far more footprints than fallen hairs.”

“And,” softly interjected Saetani. She knew the risks, but it was worth directing this conversation away from the truth. “Even if you did find some, shoe prints aren’t as decisive as fingerprints or DNA. You might not be able to track down the individual who bought the shoes if they were some cheap, mass-produced kind.”

“True,” said Kagiyama, trying to look helpful.

He had to resist striking a triumphant pose, but Item didn’t seem all that shocked.

They had only been reviewing the basics.

Mugino and Takitsubo looked like they were only now getting to the main thrust of the conversation.

Mugino glanced down at her phone.

Everything focused in on a single point.

“So ''the key is the murder weapon''.”

“Exactly,” said the voice on the phone. “Find that and everything standing in our way falls apart. It’s always like that. And once we know their identity, we can ''pursue them'' as much as we like. Since we do have the corpse, we can investigate the wounds and the knife to quickly determine if it was the one used.”

Quickly.

Determine.

“B-but wouldn’t the killer have been wearing gloves?” asked Kagiyama with a smile.

“''So what if they were''?” coldly replied the voice on the phone. She spoke more firmly than expected, preventing his interruption from guiding the conversation. “Gloves would only prevent us from getting fingerprints or a palm print. We could still tell where their hand touched it. ...Also, Mugino, if you’re going to recruit on-site help, you need to support them yourself. It’s always like this with you.”

Her tone was light, but that was a fairly stern warning.

“I’m only in charge of Item itself. Just like with the delinquents in your support team, it’s not my job to protect their information.”

“As if some evil-hearted member of the privileged class is going to protect anyone at all.”

A dangerous tension filled the air, but that wasn’t enough to make a Level 5 flinch.

Mugino rested her head in a hand, looking only half-convinced.

“Gloves, huh?”

“There were some pieces of leather less than a millimeter thick on the floor, so they probably wore cheap leather gloves,” said the voice on the phone. “And it was apparently the real stuff, not synthetic. With that kind, the surface cracks in no time at all. Now, since they were cheap, there are probably tons just like them around, so tracking down the killer through purchase records probably isn’t possible.”

“So we can’t get direct fingerprints and we can’t track the purchase of the gloves. Does that mean we’re looking for DNA? Like getting genetic information from sweat that soaked through the glove and onto the knife’s grip?”

Takitsubo used the corner of a neatly folded handkerchief to dab beads of sweat from Mugino’s cheek, leading to those two fighting over the handkerchief.

“Is that really possible?”

Kagiyama was trying to put on an act to draw out information, but this question was mostly a completely honest one.

He couldn’t be certain one way or the other.

Not when Academy City tech advanced far too quickly. Especially on the dark side.

Yesterday’s safe zone might not be so safe tomorrow.

“Probably not,” said the voice on the phone. “Extracting DNA from no more than sweat isn’t happening. What we would actually want are skin cells from more than a millimeter deep. Those would come comes off with the sweat, but the glove in the way would act like a filter to block it. Plus, leather repels water.”

“…”

This relief was like violence.

Melusine’s tear ducts nearly loosened. Even though she knew crying would give away the game.

But…

“Camera check, camera check.”

It wasn’t Mugino who jumped in surprise – it was Saetani.

She could see him, but she had ignored him. She must not have expected him to use it on her.

The target had to be looking at him without noticing what he was doing and the camera had to catch them in a compromising situation. If those conditions were met, the target’s body would be physically bound. Including on the level of pulse rate and perspiration.

That was Kagiyama Sasuke’s Bind Scoop.

For Saetani, tapping out Morse code on her companion’s back to communicate without Mugino and Takitsubo noticing counted as a compromising situation. Which meant Kagiyama was in position to threaten her.

“(Hey, what are you-?)”

“(You should thank me for being so cautious.)”

If he could keep Saetani’s tears from escaping, they could survive this.

But…

“Which is why the dark side’s video hunters ''use the bones''.”

The voice on the phone sent the conversation in another odd direction.

Kagiyama could feel the skin of his face going cold.

Blonde Saetani tried to recover her composure too quickly and failed.

“Bone- what?”

“I said we could find traces of the glove, right? We’ll check for those on the knife’s grip and use the distribution of the grip pressure to determine the shape of the culprit’s hand bones. That’s common practice in Academy City. Investigations are always like this.”

“Mugino, don’t the hand bones and joints have an especially complex structure for the human body?”

“Yeah, enough so that delinquents who don’t know what they’re doing will break their own fingers when they throw a punch.”

“Exactly,” said the voice on the phone. “Hand identification isn’t just done with the veins. With so much complexity in one place, it’s as possible to identify an individual from their hand bones as it is from their teeth☆”

After listening to all this and organizing her thoughts, Mugino spoke with her voice low.

“So that’s even more reason the murder weapon is our top priority.”

“What we’re looking for is pretty sharp and also heavy,” said the voice on the phone. “Maybe something like a big machete used to cut through the underbrush when hiking through the mountains, or a cleaver used to crush cow bones while chopping the meat? Whether it’s stainless steel or ceramic, it’ll be a sturdy, heat-resistant material, so it can’t be quickly eliminated in a fire like paper or plastic can be.”

“Academy City is a walled city, so it should still be somewhere in here. So would the best plan be a thorough search of trash dumps, rivers, and so on? Taking your time is the best shortcut to finding solid evidence,” said Saetani, praying it would turn out all right.

Item was close, but they were a little bit off-base.

Following this line of investigation would not lead them to the Frees. They wouldn’t expect for the murder weapon to be made from biodegradable plastic and to be slowly vanishing as they spoke.

Saetani had to calm them down.

She had to convince them they had plenty of time and then have them waste their time. As proven by the countless free-to-play online services, you could get people to waste any amount of time if you developed the right logic.

“Huh, they super sell nikuman at the end of August here? Is that cause this is Chinatown?”

“Munch, munch. In the end, I wonder if this really contains Hokkaido brand-name pork? Luckily, Frenda-chan has the forensic investigation kit needed to check its DNA map!!”

“Super cut it out.”

The convenience store conversation was still playing from Saetani’s wireless earphone thanks to the shotgun microphone.

Nothing she heard there seemed like it would lead to a solution.

But the lazy flow of time there could come in handy. With the scent of death so powerful in the gazebo, every little thing tended to make her panic and focus a little too hard. She did her best to feign normalcy and, when she couldn’t anymore, focused on those two chatting to help tap the brakes.

Takitsubo tilted her head.

“But we could be at a dead end if the knife has already been disposed of.”

“How would they do that with a metal knife? If they had the Meltdowner-level firepower needed to melt steel, they could have just used their power to kill her. I don’t get why they’d use some lame knife instead.”

“Mugino, no one said the knife had to be made of metal.”

Kagiyama’s heart leaped into his throat.

All of a sudden, they were approaching the truth.

These kinds of coincidences meant you could never relax when dealing with the dark side.

Kagiyama was soaked with sweat, but then something rested her head on his shoulder.

It was Saetani.

She tapped out a message on his back.

“(Calm down and suppress you emotions.)”

“…”

“(Take deep breaths. And focus on how often you blink. The stiffening in your cheeks isn’t worth worrying about. As long as you keep your eyes from wandering and your breath from catching, it shouldn’t be noticeable.)”

Her counseling was always perfect.

Because she could instantly scan the physical state of the target’s body and perceive their mental state.

Her Electro Reading let her “hear” the static electricity running along their skin to accurately detect the movement of their muscles and joints. And as long as she could hold her ear to their bare skin without rousing suspicion, she didn’t need the shotgun microphone.

And she was right.

This wasn’t over yet.

(They might suddenly get closer to the truth in theory, but we can still distance them from us. This isn’t over. We have nothing to fear as long as Item doesn’t discover anything definitive. As long as we can get through this and leave the gazebo, we’ll have a chance to take them by surprise.)

Mugino still didn’t understand, so she pouted her lips like a small child.

Kagiyama couldn’t have her getting any closer to the truth, so he chose to speak up here. That way he could direct their thoughts away from the truth. He couldn’t give them an answer – he could only give them a hint. It was important they were convinced they had thought it up themselves.

“So if it isn’t metal, could it be made of rock or glass?”

“Those have a melting point between 1400 and 1500 degrees, so there wouldn’t be much point.”

“Ehh? Then is there something else?”

Sulking Mugino was growing more childish by the second.

She rested her head on Takitsubo’s shoulder and pushed against the girl while giving her own thoughts.

“A knife carved from wood probably couldn’t slash, but it could be used to stab. And it could be easily disposed of in a fire. But that would only be a toy.”

“It could also be biodegradable plastic, Mugino. That might sound fancy, but you can use cream to make one in your kitchen. And that would be able to slash and stab.”

“…”

They were screwed.

If Kagiyama tried to say anything here, they were screwed for sure.

“But even if the knife is buried so it can degrade underground, the bloodstains won’t go away. So maybe the blade doesn’t have any blood on it? So maybe, Mugino, this was a remote attack that could damage the target by harming a doll or a picture?”

…''How good was this track suit girl’s intuition!?

Had she really arrived at the biodegradable plastic and the remote attack without any hints to guide her!?

Whether she was guessing or had some kind of power helping her, now that the idea was on the table, it couldn’t be ignored.

It took all of Kagiyama’s willpower to avoid glaring at her with bloodshot eyes. Once they were in position to attack from a safe position, she would be the first one they silenced.

Remote Murder.

The third member of the Frees was a freelance drone operator named Amekawa Souji. His power made it so striking or stabbing a target’s shadow with a weapon would apply the same damage to the target themselves. It technically used the idea that “the mind rules the body” to produce physical injury through the placebo effect or hypnotic suggestion. Once it was in effect, it would still work even if Kagiyama or someone else was the one doing the stabbing. It was easy to avoid once you knew how it worked, but no one would be expecting it the very first time. It was especially useful that no blood or flesh that could be used as evidence ended up on the murder weapon used to attack the shadow.

If only they could contact Amekawa Souji wherever he had gotten off to.

If only they could scatter the screws and nail in his box across the ground so the downpour of sharp weapons contacted Mugino Shizuri’s shadow.

Even that violent Level 5 would be killed instantly.

If they could only do that, it would be over all at once, so where was that guy right now!?

“(He might have seen what was going on in this gazebo from a distance and gone right back home. He does use drones, after all.)”

“(If he did, I am so killing him later.)”

Without speaking aloud, Kagiyama and Melusine conversed using their fingers on each other’s back. Knowing that freelance drone operator, that was a distinct possibility. Then again, maybe it was better for one of them to be hiding somewhere than for all three of them to be trapped here.

Across the table, Mugino frowned and lifted her head from Takitsubo’s shoulder.

The track suit girl looked a bit disappointed as she turned to face her.

“A biodegradable weapon, huh? I don’t like the sound of that. If they buried it, it’d slowly disappear on its own.”

Uh, oh.

They were gradually moving in the right direction.

“B-but.”

Kagiyama leaned forward.

He wanted to direct them to a different set of rails before they settled on this one. He wanted to guide them in the wrong direction.

“While this is a walled city, you might not find it even if you dug all through the city. It could be on private property, it could be in the sewers, or it could even be in a building if they used a potted plant. And if you are going to dig up everything, you’ll need some kind of paperwork giving a justification. I don’t know, maybe disposing of unexploded ordnance or repairing aging plumbing.”

“Not necessarily,” said the track suit girl, expressionlessly pointing somewhere nearby.

At the ground.

A few objects the size of tennis balls were scurrying around.

They were rodents. And not hamsters either. These were the uncute variety.

“Wah!?”

“They aren’t all that unusual in areas that serve food.”

Mugino jumped in uncharacteristic surprise, but Takitsubo didn’t seem to mind their presence.

In fact, she looked a little happy.

“Hee hee. I just found one of your weaknesses, Mugino. It can be our little secret.”

“Shut up. My Class Rep has told me way too many scary stories about rats. Like that they spread the plague and that they carry so many germs their bites are really dangerous. Apparently they even used to chew through the wiring in tanks, bringing them to a standstill. And if that Class Rep says so, it must be true!!”

“…”

Takitsubo used two sticks to pick up a filthy rat and tossed it at the Level 5. Mugino screamed.

She seemed annoyed her partner would trust anything her Class Rep said.

Then Takitsubo expressionlessly continued the conversation.

“There are different kinds of biodegradable plastic, ''but it can be made by chemically altering cream.'' And if it was made from that, it wouldn’t surprise me to find small animals can sniff it out. They can apparently dig up tissues and drink bottle lids from the bushes on the side of the road. And District 4 is far enough from the scene of the crime that the culprit might try to use a public space here to let the knife quickly degrade without creating any connection leading back to themselves.”

Mugino didn’t react at all to this explanation (because she had her feet pulled up onto the bench to keep herself as far away from the ground as possible), so Takitsubo tilted her head and used a stick to shoo the rats away.

Saetani spoke to the track suit girl bent over toward the ground.

“A-a stray dog might have buried some kitchen garbage. You might find something gross. And even if the killer did use biodegradable plastic, we don’t know if they used cream.”

“Any non-dairy ingredient would be hard to come by. And they wouldn’t have any reason to not use it.”

Takitsubo stuck the end of the stick into the ground and began digging.

Were the sounds of thin threads snapping coming from hair-thin grassroots?

Mugino looked puzzled, her feet still up on the bench.

“Wait, you’re really going to dig here? We don’t even know how deep the killer would have buried it.”

“It can’t be too deep if the rats could smell it.”

Mugino had nothing to do but didn’t want to stick her hand where the rats had been gathering, so she spoke as if to just fill time.

“So what, did they 3D print a knife using biodegradable plastic made from cream? Damn, anyone could acquire all of that, so it’ll be hard to track them down.”

“But, Mugino, what would they gain from killing the guitarist?”

“If they were professionals, they wouldn’t have cared who it was. There’s no point in taking a job that puts you up against someone else in your business because that only leads to unnecessary trouble.”

“If the killer themselves didn’t have a motive, maybe they were doing it for someone else,” softly suggested Saetani.

“You mean it was a hired killing?” asked Mugino and blonde Saetani nodded.

“But it might not have been spelled out so clearly. It’s possible the killer was moved to do something after seeing the poor people whose family members were killed,” added Saetani with a chuckle.

“Hm.” Mugino nodded (her feet still pulled up on the bench). “But if that’s why they killed the guitarist, they were pretty damn stupid.”

“?”

“I mean, think about it. No one asked them to do that and even the surviving family members told them not to, but the killer refused to listen. I’m not going to deny the fake news flooding the world is a problem, but dumbasses who can only view accurate information in a distorted light are an even bigger problem.”

Saetani poured all her willpower into keeping a straight face.

Kagiyama wondered if he had managed the same.

And eventually, Takitsubo came to a stop while using her stick to dig into the dark soil.

Kagiyama and Saetani had a very bad feeling about this, so they started to reach for their SLR camera and shotgun microphone on the table. Their hands collided.

“(Now is not the time to try for a bittersweet romance! And I haven’t forgotten you unhooked my bra earlier! Are you in love with me or something!?)”

“(Can’t you just let bygones be bygo- oh, no! We lost our chance!!)”

Her feet still pulled up onto the bench, Mugino peered down into the hole dug in the dark soil.

“I’ll be damned. There it is.”

===Part 6===

This was bad.

It could hardly be worse.

Kagiyama Sasuke understood this intellectually, but he still couldn’t make himself move.

He could only watch as the track suit girl wrapped a handkerchief around her hand and stuck her hand into the hole.

Takitsubo Rikou grabbed the grip and lifted an object up to eye level.

It was a weapon with one-sided blade measuring more than 30cm. It wasn’t made of metal, but it was still quite heavy. Because it was 3D printed, it was all one piece, from the tip of the blade to the bottom of the grip. It wasn’t multiple pieces held together with screws.

The white plastic knife had already started to crack.

It looked ready to fall apart at any moment.

“Whoa.”

“Tch. Don’t hurt yourself, Takitsubo. Having your DNA on it would only complicate matters.”

(That’s right. This isn’t over yet.)

Kagiyama did his best to catch Saetani Melusine’s eye.

(Don’t give it away! They haven’t completely identified their enemy yet!!)

The voice on the phone, who was apparently watching through the phone camera, sounded exasperated.

“Wait, really? I know the blade is the thinnest and most fragile part, but why does it have to be like this? If the bacteria eat away too much of it, we can’t compare it to the body’s wounds.”

“What about the glove marks? Y’know, how you said we could identify someone from the distribution of their hand bones.”

“We can try, but I’m not sure it’ll work. Since District 4 works with food, garbage-eating soil microbes are artificially disseminated there. If the surface of the grip’s been eaten away, the glove marks won’t be there anymore.”

“God, you’re useless.”

“Why is it always like this with you!?”

If no one were watching, Kagiyama might have high-fived his partner.

They’d won.

They’d escaped.

On instinct, Kagiyama reached for his SLR camera on the table. Not yet. Don’t smile yet. Once they were away from the gazebo, it would finally be their turn to attack.

(Top priority has to be Takitsubo Rikou since she’s too clever by half. Next would be Mugino Shizuri since she’s the most powerful. The other two I’ll kill using Amekawa’s power! I’ll stab them so many goddamn times for giving us so much trouble. We’re justice. We’re on the right side here. The Frees know when to use photos and when to use violence, so how could we ever lose to some villains who only know how to use violence!?)

Just then…

“The person who buried this knife is the one who killed the guitarist, right?”

“?”

Matching the knife to the body’s wounds and identifying the wielder’s hand bones from the glove marks on the grip would both be difficult.

But Takitsubo was looking at something else.

And she made it sound so simple and obvious.

“Then that settles it. We’ve caught the dark side killer.”

===Part 7===

“Super tah-dah! It’s a super dangerous criminal psychology quiz☆”

“Huh!? In the end, don’t just buy whatever magazines they have just cause you’re bored. The trick is to see how far you can get with the free services they offer, but here you are falling for the convenience store’s tricks!”

“How you answer these questions determines how much of a criminal you are. Super let’s see…”

“In the end, you need to listen to me…”

“Let’s go!! Question 1: Someone was murdered at an izakaya. But for some reason, a man who wasn’t even at the izakaya was arrested at his distant home. Now, why did Anti-Skill make this mistake?”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, should I super set a time limit for these questions?”

“''In the end, it’s cause that man ate yakiniku''.”

“…”

“Hey, what it is?”

“Um, uhh… I’m super not sure what to say…”

“Just give me the answer already. How much of a criminal am I, Kinuhat- hey, don’t just avert your eyes without saying anything!!”

===Part 8===

Takitsubo twirled her stick.

That was the one she had used to dig up the dark soil to reveal the white knife.

She poked at the knife’s grip with it.

And…

“Mugino, do you see ''this black stuff here''? ''I think it’s pieces of the leather glove.''”

“Oh.”

Without meaning to, Kagiyama made a sound instead of Mugino.

“''You can get DNA from animal cells the same as with human ones.''”

Hadn’t Frenda Seivelun made a fuss about that in the convenience store?

Something about using a forensic investigation kit to get the DNA map of the meat in her nikuman and see if it was really the advertised Hokkaido brand-name pork?

And the voice on the phone had said the DNA had to be taken from pieces of skin, not from the sweat itself. And what was leather?

“The biodegradable plastic itself will break down on its own while buried, but this stuff on the grip won’t. It will stay.”

The shotgun microphone left on the table sent the distant convenience store voices into Saetani’s ear through her wireless earphone.

“Pressure me all you want, that answer super isn’t in the magazine! It only gives things like he owed the victim money, he had a twin, or Anti-Skill is incompetent. How twisted a criminal are you if not even expert psychologists can measure your criminality!?”

“My answer was completely normal! In the end, you get hundreds of kilograms of meat from a single cow. All meat taken from the same cow will have the same DNA, so while the man was getting drunk at home, Anti-Skill assumed he had been at the izakaya!”

Whether or not she knew about this other conversation, Takitsubo expressionlessly spoke on much the same topic.

“I don’t know exactly how leather gloves are made, but I assume they use leather from the same animal for the outside and inside. So if anyone has pieces of leather with the same DNA as the pieces on the knife’s grip, we can conclude they were wearing the exact same glove.”

Kagiyama looked down at his hands.

The ends of his nails were a bit dark.

No, there was something underneath the very ends of his nails. Caught where washing his hands with soap wasn’t enough to get it out.

Mugino’s face went blank.

There was no smile in her eyes.

Not even a hint of one.

“Oh, really?”

Their eyes met.

Kagiyama averted his eyes. His face was covered in uncontrollable perspiration.

They didn’t even need to check the DNA.

===Part 9===

The dark side beasts climbed over the table to immediately attack.

===Part 10===

Mugino called the support team and had them clean up the bodies and bloodstains left around the gazebo.

“Ehh? In the end, you should’ve called me to join you if all that was going on.”

“Isn’t it a bad sign that the media was super sniffing around?”

Frenda and Kinuhata weren’t happy about being excluded.

“You seem to be acting like this over,” said the voice on the phone. “But weren’t there supposed to be three of them?”

“Hey. The last one was a drone operator, right? If they’ve vanished, they’ll probably start attacking us remotely, so where the hell did they get off to!?”

“''He’s right here.''”

Mugino was answered by someone to the side.

This was clearly an outsider.

A large object was tossed over. It was the upper half of a boy, which hit the top of the gazebo table and fell down to the ground, splattering red and black stains across the scene the support team had just worked so hard to clean.

Mugino glared over at whoever had done this and then froze.

This was unusual for her.

“''What...are you doing here?''”

“Grr.”

The low bestial growl sounded like a stray dog, but that was no dog. The partner accompanying the newcomer was a supposedly-extinct Japanese wolf.

“(Super what do you think about that?)”

“(You aren’t going to find a mysterious animal in this city of steel and concrete. In the end, it’s better to assume a stray dog’s DNA was messed with to force some atavism.)”

This person could toy with technology to that level.

They were undoubtedly part of the dark side.

The Japanese wolf’s master was a girl with long black hair. She looked to be high school age. Her busty body was contained by a white and blue short-sleeve sailor uniform with a pleated miniskirt. That was likely the uniform to some school or another. On her feet and legs, she wore white boots, special sock garters attached below the knee, and short black stockings. Above it all, she wore a thin coat and a hunting cap.

While it had cooled down a lot, it was still only late August. The inside of her coat had to be filled with electric cooling products and tools that violated anti-weapon laws.

“Mugino. Do you know her?” calmly asked Takitsubo.

The track suit girl may have been asking if this girl provided a service on the dark side, like an unlicensed doctor or a weapons dealer.

But looking back at Frenda and Kinuhata’s earlier conversation, there was another possibility.

Even if it was only to avoid having their records stand out, the Item girls were all enrolled in a school somewhere.

So…

“Shiratori Okibi. ''But you’re supposed to be the Class Rep at my ordinary school''!?”

And in response, the girl accompanied by a Japanese wolf laughed.

Shiratori Okibi.

[[Image:Item3 BW3.jpeg|thumb]]

She was indeed the Class Rep with excellent grades.

“I am a detective.”

That was another stereotypical identifier.

It was another name for the justice that opposed all villains.

“And I’m also the loser who had her target – the Frees – stolen right before her eyes☆”

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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter2

2025-03-03T19:09:46Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 10 */

==Chapter 2: The Fourth Estate==

===Part 1===

“It’ll be alright. We took care of the Sadistic Dolls.”

“You say that. But you didn’t. Leave any signs. Pointing back to us. Did you?”

“I promise you I didn’t.”

The boy smiled bitterly while listening to the cheerful artificial voice coming from his phone. It sounded a lot like a female voice actor.

Their discussion was as suspicious as could be, but they weren’t stupid enough to just use the ordinary call feature. They were instead using an avatar clerk app. That was an industrial service that allowed boutiques or cosmetics shops to display a 3D clerk on a tall LCD screen and answer customers’ questions, but it wasn’t well known that anyone could use the service with their phone or tablet as long as they went through the correct process. By using throwaway accounts, it was easy enough for both sides to feign ignorance if the contents of the communications were ever discovered.

A service that let both sides communicate without revealing their real faces or voices was extremely useful.

For ''members of the press'', seeking out a variety of ways to contact people was a part of the job. It let them create an environment where whistleblowers felt comfortable sharing their information and it gave them the means to contact various publishers themselves.

The boy was in District 4.

The district was already unique for its focus on food, but he was in the even more unusual Chinatown.

To help them blend into the scenery, even the three-bladed wind turbines were painted red here.

There were colorful flowers planted in dark soil around him, but the location couldn’t quite be called a small park. He sat inside a roofed gazebo where anyone was free to get some rest. It was chilly there since it was still early in the morning, but sensors would automatically detect the heat during the day and activate the spot cooler on the ceiling.

It was a public facility meant for people to enjoy the flowers, sip on some Chinese tea, and maybe play some go to enjoy a relaxing break. But no one would be using it before the trains even began running for the day.

It was early in the morning of August 30.

Specifically, it was 4:30 AM.

A middle school boy named Kagiyama Sasuke was using the avatar clerk app to communicate with someone while crouched down and performing some kind of work.

He was digging a hole in the dirt.

He held a smooth white blade in his other hand. The blade was more than 30cm long. The nonmetal knife appeared to be ceramic, but it was not.

“Using an esper power. To kill can be tracked back to you. After a search of the Bank. But adding in a weapon. Creates physical evidence.”

“We thought of that, of course. Ah ha ha. There won’t be any evidence left.”

The term “biodegradable plastic” might sound like some kind of cutting-edge technology, but it could even be created from cream.

And as long as you had the material, you could make just about anything out of it.

For example, you could create a large knife with a 3D printer and then hone it with a whetstone. If you killed someone with it, the knife would be the greatest piece of evidence, but if you simply buried it far away from the crime scene in District 9, it would degrade underground as various microbes consumed it.

“We’re on the side of justice, so we aren’t supposed to be resorting to these exceptional measures,” said Kagiyama. “Our specialty is civilly killing people with photos, after all.”

“Civilly?”

“What, do you have a problem with that?”

They called themselves the Frees.

A ''free''lance writer, a ''free''lance photographer, and a ''free''lance drone operator.

The three of them worked together as a no-pressure press group.

They undoubtedly worked on the side of justice.

Ideally, they could capture a decisive enough photograph to eliminate the evils of society. But as proud journalists, they wouldn’t push too hard or pursue their enemy too far. However, in the face of an evil powerful enough to cover up the decisive photograph they presented, “exceptional measures” were necessary.

That meant directly killing that evil themselves to end it.

The photos allowed their target to turn over a new leaf after losing everything. Killing truly took their life. The Frees paid careful attention to that distinction when choosing their target’s fate.

Kagiyama patted the dark soil down and wiped his hands off with a wet tissue. He noticed a bit of soil under his nails, but he figured that wouldn’t be enough to keep him from handling his camera equipment.

Now the evidence was gone.

As time passed, the knife itself would be completely eliminated by soil bacteria, so he could ignore any and all risks, including any fingerprints that may have been left on the knife.

“In that case. You need to continue. Working on the main job.”

“We’ll keep working on the case you were interested in. And I mean supplying information, not killing.”

Kagiyama logged out of the avatar clerk app and stomped down the black soil with the sole of his shoe.

The buried knife would disappear on its own.

And now…

“If we do everything that noble bunch wants us to do, we’ll be out here the rest of the summer. So what’s Item up to?”

“I’m monitoring them.”

He was answered by a girl in a gaudy suit.

Her name was Saetani Melusine.

The blonde high school girl was part French. She held a 30cm plastic tube, but it was not the kind of skinny water bottle that capable businesswomen in tight skirts used to carry around coffee.

It was another tool of their trade: a highly-directional shotgun microphone.

“In the end, the Sadistic Dolls’ guitarist was killed by someone else on their justice side, right? And not even the voice on the phone knows who on the justice side it was?”

The device was meant to get high-quality recordings of bird cries from a distance because wild birds were so cautious. By placing the shotgun microphone on the wooden table and pointing it in the right direction, it could accurately pick up on the voices through the thick tempered glass of the convenience store more than 30m away.

For whatever reason, Item appeared to have no set hideout and instead frequently move between different businesses with 24-hour service. They were behaving like summer break runaways and they were currently occupying a convenience store eat-in section.

The one seated in a stool by the window and resting her cheek against the long counter in obvious boredom was Frenda. She was staring lazily over at her phone which was resting on its side so she could watch something on it. She really did look like a harmless girl who didn’t want summer break to end so she ran away from her strict dorm to spend her time anywhere that had free internet service.

But what she said was far from harmless.

“Do you really think someone could outdo that voice on the phone on the intelligence front? In he end, I feel like she’s manipulating us.”

“''Wrong,'' muttered Saetani with a chuckle.

Kagiyama Sasuke and Saetani Melusine went to different schools, but they were both in their school’s newspaper club.

As was the third member of their group.

“Our funds are drying up.”

“What about our usual uploaders? Fumiaki is getting pretty dull, so what if we send them a few of our stocked photos?”

Newspaper clubs were mostly a thing of the past.

In an age where people could see anything they wanted on their phones, who would bother stopping in the hallway to read a school newspaper on the wall? And even if they tried to force a shift to a digital edition online, there wasn’t much they could do. The new rules meant to prevent students from starting secret school message boards tended to hinder the school reporters too.

But that made the clubs the perfect camouflage.

By creating a secret network of school newspaper clubs, they could use each school’s infrastructure to pursue the scandals of corporate executives and celebrities and deliver the finishing blow by anonymously sending the photos to the editorial department of a weekly photo magazine.

“Any news on recruiting ''Tokiwadai’s newspaper club''?”

“No, but they wouldn’t wait this long to respond if they weren’t seriously considering it. They definitely have some latent rebelliousness at their school. It sounds like things are chaotic there, so who knows if they’ll eventually join with us or not.”

The pursuit of the truth was everything for journalists.

Which meant they couldn’t just report on criminals. They had to dig up everything they could find on the victims as well.

Kagiyama started up the recording app he used to take memos and played a recording of an elderly man’s voice.

That man was the father of the scrapyard worker who was thought to have been caught in the mass murder perpetrated by the Sadistic Dolls.

“Please go away. I don’t know who you are, but we just want to be left alone. I beg you not to use our son’s death as an excuse to justify your own crimes!!”

With the recording app still open, Kagiyama gently shut his eyes.

And reflected on what he heard.

“''It hurts us as much as it hurts you.''”

“Yes. But if we tell them that, we would be making those parents into our accomplices.”

“''That is how the victim’s relatives tell us to do it without openly saying it. True justice knows how to pick up on those hints and act on them.''”

The Frees believed in acting on the victims’ behalf.

They would do anything if it would avenge the people who couldn’t take direct vengeance themselves.

They weren’t looking for thanks. In cases of apparent revenge, the relatives were always the top suspects, so it was best if those relatives said nothing at all. ''It was enough to know they appreciated it deep down where no one could see it.

The Sadistic Dolls task had been completed without incident.

It was time to face the next tragedy.

Saetani adjusted the position of her shotgun microphone.

Her power was Electro Reading.

With it, she could accurately detect the sound of static electricity crackling on the surface of people’s bodies, allowing her to predict the movement of their muscles and joints. While it would allow her to predict someone’s next action with perfect accuracy and set up a cross-counter, the sound of the static electricity was so faint she couldn’t hear it without her ear pressed up against her enemy’s chest. That made her power impractical without a shotgun microphone to support it.

(Of course, ''my power'' isn’t much better in that regard.)

“There’s definitely ''something'' going on with the rumored #1, Accelerator, but reaching him right away would be difficult.”

“Right.”

“So we need to prove ourselves first. Once we’ve proven we can freely kill a Level 5 with the power of mass media, the adults should be more willing to cooperate with us. Fortunately, the #1 has earned himself a lot of enemies. We can deal with him later.”

Kagiyama peered through the viewfinder of his SLR camera. It was equipped with a telephoto lens so large it looked like it could snap a photo of the footprints on the lunar surface.

“First, we need the upper hand when it comes to information. Specifically, we need to know exactly how much information Item has on us.”

“Then what?”

“If they do have our information already, there’s no point in hiding. We’ll just be assassinated when we least suspect it like a certain someone was.”

“And if they don’t have anything on us, we peacefully go into hiding?”

“Right.”

“Don’t make me laugh. We both know you’ll be spreading their photos and voice recordings online as efficiently as you can. They have no future either way.”

Just then, Kagiyama heard a dull thud and felt a vibration.

(What was that?)

He looked away from Saetani seated next to him and then froze.

“Ugh, that convenience store’s air conditioning is too strong. I can’t get any sleep there. I’ll freeze solid if I don’t get some fresh air first.”

It was Mugino Shizuri.

That extremely dangerous girl was approaching another bench in the gazebo, putting her only a meter away.

===Part 2===

Mugino was in a bad mood as she plopped herself down on the gazebo bench.

Her phone was the source of that bad mood.

She had a call from the Mugino family outside Academy City.

“Such a wretched state of affairs… How could the daughter of the glorious Mugino family find herself homeless and spending her nights in junk food establishments?”

“Shut up, Mujinayama. What happened to paying me respect?” grumbled Mugino.

While Butler Mujinayama spoke quite gently, she knew better than to take what he said at face value.

He ordinarily did not ''directly'' call Mugino’s phone. He must have made this decision after using various indirect methods to finally sense that something was wrong.

There was pity in his voice.

That was not an emotion that a butler should have been directing toward his master.

This was an emergency for a high-class girl.

“If necessary, we can send supplies to support you. We could even send an RV or a large truck along with a kit for building a simple house with 2x4 construction. Academy City keeps itself locked up tight, but there are delivery services using the official routes.”

“You must be kidding. If I accepted a handout from the family, I’d be their laughing stock until the end of time.”

“I am intensely relieved to hear you say that. Even if you must live a miserable life without a roof over your head, I see you have not forgotten that you are a proud member of the Mugino family.”

“Mujinayama.”

She was ready to give him a serious talking to, but discovered he had hung up on her.

He might be the lead butler, but he was only a servant and she was the heiress.

“Damn bastard.”

She just about crushed her phone in her grip but stopped herself at the last second. Mujinayama had been getting around the restrictions on his speech to encourage her. And he had succinctly told her what things were like in the Mugino family at present.

A house was more than just a place to sleep.

For the upper classes, it was as much of a status symbol as a wristwatch or handbag.

(He’s too damn nice. Ugh, we need to find a new hideout sooner rather than later.)

===Part 3===

Yes, Item had four members.

While the Frees were focused on one of them, they could lose sight of another.

The two guilty journalists were left trembling with a brutal criminal seated across the gazebo table from them.

“(Wh-wh-wh-wh-what is Mugino Shizuri doing here all of a sudden? I thought all four of them were in that convenience store!)”

“(Don’t ask me! I was only in charge of listening. You’re the photographer, so it’s your fault for getting so focused on your phone! I just thought some of the four were more talkative than others!)”

They weren’t speaking out loud, of course.

That wasn’t an option with Mugino only a meter away. Seated side by side, Kagiyama and Melusine pressed an index finger against each other’s back and secretly communicated by tapping out Morse code.

They had chosen this spot because it wasn’t covered by the security cameras and the slightly cracked walkway kept the drum-shaped cleaning and security robots away, but now they wanted all of those things here. Now that villain had no reason to leave.

“Yawwwn…”

Only a meter away, Mugino put away her phone and calmly yawned.

They felt like they were in a strange zoo with no cages or fences and a lion was lying in front of them and opening its great maw in boredom. But at least Mugino didn’t seem cautious.

Did she not know?

It didn’t seem like she had purposefully snuck up on them. She must have left the convenience store without them noticing and then just so happened to spot the gazebo and decided to sit down there.

They were fine.

Everything was alright.

There was nothing directly linking the killing of the Sadistic Dolls with the Frees. The murder weapon was a biodegradable plastic knife which was already degrading underground. Without any damning evidence, Mugino would have no reason to suspect them.

She was dangerous.

But reading people like this didn’t seem like her forte.

She seemed a lot more like a meathead who solved everything in battle!!

It was worrying that she seemed like the type to just kill everyone she thought was remotely suspicious, but not even a dark side team would be allowed to indiscriminately harm ordinary people.

So they were safe. Unless she could somehow prove it.

This was working out in their favor.

Kagiyama searched for every little thing that would make him feel better, but then…

“You came out here, Mugino?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

Another one showed up.

(Takitsubo...Rikou.)

She didn’t directly participate in Item’s battles, but she supposedly provided mental and targeting support.

Which meant her specialty was data analysis.

===Part 4===

“The days of major vs. indies are over! Now it’s all about general artists who bring music and video sites together! The big name there has got to be the Sadistic Dolls. Their new song The Color of the Whip is just so good and they’re having a streaming event on the last day of summer break!! I can’t wait☆ Oh, I know! How about you watch it with me?”

“Eh?”

Mugino couldn’t exactly tell Class Rep Shiratori-chan that the band was already dead.

Not when the girl was speaking so excitedly and peacefully over the phone.

“With phone culture cutting into their business, internet cafes have started renting out home theaters, so it shouldn’t be too expensive to get ourselves a great live viewing environment. Don’t you want to join me in enjoying the Sadistic Dolls’ streaming event on a big screen?”

“Oh, uh, your breaking up. Hello? I can’t hear you? Damn, I’m losing my signal. (click)”

Hanging up like that was pretty rude, but it was exceptional for ''the'' Mugino to feel the need to put on such an obvious act when doing so. Even that deadly beast tried to put on appearances for her public life.

“Mugino.”

Takitsubo waited until the free talk app was closed to speak up.

She was well-behaved for the dark side.

“Are you out here because the convenience store was too cold? Keeping the air conditioning on that strong can’t be ecological.”

“Yeah, and Frenda and Kinuhata have so little fat on them it makes no sense that they’re the ones who can take it.”

“Don’t say that. They can’t help it. And I don’t think chest size has much to do with how well you handle the cold.”

“You’ll make those dumbasses cry tears of blood saying things like that.”

As they chatted, the track suit girl sat down next to Mugino.

Now it was 2 vs. 2.

And the other side was Item, a group that specialized in direct combat.

This had been a safe zone just 5 minutes ago, but now it was a gazebo from hell itself.

Sweat poured down Kagiyama Sasuke’s body.

“(What do we do? Hey, what do we do!? Hey!?)”

He tapped away on the blonde girl’s back to communicate, but then he felt a very dangerous sensation. He must have tapped too hard and unhooked her bra. Yet Saetani didn’t react in the slightest.

Her thoughts must have briefly left her body and begun floating in the ether.

While Mugino pulled her phone back out of her pocket and irritably did something with it, Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“Mugino, on the dark side, we’re supposed to retaliate when someone makes a fool of us, right?”

“Butting in on our territory is like declaring war. I don’t know what piece of shit stole our job, but I will make them pay. ...Oh, right. Gather up all the cleanup delinquents! As many as we can get! It’ll take a lot of people to collect all the scattered fragments and clean everything up!!”

Mugino kicked the table with her phone in hand, making the media pair shrink down even more than before.

They began a sweaty strategy meeting only a meter away.

“(Wait, hold on. We can call Anti-Skill over what they’ve said here, right?)”

“(No, she hasn’t said exactly ''what'' they’re cleaning up. She’s just barely talking around it.)”

But Kagiyama wanted help regardless.

Was there no way of reporting this to Anti-Skill or Judgment so they could handle everything instead?

He operated his phone under the table in what felt like a prayer, but it had no signal. No signal? In Academy City, a city of cutting-edge science in the middle of Tokyo?

“Shut up! I said all of them!! Have the outside workers on standby too. Yeah, all of them!! Including that expert called Hanatsuyu Kuchikusa or whatever!!”

Yet Mugino was somehow yelling into her phone just fine.

Her own signal was getting through. Unnaturally so.

Was she jamming the ordinary phone signals!?

“Phew. Calling people is always such a pain.”

“I feel bad for the delinquents when you yell at them like that.”

“Yeah, and we were the ones who screwed up this time. Maybe I should buy them something to eat later. ...I need to direct this anger at the pieces of shit who stole our job.”

“Mugino.”

At this rate, all four members of Item could end up in this gazebo. The Frees were experts at gathering information, but they couldn’t launch a direct attack using a microphone. Especially with someone so terrifying. They preferred to make waves without revealing their own identities.

That meant they needed to leave this gazebo of death and go elsewhere. If they managed that, there was no way-

“Hey, you.”

“!”

Kagiyama’s shoulders jumped.

He was an expert journalist who made sure to always get the devastating photo, so having his target within arm’s reach was never ideal. He sensed trouble – big trouble.

“We’ll pay, so help us out. You do media work, right? And I can tell you’re not some major newspaper employees who get to take part in some fancy press club.”

She’d noticed.

And her instincts were serving her pretty well here!?

“Let me guess – freelancers who use that freedom to take a step into the dark side where you package up people’s misfortune to sell unconfirmed stories to sports papers and weekly photo magazines? Or maybe unethical journalists who prefer making money by threatening company executives and celebrities with photos of the skeletons in their closet?”

“…”

Kagiyama Sasuke and Saetani Melusine couldn’t come up with a response.

Track suit girl Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“How can you tell, Mugino?”

“The expensive shotgun mic I could see a video streaming freak carrying around, but you don’t see many amateurs using one of those along with an SLR camera that can only take still photographs. And I doubt they’re birdwatching in this restaurant district with nothing but crows to see.” Mugino looked bored. “I don’t know their exact ages, but even freelance students who’ve signed an exclusive contract with a major newspaper will use equipment lent to them by the paper. And kids especially will rely on borrowed equipment if they can. And those would have waterproof labels with an asset management number on them. A camera lens alone normally costs a fair bit of cash.”

“You mean like the women in suits on the train whose phones and laptops have a weird number on the back?”

“More or less.”

Takitsubo blinked twice.

And then took a look around.

“Is there a celebrity around here? Maybe on a secret date in Chinatown?”

“Frenda seems to know everyone, so maybe she’d know.”

Mugino and Takitsubo discussed it casually before both turning to face the other two.

Sweat poured down Kagiyama’s back, but he did his best to keep it off his face.

He remembered the time he was trying to get a photo of a celebrity’s affair during the middle of the night, but the celebrity discovered him and tried to run him down with a giant four-wheel-drive vehicle. He was reminded of the headlights and overly thick bumpers rushing toward him like death itself.

But this was worse.

He wasn’t going to escape Mugino Shizuri by running into a park with bollards guarding the entrance.

“Ha ha… Um, our photos are more important than our lives, so we can’t comment until they’ve actually been published. We just finished a job and were performing maintenance on our equipment.”

(Damn. We could take them out right now if we could only contact ''Amekawa''!!)

Kagiyama smiled while thinking of their third member and just about clicked his tongue.

Amekawa Souji had played the most important role when it came to finishing off the final member of the Sadistic Dolls. His power was Remote Murder and it was perfect for settling conflicts.

But right now, Kagiyama was too scared to even pull out his phone. If he so much as glanced at the small screen, those two might get suspicious. And that could have devastating consequences.

“Does Frenda know anyone on TV?” asked the track suit girl, her gaze wandering through empty space.

“She muttered something about having no need for a has-been movie star when she was cleaning out her phone. Y’know, when she starts unfriending people on social media like crazy.”

“We probably shouldn’t let Kinuhata know about that. They might get into a fight.”

Saetani’s Electro Reading alone didn’t seem like enough to overpower the combo of Meltdowner and AIM Stalker.

Kagiyama’s power wasn’t any better.

Bind Scoop.

It was a mental power based on “the fear of being found out”. When he took a photo of someone, they were hit with an invisible psychological pressure that let him remotely control them as he wished. However, not just any photo would do. He wasn’t so talented that a single surveillance drone would let him conquer a country in record time.

The photo had to meet a few different conditions.

1. The target must be unaware they were being photographed.

2. The target had to be looking right at him.

3. The target had to be caught in the act of some personal scandal which they believed would be devastating if it got out.

So it was nearly impossible for him to control Mugino or Takitsubo now that they were right here with him. Aiming his enormous SLR camera at them from this close without them noticing but also with them looking at him was asking too much. Plus, he would have to be catching them in some kind of devastating personal scandal.

Saetani and Kagiyama (forcefully) poked at each other’s back with their index fingers.

“(This is why I keep telling you to carry around a pen camera just in case!)”

“(Those take a video after you press the button, so they don’t work with my power!)”

And so.

There was no doubting it.

If they thoughtlessly fled from the gazebo or shouted and attacked those two, they would simply be Meltdownered by a yawning Mugino.

(But it’s not over yet. I can still bind and control Frenda Seivelun and Kinuhata Saiai in the convenience store. Then Item can tear themselves apart!)

Takitsubo expressionlessly but curiously viewed the camera sitting on the table.

“Wow. You still use a big SLR even though phone cameras have gotten so good?”

“Since everyone uses the same phones, that’s become the new average, so you have to work hard to stand out from the crowd. That means you need specialized equipment for any professional work.”

Mugino gave the camera bag, big battery, and directional shotgun microphone on the table an exasperated look.

“Even if it’s the end of August, it’s still summer. Why bother sitting around waiting for the perfect moment with that huge camera and shotgun mic? You can fake all the photos and voice clips you want nowadays.”

“Yes, it’s true computers can even create fake articles and photographs.”

Kagiyama smiled a little and shook his finger.

He noticed some dark filth under his nail, which depressed him a little.

“Most deductions and opinions can always be buried along with the truth when a terrified politician scatters fake articles around and points to them as proof they’re being targeted by a smear campaign.”

“Yeah, I have heard the authenticity of real videos can be called into question by injecting them with codes and artifacts associated with generative AI.”

“Right. We’re approaching a world where credibility is nothing but a popularity contest.”

That might make it sound like reporters and photographers would no longer be necessary.

That may have been a dying occupation.

But…

“''That'' only makes a real photo all the more powerful.”

“Oh, really?”

“The real deal acquired the old fashioned way carries the unique power to break through all the fakes. The more over-the-top tricks powerful people with skeletons in their closet try, the more powerful a cross counter formed from the truth. That’s what we believe.”

Still seated on the bench, Mugino threw her upper body onto the table, squashing her large chest below herself. She used her own arms as a cushion and grinned.

“Interesting.”

Uh, oh. Making himself sound valuable only made it harder to escape.

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed high school girl gave up on Morse code and just plain pinched his back. And too strongly for him to consider it a reward.

Then she again spoke with him by firmly rubbing her index finger against his back.

“(You use your power to help them out. In the meantime, I’m going to feign illness and go home!!)”

“(Are you stupid? If you leave like that, you’ll make those monsters suspicious and then it’s all over! You know my power is no good in direct confrontations!!)”

“Anyway, Takitsubo, I say we get their help if they can be useful.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It doesn’t matter what photos they get as long as it isn’t being livestreamed or sent to the cloud. We’re safe as long as we check their devices and destroy them if we find they’ve recorded anything we don’t like.”

Bull’s eye.

That would explain the powerful jamming. Which meant it was already far too late!

“Besides, unethical journalists who aren’t sure whether they’ll deal with a magazine or the actual celebrity they photographed are part of the dark side. They’re the same as us.”

“But, Mugino, they’re part of the media, which means you could also say they’re on the side of justice. Doesn’t that scare you?”

“Rumors fade.” Mugino whispered to Takitsubo who was expressionlessly tugging on her coat. “But when a scandal that was all over mass media and personal blogs suddenly vanishes one day, it isn’t because people stopped caring. It’s because someone drew a line and said no one was to cross it.

“And I’m not talking about a press club,” added Mugino with a grin. “The big companies aren’t going to protect them, so the smaller media people can always sniff out when to back off. The ones who can’t are weeded out. By which I mean, they mysteriously drive their car into a dam or somehow wind up inside a giant jet engine at the airport.”

“Does that mean what I think it does, Mugino?”

“You two are supposed to get your photos in secret, but now we know what you look like. I know you know what kind of retaliation you’ll suffer if we were to let that information slip.''”

“Ha ha ha ha ha...ha…”

Saetani laughed stiffly.

Kagiyama had known her for a long time, but he couldn’t tell if she was acting or not.

It didn’t matter how much Mugino threatened them. They could launch a surprise attack as long as they got away from this gazebo safely.

“So how much are you planning to pay them? Use too much money and Frenda will be upset again,” said Takitsubo, exasperated.

“That’s not an issue. We have money – we just don’t have anywhere to spend it,” replied Mugino, sticking her tongue out a bit.

Then Mugino whispered into the phone she had left on the table.

“Hey, voice on the phone.”

“Don’t expect me to answer at all times of day. It’s always like this with you. We! Have! Our! Roles! Here! I am the one who sends you jobs and controls everything from above. Or did you forget?”

Mugino looked annoyed as she spoke into her phone.

“Did you get the security camera footage from that building?”

The Frees had of course planned for that much.

And it would seem unnatural if they didn’t say anything for too long.

They didn’t want to give the impression they were cautiously listening in, so the two of them exchanged a glance and Saetani spoke first.

“Could you start by explaining what kind of case you’re investigating?”

They started off carefully.

Intentional or not, Mugino and Takitsubo hadn’t mentioned any specifics about the case.

If Kagiyama or Saetani carelessly mentioned the Moe Bells, a knife, or a murder, they were dead for sure.

“There are different kinds of crimes. If security cameras were all anyone ever needed, the media would be out of a job.”

“That’s true. You can’t track the criminal from camera to camera to locate their home if they’re cognizant of the cameras’ positions, hide their face, and frequently change coats while hidden behind pillars,” added Kagiyama.

That set up a continuing conversation.

They were putting on a bit of an act, but they could safely mix in some ''accurate but safely revealed information''. In fact, that would seem more natural.

However…

“It’s a murder. ...Anyway, a big entertainment commerce building like that will have more than just the obvious cameras on the ceiling, right? To catch streamers making prank videos. ''Like 2mm cameras hidden in the gaps in the wall''.”

“!”

(''We didn’t know about those cameras''!?)

===Part 5===

“Mugino, your clothes are all sweaty.”

“Damn this demanding body. And after the convenience store was too cold.”

“Hee hee hee. Your bra strap is showing through. This is why you shouldn’t wear a single layer of white in the summer.”

Kagiyama Sasuke was too panicked to focus on that.

He nearly gasped out loud. What was that about 2mm cameras in the walls!? Saetani Melusine kept trying to catch his eye. She was clearly confused and seeking instruction.

The woman’s voice coming from the phone was loud enough to reach the two of them as well.

“No luck there. It was in the Moe Bells, remember? All the life-size cardboard characters and giant balloons block the security cameras a lot. The elevator hall in question had this huge model airplane hanging from the ceiling by wires, so we can’t see a thing. Keeping those cameras a secret from the ordinary workers backfired because they end up covering them up accidentally. It’s always like this, I swear.”

(D-don’t scare me like that.)

“What about fingerprints?”

“Mugino, the victim was stabbed 19 times, but no one saw a bloody figure flee from the scene. They must have been prepared, so I doubt they would have been careless enough to leave any prints.”

Takitsubo answered before the voice on the phone could.

She was acting like a pet cat trying to take its owner’s attention away from the video they were watching.

And she was right, of course.

Fingerprints were the most basic thing to think of. Kagiyama and Saetani were both relieved, but…

“Hey, voice on the phone, then did they leave any hairs on the floor? Or footprints? If we check the shoe print, we can figure out the manufacturer and size. Tracking down the store where the shoes were bought could help narrow down who did it.”

…Had they been that thorough?

Anxiety slowly grew within the Frees.

Kagiyama knew it was dangerous, but he asked a probing question despite Melusine pinching his back.

He tried to be careful.

“Um, but, even if there were hairs on the floor of this...did you say it was an elevator hall? Anyway, that wouldn’t be enough to identify the killer. A lot of people would pass through there in a day and the air conditioning could have blown the hairs in from somewhere else.”

“If we end up with a list of 100 or even 1000, we can just investigate them all. Of course, it’d be our support team that did it.”

“Mugino, it wouldn’t be that many. The cleaning robots would pass through periodically, so we wouldn’t find anything from more than an hour before the killing.”

Kagiyama nodded with a smile.

“A-and how many people would that mean?”

‘Who knows. It’s not like we’ve taken exact statistics or anything, but if we assume not too many balding people were using the elevator, I’d guess ten at the most.”

“Ha ha. Oh, that’s good. Sounds like you can narrow it down a lot…”

The shotgun microphone on the table was still switched on. Saetani’s wireless earphone was still playing the distant conversation within the convenience store.

“Super by the way, what are we going to do about the support team’s equipment?”

“For now, put in an online order with this Armory person who 3D prints weapons. We’re in no position to make them ourselves right now.”

“Are guns made with craft plastic actually reliable? Are they sturdy enough?”

“Oh? So in the end, you’re worried about those delinquents now? You’ve grown. Then only order blades and blunt weapons from the Armory and order the more explosive toys from Wartime Arsenal.”

Frenda Seivelun was smiling with her laptop open in the convenience store’s eat-in section.

Kinuhata’s glum look changed to one of confusion.

“Why don’t you super order them?”

“Because I have a higher priority job to take care of.”

“?”

“In the end, it’s about you.” Frenda pointed straight at Kinuhata. “School starts after August, right? But in the end, you were trapped in a secret lab for so long you don’t have an academic history.”

“Now that you super mention it.”

“Your record will stand out as is, which could hinder your work on the dark side. It would be safer to rewrite some documents to make it ''look like'' you attend some school or another.”

“Even Mugino can’t super avoid stuff with her school, right?”

And so Frenda was writing a job order for some other sketchy worker.

“Kinuhata, I’ll have them make an ID for you, but in the end, is there a specific elementary school you want to go to?”

“I don’t care about the specifics, just super make it a middle school!!”

While those two were shouting in the convenience store, the voice on the phone was speaking calmly.

“Nineteen stab wounds makes for a fairly vigorous killing, but the culprit didn’t leave any sweat or saliva splattered on the floor. We can’t expect any hair either. If they were wearing a thin, foldable raincoat or windbreaker to keep the blood off, they would have had the hood over their head.”

No.

''That wasn’t true at all'', but Kagiyama had no reason to correct them.

Just knowing they hadn’t collected any hair from the floor was good enough.

“I wouldn’t expect any footprints either. Since this was right in front of an elevator, even with the cleaning robots, there would be far more footprints than fallen hairs.”

“And,” softly interjected Saetani. She knew the risks, but it was worth directing this conversation away from the truth. “Even if you did find some, shoe prints aren’t as decisive as fingerprints or DNA. You might not be able to track down the individual who bought the shoes if they were some cheap, mass-produced kind.”

“True,” said Kagiyama, trying to look helpful.

He had to resist striking a triumphant pose, but Item didn’t seem all that shocked.

They had only been reviewing the basics.

Mugino and Takitsubo looked like they were only now getting to the main thrust of the conversation.

Mugino glanced down at her phone.

Everything focused in on a single point.

“So ''the key is the murder weapon''.”

“Exactly,” said the voice on the phone. “Find that and everything standing in our way falls apart. It’s always like that. And once we know their identity, we can ''pursue them'' as much as we like. Since we do have the corpse, we can investigate the wounds and the knife to quickly determine if it was the one used.”

Quickly.

Determine.

“B-but wouldn’t the killer have been wearing gloves?” asked Kagiyama with a smile.

“''So what if they were''?” coldly replied the voice on the phone. She spoke more firmly than expected, preventing his interruption from guiding the conversation. “Gloves would only prevent us from getting fingerprints or a palm print. We could still tell where their hand touched it. ...Also, Mugino, if you’re going to recruit on-site help, you need to support them yourself. It’s always like this with you.”

Her tone was light, but that was a fairly stern warning.

“I’m only in charge of Item itself. Just like with the delinquents in your support team, it’s not my job to protect their information.”

“As if some evil-hearted member of the privileged class is going to protect anyone at all.”

A dangerous tension filled the air, but that wasn’t enough to make a Level 5 flinch.

Mugino rested her head in a hand, looking only half-convinced.

“Gloves, huh?”

“There were some pieces of leather less than a millimeter thick on the floor, so they probably wore cheap leather gloves,” said the voice on the phone. “And it was apparently the real stuff, not synthetic. With that kind, the surface cracks in no time at all. Now, since they were cheap, there are probably tons just like them around, so tracking down the killer through purchase records probably isn’t possible.”

“So we can’t get direct fingerprints and we can’t track the purchase of the gloves. Does that mean we’re looking for DNA? Like getting genetic information from sweat that soaked through the glove and onto the knife’s grip?”

Takitsubo used the corner of a neatly folded handkerchief to dab beads of sweat from Mugino’s cheek, leading to those two fighting over the handkerchief.

“Is that really possible?”

Kagiyama was trying to put on an act to draw out information, but this question was mostly a completely honest one.

He couldn’t be certain one way or the other.

Not when Academy City tech advanced far too quickly. Especially on the dark side.

Yesterday’s safe zone might not be so safe tomorrow.

“Probably not,” said the voice on the phone. “Extracting DNA from no more than sweat isn’t happening. What we would actually want are skin cells from more than a millimeter deep. Those would come comes off with the sweat, but the glove in the way would act like a filter to block it. Plus, leather repels water.”

“…”

This relief was like violence.

Melusine’s tear ducts nearly loosened. Even though she knew crying would give away the game.

But…

“Camera check, camera check.”

It wasn’t Mugino who jumped in surprise – it was Saetani.

She could see him, but she had ignored him. She must not have expected him to use it on her.

The target had to be looking at him without noticing what he was doing and the camera had to catch them in a compromising situation. If those conditions were met, the target’s body would be physically bound. Including on the level of pulse rate and perspiration.

That was Kagiyama Sasuke’s Bind Scoop.

For Saetani, tapping out Morse code on her companion’s back to communicate without Mugino and Takitsubo noticing counted as a compromising situation. Which meant Kagiyama was in position to threaten her.

“(Hey, what are you-?)”

“(You should thank me for being so cautious.)”

If he could keep Saetani’s tears from escaping, they could survive this.

But…

“Which is why the dark side’s video hunters ''use the bones''.”

The voice on the phone sent the conversation in another odd direction.

Kagiyama could feel the skin of his face going cold.

Blonde Saetani tried to recover her composure too quickly and failed.

“Bone- what?”

“I said we could find traces of the glove, right? We’ll check for those on the knife’s grip and use the distribution of the grip pressure to determine the shape of the culprit’s hand bones. That’s common practice in Academy City. Investigations are always like this.”

“Mugino, don’t the hand bones and joints have an especially complex structure for the human body?”

“Yeah, enough so that delinquents who don’t know what they’re doing will break their own fingers when they throw a punch.”

“Exactly,” said the voice on the phone. “Hand identification isn’t just done with the veins. With so much complexity in one place, it’s as possible to identify an individual from their hand bones as it is from their teeth☆”

After listening to all this and organizing her thoughts, Mugino spoke with her voice low.

“So that’s even more reason the murder weapon is our top priority.”

“What we’re looking for is pretty sharp and also heavy,” said the voice on the phone. “Maybe something like a big machete used to cut through the underbrush when hiking through the mountains, or a cleaver used to crush cow bones while chopping the meat? Whether it’s stainless steel or ceramic, it’ll be a sturdy, heat-resistant material, so it can’t be quickly eliminated in a fire like paper or plastic can be.”

“Academy City is a walled city, so it should still be somewhere in here. So would the best plan be a thorough search of trash dumps, rivers, and so on? Taking your time is the best shortcut to finding solid evidence,” said Saetani, praying it would turn out all right.

Item was close, but they were a little bit off-base.

Following this line of investigation would not lead them to the Frees. They wouldn’t expect for the murder weapon to be made from biodegradable plastic and to be slowly vanishing as they spoke.

Saetani had to calm them down.

She had to convince them they had plenty of time and then have them waste their time. As proven by the countless free-to-play online services, you could get people to waste any amount of time if you developed the right logic.

“Huh, they super sell nikuman at the end of August here? Is that cause this is Chinatown?”

“Munch, munch. In the end, I wonder if this really contains Hokkaido brand-name pork? Luckily, Frenda-chan has the forensic investigation kit needed to check its DNA map!!”

“Super cut it out.”

The convenience store conversation was still playing from Saetani’s wireless earphone thanks to the shotgun microphone.

Nothing she heard there seemed like it would lead to a solution.

But the lazy flow of time there could come in handy. With the scent of death so powerful in the gazebo, every little thing tended to make her panic and focus a little too hard. She did her best to feign normalcy and, when she couldn’t anymore, focused on those two chatting to help tap the brakes.

Takitsubo tilted her head.

“But we could be at a dead end if the knife has already been disposed of.”

“How would they do that with a metal knife? If they had the Meltdowner-level firepower needed to melt steel, they could have just used their power to kill her. I don’t get why they’d use some lame knife instead.”

“Mugino, no one said the knife had to be made of metal.”

Kagiyama’s heart leaped into his throat.

All of a sudden, they were approaching the truth.

These kinds of coincidences meant you could never relax when dealing with the dark side.

Kagiyama was soaked with sweat, but then something rested her head on his shoulder.

It was Saetani.

She tapped out a message on his back.

“(Calm down and suppress you emotions.)”

“…”

“(Take deep breaths. And focus on how often you blink. The stiffening in your cheeks isn’t worth worrying about. As long as you keep your eyes from wandering and your breath from catching, it shouldn’t be noticeable.)”

Her counseling was always perfect.

Because she could instantly scan the physical state of the target’s body and perceive their mental state.

Her Electro Reading let her “hear” the static electricity running along their skin to accurately detect the movement of their muscles and joints. And as long as she could hold her ear to their bare skin without rousing suspicion, she didn’t need the shotgun microphone.

And she was right.

This wasn’t over yet.

(They might suddenly get closer to the truth in theory, but we can still distance them from us. This isn’t over. We have nothing to fear as long as Item doesn’t discover anything definitive. As long as we can get through this and leave the gazebo, we’ll have a chance to take them by surprise.)

Mugino still didn’t understand, so she pouted her lips like a small child.

Kagiyama couldn’t have her getting any closer to the truth, so he chose to speak up here. That way he could direct their thoughts away from the truth. He couldn’t give them an answer – he could only give them a hint. It was important they were convinced they had thought it up themselves.

“So if it isn’t metal, could it be made of rock or glass?”

“Those have a melting point between 1400 and 1500 degrees, so there wouldn’t be much point.”

“Ehh? Then is there something else?”

Sulking Mugino was growing more childish by the second.

She rested her head on Takitsubo’s shoulder and pushed against the girl while giving her own thoughts.

“A knife carved from wood probably couldn’t slash, but it could be used to stab. And it could be easily disposed of in a fire. But that would only be a toy.”

“It could also be biodegradable plastic, Mugino. That might sound fancy, but you can use cream to make one in your kitchen. And that would be able to slash and stab.”

“…”

They were screwed.

If Kagiyama tried to say anything here, they were screwed for sure.

“But even if the knife is buried so it can degrade underground, the bloodstains won’t go away. So maybe the blade doesn’t have any blood on it? So maybe, Mugino, this was a remote attack that could damage the target by harming a doll or a picture?”

…''How good was this track suit girl’s intuition!?

Had she really arrived at the biodegradable plastic and the remote attack without any hints to guide her!?

Whether she was guessing or had some kind of power helping her, now that the idea was on the table, it couldn’t be ignored.

It took all of Kagiyama’s willpower to avoid glaring at her with bloodshot eyes. Once they were in position to attack from a safe position, she would be the first one they silenced.

Remote Murder.

The third member of the Frees was a freelance drone operator named Amekawa Souji. His power made it so striking or stabbing a target’s shadow with a weapon would apply the same damage to the target themselves. It technically used the idea that “the mind rules the body” to produce physical injury through the placebo effect or hypnotic suggestion. Once it was in effect, it would still work even if Kagiyama or someone else was the one doing the stabbing. It was easy to avoid once you knew how it worked, but no one would be expecting it the very first time. It was especially useful that no blood or flesh that could be used as evidence ended up on the murder weapon used to attack the shadow.

If only they could contact Amekawa Souji wherever he had gotten off to.

If only they could scatter the screws and nail in his box across the ground so the downpour of sharp weapons contacted Mugino Shizuri’s shadow.

Even that violent Level 5 would be killed instantly.

If they could only do that, it would be over all at once, so where was that guy right now!?

“(He might have seen what was going on in this gazebo from a distance and gone right back home. He does use drones, after all.)”

“(If he did, I am so killing him later.)”

Without speaking aloud, Kagiyama and Melusine conversed using their fingers on each other’s back. Knowing that freelance drone operator, that was a distinct possibility. Then again, maybe it was better for one of them to be hiding somewhere than for all three of them to be trapped here.

Across the table, Mugino frowned and lifted her head from Takitsubo’s shoulder.

The track suit girl looked a bit disappointed as she turned to face her.

“A biodegradable weapon, huh? I don’t like the sound of that. If they buried it, it’d slowly disappear on its own.”

Uh, oh.

They were gradually moving in the right direction.

“B-but.”

Kagiyama leaned forward.

He wanted to direct them to a different set of rails before they settled on this one. He wanted to guide them in the wrong direction.

“While this is a walled city, you might not find it even if you dug all through the city. It could be on private property, it could be in the sewers, or it could even be in a building if they used a potted plant. And if you are going to dig up everything, you’ll need some kind of paperwork giving a justification. I don’t know, maybe disposing of unexploded ordnance or repairing aging plumbing.”

“Not necessarily,” said the track suit girl, expressionlessly pointing somewhere nearby.

At the ground.

A few objects the size of tennis balls were scurrying around.

They were rodents. And not hamsters either. These were the uncute variety.

“Wah!?”

“They aren’t all that unusual in areas that serve food.”

Mugino jumped in uncharacteristic surprise, but Takitsubo didn’t seem to mind their presence.

In fact, she looked a little happy.

“Hee hee. I just found one of your weaknesses, Mugino. It can be our little secret.”

“Shut up. My Class Rep has told me way too many scary stories about rats. Like that they spread the plague and that they carry so many germs their bites are really dangerous. Apparently they even used to chew through the wiring in tanks, bringing them to a standstill. And if that Class Rep says so, it must be true!!”

“…”

Takitsubo used two sticks to pick up a filthy rat and tossed it at the Level 5. Mugino screamed.

She seemed annoyed her partner would trust anything her Class Rep said.

Then Takitsubo expressionlessly continued the conversation.

“There are different kinds of biodegradable plastic, ''but it can be made by chemically altering cream.'' And if it was made from that, it wouldn’t surprise me to find small animals can sniff it out. They can apparently dig up tissues and drink bottle lids from the bushes on the side of the road. And District 4 is far enough from the scene of the crime that the culprit might try to use a public space here to let the knife quickly degrade without creating any connection leading back to themselves.”

Mugino didn’t react at all to this explanation (because she had her feet pulled up onto the bench to keep herself as far away from the ground as possible), so Takitsubo tilted her head and used a stick to shoo the rats away.

Saetani spoke to the track suit girl bent over toward the ground.

“A-a stray dog might have buried some kitchen garbage. You might find something gross. And even if the killer did use biodegradable plastic, we don’t know if they used cream.”

“Any non-dairy ingredient would be hard to come by. And they wouldn’t have any reason to not use it.”

Takitsubo stuck the end of the stick into the ground and began digging.

Were the sounds of thin threads snapping coming from hair-thin grassroots?

Mugino looked puzzled, her feet still up on the bench.

“Wait, you’re really going to dig here? We don’t even know how deep the killer would have buried it.”

“It can’t be too deep if the rats could smell it.”

Mugino had nothing to do but didn’t want to stick her hand where the rats had been gathering, so she spoke as if to just fill time.

“So what, did they 3D print a knife using biodegradable plastic made from cream? Damn, anyone could acquire all of that, so it’ll be hard to track them down.”

“But, Mugino, what would they gain from killing the guitarist?”

“If they were professionals, they wouldn’t have cared who it was. There’s no point in taking a job that puts you up against someone else in your business because that only leads to unnecessary trouble.”

“If the killer themselves didn’t have a motive, maybe they were doing it for someone else,” softly suggested Saetani.

“You mean it was a hired killing?” asked Mugino and blonde Saetani nodded.

“But it might not have been spelled out so clearly. It’s possible the killer was moved to do something after seeing the poor people whose family members were killed,” added Saetani with a chuckle.

“Hm.” Mugino nodded (her feet still pulled up on the bench). “But if that’s why they killed the guitarist, they were pretty damn stupid.”

“?”

“I mean, think about it. No one asked them to do that and even the surviving family members told them not to, but the killer refused to listen. I’m not going to deny the fake news flooding the world is a problem, but dumbasses who can only view accurate information in a distorted light are an even bigger problem.”

Saetani poured all her willpower into keeping a straight face.

Kagiyama wondered if he had managed the same.

And eventually, Takitsubo came to a stop while using her stick to dig into the dark soil.

Kagiyama and Saetani had a very bad feeling about this, so they started to reach for their SLR camera and shotgun microphone on the table. Their hands collided.

“(Now is not the time to try for a bittersweet romance! And I haven’t forgotten you unhooked my bra earlier! Are you in love with me or something!?)”

“(Can’t you just let bygones be bygo- oh, no! We lost our chance!!)”

Her feet still pulled up onto the bench, Mugino peered down into the hole dug in the dark soil.

“I’ll be damned. There it is.”

===Part 6===

This was bad.

It could hardly be worse.

Kagiyama Sasuke understood this intellectually, but he still couldn’t make himself move.

He could only watch as the track suit girl wrapped a handkerchief around her hand and stuck her hand into the hole.

Takitsubo Rikou grabbed the grip and lifted an object up to eye level.

It was a weapon with one-sided blade measuring more than 30cm. It wasn’t made of metal, but it was still quite heavy. Because it was 3D printed, it was all one piece, from the tip of the blade to the bottom of the grip. It wasn’t multiple pieces held together with screws.

The white plastic knife had already started to crack.

It looked ready to fall apart at any moment.

“Whoa.”

“Tch. Don’t hurt yourself, Takitsubo. Having your DNA on it would only complicate matters.”

(That’s right. This isn’t over yet.)

Kagiyama did his best to catch Saetani Melusine’s eye.

(Don’t give it away! They haven’t completely identified their enemy yet!!)

The voice on the phone, who was apparently watching through the phone camera, sounded exasperated.

“Wait, really? I know the blade is the thinnest and most fragile part, but why does it have to be like this? If the bacteria eat away too much of it, we can’t compare it to the body’s wounds.”

“What about the glove marks? Y’know, how you said we could identify someone from the distribution of their hand bones.”

“We can try, but I’m not sure it’ll work. Since District 4 works with food, garbage-eating soil microbes are artificially disseminated there. If the surface of the grip’s been eaten away, the glove marks won’t be there anymore.”

“God, you’re useless.”

“Why is it always like this with you!?”

If no one were watching, Kagiyama might have high-fived his partner.

They’d won.

They’d escaped.

On instinct, Kagiyama reached for his SLR camera on the table. Not yet. Don’t smile yet. Once they were away from the gazebo, it would finally be their turn to attack.

(Top priority has to be Takitsubo Rikou since she’s too clever by half. Next would be Mugino Shizuri since she’s the most powerful. The other two I’ll kill using Amekawa’s power! I’ll stab them so many goddamn times for giving us so much trouble. We’re justice. We’re on the right side here. The Frees know when to use photos and when to use violence, so how could we ever lose to some villains who only know how to use violence!?)

Just then…

“The person who buried this knife is the one who killed the guitarist, right?”

“?”

Matching the knife to the body’s wounds and identifying the wielder’s hand bones from the glove marks on the grip would both be difficult.

But Takitsubo was looking at something else.

And she made it sound so simple and obvious.

“Then that settles it. We’ve caught the dark side killer.”

===Part 7===

“Super tah-dah! It’s a super dangerous criminal psychology quiz☆”

“Huh!? In the end, don’t just buy whatever magazines they have just cause you’re bored. The trick is to see how far you can get with the free services they offer, but here you are falling for the convenience store’s tricks!”

“How you answer these questions determines how much of a criminal you are. Super let’s see…”

“In the end, you need to listen to me…”

“Let’s go!! Question 1: Someone was murdered at an izakaya. But for some reason, a man who wasn’t even at the izakaya was arrested at his distant home. Now, why did Anti-Skill make this mistake?”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, should I super set a time limit for these questions?”

“''In the end, it’s cause that man ate yakiniku''.”

“…”

“Hey, what it is?”

“Um, uhh… I’m super not sure what to say…”

“Just give me the answer already. How much of a criminal am I, Kinuhat- hey, don’t just avert your eyes without saying anything!!”

===Part 8===

Takitsubo twirled her stick.

That was the one she had used to dig up the dark soil to reveal the white knife.

She poked at the knife’s grip with it.

And…

“Mugino, do you see ''this black stuff here''? ''I think it’s pieces of the leather glove.''”

“Oh.”

Without meaning to, Kagiyama made a sound instead of Mugino.

“''You can get DNA from animal cells the same as with human ones.''”

Hadn’t Frenda Seivelun made a fuss about that in the convenience store?

Something about using a forensic investigation kit to get the DNA map of the meat in her nikuman and see if it was really the advertised Hokkaido brand-name pork?

And the voice on the phone had said the DNA had to be taken from pieces of skin, not from the sweat itself. And what was leather?

“The biodegradable plastic itself will break down on its own while buried, but this stuff on the grip won’t. It will stay.”

The shotgun microphone left on the table sent the distant convenience store voices into Saetani’s ear through her wireless earphone.

“Pressure me all you want, that answer super isn’t in the magazine! It only gives things like he owed the victim money, he had a twin, or Anti-Skill is incompetent. How twisted a criminal are you if not even expert psychologists can measure your criminality!?”

“My answer was completely normal! In the end, you get hundreds of kilograms of meat from a single cow. All meat taken from the same cow will have the same DNA, so while the man was getting drunk at home, Anti-Skill assumed he had been at the izakaya!”

Whether or not she knew about this other conversation, Takitsubo expressionlessly spoke on much the same topic.

“I don’t know exactly how leather gloves are made, but I assume they use leather from the same animal for the outside and inside. So if anyone has pieces of leather with the same DNA as the pieces on the knife’s grip, we can conclude they were wearing the exact same glove.”

Kagiyama looked down at his hands.

The ends of his nails were a bit dark.

No, there was something underneath the very ends of his nails. Caught where washing his hands with soap wasn’t enough to get it out.

Mugino’s face went blank.

There was no smile in her eyes.

Not even a hint of one.

“Oh, really?”

Their eyes met.

Kagiyama averted his eyes. His face was covered in uncontrollable perspiration.

They didn’t even need to check the DNA.

===Part 9===

The dark side beasts climbed over the table to immediately attack.

===Part 10===

Mugino called the support team and had them clean up the bodies and bloodstains left around the gazebo.

“Ehh? In the end, you should’ve called me to join you if all that was going on.”

“Isn’t it a bad sign that the media was super sniffing around?”

Frenda and Kinuhata weren’t happy about being excluded.

“You seem to be acting like this over,” said the voice on the phone. “But weren’t there supposed to be three of them?”

“Hey. The last one was a drone operator, right? If they’ve vanished, they’ll probably start attacking us remotely, so where the hell did they get off to!?”

“''He’s right here.''”

Mugino was answered by someone to the side.

This was clearly an outsider.

A large object was tossed over. It was the upper half of a boy, which hit the top of the gazebo table and fell down to the ground, splattering red and black stains across the scene the support team had just worked so hard to clean.

Mugino glared over at whoever had done this and then froze.

This was unusual for her.

“''What...are you doing here?''”

“Grr.”

The low bestial growl sounded like a stray dog, but that was no dog. The partner accompanying the newcomer was a supposedly-extinct Japanese wolf.

“(Super what do you think about that?)”

“(You aren’t going to find a mysterious animal in this city of steel and concrete. In the end, it’s better to assume a stray dog’s DNA was messed with to force some atavism.)”

This person could toy with technology to that level.

They were undoubtedly part of the dark side.

The Japanese wolf’s master was a girl with long black hair. She looked to be high school age. Her busty body was contained by a white and blue short-sleeve sailor uniform with a pleated miniskirt. That was likely the uniform to some school or another. On her feet and legs, she wore white boots, special sock garters attached below the knee, and short black stockings. Above it all, she wore a thin coat and a hunting cap.

While it had cooled down a lot, it was still only late August. The inside of her coat had to be filled with electric cooling products and tools that violated anti-weapon laws.

“Mugino. Do you know her?” calmly asked Takitsubo.

The track suit girl may have been asking if this girl provided a service on the dark side, like an unlicensed doctor or a weapons dealer.

But looking back at Frenda and Kinuhata’s earlier conversation, there was another possibility.

Even if it was only to avoid having their records stand out, the Item girls were all enrolled in a school somewhere.

So…

“Shiratori Okibi. ''But you’re supposed to be the Class Rep at my ordinary school''!?”

And in response, the girl accompanied by a Japanese wolf laughed.

Shiratori Okibi.

[[Image:Item3 BW3.jpeg|Thumb]]

She was indeed the Class Rep with excellent grades.

“I am a detective.”

That was another stereotypical identifier.

It was another name for the justice that opposed all villains.

“And I’m also the loser who had her target – the Frees – stolen right before her eyes☆”

<noinclude>
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3

2025-03-03T19:02:11Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 14 */

==Chapter 3: The Dark Side Can Find a New Toy Among the Classics==

===Part 1===

Mugino Shizuri did have a school.

It was a cold and inhumane prep school.

She was an extremely poor fit for that school, but Academy City was a city of students and the esper development was only done for students. Even when operating on the dark side, it was worth being enrolled in a school and achieving the bare minimum of attendance so your official records didn’t stand out.

And there were only so many schools at which a Level 5 could be enrolled without “standing out”.

But she really did only complete the bare minimum.

She didn’t show up most days in any given week and it wasn’t uncommon for her to be out for the full week. She barely ever returned to the poorly-managed school dorm. Not even her own classmates knew what she looked like. At the most, they would be jealous of the privileges that came with being a Level 5. Mugino wasn’t going to approach them, obviously. Her black stockings clearly didn’t match the fresh look of her white short-sleeved sailor uniform. Anyone could tell she wasn’t even trying to make it look good. She didn’t even bother getting the right size of uniform. She had simply ordered one with the right waist measurement, so her large chest pulled it up enough to provide glimpses of her navel.

However, there was one exception.

One girl would rush over and speak to Mugino every time she saw her.

That girl was Shiratori Okibi.

“I am the Class Rep, after all. Of course I’m going to be interested in what’s going on with a student who almost never shows up.”

“Look at it logically. The care you take with your hair and nails tells me you aren’t hurting for money. By the way, what do you do on the days you aren’t at school?”

“Ehh!? You can’t carry such expensive perfume with you! It’d be a tragedy if the teachers confiscated it!”

She couldn’t have been more of a nuisance. Anyone on the dark side would only see a risk when someone got nosy about how they lived their lives. Even if they were only a worrier or curious.

Why did she have to get involved?

“To be honest, I’m something of a detective,” Shiratori Okibi had said with a grin.

Asking for advice could be a shortcut to a solution to all your problems, but it could also act as an Achilles heel.

Someone on the dark side would never even think of hiring such a talkative detective, but were ordinary people different?

“As Class Rep, I end up hearing a lot of people’s problems. So if you’re ever in real trouble, you can come to me. I’ll do anything to help you out!”

But something occurred to Mugino.

In her limited time at that school, where she couldn’t match a name to a face for any of the teachers or students, the one exception would be Shiratori Okibi.

She had a lot of useful acquaintances on the dark side.

But when she thought about it, that girl may have been her one and only “friend” outside of the dark side.

===Part 2===

It was early morning in the District 4 Chinatown.

Item and the detective were facing each other from opposite sides of the bloody gazebo.

“You might think deduction has no place in a world of DNA testing, security camera networks, and forensic investigation, but you would be wrong.” The detective girl laughed with a ferocious Japanese wolf by her side. “It comes in handy when shadier groups, who can’t make use of those public services, have to track down who killed one of their own or identify a traitor among them. Even this high-tech city has a lot of ''isolated places'' where the laws and regulations of the outside world have no power. As long as the demand remains, I’ll never be out of a job. It is kind of ironic that deduction has become a toy for the dark side though, isn’t it?”

This girl should not have been here.

Mugino was used to being at dark side crime scenes and she was used to seeing this Class Rep at school, but the combination of the two felt so wrong it rattled her.

“Surprised?”

Shiratori spoke in the exact same way she always did.

She sounded just like the usual Class Rep refusing to mind her own business in the sunny classroom.

“It’s not really that surprising you failed to notice who I am before. We belong to different worlds. We both work in the dark side, but logically speaking, I’m on the side of justice.”

“…”

“My job is to do the things that Anti-Skill and Judgment can’t. So I make sure I can’t be detected by the villains I track. As a detective who unilaterally pursues villains and brings a swift end to their criminal lives, I’d be out of business pretty quick if I let them pursue me instead.”

“In the end, why are you even here?”

“A detective is always pursuing a case.” Shiratori smiled confidently and glanced around the bloodstained gazebo table. “I can imagine this case is especially difficult for you. First the Sadistic Dolls assassins, then the Frees who kill with photos, and now me, a detective. We all belong to a different category than Item.”

Shiratori laughed a little and patted the faithful wolf’s head.

“I mean, of course, the category of justice.”

Something changed.

It was strange no sound at all came from Mugino’s face.

“Ha ha. Just hearing the word made you cringe. But whether you’re aware of it or not, I can tell that Item can never survive in that field no matter how many villains you kill.”

“You sound super confident in the strength of your justice. Seems odd for someone who killed the third member without turning herself in. Not to mention how you keep picking up and moving around the pieces of flesh lying around here.”

“I don’t want to hear that from the team that killed the first two.”

The detective seemed amazed they would even bring that up.

Her refusal to even make an argument for why she was right did sound like something an advocate of justice would do.

“But really, Item wasn’t supposed to even get involved in this one. Eliminating the Sadistic Dolls and their incomplete justice should have been a case of justice killing justice. Since that didn’t happen…hm, I wonder if there’s more to this.”

Detective Shiratori Okibi spoke to herself for a moment and then looked up again.

“Anyway, there really isn’t much for me to do at this point. The Frees...oh, that’s the three corpses packed in plastic over there. I had hoped to speak with their leader, but you were a step ahead of me.”

The detective looked troubled. But her regret was on the level of finding the eggs on sale at the supermarket were sold out.

“So I’m done here. But if you will give this detective some time, I can logically organize the data on this case you’ve been caught up in.”

“Hold on.”

Sounding exasperated, Mugino took a step forward.

She didn’t know Shiratori’s situation here, but if she was in the same business, Mugino had no reason to hold back. She could tear apart and eliminate this girl with Meltdowner at any time.

Yes, she could do it.

As long as she cast aside the humanity she was meant to direct toward the Class Rep at her ordinary school.

“Do you really think we’re just gonna wait here until you’re gone? You’re not some ninja who can throw a smoke or flash bomb to escape. In real battle, the hardest thing to do is safely escape when you’re at the disadvantage.”

“Oh, right. You seem to be coming up with some conspiracies related to the Sadistic Dolls, but your voice on the phone wasn’t hiding their personal information just to be mean or anything. She really did look it into and really didn’t find anything.”

Mugino’s silence grew more piercing.

Several points here kept her from laughing it all off.

That Shiratori knew Item had been pursuing the Sadistic Dolls.

The mention of the voice on the phone.

And a claim to understand what the voice on the phone had been doing when even Item wasn’t aware of that.

Shiratori put on an innocent smile.

She saw right through Mugino’s thoughts.

“Ah ha ha. You think I’m bluffing? I guess I can’t prove any of it while you’re trapped in that labyrinthine case.”

“You bitch.”

“Oh, trying to provoke me?”

The black-haired detective girl laughed and muttered something under her breath.

A moment later, a massive wall of flames rushed toward Item.

The first to react was Kinuhata with Offense Armor. She kicked one of the pillars supporting the gazebo, breaking it and causing the entire roof to collapse.

That acted as a shield to protect the four of them.

The flame wall split to the sides because explosive blasts took the path of least resistance.

But that was all Kinuhata managed. They detected the sounds and smells of their support team being roasted.

A smiling voice arrived from beyond the thick orange wall.

“Don’t assume all I can do is create fire anywhere I want with pyrokinesis. Rush in with that shallow an understanding and you will die.”

“Kh.”

Meltdowner could not deflect a wall of fire.

Mugino could shoot right through the wall, but was Shiratori really where her voice was coming from? It was possible she had threatened some innocent person to hold a speaker or mobile device there.

“(Takitsubo, where is she? Can you sense anything at all!?)”

“(Can I use Body Crystal?)”

“You don’t need to do that. It’s a real burden on your body, isn’t it?” interrupted Shiratori.

Did she have good ears, or had she predicted what they would be thinking and doing?

“Don’t contact me – I’ll contact you. I said I would logically organize the data on this case if you gave me time, didn’t I? I am a detective, after all.”

Her presence grew more distant.

Mugino clicked her tongue, aimed her palm toward the wall of fire, and then stopped.

She heard something like a train’s metal wheels slotting into the rails.

“Like I said, I’m done here. It might be summer break, but that doesn’t mean anything to those businessmen in suits. Rush hour will be starting soon and I can’t exactly say I’m working for justice if I get ordinary people caught up in this. What about you on the villain side?”

Shiratori’s playful tone said she really was leaving.

Item still hadn’t discovered the details of her power. Which meant she may have been able to reduce Item’s numbers by catching them by surprise.

“Where should we meet up!?” shouted Mugino.

“Use some deduction. Start by investigating me.”

===Part 3===

The four members of Item moved to District 7.

Their support team had been completely wiped out, but they had needed to move away from the scene. So now they were gathered in a laundromat. However, this was not a cheap place full of industrial washing machines meant for baseball uniforms stained by sweat and dirt. It was a new rest spot that included a clean and trendy cafe.

Item was in the cafe space that had a thick glass wall between it and the laundromat space lined with industrial washing machines. The only thing that really differentiated it form an ordinary cafe was the LCD monitors hanging from the ceiling displaying the customer numbers whose laundry had recently finished.

The “women only” sign out front may have helped explain the sweet aroma filling the cafe-style waiting area as well as the fairly risque underwear and negligees spinning within the industrial washing machines. Some people were even washing a maid uniform with an exceptionally short skirt (perhaps for handing out tissues on the street corner) and a strange combination of a school swimsuit and an apron.

However…

“Mugino, no falling asleep.”

“Why the hell not!? What, do you want attention!? I’m sleeping! It takes 80 minutes for the full washing and drying cycle!”

Thanks to dealing with the overtime stalkers known as the Frees, Item had been out working at four in the morning. The dark side wasn’t supposed to be so hard working. It didn’t take a Mugino to be sleepy and irritable and she was even more irritable than that.

August 30 had still only just begun.

Kinuhata was resting her head on a makeshift pillow made by balling up a track suit she borrowed from Takitsubo. Mugino wasn’t wearing any shoes as her legs swayed below the table. The girls were more than ready to get some sleep.

But.

“If we don’t collect our laundry within half an hour after it’s done, the people in charge will take it out to free up the limited number of machines. If we all oversleep, we could lose the rest of our clothes.”

Silence fell.

A new source of conflict had presented itself.

“Sounds to me like one of us needs to stay awake.”

“Yeah, but which one?”

The girls at the table glared at each other. They all wanted some sleep. They might as well have been choosing their human sacrifice.

“I say we decide based on how much help we were today! Takitsubo and I fought the Frees outside that convenience store. Now, Kinuhata, what were you doing then? Oh, right. You were wasting your time at the eat-in section, so you’re it. I’m sleeping!!”

“Super wait! This District 7 laundromat was my hideout to begin with. If we’re talking about being helpful, you should be super thanking me!!”

“Kinuhata, I took the number up and carried the curry rice back from the counter.”

“In what world is that equivalent!? Besides, that was super your own curry, Takitsubo-san! Super why are you eating curry so early in the morning anyway!?”

“Hm? It’s standard fare for hotel breakfasts.”

With that expressionless comment, Takitsubo got to work with her silver spoon. And she had a reason for that choice. While this was a cafe, they couldn’t pass the time drinking coffee or tea. They all wanted to get some sleep right away, so ingesting anything with caffeine would be like a death sentence.

“I-I’m going to fall asleep like this! My head feels so heavy! Super someone talk to me! If you don’t give me an endless topic to focus on, our laundry is doomed!”

“Shut up. You and Takitsubo can play that rock-paper-scissors impressions game or…oh.”

“Mugino?”

Mugino had trailed off oddly.

She must have remembered who had taught her that game. And that girl being from her school was no longer a reason to trust her.

Detective Shiratori Okibi.

After some silence with an unreadable expression, Mugino collapsed down onto the table.

“…I’m sleeping.”

“This tyrant just super changed the rules on us.”

“Mugino is conflicted about a lot of things.”

“That solemn mood super isn’t fooling me. You don’t get to just declare the rules don’t apply to you!”

Item had no choice but to choose from the overpriced orange juice and light meals on the menu. The cafe didn’t even try to hide the 2-liter paper packages in the freezer behind the counter. Mugino had expensive tastes but wasn’t the type to spend money on just anything, so her bitter mood was only getting worse. And at this point, she just wanted to go to sleep.

Suddenly, Kinuhata realized one person hadn’t been a part of all this commotion.

“Huh? Super where is Frenda-san?”

“She’s probably experiencing her own hell in the sunny side of the world.”

===Part 4===

Frenda Seivelun’s soul had partially left through her mouth.

That was no exaggeration. Her eyes really had rolled back in her head.

She was in an elementary school dorm in District 13. Were all the stuffed animals and character products her little sister’s taste, or were they all things Frenda and others had bought her because they thought that was what little kids liked? A goldfish and a rhino beetle lived in the room too and the study desk contained a notebook, math drills, a textbook, and a morning glory observation journal.

That was all summer homework.

However, Frenda’s homework did not include a morning glory observation journal. It all belonged to her first grade sister.

“See, in the end, I told you this would happen. And I even told you I wouldn’t be helping you.”

“In the first place, you told me not to go crying to you when August 31 rolls around. Today’s the 30th, so I haven’t broken my promise yet!”

This little sister was awfully clever for a 7-year-old.

The dark side older sister was mildly worried.

The younger sister tilted her head.

“In the first place, why are you holding me from behind?”

“Because I know you’ll make a getaway if I don’t have you in my lap like this. In the end, I don’t like the look of those outdoor shoes you have ready to go over there.”

“Heh heh. Today I get the best seat in the house☆”

And so Frenda had her arms around her little sister’s hips to hold her in place like a thrill ride’s safety bars. This was a sign of mistrust because she assumed the younger sister would try to escape from the balcony given half a chance, yet the younger sister leaned back against her and kicked her legs like she was seated in the most comfortable throne.

“I notice you’ve barely even started on it. Why didn’t you do any homework until today?”

“I meant to.” The 7-year-old princess pouted her lips in her sister’s lap. “But there were so many days when I didn’t have time to do that day’s amount. So my plans to do it little by little kept falling apart.”

So she had a plan but had overestimated how much she could do in a day.

Frenda was exasperated as her little sister continued.

“But, but! I kept my Sundays open as a catch-up day, so I should have been able to make up for all of that.”

Choosing Sunday for that kind of insurance had been a mistake. Even during summer break, the school schedule had imprinted her with the idea that Sunday was a day off. It was rare to be able to stay focused on work on that day.

“And the next thing I knew, it was hopeless.”

The younger sister had tears in her eyes.

Then she extended her legs and shouted in desperation.

“In the first place, it’s not my fault!! It’s summer break’s fault for being so much fun!!”

“In the end, I can tell you’re racing down a path everyone has to go down eventually.”

At any rate, she had to get that homework done.

That she had called on her big sister now had to be a sign of trust. Frenda reached her arms under her little sister’s to divide up the mountain of homework and textbooks on the desk.

“Okay, I’ll do this arithmetic for you, so you write out these kanji.”

“ ‘Write your name in kanji.’ ...In the first place, how am I supposed to do that?”

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl with an all-alphabet name was at a loss.

Elementary school arithmetic problems weren’t actually all that difficult, but there were a lot of them. And as she went through doing those ultra-simple calculations over and over again, Frenda grew less and less certain of the Japanese she was looking at. She was experiencing some real gestaltzerfall. She was also under a lot of pressure because getting even one first grade problem wrong would damage her honor as the big sister.

(Oh, no, no, no. In the end, doing this over and over is like packing parts in boxes on a factory conveyor belt. I’m feeling dizzy already.)

Then a new stimulus arrived. The little princess pulled out a tape measure. To make sure the 7-year-old didn’t cut her fingertips, the school had given her a cloth one rather than a metal one.

“I have to measure my body too!”

“?”

“For the summer break growth chart.”

…Had that 7-year-old really grown as much as the morning glory vine?

Frenda wasn’t certain, but it was too late now. She decided to measure the younger sister’s current height and then make up weekly numbers going back to the start of the break. As long as it didn’t end with the girl being shorter than she was during the 1st term, no one would know the difference.

The little sister was released from the “throne” so she could stand by the wall to be measured.

“Okay, in the end, stand tall and I’ll get you measured. Stay right there.”

“Nhh.”

“No, don’t stand on your toes.”

Frenda had thought only the athletic boys thought being taller was better, but was she wrong about that? She couldn’t remember what life had been like back when she was 7.

“In the first place, I’m as slim as a supermodel.”

“If you say so.”

Where had she learned that term?

Then the 7-year-old began playing with the cloth tape measure. She wrapped it around and around herself.

“In the end, what are you doing?”

“This is what grownups do. It’s called taking your measurements!”

Frenda decided to just watch as her 7-year-old sister had her fun.

She knew there was nothing grownup about that measuring tape mummy.

===Part 5===

When Frenda returned to the laundromat before lunch, it was finally time for a strategy meeting.

Mugino was holding a bowl of cold miso soup that seemed out of place at a Western-style cafe. It may have been part of a fair or collab. Frenda had recommended the grilled mackerel pieces as a topping, but that hadn’t appealed to Mugino.

“Now we need to decide what to do.”

“You super mean about that detective?”

Kinuhata was staring at her phone, which was tilted on its side, but this didn’t meant she had traded her love of movies for playing mobile games. She was apparently watching a VRTuber who specialized in recommending minor films.

Kinuhata made a suggestion to the rest while viewing the screen.

“She said to use deduction, right? But if we just do what she tells us to, I feel like we’ll fall right into a trap even if we do run into her again.”

Of course, contacting her public phone number or visiting her official address probably wouldn’t help.

The situation with that detective wasn’t quite the same as with the Sadistic Dolls and the Frees. Because she hadn’t killed someone in front of Item or stolen one of their targets from them.

That said, it was unknown how many lives she had taken in secret and that she didn’t kill anyone yesterday was no guarantee she wouldn’t do so tomorrow.

Besides, they couldn’t ignore her as long as she had information on Item.

“In the end, are we really going to meet with her?” asked Frenda, looking skeptical. She seemed to be saying this was the main topic here. “What was the name of that third Frees member?”

“It was Amekawa Souji, Frenda.”

“Right, that’s it, Takitsubo. In the end, we had asked our support team to dispose of him, but then that detective comes in and throws his corpse at us. So how exactly did Shiratori Okibi steal that corpse from our support team?”

“According to the support team, they were loading it into a van parked on the curb when a bunch of water rushed in and swept them and the van away.”

“That’s different from the wall of fire we saw,” noted Mugino.

Her head was lowered and her voice was even lower than usual.

''“Don’t assume all I can do is create fire anywhere I want with pyrokinesis. Rush in with that shallow an understanding and you will die.”

That hadn’t been a simple bluff.

Mugino didn’t recall seeing that kind of power at school either. Shiratori Okibi’s power was supposed to be Level 3 Impact Compressor. It should have only let her manipulate the air to hammer in nails without the use of an actual hammer.

Had she been hiding it?

Had she intentionally fooled Mugino. While smiling and calling herself a harmless Class Rep?

Had she been looking down on Mugino while knowing she was from the dark side?

“In the end, that isn’t the worst part about that demonstration.”

Mugino had been fooled during the school life she had thought was only camouflage.

What did Frenda think of seeing Mugino so out of sorts? There was a hint of exasperation in her gaze as she shrugged and spoke.

“That she only had the top half of the corpse is fine. Mugino’s Meltdowner isn’t the only source of high firepower. But in the end, we checked and found that idiot’s right thumb had been cut off. That sounds pretty intentional, don’t you think? We’d be in a lot of trouble if she sent that to Anti-Skill. That detective’s the one who killed Amekawa, but an investigation of that will mean more people looking into the two Mugino killed.”

The members of Item were not jidaigeki samurai or western gunmen, so to stay safe they had to retrieve the bodies of those they killed and keep them from ever being discovered. Having a body meant to be disposed of stolen and then having a part removed wasn’t an immediate threat, but it did mean trouble.

Justice.

Detective Shiratori Okibi.

She knew the last thing a dark side criminal would want.

Takitsubo emotionlessly tilted her head.

“But she didn’t threaten us, did she?”

“She’s not that stupid. She seemed aware of the voice on the phone, remember? She knows there would be pressure on Anti-Skill to stop an investigation if she did try to send them after us. And no matter how well she disguises the route she uses to send in the evidence, there’s always a risk of it being traced back to her, so she can’t be careless.”

“So is she still super thinking up a way to use it?”

Once her various calculations were complete, that detective probably wouldn’t hesitate to act. And whatever she did would be so much trouble for the voice on the phone that she might stop protecting Item.

Mugino breathed a heavy sigh.

“I don’t know how long we have, but we should come up with a decision fast. We’re dead if we give that detective time to work with.”

“In the end, what would happen if Shiratori Okibi got desperate and just sent the thumb in?”

“It’s no problem for us if it fails. We’d owe the voice on the phone a big favor, but it’s better than making an enemy of ''all the higher ups''.”

That settled it.

It wasn’t like Item to flee from the darkness for fear of a scandal.

Their style was to make the enemy rue the day she acquired any information on them.

And they did have some information to work off of.

Shiratori Okibi was enrolled in the same school as Mugino, so the detective had to see September 1 as a deadline. If she hadn’t left the school or dealt with Mugino by then, she would have no way of keeping herself safe.

Just like Mugino.

(So something will happen before then.)

Today was the 30th. Mugino thought for a bit.

“First, I want to know who this detective really is.”

“Hm? Isn’t she your classmate Shiratori Okibi?” asked Takitsubo.

“''Have you forgotten how many times we’ve been fooled by special makeup''? I want an expert to confirm it.”

So after making some arrangements by phone, they walked to District 9. It was blazing hot outside, so Frenda was in an especially smug mood thanks to her personal mist shower parasol. The strange atmosphere of this district was a lot more obvious when walking outside than when they took the subway before.

“This heat is making me sweat.”

“Mugino. In the end, your bra’s showing through☆”

Three Judgment girls were gathered together in that district of anime-style primary colors. They were attaching fliers to the wind turbine supports. Was that part of their official duties? Frenda glanced over and, to her surprise, discovered they were missing person posters.

They must not have been having much luck because the girls huddled together to discuss something.

“Hey, Erina-chan. Can’t you find the answer real quick with your Precognition?”

“Hwehh? I-it’s not that simple. If I could choose what to see with my power, I wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble at that colosseum or that casino.”

“Right, didn’t you say you had predicted a giant meteor crashing into the Earth thirty thousand years from now? And some small thing you did changed the future to avoid it, so now there’s no way of knowing if the original prediction was even accurate? Sigh, not often I come across an ESP power even less convenient than my Clairvoyance.”

Item’s destination was the General Tower for Next-Generation Information and Arts at the center of the cityscape.

That was the Moe Bells they had visited before.

Takitsubo gave an expressionless look to the girl holding a parasol indoors.

“Frenda, people don’t like your parasol. You’re gathering a lot of attention.”

“?”

“Didn’t you say it’s a personal mist shower? They’re super putting up posters and life-size cardboard ads in front of the stores, so they probably don’t like moisture much. Even though their usual clientele are so sweaty.”

At one end of a floor full of anime and game production companies was a VRTuber streaming studio. It contained a classroom-sized studio, an A/V mixing room of the same size located beyond thick soundproof glass, and a refrigerated room full of computers the size of vending machines.

That was the stronghold for a certain video investigator.

“Whaddya want?”

Item was greeted by a stubbly young man wearing an obscene T-shirt and well-worn jeans. He held a nearly-used-up cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

As the newest member, Kinuhata must have been the only one to never meet him before. She stared in shock at the giant poster on the wall and at the stubbly man.

“Eh!? Isn’t this the super VRTuber streaming studio? Don’t tell me Natsuno Cacao from the minor movie recommendation channel is actually you…”

“Ha ha. No, I’m just the choreographer. This here’s a recycling plant for idol voice actors who’ve screwed up so bad it’s best not to mention their stage name anymore.”

Maybe it came with being from the dark side, but the young man smiled and described the place in a very uncharitable way.

“You used to work out of District 15, since all the TV stuff is there.” Mugino sounded displeased. “You should’ve contacted us if you were going to move.”

“TV isn’t the center of the moe world anymore, you see. But if you’re this pissed off, you must have a rush job for me as a video investigator.”

The way the man in the obscene T-shirt and jeans grinned made Mugino click her tongue and toss him a flash memory the size of a lipstick tube. Her crisis management skills weren’t so bad she would give a data expert her phone.

The video investigator caught it in one hand and shoved a younger video staff member aside.

“I’ll be using this console. ...Wait, you idiot!? Why are you making little adjustments here!? The jiggle needs to come from the spine, not the chest! Our job is to adjust the values when the raw motion data actually looks more fake. The key to popularity is whether the girl on the screen’s flirting looks natural or not. If you can’t sense any weight behind the movement, then everyone just sees it as a bunch of data no matter how much money we spent on a high-quality model!!”

Some nonsensical complaints echoed through the room.

“This sounds silly now, but we might be in trouble if AI takes over one of these, declares itself a superhuman god, and gets really popular,” said Takitsubo with a sigh.

“Eh? I thought the AI MO was to attack with a rebel army full of super machos. I super haven’t seen any movies about the apocalypse happening because the machines were so cute humanity just let them take over.”

The man inserted the flash memory into the filming equipment console, extracted the video on it, and looked to one of the many LCD monitors.

“Hm. You have her face and voice, but you still can’t tell who she is? And so you decided to rely on me?”

“Can you tell anything from her bones?”

In addition to their face and fingerprints, people could be identified by how they stood and their stride.

VRTuber motion capturing was a technology involving human movements. If the skeleton and joints didn’t behave properly, the models couldn’t behave cutely and their dancing would just look creepy.

However…

“There are signs of alterations.”

“…”

“I’m not finding anything searching dental records and I have no matches from the random facial recognition at automatic registers. Either she takes great care of her teeth and avoids sugary drinks, or she periodically randomly updates her teeth and bone structure.”

There were stories of a runaway criminal intentionally removing one of their back teeth in a desperate attempt to avoid this kind of search, but frequently remaking your entire body was rare even for the dark side.

An unlicensed doctor they knew had the following to say when they contacted her through a social media counseling service: “Well, you did say she’s skilled enough to mess with a dog’s genes enough to make a Japanese wolf out of it, so I could see her messing with her own teeth and bones to avoid having her personal information tracked.”

Frenda frowned.

“In the end, she attends a normal school, right? Then she must be in the Bank.”

“Mugino. If the same ID had its skeletal structure change that many times, it would trigger a data alteration alert. Since that hasn’t happened, could she ''have the technology to return her bones to normal'' when she gets her official measurements taken?”

Then who was she really?

Was the Class Rep frequently altering her bones, or had a complete stranger taken on the Class Rep’s skeletal pattern ''as a disguise''?

The video investigator shrugged.

“If the trail goes cold tracking down the individual, you can always search their base. You can gather up all the paper and data in her room and follow the money, such as how she’s renting the room.”

“…”

“There must be something. You have this video, so there could be something she says or does that hints at where she’s from.”

===Part 6===

“Come to think of it, what is your dream?”

Shiratori Okibi had asked that question in an afterschool classroom dyed orange by the setting sun.

Mugino had calculated out the bare minimum number of days she had to show up at school, so she didn’t know her classmates’ names, or even her teacher’s name. That wasn’t a problem if they didn’t care about her either, but unfortunately the Level 5 brand name held a lot of weight at this ordinary school.

“Um, you actually take having a dream seriously?” asked Mugino, looking exasperated.

“My point is you have to write one down on your future plans form.”

So the problem was with the school. This was supposed to be a prep school, so Mugino felt like they should be gathering some more valuable data on their students.

Shiratori grinned.

“To give you an example, my dream is to become an even better detective. I don’t want to be a novice or a hobbyist. I want to use my logic as an actual job.”

“A professional detective, huh? Do you actually know what that job would entail?”

“Ah ha ha. I know it probably wouldn’t mean dramatically solving locked room and timetable mysteries.”

Shiratori laughed bashfully and dropped the topic. She appeared to know that the most common job for Academy City detectives was to tail spouses and romantic partners suspected of infidelity.

“But I’d be able to do so much more if I had a real title. Some things are out of reach when you’re only a hobbyist, but that would change if I was a pro.”

“Such as?”

“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

“…”

“I don’t know what kind of world you’ve gotten yourself involved in! But I can tell you have something going on outside of school and I can guess that it isn’t anything as peaceful as working part-time at a convenience store after school.”

If she had really known, it all would have ended back then.

That dream was only valuable because it was so awkward and unrealistic.

In a peaceful school classroom with no connection to the dark side, Shiratori laughed.

“Hee hee. So I will bring you back into the light of the sun and make an honest person out of you!”

===Part 7===

“Oh? And so you decided to visit my ''classroom''?”

That statement was enough to bring a dangerous tension to the air.

It came from a woman in her 20s wearing a kimono. If she were seated in a tearoom making matcha with a tea whisk, she would have looked graceful.

Instead, she stank of death.

Frenda was a battle-loving bomber, but even she straightened her spine.

Mugino looked exasperated.

“You do know she’s a murder virgin, right?”

“I do intellectually, but in the end…”

“She’s just giving off that aura with her mannerisms and breathing. But if she can fool a pro, maybe she deserves to be a manners teacher.”

The “manners classroom” was contained in an old-fashioned house just like tea ceremony and flower arrangement classrooms tended to be. It was about creating an image and that had to be the most convenient image for gathering clients.

They were actually in a high-tech skyscraper in District 3 that stood well above the many wind turbines.

More accurately, an entire old-fashioned house, complete with garden, had been transferred to the roof of the skyscraper.

The beautiful woman in a kimono gave off a dangerous air.

…Although Mugino actually found herself relaxing because it felt so much like home. The Mugino family was a gang with a mixture of Japanese and Western styles, like something out of a romanticized look into the Meiji or Taisho era. It was a strange universe where fancy doll dresses and kimonos could be worn side by side without feeling odd.

“Look here.”

Mugino had handed over the same flash memory she had given the VRTuber video investigator, so the woman indicated a point on her tablet.

“Do you see how she takes a step back and moves her fingertips when she nods? Ordinarily, you focus on someone’s face when they lower their head, but this uses that fact to send a signal to anyone who understands that.”

This manners classroom was in fact a place for revealing the signs used by criminal organizations.

If you paid enough, she would apparently even design signs for you to use. She may have been something like the professionals who designed celebrity signatures.

“There are also times while she talks where she switches from her normal nose breathing to mouth breathing. That is another sign. By using the switching points as a dividing line like with Morse code, she is including a completely different text into her conversation.”

Mugino frowned.

“And who exactly uses that kind of sign?”

“The Human Bike Delivery Service.”

That answer came easily.

“The sign to their office is so bland it’s easy to overlook, but they are actually a go-between for illegal part-time work. They also act as a collection service that brings together multiple loan sharks and handles the cases that are in over their head in debt. They’re experts at dealing with the people who are stuck without any money to pay back. They do this by keeping their distance and ordering those people to go and rob a jewelry or watch store.”

As a fellow dark side worker, Mugino had recognized the name.

“That would mean our detective’s base is in District 16.”

===Part 8===

Just like bike shops tended to be near elementary and middle schools, like florists tended to be near hospitals, and like ramen shops and other restaurants that used their large serving sizes as a selling point tended to be near schools strong in athletics, there was an ideal location for every business.

Detectives tended to deal with the more unseemly side of humanity, such as infidelity and inheritance issues, so if they wanted customers, they would naturally set up shop in a district closely related to human desires.

Academy City’s entertainment district in District 16 was the most obvious example there.

The office contained a large potted plant, a business desk, a glass reception table, a leather sofa, and a fairly expensive coffee maker.

The image of a detective’s office must not have changed much since the time of old dramas. It had ended up like this by asking the interior decorator to “make it look like a detective’s office”. On the other hand, it also looked a lot like a collection of the unsold office supplies in a wholesaler’s warehouse.

Who could have predicted the sofa would have a blanket rolled up on it because it had been more or less turned into a bed? The silver metal bag on the floor was a simple forensics kit and there was a surveillance drone too. But if you wanted to use those toys at the scene of the mystery, it was better to hire an expert.

The calendar on the wall indicated plans to rent a consumer electronics accident investigation lab. That would be for reproducing large-scale physical tricks.

Although with a detective, that was less about using a specific gimmick yourself and more about understanding exactly how all of the devices worked to simulate malicious ways a criminal might use them.

However, none of that was the office’s most notable trait.

Everything was covered.

Photos and handwritten memos weren’t just pasted all over a wall – they covered the floor and ceiling too. They were all linked by colorful string, to visualize how it was all connected.

One clump was formed from photos of the five members of the Sadistic Dolls and a memo written by someone at their company.

Another clump included photos of the science cult leader and the Clone Complex agricultural building.

Photos of the four Item members were located between those two clumps.

A short distance away were the three Frees.

A few colorful strings extended from there, but were not yet connected to anything.

(My deadline is probably September 1. Logically speaking, it’s just not possible for us to pretend to be friends in class now that we both know each other’s identity. We need to settle this one way or another during August.)

…Oddly enough, Mugino organized information in much the same way when she was pursuing a case. It was unclear which one took after the other, though.

“Hm, hm♪”

The detective was nude. She had just taken a bath. There was a door leading to all the rooms with running water: kitchen, bathroom, and bath. She took a sip of the cold coffee left on the table and then searched for a snack to help settle her stomach.

Sensing food, the Japanese wolf looked up from the cushion on the floor she had been boredly lying on.

The first to solve a mystery left by a wealthy old man would receive his full inheritance, but instead of a giant pile of cash, that inheritance turned out to be a Japanese wolf and some atavism research notes. The romantic of an old man apparently thought something that couldn’t be converted into a pile of cash was a much greater treasure. The family members who had been fighting so ruthlessly before were suddenly in complete agreement that they didn’t want the wolf, so the hired detective had taken it.

The black-haired girl wearing only the towel over her wet hair opened the fridge and bent over to look inside.

“Ugh, someone ate all my food. Was the culprit me? No, I could never keep this lovely figure if I’d eaten all that ham and bacon. Which can only mean...hmm.”

Shiratori Okibi muttered to herself while directing a magnifying glass toward the fridge.

Technically, that was a multipurpose scanner with the rim packed full of 2mm cameras and sensors. It could zoom in and out and it could also visualize all sorts of data: fingerprints, bloodstains, footprints, sweat and saliva spray, and more.

She started by setting the wavelength to 385 and 455 nanometers. This revealed a trail of something being dragged out of the fridge.

There were signs of plastic wrappers being torn open on the floor.

Following the trail further led Shiratori to peer between the large potted plant and the wall where the ham and bacon wrappers had been roughly shoved.

The towel-head girl gave a single large nod.

The culprit was her assistant.

The truths revealed by a detective were always a source of sorrow.

“Rozeki! Dammit, you can try to hide it, but I can still see what you did with the ALS!!”

The Japanese wolf tried to play it dumb, so Shiratori hugged her in the nude and rubbed her cheek against her, making her yelp pitifully. Not only was Shiratori’s skin and hair wet, but the wolf didn’t like the overly sweet scent of the body soap and shampoo.

In the world of deduction, you could never say never.

Dogs and cats could operate doors and faucets with surprising skill and they could even press a button on a TV or AC remote. Of course, it was impossible to say what Japanese wolves were capable of due to the extremely limited sample size.

After completing the wolf’s punishment with a smile, (naked) Shiratori Okibi removed her face from the fluffiness.

“Okay, Rozeki, let’s head out and buy some food at the cheap place.”

“Woof!” happily barked the wolf. Rozeki preferred discount stores to convenience stores and supermarkets because of all the pet food and toys available there. One enormous store in particular had practically become a landmark in this entertainment district.

Shiratori tossed the towel from her head and changed into the bare minimum of going-out clothes. The combination of the special below-the-knee sock garters and short black stockings was stylish and cute, but it was a pain to put on. If she wasn’t careful, she would end up with runs in the stockings. She hesitated on the choice between leather shoes or boots but chose the boots.

“Staying stylish as a girl costs so much money, time, and work.”

She grabbed her phone and accessed the school phone tree group on social media. That she remained in good standing at school showed she was better than Mugino Shizuri at maintaining both sides of her life.

Summer was ending soon. She had to really start thinking about September 1 now.

(I’ll be busy again once the break ends. Then again, school is a treasure trove of jobs people can’t go to anyone else with.)

Shiratori left her detective office with Rozeki the Japanese wolf.

The detective office was located in a filthy multi-tenant building in the entertainment district full of neon and LCD signs. It had a sex establishment and a consumer finance office as neighbors. Other establishments in the building were a pawn shop that primarily bought furniture and tools off of debt-collectors and a mobile phone shop that used phone repairs as a cover for stealing people’s personal information. All the strange additions to the building made it hard to navigate.

“Yawwn. Mornin’, Miss Detective.”

A busty young woman wearing a thin camisole rubbed her eyes sleepily while staggering down the narrow hallway. How busty was she exactly? Over 100cm. While Shiratori hadn’t lifted the camisole to check, she suspected there was no underwear underneath.

The woman was a sex worker who worked in this building.

“Huh? I didn’t realize you started work this early.”

“There’s a space to take naps in the back. ''It’s too cold outside''.”

The sex worker staggering around in only a camisole was much more interested in the wolf walking beside the detective than the detective herself. The woman’s face lit up as soon as she saw Rozeki because Rozeki had in fact become something like the building’s mascot.

“Your assistant’s with you☆ Oh, she’s so cute!”

A detective’s job was to resolve a wide variety of problems, but the majority of those problems came from human relationships: investigating suspected infidelity, searching for a runaway girl, finding people who were avoiding paying loan sharks, etc. Whatever the case, a detective primarily handled tracking jobs that Anti-Skill and Judgment wouldn’t touch, so the Japanese wolf’s sharp sense of smell was a powerful weapon. At times, that was even more useful than a special ALS light that revealed fingerprints or bloodstains.

Her sleepiness gone, the sex worker smiled bright.

“Can I pet Rozeki-chan?”

“Go right ahead.”

With shrieks about how cute the wolf was, hands reached in from all sides to pet her. As soon as one was given permission, a crowd of women emerged from the nearby doors. The wolf would be given all sorts of food, snacks, and toys if Shiratori let her out of her sight for even a moment, but she was even more popular right now after driving out a particularly nasty drunk. Although it wasn’t quite clear if the women viewed Rozeki as a knight in shining armor or a maneki-neko.

The animal’s pleading eyes said, “I will let you draw eyebrows on me with permanent marker, just rescue me from this.” She had her tail tucked between her legs.

(Sigh, she’s all scared of them. And yet a human would have to pay them a lot of money to get this kind of treatment.)

But it wasn’t fair to animals to expect them to see things like humans did.

The detective searched for some way to help out her poor assistant.

“Oh? I hear a lot of noise coming from over there. Rozeki.”

Shiratori made up an excuse and whistled with her fingers. The wolf left the sex workers’ petting hands and ran to Shiratori. Ran quite quickly. Her round eyes expressed thanks.

Shiratori visited another tenant in the same building.

The Human Bike Delivery Service.

The sign was so bland it would be easy to overlook, but it was really a go-between for illegal part-time work. Instead of delivering objects, their service let people use their phones to easily have the person on the bike delivered.

The detective stuck her head in through the door.

“What’s going on? Got another job for me?”

“No. I’m busy breaking that man the ladies discovered.”

“Ewahhhhhhhh!! Ohhraghhhhhhhhhhh!!”

A neighborhood nuisance of a scream pierced through the building’s wall. Apparently loan sharks these days no longer demanded their poor victims sell their organs.

Of course, not all loan shark “customers” ended up like this.

Or rather, loan sharks worked best when the leader remained hidden on the other side of a phone call and threatened disposable lackeys to do the real work. So even if this captured lackey talked, it wouldn’t reveal who was behind it all.

One detective job was to search out the lackeys who ignored their orders and ran off in the middle of the night.

There were specialists who would drag them into a dark room and thoroughly break the reckless disobedience out of them.

Runaways like that weren’t exactly common, but if word of a single one getting away safely were to spread, a lot more would risk it.

There was no real sympathy in the detective’s voice.

There was only one reason that man had fallen this far.

“''Home schooling,'' huh?”

That referred to back alley brain modifications done with electrodes and suggestion. As opposed to the official Curriculum administered at a school. Shiratori didn’t know if it was more like an illegal drug trip or like an advanced form of doping.

“Apparently he screwed up his own head so bad he couldn’t earn the money needed to pay the illegal lab built into a modified van, so he resorted to purse snatching on the streets.”

“He was so used to stealing, but he was still that opposed to robbing a jewelry store like he was ordered to?” asked Shiratori, sounding almost impressed.

And then…

“Have you decided on a plan yet?”

“Honestly, I’m going with your suggestion, young lady.”

“Good idea. That’s apparently an illegal store that buys stolen jewelry off of people. Stealing all their jewelry to get Anti-Skill’s attention might get them to give the place a closer look.”

“And that purse snatcher will be caught again too.”

A detective knew the last thing criminals would want.

Was that because they were on the side of justice?

''Probably so,'' concluded Shiratori.

The detective business was all about taking a different approach to solve the cases that slipped through Anti-Skill’s fingers and handing the criminals over to the authorities. They were like fixers that used every trick in the book to fill in the dark gaps left in the peaceful world.

And so Shiratori Okibi, Detective of Justice, would solve all sorts of mysteries and cases, but ''she carried no responsibility for what happened as a result.

The detective working on a mysterious serial killing, the journalists, and the famous maids didn’t worry themselves over the fact that whoever they identified as the killer would definitely be given the death penalty.

The threatening-looking guy in a gaudy suit, probably part of some support team or another, sighed in exasperation.

“Well, it’s not like we could get much money for organs ruined from years of smoking, drinking, and drugs. Sending them after jewelry and watch stores is a lot more cost-effective.”

“Really? Filthy, damaged organs might be rarer and thus more in demand as research specimens. You know, like the lungs black with nicotine and tar you see on posters in infirmaries.”

“Speaking of, I don’t know where they get the photos from, but Academy City does update the posters every year for some reason. If all they want to do is scare people off smoking with a photo of a gross lung, they could just reuse the same photo they were using a decade ago.”

“I wonder if the board of directors holds an audition for that. To see who has the dirtiest lungs of the year.”

Just then…

“Oh.”

One of the other thugs in the back of the room spoke up.

The young man (literally) bit one of the men in gaudy suits, shook free, and ran for the office’s exit.

Which meant he was approaching Shiratori since she was near the door.

“Outta the way!!”

“Nah.”

The man reached into his sleeve and pulled out something like a relay baton.

With a sound of springs and gears operating, it extended to more than 60cm. A close look would show it had a thin metal wire drawn tight like a violin bow.

The ultra-thin blade glowed orange and burned the air.

Was it an electrothermic machete?

It had the unique look of 3D-printed craft plastic, so it may have been ordered online from the Armory.

“I’m not doing your illegal jobs. Why should I follow your ‘rules’? You’re just a bunch of criminals!! I’m going home! And I won’t let any of you stop m-”

“Bow wow!!!!”

An explosive roar from Rozeki made the criminal drop his weapon.

Time froze and he fell onto his rear.

Tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

This was very different from a dog bought at a pet shop. Even if you didn’t know this dog had been genetically modified into a Japanese wolf, your instincts as a living being would recognize the true intimidation of a beast that had become a legend of its own.

That ''instinctual understanding'' was crucial.

Police in a gun culture did not use laser sights because it would improve their accuracy. By shining the red dot on a suspect’s chest or gut, they could convince the suspect to surrender without having to fire a shot.

(Because with my power, I could turn the criminal to mincemeat before they even have time to threaten me.)

A detective’s assistant had to do two things.

To be a mascot with the interpersonal skills to smooth things over in place of the unsociable detective and to physically suppress a criminal who didn’t know when to give up.

As long as they could do those two things, they didn’t even need to be human.

“And the most important skills for a detective are keen observation and a sharp memory.”

Shiratori smiled as she gently patted the wolf’s head.

Smiled thinly and cruelly.

“The difference between a detective and a hapless victim who stumbled onto the truth is the ability to maintain a safe zone where they cannot be killed even after arriving at the correct answer. Real cases do not end when you solve the mystery. That is in fact the starting line. You aren’t a real detective unless you can take control and safely suppress the killer. Directly questioning the killer one-on-one is out of the question☆”

The young man was dragged into the back of the room and the door was shut.

The sex worker in a thin camisole poked her head out of the neighboring door.

“Is the scary stuff over? Then let me see the good girl. Oh, now this is therapeutic. Look, Rozeki-chan, I brought you some bone gum☆”

The Japanese wolf tried to flee.

The smiling young woman’s danger-sensing instinct appeared to be badly broken.

===Part 9===

“Really?” said Kinuhata Saiai sounding exasperated.

The late-August entertainment district was blanketed with white snow.

A bunch of snow machines resembling giant fans had been set up to make sure everything was covered. It was apparently a vast conspiracy by a major beer brand. They had remade District 16 as a whole into a giant beer garden and were running a sales promotion event. Scantily-clad young women they were calling “Bul Girls” were handing out cans of their new beer on the street. It was apparently the 3rd or 4th event, but Kinuhata wasn’t paying enough attention to get the exact number.

“Ugh. In the end, it’s freezing.”

Frenda was shivering and had closed her special mist shower parasol.

The small snowflakes scattering in the wind had stolen away all the heat, so it was a little chilly even in the direct midday sunlight.

“That’s just dangerous. They have people drinking beer and walking around in artificial snow. You don’t need banana peels lying around to get people slipping and falling here.”

“Mugino, the security robots probably can’t get through this snow either.”

“This district is all about alcohol and the nightlife, right? If it’s this bad during the day, super what do they do at night?”

District 16 was full of mysteriously high-paying part-time work, so it’s true nature did not come out until all the neon and LCD signs were lit up.

It was chaotic in a different way from the source of trends that was District 15.

No attempt was made to hide the gaudy signs of desire here.

In this entertainment district where there were plenty of drunks out even during the day, Yamagami Erina of Judgment was handing out fliers on the snowy street corner. They had seen her earlier, so she must have been moving around a lot.

“Excuse me. This girl’s name is Minamioki Sarusa-chan. Has anyone seen her?”

“For now, we need to get her information out there. That means getting the posters up in all 23 districts by the end of the day.”

“People’s routines will change once the break ends, so we need to get some useful witness information before then.”

A fair number of people were using skis on the flat sidewalk like they were alpine skiing or walking around with modern snowshoes. In fact, there were even snowmobiles and snowcats driving back and forth on the street. Apparently they were being used like sightseeing carts.

“That all looks really expensive,” commented Takitsubo as she blankly watched it all.

“It’s super scary how excited people get about events.”

“Kinuhata, this is the same as movie theater popcorn. Just like fan merch at major soccer matches, you never know how much the value will drop as soon as the moment passes.”

“It’s a super bad idea to use movies as your negative example, Takitsubo-san. You don’t want to make a habit of it!”

While Item walked as a group, Frenda was much more steady on her feet than the other three. She had more experience walking on snow. The trick was apparently to firmly step directly on top of it.

“In the end, I might have worked with that detective before somewhere.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve told you I do forensics work separate from Item, right? We work separately and never directly meet, but I might have occasionally sent her forensic data over the internet while hunting down traitors on the dark side.”

It didn’t sound like Frenda had any intention of going easy on her because of this.

To Frenda, the detective was just another person she had passed by on the dark side.

In fact, it was more unusual for Mugino, the battle freak who would kill anyone, to seem so uncertain.

When they were waiting for the light at an intersection, some smiling Bul Girls approached and Mugino shooed them away with a hand as she spoke.

“It was the Human Bike Delivery Service, right?”

“In the end, I say we go after the thug in a gaudy suit at the information desk. He could probably introduce us to a number of shady businesses other than the sex stuff.”

Item continued toward their destination while passing by a giant palace and a kaiju made by carving stacks of ice blocks.

They arrived at a filthy multi-tenant building.

“Mugino.”

“I know. The whole building isn’t a dark side toy.”

With some (technically) innocent people (who were really just drunks walking through the entertainment district) passing by, Mugino couldn’t just blast the building from the outside.

So instead, they entered through the main 1st floor entrance and forced their way into the manager’s office.

“Okay, okay. In the end, we need to check their security cameras and air conditioning AI. Okay, lining up footage from all the floors and…these look like the lines that are clear of people.”

Frenda connected the computer to her phone and nodded. Takitsubo peered in from the side and pointed out a few corrections. Simple intuition won out over precise data.

“Yikes. I feel like super Takitsubo-san is the one I actually least want as an enemy.”

“What, only figuring that out now?”

They chose to ignore the track suit girl’s offended look.

Mugino aimed her palm straight up.

She launched several Meltdowner beams in quick succession.

The thick beams pierced ''vertically'' through the building, but it didn’t seem anyone had died.

While the Human whatever-they-were-called panicked, Kinuhata climbed the outside of the building with arms buffed by Offense Armor and slipped into the office (which was already full of holes) through the window.

A kick to sweep him off his feet brought down the threatening-looking guy in charge.

Kinuhata placed her foot on the man’s chest over his heart as he lay on his back.

If she placed her weight on that foot with Offense Armor active, it would smash right through to the floor.

“I’ve got a super message for you to deliver. Get it to the detective and I’ll let you live.”

“The young lady? Wh-what’s the message?”

“A time and place for us to meet. Tell her we know where she lives, so we’re super in control here.”

===Part 10===

It was 10PM on August 30. Time to get started.

Item had rested in the trendy laundromat until closing time and now they were finally on the move.

“Mugino, what do we do about Shiratori Okibi’s power?”

“…”

Mugino hadn’t been napping the entire time.

She alone had spent the entire time agonizing over this.

“We know she can create a wall of fire and a flash flood. She must also be able to hammer in a nail with air since that’s her camouflage power.”

“Wait. In the end, the rule is one power per person.”

“But we discussed this so much and we still haven’t found an answer.”

They were heading into battle without identifying the enemy’s power.

That brutal power had gotten the better of them once before and now they were challenging it again.

That was like choosing to dive into a deadly labyrinth. It was possible a member of Item wouldn’t be returning from this alive.

“We’ll spread out around Takitsubo. It’s a pain in the ass, but we need her to gather information!”

“In the end, I guess that is the only option.”

Frenda smiled half in exasperation and stuck a skinny arm into her thin poncho. They were in for a wild fight where they would have to defend themselves, so she may have wanted to double check her number and variety of explosives to reassure herself.

Mugino pointed at the others while walking toward a support team four-wheel-drive vehicle waiting on the curb.

“Frenda and I will move out in front to get the detective to attack, so, Takitsubo, you focus on analyzing her power. Kinuhata, you focus on protecting Takitsubo. Don’t let anyone close to our analyst.”

“Understood.”

“Super got it.”

The meeting point was the ice palace in District 16.

It was classified as a multipurpose event hall.

It was the size of a school building and designed like a Greek temple. It was entirely made by stacking ice blocks larger than vending machines and smoothly carving them away.

The security wasn’t exactly strict, which was why they were using it for their shady meeting. As long as there was no event that day, the ice palace remained quiet. There were no lights on inside and the darkness was deserted. The pathway was lit up by the bare minimum of nighttime lightning and the green of emergency exit signs and the red of fire alarm lights dyed the walls and floor in places. The video ads projected onto the occasional thick ice pillar or flat wall may have been part of the equipment’s automatic maintenance routine.

One of the ads projected on a round pillar was for an upcoming idol concert.

The ice palace was called the Bulweiser Icicle Theater.

“Why’d they have to ruin such a lovely name by tacking a beer brand on the front? It ruins the charm.”

“Shows how much money they’re making through advertising, Kinuhata. They get paid tons of money and all they have to do is let the company name the place.”

Item had made sure to arrive before their opponent.

They took a look around the ice palace. They were checking for traps, bombs, hidden cameras, or even hidden attackers or snipers, but they didn’t find anything.

After around half an hour of searching, Takitsubo looked up.

“Mugino.”

All the lights went out without warning.

The bare minimum of nighttime lighting, the ads projected on the pillars, the emergency exit signs, the fire alarm lights – all of it.

The cameras, sensors, and other security equipment were likely down too.

They heard solid footsteps.

There were two sets, but one set didn’t seem human.

“Hi, hi.”

A black-haired girl wore a thin coat over a white and blue short-sleeved sailor uniform from some school or another. But she probably didn’t have any cooling products hidden inside the coat this time. She grinned over at them while poking and playing with the Japanese wolf walking alongside her legs covered by white boots and short black stockings held up by special below-the-knee sock garters.

Justice.

Detective Shiratori Okibi knew the last thing a criminal would want to happen.

“You’re here early. Didn’t we agree on 12? Weird showing up an hour early when you set the time yourself.”

“Do we look like punctual teacher’s pets?”

“Not a bit☆”

“In the end, you know the last thing criminals want, right? If we showed up right on time, who knows what kind of traps or ambushes we’d find springing on us.”

There was a hint of exasperation in the detective’s smile.

Like an expert investigator had just been forced to listen to an amateur sleuth’s evidence-void guesswork.

Shiratori Okibi said, “That aside, I told you I’d contact you.”

“You really expected us to wait around?”

The detective answered Mugino by smiling and reaching into her pocket.

Tension ran through Item, but she didn’t pull out a gun or a knife. She pulled out a locked notebook.

“I said I could organize the information on the case you’d gotten yourselves involved in if you gave me time, remember?”

Apparently that really was all this was.

Next, a strange emotion formed on her face.

''Pity.

“But it looks like Item’s facing a fate worse than death. Ah ha ha. You’re past the point of a simple death sentence. And if you’d realized what’s going on yourself, I doubt you’d be here wasting your time chatting with me. If it was me, I’d be trying to escape over the city’s wall even though I know it’s suicide. Because that’d be the more logical choice.”

A few thoughts popped into Mugino’s head.

While she had no hard proof, she had been sensing that things were ''trending'' in a dangerous direction around Item. But which side was their enemy on? The villains? Justice? Or the higher ups like the voice on the phone who transcended that kind of morality?

The detective had the answer.

“Okay, you can make it sound important, but what exactly have you discovered?”

“Yes, that’s the thing.” The detective flicked the cover of her locked notebook. “Since you gave me time, I was able to do a lot of detective work. So I have discovered the full truth of the case you’ve gotten yourselves caught up in.”

At that point, Shiratori Okibi asked a basic question.

“''But when did I say I would give it to you''?”

“…”

A quiet metallic jangle came from the Japanese wolf’s collar. Something was attached to the loop that would normally hold a leash. It was a small key.

The detective made a show of putting the locked notebook back in her pocket.

This wasn’t a failed negotiation.

Shiratori wasn’t negotiating in the first place.

This was only a challenge and a declaration of war.

“Now wait just a minute! I super don’t get why you’re even picking a fight with us! If you had to look into everything happening here, doesn’t that mean you aren’t a part of it!?”

“Ah ha ha. I’m a detective, remember? I know better than anyone the kinds of logic criminals hate. You’re the ones who are in trouble if you spend too much time on this.”

“You mean the September 1 deadline?”

“Right. Our school lives are in jeopardy☆”

That meant neither Mugino Shizuri nor Shiratori Okibi could back down.

If your neighbor transformed into falling sparks, then they were your enemy. If you didn’t brush them off, they would burn you and you would lose everything in the ignited conflagration.

Mugino had to accept that this girl was a deadly enemy.

This enemy was a detective and she would cling to this one hint to the end even if it meant giving up on her school life and going into hiding. The villain had only one way of staying safe: cutting her away.

Things were only this bad because Mugino was a villain.

If she were a normal person or a hero, it never would have ended up like this.

“Also, a detective doesn’t need a reason to pursue a villain. It’s like instinct to me.”

Shiratori smiled.

But this smile was different. Almost like she had seen deep inside Mugino, whose world was falling apart at an accelerated rate.

The Class Rep spoke plainly through that cruel smile.

“Just try and take it from me, villain.”

===Part 11===

For a brief moment, Mugino Shizuri forgot where she was.

She heard a voice in the back of her mind.

''“As Class Rep, I end up hearing a lot of people’s problems. So if you’re ever in real trouble, you can come to me. I’ll do anything to help you out!”

That was from school.

She really did only need to keep the bare minimum level of attendance. So she hadn’t known the names of the students or teacher. With one exception.

The Class Rep.

From Mugino’s perspective, she was a harmless and uninteresting girl who was walking down a path Mugino could never reach.

''“To give you an example, my dream is to become an even better detective. I don’t want to be a novice or a hobbyist. I want to use my logic as an actual job.”

Or so she had thought.

Then what was this?

What was this she was seeing now?

''“But I’d be able to do so much more if I had a real title. Some things are out of reach when you’re only a hobbyist, but that would change if I was a pro.”

Villains had their own form of pride.

Or so she thought.

''“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

Then.

Could she really attack someone from the sunlit world?

Was that really something she could let herself do?

''“I don’t know what kind of world you’ve gotten yourself involved in! But I can tell you have something going on outside of school and I can guess that it isn’t anything as peaceful as working part-time at a convenience store after school.”

And.

What if this girl was lost?

What if the one tiny thread still connecting her to the ordinary world was gone?

''“Hee hee. So I will bring you back into the light of the sun and make an honest person out of you!”

“Mugino!!”

Frenda slapped her leader on the back and stepped forward with Kinuhata.

It had already begun.

Detective Shiratori Okibi’s cruelly smiling voice reached Mugino’s ears with a delay.

“Rozeki, go!”

The Japanese wolf opened her maw wide, scattering sticky slaver around. She raced out, her feet skipping across the floor like a flat stone on a river, and she leaped for Mugino’s throat.

They didn’t have time to check what Mugino wanted.

“!!”

Kinuhata immediately raised her arms horizontally and shoved herself between Mugino and the wolf.

The fangs chomped down with tremendous force.

A normal human may have had their thick nerves torn through before they were dragged to the ground, but Kinuhata had Offense Armor.

She instead lifted the wolf with her bitten arm.

“Frenda, super use some gun or bomb to get rid of-!!”

She didn’t get to finish.

She had relaxed too soon.

The black-haired detective gave a twirl of her finger. The thing spinning around on a keychain loop looked a lot like a young child’s security buzzer, but it was in fact a mini stun gun.

All hell broke loose.

The thick ice below Mugino’s feet suddenly shattered. Flames and a shockwave exploded out and the Level 5 girl was sent spinning through the air.

“Super Mugi-”

Kinuhata shouted and reached out a hand, but her small body was stopped by a powerful sensation.

Solid cracking sounds rang out.

She had no idea what had happened. But without Offense Armor, she might have shattered like a rose dunked in liquid nitrogen.

“~ ~ ~! You super froze me!?”

“Watch out.”

The track suit girl’s warning came too late.

Or so Frenda thought, but a moment later she regretted taking Takitsubo’s words too lightly.

She had plenty of experience telling her that bad things happened if you didn’t immediately obey Takitsubo’s sixth sense at times like this.

The detective tossed aside her stun gun and grabbed something else instead. She reached into her thin coat and pulled out a giant monkey wrench.

But she did not try to hit Item with it.

Frenda’s feet rose up from the ice floor.

Even though she was a decent distance away.

She slammed back-first into an ice pillar.

“Bh!?”

For just an instant, Frenda thought she had been grabbed and thrown by powerful telekinesis, but that wasn’t it.

“Inertia? In the end, ''did you throw me by sliding the entire ice palace''!?”

“Ah ha ha. A little thing like that is enough to surprise you? ''What do you think my power is''?”

Shiratori Okibi.

She had no trouble taking on all four members of Item at once.

Even though that included Mugino Shizuri, one of only seven Level 5s in the city!?

“Gahh!?” shouted Kinuhata.

Before she had time to investigate the mysterious freezing phenomenon, an invisible pressure hit her from all sides. She had trouble breathing even with Offense Armor active, so this pressure had to be enough to crush a light vehicle.

It was so much she released the wolf she had captured.

Frenda forgot all about getting up from the ice floor and stared wide-eyed.

“In the end, is she using multiple powers at once!? Gah! And these are all AoE attacks that cover this entire event hall!!”

“I can hire support team assault troops and snipers if I want to. So didn’t logic tell you it was odd I had still chosen to meet you while alone?”

Without even glancing over at the wolf rejoining her, Shiratori tossed the monkey wrench to the wolf like it was a toy bone.

And she summed up her point.

“''If I did bring others with me, I’d just end up destroying all of them with my power''.”

“!?”

Level 0 Frenda felt her throat go dry.

So much power. Deadly power.

The detective held her palms together in front of her face and smiled bashfully.

“Ah ha ha. I do claim to be on the side of justice, so it would be a bad look if I destroyed all my allies with friendly fire, right? So this is the best and most optimal number of fighters for me. When I charge in on my own, I can actually wield my full power☆”

Unlike the police or Anti-Skill, detectives generally faced the villain on their own. Organizational power wouldn’t help them and could even get in their way.

Shiratori took that to the extreme.

Attempting a direct confrontation without knowing her power had been a mistake.

The props like the mini stun gun and the monkey wrench were suspicious, but Item knew nothing for certain. Those could just have been red herrings meant to draw their attention.

So Mugino didn’t hesitate to shout.

“Spread out! Follow the plan!!”

“Mugi-”

“Super got it!!”

Takitsubo started to say something, but Kinuhata grabbed her wrist and tugged hard.

They still didn’t know Detective Shiratori’s power, so Mugino and Frenda would move out to front to get her to attack while Takitsubo focused on analysis and Kinuhata guarded Takitsubo. Item had decided on this plan before arriving in the Bulweiser Icicle Theater.

If Takitsubo was only analyzing the enemy and providing targeting support, she didn’t need to be on the front line.

She could stay back where it was safe and contact the others by phone.

===Part 12===

“Super over here, Takitsubo-san!!”

“Lead the way.”

Several more explosions erupted behind Kinuhata and Takitsubo as they rushed away. It wasn’t clear if those were due to Frenda’s bombs or the detective’s unidentified power. Cracks ran through the thick ice pillars and chunks of ice heavier than human beings dropped from the ceiling.

Nevertheless, they heard an amused response.

But instead of Battle Freak Mugino, this came from Detective Shiratori Okibi.

“Rozeki, go!”

A deep roar followed. Mugino and Frenda must have had their hands full dealing with Shiratori’s vicious onslaught. The Japanese wolf had breached their defensive line.

She was speeding toward Kinuhata and Takitsubo.

Kinuhata spun around and prepared to intercept.

With a single sharp, whistling breath, she suppressed the instinctual fear of the enormous creature.

“Takitsubo-san, super stay behind me!!”

“No, Kinuhata.”

For some reason, that girl wasn’t obeying her guard’s instructions.

Feeling overwhelmed, Kinuhata nearly snapped at the older girl, but…

“Time is a limited resource. If we waste it dealing with that wolf, Mugino and Frenda will be defeated. We need to figure out that detective’s power as soon as possible.”

Kinuhata heard a wet bursting sound.

It came from the plastic bottle of lemon soda Takitsubo had thrown.

With their extremely sharp sense of smell, wolves disliked the strongly sour scent of citrus. This was an instinctual way of avoiding spoiled food and the chemicals used to keep wild animals away from campsites and mountain cabins made use of this reaction.

“Train them all you want, an animal is still an animal,” expressionlessly stated Takitsubo as she pulled out something else: a bottle of hand cream.

This time it wasn’t the smell. Wild animals also disliked unnaturally sticky surfaces. That may have been an instinct to avoid bogs that would kill them once they were caught.

“That thing was genetically modified into a Japanese wolf, so we need to use that fact against it.”

With a distorted yelp, the wolf fled into the shadows.

“Kinuhata, keep an eye on our surroundings just in case. I doubt it will be after us until it gets that sticky stuff of its paws, but be careful.”

Instead of focusing on the wolf, Takitsubo pulled out a small pair of opera glasses.

She had a good view of Mugino, Frenda, and Detective Shiratori fighting a decent distance away. Which meant it was finally time to do her job.

“Mugino, Frenda. Can you two hear me?” she said into her phone.

“In the end, I’m reading you loud and clear!”

“Just hurry up and get us that data!!”

They were already aware that Shiratori could create a wall of fire, produce a flash flood, hammer a nail with nothing more than air, and cause several other supernatural phenomena. From that alone, she appeared to be a Dual Skill who ignored the rule about one power per person.

However.

Some things came into view now that Takitsubo was a step removed and could remain calm.

“Shiratori Okibi claims she could have brought plenty of assault troops and snipers with her, but she came alone because her power is so strong she couldn’t avoid friendly fire, right?”

“What of it!?” shouted Mugino.

“Then why isn’t that wolf of hers affected by her power?”

That had bothered Takitsubo.

Detective Shiratori had claimed it was best for her to fight alone, so did her wolf assistant not count?

It was obvious she was willing to entrust her life in the wolf in this dark palace. ''And yet'' was she really willing to kill the wolf along with her enemy just because the wolf wasn’t human?

“That means Shiratori Okibi knew from the beginning that her wolf partner would never be harmed by her power no matter how many big, roughly-aimed attacks she launches across this entire area.”

“In the end, are you saying what I think you are?”

“The detective’s power only affects human brains, so it can’t harm a nonhuman wolf.”

“You mean the flame wall, the flood, and the nailing were – in the end – all psychological? Oh, I get it! If her power just shows us illusions, then this all can be explained with a single power!!”

“So is the damage we receive just a negative form of the placebo effect? Dammit!!” cursed Mugino.

Shiratori’s power was ultimately psychological. Had she driven nails into a board at school by hiding a small tool in her palm? There was a weirdly thriving market for miniaturized tools like multi-tool knives and glasses screwdrivers.

This would turn the tides a little.

But it was only the bare minimum.

Takitsubo could not rest until Detective Shiratori had been defeated and all of Item was safe.

“But this should super help us-”

Feeling optimistic, Kinuhata began speaking, but then she stopped.

She heard a solid scraping sound. It was a footstep. But not a human one.

''But also not a Japanese wolf one.

The ice floor was being torn into by short, thick claws resembling tungsten steel can openers. They belonged to a four-legged ground combat drone about the size of the wolf. More scraping sounds joined the first as 5, 10, 15, 20 of the metal beasts emerged. They gathered around the wolf, evidently to serve it.

The detective’s voice spoke from all of their internal speakers.

Even after everything she had done, she still wasn’t done.

The mocking laughter came from an expert in the last thing a criminal would want to happen.

“Ah ha ha. People get this wrong a lot thanks to the term ‘lone wolf’, but wolves are highly social animals that operate in packs. So this ability exists in some corner of Rozeki’s head.”

“…”

“Unfortunately, Rozeki is the only Japanese wolf that’s been created through genetically engineered atavism. A shame, right? Logically speaking, I didn’t want to let that ability go to waste and I’m not that great at operating drones myself.”

Her voice carried a sticky grinning tone.

“So I hooked some wiring up to Rozeki’s brain letting her control a pack of ground combat drones using both ultrasound and the gigahertz band. You’re about to experience firsthand a mechanized version of a wolf pack’s highly organized hunting routine. There is no escape. Just remember that this is going to be a lot worse than being attacked by a simple program.”

“Super get behind me, Takitsubo-san! Hurry!”

“I have a hunch some nitrogen armor won’t be enough to protect your teammate when wolves are attacking from every direction.”

They had no choice but to put some distance between themselves and the pack, even if that meant running. But…

“!”

“Takitsubo-san?”

Kinuhata looked puzzled, but Takitsubo didn’t have time to answer. The track suit girl was not in charge of athletics or direct combat.

Of course, their opponent wasn’t going to honor that kind of line.

A few of the bestial ground combat drones wandered out in front of them and one lunged in. It stretched up from low to the ground, targeting Takitsubo’s throat.

It moved exactly like a Japanese wolf.

Kinuhata prepared to counterattack with an Offense Armor fist, but her small body stiffened.

A brutal “zap!!” came from a high-voltage current.

Offense Armor was made by solidly compressing the nitrogen in the air, but it was only a few millimeters thick. So if, for example, ''electrical breakdown were triggered and a powerful current pierced through that air, she was powerless to stop it.

“Kinuhata!?”

There was no response.

Kinuhata crumpled to the ice floor. Takitsubo propped her up from behind, but couldn’t do any more than that.

She was out of options.

As an expert in battle analysis and targeting support, Takitsubo understood her own situation quite vividly. The nitrogen barrier was gone. And even as small as Kinuhata was, Takitsubo doubted she could carry the limp girl and escape the 20 or so ground combat drones organized by a Japanese wolf’s instincts.

Explosions and tremors were still occurring in the distance, so she knew Mugino and Frenda were in no position to come to their aid right away.

She dragged her teammate with both arms and forcibly lifted her. By placing Kinuhata’s limp body atop a boxy vending machine located inside the ice palace, she hoped the wolves wouldn’t be able to reach her.

But that was the most she could do.

Takitsubo had an uncharacteristic grimace on her face as she slumped down to the floor.

Something felt wrong in her right calf. This was why professional baseball players did not play in the winter. As someone who didn’t get much exercise, she shouldn’t have run so much while chilled by the ice palace.

Her leg had been ''cramping'' for a bit now.

She doubted the wolves would give her time to reach down to stretch her ankle.

The track suit girl quietly thought to herself.

(Is this the end?)

They weren’t coming for her right away.

Were the beasts coordinating to cut off all possible escape routes before delivering the finishing blow, or was this the unique “pause” or “compromise” found in pack hunters?

Her last moments stretched out at a horribly leisurely pace.

She did not shut her eyes.

Kinuhata was the newest member of Item. If Takitsubo let her die and survived, she could never look Mugino in the eye again. But maybe it was also unfair to force Kinuhata to live with the pain of having survived when her older teammate died.

“Oh, but.”

Takitsubo sighed softly.

And she smiled with her cramped right leg still sprawled out uselessly.

“Villains are selfish beings.”

And.

A fearsome beam of light pierced through several of the bestial ground combat drones at once.

“Eh?”

The sound left Takitsubo’s mouth unbidden.

And apparently she wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand.

Mugino hadn’t done that. She couldn’t have.

''Then why?

''Why was that battle freak of a girl, who wielded violent beams of light, standing right there?

Shiratori’s voice came from the drones’ internal speakers.

“What?”

She sounded flustered.

That detective acted like she could read their minds, but that act had slipped here.

“What is Mugino Shizuri doing over there? Ksh. She’s still over- dammit, you’re right here fighting me! Kssssshhhhhh!!!”

A powerful beam shot from a palm and silenced the ground combat drones.

“It’s simple.”

That was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s.

Meltdowner.

Mugino Shizuri…except it wasn’t?

“You just need another of that monster, right? ''It’s always like this with people like you''.”

A close inspection showed some differences.

Instead of the girl’s outstretched palm, the beam had come from a bit lower, in her sleeve.

And the deadly attack was actually a plasma cutter used to slice through steel panels.

More beams shot out. The giant batteries and capacitors within the unmanned weapons were ruptured, causing internal explosions. Takitsubo didn’t manage to catch what happened to the real wolf. Her specialty was humans, not animals. Although she wasn’t sure what would happen if an animal’s brain was developed to the point it radiated a weak AIM diffusion field.

She was specialized for reading her target’s AIM diffusion field, so she could sense something off without even taking any Body Crystal.

That was not Mugino Shizuri.

And she knew someone who could transform her appearance without relying on an esper power.

“''Ha''-” Track suit girl Takitsubo Rikou spoke in a daze. “''Hanano''?”

The color white filled her view.

It came from an explosive flash. More accurately, it came from a stun grenade dropped to the floor.

But just before her senses were taken from her, Takitsubo caught a distinct look of someone removing her wig, throwing out her eyebrows and eyelashes, and exposing a smooth, doll-like face.

The mouth on that face was bent into a small smile.

The dazzling flash produced by aluminum and magnesium didn’t even last for 10 seconds. It wouldn’t even take 180 seconds to be rid of the afterimage burned into Takitsubo’s eyes.

By then, no one was there.

No one except Takitsubo standing in a position to protect limp Kinuhata.

===Part 13===

Shiratori clicked her tongue.

The wolf must have been a special assistant for that ever-composed detective. Enough so that she wanted to go help now that something unexpected had happened.

“Trick Lab,” she said.

That one term trapped enemy and ally into a shared view of their surroundings.

Yes, even herself.

For a psychological power, announcing the effect must have made it easier to take hold.

“Fire x Death = Diesel 25. The spot coolers used to maintain the ice palace are powered by a generator and that generator’s fuel can trigger a major explosion!!”

The murder tricks ruled her immediate world.

Her free form attack had begun.

But Takitsubo had already mostly revealed how it worked.

Battle Freak Mugino unleashed a bestial roar.

“A timetable, a mysterious figure in the window, and an alibi? It’s all psychological, meaning there’s a psychogenic source for this pain we’re convinced we’re feeling. Once I understand how it works, I’ve got nothing more to fear!!”

“Hee hee. You say that, but you’ve already taken significant damage while it still had you convinced.”

The detective’s confidence remained intact.

Even if her murder plan was only a plan, her deadly force remained for now.

“With my power, persuasiveness and effectiveness are one and the same. Misjudgment x Human = Mirror 03. If I use a big mirror, you are guaranteed to misjudge your target’s location. Movement x Remote Control = Wire 19. With a thin wire, I can alter the location of a small key or knife. The simpler and larger-scale the logic, the harder it is to shake. For example…”

“Ah!?” shouted Frenda.

Something must have happened because the explosives expert frantically stuck a hand into her thin poncho.

The detective now held a grenade.

“''This.'' For tricks that don’t even require any props, I don’t even need to set anything up in advance. I can pickpocket or grope you with no chance of failure. Keh heh heh. And both of those can be surprisingly useful when it comes to destroying a suspect’s interpersonal relationships as a way of laying on the pressure until they make a mistake.”

Shiratori laughed and kissed the round explosive.

As if she were toying with the forbidden fruit.

“And now I have the persuasiveness I need. This gives me a new trick to use. I have everything necessary for Fire x Death = Diesel 25. No matter how sturdy the generator’s design, a bomb is enough to blast through it.”

So, in reality, the gas pipe running below Mugino’s feet had not actually ruptured.

The ice palace’s spot coolers had not frozen Kinuhata with their icy air, nor had a hunk of ice been instantly melted to create crushing pressure with its steam.

And the entire ice palace had not moved to throw Frenda around.

“So you ''hijack and alter the tricks yourself'', detective?”

With a mini stun gun, she could apply an electric shock and detonate the gas without actually digging up the gas pipe buried in the ice.

With a monkey wrench, she could remove the bolts holding the steel frame to the ground so the entire ice palace could slide around.

By producing props like that, the detective increased the options available to her. She wanted to end this as quickly as possible, so she had remade the battleground into a more dangerous place.

This may have been similar to a detective loudly announcing an explanation that wasn’t entirely wrong but not entirely right either to rattle the killer who was the only person who knew how the trick really worked.

Mugino glared and the Class Rep gave her a calm look.

“So what if I do?”

“What kind of detective brings her own props? Your job is to explain what happened using only what’s already there. You narrow down what tricks would’ve been possible and then identify the one person who could’ve done it. I thought your job was to stop the deadly train racing down the track laid out by the villain.”

“In real cases, any number of tricks could’ve been used at the scene. And there’s no simple list of suspects to work with. A perfect alibi? There’s no such thing when people’s memories are unreliable and camera records can be easily faked in this day and age.”

“Still, the villain’s supposed to lay out the track, not you. Detectives are meant to stand opposed to whoever caused the case. The mystery solver isn’t supposed to notice the malicious trick and decide to hijack it for your own purposes.”

“Oh, really? But when a detective shows up, it means someone’s going to die, doesn’t it?” Shiratori chuckled. “The detective’s role is to judge the killer and hold the killer’s fate in their hands. Just like the killer holds everyone else’s lives in their hands. And while the killer is in a bind where the only way out is to kill for the insurance money or to satisfy their grudge, the detective has two options: identify the killer and send them off to be executed, or to ''not do that''.”

“Damn you…”

“Because no matter how unprecedented the case, it’s only another job for the detective. Just like a firefighter who couldn’t put out a fire, it’s not like professionals lose their lives when they fail in a job. So indirectly, I hold the lives of everyone on the scene in my hands. All those issues of good and evil are right here in my hands.”

Real cases didn’t end when the detective identified the killer with an impressive feat of reasoning. Especially in an isolated location where the public institutions couldn’t intervene or when dealing with dark side criminals.

What if no one believed the detective’s reasoning because the killer was more popular?

What if the criminal was so afraid of being arrested they bet it all on wielding a deadly weapon to slaughter everyone there?

What if the criminal outargued the detective in a meaningless debate that left the issue of evidence behind?

“Even when the detective gathers everyone in one place, there are plenty of ways to break free of that ‘safe discussion’.”

“…”

“In the extreme, the killer can start shouting about how it’s an insult to the people who’ve already died and that anyone would be angry about this treatment and then punch the detective in the face before they can name the killer. And silencing the detective won’t necessarily make the others suspicious right away. In real cases, the killer isn’t the only one who will rely on violence in a tricky situation. And if everyone feels that the detective had it coming, then they’ve lost the right to present any shocking truth they might have discovered. These unpleasant situations can always happen in the real world because it is in fact the real word.”

There was a more efficient method.

A more efficient way to stop the case from progressing and protect everyone’s lives.

“So there’s no need to announce the trick even if you do discover it. The detective should ''overwrite'' and redesign the existing trick so the killer who laid out that track in the first place is no longer in control. Then everyone there – including the killer – is bound by the fear of death and can’t do anything. There’s no need to resolve everything on your own. If you don’t want anyone else to die, your top priority is to forcibly stop the case from progressing further. Identifying the killer can wait until you’re free of the closed environment and plenty of Anti-Skill officers have flooded the scene.”

“Let me guess: and if the killer isn’t stopped by the fear, the detective can keep everyone safe by secretly killing the killer and have them ‘leave behind their will’ or whatever? Then the detective has solved the case and won’t be arrested for it?”

“Right.”

Shiratori gave her open and immediate agreement, making Mugino click her tongue.

“You missed something important there. To overwrite the trick that had already been used once and bind everyone, killer included, with the fear of death, the killer’s death will be at least the third one. Which means ''you’d be killing some innocent person in the second killing that you use to advertise what you’ve done''.”

“''No one’s truly innocent. Besides, someone there might be even more deserving of death than the poor killer''. That’s especially common when searching for dark side criminals.”

That was her form of justice.

So the Class Rep had trained herself into a detective who could do that.

Even the Personal Reality that produced her power had been twisted into that shape.

“Hee hee. What really matters is persuasiveness. Even material evidence is just one more way of bolstering that.”

“So even if the original trick was something as simple as strangling the victim with a wire, the detective would damage the window frame to ''upgrade'' that to the wire being used to send a key into the room through a small gap, creating a locked room? You add your own branch to the story when the case has already begun?”

“Ta ha ha. My power isn’t as convenient as you seem to think it is.”

Shiratori didn’t hide it.

Did she think explaining the details of her power would actually keep Item from trying anything against her?

“It doesn’t work well if you simply think it ''could'' happen or that it’s ''possible''. It’s a case of innocent until proven guilty, unfortunately. So I need to do things like this.”

The detective removed the grenade’s pin.

Even hearing Mugino’s low voice didn’t remove the smile from Shiratori’s lips.

“I need to bring it up to the level of ''certainty''. I need to show off definite evidence so we can share the same information.”

Would justice not flinch from evil’s threats?

In a way, this made her even more unusual than the villains of the dark side.

An explosion erupted out.

But Shiratori remained untouched despite having held the grenade.

Her trick had taken precedence.

As announced, the detective grinned and raised a clump of fire that looked like sticky fuel.

“But the damage you take from it is very real. Persuasiveness is effectiveness, so I can strengthen my trick as much as necessary by spreading more props around. If these flames reach you, you will be burned to a crisp!!”

Her Trick Lab created a psychological effect by sharing the same information between enemy and ally.

Detective Shiratori’s greatest skill was not her memory or her calculating mind. Was it in fact the verbal skills that allowed her to gather a group in a single place and hold their attention in her one-girl killer-identification show?

Mugino held her palm straight out.

“But your Trick Lab is only psychological! It can’t create a physical wall to block this!!”

The beam was faster.

In the last moment before it hit, the detective melted into a blur of lines. She may have moved even faster than the wolf.

The next thing Mugino knew, Shiratori was holding a short, thick pipe in her mouth.

“Tch. Are you smoking something!?”

“Of course not. I care too much about my health to turn myself into a doped-up soldier. But by making you think there was something to it and gathering your attention, it created a logic in which your attack could miss if your focus slipped. I don’t know about elsewhere, but it could happen here in Academy City. You yourself decided so. I just had to make it persuasive enough to convince both of us that’s what would happen.”

Trick Lab.

Did that power allow for tricks meant to keep her alive in addition to the tricks meant to kill? So instead of Shiratori dodging that, had she tricked Mugino into missing just like she claimed?

It would only work if Mugino believed it, but it still pissed her off to accept it.

“Now, how about more Trick Lab? …I can kill using the big fan used to regulate the ice palace’s temperature. In other words, I can control the vaporized fuel using the artificial wind. And once it fills this enclosed space, my target can’t escape no matter how fast they can move!!”

Frenda was more familiar with explosives, so it was her eyes that opened wide.

Knowing the psychological effect at play wasn’t enough to immediately eliminate your mental reactions. At times, trying hard to forget something would only make it stick in your head even longer.

And Mugino didn’t hesitate to fire Meltdowner.

To the side. Casually.

That was enough to instantly eliminate the vapor explosion with perfect accuracy.

“Wha-!?”

“It’s a psychological power. Persuasiveness is effectiveness and that comes from the info shared between enemy and ally. That grenade you used before didn’t actually explode. It’s simpler than that. You scatter some props around the scene to give completely fictional killer tricks 100% real deadly force, right?”

Mugino grinned in a villainous way.

“So all I have to do is destroy the location or situation your scenario relies on. That can mean blowing a hole in the wall or bringing down a bridge to throw off your timetable.”

“…I see.”

“You’re not the only one who can play that game. Whether you’re in a villa deep in the mountains or on a sleeper train following a strict timetable, your initial plan means nothing if some unrelated person happened to have a flamethrower in their bag. No matter how intricate a trick you’ve planned out, your locked room isn’t so locked if the door’s missing and your false alibi falls apart if the train is stopped. The greatest enemy of the clever sleuth is the macho construction worker. That’s all it takes to eliminate the very foundation of your preposterous trick!!”

Mugino aimed her palm straight ahead.

Shiratori responded by swiftly moving both her hands and, with the prestidigitation of a stage magician, producing a candle that could be used as a timer and a phone book that could act as a blunt weapon and then be burned away.

Several beams flashed out and more and more deadly tricks were released.

But the world did not react.

Because Frenda had used her bombs to break down the ice palace’s pillars, blast holes in its walls, and otherwise transform the location those tricks were reliant on.

It was pure chance.

If Shiratori’s imagination had outdone Frenda’s, it was Item who would have been killed.

Flesh was loudly torn through.

With none of her attacks working, the detective’s flank was burned through.

An impossible voice rang in Mugino’s head.

''“Hee hee. So I will bring you back into the light of the sun and make an honest person out of you!”

Perhaps this meant something ended within the Class Rep.

===Part 14===

The battle was over.

Kinuhata walked back on unsteady feet to rejoin the others while supported by Takitsubo.

Mugino and Frenda were looking down at the detective lying on the ice floor.

Red and black spread around her.

“Did you...super kill her? She might have been able to tell us what happened.”

“Like we had a choice. If we’d gone easy on her, she’d’ve killed us,” spat Mugino.

A voice responded to her.

It came from the Class Rep with a large chunk gone from her side.

She laughed.

“Ah ha ha. Should I take that…as a compliment?”

Frenda had plenty of friends in the light and the dark, so she could tell Shiratori Okibi was speaking as the ordinary Class Rep here. Which meant this was what existed at her deepest level – not the detective.

This was justice. The opposite of the villains who sought meaning in the darkness and found superiority in their knowledge of the special behind-the-scenes information ordinary people were ignorant of.

“Wh-what’d you do with the finger?”

But Frenda still had to check. As a villain.

“In the end, what did you do about the right thumb you cut off of Amekawa Souji, the third member of the Frees?”

“I smashed it up with a hammer and fed it to Rozeki, so there’s nothing left.”

“…”

“''Because I know the last thing criminals want to happen.'' If I sent it to Anti-Skill, you’d know where it is, for better or for worse. But logically speaking, it would scare you a lot more if you couldn’t find it no matter where you looked. And it’s not like you can 100% take my word for it here. Ah ha ha. Cough.”

Something whined weakly.

It was the wolf. Unlike her earlier ferocity, she was now behaving like a puppy with her mother. She may have only cared about being with the detective and nothing else mattered. Not even the human concept of morality.

“Rozeki...give them the key.”

The detective smiled and pet the wolf nudging her with her nose.

She touched the wolf with a bloody hand.

The wolf remained seated and tilted her head up to reveal her collar to Item. That meant exposing her throat, the most vulnerable part of her body.

After watching Mugino remove the key from the collar, Shiratori nodded from the floor.

“This means goodbye for you too… Rozeki, live free. You don’t have to accompany me in death too.”

The wolf did not obey Shiratori’s quiet words.

Shiratori brought her fingertips to her eyes.

She had tears there.

She carried those tears to the wolf’s mouth.

She placed the tears on the wolf’s tongue and had her swallow them.

“Now the two of us will always be together. We can walk together forever. So you need to go.”

And.

This time, the supposedly-extinct Japanese wolf went off somewhere.

She vanished into the mysterious darkness of Academy City.

After watching the wolf go, the detective coughed up a clump of blood. A big one. But she still managed to pull out her locked notebook with a trembling hand and toss it toward Mugino.

As if she had never actually intended to keep this a secret.

“In the end, why did you do any of this?”

“Because I am a detective of justice,” said Shiratori.

Was that why she couldn’t forgive Mugino Shizuri and the collection of villains that was Item?

That was Mugino’s assumption, but…

“So I envied you.”

She said this quite clearly.

“I’d been working for justice as a detective for so long, but, well, villainy doesn’t taste so bad. It was even better than I’d imagined.”

“…”

“It’s not like I chose this with my own logic.”

Her bloody lips displayed a hint of self-deprecation.

The true side of the Class Rep refused to hide her ugly side even on the verge of death.

“You see, both my parents are so strict… As a coward who lost her chance to even have a rebellious phase, I had no choice but to side with justice. If I’m being honest, I chose to fight villains as a detective because it was so much fun getting that peak of the world of villainy while remaining on the side of justice.”

“This world’s nothing to aspire to.”

“Oh, but it is. …You can choose to walk the path of villainy of your own free will. I wanted the freedom I saw in you.”

Mugino inserted the key taken from the wolf’s collar.

The pages inside had a space carved out and that space held a flash memory the size of a lipstick tube.

“What’s this?”

“Number 000.”

A dark red liquid spilled from the corner of the detective’s mouth.

But she still smiled.

“They are coming. You’ve been looking at the world of justice this time, so now the very top of that world is coming.”

Mugino had the flash memory now.

But she wasn’t going to directly insert it into any of Item’s phones. They would have to procure a computer from somewhere. More than that, she wasn’t in the mood to look away from the reality before her to view a rectangular screen.

The detective.

Or the Class Rep.

Shiratori Okibi wasn’t going to last. And Mugino had done it to her.

“But, well, I am sorry I made you deal with my selfishness here. I’m satisfied with this ending since I’d always wanted to join the world of the villains, but it’s probably going to mean trouble for you.”

“How so?”

“Because now you’ve lost your last connection to the ordinary world.”

Shiratori sounded troubled.

As if that was a bigger deal to her than the blood hemorrhaging from her body.

Mugino had no response for her.

“But don’t close yourself up in the world you know. That might seem the most cost-effective choice at first, but all you’ll be doing is restricting your own possibilities. The longer you keep at it, the more set in your ways you’ll be and the harder it will be to start on anything new.”

[[Image:Item3 BW4.jpeg|thumb]]

Lying unmoving in a pool of her own blood, the Class Rep moved her eyes to look at someone else.

At Frenda and the others.

“This one thing isn’t about logic. She’s an important classmate of mine...can I trust you to take care of her?”

“Of course.”

That was all.

She didn’t complain, curse them, or beg for her life.

Perhaps someone who died truly satisfied had no need for such things.

===Part 15===

Justice smiled as she drew her last breath. She was the opposite of the villains. When someone trusted the path they walked and always looked to the future, was their true value only revealed upon their death?

Item could not die like that.

The four left behind all knew it.

“…”

This was a first.

Mugino had killed pure justice with her own hands.

That girl had been a detective.

As well as the nonthreatening Class Rep from Mugino’s ordinary school.

Mugino had already thought she was going to hell.

But this had to be a crossroads. She had gone past the depths of hell. She hadn’t ever imagined there were further depths to reach, but she felt like she had found them.

“Number 000.”

The far too heavy silence was broken by track suit girl Takitsubo.

Only she could do this because she had known Mugino for just as long as the dead girl.

“I think Shiratori Okibi had planned to tell us no matter how this turned out. And as a detective, I don’t think she cared if she died in the process.”

“You mean this came from a spirit of self-sacrifice? How can you be so sure after how hard she fought?”

“Because if all she cared about was surviving, she had no reason to reveal her presence to you at all. She prioritized investigating the truth of this case over her own survival. Because she wanted to inform you of the danger so you could be prepared.”

Mugino fell silent for a moment.

August was ending soon. On September 1, school would start back up whether she liked it or not.

But ultimately, only the villains had been taking the fight seriously. Hadn’t Shiratori said that detectives held good and evil in their grasp and could decide who died? That meant they could also decide who lived.

''“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

Was this her answer?

She couldn’t bring herself to survive at the cost of a friend’s life, but she had forced someone else to experience that instead.

(You good guys can be real pieces of shit.)

“Mugino, let’s check that flash memory. I doubt we’ll like what we find, but not looking would mean betraying that detective’s expectations.”

“…You’re right. Dammit,” spat Mugino as she switched gears.

While deeply disgusted with her own wickedness for letting her do that so easily.

She flagged down a support team delinquent when they arrived to clean up the body and took a thin laptop from him.

The lipstick-size flash memory was filled with a large quantity of files.

The files were linked together by a text the detective had written.

“Number 000: One of many codes used over the radio by Anti-Skill and Judgment.”

Digital signals tended to rely on complex and advanced encryption, but emergency radio still used special abbreviations and codes to prevent the content of the message from being intercepted.

However, Anti-Skill and Judgment felt like such distant groups to Item.

Insignificant even.

And they would be if that was all it was.

“To understand the importance of Number 000, you must first understand how Academy City’s law enforcement groups work.

“There are two groups: the adults in Anti-Skill and the children in Judgment.

“Everyone knows that much. Judgment resolves problems within the school and Anti-Skill deals with crimes across the city. From that, it might seem like Anti-Skill has more power and is more closely protected.

“But that is not the case.”

That final statement overturned all the assumptions.

The text continued.

“As its name suggests, Academy City is a city of students.

“In fact, students make up 80% of the population. The Board of Directors takes people’s children into their care and uses them for esper development research while also keeping the city economy running.

“This is kept secret to keep the students from getting big heads, but Judgment is actually given higher priority than Anti-Skill.

“If both groups are present at the scene of a violent crime, Anti-Skill will risk their lives to protect Judgment.

“But the opposite will never happen.

“That is how the justice side works.”

“?”

Takitsubo tilted her head while reading the text.

It may have been hard to believe for someone who had false charges forced upon her to make an experimental guinea pig out of her. Kinuhata seemed equally skeptical.

“So is that how it super works on the justice side? It super doesn’t among the villains.”

“The above must be kept in mind when considering the meaning of Number 000.

“Number 000 is the code for ''the confirmed death of a Judgment member.

“It is used to convey that and that alone.

“It means that something that must not happen in this city has in fact happened. So Anti-Skill and Judgment will both operate under emergency response shifts to capture the culprit at all costs. The case is not allowed to go unsolved. That is the general understanding of the code.

“But that isn’t actually accurate.

“Most likely, the rest of this isn’t known to the Anti-Skill or Judgment members calling in the code over the radio.

“The code’s true meaning is ''send in Judgment’s elite execution squad.'' All laws and regulations may be ignored as every single person involved in the incident leading to a Judgment death – on either side of the conflict – has been killed, or a majority of the Board have given their authorization to cancel the Number 000.

“The attackers, the witnesses, and even anyone who tried to rescue the killed Judgment member are to be treated as suspects. No one involved must be left alive, even if if their connection was hidden behind the scenes. Thus, they must all be killed to swiftly and surely restore order.

“Those are the rules on which justice operates.”

“In the end...an execution squad?”

Frenda frowned at the overly direct phrasing.

As they were, Judgment was insignificant. But the enemy must have seen it the same way too. Just like Item lurked in the city’s shadows, this new enemy was a powerful force that had remained hidden within that benevolent organization.

This wasn’t an assassin, the media, or a detective.

Shiratori Okibi had said the “very top” of the world of justice was coming. Was this what she had meant?

“Whether she lived or died, that detective wanted to show us that Item was a part of this.”

“A Number 000 has been issued.” This part of the text carried great meaning. “The unethical journalists known as the Frees were only hired by the Judgment execution squad to gather information on those marked for death. Their job should have only been to gather information, but the Frees caused it all start to unravel when they directly executed one of the Sadistic Dolls.”

“The Sadistic Dolls,” muttered Takitsubo.

Item had directly fought with the five members of that girls band.

If they had been a target of the Number 000, then had a hapless member of Judgment been caught in the crossfire somewhere? Was that how Item had been dragged into this mess? But they didn’t recall anyone else being hurt back at the Moe Bells in District 9.

In that case…

Could it be?

“It all began in District 4’s Clone Complex.”

It had happened at the very beginning.

All the way back in that science cult’s headquarters.

But had Item really been completely unaware? The information had always been there in their peripheral vision.

A few scenes replayed in Mugino’s mind.

''“Huh? Weren’t we suppose to meet on the upper deck for our patrol?”

''Item heard an odd voice from overhead. The speaker was descending the long escalator while Item ascended it. Three girls were wearing their school uniforms even during the break.

''Three Judgment girls were gathered together in that district of anime-style primary colors. They were attaching fliers to the wind turbine supports. Was that part of their official duties? Frenda glanced over and, to her surprise, discovered they were missing person posters.

''In this entertainment district where there were plenty of drunks out even during the day, Yamagami Erina of Judgment was handing out fliers on the snowy street corner. They had seen her earlier, so she must have been moving around a lot.

''“Excuse me. This girl’s name is Minamioki Sarusa-chan. Has anyone seen her?”

''“For now, we need to get her information out there. That means getting the posters up in all 23 districts by the end of the day.”

''“People’s routines will change once the break ends, so we need to get some useful witness information before then.”

So what had happened to this girl who still hadn’t been found?

Mugino could make a pretty good guess.

Item had mentioned it themselves.

What had they so casually said within the headquarters of the Ark of the Electronic Sea science cult?

''“Live sacrifices, huh?”

''“Ugh… Super how do they go about scientifically justifying that?”

''“Kinuhata, there are people out there who call little grays and ancestral memory ‘scientific’. ‘Science’ is just a word, so people can define it however they want.”

“I don’t believe it.” Frenda was dumbfounded. “So in the end, someone else was in that agricultural building?”

“…”

There were parts of the Clone Complex Item hadn’t investigated thanks to the interruption by the Sadistic Dolls.

For example, through the metal door leading further back from the area where the cult leader had died.

Item hadn’t set foot in there, but what if that room had been littered with pieces of a girl’s corpse?

They had the answer.

This had been over from the beginning.

The text continued: “I discovered that the leader of that immoral science cult would prove her special status by carrying out a live sacrifice ritual she invented herself.

“The Sadistic Dolls and Item broke into the Clone Complex at about the same time, but the sacrifice had already been made.

“Minamioki Sarusa of Judgment was killed.

“And ‘everyone involved in the incident’ was defined to include the cult itself as well as the two groups who hadn’t arrived in time to stop the cult or save the girl.

“Both groups had already been officially registered as targets of Number 000.”

Unfair didn’t even begin to describe it.

This was probably why Detective Shiratori Okibi had investigated the case.

And even though they both knew each other’s lies now, she still let Mugino keep her ordinary school life. Even if it cost her her life.

The truth was revealed.

These were the rules of justice.

“Number 000 demands that anyone involved in a Judgment death be executed in retaliation with no exception.

“Whether or not these people meant any harm is considered irrelevant.”

===Between the Lines 2===

“I-it’s too dangerous, Sarusa-chan.”

“It’ll be fine. I’m in Judgment too, remember? I have a lead pointing me to District 4’s Clone Complex. Someone needs to go in there and check it out.”

“But that’s a job for the grownups in Anti-Skill…”

“You know several kids from our school have stopped showing up to school, right? That science cult has started working its way into our school. That makes this Judgment territory.”

“But, but.”

“You went undercover into that illegal casino. On a request from Anti-Skill.”

“Uh.”

“And, Erina, I hear you’ve been hanging out with high school Judgment lately. Makes me sad as a kiddie middle schooler. But I’m not letting you leave me behind. I need to do something big to prove I have what it takes.”

“J-Judgment isn’t that kind of job!”

“You wouldn’t understand, Erina! Not when you get to do real work even though you look like a little puppy!”

“Hey, Erina.”

“Yes?”

“Your Precog isn’t telling you anything, is it?”

“Um, no.”

“Then I’ll be fine! You didn’t have any scary predictions about your casino job, right? That’s why you got out alright. So I won’t have any trouble either!!”

“Wait, but, my Precognition isn’t that convenient. And I was really a step away from disaster at the casino!! Ahh…”

“Ah ha ha! Maybe you don’t, but I trust in your Precog, Erina.”

Not long afterwards, the girl who was left behind received a painful lesson.

Apparently her power could not protect anyone other than herself.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Chapter2|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Chapter4}}
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Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter3

2025-03-03T19:01:29Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 14 */

==Chapter 3: The Dark Side Can Find a New Toy Among the Classics==

===Part 1===

Mugino Shizuri did have a school.

It was a cold and inhumane prep school.

She was an extremely poor fit for that school, but Academy City was a city of students and the esper development was only done for students. Even when operating on the dark side, it was worth being enrolled in a school and achieving the bare minimum of attendance so your official records didn’t stand out.

And there were only so many schools at which a Level 5 could be enrolled without “standing out”.

But she really did only complete the bare minimum.

She didn’t show up most days in any given week and it wasn’t uncommon for her to be out for the full week. She barely ever returned to the poorly-managed school dorm. Not even her own classmates knew what she looked like. At the most, they would be jealous of the privileges that came with being a Level 5. Mugino wasn’t going to approach them, obviously. Her black stockings clearly didn’t match the fresh look of her white short-sleeved sailor uniform. Anyone could tell she wasn’t even trying to make it look good. She didn’t even bother getting the right size of uniform. She had simply ordered one with the right waist measurement, so her large chest pulled it up enough to provide glimpses of her navel.

However, there was one exception.

One girl would rush over and speak to Mugino every time she saw her.

That girl was Shiratori Okibi.

“I am the Class Rep, after all. Of course I’m going to be interested in what’s going on with a student who almost never shows up.”

“Look at it logically. The care you take with your hair and nails tells me you aren’t hurting for money. By the way, what do you do on the days you aren’t at school?”

“Ehh!? You can’t carry such expensive perfume with you! It’d be a tragedy if the teachers confiscated it!”

She couldn’t have been more of a nuisance. Anyone on the dark side would only see a risk when someone got nosy about how they lived their lives. Even if they were only a worrier or curious.

Why did she have to get involved?

“To be honest, I’m something of a detective,” Shiratori Okibi had said with a grin.

Asking for advice could be a shortcut to a solution to all your problems, but it could also act as an Achilles heel.

Someone on the dark side would never even think of hiring such a talkative detective, but were ordinary people different?

“As Class Rep, I end up hearing a lot of people’s problems. So if you’re ever in real trouble, you can come to me. I’ll do anything to help you out!”

But something occurred to Mugino.

In her limited time at that school, where she couldn’t match a name to a face for any of the teachers or students, the one exception would be Shiratori Okibi.

She had a lot of useful acquaintances on the dark side.

But when she thought about it, that girl may have been her one and only “friend” outside of the dark side.

===Part 2===

It was early morning in the District 4 Chinatown.

Item and the detective were facing each other from opposite sides of the bloody gazebo.

“You might think deduction has no place in a world of DNA testing, security camera networks, and forensic investigation, but you would be wrong.” The detective girl laughed with a ferocious Japanese wolf by her side. “It comes in handy when shadier groups, who can’t make use of those public services, have to track down who killed one of their own or identify a traitor among them. Even this high-tech city has a lot of ''isolated places'' where the laws and regulations of the outside world have no power. As long as the demand remains, I’ll never be out of a job. It is kind of ironic that deduction has become a toy for the dark side though, isn’t it?”

This girl should not have been here.

Mugino was used to being at dark side crime scenes and she was used to seeing this Class Rep at school, but the combination of the two felt so wrong it rattled her.

“Surprised?”

Shiratori spoke in the exact same way she always did.

She sounded just like the usual Class Rep refusing to mind her own business in the sunny classroom.

“It’s not really that surprising you failed to notice who I am before. We belong to different worlds. We both work in the dark side, but logically speaking, I’m on the side of justice.”

“…”

“My job is to do the things that Anti-Skill and Judgment can’t. So I make sure I can’t be detected by the villains I track. As a detective who unilaterally pursues villains and brings a swift end to their criminal lives, I’d be out of business pretty quick if I let them pursue me instead.”

“In the end, why are you even here?”

“A detective is always pursuing a case.” Shiratori smiled confidently and glanced around the bloodstained gazebo table. “I can imagine this case is especially difficult for you. First the Sadistic Dolls assassins, then the Frees who kill with photos, and now me, a detective. We all belong to a different category than Item.”

Shiratori laughed a little and patted the faithful wolf’s head.

“I mean, of course, the category of justice.”

Something changed.

It was strange no sound at all came from Mugino’s face.

“Ha ha. Just hearing the word made you cringe. But whether you’re aware of it or not, I can tell that Item can never survive in that field no matter how many villains you kill.”

“You sound super confident in the strength of your justice. Seems odd for someone who killed the third member without turning herself in. Not to mention how you keep picking up and moving around the pieces of flesh lying around here.”

“I don’t want to hear that from the team that killed the first two.”

The detective seemed amazed they would even bring that up.

Her refusal to even make an argument for why she was right did sound like something an advocate of justice would do.

“But really, Item wasn’t supposed to even get involved in this one. Eliminating the Sadistic Dolls and their incomplete justice should have been a case of justice killing justice. Since that didn’t happen…hm, I wonder if there’s more to this.”

Detective Shiratori Okibi spoke to herself for a moment and then looked up again.

“Anyway, there really isn’t much for me to do at this point. The Frees...oh, that’s the three corpses packed in plastic over there. I had hoped to speak with their leader, but you were a step ahead of me.”

The detective looked troubled. But her regret was on the level of finding the eggs on sale at the supermarket were sold out.

“So I’m done here. But if you will give this detective some time, I can logically organize the data on this case you’ve been caught up in.”

“Hold on.”

Sounding exasperated, Mugino took a step forward.

She didn’t know Shiratori’s situation here, but if she was in the same business, Mugino had no reason to hold back. She could tear apart and eliminate this girl with Meltdowner at any time.

Yes, she could do it.

As long as she cast aside the humanity she was meant to direct toward the Class Rep at her ordinary school.

“Do you really think we’re just gonna wait here until you’re gone? You’re not some ninja who can throw a smoke or flash bomb to escape. In real battle, the hardest thing to do is safely escape when you’re at the disadvantage.”

“Oh, right. You seem to be coming up with some conspiracies related to the Sadistic Dolls, but your voice on the phone wasn’t hiding their personal information just to be mean or anything. She really did look it into and really didn’t find anything.”

Mugino’s silence grew more piercing.

Several points here kept her from laughing it all off.

That Shiratori knew Item had been pursuing the Sadistic Dolls.

The mention of the voice on the phone.

And a claim to understand what the voice on the phone had been doing when even Item wasn’t aware of that.

Shiratori put on an innocent smile.

She saw right through Mugino’s thoughts.

“Ah ha ha. You think I’m bluffing? I guess I can’t prove any of it while you’re trapped in that labyrinthine case.”

“You bitch.”

“Oh, trying to provoke me?”

The black-haired detective girl laughed and muttered something under her breath.

A moment later, a massive wall of flames rushed toward Item.

The first to react was Kinuhata with Offense Armor. She kicked one of the pillars supporting the gazebo, breaking it and causing the entire roof to collapse.

That acted as a shield to protect the four of them.

The flame wall split to the sides because explosive blasts took the path of least resistance.

But that was all Kinuhata managed. They detected the sounds and smells of their support team being roasted.

A smiling voice arrived from beyond the thick orange wall.

“Don’t assume all I can do is create fire anywhere I want with pyrokinesis. Rush in with that shallow an understanding and you will die.”

“Kh.”

Meltdowner could not deflect a wall of fire.

Mugino could shoot right through the wall, but was Shiratori really where her voice was coming from? It was possible she had threatened some innocent person to hold a speaker or mobile device there.

“(Takitsubo, where is she? Can you sense anything at all!?)”

“(Can I use Body Crystal?)”

“You don’t need to do that. It’s a real burden on your body, isn’t it?” interrupted Shiratori.

Did she have good ears, or had she predicted what they would be thinking and doing?

“Don’t contact me – I’ll contact you. I said I would logically organize the data on this case if you gave me time, didn’t I? I am a detective, after all.”

Her presence grew more distant.

Mugino clicked her tongue, aimed her palm toward the wall of fire, and then stopped.

She heard something like a train’s metal wheels slotting into the rails.

“Like I said, I’m done here. It might be summer break, but that doesn’t mean anything to those businessmen in suits. Rush hour will be starting soon and I can’t exactly say I’m working for justice if I get ordinary people caught up in this. What about you on the villain side?”

Shiratori’s playful tone said she really was leaving.

Item still hadn’t discovered the details of her power. Which meant she may have been able to reduce Item’s numbers by catching them by surprise.

“Where should we meet up!?” shouted Mugino.

“Use some deduction. Start by investigating me.”

===Part 3===

The four members of Item moved to District 7.

Their support team had been completely wiped out, but they had needed to move away from the scene. So now they were gathered in a laundromat. However, this was not a cheap place full of industrial washing machines meant for baseball uniforms stained by sweat and dirt. It was a new rest spot that included a clean and trendy cafe.

Item was in the cafe space that had a thick glass wall between it and the laundromat space lined with industrial washing machines. The only thing that really differentiated it form an ordinary cafe was the LCD monitors hanging from the ceiling displaying the customer numbers whose laundry had recently finished.

The “women only” sign out front may have helped explain the sweet aroma filling the cafe-style waiting area as well as the fairly risque underwear and negligees spinning within the industrial washing machines. Some people were even washing a maid uniform with an exceptionally short skirt (perhaps for handing out tissues on the street corner) and a strange combination of a school swimsuit and an apron.

However…

“Mugino, no falling asleep.”

“Why the hell not!? What, do you want attention!? I’m sleeping! It takes 80 minutes for the full washing and drying cycle!”

Thanks to dealing with the overtime stalkers known as the Frees, Item had been out working at four in the morning. The dark side wasn’t supposed to be so hard working. It didn’t take a Mugino to be sleepy and irritable and she was even more irritable than that.

August 30 had still only just begun.

Kinuhata was resting her head on a makeshift pillow made by balling up a track suit she borrowed from Takitsubo. Mugino wasn’t wearing any shoes as her legs swayed below the table. The girls were more than ready to get some sleep.

But.

“If we don’t collect our laundry within half an hour after it’s done, the people in charge will take it out to free up the limited number of machines. If we all oversleep, we could lose the rest of our clothes.”

Silence fell.

A new source of conflict had presented itself.

“Sounds to me like one of us needs to stay awake.”

“Yeah, but which one?”

The girls at the table glared at each other. They all wanted some sleep. They might as well have been choosing their human sacrifice.

“I say we decide based on how much help we were today! Takitsubo and I fought the Frees outside that convenience store. Now, Kinuhata, what were you doing then? Oh, right. You were wasting your time at the eat-in section, so you’re it. I’m sleeping!!”

“Super wait! This District 7 laundromat was my hideout to begin with. If we’re talking about being helpful, you should be super thanking me!!”

“Kinuhata, I took the number up and carried the curry rice back from the counter.”

“In what world is that equivalent!? Besides, that was super your own curry, Takitsubo-san! Super why are you eating curry so early in the morning anyway!?”

“Hm? It’s standard fare for hotel breakfasts.”

With that expressionless comment, Takitsubo got to work with her silver spoon. And she had a reason for that choice. While this was a cafe, they couldn’t pass the time drinking coffee or tea. They all wanted to get some sleep right away, so ingesting anything with caffeine would be like a death sentence.

“I-I’m going to fall asleep like this! My head feels so heavy! Super someone talk to me! If you don’t give me an endless topic to focus on, our laundry is doomed!”

“Shut up. You and Takitsubo can play that rock-paper-scissors impressions game or…oh.”

“Mugino?”

Mugino had trailed off oddly.

She must have remembered who had taught her that game. And that girl being from her school was no longer a reason to trust her.

Detective Shiratori Okibi.

After some silence with an unreadable expression, Mugino collapsed down onto the table.

“…I’m sleeping.”

“This tyrant just super changed the rules on us.”

“Mugino is conflicted about a lot of things.”

“That solemn mood super isn’t fooling me. You don’t get to just declare the rules don’t apply to you!”

Item had no choice but to choose from the overpriced orange juice and light meals on the menu. The cafe didn’t even try to hide the 2-liter paper packages in the freezer behind the counter. Mugino had expensive tastes but wasn’t the type to spend money on just anything, so her bitter mood was only getting worse. And at this point, she just wanted to go to sleep.

Suddenly, Kinuhata realized one person hadn’t been a part of all this commotion.

“Huh? Super where is Frenda-san?”

“She’s probably experiencing her own hell in the sunny side of the world.”

===Part 4===

Frenda Seivelun’s soul had partially left through her mouth.

That was no exaggeration. Her eyes really had rolled back in her head.

She was in an elementary school dorm in District 13. Were all the stuffed animals and character products her little sister’s taste, or were they all things Frenda and others had bought her because they thought that was what little kids liked? A goldfish and a rhino beetle lived in the room too and the study desk contained a notebook, math drills, a textbook, and a morning glory observation journal.

That was all summer homework.

However, Frenda’s homework did not include a morning glory observation journal. It all belonged to her first grade sister.

“See, in the end, I told you this would happen. And I even told you I wouldn’t be helping you.”

“In the first place, you told me not to go crying to you when August 31 rolls around. Today’s the 30th, so I haven’t broken my promise yet!”

This little sister was awfully clever for a 7-year-old.

The dark side older sister was mildly worried.

The younger sister tilted her head.

“In the first place, why are you holding me from behind?”

“Because I know you’ll make a getaway if I don’t have you in my lap like this. In the end, I don’t like the look of those outdoor shoes you have ready to go over there.”

“Heh heh. Today I get the best seat in the house☆”

And so Frenda had her arms around her little sister’s hips to hold her in place like a thrill ride’s safety bars. This was a sign of mistrust because she assumed the younger sister would try to escape from the balcony given half a chance, yet the younger sister leaned back against her and kicked her legs like she was seated in the most comfortable throne.

“I notice you’ve barely even started on it. Why didn’t you do any homework until today?”

“I meant to.” The 7-year-old princess pouted her lips in her sister’s lap. “But there were so many days when I didn’t have time to do that day’s amount. So my plans to do it little by little kept falling apart.”

So she had a plan but had overestimated how much she could do in a day.

Frenda was exasperated as her little sister continued.

“But, but! I kept my Sundays open as a catch-up day, so I should have been able to make up for all of that.”

Choosing Sunday for that kind of insurance had been a mistake. Even during summer break, the school schedule had imprinted her with the idea that Sunday was a day off. It was rare to be able to stay focused on work on that day.

“And the next thing I knew, it was hopeless.”

The younger sister had tears in her eyes.

Then she extended her legs and shouted in desperation.

“In the first place, it’s not my fault!! It’s summer break’s fault for being so much fun!!”

“In the end, I can tell you’re racing down a path everyone has to go down eventually.”

At any rate, she had to get that homework done.

That she had called on her big sister now had to be a sign of trust. Frenda reached her arms under her little sister’s to divide up the mountain of homework and textbooks on the desk.

“Okay, I’ll do this arithmetic for you, so you write out these kanji.”

“ ‘Write your name in kanji.’ ...In the first place, how am I supposed to do that?”

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl with an all-alphabet name was at a loss.

Elementary school arithmetic problems weren’t actually all that difficult, but there were a lot of them. And as she went through doing those ultra-simple calculations over and over again, Frenda grew less and less certain of the Japanese she was looking at. She was experiencing some real gestaltzerfall. She was also under a lot of pressure because getting even one first grade problem wrong would damage her honor as the big sister.

(Oh, no, no, no. In the end, doing this over and over is like packing parts in boxes on a factory conveyor belt. I’m feeling dizzy already.)

Then a new stimulus arrived. The little princess pulled out a tape measure. To make sure the 7-year-old didn’t cut her fingertips, the school had given her a cloth one rather than a metal one.

“I have to measure my body too!”

“?”

“For the summer break growth chart.”

…Had that 7-year-old really grown as much as the morning glory vine?

Frenda wasn’t certain, but it was too late now. She decided to measure the younger sister’s current height and then make up weekly numbers going back to the start of the break. As long as it didn’t end with the girl being shorter than she was during the 1st term, no one would know the difference.

The little sister was released from the “throne” so she could stand by the wall to be measured.

“Okay, in the end, stand tall and I’ll get you measured. Stay right there.”

“Nhh.”

“No, don’t stand on your toes.”

Frenda had thought only the athletic boys thought being taller was better, but was she wrong about that? She couldn’t remember what life had been like back when she was 7.

“In the first place, I’m as slim as a supermodel.”

“If you say so.”

Where had she learned that term?

Then the 7-year-old began playing with the cloth tape measure. She wrapped it around and around herself.

“In the end, what are you doing?”

“This is what grownups do. It’s called taking your measurements!”

Frenda decided to just watch as her 7-year-old sister had her fun.

She knew there was nothing grownup about that measuring tape mummy.

===Part 5===

When Frenda returned to the laundromat before lunch, it was finally time for a strategy meeting.

Mugino was holding a bowl of cold miso soup that seemed out of place at a Western-style cafe. It may have been part of a fair or collab. Frenda had recommended the grilled mackerel pieces as a topping, but that hadn’t appealed to Mugino.

“Now we need to decide what to do.”

“You super mean about that detective?”

Kinuhata was staring at her phone, which was tilted on its side, but this didn’t meant she had traded her love of movies for playing mobile games. She was apparently watching a VRTuber who specialized in recommending minor films.

Kinuhata made a suggestion to the rest while viewing the screen.

“She said to use deduction, right? But if we just do what she tells us to, I feel like we’ll fall right into a trap even if we do run into her again.”

Of course, contacting her public phone number or visiting her official address probably wouldn’t help.

The situation with that detective wasn’t quite the same as with the Sadistic Dolls and the Frees. Because she hadn’t killed someone in front of Item or stolen one of their targets from them.

That said, it was unknown how many lives she had taken in secret and that she didn’t kill anyone yesterday was no guarantee she wouldn’t do so tomorrow.

Besides, they couldn’t ignore her as long as she had information on Item.

“In the end, are we really going to meet with her?” asked Frenda, looking skeptical. She seemed to be saying this was the main topic here. “What was the name of that third Frees member?”

“It was Amekawa Souji, Frenda.”

“Right, that’s it, Takitsubo. In the end, we had asked our support team to dispose of him, but then that detective comes in and throws his corpse at us. So how exactly did Shiratori Okibi steal that corpse from our support team?”

“According to the support team, they were loading it into a van parked on the curb when a bunch of water rushed in and swept them and the van away.”

“That’s different from the wall of fire we saw,” noted Mugino.

Her head was lowered and her voice was even lower than usual.

''“Don’t assume all I can do is create fire anywhere I want with pyrokinesis. Rush in with that shallow an understanding and you will die.”

That hadn’t been a simple bluff.

Mugino didn’t recall seeing that kind of power at school either. Shiratori Okibi’s power was supposed to be Level 3 Impact Compressor. It should have only let her manipulate the air to hammer in nails without the use of an actual hammer.

Had she been hiding it?

Had she intentionally fooled Mugino. While smiling and calling herself a harmless Class Rep?

Had she been looking down on Mugino while knowing she was from the dark side?

“In the end, that isn’t the worst part about that demonstration.”

Mugino had been fooled during the school life she had thought was only camouflage.

What did Frenda think of seeing Mugino so out of sorts? There was a hint of exasperation in her gaze as she shrugged and spoke.

“That she only had the top half of the corpse is fine. Mugino’s Meltdowner isn’t the only source of high firepower. But in the end, we checked and found that idiot’s right thumb had been cut off. That sounds pretty intentional, don’t you think? We’d be in a lot of trouble if she sent that to Anti-Skill. That detective’s the one who killed Amekawa, but an investigation of that will mean more people looking into the two Mugino killed.”

The members of Item were not jidaigeki samurai or western gunmen, so to stay safe they had to retrieve the bodies of those they killed and keep them from ever being discovered. Having a body meant to be disposed of stolen and then having a part removed wasn’t an immediate threat, but it did mean trouble.

Justice.

Detective Shiratori Okibi.

She knew the last thing a dark side criminal would want.

Takitsubo emotionlessly tilted her head.

“But she didn’t threaten us, did she?”

“She’s not that stupid. She seemed aware of the voice on the phone, remember? She knows there would be pressure on Anti-Skill to stop an investigation if she did try to send them after us. And no matter how well she disguises the route she uses to send in the evidence, there’s always a risk of it being traced back to her, so she can’t be careless.”

“So is she still super thinking up a way to use it?”

Once her various calculations were complete, that detective probably wouldn’t hesitate to act. And whatever she did would be so much trouble for the voice on the phone that she might stop protecting Item.

Mugino breathed a heavy sigh.

“I don’t know how long we have, but we should come up with a decision fast. We’re dead if we give that detective time to work with.”

“In the end, what would happen if Shiratori Okibi got desperate and just sent the thumb in?”

“It’s no problem for us if it fails. We’d owe the voice on the phone a big favor, but it’s better than making an enemy of ''all the higher ups''.”

That settled it.

It wasn’t like Item to flee from the darkness for fear of a scandal.

Their style was to make the enemy rue the day she acquired any information on them.

And they did have some information to work off of.

Shiratori Okibi was enrolled in the same school as Mugino, so the detective had to see September 1 as a deadline. If she hadn’t left the school or dealt with Mugino by then, she would have no way of keeping herself safe.

Just like Mugino.

(So something will happen before then.)

Today was the 30th. Mugino thought for a bit.

“First, I want to know who this detective really is.”

“Hm? Isn’t she your classmate Shiratori Okibi?” asked Takitsubo.

“''Have you forgotten how many times we’ve been fooled by special makeup''? I want an expert to confirm it.”

So after making some arrangements by phone, they walked to District 9. It was blazing hot outside, so Frenda was in an especially smug mood thanks to her personal mist shower parasol. The strange atmosphere of this district was a lot more obvious when walking outside than when they took the subway before.

“This heat is making me sweat.”

“Mugino. In the end, your bra’s showing through☆”

Three Judgment girls were gathered together in that district of anime-style primary colors. They were attaching fliers to the wind turbine supports. Was that part of their official duties? Frenda glanced over and, to her surprise, discovered they were missing person posters.

They must not have been having much luck because the girls huddled together to discuss something.

“Hey, Erina-chan. Can’t you find the answer real quick with your Precognition?”

“Hwehh? I-it’s not that simple. If I could choose what to see with my power, I wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble at that colosseum or that casino.”

“Right, didn’t you say you had predicted a giant meteor crashing into the Earth thirty thousand years from now? And some small thing you did changed the future to avoid it, so now there’s no way of knowing if the original prediction was even accurate? Sigh, not often I come across an ESP power even less convenient than my Clairvoyance.”

Item’s destination was the General Tower for Next-Generation Information and Arts at the center of the cityscape.

That was the Moe Bells they had visited before.

Takitsubo gave an expressionless look to the girl holding a parasol indoors.

“Frenda, people don’t like your parasol. You’re gathering a lot of attention.”

“?”

“Didn’t you say it’s a personal mist shower? They’re super putting up posters and life-size cardboard ads in front of the stores, so they probably don’t like moisture much. Even though their usual clientele are so sweaty.”

At one end of a floor full of anime and game production companies was a VRTuber streaming studio. It contained a classroom-sized studio, an A/V mixing room of the same size located beyond thick soundproof glass, and a refrigerated room full of computers the size of vending machines.

That was the stronghold for a certain video investigator.

“Whaddya want?”

Item was greeted by a stubbly young man wearing an obscene T-shirt and well-worn jeans. He held a nearly-used-up cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

As the newest member, Kinuhata must have been the only one to never meet him before. She stared in shock at the giant poster on the wall and at the stubbly man.

“Eh!? Isn’t this the super VRTuber streaming studio? Don’t tell me Natsuno Cacao from the minor movie recommendation channel is actually you…”

“Ha ha. No, I’m just the choreographer. This here’s a recycling plant for idol voice actors who’ve screwed up so bad it’s best not to mention their stage name anymore.”

Maybe it came with being from the dark side, but the young man smiled and described the place in a very uncharitable way.

“You used to work out of District 15, since all the TV stuff is there.” Mugino sounded displeased. “You should’ve contacted us if you were going to move.”

“TV isn’t the center of the moe world anymore, you see. But if you’re this pissed off, you must have a rush job for me as a video investigator.”

The way the man in the obscene T-shirt and jeans grinned made Mugino click her tongue and toss him a flash memory the size of a lipstick tube. Her crisis management skills weren’t so bad she would give a data expert her phone.

The video investigator caught it in one hand and shoved a younger video staff member aside.

“I’ll be using this console. ...Wait, you idiot!? Why are you making little adjustments here!? The jiggle needs to come from the spine, not the chest! Our job is to adjust the values when the raw motion data actually looks more fake. The key to popularity is whether the girl on the screen’s flirting looks natural or not. If you can’t sense any weight behind the movement, then everyone just sees it as a bunch of data no matter how much money we spent on a high-quality model!!”

Some nonsensical complaints echoed through the room.

“This sounds silly now, but we might be in trouble if AI takes over one of these, declares itself a superhuman god, and gets really popular,” said Takitsubo with a sigh.

“Eh? I thought the AI MO was to attack with a rebel army full of super machos. I super haven’t seen any movies about the apocalypse happening because the machines were so cute humanity just let them take over.”

The man inserted the flash memory into the filming equipment console, extracted the video on it, and looked to one of the many LCD monitors.

“Hm. You have her face and voice, but you still can’t tell who she is? And so you decided to rely on me?”

“Can you tell anything from her bones?”

In addition to their face and fingerprints, people could be identified by how they stood and their stride.

VRTuber motion capturing was a technology involving human movements. If the skeleton and joints didn’t behave properly, the models couldn’t behave cutely and their dancing would just look creepy.

However…

“There are signs of alterations.”

“…”

“I’m not finding anything searching dental records and I have no matches from the random facial recognition at automatic registers. Either she takes great care of her teeth and avoids sugary drinks, or she periodically randomly updates her teeth and bone structure.”

There were stories of a runaway criminal intentionally removing one of their back teeth in a desperate attempt to avoid this kind of search, but frequently remaking your entire body was rare even for the dark side.

An unlicensed doctor they knew had the following to say when they contacted her through a social media counseling service: “Well, you did say she’s skilled enough to mess with a dog’s genes enough to make a Japanese wolf out of it, so I could see her messing with her own teeth and bones to avoid having her personal information tracked.”

Frenda frowned.

“In the end, she attends a normal school, right? Then she must be in the Bank.”

“Mugino. If the same ID had its skeletal structure change that many times, it would trigger a data alteration alert. Since that hasn’t happened, could she ''have the technology to return her bones to normal'' when she gets her official measurements taken?”

Then who was she really?

Was the Class Rep frequently altering her bones, or had a complete stranger taken on the Class Rep’s skeletal pattern ''as a disguise''?

The video investigator shrugged.

“If the trail goes cold tracking down the individual, you can always search their base. You can gather up all the paper and data in her room and follow the money, such as how she’s renting the room.”

“…”

“There must be something. You have this video, so there could be something she says or does that hints at where she’s from.”

===Part 6===

“Come to think of it, what is your dream?”

Shiratori Okibi had asked that question in an afterschool classroom dyed orange by the setting sun.

Mugino had calculated out the bare minimum number of days she had to show up at school, so she didn’t know her classmates’ names, or even her teacher’s name. That wasn’t a problem if they didn’t care about her either, but unfortunately the Level 5 brand name held a lot of weight at this ordinary school.

“Um, you actually take having a dream seriously?” asked Mugino, looking exasperated.

“My point is you have to write one down on your future plans form.”

So the problem was with the school. This was supposed to be a prep school, so Mugino felt like they should be gathering some more valuable data on their students.

Shiratori grinned.

“To give you an example, my dream is to become an even better detective. I don’t want to be a novice or a hobbyist. I want to use my logic as an actual job.”

“A professional detective, huh? Do you actually know what that job would entail?”

“Ah ha ha. I know it probably wouldn’t mean dramatically solving locked room and timetable mysteries.”

Shiratori laughed bashfully and dropped the topic. She appeared to know that the most common job for Academy City detectives was to tail spouses and romantic partners suspected of infidelity.

“But I’d be able to do so much more if I had a real title. Some things are out of reach when you’re only a hobbyist, but that would change if I was a pro.”

“Such as?”

“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

“…”

“I don’t know what kind of world you’ve gotten yourself involved in! But I can tell you have something going on outside of school and I can guess that it isn’t anything as peaceful as working part-time at a convenience store after school.”

If she had really known, it all would have ended back then.

That dream was only valuable because it was so awkward and unrealistic.

In a peaceful school classroom with no connection to the dark side, Shiratori laughed.

“Hee hee. So I will bring you back into the light of the sun and make an honest person out of you!”

===Part 7===

“Oh? And so you decided to visit my ''classroom''?”

That statement was enough to bring a dangerous tension to the air.

It came from a woman in her 20s wearing a kimono. If she were seated in a tearoom making matcha with a tea whisk, she would have looked graceful.

Instead, she stank of death.

Frenda was a battle-loving bomber, but even she straightened her spine.

Mugino looked exasperated.

“You do know she’s a murder virgin, right?”

“I do intellectually, but in the end…”

“She’s just giving off that aura with her mannerisms and breathing. But if she can fool a pro, maybe she deserves to be a manners teacher.”

The “manners classroom” was contained in an old-fashioned house just like tea ceremony and flower arrangement classrooms tended to be. It was about creating an image and that had to be the most convenient image for gathering clients.

They were actually in a high-tech skyscraper in District 3 that stood well above the many wind turbines.

More accurately, an entire old-fashioned house, complete with garden, had been transferred to the roof of the skyscraper.

The beautiful woman in a kimono gave off a dangerous air.

…Although Mugino actually found herself relaxing because it felt so much like home. The Mugino family was a gang with a mixture of Japanese and Western styles, like something out of a romanticized look into the Meiji or Taisho era. It was a strange universe where fancy doll dresses and kimonos could be worn side by side without feeling odd.

“Look here.”

Mugino had handed over the same flash memory she had given the VRTuber video investigator, so the woman indicated a point on her tablet.

“Do you see how she takes a step back and moves her fingertips when she nods? Ordinarily, you focus on someone’s face when they lower their head, but this uses that fact to send a signal to anyone who understands that.”

This manners classroom was in fact a place for revealing the signs used by criminal organizations.

If you paid enough, she would apparently even design signs for you to use. She may have been something like the professionals who designed celebrity signatures.

“There are also times while she talks where she switches from her normal nose breathing to mouth breathing. That is another sign. By using the switching points as a dividing line like with Morse code, she is including a completely different text into her conversation.”

Mugino frowned.

“And who exactly uses that kind of sign?”

“The Human Bike Delivery Service.”

That answer came easily.

“The sign to their office is so bland it’s easy to overlook, but they are actually a go-between for illegal part-time work. They also act as a collection service that brings together multiple loan sharks and handles the cases that are in over their head in debt. They’re experts at dealing with the people who are stuck without any money to pay back. They do this by keeping their distance and ordering those people to go and rob a jewelry or watch store.”

As a fellow dark side worker, Mugino had recognized the name.

“That would mean our detective’s base is in District 16.”

===Part 8===

Just like bike shops tended to be near elementary and middle schools, like florists tended to be near hospitals, and like ramen shops and other restaurants that used their large serving sizes as a selling point tended to be near schools strong in athletics, there was an ideal location for every business.

Detectives tended to deal with the more unseemly side of humanity, such as infidelity and inheritance issues, so if they wanted customers, they would naturally set up shop in a district closely related to human desires.

Academy City’s entertainment district in District 16 was the most obvious example there.

The office contained a large potted plant, a business desk, a glass reception table, a leather sofa, and a fairly expensive coffee maker.

The image of a detective’s office must not have changed much since the time of old dramas. It had ended up like this by asking the interior decorator to “make it look like a detective’s office”. On the other hand, it also looked a lot like a collection of the unsold office supplies in a wholesaler’s warehouse.

Who could have predicted the sofa would have a blanket rolled up on it because it had been more or less turned into a bed? The silver metal bag on the floor was a simple forensics kit and there was a surveillance drone too. But if you wanted to use those toys at the scene of the mystery, it was better to hire an expert.

The calendar on the wall indicated plans to rent a consumer electronics accident investigation lab. That would be for reproducing large-scale physical tricks.

Although with a detective, that was less about using a specific gimmick yourself and more about understanding exactly how all of the devices worked to simulate malicious ways a criminal might use them.

However, none of that was the office’s most notable trait.

Everything was covered.

Photos and handwritten memos weren’t just pasted all over a wall – they covered the floor and ceiling too. They were all linked by colorful string, to visualize how it was all connected.

One clump was formed from photos of the five members of the Sadistic Dolls and a memo written by someone at their company.

Another clump included photos of the science cult leader and the Clone Complex agricultural building.

Photos of the four Item members were located between those two clumps.

A short distance away were the three Frees.

A few colorful strings extended from there, but were not yet connected to anything.

(My deadline is probably September 1. Logically speaking, it’s just not possible for us to pretend to be friends in class now that we both know each other’s identity. We need to settle this one way or another during August.)

…Oddly enough, Mugino organized information in much the same way when she was pursuing a case. It was unclear which one took after the other, though.

“Hm, hm♪”

The detective was nude. She had just taken a bath. There was a door leading to all the rooms with running water: kitchen, bathroom, and bath. She took a sip of the cold coffee left on the table and then searched for a snack to help settle her stomach.

Sensing food, the Japanese wolf looked up from the cushion on the floor she had been boredly lying on.

The first to solve a mystery left by a wealthy old man would receive his full inheritance, but instead of a giant pile of cash, that inheritance turned out to be a Japanese wolf and some atavism research notes. The romantic of an old man apparently thought something that couldn’t be converted into a pile of cash was a much greater treasure. The family members who had been fighting so ruthlessly before were suddenly in complete agreement that they didn’t want the wolf, so the hired detective had taken it.

The black-haired girl wearing only the towel over her wet hair opened the fridge and bent over to look inside.

“Ugh, someone ate all my food. Was the culprit me? No, I could never keep this lovely figure if I’d eaten all that ham and bacon. Which can only mean...hmm.”

Shiratori Okibi muttered to herself while directing a magnifying glass toward the fridge.

Technically, that was a multipurpose scanner with the rim packed full of 2mm cameras and sensors. It could zoom in and out and it could also visualize all sorts of data: fingerprints, bloodstains, footprints, sweat and saliva spray, and more.

She started by setting the wavelength to 385 and 455 nanometers. This revealed a trail of something being dragged out of the fridge.

There were signs of plastic wrappers being torn open on the floor.

Following the trail further led Shiratori to peer between the large potted plant and the wall where the ham and bacon wrappers had been roughly shoved.

The towel-head girl gave a single large nod.

The culprit was her assistant.

The truths revealed by a detective were always a source of sorrow.

“Rozeki! Dammit, you can try to hide it, but I can still see what you did with the ALS!!”

The Japanese wolf tried to play it dumb, so Shiratori hugged her in the nude and rubbed her cheek against her, making her yelp pitifully. Not only was Shiratori’s skin and hair wet, but the wolf didn’t like the overly sweet scent of the body soap and shampoo.

In the world of deduction, you could never say never.

Dogs and cats could operate doors and faucets with surprising skill and they could even press a button on a TV or AC remote. Of course, it was impossible to say what Japanese wolves were capable of due to the extremely limited sample size.

After completing the wolf’s punishment with a smile, (naked) Shiratori Okibi removed her face from the fluffiness.

“Okay, Rozeki, let’s head out and buy some food at the cheap place.”

“Woof!” happily barked the wolf. Rozeki preferred discount stores to convenience stores and supermarkets because of all the pet food and toys available there. One enormous store in particular had practically become a landmark in this entertainment district.

Shiratori tossed the towel from her head and changed into the bare minimum of going-out clothes. The combination of the special below-the-knee sock garters and short black stockings was stylish and cute, but it was a pain to put on. If she wasn’t careful, she would end up with runs in the stockings. She hesitated on the choice between leather shoes or boots but chose the boots.

“Staying stylish as a girl costs so much money, time, and work.”

She grabbed her phone and accessed the school phone tree group on social media. That she remained in good standing at school showed she was better than Mugino Shizuri at maintaining both sides of her life.

Summer was ending soon. She had to really start thinking about September 1 now.

(I’ll be busy again once the break ends. Then again, school is a treasure trove of jobs people can’t go to anyone else with.)

Shiratori left her detective office with Rozeki the Japanese wolf.

The detective office was located in a filthy multi-tenant building in the entertainment district full of neon and LCD signs. It had a sex establishment and a consumer finance office as neighbors. Other establishments in the building were a pawn shop that primarily bought furniture and tools off of debt-collectors and a mobile phone shop that used phone repairs as a cover for stealing people’s personal information. All the strange additions to the building made it hard to navigate.

“Yawwn. Mornin’, Miss Detective.”

A busty young woman wearing a thin camisole rubbed her eyes sleepily while staggering down the narrow hallway. How busty was she exactly? Over 100cm. While Shiratori hadn’t lifted the camisole to check, she suspected there was no underwear underneath.

The woman was a sex worker who worked in this building.

“Huh? I didn’t realize you started work this early.”

“There’s a space to take naps in the back. ''It’s too cold outside''.”

The sex worker staggering around in only a camisole was much more interested in the wolf walking beside the detective than the detective herself. The woman’s face lit up as soon as she saw Rozeki because Rozeki had in fact become something like the building’s mascot.

“Your assistant’s with you☆ Oh, she’s so cute!”

A detective’s job was to resolve a wide variety of problems, but the majority of those problems came from human relationships: investigating suspected infidelity, searching for a runaway girl, finding people who were avoiding paying loan sharks, etc. Whatever the case, a detective primarily handled tracking jobs that Anti-Skill and Judgment wouldn’t touch, so the Japanese wolf’s sharp sense of smell was a powerful weapon. At times, that was even more useful than a special ALS light that revealed fingerprints or bloodstains.

Her sleepiness gone, the sex worker smiled bright.

“Can I pet Rozeki-chan?”

“Go right ahead.”

With shrieks about how cute the wolf was, hands reached in from all sides to pet her. As soon as one was given permission, a crowd of women emerged from the nearby doors. The wolf would be given all sorts of food, snacks, and toys if Shiratori let her out of her sight for even a moment, but she was even more popular right now after driving out a particularly nasty drunk. Although it wasn’t quite clear if the women viewed Rozeki as a knight in shining armor or a maneki-neko.

The animal’s pleading eyes said, “I will let you draw eyebrows on me with permanent marker, just rescue me from this.” She had her tail tucked between her legs.

(Sigh, she’s all scared of them. And yet a human would have to pay them a lot of money to get this kind of treatment.)

But it wasn’t fair to animals to expect them to see things like humans did.

The detective searched for some way to help out her poor assistant.

“Oh? I hear a lot of noise coming from over there. Rozeki.”

Shiratori made up an excuse and whistled with her fingers. The wolf left the sex workers’ petting hands and ran to Shiratori. Ran quite quickly. Her round eyes expressed thanks.

Shiratori visited another tenant in the same building.

The Human Bike Delivery Service.

The sign was so bland it would be easy to overlook, but it was really a go-between for illegal part-time work. Instead of delivering objects, their service let people use their phones to easily have the person on the bike delivered.

The detective stuck her head in through the door.

“What’s going on? Got another job for me?”

“No. I’m busy breaking that man the ladies discovered.”

“Ewahhhhhhhh!! Ohhraghhhhhhhhhhh!!”

A neighborhood nuisance of a scream pierced through the building’s wall. Apparently loan sharks these days no longer demanded their poor victims sell their organs.

Of course, not all loan shark “customers” ended up like this.

Or rather, loan sharks worked best when the leader remained hidden on the other side of a phone call and threatened disposable lackeys to do the real work. So even if this captured lackey talked, it wouldn’t reveal who was behind it all.

One detective job was to search out the lackeys who ignored their orders and ran off in the middle of the night.

There were specialists who would drag them into a dark room and thoroughly break the reckless disobedience out of them.

Runaways like that weren’t exactly common, but if word of a single one getting away safely were to spread, a lot more would risk it.

There was no real sympathy in the detective’s voice.

There was only one reason that man had fallen this far.

“''Home schooling,'' huh?”

That referred to back alley brain modifications done with electrodes and suggestion. As opposed to the official Curriculum administered at a school. Shiratori didn’t know if it was more like an illegal drug trip or like an advanced form of doping.

“Apparently he screwed up his own head so bad he couldn’t earn the money needed to pay the illegal lab built into a modified van, so he resorted to purse snatching on the streets.”

“He was so used to stealing, but he was still that opposed to robbing a jewelry store like he was ordered to?” asked Shiratori, sounding almost impressed.

And then…

“Have you decided on a plan yet?”

“Honestly, I’m going with your suggestion, young lady.”

“Good idea. That’s apparently an illegal store that buys stolen jewelry off of people. Stealing all their jewelry to get Anti-Skill’s attention might get them to give the place a closer look.”

“And that purse snatcher will be caught again too.”

A detective knew the last thing criminals would want.

Was that because they were on the side of justice?

''Probably so,'' concluded Shiratori.

The detective business was all about taking a different approach to solve the cases that slipped through Anti-Skill’s fingers and handing the criminals over to the authorities. They were like fixers that used every trick in the book to fill in the dark gaps left in the peaceful world.

And so Shiratori Okibi, Detective of Justice, would solve all sorts of mysteries and cases, but ''she carried no responsibility for what happened as a result.

The detective working on a mysterious serial killing, the journalists, and the famous maids didn’t worry themselves over the fact that whoever they identified as the killer would definitely be given the death penalty.

The threatening-looking guy in a gaudy suit, probably part of some support team or another, sighed in exasperation.

“Well, it’s not like we could get much money for organs ruined from years of smoking, drinking, and drugs. Sending them after jewelry and watch stores is a lot more cost-effective.”

“Really? Filthy, damaged organs might be rarer and thus more in demand as research specimens. You know, like the lungs black with nicotine and tar you see on posters in infirmaries.”

“Speaking of, I don’t know where they get the photos from, but Academy City does update the posters every year for some reason. If all they want to do is scare people off smoking with a photo of a gross lung, they could just reuse the same photo they were using a decade ago.”

“I wonder if the board of directors holds an audition for that. To see who has the dirtiest lungs of the year.”

Just then…

“Oh.”

One of the other thugs in the back of the room spoke up.

The young man (literally) bit one of the men in gaudy suits, shook free, and ran for the office’s exit.

Which meant he was approaching Shiratori since she was near the door.

“Outta the way!!”

“Nah.”

The man reached into his sleeve and pulled out something like a relay baton.

With a sound of springs and gears operating, it extended to more than 60cm. A close look would show it had a thin metal wire drawn tight like a violin bow.

The ultra-thin blade glowed orange and burned the air.

Was it an electrothermic machete?

It had the unique look of 3D-printed craft plastic, so it may have been ordered online from the Armory.

“I’m not doing your illegal jobs. Why should I follow your ‘rules’? You’re just a bunch of criminals!! I’m going home! And I won’t let any of you stop m-”

“Bow wow!!!!”

An explosive roar from Rozeki made the criminal drop his weapon.

Time froze and he fell onto his rear.

Tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

This was very different from a dog bought at a pet shop. Even if you didn’t know this dog had been genetically modified into a Japanese wolf, your instincts as a living being would recognize the true intimidation of a beast that had become a legend of its own.

That ''instinctual understanding'' was crucial.

Police in a gun culture did not use laser sights because it would improve their accuracy. By shining the red dot on a suspect’s chest or gut, they could convince the suspect to surrender without having to fire a shot.

(Because with my power, I could turn the criminal to mincemeat before they even have time to threaten me.)

A detective’s assistant had to do two things.

To be a mascot with the interpersonal skills to smooth things over in place of the unsociable detective and to physically suppress a criminal who didn’t know when to give up.

As long as they could do those two things, they didn’t even need to be human.

“And the most important skills for a detective are keen observation and a sharp memory.”

Shiratori smiled as she gently patted the wolf’s head.

Smiled thinly and cruelly.

“The difference between a detective and a hapless victim who stumbled onto the truth is the ability to maintain a safe zone where they cannot be killed even after arriving at the correct answer. Real cases do not end when you solve the mystery. That is in fact the starting line. You aren’t a real detective unless you can take control and safely suppress the killer. Directly questioning the killer one-on-one is out of the question☆”

The young man was dragged into the back of the room and the door was shut.

The sex worker in a thin camisole poked her head out of the neighboring door.

“Is the scary stuff over? Then let me see the good girl. Oh, now this is therapeutic. Look, Rozeki-chan, I brought you some bone gum☆”

The Japanese wolf tried to flee.

The smiling young woman’s danger-sensing instinct appeared to be badly broken.

===Part 9===

“Really?” said Kinuhata Saiai sounding exasperated.

The late-August entertainment district was blanketed with white snow.

A bunch of snow machines resembling giant fans had been set up to make sure everything was covered. It was apparently a vast conspiracy by a major beer brand. They had remade District 16 as a whole into a giant beer garden and were running a sales promotion event. Scantily-clad young women they were calling “Bul Girls” were handing out cans of their new beer on the street. It was apparently the 3rd or 4th event, but Kinuhata wasn’t paying enough attention to get the exact number.

“Ugh. In the end, it’s freezing.”

Frenda was shivering and had closed her special mist shower parasol.

The small snowflakes scattering in the wind had stolen away all the heat, so it was a little chilly even in the direct midday sunlight.

“That’s just dangerous. They have people drinking beer and walking around in artificial snow. You don’t need banana peels lying around to get people slipping and falling here.”

“Mugino, the security robots probably can’t get through this snow either.”

“This district is all about alcohol and the nightlife, right? If it’s this bad during the day, super what do they do at night?”

District 16 was full of mysteriously high-paying part-time work, so it’s true nature did not come out until all the neon and LCD signs were lit up.

It was chaotic in a different way from the source of trends that was District 15.

No attempt was made to hide the gaudy signs of desire here.

In this entertainment district where there were plenty of drunks out even during the day, Yamagami Erina of Judgment was handing out fliers on the snowy street corner. They had seen her earlier, so she must have been moving around a lot.

“Excuse me. This girl’s name is Minamioki Sarusa-chan. Has anyone seen her?”

“For now, we need to get her information out there. That means getting the posters up in all 23 districts by the end of the day.”

“People’s routines will change once the break ends, so we need to get some useful witness information before then.”

A fair number of people were using skis on the flat sidewalk like they were alpine skiing or walking around with modern snowshoes. In fact, there were even snowmobiles and snowcats driving back and forth on the street. Apparently they were being used like sightseeing carts.

“That all looks really expensive,” commented Takitsubo as she blankly watched it all.

“It’s super scary how excited people get about events.”

“Kinuhata, this is the same as movie theater popcorn. Just like fan merch at major soccer matches, you never know how much the value will drop as soon as the moment passes.”

“It’s a super bad idea to use movies as your negative example, Takitsubo-san. You don’t want to make a habit of it!”

While Item walked as a group, Frenda was much more steady on her feet than the other three. She had more experience walking on snow. The trick was apparently to firmly step directly on top of it.

“In the end, I might have worked with that detective before somewhere.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve told you I do forensics work separate from Item, right? We work separately and never directly meet, but I might have occasionally sent her forensic data over the internet while hunting down traitors on the dark side.”

It didn’t sound like Frenda had any intention of going easy on her because of this.

To Frenda, the detective was just another person she had passed by on the dark side.

In fact, it was more unusual for Mugino, the battle freak who would kill anyone, to seem so uncertain.

When they were waiting for the light at an intersection, some smiling Bul Girls approached and Mugino shooed them away with a hand as she spoke.

“It was the Human Bike Delivery Service, right?”

“In the end, I say we go after the thug in a gaudy suit at the information desk. He could probably introduce us to a number of shady businesses other than the sex stuff.”

Item continued toward their destination while passing by a giant palace and a kaiju made by carving stacks of ice blocks.

They arrived at a filthy multi-tenant building.

“Mugino.”

“I know. The whole building isn’t a dark side toy.”

With some (technically) innocent people (who were really just drunks walking through the entertainment district) passing by, Mugino couldn’t just blast the building from the outside.

So instead, they entered through the main 1st floor entrance and forced their way into the manager’s office.

“Okay, okay. In the end, we need to check their security cameras and air conditioning AI. Okay, lining up footage from all the floors and…these look like the lines that are clear of people.”

Frenda connected the computer to her phone and nodded. Takitsubo peered in from the side and pointed out a few corrections. Simple intuition won out over precise data.

“Yikes. I feel like super Takitsubo-san is the one I actually least want as an enemy.”

“What, only figuring that out now?”

They chose to ignore the track suit girl’s offended look.

Mugino aimed her palm straight up.

She launched several Meltdowner beams in quick succession.

The thick beams pierced ''vertically'' through the building, but it didn’t seem anyone had died.

While the Human whatever-they-were-called panicked, Kinuhata climbed the outside of the building with arms buffed by Offense Armor and slipped into the office (which was already full of holes) through the window.

A kick to sweep him off his feet brought down the threatening-looking guy in charge.

Kinuhata placed her foot on the man’s chest over his heart as he lay on his back.

If she placed her weight on that foot with Offense Armor active, it would smash right through to the floor.

“I’ve got a super message for you to deliver. Get it to the detective and I’ll let you live.”

“The young lady? Wh-what’s the message?”

“A time and place for us to meet. Tell her we know where she lives, so we’re super in control here.”

===Part 10===

It was 10PM on August 30. Time to get started.

Item had rested in the trendy laundromat until closing time and now they were finally on the move.

“Mugino, what do we do about Shiratori Okibi’s power?”

“…”

Mugino hadn’t been napping the entire time.

She alone had spent the entire time agonizing over this.

“We know she can create a wall of fire and a flash flood. She must also be able to hammer in a nail with air since that’s her camouflage power.”

“Wait. In the end, the rule is one power per person.”

“But we discussed this so much and we still haven’t found an answer.”

They were heading into battle without identifying the enemy’s power.

That brutal power had gotten the better of them once before and now they were challenging it again.

That was like choosing to dive into a deadly labyrinth. It was possible a member of Item wouldn’t be returning from this alive.

“We’ll spread out around Takitsubo. It’s a pain in the ass, but we need her to gather information!”

“In the end, I guess that is the only option.”

Frenda smiled half in exasperation and stuck a skinny arm into her thin poncho. They were in for a wild fight where they would have to defend themselves, so she may have wanted to double check her number and variety of explosives to reassure herself.

Mugino pointed at the others while walking toward a support team four-wheel-drive vehicle waiting on the curb.

“Frenda and I will move out in front to get the detective to attack, so, Takitsubo, you focus on analyzing her power. Kinuhata, you focus on protecting Takitsubo. Don’t let anyone close to our analyst.”

“Understood.”

“Super got it.”

The meeting point was the ice palace in District 16.

It was classified as a multipurpose event hall.

It was the size of a school building and designed like a Greek temple. It was entirely made by stacking ice blocks larger than vending machines and smoothly carving them away.

The security wasn’t exactly strict, which was why they were using it for their shady meeting. As long as there was no event that day, the ice palace remained quiet. There were no lights on inside and the darkness was deserted. The pathway was lit up by the bare minimum of nighttime lightning and the green of emergency exit signs and the red of fire alarm lights dyed the walls and floor in places. The video ads projected onto the occasional thick ice pillar or flat wall may have been part of the equipment’s automatic maintenance routine.

One of the ads projected on a round pillar was for an upcoming idol concert.

The ice palace was called the Bulweiser Icicle Theater.

“Why’d they have to ruin such a lovely name by tacking a beer brand on the front? It ruins the charm.”

“Shows how much money they’re making through advertising, Kinuhata. They get paid tons of money and all they have to do is let the company name the place.”

Item had made sure to arrive before their opponent.

They took a look around the ice palace. They were checking for traps, bombs, hidden cameras, or even hidden attackers or snipers, but they didn’t find anything.

After around half an hour of searching, Takitsubo looked up.

“Mugino.”

All the lights went out without warning.

The bare minimum of nighttime lighting, the ads projected on the pillars, the emergency exit signs, the fire alarm lights – all of it.

The cameras, sensors, and other security equipment were likely down too.

They heard solid footsteps.

There were two sets, but one set didn’t seem human.

“Hi, hi.”

A black-haired girl wore a thin coat over a white and blue short-sleeved sailor uniform from some school or another. But she probably didn’t have any cooling products hidden inside the coat this time. She grinned over at them while poking and playing with the Japanese wolf walking alongside her legs covered by white boots and short black stockings held up by special below-the-knee sock garters.

Justice.

Detective Shiratori Okibi knew the last thing a criminal would want to happen.

“You’re here early. Didn’t we agree on 12? Weird showing up an hour early when you set the time yourself.”

“Do we look like punctual teacher’s pets?”

“Not a bit☆”

“In the end, you know the last thing criminals want, right? If we showed up right on time, who knows what kind of traps or ambushes we’d find springing on us.”

There was a hint of exasperation in the detective’s smile.

Like an expert investigator had just been forced to listen to an amateur sleuth’s evidence-void guesswork.

Shiratori Okibi said, “That aside, I told you I’d contact you.”

“You really expected us to wait around?”

The detective answered Mugino by smiling and reaching into her pocket.

Tension ran through Item, but she didn’t pull out a gun or a knife. She pulled out a locked notebook.

“I said I could organize the information on the case you’d gotten yourselves involved in if you gave me time, remember?”

Apparently that really was all this was.

Next, a strange emotion formed on her face.

''Pity.

“But it looks like Item’s facing a fate worse than death. Ah ha ha. You’re past the point of a simple death sentence. And if you’d realized what’s going on yourself, I doubt you’d be here wasting your time chatting with me. If it was me, I’d be trying to escape over the city’s wall even though I know it’s suicide. Because that’d be the more logical choice.”

A few thoughts popped into Mugino’s head.

While she had no hard proof, she had been sensing that things were ''trending'' in a dangerous direction around Item. But which side was their enemy on? The villains? Justice? Or the higher ups like the voice on the phone who transcended that kind of morality?

The detective had the answer.

“Okay, you can make it sound important, but what exactly have you discovered?”

“Yes, that’s the thing.” The detective flicked the cover of her locked notebook. “Since you gave me time, I was able to do a lot of detective work. So I have discovered the full truth of the case you’ve gotten yourselves caught up in.”

At that point, Shiratori Okibi asked a basic question.

“''But when did I say I would give it to you''?”

“…”

A quiet metallic jangle came from the Japanese wolf’s collar. Something was attached to the loop that would normally hold a leash. It was a small key.

The detective made a show of putting the locked notebook back in her pocket.

This wasn’t a failed negotiation.

Shiratori wasn’t negotiating in the first place.

This was only a challenge and a declaration of war.

“Now wait just a minute! I super don’t get why you’re even picking a fight with us! If you had to look into everything happening here, doesn’t that mean you aren’t a part of it!?”

“Ah ha ha. I’m a detective, remember? I know better than anyone the kinds of logic criminals hate. You’re the ones who are in trouble if you spend too much time on this.”

“You mean the September 1 deadline?”

“Right. Our school lives are in jeopardy☆”

That meant neither Mugino Shizuri nor Shiratori Okibi could back down.

If your neighbor transformed into falling sparks, then they were your enemy. If you didn’t brush them off, they would burn you and you would lose everything in the ignited conflagration.

Mugino had to accept that this girl was a deadly enemy.

This enemy was a detective and she would cling to this one hint to the end even if it meant giving up on her school life and going into hiding. The villain had only one way of staying safe: cutting her away.

Things were only this bad because Mugino was a villain.

If she were a normal person or a hero, it never would have ended up like this.

“Also, a detective doesn’t need a reason to pursue a villain. It’s like instinct to me.”

Shiratori smiled.

But this smile was different. Almost like she had seen deep inside Mugino, whose world was falling apart at an accelerated rate.

The Class Rep spoke plainly through that cruel smile.

“Just try and take it from me, villain.”

===Part 11===

For a brief moment, Mugino Shizuri forgot where she was.

She heard a voice in the back of her mind.

''“As Class Rep, I end up hearing a lot of people’s problems. So if you’re ever in real trouble, you can come to me. I’ll do anything to help you out!”

That was from school.

She really did only need to keep the bare minimum level of attendance. So she hadn’t known the names of the students or teacher. With one exception.

The Class Rep.

From Mugino’s perspective, she was a harmless and uninteresting girl who was walking down a path Mugino could never reach.

''“To give you an example, my dream is to become an even better detective. I don’t want to be a novice or a hobbyist. I want to use my logic as an actual job.”

Or so she had thought.

Then what was this?

What was this she was seeing now?

''“But I’d be able to do so much more if I had a real title. Some things are out of reach when you’re only a hobbyist, but that would change if I was a pro.”

Villains had their own form of pride.

Or so she thought.

''“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

Then.

Could she really attack someone from the sunlit world?

Was that really something she could let herself do?

''“I don’t know what kind of world you’ve gotten yourself involved in! But I can tell you have something going on outside of school and I can guess that it isn’t anything as peaceful as working part-time at a convenience store after school.”

And.

What if this girl was lost?

What if the one tiny thread still connecting her to the ordinary world was gone?

''“Hee hee. So I will bring you back into the light of the sun and make an honest person out of you!”

“Mugino!!”

Frenda slapped her leader on the back and stepped forward with Kinuhata.

It had already begun.

Detective Shiratori Okibi’s cruelly smiling voice reached Mugino’s ears with a delay.

“Rozeki, go!”

The Japanese wolf opened her maw wide, scattering sticky slaver around. She raced out, her feet skipping across the floor like a flat stone on a river, and she leaped for Mugino’s throat.

They didn’t have time to check what Mugino wanted.

“!!”

Kinuhata immediately raised her arms horizontally and shoved herself between Mugino and the wolf.

The fangs chomped down with tremendous force.

A normal human may have had their thick nerves torn through before they were dragged to the ground, but Kinuhata had Offense Armor.

She instead lifted the wolf with her bitten arm.

“Frenda, super use some gun or bomb to get rid of-!!”

She didn’t get to finish.

She had relaxed too soon.

The black-haired detective gave a twirl of her finger. The thing spinning around on a keychain loop looked a lot like a young child’s security buzzer, but it was in fact a mini stun gun.

All hell broke loose.

The thick ice below Mugino’s feet suddenly shattered. Flames and a shockwave exploded out and the Level 5 girl was sent spinning through the air.

“Super Mugi-”

Kinuhata shouted and reached out a hand, but her small body was stopped by a powerful sensation.

Solid cracking sounds rang out.

She had no idea what had happened. But without Offense Armor, she might have shattered like a rose dunked in liquid nitrogen.

“~ ~ ~! You super froze me!?”

“Watch out.”

The track suit girl’s warning came too late.

Or so Frenda thought, but a moment later she regretted taking Takitsubo’s words too lightly.

She had plenty of experience telling her that bad things happened if you didn’t immediately obey Takitsubo’s sixth sense at times like this.

The detective tossed aside her stun gun and grabbed something else instead. She reached into her thin coat and pulled out a giant monkey wrench.

But she did not try to hit Item with it.

Frenda’s feet rose up from the ice floor.

Even though she was a decent distance away.

She slammed back-first into an ice pillar.

“Bh!?”

For just an instant, Frenda thought she had been grabbed and thrown by powerful telekinesis, but that wasn’t it.

“Inertia? In the end, ''did you throw me by sliding the entire ice palace''!?”

“Ah ha ha. A little thing like that is enough to surprise you? ''What do you think my power is''?”

Shiratori Okibi.

She had no trouble taking on all four members of Item at once.

Even though that included Mugino Shizuri, one of only seven Level 5s in the city!?

“Gahh!?” shouted Kinuhata.

Before she had time to investigate the mysterious freezing phenomenon, an invisible pressure hit her from all sides. She had trouble breathing even with Offense Armor active, so this pressure had to be enough to crush a light vehicle.

It was so much she released the wolf she had captured.

Frenda forgot all about getting up from the ice floor and stared wide-eyed.

“In the end, is she using multiple powers at once!? Gah! And these are all AoE attacks that cover this entire event hall!!”

“I can hire support team assault troops and snipers if I want to. So didn’t logic tell you it was odd I had still chosen to meet you while alone?”

Without even glancing over at the wolf rejoining her, Shiratori tossed the monkey wrench to the wolf like it was a toy bone.

And she summed up her point.

“''If I did bring others with me, I’d just end up destroying all of them with my power''.”

“!?”

Level 0 Frenda felt her throat go dry.

So much power. Deadly power.

The detective held her palms together in front of her face and smiled bashfully.

“Ah ha ha. I do claim to be on the side of justice, so it would be a bad look if I destroyed all my allies with friendly fire, right? So this is the best and most optimal number of fighters for me. When I charge in on my own, I can actually wield my full power☆”

Unlike the police or Anti-Skill, detectives generally faced the villain on their own. Organizational power wouldn’t help them and could even get in their way.

Shiratori took that to the extreme.

Attempting a direct confrontation without knowing her power had been a mistake.

The props like the mini stun gun and the monkey wrench were suspicious, but Item knew nothing for certain. Those could just have been red herrings meant to draw their attention.

So Mugino didn’t hesitate to shout.

“Spread out! Follow the plan!!”

“Mugi-”

“Super got it!!”

Takitsubo started to say something, but Kinuhata grabbed her wrist and tugged hard.

They still didn’t know Detective Shiratori’s power, so Mugino and Frenda would move out to front to get her to attack while Takitsubo focused on analysis and Kinuhata guarded Takitsubo. Item had decided on this plan before arriving in the Bulweiser Icicle Theater.

If Takitsubo was only analyzing the enemy and providing targeting support, she didn’t need to be on the front line.

She could stay back where it was safe and contact the others by phone.

===Part 12===

“Super over here, Takitsubo-san!!”

“Lead the way.”

Several more explosions erupted behind Kinuhata and Takitsubo as they rushed away. It wasn’t clear if those were due to Frenda’s bombs or the detective’s unidentified power. Cracks ran through the thick ice pillars and chunks of ice heavier than human beings dropped from the ceiling.

Nevertheless, they heard an amused response.

But instead of Battle Freak Mugino, this came from Detective Shiratori Okibi.

“Rozeki, go!”

A deep roar followed. Mugino and Frenda must have had their hands full dealing with Shiratori’s vicious onslaught. The Japanese wolf had breached their defensive line.

She was speeding toward Kinuhata and Takitsubo.

Kinuhata spun around and prepared to intercept.

With a single sharp, whistling breath, she suppressed the instinctual fear of the enormous creature.

“Takitsubo-san, super stay behind me!!”

“No, Kinuhata.”

For some reason, that girl wasn’t obeying her guard’s instructions.

Feeling overwhelmed, Kinuhata nearly snapped at the older girl, but…

“Time is a limited resource. If we waste it dealing with that wolf, Mugino and Frenda will be defeated. We need to figure out that detective’s power as soon as possible.”

Kinuhata heard a wet bursting sound.

It came from the plastic bottle of lemon soda Takitsubo had thrown.

With their extremely sharp sense of smell, wolves disliked the strongly sour scent of citrus. This was an instinctual way of avoiding spoiled food and the chemicals used to keep wild animals away from campsites and mountain cabins made use of this reaction.

“Train them all you want, an animal is still an animal,” expressionlessly stated Takitsubo as she pulled out something else: a bottle of hand cream.

This time it wasn’t the smell. Wild animals also disliked unnaturally sticky surfaces. That may have been an instinct to avoid bogs that would kill them once they were caught.

“That thing was genetically modified into a Japanese wolf, so we need to use that fact against it.”

With a distorted yelp, the wolf fled into the shadows.

“Kinuhata, keep an eye on our surroundings just in case. I doubt it will be after us until it gets that sticky stuff of its paws, but be careful.”

Instead of focusing on the wolf, Takitsubo pulled out a small pair of opera glasses.

She had a good view of Mugino, Frenda, and Detective Shiratori fighting a decent distance away. Which meant it was finally time to do her job.

“Mugino, Frenda. Can you two hear me?” she said into her phone.

“In the end, I’m reading you loud and clear!”

“Just hurry up and get us that data!!”

They were already aware that Shiratori could create a wall of fire, produce a flash flood, hammer a nail with nothing more than air, and cause several other supernatural phenomena. From that alone, she appeared to be a Dual Skill who ignored the rule about one power per person.

However.

Some things came into view now that Takitsubo was a step removed and could remain calm.

“Shiratori Okibi claims she could have brought plenty of assault troops and snipers with her, but she came alone because her power is so strong she couldn’t avoid friendly fire, right?”

“What of it!?” shouted Mugino.

“Then why isn’t that wolf of hers affected by her power?”

That had bothered Takitsubo.

Detective Shiratori had claimed it was best for her to fight alone, so did her wolf assistant not count?

It was obvious she was willing to entrust her life in the wolf in this dark palace. ''And yet'' was she really willing to kill the wolf along with her enemy just because the wolf wasn’t human?

“That means Shiratori Okibi knew from the beginning that her wolf partner would never be harmed by her power no matter how many big, roughly-aimed attacks she launches across this entire area.”

“In the end, are you saying what I think you are?”

“The detective’s power only affects human brains, so it can’t harm a nonhuman wolf.”

“You mean the flame wall, the flood, and the nailing were – in the end – all psychological? Oh, I get it! If her power just shows us illusions, then this all can be explained with a single power!!”

“So is the damage we receive just a negative form of the placebo effect? Dammit!!” cursed Mugino.

Shiratori’s power was ultimately psychological. Had she driven nails into a board at school by hiding a small tool in her palm? There was a weirdly thriving market for miniaturized tools like multi-tool knives and glasses screwdrivers.

This would turn the tides a little.

But it was only the bare minimum.

Takitsubo could not rest until Detective Shiratori had been defeated and all of Item was safe.

“But this should super help us-”

Feeling optimistic, Kinuhata began speaking, but then she stopped.

She heard a solid scraping sound. It was a footstep. But not a human one.

''But also not a Japanese wolf one.

The ice floor was being torn into by short, thick claws resembling tungsten steel can openers. They belonged to a four-legged ground combat drone about the size of the wolf. More scraping sounds joined the first as 5, 10, 15, 20 of the metal beasts emerged. They gathered around the wolf, evidently to serve it.

The detective’s voice spoke from all of their internal speakers.

Even after everything she had done, she still wasn’t done.

The mocking laughter came from an expert in the last thing a criminal would want to happen.

“Ah ha ha. People get this wrong a lot thanks to the term ‘lone wolf’, but wolves are highly social animals that operate in packs. So this ability exists in some corner of Rozeki’s head.”

“…”

“Unfortunately, Rozeki is the only Japanese wolf that’s been created through genetically engineered atavism. A shame, right? Logically speaking, I didn’t want to let that ability go to waste and I’m not that great at operating drones myself.”

Her voice carried a sticky grinning tone.

“So I hooked some wiring up to Rozeki’s brain letting her control a pack of ground combat drones using both ultrasound and the gigahertz band. You’re about to experience firsthand a mechanized version of a wolf pack’s highly organized hunting routine. There is no escape. Just remember that this is going to be a lot worse than being attacked by a simple program.”

“Super get behind me, Takitsubo-san! Hurry!”

“I have a hunch some nitrogen armor won’t be enough to protect your teammate when wolves are attacking from every direction.”

They had no choice but to put some distance between themselves and the pack, even if that meant running. But…

“!”

“Takitsubo-san?”

Kinuhata looked puzzled, but Takitsubo didn’t have time to answer. The track suit girl was not in charge of athletics or direct combat.

Of course, their opponent wasn’t going to honor that kind of line.

A few of the bestial ground combat drones wandered out in front of them and one lunged in. It stretched up from low to the ground, targeting Takitsubo’s throat.

It moved exactly like a Japanese wolf.

Kinuhata prepared to counterattack with an Offense Armor fist, but her small body stiffened.

A brutal “zap!!” came from a high-voltage current.

Offense Armor was made by solidly compressing the nitrogen in the air, but it was only a few millimeters thick. So if, for example, ''electrical breakdown were triggered and a powerful current pierced through that air, she was powerless to stop it.

“Kinuhata!?”

There was no response.

Kinuhata crumpled to the ice floor. Takitsubo propped her up from behind, but couldn’t do any more than that.

She was out of options.

As an expert in battle analysis and targeting support, Takitsubo understood her own situation quite vividly. The nitrogen barrier was gone. And even as small as Kinuhata was, Takitsubo doubted she could carry the limp girl and escape the 20 or so ground combat drones organized by a Japanese wolf’s instincts.

Explosions and tremors were still occurring in the distance, so she knew Mugino and Frenda were in no position to come to their aid right away.

She dragged her teammate with both arms and forcibly lifted her. By placing Kinuhata’s limp body atop a boxy vending machine located inside the ice palace, she hoped the wolves wouldn’t be able to reach her.

But that was the most she could do.

Takitsubo had an uncharacteristic grimace on her face as she slumped down to the floor.

Something felt wrong in her right calf. This was why professional baseball players did not play in the winter. As someone who didn’t get much exercise, she shouldn’t have run so much while chilled by the ice palace.

Her leg had been ''cramping'' for a bit now.

She doubted the wolves would give her time to reach down to stretch her ankle.

The track suit girl quietly thought to herself.

(Is this the end?)

They weren’t coming for her right away.

Were the beasts coordinating to cut off all possible escape routes before delivering the finishing blow, or was this the unique “pause” or “compromise” found in pack hunters?

Her last moments stretched out at a horribly leisurely pace.

She did not shut her eyes.

Kinuhata was the newest member of Item. If Takitsubo let her die and survived, she could never look Mugino in the eye again. But maybe it was also unfair to force Kinuhata to live with the pain of having survived when her older teammate died.

“Oh, but.”

Takitsubo sighed softly.

And she smiled with her cramped right leg still sprawled out uselessly.

“Villains are selfish beings.”

And.

A fearsome beam of light pierced through several of the bestial ground combat drones at once.

“Eh?”

The sound left Takitsubo’s mouth unbidden.

And apparently she wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand.

Mugino hadn’t done that. She couldn’t have.

''Then why?

''Why was that battle freak of a girl, who wielded violent beams of light, standing right there?

Shiratori’s voice came from the drones’ internal speakers.

“What?”

She sounded flustered.

That detective acted like she could read their minds, but that act had slipped here.

“What is Mugino Shizuri doing over there? Ksh. She’s still over- dammit, you’re right here fighting me! Kssssshhhhhh!!!”

A powerful beam shot from a palm and silenced the ground combat drones.

“It’s simple.”

That was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s.

Meltdowner.

Mugino Shizuri…except it wasn’t?

“You just need another of that monster, right? ''It’s always like this with people like you''.”

A close inspection showed some differences.

Instead of the girl’s outstretched palm, the beam had come from a bit lower, in her sleeve.

And the deadly attack was actually a plasma cutter used to slice through steel panels.

More beams shot out. The giant batteries and capacitors within the unmanned weapons were ruptured, causing internal explosions. Takitsubo didn’t manage to catch what happened to the real wolf. Her specialty was humans, not animals. Although she wasn’t sure what would happen if an animal’s brain was developed to the point it radiated a weak AIM diffusion field.

She was specialized for reading her target’s AIM diffusion field, so she could sense something off without even taking any Body Crystal.

That was not Mugino Shizuri.

And she knew someone who could transform her appearance without relying on an esper power.

“''Ha''-” Track suit girl Takitsubo Rikou spoke in a daze. “''Hanano''?”

The color white filled her view.

It came from an explosive flash. More accurately, it came from a stun grenade dropped to the floor.

But just before her senses were taken from her, Takitsubo caught a distinct look of someone removing her wig, throwing out her eyebrows and eyelashes, and exposing a smooth, doll-like face.

The mouth on that face was bent into a small smile.

The dazzling flash produced by aluminum and magnesium didn’t even last for 10 seconds. It wouldn’t even take 180 seconds to be rid of the afterimage burned into Takitsubo’s eyes.

By then, no one was there.

No one except Takitsubo standing in a position to protect limp Kinuhata.

===Part 13===

Shiratori clicked her tongue.

The wolf must have been a special assistant for that ever-composed detective. Enough so that she wanted to go help now that something unexpected had happened.

“Trick Lab,” she said.

That one term trapped enemy and ally into a shared view of their surroundings.

Yes, even herself.

For a psychological power, announcing the effect must have made it easier to take hold.

“Fire x Death = Diesel 25. The spot coolers used to maintain the ice palace are powered by a generator and that generator’s fuel can trigger a major explosion!!”

The murder tricks ruled her immediate world.

Her free form attack had begun.

But Takitsubo had already mostly revealed how it worked.

Battle Freak Mugino unleashed a bestial roar.

“A timetable, a mysterious figure in the window, and an alibi? It’s all psychological, meaning there’s a psychogenic source for this pain we’re convinced we’re feeling. Once I understand how it works, I’ve got nothing more to fear!!”

“Hee hee. You say that, but you’ve already taken significant damage while it still had you convinced.”

The detective’s confidence remained intact.

Even if her murder plan was only a plan, her deadly force remained for now.

“With my power, persuasiveness and effectiveness are one and the same. Misjudgment x Human = Mirror 03. If I use a big mirror, you are guaranteed to misjudge your target’s location. Movement x Remote Control = Wire 19. With a thin wire, I can alter the location of a small key or knife. The simpler and larger-scale the logic, the harder it is to shake. For example…”

“Ah!?” shouted Frenda.

Something must have happened because the explosives expert frantically stuck a hand into her thin poncho.

The detective now held a grenade.

“''This.'' For tricks that don’t even require any props, I don’t even need to set anything up in advance. I can pickpocket or grope you with no chance of failure. Keh heh heh. And both of those can be surprisingly useful when it comes to destroying a suspect’s interpersonal relationships as a way of laying on the pressure until they make a mistake.”

Shiratori laughed and kissed the round explosive.

As if she were toying with the forbidden fruit.

“And now I have the persuasiveness I need. This gives me a new trick to use. I have everything necessary for Fire x Death = Diesel 25. No matter how sturdy the generator’s design, a bomb is enough to blast through it.”

So, in reality, the gas pipe running below Mugino’s feet had not actually ruptured.

The ice palace’s spot coolers had not frozen Kinuhata with their icy air, nor had a hunk of ice been instantly melted to create crushing pressure with its steam.

And the entire ice palace had not moved to throw Frenda around.

“So you ''hijack and alter the tricks yourself'', detective?”

With a mini stun gun, she could apply an electric shock and detonate the gas without actually digging up the gas pipe buried in the ice.

With a monkey wrench, she could remove the bolts holding the steel frame to the ground so the entire ice palace could slide around.

By producing props like that, the detective increased the options available to her. She wanted to end this as quickly as possible, so she had remade the battleground into a more dangerous place.

This may have been similar to a detective loudly announcing an explanation that wasn’t entirely wrong but not entirely right either to rattle the killer who was the only person who knew how the trick really worked.

Mugino glared and the Class Rep gave her a calm look.

“So what if I do?”

“What kind of detective brings her own props? Your job is to explain what happened using only what’s already there. You narrow down what tricks would’ve been possible and then identify the one person who could’ve done it. I thought your job was to stop the deadly train racing down the track laid out by the villain.”

“In real cases, any number of tricks could’ve been used at the scene. And there’s no simple list of suspects to work with. A perfect alibi? There’s no such thing when people’s memories are unreliable and camera records can be easily faked in this day and age.”

“Still, the villain’s supposed to lay out the track, not you. Detectives are meant to stand opposed to whoever caused the case. The mystery solver isn’t supposed to notice the malicious trick and decide to hijack it for your own purposes.”

“Oh, really? But when a detective shows up, it means someone’s going to die, doesn’t it?” Shiratori chuckled. “The detective’s role is to judge the killer and hold the killer’s fate in their hands. Just like the killer holds everyone else’s lives in their hands. And while the killer is in a bind where the only way out is to kill for the insurance money or to satisfy their grudge, the detective has two options: identify the killer and send them off to be executed, or to ''not do that''.”

“Damn you…”

“Because no matter how unprecedented the case, it’s only another job for the detective. Just like a firefighter who couldn’t put out a fire, it’s not like professionals lose their lives when they fail in a job. So indirectly, I hold the lives of everyone on the scene in my hands. All those issues of good and evil are right here in my hands.”

Real cases didn’t end when the detective identified the killer with an impressive feat of reasoning. Especially in an isolated location where the public institutions couldn’t intervene or when dealing with dark side criminals.

What if no one believed the detective’s reasoning because the killer was more popular?

What if the criminal was so afraid of being arrested they bet it all on wielding a deadly weapon to slaughter everyone there?

What if the criminal outargued the detective in a meaningless debate that left the issue of evidence behind?

“Even when the detective gathers everyone in one place, there are plenty of ways to break free of that ‘safe discussion’.”

“…”

“In the extreme, the killer can start shouting about how it’s an insult to the people who’ve already died and that anyone would be angry about this treatment and then punch the detective in the face before they can name the killer. And silencing the detective won’t necessarily make the others suspicious right away. In real cases, the killer isn’t the only one who will rely on violence in a tricky situation. And if everyone feels that the detective had it coming, then they’ve lost the right to present any shocking truth they might have discovered. These unpleasant situations can always happen in the real world because it is in fact the real word.”

There was a more efficient method.

A more efficient way to stop the case from progressing and protect everyone’s lives.

“So there’s no need to announce the trick even if you do discover it. The detective should ''overwrite'' and redesign the existing trick so the killer who laid out that track in the first place is no longer in control. Then everyone there – including the killer – is bound by the fear of death and can’t do anything. There’s no need to resolve everything on your own. If you don’t want anyone else to die, your top priority is to forcibly stop the case from progressing further. Identifying the killer can wait until you’re free of the closed environment and plenty of Anti-Skill officers have flooded the scene.”

“Let me guess: and if the killer isn’t stopped by the fear, the detective can keep everyone safe by secretly killing the killer and have them ‘leave behind their will’ or whatever? Then the detective has solved the case and won’t be arrested for it?”

“Right.”

Shiratori gave her open and immediate agreement, making Mugino click her tongue.

“You missed something important there. To overwrite the trick that had already been used once and bind everyone, killer included, with the fear of death, the killer’s death will be at least the third one. Which means ''you’d be killing some innocent person in the second killing that you use to advertise what you’ve done''.”

“''No one’s truly innocent. Besides, someone there might be even more deserving of death than the poor killer''. That’s especially common when searching for dark side criminals.”

That was her form of justice.

So the Class Rep had trained herself into a detective who could do that.

Even the Personal Reality that produced her power had been twisted into that shape.

“Hee hee. What really matters is persuasiveness. Even material evidence is just one more way of bolstering that.”

“So even if the original trick was something as simple as strangling the victim with a wire, the detective would damage the window frame to ''upgrade'' that to the wire being used to send a key into the room through a small gap, creating a locked room? You add your own branch to the story when the case has already begun?”

“Ta ha ha. My power isn’t as convenient as you seem to think it is.”

Shiratori didn’t hide it.

Did she think explaining the details of her power would actually keep Item from trying anything against her?

“It doesn’t work well if you simply think it ''could'' happen or that it’s ''possible''. It’s a case of innocent until proven guilty, unfortunately. So I need to do things like this.”

The detective removed the grenade’s pin.

Even hearing Mugino’s low voice didn’t remove the smile from Shiratori’s lips.

“I need to bring it up to the level of ''certainty''. I need to show off definite evidence so we can share the same information.”

Would justice not flinch from evil’s threats?

In a way, this made her even more unusual than the villains of the dark side.

An explosion erupted out.

But Shiratori remained untouched despite having held the grenade.

Her trick had taken precedence.

As announced, the detective grinned and raised a clump of fire that looked like sticky fuel.

“But the damage you take from it is very real. Persuasiveness is effectiveness, so I can strengthen my trick as much as necessary by spreading more props around. If these flames reach you, you will be burned to a crisp!!”

Her Trick Lab created a psychological effect by sharing the same information between enemy and ally.

Detective Shiratori’s greatest skill was not her memory or her calculating mind. Was it in fact the verbal skills that allowed her to gather a group in a single place and hold their attention in her one-girl killer-identification show?

Mugino held her palm straight out.

“But your Trick Lab is only psychological! It can’t create a physical wall to block this!!”

The beam was faster.

In the last moment before it hit, the detective melted into a blur of lines. She may have moved even faster than the wolf.

The next thing Mugino knew, Shiratori was holding a short, thick pipe in her mouth.

“Tch. Are you smoking something!?”

“Of course not. I care too much about my health to turn myself into a doped-up soldier. But by making you think there was something to it and gathering your attention, it created a logic in which your attack could miss if your focus slipped. I don’t know about elsewhere, but it could happen here in Academy City. You yourself decided so. I just had to make it persuasive enough to convince both of us that’s what would happen.”

Trick Lab.

Did that power allow for tricks meant to keep her alive in addition to the tricks meant to kill? So instead of Shiratori dodging that, had she tricked Mugino into missing just like she claimed?

It would only work if Mugino believed it, but it still pissed her off to accept it.

“Now, how about more Trick Lab? …I can kill using the big fan used to regulate the ice palace’s temperature. In other words, I can control the vaporized fuel using the artificial wind. And once it fills this enclosed space, my target can’t escape no matter how fast they can move!!”

Frenda was more familiar with explosives, so it was her eyes that opened wide.

Knowing the psychological effect at play wasn’t enough to immediately eliminate your mental reactions. At times, trying hard to forget something would only make it stick in your head even longer.

And Mugino didn’t hesitate to fire Meltdowner.

To the side. Casually.

That was enough to instantly eliminate the vapor explosion with perfect accuracy.

“Wha-!?”

“It’s a psychological power. Persuasiveness is effectiveness and that comes from the info shared between enemy and ally. That grenade you used before didn’t actually explode. It’s simpler than that. You scatter some props around the scene to give completely fictional killer tricks 100% real deadly force, right?”

Mugino grinned in a villainous way.

“So all I have to do is destroy the location or situation your scenario relies on. That can mean blowing a hole in the wall or bringing down a bridge to throw off your timetable.”

“…I see.”

“You’re not the only one who can play that game. Whether you’re in a villa deep in the mountains or on a sleeper train following a strict timetable, your initial plan means nothing if some unrelated person happened to have a flamethrower in their bag. No matter how intricate a trick you’ve planned out, your locked room isn’t so locked if the door’s missing and your false alibi falls apart if the train is stopped. The greatest enemy of the clever sleuth is the macho construction worker. That’s all it takes to eliminate the very foundation of your preposterous trick!!”

Mugino aimed her palm straight ahead.

Shiratori responded by swiftly moving both her hands and, with the prestidigitation of a stage magician, producing a candle that could be used as a timer and a phone book that could act as a blunt weapon and then be burned away.

Several beams flashed out and more and more deadly tricks were released.

But the world did not react.

Because Frenda had used her bombs to break down the ice palace’s pillars, blast holes in its walls, and otherwise transform the location those tricks were reliant on.

It was pure chance.

If Shiratori’s imagination had outdone Frenda’s, it was Item who would have been killed.

Flesh was loudly torn through.

With none of her attacks working, the detective’s flank was burned through.

An impossible voice rang in Mugino’s head.

''“Hee hee. So I will bring you back into the light of the sun and make an honest person out of you!”

Perhaps this meant something ended within the Class Rep.

===Part 14===

The battle was over.

Kinuhata walked back on unsteady feet to rejoin the others while supported by Takitsubo.

Mugino and Frenda were looking down at the detective lying on the ice floor.

Red and black spread around her.

“Did you...super kill her? She might have been able to tell us what happened.”

“Like we had a choice. If we’d gone easy on her, she’d’ve killed us,” spat Mugino.

A voice responded to her.

It came from the Class Rep with a large chunk gone from her side.

She laughed.

“Ah ha ha. Should I take that…as a compliment?”

Frenda had plenty of friends in the light and the dark, so she could tell Shiratori Okibi was speaking as the ordinary Class Rep here. Which meant this was what existed at her deepest level – not the detective.

This was justice. The opposite of the villains who sought meaning in the darkness and found superiority in their knowledge of the special behind-the-scenes information ordinary people were ignorant of.

“Wh-what’d you do with the finger?”

But Frenda still had to check. As a villain.

“In the end, what did you do about the right thumb you cut off of Amekawa Souji, the third member of the Frees?”

“I smashed it up with a hammer and fed it to Rozeki, so there’s nothing left.”

“…”

“''Because I know the last thing criminals want to happen.'' If I sent it to Anti-Skill, you’d know where it is, for better or for worse. But logically speaking, it would scare you a lot more if you couldn’t find it no matter where you looked. And it’s not like you can 100% take my word for it here. Ah ha ha. Cough.”

Something whined weakly.

It was the wolf. Unlike her earlier ferocity, she was now behaving like a puppy with her mother. She may have only cared about being with the detective and nothing else mattered. Not even the human concept of morality.

“Rozeki...give them the key.”

The detective smiled and pet the wolf nudging her with her nose.

She touched the wolf with a bloody hand.

The wolf remained seated and tilted her head up to reveal her collar to Item. That meant exposing her throat, the most vulnerable part of her body.

After watching Mugino remove the key from the collar, Shiratori nodded from the floor.

“This means goodbye for you too… Rozeki, live free. You don’t have to accompany me in death too.”

The wolf did not obey Shiratori’s quiet words.

Shiratori brought her fingertips to her eyes.

She had tears there.

She carried those tears to the wolf’s mouth.

She placed the tears on the wolf’s tongue and had her swallow them.

“Now the two of us will always be together. We can walk together forever. So you need to go.”

And.

This time, the supposedly-extinct Japanese wolf went off somewhere.

She vanished into the mysterious darkness of Academy City.

After watching the wolf go, the detective coughed up a clump of blood. A big one. But she still managed to pull out her locked notebook with a trembling hand and toss it toward Mugino.

As if she had never actually intended to keep this a secret.

“In the end, why did you do any of this?”

“Because I am a detective of justice,” said Shiratori.

Was that why she couldn’t forgive Mugino Shizuri and the collection of villains that was Item?

That was Mugino’s assumption, but…

“So I envied you.”

She said this quite clearly.

“I’d been working for justice as a detective for so long, but, well, villainy doesn’t taste so bad. It was even better than I’d imagined.”

“…”

“It’s not like I chose this with my own logic.”

Her bloody lips displayed a hint of self-deprecation.

The true side of the Class Rep refused to hide her ugly side even on the verge of death.

“You see, both my parents are so strict… As a coward who lost her chance to even have a rebellious phase, I had no choice but to side with justice. If I’m being honest, I chose to fight villains as a detective because it was so much fun getting that peak of the world of villainy while remaining on the side of justice.”

“This world’s nothing to aspire to.”

“Oh, but it is. …You can choose to walk the path of villainy of your own free will. I wanted the freedom I saw in you.”

Mugino inserted the key taken from the wolf’s collar.

The pages inside had a space carved out and that space held a flash memory the size of a lipstick tube.

“What’s this?”

“Number 000.”

A dark red liquid spilled from the corner of the detective’s mouth.

But she still smiled.

“They are coming. You’ve been looking at the world of justice this time, so now the very top of that world is coming.”

Mugino had the flash memory now.

But she wasn’t going to directly insert it into any of Item’s phones. They would have to procure a computer from somewhere. More than that, she wasn’t in the mood to look away from the reality before her to view a rectangular screen.

The detective.

Or the Class Rep.

Shiratori Okibi wasn’t going to last. And Mugino had done it to her.

“But, well, I am sorry I made you deal with my selfishness here. I’m satisfied with this ending since I’d always wanted to join the world of the villains, but it’s probably going to mean trouble for you.”

“How so?”

“Because now you’ve lost your last connection to the ordinary world.”

Shiratori sounded troubled.

As if that was a bigger deal to her than the blood hemorrhaging from her body.

Mugino had no response for her.

“But don’t close yourself up in the world you know. That might seem the most cost-effective choice at first, but all you’ll be doing is restricting your own possibilities. The longer you keep at it, the more set in your ways you’ll be and the harder it will be to start on anything new.”

Lying unmoving in a pool of her own blood, the Class Rep moved her eyes to look at someone else.

[[Image:Item3 BW4.jpeg|thumb]]

At Frenda and the others.

“This one thing isn’t about logic. She’s an important classmate of mine...can I trust you to take care of her?”

“Of course.”

That was all.

She didn’t complain, curse them, or beg for her life.

Perhaps someone who died truly satisfied had no need for such things.

===Part 15===

Justice smiled as she drew her last breath. She was the opposite of the villains. When someone trusted the path they walked and always looked to the future, was their true value only revealed upon their death?

Item could not die like that.

The four left behind all knew it.

“…”

This was a first.

Mugino had killed pure justice with her own hands.

That girl had been a detective.

As well as the nonthreatening Class Rep from Mugino’s ordinary school.

Mugino had already thought she was going to hell.

But this had to be a crossroads. She had gone past the depths of hell. She hadn’t ever imagined there were further depths to reach, but she felt like she had found them.

“Number 000.”

The far too heavy silence was broken by track suit girl Takitsubo.

Only she could do this because she had known Mugino for just as long as the dead girl.

“I think Shiratori Okibi had planned to tell us no matter how this turned out. And as a detective, I don’t think she cared if she died in the process.”

“You mean this came from a spirit of self-sacrifice? How can you be so sure after how hard she fought?”

“Because if all she cared about was surviving, she had no reason to reveal her presence to you at all. She prioritized investigating the truth of this case over her own survival. Because she wanted to inform you of the danger so you could be prepared.”

Mugino fell silent for a moment.

August was ending soon. On September 1, school would start back up whether she liked it or not.

But ultimately, only the villains had been taking the fight seriously. Hadn’t Shiratori said that detectives held good and evil in their grasp and could decide who died? That meant they could also decide who lived.

''“One day, I will rescue you from the darkness.”

Was this her answer?

She couldn’t bring herself to survive at the cost of a friend’s life, but she had forced someone else to experience that instead.

(You good guys can be real pieces of shit.)

“Mugino, let’s check that flash memory. I doubt we’ll like what we find, but not looking would mean betraying that detective’s expectations.”

“…You’re right. Dammit,” spat Mugino as she switched gears.

While deeply disgusted with her own wickedness for letting her do that so easily.

She flagged down a support team delinquent when they arrived to clean up the body and took a thin laptop from him.

The lipstick-size flash memory was filled with a large quantity of files.

The files were linked together by a text the detective had written.

“Number 000: One of many codes used over the radio by Anti-Skill and Judgment.”

Digital signals tended to rely on complex and advanced encryption, but emergency radio still used special abbreviations and codes to prevent the content of the message from being intercepted.

However, Anti-Skill and Judgment felt like such distant groups to Item.

Insignificant even.

And they would be if that was all it was.

“To understand the importance of Number 000, you must first understand how Academy City’s law enforcement groups work.

“There are two groups: the adults in Anti-Skill and the children in Judgment.

“Everyone knows that much. Judgment resolves problems within the school and Anti-Skill deals with crimes across the city. From that, it might seem like Anti-Skill has more power and is more closely protected.

“But that is not the case.”

That final statement overturned all the assumptions.

The text continued.

“As its name suggests, Academy City is a city of students.

“In fact, students make up 80% of the population. The Board of Directors takes people’s children into their care and uses them for esper development research while also keeping the city economy running.

“This is kept secret to keep the students from getting big heads, but Judgment is actually given higher priority than Anti-Skill.

“If both groups are present at the scene of a violent crime, Anti-Skill will risk their lives to protect Judgment.

“But the opposite will never happen.

“That is how the justice side works.”

“?”

Takitsubo tilted her head while reading the text.

It may have been hard to believe for someone who had false charges forced upon her to make an experimental guinea pig out of her. Kinuhata seemed equally skeptical.

“So is that how it super works on the justice side? It super doesn’t among the villains.”

“The above must be kept in mind when considering the meaning of Number 000.

“Number 000 is the code for ''the confirmed death of a Judgment member.

“It is used to convey that and that alone.

“It means that something that must not happen in this city has in fact happened. So Anti-Skill and Judgment will both operate under emergency response shifts to capture the culprit at all costs. The case is not allowed to go unsolved. That is the general understanding of the code.

“But that isn’t actually accurate.

“Most likely, the rest of this isn’t known to the Anti-Skill or Judgment members calling in the code over the radio.

“The code’s true meaning is ''send in Judgment’s elite execution squad.'' All laws and regulations may be ignored as every single person involved in the incident leading to a Judgment death – on either side of the conflict – has been killed, or a majority of the Board have given their authorization to cancel the Number 000.

“The attackers, the witnesses, and even anyone who tried to rescue the killed Judgment member are to be treated as suspects. No one involved must be left alive, even if if their connection was hidden behind the scenes. Thus, they must all be killed to swiftly and surely restore order.

“Those are the rules on which justice operates.”

“In the end...an execution squad?”

Frenda frowned at the overly direct phrasing.

As they were, Judgment was insignificant. But the enemy must have seen it the same way too. Just like Item lurked in the city’s shadows, this new enemy was a powerful force that had remained hidden within that benevolent organization.

This wasn’t an assassin, the media, or a detective.

Shiratori Okibi had said the “very top” of the world of justice was coming. Was this what she had meant?

“Whether she lived or died, that detective wanted to show us that Item was a part of this.”

“A Number 000 has been issued.” This part of the text carried great meaning. “The unethical journalists known as the Frees were only hired by the Judgment execution squad to gather information on those marked for death. Their job should have only been to gather information, but the Frees caused it all start to unravel when they directly executed one of the Sadistic Dolls.”

“The Sadistic Dolls,” muttered Takitsubo.

Item had directly fought with the five members of that girls band.

If they had been a target of the Number 000, then had a hapless member of Judgment been caught in the crossfire somewhere? Was that how Item had been dragged into this mess? But they didn’t recall anyone else being hurt back at the Moe Bells in District 9.

In that case…

Could it be?

“It all began in District 4’s Clone Complex.”

It had happened at the very beginning.

All the way back in that science cult’s headquarters.

But had Item really been completely unaware? The information had always been there in their peripheral vision.

A few scenes replayed in Mugino’s mind.

''“Huh? Weren’t we suppose to meet on the upper deck for our patrol?”

''Item heard an odd voice from overhead. The speaker was descending the long escalator while Item ascended it. Three girls were wearing their school uniforms even during the break.

''Three Judgment girls were gathered together in that district of anime-style primary colors. They were attaching fliers to the wind turbine supports. Was that part of their official duties? Frenda glanced over and, to her surprise, discovered they were missing person posters.

''In this entertainment district where there were plenty of drunks out even during the day, Yamagami Erina of Judgment was handing out fliers on the snowy street corner. They had seen her earlier, so she must have been moving around a lot.

''“Excuse me. This girl’s name is Minamioki Sarusa-chan. Has anyone seen her?”

''“For now, we need to get her information out there. That means getting the posters up in all 23 districts by the end of the day.”

''“People’s routines will change once the break ends, so we need to get some useful witness information before then.”

So what had happened to this girl who still hadn’t been found?

Mugino could make a pretty good guess.

Item had mentioned it themselves.

What had they so casually said within the headquarters of the Ark of the Electronic Sea science cult?

''“Live sacrifices, huh?”

''“Ugh… Super how do they go about scientifically justifying that?”

''“Kinuhata, there are people out there who call little grays and ancestral memory ‘scientific’. ‘Science’ is just a word, so people can define it however they want.”

“I don’t believe it.” Frenda was dumbfounded. “So in the end, someone else was in that agricultural building?”

“…”

There were parts of the Clone Complex Item hadn’t investigated thanks to the interruption by the Sadistic Dolls.

For example, through the metal door leading further back from the area where the cult leader had died.

Item hadn’t set foot in there, but what if that room had been littered with pieces of a girl’s corpse?

They had the answer.

This had been over from the beginning.

The text continued: “I discovered that the leader of that immoral science cult would prove her special status by carrying out a live sacrifice ritual she invented herself.

“The Sadistic Dolls and Item broke into the Clone Complex at about the same time, but the sacrifice had already been made.

“Minamioki Sarusa of Judgment was killed.

“And ‘everyone involved in the incident’ was defined to include the cult itself as well as the two groups who hadn’t arrived in time to stop the cult or save the girl.

“Both groups had already been officially registered as targets of Number 000.”

Unfair didn’t even begin to describe it.

This was probably why Detective Shiratori Okibi had investigated the case.

And even though they both knew each other’s lies now, she still let Mugino keep her ordinary school life. Even if it cost her her life.

The truth was revealed.

These were the rules of justice.

“Number 000 demands that anyone involved in a Judgment death be executed in retaliation with no exception.

“Whether or not these people meant any harm is considered irrelevant.”

===Between the Lines 2===

“I-it’s too dangerous, Sarusa-chan.”

“It’ll be fine. I’m in Judgment too, remember? I have a lead pointing me to District 4’s Clone Complex. Someone needs to go in there and check it out.”

“But that’s a job for the grownups in Anti-Skill…”

“You know several kids from our school have stopped showing up to school, right? That science cult has started working its way into our school. That makes this Judgment territory.”

“But, but.”

“You went undercover into that illegal casino. On a request from Anti-Skill.”

“Uh.”

“And, Erina, I hear you’ve been hanging out with high school Judgment lately. Makes me sad as a kiddie middle schooler. But I’m not letting you leave me behind. I need to do something big to prove I have what it takes.”

“J-Judgment isn’t that kind of job!”

“You wouldn’t understand, Erina! Not when you get to do real work even though you look like a little puppy!”

“Hey, Erina.”

“Yes?”

“Your Precog isn’t telling you anything, is it?”

“Um, no.”

“Then I’ll be fine! You didn’t have any scary predictions about your casino job, right? That’s why you got out alright. So I won’t have any trouble either!!”

“Wait, but, my Precognition isn’t that convenient. And I was really a step away from disaster at the casino!! Ahh…”

“Ah ha ha! Maybe you don’t, but I trust in your Precog, Erina.”

Not long afterwards, the girl who was left behind received a painful lesson.

Apparently her power could not protect anyone other than herself.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Chapter2|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Chapter4}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1

2025-03-03T18:52:22Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 3 */

==Chapter 1: Public and Private==

===Part 1===

“Room 407 – coming in☆”

After a knock, a young woman employee entered.

She carried a large plate.

“Here is your additional order of cold pork shabu-shabu pasta. Thanks for participating in our summer sesame sauce fair.”

It was early morning on August 29 inside a karaoke box in university-heavy District 5.

The karaoke box was one of the places Item had been using to sleep in since the Criminal Real Estate refused to do business with them. Their poor reputation had spread to the lodging industry, so they couldn’t even use a hotel, meaning they had been moving between establishments with 24-hour service: internet cafes, sports gym nap rooms, family restaurants, etc.

However, the wireless microphone and giant LCD remote were still in their charging stands.

The four girls clearly had no intention of singing and some large bags were sitting unnaturally in the corner of the room.

Plus, they all looked like they had just woken up.

…Anyone would have seen them as girls who had run away from home during the summer and needed somewhere to crash for the night, but apparently the part-time worker wasn’t sympathetic enough to question it. The female employee, who likely had a story of her own since she was working into the early morning, did only what her job demanded and then left the room.

Frenda’s face lit up.

“Oh, yeah, here it is. Check it out, everyone, it’s breakfast. Time to split up and share this cold pasta☆”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Pork shabu-shabu and carbs first thing in the morning? That seems super greasy and heavy.”

Kinuhata looked disgusted.

Bu while a karaoke box would deliver drinks and snacks to your room if you called, their menu was designed for parties. Excepting a light and healthy breakfast here was a mistake.

Without even enough energy to get up from the short sofa, Mugino pulled a wet tissue from the cylindrical bottle she had brought in with her and wiped herself around the neck.

“Ugh, my skin is all sticky… The spa near here doesn’t open until 10, right? Dammit!!”

None of them were time-control espers, so Kinuhata didn’t respond to that.

But she was curious about one thing.

“Takitsubo-san, super when does our laundromat stuff get done?”

“In another 50 minutes, so we don’t need to rush. I had them dry it too, so it’ll take time.”

On the other hand, if they took too long after the laundry was done, the employee would unlock the door and their laundry would be stolen. It was a necessary penalty to keep the limited number of industrial washing machines running efficiently.

Everything came with a time cost with this temporary lifestyle.

It was a common issue for runaways, but…

“Damn, and we wouldn’t have to deal with any of this if we could just get a new apartment… We have the money! Bathing and laundry aren’t supposed to be this much trouble. Go to hell, Criminal Real Estaaaaaaaate!!”

“In the end, I’m more worried about managing my explosives. I just shoved them in that bag over there and now they’re all rolling around together. The sunlight reflecting of the asphalt might melt the plastic explosives.”

But none of their complaining was going to change anything.

Their top priority was regaining trust within their industry, but then their job had been stolen from them.

A change came over the large screen on the wall.

“Yawwn. Another screw up on the job? ''It’s always like this with you.'' I do so wish I could pay you for a successful job, but it is what it is. Bitching about it isn’t going to help. You said it was the Sadistic Dolls that got there ahead of you? I’ll look into these competitors.”

The screen displayed pure black, but a young female woman’s voice played from it.

This was “the voice on the phone” who gave Item their jobs.

Mugino slowly sat up on the sofa and spoke in a low, unsteady voice that had more to do with annoyance than lack of sleep.

“You didn’t set up this double booking yourself, did you?”

“Why would I? Just sending Item in would have been enough to take out that cult leader. Just so you know, my superiors have already chewed me out over this. It’s always like this with them.”

The voice on the phone claimed she had been “chewed out”, but it didn’t sound like she was preparing to skip town.

Her ''shield'' wouldn’t be so thin that a mistake or two was enough to get her killed …Of course, that shield of hers wouldn’t necessary protect Item as well.

“Anyway, at least that cult leader did end up dead. That’s better than having her escape while you were fighting her troops. Far, far better.”

The four girls’ silence made it very clear they didn’t see what was so good about it, but the voice on the phone wasn’t going to let that faze her.

“Also, this should be a major setback for the AI development race. ''We might even see the age of smartphones revert to the old feature phones,'' so if there are any accessories you like, I recommend stocking up now.”

“So the city’s higher ups were super competing over all that?”

The cult had used AI and Item had used a criminal AI to rewrite their security cameras, sensors, surveillance drones, etc. in real time. Looking back, both sides of that conflict would have left a bad impression. Of course, this was all about convincing the VIPs at the top of the city, not about changing public opinion.

(Super based on this, I wonder if the lipstick-sized antenna used to connect to the criminal AI was left behind instead of being collected by our support organization.)

It might come back eventually, ''but it sounded like they would have to live without AI for a while.

Instead of being fully stopped, this had created a gap where development came to a standstill. Maybe you had to be in the position of the higher ups to understand who benefited from that.

“Anyway, I’ll find another job for you to make up for your mistakes. To us and to the Criminal Real Estate.”

“And you want us to sit around until then? Not happening.”

“It’s always like this with you. From what I’ve heard, the Sadistic Dolls have especially strong criminal infrastructure. The city’s higher ups are definitely involved. Just like with you. Do you want to go fight them without knowing who they are and end up in even more trouble? Don’t try anything until you know how exactly it benefits you.”

The connection ended.

The large karaoke screen resumed playing the stereotypical free footage of tropical ocean scenery.

Mugino Shizuri made a suggestion not three seconds later.

“I say we kill the Sadistic Dolls.”

“If you want,” readily agreed Frenda. “But in the end, if we don’t get rid of this competitor, they’ll keep stealing our jobs no matter how many we get from the voice on the phone. I’m sick of spending my nights in burger shops and gyudon shops like I’m a runaway. I miss futons. Can’t someone – anyone – show me to a bed!? We have to prove ourselves again to convince that Criminal Real Estate – the sooner the better. So if anyone gets in our way, my vote is for killing them.”

Kinuhata shrugged and Takitsubo stared into space while munching on the end of a carrot stick. Neither of them appeared to have an opposing argument.

That settled it.

Item was one of the villains infesting the dark side of Academy City, so they had no reason to show mercy here. Just because they were up against other brutal criminals was no reason for them to start working with the police, detectives, bounty hunters, scientists, reporters, or maids. When two criminal turfs collided, one side had to be destroyed.

“Academy City is a walled city, so there’s only so much room. No matter how prosperous it might be,” spat Mugino. She stated the inviolable rule she had learned from her family. “So the people of the city’s dark side always need to be focused on the limited amount of shares and turf available there. We’re all fighting for our piece of the pie. If we fall from the top of our field, only tragedy awaits us. Allowing one group to intervene will only lead to more and more trying the same.”

They had been stolen from.

So they had to pay the thieves back. Threefold? Ten-thousand-fold? There was no upper limit.

“Huh. In the end, This place has their song.”

Frenda operated the LCD remote to bring a new image onto the big screen.

It was the Sadistic Dolls’ new song, Color of the Whip.

Having footage of them in a back alley karaoke box like this probably came from how they existed on the border between major and indies. Using what they had seen last night, this music video, and information found on an online encyclopedia, Item put together a tentative profile of their enemy.

Saki.

Vocalist. Specializes in using her voice, but due to her shy personality, she sticks exclusively to singing. When it comes time for talking between songs during their concerts, she steps back and lets the guitarist take over. She also writes their lyrics.

Weapon: unknown.

Meg.

Guitarist. She handles the main melody and is the leader who gathered the band together. As seen above, she is charismatic and handles the talking during the concerts.

Weapon: killer electric guitar that “fires” ultra-high-voltage electricity.

Suzuran.

Bassist. Also develops their music videos and designs their costumes. As part of this, she runs their official website and social media, so the fans see her as the one they have the most direct communication with.

Weapon: flamethrower bass equipped with an oxyacetylene torch.

Yuami.

Synthesist. Doesn’t stand out much, but because their music is primarily streamed desktop music, there are rumors that she is secretly in charge of the entire band. Also their songwriter.

Weapon: unknown.

Amamo.

Drummer. Has the unusual background of being recruited into the band after working as a bouncer at a live music club. Runs the punishment games involving paper fans, whips, and baseball bat spankings during their concerts and videos.

Weapon: unknown.

Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“Mugino, you don’t seem too surprised.”

“Someone at my school was talking about them.”

“Pft. In the end, it’s hard to imagine you of all people putting on a uniform and going to sch- bwah!!?”

Frenda’s ill-advised comment earned her a wordless pummeling from Mugino’s fists.

From the look of things, the Sadistic Dolls used next-gen weapons rather than esper powers. Did that mean they had no high-level espers, or were they hiding their powers?

All of those names were of course stage names and the heavy makeup and color contacts they wore likely kept mechanical face recognition from working. Even with all this footage, tracking down their addresses or common hangouts would be difficult.

They appeared to be classified as something a lot like underground idols.

Of course, if they were super-famous entertainers raking in the dough, they wouldn’t be out killing for the dark side.

Mugino clicked her tongue while watching the music video playing on the big screen.

“The Sadistic Dolls. They’re a goddamn public girls band. Did any of you know they worked as dark side assassins before this?”

No hands went up.

Mugino nodded.

“Neither did I. That leaves two possibilities: 1. Someone considers them extremely valuable and has been keeping them in reserve. 2. They’re such a new team no one’s had a chance to hear about them yet.”

Kinuhata sighed at this.

The answer was obvious.

“That killer guitar and the wall-slicing torch will leave a super ton of evidence they were at a site, so you’d have a hard time keeping all five of those cards hidden for long. I can understand ordinary people not knowing, but it’s super fishy that we’ve never heard a single rumor of them on the dark side.”

“Right.” Frenda crossed her arms and nodded. “But in the end, even if they are newbies with little to no records to go on, there’s no way that cult killing was their first job. The way they got in, killed, and got out tells me they’ve done this before.”

“There are some traces,” said Takitsubo.

She used the glass table to spread out some paper documents she must have printed off somewhere.

They all listed unsolved cases and none of them had any definitive proof of the Sadistic Dolls’ involvement. She had gathered this information from online news articles, sniffing out the truth in a different way from Anti-Skill forensic investigators.

“1. A surface level dark side group calling themselves Revenge For Hire was burned to death in a fire. Acetylene was detected in the burnt remains of the building, so their flamethrower was probably responsible.”

“Have they never heard of being discreet? Not that I’m one to talk when I use bombs.” Frenda sounded somewhat exasperated.

Takitsubo nodded expressionlessly and continued.

“2. The executives of a corrupt company that caused quite a lot of health damage selling phony diet products were found in the trunk of an abandoned car. To be clear, that’s around a dozen people in a single trunk. Linked to that case, a scrapyard employee was found dead with his throat slit. Probably a witness.”

“…”

The air inside the box seemed to electrify.

Maybe they were newcomers still learning the ropes, but it was frowned on for dark side people to take ordinary people’s lives without a very good reason. Enough so that this kind of ''more indiscriminate criminal'' was looked down on with contempt.

“3. A money launderer who worked for sketchy companies and organizations was found dead under mysterious circumstances. He apparently laundered the money by using real money trading in online games to frequently trade electronic money for rare items. It also appears that the victim’s wife was abducted. Anti-Skill failed to rescue the hostage and the wife died.”

A tongue click echoed through the room. From Frenda.

Mugino breathed a heavy sigh.

“So they target pros.”

That meant they only attacked criminals to reduce their numbers.

In other words, they had a twisted sense of justice.

“I don’t know how seriously we should take it, but there are hints of that view in the Sadistic Dolls’ lyrics too. Mugino, take a listen to their latest song – Color of the Whip.”

No need.

With people like this, the odds were good they weren’t even aware they were bad people. They were true idiots who believed that the principle of “the enemy of your enemy is your friend” trumped the laws of the land.

Takitsubo tapped her index finger against one of the paper documents on the glass table.

“There was unverified information going around online for all of these cases, but the criminals were always erased just before the mass media picked it up. Of course, it could just be that the Sadistic Dolls operate online instead of on TV, so that’s where they search out their targets too.”

“Yeah, right. They clearly have a client, don’t you think? It’s super obvious that someone wants to silence these people before the story gets too big. So they might super claim to be fighting for good or for justice, but all they’re doing is kill people for money – just like us.”

Takitsubo did not reject that idea.

And…

“I can’t be certain with so few samples to go off of, but there is one thing the Sadistic Dolls seem to do every time.”

“?”

“They intentionally make the case look bigger than it is to gather onlookers. And that means both ordinary people and the dark side.”

“I see. They did trigger the alarm themselves just before they left with the cult, didn’t they?”

“That must be how they draw out the dark side individuals and groups lurking below the surface. Maybe they just enjoy it and maybe it’s ''a PR stunt'' meant to get their name out there quickly. I bet they’re fighting with the dark side beyond the scope of their jobs – it just hasn’t shown on the surface yet. Which would mean…”

“In the end, their target is us – Item?” Frenda didn’t sound happy about it.

The Sadistic Dolls didn’t even have the bare minimum of manners. In fact, it looked like they had a bad habit of actively involving ordinary people or even taking their target’s family hostage to achieve their goals. In that sense, they were an especially unpleasant enemy for Frenda.

There was only one real plan here.

These people weren’t going to back off if Item left them alone.

“''We’ll just have to kill them before they can kill us'',” declared Mugino.

“Okay. In the end, we need to fully uproot this threat.”

That settled it.

The track suit girl did not try to stop them now that they had a plan.

Even that seemingly harmless girl was still a member of the dark side.

“Mugino, where are we going to make the attack?”

“The Sadistic Dolls haven’t been around long, but all newbies are the same. For example, they’ll want to use a special service to quickly strengthen their bonds so their makeshift team doesn’t fall apart from infighting.”

Frenda seemed to know what Mugino meant.

“So in the end, we’re headed to a ''bond builder''?”

===Part 2===

Their laundry was still spinning round and round inside the industrial washing machine.

The LCD display said it would be a few more minutes until it was done. They had taken travel time into account when deciding when to leave, but they had still arrived at the laundromat a little early.

“Ugh, I’m so bored. It’s these brief moments of downtime that really piss me off,” complained Frenda.

“Hey, if we super don’t do something, the Academy City Bomber is going to start a fireworks show over here.”

Kinuhata’s annoyed comment made Mugino scratch her head with a hand.

“Damn, I hate this too… Okay, how about we play rock-paper-scissors impressions?”

“What’s that? Ooh, I’ve never heard of that party game. In the end, you need to tell me all about it!”

“Hm? Since when do you know about these things, Mugino?” asked Takitsubo.

“I just heard about it at my school is all. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

While the four of them were playing their game, an electronic beeping sounded.

Now their laundry really was done.

“Super whose underwear is this? They’re all see through and there definitely shouldn’t be a hole here.”

“In the end, any of the sexy ones will be from Mugino’s collection.”

“Kinuhata, those are mine,” said Takitsubo.

“!?” “!?”

[[Image:Item3 BW1.jpeg|thumb]]

First, they collected all their dried laundry. Laundromats these days were as bright and shiny as a trendy cafe, so there wasn’t all that much reluctance for girls to use them.

Once done there, they returned to the multi-tenant building containing the karaoke box.

There was a spa in the same building.

It too was kept bright and polished, probably to give it a clean look to draw female customers. That said, the fake marble texture made it all look quite cheap. And based on the layout, it was probably a former sex industry establishment remodeled into a spa. With all its university students, District 5 had a lot of izakayas, smoking bars, and other adult-oriented establishments.

There were several teenage girls gathered there right as the spa opened, but were they all summer break runaways?

Item took a shower first and held a strategy meeting at the same time.

“Ahh, I can finally wash the sleep sweat away…”

“Mugino, stop avoiding the issue.”

Whether robbing a bank or staging a kidnapping, the greatest threat to a crime carried out by a group was infighting. So quickly strengthening the bonds between the group of gathered criminals was an even greater insurance of safety than a counterfeit passport or a getaway car.

Enough so that the dark side had people who specialized in providing that service.

Mugino raised her head to enjoy the warm shower water to its fullest as she spoke.

“They’re known as bond builders. A robbery team might be thrown into a cheap apartment or campsite and forced to live together, eating the same things and going to sleep at the same time every single day…''to artificially create the bonds of a family within the group''.”

Kinuhata spoke from the adjacent booth.

“Oh, really? And is there any super objective proof this works?”

“Of course not. We’re not Anti-Skill or Judgment.”

That was how it worked with the criminal underworld where there were no compliance rules or reports to be filed.

Since they couldn’t just throw more people at the issue like the government could, your own experience and nose for danger were your lifeline on the dark side.

“Bond builders, huh? Super sounds to me like they’re consensually doing some light brainwashing.”

“Because they are. Supposedly, a week with them and you have so much love and affection between you and your accomplices that you won’t rat each other out even if Anti-Skill captures you.”

If the Sadistic Dolls were using a bond builder to create instant unity within their group, they would be a client and that bond builder would have their personal information.

After drying their hair with driers and putting on fresh clothes, the girls rode the subway.

The subway station had a lot of boys and girls in casual clothing. They appeared to be out trying to make the most of the last few days of summer break. Being forced to study every day and compete in the entrance exams and then having your breaks controlled by the higher ups was definitely not fun.

“Huh? Weren’t we suppose to meet on the upper deck for our patrol?”

Item heard an odd voice from overhead. The speaker was descending the long escalator while Item ascended it. Three girls were wearing their school uniforms even during the break. Mugino gave them an irritated glare before looking away. Annoyingly enough, those girls wore special armbands on their right shoulders. They were from Judgment.

(“Ugh. And we super know one of them. That’s Yamagami Erina.)”

They had happened to run into that girl at the Colosseum and the illegal casino. And she wasn’t alone this time.

That just made this worse.

If their eyes happened to meet here, she might recognize them even in this crowd. And the escalator was a single long path, so they couldn’t slip away into a side route or turn around at this point.

They were going to meet at the center point of the up and down sides of the escalator.

They would be less than a meter from each other.

“It’s so easy to lose your sense of direction in a subway station, so maybe Sarusa-chan is lost on the platform below.”

“She’s not you, Aomi. I doubt that’s it.”

“You can cheat using your power, Mii. Your judgment isn’t reliable on this.”

Frenda and Mugino looked down at their phones to hide their faces as much as possible and Frenda surreptitiously tossed a firecracker down to the bottom of the escalator with her other hand.

The Judgment girls reacted quite sensitively to the harmless “pop!!”

“Whoa!? What was that!?”

“It’s our job to find out. Erina-chan, it might not have been a gunshot or explosion. Summer break is almost over, so some idiot streamer might be setting off fireworks in the station.”

The teacher’s pets rushed down the escalator, so they never even glanced over at the suspicious girls right next to them.

Mugino and Frenda suppressed a chuckle, but…

“Mii, use your Clairvoyance to check all around this area! Did you find anything!?”

Hearing that, the two quickly resumed their act.

Fortunately, the glasses-wearing clairvoyant had never met them and, even if she could see through the walls and ceiling to see Item’s faces, she presumably couldn’t share that information with Yamagami Erina. The lack of objectivity when compared to thoughtography was one weakness of clairvoyance.

Only after reaching the top of the escalator and approaching the ticket gate with a casual gait did Frenda breathe a heavy sigh.

“Honestly… But in the end, we should be safe since clairvoyance can’t pick up voices, right?”

“She might be able to read our lips, so do be careful, Frenda.”

Hearing a short beep, Frenda – who could make friends with anyone – pulled her phone from her pocket, but the message-based social media app notification was for Mugino.

“Shiratori// Ehh? You’ve really completed all your summer homework already? But I was hoping to make an accomplice out of you by suggesting we work on it together. Ugh, now what do I do about this giant pile… Really, it’s all the Sadistic Dolls’ fault. Their latest music video is just that good. Oh, right. Is there a seat you want for the new post-summer seating chart? Class Rep Shiratori Okibi-chan here can use her magic touch to ensure you draw exactly the number you want from the box, so-”

Mugino didn’t bother reading it through to the end before closing the app. There was no way she was reading that wall of text.

Track suit girl Takitsubo tilted her head with a blank stare.

“Who was that from?”

“''My phone tree group''. For school. What a pain.”

Technically, it had been a hidden message that only showed up for the people designated by the poster. Mugino had brought up her school in the karaoke box too. She was aware herself that a sailor uniform and school bag looked wrong on her. In fact, her large chest tugged up on the top enough to show off her navel.

After climbing the stairs to the surface, they smelled greenery.

They were in District 21. The area had a lot of nature and included Academy City’s only mountain and dam.

“Why’d we come all the way out here? Do we super know that bond builder is stationed here?”

“In the end, they’re specialists who make a bit of cash off of major criminal plans like robberies and kidnappings, right? They must be paranoid of losing everything by having Anti-Skill raid the place before they can get their clients’ bonds built.”

“So lately, bond builders make sure they work somewhere they can’t be located by searching real estate.”

Mugino pointed with her thumb.

Being out in the great outdoors with all its negative ions made them feel a bit cooler than before. Maybe the heat island effect just wasn’t as strong here, though. The leaves hadn’t started changing for autumn yet, so everything was green. And a vehicle the size of a large tour bus was parked on the curb, seeming to encroach on the tunnel of trees overhead. As big as the vehicle was, it was still a personal possession.

“I see. So in the end, they went with an RV.”

That would indeed allow them to provide a living space while also staying on the move so they could slip past Anti-Skill and Judgment. Even if they were caught at a checkpoint, the interior was a lot more complex than an ordinary vehicle, which meant a lot more hiding places. If necessary, the criminal group could hide behind a sofa or under the floor.

Even this mountainous district would have cameras equipped with motion sensors to monitor birds and other wildlife and the drum-shaped cleaning robots were all over the place.

While keeping an eye on any surveillance of that sort, Frenda used a small multi-tool knife to cut through a plastic wrapper and stuck something to the middle of the door. Then she knocked roughly on the RV’s side door. The sound of the knock suggested the RV was bulletproof. The short girl with fluffy blonde hair leaned next to the door.

A voice that sounded like a college girl spoke through the (on the surface) metal door.

“Who is-”

Frenda ignored that and blasted the thick door.

The heavy bulletproof door was blown inwards, knocking over the RV’s owner inside.

Frenda and Kinuhata charged sharply into the smoky interior and made a quick assessment of the entire space. This was a challenge because they weren’t used this kind of space that wasn’t quite a room but not quite a vehicle either.

“Clear.”

“Super clear. Some petty car thieves are having a training camp in here, so what do we do about them?”

The sudden explosion had panicked the occupants too badly to put up much of a resistance. The two girls dragged a few large boys out by the collar.

Mugino spoke to the aproned young woman who was lying half-crushed below the door.

“Cough up your client data, bond builder.”

“A-are you – cough – asking me to retire?”

“You missed your chance to resist a while back, loser.”

Mugino snatched the bond builder’s phone from a table.

“Ah!”

She aimed the camera at the shocked woman’s face to unlock it and then operated the touchscreen one-handed.

“Let’s see. First, I’ll go to Cash Friend’s official site and borrow up to their maximum of 5 million yen...oh, already done. A simple 5-second approval test is a scary thing, huh?”

“Eh? Hey, wait!! What do you think you’re doing with my phone!?”

“Just indulging in my hobby: visiting consumer finance sites. Now to transfer all that money out of your online bank account. Next, I think I’ll borrow as much as they’ll let me from Luxury Celeb, Heaven’s Bank, and Share Chip. Or should I also try some usurious loan sharks while I’m at it?”

“…”

“And to be clear, unlike false billing fraud, the messages demanding payment won’t just go away if you ignore them. Professionalism is all well and good, but do you really want to end up drowning in debt to protect some clients you’ll never meet again? Life has its ups and downs, but I really don’t think that would make for a fun time.”

The bond builder woman poured with a cold sweat.

Mugino continued toying with the borrowed phone in one hand.

“You brought the Sadistic Dolls together here, right? I want all the data you’ve got on them.”

===Part 3===

Mugino finally felt like things were getting back on track.

After leaving the unnecessarily large RV, she stretched her arms upwards.

“Ahh, feels good to do some real work.”

“My phone’s frozen up trying to read this… Damn. In the end, I connected the storage to my new device, which doesn’t have the usual settings file to speed up data reading. It doesn’t help that these images are huge. And with more than a million in all, it’ll probably take some time before I can open the folder and actually take a look at them. Probably about an hour, I’d say.”

“You should’ve borrowed whatever computer she usually uses, Frenda.”

Frenda was frowning at her phone with a card-sized storage device connected via cable and Takitsubo expressionlessly peered at the small screen from the side. Heading back to get the computer would be a pain at this point. And if that young woman had any sense at all, she would have already gotten as far away from there as possible. Once they could view the data, they would have all the data they wanted on the Sadistic Dolls, so all they needed to do was wait an hour.

Those girls ordinarily wore makeup and color contacts to avoid the mechanical facial recognition in the city’s security cameras and such, but this storage would have photos of them without all that. Once Item had those images, they could track them down.

Frenda sighed.

“In the end, do you think the voice on the phone is intentionally letting us do this? Maybe she wanted us to get impatient and act without permission so we’d do the job for free.”

“The suspicions can wait until after we have solid evidence. Make our move too soon against someone on her level and our names are going straight on an elimination list.”

“I’m sure it’s fine. In the end, she’s probably just too stupid to realize we’d do this.”

So what were they supposed to do for the next hour?

Takitsubo Rikou made a suggestion with emotionless eyes.

“I’m hungry. Isn’t it time we got something to eat?”

There were no objections.

They had collected their laundry at the laundromat, taken a shower at the spa at 10 AM, and then left for this job...so now that they were done, it was indeed about time for lunch.

“I want something cold to eat.”

“You say that, Takitsubo, but you already had somen yesterday.”

“That’s why I want something other than noodles that’s cold.”

“That’s going to make it a lot harder.”

District 21 was all about the great outdoors, so the shops at the foot of the mountain mostly just sold raw meat and solid fuel for cookouts. The only restaurants were a lot like the ones you would find in a rundown rural area, so Item chose to leave the district and go elsewhere.

“Summer is super ending, but it’s still super hot when the sun is high in the sky.”

“There’s an underground path over there, Kinuhata. Let’s use it.”

The four girls descended a long stairway to find chilled air.

The semi-cylindrical tunnel was covered by thick, clear plastic and glowed a bluish-white. The area outside was filled with artificial seawater, so giant mantas and whale sharks swam leisurely by over the girls’ heads.

“This is pretty fancy for a simple underground path. If they were going to go to all this super trouble, they should charge you for using it.”

“In the end, it’s part of a joint class, just like the wall art and sculptures you see around here. Part of the class is to get the students used to having their work seen by a lot of people.”

“?”

“District 21 borders District 9, which is all about arts and crafts☆”

The Item girls chatted like that as they walked through the tunnel aquarium.

Eventually, Mugino began complaining over her phone’s group call app.

Was she speaking with her class rep Shiratori Okibi?

“We have a lot more school events to look forward to once September starts. The most interesting would be the Daihaseisai athletic festival since it involves all the schools in the city. I’m going to be blunt: will you be participating or not?”

“Why do you care? It’s none of your business.”

“You must be joking! We still don’t know if one of only seven Level 5s in the city will be participating! Logically speaking, that will directly affect our placing, so you need to make up your mind sooner rather than later. Of course, I would appreciate it very much if you did participate.”

“You already know I maintain the bare minimum of school attendance needed to avoid being held back. I’ve got it all planned out and I’m not taking one step beyond what’s on that plan.”

With that, Mugino grumpily ended the call.

Kinuhata gave her a puzzled look.

“If school is that much of a pain, why not super cut all ties with it?”

“This is ''Academy'' City. I don’t want to stand out that much.”

Mugino’s obvious irritation suggested this was a significant source of stress for her.

Track suit girl Takitsubo smiled a little.

“If that girl can irritate Mugino this much without anyone dying, they must be pretty good friends.”

“Huh?”

“In the end, I could say the same about you, Takitsubo,” muttered Frenda while stealthily removing herself from the line of fire.

Speaking of Frenda, she had a parasol open even though they were indoors.

“Hm, hm♪”

“Frenda-san, super what is that?”

“A personal handheld mist shower☆ Everyone’s talking about them and anyone who’s anyone has one. With one of these, you don’t need to fight for the limited shady parts of the sidewalk. It has a 500mL tank kept cold with a chemical coolant and it keeps plenty of mist drifting down from inside the parasol.”

In other words, it was her usual love of the latest gadgets.

Summer was ending, so what was the point of buying up cooling products now? This was definitely going to end up gathering dust in the closet. And was “everyone talking about them” because the manufacturer was increasing their advertisement to make sure they didn’t have a huge stock left over by the time fall arrived?

The girl who failed to realize she had been duped bent backwards and laughed loud.

“Hwa ha ha! Jealous, ladies!? But if you insist, I would be willing to share this wonderful parasol with you! In the end, happiness should be shared!”

“No thanks, Frenda-san. You’re all damp and it’s super flattened your hair. Not to mention how your skin is showing through your clothes in places.”

After riding a long escalator up and joking about whether they could see each other’s underwear, they arrived directly on the ground floor of a building instead of outside.

Something passed by right in front of Mugino.

That something was a girl wearing a nearly transparent racing swimsuit with a bit of armor added in places. The outfit was apparently what one wore when piloting a giant robot and she was just walking around like it was normal. The additional parts that looked like long gloves and thigh highs apparently made this the “reverse bunny form”. She had a laser gun as long as she was tall resting on her shoulder. It was the classic trope of the cute girl with a brutal weapon.

Of course, this was cosplay and the giant laser gun was made of polyurethane.

Mugino wasn’t used to this sort of thing, so she looked puzzled by this pilot girl that could also fight outside of the cockpit who was max rarity yet was also madly in love with the (male) protagonist.

“Huh? I think we wandered into an anime.”

The large 1st floor lobby also contained a magical girl handing out aluminum-looking helium balloons shaped like stars and hearts and a special stage where extraterrestrial monster costumes were sumo wrestling.

“This is the General Tower for Next-Generation Information and Arts. Although most people call it Moe Bells. In the end, it’s a landmark for art-focused District 9.” Frenda pulled out her phone. “The entire 49-story building is packed full of anime and video game stuff, so you can think of it as ''a vertical Akihabara''. There are shops, movie theaters, event halls, production companies for different media, and even voice acting agencies. There are more than 500 shops open to the public here☆”

Her phone looked hard to operate with the storage device connected by cable, but she appeared to be calling up a fixed point camera on a video site. The small screen displayed a pair of huge towers. Projection mapping on their large walls was used to display humanoid battle robots and giant kaiju at 1:1 scale.

“In the end, the neighboring building is Hot-Blooded Bells. If you prefer to be moved to tears by battles full of punching, killing, kicking, and rescuing, then I recommend going there.”

If Moe Bells wasn’t about battles, then what was with the cosplay girls carrying enormous weapons?

But there was more than just anime and video game merch. There were also sections with smaller junk shops full of complicated-looking computer parts. If you wanted to enjoy games with the best graphics possible, you had to be particular about your video card and processor. And once you started building your own computer, you needed a lot of specialized parts. The line between professional and amateur had blurred a lot of late.

“Frenda-san, are you super into this kind of thing?”

“My sister loves Sunday morning tokusatsu.” Frenda pointed out that the cosplay shop employee was dressed as Magical Powered Kanamin and that the employee out gathering customers for another shop was wearing a Gekota costume. “What about you, Kinuhata? If you want to check out Japanese anime movies, there’s no better place than Moe Bells’s movie theaters. For the short films that artisan directors make while ignoring all the common theater standards, you need a big screen that takes gaming monitor tech to the next level if you want to see all the details in the colors.”

“Huh, so for a super recent example, do they show Momentary Blues?”

“In the end, that’s become a famous benchmark for bringing an entire theater to tears.”

The film buff began jotting down some notes, but the others ignored this.

In this Moe Bells place, miniskirt maids and cosplay magical girls appeared to be a common sight.

Mugino had a fundamental question.

“So do they have any restaurants here?”

“They’ve got everything from maid cafes to dancer cafes and even a Meiji/Taisho cafe☆”

“But is the food any good?”

Mugino’s eyes were pure ice.

Frenda shrugged.

“In the end, I’ve been here a few times because my sister begged me to take her to the hero show. Don’t underestimate Big Sis Frenda’s knowledge of the kid’s menus around here. The maid cafes are hit-and-miss, but you can get food better than at a family restaurant at the good ones.”

“Super how do you know which ones are the good ones?”

“Not from the fliers the smiling maids are handing out or from how cute the decorations are. In the end, maid cafes have obsessive fans, meaning you can’t trust the star rating on restaurant rating apps.” Frenda raised her index finger. “So you need to look at the kitchen ducts. Especially the seams and gap in the cleaning cover. In the end, the cafes that do their own cooking instead of relying on pre-made dishes they can microwave or boil will be covered in oil stains in the back☆”

Since she was the expert, they let Frenda choose where they would eat.

“If the best ones are only better than a family restaurant, is there super any reason to care that much?”

“Kinuhata, don’t these places boost their apparent value by making it feel like part of an event? Like the expensive ramen at a seaside restaurant or movie theater popcorn.”

“Super do not badmouth movies, Takitsubo-san. It’s wrong.”

Apparently the film buff was an advocate for the facilities related to movies and not just the movies themselves.

While Kinuhata and Takitsubo discussed that, Frenda checked out the many available restaurants and then pointed at one of them. Whether or not her nose for this was accurate, she appeared to have some basis for her decision.

A maid dressed in deep blue stood out in front of the cafe. Real maids apparently wore long skirts.

She greeted them with a smile.

“Welcome back☆ Four girls, is it? Let me show you to a tab-”

[[Image:Item3 BW2.jpeg|thumb]]

The maid trailed off, her smile frozen on her face.

Mugino looked puzzled, but then she picked up on something too.

“Y-”

It took a full three seconds, but the Level 5’s thoughts finally started back up.

“You…?”

A quiet beep came from Frenda’s phone.

The card-sized storage device was still connected by a cable, its contents being analyzed. It contained the client list Item had stolen from the bond builder. Automatic creation for a settings file to speed up data reading was complete, so a few photos of faces appeared on the small screen. These were the true faces without the stage makeup and color contacts.

One of them was identical to the maid standing in front of them.

Guitarist Meg, with her natural brown hair, spoke with her face drawn tight.

“What the hell are you doing here, my dumb-as-shit ladies?”

===Part 4===

The restaurant was a maid cafe.

But instead of a classic restaurant style or an old-fashioned cafe style, for some reason classroom desks were gathered together with table cloths thrown over them. Apparently the true connoisseurs most enjoyed the school festival style.

Despite being a cafe, they only offered a single kind of coffee and tea. The recommended items were curry rice, omurice, spaghetti napolitan, and so on. It all seemed to fall into the category of mysterious Showa-era Western-style foods that didn’t actually exist in America or the UK.

“Ooh, they have pancakes topped with ice cream.”

“Takitsubo-san, are you sure that super sugary thing counts as a cold meal?”

While those two opened their menus and discussed what they saw, Mugino irritably rested her head in her hand as soon as they were shown to their table.

“Maids by day and a band by night? How do people so young become workaholics?”

“Oh, shut up. If you want to create a trend, you need to get it out there in waves so it has time to spread. The idea of making it big after putting out a song or two is nothing but a fantasy. And until we’ve become ‘established’, we still need to make a living.”

Meg looked disgusted at having to do so, but she still replied.

Was that because she was in maid mode, or did she not like having someone take her band so lightly.

“In the end, how long do you expect to wait until you’re ‘established’?”

“It wouldn’t take long at all if we could get in with a major advertiser. It only takes so long because we’re working at it on our own. But our rough estimate says we’ll have what we need in another month’s time. Then we’ll be able to make this our era. We’ve calculated it all out already.”

If that was true, Item could ask for a ton of autographs now as an investment for when they were worth something, but unfortunately they were in no position to do that here.

Guitarist Meg grinned and whispered.

“I don’t want to cause the cafe or the other customers any trouble, so will you come with me?”

“…”

Time froze.

It was like this one table was spatially cut off from everything else.

The cafe’s manager must have been doing the part-timers a favor because the Sadistic Dolls’ new song was playing in the cafe.

The Color of the Whip.

The customers may have only been interested in the rhythm because they didn’t seem bothered by the (fairly crude and dark) lyrics.

Good prevailing over evil might sound nice, but it still meant one side was slaughtering the other. And while evil could respect the shittiness of an evil opponent, good stripped evil of all dignity before slaughtering it.

Instead of pure evil, this was a twisted form of good.

Which of those was really more horrific?

“If we tried anything here, ordinary people will die over dark side business. We don’t want that, which is why we’re just sitting here. And we both know that stacking some cash on the table isn’t going to make this problem go away, right?”

This had been Mugino’s intention from the beginning.

When in enemy territory, eating food cooked in an unseen kitchen was a bad idea. Who knows what they could slip into it. Takitsubo was staring hungrily at the menu, so Mugino stopped her with a glare and then stood up.

Guitarist Meg guided Item through the staff only door. They walked down a narrow corridor and across the industrial kitchen.

Doors silently opened and the number of maids grew. They were gathering.

Five in all.

They were all members of the Sadistic Dolls.

“Walking through the staff only door s-sealed your fates,” nervously said Saki, the vocalist with shoulder length hair.

She seemed aware that a deadly fight was about to break out.

But she should have stopped there.

“The poor things.”

“I-if you really think so, we can spare them. It’s not too late!”

That sounded nice.

But her heart wasn’t in it.

It was obvious she wasn’t really worried about Item. Yuami, the synthesist with a ponytail, just wanted to show off how reasonable she was.

“Saki. And Yuami too. They call themselves Item, choose for themselves to walk the path of evil, and use violence to get their way. They always had an unpleasant end coming, right? It’s what they deserve.”

Was the one with twintails the bassist called Suzuran?

She spoke like it was her job to punish all of humanity’s sins.

Amamo, the drummer with a braid, grinned and assessed Item.

“Huh, you look a lot different in proper lighting. I was expecting more chiseled faces with maybe an old scar or two.”

Mugino clicked her tongue.

It was all so saccharine it made her sick. Her disgust here was of a different sort than when she faced someone truly evil. If Takitsubo hadn’t been expressionlessly glancing around noting the location of the dangerous gas pipes, she might have shot them all to death right here.

“You think you’re the good guys? When you kill people to put food on the table?”

“I’d wondered about that too.” Guitarist Meg’s bright voice seemed out of place here. She sounded like like she was speaking to a classmate. “All we’ve done is complete some jobs, but for some reason, we’ve been placed on the side of justice. Of course, if that comes down to what jobs you choose to do, then maybe we should all be thanking the people who keep society running.”

Takitsubo tilted her head.

“You wanted us out of the cafe, but where exactly do you want to fight? This is the 25th floor of a skyscraper.”

“Yeah, about that.”

''Zap!!!

18 million volts of electricity erupted out without warning.

Meg had reached back behind something as they walked along.

And just as she turned toward Item, the thick electric blast shot out at close range.

But Mugino didn’t bat an eye.

She unleashed a Meltdowner beam straight up and an aluminum duct running near the ceiling fell down as a clump. The killer current tore into the closer object with higher conductivity than a human, causing it to rupture from within.

“''Saw that one coming,''” said the Level 5.

Item intentionally took the side of evil, but these girls carried a twisted form of justice. The Sadistic Dolls were the kind of maggots who hunted as they pleased, not worrying about the ordinary people on the side of the street and even taking villains’ family members hostage.

And yet they had asked to move away from the cafe. The only possible benefit for them was catching Item in a trap.

They wouldn’t care a whit about the customers and workers on this floor.

Several sharp metallic clanking sounds rang out.

The Sadistic Dolls pulled their customized instrument weapons from their hiding places around the kitchen. The cooks appeared to be ordinary people since they paled and foamed at the mouth, so Frenda used a non-fragmentary explosive to knock them out with a concussive blast.

That acted as the starting signal.

Some ran along the floor and others hopped onto the silver countertops as the four and the five clashed.

Something sliced loudly through the air.

Vocalist Saki had drawn a rapier hidden in her mic stand.

Kinuhata blocked that head on and then casually grabbed the blade. With her bare hand.

“?”

But then she furrowed her brow.

She had crushed it with her Offense-Armor-enhanced hand, but she hadn’t heard it break.

Vocalist Saki smiled timidly while holding the mic stand rapier and with small, lightweight speakers attached to her shoulders like angel wings.

“The blade is made by condensing and shaping cellulose nanofiber, s-so it won’t break so easily.”

Kinuhata didn’t have time to respond.

With a dull “crash!!”, her small body was launched sideways. While she failed to deal with Saki’s rapier, Amamo’s drum set had tackled her. To send Kinuhata flying, the drum set, which moved autonomously on mechanical legs, must have weighed more than a ton. A stainless steel sink bent and broke when its silver legs climbed up on top.

“Tch! In the end, I’ll help Kinuhata, so you protect Takitsubo, Mugino!!”

“It’s already too late. We’ll just crush you each in turn. Amplifier: extra charge complete! Move aside, everyone!!”

18 million volts of electricity shot from the end of the electric guitar like an artillery shell.

Frenda knew it was risky, but she reached out a hand to grab Kinuhata from the floor and pulled her behind the counter. If not for that, the electricity would have broken through Kinuhata’s nitrogen barrier with electrical breakdown.

Guitarist Meg roared while accompanied by a giant boxy amp walking on metal legs.

“I’m beginning my extra charge. Don’t let the enemy get close until it’s ready!”

“Got it.”

“O-okay.”

“No, wait. It would be safer in the long run to finish them off now!!”

“The rest of you can do what you want. We’ll be roasting them to speed things up!!”

“?” Mugino frowned.

This enemy was supposed to be the Sadistic Dolls, a killer girls band.

But with close observation, Mugino had noticed a tendency among them.

The vocalist, the guitarist, and the synthesist.

The bassist and the drummer.

They were frequently trading positions, but there were two definite groups there. Furthermore, the different groups sometimes had conflicting plans and strategies.

“Not the best of friends, huh?” Mugino sounded exasperated. “Are you about the break up over ‘creative differences’?”

For one thing, five was too many people for the high level of coordination needed on a single team. With more members, there was a risk of the team splitting into smaller groups and breaking the team’s unity.

And a small fraying like that could change the course of a battle in no time.

“I don’t think they have any decent esper powers,” said blank-faced Takitsubo.

“What makes you so certain?”

Mugino thought maybe Takitsubo had run some kind of scan with AIM Stalker, but…

“They’re a struggling girls band. If any of them was a high-level esper, they would be using that to advertise themselves. Like having a ''Level 5 idol'' or something.”

This one hit home, so Meg’s shoulders began to shake. How could she be so mean?

But it was the truth.

(The biggest concern here is igniting the gas and causing a major explosion. So the one we need to take out quick is…)

“Suzuran, the bassist!! The dumbass came to the front line herself. We already saw her flamethrower, so take that out first!!”

Takitsubo expressionlessly opened the big door to an industrial refrigerator and Mugino kicked the bassist in the gut so hard it knocked her through the air.

“? Ugh!”

The door shut.

The biggest fear for anyone using a flamethrower was for the flames to accidentally hit a nearby wall or obstacle and then catch the wielder in the flames. So trapping her in a small space kept her from using her weapon.

A thick beam of light scorched the air.

This ''was not'' Mugino Shizuri’s Meltdowner.

“Tch!!”

“Go to hell! Open up!! Photon Bullet!!!”

This definitely wasn’t a flamethrower or oxyacetylene torch. A red hot beam of light burst sharply from within the silver refrigerator.

Mugino twisted her body to just barely dodge before aiming her palm that way.

This time, it was Meltdowner.

She launched several thick beams to tear through the refrigerator from a variety of angles. It was like the sword box magic trick...just without the trick part.

“Dammit, Takitsubo! Don’t get all smug and then have your plan not work at all! ''You’re getting punished later''!!”

“Ehh?”

“But that’s one down! ...Come to think of it, I just killed a minor celebrity. Don’t these shitheads have a fan at my school?”

“I super got one too.”

The shriek and scream were so shrill it was hard to believe they came from a human being. With Offense Armor boosting her arm strength, Kinuhata grabbed the drummer by the collar and shoved her face-first into the blazing hot industrial oven.

The enemy had been split three and two. So with the bassist killed, her drummer girlfriend had been left all alone. Kinuhata had gone ahead and finished her off before she could recover.

“Got-”

That was when a brutally high-voltage blast of electricity flew through and Mugino had to quickly duck below it.

She didn’t have time for a celebratory “got another one”

Two were dead, but the battle wasn’t over.

“Oh, god!! First the cult and now this girls band! Why does everyone have to use ''electricity''!? I never want to another electricity user as long as I live!!”

Mugino shouted in desperation and reached just her hand from behind cover to return fire with several Meltdowner beams.

Guitarist Meg, Vocalist Saki, and Synthesist Yuami.

More than half the enemy remained.

Item had four, so their numbers weren’t all that different. If they were careless this could easily go the other way.

“Frenda! Fire a barrage of killer skyrockets!! Don’t let them near the rear exit. Once their way out is blocked, Kinuhata and I will charge in!!”

“Got it.”

“Super got it.”

However, the mood on both sides was different. With one side losing two members in quick succession, the other side had the momentum.

“Nothing to do.”

Takitsubo was in charge of targeting support, so she just stood there. That alone showed who had the advantage. The Sadistic Dolls were losing members fast, but Item had a member who could indulge in some idle time on the front line.

With some metallic clanking, powerful stage lights with metal legs gathered by Synthesist Yuami who held a keytar likely installed with modified laser pointers.

“I’ll confuse them to turn this around!! I’ll blind them with my laser strobe lights, so you two use that opening to-”

“Are you stupid?” spat Mugino. She was Meltdowner, one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s. “Did your rotten justice never teach you the villain’s logic that you begin to lose as soon as you let your fear show? And did you really think you could outdo me when it comes to beam power!?”

An explosion overpowered the artificial beams.

Frenda had fired a portable rocket launcher the size of a potato chip tube and Mugino had launched Meltdowner. Steel racks were blown away and a microwave and rice cooker broke apart before their pieces stabbed into the wall.

The human body would not fare well in such a dense concentration of sharp shards flying horizontally like that. Especially when standing upright.

The gray dust cleared away.

The floor was littered with rubble, the ordinary cooks who had been safely knocked out earlier, and the bloody corpses of the villains who had taken the brunt of the razor-sharp rain while standing up.

The cooks could be safely ignored because they could be ''peacefully'' silenced by hiring a “negotiator” (whose primary tool was threats).

Track suit girl Takitsubo’s eyes wandered through empty space.

“One’s missing.”

“Tch. That damn guitarist is gone! She must’ve survived by using her bandmates as a shield!!”

===Part 5===

Mugino tackled the kitchen door with her shoulder and burst out from the cafe.

This was the 25th floor. It was an isolated aerial island with no escape in any horizontal direction. Capture now meant death, so where would Meg go if she really did want to survive?

(If they were working on their own because they weren’t great at teamwork, it’s unlikely she’ll escape from the roof by helicopter. She’ll probably just head for the ground. And she won’t have time to wait for the elevator to arrive, but running down 25 floors’ worth of stairs would take too long too.)

“So she’ll go for the elevator shaft. But instead of waiting for the elevator, she’ll grab the wire and slide down. That’s the fastest way to the surface!!”

An extended warning buzzer sounded. It wasn’t as pressing an alert as the fire alarm, so it probably indicated an emergency stop for an elevator. After a glance over at the map on the wall, Mugino ran toward the nearest elevator hall. That was her only option.

“Outta the away! Get down! Dammit!!”

Mugino ran through the crowd, shoved aside a young man and woman who were chatting in the center of the walkway, belatedly realized there was a baby carriage in front of her, and jumped over it in a superhuman feat of acrobatics. Afterwards, she was surprised to find she still cared enough to do so. Maybe she was getting something out of her school after all.

(I’m supposed to do the dirty work in the shadows. I’m sick of pain-in-the-ass hostage situations. I won’t let it go that way, so I need to kill them all now while I can!!)

As she ran, Mugino focused on her right hand so she could fire Meltdowner at any time. She charged right into the elevator hall. Maybe the arrangement of stores or the layout of the building played a role, but this one elevator hall was especially quiet and deserted.

“Get back here, Meg!! You’re the ones who picked this fight with-”

Mugino didn’t finish her sentence.

Red.

A rusty scent.

Something was lying on the floor. It was a human corpse. It was obviously dead without needing to check for a pulse or breathing.

The elevator’s emergency stop buzzer was still sounding. The metal door was stuck half open. That meant she had been attempting the most sensible escape route.

And yet this had happened.

Before she could even use her killer electric guitar’s 18 million volt current.

Guitarist Meg’s upper body was gouged by several deep wounds. She had likely been stabbed by a sharp blade. Whoever had done it had definitely been trying to kill her. This wasn’t the result of an ordinary person swinging a blade in a terrified panic. Each wound accurately pierced a vital point.

Someone had killed her.

But who?

Mugino felt a draft noticeably different from the air conditioning’s chilly breeze. She crouched down and found the thick tempered glass dividing the buildings exterior and interior had been cut away. In a precise 1m square.

(They used that.)

This was the 25th floor, so it was unlikely the killer had just jumped down to the ground. Had they been wearing a wingsuit, or had they escaped using a large cargo drone?

Either way, tracking them down using traditional methods wouldn’t be possible.

Mugino continued glaring at that hole in the glass until her phone rang.

It was the voice on the phone.

“I did some research into those Sadistic Dolls and it looks like Item doesn’t even need to bother hunting them down. You’d be wasting your time, so just forget about them. You can’t recover the costs.”

“Explain.”

“This city’s justice is on the move.”

That was succinct.

And that word still felt out of place here.

“I know what you’re thinking because it’s always like this with you, but you don’t need to deal with the Sadistic Dolls. Their twisted justice let them harm ordinary people and take hostages, but that hurt their reputation in ''a different world''. So a different set of this city’s gears will eliminate them for us.”

“I see.”

Mugino sighed before continuing.

“But I’m afraid this warning came a little too late.”

“?”

A picture was worth a thousand words, so Mugino snapped a photo of what she saw at her feet.

Something was written quite large in red blood.

''You crossed a line.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Prologue|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Chapter2}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item3 Chapter1

2025-03-03T18:48:28Z

209.195.250.74: /* Part 2 */

==Chapter 1: Public and Private==

===Part 1===

“Room 407 – coming in☆”

After a knock, a young woman employee entered.

She carried a large plate.

“Here is your additional order of cold pork shabu-shabu pasta. Thanks for participating in our summer sesame sauce fair.”

It was early morning on August 29 inside a karaoke box in university-heavy District 5.

The karaoke box was one of the places Item had been using to sleep in since the Criminal Real Estate refused to do business with them. Their poor reputation had spread to the lodging industry, so they couldn’t even use a hotel, meaning they had been moving between establishments with 24-hour service: internet cafes, sports gym nap rooms, family restaurants, etc.

However, the wireless microphone and giant LCD remote were still in their charging stands.

The four girls clearly had no intention of singing and some large bags were sitting unnaturally in the corner of the room.

Plus, they all looked like they had just woken up.

…Anyone would have seen them as girls who had run away from home during the summer and needed somewhere to crash for the night, but apparently the part-time worker wasn’t sympathetic enough to question it. The female employee, who likely had a story of her own since she was working into the early morning, did only what her job demanded and then left the room.

Frenda’s face lit up.

“Oh, yeah, here it is. Check it out, everyone, it’s breakfast. Time to split up and share this cold pasta☆”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Pork shabu-shabu and carbs first thing in the morning? That seems super greasy and heavy.”

Kinuhata looked disgusted.

Bu while a karaoke box would deliver drinks and snacks to your room if you called, their menu was designed for parties. Excepting a light and healthy breakfast here was a mistake.

Without even enough energy to get up from the short sofa, Mugino pulled a wet tissue from the cylindrical bottle she had brought in with her and wiped herself around the neck.

“Ugh, my skin is all sticky… The spa near here doesn’t open until 10, right? Dammit!!”

None of them were time-control espers, so Kinuhata didn’t respond to that.

But she was curious about one thing.

“Takitsubo-san, super when does our laundromat stuff get done?”

“In another 50 minutes, so we don’t need to rush. I had them dry it too, so it’ll take time.”

On the other hand, if they took too long after the laundry was done, the employee would unlock the door and their laundry would be stolen. It was a necessary penalty to keep the limited number of industrial washing machines running efficiently.

Everything came with a time cost with this temporary lifestyle.

It was a common issue for runaways, but…

“Damn, and we wouldn’t have to deal with any of this if we could just get a new apartment… We have the money! Bathing and laundry aren’t supposed to be this much trouble. Go to hell, Criminal Real Estaaaaaaaate!!”

“In the end, I’m more worried about managing my explosives. I just shoved them in that bag over there and now they’re all rolling around together. The sunlight reflecting of the asphalt might melt the plastic explosives.”

But none of their complaining was going to change anything.

Their top priority was regaining trust within their industry, but then their job had been stolen from them.

A change came over the large screen on the wall.

“Yawwn. Another screw up on the job? ''It’s always like this with you.'' I do so wish I could pay you for a successful job, but it is what it is. Bitching about it isn’t going to help. You said it was the Sadistic Dolls that got there ahead of you? I’ll look into these competitors.”

The screen displayed pure black, but a young female woman’s voice played from it.

This was “the voice on the phone” who gave Item their jobs.

Mugino slowly sat up on the sofa and spoke in a low, unsteady voice that had more to do with annoyance than lack of sleep.

“You didn’t set up this double booking yourself, did you?”

“Why would I? Just sending Item in would have been enough to take out that cult leader. Just so you know, my superiors have already chewed me out over this. It’s always like this with them.”

The voice on the phone claimed she had been “chewed out”, but it didn’t sound like she was preparing to skip town.

Her ''shield'' wouldn’t be so thin that a mistake or two was enough to get her killed …Of course, that shield of hers wouldn’t necessary protect Item as well.

“Anyway, at least that cult leader did end up dead. That’s better than having her escape while you were fighting her troops. Far, far better.”

The four girls’ silence made it very clear they didn’t see what was so good about it, but the voice on the phone wasn’t going to let that faze her.

“Also, this should be a major setback for the AI development race. ''We might even see the age of smartphones revert to the old feature phones,'' so if there are any accessories you like, I recommend stocking up now.”

“So the city’s higher ups were super competing over all that?”

The cult had used AI and Item had used a criminal AI to rewrite their security cameras, sensors, surveillance drones, etc. in real time. Looking back, both sides of that conflict would have left a bad impression. Of course, this was all about convincing the VIPs at the top of the city, not about changing public opinion.

(Super based on this, I wonder if the lipstick-sized antenna used to connect to the criminal AI was left behind instead of being collected by our support organization.)

It might come back eventually, ''but it sounded like they would have to live without AI for a while.

Instead of being fully stopped, this had created a gap where development came to a standstill. Maybe you had to be in the position of the higher ups to understand who benefited from that.

“Anyway, I’ll find another job for you to make up for your mistakes. To us and to the Criminal Real Estate.”

“And you want us to sit around until then? Not happening.”

“It’s always like this with you. From what I’ve heard, the Sadistic Dolls have especially strong criminal infrastructure. The city’s higher ups are definitely involved. Just like with you. Do you want to go fight them without knowing who they are and end up in even more trouble? Don’t try anything until you know how exactly it benefits you.”

The connection ended.

The large karaoke screen resumed playing the stereotypical free footage of tropical ocean scenery.

Mugino Shizuri made a suggestion not three seconds later.

“I say we kill the Sadistic Dolls.”

“If you want,” readily agreed Frenda. “But in the end, if we don’t get rid of this competitor, they’ll keep stealing our jobs no matter how many we get from the voice on the phone. I’m sick of spending my nights in burger shops and gyudon shops like I’m a runaway. I miss futons. Can’t someone – anyone – show me to a bed!? We have to prove ourselves again to convince that Criminal Real Estate – the sooner the better. So if anyone gets in our way, my vote is for killing them.”

Kinuhata shrugged and Takitsubo stared into space while munching on the end of a carrot stick. Neither of them appeared to have an opposing argument.

That settled it.

Item was one of the villains infesting the dark side of Academy City, so they had no reason to show mercy here. Just because they were up against other brutal criminals was no reason for them to start working with the police, detectives, bounty hunters, scientists, reporters, or maids. When two criminal turfs collided, one side had to be destroyed.

“Academy City is a walled city, so there’s only so much room. No matter how prosperous it might be,” spat Mugino. She stated the inviolable rule she had learned from her family. “So the people of the city’s dark side always need to be focused on the limited amount of shares and turf available there. We’re all fighting for our piece of the pie. If we fall from the top of our field, only tragedy awaits us. Allowing one group to intervene will only lead to more and more trying the same.”

They had been stolen from.

So they had to pay the thieves back. Threefold? Ten-thousand-fold? There was no upper limit.

“Huh. In the end, This place has their song.”

Frenda operated the LCD remote to bring a new image onto the big screen.

It was the Sadistic Dolls’ new song, Color of the Whip.

Having footage of them in a back alley karaoke box like this probably came from how they existed on the border between major and indies. Using what they had seen last night, this music video, and information found on an online encyclopedia, Item put together a tentative profile of their enemy.

Saki.

Vocalist. Specializes in using her voice, but due to her shy personality, she sticks exclusively to singing. When it comes time for talking between songs during their concerts, she steps back and lets the guitarist take over. She also writes their lyrics.

Weapon: unknown.

Meg.

Guitarist. She handles the main melody and is the leader who gathered the band together. As seen above, she is charismatic and handles the talking during the concerts.

Weapon: killer electric guitar that “fires” ultra-high-voltage electricity.

Suzuran.

Bassist. Also develops their music videos and designs their costumes. As part of this, she runs their official website and social media, so the fans see her as the one they have the most direct communication with.

Weapon: flamethrower bass equipped with an oxyacetylene torch.

Yuami.

Synthesist. Doesn’t stand out much, but because their music is primarily streamed desktop music, there are rumors that she is secretly in charge of the entire band. Also their songwriter.

Weapon: unknown.

Amamo.

Drummer. Has the unusual background of being recruited into the band after working as a bouncer at a live music club. Runs the punishment games involving paper fans, whips, and baseball bat spankings during their concerts and videos.

Weapon: unknown.

Takitsubo expressionlessly tilted her head.

“Mugino, you don’t seem too surprised.”

“Someone at my school was talking about them.”

“Pft. In the end, it’s hard to imagine you of all people putting on a uniform and going to sch- bwah!!?”

Frenda’s ill-advised comment earned her a wordless pummeling from Mugino’s fists.

From the look of things, the Sadistic Dolls used next-gen weapons rather than esper powers. Did that mean they had no high-level espers, or were they hiding their powers?

All of those names were of course stage names and the heavy makeup and color contacts they wore likely kept mechanical face recognition from working. Even with all this footage, tracking down their addresses or common hangouts would be difficult.

They appeared to be classified as something a lot like underground idols.

Of course, if they were super-famous entertainers raking in the dough, they wouldn’t be out killing for the dark side.

Mugino clicked her tongue while watching the music video playing on the big screen.

“The Sadistic Dolls. They’re a goddamn public girls band. Did any of you know they worked as dark side assassins before this?”

No hands went up.

Mugino nodded.

“Neither did I. That leaves two possibilities: 1. Someone considers them extremely valuable and has been keeping them in reserve. 2. They’re such a new team no one’s had a chance to hear about them yet.”

Kinuhata sighed at this.

The answer was obvious.

“That killer guitar and the wall-slicing torch will leave a super ton of evidence they were at a site, so you’d have a hard time keeping all five of those cards hidden for long. I can understand ordinary people not knowing, but it’s super fishy that we’ve never heard a single rumor of them on the dark side.”

“Right.” Frenda crossed her arms and nodded. “But in the end, even if they are newbies with little to no records to go on, there’s no way that cult killing was their first job. The way they got in, killed, and got out tells me they’ve done this before.”

“There are some traces,” said Takitsubo.

She used the glass table to spread out some paper documents she must have printed off somewhere.

They all listed unsolved cases and none of them had any definitive proof of the Sadistic Dolls’ involvement. She had gathered this information from online news articles, sniffing out the truth in a different way from Anti-Skill forensic investigators.

“1. A surface level dark side group calling themselves Revenge For Hire was burned to death in a fire. Acetylene was detected in the burnt remains of the building, so their flamethrower was probably responsible.”

“Have they never heard of being discreet? Not that I’m one to talk when I use bombs.” Frenda sounded somewhat exasperated.

Takitsubo nodded expressionlessly and continued.

“2. The executives of a corrupt company that caused quite a lot of health damage selling phony diet products were found in the trunk of an abandoned car. To be clear, that’s around a dozen people in a single trunk. Linked to that case, a scrapyard employee was found dead with his throat slit. Probably a witness.”

“…”

The air inside the box seemed to electrify.

Maybe they were newcomers still learning the ropes, but it was frowned on for dark side people to take ordinary people’s lives without a very good reason. Enough so that this kind of ''more indiscriminate criminal'' was looked down on with contempt.

“3. A money launderer who worked for sketchy companies and organizations was found dead under mysterious circumstances. He apparently laundered the money by using real money trading in online games to frequently trade electronic money for rare items. It also appears that the victim’s wife was abducted. Anti-Skill failed to rescue the hostage and the wife died.”

A tongue click echoed through the room. From Frenda.

Mugino breathed a heavy sigh.

“So they target pros.”

That meant they only attacked criminals to reduce their numbers.

In other words, they had a twisted sense of justice.

“I don’t know how seriously we should take it, but there are hints of that view in the Sadistic Dolls’ lyrics too. Mugino, take a listen to their latest song – Color of the Whip.”

No need.

With people like this, the odds were good they weren’t even aware they were bad people. They were true idiots who believed that the principle of “the enemy of your enemy is your friend” trumped the laws of the land.

Takitsubo tapped her index finger against one of the paper documents on the glass table.

“There was unverified information going around online for all of these cases, but the criminals were always erased just before the mass media picked it up. Of course, it could just be that the Sadistic Dolls operate online instead of on TV, so that’s where they search out their targets too.”

“Yeah, right. They clearly have a client, don’t you think? It’s super obvious that someone wants to silence these people before the story gets too big. So they might super claim to be fighting for good or for justice, but all they’re doing is kill people for money – just like us.”

Takitsubo did not reject that idea.

And…

“I can’t be certain with so few samples to go off of, but there is one thing the Sadistic Dolls seem to do every time.”

“?”

“They intentionally make the case look bigger than it is to gather onlookers. And that means both ordinary people and the dark side.”

“I see. They did trigger the alarm themselves just before they left with the cult, didn’t they?”

“That must be how they draw out the dark side individuals and groups lurking below the surface. Maybe they just enjoy it and maybe it’s ''a PR stunt'' meant to get their name out there quickly. I bet they’re fighting with the dark side beyond the scope of their jobs – it just hasn’t shown on the surface yet. Which would mean…”

“In the end, their target is us – Item?” Frenda didn’t sound happy about it.

The Sadistic Dolls didn’t even have the bare minimum of manners. In fact, it looked like they had a bad habit of actively involving ordinary people or even taking their target’s family hostage to achieve their goals. In that sense, they were an especially unpleasant enemy for Frenda.

There was only one real plan here.

These people weren’t going to back off if Item left them alone.

“''We’ll just have to kill them before they can kill us'',” declared Mugino.

“Okay. In the end, we need to fully uproot this threat.”

That settled it.

The track suit girl did not try to stop them now that they had a plan.

Even that seemingly harmless girl was still a member of the dark side.

“Mugino, where are we going to make the attack?”

“The Sadistic Dolls haven’t been around long, but all newbies are the same. For example, they’ll want to use a special service to quickly strengthen their bonds so their makeshift team doesn’t fall apart from infighting.”

Frenda seemed to know what Mugino meant.

“So in the end, we’re headed to a ''bond builder''?”

===Part 2===

Their laundry was still spinning round and round inside the industrial washing machine.

The LCD display said it would be a few more minutes until it was done. They had taken travel time into account when deciding when to leave, but they had still arrived at the laundromat a little early.

“Ugh, I’m so bored. It’s these brief moments of downtime that really piss me off,” complained Frenda.

“Hey, if we super don’t do something, the Academy City Bomber is going to start a fireworks show over here.”

Kinuhata’s annoyed comment made Mugino scratch her head with a hand.

“Damn, I hate this too… Okay, how about we play rock-paper-scissors impressions?”

“What’s that? Ooh, I’ve never heard of that party game. In the end, you need to tell me all about it!”

“Hm? Since when do you know about these things, Mugino?” asked Takitsubo.

“I just heard about it at my school is all. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

While the four of them were playing their game, an electronic beeping sounded.

Now their laundry really was done.

“Super whose underwear is this? They’re all see through and there definitely shouldn’t be a hole here.”

“In the end, any of the sexy ones will be from Mugino’s collection.”

“Kinuhata, those are mine,” said Takitsubo.

“!?” “!?”

[[Image:Item3 BW1.jpeg|thumb]]

First, they collected all their dried laundry. Laundromats these days were as bright and shiny as a trendy cafe, so there wasn’t all that much reluctance for girls to use them.

Once done there, they returned to the multi-tenant building containing the karaoke box.

There was a spa in the same building.

It too was kept bright and polished, probably to give it a clean look to draw female customers. That said, the fake marble texture made it all look quite cheap. And based on the layout, it was probably a former sex industry establishment remodeled into a spa. With all its university students, District 5 had a lot of izakayas, smoking bars, and other adult-oriented establishments.

There were several teenage girls gathered there right as the spa opened, but were they all summer break runaways?

Item took a shower first and held a strategy meeting at the same time.

“Ahh, I can finally wash the sleep sweat away…”

“Mugino, stop avoiding the issue.”

Whether robbing a bank or staging a kidnapping, the greatest threat to a crime carried out by a group was infighting. So quickly strengthening the bonds between the group of gathered criminals was an even greater insurance of safety than a counterfeit passport or a getaway car.

Enough so that the dark side had people who specialized in providing that service.

Mugino raised her head to enjoy the warm shower water to its fullest as she spoke.

“They’re known as bond builders. A robbery team might be thrown into a cheap apartment or campsite and forced to live together, eating the same things and going to sleep at the same time every single day…''to artificially create the bonds of a family within the group''.”

Kinuhata spoke from the adjacent booth.

“Oh, really? And is there any super objective proof this works?”

“Of course not. We’re not Anti-Skill or Judgment.”

That was how it worked with the criminal underworld where there were no compliance rules or reports to be filed.

Since they couldn’t just throw more people at the issue like the government could, your own experience and nose for danger were your lifeline on the dark side.

“Bond builders, huh? Super sounds to me like they’re consensually doing some light brainwashing.”

“Because they are. Supposedly, a week with them and you have so much love and affection between you and your accomplices that you won’t rat each other out even if Anti-Skill captures you.”

If the Sadistic Dolls were using a bond builder to create instant unity within their group, they would be a client and that bond builder would have their personal information.

After drying their hair with driers and putting on fresh clothes, the girls rode the subway.

The subway station had a lot of boys and girls in casual clothing. They appeared to be out trying to make the most of the last few days of summer break. Being forced to study every day and compete in the entrance exams and then having your breaks controlled by the higher ups was definitely not fun.

“Huh? Weren’t we suppose to meet on the upper deck for our patrol?”

Item heard an odd voice from overhead. The speaker was descending the long escalator while Item ascended it. Three girls were wearing their school uniforms even during the break. Mugino gave them an irritated glare before looking away. Annoyingly enough, those girls wore special armbands on their right shoulders. They were from Judgment.

(“Ugh. And we super know one of them. That’s Yamagami Erina.)”

They had happened to run into that girl at the Colosseum and the illegal casino. And she wasn’t alone this time.

That just made this worse.

If their eyes happened to meet here, she might recognize them even in this crowd. And the escalator was a single long path, so they couldn’t slip away into a side route or turn around at this point.

They were going to meet at the center point of the up and down sides of the escalator.

They would be less than a meter from each other.

“It’s so easy to lose your sense of direction in a subway station, so maybe Sarusa-chan is lost on the platform below.”

“She’s not you, Aomi. I doubt that’s it.”

“You can cheat using your power, Mii. Your judgment isn’t reliable on this.”

Frenda and Mugino looked down at their phones to hide their faces as much as possible and Frenda surreptitiously tossed a firecracker down to the bottom of the escalator with her other hand.

The Judgment girls reacted quite sensitively to the harmless “pop!!”

“Whoa!? What was that!?”

“It’s our job to find out. Erina-chan, it might not have been a gunshot or explosion. Summer break is almost over, so some idiot streamer might be setting off fireworks in the station.”

The teacher’s pets rushed down the escalator, so they never even glanced over at the suspicious girls right next to them.

Mugino and Frenda suppressed a chuckle, but…

“Mii, use your Clairvoyance to check all around this area! Did you find anything!?”

Hearing that, the two quickly resumed their act.

Fortunately, the glasses-wearing clairvoyant had never met them and, even if she could see through the walls and ceiling to see Item’s faces, she presumably couldn’t share that information with Yamagami Erina. The lack of objectivity when compared to thoughtography was one weakness of clairvoyance.

Only after reaching the top of the escalator and approaching the ticket gate with a casual gait did Frenda breathe a heavy sigh.

“Honestly… But in the end, we should be safe since clairvoyance can’t pick up voices, right?”

“She might be able to read our lips, so do be careful, Frenda.”

Hearing a short beep, Frenda – who could make friends with anyone – pulled her phone from her pocket, but the message-based social media app notification was for Mugino.

“Shiratori// Ehh? You’ve really completed all your summer homework already? But I was hoping to make an accomplice out of you by suggesting we work on it together. Ugh, now what do I do about this giant pile… Really, it’s all the Sadistic Dolls’ fault. Their latest music video is just that good. Oh, right. Is there a seat you want for the new post-summer seating chart? Class Rep Shiratori Okibi-chan here can use her magic touch to ensure you draw exactly the number you want from the box, so-”

Mugino didn’t bother reading it through to the end before closing the app. There was no way she was reading that wall of text.

Track suit girl Takitsubo tilted her head with a blank stare.

“Who was that from?”

“''My phone tree group''. For school. What a pain.”

Technically, it had been a hidden message that only showed up for the people designated by the poster. Mugino had brought up her school in the karaoke box too. She was aware herself that a sailor uniform and school bag looked wrong on her. In fact, her large chest tugged up on the top enough to show off her navel.

After climbing the stairs to the surface, they smelled greenery.

They were in District 21. The area had a lot of nature and included Academy City’s only mountain and dam.

“Why’d we come all the way out here? Do we super know that bond builder is stationed here?”

“In the end, they’re specialists who make a bit of cash off of major criminal plans like robberies and kidnappings, right? They must be paranoid of losing everything by having Anti-Skill raid the place before they can get their clients’ bonds built.”

“So lately, bond builders make sure they work somewhere they can’t be located by searching real estate.”

Mugino pointed with her thumb.

Being out in the great outdoors with all its negative ions made them feel a bit cooler than before. Maybe the heat island effect just wasn’t as strong here, though. The leaves hadn’t started changing for autumn yet, so everything was green. And a vehicle the size of a large tour bus was parked on the curb, seeming to encroach on the tunnel of trees overhead. As big as the vehicle was, it was still a personal possession.

“I see. So in the end, they went with an RV.”

That would indeed allow them to provide a living space while also staying on the move so they could slip past Anti-Skill and Judgment. Even if they were caught at a checkpoint, the interior was a lot more complex than an ordinary vehicle, which meant a lot more hiding places. If necessary, the criminal group could hide behind a sofa or under the floor.

Even this mountainous district would have cameras equipped with motion sensors to monitor birds and other wildlife and the drum-shaped cleaning robots were all over the place.

While keeping an eye on any surveillance of that sort, Frenda used a small multi-tool knife to cut through a plastic wrapper and stuck something to the middle of the door. Then she knocked roughly on the RV’s side door. The sound of the knock suggested the RV was bulletproof. The short girl with fluffy blonde hair leaned next to the door.

A voice that sounded like a college girl spoke through the (on the surface) metal door.

“Who is-”

Frenda ignored that and blasted the thick door.

The heavy bulletproof door was blown inwards, knocking over the RV’s owner inside.

Frenda and Kinuhata charged sharply into the smoky interior and made a quick assessment of the entire space. This was a challenge because they weren’t used this kind of space that wasn’t quite a room but not quite a vehicle either.

“Clear.”

“Super clear. Some petty car thieves are having a training camp in here, so what do we do about them?”

The sudden explosion had panicked the occupants too badly to put up much of a resistance. The two girls dragged a few large boys out by the collar.

Mugino spoke to the aproned young woman who was lying half-crushed below the door.

“Cough up your client data, bond builder.”

“A-are you – cough – asking me to retire?”

“You missed your chance to resist a while back, loser.”

Mugino snatched the bond builder’s phone from a table.

“Ah!”

She aimed the camera at the shocked woman’s face to unlock it and then operated the touchscreen one-handed.

“Let’s see. First, I’ll go to Cash Friend’s official site and borrow up to their maximum of 5 million yen...oh, already done. A simple 5-second approval test is a scary thing, huh?”

“Eh? Hey, wait!! What do you think you’re doing with my phone!?”

“Just indulging in my hobby: visiting consumer finance sites. Now to transfer all that money out of your online bank account. Next, I think I’ll borrow as much as they’ll let me from Luxury Celeb, Heaven’s Bank, and Share Chip. Or should I also try some usurious loan sharks while I’m at it?”

“…”

“And to be clear, unlike false billing fraud, the messages demanding payment won’t just go away if you ignore them. Professionalism is all well and good, but do you really want to end up drowning in debt to protect some clients you’ll never meet again? Life has its ups and downs, but I really don’t think that would make for a fun time.”

The bond builder woman poured with a cold sweat.

Mugino continued toying with the borrowed phone in one hand.

“You brought the Sadistic Dolls together here, right? I want all the data you’ve got on them.”

===Part 3===

Mugino finally felt like things were getting back on track.

After leaving the unnecessarily large RV, she stretched her arms upwards.

“Ahh, feels good to do some real work.”

“My phone’s frozen up trying to read this… Damn. In the end, I connected the storage to my new device, which doesn’t have the usual settings file to speed up data reading. It doesn’t help that these images are huge. And with more than a million in all, it’ll probably take some time before I can open the folder and actually take a look at them. Probably about an hour, I’d say.”

“You should’ve borrowed whatever computer she usually uses, Frenda.”

Frenda was frowning at her phone with a card-sized storage device connected via cable and Takitsubo expressionlessly peered at the small screen from the side. Heading back to get the computer would be a pain at this point. And if that young woman had any sense at all, she would have already gotten as far away from there as possible. Once they could view the data, they would have all the data they wanted on the Sadistic Dolls, so all they needed to do was wait an hour.

Those girls ordinarily wore makeup and color contacts to avoid the mechanical facial recognition in the city’s security cameras and such, but this storage would have photos of them without all that. Once Item had those images, they could track them down.

Frenda sighed.

“In the end, do you think the voice on the phone is intentionally letting us do this? Maybe she wanted us to get impatient and act without permission so we’d do the job for free.”

“The suspicions can wait until after we have solid evidence. Make our move too soon against someone on her level and our names are going straight on an elimination list.”

“I’m sure it’s fine. In the end, she’s probably just too stupid to realize we’d do this.”

So what were they supposed to do for the next hour?

Takitsubo Rikou made a suggestion with emotionless eyes.

“I’m hungry. Isn’t it time we got something to eat?”

There were no objections.

They had collected their laundry at the laundromat, taken a shower at the spa at 10 AM, and then left for this job...so now that they were done, it was indeed about time for lunch.

“I want something cold to eat.”

“You say that, Takitsubo, but you already had somen yesterday.”

“That’s why I want something other than noodles that’s cold.”

“That’s going to make it a lot harder.”

District 21 was all about the great outdoors, so the shops at the foot of the mountain mostly just sold raw meat and solid fuel for cookouts. The only restaurants were a lot like the ones you would find in a rundown rural area, so Item chose to leave the district and go elsewhere.

“Summer is super ending, but it’s still super hot when the sun is high in the sky.”

“There’s an underground path over there, Kinuhata. Let’s use it.”

The four girls descended a long stairway to find chilled air.

The semi-cylindrical tunnel was covered by thick, clear plastic and glowed a bluish-white. The area outside was filled with artificial seawater, so giant mantas and whale sharks swam leisurely by over the girls’ heads.

“This is pretty fancy for a simple underground path. If they were going to go to all this super trouble, they should charge you for using it.”

“In the end, it’s part of a joint class, just like the wall art and sculptures you see around here. Part of the class is to get the students used to having their work seen by a lot of people.”

“?”

“District 21 borders District 9, which is all about arts and crafts☆”

The Item girls chatted like that as they walked through the tunnel aquarium.

Eventually, Mugino began complaining over her phone’s group call app.

Was she speaking with her class rep Shiratori Okibi?

“We have a lot more school events to look forward to once September starts. The most interesting would be the Daihaseisai athletic festival since it involves all the schools in the city. I’m going to be blunt: will you be participating or not?”

“Why do you care? It’s none of your business.”

“You must be joking! We still don’t know if one of only seven Level 5s in the city will be participating! Logically speaking, that will directly affect our placing, so you need to make up your mind sooner rather than later. Of course, I would appreciate it very much if you did participate.”

“You already know I maintain the bare minimum of school attendance needed to avoid being held back. I’ve got it all planned out and I’m not taking one step beyond what’s on that plan.”

With that, Mugino grumpily ended the call.

Kinuhata gave her a puzzled look.

“If school is that much of a pain, why not super cut all ties with it?”

“This is ''Academy'' City. I don’t want to stand out that much.”

Mugino’s obvious irritation suggested this was a significant source of stress for her.

Track suit girl Takitsubo smiled a little.

“If that girl can irritate Mugino this much without anyone dying, they must be pretty good friends.”

“Huh?”

“In the end, I could say the same about you, Takitsubo,” muttered Frenda while stealthily removing herself from the line of fire.

Speaking of Frenda, she had a parasol open even though they were indoors.

“Hm, hm♪”

“Frenda-san, super what is that?”

“A personal handheld mist shower☆ Everyone’s talking about them and anyone who’s anyone has one. With one of these, you don’t need to fight for the limited shady parts of the sidewalk. It has a 500mL tank kept cold with a chemical coolant and it keeps plenty of mist drifting down from inside the parasol.”

In other words, it was her usual love of the latest gadgets.

Summer was ending, so what was the point of buying up cooling products now? This was definitely going to end up gathering dust in the closet. And was “everyone talking about them” because the manufacturer was increasing their advertisement to make sure they didn’t have a huge stock left over by the time fall arrived?

The girl who failed to realize she had been duped bent backwards and laughed loud.

“Hwa ha ha! Jealous, ladies!? But if you insist, I would be willing to share this wonderful parasol with you! In the end, happiness should be shared!”

“No thanks, Frenda-san. You’re all damp and it’s super flattened your hair. Not to mention how your skin is showing through your clothes in places.”

After riding a long escalator up and joking about whether they could see each other’s underwear, they arrived directly on the ground floor of a building instead of outside.

Something passed by right in front of Mugino.

That something was a girl wearing a nearly transparent racing swimsuit with a bit of armor added in places. The outfit was apparently what one wore when piloting a giant robot and she was just walking around like it was normal. The additional parts that looked like long gloves and thigh highs apparently made this the “reverse bunny form”. She had a laser gun as long as she was tall resting on her shoulder. It was the classic trope of the cute girl with a brutal weapon.

Of course, this was cosplay and the giant laser gun was made of polyurethane.

Mugino wasn’t used to this sort of thing, so she looked puzzled by this pilot girl that could also fight outside of the cockpit who was max rarity yet was also madly in love with the (male) protagonist.

“Huh? I think we wandered into an anime.”

The large 1st floor lobby also contained a magical girl handing out aluminum-looking helium balloons shaped like stars and hearts and a special stage where extraterrestrial monster costumes were sumo wrestling.

“This is the General Tower for Next-Generation Information and Arts. Although most people call it Moe Bells. In the end, it’s a landmark for art-focused District 9.” Frenda pulled out her phone. “The entire 49-story building is packed full of anime and video game stuff, so you can think of it as ''a vertical Akihabara''. There are shops, movie theaters, event halls, production companies for different media, and even voice acting agencies. There are more than 500 shops open to the public here☆”

Her phone looked hard to operate with the storage device connected by cable, but she appeared to be calling up a fixed point camera on a video site. The small screen displayed a pair of huge towers. Projection mapping on their large walls was used to display humanoid battle robots and giant kaiju at 1:1 scale.

“In the end, the neighboring building is Hot-Blooded Bells. If you prefer to be moved to tears by battles full of punching, killing, kicking, and rescuing, then I recommend going there.”

If Moe Bells wasn’t about battles, then what was with the cosplay girls carrying enormous weapons?

But there was more than just anime and video game merch. There were also sections with smaller junk shops full of complicated-looking computer parts. If you wanted to enjoy games with the best graphics possible, you had to be particular about your video card and processor. And once you started building your own computer, you needed a lot of specialized parts. The line between professional and amateur had blurred a lot of late.

“Frenda-san, are you super into this kind of thing?”

“My sister loves Sunday morning tokusatsu.” Frenda pointed out that the cosplay shop employee was dressed as Magical Powered Kanamin and that the employee out gathering customers for another shop was wearing a Gekota costume. “What about you, Kinuhata? If you want to check out Japanese anime movies, there’s no better place than Moe Bells’s movie theaters. For the short films that artisan directors make while ignoring all the common theater standards, you need a big screen that takes gaming monitor tech to the next level if you want to see all the details in the colors.”

“Huh, so for a super recent example, do they show Momentary Blues?”

“In the end, that’s become a famous benchmark for bringing an entire theater to tears.”

The film buff began jotting down some notes, but the others ignored this.

In this Moe Bells place, miniskirt maids and cosplay magical girls appeared to be a common sight.

Mugino had a fundamental question.

“So do they have any restaurants here?”

“They’ve got everything from maid cafes to dancer cafes and even a Meiji/Taisho cafe☆”

“But is the food any good?”

Mugino’s eyes were pure ice.

Frenda shrugged.

“In the end, I’ve been here a few times because my sister begged me to take her to the hero show. Don’t underestimate Big Sis Frenda’s knowledge of the kid’s menus around here. The maid cafes are hit-and-miss, but you can get food better than at a family restaurant at the good ones.”

“Super how do you know which ones are the good ones?”

“Not from the fliers the smiling maids are handing out or from how cute the decorations are. In the end, maid cafes have obsessive fans, meaning you can’t trust the star rating on restaurant rating apps.” Frenda raised her index finger. “So you need to look at the kitchen ducts. Especially the seams and gap in the cleaning cover. In the end, the cafes that do their own cooking instead of relying on pre-made dishes they can microwave or boil will be covered in oil stains in the back☆”

Since she was the expert, they let Frenda choose where they would eat.

“If the best ones are only better than a family restaurant, is there super any reason to care that much?”

“Kinuhata, don’t these places boost their apparent value by making it feel like part of an event? Like the expensive ramen at a seaside restaurant or movie theater popcorn.”

“Super do not badmouth movies, Takitsubo-san. It’s wrong.”

Apparently the film buff was an advocate for the facilities related to movies and not just the movies themselves.

While Kinuhata and Takitsubo discussed that, Frenda checked out the many available restaurants and then pointed at one of them. Whether or not her nose for this was accurate, she appeared to have some basis for her decision.

A maid dressed in deep blue stood out in front of the cafe. Real maids apparently wore long skirts.

She greeted them with a smile.

“Welcome back☆ Four girls, is it? Let me show you to a tab-”

The maid trailed off, her smile frozen on her face.

Mugino looked puzzled, but then she picked up on something too.

“Y-”

It took a full three seconds, but the Level 5’s thoughts finally started back up.

“You…?”

A quiet beep came from Frenda’s phone.

The card-sized storage device was still connected by a cable, its contents being analyzed. It contained the client list Item had stolen from the bond builder. Automatic creation for a settings file to speed up data reading was complete, so a few photos of faces appeared on the small screen. These were the true faces without the stage makeup and color contacts.

One of them was identical to the maid standing in front of them.

Guitarist Meg, with her natural brown hair, spoke with her face drawn tight.

“What the hell are you doing here, my dumb-as-shit ladies?”

===Part 4===

The restaurant was a maid cafe.

But instead of a classic restaurant style or an old-fashioned cafe style, for some reason classroom desks were gathered together with table cloths thrown over them. Apparently the true connoisseurs most enjoyed the school festival style.

Despite being a cafe, they only offered a single kind of coffee and tea. The recommended items were curry rice, omurice, spaghetti napolitan, and so on. It all seemed to fall into the category of mysterious Showa-era Western-style foods that didn’t actually exist in America or the UK.

“Ooh, they have pancakes topped with ice cream.”

“Takitsubo-san, are you sure that super sugary thing counts as a cold meal?”

While those two opened their menus and discussed what they saw, Mugino irritably rested her head in her hand as soon as they were shown to their table.

“Maids by day and a band by night? How do people so young become workaholics?”

“Oh, shut up. If you want to create a trend, you need to get it out there in waves so it has time to spread. The idea of making it big after putting out a song or two is nothing but a fantasy. And until we’ve become ‘established’, we still need to make a living.”

Meg looked disgusted at having to do so, but she still replied.

Was that because she was in maid mode, or did she not like having someone take her band so lightly.

“In the end, how long do you expect to wait until you’re ‘established’?”

“It wouldn’t take long at all if we could get in with a major advertiser. It only takes so long because we’re working at it on our own. But our rough estimate says we’ll have what we need in another month’s time. Then we’ll be able to make this our era. We’ve calculated it all out already.”

If that was true, Item could ask for a ton of autographs now as an investment for when they were worth something, but unfortunately they were in no position to do that here.

Guitarist Meg grinned and whispered.

“I don’t want to cause the cafe or the other customers any trouble, so will you come with me?”

“…”

Time froze.

It was like this one table was spatially cut off from everything else.

The cafe’s manager must have been doing the part-timers a favor because the Sadistic Dolls’ new song was playing in the cafe.

The Color of the Whip.

The customers may have only been interested in the rhythm because they didn’t seem bothered by the (fairly crude and dark) lyrics.

Good prevailing over evil might sound nice, but it still meant one side was slaughtering the other. And while evil could respect the shittiness of an evil opponent, good stripped evil of all dignity before slaughtering it.

Instead of pure evil, this was a twisted form of good.

Which of those was really more horrific?

“If we tried anything here, ordinary people will die over dark side business. We don’t want that, which is why we’re just sitting here. And we both know that stacking some cash on the table isn’t going to make this problem go away, right?”

This had been Mugino’s intention from the beginning.

When in enemy territory, eating food cooked in an unseen kitchen was a bad idea. Who knows what they could slip into it. Takitsubo was staring hungrily at the menu, so Mugino stopped her with a glare and then stood up.

Guitarist Meg guided Item through the staff only door. They walked down a narrow corridor and across the industrial kitchen.

Doors silently opened and the number of maids grew. They were gathering.

Five in all.

They were all members of the Sadistic Dolls.

“Walking through the staff only door s-sealed your fates,” nervously said Saki, the vocalist with shoulder length hair.

She seemed aware that a deadly fight was about to break out.

But she should have stopped there.

“The poor things.”

“I-if you really think so, we can spare them. It’s not too late!”

That sounded nice.

But her heart wasn’t in it.

It was obvious she wasn’t really worried about Item. Yuami, the synthesist with a ponytail, just wanted to show off how reasonable she was.

“Saki. And Yuami too. They call themselves Item, choose for themselves to walk the path of evil, and use violence to get their way. They always had an unpleasant end coming, right? It’s what they deserve.”

Was the one with twintails the bassist called Suzuran?

She spoke like it was her job to punish all of humanity’s sins.

Amamo, the drummer with a braid, grinned and assessed Item.

“Huh, you look a lot different in proper lighting. I was expecting more chiseled faces with maybe an old scar or two.”

Mugino clicked her tongue.

It was all so saccharine it made her sick. Her disgust here was of a different sort than when she faced someone truly evil. If Takitsubo hadn’t been expressionlessly glancing around noting the location of the dangerous gas pipes, she might have shot them all to death right here.

“You think you’re the good guys? When you kill people to put food on the table?”

“I’d wondered about that too.” Guitarist Meg’s bright voice seemed out of place here. She sounded like like she was speaking to a classmate. “All we’ve done is complete some jobs, but for some reason, we’ve been placed on the side of justice. Of course, if that comes down to what jobs you choose to do, then maybe we should all be thanking the people who keep society running.”

Takitsubo tilted her head.

“You wanted us out of the cafe, but where exactly do you want to fight? This is the 25th floor of a skyscraper.”

“Yeah, about that.”

''Zap!!!

18 million volts of electricity erupted out without warning.

Meg had reached back behind something as they walked along.

And just as she turned toward Item, the thick electric blast shot out at close range.

But Mugino didn’t bat an eye.

She unleashed a Meltdowner beam straight up and an aluminum duct running near the ceiling fell down as a clump. The killer current tore into the closer object with higher conductivity than a human, causing it to rupture from within.

“''Saw that one coming,''” said the Level 5.

Item intentionally took the side of evil, but these girls carried a twisted form of justice. The Sadistic Dolls were the kind of maggots who hunted as they pleased, not worrying about the ordinary people on the side of the street and even taking villains’ family members hostage.

And yet they had asked to move away from the cafe. The only possible benefit for them was catching Item in a trap.

They wouldn’t care a whit about the customers and workers on this floor.

Several sharp metallic clanking sounds rang out.

The Sadistic Dolls pulled their customized instrument weapons from their hiding places around the kitchen. The cooks appeared to be ordinary people since they paled and foamed at the mouth, so Frenda used a non-fragmentary explosive to knock them out with a concussive blast.

That acted as the starting signal.

Some ran along the floor and others hopped onto the silver countertops as the four and the five clashed.

Something sliced loudly through the air.

Vocalist Saki had drawn a rapier hidden in her mic stand.

Kinuhata blocked that head on and then casually grabbed the blade. With her bare hand.

“?”

But then she furrowed her brow.

She had crushed it with her Offense-Armor-enhanced hand, but she hadn’t heard it break.

Vocalist Saki smiled timidly while holding the mic stand rapier and with small, lightweight speakers attached to her shoulders like angel wings.

“The blade is made by condensing and shaping cellulose nanofiber, s-so it won’t break so easily.”

Kinuhata didn’t have time to respond.

With a dull “crash!!”, her small body was launched sideways. While she failed to deal with Saki’s rapier, Amamo’s drum set had tackled her. To send Kinuhata flying, the drum set, which moved autonomously on mechanical legs, must have weighed more than a ton. A stainless steel sink bent and broke when its silver legs climbed up on top.

“Tch! In the end, I’ll help Kinuhata, so you protect Takitsubo, Mugino!!”

“It’s already too late. We’ll just crush you each in turn. Amplifier: extra charge complete! Move aside, everyone!!”

18 million volts of electricity shot from the end of the electric guitar like an artillery shell.

Frenda knew it was risky, but she reached out a hand to grab Kinuhata from the floor and pulled her behind the counter. If not for that, the electricity would have broken through Kinuhata’s nitrogen barrier with electrical breakdown.

Guitarist Meg roared while accompanied by a giant boxy amp walking on metal legs.

“I’m beginning my extra charge. Don’t let the enemy get close until it’s ready!”

“Got it.”

“O-okay.”

“No, wait. It would be safer in the long run to finish them off now!!”

“The rest of you can do what you want. We’ll be roasting them to speed things up!!”

“?” Mugino frowned.

This enemy was supposed to be the Sadistic Dolls, a killer girls band.

But with close observation, Mugino had noticed a tendency among them.

The vocalist, the guitarist, and the synthesist.

The bassist and the drummer.

They were frequently trading positions, but there were two definite groups there. Furthermore, the different groups sometimes had conflicting plans and strategies.

“Not the best of friends, huh?” Mugino sounded exasperated. “Are you about the break up over ‘creative differences’?”

For one thing, five was too many people for the high level of coordination needed on a single team. With more members, there was a risk of the team splitting into smaller groups and breaking the team’s unity.

And a small fraying like that could change the course of a battle in no time.

“I don’t think they have any decent esper powers,” said blank-faced Takitsubo.

“What makes you so certain?”

Mugino thought maybe Takitsubo had run some kind of scan with AIM Stalker, but…

“They’re a struggling girls band. If any of them was a high-level esper, they would be using that to advertise themselves. Like having a ''Level 5 idol'' or something.”

This one hit home, so Meg’s shoulders began to shake. How could she be so mean?

But it was the truth.

(The biggest concern here is igniting the gas and causing a major explosion. So the one we need to take out quick is…)

“Suzuran, the bassist!! The dumbass came to the front line herself. We already saw her flamethrower, so take that out first!!”

Takitsubo expressionlessly opened the big door to an industrial refrigerator and Mugino kicked the bassist in the gut so hard it knocked her through the air.

“? Ugh!”

The door shut.

The biggest fear for anyone using a flamethrower was for the flames to accidentally hit a nearby wall or obstacle and then catch the wielder in the flames. So trapping her in a small space kept her from using her weapon.

A thick beam of light scorched the air.

This ''was not'' Mugino Shizuri’s Meltdowner.

“Tch!!”

“Go to hell! Open up!! Photon Bullet!!!”

This definitely wasn’t a flamethrower or oxyacetylene torch. A red hot beam of light burst sharply from within the silver refrigerator.

Mugino twisted her body to just barely dodge before aiming her palm that way.

This time, it was Meltdowner.

She launched several thick beams to tear through the refrigerator from a variety of angles. It was like the sword box magic trick...just without the trick part.

“Dammit, Takitsubo! Don’t get all smug and then have your plan not work at all! ''You’re getting punished later''!!”

“Ehh?”

“But that’s one down! ...Come to think of it, I just killed a minor celebrity. Don’t these shitheads have a fan at my school?”

“I super got one too.”

The shriek and scream were so shrill it was hard to believe they came from a human being. With Offense Armor boosting her arm strength, Kinuhata grabbed the drummer by the collar and shoved her face-first into the blazing hot industrial oven.

The enemy had been split three and two. So with the bassist killed, her drummer girlfriend had been left all alone. Kinuhata had gone ahead and finished her off before she could recover.

“Got-”

That was when a brutally high-voltage blast of electricity flew through and Mugino had to quickly duck below it.

She didn’t have time for a celebratory “got another one”

Two were dead, but the battle wasn’t over.

“Oh, god!! First the cult and now this girls band! Why does everyone have to use ''electricity''!? I never want to another electricity user as long as I live!!”

Mugino shouted in desperation and reached just her hand from behind cover to return fire with several Meltdowner beams.

Guitarist Meg, Vocalist Saki, and Synthesist Yuami.

More than half the enemy remained.

Item had four, so their numbers weren’t all that different. If they were careless this could easily go the other way.

“Frenda! Fire a barrage of killer skyrockets!! Don’t let them near the rear exit. Once their way out is blocked, Kinuhata and I will charge in!!”

“Got it.”

“Super got it.”

However, the mood on both sides was different. With one side losing two members in quick succession, the other side had the momentum.

“Nothing to do.”

Takitsubo was in charge of targeting support, so she just stood there. That alone showed who had the advantage. The Sadistic Dolls were losing members fast, but Item had a member who could indulge in some idle time on the front line.

With some metallic clanking, powerful stage lights with metal legs gathered by Synthesist Yuami who held a keytar likely installed with modified laser pointers.

“I’ll confuse them to turn this around!! I’ll blind them with my laser strobe lights, so you two use that opening to-”

“Are you stupid?” spat Mugino. She was Meltdowner, one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s. “Did your rotten justice never teach you the villain’s logic that you begin to lose as soon as you let your fear show? And did you really think you could outdo me when it comes to beam power!?”

An explosion overpowered the artificial beams.

Frenda had fired a portable rocket launcher the size of a potato chip tube and Mugino had launched Meltdowner. Steel racks were blown away and a microwave and rice cooker broke apart before their pieces stabbed into the wall.

The human body would not fare well in such a dense concentration of sharp shards flying horizontally like that. Especially when standing upright.

The gray dust cleared away.

The floor was littered with rubble, the ordinary cooks who had been safely knocked out earlier, and the bloody corpses of the villains who had taken the brunt of the razor-sharp rain while standing up.

The cooks could be safely ignored because they could be ''peacefully'' silenced by hiring a “negotiator” (whose primary tool was threats).

Track suit girl Takitsubo’s eyes wandered through empty space.

“One’s missing.”

“Tch. That damn guitarist is gone! She must’ve survived by using her bandmates as a shield!!”

===Part 5===

Mugino tackled the kitchen door with her shoulder and burst out from the cafe.

This was the 25th floor. It was an isolated aerial island with no escape in any horizontal direction. Capture now meant death, so where would Meg go if she really did want to survive?

(If they were working on their own because they weren’t great at teamwork, it’s unlikely she’ll escape from the roof by helicopter. She’ll probably just head for the ground. And she won’t have time to wait for the elevator to arrive, but running down 25 floors’ worth of stairs would take too long too.)

“So she’ll go for the elevator shaft. But instead of waiting for the elevator, she’ll grab the wire and slide down. That’s the fastest way to the surface!!”

An extended warning buzzer sounded. It wasn’t as pressing an alert as the fire alarm, so it probably indicated an emergency stop for an elevator. After a glance over at the map on the wall, Mugino ran toward the nearest elevator hall. That was her only option.

“Outta the away! Get down! Dammit!!”

Mugino ran through the crowd, shoved aside a young man and woman who were chatting in the center of the walkway, belatedly realized there was a baby carriage in front of her, and jumped over it in a superhuman feat of acrobatics. Afterwards, she was surprised to find she still cared enough to do so. Maybe she was getting something out of her school after all.

(I’m supposed to do the dirty work in the shadows. I’m sick of pain-in-the-ass hostage situations. I won’t let it go that way, so I need to kill them all now while I can!!)

As she ran, Mugino focused on her right hand so she could fire Meltdowner at any time. She charged right into the elevator hall. Maybe the arrangement of stores or the layout of the building played a role, but this one elevator hall was especially quiet and deserted.

“Get back here, Meg!! You’re the ones who picked this fight with-”

Mugino didn’t finish her sentence.

Red.

A rusty scent.

Something was lying on the floor. It was a human corpse. It was obviously dead without needing to check for a pulse or breathing.

The elevator’s emergency stop buzzer was still sounding. The metal door was stuck half open. That meant she had been attempting the most sensible escape route.

And yet this had happened.

Before she could even use her killer electric guitar’s 18 million volt current.

Guitarist Meg’s upper body was gouged by several deep wounds. She had likely been stabbed by a sharp blade. Whoever had done it had definitely been trying to kill her. This wasn’t the result of an ordinary person swinging a blade in a terrified panic. Each wound accurately pierced a vital point.

Someone had killed her.

But who?

Mugino felt a draft noticeably different from the air conditioning’s chilly breeze. She crouched down and found the thick tempered glass dividing the buildings exterior and interior had been cut away. In a precise 1m square.

(They used that.)

This was the 25th floor, so it was unlikely the killer had just jumped down to the ground. Had they been wearing a wingsuit, or had they escaped using a large cargo drone?

Either way, tracking them down using traditional methods wouldn’t be possible.

Mugino continued glaring at that hole in the glass until her phone rang.

It was the voice on the phone.

“I did some research into those Sadistic Dolls and it looks like Item doesn’t even need to bother hunting them down. You’d be wasting your time, so just forget about them. You can’t recover the costs.”

“Explain.”

“This city’s justice is on the move.”

That was succinct.

And that word still felt out of place here.

“I know what you’re thinking because it’s always like this with you, but you don’t need to deal with the Sadistic Dolls. Their twisted justice let them harm ordinary people and take hostages, but that hurt their reputation in ''a different world''. So a different set of this city’s gears will eliminate them for us.”

“I see.”

Mugino sighed before continuing.

“But I’m afraid this warning came a little too late.”

“?”

A picture was worth a thousand words, so Mugino snapped a photo of what she saw at her feet.

Something was written quite large in red blood.

''You crossed a line.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Prologue|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:Item3_Chapter2}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Prologue

2024-10-01T17:07:25Z

209.195.250.74: /* Prologue: Welcome – the_DIE_After_Tomorrow. */

==Prologue: Welcome – the_DIE_After_Tomorrow.==

“''You will die.''”

“''That doesn’t change my answer.''”

The end result had been determined from the very beginning.

The result at the very end of the choice Kamijou Touma made so easily.

“Whatever it takes, I will end this so Index is safe and Alice is smiling.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“The girl wants…”

“…to make up…with you.”

“I…”

“I don’t…”

“I don’t want to see anyone suffering from even more misfortune than me!! You got a problem with that!?”

“January 6, 11:58 PM.”

“The transported patient has been confirmed deceased. There is nothing I can do when he’s already dead.”

“Could this be…?”

“''The afterli-''”

“My, my.”

“It is ❌ ⌚ for you to be here yet, is it?”

“Aren’t you the other one? Um, Kings…oh, right. Anna Kingsford?”

“🎯.”

“Or perhaps you did ❌ know in the first place.”

“Besides, I am meant to be ☠️.☆”

“You have indeed, Kamijou Touma.”

“And I am ❌ strong willed enough to sit idly by when someone is ❌ rewarded for their efforts.”

“What are you even trying to do in this literal dead end!?”

“I am trying to serve those around me.”

“As an expert, I have a secret technique you could call a Hell Tour.”

“…”

“My, my. If that does ❌ mean much to you, what if I called it a Jailbreak?”

“Now.”

“How about you kick out this shitty predetermined ending and join me in making a comeback?”

…So what part of this was a lie?

The unfortunate boy refused to fully believe this offer. To him, it sounded far too good to be true.

A woman stood before Kamijou Touma in the empty white space.

Anna Kingsford.

She had an elegant smile on her face.

And she held her right hand out toward him.

He was taken aback, but he took that hand for now.

For now?

No, this was all a definite “choice” made by Kamijou himself.

In that instant…

''Fwoosh!!!

The white space changed.

The entire space became a dense forest filled with black rocks and damp trees. No, he technically couldn’t tell the color. Because it was all enveloped by thick shadow, letting darkness rule over it all. There was no moonlight and he could only see a vague orange light in the distance. But seeing that light in the darkness did nothing to allay his fears. His instincts told him that was a harmful light, like that of lava or a forest fire.

His body felt heavy.

He felt like he had been left behind in a narrow tunnel after a deadly accident. Simply staring into the darkness felt like a great weight bearing down on him.

“What is this place?”

“You could 💬 it the entrance to hell, I suppose.”

Hell.

So he had to start from the bottom.

He had died for his own selfish reason, so he hadn’t expected to get to go to heaven.

That much made sense, but what was that about a jailbreak?

He had consciously chosen death. Would the world really allow him to keep going from there?

Or was this some kind of test?

The other Anna did not even seem surprised.

Was this all part of what she had expected?

“Really, it is constructed from several different ideas mixed together, but having three dimensions to move in is more convenient, don’t you think?”

That explanation meant nothing to Kamijou.

She tugged on his hand, lifting his hips from the ground. He fully stood up.

He realized he could feel her warmth. And the soft, smooth sensation of a woman’s hand.

His breathing. His sweat.

The beating of his heart.

Everything that had been absent earlier came rushing back.

Was this real then?

He seemed to have defined it that way for himself.

But he was already dead…supposedly, anyway. So he had no clue at all what he was supposed to do from here. A hell tour? A jailbreak? Could he really return to life? He couldn’t picture it himself. That left him with only one choice: follow Kingsford’s lead. She was his guide through hell, so he was done for if he upset her and she abandoned him in this darkness.

The two of them walked through the dark, pathless forest.

Kamijou did not look back. He felt some kind of presence here and there in the darkness. He was terribly curious what was making those horrific noises, but he was afraid turning his head even once would end with him losing sight of Kingsford’s back just a meter ahead of him, leaving him lost in the woods with no sense of direction.

“Wh-where do we start?”

“From step one. In 🪄, that is the most basic rule and the deepest of secrets. I understand your impatience, but do ❌ even 💭 about skipping a step.”

When an expert said it, it was hard to tell if she was joking or not.

She really had passed between the worlds of the living and the dead while still human. Like she was returning to her hometown for the bon festival.

Kamijou focused all his attention in case some offhand comment of hers carried critical meaning.

“But to be more specific, we start by passing through the 🚪. The 🚪 to hell☆”

“To hell?”

They continued a while through the damp forest where each and every step felt so heavy. That might seem simple, but without Kingsford’s guidance, Kamijou might have rotted down to the soul and become a tree bearing an oddly face-like stain.

Something came into view.

It was made of stone, but it wasn’t a building.

The grand gate felt at odds with the word “hell”.

A pair of wooden doors were contained within a hemispherical arch of stone. There weren’t even stone walls on either side. Even so, it created a “border”. In that sense, it may have been similar to the torii at a Shinto shrine, but it felt wrong to liken this to them.

This led to hell.

It may have been a monstrous maw.

A metal plate was mounted at the top of the arching gate, but Kamijou couldn’t read what it said. It looked like the alphabet, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t English. He searched through his pockets, but he couldn’t find his phone to use its translation app.

But.

The plate wasn’t his main concern.

“I 💭 that would be ‘abandon all hope, ye who enter here’.”

Anna Kingsford commented on the metal plate, but Kamijou’s attention was elsewhere.

Someone sat in front of the half-open gate.

But this was no gatekeeper. He was casually seated on the flat steps leading to the gate. The closest comparison was a delinquent using the stone stairs next to the street or in a park as a bench.

Yes, the silver-haired man clad in red was calm enough to actually enjoy hell.

He was another expert.

Undoubtedly so.

And he was no stranger to Kamijou.

This was hell.

The most sinful of the dead were sent to this place.

This world.

This layer.

This phase.

And if this was the final dumping ground for the lowest of the low souls…

“What’s this, what’s this?”

Wasn’t this…

Wasn’t this a perfectly reasonable outcome!?

“This old man was so bored I was reluctant to keep going. But maybe I should rethink this world. It’s finally decided to offer up some real entertainment.”

CRC.

Christian Rosencreutz.
[[File:GT Index v11 BW1.webp|thumb]]
The greatest expert who brought nothing but death and destruction – the sinner who had supposedly died ahead of Kamijou – was grinning over at him.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Illustrations|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter1}}
</noinclude>

Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Prologue

2024-10-01T17:06:16Z

209.195.250.74: /* Prologue: Welcome – the_DIE_After_Tomorrow. */

==Prologue: Welcome – the_DIE_After_Tomorrow.==

“''You will die.''”

“''That doesn’t change my answer.''”

The end result had been determined from the very beginning.

The result at the very end of the choice Kamijou Touma made so easily.

“Whatever it takes, I will end this so Index is safe and Alice is smiling.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“The girl wants…”

“…to make up…with you.”

“I…”

“I don’t…”

“I don’t want to see anyone suffering from even more misfortune than me!! You got a problem with that!?”

“January 6, 11:58 PM.”

“The transported patient has been confirmed deceased. There is nothing I can do when he’s already dead.”

“Could this be…?”

“''The afterli-''”

“My, my.”

“It is ❌ ⌚ for you to be here yet, is it?”

“Aren’t you the other one? Um, Kings…oh, right. Anna Kingsford?”

“🎯.”

“Or perhaps you did ❌ know in the first place.”

“Besides, I am meant to be ☠️.☆”

“You have indeed, Kamijou Touma.”

“And I am ❌ strong willed enough to sit idly by when someone is ❌ rewarded for their efforts.”

“What are you even trying to do in this literal dead end!?”

“I am trying to serve those around me.”

“As an expert, I have a secret technique you could call a Hell Tour.”

“…”

“My, my. If that does ❌ mean much to you, what if I called it a Jailbreak?”

“Now.”

“How about you kick out this shitty predetermined ending and join me in making a comeback?”

…So what part of this was a lie?

The unfortunate boy refused to fully believe this offer. To him, it sounded far too good to be true.

A woman stood before Kamijou Touma in the empty white space.

Anna Kingsford.

She had an elegant smile on her face.

And she held her right hand out toward him.

He was taken aback, but he took that hand for now.

For now?

No, this was all a definite “choice” made by Kamijou himself.

In that instant…

''Fwoosh!!!

The white space changed.

The entire space became a dense forest filled with black rocks and damp trees. No, he technically couldn’t tell the color. Because it was all enveloped by thick shadow, letting darkness rule over it all. There was no moonlight and he could only see a vague orange light in the distance. But seeing that light in the darkness did nothing to allay his fears. His instincts told him that was a harmful light, like that of lava or a forest fire.

His body felt heavy.

He felt like he had been left behind in a narrow tunnel after a deadly accident. Simply staring into the darkness felt like a great weight bearing down on him.

“What is this place?”

“You could 💬 it the entrance to hell, I suppose.”

Hell.

So he had to start from the bottom.

He had died for his own selfish reason, so he hadn’t expected to get to go to heaven.

That much made sense, but what was that about a jailbreak?

He had consciously chosen death. Would the world really allow him to keep going from there?

Or was this some kind of test?

The other Anna did not even seem surprised.

Was this all part of what she had expected?

“Really, it is constructed from several different ideas mixed together, but having three dimensions to move in is more convenient, don’t you think?”

That explanation meant nothing to Kamijou.

She tugged on his hand, lifting his hips from the ground. He fully stood up.

He realized he could feel her warmth. And the soft, smooth sensation of a woman’s hand.

His breathing. His sweat.

The beating of his heart.

Everything that had been absent earlier came rushing back.

Was this real then?

He seemed to have defined it that way for himself.

But he was already dead…supposedly, anyway. So he had no clue at all what he was supposed to do from here. A hell tour? A jailbreak? Could he really return to life? He couldn’t picture it himself. That left him with only one choice: follow Kingsford’s lead. She was his guide through hell, so he was done for if he upset her and she abandoned him in this darkness.

The two of them walked through the dark, pathless forest.

Kamijou did not look back. He felt some kind of presence here and there in the darkness. He was terribly curious what was making those horrific noises, but he was afraid turning his head even once would end with him losing sight of Kingsford’s back just a meter ahead of him, leaving him lost in the woods with no sense of direction.

“Wh-where do we start?”

“From step one. In 🪄, that is the most basic rule and the deepest of secrets. I understand your impatience, but do ❌ even 💭 about skipping a step.”

When an expert said it, it was hard to tell if she was joking or not.

She really had passed between the worlds of the living and the dead while still human. Like she was returning to her hometown for the bon festival.

Kamijou focused all his attention in case some offhand comment of hers carried critical meaning.

“But to be more specific, we start by passing through the 🚪. The 🚪 to hell☆”

“To hell?”

They continued a while through the damp forest where each and every step felt so heavy. That might seem simple, but without Kingsford’s guidance, Kamijou might have rotted down to the soul and become a tree bearing an oddly face-like stain.

Something came into view.

It was made of stone, but it wasn’t a building.

The grand gate felt at odds with the word “hell”.

A pair of wooden doors were contained within a hemispherical arch of stone. There weren’t even stone walls on either side. Even so, it created a “border”. In that sense, it may have been similar to the torii at a Shinto shrine, but it felt wrong to liken this to them.

This led to hell.

It may have been a monstrous maw.

A metal plate was mounted at the top of the arching gate, but Kamijou couldn’t read what it said. It looked like the alphabet, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t English. He searched through his pockets, but he couldn’t find his phone to use its translation app.

But.

The plate wasn’t his main concern.

“I 💭 that would be ‘abandon all hope, ye who enter here’.”

Anna Kingsford commented on the metal plate, but Kamijou’s attention was elsewhere.

Someone sat in front of the half-open gate.

But this was no gatekeeper. He was casually seated on the flat steps leading to the gate. The closest comparison was a delinquent using the stone stairs next to the street or in a park as a bench.

Yes, the silver-haired man clad in red was calm enough to actually enjoy hell.

He was another expert.

Undoubtedly so.

And he was no stranger to Kamijou.

This was hell.

The most sinful of the dead were sent to this place.

This world.

This layer.

This phase.

And if this was the final dumping ground for the lowest of the low souls…
[[File:GT Index v11 BW1.webp|thumb]]

“What’s this, what’s this?”

Wasn’t this…

Wasn’t this a perfectly reasonable outcome!?

“This old man was so bored I was reluctant to keep going. But maybe I should rethink this world. It’s finally decided to offer up some real entertainment.”

CRC.

Christian Rosencreutz.

The greatest expert who brought nothing but death and destruction – the sinner who had supposedly died ahead of Kamijou – was grinning over at him.

<noinclude>
{{Toaru_Nav|prev=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Illustrations|next=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index:GT_Volume11_Chapter1}}
</noinclude>